tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82486908131473551452024-02-14T01:08:51.069-05:00orange narwhalsprojects blog (*wave* Hi, I'm Nancy, aka nouyang)nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.comBlogger139125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-75247911799377379192014-07-22T21:55:00.000-04:002014-07-22T21:55:53.158-04:00Creativity and Engineering Education: Swarmbots for everyone! Kickstarter nowHave you ever wanted your own swarmbot?<br />
Now you can, and learn engineering while you're at it! We've been hard at work on this, and now we'd appreciate if you could share the news:<br />
<a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/narwhaledu/the-little-swarmbuddies-that-could">Support creative engineering education and get your very own swarmbot on kickstarter</a><br />
Thanks!nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-51795997411097211132014-06-14T08:23:00.000-04:002014-06-14T08:23:11.745-04:00Moving from blogger to my own domain!I made the switch! This blog is moving to <a href="http://www.orangenarwhals.com/">www.orangenarwhals.com</a>.<br />
Old blog posts are remaining here and have also been copied over. New ones will be posted on the other blog only.nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-20485716692360311802014-06-03T17:49:00.002-04:002014-06-03T17:49:32.537-04:00Fab Lab Shop Components List / InventoryI keep losing the link to this list, so here it is:<div>
<a href="http://fab.cba.mit.edu/about/faq/">http://fab.cba.mit.edu/about/faq/</a></div>
<div>
<a href="http://fab.cba.mit.edu/about/fab/inv.html">http://fab.cba.mit.edu/about/fab/inv.html</a></div>
nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-35227119550091000232014-05-14T12:12:00.000-04:002014-05-14T12:12:28.385-04:00xbee xctu v6.1.0 cannot set field ATMY / ATDL / ATDH / etc to zero<div>
<div>
The XCTU software is a little buggy, if you cannot get rid of the DH (set it to zero) after accidentally setting it to something nonzero, go into the console tab, hit connect</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Add a packet -- "+++" .</li>
<li>Send selected packet -- you should get an "OK" in response letting you know the device is awake. Note that the device falls asleep fairly quickly.</li>
<li>Add packet -- "ATMY[enter]" (the enter is important!). Send it. You should receive the current MY back.</li>
<li>To change the DH, add a packet -- "ATDH0[enter]" and send it. You should get "OK" back.</li>
<li>Add a packet -- "ATWR[enter]" and send it. You should get an "OK" back. This writes changes to flash.</li>
<li>You can hit disconnect, unplug and re-plug in the xbee, reconnect it, and let XCTU read all the values to double-check that you changed the value you wanted to change.</li>
</ul>
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<div>
Yes, essentially you are using a giant GUI to use a commandline in windows to program your xbee. roflcopter.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
XCTU also doesn't run on linux. :/ ugh xbees.</div>
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<div>
posting, because I wasted a few hours and Shane also wasted time on this same bug. Sigh. Software, GUIs *shakes head*</div>
nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-46142904287013954942014-04-08T12:37:00.000-04:002014-04-08T12:37:20.255-04:00Rapid Prototyping and Cosplay: lie ren / jade dragons on the lasercutterhmm.<br />
<br />
things happened over the last month. i guess that's the way of life. can't stay constant.<br />
<br />
i'll start with rapid prototyping and cosplay. sadly, no 6-axis knitting robot arms were involved in this, nor lasercut lace.<br />
<br />
first time (probably last time) cosplaying: cosplay, costume play. there is no competition and no acting required.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosplay">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosplay</a><br />
<br />
for me, it was also my first real adventures into sewing, minus my rather sad attempts at vermiculture bags. sorry long dead worms :(<br />
<br />
sewing is hard. i guess most first things are hard. but that's a tale for another, longer post.<br />
<br />
so three weeks or so before anime boston, <a href="http://web.mit.edu/chosetec/www/">brian chan</a> convened a meeting on latches in cosplay. he had also kindly invited a few of us to invade his annual rapid prototyping and cosplay panel. i thought, since i'm probably not going to be in town next anime boston, i may as well do a cosplay. <a href="http://cynaesthetics.blogspot.com/">cynthia</a> (man i'm just surrounded by awesome people, do read their blogs) suggested lie ren, a character in rwby. several of my friends were going as characters in rwby.<br />
<br />
i... i still have yet to watch any episode containing him that i remember. i barely know anything about rwby. oh well. for me, the primary interest is in making things.<br />
<br />
anyway, he has these gun/blade hybrid things. they're supposed to fold up in his sleeves and emit green dust or something.<br />
<br />
i pushed off the rapid prototyping / weapons part to the last-minute, since i was pretty confident i could come up with a solution that would work in time. especially since there's been prior art on the internet: $100+ ones you can buy that model the art pretty closely, and then ones that looked like water guns with cloth wrapped around it. the sewing i gave myself all three weeks to work on, since i knew i would consistently underestimate how much time it took no matter what.<br />
<br />
so the week before or so, i bought some water guns, you know, just in case the sewing took so long i wouldn't be able to rapid-proto some (non-function, mock, cosplay) guns and only had time to work on the blades.<br />
<br />
cost: I think $16.<br />
<br />
uhm the friday of the con i decided i should probably start on the weapons, since i was supposed to help out with a panel on saturday. putting the rapid back in rapid prototyping...<br />
<br />
1) bandsaw, 'cos i need to attach extended magazines or some non-sense <br />
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<br />
2) ponder how to create "sanded edges" to thin it down more towards a point at the end. opt in the end to skip it entirely and just do the easiest thing possible<br />
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lasercut three identical layers out of mdf and glue it together and call it a day<br />
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<br />
<span id="goog_1451774661"></span><span id="goog_1451774662"></span>some blatant tracing from some screenshot i found later, plus scaling based on getting the magazine to roughly fit into the existing grip, and exporting to pdf because stupid coreldraw hates inkscape SVG files and almost everything inkscape exports for whatever reason. ugh coreldraw. i should sink some time into switching over to inkscape on the lasercutter.<br />
<br />
one layers takes 1.5 minutes. good.<br />
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some of them are flipped. this is because the mdf is rough on one side and shiny on the other, and i want both outsides be shiny. <br />
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<br />
at this point it's 9 AM, so then I lasercut some stencils out of cardboard (next post) and head off to work.<br />
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at 10 pm i come back to working on this, even though i want to continue sewing, mostly because i've learned that actually <b>spraypaint takes <i>24 hours</i> to dry,</b> not the one hour i was imagining. which means i better finish this part, paint it, and set it drying ASAP.<br />
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3) now how to attach my lasercut pieces to the off-the-shelf pieces.<br />
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After some pondering i settle on 5-minute epoxy.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EsFBML5ihf8/U0QdNfgmHaI/AAAAAAABBKs/V9ZMbrvP3Mg/s1600/20140321_224824.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EsFBML5ihf8/U0QdNfgmHaI/AAAAAAABBKs/V9ZMbrvP3Mg/s1600/20140321_224824.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">clamps!</td></tr>
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and some "press-fits" or close-fits, just to give it lots of area to adhere to.<br />
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a few iterations later i was satisfied.<br />
<br />
the blades were tricky to epoxy because they were heavy and long and not possible to clamp down. i was actually worried about weight and carrying it all day, but it turned out to not too heavy at all.<br />
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but mostly, it just required patience. which i had a lot of by that time because i was pretty sleep-deprived and mellow. here they are, propped up on some power supplies to keep blade from falling over.<br />
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i epoxied them two or three times: once to tack them down, wait fifteen minutes, then gingerly all around them and set it back on the power supply to cure, and then a third time to fill in any gaps i missed.<br />
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the epoxy has got a pretty noticeably different finish than the wood, which i worry about a bit. but turns out it all doesn't matter, no one notices the fine details when you are cosplaying, because you are a large human and a vague resemblance is fine.<br />
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two layers of spraypaint (one to cover most of it, and then the second to cover the back, which i picked last because the paint would still be tacky and would come off on my hand during the con, but it'd be facing me and no one would notice) and i'm done. actually, one thing i learned: <b>spraypaint doesn't like to stick to plastic, so you should rough up the plastic beforehand.</b><br />
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i didn't do that, or any of the hand-paint detailing, or anything at all. but it was still fine and great.<br />
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and i am never ever doing that much sewing again.<b></b><br />
<br />nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-70208732379020135942014-03-16T10:29:00.002-04:002014-03-30T00:59:36.848-04:00Biking to the Arboreturm, Walden Pond from Somerville, MAThere were two days of 40s-50s temperatures a few weekends ago, so I decided to bike to the Arboretum and then the following day to Walden Pond.<br />
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<b>Arnold Arboretum (near Forest Hills T stop)</b> <br />
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I left around 11:30 am and arrived at 12:45 am at the Arboretum, with earphones in one ear trailing to my cellphone GPS (kind of dangerous, but effective). Here is a mural I saw along the way which I'd never seen before.<br />
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<a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Porter+Square,+Cambridge,+MA&daddr=Arnold+Arboretum,+Arborway,+Boston,+MA&hl=en&ll=42.347888,-71.102314&spn=0.091854,0.209255&sll=42.349156,-71.112957&sspn=0.091852,0.209255&geocode=FXnNhgId2s3C-ym57oagPXfjiTF6REBB8XP98g%3BFd2OhQIdD83C-yHIFFSuKfFF9ClrEfT0OHnjiTHIFFSuKfFF9A&dirflg=b&mra=ltm&t=m&z=13&lci=bike">rough bike directions</a><br />
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We went into Jamaica Plains for lunch. Along the way, we saw a take it - leave it - street library, which I found pretty cool.<br />
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<b>Walden Pond (around 2-3 miles away from some commuter rail station)</b><br />
