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But still, it might be ok if the covered courses are useful

And thus begins the road to ruin. No, it is not Ok to force people at gun-point (which is how taxes are collected) to pay for other people's anything. It worked so well for the public schools, which now cost 4 times more per pupil, than in 1960-ies, we are dizzy with success, aren't we — even if 2/3rd of the nation's 8th graders can't be said to read "proficiently".

not just "community organizer" type courses

And that's the other evil of it — not only will taxpayers be forced to pay for it, the actual courses will be decided by our benevolent and omniscient rulers. Do you suppose, it will be possible to avoid taking "Womyn's Studies" or "Climate Change Mitigation"?

I'd have to agree with that. I pondered for a bit and realized I've ran into two other examples in the past. AppleSoft basic, do a gosub within a triple nested for loop and the stack overflows, and zero-page gets "clobbered" as the hint I read put it. Bad Things happen after that, usually requiring a reboot.

Not quite so long ago I wrote a pascal program that was very heavy on the use of pointers, and as a shortcut and to speed it up I was digging very very deep with pointers. I think for one line I had 7 levels of indirection. I was up until 11pm in the lab trying to figure out why it would work when I was tesing the parts of it but not with the command all together. Took it to a prof and we both studied it for about an hour. "This SHOULD work....it's complicated, but it's CORRECT." We then started expermenting, and found that the VMS version of the pascal compiler could not produce correct code with more than 6 levels of pointer indirection in an assignment. No crash, just bad results.

There were no "fixes" for either of these issues. You just had to recognize the limitation of the compiler/interpreter and not do things that you knew it was going to choke on.

Good lord look what google found... http://users.rowan.edu/~johnsonk/KHJcomputers.html

Q. Dear Uncle Louie -- I'm having trouble with my checkbook program. It seems that when I do a gosub from within a triple-nested loop, the stack overflows and zero-page gets clobbered. What should I do?
A. How should I know?

heh... haven't seen that in YEEEEEARS. The logo says 1980. On a few of their manuals it didn't say "software", it said "indoor sports".

While I am not certain from this story what exactly Olin is doing, the general concept is not new. The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology's "ABET 2000" standard was intentionally designed to allow colleges to come up with programs similar to this. Instead of mandating you will must take "Calculus I, II, & III" like older ABET standards, much more finer requirements are required, which no mandate on which course provides the lecture. For example: I intended an ABET 2000 certified engineering program, and never had a dedicated course in statistics.

One example of another school using similar techniques is Rowan University's College of Engineering, which graduated their first engineering class in 2000. They base most of their Engineering Curriculum around a course called the "Engineering Clinic", where students work in small teams to generate real-world products and results. At the Junior & Senior levels, Rowan's clinic projects are usually sponsored by various companies, as well as local government agencies. The projects range from the mundane (build a flashlight) to the insane (conduct surveys and analyze the health of local major suspension bridges).

Unfortunately, it looks like Rowan's Engineering pages have been revamped by the central corporate webmasters, so there is no dedicated page for the clinic any more. But if you ever go there, Rowan's Engineering building (Rowan Hall) actually only has 6 dedicated classrooms - the rest of the 3 usable stories are all laboratory space.

(Note I am tad biased because I graduated from Rowan University's Engineering program. But if someone wants more information on it, feel free to reply with a message.)

While I am not certain from this story what exactly Olin is doing, the general concept is not new. The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology's "ABET 2000" standard was intentionally designed to allow colleges to come up with programs similar to this. Instead of mandating you will must take "Calculus I, II, & III" like older ABET standards, much more finer requirements are required, which no mandate on which course provides the lecture. For example: I intended an ABET 2000 certified engineering program, and never had a dedicated course in statistics.

One example of another school using similar techniques is Rowan University's College of Engineering, which graduated their first engineering class in 2000. They base most of their Engineering Curriculum around a course called the "Engineering Clinic", where students work in small teams to generate real-world products and results. At the Junior & Senior levels, Rowan's clinic projects are usually sponsored by various companies, as well as local government agencies. The projects range from the mundane (build a flashlight) to the insane (conduct surveys and analyze the health of local major suspension bridges).

Unfortunately, it looks like Rowan's Engineering pages have been revamped by the central corporate webmasters, so there is no dedicated page for the clinic any more. But if you ever go there, Rowan's Engineering building (Rowan Hall) actually only has 6 dedicated classrooms - the rest of the 3 usable stories are all laboratory space.

(Note I am tad biased because I graduated from Rowan University's Engineering program. But if someone wants more information on it, feel free to reply with a message.)

They randomise starting back-rank positions now in some tournaments, to stave off the eventual "book death" that has already conquered checkers.

I made up my own variation with randomness that I call Schrödinger's Chess.

Let me know if you try it out.

All true, if a bit soft. Details for the interested:

http://users.rowan.edu/~polikar/WAVELETS/WTtutoria l.html

Hello Blaise:

It's good to hear from you again, since the math books don't quite footnote your greatest accomplishment in life - the Great Wager.

It would seem the only real evolution occuring these days is in the hearts and minds of those scientists who purposefully choose to ignore the structured world around them. Furthermore, it's with great sorrow that I report back to you that these same "scientists" rely on innacurate radio dating techniques to gauge and base their new religion on. Yet, amongst all the evidence mother earth has presented to us yet, it's own history seems to be willfully ignored in substitute of manufacturing their own. We have thousands of reliable eyewitness reports testified and verified by their peers, countless compiled documents spanning some 6000 years with archaelogical evidence in supportive agreement with those same biblical transcripts (via excavation research), and both written and spoken tradition which attests to God's design and fulfillment of man's purpose by the death of his son who rose again from the dead in 3 days. And the only question left is why not who. Some cannot see it, but not all men have such insight or understanding when they stress the first I in intelligence over U, which when properly substituted is what they unfortunately suffer from. Oh, the urony of it all...

cya real soon in 30 or 40. Peace!

That's nothing... Rowan University requires you to give your SSN every time you want to take a book from the library... I just don't think anyone is taking the SSN seriously anymore.

http://users.rowan.edu/~marchese/blr.html

> If they had something strange happen during an experiment they should have left it at that and write
> a paper called something like "Something strange happened during blah blah blah...", then describe in
> detail the setup of the experiment and the results, then wait for peer review

Have done:

http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0963-0252/12/3/312

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?isn umber=27155&arnumber=1206739&count=18&index=5

http://www.edpsciences.org/10.1051/epjap:2004168

http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServ let?prog=normal&id=JAPIAU000096000006003095000001& idtype=cvips&gifs=yes

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleUR L&_udi=B6TGS-47C8N0P-B&_coverDate=12%2F19%2F2002&_ alid=308918281&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_qd=1&_c di=5262&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1 &_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=82d2cdf37641d3ec848f 070de1f6a1d2

ok: http://users.rowan.edu/~marchese/blr.html

Digging around on Google got me a link to the Resonant Transfer Plasma Propulsion Project which is an investigation of the Black Light Plasma Thruster and is a formal 3rd party investigation of Mills claims by Rowan U for NASA.

The site included a PDF which is a full report to NASA detailing their success in building a prototype and the test launch of a Black Light Plasma Thruster:
  get PDF here

The link provides photos of the engine being both built and test fired and full disclosure on their findings.

