John’s blog

Technology QotW: Technology & Success

nobody@vox.com(John) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:21:51 -0400

What is the most important technology every businessperson should understand to make his/her business successful?
Sponsored by HP.

The smile, followed closely by the handshake. Businesses are social, if they want to succeed. But too many treat customers as interchangeable units, there to be milked and then sent away.What businesses (especially big businesses) don't understand is that today's economy is a commodity-driven one [1].

Very few businesses offer something that I can't get elsewhere. So the deciding factor is almost always going to be the quality of customer care they offer. Treat me well, and I will continue to spend money with you. Treat me badly, and I will leave you. Treat me very badly, and I will make certain that my friends know why I've left you!

So if you want to make me a happy consumer, liable to buy more of your stuff, make it easy and pleasant to buy things. Make the inevitable problems [2] something that gets smoothed over quickly and with a minimum of fuss, not something that I spend ten hours tearing my hair out over. Make using your product something I enjoy, not something I dread. If you want to use my data, ask me politely and let me control how it is used [3]; if you insist that your need to know how I found your website is more important than my order, then you will get neither order nor information [4]. And don't sell my information to anyone else. If you are a business, I'll start shopping elsewhere. If you are a charity, I'll stop giving [5].

Remember that I can do without you. You can't survive without me. And that will be the best technology that you can have.

John

[1] I.e., one in which the goods from Sears look just like the ones from WalMart - except for the price tag.

[2] No product, ever, has been put out without flaws and defects. Heck, look at man...

[3] Don't force me to join a "club" to buy from you. I'll just go elsewhere. You aren't the only source for music (Amazon), books (Cafe Press), flights (Expedia), or food (Kroger's).

[4] A sad-but-true story - the Calyx and Corolla web site will not allow you to place an order unless you tell them how you heard about them.

[5] Another sad-but-true story - I have stopped giving to several charities (including Feed the Children and the ACLU) because they sold my information to other groups who then solicited funds from me.

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QotD: Ouch, That Hurt!

nobody@vox.com(John) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:30:13 -0400

Have you ever broken a bone? If not, what's the worst injury you've sustained?

Amusingly, I never broke a bone until I was in grad school - and then I broke four in two years! My right radius in a freak slip on ice in Chicago. My collar bone and a cracked skull in an absurd bike accident [1] in Monterey, CA. My left ulna in an absurd bike accident [2] in Alexandria, VA.

You know what's really unfair about all of this? Four broken bones, and I've never gotten a cast! My little sister had had three casts by the time she was six [3], and would hit us with them and then go crying to our mother that we had hurt her!

John

[1] I hadn't wanted to take the bike, but the people that I was house-sitting for insisted. On the way back from work, I ended up at the bottom of a 30-ft deep bike path/ditch with traffic whizzing by on the street overhead and no way that anyone could see me. So I climbed out of the dicth and across to a motel where I asked the manager to call an ambulance for me. The folks on the ambulance were worried because I was too rational following the accident (I gave them my pulse rate, pupil dilation, and medical diagnosis on the phone) and refused to give me any painkillers until five hours later when they were sure I didn't have a concussion.

[2] Biking back from Mt. Vernon, the front tire folded when I put on the brake to slow down. Naturally, this happened at the bottom of a hill more than a mile from anything. The lesson: Never allow me to ride a bike in a city; especially if that city has hidden places where I can break something and not be found...

[3] Fell out of a tree, run over by a car she put into drive, fell out of another tree. I got dropped from the car into highway traffic and only got a small scar on my lip. She trips over a piece of paper and gets a cast. It is't fair!

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Earth's Composition

nobody@vox.com(John) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:17:23 -0400

^{Yep - here we go again! A new version of Chapter 4, in which we discover Earth's minerals, rocks, and layers.}

Please - be brutal! The more you help me improve this, the better it will be for the students who have to use it!

