Pat Canny Online

Gotye - "Somebody That I Used to Know" on KCRW

2012-01-10T22:35:00.005-05:00

I've seen several versions of this song on Youtube over the past week or so, and this happens to be my favorite version (even compared to the official, studio version). I like his vocals better, but Kimbra's part isn't quite as strong as in the original.

12-11-11: Manhattan's "Low Line"

2011-12-11T20:46:00.002-05:00

Very interesting project in Manhattan - the "Low Line":

11-28-11: Urban Omnibus

2011-11-28T17:33:00.006-05:00

I find systems of systems to be generally fascinating. I was lucky enough today to find Urban Omnibus (a project by the Architectural League of New York) which has a series called "City of Systems" covers various systems in New York City, from skyscraper HVAC to waste removal to traffic light control. Here are my favorites so far (there are a total of four videos in the series; I didn't find the piece on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to be all that interesting from a systems point of view).

I Made a QR Code!

2011-10-05T07:25:00.000-04:00

9-10-11: Old Geico Commercials

2011-09-10T14:05:00.002-04:00

Do you remember all the Geico ads before the Cavemen and Gecko campaigns? Those clever one-offs that started it all off? Well, here are a few good ones.

First, the Bill Plympton series:

And now the one-offs:

"Smaller Bill"

"Laughing Dog"

"Bob Weottababyitsaboy"

"Squirrels"

"Gecko Introduction"

9-4-11: Week in Vancouver

2011-09-04T21:31:00.001-04:00

While almost everyone I know was suffering through Hurricane Irene, I was on a business trip in Vancouver, British Columbia. I was there to run a few engine tests, which went well. To all those who have had a rough week or two: I do feel very guilty that I missed Irene. As I write this, I am sitting on the plane back to Boston.

My two most recent exposures to Vancouver were the wonderful 2010 Winter Olympic Games and the more recent Stanley Cup riots. I had heard nothing but good things, and looked forward to the trip.

After spending time in Vancouver (actually I spent most of the week in nearby Richmond where the airport and the company I was working with are located), I came to realize that the people who rioted could not have been Vancouver residents. It had to have been avid Canucks fans from out of town. There is simply no way that many Vancouverites (yes that is what they are called) could be that upset over anything. They live in a beautiful city surrounded by mountains and just gorgeous scenery all around. Then again, maybe they’re spoiled.

I did some research before the trip to figure out where I’d go sightseeing. When I got there, I scrapped most of my plans and went with the suggestions of Colin, my primary point of contact at the Canadian company I was visiting. Colin, who grew up in Calgary, has been living in the Vancouver area for several years. He recommended I see Granville Island and rent a bike to pedal around Stanley Park.

So, during the weekend, that is what I did. And boy, was it something.

Granville Island is a neat little neighborhood in False Creek that sits under a bridge. It has the usual touristy shops, many of them owned and operated by local crafts artists, Emily Carr University (for artists) and a couple very good microbreweries: Granville Island Brewing Company and the Dockside Brewery. I stopped there for lunch on Saturday after taking the Canada Line Sky Train from Richmond, where I was staying, to Vancouver City Centre for a morning walking around downtown. Though I wasn’t too keen on the touristy knick-knack shops, overall I enjoyed Granville Island and would certainly pay it a visit again if possible.

On Sunday, I rented a bike from Reckless Bikes in Yaletown, near Roundhouse Community Centre, for a ride along the seawall and around Stanley Park. Let me just say this: if you are in Vancouver for a fully day, and it’s nice out (which it was), rent a bike. It’s a very bicycle-friendly city in general, but the seawall is marvelous. I made my way around the whole peninsula, under the Lions Gate Bridge that connects Downtown Vancouver with North Vancouver, and back around. It’s flat, easy, and flat-out awesome. Going at a leisurely pace, and stopping for pictures several times, I was able to make it back to Reckless Bikes in just under two hours. Total rental cost: $20 CAD.

There are certain foods in Vancouver that are great, and some that aren’t. In general, the seafood, especially the sushi, is excellent. Also great is the vast assortment of Asian delicacies, especially in nearby Richmond. Not so great: burgers and pizza. If you like seafood, don’t bother with the burgers in Vancouver. The beef was OK, but the few burgers I had were cooked the same, medium well because I wasn’t asked, and were nothing special. The pizza: mediocre even at the best spots. My favorite sushi spot was a place called Zero One Sushi on West Pender Street near Gastown. It’s small, but the Japanese owners do a great job making very fresh and tasty sushi dishes.

Richmond itself is quite a place. My guide Colin recommended that, before I leave, I should try the fish and chips at Pajo’s in Steveston, a neighborhood in the south of Richmond. I went there the last night, bought the large fish and chips (made with halibut) and sat on a bench to watch the waves. A fitting last meal to a great, great trip. Oh, and I did work while there, too.

I could go on all day about Vancouver, but I won’t. You really must see it for yourself.

"A Canny Approach: Car Crashes and Boston Sports Glory"

2011-08-07T15:05:00.000-04:00

7-26-11: My Month on the T

2011-07-26T20:17:00.000-04:00

I decided to take public transportation to work during the month of July. I did so because I was anticipating a work stoppage (and picket line) at the plant I work at. Since the Commuter Rail happens to stop at the plant, I figured it was a good time to buy a monthly pass. Alas, no strike, and yet I was still stuck with the pass.

The trip from my apartment in Medford to the GE plant in Lynn typically takes about an hour each way, though one day a couple weeks ago I did get home in 38 minutes, which is about how long a frustrating afternoon drive typically takes. There are three bus routes I can take, each with their own benefits and drawbacks. One of them (the 101) has a stop about 50 yards from my apartment. Another (the 89) is a 5 minute walk with a Dunkin’ Donuts on the way. The other (the 80) bypasses the subway but involves a shuttle bus at Lechmere. Plenty of options.

The typical ride on the 101 or the 89 takes about 10-15 minutes to get to Sullivan Square, which is followed by a roughly 4 minute subway ride to North Station, where I catch the Commuter Rail (which rumbles agonizingly slowly by Sullivan Square - why must you torment me, MBTA?!). The train ride lasts between 17 and 19 minutes, with only one stop (Chelsea) in between. No part of the trip takes more than 19 minutes.

After about a month of taking the T to work, I can see both the benefits and drawbacks of the public transportation commute. I will not be continuing this routine after this week because it is simply not worth the time and money. Here’s a quick breakdown of the pros and cons:

Pros:

- No driving

- Time to listen to a few podcasts and read the news

- A bit more exercise

- Monthly commuter rail pass (Zone 2; $151) includes unlimited bus and subway

Cons:

- More expensive than driving, overall

- Little to no flexibility in schedule

- Crowds

- Disjointed commute (not enough time to get a lot done)

- Some buses are in disrepair (I have been rained on by leaky AC units on a few buses)

For some people, the T is ideal. If you live and work in the city, and don’t need a car, it’s perfect. For those that have to go through the city and back out, like me, it’s less so.

6-22-11: The Thrill of Mass Transit for Rural/Suburban Youths

2011-06-22T23:07:00.001-04:00

I grew up in two places: a cow town in New Hampshire with a large state university, and an old farming town in Fairfield County, Connecticut populated by “new money” white collar outsiders who work in Manhattan. Both places have their own appeal to different people. I liked both, not necessarily equally, for what they offered. I think many people who grow up in towns like these appreciate what the towns have and residents don’t really look for much change. They like the prospects of the big city, but are comfortable in their bedroom communities. It’s nice.

The only other time when I took mass transit to or from work, before yesterday, was in Bangkok, Thailand for two months while doing a project in college. It was great. It was fast, cheap, and convenient. We lived a short walk from a terminal station, so we always had a seat while we zipped through the city on a 20 minute train ride on the Sky Train to the hospital where we worked. Each train ride cost about 50 cents, if that. I'd do that again in a heartbeat.

Yesterday I took the T (MBTA) home from work. It was certainly convenient, since the commuter rail stops at the GE plant in Lynn, and I was lucky enough to not pay the $4.75 fare since the conductors didn’t bother to check tickets for the 20 minute ride into North Station. I paid $1.70 in total (subway and bus) and got home in just about an hour. Not too bad. It was nowhere as nice as the Sky Train, but it was nowhere near as bad as what I’ve seen out of India and China during rush hour.

I like trains and buses. I think they’re a wonderful escape from the torture of city driving. I’d rather take the bus or subway than drive in Boston 9 trips out of 10. The first time I drove into Queens, to drop my dad off at LaGuardia, I became physically ill on the way home. I’ve done it a few times since; it takes practice.

Mass transit is viewed differently by people based on their background. I think people who grow up in cow towns and bedroom communities probably feel the same way about mass transit that I do, but people who grow up in cities probably don’t appreciate the system for what it is. I don’t knock them for that: it’s part of the 20^th century version of the American dream of owning a car and being mobile. The car is a normal good due to its convenience, but in a city it’s a burden.

For a semi-suburban (partly rural, partly suburban) youth, driving around your home town is just how you get around, and driving in a city with its traffic and constant rush is painful and detracts from the experience. You’d rather just take the train and enjoy it, even if it costs a bit more. The city is just an experience at that point.

6-16-11: The Bruins Victory

2011-06-16T17:51:00.000-04:00

The Bruins are a team that represents something different to everyone. They’re the last team in this great era of Boston sports to win it all (oddly enough, the Patriots are the current title “drought” holders in the area), but it wasn’t for lack of talent. They’ve had some good teams over the years since their previous win in 1972 in the hey-day of Orr and Bucyk. My favorite team was the 1992 team featuring Neely, Oates, Moog, and the great Ray Bourque. I wanted desperately for them to win, but they came up short in the conference finals against Pittsburgh.

The strange part about this year’s team is that going into the season, few fans really felt confident that this was “the year.” The Bruins were coming off a heart-breaking conference finals collapse to the Flyers, but it wasn’t all that disappointing considering their sixth place finish in the Eastern Conference.

Things were in flux to start this season. Do you remember who was the starting goaltender for the season opener in Prague? Tuuka Rask. Tim Thomas, the recently crowned Conn Smythe winner, was the back-up. And this wasn’t even “the year” for this team. Two years ago, they finished top in the Eastern Conference. This year they finished third. Few people thought they could beat Washington or Tampa Bay, let alone San Jose or Vancouver later on. Things didn’t start off well, down 2-0 to Montreal, the historical nemesis for the Bruins. At that point, many people felt that if the team made it to the conference finals, it would have been a good year.

Somehow, the Bruins fell into an area where few teams who win it all do: they were neither a complete under-dog or a favorite. They kept winning series with little pressure. Through grit and hustle, they beat teams with more talent and scoring power. Their power play was abysmal for most of the playoffs. They were hot and cold on offense. Tim Thomas was a rock in goal.

What makes this team different than the 2009 or 1992 (or the promising 1990 and 2004 teams)? I think it’s Cam Neely.

Neely (who played for Vancouver to start his career before coming to Boston) was a hard-working fiery player who got results. Injuries plagued his career, but it was his grit that people loved. Neely came to the Bruins in 1986, and had a terrific career until retiring in 1996 with almost no cartilage left in his knees.

Neely never won with the Bruins as a player. In 1990 they ran into the red hot Edmonton Oilers starring Gretzky and Messier. In 1992 he was injured and could not help the team overcome Pittsburgh in the conference finals. Then the Bruins went into a funk while Neely’s ability to play effectively dwindled for several years. Neely retired in 1996 with 694 career points (and 1,241 penalty minutes) and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2005.

In September of 2007, Neely was appointed Vice President of the Bruins, and was promoted to President exactly a year ago today – 364 days from President to Stanley Cup champ. Neely’s grit and hustle trickled down to his team in how it played and, more importantly, how it was built. Neely has repeatedly stated that he believes in the Bruins depth. There are no real stars beyond the giant captain Zdeno Chara, and I think Neely was aiming for that. The team got results from all four lines during the playoffs, and it simply wore down the Canucks towards the end. By the third period of last night’s game, you could see it right in front of you: Vancouver was spent.

What Neely has done as an executive is remarkable. Claude Julien has finally earned the respect he deserves as a coach. The Bruins are champions again. And it’s sunny outside!

6-14-11: The Quadrennial “No Soccer” Summer

2011-06-14T17:02:00.000-04:00

Let me start by saying that I do know about the 2011 Women’s World Cup, and plan on watching a couple games. I suggest you do, as well. This post focuses on men’s international soccer.

But for most of the world, the summer of 2011 is a “no soccer” summer. The four year cycle of men’s international soccer tournaments has one summer with no major tournaments beyond the CONCACAF Gold Cup, which is limited to North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Though many people follow the action of the biennial Gold Cup, it pales in comparison to the European Championships and the FIFA World Cup as far as quality of play. When you look at the (controversially calculated) FIFA World Rankings, you won’t find many CONCACAF members very high on the list. The U.S. is top in CONCACAF at 22nd in the world, followed by Mexico at 28th and Honduras at 43rd. In contrast, UEFA (the European soccer federation) has 13 teams ranked higher than the U.S.

It’s not to say this is a bad thing; you don’t want to saturate the market or devalue the major tournaments by playing them more frequently. I think it’s good to take a break. Next summer will be the European Championship, which will be hosted by Poland and The Ukraine and will be watched by hundreds of millions of fans. The qualification for that tournament is still ongoing. I don’t know if it will be as good a tournament as the 2008 installment, which was the beginning of Spain’s dominance over world soccer, but it should be fun. I don’t like how it’s being co-hosted by two teams ranked outside of the top 16 in UEFA (Ukraine is 23rd and Poland is 36th), though. With a 16 team tournament, it means that two teams that would have likely qualified over the two host countries won’t make it. To be fair, the 2008 tournament was also co-hosted by two mediocre UEFA members in Switzerland and Austria, and the tournament still went well. Still: wouldn’t you want the 16 best countries in the tournament? It would certainly enhance the quality of play.

Well, at least UEFA is moving in the right direction from 2016 onward. The 2016 tournament will be hosted by France and will have an expanded format of 24 teams. Time will tell if the tournament will be better than in it is with its current format.

The CONCACAF Gold Cup began last week. The U.S. plays again tonight, and will advance to the quarterfinals so long as they don’t lose to Guadaloupe.

Tyler Cowen: "The Great Stagnation" TEDx Talk

2011-06-07T20:49:00.000-04:00

"All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace" - Episode 1

2011-06-02T20:49:00.001-04:00

Covers a lot of ground. Very, very intriguing. Hat tip to Marginal Revolution.

6-2-11: New Job

2011-06-02T17:26:00.003-04:00

It’s been about two months since I started my new job at GE Aviation after nearly four years at Sikorsky Aircraft, my first employer out of college. It’s been quite the transition thus far.

It hasn't been that difficult in general. The hardest part so far is dealing with the fact that I’m new to the group and have to prove myself all over again. That’s something you don’t really think about until you arrive at a new job. I forgot how long it took at Sikorsky to warm up to the group and build some clout. It’s a totally different ballgame when you start somewhere new. Fortunately, the position at GE Aviation is a promotion of sorts from my last job, so I’m not treated the same as I had been starting out of college. I’ve already been given small bits of responsibility, which is nice, but it’s a process. I need more patience.

