November 2008 Archives

For my CAS 100A Public Speaking class, I am going to give my last speech of the semester tomorrow in class.  Throughout the semester, I have been talking about the issue of hunger in America.  For most Americans, hunger in America may seem like an oxymoron, but hunger is a reality that 36.5 million Americans struggle with every day.

For my last speech, I am going to advocate a solution that will help food banks across the nation better meet the ever increasing demand of food insecure or hungry Americans.  By visiting the Hunger Site and clicking on the "Click to Give Button", 1.1 cups of food will be donated to organizations such as Feeding America who then will distribute this food to food banks across the nation without having to donate a cent.  The Hunger Site is able to make these donations possible through donating 100% of the sponsorship fees they charge advertisers on the site.  Since the website's inception in June of 1999, the Hunger Site has donated over 500 million cups of food.

So, please take a few seconds and click on the "Click to Give Button" in order to help these 36.5 million hungry Americans this holiday season and all year long.

In my METEO 003H class, I learned about all kinds of meteorological phenomenon, but what I remember the most were contrails.  When jets travel at high altitudes, the engines put a lot of heat as well as water vapor into the atmosphere.  The jet leaves behind very turbulent air which mixes the hot moist air with the cold surrounding air of the atmosphere.  The water vapor quickly forms into ice crystals which form the contrails or streaks we see in the skies.

Now, contrails may soon become endangered as researchers are developing ways to erase these streaks from the sky.  One idea is to use a microwave emitter attached behind an airplane to remotely heat the condensation nuclei thus preventing the formation of contrails.

However, in my METEO 003H class, I learned that while contrails do impact the climate, contrails do so by preventing some of the sun's radiation from ever reaching the ground causing the Earth's climate to be cooler than it normally would be.  If we take away the contrails, wouldn't the Earth get warmer and isn't that what we are trying to fight?   This just serves as a reminder that the world we live in is fragile and changing one thing will have ramifications on the whole planet.  In other words, look before you walk.

After the second stage of the PGA qualifying tournament, golfer J.P. Hayes realized that he used a non-regulation golf ball for two strokes while sitting in his hotel room.  While no one else saw it or would have ever known, J.P. Hayes admitted his mishap to the PGA who subsequently disqualified him.  About the decision, J.P. Hayes said:

"No one would have known, but I knew.  I have some people looking down on me that would have known, so that was the decision I had to make."

When the mantra in the wide world of sports is "me, me, me, me," the actions of J.P. Hayes are remarkable.  To have that much accountability with a potential PGA membership and the money that comes with it on the line is a rare occurence in professional sports.  I would like to think that I would have that much honesty and accountability if I ever made a small mistake that could cause me to lose so much.  I'll just have to wait and see when the time comes.

In my travels across the Internets, I have stumbled upon what may be the most important mathematical equation of my lifetime.  Researchers at Bristol University have developed the mathematical formula for creating the perfect cheese sandwich.  After countless empirical trials, the following formula was obtained:

W  [1 + ((bd)/6.5)) - s + ((m-2c)/2) + ((v+p)/7t)] (100 + l/100)

where:
W = the thickness of Cheddar in millimetres
B = The thickness of the bread
D = The dough flavour modifier
S = The thickness of margarine or butter
M = The thickness of mayonnaise
C = The creaminess modifier
V = The thickness of tomato
P = The depth of pickle
T = The tanginess modifier
I = The thickness of the lettuce layer

Now, if you don't have the patience to plug and chug, you can visit their cheddarometer online.

Personally, the cheddarometer doesn't apply to me.  For my cheese sandwiches, I only need two things: bread and an unsightly amount of cheese.  However, what about the mathematical formula for Italian hoagies, hot dogs, or cheese steaks?  Perhaps a possible honors thesis..... 

