Archive for April, 2006

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Disruptive students get flipped right over to family court

Saturday, April 29th, 2006

A friend of mine pointed me to this story in the Greenville News about two middle school kids, a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old, who were caught “gambling” – by flipping coins – in class.

Flipping coins has become popular with kids, Gambrell said. Rules vary, but it can be as simple as calling heads or tails and the winner gets the coin.

If convicted of gambling in the city, the fine is $295.50 and/or a jail term of 30 days

In a state with legalized gambling in the form of the lottery, my first reaction to the article went something like this: “So what is done if the kids are caught fighting in school? Are they beheaded immediately, or are they hung until nearly dead first?”

But it occurred to me that there may be another issue at work here.

A teacher told the 12-year-old and 15-year-old to stop playing, but the students continued and challenged the teacher, the police report said.

… after which the kids were arrested for “gambling”. Do the teachers really have so little authority in the classroom today that the only way to get rid of two disruptive kids in the middle of class is to have them arrested? That’s something to think about.

Posted in Education | 1 Comment »

Eatery at the Depot – Branchville, SC

Thursday, April 27th, 2006

Branchville, South Carolina, is a small town of just over a thousand people. Its claim to fame (if you can call Branchville “famous” at all), is that it’s the site of our first railroad junction. To remind us of that fact, Branchville has an annual Raylrode Daze festival. I mention this little detail because my grandmother wants me to go to this every year, but the festival is poorly timed for my teaching schedule.

Unfortunately, the railroad depot burned some years back. It has been partially restored, and is now the home of a museum and restaurant.

The restaurant is called the “Eatery at the Depot”, and we’ve been going there for a while when visiting my family.

If you didn’t know that there was a restaurant in the depot, you might miss it entirely. The small sign advertises “Railside Dining”. This is very accurate; trains occasionally go by and rattle the depot. It’s a bit of a surprise when you’re eating, but it doesn’t happen often enough to make dining at the Depot an unpleasant experience.

[Eatery at the Depot - Outside]
An outside view of the Depot

Inside the Depot, you’ll find the small, quiet (except for the occasional train), and dimly lit restaurant. I apologize for the dark and grainy pictures, but I didn’t want to disturb other diners by using the flash on my camera.

[Eatery at the Depot - Inside]
A view from our table. We were one of the first few groups to get into the restaurant the day these pictures were taken.

The restaurant offers a variety of food. You can get seafood, pork, chicken dishes, prime rib, or more traditional Southern dishes like … shrimp and grits. Patty usually gets the fried oysters (one dozen for $10.25), and I get the fried shrimp (one dozen for $11).

[Rick’s food - Eatery at the Depot]

Rick’s shrimp plate

[Patty’s food - Eatery at the Depot]
Patty’s oyster plate. This is one of the few times when she didn’t get garlic cheese mashed potatoes.

Both of these plates come with “Charleston Red Rice”, which both Patty and I usually avoid. Not that it’s bad, but there are things on the menu that we like better. In particular, Patty likes the garlic cheese mashed potatoes.

The main dish also comes with a small, rather unimpressive salad. Some lettuce, a small tomato or two, and a piece of bell pepper. The salad, though, is not why you would dine at the Eatery. The rest of the food (with the possible exception of the biscuit – which tastes like it was meant more for decoration than for eating) more than makes up for the uninteresting salad.

[Salad at the Eatery at the Depot]
Salad. Yawn.

The shrimp and the oysters we had were excellent, but one of my favorite things at the Depot is dessert. The portions are huge, and the desserts are very good. I’m quite a fan of key lime pie, and the pie at the Depot is great. The prices are even good, considering what you pay for “prefab” desserts at chain restaurants.

[Key lime pie at the Eatery at the Depot]
Two slices of key lime pie ($2.95 per slice)

I’ve tried only a few of the other desserts myself, but they’ve all been very good. Here’s the carrot cake. Yes, that’s one slice.

[Carrot cake at the Eatery at the Depot]
A single slice of carrot cake ($3)

Be there early if you want to get a good selection of desserts. Things like the key lime pie and the cheesecake sell out quickly. If you arrive after I do, for instance, there will probably be no key lime pie left!

