Leg The Eighth

MIA to La Aurora International, Guatemala

A relatively short hop of about 950 NM (using high altitude airways- direct via GPS would be shorter.) Pushed back about 9:00am, taxied to and took off from 9R, the longest runway at MIA. I was number 2 for takeoff, after following a 747 out to the runway. There was another 737 waiting behind me- so more traffic at this airport than even at DFW.

Looking back over downtown Miami Radio went from Clearance Delivery to ground, tower, then Miami departure. Flight path took me south near homestead, so I got passed off to Homestead approach. After that, then to Miami center, Havana center, Merida center, Central American center, Aurora approach, then tower.

Over Key West Takeoff & climbout was uneventful, weather not bad in Miami, just some spotty coulds. Got above pretty quick. Nearing La Aurora, however, it became obvious that there was low lying cloud cover, which is not unusual for this time of year. Closer in, it got thick- not quite pea soup, but definitely low visibility. Got vectored in from the south, and after control tried to run me into a mountain, got on the beam and put it down into a very stiff headwind.

Volcanoes on the horizon- appr to La Aurora

*Very* windy at La Aurora

Leg The Seventh

DFW to MIA
More boring. Pushed back at 7:20 am. 1005 NM from DFW to MIA, using high altitude airways. Picked up a 99kt tailwind over the gulf, and carried a groundspeed of 556 kts for about 350NM. Cruised at FL 330, but changed to FL350 because of turbulence. Radio went: Clearance delivery, ground, tower, Regional departure, Ft Worth Center, Houston Center, Jacksonville Center, Miami Center, Miami approach, tower, ground. Ho frikkity hum. Next leg we're off to more interesting parts.

Pushing Back from the Gate at DFW











Climbing out of Dallas
















On Final at MIA

Leg the Sixth

SFO to DFW

Boooooring.

Pushing Back from the Gate at SFO












Climbing out of SFO, Downtown in the background
















Over The Middle Marker at DFW













After all that gadding about over the pacific, this is kind of a letdown. Just a typical commuter air route between big hubs. Pushed back from the gate at 5:30 ish (trying to make it more interesting by flying at night), was #2 for takeoff. Cruised at FL330, 285kts, picked up a 50kt tailwind over Arizona, and made real good time into DFW. Total distance was 1269nm. Passed just on the north side of the China Lake Weapons Center airspace. Nothing went boom.

Radio went from Clearance Delivery at SFO to ground, to tower, to Bay Departure, handing off to Oakland Center. Passed between controllers at Oakland several times, then passed to LA center. LA center passed off to Denver center, then to Albuquerque, where I made a shallow left turn (no- not really), then to Ft Worth center, Regional approach, then DFW tower. And that's kinda how boring the flight was. Landed runway 18R, ILS approach, on the beam, easy rollout.

Next leg's gonna be kinda boring too.

Leg The Next

On to SFO


Climbing out of Honolulu

This leg is a long one: The GPS says 2018nm as I sit at the gate, so I'm going to do everything I can to conserve fuel. I'm going to cruise at FL310, 210KIAS (M 0.72). I'm also going to reduce the climb rate from 1,800 feet per minute to 1,200.

The flight's uneventful, good weather the whole way, including at SFO (!). Even fairly reasonable vectors in to 10R. Nice views of the Golden Gate and the city off to the left on approach, touched down just as the sun was going down (yeah, I adjusted the world clock a tad for effect.)



On Approach near the Golden Gate










Coming in over the hills












Lining up for final

















At the gate

Some Definitions for those what need 'em

Nautical Mile, or nm (not to be confused with nanometer, also abbreviated nm) is the unit of measure typically used for distance in aviation, so distances and speeds are typically given in nautical miles, or 'knots'. A nautical mile about 1.15 miles. The exact definition is one meridian arc minute at sea level. An arc minute is 1/60 of one degree, and there's 360 degrees around the planet, so the earth is 360 x 60 or 21,600 nautical miles around at sea level at the equator. Also, 1 nautical mile is equal to 1,852,000,000,000 nanometers.

