Great Expectations. (Not the book)

Expectations for growing the big one! I expect there will be some dedicated individuals and some not so dedicated, about 20% to 80% respectively. Only time will tell.

Now, I expect my pumpkin plant will perform to the maximum level of its genetic capability or else... If we make the assumption the genetics of these plants are "reasonable" for getting a large pumpkin, all else is left to the growers, environmental conditions, and any limiting factors such as nutrients, water, sunlight, carbon dioxide and such.

For me, I'm happy to be a part of the PSC Local 5740 and have a plant at the farm. I'm not sure if anyone else from the class is in the group, as they all seem to have joined with other groups. I don't have my expectations very high for others participation, unless of course this pumpkin is the biggest, at which point the whole endeavour will have been a group effort which I'm totally fine with!

I'm also happy to have a plant at the farm because even though I have one at home that will be planted outside this weekend and lovingly nurtured with a thermostatically controlled heating cable and a nice heavy Agribon frost blanket tent.... At any time my house may sell and I won't be taking the pumpkin with me (tears). Therefore, I expect the likelihood of my house selling will be directly proportional to the effort put in, size of the pumpkin, and nearness to maturity.

See the effort? Thermostat, 150 W cable (on full time about $.60 a day to run!) And a beautiful little plant with a true leaf.

Group Facebooking

The title says it all. Yes? No? Good? Bad?
I think the properly done group Facebook page is a real swell way to keep a group in contact. Take for example our giant pumpkin group Facebook page here.
Well that may not be the worlds best example. I'm not a big Facebook user and neither is Dr. Jones so we can all blame him if something doesn't work right on that page.
The Utah Rocketry Club Facebook page is a pretty good example I think. I'm not sure if you can see it or if you have to join/be accepted to the group to view it though. The nice thing about a group Facebook page as opposed to a website, is you can easily make updates and so can the other members of the group whereas a website is more or less static. The exception here is if a website has a forum you can participate in or if the website IS a forum. That being the case, Facebook in my opinion becomes irrelevant as users just post and do updated in the forum.
Like it or not, I think social media is here to stay. I would like to consider myself an A1 Luddite, but even I check my Facebook account on a daily basis! Although I will admit, to throw directed advertising off the trail, I'm "from" Zimbabwe, "live" in Timbuktu, and graduated from USU class of '51! Take that FB advertisers!

PowerPoint Presentation Pet Peeves

Yes, PowerPoint presentation pet peeves. Straight from Scooby Doo almost. That's a whole lot of alliteration! I'm not sure if this is supposed to be about pet peeves while making MY presentation or pet peeves about watching other presentations so I'll just go with the "others".
The worst possible thing I've ever seen in presentations and I mean the WORST are animations that people think make their presentation "unique". If the animation demonstrates a principle or pertains to the presentation in some useful manner, that's fine.
The other thing I hate in presentations are the transitions. There are a host of different "fun" transitions you can use from one slide to another. What's the deal with that? Why can't you just go from one slide to another. Once many years ago, I watched the motorcycle movie Easy Rider. You know, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson, and the absolute COOLEST chopper of all time. Anyway, in that movie the scenes change by flashing back and forth between the scenes. I always think of that when I see" fancy" slide changes during presentations.
Me personally, I would much rather watch a plain black and white presentation with a presenter who was engaging and knew what they were talking about than a fancy presentation. In the animated movie, Robots Ratchet gives a multimedia presentation about the future of Bigweld Industries. While the song Eye of the Tiger plays, the footage rolls, and Ratchet speaks, the eyes of those watching the presentation dilate and they appear to be zombies. That's how I feel during a fancy presentation.
So, no animations, no transitions, and we will have a great time and I may even learn something!

"unique"
"fun"
"cute"
"fancy"

Definitely not me!

On Writing a Paper

This post is supposed to be about my experience writing my paper. Well, I didn't like writing it if for no other reason than the information I was looking for does not exist, at least in the specifics or generalities I was looking for. My paper was a review of sorts regarding techniques used to grow prize winning giant pumpkins. I really wanted peer-reviewed material but it was not to be had. Sure there are plenty of papers about various aspects of pumpkins being produced for oil from the seeds or papers about pumpkins for food. I only found one that related to giant pumpkins and it was basically a history of what's been done and a call for people to do some research into the various factors that make these squash outrageously huge. Now if I were more of an academic sort and would be pursuing an advanced degree, this would be something I would like to look into further. As I am just wanting to finish school and contemplating a major career change (from meat manager to electrician) I'm pretty sure I won't be doing research any time soon, at least in a formal setting.

