Thursday, November 6, 2008

Yes We Did.
I know it's cliche to say, but awesome. I'm actually proud, for the first time in my short life, to be an American.


However, amidst all the hope going around, I have to admit some reservation. Not doubt in our new president-elect. I like to think that I have realistically high expectations of him. Though after the past 8 years, he could do a piss poor job and still be amazing.

No, my reservations are actually about my fellow Americans. Yes, we elected an African-American to the presidency, that's pretty awesome. And yes, we elected a person who represents change and hope and finally has the attitude that I can say represents me, as an American, well. However, I don't think it represents as many Americans as I'd like. Many people voted for him because they doubted McCain's ability to turn the economy around. Well that's nice and all, but that's one of the weakest of the many reasons to vote for Obama. Of course, also, many people did not vote for Obama. He won in a landslide, but still 47% of America did not vote for him. Quibble about percentage points, but that's half the country. And that half of the country is still very angry. We are still not a united country, not as united as I'd like.

Just look at proposition 8 in California. It makes me pretty angry. Now when a gay black man... or say, a gay black woman is elected president... Whoa.

Hey, Hope is in the air. Change is on the way.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Project Blue Balled

Thought this was really funny.


Monday, October 13, 2008

Monday, September 29, 2008

Howie the dog

As promised, a follow up yesterday's post (read below), here are actual pictures of Howie with mom and siblings:
Howie is the black and white one that looks like a slug (that is, we don't know which is Howie), the litter has three males and one female. Howie is sure to be one of the males.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Howie! Coming to a my house near you

Erin and I are getting a new puppy (not an old one, that wouldn't make sense). Next week we (and maybe you) will be installing a fence in our yard for the puppy (probably going to be named Howie, after the duck). The breed is a Havanese, which looks something like this:

Just kidding. I don't even know who that girl is, but I bet she's tiny. Seriously, a Havanese looks like this:
Kidding again, that's actually MacGuyver. Okay, Havanese:

Which in motion, looks like this:
Of course we won't let Howie grow his hair out like that, we'll keep it short like this:

But Howie will come to us as a puppy, which looks like this:

and in motion, looks like this:

Howie will be black and white. When we get pictures, I'll put them up here. We get full custody in 8 weeks, which is the week of Thanksgiving!

Despite what Erin says, Howie's namesake:
Howard is the one on the right.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Omnivore's 100

Here is a list created by someone who knows food, of the 100 foods that every person should experience (within reason). The game is to bold the ones that you've had, and cross out those that you would never try. Here we go... I think I have a lot of catching up to do...
http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/uncategorised/the-omnivores-hundred/

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Well so I have a long way to go, but not a bad start for someone who was a picky eater as a child...

Post Quals, I Passed!

So the Quals are over and the grades are in. I didn't do very well, but I didn't expect to given that I had spent so little time studying (only about a week). But, with help, a little imagination, and a pinch of magic, I managed to pass, on the condition that I get my grades up (never heard that before!). Apparently my grades from last year (which were mostly C's) didn't put me in good standing with the department, so I'll have to get a decent grade in Solid State this semester (shouldn't be too hard, it is my only class). Anyway, glad to never have to take the test again... Ever.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

How do you solve a problem like Maria? You start with some good R&D.

After watching the Sound of Music again (I was there!) I have decided to redirect my studies to research on how to solve a problem like Maria. I am currently applying for funding from the NSF on how to catch a cloud and pin it down. Of course the initial research will be on climate control as it pertains to clouds, and also development of an adequate pin. Keeping a wave upon the sand is also proving to be difficult, but I think with the right sand we can make it happen. Of course holding a moonbeam in your hand is quite easy once we've mastered climate control, and also possibly the use of moon rocks and/or laser technology.

Of course solving a problem like Maria doesn't actually solve the Maria problem, but I think it's an important step and the nuns would really appreciate it. It's high time the fields of engineering, science and technology catch up to solve the problems of nuns in Austria.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Qualifying Examination (aka, "Quals")

Studying for the Qual. A grueling exam designed to test my knowledge in graduate level theoretical physics (classical mechanics and electromagnetics), quantum mechanics, and thermodynamics. A 5 hour exam that is only 5 questions long. It is also designed to break me. But I won't let it. I'm studying. Studying fun topics like electrostatics, relativity, lorentz transformations, quantum scattering, canonical ensembles, lagrangian dynamics, and perturbation theory. What a treat.

