Yurt update

Yurt update 19Jan09

I have been doing some more work on materials.

One of the items that is used as insulation is Reflectix. It is a thermal barrier material – a mix between a space blanket and bubble wrap. Lowes has it available in 4ft by 25 ft and 16 inch by 25 feet rolls (P/Ns 13358 @ $49.85 and 13353 @ $19.73, respectively) – about 50 cents per square foot. At ~260 ft^2 walls and ~170 ft^2 roof, it'll run about $250 – a not insignificant expense.

I have also been looking at canvas for the walls. A 12# canvas is recommended[1]. The canvas needs to be waterproofed for longevity, but I have not been able to find waterproofed canvas rolls. Textilesforyou.com[2] has 12# canvas rolls. They have 50 and 100 yard rolls in widths of 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 12 feet. In terms of square footage, the four-foot width will be sufficient at $250, but might require sewing (1200 ft^2). I have come across a couple of waterproofing recipes on the web. One uses soya oil and turpentine, the other uses caulking and turpentine. Turpentine[3] is resin based and the soy oil[4] contains linoleic acid which are used in emulsifiers. A good mix, but, as I have stated before, I am not an O-chemist.

I looked for water- and fire-proofed canvas and the best that I could find were 12# tarps from e-tarps.com. They have tarps that are from 4-feet by 4-feet to 30-feet by 30-feet at ~44 cents per square foot. MUCH more expensive than the bulk canvas and they come in olive drab and would need to be painted.

I called a lumber store (not a big box) for some wood prices. Our local 84 Lumber did not have poplar, quoted a high price for oak, but did have spruce (!) boards 1 by 12 by 16 feet for $25.26!! The traditional woods are larch or birch, so spruce is very close to spec. The fact that they have 16 foot boards means that I can use a single board for both uni and khana laths (BTW they are called Khar mod), 6.5 and 8 feet respectively. This means that I could get by with 8 or 9 boards, reducing my lumber costs to about $250. The only issue is going to be transportation – I will have to get them to cut them, have a pretty day, and stick them in the convertible...or steal someone's truck.

[1] I need my wife to show me how to use a sewing machine and see if her machine can handle seams in 12# canvas.
[2] An html link for a web address. Humm. (cut and paste lost it)
[3] McMaster-Carr 7760T1 $22.01/gallon
[4] Soybean oil from vet supply e-tailer? $10.99/gallon.(web search was soy oil +gallon -biodisel)

Primavera (Espanol)

La Primavera viene a Alabama

Verde que te quiero verde (poesia por Federico Garcia Lorca)[1]


Ok. Para practicar mi Espanol, penso que necesito escribir unos

trabajos de blog en Epanol. Por favor, no risas -- Como dije,

necesito la practica. Y no recuerdo como se escribe los

accentos usando mi techlado -- Desculpame.

Hoy Tuscaloosa tiene un alto temperatura de 43°(F) and la

temperatura va a bajar a 9°(F). Por eso tendre que poner mis

gatitos en las casa por la noche. No estaban sin problemas

porque la gatita de mi hija (que se llama Serafina gracias a un

pelecula de Barbie) tiene 8 meses y quiere jugar? luchar con mi

gato favorito (Oreo porque es media negro y blanco - no es un

gato "hitler" pero es como la galleta Oreo. Pues el tiene siete

anos[2] de edad y normalmente es muy amable y le gusta dormir

entre mis piernas por la noche)

Ayer vi los flores que estan (blooming). Habia narcisus y

quince (un arbusto). Quince tiene pequenos flores rosados y son

temprano aqui (como los pajaros robins en Blacksburg). Quince

tiene un typo de fruta fea y amagra, pero se usa para preparar

un dulce que se llama membrillo. Un amigo mio me introduce

membrillo hace venti-tantos anos, el comio con queso -- sabor interesante.

Pues, despues de tantos interupciones, tengo que decir que mis daffodyls van a (bloom) entre el dieciseis y el vente de febrero[3]. La Primavera viendre por fin!

[1] Garcia Lorca es mi poeta favorita de Espana. El fue marcion

(es la palabra justa?) y durante La Guerra Civil fue matando

por los soldatos (guerrillas) del Faciastas. Por un pared, Y

listos, punten, fuego. Y despues puesto en un (grave) commun.

[2] Es como se escribe in portuges. Sabe lo que significa en

espanol.

[3] Si mi camera funciona, saquare fotos cada dia para monstrar.

Adios, James - Miren el inaguration!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/0f/Lorca_Olive