Acronyms-
KIAS or IAS: Knots, Indicated Air Speed- how fast the plane is moving through the air, measured in nautical miles per hour. Actual ground speed can be quite different. As the plane flies higher, the air is thinner, and has less resistance. At FL330, while KIAS might be 275, actual ground speed might be 480kts.

IFR: Instrument flight rules- plane and pilot must be able to fly using only instruments (altimeter, radio navigation, GPS etc.)

FL: Flight Level- Altitude in hundreds of feet. i.e. FL220=22,000 ft FL330=33,000 ft

GPS: Global Positioning System- satellite navigation. Same as the Garmin you might get for your car. Or that Scott-Scott (Bob-Bob?) uh, Tom-Tom system.

The Story So Far

Since you asked...

Leg The Fourth

Cassidy International to Honolulu International

Weather still very clear...

Pushed back from the ramp at 14:52, virtual local time, got IFR clearance from Christmas Radio, switched to advisory, taxied out and took off. Instructions were to climb to 14,000, which was a bit unusual- typically, it's been to 6,000 or 7,000 over the pacific for the first altitude stop. Anyway, looking back after takeoff, I was thoroughly chagrined to discover that the other end of the runway has approach lighting- which I could have used, because winds were calm when I came in the other day. That's a minor beef I have with FS- default IFR approach seems to be east to west, no matter what the facilities are. In general, a lot of the vectors to final seem wierd, and in cases where I've actually flown into airports (as a passenger, duh) the vectors I get from FS aren't anything like the patterns that the airlines actually fly. Sometimes the instructions are just dumb. Coming in to Honolulu, for example, the vectors put my flight path coincident with a mountain. Not the best plan when you're trying to line up with the runway.

Climbing out of Cassidy

Oahu (virtual) from the cockpit (virtual)

The deal is that I got vectored in to runway 22L, but the vectors went through a mountain range. Control seemed to be unaware that there was a mountain range... Anyway, on first approach, it was obvious I wasn't going to be able to put it down without my virtual passengers virtually heaving in all their virtual barf bags, so I declared missed approach and went around. Same vectors in, but this time I knew what was coming, and managed to put it down without hitting a mountain or making a big splat. Again, no ILS on this runway.

After missed approach

Landing at Dusk

Stats: trip was about 1160nm, longer flight beause of the missed approach, flew 275KIAS at FL320 (mach .76 for those keeping score at home). Tuned to Oakland center after takeoff, passed to Honolulu center 250nm out of Honolulu, passed to Kaneohe approach during vectors, then to Honolulu Int'l tower. In flight entertainment was Boston Legal (where Lincoln Meyer, the bizarre peeping tom, in a kidnapping gone awry, takes a crossbow bolt to the chest, and quotes the Black Knight from Monty Python & The Holy Grail: "It's only a flesh wound." I swear I am not making this up - Dave Barry)

Edited to fix typos at 3:38pm

Leg The Third

Pago Pago International in American Samoa to Cassidy International, which happens to sit on the island Kiritimati, which is one of the Line Islands, in Kiribati. According to Wiki, the airport gets one flight a week, stopping between Nadi and Honolulu. Basically the same thing I'm doing.

Great weather, visibilty 50, with just a few scattered clouds.

Takeoff from Pago
Radio went Pago Tower, handing off to Pago Departure, then to Nadi Center, then Oakland Center.

Cruised at 275kias at FL350, pushed back from the gate at 11:20am with a full tank, landed with about 45% fuel remaining, so I came in at 175kts, and misjudged the flare a little bit. Put it down right on the center line tho, which I was particularly proud of because this airport does not have an ILS. In fact, it doesn't even have an approach lighting system, so you really have to judge the line by eye. Plenty of runway to roll out & stop tho. Approach was via GPS, with the center handing off to the local advisory frequency (there's no tower, either) about 15 miles out.

Nearing Cassidy

Touching Down

Kiritimati (Christmas Island)

Leg The Second, With Photos!

