Stealth bomber

Now this is funny ... or sad? In 1990, the U.S. AirForce unveiled its newest long range bomber: The B-2 "Stealth" bomber had cost billions to develop. It was characterized by its all-wing design: The analysis included a ritual for finding the volume distribution that maximized the range. The ritual involved taking a derivative and setting it equal to zero. Conclusion? The volume should be "almost all in the wing". Hence the B-2. Alas, the engineers who recommended the all-wing design neglected to test the second derivative ... to see if'n they found a maximum or a minimum. It turned out (as discovered subsequently), that the all-wing design MINIMIZED the range of the aircraft. Indeed, the flying wing was, aerodynamically, the worst possible configuration. Now, if'n I only had that story at my finger tips when I taught introductory calculus!

 

BLOGs

Once upon a time I joined cruisecritic.com Many participants have really slick web sites where they describe their cruising adventures. Alas, others would like to have such a site ... so I wrote up a ritual for creating a BLOG: http://www.gummy-stuff.org/blogspot.htm For some (mysterious) reason, links to my tutorial (and even entire posts) got changed / deleted. How I detest over-moderated forums and over-zealous moderators.

 

the DOW

Wondering if the market is recovering, I check the DOW stocks and compare their recent prices with some moving averages and 52-week lows and highs and see the "best" and "worst": Max (Price/50day MA) 1.20 BK OF AMERICA CP P/E=30 P/B=0.8 Min (Price/50day MA) 0.99 PROCTER GAMBLE P/E=12 P/B=2.5 Max (Price/200day MA) 1.69 BK OF AMERICA CP P/E=30 P/B=0.8 Min (Price/52week Lo) 1.11 WAL MART STORES P/E=15 P/B=3.0 Max (Price/52week Hi) 0.96 3M COMPANY P/E=18 P/B=4.6 Max (Price/52week Lo) 7.08 BK OF AMERICA CP P/E=30 P/B=0.8 So what does one see? Bank of America has really recovered, its stock being 7x its 52-week low ... and it done good compared to its moving averages. Aah, but it's got one of the largest P/E ratios of the 30 DOW stocks. Check it out.

 

DOW vs the World

Every morning (when the markets aren't having a holiday), I check the Asian and European market indexes: http://money.cnn.com/data/premarket/ They're open before ours, eh? I'm hoping that I can tell whether North American markets will open Up or Down. Who influences whom? Of course, I've already investigated the possibilities: DOW vs the World ⊗ If foreign markets are Up (or Down) early one morning, will the DOW open Up (or Down) that day? ⊗ If the DOW closes Up (or Down) one day, will foreign markets open Up (or Down) the next day? Alas, I never learn! I can't tell nothin' from foreign markets.

 

Paperless toilets

I recently posted to CruiseCritic.com, on a thread concerned with toilet paper on cruise ships. There was an animated image of a paperless toilet. My post got removed. Since some were asking where it went, I stuck it on my web site: Click! When the thread became VERY popular among those who appreciate toilet humour, I couldn't help meself: Click!

 

Weight stuff (again)

I've become fascinated by the mathematical gesticulations associated with metabolic rates and weight loss. I've been playing with the Harris-Benedict equation Then I watched a TV special on fractals and, lo and behold, there's yet another magic equation ... Kleiber's law connecting the Energy expended to maintain a certain body Mass: E = k M3/4   where k is some constant The interesting thing about this one? It (supposedly) applies to everything from roaches to rhinos. If by Energy we mean calories ingested, then when we apply the magic law to Homo Sapiens, it suggests that a reduction in caloric intake is associated with a weight loss like so: See the blue dot? It says that a 10% reduction in caloric intake should (eventually) result in a 13% reduction in mass weight. . I've memorized the numerical values involved with the chart and, at every opportunity, mumble in crowded elevators: "Eat 10% less, weigh 13% less ..." I might point out that Kleiber's law is NOT universally accepted. Some suggest a 2/3 law instead, like: E = k M2/3 That's like saying that Energy requirements depend upon surface Area whereas Mass depends upon body Volume. That is (dimensionally speaking): E = C1 Length2   and   M = C2 Length3 ... so E = k M2/3 Anyway, using 2/3 gives the gray graph.

