Tuesday, November 5, 2019

The Metamorphosis of Halloween


The Metamorphosis of Halloween

Wendy and I had only been in our new home for a month when Halloween arrived. We were both hoping for a lot of children, so we spent some time filling sixty bags with "penny candy" – suckers, pixie sticks, sweet-tarts, and gum, plus a Halloween themed plastic ring. The candies were placed in a cauldron shaped bucket next to the door so that we could grab them easily as kids arrived.

The main door was open so we could see the children as they approached. This worked well for the neighbor children and the babies that were out before sunset. Once the sun went down, I took on a different tactic. I decided to pull put an old Halloween mask that I had – it fit over your head and came with armor over the shoulder. The face was sunken, and the lips were threaded with twine. I was pretty scary looking and I thought that this would do the trick on some of the older trick-or-treaters. We accentuated the haunted house by shutting off all of the lights inside the house except for the porch light and the interior light behind the front door.

I heard the doorbell ring and I looked out the peephole. There were three kids and two adults. I grabbed five candy bags and slowly opened the door, saying in the deepest Sam-Elliott voice that I had, "Happy Halloween!!!" The adults were taken aback and the kids got wide-eyed – just the effect I wanted. I then said in a normal voice, "I suppose you want some candy..." They nodded and I handed the bags to the parents and one into each child's bag. This continued and I mastered my "scare" over the next five or six groups of kids.

Then another group came. I didn't look out – I just grabbed four bags of candy. As I was billowing "Happy Halloween," I heard the shriek of a very young girl who was dashing away from the front door and across my front lawn, dropping candy and bits of her costume as she ran. Her dad was in the driveway and he exclaimed, "Man, that's a good one!" I apologized profusely to him and I took off the mask and started picking up the bits that the little girl dropped during her escape. I was mortified. I took off the mask for the evening and sat on the porch, handing out candy bags until we ran out. I vowed that night that I would not "scare" on Halloween again.

Fast forward about ten years – Wendy and I are sitting on the porch handing out our 120 bags of candy to the kids. Two small kids approach with a taller teen girl, the dad was standing in the driveway. We handed each of the children a bag of candy and the teen girl asked us, "do you know who I am?" She wasn't in a costume, so I was perplexed by the question. "Do I know you," I asked. Then the girl relayed that she was the little girl that I scared that night. I told her that I have never scared anyone since and that I was very sorry and that she could have all of our candies if she wanted. She said that since being scared by me that she had purposefully skipped our home on Halloween, but that she felt old enough and brave enough to come up this time. We gave her hugs and candy, and shook her dad's hand, and met her mom as well.

I could add a witty moral to this story, but I'll put it another way: because of my selfishness, a child was afraid of me and our house. Sometimes, as an adult, we don't perceive the power that we can wield, especially the power we can wield over children. I grew up a lot on that Halloween.


Sunday, November 3, 2019

Misc Lists

Two Laws:

  1. Love God.
  2. Love your neighbor.

Prayers:

  1. Please
  2. Thank you
  3. You are welcome

Courtesy:

  1. Please
  2. Thank you
  3. You are welcome

US Navy Six-Step troubleshooting method:

  1. Symptom Recognition
  2. Symptom Elaboration
  3. List probable faulty functions
  4. Localize the faulty function
  5. Localize the faulty component
  6. Failure Analysis

The Fire Triangle:

  1. Oxygen
  2. Fuel
  3. Heat

The Project Management Triangle:

  1. Time
  2. Quality
  3. Money

Progression to Autonomous Control:

  1. Measure
  2. Manage
  3. Automate

DMAIC (from Six-sigma)

  1. Define
  2. Measure
  3. Analyze
  4. Improve
  5. Control

Empathy Map

  1. Said
  2. Did 
  3. Thought
  4. Felt

The Propensities of Management:

  1. Financial
  2. Technical
  3. Charismatic

The Three P's (Steve Scheider):

  1. Patience
  2. Persistence
  3. Perseverance

The Three C's (Zig Ziglar):

  1. Choice
  2. Chance
  3. Change

AAA (Security):

  1. Authentication
  2. Authorization
  3. Accounting

AAA (Testing):

