I'm a technoweenie

Listening to: Paul Van Dyk - Live @ Innercity, Rai Amsterdam
Why does it seem that Netscape Communicator went bye bye and in its place we have Mozilla.org's browser?

Apparently, I made Google!

One of my posts made a Google search, lovely ain't it?

Check out the following search with Google,Google Search: how the tsunami was created? I was one of the first entries (only 7 were included)

New Look!

I adjusted the template quite a bit, from what you can tell, I severly altered the background (making it solid black instead of the white it had earlier), added a picture of my school's training ship at night (its a really neat shot, for the full picture click here. I also adjusted the template for the haloscan commenting feature.


Update 1: It appears that changing the template only affects new posts, so the old posts still have the blogger comment on their "item page". It is a little hard to explain, but when you click on the sidebar for "recent posts", the post comes up and its my old template. Apologies.


Update 2: Just to test the trackback ping feature for Haloscan, I pinged RobertLindsay's new post on his blog (he just added Haloscan) using the Wizbang! standalone Trackback pinger.

Open Source Revolution

A while ago I posted on the onset of open source software. When our family met up for Christmas (we met later than normal, on account of my little sister being in the Navy, on January 7th), I received a book titled rebel code: inside linux and the open source revolution. I thought it was cool, but the revelation hadn't quite hit me yet. I had just barely started using Mozilla Firefox myself, and hadn't quite understood fully the open source doctrine.

Just recently, I ran across this Google page that stated that 20 years of usenet articles was now incorporated into Google groups. What is so cool about it, is that they highlight Linus Torvalds' post about his 'pet project'(for those who don't know, that's talking about Linux). I read that exact same post in the book I'm reading!

Some days it just all comes together, you know?

Update 1:
I added banner links on my sidebar for Firefox, Thunderbird, and Openoffice.org. check them out! I didn't bother to create user accounts for either of those yet because currently I'm not a coder, I just want to help spread the word.

Another day...

Listening to: DJ Tiesto - Adagio for Strings
Well now the semester has really kicked off. Just recently we had a quiz in Autofeedback Control, solving a very ugly second order circuit:




Ugly ain't it? Can't wait to hit mechanical systems next week...whoopee (and I didn't take vibrations). I aced the quiz, at least, although I gave the wrong units for the natural frequency. The TI-89 gave my answer in units of 1/s or Hz, even though the real answer is radians per second (which radians is also unitless).

Listening to: Cosmic Gate - The Wave

I decided to go ahead and take Advanced welding (which hopefully at the end I'll be a certified welder), and for that class, we're manufacturing an exhaust pipe running from a desiel generator (constructed last year as some group's captstone senior design project) to a catalytic converter nearby.

Paul, Paul, Paul

My apologies to anyone who hasn't been following this discussion on global warming, but this is just in reply to Paul, who seems to think that I'm an idiot. He locked comments down on the post, so I can only reply via trackback.

I don't remember exactly what I was reading into your post, but I was aware you said that it had to do with ozone depletion factor. If I remember what I was attempting to communicate (not very effectively, apparently), was that the two (ozone depletion factor and global warming factor) 'environmental factors' used in classifying refrigerants such as CFC's, HFC's, and HCFC's, are seperate and not related to each other.

I guess I failed to make the point clear, I wasn't attempting to argue against you, just clarify a point. I happen to agree with you (on all subjects except MAC worshiping, but let's not go there - its like arguing with this one guy I know, wasn't quite a friend, he was the greenest, most liberal person around, and you never should bring up politics or religion around him, he'll talk you an earful whether you like it or not) in this argument, so why the disparaging remarks?

Engineering Intern

For those unaware (my apologies for the long delay in posting), I took the Engineer-In-Training Examination (EIT), also called the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination, October 30th. I just finally received the results that I passed it!

The FE Exam is issued by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) as the first step in obtaining your professional engineer's license (or professional land surveyor's license, but for that you have to take the FLS, the Fundamentals of Land Surveying exam). After passing the FE exam, then I spend 4 years as an Engineering Intern, under a Professional Engineer, then I sit for the Principal's and practice (PE)exam, then I get my license!

Yay, I passed!

