The Amblings and Ramblings of Nickolas Pickolas

Wedding Pictures

2011-08-18T10:37:00.002-06:00

A little while ago I got married. It was way more fun than I thought it would be! (The wedding day, that is.)

So here are a few pictures, I'm pretty sure the wife will give me grief for not getting her approval to publish each and every one of these, but I'm not completely whipped yet...

(Click on any picture for a larger version.)

Things That Make My Imagination Sore (Soar)

2011-08-11T09:31:00.003-06:00

Sore...
BYU Financial Aid

Glenn Beck

Soviet architecture

Soar...

Bridges

Castles!

Mass Effect

Zombies

Firefly

EVE Online

Math

Cochem Castle and the Autobahn

2011-08-02T04:08:00.003-06:00

For my birthday and the 4th of July, Jenna and I rented a car and drove over to West Germany to visit my Aunt & Uncle & Cousins for the weekend. I drove on the Autobahn, they took us to the military base commissary, we celebrated the 4th of July with Americans en mass, and we visited the Cochem Castle in the Rhineland's Moselle River Valley. Keep reading for details!

Cochem Castle

The Autobahn was all kinds of fun! Before I came to Germany I thought the Autobahn was just one road with no speed limit, but it turns out the entire German freeway system is the Autobahn. Although not every mile is without speed limit, a lot of the intercity stretches have no limit. Well I had fun maxing out the speedometer on our 4 cylinder rental car at every opportunity. Unfortunately the speedometer only went to 180 kph (112 mph) :( Someday I'll come back and rent a nice car and go really fast.

Maxing out the speedometer on the Autobahn

Along the way we saw a half-dozen castles just chillin' on hilltops.

My family took us to the American commissary which is an American grocery store in Europe. It was AMAZING. All the same selection you would find in America at the same prices - including frozen and refrigerated foods and bread. The military must have a massive supply line to get that stuff over here, but I tell you I was in heaven. Jenna and I have been eating like (American) kings ever since.

Later in the day the military base we were visiting had a big 4th of July shindig for all the military personnel and their families. Highlights were: yummy American food, non-Aryans, a carnival, and fireworks.

Amurica!

The Abbott family and Jenna (and a couple of dudes)

On Monday we crammed in the Abbott's (American) mini van and headed off for the Moselle River Valley, in the Rhineland of Germany,

It was good for Jenna to be around children. She's not too fond of the entire genre, but she rather liked my cousins. (It's all part of my plan...)

Here are pictures of the beautiful Moselle River Valley and the small town of Cochem. (Trivia: Nicolas Cage's mother is from Cochem.)

Cochem, Germany

Pretty standard German town, until you see the GIGANTIC castle right in the middle!

Cochem Castle

The Imperial Castle sits on a hill right in the center of the city, necessitating a steep hike to the top through beautiful medieval streets and vineyards.

A neat wine-cellar style restaurant built up against the cliff

Cochem Castle (click to enlarge)

I was busy taking pictures of the awesome castle we were in, but all Jenna saw were the pretty flowers!

The builders scraped the hill down to bedrock and built the castle right on it

The view from Cochem Castle

We took a tour of the castle, but there wasn't much to see. It was blown up in 1689 and rebuilt in a Gothic Revival style (whatever that is - just not medieval fortress style!) in the late 1800s. The man who rebuilt it did so for a summer house, so there weren't any neat dungeons or draw bridges and the like. I was pretty disappointed, but there were some pretty paintings and woodworkings.

After seeing the castle, we went down into the town and poked around for a bit.

On the drive back to the Abbott's house we passed through some beautiful areas. Here the walls of an eery old convent stand amid vineyards and the Moselle River.

Stuben Convent, near Bremm, Germany

St. Aldegund, Germany

German Observations

2011-07-11T10:47:00.001-06:00

Here are a few observations I have about Germany:

Things I Like

Bakeries - There are tons of them and they're uber delicious. They have this cream monstrosity that is oh-so-yummy it makes me want to go into convulsions and die.
Ivy - It's everywhere and is really pretty. (Not the poison variety!)
Cobblestones - Quaint and practical (but reportedly difficult to walk on in heels). Because cobblestone streets are just a bunch of little pieces you can put back together, after they tear up a cobblestone street for sewer work it looks like nothing ever happened! Cobblestone streets are also viscous, so they'll move to adapt to changing ground levels.
Consonants - It seems like speaking Deutsche is hard work - so many consonants! Their mouth is going crazy. Fun to listen to, watch out for spit.
Universal Functional Windows - They're all the same and swing open wide, or pop open at the top. (No screens though.)
History - What's old in America is young here. The relationship is approximately: 200 years in America = 1000+ years in Germany. (Our oldest surviving commonly found buildings in America are around 200 years old, while some Indian ruins and Spanish mission ruins are older. The oldest surviving commonly found buildings in Germany are around 1000 years old with some ruins going back 2000 years or so.)
Autobahn - Before I came to Germany I thought the Autobahn was one highway, but it turns out the Autobahn is the name of the Germany highway system. Parts of it really don't have a speed limit! Here I am driving 180 kph (110 mph) and some guy in a BMW flies past me like I'm standing still. So cool.
End Speed Limit Signs - These nifty signs tell you when a speed limit zone ends. No guessing when that pesky 120 kph zone ends.
Kindergartens - "Child garden." We live around half-a-dozen of these and they're really cute. The kiddles play outside a good chunk of the day in what really is best described as a child garden - they play among the bushes and dirt and they all wear little hats. Our favorite child garden apparatus is a giant wicker basket swing that can accommodate 5-8 hat-wearing toddlers at a time. Often another toddler will be pushing the crew - all them silent with little hats on just looking around.
Castles - They're everywhere. On our drive to West Germany last week we passed about 10 - and those were just the ones we noticed from the autobahn. (see picture)
Civil Engineering works - They love their public works here! In an effort to keep vehicle speeds up on the autobahn (much like high-speed railroads) Germans employ bridges for most valleys across Germany. There are a LOT of road and train bridges. They also love tunnels. There's one tunnel nearby (Lobdeburg Tunnel) they built just because the road was too loud for houses nearby.

German end speed limit sign

Things I Don't Like

No Drinking Fountains - Welcome to Europe, the land of people with apparently high water-retention rates. I've seen five drinking fountains since I've been in Germany - two in the Frankfurt International Airport, and three on the American Military Base.
No Air Conditioning - All I can say is ugh. The only places with air conditioning are the grocery stores and laser labs (of which there are more-than-the-average here). Even the malls don't have air conditioning.
Sorting Trash - Germans sort trash into biowaste (no meat though), recyclables (including a long and confusing list of plastics), paper/cardboard, and everything else. The plastics bin is particularly confusing, I still don't really understand what goes in there...
Store Hours - All stores here close early - 8 pm or so for grocery stores, 6 pm for bakeries, etc. Saturday hours are terrible or non-existent.
Ugly Dudes - I've noticed a startling proportion of really ugly dudes here in Germany. The women seem normal, but boy are there some ugly guys. Perhaps it's the propensity for really disgusting piercings, lower hygiene standards, or maybe the gene pool is getting a little shallow. Any way, I've seen some real doozies.
Smoking - I want to send a memo to every German: smoking is lame. It's much more common here than in the states. They seem to have missed the 90s when smoking went out of style and everyone started dying of lung cancer.
No baggers at the grocery store.
At McDonalds you have to pay for ketchup and at the grocery stores you have to pay for bags.
Gas is super expensive. Last weekend we paid an average of €1.55/liter, that's $8.37/gallon!
They like to sneak you a carbonated drink in disguise - watch out for carbonated water, carbonated apple juice, and carbonated orange juice.

And here's a picture of a castle we saw from the highway.

Random castle we saw along the Autobahn

What was I thinking about just now?: Ode to Nickolas Pickolas

2011-07-07T06:42:00.001-06:00

My first wife published a review of my personality on her blog. Enjoy:

Ode to Nickolas Pickolas: "Well, today my Old Man got even older. That's right friends, Nickolas Pickolas has reached the ripe old age of six and twenty. In honor of..."

*Jenna is my first, current, and only wife.

Exploring Jena

2011-06-28T07:29:00.001-06:00

Because we have no money, we haven't really gone anywhere. At the beginning of the summer we had big plans to visit Prague, Vienna, Switzerland, London, as well as a bunch of German places: Munich, Berlin, Neuschwanstein Castle, and Oberammergau. (Of course if we had lots of money I really want to go to Rome and Istanbul, but I kind of always knew we would get those in on this trip.)

But, since we're poor, we've been seeing a lot of Jena and tagging along with members of the ward to other cities whenever we can. A couple of weeks ago we visited the Freiberg Germany Temple, which was the first temple behind the Iron Curtain. We found mostly American temple workers there but the services were in German - so we had to wear headphones (that used an infrared receiver that you could wear under your clothes! I admit, I was distracted by this...). The temple is very small - smaller even than the "small temples" the church has been building the last 15 years or so.

Freiberg Germany LDS Temple

A few days later (I think...) we were invited to a free orchestra concert at the Volkshaus in Jena (folk's house - German is so easy). The played a lot of American tunes and were pretty good for a community orchestra. The concert hall was neat, though:

The Volkshaus in Jena, Germany

We also decided to go for a walk/hike up the hill behind our house. On the way we passed through the community garden plots that apartment-dwelling Germans can lease to grow vegetables and flowers. They were beautiful with lots of big roses that Jenna cooed over and lots of happy Germans puttering away.

A German garden plot on the edge of the city

Our walk was all kinds of lovely. We had a destination in mind (keep reading) but didn't know how to get there, so we just set off in the right direction. We only got yelled at by an angry German property owner once!

Dead-end street from whence we were summarily expelled by an angry German

We eventually found our way up the hill to the trails on the top and made our way to...

A pretty girl I found in the woods

Jena's own Bismarckturm (Bismarck Tower) built in honor of Otto von Bismarck's visit to Jena in 1892. (Apparently building a tower to honor one of Bismarck's visits is common in German towns.) You can read about the tower here via Google translate.

Pretty girl in front of the Jena Bismarckturm

Eagles at the top of the Jena Bismarckturm

We had some great views of Jena. You can just barely see our roof in the picture below with downtown Jena in the distance. Now you can start to appreciate all the hills in Jena, ugh!

View of Jena, Germany from the hills to the west

Some prettiness in Jena, Germany

Here's a picture from the window of our church building:

It's actually not a building - it's sandwiched on top of a couple of bakeries and surrounded by a hotel. It's located right in the center of Jena which is very convenient for most people (but, like everything else, down a huge hill from us). On the right (the red columns) is a cheap ice cream place Jenna and I visit regularly. The square is usually full of people with trams and buses arriving constantly. This square is also located pretty much in the center of Friedrich Schiller University (which is spread throughout the city), so there are lots of students and such around. It's a fun place to walk around on Saturdays as it seems there are weekly farmer's markets we've developed a liking for.

Here's my kitty friend I named Ralph.

Ralph

He waits for me outside the bus stop at Beutenberg Campus and is very friendly. I think he's quite old because he's missing half his tail, has large chunks taken out of his ears, and is missing most of his teeth. But he has a collar, doesn't seem underfed, and is very friendly, so I've concluded that he's happy.

The only problem is that he sheds all over the place and when he gets excited he gums my fingers and drools a lot.

This last picture is of a well-known stretch of restaurants in Jena called Wagnergasse. There are lots of neat restaurants along here in very cramped European style. On warm nights the narrow street is filled with tables and chairs and most people sit outside. We've had some yummy Italian and German food here, but have resisted all the locals urges to visit the American Cheers Restaurant/Bar because we already know what American food tastes like.

Wagnergasse, Jena, Germany

Lobdeburg Castle

2011-06-18T12:44:00.003-06:00

Here are a bunch of pictures from my latest adventures in Germany.

Since we're so poor and work all day we really don't have the ability to travel outside of our town (at least for now). So lately we've been exploring the sights around Jena. Luckily, as is the case with pretty much everywhere outside of the USA, there's all kinds of history right here in our valley.

For instance, here are a few facts about this small city that you probably have never heard of. Jena has Luther's original tombstone and the world's first planetarium. It was a frequent stomping ground for Geothe and Napoleon marched through. Coolest of all: the Carl Zeiss company was founded here.

There's also a medieval town center and castles or towers on almost every hill surrounding the city.

The closest old-stone-thing to our house is the Friedensberg WWI memorial. We found it quite by accident - we wandered up the hill and I saw a tiny trail going into a clump of trees at the top. I jokingly said, "I wonder if there's a castle in there?" So we went in (with Jenna gagging and screaming because plants were brushing against her legs and there might be bugs). We found a huge round stone wall! Circling round we found the entrance and it turned out to be a WWI memorial by the name of Friedensberg.

The gate to Friedensberg memorial


Cenotaph "Our fallen 1914/18" 1926 To commemorate the establishment of the 1st World War fallen citizens of Jena in 1459, primarily from donations of the population, architect: Emil Högg 1929 Inauguration of the monument on the mountain grove, the former gallows, the old Rich Jena site 1949 Renamed Friedensberg The boundary wall of 30 meters in diameter, enclosing a memorial grove with the altar-like stone block that contains the list of names of the dead. (Translation via Google translate - a better one would be appreciated!)

The big pretty hill near our house with Friedensberg at the top

Since my last blog post I started work at the Friedrich Schiller University Institute of Applied Physics. I'm doing more high-intensity laser physics and it's all kinds of fun. I actually really like my job, even though everything is in German and it's really hot in the building (but not in the laser labs, which is where I spend most of my time anyways).

Ready for work (with Carlos in the background!)

A couple of weekends ago we had an adventure out to the small town of Lobeda and the castle Lobdeburg (Lobeda is in range of our bus/tram pass). We had all kinds of fun on the way up through the town and found a neat old church.

Lobeda, Germany

A really old church (with a gigantic crack in it) in Lobeda, Germany

It's a cute little village, but our destination was the castle at the top.

Lobeda, Germany - Notice the "No Crapping Dogs" sign

A really small hummingbird

We had to hike up a pretty good sized hill to get to the castle, but the trail and the views were beautiful.

On the way up we had a good view of the soviet-era concrete block housing community near Jena. They're super ugly, super small (I've been in one), and super cheap. Thanks USSR.

We could see another castle in the distance! I can't remember the name of it right now, but we want to go there someday (when we have money to travel outside the range of JeNah transport).

After a sweaty hike we arrived at Lobdeburg, a 13th century castle perched on a hill overlooking the Saale valley. It was all kinds of neat and broken down. Some organization is attempting to preserve it from further decay - thus the fences and braces you can see in the pictures below.