John

4.1 Earth's Composition
Most of our information about earth's interior and its composition comes from indirect observation; the deepest drill hole to date has penetrated less than 25 km into the earth, or about 0.004% of the distance from the surface to the center. Our primary means of observation is the seismic energy released by earthquakes, which show that earth's interior is divided into layers. The thickness of the layers and their velocities (fig.4.1, center) may be found using the arrival times at stations around the globe. The behavior of the energy at the layer boundaries is also informative (e.g., at the D'' layer that is believed to be the core-mantle boundary). Information from mantle upwellings and meteorites, which are believed to represent the starting composition of the earth, also provide constraints on our models of the earth's interior. Finally, data from earth tides, gravity, magnetism, and inertial measurements are also useful in determining the best model for the solid earth.

What we do know is that each layer has consistent properties, from the high water content of the aesthenosphere to the absence of S-waves in the outer core. The properties of each layer come from the physical conditions (pressure and temperature) as well as from its chemical composition. But how the layers are defined depends on which property is most important. Geochemists study earth based on its chemical properties and so define a different set of layers than do geophysicists who divide earth's interior based on mechanical properties. Mechanically, the layers are the lithosphere, the upper mantle, the lower mantle or D'' layer, the outer core, and the inner core. These layers have been primarily defined by their seismic characteristics, including P- and S-wave velocities. We will examine this in more detail in a later section.

Fig4.1

^{For now, let us consider earth's chemical layers. Chemically, earth's interior is subdivided into the crust, the aesthenosphere, the mantle, the core-mantle boundary, the outer core, and the inner core. Each chemical layer is made from a specific set of rocks or materials with a consistent chemical composition (Table 4.1-1). For example, the mantle consists primarily of peridotite and the oceanic crust is primarily basalt and gabbro.}

4.1.1

^{The rocks in each layer are made up of naturally-occurring compounds which form molecules known as minerals. Though more than 100,000 different minerals have been identified, the bulk of earth's interior is made from only thirteen compounds (Table 4.1-2) that combine in various ways to make fewer than fifty minerals. Similarly, each molecule is made up of atoms with consistent properties known as elements. Earth's main elements are oxygen (O), silicon (Si), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), aluminum (Al), calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), potassium (K), cobalt (Co), and nickel (Ni). The distribution of these elements is different for each planet and follows a distinct pattern (Chapter 10). For now, we will focus on the distribution of these elements in earth's interior.}

4.1.2

^{Each element is a specific type of atom with a defined number of positively-charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons in a central nucleus which is surrounded by negatively-charged electrons distributed in concentric, non-spherical regions called orbitals that act as holding tanks for electrons. An electron must gain or lose energy in order to move from one orbital to another [1]. Electrons can also gain so much energy that they leave the atom entirely and join another atom. The number of electrons lost or gained is shown by a superscript on the right of the chemical symbol. For example, when hydrogen (H) gains an electron it is written as H- but when it loses one it is written H+.}

4.1.3

^{Each atoms starts off with the same number of electrons and protons. It is the number of electrons that determines how each element reacts chemically, and the number of protons that determines how many electrons an atom can hold. However, the number of neutrons in an element can vary. This changes the weight of the atom, creating isotopes which have the same chemical reactions but at different rates. More neutrons creates a heavier atom which reacts more slowly than one with fewer neutrons. As we will see, this effect creates a "thermometer" that can be used to determine the formation temperature for a mineral. Protons and neutrons are more than 1,000 times more massive than electrons. Thus, gaining or losing electrons only changes an atom's mass by an insignificant amount.}

There are four main ways of joining atoms together to form molecules (Table 4.1-3). The electrons can be shared between atoms in a covalent bond. Glass is a material with strong covalent bonds. Alternatively, an atom can become a positively-charged cation by losing an electron or it can gain an electron and become a negatively-charged anion. The electrical attraction between cations and anions creates an ionic bond. Salt is a common material with an ionic bond. Electrons can also move between atoms, forming a metallic bond. Not surprisingly, iron and gold have metallic bonds. Weak van der Waals bonds can also form between molecules. The exact nature of these weak bonds is complex and beyond the scope of this text. Ice is an example of a material with van der Waals bonds (and covalent bonds).

