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Man on the road

I first saw it Tuesday night, when we were leaving the movie theater. At first glance it looked like it could be a garbage truck, though another look revealed it was some sort of small mobile home. Also it was a brand you don’t see on this continent – Man. I recognize it as a European truck maker, but couldn’t say where in Europe exactly – I have seen some British trucks with that brand name (in movies or pictures, not personally) but that doesn’t prove where they are made. It was dark though … I presumed the owners must be at the restaurant next to the theater, but that’s all I could say.

When I went to work the next morning they were parked in the Wal-mart parking lot. Getting a look at the back side, I saw a web address at about bumper level: http://www.manontheroad.de/ Well, that answered one question – they were German tourists of some sort, but how they got a European brand of motorhome to Findlay – or why – was still something of a mystery. So of course I looked it up when I got home …

Apparently they are traveling North and South America – parts of their travel blog are images and thus don’t translate when you change languages. The last few comments have them heading West through New York then Ohio, but I didn’t look to see if they have an itinerary on there somewhere.

Being right along a major freeway, I’m used to tourists – even seen some cars with Alaska plates. And sometimes US cars with various E.U. decals on them. But this is the first time I’ve seen German plates, I think.

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Do you matter?

I’m sure everyone has heard of that group “Black Lives Matter” and have some vague idea what they are about – or at least think they do. I know I thought I did.

Just about this time yesterday I had the radio on while I was getting ready to go to work. Talk radio, WLW out of Cincinnati – I’d actually prefer music but can only get country music where I am right now. Anyway, this guy called in to talk about cops killing black people (which everyone knows is what Black Lives Matter is about) when the discussion took a sudden turn and ended up somewhere in the twilight zone.

I don’t even remember what it was the host had just said, but the caller came back and said “Then tell me why black cops aren’t allowed to shoot white people.” He actually believes that black cops never shoot white people, and that there is some rule or policy somewhere that forbids it (and worse yet, that they would actually follow such a policy). Yeah, the host was completely lost on how to answer that.

Follow this through with me. He thinks he’s a second class citizen – or perhaps even not that good – and that white cops can kill him without any real repercussions while a black cop wouldn’t be allowed to shoot a Klansman or some white supremacist to defend his own life. Which means … we have a black president, but he’s really just a figurehead with no power. (I know there were some black people who thought Obama would change everything and suddenly blacks would be “the man” … but I was never “the man” so that just makes no sense.)

Honestly, I just can’t even get my head around it. I’d be tempted to say his biggest problem is the fact that he himself believes that he’ll never amount to anything (because he believes he isn’t allowed to). Of course, if he believes it, then he never will, but not because anyone other than himself is holding him back.

Sorry, can’t even figure out where to go from there.

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Casey

I’m not sure how to feel. I didn’t really know him.

I have a somewhat convoluted family. My parents divorced after I went away to college. My dad remarried too quickly, they broke up a few years later, then he married again to the woman he is still married to. While I know Susan well I really only know her kids in passing – my stepbrother and stepsister. And of course I know their “significant others” (spouses or fiancees) even less well.

Hard to believe Dad and Susan have been together almost 30 years now. I attended their wedding, and took the picture they still have on the mantle. So when they asked if I could take pictures of Laura’s wedding (the stepsister mentioned above) I said sure, though the date wasn’t exactly set yet. I found his name was Casey – I thought she was still going with Tom.

I met them both in the store since and asked about the date. She said they were still planning for August 19th, but there was a technical detail to deal with first – he wasn’t legally divorced from his previous wife. They didn’t seem to consider it much of an issue, I suppose it must have been an amicable separation as such things go. Though last I heard they were still waiting on the divorce …

And then two days ago my parents tell me he died of a drug overdose. Leaves me wondering how well Laura really knew him – or was the divorce going really badly? Not my right to ask, especially with Laura as distraught as she is (and as I said, I don’t know her that well). So I guess I’ll probably never know.

From where I stand, it’s a terrible mess I am probably better off not being involved in. But if I see her in the next month or so (not unlikely), what do I say – if anything?

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Competition

I think I should ask the city council to change the signs outside town, the new ones to say “Welcome to Fantasyland”. This can’t be real, though it all has logical explanations.

