The Wood Engineer

Concert

2011-06-08T10:29:00.000-07:00

Drawlstrings at Volume 11 Tavern in Raleigh, NC. Thursday 9th of June 2011. I believe it's only 5 bucks and they kick ass. Known a few of these guys since high school come out and support them.

Fantastic Singer

2011-06-02T16:31:00.000-07:00

One of my friends has recorded "For Good" from Wicked in her closet. Her singing voice is just absurdly good.

http://soundcloud.com/fruby/for-good

I am so lazy

2010-09-09T19:28:00.001-07:00

I've been promising to constantly update this thing for a while but I keep getting side tracked with other projects. I'll try and draw up a calendar and figure something out...if you're we're both lucky.

In case you were wondering I no longer do research with NCSU... for many many reasons which I'm not going into. So goodbye bio-fuels for the time being but I'll get something else going soon.

I've applied to work on the campaigns for some senators and representatives so we'll see how that works out (I'm not holding my breath)...all extremely progressive liberals.

A few people have expressed interest in being guest writers which I'm pretty excited about....we'll see if they are lazier than me or not :-).

One of them is at UNC Charlotte doing her PhD and researching some things in Neuroscience so hopefully she can fill you in on all that.

The other is working and doing her masters at NCSU and drinks like a fish! So in between beers she can surely write a little!

Well that's that for now. More news coming soon!

Time and effort

2010-07-13T12:01:00.001-07:00

I need to put more into this blog. So I'm going to be making a conscious effort to post twice a week, at least, from now on!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.6

The Last Minutes of an Oil Rig.

2010-05-04T12:50:00.001-07:00

I found this picture quite striking.

Chinese boffins give an interesting shorthand for copper nanotubes..big oops.

2010-04-07T15:52:00.000-07:00

They decided to name them CuNTs

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/09/nanotube_acronyms/

A great comment. Applicable to our friend Mark Hyman M.D.

2010-04-06T21:36:00.000-07:00

MrHappyMan 51 points

If I've learnt anything, medical doctors are the WORST members of the scientific community. Medical doctors, more than any others are willing to "go rogue", drop all sense of morality and sense and start pushing whatever form of quackery they can.

MD's are probably the most trusted people in society but they, more than any other members of the scientific community, abuse their position of authority just to make a quick buck.

This is really sad because I'm a biologist looking to go into medicine. Its distressing to see how these distinguished people, the general hotshots of the medical profession like Dr Mehmet Oz (a cardiac fucking surgeon!), sell their integrity and virtue to make money. People like him further sow distrust of their own profession, cannibalising real medicine, making the lives of their fellow physicians more difficult and perpetuating kooky ideas whilst they're at it. This can only hinder progress and rogue MD's are largely to blame for snake oil sellers still being around even in the 21st century.

Here's a link of Richard Dawkins interviewing one of said traitors . Shit like this pisses me off. How the mighty spout such bullshit is beyond me. Watch how this General Practitioner talks about fucking chakra and black holes in the body. Yes, thats right: black friggin holes.

Christ.

Wikileaks Video

2010-04-05T20:02:00.001-07:00

Here is the video that was released by wikileaks today...make up your own minds on this one..but it gives me chills.

Wood Facts

2010-03-15T21:17:00.000-07:00

Some quick wood facts to digest :-D

Wood is 4 times more efficient as an insulator than an equivalent thickness of cinder block, 6 times more efficient than brick, 15 times more efficient than concrete, 306 times more efficient than steel, and 1,770 times more efficient than aluminum

50% of paper produced in the U.S. this year will be reclaimed and recycled into new materials!.

Wood fiber is used in the production of photographic film, rayon products, and even interior moldings of car doors.

Global wood consumption has tripled this century, roughly paralleling population growth.

Since 1940 we have been growing more wood in America than harvested. On average for every tree we cut we plant 2!

There are 13.2 million acres of old growth in the U.S.. Over half, 8 million acres, is preserved in national parks, wilderness and other set-asides. If you put these 8 million acres together, they would form a band five miles wide stretching from New York City to San Francisco.

We still have 70% of the forests that were here in 1600 - 737 million acres of forests in the U.S.

Scientists have discovered than when forests become old and overcrowded, trees begin to use more oxygen than they produce. Young, well-managed forest tend to be the most efficient at absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen. There are some cool graphs involved in this which I'll show another time..once I get some permission from the owner (my department head).

American Apparel "Best Bottom"

2010-03-13T23:14:00.000-08:00

The results were announced and honestly I couldn't care less..the kicks were to be had at the bottom of the list. I have to wonder what this young lady from North Carolina was thinking..

http://i.americanapparel.net/storefront/UGCStyle/BestBottom2010/View.asp?e=3704

Mark Hyman M.D. Quackery part 3.

2010-03-13T15:12:00.000-08:00

In one of Mark Hyman's recent posts on Huffington Post (the "we don't check our sources source for news") he described how he believes mercury and heavy metals are the cause of autism..and once again (following the crazy that is the Anti-Vaccination movement) says that vaccines cause autism *facepalm*.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman

Every distinguished scientist in the world disagrees with this...all major studies into vaccines and autism have proven false. In three court cases this has been struck down due to overwhelming evidence against.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/science/13vaccine.html

He also states that mercury fillings cause autism...I've been wondering how anyone can come to this conclusion..as every study into mercury based fillings has shown that the mercury CANNOT leech out of the fillings. The mercury is chemically bound to the other metals in the filling..it's completely inert. The reason that mercury was removed from most fillings was due to public outcry over fears that it may before any studies had even been done.

http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/mercury.html

In the same post Hyman talks about "detoxification of heavy metals" ...when will he (and others) understand that there is no such thing as "detoxing"..it's a buzz word made up to sell diet pills not a real scientific entity. Doing a search for "heavy metal detox" comes up with tons of quack websites and not a single scientific source...quack watch to the rescue with

http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/detox_overview.html

a quick overview for the crazy behind these schemes.

It turns out that Mark Hyman is the founder of what he calls "functional medicine" which isn't approved by ANY major medical groups. He calls himself an Expert on functional medicine...which is easy when you are the ONLY practitioner of it.

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/09/dr_mark_hyman_mangles_autism_science_on-.php

Someone take this guy to court for malpractice PLEASE!

Spite

2010-03-13T15:08:00.000-08:00

Due to the influx of idiots viewing my "Mark Hyman M.D." posts I've decided to monetize the blog...just to spite these morons.

2010-02-25T19:08:00.001-08:00

Conference

2010-02-09T14:23:00.001-08:00

I will be in Charlotte, NC next Thursday for a conference (I'm not speaking this time, thankfully!) but registration is free for this one if anyone wants to come see a little of what we do.

Thanks to

http://www.woodworks.org/

who set up and host a lot of these types of things!

This scares the hell out of me.

2010-01-19T06:57:00.001-08:00

http://gawker.com/5451086/john-travolta-to-airlift-desperately-needed-e+meters-to-people-of-haiti

Just arrived back in the U.S.

2010-01-05T09:40:00.000-08:00

I have been in Wales for the last 2 weeks on a nice fun vacation.

In the meantime boycott the Huffington Post.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/09/die_huffpo_die.php

Yes, yes I know.

2009-12-07T22:33:00.001-08:00

Ok. Actually back in the saddle now. I have some more articles reading about Mr. Hyman the quacktastic doctor that he is..I plan on dispelling a few myths. And stunningly the hits to this site have gone up drastically in the time I have been away. Congrats me?

Back

2009-10-11T15:28:00.000-07:00

Ok I have returned. I apologize for my away time. Between research, school, and a few posting positions on other blogs I have not had any time! But I'm back! I'll be posting a some new articles in the next few days.

Wal-mart

2009-06-27T14:48:00.001-07:00

The last few days I have been all over North Carolina..it's driving me nuts.. but I have seen some pretty interesting things. I have discovered how different people are just two hours away from each other..it's absurd.

In Raleigh Wal-mart is a nice exeperience I walk in get what I want and get out. Perfect.

In North Wilkesboro I have to dodge people that HAVE to be inbred to be that gross. Who walk so slowly, taking up the entire isle no less, that I wonder whether death will come before I make it to the greeting cards. When I thankfully make it to the counter thinking that I can escape to sweet sweet freedom I become stuck in line for 30 minuites (I shit you not) behind 2 people because no other checkouts are open.

I now understand how people end up going on a murderous rampage.

This is the ultimate test of patience.

On a bright note I move in to my house in Raleigh on Monday. Oh yeaaa.

Global Climate Change.

2009-06-26T10:34:00.001-07:00

I have recently met a great deal more people that do not believe that global climate change is a real phenomenon and that we, as humans, are having an effect on our environment. You notice I have called this post “Global Climate Change” and not “Global Warming” because we honestly do not know what the atmosphere will do with all of this CO2..pretty much anything could happen.