The main features of the surviving castle are a central tower (completely inaccessible) and the knave of the ancient chapel, seen below. As you can see in the above picture it even hung out over the end of the wall.

Lobdeburg Castle, Lobeda Germany

At the end of the wall pictured below was a square tower that I decided to climb.

The view from the top was incredible!

Plus there was an interesting hole in the middle of the tower (notice how thick the walls are!). The circular part was clearly a well, while I suspect the entire hole was a cistern.

After we were done exploring the castle we headed back down the hill a short ways to the restaurant conveniently placed at the castle parking lot. We begged them to take our VISA (cash is king in Germany - so far the only places that have accepted cards are hotels, not even at the grocery stores!) and they accepted! So we sat down to have a lovely meal in a classic German "Beer Garden" perched on the edge of a steep hill. The view was great and we got some great pictures of the sunset across the Saale valley. (At the right of the two sunset pictures below you can see where Jenna and I work. The city of Jena is further down the valley to the right.)

Yummy schnitzel

And to finish the post off, here's a picture of a giant slug I found one day on the way home from work! Epic.

Adventures

2011-05-31T15:18:00.002-06:00

I got hitched! The wedding was in California at the Newport Beach LDS Temple and the reception was in Fountain Valley. It was epic - we had a New Orleans Jazz Band, awesome food, and much fun was had by all.

The next day Jenna (my wife) and I left for Miami to catch a big-ass boat across the ocean! The Norwegian Epic is the world's 3rd largest cruise ship.

Norwegian Epic docked in Miami

I reserved our stateroom last fall and got a killer deal on it, about $720 each for a balcony room for 11 days! That's about the price of a one-way plane ticket to Europe, but with 11 days of entertainment, awesome food, and much fun. Pro-tip: repositioning cruises are uber cheap. (It's in the Caribbean during the winter and Mediterranean during the Summer.)


Norwegian Epic docked in Barcelona

I rode the three waterslides a whole bunch of times and Jenna and I spent a couple days in the hot tubs talking to folks. When we left Miami the temperatures were in the 80s, but as we traveled further north and east it got progressively colder.

It was all kinds of fun exploring the ship, going to shows (Blue Man Group, improv comedy, some talented musicians, some not-so talented) and eating at any of the 20 restaurants. The hardest part of our day was deciding where to eat! We would catch an occasional movie on their huge LED screen in the middle of the ship or eat a nice lazy dinner under an awesome chandelier with a live pianist. It was fun.

Really fun water slides, pools, and hot tubs on top of the Norwegian Epic

One of the fun towel animals our steward left for us

There was a hilarious magician and a talented (but kind of annoying) ventriloquist. We even went to a comedy hypnotist and Jenna and I were chosen to go up on stage to be hypnotized with about 15 others. We were both curious to see if hypnosis is real - I said to Jenna as we arrived that the only way I would ever believe in hypnosis is if she or I were hypnotized. Otherwise, no cake.

Well here was our chance - we listened carefully to what the guy was saying and tried to relax like he said. Both of us actually wanted to be hypnotized! We really tried! Alas, I was kicked off stage after only a few minutes... not quite sure why. Jenna lasted a little longer, but she was eventually kicked off stage too. Apparently we're hypnosis-proof. Or hypnosis is fake!

Jenna (3rd from the left) pretending to be hypnotized (it didn't work). The hypnotist had already kicked me off stage

Having been at sea for 7 straight days, we were getting a little batty - that's when we made our only stop of the voyage at Ponta Delgada, Azores.

The Azores are a Portuguese territory settled in the 1400s. They have a very mild climate - not quite tropical, but sort of.

The Norwegian Epic (right) docked in Ponta Delgada, Azores

Jenna, happy to be on land for the first time in 7 days

We explored Ponta Delgada for a couple hours, the largest and capital city of the archipelago, before we saw a postcard with a BEAUTIFUL waterfall somewhere in the Azores. We asked the lady where it was and through mediocre English she told us it was called the Caldeira Velha and was located on the slopes of an ancient volcano called Lagoa das Fogo - the Lake of Fire.

I love waterfalls. So we rented a car and set out to find the place with only a rough idea of where it lay.

Ponta Delgada, Azores

We saw all kinds of prettiness on the way.

Got lost a few times...

Our rental car in the Azores

But eventually made it to Lagoa das Fogo - the Lake of Fire. This is an ancient volcanic crater at the top of a windy and steep road. The views were fantastic even with all the cloud cover. I can only imagine what they would have been like were it clear!

Lagoa das Fogo - Lake of Fire

Looking from the top of Lagoa das Fogo north towards the other side of the island

Going down the other side of the volcano we finally came across the entrance to Caldeira Velha - the waterfall we were trying to find. After a short hike (and passing some pools of boiling water!) we found it!

So we got in. The water wasn't hot, but it wasn't cold - sort of luke warm (the weather was chilly though - in the 50s) and fed by hotsprings upstream. It was magical.

Caldeira Velha (Old Boiler)

Back on the ship we hit bad weather for a day. Waves were 19 feet high according to the bridge and even the 3rd largest cruise ship in the world tossed a lot. It was difficult walking, especially towards the front and the back of the ship. Luckily our cabin was in the center of the ship, well placed at the fulcrum of the main axis of oscillation. Even so, we spent most of the day in bed and only ventured out to eat and see a show.

I noticed, though, that the cruise staff stealthily stashed barf bags all around the ship for woozy passengers. How funny.

Barcelona

We arrived in Barcelona around 3 am and I stayed up to watch the ship dock. How do you dock the 3rd largest cruise ship in the world? Very slowly.

Barcelona

We arrived in Barcelona with no plans, no accommodations, and no travel reservations to Germany. We figured we'd just wing the whole thing. The only thing I wanted to see in the city was La Sagrada Familia - a really strange cathedral still under construction. I could just barely see it from the cruise ship.

Unfortunately, there was a Formula 1 race in Barcelona that week so all the accommodations were completely booked. Bah! So we bought a couple of surprisingly cheap plane tickets to Frankfurt and left that afternoon.

Barcelona

Getting to the airport was a bit of an adventure - there were bomb threats shutting down big chunks of the city we were trying to travel through and messing all the buses up. I did get the above picture because of them, though.

We eventually made it to the airport (exhausted and sweaty and missing our lovely stateroom and buffet dearly), flew to Palma de Mallorca, then to Frankfurt. (Mental note: Visit Mallorca and Barcelona for reals someday.)

We arrived in Frankfurt at around midnight, again with no accommodations. Luckily, though, the hostels in this city weren't all full and we made our way to one and crashed for the night. It was a very long day - Jenna didn't like it very much, but I thought it was an adventure.

Still without confirmed housing in Jena, we decided to spend a full day in Frankfurt before journeying to Jena. Apparently Germans and tourists don't think much of Frankfurt, but we rather liked it. We walked around for a few hours and had a jolly 'ole time.

We even found some cute ducklings swimming in the Main (the river running through Frankfurt). They were a subspecies we're not familiar with, so I took a picture. We like ducks.

The Frankfurt skyline

We finally got a hold of Jenna's contact at the Max Planck Institute in Jena who informed us that we could move into our apartment right away! So after a day in Frankfurt we hopped on the train to Jena. It was supposed to be relatively simple...

But it wasn't. Here's Jenna looking much more chipper than she felt.

Our second of three trains was roomy and comfortable.

At one point they stopped the train and kicked everyone off, saying something about a bus coming to pick us up. But no sooner were we disembarked and lugging our crap down a gravel driveway than the train conductor excitedly ran up and happily (and unintelligibly) said something along the lines of the "the train is working again, hurry and get back on and we'll leave." So we did. But then, since everything was now delayed, we missed our connection and had to wing it for a bit. And, because everything was now running behind our last train was extremely crowded - standing room only. (Not as crowded as this train, though.)

Jenna tries to figure out the train schedule in German

We eventually made it to Jena! Jena is a city of 100,000 people located in the former East Germany. It is the only city in former East Germany whose population has increased since 1989. It is home to approximately 25,000 students, 3 Max Planck research institutes, the home of Zeiss optics, Schott glass, and Jenoptic, as well as dozens of smaller optics companies and research institutes and a whole suite of biotech industries and research centers. It is one of Germany's "Science Cities" and is a bit of an optics Mecca.

After we arrived at the Jena train station (below) our Max Planck contact never came to pick us up. So after waiting for several hours at the train station, then wandering the city with all of our luggage relying on the mercy of taxi drivers who didn't speak English (and who always laugh at us... haven't figured that one out yet), we eventually just got a hotel and collapsed from exhaustion.

The next day I went out and bought a phone and we finally were taken to our apartment. We like it! It's in a pretty little neighborhood on top of a hill overlooking the city. There are a whole bunch of "kindergartens" (preschools), lots of pretty greenness, and lovely cobblestone streets. The one thing we don't like: the bus stop and closest grocery store are at the bottom of the hill, about a 10 minute walk away. So we're working off our cruise fat.

Our apartment building in Jena

View out of our bathroom window

Our street

View from the entrance

Jenna started work at her new job last Monday: the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology. She's working on the genetics of bugs that eat tobacco. The institute is located on the Beutenberg Campus, a large biotech and optics research site southwest of Jena. Did you hear that? Biotech and OPTICS! Yes, the Beutenberg campus is home to the Friedrich Schiller Institute of Applied Physics (where I started today), the Institute of Photonic Technology (in a way awesome building), and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering. It's pretty much an optics heaven.

The Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

Jenna all ready for her first day of work!

General observations about Germany:

They don't seem to mind graffiti - it's everywhere and rather unsightly. (And it's in English... go figure.)
There are no drinking fountains, air conditioning, or bathrooms and it's quite warm outside. Conclusion: the people here retain water very well.
They charge for everything: ketchup at McDonalds, water, and coffee at work.
There are a disproportionate number of really ugly dudes. (No, seriously, they're really ugly.)
It is very green.
They like cobblestones.
They're manic trash-sorters.
They love their beer.
They spend more time outdoors than typical Americans.

Germans love to party...

And to finish things off, a few scenes from around Jena:

Our house and neighborhood

The never ending stairs on the way to work...

More stairs coming down the hill

How to Thoroughly Vaporize a Multimeter

2011-03-23T02:24:00.001-06:00

Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted. I've been busy getting engaged (almost married!) and trying to get through school. Here's my latest adventure:

1950s Vacuum Tube Tesla Coil (vacuum tube not pictured)

A 1950s vacuum tube tesla coil based around a Hartley radio frequency oscillator. My uncle gave it to me over thanksgiving. He got his hands on it from the scientific instrument shop of the Los Angeles County School District. Apparently, they gave it to him because he asked nicely and it didn't work (it's ancient).

The last week or so I've been trying to get it working, with limited success. So far I've got the smaller transformer working - providing 6.3 VAC to the base of the vacuum tube so that it lights up nicely.

This evening I was testing the large transformer, which is supposed to convert 120 VAC to +/- 600 VAC (I think). It supposedly puts out -600 volts on one lead and +600 on the other, for a total of 1200 volts. My multimeter says it can handle 600 V, so I decided to try each lead individually.

I disconnected the leads from the large red capacitor shown in front of the large transformer (you can see the leads detached in the picture) and tested each individually with reference to ground. The first (attached to the right side of the cap) came out at about 40 VAC. The second came out as 340 VAC.

Puzzled and assuming I had found the problem, I decided to test both transformer leads at once. I hooked up each lead from the transformer to a cable from my multimeter and turned the thing on. There was a flash of light and a loud buzzing sound as the insides of my multimeter vaporized under what definitely was not 380 VAC. I quickly hit the switch on my power strip and opened up my multimeter to examine the damage. Here's what I found:

Back side of the board of my vaporized multimeter

Front side of the board and underside of the dial of my vaporized multimeter

So, I'm down one multimeter. This was after last week vaporizing my oscilloscope probe by touching it to the large red capacitor while charged.

Tesla coil: 2 Nick: 0

How to Pay LDS Tithing Online

2010-11-09T21:11:00.001-07:00

Here's how to pay tithing online for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka Mormons or Latter-day Saints [LDS]).

If you're anything like me then you almost never use checks. The only day-to-day uses for these dinosaurs of the financial world are to pay rent and tithing. But more often than not I forget my checkbook when I go to church. After all, I don't carry it with me anywhere else! This habit has resulted in sporadic donations in which I try to figure out how many paychecks have come in since I last paid and then try to catch up.

(For those who may not know, Mormons usually pay 10% of their income to the church in the form of tithing. These funds support the growth of the church, building construction and maintenance, and other managerial things. They don't support a paid clergy (the LDS church has none at the local level) or humanitarian relief - there are separate donation avenues for helping the poor, victims of disaster, etc. Tithing does pay the administration costs of humanitarian aid so that 100% of money "given to the poor" actually goes to help the poor.)

Well I've finally found a solution. I heard a rumor that members can pay their tithing online somehow, so I fired up google and figured it out last night.

Here are directions to set up online tithing payment:

1. Download the necessary form from this website: The Bill Payment Service Electronic Donation Information Form. (The version dated 21 May 2010 doesn't work, download and use the one dated 21 August 2008.) Fill it out on your computer and e-mail it to donations@ldschurch.org. You'll need to know your membership number, which you can get off of your temple recommend or from your ward clerk.

2. After you have e-mailed the form you'll receive a detailed response on how to set up your electronic bill payment through your bank. You'll need to figure out how exactly to configure bill pay for your bank. I use Bank of America and it was relatively easy to set up.

The e-mail you receive will provide information on how to set up separate bill payments for the following:

Tithing
Fast offerings
General missionary fund
Book of Mormon fund
Perpetual education fund
Other

Each bill payment you set up will use a different biller name. These names must be entered exactly as shown below and are case sensitive.

LDS-Tithing
LDS-Fast Offering
LDS-Missionary (General)
LDS-Book of Mormon
LDS-PEF
LDS-Other

You will be identified by your membership ID which you enter as the account number on your banking website.

Lastly, take care to enter the Pay To address and phone number correctly as shown.

A few notes on donating tithes and offerings electronically:

Any donations you send will go to church headquarters and will not be seen by your ward clerks or bishop - for good or for bad.
You can't donate to your ward missionary fund online, only to the general missionary fund.
The donations office can't accommodate special requests towards ward fast offerings or ward missionary funds.
You will receive monthly statements to verify that your payments have been successful as well as yearly tax receipts. You can receive these statements via snail mail or e-mail. If you choose to receive them via e-mail, this is what they look like:

Good luck! Hopefully this will be useful to folks like me who always forget the checkbook before church.

