Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
Today is an anniversary I’ve commemorated before: it’s the anniversary this web site/blog (take your pick) got its start as the Wave Equation Page for Piling. It’s been twenty-four years since I put the first pages on GeoCities, and it’s been going (with spin-offs) ever since. It’s time for a little looking back, and some …
Continue reading "An Anniversary, An Announcement and Looking Ahead"
via Moses Sees the Promised Land from Afar — Ad Orientem
It's nice to mark milestones, so ten years ago today Positive Infinity began its migration (it took some time to complete it) to a WordPress blog. The post that announced it is here and you can catch up on some of the history up to that point. I want to look at two things: what's …
As we start another football season, it's good to pause and look back at those who have hit the field, lead others to do so, or both. Nearly two score and two conferences back, Texas A&M's coach was Tom Wilson, who led the Aggies to victory in the 1981 Independence Bowl. This week Coach Wilson …
Continue reading "What's Really Important When You Hit the Field"
Instead of an album from the "Jesus Music" era, this entry is a little different: a live recording of the Latter Rain Christian Coffeehouse in Garland Texas in July, 1977. Located in downtown Garland, the Latter Rain was active through most of that year. As opposed to the other coffeehouse recording I offer here, I've decided …
No, the original manger didn't have a fire alarm; this nativity scene was in the lobby of what was then the Church Ministries building of the International Offices of the Church of God, where I worked at the time. You can read our ministry's Christmas message at the time here; it's still very relevant.
Every now and then the smallest man in Princeton blurts it out: And in a rare glimpse of candor, Krugman appealed to a more “progressive” way of keeping health care costs down: “We won’t be able to pay for the kind of government the society will want without some increase in taxes on the middle …
Continue reading "Paul Krugman's Moment of Truth About Death Panels"
Hard to believe, but... More self-identified gay voters chose the GOP in the midterm elections than in previously recorded totals, according to a CNN exit poll. Thirty-one percent of self-identified gay voters cast their ballots for Republicans on Tuesday, 4 percentage points more than in 2008, according to a similar CNN exit poll... “The gay …
This piece was originally written 5 June 2006, when legislation was being considered to make ethnic Hawaiians a "protected group." The whole business of protected groups is very much still with us in American life and politics. Back in the early 1980's, our family business had an ongoing business relationship with the People's Republic of …
Continue reading "Americans on the Edge: The Hawaiians and Identity Politics"
This was actually my first blog article, posted 14 April 2005. After a hiatus, this past spring I found myself back teaching Civil Engineering at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. This is an activity I find professionally and personally satisfying, if not financially. During the hiatus, the campus had made some major technological changes. …
Positive Infinity 