Great turnout for #SWUGN Greater #Evansville Area #SolidWorks User Group meeting tonight

https://www.instagram.com/p/XIzCQVBR0m/

Boston concerts advertized in Subway (at Subway - Green Line - Haymarket Station)

https://www.instagram.com/p/WsGZSKhR-F/

Microsoft and Apple sites almost next to each other

At the Natick Collection mall.

New #Microsoft store going in just on store down from the #Apple store in #natickcollection

Will JCrew be able to keep the peace?

https://www.instagram.com/p/WKo1IyBRyZ/

Oh the #irony of reporting the accident you are in, on Waze. Man, I hate being rear-ended. Ugh.

https://www.instagram.com/p/WDV_W7BRwS/

Senseless Sunday: Antarctica Water Pie

1. Antarctica has two species of flowing planets: Antarctic hair grass (Deschampsia antarctica) and Antarctic pearlwort (Colobanthus quitensis).
2. Boston Cream Pie is the the official state dessert of Massachusetts.  (Go figure.)
3. Old trees can actually produce more carbon and methane than they absorb.^[1]
4. Currently, 400 species of sharks roam on the oceans of Earth.
5. The fastest recorded swimming animal is the sailfish, which can swim  up to 68 mph.

Tipping point

Wow, there sure has been a lot of back and forth online recently about customary tipping (gratuities) in America for the service provided by waitstaff at restaurants.  A lot of it is playing out on Reddit.  There was this pastor who protested an 18% automatic tip on a split bill for a large party, citing God has her reason for protest.  That event lead to so much buzz that there's no point trying to cover any more it. 

Another Reddit posting appeared more recently of another posted receipt.  This receipt actually shows a reduction of the automatic tip from the final bill.  An interesting backlash has come out of this second posting.  Several problems arise.  First, the assumption is the automatic tips are some how compulsory.  Second, 20% automatic tip is just nuts.  I've seen 18%, and I still have to wonder why so high.  Third, how can a tip ever be considered compulsory!

I suggest reading the comments of the Reddit links.  There are a lot of good statements (some of them even sourced).  Legally speaking, tips are not compulsory.  By definition (IRS and at the state level), they must be voluntarily offered by the customer in order to qualify as a tip.  Sure, a restaurant can charge a service fee, but a service fee is not a tip, and not taxed the same. 

Overtipping is creating a monster

There's a general issue at the heart of all this: overtipping.  There has been way too much overtipping since the late 1990's.  People feel good about themselves when they overtip.  This is pure arrogance and selfaffirmation.  I know, I used to be one of those overtippers.  Why did I stop overtipping?  Sure, it helps the one individual, but it hurts the overall system.  The more overtipping occurs, the more waitstaff come to expect the higher tip rate, regardless to the level of service. Bad servers are rewarded for being bad.  The value of good servers is diminished over time.  Plus, waitstaff often don't connect the dots well enough to understand why they are getting a good tip and why they are not.  I was taught this lesson a very long time ago by a friend of mine who was a former waitress.  It took me a very long time to accept it. 

Another reason I stopped overtipping is because 15% is now considered a standard tip.  Really?  I remember when 10% was considered a great tip!  And now, some in the restaurant industry are claiming a minimum tip is 25%!?  Really?!   Waitstaff aren't the only group of people that aren't making a lot of money.  Overtipping is making it harder for average Americans to go out and enjoy dinner.   That actually hurts our overall economy.  Less people will dine out, consume less when they do dine out, or dine out a places without a waitstaff.  This means less overall money finding its way into the full service restaurant industry. 

No more overtipping

Can I afford to overtip?  Yes.  But I've stopped doing it after realizing the harm it is causing to the overall system.  Since 15% is now the normal and legally recognized tip, I consider that to be the minimum for normal/good service.  I will often push the tip up for great service.  However, that rarely exceeds 18%, and is usually 16-17%. 

And, just as important.  Do not tip on the whole bill.  Tipping is on the subtotal.  Sales tax is what we pay to the local government.  You really want to tax your sales tax?  People who pay their tip on the sales tax portion of the bill may think they are being good people, but this is just another form of overtipping.

