Author Archives: sbrandt

Natural Family Planning, the Church’s Best Kept Secret

When I began my journey to becoming Catholic I was focused mainly on doctrinal issues, e.g. what is the nature of the eucharist, did Mary remain a virgin her whole life, did Christ intend for the Pope to be the … Continue reading

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Solar Compute Tiles

I’m attending the Mardi Gras conference hosted by the Center for Computation and Technology at LSU. The first keynote speaker, Dr. Satoshi Matsuoka, described “solar compute tiles” — essentially the same idea that I suggested in previous post entitled “Infinite … Continue reading

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The Space Hotel

For a long time I’ve had an idea for a themed hotel — one that simulates life on a starship. During the course of your stay you would have the option to play various roles: commander, foot soldier, fighter pilot, … Continue reading

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Me, The Daredevil

You may not think of me as a daredevil. But this year at Supercomputing 07 I rode a bicycle upside down and around this insane contraption. I had to sign a waver saying I would not sue if something happened … Continue reading

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The Great Race of 2008

The “Great Race of 1908” was a race from New York to Paris. Four countries competed: Russia, France, Italy and the US. This may not sound so remarkable, but remember that there were no roads and no gas stations in … Continue reading

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Book Review: On Basilisk Station

This is the first book in David Weber’s Honor Harrington series. It is a classic military SF novel in which an untested female captain is given an impossible assignment designed to make her fail. She has a crippled ship, political … Continue reading

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Exercise Glasses

Eye exercises have been around for a while. You will have no trouble finding high priced books, videos, “systems” or whatnot to help you set up a regimen. But this is not to say that it is hokum. I have … Continue reading

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A Cure for Obesity

I’ve stated previously that I think obesity will be cured by 2040. I imagine all the thin people of the future planted spud-like in their couches gawking at images of fat people from yesteryear. Well, the future may nearly be … Continue reading

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Category Six!

The idea of putting solar power stations in space and beaming the energy to earth in the form of microwaves is not a new one. However, the notion of steering hurricanes with microwaves is relatively new. Heating the clouds at … Continue reading

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Infinite Sunshine Computing

I have been thinking about the struggle to build large computing systems. The major challenges of the current age of computing are power, cooling and scalability. The machine room and energy costs are dwarfing everything else. This concern has even … Continue reading

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