Black History Month
February is Black History Month. At work this month, we've been getting daily emails about great black inventors:
Those Who Dared
Friday, February 11
Lonnie Johnson - Mechanical and Nuclear Engineer
Company Profile:
"We at Johnson Research & Development Company, Inc. (Johnson Research)
specialize in the proprietary development of high technology environmental
and energy related products in the areas of:
Thermodynamics
Heat Transfer
Fluid Dynamics
Thermal Hydraulics
Energy and Power Generation
Mechanics of Materials
Fatigue Analysis
Digital Circuit Design
Microprocessors
Control Systems."
From Johnson Research and Development website.
Lonnie Johnson tinkered with appliances when he was just a kid. At 18, as
a senior in high school, he won first place in a national competition. All
the tinkering he did when he was younger allowed him to build a
remote-controlled robot he named "Linex."
After high school, Lonnie went on to Tuskeegee University in Alabama on a
mathematics scholarship. While there, he earned a Bachelor of Science in
Mechanical Engineering in 1972. Two years later, he earned a Master of
Science in Nuclear Engineering. After finishing his M.S., Lonnie became a
captain in the US Air Force, serving as an Advanced Space Systems
Requirements Officer at Strategic Air Command in Omaha, Nebraska. From
there, he moved on to work with NASA at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
California. While with NASA, Lonnie worked on the Galileo Jupiter probe
and the Mars Observer project. The Johnson Tube, a CFC-free refrigeration
system, was invented while he worked with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
his seventh patent.
Happiest when he was tinkering, Lonnie continued creating things on his
own time. One of his over 40 patents included the Super Soaker ®, patented
in 1991.
Lonnie started his company in 1985, now named Johnson Research and
Development. The company provides services to government and private
industries, and even improving the Super Soaker ®.
Visit here for more stories about contemporary Black scientists and
inventors.
Johnson Research and Development
Lemelson-MIT Program Inventor of the Week
Tuskeegee University
Researched and written by Lisa-Marie Jones
2.06.2005
Cute.
Ray got a bobbed haircut* yesterday. You know the way she flings her head from side to side all the time? Now it's flippy.
...And last weekend we went to the ARC and stocked up on dresses.
...And we got a little plastic tiara with clippy earrings.
That's my daughter, I think.
*Think little flapper girl, or Dora with the ends turned under instead of sticking out.
Ray got a bobbed haircut* yesterday. You know the way she flings her head from side to side all the time? Now it's flippy.
...And last weekend we went to the ARC and stocked up on dresses.
...And we got a little plastic tiara with clippy earrings.
That's my daughter, I think.
*Think little flapper girl, or Dora with the ends turned under instead of sticking out.
2.02.2005
Chess.
Postcard Chess.
This is a free chess website that allows you to email chess moves back and forth. I've been playing with a few people and can attest that it works very well -- even a space to type comments and kibitz.
Postcard Chess.
This is a free chess website that allows you to email chess moves back and forth. I've been playing with a few people and can attest that it works very well -- even a space to type comments and kibitz.
1.29.2005
Good book.
The Curious Eat Themselves, by Jon Straley*
"She had the wobble-necked look of a self-aware drunk who fully understands reality is basically an ironic joke that no one else gets. She looked around at the early morning crowd and announced, 'I need a line of cocaine as long and fat as my arm and I'll do anything to get it.'
"I have since learned that in the terminology of the recovery movement this is called being 'really fucked up.'"
--A description of the narrator's ex, who's now a born-again Christian social worker.
This is a murder mystery/detective novel. I liked it--okay, mostly I ate up the style and didn't worry about the who dunnit, so I can't say whether it was all that hard to solve or not, and it's not one of the immortal novels whose main character will live on through the ages, but I liked it. Satisfying and writerly. A good book.
*The title comes from a line of poetry by Roethke, The Proverbs of Purgatory.**
**I didn't just know this. I looked it up. My coworkers have developed the idea that I am the font of all trivia. Dude. If they only knew my friends.
The Curious Eat Themselves, by Jon Straley*
"She had the wobble-necked look of a self-aware drunk who fully understands reality is basically an ironic joke that no one else gets. She looked around at the early morning crowd and announced, 'I need a line of cocaine as long and fat as my arm and I'll do anything to get it.'
"I have since learned that in the terminology of the recovery movement this is called being 'really fucked up.'"
--A description of the narrator's ex, who's now a born-again Christian social worker.
This is a murder mystery/detective novel. I liked it--okay, mostly I ate up the style and didn't worry about the who dunnit, so I can't say whether it was all that hard to solve or not, and it's not one of the immortal novels whose main character will live on through the ages, but I liked it. Satisfying and writerly. A good book.
*The title comes from a line of poetry by Roethke, The Proverbs of Purgatory.**
**I didn't just know this. I looked it up. My coworkers have developed the idea that I am the font of all trivia. Dude. If they only knew my friends.
Personality Test.
Muahahahahaha!
(via ***Dave.)
Muahahahahaha!
Wackiness: 42/100
Rationality: 56/100
Constructiveness: 34/100
Leadership: 64/100
You are a SRDL—Sober Rational Destructive Leader. This makes you a Mob Boss.