This process had reminded me of how my generation is thought of as generally feeling entitled. I think there’s unfortunately some truth to that, but there are also some misconceptions from older workers towards people my age (in their mid 20's). In general, people my age don’t feel as tied to employers as in the past, partly because we grew up in the age of new opportunity and a more global job market. It’s also much easier to apply for a new job today than it was 15 to 20+ years ago when most of the older workers began their careers. I won’t say it’s easier to land the job itself, but the fact that you can apply to a job with only a few mouse clicks provides applicants with a reduced sense of “marriage” to their current employer. That's simply not "how it used to be."

The past few years have been tough for job applicants of all ages, but I would bet that turnover will pick up among employees under the age of 30 in the next few years once the economy picks back up. Companies should take this into account. Keep the younger employees engaged. If an employer takes advantage of the employees' fear of their job security during a recession (Sikorsky did not do this, in fact I applaud them for their treatment of employees throughout the slowdown), they will not forget it when the economy picks back up and other opportunities present themselves. I simply made a choice. It was far from easy, but I left with a good feeling and miss my former group. That's the sign of a good working environment.

5-14-11: Wedding Songs

2011-05-14T08:23:00.003-04:00

Last weekend, a buddy of mine got married. It was a very nice and fun wedding, and went off (from my eyes) without a hitch. I didn't know which song he had chosen for the first dance, but once it came on, I knew the rest of the playlist would be good:

My first thought was "That's something I'd pick for the first dance at my wedding." Not that I'm in the planning stage or anything right now, but I have begun making a list of potential songs for whenever that occasion presents itself.

I don't have a top choice quite yet, but one song that I've liked since I first heard it (on a train to New York in the spring of my junior year of college) is "I Will Follow You into the Dark" by Death Cab for Cutie. It's a nice little song, but it's kinda dark and not good for dancing. Still, it's good:

Another good one is "Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton:

Sebastian Thrun: Google's driverless car (TED Talks)

2011-05-04T22:06:00.000-04:00

4-27-11: The Economics of Absentee Rent and Lazy College Students

2011-04-27T18:57:00.004-04:00

I've been living in the Boston area for almost a month now. Things are great. I like the area and my new job, and it's good to be around the lady again.

Unfortunately, the timing of the move wasn't perfect. Right now I'm paying rent for my current apartment and the apartment in New Haven. It's only for a few months, but it definitely sucks to pay $600 a month (each) for an empty place. It's the price to pay for the great opportunity, I suppose.

Our landlords in New Haven were pretty cool about us leaving. Why wouldn't they be? We're still paying rent. They did put the place on the market as soon as we told them back in late February, but haven't had much luck. One of the more interesting tid bits, explained to me by one of the landlords, is that the apartment is a little too far away from the Yale shuttle bus route to attract many Yale students (not to say Yale students would be searching for a new apartment in March anyway).

The point he was really trying to make is that he can't charge as much rent as landlords with similar, if not inferior in quality, apartments located on the Yale shuttle route. Even being one block away from the end of the route can be a problem. The value placed upon convenience and location by Yale students is higher than the value they place on the living standards within their physical domicile. Good for those lucky landlords, bad for my landlord (and therefore me, the absentee tenant).

On the flip side, I now live just far enough away from Tufts University that it's inconvenient for students who wish to live within walking distance of campus. My rent is therefore fairly reasonable for the location. Tufts doesn't have the same sort of shuttle service that Yale has, so I'd imagine the drop off in rent pricing isn't as drastic here in Medford. I have no data to back that up. Just a guess.

4-24-11: Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T13:17:00.002-04:00

Smart Transformers

2011-04-19T15:25:00.001-04:00

"If one neighbor plugged an electric car into an AC charger, for example, it could respond by tapping otherwise unneeded DC power from another neighbor's solar panels."

Sent to you by Pat via Google Reader:

Smart Transformers

via Technology Review RSS Feeds on 4/18/11

Controlling the flow of electricity to stabilize the grid

In a lab wired up to simulate a residential neighborhood, Alex Huang is working to revamp aging power grids into something more like the Internet—a network that might direct energy not just from centralized power stations to consumers but from any source to any destination, by whatever route makes the most sense. To that end, Huang, a professor of electrical engineering at North Carolina State University, is reinventing the transformers that currently reduce the voltage of the electricity distributed to neighborhoods so that it's suitable for use in homes and offices.

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"A Canny Approach" - Episode 3

2011-04-18T20:24:00.000-04:00

Can an Algorithm Spot the Next Google?

2011-04-14T16:42:00.001-04:00

"By extracting words and phrases from the collected documents, Quid constructs a "technology genome" that describes the primary focus of each of those 35,000 entities. A map of the connections those genomes can be used by investors to find hints about interesting companies or ideas, says Gourley. Most companies cluster around established sectors, but a few will sit in the white spaces between the clusters and can represent the seeds of new technology sectors."

Sent to you by Pat via Google Reader:

Can an Algorithm Spot the Next Google?

via Technology Review RSS Feeds on 4/13/11

A startup analyzes tweets, patents, and lots of other data in the hopes of identifying the next big thing.

By definition, "disruptive" technologies are those that take the world by surprise. Now a startup called Quid claims that its software can make good guesses about what the next big thing will be. It does this by analyzing a store of data on existing companies, ideas, and research.

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3-24-11: "Neutral Site" MATLAB Script

2011-03-24T18:53:00.003-04:00

I'm not a big college basketball fan. I casually follow my sister's school, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, but since they didn't make the NCAA Tournament (or the NIT or the one below that), I decided to throw $5 into a now broken bracket and watch a select few games during the tournament.

One thing I couldn't help but notice is that one team always seems to have a home court advantage over the other teams. I realize that with 16 teams, some one is going to be closer, so I don't really think there's much the NCAA can do about it within reason. But it got me thinking: how could I write a script that would figure out the best neutral site given a group of teams?

I threw something together in MATLAB (code below) in a couple hours. It's very simple and is absolutely the most inefficient and brute force way to go about solving the problem, but it is scalable. I ran through it a few times with six locations and got it to simulate in about 50 seconds. Not great, but this isn't a really time-critical application.

I assumed all teams are just points on a 1001 x 1001 grid (with the origin at the center), and chugged through all 1,002,001 points on the grid and calculated the distance to each set point (team location). The user enters how many teams and then enters the coordinates for each team (I didn't make it very simple for the user; something to work on). For each test point (all 1,002,001 of them) I have it calculate the Coefficient of Variation for the set of distances between each team. The point with the lowest COV is the selected "neutral site" as it is roughly equally far from each team. The script displays the neutral site's coordinates and COV, and plots all of the points with the neutral site filled in.

%% Neutral Site Calculator

% Determines the ideal "neutral" site among an assortment of points

% The number of sites is user configurable

% The site locations are entered by the user

% The script assumes all sites are located on a set grid of points

% Author: Pat Canny

clear;clc;

disp('Neutral Site Calculator')

disp('Assume a 1000 x 1000 grid')

%% User Inputs

num_sites = input('Enter number of sites: ');

while num_sites <=1

disp('Number of sites must be greater than one')

num_sites = input('Enter number of sites: ');

end

set_point_x_array = zeros(1,num_sites);

for i=1:num_sites

set_point_x_array(i) = input('Enter x coordinate for site : ');

end

set_point_y_array = zeros(1,num_sites);

for i=1:num_sites

set_point_y_array(i) = input('Enter y coordinate for site : ');

end

%% Calculate average distance (vector magnitude) from each test point

test_point_x_array = -500:500;

test_point_y_array = -500:500;

grid_size = length(test_point_x_array)*length(test_point_y_array);

distance_matrix = zeros(length(test_point_x_array),length(test_point_y_array));

d = zeros(1,num_sites); % initialize vector magnitude array

tic;

for j = 1:length(test_point_y_array) % y dimension

for k = 1:length(test_point_x_array) % x dimension

for i = 1:num_sites % calculate vector magnitude to each set point

x = set_point_x_array(i);

y = set_point_y_array(i);

test_x = k-501;

test_y = 501-j;

d(i) = sqrt((test_x - x)^2 + (test_y-y)^2); % vector magnitude

end

distance_cov_sqd = (std(d) / mean(d))^2;

distance_matrix(j,k) = distance_cov_sqd;

end

toc

min_distance_cov_sqd = min(distance_matrix(:));

[m,n] = find(distance_matrix == min_distance_cov_sqd);

neutral_site_x = mean(n)-501;

neutral_site_y = 501-mean(m);

%% Display results

str1 = ['The neutral site is located at: (',num2str(neutral_site_x),',',num2str(neutral_site_y),')'];

disp(str1)

str2 = ['The minimum distance COV is: ',num2str(min_distance_cov_sqd)];

disp(str2)

close all

figure(1)

scatter(set_point_x_array, set_point_y_array)

hold on

scatter(neutral_site_x, neutral_site_y,'filled')

grid on

3-16-11: Smoking Rates and Social Security

2011-03-16T20:43:00.003-04:00

I heard on NPR this morning a report about a study stating that the rate of smoking in America has significantly decreased since the 1960's. The rate of lung cancer death has also gone down. The number of smokers has dropped, but the amount of smoking being done by the average smoker has also been going down. All of these things are good. I, for one, lost a dear relative to lung cancer, and it's great to see more people aren't being taken away from their families too early due to smoking.

I also heard a report yesterday, again on NPR, about social security, and how politicians in Washington, specifically Democrats, keep away from discussing it due to it being a "political third rail." In 2010, for this first time in its 75+ year history, Social Security paid out more than it took in. At its current rate, Social Security will burn through its cash by 2037, about 15 years before I plan on retiring. Many politicians don't see it as a real problem.

For some strange reason, probably because I've been following great economics blogs like Marginal Revolution and Freakonomics for a while now, but I saw these two stories as being related. Wouldn't it be a bad thing for Social Security if people aren't smoking as much nowadays? People would start living longer, dying less often, and therefore would be receiving benefits later in life. People currently receiving Social Security grew up in the smoking generation, and are probably more susceptible to various forms of cancer caused by tobacco products. As the years go on, those receiving benefits will have likely lived a healthier lifestyle than the generation prior. If you can link smoking and tobacco use to cancer, and plan out 20, 30, and 40 years from now, fewer and fewer people will have been exposed to the same diseases. If we do run out of funding, people my age in their mid twenties will have paid the benefits for a generation of less healthy Americans. Hardly a reward for healthy living.

In general, life expectancy increases with each coming generation. Granted, the obesity rate is higher among youths than it was 30 or 40 years ago, so there is a bit of an offset when it comes to overall health. But nevertheless, the average lifespan of an American receiving Social Security benefits will not be shrinking any time soon.

Why not fix Social Security now? Passing it off as unimportant is a true political cop-out. At the very least, couldn't it be discussed?

St. Lawrence Tops Yale 4-3 in OT

2011-03-12T11:35:00.004-05:00

New Haven, Connecticut --- The Yale Men's Ice Hockey team didn't make things easy for themselves last night, losing 4-3 in overtime to St. Lawrence in Game 1 of their best-of-three weekend series in the Quarterfinal round of the ECAC Men's Ice Hockey Championship Tournament. Yale went into the game as the favorite, and, despite surrendering a fluke goal 53 seconds in after goaltender Ryan Rondeau completely mis-played a looping dump-in from St. Lawrence defender Patrick Raley, Yale looked to take the first game from the visiting Saints.

Yale is led by a powerful offensive corps of Hobey Baker hopefuls Denny Kearney and Broc Little, who each had multi-point games last night. Kearney opened Yale's scoring 3:10 into the game to tie it up 1-1 on a power play goal. Yale then began to apply continuous pressure on the undersized St. Lawrence squad, which resulted in two additional power play goals from Yale captain Jimmy Martin. Going into the third period with a 3-1 lead, Yale looked to have complete control of the game.

St. Lawrence had other thoughts. Led by senior captain Aaron Bogosian, the older brother of Atlanta Thrasher defender Zach Bogosian, the Saints played a very physical third period and tied it up at 13:47 with a power play goal from first year forward Greg Carey.

The overtime period was a very even contest overall, which mirrored the game as a whole. Each team had its chances, but it was St. Lawrence's Carey who put it away to win Game 1 for the Saints.

Walking away from Ingalls Rink last night, the student body looked deflated. Yale gave up a 3-1 lead, and missed several chances. St. Lawrence goaltender Matt Weninger had a strong game, giving up three difficult power play goals and making 31 saves. Yale did not look the stronger side during even strength play, and frankly was gifted a power play which resulted in their first goal after a questionable roughing call against St. Lawrence senior forward Sean Flanagan. Yale goaltender Rondeau had an inconsistent game after the first goal, with some obviously shaky rebounds in the third period and imperfect positioning on Bogosian's goal. Despite the size disadvantage, St. Lawrence used 6' 6" Nic Vangog very well going into the offensive zone, sending the first-year forward directly at the Yale net to cause disruption in the defense. A classic and proven method which wore Yale down.

Game 2 of the Quarterfinal series is tonight at 7:00PM at Ingalls Rink. Can Yale fight back to send the series into a deciding game tomorrow night? Let's hope so.

3-9-11: Trash Tracker

2011-03-09T17:51:00.001-05:00

Pointer goes to Wired

3-8-11: Making a Career Move

2011-03-08T17:54:00.003-05:00

Last week I gave notice to my current employer that I am leaving the company to take a position at another company in the Boston area. The new company is GE Aviation, based in lovely Lynn, Massachusetts. My current employer, Sikorsky Aircraft, is based in Stratford, CT. I spent a bit more than half of my childhood growing up in the Stratford area (in Easton, to be specific), so it’s not easy for me to leave the area. My parents moved to the South two years ago, though, so I’m the only one left. In fact, most of my family lives in Massachusetts, so I’m moving closer to family. My last day at Sikorsky is March 25th.

The job hunting experience was taxing. I spent a considerable amount of my free time searching for positions, not to mention the multitude of phone screens and a few on-site interviews. It is, however, exhilarating. The prospects of a new job, even in the same industry, bring a new sense of purpose. You begin to examine where you are in your career and life, and some decisions are difficult but necessary to make. I like my job at Sikorsky. I like my group. I like my co-workers. The program I work for is moving from the design to the testing phase, so my favorite thing to do, design, is quickly fading out of my current role. Not to say I don’t like testing what I have designed, but it did come into play. My decision was primarily based on wanting to get an MBA, and UTC’s changes to its Employee Scholar Program won’t allow me to get the MBA on the company dime. Other factors included location and salary considerations. Let me just state that I do think UTC is a fine employer.

Applying for jobs is very, very easy in this day and age. There are tons of great sites out there. I ended up sticking primarily with Indeed and LinkedIn. Believe it or not, Craigslist isn’t too bad, either. Monster and CareerBuilder, however, were a bit of a let-down since they don’t attract smaller employers due to their exorbitant fees. Getting a job, though, is tough, since many companies receive many, many applications for each posting.

Here’s some advice to job seekers: AVOID RECRUITERS. I went through a couple recruiters at some points in the months-long search, and regretted it in both cases. If they insist on you filling out an application on their website, don’t do it. They’ll insist that it’s “just part of the application process” and that it “will help them identify employers” but it’s just a ploy for them to get your personal information so they can spam you. I got two phone calls on consecutive days from one recruiter asking why I hadn’t filled out their application yet (I was genuinely busy), but once I took the time to complete the online application (took almost two hours), I heard absolutely nothing from them for months. When I e-mailed the associate, I was told “Things are slow with this employer.” Very frustrating.