The second leg was a short hop from Nadi International to Pago Pago International in American Samoa. Just getting in position for the next leg, really. Fligh path was 720 nautical miles, but because of the silly vectoring, it worked out to about 800, cruising at 280kts at FL330. This time, I flew using jetways. The route was almost a straight shot. Pushed back from the gate at 2:20pm, was #2 for departure. Nadi has a turnaround at the other end of runway 2, so had to wait for the traffic to taxi out & take off before taxiing into position. Control tower handed off to Nadi departure, then to Nadi center, which controlled the remainder of the flight. Started descent into Pago at 100 nautical miles out, and was given a visual approach to runway 5. Vectors put me a bit to the left of the runway, and I finally put it down a bit off to the left of the stripe. Ewps. Not my best landing ever. Pulled up on the tarmac at 7:30pm- time zone change and crossed the date line, so it was 7:30 pm the previous day.

Taxiing Out at Nadi


On Approach at Pago Pago Int'l


On the tarmac


Pago Pago International

Leg The First

I decided to start in Wellington, New Zealand. Why New Zealand? It's the country farthest left on my wall map. Why Wellington? Well, it's the capital, and like, dude- Wellington Boots! Never mind.

So, first leg, Wellington International, to Nadi International. Nadi International is on the west side of Fiji, and the GPS says it's 1440kts from Wellington.

Weather in Wellington, partly coudy, broken at 3000, winds from the north at 5. Flight plan a couple of degrees to the right of due north, 354 magnetic (true course offset seems to be about 10 degrees at that location). 3rd in line for departure, took of at 10:34am local time. Full load of fuel. Cruised at FL320 at 280kts IAS, .76M. Handed off from tower to Wellington departure, then to New Zealand center, then Auckland center, to Nadi center, to Nadi approach. Started descent about 150kts out, descended to 7000. Usual bizarre vectors. Descended to 2500 to line up with the ILS, but there was a Cessna Skyhawk ahead, and as a result, I had a run-in with the tower controller AI. About 10 miles from the runway, I had got ahead of the Cessna, but the tower cleared the Cessna for landing first. The limited AI of the program couldn't figure out that a 737 comes in just a tad faster than a Skyhawk, I guess. So get a call from the tower, "cleared to land, follow the aircraft on final." What aircraft? The only one else up here is that Cessna I passed... so when I get to decision height, I get the call to go around. Pinheads. So I go around. Only now, there's a Piper in the pattern, so I'm thinking, "same problem." Only this time, I got cleared to land first. Which I did, with no further incident, on runway 2. At Nadi, the terminal is at the far north end of the airport, so I flared late for minimum taxi, and got out of the way of the Piper, who landed about 4 minutes later.

Wellington International



















Nadi International

A New Direction

I'm off to see the world. Virtually. I wanted to log my time in Flight Simulator, and here's as good a place as any, especially since no one reads it besides me anyway.

Here's the premise: I'm going to fly my virtual Boeing 737-400 around the world in relatively short hops. (Flight Simulator 2004, no add-ons. I haven't got FSX yet. Maybe for X-Mas.) It's gonna take a long time, and be very boring overall, but ther's going to be a couple of challenges, such as figuring out how to get over oceans. I know I can make it across the Pacific, 'cause I've done the hops, just not in sequence. In FS2004, the 737 has a max range of about 2200 nautical miles, if you don't get much headwind. 2200 kts is way out on the edge tho, and you might not make it if you have to go around.

More rules- I'm using the autopilot a lot, so I can wash the dishes or tidy up while the plane flies itself. All legs are IFR flight plans, and I'm going to follow controller's instructions even when they're absurd (if anyone's done vectors to final on an ILS in FS2004, you know what I'm talking about- the wierd tendancy to vector way off course, only to get vectored back to almost right where you were...) I will occasionally use a GPS or ILS via transition approach, but generally only where I'm familiar with the airport. FLight plans are going to by direct GPS, unless I feel like following the airways. No cheating on fuel. If I can't use real world weather, I'm considering the airport closed, and waiting until the internet works again.

