I stumbled upon a webpage totally and utterly by accident today. I typed in "goo" and hit enter before I could finish typing google :S.
A page popped up. It was a wikipedia page with the title: "Grey goo". It didn't seem interesting at all. It seemed like one of those useless entries you ignore. Out of curiosity I read the first sentence. It caught my attention!. It read: Grey goo "is a hypothetical end-of-the-world scenario involving molecular nanotechnology in which out-of-control self-replicating robots consume all matter on Earth while building more of themselves — a scenario known as ecophagy ("eating the environment")" :S What the ****!!!??? Visions from the movie, "The Day the Earth Stood Still", started flowing through my mind...
So its a term coined by Eric Drexler in his 1986 book Engines of Creation in which he talks about tiny atom-size machines and the uses of such machines in our lives. Interesting stuff...
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Rutgers University
I'm studying at Rutgers University currently. Rutgers is sometimes known as a "public ivy" school as its one of the old colonial era universities. It is the eighth oldest university in the US and a great school.
It's divided over three campuses in the state of New Jersey. The three are (1) New Brunswick and Piscataway, (2) Newark and (3) Camden. The largest student body is in New Brunswick/Piscataway. This is where I am studying.
New Jersey is known as the Garden State and is full of greenery and wildlife. I have seen skunks, beavers, rabbits, birds of all sorts, funny looking bugs, bugs that make weird sounds ... etc. Most of this wildlife I've seen on my bike rides and long walks.
The New Brunwick/Piscataway campus of Rutgers is divided into four smaller campuses: Cook/Douglass, Busch, Livingston and the main one College Avenue. Between them are lush forests and vegetation. It's quite picturesque. There is also the Raritan river which flows between New Brunswick and Piscataway.
New Brunswick is in a central location halfway between NYC and Philadelphia. I'll upload some pictures of the place once I fix my camera so stay tuned :D.
It's divided over three campuses in the state of New Jersey. The three are (1) New Brunswick and Piscataway, (2) Newark and (3) Camden. The largest student body is in New Brunswick/Piscataway. This is where I am studying.
New Jersey is known as the Garden State and is full of greenery and wildlife. I have seen skunks, beavers, rabbits, birds of all sorts, funny looking bugs, bugs that make weird sounds ... etc. Most of this wildlife I've seen on my bike rides and long walks.
The New Brunwick/Piscataway campus of Rutgers is divided into four smaller campuses: Cook/Douglass, Busch, Livingston and the main one College Avenue. Between them are lush forests and vegetation. It's quite picturesque. There is also the Raritan river which flows between New Brunswick and Piscataway.
New Brunswick is in a central location halfway between NYC and Philadelphia. I'll upload some pictures of the place once I fix my camera so stay tuned :D.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Certified Belayer
So I finally passed my third test in belaying. Im now a certified belayer. For those of you who don't know what belaying is, it is an important part of rock climbing. A typical system in rock climbing combines two people (a belayer and a person who is on belay (i.e. climbing). The belayer is attached to the ground and is securing the climber as he/she climbs up. The belayer can hold the entire weight of the climber using relatively little force and can stop the climber from falling. This of course is done using a system of ropes and devices.
The belaying device is what is also known as an ATC, and looks like this:
The rope loops through one of the two holes in the top of the ATC (shown in the picture above). It loops through and is attached to a carabiner which is then attached to your harness and a daisy chain which is attached to the ground. The looping of the rope acts like a pulley in some way and allows you to easily stop it from slipping through by pulling back the rope to a breaking position. This is how you secure the climber from falling and can stop the climber if he/she is falling and can also gently lower the climber back down to a better climbing position or the ground.
A belayer and belay on climber can be seen here:
The belayer is the person on the ground and the climber in the picture is said to be on belay. As you can see the belayer has the rope in the break position to stop the climber from falling.
I enjoyed it a lot but unfortunately was unable to make it up the harder climbing routes. I make it up the easy ones but have difficulty carrying my weight up the medium to harder routes. My arms get tired very quickly due to the hefty weight they are carrying. Something to help with that is to rely on your feet to carry your weight, but unfortunately I get stuck some times and have to use my arms and then they quickly get exhausted until my forearms can't take anymore :D. Then I shout "Take!" and my belayer calls "Gotchya!" and then I let go of the wall :D. Its load of fun but got to work on my weight.
The belaying device is what is also known as an ATC, and looks like this:
The rope loops through one of the two holes in the top of the ATC (shown in the picture above). It loops through and is attached to a carabiner which is then attached to your harness and a daisy chain which is attached to the ground. The looping of the rope acts like a pulley in some way and allows you to easily stop it from slipping through by pulling back the rope to a breaking position. This is how you secure the climber from falling and can stop the climber if he/she is falling and can also gently lower the climber back down to a better climbing position or the ground.
A belayer and belay on climber can be seen here:
The belayer is the person on the ground and the climber in the picture is said to be on belay. As you can see the belayer has the rope in the break position to stop the climber from falling.
I enjoyed it a lot but unfortunately was unable to make it up the harder climbing routes. I make it up the easy ones but have difficulty carrying my weight up the medium to harder routes. My arms get tired very quickly due to the hefty weight they are carrying. Something to help with that is to rely on your feet to carry your weight, but unfortunately I get stuck some times and have to use my arms and then they quickly get exhausted until my forearms can't take anymore :D. Then I shout "Take!" and my belayer calls "Gotchya!" and then I let go of the wall :D. Its load of fun but got to work on my weight.
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