Rocket Scientist making sense

new favorite acronym HARK

2016-01-21T11:31:00.002-08:00

HARKing is a similar practice in which scientists continue "hypothesizing after the results are known."

That is better than LARKking. Lying after the results are Known

Knob Creek Kentucky Machine Gun Shoot- Part 1

2014-04-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

I spent last weekend, April 11-13 at Knob Creek Range Semi-annual Machine Gun Shoot in Kentucky (semi-annual means it is held twice a year- I had to look it up - wasn't sure in the difference with bi-annual). It is held in April and again in October.

The event includes an all day machine gun shoot for club members and a number of gun rentals at the two separate ranges.

The main firing line:

Another view:

Mini-gun!

Russian RPM- 100 round Belt:

NASA's Asteroid Initiative

2014-01-07T13:56:00.001-08:00

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/asteroids/initiative/index.html#.Usx1qfRDtAo

Tonight's speaker is Jason Kessler, Program Executive for NASA’s Asteroid Grand Challenge
Tuesday, January 7 (6-7 pm)Below the Radar Back Room

220 Holmes Ave. NE

Huntsville, Alabama 35801

‘Today is a gift, that is why it is called The Present .’

2014-01-07T05:06:00.000-08:00

There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations. Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled. If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can’t buy.

‘Today is a gift, that is why it is called The Present .’

READ the full story here: http://www.trueactivist.com/the-hospital-window/

Incredible Company: Moon Express

2013-12-31T09:16:00.002-08:00

http://www.moonexpress.com/

This is an excellent company that is making the future happen now- In Huntsville, Alabama.

China recently landed something on the moon. I see a future where Astronauts, Cosmonauts, and Taikonauts meet on the moon and shake hands.

The future is now. Now to the details:

Are you in Northern Alabama.

A friend of mine is looking to hire someone with mechanical experience at Moon Express (www.moonexpress.com). They need to be good with their hands and they prefer someone with welding, plumbing, and mechanical experience. If you're smart, a quick learner, and are interested (or know someone that is) send me a message. Work will be full-time and will be about 60 hours week with overtime pay. Need to be available on weekends.

Please tell'em Frank sent you.

There is work to do.

Update: I actually found an underemployed TIG welder with 11 years experience and I have past his information along. Let's wish them luck.

What I want.

2013-12-25T15:32:00.001-08:00

It is important to know what you want and then let it be known,

I want 10% body fat with 300 lb. bench press, 20 pull-ups and 400 lb. squat.

I want to do a 6 minute minute mile for three miles every day.

I want peaceful safe restful sleep every night surrounded by love.

I want to drink clean water and eat food, mostly green, not too much.

I want to own my own company that does good and employs 10,000 Engineers.

I want a good woman to love, lots of healthy beautiful children that continue to do good.

I want to leave a cleaner better planet for their kids and leave better kids than I am that live a happy safer life

I want to be surrounded by friends and make news friends and do good every day.

And I want everyone else to have what they want too.

Like this Georgia Tech Student:

A short quick return- Crossbow vs Tank

2013-12-11T07:32:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in quite a while and a lot has happened in my life. I really miss it and I will return soon.

So let me start with a quick short one from The Walking Dead Mid-season 4 episode.

How do you fight a tank with a crossbow?

Daryl Dixon, that's how!!!

We're NASA and we know it

2013-07-29T14:19:00.001-07:00

First Music Video Filmed in Space by Astronaut Chris Hadfield

2013-05-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

This is fantastic!

Chris Hadfield is the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station (ISS) who also filmed the music video in space on his last day aboard.

Like his Facebook Profile: Astronaut Chris Hadfield Facebook

Intelligent Stupidity

2013-03-25T08:16:00.000-07:00

Nikola Tesla vs Thomas Edison. Epic Rap Battles of History Season 2

2013-03-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

Tesla all the way.

THE DANGERS OF LOCAL WARMING

2013-03-05T10:19:00.001-08:00

Beware men. Blogging is dangerous. Enjoy.

Yossi Vardi fights local warming...

The skill of self confidence

2013-02-27T08:15:00.002-08:00

If you think I am a cocky obnoxious SOB, it is not. I am scare and unsure. I use the affirmation "I am awesome" to keep myself positive and to spread that positiveness to other people. I love this talk and it hits all the major points. Keep at it.

William's Safire's Rules for writing good

2013-02-05T10:47:00.002-08:00

I just found out about these and they are hilarious. As you know from reading this blog, I don't proofread it too much before posting. I enjoy blogging and I don't have much time, so the decision becomes between polishing it and reducing publishing or just living with it. I am also slightly dyslexic so I can read the same error many times and not notice it. I hope it doesn't distract too much from your enjoyment.

