Friday, February 20, 02004
There's an excellent Malcom Gladwell article on SUV "safety". Besides the expected "dwarfed car/intellegent driver" bit early in the article, this passage jumped out at me, like a burbrat playing four square:
For years, we've all made fun of the middle-aged man who suddenly trades in his sedate family sedan for a shiny red sports car. That's called a midlife crisis. But at least it involves some degree of engagement with the act of driving. The man who gives up his sedate family sedan for an S.U.V. is saying something far more troubling--that he finds the demands of the road to be overwhelming. Is acting out really worse than giving up?
Since a hybrid reports the gas mileage constantly during a trip, it also gives an enormous sense of engagement. I hope this doesn't count as my midlife crisis. That's not scheduled for another twenty years or so !
In other news the Totsplat 2004 National Tour visited Northern Virginia this week.
Posted at 01:45 PM EST [Link][Karma] [Comment]
Thursday, February 19, 02004
Happy parsers with threaded lexers are my new programming recreational drug of choice.
Posted at 07:41 PM EST [Link][Karma] [Comment]
The Arlington Roaming Hands Catholic Diocese has shelled out at least $155,000 over the past thirty years in regards to you-know-what.
Long time readers may remember my letter from the bishop's PR flunkies regarding this subject last year.
Posted at 01:31 PM EST [Link][Karma] [Comment]
Wednesday, February 18, 02004
I figured the Proceedings of the 3rd Christian Engineering Education Conference would be chock full of kookiness, but some of the articles are oddly compelling, especially if you run them through a 's/Christian//' filter first.
Christian Engineers as Faithful Witnesses to God’s Redemptive Purposes for Creation has this bit:
If I were developing such service internship experiences, I would focus on addressing the needs of the poorest and most marginalized peoples of the world.
This internship should be a credit-bearing experience which includes major reflective components, such as reading, writing papers and journaling, in addition to hands-on experience.
In my idealized engineering curriculum, this would be a requirement for all engineering majors, so that they get first hand exposure to pressing needs of the world prior to making career choices. A portion of my proposed junior level ethics course could be devoted to preparation for this service internship.
There's also a good "What Would Jesus Design" bit earlier in the article.
The The Impact of Worldview on the Engineering Design Process article attempts to show that engineering is has some biblical justification, which is a bit of a hoot.
Posted at 10:30 PM EST [Link][Karma] [Comment]
Tuesday, February 17, 02004
SUV drivers might avoid some of those weekly totsplats using options ranging from a $1000 rear mounted camera system to a $15 wide-angle lens.
Seeing the price of the wide angle lens is way less than it takes to refuel the vehicles, it seems like negligence to not have one installed. And pushing a $1000 solution to a $15 problem seems pretty inappropriate as well.
Posted at 08:52 AM EST [Link][Karma] [Comment]
Sunday, February 15, 02004
There's more tabloid love for Ivan Lafayette's "truck routes for trucks" legislation.
This bill is in no way attempting to minimize consumer choice. It is
simply taking the federal definition of what constitutes a light truck
and applying it to our roadways.
Posted at 05:32 PM EST [Link][Karma] [Comment]
