I just finished reading a great, short article by Jan Heine in the January edition of Adventure Cyclist and thought I should share it. While most articles in a magazine about bike riding and touring would not be a great fit for the content here, this one is a bit different. Jan surveys the causes […]
Author: Thomas Bryce Kelly
Weekend Yardwork
Continuing my progress from a couple weeks ago (see here), I decided to turn my attention towards the backyard and start making a more inviting and useful space. The patio area–and most of the backyard–is pretty much a blank slate with lots of possibilities so I’m looking forward to see how it turns out. Giving the […]
Announcing my new Misc directory
I’ve started yet another endeavor to get my work organized into some system–or rather system of systems as it most often turns out to be. Recently the solutions for which I’m looking to find have to solve a problem that most people have and don’t realize. Most of my files and works were done by […]
Finite Difference Schema
I want to share with you a step by step guide to how I structured, simulated, and compiled my results for comparing two basic finite difference approximation schema. The system which we will be modeling is given by this differential equation: You are not alone if you are feeling uneasy upon looking at this equation; but […]
Finite Difference Implementation
For my numerical methods course–a course centered around the tools and techniques used in modeling ocean systems–we have been tasked with programing a 1D model of a differential equation with simple initial conditions. Our implementation has to be in Fortran, a computer language with a long history, which has been a bit of a learning […]
Presenting: Metabolic balance of coastal Antarctic waters revealed by autonomous pCO2 and ΔO2/Ar measurements
Today I presented and walked through a paper by Tortell et al. and figured I might as well include it as my Daily Dose since I’ve been shirking that commitment as of late. The paper is good and shows an aspect of research that will be important if my own work brings me down to Antarctica […]
Ray Tracing, or Why I bite off more than I can chew
I’ve spent countless hours and a considerable about of energy on getting my ray tracer up and running, and this is what I have achieved: While it may look like modern art[ref]Actually, since art exists independent of intent and as a result of a observer-entity interaction, this picture would be “art”. Whether it is modern […]
Learning R
One aspect of graduate level work that most people  are unaware of, yet every graduate student knows, is the tedium of making “publication” quality charts and displays. Figuring out a decent method to show off your data in an elegant figure is essential if you would like your work respected. True, you can always fire […]
First Day of Graduate Life
Since I dread reading simple blow-by-blows, all I will say about my first day as a PhD student is that I’ve missed being a student and that I am exhausted! The end. Well I suppose that I should say a bit more than that.
Wild in Tallahassee, or the local chain movie theater
Tonight after my first full day since moving to Tallahassee I had some free time, so I decided to reward myself for getting some paperwork sorted out (as well as some other odds & ends taken care of). [ref]Note, how should I rearrange the grammatical arrangement of this sentence to fix the terminating preposition?[/ref] Since […]
Paper of Note: Fast, Minimum Storage Ray-Triangle Intersection
Introduction Raytracing is modern computer graphics technique used to render life-like images for videos and animations. While it’s a relatively modern technique–coinciding with the birth of digital modeling–the inspiration for the methods can be traced back to ancient Greece. While some Greeks truly believed that our eye’s emit the ability to see and not that our […]
Today’s Run
Here are two photos I wanted to share from my trail run this morning. It was my first non-race[ref]I ran the Cape Cod Trail 50k here last year.[/ref] run in the Crane Conservation area just outside Edwards Air Force Base, and I cannot wait to go back.
Air plant openning
Take a look at a time-lapse I made today of an air-plant opening up and rehydrating. Sorry for the shoddy tripod.