Like Antley’s, the Eatery at the Depot is only open three days a week: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday – starting at 6 PM. It’s well worth the stop if you happen to be in the Orangeburg / Branchville area The Eatery is located at 7501 Freedom Road in Branchville.

Posted in Food | 1 Comment »

Aluminum / bromine reaction: lighting fuse not necessary; just get away!

Monday, April 24th, 2006

Let’s say you don’t want to do the thermite reaction, but you still want to see some very neat looking violent chemistry. The reaction between aluminum and bromine might fit the bill.

2Al(s) + 3Br2(l) –> 2AlBr3(s)

It’s a very simple reaction, but it’s also very exothermic, and can put on an impressive show. Not only is enough heat generated to melt the aluminum metal, but the heat also vaporizes some bromine, producing huge clouds of white and orange smoke. For obvious reasons, this reaction should be done where you’ve got very good ventilation. I used my hood for these pictures and this video.

Here’s a still image of the reaction vessel containing only liquid bromine.

[Liquid bromine in a beaker]
Liquid bromine and its vapor.

Bromine is the dark red liquid at the bottom. Bromine is quite volatile, and you can see orange bromine vapor in the top of the beaker.

About ten seconds after adding some torn aluminum foil, things look more like this.

[Aluminum bromide reaction]
Reaction!

A little later …

[More reaction]
Things begin to heat up! (Click to enlarge)

Oh yeah!

[FIRE!]
Now we’re cooking! (Click to enlarge)

Want to see the video? Here are a few links to a 30-second video file with audio:

The aftermath of the reaction is interesting. Some of the aluminum foil melted and fused with the bottom of the beaker.

[Aluminum burned to a beaker]
Aluminum fused to the beaker

Needless to say, we won’t be using this beaker again.

You can see the aluminum bromide product on the sides of the beaker.

[Aluminum bromide]
Aluminum bromide (white / yellowish solid) on the beaker

The aluminum bromide formed will react with water, causing the release of hydrogen bromide (very nasty to breathe – acidic vapor), so you need to be careful disposing of the product! That reaction is also very exothermic, so touching the product or adding water to it is not recommended. Leave it out long enough, though, and it will absorb water from the air on its own.

Ain’t science neat?

Disclaimer: Do not try this reaction at home. In fact, do not try this reaction at all! You were warned.

Updated with more pictures and video: 04/25/2006

Posted in Science, Science education | Comments Off on Aluminum / bromine reaction: lighting fuse not necessary; just get away!

South Carolina BBQ – Antley’s of Orangeburg

Monday, April 24th, 2006

Chances are, if you’ve heard the words “South Carolina” and “Bar-B-Que” mentioned in the same sentence, you’re going to think about Maurice Bessinger’s BBQ. Bessinger’s BBQ is pit-cooked pig, flavored with a strong mustard sauce. To people who live in the middle of South Carolina, Bessinger and his “Piggie Park” are synonymous with BBQ.

[Maurice Bessinger's BBQ Pit Stop]
Bessinger’s Orangeburg location

But there’s more to South Carolina BBQ than than just Bessinger’s, and you can find BBQ to rival or even beat Bessinger’s in other parts of the state. I’m from Orangeburg, and BBQ in Orangeburg is still pit-cooked pork. The main difference is the sauce – which is much milder than Bessinger’s yellow mustard sauce. If you’re in the Orangeburg area, you might want to stop in Orangeburg and eat at Antley’s.

[Antley's sign]
Patty and Rick’s grandmother Annelle in front of Antley’s

Walk into Antley’s and you’ll be in the buffet line. Unless you want a carry-out, the $7 buffet is the best way to eat. You’ll be provided with a plate, silverware, and a glass of ice. Sweet tea is available at each table, or you can get water or (horrors!) unsweetened tea. You can go to the buffet as much as you like, although you may have trouble eating more than one or two plates. If you’d like to make a sandwich out of the meat, bread it provided on the buffet.

[Inside Antley's]
A view from the table

What’s on the buffet? BBQ (of course), slaw, hush puppies, hash and rice, fried chicken, beans (green and baked), and sauce. This is, after all, a BBQ place. You didn’t come to eat seafood, and you won’t find it here. When you’ve piled up your plate, it might look sometning like this.