SpongeBob = Diversity?

Is it just me or is Spongebob Squarepants...that annoying little sea sponge (square piece of crap), is just a cartoon? Since when is a cartoon character the poster-thing for a political cause?

I realize that there was a recent video flurry having to do with a spongebob squarepants video or such that commented about sexual preference and tolerance on the website. Yet who goes to the website? Probably the majority are the kids who watch that annoying little twerp's show and/or movie, and I can understand parents who disagree with shoving sexuality down a 10 year old's throat (even if the message is tolerance...its still shoving sex down kids' throat).

Amusingly enough, most of the respondants in CNN's poll dealing with spongebob agree with me.

Update 1:
Rightwingsparkle agrees with me.

The Look

Career fair at Cal Maritime

The California Maritime Academy hosted the 2005 career fair:

Record Number Of Career Fair Recruiters Indicate Cal Maritime Graduates Are In High Demand

VALLEJO, Calif., January 10, 2005 — Whether their training is in business, logistics, engineering, technology or transportation, students at The California Maritime Academy (Cal Maritime), a campus of The California State University, are in high demand after graduation. Evidence to that fact is the record number of recruiters that will be attending Cal Maritime’s Fifth Annual Career Fair, which will take place on Tuesday, January 18, 2005 from 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. in the campus gymnasium.

The Career Fair, which is open to all Cal Maritime students and alumni, will feature such distinguished companies and organizations as Agilent Technologies, American President Lines, Crowley Marine Services, Genentech, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, Military Sealift Command, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, and Target Corporation (Logistics and Distribution).

Hosted by the Office of Career Development, the annual career fair allows students and alumni to meet face-to-face with some of the top recruiters in the country to explain how their experiential-based education at Cal Maritime makes them uniquely qualified for employment. The annual career fair is one of the many career placement opportunities students and alumni have access to through Cal Maritime’s Office of Career Development.

“For the last several years, Cal Maritime students have enjoyed a nearly 100 percent job placement rate upon graduation and starting salaries above the national average,” said Bill Eisenhardt, president of Cal Maritime. “In addition, Cal Maritime’s completion and time-to-degree rates are some of the best of any public institution in the state. The fact that we have a record number of recruiters attending this year’s Career Fair is further testament to the high caliber of Cal Maritime’s graduates.”

Companies wishing to purchase a table in this year’s Cal Maritime Career Fair should contact Tess Luna, Career Fair Coordinator, at 707-654-1071 or careerdevelopment@csum.edu.

About Cal Maritime

Cal Maritime, a campus of The California State University, is one of only seven degree-granting maritime academies in the United States, and the only one on the West Coast. Tucked away in San Pablo Bay’s Morrow Cove in Vallejo, Calif., Cal Maritime offers students four-year degrees in business administration, facilities engineering technology, global studies and maritime affairs, marine engineering technology, marine transportation, and mechanical engineering. A program of intellectual learning, applied technology, leadership development, and global awareness prepares graduates for positions of significant responsibility in the areas of international business and logistics, maritime policy, engineering, technology, or in the maritime and transportation industries. For more information about Cal Maritime, visit www.csum.edu.

New Goodies!

For anyone who has been paying attention, The Family Guy creators are also conjuring up a new show for FOX called American Dad, here's a bit of goodness:

Save The Date

I know you’ve heard the rumors and apparently this time they were correct… so way to go. It is now official that the Pilot of American Dad will air on Superbowl Sunday, February 6th immediately following the game and an original episode of The Simpsons.

The experts down at the lab put this at approximately 10:30pm ET / 7:30pm PT but you never know what might happen at halftime… so your best bet is to tune in to FOX early, catch the game and get suited up for the 1st episode of American Dad. As for the rest of the season, it will air sometime later in 2005… no word yet on an official date.

ITS ALIVE!!!

Yes all you fox cartoon fans, Family Guy is coming back to television!

Premiere Date Confirmed

The premiere date for the new season of Family Guy has finally been confirmed. No more “FOX 2005” for us. Oh no, we have a date AND a time. The season premiere of Family Guy season 4 will take place on Sunday, May 1st 9/8c on FOX. Mark your calendars and buckle up… only 104 days to go!

