Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Space X Landing
Congrats to SpaceX for sticking the landing on their launch. Now that they can bring their stage back, they'll have to show if they can one-up NASA by actually saving money doing it. All of the analysis I've seen shows that reusability for launch vehicles tends to be a very marginal business case if the launch rates are low. Hopefully the market is strong enough to make this all work out, it's very cool technology!
Sunday, December 20, 2015
A lonely negative review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Spoilers abound.
I didn't think much of it. I'm sorry. I'm aware that the critics and fan community seem to be in rapture, but I really didn't like it.
It was well written dialogue, well acted, excellent visuals, and ultimately dissapointing.
The biggest issue:
The plot was a mildly edited "A New Hope." I'm a fan, and I appreciate a little tribute here and there BUT COME ON. It felt old. Another MacGuffin-bearing droid wandering the desert, another orphan stumbling across it, another space bar with a bunch of aliens, another rag-tag rebel group, another infiltration to take down the big bad shields, and another death star. Really, another death star. At least Han seemed to be a little self-aware about it ("This one's bigger.") A planet sized weapon that can be destroyed by a 20-ship squadron of x-wings? AGAIN?! I officially can't take the First Order seriously, ever. It felt like a movie made by a bunch of fanboys. I thought I would like that, turns out I don't.
Alright, let's walk through the characters:
Let's see, we open with Poe Dameron inexplicably in a desert village. He gets captured, aided in an escape, and pulls off a chain of TIE fighter kills later worthy of a round of Call of Duty. Uncompelling character, no personality.
BB-8 gets a MacGuffin and sets off to wander the desert. He serves as a comic sidekick and plot device for the first half of the movie. BB-8's pretty cool.
We meet Rey scavenging from a crashed star destroyer. Interesting opening for the character, but she ultimately didn't really grab me as someone who I care about (of course Luke didn't either in the originals, and she's the EXACT SAME CHARACTER).
Finn feels bad about all the killing he's expected to do as a stormtrooper, and decides to break out, taking advantage of an opportunity. He was ultimately the high point of the movie, as he actually shows personality and character development. John Boyega should hold some staying power for the series.
Han Solo was there. He made some funny comments... Harrison Ford finally got his wish for the character.
Oh yeah Leia was there too. The cigarettes have not been kind to her voice. The romance felt forced.
Kylo Ren starts as a fairly compelling bad guy... Until he gets unmasked, exposed as an angsty teenager, and then nearly killed by the girl who's never held a lightsaber before when he reminds her that "The Force" is a thing (come on dude). He officially has ZERO street cred for the rest of the series.
The Resistance v. First Order conflict is just inexplicable. There's also a Republic out there, somewhere (whose major planets might have gotten blown up in the mystifying first use of the new death star). I really didn't get it. Are the First Order and the Republic fighting? Does the First Order control any planets at all? Why is the resistance hiding their base in First Order territory rather than raiding from Republic territory? Why does the First Order kind of feel like a ragtag band itself? How do a bunch offanboys characters sitting around a hologram figure out how to blow up the death star in about a minute using a roundtable brainstorming session?
Supreme leader Snoke is cool as a 50 foot tall puppetmaster, until you realize that he's just a hologram.
The technology is mildly updated from the original films. The good guys still fly X-wings, the bad guys still have TIE fighters, star destroyers, and a death star. I know that the US Air Force is still flying 50 year old bombers and 40 year old fighters, but surely a fantasy universe can do a little better.
The music was crap. No compelling John Williams Theme this time. That's a really big part of the experience, and the lack was definitely felt.
Ultimately, the numerous issues were distracting from the experience. The point of a Star Wars movie is to get immersed in a fantasy story, and it's just hard to get immersed when you're noticing all of the problems.
Low Points: Bad guys. Plot. The whole thing is a giant setup for Disney's next big media empire (get it, empire?).
High points: John Boyega plays an out-of-his-element turncoat stormtrooper to believable and often hilarious effect. BB-8 was pretty cool... That was about it.
I didn't think much of it. I'm sorry. I'm aware that the critics and fan community seem to be in rapture, but I really didn't like it.
It was well written dialogue, well acted, excellent visuals, and ultimately dissapointing.
The biggest issue:
The plot was a mildly edited "A New Hope." I'm a fan, and I appreciate a little tribute here and there BUT COME ON. It felt old. Another MacGuffin-bearing droid wandering the desert, another orphan stumbling across it, another space bar with a bunch of aliens, another rag-tag rebel group, another infiltration to take down the big bad shields, and another death star. Really, another death star. At least Han seemed to be a little self-aware about it ("This one's bigger.") A planet sized weapon that can be destroyed by a 20-ship squadron of x-wings? AGAIN?! I officially can't take the First Order seriously, ever. It felt like a movie made by a bunch of fanboys. I thought I would like that, turns out I don't.