_Tree.jpg/180px-Lorca_Olive_Tree.jpg

Lorca -- (Trata de amor, pero me amo primavera)
Verde que te quiero verde.
Verde viento. Verdes ramas.
El barco sobre la mar
y el caballo en la montaña.
Con la sombra en la cintura
ella sueña en su baranda,
verde carne, pelo verde,
con ojos de fría plata.
Verde que te quiero verde.
Bajo la luna gitana,
las cosas la están mirando
y ella no puede mirarlas.
Verde que te quiero verde.
Grandes estrellas de escarcha
vienen con el pez de sombra
que abre el camino del alba.
La higuera frota su viento
con la lija de sus ramas,
y el monte, gato garduño,
eriza sus pitas agrias.
¿Pero quién vendra? ¿Y por dónde...?
Ella sigue en su baranda,
Verde came, pelo verde,
soñando en la mar amarga.
--Compadre, quiero cambiar
mi caballo por su casa,
mi montura por su espejo,
mi cuchillo per su manta.
Compadre, vengo sangrando,
desde los puertos de Cabra.
--Si yo pudiera, mocito,
este trato se cerraba.
Pero yo ya no soy yo,
ni mi casa es ya mi casa.
--Compadre, quiero morir
decentemente en mi cama.
De acero, si puede ser,
con las sábanas de holanda.
¿No ves la herida que tengo
desde el pecho a la garganta?
--Trescientas rosas morenas
lleva tu pechera blanca.
Tu sangre rezuma y huele
alrededor de tu faja.
Pero yo ya no soy yo,
ni mi casa es ya mi casa.
--Dejadme subir al menos
hasta las altas barandas;
¡dejadme subir!, dejadme,
hasta las verdes barandas.
Barandales de la luna
por donde retumba el agua.
Ya suben los dos compadres
hacia las altas barandas.
Dejando un rastro de sangre.
Dejando un rastro de lágrimas.
Temblaban en los tejados
farolillos de hojalata.
Mil panderos de cristal
herían la madrugada.
Verde que te quiero verde,
verde viento, verdes ramas.
Los dos compadres subieron.
El largo viento dejaba
en la boca un raro gusto
de hiel, de menta y de albahaca.
¡Compadre! ¿Donde está, díme?
¿Donde está tu niña amarga?
¡Cuántas veces te esperó!
¡Cuántas veces te esperara,
cara fresca, negro pelo,
en esta verde baranda!
Sobre el rostro del aljibe
se mecía la gitana.
Verde carne, pelo verde,
con ojos de fría plata.
Un carámbano de luna
la sostiene sobre el agua.
La noche se puso íntima
como una pequeña plaza.
Guardias civiles borrachos
en la puerta golpeaban.
Verde que te qinero verde.
Verde viento. Verdes ramas.
El barco sobre la mar.
Y el caballo en la montaña.

Andy Rooney

If anyone gets to the point of reading AND making comments, let me know if randomness sounds like Andy Roony on 60 minutes. Maybe I should start every post with, "Have you ever noticed?" In middle age, I guess we start converging toward that archetype.

Get off my lawn you darned kids!

T-12

This Summer I ended up with a 30% compression fracture of my T-12 vertebra[1]. I like to tell people that I was on my motorcycle jumping over 3 school buses, but in fact, I was on a ladder re-attaching some vinyl siding that had fallen off due to storms. I had my 12-year old, a paragon of attention[2]. I fell, landed on a shrub (it's okay) and my ankle (it's okay) before continuing to fall on my back. It hurt like a mo-fo, but once the initial pain was over, I went up stairs, had my son get me some cold water and put a movie in the DVD player. I had also called my wife, who went ballistic, left work, and carted me to the ER. I ended up in the hospital for three or four days[3] after MRIs and other probes and prods. I ended up with an IV and a catheter. The later was extremely uncomfortable and violated my rules on body orifices that are one way. Taking it out hurt, but compared to kidney stones, it was a stroll through the park.

I ended up going the bed rest route. This saved my insurance company some 200K (my guess), but did I get a thanks? What's your guess? What can I say about staying in a hospital bed for 9 weeks with a brace (that they didn't follow my instructions and reinforce with kevlar)? I stayed on the computer and had people to minister to my (cough) needs. I love my family, but having them as the only people to talk to was a real travail. Once I got on my feet, I visited the bathroom and took a shower -- pure heaven.

The really bad sides? I missed a site visit with a contractor in Huntsville (aerospace corrosion metallurgist -- which I am not) the week that I fell, and I also missed an site interview with an X-ray diffraction manufacturer[4] in Madison (google it if you are interested). They wanted a person to be their point expert on semiconductor applications -- I'd answer the phone questions and e-mails, do on-site training, etc. Couldn't go to site interview, they canceled the job. I like to say it was because they couldn't get me, but it could have been the sucky economy.

[1]This was my first broken bone in my XX years.
[2]He is beside me on photo, you just have to guess which is me.
[3]This is the only hospital stay that I've ever had.
[4]I used one of their instruments and I got a (metaphorical) hard-on. Wow. One of the 2 or 3 most impressive instruments that I've ever used.

Yurt update

I decided that I will need to buy tools! I went by Home Depot today and priced inexpensive jigsaws. They are about $30-40 (Black and Decker 4.5 and 6 amp on either end). I will use the jigsaw to cut the arc sections for the tono (roof ring). I've been thinking of 8 arcs of 45° for each of the three levels (each level being one inch), so $40 for 24 pieces? You betcha.

I have also been trying to CAD the yurt. I have been working on the tono, but I am using a trial version of ACAD LT 2009 and I haven't figured out how to do the layers and the older versions, there was a way to spin the object in 3-space. I have 26 days left on the trial to figure it out and see if my plans will work. Dontcha just love trying to figure out software without a manual with time constraints? BTW I ought to be using my IE training and get out MS Project and look at the critical paths, but first the money....

