Rudy Guiliani's IDIOTIC Comment on President Obama

When someone like Rudy Guiliani goes after President Obama with an incredibly stupid comment such as:

"I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America," Giuliani said, according to Politico. "He doesn't love you. And he doesn't love me. He wasn't brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up through love of this country." 

Then you need to look no further than either The Daily Show With Jon Stewart or The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore to appreciate just how TRULY IDIOTIC a comment that it is.

Below is Jon Stewart ripping that idiotic comment apart:

The Daily Show

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Here is Larry Wilmore going after that idiotic comment.

1966 Christmas Gift To My Parents

I was at my parents when they were having a stair lift installed and I saw this ashtray upstairs. This is what you made for your parents for Christmas if you were 7 years old in 1966.  I think the teacher had all of us make ashtrays for their parents.  I laughed when I saw this. Could you imagine a teacher in 2015 suggesting that EVERY 2nd grader should make their parents ashtrays? It would likely make national news :-)

You can barely see the 12/66 on the bottom of the ashtray.

FBI Director James Comey Brave Talk on Race and Law Enforcement

This is the bravest speech on race and law enforcement I have ever heard -- and it came from FBI Director James Comey at Georgetown University.  Director Comey became a hero to me and many when he stood up to (as stated in the Washington Post on May 16th, 2007,  "White House Counsel Alberto R. Gonzales and President Bush's chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr., were on their way to the hospital to persuade Ashcroft to reauthorize Bush's domestic surveillance program, which the Justice Department had just determined was illegal."

Weekend With The Groundwater's in Breckenridge

Julie and I spent Saturday and Sunday in Breckenridge with Neil and Beth Groundwater - flying back on Monday.  We had a wonderful time!  Thanks to Neil and Beth for a great weekend as well as they picked us up and dropped us from DIA. Thanks for picking us up and dropping us off at the Denver airport as well.

Above are the great views of the Rockies as we drove in.

Below is Julie and I at the Continental Divide.

I was interested in actually walking into a pot store to see what it looked like.  NO, I did not buy or try anything.  They do ID you and you must be 21 to enter. It's a real money maker for the town and the state apparently.  Neil told a great story about being at a local event where a policeman walked up to a young man and said, "excuse me sir, I think you dropped your bag of pot."  It does not appear to be a big deal to the citizens in Breckenridge.  A challenge is that all business is cash only including paying their employees as well as taxes.  In addition, the pot that is candy form can be confusing for some people - see Maureen Dowd's experience with a THC candy bar she THOUGHT was just a regular candy bar.   The pot stores are sort of like to going to the ABC store for some folks.  It should be interesting to see what other states do in this area - especially those states with revenue shortfalls. 

Below we are at Keystone getting red to head up for lunch.

Below are the four of us at the top of Keystone before we had a very nice brunch at Alpenglow Stube Restaurant.

Above we are at The Outpost at Keystone in front of the fireplace on top of the mountain.

Below we had a very nice brunch at Alpenglow Stube Restaurant.  From left to right is Beth, Neil, me and Julie.

Below is a video tour of the Alpenglow Stube Restaurant.

Below is a card from a Jacquard loom that Neil gave me - very cool!

Below is a snowcat for grooming the slopes at night.

Sunday night Neil and I hit a few bars in Breckenridge while the ladies hit the hot tub.

We had a FANTASTIC time!  Thanks Neil and Beth!

Will There Be A Pro-Science and Pro-Data Republican Who Runs For President?

After reading Richard Cohen's great article titled, "Walker's inartful dodge - The governor should have answered a question on evolution", I continue to be absolutely amazed how in 2015 we can have "presidential candidates" who do not believe in science or data! How is this possible? Well, we all know how it is possible.  The republicans have to play to their pro-religion and anti-science base that's why.  It is no more complicated then that.

As Richard Cohen so eloquently stated when talking about Walker, "My faux conservative heart sank. My pretend hero is either an ignoramus or a coward. It is simply not possible to contest evolution, since it is the basis of all the biological sciences. The issue is closed, not debatable, and while I am obliged to say something nice about those who prefer the biblical story of creation, I have to point out that countless people somehow manage a practical synthesis and believe in both — evolution and religion. It can be done."

Cohen then discusses Governor Christie, "The once-courageous Chris Christie had also visited the British capital on yet another trade mission — New Jersey exports tomatoes and attitude — when he was asked about whether kids should be required to get the measles vaccine."

Mr. Cohen continued in his article below:

"My God, what a tough question! The governor who chased people off the beach before Superstorm Sandy and whose aides put a full nelson on the George Washington Bridge said the choice should be left to the parents. Why? On account of their medical/scientific knowledge? On account of something they had once seen on “Oprah” or “Larry King Live” where Jenny McCarthy inveighed against vaccines? No. The answer was clear: pander. The self-styled Pander Slayer was pandering to his supposed base in yonder Iowa."

Someday my grandchildren will ask me WHY my generation screwed up the planet so badly.  My response will be, "you're right, it was MY generation that screwed things up because religion beat out science for topics that were 100% about science." 

