Tag: School

Radioluminescence

Tritium-phosphor lighting, and Movies.

Isn’t that a fun word? Say it, Radioluminescence. See, told you so. I am doing a bit of a report on it for manufacturing. We have to pick a product and do a report on the manufacturing processes required for it. I decided on making radioluminescent exit signs, powered by glass tubes coated with a phosphorescent and filled with tritium. The tritium which is a heavy form of hydrogen having 2 neutrons rather than none, decays into helium-3, releasing an electron.

1 proton + 2 neutrons -> 2 protons +1 neutron + 1 electron

That electron strikes the phosphorescent creating a flash of light, in the same way the electron beam in your Tv or monitor fires electrons at your screen, which is also coated with a phosphorescent. The beta particles are mostly absorbed by the phosphorescent, and those that are not are either absorbed by the glass or reflected by it until they are eventually absorbed, releasing no radiation outside the glass tube. By placing a few of these into a housing and butting a cut-out with the letters EXIT on it over the face, you have yourself a lighted exit sign that requires no battery backup, wiring, light bulbs, or any other maintenance whatsoever, and can last from anywhere between 10 and 20 years. Yes, there are some associated risks like vial breakage and gas release, but tritium is actually the safest of all radioactive isotopes, and the beta particles emitted cannot pass through skin and any gas inhaled is passed through with your urine, and not absorbed into your bone marrow. Also, since it is still hydrogen, the gas dissipates in the air very quickly, and there is rather little in each vial anyway. Very cool stuff.

Also, i watched the Jerk today. Very cool movie, very funny. If you have never seen it, do yourself a favor and do so. It is on TV semi-often, or you can just rent it.

Other movies seen recently include Fantastic 4 (good, must do sequel, as there was maybe too much intro plot, and not enough save-the-world plot), Mr. and Mrs. Smith (good), and Elektra (not so good). Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle is sitting here too, since jenn fell asleep and missed half of it last time. I liked it, so we get to watch again. Also a very good movie if you haven’t seen.

OK, I guess that is all. Go back about your merry lives till I decided to honor you with my presence again.

nick

Sorry

Not much

Sorry about the sparseness of updates. There really hasn’t been a whole lot going on though.

School is down to 2 weeks. As of my last calculation I had all A’s, though 2 are borderline into the A- range. Still damned good though.

I gave Jenn her Christmas gift today. I figured it gives her more time to use it.

We had Mandarin House for dinner today as well, always tasty.

Hmm…

Yeah, that’s all I can think of.

Sorry again.

I will try and work on new template more, as the fall theme is a little outdated now.

Nick

Woohoo

Ferris

In case any of you don’t know, I am at Delta pursuing an AS degree in Manufacturing Engineering (my second AS, I already have Pre-Engineering) in preparation for transferring to Ferris for a BS in man. Eng. Tech. So, last week I emailed Ferris checking on a few class transfers and had nearly decided the message was lost to a spam filter somewhere. Today though, I got my response, and it cut nearly a semester off. Woohoo! I am excited, since I am already on my 4th year of a 2 year college, so moving along toward a degree I could have already had if I started toward it after HS is a very good thing.

In other news, posted a new poll, and edited more old blogs. Not much else though.

nick

Still More Changes

Site, Weather, and School.

So yet more changes on the website. I changed the colors some, and the headers, and the sidebars are next. I moved the links on the top, and added a path listing under the header. I actually got into editing it because I finally got the template for the blog working, and it was rather hard to read due to colors. So, the new blog template is coming, just so you know.

The other day I realized I passed $0.50 in hosting fees. It took me 4 months, so thats pretty damn good. That comes out at $2.00 a year, which is $97 less than .Mac. Woohoo.

I am now obligated to complain about the weather. Lets face it, it rather sucks. First, it was windy. Then, it was windy but from the other direction. Then, it rained. then, it sleeted. Then, the wind calmed down, but then it snowed. Then, the snow accumulated. it’s crazy. The water in the river was a foot or more higher than normal yesterday, today it was at least 3ft low, probably more. You could walk from the middle grounds to the riverwalk pier all on dry (well, exposed and mucky anyway) ground. Anyway, this is our first real snow, and though it’s, so far at least, not accumulating on concrete yet, it is accumulating on about everything else, and that’s more than the only other snow this season (actually, it was debated that that first snow was actually a frost, which is possible, since I never saw it fall, only white on various surfaces).

In school, hmmm…

I had another math test. Only 1 more of those left thankfully. Not bad on this test, but certainly could have been better. Also, I might lose one of my classes for next semester. Right now, there are only 2 people signed up, out of 25 seats. I will still have 12 credits, so no worry there, but still, it is a required class, I need it at some point.

OK, thats all for now.

Ohh, I will go for another poll soon too. But you all need to comment more I think.

nick

Sorry

Sorry, Editing, School, Jenn, and Parade.

Yes, I admit it, I have slightly neglected the blog for the past, uhm, 9-3=6 days. I have a good reason though, I just wont tell you. I have my reasons.

I am down to 86 iblog posts to edit, including the 18 misdated ones, out of 296 total. That means 210 edited so far, with the most recent unedited post being that of May 10, 2004. That means less than a year of posts remaining.

School is going, thats all I can say for it. This week I had a drafting and manufacturing test, as well as a math quiz, and will have a math test on Monday. Fun fun.

Jenn survived the weekend of being up 26 hours, sleeping about 5, being up 19 hours, then sleeping 6. This weekend she works Friday and Monday nights.