That was a direct application through a recruiter. The other instance where recruiters came into play was when I unwisely put my résumé on public display on Monster. BIG mistake. I got a phone call from a head-hunter (I won’t even call them a recruiter in this case) based on the west coast. He said he had some positions in the Seattle area (probably Boeing) and was wondering if I was interested. I said I was interested in the Boston area, to which he replied: “Oh, are there aerospace companies near Boston?” Let’s see: GE, UTC, Boeing, MITRE, Raytheon, MIT Lincoln Labs, BAE, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Ametek… Not to mention other smaller companies like The MathWorks and Charles River Analytics who service the larger companies. Such blatant ignorance of the job market led me to remove my résumé from public view that day.

I learned a lot from the experience. I got in some great practice doing interviews. I am very good at behavioral interviews. Companies generally ask the same questions (I got this one several times: “Can you think of a time where you had a conflict with a co-worker or project partner? How did you resolve the conflict?”), so it’s good to have canned responses. The toughest interview I had, by far, was with The MathWorks. I applied for an opening as an Application Support Engineer, which I thought I’d be great at since I use their products (MATLAB, Simulink, and Stateflow) in my current position. Boy oh boy, it was a TECHNICAL interview. I got a call from the interviewer and was told “No reference materials allowed.” The questions themselves weren’t hard, but they were geared towards people who were full-time graduate students. I was familiar with all of the concepts, but they wanted me to give abstract definitions. It was awful. Didn’t get that job.

Another thing I learned is that small companies seem to be a lot more fun than big companies. There are more risks involved as far as job security, but I was very excited after interviewing at Charles River Analytics. Unfortunately, the job description and my experience didn’t quite match up. They wanted someone with more experience in Java, which I had studied during my Master’s, but I’ve never used it professionally. The position was in the Cognitive Systems group, but I was more intrigued by the work being done by another group within the company (the Sensor Systems group). I don’t know where my career will take me, but I’d recommend any one looking for something different than the big company environment to look at small companies and startups.

Now it’s down to the logistics of making the move. I’m in contact with about a dozen people from three different companies regarding the move (which is being paid for by GE): Cartus, Electric Insurance, and Castine Moving & Storage. The lady and I found an apartment in Medford through a broker (Apartment Rental Experts; great people). Our current landlords aren’t too happy about us moving four months early, but we get reimbursed for some of the rent, so it’s not a big deal. We’ll see how it goes…

3-7-11: End of the Ski Season

2011-03-07T18:37:00.002-05:00

This past weekend marked the end of the ski season for me. I don’t much like spring skiing, so I’m pretty sure I’m packing it in until next winter.

I’m happy that it went out on a high note, for the most part. This weekend was the On Snow Winter Carnival, an annual three-day celebration of winter hosted by the Connecticut Ski Council at a selected Vermont skiing resort. The past two years have been at Mount Snow. Last year’s event was awesome in many regards, but the event this year was still pretty good. I think most of it was due to the weather (this year had one good day, one mediocre day, and one very rainy day; last year had three sunny days). I am sure glad I took Friday off from work to get in a great day in the sun. Saturday was very foggy and misty, and I didn’t even bother skiing with all the rain yesterday.

I made significant progress this season while gaining a considerable amount of confidence. I still have my moments of fear now and then, but I don’t mind the steepness. In fact, I seek it out in moderation. I spent a lot of time working on my mechanics this weekend, and had a few marvelous runs. Mount Snow is great for intermediates (but terrible for beginners). Most of the main face consists of blue cruisers and their grooming is awesome. I was lucky on Friday morning to get first tracks in a few spots. I stopped on “Thanks Walt” over on Sunbrook to appreciate the view and the silence – it was awesome. I really wish the lady could have skied, but she was sidelined due to her injury a few weeks ago at Killington. She was bumming, but still hung out.

One of the things I can appreciate after two good seasons, with 10+ days on the mountain each season, is learning a new skill as an adult. I was three years old when I began learning to ice skate. I honestly don’t remember ever not being able to skate. However, I vividly remember my first time on skis as an adult. I was thrilling and terrifying. When you’re 6’5” tall, 215 pounds, and 24 years old, you don’t want to fall. It hurts. When you’re only five or six, you have nothing to lose! Kids fall all the time. They cry at first, but it doesn’t really hurt all that much. It may take them longer to learn than adults (plenty of people learn to ski as adults and learn faster), but kids have the advantage of having less fear. Most of my friends who ski learned as children or teenagers, and they’re obviously years ahead of me. But I doubt they were where I am now after 23 days on the mountain.

I genuinely enjoy skiing now. For years I avoided it, mostly due to other athletic endeavors. I wasn’t allowed to ski for most of my life due to ice hockey. When I was first approached with the prospect of learning as an adult by the lady, I was very hesitant. I was able to successfully avoid skiing with my ex-girlfriend, but I knew I wasn’t going to get away with it this time. It’s pretty daunting, especially when you’re being exposed to an entirely new culture while learning many new skills. I didn’t want to move too quickly, though. A good friend of mine started snowboarding when he was 23 and ended up going to Jackson Hole in Wyoming in his second season. My other friends say he can handle the tough terrain, but could perhaps use some work on mechanics. There’s a fine line between being brave and being reckless. I like to build up my confidence before hitting the tough terrain.

I achieved my goal for the season of successfully managing a black diamond trail from top to bottom. I did that a few weeks ago at Killington on “Superstar” – and, despite being exhausted at the bottom, was thrilled. Though I’m still not quite there with carved turns, I have significantly reduced my habit of making “hockey-stop-like Z turns” down the hill. My legs have thanked me.

My goals for next season are:

1) Be able to solidly handle a difficult mogul run
2) Be able to manage a relatively difficult glade run
3) Master the carved S turn

Steeper terrain provides me with the requisite energy to make my turns, and forces me, like it or not, to keep my weight more forward. I look forward to the challenge.

See you next season, ski slopes.

Ron Paul vs. Hillary Clinton on Supporting Dictators

2011-03-03T17:47:00.001-05:00

2-27-11: "A Canny Approach" - Episode 2 (Video)

2011-02-27T18:25:00.003-05:00

I quickly realized that my podcast is exceedingly boring without visuals, so here is Episode 2 from back in late December, with visuals.

2-14-11: Skiing, an update

2011-02-14T21:09:00.002-05:00

I haven’t chimed in on my burgeoning skiing career in a while. I was looking at some of last winter’s posts, and figured I’d try to catch up on this year’s progress.

So far this season I have spent 5.5 days on the mountain and have gone night skiing twice: two days each at Sugarbush and Jay Peak, 1.5 days (story to follow) at Killington, and night skiing at Mount Wachusett and Mohawk. I got new boots, the Dalbello Proton 8 model, which have been great. My goal going into this season was to be able to do black diamond trails on a regular basis by the end of the season. So far, so good.

I’ve only taken one lesson so far this year, which I took at Jay Peak a couple weeks ago. It was my first Intermediate lesson, and I got more out of it than most Beginner lessons I took last year. Instead of focusing only on race-style “S” turns, the instructor had me doing quick slide turns on steeper terrain, which have come in quite handy. He also had me work on turning more smoothly by not forcing turns; I’d been throwing my hips over too early and not shifting my weight very smoothly. We worked on throwing my weight down the hill to initiate turns, which was a simple and easy way to practice my turns. I haven’t had a lot of time on my own to work on the fundamentals, but have been able to work on some things here and there.

This weekend we headed up to Killington for two days. Saturday was awesome. We started off at the top by doing Blue Heaven and cutting over to Skye Peak to what I believe was Skyeburst, which was a good warm-up run. I like to have a nice warm-up run on a blue square trail to get the legs going, otherwise my mechanics are terrible for the first hour or two. Once we got to the bottom, we took the Bear Mountain Quad up. I’d never been on Bear Mountain, but I know it has a bunch of black diamond and double black diamond trails. Turns out, they’d flattened out some of the tougher stuff (including Outer Limits, which was very crowded), but I stuck to Bear Claw, the only blue square, for a couple runs. We then met up with our buddy Rob and hit the Skye Peak Express Quad to do a bit steeper terrain.

The steep stuff started with Skyelark, which starts off as a blue square then turns into a black diamond towards the bottom. This is where my recently learned quick turns came in handy. I had a lot of fun going down that one, and was feeling brave enough to try Superstar from top to bottom.

Superstar is the longest, steepest trail I’ve ever been down. The top is steep, and the bottom is just as steep and even longer. After a significant pause, I finally mustered up my limited courage, pointed the skis downhill, and made it to the bottom of the first section in one piece. Feeling good about myself, I followed the lady and Rob down to the bottom. I avoided all the bumps, and made it down in reasonably smooth fashion. The lady was proud of me, and I was exhausted. Legs were burning pretty good when I made it down.

We went back up to the top of Superstar to the top section again before cutting over towards Bear Mountain again. This time: no problem. I had to wait for Ski Patrol to pass by, then nailed the top section. My confidence was quite high at that point. We went over to Bear and did Wildfire, a reasonably steep black diamond run, and stuck around there for a bit before heading back to Snowshed for lunch. After lunch, we headed over to Ramshead with our friend Taylor and did Squeeze Play, a blue square glade run. Trees are my next frontier. I enjoy them, but I’m very much a novice when they show up. Rob gave me a good tip: pick a path, and stick to it. That seemed to help, but I still panicked a lot and kept my weight back too much. By the end I was doing better.

After a significant snowfall, we split up briefly before the end of the day. I did Mouse Trap (my first black diamond run ever from last season) and headed over to Snowshed just before 4:00PM. Great day of skiing.

Sunday was a bit different. The mountain was significantly more crowded (CSC Awareness Day), and the conditions were a bit crunchier; “frozen granular” I was told. Not ideal. I was skiing OK, not great, for the first couple runs. Legs were still tired from the day before; they needed another run or two to get in shape and start responding to my mental commands (“weight forward!”). The lady and I were going to hit Squeeze Play again, and were planning on cutting down via Mouse Trap. All was going well until I saw her tumble over on a bump. When I checked to see what happened, she opened her mouth to show at least one missing tooth. I yelled “Oh shit!” and began to freak out a little bit.

We were able to find the tooth immediately, and she was able to get up and ski down to the K1 lodge. We went in, found First Aid, and ended up having to leave for the emergency room in Rutland. That ended the day quickly. She knocked out one of her front teeth almost to the root by kneeing herself in the face after losing her balance. Lots of blood. She took it extremely well, never crying or whining or anything.

It turns out she broke her upper inner jaw. Right now she has a wire support (similar to braces) to help line her teeth up while the jaw heals. After 4-6 weeks, she'll be able to get a tooth implant put in. It will take several visits and several weeks of soft food, but she'll be just fine. Expensive, and painful, spill. Fun weekend overall, though.

2-6-11: Michael Lewis - "When Irish Eyes Are Crying"

2011-02-06T15:24:00.002-05:00

I finally got around to reading Michael Lewis' piece in Vanity Fair on the Irish Crisis. "When Irish Eyes Are Crying" walks through the cast of characters and moods and trends surrounding the current economic crisis in Ireland. Lewis, of Moneyball fame (though Liar's Poker came first), is an excellent journalist, and I was looking forward to seeing what he'd found during his time investigating the piece.

As usual, Lewis covers a lot of ground while neither boring nor patronizing the reader. The structure of the piece seemed familiar: he starts with a central character (in this case economist Morgan Kelly) and dabbles in with a few side characters who, though not as prominent as the central character, reinforce his point from a different angle. It feels almost like he's writing a play sometimes, but I like the style.

Lewis does well to explain the differences between the Irish, Icelandic, and Greek crises. A lot of people think, due to the timing, that they were all caused by some widespread Eurozone crisis that hit the weakest economies hardest. Lewis explains that the three countries shared similar behaviors leading up to their respective crises, but each had their own style. He paints Ireland as a sort of teenager with money burning a hole in its pocket from a spectacular run of baseless luck. Ireland got caught up in its own hype, and refused to believe it could fail. It was "new money" David trying to distinguish itself in a world of wiser Goliaths.

Ireland suffered, and still suffers, from a case of over-indulgent self-investment. The Irish banks lent out billions of Euros to property developers with the hope that the booming housing market, which even well before the bust showed signs of structural frailty, would keep on going without end. Economists, who should have known better, refused to listen to history, and called for a "soft landing" instead of the inevitable housing crash.

Lewis then goes into the role of the Irish government, which consisted of disbelievers, liars, and drunks. The only political figure for whom he devotes and sort of limited mercy is Brian Lenihan, the finance minister. Lenihan, who had earned the pity of the Irish people through an unfortunate illness (very Irish behavior, as Lewis points out), was, if anything, duped, according to some. He's been made to be the fixer of an irreparable systemic problem, and seems to have the confidence to do the impossible.

As a person of Irish descent, I like what Lewis does with the piece. He doesn't portray the Irish as innocent victims. They got greedy, and invested poorly in a housing market that couldn't house the current population. Sure, there are some innocent victims here and there, but, as Lewis points out, few people have protested. Those who have don't always want the attention. Perhaps it's just that people were still hungering for the pre-boom days, and weren't too distraught when things crashed back down. The economy boomed and fell within a decade - most people in the country vividly remember life beforehand. I strongly doubt any deliberate attempt at sabotage was made - the market itself was just unstable. I just think people might think of it as just a dream - and are still waking up.

Behind The Scenes: Cowboys Stadium's Massive IT Infrastructure

2011-02-03T22:00:00.002-05:00

Super Bowl XLV is on Sunday, which is big for the NFL and huge for the host Dallas Cowboys. I read an interesting article today in IT World about the massive IT infrastructure at Cowboys Stadium. Truly ground-breaking and amazing. The first video is pretty much an advertisement for CDW, the chief consultant in the IT development for the stadium. The second video is more amateur-style journalism that goes into more detail about some components of the IT system.

2-3-11: A Canny Approach Podcast, Episode 3

2011-02-03T21:38:00.006-05:00

Here's another installment of "A Canny Approach", a podcast I'm fooling around with. This episode covers tech-savvy parking meters, professional roller hockey, and my non-Super-Bowl-related sports picks. Have a listen.

2-1-11: IBM Amsterdam Airport Schiphol Case Study Video

2011-02-01T17:42:00.002-05:00

This kind of stuff really gets my geeky engineering mind going ga-ga. I love watching videos like this. IBM is one of a handful of companies for which I watch their commercials while fast-forwarding through all the others for a show I have DVRed.

1-17-11: Professional Roller Hockey

2011-01-17T17:53:00.002-05:00

On Saturday evening I attended a night of live American Inline Hockey League action at the Z-Rink in Glastonbury, CT. Myself and the lady went with two friends, who knew the owner of the Hartford Fire Ants, who were hosting the Beantown Athletics. I had never seen a professional roller hockey game before.

The game was certainly different than what I’m used to from ice hockey. Besides being played using roller blades (and no ice), roller hockey is 4 on 4, with no off-sides or icing, and no hitting. I could see why: the limited ability for players to stop and turn suddenly would make playing on-side hockey quite dangerous (players would either constantly run into each other or would destroy their knees trying to stop suddenly to stay on-sides). Without those rules in place, the flow felt a bit more like basketball than ice hockey. The other major difference was that, instead of playing three periods, the teams played two 15 minute halves with a short intermission in between. The equipment was very similar.