The minimum wage in this state is $8.40/hour, and there was a recent court case that a city could not declare a higher “minimum wage”. But here in Findlay, that cart-pusher at Wal-mart makes $12/hour. Earlier this year Wal-mart raised their basic rate to $10/hour except at the two stores here in town. Why do we get $12/hour? Well, because Findlay has more jobs than people. As long as I can remember, we have had the lowest unemployment rate – and that’s for at least 30 years, The most common sign in town reads “Now hiring”, and Wal-mart corporate decided the only way they could hire adequate staffing was to pay more. Of course, now that we are paying more, we’re taking away the people who were earning less at other jobs …

Not enough to convince you yet (about the Fantasyland name)? Okay, yesterday at my store milk was selling for $1.09 for a gallon of any variety (whole, skim, 2%, even chocolate) and large eggs for $0.49/dozen. Why? Because we need to at least match or even beat other stores in town, and there is one particular “discount store” in town that insists on undercutting us. We match them, they drop their price, then we match that – your basic “price war”.

Speaking of “price war” though, the price of gas is cheaper on the other side of town. The gas station at the Kroger (large grocery chain in this area) versus the Speedway station across the street, both charging 20 cents less than other stations here in town. Okay, not quite like the price war we had 10 years ago – here in Findlay the price of gas never got over the $4/gallon mark.

Ten years ago was when the second Wal-mart opened (the one I now work at) along with its gas station, as a grand opening special they decided to undercut everybody in town by 10 cents a gallon. Probably work well against the typical independent gas station, but Findlay has something you don’t find too many other places – its own oil company. While Marathon is not as big as BP or Exxon/Mobil, it is big enough – and they weren’t going to be undercut. So when the national average hit $4/gallon roughly a month later, we were about 50 cents below that. And yes, for a change the company stations were all below the independents.

So you see, it all has an explanation – in fact, it all has the same explanation. But I’ve had customers tell me they are certain our prices must be the lowest in the entire country, hence the new name … it just can’t be real, right?

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The sound of music

Around here, we used to have a hearing aid commercial that started “Do you have trouble understanding conversations?” I don’t need a hearing aid, but I do have trouble understanding. It’s just the way my brain is wired. I hear music.

Put me in a noisy store or restaurant, and my brain picks out the background music first. Most people can’t even tell it’s there, but I know exactly what song it is you’re not hearing. And of course, if it is one of my favorites I may even sing along – and I have lots of favorite songs. (Needless to say, whoever I’m actually with may find that somewhat disconcerting.)

I guess it’s something like stuttering – which I suppose would make sense. I’m sure it’s before your time, but back in the 1970s there was a TV show named “BJ and the Bear”. BJ was a truck driver, the Bear was his pet monkey. Anyway, in one episode they were driving around a famous country singer who happens to have a terrible stutter. Talking and singing involve different parts of the brain, and therefore most stutterers have no particular trouble singing. My parents tell me that when I was young they had to coach me to talk slowly because I had a tendency to stutter though I don’t recall it.

Along the same lines though, the store I work at has switched from disks to a streaming music. Yes, they call it “Wal-mart Radio” though it is not broadcast. The disks got repetitive for those of us who work there – even if it’s 6 hours of music (and usually it was shorter) after a few days of hearing the same songs in the same order every day you get tired of it. But the streaming music has a different problem … it doesn’t stick to the correct tempo. I’m not sure how it is actually encoded but it’s not like vinyl or the old audio tapes where if you change the speed the pitch also changes – the notes stay the same, but it just gets faster or slower. To me, that’s even worse than being repetitive as it violates the song itself – though most of the people I’ve mentioned it to say they can’t tell. It’s not sudden, but if you were trying to sing along you’d find it wasn’t quite where you expected it. (Which of course is why it bothers me – even if I’m not actually singing, I am singing along in my head.)

It can take me a few seconds after someone says something to figure out what they said, and sometimes I even have to ask them to repeat it. Maybe I should ask them to sing it?

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The eagles

No, not them …

I took my first break Friday a little after 3 PM. I came around the side of the building – where they have a bench for us to sit on – and noticed a large bird sitting on the light pole. As I continued walking, the bird took off and headed for a small tree next to the highway. I was struck by just how large it actually was – larger than a hawk, falcon, or buzzard – then noticed another leave that tree and head to one further south (closer to the river). At about this point I decided the only bird of prey that big in Ohio would have to be an eagle (a Canada goose would be similar in size but wouldn’t roost in a tree or on a light pole). Then the first one also headed for the river, and for a few minutes they were both in the same tree.