Charlie didn't see this coming

Charlie's NEW Angels

Taste the Soup

Taste It
A customer in a restuarant orders a bowl of soup. However, the customer notices that something is wrong. So he calls the waiter over.
"Can you please taste the soup?"
"What's wrong with the soup?"
"Just taste it."
"Why?"
"Just taste it."
"Sir, I--"
"Just taste it."
"Fine, I'll taste the soup. Where's the spoon?"
"EXACTLY. BRING ME A GODDAMN SPOON."

Training Cruise Pictures

I wasn't there for this photo, but it happened during my senior training cruise, when we hit the island of Saipan. C'mon....hot chick in a bikini...and a BIG GUN...

How much time do YOU have left?

Who wants to know when I'm going to die?


The Death Clock

Torture vs Torture

My Pet Jawa has posted a photo essay concerning the torture supposedly endorsed by Bush and the military as well as comparing that "torture" to the supposed torture done by the jihadists, the "freedom fighters"

Torture vs Torture

"If crime fighters fight crime, and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight?"
George Carlin

My webcam

Quality sucks doesn't it?

Idle

Um

uh

um

...

Space Heaters

My roomate came back a week ago with a space heater he bought from Target. It cost him 10 bucks. Man this thing works great. Our room heater doesn't work, but this things keeps the temperature @ 80 degrees all day/night long, its great

Keynote doesn't do math

Keynote systems, apparently, doesn't do math.

MSN, Yahoo! Catching Up With Google
Posted by Clare Greenway on: Friday 14 January 2005

Google is still the search leader but rival engines Yahoo! and MSN are starting to catch up. 'Google is the king of customer experience in the search engine industry, but Yahoo!, MSN and Ask Jeeves are improving,' said Dr. Bonny Brown, director of research and public services for Keynote Systems.

Keynote conducted a survey of 2,000 web users for their opinions on the major search engines. Questions covering brand impact, customer satisfaction levels and future usage were asked. They compared the results of this poll with the same questions asked in May 2004 using the same demographic.

Google came out on top with 84 percent of those polled who said it's their primary search engine. 61 percent of those questioned said Yahoo! is their primary search engine - a 20 percent increase from last May's poll. MSN had a jump of 30 percent, with more people saying it was their main search engine. Microsoft's total was a low but respectable 38 percent. It's a nice turnaround for MSN as they are about to launch their new search engine to the general public.

Apparently, according to math, 45% of all polled claimed that Google and Yahoo! were their primary search engine. It doesn't matter who conducts the poll, because data is data. But who the heck is putting this information out to the public?

Maybe what the poll meant to say is "these are the percentage of customers who would be satisfied with this search engine" [as their primary one]. That definitely seems to make more sense than what was stated.
Update:
Apparently, this survey had people try different search engines, and for each search engine, the users responded that they were likely to use that search engine as their primary one. That is similar to what I mentioned earlier, so I R win. ;-)

Spring Schedule, 2005

Semester's started up!

Down to the home stretch. I'll post a screenshot of my schedule just to show you people what my class schedule is (for shits and giggles), but here are a few classes I'm taking:

Energy Systems Design (final energy stem course)
Project Design II (the capstone engineering design project)
Shipboard Medical
Auto feedback Control
Auto feedback Control Lab
Engineering Management

Total of 15 units

PASSED!

Well for those who have been following (and those who haven't)

I passed 5 of the 7 coast guard exams for 3rd assistant engineer, steam and motor, unlimited horsepower.

All I need to retake are General Subjects and Electricity, which I have 2 shots of retaking, those shouldn't be too hard at all (assuming I study ;-) )

Let's get rid of Boxer

Now that I'm of voting age when it comes time to renew Barbara Boxer's "reign" as one of the hippie senators coming from this wonderful state of California, I say its time we get rid of the bitch

Apparently over at Wizbang, they discovered that Markos of The Daily Kos at first recanted the ohio pissants, claiming that they're only making things worse, but now is saying "hey, we can also get Congress to protest Ohio's votes!". Apparently some senators have protested the Ohio election results. What I don't understand is that what they are claiming happened, happened everywhere if it happened at all. I truly can't believe that people are that evil.