[Rick's plate]
Rick’s plate

I had rice and hash (What’s in hash? Don’t ask. Just eat it.), some green beans, a few hush puppies, and BBQ with sauce. The main attraction is, of course, the pit-cooked BBQ. The rest of the plate serves mainly to give your tastebuds a rest after eating the BBQ. You miight want to avoid the hush puppies, though – flavorless. The meat, though, is excellent – very tender and full of flavor (even if you eat it without the sauce).

Looking again at that picture, I might have been a little skimpy on the sauce. When I was a kid, I’d wouldn’t stop putting on the sauce until it was running off the side of the plate! (Danger: Do not try this with Bessinger’s sauce!)

If yuo want something cooler to go with the meat, you might do like Patty did and get a little slaw on the side.

[Patty's plate]
Patty’s plate – a little blurry since I didn’t use a flash

Want some BBQ to go? You can order it inside, or just go to the outside walk-up (not drive through) window.

[Outdoor menu]
Order at the walk-up window

We ordered two pounds of BBQ (which came with a pint of sauce) to take home, and got it within five minutes. The price wasn’t bad, either – $6 per pound.

Hungry yet? Antley’s is at 1370 Sims Street in Orangeburg, and is open from 11 AM till 9 PM. Be careful, though – like many small South Carolina BBQ restaurants, they’re only open three days a week: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Now after writing all this, I’m hurgry again. Good thing we have that BBQ and sauce in the fridge!

Posted in Food | 9 Comments »

Marlboro Midgets

Monday, April 24th, 2006

The Marlboro Man is a bit shorter than I remember him.

[72 mm Marlboro Men]

Posted in The Stupidity Photoblog | Comments Off on Marlboro Midgets

Classics of Student Literature – Say what?

Wednesday, April 19th, 2006

Sometimes, when you grade papers, you have to laugh to keep from crying. I’ve been teaching chemistry to college sutdents for a number of years now, and I keep a file of some of the strangest student answers I’ve ever received. I didn’t keep what I dubbed the “e.e. cummings lab report” – written without any capitalization or puctuation – but I do have a few of what I call “Classics of Student Literature”. Here is one of the classics.

Once upon a time, I asked some of my students on an exam to use the valence bond model to explain why there were two distinct forms of the dichloroethene molecule: cis-dichloroethene and trans-dichloroethene.

[cis-dichloroethene]
cis-dichloroethene (Chlorine atoms on the same side)

[trans-dichloroethene]
trans-dichloroethene (Chlorine atoms on opposite sides)

I also told the students in the question that the cis form has a larger dipole moment and a higher boiling point than the trans form. The students were merely asked to explain why there are two forms of the molecule in the first place. Since they’d just studied sigma and pi bonding, I was expecting an answer that mentioned that since the double bond contained an off-axis pi bond, that rotation of the molecule around the double bond (changing the cis form into the trans form or vice versa) would not be easy. The pi bond would have to be broken for the molecule to rotate.

Whether you remember enough freshman chemistry to make sense of the above paragraph or not, you might appreciate one of the answers I was given.

In cis molecule that is polar with a higher boiling point is different than the trans molecule. It has a double bond between C atoms. The shape of the two are the same but each one is different in other areas. Because of the structure + make of the cis and trans molecules is the reason it is able to exist. Both have the double bond between C atoms. But because one is polar and the other is nonpolar due to the charges it produces makes them able to exist. They also have different BP which makes them 2 different atoms. Because one is polar and one is nonpolar they have different properties which makes them different atoms that can exist.

Say what?

Posted in Science education, Silly stuff | Comments Off on Classics of Student Literature – Say what?

Happy Sucrose Day (#2)

Sunday, April 16th, 2006

When reading through the comments on this post on Pharyngula, it struck me that we are on the second of three holidays in the year that are exclusively devoted to the consumption of that most wonderful chemical – sucrose.

The three holidays differ seemngly only by the color scheme of the various sucrose-containing treats that they honor.

Date Holiday Color scheme
Febriary 14 Valentine’s Day Red, pink, white
April 16 (this year) Easter Pastels
October 31 Halloween Orange, purple, black

Ahh, sucrose. C12H22O11. Nothing puts a smile on a kid’s face faster than a basket full of sucrose-laden treats. You know, we could probably learn something from that. Instead of focusing on all the other morbid things people attach to the three days above, focus on the sugar. It’s the reason for the season!