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The next day I woke up at 2 pm and felt like going somewhere, since I didn't have anything to do until 6 pm. After a bit of googling I settled on biking to Walden Pond. It felt ambitious but doable, but I would have to leave almost immediately to get there before sunset.<br />
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<a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Porter+Square,+Cambridge,+MA&daddr=Walden+Pond&hl=en&sll=42.348522,-71.102314&sspn=0.091853,0.209255&geocode=FXnNhgId2s3C-ym57oagPXfjiTF6REBB8XP98g%3BFS6QhwIdoG-_-ynrMA7CVZrjiTG8PkKu6S7hAw&oq=walden+pond&dirflg=b&mra=ls&t=m&z=12&lci=bike">rough biking directions</a><br />
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After biking on some highway for a bit, I reached the start of the MinuteMan bike bath. This path (pictured above) was very nice and flat but wet / slushy / icy in many parts despite a day and a half of nice weather. Good thing someone told me to wear rain boots, to bring extra socks, and not to expect to go fast!<br />
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I left at 3pm, bought some snacks and gatorade, and headed out by myself. Too impromptu to find anyone to go with me. There was a large section after the bike path just on the side of the road, which actually meant on the road because<br />
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if you biked on the side of the road you ended up in the mud / giant puddles. Good thing I was wearing rain boots!<br />
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5:12 After walking up 3 or 4 hills and then biking some more, I arrive at the Walden Pond State Reservation, which isn't actually where Walden Pond is. <br />
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Walden Pond is across the street.<br />
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The pond was frozen over and still covered and snow, while the sun was setting by this point. Only two other people were there. It was really nice and tranquil, disturbed only by the sound of me noisily munching on food rawr delicious fluids and trail bars.<br />
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Well, after a few minutes, I headed back out, since it was getting dark. I failed at getting directions to the closest commuter rail (commuter rail, because biking back in dark icy conditions on the side of roads without bike lanes sounded like a terrible idea) beforehand, figuring I'd rely on GPS and that I should get on the road ASAP to get there before dark. Lo and behold, when I tried to go back, not enough 4G signal for usable GPS. fail. And then I on top of that I got a flat (and I definitely did not have a spare tire or pump). Luckily some really nice strangers who came out of the state reservation wearing snowshoes had a car nearby which could haul me and my bike to the commuter rail station.<br />
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$8.00 for a ticket back, and $6 (I think?) for a replacement inner tube. Ah well. So it goes. I also had issues on my bike with the shifter chain falling out (I have an three speed internal gear hub) when I replaced the inner tube, but that's a tale for another time.<br />
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I didn't even feel too tired at the end of my 15 mile trip. Bikes are great!nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-20224196399221768222014-02-19T23:20:00.004-05:002014-02-19T23:20:44.413-05:00Ubuntu Hardware Course Screencasting: Screenpainting + live webcam feed (12.10, wacom CTL-480, zoom h1, Ardesia, gtk-recordmydesktop, OpenShot, cheese, key-mon, Arduino)Hello dear friends!<br />
Today I’m here to talk about screencasting a hardware course in Ubuntu using tools that are free (no-cost) to use. I had some issues that were cinnamon-on-ubuntu specific, and others I’m still not sure the cause of, but overall I’m pretty pleased with how things turned out.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left: Cheese; Right: Arduino, Ardesia; Bottom: gtk-recordmydesktop; Overlaid Writing/Drawing: Ardeisa</td></tr>
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<br />
Hardware setup:<br />
<ol>
<li>USB webcam on a tiny tripod</li>
<li>wacom tablet (CTL-480) -- to get this tablet working in Ubuntu, see <a href="http://askubuntu.com/questions/359892/why-is-my-wacom-intuos-tablet-not-detected/406233#406233">step 1</a>, <a href="http://askubuntu.com/questions/407017/get-wacom-ctl-480-to-show-up-in-gnome-control-center">step 2</a></li>
<li>Zoom H1 recorder <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XemaBdOKgg8">with v2.0 firmware (for USB mic support in linux</a>) -- to see which firmware version you have, simply turn on the recorder and at the top it will say “2/00” if you have version 2 (shown without USB cable)</li>
<li>and then I had the iteaduino (arduino clone) and </li>
<li>my laptop</li>
<li>secondary laptop for displaying the script </li>
</ol>
<h4>
Lower Screen Resolution </h4>
My default resolution is 1600x900. First step, <b>Lower the screen resolution to 1280x720</b> to make text readable at lower dpi and file sizes smaller (and thereby make your lower-bandwidth internet users happier!)<br />
<br />
1) Install <b>gnome-session-fallback.</b><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">sudo apt-get install gnome-session-fallback</span><b> </b><br />
This is because I’m running cinnamon and can’t get the display to change resolutions unless I log in as gnome-classic instead. You need<b> gnome classic WITH effects</b> for Ardesia to work, by the way.<br />
<br />
2) Open a terminal (alt-f2, <span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">gnome-terminal</span>). Run <span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">gnome-control-center</span>. Click on "Displays". Lower the resolution to 1280x720, which is standard HD resolution (<a href="https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171?hl=en"><b>youtube uses 16:9</b></a>).<br />
<br />
<h4>
Get Alt-Tab Working Again</h4>
Okay, now we’re running Ubuntu 12.10 with gnome classic fallback, and ugh Alt-Tab doesn’t work wtf. <a href="http://askubuntu.com/questions/166456/how-to-get-back-the-alt-tab-functionality">To get it working</a>:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">sudo apt-get install compiz-plugins</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">ccsm</span><br />
<br />
Then go to <b>Window Management > Application Switcher > Enable</b>. Okay now I also have ultra-fancy alt-tab swoosh effects too, but at least I have alt-tab.<br />
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<h4>
Drawing on the Screen:</h4>
<h4>
sudo apt-get install ardesia</h4>
<a href="https://code.google.com/p/ardesia/">Ardesia</a> is great! It’s very easy to use, is in the ubuntu repositories, and provides multiple options for drawing on the screen. See first picture at the very top (where I show how it can toggle between wiggly, smoothed wiggly, and squareish lines, as well as draw arrows), as well as this one:<br />
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<br />
However, when I try to screencast in Ardesia, the audio (whether I use the internal mic, or the zoom H1 as a USB mic) is unusably choppy.<br />
<br />
Thus, we use yet-another-application for the actual screencasting! <br />
<h4>
For screencasting (recording the screen)</h4>
I used <a href="http://recordmydesktop.sourceforge.net/about.php">gtk-recordmydesktop</a>.<br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">sudo apt-get install recordmydesktop.</span><br />
<br />
This had a bit of a learning curve for me. There is a tray icon that shows or hides the main window, and when you hit “Record” the main window goes away automatically. It doesn’t save the file as anything usable at first, when you stop recording it begins encoding and then saves as an OGV file in the directory where you selected in the “Save As” dialog in the main window. Also, since we have a stereo mic with the Zoom H1, I went to advanced settings (upped the frame rate to <b>25 fps </b>as well) and increased it to <b>2 audio channels</b>. I don't know if this actually affected the output, but presumably it does.<br />
<br />
Officially youtube <a href="https://support.google.com/youtube/troubleshooter/2888402?hl=en">doesn’t support ogv</a>, but I haven’t had issues with uploading the OGV files this application created.<br />
<h4>
For a live view of the hardware</h4>
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I used a webcam connected to Cheese and then resized cheese until the lower toolbar disappeared.<br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">sudo apt-get install cheese </span><br />
<br />
I had a laptop camera as well. To choose the external webcam instead I simply went to Cheese > Preferences > Device and chose "USB2.0 Camera /dev/video0" instead of "1.3M HD Webcam /dev/video1".<br />
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<h4>
For USB Mic</h4>
For a comparison of the audio quality using my internal mic versus using the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Zoom-Handy-Portable-Digital-Recorder/dp/B003QKBVYK">Zoom H1</a>, see:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/55VWNfOyDmc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe> </div>
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With laptop mic</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/4St5RisYrFY?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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With Zoom H1 as USB mic</div>
<br />
Connect the Zoom H1 to the computer. On the screen it will blink between “USB Card and USB Audio. Hit the red record button when it says “Audio”, then hit the red button again to accept the audio settings. Now go to<br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">gnome-control-center > Sound</span> (or “Sound Settings…” under the volume tray icon in the gnome panel). Under “Hardware” you should see “H4 Digital Recorder”.<br />
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<br />
I set it to “Input” only (instead of duplex) to be safe. Then, under “Input”, you should see “H4 Digital Recorder Analog Stereo.” If you don’t see it in “Input”, but it shows up in “Hardware”, try rebooting your computer -- that did the trick for me.<br />
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<h4>
For displaying which keys are pressed</h4>
I used <a href="http://code.google.com/p/key-mon/">key-mon</a>.<br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">sudo apt-get install python-pip </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">sudo pip install key-mon</span><br />
<h4>
For syncing audio and video, or video editing</h4>
Say like me you initially didn’t figure on using yet another application to get non-choppy audio simultaneously recorded with the video screencast, and instead have a .wav file from your zoom recorder and a .ogv file from your screencasting tool. How do you sync up the audio and video files appropriately? <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pitivi.org/"><b>PiTiVi</b></a> was sad for me. I liked pitivi, because it displays the audio waveform, which is useful. However, the video preview was really choppy (unusable for syncing purposes) even when I selected “video thumbnail 1/100 sec” and the export didn’t work.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Use <a href="http://www.openshot.org/">OpenShot</a>.</b><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">sudo apt-get install openshot</span><br />
<br />
The export settings are pretty self-explanatory. For now, I’ve
settled on using “Device> AppleTV” as the settings I use.
