I think everyone has thought about becoming and astronaut at some point in time of their lives. After watching this model rocket be shot into the sky, brought me back to the days that I wanted to be an astronaut. Seeing some of my friends go and work for NASA and fulfill their dreams is amazing to me. I still sometimes wish that I could go and become an astronaut as well. Knowing that this probably won't happen, I think I would settle with launching a model shuttle, such as this, during my retirement.
This movie also reminded me of our class. It showed that you need to go big or go home. Everyone has shot off a model rocket that is a foot long, but 36'? Unheard of. It also shows that if you have the dream to do something, to keep pushing and someday it might just come true.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
No More Pontiac... who's next?
So reading the news today left me thinking about what car I would want to buy in the future. Seeing how most major car companies are falling apart, I have no idea what I would want to purchase. I used to think that a Pontiac G6 would be a good car, until I heard today that GM is cutting the Pontiac Brand. Does this mean that Pontiacs will disappear? Or will someone else pick up the brand?
With the economy the way it is, I can only hope that the future will be better, and that my car choice will be able to live on for many years.
With the economy the way it is, I can only hope that the future will be better, and that my car choice will be able to live on for many years.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
FE Exam....and Saving Farts for Energy!?
Saturday I had the pleasure of taking an 8 hour exam that tested me not only intellectually but also mentally and physically. I have the attention span of maybe 2 hours for an exam, so when I had 8 hours of an exam with an hour break for lunch, I was not sure what I would do. However, I made it through and hopefully I don't have to take it again. If I do, I wished they would consider doing it over two days instead of all in one day.
On another note, I found this article about reusing "Farts" for power. Besides the title catching my interest, so did the person in the article. This short article featured Dr. Logan, a professor in Civil Engineering here at Penn State. It was one of those things I was like what the heck are people doing with this subject, and it turns out that it is actually happening right here in the building that I pretty much live in.
On another note, I found this article about reusing "Farts" for power. Besides the title catching my interest, so did the person in the article. This short article featured Dr. Logan, a professor in Civil Engineering here at Penn State. It was one of those things I was like what the heck are people doing with this subject, and it turns out that it is actually happening right here in the building that I pretty much live in.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Creative Drinking?!?
So I was looking around one of my favorite sites, Dvice, and came across this article. As a wine drinker, I can only imagine how drinking from this glass would be. I have a hard enough time drinking safely from a regular bottle or glass let alone one that has an entire extra glass or two of wine above it.
However, I find the engineering behind this glass interesting and wonder how they even came up with this idea. Who would have thought about making a glass similar to this? Why would you want something like this? Either way, I'm intrigued and want to try one some day!
However, I find the engineering behind this glass interesting and wonder how they even came up with this idea. Who would have thought about making a glass similar to this? Why would you want something like this? Either way, I'm intrigued and want to try one some day!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Magic?
Magic? Tricks? Fakes? Sometimes I wonder what it is with "Illusions" that fascinates so many people. I found this "Viral" video from Samsung that has a camera trick in it. I've watched it, watched it, and watched and still can't figure it out or don't want to figure it out. I've read the comments below and watched for them in the video, but I just don't see what others do.
Watched this video and tell me:
How do you think they pulled this trick off?
Watched this video and tell me:
How do you think they pulled this trick off?
Friday, April 10, 2009
Ending of 407
With 3 weeks left in school, I feel that our time in ENGR 407 is becoming more valuable each day. I can remember the first day of class where I was not sure of what to expect. I was timid and unsure of myself. Now that our time is limited, I find myself not wanting it to end. Each day I seem to learn something new about myself, and I find myself being pushed out of my comfort zone. With the end of class looming in the distance, I see myself pushing harder to learn more about myself and to get the most from this class.
Monday, March 30, 2009
National Rube Goldberg Competition
This past weekend, I was able to go to Purdue University and participate in the National Rube Goldberg Competition. (For those of you who may not know what I am talking about, go here or watch this.)
The task to complete this year was to change an incandescent light bulb to a more efficient one. I helped the American Society of Mechanical Engineers out with their Super Mario Brothers Themed machine this year. We competed at the Regional Competition held here on campus against 4 other groups who has equally qualified machines. However, we ended up winning and secured a trip to Purdue to represent Penn State.
Before getting to nationals, I personally had no idea what to expect. I had heard that previous winners had over 100 steps. Our machine only had about 50 steps, which made me nervous. So after making the 10-11 hour drive out to Purdue on Friday, the 6 of us were getting nervous. We started the weekend off with a dinner in what I think was Purdue's "President's" Box of their stadium. It was extremely neat because I have never been to their football stadium, and to be able to look all the way down on it, was just amazing.
The next day we had the actual competition. Here we found ourselves up against 5 other teams from Illinois with a "Clue Theme", Texas with a "Jurassic Park Theme", Michigan Tech with a "Super Heroes Theme", St. Olaf with a "Crazy Scientist Theme", and Ferris State with a "House of Rube Theme". Each of these teams had an impressive machine and it was clear to see that we had our work cut out for us.
With the results in, we ended up not placing, but needless to say, I had a blast. Being able to talk to people, especially little kids, and to be able to teach them something was well worth it. Overall St. Olaf took both first place overall and People's Choice award.
St. Olaf is a liberal arts school which makes me wonder if all of the engineering teams just over thought the entire task. Then I learned that they had a budget that was 6 times that of what we had, which gave them a lot more opportunities then us. So maybe it was more along the lines of that? There are so many questions as to what it could have been, but I do know that their machine was quite impressive, especially for non-engineering majors.
I hope that more people will become interested in the Rube Competition here on campus because it is something that can be challenging and fun at the same time. I know that I wished I would have gotten involved sooner, because I had a lot of fun working on it this year.
(I'll post a video and pictures of our machine at a later date!)
The task to complete this year was to change an incandescent light bulb to a more efficient one. I helped the American Society of Mechanical Engineers out with their Super Mario Brothers Themed machine this year. We competed at the Regional Competition held here on campus against 4 other groups who has equally qualified machines. However, we ended up winning and secured a trip to Purdue to represent Penn State.
Before getting to nationals, I personally had no idea what to expect. I had heard that previous winners had over 100 steps. Our machine only had about 50 steps, which made me nervous. So after making the 10-11 hour drive out to Purdue on Friday, the 6 of us were getting nervous. We started the weekend off with a dinner in what I think was Purdue's "President's" Box of their stadium. It was extremely neat because I have never been to their football stadium, and to be able to look all the way down on it, was just amazing.
The next day we had the actual competition. Here we found ourselves up against 5 other teams from Illinois with a "Clue Theme", Texas with a "Jurassic Park Theme", Michigan Tech with a "Super Heroes Theme", St. Olaf with a "Crazy Scientist Theme", and Ferris State with a "House of Rube Theme". Each of these teams had an impressive machine and it was clear to see that we had our work cut out for us.
With the results in, we ended up not placing, but needless to say, I had a blast. Being able to talk to people, especially little kids, and to be able to teach them something was well worth it. Overall St. Olaf took both first place overall and People's Choice award.
St. Olaf is a liberal arts school which makes me wonder if all of the engineering teams just over thought the entire task. Then I learned that they had a budget that was 6 times that of what we had, which gave them a lot more opportunities then us. So maybe it was more along the lines of that? There are so many questions as to what it could have been, but I do know that their machine was quite impressive, especially for non-engineering majors.
I hope that more people will become interested in the Rube Competition here on campus because it is something that can be challenging and fun at the same time. I know that I wished I would have gotten involved sooner, because I had a lot of fun working on it this year.
(I'll post a video and pictures of our machine at a later date!)
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