Since the league is semi-professional and the games are rather short, teams primarily play double-headers or small tournaments. Games are always on weekends (since most guys work full time). The Fire Ants won the first game in a shoot-out, which was entertaining. Boston then came back from 3-1 down in the second game to win 4-3, scoring three quick goals in the second half. Hartford looked good overall, and was happy to get a win out of the night.

I was happy to see a familiar face on the Beantown Athletics in James Wood, with whom I played a couple spring hockey seasons in Milford several years ago (9 and 10 to be exact). We chatted a bit after the game. He was new to the sport, and was still getting used to the different rules and playing style, but seemed to be catching on quickly.

After the game, we ate dinner at the Diamond Pub in Glastonbury along with most of the players. The bar gave a 10% discount to patrons with Fire Ants tickets stubs. Fun time.

I was surprised to learn from Jimmy, the friend of a friend who owns part of the Fire Ants, that the AIHL is quite large. Based in Orlando, Florida, the league consists of 41 teams in eight divisions throughout the country, at the professional level. There was also a second “minor league” tier consisting of roughly the same number of teams. Each team plays the other teams within its division at least twice, and the winners of each division play in the league championship in Orlando in the late spring timeframe (all games played in one weekend). The current champions are the Huntington Beach Elite from the Pacific South division. Some AIHL games are broadcast on ESPN3, with live streaming of games (announced by a member of the minor league affiliate) is available on some team websites, including the Hartford Fire Ants.

1-12-11: Snow Day

2011-01-12T13:54:00.004-05:00

I knew I was going to take at least a half day today, but after waking up to find my driveway completely snowed in (plow guy has still yet to arrive), I decided to take a full vacation day. According to my buddy Scott, only a handful of people were in the office this morning. No surprise there.

New Haven got hit pretty hard. My driveway has about a foot of snow on it. Below is a picture of it taken a couple hours ago. I took a walk down the street to survey the damage. Pretty much a ghost town. One my neighbors had his snow blower out to clear his driveway. A few guys were shoveling the entrance to a convenience store down the street. The mailbox I hoped to use to mail back a movie to Netflix was nearly completely buried in a drift. So, I'm just hanging out watching last night's Bruins game (they beat Ottawa 6-0) and enjoying my day off. Hopefully the plow guy will be here this afternoon so I can get out tomorrow.

Stay safe.

1-4-11: The New Year's Resolution Gym Crowd; SQL Project Example

2011-01-04T20:20:00.002-05:00

Another new year, another New Year’s resolution crowd at the gym. This morning was not quite as bad as years past, but it was nonetheless more crowded than usual. The crowd usually begins to fade back to normal levels around March or so, so it’s just a matter of getting through the next 8-10 weeks. You can often tell the regulars from the “resolutioners.” Regulars tend to float between machines pretty smoothly and recognize what other people around them are doing so that it’s a smoother operation in general (a.k.a. proper gym etiquette). Resolutioners tend to have poorer etiquette simply because they’re dealing with a new personal routine. They also tend to exert more effort and fade more quickly. I am by no means a power user (I go three times a week), but I stick to my routine year-round. I also don’t mind seeing new people at the gym; I don’t say anything or give them a hard time. I just stay out of their way.

The annual influx of this resolution crowd of gym members made me think: what percentage of the resolution crowd had active memberships before the new year? I’d be surprised if it were under 70%. I don’t know many people who get gym memberships for Christmas (though that’s not saying a lot of people do), and I also don’t know how many people make it their resolution to get in shape for [insert reason here]. I think it’s great that people make the effort. I just wish they stuck with it more to make it easier for the regulars. The more you use the gym, the better your etiquette becomes (general rule which does not apply to all regular members), and the more likely it is you’ll develop a healthy routine.

While asking myself the above question, I began to think how one would determine what percentage of the resolution crowd had active memberships before the new year. I switched into SQL mode. Now, I haven’t used SQL since I took a course in Database Concepts for my Master’s degree two years ago, but I came up with the following general scheme that may be useful to a student in a database class:

Assumptions:

- An active member is any dues paying member (under contract or month to month), regardless of attendance, for at least 3 months prior to the new year

- An active member is part of the resolution crowd if they increase their monthly attendance by at least 250% from the previous 6 months (second half of the previous calendar year)

o If they were not active members for the full six months prior to the new year, use the average monthly attendance for the time period during which they were active members

Methodology:

You will need two tables. One of them contains members (listed by unique ID) and their starting date of active membership. The other would be much larger and would contain members (listed by unique ID) and time stamps of their attendance. Many gyms have members “scan in” with their membership cards, so it’s safe to assume the data exists to populate the second table. Here are small examples of the two tables:

Table 1:

ID	Start_Date

825486	6/3/2010
842647	8/1/2008
214578	12/15/2009
467946	2/24/2009
915948	6/15/2010
753125	7/17/2009

Table 2:

Date	Time	ID

1/2/2011	6:30:15	214578
1/2/2011	6:40:58	467946
1/2/2011	7:15:02	915948
1/2/2011	12:15:52	825486
1/2/2011	15:38:29	842647
1/3/2011	6:35:24	214578

The queries would be pretty straightforward (though I’ll need to refresh my memory on SQL queries for the exact syntax; may put the queries themselves in a future post). You’d need to select from Table 1 and Table 2 (probably use an inner join; ID would be the key) where the member is both an active member who is part of the resolution crowd (according to the assumptions above).

Nice little SQL project for any student looking for something to do. How might such a project be useful? Perhaps it would help the gym management determine how many members start attending more frequently once the new year rolls around so that they know to staff more personnel or make sure more machines are available (some may be broken; this morning four out of five stationary bikes were in disrepair) or just to be prepared for more volume in general. Maybe even use the information for marketing purposes. Maybe they like having a large resolution crowd. Who knows.

12-31-10: Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T11:36:00.002-05:00

12-30-10: Podcast: A Canny Approach, Episode 2

2010-12-30T19:42:00.005-05:00

Here's another episode of my experimental podcast - A Canny Approach. Much better sound quality than the first rendition. I used my new Yeti microphone; sounds great. Need to work on pre-production for the next episode, but it came out OK. Have a listen:

Here are links from the episode:

Car Trains:

Wired article

BBC article

Google cars

Discovery article

StatSheet.com:

Main site

New York Times article

Yale hockey:

Yale athletics site

USCHO.com rankings

12-27-10: Tron: Legacy

2010-12-27T10:53:00.002-05:00

Last night I went to see Tron: Legacy with the only other member of my family with good taste in tech-based movies: my dear mother. There's only one movie theatre near my parents' house down here in North Carolina, but it's much cheaper than what I'm used to in New Haven.

I made the usual mistake of reading the reviews before going in. Couldn't help it. I knew that the soundtrack was good (Daft Punk composed the score) and that it was in 3D, and that the quality of plot development wasn't quite what people had hoped for.

I don't remember the last time I saw the first film (came out three years before I was born), so I had completely forgotten some of the details regarding the original story line. For instance, I completely forgot the name of the bad guy (Dillinger), so when they revealed his son's character (who doesn't play any further role in the film - why bother bringing him up?), I was at a bit of a loss. I also forgot about how the character of Tron came about, but that wasn't really an issue either.

The film is dazzling in its look and feel. The acting was decent. The soundtrack was, indeed, awesome. Overall, I thought it was quite entertaining, but some of the plot elements just didn't work. The idea of bringing back the Clu character (who was killed off in the first film only to be replaced by Flynn himself) was interesting, but the end was sort of predictable. I still don't understand why they brought up Dillinger's son, played by the capable and uncredited Cillian Murphy. It felt more like The Matrix at times than it probably should have (Flynn is treated, literally, as a god, and Michael Sheen's character is almost a digital British copy of the Merovingian). I also didn't quite get the role of a certain group of "pure" characters (won't spoil that part of the story). I did think Olivia Wilde (13 from House) did a good job.

If you haven't seen the film, I recommend watching the first film beforehand. Some of the plot relies on the viewer knowing a little bit about the back story, but if you just want to see it for the entertainment, it's a good take. I'd give it a 7 out of 10.

12-25-10: Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T05:34:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas!

12-20-10: The Joys of Tweed (Airport)

2010-12-20T10:02:00.002-05:00

This will be my seventh trip from Connecticut to North Carolina to visit my parents. They moved in March of '09 to escape the cold of their native New England. I like to make my occasional escape, as well.

The seven trips have consisted of two by car and five by air. This trip is via the latter. Of the five trips by air, two have originated from Bradley Airport, two from LaGuardia, and this one, via Tweed in New Haven. LGA is the cheapest option (thanks to Spirit Airlines direct to MYR), but is the longest and most troublesome drive. Bradley is a good medium as far as price, but takes over an hour to get to. I'd never considered Tweed until now.

My, what a fool am I. I guess the biggest reason for not trying Tweed earlier was because I didn't live six miles away, which I now do. Sure, any road is easy to drive on at 5:15AM, but it was a breeeeze. Door to door in 18 minutes.

The catch with Tweed is that the only flights from it go to Philadelphia, where I now am. But it's small, really small. We flew a Dash 8 (prop plane) an hour to PHL. My only regret is that I didn't sleep in a little longer (though the flight being delayed an hour was unforeseen). The long term parking is close by, and relatively cheap. The total cost of round-trip airfare is more than it would be from Bradley or LGA, but the total cost, including parking, is only $50 more. That, my friends, is worth it. After all, it probably saved me a couple days of my life in the end. With the cost of healthcare so brutally expensive at the end of life, I feel like I did some one else a favor, too. You are welcome, future taxpayers.

If you live near New Haven, give Tweed (HVN) a try.

If you are associated with Tweed (HVN), I am willing to accept discount air fare as a recommendation fee.

Word Lens

2010-12-18T14:46:00.002-05:00

Handy.

Champions League Round of 16 Draw

2010-12-17T21:29:00.000-05:00

The Champions League Round of 16 draw was this morning in Switzerland.

A few good matchups (to be expected with only 16 teams remaining). The big ones are Arsenal vs. Barcelona (both doing very well in domestic play) and Inter Milan vs. Bayern Munich (rematch of the most recent final). Spurs is playing AC Milan, which sucks for me because I like both teams.

Here are my predictions:

AS Roma vs. FC Shakhtar Donetsk: Shakhtar

AC Milan vs. Tottenham Hotspur FC : Spurs (I am biased)

Valencia CF vs. FC Shalke 04: Valencia

FC Internazionale vs. FC Bayern München: Inter (though both are struggling domestically)

Olympique Lyonnais vs. Real Madrid CF: Real Madrid

Arsenal FC vs. FC Barcelona: Barcelona

Olympique Marseille vs. Manchester United FC: United

FC København vs. Chelsea FC: Chelsea

The Valencia – Shalke matchup looks to be the best for competitiveness. Both teams have been good in recent years, though Shalke is currently 10th in the Bundesliga and Valencia is 5th in La Liga. The Inter – Bayern matchup would be much better if both teams weren’t struggling. I think Inter will pull through based on their manager Benitez’s history with the Champions League. Spurs are going against Milan, who is currently top in Serie A. I’m hopeful they’ll make it through, but it won’t be easy.

Round of 16 play begins February 15th. For those unfamiliar with the format, it is two-leg (each team plays home and away) aggregate (total goals scored for both games) with away goals as the first tie-breaker. For example, Arsenal and Barcelona play twice, once in London and once in Barcelona. If the first game is in London and ends 1-1, and the second is in Barcelona and ends 2-2, then Arsenal goes through on away goals (2 to 1).

Road-Train Tests Move Forward

2010-12-06T13:37:00.001-05:00

Good to see this move forward.

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Road-Train Tests Move Forward

via Wired Top Stories on 12/6/10

European motorists need not worry if they see a driver not paying attention to the road while tailgating another car — it's all in the name of science.

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12-4-10: A Canny Approach, First Edition

2010-12-04T21:29:00.008-05:00

Here's the very first edition of A Canny Approach, a podcast experiment of my own design. Just a quick and dirty podcast I threw together this afternoon using GarageBand.

I tried recording the audio with an old cardioid microphone, but I need to get a pre-amp for it to use it on the Macbook (I know it's cheap - waiting for Christmas to come). I ended up just using the built-in microphone. The sound isn't that great. The music is "King Harvest" by The Band. Plenty of room for improvement (except for the music, of course).

Foodtubes Proposes Underground, Physical Internet

2010-12-03T12:00:00.001-05:00

I propose the name of the system be the BacoNet.

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Foodtubes Proposes Underground, Physical Internet

via Slashdot by Soulskill on 12/3/10

geek4 writes "Automatically routed canisters could replace trucks with an Internet of things, says Foodtubes. A group of academics is proposing a system of underground tunnels which could deliver food and other goods in all weathers with massive energy savings. The Foodtubes group wants to put goods in metal capsules two meters long, which are shifted through underground polyethylene tubes at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour, directed by linear induction motors and routed by intelligent software to their destinations. The group, which includes an Oxford physics professor and logistics experts, wants £15 million to build a five-mile test circuit, and believes the scheme could fund itself if used by large supermarkets and local councils, and could expand because it uses an open architecture."

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11-25-10: Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T08:31:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

11-16-10: "The Shadow Scholar"

2010-11-16T20:27:00.002-05:00

I found an interesting article from The Chronicle of Higher Education this afternoon (through Marginal Revolution) that I couldn't stop reading until finished.

The article (well, essay) was written by a real person with the fake name of Ed Dante. Ed writes student term papers for a living, and makes a pretty decent living out if it at that. The essay goes through his clientele (ESL students, the "hopelessly deficient," and the lazy rich kids) as well as the type of work he does for the students. The sheer breadth was amazing; he's written papers on nearly everything (except math, so he probably hasn't done many engineering papers). He's also written papers of varying importance, ranging from simple homework assignments up to and including graduate theses. All this using primarily Google and Wikipedia.

The essay serves as a stern warning to institutions of higher education. Dante knows how helpless (or lazy or incompetent) his clients are. Some of the quotes he gives from students are scary - the grammar is just awful. But he doesn't mind the money. Why wouldn't he? This year he stands to make $66,000. That's not too shabby. The hours aren't great, but he seems to enjoy writing.

The warning is two-fold:

1) Pay more attention to the students. He finds it difficult to believe that none of his clients (not a one) have complained to him that the professors assigning the work don't believe the work is their own, never mind the fact that none, to his knowledge, have been expelled. He nearly goes as far as calling it gross negligence on the part of the school.

2) Stop putting all emphasis on grades and performance. His ESL and "hopelessly deficient" clients are simply not built to succeed in the modern university system. The fact that they may not know much English, or simply don't get it, works entirely against them. Rather than help, universities punish these students through the mindless examination system. Pass or fail - not their fault if you can't hack it.

I tend to agree with Ed. I won't go so far as to call the system broken, but it does tend to favor those of ill-gotten means, like his rich kid clients. I didn't have the luxury, or the lack of integrity, to hire some one to write my term papers. I was lucky enough to study engineering, which is a discipline where ineptitude can cost lives. With all due respect to the art, I don't know of any fatalities due to improper sentence construction.

