We overshot by how far?

Bangladeshi airline GMG Airlines poster in Kolkata, India. Their worldwide destinations are listed below the image, which they apparently travel to by way of New York City.

Cats on desktops

My dad took a picture of our cat Tigger. He then posted it on his Flickr account. Some guy found it, thought it was cool. Left it up one day by chance, and returned to see his cat staring at the image of my cat. Took a picture of that. Mailed it to my dad. My dad then made it his desktop.

Dulles mobile lounges circa 1970

Sharing because I need to show friends this on Google Reader. Dulles used to have its mobile lounges serve the plane directly.



















Source: Wells,T.W. and Young, S. B. Airport Planning & Management. Fifth Edition. 2004.

Bengali Haircut

Recently was reminded about the haircuts I got in Bangladesh, and how they came with a complimentary head rub. Searched youtube for a video of a Bengali haircut/head rub and found this video from across the northern border in Guwahati. 30 seconds in the barber starts his work.

Drive the coastline

An idea for a roadtrip:

Drive the perimeter of the United States, following the coastline to every extent possible. Take every road that borders the beach. (e.g. A1A in St. Augustine) Enter every subdivision if there is a full loop possible. No tracing back over on one way streets necessary.

I'm not sure if I'm more interested in driving it or just knowing now long this would be. It would be hard to map out on Google Maps. I'd have to drag a route onto every possible coastal street. Maybe someone who knew how to program could write a script to tell Google Maps to follow every street closest to the ocean.

Maybe make it easier, only take the closest state route to the ocean. With a day of work, I could probably could do that on my own with Google Maps.

Below is a sample of what I'm talking about. Here in a short stretch of coastline near Awendaw, South Carolina, I have found the route which follows the coastline to the extent possible.



















Actually, there could be an easier way to do this without a computer script. One could take several samples of coastline followed like seen above, and then compare it to how long it would take to cover the same distance along the coastline on a nearby highway. By comparing the two, we could have a factor of the difference. In this case, the route that follows local roads close to the coastline is 12.4 miles long (above) and the one using a highway but covering the same space is 6.8 miles long (below).
























The factor between them is 1.82. By sampling many portions of coastline around the country, and finding the difference between the nearest highway route and the coastline route, we could create an average factor for the country. Then, one would only need to find the closest highway route around the nation's perimeter, and factor it up to see how long a route along the coastline would take.

An even easier approximation would be just to see how long the interstate route is, and use the same factoring process described above. It would be faster, although less accurate.

Is this easier than a computer script? I don't know. I'm not a computer scientist. For me this would be easier. I like factors. It would be cool to do.

Nails jump on you

When it's time to clip your fingernails, you don't get any notice. One morning you wake up, and all of a sudden your nails have grown to a length that they are bothersome. Never have I thought, "Wow, my nails might have to be cut tomorrow, or two days from now." They always all of a sudden just need it, like a trigger is switched in my body. Why is the difference between too long and just fine such a thin line?

They are not like other periodic grooming needs. When I need a haircut, I usually look at myself one to two weeks ahead of time ahead a time and realize I'm going to need a haircut coming up soon. When I need to shave my beard, I notice it begins to itch ever so slowly.

Is it that nails being too long is just too frustrating to deal with, while a slightly shaggy beard or lengthy hair are bearable?

Equivalent Signs

Have spent a lot of time on I-40 the last six years. Always love the sign in Wilmington, NC that tells how far it is to Barstow, CA, the western termination point of I-40. Went to Google StreetView to see if they have an equivalent sign in Barstow, and they did. Also found out that you can't see the sign in the Wilmington StreetView because Google only drove one side of the highway. Had to find a picture of it elsewhere.

Good thing the distances are the same. Cool to see the different surround landscape.

The NC State Wolfline IS a wolf!

A friend of mine recently shared this post with me, about how people spot animal shapes in geographic features. Examples include a T-rex head when combining South America and Africa and finding animal shapes in London's Underground maps. It spurred me to finally write up this post.