How to handle bad service

If service was so-so, I normally just ignore it and move on.  What I have learned, that if service is particularly bad, do not take it out of the tip (or at least, don't wait to take it out of the tip).  Depending on the degree of the problem, talk to the restaurant staff about the issues you are experiencing.  For extremely minor issues, I will say, just get over it.  For simple matters that need to be addressed, talk to the waitstaff.  They should be able to take care of the matter.  I've found that waitstaff will often forward bigger issues to the Manager without you asking.  If the waitstaff isn't helpful or the problems are bigger, then ask for the Manager.  Again, depending on the degree of the service problem, you may wish to wait until after the meal.  Some waitstaffers will resent you for complaining.  If it is a problem that must be addressed before the end of the meal, then if at all possible, wait until the food arrives.

Region

Having travelled much of America now, I've found that some areas are just better than others when it comes to the quality of service.  Set your expectations accordingly.  Of course, it is still not OK to receive rude service.  However, I've found that coastal regions of California tend to have better service on the average than other areas, such as Massachusetts.  Many times, trying to get your waitstaffer's attention can be a bit of a chore at many places in Massachusetts.  Training seems to be biggest cause for issues in Massachusetts, since normally the waitstaffers are willing to serve, they just aren't always as aware on how to be attentive.

Don't punish waitstaff for kitchen and systematic problems

Now, the flipside of this is that there are many areas of the restaurant that are not under the control of the waitstaff. Judge a tip based on the service itself. For example, if a steak comes cooked incorrectly, it's a 50% chance that the waitstaffer got the order wrong. However, it is 50% chance that the kitchen got it wrong too. Give the waitstaffer the benefit of the doubt.

Moon shot (my first successful attempt to photograph the moon with an automatic camera)

This has been my holy grail for nearly 3 decades. I've finally been able to play with the settings of a Canon Powershot (or any other instant or automatic camera) to get a detailed photo of the Moon. Not only that, this was taken through the window glass in a moving car on Masspike! (Dec. 3, 2011)

SeaWorld Orlando is moderately disappointing

My memories of SeaWorld San Diego have jaded my experience at SeaWorld Orlando.  I actually went to SeaWorld Orlando with high expectations.  Everything just seems smaller in the Orlando, FL version of the SeaWorld theme park franchise.  Even trying to find a cool t-shirt with "SeaWorld Orlando" provided to be difficult.  I will say that the two rollercoasters are actually well designed and fun.  Anyway, here's some photos of me and Allie's day there.

Solar energy works well in Germany because they get more sun than U.S.

...says Fox News contributor:

Fox News Claims Solar Won't Work in America Because It's Not Sunny Like Germany

Wow!  Just wow!

Crazy facts about Redheads

You cannot handle my superior Vitamin D producing skin!  ...and other facts that aren't so great.

http://health.yahoo.net/experts/dayinhealth/weird-facts-about-redheads

Creating Universes in the lab, yup, we've done that

MIT Technology Review reports that multiverses have actually been created using a bit of cobalt and kerosene.  

 First Toy Multiverse made in a laboratory, Physicists say 

Real Soldier vs. Fake Soldier

I am nearly literally sickened when I see a Christian preachers on TV, who are watched by hundreds of thousands if not millions of Americans, and who claim that Christians are being persecuted in America.  Here's what's really happening.  Just for he record, this has been reported equally by Christian sources.

Atheist Soldier and the discrimination thereof

But then, here's what other Christian sources claim is going on in the military.  

The Soldier

It's one step more ridiculous than the bully who forces you to hit yourself and asks "Why are you hitting yourself?"  This situation is the bully hitting you directly and saying "Stop hitting my fist with your face!"  Not only that, this story outrageously insults our armed forces by even using them as such an example in the first place!  Disgusting.