Alright, let's walk through the characters:
Let's see, we open with Poe Dameron inexplicably in a desert village. He gets captured, aided in an escape, and pulls off a chain of TIE fighter kills later worthy of a round of Call of Duty. Uncompelling character, no personality.
BB-8 gets a MacGuffin and sets off to wander the desert. He serves as a comic sidekick and plot device for the first half of the movie. BB-8's pretty cool.
We meet Rey scavenging from a crashed star destroyer. Interesting opening for the character, but she ultimately didn't really grab me as someone who I care about (of course Luke didn't either in the originals, and she's the EXACT SAME CHARACTER).
Finn feels bad about all the killing he's expected to do as a stormtrooper, and decides to break out, taking advantage of an opportunity. He was ultimately the high point of the movie, as he actually shows personality and character development. John Boyega should hold some staying power for the series.
Han Solo was there. He made some funny comments... Harrison Ford finally got his wish for the character.
Oh yeah Leia was there too. The cigarettes have not been kind to her voice. The romance felt forced.
Kylo Ren starts as a fairly compelling bad guy... Until he gets unmasked, exposed as an angsty teenager, and then nearly killed by the girl who's never held a lightsaber before when he reminds her that "The Force" is a thing (come on dude). He officially has ZERO street cred for the rest of the series.
The Resistance v. First Order conflict is just inexplicable. There's also a Republic out there, somewhere (whose major planets might have gotten blown up in the mystifying first use of the new death star). I really didn't get it. Are the First Order and the Republic fighting? Does the First Order control any planets at all? Why is the resistance hiding their base in First Order territory rather than raiding from Republic territory? Why does the First Order kind of feel like a ragtag band itself? How do a bunch of
Supreme leader Snoke is cool as a 50 foot tall puppetmaster, until you realize that he's just a hologram.
The technology is mildly updated from the original films. The good guys still fly X-wings, the bad guys still have TIE fighters, star destroyers, and a death star. I know that the US Air Force is still flying 50 year old bombers and 40 year old fighters, but surely a fantasy universe can do a little better.
The music was crap. No compelling John Williams Theme this time. That's a really big part of the experience, and the lack was definitely felt.
Ultimately, the numerous issues were distracting from the experience. The point of a Star Wars movie is to get immersed in a fantasy story, and it's just hard to get immersed when you're noticing all of the problems.
Low Points: Bad guys. Plot. The whole thing is a giant setup for Disney's next big media empire (get it, empire?).
High points: John Boyega plays an out-of-his-element turncoat stormtrooper to believable and often hilarious effect. BB-8 was pretty cool... That was about it.
Friday, December 11, 2015
On English vs. SI/Metric Units
I recently got into a little bit of an argument with a co-worker about the merits of English units. He cited some grossly inaccurate internet articles to support his point of view, and I wanted to throw an internet article of my own out there to counter.
Up front: I prefer to use English units. I grew up with pounds, feet, and miles. If I'm doing an engineering calculation, that experience gives me an instant gut feel for sizes and magnitudes. However, I have no problem with SI units. If you grew up with kilograms, meters, and kilometers your experience is probably better suited to using them. The sanity check is an important tool in engineering, and the choice of units inherently boils down to personal preference (and your organization's practices of course).
On validity: Both systems are fully consistent and valid. The SI system has some minor advantages in terms of learning curve due to its use of multiples of ten to subdivide units. I fully acknowledge this, but still prefer English units having invested the up front effort to understand them.
On the consistency of English units: The major source of confusion with English units seems to be the units of mass. The slug is the consistent unit of mass, the pound is the consistent unit of force. If you use slugs, your calculations will never be wrong due to units. The slug is defined such that 1 slug will accelerate 1 ft/s^2 when 1 pound of force is applied to it (think F=Ma, (lbf)=(slug)(ft/s^2)). Now American engineers like to talk in terms of "pounds mass" (lbm) sometimes. This is a unit of mass that happens to have an equivalent value to its own weight on the surface of earth. As such, it is 1/32.2 of a slug. It is not consistent with pounds force and ft/s^2, so a conversion to slugs must often be made when making calculations. It is a convenient way to intuitively state the mass of something, since us Americans grow up learning our own weight in pounds (vs SI countries, who know their mass in kg).
