Colorado has a law that you can't sit in the fast lane and cruise if there is space in the slow lane. In other words you need to be considerate of other drivers and stick to the slow lane if you can so that the moron in the WRX who has been 5 inches behind you for the last ten miles can get past.
So what's the appropriate spacing between your car and the car in front when the speed limit is 75, you are 25- 35 and have a 400 HP car? My answer is based on observation of actual events - not just some scientific crap. The answer is (apparently) five feet (or less).
So you're driving at 80 MPH (+5 on the speed limit) with a gap of about five feet to the geriatric in the Cadillac in front of you. Let's say an alien ship hits the Caddy with a tractor beam that stops it dead in the road in front of you. Your reaction time is about 200 ms (That's 0.2 seconds for those of you who missed SI units in high school). After your brain realizes that the Caddy has stopped, it waits for 200 ms to let you know: "Hey, hit the brakes or .....". So you hit the brakes. Let's say it takes another 100 ms for you to push down the pedal to the point that all four wheels are at max traction. (I'm assuming you have ABS so the wheels won't actually lock up). So to recap, the Caddy is stopped five feet in front of you and you apply the full retarding power of the brakes after 300 ms while traveling at 80 MPH. You're dead. Ha ha, so you thought I was going to do some sort of math here? No need, you're dead - you won't appreciate it.
OK - let's do the math. distance = velocity * time. d (miles) = 80 / 60 / 60 * 0.3 = 0.00666666666667 miles = 35 feet - or well past the Caddy assuming you have the mass (which in a WRX you don't).
Well, most of us (you, not me) didn't do physics at school and have only the rudimentary knowledge of math required to tie your shoe laces so perhaps you have an excuse for driving too close. I can oly hope that natural selection removes you from the gene pool.
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Winter Guard
Sat 22 Mar 2014.
Written live.
I’m spending the evening watching my daughter perform as part of the Pine Creek winter guard team up in Littleton, Colorado. Kids from all over this part of the state come to compete with the only audience being the parents that brought them. There are far more competitors than performers. Each team brings its own floor tarp, chairs and other props. They all use the same white wooden rifles, sabers and flags. As each team performs, the other teams watch from the bleachers - opposite from the parents. Some of the parents are massively enthusiastic for whomever is performing, the rest clap for their own team or sit silently. The routines combine gymnastics, dance and what I generally refer to as twirling - a rifle , a saber or a flag on a pole. Synchronized flag tossing and catching is rewarded by enthusiastic applause from the audience. The choreography of some of the routines is quite complex. This isn’t quite the Marine Corps silent drill team but these kids have very obviously put in a lot of practice time. The teams are mostly female but there are one or two males in most of the teams. I guess it rates the same as cheerleading for the males. One team rolls up its floor mat and exits the gym as the next team pulls their mat in on a cart in drags it out over the floor. The announcer introduces the team and a small part of the stand explodes in applause identifying the parents of the new team. Occasionally a flag or rifle gets dropped. Everyone feels for the performer who quickly grabs the fallen prop and gets back into formation. For one team, it’s raining and they have umbrellas for some of the performers while the others twirl flags and rifles. It’s an odd mix. The military heritage of saber and rifle subjugated by glass and umbrellas. It’s funny but I had expected to sit here and read my book with a pair of ear buds in until Pine Creek was on, but I find myself watching each performance. This is evidently a ‘sport’ for all - we have the ultra-thin dancers and some about twice the weight - all giving just as much. The music ends, the audience cheers and the performers drag their floor covering off. Time for a break. As usual, there seems to be no phone coverage in the gym - a conspiracy by the school district no doubt. We nerdy parents need our network connection. How else can we report up to the minute events on Facebook? It’s about this time that my back starts to complain about sitting on a 2x10 board with no back support. We put 12 men on the moon but we can’t create affordable bleacher seating for a high-school gym? I guess not. Even as I’m whining I realize that break time is over and the next team is getting ready to come out on the floor. A couple of the staff here look like