“<b>Web >Youtube-HD</b>” probably also works. When I tried manually
selecting “H264” and “AAC” audio like youtube recommends, though,
OpenShot gave me a .h264 file that youtube grudgingly accepted and
converted for me (but I couldn’t open in VLC or anything locally). So…
<b>just stick with the “simple” export settings</b> and everything is great.<br />
<br />
By the way, OpenShot 1.4.3 doesn’t like to import OGV files on my computer (pops up an error, “ogv not supported). Therefore:<br />
<h4>
Convert OGV to AVI or MP4 </h4>
Use <b>ffmpeg or avconv</b> to convert the OGV file into AVI or mp4 and then import into OpenShot.<br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">ffmpeg -sameq -i ardesia_project_2014-19-2_18\:11\:24.ogv output.avi</span><br />
or<br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">avconv -i ardesia_project_2014-19-2_18\:11\:24.ogv output.mp4</span><br />
<br />
Then open the AVI file into OpenShot, along with the WAV audio file, drag-and-drop to sync the files, and then hit export.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Voila! </h4>
You have a video :) <br />
For an example of the output, see <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZgO082rD2g">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZgO082rD2g</a>. It's a bit fuzzy, probably in part because I recorded it in 4:3 (1024x768) instead of 16:9 which it was converted to (1280x720). But the text is mostly legible.<br />
<br />nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-14928965675562177292014-02-02T18:27:00.001-05:002014-02-02T18:27:07.607-05:00Second Winter School Hike: Warm toes while skating and griliing on Lonesome Lake!(for why I've suddenly become more interested in exerting physical effort despite my long-standing belief that I'm not interested in sports, exercise, or outdoors things, see <a href="http://orangenarwhals.blogspot.com/2014/01/at-week-long-hike-planning-ponies-mit.html">previous post</a>)<br />
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We hiked ~1.2 miles up ~1000 ft to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonesome_Lake_%28New_Hampshire%29">Lonesome Lake</a> carrying grills, charcoal, skates, group emergency gear (foam sleeping pads and tarp if we got stuck on the mountain), and food and drinks. <br />Or rather everyone else did except me, since I had a dinky little book bag that made everyone pass over me in letting me take group gear.<br />
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I've learned gradually that people hike for different reasons. Four years ago I did not understand the point whatsoever. I grew up flying and driving to cities and walking around cultural landmarks, not really nature. But now through talking to people I realize that some people do it to enjoy nature, some for the exercise, some for the community / social aspects, some for the challenge and summits, etc.<br />
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Each trip has taught me more about my physical fitness level and what equipment I need to be comfortable. ahhh I was so tired the next day (today), I slept for 15 hours and still feel tired (and now I feel sore all over). But the day of, the hike was pretty easy for me.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NVSvw9hBPxc/Uu7G3vQvkjI/AAAAAAAA_Ek/oB6B13m06og/s1600/20140201_111408.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NVSvw9hBPxc/Uu7G3vQvkjI/AAAAAAAA_Ek/oB6B13m06og/s1600/20140201_111408.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">trip start! (actually our first stop was dunkin' donuts, but w/e)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p3TuXzFzmv0/Uu7Gziz64DI/AAAAAAAA_EU/11mPmD9Q1nM/s1600/20140201_111412.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p3TuXzFzmv0/Uu7Gziz64DI/AAAAAAAA_EU/11mPmD9Q1nM/s1600/20140201_111412.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grilling supplies and ice skates! Not pictured: the half gallon of milk and half gallon of cider we also brought up.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbkAWz-Z2fkx_k1ZC7jR17m63TEQBjcEpGUobkTqIufaJetYVBKXLGg_GafWqHUH3uX5LT_pWtbRAQhkSEWIftI4O7AdDYNwLEl4bBypHknfrVcXo6jF8GpC018O84SVQ4N05HxCnkgtSm/s1600/20140201_115149.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbkAWz-Z2fkx_k1ZC7jR17m63TEQBjcEpGUobkTqIufaJetYVBKXLGg_GafWqHUH3uX5LT_pWtbRAQhkSEWIftI4O7AdDYNwLEl4bBypHknfrVcXo6jF8GpC018O84SVQ4N05HxCnkgtSm/s1600/20140201_115149.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">this was roughly the angle of elevation all the way up. steep but we managed without using microspikes at all since there were only a few by-passable patches of ice.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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We all slipped and slid a decent amount, but for the most part the hike was pretty easy. Especially for me, since I was carrying almost nothing.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">one of our trip leaders and another group member carrying the shovels for clearing the lake, the grill parts, and skates.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdeyfGmPMkfPnLkTfjrtXcNws9XEJ3Fo8lWgl5oE6gHokfmmJ2K5Dam9nsLO7W7TpDocpIISx0Qa-UI5bM-ur35keC7NV1ywdeLFZ07MS8aqQVm9ImFPgywXbhvMOAHVaOr4WtttYTE99O/s1600/20140201_123841.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdeyfGmPMkfPnLkTfjrtXcNws9XEJ3Fo8lWgl5oE6gHokfmmJ2K5Dam9nsLO7W7TpDocpIISx0Qa-UI5bM-ur35keC7NV1ywdeLFZ07MS8aqQVm9ImFPgywXbhvMOAHVaOr4WtttYTE99O/s1600/20140201_123841.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We reach the top around noon after two hours. We went really slowly.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">frozen lonesome lake covered in snow!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Nl6g-h8jUGMioe1bQILrJjqZ-UBJQAohPwkrP7y1nbBHQOa7ehPS1PdZhBDwQO6er6fKtmT0Nv-QKvpIwAIV4V5nK6LxESrFFACFSu7ROrwNa9cOzlLnFnMNEBtYewi46aefhkOhWuUJ/s1600/20140201_131408.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Nl6g-h8jUGMioe1bQILrJjqZ-UBJQAohPwkrP7y1nbBHQOa7ehPS1PdZhBDwQO6er6fKtmT0Nv-QKvpIwAIV4V5nK6LxESrFFACFSu7ROrwNa9cOzlLnFnMNEBtYewi46aefhkOhWuUJ/s1600/20140201_131408.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">we had a trap and put all our gear on it</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WqdKP9nE8k8/Uu7HIXK9s_I/AAAAAAAA_FY/y9WiqNoXRZI/s1600/20140201_125618.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WqdKP9nE8k8/Uu7HIXK9s_I/AAAAAAAA_FY/y9WiqNoXRZI/s1600/20140201_125618.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">then brought out the liquid (?) stoves which will work in the cold. they require priming to heat up the pipes before they will work.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggnzuaGwMmOinQjgTZ6bgLdooqnB6xxwXzc-PSCC6ebSY7vE7SndiQsY61xoe2FQcQSer_t8Akx8UKiLQKB4t6g83CSs5Wd8I2YxO8AjT66Uw8weAJwo2xObZdCJSHF5Z7s0gE5nsSBzq1/s1600/20140201_133447.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggnzuaGwMmOinQjgTZ6bgLdooqnB6xxwXzc-PSCC6ebSY7vE7SndiQsY61xoe2FQcQSer_t8Akx8UKiLQKB4t6g83CSs5Wd8I2YxO8AjT66Uw8weAJwo2xObZdCJSHF5Z7s0gE5nsSBzq1/s1600/20140201_133447.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">hot cider on the lake with ice skating in the background!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7pbObMJ8GKI/Uu7HQlUBR4I/AAAAAAAA_Fs/KuCGoHHCC3k/s1600/20140201_133456.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7pbObMJ8GKI/Uu7HQlUBR4I/AAAAAAAA_Fs/KuCGoHHCC3k/s1600/20140201_133456.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">shoveling to widen the ice skating rink path. you can see the grill to the left.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2kxXci2d3-A/Uu7HPPlJYXI/AAAAAAAA_Fk/zintlxaTHuw/s1600/20140201_133641.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2kxXci2d3-A/Uu7HPPlJYXI/AAAAAAAA_Fk/zintlxaTHuw/s1600/20140201_133641.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the Appalachian Trail crosses here!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rm8e3OE8R8I/Uu7HSeZyn3I/AAAAAAAA_F0/6L3HYvTM_oo/s1600/20140201_133643.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rm8e3OE8R8I/Uu7HSeZyn3I/AAAAAAAA_F0/6L3HYvTM_oo/s1600/20140201_133643.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and there's an Appalachian Mountain Club "hut" complete with wood stove, solar panels, and a bathroom with composting toilets and even toilet paper</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tLxOpyZAf1I/Uu7HXyc6LoI/AAAAAAAA_GM/tuVsa0g3jbM/s1600/20140201_133852.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tLxOpyZAf1I/Uu7HXyc6LoI/AAAAAAAA_GM/tuVsa0g3jbM/s1600/20140201_133852.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">view from the hut was gorgeous</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Vyz1nS923QM/Uu7HVhhkRjI/AAAAAAAA_F8/fTXK3RFsj1w/s1600/20140201_134045.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Vyz1nS923QM/Uu7HVhhkRjI/AAAAAAAA_F8/fTXK3RFsj1w/s1600/20140201_134045.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">swag for sale inside the hut</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMt_KLZ-0fJW2NnQhWWpGON6t2l2i_6VgfrKzBxGc6asRtZoQV_cDE78-2bi28OjIq1oEjewDagA-_dYCyD3ET8VUwB3g_Ik-dWCnjJIEb2_Gs4xrooIxlQixQVShXGc7bTuTqZBv8_ptO/s1600/20140201_135259.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMt_KLZ-0fJW2NnQhWWpGON6t2l2i_6VgfrKzBxGc6asRtZoQV_cDE78-2bi28OjIq1oEjewDagA-_dYCyD3ET8VUwB3g_Ik-dWCnjJIEb2_Gs4xrooIxlQixQVShXGc7bTuTqZBv8_ptO/s1600/20140201_135259.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">grilling those kebabs wait what is that</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M76ttUT2z7k/Uu7HamzdrVI/AAAAAAAA_Gc/g9iR6o30_4U/s1600/20140201_135311.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M76ttUT2z7k/Uu7HamzdrVI/AAAAAAAA_Gc/g9iR6o30_4U/s1600/20140201_135311.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">shrimp and steak kebabs? talk about gourmet trail food :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pCVJj9BzMeo/Uu7HfePsCfI/AAAAAAAA_Gs/pZ-D_kl3yKA/s1600/20140201_140430.