Saturday, May 21, 2005
The Laws of Bugodynamics
There are a set of rules that students in science and engineering learn called The "Laws of Thermodynamics." Here are the laws in laymens terms:
1) There is no such thing as a perpetual motion device, energy is conserved
2) Entropy always increases
Then they added a 0th law:
0) Heat always flows from a hot area to a cold area
I think the author Heinlein summed up the Laws of Thermodynamics this way:
1) You can't win
2) You can't even break even
There are quite a few people who tell me about inventions which break these laws. A bunch of people at a backyard party in Tucson tried to tell me Pizza Hut is using a new oven that keeps pizza hot by using it's own heat, you would heat it up and it would stay hot with no power! Then I told them that breaks the laws of thermodynamics, and was told I have been brainwashed by books and should open my mind. That was about 6 years ago, where is all the literature about this oven which keeps itself hot without using any power? Another pretty bright friend of mine from Tucson tried to tell me you could put piezofilm on the surface of tires and when the weight of the car pushed down on it, you'd bend the film and generate electricity and that electricity would power the car. So the spinning of the wheels would be the power! I am not saying the Laws of Thermodynamics can't be broken, I am saying if you are going to break them, you'd better be a badass. Like Newton or Einstein. Like a top 10 all time mental badass.
So the other day we were talking about software bugs. We joked that when the new version of software comes out it will have more bugs than the previous version. Then we came up with the Laws of Bugodynamics:
0) Bugs always flow from an area of high concentration to low concentration
1) Bugs are conserved
2) Bugs always increase
Then I came up with the Laws of Bogosity:
0) Bogosity always flows from an area of high concentration to low concentration
1) Bogosity is conserved
2) Bugosity always increases
Still we must fight bogosity at all costs. If you hear someone say 2+2=5 tell them they are wrong. Tell a stranger on the train that they are wrong about what the next stop is, tell someone at a party that ovens dont stay hot by themselves and cars never run without fuel. Be a warrior against Bogosity.
1) There is no such thing as a perpetual motion device, energy is conserved
2) Entropy always increases
Then they added a 0th law:
0) Heat always flows from a hot area to a cold area
I think the author Heinlein summed up the Laws of Thermodynamics this way:
1) You can't win
2) You can't even break even
There are quite a few people who tell me about inventions which break these laws. A bunch of people at a backyard party in Tucson tried to tell me Pizza Hut is using a new oven that keeps pizza hot by using it's own heat, you would heat it up and it would stay hot with no power! Then I told them that breaks the laws of thermodynamics, and was told I have been brainwashed by books and should open my mind. That was about 6 years ago, where is all the literature about this oven which keeps itself hot without using any power? Another pretty bright friend of mine from Tucson tried to tell me you could put piezofilm on the surface of tires and when the weight of the car pushed down on it, you'd bend the film and generate electricity and that electricity would power the car. So the spinning of the wheels would be the power! I am not saying the Laws of Thermodynamics can't be broken, I am saying if you are going to break them, you'd better be a badass. Like Newton or Einstein. Like a top 10 all time mental badass.
So the other day we were talking about software bugs. We joked that when the new version of software comes out it will have more bugs than the previous version. Then we came up with the Laws of Bugodynamics:
0) Bugs always flow from an area of high concentration to low concentration
1) Bugs are conserved
2) Bugs always increase
Then I came up with the Laws of Bogosity:
0) Bogosity always flows from an area of high concentration to low concentration
1) Bogosity is conserved
2) Bugosity always increases
Still we must fight bogosity at all costs. If you hear someone say 2+2=5 tell them they are wrong. Tell a stranger on the train that they are wrong about what the next stop is, tell someone at a party that ovens dont stay hot by themselves and cars never run without fuel. Be a warrior against Bogosity.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
LA vs SF
We went to LA last weekend. We surfed at Huntington Beach and saw a Dodger game and an Angel game. Housing is cheaper in the LA area than it is in the Bay area. I am not sure why. I guess it is because of the higher traffic, higher crime, higher smog, less jobs, and more land in LA. Maybe not, maybe it is something else.
Bay area people seem to dislike LA in general. I am not sure I understand that feeling, I like LA a lot, but maybe I am just a sucker for surfing in water that is about 5 degrees warmer. All the problems of LA vanish when you can catch wave after beautiful wave at the Huntington Beach Pier.
When we were driving on the 605 Freeway to Long Beach at about 11 am Thursday morning there was a tremendous amount of trucks going both ways. I would guess the traffic was 80% trucks. I wonder if that is a problem? It probably is. Here is how I would fix it:
1) Make a law, trucks should not be allowed to transfer goods more than 100 miles. Make all the long trips go by train. If we need more train infrastructure to pay for it, I have an idea that could save us a billion dollars a day, PULL OUT OF IRAQ!
2) Double the price of gas. That's right, double it, Price fix it at $5/gallon. Put the money into trains, public transportation and alternative energy sources like solar power, wind power, fuel cells, biodiesel. I'd like to think it won't take a war or a return to the stone age to get the world using other forms of energy than oil.
3) Open the borders and try to get Canada and Mexico to use the US Dollar. The Euro is doing very well as a united european currency, we could strike back. Money exchangers drain the economy, get rid of them.
Ok so my plan hurts the economy and truckers lose jobs. I think saving the earth may be worth it.
Bay area people seem to dislike LA in general. I am not sure I understand that feeling, I like LA a lot, but maybe I am just a sucker for surfing in water that is about 5 degrees warmer. All the problems of LA vanish when you can catch wave after beautiful wave at the Huntington Beach Pier.
When we were driving on the 605 Freeway to Long Beach at about 11 am Thursday morning there was a tremendous amount of trucks going both ways. I would guess the traffic was 80% trucks. I wonder if that is a problem? It probably is. Here is how I would fix it:
1) Make a law, trucks should not be allowed to transfer goods more than 100 miles. Make all the long trips go by train. If we need more train infrastructure to pay for it, I have an idea that could save us a billion dollars a day, PULL OUT OF IRAQ!
2) Double the price of gas. That's right, double it, Price fix it at $5/gallon. Put the money into trains, public transportation and alternative energy sources like solar power, wind power, fuel cells, biodiesel. I'd like to think it won't take a war or a return to the stone age to get the world using other forms of energy than oil.
3) Open the borders and try to get Canada and Mexico to use the US Dollar. The Euro is doing very well as a united european currency, we could strike back. Money exchangers drain the economy, get rid of them.
Ok so my plan hurts the economy and truckers lose jobs. I think saving the earth may be worth it.