Well. Off to it then.

Delightfully Loopy

Lou Dobbs was on the Today Show today with Matt Lauer. He (Dobbs) advocated changing party affiliation to independent, because both Democrats and Republicans are not responsive to the public, but only to corporations and special interests. Which is fair enough, I suppose. Some of what he (Dobbs again) advocated makes a lot of sense: getting involved in local politics, working with the school board, and his (still Dobbs) diatribe about public education made sense (mostly). On the other hand, Lauer took the opportunity to characterize Dobbs' 'war against the middle class' as a war between the middle class and globalization. I suppose if we can have wars against nouns, we can have wars against verbs. But if what he (Lauer this time) means is that offshoring of jobs is bad for the middle class, shouldn't he (still Lauer) just say that?

Other thing- wouldn't having everyone become an independent kinda throw a monkey wrench into the primary process? I'm just sayin.

I had an idea about a monkey/typewriter remark to insert here, but it didn't work out.

Flailing About For Clarity

Hmm. I'm gonna try to hash out an idea. Careful- this won't be pretty.

Here's a sort of counterintuitive conclusion I've been thinking on:
An increase in the curve or progressive tax rates would have the effect of increasing investment, and therefore improving the economy and increasing GDP.

The reasoning's not too hard, it involves greed.

Postulate 1: There is a high correlation between rich persons and greed.
Opinions differ. But I think this is true. Common experience shows that persons with money tend to want to a) hang on to it and b) increase their holding, which leads to:

Postulate 2: Most wealthy persons are risk averse.
This kinda dovetails with item 1 above- but it also kinda hits human nature in general. Most people won't take a risk that they don't have to, which brings us to the reasoning:

If a person has sufficient personal funds to maintain their lifestyle without taking on further financial risk, they won't take on that risk. Lower progressive tax rates, extending to no tax at all on dividends makes it easier to have sufficient return with little or no risk. So, there's no incentive to invest. So, lots of money sits on the sidelines. Conversely, if the easy return gets taxed, then the individual needs to invest more and in higher risk/return investments to get the eventual return that they need or want.

That's the idea anyway. As exhibit A, look to the average Libertarian businessman.

There's a Long Lonesome Road in the Lifetime of a Trucker

I'm just sayin.

Skeleteens Is Back

For those who like a little heat in their beverage, try Brain Wash.

Basically a soda with hot pepper extract.

Just thought you should know.

I Am The World's Second Laziest Blogger

See The Poor Man for the First

Bonus Goofiness

(Mis-spelled fone-etically)

Onn dee doon
Ver doon gadishka doon
In dish dee voon dish dee doon
Bork! Bork! Bork!

Special Bonus Fact:
The Swedish Chef's real first language was mock Japanese.
(A fact uncovered by Jean Stapleton.)

You Too Can Be An Asshole

This seems to be the point of the new Hummer ads.

Especially the 'Get Your Girl On' spot. In the ad, we see a slightly mousy woman and her son get cut off at the slide. This proves to be enough of a psychic event, that she goes out and gets a Hummer, so she can be every bit the bitch on wheels that the bitch who cut her off was. Nice. "Buy a Hummer so you can be an asshole too!" Same kind of thing for the other spot- where tofu man sees he-man buying meat, so he has to get a Hummer to make up for not being a carnivore. Or something.

This is truly how pathetic advertising execs thinks the public is.

Dicks.

Frippin' at the Jim Jam, Frappin at the Kropfz

These 'tards over at Dodge are pissing me off.

They sent a letter saying basically, 'Happy Anniversary for Getting Your New Car' and 'by the way, here's who are new lease manager is.'

There would be the very same 'tards I have yet to get my floor mats from. Or working headphones for the DVD player. After a year. Yeah. I'll really do business with them ever again.

Oh, and it's not a lease.

'tards.

In Honor of the World Cup

I've only got one thing to add.

