Mike's burogu

Since my Ubuntu box has been running since 2006 (on the same install of 8.10!) as a headless terminal, I never bothered to install proper NVIDIA drivers…well, until today that is.

michaeldesilva@Ubuntu:~$ uname -ar
Linux Ubuntu 2.6.27-11-generic #1 SMP Thu Jan 29 19:28:32 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I therefore downloaded NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-190.53-pkg2.run, the 64-bit version of the driver and ‘chmod +x’ed it to make it an executable.

GDM needed to be stopped, and was easily taken care of with a ’sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop’. This is where I ran into a problem. I am using an Apple keyboard, and could not perform a ‘ctrl-alt-F1′ to get to VT1 from VT7, since VT7 has no prompt.

This is where I had the idea of firing up terminal on my Mac Pro and SSHed in with X11 forwarding. I needed to access root quickly, so ’sudo bash’ came in rather handy. The rest was quite straightforward where I ran the executable and I was able to interact with the installer from my Mac.

Upon exiting from root, I simply restarted GDM and all was well.

Well it seems like Renee hasn’t lost her touch and manages to convince Jack that cutting off thumbs is not a bad idea.

More boring back story with Starbuck and her ex-boyfriend……oh, no, I’ve already got drool on myself. If only she was “Starbuck”, he’d be flat on the ground by now. The plot of this side story is quite simple – squeeze the girl for inside info from CTU. Wow, like that’s never been done before.

Oh yea, what’s with the name “Arlo”? I just chuckle every time I hear it :p

Seems like Mr. Prez likes to control people with fear; he also has his first spat with MPAT. Round two is with his wife; do we care? No.

The episode finally gets to the only relevant bit – Texas Chainsaw Walker gets to meet Vlad. It seems these bad guys have PhD’s in reverse psychology. This is how it works:

(1) “Hey, you’re a rat I’m going to shoot you”. “Noooo please don’t shoot” = DEAD!

(2) “Hey, you’re a rat I’m going to shoot you”. “Oooh, please shoot me. Shoot MEEEEEEEEE, I have no reason to live or anyone to go to…so KILLLLL MEEEEEEEE”. “Oh, you’re cool. You’re back in!”

…and that’s how Renee gets back in. I think Jack let out a brick right there in the car.

This was rather brilliant!

Sheldon explains: “Hydrogen Atom, ‘H’. Three Pigs – “P” from pea = igs, Bow + General Zod stuck in the Phantom ‘Zone’, Pear + tickle.

Higgs, Boson, Particle!”

I will admit, Season 8 did crawl up on me rather unexpectedly but I think it was a great idea for them to air the first four episodes right off the bat.

You will see some familiar faces this season – starting with the game show host from “Slumdog Millionaire”; this is certainly a step up for him and to have the honour of battling it out with MPAT (Madam President Allison Taylor) is quite something I guess. Next up is Starbuck, the hottie from Battlestar Gallactica – I guess it’s one of the perks of working at CTU; you’re life may be at risk but at least you’ll have something nice to stare at while you’re dying, well, that’s if the CTU blows up or something. That’s the draw back of field work…but is it?

Not if you’re Jack, as HAW (Hot Agent Walker) is back and can I say “Hot Damn”, her hair looks incredible :p Freddie Prinze is playing the role of “head of field ops” and is a pretty good one at that. Chloe is also back of course, minus her rather annoying ladies-shoe-sniffing’ husband.

Whilst Jack’s reputation precedes him – nothing has really changed in 24-land. CTU is still being run by some dumb schmuck, and they are focussing on the *wrong person* yet again. But then again, if they ever just *listened* to an iota of what Jack was on about, the show would be called “12″ or maybe “6″ :p That would be bad for business so there it is.

Another delightful character is the brother of President Hussan – Mr. Toupee – cause he has such a bad hair doo, it’s rather amusing. The highlight of the show so far though, at least for me, has been HAW. She’s back, and she’s like Jack when he was in Season 3. She’s hopped up on drugs, just loves torturing people, and making bad guys cry.