Metric users often do the same thing in reverse. You will often hear the terms "kilograms force" (kgf) or "tonnes-force". These are units of force that happen to be equivalent to the magnitude of their masses at the surface of earth. They are not consistent with m/s^2 and kilograms, and must be converted to Newtons when making calculations. It really doesn't matter whether you're describing magnitudes in Metric or English: English uses an inconsistent unit to conveniently describe mass, while Metric uses an inconsistent unit to conveniently describe force.
One final point: a NASA probe once failed due to a unit issue. It has been incorrectly claimed in some internet circles that this was due to some imaginary inconsistency in English units. That claim is patently false. The cause was that multiple organizations were involved in the design of the probe. One organization used English units, and another SI. The systems engineer forgot to convert from one to the other, and a trajectory error was made when making calculations.
To summarize: use the units that you like better if you have a choice. It's also always good to double check your units when making calculations!
I recently got into a little bit of an argument with a co-worker about the merits of English units. He cited some grossly inaccurate internet articles to support his point of view, and I wanted to throw an internet article of my own out there to counter.
Up front: I prefer to use English units. I grew up with pounds, feet, and miles. If I'm doing an engineering calculation, that experience gives me an instant gut feel for sizes and magnitudes. However, I have no problem with SI units. If you grew up with kilograms, meters, and kilometers your experience is probably better suited to using them. The sanity check is an important tool in engineering, and the choice of units inherently boils down to personal preference (and your organization's practices of course).
On validity: Both systems are fully consistent and valid. The SI system has some minor advantages in terms of learning curve due to its use of multiples of ten to subdivide units. I fully acknowledge this, but still prefer English units having invested the up front effort to understand them.
On the consistency of English units: The major source of confusion with English units seems to be the units of mass. The slug is the consistent unit of mass, the pound is the consistent unit of force. If you use slugs, your calculations will never be wrong due to units. The slug is defined such that 1 slug will accelerate 1 ft/s^2 when 1 pound of force is applied to it (think F=Ma, (lbf)=(slug)(ft/s^2)). Now American engineers like to talk in terms of "pounds mass" (lbm) sometimes. This is a unit of mass that happens to have an equivalent value to its own weight on the surface of earth. As such, it is 1/32.2 of a slug. It is not consistent with pounds force and ft/s^2, so a conversion to slugs must often be made when making calculations. It is a convenient way to intuitively state the mass of something, since us Americans grow up learning our own weight in pounds (vs SI countries, who know their mass in kg).
Metric users often do the same thing in reverse. You will often hear the terms "kilograms force" (kgf) or "tonnes-force". These are units of force that happen to be equivalent to the magnitude of their masses at the surface of earth. They are not consistent with m/s^2 and kilograms, and must be converted to Newtons when making calculations. It really doesn't matter whether you're describing magnitudes in Metric or English: English uses an inconsistent unit to conveniently describe mass, while Metric uses an inconsistent unit to conveniently describe force.
One final point: a NASA probe once failed due to a unit issue. It has been incorrectly claimed in some internet circles that this was due to some imaginary inconsistency in English units. That claim is patently false. The cause was that multiple organizations were involved in the design of the probe. One organization used English units, and another SI. The systems engineer forgot to convert from one to the other, and a trajectory error was made when making calculations.
To summarize: use the units that you like better if you have a choice. It's also always good to double check your units when making calculations!
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Baby is right around the corner. The ultrasound tech just estimated the weight at 9 lb 3 oz. I feel bad for my wife, that's a chunky baby.
I've been playing around with the Kerbal Space Program lately. If you run the realism overhaul and real solar system mods it turns into a downright good space sim. It also shows you just how hard it is to get into orbit and beyond, especially with people on board. I think that if we're ever going to get off earth in a meaningful way, there's going to have to be a big breakthrough in our understanding of physics first. The energy requirements and the sheer size of vehicle you need to get a payload into orbit just defy economics.
I did some thorough research on SpaceX's colonization plans.* Supposedly their mars colonial transporter powered by their million pound thrust Raptor engine (x27 in three cores) will transport 100 colonists at a time to the surface of Mars. Elon wants to put a million people there that way at $500K a ticket. Let's do some math: The Saturn V (biggest rocket ever, except maybe the Energia but we won't go there) produced around 8 million pounds of thrust. So... the MCT 'heavy' will be around 3.5x that size (20x the size of a Falcon 9). At $500K a ticket, 100 colonists will pay $50 million dollars total for the flight. That's less than the current price of a Falcon 9 launch. I can only assume that Elon is counting on his fortune to grow... a lot between now and then to fund all of this. Just goes to show you, Elon is really good at PR, sales, and latching onto big ideas. He's not so good at reality sometimes.
