What do you do at your job?

[bruteforce]

Which lab? What data?

Sandia national labs. Pretty cool place, but I can't really talk about the data.

 

[Newsman]

Sorry, sometimes my sarcasm doesnt get through to people

Yeah, you forgot your <SARCASM> and </SARCASM> tags on your OP.

 

[PlexVector]

Aren't all the photons emitted (from the big bang) on the edge of the universe heading away from us?

Think of it more like the photons are emitted by the particles that are heading away from and toward us. Like each particle is a light bulb shinning in all directions.

 

[Rhumbline]

The whole idea reminds me of...

GUARD #1: Where'd you get the coconut?
ARTHUR: We found them.
GUARD #1: Found them? In Mercea? The coconut's tropical!
ARTHUR: What do you mean?
GUARD #1: Well, this is a temperate zone.
ARTHUR: The swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin
or the plumber may seek warmer climes in winter yet these are not
strangers to our land.
GUARD #1: Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?
ARTHUR: Not at all, they could be carried.
GUARD #1: What -- a swallow carrying a coconut?
ARTHUR: It could grip it by the husk!
GUARD #1: It's not a question of where he grips it! It's a simple
question of weight ratios! A five ounce bird could not carry a 1 pound
coconut.
ARTHUR: Well, it doesn't matter. Will you go and tell your master
that Arthur from the Court of Camelot is here.
GUARD #1: Listen, in order to maintain air-speed velocity, a swallow
needs to beat its wings 43 times every second, right?
ARTHUR: Please!
GUARD #1: Am I right?
ARTHUR: I'm not interested!
GUARD #2: It could be carried by an African swallow!
GUARD #1: Oh, yeah, an African swallow maybe, but not a European
swallow, that's my point.
GUARD #2: Oh, yeah, I agree with that...
ARTHUR: Will you ask your master if he wants to join my court
at Camelot?!
GUARD #1: But then of course African swallows are not migratory.
GUARD #2: Oh, yeah...
GUARD #1: So they couldn't bring a coconut back anyway...
[clop clop]
GUARD #2: Wait a minute -- supposing two swallows carried it together?
GUARD #1: No, they'd have to have it on a line.
GUARD #2: Well, simple! They'd just use a standard creeper!
GUARD #1: What, held under the dorsal guiding feathers?
GUARD #2: Well, why not?

Back to the topic of prior jobs, I spent a few years as a nuclear arms control inspector, made several trips to the Soviet Union and spent way too much time staring at nuclear warheads and their delivery vehicles.

 

[btbnl]

That's what I'm getting at. Photons are massless and thus MUST travel at the speed of light, while Earth has mass and CANNOT travel at the speed of light (thank Einstien and special relativity math for that). If the assumption here is that they all started at the same point, how did we creatures of mass catch up with those speedy photons?

Emphasis mine; it isn't.

The Big Bang isn't a gigantic explosion at a single point in space and time, but rather the creation of an entire space-time. The space created is either infinite, or finite but without any edge (curved back on itself). In either case, an observer at any point P in that Universe's space, and at any time T in that Universe's history, can intercept exactly and exclusively those Big Bang photons that were created at any point T light-years* away and that happened to be launched towards P at time zero**.

*Actually it isn't quite T light-years because of the dynamics of that Universe; rather, it is the distance photons have traveled in the age of that Universe.

**Actually it isn't quite time zero, but the time at which that Universe first becomes transparent to photons, which also depends on the dynamics (expansion => cooling).

 

[btbnl]

Sandia national labs. Pretty cool place, but I can't really talk about the data.

LOL - I understand.

 

[BlueEyesBrewing]

I work as an RF/Microwave Engineer for a defense contractor. The group I'm in focuses on electronic warfare systems. My current role is to get a system that we've designed through its verification testing, which means that all 200+ requirements are met and verified either by design, analysis, inspection, or test. I'm working on the test procedure for that now and getting all the equipment necessary to start testing at the beginning of next year. The other tasks are dealing with any failures that happen from either the unit itself or any of the components inside and determining what caused the failure and how to fix it and how to prevent it from happening again.

