7. Classical Gas
“Humanity is acquiring all the right technology for all the wrong reasons.” – R. Buckminster Fuller
Someone asked me which time period I would have chosen to live in if I had a choice. My response is that I’m satisfied in the period I’m living now. As bad as today is, the ages preceding the present were much more challenging. Life expectancy was much shorter than what we see. But thanks to advances in technology, changes have been made for the better.
Change can result in two outcomes. The first is that most people approve of it because progress is made. The other is that nothing is gained by it, or even worse, regression is brought about. Decades ago I enrolled in a computer programming course in Buffalo, winding up near the top of the class. I then continued on by pursuing a technology degree at the University of Binghamton. Today, I have no desire to go back to school, but every day I learn something new without formal education. In many cases young people are more receptive of change while their elders are hesitant because of experience.
A couple years before, I left Buffalo for a teaching job in Mahwah, New Jersey. I drove there in my Chevy Nova, which contained a few books, cooking stuff, clothes and a stereo consisting of an amplifier / tuner, turntable, a few records and two speakers. There was no television in the vehicle, which I would buy later. In 2015, my stereo consists of an amplifier, a CD player with a carousel for six CDs, cassette deck that can play or record, and a CD recorder, but no turntable. My TV setup has an ancient 27-inch Sony from the 1990s, a DVD player, a rather old JVC videocassette recorder and a small cable adapter.
In February 2015, my VCR and CD player came back from the shop. Jeff was kind enough to hook it up for me and as we tested the components, everything seemed in order. That afternoon I set out to record two programs but I had forgotten how to accomplish that. Eventually I remembered and thought I was back on track. The next day I realized that the programs weren’t recorded. I figured why and had a few other concerns, which I felt I could figure out. As the afternoon ended, I discovered that I couldn’t turn on the VCR, whether using the remote or pressing the power button on the devise. My friend Ron came over for dinner and before he left, I asked for his help. Neither of us could progress any further. The next day I called Jeff, JVC, and my cable provider for technical help, which they gave me. I also noticed that the two programs were recorded, although what was there was only a blue screen in each case. I made some progress, but by late evening I was still stymied.
You may be able to see reason for the problem. It’s caused by change and needed change. It’s complex. The TV is old, as is the VCR while the adapter is new, as is the programming on my cable. It’s very possible that no one can figure out how to have this combination of old and new function together. They’re just not compatible, defying my belief that any two systems are compatible if you have enough money. The VCR may play recorded cassettes but certainly can’t record them. Cash embellishment could solve the issue by buying a high definition TV (HDTV) and DVD recorder while donating the Sony television and VCR to electronics recycling. The purchase of a DVD recorder may not even be necessary since it may come with the cable service.
About a week later, I thought switching the cable to the VCR first and from there to the adapter could make a difference. It was Valentine’s Day of 2015 when I held off on that idea but decided once more to attempt the channel selection process with the VCR. This involves pressing menu, OK, up and down buttons on the device, so it’s a bit complicated. I seemed to be on the right track when suddenly the small menu was in Spanish. Perhaps it was in Mexican, which may have had something to with the fact that I had a burrito a few days before. It could also have been due to the fact that my girlfriend was from south of the border. Actually she’s Cuban and we split decades ago so that wasn’t it. I searched desperately for the language option on the VCR remote and couldn’t find any. It wasn’t on the TV remote either.
Now that I think of it, maybe I should have tried the channel setup on the VCR via the Spanish screen. If it succeeded, the recordings may have had subtitles dubbed in that language, but I could have watched with English subtitles. I didn’t do that and figured that I’d tried enough combinations.
I have no intention of buying a HDTV because of my respect for the planet. That’s why I had the CD player and VCR repaired in the first place. We need more people practicing the four Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle, and rethink. I’m not addicted to the tube so I’ll just make a few adjustments. Contrary to thought, there is no such thing as must see TV.
There’s more to this adventure as my friend Mark came over and we tried the cable switching idea. A day before I talked to Matt, the tech guy, and he said the exchange might work. He also added some help with the language fiasco, which I figured out and brought back the mother tongue to the VCR. Many combinations were tried but the VCR still couldn’t record any programs. As of late I haven’t been able to even turn on the VCR, and I don’t care. I think enough time and energy was spent on this issue. Amen.