ORIGINAL: 3/15/10
UPDATE: 7/27/10 Updated directions to download the working Bill Payment Service Electronic Donation Information Form. Also mentioned the new ability to receive statements electronically.
UPDATE: 11/9/10 Added example image of a monthly electronic donations statement. Re-published with today's date.

Largest Cruise Ship in the World Squeaks Under Danish Bridge with 20 Inches to Spare

2010-11-01T06:44:00.000-06:00

To Woo

2010-08-28T16:34:00.000-06:00

From the Wikipedia article on courtship:

...Acts such as meeting on the Internet or virtual dating, chatting on-line via instant messaging or e-mail, sending text messages, conversing over the telephone, writing each other letters, and sending each other flowers, songs, and gifts constitute wooing.

LOL.

T-Rex vs. Mars Rover

2010-08-05T02:15:00.005-06:00

Comment sections are usually full of idiots. Case in point:

jjeherrera Jul 30, 2010 6:17 PM
I've always found it hard to understand why there is so much insistence in manned space exploration, when it has been proven that robots are infinitely better at it.

Wanna know what I say?

Top speed of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, the mightiest dinosaur: 25 mph
Top speed of the Spirit Mars rover: 2 inches/second

Human space flight ftw!

But seriously, "...it has been proven that robots are infinitely better at [space exploration]." Huh? What planet are you from? (Maybe one where T-Rex and Mars rovers can peacefully coexist?)

Right now robots are the method of choice for exploring the solar system because they don't want to come home when all is said and done. And nobody has a fit when one or two burn up in the atmosphere. But to do serious exploration, robots just won't cut it forever.

Imagine trying to design a robot to

Land in the Rocky Mountains (and survive!)
Move about successfully (good luck)
And then discover dinosaurs.

It's utterly unthinkable.

Do you think that's a bizarre scenario? Consider for a moment that Mars has both the highest mountain (Olympus Mons) and the biggest canyon (Valles Marineris) in the solar system. Mars used to have vast oceans, huge rivers, and gargantuan lava flows. It still has dust storms, polar ice caps, and massive amounts of water ice just below the surface. The possibility of fossilized microorganisms is very real - not to mention the chance of native life just below the frigid surface.

If we're ever going to do space exploration any justice we'll need to get our feet dirty. Humans are infinitely better at space exploration than robots!

Thanks for the drawing Brook!

The Value of Creative Science

2010-08-03T19:12:00.024-06:00

When you hear the word creative you don't necessarily think of science. But science is an extremely creative process and has occupied some of the most creative thinkers in human history. Many of the problems in the world can be solved by science, such as rising energy costs, global warming, starvation, and disease.

Admittedly, the following video was made for corporate propaganda purposes, but it does a beautiful job of illustrating why science is an alluring, creative field with the mission to change the world.

I am a scientist because I love the thrill of creatively solving a difficult problem. The prospect that in some small way my work might change the world for the better turns a fun career into a great one.

And of course, nothing says science like Asians in lab coats. :D

Did you notice the boiling cryogen at the beginning of the movie? Cool.

More Blog Changes

2010-07-26T23:50:00.000-06:00

Blogger has implemented a new native visitor statistics program (no, not a program that tracks native visitors, a native program that tracks visitors!). It's fairly new, but it told me that currently my most popular post is How to Pay LDS Tithing Online. Yay! So I've gone an updated a few things that have changed about the program since I wrote about it in March.

Blogger also has a great new preview button to use when writing posts. This feature works much better than the previous one (which was mostly useless) and I'm happy. I can also use more-normal keyboard shortcuts for formatting on while blogging on my mac such as command-I to italicize something instead of control-I (which is pesky on a mac). Yay for progress!

My Senior Thesis is DONE

2010-07-22T22:44:00.016-06:00

After hundreds of hours of machining, wiring, troubleshooting, programming, fiddling, head scratching, fixing, typing, agonizing, and banging my head against the optical table...

It's done! And aaaaalllliiiiiiivvve!

My senior thesis. (<--- see that period? My thesis is as done as that period! Uhmph!) ..... I just noticed a typo.

Controlled Attenuation of Laser-generated High-order Harmonics for Extreme Ultraviolet Polarimetry

Abstract:
We constructed an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) polarimeter which utilizes laser- induced high harmonics as the light source. This device is capable of making absolute reflectance measurements as low as 0.2% over a wavelength range of 8-89 nm. The polarimetry positioning system allows incident reflectance angles of 0–40◦. In order to increase the dynamic range of our EUV detector we introduced a low-pressure gas downstream from the harmonic generation region to predictably attenuate EUV flux during incident measurements. We also used the gas cell to measure the photoabsorption cross sections of hydro- gen and oxygen compared to that of water vapor, revealing the influence of chemical bonds on EUV absorption.

If you still wanna read it, then click here (.pdf) . It has pretty pictures, I promise!

BYU Library's Old Spice Body Wash Parody

2010-07-21T04:22:00.000-06:00

I loved the original version of this commercial I actually went out and bought Old Spice body wash. Now, this parody comes out from my own school! It already has 1.1 million hits on YouTube:

Book Review: "The Passage," by Justin Cronin

2010-07-13T00:25:00.009-06:00

“It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.” First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment...

Aaaaand that was enough for me! What a great book! You can read the whole back cover (don't worry, it doesn't reveal much) here. I listened to it for free on my iPhone from audible.com.

If you sign up with audible.com they give you a one month free membership and two free audio books - this was my first. The entire book took around 40 hours to listen to - I was enthralled the entire time!

Review:
The Passage is a sci-fi thriller taking place around the year 2016. That's about all I'm going to say - I'm happy that I knew so little before I started listening to it! Justin Cronin tells the story so wonderfully and helps you fall in love with the characters and actually care about whether they live or die (some live, some die, some do... other things).

It's a classic tale of good versus evil where the good are REALLY good and the bad are REALLY bad - innocent little girls against mindless monsters, you know the drill. He uses themes throughout the book to build a sense of fear, especially darkness. I actually found myself yelling (in my mind), "Don't go in the building! It's dark in there!"

The book was complete with love and adventure and lots of guns and explosions! I recommend it to anyone with some time on their hands this summer.

LEGO Rubik's Cube Solving Robot

2010-07-12T13:57:00.001-06:00

Blog Facelift

2010-07-09T18:38:00.003-06:00

You may have noticed that I've changed the template for this blog. I had a pretty great template before, but because it was from an external website and was written substantially in javascript, I had very little control over it. Several components were broken and I didn't have the ability to fix them.

The reason I originally went to that system was because the Blogger templates I had been using didn't allow enough customization even though everything worked seamlessly. Well Blogger has released a new custom template system which gives me the level of customization I want while making sure everything functions correctly.

Of course, it could just be artistic boredom and these are excuses.

Some People Are Soooo Dumb: Part 1

2010-06-28T20:33:00.000-06:00

US National Debt

2010-06-24T18:54:00.018-06:00

The total U.S. national debt for June 23, 2010 was: $13,041,849,923,645.94.
(That's thirteen trillion, forty-one billion, eight hundred and forty-nine million, nine hundred and twenty-three thousand, six hundred and forty-five dollars and ninety-four cents. phew!)

Click here for yesterday's national debt number!

(The total national debt is tabulated each day for the previous day.)

These numbers are taken from the public treasury website, treasurydirect.gov.

The following is a graph of the total national debt from 4 January, 1993 to 23 June, 2010. I've left out all context with the exception of the terms of Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama.

If these data bother you at all, may I suggest making a contribution to the federal government? Just click here to donate to the "Gifts to Reduce the Public Debt" account. No joke, try it! It's for reals; Last year $3,063,057.05 was donated to relieve the public debt.

Why on earth did I do this? I was looking up the value of my savings bonds and started exploring the treasury website. I saw the link for "Debt to the Penny" and couldn't resist. I also love graphs. And I love data. And I'm getting rather tired of all the huffaw about spending - in my opinion no one cares about deficit spending until it's the other party doing the spending! Take that for what it's worth.

Iceland Adventure: Day 2

2010-05-28T20:45:00.000-06:00

Oh wow, I thought I had published this about three weeks ago. That goes to show how much fun I've been having in London! Well, enjoy. I'll write more soon. This entry is for Tuesday, May 4th.

Today I woke up at 4am starving. Dawn is very early in Iceland - I don't really know when the sun rises, but I sleep next to the window in my hostel. I sleep in a room with 9 other people (10 total), mostly men. I met an American chap who happens to be LDS - pretty neat coincidence. But there's no breakfast until 7am. So I laid in bed and read the New York Times until I got up and washed my face at 6 am.

Breakfast was muesli and toast downstairs. The lobby was also a cafe where people hang out - it's pretty cool. I had no plans when I woke up, so I spoke with the attendant and he hooked me up with a Golden Circle tour starting at 8 am for 8000 isk (about $60). When the tour arrived it was just a nine passenger van with three other passengers and the tour guide - pretty cool!

First stop was Iceland's newest geothermal power plant - the Hellisheidi power plant outside of Reykjavik. This powerplant is built right on the volcanic zone centered over the mid-Atlantic ridge. It taps high-pressure steam from 2 km below the surface and generates 213 MW. Hot water separated pre-energy production is sent through pipes to Reykjavik for space heating and domestic hot water use. This means that none of the buildings have chimneys on them because they heat everything with geothermal water! 97% of the city is heated this way. Also there are almost no water heaters because hot tap water comes from low-temperature geothermal wells.

Reykjavik has so much excess geothermal energy that they've begun to heat their roads, parking lots, soccer fields, and even a golf course! Not to mention greenhouses out the wazoo and five public outdoor heated swimming pools in the city. That is SO COOL. Iceland uses 99% renewable energy for electricity production (mostly hydroelectric with the remainder geothermal). This country is awesome, too bad geothermal and hydroelectric energy aren't as readily available in the rest of the world. :(

Next stop was an extinct volcanic crater filled with beautiful blue/green water. The country is covered with treacherous lava fields that came from volcanoes like this within the last 1500 years.

We stopped by a "small" waterfall that anywhere else would be the pride and joy of the country. Here, there are so many gorgeous waterfalls that this one is practically ignored. I didn't even catch the name.
It turns out that the only Icelandic word to become entrenched in world vocabulary is 'geyser,' which is taken from the original geyser, Geysir (GAY-seer). [location] For awhile "they" thought this was the only such object of its kind in the world. It wasn't until geyers were discovered in America that they realized that half-a-dozen or so exist in the world.

Within the last fifty years earthquakes have mostly deactivated Geysir, but the nearby geyer Strokkur erupts every five minutes or so. It's really neat because you can stand quite close as it erupts.

Watch the video I took of a double eruption - way cool.

Geysir is located in a hotsprings area with a bunch of adjacent hot pools and boiling pots. Enjoy the pictures - the fluorescent blue one actually took my breath away! The one with the cave was tricky to take a picture of because of the steam, but I mostly succeeded.

Next we visited the Gulfoss waterfall [location] - neither the largest volume nor the highest waterfall in Iceland, but probably the most famous. It has three levels facing different directions, the last gushing down into a very narrow canyon - far to narrow for a waterfall this big! That just goes to show how geologically young the country is. Iceland = waterfall heaven.

Gulfoss falls. Note the people on the edge of the cliff for scale.

Last stop on the golden circle tour was Þingvellir National Park (pronounced THING-vuh-leer NA-shun-uhl Park). It is a Unesco world heritage site and the location of the first European parliament in 930 AD. Vikings would gather here yearly to work out government things and drown witches and such (see picture at right). Þingvellir is located in the rift valley of the mid-Atlantic ridge. This rift valley is formed as the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates diverge by about 2 cm a year. Huge chasms open in the earth and fill with glacial water forming some of the most beautiful fresh-water diving destinations in the world (top 5, apparently). The edge of the North American plate can be seen behind the ancient parliament location in the picture below. You can also see a beautiful little waterfall placed by the vikings so they could have a waterfall in the vicinity of their meeting place. That's my kind of logic!

After the tour I talked to folks in the hostel for a couple of hours, then took a nap which ended up being all night. A good day.

Iceland Adventure: Day 1

2010-05-03T11:40:00.028-06:00

Today, or yesterday, I'm not quite sure which, I flew into Iceland. I slept most of the seven hour flight from Seattle to Reykjavik, Iceland, but woke up to see the sunrise over Greenland :D

Notice in the picture the interesting "triple sun" phenomenon - you can see a bright blob about 15 degrees to the left of the sun (and there's another one to the right not pictured). I've never heard of it or seen it before, any ideas about the cause? The second picture is of my location during the sunrise.

As we landed in the Keflavik airport about 20 minutes southwest of the capital, Reykjavik, I saw a cute little church just off of a black beach on the Atlantic. The terrain was incredibly flat - a perfect place for an airport! Customs took awhile - mostly because they had to re-screen all the passengers - ugh.

After retrieving my luggage I bought a round-trip bus ticket to Reykjavik for 3,500 isk (about $30 USD). Last week I scheduled a bus trip to the Blue Lagoon and I found out in the airport that during peak season (June - August) buses go directly from the airport to the Blue Lagoon only 20 minutes away and store your luggage for you! Note to self: Next time I have a layover in Iceland for a few hours, definitely hit up the Blue Lagoon. (You can rent swimsuits and towels and take a shower afterward to be back in the airport in about 2 hours!)

Once I got to Reykjavik I made my way to the Downtown Hostel (part of the HI hostel network) where I had previously made reservations. I thought they would just store my luggage, but they let me move in right away because it wasn't full the night before (the time was 9 am Iceland time - but about a million pm Nick time!). I put my valuables in a locker in the (very nice!) dorm room and the stored my luggage in their secure luggage room. I had breakfast (Muesli, toast with jams, and orange juice - mmmmm) and then caught the bus to the Blue Lagoon at 10:30 am.

So far I've noticed that Icelanders love sweaters and jackets. They pretty much wear them year-round from what I can tell. All the models pictured in store windows or airport advertisements are dressed very warmly. Public Immodesty is not a problem in Iceland!

The capital, Reykjavik, looks generally clean with very low traffic. The roads downtown are incredibly narrow - the bus drivers are very brave. Everyone seems to speak English well-enough, but they sure do love the Icelandic language. Apparently the language is such a pure remnant of the Viking language that most Icelanders can read the ancient Viking texts. They also love compound words. Looking out the window of the bookstore right now I see Islandspostur (Iceland post), Ausurstraeti (I have no idea), and vioskiptavinir (again, no idea). Long words! Sometimes it even sounds like they're speaking Russian...

11 am Iceland time, 5 am Utah time, ugh. Pushing through - time for adventures! Check out these awesome pictures of the Blue Lagoon!

