Some Blog Site

I think the current Apple CEO should commission a microwave before he leaves the company, whenever that may be. There is a golden opportunity there.

For example, here is the control panel of a normal microwave.

And here is the control panel of an Apple microwave.

No, I did not change just the logo.

I have no suggestions right now as to what that first button would do, but it would be a way for Mr. Cook to cement his name to remain in the product after he’s gone.

Subtitle: in which I improve the government’s records

Allow me to introduce to you the 2016 SFS List of Baby Names that Combine Similar Pronunciations. That baby name list is the place to go in case you are wondering what are the most popular baby names in 2016 regardless of how they are spelled. The Social Security baby name list does not adjust the rankings based on alternate spellings (like Catherine/Katherine), but SFS does.

It was just Mother’s Day, so the SSA released the name rankings for 2016. Last year’s champion, Jackson is again the most popular boy’s name in the US. And it is widening the gap over Aiden – Jackson’s count is going up and Aiden’s count is going down. No controversy for the girls – it’s Sophia again. Her numbers are going back up, but all the top girls’ numbers are going up so that doesn’t mean much.

Some Stats

• There was not a lot of change at the top for the boys. The top 7 names are the same, and in the same order except William and Jacob swapped spots at 6 and 7.
• The top 6 names for the girls are the same as 2014, it’s just Ava and Isabella swapped spots at 4 and 5.
• Noah is once again the highest-ranked boy’s name that has no spelling variations, at number 3.
• Emma is the highest-ranked girl’s name that has no spelling variations, at number 3.
• Girl names still have more spelling variations than boy names (279/1000 vs. 186/1000 alternates)
• Kason took the prize for the most spelling variations for the boys at 8. Last year, Aiden, Kayden, Kason, and Cameron had 7 or more variations, but not this year.
• For the girls, Adaline once again claimed the title of most variations – still at 7.
• Sophia is still the runaway favorite for the girls, but the gap is closing. Sophia is on the decline.

2016 Improved Baby Name List

Click on the link above and peruse to your heart’s content!

I was using a certain device the other day and got this warning.

For a second or so, I was confused. Then I realized what happened and I was amused.

I do believe it was a product that was still in development, so I can’t fault them yet. Don’t know if the error messages were copied from a previous project, or if a conversion from C to C# or from Java to Fortran wasn’t fully reviewed, or whatever.

For those not familiar with strings in programming, %s is a parameter that’s supposed to be populated with the actual text.

Some things I tend to overthink. Surveys, for example, take me a long time to complete because I must consider the question and the implications of the answer.

I was not involved in this survey, but I read a little bit about the results. The survey had to do with how much time people spend on their smartphones and when and where – all the usual habits.

One question that stood out to me was “Do you sleep with your phone next to your bed?”

The surveyors used the high percentage of positive answers to indicate that people are addicted to their phones. Something along the lines of “it’s the last thing they do before going to sleep and the first thing they reach for in the morning.” If I hadn’t known the intent of the question, I would have answered Yes. But knowing the intent of the question would make me want to answer No.

I keep my phone on my nightstand, but only because I use it as my alarm clock. Before I go to sleep, I put it out of commission – airplane mode, all communications off, etc.

If I answer the letter of the question: yes, I keep my phone next to my bed.

If I answer the spirit of the question: no, I sleep with my alarm clock next to my bed.

The fact that my phone is the same physical device as my alarm clock complicates things. In this case, I’m not using my phone for its communication purposes. Is a phone still a phone if it’s not used as a phone?

I would have a similar dilemma if a survey question asked me if I had an alarm clock. My answer depends on why you need to know. If you want to know how many people wake up on their own without some sort of a signal, then yes I use an alarm clock. But if you represent consumer device manufacturers and want to know which appliances are in one’s home, then no I do not use an alarm clock.

You wouldn’t think yes/no questions could be so complicated, and that’s why I don’t trust surveys. Because a lot of times, the people devising the questions don’t realize there could be complications with the way their questions are worded.

I’m on a field trip today. Technically, I’m a chaperone. But it’s all in how you look at it.

