kirkkittell.com > The Beauty of Lies

30 March 2008

Palestine Lake, Texas

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Linden, TX



29 March 2008

Welcome to Arkansas

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Downpour in Nashville, Tennessee



University of Louisville... grain elevators?



Ohio River

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Cincinnati, Ohio

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Columbus, OH

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28 March 2008

I-70 west, Maryland (2)

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En route to Columbus, OH

I-70 west, Maryland

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Goodbye, Orbital

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27 March 2008

Moving is ugh

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I haven't lived in the same place for more than a year since high school (for those of you keeping score at home: 9 years ago).

Allen Hall, Urbana, IL (1999-2000) - Lewistown, IL (summer 2000) - Allen Hall, Urbana, IL (2000-2001) - Lewistown, IL (summer 2001) - Busey Ave, Urbana, IL (2001-2002) - White St, Champaign, IL (2002-2003) - 1st St, Champaign, IL (2003-2004) - Nevada Ave, Urbana, IL (2004) - California City, CA (2005) - Nevada Ave, Urbana, IL (summer 2005) - Newman, IL (2005-2006) - Strasbourg, France (summer 2006) - Lewistown, IL (fall 2006) - Fairfax, VA (2006-2007) - Potomac Falls, VA (2007-2008) - ???, Houston, TX (2008-????)

Enough. Maybe.

Photos from The Embassy, Urbana, 19 Oct 2003



While I'm in the mood for archiving things on my laptop before it finally fails, I've posted some photos to Flickr from when Finite Element played at The Embassy in Urbana, IL on 19 October 2003.

Link to: the photo album

The photos:


And if you had a look at the album, why not add me as a contact in Flickr?

Finite Element on WEFT Sessions, 1 Dec 2003



In 2003, my band during grad school, Finite Element, played live on 90.1 FM WEFT, Champaign, IL. It was a three-piece band consisting of Sunil Chopra, Kevin Welch, and I. I'll use the phrase "my band" loosely here -- Sunil wrote all of the music, Kevin had some musical talent, and I was... the guy who would talk on the microphone in between songs, and that was only because I wouldn't shut up.

I had some kind of grandiose plan to post all of the songs from that concert one-by-one, describing each of the stories behind the songs. You can see the detritus from that if you follow the tag WEFT Sessions 1 December. Don't follow it; I'm not sure what I was thinking. I didn't write the songs -- Sunil did -- so I'm not qualified to explain much. Dumb idea. So, I've uploaded the remainder of the songs, and I'll let this post serve as the gateway for the whole concert, which is what I should have done from the beginning.

So, if you -- yes, you! -- would like to download our music, instead of this one-post-every-so-often setup, here's the whole album. It's not a torrent or anything useful like that; I've just posted them to my wiki and you'll have to save them to your computer. I'd feel bad for you, but I'm posting them mainly for archival purposes and your enjoyment is secondary. If you really, really want to know more about any of the songs, please post a comment and I'll track down Sunil or Kevin to talk about it. They're more interesting than me anyway.

Finite Element: Live at WEFT, December 1, 2003

Download the mp3's from this event:

  1. Turning Into Energy

  2. The Patterns of Her Eyes

  3. Under the Steps

  4. Don't Believe It

  5. Pull the Knife

  6. Behind Your Eyes

  7. You Could Be Mine

  8. Stay Awake

  9. Feedback

  10. I Know Everything

  11. The Beauty of Lies

  12. I Don't Want to Know

  13. Forget About the Sun



You may ask yourself: "What is on the cover of that album?"

It's Quaoar, kids, a trans-Neptunian object. Nerdy, yes, but cut me some slack. I'm an aerospace engineer -- and cut Kevin and Sunil some slack: this wasn't an album we released, and the image is something of my own doing, they didn't have any say in the matter. Then again, our band was named Finite Element, an eye-rolling experience for those that knew what it meant, an "is that the movie with Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich?" experience for those that didn't know.

