Rocket Cars

I've read several times over the last 10-15 years about land speed record tests in the desert and have always wanted to get involved. I think it would be cool to work on something that could go so fast. This time, they took a Lockheed jet and are going for 800 mph. The article (here) was in NY Times. This concept has already appealed to the engineer in me. Of course, the dreams I had as a kid of flying a fighter jet may have had something to do with it as well.....

Programming

As part of my "self-development", I have been working on teaching myself a series of new programming languages. The first of these I decided on was Python. In roughly 2 weeks, I have become about as comfortable with programming in Python as I am programming in C++ which has been my "workhorse" language for over 10 years now. It's just so dang easy to get things done in Python, much more so than in C++. I am starting to come around to a new way of thinking that I have seen in the "hacker" community (not the break-the-law "cracker" types, but the true see-a-need-fill-a-need "hackers"). Programming languages are like a toolbox. If your toolbox only contains a hammer or only a screwdriver, you will be able to tackle only specific types of projects well and others you will struggle with to varying degrees. If you learn several varying languages, however (in essence, filling your toolbox with multiple different types of tools), you can tackle a vast majority of projects with relatively the same amount of ease.

I have 5 languages on my list of known/to-learn programming languages. C++ for those instances where a program absolutely needs to run at top speed (graphics and bigtime math programs), Python (I'm thinking is going to be my general purpose (swiss army knife) language, Perl because so many web items (like CGI scripts) are already written in it (I may not code in Perl, but it wouldn't hurt to be able to read it), C# for it's platform-independance because of the Common Language Runtime (and I already know some so that elevates it above Java for me), and finally Lisp because it's been recommended as an advanced programming language that will change the way a programmer thinks about programming (and busting out of the box is almost NEVER a bad thing).

The other thing I found interesting last night as I was awake tooling around on the internet from 1am to 5am were the "sacred cow" arguments between the Perl Hackers and the Python Hackers. There was a lot of arguing about which language was "better" and a lot of them seemed to me like wisps of cloud dispersing in the wind - that is, with a lot of personal opinion and not much substance. I'd seen this phenomenon in other areas like my ASL wargame hobby, but I guess did not really think to see it in a "professional" setting. I began to wonder how many other, similar environments I would find "like" discussions in. Then I went to bed, thinking I'd probably never dredge up the energy or curiosity to find out...

If only I was rich, this is the kind of stuff I would buy...

OK, this is about the coolest "new" piece of hardware I've seen since I first saw the new michelin tire a year or so ago. Yes, it comes out of Japan. Yes, the name of the company is a blatant rip-off from the Terminator movies. That being said, check this HAL suit out. Pure awesomeness. It reminds me of that power suit that Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) wore in Aliens. Who wouldn't want to be stronger, and this one looks cool. Bulky, but cool.

How NOT to get depressed during a job search...

They say that the job market is getting worse by the day. More and more people saturate the job pool and the odds for you landing that job are getting smaller. So you pound away furiously at your contacts, on the internet and other sources for leads...without much appreciable result. How do you avoid falling into a depressed state after some time passes?

It has been recommended to me several times, that the key to surviving a job search with your sanity intact is to search when it's time to search, but to not make that the only thing in your life. Family time is important as is personal development.

Personal development...

I have often heard that volunteering somewhere is a great outlet in times like these. Personally, I think you can substitute anything productive that you are passionate about.

Me? I love to learn. I have a wide variety of interests. I also have a secret dream.

I dreamed of going to MIT to study. For those of you that don't know, MIT stands for Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is (to this day, as far as I know) THE premier university in the US for engineering, math, and the physical sciences. And they just made my day.

http://lifehacker.com/software/education/free-classes-from-mit-155699.php

I think I might have to take some classes from MIT...for free.

They have over 1800 course offerings with more interesting topics than I can shake a stick at. The only down side is that the texts used for the course are more often than not, not included in the online course materials, so you have to access them elsewhere. If you're internet savvy like me, however, you ought to be able to use the 'net to get information on pretty much whatever subject they are talking about or that the "homework" requires.

There are some other universities doing the same thing (http://education-portal.com/articles/Universities_with_the_Best_Free_Online_Courses.html). I don't know about you, but I think this is probably one of the coolest things the academic community has ever done. It dovetails right along with the OpenSource software movement. That's a whole other post, however. Perhaps another time...

Note: As an aside, if you are looking for text material. A good place to start is Textbook Revolution.

Because we can....

OK, I have a new "hero". His name is Ben Heckendorn. Ben makes laptops. Not just any laptops, though. Ben makes laptops out of consoles and rare electronics like (Atari and his latest, the Commodore 64). Why, you may ask? Because he can. Because it's a challenge. Because when you're going to that illegal arms meeting to pay for stolen AK-47's it's fun to see the look on the buyers face when he pulls out his Pellican briefcase and opens it up to find, no, not $100,000 in cold hard cash, but a portable X-Box 360 (obviously right before the arms dealer shoots him for wasting his time).

http://hackaday.com/?s=ben+heck+laptop

Someday, I want to know enough about electronics to do a Hack like this. Why? Because I can.