The "Real" Giant Pumpkin

I thought from some books and articles I've read I had an idea about growing giant pumpkins. I was wrong. You would be correct in saying there is not much published information about the sport, either in books or peer reviewed type articles but there is a lot of shared knowledge between growers. I learned growers track genetic heritage meticulously, go to great lengths to avoid soil compaction, add multiple truckloads of organic matter for each plot, and micromanage almost every conceivable aspect of the growth and development of the plant. Wow. I'm just happy to have something around 100 lbs. The monsters these folks are growing just go too far past the line of fun/hobby into the realm of work. I learned it's common to water 3 times daily with sprinklers under the leaf canopy to control soil moisture and reduce plant stress. Setting up sun shades to reduce the intensity of light hitting the plant is also common in our latitude. From what I've learned, I won't be attempting to grow a world record any time soon. I've got enough to worry about with my job that pays let alone a job that I have to pay to do!

Intellectual Property

I'm proud to live in a world where I can freely create something and it's mine. ALL MINE! For better or worse, I own the rights of whatever it is I write. (well unless I give them up, sell them...) Whenever I think an entity is just too over-the-top in protecting their rights, I remind myself, "why shouldn't they? They made it, they are profiting off it, it's theirs".
I do appreciate and value open source type media, but if you or anyone else made something, by darn, it should be yours unless you say otherwise!

The Interview!

Well I'm a day late and a dollar short! Or something to that effect. So this post is supposed to be about interviewing and what you should do in an interview but let me tell you, I've had the wonderful opportunity to interview probably around 40 people in the last 5 years. Nothing too serious, mainly I've found people for part time positions and pretty basic stuff... as in resume not required... fill out the application, type stuff. Here is the best horror story I've got. This kid (looked around 20 or so, but I can only ask if he is over 18) comes upstairs, looks at me and the other guy, coughs in his hand, LOOKS AT HIS HAND, wipes his hand on his pants, then SHAKES MY HAND! What does an interviewer do in that situation??? Awkward! On to the interview, I notice he discloses a felony conviction so I ask him what it was and he tells us it was of a sexual nature. We thanked him for his time, excused him, and I PROMPTLY washed my hands, up to the elbows!

Here is the take-home message:

• If you are being interviewed and you need to cough, cough into your arm, not your hands!
• If you have a felony conviction as previously mentioned, you probably won't get hired in a grocery store.

So for questions an interviewer may ask, they can't ask anything about race, religion, gender, age, and a host of other things but they can still ask off-the-wall questions and the usual mundane stuff. I like to ask, "how would your (last boss, reference, etc.) describe your work ethic" or something of that nature. That usually catches the kids off guard! Some of the other questions I've used are,

• Why do you want this job? 
• What will you be able to add to our company?
• How would you respond to...(x,y,z) situation?
• What animal would you be and why?

As far as other basic interviewing tips, dress NICE. Even if I just work in a grocery store, and am just looking for a meat cutter, I'm impressed with the person who takes the time to put on a suit and tie or dress. It shows me they really want to go the extra mile. Most of all, BE YOURSELF! If you are applying to a small time company, your (future) direct supervisor or even the company manager/owner will probably interview you and they want to know if you are a good fit. If you are not, you'll both be happier if you don't work there. If you are applying to a big company who has a HR person who interviews, they have probably seen hundreds or even thousands of people and have heard it all. Do them a favor and pass on the typical canned responses. Be yourself (the best side that is), be genuine, be relaxed. There is a good chance you won't get the job so don't stress about it. Maybe you will get it!

Microsoft Word, or my Love/Hate Relationship With It

There are several ways a person may choose to type up a document (assuming you are NOT using a typewriter) such as a WYSIWYG editor such as Word or a simple text editor that as far as I'm concerned, only appeals to the nerdy types. So let's assume that Microsoft has taken over the world and everyone used Word. If you use LaTeX and no one else does, good luck collaborating with others. I can see the simplicity of LaTeX where "it is based on the philosophy that authors should be able to focus on the content of what they are writing without being distracted by its visual presentation" but this blog is about Word! 

What's to love? Well, you get what you see and Microsoft Word is really popular. What's not to love? There is an entire host of capabilities available that unless you are specifically schooled in how to use, may not be that simple, such as numbering figures and having them auto update when you change one. Or, dealing with a table of contents or index. And then there are various issues that come up that just befuddle you and you want to smash your computer because you can't figure out why you document isn't doing what it should....

 I think Word is just fine for the vast majority of people composing a simple document, as in under 50 pages.
The more I read about LaTeX, the more interesting it sounds. Oh, I digress! This is about Word. Yes, Word. How easy I forget. 

Use Word! Mr. Gates approves!
Use Word! It's available pretty much everywhere.
Use Word! It's like playing the guitar where anyone can pick it up and learn the basics rather easily
Use Word! Because you are the document designer! Unless you are much cooler than I am and have someone who can do you document design for you, you are on you own.

