|
|
For This is my moment. My destiny calls me. For once in my lifetime I'm gonna do great things.
|
||||||||||||
| Tuesday, February 15th, 2005 |
|
||||
|
I have renewed faith in humanity. I sent a short letter about a question I had regarding landing gear and got back not only an excellent response but also a note saying that my letter would be sent to someone better able to address my question! Here are both my letter and the response in full... bob.eckles@goodrich.com Subject: Ruducing Stress on Landing Gear Tires Bob- I have not studied landing gear systems and so excuse any naivete in this question. Whenever I see a plane land I always see a puff of burning rubber come up from the wheels. This must be an extreme amount of stress the wheels are coming under, not just the vertical force of the plane's weight but also the rotational force as the wheels come up to speed. I would think that puff of smoke indicates quick wear in the tires. Why aren't the wheels brought up to speed in the air before they touch down? I would think the reduction in wear (which has a direct translation to dollar amount) would more than make up for the cost of putting a system in place to get those wheels spinning. While it may be tricky and too costly/unsafe to appropiate energy from the main engines to get the wheels up to speed, it would not take a powerful or complex motor to do this which could be placed in the landing gear house or just below the cargo bay. Has this idea been explored before? Thank you for your time. I am quite interested in the response. -Zac Diener Student of Structural Engineering UC San Diego RESPONSE Zac, Thank you for your question. Unfortunately, since I do not work for our Landing Gear division I don't have the design engineering answer to your question. I have forwarded your inquiry on to Landing Gear for their response however. With all of the development in aerospace over the past near century, I have to imagine the question has been explored. In response to your email there are several factors to consider with regard to bringing the a/c wheels up to speed prior to touchdown. I'll list some below in no particular order. Physical space and weight limitations for the wheel drive motor. Airlines don't like to trade usable fuel for additional weight if not needed. Different approach speeds depending upon landing weight require different tire rotation speed prior to touchdown. The aircraft will decelerate upon touchdown and into the braking phase of aircraft rollout. Depending upon a/c type, landing gear trucks have from two wheels (737) up to six wheels (777) that must receive power. How does the drive motor affect the anti-skid system on the landing gear? The wheels would all have to rotate at the same speed upon touchdown. The anti-skid system senses different tire rotation speeds and responds accordingly in an effort to keep the airplane from skidding sideways down the runway. What are the centrifugal forces imparted on the wheel axles of up to six wheels per landing gear truck rotating at roughly 140 mph each prior to touchdown (avg touchdown speed estimated at 130kts.)? What additional maintenance or inspection requirements are required as a result of such forces (physical wear on the landing gear truck assembly)? Keep in mind this adds to the operating cost of the airplane and the airplane will be out of service longer to perform a repetitive inspection for stress and metal fatigue on the landing gear than it would be for a tire change. If the wheels are brought up to speed prior to landing, the power must be cut off upon touchdown so that the wheels do not become "drive wheels" in the event of a crosswind landing or the aircraft is in a slight yaw upon touchdown. What happens if the drive motor fails to the "on" position and power is not immediately removed from the aircraft wheels upon touchdown? Remember, landing an airplane is considered a "critical phase of flight". It doesn't take long for a large commercial aircraft traveling at 130kts to depart the runway off to the side if upon touchdown there is a transverse component to its velocity vector. If the wheels become "drive wheels" at 130kts with a transverse velocity component, the landing would become ugly very quickly. There must be a failsafe system to prevent this from happening. Another system, more engineering, something else to maintain. Airlines purchase tires from the tire OEM based upon volume pricing so the price per tire is significantly lower than a single tire purchase price. This is factored into the operating cost of the tire. Often times the tire OEM will offer performance based pricing to the airline. That is, the tire OEM will guarantee 100 landings (as an example) for each tire before it needs to be replaced. If the tire needs replacing prior to the 100th landing the airline gets credit on the tire. In the end, this is likely less expensive and much less risk involved than installing a motor to bring the wheels up to landing speed just prior to landing and subsequent deceleration upon rollout. Who really bears the burden of the cost of the tire? The one who bought the ticket. Best regards, Bob Bob Eckles Engineering Project Manager Aviation Technical Services, Inc. Goodrich Corporation Ph: 425.423.3162 Cell: 425.327.3857 Fax: 425.423.3028 |
