What is Friendship Anyway?

Well, off to a rough start in the friend department :)

I guess I'll go out and play in the mud.

~Geekteach.

Bad Google Push Design

Google loses the design award on this one. Squeeze the width of the Google.com homepage and the graphics push ad for 'Chrome' destroys the rest of the top of the page. I can do that for a web page I write - but not one that millions see..

This is definitely in the 'too much spare time' category for me - but really.

der Mathematik-Pens, dass Licht

der Mathematik-Pens, dass Licht

Here are Jon Powell's NH State Math Meet award pen [right] and my NH State Math Meet award pen. It's easy to see that his is still brighter which may infer that he is writing less.

I picked it up by mistake while working on the network at the Lower Building, now I must remember to return it.

~Richard.

Pi Day

3.1415926............. ounces of cookie dough:

Thanks Ethan for the photo....

Tufts E-News: Flights of Fancy

Using sensors with LabView to feeback into Google. The big screen must certainly help.
It seems there should be a fan for wind-blown hair and some occasional bird noises.

Tufts E-News: Flights of Fancy


Posted using ShareThis

Mission Beach Physics Waves

We went to San Diego's Mission Beach area and to Belmont Park. There is a water ride to simulate surfing. Here is a short video of a couple of the takers. I had seen it before in short video, but it is great to see it in person.

Obama Logo

Interesting site lets me make the above Obama type logo.

http://logobama.com/

thanks to Substance

Snapper in the Yard

Last Saturday morning I woke up to see some digging in the front yard the likes of which confounded me on close inspection. There were seven or eight places a foot square or more scoured out of the soil and each a few inches deep. There were no hoof prints, and it didn't look like some skunk or fox after ants, so my first thought was that aliens had briefly landed then took quickly off again. Darn those aliens - I really wanted to catch one. The light bulb in the photo is for size..

Since school has ended, I have the additional luxury of reading the daily paper - as thin and as horribly informed as it presents itself - and lo - on this day, a short article with a photo of two elderly gentlemen and a large elderly turtle all grinning toward the camera. The article went on to cite a returning snapping turtle to lay eggs in the sandy front yard of a Gilford home.

http://www.citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080628/GJNEWS02/643110723

I was so excited I ran out and looked more closely at the holes and saw small claw marks and the telltale scrape of what appears to be a tail. One of the holes was covered back in, and there I suspect are the nested reptile eggs. I actually called the household in Gilford and confirmed their siting... and spoke with a very nice lady about all sorts of animal activities in her yard. I think her school has been out for a long time.

I found an easily readable website that tells me to wait 90-120 days to witness the quarter size snappers to leave their nest and parade to the nearest water.

http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/snappers.htm

Now here is the karmic return part of the story. When I was young, my brother and I had a turtle from Woolworths store in Framingham, Mass. Actually, we may each have had one. The horribly airless pet section of those stores would sell out small animals under the auspices that children would take care of them and learn something. It's all quite a silly enterprise since we lived in a beautiful woodsy town of New England with more sticks and animals to shake a stick, or animal, at. I remember my turtle in its clear plastic container complete with plastic island and little green palm tree, although I don't recall its name. We of course overfed and over watered it for a few days or as long as a week. But there are more fun things than a sluggy turtle for kids with a short attention span as we had and besides, the plastic container started to smell.

Soon, somehow the turtle was gone. Escaped? Did we take it out to play and forget to put it back? More likely. High and low, no turtle was to be found until a month or two later when I saw the poor dust covered carcass of a dry little turtle under the bed. I think we put it into our small animal graveyard near the stone wall to final rest with the other creatures of our 'caretaking' including many dead birds, frogs, reptiles that we found. No doubt they were all Christian creatures, since a series of little crosses marked their spots.

So if I can keep these little turtle eggs from being ravaged by the local cat, skunk, or fox [I think I'll cover the nest with a small section of chicken wire mesh] and watch them safely toward water when they do hatch, perhaps I'll pay back the debt from years ago. I still cringe when I picture the tiny, dry, wisp of a little turtle head frozen in time looking up at its worldly caretaker. Thanks, Woolworths.

Hail to the Chief

Here is a short video of a hailstorm that rolled its way through the Newfound Lake neighborhood. The hail was 'pea-sized' approx. one centimeter is size :)

A tornado warning for the region was also posted and the wind, lightning, thunder, and torrents of rain were awesome indeed. I wonder about the safety of the thousand of bikers here for the weekend, and also the newbie boaters who have little clue about their risks out on the lakes when a storm like this rolls through.

~Richard

Zhanar Presentation

Thursday is dedicated to Zhanar giving us her work in lecture form. I still can't believe she is headed out - and we will all miss her.

Her efforts to get C++ interfaced successfully with MSAccess have been noble and we will get to hear the details of this tough task.

~Richard.

PHUN! Where 2D Physics Meets Computing

2D Fun with objects.

http://www.phun.at/

Not required, just a fun resource.
This is an applet that simulates a 2D world. You create objects, give them properties and then watch them do things when you turn them loose. If you have used "SODA" in the past, this is a more graphical version, similar in concept.
I may have to put it on some school computers. Developed in Sweden. Free.
I will post a good screenshot when I find one. There are many links from the site.

