Something

Sometimes at work while a query is running or I'm waiting on something to download I'll pull up articles from my yahoo page. I have a lot of Science related links to choose from and this one about black holes, wormholes and an implication of a closed universe was an interesting read today.

But ultimately the circular arguments just got me to thinking about why there is something instead of nothing, and I came to the conclusion that nothing makes way more sense than something, but here we are....

And then I had to get back to work - you know - competitive position, quotes, pricing - that sort of thing. But then I'm glad my job isn't to dig around for rare giant worms.

Eyjafjallajokull

Yep. Eyjafjallajokull. Say it with me. Now 5 times fast.

It's the name of the volcano that's erupting in Iceland that's shutting down air traffic all over Europe due to the ash it's spewing up.

Just though it was probably the most fun word I've seen all year.

Eyjafjallajokull

There I said it. I haven't heard newscasters try to say it yet. Here is apparently the correct pronunciation from wikipedia.

Here's the wikipedia link.

Baritone guitar jam

I was checking out what baritone guitars sounded like and came across this cool little jam on you tube.

Thank You - Sly and the Family Stone - guitar tab tablature

All, I was unable to find decent guitar tab anywhere for this song, so here's my contribution to the web base for the tune. It's really not that hard to play, but it's kindof hard to hear exactly what's going on on the recording. I might have some of the voicings wrong, but I think it's in the ballpark for most of it.

Please leave me a comment if you think it needs to be changed (or let me know if you think it's right)

I've put a couple optional ways of playing it, but I just finished tabbing it a few minutes ago and haven't played it enough to know what's the best - although I think the chunky chord part lower on the neck is probably closer to what's being played.

"Thank You" by Sly and the Family Stone
tabbed by Shane Milburn

Intro and early part of main riff in song: 
| -------------------------------3-3-3------------------------3-3-3----- | 
| -------------------------------3-3-3------------------------3-3-3----- | 
| ---------------2---------------1-1-1-2------------2---------1-1-1-2--- | 
| --0--2-----2-2-2-----0-2-------2-2-2----0-2---2-2-2----0-2--2-2-2----- | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | 

Main riff variation:
It adds a little bit extra a little further in to something like
| ------------------------------3-3-3------------------------------3-3-3--- | 
| ------------------------------3-3-3------------------------------3-3-3--- | 
| ----------------2-------------1-1-1-2---------------2------------1-1-1-2- | 
| --0-2-(0-2)-2-2-2---0-2-(0-2)-2-2-2---0-2-(0-2)-2-2-2--0-2-(0-2)-2-2-2--- | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | 

Or alternate way to play the riff that makes sense too without using opens

| ----------------------------------------- | 
| --------------------------------8-8-8---- | 
| --------------------------------7-7-7---- | 
| -----------------7--------------6-6-6-7-- | 
| --5-7-(5-7)--7-7-7----5-7-(5-7)-7-7-7---- | 
| ----------------------------------------- | 

The main riffs above make up most of the song with lots of repeats, but there are a couple of noticeable changes where the singing drops out and the guitar changes the riff up slightly in those musical interludes. They're shown below.

Musical break in middle at about 1:12
I think this uses this version of playing up the neck due to the low open E,

 

| -----------------------------3-3-3-------------- | 
| -----------------------------3-3-3-0-h2--------- | 
| -----------------------------1-1-1-0--0--------- | 
| -------5---------5-----------2-2-2-0-h2--------- | 
| -4-5-7-------5-7-5----5-7----------------------- | 
| ---0----------------------7--------------------- | X2

But it might be played like this too 

| ------------------------------------------------ | 
| -----------------------------8-8-8-0-h2--------- | 
| -----------------------------7-7-7-0-00--------- | 
| -------5---------5-----------6-6-6-0-h2--------- | 
| -4-5-7-------5-7-5----5-7----7-7-7-------------- | 
| ---0----------------------7--------------------- |  X2 


Another Musical break at about 2:15
| ------------------------------3-3-3-------------- | 
| --------------------------8---3-3-3-0-h2--------- | 
| -------(9)-------6--------7---1-1-1-0--0--------- | 
| -----------------7--------6---2-2-2-0-h2--------- | 
| ---5-7-------5-7------5-7-7---------------------- | 
| ---0------------------0-------------------------- |  X2 
                            ? 
Tough to tell at the “?” – more of a string rake than notes with tone

Anyhow, that's my take on what's going on for guitar tab of the riffs. I really hope this helps and saves folks time trying to figure out how to play the guitar part for this song.

Study on how the strike zone changes with the count

Here's an interesting article I saw on how the strike zone becomes smaller when the pitcher is ahead in the count and becomes larger when the pitcher is behind in the count. The study is based on data from about 200,000 pitches at various counts, and whether they're being called strikes or balls. Click here for the story.

