It is also, as I found out Tuesday, the amount South Korea has to violate their disputed sea border by to provoke North Korea into throwing a temper tantrum [1].  Suppose South Korea moved its entire border up into North Korea’s territory by 0.001 millimeter.  How much land could they possibly gain?  To answer that, I pulled up Google Earth, busted out the path tool, and traced the path along the border…

As you see above, the border spans for 279,650 meters.

Multiply this quantity by 1*10^-6, and you get 0.280 square meters.

There are 10.764 square feet per square meter, which means that South Korea has 3.01 square feet to gain.

Even at the most expensive real estate market, the land would be worth $13,305.19.

If you ask me, North Korea’s temper tantrum looks like an attempt by Kim Jong Il to compensate for something.  Whatever that something is, its dimension must be 0.001 millimeter.  I have a feeling that this government will collapse from sheer stupidity.  Either that, or a shellackin’ from South Korea and its allies.  Here’s hoping North Korea’s military and nuclear capabilities get disabled with minimal loss of life.

[1] http://www.npr.org/2010/11/23/131530509/2-dead-after-north-korea-shells-south-korean-island

On the ground, some of us have lost cars to accidents.  If not, some of us have been involved in a fender-bender.  Or how about those road rage-inducing near misses from that dumb # who needs to learn to drive?  The consequences of those are far less severe than if they were to happen in the air.  Even near-misses are not acceptable in the eyes of the aviation industry.

What about automation?  First of all, I need to recognize the ingenuity of those who are able to make the airplane fly itself and perform a precision landing.  However, the last time I checked, autopilot is not considered critical for safe flight.  What is critical for safe flight, then?  Per FAA AC 25-7A, section 25.1351, it consists of the attitude, direction, airspeed, and altitude indicator, communication systems, and navigation systems, to name a few.  Even when it is near-impossible for the automation systems to fail, I still want every, single pilot to know how to manually control an aircraft.

While in the cockpit, a pilot has to not only maintain control of the aircraft and be aware of the outside surroundings, but also listen to radio transmissions coming from several different radios, tune them to the proper frequencies, and not forget about keeping a keen eye on the engine instruments.  That takes a special level of maturity.  It takes a special level of maturity to uphold the passengers’ trust.  And, it takes a special level of maturity to remain level-headed and take corrective action until the very end.

Given the way I have seen people drive, I do not envision flying cars for the everyday folk.  And given the things pilots have to do in the air and the coordination that must take place between the pilots in the air and the controllers on the ground, I stand firm in my belief that only licensed pilots should be allowed to take to the skies.

Figure 1: Almost there…

My Facebook was not affected because I was not logged in, but Facebook will prompt for a log in.  After a bit of clicking around, one is likely to see a “security check” requiring them to take a survey (read: Sign up for spam offers), as shown below in Figure 2:

Figure 2: Fake “security check.”  Most “are you human?” checks are done with a Captcha.

So, what can we learn from this?  Let’s look at Figure 3 below:

Figure 3

In essence, only pages residing on facebook.com should be liked.  If someone “likes” a link that takes you outside Facebook, it is SPAM!  Do your part in keeping Facebook cool!  Report these spam links by clicking “Hide” on these links and “Report” them as “Spam!”

After paying off my student loans, I got myself a Dell UltraSharp U2410 and an Ergotron LX Dual swing arm.  Installing it turned into a weekend project as I made my desk just so.  Well, here’s “just so.”  You’ll see in the below pics that most of my wiring is hidden on the sides.

Remember this addition to the Texas Constitution that got approved over 3:1 back in 2005 (Proposition 2, adds Section 32 in the Texas Constitution)?

The constitutional amendment providing that marriage in this state consists only of the union of one man and one woman and prohibiting this state or a political subdivision of this state from creating or recognizing any legal status identical or similar to marriage.

During one of my rounds through the Internet before heading off to work, I came across this article: http://www.star-telegram.com/local_news/story/1770445.html It became a conversational bit I carried to work with me one day, and I got some very good discussion out of it.  Some think it’s a politician’s ploy to get support from the LGBT community.  One person believes that if this were to come up in court, the intent of the law will settle things and precedent would follow.  There was a consensus, however, that it could’ve been worded better and more well-thought-out.  Before banning gay marriage, perhaps divorce and infidelity should be made illegal first.

I’ve been told to lighten up.  Whoever tells me that needs to give me a flashlight.