26 March 2008

Speed Hump

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Am I the only person that sees these signs and wonders if I'm supposed to hump faster?

25 March 2008

Photos from Agra, Dec 2005



Listen. The Taj Mahal is awesome in the true sense of the word: inspiring awe. The pictures you've seen before, and that you see in this set of photos, are just a taste of what it is like in person. I mean, it looks big and majestic in images, but when you walk in the gate from the south and the Taj Mahal swings into view -- amazing.





Three of us -- Megha, her cousin, and I -- started from New Delhi at four in the morning, taking the bus to Sikandra, just on the outskirts of Agra. (The bus ride to and from Agra is another story altogether -- both the outrageous video game-like ramble down to Agra and the broken down bus in the night on the way back to Delhi. Oh yes, you must wait for the book, Train Cancellation Party.) In Sikandra we visited the mausoleum of Akbar the Great [wikipedia.org].

Next -- and maybe I'm too simple, blame it all on my roots or whatever -- was an auto ride to the Taj Mahal. It's like nothing else I had ever seen.



Then: the Taj Mahal [unesco.org]. I'm not going to try to describe it anymore. See the pictures here, and sometime in your life see it in person. From the Taj Mahal we traveled to Agra Fort [unesco.org], capital of the Mughal empire.

Photos from Agra
The map below displays the photos were they were taken in Agra. Click on the camera icons to open a display for each picture. Alternatively, you could view the photos in: Picasa; Flickr; or Panoramio.

(If it's hard to see the photos in the window below -- and don't forget to click the icons to see them... -- open it in a larger map)



As always, if you use Google Earth and download the network link file for this trip to your My Places, your placemarks will automatically be updated when I add photos to the rest of the trip.

This is set #2 of my photos from India in 2005-2006; the other sets are: (1) New Delhi; (2) Agra; (3) Chandigarh; (4) Allahabad; (5) Kolkata; (6) Ambala.

If you don't want to wait, you can see the placemarks and the photos in separate states:

Finite Element, WEFT Sessions - (10) I Know Everything



Download it here: (10) I Know Everything

The 10th installment of posting music played in my university days is "I Know Everything." Sure, sure, it sounds a little overconfident, but it shouldn't be taken so seriously. It starts mellow, minimal -- feeding from song #9, "Feedback" -- then builds up during the middle. In song #12 we'll undo this with a song called "I Don't Want to Know."

For all songs from WEFT Sessions, 1 Dec 2003, see the posts with the label: WEFT Sessions 1 December 2003

22 March 2008

Photos from New Delhi, Dec 2005



I visited India for three weeks in December 2005 and January 2006. The time I spent there was outstanding -- it was my first opportunity to spend an appreciable amount of time with Megha, and her family were very excellent hosts. (Granted, she and I weren't an item then, and I don't think I would have visited like that if we were, but that's a song from a different opera.) Also, further down the tracks, I met some friends that I had known online only, and I also met with one of my classmates from Illinois -- Palash Basu -- and his family.

One day, when I finish writing it, you should read the book about my trip (Train Cancellation Party). In the meantime, I'm going to do what I like to do: post the photos on a map that shows where they were taken. It takes some time to merge the two elements -- the Google Earth placemarks and the photos -- so I'm going to do it in batches: (1) New Delhi; (2) Agra; (3) Chandigarh; (4) Allahabad; (5) Kolkata; (6) Ambala.

If you're impatient and want to see the placemarks and the photos in separate states:


Photos from the Red Fort in New Delhi
If it's hard to see the photos in the window below -- and don't forget to click the icons to see them... -- open it in a larger map




As always, if you use Google Earth and download the network link file for this trip to your My Places, your placemarks will automatically be updated when I add photos to the rest of the trip.

21 March 2008

Finite Element, WEFT Sessions - (9) Feedback



Download it here: (09) Feedback

"Feedback" is a song about life as a robot. Not audible during the live song, but present in our demos of the recorded song is Kevin, the drummer, reciting Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics" during the breakdown. It's a slow song, a counter to the louder "Stay Awake" played immediately before this one.