||||
|
|
| Thursday, February 10th, 2005 |
|
||||
|
So Marisa Maskin came over for dinner tonight (we had Zachary's pizza, sooo gooood!) and it being Thursday night Marisa insisted that we watch her television program The OC, this despite the fact that at least two other excellent shows were on (well maybe, i'd never seen them but they showed promise). Discovery Channel had Free Diving national championships (no, that has nothing to do with platforms or springboards, think more along the lines of scuba diving without the S.C.U.B.A.) and The Learning Channel had a documentary on "expensive motors" all about high end, exotic cars. But whatever, we watched The OC. First off, it's got Peter Gallagher, one of the worst actors ever to grace the screen. I think the only reason why he's made it as an actor is the star power his eye-brows hold. If only they would share it with the rest of Peter. And his character's name is Sandy. How much worse can you get. Well there's a girl named Summer, so I guess it does get worse. Now I really think the plot would be better suited to daytime soaps. It's all this shit about guy A being in love with girl B whose going out with guy C who's secretly a tranvestite space alien. Ok, well maybe if they added that last part there would be some interest in the show. Ok, I take that back. There are two good things about the show. One of the girls is cute (Lindsay) and one of the girls just started a lesbian relationship. So In conclusion let me just say this. At 8:30 I got really excited that the show was over, only to discover to my dismay that there was yet another half hour of simpy, weak, bad acting, worse plot, shallow tv to sit through. I realized how sad the show was when Sandy was kicking it with the father of his ex-girlfriend (who's being incriminated for arsonry, a crime she didn't commit, but who really cares if she did) and he goes and gets a cup of cup of tea (the father no longer drinks coffee because of his bad health) and Marisa shouts, "oh no, he's gonna die", and LO, he does! Predictable, yes. Emotional? Ha. Worst part was Marisa actually enjoys the show so I had no fun ridiculing it. |
||||
|
Enjoy 2 other contributions. |
| Thursday, January 27th, 2005 |
|
||||
|
Marissa got me the nicest birthday present (and I've gotten some good ones, including an aquarium from my mom!) She hand crocheted an afgan for me. So nice! Nice thick yarn and it's huge. It easily covers my entire twin bed. Marissa has a hella nice hand made afgan too, and while it's hella nice, soft, thick etc. it's a little small. Not mine! Overwhelming plushness. I was soo warm in bed last night. I know she must have lost more than a little sanity making it. |
||||
|
Enjoy 1 other contribution. |
| Wednesday, January 26th, 2005 |
|
||
| after a couple nights of heavy drinking i just tried to call my dad at work and kept dialing the wrong number. The correct number is 848-4752. First I accidentally called 847-4782 which is the number for a friend of mine. Next I kept dialing 848-4782 and eventually I had to look his number up in the phone book. How Sad. I mean I don't know for sure that it was drinking or smoking that caused that, but I do still feel a little out of it. Regardless, I probably should take it as a sign to drink less. Between this and claim #103268 I think I really should quit. Like I think it will make me happier, and healthier, but really I'm worried about becoming stupid. I hate being stupid. I like to be smart and creative and to think. Drinking is hindering that. | ||
|
Enjoy 1 other contribution. |
| Monday, January 10th, 2005 |
|
||||||
| So the reason why I'm going to stay with blurty instead of moving to xanga is because of the ease of entry with Blurty's free 3rd party update program. Xanga has one too, which is also probably very good, but it only comes with a premium account. Two dollars a month! You gotta be outta your mind. Especially since I'm hella flaky and update only periodically. And while it seems that Xanga looks nicer than Blurty I don't think there is anything you can't do in Blurty that you can do in Xanga. Though I really need to work on my HTML skills a bit more. I'll be jealous when my kids can just type html code without a second thought, finding it easier to type out -b> | ||||||
|
|
| Wednesday, January 5th, 2005 |
|
||
|
|
| Thursday, December 2nd, 2004 |
|
||
|
eric hasn't really given me a chance with customer relations. that goes to lauren, however she gets the easier job of telling people that they're stuff is ready. i deal with less people but often the ones that have the problems (don't have the bed rails, our bed and rails are different colors. oh well. but lauren also ran the thursday meeting todya, i'm jealous. lesson, dont' ask to do something do it. |
||
|
|
| Tuesday, November 30th, 2004 |
|
||
| http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=no_insight | ||
|
Enjoy 1 other contribution. |
| Thursday, October 28th, 2004 |
|
||
| http://static.vidvote.com/movies/bushuncensored.mov | ||
|
|
| Tuesday, October 5th, 2004 |
|
||||
