Author: Frank

As a child, I once came upon a documentary on the development of the Bell X-1, the first supersonic plane.  Honestly, I don’t remember much from it.  I don’t even remember what the plane looked like.  The underlying and pervasive theme centered around breaking the sound barrier, most of the observed behavior about flight are transformed as your plane approaches the sound barrier.  They needed to build the plane to function differently than other planes of the era.

However, the speed of sound (767 mph) is a natural barrier.  Sonic booms don’t arbitrarily occur; it’s not as if we sweet talk the atmosphere to behave that way for show.  Engineers and pilots navigated and overcame the challenges to building and operating the Bell X-1.  As an engineer, I acknowledge it as a great human achievement, but I also understand that it overcame a natural barrier, not an artificial one.

Continue reading “The mythical four-minute mile” →

On a particularly light-hearted moment, I entered a conversation about organ donation.  Are people generally for or against organ donation?  One response was, “Take everything, I don’t need it.”  This was an incredibly sensible and practical response; it wasn’t mine.  I confessed that the idea of walking around in the afterlife without a couple of key parts, like my eyes and my heart, gives me the creeps.  That’s right, I, who have not practiced Catholicism since boyhood, who aspires to epitomize logic and reason… gets the creeps about not having eyes or a heart in the afterlife.

The response to my confession was a surprisingly good out, “Once you make it to heaven, you’ll be whole again.”  That’s great; it means that in some ways, I don’t need to worry about how my body parts are parceled out.  I suppose that in the other case, lacking my eyes or heart would be the least of my worries.

Continue reading “Assholes in heaven” →

My older sister and I have an ongoing, but distressingly regular, discussion.  When we talk, she often refers to me as “Frankie”; this is not okay.  Our dialogue goes something like this:

Me:  My name is Frank.  Please stop calling me “Frankie”.
Her: I called you that when you were little.
Me:  I know, but I never said that was okay.
Her: I don’t mean anything bad by it.
Me: I understand, but it’s not my name.
Her: It’s a term of endearment.
Me: It’s not if it doesn’t endear me.

To be completely fair, Frank is neither my birth nor legal name; it’s simply the name I choose to go by.  I understand that she calls me that without malice and mostly because she forgets, but the fact remains.  I should be called what I asked to be called.

It reminds me of dialogue from Pretty Woman:

Vivian:  Can I call you Eddie?
Edward:  Not if you expect me to answer.

Continue reading “Montague or Capulet” →

A good friend once asked, “Why do you do it?”  Specifically, why do I jot down these ideas and post them online?  I make no money from presenting unconventional ways to reason through these situations.  Honestly, I don’t know the size of my readership, nor do I really care in many ways.  I write these wacky ideas down because they’re therapeutic, and they help me navigate through these complex situations.

I value my ability to jot down these ideas and express them without fear of censorship (or in some cases, incarceration).  Here in the United States, First Amendment grants you this freedom to express ideas.  However, with that freedom comes the question, “Can my freedom to express my ideas, impinge on your rights?”  For instance, does a bully’s freedom to express themselves (by calling me names as a child) outweigh my rights to live my life free of conflict?

Continue reading “The New Twitter, beyond Thunderdome” →

My fascination with computers started as a teenager.  My Algebra teacher, Ms. Barba, also taught computer programming.  Initially, she guilted me for being so lackadaisical as a freshman, but eventually also encouraged me as I improved and eventually excelled.  As a senior, I intentionally took the Computer Math class because I knew she’d be teaching it.  Subsequently, she got me into two summer programs, one in my high school, the other at the University of Miami.  I do not hesitate to say that I would not be here had it not been for her, and I’m eternally grateful.

She automatically enrolled us into the ACSL (American Computer Science League) competitions.  I remembered the letters; it wasn’t until today when I realized that they stood for.  I’m delighted to learn that it continues today.  In some ways, those competitions piqued my curiosity around computer programming and drove my passion for the field.

Continue reading “The Founding Fathers and the Exclusive NOR” →

I grew up in the tropics.  Initially, I spent my early childhood in the sunny island of Puerto Rico.  I spent the years that followed in the south-east coast of Florida.  Palm trees and sand in my toes were an integral part of my childhood.  Beaches were a common destination and easily accessible.  Even as a young adult, postcards with the silhouette of palm trees on the backdrop of purple and orange sunsets puzzled me.  Why would you send someone a picture of something you see every day?

Naïvely, it wasn’t until I moved from Miami to Seattle that I finally understood that these stunning sunsets are not common, they’re spectacular.  This started my quiet fondness (read as ‘obsession’) with both beaches and palm trees.  Over the years, I’ve collected sand from the beach on my visits back to Florida and at one point even had a Bonsai palm tree in my office.

Continue reading “Snow on the beach” →

As a child of the 80’s, movies and music filled my young high school mind.  Stories of teen angst, conflict, and even victory fed my soul in ways that still linger today.  One such film that contained both inspiration and exceptional music was Vision Quest.  It tells the story of a young high school wrestler, Louden Swain (played by Matthew Modine), who aspires to do something great.  He aims to defeat another wrestler, Brian Shute, who has been undefeated for a number of years.  It’s the high school wrestling version of David versus Goliath.

They filled the movie with countless great tunes, though replayed too frequently.  It takes place in Spokane, Washington my new home state.  The often dark and dank setting matches what I know about Washington and what I have heard about Spokane.  There’s even a scene where Madonna sings live at a bar, possibly for the last time ever, though they never mention who she is.  The music by itself is worth the price of admission.

Continue reading “Athletics, competition, and fairness” →

As a child of the 80’s, my memories are painted by the music and film of the era.  Naturally, among those movies was a little film called Footloose.  There were a number of elements that drove this film’s popularity for those in my age group.  For us, the driving factors were the music and the dance.  While I won’t deny that I found them interesting, the music or dance didn’t persist in my mind.  Neither drove me to watch the movie subsequent times.  However, two scenes kept me coming back.

In recent years, we have learned a new word, allyship.  It’s when a member of a group with higher privilege assists a member of a group with lesser privilege.  Prototypical examples fall along race or gender lines.  For instance, if you watch the movie right around the 1:17 mark, you’ll get right to the scene at the council.  As Ren McCormick, a white male teen, tries to address the council, and a woman, Eleanor interrupts him.  Then the preacher’s wife, played by Dianne Weist, interjects:

Continue reading “Protecting our children” →

Since childhood I’ve had a fondness for superheroes.  The live action choices were poor, mostly decades-old television shows or poorly constructed cartoons.  Still, I learned scattered pieces of superhero lore from these and the occasional comic book.  However, these were the days before internet or even VCRs, so any such programming I’d need to track down from meticulously scanning the TV Guide.

On days when I travel, I’ll often wear a Superman or Captain America shirt that I’ve earmarked for precisely this reason.  An occasional flight attendant will give a nod of recognition with a comment like, “Thank you for flying with us!”  I don’t remember quite when I started this tradition for traveling, but it makes me happy and doesn’t hurt anyone.

Naturally, having always worked in positions where I may dress casually, I’ve worn these superhero shirts to work.  On one particular day, as I walked through our building, a development manager looked at me quizzically, stopped me, and asked me to follow him.  Next, he led me to Reuben’s office, who turned around to greet us.  And there we both were, two of us wearing Green Lantern shirts.  We were all very amused.

Continue reading “Dress-like-a-superhero Day” →