Archive for August 2006

Future PRINCE2 Examiner?

2006-08-25 (Friday) by Gregory Tucker.

I found out a couple days ago that I scored over 100 on my PRINCE2 Practitioner exam in March 2006. There are 150 points on the exam. More than 75 points are required to pass. 85 points are required to become a trainer or accredited consultant. Scoring over 100 is pretty rare. In fact, it may qualify me to become an examiner. I am told there is one other examiner in the U.S. I have pinged the person in charge of accreditation at APMG and am awaiting an answer.

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Plano resident to go to space

2006-08-25 (Friday) by Gregory Tucker.

Plano resident, Anousheh Ansari, is capturing headlines around the world as the first female private space explorer. On Sept. 14, she will blast off for an 8 day expedition aboard the International Space Station. Anousheh will be the fourth private space explorer to visit space, and the first astronaut of Iranian descent. She spent over 6 months preparing for the journey at the Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Centre in Star City, Russian and the Johnson Space Center in Houston/TX, USA.

Full Story

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Marshals: Innocent People Placed On ‘Watch List’ To Meet Quota

2006-08-15 (Tuesday) by Gregory Tucker.

DENVER — You could be on a secret government database or watch list for simply taking a picture on an airplane. Some federal air marshals say they’re reporting your actions to meet a quota, even though some top officials deny it.

The air marshals, whose identities are being concealed, told 7NEWS that they’re required to submit at least one report a month. If they don’t, there’s no raise, no bonus, no awards and no special assignments.

Full story

As we waited at the airport gate for the return flight from Seattle, Reon snapped a couple photos of the airplane. It is reassuring to know he is now on a terrorist watch list.

Little terrorist watch list of the prairie

This photo may put him there too.

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Alaska Cruise

2006-08-13 (Sunday) by Gregory Tucker.

The family has returned from Alaska, mostly in working condition. We are still recovering physically and mentally from the trip.

We flew into Seattle on Friday and boarded the ms Zandaam in the late afternoon. We arrived early enough to avoid the last minute crowds and all the lines assciated with them. We checked into the rooms just fine. Michiko, Aya, and I shared one cabin, while Reon shared a cabin with Grandma and Grandpa. If the rumors are correct, the ship departed late because somebody tried to throw themself off the 6th floor deck.

The entire first day of the cruise was spent on the ship and exploring the ship. Michiko enjoyed a pedicure from the spa. She reported this one was much better than the pedicure she recieved from the spa package in Plano I gave her last year for her birthday. Dinner was formal, and in the evening we attended the live showing of favorites from Broadway. Aya enjoyed the entire show.

The Zandaam took us north to Juneau. Alaska is marked by amazing size and immense natural beauty. The cities of Alaska, however, are pathetic little tourist traps that exist only because of the cruise ships. Juneau was probably the only exception to that, and even that may be a little generous.

Upon arrival in Juneau we boarded a bus for the Mendenhall Glacier and immediately hit the trails. The weather was surprisingly mild, and the forest surprisingly lush, thick, and green compared to what we expected. The guidebook suggested the hike would take around 2 hours, but it took us closer to 3 to complete. Aya walked the entire trip up the mountain and nearly half the way down–an impressive feat for a 2 year old. Overall the hike was nice but slightly disappointing. We expected to be hiking closer to the glacier or even on top of the glacier. Although were were some nice views from the trail, the view from the Visitor Center was as good as any other.

Tired and hungry, we perservered up the Mt. Roberts Tramway. In retrospect this was an expensive and forgettable hour. The view from the mountain was unimpressive, the trail was short and offered little to see, and the tourist center offered little. The kids enjoyed the brief ride on the tramway.

The next day was spent at sea. Instead of stopping at port, we viewed several glaciers from the ship. Two rangers from Glacier Bay National Park boarded the ship provided several opportunities to learn about the park. One of the rangers narrated over the ship’s intercom system as we approached the various glaciers. Another gave a presentation in the afternoon about the natural formations and the wildlife in the park. At one point some ice from the glacier broke off and fell into the ocean. Although we were seated on the opposite side of the ship, others reported a thunderous sound and large waves that rocked the ship a little bit.