Either way, I don’t have a blog post today. Go outside and enjoy the weather instead of reading this.

Here’s a lesson from the grocery store this last week: is a bigger box of cereal a better deal than the smaller size of the same cereal?

Answer: usually, but watch out for sales.

Exhibit A:

Looking at the non-sale price, you see that the larger box (19.1 oz) is a better deal because it is 26.1 cents/ounce – lower than the 26.3 cpo for the 12.5 oz box.

As an aside, I prevent whining from the kids about picking out cereals when they accompany me to the grocery store. I do this by having a consistent rule and reminding them of it beforehand. Before we reach the cereal aisle, I let them know they can each pick out one box of cereal, whatever they want as long as it is less than 20 cpo. This heads off questions about what they can get and keeps them busy as they scan the shelves for qualifying items and weigh their options. It also usually weeds out bad choices such as Lucky Charms, but on the rare occasion when that is on sale I do let them get it.

Back to today’s topic… The sale price knocks the price of the smaller box down to be the better deal: 19.9 cpo vs. 23.5 cpo.
And if you buy 6 of them, you can save even more. Either way, the big box ends up being the worse value in this case. I’ve seen it where the small box was on sale but the large box was not, yet the large box was still a better deal, so don’t be drawn in by large colorful “SALE PRICE” signs – read the fine print.

Plus, shopping is so much nicer when they list the cents/ounce on the shelf tag.

I’m planning on making some heat exchangers. It sounds fancy, but all I’m doing is coiling some soft copper pipe.

My goal is the most bang for my buck, so what’s the best way of arrangement of copper for dollars.

Here’s an example:

My constraint: the water inlet and outlet are 3/4″ copper pipe.

For this analysis, I’m standardizing on a length of 50′ of coil.

The first obvious choice is using 3/4″ diameter to match the existing piping. A 50′ roll of soft copper pipe runs about $80 for 3/4″ diameter.

The main factor in heat transfer is surface area, so for a cylinder we need pi*d*h. The diameter is 3/4″ -> circumference of 2.356. For one foot, that’s 28.274 sq.in. of pipe. At $1.60 per foot, that’s 5.66 cents/sq.in.foot.

For cheaper, I could go with 1/2″ soft pipe. That would result in a faster flow though, which would give less time for heat to transfer, so I don’t know that it is a good choice. But we’ll look at it anyway.

The diameter is 1/2″ -> circumference of 1.571. For one foot, that’s 18.852 sq.in. of pipe. At $1.00 per foot, that’s 5.30 cents/sq.in.foot, a slightly better deal.

So the thinner pipe is slightly cheaper on a surface area basis. But the overall surface area is less and the water will flow faster so it won’t transfer heat as well, so that works counter to the point of a heat exchanger.

To get the same performance, we need the same cross section. Area of 3/4″ = 0.4418. Area of 1/2″ = 0.1963, or approximately half of the area of the 3/4″ diamter pipe. So if I double up the 1/2″ pipe, I can get the same flow as the 3/4″ pipe.

But what about surface area? That doubles! So slightly smaller cross section total, but (18.852 + 18.852)/28.274 = 33% more surface area. Looks like it is better heat transfer performance to have two 1/2″ pipes rather than one 3/4″ pipe.

Now let’s check the other part of the equation: cost.

The two 50′ pipes will cost double a single pipe (no, a 100′ pipe costs more than double, so I wouldn’t save anything by buying that and cutting it in half).

So 33% more performance for (100/80) = 25% more cost. Sounds like a good deal.

One more adjustment, just to make sure all the bases are covered: the area.

The 3/4″ pipe has (0.4418/(0.1963+0.1963)) = 12.5% more cross-sectional area. Which in theory would mean the water flows slower and has more time to absorb the heat.

So 33% more surface area but with a 12.5% reduction for flow rate, compared to 25% more cost for these two choices.

In conclusion, I’m going with the single 3/4″ pipe because it’s half the number of joints to solder therefore the double 1/2″ pipes are twice as likely to fail.