You're not seeing things - the water really is blue! It's apparently caused by the perfect balance of minerals and blue-green algae - all natural of course. They've built a resort out of it, but this place has been around a lot longer than anyone ever cared enough to get to it. This has to be the most rugged terrain I've ever seen. Getting to the Blue Lagoon without roads would be a nightmare. These lava fields make talus slopes look like fairways. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to try to move any pack animals or even people across it without taking an enormous amount of time to blast out a road. The Vikings named it the "Evil Lava." It was formed about 300 years after settlement began - it must have been a huge eruption lasting months.

The Blue Lagoon is a large hot springs resort. In the pools where people swim the water is a very pale green but where it's undisturbed it's a milky blue that's out of this world! There are warm and warmer spots all around the extensive pool which visitors can swim in. The almost-freezing-rain at whipping through the lagoon produced copious amounts of steam rising from the hot water. Visibility in the air was only a few feet at times:
The water itself was cloudy - visibility drops off after a couple inches. The water was very salty, but not really ocean salty - it wasn't quite as traumatic in your mouth as the ocean. Floating was easy because of the extra buoyancy provided by the high salinity. The water over time has deposited thick layers of white minerals over the lava rocks making the pool bottom smooth and white.
The whole experience was eerily quiet. There were a few dozen other visitors exploring the pools of different temperatures and covering themselves with the white "therapeutic" sand. The pools were surrounded by dramatic lava rocks completely covered in moss and lichen.

Despite the perfect combination of driving rain and gloriously warm water - I was definitely overheated when I finally got out about 90 minutes later. In Japan, where they've perfected the public bath, I would then get in very cold bath for a few minutes to bring my body temperature back down before I shower. Somehow standing in the cold wind isn't the same - it stings all the time instead of just the beginning! So in this respect, Europeans have a lot to learn. I couldn't even get the shower to give cold water.

So after dressing (which isn't fun when you're really hot) I started looking for a water fountain. Oh yeah, I'm in Europe. They don't believe in drinking fountains here! (Or so I've heard.) So I had to settle with buying a soda for 200 isk. But wait, Europeans don't believe in ice either! Nooooo! So here I was standing in the driving Icelandic rain drinking a warm soda trying desperately to cool down. Iceland: Plus 10 points for the beautiful warm water, minus 1 for no ice! So much for the name.

Urban Dictionary: Dinosaur Kiss

2010-04-22T02:56:00.004-06:00

I'm the proud author of an Urban Dictionary entry! When I learned that the definition of "dinosaur kiss" on urbandictionary.com was horrible, I submitted my own and here it is in all its glory:

Dinosaur Kiss

To lick another person's face from the tip of the nose to the hairline. A particularly good way to end a first date.

Brad: Oh man, dude, Melanie totally gave me a dinosaur kiss after our date last night. Score!

Why are all the bathrooms closed?

2010-04-20T00:28:00.010-06:00

A collection of poems

By Nickolas Pickolas

The bathrooms are closed
They clean them all at once
I have to go now

It's late and I'm needing the bathroom
I'd wait, but then there'd be no room
Cuz the cans are all closed
and so, I am hosed!
The next thing I'll do is go boom!

It was late
At night.
My bladder was pleading.
So I searched
Everywhere I found yellow
Yellow signs
They all said "bathroom closed"
"At the same time?"
Asked I.
And my bladder answered
"Yes."

Amen.

LabVIEW Matching Game

2010-04-10T16:50:00.007-06:00

This is my first distributed LabVIEW program. Matching Game is exactly as it sounds - a simple game of matching pictures.
It draws from a pool of 100 small pictures, chooses 10 and randomizes them. As you play the game it records how many turns it takes you to win and prompts you for your name to record in a high scores list.

It's very simple for now, but I'll add more things to it as I go, such as:

Color/B&W option (B&W images are slightly more difficult to match)
Grid size choices - right now it's limited to 4x5.

It requires a working version of National Instruments' LabVIEW 2009 to run. I'll probably downgrade it to also run on LabVIEW 8.0 and I have the option of exporting a stand-alone executable that anyone could play (but that file size would be >200 Mbs, compared with <1 Mb).

If you have the right software, give it a try and let me know what you think! I thought writing it was fun. You can download it from my website: http://nherrick.com/files/Labview.html

iPad: Will it Blend?

2010-04-05T21:18:00.007-06:00

If you haven't seen this video series before, here's the latest and most entertaining, Will it Blend? The iPad:

Response to Daily Universe Opinion: "Unrighteous Hordes"

2010-03-21T22:29:00.005-06:00

In a letter last week to the editor of the Daily Universe (BYU's Student Newspaper) a student wrote the following:

Letter: Unrighteous Hordes
Wed 03/17/2010

Sadly, I was unable to attend this Tuesday’s devotional (for very personal reasons). I am a regular attendee of Tuesday devotionals and forums and was horrified to discover I am part of a startlingly small minority of students that actually attend, even though a healthy majority patently should. When I had to miss last Tuesday’s devotional, I happened to be passing through the library where I observed literally hordes of students busily placing academic duties above religious ones. What’s worse, I observed many students simply napping, playing games or checking Facebook. To place school over spirituality is bad enough, but to bypass a weekly walk down the straight and narrow for an idle stroll though Babylon is an abhorrent waste of the tithing dollars used to subsidize the tuition of transgressors. A call to action is in order.

To devotional goers: Be aware! As a proportion of the studentbody, there are less of us than you probably assume. Encourage those around you to stand a little taller. We are our brother’s keepers.

To devotional sluffers: Be advised! Tuesday morning complacency is a recipe for disaster.

To the administration: Be aggressive! Stand up to this deplorable development by proactively taking measures to stem its source. Close the library for the devotional hour, or at least power down all the computers.

We can be better, BYU. And we would already know that if we were all in the Marriott Center every Tuesday.
Brett Myers
Orland, Calif.

I loved it! So much so that I sent in a response. Here it is, I will post a link to the published letter if and when it gets published.

Letter: Mind Your Own Business

In response to “Unrighteous Hordes”: It is fitting that you should throw the first stone, seeing as you are a “regular attendee of Tuesday devotionals.” Pray tell, what were the “very personal” reasons you referenced in your letter? If I am to be your keeper, as you propose, then I will decide if your absenteeism was warranted or not.

Nevertheless, as one of the healthy majority of subsidized transgressors, I’m grateful for saints like yourself who descend from the realms of perfection to pass through the library of sin and affliction.

It’s people like you, who faithfully warn of the woes of devotional delinquency, that keep people like me on the straight and narrow. May we always revere those who make our business theirs for the sake of righteousness.

Ahem. Excuse me. I couldn’t quite tell if your letter was sarcastic. Is mine a little more clear?

From the words of an early Mormon creed, “Mind your own business.”

Nicholas Herrick
Linville, Virginia

Impress Your Date, Provo Style

2010-03-20T17:05:00.005-06:00

I laughed so hard when I saw this, I just had to memorialize it here. Welcome to Provo.

see more Epic Fails

Weird Physics Units

2010-03-15T22:19:00.010-06:00

First prize in Nick's Weird Physics Units contest goes to:

fb⁻¹

The Inverse Femtobarn!

The "inverse femtobarn" (fb⁻¹) is a measurement of particle collision events per femtobarn. Inverse femtobarns are often quoted as an indication of particle collider effectiveness.

It took Fermilab over a decade to achieve 1 fb⁻¹.

A close second was the shed, which is equal to 10⁻²⁴ barns or 3.86 x 10⁻⁵⁸ square miles.
Third place goes to the einstein, which is a mole of photons (6.022 x 10²³ photons) .
Honorable mentions go to the henry, zeptoweber, and of course, snap, crackle, and pop.

The Nature of Energy and Spirit

2010-02-18T00:23:00.020-07:00

I participate in a question and answer service online called Yedda in which people ask questions and others answer them. Pretty straightforward. Today I got an interesting question:

Energy
What is the nature of energy? How does it differ from spirit?

And here is my response:

Energy and Spirit from a Scientific Perspective

Energy in physics is a broad term that can mean a number of different quantities. Among many possible examples: Kinetic energy is the energy of a moving body, potential energy is energy yet to be released (such as gravitational potential - a rock at the top of a mountain if pushed will show a lot of energy as it rolls down the mountain), and light has energy proportional to its frequency.

Perhaps the broadest approach to the nature of energy was Einstein's, who's equations show us that matter and energy are essentially the same substance and can be converted back and forth. This is the meaning of the equation E=mc^2, where E is energy, m mass, and c^2 is the speed of light squared. This equation shows that even a small amount of mass when multiplied by the extremely large c^2 term will yield a lot of energy. This is the process by which nuclear fusion and fission produce energy - a small amount of mass "disappears" and turns into energy. This energy takes the form of heat mostly.

Spirit is not a measured or observed quantity, so therefore science has nothing to say about it. This doesn't mean it doesn't exist, it just means that it is not in the realm of science at this time. There are many things that exist in the world that science can't quantify, such as the beauty of music or love. These things are real, but are very difficult or impossible to measure with a scientific instrument. Don't fall into the trap that just because science can't explain or understand something that that means it doesn't exist.

Energy and Spirit from a (Narrow) Religious Perspective
I am not an expert on world religions, so all I can say is what I believe and hope that people of other faiths will answer this question after me. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – but people often refer to us as Mormons.

I believe that matter, energy, light, spirit, and truth are the same substance – just in different forms. A few quotations from some of the scriptures of my faith will show my point – even if they offer no explanation on the subject:

Doctrine and Covenants 131:7

All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes;

Doctrine and Covenants 84:45

Whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Doctrine and Covenants 93:33

The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy;

You should read the surrounding verses of those I have cited so that you can understand the little context there is for these somewhat out-of-the-blue statements.

I'll readily admit that I don't understand this as well as I do the science side of it, but nevertheless it is there in my belief system and I gladly accept it. I like to keep in mind that my understanding of both science and religion is always growing, so I am content to temporarily have incomplete understanding of some of these fringe topics of my faith. Nevertheless I look forward to the day when I can learn the true nature of the universe – and therefore energy and spirit – without the lens of my limited understanding, whether that understanding is religious or scientific.

Perhaps a Buddhist with knowledge of this subject can offer an explanation? I seem to remember there's more of this type of discussion in that faith.

High-speed Pursuit

2010-02-13T01:49:00.006-07:00

I can't remember the last time I had this much fun. You definitely want to read this.

Tonight as I was leaving a friend's house just before 1:30 am I was walking across a street and a maroon minivan slowed down and a water balloon came flying my way. I calmly watched as the as-yet unknown object spattered about five feet away from me and then looked both ways to cross the street.

I thought I was being pretty cool by not reacting at all. But as I walked the block or so to my car I got an even awesomer idea. Mwahahahahaha...

I hopped in my little red zoom zoom car (stick shift) and went looking for them. Luckily, they were easy to spot because they pulled a U-y down the road as they trolled for more unsuspecting pedestrians. They took a left in front of me and pulled over to the side of the road - to reload maybe or come up with some not-lame plans. I turned and pulled right up behind them - even sticking out in the intersection a bit. I kept my lights on right in their mirrors but lowered the sun visor to hide my face.

Then I sat there. Mwahahahaha.

They didn't know who I was nor did they have any idea that they had thrown a water balloon at me, but I bet they got nervous real quick. They pulled out into the road and I followed, made a left turn, I followed, and then a right, and I still followed. They then pulled over again. To be safe from errant water balloons, I pulled over a few parked cars behind them and, keeping my lights on, waited again.

This time they sat longer, obviously trying desperately to convince themselves that this was all a strange coincidence. As the possibilities narrowed in their simple little minds I imagine they became more and more panicked.

Suddenly they pulled back into the road and took off like a bat out of hell. Panicking, of course, which is what teenagers do best.

This was the fun part - I'm in my little red zoom zoom stick shift car (which is way fun to drive) and they're a bunch of high school chumps driving mom's maroon minivan.

Let the evil laughing begin! Mwahahahahaha.

We tore through the dark residential streets of south Provo. Many of the intersections in this part of town have yield signs instead of stop signs. This allowed our high-speed chase to be extra exciting! Finally after a series of screeching turns they got far enough in front of me that I lost sight for a moment. When I rounded the corner where I had lost sight of them I didn't see them anywhere - they had vanished.

But I knew they weren't far enough in front of me to get around the next corner without at least catching their tail lights. So I pulled my car over on the side of the road and turned it off.

I sat in my car laughing for about 5 minutes when a high school kid with scrubby hair walked out of a parking lot immediately behind me. I watched him through my rear-view mirror as he passed behind my car and across the street pretending to be just a dude walking home. I almost believed him - until I caught a tiny glance over his shoulder - then he pulled out his cell phone.

Mwahahahaha!

As he nonchalantly walked away and talked on his cell phone he clearly become confident that I hadn't noticed him and that he was getting out of sight in the darkness. I then caught three direct glances as he relayed the information to his friends parked in the dark parking lot behind me.

I turned my car on and drove away.

As soon as I was out of sight I gunned it - burning rubber to come around the block and catch their getaway. Just as I rounded the corner, I saw the same maroon minivan trucking it the opposite direction from where I had left.

Perfect! Mwahahahahaha!

They drove past me not realizing I had them and the pursuit started anew as they crapped their pants in fear.

If you've ever driven a stick shift, you'll know how much fun it is to go fast. Especially when said vehicle is small with moderately good suspension. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun!

This high-speed pursuit lasted longer and was much faster, taking us into neighborhoods that I didn't know as well. Eventually we came around to the main road that it all began on and they really took off. The speed limit was 45 mph and they were going about 70. Not willing to go much faster than 60 mph (law abiding citizen, right?) they gained a lot of ground - weaving in between cars to get ahead. Their winning maneuver, however, was to catch a perfect yellow light, leaving me stuck behind unsuspecting civilians at the intersection.

As I sat at the red light watching them disappear around the corner I flashed my lights at them to signal a game well played.

Ah, stupid high schoolers. You're so fun and predictable.

Although I do hope they wore their brown pants today, for their sakes.

Ender in Exile

2010-02-11T21:28:00.004-07:00

Last night I finished reading Ender in Exile, a new book by Orson Scott Card in the Ender's Game series. Ender in Exile takes place between the end of Ender's Game and the beginning of Speaker for the Dead and draws heavily on the content of the shadow series of books.

I quite enjoyed the read, mostly because it was good to get back in Ender's head and watch him run mental circles around bad people! There's something very gratifying about seeing a good character who's much smarter than everyone else going to town on bad guys.

The book fills in a lot of holes, and not just temporal ones. It explains how Ender lives so long through the rest of the series (because normal relativistic travel couldn't account for the time), why Valentine joins him for the rest of his life, and why he never returns to Earth.

