Good news / Systems engineering and ships / Two types of cyclist here in USA / Other stuff

Good news

I took again a long T-ride, while celebrating my re-found freedom from homework assignments. I was very glad and relieved to note, that the terrorist threat, which was so acute on last Sunday, has now disappeared. There are no more public announcement blasting off in the T. So, I think, "now, more than ever, it is important to be alert, and inform the police or MBTA of all suspicious behavior" does not hold, the terrorists have left the town thanks to the vigilance of the traveling public. Or, could it just be that the MBTA finally understood that the announcements had nothing to do with security. Or, maybe someone's incentives are full now, no more need to enhance security this year anymore. Be that as it may, I am very glad that the announcements have been cancelled.

Systems engineering and ships

Today, I had just one lecture. It was on systems engineering, especially on ship building. Of course, as it was presented by some military guy, it was mostly about battleships, but I still learned a lot. A funny thing was to note, that the speed requirement of US destroyers has been 30 knots per hours for very long time. The lecturer could not give any convincing reason for that except that some admirals like it so. This is not a good enough reason, since the maximum speed requirement has dramatic effects on the design. The lecturer also claimed that US would like to build bigger aircraft carriers, but cannot do so, because there is no large enough dry dock in USa. What an excuse. An aircraft carrier costs some $7 billion. Building a new dry dock to build a bigger one cannot be such a big deal. Furthermore, I am sure it would be rather easy to build modular aircraft carrier system, which could sail to the target separately and make up a single large artificial, floating base once there. At least I can easily envision such a system. But maybe I'd better not to tell the US Navy how to do it. They might even do it and not pay any royalties!

Two types of cyclist here in USA

It is such a pleasure to watch bicyclists in Boston. Most of them really know how to cycle. I have never seen so many cyclists, who know how to pedal, do not swing their upper body while cycling, and also wear helmets. On the contrary, it is really painful to watch the motorcyclists. Most of them do not have even rudimentary riding skill. They do not know how to turn, they often miss gears, and even when driving staight they seem to have real troubles in keeping the bike in control. And not a single one of them wears any kind of protective clothing. Bad combination, which will make surgeons sad but so rich. And also the down-takers, too. It seems that many people just have too much money, and too little to look for in their lives. Otherwise I cannot understand such a disregard of protective measures and driving lessons.

Other stuff

I have started to get my lunch-box from the Thai-truck. Today, I got steamed tuna with rise and spicy thai sauce and vegetables with $4. It was really good and healthy.
I read two profoundly interesting articles today, both in Guardian. The first one tells about the change in fashion, especially how the fashion and liberation of the women have had such an uneasy relationship. It also tells, that thongs are not anymore fashionable, or at least they will not be soon. It is funny how much power the fashion designers have. They basically decide what we wear. The other article tells how globalization is coming to its end and fast. The basic idea in the article is that the current period of globalization rest on two favorable conditions: a relative world peace and availability of cheap oil and other sources of energy. The availability of the cheap oil is coming to its end, which may well end the period of relative peace, too. It is very likely that what we see now in Irag is just a prelude for something much worse. The article also talks at length about the suburban sprawl in USA and elsewhere, which has been possible only because of cheap and readily available oil. Read the article, it is quite eye-opening.

The dirty secret of the US economy for at least a decade now is that it has come to be based on the ceaseless elaboration of a car-dependent suburban infrastructure - McHousing estates, eight-lane highways, big-box chain stores, hamburger stands - that has no future as a living arrangement in an oil-short future. The American suburban juggernaut can be described succinctly as the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world.

I saw a funny girl in the metro. She had rasta-type hair, which is not that peculiar. But each string/tail of her hair had a Heineken beer cap hanging from it. They made nice jingling sounds, whenever she shook her head.

Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs from July to September 2005".