Since they seemed to be getting along, I decided they must be a mated pair (as opposed to one chasing the other to scare it off). After a few minutes they headed West along the river, and I quickly lost sight of them.

Eagles are pretty rare in this part of the country, but not as rare as they once were. There are several places where they have been reintroduced, and last I knew there was a pair nesting over near the reservoir … say, somewhat over 5 miles east of us (you could probably call it 10 km and be pretty close). Somehow, I doubt that pair would have flown so far through town – even if they were following the river – so I’m supposing this must be another pair, and that they have or will soon set up a nest somewhere on our side of town. Most likely West of here – while Findlay does have lots of trees in town I think they prefer fewer humans.

Hopefully I’ll be seeing them again – perhaps even when I have a camera handy.

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Calculators – compare and contrast

As a college math professor – 20 years ago – I made it my habit to know how every calculator worked so that if a student asked “… but how do I get that answer on my calculator?” I could answer. Mind you, if it was one of the stranger types of calculator I’d tell them to see me after class so as not to confuse everyone else, but I had over a dozen calculators so that I usually was familiar with theirs. Perhaps not the specific model, but a similar one by the same company.

While I no longer teach professionally – I was too “laid back” to handle the students who didn’t want to take this class – I still keep current, and in my old My Opera blog I had several posts about what was then a new calculator. While you unfortunately can’t look back at that blog today (I may eventually decide to repost some of them here), that doesn’t mean I won’t continue to do that.

About 4 years ago, Casio became the first company to offer a graphing calculator with a color, PDA-resolution screen with its CG-10 (also called the fxCG-10), I got my hands on one about a year later. I was quite impressed with the display and some other features, but did have some reservations … especially with entering problems when in their “textbook” mode. Mind you, it is very nice to have the problem look like in a textbook – superscripts for exponents, complex fractions (with operations and not just numbers in the numerator and denominator) and so on – but trying to enter expressions to make them look like that is another thing entirely. Okay, the HP-48G could take normal input and make it look like that over 20 years ago (yes, I had one then), but that was aimed at more technically-inclined users. The CG-10 was designed to compete with the TI 83 or 84, the HP-48 was more like the TI 89.

Anyway, fast forward to today. TI has decided to face Casio square on with the new TI 84Plus CE (as in, “color edition”). Apparently they decided to also copy the “textbook” display and its associated input method (though in fairness it can be disabled in either calculator). Not being in the classroom today I really can’t say if their target market is ready. If they’ve used some equation editor as included in word processors then they’ll figure it out quickly enough – or if they’ve used other Casio calculators in “textbook” mode. Otherwise … well, my supervisor at work was given an overstock Casio (not one of the graphing models, but with “textbook” display) and couldn’t figure out what to do with it. (I switched it to traditional mode, and she still uses it today.) So … well obviously I’ll have to compare this new calculator to the Casio CG-10, as that is clearly who TI is copying.

Okay, physical first. They are roughly the same width and height – the Casio has a slight wedge shape (wider at the top, narrower at the bottom – no idea why) while the TI is your typical rectangle. However, the TI has non-removable batteries and therefore is only half as thick: minus the slip cover and the fact it has actual keys it is typical thickness for a tablet. In fact, it is similar in size to my Nexus 7 – not actually as wide, about an inch narrower, and as the Nexus 7 was known to be thin for a tablet the TI is thicker than that. Oh, covers: the TI has a slide on cover, the Casio cover snaps into place.

Keyboard … Casio features enlarged number keys. The bottom 4 rows are only 5 keys across and are huge squares; the remaining keys are actually round and are in a grid 6 across by 5 high (excluding the gap where the cursor pad is). The TI … the number keys are only slightly enlarged and all the keys (except the cursor pad) are rectangular in a 5 wide by 10 high grid. Both calculators use 2 modifier keys, on the TI they are called “2nd” and “alpha”, Casio has “shift” instead. Keyboard layouts are completely different (as far as which functions are where), but of note: TI dedicates the top row to graphing-related keys, Casio uses them as function keys (to navigate the menu system). On the TI, alpha along with the top row keys does act as a function key, but they aren’t used much by the system.

