Rockman’s Ramblings

Rockman aka Randy Post is the Owner and Editor In Chief of GeoPrac.net. This category is where posts regarding the GeoPrac site itself will be made. It is also a place for Randy to blog about issues affecting his professional practice, current projects and occasionally more esoteric topics.

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Rockman's Ramblings

GeoPrac Site Problems – Working on It

November 16, 2009 rockman Comments Off on GeoPrac Site Problems – Working on It

[Update 11/16/09 12:52] I fixed the sponsor banner issue, but I’m still looking into what’s causing the IE 7 error. Despite my fondness for Firefox, I realize a large percentage of users still have IE 7 […]

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Rockman's Ramblings

ASCE G-I: Proposed “Journal of Geotechnical Engineering Practice”

September 15, 2009 rockman Comments Off on ASCE G-I: Proposed “Journal of Geotechnical Engineering Practice”

Most geotechs are familiar with the Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering (JGGE), one of the (if not the) premier journal in the industry. It’s published by the ASCE’s Geo-Institute (G-I) and accounts for about 20% of the revenue of the G-I organization.

The G-I’s President, Dr. Jean-Louis Briaud, convened a task force in early 2009 to investigate if the JGGE is “adequately serving as a venue for practice oriented papers.” According to the final report from the Proposed "Journal of Geotechnical Engineering Practice" Task Force, the reason for the task force is that:

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Rockman's Ramblings

Social Media / Social Networking Poll

September 6, 2009 rockman Comments Off on Social Media / Social Networking Poll

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and other social media and social networking websites have become absoutely huge in this day and age. I have prepared a brief survey to see how people in the geotechnical engineering, […]

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Rockman's Ramblings

Landslide Video But Not What You Think

August 15, 2009 rockman Comments Off on Landslide Video But Not What You Think

There is nothing funny about landslides, particularly when you consider the tremendous loss of life that happens all the time around the world, most recently in Taiwan, China, Sierra Leone and elsewhere. But the well known humor site, the Onion has taken a pretty good crack at this usually unfunny subject in their video “news” clip Reporter In Helicopter Pretty Sure Landslide Down There Somewhere. Its a very amusing video that’s really about journalists and their attempts to get the scoop about a story, not really about landslides at all. Click through for the embedded video. Happy weekend. […]

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Rockman's Ramblings

Indefinite “Temporary” Nuclear Waste Storage and the Need for Nuclear Power

July 24, 2009 rockman Comments Off on Indefinite “Temporary” Nuclear Waste Storage and the Need for Nuclear Power

image Since the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository has gotten the axe from President Obama, nuclear power plants around the country are faced with the prospect of virtually indefinite "temporary" storage of their nuclear waste in the form of spent fuel rods. The US Department of Energy has a legal obligation to find a permanent disposal facility for the spent fuel, and the agreements currently in place presumed that Yucca Mountain would be accepting nuclear waste by 2025 which clearly won’t happen. (Photo of dry cask temporary storage method for spent nuclear fuel from Connecticut Yankee). More after the break. […]

Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin near a leg of the Lunar Module
Rockman's Ramblings

First Lunar Landing 40 Years Later and Stuck Spirit Rover

July 1, 2009 rockman Comments Off on First Lunar Landing 40 Years Later and Stuck Spirit Rover

Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin near a leg of the Lunar Module [Editor] For crying out loud. Two weeks later, and I finally notice the title of my post was 20 years off! Its the 40th anniversary, not the 20th. Sheesh! [/Editor] It’s hard to believe that such a tremendously historic scientific and cultural event is celebrating its 20th Anniversary this month! On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts “Buzz” Aldrin and Neil Armstrong became the first humans to set foot on the Moon. [Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin near a leg of the Lunar Module. (From enwiki), NASA Source]

One of the first featured articles I published on GeoPrac was a remarkable narrative by my NCS Consultants, LLC colleague, Dr. Ed Nowatzki, sharing his recollections of his work on the geotechnical (soils engineering)aspects of the design of the first lunar lander or LM. I was doubly reminded of his article recently, first because of the milestone anniversary, but also because a different spacecraft was having some soil-related trouble on the Planet Mars.

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