All Seeing Eye sees all, or at least it is translucent

Sometime in Fall of 2011, I was almost randomly driving around MetroWest-ish area of Massachusetts and ended up at this one museum that used to be a lodge of the Free Masons, in Lexington, MA.  At this building, there was this stain glass window with the All Seeing Eye as the focal point.

 


Look familiar to anyone? If you do a Google image search, you'll find this is not unique in topic for stain glass windows. However, this particular piece is interesting and beautiful in its own way. I serve the eye...I...i...I don't know what came over me there for a second. Oh, Hypnotoad is on. Catchya later!

Senseless Sunday: White House responds to Death Star petition

In this special edition of Senseless Sunday, we learn that plans to build a Death Star will not happen under the current U.S. Administration. On We The People, when a petition reaches 25K votes, the White House issues a formal response. The petition to build a Death Star got 34K+ votes in its first 30 days.  However, it was politely rejected by the White House recently. In short, the White House doesn't support the costs, nor do they support blowing up planets.

Tweeter comment: Top Bing search is "Google"

Even after all these years the number one thing searched in Bing is still 'Google'
— Bart Brejcha (@bartbrejcha) January 25, 2013

Some mistakes just don't matter. #ocd

https://www.instagram.com/p/U4QU9nhR0o/

Great time at Islands of Adventure

Allie, I and other friends had a great time at the SolidWorks World 2013 Special Event at Universal's Islands of Adventure at night. Even though time was short, we did a full circuit of the park, enjoying the Harry Potter ride, Jurassic Park ride, Spider-man ride, Mind Eraser ride and The Hulk rollercoaster. The food was great too!

SolidWorks World 2013 brief photographic overview

I have arrived and settled. #sww13 (at Walt Disney World Dolphin)

Walt Disney World Swan

Walt Disney World Dolphin

Good morning from the SolidWork World Pre-Day kick off #sww13 (at Walt Disney World Dolphin)

Will I fill this room in a few hours? (at Solidworks World 2013)

Lining up for General Sesion #ssw13 (at Solidworks World 2013)

Lining up for General Sesion #ssw13 (at Solidworks World 2013)

General Session of Monday of SolidWorks World 2013 filling up. #sww13 (at Solidworks World 2013)

General Session filled #sww13 (at Solidworks World 2013)

Filling in my session #sww13

#CSWE event location. (at Solidworks World 2013)

#SolidWorks World 2013 General Session Day 2 #sww13 (at Solidworks World 2013)

Standing room only at day two of #SolidWorks World 2013 General Session #sww13 (at Solidworks World 2013)

#SolidWorks World 2013 General Session Day Two in session #sww13 (at SolidWorks World 2013)

#CSWP Now 15 yrs #sww13 #SolidWorks (at Solidworks World 2013)

SolidWorks World 2013 general session day 3 filling up #sww13 (at SolidWorks World 2013)

#BertrandSicot closes up day 3 general session #sww13 #SolidWorks World 2013 (at SolidWorks World 2013)

Swan and Dolphin on a nice sunny day #SolidWorks World 2013 #sww13 (at SolidWorks World 2013)

Virtual fun, as opposed to actual fun? #downtowndisney (at La Nouba by Cirque du Soleil)

https://www.instagram.com/p/U2BczRhR-2/

There's so few clouds in the sky somebody thought they needed to create your own

https://www.instagram.com/p/U1dn8KBR4m/

Fake Geek Girls Vs. Real Geek Girls? Really, this??

An interesting meme is making its rounds on the Internet. There seems to be a bunch of hoopla about “fake geek girls”. What’s a fake geek girl? Apparently Urban Dictionary doesn’t have an entry for it yet (as of today, anyway). Umm, I did find a definition at some site called Geek Feminism Weekly (whatever that’s supposed to mean…kinda sounds like random words thrown together that only vaguely represent what it really is, similar to California Pizza Kitchen.) Anyway, their definition for fake geek girl is:

Fake geek girls - allegedly women who show up at geek events, possibly while hot, with not enough geek cred for you.

