Archive for May, 2008

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An Epic Poem of Note

May 31, 2008

Dear Cecil: Cecil, you’re my final hope
Of finding out the true Straight Dope
For I have been reading of Schroedinger’s cat
But none of my cats are at all like that.
This unusual animal (so it is said)
Is simultaneously live and dead!
What I don’t understand is just why he
Can’t be one or other, unquestionably.
My future now hangs in between eigenstates.
In one I’m enlightened, the other I ain’t.
If you understand, Cecil, then show me the way
And rescue my psyche from quantum decay.
But if this queer thing has perplexed even you,
Then I will and won’t see you in Schroedinger’s zoo.
–Randy F., Chicago

The answer, of course, to this worthy man’s question

can be found, online, and is worth some reflection.

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Card-carrying Member

May 26, 2008

This is the death that started all those lawsuits

Hardy har har!

But it reflects my anguish over the “state of things” I’ve always seen libertarianism as the last bastion of individual responsibility rather than an unsympathetic, laissez-faire system. Perhaps capitalism is the last hope for convincing people to make good choices, as it were.

And I don’t meant that to be a sink-or-swim ultimatum. I mean, rather, to suggest that the act of an individual choosing to vote, choosing to give help to a cause, or choosing to defend his country…perhaps the choice is more important than the act itself.

In all seriousness, here’s the thing. I flat-out refuse to judge you by my moral choices. And the government (arbiter of justice) shouldn’t either.

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Hardware Week Wrap-Up

May 23, 2008

First thing:  I’ll have you know that I just typo’d “Wrap-Up” as “Warp-Up” and alllllmost left it that way.

Today marked the end of the second week of Field Session for us EEs at the Colorado School of Mines.  Basically, we get three weeks of technical training from 8:00 to 17:00 every day.  The second week was learning hardware, that is, how to build analog circuits to accomplish a particular task.

I might post more information later on but for now, just watch the video: