Air Travel - General Musings

It occurred to me on a recent flight that a big part of the delay in boarding and de-boarding airplanes, or, as they are known in the business, 'the equipment', is the storing and un-storing of carry-on baggage. Because checking bags is such a hassle in terms of time, effort and money, almost everyone who can, will attempt to stuff everything that will fit, into a container of luggage, usually restricted to a size between 14" and 22", weighing less than 40 lbs, and every available crevice of a laptop case or mega-purse.

It might have been a good idea, at some point, but it is clearly not a good idea anymore. Common sense will alert you to the fact that the math is flawed. The solution is pretty simple, really, and I'm kind've surprised that no one has floated it. The formula has probably been debated in the War Rooms of all the big airline companies, but something is holding them back. I suspect it has something to do with money.

This is my idea: Just reduce the size of the overhead luggage requirement so that all passengers can stuff it in the compartment above their head, and designate that space accordingly.

Think about this in terms of the payoff: Airlines reduce their load and boarding time, thereby increasing profits (potentially reducing fares): Passengers reduce their total time-to-destination, which is really of much more value than the three extra pairs of socks and shorts they were previously stuffing into their bags. The luggage business (and retailers) get a windfall profit from the sale of new suit cases.

Just an idea. Must be something I'm missing.

Favorite Rock and Roll Guitarists

In some semblence of order, but certainly not precise:
Jimi Hendrix
Jimmy Page
Eric Clapton
Eddie Van Halen
Steve Howe
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Billy Gibbons
Carlos Santana
Duane Allman
Brian May
David Gilmore
Frank Zappa
Angus Young
Tommy Iomi
Joe Walsh
Lindsey Buckingham
Dicky Betts
Stephen Stills
Todd Rundgren
Joe Satriani
The Edge
Pete Townsend
Ritchie Blackmore
Jeff Beck
Mark Knopfler
Keith Richards
Leslie West
Slash
George Harrison
Chuck Berry

Al Di Meola is the best guitarist I've ever heard, but he's not really rock and roll.

Let me know if I left anyone obvious out.

Writing and Delivering High Quality, Supportable Software

Possible Chapter Titles

• Speed Kills
• Requirements are Requirements
• Don't touch that stove (Design rules)
• Its Just Data
• Its Just a Website
• 1 great coder > 5 average coders
• Only You can Prevent Forest Fires (cfg mgt, src cntrl, build and deploy processes)
• Deja Vu (don't solve problems twice - use open source, buy, or re-use internal solutions)
• Divide and conquer (modularize components to improve speed of development and supportablity)
• Nothing is done until its documented
• Requirements Document  (Provide template)
• Project Management (Must be web-based, collaborative UI - Provide template)
• Configuration Management (Structure of project folders, build and deploy plan. Provide an example in .Net an Java)
• Mock ups (Web UI mock-ups for customer sign-off. Reduce any potential confusion.)
• Proof of Concepts (Do the hard stuff first)
• Iterative Releases and Demos
• Environments
• Testing
• Help (Build your technical documentation into your software via html help modules)
• Production Migration Best Practices (Release steps in worksheet. Post production testing. Sign-offs. Support model)
• Support models.

Recyling

Recycling of everything is the obvious end-state of civilization. Its relatively easy to do, even now, but it could be greatly accelerated by some simple government mandates. This would be the following:

• All residential developments should get a significant property tax deduction if they provide a recycling area and contract out a recyling vendor. If people have an easy way to recycle, and are incentivised with monetary rebates to do so, most citizens will happily participate.
• Recyling facilities may have have to be legislated to locations by demand.
• Recyling vendors should be provided with tax incentives to enter the market.
• Engineers should begin working on technical solutions to recyle the energy and metals of existing landfills.

Energy and Telecommuting

Networking and teleconferencing technology makes it possible for most office jobs to be performed from a home office. If companies were to optimize this opportunity it would eliminate a huge chunk of the commuter traffic. This is happening already, just very slowly. Eventually, it will be everyone's reality. Look for a few enlightened companies to lead the way in this arena.

Don't know the numbers, but just think about the energy and pollution savings that could be realized if we could remove all of these vehicle from the daily commuter traffic.

I Don't Believe in Math

I don’t believe in math
It’s made of dreams
Nor physics on the whole
Because it’s just more math with clocks
No equation can prove our existence
Just as no proof can square a dream

Though I am made of dreams
And walk on lines without points, or ends
I still work equations at midnight
Seeking the proof and the sum that no equation can square

Love is an equation without a proof
Nor a single perfect square
The perfect curve of a fingertip
The sums of points on an endless line
Held, like a kite, by a string

Learning to Play Guitar

There are a 100 schools of thought about how to teach and to learn playing the guitar. I have tried and read many of them. I think, as most people would suspect, like most learning, that the approach and the result depends on the student. This often translates to the age, interests, focus and passion of the student. Very young children are not good students for the guitar due to its physical nature. Its hard to hold, tune, finger and pick. The piano is always the best instrument for younger students. Its easy to play and its logical. It matches the form of the art. Even if they don't want to, I'd always start young kids on the piano, because that is the best place to learn the basics of music theory. Transferring it to the guitar is not easy, but at least they may learn something of value when they get old enough to manipulate the guitar as an instrument. I would think that few kids younger than 12 can play the guitar well without much pain and consternation. But Mozart played the piano at 3 (or so they said).

These are my personal thoughts, but they are totally biased by my own experiences. These are the obvious areas for exploration, though most should be taught at the same time, in snippets.
1. Play songs using chords, preferably something they know or like
2. Learn the major scale in at least one key in one position across all strings. All lessons should focus on identifying and recognizing the root and should use all 4 fingers.
3. Combine a simple song in the same key with some simple improvisation on that key. Demonstrate the use of the pentatonic scale and the emphasis on the root.
4. Explore how chords fit into a major scale.
5. Explore some of the basics of music theory, as it pertains to the scales, whole and half-tones
6. Expand the same scale down the neck to show how you can play in the same key at different positions
7. Learn some basic barre chords and how they are connected to the scales in position
8. Show the basic blues progression
9. Show the basic blues scale in whatever key you choose (G is good, or E, or possibly C) and improvise there. I like to connect the licks to the chord and position, though ultimately its best to know the entire scale across the entire fretboard.
10. Explore tabs
11. Explore a scale down the entire fretboard and show how different positions connect to different chords and how you can connect logical positions (those with a full barre) to other positions. Memorize the entire fretboard in a major scale.
12. Change keys and repeat.
13. From here you can go anywhere, depending on the student's interest.