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Name: Jarrod
Country: United States
State: Texas
Metro: College Station
Birthday: 3/19/1980
Interests: Jesus is my life: the air I breathe and the fire in my soul. I love spending time with my friends, going out to eat, watching (and quoting) movies, reading some, going for walks, dancing (even in church), canoeing, and just sitting around and talking.
Expertise: I love to teach and do public speaking. I'm a nuclear engineer by trade; so, I guess I'm pretty good at math and physics, too.
Occupation: Grad Student
Industry: Engineering
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  UTNEDemosthenes
Member Since:
5/3/2005
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| Barak Obama has chosen his running-mate for the presidency - Joe Biden, Senator from Delaware. As such, I thought it fitting to post some of my favorite quotes from Joe Biden from his bid for the democratic nomination and the past few years. We'll likely be hearing many of these quotes echo through the days leading to the presidential election.
Assessing Obama’s Iraq plan on September 13, 2007: “My impression is [Obama] thinks that if we leave, somehow the Iraqis are going to have an epiphany” of peaceful coexistence among warring sects. “I’ve seen zero evidence of that.”
Biden in an interview with the Huffington Post assessed Obama and Hillary Clinton: “The more people learn about them (Obama and Hillary) and how they handle the pressure, the more their support will evaporate.”
Biden said in a campaign ad, “When this campaign is over, political slogans like ‘experience’ and ‘change’ will mean absolutely nothing. The next president has to act.”
Biden on Meet the Press in 2002, discussing Saddam Hussein: “He’s a long term threat and a short term threat to our national security… “We have no choice but to eliminate the threat. This is a guy who is an extreme danger to the world.”
Biden to the Brookings Institution in 2005: “We can call it quits and withdraw from Iraq. I think that would be a gigantic mistake. Or we can set a deadline for pulling out, which I fear will only encourage our enemies to wait us out — equally a mistake.”
Biden in October of 2002: “We must be clear with the American people that we are committing to Iraq for the long haul; not just the day after, but the decade after.”
And my personal favorite - Biden on Meet the Press in 2007, on Hussein’s WMDs: “Well, the point is, it turned out they didn’t, but everyone in the world thought he had them. The weapons inspectors said he had them. He catalogued — they catalogued them. This was not some, some Cheney, you know, pipe dream. This was, in fact, catalogued.”
These quotes were taken from an August 20, 2008 article by Jim Geraghty in the National Review Online.
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| Howdy folks! I just thought I'd throw out a random physics trivia question out there if you're bored and want something to think about. Q: Does lightening move at the speed of light? Let me know what you think!
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| I think it's odd that many people who are so concerned about the death of a single polar bear could care less about the right of an unborn child not to be slaughtered. Honestly, I refuse to listen to anything those folks have to say as long as the cries of the human children go ignored.
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| Ok, so, my writing on this thing is so erratic, I'd be pretty amazed if anybody out there is still, well, out there. Nevertheless, I'm thinking about jumping on here every now and then and turning some zeros into ones. Maybe I'll talk about what's going on in my life (probably not), random thoughts that occur to me (more likely), explain some positions that I might have (if I have time), or vent about stuff that annoys me ('cause everybody needs an outlet, and College Station doesn't have enough hippies to kick).
I believe this one will fall under the "talk about something that's going on" category. A lot of folks have been very kind in asking me about my research lately, because you know I've been banging my head up against a very elusive bug (what I've come to call the superbug) for some time now. For those who might want more information, I thought I might explain a little bit about why this bug is so blasted elusive.
Imagine this - you're writing a computer program, and you want to start with something a little simple. So, you write a program that will multiply some number by 2. Sounds simple enough. It would probably look a little something like this:
1) Get a number from someone, call it x.
2) Tell the program, now that you've got x, don't let anything change x.
3) Let y = 2*x
4) Holla back what y is.
So, if you ran your swanky new program and gave it x = 4, you would get x = 4, y = 8. If your code was somehow infected with the superbug, however, this is what would happen: you give it x = 4, it gives you y = 8, x = 8. "Wait a minute," you'd think. "Why did the value of x change? Nowhere in the program did I tell x to change, and not only that, I specifically told x not to change! I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!!" First, let me congratulate you on the excellent Zoolander quote. Also, now, you know what feels like to run my code.
Of course, in this example, who cares if x changes? You never use it, again. Let's say you want the program to get a little more complicated, and you want to rock some times tables to help your third grader check their homework. (Look at how supportive you are!) Anyway, it would look a little something like this:
1) Get a number from someone, call it x.