The other type of work that I've done, that I like doing more, is designing and modeling receiver systems. Basically I design the path from the antenna inputs to our digital receiver. I have a model that I've built that is very detailed and complex and can run multiple paths at the same time automatically.

 

[Ridire]

Emphasis mine; it isn't.

The Big Bang isn't a gigantic explosion at a single point in space and time, but rather the creation of an entire space-time. The space created is either infinite, or finite but without any edge (curved back on itself). In either case, an observer at any point P in that Universe's space, and at any time T in that Universe's history, can intercept exactly and exclusively those Big Bang photons that were created at any point T light-years* away and that happened to be launched towards P at time zero**.

*Actually it isn't quite T light-years because of the dynamics of that Universe; rather, it is the distance photons have traveled in the age of that Universe.

**Actually it isn't quite time zero, but the time at which that Universe first becomes transparent to photons, which also depends on the dynamics (expansion => cooling).

Yeah...pretty simple, really

 

[passedpawn]

Emphasis mine; it isn't.

The Big Bang isn't a gigantic explosion at a single point in space and time, but rather the creation of an entire space-time. The space created is either infinite, or finite but without any edge (curved back on itself). In either case, an observer at any point P in that Universe's space, and at any time T in that Universe's history, can intercept exactly and exclusively those Big Bang photons that were created at any point T light-years* away and that happened to be launched towards P at time zero**.

*Actually it isn't quite T light-years because of the dynamics of that Universe; rather, it is the distance photons have traveled in the age of that Universe.

**Actually it isn't quite time zero, but the time at which that Universe first becomes transparent to photons, which also depends on the dynamics (expansion => cooling).

I figured it would end like this. I guess we'll have to just agree to disagree.

Haha, J/K! I knew eventually I'd have to accept that my traditional education left me hopelessly bound to Newtonian physics. Expanding universe is one thing, expanding space/time is another. The last chapter in my Univ physics book covered Lorentzian transformations, upsetting the stable world I though I knew. It was like the last book of the bible covering atheism.

 

[VApatriot]

i surf the internet and post on forums.

So which branch of the Federal Government do you work for?

 

[rmyurick]

I'm a chemical engineer, currently working at a refinery on safety system design (pressure-relief systems, specifically). Through my career I've worked at a large scale brewery, various chemical plants, a rubber parts manufacturer. Worked on projects for cereal manufacture, beer, and various chemical processes including titanium purification. My work at the brewery was in starting up a new "starting cellar", which in their process is where the wort is hot-settled, 'aerated", cooled, cold-settled and then oxygenated on the way to the fermentation (primary) cellar.

 

[hezagenius]

Emphasis mine; it isn't.

The Big Bang isn't a gigantic explosion at a single point in space and time, but rather the creation of an entire space-time. The space created is either infinite, or finite but without any edge (curved back on itself). In either case, an observer at any point P in that Universe's space, and at any time T in that Universe's history, can intercept exactly and exclusively those Big Bang photons that were created at any point T light-years* away and that happened to be launched towards P at time zero**.

*Actually it isn't quite T light-years because of the dynamics of that Universe; rather, it is the distance photons have traveled in the age of that Universe.

**Actually it isn't quite time zero, but the time at which that Universe first becomes transparent to photons, which also depends on the dynamics (expansion => cooling).

.

 

[spittybug]

I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed.

Retired (semi actually since I still dabble) petrochemical salesman, product manager, consultant. I've sold millions of dollars on single contracts, approved $100s of millions of sales and plant expansions and consulted on BILLIONS of dollars of new projects, many in the Middle East. I've travelled to places I never want to go to again and many that I would love to visit as a tourist. The world is a changed place however and I'm glad to be on the sidelines these days.

 

[btbnl]

I figured it would end like this. I guess we'll have to just agree to disagree.

