Last night, I was looking at the brakes on my wife's car. I had heard some noise coming from the wheels last weekend, so I took advantage of some time and took the wheels off to look.
-------------------------------
At the suggestion of our Technical Director, I added some tattle-tale functions to the particle system. Full on logging of all particle add requests. I also added some functionality to track some other trouble spots. Also, in discussion with artists, they asked for a few minor debugging features. All these little minor features add up to create a VERY powerful system that will let us know IMMEDIATELY what is going on in the particle system with just a few button pushes.
-------------------------------
These are 2 separate events that really illustrate 2 levels of engineering prowess.
The particle debugging all came at the request of a more experienced engineer, and I didn't honestly see the reasoning. However, now anytime anyone comes at me with a particle question, I'm able to easily debug it for them on their machines, without having to go back to mine and step through the code to see what is going on. This saves TIME, which we all know is MONEY. Being able to easily tell what is wrong is great. But what if...?
The brake pads can't really tell you that they are worn out, but the little tattle-tale doo-hickey can. A simple bent strip of metal that sticks out the depth of the usable brake pad and drags on the rotor tells you that the brake pads are worn out.
What's the difference? The particle changes allow me to figure out what went wrong. The brake pads tell me before things go wrong.
Something to think about when designing and implementing new things...
As I was sitting there pulling off the wheels to verify that the noise I heard was what I thought it was, all this dawned on me. It's amazing what we can learn from other disciplines.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Friday, December 24, 2010
How Americans are imagined across the pond...
names changed to protect the innocent:
American:
I wish I had another 4 wheel drive vehicle with me today
Englishman:
another? for two at a time?
American:
I didnt' want to go out alone, but there was plenty of roads to play on
yes, 2 at a time...so someone can tow out the guy who gets stuck, lol
Englishman:
ah .... there's that much snow?
American:
there was maybe 6 inches on the roads
but it was packed and re-frozen, so it was crusty
if you hit the bottom of your vehicle, the snow wouldnt' give, and you'd be high centered right quick
Englishman:
thta was the advantage for me of working at a m/c shop all those years -- when there's that much snow it was gonna be slow & I'd just call in well!
American: so I stopped and just did my skeet shooting right in the road
Englishman: and taht's exactly the way people here imagine Americans to be!
American:
I wish I had another 4 wheel drive vehicle with me today
Englishman:
another? for two at a time?
American:
I didnt' want to go out alone, but there was plenty of roads to play on
yes, 2 at a time...so someone can tow out the guy who gets stuck, lol
Englishman:
ah .... there's that much snow?
American:
there was maybe 6 inches on the roads
but it was packed and re-frozen, so it was crusty
if you hit the bottom of your vehicle, the snow wouldnt' give, and you'd be high centered right quick
Englishman:
thta was the advantage for me of working at a m/c shop all those years -- when there's that much snow it was gonna be slow & I'd just call in well!
American: so I stopped and just did my skeet shooting right in the road
Englishman: and taht's exactly the way people here imagine Americans to be!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
HOLY COW
The $150 Space Camera: MIT Students Beat NASA On Beer-Money Budget
"two students (from MIT, of course) put together a low-budget rig to fly a camera high enough to photograph the curvature of the Earth"
epic.
I really should post here more...
"two students (from MIT, of course) put together a low-budget rig to fly a camera high enough to photograph the curvature of the Earth"
epic.
I really should post here more...
Thursday, May 14, 2009
A step in the wrong direction...
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/05/foamy/
"People either love Crocs, those ubiquitous rubber clogs that come in dayglo colors, or hate them. We suspect people will feel the same way about the Croc-inspired Spira foam car said to deliver 100 mpg and a top speed of 70 mph."
How is 100mpg a step in the wrong direction you ask? Look at the picture. No one is going to want to drive that, and even if they do, they'll never feel safe.
However, as a motorcyclist, I'm more exposed than I would be in this car (or am I? on a bike I could at least be tossed out of the way...), so my position seems hypocritical.
What about this: we are trying to solve the oil problem by creating more efficient dinosaur burners, when we need to start looking towards alternative energy instead.
So, what's the pros to this little guy? meh, not much. You can get close to that many MPG's on a small motorbike. You can get more safety out of a small honda/toyota/hyundai...and get damn good mileage (and haul more poeple/stuff too to balance out the loss of mpg's). Oh, it's something no one else has, but so are yugos.
out.
"People either love Crocs, those ubiquitous rubber clogs that come in dayglo colors, or hate them. We suspect people will feel the same way about the Croc-inspired Spira foam car said to deliver 100 mpg and a top speed of 70 mph."
How is 100mpg a step in the wrong direction you ask? Look at the picture. No one is going to want to drive that, and even if they do, they'll never feel safe.
However, as a motorcyclist, I'm more exposed than I would be in this car (or am I? on a bike I could at least be tossed out of the way...), so my position seems hypocritical.
What about this: we are trying to solve the oil problem by creating more efficient dinosaur burners, when we need to start looking towards alternative energy instead.
So, what's the pros to this little guy? meh, not much. You can get close to that many MPG's on a small motorbike. You can get more safety out of a small honda/toyota/hyundai...and get damn good mileage (and haul more poeple/stuff too to balance out the loss of mpg's). Oh, it's something no one else has, but so are yugos.
out.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Puppeh is a race fan!
We took Sage down to the races on Sunday, and she was totally stoked and wanted to be up in my arms so she could watch the bikes go by. It was hilarious.
