International Hijinks

So it was me, a Korean, a Japanese, an Indian and a Hong Kong native; we were in a Korean fusion restaurant.

Things got really awkward when the waitress came and the only person who can speak Cantonese was in the washroom.

Just for fun we were like, "sorry we don't speak Cantonese..Korean? Can you use Korean?"

"Sorry no Korean"

So I had to use my Mandarin..

We were still conferring in English though: "Ask them if they have soju" "What the fuck is soju in Chinese? ..uh..有韓國白酒嗎？" lit. is there any Korean liquor?

When our Hong Kong guy came back, the properly confused waitress complimented him on his Cantonese.

"Uh..thanks, I'm from here"

I'm waiting for F1 to reintroduce gas turbines

I think a gas turbine electric drive would be great for F1. I know it was tried before, but I think those cars were just ahead of their time, we have the technology now to exploit their potential.

As one might know, gas turbines are not very efficient. That's one disadvantage. And it's exacerbated when the engine is running off peak load as the massive compressor takes a lot of energy to run even on idle.

Another is the response lag when throttling a turbine engine.

There is a big advantage to gas turbines though: they have incredible power to weight ratio.

So optimally, you want to be running the turbine at its peak load all the time. An electric drive allows you to store energy when you don't need it, and delivers massive torque. It's a great combination.

Of course, F1 wouldn't be so eager to change their rules. But it's cool to think about.

Art used to be a lot easier to explain

You know, back in the day, nobody asked what was the meaning behind a piece.

Obviously, a rich guy really wanted a picture of himself to hang on his wall.

Or the Church wanted something to praise the Lord!

None of this examining the interdependancy of man and nature as it changes due to the influence of technology on our society as viewed through the lens of deconstructvist humanism..

And it's a fucking Platonic solid on a podium.

Canned Responses

"Where are you from?"
"Richmond Hill"
"Oh, Chinatown"

"Where are you from?"
"Markham"
"Oh, Chinatown"

"Where are you from?"
"Vancouver"
"Oh, Chinatown"

"Where are you from?"
"Scarborough"
"Oh, Chinatown"
"No, you've been out of touch, it's not Chinese anymore!"
"Oh..right, browntown"

Soccer fever

Strangely enough, seeing Cha Bum-Kun kick a soccer ball through a ring of fire on a farm field on running man after being 25 years retired has increased my respect for soccer players more than anything else.


He unexpectedly showed up after they called his wife on the show earlier as a joke. The challenge was actually intended for Park Ji-Sung who was standing beside him.

Is it that..

..Tiffany and Seohyun have been getting too much air time in other songs so they need to even it out with everyone? Except they still need Taeyeon and Jessica to carry?

Note to self

What did the carrot say to the wheat?
” ‘Lettuce’ rest, I’m feeling ‘beet.’ “
What did the paper say to the pen?
“I feel quite all ‘write,’ my friend.”
What did the teapot say to the chalk?
Nothing, you silly . . . teapots can’t talk!
~Shel Silverstein

Do not play jack
With the Jaguar cat--
You’ll never ever best her.
If she don’t win,
She’ll start to whine.
If she gets an eight,
She’ll pick up nine--
She’ll say she didn’t,
But you’ll know she’s lion--
She’s such an awful Cheetah.
~Shel Silverstein

I heard that Katrina
The Cook was a witch,
But me, I’m such
A stupid kid,
I yelled, “Hey! Katrina,
Make me a sandwich,”
And ZAP--
She did!
~Shel Silverstein 

How many slams in an old screen door?
Depends how loud you shut it.
How many slices in a bread?
Depends how thin you cut it.
How much good inside a day?
Depends how good you live ‘em.
How much love inside a friend?
Depends how much you give ‘em
~Shel Silverstein

Everything leaks

It's just a fact of life that if you have kilometers of piping and hundreds of gaskets, something is going to leak. We expect things to leak.

Refrigerant loops, just like your refrigerator at home, are supposed to be closed loops. It just circulates in a compression cycle forever. If you look at the refrigerant circuit at a natural gas liquefaction facility (huge pipelines, some of the largest in an LNG train), there's basically no reason to drain anything in operation. But you can expect refrigerant make-up to be supplied every week on the order of tens of tons. Obviously small in comparison to the system inventory, but quite a lot considering it's all being lost through leakage.

Steam circuits (used for heating) are also closed loops. The condensed steam that goes through any heat exchanger against hydrocarbons are sent through an elaborate system for cleaning before being boiled again. The default assumption is that there are constantly leaking exchangers, otherwise there'd be no need to spend millions of dollars on a continuous purification system when you could just install a hydrocarbon detector that trips the plant.

Cooling water circuits don't need this kind of cleaning. The water drains out pitch black after months of circulation.

So I guess what I'm saying is, if any PR promises that some petro pipeline stretching across a continent isn't going to leak, don't believe it. It will leak, the question is just how much.

Wow good thing I don't manage the Thunder

Clearly they're doing better than the course I plotted:

1) Russell Westbrook takes regular season off
2) Kevin Durant goes HAM
3) ???
4) Championship

Moer like ASS of angels

I've decided that now AoA is basically the most lascivious kpop band ever.





Also, there's a cat.

Something gonna blow up..

I found out recently that common practice with onshore facilities is that if an equipment is provided with a pressure safety valve, then a high pressure interlock¹ is not needed. This sounds like such a bad idea.

On it's face it sounds okay.

Except experienced process designers don't do this work, these kind of tasks get passed down the chain.

So I sure hope my classmates did a good job with their PSV sizing calculations back in their second year work terms...


1) A high pressure interlock would be a controller that acts automatically to isolate the vessel from the source of high pressure, e.g. closing inlet shutdown valves

Interesting how different people mark their drawings

And my own:

Kind of safety critical

I think there was a study by DNV that was like, 25% of all PSVs are improperly sized.

How could this be?

Oh wait, the PSV calculations were probably all done by interns!

Well no shit then.

International Airport Reviews

YYZ - Quite good actually, the T1 waiting areas are comparable to what you'd find in airport lounges, minus the wait staff and free buffet. Unfortunately, Canadian weather always delays everything.

HKG - Also quite good, automated immigration lines (insert your card and swipe your finger print) and basically no tariffs mean getting through customs is a snap.

NRT - Official airport of "sorry, we can't get any flights to Haneda, is Narita okay?"

CGK - Worst airport ever says everyone I've come across, how fitting for the worst city ever.

I know how to improve Exid

Throw away everything except the house beats and the chick that raps.

How I would manage the Thunder

Russell Westbrook takes season off to recover, comes back in 2014 with a 5" higher vertical.

Kevin Durant gets Lasik, comes back with an 8% increase in efficiency.

OKC tanks this season without KevBrook for the 2014 draft.

CAN'T FAIL

I would say yes to that dress

Fair Point

"One technical thing - the Eastern Med is pretty crowded, will the USN want to take an Ohio that close to a Udaloy on patrol, then use 154 Tomahawk launches to provide a datum in a confined area?" 

People might be taking for granted an appearance by the USS Break Shit - Get Out herself.

That's the money shot

The Red Comet Kick:



Char Aznable's most famous attack in Gundam history