Taken from: http://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/research/groups/protein/pert/safire.rules.html

William Safire's Rules for Writers:

Remember to never split an infinitive.
The passive voice should never be used.
Do not put statements in the negative form.
Verbs have to agree with their subjects.
Proofread carefully to see if you words out.
If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal of repetition can be by rereading and editing.
A writer must not shift your point of view.
And don't start a sentence with a conjunction. (Remember, too, a preposition is a terrible word to end a sentence with.)
Don't overuse exclamation marks!!
Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents.
Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors.
Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.
Always pick on the correct idiom.
The adverb always follows the verb.
Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague; seek viable alternatives.

Focus Forward Films

2013-02-05T10:02:00.001-08:00

I just found GE's http://www.focusforwardfilms.com/#films.

As described on the website:

"GE FOCUS FORWARD films highlight exceptional people and world-changing ideas that have impacted the course of human development, now and then, or with great potential to significantly affect how we live in the next generation."

This is another project which promotes new ideas. My favorite quote (which is also my email signoff)- "Knowledge is Power, share it and it will multiply".

So there are 30 movies and here are some quick thoughts on the few I have watched.

The Contenders:

This details the game created to solve a problem biologists couldn't solve. Online collaborative gamers solved it in three weeks!

You don't know Jack:

"Jack Andraka, a high school sophomore, has developed a revolutionary new test for pancreatic cancer. The future of science is in the hands of our youth." This young kid gives me hope for the future. Directed by Morgan Spurlock, from "Supersize Me", I assume- and I dig his stuff.

Solar Roadways:

I love this idea, especially for less traveled roadways. I had an idea bouncing around my head about place frames over roadways and growing ivy (or something similar) to capture carbon and for its cooling effect, but never fully developed it. I live this alternative.

I'll post more when I get a chance if I see more interesting stuff. As always, thanks for reading.

Mars One: a new idea to reach Mars without government

2013-01-09T10:27:00.001-08:00

Now here is an intriguing idea: an all commercial plan to colonize Mars. And funded as reality show!

I love it. I will definitely be track this!

NASA Johnson Style

2012-12-20T12:48:00.000-08:00

NASA interns and Astronauts having some fun:

Economy Face Off: Ron Paul vs. Paul Krugman

2012-05-04T05:54:00.000-07:00

So on April 30th while Paul Krugman was guest hosting Bloomberg TV Ron Paul was brought on for a live debate. My quick take is neither side had time to back up the assumption presented- how was the prosperity and growth right after WWII achieved in America. I agree with Ron Paul's assertion that the depressions debt was .... and the federal government slashed spending and debt. But I believed that before the debate so I feel the debate was a tie. (one note: Krugman actually saying we are in a depression!)

According to the NON-scientific bloomberg TV twitter poll most people disagree and call Ron Paul the winner. https://twitter.com/#!/trish_regan/status/197496770253701120

According to http://azizonomics.com/2012/05/04/paul-vs-paul-round-2/ (another blog I enjoy):

The real debate occurred the last decade: (picture below taken directly from link above)

(I actually posted Krugman's quote on Facebook and a friend researched it claiming it is taken out of context and it is a joke. I don't get it.)

[also taken from the above link]

Ron Paul's response on FT:

Control of the world’s economy has been placed in the hands of a banking cartel, which holds great danger for all of us. True prosperity requires sound money, increased productivity, and increased savings and investment. The world is awash in US dollars, and a currency crisis involving the world’s reserve currency would be an unprecedented catastrophe. No amount of monetary expansion can solve our current financial problems, but it can make those problems much worse.

And Krugman:

Would a rise in inflation to 3 percent or even 4 percent be a terrible thing? On the contrary, it would almost surely help the economy.

How so? For one thing, large parts of the private sector continue to be crippled by the overhang of debt accumulated during the bubble years; this debt burden is arguably the main thing holding private spending back and perpetuating the slump. Modest inflation would, however, reduce that overhang — by eroding the real value of that debt — and help promote the private-sector recovery we need. Meanwhile, other parts of the private sector (like much of corporate America) are sitting on large hoards of cash; the prospect of moderate inflation would make letting the cash just sit there less attractive, acting as a spur to investment — again, helping to promote overall recover.

I have heard a few economist who already claim that our debt is too big to ever be repaid.