Jack has gotten rather soft since season Season 7, and I think she might make him cry in episode 5. So, do I prefer the “I’m going down a dark ally” HAW, or the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” HAW? Not sure tbh, she’s still hot but there is an odd glint of “crazy chick” in her eyes now…it’s definitely got Jack worried and maybe just a wee bit hot for her too? Ah, only time will tell I guess.

I would highly recommend following Eddie @ TheBauer, once you see each episode for his brilliant take on affairs in 24-land. Most of the names above (apart from Mr. Toupee) were originally coined by him.

This beauty arrived from Harrods on my Birthday. I cannot thank Amy enough; it fits the bill perfectly as I was looking for something ‘vintage-esq’ for my collection.

Like all WE pens, this has an aged resin star adorning the top of the sterling silver cap. This is the second largest star found in any of the Montblanc LE pens – the first being the Charlie Chaplin, limited edition of 88.

The cap is solid Ag925 sterling silver marked with the Swiss assay office hallmarks vertically below the clip. The classic St. Bernard can be seen, along with the fineness scales and StOD.

This particular pen paid a visit to the Montblanc atelier in Hamburg for a nib exchange to a B nib. I’ve currently got this inked with MB Sepia, and this particular nib has been ground to stubby perfection – bringing out the colour rather vividly on the yellowish Moleskine diary paper.

A keen eye will also notice the curved section, once again reminiscent of a ‘vintage-esq’ pen. It is very comfortable to hold and write with for extended periods. Of course, I never post my pens so the weight of the cap never comes into question.

The nib engraving comprises of an italicised ‘C’ and ‘D’, both of which have been woven and inextricably intertwined. It also features ‘2001′, the release year of this edition near the top, and the ubiquitous 4810 near the bottom of the 18k nib.

Coming back to the cap – the most striking aspect of this design – it has been designed paying hommage to the Victorian era post boxes. The barrel colour has been the subject of much debate amongst collectors and on TFPN. It changes depending on the light; at times, taking on a greeny-grey tone to a grey-blue tone. It is most definitely a colour that is an acquired taste – one that most certainly grows on you. It is also a fantastic tone that contrasts quite perfectly with the sterling silver cap, and band at the bottom near the piston screw.

One will also notice a small ring in the same tone of resin adorning the upper porting of the cap. This ring is etched ‘Montblanc’ on one side and has the pen’s edition number on the other. Considering that I was able to purchase this WE directly from Montblanc Harrods, whilst beating the 2010 price increase, I am quite thrilled with this acquisition.

My humble pen collection has grown in leaps and bounds in a very short period, and therefore I am considering taking a small hiatus from adding any new pieces in the near future. However, only time will tell…

It is the year of Our Lord two thousand and ten; a time quite far from that envisioned by Clark. It seems that I’m not alone in feeling technology as we know it has moved at a snails pace.

The past two weeks involved copious amounts of champagne, wine, and scotch – six and seven course dinners and just lazying about in the Hilton. It was definitely hard work but someone had to do it :)

On a different note, this is some information I’ve been hanging onto for a while. The releases to expect from Montblanc this year include:

Patron of Arts Edition : Queen Elizabeth I
Writer’s Edition : Mark Twain
Music Edition : John Lennon

I also snapped these few photos randomly today,

Wishing you a wonderful New Year as well!

I was shown one of the initial posters to this pen back in April during my visit to London and it did not completely catch my fancy, until now. Here are some details of this edition,

Launch: 2009
Limitation:
12,000 fountain pens
15,000 ballpoint pens
6,000 rollerballs
3,000 sets comprising fountain pen, ballpoint pen and mechanical pencil

• Rhodium-plated 18 K gold nib engraved with the “Buddenbrook” house
• Barrel in precious black lacquer with multilayered inlays
• Platinum-plated clip set with onyx-coloured zircon
• Ivory-coloured Montblanc emblem

Fifteen thousand fountain pens, in reality, does not make this all that limited – at least in my opinion. This is also quite evident by its list price of £545 in London.