My favorite parts, of course, were the descriptions of the ships and how they work. Definitely a sci-fi nerd! But of course all the mental circles were fun too - seeing Ender tricking people. etc.

Overall, if you are a fan of Ender's Game then I imagine you'll enjoy Ender in Exile, even if you didn't enjoy Speaker for the Dead.

What Does Nick Do When He Has Time on His Hands?

2010-02-09T02:35:00.019-07:00

Prepare for rambling!

This is a pretty easy semester for me - I'm taking nine research credits! (Plus a few other little classes.) So I've had a lot of extra time on my hands - you know, I come home at 5 or 6 pm like a regular person. I'm reading three books right now:

Ender in Exile, by Orson Scott Card
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson

Ender in Exile is all kinds of cool. It is the direct sequel to Ender's Game that ties it into Speaker for the Dead. So far I'm enjoying it muchly.
Hitchhiker's Guide is gigglishly enjoyable. What else is there to say?
Treasure Island is an oh-so-typical pirate tale. Actually, I imagine the definition of pirate tales came from Treasure Island! How neat.

I've also been playing a few computer games (discovered Mass Effect. AWESOME. The physics is rocking my world.), organizing my life, and playing with electronics.

Yup, you heard me. Yours truly has a new hobby - electronics. Now I don't mean using electronics like everyone does, I mean building them. Sooo much cooler.

Right now I'm finishing up my first project - a high-voltage plasma Jacob's Ladder. It's all kinds of neat. A 20,000 volt plasma arc forms between two steel rods and travels upward on air currents expanding and getting louder and brighter until it dissipates (see example picture). Then it does it again and again. So cool! I'll surely post pictures/movies of mine when I get it done, which should be this week.

After this project I plan to build a high-energy pulser device that stores ~3000 Joules and discharges almost instantly. This can be used for all kinds of neat stuff like electromagnetic mass accelerators, aluminum can crushers, and killing rodents (not really, but I bet I could...). The problem is that the capacitors for the pulser cost around $600. :( So I'll be saving my pennies and trying to find deals on ebay. Then you can come over to my house and I'll crush your cans with my super magnet. Whoa.

Psychoactive Spiders

2010-01-06T17:04:00.001-07:00

My Dad forwarded this to me which came to him though colleagues in the James Madison University Biology Department. It made me giggle.

LHC Rap

2010-01-01T22:31:00.005-07:00

Warning: May contain physics not suitable for liberal arts majors.

Viewer discretion is advised.

Movie Review: Avatar

2009-12-30T22:30:00.006-07:00

This is the first movie I've ever seen in which my only remarks immediately following were, "Holy Crap!"

It was that good.

In my eyes there are 3 kinds of movies:

Movies that suck.
Movies that rock.
Movies that I haven't decided on.

The method of decision is simple: If the day after seeing the movie I think about it in the shower, than it rocked. If I forget that I ever saw it, then it sucked. The 3rd category isn't ever too populated. There are exceptions, though - sometimes I reach a conclusion instantly. Avatar was an exception.

Avatar combines incredible, illustrious eye candy with a great sci-fi premise, a fantastically detailed and beautiful universe, excellent biology, physics, and anthropology, and, of course, bad guys getting what they deserve. True, it's quite predictable - but predictable in a gloriously gratifying way!

The mythological epicness of Avatar is akin to those of Tolkien or Lucas, while the stunning visuals can only be compared to the effects of the original Wizard of Oz on people watching it for the first time. The actions of the characters are heroic, the situation dire and utterly dichotic, and the colors - wow the colors - were magical and wonderful and beautiful and terrifying all at the same time!

Perhaps the highest accolade I can give the movie is that I actually gasped several times while watching it! A few of my gasps were in response to the incredible scenery but the best of all was in response to an incredible plot development. To avoid spoilers here, I'll just state that this plot development (I should have seen it coming) was utterly perfect. The magic was in the symbolism it carried with the fictitious natives. Their reaction was beautifully displayed, a true masterpiece of anthropological fantasy.

If you haven't seen Avatar, then do it! See it in 3-D if you can - it's worth the extra cost. And best of all, try to see it knowing as little as possible beforehand - it's best that way.
(Notice the lack of spoilers? You're welcome.)

How to Get...

2009-12-11T18:11:00.004-07:00

I'm going to Europe this spring, but that has very little to do with this post. What is does have to do with this post is:

Today I googled "How to get cheap European plane tickets." But as I was typing "How to get" the menu popped up listing common search phrases beginning with "How to get." For your amusement, I took a screenshot and have supplied it here. Enjoy.

Wish List - Ugly Sweater - Zombies Attack

2009-11-27T16:51:00.008-07:00

In the spirit of black Friday, and especially of Christmas (sarcasm), I'm going to make the lives of my most frequent gift-givers slightly easier by posting an especially random holiday wish list.

It is my hope that they will do likewise, thereby making my gift-buying easy and saving them the embarrassment of having to wear this sweater come Christmas time.The List:
An electric drill
Misc. tools
Anything from this website.
T-shirt-A Day Without Fusion
Book of Secrets
Electronic Gadgets for the Evil Genius
How to Survive a Robot Uprising
Pocket Reference
Sneakiest Uses for Everyday Things
The Zombie Survival Guide
Visual Guide to Lock Picking

Utah Fireball

2009-11-18T20:43:00.008-07:00

Last night at approximately 12:20-12:30 a.m. a huge fireball exploded over the state of Utah. The flash was so bright that for a moment it appeared as bright as day! Astronomers say the meteor was about the size of a washing machine and exploded with the equivalent of a thousand tons of TNT!

I saw the white flash through my blinds as I was on the computer. I looked over and thought to myself, "Hmm, that's kind of odd. Usually car headlights aren't that bright."

The following picture was taken at the height of the explosion - in the middle of the night!

Photo courtesy KSL.com

Check out the local news station's report to see some incredible videos, including the video the above frame was taken from:
Meteor the size of oven lights up the night sky, alarms Utahns

Coincidentally the annual Leonids meteor shower hit its peak yesterday, although spaceweather.com claims that this fireball had nothing to do with the shower.

Random^2

2009-11-06T01:46:00.000-07:00

Random^2

Canadian Healthcare

2009-11-05T23:23:00.003-07:00

My 101st post!

Thanks for the referral dad.

Adventure Peeing

2009-11-03T23:20:00.006-07:00

A discussion that comes up sometimes in male social circles is the notion of adventurous places one has urinated. Off a cliff, straddling the continental divide, on an exotic bush - you get the picture. These stories form something of a male birth right - to be a real man you have to have peed in (or on) some wicked cool places.

Well finally there is a way for the gentler (and less crude) gender to experience the thrill of adventure urination!

This is a picture of the new single-arch bridge being constructed at the Hoover dam, on the border of Nevada and Arizona. You can see the construction workers joining the last bit of the arch, after which the suspension cables will be removed allowing the arch to carry the full load of the future roadway.

Now look closely, what do you see? Four magnificent, glistening porta-potties!

People of the female persuasion, welcome to the world of adventure peeing.

BYU Daily Universe Covers Salt Lake Astronomy Events

2009-10-21T12:22:00.005-06:00

I was asked by the faculty advisors for the BYU Astronomical Society to write a response to a recent BYU Daily Universe article on stargazing in Salt Lake City. We found it odd that a reporter would travel all the way up to Salt Lake to talk about all of the University of Utah associated Salt Lake Astronomical Society events that BYU students should participate in - when we have a perfectly awesome Astronomical Society of our own!

The following link will download a pdf of the Oct 19 edition of the Daily Universe, with the article of interest on the 4th page, entitled, "People gaze at heavens at star party," by Monica Redd.

Daily Universe, Oct 19, 2009

And here's my response, hopefully soon to be published:

Dear Editor,

I'd like to congratulate the Daily Universe on an informative and interesting article about a stargazing event held two weekends ago in Salt Lake City. Observing the heavens with quality telescopes and knowledgeable guides can be a thrilling experience.

An apt subject for next week's paper could be a week-old report on the BYU Astronomical Society's star party, held this past Friday night. You could speak about the number of quality telescopes the public looked through, the excellent local skies, or the subtle grandeur of the Veil Nebula showing the remains of an ancient stellar explosion. Better yet, you could inform readers of weekly star gazing opportunities on the roof of the Eyring Science Center, monthly star parties held just up the canyon near Vivian Park, or of the fantastic weekly planetarium shows presented right here on BYU campus.

While BYU Astronomical Society events can't boast "star dances," "star songs," or "the most powerful optical telescope in the Intermountain West," we can boast a great local dark sky location, frigid year-round star parties (when the stars are the best and a warm companion is a must!), and, of course, an undying loyalty to the Cougars and to the ways of righteousness and happiness (unlike our "star teacher" friends up at the U).

So next time instead of traveling an hour to learn about the universe from the red devils of the north and their friends try stopping by your local planetarium and save yourself some gas.

(And, for the record, BYU has the largest optical telescope in the state – it’s just not open to the public.)

Nicholas Herrick
President - BYU Astronomical Society

A Very Sad Post

2009-09-13T19:21:00.006-06:00

For my 98th post, I'm going to write something very sad.

Remember that one time I talked about what I did over the summer? (here) Well it was all kinds of fun - I made great friends, learned lots of physics, and escaped Provo for a few months.

The biggest reason I enjoyed my summer so much was actually because of the people I met, specifically, three people: Tori, Jing, and Ethan - three graduate students who I grew to quite like.

Ethan was my mentor for the summer, helping me with the circuit I built and frequently providing ample entertainment. Jing and Tori worked on the experiment on the other side of room - something about molecules and really clean surfaces... All I know is the poor souls had to take their vacuum system down to 10^-10 Torr, ugh. But while they were waiting for their system to pump down (it usually took 3-4 days) they'd come over to the other side of the lab and talk to us and we'd laugh a lot.

I posted a picture of the entire KM research group - all 24 of us - including my three good friends. Here it is again, with some helpful labels:
Here's the sad part.

Last Sunday I received an unexpected e-mail from Dr. Murnane telling me that Ethan and Jing had been killed in a rock slide while hiking in China.

I didn't have much to say about it until today.

Having only known these two for three months, I can't claim to have been especially close. But having known them well enough, I knew that I liked them. I could see that were I to return to pursue a graduate degree that these people would become very good friends.

Tori is in Colorado and didn't go to China. I've talked to her on the phone a couple times since the accident. I imagine the rest of the research group is taking their deaths pretty hard.

Ethan and Jing were pursuing Ph.D.s in physics and were extremely intelligent - the kind of intelligence you don't find every day. There was incredible potential there, so much education and skill, so much goodness and genuine niceness - lost in one rock slide.

Perhaps the reason I liked Ethan and Jing so much was because they were so kind. Ethan actually shocked me with his kindness - he was so genuine and sincere - I haven't met many people like that. Jing was always happy, always smiling, even when her experiment wasn't cooperating.

In the week since I learned of their deaths I've spent an abnormal amount of time in my research lab here at BYU. I've really gotten into a LabVIEW program I'm working on for my experiment and countless times thought to myself, "Dang, Ethan would have known how to do this."

So that's my sad story - mostly rambling, but that's what this blog is for. For the rest of my life whenever I'm fighting with a vacuum system or bemoaning a miscreant LabVIEW program, I'll think of the two unusually kind graduate students I once knew who could have solved the problem much faster than I.

Here's to your next adventure my friends, I'm sorry it started so soon.

What I've Been Up To This Summer

2009-08-20T15:13:00.016-06:00

I haven't posted anything on what I was up to all summer. Ya'll probably thought I just fell off the face of the earth or something! Nope, here's what I've been doing.

At the end of May I drove my little car from Utah here, to Boulder Colorado and the campus of the University of Colorado. I attended a physics conference for a few days up in Fort Collins and stayed in a hotel here in Boulder. Eventually I moved into a nice little apartment/dorm on campus a five minute walk from the lab.

I went to work for the Kapteyn-Murnane Attosecond Science and Extreme Nonlinear Optics Research Group at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrohphysics (JILA), located on the campus of the University of Colorado. This group is huge consisting of Henry Kapteyn and Margaret Murnane (who are married) as principle investigators and an army of 15 graduate students, 5 post-docs, 4 labs taking up half of a floor, and 8 different sub-research groups.

I worked on an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) microscopy experiment attempting to image tiny samples with 13 nm coherent light. To be honest though, most of the summer was spent either 1)Fiddling with the laser, 2)Fiddling with the x-ray generation setup (high harmonic generation in a waveguide), or 3)Working on a laser safety interlock circuit to protect the delicate CCD camera.

And here's a picture of the laser safety circuit I built at the expense of many fried ICs and brain cells.

The picture above is the prototype, the picture below is one of the 2nd generation circuits being debugged. The metal casings have 3 in-board LEDs, 2 switches, 1 potentiometer, and 5 power/signal hookups of various types.

It was designed to prevent human error from destroying the sensitive x-ray CCD at the end of the laser path. The laser used is so bright, and the CCD so sensitive, that it would be irreparably damaged in a few milliseconds (or less). This circuit should prevent that from happening because of a careless user leaving a filter or valve open at the wrong time.

So that's what I was up to all summer, I had a great time. I really like the people I worked with in the KM Lab, and I especially liked JILA, the campus of UC Boulder, and Boulder itself. I'd love to go to graduate school there!

A Funny Story About My Poor Car

2009-08-20T14:14:00.008-06:00

So, the other day a fence fell on my car. Yeah, it hurt.

As you can see it's one of those big heavy wooden fences. Perhaps too heavy for wind to knock over... Anyways, I have insurance, so they're gonna help me out, except for that pesky $500 deductible. The damage was actually pretty bad, as you can see in the next picture:

The side-view mirror is toast, and there's a gigantic dent in the door - that's the pricey part. The initial estimate was $890.33, but then I got a call saying things were worse than they thought and it'll cost (them) more to fix it. So I'll pick my car up tomorrow morning and pay Geico $500 (Geico by the way has been great through all this), and then I'll try to go after the place I'm staying at to get my money back.

Here's the funny part. Later that night after seeing a movie with some friends, I was driving home and saw a drunk guy crossing the street in front of me at a stop light. The guy was clearly soused out of his mind and was probably going to fall in the river or get hit by a car or something, so I offered him a ride.

Once he got in my car and I finally got him to put his seat belt on, he instructed me that he was going to throw up, so I put down the window and told him to aim outside. After driving around following his mostly incoherent directions, I finally stopped where I thought he might live, he opened the door of my car and fell out onto the grass and threw up there for awhile.

I decided to stick around to make sure he didn't die there on the grass or something. When he was done he got back into my car and showed me that he had barf all over his hands. I told him to not touch anything and then he told me he didn't live there.

