Post #14-Personal Narrative
A Strategic Advantage in All But the Buddy System

            I was perched on top of a dirt hill, unsure of what to do next. My fellow ward member, Aaronic Priesthood holder, and buddy, Brandon Anderson, was down the hill from me. A horde of angry boys from the other troop were trying to find us to give us a piece of their mind. I had earlier suggested to Brandon that we make our way down the hill to our camp farther north, but as he made his way down the hill, I saw the cluster of angry flashlight beams advancing across the sparse desert vegetation towards us. I scampered back up the hill, fearing the probable swear words that would be thrust at me and Brandon once this angry troop found us. However, Brandon was still down the hill from me, and too far away to quickly escape. I called to him, “Brandon, I'm going to head back to camp. I'll come back.”

            As I left, I felt a pang of guilt for ditching my buddy, Brandon. But in the light of the situation, I didn't want to be chewed out by a bunch of lunatics that accused my troop of “throwing rocks” at their tents. I looked down at their camp, nestled in between two dirt slopes that sent small avalanches of dirt down towards the tents whenever someone walked up or down the slopes. The avalanches probably caused the other troop to believe that we were actually pelting rocks at their tents. I thought, What were they thinking, pitching their tents in such a valley? Earlier, Brandon and I decided to “slide” down to their camp, sending small avalanches of dirt towards their camp. Other members of my troop had been throwing glow-sticks across the area, possibly hitting their tents, but they weren't chucking rocks everywhere.

            I walked towards the eastern mountain, away from the other troop's camp, away from their angry flashlights, and away from the route between their camp and their angry crowd. The moon was rising slowly over the eastern hills that I was walking towards, casting a beautiful pale light over the desert landscape north of Goblin Valley State Park. I felt a sense of peace moving away from the angry turbulence that existed behind me, but I also felt a growing sense of apprehension. What if the other troop finds me and chews me out? I thought.

            I slid my way down into a little wash in between the hill I was on and the main mountain, relieved that the area was deserted. I sneaked past the dark trailer where an older couple was asleep, and stole my way to camp without the detection of the other troop. But as I neared camp, I was worried about the Scoutmaster's potential reaction to Brandon's absence.

            My fear was confirmed when Brother Meyer, the Scoutmaster, asked me, “Nate, where's Brandon?”

            Worried about the reprieve that I would receive, I timidly said, “Over on that hill over there,” pointing to the hill that I came from, hanging my head with shame. At the time, I was a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood, and I was invited on this campout, along with other older boys, to act as leaders for the deacons. I realized that I had not only been a poor leader, but also a poor Boy Scout in disobeying the Buddy System.

            “Why did you leave Brandon over there?” Brother Meyer asked.

            “It was a strategic advantage,” I said, wanting to provide the truth in a concise way.

            “How was leaving Brandon a 'strategic advantage?'” Brother Meyer asked, curious as to what strategy would justify me ditching my buddy.

            “I left Brandon because we were on top of the hill, Brandon being farther down than me. I realized that Brandon wouldn't be able to come to the top of the hill in time before the other troop came and found us, so I told him that I would leave and I left. The other troop was mad because they accused us of throwing rocks at their tents,” I explained.

            “Okay, well we'll go and find Brandon,” said Brother Meyer.

            As soon as we turned around to look towards the hill, the scout leaders from the other troop arrived and discussed with our leaders about what happened. The other boys from my troop came back with Brandon. After sulking in my tent for a couple of minutes, I went out by the central part of our camp to talk to Brandon about his adventure after my departure.

            “Did they swear at you?” I asked Brandon.

            “Yes,” said Brandon, “It was horrible.”

            “That really stinks,” I said, “I am sorry that I ditched you back there on the hill.”

            “It's okay,” said Brandon, “It wasn't too bad.”

            I went into my tent that night very disappointed that I was a bad example to a younger Boy Scout and that I lost the confidence that Brother Meyer had in me. I was determined to do better in the future.

            The next morning dawned clear but cold. We ate breakfast and headed over to Little Wild Horse Canyon, an eight-mile hike featuring two slot canyons. As we hiked down the second slot canyon back towards the parking lot, Brandon wanted to go ahead of the rest of the group. Wishing to redeem myself of my embarrassing mistake the previous night, I went with him, partly because I wanted to go ahead as well.

            After me and Brandon finished the hike, and after everyone else caught up to us, Brother Meyer said to me “Thank you for staying with Brandon on the hike.”

            “You're welcome,” I said, grateful that I had partially made up for my mistake the previous night.

            Six months later, I went with the deacons on a campout to Little Sahara Recreation Area. It was a cold, peaceful, moonlit night on the sand dunes, and I ran down the steep sand slope, unaware of that my flashlight/laser fell out of my pocket and rolled down the dune. As I was walking with my buddy, I realized that my awesome flashlight was absent.

            “Hey Chris, I think I lost my flashlight back at the dunes. Could you go with me to find it?” I asked, hopeful that Chris would say yes.

