Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying about Weather and Nuclear War at Discovery Park (part 2)

 

So in my last blog I discussed that anyone who visits or goes to Discovery Park should never worry if a real bad rainstorm hits.  Discovery Park has a basement which can be used to house students and faculty at the time of the bad weather.  In this blog I will discuss why no one should ever worry about nuclear war while at Discovery Park.

 

In my last blog I also mentioned to everyone my roommate told me what he had to do while he was at Discovery Park this past Monday during the bad weather.  What I did not mention was that after my roommate told of me of what happened I gave him a little bit of history and information about Discovery Park.  Discovery Park used to be owned by Texas Instruments back in the late 80’s as a facilities manufacturing plant.  This can still be seen by some of the features around Discovery Park such as the indoor gardens located throughout the building.  Texas Instruments later left the facility and it became vacant for some time.  In 2004, the facility was opened to the College of Engineering and now all engineering departments are at Discovery Park.  

 

In regards to why Discovery Park is nuclear safe, the building was required to be designed such that it could take a nuclear blast and it is also rumored to be the 4^th safest place for the president to go in case of a nuclear disaster.  The basement at Discovery Park contains two levels.  The first basement level is a great place for anyone looking to shoot a horror movie because of it being dimly lit and containing nothing but long hallways.  The second basement level cannot be accessed.  While I do not know the exact reason as to why the second basement level cannot be accessed, one reason I heard was from a parent whose child I gave a tour to of Discovery Park.  The parent worked for a company in the defense industry and said the second level of the basement contained dangerous chemicals that were used by the previous owner to make missiles.  Though a lot of rumors exist about Discovery Park one sure thing is you’ll get a Great Education!

 

So anyone scared of being caught in a nuclear war at Discovery Park need not worry, it will protect you.

 

Fight the Good Fight

Ya Boy Archie Wright!

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying about weather and Nuclear War at Discovery Park

My next two blogs will discuss the structure of Discovery Park and why no one should ever worry about weather or nuclear war while there.

This past Monday displayed some of the worst weather in Denton since the really heavy snowstorms in February. 

I was on the main campus taking my Applied Statistics class at 2p.m.  It’s funny how fast the weather can change because before I went to class it was a sunny day with a few clouds in the sky.  At around 3:10 p.m. my class could hear sirens from the air horns around Denton going off.  My professor ignored the sirens and continued with his lecture.  A few minutes later, lots of doors could be heard opening and closing outside and soon lots of people were in the hallway.  The noise was distracting making it hard to pay attention to the professor.  Finally a safety captain came into our room and ordered my class to evacuate to the first floor of Chilton Hall in the media library for protection.  While I was only able to catch a glimpse of what was happening outside, I could clearly see it was raining pretty hard.  When I got to the media library the place was full of people from the entire building seeking shelter.  At around 3:30 p.m. the sirens had stopped ringing, the rain was not pouring as bad, and the safety coordinators let everyone go.

I told my roommate about what happened during class.  He told me he was at Discovery Park at the time listening to music when a safety coordinator made everyone in the building go down into the basement at Discovery Park and everyone stayed down there until the safety coordinator deemed the upstairs safe.  Eventually the storm died down and everyone was able to return to their offices and classrooms.  Overall Discovery Park was able to protect everyone there from the hard rainstorm that hit.  So anyone scared of being caught in a bad storm at Discovery Park need not worry, it will protect you.

(Part two: Not worrying about nuclear war about Discovery Park)

Fight the Good Fight

Ya Boy Archie Wright!

UNT Run Off Election

In a previous blog I discussed about the election for senators, Student Body President, and Vice President.  The election results have resulted in a run off election because no candidate recieved 25% of the majority vote.  The run off election will take place from April 25 to April 27.  From the period of the first election til now, alot has been going on around campus to further fuel the election.  This past week several student organizations including: the Feminist Majority Leadership, the UNT National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), and the Gay and Lesbian Association of Denton (GLAD) protested the Student Government Association meeting on Wednesday.  Referendums and proposed legislation that were being pushed by NORML and GLAD were not put through this semester which has angered both organizations.  It is situations like these that further fuel the importance of the student body elections at UNT.  The leadership at UNT is responsible for getting out the referendums and proposed legislation to the student body to vote on.   

 

The election of the the student body president and vice president will greatly influence the legislation that goes on next year.  Hopefully the run off election goes well and UNT will finally have it's Student Body President for next year.

 

Fight the Good Fight

Ya Boy Archie Wright!