[Cats celebrate Sucrose Day, too!]
Rusty celebrates Sucrose Day (#2) by curling up with a giant stuffed Peep!

Posted in Animals, Personal chatter | Comments Off on Happy Sucrose Day (#2)

Safety first!

Thursday, April 13th, 2006

When you use a handheld game system, you’ve always got to remember to be safe. The instruction manual for the GP2X has some helpful safety tips.

[Safety precautions]

[Don't shrub your eyes]

So remember, in case you get blind eyes, call a doctor. Whatever you do, don’t shrub your eyes!

Posted in The Stupidity Photoblog | Comments Off on Safety first!

Plug it in, plug it in!

Thursday, April 13th, 2006

Here are the English instructions for the AC adapter made for the GP2X, a Korean handheld game system.

[AC-DC adapter]

[AC code?]

I can’t read these directions. They must be written in some kind of code.

Posted in The Stupidity Photoblog | Comments Off on Plug it in, plug it in!

The GP2X – First impressions of the do-it-yourself handheld game system

Thursday, April 13th, 2006

Ever on the lookout for a new video gaming toy, I imported a new Korean handheld gaming machine (via Lik Sang) – the Gamepark Holdings GP2X. What’s unique about this handheld system? Unlike most systems, the makers of the GP2 want people to poke around inside it and make software for it. Also, the thing runs Linux – meaning that development tools for the console should be cheap and easily accessable.

My GP2X arrived yesterday. So how cool is it? Read on …

In the box

[GP2X and box]

The GP2X comes in a nice, if a little small, cardboard box. Inside the box, you’ll find the GP2X itself, a USB cable for connecting the GP2X to a PC, 2 AA batteries, a plastic screen protector, and a combination Korean/English manual. THe unit itself, surprisingly, does not come with an AC Adapter – which you will probably want to get if you get a GP2X. I ordered an AC adapter, a TV-out cable, and 1GB SD card along with my GP2X.

First impressions

Right off the bat, you know that this is a hacker toy. Like most handhelds, the LCD screen is proteted by thick plastic so it doesn’t get accidentally broken. Unlike most handhelds, you have to put this thick plastic protector over the LCD yourself. This is good and bad. It’s good because if you happen to scratch up the thick plastic, a replacement is cheap to buy and put on the GP2X. (Ask any PSP owner about scratches!). It’s bad because, well, you have to do it yourself and it’s easy to get dust or a fingerprint on the bottom where you don’t want it.

[White on yellow screen]

When you first turn the unit on, you’re greeted by a "Loading" screen that takes quite a while (10 seconds or so) to go away. You’re then left in the menu above, which can be navigated with the joystick and B button.

Who thought it was a good idea to use white on yellow for the menus? Did nobody think about using contrasting colors so you could read the menu?

Aside from the poor main menu color scheme (which you can eventually change by downloading skins), navigating the menus isn’t bad. The system even has a test option where you can verify that the screen, joystick, and buttons work correctly (mine did – yay!).

You’ll probably notice that the GP2X display flickers a little bit. This can be adjusted, and it’s not really that noticeable unless you like to stare at the menu screens all day.

What can it do?

The GP2X is billed as a "Personal Entertainment Player", which means that it is designed to play music, movies, and games. Since it comes with none of the above pre-installed. you’ll need to download games and copy music and/or movies to the GP2X before you can have any fun on the system.

Where do you get games? Try out the archive at http://archive.gp2x.de/, where you can download games and emulators that allow you to play games written for other systems on the GP2X. For fans of classic arcade games, there’s a MAME port.

[MAME for GP2X]

There are also gamss that Linux users will be familair with: The Ur-Quan Masters (Star Control II), Kobo Deluxe, Paradroid, Frozen Bubble, Quake, etc.