This has succeed because the dollar is the reserve currency accepted through most of the world. This is talk about this eventually ending. There seems to be this idea that we can continue deficit spending eternally, but I believe that we cannot. So it is not there I am against the intentions of our government- it is this belief that something is "too big to fail". We must also consider the results of these programs. We have created and upheld a system with single point failures for decades now. The biggest danger is the longer we ignore the harsh realities and continue to "kick the can down the road" (due to complexities to great for any one person to understand or solve- which leads to endless debates) the worst the problem gets. [I will once again recommend everyone check out "The watchman's rattle" which details how other societies reacted to complex long term problems.]

Space Shuttle Enterprise Flyby Yonkers on way to JFK

2012-04-27T12:57:00.001-07:00

The Space Shuttle Enterprise fly around NY attached to NASA's modified 747 on its final trip to the Intrepid Air and Space Museum in New York City. Here are some great pictures take from the Yonkers waterfront.

The one above is great since it looks like it is from directly behind. Taken from the roof of a building.

This last one is an American flag on the side of a building Yonkers since I am very especially Patriotic Today!

How to beat a patent troll and the patent system in general

2012-04-25T09:27:00.001-07:00

Another great TED.com video to watch. I will be pulling stuff from memory so feel free to comment with corrections or additions.

Note: Drew is a new hero of mine and fark.com is one of my new favorite websites (based totally on the charisma in this video)

The patent system has been totally subverted for years (maybe decades). I remember reading around ten years ago (I do not remember the magazine) an article about how at that time two companies owned around 90% of the patents. First, let me be one to say that I do not think corporations should be treated as people and only a person (or team of people) should be able to own a patent. In the article, if my rusty memory serves, talked about how before the Internet bubble burst companies would patent troll other companies. One of the major companies that had a majority of patents acquired those patents by having a team of engineers writing and submitting proposals.

As mentioned in the video above this hurts innovation and drains economic development. Perhaps patents should be only maintained if viable progress has been made in leveraging it commercially (weather yourself or by leasing it) or else it becomes public domain. Now of course the issue is much more complicated, but just wanted to put an idea out there.

oh, and way to go Drew!

Cool math trick: Converting between miles and kilometers

2012-04-20T12:17:00.000-07:00

taken from: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/blogs/cool-math-trick-converting-between-miles-and-kilometers

Too great not to share:

The Fibonacci sequence is made up of numbers that are the sum of the previous two numbers in the sequence, starting with 0 and 1.

It's 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144…

1 is 0+1, 2 is 1+1, 3 is 1+2, 5 is 2+3, and 8 is 3+5. The number after 144 is 233, or 89+144.

The Fibonacci number describes the golden spiral, an ideal form much beloved by designers everywhere. Interestingly, it also neatly matches the relationship between kilometers and miles. Three miles is five kilometers, five miles is eight kilometers, eight miles is 13 kilometers. It's not perfect, eight miles is actually 12.875 kilometers, but it's close enough in a pinch.

If you need to convert a number that's not on the Fibonacci sequence, you can just break out the Fibonacci numbers, convert, and add the answers. For instance, 100 can be broken down into 89 + 8 + 3, all Fibonacci numbers. The next numbers are 144, 13, and 5, which add up to 162. 100 miles is actually equal to 160.934. Again, close enough.

Math is cool.

Lego Shuttle in space

2012-04-19T10:29:00.000-07:00

A great video of a Romania high school student who sent a Lego shuttle into space attached to a weather ballon. I love he follow up at the end.

Spring Time Special: Cheap and lazy lawn care

2012-04-17T13:47:00.001-07:00

I know next to nothing about yard work, but I know a lot of people that either have to or chose to do their own lawn maintenance. I did come across an interesting article on lawn care via lewrockwell.com: http://www.richsoil.com/lawn-care.jsp

Here is a quick summary:

Must do:

-Set you mower as high as it will go (3 to 4 inches)
-Water only when your grass shows signs and drought stress and then water deeply (put a cup in your sprinkler zone and make sure it gets at least an inch of water) - water early in the morning or in the evening avoiding the hottest part of the day.

Optional:
- Fertilize with an organic fertilizer in the fall and spring.
-Have the pH professionally tested. add lime if it below 6.0 and gardener's sulfur if it is above 7.0
-check how much top soil you have. See how deep a shovel will go into the soil. How deep can you dig a hole in one minute? Four inches is OK, eight inches is great.

