Ryan Byrd's Ramblings

Marching Along

admin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:36:12 +0000

More photos. I know, it’s the second photo blog of March. Enjoy.

The most difficult logic puzzle in THE UNIVERSE

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:53:06 +0000

okay, maybe not. but it’s not easy:

There are three guardians, A, B and C. Their names are Knight, Knave and Chaos. Knight always speaks truly, Knave always lies. Chaos tossed a coin this morning to decide whether today he would behave like Knight or like Knave.

Your task is simple: ask three yes-no questions, each of a single guardian, and determine which is Knight, which is Knave, and which is Chaos. There is, alas, a complication: the guardians understand English but will answer in the local language, in which “Da” means yes and “Ja” means no. Or possibly “Ja” means yes and “Da” means no – you cannot remember.

thx, Raymond Smullyan! (is that even your *real* last name?!?)

lemon meringue

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:27:24 +0000

That’s my favorite kind of pie, followed closely by chocolate cream and a certain type of strawberry/jello pie my mom makes. But that’s not what we’re celebrating today. We’re feting the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. Some people estimate it as 22/7, some people try memorizing long sequences of it, some even try finding patterns in it. Most people know pi is 3.14 (which is today’s date, hence Happy Pi Day), and most engineers know pi to be 3.1415926. It’s currently calculated to 2.7 trillion decimals.

So, how do you get pi? (other than at family dinners on Sunday) Well, you can construct a really big circle and then measure the diameter. Back in 1993, H. G. Smythe measured pi to 1.6 million decimals using high-precision measuring equipment and a circle with a radius of nine hundred and fifty miles. For the rest of us, we’ll just use any of 32 power series expansions like this:
or this or this

But why do we care? Well, without pi, we couldn’t nicely calculate the number of golf balls that would fit in the fuselage of a Boeing 747. Duh.

How nerdy are you? Did you celebrate Pi Day?

Seriously, where’s my jetpack?

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:11:33 +0000

A feeling of optimism overran the early part of last century America. We invented television. We conquered the atom. We engaged in space missions. Over-eager, science-minded writers opined on future technologies that were surely just years away– like flying cars, food pills, xray glasses, smart houses, and ray guns* Now we are in 2010, and though the TSA has devices that see through clothing, xray glasses for the public have remained at bay. Adolescent boys are not the only ones crest-fallen, many musicians have lamented in song the lack of promised technology:

We take our own showers, wash our own hair
Make our own beds – push in our own chairs
I thought all this stuff would get done for me
Robot mow the lawn while I sit under a tree

I thought we’d control wind and rain
Cure all sickness, eliminate pain
I wanted mind-reading gadgets to cater to my wishes
Wanted self-cleaning kitchens with non-sticking dishes

Where’s the end of war and freedom from disease?
Where’s the milk and honey from sea to shining sea?
Where are the crime-free cities and rockets on our backs?
Where are the smooth moving sidewalks? Where’s my jetpack?**

Your disillusionment can end now (at least partially)! NPR reported this morning that a New Zealand company, Martin Jetpack, is now selling jetpacks to the public. For $90,000 you score a 200-horsepower, dual-propeller pack which flies a person for 30 miles in 30 minutes on 5 gallons of gas. The pack can transport you to heights of up to 1.5 miles. No word on whether the awesome black jumpsuit is included.

Good job, Science. Now give us more ROBOTS!!!

*http://discovermagazine.com/2007/feb/jetpack-future-technologies/article_view?b_start:int=1&-C=
**http://www.radiofreebabylon.com/music/rfbmusicrfbwmj.php

Dinosaurs are Cool

admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:46:06 +0000

As you grow older, maybe you are becoming increasingly uncertain about what is cool and what is not. That’s where your free subscription to RBDN (coolest site in Utah) comes in handy. Our highly trained, culturally and ethnically diverse staff, daily scour the Internet, reviews hundreds of television cable channels and travels the world to help classify awesomeness. The staff has considered publishing a book, but, for now, here’s a teaser list of the cool and uncool:

Cool

Bacon wrapped anything
Vintage stuff
The Office, Seasons 1,2 & 3
High tech electronics, esp: Macs, iPhones, mini-dual-rotor helicopters and green lasers that can burn things
Bullet bikes (esp. if you’re Asian, or part Asian)
Directing Zombie movies
British accents
Dinosaurs, especially Velociraptors
Sweet old-school break dancing moves
Military robots with balance sensors that you can’t knock over.
Desktop laser engraving machines

Not Cool

AT&T cellphone coverage
Hulu playing the same ad every five minutes while I try to watch The Office
Pandora playing Shane Company Diamond ads
Slow drivers
Google Buzz
Cellphone phantom buzz

BJ Neilsen may or may not have contributed to this awesomeness.

March 2010 Photo Blog

admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:30:33 +0000

I have a teeshirt that reads “I’m blogging this.” If you know me, you know I’m constantly snapping pictures with my iPhone. If I had the 3GS, I’d be taking video as well… Here are some of those pictures, for your viewing enjoyment.

[album id=7146 display=1]

Mitzi, the Demon Dog

admin — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:18:50 +0000

We’ve had Mitzi, our energetic German Shepherd puppy, for nearly a month now. She has proved to be quite the handful, requiring constant supervision and interaction while she is indoors. We were hoping that she would be less hyperactive as time went on, but such hopes were fanciful and completely misguided. Now weighing twice what she did last month, our toddler-dog, when let inside, sprints wildly around the furniture, knocking down everything in her wake. There are rare moments of calm, when she’ll stay still enough to be petted, and such times falsely convince us that there is hope of a normal existence. Then, without notice, Mitzi will spring back into action, bounding around the room as if she were possessed by festive, dancing bees.

What does the future hold for our dog? Well, Rachel’s has a friend (Hollie) whose husband trains dogs for the Salt Lake SWAT team. Maybe he’ll help me train Mitzi to be a SWATproof team canine. Also, I need to step up the German language training now that she’s starting to (presumably) get out of the puppy stage.

How are your doggies?

Winners, 2010 Wyoming Ice Block Film Festival

admin — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:06:45 +0000

Luke, Tyler and I drove up to Afton yesterday to enter our Zombie film into a Wyoming Film Festival. Though there were other competitive entries, we managed to come away with a first place. Thanks goes out particularly to Katie Roberts, film-maker/organizer, for putting on a grand festival. The fine citizens of Afton were very welcoming and affable. Thank you!

road trip vlog

admin — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:53:12 +0000

Film Festival Road Trip

admin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 23:14:14 +0000

Yeah, we entered our Zombie video in another Film Festival. This one in Afton Wyoming.

Trip stats: (from Highland, UT)
227.77 miles odometer
100 max speed
3h25 min moving time
66.5 moving avg
10min 27 sec stopped time
63.2mph overall avg
6253ft elev

UPDATE: GPS WAYPOINTS from Highland to Afton