they might weigh in at a good 350 to 400 pounds. Perhaps a little rifle twirling might be good for them too? Watching a team twirling sabers reminds me on a Monty Python ‘Sam Peckinpah’ sketch. I keep expecting fingers to come flying off each time a performer catches a saber. The team completes its five minutes of colorful flag whirling and I’m starting to wonder when Pine Creek will be on. A new team on the floor - this time they’ve brought their own scenery as well as floor covering. The scenery isn’t very wide and I think it’s supposed to be a rock formation - we’ll see. These guys have interesting costumes - looks like an off-Broadway production. One dropped flag but a very together crew. Slightly strange sound track - more talking that music - definitely a play type of theme. Another dropped rifle but they push on undeterred. One of the kids has a bazooka - evidently a gun wasn’t enough! Whoever put this together had drama in mind not dance - but it’s really good. They complete a perfect section to great applause. I’ve now lost count of the teams - there are a lot. Pine Creek is supposed to be on next. My butt is now officially dead. Ha ha. Now we have an Electric Light Orchestra theme - Most of these kids have likely never even heard of them. Nice uniforms and a solid performance with a lot of extended phone cords! Quite a few drops but applause from the crowd keeps them focused and moving on. When a really good rifle twirl comes off the crowd goes wild. It’s an odd way to spend a Saturday night. All right - Pine Creek is getting ready to come on the floor. Time to stop writing and get the camera out. OK - that was not so bad! A couple of drops but altogether a good routine and it got great applause. But damn my butt hurts. I’m pretty sure you’d get a better audience turn out if they didn’t feel so persecuted. But I digress. Ah more scenery - black - with a black floor mat and all black costumes. If the light s go out it’ll be difficult to find anyone. Saber juggling and black flags. The black theme comes off quite well. Did I mention that Pine Creek used chairs? A bit odd, but it fit in with the routine OK. Way cool! Costume changes and the floor comes apart to reveal bright oranges and reds. Bummer - the next floor change leaves the floor covering all rumpled up - but the kids keep going with a really nice synchronized flag twirl.A real shame about the floor change not coming off because the rest was really well done. A spectacular performance. And now another break. I would try to stand up but I doubt my legs work any more. Break time over again and group from Denver appear to represent the homeless people. I just know what kind of teachers these kids have. I’m a nerd so I mostly look for science, math and good writing skills, not ‘civics’. That aside, we have another off-Broadway event to watch. This is so far from ‘guard’ I’m not relating to it like the others. Ah - here come the sabers - often seen in downtown Denver. I’m pretty sure one of the dancing ‘homeless’ is a teacher. She looks way to old to be one of the kids. What possible message does this convey? We’ve got ‘homeless’ people twirling flags, rifles and sabers. They are pretty good at the flying rifle twirl - not a dropped one anywhere. And - and this is weird - they are all smiling while they perform - not what I usually identify with the homeless. Definitely peculiar. We’re getting near the end now and some of the parents are starting to leave. Perhaps the crappy weather is inciting them to go home early. A team comes on and does a spectacular running rifle drill - they are also using chairs as props but they move them around as they go. Lots of sequenced actions (must have been watching the Marines drill). This is a really well choreographed routine and very fast. Very few mistakes and some jazz makes this very compelling to watch.Outstanding performance and it gets wild applause. Even the Pine Creek team now sitting in the bleachers opposite me applaud this one. The next team has roadies laying out the mat. Looks like they have skimpy spectacular costumes as I watch them waiting to come in. Ah yes a Greek theme I think - although they could also be Romans - what do I know? They have a slightly odd ballet type of theme combined with the obligatory rifle and saber twirling - just a weird mixture. Their ‘white’ rifles have gold bands on them - I bet the judges don’t like that :) It’s a bit over-ambitious for their collective gymnastic ability and has a lot of strange prancing about. (That’s ballet Nigel - I hear you say). But with rifles. And that’s it. My butt has left for some other planet but I had a good night out. The kids worked very hard and many of them pulled off great shows. But wait, I was assuming from the announcements that it’s over. But