state of the union

I went to the APS conference in Pittsburgh. Not much to report on that, it was much as you'd expect, pictures to come. It was intense, I can say that for the experience. There were 7000 physicists in one town for a week. It starts at 8 in the morning and goes till five at night with 3, 3 hour sessions a day, and each of those sessions has 15 to 45 minute mini sessions where each person gives their 'talk'. They tell what their new and exciting research has produced. Then there were evening sessions, dinners, meetings and such. I went to my invited conference on sunday, that was why I went in the first place, and I went to 3 out of 6 sessions on monday and tuesday. The other time I spent in the exhibit hall and then tooling around pittsburgh, blah blah blah. Unless you care about physics you wont care about my trip, but I do have a moderately interesting story to recount.
When I was a waitress I was the queen of tray carrying. I could always carry a full and awkward tray with no spills, mess, or dropping. Its not that I was super talented, I just knew the secret. Occasionally I would meet another waitress who did not know the secret and I would try many different methods with all possible humility and tact to explain it, but without fail, they never appreciated the magnitude of the secret. No matter how much pain and suffering it would save them, they simply were not grateful.
When I was in Pittsburgh I was at a bar by my hotel having dinner and I witnessed yet another waitress making the big tray mistake. Many people when carrying a tray will attempt to place the drinks evenly and equidistant from each other around the whole surface of the tray and then try to precariously hold it at the center of gravity and balance with all their might. Then, not only are they all far away from the center of mass, they all are radially removed from it so they will often have extra velocity than the place at which you are holding it. (think of a record player, the edge of the record makes a circle in the same length of time as the center, but covers a much greater distance, therefore greater velocity). This means it has more momentum and requires greater force to stop, force that you are not applying except to the place where you are holding.
It need not be that difficult at all. The SECRET is to stack all the drinks together in a clump, with the rims of the glasses touching one another. Then not only are they closer to the center of mass, some are even right over it. Also, the force applied when you stop moving is very efficiently applied to all the drinks, and they all have the same velocity and require the same force to stop. Much more stable too, wider base to height ratio.
If you keep that in mind when setting your drinks, you could place the whole clump at the far edge and it doesn't matter as long as you place your hand roughly under the center of the drinks.
So when I saw this young lady making the mistake, it gave me pain. I was tempted, even, to explain it too her yet again. But now, even though I could even explain the physics behind it to her, I still don't think she would have appreciated it.

007

After Roger Moore finished his last james bond movie there was debate over who should play him next. I was a huge fan of Remington Steele at the time, and of course, Pierce Brosnan was up for the part. I just knew he was perfect for it. Who did they choose? Timothy f'ing Dalton. Two movies later, they finally saw the light, and Pierce did 3 movies as the spy. Proving, of course, that I am always right. Then, after Brosnan's run, it was time to choose a new one. I had heard a rumor that Clive Owen was being considered. I had recently seen a movie called 'Croupier' in which Owen starred brilliantly, and I just knew he was the right man. Whom did they choose? Daniel Craig, a f'ing blonde. Hopefully they see the light, because I would LOVE to see Clive Owen as 007. I think he might need to be a bit older, though. Also, rumor has it, he turned it down. Whatever, they just need to remember that I am always right.

FISHER PRICE my first electron microscope

<font style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: -webkit-monospace; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" size="undefined">Today I took my very first SOLO electron microscope images. An electron microscope bombards the surface of a specimen with, you guessed it, electrons, and then measures the energy of the reflected electrons to create a topographical image of a sample. The microscope used for the teaching purposes of the class I am taking was built in, like, 1978, so there is a nob for everything. I wish I could show you a picture but they are so old that google images does not have one. The item I imaged was this:<br><br><img src="http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r134/aclauer/pii.jpg"></font> The area marked 1 is what these images are of. It is the contact for this card when it is inserted into a board.&nbsp; I will be imaging areas 2 and 3 as well, but I am starting with 1. The first image I took was at 15x magnification:<br><img src="http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r134/aclauer/15xsamp1-1.jpg"><br>Not that high mag, but exciting none the less.<br>Next was 50 mag I think.<br><img src="http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r134/aclauer/50xsamp1-1.jpg"><br>Notice how the silicon board area in between the contact is starting to become less of a solid area and much more wavy.<br><br><img src="http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r134/aclauer/150xsam1.jpg"><br>I think this was 500. Check out how weird the silicon area is starting to look.<br><br>Then I did the connector and silicon individually:<br><img src="http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r134/aclauer/500xsa1.jpg"><br>I didn't clean the specimen with alcohol before, only water so some of those artifacts may disappear. That's the connector, btw.<br><img src="http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r134/aclauer/1500xsa1-1.jpg"><br>Thats the silicon. <br><br>Anyway, it's very exciting for me. Also, xray analysis proved that the connector is primarily gold.<br>

guilty pleasures

This is a list, in no particular order, of things I like, or things that make me happy, that are
a. bad for me
b. geekier than usual
c. embarassing
d. all of the above

Some of them I admit to, some I dont.

The tv show 'Friends'
that song 'Hey there delilah'
Dirtbag boys (though I pick ones with jobs)
taco bell
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
My married math professor (I wouldn't act on it)
letting people know how smart I am
beer
beer
liquor
beer
making out while drunk
karaoke
Dave Matthews band
showing off my Lexus (I mean really, its a '92)
porn
porn
teen movies (especially: bring it on, ten things I hate about you, mean girls, save the last dance, etc)
pining for old loves
gossip
celebrity gossip
Sarah Machlachlan
Sheryl Crow
Fleetwood Mac
Bob Seger
Meatloaf (the band)
talking about sex
Tonya Harding
Dive bars
being needed
star trek the next generation
money from my dad
myspace
blogging

And now you know everything