Everybody Loves Peter

I just saw that Peter Boyle died yesterday evening. Most of you may remember him best from “Everybody Loves Raymond”, but I will always remember him as I first saw him, as the most lovable Frankenstein’s Monster I’ve ever seen. The last time I saw Boyle he was reading fan mail on “The Mind of Mencia” and causing the audience to wet themselves. I’ll miss you Mr. Boyle, and I’ll remember all the laughter.

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To Err is Human, Just not Desired

For my Industrial Engineering System Design, which is mercifully coming to a close, I had to buy two books. The first and most expensive I already reviewed. The second much less expensive book was Set Phasers on Stun: & Other True Tales of Design, Technology, & Human Error by Steven M. Casey. Yeah it’s a long name. This book is a collection of 20 stories told by Casey. He uses them to demonstrate disastrous interactions between humans and design choices. Each story offers a different example of how easily a seeming innocuous design choice can cause reactions and outcomes that are completely unintended. The book is well written and Casey makes the stories entertaining without being too long. It’s a good reads for any engineer, and most people that would like to understand why testing and iteration of designs are so important. Throwing technology at a problem doesn’t work unless the technology is used judiciously with the user in mind. It makes a good case for why Industrial Engineering is important.

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Food of the gods

I finished the next Star Trek universe installment of “The New Frontier” series by Peter David. Gods Above is really a continuation of the story from the previous book, Being Human. The Excalibur has been severely damaged in battle with life forms that purport to be the ancient gods of Greece, Rome, Norse, Native Americans, and other pantheons, and two familiar crew members are dead, or are they.

The book covers the weeks taken to repair the Excalibur and return to duty. The body of one crewmember, thought to be immortal, was destroyed while trying to protect another crew member from the vengeance of the gods, but she may still not be dead. The very special crew member she tried to protect, a descendant of the gods themselves and responsible for Calhoun rejecting the gods’ proposal, lies in sick bay with a hole in his chest and no life signs. However his body shows no sign of degradation or even a definite cause of death. He appears to be stuck in between seconds. This all came about because of a battle with the gods of old that started when Captain Calhoun declined to entertain bringing their gift of ambrosia to the Federation and launching a new golden age. All the gods wanted was a little prayer, some sacrifices, and adulation. Really, is that too much to ask? After their rejection by Calhoun the gods move on to set up shop on a nearby world with a population that embraces the calming, strengthening, health improving, life extending properties of the ambrosia. The real questions are what do the gods really want, and how do you fight something that can pass as a god and draws power from worship itself?

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Beginning of the End

I’m in a bit of a celebratory mood today. I turned in the final group project report for the Industrial Engineering class that I’m taking. It was about 30 pages long and we’ve been working on it for most of the week. The past 2 nights I haven’t gotten to bed until after 2 AM. The class has been sucking up more time than a normal 4 credit hour class usually would. Now all that’s left is the final presentation on Friday and the exam on Monday. But for now the hardest work is over. And that means I Am going to celebrate a little. And I should also have time to finish the book reviews I’m late on.

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