Much better than the F1

If this is Gundam.

Then this is White Glint.

Which makes it about the hottest McLaren ever.

Interesting

Since every major except two leads *half or more* of its recipients to be dissatisfied with their careers, it might be better to ask why studying chemical engineering or management information systems leads to job satisfaction, and whether we can use the answer to better prepare students of all majors for their lives ahead. That seems more likely to have a positive affect than finding better ways to move humanities majors into fields whose satisfaction level is not much higher.

Responder:

I think the answer to that question is fairly simple. If you study chemical engineering, or management information systems, or accounting, you pretty much know what you're getting into.

That's actually a really interesting question, and that answer can't be the right one. The number 1 reason people in my class are in my class? "I wanted to do engineering but I wasn't sure which so I just picked this one". Oh and there's this tidbit: "I went into enviro because I wanted to do engineering and wasn't sure which, chem was my second choice".

So basically my major is a collection pool of engineering students that weren't sure what they wanted to engineer. I'm pretty sure most of us didn't even know what chemical engineers did until second year.

My answer? *shrug*

If I had to pick...

...a favourite sports car, a true sports car, it would definitely be the GT-R.

First its looks: the lines were from Gundam and the dials from Gran Turismo, a truly Japanese inspired creation. And true to Japanese humility, it's about as understated as a sports car can look.

Haven't your parents ever told you not to judge a book by its cover?

A new Aventador, bright orange and nostrils flared, will run you at least $300k, pack a 6.5 V12, give you nearly 700 horses and get you from 0-60 in 2.9s. The definition of ostentatious.

A new GT-R will also get you there in 2.9s. It will do this while carrying an extra 200kg in amenities and it will do it with "just" 530 horses in a 3.8 V6 and it will do it while costing you a much more reasonable $80k.

The last gen GT-R finished the Nurburgring in 7:26, beating the much more expensive F458 by more than 6 seconds. The 2011 GT-R improves that to 7:24 (semi-wet), just topping the Enzo: the Ferrari built singular-purpose racing machine.

The Enzo does not cost $80 000.

Nor does it have power windows.

So why buy Italian? I suppose if you want to throw money into holes while looking ridiculous (and I concede that there is definitely a market to be tapped in this area), but engineering? Leave it to the Germans. And the Japanese.

Good thing I didn't go into enviro, eh?

I would clearly be the worst enviro eng ever.

Or

We can finish carving vanity portraits of Presidents into mountains.

That's acceptable too.

When the Levee Breaks

There is something to be said about the wisdom of challenging nature.

But part of me thinks it just means we're just not trying hard enough.

We did conquer the Yangtze, right? We did carve a 50-mile channel through Panama, right? If it's not working, it's nothing that we can't fix with more shovels, steel and concrete, right?

If every dollar going to JSFs from the USAF was poured into the USACE, we could build a labyrinth to entrap even the mighty Mississippi. An aegis over New Orleans that'll deflect Category Vs like whippoorwill wing beats.

The Flood Control Act of 2011.

Go.

Go.

Go.

I hear that the DPJ in Japan has cancelled a plan to tsunami-proof its entire coastline. It was projected to take 400 years.

You know what, let's go for it. We have to start somewhere.

So 500 years from now, people can look back.

And think.

Fuck yeah, humans rule.

Applied Math

If I spend $20 a day and get $10 a day and I have a control volume of $100 a day, then that's like I'm losing $10 a day and I'd be out of money in 10 days.

Now lets say I have chocolate coins. If I get twenty coins a day and eat ten, and then I end up with ten coins in my pocket everyday. Except I don't except because some of the coins will melt together, so we add a reaction term.

Now, we can't use it in this form because it's too complex. What we can do is we combine it with what we've empirically determined in Fick's Law. Fick's Law to the rescue!

"Does anyone else get the feeling like they understand everything in this class and at the same time-"

"Absolutely nothing at all? Yes."

Maybe the LPD-17s weren't that poorly designed

Maybe Avondale is just a shitty yard.

I'll go with that.

China

Al Qaeda once sent five terrorists to China: One was sent to blow up a bus, but he wasn’t able to squeeze onto it; one was sent to blow up a supermarket, but the bomb was stolen from his basket; one was sent to blow up a train, but tickets were sold-out; finally, one succeeded in bombing a coal mine, and hundreds of workers died. He returned to Al Qaeda’s headquarters to await the headlines about his success, but it was never reported by the Chinese press. Al Qaeda executed him for lying.

One thousand words

Philip Gourevitch is right.

Right now, the face of the Bin Laden excursion are pictures of jubilant crowds in DC and New York.

If pictures get released, this would be instantly supplanted by the image of a man with a bullet hole in his face.

Lets stay positive here.

Just in case you forgot it was a Bimmer

BMW is infamous for racking up $Texas above a vehicle's base cost through extras.

Using their online configurator, here are the ways of skinning your wallet that I've discovered:

-If you want 19" wheels on your 5-series, you must order the entire Sports package (+$2500 CDN)

-If you want the Sports package on a 535i, you must order the Executive package (+$5400), though the converse is not true. You also do not do this if you buy a 550i.

-Jet Black on your 335i is no charge, but Black Sapphire will cost you (+$800). And Ruby Black Metallic will cost you even more because you have to order the BMW Individual Collection (+$3900).

-On that note, if you want a High Gloss Shadow Line on your 5-Series, you need the Sports Package, or if you have 335i the M-Sports Package (+$3500) and you'd get an M-badge on your boot even though the vehicle is not of the M-series.

I was going to continue but really I can't keep these things straight in my head anymore.

Suffice to say though, the same sort of deal is going to happen if you try to buy a Mini.

Sometimes

Sometimes you find of picture of someone that just nails it.

It's inexplicable; you can't explain it.

But somehow it just catches their essence.

I don't know where I'm going with this.

I'm just Facebook creeping people now.

The space shuttle could use more door guns!

People like to complain about talk about how great the AK-47 is and how much the M16 sucks based on the Vietnam war. Okay guys, in case you haven't noticed, that was 40 years ago and we're on the M16A4 already, it's hardly the same rifle anymore. How about directing the debate towards some real comparisons, like the SCAR or HK416?

A-10s aren't that great. It's not a must-have addition to every air force ever. Remember, they were built as tank hunters, that makes them about as suitable for close-air as an Apache. The fact that Apaches and A-10s are better at the job than F-16s speaks very little to their abilities. What you really want for COIN is an ISR platform with long loiter time and small yield precision strike, oh look, it's called a Predator. And what a coincidence! Turns out that that's the bird everyone's scrambling to buy! Sorry internet generals, I'm sorry it won't come back with bulletholes from 20mm cannon shells, it's only good at doing its job. Alternatively, if you really need a man in your plane, Super Tucanos are what people in the know are actually gushing about, so take your Soviet-era flying battle tanks and shove it.

Battleships are done with. It's over. You know how often they've been called on for fire support with their 5" guns vs 16" guns? Spoilers: it's heavily weighted towards the former. And since their deactivation, the world has only grown more wary of collateral damage so the chances of us actually needing their large rifles again are slim. Besides that, they're unaffordable to operate.