I don't think for a second that people like Ed are the problem. They're servicing a market demand - students are coming to them asking for help. So what if the students don't know what they're doing? If you want know who is to blame, just look at the diploma. There are usually two names prominently displayed on each diploma given to graduating students: the school's name (sometimes in Latin - fancy!) and the student. If the school can't stand by the merits of the degree conferred, then they are doing a disservice to the student, even though that student is indeed cheating.

Spurs vs. Blackburn Rovers

2010-11-14T11:40:00.001-05:00

Spurs had a good match (finally) yesterday. Bale looked sensational again. Some lapses towards the end, and a couple misses earlier on, but a good win overall.

11-13-10: "Last Days of the Coliseum" and a Peter Worrell Fight

2010-11-13T10:43:00.002-05:00

When I saw the piece in the New Haven Independent about the program, I jumped on the online AT&T DVR site (plug not intended) to record "Last Days of the Coliseum" on Connecticut Public Television.

The New Haven Coliseum was a building built with great promise but poor luck and planning. The idea was good: build an entertainment hub in downtown New Haven by the intersection of I-91 and I-95 for people all over the state to come watch great concerts, sporting events, and various forms of entertainment.

The problems began right from the start. The original plans were too expensive, and shortcuts were necessary to make it work. The location was too small to allow for proper outdoor parking, so they put the parking garage above the arena. Then, there was the corrosion. Salt from the roads was picked up by cars and brought into the parking structure, which over time slowly corroded the metal structure. The building opened in 1970 and by 1980 pieces of concrete were breaking off onto the street below.

I drove by the old Coliseum site last night after dropping the lady off for a wedding rehearsal downtown. I didn't visit New Haven all that often growing up. We moved here in early 1996 and were already a full-on hockey family. I played at the Coliseum several times, which was always a blast. It was a BIG place - cavernous, but it always felt a little run down. The locker rooms we used were actually just dressing rooms. The ice was never great. But it was a fun time. The current site is a parking lot.

Though The Beast (AHL team) were only around for two seasons, my dad took me to a bunch of games. One player we loved to see was Peter Worrell. Worrell was a fighter, through and through. He played one full season for the Beast before being called up to the parent club Florida Panthers. There was a game I distinctly remember attending where Worrell got in a great fight. I don't remember who they played, but it was a great fight. Realizing that the Internet is a wonderful, wonderful place, I did some research to determine what game that was.

I got further than I expected, but am still not 100% sure. I know Worrell played for the Beast in both seasons of the team's existence (1997-1998 and 1998-1999). However, he got in a lot of fights. In the 1997-1998 season, in which he played in 50 games, he accrued 309 penalty minutes. I believe the fight I remember resulted in a game misconduct (as I remember Worrell being ejected and trying to come BACK into the game after undressing in the locker room). Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find official score sheets so far.

I did find a great website called DropYourGloves.com, which tracks and rates hockey fights. All of Worrell's fights are logged on there. The site tracks date, opponent, size advantage, and whether or not he won the fight. Peter Worrell got in 22 fights during the 1997-1998 season (I don't think the game in question was during the 1998-1999 season), 10 of which were at home games.

With that site, I've narrowed down, based on fights Worrell had during home games, the possible dates for the game in question:

10/26/1997 against Georges Laraque

12/7/1997 (three fights)

12/28/1997 against Paul Ferone

The one issue with 12/7/1997 being the game is that it was on a Sunday. We didn't go to many Sunday games. However, further research is required.

11-9-10: New Haven Promise

2010-11-09T20:02:00.000-05:00

The City of New Haven, along with Yale University, is planning on offering local New Haven students free tuition to state universities. Most of the $4.5 million in annual funding for the New Haven Promise program is to come from Yale.

The whole point of the program is to help curb the horrendous drop-out rate in New Haven public schools. Each student will be eligible to receive up to 100% tuition for a state university if they maintain a 3.0 GPA and 90% attendance rate. Once they get in to college, they must maintain at least a 2.5 GPA to continue receiving the funding. The program also implements a sliding scale, allowing students who have attended New Haven public schools since kindergarten to receive the full 100% tuition, and students attending since the 9th grade to receive 65% tuition. Students must have attended New Haven schools since at least the ninth grade to be eligible.

Two things I like about this program are: 1) It has a lot of private funding and 2) It has a lot of caveats to mitigate risk of failure. It’s good for students who work hard and want to succeed

I’m not surprised to see Yale buy into this. As a New Haven resident, I see firsthand the issues Yale has with its community. It’s not uncommon to hear about incidents involving students and the community. This past weekend, a campus party ended with a bit of violence as uninvited “New Haven residents” got in a fight with members of the Yale heavyweight crew team while being escorted out of a private campus party. Earlier in the school year, several students were involved in a police raid on a private party in the night club district. The latter wasn’t a real issue of Yale vs. its neighbors – it was mostly Yale students vs. the New Haven Police. The former, however, is more common and more tricky to deal with.

Yale is practically a fortress to outsiders. I have friends who are students, and they’ve told me about the warnings they’ve received, and continue to receive, from the school regarding student safety. It’s a constant struggle. The surrounding neighborhoods are known for illicit activities. Yale has taken measures in the past to create a buffer for students, such as providing financial incentives for faculty to buy or rent property near campus to raise the local profile a bit. The decision to help fund New Haven Promise seems to follow along those lines – by encouraging local students to focus more on academics, it will help the city as a whole raise its profile and hopefully stem some of the problems that have plagued the schools for years.

Such a program will take several years to produce results. I hope the private funding does pick up. I hope students do take advantage of the program. Hopefully at the very least some get teaching degrees and give back to their community through education.

Well done, Yale.

11-5-10: New Car

2010-11-05T17:08:00.003-04:00

Today I purchased a 2010 Subaru Forester Premium. I'm pretty pumped. Got a really good deal on it, too.

It's my first experience buying a car from a non family member. Overall, I think I did OK. I got a good rate (2.99%) on the loan from the dealer and put over half down. I test drove a bunch of cars after doing pretty extensive research online (including Consumer Reports thanks to my mother's subscription). I ended up getting a used 2010 model (6,250 miles, color is "Sage Green"), from Premier Subaru in Branford, CT. Great buying experience from those guys. I'd recommend them to any one looking for a Subaru. I also get $100 if you tell them I sent you. That's "Canny," by the way.

The drive home today was quite exciting.

Here are a couple pictures of the car:

The Best Of Gareth Bale Versus Inter Milan On Video

2010-11-04T12:22:00.001-04:00

Impressive performance from Bale the other night.

Sent to you by Pat via Google Reader:

The Best Of Gareth Bale Versus Inter Milan On Video

via EPL Talk by The Gaffer on 11/4/10

Tuesday night's performance by Gareth Bale against Inter Milan was one of the most remarkable performances seen on English soil in quite some time.

Bale, the Welsh left winger, completely owned Maicon and beat the Brazilian on so many runs. Thankfully someone has captured all of Bale's wonderful runs and touches from Tuesday night in the above video. This is definitely one of those videos that Maicon and fellow Brazilians may want to not watch. A horror show, of sorts. But for those people who love the beautiful game or want to see how amazing Gareth Bale was, click play and be amazed.

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10-31-10: Southern CT College Hockey 2010-2011 Games to Watch

2010-10-31T13:11:00.001-04:00

College ice hockey has been a passion of mine since my childhood growing up in Durham, New Hampshire, the home of the University of New Hampshire Wildcats athletic program. When I moved to southern Connecticut in the fifth grade, I was worried I’d never see good college hockey again. Fortunately, there was a plethora of good, Division 1 programs to choose from. Nothing quite as good as UNH hockey because Hockey East does not have any Connecticut-based teams, but still decent hockey.

The four teams nearby were Yale (ECAC), Fairfield (MAAC), Sacred Heart (Atlantic Hockey), and Quinnipiac (ECAC). Fairfield U no longer has a men’s ice hockey program (though, according to something I got from Yale after buying tickets, Fairfield U is co-hosting the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey East Regional). Yale and Quinnipiac have gotten better over the years. Sacred Heart has mostly survived in a weaker conference, and have the smallest venue of all the area teams.

Since I now live in New Haven, I am hoping to see a few Yale games this season. I went to a few good ones last year, and Yale had a good year. Quinnipiac has a new rink as of a couple seasons ago, but I didn’t see any games there last season.

Here are some of the highlights:

11/5/10: Yale vs. Princeton (I am attending)

11/20/10: Quinnipiac vs. Harvard

12/3/10: Yale vs. RPI

12/8/10: Yale vs. Vermont

1/3/11: Sacred Heart vs. St. Lawrence

2/4/11: Yale vs. Harvard

2/4/11: Quinnipiac vs. RPI

2/26/11: Yale vs. Cornell

10-30-10: New Housemates Economic Dilemma

2010-10-30T08:21:00.002-04:00

I had a discussion yesterday with a friend at work about an interesting dilemma involving two friends of his, two single heterosexual males, who bought a house together. The house they bought had two bedrooms, one of which was the master bedroom with its own bathroom and the other required its inhabitant to use the bathroom downstairs. They agreed to flip a coin to decide who got the master bedroom.

I found the decision interesting, seeing as though the winning party would have a distinct advantage in having the master bedroom, and the other would lose simply based on chance.

Something quite similar occurred when several of my friends rented a large house together a few years ago in Trumbull, CT. The last one in, my friend Michael, was quite cunning, and insisted that he get the master bedroom in order to sweeten the pot, otherwise he’d back out of the rental agreement and the rent would be too high for the remaining housemates to handle. He got the master bedroom.

Unfortunately, the five friends only lived in that house, which was very nice and very large, for one year – the owner decided to jack the rent up after their original lease ended. Three of them moved into an apartment in Hamden, CT, and the other two moved into an apartment in Milford, CT.

The three Hamden-based friends no longer live together, as one of them decided to buy a house in Trumbull with his fiancé. The two remaining roommates decided that they liked their apartment building, and found another, two bedroom apartment on the other side of the complex. Oddly enough, the apartment they found had two bedrooms of dissimilar size and luxuries. One bedroom was significantly larger than the other, and had its own bathroom.

Here’s how they decided who got the larger bedroom: the departing roommate who bought a house acted as an unbiased third party. The two remaining roommates presented arguments to the departing roommate stating reasons why they should get the larger bedroom. After a couple months of deliberation, a decision was made.

This arrangement, with a “neutral” third party making the decision, seemed far more fair than a simple coin flip. But I have another proposal for fixing such a dilemma:

It still involves a neutral third party. They would be offered something simple, like a dinner or something small, from both parties beforehand as a form of a flat fee. However, instead of each party presenting arguments, they would silently submit bids to the neutral third party indicating what percentage more in rent or mortgage payments than the counterparty they would be willing to make in order to live in the master bedroom. The higher amount would be the winning bid. The neutral third party would simply hold the bids for some short period of time and would reveal to the two parties involved at an established time. The winning party would then be bound to that figure.

Even more interesting might be to have the winning party pay the median value between the two bids. Let’s say Party A bids 5% and Party B bids 10%. Party B would then win the bid and would pay 7.5% more in rent or mortgage payments than Party A. That way if one party didn’t really care all that much and bid only 1%, but the other party bid 15%, they wouldn’t be stuck with the entire bill. It would result in higher bids being made, assuming one party is more interested than the other.

I should brush up on my Game Theory.

10-16-10: Mumford & Sons: "Little Lion Man"

2010-10-16T15:46:00.002-04:00

I've heard this song on the radio a few times now, and hit has finally started to grow on me.

It's by a British folk rock band called Mumford & Sons. Not too many British folk rock bands make it very high on the charts in the U.S. these days, so it's refreshing to hear something different. Then again, I did hear it on an alternative radio station.

10-13-10: 2010 MLB Dollars per Win

2010-10-13T21:40:00.004-04:00

Last year I did a quick numbers-crunching exercise to figure out which MLB teams got the most bang for their buck. Based on each team's announced payroll for 2010, and the final regular season standings (though it would make some sense to count post-season wins), here's how it turned out:

Team	Payroll	Wins	$ per Win

San Diego Padres	$37,799,300.00	90	$419,992.22
Pittsburgh Pirates	$34,943,000.00	57	$613,035.09
Texas Rangers	$55,250,545.00	90	$613,894.94
Oakland Athletics	$51,654,900.00	81	$637,714.81
Florida Marlins	$55,641,500.00	80	$695,518.75
Toronto Blue Jays	$62,689,357.00	85	$737,521.85
Tampa Bay Rays	$71,923,471.00	96	$749,202.82
Cincinatti Reds	$72,386,544.00	91	$795,456.53
Cleveland Indians	$61,203,967.00	69	$887,014.01
Washington Nationals	$61,425,000.00	69	$890,217.39
Atlanta Braves	$84,423,667.00	91	$927,732.60
Arizona Diamondbacks	$60,718,167.00	65	$934,125.65
Colorado Rockies	$84,227,000.00	83	$1,014,783.13
Minnesota Twins	$97,559,167.00	94	$1,037,863.48
Milwaukee Brewers	$81,108,279.00	77	$1,053,354.27
San Francisco Giants	$97,828,833.00	92	$1,063,356.88
Kansas City Royals	$72,267,710.00	67	$1,078,622.54
St. Louis Cardinals	$93,540,753.00	86	$1,087,683.17
Los Angeles Dodgers	$94,945,517.00	80	$1,186,818.96
Houston Astros	$92,355,500.00	76	$1,215,203.95
Chicago White Sox	$108,273,197.00	88	$1,230,377.24
Baltimore Orioles	$81,612,500.00	66	$1,236,553.03
Los Angeles Angels	$105,013,667.00	80	$1,312,670.84
Philadelphia Phillies	$141,927,381.00	97	$1,463,168.88
Detroit Tigers	$122,864,929.00	81	$1,516,850.98
Seattle Mariners	$98,376,667.00	61	$1,612,732.25
New York Mets	$132,701,445.00	79	$1,679,765.13
Boston Red Sox	$162,747,333.00	89	$1,828,621.72
Chicago Cubs	$146,859,000.00	75	$1,958,120.00
New York Yankees	$206,333,389.00	95	$2,171,930.41

It looks like Texas is this year's real winner (fewest dollars spent per win while making the playoffs), though San Diego had a great run before fading out at the end to miss the playoffs by two games. Pittsburgh technically finished second, but also had the fewest wins in MLB. The Cubs and Red Sox spent the most per win without making the playoffs.

10-9-10: Expanded Replay in MLB Games

2010-10-09T10:05:00.001-04:00

It’s ironic for me, as a hockey fan, to argue against expanded use of replay in any sport. The NHL incorporated replays on goals years ago, and it made a world of difference.

But the NHL was smart enough to limit the use of replay to just review of goals. They still rely on officials and linesmen to make calls on penalties, off-sides, icings, and other elements of the game. They realize that the game moves too fast, and nothing beats an official in position to make the call.

It seems that Major League Baseball is hearing more and more calls for the expanded use of replay. They currently only implement review by replay on home run calls. Some journalists are calling for its use during safe and out calls on the base paths.

I recognize that ice hockey and baseball are different in many ways. Baseball, for instance, doesn’t have penalties. They have outs. That’s how the game is measured: 54 outs in a regulation game. 27 per team. Teams are built around not making outs while at bat. Players are paid big money to have high batting averages and slugging percentage. Outs are absolute – not many subjective calls. Either the guy got tagged or he didn’t. Either the ball beat him to the base, or it didn’t.

