Month: September 2011

Day 22 of 1000

GaugeCam is a project that positions cameras in remote locations to measure things.  It is really pretty easy to put cameras in locations where power and internet connectivity is available, but when a camera is needed to measure something 24/7 in a location that requires cell or satellite connectivity, the problem is much more difficult and/or expensive.  The problem is that it requires power to transmit images via a cell phone connection.  It also requires power to drive lighting at night.  It is possible to couple batteries with expensive gas powered generators or relatively large solar power generators, but that is very expensive.

GaugeCam’s first remote system placed in a tidal marsh in North Carolina is a complete standalone setup with a cell phone connection and a quite small solar panel that provides all the necessary power for camera operation, image transmissions, and nighttime infrared lighting.  The first camera got placed in the marsh a couple of weeks before Hurricane Irene hit.  The mechanical setup survived pretty well, but the camera casing had a few problems, so was sent back to the manufacturer with whom we work very closely, for modifications to handle that kind of abuse.  Our leader, Andrew Brown has just started hooking the marsh camera up to the internet.  There are graphs there, but it is not yet a live feed.  It should go live within the next week or so.

Note:  My buddy Lyle over at RWDub’s Reviews is going to start working on building BleAx for Linux.  I am looking forward to seeing how he does.

Day 21 of 1000

Our family went away this weekend to a church convention.  I had a very interesting discussion with a friend this weekend about school, mostly in regard to where our daughter Kelly will go for her undergraduate degree that will give her a good likelihood to get into a great graduate school.  My friend commented that many who start at a big name school such as Stanford, Dartmouth, or Harvard as Christians, are not longer Christians by the time they graduate.  That has certainly been true with respect to our family.

Then, when I got home Sunday evening, I read a blog post on National Review by Victor Davis Hanson about some very foolish and immoral remarks made by Paul Krugman.  You need to read the whole thing to get the full impact of Krugman’s bigotry.  This is from VDH’s column:

In this regard, most unfortunate was the blog posting (replete with all the tired formulaic slurs about “fake heroes,” “hijacking of the atrocity,” “neocons,” etc.) by Paul Krugman today that reprehensibly scoffed, “The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame.” It most surely has not. Such an unhinged view would imply that we would have escaped comparable serial attacks without the provisions we took, and that Krugman’s view was widely shared by liberal politicians who at least since 2009 were invested with the ultimate responsibility of governance. Untrue on both accounts, as we just saw in Vice President Biden’s moving speeches about the act of war once declared on us by these “stateless actors” and his thanks to a previous administration for crafting a successful response. 

Next, I got out Paul Johnson’s book, Intellectuals because I noticed it said the book talked about Noam Chomsky.  I read the book a long time ago, but did not remember that he talked about Chomsky, so I wanted to find that part of the book and reread it.  Johnson exposed, Chomsky’s full buffoonery, in context in the 3-4 pages dedicated to how he believes his knowledge of linguistics qualified him to talk about the morality of the Vietnam war.  Wow.

All of these guys (including VDH, the one good guy) studied or taught at elite schools like MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, etc.  It gives me great pause about whether I would want my children under the tutelage of these men or their ilk.  We have to make these decisions sooner rather than later.

Day 18 of 1000

I downloaded a talk by Os Guinness to my Zen Stone Plus MP3 player from the Veritas website.  I listened to it during my walk last night.  He told a story about Guinness Beer at the beginning of his talk.  I looked him up later and found out he is the great-great-great-grandson of the guy that started the Guinness brewing company in Dublin, Ireland.  He said some stuff that I thought was very good and that I needed to hear.  The main thing he talked about was truth.  He drew a sharp contrast between those who believe in absolute truth and those who believe truth is relative.

One particular point, struck me as something I want to do not only because it will help me in my own life, but because it is the right thing to do.  He said that some people shape truth to fit their desires.  He referred to Paul Johnson’s The Intellectuals, a book that describes the miserable and morally bankrupt lives of people such as Sartre, Bertrand Russell, Rousseau, and others who devoted their lives to the shaping of “truth” to conform to their desires.  I read that book about fifteen years and was so impressed with it that I had both Kelly and Christian as part of their homeschool.

The idea that truth is malleable is the defacto position of the bulk of society and is actively and aggressively taught in the bulk of the government schools in the country.  Guinness did a great job in establishing that a life lived with such a worldview leads to misery and pain.  Johnson did it in more exhaustively in his book.  Os Guinness recommends that absolute truth demands that people shape their desires to fit the truth.  He was quite convincing that people who live that way lead better and happier lives.  He said life dedicated to truth can be much more difficult in the short term, but pays off even in this life, but especially in eternity.