2) Tell the program, now that you've got x, don't let anything change x.
3) Let y1 = 1*x
y2 = 2*x
y3 = 3*x
y4 = 4*x
y5 = 5*x
4) Holla atcha boy what y1 - y5 are.
Now, you're going to see the insidious effects of the superbug. If you gave it 4, again, you should get:
y1 = 4
y2 = 8
y3 = 12
y4 = 16
y5 = 20
However, with the superbug, you get:
y1 = 4
y2 = 8
y3 = 24
y4 = 96
y5 = 480
Now, instead of helping your aspiring young astronaut get that 4.0 NASA is looking for, we've confused the kid so much that he might not be allowed to work the register at McDonald's. Tragic!
This is what I've been trying to eliminate for the past few weeks. I call it a superbug, because there is no logical reason it should exist. The laws of arithmetic are breaking down around me! I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!!
Hey, how 'bout that Zoolander reference?
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| Howdy folks! Alright, it's been a while since I've posted anything, but I thought I'd post a little something now. I've been hearing the phrase "alternative energy" being used a lot lately. "Gas prices are high; so, we need to look into alternative energy." "We should be energy independent; we should look into alternative energy." In my opinion, those things are fine coming from Joe Randomguy on the street, but when I hear it from politicians, especially those running for office, it starts getting on my nerves.
"But Jarrod, how could alternative energy possibly bother you? Do you have Halliburton stock, too??" Ha, I wish. The problem to me is that the term "alternative energy" is entirely too vague. When people say it, they tend to get an image in their mind of some perfect energy source that barely impacts the environment, has no waste products (except maybe ice cream), and brings Bambi's mother back to life. It's entirely too easy to say "we should pursue alternative energy" because that sounds great while not really meaning anything at all.
So, what does alternative energy really mean? By far, the most widely used alternate to coal, natural gas, etc. is nuclear power. Nuclear power has been used in the US for over 50 years and is currently responsible for 20% of our electrical capacity. That means that, on average, one out of 5 light bulbs you see is powered by nuclear energy. Or, you could say that your TV is run for 4.8 hours per day by nuclear power, and for what it's worth, American Idol happens to come on in that time slot.  Nuclear energy is also incredibly safe, proved both by its US safety record and its world safety record. However, you've heard me extol nuclear before; so, I'll move on.
What about hydroelectric power? Well, regardless of hippies screaming about how it disturbs the fish population, the reality is that we've reached our potential for hydroelectric power. We've officially dammed all the rivers we can dam. (Seems like this might call for an expletive, but I can't think of one that's fitting...) So, that's out.
Ok, how about wind power? Windmills have several drawbacks to them, number 1 being location, location, location. You can't just stick a windmill anywhere and start dancing in the streets; there has to be a lot of wind, which rules out any climate that isn't a plain. (But none of the Spanish ones, since it rains there so much.) Not only that, but people who think ANWAR would affect caribou have nothing on the impact that windmill farms can have on bird populations. If you don't know what I mean, let's just say windmills are where the "nugget" comes from.
What the holy grail - solar power? Well, keep looking, Indiana Jones, b/c the grail ain't here, buddy. Solar cells have several drawbacks: 1) Process - They are horribly inefficient when it comes to converting solar power into electricity, 2) Power - Rain, sleet, and the gloom of night may not stop a mailman, but any one of them will definitely knock out your potential for collecting solar energy. 3) Property - Because solar cells, (though they may be useful in some areas for powering individual houses) have low efficiency, it takes a whooooole lot of them to generate a substantial quantity. How much? Hundreds of square miles of solar panels. How's that for an environmental impact? What are the caribou, silver sheen wolves, and spotted, red-breasted muskrats going to do when all their land is covered by solar cells? (And those poor, little muskrats were in love, too!) 4) Protection - From what I understand (and I could be wrong on this one), maintenance of solar cells is a real problem. I can only imagine what this would be like on the scale that would be required. Imagine a hailstorm or a tornado going through a solar cell farm. Let's just say I hope you've got a lot of bottled water and canned goods at home, b/c it's going to be a while before the power comes back on. Also, what happens if plants start sprouting from underneath them or between them, like it does on sidewalks?
Look, I don't claim to be an expert with this stuff, and I encourage you to check this out on your own. I just want people to realize that, when politicians, right or left, talk about "alternative energy" without specifically listing what energy sources they're talking about, all they're trying to do is paint you a picture that will make you feel warm and fuzzy. And, of course, vote for them.
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