The problem I have is: who has the best view of the play? It’s quite often the umpire. As video technology improves, it may be possible to find the better angle. But right now it’s very expensive. And you’d have to have it available in all ballparks for every game of the regular season just to be fair (a win is a win). Is it worth the expense right now? I think not.

And what happens to the fans who have grown tired of four hour baseball games? If managers were able to challenge more calls, it would lengthen the game. MLB has been working to shorten games. What incentive would it give to pitchers who are told to hurry up and pitch if they know the game could get delayed for five minutes for a video review of a close play at second base?

Baseball has a lot of appeal for its history. Sure, there may come a day when the technology is readily available, but all of the factors that go into the expansion of replay’s use in game settings must be considered.

10-3-10: Massive Traffic Jams and the Cost of Life

2010-10-03T16:59:00.004-04:00

I was caught in a traffic jam today on I-95 in Orange and the following thought popped in my head, a thought that usually pops in my head during traffic jams: "This had better be an accident and somebody had better be dead." Morbid and cruel, indeed, but it led me to wonder how big the traffic jam would have to be to be worth a human life. That is, how much time would need to be wasted by people in vehicles not involved in the accident itself, people just stuck in the traffic jam, to equal the loss of life.

I made the following assumptions in my simple calculation:

- The average length of a vehicle in the traffic jam is 15 feet
- The average number of occupants in each vehicle is 2 people
- The highway has 3 lanes
- All three lanes of the highway are closed and traffic is at a standstill
- The average length of the traffic jam is 5 miles (it would probably be much longer at its peak)
- The average amount of lost time per person is 1.5 hours

With those assumptions made, let's see the results:

Total people in traffic jam: 10,560
Total time wasted: 15,840 hours, or 1.81 years

Let's then assume that the person responsible for the massive traffic jam did indeed die at the scene and was 35 years old. The amount of time they would have lost, assuming average life expectancy of 78.4 years, is 43.4 years.

That's a difference of over 40 years. So, that traffic jam would not be worth the person losing their life. Of course, this is a very, very simple calculation, that only factors in time wasted. It does not factor in anything else like missed deliveries of goods or a missed birthday party or anything typically considered an economic or social impact. Just time wasted.

So how long would the traffic jam have to be, on average, for our 35 year old bad driver to have not lost their life in vain? Well, it's not so simple. Let's bump up the average time lost per person to 5 hours (since it takes time for people to get moving again once the road clears up, and it'd be a very long line of cars).

The answer: exactly 36 miles.

Diploma

2010-10-02T20:19:00.001-04:00

Got this in the mail today.

10-2-10: New Car Shopping

2010-10-02T16:31:00.003-04:00

I am now in the market for a new car. Don't get me wrong, I still like my '03 Toyota Matrix that I bought from my mother after graduating college. It's just that I'd like a vehicle with a bit more clearance and all-wheel drive.

I began my search a few weeks ago. The first car I looked at is the Honda Element. My dad has one, his second, and loves it. It's known for it's box-like shape, which doesn't give it the "cute car" award according to the lady. But, it's practical, and there are some decent deals out there. My parents are dog people, which makes the Element quite ideal for trips to various abandoned properties to walk the three basset hounds.

After looking at various other vehicles, including the Honda CRV, I've narrowed my choice down to a Subaru Forester. It's more like a wagon, which I'm used to since my first two cars have been wagons, but with more clearance. That, and it's got all-wheel drive. Consumer Reports gave it a very good rating. I took a look on newenglandsubaru.com after seeing a TV ad for the 2010 Forester - pretty good deals. I also found out via automotive-fleet.com that the 2011 models should be arriving later this month. That means that the price on the 2010 should drop significantly.

So, I'm just playing the waiting game. My goal is to get a new car by the first snowfall.

9-29-10: People Talking on Cell Phones Whilst Walking

2010-09-29T20:51:00.004-04:00

I acknowledge that it is rather odd that a 25 year old engineer would find the sight of an individual walking around talking on the cell phone socially unacceptable. Perhaps it's my upbringing, or the fact that I don't really like walking around talking on a cell phone. It just looks funny to me; you're walking around like every one else, but you're talking to some one possibly thousands of miles away. It's like you're not really there. Just odd. Standing still talking on a cell phone: different story. I chalk that up to history; communication while remaining still or stationary has been around for eons.

Then I got to thinking about something I've thought about before: people with Bluetooth headsets walking around. I saw a guy in Stop & Shop last week doing this. I thought he was talking to me, only to end up having him turn and show me his Bluetooth headset in his ear. Thanks, buddy.

This practice is even stranger to me. You're walking around, seemingly talking to yourself, with no obvious clue to passersby that you aren't talking to them.

However, as this practice becomes more widely accepted by the minute, why not take advantage of this by helping to solve the dilemma of crazy, homeless bums who ramble to themselves endlessly. I've personally met several crazy bums, and I have to say this: they are very interesting people to listen to. They're far from the boring slobs you see all over the place. But, as interesting as they are, people still feel uncomfortable being near them.

So why not give away old, broken Bluetooth headsets to crazy, homeless bums? What benefits could that bring for society? At the very least, it might allow people to see the plight of the homeless in a friendlier, more socially acceptable way. That, or maybe they'll stop talking on their goddamn Bluetooth headsets and confusing the hell out of the rest of us.

9-27-10: Scania Driver Support

2010-09-27T19:35:00.003-04:00

The other day I read an interesting piece about Scania Driver Support in the September MATLAB Digest. Scania, a European truck manufacturer, developed a system that helps long-haul truck drivers be more efficient while driving. It measures four parameters (as shown in the video below). Scania used MATLAB to develop the system. Since I used MATLAB at work every day, I thought it was pretty neat.

9-25-10: The Release of Sarah Shourd

2010-09-25T09:34:00.002-04:00

It's difficult for me to take any solid position on Sarah Shourd, the American hiker recently released from Iran after 14 months in prison for allegedly illegally entering Iran with her boyfriend, Shane Bauer, and friend Josh Fattal. After watching Shourd's interview on CNN yesterday morning, I couldn't help but wonder if she felt sorry.

It's not that she was a spy, I never thought she or her friends were anything of the sort. But her story, which she has stuck to since returning, is that she and her friends never entered Iran and had therefore done nothing wrong. She kept saying that, since there is no clear system of markers denoting the Iranian border in the area of Iraq where they were, any crossing into Iran was entirely accidental.

So how does she know whether or not they'd entered Iran or not? By admitting there's no clear border, she's not really disproving Iran's claims that the group illegally crossed the border. Just because there's no "Welcome to Iran" sign doesn't mean they weren't in Iran. There are parts of the United States borders with Canada and Mexico that aren't clearly marked, not to mention various other border regions throughout the world.

I don't think Shourd, Bauer, or Fattal meant to do anything wrong, and Iran certainly didn't win many friends in the West this week with comments from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during an address to the United Nations, but Shourd should admit some fault due to poor judgment used by her and her friends. No one from Iran forced them to hike in that region. Sure, 14 months in prison is kind of harsh, and they weren't acting as spies, but they should take some responsibility for their own actions. Their status as victims should be more limited than the media is making it out to be.

9-19-10: Quadrotor

2010-09-19T21:11:00.000-04:00

Courtesy of Gizmodo.

9-18-10: Enron Severance Package - MATLAB Function

2010-09-18T12:49:00.002-04:00

I re-wrote the script from the other day to make it a MATLAB function.

function sev_pack = enron_sev(years_served,end_salary);
% Given current salary and number of years served, calculates the severance
% package according to Enron's formula
% Enron's formula is as follows:
% Two weeks pay for every year served + two weeks pay for every $10,000
% of base salary
floor_years_served = floor(years_served);
base_salary_factor = floor(end_salary/10000);
% Assume 52 weeks in a year
two_weeks_pay = end_salary / 26;
sev_pack = two_weeks_pay * (floor_years_served + base_salary_factor);

Enron Severance Package MATLAB Script

2010-09-16T11:02:00.002-04:00

I got a little bored and decided to write a little MATLAB script that would calculate your severance package if you were an Enron employee (before they went bankrupt). Formula is courtesy of The Smartest Guys in the Room by McLean and Elkind.

Enjoy:

clear
clc
% Given current salary and number of years served, calculates the severance
% package according to Enron's formula
disp('What would your severance package be as an Enron employee?')
years_served = input('Enter number of years served: ');
end_salary = input('Enter salary at end of service: ');
% Enron's formula is as follows:
% Two weeks pay for every year served + two weeks pay for every $10,000
% of base salary
floor_years_served = floor(years_served);
base_salary_factor = floor(end_salary/10000);
% Assume 52 weeks in a year
two_weeks_pay = end_salary / 26;
sev_package = two_weeks_pay * (floor_years_served + base_salary_factor);
str = sprintf('Your severance package would be: $%0.2f',sev_package);
disp(str)

9-16-10: Spurs vs. Werder Bremen

2010-09-16T10:29:00.001-04:00

Pretty good first match in the Champions League for Spurs. Got up 2-0 pretty quickly, but couldn't hold Bremen. 2-2 final. Still, not bad.

Werder Bremen v Tottenham Hotspur
Uploaded by evolspeltz. - More professional, college and classic sports videos.

9-7-10: Lovely Long Weekend in the White Mountains

2010-09-07T19:03:00.001-04:00

I don’t remember exactly when I last visited the White Mountains. I spent 9 years of my childhood growing up in Durham, NH, which isn’t that close to the White Mountains, but is close enough for the occasional visit. I remember going to Santa’s Village and Storyland. Fond memories of that. I remember the Old Man, the state’s symbol, may it rest in peace. I don’t remember it, but I did ride on the Cog Railway up Mount Washington. All memories of the area are good ones.

I was therefore quite excited to visit it again this past weekend with the lady and several friends. Six of us stayed at Crawford Notch General Store and Campground from Friday to Monday for the long Labor Day Weekend. The plan was to do some hiking. And that we did.

The weather was mostly pristine. It rained on Friday night, but we were safe and dry in our tents. It was rather warm that night, which made for rough sleeping. Saturday and Sunday were beautiful, though. Great hiking weather.

We decided to do two day hikes, one long and one short. The long one, done on Saturday, hit three 4000 footers: Mount Willey, Mount Field, and Mount Tom. The first part of the hike was a rather steep ascent up Mount Willey, the highest of the three peaks. That got rough in parts, with quite a bit of rock scrambling. But, after some turmoil but progress, we reached the top in time to enjoy a scenic lunch in the clouds. The rest of the day was much easier, as we hiked along the ridge to Mount Field. The weather turned a bit once we reached Mount Field, with some wind and light rain, but we had a nice view of the Mount Washington Hotel from the peak. Mount Tom was next, though I cannot say I made it, as one of my friends had bad knees and I joined him down the mountain. The Mount Tom Spur is not a difficult hike, but it was a bit much for my friend, and my leg wasn’t 100% either, so we retreated slightly early down the mountain. The hike began at Willey House, and ended near Saco Lake. We had two cars at each end. Easy swap.

Saturday night, after a good day of hiking, we ate at Moat Mountain Smokehouse and Brewery in North Conway. What a fantastic decision that turned out to be. If you’re ever in the area, be sure to stop by. The reviews, which are great, don’t give it justice. Not only do they brew their own very good beer on site ($4 a pint), but their food is excellent. Since most of the group consisted of men in their 20’s, we got the Family Barbecue. For $15 a person, we ate like kings, dining on ribs (1.5 racks for 5 people… but still a good amount), beef brisket, mashed potatoes, cornbread, chicken, pulled pork, and rice and beans. Oh, and it was all-you-can-eat (except for the ribs). Our waiter was also great. We rolled back into the cars back to the campground.

Sunday’s hike was Arethusa Falls. My leg was quite sore, but I got to enjoy the falls from the top after a bit of scrambling on an unmarked trail. Stunning view. I spent part of the afternoon chopping up some firewood from fallen birch trees. I split a rock in half trying to break one. Had to take a hatched to weaken it up enough to break it in pieces with half of the broken rock. Good fun.

8-29-10: Red Bulls vs. San Jose Earthquakes

2010-08-29T17:30:00.004-04:00

Yesterday I spent the day in New York with my buddy Dan before we went to see the New York Red Bulls take on the San Jose Earthquakes at the new Red Bull Arena. Both of us were very interested in seeing the new stadium, as well as the new signings Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez.

We took the 10:00AM train from Fairfield, which got us into Grand Central at around 11:15AM. Plenty of time to enjoy the city before taking the PATH from World Trade to Harrison. We wanted to spend as little time in New Jersey as possible, which proved to be a good idea, as there's pretty much nothing near the stadium.

The first thing: lunch. My buddy Jason, who spends a lot of time in downtown getting his MBA at NYU, recommended The Shake Shack in Madison Square Park. Let me tell you, it was good. We got there exactly at Noon, and timed it perfectly. The line was apparently "short" when we got in it, and it only got longer as we sat and ate. I had a Shack Burger, fries, and a chocolate shake. My buddy Dan had pretty much the same thing, only he tried out their vanilla shake. Everything was good. It certainly helped that we went in on a fantastically beautiful day. Sitting there, eating in the park, having a shake, very nice.

We then needed something to fill the remaining 6 hours before we needed to be in Harrison for the game. We decided to take the subway down to Battery Park to hang out there a bit. From there we walked to City Hall, then grabbed a coffee before heading up to Hallo Berlin in midtown for an early dinner of bratwurst and good German beer. After walking over to the Intrepid (didn't go to the museum, just walked nearby) and watching a Carnival cruise ship leave dock, we walked down the greenway on the west side a bit and took the subway near Penn Station to make our way to Harrison.

I was impressed by the PATH system. My parents had a horrendous time a couple years ago using New Jersey Transit, but I think they've gotten their acts together. The train ride was packed, but only took about 20 minutes from World Trade to Harrison. From there it's about a 5-10 minute walk to Red Bull Arena, which is in the middle of a big, empty lot. Very easy to find.

The stadium was BEAUTIFUL. You could have sworn you were in Europe watching a game. They did a great job keeping it cozy. The image on the right is the view from our seats - great, great seats. Second row behind the San Jose goal (for the first half). We got to see the first Red Bulls goal, which was quite exciting. The crowd, which was not quite a sellout, was pretty into it. Thierry Henry scored his first goal for New York, which I'm sure will be a proud moment in his career (heh). Red Bulls ended up winning pretty convincingly 2-0.

The trip back wasn't too bad. There was a bit of a line before getting onto the PATH train, but the train itself wasn't too crowded. We hung around for a few minutes to watch the first few minutes of the Mayor's Cup match between the New York cops and firemen. That wasn't much to see, but they seemed to care. We ended up taking the 11:20PM train back to Fairfield. I got home at around 1:00AM. Very nice day in the city.

Little Feat - "Willin'"

2010-08-25T21:28:00.002-04:00

I've had this song stuck in my head for a few days. Incredible. The version from Waiting for Columbus is the best one.

8-16-10: The Dustin Johnson Incident and the Role of Officials

2010-08-16T20:17:00.002-04:00

I feel sorry for Dustin Johnson. The guy played his heart out, and came up short in the end. The professional golfer, known more recently for a major meltdown than anything else, was in the hunt yesterday during the final round of the PGA Championship, hitting a great chip on the 18th to force a playoff. He was then informed that he'd committed a rules violation before his second shot on the 18th, grounding his club head before striking the ball. The two stroke penalty cost him the playoff.