While much further work is required, it seems that enough success was achieved by the 3rd party to warrant further study. The author even goes so far as to state:

"Scientists at BlackLight Power, Inc. have explained the above phenomena based on a hypothesis that, under certain conditions, hydrogen atoms can undergo transitions to energy levels corresponding to fractional principal quantum numbers. However, since the theoretical explanation of the BlackLight Process has entailed a reworking of quantum mechanics, the theory has not been readily accepted in the scientific community. Regardless of the theoretical explanation, the experimental data suggests that these plasma systems have unique characteristics that warrant further exploration for propulsion applications. "

Appearantly, they've seen through experimentation the behavior Mills has been claiming.

Quite an interesting turn of events.

Digging around on Google got me a link to the Resonant Transfer Plasma Propulsion Project which is an investigation of the Black Light Plasma Thruster and is a formal 3rd party investigation of Mills claims by Rowan U for NASA.

The site included a PDF which is a full report to NASA detailing their success in building a prototype and the test launch of a Black Light Plasma Thruster:
  get PDF here

The link provides photos of the engine being both built and test fired and full disclosure on their findings.

While much further work is required, it seems that enough success was achieved by the 3rd party to warrant further study. The author even goes so far as to state:

"Scientists at BlackLight Power, Inc. have explained the above phenomena based on a hypothesis that, under certain conditions, hydrogen atoms can undergo transitions to energy levels corresponding to fractional principal quantum numbers. However, since the theoretical explanation of the BlackLight Process has entailed a reworking of quantum mechanics, the theory has not been readily accepted in the scientific community. Regardless of the theoretical explanation, the experimental data suggests that these plasma systems have unique characteristics that warrant further exploration for propulsion applications. "

Appearantly, they've seen through experimentation the behavior Mills has been claiming.

Quite an interesting turn of events.

Clearing the cache won't help. If they want you bad enough, they'll pull the deleted files out of unallocated space on the HD.

I hate to defend these guys, who were probably scumbags anyway, but here is the story:
http://elvis.rowan.edu/~hartley/Courses/ArticlesCo mputersSociety/2005/10755178.htm

If you accidentally viewed something illegal and deleted it in horror, best to pound your hard drive into dust and fuse the dust in a furnace.

A few years back, NIAC funded a study of a propulsion system based on hydrino energy (where hyrdogen atoms are shrunk to a size smaller than the conventional ground state, in the process releasing 2-3 orders of magnitude more energy than you'd get from combustion of the same amount of hydrogen).

The project was successful. You can read a summary here:
http://users.rowan.edu/~marchese/blr.html

and more details here:
http://users.rowan.edu/~marchese/final-niac.pdf
http://users.rowan.edu/~marchese/finalpres.pdf

A few years back, NIAC funded a study of a propulsion system based on hydrino energy (where hyrdogen atoms are shrunk to a size smaller than the conventional ground state, in the process releasing 2-3 orders of magnitude more energy than you'd get from combustion of the same amount of hydrogen).

The project was successful. You can read a summary here:
http://users.rowan.edu/~marchese/blr.html

and more details here:
http://users.rowan.edu/~marchese/final-niac.pdf
http://users.rowan.edu/~marchese/finalpres.pdf

A few years back, NIAC funded a study of a propulsion system based on hydrino energy (where hyrdogen atoms are shrunk to a size smaller than the conventional ground state, in the process releasing 2-3 orders of magnitude more energy than you'd get from combustion of the same amount of hydrogen).

The project was successful. You can read a summary here:
http://users.rowan.edu/~marchese/blr.html

and more details here:
http://users.rowan.edu/~marchese/final-niac.pdf
http://users.rowan.edu/~marchese/finalpres.pdf

I thought this was kind of odd. The black streak ending in what looks like an explosion?

Dunno..

http://users.rowan.edu/~schwab17/pictures/strange. jpg

Hunting is about understanding your place in nature:
You are a predator.
You are at the top of the food chain

The top of the food chain, riiiiight...

And while the risk [of debris] today may be minimal, it will increase exponentially unless something is done about it. An interesting theory raised by Donald J. Kessler of NASA, called the Kessler Syndrome, has a scenario in which the debris field would self-regenerate. In this case, there are so many satellites in space, that the amount of debris generation from collisions would exceed the natural removal of space debris mentioned in Possible Solutions. At this point, cleaning the atmosphere would be a huge undertaking and could be considered virtually impossible.

Slacker (1991)

Naja (1997)

Links:
The Pixelvision Home Page
Pixelvision (includes tecnical details)

75,000 to 250,000 pounds of thrust hardly sounds like "a light push". Think about this for a moment. Given the same amount of propellent, are ION engines more powerful or less powerful than chemical engines?

(insert Jeopardy music here)

If you said "more" you'd be absolutely correct. If they were less efficient, then a slow burning chemical engine would last longer than an ION drive. If they were equally efficient, then what is the point of the fancy ION engine?

The reason the current engines work like they do is that there isn't enough energy available in the system to constantly power tons of propellant. In a nuclear engine, the power is there in the form of heat. All you need to do is find a way to convert that into propulsion. Given that 1 Watt = 0.00134102209 horsepower, we find that a small 10 MW reactor puts out ~13,410 horsepower. That's not too shabby. Increase the power (say like you'd get in a meltdown situation) and you can watch those horsepower figures skyrocket.

BTW, it seems I fibbed a little. Apparently NERVA does exhaust some radiation, so it *may* not be usable in launch situations. I'm still not convinced that it's a problem, but I'll have to do a little more reading to find out how much it puts out and if there is any fallout.

While it's not the exact mirror, it's a very similar hack. Clix0r

Free software such as Linux is better because it's free

John Milton wrote an essay about this freedom (in a broader sense) called Areopagetica. It's one of those things journalism majors usually have to wade through their senior year in mass communication history.

In his time, one in Britain could not print without prior authorization from the crown. The King's official reason for this prohibition was to "protect libel from being spread." Milton argued that it took the public grappling of truth against falsehood to determine what really was true. Without this public airing, you simply could not know whether the facts you had were true or not.

The closed source vs. open source issue, especially from the perspective of code security and reliability, is inherently linked to this issue argued nearly 400 years ago by Milton. There simply is no way Microsoft can expose its proprietary code to the inspections open source benefits from. The result is horribly broken, insecure and crash-prone Microsoft code vs. a base of increasingly stable open source.

And the future gets worse for Microsoft. Complexity is the instigator of this dynamic; as software complexity grows, the ability of closed source to hang on evaporates.

*scoove*

Even the images now being produced by amateur astronomers are really excellent as a result of the close proximity of Mars. An archive amateur Mars images can be found at the International Marswatch site. Looking back through the archive, you can see how much more detail can be seen in the images as Mars has drawn nearer.

Even the images now being produced by amateur astronomers are really excellent as a result of the close proximity of Mars. An archive amateur Mars images can be found at the International Marswatch site. Looking back through the archive, you can see how much more detail can be seen in the images as Mars has drawn nearer.

http://engineering.eng.rowan.edu/~marchese/blr.htm l

Contrary to what the skeptics said, the thruster actually works! Now to measure the actual thrust and Isp, and see if it confirms the theory which says there will be orders of magnitude improvements over conventional chemical propulsion.