*I read through some Wikipedia articles
I've been playing around with the Kerbal Space Program lately. If you run the realism overhaul and real solar system mods it turns into a downright good space sim. It also shows you just how hard it is to get into orbit and beyond, especially with people on board. I think that if we're ever going to get off earth in a meaningful way, there's going to have to be a big breakthrough in our understanding of physics first. The energy requirements and the sheer size of vehicle you need to get a payload into orbit just defy economics.
I did some thorough research on SpaceX's colonization plans.* Supposedly their mars colonial transporter powered by their million pound thrust Raptor engine (x27 in three cores) will transport 100 colonists at a time to the surface of Mars. Elon wants to put a million people there that way at $500K a ticket. Let's do some math: The Saturn V (biggest rocket ever, except maybe the Energia but we won't go there) produced around 8 million pounds of thrust. So... the MCT 'heavy' will be around 3.5x that size (20x the size of a Falcon 9). At $500K a ticket, 100 colonists will pay $50 million dollars total for the flight. That's less than the current price of a Falcon 9 launch. I can only assume that Elon is counting on his fortune to grow... a lot between now and then to fund all of this. Just goes to show you, Elon is really good at PR, sales, and latching onto big ideas. He's not so good at reality sometimes.
*I read through some Wikipedia articles
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Backpacking Mt Langley and Wood Turning Toolbox. And oh yeah my life is changing forever in a totally awesome way.
Well I've been busy lately.
Lots of travel for work, just backpacked Mt. Langley (14,042'!) on a three day trip and oh yeah I'M GOING TO BE A FATHER!!!
So I'm excited.
Anyway. The backpacking was fun. Three day trip with a buddy and his college friend in the beautiful Eastern Sierras. Hiked to the Cottonwood Lakes on Day 1, round trip from camp to the top of Mt Langley and back on day 2, and hiked back out to the trailhead on Day 3. We were a few miles and about 500' of elevation below the highest point in the lower 48, Mt. Whitney at our peak. See if you can spot it in the pictures below...
That mountain was a beast to climb. Lots of loose sand, long mileage day (14 or 15 by our reckoning), and altitude did their best to kill us. I got a sunburn on the back of my elbows that was purple by the end of the day. That's the price I pay for stupid I guess, and for not refreshing my sunscreen throughout the day...
I went to an estate sale yesterday with a friend to look at the tool selection, and happened upon a small set of wood turning tools:
Nothing fancy, just a parting tool and some gouges, but it should be enough for a beginner like me. I recently acquired this little beauty as well:
It is a 1946 Logan with a Montgomery Ward manufacturer's plate on it. It has been kept in excellent condition and runs like a charm. Again, nothing fancy but good enough for me! I bought it for metalworking (I may have mentioned before that I have ambitions to build several types of engines in my garage), but the missus loves when I make her furniture and other household items out of wood. If I could turn wood items on the metal lathe I'm sure it would promote marital harmony. Five minutes of research turned up this enthralling discussion:
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/general/cutting-wood-metal-lathe-ok-not-232504/
And I'm gathering that it's ok to turn wood on a metal lathe so long as you clean up after yourself, perform periodic maintenance, and avoid getting sandpaper grit on the ways. Away I will go!
Anyway, I needed a way to keep the new tools semi-organized (ref: marital harmony), and decided to build a quick little toolbox for them.
The tools stay in solidly after putting them in the rack and rotating slightly. I made the rack by drilling undersized holes and then filing them out to size. It's all glued together with dado fits, I didn't bother with fasteners. Nothing fancy, but it provides a nice little way to keep these things together!
Also:
This was a low-hanging branch on the tree in my front yard. Turning is fun!
Lots of travel for work, just backpacked Mt. Langley (14,042'!) on a three day trip and oh yeah I'M GOING TO BE A FATHER!!!
So I'm excited.
Anyway. The backpacking was fun. Three day trip with a buddy and his college friend in the beautiful Eastern Sierras. Hiked to the Cottonwood Lakes on Day 1, round trip from camp to the top of Mt Langley and back on day 2, and hiked back out to the trailhead on Day 3. We were a few miles and about 500' of elevation below the highest point in the lower 48, Mt. Whitney at our peak. See if you can spot it in the pictures below...
That mountain was a beast to climb. Lots of loose sand, long mileage day (14 or 15 by our reckoning), and altitude did their best to kill us. I got a sunburn on the back of my elbows that was purple by the end of the day. That's the price I pay for stupid I guess, and for not refreshing my sunscreen throughout the day...