It's interesting to me that even smack dab in the middle of the strike zone is not 100% strike. I don't watch much baseball anymore, but when I was younger I remember being amazed that some pitches seemingly right down the middle of the plate would be called balls. (The strike zone grids shown don't have probabilities shown, but note that the middle of the plate both vertically and horizontally is not uniformly red - some get called balls.)

Tip to the Marginal Revolution for putting me onto the link.

Some More Marcus Aurelius

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Been spending a lot of time practicing guitar and learning new songs. I was thinking that I hadn't posted any of my favorite Marcus Aurelius quotes in a while, so I figured I'd share a few more.

Here's one I need to keep in mind when I don't want to go to work in the morning (all of these are from his "Meditations")

5.1 At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work – as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for – the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?

and one that I'm particularly fond of

8.57 What doesn’t transmit light creates its own darkness.


Marcus Aurelius was a Roman Emporer from 161-180 A.D. Read more from Wikipedia.

Computer Vouchers / Subsidies

Here's an interesting study on the effect of vouchers to purchase computers given to low income households. It turns out they're mostly used to play more video games - and actually kids grades dropped because they were spending more time playing video games. Use for homework was negligible. In fact the subsidies let the low income households play more games than the higher income households.

So if you ask me what I think about internet subsidies for low income households - nah - let's not go there. Not exactly the kind of social equity to be looked for.

Social Insecurity

From the NYTimes today:

Social Security to See Payout Exceed Pay-In This Year

Presuming I make it there - 27 years to go for me under current rules. I've almost assumed it'll be gone by the time I got old, but it would be nice if the program were reformed so that all that money I'm paying into the system (I think it's @14-15% of income) leaves something for me. There's alot of my generation that won't have any pensions left, and the stock market savings aren't going to be sufficient- especially the way the market's been behaving recently.

I'd worry more, but the solutions are not painful - raising qualifying age for benefits comes to mind. Raising the Social Security tax is distateful to me though - fix the program using current revenue base from the working population.

How Harry Houdini died

From Harry Houdini's obituary in the 1926 New York times - FULL STORY CLICK HERE. Lots of details of his life are included also.

According to statements made by the physicians, the playful punches he received in Montreal were the direct cause of Houdini's death, for one of the blows caused the appendix to burst, saturating his system with poison.

Too many scientists?

I love articles like this that challenge the conventional wisdom. In this case the article argues that the perception that there is a shortage of science, math, engineering and research talent in the U.S is entirely incorrect. In fact it argues the opposite: That large numbers of PHD grads in scientific fields have great difficulty finding work related to their field of study.

Here's the story from Scientific American. It's well worth a read.

excerpt:

many observers believe that the existing system of research by professors who constantly produce large numbers of scientists unlikely to achieve their career aspirations is near collapse. The real crisis in American science education is not young Americans’ inability to learn, or the schools’ inability to teach, but a distorted job market’s inability to provide them careers worthy of their abilities.

Market structure and high speed intenet

Here's interesting article on the growing power of cable monopolies over high speed internet access - and why our internet costs much more than other places in the world. I didn't realize that our costs were so much higher.

Here's the story.

It sounds like a building monopolies local in high speed internet is leading to a breakup scenario similar to the AT&T long distance monopoly breakup from back in 1982.

World's tallest building - Burg Khalifa in Dubai

I was reading an article in the NYTimes that folks are beginning to move into the world's newest tallest building in Dubai - the Burg Kahlifa. If you're interested in the history of tall structures (going way back in time) and building techniques the article is an interesting read.

Here's a link with details of the building and a very cool photo. It really is a sleek and cool looking building. I don't know why, but these man-made marvels capture my imagination:

Here's a pretty cool video showing the opening cermony:


an AP story:


And an impressive video from the observation deck

Planet X

Back in grade school or middle school I remember reading about the hypothesis of an additional large undiscovered but massive object in our solar system with an orbit far out beyond Pluto.

This idea comes back to life in this story that argues that the orbit of one of the recently discovered large "dwarf planets" (Sedna) can't readily be explained given known solar system objects.

In particular note this graphic that is linked in the story showing the relative distance and difference in orbit from the other solar system objects.

Sedna's location doesn't make sense.

"Sedna shouldn't be there," said Brown. "There's no way to put Sedna where it is. It never comes close enough to be affected by the Sun, but it never goes far enough away from the Sun to be affected by other stars."

Perhaps a massive unseen object is responsible for Sedna's mystifying orbit, its gravitational influence keeping Sedna fixed in that far-distant portion of space.

Toyota stats

Thought this was interesting regarding the Toyota recall.

Walking a mile or driving while using a cell phone are riskier.

From the article:

The accelerator problem is adding about six deaths every year.... Bottom line, it is important to keep risks in perspective," Fischbeck said. "The stuck accelerator problem does make driving riskier and needs to be fixed. But at the same time, the increased risk is very small.