Words On Wednesday

Cruises are awesome and the duty free shop is crazy. But perhaps the craziest thing of all is how well social manipulation can convince you to buy a product you have no interest in: namely, mango flavored tequila. Name: Rock N Roll Mango Tequila Source: Rock N Roll Tequila Style: Tequila ABV: 32% Price: $52.99 (estimated) Volume: 750ml Price per oz: $2.09 We went on a cruise over spring break and it was awesome. The food was incredible, the ship was really cool, and I got to leave the country for the first time in my life. It gets a full 7/5 and absolute recommendation. One of the things we did while on the sailing days was visit the duty free liquor store. It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize why the store had such weird hours: it’s only open while the ship is in international waters. Makes sense, you can’t exactly ignore national tax laws unless you’re in international waters. I digress. The first night or two on the ship, one of the display bottles got my wife’s attenti...

In the past few months, I’ve built quite a few different things with some tools, some lumber, and my own two hands. I guess I’m becoming something of a casual woodworker. One quick and easy project that I definitely see myself completing again is this neat little  Leopold bench that’s super quick, super cheap, and super sturdy. The “ Rogue Engineer ” Jamison Rantz has some incredible woodworking plans with very detailed instructions and a cut list that you would have to actively try to mess up. You buy the lumber, mark it according to his diagrams, and cut it. It literally doesn’t get any easier. The one note that I would provide is that an 8’ board may not be EXACTLY the advertised length. Ours were something in the ballpark of 8’1” and I ended up shaving a little bit off the end of each to get exactly 48” for the seat and back. If you wanted to really maximize the size of the bench and minimize waste, you could measure the boards and cut them exactly in half (provided the two bo...

This one time, I went to a pizzeria that was definitely a mafia front, but I made it out alive to tell the tale. We were in Myrtle Beach on vacation. My wife (girlfriend at the time) and I went with my mother and her boyfriend, and my cousin met us down there with his wife (also girlfriend at the time). Because of the generational gap, cousins and spouses decided to hang out for most of the trip and leave my mother baking on the beach. We played mini golf, went to arcades, and just generally had a good time together. One evening, the four of us were out together when my mother called and asked if we could bring her back some food. She didn’t want whatever adventurous food we were having, she just wanted a pizza. And not just any pizza, she wanted something from a chain restaurant that you can get anywhere. We decided to entertain her request for pizza, but we weren’t getting her food from Domino’s or whatever she asked for. We were on vacation. She was getting something we don’t have a...

As a follow up to last month’s military-oriented book, I decided to read another military piece in the form of Chris Kyle’s autobiography “American Sniper.” It serves as an interesting lens into the life of a Navy SEAL both in and out of the military. The book gives an account of Kyle’s early life, his enlistment, his tenure as a SEAL, and a bit of his post-military activities. If you’re a military buff or want to know more about life in the armed forces, it’s probably great. Kyle strips out a lot of the Hollywood influence of modern war movies and gives a seemingly accurate representation of the day to day during the Iraq war. Ironic, given Hollywood later made a movie based on the book. I haven’t watched it, but it definitely looks dramatic. Some of the struggles that Kyle details are likely universal to all military members and their families. The brotherhood of military service causes strife with Kyle and his wife, and his mixed loyalties are simultaneously tragic and relatable. Th...

A lot of people in computer science and software engineering share the opinion that bleeding edge is always the best option for any new project. Newer is better, right? I would argue that this isn’t consistently the case. Occasionally newer is better, but often the reliability and availability of documentation makes older technology the superior option. Some people may not be familiar with the term “bleeding edge,” as it seems to be pretty specific to the information technology industry. “Cutting edge” is pretty universal, but “bleeding edge” suggests a step further. Something that is cutting edge may be appropriately described as “latest and greatest;” bleeding edge is even newer, albeit maybe not greater specifically. The difference in my mind is that cutting edge is very new but already widely adopted, where bleeding edge is so new that most organizations haven’t yet begun using it. Bleeding edge technology creators and supporters often tout the vast improvements over existing optio...