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Gerritt's Homepage Classic - September 2003 gerritt.net WHEN WILL GERRIT STRIKE AGAIN? September 29, 2003. 1:15 AM It seems lots of people are joining the domain name purchasing revolution. Both Bret and Tom have now switched their web pages to http://www.projectbs.org and http://www.tomssportsnetwork.com respectively. (I guess tspn.com was taken by someone advertising teaspoons.) Daryl's page, to whom I credit my entire internet journal career, has also been under his own name http://daryllang.com/ for quite some time, as has Alex's picture page http://www.web.alexsperry.com/. Me? Well I'm sticking to my filebox account here at Tech because, well, its free. When I graduate and get my $150,000 signing bonus, buy myself an Audi, and then I'll probably buy a cool website, like www.gerritt.com, or www.glang.com, or www.gritman.com. Or maybe something random, like www.wheresyoursalad.com or www.thatchicken.com. My first name is so unique, though, that I'll probably just get something cool but still easy to remember. Like this guy, who spells it only a little bit wrong, but has the right idea. I've yet to find anyone on the internet who spells their first name like me except for an actor, Gerritt Graham, who's been on a few TV shows, but not much else. I was, however, quite excited when my Ship Dynamics professor told us that one of the primary authors and contributors to ship motion theory was J. Gerritsma, who co-wrote a paper on ship resistance in 1967 with a man named W. Beukelman. It makes me happy to know someone with (close to) my name is a front-runner in my field. TWO BECOMES ONE September 25, 2003. 1:15 PM For those of you who missed it, like me, Tuesday was the official first day of fall. I guess that's why its now allowed to be 38 degrees here at night, and 78 in the day. Plus we get to set our clocks back in a month to "save our daylight" or something. What are you gonna do with the hour that doesn't count this year? This thing scares me. The latest in a battle of technology versus copyrights: Kazaa (powerful peer-to-peer internet song-swapping software) is now countersuing the RIAA (Recording Industry of America) because they used unregistered and unauthorized versions of its software to tap into the Kazaa network and catch people stealing copyrighted music. Kind of ironic that Kazaa is suing RIAA for copyright infringement, isn't it? SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED September 22, 2003. 11:45 PM Some of you may have seen the newest commercial to promote Pepsi Vanilla, especially those of you who watch Monday Night Football each week. In this particular commercial, a guy in a Pepsi Vanilla truck pulls up next to a guy in a Vanilla Coke truck, who proceeds to turn up his radio and make like he's all that. (The song he's blaring, by the way, is the ever-so-80s REO Speedwagon classic "Ridin' The Storm Out". Horrible.) Then, dudeman in the Pepsi Vanilla truck throws a switch on the dash, big rims pop out of the tires, the side doors fly open and reveal a huge bank of speakers, and the driver sips his choice of vanilla-flavored colas and smirks at the Coke truck driver while his system blares some rap song. Then, it gets stupid because the Pepsi truck proceeds to start bouncing on a hydraulic system like a tricked-out Cadillac, popping mini-wheelies as it drives away through the stoplight. It might seem "awesome," like the Coke driver says at the end, but both you and I know what happens when you bounce a bottle of soda around like that. It explodes as soon as its opened. So the next time you're at 7-11, remember how Pepsi treats their bottles, and buy a Coke, or something less risky, like a Snapple. WELL BLOW ME DOWN September 19, 2003. 9:15 AM Hoooo-weee! No hurricane is going to come to Blacksburg and stop our football game! No sir. Last night, under the lights, was the most stunning display of what night games in Lane Stadium are all about. The Hokies dominated on both sides of the football, and their fans made more noise than anything I've ever heard in my life. Part of that was because hurricane Isabel is now upon us, and brought steady rain, 35 mph gusts and temperatures at around 60 degrees. Still, the stadium was packed, and we let Texas A&M know why Hokie football fans are the best in the country. The stadium is shaped with very steep stands, so the sound of us yelling on third downs bounces down the funnel and onto