I still have no clue as to how you can bend the khana pieces in computer space. I can still use CAD to figure out the knot positions and the triming of the laths to fit them together.

Have I mentioned the door? While the tono has a dome that I'll need to figure out how to mortise and put together. The dimensions will be a 34 inch chord segment of a circle, I just need to figure out what looks best – maybe a fibbonci of the tono radius? 1.618 times 34 is 55 inches and 34 divided by 1.618 is 21[1].

Getting back to the door – this will be the most difficult of all the things that I'll have to do carpentry-wise. I'll have to use the khana to determine the gap for the door. I'll have to mortise the pieces together, all the times learning how to do it for the first time.

I'm going to see if I can find some 12# canvas (which I will be using for the cover). Wife (Shannon) says that she'll teach me how to use the sewing machine. Practice this, get the right needles and thread, see if I can use the machine to sew canvas seams. Then see if I can do this to waterproofed canvas[2].

[1] I am learning how to use OpenOffice and had to use help to figure out how to figure out the Golden Mean. You know Fibbonacci, right? 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,.... Start with zero and one, and the next entry is the sum of the proceeding two values. The Golden Mean is i(sub n)/1(sub n-1) and is roughly 1.618. This is an aesthetically pleasing proportion (due to natural selection?).

I CADed both 55 and 21 inches on the tono dimensions and both my son and I agreed that a 21 inch circle looked best. The gentle reader can plot and decide for themselves.

[2] I figure that I will waterproof myself. There is a recipe on the web that uses soya oil and turpentine for waterproofing. Will have to get some and test.

Fuzzy

I an earlier post I mentioned fuzzy logic (hereafter FL) and membership functions. Once I heard of Fuzzy, I was hooked. In normal logic, there are only two possible values; 0 for false and 1 for true. This boring, yet mathematically simple logic is usually called crisp. In FL a value can have any value bounded by 0 and 1 -- again false and true.

The glory of FL is that most real-world values are not either true or false. Let's give an example. Assume that we are talking about the height of a person. If a person is over 6 feet tall, he is”tall,” yet if he is less than 6 feet tall he is “short.” WTF? Would you honestly call someone 5-foot 10 short? Certainly not.

Let's put the same example in a FL. Let's say that over 7 feet is tall and less than 4 feet is short (the extremes will soon become clear). These are limits that we can pretty well agree on, but we can extend the definitions by a modifier – these are called hedges. Let's say a person is 5'10”, we'd say he was pretty tall and a person is 5 feet, we'd say that he is pretty small. If a person is 6'6”, he is very tall, and 4'6” is very small. FL allows us to assign a numerical value between 0 and 1 for these heights; very tall at 0.9, pretty tall at 0.75, pretty small at 0.25 and very small at 0.1. If we extend the example to one of weight, we could have a FL value, between for a person who is pretty small and very heavy. This could be used in models or expressions.

Another neat thing about FL is the concepts of sets. I watched Wall-E recently and there is a scene early in the movie when he is sorting his loot for the day. He has a spork and has an existential crisis because it isn't a spoon and it isn't a fork. He (?-- he could be a butch Fembot) ends up putting the spork between the cup of forks and the cup of spoons. It is interesting, but linguistically or neurologically we have a good idea of what we are talking about when we say, for example, vehicle (a set called vehicle). We say that a car is a vehicle and a truck is a vehicle. But what about a scooter or a segway or a horse? If vehicle is the set, a case can be made that all of the above examples are vehicles, in that they are devices that are used to move people from place to place. Let's say that the prototype or archetype vehicle is a car. It has a membership value in the set of 1. A truck is also used to move people, but it is also used to move crap, so it has a lesser membership value, say 0.75, or in Alabama, where everyone (it seems) who doesn't drive an SUV drives a pickup, is 0.9. This continues down to the point of scooter and horse. These two are marginal vehicles with scooter (.05) more of a vehicle because it is mechanical and a horse (0.02) less of a vehicle because it is biological (and less intelligent, arguably than a segway).

What about Wall-E? The spork, I think that we all can agree, has a 0.5 membership in set fork and a 0.5 membership in set spoon. In crisp logic, it is NOT a member of the set spoon and not a member of the set fork.

It really pissed me off in the 2000 elections when people talked about Fuzzy Math or Fuzzy Numbers when they claimed their opponent didn't know what they were talking about. As I think I might have made the case, these are fuzzy is a legitimate way of talking about logic and math.

Calculators and the failings of our youth (education systems)

Like any geek, proto-geek, or engineer, I can recall any calculator or computer that I have ever owned. My first calculator was an EC4000. IIRC, it was a Radio Shack licensed copy of a TI. It had a diode display, had to be charged nightly, and I prowdly wore it on my belt until my senior year of HS.

On 4Apr83, prior to my entering tech, I bought for $112.32 an HP15c and it started a passion for HPs that remains to this date[1]. The 15C is a wonderful calculator – it has a landscape form and can be used two-handed. I think this is the only family of calculators thus made[2].

My current calculator is a 48S. I really like it because of its statistical packages (never have to look up tables on a normal or, thank god, an F test). It was I believe the first HP with build in unit tagging. This meant that during thermo, I just had to declare one value for “R” and convert it to whatever the problem required[3].