Covalent bonds are the hardest to break. Covalent bonds reduce solubility (as this depends on ionic bonds) and create materials with higher melting points (stronger bonds require more energy to break). Materials made with covalent bonds do not break easily or smoothly. Ionic bonds create materials that are poor conductors of electricity and that dissolve easily in water. They are not as strong as materials made with covalent bonds and will break along well-defined lines. Materials with metallic bonds conduct electricity easily and can be hammered into a new shape without breaking. The weakest bonds are those formed between molecules with the van der Waals force. These materials have little strength and will break evenly along a plane.

^{Most rocks are made up of silicate minerals (SiO4) which form around groups of four oxygen (O) atoms covalently bonded to one silicon (Si) atom. The silicon atom's radius is about 1/3 that of an oxygen atom, so the silicate forms a tetrahedron with the silicon in the center. The tetrahedron can form covalent bonds, or may gain up to four electrons to form ionic bonds. Aluminum is about the same size as silicon and frequently substitutes for it. Silicate tetrahedrons can form covalent bonds, or may gain up to four electrons to form ionic bonds. Common silicate cations include Na+, K+, Ca+, Mg2+, Fe2+ (ferrous), and Fe3+ (ferric). In general the cations are smaller than the anions. Thus, most of the crystal’s volume is anions with cations fitted into the gaps.}^{[1] This is much like the case of humans, who can easily move anywhere on earth's surface, but require extra energy to move above it}

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National debt and Euros

nobody@vox.com(John) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:07:52 -0400

Looking at the exchange rate for euros today and swirling that together with the national debt figures gave rise to the following:

On May 25, 2001, the Euro was worth US$0.8591; that is, you could buy $116.28 in Euros for US$100. At that time, the US national debt was a mere US$5,660,883,342,386.72 [1].

On May 25, 2008, the Euro was worth US$1.5669; that is, you could buy $63.69 in Euros for US$100. On that date, the US national debt had increased to US$9,492,245,770,788.70 [2].

Converting the debt into Euros is interesting - in 2001, the debt was the Euro equivalent of $6,582,422,491,147.35 whereas today it is a mere $6,046,016,414,521.46 in euros. In other words, the value of the United States (as measured by the worth of our debt) has decreased by nearly 9% since 2001.

This isn't the only indicator of the drop in the value of the US. The Euro is now the world's most popular currency. Foreign investment into US debt has slowed. And exchange rates continue to climb.

So ask yourself one simple question the next time you talk to your politician: Have the past eight years improved the US or made it worse? And then vote appropriately.

John

[1] That works out to $19,855.64 for every US citizen alive in 2001.

[2] Or $31,169.40 for every US citizen alive today.

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Vox Hunt: Lucky Number 7

nobody@vox.com(John) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:33:45 -0400

For the 7th day of the 7th month, show us 7 of something - OR - something lucky.

It would be lucky to remember that 7 is not lucky in all cultures. In parts of China, it sounds like a vulgar word and so is very unlucky.

John

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Sirius Customer Care

nobody@vox.com(John) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 22:10:37 -0400

As you know, I just got a new ~~toy~~, er, car. As part of the deal, they gave me six months of free Sirius radio. You know - the radio that claims to be "100% commercial free". However, while listening to the thing, I've noticed that not only can they not count [1], they also put out commercials on a regular basis. Admittedly, these aren't for pimple cream or hemorrhoid cream [2], but they are still trying to sell you stuff (more Sirius radios, to be specific). So I wrote their customer service department. here is my email and their reply:

Why do you say that you have "100% commercial free programming" when you don't? Ignoring the annoying station identification blurbs, many of your channels frequently feature DJs flogging Sirius products. Those are commercials. So why lie?

