While we were both in Colorado last winter, Michelle and I talked a lot about the emotional and physical logistics of moving back there permanently. Our two body problem. Location, career or love, (like sleep, good grades or a social life): pick two. We tried to write an outline of all the decision points we might face. A decision tree. It became a mess. Then we started writing it as a Python program, with zane and michelle objects, and method calls like zane.findjob(loc="boulder"). But it’s not really that kind of problem. It’s not deterministic. This is decision making under uncertainty. Strategic and emotional, not entirely susceptible to reason. It really stopped being an academic problem when I got the interview with NREL, and it seemed to go well. Even if I don’t get the job (they still haven’t said one way or the other, as of mid February August), it was certainly a useful exercise in the sense that It made us think and feel through the realities of what doing something like that would mean.
Author: Zane Selvans
A former space explorer, now marooned on a beautiful, dying world.
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Spinning Europa 1: Introduction
Aaron suggested that my paper would would be much better if it read more like one of my blog posts, and less like a litany of torture lab notebook. So here it is in parts, written as if I intended for you, dear reader, to read it. (But don’t worry Bob, I’m actually working on the real paper). It’ll probably be cathartic, as one of the things I hate about writing papers is the formalistic language. It makes the content less readable, less enjoyable, less human. I just don’t see the point. If the content is up here, then anyone who feels the same way can get an idea of what’s going on without wading through all the passive voice crap. It’ll also help me enjoy writing it, and let me feel like I got it out of my system. Plus, on the internet, color figures are free (not $350 for the first page, $175 for each additional page… I mean jeez, that’s like a year’s worth of hosting fees just for one paper), you can insert links, and nobody has to pay $3975 per year for a subscription. Oh, and sweet, I also get to retain the copyright. Honestly, paper journals are so sad. Of course there’s that pesky peer review, but you’ll find a comment form at the bottom of the page, and if you actually make it that far, by all means let me know what you think. In a production environment, the publication would be hosted on a neutral third party site, precluding me from editing or deleting comments, verifying everybody’s identities, and ensuring that the content was archived effectively. Alas, we’re not there yet. Maybe this will seem ridiculous at this point in the grad school experience, but I actually maybe for the first time understand why someone would want to give a talk. I have results, they’re interesting (if you’re into this kind of thing), but I don’t really know what they mean.
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The Once and Future Friend
At some point growing up I thought that all the “old” people were so different from me. Actually, I thought just about everyone in Sanger and the Central Valley was different from me, but looking across generations it seemed most obvious. I think the first hint I had that there were people like me (whatever that means) from the past were Hugh and Dianne in Davis. But it didn’t really get through. Caltech wasn’t any better – the inter-generational divide (student to teacher mostly) was too wide to really see the faculty as people. Nevermind the unpleasant schooling experience and all its baggage.
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Another way of breeding
More and more I suspect that short of some kind of existential catastrophe, in the near future the human genome is going to start getting re-written de novo every few generations. This makes the already shaky argument for propagating my own personal genome all the more ridiculous. Queen Elizabeth, for instance, in all likelihood carries exactly zero genes passed down to her from William the Conqueror, and that’s without genetic engineering. Far more important today will be the ideas and technologies that are passed forward. Add to this my deeply held belief that virtually all of the dangers and problems we face in the near term as a species, and a biosphere, stem from the enormous and rapidly growing human population (and it’s unending desire for material goods), and actually reproducing biologically becomes not only unnecessary, but morally dubious.
But there is still a powerful attraction to having kids. To experiencing that kind of persistent mentorship, from the point of view of the mentor. To watching, and hopefully guiding, another human being on the path to self-awareness, and an awareness of the world. To having a visceral and deep connection to the future, through a person who will live in it.
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Two by Four Brew Bread
This recipe is a variation on the no-knead bread made famous a couple of years ago by the New York Times.
Brewing beer at home means ending up with a gigantic pile of spent mash – malted barley and other grains that have been sprouted, roasted, and then soaked to release their carbohydrates as simple sugars for the yeast to consume. The remains are rich in fiber and protien, and also still have residual starches. They make wonderful compost, but it seems a waste to just toss out all that nutritious food!