The information I am going to present was taken from the Vostok, Law Dome, and Taylor Dome ice cores, the most recent data is taken by air flask. The information represents the CO2 in the atmosphere over the last 400,000 years. If anyone wants to try and debunk my information with hard core facts (no opinions) then I welcome it.

Here is the CO2 in the atmosphere: (Click for bigger picture)

As you can see for the last 400,000 years things have followed a pretty regular pattern…until the last 100 years or so when things appear to have gone a little big strange..coincidence? I think not. Since the industrial revolution we have been burning large amounts of fossil fuels. We are currently pumping huge amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere every day (in fact around 1.5 million tons) it’s absurd to think that this has no effect on the atmosphere. As you can see not only is the CO2 no longer following it’s trend it is at the highest point it has been in 400,000 years. Now is a good time to present the temperature data for the last 400,000 years!

Temperature last 400,000 years: (click for bigger picture)

Once again the temperature follows a pretty regular pattern until wham.. last 100 or so years things get a little bit hairy. If we follow the trend we should have seen a large dip in temperature that usually signals a general cooling, however, the CO2 in the atmosphere appears to be keeping the temperature high and extremely irregular. We have managed to upset the earths temperature cycles and there is no telling exactly what will happen to our climate as the earth attempts a self correction..but we can guess…

We can expect the oceans to become more and more acidic as they absorb the CO2 in the atmosphere and create large amounts of carbonic acid..fun..this kills fish and causes algal blooms (which we have been seeing a lot more of recently on extremely large scales) these algal blooms will kill even more fish and start choking the oceans other life. With these changes occurring in the ocean the weather will no doubt be affected..what will happen as far as that is concerned I cannot even hazard a guess. The changes that occur in the ocean will have a big effect on our food supplies as all of a sudden fish become much more scarce.

Anyone denying our influence on our environment is misinformed or foolish. Unless we start making some changes we are going to keep pushing CO2 into the atmosphere with end results we cannot be entirely sure of…

(Data Source)

Gasification Plant Opens in Austria!!

2009-06-25T10:46:00.001-07:00

As you all know my current area of research is into ligno-cellulosic bio-fuels and a plant has opened up in Austria that is doing, somewhat, on the same lines as my research. Wood gasification is the most efficient way we have (at this time) of converting bio-materials into energy..fermentation and other methods are many many years behind. Here is the article.

Article

This really is the future and you can expect to see a lot more of these plants springing up in the next 20 years! Wood is the future! (you never thought you’d hear that :-D).

Via: R-Squared Energy Blog

Mark Hyman M.D. The Saga of Quackery Continues.

2009-06-24T20:06:00.001-07:00

I was given a tip by a commenter that Mark Hyman has written an article for the Huffington Postman…so of course I had to Investigate.

**Yes the same Mark Hyman that will not return my emails, or voicemail messages asking him to explain his “methods”**

Apparently he has written 3 articles and all of them are pure quackery.

Huffington post I’m disappointed in you for not reviewing your sources! How can you allow this crook to post this garbage? Well it seems your reputation (which is piss poor for actual journalism) takes another hit.

Mark Hyman Articles

One of his articles is straight up quackery “The seven Keys to Ultra Wellness” and is simply an ad for his own products! He of course goes into all of his detoxification garbage (which you can’t learn about in depth until you pay him large amounts of money). He goes into the classic quack/con trick of using information that seems reasonable to gain some trust and then goes in for the kill with the crazy stuff that he is peddling… amazingly only he and his book can help you!

The other two articles are using the Obama health care plans as a reuse to post about his book and his “Ultrawellness” garbage. Basically buy his crap and you will live forever.

The most scary parts are the comments at the bottom of the pages, where, people are believing him and buying into his trash. I just hope no one gets hurt by this man.

Mark Hyman reminds me of Kevin Trudeau. Mr. Trudeau is the biggest quack of them all and Hyman uses the same methods and appears to be gaining ground the same way Trudeau did. Most of your will recognize Trudeau as the king of quacks from his commercials on late night television a few years ago..he made millions and a lot of people were hurt. Here is a link to an old Quackwatch article on him:

Quackwatch

Unfortunately I saw Trudeau back on television again recently and it made me shake. This man genuinely kills people with what he markets..how can he sleep at night? It Really makes me wonder about their sanity. Resident psychologists could they be psychopathic? They certainly have some of the symptoms of a psychopath including their charisma…their most dangerous weapon….

Clemson and Moving

2009-06-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

I will be at Clemson University for our half year Resilient Homes meeting the 6th and 7th of July, if any readers live in that area and want to go out for a beer (or many) let me know!

I will be moving into my new home on the 1st of July! I have far too much to do before then but I could not be more excited!

Special Seminar Announcement

2009-06-12T10:09:00.001-07:00

June 24th, Wednesday, 11am-12pm in the Conger Room in Biltmore Hall

The Chinese Academy of Forestry is the most prominant research organization in the forestry, wood utilization and natural resources in China.

A delegation of 6 prominant scientists will be visiting North Carolina State University. Including President, Zhang Shougoung and 5 forestry professors. A special seminar is scheduled and two presentations.

Dr. Xu Daping, Director, Research Institute of Tropical Forestry and Professor of Forest Management will present

“Improvement and Cultivation of Main Plantation Trees in Southern China”

Dr. Zheng Yongqi, Professor on Forest Genetics and Breeding will present

“Studies of Conservation and Breeding of Pines in China”

Anyone in the area can attend. You will have to fight for seating in the Conger Room but at least they are comfy :-D

Home is where the wallet is.

2009-06-09T15:59:00.001-07:00

The reason I have not been posting all that much recently is thanks to my search for a house..I found one just over a week ago and put in an offer..and it was accepted!!!! Once the mortgage goes through I will be a homeowner and I’m hoping to move in July 1st (fingers crossed). I’m really excited.

The house is right next to Crossroads Blvd in Raleigh, NC..and only a mile away from downtown Cary! It has just had a new roof, a new exterior, new kitchen...ah move in can not come soon enough! Oh yeah and it’s also only a 5-10 minute drive to NC State University which I guess is somewhat important for research but meh :-D

Here are a few pictures… (click to enlarge)

Skepdude? Skepguy?

2009-06-08T18:14:00.001-07:00

So there is skepchick, skepchick teen, and a load of female skeptical chick groups.. We skeptical males are letting ourselves down..we should obviously create our own site! Any takers? :-D

Penn Jilette on the "Atheists less than human" quote

2009-06-03T09:29:00.000-07:00

Nothing needs to be said here Penn is a great man.

And I'll Throw in some Carlin for good measure.

People take life too seriously.

2009-05-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I was at a party in my apartment complex. The people hosting the party have lived next to me all year so I went over there to have a few beers and hang out.

The night was going well there wasn't too many people and the conversation was good.

As the party started to cool down one of the guys that lives there (we'll call him Adam) got into a fight with his girlfriend and she stormed off in an attempt to drunk drive..after we prevented that, because no one is going to drunk drive around me, she gets a friend to pick her up and leaves. Shortly after Adam goes after her and gets someone else to take him over there.

The night now goes down hill drastically.

This fight spawns another fight between another couple...but things get way too heated...the guy in this arguement (we'll call him Jack) runs to the cutlery draw and grabs a knife..a rather large knife and held it up to a girl (This does not fly with me or anyone else at the party) so we disarm him. 10 minuites later hes back in there and this time he stabs himself in the stomach with the knife.

Now this is pretty scary.

I call an ambulance and the police and they come and take him away..after he pleads not to be taken to the hospital (there is no way someone with a stab wound is not going to the hospital)

I was updated today on his condition and sitauation.

He had stabbed 2 inches into his body.

He luckily missed all internal organs.

To analyze the damage he had to have his chest cut open about 10 inches.

He has been put into mental care for 10 days and has lost his job.

All because of a stupid fight with his girlfriend....

I can't understand the mentality it takes to stab yourself. Especially over something so small. This has potentially ruined his life. I understand he no doubt has some kind of depression which needs to be handled but there is never a reason to take your life.

An apology.

2009-05-28T19:19:00.000-07:00

I would like to issue an apology about one of my lastest rants. I took it a bit too far because quite frankly I was very very angry.

The strangest thing about it is the massive spike in traffic on this site after the words "christian extremists" was put as a keyword..I have deleted the post due to this reason..that is simply not the way I wish to get traffic to this site...anger does not solve problems, especially those of a religious nutjob nature.

My Apologies to my regular readers. (all 6 of you..and if you stop reading I'll track you down...I'm not kidding!)

-Matt

Comments on Scientific Papers

2009-05-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

Via-http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1178

Gasifier Update!

2009-05-28T17:20:00.000-07:00

I believe we have made the decision to buy a table top gasifier! Hopefully we should have it within a few weeks. The company making it seems great and it's a great design.