Photography
A hobby I was happy to discover–and which I’ve been working on bits and pieces of for the past year or so–is photography. It all started after doing a bit of research into DSLRs cameras and what different brands had to offer, I finally pulled the trigger one day after wandering into a store and […]
The Old Dam Farm gets a logo
While we’re still working on the Old Dam Farm LLC and it’s homepage at OldDamFarm.com, I wanted to let you in our most recent step forward. Since no site is even halfway complete without a logo, I set myself the task of coming up with one (at least a temporary one). Anyone who knows me […]
Ultra Marathons: What and Why
Over the past few weeks I’ve discussed running and, in particular, the sort of running I’m most interesting in: Ultra-marathons. Whether it was on the subway, a date, or the random menagerie of folks I’ve come to be in conversation with recently, it doesn’t matter, I’ve carried out a similar discussion with each of them […]
If I were a farmer…
While checking out the latest headlines and otherwise perusing the PLOSONE site in search of some new and interesting research, I came across a meta-analysis that sounded interesting. With the provocative title of ‘A Meta-Analysis of the Impacts of Genetically Modified Crops’ [ref]Klumper and Qaim, A Meta-Analysis of the Impacts of Genetically Modified Crops. PLoS ONE 9(11): […]
JetDrive for Macs
With a recent incident involving me and my external hard drive, I’ve realized that I really need to improve my data backup system. Luckily I was able to save the drive and all the data on it, but there is no guarantee that I’ll be so fortunate next time. I’m one of those guys with […]
Pipeline Update
~~~UPDATE: Â The project has been officially scrapped its pipeline project May of 2016.~~~ Undoubtedly many of you had heard me speak about the proposed Kinder-Morgan/TGP Northeast Energy Direct pipeline project over the past year or so, and until now there hadn’t been any major developments. Before I dive right into the recent changes for the […]
The Farm gets some Heat
As many people have realized, this winter look like it will be quite similar to the last: bouts of cold arctic air sweeping down across the country making all of our lives a little bit chilly. The farm is unfortunately located in an area that already gets much colder than most of the areas east […]
Cooking with Ian
As one of those experimental projects I like to try out every so often, I filmed Ian and myself cooking Pumpkin Cookies. While I had no real ambition for the top charts with this video, I wanted to try out something novel and enjoyable with my brother. Besides, it was a great opportunity to learn […]
Introducing the Daily Dose
Over the course of a day, my overactive mind shuffles around to a surprising variety of topics and articles, and most of these finds are lost to the wayside simply because I have nowhere to put them. The Daily Dose is my solution for this. By providing a dedicated stream and forum for these otherwise […]
Raman Spec in the Deep Ocean
Introduction Since I am sure that virtually no one outside of academia–and plenty of people within it–will have heard of a Raman Spec before, let’s start there. A Raman Spectrometer is an instrument that directs light onto a sample and then uses the light that returns as its basis of measurement. This is true of […]
Snippet — Removing Plaster at the Old Dam Farm
While nothing spectacular, here is a brief look at one of the least glamerous jobs I’ve been working on while at the farm. The old plaster has to go before we can run new lines, insulate and hang the drywall, so here I go:
Paper of Note: Chirality from Achiral Reactants
Introduction Chirality, or the handedness, of chemical compounds is an intrinsic property of many chemical compounds, especially those of interest to biology. While anyone familiar with biology will know that amino acids–the building blocks of proteins–are enantiomerically pure, it remains a lingering question of how it became this way. Nature generally proceeds forward without favoring […]
Paper of Note: Many Interacting Worlds Theory
While mulling around yesterday before the Thankgsiving festivities, I decided to print off a new paper out in Physical Review X about a novel quantum interpretation and formulation [ref]Quantum Phenomena Modeled by Interactions between Many Classical Worlds. Phys. Rev. X 4, 041013 – Published 23 October 2014 Michael J. W. Hall, Dirk-AndrĂ© Deckert, and Howard M. Wiseman […]
Real Estate Research in the Real World
With the explosion of online research tools such as the MLS, buying a house has certainly changed from the days of thumbing through the local paper for new listings. Since I’ll be moving down to Tallahassee in January to start my graduate school (see here), I figure it might prove useful to compile a summary […]
Tallahassee, First Impressions
Tallahassee, the forgotten capital of Florida, is one of those places which everyone has heard of but for which few can claim experience. Last week I was fortunate enough to gain the opportunity to check out the city for myself–and in preparation for moving down there for graduate school starting in January.
Paper2Plastic
Over this past summer a new initiative in the Boston College chemistry department had its first year: year 0. This program, titled Paper2Plastic, is our response to the under-representation of women and minorities in the STEM fields. By introducing the students to the conditions of a research lab early in their educational careers (i.e. high […]
Becoming a Floridian, again
Since some of you know of my exotic childhood of being raised in the Florida Keys, I wont dwell on that chapter of my life for too long. I lived for over fours years in the tropics and hurricane-prone chain of islands that extend off into the gulf of Mexico. While I was quite young at […]