For all songs from WEFT Sessions, 1 Dec 2003, see the posts with the label: WEFT Sessions 1 December 2003

19 March 2008

Finite Element, WEFT Sessions - (8) Stay Awake



Download it here: (08) Stay Awake

This is the loudest song we played. Lock.

For all songs from WEFT Sessions, 1 Dec 2003, see the posts with the label: WEFT Sessions 1 December 2003

18 March 2008

Phoenix, May 2007

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I'm long, long, long overdue on making a post about my wonderful girlfriend, Megha. But, to be fair, I was trying to give her anonymity as long as I could; just because I like to write in public doesn't mean everyone else wants to be dragged along for the ride. So, we'll see how this goes...

Back in May 2007, the project I was working on for Orbital Sciences Corporation was primarily based at the facility in Chandler, Arizona, just south of Phoenix. During one of the weekends I was there, I flew Megha from Florida to Arizona for a visit. I'm a bit of a desert rat, so it was an interesting opportunity to show her something new to her, and something that I enjoyed. (And let's not overlook that fact that it's just nice to see her, in general.)

So, the map you see below is three things:

  1. Some of the places I went with Megha -- restaurants in the Phoenix metro area; a weekend trip to the red rock region near Sedona

  2. Business-type placemarks, such as where Orbital is located in Chandler

  3. A few placemarks that show where I met Aaron (of protoforge.org) in Phoenix, plus old university friends in Las Vegas for Chris's bachelor party




View Larger Map

The original files are located on my wiki:

  • The static file, which is nice if you want to view the placemarks in Google Maps: link

  • The network link file, for Google Earth users (this will be updated automatically when I update the static file): link

17 March 2008

Sneak Preview: Map of 2005 Mojave trip



Slowly over the last two years, I have been writing a book about the time I spent driving to, living in, and leaving Mojave, California in Spring 2005. The prospective title for this project has always been Mojave Road in the Sky, inspired by this photo I snapped in Death Valley National Park.

Quite a few of my memories from this time period are still quite fresh. Every week a few frames of the trip will slip into my consciousness: while driving I'll think of the road from Van Horn to Guadalupe Mountains National Park; while running I'll think of the hike to Lost Palms Oasis; while doing nothing at all I'll think of the vast green sea of North Dakota.

One trick I've always had up my sleeve is my ability to learn things by associating them with a location. I'm not sure what this is called -- it's sort of like photographic memory, I think. Maybe not. You tell me. I used to clean up in my aerodynamics courses in university because I could remember flow characteristics and equations by remembering where these things were located on the textbook page. Translate that to a larger scale, and I remember roads traveled, music heard, people met by placing these things on a mental map of an area. It's not a wildly useful skill; perhaps this will also give you some insight into why I don't own a TV because this feed of memories and places is often playing in the theater of my mind.

Anyway. I'm getting away from the point.

Slowly, I've been transforming memories from this 2005 trip into placemarks in Google Earth. This has opened up a flood of forgotten memories. Sure, most are useless ones -- I remember the name of the gas station where I stopped outside of dark and sinister Phoenix (Toor's Chevron) -- but it has been very useful in pulling thoughts and memories and insights from forgotten, unconnected dots.

If you like, you can have a look at the map as I'm creating it. It's a mess now -- but it's a work-in-progress.

Illinois to California

View Larger Map

California to Illinois

View Larger Map

The original .kmz files are stored on my wiki:

Also note that if you go to the links above, you can download a network link file for each -- download that to your My Places in Google Earth and it will be automatically updated whenever I update the source files on the wiki. It's magic.

There's not a lot of context associated with these points on the map; why should you care that I stopped at Brake Masters in Las Vegas? I don't feel pressured to move quickly yet since I have only 8 subscribers to this blog, according to Feedburner. Eventually I'll include pictures (if you're impatient see http://picasaweb.google.com/kirk.kittell) and other notes from this trip.