~Richard.

DC Motor for Physics

In class, students are using their design/build skills to create a simple motor. The default version is this design that I think is the clearest to build:

http://lees.mit.edu/lees/leeb-s.htm is the designer
and a full .pdf of instructions and the mini-lab is posted at

http://web.mit.edu/cmse/educational/motor_lp_kristy.pdf

Here is the design photo:

Here is a short video of a team of successful students basking in glory of being the first to get a working model during class:

This is a short video post of one of the air turbines moving in the wind today. Ethan Lawrence is the photographer using the small SONY. This air turbine is from the Team at http://windmillbeneathmywings.blogspot.com/

I am also posting this to test the video upload.

Success with the video posting, so here is a second showing the Four Physics Class entries and Max Hardcastle's renegade entry that is INDEED turning and turning smoothly.

~Richard

Change in mounting apparatus for your Air Energy Devices:

Change in mounting apparatus for your Air Energy Devices:

Each team will have a square 1-1/2" metal post that is 28" long to mount your Air Energy Device onto. It cab be bolted or screwed to the post - either end works and there are places to thread bolts, and then I will attach this to the standing metal post. This way you can mount your device and test it for balance in the classroom. Your device will still end up being be about 10' off the ground.

Here is a photo of the end of the metal post. There are two locations where you can bolt to the corner w 3/8" threaded rod or connector:

Here is the other end of the post showing where you can bolt to the center:

And a third showing the bracket that is also available. The bracket has multiple holes for attaching:

~Richard.

Max Joins as a Renegade Wind Designer!

Max Hardcastle said...
Here's my blog:

http://renegadewind.blogspot.com/

I'm a blog addict now! It really is a good place to keep notes, etc.Data logger is really cool! It has some sort of GNU/Linux OS and it's now set to German. I hope everyone knows German because I can't figure out how to set it back!... I'm kidding!

....... show us how it's done Max!.... Richard.

Wind to Energy Using Computer Class as Well

Since most of the computer class is in the Wind Energy Project, here is a copy of a recent email as a post. If anyone in the computer class wants to use the time for learning the electrical logging software, graphic design of your wind energy, or other computer related activity even organizational - jump right in- I see it as totally valid since there are several teams represented - [a coincidence :) ] . Log your activities on your groups Wind Energy Blog and/or link it to your computer work.

Example:
Zhanar: gets software that can read/generate .dwg design files.
Ethan: uses his graphics 3D program to model the team's design
etc.

Here is my plea to stick with the project and work hard on it:

"Please stick with the project. It will be immensely great for all of us to have some working wind machines on Earth Day and thereafter.", pleaded Richard.

I am now thinking that we should collectively choose the best one (the sturdiest, best potential for the job, etc.) and it should be mounted up on the roof of the Middle Building after the contest of 24 hour measuring. This is a new twist to the project - and perhaps some modifications could be suggested by all of us and then made to this one - since it has to be at least somewhat safe from crashing down if the wind is too strong..

The four BLOG sites are as follows:

http://windmillbeneathmywings.blogspot.com/

http://teamvoltron.blogspot.com/

http://windenergyproject.blogspot.com/

http://teamtwister.blogspot.com/

Each has RSS feeds enabled if you want to use them; I am.
Post all your ideas and photos early and often, please.
The Vernier electrical data logging equipment that was donated for the project is scheduled to arrive late this afternoon, so we can test that out along the way, and you can learn to use it to test the output of your generators and experiments as well.

~Richard.

Show and Tell Finally Scheduled

Thursday and possibly into Friday during 2nd period will be Show and Tell. Each student will think in terms of 10 minutes, but won't you always go longer? I hope so - but not too much longer.

Plan on showing:
Your work for this past quarter - programs and results.
Telling us your goals for the upcoming final quarter.
Walk us through some of your programming methods.
Teach us ONE clear thing about your programming.

~Richard.

Microsoft Dreamspark.. ??

Microsoft in their back-dated wisdom is release an 'open' method of programming.. as open as Miscrosoft can let themselves get.

It appears at first read that students can have free versions of some development software; so here is yet another avenue for programming.

https://downloads.channel8.msdn.com/

~Richard.

Showtime...

Note to all:

It is coming time for demonstrations of where your work is going, and to assess direction for the next quarter if there are any major changes. These have to happen over the next two weeks and it would be optimal to see them all at once in a double or tri-period.

Ideally we would all watch the presentations, so I will see what I can arrange with your teachers. Zhanar's should be easy with calculus and JP; the others - I may have to negotiate.

I also have a long standing promise to fulfill to you in having Bill Bryer, SBS parent, who works with JAVA for the State of NH come in to show us some ideas and inspire.

In general, it looks like programming work is happening.

Note to some:

A couple of computer library books went out.. one to Ethan on JAVA and one more to Zhanar on Access Database.. I need to get your 'library cards' on these.

~Richard.

Library Cards

POSKAR!!

Above is my system of Library Cards:

~Richard