That's Just Wrong

Warning: Vulcan Hobbit. You were warned. Pues.

Eau. Migh. Gaud.

There are no words...

I'm going to have to go somewhere and get some talcum powder now.

Dirty Dancing

Before "Sprockets"...

Bitte, Baby!


For those who don't remember, "Now is the time on Sprockets when we dance..." and "Would you like to touch my monkey?" may refresh the memory.

The World's Biggest Problem

Is stupidity. But I'm going to rant about spelling. Take this comment post for instance:

Incidently, I remember reading an article in The New Republic wear the writer attended anti-Iraq war rally. The entire article was the guy seathing with rage invoking 9/11 as the reason we were invading iraq and dreaming of having the protestors arrested and deported. I bring this up because I know how TNR can get there circulation up. See, they’re marketing themselves to the wrong crowd. If they started putting girls in bikinis draped over the hoods of cars on their front cover, they’d reach a friendlier audience.

First, "Incidentally". The word's been spelled that way since the 1800s. "Incidently" is archaic. Get with the program. Come join us in the current effing century. Next: "wear the writer". I think that's illegal. Jeff Dahmer & all that. WHERE the writer attended AN anti-Iraq war rally. I don't even know where to begin with 'seathing'. Is it a thing from the sea? (See Russell, Kurt, Thing, The). Seething would be an actual word that one could use in this instance. Eye-raque needs to be capitalized, regardless of one's opinion of it. Next, we come to 'get there circulation'. Typical misuse of 'there'. Should be 'their'. This error is particularly odd, because in the very next sentence, the author (holy carp) uses "they're" correctly. Seriously, what's up with that?

I rant because I strongly feel that these sorts of error detract from the thrust of one's argument. And apart from the above mentioned errors (don't get me started on the grammar), I think that the ideas expressed are not without merit.

Possible definition of 'seathing':

The Below Post is Brought to You

courtesy of Spacey Stacey, who, by inadvertently generating a rant involving Tenacious D, Cleveland Steamers, and Tea Bagging, inspired me to write that post. Also brought to you by the number 42.

The Creepy Thing About E-Harmony Ads

I finally figured it out the other night. These ads had been creeping me out for some time, but I could never put my finger on why. I finally got it tho- all of the couples' noses match. It's really weird. The guy with the long nose is with the chick with the long nose, the guy with the broken looking nose is with the chick with the broken looking nose, etc. Is this how they really do their matching? Is this really what they mean by profile? Maybe I've stumbled onto the secret of love, life, the universe and everything by accident. The *real* question, then, is how do noses relate to 42? Is it just that the 4 looks like a nose in profile, while the two is... well, I'm not sure what the 2 is.

Should I adjust my meds?

Because I Can

Ladies and Gentlemen- or, more accurately, Lady and Gentleman (I know my traffic)-
Cyndi Lauper with a Fire Hose:

Not Albatross

I pick not albatross. An' I'm all out a Zom-B-Gone.

I Bought The Kaboom

Went over to see the lovely folks at the explosives store this morning. They were both very helpful and informative, and I walked out with over 110lbs of kabooms. Very nice.

They had a 2 for 1 sale (ends monday).

Howling Error

When a coyote barks at the moon and misses.

Thank You. I'll be here all week. Don't try the veal.

Gift Cards - Not So Much

What the hell is the deal with Gift Cards?

You can walk into a grocery store (for example) and get a gift card for Target, Chili's, Toys R Us, or even frikkin' Bass Pro Shops. It's the gift that says 'I cared about you enough to think about the vague area you might be interested in, but not enough to actually go there and get something.'

Seriously.

WTF?

You pay extra for something that the recipient can use almost as easily as cash. Which brings me to the Generic Gift Card. Visa, MC, Amec, they've all got them. Why would we want them? If you want to give someone money, give them money. Or, if you have to send it, send an effing check fer cripe pete. It costs more money to give someone somethig they can use almost as easily as actual money. What's the benefit? Wallet thickness?

