I’m my father’s son
My dad’s German and extremely efficient. I’m not German.
However, I do like efficiency. I was quite chuffed with myself today when I figured out the most efficient route to do all my errands: swim, then KZSU, then haircut, then picking up my glasses. It is almost all right turns with the only left turns coming at 4 way stops and a fast-cycling traffic light with a left turn arrow. It also allowed for enough time for my hair to dry after the swim and before the hair cut.
Yeah, these are seriously the sort of things I think about. I’m glad I’m not the only one that thinks about path efficiency.
April 8th, 2007 at 11:18 am
Ah but you are German!
April 9th, 2007 at 6:00 am
Ah, so that explains so much!! (kidding–although it does explain your spelling tips.)
German is my favorite language. We lived in Bonn when I was in 1st and 2nd grade and what I learned was not efficiency but aggressive driving tips from my mom. (I still drive like a German.) Huh, hadn’t thought about that recently…anyways, path efficiency. I think about short cuts driving to work every day, but I think that’s different.
April 10th, 2007 at 3:56 am
If you’re really concerned about stuff like this, you should check out “Level Set Methods and Fast Marching Methods” by James Sethian. It covers mathematical methods that can be used to find the fastest path under various system constraints, like walking in a scalar or vector field that defines your maximum traveling speed as a function of position, or in the presence of obstacles.
April 13th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Dad laughed so much he had a coughing fit! Anyhow, he says he is glad you learnt something.
July 12th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
[…] UPS is following my lead! Last year, it cut 28 million miles from truck routes — saving roughly three million gallons of fuel — in good part by mapping routes that minimize left turns. This year, U.P.S. began offering customers a self-service system for redirecting packages that are en route. […]