Entry #2 Ever Wonder What it Would Be Like to Stare Into A Black Hole?

                Ever wonder what it would be like to stare into a black hole? Well then you should check out this new material called Vantablack.

               A group of British scientists with a company called Surrey NanoSystems have created a new “super-black” material that is said to absorb all but 0.035% of light that hits it. What this means is that your eyes can not capture enough refracted light to see it! What you are actually seeing is the space around it and then your brain tells you that there must be something there in the center as well.

               The material is called Vantablack which stands for Vertically Aligned [carbon] Nano Tube Arrays. Surrey Nanosystems has divulged little information on the material and how it was made. However, we do know from the name that it involves carbon nanotubes.

               Interestingly, they say if you were to make a shirt out of this material and wear it, it would make you look like a 2D cardboard cutout. How awesome would that be?! Unfortunately, it sounds like they will mostly be using it for space exploration and military applications. Darn! 

                                         See it in action! 

Entry #1 Blog with purpose!

“The more you create, the more you deserve to consume.“ Tim Ferriss

I truly love this quote and think these are words everyone should live by. When you watch a movie, read a book or even read a blog, you are consuming others creative works. Too often we go through life simply consuming other people’s works and not giving anything back. Believe it or not this can really have a negative effect on your mind. We will call this the "Consumer Lifestyle."

Now to illustrate what I am trying to say, imagine this: You are stuck in a white room with one small square opening. Now throughout the day from this opening comes the most delicious food in the world, in fact anytime you are hungry, food automatically comes from this opening. As much as you want you can have it! But this is all you do. All day, every day you consume this wonderful food. You do no great activity with the calories that you are consuming, you tell no one of its delicious flavors, and eventually the food even begins to lose its taste. You are no longer sure if the food tastes great or terrible. You will soon become fat with calories and bored of this life altogether. This is what we are doing when we live the “Consumer Lifestyle.” This is what our minds are becoming—fat with information that we have not been able to internalize or put to any use.

            Now imagine again that same white room with that same square opening, but instead there is also a door, and outside this door is a world of endless possibilities. Now instead of just being stuck living in this room, you have an exit. You can now leave this room and tell others of the great foods you have eaten. You can use the calories you have consumed to create anything your heart desires.  Now instead of becoming fat from this wonderful food, you are putting it to use.

            Hopefully, my little parable makes sense—if not I apologize for my ramblings. My point was that everyone should be regularly creating something. Even if it’s just an online space where you organize your thoughts and opinions on various subjects—a blog perhaps?

            I love reading blogs and I have a few that I have been reading for years. It’s great to hear others thoughts and perspectives, and to receive some of their knowledge and other things they have learned throughout there lives. I have been wanting to make a blog for a while now, but I guess I have just not known where to start. You might say I could not find the door in my white room. Well, now due to recent choices in my life, my arm has been twisted.

            I have never created a blog before, thus I had to look around for some inspiration, to find what works and what does not work. Specifically, looked at blogs that were similar to what I hope to create—a place for those who are widely curious and love to dabble.

                                                  

            One blog that has really inspired me and has influenced the way I want to style my blog is “The Art of Manliness.” This is a great blog that has a lot of “how tos” and teaches about virtuous living. A lot of the articles are directed towards men; however, there are an even greater number of articles that everyone one would enjoy. For example, “How to whistle with your fingers” or “What is Character?” This blog has a great variety of topics and is very well organized. Every post is put into a category and not just an archive date like a lot of blogs do. The posts are also very well-crafted, while still feeling personal. I really enjoy the way the authors give their perspective, without being overly opinionated. These are all traits I hope to have in my blog.

            The Dark Roast Blend is another blog that I read that really inspired me and will influence the way that I write and organize my blog. I love the eclectic array of topics and stories you can find there. As the name implies this is something you might want to read with your morning cup of coffee. I like that it’s organized beyond the simple archival dates and that the categories are easily accessible from the side bar. I also like the overall humorous and casual style of the posts. All of this together makes the blog very enjoyable and easy to read.

            During my search I came across a blog called Marginal Revolution. While this blog seemed to provide a lot of interesting information, it was not very well organized and was very spread out. It feels a little overwhelming and makes me want to look elsewhere for information. I also wish that the posts gave a little more information, but I think that it is intended to be that way. Not bad I guess, I just think I would rather give my readers more content.

           That being said, I will do my best to make my blog informative as well as humorous and not overly technical. Organization I have realized, is key. It doesn’t matter how great or well written your articles are if people can’t find them.

For those who want to know

        Hello—my name is Justin Barr. I am a jack of all trades, but a master of none. I am an experience collector and an information junkie. I would love to call myself polymath, but I would say that word implies I might actually have an area of expertise. I guess you could call me a “Curious Dabbler?” There are so many different things that I am interested in. From nature photography and mountain biking to video games and piggy bank collecting—just to name a few. I have a deep fascination with this odd world we live in and love trying to figure out why it is the way it is.

         In my pursuit of knowledge and in an effort to make a difference on this planet—within my lifetime—I have decided to pursue higher education!!! That’s right, I am currently taking classes at my local community college in Glendale, AZ because I believe what I learn there, will one day help me to change the way we all live—for the better of course.

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”― Ralph Waldo Emerson                   Not the quote I wanted, but still good.


        Now don’t call me a fool for thinking I can change the world or believing that college will help me to achieve that, heck you’ll only be telling me something I already know. I believe it was Shakespeare who wrote, "A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.” So there! Hopefully if all goes as planned, I will eventually get a Bachelor in Biomedical Engineering, I then plan to begin work on robotic prosthetics (only phase one of my change the world plan).

        Also, I should mention that I have a cartoon mind. This is basically where my mind will play out a series of events like a comic strip. This leads to me sometimes looking at things very differently and also laughing at things more than I should. This also may be why I love this web comic called “Poorly Drawn Lines” so much (you should check if out if you get the chance).



        Well now you might be wondering, "is this blog something that I will be interested in?" It depends, are you widely curious and do you love to dabble? If so, then I think the content I plan to provide you will not disappoint. Just stay tuned and stay curious my friends!