Haha, J/K! I knew eventually I'd have to accept that my traditional education left me hopelessly bound to Newtonian physics. Expanding universe is one thing, expanding space/time is another. The last chapter in my Univ physics book covered Lorentzian transformations, upsetting the stable world I though I knew. It was like the last book of the bible covering atheism.

Part of the difficulty with cosmology is simply that our terrestrial existence hasn't equipped us with the concepts necessary to think about the entire Universe a a single entity, and any analogy we employ is always going to be incomplete and inaccurate.

As a science, cosmology is also only a century old (General Relativity is 100 this year). Nevertheless we tend to pronounce with great certainty theories which are almost certainly going to be disproved - as Lev Landau put it, "Cosmologists are often in error, but never in doubt".

To me though, this is a great illustration of the difference between science and religion; scientists believe in a method, and accept whatever that implies, even when it turns their previous world view on its head*. I saw this in 1999 when measurements of distant supernovae indicated that the expansion of the Universe was accelerating rather than decelerating; nobody was expecting that, all our theories were based on the inevitability of deceleration under gravity, and yet almost overnight they were all tossed out and replaced with new theories that better fit the new observations.

* At least in principle; in practice scientists are people with vanities and prejudices too, and persuading someone to let go of their pet theory can be a lifetime's work.

 

[Rhumbline]

I respect both points of view. My observation is that they both require a huge leap of faith and suspension of disbelief.

But I know where I'm putting my money.

Another prior job. Setting up trailers in Florida. Crawling around under them in the sand, covered in sandspurs and fire ants and sweating my B@!!s off. One of my first jobs.

 

[kh54s10]

For my job I have to figure out what someone, who has no clue of how to do their project, needs to do the project that they have no clue on how to accomplish. I then have to give them some advice on how to do their project, that they have no clue how to accomplish. And they don't have enough of a clue about the project to understand the advice I am giving them to do the project.

 

[k1ngl1ves]

I'm an engineer in a steam plant for a tiny hospital. It's a great job, but you have to be able to handle pressure...

 

[Maylar]

I'm a software developer that works on software to program smart cards. All those fancy new credit cards you're getting with the chips in them? Not that new, I've been doing this for 15 years.

I did that for the last 18 years for HID. iClass, Mifare, DESFire etc.

I'm an electronics engineer or more specifically and embedded systems engineer, which means I design things that have computers in them. I design the analog and digital circuit and then write the firmware that drives the hardware.

And that's what I'm doing now, for a company that makes pressure and temperature measurement systems. Because I'm an EE and I can spell "C".

 

[MonkeyBot]

I did that for the last 18 years for HID. iClass, Mifare, DESFire etc.

I have worked with Mifare and DESFire cards but these days it's almost all EMV implementations on various flavors of Java cards. JCOP has made it so much easier with a (somewhat) reliable standard these days.

 

[seefish]

Civil Engineer. I make sure S**T is flowing downhill...bad things happen otherwise.

 

[j1n]

So which branch of the Federal Government do you work for?

DoD... im being serious too lol

 

[PlexVector]

That's what I'm getting at. Photons are massless and thus MUST travel at the speed of light, while Earth has mass and CANNOT travel at the speed of light (thank Einstien and special relativity math for that). If the assumption here is that they all started at the same point, how did we creatures of mass catch up with those speedy photons?

Well its more like: the Galaxies aren't moving, but the fabric of space-time is stretching outward, which creates more space-time between the galaxies. For example lets create a 2-dimensional metaphor of the multi-dimensional universe; take a balloon and blow it up just a little. Then add random dots on the surface of the balloon, which represent the galaxies. Then start blowing the balloon up. The surface represents the expansion of the universe. As you will note that the galaxies appear to be moving away from each other as you increase the surface area of the balloon. Simple, yes?

Edit: So the balloon represents a 2-dimensional surface closed back on itself. So in theory if you took off into space from the north pole in a straight line outward you would eventually come back to the south pole.

