Hello, Steemit!
As an introduction, let me verify who I am.
My name is Jonathan Schattke, I am 50 years old, have lovely wife, a baby, and a Master's degree in Nuclear Engineering. I was a computer programmer from when I was a kid - Started programming in 1978 and never looked back. Computer programming was fun and easy for me. After I took a year at DeVry studying system design and program structure, I was a top level development programmer/analyst, able to take any system and needs and make it work. I specialized in systems that were causing other programmers excessive trouble, and making them work.
While working on a project at the University of Chicago (linking AutoCAD Map, Access and a SQL database), I came across he idea of Accelerator driven systems. I also came across papers on mercury cooled fast reactors, and after a friend heard about it, he suggested I charge the mercury and generate electricity inductively... which led to the concept of a Nuclear Power Plant With No Moving Parts. I submitted my Thesis in April, after a defense last spring. Unfortunately, the no moving parts design is not cost-effective without some additional R&D, so I have dropped back to a minimal moving part design. My next step is to do full design work on that and for that I'll be doing a crowdfunding, perhaps with 10% of the company going to large contributors.
To get back into the swing of actual work - since it has been over a decade since I had a job instead of college - I'm working with a startup doing ab inito chemistry simulations, we have a license for the ADF package from SCM. I'm working from home on my homebrewed system.
Geek out with me :)
Phenom II 1100T, 6 cores, 3.3 GHz sustained (and about 9 MB of cache)
Zalman heat pipe 240mm fan to keep that beast running at 55 C quietly, even with all 6 cores running 100%
16 GB RAM, running at 1600 MHz
2 TB Seagate drive
GeForce GT 730 w/1 GB RAM & dual 1080p monitors
yeah, its not the greatest system ever, but it was only about $1000 when I put it together. If I want to go faster, I have to shell out that much for an Intel 8 or 12 core chip (because the AMD Fx series only have one Floating point unit for every two "cores"). I could blow a bunch of money on a better video card, but I'm no twitch jockey.
I have another 1100T system running Linux. I use them for MCNP nuclear simulations, and now the chemisty ab inito stuff.
Some links to other places with my content:
http://www.facebook.com/jmschattke
http://wizwom.livejournal.com/