Randpm Thought #46

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there


http://youtu.be/DOKuSQIJlog

Random Thought #45

So a friend of mine at work today showed me a cool app from the Android Marketplace that allows you to scan all of food products' bar codes and it would keep track of everything you had in your pantry/fridge, etc. and it would warn you about expiration dates of that food. It had recipes and would suggest things based on what food you had, tell you when you needed to buy more, tell you what stores had it and where they were located, coupons available through those stores, upcoming ads, etc. Pretty cool app. Anyways, that got me thinking about how bar codes work. I always wondered how to interpret them. Well now I know and its quite fascinating. How UPC Bar Codes Work: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/high-tech-gadgets/upc.htm. How Bar Code Scanners Work: http://www.carolinabarcode.com/how-barcode-scanners-work-a-69.html. I'll let you read the articles yourself, but the cool thing about the bar code system is how they were designed to account for every possible situation that might cause a uniform system to break. Think about it, if you just used the numbers which the bar codes represent, it wouldn't work upside down, sideways, or any other position. The genius behind bar codes is existent in several forms.

1. It looks the same no matter where you scan it. You can scan it at the top, bottom, in the middle. It looks the same throughout.

2. It uses binary to convey its message (black and white; 1 and 0)

3. It has a variable checksum digit based on a standard algorithm (uniformity with flexibility). This allows it to be scalable, although it may need to be reformed if there are too many products using UPC bar codes

4. It has a start and end position telling the program when to start reading and when to stop.

5. It uses the reflective properties of the white spaces and the absorption properties of the black spaces to covey its message. Very old school and very effective.

Its just amazing what a mundane and yet commonplace technology has behind it. I hope you enjoy the articles and learn something from them. I certainly did.

Random Thought #44

I read a funny joke/pun today that has to do with chemical engineering and physics so I just had to share it, even though most of you will be totally nerded out by it.

Two hydrogen atoms met. One says "I've lost my electron". The other says "Are you sure?" The first replies "Yes, I'm positive"

LOL....love it!

Random Thought #43

I just recently stayed at my sister's house and she had a candle burning on her table. I, of course being the nerd that I am, was fascinated with the candle and began to be confused as I couldn't figure out how the candle actually worked. Logically, the string should just burn down to a stub and the flame should go out at the base of the candle. The wax itself is not flammable and if you burn a piece of string by itself, it will char and shrivel up into ash. So, since a candle is nothing but wax and a piece of string, how do candles work? Well, I looked it up and I'm happy to tell ya.

The wick is absorbent and absorbs the melted wax into itself. The heat from the flame turns this liquid wax into wax vapor and that is what actually burns. When you blow a candle out, you see the white smoke left over. This is condensed visible wax vapor. If you were to touch a lit match to the white smoke, it would travel back down and light the candle again. So why doesn't the wick burn? Well, the liquid wax that it absorbs helps cool it and protect it. If you've ever boiled water in a paper cup over a campfire, it works the same way. I have to correct myself. Paraffin wax is combustible but only at much higher temperatures so it just melts from the hear of the flame. So that's how a candle works. Pretty cool huh? Wonder who thought of that.

Random Thought #42

Wow!!! Its been quite awhile since I last posted anything on my blog. Many of you have asked if I was still doing my blog and I'm grateful because that means somebody is still checking it. For those of you who have been looking forward to my randomness, I'm sorry. I've been kinda busy. We had a new son recently along with family visits and my grandpa passing away so I haven't had much free time to write down my thoughts. I have been thinking though and I thought I would share a little interesting nugget of information I found out today. When talking about doctoral degrees from a university, MD means Medical Doctorate, JD means Judicial Doctorate, but does anyone know what the Ph in a PhD stands for? Well, today I found out it stands for Philosophy. That's right. Doctorate of Philosophy. Interesting huh!! How did I stumble across this little bit of information? Well, I've recently had an epiphany as to what I want to be when I grow up. I'd like to be a university professor or chemical engineering or physics or something like that. Just learn and teach. Getting kinda fed up with the 8-5 routine. So I'm looking at going back to school. Since my current degree is in IT, I need to start from scratch, but this time do it with 3 kids, wife, house, and full time employment. No problem right? Well, at least I can get the company to pay for it, now its just a matter of finding the time. Oh Dear!!