The Obligation of the Ask

So today, I thought I'd share a long-standing theory of mine. As I sit here on my front porch acting as the dinner-buffet for every mosquito in the state of Virginia - I get to thinking about "The Obligation of the Ask". A very ominous name for a very simple principle: There are certain things in this world, and they may change in your world, that when asked simply cannot be refused. A perfect example would be a piece of gum, but could just as easily apply to a cigarette, a soda, a ride somewhere in your oh-so-wonderful POS - generally something minor.

Simply by asking, the thoughtless requester is in a fashion, obligating you to say yes because, let's face it - there really isn't a good reason for saying "no". Personal preferences be damned. The fact that you are saving that piece has no application here. The mere mention of dislike for the individual now sounds petty and pathetic. You cannot win! The only way out is to relinquish control and yield to the asker. Hence... "The Obligation of the Ask".

Being on the receiving end makes it easy to see how annoying this can be to your fellow man. As the asker though, your small and simple request is no big deal - you could live without that gum, that soda, that ride to your ailing mother. However, woe betide anyone who would even think of refusing your request - they are the pickiest, meanest (in the scrooge sense of the word, not the loud uncle meaning of the word), most unreasonable individual to ever darken your doorstep!

Now - if you are of a personality where you don't care what people think, have no concern for the pettiness of the refusal, are simply indifferent to the societal implications of saying "no" - then none of this really applies. You are free from the constraints of polite society and can fly free (and alone) on the winds of whim and fancy. Most of us aren't. We need other people around us to like and respect us because inevitably we will at some point need to ask someone: "Can I have a piece of gum?"

I has a complex...

Wow - its been almost half a year since I last posted and still the traffic trickles in! The clear winners are the hard drive failure entries (largely due to a link from another way more popular blog!) and the camera review. Go figure!

Today, I wanted to talk about complexity. I has it.

Much like the inane Wet Wet Wet song, complexity's all around me. And not just complexity - that I could live with, but needless complexity. Now I don't mean to use superlatives or make too wide a generalization, but everyone everywhere are making everything complicated.

Let's take a nice and easy example - a cup ramen (or pot noodle if you're so inclined). You'd think the instructions would be as simple as "cook with hot water". That gets the message across, anyone who can't figure it out probably doesn't deserve to eat it anyway! ( a little harsh, but such is the level of annoyance ) But no. Captain Complicated strikes again and you get a pot with half of the back filled with poorly translated English prompting you to "enter the cup from the top above the bottom" and "fill plentifully without overly with the water of hotness inside". (did I mention, engrish.com is one of my favorites?!)

I wouldn't be so effected if this kind of behavior didn't pop up everywhere! Nothing (another absolute for those keeping count!) is as complicated as everyone makes it out to be and yet we constantly bemoan the state of affairs we find ourselves in when it comes to everyday tasks like making coffee (there's 29 steps if you really want there to be), writing an email (it really doesn't have to be perfect when you're sending a picture of a cat to your mum), or going to the bathroom (the hands washing debate is long since over).

The long and the short of it is this - life is simple. It really is! Wherever your inspiration comes from, life is all about making yourself and those you love happy. Why make it any harder than that?

"A whole new world..."

With the appropriately Disney image of Aladdin and Jasmin singing to each other on a magical flying carpet firmly lodged in your brains - to business!

I have come to accept that technology is cool. super cool. Uber cool. etc. And I love it. I love it like a puppy loves a sock, like a pelican loves fish, like a fat man love burgers. Fascination abounds with child-like intrigue as each new item brings a mental cry of "shiny, SHINY!".

So.

Henceforth, I shall hereby focus the entries to be found herein on the ever widening field of technology. Let the blogs begin!

With the War in Iraq going on strong, the various military departments around the globe are feverishly working to develop the next best thing. The US Department of the Navy has done just that. Straight from the pages of your favorite sci-fi novel, I give you - THE RAIL GUN!



Arnold Schwarzenegger movies aside, the Rail gun is not yet in production. This test shows the gun operating at only 1/3 power! The basic principles are these: A rail gun uses electrical power, passed through a conductive projectile to generate a magnetic field. The magnetic field generated by the projectile acts perpendicular to the field generated by the two rails on either side of it basically causing the two magnetic fields to push against each other like two champion Sumo wrestlers and accelerate the projectile several times faster than the speed of sound.

The projectile is a solid slug with no explosive or combustible materials used. The flames you see in the video are roughly equivalent to the flames you see around meteors as they enter the atmosphere (the air itself is burning due to the friction caused by the projectile moving so damn fast!). The explosion is caused by the dissipation of kinetic energy when the projectile hits its target. This test fired the 3 1/2 Kg projectile at roughly 5,640 mph or 8,270 feet per second (a little more than Mach 7, though my math could be off)!

This gun is projected to be capable of firing a projectile over 200 miles to hit a target of 5 meter diameter. Imagine being able to shoot something 66 times past the horizon (given that the horizon at sea level is 3 miles away) - that's like being in New York and shooting something in DC! Or being in London and shooting something in Paris! (finally!)

Just insane - very cool though!

More video:

Seeing the world through Blu-coloured glasses...

Those of you who know me know that I am a techie. A geek. A technophile. A futureist. A lover of all things gadgety. So it should come as no surprise that I am incredibly interested in the Blu-ray / HD-DVD format wars.