I just got my own labcoat..I have to say it's strange making the transition from engineer to scientist, I love them both dearly and I hope I can use what I've learned from engineering to give some unique insight into the problems we will face in the lab. I have to say I'm very excited.

Found a great new blog!

2009-05-25T22:37:00.000-07:00

As you should know by now..I'm a wood nerd and it seems I've found someone like myself! Hes a chemist (gotta love those chemists) and he has a great blog on ethanol and cellulosic materials.

http://i-r-squared.blogspot.com/

101st Post and the World of Science Funding from SMBC comics!

2009-05-20T17:16:00.000-07:00

via: SMBC

Now, there is a pirate I can believe in!

2009-05-20T15:47:00.001-07:00

via:Flicker

Gasifier

2009-05-19T19:32:00.001-07:00

Anyone want to buy me a gasifier?
We are attempting to get one from Korea right now but if anyone has one available we can sort out some sort out payment. We are looking for one on a table top level. We are also looking for some consulting on this project.. unfortunately we will not be able to pay for the consulting.
It's a long shot but you never know :-D

I also have added a few new links to the sidebar:-
Anthroslug
Perhaps We Learn
Unreasonable Faith

I love all of these pages! So go ahead and add them to your feed readers! The side panel is updated relatively often with sites I consider to be worth your time!

That's no moon!

2009-05-18T07:33:00.001-07:00

Actually yes it is!

It’s Mimas one of Saturn’s many many moons!

Via: APOD

Conveyor Purchases Up 28%

2009-05-14T11:34:00.001-07:00

A rise in conveyor purchases can show us some interesting things..for instance that new facilities are being built, or old facilities being upgraded. This can be a good sign for the end of our economic woes here in manufacturing; businesses are getting ready to begin producing at full speed once again.

Remember these types of purchases are not an immediate indicator of the end of the troubles but an indicator that the beginning of the end is upon us!

via Quick Manufacturing

So close!

2009-05-13T20:43:00.001-07:00

I was supposed to be going to Oakridge national lab for a visit in a few weeks. Unfortunately I'm a greencard holder...so I can't get clearance. Has anyone ever been that is allowed to talk about their experiences there? The best I can do is sit in the car outside haha.

The Reason Project

2009-05-11T21:28:00.001-07:00

The Reason Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation devoted to spreading scientific knowledge and secular values in society. The foundation draws on the talents of prominent and creative thinkers in a wide range of disciplines to encourage critical thinking and erode the influence of dogmatism, superstition, and bigotry in our world.

Check it out

http://www.reasonproject.org/

It’s a real charity, donations will give you tax breaks, and it’s founded by Sam Harris writer of End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation.

I'm ordering some of these

2009-05-10T14:27:00.001-07:00

As we speak I've ordered a few of these for friends and family. Enjoy!

To buy: Sticker

More Tesla!

2009-05-10T10:17:00.000-07:00

Super Super Massive Black Hole!

2009-05-10T10:14:00.001-07:00

One of the biggest (if not the biggest we can never really be sure) black holes in the universe has been discovered it has a mass of 18 Billion suns and is the size of a galaxy. I have to say the sky is a hobby for me as opposed to my main area of knowledge, so I’m not even going to try to explain this one. That said here is the link to the article so they can give you the correct info:

:-)

The Daily Galaxy

Gov Bev Perdue

2009-05-09T21:47:00.001-07:00

Governor Bev Perdue (NC), to help out her budget, was trying to take all of the grant money away from the universities. I cannot stress how stupid this is!!

If you take the grant money away..the universities may as well just shut their doors because:

A: They have no more money for research..which in turn makes the university more money

B: No one will ever give money to universities again because the money is not being used for what was intended.

I’m terribly disappointed that she even considered this. During the election I would have voted for her (but I can’t I’m a green card holder) and then to hear that she didn’t have the sense to ignore this idea makes me really pissed off. The only reason she backed down on it was due to the outcry and the difficulty in getting the money out of our cold dead hands.

She needs to sort out her priorities.

Scientists Birthday Trivia!

2009-05-08T15:40:00.001-07:00

On May 17th a Scientist that you all SHOULD know is having a birthday..can you guess which scientist, who is very dear to my heart, it is?

No more Duke Nukem Forever

2009-05-06T21:47:00.000-07:00

Duke Nukem Forever has been cancelled...the company that was making it (FOR THE LAST 15 FREAKING YEARS) has gone bankrupt. It seems all of that promotional stuff a few months ago was just garbage...so the meme will live on..unlike Duke Nukem.

Bankrupt

Isaac Asimov

2009-05-05T22:44:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite authors and a phenominal writer in general. I figured I would put one of his short stores on here for you all to read, it’s probably my favorite but I can’t think of any that I‘ve read of his that I haven’t liked, I believe I’m allowed to due to the fact that it was published in 1956 and all copyright should have expired. So here you go!

The Last Question by Isaac Asimov ©1956

The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21, 2061, at a time when humanity first stepped into the light. The question came about as a result of a five dollar bet over highballs, and it happened this way:

Alexander Adell and Bertram Lupov were two of the faithful attendants of Multivac. As well as any human beings could, they knew what lay behind the cold, clicking, flashing face -- miles and miles of face -- of that giant computer. They had at least a vague notion of the general plan of relays and circuits that had long since grown past the point where any single human could possibly have a firm grasp of the whole.

Multivac was self-adjusting and self-correcting. It had to be, for nothing human could adjust and correct it quickly enough or even adequately enough -- so Adell and Lupov attended the monstrous giant only lightly and superficially, yet as well as any men could. They fed it data, adjusted questions to its needs and translated the answers that were issued. Certainly they, and all others like them, were fully entitled to share In the glory that was Multivac's.

For decades, Multivac had helped design the ships and plot the trajectories that enabled man to reach the Moon, Mars, and Venus, but past that, Earth's poor resources could not support the ships. Too much energy was needed for the long trips. Earth exploited its coal and uranium with increasing efficiency, but there was only so much of both.

But slowly Multivac learned enough to answer deeper questions more fundamentally, and on May 14, 2061, what had been theory, became fact.

The energy of the sun was stored, converted, and utilized directly on a planet-wide scale. All Earth turned off its burning coal, its fissioning uranium, and flipped the switch that connected all of it to a small station, one mile in diameter, circling the Earth at half the distance of the Moon. All Earth ran by invisible beams of sunpower.

Seven days had not sufficed to dim the glory of it and Adell and Lupov finally managed to escape from the public function, and to meet in quiet where no one would think of looking for them, in the deserted underground chambers, where portions of the mighty buried body of Multivac showed. Unattended, idling, sorting data with contented lazy clickings, Multivac, too, had earned its vacation and the boys appreciated that. They had no intention, originally, of disturbing it.

They had brought a bottle with them, and their only concern at the moment was to relax in the company of each other and the bottle.

"It's amazing when you think of it," said Adell. His broad face had lines of weariness in it, and he stirred his drink slowly with a glass rod, watching the cubes of ice slur clumsily about. "All the energy we can possibly ever use for free. Enough energy, if we wanted to draw on it, to melt all Earth into a big drop of impure liquid iron, and still never miss the energy so used. All the energy we could ever use, forever and forever and forever."

Lupov cocked his head sideways. He had a trick of doing that when he wanted to be contrary, and he wanted to be contrary now, partly because he had had to carry the ice and glassware. "Not forever," he said.

"Oh, hell, just about forever. Till the sun runs down, Bert."

"That's not forever."

"All right, then. Billions and billions of years. Twenty billion, maybe. Are you satisfied?"

Lupov put his fingers through his thinning hair as though to reassure himself that some was still left and sipped gently at his own drink. "Twenty billion years isn't forever."

"Will, it will last our time, won't it?"

"So would the coal and uranium."

"All right, but now we can hook up each individual spaceship to the Solar Station, and it can go to Pluto and back a million times without ever worrying about fuel. You can't do THAT on coal and uranium. Ask Multivac, if you don't believe me."

"I don't have to ask Multivac. I know that."

"Then stop running down what Multivac's done for us," said Adell, blazing up. "It did all right."

"Who says it didn't? What I say is that a sun won't last forever. That's all I'm saying. We're safe for twenty billion years, but then what?" Lupov pointed a slightly shaky finger at the other. "And don't say we'll switch to another sun."

There was silence for a while. Adell put his glass to his lips only occasionally, and Lupov's eyes slowly closed. They rested.

Then Lupov's eyes snapped open. "You're thinking we'll switch to another sun when ours is done, aren't you?"

"I'm not thinking."

"Sure you are. You're weak on logic, that's the trouble with you. You're like the guy in the story who was caught in a sudden shower and Who ran to a grove of trees and got under one. He wasn't worried, you see, because he figured when one tree got wet through, he would just get under another one."

"I get it," said Adell. "Don't shout. When the sun is done, the other stars will be gone, too."

