Poster found at optometrist’s office.
Tag Archives: science
Fun in the Interwebs
You only have to be 10% smarter than your tools
The Entrepreneurs Club announced a new contest today, specifically designed for youths aged 6-16. Five winners will be awarded an all-expense paid trip to the annual Entrepreneurs Club, where the winners will be encouraged to pitch their dream projects for potential VC funding; alternatively, they will be given a small budget to develop a marketing plan to pitch their dream projects via crowdfunding.
The contest participants will attempt to accomplish the following goals:
- Design an autonomous rover*. (One winner will be announced for the best autonomous rover design.)
- Launch the rover into the upper atmosphere with a weather balloon**. (One winner will be announced for the best rover launch design.)
- Land the rover***. (One winner will be announced for the best rover landing design.)
- Retrieve the rover from its predetermined rendezvous point****. (One winner will be announced for the best rover rendezvous point design).
An overall winner will be announced that has shown the best combination of the most innovative and/or accurate achievement of the goals listed above. In addition to the all-expense paid trip, the overall winner will be allowed to recruit new team members from any of the other contest winners or contest participants to pitch dream projects (primary team size may not exceed seven members).
*The rover must have onboard the following capabilities:
- Self-powered — may be any combination of fuel cell, ultracapacitor, nonrechargeable/rechargeable [alkaline, NiMH, NiCad, LiPo, nuclear, etc.] battery, wind, solar cell, or other means clearly documented and demonstrated to the contest judges.
- Guidance control system — may be a combination of GPS, 3D visual mapping, solar, magnetic, or other means clearly documented and demonstrated to the contest judges.
- Data logging system — must have a means to record location data and broadcast location data periodically, no less than once a minute (location data may include GPS coordinates, geotagged/timestamped photos or other means (see number 4 below) to record and show the rover’s current location), keeping onboard its total journey information or other means of remote storage of data logging information clearly documented and demonstrated to the contest judges.
- Environmental measurement and collection tools — may be a combination of air/land/water temperature, humidity, water salinity/pH, atmosphere/soil/water contents, biological sampling, or other means clearly documented and demonstrated to the contest judges.
- Additional features will be allowed as long as they are clearly documented and demonstrated to the contest judges.
- NOTE: Keep in mind that the rover may arrive at the rendezvous point by air, land and/or water. The most/efficient use of all three will increase the chance of winning for the contest participant(s).
** A list of preapproved weather balloon suppliers will be provided.
*** The rover landing may include the following:
- Balloon remnants still attached.
- Balloon remnants detached.
- Parachute deployment.
- Self-guided UAV (powered or unpowered).
- Descent deceleration thrusters.
- Aquatic vehicle capabilities (surface/submarine).
- Additional landing features will be allowed as long as they are clearly documented and demonstrated to the contest judges.
****The rendezvous point must be preapproved by the contest judges before the rover is launched. The time from launch of the rover to retrieval of the rover at the rendezvous point must take no longer than 48 hours. The contest participants and their preapproved equipment must be in full view of the contest judges and/or their official representatives during the 48-hour period.
A selection of stories from one website
Sometimes saturation is better than supersaturation — weather, don’t ask me why…whatever!
Ravin’ MAVEN, quoth the wavin’ raven
When it rains on Friday…
Outside the window, raindrops drip from the wet branches of the redbud tree. A twig heavily laden with lichen balances precariously on a redbud limb. Brown and yellow leaves still cling to their connections, pulled loose by falling water occasionally. The green leaves of a wild privet bush stand out from the rust-coloured background of autumn.
For the past few weeks, I have changed from a person devoted to the art of dance to a person devoted to the art/science of the home tinkerer.
In this tinkerer’s mini-adventure, I have encountered new characters in my life, who my mother has noted are temporary online acquaintances which may or may not have my best interests at heart. Sometimes, even I am amazed of the faith I readily give to people that this interactive TV screen connects me to.
