The June 2009 edition of my IEEE magazine arrived, and it had interviews with the candidates running for election for president of the organization. The interview contained various questions. About half were related to engineering, and the other half were get-to-know-the-person questions, such as “What is your favorite movie?” The one that piqued my interest was “If you were stranded on an island, what one thing you would want to have with you?”
The answers that the three candidates gave were these:
- A solar-powered iPhone with lots of books stored in memory
- A solar-powered laptop with Internet access
- A Crocodile Dundee-size knife
(Note: I assume he meant a knife that is the same size as the knife that Crocodile Dundee had, not a knife that is the same size as Crocodile Dundee himself.)
After reading the third answer, I thought the first two sounded like cheating. How many qualifiers can you add to an item and still have it count as only one item?
I pondered for a little while and decided on my answer, should I ever be asked what is the one item I would want with me on a deserted island.
I suppose I could embellish it a little: a fully-furnished, solar-powered house with working water and sewer. But I like the simplicity of my original answer.
But we must run aground on a certain island.
Acts 27:26
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I got to drive a Mercedes S-Class last weekend. One of the features is a nice screen in the middle of the dashboard. It is the multi-function display: it shows the radio, navigation system, rear-view backup camera, DVDs, and live TV. The live TV comes from the over-the-air broadcasts, like any normal TV.
While that is a fun feature, I wonder how many vehicles have been sold with televisions in them. Because some of those are going to be obsolete in June, when the analog broadcasts are disabled and only digital remains. The converter boxes won’t work very well in the cars either. The Mercedes TV tuner is supposed to handle both analog and digital, so it shouldn’t be affected by the transition.
The analog tuners would have been obsolete this month (February 2009), but the digital deadline got moved back, yet again. Now it is in June, although stations can start dropping analog broadcasts now. But I wonder how many cars or aftermarket TV tuners will be affected. That would not be fun for someone who spent a boatload (or carload perhaps) of money to add TV reception to his car a couple of years ago, only to discover that he’ll have to upgrade it.
One other thing I noted from my afternoon in the car was the radio controls. The radio (and climate control and TV and nav system) is controlled by a single dial thingy. On my drive home, I usually switch between one AM station and one or two FM stations. To change from AM to FM took 3 presses (back, down, down) and to change from FM to AM took 4 presses (back, down, back, down).
Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly.
Mark 8:25
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As it is frigid outside and the furnace is running much of the time, we use humidifiers. We have a couple of stand-alone units that spend most of the year in the garage. But they are back in the bedrooms, helping keep people from drying out.
Just about everyone has at least one humidifier in his house. It’s called a shower.
I leave the bathroom door open when taking a shower. What do we want in winter? Warm moist air. What is in the bathroom during a shower? Warm, moist air. Why run the bathroom fan and send all that good air outside, just so you have to run the furnace some more to replace that warm air that left the house? Send all the humidified air to the other parts of the house instead.
On a somewhat related note: why does the garage freezer run when it is below freezing outside? We have a freezer in our unheated garage. The temperature in the garage has been well below freezing during the previous two weeks, but I would go into the garage for something and the freezer would be running sometimes. I’m tempted to unplug it and leave it open during the winter.
While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease.
Genesis 8:22
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It used to be that my bad dreams would be that I was late to class, either because something happened to make me late or, worse, I couldn’t find the room. As far as bad dreams go, that’s not too bad, I suppose. And I have that type of dream only once or twice a year. Most of my dreams are either innocuous or bland enough to be forgotten rather quickly.
I suppose they would be classified as annoying dreams, not bad dreams or nightmares. The most annoying variation of this theme is the dream where I am at school, know I am supposed to be in class, but can’t find the paper with my schedule printed on it.
I am officially getting older now. My last bad dream had to do with being late to a meeting at work. I hate being late to things, but work? A meeting?
I am approaching, but have not yet reached, the point at which I will have been at my job for longer than I have been in formal schooling. There were 12 years of elementary, middle, and high school, plus 4 years of college = 16 years. And I have been in my job for only 11 years. So I should have 5 more years of school dreams left before my mind switches over to work dreams. Maybe it’s a gradual transition.
He said to them, ‘Please listen to this dream which I have had;’
Genesis 37:6
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I heard news on the radio the other day that a church was vandalized in Alabama. Vandalism, and even church vandalism, is nothing new. What caught my attention were the messages that the perpetrators left, stating that there is no God.
They just highlighted the problems that come about by not believing in God. I think that not only will you live longer by believing in God (general statement and not a guarantee for your particular situation), you will live better (same disclaimer, plus the clarification that this “better” is along the lines of kindler and gentler – not “better” as in comfort and luxury).
Why were those vandals, whom police suspect are teens, so hostile? Was that behavior caused by belief in God (e.g. they went to church but had a bad experience with it)? Or is that behavior that could have been prevented by belief in God? I know it is not representative of atheists in general, but who is going to lead a better life: someone who knows he is accountable for his actions during his life or someone who thinks he is not?
The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good.
Psalm 14:1
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This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
