I was reading a blog post (http://jackbootedliberal.com, check it out!) and in commenting on a certain post I realized how much I'd written! I said to myself "Self, you should post this on your LJ!" So, I am!
Just a note: I don't hate Christians, or anybody for that matter. Please don't think that I do :(
His post was pointing out a hypocrisy in that billboards that say things like "What part of 'Thou shalt not...' did you not understand" --God, are allowed to be put up but if someone puts up a billboard advertising an athiest group's website, then the billboard receives all kinds of media attention and is then usually forced down.
I’ve always disliked billboards like the second one for the reasons you’ve stated as well as my belief that they devalue the religion as a whole. I feel this way anytime I see a sign or bumper sticker that uses some clever-but-not-really pun or "cute" phrase to express one’s belief in Christianity (or any belief, for that matter). I feel that such things degrade what should be a profound and personal set of beliefs and values. Things like this also speak to the commercialization of Christianity, which is also degrading to the religion. T-shirts like “Satan is a NERD”, stickers like “REAL men love Jesus!” Really?On a similar note, I’ve always been puzzled why people need to use things like bracelets, bumper stickers, t-shirts, etc. to express their beliefs. To me, all these things do is apply a label to the person wearing them and they allow themselves to more easily be judged and stereotyped. Is simply believing not enough? Does one need to stand on a soapbox with a megaphone shouting “This is what I believe!” in order to feel secure about themselves? I could speculate forever, but at the end of the day I guess I really just don’t know. I guess this ties into the human desire to feel like one is a part of something greater than oneself.
Perhaps this has to do with the fact that I am wholly against any form of organized, structured belief system. I prefer to build my own belief structure based on my experiences in life as well as by adapting bits and pieces from other structured belief systems. I think that prescribing oneself to a cookie cutter set of ideals (like saying "I'm a democrat through and through!" or "I'm a Romano-Orthodox Latter Day Christian, type B) severely restricts room for personal growth. This ties into my belief that no set of values should be absolute. If one has a conflict between their actions and their values, I believe that changing their values is just a valid an option as changing the actions.
I believe that many people will jump through burning hoops over a pit of lava filled with armored laser sharks instead of doing a bit of introspection and soul searching to resolve their inner conflicts with a set a beliefs that they subscribed themselves to. I think the problem lies in that people decide to live by these values anticipating that they will be the same person X years down the road and then think something is wrong with themselves when that's not the case.
However, I'm fully ready to admit that all of what I've just written is a heap of elephant feces. I'm beginning to think more and more like a certain disco funk communist brother of mine that essentially believes that everything is arbitrary. I'm making conjectures based on nothing but self-anecdotal evidence. I'm beginning to think more and more that it's not that I dislike other people embodying these qualities, but that I'm afraid of myself becoming this artificial "Unhappy Person (TM)" that I've created in my head.
-shrug-
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Interlocks
Over the past week or so I've been working on some of the electrical aspects of our experiment. We've decided that instead of having different components run at different voltages, we're going to run all of it at high voltage (around 30,000V). We decided to do this because if you've got one component running at high voltage and another at a much lower voltage, the possibility of a discharge between the two is much higher. Also, if such a discharge were to occur, it could be very dangerous. Ohm's law states that voltage is proportional to current via a constant, resistance. Hence, V = I*R. Assuming a constant resistance, the higher the voltage difference between to points, the higher the current between them. Air is actually a wonderful insulator, but it's just safer (and easier) to hold everything at high voltage.
There is still danger, though. You don't want people running around the the high voltage area while it's running, so we're having to design an interlock and grounding hook system (I think I mentioned this a few posts back? Now for more details!). The power supplies we use have two jumper screws on the back of them. Normally, there's a small wire that connects the two. If they are connected, then the power supply runs. If they're disconnected, it won't turn on. We're going to have a large cage built around the high voltage components and have a system such that if you open one of the three doors a switch will open, which opens the circuit between the jumper screws, and will shut off the high voltage power supply. Essentially, this is three switches in series that are normally closed when the doors are closed.
We've also got to have a way to discharge any latent charge in the components. Enter the grounding hooks! Each door will have a fiberglass rod with a metal hook running through it blocking the door during operation. Each rod is independently connected to a common ground (zero voltage). To enter the room, a door must be opened. Then, the hook has to be removed and then hooked onto a predesignated spot that will discharge any latent charge in the system. Voila! Safety!