the field, and its usually enough to confuse the opposing team into doing something stupid. Night games always get the crowd into a frenzy, and bad weather even more so. So you can imagine what a crazy time it was. My friends, today is the kind of holiday we've all been waiting for. Today, is Talk Like A Pirate Day. I don't know why these guys decided to create this day, but its gone through the roof. Everyone here at school knows about it, and pretty much most people I've talked to are getting their "arrr!!" in tune for today. What a great idea. That was a clever remark you or I just made! And now, Cap'n Gerritt Kidd's Homepage. BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES September 18, 2003. 10:55 AM Are you afraid of hurricanes? Are you afraid of blizzards? How many packs of batteries have you purchased since the hurricane warnings were issued? Packs of toilet paper? Bottled water? Do you know anyone named Isabel who you now harbor a new level of hatred for? It seems folks around the mid-atlantic are bracing for a giant storm, what we on the Atlantic side call a hurricane, and what our friends on the Pacific call a typhoon. A hurricane is a common name for a tropical cyclone, which is basically a storm that doesn't move with normal frontal weather patterns. Isabel, the ominous, looming, giant storm creeping towards us as I type, is brimming up Category 2 winds- meaning the winds near the eye are sustained between 96-110 mph. Last night on the CBS evening news, a reporter was sent down here to Virginia Tech, and strapped himself into our Stability Wind Tunnel, then told the engineers to crank it up to 110 mph of wind. While he was standing there, he could barely stand- at 60 mph. And he couldn't speak loudly enough over the wind at 80 mph. When the tunnel speed hit 90 mph, they had to put subtitles in so we'd know what he was saying over the howl of the tunnel. And his skin was flapping backwards and all. It was pretty cool. Around here, we're not expected to get anything more than heavy, heavy rains and 30 mph winds. Oh yeah, and its expected to hit hardest at about 8 PM tonight, right when we'll all be out at the football game against Texas A&M. A DIFFICULT DECISION September 17, 2003. 1:15 AM I was recently faced with some difficult decisions as a leader at Wesley this semester. I am in charge of a discussion of a popular movie and the Christian influence on the plot. Initially, my sights fell on the 1999 movie Dogma, directed by Kevin Smith who also created Chasing Amy, Clerks, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and a few others. It was brought to my attention, however, that this movie might not be altogether appropriate for an organized Christian setting. While I definitely can't disagree, its really hard for me to ignore a movie like this just because it has bad words and violence in it. I've seen it, and its just silly to try and say that the movie contains anti-Christian messages. If anything, it represents a stronger faith than is represented by most Christians in that it teaches us to love God, regardless of how we go about it. Isn't that what's really important? I just wish it could portray the same message without the vulgar content and offensive nature of the plot. Of course, its really a difficult film for believers to watch and not think twice about, which is exactly why I was hoping to get a good discussion out of it for my program. And its chock full of profanity. And it makes fun of pretty much everything Christians stand for. But other than that, its a great film for us, right? When you begin to challenge your faith is the point at which your faith will grow strongest. I firmly believe it. This should be an interesting discussion on Sunday. Oh, by the way, we chose the sci-fi thriller Signs as our movie for discussion instead of Dogma. However, I left a copy of Dogma on the VCR at Wesley for anyone to watch if they're interested. We'll see how it goes. OOH TRAFFIC JAM, GOT MORE CARS THAN A BEACH GOT SAND September 15, 2003. 