My secret, narcissistic hope is that someone -- be it a stranger or, more likely, Mom -- might see something they like or don't like, and tell me about it. Interaction would be a wonderful motivator. I'm planning one more update to these maps before the end of March. If you've actually played with the maps above, is there anything in particular you would like to see updated? Anything you would like to see augmented with photos or notes?

15 March 2008

Finite Element, WEFT Sessions - (07) You Could Be Mine



Download it here: (07) You Could Be Mine

Note well: this is not like "You Could Be Mine" by Guns 'N Roses from the Terminator 2 soundtrack.

Also note: I think this is one of my best -- if not the best -- bass line I've ever played. That's not saying much for those of you with a moderate amount of skill. Sunil suggested the cool part of the bass line, I added a little extra, and then in this live version it all blended together well. And, of course, I think this is one of Sunil's least favorite songs that we played. Coincidence? Hmm.

For all songs from WEFT Sessions, 1 Dec 2003, see the posts with the label: WEFT Sessions 1 December 2003

12 March 2008

Finite Element, WEFT Sessions - (6) Behind Your Eyes



Download it here: (06) Behind Your Eyes

This is an upbeat song, but a sad song. I remember that after leaving WEFT, we went to Kevin's apartment to play with the recording that Mike the studio engineer gave us. (Did I mention Mike was awesome? Mike was awesome.) In between songs at WEFT, it was my job as the shameless talkative guy to introduce songs and chatter. I remember introducing this song as being about a girl in a car accident, which is what I thought it was about. Rather clearly at Kevin's apartment, I remember Sunil correcting me and informing me that it was a song he wrote about his mom dying of cancer. So, if you needed any proof that I am the biggest jerk of all time, here's another example.

For all songs from WEFT Sessions, 1 Dec 2003, see the posts with the label: WEFT Sessions 1 December 2003

11 March 2008

Desi space scientists

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(Courtesy: NASAWatch) A desi friend mentioned to me that this is also an indicator that they don't want to go home: 36% of scientists at NASA are Indians. I don't know, I've lived in the US my entire life, save for a few months in France and Spain, and I have no inkling of what it would be like to really leave my homeland. Regarding the statistic, it would be interesting to know if this counts Indian-born scientists only, or if it also includes children of Indian parents, even if they were born and raised in the US. I have no problem with the trend; in fact, there's a certain desi engineer who I wish they'd hire at NASA Johnson Space Center...

Finite Element, WEFT Sessions - (3) Under the Steps; (4) Don't Believe It; (5) Pull the Knife



I'm delinquent on posting. Again. Surprise. Well, I've actually posted a few without notifying you, my rabid fans, who crave every electronic bit that I throw to the blog; in other words: hi, Mom and Pradeep.

Anyway, I've posted three songs in the past two or so weeks from my past band's foray into live radio music at WEFT Sessions on 1 December 2003. Download them here:



You want notes about the songs? Here's a brief, then I'll rely on Sunil and Kevin in the comments. "Under the Steps" is a song about Sunil's cat. Seriously. This is one of my favorite things about playing with Sunil: he wasn't going to write a bunch of sappy love songs; he wrote about the things in his life that had meaning. So, it sounds weak to consider a song about a guy's cat, but it was a good song, and a good story.

What do I know about "Don't Believe It" and "Pull the Knife"... not much. It was fun to play "Don't Believe It" on WEFT because it was the first time I played live on my new fretless bass. That made the slow transitions more interesting, full. "Pull the Knife" was the newest addition to our repertoire as of 1 December 2003. It's not a bad rendition, maybe a little stiff, but I think it was one of Sunil's best songs.

