Magic Posts

Yo Olson, I've occasionally used the Magic Online program to do drafts when I can't do the draft at the store in La Mesa. A lot of people make draft videos for when they draft online, and was wondering if you'd be interested in watching me do one. Let me know, I'll e-mail you if you take too long. Later.

Marble Sorting Picture

UCLA Engineering Investigation

College/University of interest: University of California Los Angeles

Why does this institution appeal to you?: I really like the campus and its location. Its also a very good school and offers lots of great opportunities.

Which engineering program is most interesting to you and why?: I really like the electrical engineering program because I've always enjoyed playing around with circuits and other electrical devices. I also really like computers, so the Computer Engineering track inside of electrical engineering is very interesting to me.

Which undergraduate engineering elective is most interesting? Describe the course and its appeal to you: The computer programming classes are most interesting to me because I really like the idea of being able to create and change programs on the computer.

Gliders

1) An image of your completed glider design.

2) Your Glider Challenge: Design Phase notes.
We decided on making a glider with a fairly large wingspan with triangular support structures within the wings. We did our best to make the equilateral triangles so that the force would be distributed evenly. We also settled on a double tail design in hopes that it would keep the glider in a straighter path while it flew. The wood was put together using both tape and glue, and we used thin layers of the adhesive to connect the tissue paper to the aircraft.

3) Your Glider Challenge: Test Phase notes.
Without the added weight to the nose, the glider would flip around and fall to the floor in a somewhat oscillating pattern much like how a leaf would fall from a tree on a cool autumn day. Wrapping a thick layer of tissue paper to the tip helped stabilize this issue. We also noticed that the size of the wings may have been too big because they were bending with just their weight. This was not a huge problem during the test phase, but was a big problem during the actual challenge.

4) Your Glider Challenge competition day results. How did your glider perform? What would you change if we competed again?
When we first walked into the engineering room on the day of the competition, we were horrified to see that our glider's wings were broken. With some tape and spare wood, we were able to patch up the wings. In terms of distance, our glider was rather unimpressive since it failed to go in a straight flight path but rather flipped over itself due to the air resistance. The strong air current also re-broke the wings in our later attempts. Luckily, our wounded-warrior excelled in staying in the air for a long time. This is probably due to the fact that the wings gave the glider a very large surface area allowing it to simply float to the ground in a relatively time consuming manner.

Egg Drop Challenge: Iteration #1

Total Number of Achievements Earned: 26

Idea Generation Achievements

Brainstorming
-Create a sketch of one possible solution. Include labels.
-Create a sketch of another possible solution. Include labels.
-Create a sketch of a third possible solution. Include labels.
-Use a decision matrix to justify the approach you chose.

Material Prep
-Generate a list of materials required for build day.
-Document a plan to ensure materials are brought in on block day.

Build Achievements

Material Size:
(your egg is not included in the material size)
(air is ubiquitous and not included in material size. "Rare" commodities like helium are.)
-Your materials fit inside a printer paper box
-Your materials fit inside a shoe box

Material Weight:
(your egg is not included in material weight)
-Your materials weigh less than 500 grams.
-Your materials weigh less than 300 grams.
-Your materials weigh less than 200 grams.
-Your materials weigh less than 150 grams.
-Your materials weigh less than 100 grams.

Drop Achievements

Drop Accuracy:
-You hit the butcher paper!
-You hit inside the third ring!

Egg Resilience:
-Your egg didn't break in any way! (awarded three times)
-Your egg didn't break in any way! (awarded three times)
-Your egg didn't break in any way! (awarded three times)


Calculation Achievements
-Describe an aspect of the event using arithmetic. (234g-149g)=85g
-Describe an aspect of the event using geometry. A=pi r^2 A=36pi
-Describe an aspect of the event using algebra. x + x + x =85; 28.33g per plate
-Describe an aspect of the event using calculus. 1/2 a t^2; t=1.01s; integrate 1/2 a t^2= at; (9.8)(1.01)=9.9 m/s


Other Achievements
-Help set up the Bullseye. Ana did it
-Come up with a clever name Mr. Olson uses for an existing Achievment. Don't Scramble the Egg (Egg didn't break)
-Design an Achievement Mr. Olson approves for next year's Egg Drop Challenge. Use only one type of material.
-Suggest a redesign to the activity that Mr Olson confirms he will use for next year's Egg Drop Challenge. Obstacles and challenges; like blindfolded drops, spots on the tarp that do not count for any points, AESTHETICS SHOULD COUNT

Our egg drop design was one of the few designs which kept the egg completely intact and actually landed on the tarp. I think it was one of the best designs, but its accuracy needed to be adjusted. It deviated away from the bulls-eye, which would have earned us massive points. I think more fins or more attention to detail on the design could improve the accuracy of the Friendship.

TED Part One

1) What is the TED organization about?
TED as an organization which holds conferences so that experts in their respective fields can talk about what they think and what needs improvement. It's about sharing ideas on a global scale and giving people new perspectives.

2) What is the purpose of their website and how does the functionality of their site support that?
The purpose of the website is to share these speeches and the site helps support that because it is very easy to navigate and sort by topic to find videos.

3) As Engineers and Problem Solvers, which topic areas (the choices from the "Show talks related to:" section on the sidebar) are of most interest to us? Justify your answer.
I believe that the Science, Technology, Design, and Business are all important to Engineers and Problem Solvers. The first three are fairly obvious because engineers have to have those skills in order to create things and solve problems. I also believe that the Business section is important because a lot of the talks have to do with how people do work and interact, which is important for problem solving.

4) Based on your previous answer, what are 3 talks (videos) on the site that appear like they would be of most interest to you as an Engineer/Problem Solver? Justify your choices.
I like videos such as "Why Work Doesn't get Done at Work" because it discusses new ways of doing work, which can allow work to be more effecient and useful. "7 Ways Games Reward the Brain" is also interesting because it shows how people can be effected by different tasks and suggests other ways of teaching and learning. "Eric Giler demos wireless electricy" is also very interesting because it shows new technology being developed and its function in the world, which is very important to consider when creating new technology.

5) Each student will watch a unique video. Claim your video on the following period specific posts: 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th. If no one else has claimed your video, leave a comment on that post to call the one you want. If someone else has already claimed the talk, go back and pick another one. Watch the video. Embed the video in your blog post and create a bulletized outline of the key issues presented in the talk.
Will do in the future.

6) How could you get involved in the field/technology/issue you chose to hear about? What experience/skills/training/education would you need to learn to get involved with this field?
I have become really interested in the technology and field of video games, and I think I could get involved by looking into gaming industries and becoming involved in the process of creating videogames. I would need to learn skills such as coding and design so that I could create them, but I would also need to learn how to use a certain gaming creation platform.

Subprograms

 This is the main program. The green box "Homies" refers to the subprogram which turns on a light and adds one count to the variable "Bro". At the end, depending on which variable has a higher count, either a motor, a lamp, or a buzzer will be turned on.

This is the subprogram "Homies".