1:15 PM This weekend, six of my friends and I traveled up to Maryland to go to the Renaissance Festival and to see Dave Matthews Band in concert again. We had a great time, although it seems most of the weekend was spent in or around the car. The drive up was great, Trivial Pursuit cards can keep us occupied for hours. Then, we met Ben's parents at Outback in Ellicott City for dinner Friday night, and ended up waiting about 2 hours for a table at the busiest Outback in the country. On Saturday, we drove from the RenFest to Nissan Pavilion, near Manassas, which took about 2 hours in the car, and after the show it took two and a half hours to get out of the parking lot and another 2 to get back to my Dad's place. Yeah, it was 3:30 AM by then. But enough complaining. It was a great group of people with whom to be trapped in a parking lot for 2 hours, and Dave put on an amazing show as always. We actually got to sit inside the pavilion instead of on the lawn, which was a nice change. At the RenFest it was Scottish weekend, so Ben, Otey, and Ben's dad wore kilts, which is about the funniest darn thing I've seen in awhile. Oh, and I got engaged, then I didn't show up to the wedding an hour later. I'm sure she's heartbroken. Pictures from the weekend to be uploaded soon. "DADDY, LOOK, THEY'RE DOING IT ON PURPOSE." September 11, 2003. 11:00 AM  September 11, 2001 8:46 AM: American Airlines flight 11 hits north tower at an estimated speed of over 400 mph. Duration of impact: 12 seconds, Richter scale magnitude: 0.7 9:02 AM: United Airlines flight 175 hits south tower at an estimated speed in excess of 500 mph. Duration of impact: 6 seconds, Richter scale magnitude: 0.9 9:37 AM: American Airlines flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon. F-16s scrambled to intercept the flight are just 12 minutes away. 9:59 AM: South tower collapses, duration of impact: 10 seconds, Richter scale magnitude: 2.1 10:03 AM: United Airlines flight 93 crashes into the ground in rural Shanksville, PA, nearly 100 miles from the White House. 10:10 AM: A portion of the Pentagon collapses 10:28 AM: North tower collapses, duration of impact: 8 seconds, Richter scale magnitude: 2.3 12:36 PM: President Bush tapes a 2-minute statement to be aired minutes later on national TV: "Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward." 5:20 PM: WTC building 7 collapses, duration of impact: 18 seconds, Richter scale magnitude: 0.6 8:30 PM: President Bush goes live to tell the nation of the thousands killed, and the response of the United States. September 11, 2002 "Those who attacked us had no idea how deep the American spirit runs. I think our grief, rage and resolve have surprised even us. One year later, that might be the most resonant lesson of all. America's resilience— the depth of this nation's character— should never be underestimated." - Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani September 11, 2003 "I'm concerned that we're forgetting Sept. 11, 2001, a little bit too fast." - Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani HAIKU FOR YOU September 10, 2003. 12:00 AM Finally Friday Mel comes to visit the 'burg Three days worry free Football, tailgate, sweet Crowds scream, shut out, streamers fly Hokies win again Auditorium See O Brother Where art Thou? Delmar cracks me up Sleep in until noon Say our goodbyes much too soon More school already? OE Lab is cool Got to spend time on the lake Didn't catch a thing Now its getting cool September sure comes fast, as the homework piles on... ITS ELECTRIC (BOOGIE OOGIE OOGIE) September 5, 2003. 1:00 AM This evening I got to see a great band called Acoustic Syndicate perform at the Lyric. They brought their crazy bluegrassy roots fusion music to Blacksburg in a great long frenzy of jamming, and we totally got our money's worth. They took the stage at 8 and didn't start their encore until 11, only taking about a 20 minute break halfway. It was great. I'd call them bluegrass, but then they jam too much like hippies; and I'd call them rock but they harmonize and pick like hillbillies. They also experiment around with electronic equipment, reverb, and distortion like jazz musicians, but I wouldn't call it jazz. So I'll just call them awesome. Their lead singer and guitarist, Steve McMurry, could flat-pick like no one I've seen, and their banjo man, Bryon McMurry (second cousins), was a great picker and singer too. He also broke out a new instrument to me, the electric crossover banjo. I can roughly equate this to the banjo's equivalent of the electric guitar, though its tone is farther off from an acoustic banjo than an electric guitar is from an acoustic. Bela Fleck plays one of these, and it kinda sounds like a banjo, only, not as wholesome and woody like a banjo should. I'm glad that Bryon only used it once or twice in the show. When I was in high school I played the upright acoustic bass, and during my senior year the school bought an electric cross-over bass made by Zeta instruments. It was part of the electric orchestra that consisted of all the pieces of a string quartet played on Zeta electric string instruments, which can be amped, balanced, or even distorted. I got to play it at Disney World on a stage next to Space Mountain. Now that, was awesome. IN THE GBJ, WITH THE REVOLVER September 3, 2003. 