Popups

The story about the Banff pop-up squirrel reminds me of this one.

 

Banff squirrel

 

Contest

In January, 2009, we started an investing contest. A bunch of us began with $100K and posted our trades whenever we bought or sold. At the end of each month we reported our portfolio balances. On Jan 6, I bought 60,000 shares of GCE at $1.65, paid a $15 "trading fee" and was left with $985 cash. ** In March I decided I was tired of things financial ... and dropped out of the contest (tho' I still keep track of monthly balances). Today, I took a peek at what my portfolio would be: $248K Mamma mia! Why did I drop out #!@%&$? ** I had originally said WTN But they is both Canadian coal companies, eh? In fact, I alternate 'tween WTN and GCE in my personal portfolio.

 

Weight Loss

I've been on this weight loss kick. I have no idea why nibbling works ... tho' it sho nuff works for me. Now I discover that rats normally nibble. However, if'n they're fed just three meals a day ... they get fat ! Click!

 

JibJab

I can't get enough of that JibJab stuff. Heidi asks: "Why are you laughing?" I says: "JibJab!" Our GRANDdaughter, Anna   Ain't she cute?

 

more TFSA

I has mentioned earlier that Heidi & I got us each a $5K Tax Free Savings Account. Click!. That was a month ago (tho' I bought mine earlier). It's been great fun for each of us to buy & sell our favourite stock ... a Canadian coal stock. We watch it go up and we watch it go down. Today, Heidi's TFSA is worth $7K and mine is worth $9K. Whooeee!! We've been looking for something to buy with our gains:

 

more on Weight Loss

Okay, so I'm trying to lose weight. I've written 'bout that before: click! There's this formula for the calories required to maintain your current weight. You consume more than this number and your weight goes North. You consume less than this number and your weight goes South. I figure it's worth providing some mathematical hand-waving to see what reduction in my daily calorie intake would lose, say, 10 pounds. I did that here Aaah, if'n I could only believe what it says. A simpler (and less appealing) calculation goes like so: ⊗ A pound of body fat is worth 3500 calories. ⊗ Ten pounds of body fat is worth 35000 calories. ⊗ At 100 calories per day, it'd take 350 days. That's close to a year. Fat chance!

 

JibJab: Debbie and kids

JibJab is great fun!! I did this for Debbie and Johnny: Debbie, Johnny & kids

 

Nibble all day

Once upon a time I went on a diet. Well, not exactly: I took magic pills to curb my appetite ... or burn fat ... or something (I guess)? Weight Loss more on Weight Loss Anyway, nothing worked very well, so I told Heidi that what I needed to do was "nibble all day". So I fixed a bowl of kidney beans, salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano, olive oil and vinegar. That's like -- Italian dressing. The bowl sat quietly on the kitchen counter -- with a tablespoon stuck into the creation. Every time I got a little hungry, I'd have a spoonful. Next day the kidney beans were replaced by chick peas ... then corn and green beans with maybe pieces of celery or lettuce. By dinner, I was full -- but managed to finish off the last of the concoction. Did it do any good? It seems so. I never feel hungry and lost 10.9 pounds in 9 days. At that rate, in six months I'll be lighter than air, eh?

 

Guessing Stock Prices

I reckon that, if one stares at historical stock prices, one can have a fun time trying to guess where the price goes next. Indeed, if we have weekly stock prices for some DOW stock (for example), over, say, 32 weeks ... then it'd be great fun to see if we can stare at the price chart, look carefully at the prices themselves, apply one or more of the sexy techniques we find here ... then guess at the price 4 weeks into the future. It's a game, eh? Anyway, it's entertainment for me and the game is described here.