7/11/07

07/08 Sabres Schedule

MNAV stuff...
Crossbow Website (Manufacturers of the Stargate and MNAV)

MNAV Forum Site

Nominee for "Most Obvious Headline of the Year"

I can't get over how someone actually received money in compensation for this.

Video Games May Divert Kids From Homework

Really?

More on "Drury-Gate"

As one could have expected...the Sabres have refuted the claims in this morning's Buffalo News article.

Article on WGR550.com

The claim is that Drury in fact said he would "rather concentrate on hockey."

We'll see in a few weeks if the real story surfaces.

In the end, however, the details about what happened don't matter. The bottom line is, the Sabres didn't get it done. Period.

"Driere" Articles, Mark This Date

ESPN Page 2 Column:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=sukiennik/070702

Buffalo News, Bucky Gleason Article:
http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/sabresnhl/story/110414.html

Mark this date in history. In a few years it will be looked at as just another move that led to a championship, or, as one of the biggest blunders in team history. I vote for the former.

After much contemplation and going back and forth on the whole issue, my end feeling is negative. I have a lot less appreciation for the Sabres management. During the regular season I was all about resigning Chris Drury. Then, after the San Jose rumors surfaced, I was all about Briere. Then, after thinking about it some more in the days leading up to free agency, I remembered why I liked Drury better. Briere is a great player and also should have been kept, but Drury is just a better leader and is more respected.

Article Where the Buffalo News Quotes Drury after Signing with the Rangers:
http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/111802.html

There's a summary of the article above on WGR550.com. There's a quote from there that really enrages me:...

Actually, the entire summary is enraging.

I'm hoping that I'm proven wrong and that a year or two from now, or maybe in a few days or weeks, this post is laughed at for me getting ahead of myself. Right now, I just can't help being frustrated.

Drama Prairie Dog

Possibly the funniest 5 second video, ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHjFxJVeCQs

6/21/07

Aerospace Blockset - Aerodynamic Coefficients

http://www.mathworks.com/access/helpdesk/help/toolbox/aeroblks/index.html?/access/helpdesk/help/toolbox/aeroblks/aerodynamicforcesandmoments.html&http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=aerodynamic+body+force+coefficients&safe=active

General description of the aerodynamic coefficients used in MATLAB's Aersopace Toolbox-Aerospace Blockset

6/19/07

GPS Auto-Navigation Design for Unmanned Air Vehicles
http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=406&gTable=mtgpaper&gID=23100

Link to a paper on this topic. Includes some useful block diagrams.

Relative Navigation Using DGPS
http://www.sti.nasa.gov/Pubs/star/star0625.pdf

Some work done by the Air Force. Do a string search of "At the core of the differential" to get to the correct abstract.

Jason Speyer
http://www.seas.ucla.edu/~speyer/index.htm

Does work in the area of Autonomous formation flight. Has done some work that relates directly to the idea of formation flight using DGPS.

6/11/07

Paper reference
Unmanned Vehicle Controller Design, Evaluation and Implementation: From MATLAB to Printed Circuit Board
http://www.springerlink.com/content/q3m46122576j496h/

Abstract: A detailed step-by-step approach is presented to optimize, standardize, and automate the process of unmanned vehicle controller design, evaluation, validation and verification, followed by actual hardware controller implementation on the vehicle. The proposed approach follows the standard practice to utilize MATLAB/SIMULINK and related toolboxes as the design framework....

MATLAB Article
Autopilot Design using Simulink and the Control System Toolbox
http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/sept98/aircraft.html

Design and analysis of an attitude hold autopilot using MATLAB/SIMULINK

6/5/07

AVDS: Aviator Visual Design Simulator (Flight Sim)
http://www.rassimtech.com/

Garry's Personal Website
www.unthusiasm.com

Garry's Links Website
http://garrystuff.tumblr.com

Yahoo! Fantasy Sports
http://fantasysports.yahoo.com

Predictions

Going on the record with some predictions, so take note:

