Gas Prices
I can’t believe how high gas is. Here we are paying about $4.15 for a gallon. Ridiculous! Anyway, if history is any indication of the future there may be some respite. Laurie and I always keep track of our fuel economy, a habit I started about 4 years ago. So over the past 4 years the fuel prices seem to peak around June and then drop off. Sometimes they have come back up, but that is because of some local supply problems, i.e. in 2005 the second jump in prices was due to a fuel pipeline being shut down. Anyway I thought I’d share our price graph, it might not be as ‘accurate’ as professional statisticians like, but it is very accurate in that this is the price we have paid for fuel. The areas with a lot of squiggles in one place are times we have gone on vacation and paid different prices during a short period of time.
Open Source
Okay, I just need to vent. I’ve spent hours analyzing papers, trying to figure out how the Texas DOT pavement method works. Specifically how the software works that they use for pavement design. I have the dissertation that the software was based on, and included in the dissertation is the code to the program in Fortran. Me not knowing Fortran is beside the point, I’ll be learning it here very soon. If you are going to put your source code at the back of your dissertation, release it open source, and put it somewhere, like sourceforge.com.
I am not going to regurgitate the Fortran, the parts I use from these old programs will be re-programmed in a language I am more fluent in. It would be nice, however to have the code already up somewhere so I could get to it, other than having to read it line by line from a 10 year old dissertation.
On the subject of open source… I don’t understand how government entities and public university faculty can release proprietary software. They are funded by the public, therefore their work is owned by the public. Shouldn’t it be open source? Oh what a wonderful world it would be if I could just get the source code I need, instead of spending hours and hours just reading through documentation and papers to figure out how to write one tiny routine or function; especially when no information is provided about how to obtain certain variables, and I can’t ‘look under the hood’ and see how they did it. Maybe they don’t know how to do it either, and that is why they are hiding it.
I think open source is the perfect way to program transparently. I prefer using open source because:
- I can change the software to suit my needs.
- I can make sure the software doesn’t do anything I don’t appreciate (stealing passwords, etc).
- I can re-use someone else’s code in my project, provided I don’t overstep their licensing terms. (I love the GPL).
I use quite a bit of open source. The software that runs this blog is open source. In fact everything on my server is open source.
I think there are a few (very few) circumstances when closed source should be used. Right now none come to mind. Keep in mind that open source doesn’t mean free. I think that if I am paying $5,000+ for a license (a single license) for software, the source code should be included. I can understand businesses that make money selling crappy software don’t want the source getting out, but when I pay so much for software I’m not paying for the program, I’m paying for the tech support. Open source makes tech support work much better (ie less calls) because I can get under the hood and resolve my questions on my own. Instead of calling and begging for functionality to be added to software, I can add it, or pay someone to add it for me.
I don’t like closed source and proprietary only software.
Research
I decided to post updates every now and then discussing the research I am doing for my masters degree. My topic relates to pavement design in arid regions. The specific topic is the design of highway pavements on expansive subgrade.
Texas department of transportation uses a very different model to account for subgrade expansion than Arizona does. My goal is to compare the two models using soils in Arizona. If I can obtain actual pavement performance data and link it to the properties of the subgrade I will be able to determine which model provides a more accurate prediction of how the roadway will respond, and therefore recommend a design method suitable for the soil in Arizona.
At the moment it seems like a very daunting task. First I have to figure out exactly how the Texas method works, and either obtain the computer code used in Texas, or write some myself to provide pavement designs for specific soil characteristics. Since I am familiar with the design methods used by the Arizona Department of Transportation it won’t be so difficult to write computer code for this.
Once this is done it will be a bit easier. I will feed the programs the same soil data and see what the recommended pavement design is. I will then compare the results and see how the two are related, if there is any relation. If I can get my hands on pavement performance data I will feed the programs the soil information and see which, if any, of the design methods is able to predict the actual pavement performance.
Then comes the time to write.
Hopefully I will be able to have all of this done by mid November. It is still dark, but there is a little light at the end of the tunnel.
Bread Revisited
I was at Smart & Final a couple weeks ago and, while wandering the isles, saw a brick of yeast. I decided to get it since it was only $2.50. I figured it was cheap enough to get to see if that was the problem with my yeast. The first batch of bread I made with the new yeast was for rolls. They turned out superb (I used mom’s recipe, so of course they were good). Last weekend I decided to take on the arduous task of grinding 6 cups of wheat by hand, and trying the recipe Vickie uses for wheat bread. After a few hours of grinding on and off, and calling Vickie for ideas for substitutions (I had potato perls not flakes) I finally got to making the bread.
My kitchenaid bowl is too small. I need to see if they make a larger bowl for the mixer I have, the kneader kept pushing the dough to the top of the bowl where it would get stuck. I ended up using a spatula to push the dough down while the mixer kneaded. It wasn’t fun. I think the kneading process was more tireing using the mixer than it would have been to knead it by hand. Anyway, I finally finished. The dough rose quite well. The recipe only calls for one rise, which I think helped. My biggest complaint before was that it would rise fine the first time, but wouldn’t rise the second time. Maybe that is a common problem among whole wheat breads. I don’t know. I don’t have time to learn bread science right now. Maybe sometime in the future.
So at least I have one good way to make wheat bread. Now I have to find a recipe for the bread maker that works.