I, the tinkerer, am working on a desktop prototype of a yard art sculpture that can be a work of art by itself.
I had formed a small group — Team Tree Trunk — to work on this prototype, enlisting the artistic input of my wife and the mechanical engineering input from a friend who, unfortunately, is dealing with a dying father and I haven’t bothered for her input on this project.
Thus, I have been left to write the computer code and create this desktop prototype primarily on my own, hoping my wife can help finish the decorating of the piece from her creative/logical/computer engineering thought set.
Over the past week or so, I’ve attended virtual hangouts/meetings/panels with other tinkerers, commonly called Makers these days but just as easily called inventors, scientists, and other members of the creative class of citizens. You could call them knowledge workers or data analysts, too.
Is it a special skill or talent that turns one into a Maker?
What level of curiosity belongs to the Maker classification? Is a person who is curious about a favourite actor’s life a Maker? Is a sports fan a Maker? Is a member of the political chattering class a Maker?
Should the word Maker even be capitalised? It certainly takes capital to be a Maker rather than just a Thinker/Dreamer.
As I finish up this Robot Hacks project, I wonder what in this whole Maker Movement will make my dream come true — a permanent colony on Mars (or the Moon) in the next 13,321 days.
Cool as they are already, it’s great that people want to use 3D printers to make game pieces, Valentine’s Day flowers, holiday ornaments, keychains, tablet PC cases and book lights.
After all, we like to surround ourselves with evidence of our individuality.
My goals are not your goals. My goals are not my goals. My goals belong to the universe, coaxing our sets of states of energy, fractal spinoffs from the local star, to branch out into the solar system with more than our electromechanical observation platforms.
We want a whole generation on this planet to subconsciously devote their attention to extraplanetary settlement. It doesn’t happen by force or coercion. It happens through encouraging people to use their imaginations, with subtle hints that exploring the cosmos is a great use of their imaginations.
Kind of like mass marketing direct mail campaigns — we don’t expect 100% replies — if 1-3% respond, and buy the product or buy into the product’s lifestyle, we’ve accomplished our goals.
One to three percent of the global population devoting one to three percent of global resources toward space exploration? That would be awesome!
Now, on to getting people excited about putting their imaginations into action, regardless of age or socioeconomic status. I don’t expect myself to like everything they create but I’m willing to give them the impetus to do so.
Welcome to the American Renaissance
In the global economy, when what one person shares with the local workshop through online tools is shared with the world, how does “insourcing” help the locals compete globally?
Today, an online hangout called “We the Geeks: Don’t Be Bored, Make Something,” inspired by Joey Hudy’s business card that he gave to the U.S. President during a White House science fair, the group talked about an explosion of innovation taking place in the United States, partly through the Maker Movement.
What do you think? Do the citizens of your country consider themselves globally competitive because they feel empowered to be creative and ultimately successful in the local/national/world/galactic economy?
Screenshots from today’s hangout on Google+:
Did the Internet use ESP to tell me to read this story?
Lebanese looking for lunar green cheese?
13,325 days/sols to go
While bouncing around in my laboratory/playground, I sometimes forget about the larger goal of Moon/Mars settlement, a mere 13,325 days/sols to go.
We are making a lot of progress in that area and, for my colleagues, I thank you — planet Earth — for providing us the resources and means to make intentional space exploration possible.
After all, waiting around for a large comet to hit our celestial sphere and send chunks out of Earth’s gravitational field is beyond virtuous patience.
Let us give praise to those who focus on the longterm, putting aside the daily distractions that wish to make mountains out of political footballs.
We maintain more than one storyline, a few that give hope to the destitute and desperate, a few that produce more wealth for the wealthy, all in the plans to spread life-as-we-know-it as soon as viably possible, rather than as soon as feasibly feeble.
Now, back to the story subplot currently in progress…the development of robots by a small group of hackers thinking inside and outside of Pandora’s Box.
treetrunkdings 