11:55 PM Somewhere around 1886, someone somewhere decided that a normal push/pull hinged door wasn't good enough to get into a building, and that they were tired of cold air gushing in and blowing their papers around or something. So along came Mr. Theophilus Van Kannel, an inventor. (This was back when you could make a living inventing stuff, I guess.) Mr. Van Kannel patented the world's first revolving door, and installed it in the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia. Originally invented to prevent cold air from entering and blowing through a building, a revolving door uses 4 equally spaced panes of glass that pivot around a central point, thus preventing both the inside of the building and the outside air from being open to each other at the same time. Nowadays, revolving doors are found mainly in very tall buildings like skyscrapers because they prevent a significant pressure change, which causes the gust of wind that screams by when a door is opened in a building. This gust is created by the large amounts of heated air rising upwards and pulling cold air in from outside when a door is opened. I've been through a bunch of these, including the huge kind that move on their own. So tell me, given the choice of the two, would you take a normal push-pull door over a revolving one? I worked in a large office building in Arlington this summer that had a revolving door flanked on either side by two normal doors. I never once used the revolver nor ever saw anyone else use it. Why? Because they're scary and weird, that's why. There's too much to think about, too, like: you should always go one at a time, and always push at the same speed as the person in front of you, and never stop moving, and wait your turn, and all. They might be efficient for ventilation's sake, but certainly not for people lining up to push through them. Here in Blacksburg, I can only think of one revolving door, which is by an entrance to the G. Burke Johnson Student Center (the GBJ). This building is only three floors, and is certainly not enormous inside. All the other entrances are vestibuled, so why did they decide to put the revolver in? I wish I could find someone who knew the answer. FOOTBALL!! August 31, 2003. 9:00 PM Please indulge me, I must talk briefly about... FOOOTBALLLLL!!!!! See, here in Blacksburg, home of the Virginia Tech Hokies, football is a way of life for the entire fall semester. Currently ranked at number 9 in the nation, and soon to move up, the Hokies draw 65,000 insane, screaming fans to Lane Stadium for their seven home games this season, plus they draw a national TV audience for all their games. This afternoon saw the beginning of Virginia Tech's run for another fantastic season, as the University of Central Florida brought their 'A' game to Blacksburg. Now 0-1, UCF floundered in the first quarter, as the Hokies quickly took the lead and protected it throughout the game, scoring 28 unanswered points. By halftime, however, the Golden Knights of UCF had found their sweet spot against the Hokies second-string defense, and the score got as close as 28-21 in the beginning of the fourth quarter. However, Tech got back in the game and scored another 3 touchdowns unanswered, taking the final score to 49-28 with the Hokies on top all game. We love Hokie football here at VT, and most students find a way to make it out for every home game. Today's game, with the off-season additions to Lane Stadium, saw the largest crowd ever to fill the seats, 65,115 voices shouting with every play. Marcus Vick, the younger brother of NFL star Michael, came in to give starting QB Brian Randall a rest.. after he'd completed 12 of 14 for 169 yards in the first 20 minutes of play. Vick went 7 for 10 in the game, and capped his first drive with a touchdown handoff to Kevin Jones, who also played an amazing game. This season shows great promise for the Hokies, and just 4 years after their run for the national championship, led by big brother Vick. Next Saturday at 1:00, James Madison comes to town. Enough said. |