tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59146541651062595112011-12-14T13:25:32.248-07:00Traveling through time at the usual rate of one second per secondBruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.comBlogger1191100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-31239511552017339812011-10-06T11:16:00.006-06:002011-10-26T13:43:14.474-06:00

Just over a year ago, we went out to dinner. As usual, I played with my food.Departing from custom, I actually kept the fortune from the fortune cookie. And carried it around in my wallet for over a year.Just tried photographing it.I really need a better camera.*It reads, "You will inherit an unexpected sum of money within the year."And, I added in pen the date of our outing, "9/26/10".Once the

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-86189570430935515772011-09-09T08:41:00.004-06:002011-09-09T08:53:53.469-06:00

It's kind of a strange thing how socks get lost. Where do they go?And, it's kind of funny to claim that it is the left socks which get lost, because socks are symmetrical, right? So, you really can't tell which are left and which are right until you choose which foot to put them on.However, a few months ago, I bought 18 pairs of socks which are not symmetrical. They are polo socks and the left

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-69806399757099070562011-08-26T16:35:00.003-06:002011-09-09T08:40:44.134-06:00

This is a personal story about a real person, told from a personal viewpoint, and thus may not be completely factual. However, I am telling it as I remember it.When I lived in Raymond (early to mid 1980's), we had a neighbor named Rulon Dahl. At that time he seemed old, probably about twice my age.We were both in the same Sunday School class, the class having forty or fifty members. He was

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-52673781384821973182011-08-17T13:50:00.008-06:002011-08-17T14:02:50.478-06:00

Today Salt Lake City's mayor opened the North Temple viaduct to pedestrian and vehicular traffic. The TRAX line which also will cross the railway lines there is still under construction. At ten a.m. I joined the crowd. In this picture you'll see the face of one of the men who built it. The mayor is also facing the camera in the background. At the right edge you can make out the tuba of the brass

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-4734217708980964462011-08-03T08:35:00.004-06:002011-08-03T08:38:54.085-06:00

I was not on the planet in the 1920's. Just for the record.My nephew, Patrick, is looking for a 1920's outfit.This is a suit coat that I couldn't resist purchasing. Unfortunately it doesn't fit me, but I think it might fit him.It is tailor made in France and looks a lot better on a person than it does on a hanger. I think it will look great on Patrick.

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-23794088335032034202011-07-19T14:37:00.007-06:002011-08-17T10:34:30.925-06:00

No this is not about the many panhandlers around the Gateway, where I work in Salt Lake City. It is about an interesting way in which someone got a dime from me. Which reminds me of the time I got a dime from my Uncle Arnold. He promised he would give me "a dime for every quarter you can stand on edge." Thinking this was a pretty good deal, I ran to my room to get a quarter and made it stand on

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-90706062536149929282011-04-05T13:38:00.011-06:002011-04-05T22:51:51.738-06:00

Fifty years of seconds is around 1,577,880,000 seconds.That many seconds ago, a series of lectures was held at M.I.T. in honor of its 100 anniversary (thus, in the spring of 1961).The lectures were recorded, including questions from the audience, and transcribed. The book was published in 1962: "Management and the computer of the future", Greenberger (ed.).I am reading that book now, and enjoying

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-49819036750525658182010-11-29T16:18:00.002-07:002010-11-29T16:28:22.529-07:00

Okay, in honor of National Blog Posting Month, I will make a monthly post this month. Yeah, just one--I know it was supposed to be 30.This has to do with being a Canadian.My wonderful wife, along with being very supportive, does make fun of me once in awhile, and often it has to do with something from my Canadian upbringing.One such thing is the way I pronounce "been" to rhyme with "seen". I

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-55028560196988865102010-10-27T14:11:00.005-06:002010-10-27T15:32:33.486-06:00

I am currently trying a diet which avoids all sugars, in an attempt to manage the symptoms of rosacia.This is ironic, because I owe my life to sugar.My family of origin lived on a farm 7½ miles north of Taber. Our mother worked hard inside the home; laundry, meal preparation, childcare, etc. Our father was working in the fields or with the cattle or farm machinery from sunrise to sunset, and

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-60219195762418885952010-09-27T11:42:00.003-06:002010-09-27T11:52:26.727-06:00

Okay, this is another bit of proof that I am weird.Anyone can read this blog, of course, since it is on the public Internet. But, my main purpose in writing it is to record a few things that might be of interest someday to my children. Most of the interesting dialog that happens in my head never goes any further. So, here is a tiny fraction of one evening's worth.Last night, my wife and I took

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-2254872364141778732010-08-13T08:23:00.004-06:002010-08-16T16:23:34.386-06:00

Disclaimer: the phrase "near-death experiences" usually refers to cases where a person is medically dead, and subsequently revived. In this post, I am talking about cases where I came close to dying, but did not actually do so.I will mention four of these in this post, although there have been others.1. At age 15, I fell with a telephone pole while doing some repairs at the top of it. This has

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-9011363631450029912010-07-09T16:35:00.005-06:002010-07-12T13:21:37.966-06:00

False advertising alert: since I grew up in the West, technically all of my stories are Western stories. Well, anyway, let me ramble through a few.This post is partly about television. Our family purchased a first TV set sometime in the late 50's or early 60's. I particularly enjoyed westerns, especially John Wayne. While watching one one evening, I became enamored of the phrase, "put up your