So we drove around for a bit more until we were (apparently) close enough and I dropped him off and he stumbled away among the bushes, presumably to where he lived.

So the funny part about all this is a couple days later I took my car to the insurance agent to get my damaged door evaluated. As I took the agent to check out my car I noticed a whole boatload of bird poop on the passenger door. Slightly puzzled, I ignored it while I talked to the agent, and then all of a sudden I realized it - that drunk guy had barfed all over my fence-mangled door! Kinda added insult to injury.

So I just pretended I didn't see it and let the mechanics deal with it. =D

Review: District-9

2009-08-16T04:12:00.008-06:00

My standard rule after seeing a movie for the first time is to wait until the next day to pass judgement on it. But lately I've been making more and more exceptions to this.

I say lately, but as I sat in the theater today (technically yesterday...) I realized that I hadn't been to a movie theater since Christmas! So I suppose my exceptions aren't too infrequent:

District 9

By: Who cares who else was involved, it was by Peter Jackson.

The Short:

Sci-fi flick about aliens that end up as refugees on earth. Surprise surprise, we don't treat them that well.

Add a whole lot of action, interesting raids on the alien slums, a boat load of gore, and more f-bombs than you could possibly count (although if someone counts them I'll be impressed) and you get a great movie that could be excellent were it not for the excessive language and unnecessary gore.

The Long:

That last bit there is the kicker - why couldn't this movie have been PG-13? Not much of the gore was actually necessary - heads blowing up, arms being ripped from bodies and consumed, etc etc.

The movie could have had just as many wicked cool guns and just as many deaths without blood constantly being splattered all over the universe.

And then there's the f-bombs, holy cow! You really can't believe how many times they drop the freak fest. Now, I'll give you that a lot of the time the favorite f-word was spoken in a British accent, so was really quite funny! But why so much?! It really was overboard there Jackson - way overboard.

The premise of the story is incredible - simply stupendous. It'll have me thinking for days. Even better, there's going to be a sequel to tie everything up and hopefully see the aliens get some sweet revenge.

Conclusion:

If you want to see a movie with an engaging story-line, interesting parallels to racism, and possibly the most thought-provoking opening premise of any recent movie, I recommend District 9. Of course, this comes with the HUGE caveat that you have to endure endless f-bombs and blood constantly splattering all over the place. Very silly sacrifice if you ask me...

World's Largest Vacuum Chamber

2009-08-01T15:56:00.004-06:00

This is the world's largest vacuum chamber - a gigantic 122 foot high aluminum cage designed to simulate the airless environment of space.

NASA uses it to test spaceship prototypes and create giant marshmallows. (One of those statements is a lie.) In addition to vacuum, it can heat or cool the environment from -260 to 175 degrees Fahrenheit (111 to 353 Kelvin).

I wouldn't want to have to replace the o-ring on that sucker!

Rafting the Poudre River

2009-07-12T21:42:00.010-06:00

On Friday I went whitewater rafting down the Poudre River in Northern Colorado with Wanderlust Adventures. Having always wanted to be thrown out of the boat, my dreams came true. Luckily enough a photographer was on the bank to capture the entire event.

I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I do :D

(Click on any of the images for a larger version. Some of them are especially entertaining up close.)

New Favorite Show: America's Got Talent

2009-07-02T22:50:00.005-06:00

Yesterday I discovered a great show, America's Got Talent.

Why do I like this show so much? Because one moment I'm giggling myself silly, the next wanting to crawl into a hole, and the next feeling all warm and fuzzy. It's great TV! And great entertainment.

Here are three clips showing the three emotions of the show in case you've never seen it:

Giggling like crazy:

Oh my:

Warm and Fuzzy:

Virtuality: An Unexpectedly Awesome Show

2009-06-27T22:51:00.008-06:00

Holy crap!

Lately I've been watching some John Stewart and a few movies on hulu.com and today saw an advertisement for a movie I had never heard of called Virtuality. It looked interesting and since I didn't have anything to do tonight [ : ( ] I watched it. Having never heard of it, I wasn't expecting anything at all.

Virtuality is a space-type movie about 12 people in the not-too-distant future on a mission to another star system. The mission is supposed to take 10 years. So basically stick 12 people in a metal can for 10 years and see what happens. Oh, and mix in some neat sci-fi techno scenes for kicks.

The movie sure was aggressive in laying ground for character development, relationship development, and a lot of great psychological drama. I was completely hooked after the first few minutes!

45 minutes or so into the 1.5 hour feature I started wondering how they planned on wrapping all of the plot up in the next 45 minutes. To me, it seemed things were moving awfully slow in order to end things nicely...

To my amazement the movie ended on a complete and utter cliff-hanger. Seriously, there could not possibly be a worse cliff-hanger in all of movie history.

What the crap??!

This is easily the worst ending ever, of anything, forever.

In my anger I googled the movie and pulled up the wikipedia entry:

Virtuality is the title of a series pilot written by Ronald D. Moore and produced by the FOX Network.^[1] Moore co-wrote the script with Michael Taylor. The two-hour pilot episode, directed by Peter Berg, aired as a movie, June 26, 2009

In an instant this became the most excellently awesome TV series ever. You really must watch the pilot (which I thought was a stand-alone movie.)

I sure hope this goes viral so that fox won't cancel it after one season like they did to firefly. (A sin the world may never forgive them for.... except now it's different.)

Watch the Virtuality pilot episode for a short time at hulu.com.
(No, I'm not getting paid to advertise for them. I wish!)

A More Godly View of Creation

2009-06-21T18:59:00.009-06:00

I have long held that only an Omnipotent Being could be the master of evolution and the physical properties of the universe.

The fact that evolution works and that all the sciences harmonize so beautifully to allow intelligent life to exist is one of the biggest evidences for a God, not against. (This concept is known as The Anthropic Principle)

My faith is strengthened by science - in fact, I can't imagine science affecting me in any other way.

The article I've linked below introduced me to another way of thinking about creation. God is more similar to a gardener than a magician. Is it no wonder that Jesus taught using farming metaphors so frequently? It is by patience, effort, and miracles that God affects the world, so wouldn't his creation mimic this pattern?

Perhaps under this premise, "evolution" is a more Godly view of earth's origin than "creationism?" (Where "evolution" and "creationism" correspond to the trenches of the ridiculous debate that continues in some parts of the religious and secular community.)

I thought this article was enlightening and worth reading. I hope you'll agree.

Cheap Creation and Magic Tomatoes
bycommonconsent.com

Excerpt:

"...How can we value this Earth if we believe that it was an act of a wanded magician rather than a gardener? Is it any wonder that those who hold to a cheap creation also seem to be the first to ignore the peril of our planet? Who argue that we can ignore the global ecological crisis and be assured God can reproduce another planet like our Earth like a rabbit out of a hat?..."

An Unexpected Advertisement 2

2009-06-21T18:21:00.012-06:00

As I was reading through some articles on the interwebs today, I ran across the following advertisement intriguingly placed on a computer how-to website.

"Self," I thought, "that font looks familiar." So I clicked on it.

No way! The LDS Church (of which I am a proud member.... but not that kind of pride, sheesh) was advertising on this computer website! I couldn't help myself, so I clicked to watch the movie, "Finding Happiness" that they were advertising.

It is a lovely little movie. I was thinking the whole time I was watching it how I might receive it if I was just a random guy reading a computer article and clicked on the nice Asian lady's face out of curiosity. I really think that it approaches those with little or no belief in God a very aptly, very logically but honest manner. Here's an example:

"Something in our heart tells us there is more to life, that real happiness and peace could be ours regardless of our circumstances, if only we knew where and how to find it."

So, I share this for a few reasons:

I was highly amused that the Church was advertising on a computer website, and this blog is for all the various things that amuse me.
I liked the movie quite a lot and this blog is for things that I like.
I'm always trying to help people better understand and not fear or suspect the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I hope you'll enjoy the movie as much as I did:

Finding Happiness

Iran: Seeing Our Heritage in Their Struggle

2009-06-20T03:52:00.009-06:00

In the past week Iran has been a very exciting place. This rigged election fiasco has the potential to drastically change Iran's government, but has already improved Iran's image in the eyes of the American people.

Despite having never had to physically defend the liberties given me here in America, I, and I'd claim most Americans, feel a strong, almost guttural need to be free - and to do whatever is necessary to preserve that freedom. Maybe it's the American education system, or maybe it's because our ancestors were that way. But it really is, from my perspective, a very integral part of each generation of Americans.

But, Americans are often accused of being a self-centered country. We only watch American TV, listen to American music, and care about American news. I agree. But the reaction among Americans to the Iranian protests this week has been very different - we're glued to our TVs watching the events unfold with incredible reverence. In a way, we imagine ourselves watching our ancestors fighting for freedom back in the 18th century. Truthfully, we're somewhat puzzled by the extreme differences between our cultures and we can't just forget the hateful and ignorant rhetoric coming from the Iranian government. But amazingly, Americans are finding that we understand, sympathize, and even relate to Iranians more now than ever before. We don't speak the same language, have the same religion, or eat the same foods - but when we're lied to and manipulated by the government so clearly, just as they have been - we freak out and demand change just as they are doing now.

The Iranian people are, in essence, building a camaraderie with Americans - we're anxiously watching and hoping that they'll keep protesting - that they'll keep putting their lives, reputations, and lifestyles on the line for this, a cause that is truly important - one of the few causes worth dying for.

In a strange way, this upheaval of the Iranian government may lead to a less-extreme and more world-friendly Iran. To say it bluntly, this could be the best way to prevent the United States from eventually going to war with the almost-nuclear-armed Iran.

From one pseudo-pacifistic American to the world: I do not want war with Iran. I want Americans to like Iranians and Iranians to like Americans. I want our governments to tolerate each other and interact peaceably. When our nations throw insults at each other and when they refuse to talk to each other because they're enemies (which, in my opinion is the stupidest idea in the entire world), or when they beat the drums of intimidation and war I believe that we, the regular folks in the ditches, lose big time.

I can only anticipate the situation getting worse as time goes on. Already this unrest is leaving the realm of a rigged election and entering the realm of a complete government overthrow. Of course, we Americans do not want to see anything in Iran that is not in line with the will of the majority of the people.

We're not trying to overthrow the Iranian government - we're just secretly holding our breaths in the hope that the Iranians really don't hate us as much as their government says they do.

Is this the start of a truly democratic Middle Eastern State? Boy, that'd be great.

New Address?

2009-05-10T14:14:00.001-06:00

I'm soliciting the opinion of my readers - I'd like a new address for this blog. What do you think would be cooler?

blog.nherrick.com

or

www.nickolaspickolas.com

(Or maybe even blog.nickolaspickolas.com?)

P.S. I made this post from my iPhone. :D

My Own Interweb Domain

2009-05-07T02:04:00.007-06:00

I have a new personal website to keep me from feeling left out of the "I have a nifty website" clique:

www.nherrick.com

Cool name, eh? For a ripe sum of $10 I purchased the domain through Google apps (didn't need to do that, cause it just went through godaddy.com anyways and cost more) and found a cheap hosting plan through 3ix.org for $12 a year. That's right, per year! It includes 40Gb of storage, and 100Gb monthly bandwidth. So you're looking at a grand total of $22 a year for my own domain, tons of space, and uber internet coolness.

The real reason I've gone and done this (other than being home now and having a lot of time on my hands) is because having an academic website seems like an important thing to have as of late. Many of my math and science peers have similar sites detailing their research accolades and such. I suppose it's like an extended resume, but, since resumes are now sort of considered universally pointless, I instead have a website!

For those folks who are desperate for a hardcopy of something to pretend is a resume, I have included a pdf of my CV. Sure, it may be short now, but just you wait! Someday it'll be 66 pages long like Dr. Kapteyn's (who I'm working for this summer).

3D Math Movie

2009-05-03T23:57:00.002-06:00

I finally purchased an iPhone on the internet last week, and as it still hasn't arrived, I've spent a good while downloading cool iTunes apps in anticipation of the joy that will surely be mine when I get my latest toy.

Per my eagerness to play with my new toy, I discovered a neat little program that is a nerd's dream come true. Spacetime 3.0 is a way cool and easy to use math program for the computer and iPhone.

Ok, I know, most of my readers won't care one diddly-squat about a program that most everyone can only use the tiniest fraction of, but I found it terribly fun! (Even though I can't use most of what it does.... yet.)

I found myself endlessly amused by all the little 3D movies of complex (and meaningless) trigonometric functions I made. It was so fun, in fact, I made a YouTube video of my results. Here ya go, enjoy:

Driving Across the Country

2009-05-03T23:35:00.003-06:00

A couple weeks ago I drove across the entire United States. Guh. I've "driven" across the country about 12 or 13 times in my life, but none of them actually driving the vehicle. This was my first time driving the entire time.

It was incredibly boring.

Here's the route I took with markings for where I stopped each night. I was in no particular hurry, so took about 4 days to complete the trip from Provo, UT to Las Vegas, NV, and then to Harrisonburg, VA via I-40.

Along the way, I way highly amused by a podcast I discovered called "Stuff You Should Know" from Howstuffworks.com. I recommend it to anyone who has anything resembling a menial or repetitive task. I listened to such gems as:

How face transplants work
How redheads work
How flirting works (very educational)
How Ponzi Schemes work
How deja vue works
10 Bizarre ways to die
Where's the best place on your body to get shot?
How money laundering works
How could a cat scuba dive?

And the best:
Why is it so hard to say 'toy boat' three times fast?

Fascinating, I highly recommend 'em.

BYU Singers

2009-03-30T00:17:00.002-06:00

Brigham Young University Singers is my favorite musical group in the world. (Here's what I've written about them before.) They're getting fancier and fancier! They recently released this impressive promotional video for their latest concert. I hope hope hope hope to be in the Singers someday (next year??). I listen to their music incessantly! In fact, the only available tenor spot was taken by my friend Steve, who, if you watch the video, is the blonde guy with the part in his hair talking about personification of something or other. :-( He's a great guy though, and my time will come.

You can listen to some of their works below on my listening application, but I encourage you most of all to buy some of their fantastic CDs at singers.byu.edu.

Leonardo Dreams from BYU Singers on Vimeo.

Secret Laser Experiments

2009-03-24T02:37:00.004-06:00

On Saturday I had a big physics presentation that I had been preparing for for a couple of months. My professor wanted me to talk about research that we had done the past summer, but I thought it was all boring and wanted to work on something NEW. Well, this NEW thing (which I won't be mentioning here...) turned out to be a lot of work. I found myself convincing my own advisor that it actually is a doable experiment! So I think I've succeeded in that regard, now to find $20,000 somewhere...