My college roommate pointed out to me once that the map of the NC State bus system, the Wolfline, looks peculiarly like the head of a wolf. Coincidence? Check it out below: ears, jaw, perfect head shape. Also, we've remarked many times before how clever it is that the night service of the Wolfline is called the Werewolf.

Kanye + registration LOL

Written on my university's registration webpage:

"Yo, Fall 2009, I'm real happy for you. I'm ma let you finish, but Spring 2010 is the best semester of all time. OF ALL TIME!"

Class schedules to be released!

Tomorrow is my favorite day that comes once a semester: new class schedules for the following semester are released! I can't wait! I love browsing the courses that are available to take for the next year, seeing when they're offered, what rooms they'll be in, who's teaching them. I love reading the course descriptions. I love crafting my schedule for the next year and then admiring what it looks like on a calendar.

As a graduate student there are less options for courses that I should take, but it doesn't dampen the feeling. I've been waiting weeks for this day to come. I recall as an undergraduate student, I'd spend a few hours looking at the new courses and making mock schedules. I used to think it'd be cool to offer my love for this day as a service: I'd design other people's course schedules given their needs (since other people seemed to despise making schedules.)

Just hours away now!

Fountain Safety

Really Bad Seats

From a concert hall in State College, Pennsylvania.

Bomb Threat at my HS Graduation

Our graduation was supposed to be held outside on the football field. But due to rain forecasted for the afternoon, they made the decision to move it inside to the gym. Each student had six tickets. All six were good for the football field, but if it was inside, only two were good for the gym, two were good for a simulcast in the auditorium, and two were worthless for indoors.

Our parents (or whoever had the two tickets) watched us march into the gymnasium, and we took our seats. Our principal then went to the microphone and alerted us that there had been a bomb threat made on the gym. Everyone was told to evacuate and the decision was made to hold the graduation on the football field. It turned out, the day was gorgeous, sun shining, no rain in sight.

We would find out later that the phone call had been made from the payphone in front of the school. So very likely it was an upset grandparent (or whoever didn’t have a ticket to the gym) angry that the didn’t get to watch! Solution: call in a bomb threat!

The graduation itself ended up being a mess. They didn’t have time to put us in the right seats, so they just told us to sit roughly were we were before. I’d say about 50% of us were in the right spot. Kids were all riled up, and were rowdy. 20+ beach balls were blown up and tossed up. Girls tossed their bras. The principal was booed on stage. People talked all through the speeches by the valedictorian and salutatorians (we had two.) Then, because the diplomas had been left inside because of the bomb threat, they had nothing to hand to us on stage when we walked. Due to the rowdy students, the stress of the bomb threat, and people sitting wherever they pleased, the names being called to cross the stage didn’t match up with who was exactly crossing. They started speeding us up to get across to end this mess of a graduation, so when it was my “turn” to cross, they were still on last names to letters before mine! I attempted to wait, and didn’t walk across until it was actually my turn. My two best friends on the other hand took the opportunity to walk up one after the other, since no one was paying attention to the names anyway. At the end, when we were supposed to process out in an orderly fashion, people just got up and walked away.

In the end, I didn’t mind, and my parents didn’t mind as long I was happy. My personality would typically prefer an organized event, but I was not upset. It was rowdy, unruly, and had a bomb threat, but graduation still meant a lot to me, and I still got what I wanted out of it: a good story and (an hour after the event) my diploma.

Nerds and girls

I overheard the following at my university's football game last week from an undergraduate fan sitting in front of me:

"I just don't understand girls. Can I trade my girlfriend in for a helicopter?"

I knew coming in that my university is mostly a bunch of nerds...myself included.

Auto Lifting

Pulled up to the top of a highway on-ramp the other evening. Looked over at the car to my left, and saw the driver doing bicep curls. He was using at least a 30 lb. weight. I suppose if you spend lots of time driving and thus waiting at red signals, you can multi-task and get in your workout too.