yet another team comes on the floor. My butt groans. I’ve noticed that kids from one school often help another school pull its floor mat out. Competition or no, they are helping each other. Way cool scenery involving a scene of the moon for this one. Ah, more ballet in skimpy costumes. Can't see where they are hiding the rifles yet. And out comes a saber for a spectacular toss. Good music on this one - must ask what is was. Very nicely synchronized rifle work. A spectacular change of flags cause uproar from the crowd. They are all drunk by now and will cheer at anything. Just kidding - maybe. It’s nearly 9:00 PM now and yet another team is coming on the floor. These guys have roadies too - bringing in more sound gear and …. a xylophone. No - two xylophones and a gong. I am not making this up. And someone in the bleachers near me has very bad farts. And o=in come the drums and more xylophones. I am not making this up. Wait while I take a picture. They are building a Masai village. I did not know the Masai used xylophones - see this is very educational. Forgive the rambling - I’m getting tired now and a small part of my brain is anticipating the drive home in the snow. Yes, it’s a full-up electronic Masai village ensemble. Man the drums and xylophones don’t mix :) In come the sane drums and cymbals. Hey, wait. Perhaps the guard event is over and I’ve strayed into a weird musical review. Nope - all the other parents are still here too. Man I hope this isn’t the half-time show. We’ll be here till midnight if it is. No rifles in this gig, but we do have a black mamba apparently. Altogether there are five xylophones in the village and a shit load of cymbal players. Oh yes, and a kid with blue hair on a snare drum. Do they get geography lessons in high school still? It sure doesn’t seem like it. Perhaps a bit more watching the Discovery channel might help them. I guess this is a ‘band’ class doing the finale. At least I hope it’s the finale. A load roaring tiger sound finishes their set. The Masai ensemble leave the floor. I suddenly realize this is a time filler so that the judges can figure out who won the rifle flinging contest. The announcer says there is still time to buy a raffle ticket. The competition winners are announced. There are several categories so a lot of teams get prizes. I’m a bit dumbfounded about the scores and which teams come out on top. Evidently I don’t understand the scoring system. Ok, time to go home. Hope you enjoyed the show - I did.
Pictures:
Written live.
I’m spending the evening watching my daughter perform as part of the Pine Creek winter guard team up in Littleton, Colorado. Kids from all over this part of the state come to compete with the only audience being the parents that brought them. There are far more competitors than performers. Each team brings its own floor tarp, chairs and other props. They all use the same white wooden rifles, sabers and flags. As each team performs, the other teams watch from the bleachers - opposite from the parents. Some of the parents are massively enthusiastic for whomever is performing, the rest clap for their own team or sit silently. The routines combine gymnastics, dance and what I generally refer to as twirling - a rifle , a saber or a flag on a pole. Synchronized flag tossing and catching is rewarded by enthusiastic applause from the audience. The choreography of some of the routines is quite complex. This isn’t quite the Marine Corps silent drill team but these kids have very obviously put in a lot of practice time. The teams are mostly female but there are one or two males in most of the teams. I guess it rates the same as cheerleading for the males. One team rolls up its floor mat and exits the gym as the next team pulls their mat in on a cart in drags it out over the floor. The announcer introduces the team and a small part of the stand explodes in applause identifying the parents of the new team. Occasionally a flag or rifle gets dropped. Everyone feels for the performer who quickly grabs the fallen prop and gets back into formation. For one team, it’s raining and they have umbrellas for some of the performers while the others twirl flags and rifles. It’s an odd mix. The military heritage of saber and rifle subjugated by glass and umbrellas. It’s funny but I had expected to sit here and read my book with a pair of ear buds in until Pine Creek was on, but I find myself watching each performance. This is evidently a ‘sport’ for all - we have the ultra-thin dancers and some about twice the weight - all giving just as much. The music ends, the audience cheers and the performers drag their floor covering off. Time for a break. As usual, there seems to be no phone coverage in the gym - a conspiracy by the school district no doubt. We nerdy parents need our