At least in my opinion, for something to be limited it needs to be in the sub 500 production range – preferably sub 100 – such as the 75th Anniversary 149, or the Miyamoto Musashi Limited Edition 77.

I found the following snaps of the Mann on Flickr, and they are quite splendid indeed. The nib engraving of Buddenbrook house in particular are quite stunning.

Like all the WE pens, they feature the author’s signature engraved into the cap or barrel – in this case the former,

The Mann is similar to the Shaw in regards to the plating of the section rim just before the nib. I particularly do not enjoy this feature as I have seen the effects of ink corroding into such plating over a period of 10-15 years. While most collectors only store their pens for display and the eventual increase in value, I buy my pens for the pleasure of writing.

Over the past year I have been particularly interested in buying some of the older WE pens, which are getting harder and harder to find. There is no hurry to run out and get the Mann considering, that I am to date buying WE pens from MB – directly – as old as 2001 production. The Thomas Mann is definitely on my eventual ‘list’ but there are quite a few others taking precedence; hopefully, 2010 will be a good year for my humble collection.

My Mum got me Assassins Creed II as a Christmas gift today, but rather than giving it to me on the 25th, I got to try it out today 8)

While watching the intro I noticed the well known ‘butterfly’ in the intro sequence,

You can see a bit more detail of this particular view of the Lorentz attractor in my report on page 13.

Now who said games were not educational?

I had an idea yesterday with regards to improving the efficiency in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV) that use a diesel internal combustion engine. Almost all modern diesel engines are supercharged in some form and as a result very few naturally aspirated engines are seen in industry. Turbocharging provides many advantages over Supercharger implementations – mainly due to the complex belt mechanisms arising from such an implementation – and are therefore typically preferred.

My hypothesis is based on the fact that the impeller-turbine shaft does not undergo any torsion, and within its suitable operating limits this should not be an issue. The turbocharger would require a third interfacing stage, so that the shaft drives an electrical generator.

Of course, the problem with this system is the added complexity and the fact that the impeller-turbine shaft will have to do work in turning the generator axle. Such a system does post an advantage though.

The research I have undertaken in this area suggests that most HEV designs operate around a singular energy store – from ultra capacitors to flywheels and the more “yet-to-be-viable” hydrogen fuel cells.

With regards to the operation of trains though, most of the ‘recharging’ if these energy sources is achieved during braking, and quite possibly, when running down slopes. Consider the use of the turbine attached generator above – in this scenario, it would be possible to deploy an independent energy store from those charged by the internal combustion engine itself. It would be possible to utilise this secondary energy store to provide extra horse power when needed, especially when the primary store depletes.

However, this idea may not be viable considering railway engines tend to utilise large displacement naturally aspirated engines running at low RPMs. Turbocharger efficiency is particularly poor at low RPMs as the exhaust gasses do not have sufficient energy to enough to overcome the inertia of the turbine to spool up. My idea requires the use of a turbocharger, as the diesel engine in HEVs tends to solely function as a means for driving the electric traction motors – the hot exhaust gasses are typically untapped as a secondary source of energy.

HEV design will most likely focus on smarter means of energy management, as there is a lot more room to make improvements in this aspect, whilst the usual advances in engineering and technology progresses.

The use of Solar powered trains is also quite limited considering there is much overhead obstruction in most cities, especially due to mountains and tunnels etc. Until we see “Terminator” type nuclear or hydrogen fuel cells in mass production, it might be a while till the HEV sector finds its silver bullet.

I was consistently vexed by many folks on Hexus referring to the recent proton-beam collisions achieved in the LHC as ‘laser’ beams.