I had purchased the successor model of the 48S, the 48G. I ended up selling it for $100. Although it had standard formulas, it was menu driven, and for most of the calculations that I wanted to do, it was slower. After nearly 10 years of use, the enter key stopped working. I took it to the University electronics shop, but they couldn't fix it. It was no londer made, of course, so eBay came to the rescue.

Upon unemployment, I considered taking the EIT, but part time work intruded. I got the APPROVED RPN calculator. Not as durable, not as useful and usually stays on the computer table. I let the wife use it[4].

When I subbed for the County schools, I was shocked at the number of calculators in the classrooms and their use. THE KIDS WOULD USE THEM TO EVALUATE SIMPLE EQUATIONS. What's worse is they had no idea if the result was reasonable. Before I had a calculator I used a slide rule on occasions. It really teaches you to check your decimal places and see if an answer is reasonable. I guess that I am too old school – I was shocked that they no longer solve Karnaugh maps[5] by hand anymore.

[1] Real geeks like HPs, or at least the old ones, because they use RPN, reverse polish notation. It changes how you think about math and you have trouble going back to “Normal” calculators. They don't have parenthesis or an equal key, they have a stack and an enter key. If I wanted to evaluate 3 times the quantity 12 squared plus 3, I'd go 12 ENTER, 12 ENTER, TIMES, 3, PLUS, 3 TIMES – Simple, Isn't it.
[2] The HP15C is no longer made, but is a highly sought calculator on eBay. They run about the same as what I payed for mine ~$120.
[3] Geiger and Porrier YUCK. This was the transport book that I used a Tech. Can you imagine doing heat transfer with BTUs?
[4] Being married to a geek (or having a geek for a dad) means that you might end up having to learn RPN.
[5] Part of my nightmares from being an EE student. They are a method of simplifying a logical expression.

The Path

The path of least resistance

When I moved in to my 1 bedroom apartment, I didn't have a TV. In fact, I ended up returning the cable box to the apartment office, just to get it out of sight. That is not to say that I didn't watch TV – I would go over to friends' apartments and annoy them by watching TV. The question is what I did to spend my time?

I spent a fortune on an audio system; a bought a Denon CD player[1], an 500W Adcom amp and preamp, and some Kef C75 speakers. I also would make a daily stop at Carol Lee doughnuts to get a cup of coffee and watch the entire town of Blacksburg pass in front of me[2]. Then I'd walk down College Avenue, cross Main, and spend some time at Vinyl Solution, a used CD store. The clerks all knew me, because I'd buy 3 or so discs a week. I collected with a passion. So, I listened with a passion. I had a friend ask to borrow the aparment for a day (why? I never really found out) and I told him to play Moody Blues and Jethro Tull so the neighbors wouldn't think that there was anything awry going on.

I also listened to NPR. Even at the time I listened to Morning Edition and ATC.

Then there were my books. Sigh. At this time my paperback collection was far less than it had been in its heyday. When I was on temporary outs with a girlfriend, I applied and was accepted as a transfer student in linguistics at the University of Hawai'i in Hilo, so I went by the used book store and dropped several carloads of paperbacks for sale—I was trying to reduce what I'd have to move. So, we ended up getting together and the plans for moving to Hilo were shelved.

Then I moved to Alabama. I lived in a cinderblock house in the middle of the woods. It was square and had triangular rooms[3]. There was little room for much furniture and I didn't bother to buy a bed. I slept on the floor, usually with a cat levy. As it was in the woods, I had issues with field mice and scorpions. My philosophy about non-deadly scorpions is to leave them alone – they are territorial and cannibalistic, so eventually you have one large scorpion that you know where hides, who eats the other ones.

Then came the computer. Sigh. I bought a Gateway 2000 (when they were hot shit) for $2800. It was a 386/7 with a 60GB hard drive. I started playing computer games – Sid Meyers Railroad game, which I got from Kolb [4] and Harpoon. Suddenly, I had a path of least resistance – I had passive things to do and my life changed.

Shortly after, my wife came along and then the kids. A TV came back into my life, a bed, and, of course later, TiVo. It is funny how the pendalum swings. As one TV is on the fritz, the other is monopolized by the 4-year old for Barbie movies and Noggin (TV channel). And I have a running battle with my 13-year old over computer time – He plays WoW, which I gave up (the subject of another entry) and is currently watching some multi-part Anime series with, it seems, several hundred parts.

I HAVE HAD THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE REMOVED! Viva La Revolucion!
We'll see how long it lasts.

[1] I was an early adaptor. I bought my first CD player, a Pioneer PD5010 (IIRC), in 1984. It was a bitch to get discs at the time.
[2] I kid you not, I drove down Main Street one day and in three blocks saw two ex-girl friends. And I was noted for long-time relationships.
[3] The architect should have been shot.
[4] Is he coming down this weekend?

Television

Television

When people ask me what I watch, I keep it simple. I tell them “cartoons and documentaries.” I guess about 10 years ago, I made a number of guidelines:

1. Never watch shows about Doctors.

2. Never watch shows about Lawyers.

3. Never watch shows about Cops.

4. Never watch anything set or about New Yorkers – I just can't understand or empathize (care) about them or what happens to them.