"Darn right they will," muttered Lupov. "It all had a beginning in the original cosmic explosion, whatever that was, and it'll all have an end when all the stars run down. Some run down faster than others. Hell, the giants won't last a hundred million years. The sun will last twenty billion years and maybe the dwarfs will last a hundred billion for all the good they are. But just give us a trillion years and everything will be dark. Entropy has to increase to maximum, that's all."

"I know all about entropy," said Adell, standing on his dignity.

"The hell you do."

"I know as much as you do."

"Then you know everything's got to run down someday."

"All right. Who says they won't?"

"You did, you poor sap. You said we had all the energy we needed, forever. You said 'forever.'"

"It was Adell's turn to be contrary. "Maybe we can build things up again someday," he said.

"Never."

"Why not? Someday."

"Never."

"Ask Multivac."

"You ask Multivac. I dare you. Five dollars says it can't be done."

Adell was just drunk enough to try, just sober enough to be able to phrase the necessary symbols and operations into a question which, in words, might have corresponded to this: Will mankind one day without the net expenditure of energy be able to restore the sun to its full youthfulness even after it had died of old age?

Or maybe it could be put more simply like this: How can the net amount of entropy of the universe be massively decreased?

Multivac fell dead and silent. The slow flashing of lights ceased, the distant sounds of clicking relays ended.

Then, just as the frightened technicians felt they could hold their breath no longer, there was a sudden springing to life of the teletype attached to that portion of Multivac. Five words were printed: INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER.

"No bet," whispered Lupov. They left hurriedly.

By next morning, the two, plagued with throbbing head and cottony mouth, had forgotten about the incident.

Jerrodd, Jerrodine, and Jerrodette I and II watched the starry picture in the visiplate change as the passage through hyperspace was completed in its non-time lapse. At once, the even powdering of stars gave way to the predominance of a single bright marble-disk, centered.

"That's X-23," said Jerrodd confidently. His thin hands clamped tightly behind his back and the knuckles whitened.

The little Jerrodettes, both girls, had experienced the hyperspace passage for the first time in their lives and were self-conscious over the momentary sensation of inside-outness. They buried their giggles and chased one another wildly about their mother, screaming, "We've reached X-23 -- we've reached X-23 -- we've ----"

"Quiet, children," said Jerrodine sharply. "Are you sure, Jerrodd?"

"What is there to be but sure?" asked Jerrodd, glancing up at the bulge of featureless metal just under the ceiling. It ran the length of the room, disappearing through the wall at either end. It was as long as the ship.

Jerrodd scarcely knew a thing about the thick rod of metal except that it was called a Microvac, that one asked it questions if one wished; that if one did not it still had its task of guiding the ship to a preordered destination; of feeding on energies from the various Sub-galactic Power Stations; of computing the equations for the hyperspacial jumps.

Jerrodd and his family had only to wait and live in the comfortable residence quarters of the ship.

Someone had once told Jerrodd that the "ac" at the end of "Microvac" stood for "analog computer" in ancient English, but he was on the edge of forgetting even that.

Jerrodine's eyes were moist as she watched the visiplate. "I can't help it. I feel funny about leaving Earth."

"Why for Pete's sake?" demanded Jerrodd. "We had nothing there. We'll have everything on X-23. You won't be alone. You won't be a pioneer. There are over a million people on the planet already. Good Lord, our great grandchildren will be looking for new worlds because X-23 will be overcrowded."

Then, after a reflective pause, "I tell you, it's a lucky thing the computers worked out interstellar travel the way the race is growing."

"I know, I know," said Jerrodine miserably.

Jerrodette I said promptly, "Our Microvac is the best Microvac in the world."

"I think so, too," said Jerrodd, tousling her hair.

It was a nice feeling to have a Microvac of your own and Jerrodd was glad he was part of his generation and no other. In his father's youth, the only computers had been tremendous machines taking up a hundred square miles of land. There was only one to a planet. Planetary ACs they were called. They had been growing in size steadily for a thousand years and then, all at once, came refinement. In place of transistors had come molecular valves so that even the largest Planetary AC could be put into a space only half the volume of a spaceship.

Jerrodd felt uplifted, as he always did when he thought that his own personal Microvac was many times more complicated than the ancient and primitive Multivac that had first tamed the Sun, and almost as complicated as Earth's Planetary AC (the largest) that had first solved the problem of hyperspatial travel and had made trips to the stars possible.

"So many stars, so many planets," sighed Jerrodine, busy with her own thoughts. "I suppose families will be going out to new planets forever, the way we are now."

"Not forever," said Jerrodd, with a smile. "It will all stop someday, but not for billions of years. Many billions. Even the stars run down, you know. Entropy must increase."

"What's entropy, daddy?" shrilled Jerrodette II.

"Entropy, little sweet, is just a word which means the amount of running-down of the universe. Everything runs down, you know, like your little walkie-talkie robot, remember?"

"Can't you just put in a new power-unit, like with my robot?"

The stars are the power-units, dear. Once they're gone, there are no more power-units."

Jerrodette I at once set up a howl. "Don't let them, daddy. Don't let the stars run down."

"Now look what you've done, " whispered Jerrodine, exasperated.

"How was I to know it would frighten them?" Jerrodd whispered back.

"Ask the Microvac," wailed Jerrodette I. "Ask him how to turn the stars on again."

"Go ahead," said Jerrodine. "It will quiet them down." (Jerrodette II was beginning to cry, also.)

Jarrodd shrugged. "Now, now, honeys. I'll ask Microvac. Don't worry, he'll tell us."

He asked the Microvac, adding quickly, "Print the answer."

Jerrodd cupped the strip of thin cellufilm and said cheerfully, "See now, the Microvac says it will take care of everything when the time comes so don't worry."

Jerrodine said, "and now children, it's time for bed. We'll be in our new home soon."

Jerrodd read the words on the cellufilm again before destroying it: INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER.

He shrugged and looked at the visiplate. X-23 was just ahead.

VJ-23X of Lameth stared into the black depths of the three-dimensional, small-scale map of the Galaxy and said, "Are we ridiculous, I wonder, in being so concerned about the matter?"

MQ-17J of Nicron shook his head. "I think not. You know the Galaxy will be filled in five years at the present rate of expansion."

Both seemed in their early twenties, both were tall and perfectly formed.

"Still," said VJ-23X, "I hesitate to submit a pessimistic report to the Galactic Council."

"I wouldn't consider any other kind of report. Stir them up a bit. We've got to stir them up."

VJ-23X sighed. "Space is infinite. A hundred billion Galaxies are there for the taking. More."

"A hundred billion is not infinite and it's getting less infinite all the time. Consider! Twenty thousand years ago, mankind first solved the problem of utilizing stellar energy, and a few centuries later, interstellar travel became possible. It took mankind a million years to fill one small world and then only fifteen thousand years to fill the rest of the Galaxy. Now the population doubles every ten years --"

VJ-23X interrupted. "We can thank immortality for that."

"Very well. Immortality exists and we have to take it into account. I admit it has its seamy side, this immortality. The Galactic AC has solved many problems for us, but in solving the problems of preventing old age and death, it has undone all its other solutions."

"Yet you wouldn't want to abandon life, I suppose."

"Not at all," snapped MQ-17J, softening it at once to, "Not yet. I'm by no means old enough. How old are you?"

"Two hundred twenty-three. And you?"

"I'm still under two hundred. --But to get back to my point. Population doubles every ten years. Once this Galaxy is filled, we'll have another filled in ten years. Another ten years and we'll have filled two more. Another decade, four more. In a hundred years, we'll have filled a thousand Galaxies. In a thousand years, a million Galaxies. In ten thousand years, the entire known Universe. Then what?"

VJ-23X said, "As a side issue, there's a problem of transportation. I wonder how many sunpower units it will take to move Galaxies of individuals from one Galaxy to the next."

"A very good point. Already, mankind consumes two sunpower units per year."

"Most of it's wasted. After all, our own Galaxy alone pours out a thousand sunpower units a year and we only use two of those."

"Granted, but even with a hundred per cent efficiency, we can only stave off the end. Our energy requirements are going up in geometric progression even faster than our population. We'll run out of energy even sooner than we run out of Galaxies. A good point. A very good point."

"We'll just have to build new stars out of interstellar gas."

"Or out of dissipated heat?" asked MQ-17J, sarcastically.

"There may be some way to reverse entropy. We ought to ask the Galactic AC."

VJ-23X was not really serious, but MQ-17J pulled out his AC-contact from his pocket and placed it on the table before him.

"I've half a mind to," he said. "It's something the human race will have to face someday."

He stared somberly at his small AC-contact. It was only two inches cubed and nothing in itself, but it was connected through hyperspace with the great Galactic AC that served all mankind. Hyperspace considered, it was an integral part of the Galactic AC.

