Introduction
In the past, present, and future, there was, is, and will be BOB. Bob is the light that comes from darkness. The hope that comes from despair. The courage that comes from fear. The salsa that comes from Tahiti. Bob is everything that's good, and everything that's bad. Bob is All, All is Bob. Bob is Bob.
10 January, 2010
09 January, 2010
Squirrelies!
Went for a hike in the canyon today and saw some squirrels running around. Picked up a stick and hit other sticks with it. Climbed on some rocks. Walked a bit over 5 miles.
I like squirrels.
I like squirrels.
Bob X: The Flood
Chapter X
The Flood
Shortly after the commandments were given, Ralph blew up a nearby dam, sending millions of gallons of water flooding into Bobland's streets. Despite the fact that one goldfish named Sven, who was about to die from loss of water, turned out to live and swim in the waters happily (or at least until that next Tuesday, when he ran out of food too!), much of the city was ravaged. The Almighty Bob called for a meeting of all the wisest Bobs in the land. They said that the flood should stay, for many more fishies could be saved. However, the All-Good Bob disagreed. "The dead cows are drowning! The llamas are having trouble flying away because their wings are heavy with water!" Bob protested.
A messenger ran in. "Sir, the downtown district is now under water! The paper-mache fortresses have become weak and water-logged! We must do something!"
A wise Bob said, "We can't even use our sporks to dredge away the water, they will not hold liquid!" "But we can't use spoons!" another jumped in.
Suddenly, with a twinge of pain, The Great Bob remembered that his aluminum foil shack would not be able to withstand the excess water! "Screw the fishies! We must --" "Sir", interrupted a wise Bob, "How does one screw a fish?"
Bob's rage grew, but then he had an idea. He would tell all the wise Bobs to duck -- sorry, I mean pour dehydrated water on the city from helicopters. The dehydrated water will hydrate to form water, but it will get confused because water was what it started out with, and it would seem nice if the dehydrated water would do something useful. The dehydrated water, in an attempt to look useful, would then try to come up with theory of relativity and when it miserably failed, the newly hydrated water would flee in anguish.
The wise Bobs began to mutter amongst themselves, but Bob put his foot down. "We MUST save Bobland. Somehow. Not for us, maybe not for our children, and maybe not even for the llamas. We must save Bobland just to piss off Ralph!"
And so it was done. The water, in its failed attempt to look useful, flooded away and left the streets of Bobland bone dry. Bobland won once again. Yay.
The Flood
Shortly after the commandments were given, Ralph blew up a nearby dam, sending millions of gallons of water flooding into Bobland's streets. Despite the fact that one goldfish named Sven, who was about to die from loss of water, turned out to live and swim in the waters happily (or at least until that next Tuesday, when he ran out of food too!), much of the city was ravaged. The Almighty Bob called for a meeting of all the wisest Bobs in the land. They said that the flood should stay, for many more fishies could be saved. However, the All-Good Bob disagreed. "The dead cows are drowning! The llamas are having trouble flying away because their wings are heavy with water!" Bob protested.
A messenger ran in. "Sir, the downtown district is now under water! The paper-mache fortresses have become weak and water-logged! We must do something!"
A wise Bob said, "We can't even use our sporks to dredge away the water, they will not hold liquid!" "But we can't use spoons!" another jumped in.
Suddenly, with a twinge of pain, The Great Bob remembered that his aluminum foil shack would not be able to withstand the excess water! "Screw the fishies! We must --" "Sir", interrupted a wise Bob, "How does one screw a fish?"
Bob's rage grew, but then he had an idea. He would tell all the wise Bobs to duck -- sorry, I mean pour dehydrated water on the city from helicopters. The dehydrated water will hydrate to form water, but it will get confused because water was what it started out with, and it would seem nice if the dehydrated water would do something useful. The dehydrated water, in an attempt to look useful, would then try to come up with theory of relativity and when it miserably failed, the newly hydrated water would flee in anguish.
