Archives for July 2005

When I saw this story I was reminded of a conversation I had with a guy in my chemistry class in high school. He had some trouble with the girls and couldn’t figure out why he kept striking out. He was a nice fellow but really a little out there, a bit of a wingnut. I suspect that if he could cranked his behavior back a notch he would not have had any trouble getting a date.

Anyway at that time he had one major ambition in life and that was to be an inventor like Thomas Edison. He came up with all sorts of ideas for inventions but the one that this story reminded me of was what he called the “Clothing Magnet.”

The idea was that you could aim it at a person you thought was attractive, turn it on and voila, they would be naked. I haven’t seen him since 1986 but I suspect that he never gave up the idea. I also suspect that had he been successful I would have already heard about such a device.

As a sidenote to this story his favorite movie was Real Genius followed by the Star Wars series which really got his attention because he thought that using “The Force” would be even better than the magnet but harder to come by.

I just finished reading an interesting article on ABC:

Silicon Insider: Faking It, CEO Style

“So, am I then claiming that CEOs aren’t faking it when they claim to be leading their companies? On the contrary, my experience tells me that they are faking it all the time. And that it is a good thing that they do — at least for the rest of us.

Masking Sheer Terror

Being around CEOs a lot, I get the chance to see them off the job, away from the public eye, and, occasionally, even when they take off their masks. And I can tell you that most of them are utterly terrified. They know fully well that the decisions they make put at risk the careers and lives of thousands of their employees — and that most of the time they will have to make those decisions based on incomplete, even false, information, in an unpredictable marketplace, against ruthless competitors. Many of them don’t feel smart enough for the job, most of them don’t feel experienced enough, and all of them don’t feel wise enough.

But they also know, almost instinctively, that to admit any of these doubts would not only be career suicide, but, ironically, the most irresponsible decision they could possibly make for the organization. We all know that the big boss is a human being, complete with human foibles and fears — we even laugh over anecdotes underscoring that fact — but God help us all if the CEO actually comes out from behind the pinstripes to be revealed as a scared rabbit who is not really sure if the next big company initiative is actually going to work. After all, if the boss isn’t sure the damn thing is doable, why should we be?”

I cannot say that I am surprised by this, but it is a little reassuring because there are times when I really am just winging it. I am relatively good at what I do, but there have been so many occasions when I am not sure what to do and just kind of shrug my shoulders and move ahead.

Most of the time it works out, but every now and then my decision can be classified as horrible and then I placed in a position in which I have to fix it and that can be awfully unpleasant. But I do it in large part because I want to be able to look my children in the eye.

It is not like they would know that I took a shortcut or did this or that, but I just feel better knowing that if they could see inside my head they would see that I practice what I preach.

Am I the only one who is more than irritated about this.

SPACE CENTER, Houston – Discovery seems to have been spared serious damage from the foam shrapnel that flew off the fuel tank during liftoff in an eerie repeat of the problem that doomed Columbia and appears in good shape for a safe return in just over a week, NASA said Thursday.

“Some good news is, it looks like all of the foam loss that we had from the tank did not hit the orbiter,” flight operations manager John Shannon said a day after future shuttle flights were grounded because of the problem.

Shannon noted that all initial reports indicate “it looks extremely good and we don’t have anything to worry about on Discovery.” But he cautioned that it will be another three days before the space agency can conclusively give the shuttle a clean bill of health.

Earlier in the morning, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said the space agency may never be able to prevent threatening chunks of insulation foam from breaking off the shuttle’s fuel tank during launch.

“We are trying to get it down to the level that cannot damage the orbiter,” Griffin told NBC’s “Today.” “We will never be able to get the amount of debris shed by the tank down to zero,” he said.”

This is ridiculous. How would you like to be stuck in a tin can with the knowledge that the crew before you were made into human smores because of an accident and that you are at risk for the same problem.

“The loss of such a large chunk of debris — nearly a pound — was a vexing problem NASA thought had been fixed and shattered the euphoria from Tuesday’s shuttle launch, the first in 2 1/2 years. The redesign of the fuel tank was the focal point of the space agency’s $1 billion-plus effort to make the 20-year-old space shuttles safer to fly following the 2003 Columbia tragedy.”

This is wrong. I am a huge supporter of the space program but there is no reason that we cannot improve upon the past. Yet here we are again.

“The piece of foam flew off Discovery’s redesigned tank just two minutes after what initially looked like a perfect liftoff, right after the booster rockets peeled away. But in less than an hour NASA had spotted images of a mysterious object whirling away from the tank.

Mission managers did not realize what the object was — or how much havoc it would cause — until Wednesday after reviewing video and images taken by just a few of the 100-plus cameras in place to watch for such dangers.

Shuttle program manager Bill Parsons offered no excuses, saying, “You have to admit when you’re wrong. We were wrong.”

Engineers believe the irregularly sized piece of foam that came off was 24 to 33 inches long, 10 to 14 inches wide, and between 2 and 8 inches thick. It weighed an estimated 0.9 pounds, about half the mass of the 1.67-pound chunk that smashed into Columbia’s left wing during liftoff. The plate-sized hole let in superheated gases that caused the shuttle to break up on its return to Earth on Feb. 1, 2003.”

Can you see me shaking my head.

“On Discovery, the foam broke away from a different part of the tank than the piece that mortally wounded Columbia.

In addition to the big chunk of foam, several smaller pieces broke off, including at least one from an area of the fuel tank that had been modified after Columbia. Thermal tile was also damaged on Discovery’s belly soon after liftoff; one tile lost a 1 1/2-inch piece right next to the set of doors for the nose landing gear, a particularly vulnerable spot.

Deputy shuttle manager Wayne Hale said none of the tile damage looked serious and likely would not require repairs in orbit.

Imagery experts and engineers expect to know by Thursday afternoon whether the gouge left by the missing piece of tile — or anything else — needs another look. The astronauts’ inspection boom could determine precisely how deep the damage is, and they will probably pull it back out Friday.”

I am still shaking it. There is something very very wrong here and we need to do better.

This made me chuckle.

The Shmata Queen and I have an ongoing debate about whether she grew up near The beach. The premise is based upon the misguided belief that a Great Lake constitutes a beach.

Technically I suppose that you could try and make the case that a lake offers a beach.
beach (bēch)
n.

1. The shore of a body of water, especially when sandy or pebbly.
2. The sand or pebbles on a shore.
3. The zone above the water line at a shore of a body of water, marked by an accumulation of sand, stone, or gravel that has been deposited by the tide or waves.

I’d disagree with this and say that you can claim waterfront property, but a real beach needs the ocean. A real beach has sand that is created by the pounding of the Saltwater waves and not those of a sinking ship (Edmund Fitzgerald) Please note that all maritime questions can be directed to our resident sailor David. You can find him at Treppenwitz.

That concludes this less than serious post. Hog farmers, sailors, math geeks, art majors and business people are dismissed.