Frank Merrill - Latest Comments

Re: Funhouse figures from flat facets fouls fizzicks facts

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Re: Funhouse figures from flat facets fouls fizzicks facts

Robert Merrill — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 10:01:13 -0000

Seems like the perfect way to design a cloaking device... Just reflect back to the viewer/camera/radar everything but yourself.

Harry Potter's cloak is likely lighter, but magic does tent to have that advantage.

Re: Eating a star is just plain messy

Robert Merrill — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 22:30:07 -0000

Cool.

That's 'heavy' :)

Well, I guess mass and weight are not really a one to one relationship, are they?

Re: Cirrus Aircraft now owned by Chinese company

Robert Merrill — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 12:28:11 -0000

Companies don't get sold in surprise. You don't hide in a dark alley and jump out in front of a company and steal it.

Behind every "Oh-no-another-company-now-owned-by-China" story is an untold story of an American company with (likely) American managers that didn't react to their markets' changing demands and economies or didn't prepare well for the future, got themselves stuck and sold out rather than any alternative. Don't forget that the American managers probably took their golden parachutes, put on their practiced too-bad-this-happened-to-us faces, sorrowfully shook the hands of the line workers and mid-managers getting laid off, and jumped--extracting deep value and equity from the company to line their own savings accounts with.

The scary Chinese story is the one that gets press because its spooky and evil. The other story hurts too much because if we really pay attention to it--if we really LOOK AT OURSELVES--every American got so caught up in "getting mine" over the last 40 years that we may have effectively erased all the economic advantages America built in the 40 years before that.

The Chinese may end up owning lots of US companies... but the US companies are the ones putting them up for sale. Let's look a little closer to home.

Welcome to Flat Earth. May the best man (or woman) win.

Re: Cirrus Aircraft now owned by Chinese company

Anonymous — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 16:55:04 -0000

This is how China will invade the US and topple it, not by sending troops but by buying out every US corporation. Eventually everything will be owned by China and no small business will be able to compete. It is up to Americans to stop this from happening. DON'T BUY CIRRUS.

Re: Amelia Earhart’s plane found in two places

Gbinin77 — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 20:35:53 -0000

we dontgive a damn wether it was amelia or whoever, but what is certain is that white crooks have been stealing from PNG shores ever since they set foot here. The plane discovered at my place near Matsungan ISLAND contained gold nuggets stolen from Bulolo in New Guinea.

Re: Fingerprints while you walk

Robert Merrill — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 15:53:13 -0000

Cool! I don't mind technology like this. But I hope places that I work, should this be implemented for secure access, would also require me to "know" something in addition to "having" something (fingerprints, in this case).

Ideally, this would ensure that, were my access credentials ever important enough to an attacker, it would make me more valuable alive than just whatever value my fingerprints possess!

On a lighter note, this would be a pretty cool way to clock in and out for shift workers... I wouldn't be surprised if large factories installed these to allow many people to clock-in/out comparatively rapidly.

Re: Firesheep and Cyber Security

Robert Merrill — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 19:28:57 -0000

Tell your favorite cafe owner that they should simply enable "WPA" or "WPA2" security on their wifi device. Choose a very simple password like "coffee" or something otherwise relevant and post it on a big sign for all to see.

This technology encrypts each connection individually and will instantly kill snooping attacks like this.

Ps, your home network is equally liable to this attack.

Re: Astronomers find weird, warm spot on an exoplanet

Robert Merrill — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 12:01:00 -0000

Do you think upsilon Andromedae b just fell asleep and didn't realize it's time to turn over?

Re: How Those Airport Codes Came About

Frank Merrill — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 21:14:21 -0000

Small airports also have identifiers, but are usually less connected with the name of the town. Greenwood Municipal on the south side of Indianapolis, is HFY. I fly out of Indianapolis Metropolitan, tagged UMP. The Indianapolis Air Show is conducted at Mount Comfort airport, coded MQJ, east of town. I've got some landings logged at what is now the international airport at Wailuku Maui (GEG)..hm...no...that is Spokane Washington. Oh well. Okay. Maui is OGG. (Keep in mind, kids, that I'm doing this from memory, which lately has been accused of having the same short term capability as that of a goldfish.)

Going back to my landings on Maui: when I was a primary flight student in the winter of 1978-79 I did my cross-country training out of Honolulu down along the north shore of Molokai to Wailuku Maui and then back home via the south shore of Lanai. For longer flights, we'd go down to Upolu point on the Big Island. I did one such flight by myself, and I got very hot inside the li'l Cessna 152 as I taxied back to the end of the runway at OGG. I opened the window and hung my arm out, enjoying the cool breeze. I was feeling pretty happy with myself and started tapping the side of the aircraft door, and that action broke my watch band! By the time I got permission for a runway diversion from ground control, shut off the engine, secured the aircraft, and walked back up the runway, I'd lost track of where the watch was and never found it. Fortunately, there were no large turbine aircraft operating at OGG in those days, so it never got inhaled by a triple seven or something similar as are operating there now.

Stuff on the runway is called "FOD" meaning "Foreign Object Debris" and is never healthy around airplanes. Small propeller craft or helicopter rotor downwash can blow a piece of FOD considerable distance, and a jet engine can eaily inhale such litter.

Re: How Those Airport Codes Came About

Frank Merrill — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:56:05 -0000

If I knew how to do a link, I'd put Bob Tilden's description of one instrument approach into Pease International at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Since I don't remember how to insert a meta tag, I'll post the link here and one of my brilliant children will editthis message to make it look right.

Here's the link:
http://www.bobtilden.com/12...

Re: He who sweats learns quickly

Robert Merrill — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:08:03 -0000

Love this:

but the happier ending is that I’ve learned that even though we are exposed to many learning opportunities, it is when we genuinely and thoroughly sweat that our learning receptors are cranked a little higher and the learning becomes more effective

Thanks for the opportunities you've provided for me to sweat in all these important ways... and to know that in all your capacity, I am free to risk and work and sweat and toil knowing that your love, and the love of the Lord can always make me clean again.

Re: A good joke teller

Frank Merrill — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 23:05:04 -0000

I clicked on the "stand up comedians" link above and enjoyed Henny's great one-liners. Thanks for putting the link there, Rob!

Re: A good joke teller

Frank Merrill — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:08:09 -0000

HELICOPTER POWERED BY HUMAN FLIES

I said that we attended a dinner meeting hosted by Rosco Laboratories for their dealers at the Rainbow Room. Since Mama and I were there, the dinner was obviously not limited to only those dealers that transact business in that lovely restaurant. I should have said "...dinner meeting at the Rainbow Room, hosted by Rosco Laboratories.

Re: A good joke teller

Robert Merrill — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:12:09 -0000

Oh, and the book you mentioned isn't apparently on amazon. The link I placed is for his 10,000 favorite one-liners, which seems like approximately twice as many for the money.

Re: A good joke teller

Robert Merrill — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:06:55 -0000

Added links, but:
- I don't have an approved pic of mom.
- Who is Stan Miller?

Re: Genesis 1:1

ChryssaJ — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 16:01:20 -0000

A reply to your slogan, "He who sweats learns quickly..." why Matsumoto's is in business.

Re: Genesis 1:1

ChryssaJ — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 15:57:05 -0000

Wow - MY dad ... *blogging*?????

You're going to have too much fun with this.

Re: Genesis 1:1

Robert Merrill — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 12:35:28 -0000

Cool! We're in for the ride, dad! :) Thanks for doing this for us.