USU's Environmental Observatory

USU has a really nice weather station.... Well, it's more than a weather station. The title "Environmental Observatory" really does it justice. From the web page www.weather.usu.edu, you can have a look at all sorts of data if you are so inclined. For the average use, the home page shows all the basics but if you're the sort of fellow who likes to look at graphs, that's there also. I really like the CO₂ graph because of the correlation to inversions. Same goes for the visibility graph even though fog also reduces the visibility.

One thing I find potentially useful from the home page is the evapotranspiration (ET) near the bottom that can be used to help determine watering schedules. This would probably be more useful to an average person if there was a link or something explaining how to use ET to figure out how much water to give your lawn. OK, I semi lie, there is a link to information about ET but the information given there isn't exactly explicit in how its to be used.

Now the observatory does NOT predict weather, it just reports it as it is happening. For people like me, that's just fine. If I want to know the weather, I look at the barometer on my wall at home, I look out the window, and nine times out of ten (more like 29 out of 30), I get it right for the day! The observatory is just a better tool than what I have at home, and for the scientific minded, it's a great tool!

Here is the next generation in accurate weather prediction...

Peer Reviews: Pros, Cons, and the Role of Anonymity

It was new to me but I have now learned in academia, papers published in journals are peer reviewed! Makes sense, this is scholarly work and as such should be critically reviewed by others within the same field. I presume this ensures several things:

1. You are legitimate and the work you are publishing in actually research you have done or compiled and not plagiarized.
2. The research is real and not a work of fantastical fiction.
3. The research you have done makes sense and you don't have critical errors within the research.
4. Since you probably don't have an editor and a team of publishers to make sure your writing conforms to the English language, they act as your final check.

The above list if probably a good list of pros for peer reviews but what about the cons? Are there any? Since I've only ever had one paper published and it was intended for a general audience, I've had zero experience with the peer review process but I imagine (that is correct, I have NOT researched this) potential cons of the peer review may include:

1. Your work may be so far ahead that it is not readily accepted. OK, that's probably far fetched....
2. You have been a jerk to others and even though the reviewers are supposed to be anonymous they still know this is your work and they just don't like you. It's probably best to avoid this situation!
3. ...and I'm at a loss for other potential cons....

So what about anonymity? This is probably to keep the honest people honest and to keep the process fair to all. If Dan submits an article and his buddies Janis, Scott and Brent are reviewing it, there may be just a bit of bias towards the paper in their reviews! For a work geared to a general audience, or for something intended for financial gain, anonymous reviews probably become much less important.

Now, who wants to anonymously review the quality of this blog and comment?

On Developing A Résumé

Now I have the wonderful experience of updating my résumé or at least resume the résumé writing process, specifically targeted for a job within my scope of education. 
The main challenge I see with this is getting the correct and relevant information on the paper. Someone outside retail sales, specifically outside of the grocery industry, may not see the value of someone who can run a department on a budget of about $1.2 million in sales per quarter with a margin of 21% while keeping labor below 7%. However, some of my skills at my current job are in fact transferable! Experience in writing budgets, meeting goals and deadlines, managing 16 employees, controlling inventory, working in a team environment. Those skills may have application in something soil science related. 
The main thing for this résumé is what I have done in school, classes I have taken, the paper I got published (check it out), working in Janis Boettinger's soil genesis lab, etc. I think these things may be more relevant to someone looking for a soil scientist. 
Now I just need to get it together on a couple pages!

Power Point: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

No, I don't mean a production by Sergio Leone but actual presentations that either you or I have witnessed or possibly have even given. For the sake of entertainment, let's look at the ugly for starters.

Isn't this slide fun to look at! Small font size, lots of text, did I mention too much text? It seems all the really bad slides have too much text, too small a font size, too many pictures, poor quality pictures, garish colors, and colored fonts that clash with the garish colored background. What did I miss? Hey, I'm not an expert but that slide was ugly! The only thing that could have made it worse is if they uses some nice clip art and a busy background.

Now let's look at a better one, or at least not as ugly as the first.

Well, this slide has a nice larger font, BUT I find it hard to read because of the background with its black and white static going on. Maybe it's supposed to be crushed Oreo cookies? Hard to say if this is actually uglier than the first or not.

Now it's time for a GOOD PowerPoint slide.

Why is this a good slide? It's clear, concise, easy to read (at least when in presentation mode) and the speaker doesn't just stand there reading everything like probably happened with the first ugly example. The rest of the slides in this particular presentation aren't as clear and concise as this example but for the audience (students in a classroom setting) it's just fine.
For a non-classroom setting, you want to capture your audiences attention and give them something to focus on while you deliver the presentation. Note that I said YOU deliver the presentation. If the PowerPoint does all the presentation, why are you there talking? A person could just look at your slides when they have a more convenient time.
The take-home message is this: Avoid "Death by PowerPoint"
There are a host of helps available online. Sift through them and see what they offer. What one person thinks is good, another may think is bad. Try to gauge what your audience will react to and make it appropriate for them. Remember, the presentation is for them, not you!

