Some of my students were talking about movies this evening during lab and asked for recommendations. I don’t really watch many movies, but I came up with this suggestion: Countdown to Zer0.

It’s not the suggestion they were looking for. However, it’s either this, or watch Dr. Strangelove and realize the basic premise of the movie isn’t so far fetched. Recall, if you will, that in protest to McNamara’s insistence on installing launch code computers inside the silos, that NORAD actually set all the launch codes to 00 00 00 00 00 00. Essentially any launch officer for several years knew the launch order for the US nuclear arsenal.

Or think for a moment on the relative ease with which an organization with the sole aim of detonating a nuclear weapon could succeed. Especially if you’re not concerned about what happens afterwards. I fear this really is just a matter of time.

Nuclear weapons : they have not gone away you know. We just don’t care about them as much as we did. And frankly that makes their use more likely, not less. Hell, even Reagan said we should, “eliminate nuclear weapons from the face of the earth.” (granted, I have no idea what he was thinking in Reykjavik at the insistence on SDI)

I went for my first real bike ride of the year today... outside!

I’d like to say I got up this morning with rapt attention for the 2011 Paris-Roubaix race. I’d like to say that I got up to cheer someone on, and was inspired enough to get off my lazy behind and ride my bike. In truth though, it just happened to be the nicest day of the year and the first day warm enough for me to ride without a coat (well, first day that I was not working). Long gone is my excitement for professional racing, instead it’s been replaced by a jaded, cynical sneer.

Unfortunately that’s not all I’ve gained. I used to look at the O’Grady cartoons with the “Old guys who gets fat in winter” with a sort of amusement, followed by a smug, “that’ll never happen to me.”

But it did and I am. Maybe not as bad as the guy in the cartoons, but far too close for comfort. I might even amend it to “Old guys who get fatter each winter.” It’s just too bloody cold here most of the winter so I’ve settled for going to the gym a few times a week. That’s been good, and perhaps not let things get worse. However, it’s no substitute for riding outdoors. So here’s to warmer days and more exercise.

We’re at a good point in our experiments. We are taking data, consistently, that we believe to be of high quality.

Actually, things are going quite well right now. We’ve got a nice rhythm going where we measure sample A for 10 hours, exchange samples (takes a couple hours), and then measure sample B for 10 hours. During the exchange a couple of people are needed, but during the measurements the experiment just collects data with the computers now automatically adjusting the various parameters. To add to this, while we measure one sample the other sample is being re-prepared. We’ve got relatively little “down time” in terms of not using the photons available due to us changing things out. And once we’re measuring, we’ve got it set to just “go.”

Aside from the welcome reduction in stress to the experimenter this provides, I think it genuinely makes for better quality data and experiments. By operating this way we (hopefully) eliminate many possible sources of change to the experiment except for the exact ones we’re looking to introduce.

In this case we’re doing x-ray scattering from a surface in electrochemical solution while it is under electric potential control. This kind of science has all sorts of interesting pieces to it related to electro-deposition of material, catalysis, and corrosion study.

What you can see above is the sample, it’s cell and support we’re using. The little gold/yellow cylinder in the middle is the actual sample of interest (at the moment at least). Here it’s a small Au (gold) crystal that we’ve got in a dilute perchlorate. By applying an electric potential from the sample surface to a counter electrode we are able to control the conditions of the atoms on the surface. This is all well studied. Our contribution is to be able to measure how faster certain processes are occurring on the surface. Some things are easy to see and have been well documented before. But other changes have been effectively invisible to conventional in-situ surface probes (or at least very difficult to measure) . However, in our case the x-rays are sensitive to such changes are we aim to record them.

To be fair, it’s not just any x-ray source that we can use. There are in fact very few places in the world where we’re capable of making such measurements.

For an anecdote, you may also notice a “strained” or hazy appearance to the above picture. That’s because of a particular ad-hoc solution that has become standard practice. Not everything is done with such precision and delicacy as most people imagine. Often times we’re faced with problems for which we have to come up with solutions on the fly. In this case it’s important to keep the entire sample cell in a nitrogen rich environment (or rather to keep it in an oxygen poor one). But we need to get x-rays in and out with minimal fuss. The solution? Ordinary sandwich bags (of the thinest variety). They are transparent to the x-rays (as well as ordinary light which makes it easier to work with), and we can simply inflate them with nitrogen. They’re non-reactive, don’t add any contaminant, are cheap, can be disposed of after a single use, and let us protect the sample cell. Granted, there’s still an ultra think polypro film covering the solution and sample. But this helps keep any outside oxygen from getting to that film. So, in addition to the ubiquitous aluminum foil we have everywhere, add sandwich bags.

Well, for now, steady as she goes.

As is often the case I’ve latched on to a particular album or musician during a multi-day experiment. This time it happens to be Tom Waits, and in particular the Small Change Album, although Blood Money is running a close second place. Right now Step Right Up is getting the most play, but it’s just a great album to let play. I think it’d be a hoot to play that song in a little combo group. It’s not traditional jazz, but then again I’ve always enjoyed playing more than just normal “standards.” Plus there’s the whole thing about Frito-Lay abusing it. It just speaks volumes that a junk food company used a likeness of a song (and Waits’ voice) that ridicules hucksters in an advertisement for a new brand of snack.



I’ve really grown to love Tom Waits over the years. I first heard his music, as do many people, being performed by others. The first place I really grew to love his music was the Temptation album recorded by Holly Cole.

Plus, if we ever have kids I’m going to teach the toddler some Tom Waits songs to sing at kindergarten.