This all seems to have started with an article on Forbes (Really, Forbes? Yes, Forbes.) called Dear Fake Geek Girls: Please Go Away. In this article, the author talks about being a “geeky girl” growing up and how she now sees “pretentious females” now posing as geeks when they haven’t put the time in to justify the claim.

What’s with all the hate? In fact, why are girls singled out as being fake geeks (especially by other woman) for being posers? I think a commenter on a recent article by @Mikeynerd says it well (article: Fake Geek Girls),

The Fake Geek Girl thing bugs me. Because I do feel there is an underlying sexism at play.

If someone is a poser, then it doesn’t matter if they are a woman or man. But, is it even bad to be a poser? Isn’t a poser just someone whose trying to figure out what everyone else already knows? Aren’t they really an outcast too? As outcasts trying to fit it, doesn’t that make them more geeky (since being a social outcast is technically a major component of geekdom)? The answers to this series of rhetorical questions are as follows: no, yes, yes, and yes.
May your journey to higher geekdom find much success!

Senseless Sunday: Rolling space wax

• The inability to roll your tongue is a genetic trait that may involve more than one gene.¹
• American pronunciation of tt and dd in words like letter and bladder make the same tongue movement and similar sound as the rolled Spanish “r”.
• A person in orbit around the earth gets taller while in orbit.
• Sahara Desert is growing about 1/2 mile southward per year.
• Before an official name was chosen in Mandarin Chinese, one of many transliterations of the name Coca Cola was “bite the wax tadpole.”   Another was “female horse fastened with wax”.  Current official transliterate trademark is made up of the characters of K’o K’ou K’o Lê which translate as ”to all the mouth to be able to rejoice”.²

Who are we calling producers and who are those who refuse to produce?

One of the sad sign of our times is that we demonize those who produce, subsidize those who refuse to produce, and canonize those who complain. --Thomas Sowell

This is a particularly disgusting statement.  First, those who produce and those who do not is a matter of perspective.  What do you tell the father of 3 who has relied on a job for most of his life, who then lost his job because the company who he worked for was mismanaged by executives and had to shut down?  What do you tell that same father when the same guys that ran his company into the ground got huge bonuses "so they wouldn't leave" before operations were completely shut down?  If the father had stock in that company, he lost on two fronts because of those executives.

Given Sowell's statement above, I would ask, who is he calling the producer?  Who is he calling "those who refuse to produce"?  Would it be the executives that drove their company into the ground, not only losing value in the company, but also within the greater economy?  If anything, they are anti-producers.  This makes them worse than the supposed people who "refuse to produce", whoever they are.  The producer is the father who worked his entire life at his company, making the goods and services that found their way into homes all across America.

Fed has spent trillions to keep a dying financial industry on life support, who in turn gave huge bonuses to the very people the caused the last melt down of our economy.  What did those people do with the rest of the taxpayer's money?  Most of it is locked away, being kept out of the economy (likely for good).

Are we really all that worried about giving a few pennies (comparatively) to people who are likely already not putting enough food on the table because they believed in this very system that eventually let them down?  It's this kind of nonsense that makes communism start to look good to the starving masses.  We would not need to raise taxes had it not been for the massive problems that we, the voters, allowed in Wall Street by putting congresspersons in office that are more worried about the next big donor than they are about the solvency of our system.

How badly do we want to lower taxes?  Well, let's consider something.  Out of the last three crashes of our economy, two were caused by real estate financials games that started happening as a direct result of deregulation of particular financial institutions.  The games these institutions were playing eventually stopped working, but the corporations still needed to pretend they were making money (when, in fact, they were losing massive amounts of money).  So, they created paperwork fantasies to keep showing profits on Wall Street in order to convince everyone that nothing was going on until it was too late.  The third economic crash was caused by too much speculation on Wall Street. The common thread here is Wall Street and all the money that the taxpayer is continuously asked to pay to keep these guys rich when really they should be in jail.

Why these guys were at CES 2013 (Consumer Electronics Show) confused some people, but I get it. (Sourced from this article: Bad Dog Tools Demos Drill Bits That Cut Through Basically Everything There Is [Video].)