My friend and I tried to get a picture, but he finished his set before we could get our camera out.

Texline, TX and those other capitals

My friend who reads my blog found another city which is closer to six capital cities than its own state capital: Texline, Texas! Located in the northwestern part of the Texas Panhandle, Texline is incredibly far from Austin, but a lot closer to the capitals of New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Kansas, and Nebraska! And unlike Robbinsville, NC, Texline is closer in both straight line distances and travel distances.

Capital City	As The Crow Flies (mi)	Road Travel (mi)
Santa Fe, NM	170	226
Denver, CO	255	313
Oklahoma City, OK	315	385
Cheyenne, WY	343	412
Topeka, KS	442	496
Lincoln, NE	460	590
Austin, TX	520	648

Robbinsville, NC and those other capitals

The same friend from work who told me about the Tail of the Dragon also told us this interesting fact. Robbinsville, North Carolina is closer to six other state capitals than it is to Raleigh. We did a haphazard examination of that at work, and it appeared to be true. But we wondered if it was as the crow flies or driving distance. I just quickly rounded up those figures and Robbinsville is in fact closer to six other state capitals than Raleigh...as the shortest line between two places, but one capital falls out in driving distance. Due to the odd path one must take to cross the Appalachian Mountains, Charleston becomes just a tad further than Raleigh.

Pretty cool though! I wonder if there are other regions in the country that could possibly have such a fact be true. Maybe a city in western Massachusetts could be closer to three, maybe four , than it is to Boston, but SIX?! Really shows how long North Carolina really is.

Capital City	As the Crow Flies (mi)	Road Travel (mi)
Atlanta, GA	113	153
Nashville, TN	177	236
Columbia, SC	182	245
Frankfort, KY	207	272
Charleston, WV	241	382
Montgomery, AL	249	310
Raleigh	293	342

NJ Transit in GA (or actually AL)

This post follows up on a previous post regarding the NJ Transit buses spotted twice driving along I-85.

A fellow student here in Georgia made an unsolicited comment about how he saw an NJ Transit bus driving around Atlanta recently. Likely I-85. He mentioned how he figured they were getting built somewhere west of Georgia and then driving to New Jersey.

So I sat down and worked out where they were coming from, and then driving down I-85 on their way to New Jersey. Looks like NJ Transit ordered their new buses from North American Bus Industries, Inc. which is located in Anniston, Alabama, along I-20. These buses likely drive west on I-20 to I-285 around Atlanta, before heading northeast along I-85 through SC, NC, and VA.

The news releases from both NABI are NJ Transit were tracked down.

Human Powered Transport FAIL

Tail of the Dragon

Recently found out about this famous North Carolina attraction: the Tail of the Dragon which is located on the NC/TN border northwest of Robbinsville, NC. My coworkers told me about it over lunch last week. It's claim to fame: 318 curves in 11 miles!

The Google Maps snapshot below shows the section of the US 129 named the Tail of the Dragon. It's a right of passage of sorts for motorcyclists and sports cars. I'd vomit. I once had to go through 26 miles of a curvy road nearby to Cairns, Australia, and I clutched my stomach from about 5 minutes into it.

Thanks Ironhead

(booo...video doesn't exist anymore, can't find another online)

Loofahs are clearly superior if you're going to use a body wash instead of a bar soap. They lather up better and allow you to less of the soap, meaning you save money having one. A washcloth can't even compare.

Growing up, the first time I heard about body wash, or loofahs, was in a commercial for Zest body wash. In it, a football player named Ironhead tells us to use the product, and does a great job convincing us men that we are wimpy puny humans compared to him unless we use Zest. The line that drove it home for me, and that I still love and repeat to this day is, "But Ironhead, what's with this thingy?"

I also see his name spelled "Ironhead" and "Iron Head", but I don't know which one the man signed his checks with.