network connection. How else can we report up to the minute events on Facebook? It’s about this time that my back starts to complain about sitting on a 2x10 board with no back support. We put 12 men on the moon but we can’t create affordable bleacher seating for a high-school gym? I guess not. Even as I’m whining I realize that break time is over and the next team is getting ready to come out on the floor. A couple of the staff here look like they might weigh in at a good 350 to 400 pounds. Perhaps a little rifle twirling might be good for them too? Watching a team twirling sabers reminds me on a Monty Python ‘Sam Peckinpah’ sketch. I keep expecting fingers to come flying off each time a performer catches a saber. The team completes its five minutes of colorful flag whirling and I’m starting to wonder when Pine Creek will be on. A new team on the floor - this time they’ve brought their own scenery as well as floor covering. The scenery isn’t very wide and I think it’s supposed to be a rock formation - we’ll see. These guys have interesting costumes - looks like an off-Broadway production. One dropped flag but a very together crew. Slightly strange sound track - more talking that music - definitely a play type of theme. Another dropped rifle but they push on undeterred. One of the kids has a bazooka - evidently a gun wasn’t enough! Whoever put this together had drama in mind not dance - but it’s really good. They complete a perfect section to great applause. I’ve now lost count of the teams - there are a lot. Pine Creek is supposed to be on next. My butt is now officially dead. Ha ha. Now we have an Electric Light Orchestra theme - Most of these kids have likely never even heard of them. Nice uniforms and a solid performance with a lot of extended phone cords! Quite a few drops but applause from the crowd keeps them focused and moving on. When a really good rifle twirl comes off the crowd goes wild. It’s an odd way to spend a Saturday night. All right - Pine Creek is getting ready to come on the floor. Time to stop writing and get the camera out. OK - that was not so bad! A couple of drops but altogether a good routine and it got great applause. But damn my butt hurts. I’m pretty sure you’d get a better audience turn out if they didn’t feel so persecuted. But I digress. Ah more scenery - black - with a black floor mat and all black costumes. If the light s go out it’ll be difficult to find anyone. Saber juggling and black flags. The black theme comes off quite well. Did I mention that Pine Creek used chairs? A bit odd, but it fit in with the routine OK. Way cool! Costume changes and the floor comes apart to reveal bright oranges and reds. Bummer - the next floor change leaves the floor covering all rumpled up - but the kids keep going with a really nice synchronized flag twirl.A real shame about the floor change not coming off because the rest was really well done. A spectacular performance. And now another break. I would try to stand up but I doubt my legs work any more. Break time over again and group from Denver appear to represent the homeless people. I just know what kind of teachers these kids have. I’m a nerd so I mostly look for science, math and good writing skills, not ‘civics’. That aside, we have another off-Broadway event to watch. This is so far from ‘guard’ I’m not relating to it like the others. Ah - here come the sabers - often seen in downtown Denver. I’m pretty sure one of the dancing ‘homeless’ is a teacher. She looks way to old to be one of the kids. What possible message does this convey? We’ve got ‘homeless’ people twirling flags, rifles and sabers. They are pretty good at the flying rifle twirl - not a dropped one anywhere. And - and this is weird - they are all smiling while they perform - not what I usually identify with the homeless. Definitely peculiar. We’re getting near the end now and some of the parents are starting to leave. Perhaps the crappy weather is inciting them to go home early. A team comes on and does a spectacular running rifle drill - they are also using chairs as props but they move them around as they go. Lots of sequenced actions (must have been watching the Marines drill). This is a really well choreographed routine and very fast. Very few mistakes and some jazz makes this very compelling to watch.Outstanding performance and it gets wild applause. Even the Pine Creek team now sitting in the bleachers opposite me applaud this one. The next team has roadies laying out the mat. Looks like they have skimpy spectacular costumes as I watch them waiting to come in. Ah yes a Greek theme I think - although they could also be Romans - what do I know? They have a slightly odd ballet type of theme combined with the obligatory rifle and saber twirling - just a weird mixture. Their ‘white’ rifles