I heard a few different takes on the incident. Most people feel sorry for Johnson, as they should, but a few called out the rules official for not notifying Johnson beforehand, as a heads-up. I disagree with that particular viewpoint. I think the rules official did precisely what was expected of him: he notified Johnson of a rules infraction. Now, it wasn't an obvious infraction, as a lot of people didn't even know that the ball was sitting in a sand trap (the course had an over abundance of sand traps to begin with) as it was quite a ways from the fairway. Nevertheless, Johnson fessed up and took the penalty.

Should the rules official have warned Johnson beforehand? Johnson did not think to ask for a ruling on whether the ball was sitting in a hazard, which would have been a fair question, because it simply didn't cross his mind. Many golfers would likely have made the same assumption. But you can't expect the rules official to warn Johnson. Golf isn't known as a sport that requires a lot of rule decisions. It's so rare to see the officials on camera that many viewers forget they are there. And they're far from omnipresent, as most players go through entire rounds without a rules official tagging along. Golf is very different than basketball or baseball or hockey in that it's largely an issue of self-policing. Players are expected to call infractions on themselves or their playing partners. No other game with officials is like that. They're simply rules officials, not referees.

It's unfortunate that Johnson lost out on what might be a career opportunity to win a major championship. But it's his fault for not knowing the rule, or not asking. It's tough.

8-9-10: Planet Fitness Locations in Southern CT

2010-08-09T22:30:00.001-04:00

Well, it’s been a while since my last post. I’ve been very busy with moving (from Derby, CT to New Haven, CT) and finishing my Master’s degree in engineering. I haven’t been able to golf, either, which I hope to rectify shortly.

I figured I’d start back off with something slightly more useful than explaining what’s been going on in my life, which is exciting to me but is rather boring blogging material.

I’ve been a member of the Planet Fitness exercise club franchise for about 3.5 years, not including two summers as a student member. I joined at their Trumbull, CT location in March 2007 as a “Black Card” member, giving me access to all Planet Fitness locations throughout the country and a few other perks which I don’t really use. I was going to college in Worcester, MA at the time, and wanted the option of visiting their West Boylston, MA location while up at school, which worked out well. The WPI gym was small, very crowded, and had a limited selection of equipment. I don’t regret the decision for a second.

Since joining, I’ve visited about 10 different Planet Fitness locations. Here’s the list from memory:

Trumbull, CT (home club)

Shelton, CT – Bridgeport Ave (most frequented during my time in Derby)

Shelton, CT – River Road

Fairfield, CT

New Haven, CT

Orange, CT

Milford, CT

West Boylston, MA

Wilmington, NC (near my sister’s school, went there once on vacation)

Marlborough, MA (went there once while visiting family)

More recently I’ve been visiting the Orange and Milford locations, giving me a better idea of which locations have more to offer. So, here’s the rundown of the eight I’ve visited more than once:

Top 3: Trumbull, Orange, and Milford : In no particular order, these are my three favorite. Trumbull is probably the largest, but I’d have to see a floor plan to know for sure. Orange has a lot of machines, but the layout is a bit odd because it’s split up in three distinct areas. Milford is mostly downstairs, and has recently renovated its locker rooms. I’d give Orange a slight edge overall because of its locker room, but it’s a close call between the three. Milford has the best layout.

4. Fairfield: Not particularly large in floor space, but it’s a newer location so the equipment is better.

5. Shelton – Bridgeport Ave: I went to this one regularly during my 18 month stay in Derby. I like the layout, but the machines aren’t in the best shape.

6. New Haven: Disappointed in the size. The layout is OK, and the machines are newer. If I went to this one more often than the Bridgeport Ave location I may have ranked it higher.

7. West Boylston : Probably the smallest of the locations I’ve been to. The only redeeming feature is the layout, and the Smith machines.

8. Shelton – River Road: Barely larger than West Boylston, if by a few square feet. Often crowded, very limited in machine selection, and cramped.

I’d probably rank the Wilmington location 5th and the Marlborough location 4th, but with only one visit to each, it’s hard to say. The Marlborough location is fairly new, and I’d recommend it to any member visiting the area.

College Library Parodies Old Spice Commercials To Coax Students From Dorm Rooms

2010-07-27T14:42:00.001-04:00

Care of my friend JR. Go to the library, kids!

Sent to you by Pat via Google Reader:

College Library Parodies Old Spice Commercials To Coax Students From Dorm Rooms

via The Consumerist by Laura Northrup on 7/16/10

I'm a college librarian by training. One of the challenges in the profession right now is convincing students who have grown up with instantaneous access to information from home that a library has something to offer them. Brigham Young University's Harold B. Lee Library reached out to students by producing a video that shows off library resources and looks awfully.... familiar.

Combine viral marketing, a great script, a book cart, and a sandwich: genius. And props to the commercial's star, comedian and BYU student Stephen Jones.

New Spice | Study like a scholar, scholar [YouTube]
Harold B. Lee Library [Official Site]

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7-22-10: Arthur Conan Doyle on Sherlock Holmes

2010-07-22T06:52:00.002-04:00

This is a pretty interesting video featuring Sir Arthur Conan Doyle talking about Sherlock Holmes, as well as about his interest in psychic matters.

What's interesting to me is that Doyle mentions an instructor of his, a doctor, whom he used as a base for Holmes' deductive ability. Any one who watches the show House may know that the writers based House's character on Sherlock Holmes. So, in the end, House, a doctor, is based on Sherlock Holmes, a detective based on a doctor.

7-15-10: Saved Locations in Google Calendar

2010-07-15T19:59:00.004-04:00

I use Google Calendar every single day. It helps me plan my life like nothing else. I even add things I just did to my Google Calendar so I can search for them later to remember the last time I went to a certain place or did something (like a haircut). It's something I consider to be an essential tool in planning my life.

The selling point for Google products is interoperability and compatibility. You can share things so easily with different Google products like Documents or Youtube or Gmail. "Plugged in" users can lead very respectable, and organized, lives through Google tools. This very blog is through Google.

One thing I wish Google Calendar had, though, is the ability to add a saved location. I have a lot of events that take place at the same location at pretty regular frequencies. It would be nice if I didn't have to type out the full address every time. It would be much better to have an auto-complete or suggestion capability (e.g. when you begin typing a search into Google it gives you suggestions).

Google Maps already has this feature (in GWT it's called a "Suggest Box"), so why not Google Calendar? Each account has its own set of saved locations already. It's not a make or break thing for me, since I've been using the products for years, but it is well within Google to make this happen.

Watch Every Goal of World Cup 2010 In 10 Minutes: Video

2010-07-13T14:40:00.001-04:00

Sent to you by Pat via Google Reader:

Watch Every Goal of World Cup 2010 In 10 Minutes: Video

via EPL Talk by The Gaffer on 7/13/10

If you've got 10 minutes to spare, you can watch this one video which features every single goal scored in the 2010 World Cup in chronological order from Siphiwe Tshabalala for South Africa all the way to Andres Iniesta of Spain.

The music that accompanies the track is an unknown SID tune composed on a Commodore 64 computer. Enjoy.

HT to our UK friends The Spoiler for the vid.

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7-11-10: The Miracle of Craigslist

2010-07-11T10:22:00.003-04:00

The lady and I are moving in together in a few weeks' time, so I've been scrambling to get rid of my unwanted items. Before my last move about 19 months ago, I decided to use Craigslist, with some pretty promising results. I therefore decided to try it again.

So far, not bad. I'm currently selling my couch, my old 20" tube TV (about 5 years old), a few posters, and a CD player/changer. Thus far I have had people interested in nearly everything, except for the TV.

The "miracle" sale occurred yesterday, when I sold my bass guitar carrying case. Here is the chronological order of the events that led up to the sale (all times Eastern):

2:17PM: Publish the posting on Craigslist with a brief description and a couple pictures. Price: $15.

4:58PM: Receive e-mail from prospective buyer, asking if I still had the case. E-mail indicates that he is very interested, and is leaving for Orange (neighboring town to Derby, where I currently live) in ~30 minutes. He includes his name and a phone number.

5:05PM: I read the e-mail, and immediately call prospective buyer. He is pleased to hear from me. We talk briefly, and I inform him that I am actually planning on leaving for New Haven around the same time he is leaving for Orange. He tells me he is coming from Hamden, and asks if we wanted to meet somewhere to do the exchange. I completely agree, and we decide on a spot: the park and ride on Route 34 at the junction with Route 15. Time: 5:45PM. I told him it was his for $10, as this was turning out to be very convenient.

5:15PM: I leave for the park and ride, first stopping at the bank and then to a CVS to break a $20 bill, as the buyer said he, too, needed to stop by the ATM.

5:50PM: I arrive at park and ride, and wait for buyer to arrive.

5:55PM: Buyer arrives, immediately finds my car. We briefly chat, and complete the exchange. He is very excited to receive the case, as he is one short and recently purchased a new Fender Standard Bass and is also moving. We shake hands, and depart.

Total time, from posting to completion of sale: 3 hours and 40 minutes. Best of all: I didn't have to go out of my way (neither did he). I hope you enjoy the case, Jared.

How To Grill Pizza

2010-07-02T08:09:00.001-04:00

Sent to you by Pat via Google Reader:

How To Grill Pizza

via The Kitchn by Faith Durand on 7/1/10

We have talked about grilled pizza quite a bit, here at The Kitchn, but I realized that we have never done a front-to-back explanation of how to grill pizza at home. Well, we are remedying that today. Here is a step-by-step tutorial on grilling pizza. Honestly, this method is not hard, once you get the hang of it, and it makes some of the best pizza you'll ever eat!

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Video of Storm in Bridgeport

2010-06-25T07:03:00.003-04:00

Here's some footage of the storm that rolled through my area yesterday afternoon. My office is practically in Bridgeport. We had a tree come down on two cars in the back parking lot.

TED: A Debate on Nuclear Power

2010-06-20T13:38:00.000-04:00

Interesting points.

6-20-10: Some World Cup Observations

2010-06-20T10:18:00.005-04:00

With the Group Stage wrapping up within the week, things are looking more interesting than previously thought. Just some observations:

- Paraguay is the real deal. I recorded their match against Slovakia this morning. As of this writing I've watched up to the 65th minute, and the Paraguay team looks solid. Their passing and interplay are fantastic and very entertaining to watch. Great skill on the ball. I'd be mindful of them as the tournament moves on.

- Argentina's defense is very, very shaky. Demichelis made two glaring errors that one would hope a top-class defender would never do. The commentators were very justified in questioning Maradona's decision to leave Javier Zanetti out of the squad. I'm also surprised that Cambiasso was left out, but their midfield looks good. They should do well with their immense amount of offensive talent. Higuain could become a World Cup legend if he keeps it up (though Messi does all the hard work).

- England look weak with Heskey in there. It's just not working. Heskey is a very good supplier of balls to his striking partners, but Rooney doesn't seem to be at his best, which really exposes Heskey's lack of scoring touch. Fortunately, they have two Tottenham strikers (Crouch and Defoe) on the bench! If England want to make it through, they have to go with a more pressing front line instead of relying entirely on Rooney being at his best all of the time.

I'm looking forward to the Brazil vs. Ivory Coast game this afternoon.

6-17-10: The World Cup Thus Far

2010-06-17T18:04:00.001-04:00

I’ve been so caught up in the World Cup that I haven’t had the chance to post in a while.

Things got interesting starting yesterday with the opening loss for Spain to Switzerland. In my office pool I had Spain winning 4-0; I was already close to last place before that bomb. The only game I’ve correctly predicted was Netherlands vs. Denmark.

For the most part my group predictions are very mediocre. Obviously, Group H is out of whack with the Switzerland win, but Chile’s win over Honduras kept that group half alive. Let’s go through the rest in reverse alphabetical order:

Group G:

I watched both opening games (via DVR), and was thoroughly entertained. I have Brazil and Portugal going through, which is still very much in play. Rather than being a matter of how badly Ivory Coast and Portugal beat North Korea, I think it will be which team doesn’t lose to Brazil. I think Portugal is a bit stronger and can work a tie with the South American powerhouse to squeeze through.

Group F:

Paraguay is impressive. They, like ALL OTHER SOUTH AMERICAN TEAMS, had a strong opening game. But, with all four teams tied with 1 point a piece, it’s still wide open. I’m still picking Slovakia and Italy to advance, but it’s not looking good. I think Italy will make it, but I can’t help but think Paraguay will do quite well in their second and third games against Slovakia and New Zealand. The match to watch: Paraguay vs. Slovakia, Sunday @ 7:30AM.

Group E:

I had hoped for a bit more from Cameroon. The Japanese really took them to task with a strong opener. This group looks pretty solid right now with the Dutch and Japanese going through, but I’m looking forward to the Cameroon vs. Netherlands game next Thursday at 2:30PM. Hopefully things won’t be settled by then.

Group D:

Germany and Ghana are going through. The Ghana vs. Serbia game was very entertaining. I was disappointed in Australia’s performance, but not surprised to see Germany win. This one looks pretty settled.

Group C:

Very good stuff from the U.S. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow’s game against Slovenia, which is a must-have. It’s looking very possible like a battle between the U.S. and England to see who makes it out, but both teams still have a chance to advance if they both beat Slovenia and score 2 or more against Algeria.

Group B:

Argentina has arrived. They had a stirring win today against South Korea. Higuain looks fantastic. I can’t wait to watch it this weekend. The Greeks have also made things a bit more interesting with a win over Nigeria, but I think South Korea will make it through. Unfortunately, I had picked Greece.

Group A:

I knew I couldn’t trust the French. Today’s 2-0 loss to Mexico has sealed their fate. South Africa will be the first host country to not make it out of the Group Stage (no real surprise after the draw happened months ago). Uruguay looks to be a sleeper from this group. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them go far. They and Mexico will advance.

One thing that has really come out so far is the great play from South American teams. They’ve gone undefeated thus far. It would really be something to see all five teams (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay) make it through. Right now, it’s very much a possibility.

Goal by Goal, Brick by Brick

2010-06-16T08:58:00.001-04:00

Neat.

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Goal by Goal, Brick by Brick

via Goal by By THE NEW YORK TIMES on 6/15/10

Highlight videos of the World Cup, Lego-style.

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Adidas' Star Wars Cantina Scene Ad

2010-06-06T10:52:00.001-04:00

This is very well done. I found this on EPLTalk.

Dirty Heads - "Lay Me Down"

2010-05-30T17:11:00.001-04:00

When I first heard this song on Radio 104, I thought: "This sounds like something Bradley Nowell (from Sublime) would write in about 15 seconds."

Turns out, I was more right than I thought.

It's still catchy.

5-30-10: World Cup - Group Stage Picks

2010-05-30T10:54:00.002-04:00

I’m really excited about the World Cup. I’ve been following European soccer quite closely since the last World Cup, so I’m ready for a few weeks of greatness to come.

With that, here are my picks for the Group Stage:

Group A:

South Africa
Mexico
Uruguay
France

Advance: Mexico and France.