Dear John,
Thank you for contacting SIRIUS regarding announcements made by the on-air DJs. We're here to help you!
John, our emphasis is on the music and entertainment you want. Master music programmers and on-air personalities, who are true experts, host our music. They back up the music with compelling information about the song being played. We do not consider announcements and on-air host discussions "commercials;? we simply want to ensure that our listeners remember who they are listening to so they can come back to their favorite channels to make requests. We apologize for and frustration caused by the announcements and on-air host discussions.
I hope this helps to resolve your issue, John. Have a great day!
We are committed to providing you with the best in customer care. If you have any more questions, please feel free to contact SIRIUS Customer Care. For your convenience, we are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at:
1-888-539-SIRIUS (7474)
As well as by email at:
www.sirius.com/customercare
Sincerely,
Robert
SIRIUS Customer Care
Did you know that SIRIUS has great money-saving billing options? You can get 1-14 months free depending on the option you choose. Call us at 888-539-SIRIUS (7474) and we?ll help you choose the plan that?s right for you!
SIRIUS Satellite Radio, The Best Radio on Radio

There are two ways to read their response. The first, and most charitable, is simply that my question wasn't clear enough for them to understand. I'll resubmit it with clarification [3] to see if that helps. The second, and most likely, is that they simply have a script that they use to reply. Notice how they don't reply to my question, but to something that they can read into my question [4].

In any case, this is just something to do to keep myself amused. Based on the quality of their service, stupidness of their terms [5], and low variety of their music, I definitely won't be paying for this anytime soon.

John

[1] For some reason, they keep playing songs from as early as 1954 on their "60's Vibration" and from as late as 1967 on their "50's" channel. Do they really get that confused that easily?

[2] One way or another, they're gonna getcha...

[3] "You did not answer my question. Let me rephrase it for clarification. I have heard your DJs asking the listeners to buy additional Sirius equipment. NO music was discussed. This was, pure and simple, a commercial for Sirius products. How then can you claim to be commercial free?"

[4] Obviously they've been learning from politicians...

[5] You have to buy a new subscription for each and every radio you have. One radio, one subscription. Two radios, two separate subscriptions. Three radios, three individual subscriptions. It adds up - quickly. Cable did this until the local communities forced them to stop. Who will force Sirius to go to a more rational billing model?

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Snacktime!

nobody@vox.com(John) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:11:47 -0400

Popcorn by Hot Butter!!! (Original)

Mmmm... Popcorn!

John

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Huh?

nobody@vox.com(John) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:04:30 -0400

One of the strengths of the American system is that it allows itself to make mistakes and then correct them [1]. Today, we were witness to one of them, in Breyer's dissent where he said:

"In my view, there simply is no untouchable constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment to keep loaded handguns in the house in crime-ridden urban areas."

Let me get this straight - folks in a neighborhood where the police fear to tread in a city known for its high murder rate have no right to keep loaded handguns [2, 3]? IMHO, that is the best reason to uphold a broad interpretation of the second amendment. Had he said "There is no untouchable constitutional right to keep loaded handguns in gated suburban communities with low crime rates", it would have seemed almost reasonable. But to say that folks who live in a crime-ridden area have no Constitutional right to use guns to defend themselves is just silly.

John

[1] Dredd Scott, anyone?
[2] The DC law was a wondreful mass of contradictions. You had to apply for permission to have a handgun, which had to be stored unloaded, trigger-locked [a], and disassembled - but they wouldn't punish you if you used an unlicensed gun to defend yourself. What kind of sense does that make?
[3] Of course, you could strain at gnats and say that the modifier he used ("untouchable") means that there could be some rationale under which you would want those folks not to have guns. But I'll be damned if I know what it is.
[a] The trigger lock makes sense, IMHO - too damn many parents are sloppy about where they store their gun. Hey, Dad - if i can find your stash of Playboys, I can certainly find your 45!