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pCVJj9BzMeo/Uu7HfePsCfI/AAAAAAAA_Gs/pZ-D_kl3yKA/s1600/20140201_140430.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">foooooddd chowing down</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zoWMqgtcHpw/Uu7HgWWKVRI/AAAAAAAA_G0/FLpGzl9TGt4/s1600/20140201_141102.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zoWMqgtcHpw/Uu7HgWWKVRI/AAAAAAAA_G0/FLpGzl9TGt4/s1600/20140201_141102.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">skating on the lake</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n3f9LQdZF38/Uu7HnSgXQvI/AAAAAAAA_HM/KOG9Zyzpt8I/s1600/20140201_145448.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n3f9LQdZF38/Uu7HnSgXQvI/AAAAAAAA_HM/KOG9Zyzpt8I/s1600/20140201_145448.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">walking on the short trail around the lake.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0r6oZQ9GDS8UfJFd7T9jwed2jEuChWp818vRQQ6aOFamqMUOzE7zbkQqUJ7OlEDspQupt0OfsReXF9THGyDlyyLBIfh2pURkx4L3g4U0S05Xg99s2N9C_p-rGylbeKbE7poyseU12zS4J/s1600/20140201_151147.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0r6oZQ9GDS8UfJFd7T9jwed2jEuChWp818vRQQ6aOFamqMUOzE7zbkQqUJ7OlEDspQupt0OfsReXF9THGyDlyyLBIfh2pURkx4L3g4U0S05Xg99s2N9C_p-rGylbeKbE7poyseU12zS4J/s1600/20140201_151147.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">it was really pretty.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VnITr08lr70/Uu7HwkFFROI/AAAAAAAA_H0/3iE6hbt_36I/s1600/20140201_154317.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VnITr08lr70/Uu7HwkFFROI/AAAAAAAA_H0/3iE6hbt_36I/s1600/20140201_154317.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">snow fight!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jtcgjO1f1Vo/Uu7H2u1ZfII/AAAAAAAA_IM/aww1__1AQ4k/s1600/20140201_160430.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jtcgjO1f1Vo/Uu7H2u1ZfII/AAAAAAAA_IM/aww1__1AQ4k/s1600/20140201_160430.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">sledding down the hill.</td></tr>
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I was introduced to butt-sledding as well. Since it was often steep enough and we had waterproof snow pants, we could sit on our butts and slide down the trail. It was a LOT more fun going down the trail than up the trail!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsx_KEDRhdq0Zjtu_Xo4yhB6LlT8fefevetGzU70uvuAqM6usgzstYBg3-iP77q4Cl0hoBRZgqmFw1bMMtAzKDQ4GU7p-iXyNJ4KHb84p_Wfu_Ow1Ey2fZlItsQgWYZR8P9ixRkvB-wFrZ/s1600/20140201_165112.jpg" height="240" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">near the end of the trip. it started snowing toward the end and the pretty views from earlier were gone. missing two members: me and the trip leader who made all the kebabs</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/113942194695013581888/MITOCWinterSchoolLonesomeLakeFebruary12014?authkey=Gv1sRgCKido6K_-cmAWQ">More pictures here</a>.<br />
<br />
Gear-wise, I didn't need my big poofy jacket at all. I learned that if at the beginning of the hike up hill you are warm already, definitely delayer. I learned to wear gloves when sledding.<br />
<br />
Holy hexapods, my extremities were sometimes the warmest parts of me! The uphill hike really helped, and I opened toe warmers but ended up using them to warm my fingers. The MITOC rental boots are <i>amazingly</i> warm compared to rain boots, which is what I wore last time. Below is a picture of 90% of the items I brought or wore on the hike.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_5RO0e-WLVY/Uu7RAjKwuRI/AAAAAAAA_JA/zAayZSF2qeI/s1600/20140202_180845.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_5RO0e-WLVY/Uu7RAjKwuRI/AAAAAAAA_JA/zAayZSF2qeI/s1600/20140202_180845.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">cover your eyes if this is TMI. all non-cotton<br />Feet: liner socks, thick wool blend socks, sorel winter hiking boots<br />Hands: sometimes thin liner gloves (not pictured), sometimes thinsulate 40g gloves (not pictured), sometimes the black polyester ones pictured here although not really the last one<br />Lower body: non-cotton underwear, fleece leggings, base layer, I added snow pants (not pictured) for skating / standing around / downhill <br />Upper body: Base layer, patagonia alpine jacket I got for free with awesome zipper jackets, windbreaker<br />Head: cotton-filled knit hat thing, some polyester cloth I'm using to tie around my lower face when my nose and chin get cold<br />Essentials: Toilet paper, pads, fire starter, compass, headlamp, whistle, trail snacks, some bandages and gauze<br />Water: 2 liters of water. I used 1.25 liters from 10 am to 6pm.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I was pretty frickin' happy the entire trip because my hands and feet were so happy.<br />
<br />
Also, in terms of waterproof shell layer which I still don't have, currently investigating making them from <a href="http://gossamergear.com/wp/tips/tip-of-the-week-make-a-hooded-tyvek-rain-jacket-and-chaps-for-under-10">tyvek</a> or other waterproof materials (e.g. kite material).<br />
<br />
All-in-all a great trip. All the other hikers at the top marvelled at us deciding to bring an entire grill and charcoal and shovels and skates, reminding us that our trip was a little atypical.<br />
<br />
Winter school has ended now, and time to plan some backpacking / 20 mile trips, in between fixing boats (future post, maybe in a few months).nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-70621565138814418752014-01-27T13:53:00.003-05:002014-01-27T22:57:41.667-05:00AT week-long hike planning (PONIES!) || MIT Outdoors Club, Winter School: Easy Hike<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/Grayson_Highlands_Ponies-27527-1.jpg/800px-Grayson_Highlands_Ponies-27527-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/Grayson_Highlands_Ponies-27527-1.jpg/800px-Grayson_Highlands_Ponies-27527-1.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grayson_Highlands_State_Park">Grayson Highlands State Park, aka PONIES</a></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Out of the blue one day a few weeks ago, my friend Judy asked me if I wanted to backpack a week-long section of the Appalachian Trail with her in late May.<br />
<br />
I didn't grow up doing sports, exercise, or any sort of physical activity, let alone outdoors activities. Only with a more varied social circle in college (and in particular with more time and money post-undergrad) have I started to take more interest in outdoors activities or physical exercise at all.<br />
<br />
Our current preferred choice is to hike SOBO (southbound) from Atkins to <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Damascus at a leisurely place, taking time to enjoy the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grayson_Highlands_State_Park">PONIES</a>. :D</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-39258.html">http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-39258.html</a></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">We hiked Southbound from Atkins to Damsacus (75 Miles) and it seemed to have some level and gradual climbing. We did it in 5 days but you could make it six days the Grayson Highlands are great.</span></span></blockquote>
<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-719a0b5d-d4d3-e406-4e82-ed6d16f458b6" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?83502-Which-way-to-hike-from-Damascus" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?83502-Which-way-to-hike-from-Damascus</span></a></span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-719a0b5d-d4d3-e406-4e82-ed6d16f458b6" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One piece of advice is as you approach Grayson Highlands Park and the area around Mt. Rogers, I'd pack an extra day's worth of food, as this is a place you'll won't want to hurry thru, and may well want to slow down, and maybe even take a full day off. "Zero" days on the Trail can be better than days off in town, but very few folks ever do this, partly because they haven't brought along enough provisions.</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-719a0b5d-d4d4-b244-f8e6-bbd35acf7bb1" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-26059.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-26059.html</span></a></span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I learned from experience that it's far preferable to shuttle to your starting point and get back when you get back, than to hike to a prearranged shuttle at a set time and have to worry about making it on time for your whole hike.</span></span></blockquote>
<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-719a0b5d-d4d3-e406-4e82-ed6d16f458b6" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">We are worried about how we will get there and back. It would suck to
rent a car for a week and just have it sit at the trailhead burning
rental money. We'll see. Hiking the AT in NY would be much easier, since
we can reach the trail by public transit, but if we're committing a
week's worth of time on the trail and far more preparing for the hike,
we will probably prefer to hike a prettier section of the trail.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grayson_Highlands_State_Park"><br /></a>