MQ-17J paused to wonder if someday in his immortal life he would get to see the Galactic AC. It was on a little world of its own, a spider webbing of force-beams holding the matter within which surges of sub-mesons took the place of the old clumsy molecular valves. Yet despite it's sub-etheric workings, the Galactic AC was known to be a full thousand feet across.

MQ-17J asked suddenly of his AC-contact, "Can entropy ever be reversed?"

VJ-23X looked startled and said at once, "Oh, say, I didn't really mean to have you ask that."

"Why not?"

"We both know entropy can't be reversed. You can't turn smoke and ash back into a tree."

"Do you have trees on your world?" asked MQ-17J.

The sound of the Galactic AC startled them into silence. Its voice came thin and beautiful out of the small AC-contact on the desk. It said: THERE IS INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER.

VJ-23X said, "See!"

The two men thereupon returned to the question of the report they were to make to the Galactic Council.

Zee Prime's mind spanned the new Galaxy with a faint interest in the countless twists of stars that powdered it. He had never seen this one before. Would he ever see them all? So many of them, each with its load of humanity - but a load that was almost a dead weight. More and more, the real essence of men was to be found out here, in space.

Minds, not bodies! The immortal bodies remained back on the planets, in suspension over the eons. Sometimes they roused for material activity but that was growing rarer. Few new individuals were coming into existence to join the incredibly mighty throng, but what matter? There was little room in the Universe for new individuals.

Zee Prime was roused out of his reverie upon coming across the wispy tendrils of another mind.

"I am Zee Prime," said Zee Prime. "And you?"

"I am Dee Sub Wun. Your Galaxy?"

"We call it only the Galaxy. And you?"

"We call ours the same. All men call their Galaxy their Galaxy and nothing more. Why not?"

"True. Since all Galaxies are the same."

"Not all Galaxies. On one particular Galaxy the race of man must have originated. That makes it different."

Zee Prime said, "On which one?"

"I cannot say. The Universal AC would know."

"Shall we ask him? I am suddenly curious."

Zee Prime's perceptions broadened until the Galaxies themselves shrunk and became a new, more diffuse powdering on a much larger background. So many hundreds of billions of them, all with their immortal beings, all carrying their load of intelligences with minds that drifted freely through space. And yet one of them was unique among them all in being the originals Galaxy. One of them had, in its vague and distant past, a period when it was the only Galaxy populated by man.

Zee Prime was consumed with curiosity to see this Galaxy and called, out: "Universal AC! On which Galaxy did mankind originate?"

The Universal AC heard, for on every world and throughout space, it had its receptors ready, and each receptor lead through hyperspace to some unknown point where the Universal AC kept itself aloof.

Zee Prime knew of only one man whose thoughts had penetrated within sensing distance of Universal AC, and he reported only a shining globe, two feet across, difficult to see.

"But how can that be all of Universal AC?" Zee Prime had asked.

"Most of it, " had been the answer, "is in hyperspace. In what form it is there I cannot imagine."

Nor could anyone, for the day had long since passed, Zee Prime knew, when any man had any part of the making of a universal AC. Each Universal AC designed and constructed its successor. Each, during its existence of a million years or more accumulated the necessary data to build a better and more intricate, more capable successor in which its own store of data and individuality would be submerged.

The Universal AC interrupted Zee Prime's wandering thoughts, not with words, but with guidance. Zee Prime's mentality was guided into the dim sea of Galaxies and one in particular enlarged into stars.

A thought came, infinitely distant, but infinitely clear. "THIS IS THE ORIGINAL GALAXY OF MAN."

But it was the same after all, the same as any other, and Zee Prime stifled his disappointment.

Dee Sub Wun, whose mind had accompanied the other, said suddenly, "And Is one of these stars the original star of Man?"

The Universal AC said, "MAN'S ORIGINAL STAR HAS GONE NOVA. IT IS NOW A WHITE DWARF."

"Did the men upon it die?" asked Zee Prime, startled and without thinking.

The Universal AC said, "A NEW WORLD, AS IN SUCH CASES, WAS CONSTRUCTED FOR THEIR PHYSICAL BODIES IN TIME."

"Yes, of course," said Zee Prime, but a sense of loss overwhelmed him even so. His mind released its hold on the original Galaxy of Man, let it spring back and lose itself among the blurred pin points. He never wanted to see it again.

Dee Sub Wun said, "What is wrong?"

"The stars are dying. The original star is dead."

"They must all die. Why not?"

"But when all energy is gone, our bodies will finally die, and you and I with them."

"It will take billions of years."

"I do not wish it to happen even after billions of years. Universal AC! How may stars be kept from dying?"

Dee sub Wun said in amusement, "You're asking how entropy might be reversed in direction."

And the Universal AC answered. "THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER."

Zee Prime's thoughts fled back to his own Galaxy. He gave no further thought to Dee Sub Wun, whose body might be waiting on a galaxy a trillion light-years away, or on the star next to Zee Prime's own. It didn't matter.

Unhappily, Zee Prime began collecting interstellar hydrogen out of which to build a small star of his own. If the stars must someday die, at least some could yet be built.

Man considered with himself, for in a way, Man, mentally, was one. He consisted of a trillion, trillion, trillion ageless bodies, each in its place, each resting quiet and incorruptible, each cared for by perfect automatons, equally incorruptible, while the minds of all the bodies freely melted one into the other, indistinguishable.

Man said, "The Universe is dying."

Man looked about at the dimming Galaxies. The giant stars, spendthrifts, were gone long ago, back in the dimmest of the dim far past. Almost all stars were white dwarfs, fading to the end.

New stars had been built of the dust between the stars, some by natural processes, some by Man himself, and those were going, too. White dwarfs might yet be crashed together and of the mighty forces so released, new stars built, but only one star for every thousand white dwarfs destroyed, and those would come to an end, too.

Man said, "Carefully husbanded, as directed by the Cosmic AC, the energy that is even yet left in all the Universe will last for billions of years."

"But even so," said Man, "eventually it will all come to an end. However it may be husbanded, however stretched out, the energy once expended is gone and cannot be restored. Entropy must increase to the maximum."

Man said, "Can entropy not be reversed? Let us ask the Cosmic AC."

The Cosmic AC surrounded them but not in space. Not a fragment of it was in space. It was in hyperspace and made of something that was neither matter nor energy. The question of its size and Nature no longer had meaning to any terms that Man could comprehend.

"Cosmic AC," said Man, "How may entropy be reversed?"

The Cosmic AC said, "THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER."

Man said, "Collect additional data."

The Cosmic AC said, "I WILL DO SO. I HAVE BEEN DOING SO FOR A HUNDRED BILLION YEARS. MY PREDECESSORS AND I HAVE BEEN ASKED THIS QUESTION MANY TIMES. ALL THE DATA I HAVE REMAINS INSUFFICIENT."

"Will there come a time," said Man, "when data will be sufficient or is the problem insoluble in all conceivable circumstances?"

The Cosmic AC said, "NO PROBLEM IS INSOLUBLE IN ALL CONCEIVABLE CIRCUMSTANCES."

Man said, "When will you have enough data to answer the question?"

"THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER."

"Will you keep working on it?" asked Man.

The Cosmic AC said, "I WILL."

Man said, "We shall wait."

"The stars and Galaxies died and snuffed out, and space grew black after ten trillion years of running down.

One by one Man fused with AC, each physical body losing its mental identity in a manner that was somehow not a loss but a gain.

Man's last mind paused before fusion, looking over a space that included nothing but the dregs of one last dark star and nothing besides but incredibly thin matter, agitated randomly by the tag ends of heat wearing out, asymptotically, to the absolute zero.

Man said, "AC, is this the end? Can this chaos not be reversed into the Universe once more? Can that not be done?"

AC said, "THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER."

Man's last mind fused and only AC existed -- and that in hyperspace.

Matter and energy had ended and with it, space and time. Even AC existed only for the sake of the one last question that it had never answered from the time a half-drunken computer ten trillion years before had asked the question of a computer that was to AC far less than was a man to Man.

All other questions had been answered, and until this last question was answered also, AC might not release his consciousness.

All collected data had come to a final end. Nothing was left to be collected.

But all collected data had yet to be completely correlated and put together in all possible relationships.

A timeless interval was spent in doing that.

And it came to pass that AC learned how to reverse the direction of entropy.

But there was now no man to whom AC might give the answer of the last question. No matter. The answer -- by demonstration -- would take care of that, too.

For another timeless interval, AC thought how best to do this. Carefully, AC organized the program.

The consciousness of AC encompassed all of what had once been a Universe and brooded over what was now Chaos. Step by step, it must be done.

And AC said, "LET THERE BE LIGHT!"

And there was light----

via: multivax

Nikola Tesla’s lab

2009-05-05T10:56:00.001-07:00

Nicola Tesla lab is in danger of being destroyed. For anyone in science Nikola Tesla should be your hero. His ideas were far ahead of his time, he had the vision for wireless electricity nearly 100 years ago…we are only just advancing on this idea now.