Research Project Funded by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts

Principal Investigator

Anthony J. Marchese, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering
Rowan University
201 Mullica Hill Road
Glassboro, NJ 08028-1701

Office: 235 Rowan Hall
Email address: marchese@rowan.edu
Telephone: (856) 256-5343
Fax: (856) 256-5241

Project Summary

During the past decade, several research groups have begun to report unique spectroscopic results for mixed gas plasma systems in which one of the species present was hydrogen gas. In these experiments, researchers have reported excessive line broadening of H emission lines and peculiar non-Boltzmann population of excited states. The hydrogen line broadening in most of these studies was attributed to Doppler broadening associated with high random translational velocity of H atoms (i.e. "fast hydrogen").

Recent data have been published by scientists at BlackLight Power reporting similar phenomena that suggests the presence of a newly identified regime of energetic mixed gas hydrogen plasma systems. Specifically, the following phenomena have been reported:

• Preferential Doppler line broadening of atomic hydrogen emission spectra,

• Inverted populations of hydrogen Balmer series in microwave hydrogen gas mixture plasmas,

• Novel vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) vibration spectra of hydrogen mixture plasmas, an

• Water bath calorimeter experiments interpreted as showing increased heat generation in certain gas mixtures.

Scientists at BlackLight Power, Inc. have explained the above phenomena based on a hypothesis that, under certain conditions, hydrogen atoms can undergo transitions to energy levels corresponding to fractional principal quantum numbers. However, since the theoretical explanation of the BlackLight Process has entailed a reworking of quantum mechanics, the theory has not been readily accepted in the scientific community. Regardless of the theoretical explanation, the experimental data suggests that these plasma systems have unique characteristics that warrant further exploration for propulsion applications.

Accordingly, the objective of the recently completed NIAC Phase I study was to assess the potential of low pressure, mixed gas hydrogen plasmas toward the development of high performance space propulsion systems. The project was awarded to Rowan by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts in April 2002. Prior to the Phase I study, no attempt had been made to apply this type of plasma system toward the development of a rocket thruster. Preliminary calculations suggest that such a thruster could achieve performance several orders of magnitude greater than chemical rocket propulsion.

During the period of May 1, 2002 to November 30, 2002, the following progress was made on the project:

• Conceptual designs for two separate proof-of-concept thrusters were completed.

• Configuration designs for thruster hardware were developed using SolidWorks 3D solids modeling.

• A BlackLight Plasma Thruster (BLPT) was fabricated.

• A BlackLight Microwave Plasma Thruster (BLMPT) was fabricated.

• An experimental vacuum test chamber apparatus was developed for testing the BLPT and BLMPT thrusters.

• A spectroscopic technique was developed for measuring thruster exhaust velocity using a Doppler shift of hydrogen emission spectra.

• A 1 kW class arcjet thruster and power supply was obtained from NASA Glenn Research Center to benchmark Doppler shift velocity measurement technique.

• Experiments on the BlackLight process were performed including:

o Thermal characterization of a compound hollow cathode glow discharge apparatus,

o Hydrogen line broadening measurements in low pressure microwave water plasmas,

o Measurements of inversion of line intensities in hydrogen Balmer series,

o Measurements of novel vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) vibration spectra of hydrogen mixture plasma, and

o Water bath calorimetry experiments.

• The BLPT and BLMPT were installed into vacuum systems and successfully test fired.

• Preliminary experiments were performed to measure emission spectra of the exhaust gases of the BLMPT thruster.

Each of these results is described in the Phase I final report, which was issued on Dec. 2, 2002.

The following presentation was given at the NASA Instituted for Advanced Concepts Phase I Fellows Meeting in Atlanta, GA on October 25, 2002. Download presentation here.

Rowan Project Personnel

Anthony Marchese, PI

John Schmalzel, Co-PI

Peter Jansson, Co-PI

Mike Muhlbaier, student

Kevin Garrison, student

Jennifer Demetrio, student

Tom Smith, student

Mike Resciniti, '02 (Graduated. Now at University of Michigan.)

Test Firing BLMPT Thruster

Last updated: Dec 4, 2002

Research Project Funded by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts

Principal Investigator

Anthony J. Marchese, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering
Rowan University
201 Mullica Hill Road
Glassboro, NJ 08028-1701

Office: 235 Rowan Hall
Email address: marchese@rowan.edu
Telephone: (856) 256-5343
Fax: (856) 256-5241

Project Summary

During the past decade, several research groups have begun to report unique spectroscopic results for mixed gas plasma systems in which one of the species present was hydrogen gas. In these experiments, researchers have reported excessive line broadening of H emission lines and peculiar non-Boltzmann population of excited states. The hydrogen line broadening in most of these studies was attributed to Doppler broadening associated with high random translational velocity of H atoms (i.e. "fast hydrogen").

Recent data have been published by scientists at BlackLight Power reporting similar phenomena that suggests the presence of a newly identified regime of energetic mixed gas hydrogen plasma systems. Specifically, the following phenomena have been reported:

• Preferential Doppler line broadening of atomic hydrogen emission spectra,

• Inverted populations of hydrogen Balmer series in microwave hydrogen gas mixture plasmas,

• Novel vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) vibration spectra of hydrogen mixture plasmas, an

• Water bath calorimeter experiments interpreted as showing increased heat generation in certain gas mixtures.

Scientists at BlackLight Power, Inc. have explained the above phenomena based on a hypothesis that, under certain conditions, hydrogen atoms can undergo transitions to energy levels corresponding to fractional principal quantum numbers. However, since the theoretical explanation of the BlackLight Process has entailed a reworking of quantum mechanics, the theory has not been readily accepted in the scientific community. Regardless of the theoretical explanation, the experimental data suggests that these plasma systems have unique characteristics that warrant further exploration for propulsion applications.

Accordingly, the objective of the recently completed NIAC Phase I study was to assess the potential of low pressure, mixed gas hydrogen plasmas toward the development of high performance space propulsion systems. The project was awarded to Rowan by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts in April 2002. Prior to the Phase I study, no attempt had been made to apply this type of plasma system toward the development of a rocket thruster. Preliminary calculations suggest that such a thruster could achieve performance several orders of magnitude greater than chemical rocket propulsion.

During the period of May 1, 2002 to November 30, 2002, the following progress was made on the project:

• Conceptual designs for two separate proof-of-concept thrusters were completed.

• Configuration designs for thruster hardware were developed using SolidWorks 3D solids modeling.

• A BlackLight Plasma Thruster (BLPT) was fabricated.

• A BlackLight Microwave Plasma Thruster (BLMPT) was fabricated.

• An experimental vacuum test chamber apparatus was developed for testing the BLPT and BLMPT thrusters.

• A spectroscopic technique was developed for measuring thruster exhaust velocity using a Doppler shift of hydrogen emission spectra.

• A 1 kW class arcjet thruster and power supply was obtained from NASA Glenn Research Center to benchmark Doppler shift velocity measurement technique.

• Experiments on the BlackLight process were performed including:

o Thermal characterization of a compound hollow cathode glow discharge apparatus,

o Hydrogen line broadening measurements in low pressure microwave water plasmas,

o Measurements of inversion of line intensities in hydrogen Balmer series,

o Measurements of novel vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) vibration spectra of hydrogen mixture plasma, and

o Water bath calorimetry experiments.

• The BLPT and BLMPT were installed into vacuum systems and successfully test fired.

• Preliminary experiments were performed to measure emission spectra of the exhaust gases of the BLMPT thruster.

Each of these results is described in the Phase I final report, which was issued on Dec. 2, 2002.

The following presentation was given at the NASA Instituted for Advanced Concepts Phase I Fellows Meeting in Atlanta, GA on October 25, 2002. Download presentation here.