In the meantime, let's get rid of Barbara Boxer

All things come in threes?

Those who know me already know about my recent vehicle troubles...

August 29th
I was returning from San Dimas (visiting my older sister who teaches at Bonita High School in San Dimas, California - for those who don't know San Dimas, it was the town featured in Bill + Teds Excellent Adventure - or Bogus journey, I don't remember which "San Dimas High School football rules!", only she teaches @ Bonita hs, not San Dimas hs) on Interstate-5 back towards my parents' house in Bakersfield, CA. I was between Pyramid Lake and Fort Tejon in my 1985 Mercury Grand Marquis when some woman driving a vehicle similar to a Jeep Grand Cherokee (or it WAS a JGC) right next to me (her headlights were on my 9) when her headlights jerked back and forth a few times in her lane (crap I still get jittery just remembering it), slamming into my driver's side door, breaking the glass and slamming me up on the hill (I was in the slow lane, she was in the lane next to it). I had a hard time controlling my vehicle and slowing down to a stop, but was able to stop perpendicular to traffic (only covering the slow and next-to-the-slow lanes). I was wondering why it took so long to stop when I looked down and saw that my cd case (one of the 200+ cases) had fallen down between my foot and the brake pedal - it was originally on the seat next to me. I looked back and I noticed that her JGC was flipped upside down diagonally in the next-to-the slowest lane. Luckily, all the cars behind us were able to slow to a safe stop and a few even pulled over to the side to help us out. There were so many eyewitnesses that when the cops came and took statements, and helped out the poor man who was her passenger (he was STUCK in the vehicle) that they were able to collaberate with my statement that it was her fault. My car (1985 Mercury Grand Marquis) was totalled. The engine was shot, and the total damage definitely went over the value of the car.

October 29th
My friends and I from school signed up to take the Engineer-In-Training exam (aka Fundamentals of Engineering exam - its the precurser to the P.E. exam) on October 30th in Sacramento, CA. We were taking it at the CAL Expo. I called up my Aunt (youngest sister of my father, 16 years younger than him) who lives in Sacramento, and we stayed overnight at her place. That night right before the 30th, we decided to go check out old Sacramento, and while driving along some city street, stopped at some light rail tracks (basically a commuter train) when the red lights started blinking. Right as the crossing gaurd was coming down, this 1994 Ford Explorer rams right into me. Its really sad when your first thought is "Oh no, not again." The bumper of my car was shoved underneath the crossing guard, but luckily i was able to pull out and back to the side of the road in time. I was driving the 1996 Acura Integra then. The asshole (he was a 30something black male) jumped out of his vehicle before I was even off the side of the road and he was cussing up a storm, screaming that it was my fault, that I stopped in the middle of the intersection. I quote from him:
"I have my fucking kids in the car."
He was screaming that, cussing up a storm in front of his 4? children ranging in age from 4 to 10. I had called the Sacramento Police Department, and their response was: "If no one is hurt and both vehicles can still drive on their own, we don't need to send a policeman to take statements." I probably should have, just to get him to calm down.

Long story short, we exchanged phone #'s, and information. However:
My insurance company had a hard time getting a hold of him, and when they did, his story had ME backing into HIM. Turns out, he was even UNINSURED! @#%@#$%

January 3rd
Driving up to school (to take the Coast Guard exams starting the next day), I had been having some problems with my 1995 Ford Escort Station Wagon with the clutch slipping (I was in 5th gear the entire time, and I couldn't accelerate, because each time I depressed the gas pedal, the engine would 'rev' instead of the car accelerating). When I reached the junction of Interstate-580 West with Interstate 680 North, I couldn't accelerate out of the turn at all. I kept trying to, until eventually the clutch gave out completely. I was able to coast to the right lane (around Walnut Creek area), and I called my father. He was able to get a hold of a ford dealership in the area and they contacted a towing company, and its still there.
Update: The clutch was burnt out. Either my older sister (who owned it previously) rode the clutch the entire time, or it was a defective clutch. $1200 to replace the clutch, and to re-finish the flywheel. Meanwhile, I'm doin just fine in my Honda Civic Rental Car (Enterprise Rental).

Road Rage!

I've done this a few times myself...

Let me give you a little background...
Growing up in Bakersfield, I have 2 sisters. 1 older, 1 younger. With my parents thats 5 of us. We've gone through a total of...I can't count...cars while we were here(posted in order of our obtaining the vehicle, in italics are cars we don't own any longer):

Datsun (something)
Mercedes-Benz (don't remember anything about it cept it was a diesel)
1994 Ford Taurus Station Wagon
1996 Ford Taurus Station Wagon
1970 Buick LeSabre
1985 Mercury Grand Marquis (I'll post more on this later)
1968 Dodge Dart
1971 Dodge Dart Swinger
1996? Mercedes-Benz
1995 Ford Escort Station Wagon
1996 Acura Integra

Its hilarious when you try and change lanes only to end up turning on the wipers...
or vice versa ;)

Lookers, but not typers?

I seem to be getting a smattering of viewers each day... (10-20 or so), but no commenters or trackbacks.

Why not? No one loves me? =-(

Coast Guard Examinations

Day 1:
Motors I: 80% - passed
Motors II: 74% - passed

General Subjects + Safety Tomorrow
Update 1:
Day 2:
Safety: 79% - passed
General Subjects: 67% - failed (by 2 questions!!!!%!@#!)

Electrical + Steam I Tomorrow
Update 2:
Day 3:
Electrical: 67% - failed (by 2 questions again...)
Steam I: 83% - passed

Steam II Tomorrow

Day 4:
Steam II: 84% - passed
Update 3:

Congratulations to some of my friends who passed all 7 exams on the first shot, I still need to retake Electrical + General

Microsoft donates 3.5 million

Microsoft Donated 3.5 million to relief efforts:
$2 million donated to specific charities through corporate funds, and
$1.5 million donated as their program to match individual employee donations.

"Evil" corporations huh?

Changing features and backgrounds

Whew I doubt any of my zero loyal readership has noticed, but I've been messing with links and features.

I've added a trackback feature and eased the comment section by going with HALOSCAN
which is providing free commenting and trackbacking. Its really cool, because the commenting opens in a new window, and its easier than hell to comment now (you can comment anonymously now, and add your own name - and they have an automated "system" for commenting via blogspot.com/blogger.com)

I've gone with two different site counters: SiteMeter and StatCounter. I originally went with statcounter, and it seemed to work very well, but when poking around and I found NZ Bear's "Truth laid Bear" blog, I discovered that in order to be an an ecosystem and to get visiting statistics, I need to be with sitemeter, which also works well.

Not to mention I've been with blogrolling for a while (for reciprocal blog links). I just wish I would get more readership, and some possible commenters =-(

How it happened

Here's how the tsunami was created and how it ended:

Animated guide: The tsunami disaster


Update 1:
Welcome to my blog! I just realized (from checking out my sitemeter traffic referrers) that I made a Google Search. I hope you stay a while and check things out. Have fun!

Please donate to Charity

Kevin at Wizbang offers a challenge to match his donation of $100 dollars.

I don't want to view it as a challenge, because that gets to the previous post I made.
Just quietly donate and help the poor souls in need any way you can.

Thanks.

Fake Pictures?

Apparently I recently discovered that one of the blogs on my blogroll might have fake pictures posted of the blogger. Hot Abercrombie Chick might have stolen "her" pictures from somewhere else: mustang_girl_marie

I considered the fact that the yahoo! "mustang_girl_marie" could have stolen "her" pictures from the blogger in question, but there are a good deal more pictures on "her" photos page at Yahoo! than "Amanda Doerty" has on her weblog.

I have yet to see a webcam or such to prove anything, so who knows?

Update 1:
For more information on Amanda Doerty's pictures heres the link to "her" pictures:
Hot Abercrombie Chick

Update 2: Welcome to new viewers, please feel free to stay and check out the rest of my weblog, By the way, I'm not the first person to notice this about HAC. Check out the update in my post here

Happy New Year!

Have a happy new year everyone!

(watching a B-2 Bomber fly over the parade + rose bowl...awesome)