For all songs from WEFT Sessions, 1 Dec 2003, see the posts with the label: WEFT Sessions 1 December 2003

On how to administer bad surveys



As a general rule, I support the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC, below improperly referred to as SCAG) because it is their duty to represent the views of youth to the United Nations, which is a noble goal in my opinion. That's a very useful duty. However, it helps if you do it properly. Below is a bit of feedback from someone in the industry that was submitted to SGAC in response to their Near Earth Object survey and the more recent USA 193 shootdown survey. I would provide the links to the survey for you so you could make your own judgment, but neither are available online at their originally advertised addresses.

As a young person who works on various strategic planning projects at NASA Headquarters, might I ask why SCAG has developed a pattern of poorly executed surveys? Your results can not be used in serious policy discussions because of their methodological errors.

First, I'm basing my assessment on the two recent surveys regarding Near Earth Objects and the shoot-down of a satellite by the U.S. Navy. Both surveys claimed to attempt to assess the opinions of young people, and the NEO survey results were reported to the UN as being the opinions of young people. However, a basic understanding of the statistics behind surveys says that to accomplish your stated goal you need to survey a random sample of people. You do not have that, so you have failed at your stated goal and then misrepresented your results.

In fact, the disfunction goes deeper than this. The NEO survey was planned to "teach" people about NEOs, as per your chat forums. That is not the role of a survey, especially not one that the organization told outsiders was to assess existing opinions. You can't both assess existing opinions and try to change those opinions at the same time. Worse, the NEO and shoot-down survey questions are terribly biased and a casual observer can't help but see what opinions you want survey respondents to have.

Finally, you do not know your margin of error. All credible major surveys report how many respondents there were and the margin of error in the results. You report neither. You also have worse than a random sample. You have a sample which has been sent to your website through marketing efforts. You tell people you want them "to express themselves" or some such. You have a sample that is self-selected and by definition does not represent the wider population.

These are basic errors that have been made with multiple surveys. Please do something that achieves your real objective, such as a real survey if you want to report the views people already have, or a blog to let people vent on a topic, or a set of fact sheets if you want to give them SCAG's view on a controversial topic. I do not know which of these is SCAG's real objective, but please properly caveat the survey results that you have already collected.


For a little extra boost, surveys such as the one mentioned above look like this SGAC projects survey: link. (Actually, if you follow the original link to the NEO and ASAT surveys, this is the new destination.). My problem with this? Look at the link at the bottom to space-industry.com. This is a money-making venture for the SGAC executive director. Of course you won't get quality survey results when the purpose is to get quantity survey results that could be used to field test a product or entity that provides income for you.

09 March 2008

Self-portrait, waiting at East Falls Church metro



Mario Kart party at Shandy's



08 March 2008

Wikipedia Coffee Break 9 Mar 2008: Transnistria



Inspiration from Strange Maps blog: 253 - Germany Surrounded by Switzerland. The town of Büsingen am Hochrhein is one of two foreign enclaves enclosed within the territory of Switzerland. (The other is Campione d’Italia, an Italian exclave in southern Switzerland.)


  1. Start, Büsingen am Hochrhein: Since the early 19th century the exclave has been separated from the rest of Germany by a narrow strip of land which is less than 1 km at its narrowest and contains the Swiss settlement of Dörflingen.

  2. Exclave. Land ceded to a foreign country... About 24 m2 of land that surrounds the Suvorov memorial near Göschenen in central Switzerland, ceded to Russia.

  3. Alexander Suvorov. Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov (Алекса́ндр Васи́льевич Суво́ров), Count Suvorov of Rymnik, Prince of Italy, Count of Holy Roman Empire (граф Рымникский, князь Италийский) (November 24, 1729 – May 18, 1800), was the fourth and last Russian Generalissimo... Suvorov founded Tiraspol, today the capital city of Transnistria, in 1792.

  4. Transnistria. Transnistria, also known as Trans-Dniester, Transdniestria and Pridnestrovie (full name: Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic), is a breakaway republic within the internationally recognised borders of Moldova.



Prior to this, I had no idea that Transnistria existed.

02 March 2008

Passing back through town



Back to Hobby on time? Hoo-aah.