| as i came home tonight i felt more mysterious and dreamlike than any experience in the past 4 or 5 weeks. why is that now? | ||||
|
|
|
||
|
Berkeley is in the middle of an infestation by deer it is the cutest infestation ever! |
||
|
|
| Friday, September 17th, 2004 |
|
||
| mbmone14: i swear, i have so many discipline charts in my classroom u would think one would work | ||
|
Enjoy 1 other contribution. |
| Thursday, September 9th, 2004 |
|
||||
|
ZAC AND MARISSA TOOK THIS QUIZ AS MICHAEL MOEWE WHILE DRUNK /mu http://hokev.brinkster.net/quiz/default.asp?quiz=Better+Relationship&page=1 note: on the cusp of expressive sentimental intellectual taker. That makes you an Archetypal Older Chilld. eXpressive: 5/10 Practical: 5/10 Physical: 2/10 Giver: 3/10 You are a RPIT--Reserved Practical Intellectual Taker. This makes you a Love Geek. Heh heh -- you love geek! You are weirdly sexy. It doesn't take people a long time to get to know you, but people *think* it takes a long time, because you are as cool and regulated after a year as you are on a first meeting. You don't tend to date casually -- you just suddenly find yourself in long term relationships. Your approach to conflict is your greatest asset -- it complements almost every other type. You don't express yourself or your feelings in dramatic terms, but you will speak up to those who do. You are generally calm, but capable of ramping up, and you don't give up until the issue is resolved -- this means even the hottest temper or coolest conflict-avoider can feel comfortable pursuing their satisfaction with you. And you don't hold a grudge -- you get through it, and it's done. You rock. Sure, you like the sex. And you communicate with your partner well, so you're good at it. But it's not something you would make jokes about or bring up in polite company (not that you don't appreciate that kind of humor). You're no prude, but that's just not your style. You'd make an excellent parent. You enjoy food and can be a ravenous eater. A good cook will get your attention quickly. Of the 62053 people who have taken this quiz, 5.1 % are this type. |
||||
|
|
| Wednesday, September 8th, 2004 |
|
||||
|
eXpressive: 8/10 Practical: 7/10 Physical: 5/10 Giver: 2/10 You are a XPYT--Expressive Practical Physical Taker. This makes you a Player. You are clever, sexy and sexually oriented. You know what you want and how to get it. You command attention in a room of strangers, as your charisma, your personality and your spending habits are all oriented toward making an impression on your target sex. You pay attention to details. You reel people in easily, but have a harder time keeping them around since you are just as demanding in a long term relationship as you are on a night out. Combine your demanding nature with the fact that you're hard to keep up with and easily bored, and you get a recipe for problems with fidelity. In a conflict, you're brutal -- you know how to unleash one cutting remark that turns a normal fight into a brawl or a breakup. Your general attitude is you just don't have time for fighting -- if you feel like your current partner doesn't understand you, you know you can find another one. You may see yourself in a parent and dislike his/her choices, so you want to avoid them for yourself. You feel confined by social pressures, both to pair up and stay paired. It will (and should) take you years to settle (and for you, it may really feel like you're settling). Please use a condom. Of the 60760 people who have taken this quiz, 7.7 % are this type. HOWEVER!!!!!! i'm right on the cusp of being a manager...if I had recieved one less point on the physical side I would have picked this up... You are a XPIT--Expressive Practical Intellectual Taker. This makes you a Manager. You are cool, thoughtful and intelligent. Your approach and your sense of humor are under-the-radar, your charm is undeniable. You keep everything under control. You have distinctive vocal mannerisms. You may not have much interest in approaching strangers, but when you do, you are successful. You will probably end up with someone beautiful, fascinating and off-balance. While your partner may steal the limelight, it's you that keeps things running smoothly and provides stability in your relationship. If you are with someone as contemplative and hard-headed as you, you can have a tough time. Your greatest asset is that you tackle conflict as it rises -- you don't ignore it and let it brew. If you have a partner that *does* let it brew, it will make you crazy! You can find yourself fighting for two -- trying to anticipate your partner's needs and draw their feelings out -- which is exhausting and, well, not your job. You would never cheat. You would make an excellent spouse. When your spouse's friends met you, they would think, "Crap, why couldn't I get that one?" |
||||
|
Enjoy 1 other contribution. |
|
||
|