Many people, including myself, disagree with some of the things President Obama is doing.  But for the last time, you do NOT create a Facebook poll over whether he should get killed, pray for his death, or show any dispositions of violence against the President.  Remember, folks:

Source: Uncyclopedia*

Rationally, these threats of violence only serve to dilute whatever these people have to say.  I have trouble justifying why I have to take those people seriously.  Some of them claim to be speaking for God, but the God I know is loving and non-violent.  That is probably too liberal for some people (http://www.conservapedia.com/Conservative_Bible_Project), and they seek to change it.  Well, from sinner to sinner, I refer you to Revelation 22:18-19.  It means the Bible is NOT a wiki that you can change willy-nilly!  Luke 23:34

While on the subject of government and religion, I got into an argument one time with someone over gay marriage, and it struck me when someone said that “our country was founded off God.”  While this may be true, the reason why the Plymouth sailed here was to escape the state-established Protestant faith.  The First Amendment of the Constitution and my interpretation of the Bible (which this entry describes very elaborately) reinforce my belief that divine and secular authorities are to be isolated from one another.  Besides, with the divorce rate the way it is, I feel that marriage is, more importantly, an exclusive, lifetime commitment between two people.  This means no mistresses and no divorces.  The government should only see it as a legally-binding partnership between two people that confers various benefits and responsibilities and nothing more.

Random thought: What if Mahmoud Ahmadinejad developed oil refining capabilities in his country instead of his current nuclear aspirations?  That, I think, would have been a better action because I think it would be likely to bring more economic stability to his own people.

* The above logo is a parody of MPAA’s “You Can Click But You Can’t Hide” campaign.  The text said “Illegal Downloading / Inappropriate for all ages.”

In essence, my idea is for the lenders and borrowers to make a new loan based on the new appraised value of the home.  More specifically, it works like this:

Suppose the borrower has already paid off x% of the mortgage at this moment.  Thanks to the subprime crisis, the house is now worth significantly less than the original loan value.  When the “teaser rate period” expires, the bank writes off the old loan and makes a new loan with the principal starting at (100-x)% of the appraised value as determined no more than one month before the expiration of the teaser rate.  Ideally, it should be a fixed rate loan with a rate that maintains what the borrower is paying at the present time.

By doing so:

• The bank loses because it’s another write-off.  Write-offs = BAD.
• The bank wins because it gets to eat a substantital amount of the prepayment and charge a higher interest rate on the new principal.
• The borrower wins because they will not have to go through the inconvenience of moving and can continue paying the amount they have always been paying.

If I have time, I’ll try to contrive an example.

Sometimes, I feel like I am missing out on something because I do not have a mainstream item.  There is no doubt that we all have desires, but it’s the motive and method of satisfying or controlling our desires that places us in our situations.  It is one of the many ways we are accountable to our actions.  With respect to money issues, I heard accusations such as the notion that the only thing that matters is the bottom line and that people’s appearance of being affluent is riding on credit.  The latter came from my Dad; and as much as I resent hearing his opinions every now and then, there are times when he is right.

It all started in June when I was an orientation advisor.  Then, Countrywide was the poster child of the trouble that was to come [1].  It was called, “the subprime meltdown.”My Dad blamed people who consistently go over budget to buy things that will get people’s attention.  While he is right to a certain extent [2], those who extended these lines of credit must also shoulder some blame as well.  Indeed, they must ask themselves whether increasing their bottom line was really worth it after all.  Whether you believe that there is a deity out there, you have to admit that there is some larger-than-life force that is holding us all accountable; and until we repay our debts and change our ways, prosperity would be something very, very hard to obtain.

As it stands now, I feel extremely blessed — my parents owe absolutely nothing and are able to pay for my education one-off, even in this time of financial difficulty.  People continue to be impressed by what little I have and how much I am capable of doing.  Will I be able to imitate their success?  I hope so, and I think I am doing a good job at it.

References:
[1] http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a9WrgkMoBpyI&refer=home
[2] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22379989/

Ultimately, Christmas is a great time for friends and family to gather.  For Christians, it is a time for us to commemorate the birth of the Saviour who took on the world’s sins and to strive to follow Him by repenting.  If I don’t show up with presents, just remember that I still care about you.  Happy Holidays!

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• Creating a better alternative for cheaper
• Presenting all the choices to the end-user
• Being willing to meet other vendors halfway
• Enabling the end-user to pick and choose a solution that would work for him/her.

From making mistakes installing the nVidia graphics card drivers on my computer numerous times, I have finally learned the magic sequence to do things without ever touching the Restricted Drivers Manager.  I call it the 10-Step Program to 3D Acceleration:

1. Install OS
2. Update.  If there is no kernel update, skip to Step 6
3. Reboot (into the new kernel, obviously)
4. Uninstall everything that has to do with the old kernel, install build-essential
   
5. Reboot
6. Install graphics drivers and configure accordingly
7. Reboot
8. Test 3D acceleration
9. Install programs
10. Restore files (if any)

The Restricted Drivers Manager will tempt you to click on it twice, but ignore it like an itch and it will go away.