Spreading the Good Word... Of Science That Is!

How do you spread science to a crowd of people? Not the scientific crowd, although some may be inclined that way. Ordinary people. People who had a science class in high school or college and hasn't though much about it since.

Here is the deal, science at the basic level is generally interesting to a good crowd of folks. Once you dive in deep, you tend to loose all but the most advanced. Take for example, electricity. When I was a kid, I was really interested (or at least I thought I was) in all things electric. I would go to Salt Lake City to the Hansen Planetarium to see the "Zap Show" where they had giant Tesla coils, Van de Graaff  generators, a Faraday cage and lots of ozone in the air. Pretty cool stuff! Fast forward to physics 2120 or equivalent and the coolness factor starts to wear off rather quickly.

That brings me to an important point:
Not all science is interesting, and the deeper you get, the less interesting it tends to be to the average citizen. For example, I tell someone, "I'm in the soil science program at USU!" and they want to know a little bit more. They think that it's interesting! But if I tell someone, "hey, I just fit some soil moisture data to the van Genuchten parametric model!" Their eyes glaze over and they want to run away.

People want to relate, they want to know, "how does it affect me?" or probably more like, "what's in it for me?" If you can present that, and hold their attention, you're set. So keep it simple! Make it fun, give people the resources if they want to go deeper but don't bore them with the details before they're ready.

My other science interest is rockets. That can be as basic or as in-depth as you want to make it. Here are some websites I've spent some time looking at. They do a great job of presenting the information to a general audience and if you want to dig deeper, the resources are generally available. My favorite site is probably SpaceX. They have a users guide to their space craft, price lists for sending your payload into space, and merchandise for sale!

SpaceX Click on the Falcon 9 button for an overview, users guide, and pricing
SpaceX Facebook Page
Gravity Probe B
Gravity Probe B Facebook Page
Utah Rocket Club
USU Experimental Rocket Club Facebook Page

What's the common theme? They show the fun, interesting, exciting points of what's going on in their world that allow you to relate.

So You Want to Grow Giant Pumpkins?

Seriously, you think you want to grow giant pumpkins? Well, pack your bags 'cause you're in the wrong state let alone the wrong county! But in all reality, even though you may not be heading for world records in Cache Valley, you CAN grow a pumpkin bigger than your neighbors' and if you take it to the county fair, you just might win a little cash to boot! Make no mistake about it, it's not, "Oh I'll toss some seeds in the garden and see what happens". It's a commitment and depending on what you put in to it, (and a good deal of "luck" and pumpkin genetics) will largely determine what you get out of it.

Here are some books from my personal library I've found helpful in my pumpkin/squash growing endeavors:

World Record Tomatoes, Charles H. Wilbur

Producing Vegetable Crops, Swiader & Ware

How to Grow World Class Giant Pumpkins II, Don Langevin

How to Grow World Class Giant Pumpkins, Don Langevin

The Compleat Squash, Amy Goldman

(And yes, the giant tomato plants share similar principles as giant pumpkins and their respective plants.)

But if you're already a giant pumpkin grower, you probably don't need any extra advise.

There are several things I feel compelled to mention at this point.

1.  There is lots of good information and lots of bad information out there. Putting the end of your vines in a cup of milk WILL NOT help your pumpkin grow any bigger. But, if you won last time, hey, whatever makes you feel good inside! If you don't know what you are doing, find GOOD information. Also there are quite a few state extension sites that have solid information about pumpkin growing
2.  Please don't starve your plant. Giant pumpkins grow really fast, use lots of nutrients, and use even more water! Oh yeah, they require lots of sun. Remember that whole photosynthesis thing? Don't plant it in the shade.When was the last time you tried to ration the gas in your car while you were on a cross country road trip or tried to get a nice tan under a tree? Exactly. Don't do it.
3. The other reason these pumpkins grow big is genetics. Yes sir. Genes! Don't plant Jack-Be-Little or Small Sugar and expect large sizes. Whoever grew last year's world record pumpkin probably sold lots of seeds for lots of money! That being said, if everyone in a pumpkin growing contest starts with the same seeds, it could be interesting. A giant little pumpkin contest??? Want a big pumpkin? Plant seeds from big pumpkins.

 Be forewarned "real" giant pumpkin growers can be quite secretive about their growing information, certain "black arts", and other superstitions/science/pseudoscience they may employ.
Now, who's ready to grow a pumpkin bigger than mine?

PSC 5740 Senior Capstone Class 2013

This blog will serve to document my progress in PSC 5740, spring semester, 2013.

Assignment #1: Create a one page Power Point presentation about blogging. Pros/cons and generally what I think would be most effective.