everwas

a blog by Ian Kennedy

Category: Home

  • The Origin of Stealth Technology

    My uncle tells a great story about how he discovered some of the technology that contributed making stealth aircraft. He was in charge of QA at an aircraft plant that was making wings out of composite materials. He was looking for a non-destructive way to test the makeup of composite materials to look for imperfections as they cooled. One approach he was researching was using, “non-traditional forms of energy” to look for voids in the composite structure. During the course of his fiddling around with various waveforms and orientations, he noticed that he could deflect the waves when the composites were configured in a certain way.


    My uncle, upon telling his boss about this oddity, was encouraged to document his findings for a company patent. When management looked over what he had presented, they saw that he was onto something and he was called in, asked if he could get the security clearance, and the rest is history.


    Besides a good story of good-ol’ American tinkering is that this transformational innovation came from, “the accidental discovery of the answer to one problem while looking for another.” Careful study, analysis, and focus groups can only get you so far – to truly innovate, you need to give a chance for opportunities that come stumbling your way sometimes by chance and be open-minded enough to trust your instincts and grab it.

  • We’re the Nicholsons

    Six Apart featured a few of our Flickr photos on their new microsite promoting how blogs can be used for a holidays. I like what they wrote about Julia’s photo under “Melanie’s Music Recital.”

  • Our Italian Daughter

    Our Italian Daughter

    I think she’s been watching that character Kramer on Seinfeld too much.

  • Tyler’s First Grade Report Card

    Tyler’s First Grade Report Card

    Tyler is at grade level in all areas. He is well behaved and well like by others. He is a hard worker. He only needs improvement in working quietly at his seat. He talks a lot and is very interested in what others are doing. He needs to take his time with his handwriting and make sure the letters are on the lines.

    Somehow, we had a feeling there would be something in there about his talking everyone’s ears off. He is full of ideas and it’s almost like if he can’t get them out, he’ll explode. Today he informed me that he had invented a new numerical unit. You know how they have million, billion, and trillion; thanks to Tyler we now have killion. “This number is so large that by the time you count to it, you’re dead.”

    Noted.

  • Thanksgivings

    Thanksgivings

    This year we decided to stay close to home for the holidays. Partially out of necessity as we’re going to be shelling out big bucks for a kitchen remodeling in the next month or so and need to keep our costs down but also out of a need just to relax a little and catch a breather before the Christmas Holidays hit us with full force.

    We weren’t even going to have a Thanksgiving dinner but Tyler insisted so Izumi went out and got a small turkey and gave it a whirl to great success. The bird was excellent and with sides of stuffing, brussell sprouts, and cranberry sauce, it was a real treat. We popped a bottle of this year’s Beaujolais (warning: tacky flash site) and had a feast.

    On Friday, just because we had never seen it in person, we decided to join the hoards at the mall for the annual running of the bulls bargin hunters. While we didn’t make it by the 5 AM openings of some of the stores (we didn’t wake up until 6:30 and there was a mix-up when Izumi navigated us to Pleasant Hill instead of Pleasanton) we did get a sense of the madness at a local toystore. We saw a mad dash for the last box of 100 piece Lego sets for $9.99 – little chipped, “That’s ok, I’ll take it!” says the crazed lady.

    The line to pay snaked around to the back of the store but we were there just for a Transformer which we had promised to pick up for him the day before. He had lent it to a “friend” of his that is also in the middle of moving away. His “friend” then “misplaced it” and it looks like the Razorclaw is in a box somewhere on the way to Ohio. Tyler was devastated and there was a valuable lesson in there somewhere about giving up your material goods to the great karma God in the sky but there we were, back at KB Toys for another fix. Anyway, because our Christmas shopping is out of the way (thank you Amazon!) we could afford to be laid back about the hunt and just enjoyed the conversation.

    There was a running narrative from the lady behind us who was giving us the lowdown on all the toys we passed in the aisle. Did you know that Mattel has updated the classic card game Uno with a new variant called Uno Attack that shoots out cards at you from a machine? Seems like a thinly veiled way of getting a toy shooter into households that don’t approve of toy guns for their kids, “Look mom, can I have this? It’s just a card game.” Kid later mods it to shoot out poker chips or something and has some real fun. Lesson to teach basic math skills through card game, out the window.

    Also overheard was the conversation from the stock room. Inside piece of market data. The Darth Vader Voice-Changer Helmets are not selling well. Maybe for the kids they aren’t. I just read a review on Amazon and it looks like this might be a runaway hit for insecure middle managers:

    The mask arrived at the perfect time. Morale was low, and my employees were starting to undermine everything I told them. I found their lack of faith disturbing, so I scheduled an emergency meeting for my team. Showing up five minutes late — waiting until the tension was thick — I made my dramatic entrance into the room. Wearing all black and my Darth Vader Voice Changer Helmet, I could literally see beads of sweat instantly form on their foreheads. My imposing visage made my statement clear — I was the boss.

    Sounds like a scene out of The Office.

    We finished up our morning with some well-deserved caffeinated drinks and headed home. A couple more stops where we picked up an industrial-sized dustpan (don’t ask), some handmade soap, and some other knick-knacks and we were done for the day.

    Later I’ll post about the rest of the weekend which included a trip to the Mystery Spot and Santa Cruz.

  • Deleted

    Tyler told me yesterday that he learned a few new songs at school but couldn’t remember some of them because his brain "deleted" them.

    I’m not sure if I should be more worried that he used a technical word out of it’s normal context or that he referred to his brain as something beyond his control.

  • 500 pieces of candy in 90 minutes

    500 pieces of candy in 90 minutes

    All the kids in Alameda have the day off from school on Halloween which just makes the waiting worse. Tyler woke up early, moaning that evening was hours away. It was 5:30am – I told him sleep makes time go by faster and convinced him to get back in his bed.

    I got back from work a little early, just in time to see things in full tilt. The kids were wild with anticipation and had already taken a few walks up and down the street to check out the various displays that our neighbors had put up. Our street is really popular with the trick-or-treaters so everyone was busy getting ready and by dusk we had all put on our costumes, filled our candy bowls, and were ready for the onslaught like soldiers peering over the battlements – the calm before the storm.

    By 6:15pm the street was heaving with all manner of goblins and ghouls. Lots of Spidermen and Things this year but my favorite was the one kid dressed up like Willy Wonka. After making her rounds, Julia came to help me hand out candy to the visitors which was a big help because sometimes we had 10 or 15 people holding out their bags at once. She got into it though and took time with each one (“Here you go Mr. Spiderman.”). Whenever someone with a particularly scary costume walked up, she would pull her princess hat down over her eyes and ask me to handle it.

    We were “sold out” by 7:30 and I turned the lights out and put a sign on the door. Another year done.

  • Blackout

    Blackout

    The power was out when I came home today, second time this week. Alameda Island has it’s own power company and several times a year they have trouble keeping the juice on. I think some poor squirrel was the cause last time.

    Today the power was out for about an hour so we got to enjoy dinner by candlelight which Julia said was pretti-ful.

  • Burning Man Puppet Show

    So Tyler & Julia are getting excited about Halloween – costumes are a big part of it. My sister also sent along some information about the Burning Man decompression party this weekend and while Izumi and I need to root around to find something interesting to wear, the kids already have their get up picked out.

    Today, Izumi helped Julia make some puppets out of Popsicle sticks and empty yogurt drink bottles. Julia showed me her handiwork when I got home and made a point of saying the red hair needs to stay down on this one as it tends to get frizzed up. I guess it’s excited.