Of course there is the real possibility that I will fail this exam on Friday. I have spent most of the time that I should have been studying, working on research. On the bright side, at least I enjoy my job enough that I'd rather do it than other stuff.

Anyway, that's what I've been doing, and not blogging. Well, mostly the research. I'll blog a bit more about that perhaps when I finish this test... Wish me luck!

Monday, June 2, 2008

Detectors. What?

Okay, so I've talked briefly about what I'm working on (LUX dark matter direct detection experiment, if you weren't listening), and I've talked at relative length about dark matter. However, I haven't really described the actual detection process. This is, as you can imagine, rather important. Detectors don't just tell you 'yes, I found what you're looking for!', or 'no, nothing, check back later.' Instead, detectors are extremely complicated devices with extremely complicated signals to interpret. Later I'll talk about the latter (signals), here I'll discuss the former (detector itself).

The art of detection (okay, science), is really a complex collection of different steps. Let's take an example that you're probably familiar with (unless you're reading this in braille): vision. You're eyes are your light detectors. They convert photons of light that enter the eye into electrical signals that your brain (DAQ) interprets. Now, with dark matter, you can't just look at it. Mostly because dark matter is dark and so is invisible to light. But it does interact with the nuclear force (bumps into an atom's nucleus). So when you want to detect something, you have to find a way to interact with it. For LUX, we use a big bucket of liquid xenon, which is a massive nucleus that provides a large target for the dark matter to interact with. When dark matter bumps into a xenon atom it creates a flash of light (the light escapes as the interaction energy). Now, light is something that we can detect. However, the flash of light is so small that we can't see it with our eyes. So now what? We need a quantitative way to detect small amounts of light. With experiments our goal is to turn some interaction evidence (in this case, the light) into an electrical signal that we can record with the DAQ computer. This can then be analyzed. But first, to the problem at hand: turning the light, into an electrical signal. There are several ways that we do this in the physics world. The predominant method is to use something called a photomultiplier tube (PMT). This device has a special piece of metal that, when hit with a photon of light, ejects an electron (this is like billiards, the photon has a lot of energy in it, and when it bumps into the electron, it knocks it right out of the metal, known as a photocathode). This electron is accelerated with a strong electric field into another piece of metal (called a dynode), knocking out more electrons, and so on with several stages of dynodes, each ejecting more electrons. By the time this is all over, one photon that converts into a single electron on one end, becomes over a million electrons on the other end! This signal is easily recorded by a computer. In LUX, we have 120 of these PMTs (60 on the top of the bucket, and 60 on the bottom) so that we catch all of the light that comes out when a dark matter particle (WIMP) interacts with a xenon atom. So in the next issue I'll talk about how we interpret and analyze these 120 signals. Eventually I'll also discuss an alternative to PMTs that I have been working on, known as an Avalanche Photodiode (APD). So now at least, you know a bit about what 'detectors' are and how they work (sort of).

Sunday, June 1, 2008

the physics of graduate school

Still in graduate school, I haven't failed out yet! In fact, a few weeks ago I managed to pass my finals and in so doing, finish the six core courses. Now all I need is to pass the Qualifying exam at the end of August and I will officially be a candidate for the Ph.D. No small matter, I also have a lot of actual physics to do this summer. I will be spending a total of three weeks working on the LUX 0.1 detector at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, OH. I'll also be working on the DAQ for the full LUX detector, as well as experiments at Brown with Avalanche Photodiodes. So, it's a busy summer, and as always, it doesn't look as thought it will be letting up anytime soon. Wish me luck, and forgive me for updating infrequently.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Physics? Really?

So I just finished a terrible midterm on Electricity & Magnetism taught by a nice guy but... bad teacher. Awful teacher. I'm so sick of being taught physics by theorists. I get the feeling that if I wanted to be an experimental physicist I should have just gone into engineering.