This was my response,

I hope folks understand the complete achievement in #epicfail by referring to a beam of sub-atomic particles as a laser. A laser by definition is light amplification by the stimulated emission of radiation. While it is true you can look at visible light as either the easily understood wave model, there is also the particle model (photons etc). But that does not change the fact that visible light is electromagnetic radiation – an electromagnetic wave that has both a sinusoidal E-field (electric field) and B-field (magnetic flux density, as we engineers call it; physicists just call it the magnetic field) oscillating in phase at right angles.

Now, going back to the laser, this is simply a device that emits light, albeit highly amplified, at a singular wavelength, which is why they are characterised by various colors – with the advent of blue lasers allowing more data to be etched onto the surface of BluRay DVDs for example. While there are very powerful military grade lasers about, I do not suspect any of them can transmit the same quantifiable amount of energy as described by Gordon.

I just guess it is ‘easier’ to conceptualise it as a laser, as that is probably the only beam most people can visualise in the first place.

I found some fantastic images online, mainly thanks to Fraz’s continued LHC discussions on Hexus. He explains,

This was a very low-energy collision, but a collision nonetheless! If you compare against pictures I posted a while back in this thread, the above picture looks a lot more normal – i.e. the beam isn’t hitting the side of the detector, but stuff is colliding at the centre instead. The outer part of the silicon tracker is now also switched on, which is why there are some properly reconstructed tracks (yellow lines) now seen that weren’t in previous images. We couldn’t include the tracker before from fear of damaging it with a poorly controlled beam, which is the reason why the inner tracker is still currently off.

Progress Update on Recent LHC Activities

Fraz says,

Things have moved on a bit, but not much – to me, it seems that the main thing going on is a lot of champagne drinking…

We’ve been colliding very low-luminosity beams (low luminosity means not many protons in the beam) at the injection energy, which is 450 GeV per beam. So basically we’ve just been storing beams in the LHC that have been accelerated in an earlier synchrotron in the chain of LHC pre-accelerators, and then crossing the beams every now and again.

We’ve also used the LHC to accelerate the beams a small amount (up to 540 GeV), but have yet to cross any of these slightly higher-energy beams.

Some people have been trying to analyse the very early data to see how the detectors are doing. Amusingly on one mailing list, some guy is claiming he has “rediscovered the kaon” in one of the events (it was originally discovered in the 1940s), so it looks like the detector I work on is performing well enough to do this, at least!

I think the priority right now is trying to improve the beam lifetime. The LHC is a storage ring as well as an accelerator, and should eventually be able to store 7 TeV beams for ~10 hours. Currently I think we’re only managing to store the beam for about 40 minutes, and that’s only at 450 GeV per beam. Once beam lifetime is improved, we’ll move on to trying to take the “Highest Energy Particle Accelerator” crown from Fermilab. Fermilab has 1 TeV beams, and thus 2 TeV collisions. We’re aiming to exceed 1TeV beams sometime in December.

Data Storage from an Event

An automated magnetic tape vault at CERN computer center, seen on September 15th, 2008. The tapes are used to store the complete LHC data set, from which a fraction of the data is copied to overlying disk caches for fast and widespread access. The handling of the magnetic tape cartridges is now fully automated, as they are racked in vaults where they are moved between the storage shelves and the tape drives by robotic arms.(Claudia Marcelloni; Maximilien Brice, © CERN)

Fraz explains,

Yeah, that system is called CASTOR. It’s good and bad. In certain circumstances, you can certainly be waiting for quite a while for your data to be staged on the hard-disk front-end. I guess that’s pretty unavoidable though.

Raw data alone – i.e. before it gets turned into more useful physics analysis objects – the CMS experiment that I’m working on will be producing about 10 peta-bytes per year. Once you factor in converting the raw data into more useful formats, add on some Monte-Carlo simulation data, and then some data duplication to 2 or 3 other large centres (such as Fermilab), it’ll be pushing 100 peta-bytes per year.

The ATLAS experiment will be producing about the same amount. I’m not sure about the two other smaller experiments, LHCb and ALICE, but let’s call them about 100 peta-bytes together.

