Hey, this is Ellen

I am not happy with the fact that Space is slow and stupid. Yes, I said those words.

So I will be moving to Blogger. The new home is going to be: http://tigerresort.blogspot.com/index.html

It is so much cooler there and faster.

For my winter break, please see the new blog. See ya there~muah

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRLDGnRruZY

Where is the moment we needed the most 
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost 
They tell me your blue skies fade to grey 
They tell me your passion's gone away 
And I don't need no carryin' on 

You stand in the line just to hit a new low 
You're faking a smile with the coffee to go 
You tell me your life's been way off line 
You're falling to pieces everytime 
And I don't need no carryin' on 

Cause you had a bad day 
You're taking one down 
You sing a sad song just to turn it around 
You say you don't know 
You tell me don't lie 
You work at a smile and you go for a ride 
You had a bad day 
The camera don't lie 
You're coming back down and you really don't mind 
You had a bad day 
You had a bad day 

Well you need a blue sky holiday 
The point is they laugh at what you say 
And I don't need no carryin' on 

You had a bad day 
You're taking one down 
You sing a sad song just to turn it around 
You say you don't know 
You tell me don't lie 
You work at a smile and you go for a ride 
You had a bad day 
The camera don't lie 
You're coming back down and you really don't mind 
You had a bad day 

(Oh.. Holiday..) 

Sometimes the system goes on the blink 
And the whole thing turns out wrong 
You might not make it back and you know 
That you could be well oh that strong 
And I'm not wrong 

So where is the passion when you need it the most 
Oh you and I 
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost 

Cause you had a bad day 
You're taking one down 
You sing a sad song just to turn it around 
You say you don't know 
You tell me don't lie 
You work at a smile and you go for a ride 
You had a bad day 
You've seen what you like 
And how does it feel for one more time 
You had a bad day 
You had a bad day 

Had a bad day 
Had a bad day 
Had a bad day 
Had a bad day 
Had a bad day 

Are the pyramids concrete?
If new theory is right, Giza structures would be material's earliest known use.
By Tom Avril
Inquirer Staff Writer

A Drexel University scientist who hails from Egypt announced provocative new findings yesterday about one of the enduring mysteries of his native land: How did the ancients lug the enormous carved blocks, weighing more than two tons apiece, to build the upper portions of the great pyramids?

 

The answer, says Michel Barsoum: Some of the blocks were not carved at all, but were made atop the pyramids by pouring a concrete-like "geopolymer" that could be brought up in buckets.

 

A version of this theory has been kicking around since the 1980s, promoted by French materials scientist Joseph Davidovits and widely rejected by traditional Egyptologists. But Barsoum and his associates are the first to subject small samples of the pyramids to electron microscopy.

 

The substance devised by the Egyptians had another surprising attribute, Barsoum said: It was more friendly to the environment than modern-day lime cement, releasing less of the greenhouse gases linked to global warming.

 

"There's a fabulous irony in that the 5,000-year-old technology is a green technology for today," he said.

 

Barsoum, a materials engineering professor from Cairo, said he and his associates would not be surprised at resistance to their work, to be published today in the Journal of the American Ceramic Society.

 

"We have a tough time because we are materials scientists" and not traditional scholars of Egypt, said one of his coauthors, Adrish Ganguly, who now works in the private sector.

 

Scholars say the Egyptians used ramps to push the limestone blocks into place. But the great pyramid at Giza is more than 150 yards high, which would in theory require a ramp extending at least 750 yards into the desert - an unlikely scenario.

 

Some have theorized the use of spiral ramps, but Barsoum said he doubts they could have been built with the necessary precision to hoist the blocks into the proper place.

 

He says he believes that the lower blocks were indeed carved from limestone, as most scholars say, but he argues that the upper sections were made of the concrete-like substance, citing several lines of evidence.

 

First, he compared the amounts of silicon to those of calcium and magnesium in the various samples. The ratios between calcium and the other elements are not found in natural deposits of limestone, he said.