I am slightly a hypocrite, as we all are, and I have broken my rules at times. I got hooked on Mystery (PBS) back when I was in High School and got to watching Prime Suspect, and Waking the Dead[1]. Hypocrite – how can I live with myself?

My favorite PBS show for the past 30 years has been Nova. Always had fun talking to the professionals{about the shows that dealt with their specialties[2].

I guess my favorite cartoon now is “The Venture Brothers.” It kind of like what would happen if Jonny Quest grew up, Dr. Quest died, and he tries to run (incompetently), the shadow of Quest Industies. Odd, funny, and well written. They draw everything and have the blur the “naughty bits.”

“Cartoons and documentaries” is a bit simplistic, I also watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Humor and satire and puns – never take the gourd's name in vain, a huge CR pun, that had me rolling last week, if you saw it.

I also, due to my T-12 watched the entire run of “Lost” and “Weeds.” I had already watched season one of AMC's “Breaking Bad.” And no, I am not crashing on a weird island, or going into drug production or distribution.

[1] When I had my T-12 compression fracture, I got the full run of WtD and watched them. Evening snuggles with the wife watching them on the computer.

[2] The Scablands and the collapse of Lake Missoula is one I enjoyed talking with the geologists about.

My Yurt (aka wife/kid-free-zone or "Fortress of Solitude"

I like long term projects that allow me to exercise my mind and plan to my heart's content. I think that is a trait common with engineers, we like the planning more than the execution.

The kids are interested in camping and there are a number of areas nearby that would be great in the limited pleasant seasons in Alabama. I could buy a tent, but the research into the type, the size, the price, etc, could only keep me mentally occupied for at best 2 afternoons.

Based on an article on the instructables website[1], I came across a plan to make a yurt. I also fount a Schweitzer who has a wonderful planning site -- I am sure that he is an engineer or an uber-geek. That sparked my interest and I have been planning and pricing ad nauseum. I also purchased the "master" book on the subject The Complete Yurt Handbook by Paul King.

For those of you not in the know, a yurt (the Russian term for a ger) is a portable dwelling used in the high Asian steppes (Mongolia) that has some characteristics of a tent. I guess using fuzzy logic, it has a membership value of 0.8 for "tent." It has a circular lattice (scissoring for collapsing and transporting) that mates to a door and the roof is essentially conical.

I am planning a 5 meter yurt, which is about 15 feet in diameter, it will have side walls 5' high, and about 200 ft^2 of floor space.

Terminology (fairly simple):
Khana -- the scissoring wall sectons (4 for me); laths 6.5 feet long connected at 90° to one another. Will need 110 laths, each with 7 holes drilled for attachment points.
Uni -- the rafter poles (8 feet long, with attachment methods) Will need 52
Tono -- the central rafter hub (wheel). It will have have 52 holes angled at 33° to attach the uni and will be 34-inches in diameter

I have been pricing wood and have discovered that it will not be that inexpensive. Options based on:
8 and 10 foot long 12 inch by 1 inch poplar -- $491 (after a 20% added fudge)
8 and 10 foot long 12 inch by 1 inch oak -- $703 (after a 20% added fudge)
8 and 10 foot long 12 inch by 1 inch pine-- $195 (after a 20% added fudge)

Finances, obviously will have something to do with the choice. Personally, I'd like poplar.

The traditional attachment of the laths is rawhide -- yuk. I think I will use nylon rope. Brass screws are an option, but certainly less traditional.

I am going to go no traditional on the uni to tono connection. I think that I'll use 3-inch sections of 1045 steel. After all, they will be invisible. Fastenal 24 feet of 1/4 rod @ $11.52 + finding someone to cut them into 3-inch lengths. Glue them into the uni and drill holes (snug) in the tono.

I also need to make a work bench. I figure 4 sawhorse brackets ($ 27.88), 2 by 4's, and 3/4 plywood will be what I need for the bench.

I have a circular saw that I can jury-rig inverted to use as a table saw on the work bench. I'll need an ultra thin kerf blade ($10.97 -- will one be enough?).

I want a draw knife for shaping the ends of the uni (octagonal flats work well) - $33.97

I thought about getting a spoke shave, too, but they are ~$120!!!

What I need to do -- make a frame for the tono -- I can use straight boards, I think 3 layers of 8 pieces, but I need to find someone with a bandsaw.

Drilling the holes into the tono will need a drill press (for best results).

I still haven't planned the door.

I need to work on my 3-D CAD to do the modeling.


[1] I highly recommend the site to people who have too much time on their hands (unemployed like me)

Things that go boom! Fears?

I have had a very quick (Thursday through Friday) first contact to phone interview with a DHS contractor that does Explosives Trace Detection. It went well and I expect a site visit in short order.

They were looking for a Chemist (which I am not); I might be able to fake being a physical or analytical chemist, but not an organic chemist. Organic molecules are the ones that typically go boom! So anyway I did research on my best guess of what they wanted to detect (and nailed it), but I am sure that I've gotten on an FBI watch list (or at least my IP has).

If I had to fear terrorist attacks, I would prioritize my fears thus:
1. Being in a big city that is a transportation hub (NY, Seville, London, as examples)
2. The device being used, will be portable and have high energy and deployed for maximum effect (say at subway (London) or train stations (Seville)).
I am not fond of big cities or crowds, so I think I am safe. Although I could envision living in a city like Oklahoma City (good old home-grown terrorists).

The explosive used:
1. Easily obtained and easily synthesized. This is a biggie. A very simple search can give you a frightening list -- You could even use flour! Although deployment would be problematical.
2. Foreign obtained RDX.
3. Radiological materials -- These are not necessarily kill-instantly devices, but are health-threatening and certainly economic terror weapons (A book by Harry Turtledove, the master of alternate fiction wrote The Man with the Iron Heart about an instance in his alternate history where the Nazis had post-war resistance a la Iraq [1].)
4. Low yield nuclear devices smuggled over the Mexican border, or the Port of Longbeach, and obtained (stolen/purchased) from a Russian Satellite state, or less likely an unstable nuclear power, such as North Korea (IMHO too incompetent), Iran (IHMO too smart), or Pakistan (IMHO the best candidate. Tribal areas not subject to governmental control -- WTF?

I hate to say that the best bang for the buck in terms of human safety is outlawing cigarettes.

I recently read Freakanomics and there are a number of studies that challenges our fears. One of them being that backyard pools are about a hundred times more dangerous than handguns in the house. Having recently had one of my cats drownd in a neighboors pool, I can certainly understand that.

I must say that I have neglected biological weapons -- this might be the biggest fear. An outbreak of a 1918 flu epidemic would be devistating.

[1] you might want to check out The Man With The Iron Heart
[2] Freakanomics

My CV -- give me a job!

James Litton Weston
7041 Forest Mill Drive
Cottondale, AL 35453
(205)-XXX-XXXX [redacted for privacy]
XXXX@gmail.com [redacted for privacy]

Education:
2002 PhD Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, University of Alabama, AL
“Magnetic and structural characterization of thin film magnetoelastic materials”
1999 MS Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, University of Alabama, AL
“Magnetic characterization of nanostructured magnetic networks fabricated on alumina substrates”
1996 B.S. (magna cum laude) Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, University of Alabama, AL
1990 B.A. History, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA

Employment:
2008 Driver NPC International
2007-2008 Substitute teacher/Tuscaloosa County Schools
2001-Sept 2007, Center for Materials for Information Technology (MINT), University of Alabama Tuscaloosa AL 35487 - Manager, Materials Research Facilities
1996-2001, Research Assistant and graduate research assistant under Dr. John A. Barnard

Technical Skills:
* Magnetic characterization (hysteresis, remanence, thermal/time decay measurements using AGM and VSM)
* Structural characterization using Rigaku, Pananalytical X’Pert, and Bruker D8 GADDS XRD systems. SEM, E-beam lithography, and EDX (Philips XL-30, Quantum FIB, JEOL 6400 and 7000)
* Thin film deposition (DC and RF magnetron sputtering) and ancillary vacuum practices
* Digital AFM
* Statistics, statistical process control, Taguchi-based design of experiments, Labview and C, systems electronics

Teaching/Training Experience:
* X-ray diffraction – trained over 100 researchers in 3 different systems, designed tutorials and training materials, and consulted on epitaxial film characterization
* Sputter deposition - trained about 40 researchers in sputter deposition and vacuum maintenance on 3 different systems
* Magnetic characterization - trained about 80 researchers in magnetic characterization and analysis
* SEM - trained about 10 researchers in e-beam lithography and 8 researchers in FIB.
* Ion Milling - trained about 10 researchers

Grant/Proposal Involvement:
Alkali Halide materials for use as TMR barrier materials, proposal to NSF, Patrick LeClair (PI, Physics-UA), J. Weston (Co-PI, MINT)

University Committees:
Lab Safety and Environmental Compliance Committee (LSECC)
Radiation Advisory Committee (2006-7 Chair)
Laser Safety Committee
Central Analytical Facility Advisory Committee
MINT Director - Search Committee

Honors and Offices:
National Alumni Association Graduate Fellowship (2000-2001)
National Alumni Association Graduate Fellowship (1998-1999)
Graduate Council Research Fellowship (1997-1998)
AFS/ASM/TMS, Student chapter secretary (1996-1997)
Citation Carolina Scholarship (1996)

Publications (cited 250 times by Aug 2007):

--Major research areas: magnetic thin film growth, nanostructuring of magnetic thin films, epitaxial and electrodeposited thin films, FMR characterization of nanostructured materials, exchange-coupled hard-soft multilayer films, and magnetoelastic thin films