In any case, we are starting several months ahead of time because of our lack of experience with backpacking. Areas of preparation include food, gear, physical fitness, and backpacking experience.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">My initial plan was to climb the porter sq</span></span>uare T stop stairs (before the pay entrance) every day, since it only takes around 45 minutes including walking there and back from my house (because I can only climb 15 minutes of stairs).<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--uaYiaCgFDk/UswmvO_VC8I/AAAAAAAA9H8/wl93J3XI3_s/s1600/20140107_093816.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--uaYiaCgFDk/UswmvO_VC8I/AAAAAAAA9H8/wl93J3XI3_s/s1600/20140107_093816.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">picture proof I sent to Judy, who lives in NY</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The stairs are really narrow so it's a good thing I'm the only one doing this. However, this plan fell through, as most of my plans tend to do, in part because I have been feeling crunched for time between <a href="http://narwhaledu.com/">NarwhalEdu</a>'s contract work and <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/narwhaledu/robots-drawing-and-engineering-an-online-course">our kickstarter work</a>. The new plan is to resume when we finish our MIT Office of Digital Learning contract work, probably in mid-February. It's interesting. I never found much point in exercising even though it's definitively good for you, but I find the idea of exercise a lot less tedious and more interesting when there's a goal I am seriously interested in in mind (spending time on an adventure with a great friend).<br />
<br />
In the meantime, on the weekends, to help convince myself to exercise, I have been participating in <a href="http://web.mit.edu/mitoc/www/">MIT Outdoors Club (MITOC)</a> <a href="http://web.mit.edu/mitoc/www/events/ws.shtml">winter school</a> (open MIT students, affiliates, alums, and the general community). "Participating," since for various reasons this past weekend was my first winter hike to Noanet Woods in Dover, MA (about 40 minutes drive from MIT).<br />
<br />
Note: In case they send out the email with links four hours after sign-ups open again next year and screw over newcomers on the first weekend trips, go to <a href="http://web.mit.edu/mitoc/www/#join_trip">http://web.mit.edu/mitoc/www/#join_trip</a> to sign up for a trip. Trips fill up<b><i> fast</i></b><i> </i>so be sure to sign up exactly Wednesday at noon. Getting off the waitlist is possible if you're high up, so you can try showing up to the pre-trip meeting even if you are waitlisted.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW0uhvaq_b4_WgVHjVwwtVwYbDQd6W4w_xFreU8RDOxTDSOmkhabOOkOS5_2wDH3SZ6SvZv0Gb3momdF9Y5Cw1SwcJSVUiUEUVdnGBiw1diAwNNHTfW8JCIlvhZLnuftIsWFuR8ILRqftX/s1600/20140126_134332.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW0uhvaq_b4_WgVHjVwwtVwYbDQd6W4w_xFreU8RDOxTDSOmkhabOOkOS5_2wDH3SZ6SvZv0Gb3momdF9Y5Cw1SwcJSVUiUEUVdnGBiw1diAwNNHTfW8JCIlvhZLnuftIsWFuR8ILRqftX/s1600/20140126_134332.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">we are super over-prepared, since it is a learning exercise for winter school beginners and due to winter school safety guidelines</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I chose the easiest hike possible, since I know I'm not really in shape despite biking on average 30 minutes a day (I bike slowly), and I don't have experience hiking, so I don't know if 7 miles is too much for me or not. I don't want to drag my group down.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0M12qasTakc/UuaMdhnKeZI/AAAAAAAA_Bs/bZeqQqNKKgU/s1600/20140126_124836.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0M12qasTakc/UuaMdhnKeZI/AAAAAAAA_Bs/bZeqQqNKKgU/s1600/20140126_124836.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I still prepared for this hike quite a bit, which helped make it a mostly comfortable and enjoyable experience instead of one where I was freezing my extremities off. Biking in sub-zero weather forced me realize I need to invest in proper winter clothing too.<br />
<br />
Over the last few weeks,<br />
<ol>
<li>I bought Neff Women's Digger Gloves (black) off of SteepandCheap, since I thought they were skiing gloves that they would be fine. They were such fail I returned them. Maybe they require liners underneath for people with cold hands like me :/</li>
<li>I went to Harbor Freight in Medford, MA and discovered Ocean State Job Lot next to it, where I bought lots of non-cotton items: liner socks for $2.50, wool blend tall socks and boot padding socks for $3 to $5 each, a pair of thinsulate 40g gloves for $5, and fleece leggings for $5</li>
<li>I went to Target in Somerville, MA and discovered CWPrice, where I bought a base layer (pants+shirt) for $10</li>
<li>I dug out my orange sweater and grandma's windbreaker (:/ she passed away a few years ago)</li>
<li>I learned from Cappie to tie cloth or a scarf around my nose and mouth to keep my face warm. This tactic does tend to fog up my glasses. I need to remember to wear contacts, although I've gotten better about breathing with my mouth in overbite formation so that the hot air is redirected through the bottom</li>
<li>Jordan from MITERS lent me a pair of thick Bonfire gloves that seem to be on par or slightly warmer than my thinsulate gloves. He found them lying around for months so he gave them to me for free.</li>
<li>Bought a magnesium fire starter at harbor freight, and a compass and whistle from MITOC</li>
</ol>
Now, my everyday wear is:<br />
<ul>
<li>3 leg layers, 3 top layers, 2 layers of socks, a hat, a scarf, and the thinsulate gloves</li>
</ul>
On the hike in around 20F I wore<br />
<ul>
<li>3 leg layers (leggings, base layer, and jeans, because I didn't have thick / wind or water-proof non-cotton shell layer. I notified my trip leaders and they brought polyester hiking pants, but I stuck with the jeans because it wasn't precipitating and my legs felt warm just standing outside)</li>
<li>3 body layers (base layer, my awesomely warm patagonia jacket, and a windbreaker) -- no poofy layer was needed</li>
<li>Two socks</li>
<li>Rain boots with liners (winter hiking boots would have been better, but it is such as hassle to leave a deposit and check in and out equipment, even if the monetary cost is already much better)</li>
</ul>
My toes were painfully cold for 1/3 of the hike and then suddenly warmed up in such a way that at first I was afraid they'd gone numb. Then they were nice and warm. Perhaps this phenomena was due to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasodilation#Cold-induced_vasodilation">cold-induce vasodilation</a>. I wish I didn't have to deal with painfully cold toes at all though, and I asked some of the other hikers and their toes were warm throughout! I've always had problems with cold toes though.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P2HkmDXCmJI/UuaMeGPVybI/AAAAAAAA_Bw/FOGG1r2ep1E/s1600/20140126_113301.jpg" height="300" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">frozen lake</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpAzl5t8920yao3kiYDEci_e7nGvlWgtZYE7vYQkH40Pka_xfTvetHI_Jqe5fnlZw8coZZFooCSfbNWE2M-KA2YWwUdC_xwKfDk63Z6VLZAPWsOxLHH2RWcyzHiGRE1c5oLbWPGTnuZ00C/s1600/20140126_132649.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpAzl5t8920yao3kiYDEci_e7nGvlWgtZYE7vYQkH40Pka_xfTvetHI_Jqe5fnlZw8coZZFooCSfbNWE2M-KA2YWwUdC_xwKfDk63Z6VLZAPWsOxLHH2RWcyzHiGRE1c5oLbWPGTnuZ00C/s1600/20140126_132649.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Noanet Peak gave a view of the Boston skyline</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It was an interesting experience, hiking on snowy trails. A lot of normal people passed us, running with their dogs or walking on skis.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dfl6CaTHnZE/UuaNFWYIcDI/AAAAAAAA_Co/bP6fPteT694/s1600/20140126_134320.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dfl6CaTHnZE/UuaNFWYIcDI/AAAAAAAA_Co/bP6fPteT694/s1600/20140126_134320.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">pawprints!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
It was a fun group. We joked about "traversing noanet" and "bagging noanet peak" (387 ft) :)<br />
<br />
I look forward to the next hike. I learned that MITOC Winter School doesn't teach you first aid, and some of these were covered in lectures that I missed, but I things I want to learn / hands-on:<br />
<ul>
<li>use a compass (oops I missed this lecture, ssshhh I am supposed to know it before going on a hike)</li>
<li>emergency signals</li>
<li>start a fire in wet conditions</li>
<li>wilderness first aid</li>
<li>use a stove</li>
<li>other TMI things (there was such a great TMI lecture during the second set of mandatory lectures, covering all the female-specific issues) (many things are different in winter -- you can't dig a hole for your poop, for instance, because the ground is frozen)</li>
</ul>
I want to go on an overnight winter trip too, but they all tend to be for intermediate hikes and up. I suppose there's next year, and I can first practice with easier spring weekend trips.nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-61713541163417911272014-01-14T21:02:00.001-05:002014-01-14T21:38:21.712-05:00WTFisThisRegister, Beginner's Flask App: Dictionary based on Flaskr (uses sqlite3) and deployed to Heroku Over the course of a night and morning I built a small flask app (<a href="http://flask.pocoo.org/">Flask</a> is a micro web framework for Python. Django is similar but more heavy-duty). It is essentially a dictionary. You can search for an entry by its keyword, or view the helptexts for all the entries, or (if you are logged in) add and remove entries. It is a straightforward derivative of excellent the <a href="http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/tutorial/">Flaskr tutorial</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XMZGpXQ82bg/UtA-Aty4WYI/AAAAAAAA-Yc/O_31OAwdoVM/s1600/Screenshot+from+2014-01-10+13%253A34%253A00.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XMZGpXQ82bg/UtA-Aty4WYI/AAAAAAAA-Yc/O_31OAwdoVM/s640/Screenshot+from+2014-01-10+13%253A34%253A00.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
For me, I am really proud of this app even though it is dirt simple and not much to look at because this is the first time I really interacted with a database in a programming language.<br />
<br />