I went to an estate sale yesterday with a friend to look at the tool selection, and happened upon a small set of wood turning tools:
Nothing fancy, just a parting tool and some gouges, but it should be enough for a beginner like me. I recently acquired this little beauty as well:
It is a 1946 Logan with a Montgomery Ward manufacturer's plate on it. It has been kept in excellent condition and runs like a charm. Again, nothing fancy but good enough for me! I bought it for metalworking (I may have mentioned before that I have ambitions to build several types of engines in my garage), but the missus loves when I make her furniture and other household items out of wood. If I could turn wood items on the metal lathe I'm sure it would promote marital harmony. Five minutes of research turned up this enthralling discussion:
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/general/cutting-wood-metal-lathe-ok-not-232504/
And I'm gathering that it's ok to turn wood on a metal lathe so long as you clean up after yourself, perform periodic maintenance, and avoid getting sandpaper grit on the ways. Away I will go!
Anyway, I needed a way to keep the new tools semi-organized (ref: marital harmony), and decided to build a quick little toolbox for them.
The tools stay in solidly after putting them in the rack and rotating slightly. I made the rack by drilling undersized holes and then filing them out to size. It's all glued together with dado fits, I didn't bother with fasteners. Nothing fancy, but it provides a nice little way to keep these things together!
Also:
This was a low-hanging branch on the tree in my front yard. Turning is fun!
Friday, May 22, 2015
You ever have one of those days where your brain just shuts down? I keep catching myself staring off into space for some reason. Today's my day off after a long work-week, so I guess that's part of it. I'm on a self-enforced TV ban, and I feel a lot better than I normally do on a more vegetative day. We have three dogs in the house today, a Havanese (ours), a Leonberger, and a Golden Retreiver puppy (friends). It's a lot of work keeping them all entertained (especially the puppy), but it's actually been a lot of fun. They just got back from a walk so they're a little tired...
I really need to sit down and study for my glider license test. And do my laundry, grocery shopping, and meet my lovely wife for lunch. Must focus now, PEACE!
I really need to sit down and study for my glider license test. And do my laundry, grocery shopping, and meet my lovely wife for lunch. Must focus now, PEACE!
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Projects and Priorities
I have got a long list of projects to do.
Build an airplane in my garage, build a working piston engine, build a working jet engine, and finish and race my and my buddy's Lemons/Chumpcar Mustang. In the meantime, I'm trying to finish getting my private glider license, and I just signed up to put in a flugtag entry this fall (at least that would partially count as building an airplane in my garage).
I've also got a friend's table saw that I accidentally broke one of the handles off of. The plastic shattered and is inreparable, but I'm thinking that I can cast a new one out of aluminum using the old one as a partial pattern for the mold. Of course that also means that I have to build a little forge for my garage. I think I'm going to follow the basic plan presented in this video:
Garage Forge
I don't think my wife can even get too upset, I'm sure it won't turn into interior decoration, but it doesn't take up much space! Anyway. More to follow!
Also, I had this mental image of something that looks like a Kelly Johnson/Rutan lovechild pop into my head the other day. Maybe I'll build it someday...
Update: Fixed the handle on the table saw. Ended up just epoxying it back together. It is a Central Machinery (Harbor Freight) 10" table saw that they no longer sell parts for, so if you're interested, shoot me a message or comment and I'll post the dissassembly/reassembly instructions.
Build an airplane in my garage, build a working piston engine, build a working jet engine, and finish and race my and my buddy's Lemons/Chumpcar Mustang. In the meantime, I'm trying to finish getting my private glider license, and I just signed up to put in a flugtag entry this fall (at least that would partially count as building an airplane in my garage).
I've also got a friend's table saw that I accidentally broke one of the handles off of. The plastic shattered and is inreparable, but I'm thinking that I can cast a new one out of aluminum using the old one as a partial pattern for the mold. Of course that also means that I have to build a little forge for my garage. I think I'm going to follow the basic plan presented in this video:
Garage Forge
I don't think my wife can even get too upset, I'm sure it won't turn into interior decoration, but it doesn't take up much space! Anyway. More to follow!
Also, I had this mental image of something that looks like a Kelly Johnson/Rutan lovechild pop into my head the other day. Maybe I'll build it someday...
Update: Fixed the handle on the table saw. Ended up just epoxying it back together. It is a Central Machinery (Harbor Freight) 10" table saw that they no longer sell parts for, so if you're interested, shoot me a message or comment and I'll post the dissassembly/reassembly instructions.
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