Physics 
and re
lated meanderings coincident with my
adventures as a graduate student--and beyond--at NCSU
Home of Grace and Kulchur
I defended my thesis
on March 23, 2010; passed! The thesis is posted
below. I graduated May 15. On July 1 I started as a
Lecturer here in the NCSU physics department,
developing distance education courses.
Video
interview explaining my work in general terms,
April 13 2009
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Spherical Microwave Confinement and Ball Lightning
PhD dissertation
Dr. David Aspnes, committee chair and faculty advisor
Dr. Stephen Reynolds,
Dr. Dean Lee,
Dr. Mohamed Bourham, committee members
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PowerPoint used
March 24, 2010
in the oral
defense of my dissertation
Spherical Microwave Confinement and Ball Lightning
________________________________
Galleries of lab photos 2006-2009
Beginnings: August & Sept. '06
Construction: Oct. & November '06
All Wired Up: Dec. thru March '07
End of the Year: to Christmas '07
Antenna tests: to mid-Aug. '08
Making Mark II Antennas: Sept. '08
Finishing Mark II, BN ceramic, to Jan. '09
Moving to TUNL, to March 1 '09
Improvements at TUNL, to June 1 '09
Return to NCSU, to Sept. 1 '09
VIDEOS: (best played a frame at a time)
FIRST VIDEO! September 2007
Trial
of new antenna August 12, '08
Evidence
of confinement Nov. 24, '08
(shows
central
glow using magnetrons and grid, 550 mTorr in air)
Grid
only in hydrogen July 17, '09
(powered by
capacitor bank, 375 mTorr)
My other stuff
From 1985 to 1990 I worked on an experiment in the very strange field of Instrumental Transcommunication (ITC), which is an attempt to bridge the gap between the physical and other planes by means of material devices. The project failed, but in time this kind of work could become significant. Here are some pictures from those years. (Also listed on the Spirituality page.)
A
research paper in antiquarian verse concerning the
Cyclic Universe (Duelling Branes) cosmology of
Steinhardt and Turok (Best to be up on your Alexander
Pope; Fools Rush In where Angels Fear to Read) written
and performed for PY 528 (Astrophysics) class, Spring
2004.
A fun little experiment done at UM in Ann Arbor in the summer of 2003. I had two streams of pulsed water, sometimes mixed with various concentrations of glycerine to change the viscosity, and used a strobe light to freeze or slow down the motion. Also I rigged a thin stainless wire to charge the drops with up to 35 kV. (Not safe--do not do this at home.) After a long wait, a paper describing this work was published in the American Journal of Physics in October 2015.
In
1993, while in prison for LSD, I studied yacht design, improvising as
best I could given the circumstances. I corresponded with noted boat
designer Phil Bolger,
who had a libertarian streak and thought it absurd that I was
incarcerated. My aim was to design a pocket cruiser for long ocean
voyages that I could build myself. Here's an article that I wrote for
the magazine Messing About In Boats in March, 1995.
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Other folks'
work
On the Effectiveness of Aluminum Foil Helmets:
An Empirical Study
An important MIT
study dealing with matters critical to microwave
research, heretical mind-sets, resistance to
group-think, and keeping your gray matter at least
medium rare
Forbidden Archeology, by Michael A. Cremo and
Richard L. Thompson
reviewed
by Colin Groves
(This is a book that tries to prove that Hindu mythology
is literally true, and argues in favor of the Hindu
version of creationism. A disturbing example of
pseudoscience.)
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McGuire Family History
a video from 2003
featuring my completely tasteless Stephen Hawking
parody...
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A musical
interlude
I'm a
Physicist and That's Just Fine
for
Bass-Baritone and Piano
(recording of
premiere performance by DeMar Neal,
baritone, and Kent Lyman, piano;
see Music Page for more details.
MP3
Score
)
I'm
a
Physicist
and
that's
just
fine-
It's
much
better
than
a
life
of
crime.
If
you
really
want
to
see
me
sneer,
Just
imply
I'm
an
engineer.
I
fuss
with
numbers
transcendental;
When
I
was
young
they
called
me
mental.
If
it
can't
be
measured,
it
don't
exist-
In
this
here
science,
that's
the
gist.
We
need
evidence,
with
fame
for
finders.
For
spooky
things,
we've
got
on
blinders-
UFOs
and
ghosts
and
prayer,
Hippies,
preachers,
tall
blue
hair.
I'm
a
skeptic,
tried
and
true;
My
origin
is
Cosmic
Goo.
I
can
calculate
the
odds,
Which,
though
Zero,
admit
no
Gods.
I
sit
inside
and
study
all
day;
My
eyes
are
dim,
my
skin
is
gray.
My
way
with
women
is
legen-dary-
I'll
meet
one
someday,
don't
mean
maybe!
I'm
a
Physicist
and
that's
just
fine-
It's
much
better
than
a
life
of
crime.
From
Giga
to
Femto,
from
Cosmos
to
Quark,
One
man's
Genius
is
another
man's
Dork.
If
Dork
I
must
be,
then
Dork
I
must
be;
The
Answer
to
Everything
is--
Twenty-three!
Bill Robinson January 2004 (music composed Nov. 28-Dec. 7 2004)
For more science songs, check out http://singaboutscience.org/wp/homepage/
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