Long Day 1

Woke at 3 a.m. after going to bed at 9:30 p.m. Arose at 4 and came downstairs to face a new year.

Turned out to be an excellent start to the new year. The excellence of the day stems from a couple of what would be considered minor events by most. The first thing was the result of playing with the Arduino pretty much all day; the second was the discovery of a previously unknown molecule floating in space.

Of the two, the second is by far the more important, so here is a small piece of an article written by Clara Moskowitz of Scientific American then republished by Salon on the Net: Astrochemists have discovered compounds in the cosmos that cannot exist on Earth.

"Many of the molecules lurking in stars and nebulae are foreign in the extreme. To ask what they would look or feel like if you could hold them in your hand is nonsensical, because you could never hold them—they would react immediately. If you did manage to make contact with them, they would almost certainly prove toxic and carcinogenic. Oddly, however, scientists have a rough idea of what some alien molecules would smell like: Many detected so far belong to a class of compounds called aromatics, which are derived from benzene (C6H6) and were originally named for their strong odors.

CREDIT: ESO/APEX (MPIFR/ESO/OSO)/A. HACAR ET AL./
DIGITIZED SKY SURVEY 2. ACKNOWLEDGMENT: DAVIDE DE MARTIN

Some new compounds reveal surprising atomic structures and share charge between atoms in unforeseen ways. Sometimes they challenge current theories of molecular bonding. A recent example is the molecule SiCSi, discovered in 2015 in a dying star, which is made of two silicon atoms and one carbon atom that are bonded in an unexpected way. The resulting molecule is somewhat floppy and produces a spectrum different from what simple theoretical models predict."

The thing that excites me most is that people have just really started looking for the molecules floating around in deep space. Now that we're developing telescopes capable of analyzing the spectra they see, scientists will start taking an inventory of molecular gases drifting in the emptiness. (Head scientist at Meland is already theorizing that scientists will find we (the whole planet) are embedded in a virtual sea of molecules aggregated into vast pockets.) PLUS, finding molecules whose bonding has been previously unknown make us re-question our understanding of molecular physics. Double Plus: ANY definitive findings advances what man knows about his universe. New paths lead to new places. 

I, Robot

I am discovering how much fun it is playing with the electronic circuit board. The first project is considered simple: make an LED light blink. I am amazed to find how much one has to know in order to do that basic feat: physical items like microprocessors, circuits, electronic components like LEDs and resistors, transistors, diodes, breadboards, cabling, etc.  There is also the software aspects of using this kit which enables you to program the microprocessor with instructions. In the very first experiment you have to learn how to build a circuit that supports a working LED (meaning it can light), then learn what one has to do to program the processor to make the LED blink at your command.

The first project took a while to accomplish given the stuff I had to learn. Working on my behalf was a knowledge of programming in the very language the Arduino understands. I've had experience programming in C++ for years—but it has been many since I last used it. The language is coming back pretty fast thanks to my previous exposure. Still, it took a long while to use the tiny physical components to actually build a working electronic circuit. Then program it on the laptop, then pass it to the circuit board, then get it to work. I was perhaps childish in my glee when I got it to work and mastered the ability to make it flicker at my command.

Today I disassembled Experiment 1 and moved on to Project Two: make a row of LEDs blink in sequence. This is scaling up the last project by five times circuit-wise and programming a lot more sophisticated routine to accomplish the requirement. It took hours to assemble the circuit because of small parts, big fingers and bad eyes. Then I typed in a program to make a line of LEDs blink back and forth in sequence—giving a rippling effect in the process—from one of the books I'm using to learn. Compiled the program, uploaded it to the Arduino. Couldn't believe my eyes; it worked the very first time! But the rate of light blink seemed slow so I altered the program and made the lights go faster. When my lighting effect reminded me of the lights on that Kitt car in that cheesy 1982 TV show Knight Rider, I quit tinkering with the timing of the program.

Sitting back to admire my success, I noticed that something about the rippling LEDs wasn't right. It took a minute to realize that the discontinuity was due to the starting LED blinking twice—once as the start of one sequence, a second time as the last light of the returning sequence—instead of the once that would make the ripple seamless. (This where knowing C really came to help.) After reviewing the program in its current state, I  modified one of the parameters of the second "for loop," compiled, uploaded and ... BANG! First time!!

All my programming experience in the past has involved the manipulation of data: sometimes pure numbers, sometimes conceptual "things"; sometimes spreadsheets, other times databases of inventory or student population. What intrigues me most about this small computer board is that this is the first time I have completely controlled a physical machine and what it does (in a far more involved way than printing or scanning something). Looks as though this will be a lot of fun. There is all kinds of stuff ahead like buttons, and motors, and other cool stuff.

"So what?" you may demand. "Why the hell should I care that you are learning this Arduino thing? Why would anyone care?"

I will tell you why: because just these two small experiments illustrate in the most profound way the level to which our civilization has advanced. We can take electronic components invented by man (transistors, resistors, wire, etc.), and assemble them into a "kit" that allows us to construct working "machines" that bend fundamental forces of nature to our wills. This just-recently-magical ability is passed on to me from the knowledge of hundreds of people through hundreds of years, from fire to electrical energy. And yet experts can now explain the whole process of mastery to an everyday dude so well that LEDs ripple still on my desk; little green light running back and forth. (Show yourself electricity. Do what I tell you.)