So you turn it on, and … well, the very first time you get the setup/mode screen where you could disable “MathPrint” (TI’s name for the textbook-style display), set the clock (which isn’t normally shown anyway), change the language, and more common things like fraction format, angle mode and so on. Apparently they couldn’t resist putting everything on one screen as they use very small print. (Still readable given the higher resolution, but somewhat cramped.) Make your choices then press “clear” to go to the normal work screen.

On the work screen, you notice that text there is smaller on the TI as well. The mode indicators at the top appear kind of bland, white text on a dark gray background (while the rest of the screen is white with black text). The battery status indicator (the only actual color on this screen) is twice as large as the mode indicators so the status line is about twice as large as the text of the mode indicators. Okay, type something simple: 1+1 (enter). The answer is to the right and below your input, and it helpfully draws a dotted line below the answer (above where you’d type the next problem). Print is smaller than on the Casio and also not as fancy; things like square roots actually do look like they’d appear in a textbook on the Casio while the TI has a somewhat simpler font. On the good side, you could see up to 5 problems and answers at one time on the TI, if the problems are all on one line. If you throw in multi-level fractions and exponents, you could make a problem where you can’t see all of it at one time – well, in theory anyway. Maybe it would show an error if you get too carried away; I haven’t tested that.

Looking over the keyboard, you may notice that “EE” (exponent entry, for scientific notation) is actually a second function (requires pressing 2nd first); on the Casio it is a base key (though they call it EXP). While the TI will display results in fractions if appropriate, the actual function to enter a fraction isn’t on the keyboard (it’s on a menu you reach by pressing alpha F1). The Casio does have some editing functions similar to a text editor – cut, copy and paste – but is designed to select subexpressions rather than text. That is, if an entry were 1+2×3 then you couldn’t copy just “1+” or even “1+2” (in the latter case, since the order of operations says you have to multiply first then add). The TI is limited to copying previous entries or results then using the cursor pad and DEL (acts like Backspace on a computer).

 

I guess I’m going about this all wrong, I’ve written all that and basically only turned the calculator on. The manual on either of these would amount to at least the length of a novel, no way I’m going through all that. So let’s try listing differences:

The textbook mode on the Casio not only does fractions but also leaves square roots (up to 2 terms – after that it converts to a decimal) and will rationalize denominators, and will also factor out pi (if for example you’re in radian mode and ask for the inverse sine of 0.5). For that matter, it always writes a 0 in front of the decimal point (as my teachers insisted was proper, 0.5 rather than .5) – the TI doesn’t.

The TI can graph standard y=f(x) functions, polar equations, parametric equations and sequences – but not all at once. You can define up to 10 graphs and select from any of 15 colors and a variety of line styles. The Casio lets you mix and match types – say, graph both a function and a polar equation to see if they look the same – but only uses 5 preset colors. Though it will also draw inequalities as well (there’s a separate app for inequalities on the TI).

Menus on the Casio use the function keys F1 to F6 – if there are more than 6 choices then F6 becomes a “more” item. Menus on the TI cover up the screen, and use either the cursor keys or corresponding accelerators. In principle I like the function key approach (that is, not covering the screen) better, but I will admit some items don’t fit well in the limited space.

Both calculators come with additional “apps” – on the Casio they are on the Menu screen, the TI has a button labeled Apps. Examples include an app to graph general conic sections, an app for statistics, an app to solve polynomials and simultaneous equations and so on.

I don’t know … the Casio certainly does a bunch of things that the TI doesn’t, and (theoretically) costs less – I say “theoretically” because when I bought it, the TI was on Back-to-school sale for $88, but isn’t actually listed on Amazon or Walmart.com yet. On the other hand, I’d hate to carry around the Casio (or any graphing calculator with standard AA or AAA batteries); there is something to be said for thin and light. And who – other than us teachers – still rationalizes denominators anyway?

(Answer: if you are going on in math, you need to understand how to rationalize denominators to do some problems in Calculus. But that’s you understanding it, not some calculator.)