The basic principles are these: Like Latino street gangs with a grudge, Sony and Toshiba have been spatting with each other for format supremacy with the next generation of digital video - High Definition. High Definition really just refers to image quality - most typically 1080 (i or p) but also including 720. Without getting more technical than a Japanese VCR manual, 1080 refers to the number of vertical lines of information per frame and is more than double that of regular definition (480).

There's way more to it, but that is the overview. If you want more you can wikipedia the formats or leave a comment and I'll fill in more.

I've long held the opinion that Blu-ray would win this war... Sony's Samurai-like way of cutting down the competition pitted against Toshiba's Sumo-like way of smothering and sweating on their adversaries means a tough battle but as any kid who's played "rock, paper, scissors" knows - sword beats fat any day. The Blu-ray format has two main things going for it - higher capacity as a computer storage medium and a more significant perceived change in technology. People are not going to replace their movie collection (again) if they don't think it will be a major improvement and HD-DVD just doesn't give off the same vibe of newness that Blu-ray does.

Add to that the observation that movie studios continue to sign on with the Blu-ray Association (there really is such a thing... see?) like pot heads for free pringles, and that Blu-ray disc sales are now accounting for 93% of HD disc sales and HD-DVD can't be expected to hold on for much longer...

Microsoft is really the only major player that Toshiba has on their side right now - and they have even made some suggestions that they would go Blu-ray if Toshiba throws in the towel. You only have to look at the XBox 360 to see that MS is being cautious (they only offer HD-DVD support through an external device, not integrated like Blu-ray is in the PS3).

This format war is often likened to the VHS/BetaMax format wars that happened in the late 70s and point at the fact that BetaMax was proposed by Sony as an indication that Blu-ray will likely lose this war too. But the numbers are definately in Sony's favor this time and it looks like they've learned a thing or two from the demise of their earlier format.

As the tables are turned and Blu-ray ascends the throne of ubiquity while HD-DVD dies the slow lingering death of BetaMax, I leave you with this:

Two men are in a public restroom...

There is a joke that goes something like this:

Two enlisted guys are in a public restroom, one is Army the other Navy. When they have finished at the urinals, the Army guy goes to wash his hands while the Navy guy heads for the door. The Army guy says, "In the Army they teach us to wash our hands after pissing" to which the Navy guy responds, "In the Navy they teach us not to piss on our hands".

At the risk of turning this into a blog about bathrooms, why do people not wash their hands after visiting the porcelain throne? Whether there for #1 or #2, billions of bacteria are transfered to your hands each time you visit the restroom - bacteria that you're passing on to friends and colleagues. Experiences they may not be willing to share with you will be shared regardless with no concern for people or property.

I rant on this topic after watching a fellow employee use the bathroom and leave with nary so much as a glance at the wash facilities. I know the individual as a passing acquaintance, but am dreading being officially introduced to the man... what happens if he puts out his hand? Should I avoid shaking it while desperately trying to keep my lunch from making a repeat performance? Should I shake then immediately excuse myself to wash my hands? Tough call... What would you do?

Arrogance vs. Confidence

I never used to think of myself as arrogant. Certainly, I know what I know and have no doubts about it - afterall if you didn't think you were right, you wouldn't think it would you?. But arrogant? Moi?

Not too long ago, I was visiting my sister in sunny California (yes, my luck held out and the 8 month long dry season ended while I was there...) and we stopped by a typically trendy drinking establishment. Feeling self-deprecating, I ordered an "Arrogant Bastard" - a delightfully poignant brew with a good hoppy finish. To my dismay, my sister, my wife and even the waitress made noises of approval! I can understand my wife and sister (two separate people, don't let your WV tenancies show) doing that, but for a waitress...!!

Haven't been able to shake that encounter... been dwelling on it on and off for a few months... Am I really that arrogant, or do people just have a problem with my confidence? Such thoughts naturally lead me to ponder the difference between arrogance and confidence.

Dictionary differences aside (arrogance, confidence) I have come to the following conclusion: Arrogance is when someone thinks you think you're better than they are while confidence is when they agree with you. All in the eye of the beholder, you see? Am I to be blamed for being arrogant, or praised for being confident? Strange is it not, that you can be over confident but not over arrogant?

Is it arrogance or confidence that leads people to do things like this:

Braaaaaaaaaaaains....

My stream of consciousness beginnings to these entries hasn't failed me yet and today is no exception!

Except that it is.

Over the last few months I've come up with any number of things that would be fun and interesting to write about but the very instant that I sit down to do it, they fly from my brain like lemmings from a cliff. This isn't the first time either - my brain seems increasingly incapable of holding information for any longer than an Alzheimer ridden goldfish.

The curious thing is that certain bits of info, usually of an entirely useless nature, get lodged deep in my memory never to be lost. If only I could figure out why. Why can't I remember that I am driving to the grocery store and not straight home, but can immediately recall the address of the house in Bordon, England that we lived in 15+ years ago? Why can't I recall what I had for dinner last night, yet I can with unerring ease recall the color of the frames on my wife's movie star sun glasses from a picture of her in California? If I could figure that out, I'd never have a problem remembering anything!

Brains are odd. Zombies love them, big is better, pink and wrinkly is ideal. largely comprised of fat and water with a few electrolytes thrown in for flavor. Not too different from the primordial goo we are all supposed to have come from. Go figure. Our brains are one of the most complicated organs in our body and one of only a handful that we simply can't do without. Unless you're running for congress.