Photographing Miles Across the USA

I almost had to drive across country for graduate school. I am an east coast resident and got accepted to a west coast graduate program, but ultimately decided to stay near the Atlantic.

I had the idea though, that if I went there, and had to make the drive across country, I would take a photograph every mile from my steering wheel. Could be a bit dangerous, but maybe I could somehow set up a system that didn't involve holding the camera. With all those photos, I thought it'd be good to turn them into a movie slideshow that one could watch and see the country fly by.

Before I posted this I ran a Google search to see if it'd been done. My idea couldn't be original, could it? Sure enough, Matt Frondorf has done it, but not exactly what I had intended. His videos look out the side window, not the windshield. So although you can see America pass by, I had envisioned the camera pointed forwards, so you'd feel like you were actually driving.

Rocket Bike

What do the model rocket engines do? I like the switchboard on the handlebars. Was outside the building I had my Calculus 3 class in my freshman year.

A Picture is worth...

I'm currently writing a research paper. The total word count cannot exceed 7,500 words. My roommate walks in and inquires about my progress. I tell him I just deleted a photo and now I can add in another paragraph and still make the word count because each picture is worth 250 words.

He asks, "Not 1000?"



Also makes me wonder, could I just submit a 30 picture photo essay?

2k PB!

Pulled a 6:49.9 this morning on the erg. Beats my previous 2k personal best by over 4 seconds (6:54.3)

Super excited.

Lady and a laptop

Favorite Colors

I always doubt whether most adults have favorite colors. Sure, if you ask any adult what their favorite color is they can give you a definitive response. But is this truly a color they favor over all others?

What I believe is that adults respond to the favorite color question simply with the same color they've been saying since childhood. Most kids seem to have actually have a favorite color: one that they'll proudly wear on all their clothing, have their room painted, and even want to have their food dyed ("Mom, I want BLUE mashed potatoes!) As adults, it is evident we no longer have a childish affection for a certain color, and enjoy many hues and shades in our clothing, cars, and foods. But when asked that favorite color question, we'll give the same answer we've been reciting off for years. Thus, I really don't think many adults really do have a favorite color. What we should be asking is, "What WAS your favorite color?"

My favorite color is/WAS GREEN.

Using a Dictionary FAIL

Seeing QBs

Last night I saw my college's backup quarterback at the grocery store. Pretty cool.

My freshman year of college I saw our starting quarterback on campus. To me, the guy was a superhero. I was riding my bike when it happened, and I took such a long look at him I almost crashed my bike into a tree.

Fantasy Rowing

Two years ago, in the summer of 2007, a friend of mine started up a Fantasy Rowing league for a bunch of us who rowed together. We all had been playing Fantasy Football together for two years, and this just seemed the next logical step for us rowers. I happened to win that league that summer.

This summer I've brought it back to my friends I row with currently. Remembering most of the details of the league we had run two summers ago, I drafted out a set of rules for our league to run by. This is how it is working:

Each participant drafts a team with nine roster slots, and must field a lineup of seven slots for each of the big international summer regattas: World Cup 1 in Banyoles, Spain; World Cup 2 in Munich, Germany; World Cup 3 in Lucerne, Switzerland; and the World Championships in Poznan, Poland. Their lineup must consist of three singles, three team boats, and one National Team. Their full roster has two bench spots, and they may use those for one additional country and an additional boat, or two additional boats.

At each regatta the lineup a participant fields earns points depending on how the boats in that lineup fare at the regatta. 1st: 10, 2nd: 8, 3rd: 6, 4th: 4, 5th: 3, 6th: 2, 7th: 1
National Teams on a participant's roster earn 1.5 times those point values: 15, 12, 9, 6, 4.5, 3, 1.5
At the World Championships, all point values are doubled.

The participants could select singles from the following racing classes: M1x, W1x, LM1x, LW1x. They could select team boats from the following racing classes: M2x, W2x, LM2x, LM4-. Any National Team could be selected.