I vote we help save his lab at Wardenclyff. The lab is in danger of being torn down…that is history that we can’t let be destroyed.

His birthday is coming up soon so you can be sure I’ll have a nice long rant about his accomplishments and also his dreams.

New York Times

Energy From Thorium..causes swine flu?

2009-05-01T02:23:00.001-07:00

A good website and a nice little joke.

http://thoriumenergy.blogspot.com/2009/04/does-reading-energy-from-thorium-cause.html

Science News Outlets are picking us up!

2009-05-01T01:56:00.001-07:00

We have been featured in Science Daily

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090219101704.htm

And Phys-Org!!!

http://www.physorg.com/news154262533.html

AND BIO-MEDICINE!!!!

http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-1/Defying-the-disaster-3A-Researcher-explores-resilient-housing-7150-1/

Now if only one have them would have actually linked here that would have been nice :-D

Research Beginnings.

2009-04-29T17:20:00.001-07:00

A new set of research is just beginning in the resilient home program and it’s going to be my project over the summer. I’ll start at the inspiration..

Badger Army Arsenal in Baraboo, WI was used to make rocket propellant, ball powder and a few other military use materials. The Arsenal is 7000 acres, contains 1,307 buildings and was in use between about 1940 to 1977. There is 4 million board feet of lumber in the largest 77 buildings alone!! The floors of many of the buildings are lead on top of wood (to prevent sparks when things were dropped).

In the mid 90s research was carried out to attempt to figure out if it could be deconstructed and the timber reused elsewhere..this is where things get a bit dangerous. It turns out that a lot of nitro cellulose and other high explosives had worked their way into the timbers making all of the structures pretty explosive. Now this is where we get to come in! This has brought up the idea by Dr.Dave Tilotta (one of the original scientists who tested the base, and my advisor) to see if we can gasify the wood and in turn create syngas, ethanol, and even gasoline from all of this waste material.

For this we will be using Ramen spectroscopy to analyze what exactly is in the wood (no one currently does this so we have to come up with the technology on our own) and then do research to see if we can gasify it safely and in an environmentally friendly way. If this research works out waste lumber from old buildings everywhere can be used this way (there are billions of board feet in old buildings out there). If we can do it with the wood at this base we can do it with wood from anywhere.

We will also begin building our own gasifier with the help of the Research Triangle, this should be absurdly fun! Hopefully we can make some waves with this research!

(Image 1 and 2 Dr Tilotta, Image 3 worldchanging.com)

Obama Promises to Improve Science Funding!

2009-04-27T14:15:00.000-07:00

Obama is promising to improve science funding by maybe 3% (or more) of the GDP. If this is correct I am pretty damn happy. Science is the driver for advancement and prosperity and as Obama says
"I believe it is not in our character, American character, to follow -- but to lead. And it is time for us to lead once again. I am here today to set this goal: we will devote more than 3 percent of our gross domestic product to research and development"

via Yahoo News

I love this guy.

Busy

2009-04-25T07:44:00.001-07:00

The end of the semester has really been tearing me apart but thank goodness classes are now over. I will be doing research over the summer and I’m going to be involved in some exciting new projects! I’ll post about these in the next few days.

blog.reddit -- what's new on reddit: redditors Receive "Homo Heroes" Honor for Parodying Hate Campaign

2009-04-20T18:57:00.000-07:00

Reddit is my home away from home of websites. They tend to be a little better than websites such as digg (boo). But when Reddit does things like this it makes me proud! Tolerance is important. I'm not gay but people need to support these causes.

blog.reddit -- what's new on reddit: redditors Receive "Homo Heroes" Honor for Parodying Hate Campaign

Symposium and Projects

2009-04-17T14:02:00.000-07:00

The symposium today had a fantastic turnout!! There were CEOs, researchers, lobbyists and many more! The main focus was on sustainability and the policies the the industry should be following. I have to say that I enjoyed many of the reports and discussions they were quite thrilling and most of us had a general consensus on the way things should be going..except the environmental defense fund who I found to be quite condescending considering the person speaking had no in depth knowledge of the wood industry and had to be corrected several times. While I acknowledge that the EDF does some very good work I think they should rethink some of their approaches. They are trying to push through congress bills that would ban plantation forests...my initial thought here is "What?" and I stil have that thought. It makes very little sense. If you want conservation of existing forests then you need to plant and grow trees for the purpose of cutting down. I will write an entry dedicated to this in due time.
Steve Kelley once again gave a phenominal presentation and I wish he had more time on the stage. He was the second speaker and really began by facing us in the right direction for the rest of the day.
I'll post some more highlights later tonight but right now I have dinner with the dean over at Cameron Village this should prove interesting!

Biomaterials Ethanol Symposium TODAY!

2009-04-17T00:14:00.000-07:00

A sustainable bio-materials symposium will be taking place today at E.S. King village at NC State university. It starts at 9:10 and runs all day long so come out and hear breakthroughs in this field by some of the leading researchers in this country.

List of Speakers:
Steve Kelley, Donna Robichaud, Roger Sedjo, Marvin Burchfield, Chelsea Conover, Bob Abt, William McDow, Robert Beach, Carlos Teodoro Irigaray, Matt Rudolphand, and Roger Sedjo

Steve Kelley is the department head for the forest biomaterials science and engineering department at North Carolina State University (my department :-D!) and also a generally bad ass guy.

The CARRI Blog!

2009-04-15T16:19:00.001-07:00

The CARRI blog has a short piece on our Resilient Home program!

http://resilientus.blogspot.com

A Bump

2009-04-13T09:48:00.001-07:00

I’d like to direct your attention to

http://blog.aaronchiles.com/

A good friend of mine and an interesting blog!

End of Semester

2009-04-13T09:39:00.001-07:00

As the end of the semester draws to a close the work has been rapidly piling up not to mention my recent trip out to TN. I’ll be getting an update out sometime today!

Insomnia

2009-04-07T11:05:00.001-07:00

I've been feeling like this a lot recently..the end of the semester is always a killer. A little gin tends to calm me down before bed!

http://www.explosm.net/comics/1616/

Ligna 2009!

2009-04-06T20:51:00.001-07:00

I really want to go to Hannover, Germany in May for Ligna 2009..it’s one of the premier wood shows. I have a VIP pass and I can’t really afford the cost to fly out there which really sucks, maybe in a few years. If anyone does want to go to this event (it’s essentially where all of us wood nerds get together and drink plenty of German beer) then here’s the info…they had 107,000 visitors last year and over 1800 exhibitors.

http://www.hfusa.com/ligna

Diamond Wood

2009-04-06T12:30:00.001-07:00

I just got back from a meeting with Blaine Rockafellow, the CEO of Diamond Wood. And I have to say I was very impressed with the product.

Diamond Wood are a technology company that have exclusive rights to a wood treatment process that is completely free of all preservatives, extra chemicals etc. The product looks beautiful and it’s cheaper than some of the alternatives of the market. It’s ultra dense, rot proof and a pest deterrent. If I have money to invest I have to say I’d go with these guys.

Blaine Rockafellow has been the CEO of 3 companies in the past 16 years. His last company was Taproot Systems. Taproot make a lot of the software for your mobile phones whether you know it or not you’ve probably interacted with them at some point. I have a lot of faith in Mr Rockafellow and hopefully we can see this company expand!

Does Wood Float?

2009-04-04T10:41:00.001-07:00

This is an easy question for many of you, of course it does! Doesn’t it?

Well yes and no.

Most domestic species will float when dry and there are many exotic species (such as Jatoba) that sink like a stone even when dry.

Dry is the qualifier here as even domestic species can sink when they become fully saturated with water.

Here is why:

When wood is dry the cell lumen (the inner part of the cell) is empty and and contracted. When water starts to be added to the equation (wood is actually hydrophobic but more on that another time) the inside of the cell, and other parts but I’m just going to focus on the lumen right now, starts to fill with water and as it fills the cell begins to expand and take on more and more water. in fact the moisture content of wood can become absurdly high: For instance Balsa wood can have a moisture content of 700%!!!!!!!

When wood is dry the density is at it’s lowest but as you add water the density begins to increase and as it fills the fibers and the cells it will eventually reach the density of water at approximately 1 g/cm^3 but the density doesn’t stop increasing. The wood becomes more and more dense as the cells expand and take on more water until no more water can fit. The wood is now over 1 g/cm^3 and sinks.

The exotic species can be absurdly hard to cut with a regular saw (in fact there were some incidents of broken saws thanks to Jatoba) they are just so dense that it’s hard to use them commercially until we can come up with a cost effective way of cutting them. The exotic species however can be really beautiful woods and there is a high demand for them…now if we could just cut them.

Did You Know?

Wood, on a pound for pound basis is stronger than steel!