have gold bands on them - I bet the judges don’t like that :) It’s a bit over-ambitious for their collective gymnastic ability and has a lot of strange prancing about. (That’s ballet Nigel - I hear you say). But with rifles. And that’s it. My butt has left for some other planet but I had a good night out. The kids worked very hard and many of them pulled off great shows. But wait, I was assuming from the announcements that it’s over. But yet another team comes on the floor. My butt groans. I’ve noticed that kids from one school often help another school pull its floor mat out. Competition or no, they are helping each other. Way cool scenery involving a scene of the moon for this one. Ah, more ballet in skimpy costumes. Can't see where they are hiding the rifles yet. And out comes a saber for a spectacular toss. Good music on this one - must ask what is was. Very nicely synchronized rifle work. A spectacular change of flags cause uproar from the crowd. They are all drunk by now and will cheer at anything. Just kidding - maybe. It’s nearly 9:00 PM now and yet another team is coming on the floor. These guys have roadies too - bringing in more sound gear and …. a xylophone. No - two xylophones and a gong. I am not making this up. And someone in the bleachers near me has very bad farts. And o=in come the drums and more xylophones. I am not making this up. Wait while I take a picture. They are building a Masai village. I did not know the Masai used xylophones - see this is very educational. Forgive the rambling - I’m getting tired now and a small part of my brain is anticipating the drive home in the snow. Yes, it’s a full-up electronic Masai village ensemble. Man the drums and xylophones don’t mix :) In come the sane drums and cymbals. Hey, wait. Perhaps the guard event is over and I’ve strayed into a weird musical review. Nope - all the other parents are still here too. Man I hope this isn’t the half-time show. We’ll be here till midnight if it is. No rifles in this gig, but we do have a black mamba apparently. Altogether there are five xylophones in the village and a shit load of cymbal players. Oh yes, and a kid with blue hair on a snare drum. Do they get geography lessons in high school still? It sure doesn’t seem like it. Perhaps a bit more watching the Discovery channel might help them. I guess this is a ‘band’ class doing the finale. At least I hope it’s the finale. A load roaring tiger sound finishes their set. The Masai ensemble leave the floor. I suddenly realize this is a time filler so that the judges can figure out who won the rifle flinging contest. The announcer says there is still time to buy a raffle ticket. The competition winners are announced. There are several categories so a lot of teams get prizes. I’m a bit dumbfounded about the scores and which teams come out on top. Evidently I don’t understand the scoring system. Ok, time to go home. Hope you enjoyed the show - I did.
Pictures:
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Older but no better at typing
So I thought I'd take a stab at a blog post since I haven't managed to write anything for a really long time. One of the things that drives me nuts is that I can't touch type. I've tried a few times to work with my copy of "Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing" (which is a good app in my view) but the problem is that I spend an hour or two working on learning where the ASDF keys are and then I have to go back to work. Now there is not a LOT of C++ you can write with just ASDF so I end up four-finger typing again and forgetting where even the ASDF keys are after a day.
The other factor, is that I seem to keep getting older. This is some sort of genetic defect I inherited from my parents and it's a real bitch. I need to pee more often and my fingers just don't move as fast as they used to. That would be OK except that they also don't seem to hit the right keys more than about 80% of tha tinne. The result is an encrypted version of my thoughts. The other thing I've noticed is that as I'm typing I can't see any of the glaring errors that I'll find if I re-read the work some time later. I'm always typing 'ing' as 'ign' - there is just something about the N-G sequence my brain can't figure out. This has a slight benefit in that I can tell code that I've written because the comments have these common typos in them. Perhaps this is a form of 'signing' my code and I can patent it.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Types of cheese
I quite often have cheese sandwiches for lunch. Today I heard, yet again: "What type of cheese is that?".
There are only three kinds of cheese: cow, government and other (which is mostly goat).
I eat cow cheese. I do not trust the government much and I'm certainly not going to take their cheese.