The Windy University Day

 

This past Friday was the 50^th annual University Day at the University of North Texas.  University Day is an annual event which is held in the spring time to commemorate when UNT officially made the transition from a college to a university by changing its name from North Texas State College to North Texas State University.  A little history about UNT, it was founded back in 1890 by Joshua Chilton and has hence changed its name six times.  The final name change to UNT happened in 1988 when it took the name the University of North Texas. (Back to University Day)

 

Overall the event was good minus the wind.  These past few weeks have brought high winds to the area.  At University Day the wind was blowing pretty hard and caused a few problems.  First there was a big rack with a lot of large metal trays on it.  The wind blew the big rack over and caused one of the trays to fly out and blow away like a piece of paper.  Luckily the large metal tray was able to be stopped before anyone got hurt.  The next problem I saw with the wind was it blew over a table and hit an older lady in her ankle and hurt her.  Luckily she was attended to immediately by the staff around her.  The final problem I saw with the wind was there was a dunking booth which was blown entirely over causing all the water to spill out.  Luckily no one was in or around the dunking booth area.

 

Other than that, University Day was pretty good.  There was free a meal which included your choice of a brisket or vegetarian sandwich, chips, a brownie, and a bottle of water.  There was also a live band, student organizations, games, and prizes.  Also the fountain in the middle of campus was dyed green.  ( I have the picture above)

 

Overall, University Day allowed for UNT students to come out, have a good time, and take pride in going to the University of North Texas.

 

Fight the Good Fight

Ya Boy Archie Wright!

Earth Week at UNT

This week is Earth Week at UNT which will be used to further promote UNT’s mission of being an energy efficient school. Throughout my past four years at UNT, the university has continually made efforts to make UNT a green campus.  Here are some of the ways UNT tries to go green.

 

When it comes to main campus and Discovery Park, both have different amenities in regards to going green.  Almost all throughout the main campus you’ll find recycling bins for aluminum cans, paper, and trash.  Discovery Park has a few recycle bins mainly in the computer labs for paper but not so many aluminum bins.  In regards to saving energy, one big resource you'll find especially at Discovery Park but not much on the main campus is a lot of classroom lights are wired to automatic sensors that turn the lights on when someone is moving.  The lights usually stay on for about 5-10 minutes and then will cut off once again if no movement is detected.  As a result of turning the lights off to a classroom, electricity and money are saved which can thereby go to other needs of the university.  One such instance is a few months ago when I interviewed for an internship with a company whose purpose was to create sustainability at schools.  Even though I did not get the internship, I did find what the company did to be pretty interesting.  By monitoring the air conditioning system at the schools, the company allowed schools to save money on electricity which in turn trickled down to allow teacher’s jobs to be saved.  So as you can see the Going Green and using less energy can trickle down in the long run.

 

I hope everyone enjoys Earth Week and all its festivities.

 

Fight the Good Fight

Ya Boy Archie Wright!

UNT Elections

Last week was elections for student body president and college senators at UNT.  Elections are important at UNT and every vote definitely counts.  In previous elections, some issues were barely passed.  The issues put on the election ballot not only deal with which candidates will be student body president and vice president, it also deals with issues affecting everyone at UNT.  Some issues placed on the ballot can deal with building a new building on campus and raising tuition to pay for it.  One such instance was the vote to build the new UNT football stadium or the recreational center. 

 

This year’s election has been clouded with much controversy.  While the election for senators was pretty straightforward, especially for the college of engineering since we had only one candidate to vote for, the election for president and vice president was more complex.  One of the biggest controversies came from a UNT alumni who endorsed a particular candidate on Facebook.  The UNT alumni was a former SGA president and a member of a Facebook group claiming to be affiliated with UNT.  The Facebook group consisted of about 4,000 members and the UNT alumni sent a message to the group members endorsing a candidate.  While it was unknown as to why the UNT alum did it, one conclusion was because the candidate running was in the same fraternity as he was.  Despite this problem, the newspaper published by UNT, the NT Daily, allowed for the candidates to speak about the controversy surrounding the endorsement. The results of the election should be up by this week. 

 

Hopefully the election will turn out fine and produce a president that will help UNT continue to become one the most well known schools around.

 

Fight the Good Fight

Ya Boy Archie Wright!

The Introduction of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers

So in my last blog I discussed how the mistakes of the New London school explosion lead to thiols being placed in methane gas and how Texas Professional engineers came to be.  This blog will cover how the American Society of Mechanical Engineers or (ASME) came about.  Part of my motivation for writing this blog was a guest speaker who was a member of ASME and also served on some of their research committees.  The guest lecture was very informative and made me realize the importance of what ASME really is.  Initially I thought of ASME as being only a professional organization which allowed members to get the usual networking, monthly magazines, and other perks.  However I learned through the guest lecture’s presentation that ASME holds a high responsibility for the safety and welfare of the public.