Participants drafted their rosters before the start of World Cup 1. Each participant compiled a list of at least 20 boats/National Teams they wanted. A random draft order was created, and snaking through the draft list, each team's rosters were filled. After each World Cup, a free agent list is generated, and particpants submit add/drop requests that are met in a rotating basis from last to first.

If a country sends a sculler to the regatta as the LM1x, and that sculler is not sent to the next regatta but another sculler races instead in their place as that country's LM1x, the participant with that sculler on their roster does not own the new sculler. For a team boat, if at least one member of a team boat is retained between regattas, the participant retains that crew; otherwise they do not own a fully new crew.

Target's See-through Wrapping Paper Trickery

Went to Target two weeks ago to buy wrapping paper for a friend's wedding present. Purchased shiny silver wrapping paper. But I was tricked. It only looked silver when wrapped around the roll. When rolled out, it was CLEAR!


















So I went back this week to purchase wrapping paper that would actually conceal what is wrapped. This time my friend assisted me in choosing a roll. We chose a shiny blue. When I got home to wrap it...it was see-through blue! I couldn't believe Target had tricked me a second time.


















My friends and I cannot even imagine why one would want to buy clear wrapping paper. What purpose could it hold to have your gift be seen through the wrapping job. Perhaps a gift basket they give out at a raffle would want to be wrapped in clear wrapping, but how dare they mix this amongst other opaque wrapping paper options.

First time at Sonic

Work didn't turn out like I wanted it to last night. And then Subway was closed. So I was stuck eating fast food. Figured I would try out Sonic, as it is always advertised on TV yet I never have eaten it. Ordered my food.

Then I saw hanging from the signboard that from 8pm-12am that night it was FREE ROOT BEER FLOATS. My night was redeemed. Sonic food was pretty good, but it would not have been nearly as cool if it wasn't for the free drink that I showed up in the right 4 hour window for.

Life Altering Knowledge

Throughout life we gain lots of knowledge, but certain facts I feel resonated in me much more than others. These facts changed my perception of the world for one reason or another. To extents that I would never see the world the same ever again.

1. Learning indigo was a color in the rainbow. (pre-school)
This happened obviously when I was young, but this I always remembered as changing my perception of how I viewed the world. Up until this, I drew my rainbows with the colors that were available in my pack of eight Crayola crayons: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet. These were the colors we learned in preschool. But when I learned about ROYGBIV, it all changed. All of a sudden there was the magical other color which I had been ignoring for years, that I had not even been told about, and which Crayola had not even deemed important to be in the 8-pack, yet had been in rainbows all along! I had felt misled, and couldn't understand how such a critical color was lacking from crayon boxes, from people's general knowledge of colors. Additionally, I could not identify it in the common world. It seemed to have snuck secretly in there next to blue and purple, and was demanding mention.














2. Learning pineapples grow from the ground. (college)
On a hike in Swaziland, we walked through a pineapple patch. When I noticed that the plants on the ground had pineapples growing from their centers, I was in shock. Up until now, I had pictured pineapples growing from trees, like apples, oranges, and peaches. Seeing them grow upward, from plants which looked like pineapple tops was life-altering. I would not have pegged them as growing this way, a secondary belief being that they probably could grow underground like radishes and carrots. To picture something happening in one manner for a long time, and then it being completely wrong, was eye-opening. I believe others could have this feeling when they discover bananas grow upwards, not downwards like you purchase in stores.




















3. Learning you only breathe through one nostril at a time (post-college)
Through the nasal cycle, only one nostril is used at any given time. The nostrils switch off every two to four hours. I couldn't believe that I could go so many years without realizing this was happening! Testing it out, by feeling air blow out of only one nostril during normal breathing, left me speechless. (image source)

Fake IDs for Senior Citizens

Teenagers get fake IDs so they can buy cigarettes. Those below drinking age get fake IDs so they can buy alcohol. But I always wondered if adults in their late 50s and younger 60s get fake IDs that say they are 65. With such a fake ID, they could get into movies, museums, and many other places with a senior citizen discount! Seems like a good idea to me.