-AROD is a Red Sock next year
-Sabres either repeat as Stanley Cup champs or win their first next season
-Bills make the playoffs next season by a slim margin because the AFC will be uncharacteristically weak. They'll make it with a record of 8-8.
-Danny Briere will play for Philly next year at around $7 million/year
-Sabres will sign Drury for near $6 million/year, be able to retain Vanek from RFA, and sign Zubrus.
-Stafford will be a 30 goal scorer next year
-The Bulls will make it to the Eastern Conference finals, at least, next season.
-UB Basketball will not make the NCAA tournament next year (that's an easy one

Game 1

Wow, pretty depressing game. The Sabres were outshot 34-20 and lost the game on mistakes. Each of the Sens' first 3 goals came on mistakes by Buffalo. You had the shorthanded goal, the mistake by Numminen in clearing the puck to a wide-open Senator, and some other mistake I can't put my finger on right now. Essentially, 5-on-5, the Sabres won this game, but unfortunately, that doesn't count for jack squat.

Danny Briere's apparent shortened ice time is deceiving. The main reason he had less ice time than normal was mainly due to the excessive amount of penalty kills the Sabres had to endure. Although, I wouldn't completely dismiss the possibility that Ruff did it on purpose.

I think Ruff's move that took Pomer off the first line was dumb. The fourth line with Connolly, Mair, and Kotalik was fine. There was no reason to break it up. Now, Pomer is even less of a factor as he could be (how do you improve production moving to a line with players you haven't played with all year?). Also, Briere's production has gone down since the move (note that Briere pretty much had a point per game before the move). If anyone wants to point fingers at either Pomer or Briere, point it at Ruff for breaking them up; Pomer had a 30+ goal season MAINLY due to being on the same line as Briere.

Game 2 should be interesting.

Links...

Awesome home video of Drury's tying goal on Friday
-Some interesting shots of the Rangers concurrent with the Sabres celebration. It looks like the cameraman catches Jagr at the tail end of a mope.

New Ottawa song, courtesy of WGR
-Not as good as the last one, but OK

Bills' late-round draft pick John Wendling straight-jumping a 66"-high bar

Sabres Win in 6

As many Buffalonians anticipated after game 1, and likely doubted after game 4, the Sabres ousted the Rangers in game 6 tonight, sending Jagr and Shanny the Tranny to the links for the summer.

This game was a lot like game 1 in that......the Sabres scored 5 goals to win the game. Really though, they played their two-and-a-halfth complete game of the series and pulled off the win. I say that because out the roughly 400 minutes of hockey (roughly counting the overtimes), the Sabres really only "played" about half of those, which is a pretty sad statistic for the Rangers, and not something for the Sabres to be proud of; they could have had this series wrapped up in 4.

I have to admit, at the minute-to-go mark of game 5 I had my head in my hands thinking it was over. It was just an odd series.

So, as many expected and didn't wish for, the Sabres will face Ottawa in the Eastern Conference Finals. This will be the best series of the playoffs for the NHL by far. You have the best overall team in the league in the Sabres, and the best performing team in the playoffs thus far (maybe with the exception of the Ducks) in the Senators.

Heatly, Alfredsson and Spezza make up 3 of the top 5 point-leaders in the postseason thus far (#'s 1, 4 and 3 with 14, 11, and 12 points, respectively). All three of them play on the same line for Ottawa. This should be tough matchup for the Sabres, and hopefully Lindy finds the right matchup by 19:59 of game 1.

By the way, Numminen is +8 in the playoffs, which is good for #2 in the league.
________________________
So far, for predictions, we have:

Me: Sabres in 6

Brian: Sabres in 7

Barry Melrose: Sabres in 6

Random ESPN Sportscaster who I didn't know who was talking with Melrose: Ottawa in 5.....? Seriously?

Link(s):
http://www.wehateyourteam.com/

Stole the Idea from Rob

I liked the idea of writing in a blog to comment about sports. I wanted to contribute to Rob's so I thought I had to start my own account to do so.

Consequently, it appears I've broken down when it comes to personal internet content. First it was Facebook, now it's a blog.....next, MySpace?....Fat Chance.