            “It's gone,” Chris said.

            “I bet I know where it is,” I said.

            “It's probably gone,” Chris repeated.

            “Can you please come with me? I'll grab a flashlight at camp and I'll look for it.” I said.

            “Okay,” Chris agreed.

            After I grabbed my 6-cell flashlight out of my tent, we went out to the dunes to reclaim my lost flashlight. I was relieved when I found it at the base of the steep dune I ran down.

            “Thank you for going with me, Chris,” I said as we walked back to camp.

Post #13-My Experience at College

My experience at Brigham Young University has been a good one. I am taking the classes Writing 150, Physics 127, Geology 111, Religion A 121, and Economics 110. The homework load is fairly manageable after cutting out the less necessary ungraded assigned readings. I've been getting As in my Book of Morrmon class, my Geology class, and my Astronomy class. I even aced a midterm for Geology!
My experience at my dorm is probably the hallmark of my good experience at Brigham Young University. I am on the third floor of Heritage Halls Building 30, and my windows overlook Y Mountain and eastward. The view is great from here. My grandparents have been sending me "care packages" that contain candy, snack food, and other goods. I appreciate all of the support that I've received over the last two and a half months from my family members.
The other reason why my dorm experience has been superb is because of my music. I love to go back to my room and blast out Pink Floyd, Rush, and Linkin Park. It usually increases my good mood. I have also bought several Pink Floyd albums since I have come here, because I live away from my parents and I don't really have legal access to their music anymore. Some of my favorite songs to listen to are  Pink Floyd "Echoes", "Free Four", "Eclipse", "Time", "Have a Cigar", "Hey You", "Learning to Fly", "The  Dogs of War", "Terminal Frost", "Sorrow", Linkin Park "Until it's Gone", and Rush "The Main Monkey Business".

Post #12-Flerovium-289m=Ununtrium-288

Do any if you remember when element 114 was first synthesized, the assigned isotope 289 decayed with a 9.71 MeV alpha particle with a lifetime of 30.4 seconds, then its daughter decayed with an 8.67 MeV alpha particle with a lifetime of 15.4 minutes and so on? This decay chain seemed to be confirmed by https://e-reports-ext.llnl.gov/pdf/302186.pdf where the parent alpha decay was missed in the 248Cm+48Ca reaction, but nuclei with very similar decay properties were observed after this. The terminal spontaneous fission energies of both chains was 172 MeV and 174.43 MeV, with lifetimes of 16.5 minutes and 24.4 minutes, respectively. These are the same decay chain, but what is the exact identity of these nuclides? Many assign these decay chains to isomers of flerovium-289 and its decay daughters because subsequent experiments have observed a 2.6-second half-life for flerovium(element 114)-289, which is much shorter than the calculated half-life for the "flerovium-289m" of 1.1 minutes. However, I am skeptical that the decay chain of 2.6-second 289Fl has a parallel decay chain that does not interact with the main decay chain at all. I believe that the longer-lived decay chain belongs to ununtrium-288 and its daughters because alpha decay half-life trends of lighter isotopes of ununtrium, roentgenium, and meitnerium correlate very well with the observed half-lives. Also, my assignment of "hassium-277m" is bohrium-276, which falls in the fission corridor between neutron numbers 168 and 170 with 169 neutrons. The half-life of neighboring hassium-277 (ground state decay product of 2.6-second flerovium-289) is around 11 milliseconds, and an odd-proton hindrance factor and a lower proton number could produce the calculated half-life of 13.4 minutes for "hassium-277m" or bohrium-276. This decay chain from ununtrium-288 to bohrium-276 was observed from the single-proton and triple-neutron evaporation channel of both 244Pu+48Ca and 248Cm+48Ca.

The one argument that could disprove all of this is the expected yield from the single-proton, triple-neutron evaporation channels of 244Pu+48Ca and 248Cm+48Ca, which could be predicted to be very low compared to the standard neutron emission channels always observed. However, hybrid proton and neutron emission channels have been observed in more asymmetric hot fusion reactions, such as 248Cm(18O,p3n)262Lr and 249Cf(12C,p2n)258Lr, so such an evaporation channel is not impossible.

The possibilities of producing ununtrium-288 and its decay daughters would greatly contribute to the study of the Island of Stability. Ununtrium-288, being an odd-odd nucleus with a sufficiently long alpha half-life, could have a high branching ratio for positron emission, leading to copernicium-288, a long-lived fissioning nuclide. Roentgenium-284, the daughter of ununtrium-288, would also have a large positron emission branch to decay to a short-lived fissioning nuclide darmstadtium-284. If the 244Pu+48Ca and 248Cm+48Ca reactions are performed the same way that the decay chain was discovered previously, new neutron rich superheavy nuclides may be discovered.