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-20574814945783612102010-06-21T14:26:00.007-06:002010-06-22T10:12:22.516-06:00

The seat belt buckle is held above the floor by a little plastic button that is riveted onto the seat belt at the right height. The plastic button is black and visible in the middle of the belt towards the bottom of this picture.Sometimes, it breaks off. Thereafter it can become difficult to find the buckle, because it can slide along the belt all the way to the floor.I first tried a safety pin

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-76345001511492216852010-06-11T15:23:00.002-06:002010-06-11T15:47:13.905-06:00

As most of my readers know, I was raised in a family that belongs to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. During the growing up years, we just considered ourselves to be Mormon, and that's what everyone around called us, as well.Part of the religious practice is to attend a Sunday meeting called "Sacrament Meeting" which includes speakers chosen from among the members of the

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-23447511741542578262010-05-23T22:23:00.004-06:002010-05-24T00:06:39.337-06:00

While digitizing some old home movies from VHS-C magnetic tapes, I came across a 5 minute screencast that I created sometime in the mid 1990's. The term "screencast" dates from 2004. While I am certainly not the first person in the world to produce one, I did do it about 10 years before the name was coined. The program1 used to generate these images was written about 10 years earlier still.Three

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-44869049761390761702010-05-20T15:38:00.004-06:002010-05-21T11:31:52.349-06:00

There is less and less left of the bridge (strictly speaking, a viaduct) that used to be part of North Temple, and part of my commute to work.The section of bridge over 400 West is now completely removed.The new viaduct will begin at 400 West and go up and over the railway tracks from there to 600 West.

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-52370038113863654042010-05-14T09:19:00.002-06:002010-05-14T09:24:39.797-06:00

Many years ago, in the early 1990's, I worked for WordPerfect Corporation in its Advanced Technology Group. One project with which I was heavily involved was using a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) as a remote control for television.I made a huge cardboard mock-up (about 3 feet by 18 inches and six inches thick) out of a cardboard box, with an image of the screen and controls pasted on the front

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-85933660526934994742010-05-13T16:44:00.003-06:002010-05-13T16:48:06.836-06:00

I usually travel to work via North Temple, but the bridge over the railway tracks is being demolished!Having to find alternate routes...

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-64121406513580386312010-04-26T10:53:00.003-06:002010-04-26T11:12:03.695-06:00

For anyone who checks up on this, no, today is not Friday. But the flashback described here did occur last Friday. It was graduation day for my brother-in-law, Bruce, and my nephew, Eric, whose mother, my sister, attended. She also brought a few loose pictures left over from our mother's house.I was able to arrange four of them into a panorama. A fifth could alternate near the middle, except it

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-41834231066232188812010-04-23T08:54:00.004-06:002010-04-23T09:15:58.342-06:00

Sara and I took the train to San Francisco on April 10. During breakfast we were seated across from a couple we did not know. They are from France, and were planning to rent a car in San Francisco and drive to some of the wonderful sights in California and the southwestern states.They spoke of a desire to drive along Route 66 and that led to her mentioning her approaching birthday. I was

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-59488422815244353662010-04-21T11:09:00.004-06:002010-04-21T11:39:19.245-06:00

Recent reflections have convinced me that I am a bit different, if not totally weird. I seem to have a little system for everything.Here are three examples.1. I have a technique for sneezing while driving. As you know, when you sneeze, your eyes involuntarily close for a second or two. At sixty miles per hour, your vehicle is covering 88 feet per second, so during the sneeze, your car will travel

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-31322366739965139752010-04-09T16:55:00.004-06:002010-04-09T17:02:56.088-06:00

For many years, our mother had a flower basket, which she made herself, and which contained a display of plastic daisies. This was always in her kitchen.I saved it when we cleaned out the house after our mother was through with it, and brought it down to Utah. The sprigs of daisies gradually fell out and got lost.My dear wife, Sara, surprised me yesterday by rejuvenating it. She replaced the

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-77168890202970820502010-04-02T14:49:00.002-06:002010-04-02T14:59:12.678-06:00

Shortly before Christmas, in my grade six class, the teacher asked those students who (still) believed in Santa Claus to please stand.One girl stood up right away. I hesitated, thinking about lying by not standing.But, I thought I saw some movement outside through the corner of my eye. That could be Banjo-eyes, the elf specifically assigned to monitor my behavior to see if I was good or bad.

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-23998215042957612612010-03-30T13:28:00.006-06:002010-03-30T14:47:16.647-06:00

When my sisters and their families got together at our parents' house in the summer of 1993, these skating episodes were captured on video*. I learned how to rollerblade at my sister's home in La Mesa, California, some months earlier. I borrowed my nephew's inline skates and set out from their back door.The start was not fortuitous, as I began by going downhill on the driveway behind their

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-12196587776128406862010-03-29T11:05:00.008-06:002010-03-29T11:31:18.578-06:00

Sara and I enjoyed our four week stay in Tucson.She cared for her sister, who was ill with valley fever, with complications including lung nodules and meningitis. When we left, she was doing much better.We also enjoyed visits with friends in the area, including new friends, one of whom runs a local cemetery, the Binghampton Cemetery, to which we are contemplating moving when the time

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-21634277939342089702010-03-29T10:44:00.005-06:002010-03-30T14:35:46.692-06:00

