... and the dust settles...

The engineering expo brought more than 2700 people through my lab over the course of three days this weekend. Managing the throng of humanity (much less a bunch of snotty middle-schoolers (or mischievous fifth graders) proved to be an exhausting -- but rewarding -- task. [Snotty middle-schoolers give you more respect when you warn them about how the warning tape they've been casually flaunting around is there for a reason. ;)]

All in all, it was pretty fun. We had a helium glow plasma running inside the vacuum vessel, so people could go up and poke their heads right up to the machine and see a real live plasma (at a relatively cool 20,000 degrees Celsius). I ended up talking myself hoarse, but it was worth it. I remember taking tours of nifty science stuff when I was in grade school and thinking it was the coolest thing ever. Now I get to work in such a place! Not fun, however, was the button making. We made over 3,000 buttons (personal favorite: "Cheeseheads for Fusion") but were out before closing. That was time-consuming! ;)

I ended up poking my head around our basement lab hallway ceiling this evening. Despite working from 7 AM to 7 PM, I successfully ran about a mile of cable for my new toy at work -- the Plasma Control System. I've been designing it since November, and all the parts are finally here; the fun part of assembling them has arrived! (What could be niftier than a Linux box with dual processors -- except one that has another Linux box running inside of it as an embedded processor system? I'm still geeking out about that!)

Congress to Vouch for Women's Rights?

According to this CNN story, Congress is going to be considering a bill that would mandate that pharmacists fill legally-prescribed birth control (including the so-called 'morning after' pill) for women presenting said prescriptions. While one would think that the practice of providing medically necessary medications to patients on a doctor's orders would be standard fare for a pharmacist, it sadly isn't the case for many in this country.

Unfortunately Wisconsin is one of many states where incidents involving pharmacists refusing to provide rape victims with emergency contractption pills ordered by their doctors have occurred -- sometimes even confiscating the prescription to prevent them from filling it elsewhere! Why do they do this? The argument is that it violates their consience; birth control pills are a form of abortion, which they do not condone.

Such actions by pharmacists are unconscionable. While I believe it's fine (although utterly backward) for them to be morally offended over rape victims' refusal to bear their attacker's child, they should not be allowed to force their personal beliefs on the victims -- especially when oftentimes there is only a single pharmacy in an area capable of filling the prescription.

I'm glad to see that Congress is taking this action. It's a sad day to be in where we have to consider such legislation (and get the mini-civics lesson about how a Federal law can preempt a State law), but it's a Good Idea. I wonder about its chances for survival in today's Republican-dominated Federal government. I recommend writing your representatives about the issue if you feel strongly about it.

Expo Fun!

So, after 14 hours of work (plus classes too) today, the Pegasus Toroidal Experiment is ready (or as ready as it will get) for public viewing these next three days. I alone made more than four hundred buttons.

We're planning on having more than four thousand people tour our lab. There are five grad students, including myself. Yikes! We'll be doing our best though; we may be getting a couple of high-profile visitors including US Representatives from WI (Tammy Baldwin) and NJ. Did I mention that Pegasus was up for a DOE grant this spring? The life of the whole project is in a high-stakes competition... just a little pressure! Ah... graduate student life at it's best.

For now, sleep. For the next three days: thousands and thousands of visitors.