So instead, I’ve been trying to figure out the right way to reliably incorporate it into bread, and I think I’ve finally found an insanely simple recipe that works:
- 2 cups bread flour
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 cups spent mash grains
- 2 cups warm water
- a pinch of salt
- a quarter teaspoon of dry yeast.
Add all the dry ingredients together (the mash grains will be wet, but that’s okay – add them in too). Then add the water, and mix until it’s a big sticky ball. Let sit covered overnight, and plop out onto a floured surface for a second rise. Make sure the whole surface of the dough ball gets floured. Let it rise for an hour or so, covered.
Meanwhile, preheat your dutch oven (or other massive, heat retaining baking vessel with a lid) to 350F in the oven for at least half an hour. Drop the now risen dough blob in and shake it around a little to get it to settle. Bake covered for 45 minutes. Remove lid, and bake for another 45 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow to cool, and enjoy!
Still takes a long long time to go through an entire batch of spent grains. Best to separate them into several 4 cup yogurt containers and freeze them for later use.
Dear Congressman Schiff,
I note that you are on the House Judiciary Committee, which is currently considering H.R. 801, sponsored by John Conyers (D, MI), and entitled the Fair Copyright in Research Works Act. I also notice, courtesy of MAPLight.org, that you received $6,000 from the publishing industry in the most recent election cycle, which is actually more than the average received by those representatives who co-sponsored the bill.
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Have you changed your mind?
This animation was inspired by an anti-drug poster, which showed two brain scans and the text “Have you changed your mind?”. Since the target audience was obviously not neuroscientists or brain surgeons, the only way to interpret it was based on the context, in which the connotation was presumably that one of the scans is a “damaged” drug-user’s brain, and the other is a healthy D.A.R.E. graduate.
Ironically, in a different context, the image becomes pro-drug. The word “psychedelic” is from the Greek roots psyche (mind) and delos (to manifest or become). Psychedelic means “mind-making”, or even, quite literally, “mind changing”. To those who have had positive, responsible, drug experiences, the poster might as well be channeling Jimi Hendrix: Are you experienced?
Made with the GIMP, and licensed to the public like all my content here, under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 license.
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Snowshoeing to Boreas Pass
Two carloads worth of us headed up to Boreas Pass outside of Breckenridge, CO on New Years Day, for a mellow ski/snowshoe in to the Section House hut, about 6 miles in on an old mining railroad grade. Along for the ride were Kamile Dilmurat, Trevor Stone, Stephen Hill, Michelle Selvans, Zane Selvans, Mike Stempel, Susan Stempel, Paul Stempel, and Megan Fluckiger. We had some ominous but ultimately calm weather on the way in, and a gorgeous sunny day on the way out, with blustery wind all night long. Kamile didn’t really sleep the night before, and had never been on such a trip, so she was pretty zonked. Michelle was still getting over her winter break bug, whatever it was, and got kind of sick on the way out. But other than that, I think everyone had a good time. I’d definitely like to do more hut trips… with more snow, and a working knowledge of skiing!
The photos in the slideshow are a compilation from the cameras of Stephen, Trevor, and Zane, blatantly pirated for display here.
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NREL Interview Questions and Answers
Career Goals. Why work at NREL?
Why do you want to work at NREL? Why do you want to work in Commercial Buildings in particular? How does this job fit into your longer term career goals? Please take a look at this website for more information about the work done here at NREL in the commercial buildings area.
I believe that in the coming decades providing the plentiful energy which is currently synonymous with a high standard of living is likely to be a serious problem for humanity, and more generally for the terrestrial biosphere. Today our energy is derived overwhelmingly from fossil fuels which are polluting, finite, unevenly distributed, and whose combustion is substantially altering the composition and optical properties of the Earth’s atmosphere. Any one of those characteristics would be enough to cause grave concern. Together they make significant change in our global energy systems imperative. I want to be a part of that change.