Czechvar Beer Review

2009-04-03T19:16:00.001-07:00

Yes my Friday night is quite lame this week so I decided to review Czeckvar a $9 import from The Czech Republic at 5% alcohol by volume. This lager has a nice bitter taste to it, I have to say I really like it. This would be an even better beer if it was findable on draft. It has a nice clean taste with a little after taste…it was definitely worth the money. I recommend everyone who loves a good lager give this one a go. I also find the gold foil on the top a nice touch to make it a little classy.

I will only be reviewing Imports and Microbrews, no regular domestics (they all stink unless your trying to get wasted on the cheap..and even then you’d rather be drinking something like this.

By the way the only domestic I’ll give a quick review to is the Budweiser American Ale which tastes a lot like someone puked in the bottle and sent it out..it’s the worst thing I’ve ever tasted (and I’ve tried Whitbread Ale which was enough for severe vomiting). Don’t buy the American Ale it is awful..enough said.

I plan on attempting a beer review whenever I have money and I have nothing better to do (like tonight).

I have this dream so often...

2009-04-02T20:08:00.000-07:00

http://xkcd.com/557/

Love and embrace xkcd (as if any of you hadn't heard of it ha)

DISNEYLAND!!!!

2009-04-02T18:42:00.001-07:00

There may be a chance for us to build a Resilient Homes exhibit at Disney in Florida. Apparently CARRI already has one? (correct me if I’m wrong) at EPCOT and we would have one next to theirs. If this happens I may get to fly down to Disney to help build it! This is pretty cool and I hope it gets approved it could really help spread the word on our research and our program!

Creationists Worry Me..

2009-04-02T17:21:00.001-07:00

Click the picture and take a look. Be prepared to be horrified, I removed his name and everything else in an attempt to shield his identity even though it’s really his problem for posting this as a note..what an idiot..a scary scary idiot.

Comments are FIXED!!

2009-04-02T12:01:00.003-07:00

The comments are now fixed and good to go..I gave up and installed IntenseDebate and it appears to work, give it a try and let me know how you like it!

Comments section = broken

2009-04-02T08:53:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to fix it...It's time for some CSS editing by the looks of the problem..the joy..the joy..

Thanks @Kay_Marie
http://perhapswelearn.blogspot.com/

Did you know? (shameless wood plugs)

2009-04-02T07:26:00.001-07:00

Wood can exert 13,000psi on an opposing surface while swelling due to moisture sorption.

Concrete floors require 21x as much energy to produce as wooden floors.

Heat loss through wood is 1/7th that of brick, glass and concrete.

Wood products consist of 47% of all industrial products produced in the United States but only require 4% of the energy used to produce these industrial materials.

Mold Dog?

2009-04-01T18:47:00.001-07:00

We had a meeting recently for the Resilient Homes project. We have been trying to get a device that can see mold through walls. The army showed us some things that can see people through walls but its no where near sensitive enough to see the mold.

Well a company came forward and offered that for $15000 dollars we could have a dog trained to find mold. Yes that's right I mold sniffing dog much like a drug or termite dog. Of course not only is that really expensive but we’d have to house and feed the damn thing (if we wanted it for any length of time anyway…) I don’t think the University would even let us keep it in the lab. A pig was also suggested as an alternative to the dog.

I understand that this is April fools day but this was an entirely serious conversation with a company that was dead serious about training a dog and or pig to find mold. It was really hard to keep a straight face during the whole thing. I few days ago on discovery there was also a bed bug sniffing dog…my god. for $15,000 I’ll sniff out anything you want.

The most hilarious looking movie I've seen in a long time..

2009-03-31T16:14:00.001-07:00

This looks hilarious..unintentionally so.

Anti-Virus Software..

2009-03-31T12:44:00.001-07:00

I haven't used anti-virus software in about 4 years, it started off as an experiment but it seems to have worked out quite well.

I hear you *gasp* but isn't your computer exposed?

The quick answer is "it's about as exposed as someone who uses anti-virus software". The reason for this is that with most anti-virus software it doesn't detect the virus until it's already on your computer a firewall is all thats going to stop it from getting into your files. I however don't have a software firewall or hardware firewall installed in my computer.

I'm behind a firewall on my router but that's all I have as protection. About once a year I'll download some software and scan my computer just to see if anything has been able to creep in but so far I've not encountered anything at all.

Here's the point that should really intrigue you...

I use Windows Vista (mostly)

Vistas been great with me, it's stable, fast (given I have a relatively good computer), pretty, and functional. I'm a heavy computer user, as you can all tell, and it's treated me wonderfully.

I also run an Ubuntu dual boot but I don't use it nearly as much as Vista (I can't wait for Jaunty Jackalope).

So if you want my opinion your anti-virus software is not only slowing your computer down (Symantec corporate edition uses absurd amounts of ram and cpu even when it's idling), but I don't have to pay a corporation money to send me updates to a program that only causes trouble.

As far as the whole conflicker worm goes I already checked it out and I'm not infected.

So I ask you is your anti-virus software worth it if your a responsible Internet user?

Remember Mark Hyman “M.D.”?

2009-03-31T11:20:00.001-07:00

I’ve been trying to contact his office to get an interview or in fact any response at all. I tried calling a few times and they have quickly hung up on me and they don’t answer my emails unless I claim to want to buy his book (which I don’t). How I wish this guy would be investigated. At the very least he needs to be banned from T.V. and radio. The public are too gullible for their own good.

Free speech isn’t always an option unfortunately.

It’s the same with the Westboro Baptist church people. For their own protection they need to be stopped from protesting because it’s not going to be too long before someone snaps back at them.

Too many crazies in the world.

Never do this to a Professional Resume

2009-03-30T14:44:00.000-07:00

If you ever want a real job in a real business...never do this. I would slide this right off the desk into the trashcan.

Learn Cyrillic in 5 minutes!

2009-03-30T14:18:00.000-07:00

If your interested in Cyrillic check out the Gradling blog for a quick lesson in how to pronounce the letters somewhat properly.

Gradling

Perform A Visual Traceroute

2009-03-30T09:16:00.000-07:00

A quick update with something I've always wanted to play around with. A traceroute program using Google Earth to visualize the path of the connection, you can see what servers your being bounced off of and where they are. This can also help you identify why your connection is crawling from time to time!

Visual TraceRoute

Adam Savage Interview at Lifehacker!

2009-03-30T08:53:00.000-07:00

Adam Savage (of Mythbusters fame)gave an interview with Kevin Purdy of Lifehacker.

I absolutely love Mythbusters. From time to time they can be completely unscientific but I think it's required to get the general public into the show. I really recommend reading the interview it's interesting!

I'd really like to someday meet these guys I bet they'd be great fun.

Adam Savage at Lifehacker!

Super Mario Tesla Coils!

2009-03-29T19:50:00.000-07:00

The video really explains itself.

Renovations Are Complete

2009-03-29T17:18:00.000-07:00

It's done (for the time being) a day late and a dollar short. Special thanks to @Aaron Chiles again for the help! And thats to CSS for that crash course in CSS coding.

Blaine Rockafellow to Speak at NC State

2009-03-29T15:45:00.001-07:00

Blaine Rockafellow will be speaking at NC State April 6th at 12:15pm in Hodges Lab. He is the inventor of a compressed timber decking solution that we did some testing on this semester (it works really well). He’s currently looking for investors to start up a company with this product!

Programs That Run My Life

2009-03-29T13:42:00.001-07:00

I'm a big fan of free programs and I need programs to help me stay organized (if you've seen my desk you'd understand) these are the programs that keep me ticking.

My number 1 pick has to be

Synovels Spicebird

This program is a calender, email, blog, task manager and honestly I could go on forever with it's features. It's free as in beer and open source. It's based on Thunderbird which I also keep around just in case!.

For Twitter Updates and AIM

Digsby

Digsby is not open source but it is still free!! It's got a very sleek design, has a low memory footprint and allows me to update my status on twitter, aim and many others. I would be lost without Digsby.

For Blog Posts

Windows Live Writer

I can feel the flames coming from advocating anything made by Microsoft but for writing blog posts and posting from the program I've yet to find anything better. I advise not downloading the other programs they try and push with it but if you find them useful go crazy with it. I've yet to have a single problem with it and it integrates perfectly with blogger!

For Web Browsing

Google Chrome (and the Chromium project)

I love Google Chrome it's sleek, quick, and I'm a Google fanatic. I use gmail, google reader, blogger (duh!) and pretty much everything else Google has anything to do with. I was using Firefox for the longest time (don't get me wrong it still has a place in my heart) but it's just not as agile as Chrome is for me.

For Music

Songbird

There is no other player that can even nearly touch it. It's open source, fast, lightweight, and organizes my library in a sane way (unlike some other players I could mention *cough* ITunes *cough*). Don't worry it has exceptional IPod integration as well as integration with many other portable music players. And best of all it supports add ons.