Now that you have your games, emulators, music, and movies, you need to get them to the GP2X. This is likely where you will begin running into some of the … rough edges of the GP2X. The USB connection of the GP2X is flaky, and you will probably experience problems if you use the GP2X in high-speed mode. If you’re running Linux and need to transfer files to or from the GP2X, you can force the system to use USB 1.1 (slower, but more reliable) by running this as root before plugging in the GP2X:

rmmod ehci_hcd

This disables high-speed USB and forces the GP2X (and everything else, for that matter) to connect at USB 1.1 speeds. Even then, the GP2X USB connection can be flaky. Your best bet to get stuff to and from the GP2X is to hook an SD card reader to your computer and transfer files to the card using the card reader instead of the GP2X.

Once you’ve got stuff on your GP2X’s SD card, you’re ready to play.

Playing movies

[GP2X box side]

The side of the box advertises that you can play DiVX, XVID, MPEG-4, MP3, and OGG formats. You might think that you could just copy many of your video files to the SD card without re-encoding them like you do on the PSP. Well, if you think that, get ready to see this screen a lot.

[Not supported file]

Unfortunately, the GP2X doesn’t seem to live up to the side of the box. I wasn’t able to get the GP2X to play the MPEG4 files I use on my PSP. It wouldn’t play WMV files either, or mpg files. What worked for me was to convert my files to XVID with MP3 sound using ffmpeg. Something like this:


ffmpeg -i princeofspace.dvd -s 320x240 -vcodec xvid -acodec mp3 -b 192 -ab 32 -ar 22050 -r 14.985 pos.avi

Success!

[Prince of Space]

Not everything on that command line was necessary – I was just trying to fit a 90 minute episode of MST3K into less than 175 MB of space, all I had left on my SD card. The most important parameters were likely the -vcodec xvid -acodec mp3 parameters.

It would be really nice if the GP2X supported more common video file formats. It’s not as bad as the PSP about video formats, but it is more finicky than I’d like it to be.

Playback of video was as expected. And unlike the PSP, you can play back to a television.

Music

I tried a few MP3 files (no OGG, as my car stereo doesn’t support OGG). Music played back fine over the internal speakers of the unit. Sound was a bit louder from the GP2X than from the PSP, but sound from the internal speakers seemed to be mono instead of stereo. Like the PSP music player, the GP2X’s player seemed fairly basic.

Games

I tried some games on the system, and the experience was about as you’d expect from a handheld. Controls aren’t as good as a laege console, but my only real complaint with control on the GP2X would be that the joystick doesn’t seem responsive enough, making controlling your player in games like The Ur-Quan Masters more difficult than it should be.

[Kobo Deluxe for GP2X]

The quality of games on the GP2X isn’t up to the offerings of the Nintendo DS or the Sony PSP, but that’s hardly surprising. It’s a new system, and all the games you can download are done essentially by volunteers. With time, the quality of games and emulators should go up. Even now, though, you can pack a fair amount of entertainment onto a 1 GB SD card.

Batteries

Happily, the GP2X can run on two standard AA batteries. Unhappily, it chews through batteries like the TurboExpress or Sega Nomad does. You will want two sets of rechargable batteries and an AC adapter for the GP2X. Either that, or you’ll want an unlimited supply of AA batteries around. Let me put it this way – since yesterday, I’ve burned through three sets of (luckily rechargable) AAs. I figure that at the moment, a standard set of rechargable NiMH batteries will last around 2-3 hours. (And you thought the battery life of the PSP was short!)

When the batteries in the GP2X get low, a warning LED lights up. The GP2X also starts to behave erratically and may crash, so don’t game without fresh batteries!

The GP2X can’t recharge batteries internally. To use rechargable batteries with the GP2X, you need an external charger.

Supposedly, the quick battery drain is because of a firmware bug. We’ll see if a firmware release lengthens battery life when another firmware release comes out.

Simple coolness factor

What other handheld game system out there lets you drop to a shell and run commands?

[shell output]

In summary

If you’re a casual gamer, you’d probably be better off staying away from the GP2X for a while. It’s new, and it’s not really a "put in a game and play it" system like the PSP or Nintendo DS. Plus, it’s got some annoying bugs like the battery problem to work out.

On the other hand, if you want a handheld game system that you can customize and hack on without worrying that the manufacturer will do something sneaky to try and stop you (ahem, Sony PSP), then the GP2X is a must-have. Once the system’s been out a while and the bugs get worked out, it might even become a system that just about anyone would enjoy.

Posted in Video Games | 5 Comments »

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