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Neighbourhood Tag

nobody@vox.com(John) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 22:01:55 -0400

Nick tagged me, so now it is my turn for ~~truth or dare~~, er, five, three - three! [1] questions.
1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

Ten years ago to this day, I started my first job after finished the PhD. It was with a major oil company, and paid more in the one year than I had earned in the four previous ones. They started me in southern California, then closed that facility and moved me to northern California. I met some great people and had a wonderful time, both during school and at the job that it got me.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?

Finish the time-depth conversion from the old sett of velocities to the new set. Done! And only three days late. My coworker is not happy with me [2], but it is done.
Water the plants. Done! But someone/thing keeps stealing my cherry tomatoes. I've had two - the critters have had fifty. It doesn't seem fair.
Clean the bathroom. Done (kinda - I'm a guy. The bathroom gets cleaned once a month, whether it needs it or not.)
Watch "Duck Soup" - Not gonna happen. That electrical storm took out my DVD player as well as the input on my TV. I am not a happy camper!
Update my linux system. Done!

3. Snacks I enjoy:

Food, glorious food. I'll try almost any food stuff [3] and will gladly gorge myself on cherries, watermelon, popcorn [4], and coconut.

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

I would become a trillionaire, of course. How? By investing in Skyfac [5] and building Powersats, which are solar power satellites in geosynchronous orbit that beam their energy down for use as electricity. They were most accuractly described and their economics laid out in the 1981 book Space Power by G. Harry Stine. Let me put this into perspective for you:
If we had used the Shuttle fleet to build powersats, the use of oil would now be about 1/2 what it is today and the price of gas would be about 1/8th. (And that's not even counting the side benefits of lower costs to orbit [6] and a long-term presence in space suitable for mining asteroids or visiting Mars!)
Why hasn't this happened? Politics [7], business-as-usual [8], and a healthy dose of "the second mouse gets the cheese" [9]. But with a billion dollars, I could do it on my own - and then sell the power at half the cost of anyone else while still making an obscene profit!

5. Places I have lived:

Seattle, WA; Guthrie, OK; Oklahoma City, OK; El Paso, TX; Norman, OK; Chicago, IL; Monterey, CA; College Park, MD; La Habra, CA; Benicia, CA; Lafayette, LA; New Orleans, LA; Houston, TX; Alexandria, VA; Miami, FL; Houston, TX

5. A) Places I have visited:

Portland, OR (was born there, but moved after two weeks and brought my family with me); Juarez, Acapulco, Tijuana, and Cancun, Mexico; San Antonio, TX; Dallas, TX; Boston, MA; Baltimore, MD; Corpus Christi, TX; New York City, NY; Narrows, VA; Ft. Bragg, NC; Memphis, TN; St. Louis, MO; Yellowstone National Park; San Francisco, CA; San Diego, CA; Phoenix, AZ; Las Vegas, NV; Reno, NV; Calgary, Canada; Rumbai, Indonesia; Singapore; Taipei, ROC; Lagos, Nigeria; Luanda, Nigeria; Rome, Pisa, Venice, Florence, Mt. Vesuvius, and Naples, Italy; Mt. Etna, Sicily; Phucket and Bangkok, Thailand; Paris and Grenoble, France; Augsberg, Regensberg, Laupberg, Heidelberg, and the Romantic Road, Germany; Berne, Switzerland; and a host of one-day whistle-stops...

6. Jobs I have had:

I started my professional life as a TV monitor and coupon distributor for my grandmother's research firm. I then worked the obligatory succession of fast-food jobs, followed by a stint in a nursery for five years, while getting my BS. Then I worked at Mr Shortstop (a local 7-11 type place) until I got my big break at a local science museum. I worked there until one too many people asked me to be their graduate student [10], so I became a graduate student and worked at OGS coding well data (and making more than I had at the museum. Museums can't pay well; all of their money is caught up in getting more money to keep afloat!). Then I became a TA and a RA, followed by an RA and a TA at my PhD school (with internships at NASA, NASA, and MBARI), followed by my first job in an oil company. Then I was the manager for an NSF-funded education program (until the NSF decide we were doing so weel that they would take over), leading into a science director for another museum and now I'm back in the oil industry. Boring, no?