Rowan Project Personnel

Anthony Marchese, PI

John Schmalzel, Co-PI

Peter Jansson, Co-PI

Mike Muhlbaier, student

Kevin Garrison, student

Jennifer Demetrio, student

Tom Smith, student

Mike Resciniti, '02 (Graduated. Now at University of Michigan.)

Test Firing BLMPT Thruster

Last updated: Dec 4, 2002

Research Project Funded by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts

Principal Investigator

Anthony J. Marchese, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering
Rowan University
201 Mullica Hill Road
Glassboro, NJ 08028-1701

Office: 235 Rowan Hall
Email address: marchese@rowan.edu
Telephone: (856) 256-5343
Fax: (856) 256-5241

Project Summary

During the past decade, several research groups have begun to report unique spectroscopic results for mixed gas plasma systems in which one of the species present was hydrogen gas. In these experiments, researchers have reported excessive line broadening of H emission lines and peculiar non-Boltzmann population of excited states. The hydrogen line broadening in most of these studies was attributed to Doppler broadening associated with high random translational velocity of H atoms (i.e. "fast hydrogen").

Recent data have been published by scientists at BlackLight Power reporting similar phenomena that suggests the presence of a newly identified regime of energetic mixed gas hydrogen plasma systems. Specifically, the following phenomena have been reported:

• Preferential Doppler line broadening of atomic hydrogen emission spectra,

• Inverted populations of hydrogen Balmer series in microwave hydrogen gas mixture plasmas,

• Novel vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) vibration spectra of hydrogen mixture plasmas, an

• Water bath calorimeter experiments interpreted as showing increased heat generation in certain gas mixtures.

Scientists at BlackLight Power, Inc. have explained the above phenomena based on a hypothesis that, under certain conditions, hydrogen atoms can undergo transitions to energy levels corresponding to fractional principal quantum numbers. However, since the theoretical explanation of the BlackLight Process has entailed a reworking of quantum mechanics, the theory has not been readily accepted in the scientific community. Regardless of the theoretical explanation, the experimental data suggests that these plasma systems have unique characteristics that warrant further exploration for propulsion applications.

Accordingly, the objective of the recently completed NIAC Phase I study was to assess the potential of low pressure, mixed gas hydrogen plasmas toward the development of high performance space propulsion systems. The project was awarded to Rowan by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts in April 2002. Prior to the Phase I study, no attempt had been made to apply this type of plasma system toward the development of a rocket thruster. Preliminary calculations suggest that such a thruster could achieve performance several orders of magnitude greater than chemical rocket propulsion.

During the period of May 1, 2002 to November 30, 2002, the following progress was made on the project:

• Conceptual designs for two separate proof-of-concept thrusters were completed.

• Configuration designs for thruster hardware were developed using SolidWorks 3D solids modeling.

• A BlackLight Plasma Thruster (BLPT) was fabricated.

• A BlackLight Microwave Plasma Thruster (BLMPT) was fabricated.

• An experimental vacuum test chamber apparatus was developed for testing the BLPT and BLMPT thrusters.

• A spectroscopic technique was developed for measuring thruster exhaust velocity using a Doppler shift of hydrogen emission spectra.

• A 1 kW class arcjet thruster and power supply was obtained from NASA Glenn Research Center to benchmark Doppler shift velocity measurement technique.

• Experiments on the BlackLight process were performed including:

o Thermal characterization of a compound hollow cathode glow discharge apparatus,

o Hydrogen line broadening measurements in low pressure microwave water plasmas,

o Measurements of inversion of line intensities in hydrogen Balmer series,

o Measurements of novel vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) vibration spectra of hydrogen mixture plasma, and

o Water bath calorimetry experiments.

• The BLPT and BLMPT were installed into vacuum systems and successfully test fired.

• Preliminary experiments were performed to measure emission spectra of the exhaust gases of the BLMPT thruster.

Each of these results is described in the Phase I final report, which was issued on Dec. 2, 2002.

The following presentation was given at the NASA Instituted for Advanced Concepts Phase I Fellows Meeting in Atlanta, GA on October 25, 2002. Download presentation here.

Rowan Project Personnel

Anthony Marchese, PI

John Schmalzel, Co-PI

Peter Jansson, Co-PI

Mike Muhlbaier, student

Kevin Garrison, student

Jennifer Demetrio, student

Tom Smith, student

Mike Resciniti, '02 (Graduated. Now at University of Michigan.)

Test Firing BLMPT Thruster

Last updated: Dec 4, 2002

Research Project Funded by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts

Principal Investigator

Anthony J. Marchese, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering
Rowan University
201 Mullica Hill Road
Glassboro, NJ 08028-1701

Office: 235 Rowan Hall
Email address: marchese@rowan.edu
Telephone: (856) 256-5343
Fax: (856) 256-5241

Project Summary

During the past decade, several research groups have begun to report unique spectroscopic results for mixed gas plasma systems in which one of the species present was hydrogen gas. In these experiments, researchers have reported excessive line broadening of H emission lines and peculiar non-Boltzmann population of excited states. The hydrogen line broadening in most of these studies was attributed to Doppler broadening associated with high random translational velocity of H atoms (i.e. "fast hydrogen").

Recent data have been published by scientists at BlackLight Power reporting similar phenomena that suggests the presence of a newly identified regime of energetic mixed gas hydrogen plasma systems. Specifically, the following phenomena have been reported:

• Preferential Doppler line broadening of atomic hydrogen emission spectra,

• Inverted populations of hydrogen Balmer series in microwave hydrogen gas mixture plasmas,

• Novel vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) vibration spectra of hydrogen mixture plasmas, an

• Water bath calorimeter experiments interpreted as showing increased heat generation in certain gas mixtures.

Scientists at BlackLight Power, Inc. have explained the above phenomena based on a hypothesis that, under certain conditions, hydrogen atoms can undergo transitions to energy levels corresponding to fractional principal quantum numbers. However, since the theoretical explanation of the BlackLight Process has entailed a reworking of quantum mechanics, the theory has not been readily accepted in the scientific community. Regardless of the theoretical explanation, the experimental data suggests that these plasma systems have unique characteristics that warrant further exploration for propulsion applications.

Accordingly, the objective of the recently completed NIAC Phase I study was to assess the potential of low pressure, mixed gas hydrogen plasmas toward the development of high performance space propulsion systems. The project was awarded to Rowan by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts in April 2002. Prior to the Phase I study, no attempt had been made to apply this type of plasma system toward the development of a rocket thruster. Preliminary calculations suggest that such a thruster could achieve performance several orders of magnitude greater than chemical rocket propulsion.

During the period of May 1, 2002 to November 30, 2002, the following progress was made on the project:

• Conceptual designs for two separate proof-of-concept thrusters were completed.

• Configuration designs for thruster hardware were developed using SolidWorks 3D solids modeling.

• A BlackLight Plasma Thruster (BLPT) was fabricated.

• A BlackLight Microwave Plasma Thruster (BLMPT) was fabricated.

• An experimental vacuum test chamber apparatus was developed for testing the BLPT and BLMPT thrusters.

• A spectroscopic technique was developed for measuring thruster exhaust velocity using a Doppler shift of hydrogen emission spectra.

• A 1 kW class arcjet thruster and power supply was obtained from NASA Glenn Research Center to benchmark Doppler shift velocity measurement technique.