1. J.A. Barnard, H. Fujiwara, V.R. Inturi, J.D. Jarratt, T.W. Scharf, J.L. Weston “Nanostructured magnetic networks” APL 69, 2758 (1996)
2. J. D. Jarratt, V.R. Inturi, J.L. Weston, J.A. Barnard. “Stress in sputtered Co90Fe10/Ag GMR multilayers” MRS Symposium 436, 441 (1997)
3. J.A. Barnard, A. Butera, H. Fujiwara, V.R. Inturi, J.D. Jarratt, T.J. Klemmer, T.W. Scharf, J.L. Weston ”High coercivity nanostructured networks” JAP 81, 5467 (1997)
4. J.L.Weston, A. Butera, V.R. Inturi, J.D. Jarratt, J.A. Barnard “Effect of annealing on nanostructured Fe neworks” IEEE MAG 33, 3626 (1997)
5. A. Butera, J.L. Weston, J.A. Barnard “Magnetic interactions in Fe films sputtered on nanochannel alumina” IEEE MAG 33, 3604 (1997)
6. A. Butera, J.L. Weston, J.A. Barnard “Activation volumes and interparticle interaction effects in nanostructured Fe networks” JAP 81, 7432 (1997)
7. A. Butera, J.L. Weston, J.A. Barnard “Temperature dependence on the coercivity of Fe films sputtered on nanochannel alumina” IEEE MAG 34, 1024 (1998)
8. J.L. Weston, A. Butera, D. Otte, J.A. Barnard “Nanostructured magnetic materials: A materials perpective” JMMM 193, 515 (1999)
9. F.Liu, M.T. Umlor, L. Shen, J. Weston, J.A. Mankey, G.L. Mankey “The growth of nanometer structured iron films produced by the technique of glancing-angle deposition” JAP 85, 5486 (1999)
10. D. Otte, J.L. Weston, J. Zhou, J.A. Barnard “Interparticle interactions and time effects in very thin Fe-SiO2 granular films” JAP 85, 7824 (1999)
11. A. Butera, J.L. Weston, J.A. Barnard “Nanostructured Fe networks studied by ferromagnetic resonance” IEEE MAG 36, 3044 (2000)
12. J.L. Weston, S.S. Yan, G. Zangari, J.A. Barnard “Magnetic characterization of Fe60Sm40/(Fe86.7Ta3.3)N multilayer films” JAP 89, 6831 (2001)
13. S.S. Yan, W.J. Liu, J.L. Weston, G. Zangari, J.A. Barnard “Magnetization reversal mechanism of hard/soft exchange-coupled trilayers” PRB 63, 17445 (2001)
14. S.S. Yan, J. Du, J.L. Weston, G.Zangari, J.A. Barnard “Modulated magnetic properties of exchange-coupled SmFe/NiFe multilayers” JMMM 231, 241 (2001)
15. S.S. Yan, J.L. Weston, F.T. Xu, G. Zangari, J.A. Barnard “Critical dimension of the transition from single switching to exchange spring process in exchange-coupled hard/soft bilayers” PRB 64, 184403 (2001)
16. G. Gubbiotti, C. Carlotti, J.L. Weston, G. Zangari, J.A. Barnard “Brillouin light scattering investigation of FeSm/FeTaN trilayer” JMMM 240, 226 (2002)
17. J.L. Weston, A. Butera, S.S. Yan, G. Zangari, J.A. Barnard “Magnetization reversal processes in FeSm thin films” Physica B 320, 253 (2002)
18. A. Butera, J.L. Weston, J.A. Barnard “Magnetic coupling in FeSm/FeTaN multilayers” IEEE MAG 38, 2682 (2002)
19. J.L. Weston, A. Butera, T. Lograsso, M. Shamsuzzoha, I. Zana, G. Zangari, J.A. Barnard “Fabrication and characterization of FeGa thin films” IEEE Mag 38, 2832 (2002)
20. G. Gubbiotti, C. Carlotti, M. Madami, J.L. Weston, G. Zangari, P. Vavassori “Exchange coupling in FeTaN/FeSm/FeTaN multilayers: A Kerr effect study” IEEE Mag 38, 2779 (2002)
21. S.S. Yan, M. Elkawani, D.S. Li, H.Garmestani, J.P. Liu, J.L. Weston, G. Zangari “Soft/Hard exchange-coupling layered structures with modulated exchange coupling” JAP 94, 7 (2003)
22. V.V. Krishnamurthy, J.L. Weston, G.J. Mankey, N. Kaeamura, M. Suzuki, T. Ishikawa “Magnetism of Ir in Fe2IrSi from Ir L2,3 edge X-ray magnetic circulat dichroism spectroscopy” JAP 93, 7981 (2003)
23. A. Butera, J.L. Weston, J.A. Barnard “Ferromagnetic resonance of epitaxial Fe81Ga19 (110) thin films” JMMM 284, 17 (2004)
24. P. Vavassori, G. Gubbiotti, G. Carlotti, M, Madami, A. DiCristoforo, P. Mengucci, J. Weston, G. Zangari “Magnetization reversal in excahange-coupled FeTaN/FeSm/FeTaN multilayers” JMMM 272, e949 (2004)
25. G. Gubbiotti, P. Vavassori, C. Carlotti, M. Madami, G. Baruuca, P. Menguchi, J.L. Weston, G. Zangari “Structural and magnetic properties of exchange-spring FeTaN/FeSm/FeTaN multilayers” Surf Sci 286, 479 (2005)
26. A. Butera, J. Gomez, J.A. Barnard, J.L. Weston “Growth and characterization of epitaxial FeGa/MgO (100) thin films” J. Appl. Phys. 98,033901 (2005)
27. G. Gubbiotti, C. Carlotti, J.L. Weston, G. Zangari, D.C. Crew, R.L. Stamps “Asymmetry in the static and dynamic magnetic properties of a weak exchange spring trilayer” JMMM 286, 479 (2005)
28. G.S. Rajan, K.A. Mauritz, S.L. Stroeyer, T. Kwee, P. Mani, J.L. Weston, D.E. Nikles, M. Shamsuzzoha “Poly(styrene-b-ethylene/butyl-b-styrene)/cobat ferrite magnetic nanocomposites” J. Polymer Sci B. 43, 1475 (2005)
29. F.T. Xu, S.M. Thaler, C.A. Lopez, J.A. Barnard, A Butera, J.L. Weston “Stable charge storage in granular thin films” Appl. Phys. Lett. 86, 074105 (2005)
30. R.P. Swatloski, J.D. Holbrey, J.L. Weston, R.D. Rogers “Preparation of magnetic cellulose composites containing ionic liquids” Chemisty Today 24, 31 (2006)
31. J.Gomez, A. Butera, J. Weston “Magnetic coupling in Fe/Fe-SiO2/Ni80Fe20 thin films” Physica B. 384, 126 (2006)
32. A. Butera, J. Gomez, J.A. Barnard, J.L. Weston “Magnetic Anisotropy in Fe81Ga19/MgO (100) films sputtered at different powers” Physica B. 384, 262 (2006).
33. G. Pattanaik, G. Zangari, J. Weston “Perpendicular anisotropy in electrodeposited, Co-rich Co-Pt films by use of Ru underlayers” Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, 112506 (2006)
34. J. Gomez, J.L. Weston, A. Butera “Coupling of Fe thin films through a granular magnetic layer” J. Appl. Phys. 100, 053908 (2006).
35. X. Xu, J.Weston, G. Zangari “Fine tuning the coercivity in electrodeposited, Co-rich Co-Pt alloy films with perpendicular anisotropy” J. Appl. Phys. 101, 09K520 (2007)
36. J. Gomez, J.L. Weston, A. Butera “Ferromagnetic coupled modes in continuous/granular multilayers: Models and Experiments” Phys. Rev B. 76, 184416 (2007)
37. J. Gomez, J.L. Weston, A. Butera “Angular dependence of ferromagnetic resonance spectrum in continuous/heterogeneous multilayers” J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 320,e239 (2008)