Along those lines, looking on courses to take for next semester, the options are bleak in physics. Solid State, and Advanced Quantum Mechanics. Solid State would be nice because it can help me get a job, but that's about it. Engineering courses on the other hand, are awesome. Vehicle Design, Photonics, Feedback Controllers, etc. What the hell? Rather than learning really cool things that are real, I'll be learning about Group Theory and the Theory of Representations, which is an entire course dedicated to what happens when you, get this, turn something slightly. Ack.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

more of the same. waaaay too much of the same.

Hi, I'm back, it's been awhile, I know. I've been putting in a lot of loooong hours at work, and just got back from a week at Case Western Reserve University, where the first stage of LUX is being built (dubbed LUX 0.1). We got a lot of work done, learned a lot, but glad to be home now. Missed the misses quite a lot, so I'm staying put for awhile. I'm technically on vacation now for spring break, but instead of being lazy, I have to make up work for my classes and study a lot so that I don't fail. Failing would be bad. However, the semester is flying by in a good way, pretty soon it'll be summer and I'll be able to spend all my time on research. Also, working at the camp as 'Mr. Physics' in which I will run 1 hour physics experiments/demos for kids in Michael's camp. I'm nervous because I'm notoriously bad with kids, but the money is very attractive, especially since I get paid so little for summer work.

Anyway, before then we have some vacations to look forward to. One will be a trip to Arizona to visit my Dad, and another will be a trip to Seattle to visit Erin's Dad. We're also hoping to be able to afford a trip in June to my cousin's wedding in Long Beach, but we may not come up with the money for it. Oh well, such is life when first starting out.

Speaking of which, Erin is taking more classes, this time for photography! Also, Erin's sister Meghan got into Harvard for mind, brain and education, and her mother is going to finish her dissertation (finally) on music stuff (Franz Liszt). So everybody is back to school!

Now if you were reading this blog for the science, then here, some pictures of my trip to Case.

Sorry this is sideways. This is the top two flanges for the detector can. The bottom flange has a smaller can that bolts to it, and that's where the liquid xenon, pmts, etc. go. The top flang has a larger can that bolts onto it over the smaller one and that's the vacuum and cryostat for cooling. The cans are shown...
IMG_1350.JPG

... in this picture
IMG_1344.JPG

This is Dave and I working in the clean room... We broke something, now we're trying to fix it...
IMG_1395.JPG

Here is more of the detector constructed. The aluminum blocks are to take up space so that we don't use a lot of liquid xenon. The idea is that this is a smaller version of the larger, full LUX, so we use the same detector system, just use a tinier amount of PMTs and xenon. The big hole in the back is where the instrumented xenon will be, with the four PMTs observing it. Ask questions if you don't know what I'm talking about.
IMG_1370.JPG

This should give you a better idea of what everything should look like, only this will have an even larger can over it, and then the whole contraption will go in a large bucket of water, because water is good at shielding against neutrons that can create noise in the detector.
IMG_0697.JPG

That's it for now! Bye!

Saturday, February 9, 2008

still married, still in graduate school.

Hi there, it's been awhile. So far, nothing really new. Still married, Erin is still in school for graphic and web design, and I'm still in school for physics. This last one was (and still is sometimes) on the edge. I am finding things about graduate school that may not be what I want. That is, what I want may not be worth the work to get there, and I can get some job doing what I want (engineering and physics R&D) with only a master's degree, and not the whole Ph.D. So, the plan is to go ahead and get my master's in physics (which should be complete by January of next year) and then take another look and see if I can stay on for another 4 years, or if I will put it off and get a job. Of course if that happens I can always go back and finish a Ph.D, or get a master's in engineering (two master's equals a Ph.D, everyone knows that). In any event, I enjoy the research, the classes kind of suck, but I have to do them. Maybe by the time classes are over I'll be content to help discover dark matter. Anyway, that being said, back to work. Weekends are for homework.

By the way, still working on the data acquisition system for the LUX dark matter experiment, and now also working on research on avalanche photodiodes as an application for dark matter detection. Fun stuff.

Stay savvy.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Married.

So there, I did it. We did it. Erin and I got married. That's right, I'm now Mr. Jeremy Chapman!

Of course, most of you who read this were probably there, and those who weren't... either it's your fault, or .... haha. Sorry.

Anyway, here's a sample picture from the wedding...


Compliments of Grazier Photography. I think it exemplifies what our marriage will be like: classy, artsy, fun, and really, really goofy.