The intent was to make a database of documentation for the AVR Atmega328P microcontroller. However, since then I have decided to move to using a mediawiki (<a href="http://narwhaledu.com/AVRwiki/index.php?title=PCMSK0">sample page</a>).<br />
<br />
<b>The app may be seen live at <a href="http://salty-retreat-5363.herokuapp.com/">salty-retreat-5363.herokuapp.com</a>. </b>The username is "admin" and the password is "default". The database gets wiped at least once every 24 hours.<br />
<br />
<b>If you'd like to run the app locally and play around with source code, please see <a href="https://github.com/nouyang/WTFisThisRegister">https://github.com/nouyang/WTFisThisRegister</a> for detailed instructions</b>. That page also details how to deploy this app (or similar ones, such as Flaskr) to Heroku. <b></b> I used <a href="http://dillinger.io/">http://dillinger.io/</a> to play around with markdown online and learn it and actually document this project with a proper README.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Things Learned </h4>
<br />
Here are some things I learned in the course of making this:<br />
<ol>
<li>Gitignore files need to be created before you run "git add ." -- in general, the line telling it to ignore a file needs to exist before you added it to the version control, git won't automagically remove it for you.</li>
<li>Heroku DOES play with sqlite3 but not happily, for instance the database will be wiped at least once every 24 hours. See <a href="https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/sqlite3">https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/sqlite3</a>.</li>
<li>Virtualenv does NOT like spaces in your directory path! This was tricky to debug as even in -v verbose mode the full path for my virtualenv packages was shortened and so I couldn't even notice that my path had spaces in it.</li>
<li>Databases use cursors.</li>
</ol>
<br />
<br />
<h4>
The Process</h4>
Here are some images from the process. Click on them to view them in full resolution. <br />
<br />
1. First I started out just using a dictionary (no database involved) and a single hello.py file.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FLpcntiz9gg/UtXkhGphzQI/AAAAAAAA-ZQ/nrZLrbvuMu0/s1600/Screenshot+from+2014-01-10+08%253A41%253A00.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FLpcntiz9gg/UtXkhGphzQI/AAAAAAAA-ZQ/nrZLrbvuMu0/s320/Screenshot+from+2014-01-10+08%253A41%253A00.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
2. I then followed the Flaskr tutorial. After doing so I wanted to modify it so that the text was monospaced and preserved whitespaces, because it doesn't by default.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVLN4iMElgN1ZTE6pkhpG9t6iKIS_X76TuGKHD9s3EyqEh0o6Zv7Vs_ZpTfELN6Vo_hGJ4ZCdBCiN3grSmoLmz1xRDhyphenhyphennWWo8iOLqskZGKqhUOuMDRf8nvOpRyMj3nAkoCxl4S7TOPT1Z4/s1600/Screenshot+from+2014-01-10+09%253A24%253A42.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVLN4iMElgN1ZTE6pkhpG9t6iKIS_X76TuGKHD9s3EyqEh0o6Zv7Vs_ZpTfELN6Vo_hGJ4ZCdBCiN3grSmoLmz1xRDhyphenhyphennWWo8iOLqskZGKqhUOuMDRf8nvOpRyMj3nAkoCxl4S7TOPT1Z4/s320/Screenshot+from+2014-01-10+09%253A24%253A42.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
I used the "pre" tag at first.<br />
<br />
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</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u0_MtGOjaOY/UtXkhgqbc9I/AAAAAAAA-ZU/G2D8uy1tLqo/s1600/Screenshot+from+2014-01-10+09%253A24%253A29.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u0_MtGOjaOY/UtXkhgqbc9I/AAAAAAAA-ZU/G2D8uy1tLqo/s320/Screenshot+from+2014-01-10+09%253A24%253A29.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
but soon switched to using CSS.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H44_WYFtMlE/UtXkilptpFI/AAAAAAAA-Zk/B8U_J6w_K64/s1600/Screenshot+from+2014-01-10+09%253A32%253A00.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H44_WYFtMlE/UtXkilptpFI/AAAAAAAA-Zk/B8U_J6w_K64/s320/Screenshot+from+2014-01-10+09%253A32%253A00.png" width="320" /></a></div>
This actually caused me a lot of headache later troubleshooting why there was random whitespace in my design, because I didn't restrict where the CSS was applied enough. So much whitespace:<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6rFtxh04qDU/UtXkksy2CfI/AAAAAAAA-Z8/Z0449BEShnk/s1600/Screenshot+from+2014-01-10+10%253A40%253A58.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6rFtxh04qDU/UtXkksy2CfI/AAAAAAAA-Z8/Z0449BEShnk/s320/Screenshot+from+2014-01-10+10%253A40%253A58.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6rFtxh04qDU/UtXkksy2CfI/AAAAAAAA-Z8/Z0449BEShnk/s1600/Screenshot+from+2014-01-10+10%253A40%253A58.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
In the end I had this file: <a href="https://github.com/nouyang/WTFisThisRegister/blob/master/static/style.css">https://github.com/nouyang/WTFisThisRegister/blob/master/static/style.css</a><br />
<pre><code>.helptext { preserve whitespace with wrapping CSS }</code></pre>
and the corresponding code in the html file was
<br />
<pre><code> <div class="helptext"%gt;
{{ entry.helptext|safe }}</div>
</code></pre>
<br />
3. I wanted to be able to delete entries, so I added a delete button.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHB0pQohKdoYdIaxdsBbWVy1YDhb09ZxzEdVW4TDA2bFRK7XFHjP_sBnM_Fsi1tnxdM0C5fiyddsNFfoQZ_SXICZ-5oZSXeeEqaHko1Re40jzv2FhGTfaVKnwxwx_zvaCazb_aEOiLH9vV/s1600/Screenshot+from+2014-01-10+13%253A34%253A00.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHB0pQohKdoYdIaxdsBbWVy1YDhb09ZxzEdVW4TDA2bFRK7XFHjP_sBnM_Fsi1tnxdM0C5fiyddsNFfoQZ_SXICZ-5oZSXeeEqaHko1Re40jzv2FhGTfaVKnwxwx_zvaCazb_aEOiLH9vV/s320/Screenshot+from+2014-01-10+13%253A34%253A00.png" width="320" /></a></div>
In <b>show_entries.html</b>
oops can't show it because blogger can't escape this HTML properly :/
In the main python file:
<code></code><br />
<pre><code>@app.route('/delete', methods='POST'])
def delete_entry():
if not session.get('logged_in'):
abort(401)
g.db.execute('delete from entries where keyword = ?', [request.form['entry_to_delete']])
g.db.commit()
flash('Entry was successfully removed')
return redirect(url_for('show_entries')) </code></pre>
The "?" is a safe why for sqlite3 to accept text (in this case, whatever was entered in the form with the name entry_to_delete).<br />
<br />
4. I learned to play around with the database to test my SQL commands in the terminal:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgflYxhXU7GTzr3lI5d5tFsrlfW1TsFJGnuFy4fIiR6TOAP336l4mVqBMLBKKgGDV7o-wZ0ByI_IeTx6TZFK4_Xqemxjil0_g1rlce6TLpXnuDG_bRNb-JhF-Ulu9-AEKK2e1XDlW_noT4H/s1600/Screenshot+from+2014-01-10+11%253A23%253A15.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgflYxhXU7GTzr3lI5d5tFsrlfW1TsFJGnuFy4fIiR6TOAP336l4mVqBMLBKKgGDV7o-wZ0ByI_IeTx6TZFK4_Xqemxjil0_g1rlce6TLpXnuDG_bRNb-JhF-Ulu9-AEKK2e1XDlW_noT4H/s320/Screenshot+from+2014-01-10+11%253A23%253A15.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<pre><code> $ sqlite3 /tmp/flaskr.db
sqlite> select helptext from entries where helptext='PCMSK0'</code></pre>
<br />
<br />
5. Finally I added a search functionality to the site:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kHRvojxg58c/UtXkno102SI/AAAAAAAA-aY/ZFWnrEGG9Wo/s1600/Screenshot+from+2014-01-10+13%253A39%253A27.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kHRvojxg58c/UtXkno102SI/AAAAAAAA-aY/ZFWnrEGG9Wo/s320/Screenshot+from+2014-01-10+13%253A39%253A27.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<pre><code>@app.route('/search', methods=['POST'])
def search_entries():
keyword = request.form['searchterm']
cur = g.db.execute('select helptext from entries where keyword = ?',
[keyword])
result = [dict(keyword=keyword, helptext=row[0]) for row in cur.fetchall()]
return render_template('search.html', result=result)
</code></pre>
And set the homepage to be the search page:
<br />
<pre><code>
@app.route('/')
def show_search():
return render_template('search.html') </code></pre>
<br />
6. I learned about initializing databases, namely by dumbly thinking I needed to include the flaskr.db file and no schema.sql file in the repository to allow other people to get it working on their systems. Actually, I was just missing a line, "init_db()", before "app_run()". In the end I am still keeping it without that line so that I have persistence in the database (I can stop the server and restart it and the database entries will still be there).<br />
<br />
All in all I learned a lot! Do browse through the source code and play it with yourself if you'd like.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
=========================================<br />
<h4>
Liveblog Notes (kept here for reference)</h4>
<br />
<a href="http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/quickstart">http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/quickstart</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://maximebf.com/blog/2012/10/building-websites-in-python-with-flask">http://maximebf.com/blog/2012/10/building-websites-in-python-with-flask/</a><br />
<a href="https://github.com/trtg/flask_assets_tutorial">https://github.com/trtg/flask_assets_tutorial</a><br />
<br />
(did not use: <a href="http://www.realpython.com/blog/python/python-web-applications-with-flask-part-ii-app-creation/">http://www.realpython.com/blog/python/python-web-applications-with-flask-part-ii-app-creation/</a>)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/tutorial/introduction/">http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/tutorial/introduction/</a> Ah! Here's the hands-on quickstart.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 26px;">Hmm, well now the newlines show up but long lines aren't wrapped.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 26px;"><b>To fix:</b></span></span><br />
<a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/642140/retain-newlines-in-html-but-wrap-text-possible">http://stackoverflow.com/questions/642140/retain-newlines-in-html-but-wrap-text-possible</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 26px;"><b><br /></b></span></span><br />