The reason I won't mention the details of the experiment here is because, well, we don't want any other high-intensity laser labs to get any ideas. This experiment has never been done before and could potentially be very interesting. But I do love to talk about it, so if you want to know the secret, just talk to me in real life sometime. It has to do with LASERS oooooo! I love physics :D

MormonMessages - The LDS Church Embrases YouTube

2009-03-22T14:28:00.003-06:00

This video is one of a much larger collection of short YouTube videos produced weekly by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: YouTube MormonMessages

This Post Needs No Title

2009-03-19T21:26:00.003-06:00

Please submit captions for this picture in the comments section. The winner will receive a high-five, or if he/she is not local, a smiley face.

An Unexpected Advertisement

2009-03-17T01:23:00.003-06:00

'Star Wars' scientists create laser gun to start mosquito holocaust!

2009-03-17T00:09:00.003-06:00

As defense for basic, and often far-out physics research, here's a way cool application of high-speed lasers - to kill billions and billions of blood-sucking parasites!

'Star Wars' scientists create laser gun to kill mosquitoes - CNN.com

Navel Perplexity

2009-03-06T00:59:00.006-07:00

Over the past six months I have consistently been finding copious amounts of lint in my navel.

This sudden arrival has caused me to ponder the genesis of the fibrous materials and their mysterious gravitation toward my umbilicus.

I have formed no hypotheses, but promise to enlighten you when I do.

Internet Inside Joke

2009-02-24T13:10:00.005-07:00

I feel like part of the internet "in" crowd when I find the following hilarious. If you have no idea what's so funny, then you are definitely not "in."

Shown below are the first two comments to the article, Best Buy offers $99 iPhone to some reward members from Macworld.com.

Pig Poem

2009-02-24T13:05:00.003-07:00

Here's a poem I wrote to a friend the other day in church:

There once was a lad
who wasn't too glad.
But then he learned a jig
from his best friend, a pig.

So the pig
and the jig
made the lad
much more glad.

And then he had some toast.

Crisis Appeased

2009-02-16T16:01:00.002-07:00

Less than an hour ago Mark Zuckerberg, founder and owner of Facebook, posted the following clarification regarding the recent TOS changes:

A couple of weeks ago, we updated our terms of use to clarify a few points for our users. A number of people have raised questions about our changes, so I'd like to address those here. I'll also take the opportunity to explain how we think about people's information.

Our philosophy is that people own their information and control who they share it with. When a person shares information on Facebook, they first need to grant Facebook a license to use that information so that we can show it to the other people they've asked us to share it with. Without this license, we couldn't help people share that information.

One of the questions about our new terms of use is whether Facebook can use this information forever. When a person shares something like a message with a friend, two copies of that information are created—one in the person's sent messages box and the other in their friend's inbox. Even if the person deactivates their account, their friend still has a copy of that message. We think this is the right way for Facebook to work, and it is consistent with how other services like email work. One of the reasons we updated our terms was to make this more clear.

In reality, we wouldn't share your information in a way you wouldn't want. The trust you place in us as a safe place to share information is the most important part of what makes Facebook work. Our goal is to build great products and to communicate clearly to help people share more information in this trusted environment.

We still have work to do to communicate more clearly about these issues, and our terms are one example of this. Our philosophy that people own their information and control who they share it with has remained constant. A lot of the language in our terms is overly formal and protective of the rights we need to provide this service to you. Over time we will continue to clarify our positions and make the terms simpler.

Still, the interesting thing about this change in our terms is that it highlights the importance of these issues and their complexity. People want full ownership and control of their information so they can turn off access to it at any time. At the same time, people also want to be able to bring the information others have shared with them—like email addresses, phone numbers, photos and so on—to other services and grant those services access to those people's information. These two positions are at odds with each other. There is no system today that enables me to share my email address with you and then simultaneously lets me control who you share it with and also lets you control what services you share it with.

We're at an interesting point in the development of the open online world where these issues are being worked out. It's difficult terrain to navigate and we're going to make some missteps, but as the leading service for sharing information we take these issues and our responsibility to help resolve them very seriously. This is a big focus for us this year, and I'll post some more thoughts on openness and these other issues soon.

So I feel much better. It is interesting to note that this clarification was issued today - a full 12 days after the TOS were changed. Is this a response to my e-mail to the Facebook legal department?? Well... probably not. More likely it's a response to the nearly 300,000 people who have read the consumerist.com article I posted earlier. So, as Rachel said on my facebook entry, quantity, not quality, appears to have prompted a response this time! I feel something akin to a victory dance coming on...

Facebook Tricks Users into Irrevocable Contract

2009-02-16T11:15:00.007-07:00

The following article on consumerist.com alerted me to the following situation that I find slightly disturbing:

Facebook's New Terms Of Service: "We Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content. Forever."

If you're taking the time to read this, then you should take the time to read the above article because I won't be summarizing it here.

After doing some sleuthing myself and finding that what they are claiming is indeed true (refer to the Terms of Service (TOS) dated before 4 Feb 2009 and the TOS edited 4 Feb 2009), I found the following paragraph in the current TOS interesting. As listed under the "User Disputes; Complaints" section:

"If you believe that the Facebook Service or Facebook's business practices are in any way unfair, fraudulent or unlawful, you agree to bring it to the attention of Facebook's legal department. If you do not report the issue or continue using the service after discovering the issue, you expressly waive the right to claim that the Facebook Service is unfair, fraudulent or unlawful with respect to that issue."

So I did. It took me awhile to find the Facebook legal department contact information, but here it is:

Facebook Legal Department
legal@facebook.com
Phone: 650-543-4801

I sent the following e-mail this morning:

Facebook Legal Department,

As referenced in your Terms of Service (TOS) revised 4 February 2009:

"If you believe that the Facebook Service or Facebook's business practices are in any way unfair, fraudulent or unlawful, you agree to bring it to the attention of Facebook's legal department. If you do not report the issue or continue using the service after discovering the issue, you expressly waive the right to claim that the Facebook Service is unfair, fraudulent or unlawful with respect to that issue."

I hereby am notifying you of my complaint regarding the following clause removed from the terms of service made effective on 4 February 2009:

"You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content."

It is my opinion that the TOS are no longer acceptable and that it is my responsibility (see above) to notify you that I consider these business practices unfair. Namely, I resent that you claim rights to content that I have uploaded to your site indefinitely regardless of my status as a subscriber of your services. I respectfully demand that you alter your TOS to restore what I consider my right to restrict your indefinite use of my content.

Nicholas G Herrick
[my contact information]

I fully realize that my e-mail will have no effect on their legal practices, but is it my hope that perhaps others will complain and that the deluge of negative feedback will bring about a change of heart. After all, we're not dealing with Microsoft or George Bush here, it's Facebook! We like Facebook.

The Idiot's (short) Definition of Optics

2009-02-14T16:32:00.014-07:00

I recently became aware that while talking to my parents about my optics research, optics classes, and optics career aspirations, they had no idea what I was talking about. So, assuming that the physically uneducated masses are similarly in the dark about the definition of optics (pun intended), I will venture to give a palatable definition:

The physical field of optics is huge - it encompasses much more than the common person supposes. From simple everyday phenomena like colors, mirrors, cameras, computer screens, eyeballs, and eye-glasses, to technologically vital applications like lasers, microscopes, x-rays, satellite dishes, radios, and (of course) microwave ovens, you use light and all of its complicated electromagnetic theory constantly (heh heh, literally if you're reading this with eyeballs).

Optics has such a significant impact on your life you likely don't even realize it: You regularly use heatlamps, fiber optics (internet), DVDs, laser pointers, and laser printers. Not to mention you get sunburns, suntans, use sunglasses, and watch TV.

Some of the more subtle applications of optics include computer chip manufacturing, radar, digital camera CCD chips, WiFi, cell phones transmissions, and toaster ovens (well, maybe toasters aren't so vital).

I could keep going and mention how the upper atmosphere keeps us safe from nasty particles and high-energy cosmic rays by playing tricky optics games, or why some cars have blue headlights while most have orange. Or I could mention the color of the sky, the color of snow, or why the sun is so stinking bright. But I won't. I bet by now you realize you underestimated those funny little photons and all they do for you, didn't ya? So thank God for photons! (And for folks who understand them.) Cause the world would be awfully bleak without them.

(For the record, please don't ask me how rainbows work - they're so freaking hard to understand!)

Interactive Interwebs

2009-01-31T12:35:00.007-07:00

So, facebook has this chain going around asking people to list 25 random things about themselves. I was enjoying reading my friends' lists, so I figured I'd make my own! This is perhaps the first cool chain letter I've ever seen... Perhaps the interwebs are evolving into a more intelligent and sophisticated medium?

On second thought, no way. As evidence of the ridiculousness of the interwebs, I cite the following:
http://www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/cosmicapollo.html
http://allaboutfrogs.org/funstuff/jokes.html

So, although the interwebs are as silly as ever, I will indulge this particular chain letter for the purpose of aggrandizing myself in the eyes of the watching world.

25 Random Things About Me

I love to sing, but only in choirs and when I’m by myself. Every other setting disturbs me.
I am a Mormon, and a Democrat, and a scientist. Woah.
As a little boy I danced ballet for 3 years.
My telescope is bigger than your head. My next telescope will be bigger than you. My dream telescope will be bigger than your mom.
I have been to every state except for Florida, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Michigan, Alaska, and Hawaii.
One of my pet peeves is that I hate having to bring stuff in from the car.
I have a dancing cactus named Carlos that has gone everywhere with me since my freshman year of high school.
One of my favoritest things to do is aluminum machining.
I like astronomy, but can’t stand the thought of doing it for a living.
My secret desire when I grow up is to have a huge garage with every tool imaginable and to invent stuff. Kinda like Ironman, or Batman.
I got a 35/36 on the English section of the ACT, and only a 26/36 on the science section – yet I am a science major. Go figure.
I used to be a demon on the dance floor – until I went on my mission. Now dances bore me.
I listen to choral music incessantly – almost exclusively.
I have lived in six states and two provinces.
Sometimes I act in stage plays – but only comedies.
I still want to go to Space Camp.
I have not had a girlfriend in 5 years.
I have a beard. At BYU.
I have a habit of buying interesting books, and then never reading them.
I’m a co-author on a recent physics publication in a major peer-reviewed journal.
I still have dreams about my favorite cat Moose, who died four years ago.
I got a car for Christmas once. It cost $200 and lasted almost two years.
I read online articles incessantly – about anything and everything. Aren’t the interwebs great?
I like hubcaps.
My idea of paradise is sitting under a waterfall on a sunny day. With a pretty girl in the near vicinity. And a picnic lunch. And no time constraints. And finding a really big crayfish. And tadpoles.

Cat

2009-01-27T22:21:00.000-07:00

A Canadian's Perspective on the Clouds

2009-01-22T12:30:00.017-07:00

I was reading through some of my old mission e-mails, and I found one that I find quite entertaining. Is it bad to think something you wrote is entertaining? I sure hope not, because I think this blog is hilarious! Anyways, here's the entertaining bit, with a map of Creston, British Columbia to serve as a visual reference:

Creston, British Columbia

View Larger Map

The white line on the above map shows the US/Canadian (Idaho/BC) border.

"Hello Americans,

"One funny thing about the Creston Valley:

"I live approximately 20 km from a HUGE lake called Kooteney Lake. Kooteney Lake is 100 km long and over a thousand feet deep at times (or so I hear). Because of the size it creates its own weather system in the valley here making Creston and the surrounding valley unusually warm year round. Not only is this nice to live in, but it also allows for a large and productive cherry and apple season.

"The warm air causes a lot of cloud cover in the winter which extends only to the south part of the valley. Funny enough the valley ends precisely on the 43rd parallel, or the US / Canadian border. So looking south 8 miles from my house, I see the dense gloomy cloud cover abruptly stop right where the border is, then I can see below the nasty clouds right into sunny and beautiful America - The True Country. At times the smell of gunpowder and the flashes of patriotic fireworks wafts up to my homesick self and I can almost imagine a bi-plane flying through the clear blue sky pulling a giant American flag. The sweet tune of 'America the Beautiful' might be heard echoing up the purple mountains - until it gets to the gloomy, frozen nation of Canada.

"Ok, I do love Canada, but it is true that the states always looks sunny from here. I really do like Canada..."

Creston, BC on a semi-cloudy day.

Creston, BC on a clear day.
The 'X' on the mountain marks the Canadian/US border.

Inauguration: A New Beginning

2009-01-20T10:59:00.007-07:00

From the text of President Barack Obama's Inauguration speech:

"A nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous."

"To all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more."

"This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath."

It is difficult for me to put into words my feelings after witnessing the swearing in of our new President. I am filled with hope, genuinely proud of my country, and excited to be a citizen of the US.

Pride and hope in my country is a new thing to me - ever since I was old enough to care about politics I have felt frustrated, no - angered, constantly put-down, subverted - and have nearly constantly lamented the decisions, or indecisions, of our leaders.

Today I feel refreshed, renewed, full of hope. I see the corruption and ineptitude of our government diminishing. I feel like I have had a say, like my voice has been heard.

What I have for so long yearned for I can now see on the horizon. Finally, it looks like justice will come to the poor and downtrodden of the earth. Finally, it appears that we'll reject the greed that has raped our planet, ravaged our sacred home. Finally, I see America becoming a leader in justice and rightness like I read about in history. Finally, I can hope that my children will look at my generation with gratitude as an example of conquering selfishness and propagating true freedom - not just freedom from tyrrany, but freedom of life, of health, of learning, and of self-respect.

May the Lord bless this country that we may serve the world and the meek by whom we will be judged at the last day.

Find a Way to Make Money Having Fun

2009-01-14T11:00:00.007-07:00

"JobsRated.com offers help for uncertain job seekers by analyzing 200 different jobs according to 5 vital criteria: Stress, Work Environment, Physical Demands, Income and Outlook."

Here are the top twenty jobs from that list with their listed incomes:

Mathematician - $94,160
Actuary - $88,146
Statistician - $72,197
Biologist - $74,273
Software Engineer - $86,139
Computer Systems Analyst - $75,160
Historian - $61,209
Sociologist - $63,195
Industrial Designer - $58,206
Accountant - $59,173
Economist - $83,222
Philosopher - $58,200
Physicist - $100,140
Parole Officer - $46,169
Meteorologist - $81,234
Medical Laboratory Technician - $53,100
Paralegal Assistant - $46,155
Computer Programmer - $70,176
Motion Picture Editor - $49,368
Astronomer - $102,233

Here's to hard science! Also, please notice that the highest listed income (I'm assuming it's an average of some kind) in the top 20 best jobs in the US is an Astronomer - $102,233. Then, please notice that the second highest listed income is for a Physicist - $100,140.