Note:  I am really, really glad I went for a walk and did not listen to the Obama speech last night.  It appears to have been another non-proposal with nothing written down.  Half of a trillion dollars in new spending with a promise that it would be paid for with tax increases.  Lots of spoken, not written down specifics about how to spend the money and only a promise for specifics on how it would be paid at a later date.

Day 17 of 1000

Kelly and I stayed up late to listen to the Republican debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California.  The biggest losers in the debate were Politico, MSNBC, and the debate moderators.  There was not even a pretense of balance in the questions they asked.  Newt Gingrich made great use of that fact.  It would be great to be able to vote for a guy like that:  smart, experienced, able to make and complete a solid plan.  The problem is that the choices he has made in his personal life and even some of his associations (the ad he made with Nancy Pelosi on climate change) make him untrustworthy in the eyes of too many people, including me.  The Ricks, Santorum and Perry were solid but not stellar.  I think Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann  are done.  I love them both, but they just do not come off as presidential.  Ron Paul, as usual, said crazy things mixed with a couple of nuggets worth keeping–mostly having to do with getting the government out of our lives.  He should not be there.

The legacy media favorites, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman continue to look like snake oil salesmen.  For the life of me, I cannot figure out why any conservative would vote for either of them.  Romney has held positions that are for abortion, special rights for homosexuals, and individual mandates for health insurance.  Many believe he gets way more credit than he should for the Salt Lake City Olympics having arrived after all the heavy lifting was done.  Huntsman’s record is actually more solid than Romney’s, but he worked for Obama and is absolutely looney-tunes on climate change and evolution.  I do not trust either of them.

Right now, I am a Rick Perry guy.  I might switch to Palin if she jumps in, but even if she does, it would take something special to get me to switch from Perry.

This post is why I like Victor Davis Hanson WAY better than John Derbyshire.  I get the satisfaction of good writing about the evils of our education system (something on which Derbyshire is not so bad) without the pretensions strawman arguments and pseudo-math-geek posts for which Derbyshire is so infamous.

Day 16 of 1000

Anyone who has read this blog knows I am a big fan of higher education.  John Miller of National Review Online pointed to an article about Rick Perry’s record on higher education in such a way to make me believe it held some valid arguments about. Rick Perry’s record on higher education.  It was written by a Jessica Huseman, a Journalism student.  The article was filled with quotes about the apocalyptic changes Rick Perry is making to the Texas higher education system. This was the money quote for me:

“Running a university like a business is ridiculous,” Wintz said. “Since
social sciences or arts research doesn’t generate a lot of money,
should that just go away? Should we just focus on research that will
make money for universities? I think that is a mistake.”

No one is talking about making the social sciences and arts research “go away”, but the amount of funding should be tied to their contribution in terms of dollars.  One huge problem with higher education is that such a heavy focus is put on social sciences and the arts that there is not enough time to focus on math, chemistry, and physics.  I am a big fan of true liberal arts education where students get a well rounded education that includes the arts, literature, government, philosophy, etc.  The problem is that the arts and social sciences often crowd out math, chemistry, and physics in many of the liberal arts degrees offered in America today.

To her credit, Huseman started quoting a more reasoned voice or two toward the end of the article.  I am liking Rick Perry more and more all the time.  Especially when he is talking about that $10K thing.

How cool is that??!?  She took second place in the Women’s 40-49 age group in a race that took place on Sunday at Storm Lake, Iowa under the name of Sarah Heath from Des Moines, Iowa.

Day 15 of 1000

Even though I wish I had something a little more exciting about which to write, I should not complain.  We had a great weekend, the central element being Christian’s sixteenth birthday.  Kelly worked pretty hard on most of her projects–math homework, caricature drawing, and college applications.  I really have nothing much to say in terms of commentary about Rick Perry.  I put up the drawing because I think Kelly did a good job on it.

Kelly worked hard on her college application essay(s).  She completed everything she needs for NCSU except for the principle “why am I applying her” essay.  She should finish that in the next couple of days.  She needs to put her writing into high gear because she has her first newspaper article to write for the school newspaper, a bunch of reports for several classes, and her blog which will be evaluated for possible acceptance in a Journalism summer program in New York City either this coming summer or the one after that.

Day 15 of 1000

Even though I wish I had something a little more exciting about which to write, I should not complain.  We had a great weekend, the central element being Christian’s sixteenth birthday.  Kelly worked pretty hard on most of her projects–math homework, caricature drawing, and college applications.  I really have nothing much to say in terms of commentary about Rick Perry.  I put up the drawing because I think Kelly did a good job on it.