Edit2: The big bang would not be located in the center of the balloon, but at the point on the surface the balloon is being blown into.

I'm making this up as I go, so beer with me on this...

 

[Rhumbline]

Well its more like: the Galaxies aren't moving, but the fabric of space-time is stretching outward, ...take a balloon and blow it up just a little. Then add random dots on the surface of the balloon, which represent the galaxies. Then start blowing the balloon up. The surface represents the expansion of the universe. As you will note that the galaxies appear to be moving away from each other as you increase the surface area of the balloon. Simple, yes?

Well, the dots on your balloon are actually moving away from each other, and they are moving in space as well. Take a string and measure the distance between two dots when the balloon is partially inflated. blow it up and measure again. they have moved apart.

Another previous job I had. Independent security consultant for museums. Designing access control, cctv, and alarm systems for museums around the country. Tons of fun, boss was a bit difficult, to be nice about it.

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

I have degrees in Culinary Science, and Culinary Management. I have been in the hospitality field in some faction for quite some time. Hotels, Restaurants, Catering, and most recently School Food Service. I just switch careers and now sit at a cubicle placing orders for oncology drugs for medical facilities. Its an adjustment sitting all day to work... Either way my dream..and hopefully soon reality is to open a Tap Room style bar. I have potential investors and my business plan is almost done. I hope this works out...

 

[passedpawn]

Well its more like: the Galaxies aren't moving, but the fabric of space-time is stretching outward, which creates more space-time between the galaxies. For example lets create a 2-dimensional metaphor of the multi-dimensional universe; take a balloon and blow it up just a little. Then add random dots on the surface of the balloon, which represent the galaxies. Then start blowing the balloon up. The surface represents the expansion of the universe. As you will note that the galaxies appear to be moving away from each other as you increase the surface area of the balloon. Simple, yes?

Edit: So the balloon represents a 2-dimensional surface closed back on itself. So in thoery if you took off into space from the north pole in a straight line outward you would eventually come back to the south pole.

But what's outside the balloon? Yes, I see. But I don't like it one bit. Reminds me of a book I read a long time ago called Flatlands. The travels of a 3-dimensional creature in a 2 dimensional world, and the new perspective it gives, and the difficulty for the 3D guy to explain to the 2D creatures what a third dimension would look like.

Anyway, this stuff is not intuitive, but I guess it's the only way to make the math of the universe work. I'm going to rinse it out of my brain tonight with beer (I listen to a podcast all the time called Startalk, Neil deGrasse Tyson, so I can't escape it for long).

 

[PlexVector]

Well, the dots on your balloon are actually moving away from each other, and they are moving in space as well. Take a string and measure the distance between two dots when the balloon is partially inflated. blow it up and measure again. they have moved apart.

Another previous job I had. Independent security consultant for museums. Designing access control, cctv, and alarm systems for museums around the country. Tons of fun, boss was a bit difficult, to be nice about it.

Exactly!

Edit:

But what's outside the balloon?

Magic...

 

[iijakii]

Well-well look. I already told you: I deal with the god damn customers so the engineers don't have to. I have people skills; I am good at dealing with people. Can't you understand that? What the hell is wrong with you people?

 

[smitty8202]

United States Marine. Don't really think i need to explain much more than that.

 

[fourfarthing]

I head up the accountants that account for investments in private companies and then tell eveyone how much their investment in our company that invests is worth. Then the stock market tells us what its really worth. Then we do it again. dollar dollar bill y'all.

 

[apshaffer]

I am a fisheries biologist. I coordinate the experimental tagging of around 15-20 million juvenile salmon annually. They are tagged when they about 4 inches long prior to them migrating out to the ocean. They get caught in commercial and sport fisheries from California to Alaska a few years later and sampled for tags. The tags are extracted, read, and the data is inputted into a coast-wide database. From the tag recovery data, you can calculate harvest rates, contributions to different fisheries, survival rates, see migration patterns, escapement rates, stock assessment, etc. The data from the tags are the basis for Pacific salmon management.