• Experiments on the BlackLight process were performed including:

o Thermal characterization of a compound hollow cathode glow discharge apparatus,

o Hydrogen line broadening measurements in low pressure microwave water plasmas,

o Measurements of inversion of line intensities in hydrogen Balmer series,

o Measurements of novel vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) vibration spectra of hydrogen mixture plasma, and

o Water bath calorimetry experiments.

• The BLPT and BLMPT were installed into vacuum systems and successfully test fired.

• Preliminary experiments were performed to measure emission spectra of the exhaust gases of the BLMPT thruster.

Each of these results is described in the Phase I final report, which was issued on Dec. 2, 2002.

The following presentation was given at the NASA Instituted for Advanced Concepts Phase I Fellows Meeting in Atlanta, GA on October 25, 2002. Download presentation here.

Rowan Project Personnel

Anthony Marchese, PI

John Schmalzel, Co-PI

Peter Jansson, Co-PI

Mike Muhlbaier, student

Kevin Garrison, student

Jennifer Demetrio, student

Tom Smith, student

Mike Resciniti, '02 (Graduated. Now at University of Michigan.)

Test Firing BLMPT Thruster

Last updated: Dec 4, 2002

Research Project Funded by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts

Principal Investigator

Anthony J. Marchese, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering
Rowan University
201 Mullica Hill Road
Glassboro, NJ 08028-1701

Office: 235 Rowan Hall
Email address: marchese@rowan.edu
Telephone: (856) 256-5343
Fax: (856) 256-5241

Project Summary

During the past decade, several research groups have begun to report unique spectroscopic results for mixed gas plasma systems in which one of the species present was hydrogen gas. In these experiments, researchers have reported excessive line broadening of H emission lines and peculiar non-Boltzmann population of excited states. The hydrogen line broadening in most of these studies was attributed to Doppler broadening associated with high random translational velocity of H atoms (i.e. "fast hydrogen").

Recent data have been published by scientists at BlackLight Power reporting similar phenomena that suggests the presence of a newly identified regime of energetic mixed gas hydrogen plasma systems. Specifically, the following phenomena have been reported:

• Preferential Doppler line broadening of atomic hydrogen emission spectra,

• Inverted populations of hydrogen Balmer series in microwave hydrogen gas mixture plasmas,

• Novel vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) vibration spectra of hydrogen mixture plasmas, an

• Water bath calorimeter experiments interpreted as showing increased heat generation in certain gas mixtures.

Scientists at BlackLight Power, Inc. have explained the above phenomena based on a hypothesis that, under certain conditions, hydrogen atoms can undergo transitions to energy levels corresponding to fractional principal quantum numbers. However, since the theoretical explanation of the BlackLight Process has entailed a reworking of quantum mechanics, the theory has not been readily accepted in the scientific community. Regardless of the theoretical explanation, the experimental data suggests that these plasma systems have unique characteristics that warrant further exploration for propulsion applications.

Accordingly, the objective of the recently completed NIAC Phase I study was to assess the potential of low pressure, mixed gas hydrogen plasmas toward the development of high performance space propulsion systems. The project was awarded to Rowan by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts in April 2002. Prior to the Phase I study, no attempt had been made to apply this type of plasma system toward the development of a rocket thruster. Preliminary calculations suggest that such a thruster could achieve performance several orders of magnitude greater than chemical rocket propulsion.

During the period of May 1, 2002 to November 30, 2002, the following progress was made on the project:

• Conceptual designs for two separate proof-of-concept thrusters were completed.

• Configuration designs for thruster hardware were developed using SolidWorks 3D solids modeling.

• A BlackLight Plasma Thruster (BLPT) was fabricated.

• A BlackLight Microwave Plasma Thruster (BLMPT) was fabricated.

• An experimental vacuum test chamber apparatus was developed for testing the BLPT and BLMPT thrusters.

• A spectroscopic technique was developed for measuring thruster exhaust velocity using a Doppler shift of hydrogen emission spectra.

• A 1 kW class arcjet thruster and power supply was obtained from NASA Glenn Research Center to benchmark Doppler shift velocity measurement technique.

• Experiments on the BlackLight process were performed including:

o Thermal characterization of a compound hollow cathode glow discharge apparatus,

o Hydrogen line broadening measurements in low pressure microwave water plasmas,

o Measurements of inversion of line intensities in hydrogen Balmer series,

o Measurements of novel vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) vibration spectra of hydrogen mixture plasma, and

o Water bath calorimetry experiments.

• The BLPT and BLMPT were installed into vacuum systems and successfully test fired.

• Preliminary experiments were performed to measure emission spectra of the exhaust gases of the BLMPT thruster.

Each of these results is described in the Phase I final report, which was issued on Dec. 2, 2002.

The following presentation was given at the NASA Instituted for Advanced Concepts Phase I Fellows Meeting in Atlanta, GA on October 25, 2002. Download presentation here.

Rowan Project Personnel

Anthony Marchese, PI

John Schmalzel, Co-PI

Peter Jansson, Co-PI

Mike Muhlbaier, student

Kevin Garrison, student

Jennifer Demetrio, student

Tom Smith, student

Mike Resciniti, '02 (Graduated. Now at University of Michigan.)

Test Firing BLMPT Thruster

Last updated: Dec 4, 2002

Research Project Funded by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts

Principal Investigator

Anthony J. Marchese, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering
Rowan University
201 Mullica Hill Road
Glassboro, NJ 08028-1701

Office: 235 Rowan Hall
Email address: marchese@rowan.edu
Telephone: (856) 256-5343
Fax: (856) 256-5241

Project Summary

During the past decade, several research groups have begun to report unique spectroscopic results for mixed gas plasma systems in which one of the species present was hydrogen gas. In these experiments, researchers have reported excessive line broadening of H emission lines and peculiar non-Boltzmann population of excited states. The hydrogen line broadening in most of these studies was attributed to Doppler broadening associated with high random translational velocity of H atoms (i.e. "fast hydrogen").

Recent data have been published by scientists at BlackLight Power reporting similar phenomena that suggests the presence of a newly identified regime of energetic mixed gas hydrogen plasma systems. Specifically, the following phenomena have been reported:

• Preferential Doppler line broadening of atomic hydrogen emission spectra,

• Inverted populations of hydrogen Balmer series in microwave hydrogen gas mixture plasmas,

• Novel vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) vibration spectra of hydrogen mixture plasmas, an

• Water bath calorimeter experiments interpreted as showing increased heat generation in certain gas mixtures.

Scientists at BlackLight Power, Inc. have explained the above phenomena based on a hypothesis that, under certain conditions, hydrogen atoms can undergo transitions to energy levels corresponding to fractional principal quantum numbers. However, since the theoretical explanation of the BlackLight Process has entailed a reworking of quantum mechanics, the theory has not been readily accepted in the scientific community. Regardless of the theoretical explanation, the experimental data suggests that these plasma systems have unique characteristics that warrant further exploration for propulsion applications.

Accordingly, the objective of the recently completed NIAC Phase I study was to assess the potential of low pressure, mixed gas hydrogen plasmas toward the development of high performance space propulsion systems. The project was awarded to Rowan by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts in April 2002. Prior to the Phase I study, no attempt had been made to apply this type of plasma system toward the development of a rocket thruster. Preliminary calculations suggest that such a thruster could achieve performance several orders of magnitude greater than chemical rocket propulsion.

