Well, I saw my first full-length silent film, The Farmer's Wife directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It was interesting to say the least. There were lots of boring parts, where you just want to scream, "Get on with it! What's the next scene?!" But, once you get into it, you can start to appreciate (maybe by viciously hating) the exorbitant pauses on facial expressions and the exaggerated emotional gestures.
And, for the record, there is nothing like an awkward silence as the awkward silence in a silent movie.
The most awkward way to end silence is with another silent expression.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Thursday, June 7, 2012
The Brave Old World of Vacuum Tubes
So, I picked up of one of these at a ham radio tailgate sale last semester.
It's a 6N010 Relay made by Amperite. It's supposed to have a 10 second delay to closing. After hooking mine up to 6.3 VAC, I discovered it has something like a 22 second delay cold and as little as a 7 second delay hot.
I was worried that it might not work because that mica plate, across which the filaments are stretched, is broken, not completely, but there is a definite tear in there. It still heats up, though, and closes the connection. So, I am pretty thrilled. We'll have to see what all I can do with this little beast.
Oh, incidentally, these tubes are selling upwards of $100 on eBay... I picked mine up for less than a buck.
It's a 6N010 Relay made by Amperite. It's supposed to have a 10 second delay to closing. After hooking mine up to 6.3 VAC, I discovered it has something like a 22 second delay cold and as little as a 7 second delay hot.
I was worried that it might not work because that mica plate, across which the filaments are stretched, is broken, not completely, but there is a definite tear in there. It still heats up, though, and closes the connection. So, I am pretty thrilled. We'll have to see what all I can do with this little beast.
Oh, incidentally, these tubes are selling upwards of $100 on eBay... I picked mine up for less than a buck.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
In the world of test equipment...
I recently acquired one of these off of Ebay:
 |
| HP 200CD Oscillator |
And, after giving it a decent cleaning and turning it on, I discovered that it doesn't quite half work. It might have something to do with a couple of those tubes in there that look burnt out....
Hmm... might be kind of hard to get OE replacements for those.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Sunday, May 20, 2012
What...? Faster?
Evidently, you can go a lot further with these Hanon exercises than I realized before. I am going to need to crank up the speed a little. I was taking another look at the double metronome marking at the top of an exercise in my Hanon Studies book, and I put that metronome speed into the digital piano, and yeah... I definitely can't do that yet. You'll see what I mean in the first minute of this video:
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Nano Fun
Well, I was going to talk about some of the exciting things I was learning this semester, right?... if I had the time. Well, I guess it is obvious now that the time eluded me. In fact, all time eluded me, as well as much sleep. But, now that the relentless pace of school is over for the present, I can look back on a few interesting things that occurred.
One class I took this semester was called Nanotechnology and Science Policy, taught by one of my new favorite professors, Dr. Gary DeBoer. This class was just supposed to be a 1 hour seminar, but the workload made it feel more like a 3 hour class throughout much of the semester. A couple of the perks of this class, though, were the two field trips we took.
The first of the excursions began at 4:00am on the Wednesday after Spring Break. We boarded a bus and took a 5 hour drive to Houston. Our first stop was the NASA Johnson Space Center. On the JSC campus, we were guided by a couple materials scientists, one of which had worked with Dr. DeBoer at NASA doing carbon nanotube research. We were shown various, materials, metallurgical, and chemical laboratories as well as some tourism interests, such as the mockup of the international space station (which is used for training astronauts) and a Saturn V rocket. I must say one of the highlights was picking up 1600 deg F space shuttle tile material in our bare hands
The second stop of our first trip was Rice University. This visit gave a taste of the work of graduate level research in the hard sciences, and the picture was definitely attractive to me. We were shown around the Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology and presented a lot of information about the nano-work done there at Rice. We also got to see several labs and talk with scientists who discussed their work, showing us what they did. The campus in the center of Houston was beautiful and definitely more inviting than LeTourneau's. The field trip to Houston was a long day--almost 20 hours--but it was fun.
The second field trip took us to Dallas, where we visited the University of Texas at Dallas. They have a large nanotechnology wing, much broader than Rice's. Among their advantages, they also boasted a highest level clean room for chip fabrication. The research done at UT Dallas in nanotechnology was a little more interesting to me as it was largely associated with the field of Electrical Engineering, while much of Rice's focus was in the Biomedical field. It was a neat experience also to meet in person and talk to one of the major authors of a peer-reviewed work that had been handed out in our Nanotechnology class earlier in the semester. I guess you could say that the field trips brought the class full circle.
I am definitely glad I decided to do this whole honors thing.
One class I took this semester was called Nanotechnology and Science Policy, taught by one of my new favorite professors, Dr. Gary DeBoer. This class was just supposed to be a 1 hour seminar, but the workload made it feel more like a 3 hour class throughout much of the semester. A couple of the perks of this class, though, were the two field trips we took.