I think I've found what I want to do research on during my Ph.D. Dr. Carter is trying to get a collaborative program between Nuclear Engineers and Nuclear Physicists started here at the lab. He wants to do decay heat measurements relevant to nuclear reactors. When a radioactive element decays from one species to the next, there is a significant release of energy (the decay heat). This energy is what's used to power nuclear reactors. Having a better understanding of all the different decay processes will allow better control of those processes which, in turn, allow for more efficient reactors. I talked to a guy at UT who will be working on this project once funding comes in and he was really excited about my background at Tech in physics. He was also excited to hear that I was working on the helium jet. What's awesome is that if I decide to work with this guy I could be using the same helium jet that I helped develop!
There's a problem, though: funding. The group may have funding come September, but there's no guarantee. If there's no funding, then I can't be hired. If I can't get hired, then my tuition isn't waived (which is stupid expensive, being an out of state student). This isn't all bad, though, since I've been told that funding will almost certainly happen... they're just not sure when. I've been assured that I'll have a job here at the lab until the end of the year. I may just have to wait until Spring to start classes if funding comes a little late. No big deal, but I'd rather start sooner than later.
I'm also talking to a few other professors about their research. One guy does measurements pertaining to space radiation protection as well as developing materials that will protect astronauts from this radiation. Another guy does research in nuclear non-proliferation, which essentially means keeping dangerous nuclear technology out of the wrong hands. All three professors are essentially doing applied nuclear physics research and tip-toe the line between nuclear engineering and physics. This just so happens to be the exact sort of thing I'd like to do!
A bunch of Psi U's are going on a cabin trip in the Blue Ridge mountains this weekend and I'm super pumped! It's supposed to be warm and sunny until late Sunday, so plenty of awesome nature things to see.
There is still danger, though. You don't want people running around the the high voltage area while it's running, so we're having to design an interlock and grounding hook system (I think I mentioned this a few posts back? Now for more details!). The power supplies we use have two jumper screws on the back of them. Normally, there's a small wire that connects the two. If they are connected, then the power supply runs. If they're disconnected, it won't turn on. We're going to have a large cage built around the high voltage components and have a system such that if you open one of the three doors a switch will open, which opens the circuit between the jumper screws, and will shut off the high voltage power supply. Essentially, this is three switches in series that are normally closed when the doors are closed.
We've also got to have a way to discharge any latent charge in the components. Enter the grounding hooks! Each door will have a fiberglass rod with a metal hook running through it blocking the door during operation. Each rod is independently connected to a common ground (zero voltage). To enter the room, a door must be opened. Then, the hook has to be removed and then hooked onto a predesignated spot that will discharge any latent charge in the system. Voila! Safety!
I think I've found what I want to do research on during my Ph.D. Dr. Carter is trying to get a collaborative program between Nuclear Engineers and Nuclear Physicists started here at the lab. He wants to do decay heat measurements relevant to nuclear reactors. When a radioactive element decays from one species to the next, there is a significant release of energy (the decay heat). This energy is what's used to power nuclear reactors. Having a better understanding of all the different decay processes will allow better control of those processes which, in turn, allow for more efficient reactors. I talked to a guy at UT who will be working on this project once funding comes in and he was really excited about my background at Tech in physics. He was also excited to hear that I was working on the helium jet. What's awesome is that if I decide to work with this guy I could be using the same helium jet that I helped develop!
There's a problem, though: funding. The group may have funding come September, but there's no guarantee. If there's no funding, then I can't be hired. If I can't get hired, then my tuition isn't waived (which is stupid expensive, being an out of state student). This isn't all bad, though, since I've been told that funding will almost certainly happen... they're just not sure when. I've been assured that I'll have a job here at the lab until the end of the year. I may just have to wait until Spring to start classes if funding comes a little late. No big deal, but I'd rather start sooner than later.
I'm also talking to a few other professors about their research. One guy does measurements pertaining to space radiation protection as well as developing materials that will protect astronauts from this radiation. Another guy does research in nuclear non-proliferation, which essentially means keeping dangerous nuclear technology out of the wrong hands. All three professors are essentially doing applied nuclear physics research and tip-toe the line between nuclear engineering and physics. This just so happens to be the exact sort of thing I'd like to do!
A bunch of Psi U's are going on a cabin trip in the Blue Ridge mountains this weekend and I'm super pumped! It's supposed to be warm and sunny until late Sunday, so plenty of awesome nature things to see.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Idea for a Sci Fi novel?
