Category Archives: Science/Engineering

Ruminations of an oil field gate guard

Posted on December 26, 2011 | Comments Off on Ruminations of an oil field gate guard

MyOldRV is on the job, thanks to the mini-boom in shale oil these days due to $100 a barrel pricing. It pays good but it can be a lonely life:

“One of the impediments to commerce in Texas has always been the distances involved and the remote aspect of some areas of the state…Oil field gate guarding is a recent addition to the oil fields of Texas.  I can find little reference to it prior to 2006…[T]his job is not for everybody.  Just so happens it fits me and Miss Kathy like a worn pair of Lucchese Ropers.”

Worth a look. Enjoy.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Science/Engineering, Scribbles, Texana

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Still Air Chance

Posted on December 23, 2011 | Comments Off on Still Air Chance

The Popular Mechanics analysis of the flight deck transcript of the 2009 Air France crash into the Atlantic is chilling:

02:14:23 (Robert) Putain, on va taper… C’est pas vrai!
Damn it, we’re going to crash… This can’t be happening!

02:14:25 (Bonin) Mais qu’est-ce que se passe?
But what’s happening?

02:14:27 (Captain) 10 degrès d’assiette…
Ten degrees of pitch…

When I was young, in the 1950s, Air France was rather widely known as Air Chance. Seems it would still be a good idea, if you can help it, not to fly Air Frog.

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Posted in Science/Engineering, Weather/Climate

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Violin lessons: It’s all in the muscles

Posted on December 13, 2011 | Comments Off on Violin lessons: It’s all in the muscles

I played my first violin notes for Mrs. Charm the other day. The old viola player rewarded me with a broad smile and a reminiscence or two. The one-note-at-a-time playing was accompaniment to the Web instructor playing (on video) and a piano behind her adding a flourish or two.

Have discovered in these violin lessons that it’s as much a matter of muscles in shoulder, neck and arms getting used to the preferred playing posture as anything else. Mine ache. Also the fingers of my fingerboard hand (left) are almost too short for good play, and the work-arounds are contorting.

I got a squeeze ball to try and build up strength in those fingers, the stubbiness being (obviously) unsolvable. My intonation (bowing) is the bright spot, so far. Very nice sound, especially now that I know how to tune. Strange instrument to learn, the violin. I see why it is recommended for kids to start so young. Their muscles are untried and can be molded easier.

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Posted in Mrs. Charm, Music, Science/Engineering, Scribbles

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South Texas oil boom

Posted on November 28, 2011 | Comments Off on South Texas oil boom

Unemployment in the San  Antonio metro area already is down to 7.5 percent, compared to the official 9 percent of the rest of the country—thanks to a South Texas boomlet in the oil and gas industry.

This one also is bringing prosperity to the small towns of a 400-mile area that geologists call the Eagle Ford Shale, which is part of the Austin Chalk. Drilling companies are hiring truck drivers to computer techs, as well as the usual roughnecks and tool pushers for the oil and gas drilling rigs servicing a new pipeline in Hobson, southeast of San Antonio.

It’s part of a national boom in shale oil and gas recovery in North Dakota and Pennsylvania and, if the drillers get their way, even in upstate New York. And they might, if Obamalot and its anti-fossil fuel Green cronies can’t find a way to kill the whole thing. If they’re smarter than they’ve acted so far, they’ll back off and lay low until the 2012 election is over.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Obamalot, Science/Engineering, Scribbles, Texana

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The badge gang in the air

Posted on November 22, 2011 | Comments Off on The badge gang in the air

Much as I dislike the new militarization of the police, with their black SS uniforms and automatic rifles and flash-bang grenades, especially when their SWAT teams charge through some ordinary person’s front door without so much as a by-your-leave, I have to applaud this idea.

It’s got the stupid armored personnel carriers beat. It might even be useful for stealthy following of fleeing suspects in their cars, cutting down on the number of bystanders killed in high-speed chases by the Houston badge gang without flashing lights or sirens.

There is the reasonable worry, however, that the gang will escalate and arm these things.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Science/Engineering, Texana

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My Kindle Fire is a disappointment

Posted on November 21, 2011 | Comments Off on My Kindle Fire is a disappointment

It’s disappointing for a dozen reasons. Slashdot says it best:

“… the Kindle Fire can be sluggish. Page turns can lag. Menus can be slow to load. Screen touches can be unresponsive.”

So true, and so annoying. Not to mention that it tends to crash when I’m reading a Web page. I wasn’t planning on giving up my Kindle 2 for reading books, however. Backlit screens annoy me so much that if I have to read something long off the Net, I’ll print it out first.

I was planning to use the Fire for browsing and listening to PJTV and YouTube stuff while not near the PC and I have and will since I own one now. Amazon was honest, pitching the Fire for downloaded books, music,  movies, etc. I bought it, instead, hoping for a speedy Web browser I could use on the patio. My mistake.

At least it’s faster than my old Dell netbook, but not by much. The PJMedia and YouTube stuff often freeze while the Fire rebuffers. Just like the netbook. The keyboard is hard to use, but I wasn’t planning to do email or blog posting with the Fire.

I have read that us early Fire users are beta testing a product that will improve with time as its software is updated. I’ll be looking forward to that. Meanwhile, as one Slashdot commenter says: “$200 isn’t bad for a little Net portal,” even if it is a bit slow. Only half the price of my netbook when it was new.

Your mileage may vary.

Except for my nice Dell PCs, I have a knack for finding not-ready-for-prime-time computers. My first PC was a Kaypro II—me and scifi writer Arthur C. Clarke.

Remember the Kaypro II? Don’t feel bad. No one else does, either.

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Posted in Science/Engineering, Scribbles

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More than one way to skin the Persian nuclear kitty

Posted on November 14, 2011 | Comments Off on More than one way to skin the Persian nuclear kitty

Nice to see there’s yet another computer virus/worm/trojan attacking Iran’s nuclear bomb-making computers. Duqu, which was acknowledged just a day after a blast at an Iranian missile site killed 17 and wounded many more, apparently is an offspring of Stuxnet, which earlier delayed things:

“Duqu appeared to be designed to gather data to make it easier to launch future cyber attacks, experts told Reuters. Stuxnet was aimed at crippling industrial control systems and may have destroyed some of the centrifuges Iran uses to enrich uranium.”

So, despite Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s assertion that Iran will get its nukes if Obamalot is re-elected, even that may not be enough for the Mad Mullahs to arm themselves (and their terrorist clients) with the world’s most fearsome weapon.

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Posted in Israel, Science/Engineering, The War

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