Cow cheese comes in different colors but that is just marketing.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Stop this outsourcing crap (repost)
The phone rings and I pick it up to hear a voice with a heavy Indian accent. “Hello is that Nigel Thompson?” I tell him is, and ask what his name is. He tells me it’s John Nash. Right, I ask him if he’s in Bangalore or Hyderabad. He says that it is company policy not to disclose that information. I’m sure it is. The company in question is AT&T, our former long distance carrier. They are calling to find out why we haven’t paid the bill for calls we made after we closed our account with them. That’s not their version of it, of course but that’s the deal. We switched long distance carriers and AT&T continued to bill us. Now I really don’t want to get into who owns the fibre that carries the calls that my local phone company uses because at the end of the day they belong to MCI or some other large company and all these phone companies just send your call over whatever lines they have arrangements to use. This is just how it works. The real pain in this case is that the person calling to attempt to get me to pay for services not rendered is not willing to send me an itemized list of the things they are claiming I need to pay for. We have tried customer service and countless other people at AT&T but none of them is willing to send us a record of the calls we made. So it comes down to this: AT&T puts a guy on the phone from its collections department who doesn’t speak English very well, isn’t able or just won’t to send me a copy of the records he tells me he can see on his screen. He doesn’t care that we closed the account – he can see that on his screen along with the bogus billing records. He’s not talking to me as an AT&T customer (which I’m not at this point). He’s just doing some mindless job for twenty rupees a week by reading a script over the phone. Please tell me how this is helping AT&T make money? If you’re an AT&T shareholder, here’s some news: the company you’ve bought into is run by morons who think that employing non-native English speakers with fake American-sounding names is helping business because it’s cheaper than employing someone in the U.S. To digress for a moment, is letting an employee represent himself by a fake name fraud? Perhaps he’s not even with AT&T? After a long time on the phone with this guy I decided two things: My time was being wasted by someone who could care less about me, and I had now cost AT&T a fair amount of money in talking to me. I don’t suppose I cost them as much as the amount they were trying to stiff me for but I had hopes that it was close. Here’s another business tip for the idiots running AT&T: If the customer has closed the account and only owes (say) less than $100, don’t bother trying to collect – it will cost more to collect than it’s worth. Write it off and move on. Of course the modern computer-based company can’t make a decision like that. If I owed AT&T just one cent, I’m sure the process would schedule the call anyway. This is how business is done now. Some program implements a policy and spits out instructions to a building full of low-cost employees in Bangalore who use AT&Ts long-distance lines to phone you and ask you to pay the bill. After putting down the phone I decided that dealing with these morons wasn’t worth it. The amount of money was very small and I consider my time away from work valuable (this was on a Saturday) so I decided to pay the bill and ignore the fact that I really didn’t think we owed them the money. I call the number and get another India voice. This one is far more polite (must be earlier in his shift). When I made the call, the automated robot asked me for my phone number before it connected me. They don’t have caller ID at AT&T? I type it in one the phone. So what’s the first question the guy asks when I’m connected? “What is your phone number?” Really these guys must have worked for the CIA in a previous life. They have NO IDEA how to keep track of any information at all. There is a pause and he says: “You are not an AT&T customer”. Right. That was the point I was trying to make about two months ago when we closed the account. No matter, I am un-phased by this attempt to side-track me from getting the AT&T monkey off my back. I ask him to check our records, confirm the account number and verify the amount outstanding. The computing gods are with us. He even has a record of the so-called John Nash conversation. I pay the bill by credit card, get a confirmation number and we’re done. But no, not quite. I am dumbstruck as he asks me: “How much are you paying for your long distance service?”. I tell him that’s none of his business. I visualize the guy reading from his script: “AT&T has several long-distance packages ...” I cut him off. I don’t want another AT&T account. AT&T has one long-distance package I never want again – their Indian-based customer service.
This problem is not unique to AT&T. There are a lot of other U.S. companies who outsource their technical support, customer service and so on. If you are a customer of one of these companies and you find yourself in the unfortunate position of having to call them, ask them where they are. These companies don’t want to admit to you that they took jobs from the U.S. and outsourced them. They allow their employees to provide fake names. Some even have training so they can learn a few American expressions to use casually in the conversation. [Please imagine strong Indian accent] “Howdy, very pleased am I to be having speaks with y’all today. My name is Buck Rogers. How may I be helping you please?” Some of them are in Costa Rica of course, not India but I can’t do the accent.
On a final note, let me say that I have absolutely nothing against Indian people. I have some friends who are Indian and work with some of them too. My issue is with the American companies who are exploiting these people because they cost less to employ than a body here in the U.S. Yes, this is exploitation. The goal is to push up the stock price. If they can’t do it by selling more good, they try to do it in the short term by lowering costs. Nowhere in that equation is the effect on customer satisfaction. So long as we all keep putting up with this crappy service, they’ll keep taking our money.
