Ryan Byrd’s Ramblings

Have you played with Geomags lately? You should. They’re fun!
Each Geomag set is comprised of a number of steel ball bearings and plastic bars (with a magnet at each end).

Geomag is one of the coolest toys out there; you can build almost anything. These contruction toys have been a perpetual hit at the office since I introduced them a week ago. So far, three co-workers have gone out and purchased similar products and my office is a constant hub of magnet and connector building. Although some detractors might credit me for loss of office productivity, to the contrary I estimate that these toys have contributed to a vast increase in creativity, spacial problem solving, and general contentment.

Some places that sell Geomag: Fat Brain Toys Creative Brains Online Target Toys R Us

Something to think about while building with Geomag is the number of atomic shapes; how many are there? An atomic shape has two characteristics:
1-stable
2-irreducible (not composed of other atomic shapes)

I found five immediately, and another five after some effort. How many can you find?

Go to our partner site PicTars, create an account, upload all your Geomag photos and then send me links and I’ll post them here.

Walmart sells a knockoff called “Magnetix.” You get more pieces for your money (150 pieces fo $19.00), but
1-the magnets are not as powerful
2-the connecting bars seem to chip and break more easily

Still, you do get more pieces with Magnetix, and with more you can involve more people and build bigger things. Personally, I got a box of each.

They’re addictive (or are they addicting?)

For someone with lots of disposable income:
750 piece for under $400.00

Check out my Geomag page

Some of you know I’m pursuing an MBA from the University of Utah. I just finished up a class (IS 6420 — Database Theory/Design) from Dr. Paul Hu

For the final project, we were charged with designing and implementing a useful database application. My lab partner and I envisioned a universal database structure and decided to create a personal media management app to use that technology. For the class, it was coded in MS Access/Oracle. I just finished a PHP/MySQL version (warning: it’s very alpha) — here’s the link, enjoy: onlineMediaManager

HBO is now airing a polygamy show “Big Love.”

I’ve been thinking about polygamy lately and I’m irriated with the State of Utah’s irresponsibility in dealing with this problem. So, I just registered ENDPOLYGAMY.COM. I’ve love to end polygamy (at least in Utah), but if I only manage to pester a few Polygamists, I’ll have succeeded.

Polygamy, as practiced today in Utah, is nothing more than a felonious racket covering brainwashing, tax evasion, and child and wife abuse.

How to end Polygamy. Brain storming session:

Plan 1
1- Utah annexation of Colorado City, AZ. joined to hildale
2- stop welfare to both cities, stop tax breaks to unfinished houses
2.5- Utah governor declares martial law
3- call out national guard — arrest every male and female over 18 in Hilsdale/Colorado City, book all at jail/holding place for child abuse
4- social services takes all children (minors) and interviews (phychologists and social workers) to build cases against parents. Children then sent to foster care and eventually adopted
5-search warrents issued against homes of leaders (prophet and apostle) and all church marriage records seized to be used against the mothers and fathers
6-by eminent domain, declare both cities to be the new location of a landfill — demolish all houses.

Plan 2- (admittedly less draconian)
1-replace city government
2-mandate education (on anti-polygamy, free speach, freedom)
3-cultural education: give out free newspapers and magazines
4-provide free internet

We should be able to bust polygamists if we can prove common-law marriage, but unfortunatly, you cannot enter a common law marriage unless you are over 18. Still, we can bust those polygamists who are not marrying minors.

(In Utah) For a common-law marriage to be legal and valid, “a court or administrative order must establish that it arises out of a contract between a man and a woman” who: (1) “are of legal age and capable of giving consent”; (2) “are legally capable of entering a solemnized marriage under the provisions of Title 30, Chap. 1 of the Utah Code; (3) “have cohabited”; (4) “mutually assume marital rights, duties, and obligations”; and (5) “who hold themselves out as and have acquired a uniform and general reputation as husband and wife” (See Utah Code Ann. 30-1-4.5 (2004)).
reference

Related Links
For Polygamy
Against Polygamy

Here are some google maps of the area:
Map 1 Map 2 Map 3 Map 4 Map 5 Map 6 Map 7 Map 8 Map 9 Map 10 Map 11

A dozen or so photos throughout Southern Utah: in, around and about: Cedar City, Saint George, New Harmony, Ft. Hamilton, Kanarraville, etc.

(Click the thumbail for a larger version):

Totally Awesome Computers, run by the man we’ve all grown to hate, Mr. Dell Schanze, closed all stores last Friday evening. Not citing an exact reason for the shutdown, Dell said instead, “It’s too bad that all of the media in Utah are liars and murderers. You just destroyed the greatest computer company of all time. We were the best in the world, the world champion. All this hatred was created by you. You’re basically angels of Satan. All I can say to the people in Utah is, please pray for all the news people.”

Mr. Dell Schanze owns a couple of other businesses as well, including a gun shop & shooting range.

FUNNY: Check out his disturbing, unaired commercial in my video clips section.

