Musings of the Technical Bard » Engineering

R.I.P. John McCarthy

Taliesyn — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 04:14:30 +0000

Yesterday, John McCarthy, one of the fathers of modern computer programming passed away. John McCarthy may not have received as much notoriety among tech people as Steve Jobs did, but he was perhaps more influential. McCarthy developed LISP in 1959, based on Alonzo Church’s lambda calculus, for use in artificial intelligence research. My contact with …

Mark Cuban on Patent Law

Taliesyn — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 03:06:04 +0000

Mark Cuban has a very good post recommending improvements to the patent law system. While his reference is clearly the US patent system, this applies to most of the patent laws around the world, including here in Canada. I would add one more thing to Mr. Cuban’s short list of fixes. While he focuses on …

On Computer Simulations and Reality

Taliesyn — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 15:48:07 +0000

Today, I was directed to a very good article, But It Worked in the Computer Model, on why complex computer models, of any subject, will usually contain errors and not provide a good analogue to reality without a lot of real world experimentation. It also explains, tangentially, why many students coming out of universities with …

The problem with “Alternative Fuels”

Taliesyn — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 15:27:00 +0000

I will admit that I am employed in a field that is heavily tied to the energy sector, which may bias me towards it, although I hope not as much as some might think. I am not against alternative energy sources. However, I am against massive government subsidies to force convert us, because the track …

On Novel Methods of Oil Sands Extraction

Taliesyn — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 18:21:32 +0000

In the papers recently, there has been story about research at Penn State University about the possibility of using an “ionic liquid”, as a solvent, instead of water, to separate the bitumen in oil sands from the sand. This is an interesting idea, and the news articles made me search out the original source information. …

On Fukushima, Part 2

Taliesyn — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 00:01:52 +0000

I had another thought on the Fukushima incident that I think is interesting. A number of years ago, I read an interesting book called “To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design“. While a short book with only a few detailed case studies, it does lay out how failures are a …

On Fukushima

Taliesyn — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 04:04:05 +0000

The Fukushima incident raises a number of questions about the design and operation of nuclear facilities. Most notably: How is it that no one had considered the possibility of a subduction earthquake followed by tsunami in that location? Why were the emergency generators located in the “wash zone”? However, as bad as this incident is, …

On Earth Hour

Taliesyn — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 19:20:33 +0000

Everyone should read Earth Hour: A Dissent, by Ross McKitrick. He makes some very good points. The greatest is right at the beginning and closing: I abhor Earth Hour. Abundant, cheap electricity has been the greatest source of human liberation in the 20th century. Every material social advance in the 20th century depended on the …

The Economic Argument of Crazy Phenomenon

Taliesyn — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 20:08:26 +0000

From xkcd: A very on-point observation of many things… It also reminds me of a quote from Richard Feynman in his Appendix to the Challenger inquiry report: For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.

Science journalists misleading the public

Taliesyn — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 15:26:35 +0000

I apologize to the masses who check my blog on a regular basis (all three of you) – I’ve been busy and the summer hasn’t had much gripping political stuff for me to comment on.. But today I read something I just shook my head at: An enzyme found in the roots of soybeans could …