 

Then, he found that some samples of calcite and dolomite were hydrated, meaning there were water molecules trapped inside - again, a situation not found in nature.

 

Finally, some of the samples were not crystalline in nature on the microscopic level but "amorphous," he said, indicating they could not have been naturally occurring, sedimentary limestone.

 

One voice of skepticism came from Glen Dash, a board member of the Cambridge, Mass.-based Ancient Egypt Research Associates. He has used radar to scan the ground at pyramid sites.

 

Dash said he could not comment extensively without reading the paper, but he speculated that Barsoum could have been analyzing samples of mortar, rather than the blocks themselves.

 

Still, he acknowledged that traditional scholars have yet to explain convincingly how the heavy blocks could be dragged to the upper half of the pyramids.

 

"Nobody knows how they did it," Dash said.

 

Previously, detractors of the concrete theory have said there weren't enough trees in Egypt to make the necessary amount of lime, which is made by burning limestone.

 

But Barsoum stressed that in his theory, the poured geopolymer was used for at most 20 percent of the blocks. Moreover, after consulting with Davidovits, Barsoum said he thinks his ancestors used an alternate recipe that uses far less lime. That recipe requires diatomaceous earth - the soil formed by the decay of tiny organisms called diatoms.

 

Even if his theory turns out to be incorrect, Barsoum said, the recipe for the geopolymer still works; he said he had tried it in his Drexel lab. It can be made with 10 percent the amount of lime required for traditional concrete, and also with sodium hydroxide. Less burning, therefore less fuel.

 

He envisioned it being used as a low-pollution source of building material in modern developing countries.

 

"It's fascinating," he said in a telephone interview from France, where he announced his findings with a French coauthor. "It's actually humbling."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
一点点背景：
在建筑技术历史上普遍认为，罗马人首次使用了混凝土建造技术。他们将附近的火山灰以及一些物质混合在一起而制成了目前公认的第一代混凝土。混凝土的使用令罗马人能够建造一些大规模的建筑，例如著名的罗马斗兽场（colosseum），绵延上百公里只用重力引水的aqueduct，澡堂(great baths)，等等。如果这个理论成立的话，那么埃及人的金字塔将会取代罗马建筑成为第一代混凝土结构。建造历史上这个技术的使用将要提前2000多年……

Aqueduct,只利用重力引水的水道：
[img]http://www.ancientworlds.net/aworlds_media/ibase_1/00/05/46/00054677_000.jpg[/img]

Colosseum,罗马斗兽场-规模庞大的剧场
[img]http://wings.buffalo.edu/AandL/Maecenas/rome/colosseum/ac822802.jpg[/img]

By Vitruvius

 

"Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, a Roman architect and engineer flourishing in the first century B.C., was the author of the oldest and most influential work on architecture in existence."

 

"The architect should be equipped with knowledge of many branches of study and varied kinds of learning, for it is by his judgement that all work done by the other arts is put to test."

 

"..., the function of the architect requires a training in all the departmnets of learning; and finally, since reason, on account of the wide extent of the subject, concedes that he may possess not the highest but not even necessarily a moderate knowledge of the subjects of study,..."

献给我亲爱的朋友们；

那些在寻找着梦想，经历着梦想，享受着梦想，挣扎着梦想的我们；

那些已经忘记了游乐园的欢笑，忘记了波板糖的甜腻的我们；

那些已经开始在得失中跌荡的我们：

 

Now playing:

 

张敬轩-笑忘书(粤)