At the end of 2001, Rosemary, my supervisor at Blue Cross in Rochester, gave me the assignment of seeing if two systems could be reconciled. I believe she worked on the problem, as did at least one other member of our team with the same conclusion: they couldn’t be. After analyzing the issue, I heartily agreed. A user requested the study and it was my last contract. Rosemary mentioned that I could return in 2002 if this user wanted more study on the issue, but she thought – I agreed with her – that our work was enough. I also figured that it was time to retire as a quarter century in the business was more than any normal human could stand. One solution may have been to throw bucks at the two systems and just create a new one. That too may have turned into a failure.
Returning to Binghamton, our teacher, Jerry Weinberg, asked us to write a program to solve the traveling salesman problem. Starting at a home point, visiting one hundred places and returning home, we had to arrive at the route that would involve the shortest total distance covered.
My project mates and I figured we’d use technology to look at all possible combinations, calculate the distances between points, two at a time, using geometric formulas, add them and so forth. We’d repeat this numerous times for one combination and arrive at the first sum. Then we’d begin with a new starting point, eventually having numerous sums. The minimum distance is the one we wanted. It sounds like a murderous job, but we weren’t going to do it – the computer was. You could begin with 100 points on a graph, say Atlanta is the home point and Birmingham, Selma, etc. up to Louisville are the other places to cover. Note that 99 distances had to be added.
Suppose there are only three cities involved, say Pittsburgh (A), Buffalo (B) and Cleveland (C). There are three choices for the first stop, then two for the second one and the one remaining had to be the last stop. Altogether the six possibilities are: ABC, ACB, BAC, BCA, CAB and CBA. This is a combination of three things taken three at a time, or 3 x 2 x 1. For 100 stops this boils down to 100 things taken 100 at a time. This means multiplying all the numbers from 100 to one together, which I can’t represent on this page – 100 x 99 x 98 x 97 x 96 . . . x 1. Fill in the dots. It’s not a huge number; it’s gigantic. Instead of doing the multiplying, group the numbers by two, 100 x 1, 99 x 2, 98 x 3, etc. Now there are 50 products, each being greater than or equal to 100. Assume they’re all 100, since each product is at least that much. The three paragraphs that follow get technical, mathematically. If you want to skip them, go to the fourth paragraph that follows.
Let me talk about exponents and powers. In the expression, 105, 10 is the base or number while 5 is the power or exponent. Here we’re raising a number to a power, which in this case is the same as using 10 as a factor 5 times (10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 =100000). Note that the number of zeros following the 1 in the result is also 5, just like the exponent. Multiplying 102 by 103 is the same as multiplying 100 by 1000, which gives 100000 again. To multiply two powers, you just add the exponents. Raising a power to a power is different, say (105)2. This is 105 x 105 or 10 used as a factor 10 times, equal to multiplying the powers 2 and 5 or adding 5 plus 5.
Returning to the salesman problem, we have 50 products that can be represented by 10050. Since 100 is 102, 10050 is the same as (102)50. Multiplying the powers, 2 and 50 gives 10100. This value is smaller than the actual value of 100 things taken 100 at a time. I think you can trust me, especially since my mom’s middle name is Monica. Don’t worry if you cut math class. I’m sure that this wasn’t a topic for general math.
According to a 2008 New York Times story, a super computer could perform 1.026 quadrillion calculations per second. This number is approximately 1015. In a year, there are 60*60*24*365, or 31,536,000 seconds, but let’s call it an even 100,000,000 or 108 seconds, allowing for finding quicker computers. Multiplying 1015 by 108 gives 1023, which is the number of operations that this computer can perform in one year. For a billion years (1,000,000,000) or 109 years, the computer can do 1032 operations. That’s obtained by the product, 1023 times 109.
Now that those with arithmophobia have rejoined the discussion, a summary is in order relative to two numbers. The number of calculations needed to solve the traveling salesman problem is 10100. This number is lower than the actual number. Our computer can do 1032 operations in a billion years. Stop right there. Since this computer could hardly do 1032 processes, it certainly can’t perform 100100 operations. It would break down first. We’ll need a faster one – much, much faster. I think Jerry bamboozled us.
Indeed, a computer can’t do everything. It has limitations. This effects business applications as well. Assume that a business needs to shut down the online system for a short time to do some updating of files, say a half hour. If that process takes twenty minutes, that’s cutting it close. In today’s crazy, stressed out environment of 24/7, how can the corporation even afford to shut down for fifteen minutes? Perhaps the solution is to handle the updates online, without any shutdown. How to proceed will have to be figured out. One thing is for sure: Throwing money at the problem won’t solve it in many cases.
“Classical gas” is a 1968 instrumental hit recorded by Mason Williams on The Mason Williams Phonograph Record. From the song title, there could be a connection to burritos. If they’re classical, look out.