The wise Bobs began to mutter amongst themselves, but Bob put his foot down. "We MUST save Bobland. Somehow. Not for us, maybe not for our children, and maybe not even for the llamas. We must save Bobland just to piss off Ralph!"
And so it was done. The water, in its failed attempt to look useful, flooded away and left the streets of Bobland bone dry. Bobland won once again. Yay.
05 January, 2010
Today at the Tokamak
This is a new segment called Today at the Tokamak.
Let me start by explaining that a tokamak is a magical magnetic doughnut that's designed to hold a plasma that's hotter than the sun. It's not actually magic, though, it's science. Take that, Harry Potter.
I care about tokamaks because when plasmas get really hot, as in the sun, a wonderful thing called nuclear fusion can happen. Now, you might be terrified about anything nuclear because of things like nuclear weapons and melt downs of nuclear FISSION plants. Now, let me tell you that we couldn't turn a tokamak into a weapon even if we wanted to. Meltdown = impossible. It just doesn't work that way. It also doesn't produce long lived radioactive waste. So it's safe, and it's clean, and it's a way of producing energy.
The reason we don't get all our energy from fusion already (actually, we do, because sunlight comes from fusion and sunlight is what grew the plants that now have turned into oil and coal and whatnot) is because we haven't figured out quite the best way of keeping these plasmas bottled up yet. You see, the plasma hates being confined within the fancy magnetic cage we've built for it, and it's very crafty when it comes to getting out. There are all kinds of funny instabilities and leaks that let enough of the plasma out of containment that it touches the wall and cools down.
It's not actually dangerous that the plasma breaches confinement because it's not very dense. It doesn't carry enough energy to seriously damage anything, but if it does get out, it won't be under the heat and pressure we need in order for it to fuse and produce energy.
So anyway, today I wrote some code for part of a simulation and reviewed the drawings and schedules I made before the break. Today I was writing in IDL, but I also use C sometimes. The drawings are in SolidWorks, so they're actually full 3D models. I'm also modeling a lens assembly with Zemax.
Let me start by explaining that a tokamak is a magical magnetic doughnut that's designed to hold a plasma that's hotter than the sun. It's not actually magic, though, it's science. Take that, Harry Potter.
I care about tokamaks because when plasmas get really hot, as in the sun, a wonderful thing called nuclear fusion can happen. Now, you might be terrified about anything nuclear because of things like nuclear weapons and melt downs of nuclear FISSION plants. Now, let me tell you that we couldn't turn a tokamak into a weapon even if we wanted to. Meltdown = impossible. It just doesn't work that way. It also doesn't produce long lived radioactive waste. So it's safe, and it's clean, and it's a way of producing energy.
The reason we don't get all our energy from fusion already (actually, we do, because sunlight comes from fusion and sunlight is what grew the plants that now have turned into oil and coal and whatnot) is because we haven't figured out quite the best way of keeping these plasmas bottled up yet. You see, the plasma hates being confined within the fancy magnetic cage we've built for it, and it's very crafty when it comes to getting out. There are all kinds of funny instabilities and leaks that let enough of the plasma out of containment that it touches the wall and cools down.
It's not actually dangerous that the plasma breaches confinement because it's not very dense. It doesn't carry enough energy to seriously damage anything, but if it does get out, it won't be under the heat and pressure we need in order for it to fuse and produce energy.
So anyway, today I wrote some code for part of a simulation and reviewed the drawings and schedules I made before the break. Today I was writing in IDL, but I also use C sometimes. The drawings are in SolidWorks, so they're actually full 3D models. I'm also modeling a lens assembly with Zemax.