Faugh.

Gotta Love It

Putting CEO Pay In Perspective

Hank McKinnel, Chairman & CEO of Pfizer, will get paid $6.5 MILLION A YEAR AFTER HE RETIRES.

That's the equivalent of 1,624 doses of Viagra a day.

Schwing!

The Problem with Actually Knowing What You're Doing

The problem with actually knowing what you're doing is that if you really do know what you're doing, and you're doing something that effects other people, people will start to assume that you know what you're doing in general, instead of in relation to the specific thing where you actually DO know what you're doing. The problem is a lot worse if you happen to actually have some expertiese in more than one area. The problem becomes exponentially worse if the areas of expertiese in question happen to be diverse and unrelated.

The problem, in case you've lost track, is that people will just assume you know something about any given random subject. The worst case scenario is when the random subject just happens to be in a previously unknown area of expertise.

There's a couple of ways to approach the situation. You could a) bullshit, or b) fess up and admit lack of knowledge. I don't like option a). I won't deny having used it, on more than one occasion even. But I don't like it. Option a) sets you up for a fall. Potentially a big and embarassing one- which is why it shows up in sitcom plots so often. Unlike sitcoms, in real life the end result, while sometimes a font of hilarity, is more often than not just the source of a reputation as a bullshit artist. Not that there's anything wrong with that. There is great artistry to be had in bullshit, and artistry in this area is a skill in its own right, which can serve one well if one chooses to go into politics, for example. Not so useful for everyday, tho.

On the other hand, option b) is not without difficulty. If enough demontrations of Actually Knowing What You're Doing have actually occurred, when you do fess up to know knowing, the audience might juist assume you're lying, or blowing them off because you just don't want to deal. (Which happens too, sometimes.)

In the end then, the best approach seems to be to be a stone cold fuckup. You'll get to be president one day.

They Might Be Particle-ular

They might not be. But, since triangles were up for discussion, why not segue?

Kryptonic Analysis of Particle Man
In this song, we have Particle Man, Triangle Man, Universe Man, and Person Man. I believe that these represent four approaches, or outlooks, if you will, to the state of man, or more succinctly, philosophies.

Partilce Man. Who is particle man? Particle Man represents the scientific community- and/or realists/factualists/scientific athiesm, that sort of thing. The references to dot and speck, and the appearent play on the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle are what lead me to this conclusion.

Triangle Man. Next up is Triangle Man. Funny thing- Triangle Man hates Paricle Man. They have a fight, Triangle wins. Triangle Man also hates Person Man. More on this later.

Universe Man. Universe Man is a powerful man, and seems immune to Triangle Man. Universe man seems to have an inclusive philosophy, and as such, I think this points to Deism, or a more generic belief in oneness or wholeness, as in "the oneness of the universe." Universe Man doesn't cause Triangle man heartburn, but There could be cause for strife betyween them, althoug this remains unexplored in the song.

Person Man. Lastly, we come to the poor wretch that is Person Man. He's seriously put upon-= being hit in the head with a frying pan and living his life in a garbage can. I think that this is a derisive take on secular humanism. Person man never looks up. Never sees anything larger than himself.

Triangle Man also hates Person Man. They have a fight, and, naturally, Triangle wins. This is the final clue as to who Triangle man is: Organized Religeon, specifically Christianlty, possibly as specific as Catholicism. In the case of Particle Man, there is a natural tension between those that must live by faith and those that must find out how things work. Additionally, there will be tension between those who live by faith in a higher being, and those who deny the existence of such a being.

The cautionary tale of the song is this: Triangle wins.

Birdhouse In Your Soul

It's a song about night lights.

And other things.

Get over it.

I'm Not Puh-Sychic

To be clear, I have no idea what the internal dialog of a gay cop actually would be. The entry below contained an idea which was a supposition only. No actual police were harmed in the filming of this episode.