On a completely ORNL-unrelated note:
I was riding to work today with Jeff listening to Shpongle and I had a great idea for an epic science fiction novel! Many science fiction authors present the idea of ultimate existence as transcending beyond physical existence. Some how humans figure out how to leave their physical bodies behind and become some kind of ethereal energy form that floats the universe for eternity whose only purpose is to learn the secrets of life.
Wouldn't it be totally rad if all of the electromagnetic radiation in the universe was actually other civilizations who have achieved such a transcendence? Assuming the big bang/big crunch model of the universe, what if past civilizations during the last universal cycle formed some sort of ultimate scientific coalition that figured out how to achieve this higher state? What if the only way to cause such a change WOULD BE TO INITIATE THE BIG CRUNCH thereby CAUSING ALL LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE TO TRANSCEND?!
But there's some new threat to the universe... one that could end all life, physical and energy, as we know it. One man (or woman) is chosen by the sum collective consciousness of the universe to stand against this evil. In the end, humanity prevails and the universe is safe. He is presented with a choice at the end of the story to take the ultimate journey into the FINAL FRONTIER... does he accept the offer?
Shit, ida know... somebody write this novel so I can read it. I hereby release this demon of an idea to the world. I wonder if I wrote a letter to one of my favorite epic sci fi authors, Peter F. Hamilton, whether he'd at least read it or not. Man, that guy knows how to write some pretty epic sci fi.
Ok, ok, ok... time to stop spiraling out into infinity and get back to work.
I was riding to work today with Jeff listening to Shpongle and I had a great idea for an epic science fiction novel! Many science fiction authors present the idea of ultimate existence as transcending beyond physical existence. Some how humans figure out how to leave their physical bodies behind and become some kind of ethereal energy form that floats the universe for eternity whose only purpose is to learn the secrets of life.
Wouldn't it be totally rad if all of the electromagnetic radiation in the universe was actually other civilizations who have achieved such a transcendence? Assuming the big bang/big crunch model of the universe, what if past civilizations during the last universal cycle formed some sort of ultimate scientific coalition that figured out how to achieve this higher state? What if the only way to cause such a change WOULD BE TO INITIATE THE BIG CRUNCH thereby CAUSING ALL LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE TO TRANSCEND?!
But there's some new threat to the universe... one that could end all life, physical and energy, as we know it. One man (or woman) is chosen by the sum collective consciousness of the universe to stand against this evil. In the end, humanity prevails and the universe is safe. He is presented with a choice at the end of the story to take the ultimate journey into the FINAL FRONTIER... does he accept the offer?
Shit, ida know... somebody write this novel so I can read it. I hereby release this demon of an idea to the world. I wonder if I wrote a letter to one of my favorite epic sci fi authors, Peter F. Hamilton, whether he'd at least read it or not. Man, that guy knows how to write some pretty epic sci fi.
Ok, ok, ok... time to stop spiraling out into infinity and get back to work.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Fon Kaos
That was the password to get into the speakeasy at the prohibition party last weekend. I'm not quite sure what it means (what the hell is "fon"), but that's not really important. What's important is that last weekend was awesome! For a few hours on Saturday it looked like the weekend was going to be complete and utter suckitude, but that changed over the course of half an hour in the early afternoon. I was able to stop moping and get back to celebrating my acceptance into the Ph.D. Nuclear Engineering program at UT.
Oh yeah... I got into grad school! That's such a HUGE confidence boost! I've felt since graduating that I may not have gotten a lot out of my undergraduate education, but both working in the lab and getting accepted to a Ph.D. program has made me at least consider that maybe I know a thing or two about stuff. This is one of the few issues that I'm a bit shaky on when it comes to self-confidence. I'm getting much better about it, though :D
I was really happy with how the prohibition party turned out. The party we used to put on, Heaven and Hell, was essentially focused on making oneself miserable. The External Affairs committee decided to switch things up a bit and they did an excellent job! There was an initial shock when it was announced that the Prohibition party would replace it, but this situation just goes to show that trying new things is awesome! I was also super excited that some of my burner friends came. They're a couple of years older than most of the people there, so I was worried that they wouldn't fit in but that wasn't the case at all. It's always nice to have two separate groups of friends hit it off so well. Those friends have showed myself and other Psi U's good times before and it's nice to know that we can do the same in return.
