July 25, 2007
Ejection Seats
My time in government service officially came to an end on Tuesday. I worked for a bit longer than the two years strictly required by the National Science Foundation program, but towards the end I was really having fun with the work and my brain was being given some challenges again. Alas, more money and the love of my life have drawn me north, to the Eastern Washington/Northern Idaho area. The work seems like it will be even more engaging; the folks I interviewed with are top-shelf.
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| RFID tag or wiretap: you decide |
My last week or two was kind of a harrowing experience. A strange bug-like device showed up outside my apartment, possibly put in by police, possibly not. It seems to be an RFID tag, packaged inside of a metal button that looked something like a watch battery. Strangely, I took it to security on my base before I handed in my badge -- they figured it to be RFID yes, and part of a home security system. They didn't want to bother with it any further. So much for all that paranoid training they make government employees click through as part of the job requirement. Though in all fairness, they (I hope) know better than I about this stuff.
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| Captain Jay at the controls over La Jolla |
After my last real day of work, I did what any sane person would do: I went flying. My housemate got his private pilot's license the day before (Tuesday, July 24th). We went over to his aero club and hopped into a Cessna 152^W150 (the 152 had a fouled plug during engine load testing, so we had to get a different plane). We flew out to Ramona and did a few touch-and-goes on their airstrip, did a few manuevers east of San Diego, and landed comfortably back in Montgomery Field. I was Jay's first official passenger as a pilot. It was definitely a comfortable ride, not at all the white-knuckler (as one would experience riding with a first-time driver, for example).
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| One last look at Mission Bay |
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Further back...
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Previous Trips...
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Hiking Mount Whitney, 2007 
Spring Break in West Virginia, 2005
New Year's in Paris, 2003-2004
Coming to America, 2003
Protesting in Berlin, 2003
Prague Bier-Tour, 2002
Dresden, 2002
Recent Reading
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The Curve of Binding Energy
John McPhee follows famous physicist Ted Taylor in this piece that was -- and probably still -- ahead of its time.
Originally published in 1973, McPhee outlined the coming security and environmental issues surrounding the plutonium enrichment processes. For the most part, though, McPhee invites the reader to draw his or her own conclusions, although he does point out the ease with which any number of people could obtain the material (though not necessarily the manufacturing prowess) to make an atomic weapon.
The question still sits in my mind after reading -- are we being too paranoid, or not paranoid enough?
Rated 
by reid
on October 01, 2007
by reid
on October 01, 2007
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Zodiac
Zodiac touts itself as an 'eco-thriller,' and it is just that. Told from the first-person perspective of ST (or Sangamon Taylor), the book recounts a roughly six-month period of his life busting big corporations for violating environmental laws.
Not the tree-hugging political activist type, ST is equipped with chem labs, scuba divers, maps, and an organization (GEE International, the Group of Environmental Extremists) that masterfully brings the press into the fold to scare the public with the very real dangers posed by illegal dumping. It's sort of a Sierra Club member's wet dream -- a band of ecowarriors that actually get things done.
ST finds something odd happening in Boston Harbor during his tale: a new form of pollution that could poison everyone on the planet in a matter of weeks. His quest to uncover exactly who and what is causing the latest spike in toxins goes all the way up to the President of the United States, and could end up costing him his own life.
While a neat and fast-paced tale, the novel drags on a bit toward the end, begging disbelief from even the most forgiving sci-fi folk. While not as good as his latest offerings, it's still a great read for those that enjoy a good Stephenson novel (or even those who don't).
Rated 
by reid
on July 17, 2005
by reid
on July 17, 2005
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Cat's Cradle
A few years ago, I attempted to woo an online datee, and she immediately criticized me for my politics. I protested the war on Iraq, which was "a shame." She defended her position of complete noninvolvement by standing behind Vonnegut.
It may seem odd to open a review that way. My assumption is now not that she was an idiot, but that she had only read Cat's Cradle, and only with a rather odd viewpoint.
Cat's Cradle looks at a cold-war world where the personifications of religious, political, and scientific single-mindedness collide to destroy the world.
Vonnegut tells a masterful tale, but it makes me wonder what one person's indifference would do to prevent us from all dying? So for now I will continue to unblindly stop unjust wars, even while I'm only reading.
Rated by reid
on July 17, 2005
by reid
on July 17, 2005