Chain Blog Game Fun !!!

Finals are wrapping up, all the snow is almost melted, and I'm getting ready to go home for the Christmas holiday. Sorry for not posting earlier; I meant to write about Dad's weekend over a month ago. Maybe I'll get to it before the end of the year.

Apparently I've been 'tagged' by my good friend Tim and his sister. Silly humans and their games. Personally I dislike these sorts of things, but since I was asked nicely by two Marstons, I will oblige. You brought it on yourselves.

Four Jobs I've Had:

1. Professional Weed-puller and Bark-spreader on the Lang Estate
2. Dish washer in Gwinn, SPU's cafeteria
3. Backroom Team Member at Target
   
4. Graduate Student at WSU (finally they are paying me to go to school)

Four Movies I Could Watch Over & Over

1. Arsenic and Old Lace
2. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
   
3. Star Trek VI
4. TRON
   

Four Places I have Lived

1. Kent, WA
2. Seattle, WA
3. Pullman, WA
4. Kent, WA
   

Four TV Shows I Love

1. Firefly
2. Stargate SG-1
3. Star Trek
4. Mr. Rogers

Four Places I Have Been for a Vacation

1. Camping!
2. Victoria, BC, Canadia
3. My Grandparents Cabin
4. My Uncle's house in Virginia
   

Four Websites I Visit Daily (or when I'm at work)

1. Tim's Blog
2. My email/calendar
3. FoxTrot: http://www.foxtrot.com
4. OSNews: http://www.osnews.com

My Four Favourite Foods:

1. LAMB
2. Baklava
3. My Mom's cooking
   
4. Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup, oh the simplicity

Four Places I would Like to Be (I can't count):

1. Home with my family, friends and books
   
2. Japan, to visit Tim
3. England, since it is so British, and that means awesome!
4. Exploring some untouched forest far from what we call civilization
5. In orbit around some unsuspecting planet (I'd settle for Earth)
   

Four People I'm Tagging:

1. A family member
2. A friend from home
   
3. A friend from WSU
   
4. The poor, unsuspecting person that stumbled upon this atrocity by accident

Thinkpad

One of the many reasons I am glad to have a Thinkpad: Stinkpads will never change. It's a good read.

Other reasons include:

• Linux compatibility, it Just Works^TM
  
• Simple, yet appealing design
  
• Durable construction
  
• Powerful, yet small and portable
  
• Reliable, no downtime unless I ask for it
  
• The Trackpoint, fondly referred to as a 'nub'

If only I could have another... not out of necessity, but for fun.

❄ ☃ ❆

First Snowfall of the Season!

Yea!

the counsel of friends
is a gift from God Most High
brings peace to my soul

Thermal Ponderings

I've heard it said that the human body loses a significant portion of its heat through the top of the head. Anyone know why this is? Does the brain generate more heat than the rest of the body, causing a greater thermal gradient resulting a a greater heat flow? Or are there convection currents in the body that carry thermal energy up through the head like a chimney? Does the skull have a greater coefficient of thermal conductivity than the rest of the body, allowing thermal energy to flow more readily out of the heat? Or maybe there's another reason that the biologists out there can share.

In any case, I'm glad I have my hat because its starting to get cold here.

Tim-

sighs of relief, the
candidacy is over
now bound for Japan

write of your travels
of the acoustics and fun
i'll call if its cheap

know that in all things
my prayers will be with you, and
that God will be too

«sigh»

Congratulations and God-speed.

Assignment

procrastination
is not the only answer
when homework is due

LIGO

Last weekend the Physics and Astronomy Club went on a field trip to Hanford, WA to see LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory). I went on this trip last year also, but this year I drove instead of doing homework (no more contour integrals!). This year we did not get a chance to look at the equipment making up the interferometer, but we did get to see the control room and hear how the gravitational wave detection was going. There have been no signals yet, which is ok, since they don't expect to see any until their sensitivity improves. It was a good time and I was certainly not disappointed since the trip was worth it just for the Greek food we ate for lunch. Definitely a welcome distraction from studying for my E&M exam.

LIGO on Google Maps

Driving to LIGO

Greek food... Tasty!

x-arm of LIGO

Blue skies and tumbleweed(?)

∇ · E = 0

the Tempest has passed
with waves and radiation
but did i pass it?

is it over yet
or is this a lull before
the final death blow?

shall i survive it?
the integrals will tell all
what could not be found

the weekend comes soon
will i find my solace there
in the midst of friends?

