Thursday, November 15, 2018

How Did This Happen?

Bret Baier has mentioned that Charles Krauthammer thought it was a mistake for conservatives to abandon the universities.

I've known for a long time that the good universities were liberal.

Myron L. Good said, "If you aren't a liberal when you are young, you have no heart; if you aren't a conservative when you are old, you have no head."

Charles Krauthammer exemplifies that saying.

Other sending our kids to Hillsdale College how do we recover from this?

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Hurricane Florence

My two daughters were with me when we evacuated for Hurricane Floyd, later cited as a danger of early evacuation on my favorite TV show at that time.  Doppler radar had improved and the times between observations had shrug to zero.

If we didn’t have weather satellites and good mathematical models, most of the East Coast would be going about its business as usual.  I have tweeted that “out of abundance of caution” maybe the entire East Coast should evacuate.  My “Out of an abundance of caution” blog is https://dr2htay.blogspot.com/2018/07/out-of-abundance-of-caution.html

Last night Hurricane Florence seemed to be headed for a city in which one of my daughters now lives.  The other daughter offered their NEW home.

Thursday, September 6, 2018

SCOTUS nominee hearing

Two for Donald J. Trump, or, better for THE PEOPLE.

Monday, September 3, 2018

Lincoln had trouble with Baltimore

During the United States Civil War, Missouri had years of "troubles".  Neither Missouri or Maryland officially joined the Confederacy.



Friday, July 27, 2018

Middle Out

George H. W. Bush (known as George W. Bush, at the time) lost his bid for re-election in part because another candidate had convinced the electorate “the devil is in the details”.  H. Ross Perot had convinced the voters that the Devil is in the details and he had the charts and graphs to prove it.

When the Republicans moved in to the DC area as a result of the 1980 election, the Rush Room was established at Blackie’s House of Beef.  I have heard that WRC (TV 4 in the area) also tried to a comparable liberal’s room hosted by then comedian, Al Franken.  The Rush Room was a tremendous success.  The room for liberals failed (but that was in the 1981-89 time period).

Dr. John Park told me that you need to have an understanding two levels up and two levels down to be able to write well at a given level.  Dr. Park had been a professor at the University of Minnesota and had written a major part of the then Defense Communications Agency’s Satellite Handbook.

In the DC Area, the usual conflict in System Design or issues in general is usually between “Top Down” and “(Bottom or Bottoms) Up”.  If you are a System Engineer, you realize that all these conflicts are about where you hold the requirements fixed.

Charles Krauthammer died recently.  After he died, I read his book.  All TV Commentators should go through his process.

When you try to sell something as a consultant, you a confronted with the task of trying to tell a person with funds, what you can do for them.

I used three of Robert E. Machol’s columns the journal Operations Research (at the time, a Professor at Northwestern University) to prepare humorous talk for a competition.  The three:

1. Miles Law
2. Billings Phenomenon
3. Sutton Effect

The Billings Phenomenon gets its name from an American humorist Josh Billings.  Josh was a contemporary of Mark Twain.  He told a story about a farmer that wanted to know why his white horses ate more hay than his black horses. (I think the story goes that the farmer satisfied his curiosity by counting feet and dividing by 4).

Consultants face the real problem that if their results are well communicated the customer is likely to say why did it cost so much?


Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Things

On 7/10/18, I counted 88 entries in Things That Matter.  The book’s subtitle is “Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics.”  The population should be of the order of 3x10x50 = 1500.  88/1500 = 0.058666667.  The first decade might be sparse.  88/1000 = .08800.  So Krauthammer’s Things That Matter consisted of 5 to 9 percent of his Things.

Appropriate for a particle physicist, I’ve captured the first level of Things That Matter today in Things.  They are 88 things.

Monday, July 2, 2018

Characterizing and Communicating Uncertainty

A relevant NSF publication is available in PDF is available from The National Academies Press at http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=18870

Charles Krauthammer died very recently.  He had time to listen.  He listened and polished a narrative to get from where you were to where you ought to be.

I heard of him in 1981 when he was a liberal.  My first major professor Myron L. Good said that if you weren't a liberal when you were young you didn't have a heart and if you weren't a conservative when you matured you didn't have a head.

The NSF report includes a quote at the beginning it is:

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
Willing is not enough; we must do.”
—Goethe

Friday, June 8, 2018

Pain on the left?

CNN announced today that Anthony Bourdain hanged himself in his hotel room in France.

A female fashion editor, Kate Spade, committed suicide recently.

I hadn't thought of this aspect of Trump Disarrangement Syndrome.  It must be hard for honest people on the left these days.

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

The Democrats and Hillary Rodham Clinton

Debbie Wasserman Schultz deserves to be on my Florida liars list.  I decided almost six years ago that Diane Baccus-Horsley also deserved to be on the list.

Judge Roberts accepted her erroneous rhetorical narrative rather than my lawyer's closing.  I have learned to bee suspicious of anyone who sounds like they were coached by Gloria Alredd or her daughter Lisa Bloom.

https://dr2htay.blogspot.com/2012/09/florida-liars-list-9912.html

Saturday, April 14, 2018

Scientific Method

Thanks to Neil deGrasse Tyson:

Do whatever it takes to avoid fooling yourself into thinking something is true that is not, or that something is not true that is.

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Desktop Control

I battled Google and Windows for control of my desktop.  I won but my desktop is now wood.

I did many of things right.  I did not accept Google services until I got a copy of their Terms of Reference “printed out” in Microsoft OneNote.

That copy of OneNote notebooks is no longer processable on my computer.

How do I monetize this Blog?

 

Friday, March 16, 2018

Bridge Collapse

The eye witness said he saw something fell on the corner of the bridge and that is what brought the bridge down.

From other sources, I have heard that the bridge was undergoing stress testing at the time it went down.

If I recall other relevant details, I will post them here.