No, Really. They Don't

For simplicity's sake, let's assume that everything in flatland is either material X (which is flexible enough to resonate), or air (which has no resonant frequency), and that both have the same rate of propagation of pressure waves. Let's also assume that there's constant temperature and pressure, and that the speed of propagation is therefore always 100m/s, a nice round number that's easy to work with. (The actual speed of sound in air is 331.4 m/s + 0.6 m/s per degree C. FYI at freezing, that's just a bit faster than 1000 ft/sec). Lastly, let's assume that in Flatland, pressure waves are able to propagate from air to material X, but will tend to prefer to remain in whatever substrate they're in, and will lose energy when changing substrate.

So, with those assumptions, we can concentrate on the geometry.

Let's begin with an open figure- a line segment. The reason to start here is because it's easy to think about. The length of the line segment is also it's wavelength, and therefore the only thing effecting the resonant frequency. If the line segment is 100 meters long, then the resonant frequency is 1 Hz. This works to scale, too- if the line is 10m long, the resonant wavelength is 10 meters, or 10Hz. A 1 m line segment resonates at 100Hz, and so on. (0.1m at 1kHz, 1cm at 10kHz, 1mm at 100kHz). This is not unlike the arrangement of strings on a Greek harp- where the length of string is doubled to halve the frequency.

Let's start closed figures with an open square- that is, the same shape as if one were to draw a square on a sheet of paper, drawing only the edges; i.e. 4 line segments. Let's draw the square so that it's 100m on a side. In this case, it's going to resonate at 1Hz, since the wavelength at 1Hz is the same as the side (100m).

Next, let's consider an open triangle. In this case, the same rules apply for the basic resonance. A 1m to a side equilateral triangle in Flatland will resonate at 100Hz.

Now, if we fill these shapes in, things get more complicated. In the examples above, there's only one path for the pressure wave to take, so it's easy to tell where a resonance will occur, and what the frequency will be. In the case of a filled in object, there are multiple paths for pressure waves to take, a situation that has 2 effects: 1) There are resonances available in any direction that the wave can propagate, and the wave will propagate in any and all available directions equally, which means that instead of a single resonant frequency, there will be multiple resonant frequencies; and 2) because the pressure wave is free to propagate in any direction, the available amplitude and power in any given direction will be much reduced, which makes the resonance far less noticeable.

The next logical question is, "Why is this so?" To answer this, you have to think about what a mechanical resonance actually is. A mechanical resonance with a pressure wave occurs when the wavelength (or a whole number multiple of the wavelength) of a pressure wave is equal to the distance between opposing boundaries that the wave can reflect off of. When a pressure wave encounters a boundary, it reflects back from the boundary at the reciprocal of its angle of incidence. When the angle is 90 degrees, and the wavelength is a whole number multiple of the distance between the reflecting surfaces, the reflection of the wave tends to reinforce the wave, so that it loses power and amplitude at a slower rate. This is because the peaks and troughs of the reflected wave match the peaks and troughs of the original wave. When the wavelength is not a whole number multiple of the distance, the peaks and troughs of the reflected wave don't meet with the original, and the result is interference, causing the wave to lose power and amplitude more quickly. In extreme cases, the reflection can nearly cancel out the original wave. This is the effect employed by those Bose noise cancellation headphones- by inverting the incoming wave, they cancel it out, producing a quieter environment.

Going back to our triangle, no matter where the original pressure wave comes from, there are multiple complex paths through the object. Further, pressure waves reflecting off the boundaries at various angles will intersect and interfere with each other. The net result is that the triangle will probably have resonances in certain cross sections at certain frequencies, but wouldn't really have a definite centered frequency we'd call a resonance per se. In 3 dimensions, the problem naturally becomes worse.

Triangles Don't Resonate

A 2 dimensional equilateral triangle, cut from a sheet of tin, say, cut in outline only, doe *not* have a single resonant frequency.

The varying distances from any given point on the surface of such an object to an edge vary with the angle of the path of the pressure wave taken. Naturally, this assumes we're discussing a mechanical system, specifically, the intersection of pressure waves at an unknown angle with the object, even is the object is a completely regular object, and the incidence of the pressure wave is assumed to be perpendicular to the object.