Exams

exams always come
bringing stress and frustration
but never candy

udev Woes

In addition to school, frisbee golf and dealing with burglers, I've been helping with the latest release of Dropline GNOME for Slackware Linux. I'm responsible for building, testing and troubleshooting packages related to integrating digital camera support into GNOME. Usually my meager knowledge of the underpinnings of a Linux system is enough for me get it all working but this release cycle is different. Finally, after over a year of development Slackware 11 was released on last Monday. With it came some rather large changes to the system boot process and how hardware is managed with newer kernels. Specifically, if you decide to use a 2.6 kernel, linux-hotplug is disabled and device support must be handled entirely by udev. The problem is that with older versions of Slackware, linux-hotplug handled the creation and permissions of device nodes but since linux-hotplug will most likely be disabled (most of our users will be using a 2.6 kernel) I need to figure a way to get udev to create the proper nodes and more importantly, set the permissions on those nodes so that the appropriate users can access their camera. This involves deep understanding of the how Linux manages devices and how to write udev rules. In short, this problem is way over my head, especially while I'm in school and don't have an internet connection. There's some pretty smart guys on our development team, so I'm hoping they can figure it out. Hopefully it won't be too long before we get this and a few other bugs worked out and can release our final product. I"ll keep you posted...

"Shock¹"

(shǒk) noun. 1. A non-linear, high-amplitude disturbance in a material that typically induces conditions of high pressure and temperature. 2. The logical response to coming home and finding two girls watching TV in your apartment. 3. A famous musical drama in Japan. Syn: seismic disturbance, daze, stupor, concussion, trauma. Ant: settle, comfort.
{French choc, from choquer, to collide with, from Old French chuquier, perhaps of Germanic origin}

Avast Mateys

Arr! Today be "Talk like a Pirate Day". So find y'self a bottle o' rum an' start the pilligin'n an ' plunderin'. Me thinks I'll fin' me some landlubbers to walk the plank...

Here's a piratey haiku for you all, not me own invention, it be pirated from elsewhere. I challenge thee to best me.

Arrg arg aaaarg arg aarrgggh
Aaarg hhharr har aarrggh har rrar har
Yo Ho ho HHo Ho!

TE - TM

transverse electric
the boundary field is zero
transverse magnetic

Wave Propagation and Wake Boarding

Since the title of my blog is 'Recreational Physics' I figure I ought to post something related to both physics and recreation. But really, what is more recreational than physics?

Over labor day weekend, about two weeks ago, I went to the Tri-Cities to participate in "Dan Ekstrom's Boating Extravaganza", at least that's what I called it. It's something his church does; they come with a bunch of boats and people up to Richland to go tubing, water skiing, wake boarding and the like. It was a good opportunity for me to go see Dan, much better than having to make the drive all the way to Oregon.

I went wake boarding and tubing and had a great time. I was sore for a week afterwards. But it was a good break. It's not often I get to spend time doing crazy fun stuff with non-physicists.

Since I am a physicist to the core, I was constantly thinking about physics while we were on the water. In two of my classes we have been talking about wave propagation, so I couldn't help watching the waves and thinking about their physical properties and how they were propagating. Terms like group velocity, phase velocity, wave packet, impedance, and the k vector kept popping into my mind. Have you ever looked at the wake of a boat and wondered how much energy is being transmitted by the waves in the wake and how much is lost through dissipation? I don't know the answer, but key is in the asking.

Now you may think that all this physics thinking was keeping me from enjoying my break. On the contrary, I enjoyed myself all the more. I derive a lot of joy from being able to take what I learn in the cold environment of the classroom and see it manifested in the real world. Although the wave mechanics of the wake of a boat may have no practical applications, it is a real world system where the physics learned from a book can be seen.

Of course, taken to far, this could turn into me taking my work home; which is something I want to avoid. As long as I can keep my physical observations recreational when I'm not at work, my obsession with physics should remain healthy. In our fast-paced, work oriented culture I want to make the extra effort to partition my life between work and play so that if I ever have a family, they will not have to compete with my work for the center of my life.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the trip; you'll just have to use your imagination. Dan said I had some great wipe-outs. Which was exactly what I hoped for, though one face-plant is enough for anyone. If I go again next year, I'll do my best to remember the camera, I promise.

ε(ω)

permittivity
imaginary and real
complex relation

Back to the Old Grindstone

Finished my first week of class and started the second. This semester I am taking Electrodynamics, Continuum Mechanics, Partial Differential Equations and Shock Wave Seminar. Unfortunately, the department is only offering one core class this semester, so I am having to take other classes that I don't need but will be useful. It not going to be an easy semester; I am already finding it difficult to concentrate on homework (like now, I'm writing this instead of studying). Hopefully I'll get back into the groove soon.

I've been playing a lot of frisbee golf lately. There is a nice 18 hole course over in Sunnyside Park. I almost got a hole-in-one on Saturday; my frisbee hit the basket but didn't stay in. I get a birdie every once and a while, but on average I get 1-2 strokes over par. Its a good distraction from classes and it helps me get some fresh air.