 

[Newsman]

United States Marine. Don't really think i need to explain much more than that.

Semper-Fi, Marine! Thank you for your service!

 

[btbnl]

But what's outside the balloon? Yes, I see. But I don't like it one bit. Reminds me of a book I read a long time ago called Flatlands. The travels of a 3-dimensional creature in a 2 dimensional world, and the new perspective it gives, and the difficulty for the 3D guy to explain to the 2D creatures what a third dimension would look like.

Anyway, this stuff is not intuitive, but I guess it's the only way to make the math of the universe work. I'm going to rinse it out of my brain tonight with beer (I listen to a podcast all the time called Startalk, Neil deGrasse Tyson, so I can't escape it for long).

Another important difference (and this goes back to the inadequacy of any analogy) is that the closed 2D balloon surface is embedded within a 3D Universe, whereas a finite 3D Universe doesn't need a 4th (spatial) dimension to bend in to close back on itself.

 

[norsk]

Retired therapist, NP, and president of SLO Veterans For Peace seeking to end war, use of Killer Drones, Pax Americana, and support of homeless veterans and those with PTSD and other mental health issues...

 

[BentBrewer]

It's important to have a job that makes a difference, boys. That's why I manually masturbate caged animals for artificial insemination.

Nice to see at least one other person involved in animal husbandry.

I'm a farrier.
I clean, knife, and trim horses feet to balance their movement. Heat either a premade shoe, or straight stock, and shape it to fit the trimmed foot. Then (after cooling) I nail it on, set clinches, and make it purty for the client. I know as much, (sometimes more) about the distal equine limb as the vets do. I am able to speak to the vets in doctor-ese, as well as simplifying things for the non-medically trained clients so they can understand the three page printout that the vet gave them.

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

Not sure what exactly to call myself, I guess it's outsourced IT

I am in IT and work for a small company that does computer/network/cloud service support for other small businesses (40 employees or less) in our area. Those companies either don't need or can't afford a full time IT staff. Makes for an interesting mix of clients; doctors, lawyers, CPAs and manufacturers of all sorts of crazy things.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

United States Marine. Don't really think i need to explain much more than that.

You might...I saw three types of Marines in Iraq. One amazing but frightening (want them between me and the bad guys). One good but would still trust a newborn with (still want them between me and the bad guys...just want to have a beer with him/her after). One that, well, made me ashamed they had the Eagle, Globe and Anchor in their zip code (thankfully rare) let alone on their uniform.

Regardless, I still thank them all for their service.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

Nice to see at least one other person involved in animal husbandry.

I'm a farrier.
I clean, knife, and trim horses feet to balance their movement. Heat either a premade shoe, or straight stock, and shape it to fit the trimmed foot. Then (after cooling) I nail it on, set clinches, and make it purty for the client. I know as much, (sometimes more) about the distal equine limb as the vets do. I am able to speak to the vets in doctor-ese, as well as simplifying things for the non-medically trained clients so they can understand the three page printout that the vet gave them.

A dying breed that luckily can never completely disappear completely.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

in the steel yard I cut and loaded steel for customers, loaded and unloaded trucks, inspected incoming and out going loads (and lots of paper work), made a flocc ton of different types of bolts and threaded products, maintained saws, threaders, and forklifts, and managed a small crew. I hated the weekly meetings. all the other department heads couldn't take a tattooed home brewer with a mohawk seriously. none of the rest of them did any physical labor and had decent offices. I had a small block room with poor heat and no cooling.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

Short version: I make order from data chaos. I normally start as a Cost Engineer but almost always end up organizing data for other Cost Engineers because corporate systems that cannot talk to each other...at all.

 

[toolboxales]

Heavy equipment field service technician. I get paid well to drive around and troubleshoot/repair heavy equipment. But also have 40k invested in tools....