Private Mars Rocket II

I need to clean out some links, so here - now they're your problem!

A) This fascinating site promises to tell you how many people have your last name and where they live. According to the site, only 26 people in the world are named "Gerrib." I suspect that's actually high, as our name is an Anglicized version of an uncommon Lithuanian name.

B) Here's an interesting video about how difficult it is to drive a Model T. Hint - you have three pedals on the floor, none of which control the gas.

C) Of interest to those who've gone down to the sea: This massive, out-of-control cargo ship is about to crash into the coast of France.

D) A very powerful and simple explanation of how slate voting in awards is bad and how to fix it.

Thing 1 - Sometimes when sailors go down to the sea in ships, they don't come back.

Comes news that the US-flagged containership El Faro is missing and presumed sunk off of the Bahamas, a victim of hurricane Joachim. 33 sailors were aboard. The last communication from the ship was recieved Thursday October 1, and reported she was dead in the water and had a 15 degree list.

The ship had sailed south from Jacksonville Florida to Puerto Rico, presumably thinking that then-tropical-storm Joachim wouldn't strengthen or would move out. They presumed wrong, and ended up sailing into a storm that was briefly a Category 4 hurricane.

Thing 2 - The movie The Martian

On Saturday, I went to a 4 PM showing of The Martian. It was comfortably full and the 2-D version. The story was beautifully-filmed, had appropriate amounts of tension and humor, and was a very accurate portrayal of the book. I highly recommend seeing it.

Thing 3 - Holst's The Planets

In a bit of scheduling that I don't think was accidental, the College of DuPage's symphony, the New Philharmonic, performed Holst's symphonic suite The Planets. COD spent a ton of money redoing their performing arts center, and to show it off the orchestra played while showing pictures of the planets in question. I caught another matinee, this time the 3 PM Sunday show.