Genetic Algorithm Breeds cars

I let this genetic algorithm run a few nights in a row to breed the "fittest" car for this course.  The difference between two nights isn't as dramatic as from the beginning.  The cars started pretty squat and then turned out spiky, and then rearranged he spikes a little.  I think that the spikes help when the cars tumble to let them right themselves again.  It may also have to do with weight distribution.

3402 generations in human terms is about 85,000 years, so these cars have gone from hunter gatherers living in caves to spaceflight.  Although really they have just gotten pretty successful at running this course.  The best performance ever was around 1000 generations and they have just been spinning wheels since then.

Snow at the beginning and towards the end

at first it seemed like a few beautiful flakes were going to cover some rocks in the creek and it would be done soon.

Chrysanthemum Festival has passed

Did you get to see the chrysanthemums at Longwood gardens before they were done?

My god, it's full of chrysanthemums.

More than one America - American Nations by Colin Woodard

I have just finished reading American Nations by Colin Woodard.  He argues that the United States is not a single nation with one people, which no one would really agree with, but a state consisting of eleven separate American nations, each with its own distinct characteristics and motivations.  He suggests that these nations formed early in the history of the colonization of North America and that they have retained these characteristics over history even as they have expanded across the continent and absorbed wave after wave of immigrants.  After much exposition of the history of the different nations, he outlines a view that the struggles between the two great "superpowers" of these nations,  Yankeedom, centered in New England, and the Deep South and their allies have shaped American politics since even before the brith of the United States.

I think his thesis is plausible and the supporting comments in the text and the copious footlights seem to imply there is proof, but I would have liked to see more statistics or demographic maps to be convinced.  Perhaps even demographic, electoral or statistical maps and data throughout history to show that these regions really are different and have remained coherent over time.  

I also imagine that even within the different nations there are further divisions due to race or socio-economic differences.  While I agree that the white leaders of the Deep South have one agenda, the African American populace in that region has a different one and their growing political power will have implications.  I could use Philiadelphia and it's environs, the birthplace of the Midlands, as an example of how demographics and socioeconomic status can have an effect within regions.  Philadelphia often votes very differently from its surrounding counties, seemingly making It hard to use the fact that it is in the Midlands to predict an electoral or political outcome.

I recommend the book for its coverage of history, some of it forgotten (several rebellions before the revolutionary war) through a different lense than more traditional histories.  History may well prove Colin Woodard's thesis and predictions correct in the long run.

Pictures of the Minotaur I launch

I was able to get pictures of the Minotaur I launch from NASA Wallops.  I had to use the iPad because I haven't figured out how to have a long exposure with my new camera.

The rocket is the faint dot in the middle of the pictures just above the lights of the water treatment facility.  These pictures were taken from Rock Manor golf course just across the for the water tatement plant and reservoir.  If you stand on top of one of the berms  next to the golf course you can look south southeast and see the Delaware Memorial bridge, which is the right direction for north of Wilmington to see a launch from NASA wallops.

NASA Wallops to launch a Minotaur I tonight!

Another shot at seeing a rocket launch from NASA Wallops tonight between 7:30pm and 9:15pm.  The details are at the Orbital Sciences webpage.





I downloaded the Google Earth data and made another view standing in Rock Manor golf course looking south-south east towards the Delaware Memorial Bridge.

I will try to get a picture of the night launch but I make no promises.

Serious about sola sciptura!

This woman is serious about the scriptures being the sole source of divine revelation (no including tradition, you Catholics). She also doesn't seem to be a big fan of President Obama either.

Don't get me started about how scriptures put together over hundreds of years with the help of church tradition can be understood outside of that context.

 You may wonder if SOLAS 1 though SOLAS 4 license plates in Delaware were taken before this woman applied for her SOLAS 5 or whether a number sticker and license plate are the best vehicles for evangelism.