I have often wondered why the mp3 player of my brain seems to continuously play back the same song.  A recent article on Howstuffworks.com explores why songs get stuck in people's heads.  When music is heard, the auditory cortex of the brain is stimulated, and according to researchers at Dartmouth University, the auditory cortex of the brain is still active and continues to play the song even when the actual music had long since stopped.  Women, musicians, and people who are tired and stressed are more likely to have what researchers at the University of Cinncinati call an earworm or a song that just won't go away.  Although there is currently no cure for earworms, a possible solution is to "picture the earworm as a real creature crawling out of your head, and imagine stomping on it."  A little graphic, but it may do the trick.

For me, I have learned to love when songs get stuck in my head mostly because it happens so much.  Especially at Penn State, listening to music has been an outlet "to keep me alive and feeling refreshed" as John Reuben would say.  Out of the many songs that have been stuck in my head this semester, the songs below make up the top 3.  Listen at your own risk....

"When She's Near" - Fiction Family - Click here to listen

"Goodnight Gravity" - Falling Up



"The Unwinding Cable Car" - Anberlin

Sometimes knowledge can give you power.  Today, knowledge made me feel like a geek, in a good warm and fuzzy way.  I was directed to an article in Networking World that decided to create the superheroes of networking.  I am currently in IST 220: Networking and Telecommunications, and I am a Batman fan.  Therefore, I had to check it out.  Here is one of the superheroes that I recognized:

These superheroes are known as the Unshielded Twisted Pair.  The reference here is to the popular transmission medium used in networking known as unshielded twisted pair cables and of course to the Wonder Twins.  While one of the rewards of knowledge might be power, another reward is humor.  The more you know, the better the chances that you will become an it-getter.

I read this comic in The Daily Collegian this morning and thought I'd share it:

With Barack Obama's victory on Tuesday, I couldn't help but notice some tie-ins to my favorite obsession. Obama has run on platforms on hope and change and promises to achieve those goals by uniting the government into action.  Hmm....sounds familiar:


As a Batman fan, I can't help but be reminded by The Dark Knight and Harvey Dent.  In the movie, Harvey Dent was the young and ambitious candidate who ran for district attorney.  His campaign was very similar to Obama's in the fact that he ran on a platform of hope and change and uniting the people of Gotham in order to fight the corrupt who had taken over their city.  However, after becoming district attorney, Dent became consumed by the very thing he was trying to fight thanks in large part to the Joker:  "Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I'm an agent of chaos. Oh, and you know the thing about chaos? It's fair."

A lot of parallels have been made between The Dark Knight and current events.  It has been said that Batman is like President Bush and the Joker resembles the anarchy supported by terrorists.  Batman kept Gotham City from falling into chaos by stopping the Joker through spying on all of Gotham City.  Despite what you may think of President Bush and his methods, he has kept this country safe from terrorist attacks since September 11, 2001, and I don't think it is because a lack of effort from our enemies.  Will Barack Obama be able to stand up against the threats of anarchy from our enemies or will he show that even the best men such as Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight can fall?  Who will the silent guardian and watchful protector of the United States be?  Only time will tell, but for now, I believe in Barack Obama.

"While we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism and doubt and those who tell us we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes We Can." -- Barack Obama

Can one vote really make that much of a difference?  What does it matter if I do or don't vote in the election on Tuesday?  How could I be that important?

To me, one vote makes all the difference.  The right to vote is the most fundamental freedom in the United States and allows Americans to have a voice in our government.  Without the right to vote, the government of the people, by the people, and for the people would cease to exist.  Americans have fought and died for the right to vote whether the adversary be societal standards or another nation.  Democracy is a precious gift that is never to be taken for granted and is a continual process with a final destination that is unattainable.  The goal is to work towards a more perfect union, and through voting, we as Americans can ensure that we continually strive to meet our goal and face challenges head on. 

So, the way I look at it, my vote is a continuation of the democratic process.  While my vote might not swing the election in Pennsylvania for Barack Obama or John McCain, my vote is still important in keeping the democratic process alive and fulfilling the civic duty that has been passed down from generation to generation.  So, on November 4th, regardless of which candidate you support, vote for democracy.