.

i think i will lay this blog to rest, along with my heart.

Hier kommt die sonne.

Sie ist die hellste stern von allen.

zord.

A paperclip can be a wonderous thing. More times than I can remember, one of these has gotten me out of a tight spot.-MacGyver.

MacGyver is in another tight spot. He has been locked in the kitchen supply area of a military camp. Unbeknownst to his captors he has concealed an electronic homing beacon in his shoe -- he will simply wait for Pete to arrive! Unfortunately his foot was run over by a humvee in the excitement of the chase and he suspects that the capacitance unit of the tuning circuit is now malfunctioning. What to do? Mac recalls that the circuit specs called for a 0.02 microfarad capacitor. Looking through the supply cabinets he finds a roll of wax paper and a roll of aluminum foil. He will make a new capacitor! Recalling a formula from the most useful and interesting class from his college days, he begins some quick calculations:

Image borrowed from The MacGyver Homepage

• Desired capacitance is 20 nF.
• Epsilon₀ is 8.85 pF/m -- call it 10 pF/m.
• So the desired A/d is about 2000 m.

Mac recalls that the thickness of wax paper is around a mil (a thousandth of an inch).

• A thousandth of an inch is 25 microns (0.025 mm).
• So the desired area for the capacitor is (2000 m)(0.025 x 10^-3 m).
• That is, 0.05 m² or 500 cm².

Mac also recalls that there are 2.54 cm per inch. He is no stickler for SI! Besides he knows that U.S. currency is 6 inches long and he may have to improvise for a ruler...

• Squaring to convert to area yields about 6 cm² per sq.in.
  Remember! time is of the essence and there is no calculator handy...
• So an area of about 80 sq.in. will suffice.
• 6" x 12" pieces of foil will be close enough!

Finally Mac places the two sections of foil between alternating layers of wax paper. Rolling the sandwiched layers up tightly with a rolling pin, to get a uniform separation of the two conductors by the amount of one layer of wax paper, the capacitor is formed! Pulling out a few paper clips, appropriate connections to the homing beacon are made. Mac is rescued soon thereafter!

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today.

It happened today. Every year when school starts it happens. Its usually about a month before I really realize how crappy it is, but thats not the case this year. School is ultimately a prison to me. It is beautiful outside, and I am in the prime years of my life, but I am stuck inside a building I do not want to be in and stuck with people I do not want to be with. I do not mind good work, I enjoy it. Work that I hate with every bit of my being, however, is not work that I enjoy doing. Somewhere in the world is the perfect place, waiting for me. That is where my peace and tranquility and happiness wait for me. I want to be there, free of chains and limits. I want to hear the sound of purity. But I am not allowed to go there. They keep me here. If I stay, I will not be happy. If I go, they tell me my life cannot be complete, and I will never make it in life. Everything in life also comes with a ball and chain. It is impossible to be free here. Freedom is a myth. Somebody might say that this is all just a phase, and that in time I will have the freedom I want, but we both know that it's a lie. Please just let me find my place. It's all I want.