A year in numbers

• Finally figured out how to make sense of days of the week and dates of the month
• Slept: 106 days
• Saw 70 movies in the cinema [for the price of 36 films, thank you Cineworld Unlimited Card]
• Watched 650 episodes of TV shows (averaging 2 a night, with the exceptions of holidays)
• Drank 500 l of water, 100 l juice, and ate 600 slices of bread
• Trained: 45-50 days [The mode is ~1 day a week or so, but my diligence suffered while I was in China, Estonia and Australia]
• Read 22 books [A serious drop from previous years, I blame the parents and TV for rotting my brain]
• 3 weeks typing
• Walked more than 350 hours [1050 miles, Dublin, Ireland to Pisa, Italy
• My heart has beaten ~27,288,000 times [My resting heart rate is some 45 bpm or so, 35 if I really concentrate. While training it probably averages 100 bpm, between the heavy stuff and the more sedate breathing exercises]
• Were I a car I would have travelled 9,336 km:

~6,221,000 breaths in a year {12 (breaths/min) x 60 (min/hour) x 24 (hour/day) x 360 (day/y)}
12,442,000 l-air/y {5,200,000 (breath/y) x 2 (l/breath)}
Inhale 508,000 mole-air/y {12,442,000 (l-air/y) / 24.5 (l/mol)}... Ideal Gas Law*
Consumed 35,560 mole-oxygen/y {508,000 x (0.21 - o.14**) } [Assuming I am a fit person]
This burns 2,845 mole-petrol/y {12.5O₂ + C₈H₁₈ > 8CO₂ + 9H₂O... 12.5 x Oxygen:Petrol}
I would have driven 9,336 km {2,845 (mole-petrol) / 114 (g-petrol/mole) = 324.3 g-petrol, 324.3 (g-petrol) / 0.74 (kg-petrol/l) = 438.3 l-petrol, 438.3 (l-petrol) x 21.3 (km/l, equivalent to 50 mpg) = 9,336 km}

I was going to do how much heat I radiated, but the numbers were provided better than I could have done here. Their lung capacity calculations are not as good, I think, not that anything I did up here was original work.
Speaking of which, the above method is just back-of-the-envelope stuff [the wiki on this phrase fills me with shame, considering the big wigs that first used it, plus I want this pamphlet "Modern Physics from an Elementary Point of View"!]. In my travels on the interweb I came across this site, which goes through the process from cell respiration POV.
The "distance" travelled is very sensitive to the mpg chosen, but nearly a quarter of the way around the earth is not bad :)

*Obviously I assumed the fugacity of the gases in question are ~ 1, which is reasonable at 1 atm and the moderate temperatures involved i.e. an ideal situation:


**The url I got the oxygen composition from seems to be on a dry basis, which makes things simple. For every volume of oxygen consumed, 1 volume carbon dioxide and and 1 volume of water is produced. On a dry basis there is no change in volumes. On a wet basis things change, for x oxygen converted:
***More rigourous ways to get the data would be the either: monitor oxygen consumption (tricky); or calorie intake (simple but exhaustive) and monitor change in body weight, taking into consideration percentage body fat change. We get a partial of a material/energy balance [a complete one would involve... guh... noting all ins and outs]. From that we back out an equivalent intake of oxygen, and other such things.

The kids are all right, everthing thing is too difficult

In my perusal of the internet I came across the above picture. It reminded me of an article I read recently. The gist of it: kids today are more are sheltered from stress and strife growing-up, and are more likely to be messes once torn from their mothers' apron strings than they were in the past.

I agree. Some feedback that I have heard for labs in the engineering was that the lab should be done out completely for the benefit of the students before they have to do it. Heaven forbid they would have to interpret the written instructions for themselves, and make some kind of error.