The first of the excursions began at 4:00am on the Wednesday after Spring Break. We boarded a bus and took a 5 hour drive to Houston. Our first stop was the NASA Johnson Space Center. On the JSC campus, we were guided by a couple materials scientists, one of which had worked with Dr. DeBoer at NASA doing carbon nanotube research. We were shown various, materials, metallurgical, and chemical laboratories as well as some tourism interests, such as the mockup of the international space station (which is used for training astronauts) and a Saturn V rocket. I must say one of the highlights was picking up 1600 deg F space shuttle tile material in our bare hands
The second stop of our first trip was Rice University. This visit gave a taste of the work of graduate level research in the hard sciences, and the picture was definitely attractive to me. We were shown around the Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology and presented a lot of information about the nano-work done there at Rice. We also got to see several labs and talk with scientists who discussed their work, showing us what they did. The campus in the center of Houston was beautiful and definitely more inviting than LeTourneau's. The field trip to Houston was a long day--almost 20 hours--but it was fun.
The second field trip took us to Dallas, where we visited the University of Texas at Dallas. They have a large nanotechnology wing, much broader than Rice's. Among their advantages, they also boasted a highest level clean room for chip fabrication. The research done at UT Dallas in nanotechnology was a little more interesting to me as it was largely associated with the field of Electrical Engineering, while much of Rice's focus was in the Biomedical field. It was a neat experience also to meet in person and talk to one of the major authors of a peer-reviewed work that had been handed out in our Nanotechnology class earlier in the semester. I guess you could say that the field trips brought the class full circle.
I am definitely glad I decided to do this whole honors thing.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Free computing....
Just installed Ubuntu on the computer I pulled out of a dumpster at LeTourneau this semester.
2.8 GHz Pentium D
512 MB RAM
15.4 GB IDE hard drive
The hard drive I pulled out of a separate computer that was even older. I suspect there is a bad sector or two in it. I should really get a new one, but I don't want to spend much money on a hard drive for a computer that I didn't pay a dime for. I am borrowing the RAM from my Dad, so I may just buy a GB online for $10 later. 512 megs is killing me.
One thing is certain... I am getting a renewed appreciation for just how far computer technology has come in the last 6 years.
2.8 GHz Pentium D
512 MB RAM
15.4 GB IDE hard drive
The hard drive I pulled out of a separate computer that was even older. I suspect there is a bad sector or two in it. I should really get a new one, but I don't want to spend much money on a hard drive for a computer that I didn't pay a dime for. I am borrowing the RAM from my Dad, so I may just buy a GB online for $10 later. 512 megs is killing me.
One thing is certain... I am getting a renewed appreciation for just how far computer technology has come in the last 6 years.
Monday, February 6, 2012
The Joys of Test Equipment
So, helping out on a Senior Design project has its perks here at LeTourneau. I got to use a four-channel digital oscilloscope, an RF signal generator, and a network analyzer this weekend. Definitely realizing more and more that Electrical Engineering is the right area for me.
Oh, and if anyone is looking for ideas for a birthday present... I've got something: An oscilloscope, preferably with a digital user interface and at least two input channels. Should be only about $500 to $5000.
Oh, and if anyone is looking for ideas for a birthday present... I've got something: An oscilloscope, preferably with a digital user interface and at least two input channels. Should be only about $500 to $5000.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
A Semester to Remember
Oh boy! This semester is going to be fun. Not only am I taking seven classes and labs, I am also grading Circuits I homework, coordinating the final project for Digital Electronics, and helping out on a Senior Design project. Oh, and the work I have to do to apply for a massive scholarship. I have already eaten up many hours researching and writing the essay for that application. I am going to be so busy, it's going to be sensationally fun. As long as I don't fall behind.
If I can carve out the time, I'll try and post something now and then about what I am learning. I feel like I am going to be a little bit of an authority on several fields by the time this semester is over.
If I can carve out the time, I'll try and post something now and then about what I am learning. I feel like I am going to be a little bit of an authority on several fields by the time this semester is over.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Chemistry 101
I learned 4 new things yesterday:
Phosphoric acid (H3PO4) removes iron oxide (Fe2O3).
Common soda contains phosphoric acid.
Contrary to popular belief, or whatever belief there is, the phosphoric acid in soda is far too dilute to react with the ammonia in Windex. Or, they don't react at all.
It takes a while to boil soda down to get a more concentrated phosphoric acid.
You know... chemistry is actually interesting when it becomes practical.
Phosphoric acid (H3PO4) removes iron oxide (Fe2O3).
Common soda contains phosphoric acid.
Contrary to popular belief, or whatever belief there is, the phosphoric acid in soda is far too dilute to react with the ammonia in Windex. Or, they don't react at all.
It takes a while to boil soda down to get a more concentrated phosphoric acid.
You know... chemistry is actually interesting when it becomes practical.
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