Thanks Mr. Cohen!

What am I doing about it?  Writing blog posts and ripping people new a$$holes when they start talking complete crap like this.  This is just as stupid as saying the sun rotates around the earth...

Harley Earl and Steve Jobs - Great Article at CNN

Thom Patterson writes a great article at CNN titled:

Steve Jobs and the king of stylish cars

Below is a snippet from the article talking about what Harley Earl created:

"During his heyday spanning the 1930s to the late '50s, Earl created innovations that were decades ahead of their time:

-Rear backup cameras connected to dashboard video

-An automated driving system

-Collision warning alarms

-Cruise control

-Keyless entry

-Onboard computers

-Rain-sensing technology

Earl was the first, say experts, to meld car style with functionality — kind of like what Apple's Steve Jobs did with personal computers."

Mr. Patterson ends with:

"So why ISN'T Harley Earl a household name? Should he be?

For a lot of people who aren't enthusiasts, it's not particularly important who designed the car," Gross said. "I don't know that anyone is going to erect a statue to Harley Earl, but I think it's important that he's remembered. There really isn't anybody today in the design industry that has the impact and the clout, the presence and the profile that Harley Earl had in his day. ... But Harley had a unique set of circumstances. He was The Man."

Yes, Harley Earl was THE man...

Scott McNealy Talking About Open Source

Below is Scott McNealy, former co-founder, President and CEO of Sun Microsystems, giving a great talk at POSSCON 2012 that I just stumbled upon because I was thinking about the fact that it has been five years since Oracle purchased Sun.. This is very interesting because Scott gives an open source history lesson and what is needed now. I have been and will always be a HUGE fan of Scott McNealy.  I also cannot thank Scott enough for writing the foreword for my book, MTConnect: To Measure Is To Know (along with Dr. Dave Patterson of University of California at Berkeley). Enjoy this hour long talk...

The DC Auto Show in 2015 - Corvette Z06 and Stingray

Julie and I attended the DC Auto Show two weeks ago today.  I finally got around to put the photos in.  As you can see, we spent most of our time looking at Corvette Stringrays :-)

Below are four photos of the absolutely amazing supercar the Corvette Z06.  Zero to sixty in 2.95 seconds starting at a very reasonable $79,000.

Below are three photos of me appearing pretty happy in a Corvette Stingray :-)

Thanks Pastor Qualley 29 Years at Lord of Life Church

This past Sunday was Pastor Ron Qualley's last service at Lord of Life Church in Fairfax, VA.  Pastor Qualley took over for Pastor Ron Christian 29 years ago.  Pastor Christian married Julie and me in 1983. Taking over for Pastor Christian who founded the church in Fairfax was a real challenge with some big shoes to fill.

Pastor Qualley took the church to new levels by building a new church in Fairfax as well as building another church in Clifton. More importantly than that was he was always there for the many members of our church and specifically the Edstrom family. He was always there when a relative died, someone had surgery or any of the typical life challenges that happen.

Pastor Qualley did the funeral services for Julie's father, mother and grandmother at Lord of Life.  None of them were members of the church but Pastor Qualley did not hesitate when I asked him if he would do the services.

Pastor Qualley baptized and confirmed our sons John, Michael and Tim. He will be there to marry our oldest son John and his fiancee Janet in May of this year.

I can't thank Pastor Qualley enough for everything that he has done for our family.

Below is a photo of Pastor Qualley at his last Christmas service and below that is a photo of Pastor Qualley with his wife Sandi at the last service this past Sunday.

The 3 M's of Manufacturing - Manufacturing, MTConnect and Massive Data at McMaster University

I was privileged to be invited by Dr. Allan Spence of the Mechanical Engineering Department at McMaster University to give a presentation last week.  It is always fun for me to speak to students and faculty.  I first met Dr. Spence when I spoke at CAD '12 in Niagara Falls Canada in the summer of 2013.

I was given a tour of the Mechanical Engineering Department and I was very impressed!

Here was the description of my 45 minute presentation: The talk will discuss the history of MTConnect and its importance in global manufacturing with specific emphasis on analyzing massive amounts of data. The world of manufacturing has never been as dynamic and exciting with a plethora of hot technologies and concepts from 3D printers, M2M, Industry 4.0 to IoT with companies like Cisco stating that their number one business segment is manufacturing. Why all the excitement and where are the opportunities for students at universities such McMaster University going to be in the near future?

Below is my title slide.

Below is Dr. Spence and I standing together in front of Memex Automation's office in Burlington, Ontario.  Note that Astrix Networks is the parent company to Memex. Dr. Spence gave me a very nice McMaster desk clock and I gave Dr. Spence a signed copy of my book.  He stopped by the office after the talk which I thought was extremely nice.

I gave away free copies of my book, MTConnect: To Measure Is To Know, to the attendees and I hope they enjoy it.

When I landed in Toronto it was -2 Fahrenheit and with the 30mph wind it was 29 below.  Below is a view from the plane when I landed and the Jeep I rented.