By analogy to open letters. Only these are shorter.1. To people who drive and use cell phones at the same time. Don't do this! You may think you have superior multitasking abilities. You don't. Those of us sharing the road with you can tell. It's pretty easy to see.2. To whoever is handling our political leaders. You are not elected representatives. There is no constitutional justification

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-81108148913952627292010-03-29T10:32:00.004-06:002010-03-29T10:44:20.793-06:00

I enjoy this breakfast cereal any time of the day.The latest package that I purchased included a code. Visiting their website, I was able to enter the code and they donated towards a women's health project. You can learn the details by clicking on the image below.It was not easy to get this HTML code to work in a blog. The code as they gave it on their website did not work, but after some web

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-71317704530512025262010-02-01T16:45:00.005-07:002010-02-01T16:48:42.283-07:00

While I was visiting my sister, her son and I walked out onto some snowdrifts. They are between 5 and 6 feet above ground level, and are very hard.Here we are climbing up:And here we are next to the top of the lamp post in her garden:A great deal of fun was had by all, except the photographer, whose fingers became frozen.

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-8930113635700485852010-02-01T11:06:00.006-07:002010-02-01T16:45:03.881-07:00

I recently visited my sister in Canada, and, when I mentioned our dad's shaver collection, she disappeared and returned with part of it!Imagine my surprise and delight. Or just look at this image:Here is the entire collection of pre-electric shaving equipment:There is a packet of Wilkinson razor blades, a stick of dry shave (rub on face before shaving), two brushes for shaving cream (mixed in a

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-34694121606972620662010-01-21T08:31:00.004-07:002010-02-02T15:29:13.224-07:00

A question on a form, maybe. In any case, just one bit of information.I had long known that my father was born in Provo, Utah. And that much information satisfies the form.During my teenage years, I got more information when our family took a summer trip to Provo. While there, we visited some of Dad's cousins. They lived just a few blocks from the house where he was born, so we visited the place.

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-79349704570957010422010-01-08T08:47:00.003-07:002010-01-08T09:13:48.266-07:00

There is much creation and destruction going on every day.Along with a fascination about the passage of time, this has been a regular observation and source of thought for me throughout my life. In my dissertation, I wrote about dissipation and persistence of information.But this post is about physical things, particularly, Dad's collection of shaving apparatus. Unfortunately, no photo is

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-75505549298518910262009-11-30T09:50:00.002-07:002009-11-30T10:00:38.071-07:00

In an earlier post, I wrote of a common phenomenon that had been around for over 15 years, but I only just recently even became aware of it. Auto-tune is another such phenomenon. There is so much going on in the world. That's probably always been the case, and the Internet just makes me more aware of it?More germane to this post is NaBloPoMo, which I just heard about, and so I didn't make it this

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-80345376404008143572009-11-20T11:28:00.003-07:002009-11-20T15:20:08.641-07:00

I have alluded in an earlier post to the fact that I nearly flunked out of my first semester of college. Perhaps it is time for a more complete telling of the story.As the end of the first semester approached, I realized that, if nothing changed, I was headed towards an F as the final grade in my first college math course, Math 141, "Intro Calc & Anal".This was a problem, because I expected to

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-85741102576077406922009-11-19T13:48:00.003-07:002009-11-19T14:06:17.417-07:00

The pictures don't do it justice, but there is a beautiful tree on the southeast corner of North Temple and 1400 West.Here is the before picture:And here is the after picture taken just a couple of days later. All the leaves fell in one day, and are the prettiest shade of yellow.One day, during the Summer, someone working for Google Street ViewTM captured the same tree, shown here.

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-30331231763661133982009-11-17T08:37:00.001-07:002009-11-17T08:38:27.313-07:00

though outside voices sometimes disagreeto satisfy those inner voicesthat i hear inside of me.

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-37855876433297328272009-11-13T16:13:00.004-07:002009-11-13T16:35:11.406-07:00

In her comment to my previous post, Myrna wrote of our father repairing her husband's glasses, leaving a lump of solder on the nose piece. Maybe he preferred to just leave the lump there. Here's why.At an earlier time, he soldered together a (broken in half) pair of sunglasses for me. I was home for the summer, from my first semester at BYU (the one when I stopped playing chess and reading

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-91277643432975269292009-11-09T16:40:00.005-07:002009-11-10T08:59:44.154-07:00

This blog is intended to be about time travel, and I've delivered stories covering a couple of centuries.But, it is also a personal account of one man's life. So, this post is about a current event in that life.A couple of Saturdays ago, I was taking suitcases out to the shed for storage, since we have no trips planned in the foreseeable future.One that we especially like had a broken handle. The

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-67370096421939312482009-11-06T10:58:00.005-07:002009-11-06T15:33:35.663-07:00

Somehow, I was reminded about some missionary experiences. These stories are mostly about creative "door approaches" used while tracting. Much of the missionary's working day was spent going door to door, which we called "tracting." When someone came to the door, we had to grab their attention in just a few seconds, with the objective of being invited inside and giving a "discussion."

