2006 January 17 « Pale Musings

Smart Elevators.

A new elevator system called Destination Floor Guidance System (DFGS) has just went into operation in Downtown Seattle at the Metropolitan Park West Tower. It uses a predictive logic algorithm to group passengers into cards going to the same floors in order to decrease travel time. Additionaly, the system analyzes historical data to send cars to the floors needed based on usage patterns.

This is just kewl and I think it may be the beginning of more “AI” style items that will begin to make life easier, more efficient or more fun in the future.

January 17, 2006 Posted by palehorse | Science | Leave a Comment

Proof that meetings are “evil”!

A friend of mine recently shared an article citing a study performed by the University of Minnesota’s psychology department confirming that meetings are indeed considered harmful.

Thanks Lance! You’ve led me to the proof that I’ve always known to be true once again supporting the ultimate wisdom and intelligence of Scott Adams!

January 17, 2006 Posted by palehorse | Blogging, Science | Leave a Comment

Slow day

Not a lot of interest for me to touch upon today in the tech world so I will digress into my realy passion, football.

I have been a fan of the Seattle Seahawks for as long as I can remember having a rudimentary understanding of football. If you are not a football fan, let me tell you that it has not always been a rewarding team to follow. Years of disappointment has led most long-time Seahawk fans to a mentality that expects failure.

Finally, this year is different! The Hawks are going to the NFC Championship game against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, which is very exciting! Unfortunately, for the long-time Hawk fan, it is also somewhat nerver wracking.

We (all fans refer to their team as though they’re a part of it) had a great year. The record for the regular season was 13-3, that’s 13 wins to 3 losses. Outstanding! We’ve won our first playoff game (against the Washington Redskins) in over 20 years and we are going to the NFC Championship game for the first time in our history!

One of, if not our biggest, gem on the team is Shaun Alexander. He won the league rushing title this year, which means he ran on the ground for more yards than anyone else in the NFL. In addition to that he scored 28 touchdowns, more than any other running back in the history of the NFL. Quite an accomplishment! Add to that, he’s going to the Pro Bowl and was named the leagues Most Valuable Player.

Midway through the first quarter of the Redskin game, he was hurt. They took him out of the game with a concussion. Long-time Hawk fans held their collective breath for more than a quarter as we watched our team struggle without our biggest star.

Then the boys got it on track, the offence started getting yards, the other running backs (Mo Morris and Mack Strong) began breaking runs. Matt Hasselbeck started to look like we’ve come to expect throughout the year, running the offence with efficiency. As a nation (Seahawk Nation) we released our breath. I believe that it created a wind storm somewhere in Elbonia.

Now the game is behind us and we look forward to the Panthers on Sunday. Alexander will likely play, he sounds like he’s doing good and recovering well. We all wish him and the whole team the best of luck and cross our fingers that we don’t have to hold our breath until we turn blue again this week.

January 17, 2006 Posted by palehorse | Seahawks, Sports | Leave a Comment