I best get crackin' on my homework. I've two assignments due on Wednesday that I need to put some serious work into.

♇

the ninth wanderer

trans-Neptunian object

in a state of flux

俳句

classes start today
i am weary already
before they begin

Cheese?

I'm pretty sure that an electric skateboard wouldn't help me any (see previous post). I think the technobabble might scare them away.

Would the cheese reply with a 'pong' or just a 'thump'? Maybe there's an acoustical engineer out there who is interested in the acoustical properties of cheese. I'm content to just eat the cheesy goodness.

Solution

All I need is an electric skateboard...

"Engage"

As you read the title to this post, imagine Captain Jean-Luc Picard sitting in the command chair of the USS Enterprise pointing forward with the first two fingers of his right hand, saying "Engage".

Why? Because my sister is engaged. Last night Jeff asked her to be his wife. Wow, my sister is getting married. I can't even express how happy I am for her or fully comprehend what all this means. Mostly I'm glad that a godly man like Jeff came along for my sister. They have a chance for a wonderful life together and I pray that God blesses them in it.

Finé, or How I Fired My Shot In Spite Of Myself

Just a few hours ago I fired my last shot until next summer, providing I pass THE QUALIFIERS. It didn't go as well as I would have liked, but it went. Thats whats important. Maybe I should say, I didn't prepare it as well as I would have liked; I lucked out.

In addion to the liquid nitrogen fun I had yesterday, while I was measuring my target I dragged the instrument across the mirror. Twice. Now this is the same mirror that I stayed up late depositing last night. The mirror is basically a thin layer (about 500 nanometers thick) of condensed aluminum vapor. It should not be touched, or even breathed on. And I dragged a piece of steel across it. Big oops. The good news is that I still got a good signal, so I could continue with the experiment.

Next I epoxied pins and whatnot on my target, and happened to put a little string of epoxy on my mirror. Fortunately five-minute epoxied cleans up well if you're fast.

Aside from all that, my experiment went well. The data I got doesn't make any sense, unless soda-lime glass is in fact worthless, junk glass that won't give consistent data.

Since you may want to see some of what I'm talking about, here's a before and after picture of the projectile and a before picture of the target. The target was unavailable for comments following the shot.

Magical N2

So I checked the vapor deposition machine before I left and a new cylindar of liquid nitrogen had appeared. I don't know where it came from or who put it there. So instead of playing frisbee golf tonight, I vapor plated an Al mirror onto my sample. So all is not lost. I'd rather stay here andowork tonight than have my vacation plans messed up. I think I'll head home now...

Poo Pants

Today I was going to use the vapor deposition machine to put a mirror on my sample but I forgot to check if there was liquid nitrogen. Now I may not be able to shoot until next week or the following week, which is going to throw a wrench in my family vacation plans.

I suck at this game.

On a happier note, I finished Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson last night. I highly recommend it.

Now I'm trying to decide if I should just go home for the day before I goof anything else up...

Shot Glass

Ha! You thought this post would be about alcoholic beverages or maybe even the glasses they are poured into. Think again.

Just about two hours ago I fired a shot that I had be working on for the past week. My experiment consisted of some pieces of soda-lime glass (cheap glass) that I put under pressure (3.0 GPa) to see how the index of refraction changed. The pressure was generated by shooting one piece of glass at 420 m/s (almost 1000 mph for you non-scientists) into a glass target. Get it? I shot some glass. Man, I crack myself up.

Anyway, this was the first experiment I did mostly by myself and everything worked! I got good data, the index of refraction I calculated makes sense and all looks to be well. I'm hoping to get another shot off before classes start and unless something goes terribly wrong with my next shot, I think I can make it.

If I feel motivated I'll post some before and after pictures of my experiment, but for now I will whet your hunger with this: Pictures of the 2.5 inch bore gas gun which I fired a shot on two weeks ago. If you look carefully, you can see my target in the second picture.

Bounteous Bounty

With my dinner this evening I ate the first fruits from my own garden. Tomatoes! Grown all by me-self.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to my mom for the tomato seedling, the planter, the potting soil, the fertilizer and just about everything else. And the sun helped with the photosynthesis. Guess I don't deserve much credit.

Planning to fire a shot tomorrow. Hopefully all will go well. Maybe I'll post something about it. Gotta keep ya interested.


Tasty tomatoes with the source in the background.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity-Jig

This summer has been the beginning of my entry into the real world. A real job with real responsibilities. I'm doing research for my degree which keeps me from me from having long weekends and extended vacations. I really enjoy my work, but its frustrating not being able to go home to see my family and friends for more than just a weekend. But its not so bad. I'm thankful that I still live in Washington, so it is still possible for me to go home when I have time.

