Month: October 2011

ROV: Underwater Robotics

kirbyfullyloadedLeave a comment

When I was four I modeled for a book.  You know those progressive, interactive books for kids?  I posed for the back cover of My Little Blue Robot.  My friend Max and I stood in a hot studio for a few hours playing with this little cardboard robot.  Each page of the book contains a piece and the idea is to put the robot together as you go through the book.

Ever since then I’ve been fond of these little mechanical things.  They’re fun, easy, and don’t (usually) talk back to you.  It’s nice.  And personally, I like to make things in my free time so robotics seemed like an interesting subject.

The summer of 2009, I took R.O.V. at CIMI.  The class description said we could build underwater robots and I decided to try it.  Having no idea what I was getting into, I entered the course completely out of my element and loved it.

R.O.V. stands for Remotely Operated Vehicle.  We made simple ones at Sea Camp and the controls were already wired and ready for us.   All we had to do was make the frame out of PVC pipe and zip tie it together.

I decided to make one for my 8th grade science project.  Not so much for the science part, but just because it was fun to build.  My dad and I measured and cut all the pipe, laid out the dimensions, and glued each piece together.

We gathered a mountain of materials; zip ties, PVC pipe, drills, film canisters, propellers, a control box, piano wire, electrical wire,toggle switches, batteries, glue, scissors, a car battery, wax, wire cutters, wire strippers, screw drivers, rubber bands, an old razor phone, plastic zip lock bags, and food (of course).

This was our work table:

WARNING: Active Construction Zone

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Philadelphia Freedom…not so sweet

backinphillyLeave a comment

The Eagles…what can I say about the Eagles? As I sit here typing on this beautiful San Diego night, I look back on the day’s occurrences. While my family and I sat down to a game of Scrabble without one “E” tile, we discussed the most recent failure of our beloved Philadelphia Eagles. “It’s the coaching”, my mother said. “It’s all Andy Reid’s fault.” I have only ever followed the Eagles while Andy Reid has coached them. Yes, I feel it is time for a change also. But, how would this even feel? Certainly wouldn’t feel right for a few weeks. Seeing a new coach on the Eagles sideline. Turnover after turnover occurred for the Eagles and once again found themselves on the losing end of a very sloppy competition. This time, it was made even more humiliating because they suffered at the cleats of the Buffalo Bills. What is happening with the supposed “Dream Team”? Are they really all hype? Are they really just a high payroll franchise? How can this be corrected? I’d welcome any comment on this very pressing matter.

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Please, think of the Philadelphian children.

Scary Scary Time!

r3t5nom1 Comment

halloween

Halloween is coming up and man am I ready to scare some people! Halloween to me is the most fun day because you get a chance to dress up as something you’re not and go get candy from all the houses around your block. That is unless you go to a boarding school haha.

candy

BUT being at a boarding school is not that bad. On Halloween I will make sure to have a lot of fun scaring people out of their minds. Plus we have a nice Halloween dance, and a best costume contest, which I never win.

This year will be fun though, we have a lot of people who share my passion with scaring people and that is what makes Halloween fun. Scaring people.

me
Get ready OVS cause I’m going to scare you all!

What do you think about Halloween?

Climate Change

therightliberalLeave a comment

In a time where the word “change” is constantly being used as a positive, climate change is sneaking up from behind.

It could just be me, but it seems as though all the talk about how quickly we are changing our climate has quickly died off. This worries me.

I am not a radical in my environmental thinking. I feel that people should do what they can to reduce their personal effect of the environment. I am not one to say that we all need to ride bikes and never buy a product that does not contain recycled material.

However, there are so many simple things we can do to prevent our home from becoming a lot less nice than it is now.

We can recycle at every possible moment. It really is not that difficult to put things in the right bin and purchase products that can easily be recycled. We can make conscious choices throughout our day that are little yet make a difference.

I am lazy so I understand that making these changes can be tedious at times. But in the long run it seems worth it. We can work now to slow the damage that we are increasingly doing to the earth.

From a political standpoint this is a prime example of what is wrong with our political system. By far the majority of the people of the US realize we need to change. And yet, there is hardly any political movement because of sticking to party lines.

How about we all just admit we need to change the way we live. Remember how change can be used as a powerful and great word? Lets change our path to avoid extreme climate change. Let us change the little things to achieve the big things.

Banned Books Week topic in World History

r3t5nom1 Comment

                                                         BBW
This past week we talked about National Banned Books Week. In my opinion, banning books is wrong. Why wrong you might ask? Wrong because by banning a book we are hiding and keeping information from the people. Wrong, because in most cases the content of a book is merely a reflection of a real life issue or occurrence.

A book touching on the topics of homosexuality or racial differences is not a valid reason to ban a book. A book about the old south that has the “N” word in it is not a fair reason to ban a book, especially because the “N” word is being used to provide the reader a feel for how things were in the south way back when.

Books shouldn’t be banned because there is a bigger possibility that the people reading a book about a war will be shocked and learn that war isn’t the answer, than for those people to think that they should go out an mass murder a crowd of people due to their influence from that book.

If people are this afraid of what a books content will do to the minds of those who read them, then I wish you luck with real life problems because you are clearly unaware of what sort of things life brings to the table.

If a book can change every bodies mind of what a government is doing and lead the people to revolt and demand a change, then the government was definitely doing something wrong.

Books are powerful tools for understanding and for expression, but most of all books are a way to describe a situation or a period of time in the highest about of detail possible. even if it means there is foul language, racial differences or sexual implication portrayed in the novel.

BBW

What do you think about Book Banning?

Confined.

theycallmedame3 Comments

They primp you hair.