We saw an awesome race, the top 3 guys duking it out to the final lap, and saw some good friends that I don't see enough.
whoo hoo!
We saw an awesome race, the top 3 guys duking it out to the final lap, and saw some good friends that I don't see enough.
whoo hoo!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Ok, this is 16 minutes long...but watch it.
watch it. you don't need the details. but if you listen to the last 30 seconds (after listening to the rest of it) you'll understand (as I do now) why I do some things the way I do.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Honda Flex Fuel Bike!
Honda Begins Sales of Flex Fuel Motorcycle CG150 TITAN MIX in Brazil
Stuff like this makes me think happy thoughts. Go Honda!
With adoption of newly developed fuel supply and fuel injection control systems, Honda's Mix Fuel Injection System enables flexible mixture of environmentally-responsible bio-ethanol and gasoline fuels.
Stuff like this makes me think happy thoughts. Go Honda!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
delish
rasp mocha:
1 shot rasp liqueur
1 shot kahlua
1 shot creme de cocoa
1 shot half and half
it will make you happy.
1 shot rasp liqueur
1 shot kahlua
1 shot creme de cocoa
1 shot half and half
it will make you happy.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
awesome weekend
saturday:
fixed my broken transmission mount on the pickup, and it was easier than I thought it would be.
bought a new kitchen table.
took sage to petsmart.
went to lunch with some friends in marysville.
drove grant's truck home so he could ride his new bike home.
nice day all around.
sunday
Grant and I took off on our bikes and ran a bunch of fun roads.
moved the kitchen table in.
got sage some shots.
made dinner to eat on our new table.
went to target.
"paid" taxes.
went to bed early.
just a great weekend all around :)
fixed my broken transmission mount on the pickup, and it was easier than I thought it would be.
bought a new kitchen table.
took sage to petsmart.
went to lunch with some friends in marysville.
drove grant's truck home so he could ride his new bike home.
nice day all around.
sunday
Grant and I took off on our bikes and ran a bunch of fun roads.
moved the kitchen table in.
got sage some shots.
made dinner to eat on our new table.
went to target.
"paid" taxes.
went to bed early.
just a great weekend all around :)
Saturday, February 21, 2009
more on alt energy:
Really? No one thought of this before? I wish I had!
It's PERFECT!
Lenses to concentrate sunlight on solar cells so that the solar cells get more light, thus converting more of that light to electricity. Smaller photovoltaic cells are making more power due to these lenses.
http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/22204/
My thoughts on replacing fossil fuels is that we won't find only one replacement. It's going to be a bunch of small replacements that equal up to a total replacement. Vegetable oil, ethanol, solar, wind, hydroelectricity (not just damns, but tides and waterfalls maybe?) and maybe even more, will all add up to equal less energy than we use now, but hopefully with things like advances in engines, lighting, heating, and cooling we'll be able to reduce our needs.
...some shifts in attitude would help too...
however, one final thought on this (for now) is that it won't happen until gas prices skyrocket (beyond 5$/gallon, closer to 10$...maybe more) and stay there for a number of years.
It's PERFECT!
Lenses to concentrate sunlight on solar cells so that the solar cells get more light, thus converting more of that light to electricity. Smaller photovoltaic cells are making more power due to these lenses.
http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/22204/
My thoughts on replacing fossil fuels is that we won't find only one replacement. It's going to be a bunch of small replacements that equal up to a total replacement. Vegetable oil, ethanol, solar, wind, hydroelectricity (not just damns, but tides and waterfalls maybe?) and maybe even more, will all add up to equal less energy than we use now, but hopefully with things like advances in engines, lighting, heating, and cooling we'll be able to reduce our needs.
...some shifts in attitude would help too...
however, one final thought on this (for now) is that it won't happen until gas prices skyrocket (beyond 5$/gallon, closer to 10$...maybe more) and stay there for a number of years.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
http://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/02/milk-trucks-in.html
"A California dairy has converted a pair of 18-wheelers to run on biomethane produced from cow manure, creating what is believed to be the nation's first cow-pie–powered trucks."
Also, I saw on the show "dirty jobs" where another dairy was doing this, but instead of running their trucks, they were running a power plant.
some exciting stuff to think about!
one more waste product that will no longer be waste, and one less set of trucks dependent on non-renewable resources!
pretty sweet if you ask me!
"A California dairy has converted a pair of 18-wheelers to run on biomethane produced from cow manure, creating what is believed to be the nation's first cow-pie–powered trucks."
Also, I saw on the show "dirty jobs" where another dairy was doing this, but instead of running their trucks, they were running a power plant.
some exciting stuff to think about!
one more waste product that will no longer be waste, and one less set of trucks dependent on non-renewable resources!
pretty sweet if you ask me!
Monday, February 16, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
BEER FRIDGE!
Picked it up on Thursday from a friend who just wanted it gone. It took a while to clean up, but I did, and now I have a fridge just for my beer!
...I'm wondering if I turn the freezer off and leave the fridge on, it will keep the freezer cold enough for lagering... We'll run some experiments in a few days to see.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
it feels weird...
it feels weird to be riding this time of year.
but I don't care because riding is awesome.
so, I'm gonna keep doing it as often as possible.
oh, and I'm getting a fridge today :) best price evar: free. It's gonna be my beer fridge.
but I don't care because riding is awesome.
so, I'm gonna keep doing it as often as possible.
oh, and I'm getting a fridge today :) best price evar: free. It's gonna be my beer fridge.
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