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Max – not the movie

I was coming from the restroom heading for my first break when I saw this big man with a little brown dog in the kiddie seat of his shopping cart. For those of you not from this country – since the Americans with Disabilities Act it isn’t all that strange to see animals in the store. You’d expect the occasional “seeing eye” dog to assist a blind person (though as dogs can’t read and labels aren’t generally Braille they’d better have some human assistance as well), and I’ve seen one dog intended to provide mobility assistance. But the most common are actually “therapy dogs” for people prone to panic attacks and whatnot. Obviously this dog wasn’t in either of the first two categories, so I presumed it was another therapy dog. It had a black kerchief with a paw print on it around its neck and some sort of harness with a red metallic tag on it on the back. I decided based on the kerchief it must be male, so I said “Cute little guy” as I passed in the other direction.

Here in Ohio you are not allowed to smoke in any place of business (unless the business primarily sells tobacco) or even within 20 feet (a little over 6 meters) of any of the doors, so there is a spot on the side of the building where we go for our breaks. I noticed an orange and black Harley Davidson (in a flame design) parked just around the corner of the adjacent building (a shoe store) and was thinking that wasn’t a great place to park … some people come around that corner pretty quick. Fortunately it was Sunday and the day after Independence Day, so there wasn’t really any traffic.

About 10 minutes later, who do I see walking over but that big man and his little dog. I make a comment along the lines of “So he’s a biker dog!” and we chat for a while about how rare it is for dogs to ride motorcycles and so forth. I find out that his name is Max (supposedly Maximus Aurelius after a character in the movie Gladiator, but Wikipedia says Maximus and Aurelius were two separate characters), that the red metallic tag reads “Emotional support animal” as expected, that Max has 4 siblings but he’s the only one who likes to ride.

I never asked the man’s name, but he says he’s a former cop who was forced to shoot someone in self-defense and dealing with that is why he has a support animal. I make a comment that shooting someone in self-defense isn’t exactly limited to cops, but I’m not a therapist so I figure I’m better off not pursuing that further.

Anyway, Max rides in a chest carrier though apparently he’ll rest his paws on the gas tank. He used to have a pair of “doggles” (doggie goggles) from a company in California of that name but really wasn’t fond of them and had knocked them off somewhere – he had another set coming. I make a comment that I do work for the store, but as long as an animal is well-behaved it’s not my business to verify whether or not they are service animals. (And yes, Max was very well-behaved.)

Obviously I last saw Max in his carrier headed for wherever, and I wish them both well.

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Christmas myths

It’s after the fact now, but I just ran into so many myths and misconceptions I just had to write something.

Whether or not you are a Christian, you know that Christmas is a holiday originally intended to commemorate the birth of Jesus, whom we call Christ (anointed one). You should also know that he was born in Bethlehem in Israel (at least, so the Bible says). There is also a reference to an event that supposedly occurred at the time – a census – and to the fact that Octavius (aka Augustus) Caesar was emperor. But there is no actual date given, and there is a lot of debate.

Consensus seems to be that he was born in what we would term 6 B.C., not in “the year 0”. There was no year 0 first off – the concept of 0 was invented later. There were a couple of astronomical events around that time – a supernova that became what we know as the Crab Nebula and also a planetary alignment, either of which may be the basis for the story of the Star of Bethlehem – and just in terms of other known events they think he must have been born then.

Was Jesus even born in December? Not likely – at least, not if the story of the shepherds is to be believed. They wouldn’t have been out watching their flocks at that time of year. Again, people who claim to be experts say that is more likely to have been in April or thereabouts.

So, why do we celebrate Christmas in December? Because they wanted to celebrate it sometime, and nobody knew when it really was – and because various “pagan” religions had some sort of celebration for the winter solstice, for the “return of the light” (the fact that the days were beginning to get longer again, in this hemisphere anyway).

I’ve heard a few Christmas songs even refer to snow at that time, but of course there is no basis in the Bible for that. Even if Jesus had been born in December, just how likely is snow in the Mideast? I suppose there’s a few mountains there somewhere which may get snow once in a while, but certainly none on the plains of Bethlehem.

I won’t even get into all the later myths surrounding Christmas – Santa Claus, flying reindeer and whatnot. It’s all good fun, but no one really believes there’s a thousand year old man in a red suit living at the North Pole.

But I mean, at Christmas Mass they began with an invocation that started “On December the 25th, in the year …” and they do know that isn’t true. I am a Christian, I certainly believe in commemorating the birth of Jesus, but I will not pretend it was actually on December the 25th.