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-81760419901613363182009-11-06T10:36:00.003-07:002009-11-06T10:57:52.456-07:00

This flashback was prompted by Nancy's post, in which Rachel wakes up with nightmares in which she is chased by crocodiles and other beasts.When I was very young, our family went to the movies in town. Now, this was a rare event back then. We had a radio, but this was before the time of television (even black and white television). While we listened to radio dramas nearly every day, a trip into

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-8764213116090923412009-11-04T20:21:00.005-07:002010-01-24T16:39:52.986-07:00

My daughter, Elizabeth, asked me a few weeks ago to tell me when her ancestors joined the Church*. I didn't take the time then to put together a complete answer, but just told her a couple of stories. Today, I spent several hours working on this, resulting in the post that you are reading now.M (1978, 33)FMMMMM (1839, 49) Lois KnappFMMMM (1839, 27) Louisa WalkerFMMMF (1831, 24) Edson BarneyFMMFM

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-34105875287940277552009-11-03T17:59:00.007-07:002009-11-04T11:10:27.466-07:00

Regula Sauermann is my great-great-great-grandmother (more precisely, my FMMFM*).In what follows, I am going to put events** in order, but add very few, if any, invented details. I will also add a couple of location links. But, it is a very interesting story, even if one only considers the events themselves.She was born on 21 November 1779 in Volketschweil, Zuerich, Switzerland to parents Hans

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-91328416948121491042009-11-03T14:23:00.006-07:002009-11-03T14:39:08.743-07:00

Funny how long it can take to hear about something big!The QR Code has been around since 1994. Fifteen years. Wow. And I've only learned about it, by accident, this year. It is very popular in other parts of the world.Here is an example, the QR ("Quick Response") Code for this post*:This could be crocheted or knit into a scarf, or published in some other way.A cell phone, equipped with a reader

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-25167841906851976512009-11-02T21:49:00.002-07:002009-11-02T21:54:50.109-07:00

As I was preparing to graduate from W. R. Myers High School, a teacher/mentor (Frank Semaka) tried very hard to convince me to enroll in the University of Alberta in Edmonton. He was quite disappointed that I chose Brigham Young University instead. Why? Probably because earlier, I had had some experiences on campus, which led me to want to spend more time there. In particular, during the summer

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-37183754734149759292009-11-02T13:55:00.008-07:002009-11-02T14:24:43.580-07:00

So far, two of my facebook friends have passed out of this world, and are beyond the reach of the Internet. Don Fisher and Harold Conrad.No, this post is not about the passing of friend number three, thankfully. Instead, it is just a bit amusing, in a morbid sort of way.When I discovered lists in facebook, I created several of them. One I labeled "deceased". My two dear departed friends are alone

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-45765831792143559262009-11-02T12:42:00.007-07:002009-11-03T15:14:04.235-07:00

The Laws of Form is a book, written (in 1969) by George Spencer-Brown, which influenced me as a graduate student in the late 1980s. I wrote in (chapter 4 of) my dissertation that it showed "that all of Boolean logic is inherent in the single concept of distinction." In retrospect, I may have claimed this because of a criticism of the book in an article cleverly named "Flaws of Form," in which the

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-72387718113896223802009-11-02T10:49:00.011-07:002009-11-03T11:45:12.713-07:00

Okay, so I didn't write this on Friday. However, I did think about it on Friday.A couple of weeks ago, Sara and I arrived late at the Saturday evening session of stake conference, and so we had a comfortable seat on a couch in the foyer. In exchange for comfort, we gave up the ability to see the speakers.The concluding speaker caught my attention when he mentioned working as a missionary in the

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-11378051994056223712009-10-29T15:17:00.005-06:002009-10-29T15:36:10.731-06:00

The reunion game was invented by Sara, specifically for one of the reunions we attended this year. Each sibling told stories from their lives, and if a story was new to anyone listening, that person put a jelly bean in the sibling's jar. Even though Colleen was not physically present, she played one of the nights by phone (Skype).The image below shows the jelly bean jars at the end of the game.

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-61005747067469141842009-10-22T14:04:00.004-06:002009-10-22T14:50:40.402-06:00

Now that I've blogged about it, I don't mind so much seeing the poster in the elevator. You know: the one with the apostrophe error.Some fun things have occurred to me. This is a series of questions and answers. Of course, each question could have any number of possible answers, some better than others. I will place here sample answers which please me*.What is the first punctuation symbol in the

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-42255388718387434052009-10-19T09:50:00.005-06:002009-10-20T08:50:30.913-06:00

The last few days, I've been bothered by a poster in an elevator. Finally, I just had to take a picture of it with my low resolution cell phone camera.SHOP THE FALL 09' COLLECTIONS AT SHADE CLOTHINGIt's a bit blurry, but its text is shown in the caption. Here the apostrophe is curiously placed.According to the wikipedia article on the apostrophe, "it has two main functions: it marks omissions,

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-1612304454159606352009-10-14T08:06:00.008-06:002009-10-14T08:47:16.717-06:00

Right up there with taking candy away from babies.I had a memorable experience in a school science class. The teacher asked us to tell him about the sun. Everyone looked around smugly. This was an easy one. One classmate raised his hand and proudly proclaimed, "The sun is a big ball of burning gases." He looked around, and we all nodded our sage heads in confirmation.The teacher went on to

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-78830512455560490112009-10-13T09:14:00.004-06:002009-10-13T10:53:20.359-06:00

