Efficiency is defined as the desired result divided by the required input. When these two things can be quantified with the same units, (typically energy,) efficiency can be descibed as a percentage from 0 to 100 % or as a decimal from 0 to 1. I think about my daily life in terms of maximizing efficiency, wih mixed results. For instance, when I'm riding my bicycle and I notice or think I notice that the chain is a little dry, I imagine that the energy, which is supposed to be exiting my legs muscles via the pedals, running along the chain, around the sproket and through the wheel into the ground, is being partly lost. I imagine I can see it as red mists of loss wafting off that rusty chain, wastefully increasing entropy and failing to help move me toward my destination. It doesn't take long before the W-D 40 comes out storage.
Other times an efficiency mentality can be frustrating. My wife used to, (the reason for the tense will soon become aparent) ask me simply to sit by her when she was filling sick or down. No, what she'd actually ask me was to "Be with" her. So I would. I would sit by her on the couch and "be." Then my brain would start to itch. How, I would wonder, is this even possible? In exchange for me doing nothing, my wife's comfort will be gained. Now, I know I'm not covering ground that hasn't been picked clean by countless authors and social scientists who've studied and written about the differences between men and women, but I think the efficiency mindset adds a new dimension to why I suck at "being" with my wife,
Let's go back to the definition of efficiency. At the top of our fraction we have desired output, in this case, my wife's feeling better. This may not be measureable directly but there definately is an observable difference in terms of energy between my comforted wife and my uncomforted wide. There is something, in short, at the top of the fraction. At the bottom, the input required of me is . . . Nothing. Well, nothing beyond what my body would be doing if I were sleeping or watching TV or being anesthetized. That means my wife, and by extension me, are getting something for nothing.
"Great," say most people, "That's the American Dream."
"It's not nothing," say the economists, "Your required input is giving up whatever else you were going to do."
"The energy comes from her," say the chemists, "You're just acting as a catalyst."
Baloney, I say. Nothing is free, and all real processes require more energy than they give up. So most people aren't helping. To the economist I say, well what if I would have watched TV? That's still nothing. To the chemist I say . . . chemistry is stupid and you're a fartface.
So there I am, "being" with my wife, and thinking about this zero in my efficiency denominator, watching my result approach infinity when it's impssible for it to be greater than or equal to one and I'm almost to the point of screaming. "Confound it, woman! There are a million things I can actually do for you and you're insisting on perpetually motion, which is something I've spent several years paying people for the privelege of proving to them that I know how impossible it is. Be with you to make you feel better? What ridiculous magic system is that supposed to be?"
Nowadays we just watch T.V.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
First Post
FEA and POV
I flatter myself in my uniqueness. I'm not the best at anything. In fact, if I pick a skill, I can probably name someone who does it better than I do. Most people could probably say the same thing. I'm fine with that, but I also tell myself that nobody combines my skills and attributes into the same person the exact way I do. For instance, no father of one in graduate school who reads as much as fantasy as I do also rides their bike as much. Or how about this: I'm pretty sure my homemade pizza is better than anyone else's who plays Wii Fit as often as me. The former is that good, and the latter is that often.
Not stuff for Guinness, I know, but who cares? When you put all my demographics, skills and relationships together, you get someone who is different from the other seven billion people living on the planet. And like a key to a lock, there's a place and a purpose in this world that I'm meant for. The same is true for all of you (or just you, Lynda, if you're the only one who ends up reading this). I can't prove it, but I've seen plenty evidence of it in my own life and I encourage you to look for it in yours. You fit somewhere, I promise.
That said, seven billion is a big number, and I sometimes wonder who out there shares some of my quirkier combinations. So I'm starting this blog. For those of you who don't know FEA stands for finite element analysis, the tool engineers use to the laws of physics to complex situations. For those of you who knew that already, POV means point of view and is something writers and readers obsess about constantly in the pursuit of a good story. I spend a lot of time thinking about engineering and a lot of time thinking about story telling and I've told myself for a long time that no one else does that.
I could be wrong. Maybe I am. If that's the case, maybe this blog will put me in contact with the vast community of engineers who hope to get their fiction published. Whether or not that happens, I'll still do my best to describe the challenges of writing a novel from a perspective whose uniqueness has yet to be disproven. I hope you like it. (and buy my book when it comes out)
I'll end with a little bio. I'm working on my Masters in Mechanical Engineering and putting a middle and an end to my second novel. I'm married to a woman who is almost as unique as I am and still finds ways to surprise and delight me after four years. My son turned one last month and life is generally good. I'll try to post often enough for this to be interesting.
I flatter myself in my uniqueness. I'm not the best at anything. In fact, if I pick a skill, I can probably name someone who does it better than I do. Most people could probably say the same thing. I'm fine with that, but I also tell myself that nobody combines my skills and attributes into the same person the exact way I do. For instance, no father of one in graduate school who reads as much as fantasy as I do also rides their bike as much. Or how about this: I'm pretty sure my homemade pizza is better than anyone else's who plays Wii Fit as often as me. The former is that good, and the latter is that often.
Not stuff for Guinness, I know, but who cares? When you put all my demographics, skills and relationships together, you get someone who is different from the other seven billion people living on the planet. And like a key to a lock, there's a place and a purpose in this world that I'm meant for. The same is true for all of you (or just you, Lynda, if you're the only one who ends up reading this). I can't prove it, but I've seen plenty evidence of it in my own life and I encourage you to look for it in yours. You fit somewhere, I promise.
That said, seven billion is a big number, and I sometimes wonder who out there shares some of my quirkier combinations. So I'm starting this blog. For those of you who don't know FEA stands for finite element analysis, the tool engineers use to the laws of physics to complex situations. For those of you who knew that already, POV means point of view and is something writers and readers obsess about constantly in the pursuit of a good story. I spend a lot of time thinking about engineering and a lot of time thinking about story telling and I've told myself for a long time that no one else does that.
I could be wrong. Maybe I am. If that's the case, maybe this blog will put me in contact with the vast community of engineers who hope to get their fiction published. Whether or not that happens, I'll still do my best to describe the challenges of writing a novel from a perspective whose uniqueness has yet to be disproven. I hope you like it. (and buy my book when it comes out)
I'll end with a little bio. I'm working on my Masters in Mechanical Engineering and putting a middle and an end to my second novel. I'm married to a woman who is almost as unique as I am and still finds ways to surprise and delight me after four years. My son turned one last month and life is generally good. I'll try to post often enough for this to be interesting.
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