JJ and I will hopefully start doing further leak testing today. We've got a set of two filters that purify the helium going into our recirculation cart. I was surprised to see that when the Radiation Control Technician (RCT) checked the filters, they were clean of radiation. These filters would be the most contaminated components in our system, however since it's been many years since they were last used whatever radioactivity was there must have decayed.
We've also got to start designing some electricity safety interlocks. Almost the entire helium jet system will be held at around 30,000 volts. Because of this, we've got to have a metal cage around our entire system so that people aren't running around and getting their asses melted by arcing electricity. There will be three doors to get into this area and we need to design an interlock system such that if someone opens one of these doors when the system is turned on, they system will shut down. I would also like to place a bucket of feces above the doors because if someone were to ignore the sign saying something like "IF YOU ENTER DURING OPERATION, YOU WILL EXPLODE" as well as the giant red light, I want them to suffer a bit for shutting our experiment down. I don't think the bucket will end up happening but one can dream, right?
Oh yeah... I got into grad school! That's such a HUGE confidence boost! I've felt since graduating that I may not have gotten a lot out of my undergraduate education, but both working in the lab and getting accepted to a Ph.D. program has made me at least consider that maybe I know a thing or two about stuff. This is one of the few issues that I'm a bit shaky on when it comes to self-confidence. I'm getting much better about it, though :D
I was really happy with how the prohibition party turned out. The party we used to put on, Heaven and Hell, was essentially focused on making oneself miserable. The External Affairs committee decided to switch things up a bit and they did an excellent job! There was an initial shock when it was announced that the Prohibition party would replace it, but this situation just goes to show that trying new things is awesome! I was also super excited that some of my burner friends came. They're a couple of years older than most of the people there, so I was worried that they wouldn't fit in but that wasn't the case at all. It's always nice to have two separate groups of friends hit it off so well. Those friends have showed myself and other Psi U's good times before and it's nice to know that we can do the same in return.
JJ and I will hopefully start doing further leak testing today. We've got a set of two filters that purify the helium going into our recirculation cart. I was surprised to see that when the Radiation Control Technician (RCT) checked the filters, they were clean of radiation. These filters would be the most contaminated components in our system, however since it's been many years since they were last used whatever radioactivity was there must have decayed.
We've also got to start designing some electricity safety interlocks. Almost the entire helium jet system will be held at around 30,000 volts. Because of this, we've got to have a metal cage around our entire system so that people aren't running around and getting their asses melted by arcing electricity. There will be three doors to get into this area and we need to design an interlock system such that if someone opens one of these doors when the system is turned on, they system will shut down. I would also like to place a bucket of feces above the doors because if someone were to ignore the sign saying something like "IF YOU ENTER DURING OPERATION, YOU WILL EXPLODE" as well as the giant red light, I want them to suffer a bit for shutting our experiment down. I don't think the bucket will end up happening but one can dream, right?
Monday, March 1, 2010
Getting kinda bored
The past two weeks have been "ughhh...", at best. JJ went to India (that's where he's from) for a couple of weeks, so I've been on my own since he left. He left me three things to do: calculate the pressure drop from the argon flowmeter to the ion source chamber, read up on how to operate the turbopump, and leak test the helium recirculation cart. I've got a new value for the pressure drop, but I'm not that confident in the result. I was able to read up on the turbopump, but there's only so much I can do without turning it on. Finally, I was able to leak test a little bit of the cart, but not all of it. I found a really big leak! However, I can't fix it. Because of that, I can't get the background noise of the detector low enough to reliably check the rest of the cart.
What sucks is that I hit all of these roadblocks at the end of his first week away. Last week was really dull since I really couldn't do much. Thankfully, there were a couple of meetings with the nuclear physics group and a student symposium I had to present for, so that took up a bit of my time. I'm glad JJ is getting back so that we can get back to work!
I feel kind of bad that I wasn't able to completely finish everything... however, I've done what I can and I'll just hope that he's pleased. -shrug-
What sucks is that I hit all of these roadblocks at the end of his first week away. Last week was really dull since I really couldn't do much. Thankfully, there were a couple of meetings with the nuclear physics group and a student symposium I had to present for, so that took up a bit of my time. I'm glad JJ is getting back so that we can get back to work!
I feel kind of bad that I wasn't able to completely finish everything... however, I've done what I can and I'll just hope that he's pleased. -shrug-
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