To be continued…

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PRINCE2 Practitioner

2006-08-11 (Friday) by Gregory Tucker.

One interesting and useful piece of news… in May I found out I passed the PRINCE2 Practitioner exam. PRINCE2 is a project management method from the U.K. that is rising in U.K., Europe, and possibly even Japan. The exam is a 3-hour essay format that is very difficult and almost impossible to bluff your way through it. I prepared by developing my company’s project management method around PRINCE2.

PRINCE2 has not yet become popular in the US. PMI’s PMBOK rules here. But PRINCE2’s cousin standard, ITIL, is growing rapidly here and is catalyzing growing interest in PRINCE2. I have heard this from a couple sources who teach PRINCE2 classes in the US.

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Alternative Energies

2006-08-11 (Friday) by Gregory Tucker.

Q: Is there a good energy solution for our economy or is the solution renewable resources?

A: There are two separate and distinct energy categories: electrical generation and liquid fuels. They are distinct because almost everything about them is different: fuel feedstock, distribution, and usage.

Greenhouse gas emissions are the primary area of overlap between electricity and liquid fuels.

Electricity Generation:
Almost all electricity in the U.S. is generated from coal (50%), nuclear (20%), natural gas (18%), and hydro (7%). A small percentage is generated from renewables and gasoline (<1%).

Electricity is consumed by households (36%), commercial (32%), and industrial (29%). Among households, HVAC (31%) and refrigerators (13%) were the primary consumers.

The U.S. is not experiencing a crisis in electricity right now. Except for LNG the U.S. is mostly self sufficient in electricity production.

The U.S. has plenty of coal that can be extracted cost-effectively. Some of the issues facing the industry include:
1) Greenhouse gas (CO2) emissions
2) No new nuclear facilities since early 80’s (financial risks associated with expanding capacity)
3) Increasing costs of natural gas and LNG
4) Outdated and inefficient power lines, and insufficient capacity.

Liquid Fuels:
Petroleum oil is the primary fuel in this category. Gasoline is complicated, because raw crude is refined into several products. About 3/4 of oil is used for transportation, including gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. The remaining is used for electricity generation, chemical feedstock, and various other uses.

The U.S. imports 56% of its oil. The top 6 suppliers to the U.S. are Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Nigeria, and Iraq.

Liquid fuels are not easily replaced, because they are such an ideal match with requirements of transportation. Some schemes have been proposed, such as electric cars and hydrogen cars. Both of these schemes aim to shift dependence from liquid fuels to electricity.

There are several problems with these ideas:
1) Net thermal efficiency is reduced.
2) The cars are probably not cost competitive, even at current price levels of oil
3) Shorter range of the vehicles
4) Major new hydrogen infrastructure is required (in the case of hydrogen).
5) Major new investments in electrical distribution (power lines) are required.

The most feasible ideas in the short to medium term are:
1) Improve fuel efficiency
2) Shift to mass transit and bicycles
3) Convert our transportation infrastructure from oil to alcohol

Converting from oil to alcohol has a lot of merit, from the perspective of weaning dependence from imported oils.The viable forms of alcohol are Ethanol and Methanol.

Ethanol is produced from farmed feedstock like corn or sugar. It is high in octane and burns cleanly. E85 cars are produced now by the big 3, and E85 is becoming more available nationwide. The cost-effectiveness is questionable, because of subsidies and tax breaks that distort its true market costs. (Corn is heavily subsidized in the U.S.). Cellulosic ethanol produced from Switch Grass would contribute very little to net greenhouse gas emissions, but requires more acreage per unit of energy.

Methanol is converted from coal and natural gas. It can be produced cost effectively and in higher volumes than Ethanol. However, scaling up production of Methanol and feedstocks will take at least a decade. Methanol lacks a powerful lobby, and does not reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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