So for all those accounting, business and pre-med majors who so haughtily study incredibly boring subjects with only the hope of obtaining riches beyond imagination, eat it!

I chose my major because I like it and, woah! what a surprise, I can make a heck of a lot of money doing something I actually like... what a concept.

Parsecs and Eons

2009-01-14T10:40:00.007-07:00

I made a startling discovery yesterday. For the sake of non-physics types, I will define a few terms.

1 parsec is equal to 3.26 lightyears or 3.1 x 10^16 meters.
1 eon, as used in astronomic and geologic terms, is equal to one billion years.
The International Standard (SI) unit for speed is meters/second (m/s).
(Just think about distance traveled/time it took to travel, or miles/hour - that's your speed. If you say "I'm traveling in some direction at that speed", than you've also defined your velocity.)

Here it comes, are you ready?

Woah!! Coooolnes!

What Hitler Thinks about BYU's Loss to Utah

2009-01-10T13:14:00.004-07:00

A big thank you to whoever put this together. It expresses my sentiments exactly. Who woulda thought I'd have so much in common with Hitler...

At this time of economic uncertainty...

2009-01-05T18:51:00.006-07:00

... remember the poor people who hurt the most.

Note: I absolutely cannot stand the title of this blog. Also I cannot stand: "In the current economic climate...."

Happy New Year

2009-01-05T18:42:00.002-07:00

I hope all of you enjoyed celebrating the recent change in the Gregorian calendar.

As you look forward to the new year and reconsider your life, remember that the calendar system you and I hold so dear is completely arbitrary and has no real connection to anything.

(If you'd really like to celebrate something, just wait until 3501 when the Julian date changes to 3000000 - now that will be something to celebrate!)

Social Awkwardness, part 14

2008-11-24T12:57:00.013-07:00

As I was walking across campus today, I had an interesting social revelation. I passed by a girl that I 'kind of' know, meaning, we've met a few times, said hi a few times, but whose name I cannot remember. I noticed her just before we began to pass each other and I smiled and said hey under my breath. She must be more socially mature, because she quickly responded, "Hey! What's goin' on?" To which I replied, with no thought whatsoever, "Good."

Because we were both walking in opposite directions the conversation was (luckily) over.

The awkwardness was purely a personal experience.

From the ashes of a blown-conversation came forth my most recent social revelation.

We love asking meaningless questions, and we love responding with meaningless answers, but if you happen to respond to a meaningless question with the wrong meaningless answer, then you have committed a serious social faux pas.

How odd.

Friends Don't Let Friends Work in Finance

2008-11-22T13:38:00.002-07:00

Excessive Economics

2008-11-20T13:14:00.013-07:00

A Yahoo news article prompted the following ramble by me. Enjoy.

The American economy prides itself in being consumer based. It is driven by the 'Buy now, pay later,' and, 'You just might need this someday' mentalities. We're obsessed with showing off our fancy toys, even if that means weaving an intricate lie of pretended wealth (often built on a foundation of irresponsible debt). We're more content to replace a broken appliance then to attempt to have it fixed. We eat out more often because it is easier than making a meal at home, even if doing so costs many times the price of a home meal.

But the problem is bigger than just gluttonistic tendencies - our country not only encourages fiscal irresponsibility, it requires it for economic stability. After September 11th how did our government encourage us to show our patriotism? We were encouraged to go out and buy things! Spend, spend, spend - that's a good American. Support the economy!

I believe that as Americans become more frugal, quality of life will increase across all income levels. Americans can be happier with less - less stuff, smaller houses, smaller cars - and with greater expectations for those possessions.

But here's where the economists start freaking out. Daily, it seems, I read reports that "Consumer spending is down, alert! We're entering a financial crisis!" The American auto makers are breaking apart because (gasp!) people aren't buying new cars as much! (News flash people - in very few cases buying a new car is a financially good idea. It is almost always a better idea to buy a car a couple years old!) This desperation is exactly what is wrong with the economy - if the American people become more fiscally responsible then our economy collapses.

Our country is built on a sandy foundation - we require irresponsibility to prosper. It is this necessity for irresponsibility that is the cause of the widening gap between rich and poor. More and more the rich do not become rich by hard work, (there are, of course, exceptions) but instead by "working the system," i.e. benefiting from the mass financial irresponsibility of the populace.

Does capitalism require the irresponsibility of the masses to function? Is frugality capitalism's downfall?

Am I the only person puzzled by this?

A Reply!

2008-11-06T23:16:00.004-07:00

To my utmost surprise, the Chief Publicity Officer for invalidateprop8.org replied to my e-mail! Here it is:

Thanks for the message, Nick - in the postcard to the president we inadvertently failed to include "Jesus Christ" in the name of the church and have corrected that.

I know they prefer people to only use the full name and to abide by their style guide; their preferred name makes the church sound much more mainstream. We, however, prefer to use the name "Mormon Church" which is the name by which most people know the organization. It's a bit like how they prefer to use "homosexual" when referring to us, rather than "gay."

Best,
JIM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jim Key
Chief Public Affairs Officer
L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center
McDonald/Wright Building
1625 N Schrader Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028-6213

The original language of the website was:

"...Although we decry the reprehensible role the Church of Latter Day Saints leadership played in denying all Californians equal rights under the law..."

This has now been changed to:

"...Although we decry the reprehensible role the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints leadership played in denying all Californians equal rights under the law..."

Success! A small victory for the church! Hooray!
*sigh* I feel good.

Proposition 8

2008-11-06T16:43:00.009-07:00

Reading about the renewed (and strangely posthumous) opposition to California's new constitutional amendment defining marriage, I visited the following website:

http://www.invalidateprop8.org/

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I support the church's stance on proposition 8. However, I understand and sympathize with those who disagree with the church. In fact, they have my deepest respect. I see opponents of proposition 8 not necessarily as anti-Mormons, but as "anti-this-LDS-Church-stancers." Therefore, in an effort to help them increase their credibility, I sent their Chief Public Relations Officer, Jim Key, the following e-mail:

Hello,

On your web-site, http://www.invalidateprop8.org/, you have neglected to mention or use the full name of the "Mormon Church." The full name is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In fact, there is no "Mormon Church" in that no church by that name exists. Mormon is a nickname given to the LDS Church (how it is normally abbreviated) because of the Book of Mormon. 'Mormon' used to be a derogatory reference, but it isn't anymore.

For increased credibility and to separate yourself from the very vocal anti-Mormon crowd, I suggest you use the church's full name at least once, and for other references use LDS Church, or the Church of Jesus Christ. This would likely bring greater respect from members of the church, even if they do not agree with you.

For more information I recommend the LDS Newsroom Style Guide at this web address:
http://www.newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/style-guide

With Respect,

Nicholas G Herrick
[With my mailing and e-mail addresses.]

I received an automated e-mail in response, but hope to receive a real response eventually. (Although I suspect it's not likely - I imagine he is a very busy and sought after person at the moment.)

For the official LDS Church statement on this matter, released yesterday, click here.

President of Awesome

2008-11-04T22:33:00.006-07:00

In June it was hope,

now it's the real deal.

Congratulations America!

(I originally posted this picture June 14, 2008)

I'm Published!

2008-11-03T23:31:00.018-07:00

I am third author on a peer-reviewed physics paper this month! It is the result of almost two years of work. I have assisted in nearly every aspect of the research and am the only undergraduate author! All of the other authors are either Ph.D. candidates or professors. How cool is that?

Extreme-ultraviolet polarimeter utilizing laser-generated high-order harmonics

Nicole Brimhall, Matthew Turner, Nicholas Herrick, David D. Allred, R. Steven Turley, Michael Ware, and Justin Peatross
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602, USA

Rev. Sci. Instrum. 79, 103108 (2008); DOI:10.1063/1.2999543
Published 27 October 2008

We describe an extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) polarimeter that employs laser-generated high-order harmonics as the light source. The polarimeter is designed to characterize materials and thin films for use with EUV light. Laser high harmonics are highly directional with easily rotatable linear polarization, not typically available with other EUV sources. The harmonics have good wavelength coverage, potentially spanning the entire EUV from a few to a hundred nanometers. Our instrument is configured to measure reflectances from 14 to 30 nm and has ~180 spectral resolution (λ/Δλ). The reflection from a sample surface can be measured over a continuous range of incident angles (5°–75°). A secondary 14 cm gas cell attenuates the harmonics in a controlled way to keep signals within the linear dynamic range of the detector, comprised of a microchannel plate coupled to a phosphorous screen and charge coupled device camera. The harmonics are produced using ~10 mJ, ~35 fs, and ~800 nm laser pulses with a repetition rate of 10 Hz. Per-shot energy monitoring of the laser discriminates against fluctuations. The polarimeter reflectance data agree well with data obtained at the Advanced Light Source Synchrotron (Beamline 6.3.2).

1 Year

2008-10-31T23:09:00.003-06:00

This blog is 1 year old! Wahoo!

I Just Don't Understand

2008-10-31T22:36:00.009-06:00

I said in a recent letter to the BYU Daily Universe:

"It is a constant source of amazement for me how the self-proclaimed "Religious Right" can justify their elitist positions concerning the poor."

I am now more confused than ever as I see people that I trust and respect vehemently defend a corrupt and flawed economic system. When our voices become more raised in the defense of our wealth than in "providing for the general welfare," I feel a profound and deep sadness. I believe that until we realize that economic, social, and cultural strength derives from how we treat the most-destitute members of our community, we will never become the America that we think we are.

The rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer. And we think this is the path to a strong economy? If so, then it is not an economy I can be proud of. Is an economy that depends on a large poor population any different than one that depends on slavery? Do we honestly believe that by making the rich richer ("trickle down economics") and keeping the poor poor ("raising minimum wage = inflation") our country will actually become better? Do we honestly think that it is a greater sin to raise taxes on the rich than it is to grind the faces of the poor? Do we really think that something as essential as the right to stay alive is to be subject to the selfishness of capitalism?

I fear that our phobia of communism is pushing us to place that we, in our right minds, do not want to be. When the most powerful country in the world still has widespread poverty, what is wrong? When the most productive economy in the world shares a thousand mile border with a third world country, isn't there something missing? (And I don't mean a fence to keep the poor out.)

Am I the only American asking these questions?

Or am I just the only one not so distracted by maintaining my wealth that I don't notice all the suffering around me?

I just don't understand how good people can support this proposed economic system.

I just don't understand...

The (Slightly Boring) Life of a Missionary

2008-10-28T01:42:00.006-06:00

Missions are great, but missionaries get awfully bored!

I know I resorted to some pretty wacky stuff to stay entertained during my free time:

Trying for hours to catch gophers on a string
Seeing how many cheerios "our" dog could catch out of the air at once (...by the way, it was 8)
Building a miniature wind-mill from a McDonald's toy and a dismantled CD-player
Growing Ivan the Ivy (he was such a happy potted plant)
Feeding our pet porch spiders
Learning to solve the Rubiks Cube in 1 minute and 42 seconds
Inventing a new martial art involving grabby things
And, perfecting the art of rotating my thumbs in opposite directions at the same time (mostly while tracting)

As evidence that I was not the only missionary to get starved for fun, I cite the following video:

Singing Josh Groban

M 42 - Orion Nebula

2008-10-27T16:17:00.005-06:00

I'm getting better! For my second successful CCD photo my focus is much better and I improved my image processing skills a lot since last week (Notice the almost realistic colors!). I also took a long time polar aligning the mount to get the scope to track more accurately.

This picture is an LRGB composition with the green frame re-used as the luminance data. I spent over 12 hours on this picture! But that's not the actual camera time. I worked on a lot of different elements along the chain necessary to take a great picture, such as: better polar alignment, better telescope tracking, better focusing, and better image processing techniques.

Over the past week I spent four nights using telescopes until very late at night. It seems I've gotten into a weird state: during the day I read about astrophotography incessantly, and at night I'm up on the deck till the wee hours of the morning. Perhaps I've been infected with some strange disease.... I'm headed up there again tonight.

M42 Orion Nebula

Pictor 416XTE on 12" f/10 LX200
40 sec x 4 green, 40 sec x 2 red binned 2x2, 30 sec blue binned 2 x 2

LRGB Processed using Maxim DLL 2.11 and Astroart 4.0

First CCD Photo

2008-10-24T12:12:00.007-06:00

This is my first tricolor CCD astrophoto. I took it last night from the BYU Astronomy Observation Deck.

Ya, sure, there's a lot of noise, and the stars aren't exactly point-sources, but hey, for my first time it's not bad!

M57 - Ring Nebula.
Pictor 416XTE on 12" f/10 LX200
30 sec x 3 green, 30 sec red, 30 sec blue, 30 sec beta-N

Images processed using Maxim DL 2.11

I'm Really Sorry About Your Goats...

2008-10-22T20:34:00.002-06:00

I had no idea. I'm so sorry. =(

Not Enough Fun

2008-10-22T18:18:00.004-06:00

There's this little flash game I've become quite entertained by as of late. It's called Desktop Tower Defense.

(If you click here you'll never make it through your homework again... I promise! Fair warning...)

Basically you set up little mazes and cannons to blast little blobby "creeps" as they try to move across the screen. I've beaten the Easy, Medium, and Hard levels, but I'm struggling on a few of the Challenge levels.

So when I get tired of trying the Challenge levels over and over again, I try one of the Fun levels. Well, apparently in my last game I didn't have enough fun, because here's the screen after I lost.

LDS Environmental Stewardship

2008-10-22T01:06:00.003-06:00

Here's a survey opened today asking members of the LDS church about their opinions concerning environmental stewardship. It doesn't take too long, if you have a moment you might enjoy taking it:

http://tinyurl.com/environmentsurvey

The Biggest Joke on the Duck Ever

2008-10-16T22:58:00.007-06:00

Mitch Hedberg is pretty much the funniest guy in the whole world.
We share a deep love of ducks.

Idea

2008-10-16T17:17:00.004-06:00

I woke up this morning with a great idea for a post.

But now I have no clue what that idea was.

...

It probably wasn't that great of an idea anyways.

Bearding

2008-10-16T16:57:00.003-06:00

Here at BYU men aren't allowed to grow facial hair. (Who knows why...)

But I filed the piles of paperwork, met with a ruthless doctor, and paid an exorbitant amount of money (because I wouldn't sleep with anybody... otherwise it would have been free...) to acquire my very own beard card.

Yes, you heard correctly, yours truly has a beard card!

I think I will enjoy this bearding experience immensely.

I'm feeling more apostate already...