  1. Arrange
  2. Act
  3. Assert
My favorite guitarists:
  1. B. B. King
  2. Francisco Tarrega
  3. Django Reinhardt
  4. Paco de Lucia
  5. Tommy Tedesco
  6. Joe Pass
  7. Carlos Santana
  8. Jeff Beck
  9. Jimi Hendrix
  10. Stevie Ray Vaughan
  11. Duane Allman
  12. Robert Fripp
  13. Neal Schon
  14. David Gilmour
  15. Steve Howe
  16. George Harrison
  17. Ronnie Wood
  18. Phil Manzanera
  19. Al DiMeola
  20. Jimmy Page
  21. Robben Ford
Things that you must give in order to receive:
  1. Trust
  2. Respect
  3. Friendship
  4. Communication
  5. Empathy
Expectations of my students:
  1. be Prompt
  2. be Present
  3. be Prepared
SOLID Principles:
  1. Single-responsibility 
  2. Open-closed 
  3. Liskov substitution
  4. Interface segregation
  5. Dependency inversion
Gang of Four:
  1. Creational:
    1. Abstract factory
    2. Builder
    3. Factory
    4. Prototype
    5. Singleton
  2. Structural
    1. Adapter
    2. Bridge
    3. Composite
    4. Decorator
    5. Facade
    6. Flyweight
    7. Proxy
  3. Behavioral
    1. Chain of responsibility
    2. Command
    3. Interpreter
    4. Iterator
    5. Mediator
    6. Memento
    7. Observer
    8. State
    9. Strategy
    10. Template method
    11. Visitor
Karp's 21 NP-complete problems
  1. Satisfiability
  2. 0-1 Integer programming
  3. Clique
  4. Set packing
  5. Vertex cover
  6. Set covering
  7. Feedback node set
  8. Feedback arc set
  9. Directed Hamilton circuit
  10. Undirected Hamilton circuit
  11. Satisfiability with at most three literals per clause
  12. Chromatic number
  13. Clique cover
  14. Exact cover
  15. Hitting set
  16. Steiner tree
  17. 3-dimensional matching
  18. Knapsack
  19. Job sequencing
  20. Partition
  21. Max cut
ACID (computer science)
  1. Atomicity
  2. Consistency
  3. Isolation
  4. Durability
BASE (computer science)
  1. Basically available
  2. Soft state
  3. Eventually consistent
SALT (computer science - #1)
  1. Sequential
  2. Agreed
  3. Ledgered
  4. Tamper-resistent
SALT (computer science - #2)
  1. Symetric
  2. Admin-free
  3. Ledgered
  4. Time-consensual
Scientific Method:
  1. Observe
  2. Question
  3. Hypothesize
  4. Predict
  5. Test
  6. Analyze
  7. Replicate
  8. Review (Externally)
  9. Share
Newtonian Mechanics:
  1. Object in motion
  2. F = ma
  3. Action produces equal and opposite reaction
Thermodynamics:
  1. Conservation of energy
  2. Entropy of a bounded system always increases
  3. Entropy of a bound system approaches a constant as temperature approaches absolute zero
Maxwell Equations (electrodynamics):
  1. Gauss' Law: 
  2. Gauss' Law for magnetism: 
  3. Faraday's Law: 
  4. Ampere's circuital Law: 
Maxwell Relations (thermodynamics):
  • where:
    • F - Helmholtz Free Energy
    • G - Gibbs Free Energy
    • H - Enthalpy
    • P - Pressure
    • S - Entropy
    • T - Temperature
    • U - Internal Energy
    • V - Volume
Conservation Laws:
  1. Conservation of mass-energy.
  2. Conservation of linear momentum.
  3. Conservation of angular momentum.
  4. Charge, parity, and time reversal symmetry.
  5. Conservation of electric charge.
  6. Conservation of color charge.
  7. Conservation of weak isospin.
  8. Conservation of probability.
Computing C's:
  1. Concurrency
  2. Coherence
  3. Coupling
  4. Cohesion
  5. Consistency
  6. Composition
Exposure Control:
  1. Time
  2. Distance
  3. Shielding
Principals of design:
  1. When using a pencil, remember that the other end is an eraser.
  2. Remember to use the eraser.
The Five (Help stop coronavirus)
  1. Hands (wash them often)
  2. Elbow (cough into it)
  3. Face (don't touch it)
  4. Space (keep a safe distance)
  5. Home (Stay if you can)
General Laws
  1. Murphy's Law (anything that can go wrong will go wrong).
  2. Parkinson's Law (work expands to fill the time allocated for its completion).
  3. Maslow's Law (if all you have is a hammer, then everything is a nail).
  4. Conway's Law (organizations design systems that mirror their own communication structure).
  5. Englebart's Law (the intrinsic rate of human performance is exponential).
  6. Hick-Hyman Law (increasing the number of choices will increase the decision time logarithmicly).
  7. Goodhart's Law (when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure).
  8. Drucker's Law (if one thing goes wrong, everything else will, and at the same time).
Computer Science Laws
  1. Moore's Law (the number of transistors on a microchip doubles every two years).
  2. Linus' Law (given enough eyes, all bugs are obvious).
  3. Brook's Law (adding manpower to a late software project makes it later).
  4. Grosch's Law (computer performance increases as the square of the cost).
Engineering Design
  1. Analysis
  2. Synthesis
  3. Evaluation
Design Thinking
  1. Empathize
  2. Define
  3. Ideate
  4. Prototype
  5. Test
Kanban (classic)
  1. To do
  2. In progress
  3. Completed
Kanban (metaphysical)
  1. Dreams
  2. Miracles
  3. Reality
Forms of government (by power structure)
  1. Anarchy
  2. Confederation
  3. Federation
  4. Unitary state
Forms of government (by power source)
  1. Autocracy
    1. Civilian dictatorship
    2. Military Dictatorship
  2. Democracy
    1. Demarchy
    2. Direct democracy
    3. Electocracy
    4. Liberal democracy
    5. Liquid democracy
    6. Representative democracy
    7. Social democracy
    8. Soviet democracy
    9. Totalitarian democracy
  3. Oligarchy
    1. Aristocracy
    2. Ergatocracy
    3. Geniocracy
    4. Kratercracy
    5. Kritarchy
    6. Meritocracy
    7. Netocracy
    8. Noocracy
    9. Plutocracy
    10. Particracy
    11. Stratocracy
    12. Technocracy
    13. Theocracy
    14. Timocracy
Forms of government (by power ideology)
  1. Constitutional
  2. Monarchy
    1. Absolute monarchy
    2. Constitutional monarchy
    3. Crowned republic
    4. Elective monarchy
  3. Republic
    1. Constitutional republic
    2. Democratic republic
    3. Federal republic
    4. Islamic republic
    5. Parliamentary republic
    6. Presidential republic
    7. People's republic
Forms of government (by socio-economic attributes)
  1. Anarchism
  2. Capitalism
  3. Colonialism
  4. Communism
  5. Despotism
  6. Distributism
  7. Feudalism
  8. Minarchism
  9. Monarchism
  10. Republicanism
  11. Socialism
  12. Totalitarianism
  13. Tribalism
Forms of government (by geo-cultural attributes)
  1. National government
  2. City-State
  3. Commune
  4. Intergovernmental organizations
  5. World government
Macroeconomic Objectives
  1. Economic growth
  2. Low inflation
  3. Low unemployment
  4. Satisfactory balance of payments
  5. Low government borrowing
  6. Stable exchange rate
  7. Minimize inequality
  8. Protect environment