I have a bad habit--or is it just a personality quirk? It is a tendency to ask questions in pairs.This morning, as I was about to take a shower, I noticed a hanger over the curtain rod. Last night, Sara's sari, which she had hand-washed, had been hanging to dry inside. So I asked, "Can I take a shower now? Or should I wait?" She didn't answer. How could she? At least not with one word.A few weeks

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-82010373812005106442009-10-08T10:09:00.005-06:002009-10-09T06:46:36.010-06:00

This year was a big one for reunions in our family. My wife Sara did an excellent job of organizing 4 and catering 3 of them. She made great fliers, planned the menus and activities, and prepared and served meals.In all, we attended reunions for the brothers and sisters of: her father, herself, her mother, myself, and my father's father. Unfortunately, because of conflicts we missed another one

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-63899456273948972792009-09-27T22:12:00.009-06:002009-09-27T22:57:22.071-06:00

This is what we have named our motor home. Not quite the tongue-twister as the name of our stay-at-home home.We recently returned from a trip to Marin County, California for the wedding of a friend. The motor home performed well, providing us with both transportation and shelter.Our itinerary:Sept. 16 departure just after sunset, traveling as far as West Wendover, Nevada, where we slept for

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-73872812419453943802009-08-24T10:50:00.004-06:002009-08-24T10:57:12.126-06:00

That is what I have named our new home. A fun tongue twister of a name.Above is what it looked like the day we made our offer to buy. The grass isn't quite as green any more, what with all the heat.So far, we are liking it a lot. There is a small back yard with a couple of apple trees, some roses, and other vegetation.At about 1600 square feet, it is twice as big as the condo where we used to

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-39458132223190131802009-07-31T09:49:00.006-06:002009-07-31T11:03:47.797-06:00

A long time ago, I lived for a few months in Geneva, Switzerland, and came to know and love the city.A few years later (in the mid-1970's), I worked for awhile at a Swiss bank in Geneva.A decade later, in 1987, on a Friday as it happened, I was checking into a hotel in Geneva.The hotel didn't accept credit cards. Moment of panic. But, wait, no problem. All I needed was to find an ATM and do a

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-60824937179089602532009-07-24T12:54:00.002-06:002009-07-24T12:58:25.092-06:00

Such was the advice my father used to give when talking about the frailties of his aging years.It was partly an attempt at humor to change the subject. Dad didn't like to complain. Even though his health deteriorated pretty steadily over the last 22 years of his life (after a stroke) until his death from (officially) starvation. There was a long way to go from the vibrant, healthy, strong man's

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-30679292312486830892009-07-24T09:20:00.008-06:002009-07-24T12:53:14.730-06:00

Okay, I really can't claim to be suffering from writer's block, which is an affliction of professional writers.During the time since my last post, I have been suffering not from a lack of ideas for things to write about, but rather an over-abundance. And, there isn't a lot of time to indulge in this anyway.Today, I followed the wikipedia page (linked to above) to these places (in the order of my

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-35535163767757863452009-05-13T09:36:00.014-06:002009-10-29T09:09:04.713-06:00

I recently received email messages bringing me up to date on the families of two of my school friends. It was very interesting reading, and good to know what everyone was doing, where they were, etc. Rather than responding directly, I decided to post the information here.My sisters and I are somewhat scattered, but (with few exceptions) all along Alberta Highways 2, 3 and 4 and the I-15

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-33951064845957610862009-05-13T08:58:00.005-06:002009-05-13T11:03:12.549-06:00

Well, it has happened again. Another dear facebook friend has passed away.This time it was my cousin, Harold Conrad, who has been ill for over a year. When I learned of his illness, I wrote some memories that I have of growing up with him, in a post entitled "Effects of a great man." After mingling with many of his friends and family recently, I learned that I am not alone in this high opinion of

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-16621407983063884122009-04-30T08:13:00.002-06:002009-04-30T08:40:40.762-06:00

Facebook allows people to share personal information with their friends on the Internet.It was written by very young people (college students) and appeals mainly to very young people. Nevertheless, some older people are also using it to maintain contact with friends.Sometimes, a user of facebook dies. An acquaintance of mine, Don Fisher, passed away last October. I heard about it just recently,

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-10341830071676878772009-04-16T11:23:00.021-06:002009-04-18T11:06:58.049-06:00

Farming can be a dangerous industry. Accidents happen, and they can be severe. Our small farming community of Taber has experienced its share of tragedies.I remember the first time I drove each of my dad's tractors. I started with a small, red one. After a bit, I was allowed to try the big orange one (similar to someone else's, pictured here).Allis Chalmers D17 tractorFor some reason, this view

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-71326825697690115842009-04-12T21:17:00.009-06:002011-12-14T13:25:32.257-07:00

This is a story from many years ago, concerning a fall on a spring morning. It's told from three different points of view. First my own voice, remembering, then what I recall from my father's memory, and finally, my mother's own voice.One spring day, my father woke me up early, and asked me if I would climb up a telephone pole near our house (seven miles out of town) and do a repair. Most likely

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-25991215042601936162009-04-10T08:55:00.008-06:002009-04-10T16:39:03.844-06:00

A few years ago... No, many years ago, I had a life-altering experience.It happened in the mountains of southern France, specifically the range known there as "la Montagne Noir." For geology buffs, this is a small range at the very southwestern tip of the central mountains in France, "le Massif central."How I happened to spend some time there is another interesting story. I was on vacation from