.page { width: 70%;<br />
min-width:35em;<br />
border-radius:5px;<br />
}<br />
<br />
Modifying the database name: How are you supposed to properly do this? I just deleted /tmp/flaskr.db and then ran in the shell:<br />
sqlite3 /tmp/flaskr.db < schema.sql<br />
<div>
and things seemed to work again.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Include a delete button in the future:</div>
<div>
<a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10407433/how-do-i-get-my-html-button-to-delete-the-right-list-item-from-a-sqlite-database">http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10407433/how-do-i-get-my-html-button-to-delete-the-right-list-item-from-a-sqlite-database</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you don't want your data wiped clean, DO NOT do </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div>
<div>
$ python</div>
<div>
>>> from flaskr import init_db</div>
<div>
>>> init_db()</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Instead, to play with sqlite3 commands,</div>
<div>
<div>
sqlite3 /tmp/flaskr.db</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And then use the same commands as in flask, but with semicolons.</div>
<div>
So to lookup something we need the WHERE command:</div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.sqlite.org/queryplanner.html">https://www.sqlite.org/queryplanner.html</a></div>
<div>
e.g. for me it is:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div>
select helptext from entries where keyword=''<span style="font-family: Consolas; font-size: 15px;">PCMSK0"</span>;</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Uhm, okay, now how to display it in my flask app?</div>
<div>
<a href="http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/patterns/sqlite3/">http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/patterns/sqlite3/</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
ahh what are database i am so confused<br />
<a href="http://www.zetcode.com/db/sqlitepythontutorial/">http://www.zetcode.com/db/sqlitepythontutorial/</a><br />
<a href="http://docs.python.org/2/library/sqlite3.html">http://docs.python.org/2/library/sqlite3.html</a><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Let's install the AVR eclipse plugin<br />
<a href="http://avr-eclipse.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/The_AVR_GCC_Toolchain#Debian_and_Ubuntu">http://avr-eclipse.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/The_AVR_GCC_Toolchain#Debian_and_Ubuntu</a><br />
<a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-get-started-with-Eclipse-and-AVR/step13/Quick-Tour-Of-Cool-Features/">http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-get-started-with-Eclipse-and-AVR/step13/Quick-Tour-Of-Cool-Features/</a> (windows)<br />
<br />
sudo apt-get install eclipse (270+ MB! sigh)<br />
<pre>sudo apt-get install gcc-avr binutils-avr gdb-avr avr-libc avrdude</pre>
<br />
<a href="http://avr-eclipse.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Plugin_Download">http://avr-eclipse.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Plugin_Download</a></blockquote>
<br />
Heroku deploy<br />
<a href="http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/quickstart/#quickstart-deployment">http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/quickstart/#quickstart-deployment</a><br />
<a href="https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/getting-started-with-python">https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/getting-started-with-python</a><br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Install heroku toolchain</li>
<li>Login to heroku</li>
<li>Install and activate virtual environment</li>
<li>Install dependencies (why do I need gunicorn? not sure) </li>
<li>Make a Procfile</li>
<li>Run foreman and check in browser that app is up on localhost</li>
<li>Download the python .gitignore and add the "venv" line to the top</li>
<li>my own step: add to github, git remote add origin https://github.com/nouyang/WTFisThisRegister.git</li>
<li><br /></li>
</ol>
<a href="https://help.github.com/articles/ignoring-files">https://help.github.com/articles/ignoring-files</a><br />
OH. The .gitignore file does NOT go in the root directory directly. No wonder everything failed and I just had to <b>delete my github repo and also the .git folder </b>in my root directory.<br />
<br />
Instead, <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
For example, you might create the file at <i><b>~/.gitignore_global</b></i> and add some rules to it. To add this file to your cross-repository configuration, run <code>git config --global core.excludesfile ~/.gitignore_global. </code>Local per-repository rules can be added to the <code>.git/info/exclude</code> file in your repository. This method can be used for locally-generated files that you don't expect other users to generate.</blockquote>
<br />
Wait, but what if there's one file, e.g. a passwords for the database file, that I don't want to commit? Maybe it's just messed up because I did the git init and <i>then</i> added the gitignore file or something funky, I don't remember. <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1139762/gitignore-file-not-ignoring">http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1139762/gitignore-file-not-ignoring</a><br />
<br />
Okay, so now I want to pull the config parameters (passwords, admin usernames, secretkeys) out into a separate file that is gitignored.<br />
Done. Created a file called databaseconfig.py, added the line "from databaseconfig import secretkey, username, password" to the main python file.<br />
<br />
<br />
Oh I should generate a real secret key<br />
<a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18247971/print-python-os-urandom-output-on-terminal">http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18247971/print-python-os-urandom-output-on-terminal</a><br />
python<br />
>>> import os, binascii<br />
<span class="pln">>>> binascii</span><span class="pun">.</span><span class="pln">hexlify(</span>os.urandom(24))<br />
<br />
Whoa they actually mean create the file ~/.gitignore_global, not create ~/.gitignore_global/.gitignore<br />
Whoops.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4824188/git-ignore-vim-temporary-files">http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4824188/git-ignore-vim-temporary-files</a><br />
Also, vim and gedit create swap files not covered by github's gitignores, so add<br />
<pre><code>*~</code></pre>
and
<br />
<pre><code>*.swp
*.swo</code></pre>
<br />
to ~/.gitignore_global<br />
<br />
Yes! Succesfully used .gitignore for once.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
(venv)nrw@nrw-PC:~/projects/WTFisThisRegister$ git commit -m "init"<br />
[master (root-commit) 35b1400] init<br />
10 files changed, 228 insertions(+)<br />
create mode 100644 .gitignore<br />
create mode 100644 Procfile<br />
create mode 100644 README.md<br />
create mode 100644 WTFisThisRegister.py<br />
create mode 100644 requirements.txt<br />
create mode 100644 static/style.css<br />
create mode 100644 templates/layout.html<br />
create mode 100644 templates/login.html<br />
create mode 100644 templates/search.html<br />
create mode 100644 templates/show_entries.html</blockquote>
<div>
Now add it to github.</div>
<div>
<pre><code>git remote add origin <span class="js-live-clone-url">https://github.com/nouyang/WTFisThisRegister.git</span>
<span class="js-selectable-text">git push -u origin master</span></code></pre>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Done! Live at <a href="https://github.com/nouyang/WTFisThisRegister.%C2%A0">https://github.com/nouyang/WTFisThisRegister. </a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Okay, now to finish the heroku deploy.</div>
<div>
<pre><span class="function">heroku create </span></pre>
<pre><span class="function">git push heroku master</span></pre>
</div>
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Permission denied (publickey).<br />
fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly</blockquote>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Whoops I need to add this computer to heroku.<br />
<a href="https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/keys">https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/keys</a><br />
$ ssh-keygen -t rsa<br />
/home/nrw/.ssh/id_rsa already exists.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Whoops, let's not overwrite that, maybe it will break github. </div>
<div>
<div>
cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
and copy that into heroku under Account (https://dashboard.heroku.com/account).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Alright, let's try pushing to heroku again.</div>
-----> Launching... done, v3<br />
http://salty-retreat-5363.herokuapp.com deployed to Heroku<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Yay!!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Oh noes. It doesn't work on heroku... Is that because I gitignored the databaseconfig.py file and so it doesn't exist on heroku?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19061635/keep-config-file-on-heroku-but-remove-from-public-repo-on-github">http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19061635/keep-config-file-on-heroku-but-remove-from-public-repo-on-github</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Guhuhuh I guess I should learn to use github branches.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Okay nevermind, I found a better answer than having two branches to maintain and update if I ever change anything (bletch).</div>
<div>
<a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7692541/pushing-gitignore-files-to-specific-remote">http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7692541/pushing-gitignore-files-to-specific-remote</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This gives a clear explanation and example: <a href="https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/config-vars">https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/config-vars</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So in the main python file I put</div>