This problem is not unique to AT&T. There are a lot of other U.S. companies who outsource their technical support, customer service and so on. If you are a customer of one of these companies and you find yourself in the unfortunate position of having to call them, ask them where they are. These companies don’t want to admit to you that they took jobs from the U.S. and outsourced them. They allow their employees to provide fake names. Some even have training so they can learn a few American expressions to use casually in the conversation. [Please imagine strong Indian accent] “Howdy, very pleased am I to be having speaks with y’all today. My name is Buck Rogers. How may I be helping you please?” Some of them are in Costa Rica of course, not India but I can’t do the accent.
On a final note, let me say that I have absolutely nothing against Indian people. I have some friends who are Indian and work with some of them too. My issue is with the American companies who are exploiting these people because they cost less to employ than a body here in the U.S. Yes, this is exploitation. The goal is to push up the stock price. If they can’t do it by selling more good, they try to do it in the short term by lowering costs. Nowhere in that equation is the effect on customer satisfaction. So long as we all keep putting up with this crappy service, they’ll keep taking our money.
Waters Rocks (repost from 2009)
My son and I went to see Roger Waters in Denver this week. This was one of the best rock concerts I've ever been too. I think my teenage son was the youngest person in the audience but he knew all the words to the songs as did the rest of us. The musicians accompanying Waters were brilliant especially the lead guitar and the female vocalists. The flying pig made an appearance but I think the high point of the effects was the pyramid and laser spectrum scanning the audience. A pity that the pyramid had a triangular base - those in Egypt have four sides Roger. As with most modern rock concerts, the music was accompanied by a political theme and it was well taken by the audience. I you have a chance to go, please go and see this show. I felt so alive when we came out. I'd forgotten what they felt like.
Silly Wikipedia post (repost)
As an experiment, two of use posted the following junk on Wikipedia. It took all of about 15 minutes for it to get flagged as bogus which just goes to proove that Wikipedia is a peer reviewed system.
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The Effect of the Rorabaugh Field on the Assimilation of Complex Systems Information
Abstract
The Rorabaugh field is the connectivity plane that provides the fabric for information interchange between complex systems in the super-domain space. In practical implementations of hyper-connected complex systems, we find that the Rorabaugh field itself contributes significantly as a communication inhibitor between the systems that intersect the connectivity plane.
Background
The interchange of information between complex systems is essential to the growth of knowledge of both the individual systems and the group of systems or super-system. Governance of the super-system is achieved by application of a mentor or supervisor object or may be delegated to a secondary level directive object such as a member of the class typically known as instructors.
For the purposes of discussion we consider the super-system to be spatially constrained by a physical container and an initial and final temporal markers. This gives us constraining factors in four dimensions which is adequate for first-order analysis of the primary issues of communication.
During normal operation of the super-system, the Rorabaugh field has only second or third order effects on the communication pipes established by the complex system matrix. The Rorabaugh filed operates in Trojan mode, masquerading both as an interconnectivity field and as a system that intersect the field.
When the super-system has been constrained spatially for an extended period of time, the Rorabaugh field mutates slightly such that an increase in the noise level occurs on the pipes between the systems intersecting the plane of the field. This increase in noise level reduces the effective bandwidth of established communication pipes and inhibits the creation of new pipes by denying transport of the initiation sequence data structures or by intercepting the directory system lookups required to resolve destination target addresses.
Information Assimilation Effects
The increased noise caused by the intersection of super-system members with the Rorabaugh filed primary plane inhibits the transfer of information between the systems that comprise the super-system member set to an extent that over time, the field effect causes not only a reduction to zero of the information accumulation at targeted super-system nodes but also a change of state in a significant percentage of nodes which leads to the secondary effect know as inter-factional disruption.
During the onset of inter-factional disruption, the systems in the super-set combine by reducing the physical special factor thus creating local sites of clustered nodes. The clusters use close physical proximity to combat the reduced bandwidth of the primary pipes. Secondary communication is achieved by optical methods or through the use of encrypted electromagnetic spectrum modulation methods using the Andress normal vector cross product mechanism.
The local clusters form inter-system data exchange based on the normal vector and matrix dot product values that combine to achieve a defense mechanism which increases visibility of the Rorabaugh field’s node to the other members of the super-set.