Kelly worked hard on her college application essay(s).  She completed everything she needs for NCSU except for the principle “why am I applying her” essay.  She should finish that in the next couple of days.  She needs to put her writing into high gear because she has her first newspaper article to write for the school newspaper, a bunch of reports for several classes, and her blog which will be evaluated for possible acceptance in a Journalism summer program in New York City either this coming summer or the one after that.

Day 14 of 1000

Today, our son, Christian turns 16 years old.  We are very, very thankful for Christian.  He does not like us to tell people what he is doing because he says it sounds too obnoxious, so I won’t.  Some of you who know him, know that what he is doing is kind of crazy and fairly exceptional for a 16 year old kid.  The thing we think is exceptional about Christian is that he is a kind and obedient son.  Most of our celebration will be centered around eating (Yah!!!).  Happy Birthday, Christian!

Day 14 of 1000

Today, our son, Christian turns 16 years old.  We are very, very thankful for Christian.  He does not like us to tell people what he is doing because he says it sounds too obnoxious, so I won’t.  Some of you who know him, know that what he is doing is kind of crazy and fairly exceptional for a 16 year old kid.  The thing we think is exceptional about Christian is that he is a kind and obedient son.  Most of our celebration will be centered around eating (Yah!!!).  Happy Birthday, Christian!

Laurel & Hardy dance Santana — Amazing

Laurel & Hardy dance Santana — Amazing

Day 13 of 1000

We maintain such a focus on education that we have to make a special effort to assure the kids learn to cook, clean (house, clothes, dishes), maintain (car, yard, house plants, animals, finances), and the other, more mundane tasks required to run a household.  Today, Lorena wanted to run out to do some shopping so the Kelly and Christian are teaming up to clean the kitchen and cook Tuna Helper for lunch.  I LOVE Tuna Helper.  Right after I put them to work I read Jay Nordlinger’s National Review Online post about members of his family who love powdered eggs and powdered milk.  We were one of those families who economized with powdered milk during the 1960’s when my dad was struggling to get his business started.  Now I look at it as a badge of pride that we drank powdered milk.  I am glad other people see it the same way.

Sadly, Kelly just said, “We can not make the Tuna Helper because we have no milk.”

“We can make it with powdered milk,” responded Christian.  “There is some in the pantry.”

“But it is three years old.”

It looks like I STILL have a lot of educating in front of me.  This reminds me of how many times I have heard people say, “I drank water from a hoof print in a cow pie and was glad to have it.”

Day 12 of 1000

Our plan for this Labor Day weekend is to apply to colleges, do homework (Lorena, Kelly, and Christian), and work out.  Christian has pretty much decided he wants to go to NCSU.  Kelly is torn.  For now she will apply at NCSU, San Diego State University, and University of Idaho, in that order.  There are lots of criteria, but proximity to friends and family, a good statistics program, acceptance of credits already earned, and the ability to get scholarships are all high on her list.  This is an on-going process in a high state of flux.  It is also a lot of fun, so I am sure we will write about it often.  You can also read about it at Kelly’s blog.

I do not know how my buddy Andrew does it.  He finds relevant, obscure blogs and websites on a regular basis.  He sent me a link to one named Retraction Watch this morning.  It is one of my pet peeves.  One of many, very big problems in academia today is the whole publish or perish, peer review process.  The whole authorship pecking order thing creates an environment where cheating is rampant.  The worst part is that the powerless (read “students”, both graduate and undergraduate here) suffer a lot at the hands of unethical researchers and professors.  Should the person who fills out the grant applications and schmoozes with the government bureaucrats and other toadies that shell out money confiscated from the tax payers be the principle authors or should it be the people who do the heavy intellectual lifting and write the papers–students and industrial partners.  Should the research that gets funded be that which is selected by politically correct government bureaucrats and other toadies that give out the confiscated monies or should it be driven by more altruistic methods (e.g. sickness cures and military needs) or market needs.  The Retraction Watch blog identifies a few of the high profile cases where this abysmal system has failed abysmally.  Thanks for the link Andrew.

There are lots of rumblings in the press recently about the new Amazon Tablet.  It is rumored to run Android and to be very cheap.  I cannot wait to get my hands on one of these.  All the programming work I am doing on the Nook Color to learn about Android should apply to this new tablet.

I am well into the reconstruction of my computer after its meltdown last night.  I should be up and programming around mid morning on Tuesday after Labor Day.  In the meantime, I was aghast that our eternally campaigning president, after stating for weeks that he will reveal his plan in a speech after Labor Day, will really only reveal PART of his plan, the rest of which will be revealed, piece meal, throughout the fall!!!  What is that?!??  HE HAS NO PLAN!!!  This is mind-boggling, especially after the disappointing, ZERO new jobs, employment numbers that came out earlier today.