Then of course there is the standard of education...
The leaving certificate, Irish national exams for college entry, have become steadily easier over the years. When I began 5th year, it was to courses in English, Physics and Chemistry. The curricula became smaller, and easier.
As I understand it, before I began secondary school, English grammar was specifically examined, that is no longer the case. Imagine how easy picking up a language would be if one knew how your own language was put together, instead, the Irish (I can't speak for other native English speakers) treat the genitive case as something that happens to other languages. Of course in the short term teaching and examining grammar was deemed too daunting.

Both Physics and Chemistry saw the simplification and omission of sections and the more difficult material. I am galled that I was not tested to the same standards as my predecessors.

There is a mentality in place that if the kids are finding something too difficult, make it disappear, which is all well and good, if they were going to remain kids forever. But someday they are going to get kicked out of the house, and there is the rub. They have to take arms against a sea of troubles, and with what? Certainly not the intestinal fortitude mastering difficult ditties would garner. Reality gets them from them, without so much as a reach around.

Unfortunately I am just paraphrasing stuff better composed in the article I cited at the top :(
But dammit, I felt like ranting.

Space...

I tried, I really tried, not to get excited by the second Star Trek trailer... I failed.

Salsa and miscelleny

Went to Salsa last night. It was not in the usual place, as it was taken for a Christmas party. The new place was a town hall of sorts. High, open ceiling, stage up front. Our warm-up was stepping to a rather poppy salsa track, with a rather 80s air to it. It made me think that we were in "Fame!", any minute someone in leg warmers and a leotard would come jumping from the stage.

Complicated stuff for my improver's brain last night... Started with a hand switch, ladies turn, cross body lead, lead around turn with us side to side facing the same direction. I step back on to the line and turn girl with arms crossed. I do a turn on 1, without letting go of the hands,so my right hand is against my left shoulder bladed with the girls right, I flick with her hand with my elbow and catch it in my right the right way round. hair comb, cross body lead onto turn and I turn clockwise leading her hand to my shoulder and I complete the turn finishing closed. At least I think it is what it was supposed to be..

On my way to salsa, I was walking over Leeson St Bridge and there was a restaurant barge in the lock. A group of girls were walking by:

Girl 1: "Aw that is so cool. We have to go on that some night."
Girl 2: "Yeah so we can freeze our balls off."

Classic stuff...

If you're feeling or you're kinda...

Went to a Halloween house party in Limerick again. I dressed up as a terminator- there is only one "The Terminator" [technically redundant, but I'm going to stick with it]. I can't remember when I decided on the costume. The main thing were the eyes, I need to have red eyes, somehow. Initially I was thinking of contacts, but Kevin provided me with a starting point for an cheaper and nerdier option [Thanks to Jack Loftus for upping the picture and doing the work].

Some of the comments indicated that the resistors were unnecessary. Now obviously one cannot see very well with two LEDs in front of the eyes. I had an idea for how that would be remedied.

1. Went to Maplin off Henry St, collected a watch battery (3V), Resistors (0.1-10kOhm), and LEDs (30 piece party pack, Red, Yellow, Blue and IR).
   
2. My idea for the "blinding" problem, was using a bottle cap for housing one LED and the battery. I put a hole on the top, near the edge.
3. I trimmed the LED's prongs and placed the negative line flat along the underside of the cap and the positive wire went along the curved surface.
4. The watch battery was placed negative side down into the cap. Luckily, the negative face of the watch battery is recessed in the positive side. The positive wire is pinched between the cap's side and the positive rim of the battery. The negative wire pressed against the negative face of the battery. The threading of the cap fixed it all into place. Let there be light!

The mask

1. Bought light black cardboard
2. Placed it against my face
3. Glued the creased parts in place.
4. Made a hole in the mask for the LED.
5. Placed the LED housing into the mask [Pah I could not be bothered to continue hot linking, just look at the album...]
6. Strung some ribbon through it to fix it in place
7. Glued tin foil on it
8. Put it on.

Unfortunately I broke my camera and used my webcam, hence the poor quality pictures.

Fun times.