I paid for Jake's chocolate milk and donuts tonight and I have no idea why. I'd be worried if I wasn't so confused. Earlier in the evening we tied in heads up poker. I won the first game (which was quick, <10 hands) and Jake won the second (where we played 48, blinds where 10:20 by the end). Good News! Yesterday, Monday, I biked 16 miles and today I ran for 30min. If I keep this up maybe I'll get my energy level up to get a job. "Fear is the mind killer" I think I'm afraid of moving on, actually I think I'm just, hmm, lazy is not quite the right word because I know I can overcome it. I like to say weak to temptation. I believe I have to work harder to get myself off my ass than most. This is less because I am innately lazy and more because I just haven't exercised whatever part of the mind it is that makes you do what is right. |
||
|
Enjoy 1 other contribution. |
| Thursday, July 1st, 2004 |
|
||||
|
Well it's been a while since I read your comment but here's the gist of my response. You're wrong. Well not completly, but knowledge is not happiness, it is merely knowledge. Here are a couple of examples. E.G. 1 Marissa and I were at my dad's house making a lot of noise in the kitchen, just having a gay ol' time. We had inadverdantly woken my stepmother up. Know she knew exactly what was happening, i.e. she had the knowledge. But what to do about it? Now in a sense I guess you could say that this is just more knowledge (the knowledge of what to do to make one most happy, which you would have if you knew everything). But let's restrict this to knowledge that is accesible to humans. She knew what had woken her up. Now she could have been upset (how come these kids wake me up at all hours of the night when they know I have to wake up ealry tomorow etc). She could have come downstairs and told us to be quiet so she could sleep. But she decided to take a more postive spin on it. "I heard you guys laughing downstairs and thought how nice it was that you were in good spirits and so I just put earplugs in and went back to sleep". E.G. 2 (very similar) They were doing some landscaping at Marissa's house and there was a ladder that went to the roof. We (bree, marissa and myself) climbed up with some alchohol and walked around the roof. We walked on top of everyone's bedroom. Not the nicest thing to do after midnight. We walked paritcaluarly loudly on Lulu's ceiling (marissa and bree aren't big fans of Lulu). This is of course disturbing, and Lulu knew exactly what was going on. Well I don't know if she knew how bree and marissa feel, but we'll assume that Lulu knew that they had some disrespect for her because they were walking on top of her room. So what does she do? She comes and joins us on the rooftop and has a gay ol' time with us. Good times. So what do we learn from these examples. It's not just what you know, but how you react to it. And here I have a direct response to you. Happiness is not knowledge (why is depression associated with genius?), even knowing what will make you happy does not make you happy. Doing it does. I am not an idiot, and I think I know how I can make myself happiest. However some of those things will make me unhappy (usually in the short term). Like quiting drinking for example. But happiness is not the knowledge of this, the action of it almost is. The actual feeling is happiness. But this thing I call fulfillment I think is the action. Knowing what to do and doing it, that is fulfillment and that makes you happy. hopefully I will write more on this later. It makes me happy. |
||||
|
Enjoy 2 other contributions. |
| Tuesday, June 15th, 2004 |
|
||||
|
Bush talking about the economy and how he's run the country... "I guess if your pessimistic you can find something wrong, no matter how hard you look.can't wait till nov. 2nd |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
"Happiness through fulfillment is not a present happiness because fulfillment happens at some unknown point in the future. satisfaction can happen now..." I must object Aldrin. I was vague in my entry to be sure. My title was indeed "Is fulfillment the right word?" But even so fulfillment is an emotion (well actually I'm not sure I would define it as such, but anyhoo) that one feels, ergo one must feel it in the present. I think the problem with the feeling I'm trying to describe is that it's not really triggered by one incident. An example. I want to be in shape and I enjoy playing sports, but I have more pressing matters to attend to (i.e. finding a job). Now I will be happy if I play basketball (for a short time), and I probably won't be happy if I look for a job, but again this is the short time span. If I lengthen my p.o.v. a bit then I can see that I will be extremely happy when I find a job, not only that but I will be happy to have money so I don't have to live with my folks, I'll be more independent, etc. Note though that none of these alternatives (basketball, lookinf for job nor getting a job will make me 'fulfilled'. Which brings me back to, how does one achieve this sense of peace with the world. (before I forget, I should talk some about Buddhism. The opposite of fulfilled is wanting. Buddhism says that this wanting is what makes people unhappy, their solution? Want nothing. Well that ain't gonna happen. I want to live. Time for a new solution) I had a nice (drunk) talk with Michael Moewe. He was all 'happiness is the meaning of life', and I was like "Dude, I just thought that until last night." After some discussion I learned that Moewe was defining knowledge as happiness. Which