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-84151048492784739002009-04-09T09:04:00.005-06:002009-04-09T09:23:48.745-06:00

Way back when I was a professor, teaching Computer Science, there was a favorite saying on my bulletin board. It was in a place that I could see easily, as a daily reminder, intended for me rather than for my students.It is a simple, and relatively well-known antimetabole that goes like this:"No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care."Looking at it reminded me to care about

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-29754491612930263912009-04-06T11:02:00.005-06:002009-04-06T11:24:35.271-06:00

I have long been fond of having a bowl of nuts-in-the-shell and dipping into it to crack open and enjoy.The other day, I came across an odd walnut. Usually, a walnut shell has two halves (each one of which can make for a fun sailboat).This walnut, shown on the left, has a shell with three parts. For comparison, a normal walnut is shown on the right.Has anyone else ever seen one of these anomalies

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-72802406266876263072009-04-04T05:57:00.010-06:002009-04-04T07:24:28.402-06:00

I attended a conference in Philadelphia last month, and Sara and I decided to travel there by train. She had not been on the east coast, so we decided to turn it into a vacation.The final itinerary ended up including Chicago (to change trains), Boston, Mystic, New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and Chicago again. We left on March 14 at 4 a.m. and got home on the 29th just before midnight.

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-28448929616159398042009-04-01T07:57:00.003-06:002009-04-01T08:13:40.888-06:00

A few years ago, I read the novel, "The Discovery of Heaven" by author Harry Mulisch.It is rather a long book, and whatever value it might have as a novel, I was deeply influenced by one small part of the story, in which Onno, a politician at the time, describes a treatise he is thinking of writing."In front of the Golden Wall it's an improvised mess; people teem around in the noisy chaos of

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-31027502424905511072009-03-31T04:55:00.008-06:002009-03-31T05:58:39.528-06:00

It was my first job after high school, working for the government irrigating sheep pastures.My friend, John, and I, along with an acquaintance whose name I forget, reported for work early one summer morning. Since there wasn't room in the shift rotation just yet, the foreman, Frank, drove us out to where a new barbed wire fence needed to be erected. He showed us the materials and where the fence

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-359051246888045902009-02-20T02:29:00.005-07:002009-02-20T04:23:23.480-07:00

Let's move from general to more specific. I exist. I'm a human being. A thinker. Philosopher. Computer Scientist. Software Engineer. Web Application Developer. Java programmer.But wait. Back up a bit and try again.Computer Scientist. Teacher of Computer Science. Ah, that feels better.I set up situations where bright young people become Computer Scientists, knowing that I have contributed to their

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-40657062834659094092009-02-18T11:22:00.003-07:002009-02-18T11:32:11.092-07:00

"Step on a crack, break your mother's back."This was a common saying in my childhood. It's not so much that I believed that it was true. I just wasn't willing to take any chances with my mother's back.This saying comes to mind almost every day as I walk to and from work. And here is a picture taken from my office window. You can see our building just to the right of center, near the top. It has a

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-43698067708662443022009-02-16T17:36:00.003-07:002009-02-17T10:16:52.103-07:00

I slept in, and when I awoke, Sara asked me what I wanted for breakfast. She is such a wonderful wife. But, it was Valentine's Day, so I answered with those three little words she loves to hear, "let's eat out." Seriously, I suggested that we go get breakfast at the Royal Eatery. Since it was only snowing a little bit, why not walk to Trax, ride to the library to return books, then walk the two

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-34056207750586412632009-02-13T18:58:00.003-07:002009-02-13T19:08:04.130-07:00

When my son Andrew was about one year old, we visited his Aunt Colleen. Her brother-in-law had some horses and for some reason we went over there and rode.The horse must have been able to tell that I was inexperienced with its kind. This wouldn't have been so bad, except that Andrew was riding with me.The horse began getting rid of us almost immediately. First it tried rubbing us off against the

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-4554214168992260252009-02-13T09:22:00.004-07:002009-02-13T10:00:33.216-07:00

Today is 1234567890 Day. (see also this article)I don't know if that website will still be working for those readers who come here after the celebration is over, so here is a partial screenshot:For those readers who slogged through my post about Y2K38 (the day the world ends for some computers), you will realize that I just left this off of my partial list of the 4,294,967,296 possible bit

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-74946804485638974642009-02-13T08:25:00.004-07:002009-02-13T08:52:56.145-07:00

Really? Both?First, let me share my simple-minded distinction between a related pair, sales and marketing. Sales lets you buy something you already want, while marketing makes you want something you didn't use to want (so that you'll go on to buy it). It makes sense that they go together. A door-to-door salesperson typically has to do both. But in a larger corporation they are generally separate

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-42707444325852119392009-02-05T08:19:00.002-07:002009-02-05T08:33:09.490-07:00

In one of my first computer classes there was a question on the final that went something like, "Why are Halloween and Christmas the same?"Or it might have been posed more like, "Prove the following equation."31 OCT = 25 DECIf you re-write this, just slightly, as31oct = 25decthen you can use a pair of puns ("October" and "octal" are both customarily abbreviated "oct." and "December" and "decimal"

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-13313020262712922382009-01-23T15:02:00.003-07:002009-01-29T09:15:22.620-07:00

