My Day In Photos

I've been bringing the camera along for the ride a lot more lately. Witness today.

Sunrise on Mopac while driving to buy a Wii (failed again, BTW):

Trip to the dog park with Mister Emmet (who chased squirrels the whole time):

Brunch at the Magnolia (24 hour breakfasty goodness):

Afternoon nap, until somebody stole my pillow:

Sunset on the way to JPM's for dinner:

Watching the Resentments at the Saxon Pub:

Looking back on it (literally), I'd say it was a pretty good day.

Boing!

So, David Pogue weighed in today on the classic airplane on a treadmill story today, and started a firestorm in the comments. It was picked up by BoingBoing, and Mark Frauenfelder published my comment on the topic:

A plane doesn't increase velocity by pushing off the ground; it does so by pushing off the air. The ground is just there to keep the plane from falling into the center of the earth. (Think of seaplanes ... they can still take off despite lack of significant friction with the ground). Since the air in this example is no different from a usual takeoff, the plane would push off it and move forward as usual. The difference, however, is that as the plane started to move, the wheels of the plane would turn, and the fictional treadmill would increase in speed to match ... which would cause the wheels to turn faster, thus causing the treadmill to move faster, etc ... a mutually reinforcing system, until the wheels and the treadmill both turned to molten lava (and how fast that happens depends on how closely the treadmill could match wheel speed). Meanwhile, the body of the plane would be busy taking off as usual, unaware of the drama happening below (except, perhaps, for the smell of melting rubber).

So there you have it - the definitive word on the subject. Except for my lack of any advanced degrees in the physical sciences. Anybody want to weight in?

Trail Of Funnel Cake

Last night, Uberjam ran the Trail Of Lights 5k at Zilker park. I, in my infinite wisdom, did NOT run the Trail of Lights 5k.

However, I did get to go a) eat a funnel cake, and b) twirl around under the Zilker Park "Christmas Tree" (not really a tree, just a huge tower with lights on it). Here's what it looks like underneath when you're not spinning around:

Here's what it looks like when you are spinning around:

Whoa. Anyway, I managed not to fall over or get sick, despite just having eating said funnel cake (for my fellow yankees, "funnel cake" ~= "fried dough").

Anyway, here are the rest of the photos from the run.

A wii bit disappointed

Last night, Uberjam and I tried to go get a Wii at Walmart. When we got there at 10:30, there was already a line of people (waiting outside in the cold, for some reason I don't understand) to get a Wii at 8am the next morning. We gave it a moment's thought, then decided that we'd be OK waiting a bit longer. So instead, we went to get some food at the Magnolia:

And I'm going to sign up with NintendoFinder.com to see if I can get any better info on where to get one. I'll let you know if it's worth the $6.50.

NoWriMo

So, you may remember that I started out November participating in NaNoWriMo. Well ... I didn't make it. I got about 15,000 words in (towards a goal of 50,000) before realizing I was absolutely bat-guano crazy.

BUT ... I did make 15,000 words, which is pretty good. I actually like a lot of what I wrote, and I think some of the characters really had promise. But as it turns out, writing a cohesive novel with no idea about the plot or purpose when you start is ... well, tricky.

So, goodbye novel. Maybe I'll see you again next year.