要背负个包袱
再跳落大峡谷
烦恼用个大网将你捕捉
还是你抛不开拘束
你昨夜发的梦
到这夜已告终
沉下去头上散落
雨点没有彩虹
你还在抱着记忆
就似块石头很重
得到同样快乐
彼此亦有沮丧
童话书从成长中
难免要学会失望
经过同样上落
彼此堕进灰网
沉溺烦扰磨折
何苦多讲
我快乐到孤独
我缺乏到满足
游戏就算愉快不会幸福
人大了开心都想哭
我每日要生活
我每日要斗苦
捱下去连上帝
亦也许没法搀扶
我前路有右与左
面对抉择难兼顾
拥有同样寄望
彼此亦有苦况
棉花糖从成长中
曾送你愉快天堂
经过同样跌荡
可会学会释放
童话情书遗书
寻找答案
曾经曾经
回忆当天三岁的波板糖

For those engineers

我有时挺好奇到底这里究竟有多少个在读的工程生
而他们的大学生活会跟我有多相似或有多不同

这里的主题，不用我说，大家都很了解
不敢说总结，但依我看来大多是LAC-econ/math-investmant bank
很多人找到很多知音，我却鲜有
我有的只是不厌其烦地跟后来的同学讲，读engineering有多challenging,有多骄傲
但80%以上的都会说：“哦？真的是这样吗？”
都只怪“工程师”这个称号在国人的眼里跟“蓝领”同列
又有谁知道一个领了牌的professional engineer在这里跟执业医生有着同等社会地位？
medical school要读个12、3年，一个PE也要12、3年

我们作为一个工程生的典型大学生活是：
可爱的数学物理化学生物工程课……
各种作业，各式各样的project：小的如建个小车，大的如做engineering design
积极讨厌并埋怨着历史英语等各种文科课"stupid liberal study""I hate writing""engineering students should not be sitting in a liberal study class"
并以嘲笑business administration的学生为最佳茶余饭后的谈资：
engineering econ课本第一页写着只有6个字的chart，BA的学生能聪明得到哪儿去？
读得实在受不了的时候，愤然说一句：“XXX，I am transferring to Science major!"
Science major实在只是我们工程生退而求其次的选择
再次的是commerce and engineering,再再次的是business
咬牙切齿地诅咒着学校有多阴险地要保持着头两年工程生drop out率，
大一第一次大考，整个auditorium加一个lecture hall才刚好容纳下我们：every other seat between you and your neighbor
大二第一次大考，整个auditorium变成了：every other seat AND EVERY  OTHER ROW between you and your neighbor
但又痛心疾首地怨恨学校因为去年drop out率太惊人而在新大一里取消了这个课程，
”这个课程那么厉害，怎么就有这种事呢？“明明自己还读得死死的
每个人都在期末考周里都兴奋着自己还有一个学期快要完成整个魔鬼般的工程基础课程
有人还说要搞个textbook bonfire...
其他专业的女生喜欢把自己打扮得美美地上街,
而我们涂香水，是因为昨晚复习得太累没有洗白白
睡衣是我们的好朋友，在家穿，到图书馆穿，8am的考试穿，上课还穿
男朋友最好也是读工科的，一作息时间相近，二有共同语言，三双方都不懂或没时间浪漫
实验室这种extra curriculum是要做的，廉价劳工为得是一纸reference和resume
书架书桌和舒服的椅子比床重要，因为对着这三样东西的的时间比在床上待着的时间长
工程女生的房间是甚少装饰品的，因为能砸死人的书太多没地方放
对人文的讨论缺乏热情，因为我们知道现实跟理想总是有差异的，就如同：
材料课里讲晶体算出来的atomic packing factor跟实际量出来的总差那么零点零几；
一条桥的安全系数是指千分几的倒塌率，所以全美国每年要是倒50多条还是属于安全范围
建筑师标新立异的大楼设计，结构师一算——原来是建不起来，会塌的
公路不可能永远不塞车，因为一条永远是traffic condition A，即不塞车的公路，原来可能得要每边10条车道以上
…………


-----写于材料工程期末后及微分方程期末前的凌晨

最近过得挺不爽的

不顺心的东西一堆堆排着队涌过来

应验了我那句话：第一年和最后一年都是美好的，其他就剩痛苦了

不爽的程度，连听见圣诞歌都觉得烦……

每天不知道自己做的都变啥了