I’ve just added a new page in the Fun section concerning Sudoku. You should check it out and let me know what you think.

The governor of South Dakota, Mike Rounds, just signed into law a bill that restricts nearly all abortions.

I say, “Hurrah for South Dakota.”(1)

I have thought a lot about abortions and I have a few thoughts. Forgive me while I opine on this controversial topic:

I can understand (though I disagree) that some people believe that a woman has a right to choose whether to have an abortion, but I am infuriated by the disingenuous double-talk that permeates that position. Such intentional euphemistic phrases as “ending unplanned pregnancies”, “keeping your laws off my body” and “It’s your choice…not theirs” are diversionary tactics employed to ease guilty consciences and soften reality. When you have an abortion, you are killing a child. I defy anyone to explain how abortion is anything less.

In summary, you might believe you have the right to an abortion, but please don’t pretend that the child is any less of a human than you or me. It’s both sophomoric and intellectually dishonest.

As a postscript, I do think that abortions are morally permissible for those situations where the life of the mother is at risk, or in cases of rape or incest.

(1) The South Dakota law, unfortunately, does not make exception provisions for rape or incest. It is, however, a step in the right direction.

It is possible I was going faster than the posted speed when Officer Matthew Miller pulled me over. It’s also possible that they recently reduced the speed from 65 to 55, ostensibly because of construction, although some believe it is to amass more lucre in their coffers. It’s also possible that they enforce the reduced speed at night when no construction is going on. Also, maybe it was the case that I was traveling in the middle lane, no faster than any other cars.

All of that is moot, of course, because Officer Miller, feeling generous, did not give me a ticket, but rather a warning. A printed warning. Evidently, spoken warnings are too onerous for officers to give and hand written warnings are banned by the officer’s union. It makes sense, then, for the officer to have come back to my car with a freshly ink-jet printed warning notice. Here’s the text:

WARNING NOTICE
This is not a summons to appear in court. It is a friendly contact by the Utah Highway Patrol regarding improper driving or the mechanical condition of your vehicle.

Very friendly contact, indeed. I hope I get more friends who pull me over and waste twenty minutes of my time.

But we’re not done yet, my favorite part is the Safety Reminder at the bottom of the notice. I quote, “Motor vehicle crashes and injuries are predictable, preventable events. They are NOT ACCIDENTS because they are the predictable results of someone’s actions.”

This is likely why the evening commute news on the radio has begun using “crash” and “collision” instead of “accident.” Let’s examine the pristine, unflawed logic of our Highway Patrol. First, the assertion that crashes and injuries are predictable and preventable. Really? All crashes? So, if lightening strikes a power-line, which topples into the street in front of a tractor trailer full of wiener dogs, which scatter across the road causing an enormous series of pile-ups, the UHP believes the incident was both predictable and preventable? Interesting. If the UHP is so adept at predicting, they should use their prescience to prognosticate when cars are about to collide and send ambulances and lawyers to wait for the inevitable events.

In summary, here’s an incomplete list of things the UHP cannot predict, but which cause ACCIDENTS nonetheless:
* Acts of God
* Automobile part failure
* Health conditions (cardiac arrest, etc.)
* Very young drivers
* Very old drivers
* Children dashing into the street
* Feral, scampering dachshunds

(A travel diary entry)

I had the misfortune of spending a week of slave labor in a dismal, dreary, bitter-cold Cleveland (in Cleveland’s defense, I imagine it’s quite the tourist trap under better conditions).

When I checked the weather, all the days had little cloud pictures, sometimes with rain or snow coming from them.

Which meant that when I wasn’t working, I stayed mostly in my posh hotel.

The suite hotel (homophonic pun intended) was very accommodating and spacious with:
a small, in-wall kitchen area (sink, microwave, refrigerator),
an office section (complete with high speed Internet),
a living room area — couch, reading chair, TV
a comfortable bedroom with king sized bed and another TV
etc.

And all that at only $147.00 a night, which I felt was a great value.

One night our client took us out to eat at the local Mongolian Barbeque, which chain I had, incidentally, patronized when I visited my friend Cory in Fruita, Colorado.

Mongolian barbeque, for the uninitiated, revolves around a large circular grill whereupon your uncooked food is placed and, while you wait, is grilled, saused and seasoned to your preference. I guess it’s pretty good, but I had the same thing both times — chicken teriyaki bowl (which is half the price, half the wait and just as good at Hogi Yogi/Teriyaki Stix.)

Cleveland TV has to be the most multicultural I’ve seen in some time. Of the 80 or so cable channels available in the hotel, a good ten were Arabic or Hindi language stations — including two from the now controversial United Arab Emirates. I don’t know why, but it was somehow amusing to see a far-eastern version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”:
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3

Cleveland has a number of older, Gothically-pretty bridges. If I had more time, if I had a better digital camera, had time permitted and were the weather not so imposing, I would have snapped a few bridge photos for you.

Pictures coming soon!