Our Generation’s 3-Mile Island.

This morning I was reading about the tragic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. You would have to be living under a rock in order to miss this story in the news as it has been going on for the past month. Most recently, BP’s '”top kill” method has unfortunately failed to seal the leak and stop the flow of oil.

As I read the story I realized that we are living our generation’s equivalent of the Three Mile Island disaster. For those of you who are not familiar, the Three Mile Island disaster involved a nuclear power plant located near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania that in 1979, released a significant amount of radiation into the environment. Since this accident, there has not been a single approval or construction of a new nuclear power plant in the United States. During the same time period, other countries have turned to nuclear power as their major source of clean energy production (like France – 78% of electricity from nuclear).

I am willing to believe that history will repeat its self here in the aftermath of the Deep Water Horizon accident and spill. We will likely be very reluctant to grant any more licenses to drill new oil wells within the United States, and more cumbersome regulation will occur for those wells that already exist. From here on it may also be the turning point where some other countries will begin to lead the way in safe extraction and utilization of oil as a resource while we sit on the resources beneath our feet leaving them and unused.

Though the spill in the Gulf is a terrible tragedy, I do not believe that our course should involve quitting the extraction of oil in the same cold-turkey fashion as use of nuclear power. I can imagine that eons ago, the caveman who first discovered fire probably burned him self, maybe his friends/family… perhaps even burned down his house, neighborhood or forest! But did not stop man from working with fire. If we stopped, we could still be living in caves today. We figured it out despite the risks and occasional accidents involved. We were better off for it.

My most recent project.

I have been debating taking on the project of building a computer for quite some time. After dealing with a couple of failed hard drives in computers at work and considering the age of my current computers (IBM Thinkpad R50e, Dell Dimension 4550) and several general complaints of lack of computer reliability from Emily, I decided it was time to get the project underway.

After EXTENSIVE reading and self-education on the topic, I felt confident enough to buy parts (with Jon’s help of course). I owe Jon a debt of gratitude because throughout this process, he has offered his insight, help and “tech support”. Without him, I would probably have thrown the whole rig out the window!

My goal was not to build some Godly super computer capable of playing games with accelerated video graphics while simultaneously running the equivalent of a missile silo from our office (though it would be COOL!). I was looking for a mid level system using the Core i series of processors that has capability for upgrade and expansion in the future. I was hoping to keep the cost at about $600-650, $700 at the most. You’ll see what I did in the process to cut costs.

Here’s where I started, with my OLD desk top computer that I used in college about 8 years ago!

Specs:

· Celeron 1.7GHz processor

· Samsung CD-ROM (IDE)

· LiteOn CD-RW (IDE)

· ~750MB RAM (DDR)

· 1 – 10GB HD, 1 – 20GB HD (both IDE)

· Zip Drive (yeah, I know! who uses those anymore?)

· 350W power supply

· Windows XP SP3 (32-bit)

Note the off-board video card, IDE cables, and network interface card. About the only thing I was really interested in from this old computer was the case (for saving some money). So I completely gutted, removed, cleaned and inspected each individual hardware component. There was 10 years worth of dust from dorm rooms, etc. built up. Once that was cleaned out, I had a nice sturdy case to build my new system in.

Although it is old, I was interested in using the still functional LiteOn CD-RW drive (to save more money). That coupled with the DVD-ROM drive in the other Dell Dimension desktop would serve my needs for optical drives for the time being.

So here are the specs of my new system

Specs:

· Intel Core i3 530 processor

· MSI H55-GD65 Motherboard

· Samsung CD-ROM (IDE)

· LiteOn CD-RW (IDE)

· 2x2GB RAM (OCZ - Dual channel DDR3 2000)

· 150GB HD – Western Digital VelociRaptor (that’s a 2.5 inch, 10,000RPM drive!)

· 750W Corsair power supply

· Windows 7 64-bit

The case used for the computer was so old that it had no USB ports mounted on the front panel. As a matter of fact, the original computer I dismantled had a main-board with a whopping 2 USB ports accessible from the rear panel! To get around this, I purchased a 3 USB port combination hub/card reader that can be mounted in a 3.5” bay. This was a big selling point for Emily who is a “shutterfly” when it comes to taking pictures. Now she can easily take her memory cards from cameras and transfer photos. Additionally, I purchased a case fan and new D-Link wireless (G/N band) networking card that came with a nice free external antenna (because I can’t run CAT-5 cables through the walls of an apartment complex!)

The nice thing about this computer was the HDMI output built right into the motherboard. With that I was able to set up and install software while using my 32” HDTV as a monitor and not disturb the current Dell Dimension computer in the office. This is very important when you have a busy graduate student (Emily) in the house constantly writing papers.