During the period of May 1, 2002 to November 30, 2002, the following progress was made on the project:

• Conceptual designs for two separate proof-of-concept thrusters were completed.

• Configuration designs for thruster hardware were developed using SolidWorks 3D solids modeling.

• A BlackLight Plasma Thruster (BLPT) was fabricated.

• A BlackLight Microwave Plasma Thruster (BLMPT) was fabricated.

• An experimental vacuum test chamber apparatus was developed for testing the BLPT and BLMPT thrusters.

• A spectroscopic technique was developed for measuring thruster exhaust velocity using a Doppler shift of hydrogen emission spectra.

• A 1 kW class arcjet thruster and power supply was obtained from NASA Glenn Research Center to benchmark Doppler shift velocity measurement technique.

• Experiments on the BlackLight process were performed including:

o Thermal characterization of a compound hollow cathode glow discharge apparatus,

o Hydrogen line broadening measurements in low pressure microwave water plasmas,

o Measurements of inversion of line intensities in hydrogen Balmer series,

o Measurements of novel vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) vibration spectra of hydrogen mixture plasma, and

o Water bath calorimetry experiments.

• The BLPT and BLMPT were installed into vacuum systems and successfully test fired.

• Preliminary experiments were performed to measure emission spectra of the exhaust gases of the BLMPT thruster.

Each of these results is described in the Phase I final report, which was issued on Dec. 2, 2002.

The following presentation was given at the NASA Instituted for Advanced Concepts Phase I Fellows Meeting in Atlanta, GA on October 25, 2002. Download presentation here.

Rowan Project Personnel

Anthony Marchese, PI

John Schmalzel, Co-PI

Peter Jansson, Co-PI

Mike Muhlbaier, student

Kevin Garrison, student

Jennifer Demetrio, student

Tom Smith, student

Mike Resciniti, '02 (Graduated. Now at University of Michigan.)

Test Firing BLMPT Thruster

Last updated: Dec 4, 2002

Research Project Funded by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts

Principal Investigator

Anthony J. Marchese, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering
Rowan University
201 Mullica Hill Road
Glassboro, NJ 08028-1701

Office: 235 Rowan Hall
Email address: marchese@rowan.edu
Telephone: (856) 256-5343
Fax: (856) 256-5241

Project Summary

During the past decade, several research groups have begun to report unique spectroscopic results for mixed gas plasma systems in which one of the species present was hydrogen gas. In these experiments, researchers have reported excessive line broadening of H emission lines and peculiar non-Boltzmann population of excited states. The hydrogen line broadening in most of these studies was attributed to Doppler broadening associated with high random translational velocity of H atoms (i.e. "fast hydrogen").

Recent data have been published by scientists at BlackLight Power reporting similar phenomena that suggests the presence of a newly identified regime of energetic mixed gas hydrogen plasma systems. Specifically, the following phenomena have been reported:

• Preferential Doppler line broadening of atomic hydrogen emission spectra,

• Inverted populations of hydrogen Balmer series in microwave hydrogen gas mixture plasmas,

• Novel vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) vibration spectra of hydrogen mixture plasmas, an

• Water bath calorimeter experiments interpreted as showing increased heat generation in certain gas mixtures.

Scientists at BlackLight Power, Inc. have explained the above phenomena based on a hypothesis that, under certain conditions, hydrogen atoms can undergo transitions to energy levels corresponding to fractional principal quantum numbers. However, since the theoretical explanation of the BlackLight Process has entailed a reworking of quantum mechanics, the theory has not been readily accepted in the scientific community. Regardless of the theoretical explanation, the experimental data suggests that these plasma systems have unique characteristics that warrant further exploration for propulsion applications.

Accordingly, the objective of the recently completed NIAC Phase I study was to assess the potential of low pressure, mixed gas hydrogen plasmas toward the development of high performance space propulsion systems. The project was awarded to Rowan by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts in April 2002. Prior to the Phase I study, no attempt had been made to apply this type of plasma system toward the development of a rocket thruster. Preliminary calculations suggest that such a thruster could achieve performance several orders of magnitude greater than chemical rocket propulsion.

During the period of May 1, 2002 to November 30, 2002, the following progress was made on the project:

• Conceptual designs for two separate proof-of-concept thrusters were completed.

• Configuration designs for thruster hardware were developed using SolidWorks 3D solids modeling.

• A BlackLight Plasma Thruster (BLPT) was fabricated.

• A BlackLight Microwave Plasma Thruster (BLMPT) was fabricated.

• An experimental vacuum test chamber apparatus was developed for testing the BLPT and BLMPT thrusters.

• A spectroscopic technique was developed for measuring thruster exhaust velocity using a Doppler shift of hydrogen emission spectra.

• A 1 kW class arcjet thruster and power supply was obtained from NASA Glenn Research Center to benchmark Doppler shift velocity measurement technique.

• Experiments on the BlackLight process were performed including:

o Thermal characterization of a compound hollow cathode glow discharge apparatus,

o Hydrogen line broadening measurements in low pressure microwave water plasmas,

o Measurements of inversion of line intensities in hydrogen Balmer series,

o Measurements of novel vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) vibration spectra of hydrogen mixture plasma, and

o Water bath calorimetry experiments.

• The BLPT and BLMPT were installed into vacuum systems and successfully test fired.

• Preliminary experiments were performed to measure emission spectra of the exhaust gases of the BLMPT thruster.

Each of these results is described in the Phase I final report, which was issued on Dec. 2, 2002.

The following presentation was given at the NASA Instituted for Advanced Concepts Phase I Fellows Meeting in Atlanta, GA on October 25, 2002. Download presentation here.

Rowan Project Personnel

Anthony Marchese, PI

John Schmalzel, Co-PI

Peter Jansson, Co-PI

Mike Muhlbaier, student

Kevin Garrison, student

Jennifer Demetrio, student

Tom Smith, student

Mike Resciniti, '02 (Graduated. Now at University of Michigan.)

Test Firing BLMPT Thruster

Last updated: Dec 4, 2002

...the Mechanical Engineering Department at Rowan University in Atlanta...

There is no Rowan University in Atlanta. It appears to be somewhere in New Jersey.

Anthony Marchese is a professor at Rowan University, where he teaches Mechanical Engineering. He is a rather nice, young, "cool" professor, as I used to have him.

I'm guessing the reason NASA sent him out to research this is because among other things, he has done reasearch on how things combust (burn) in space. He has had his experiments taken up on the "vomit comet" as well as on the taken space shuttle mission STS-94, to which I recall a CNN reporter stating in an obviously overpitched tone, "Well, isn't that dangerous?"

I shall now turn this into the first ever slashdotting with credits as I list the names of the network administrators I know run various rowan.edu servers, ALL of which are now non-accessable:

Engineering.rowan.edu's administrators: (NOTE: an old Sun SPARC workstation box, will not survive any slashdotting, which it appears to be already getting!!!)

• John Robinson (Head engineering network admin)
• Dennis Dipasquale (Secondary engineering network admin, which is funny, since he was hired first)

Rowan.edu (in general) administrators: We must be fair - the school only had (has?) about a 4.5 Mbps total Internet connection (assuming no faster lines ever came through; they were waiting on a certain phone company for years...) - I'm timing out connecting to their stuff too...