Many years ago, when my parents still lived on the farm in Taber, I made the mistake of telling a niece and nephew that I was their only uncle. I was quickly corrected.You see, there are several kinds of uncles. There is your mother's brother, your mother's sisters' husbands, your father's brothers, and your father's sisters' husbands. Oh, and then honorary "uncles" as well. To me, these are all

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-2770727941914715052009-01-22T15:30:00.004-07:002009-01-22T16:03:57.806-07:00

It used to be that my telephone number was a great way to identify me. During my growing up years, our family only had two of them. The first one was only 5 digits! But then, things changed, and we got a standard 10 digit phone number, which I still remember well.After that, I went through a series of phone numbers, roughly one per physical location. That was because phone numbers used to be

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-40826951736075989312009-01-21T17:37:00.004-07:002009-01-21T18:30:09.878-07:00

When I was a younger man, the expression "movers and shakers" was frequently used to indicate people who made a difference, or who led out in an industry. Part of me would have liked to have done some of that, but the rest of me knew it wasn't in my nature.The closest I came, until the story that I'm telling in this post, was as a teenager when I decided to start a company to manufacture modular

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-80581009814078223512009-01-13T14:55:00.007-07:002009-01-14T07:55:02.222-07:00

This is more on the subject of systems of thought. Please refer to the two previous posts for the definitions of S, C, R, and M.Many thanks to my readers for their comments. They are encouraging. And a special thanks to Kelline for the very funny joke. Myrna, you are right that I'm going at this quite soberly, but a bit of humor never hurts. Thank you, Nancy, for your passionate expression of

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-8790087089891579232009-01-13T09:05:00.002-07:002009-01-13T10:15:28.350-07:00

My previous post, unfortunately, drew a couple of comments that were critical of the two systems of thought. That was not the reason I brought up the subject, but, in retrospect, I should have expected it.Each of us has a unique point of view. All I want to do is try to understand the different points of view. Let's remember that each one is held by a living, breathing human being. Let's remember

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-10215849313388218202009-01-12T08:20:00.006-07:002009-01-12T10:08:16.244-07:00

When I was a young man, much was made about a series of questions about the meaning of life. Perhaps this had to do with the screening of "Man's Search for Happiness" (created for the New York World's Fair in 1964).The system of thought that I was taught as a child went something like this.Q. Where did I come from?A. You lived for a long, long time as a spirit child of heavenly parents, then were

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-26667175908466198502008-12-17T15:10:00.003-07:002008-12-17T15:16:08.061-07:00

There are several casinos with associated hotels in Mesquite, Nevada.Some of them advertise rooms "from $24.99" on billboards and signs at the casinos.However, the rooms go for anywhere from $34.99 to $54.99 if you just walk-in.Apparently you have to have made a phone reservation to get the lowest price. So, why advertise the lowest price right at the door?We said the words "false advertising"

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-51429371774797849502008-12-08T14:01:00.006-07:002008-12-08T21:02:26.519-07:00

This is a follow-up to the post on "Powers of two".Readers of that post may recall that using 32 bits, there are exactly 4,294,967,296 possible patterns or codes. That's quite a lot to expect a reader to remember. But perhaps the reader will remember the rule of thumb, and recall that 32 bits is about 4 billion patterns.It happens that in Linux systems, such as the one I use to write and publish

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-58463215303833831902008-12-08T08:58:00.005-07:002008-12-08T09:46:15.245-07:00

This is a postscript to my earlier comments on political correctness.The title of this post is a quote, since it exactly matches the title of a Boston Globe article published January 5, 2003*.I assume no one has taken this proposal and ran with it, since it was made nearly six years ago, and I've never seen it in action, nor does a web search turn up any application of it.In a nutshell, it

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-45511955036446296412008-12-05T14:58:00.004-07:002008-12-05T15:08:35.653-07:00

You get in the elevator and press P3 to go to parking level 3. Then you remember, wait, I'm on level 4, so you press P4. But the elevator still stops on level 3. Why isn't there a way to tell the elevator that you changed your mind?Or you press the button to call for the elevator to go up when you really want to go down. So, an elevator full of people going up stops and opens its door and lets

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-61532832286755127082008-12-02T07:38:00.014-07:002008-12-02T09:01:17.987-07:00

For well over ten years I have had a sign in my office (actually a "cube") which makes this polite request, "Please be patient with me: I am Political Correctness Impaired."It was initially intended as a self-referential joke. As a joke, it was a member of a family of jokes that was popular at that time, such as saying "folically challenged" for a bald man (such as myself). These sayings were not

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-70892825503460033692008-11-05T12:43:00.004-07:002008-11-05T12:49:59.894-07:00

After the company Hallowe'en party, we all voted for our favorite costume.The Cyanotic Cybernetic Cyclops costume tied for second place. This wasn't an overwhelming victory, given that only seven costumes were entered.Is this a first? Is this the first time someone has won a Hallowe'en costume prize without physically being there? I don't know, nor do I know how this could be determined.In any

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-41324731275411737132008-11-01T19:23:00.006-06:002008-11-01T20:01:27.607-06:00

Yesterday was Hallowe'en, and I decided to dress up the "BruceBot" (see previous post).Since it only has one eye, I decided to name it "Cyclops." After a little bit of searching on the Internet, and finding an image that I liked, and poking around in the dictionary, the final name became "Cyanotic Cybernetic Cyclops" (pictured below). "Cyanotic" because the image acquired a blue tinge, and "