Post #11-Research Paper Reflection:

            Writing this research paper has been an extremely difficult task for me, ranking with other difficult tasks that I have undertaken like completing my six-day eagle scout project, earning the swimming merit badge (I wasn't very buoyant), and completing my drawings for architectural design at the end of high school. The process of me writing this paper has taught me what not to do when I need to write a paper. Don't switch topics at the beginning of the last week to write. Don't choose a topic you don't really care about. Don't have thirty distractions around when you work. And finally, don't procrastinate.

            I chose the topic of the Kulturkampf  because it seemed to be related to my great-great-grandfather getting baptized in the night to avoid being found by the government. I also chose this topic to conform with the class theme of family stories. I wanted to do a research paper on the varying degrees of the stability of the isotopes of superheavy elements, but the only way that relates to my family story in any way is 1) my Grandpa Braun used to work with the air force and he might have dealt with nuclear warheads, and 2) my recent past where I have been interested in this worthy subject. Therefore, the superheavy element topic would have not satisfied the requirement and even the best paper about the varying beta decay, alpha decay, and spontaneous fission half-lives would have gotten me a meager score.

            On Thursday I looked up the lyrics to and listened to the song “How It Is” by Rush. One part is:

“It's such a cloudy day

Seems we'll never see the sun

Or feel the day has possibilities

Frozen in the moment . . .

The lack of imagination

Between how it is and how it ought to be”

I felt that these lyrics adequately described how I felt.

            On Thursday I also thought of the scripture Ether 12:27:

“And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.”

I thought this scripture was very applicable to my life right now. Tough trials in my life keep me off of my pedestal of perfect test scores and life achievements. Also if I have faith in the Lord, then he will strengthen my weaknesses.

Post #10-Rock Metamorphism and Life

When a rock is subjected to intense heat and pressure, it transforms into a metamorphic rock. Increasing intensities of metamorphism (metamorphic grade) may render a rock such as shale entirely unrecognizable. Different combinations of heat and pressure produce different facies of metamorphic rock. Zeolite-grade metamorphism includes the lowest heat and pressure. Granulite-grade metamorphism includes the highest heat and pressure and is the last refuge before partial melting of the rock.
When a small innocent piece of sediment falls to the ocean floor, it doesn't expect anything more than the calm deep ocean surrounding it. But as this piece of sediment nears the oceanic trench, it begins to anticipate the probable inferno of heat and pressure. Once this piece of sediment hits the trench, it is rammed against the accretionary wedge of the volcanic arc and is subjected to a low-temperature, high-pressure metamorphism. If this piece of oceanic sediment rides out the subducting plate, the temperature increases along with pressure. This piece of sediment is squeezed with many others into a crystalline, foliated rock called schist. If the piece of sediment survives is still in a recognizable form, it may melt along the subducting plate and eventually emerge as part of an andesite in a volcanic eruption. If this sediment survives all of these scenarios, it is eventually plunged deep into the hot, dense mantle to assimilate into oblivion.
When we are all plopped onto the conveyor belt of life, initially we are at peace because of the relative inaction of our surroundings. As we ride out the conveyor belt, we begin to see dangers to our peace coming. However, we are powerless to slow down or stop this conveyor belt, so we are dragged to our anticipated nightmares. Once we enter the phase that we have all feared, we are subject to a maelstrom of fear and regret. After the phases are over, we say, "Heck, I'm glad I got that over with," after we wipe the seventy gallons of perspiration off of our foreheads.

Post #9-Elements 119 and 120?

The article "Superheavy Element Research at TASCA at GSI" hints that the reactions to discover element 119 and 120, 249Bk+50Ti and 249Cf+50Ti, respectively, were successful. Unfortunately, the data is still being processed. I will be on the lookout for the published results in these reactions at the GSI. I will let everyone know on here when these elements are discovered, and the properties of their isotopes.

Post #8-Research Paper Topic #2

My more recent topic is if low-yield nuclear weapons should be banned or not. A ban on low-yield nuclear weapons would draw a stark contrast on nuclear weapon yield versus conventional weapon yields and would hopefully prevent nuclear escalation. However, this treaty would be impossible to enforce with such countries like Iran, Pakistan, China, and especially North Korea. These countries have repeatedly lost their trust of Western nations through blatant disobedience or undercover operations that threaten the stability of global relations. I currently do not have a thesis for this topic because I am unsure of what I should write about. I find that I dislike this topic too much for me to have adequate motivation to pursue such a topic.
My previous topic on the ethics of using nuclear weapon fallout-enhancers had very scant research online, and so the marginal cost of attempting such a research project (the risk of a low grade) outweighed any marginal benefit. Hence I switched topics.
I propose to switch my topic to the reasons behind the varying degrees of stability of the isotopes of super-heavy elements, but I fear that this topic lacks arguments. This topic has the advantages of that I would be doing it for more than a grade because it is one of my primary interests. I would refer again and again to a paper on this topic, instead of having the paper be a symbol of bad memories and me never looking at it again. Do any of you think that the reasons behind the varying stability of the isotopes of super-heavy elements is a good research topic?