• Mark Sedlock (General all-around network administrator and good guy to know)
• Patrick Ackerman (Primary generic *.rowan.edu webmaster and graphics designer)
• The rest of the general Rowan Information Resources Department

All the above URLs are off the top of my head, as I can no longer access any of those servers. Of the above, only www.rowan.edu seems to be up.

Congratulations to all the slashdotters who now have successfully flooded an entire campus' Internet connection. The students trying to stea^H^H^H^Hresearch their term papers but are now unable to get online will forever remember you.

Anthony Marchese is a professor at Rowan University, where he teaches Mechanical Engineering. He is a rather nice, young, "cool" professor, as I used to have him.

I'm guessing the reason NASA sent him out to research this is because among other things, he has done reasearch on how things combust (burn) in space. He has had his experiments taken up on the "vomit comet" as well as on the taken space shuttle mission STS-94, to which I recall a CNN reporter stating in an obviously overpitched tone, "Well, isn't that dangerous?"

I shall now turn this into the first ever slashdotting with credits as I list the names of the network administrators I know run various rowan.edu servers, ALL of which are now non-accessable:

Engineering.rowan.edu's administrators: (NOTE: an old Sun SPARC workstation box, will not survive any slashdotting, which it appears to be already getting!!!)

• John Robinson (Head engineering network admin)
• Dennis Dipasquale (Secondary engineering network admin, which is funny, since he was hired first)

Rowan.edu (in general) administrators: We must be fair - the school only had (has?) about a 4.5 Mbps total Internet connection (assuming no faster lines ever came through; they were waiting on a certain phone company for years...) - I'm timing out connecting to their stuff too...

• Mark Sedlock (General all-around network administrator and good guy to know)
• Patrick Ackerman (Primary generic *.rowan.edu webmaster and graphics designer)
• The rest of the general Rowan Information Resources Department

All the above URLs are off the top of my head, as I can no longer access any of those servers. Of the above, only www.rowan.edu seems to be up.

Congratulations to all the slashdotters who now have successfully flooded an entire campus' Internet connection. The students trying to stea^H^H^H^Hresearch their term papers but are now unable to get online will forever remember you.

Anthony Marchese is a professor at Rowan University, where he teaches Mechanical Engineering. He is a rather nice, young, "cool" professor, as I used to have him.

I'm guessing the reason NASA sent him out to research this is because among other things, he has done reasearch on how things combust (burn) in space. He has had his experiments taken up on the "vomit comet" as well as on the taken space shuttle mission STS-94, to which I recall a CNN reporter stating in an obviously overpitched tone, "Well, isn't that dangerous?"

I shall now turn this into the first ever slashdotting with credits as I list the names of the network administrators I know run various rowan.edu servers, ALL of which are now non-accessable:

Engineering.rowan.edu's administrators: (NOTE: an old Sun SPARC workstation box, will not survive any slashdotting, which it appears to be already getting!!!)

• John Robinson (Head engineering network admin)
• Dennis Dipasquale (Secondary engineering network admin, which is funny, since he was hired first)

Rowan.edu (in general) administrators: We must be fair - the school only had (has?) about a 4.5 Mbps total Internet connection (assuming no faster lines ever came through; they were waiting on a certain phone company for years...) - I'm timing out connecting to their stuff too...

• Mark Sedlock (General all-around network administrator and good guy to know)
• Patrick Ackerman (Primary generic *.rowan.edu webmaster and graphics designer)
• The rest of the general Rowan Information Resources Department

All the above URLs are off the top of my head, as I can no longer access any of those servers. Of the above, only www.rowan.edu seems to be up.

Congratulations to all the slashdotters who now have successfully flooded an entire campus' Internet connection. The students trying to stea^H^H^H^Hresearch their term papers but are now unable to get online will forever remember you.

Anthony Marchese is a professor at Rowan University, where he teaches Mechanical Engineering. He is a rather nice, young, "cool" professor, as I used to have him.

I'm guessing the reason NASA sent him out to research this is because among other things, he has done reasearch on how things combust (burn) in space. He has had his experiments taken up on the "vomit comet" as well as on the taken space shuttle mission STS-94, to which I recall a CNN reporter stating in an obviously overpitched tone, "Well, isn't that dangerous?"

I shall now turn this into the first ever slashdotting with credits as I list the names of the network administrators I know run various rowan.edu servers, ALL of which are now non-accessable:

Engineering.rowan.edu's administrators: (NOTE: an old Sun SPARC workstation box, will not survive any slashdotting, which it appears to be already getting!!!)

• John Robinson (Head engineering network admin)
• Dennis Dipasquale (Secondary engineering network admin, which is funny, since he was hired first)

Rowan.edu (in general) administrators: We must be fair - the school only had (has?) about a 4.5 Mbps total Internet connection (assuming no faster lines ever came through; they were waiting on a certain phone company for years...) - I'm timing out connecting to their stuff too...

• Mark Sedlock (General all-around network administrator and good guy to know)
• Patrick Ackerman (Primary generic *.rowan.edu webmaster and graphics designer)
• The rest of the general Rowan Information Resources Department

All the above URLs are off the top of my head, as I can no longer access any of those servers. Of the above, only www.rowan.edu seems to be up.

Congratulations to all the slashdotters who now have successfully flooded an entire campus' Internet connection. The students trying to stea^H^H^H^Hresearch their term papers but are now unable to get online will forever remember you.

Anthony Marchese is a professor at Rowan University, where he teaches Mechanical Engineering. He is a rather nice, young, "cool" professor, as I used to have him.

I'm guessing the reason NASA sent him out to research this is because among other things, he has done reasearch on how things combust (burn) in space. He has had his experiments taken up on the "vomit comet" as well as on the taken space shuttle mission STS-94, to which I recall a CNN reporter stating in an obviously overpitched tone, "Well, isn't that dangerous?"

I shall now turn this into the first ever slashdotting with credits as I list the names of the network administrators I know run various rowan.edu servers, ALL of which are now non-accessable:

Engineering.rowan.edu's administrators: (NOTE: an old Sun SPARC workstation box, will not survive any slashdotting, which it appears to be already getting!!!)

• John Robinson (Head engineering network admin)
• Dennis Dipasquale (Secondary engineering network admin, which is funny, since he was hired first)

Rowan.edu (in general) administrators: We must be fair - the school only had (has?) about a 4.5 Mbps total Internet connection (assuming no faster lines ever came through; they were waiting on a certain phone company for years...) - I'm timing out connecting to their stuff too...

• Mark Sedlock (General all-around network administrator and good guy to know)
• Patrick Ackerman (Primary generic *.rowan.edu webmaster and graphics designer)
• The rest of the general Rowan Information Resources Department

All the above URLs are off the top of my head, as I can no longer access any of those servers. Of the above, only www.rowan.edu seems to be up.

Congratulations to all the slashdotters who now have successfully flooded an entire campus' Internet connection. The students trying to stea^H^H^H^Hresearch their term papers but are now unable to get online will forever remember you.

Anthony Marchese is a professor at Rowan University, where he teaches Mechanical Engineering. He is a rather nice, young, "cool" professor, as I used to have him.

I'm guessing the reason NASA sent him out to research this is because among other things, he has done reasearch on how things combust (burn) in space. He has had his experiments taken up on the "vomit comet" as well as on the taken space shuttle mission STS-94, to which I recall a CNN reporter stating in an obviously overpitched tone, "Well, isn't that dangerous?"

