Not a Journal

It's a bird, it's a plane, NO, it's a NUKE.......lear power plant? As you may have read, my last mini-series of posts were based on climate change. If you didn't see them, go check them out now! I'll wait... *Waiting...* Great! They were pretty awesome, I know. In this next series of posts, I want to focus on energy. We need to reduce carbon emissions but still need more energy than ever before due to a rapid growing population. So what are our options? A lot of you probably have heard of or already understand how renewable energy works. Great! But I want to go through some of the common technologies for renewable energy, how they work (for the unaware) and discuss their importance on our future, from my point of view. Let's get started! As you may have guessed from the opener, which I may have somewhat borrowed from a famous comic book, the first post of the series is nuclear power. OHH MY GOODNESS NOT NUKES! THOSE ARE DANGEROUS! Well, let's see ...

I'm 1 view away from 2500! That is amazing to me, thank you all so much for even considering reading what goes on in my head. As promised, I want to conclude a small series on climate change with this post. There will definitely be more in the future as the climate change ball is beginning to roll, worldwide. Obama stated quite a bit about it in his state of the union, which I missed the beginning of, but just by him, the most powerful influencer on the planet, saying something about it is a huge step forward. He has said in the past, "We are the first to see the effects of climate change, and we are the last that can do something about it." ... At least I think Obama said that. Either way, it's 100% the truth and I commend him on his actions toward a better future for our Earth. So far I have mentioned that climate change is a big deal, and we're already seeing its effects. I have also talked about what a greenhouse gas is and what their effects are. Here,...

So you're too lazy to do your own research? Or maybe you don't trust the information on wikipedia? (You should, for most cases that is). Well, here comes the Jsaltblog to save you from your looming curiosity. First of all, why do we call the pollution we create "greenhouse gases"? Well, let's look at what pollution we are talking about specifically. I'll focus on the major one in this post, carbon dioxide. So what is carbon dioxide? Well, if you take a deep breath in, and feel the air enter your lungs, carbon dioxide is what you're breathing out! But this isn't the only source of CO2 (that's how I'll be denoting carbon dioxide, and I'll explain why in a few seconds). CO2 is also produced in combustion, like when you have a bonfire! Combustion is basically just taking something that burns, interacting it with oxygen (which is in the air) and then producing steam (which is just water in gas form) and CO2. Yeah, that's the "expl...

This one will be a "sciencey" post. Turn away now if you don't care about our planet, you animal. As all of you know, climate change is basically slowly ruining all of our lives. Yet people cannot get it through their heads that WE HAVE TO ACT NOW. But how? Everything we do in society and our economic structure depends on fossil fuels. Literally everything you see RIGHT NOW in plain sight, was likely made with some fossil fuel derivative. It's mind blowing to me that we have become so dependent on one thing as humans, that if it were to disappear tomorrow, we would basically be f*****. That's how serious our dependence on these old dinosaur carcasses we have become. But if we want a chance to keep Earth the same as it is (livable), what we take for granted everyday, we would need to halt all greenhouse gas production, today. Seriously, it has become that bad. But how? Like I just mentioned, we couldn't sustain our lives if this were the case. So what do ...

Here I am, after one semester in university and just having a blast. I'm learning a lot, working hard and experiencing life. Life is a funny thing, sometimes you are completely taken away with the things it throws at you and I am grateful to say that is exactly what happened this term for me. I met the most amazing group of people and made life long friends. I met people from all over the world and spent 4 months making memories that will last a lifetime. I cannot tell you how glad I am to have met them all. Over the past few days they began to return to their own countries. It was sad not knowing when I might see them all again, but all I know is that some day, we'll meet again. Isn't that what university is all about? Meeting new people and learning from them is where I see the value in university. I mean, don't get me wrong there is also value in studying and learning academic material but the life lessons and relationships you build here are equally important. I...

It's exam time here at wonderful university where the reality of scooping your eye balls out with a spoon looks more and more tempting each passing day.  So I took it too far on the first sentence, but it's the way the cookie crumbles here as the stress and panic of students is ripe with tears and hopelessness. Too dark Jay, too dark. Personally, I'm at the "ponies and rainbows" stage since I can't really fuck up too hard on any exams and well, you either know it or don't. So sit back, relax, and let me catch the internet up on my past few months of exciting, who am I kidding... this might bore you to tears. Click away. Go now. Facebook is waiting. So, if you stayed, thanks... here it goes. Forgive me internet for I have forgotten about you for a few months. My bad. Shit's been busy, you know?  The last time I wrote here I think it was before midterms. That was a WEEK. I was sleep, food, water, like basically deprived of everything e...

Google searched: "Weird questions to ask" Results may vary from the truth, heavily. "What happens when you get 'scared half to death' twice? Well fellow humans, you get scared to full death, obviously. "Why is it that when things get wet they get darker, even though water is clear?" Without any prior research, to me it seems that by adding water to something, you're in fact changing its density. This is how much of something there is in a certain space. So by wetting something with water, the material will be more dense, thus reflecting light slightly different than it did when dry. For those who need further explanation, we see colour by the amount and type of light the object reflects into our eyes. "If a picture is worth one thousand words, what's one thousand words worth?" They are worth one thousand words, not a picture. "Why is quicksand called quicksand if it works slowly?" Because it works faster ...