Carl Hutzler’s Blog

As a follow-up to my Jamestown post, one of the things we learned was where the sailing term “Knot” came from. I have always known that a knot is 15% smaller than the same speed in miles/hour. But where did that term come from?

Below is what the sailing term “a Knot” is based off of. The sailor used a spool of rope like the one shown below. They put the end of the rope with the wooden “paddle” in the water and allowed it to un-spool with the speed of the ship. They timed the process with a sand timer (about 30 seconds) and then counted the number of actual knots that had been spooled into the water (the knots are on the rope and you can see one of them on the right side of the spool). They used this in the 1700’s to get from England to the “New World”.

Today I use a wrist watch which receives microwave signals from a constellation of 30+ satellites which can tell me within 15 feet where I am anywhere on earth.

Oh, and this marvel of technology can still tell me how fast I am going in Knots!!!

Animator vs. Animation by *alanbecker on deviantART

I laughed out loud when I watched this. Well done!

Found this Onion “news report” on Gizmodo.com. Pretty funny.

My brother, Paul, is currently driving from his home in Seattle, Washington to Skagway, Alaska with one of his friends. While this may seem like a wonderful summer vacation and a chance to see the great Northwest, trust me, its not what it seems. Read more

I saw this post on Sree Kotay’s blog and laughed out loud. Even my 9 year old son got most of it and thought it was hilarious.  Look for the Dilbert link to “Restroom Automation”.

Thanks, Sree!