2020..a year to be thankful for

Posted on November 26, 2020June 7, 2023 by Brian

2020 was a year to be thankful for.

“Oh really?” you might ask. What was possibly so good about this horrible, pandemic year?

I believe that 2020 taught us that the simple bonds are the most important. Bonds between one and their family, between one and their friends, and between one and their spirit. Helping one another out, enjoying simple times together when able.

It was the freedom, rather, “society’s permission” to explore a little out of our comfort zones. To pivot around in our lives which many of us may have been guilty of being complacent in. Each one of us found something new about ourselves to help build us into that person we want to become.

Grace. We know that not all of us have had a smooth go at it. And given these unique times, we’ve found the strength to be more flexible with our fellow man.

On a personal note, I can say that I am thankful for a short recovery from my injury back in June. It is a weakness of mine to not ask for help when sometimes I need it, and to those that offered that help, whether through task or encouragement, I am thankful for you.

2020. This year, we have more to be thankful for than ever.

Return the shopping cart…

Posted on November 2, 2020June 7, 2023 by Brian

The shopping cart is the ultimate litmus test for whether a person is capable of self-governing.

To return the shopping cart is an easy, convenient task and one which we all recognize as the correct, appropriate thing to do. To return the shopping cart is objectively right. There are no situations other than dire emergencies in which a person is not able to return their cart. Simultaneously, it is not illegal to abandon your shopping cart. Therefore, the shopping cart presents itself as the apex example of whether a person will do what is right without being forced to do it. No one will punish you for not returning the shopping cart. No one will find you or kill you for not returning the shopping cart. You gain nothing by returning the shopping cart. You must return the shopping cart out of the goodness of your own heart. You must return the shopping cart because it is the right thing to do. Because it is correct.

A person who is unable to do this is an example of someone who can only be made to do what is right by threatening them with a law and the force that stands behind it. It is an excellent indicator of an individual’s ethics and moral philosophy.

Be the person who, in your life, does things because they are the right thing to do.

— Unknown Author

The First Computer Bug

Posted on September 12, 2020June 7, 2023 by Brian

The First Computer Bug…

In 1945, Grace Murray Hopper was working on the Harvard University Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator. On the 9th of September, 1945, when the machine was experiencing problems, an investigation showed that there was a moth trapped between the points of Relay #70, in Panel F. The operators removed the moth and affixed it to the log. The entry reads: “First actual case of bug being found.”

Grace Murray Hopper, who lived from 1906-1992, found the first computer bug while working in a temporary World War I building at Harvard University on the Mark II computer where a moth had been beaten to death in the jaws of a relay. She glued it into the logbook of the computer and thereafter when the machine stops (frequently) they say that they are “debugging” the computer.

The very first bug still exists in the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution. The word bug and the concept of debugging had been used previously, perhaps by Edison, but this was probably the first verification that the concept applied to computers.

Searles MX in Searles, MN from back in June of 2008

Posted on May 6, 2020October 3, 2024 by Brian

In 2008, there was a natural terrain motocross track in Searles, MN near New Ulm. It was open for a few years and was always a good time.

Google’s Role in Social Distancing

Posted on April 3, 2020June 7, 2023 by Brian

I thought this was interesting! Google is taking anonymized, aggregate data from Google Maps for public health officials to understand responses to social distancing guidance related to COVID-19.

Here is the data I pulled for the state of Minnesota. It looks like in general, 38% less people are travelling to work, 35% less people are travelling to grocery stores and pharmacies, and 58% less people are travelling to restaurants, cafes, and shopping centers. Rice County seems to be doing slightly worse at sheltering-in-place compared to the average in Minnesota, except in the travelling to work and parks categories.

Source: COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports (https://www.google.com/covid19/mobility)

The more you know!

Posted on April 2, 2020June 7, 2023 by Brian

The more you know!

Does a USB drive get heavier as you store more files on it?
Believe it or not, they get lighter. USB drives use Flash memory, which means the the ones and zeros of your data are stored on transistors. When you save data, a binary zero is set by charging the float gate of the transistor, and a binary one is set by removing the charge. To charge it, we add electrons, and the mass of each electron is 0.00000000000000000000000000091 grams. This means that an empty USB drive (which mostly holds zeros) weighs more than a full USB drive (which has ones and zeros). Add data, reduce the weight. However, you would need to weigh more USB drives than exist on the planet together at once before the difference in weight became easily measurable.

(source: Dr. Peter Bentley, sciencefocus.com — https://www.sciencefocus.com/…/does-a-usb-drive-get…/…)

Not All is Doom and Gloom with COVID

Posted on March 16, 2020June 7, 2023 by Brian

All joking aside for once, if there’s one thing I can say about all this Coronavirus “craziness”, “pandemic”, “panic”, “crisis”, “precaution”, “stupidity” (pick the adjective you most relate to), it is this: People are forced to think out of the box for solutions to problems they never thought they’d encounter, and this is NOT A BAD THING! It shakes up the status quo and forces people out of their comfort zone.

People will have to educate themselves on using technology to get work done, instead of forcing mostly unnecessary (and potentially hazardous right now) in-person meetings.

Businesses owners will have to remain agile and adapt their business models on the fly. Especially now, as bars and restaurants are being forced to close. They have to. Otherwise they have no choice to close and layoff all their workers.

Yes, the stock markets are down. If you are on a long-term plan to retirement, it’s going to recover no problem. This is an opportunity, not a crisis. Make the best of the hand you’re dealt now!

Above all, don’t sweat the small stuff. So, you may need to use a fabric cloth instead of a paper towel. So you may have to meet a new neighbor to borrow a couple of eggs. The world survived many centuries without all the modern conveniences we take for granted now. Use it as a way to learn history, and use it as a way to learn something new.

Nearly nobody has framed this event as a positive one. Yet, with a slight change of mind, there can and will be good things that will come out of this that will help us, and will help the country grow stronger. Get ready for a wild ride guys! This is no doubt a story people will be able to tell their grandkids about.