I am well into the reconstruction of my computer after its meltdown last night.  I should be up and programming around mid morning on Tuesday after Labor Day.  In the meantime, I was aghast that our eternally campaigning president, after stating for weeks that he will reveal his plan in a speech after Labor Day, will really only reveal PART of his plan, the rest of which will be revealed, piece meal, throughout the fall!!!  What is that?!??  HE HAS NO PLAN!!!  This is mind-boggling, especially after the disappointing, ZERO new jobs, employment numbers that came out earlier today.

Day 11 of 1000

It is already on of those days.  My computer was blue screened when I got to work this morning–both solid state drives had errors on them.  So, I am going to have a fun filled day of getting my computer back to a runnable state.  That bad news, however, is mitigated by the fact that an old, mostly like minded friend has agreed to start blogging with me here at Chapman Kids.  I cannot reveal too much right now, but hope to have a picture, a name, and maybe even a first post over the Labor Day weekend.  In the meantime, I am out of the loop until I can get my computer up and going or I go home for the weekend.

Day 10 of 1000

There are lots of good reasons to keep a journal.  In a quick Google search, I found a PILE of good reasons:

• The Benefits of Keeping a Journal
• Inspiration for You to Keep a Journal
• 10 Reasons to Keep a Journal
• Etc.

There are lots of reasons to make a budget.  I found a PILE of good reasons for that, too:

• Why You Should Use a Budget
• Why You Should Make a Budget
• Why a Budget is a Good Debt Management Tool
• Etc.

President has pontificated gratingly on how the congress needs to take up his proposals and implement them, but he has yet to submit anything to congress in writing.  He is scheduled to give a speech on September 8 that is purported to be about his plan on how to get the economy going and create jobs.  Obama attacked the budget proposal of the Republican controlled House of Representatives and demanded more spending, higher taxes, and bigger government in his budget speech on April 13.  The thing he did NOT do was submit a specific proposal in a written budget.

My daughter, Kelly, started college last year.  She did OK the first semester, better the second semester, and now, in her third semester, she is really on top of it.  She attributes the improvements to the fact that she writes a study plan every day.  She is better at planning and better at studying because she writes it down.  In an earlier post, I described a rut into which I had fallen when we finished homeschooling the kids.  My plan to get out of the rut and accomplish something of value revolves around writing stuff down and committing to get it done.

In this upcoming speech, if Obama does not submit a written budget, he is digging a deeper hole.  The prospects for such a plan do not seem too good.  The title of Jim Geraghty’s blog post says it all:  Obama to Supporters: Demand Congress Pass My Unrevealed Plan Now!.  The worst part about his unwritten plan is that he demands that congress implement it.  If they do not implement this undefined plan, he will hammer them for their intransigence in his eternal election campaign.

Day 10 of 1000

There are lots of good reasons to keep a journal.  In a quick Google search, I found a PILE of good reasons:

• The Benefits of Keeping a Journal
• Inspiration for You to Keep a Journal
• 10 Reasons to Keep a Journal
• Etc.

There are lots of reasons to make a budget.  I found a PILE of good reasons for that, too:

• Why You Should Use a Budget
• Why You Should Make a Budget
• Why a Budget is a Good Debt Management Tool
• Etc.

President has pontificated gratingly on how the congress needs to take up his proposals and implement them, but he has yet to submit anything to congress in writing.  He is scheduled to give a speech on September 8 that is purported to be about his plan on how to get the economy going and create jobs.  Obama attacked the budget proposal of the Republican controlled House of Representatives and demanded more spending, higher taxes, and bigger government in his budget speech on April 13.  The thing he did NOT do was submit a specific proposal in a written budget.

My daughter, Kelly, started college last year.  She did OK the first semester, better the second semester, and now, in her third semester, she is really on top of it.  She attributes the improvements to the fact that she writes a study plan every day.  She is better at planning and better at studying because she writes it down.  In an earlier post, I described a rut into which I had fallen when we finished homeschooling the kids.  My plan to get out of the rut and accomplish something of value revolves around writing stuff down and committing to get it done.

In this upcoming speech, if Obama does not submit a written budget, he is digging a deeper hole.  The prospects for such a plan do not seem too good.  The title of Jim Geraghty’s blog post says it all:  Obama to Supporters: Demand Congress Pass My Unrevealed Plan Now!.  The worst part about his unwritten plan is that he demands that congress implement it.  If they do not implement this undefined plan, he will hammer them for their intransigence in his eternal election campaign.