 

A little history about ASME.  ASME was founded on February 16, 1880 after a rise in the study of engineering created the demand for a central organization for engineers to share ideas and hold a professional standing.  Throughout it’s 131 years of existence, ASME has been responsible for some of the most important accomplishments in engineering.  One of the major accomplishments of ASME was their invention of the codes and standards that are still used by engineers today.  Codes and standards refer to the rules certain machines, structures, and devices must adhere to in order to be deemed safe.  One instance of ASME setting codes and standards is the boiler code.  Similar to the New London School explosion which I discussed in my last blog, the need for engineering codes and standards came from disasters.  Boiler explosions were common during the late 19^th and early 20^th century due to a lack of rules to regulate how a boiler needed to be designed.  As a result of public outcry an ASME committee was formed to create a boiler code which is now used to provide regulation in the design, fabrication, and inspection of boilers. 

 

Today ASME is an internationally known organization that continues setting the universal codes and standards for engineers and companies to follow to ensure the safety of the public.  As you can see from this blog and my previous blog, engineers have an important responsibility in the safety and welfare to the public and society.

 

Fight the Good Fight

Ya Boy Archie Wright!

The Introduction of Skunk Gas and Texas Professional Engineers

Philosopher George Santayana once said, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”  My next two blogs are going to cover how disasters led to the development of certain engineering practices.  With the end of March I thought it would be appropriate to remind people of how natural gas came to smell like skunk spray and how professional engineers in Texas came about.  This month March 18 marked the 74^th anniversary of the New London School Explosion.

 

Here’s a little history about the New London School explosion for those of you who don’t know.  In 1930 oil was discovered in Rusk County Texas which boosted the local economy and allowed for the New London school to be built.  At the time the building cost almost 1 million dollars which is about 15.75 million dollars today.  Despite the expensively built school, the building itself was built in a manner which would eventually lead to the school explosion.  The building was built on a sloping ground with a large dead-air space under the structure.  At the time natural gas, which is a colorless and odorless gas difficult to detect, was viewed as a waste product of oil so many people including the New London school tapped into gas lines to get free heating.  Eventually a leak developed and caused natural gas to build up in the dead-air space under the structure.  On March 18 it is believed that an electric spark from a sander ignited the natural gas and air mixture which caused the explosion.  About 640 people were in the building at the time of the explosion but only 130 managed to escape without serious injury.  Aid poured in immediately from across the state with Texas Rangers, the highway patrol, The Texas National Guard, doctors, nurses, embalmers, Barksdale Field Airmen, deputy sheriffs, and Boy Scouts helping out in the rescue and recovery effort.  Many people offered their condolences to the New London disaster including the German Chancellor at the time, Adolf Hitler.

 

Following the New London School disaster the Texas Legislature began mandating that thiols, which have a strong odor and are found in skunk spray, be added to natural gas.  The practice of using thiols in natural gas eventually became used worldwide.  The Texas Legislature also enacted the Texas Engineering Practice Act to regulate Engineering practices.  The Texas Engineering Practice Act led to the development of the Texas Board of Professional Engineers which requires Professional Engineers to give their approval on engineering reports, drawings, and other such documents.

 

So that is how natural gas came to smell like skunk spray and how professional engineers came about in Texas.  My next blog will cover the introduction of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers or ASME.

 

Fight the Good Fight

Ya Boy Archie Wright!

Robert Bunsen

 So yesterday I went to Google so I could get some information on one of my blogs and I happened to run across a picture on the Google webpage of a chemistry set with a Bunsen burner and steaming pot.  I clicked on the image found out that yesterday was Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen’s birthday.

 

Robert Bunsen is a famous German Chemist is most notably known for discovering iron oxide hydrate as an antidote for arsenic poisoning and the invention of the Bunsen burner, which is used in almost every chemistry course in high school and college. 

 

Robert Bunsen is also known to have worked with Gustav Kirchhoff, who is best known by electrical engineers for the creation of Kirchhoff’s Laws.  Besides being a great scientist, Robert Bunsen also had good qualities that should still be recognized today.  One his qualities was the devotion he had towards his students and work.  Robert Bunsen is often quoted as saying, “Working is beautiful and rewarding, but acquisition of wealth for its own sake is disgusting.” 

 

This quote is one that describes a lot people in college and going into college.  I know when I tell people that I'm studying mechanical engineering they always bring up the point that I'll be making a lot of money when I graduate.  While it is true engineers do make pretty good money starting out, I didn't get into engineering for the money.  I got into engineering because I liked math, science, and the sense of learning about how everything around me worked and functioned.  Getting a job in something that doesn't interest you just for the money isn’t good.  The two main reasons being you’ll never like it and you’ll have to work the job for over 40 years.  Do something that will fulfill you and will make you want to go to work everyday with the desire to see what will happen next.  No matter what you do in life, as long as you put your heart, mind, and soul into it, you will prosper.

 

So take heed to the words of Robert Bunsen and do something because it will fulfill you and not because it’ll make you rich.

 

Fight the Good Fight

Ya Boy Archie Wright!