Song Request on 96Rock

For the first time in my life yesterday, I called into a radio station and got through for a song request. It was 10 pm on May 26, and it was time for Mandatory Metallica on 96Rock, 96.1 WBBB in Raleigh. The disc jockey said he would play one Metallica song of his choosing, and then two requests.

I heard this and I immediately called in. I got through and was excited to request "Disposable Heroes" off of Metallica's Master of Puppets. The disc jockey said that was the exact song he wanted to put in himself! He asked for my name and location. I was psyched to hear my song play, and even more so to hear him announce who requested it after. After the song ended he started, "That was 'Disposable Heroes'. [my name] in Raleigh and I co-oping on that one there..."

He mispronounced my name though...

Number Within Parentheses Syndrome (2)

Following up on the earlier post, I guess people who hate getting emails must not have NWP Syndrome. They must despise NWPs just as much as I seem to enjoy them.

Also some people leave their Inboxes filled all the time. Unless they are artificially creating a scenario where they get enjoyment from NWP, they probably don't care at all. I also don't understand how they can live like that. My goal every time I go to my email or blogroll is to read all new items and file them as necessary.

Drag Bingo in Durham

Last night attended Drag Bingo in Durham, North Carolina with some friends. I have never been before to either a drag show or a Bingo night. I did not win at Bingo, but I did get pulled up on stage by the drag queen MC for being a cute guy in the audience, and was complimented on my eyes in front of the 300+ people there. Received two free tickets to a future Drag Bingo night, held monthly, so I guess I'll be heading back later this summer.

Drag Bingo has a $17 entry fee and proceeds go to Alliance of AIDS Services North Carolina.

Number Within Parentheses Syndrome (1)

There must be a more technical term for this, but my internet searching has come up empty. I describe what I call Number Within Parentheses (NWP) Syndrome below:

I find it is it incredibly fulfilling when I see a NWP. Example: (1) or (4) or (17)

Perhaps one could call it obsessive compulsive disorder, but I believe more is involved with NWP Syndrome. The reason behind it is email, blogrolls, or any service that alerts you to new items by specifying how many there are by writing the NWP. e.g.



This obsession is enhanced when the NWP and preceding word are bolded. e.g.





Elaborating, typically the word "Inbox" sits alone for periods of time, but when it fills, and I see "Inbox (1)" I get a rush of excitement. No matter where my eyes are on the screen, I can sense the change, and I instantly feel happy. I can't resist checking right away, even just to see what the subject line is. Sometimes I will let the email message sit unopen though, just to see the NWP next to the word "Inbox". I feel satisfied knowing someone has contacted me.

I realized this was more than just simple excitement, and more like an obsession, when I noticed I could reproduce similar feelings, although to a lesser extent, when I emailed myself message. No, I have never done this just to produce such a stimulation, but the times I have emailed myself a reminder or a document, and I see the Inbox go bold with a NWP next to it, I get a quick surge of happiness, before my conscious mind steps in and reminds my subconscious that it is my own message.

This applies to most things that have an NWP. Google of course uses an NWP for many of their products. It does not apply to all things though, such as renaming several files in Windows Exploreer, and they become sequentially numbered with an NWP. e.g. School Photo, School Photo (1), School Photo (2), School Photo (3)

NJ Transit in NC?

I spotted these two NJ Transit buses driving north on I-85 near Henderson, NC. I was driving through here around the same time a week later, and saw two more! I do not know why they would be driving down here. Perhaps manufactured somewhere down south?

Textbook Example Fail

Googling Your Love Interest

Turn-on: When you google your love interest's name and the first page of results has several results about them.

Turn-off: When one of those results is from a police blotter.

Fire Escape Fail