is completely wrong. Knowledge and understanding are just that, knowledge and understanding. They may lead to happiness. Now I'm saying that knowledge and understanding probably are happiness, to Michael, and understanding does give that clarity that I associate with fulfillment and happiness, but that is not the ony way to go about achieving that happiness. It's like saying that if you can't understand nano-physics than you can never truly be happy. Well I know a few people who are happy (as Michael would say, fulfilled as I would), and I'm sure that there are dozens more scattered around the world and I'm also sure a small minority (if any) understand their own personal development. But that's ok, because they are happy. So I think fulfillment (because you can be at peace, without being happy. e.g. if you were captured by terrorists and they started to saw off your head) comes from a way of life, a sustained pattern of living. Not just one event, but how you decide to live your life, the rationale (rationale also not a good word) that dictates how you will respond to any stimuli, and ergo any response and any and all events that you actually do. I'm thinking of re-reading The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, I think it addresses this issue somewhat. Happiness is a way of life. ok, that's enough for now. I can't wait for more criticism. I love arguing, especially when no one can be right. |
||||
|
Enjoy 5 other contributions. |
| Friday, June 11th, 2004 |
|
||||
|
This is a short poem made up entirely of actual quotations from George W. Bush. They have been arranged, only for aesthetic purposes, by Washington Post writer Richard Thompson. MAKE THE PIE HIGHER I think we all agree, the past is over. This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and uncertainty And potential mental losses. Rarely is the question asked Is our children learning? Will the highways of the Internet Become more few? How many hands have I shaked? They misunderestimate me. I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity. I know that the human being And the fish can coexist. Families is where our nation finds hope, Where our wings take dream. Put food on your family! Knock down the tollbooth! Vulcanize society! Make the pie higher! Make the pie higher! (Help cure mad cowboy disease in the next election!) |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
For most of my life I have wished for happiness (you know when you catch a dandelion or find an eyelash). Last night I thought about changing this pattern. I find myself wanting a sense of fulfillment, of completeness. I had always rationalized that happiness was the end product. "Happiness is the meaning of life." What else would you want? Anything else would just be a means to happiness. EG I want air to breathe. Yes, so that I may be alive to feel happiness. or I want to be a doctor. Yes, so that I may contribute to society, because that is what makes me happy. My epiphany last night was that 'fulfillment' is a completely separate emotion from happiness. One may be fulfilled, but not happy (though fulfillment is still a positive emotion). I am also nagged by the feeling that "one should do the right thing". I find it pretty easy to know what I should do (at least most of the time). But the part of the brain that actually executes a plan is not working quite so well with me. I don't know about others but I'm pretty sure it is the same for most people. There must be a way to change this. But getting back to the topic... I am beginning to wonder if the measure of one's life should not be the joy (or sorrow) that one feels at every instant of ones life summed up. (Even before I knew about calculus and integrals I had this idea that you have a "happy-o-meter" and when you die you take a look at it and your whole aim is to have your personal happy-o-meter be as high as possible). I have an idea that I think may overthrow this one. The measure of one's life should be that after one is dead you reflect back and see how happy you are with the life you lived. But why should the latter overthrow the former? From what I know I still have to believe in the integral of happiness idea. I am only aware of exactly the current point in time. Because this is the only thing that I can be certain of the measure of one's life should probably be related to that. But (and this is only a theory to show that the other has some kind of legitimacy in some, perhaps fictional, perhaps not, world) what if after you die you are still conscious but losing the body can "do" no more, and so you just reflect on your life as you had lived it. And let's also say there's no reincarnation so this goes on forever. Well this could be heaven or hell depending on how you lived your life. You remember that time you got hit with a rock, it doesn't hurt now (since your dead) but you can still be happy or not with how you reacted. Did it knock you down to defeat, or did you get back up and 'do the right thing'? Climb that mountain, punch the kid who threw it, or whatever. Well I must reflect more on this. I'm curious what ya'll think. |
||||
|
Enjoy 1 other contribution. |
|
|
Blurty for Zac D..
|
||||||||||||