Here’s the final product in place ready for use. It’s FAST… quiet… and runs very cool in temperature relative to the other computers. Emily is already loading it up with pictures of our new nephew Tyler. And I am having fun playing with it as well. Hopefully it will encourage me to write more blog posts. There were some snags and difficulties along the way, but I learned a lot from them and would certainly consider building a computer again.

What is the price of our rights and political representation?

Governor Patterson is resisting the urge to hold a special election to replace the disgraced congressman Eric Massa in the 29th district (my own district). His reasoning... the state of New York can not afford to hold a special election because of their budget problems.

Whether this is really for budgetary reasons or political reasons, essentially the Governor of New York State has placed a price on the voting rights and representation of every voting resident of the 29th district. How does that feel?

Normally, I am all for fiscal conservatism. I think that budgets, both state and federal have ballooned beyond sustainable levels and must be brought within control. There are however certain things that budgets MUST account for... police and fire departments, military for security and defense, education (keeping expenditures here reasonable), running the court system and maintaining the process of our representative government.

That means that special elections, despite them being an unexpected cost burden, must be held in a timely manner. Anything less is a reckless disregard for the voting and representation rights of the electorate in the particular district in question.

The consequences? Well... just think, throughout the final votes on the health care reconciliation bill, I had absolutely no elected official to contact and cast a vote on behalf of my district.

So I say to you Governor Patterson... I hope that our rights are worth for all those savings you will accumulate in your state budget. I would love to know how much money you saved for denying me of my vote and representation.

The pen is mightier than the sword.

It does not surprise me that a violent backlash against democratic congressional supporters of the HCR bill are now receiving threats and getting bricks thrown through offices. Despite the obvious public disapproval of the HCR bill, these actions are simply not proper behavior.

One thing is important to note here, the violence is something that should not be politicized as both conservatives and liberals are or have demonstrated violent behavior. (Examples of violence from liberal sources here - and here)

It simply makes no sense to politicise this behavior because it reduces us to the level of children bickering and finger-pointing on a playground. Violence will do nothing more than marginalize the views of those committing the violent acts. Consirvitive voices will be ignored because Tea Party members are considered violent gun toting bigots. Liberal voices will be ignored because they are considered tree hugging hippies. Neither of these generalizations are true.

Over the past year or so I have urged family and friends to make a difference not by picking up a brick, but by picking up their pen/phone/computer and writing a letter, e-mail or making a phone call. This is what our founders did as they penned the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. I hope and pray that our country is not entering into a period of revolution that turned violent as it did during the 1960's. If we follow that road, we will end up with a revolution like that of France where heads were rolling in the streets.

Rug pulled from under my feet...

There have been a few times in my life where something happens and it feels as if the rug has just been violently ripped out from under my feet. Something so great as to shake the very core of my being and force me to rethink the way I approach the world around me. Recently, I have had several personal experiences that have met those criteria.

The death of a young man named Peter Cannon was a major story in the news around the greater Rochester region over the past month or so. Peter was 18 years old and lost his life in a car accident while on his way to go cross country skiing (one of his favorite activities). Peter is Emily’s brother… he would have been my brother-in-law. This tragedy has cast a dark dark cloud over the family in the past month or so.

The outpouring of sympathy and support for Emily and her family has been unlike anything I have seen. The experience of seeing Emily’s parents stand by their 18 year old son’s bedside to the very last minute of his life is a heartbreaking that I wish no one should ever have to witness or live through.

So what happens next? How do you rationalize this? I lost my Grandfather in the middle of last summer, but that had a completely different feel to it. It was tragic, but deep down; we all know that we will eventually lose our grandparents (we just don’t like to think about it). But you are not supposed to lose the younger members of your family. Right? This experience is one big slap in the face for me to wake up and cherish the times with the people that you never expect to lose.

Peter was very active with volunteering in the community and helping others out. Perhaps this can be rationalized by noting that now there will be a scholarship set up in his honor that will help many students pay for college. Some of Peter’s organs were also donated allowing for the lives of others to be saved. Maybe it is like a Mitch Abom - “5 People You Meet in Heaven” story where one day we’ll learn that one of those people that was saved went on to cure cancer or something. It is a warm fuzzy thought, but a painfully difficult story to live.

So I am left with the “rug pulled from under me” feeling. No answers or rational explanation. No clear idea of what to do next. Anger and confusion dominate. No scientist like me likes to be in a situation without answers and a rational understanding. I fear I will never have these answers despite a lifetime of searching.

No one should ever have to experience these things.