Conferences/Short Courses/Invited Presentations:
41st Annual Conference on Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (12-15 November 1996, Atlanta, GA)
1997 International Magnetics Conference INTERMAG (1-4 April 1997, New Orleans, LA) oral presentation FB-04
1997 Guest researcher at NIST Boulder, Co(sponsor Steve Russek)
40th TMS Electronic Materials Conference (24-26 June 1997, Charlottesville, VA) oral presentation J7
7th International Conference on Magnetic recording Media (30August-3September 1998, Maastricht, the Netherlands)
Spintronics ’98 (Spin transport summer school 2-8 August 1998, South Tahoe, CA)
43rd Annual Conference on Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (9-12 November 1998, Miami, FL)
NATO ASI “Magnetic storage systems beyond 2000” (12-23 June 2000, Rhodes, Greece)
8th Joint MMM-Intermag Conference (7-11 January 2001, San Antonio, TX ) Oral presentation CB-12
2001 Guest researcher at Centro Atomico Bariloche (San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina, sponsor Alejandro Butera)
2001 “Giant Magnetoelastic Thin films” US Navy Surface Warfare Center, Carderock MD

Languages:
Native English speaker, fluent in Spanish (studied and worked abroad), some fluency in Chinese (2 years college-level classes), German, and French.

Past Research Collaborations:
Giovanni Zangari (University of Virginia) Electrodeposited epitaxial CoPt films using Ru as an epitaxial seed layer
Alejandro Butera (CAB, Argentina) Epitaxial FeGa and Granular Fe-SiO2 film
Sergei Mirov (UAB) Cr diffusion in semiconductor crystals
Greg Thompson and Patrick LeClair (UA) Deposition of epitaxial LiF films
Kalyan Das (Tuskeegee University) Thin film growth for GaAs devices

Being a Facebook virgin (noob?)

Hello to all who might have stumbled upon this block blindly, or have been told personally to look at it.

I have been guarding my web privacy for a while, but I realized that Google knew everything about me (even more than the CIA, the NSA, the FBI, and other agencies more secret), that I might as well share my thought to others who might find them interesting.

Earlier this week, I took the plunge and started a facebook (hereafter "FB" account. It's odd. To begin with they ask you about your affiliations, such as schools, so I mentioned my incarceration at Radford High School, my happy times at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (known by the rest of the world, even wiki, as Virginia Tech and by some fogies as the University of I460), and my busy work-filled time at the University of Alabama.

So, all of a sudden I was given a list of my possible friends{[1] based on my HS year and my university affiliations. It's funny, but I now have friends, who are friends[2] (people that I chose to associate with) that I have not heard of for 20+ years.

It was possibly a mistake, but I let FB scan my gmail and all of a sudden I had friends who were co-workers, my beloved graduate students, and colleagues.

Friendship is a 2-stage process, you have to ask to be a friend (and fill out one of those scribbled anti-spam words), then your proto-friend, will give you a thumbs up or down. 100% so far -- maybe I am popular.


[1] friend Someone who you have asked to be a FB link and they have accepted.
[2] Friend Someone you like and have chosen to spend time and effort to enjoy their companionship.