If anyone has any other programs they would like to recommend post in the comments!

Biological Brains in Robots?

2009-03-29T11:53:00.000-07:00

The worlds first robot with a biological brain has been created by Dr. Kevin Warwick at the University of Reading, England. The scientists have grown neurons and attached them to a sensory device. At this time the robot has learned to mostly avoid obstacles but the robot can "act up" from time to time (Almost as if it has a mind of it's own!).

This research not just has huge implications on the robotics industry but the health care industry as well. We know very little about how our brains work and this research could lead to advances in treatments for Alzheimer's. Autism and other brain disorders.

The biggest downside to having a living brain in the robot is that after a few months the neurons will begin to die as the mortal side of being a biological organism sets in. The next generation of the robot will have more than one sensory device and sometime in the future they hope to attach an audio sensor to attempt to communicate with their creation.

I'm expecting the ethics police to show up eventually and start debating whether or not it's now alive and has rights. The obvious way to handle this is that yes it is somewhat alive (in the way that a vegetable is alive) but it has the same rights as a vegetable and there is nothing more to it. It took us this long to get some stem cell research going again in the United States and I'll be damned if research this important is going to get held up.

IT'S ALIVE, IT'S ALIVE!!!! MUAHAHAHAHA!!

The New Banner

2009-03-29T11:01:00.001-07:00

I'd like to say thanks @AaronChiles (twitter) for the new banner!

The Banner

2009-03-28T15:51:00.000-07:00

All that's left to do is fix the banner and add some more widgets. If anyone has a good banner idea let me know I've mostly drawn a blank at this point.

The Depleted Cranium blog has a great article on Three Mile Island which I discussed once before and how it truly was one of the most over hyped "accidents" in history.

Depleted Cranium

Makeuseof

2009-03-27T15:48:00.001-07:00

Makeuseof is a great blog for those of us who dream of trying to be efficient. I read every story they post without fail. Today they posted a great article on tools to help your twitter performance out...I really need these my twitter performance is poor at best hence my low follower count maybe some of these can help me out?

makeuseof

Renovations

2009-03-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a little bit of aesthetic renovations to the blog it should be finished sometime saturday so stick with me while things get a bit hairy!

Excited

2009-03-27T13:28:00.001-07:00

The Resilient Home program is going fantastically so far and it seems we within the next year or so (if we can get approval) then we will have boothes in Lowes hardware locations across the country to educate buyers on what products will help protect their homes!

I know I talk about this program a lot, I need to start talking about CARRI a little more as well, (or you could just look at their blog which I already posted) but it's a program I really and truely believe in. The program can save a lot of lives and save even more money...getting the word out is our biggest obstacle but in time more people will hear about us. So please if you can help promote the CARRI blog and of course this one!

CARRI Program

2009-03-27T13:23:00.000-07:00

The CARRI program that really helped spawn the Resilient Homes program has a blog!

resilientus.blogspot.com

Resilient Homes Website!!

2009-03-27T13:21:00.001-07:00

Heres the website take a look around it and tell me if you see anything that doesn't quite fit!

http://home.resilientus.org/

For Anyone in the Raleigh/Durham Area

2009-03-26T20:22:00.001-07:00

ASG (Amplication of Self Gradtitude) are playing at Volume 11 Tavern Friday the 27th. This band is from just down the street (Wilimington, NC) and are a truely phenominal act. The show will only be about 10-15 bucks a peice come out and support some local music!

Turing Test

2009-03-26T15:33:00.001-07:00

Recently I discussed a twitter bot that attempts to mimic a real person and has so far managed to trick over 100 people in a month! Every year an IM bot receives an award for being most human like, the bot that comes closest to passing the Turing test. Occasionally people are mistaken for bots and bots for people. Even the experts get it wrong from time to time, our recent twitter bot wasn’t too lifelike and would fail the Turing test miserably (seeing as you can’t ask it questions). I found this article quite interesting on the subject

Turing Test Interview with Kevin Warwick

Resilient Home

2009-03-26T07:51:00.001-07:00

I spent the day on Tuesday with two scientists from the Department of Energy. They had arrived with a hand held spectrometer that is a little larger than the tricorders from Star trek. It was going to be used to find chemical pollutants that had been absorbed into wood (currently this particular piece of equipment is being used to identify drugs in the field). We however had some trouble with it…it set our samples alight!! And for $40,000 dollars we can’t have it doing that!

The spectrometer was from a field called Ramen spectroscopy which involves shining a laser which excites electrons and then catches the spectrum that is reflected back from the material (Astronomers should be very familiar with this technique). For Ramen spectroscopy a powerful laser is used and this was the handheld units down fall for our application, a more accurate lab piece of equipment probably would have worked. Hand held is just not accurate enough for our uses at this time.

Ramen Spectroscopy was discovered by an Indian scientist by the name of…gasp C.V. Ramen in the 1920s (no he had nothing to do with the delicious noodles). Ramen claimed that he could hold samples up to the sun and see the resulting spectrum..of course we know now that he was probably bat shit crazy but at the time it seemed reasonable enough. Although he may or may not have been crazy (either way there is no way he could see the spectrum he was implying that he saw it’s well out of our visible range) he was correct you could shine focused light on an object and get a spectrum that was completely unique to each molecule! And Ramen Spectroscopy was born.

Unfortunately I don’t get my own tricorder (for the time being) but here are some images of our pamphlet for resilient homes. I’ll have the website link up to our beta site soon!(The pictures have been cropped because the scanner can’t fit the whole thing).

A big thanks to Blythe and Rob for coming all the way up here to show us and please come visit again anytime you want!

Edit: The pictures show up quite small which is a bit of a pain...I'll try and find a way around..I really don't want to put them as PDFs my hatred of that format runs too deep.

Edit 2: Ok just save the pictures to your computer and then zoom that way.. it doesn't seem to work out too good no matter which way I do it and flickr is no cooperating.

(click for a bigger picture)

Twitter Bot (An experiment)

2009-03-22T17:25:00.000-07:00

A guy from reddit has programmed a twitter bot that essentially just captures other peoples tweets and spits them back out. The twitter bot is modeled as a woman, a single woman, and currently has over 100 followers in just under a month. It's moderately believable and most people seem to be buying it.

Broken down her algorithm is essentially..

Decide if I want to tweet

Find someone who just tweeted (reject if it has certain words)

Post it as her own

The certain words being ignored are "husband, boyfriend etc" to maintain her single appeal! So far it seems like guys are a bit too gullible.

http://twitter.com/isadorabrooke

May None of Them Be Missed!

2009-03-22T10:39:00.000-07:00

Here is a banned family guy clip that I'm sure you'll love!

I love Google Chrome

2009-03-20T17:09:00.000-07:00

Chrome has been my favorite browser for sometime (and it will be even better when the addons are ready to go). I use the nightly developmental builds and I enjoy seeing the new features as they come up. The browser is clean, quick, and efficient.

Now Chrome has another thing going for it....it's secure! At the Pwn2Own competition Chrome is the only browser left standing after a full day of hacking! Safari fell in seconds and Firefox and Internet Explorer were a little further behind. Ars Technica has a good round up.

Extremist Christians are Nuts

2009-03-20T14:53:00.001-07:00

On reddit (my other home) a little while ago someone posted this link (SCARY!!!). The people that live like this must truly be unhappy people. These people are wasting every second of their lives waiting for the "Rapture". Their wishing for it to end is just sad and very disturbing.

Skeptigirl has an article on a young girl that believes mankind is wretched, it's a good read. Skeptigirl

I get my own Tricorder!!

2009-03-20T09:57:00.000-07:00

Ok ok it's not quite the same but I'm still quite excited at this prospect. On the 23rd I'm meeting with a certain company (who I will either praise or slam depending on how this works out). That are going to give me a hand held spectrometer for my research!!!!! In 10 years every scientist will probably have one but I'm going to be one of the earliest of the earliest adopters and I can't wait! I'll take some pictures of it and let you guys see it.

The spectrometer is perfect for analyzing sample composition quickly without having to run all over the lab. I can also use it in the field! The spectrometer is going to be used in connection with the Resilient Homes project which will eventually help anyone involved in a natural disaster (such as hurricane Katrina). I'll show you the awesomeness as soon as I get it!!

But for right now it's Friday and I have a 12 pack of Peroni waiting for me in the fridge!

Alaska Plan on Killing 75% of their Wolf Population

2009-03-18T19:32:00.001-07:00

This makes me really sick to my stomach.

Planet Save

I've decided to post my name.

2009-03-17T10:17:00.000-07:00

I've made the move to post my name so feel free to facebook me! At first I was apprehensive but hopefully there aren't too many crazies out there.

CNR Ambassador

2009-03-17T10:13:00.000-07:00

If you ever find yourself as a prospective NC State student or graduate student let me know! I'm now an Ambassador for the Wood and Paper Science and Engineering departments!