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-49019666281731057062008-10-28T19:50:00.004-06:002008-10-28T20:20:26.400-06:00

Last Wednesday, I did an experiment in telepresence. I sat at home in front of our iMac and remotely attended our daily meeting. I could see everybody else in the room and could talk with them.To facilitate this, I put together a little virtual me, or "BruceBot" as one of my colleagues calls it. This is what it looks like:As you can see, it is just a simple eyeball on an eyestalk, that I can pan

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-78447807677050611032008-09-10T18:41:00.004-06:002008-09-10T18:53:14.418-06:00

From time to time, our friends and relatives find themselves in downtown Salt Lake City.When this happens to you, please take a few minutes and come to visit us!You don't even need a car. There is great public transportation, and in the downtown area it is actually free. Check out the "free fare zone" map.All you need to do is make your way to the "Planetarium" station at 150 S 300 W and then you

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-18030436223505355172008-08-26T20:10:00.004-06:002008-08-26T20:45:22.111-06:00

There are lots of jokes that start out, "There are two kinds of people in the world." My favorite goes, "There are two kinds of people in the world: those who think there are two kinds of people in the world, and those who don't. I'm one of those who don't."Making simple distinctions is a powerful tool for thinking. A favorite is the distinction between concepts that are necessary and those that

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-19029691013837099862008-08-06T18:41:00.018-06:002008-08-14T08:16:30.414-06:00

This is dedicated to my dear friend and cousin, Harold Conrad.We grew up together, being neighbors, sharing the same school and church and grandparents. Besides that, some of the more memorable events of my life occurred in your company.Wonder. You lived in the town of Taber, and I lived on a farm 7 ¼ miles north of town. One summer night, I slept over at your house. The next morning, I awoke in

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-35453203780136138942008-07-06T17:59:00.012-06:002008-07-07T09:46:28.057-06:00

I went through old pictures today and found these pictures of the marching band, or of me in the marching band uniform. These are from either 1967 or 1968, in Taber, Alberta, Canada.The above shows the band marching south, along 50th street, with the United Church of Canada in the background.Marching towards the east, probably on the main street.On the front steps of our farm house, which was

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-2960523873440324622008-07-01T18:24:00.005-06:002008-07-01T18:39:19.609-06:00

Here is an old photograph. The original was taken using a chemical color process, around 1968.Then, a color photocopy of that photograph was made in Lethbridge, around 2000.Finally, the color photocopy was scanned today on an HP scanner.What you see is the tail end of the W. R. Myers marching band, probably taken on parade day, around May 24, 1968.The reason that I scanned it was to upload it to

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-42447223302961422312008-06-25T23:19:00.005-06:002008-06-25T23:36:12.366-06:00

About a month ago, Sara and I flew to St. Louis, Missouri, for a two week vacation.We spent just over a week in the Branson area, looking at possible retirement properties.Then, we met a bus tour to Nauvoo, led by Susan Easton Black. It was very enjoyable.Me beside a sunstone

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-83421057284589105772008-06-25T22:40:00.004-06:002008-06-25T22:50:04.804-06:00

Elizabeth worked in China for a few months last year, and brought us some gifts when she returned. Thank you, Elizabeth.There is a small wall hanging with, presumably, the text from Mark 10:9 ("What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder") in chinese characters. A wonderful daily reminder. Many other items in silk, as well, including some ties, place mats, and slippers. And,

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-81963398645848285352008-05-21T17:36:00.006-06:002008-05-21T21:50:47.627-06:00

The eight bits in the pattern are used as follows:S EEE MMMMS is the "sign bit": 1 means negative, 0 means positive.EEE are the "exponent": in "excess four" notation, meaning that the usual decimal interpretation of these bits is four more than the actual power of two. When all 8 bits are 0 the entire bit pattern represents the number zero. 001 means an exponent of -3 (i.e. a multiplier of 1/8),

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-11003406891579605112008-05-20T16:30:00.006-06:002008-05-21T17:35:33.067-06:00

Several years ago (Fall 1993) I gave a presentation at Novell, as part of their informal lecture series, named "Food For Thought." Somewhere in a dusty archive there may still be a VHS video tape of the presentation, which was entitled "My Computer Can't Add." I presented part of this again during a job interview at UVSC in 2001.The idea of a computer not being able to add may seem odd. But, a

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-51161178338656622462008-04-24T19:39:00.004-06:002008-04-24T19:48:54.677-06:00

I've had time to get over it now, but it was quite traumatic last Friday to fall down while walking.It was early morning and I was walking to our condo from our motor home parked in a nearby lot. On one ordinary step, I twisted my left ankle. On the next step it gave way and I fell!A perfect three point landing: left knee, right hand, and chin.Got some road rash in all three places and tore out

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914654165106259511.post-88359335911176348792008-03-18T01:05:00.004-06:002008-03-18T10:25:49.414-06:00

So, after dozens of hours of work, my 1995 dissertation is published on the Internet.This work honors the hundreds of hours that I spent documenting years of work on the project itself.The document on the Internet differs from the printed version in a few ways:It isn't broken into pages, but there are separate HTML documents for each chapter and each appendix.The bibliography isn't formatted

Bruce Conradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16804817525665812167noreply@blogger.com2