Once the Trojan node has been identified, one or more clusters move along the time axis at a rate inversely proportional to the cube root of the distance between the geometric center of the cluster and the perihelion of the Rorabaugh Trojan node orbit with respect to the center of mass of the local clusters within the super set. The net effect of the time-axis move is to reduce the effect of the Rorabaugh field on communications restoring effective communications within the local clusters. As inter-system communication reliability increases with a cluster the bonding force between systems elements of the cluster weakens and the cluster members begin to gain spatial separation that increases linearly with the approach of the center of mass of the super-set to the upper temporal bound. Once spatial separation increases from the Trojan node, the establishment of pipes between non-cluster aligned nodes is enabled. This tends to further suppress the effect of the Rorabaugh field returning the system to its initial state.
Conclusions
Although the Rorabaugh field can significantly disrupt communications between complex systems that intersect the field plane, the normal defensive mechanism of the set members combine to nullify the field force and redder the field ineffective.
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The Effect of the Rorabaugh Field on the Assimilation of Complex Systems Information
Abstract
The Rorabaugh field is the connectivity plane that provides the fabric for information interchange between complex systems in the super-domain space. In practical implementations of hyper-connected complex systems, we find that the Rorabaugh field itself contributes significantly as a communication inhibitor between the systems that intersect the connectivity plane.
Background
The interchange of information between complex systems is essential to the growth of knowledge of both the individual systems and the group of systems or super-system. Governance of the super-system is achieved by application of a mentor or supervisor object or may be delegated to a secondary level directive object such as a member of the class typically known as instructors.
For the purposes of discussion we consider the super-system to be spatially constrained by a physical container and an initial and final temporal markers. This gives us constraining factors in four dimensions which is adequate for first-order analysis of the primary issues of communication.
During normal operation of the super-system, the Rorabaugh field has only second or third order effects on the communication pipes established by the complex system matrix. The Rorabaugh filed operates in Trojan mode, masquerading both as an interconnectivity field and as a system that intersect the field.
When the super-system has been constrained spatially for an extended period of time, the Rorabaugh field mutates slightly such that an increase in the noise level occurs on the pipes between the systems intersecting the plane of the field. This increase in noise level reduces the effective bandwidth of established communication pipes and inhibits the creation of new pipes by denying transport of the initiation sequence data structures or by intercepting the directory system lookups required to resolve destination target addresses.
Information Assimilation Effects
The increased noise caused by the intersection of super-system members with the Rorabaugh filed primary plane inhibits the transfer of information between the systems that comprise the super-system member set to an extent that over time, the field effect causes not only a reduction to zero of the information accumulation at targeted super-system nodes but also a change of state in a significant percentage of nodes which leads to the secondary effect know as inter-factional disruption.
During the onset of inter-factional disruption, the systems in the super-set combine by reducing the physical special factor thus creating local sites of clustered nodes. The clusters use close physical proximity to combat the reduced bandwidth of the primary pipes. Secondary communication is achieved by optical methods or through the use of encrypted electromagnetic spectrum modulation methods using the Andress normal vector cross product mechanism.
The local clusters form inter-system data exchange based on the normal vector and matrix dot product values that combine to achieve a defense mechanism which increases visibility of the Rorabaugh field’s node to the other members of the super-set.
Once the Trojan node has been identified, one or more clusters move along the time axis at a rate inversely proportional to the cube root of the distance between the geometric center of the cluster and the perihelion of the Rorabaugh Trojan node orbit with respect to the center of mass of the local clusters within the super set. The net effect of the time-axis move is to reduce the effect of the Rorabaugh field on communications restoring effective communications within the local clusters. As inter-system communication reliability increases with a cluster the bonding force between systems elements of the cluster weakens and the cluster members begin to gain spatial separation that increases linearly with the approach of the center of mass of the super-set to the upper temporal bound. Once spatial separation increases from the Trojan node, the establishment of pipes between non-cluster aligned nodes is enabled. This tends to further suppress the effect of the Rorabaugh field returning the system to its initial state.
Conclusions
Although the Rorabaugh field can significantly disrupt communications between complex systems that intersect the field plane, the normal defensive mechanism of the set members combine to nullify the field force and redder the field ineffective.
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