At the beginning: we were boring physicists - A Science Instrumentation Project

Recently, a Friend (a colleage) and Me are engaging a science intrumentation project as part of our formation as Physicist.

Basically, will make an experimental approach to the building of a Bioreactor system for the culture of microalgae. Our main goal is design a method to measure the microalgae concentration inside the bioreactor without opening it, which avoids the risk of contamine the microalgae culture. We detected this as an unsolved problem (at least locally) and that was highly motivating for us, so bad that we made a blog about it: 

http://bioarduino.blogspot.com/

The interesting part is, that we will be using a Arduino Uno32 chipkit to automate stuff, (measurements basically) and a RaspberryPi to monitor and control all the processes, of course this involves circuit designing and building, also lots of programming, so we will be releasing code and maybe designs (licensed under GPL V3) in order to contribute to the community of free software and hardware.

Poesía - El Perdón de René François Armand Sully Prudhomme

A Poco que tu imagen reaparezca en mi alma,
me doy cuenta que sigues siendo tú la que más quiero.
Tú desolaste la aurora de mi juventud, y sin embargo,
quiero morir sin olvidar tus ojos;

y menos aun tu voz sonora y acariciante,
que penetraba en mi corazón entre todas las voces,
dejando mi pecho estremecido,
como una lira abandonada vibra aún por los dedos que la pulsaron.

Conozco a muchas cuyos labios son bellos,
cuya frente es perfecta, cuyo lenguaje es dulce.
Mis amigos te dirán que he cantado para ellas,
mi madre te dirá que he llorado por ti.

He llorado, pero mis lágrimas son ya menos frecuentes.
Entonces sollozaba, ahora suspiro.
Llegará luego la edad en que los ojos son mas avariciosos y
día llegará en que mi tristeza no sea más que tedio.

Sí, tengo miedo a odiarte cuando llegue a viejo por haber destrozado la flor de mi juventud.
¡Que siempre renazca tu imagen en mí y que yo perdone al alma, recordando tus ojos!

René François Armand Sully Prudhomme

Le Pardon

Pour peu que votre image en mon âme renaisse,
Je sens bien que c'est vous que j'aime encor le mieux.
Vous avez désolé l'aube de ma jeunesse,
Je veux pourtant mourir sans oublier vos yeux,

Ni votre voix surtout, sonore et caressante,
Qui pénétrait mon cœur entre toutes les voix,
Et longtemps ma poitrine en restait frémissante
Comme un luth solitaire encore ému des doigts.

Ah ! j'en connais beaucoup dont les lèvres sont belles,
Dont le front est parfait, dont le langage est doux.
Mes amis vous diront que j'ai chanté pour elles,
Ma mère vous dira que j'ai pleuré pour vous.

J'ai pleuré, mais déjà mes larmes sont plus rares ;
Je sanglotais alors, je soupire aujourd'hui ;
Puis bientôt viendra l'âge où les yeux sont avares,
Et ma tristesse un jour ne sera plus qu'ennui.

Oui, pour avoir brisé la fleur de ma jeunesse,
J'ai peur de vous haïr quand je deviendrai vieux.
Que toujours votre image en mon âme renaisse !
Que je pardonne à l'âme au souvenir des yeux !

René François Armand Sully Prudhomme

Book: Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky

Metro 2033 is a novel written by Dmitry Glukhovsky, released (freely) near the year 2002 (On the web).

Non spoiled Summary

The novel is set in the city of Moscow on the year 2033, 20 years after a nuclear world war that devastated  all cities and countries around the world. The nuclear winter, the high levels of radiation, the emerging dangerous species and  the toxic gases on the surface, forced the survivors to get shelter under the soil. On a post-apocalyptic theme, the novel relates the adventures and thoughts of Artyom, the main character who tries to save his home the VDNKh station from a new hazardous species: the Dark Ones. With particular habilites and an lots of luck, Artyom seems to be destined to save the last refuge of humanity from this threat... or thats how it looks like.

Metro 2033 - Map of locations, factions and more

My opinion

I highly recommend this book. If I could summarize this book with one word, that word would be meaning. In a phrase: the search of meaning.

Along each metro tunels, we appreciate the transformations of a man and the way he sees the world, we see his search for a meaning to life in such a rude environment where life itself is a miracle.The autor explores different searches of meaning among sects and cults, sometimes of political nature, sometimes of spiritual nature, exposing many sorts of life style, showing how te people holds to beliefs in a search of hope, hope of a meaning. The meaning of things is a topic that the author addresses very well.

Interesting facts I've learned

• Moscow's metro has 188 stations along 12 metro lines, with a total lenght of about 313 km.
• The deepest metro station is about 85 m under the surface, Moscow's metro is one of the deepest metro systems on earth.
• The Ostankino tower is one of the tallest buildings on earth, having a height of about 540 m.

Favourite quotations

"Who has the courage and perseverance needed to spend his life searching the darkness, will also be the first to recognize the break of day."

At the begining of the book

"At that time, Artyom thought he understood the essence of the human being and the meaning of life: saw the human being as a complex machine for removing food and shit production. A machine that worked without hindrance for most of life, and whose existence no sense whatsoever, and is that 'sense' meant an end. His end was the process itself: eat as much food as he could, process and release stool, all that remained of the smoky pork ribs, mushroom stews and delicious cakes of flour. The men who passed by were transformed, in the eyes of Artyom, faceless machines, which only served to destroy the beautiful and the useful, engendered only fetid mass and useless. Was angry with them, and watched in disgust as they watched him in disgust."

Chapter 10

 "At all times he sounded in final complaint Dron. His despair, his disappointment, his inability to believe the man to be alone in this scary world full of darkness and had spread to Artyom. Oddly enough, it was the cry of the barbarian, helpless pregnant with nostalgia for a divinity ugly and invented what he did begin to understand the cosmic loneliness that fed the beliefs of men."

Chapter 17