MOW HIGH:

I really like the counter-intuitive advice which makes sense with the explanation. Cutting grass lower will cause it not only to grow height faster, reduce root depth, but also promote weed grow. Since grass needs blades for food (photosynthesis) to feed the roots, cutting the grass lower will cause it to grow height faster (at the expense of the root system) since that requires more energy. Taller grass is healthier and the turf will thicken (as the grass can spend more energy on roots and new grass as opposed to height). Next, the sensitive grow point for grass is near the soil and for weeds the sensitive grow point is near the top. This is also why you should mow more frequently if you have a weed infestation. Lastly, leave the clippings on the lawn as it adds organic matter and nutrients back to the soil. Some people are concerned about "clumping" which can happen if you mow short or too infrequently.

In summary there are four perks to mowing higher:
1- More shade to soil leads to less watering
2- promotes deeper roots leads to less watering
3- thicker turf leads to fewer weeds
4- slower growth leads to less mowing

WATER INFREQUENTLY

This forces the lawn to deepen its root system and will also prevent weedlings which tend to have shallow roots. Shallow frequent watering actually promotes weeds! (ha, unintended consequence of auto-sprinkler system!)

Two methods to tell when it is time to water:

1-The grass will start to curl before it turns brown. When it starts to curl, that is the best time to water. Anything after that is time for "intensive care watering" (water half an inch, wait three hours and water an inch).

2-Take a shovel and stick it into the soil about six inches. Keep the sun to your left or to your right when you do this. Push the handle forward. If you can see any moisture, wait. If it's all dry, water. If you can't get your shovel to go into the soil this deep, you need more soil.

The first method is the best - especially if you have not yet trained your grass to make deep roots.

Watering on a schedule does not help in the war on weeds.

A tip for lawn care experts: If you have a good feel for how often your lawn needs watering and it is almost that time and there is a rain shower - maybe a quarter of an inch - that is the BEST time to water your lawn and give it that other 3/4 of an inch. Remember, the grass roots are down deep and most weed roots are near the surface. The idea is to keep the top three inches of soil as dry as you can for as long as you can. That quarter of an inch might make it so that your top three inches is well watered but the lower 9 to 20 inches is on the edge of being pretty dry. This gives the weeds some advantage over your grass!

Another thing about lawn care watering: I have discovered that if you are going to water an inch, it is better to water half an inch, wait 90 minutes and then water another half an inch. Maybe do this once a month. Sometimes when the soil gets really dry, it will repel water. This is called "superdeflocculation" (I think Mary Poppins would be impressed with this word!). If you put a little water in first, wait, and then put more, the soil is better prepared to take in more water.

Imagine a dry sponge - so dry it is stiff. And another sponge, slightly damp - soft and well wrung out. Now pour a cup of water onto each. The water runs off of the first sponge and all over the table. The water is soaked into the second sponge, not a drop is lost.

Remember: water has a strange and powerful attraction to itself. It would much rather stick to itself than disperse through the soil.

Another perk: every time you water, you wash away soil nutrients. So the less you water, the more fertile your soil!

Again, this was taken from the excellent article at http://www.richsoil.com/lawn-care.jsp

Go there for a full discussion and further discussion on fertilizers.

I don't think I have touched a lawn mower in the last decade. Also, my dad hated mowing the lawn so much that each cemented over more and more each year until it was all gone in the little quarter acre house plot I grew up in queens.

Anyway, this one is for you Dave. Happy mowing.

I didn't win the free trip to watch the next SpaceX launch

2012-04-17T04:49:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately I recieved this email today:

Dear Frank Hark,

We regret to inform you that you were not selected for the SpaceX launch NASA Social or the waitlist. Thank you for your interest in attending the NASA Social on April 29-30 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. We value your interest in SpaceX and NASA’s space program. The launch is targeted for Monday, April 30, at 12:22 p.m. EDT. There are multiple ways you can follow the NASA Social and the launch: There are several ways you can follow the NASA Social and view the launch online:· You can follow the conversation using the #NASASocial hashtag on Twitter. · NASA may broadcast a portion of the program on April 29. · You can watch the launch on April 30 on NASA TV or on SpaceX’s website. · NASA and SpaceX will provide regular launch and mission updates on @NASA, @NASAKennedy and @SpaceX.

If you would like to make your own arrangement to attend the launch, please see http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/view for more information. Thank you for applying and for following us. If you have any questions or concerns, e-mail us at HQ-Social@nasa.gov.

Oh well, I will be sure to watch the launch at one of the internet sites given above.

Zombie Survival Map: My new favorite website

2012-04-06T09:23:00.000-07:00

http://www.mapofthedead.com/

It is missing police stations and few gun stores I know in the city, but I love the concept.

Enjoy