If the objective is to simple cause the triangle to vibrate, this can be easily accomplished by the application of the pressure wave using a suitable transducer, or even by using a large speaker and amplifier.

Who wants pie?

Aside of Bacon

I was in a parking lot at agas station this morning, and a cop drove past me. In front. Right to left across the hood. All slow-motioney like. Probably because it was a parking lot, but still.

I looked at him going by. He may or may not have looked at me. You can never tell with cops. They're always looking where their heads aren't pointing, just to confuse you. I don't think he looked at me. There wasn't any 'guy nod' or anything. Not that one would be expected. The internal dialog of a cruiser patrol could be "I am the Terminator. I show no emotion. I show no reaction. I am a void. I am a study of blankness. I cannot be surprised. I am the Terminator." Of course, if the cop was gay, then the internal dialog would be more like, "I am so hot. I look just like Freddie Mercury. With these shades, I sizzle." But I digress.

So anyway, he drove by. I thought, "I wonder if everyone thinks about driving differently around a cop." Then, I thought "Well, DUH. I am thinking about driving differently around a cop because I am wondering about thinking about driving differently around a cop."

Online Blogintegrity

Online Blogintegrity

Oh Thersities, why did you have to go and drag Elrond into this?

I Just Had To Share

"Cats are a form of animal based on carbon chemistry, dogs are a form of animal based on carbon chemistry, so aren't dogs a form of cat?"

It's so cool to quote things out of context.

This one's from http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/logic.html#isatype

"All of Elmer Cogan is dead, but only some of the class of dead people is Elmer Cogan."
-John Cleese

Pobre Diablo

To the tune of My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean

Estoy puro gringo entonces
Estoy puro gringo, estoy
Estoy puro gringo entonces,
No puedo hacer nada hoy.

Es-toy, Es-toy, estoy puro gringo enton-ces, pues.
Es-toy, Es-toy, estoy puro gringo estoy.

La cosa maravillosa es que yo no puedo hablar ninguna palabra de Espanol.

Pues.

If you know who these people are

Then you may or may not have had a life around 1987. Which makes you old.

Also, you might want to check your lease on life, and possibly renew your contract.

A Hamlet-esque Moment

I could blog about it.

I could wring out my innermost emotions for all the public to see (figuratively, of course- it's not like anyone reads this blog.)

The technology exists. For the time being, anyway. A few keystrokes, and anyone's innermost bloviatings become fodder for the great washed and unwashed masses.

I could wrench my emotional guts out, and figuratively splatter them across the Infobahn, or other dated cutesy terms for the Internet.

"Oh, but could these too too solid emoticons melt and page refresh themselves into a bitstream..."

I could blog about it.

But I won't.

Yes, the checks are ready.

Look. Right there on the desk. I already made out the deposit slip. Yes, they're endorsed. Yes, it would be really good if you could deposit them today. Thanks. Thank you. Bye.

Now I'm Drunk With Power

Everybody Sing!

Cows too cows ellay to Chi Lahrgo; love for snails...

Not to worry. I'm sure this'll wear off soon.

Sing!
Chitty Bang Bang Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Bang Bang Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Oh, you, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Too...

Turn on the blender and-
Sing!
O! Canada, our fine four fendered friend,
Post Office Box, the Maple Leaf to Send

The Second (And Therefore Newer than the First) Post

A dog came by and sniffed my garbage. Wha-ev. Panda Bear needs a nap.

Actually, points to Blogger for making the page templates editable & pretty easy to customize. When it works, it seems to work pretty well.

Unless, of course, your keyboard sticks, and you don't bother checking your typing, because you're frikkin lazy.

(Title edited for clarity and missing keystrokes.)

No, really. Nothing to see here.

This is the first blog entry in a blog that exists solely because I wanted to be able to post in Glenn Greenwald's comment section, so I went to make a Blogger identity, and just kept going.

Huzzah.

Pues.