Hmmm…

This is part of why I haven’t posted, nothing to write about…

On December 2 in Sandusky is “the Original” Country Lighted Farm Implement Parade. Looks like fun.

OK, that’s it. Will try not to go as long again, probably post Saturdayish.

nick

General Updates

Car, Poll, and Class

We sold the Grand Prix. It was kind of sad, cause it was a good car, and has actually be running pretty well, but we didn’t use it, and had no reason to keep it. Besides, after just trying to sell a car, you become ready to burn it if needed, just to get rid of the hassle. Anyway though, it turns out we sold it to a granddaughter of a friend of my grandmother’s.

I switched to the new poll. As I think I said, i gave up on making my own, but will modify the hell out of this one. Eventually, I may switch to a different one again, but this one seems to do what I want. For now anyway.

I registered for classes for winter. My schedule shall be as follows:

Monday: CAD-226 5-8
Tuesday: EET-235 2-4, SPH-112 4-6
Wednesday: QA-244 5-8
Thursday: EET-235 2-4, MS-114 4-10

Yes, thats 2-10PM on Thursdays, I am a little afraid, but think I will survive. And for those of you who don’t have Delta’s class codes memorized, those classes will be:

CAD-226: Parametric Modeling – A 3D CAD class
EET-235: Electronic Circuits – amounts to a 15 week review to my 2 years at Skill Center
MS-114: Machine Tool – how to use mills, saws, grinders, etc…
QA-244: Statistical Process Control – Quality control and assurance, I’m really not totally clear on what all
SPH-112: Fundamentals of Oral Communication – How to talk and write to people and not look stupid (more people should take this I think)

OK, I think that’s it though.

nick

Sometimes You Just Have to Do It Yourself

Poll and Test.

So, after several days (both now and over the last few weeks) of looking for a poll script to use, and fidgeting to get them working, I decided screw it. I can probably write my own script in far less time, get it working, and make it do whatever I want (eventually anyway). So, I tried making my own. No, it doesn’t record your vote, or show you a graph, yet. I will keep with it though, because it already at least works, which is better than 8 of the 10 I have tried so far.

I did much better on my test than I had thought. I managed an 87% on it, which I think is amazing considering on Wednesday after the test I would have said I got an 80 tops.

That, however, is all I have for now. So, I will see you all whenever I have something else. See you all later.

nick

Quintoquadagintillion

Test, Apple, Numbers, and Updates

Math test today was not good. I knew 99% of the stuff, but I couldn’t finish due to spending too much time on a problem I didn’t remember how to do. Will see on Monday how I did.

Apple released updated Powermacs and PowerBooks, and a new program. Program sounds like somewhere between iPhoto and Photoshop, and is $499. Powermacs are now dual core 2.0, 2.3, and dual dual core 2.5GHz (thats 4 2.5GHz processors). Also have 16x PCI Express graphics and an open 8x and 2 4x PCI Express slots, dual Gigabit ethernet, and support for up to 16GB DDR533 RAM and 1 TB of HD. Powerbooks had 2 models dropped (those with combo drives), and the 15″ and 17″ got graphics updates as well as higher def displays and DDR 533 support,. Still no 13″ widescreen though (my dream to replace the 12″, not that I will buy till intel switch and I have $$ anyway).

Speaking of GB and TB, Scott found this cool numbers site. Sexoctagentillion, hah!

Not a lot else.

I am overall liking my current update schedule, approx. every Sunday and Wednesday, give or take. Let me know what you think.

I have work planned for the site over the weekend, so if you have troubles or see something weird, no worries. And I have a surprise for you all coming too. 🙂

Google, Index Me Please!

Movie, School, Jenn, Food, Table, and Site change

Apple now has a teaser for Ice Age 2 up, featuring the saber tooth squirrel. It looks pretty good, we will see.

This week, I think, is mid-point of semester, that’s exciting.

Jenn is no longer employed at Staples, he last day was yesterday. She got some nice going away gifts though. Also, she now has a kitchen table. It was on clearance at Meijer. Granted, she has no chairs for it, but still, she has a table.

We had Rudy J’s for dinner. It was good, very filling.

Ooh, just started raining hard.

I cleaned off my end table last night. Mostly paperwork. On the bottom, was a ticket from burger King for $1 off on Amazon. That was when, June? I think earlier. Yeah, I needed to clean.

What else… Uhm, Oh! Notice on the sidebar that the archives used to make a long list of all the months I have posted in, but I have now put into a drop-down list to use less space. it’s something I was going to include in the new template, but decided to throw it in here too.

OK, that it all I do believe. Nothing good over the weekend really, and nothing big with school other than an 18/20 on math quiz today.

Ok, see you all later then.

Bye!

Post 314 (316)

Count, Ice Age, School, and Site.

This is my 314th post, but WordPress thinks it’s 316, due to the example post and such. Fun fun.

They are making Ice Age 2 for 2006, yay! It’s actually funny, because I was really hyped about the first one and watched the preview a lot, but it turned out just kinda OK, but definitely good. I actually found it while looking up John Leguizamo because he’s going to be on ER starting next week, not sure if 1x or recurring.

In other news,
I had a really nice quiz on Monday, got a 19/20. And I found out today I don’t need to take one of the classes I thought I did.

On the website, I edited a crap load of posts, and am now down to 116 now. I also got more work on the template, as Scott saw. It’s still not very pretty, but it’s going.

I think that’s about it. Nothing else I can think of anyway.

Alright, talk to you all later.