I shall now turn this into the first ever slashdotting with credits as I list the names of the network administrators I know run various rowan.edu servers, ALL of which are now non-accessable:

Engineering.rowan.edu's administrators: (NOTE: an old Sun SPARC workstation box, will not survive any slashdotting, which it appears to be already getting!!!)

• John Robinson (Head engineering network admin)
• Dennis Dipasquale (Secondary engineering network admin, which is funny, since he was hired first)

Rowan.edu (in general) administrators: We must be fair - the school only had (has?) about a 4.5 Mbps total Internet connection (assuming no faster lines ever came through; they were waiting on a certain phone company for years...) - I'm timing out connecting to their stuff too...

• Mark Sedlock (General all-around network administrator and good guy to know)
• Patrick Ackerman (Primary generic *.rowan.edu webmaster and graphics designer)
• The rest of the general Rowan Information Resources Department

All the above URLs are off the top of my head, as I can no longer access any of those servers. Of the above, only www.rowan.edu seems to be up.

Congratulations to all the slashdotters who now have successfully flooded an entire campus' Internet connection. The students trying to stea^H^H^H^Hresearch their term papers but are now unable to get online will forever remember you.

Anthony Marchese is a professor at Rowan University, where he teaches Mechanical Engineering. He is a rather nice, young, "cool" professor, as I used to have him.

I'm guessing the reason NASA sent him out to research this is because among other things, he has done reasearch on how things combust (burn) in space. He has had his experiments taken up on the "vomit comet" as well as on the taken space shuttle mission STS-94, to which I recall a CNN reporter stating in an obviously overpitched tone, "Well, isn't that dangerous?"

I shall now turn this into the first ever slashdotting with credits as I list the names of the network administrators I know run various rowan.edu servers, ALL of which are now non-accessable:

Engineering.rowan.edu's administrators: (NOTE: an old Sun SPARC workstation box, will not survive any slashdotting, which it appears to be already getting!!!)

• John Robinson (Head engineering network admin)
• Dennis Dipasquale (Secondary engineering network admin, which is funny, since he was hired first)

Rowan.edu (in general) administrators: We must be fair - the school only had (has?) about a 4.5 Mbps total Internet connection (assuming no faster lines ever came through; they were waiting on a certain phone company for years...) - I'm timing out connecting to their stuff too...

• Mark Sedlock (General all-around network administrator and good guy to know)
• Patrick Ackerman (Primary generic *.rowan.edu webmaster and graphics designer)
• The rest of the general Rowan Information Resources Department

All the above URLs are off the top of my head, as I can no longer access any of those servers. Of the above, only www.rowan.edu seems to be up.

Congratulations to all the slashdotters who now have successfully flooded an entire campus' Internet connection. The students trying to stea^H^H^H^Hresearch their term papers but are now unable to get online will forever remember you.

Anthony Marchese is a professor at Rowan University, where he teaches Mechanical Engineering. He is a rather nice, young, "cool" professor, as I used to have him.

I'm guessing the reason NASA sent him out to research this is because among other things, he has done reasearch on how things combust (burn) in space. He has had his experiments taken up on the "vomit comet" as well as on the taken space shuttle mission STS-94, to which I recall a CNN reporter stating in an obviously overpitched tone, "Well, isn't that dangerous?"

I shall now turn this into the first ever slashdotting with credits as I list the names of the network administrators I know run various rowan.edu servers, ALL of which are now non-accessable:

Engineering.rowan.edu's administrators: (NOTE: an old Sun SPARC workstation box, will not survive any slashdotting, which it appears to be already getting!!!)

• John Robinson (Head engineering network admin)
• Dennis Dipasquale (Secondary engineering network admin, which is funny, since he was hired first)

Rowan.edu (in general) administrators: We must be fair - the school only had (has?) about a 4.5 Mbps total Internet connection (assuming no faster lines ever came through; they were waiting on a certain phone company for years...) - I'm timing out connecting to their stuff too...

• Mark Sedlock (General all-around network administrator and good guy to know)
• Patrick Ackerman (Primary generic *.rowan.edu webmaster and graphics designer)
• The rest of the general Rowan Information Resources Department

All the above URLs are off the top of my head, as I can no longer access any of those servers. Of the above, only www.rowan.edu seems to be up.

Congratulations to all the slashdotters who now have successfully flooded an entire campus' Internet connection. The students trying to stea^H^H^H^Hresearch their term papers but are now unable to get online will forever remember you.

by Robi Polikar is here: http://engineering.rowan.edu/~polikar/WAVELETS/WTt utorial.html

The BlackLight Rocket link on Wired isn't slashdotted, it's just wrong. Here's the real page and a much more informative writeup of the whole concept at space.com, April 2000 , where Wired seems to have gotten most of their story. Sigh.

Amateurs are doing amazing stuff. Here's an image of Saturn taken with an amateur 13-inch scope and a camcorder. It's compared side-to-side with a similar HST image. You will be surprised.

Dozens of amateurs joined in a program to supply images to the 2001 International Marswatch program during this past Martian observing season. The pros use these images to decide when to spend their valuable HST time to look at Mars. Some of the images (and visual drawings) are incredible.

Ok, we got many things (using lame style names):

CBR = Constant bit rate = Variable quality
VBR = Variable bit rate = Constant quality
ABR = Target bit rate = Variable but not as much quality

OGG normally uses a form of ABR, but is capable to do true CBR and true VBR as well (not sure which versions enabled for).

Also, even if you are using true CBR, there is little room for flexibility in the form of the "bit reservoir"; you can save some bits in the "easy parts" so they can be better spent in the hard parts.

Second, mp3, being open in some way or another, has the side effect of many encoders available. Different encoders produce different quality. Take 4 192kbps mp3s encoded with 4 different encoders, and you will discover quality differences as day to night.

And to use Lame properly, first, let me suggest that you *at least* use Lame 3.89b. Lame 3.70 is *too old*. If you get Lame 3.90a, even better.

Want to be on the safe side? use this single option:

lame --dm-preset standard

This will produce near 256kbps files, and its the hightest quality you can get out of mp3s.

If you think you can live with 192kbps like files, then use

lame --r3mix

Otherwise stick to the normal, don't apply options you don't know much of. Typically you *always* want -h, and -b for the desired bitrate in case of CBR, or minimun frame bitrate for audio in the case of VBR (usually 112 or 128). ABR is VBR attempting an average bitrate. And no, it is not wise to use option -B at all (let the encoder use up to 320kbps frames when using VBR).

If this topic of lossy compression is of interest for you, then you should visit:

Proyect Mayhem, channel #Project_Mayhem at irc.openprojects.org
and
r3mix.net, channel #r3mix at irc.openprojects.org

Um... on side note, have you seen The Wavelet Tutorial yet? Wavelets are planned for Ogg Vorbis 2.x, stay tuned... :)

I know this is nothing like the author asked for, however where I used to work, I set up a copy of Amavis to scan all incoming mails on the mailserver. It takes a little tweaking to get syntax and setup right, as when I did it documentation wasn't perfect, but it works like a champ now. One of the other admins also set up a perl script that checks McAfee's FTP site for a newer version of the virus database, pull it down, unpack and test it to make sure it works, and then install it; this way when new virus databases come out, it's automatically updated on the mailserver.

For our uses, the perl version (Halfway down the page) worked out better.

BTW, You TOO can take the test on the web @:

http://elvis.rowan.edu/~cusumano/MBTes t.html

Also has interesting descriptions of the 16 differnent types.


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