My Bosses
  1. Abhay Agnihotri: Pricewaterhouse Coopers
  2. Amith Pakittiri: Pricewaterhouse Coopers
  3. Michael Caruso: Bloomin Brands
  4. Astrid Issacs: Bloomin Brands
  5. Brian Nipper: Bloomin Brands
  6. Marcia Frash: Bloomin Brands
  7. Bryan Hooper: Bloomin Brands
  8. Will Crevier: Bloomin Brands
  9. Joe McClung: Bloomin Brands
  10. Sean Herrin: Bloomin Brands
  11. Mark Wasserman: Bloomin Brands
  12. Zac Adams: Robert Half (contract to Westpoint Underwriters)
  13. Mike Moentor: Disys (contract to American Express)
  14. Wayne Edwards: Auburn University Montgomery (contract to Department of Human Services, State of Alabama)
  15. Ron Moody: South University (as Adjunct Professor)
  16. Tommy Harris: Administrative Office of the Courts, State of Alabama
  17. Jon Baumann: International Paper
  18. Mel Dove: International Paper
  19. Dave Williams: Honeywell IAC
  20. Jukka Klemmentila: Ahlstrom Automation
  21. George Underwood: Paul Lippke GmbH
  22. ?: CR Bard
  23. Bill Elsner: US Navy - NSRF Yokosuka
  24. Bob Cunningham:, ETC US Navy - USS Mt. Vernon
  25. Dennis Kuntz, ETC: US Navy - USS Mt. Vernon
  26. Paul Smith, ETC: US Navy - USS Haddock
  27. Michael Thompson, ET1: US Navy - Nuclear Power Training Unit
  28. Bob Warnock: US Navy - Nuclear Power School
  29. ?: US Navy - ET A School
  30. ?: US Navy - Basic Electricity and Electronics
  31. Bob Grazzi, RM1 (Seal): US Navy - Recruit Training Command, San Diego, CA
  32. ?: Italian Restaurant in Woodbury, MN
  33. ?: Mister Donut in Oakland area of Pittsburgh, PA
  34. ?: Paint Warehouse in East Liberty area of Pittsburgh, PA
  35. Shelby Stewman: Federal GS and ES data at Carnegie-Mellon University
  36. ?: Pizza Place in Tartan Grill at Carnegie-Mellon University
  37. ?: Tartan Grill at Carnegie-Mellon University
  38. Paul Brophy: Associated Hardware in Noble Manor area of Pittsburgh, PA
  39. ?: Post-Gazette newspapers in Sheridan area of Pittsburgh, PA