So… ball-park, the LHC experiments altogether will be producing about 300 peta-bytes of data per year, and we’ll be running for about ~10 years before we upgrade things. So, for the lifetime of all current LHC-related CERN experiments, I guess the total dataset will be in the region of 3 exa-bytes.

“Any backup?”

Yes, data duplication with other major data centres, such as the one at Fermilab. Basically CERN forms the “Tier 0″ data centre, where one copy of the entire dataset will be stored. There are then a number of “Tier 1″ data centres, such as at Fermilab in the US and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory here in the UK. Between all these Tier 1 centres, the data will be duplicated, but not all of it at any single Tier 1 centre. Then there are Tier 2 centres at various universities, which again between them duplicate all the data at each Tier 1. So, it should be fairly safe.

LHC: Storing Beams!

“I didn’t realise it could be used to store the beams as well, but thinking about it, it’s fairly logical that it would be able to do that (accelerates it, then just keeps the energy cycling, like a giant centrifuge?)”

Yeah, basically that’s right. Right now, the beams aren’t living very long because we don’t have a tight enough control over them. But when we do have good control of the beams, the reason they will only lasts for ~10 hours is because we’ll be crossing them at four locations on the ring every 25 nanoseconds. This slowly degrades the number of protons in the beam, until eventually we discard it and create a new one.

When we’re running at full steam, the beams will consist of about ~3000 tight bunches of protons spaced 25 nanoseconds apart in time, with each bunch containing ~200 billion protons. Every time we collide the beam, roughly 20 proton-proton collisions will occur… so naturally the luminosity of the beam degrades over time because some protons are lost.

So… you see that there are a lot of protons in the beam, each of which has a lot of energy for something so small. To give you an idea, when things are at full power in a couple of years or so, each circulating beam would be capable of instantly liquefying 500 kilos of copper. So, building a beam dump that can absorb the beam if we need to get rid of it quickly is quite difficult… I think each one weighs in at 1000 tonnes and they have to be water cooled to disperse the heat quickly enough.

urrently we are running a low luminosity beam, but at full luminosity the stored energy in the beam is huge. Silly factoids are as follows:

At full luminosity & proton-energy, the beam will store 362 mega-joules of energy, which is:

1) The same energy as the HMS Invincible aircraft carrier moving at 12 knots.
2) The same energy that a Subaru Impreza moving at ~3000 mph would have.
3) Enough energy to melt half a ton of copper.
4) The equivalent of 77.4 kg of TNT. [Correction: it's 87 kg of TNT]

Then bear in mind that the LHC could deliver all this energy into an area much smaller than a single square centimeter in less than 90 microseconds.

LHC Photos

The silicon strip tracker of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) nears completion. Shown here are three concentric cylinders, each comprised of many silicon strip detetectors (the bronze-coloured rectangular devices, similar to the CCDs used in digital cameras). These surround the region where the protons collide. (© CERN)

View of the CMS Detector before closure, on August 17th, 2008. (Maximilien Brice; Michael Hoch; Joseph Gobin, © CERN)

Installation of the mini frame of ALICE on 15 May 2009. (Maximilien Brice; Mona Schweizer, © CERN)

Installing the ATLAS calorimeter in November of 2005. The eight torodial magnets can be seen on the huge ATLAS detector with the calorimeter before it is moved into the middle of the detector. This calorimeter will measure the energies of particles produced when protons collide in the centre of the detector. (Maximilien Brice, © CERN)

You can view many more stunning images of the LHC here.

About

For the past couple years I lived in the UK, reading in BEng (Hons) Electronic and Computer Engineering at The University of Leeds and MSc (Dist) Mechatronics at King's College London.

My interests and hobbies include writing with Fountain Pens on various ink and paper, Swiss and German wristwatches, authoring articles in Mathematics, Physics, and Engineering, and Gundam modeling.

I have been following much Anime over the years as well as TV Shows with the likes of 24, Smallville, Dexter, and NCIS becoming favourites.