You are the ultimate alpha person and even your friends give you your space. You can’t stand whiners, weaklings, schlemiels or schlemozzles. You don’t make many jokes, but when you do, others laugh out loud. They must.
People often turn to you for advice, and wisely. You are calm in a crisis, cautious in a tempest, and attuned to even the finest details. Yours is the profile of a smart head for business and a dangerous enemy.
You have a natural knack for fashion and occupy a suit like a matinee idol. Your charisma is striking and without artifice. You are generous, thoughtful, and appreciate life’s finer things.
Please don’t kick my ass.
Of the 83896 people who have taken this quiz since tracking began (8/17/2004), 3.6 % are this type.
(via ***Dave.)
1.22.2005
Fingernails.
I quit chewing my fingernails.
Now I have to stop sticking my fingers in my mouth so I can not chew my fingernails.
It's called a nervous habit for a reason. When stuff gets on your nerves, you do your nervous habit so it won't get on your nerves. When you stop doing your nervous habit, stuff gets on your nerves, but you can't do your nervous habit, which gets on your nerves. It isn't the fingernails. It's finding something else to do.
The first day, I was pissed. At everything, everyone, everywhere. I ate a lot of chocolate. It's getting better.
The other day, someone was getting on my nerves. I stuck a finger in my mouth. I took it out. I stood up and told her, as tactfully as I could, that it was getting old and she was getting on my nerves.
Damn it.
...And then she stopped.
I quit chewing my fingernails.
Now I have to stop sticking my fingers in my mouth so I can not chew my fingernails.
It's called a nervous habit for a reason. When stuff gets on your nerves, you do your nervous habit so it won't get on your nerves. When you stop doing your nervous habit, stuff gets on your nerves, but you can't do your nervous habit, which gets on your nerves. It isn't the fingernails. It's finding something else to do.
The first day, I was pissed. At everything, everyone, everywhere. I ate a lot of chocolate. It's getting better.
The other day, someone was getting on my nerves. I stuck a finger in my mouth. I took it out. I stood up and told her, as tactfully as I could, that it was getting old and she was getting on my nerves.
Damn it.
...And then she stopped.
Waiting for spring.
Bleah.
Everyone was sick last week, then better, and now Ray's sick again, so I'm stuck home today.
Bored....
Don't want to wash any more laundry.
Don't want to clean smelly, disgusting stains off furniture.
Don't want to wash the dishes.
Hm...let's try screwing with the blog code...come up with something more...purple.
Okay!
Bleah.
Everyone was sick last week, then better, and now Ray's sick again, so I'm stuck home today.
Bored....
Don't want to wash any more laundry.
Don't want to clean smelly, disgusting stains off furniture.
Don't want to wash the dishes.
Hm...let's try screwing with the blog code...come up with something more...purple.
Okay!
1.16.2005
Stories.
How to tell a story, 3-year old version:
Start with "Once upon a time."
Then something terrible happens.
Then something else terrible happens.
As soon as sommething good happens, say "The End."
...Once upon a time, the two hand-spiders were chased by terrible bears and terrible snakes and had lots of adventures, but then they escaped and had cake. The end. For some reason, cake is the best thing that can happen in a lot of stories.
How to tell a story, 3-year old version:
Start with "Once upon a time."
Then something terrible happens.
Then something else terrible happens.
As soon as sommething good happens, say "The End."
...Once upon a time, the two hand-spiders were chased by terrible bears and terrible snakes and had lots of adventures, but then they escaped and had cake. The end. For some reason, cake is the best thing that can happen in a lot of stories.
1.04.2005
New Year.
Finish novel. Submit. Start Best of All Possible Beauregards.
Stay on track for buying a house, shoot for mid-year 2006.
Pay attention, especially to my daughter, who has trouble saying what she means, and to my husband, who sometimes does, too.
In general, do the things I tell myself, wouldn't it be a good thing to have this done? Unless they're just too dumb to do.
Finish novel. Submit. Start Best of All Possible Beauregards.
Stay on track for buying a house, shoot for mid-year 2006.
Pay attention, especially to my daughter, who has trouble saying what she means, and to my husband, who sometimes does, too.
In general, do the things I tell myself, wouldn't it be a good thing to have this done? Unless they're just too dumb to do.
1.02.2005
Tom Waits.
New album, Real Gone. On Rhapsody, the mini-review: "Real Gone sounds like the cut end of corrugated metal: in other words, it's instant vintage Waits. -- Sarah B." Granted, the review was probably written by someone who considers Bone Machine vintage Waits, but a good assessment. Not as good as Mule Variations, but there you go.
"There's only one reason you write new songs. You get sick of the old songs." Tom Waits.
New album, Real Gone. On Rhapsody, the mini-review: "Real Gone sounds like the cut end of corrugated metal: in other words, it's instant vintage Waits. -- Sarah B." Granted, the review was probably written by someone who considers Bone Machine vintage Waits, but a good assessment. Not as good as Mule Variations, but there you go.
"There's only one reason you write new songs. You get sick of the old songs." Tom Waits.
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