Group B:

Argentina
Nigeria
South Korea
Greece

Advance: Argentina and Greece

Group C:

England
United States
Algeria
Slovenia

Advance: England and United States

Group D:

Germany
Australia
Serbia
Ghana

Advance: Germany and Ghana

Group E:

Netherlands
Denmark
Japan
Cameroon

Advance: Netherlands and Cameroon

Group F:

Italy
Paraguay
New Zealand
Slovakia

Advance: Italy and Slovakia

Group G:

Brazil
North Korea
Ivory Coast
Portugal

Advance: Brazil and Ivory Coast

Group H:

Spain
Switzerland
Honduras
Chile

Advance: Spain and Chile

Once that’s settled, I’ll make my Knockout Stage picks.

5-29-10: The End of an Old Oxford Tradition

2010-05-29T11:55:00.002-04:00

Every morning I listen to the New York Times’ Front Page podcast (it has vastly improved over the last few months) to get a feel for what’s going on. The other daily news podcast I listen to is the NPR Hourly Newscast, which also provides a great synopsis.

Yesterday morning I heard a story on the Front Page podcast about how Oxford’s All Souls College (the abbreviated name for “The Warden and College of the Souls of all Faithful People deceased in the University of Oxford”) is no longer requiring students to take a traditional admissions exam. The exam: given three hours and a single noun, write a coherent essay.

As a senior in high school, I was asked by the English department, along with several other students, to take part in a remarkably similar exam. It was voluntary, and there was a prize for the best essay. We were given a single sentence and had to write an essay in under two hours revolving around that sentence. Unfortunately, my vocabulary wasn’t quite, oh what’s the word, large enough, and one of the words in the sentence was brand new to me. I forget what it was, but it was a good SAT word, for sure. I didn’t win the prize.

I enjoyed the experience, but I can see where Oxford is coming from. As interesting as it sounds, after about an hour, you’re just trying to stretch it out. I can see where a single noun can be spun into something quite interesting, but what value can you get from a student trying to impress? They may babble on for pages and pages about some story in their life that they found relevant. How do you measure brilliance based on that? What’s the standard? Length? Coherence? It’s tough.

I think I’ll try something like this out, actually. I’ll be done with my Master’s in Electrical and Computer Engineering in August. Maybe once that’s all done and dusted, I’ll give this a shot. I’ll keep you posted.

5-27-10: The Federal Response to the Gulf Oil Spill

2010-05-27T22:40:00.000-04:00

I read something today saying the majority of people responding in a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll (six out of ten respondents) disapproved of the Federal response to the Gulf Oil Spill.

I’m a bit torn on this. It could be because I’m from the north, far from the Gulf Coast, but I’m of the opinion that, for a few weeks at least, the people in charge underestimated the volume of oil coming from the leak. I have no idea if it was deliberate or not; that’s another issue altogether. But let’s assume you’re Obama. The timing isn’t great. You had announced recently plans to continue off-shore oil drilling when an oil platform in the Gulf exploded. As easy as it would be to blame the Bush Administration for allowing the safety regulations to be ignored by oil companies, your administration is on the hook for approving the permit for the platform that exploded over a month ago. Now you’ve got Bobby Jindal, the Republican Governor of Louisiana – who coincidentally has been called the “Republican Obama in waiting”, and James Carville, a renowned Louisiana native and Democratic television personality who advised Bill Clinton, saying the Federal response has been severely lacking. What do you do?

At first this looked like a state problem. Then, once the amount of oil entering the Gulf was found to be vastly underestimated, it became a regional disaster. Louisiana is the hardest hit thus far, but it could become an issue for other Gulf states soon. As a Libertarian, I’m normally of the opinion that, if a state can handle it, let them. But Louisiana has been shouting for help, and Jindal has been very vocal in saying: “Just let us do what we can.” He’s blaming the Federal Government for holding back the relief effort. Many people are still blaming BP for their problems; not many can outright blame the Feds for the oil reaching the coastline. I think Obama is in a bit of a pickle. All he can do is hope the measures being taken by BP – the “Top Kill” is the latest attempt – works, and soon. Then, he can focus on drilling safety to help prevent future disasters.

In the end, there are faults in the Federal response, but I see a lot of it as just acts of frustration. I like what Jindal is doing, and I feel for what Carville is expressing. I was at the beach yesterday afternoon nearby, and couldn’t help but think of the oil in the estuaries and marshes in the Gulf. It’s sad.

5-26-10: The USA - Czech Republic Game

2010-05-26T21:42:00.002-04:00

Last night, myself, the lady, and a few friends attended the USA vs. Czech Republic game at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. We live about an hour south of the stadium, so it was quite convenient, and I didn’t want to pass up the chance to see the team before they left for South Africa.

It was my first USA game; first game featuring professionals for that matter. The highest level of soccer I’d ever watched in person was a Division 1 college game at Yale. It was amazing to see the differences. You get a feeling for the speed difference on television, but all the nuances are revealed only in person. The players are certainly gifted athletes.

Overall, it was quite fun. The ride in had its expected traffic problems, but we didn’t have much trouble finding parking (we parked at Cabella’s across the street). Getting out was even easier. I was surprised to see the sold-out stadium. I had figured the game would be well attended, but not a sell-out like it was. It was a great atmosphere for a game. The weather was perfect, too.

The team performed well overall despite the final score: 4-2 for the Czechs. Coach Bob Bradley is paring down his preliminary 30 man World Cup squad today, so he wanted to get a feeling for who would be in his final 23. More than half of the starting XI didn’t play, including Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard (though they did have Guzan in), and Jozy Altidore. They did have Jonathan Bornstein, Maurice Edu, a returning Oguchi Onyewu, and DeMarcus Beasley in, though. They played OK. Some of the younger players looked really good, like Herculez Gomez who scored the second U.S. goal. Overall it was disappointing to lose 4-2, but you could tell it wasn’t about the victory as much as it was allowing guys to get in and play.

The referee had obviously been told: don’t let anything crazy happen. The players were well behaved, but there were still a lot of whistles. About half-way through the second half, it got to be a little much. My friend turned to me and said “This game turned to mud fast.” It made it a bit boring, but it picked back up towards the end.

In the end, it was a lot of fun. I can only imagine what it's like to watch a World Cup match. Maybe one day, if I'm lucky, I'll get that chance.

Game Theory TV

2010-05-24T10:18:00.001-04:00

Thanks, Freakonomics!

Sent to you by Pat via Google Reader:

Game Theory TV

via Freakonomics by By IAN AYRES on 5/24/10

Game theory lessons on YouTube.

Things you can do from here:

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Nike World Cup TV Ad: Full Length Video

2010-05-21T08:26:00.001-04:00

Sent to you by Pat via Google Reader:

Nike World Cup TV Ad: Full Length Video

via EPL Talk by The Gaffer on 5/20/10

The much anticipated World Cup TV commercial from Nike has been released. It features a cast of soccer superstars including Wayne Rooney, Ronaldinho, Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, Fabio Cannavaro, Franck Ribery, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Patrice Evra, Gerard Pique, Ronaldinho, Landon Donovan, Tim Howard and Thiago Silva.

Directed by renowned Hollywood director and producer Alejandro G. Iñarritu (21 Grams, Babel), this epic football journey unfolds through a match of goal line clearances, game-winning tackles and lightning footwork that literally send a ripple effect across the world.

What do you think of it? Share your opinion in the comments section below.

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5-16-10: The Bruins' Season

2010-05-16T13:06:00.003-04:00

Going into Game 7 on Friday, I had little hope for the Bruins. They'd been up 3-0, sure. But, unlike other 3-0 series leads, it didn't seem, at least going in, that the Bruins should have had such a commanding lead on the series. After all, the Flyers had a nearly identical regular season record (they finished only one spot behind the Bruins in 7th place), and were just coming off a great series against the rival Devils. Going in, I figured it would be a good series.

And it was, for the most part. The Bruins had three good games in a row to take the 3-0 lead, then lost in overtime in Philadelphia on a goal from the returning start Simon Gagne. You'll give the Flyers that, with Game 5 in Boston.

Game 5 was the first indication to me that the Bruins were in trouble. They'd lost Krejci, and their offense had struggled all year. It looked like they'd run out of steam. They invested a lot, and the injuries really caught up to them. Sturm got hurt on the first shift of the series. Savard had just returned from a long stint away from the ice with a concussion. Mark Stuart also just returned from injury. It just didn't look like the Bruins had it. The Flyers, who had some bad moments themselves, looked more confident.

Then, as if to toy with us, the Bruins had a fantastic first period in Game 7, jumping to a 3-0 lead. It looked promising, but, as was the case with the first three games that gave the Bruins a 3-0 series lead, they ran out of energy, and gave up their 3-0 lead in the game. It was disappointing to see them lose at home.

Nevertheless, it didn't feel all that bad when you look at the team's situation. They made it to the second round, a feat many fans didn't see them accomplishing. I hope they will take this in stride, and there were a few players who really showed some heart. They certainly have some work to do on offense, though.

5-7-10: The Shelton Terrorist

2010-05-07T16:41:00.003-04:00

Not having grown up in the All American Valley, I can't claim to be a native. I simply live there now. I'm writing this from my apartment in Derby, the smallest city (yes, it's a city!) in Connecticut. The house of Faisal Shahzad in Shelton is less than a mile from where I am currently sitting. The house is actually being foreclosed upon, which I'm guessing is a result of the same financial troubles Shahzad came upon that led him to become more religious, and eventually out for revenge against a system he grew to hate.

On a funnier note, here's an e-mail I got from my father after telling him how close Shahzad's old house is to me (NOTE: I moved to Derby after Shahzad and his family left Shelton):

Saw that. Also heard his house is being foreclosed upon. Probably a good buy with plenty of open space once the Shelton police, the FBI, the CIA, Homeland Security, Interpol, the New York City police, the Connecticut state police, and, less we forget, the Shelton housing authority (know [sic] idea how they're involved) get through with it.

I heard about Shahzad while driving down Bridgeport Avenue in Shelton on Tuesday, in fact. I had just left the gym (on that road), and was genuinely shocked to hear that, of all places, the guy lived so close by. The strange part was: I wasn't spooked by it. It was simply a strange coincidence. Had he recently lived in New York and New Jersey, I think I would have felt a bit more spooked by the fact that he was an American citizen working, in his mind, for a terrorist organization. But no, I was more surprised than anything to bother feeling scared.

I think people my age, I am 24 years old, have a peculiar way of looking at terrorism. I was a junior in high school when 9/11 happened. I remember it well. I remember when we invaded Afghanistan, then Iraq. I remember it being a time of immense national pride. I remember the feeling that we had to beat the terrorists by hiding our fear, because they were so far away. They still are, for the most part, despite the acts of one man who happened to be a U.S. citizen. Hell, there were even some people that doubted what he did was actually terrorism! I guess part of the requirements for being a terrorist are that you have to come here solely to perform the act. People thought Ted Kaczynski was just a nut, and that Timothy McVeigh was a monster, but how many times have you heard them called terrorists? What is it about the term makes it relate only to foreigners bent on destroying American society? I consider Kaczynski and McVeigh terrorists. I think the same of the Columbine shooters.

Home-grown terrorism is something a lot of people think is a matter of either insanity or intolerance, yet when we speak of the War on Terror, it's a foreign policy debate. What do people feel about Shahzad, then? He's not a native to our land, but he was a naturalized citizen. Where does he fit into the mix?

He's a terrorist with an American passport, folks. Live with it. We're just lucky he's really bad at it.

Live BBC Feed of British Election

2010-05-06T17:57:00.003-04:00

This is thanks to nytimes.com:

5-5-10: Spurs Win Champions League Spot

2010-05-05T21:38:00.002-04:00

Great win today by Tottenham over Manchester City.

Here's my favorite highlight from today's action:

Amazing Transforming Apartment

2010-05-01T13:03:00.001-04:00

I'd like to try this.

4-29-10: Capitals Loss to the Canadiens

2010-04-29T20:25:00.006-04:00

I couldn't help but watch. Not only was it the only game in town, it was something of a spectacle. Game 7, underdog versus heavy favorite. The Washington Capitals, the Presidents' Trophy winners, were in an elimination game, at home, against the eight place Montreal Canadiens, who didn't make the playoffs until the final few days of the season. The Capitals had a 3-1 series lead, but couldn't close at home. The Canadiens had won two in a row, but nobody gave them a chance. The Capitals, after all, had Ovechkin and home ice advantage. The hapless Habs had key injuries and were a bunch of has-beens and rookies.

But the Canadiens had the hot goaltender in Jaroslav Halak and the will to do all it took to win. The Capitals, despite all of their superior talent (Ovechkin, Semin, Backstrom, Green, etc.), looked like a team waiting for the big play. It never came. The Canadiens blocked more shots than I can remember (well over 30 in total) and kept Ovechkin quiet. Despite the hot start, the Capitals couldn't muster and good scoring chances for most of the game. The Canadiens simply smothered them and hustled their way to a 2-1 victory while being vastly out-shot by their opponents.

I was in a strange place in that I wasn't watching the game as a true neutral viewer. I wanted Montreal to win simply because it would have given the Bruins a home ice advantage in the second round (not bad for a 6th seed). A lot of talking heads were saying how disappointing it would be if Washington did somehow manage to lose. Tony Kornheiser used the term "choking dogs" whenever that came up. Most of these statements were made half-joking; today they found little humor in similar conversations.

From what I saw, it looked like the Capitals had acquired a bad case of "One Puck Syndrome" that some highly talented teams catch from time to time. Teams that rely on one or two offensive forces tend to continue relying on them even in dire circumstances. The Canadiens knew this. They knew that all they had to do was shut down Ovechkin by closing in on him quickly and reducing the number of shots. They did just that. Washington needed more from their support players, and it was apparent to me that Semin and Green weren't playing up to their ability. Green, arguably the most talented offensive defenseman in the league, took a costly cross-checking penalty IN THE OFFENSIVE ZONE, leading to a power play goal by Montreal to go up 1-0.

The key symptom of One Puck Syndrome is simple lack of playmaking. A lot of the Capitals forwards took a lot of shots from 50-60 feet. Halak, the Canadiens goaltender, was red hot, and welcomed the easy shots. And the shot blocking from Montreal was tremendous. Every one got in on it. That was essential to their success. Even when the Capitals did try to get in closer, the Canadiens defense shut down the passing lanes and squashed the chances with the help of a very strong goaltender in Halak, who would easily win the series MVP if they actually had one for the Quarterfinals.

So, with the Quarterfinals done, here are my predictions for the remainder of the playoffs:

Conference Semifinals:

Detroit vs. San Jose : San Jose in 7 games

Chicago vs. Vancouver : Chicago in 5 games

Pittsburgh vs. Montreal : Pittsburgh in 6 games

Boston vs. Philadelphia : Boston in 6 games

Conference Finals:

San Jose vs. Chicago : San Jose in 7 games

Boston vs. Pittsburgh : Pittsburgh in 6 games

Stanley Cup Finals:

San Jose vs. Pittsburgh : San Jose in 6 games

4-21-10: Silversun Surprise

2010-04-21T22:53:00.002-04:00

I've been listening to this band called Silversun Pickups off and on for a few months now. I won't spoil it right away, but I was surprised after seeing a video of them playing live.

Have a listen to the song "Panic Switch" in the first video, then play the second video, which is the band playing the same song live.

Did something surprise you about the lead singer?