7. Bloggers I am tagging who I will enjoy getting to know better:

Wendragon, Noddy, and Darcy.

John

[1] Gnashing geeks points for the reference.
[2] And honestly, I do not blame him [a]. Though I spent many late nights getting the jobs done, it was still late - he needed the results yesterday so he could prepare for a talk tomorrow. Looking back, it might have gone faster if I had brought in Eddy, the local TDQ expert, earlier - but he still spent four hours working with me to find the hidden bug. So it wasn't that obvious...
[3] Except for shellfish. I'm allergic to the hemocyanin, and find that having my breathing stop sort of kills the fun at a picnic. Imagine how interesting my life was when I lived in New "Of Course There's Shrimp In That" Orleans!
[4] In the past month, I have gone through three pounds of popcorn.
[5] Dancing geek points for the reference!
[6] It currently costs about $500/lb to get into orbit - which is why Virgin Galactic can (and has to!) charge $200,000/seat. If the plans laid out in The Third Industrial Revolution had been followed, it would now cost about $10/lb to get into orbit - and you might be planning a weekend getaway in the orbital hotel.
[7] The original shuttle was supposed to be larger and easier to get ready to fly. But there wasn't enough support for it in Congress, so they compromised on a version that the Air Force wanted - and then only flew twice! This is also why Venturestar died - it was technologically superior to what we have now (instead of being a giant step backward, as Orion will be). But its construction was centered in a few states, so there was not the wide support for it that the inferior but broadly sourced Orion has [b].
[8] The shuttle was crippled by Carter and killed by Reagan - it has just taken 20 years for the program to finally end. Had the shuttle been built on the original schedule, we would now have a fleet of 100 or more. But Carter tried to cut costs by stretching out the production, which made it cost more. And then Reagan said that he would only support the building of four shuttles until they had demonstrated their usefulness. That was like telling Magellan and Columbus [c] that they could only have one ship and had to take turns until they found something worth exploring.
[9] There is a well-known phenomenon in business: the first company to adopt a new technology inevitably loses its shirt, as they have no idea of how to use it correctly. So many businesses hold back, hoping ot allow the others to make all the mistakes so that they can make the profit.
[10] The first was flattering. By the fourth time, it was getting a bit annoying - didn't they know I was having fun?
[a] However, my boss is unhappy with me because I've spent so many late nights working. Fun working in the oil patch, isn't it?
[b] That is also a large part of why astronauts are trained in Houston and fly from Florida, and why rocket motors are assembled in Georgia and tested in Mississippi.
[c] Yes, I know that they didn't do much exploring at the same time - but you get the point.

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QotD: Summer Solstice

nobody@vox.com(John) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 20:46:46 -0400

Yesterday was the summer solstice for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. How did you celebrate the arrival of summer and the longest day of the year?

OK, folks - let's go over this once more time. The Summer Solstice is not the first day of summer. It is midsummer. It has been that way since time immemorial. Get it right!

So why the confusion? Simple - TV "reporters" are lazy. It is easier to match the equinoxes and the solstices with the start of each season than to put them in the middle where they belong [1]. They do the same thing with presidents, referring to Ambassador Bush and Governor Clinton as "President Bush" and "President Clinton" even though they are both no longer in office. And then there was the whole "the new millenium begins in 2000" mess. It wouldn't take that much effort to get things right, but most TV reporters are incapable of doing more than repeating factoids.

Unfortunately, this error has now become institutionalized [2], and is unlikely to go away.

John

[1] They belong not just due to time-honored custom, but because it makes good physical sense. The Earth's climatological system has a built-in lag factor due to the abundance of water changing phases and other factors.

[2] As should be those who make it...

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