Bob IX: The Twelve Commandments
Chapter IX
The Twelve Commandments
After witnessing the rebellion, The Great Bob decided to give Bobs everywhere some laws to live by or die horribly and painfully by in a great expanse of bloody crusades for. (See Christianity) These have become known as the Bob Commandments. A brief list follows:
1. A LLAMA IN THE HAND IS WORTH TWO IN THE BUSH
2. THOU SHALT NOT BUY THIS BOOK
3. THOU SHALT NOT TRUST BLUE ALIENS, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY ARE PINK
4. THOU SHALL MAKE ONE HOLY PILGRIMAGE TO THE LAND OF BOB
5. THE AUTHORS OF THIS BOOK ARE EXTREMELY EVIL
6. THOU SHALT NOT USE BOB'S NAME IN VAIN
7. THOU SHALT NOT HAVE YOUR BOB AND EAT IT TOO
8. THOU SHALT EAT ALL YOUR MEALS WITH SPORKS
9. THOU SHALT SAY, "THE SIXTH SHEIK'S SIXTH SHEEP IS SICK" 10 TIMES FAST
10. THOU SHALT NOT KNOWINGST. THEREFORE, HASBEEN, CONSIENCOUSLY, HENCEFORTH, ART THOU FORSAKENESS?
12. THERE IS NO ELEVENTH COMMANDMENT.
As the newly appointed The Bob read these commandments, the people cheered; for they knew then they had 12 utterly useless rules to live by.
The Twelve Commandments
After witnessing the rebellion, The Great Bob decided to give Bobs everywhere some laws to live by or die horribly and painfully by in a great expanse of bloody crusades for. (See Christianity) These have become known as the Bob Commandments. A brief list follows:
1. A LLAMA IN THE HAND IS WORTH TWO IN THE BUSH
2. THOU SHALT NOT BUY THIS BOOK
3. THOU SHALT NOT TRUST BLUE ALIENS, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY ARE PINK
4. THOU SHALL MAKE ONE HOLY PILGRIMAGE TO THE LAND OF BOB
5. THE AUTHORS OF THIS BOOK ARE EXTREMELY EVIL
6. THOU SHALT NOT USE BOB'S NAME IN VAIN
7. THOU SHALT NOT HAVE YOUR BOB AND EAT IT TOO
8. THOU SHALT EAT ALL YOUR MEALS WITH SPORKS
9. THOU SHALT SAY, "THE SIXTH SHEIK'S SIXTH SHEEP IS SICK" 10 TIMES FAST
10. THOU SHALT NOT KNOWINGST. THEREFORE, HASBEEN, CONSIENCOUSLY, HENCEFORTH, ART THOU FORSAKENESS?
12. THERE IS NO ELEVENTH COMMANDMENT.
As the newly appointed The Bob read these commandments, the people cheered; for they knew then they had 12 utterly useless rules to live by.
02 January, 2010
Beach run in 52:45
Take that, Patrick. Time includes getting stuck at a full cycle of the Torrey Pines light and running up the stairs and unlocking the door. I kept running until I passed the aquarium on the way up and broke gate at the no parking sign beyond it. I walked up the rest of the hill and resumed running at the top and then all the way back down.
Approximate distance: 4.9 miles
Time: 52:45
Elevation change: 126 meters
Terrain: Very flat + Very hilly, mostly offroad
Approximate distance: 4.9 miles
Time: 52:45
Elevation change: 126 meters
Terrain: Very flat + Very hilly, mostly offroad
Thrashbarg 14
And the Great BOB spoke to them, saying:
Behold, for thou who art faithful unto me, thy BOB, shall mine ore from the Earth, and thou shalt make of it for thyselves sporks in the image of my One True Spork, which doth hang in the expanse of sky above thee. Thou shalt employ thine sporks at every meal, and useth not any other utensil, for the spork is the one true utensil, and all others shall be abomination to thee. Spoons shall thou not use; neither use thee forks. Knives are right out. And when thou hast eaten thine meal with thy spork, give thanks unto me, thy BOB, who hast imparted unto thee the secret of the spork.
And so the people did rejoice, for given unto them was the power and the glory of the spork, and it was to be theirs for ever and ever.
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