They give you a glowing tan.

With the help of plastic, your smile has never been bigger.

They make you beautiful.

Well, they tell you you’re beautiful.

But all you feel is trapped.

Imprisoned in your gaudy, sparkly outfit, preparing to dazzle the audience.
All you want to do is scream.

Tear the frill of your dress, smear your makeup, and let out a grotesque growl to prove that you’re not just peachy-keen.

Beneath this facade you’re crying for freedom from the rusted shackles clamped to your free-will.

You have the dream and the wish and the will power to run away from this fabricated life, but you don’t.

You’re scared of the outside world.

Terrified of what is inside of you.

You know that once you tear away at all the cosmetics, all the clothes, the shoes, the glamor, the guilt, the pure rage that has been embedded into you since day one, that you will feel just as ugly as you do now.

That without all of the attention, all of the glamor and fans and trophies and doting mothers affection, you’ll be nothing.

You’ll look in the mirror and you’ll see a pale, skinny, scared and ugly girl gazing back from sunken eyes.

You’re broken. Defined by your reflection.

A stranger stares back at you.

You shatter.

And each shard asks the question: Why?

Broken.
Ashamed.
Frightened.
A worthless little girl.

You and me?
We were never a beauty queen.

jj

Yourcupatea1 Comment

jj

jj is an alternative indie group from Sweden who has been producing music since 2009. Consisting of duo Elin Kastlander and Joakim Benon the band released their debut album jj n ° 2 in early 2009 along with their first single jj n° 1.

jj

Now signed to American label Secretly Canadian the pair released jj n° 3 in Sweden and the U.S in March 2010. Their alternative sound consists of indie pop, electronic and hip-hop among other genres, mixing them together to create great songs.The mix of sounds accompanied  with the rusty voice of female, lead singer Elin Kastlanger and powerful lyrics, the work of jj is really something you have never heard before.

Although they have released many of their own songs they are also famous for their covers of current songs, many of which appear on their mix tape Kills. Their renditions range from all sorts of genres including The XX,The Game and Akon. They really are one of a kind.

So if you feel like giving something different a listen check out jj.

New York City

kirbyfullyloadedLeave a comment

According to Urban Dictionary, you know you’re a New Yorker when:

“You say “the city” and expect everyone to know that this means Manhattan.

You have never been to the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building.

The subway makes sense.

The most frequently used part of your car is the horn. 

You think Central Park is ‘nature.'”

Click here to view an entire list of what makes you a New Yorker.

I am most definitely NOT a New Yorker.  As my best friend would say, I don’t know how to cross a city street (because pushing the “walk” button doesn’t count).  I’m from San Diego, 8th largest city in the United States with an estimated 1.307 million residents.  So I should know about cities right?  WRONG!  I moved to Ventura, California when I was 7 and the population is barely crawling past 106,400 thousand people.

So when I went to “the city” in 2008, I was mind blown.

My aunt and uncle used to live in Chelsea, a neighborhood on the west side of Manhattan.  I took this picture out of their loft window:

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OVS Cross Country!

thehungryrunnergirlLeave a comment

The OVS cross country team ran its first meet this past Wednesday, October 5th, at the Thacher School against Thacher, Besant Hill, Dunn, Laguna Blanca, Cate and Midland. It was raining, but after 2:30 the sun came out and it was a perfect condition for running.

The girls’ race started at 3, from the track and boys’ at 3:30.

The Thacher School cross country course has a lot of little hills. However, compared to our Pi course, it should be a piece of cake. Personally, I don’t like down hill but I love up hill so their course wasn’t that bad.

The boys ran hard; it was fun cheering with my roommate 🙂 I’m proud of you guys!

For girls, we lack of one girl so we couldn’t compete as a team… But we all ran pretty well 🙂 It was such a fun meet!

BUT! Yesterday, this awesome girl came up to us and told us that she wants to join the cross country team! Which means, girls can compete as a team too! Most of the people here don’t like cross country running, I’m probably the only one who loves running to death, but I want to thank her for being brave!!! I know she will be an awesome runner!

Also, I would like to thank the faculty members, parents and two, sweet journalism
students, (even though they missed the race) who came to support us!

GO OVS CROSS COUNTRY!!! GO SPUDS!!!

Dream Team travels to Buffalo

backinphilly2 Comments

A couple posts ago, I expressed my surprise regarding the Buffalo Bills’ progress through the NFL season. Now, I’m out to say that the Bills’ story ends here. The Philadelphia Eagles (for whom I have a very extreme bias) face off against the Cinderella story Bills in Buffalo this Sunday. I will be taking the trip home to San Diego to witness this battle with my family. I have been a fan of the NFL for years and as long as I can remember, I have never been really all that excited for a game between the Eagles and Bills. However, with the Eagles seeking a much-needed second win and the Bills showing that they aren’t going to just roll over this season, I have pre game butterflies for this competition. The so-called “Dream Team” will enter battle once again. Will we be surprised as fans and witness a well-played game? My vote goes for no. I love the Eagles, but after the past few weeks, it has been very difficult to be an Eagles fan. After the massive pickups in the offseason (Asomugha, Babin, Young, Brown, Rodgers-Cromartie, Jenkins) we were slated to be competing for a Super Bowl. Now, it’s not even an easy game to face the Bills. Don’t put your money on either team. The Eagles because of their horrid play this season and the Bills because even though they beat the Patriots two weeks ago, they lost to the Bengals last week. What has this league come to?

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If this trend of random wins keeps up, the 49ers are going to face the Browns in the Super Bowl with the halftime show being Lil Bow Wow. See what I did there? I named three things people don’t care about.

Please NFL. Stop confusing us.