This weekend one of my friends was going to Seattle and offered to give me a ride home. Since having to drive so Seattle by myself is a such a drag, I couldn't pass up the offer to carpool. So I went home and spent the weekend with my parents. In typical Lang fashion, we did some yardwork, which consisted primarily of moving bark, watched some movies and some Stargate. Speaking of which, the last Stargate episode was really terrible. It was really great to be home. Got to relax and get a new perspective on life. I also got to see my grandparents and show them what I've been working on. I can't believe how blessed I am to have such a wonderful family.

Now that I'm back in Pullman I'm concentrating on firing two more shots before classes start. I can't believe that summer is almost over; I'm going to have to buckle down if I want to finish. And then classes can start again. Yay.

Best get some sleep so I can get a full days work in tomorrow.

My Friends are Amazing

Wow. Only a month of summer left and this will be my second blog post. This isn't looking so good.

I am truly blessed. For the last three weekends I've been able to hang out with friends from my undergraduate years. God is good, they came right when I needed them, right when I needed Godly men to talk with. I have friends here in Pullman, but none of them can compare to my friends from back home.

Josh came out an visited me the weekend of the Fourth. I sent out a plea to my Seattle friends for visitors and he was the only one who said "Are you sure you'll be able to put up with me for a whole weekend?" Maybe those weren't his exact words, but you get the idea.

Next came Tim. Now truthfully he didn't come to Pullman to see me; his sister (younger this time) was getting married and being a good brother (or bother) he came to see her get hitched. In spite of all the wedding preparation, Tim found time to hang out. He's a great guy and showed up just in time to get me through another emotional slump. And the wedding was beautiful, the second Marston wedding of the year. I know he must be sick of hearing this, oh well. Now that Tim's sisters have been married off, now it's Tim's turn. No pressure dude.

Now for the big surprise of July, Jon Bay visited me last weekend. He said he would when I sent out my plea at the end of June, but I figured something would come up and he wouldn't make it. But friends follow through. He sent me an email last week, saying something along the lines of "so, umm, you going to send me directions to your place?" I was floored. And excited.

So its been a good month. Got to hang out with some amazing friends, finished an experiment (hopefully another post with pictures will come soon) and generally felt better about my life. Hopefully I'll be able to survive another month of summer and be ready for classes to start in mid-August.

As a teaser of what may come in a future post, two pictures of my summer.

Fun in the Snake River:


Green Lasers Make Everything Better:

Finally, A Blog of My Own

So I finally broke down and signed up for a blog. I don't know who will ever read it, but it don't matter. It'll be fun to post some random stuff to the web, since I can't ever seem to get my website off the ground.

Obviously, I'm a physicist. I just finished my first two semesters of graduate school at Washington State University and am starting my first summer of research at the Institute for Shock Physics. My grand plan is to get out of Pullman in no more than five years with a Ph.D. in physics. It's gonna be a long haul, but I'm going to do my best to pull it off. I received my B.S. degree in physics from Seattle Pacific University, a small Christian university. Which brings me to my second point: I'm a Christian. In short I am convicted that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, lived a sinless life, bore the punishment for my sins by dying on the cross and rising again and by His grace alone, I am saved. People ask me what denomination I belong to but I never have a short answer for them. Basically I'm a Christian; more specifically I interpret the Bible rather literally, I agree with John Calvin and think that Christianity should mold the culture, not the other way around. When I was in Seattle I attended Mars Hill Church, which I miss a lot. I haven't found a church home yet in Pullman that is a perfect fit, but I'm still looking.

Because I am both a Christian and a physicist, I find the interface between science and religion fascinating. People often think that acceptance of one excludes the other. I disagree, in fact, it is my faith as a Christian that nurtured my interest in science. Nature is also part of God's revelation of Himself to humanity. The revelation of nature is not the special revelation of scripture, but a general revelation. For me, being able to study the world that God made around me is another way for me to learn more about Him. This is a point that I think a lot of Christians miss. It's easy to get worked up over the theory of evolution or the big bang theory and discount the whole of science. We must be critical of the constructs of man, but be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. And scientists aren't innocent either in their view of religion. I think I've gone on long enough about this, but I hope I've started to make my point: I can still be a Christian and a physicist without bending over backwards.

Anyway, that's a little about me. I'm not sure what I'm going to be doing with this blog. Maybe a little philosophical discussion like above. Maybe I'll post my progress on my research in the lab. Or maybe I'll have something interesting to say about a book I'm reading or a computer problem I'm working on. I know you can't wait for my next update, poor reader, whoever you are.