<div>
SECRET_KEY = ENV['SECRETKEY']</div>
<div>
and then in the terminal I type</div>
<div>
heroku config:set SECRETKEY=blahblah.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Then, git add, git commit, and then git push heroku master.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
NOPE that didn't fix it ;____; wahh I am sad.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Let's research....</div>
<div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />
<span style="color: #0000ee; text-decoration: underline;">http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18037027/flask-app-failing-on-heroku-but-working-with-foreman</span></div>
<div>
WHOA good point I forgot to turn debug off! Whaaaa. Okay that is terrible of me.</div>
<div>
<div>
# configuration</div>
<div>
DEBUG = False</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
WAH. still sad.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Let's try to fix foreman by adding the var to .env... Does that work?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
.env does not like spaces around the equal sign assignment operator!</div>
<div>
<pre>S3_KEY=mykey</pre>
<pre>NOT </pre>
<pre>S3_KEY = mykey</pre>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Oh! Make sure to add "import os" to the main python file if we are using os.environ. DUH.</div>
Note: Only today I realized that in pasting URLs from the location bar in chromium-browser (ubuntu 12.10) into blogger, the URLs are automatically turned into hyperlinks, but they remain plain old text and I have to manually turn them into hyperlinks when I copy them from firefox, my main browser :( Such a weird specific bug.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
Ah? It still doesn't work?? Why? It works locally on foreman, but not remote on heroku.<br />
<br />
Okay, let's look at the heroku logs.<br />
<a href="https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/logging">https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/logging</a><br />
ImportError: No module named databaseconfig<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Whoops. So a gitignore issue.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
UGH. Everything becomes 10x more complicated when working in a virtual environment. Fine. I'll take the hit and jump full out into non-localhost environment, where I can't just run "python blah.py" I have to run "foreman start" and other issues. Because foreman looks for a ".env" file. But python does not. (<a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12335488/cannot-use-environment-variables-for-settings-in-django">http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12335488/cannot-use-environment-variables-for-settings-in-django</a>)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4906977/python-environment-variables">http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4906977/python-environment-variables</a></div>
The solution is to use os.environ.get() instead.<br />
<br />
Okay, so I'll just write a short if statement checking if os.environ.get() is None. </div>
<div>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
SECRET_KEY = os.environ.get('SECRETKEY') #for heroku deploys. <br />
if SECRET_KEY == None: <br />
SECRET_KEY = secretkey </blockquote>
</div>
<div>
Great, now my config works in with both "foreman start" and "python WTFisThisRegister.py".<br />
<br />
Now to get databaseconfig to show up in heroku. Do I want to?<br />
No. A cleaner solution instead of all this is to use try, importerrors. Since the present of databaseconfig.py can be used to indicate that we are running it locally.<br />
<br />
<br />
ahhhh now the /entries works locally but there is an internal server error remotely. WHY.<br />
<a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8950674/debugging-a-flask-app-running-in-gunicorn">http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8950674/debugging-a-flask-app-running-in-gunicorn</a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Instead of foreman start, just use foreman run python app.py if you want to debug your application in development.</blockquote>
<br />
Maybe it's an issue with gunicorn or procfile or whatever that stuff is?<br />
web: gunicorn WTFisThisRegister:app <br />
<a href="http://ryaneshea.com/lightweight-python-apps-with-flask-twitter-bootstrap-and-heroku">http://ryaneshea.com/lightweight-python-apps-with-flask-twitter-bootstrap-and-heroku</a><br />
changed to<br />
web: python WTFisThisRegister.py<br />
<br />
Okay, still works locally but not remotely. Maybe it is a port issue. Sucks that these tiny changes debugging production (heroku environment) take forever to try (30 seconds for each time I git push heroku master)<br />
<br />
2014-01-12T05:58:48.956357+00:00 heroku[web.1]: State changed from crashed to starting<br />
<div>
Yay! Fixed ports issue.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
AGH. Still internal server error. WTF.<br />
<a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7653010/import-sqlite3-with-python2-7-on-heroku">http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7653010/import-sqlite3-with-python2-7-on-heroku</a><br />
So sqlite3 could NOT be used on the previous version of heroku. However, I think it should be able to now?<br />
<a href="https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/dynos#ephemeral-filesystem">https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/dynos#ephemeral-filesystem</a><br />
<a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7784471/using-sqlite3-on-heroku-cedar-stack">http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7784471/using-sqlite3-on-heroku-cedar-stack </a><br />
CANNOT. Ugh. So this is all pointless. Time to migrate to postgreSQL or something that supports sqlite3.<br />
<br />
Sigh. I guess I'll just submit a documentation issue about this whole fiasco.<br />
<a href="https://github.com/mitsuhiko/flask/issues/949">https://github.com/mitsuhiko/flask/issues/949</a><br />
<br />
Okay, looking into how other people deployed their flaskr projects.<br />
<a href="https://github.com/mjhea0/flaskr-tdd">https://github.com/mjhea0/flaskr-tdd</a><br />
This person has a LOT of documentation and talks about jquery / AJAX. Todo for the future!<br />
<br />
<a href="https://github.com/mjhea0/flaskr-tdd/blob/master/app.py">https://github.com/mjhea0/flaskr-tdd/blob/master/app.py</a><br />
WAIT. WTF. It looks like you can use sqlite3, I'm just dumb and you have to include the databse in your root directly, not off in /tmp/ somewhere.<br />
<br />
So, looks like DATABASE = 'flaskr.db'<br />
<pre><span class="n">sqlite3</span> ./<span class="n">flaskr</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">db</span> <span class="o"><</span> <span class="n">schema</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">sql</span></pre>
<br />
Note that the way I have it set up -- foreman locally will run with Debug = False, heroku will run with Debug = false, and python locally will run with Debug = True. A rather peculiar state of affairs, but fine for me.<br />
<br />
<br />
Let's debug the download-from-github install for the Readme.<br />
$ virtualenv --distribute --no-site-packages venv<br />
The --no-site-packages flag is deprecated; it is now the default behavior.<br />
New python executable in env/bin/python<br />
Installing distribute.............................................................................................................................................................................................done.<br />
Installing pip...<br />
Error [Errno 2] No such file or directory while executing command /home/nrw/projects/t...env/bin/easy_install /usr/share/python-vi...p-1.1.debian1.tar.gz<br />
...Installing pip...done.<br />
<br />
<div>
<div>
<b>Installing existing pip-1.1.debian1.tar.gz distribution: /usr/share/python-virtualenv/pip-1.1.debian1.tar.gz</b></div>
</div>
<div>
fails. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7194299/cannot-create-new-virtualenv-in-lion">http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7194299/cannot-create-new-virtualenv-in-lion</a></div>
<div>
Nope, I'm using --distribute and it fails.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10068388/virtualenv-returning-a-no-such-file-or-directory-error">http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10068388/virtualenv-returning-a-no-such-file-or-directory-error</a><br />
sudo apt-get remove python-virtualenv<br />
sudo pip install virtualenv<br />
<br />
bash: /usr/bin/virtualenv: No such file or directory</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Sigh.</div>
<div>
sudo pip uninstall virtualenv</div>
<div>
sudo apt-get install python-virtualenv</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
NOPE still get the error.</div>
<div>
Spaces?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>UGH. It's because my path had spaces.</b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-39435121320736187942013-12-31T10:01:00.001-05:002013-12-31T10:30:41.360-05:00Gender Gap in Engineering: My Take (stop looking solely within the U.S. and do more active experiments instead of surveys)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Continuing the spate of blog posts, I'd like to write down my take on feminism, engineering, and the gender gap.<br />
<br />
My overall thesis is that we should 1) stop looking solely within the U.S. and 2) do more active experiments instead of passive surveys to improve the current state of affairs, because rapid change <i>is</i> possible.<br />
<br />
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">
Countries with a Majority of Female Science Degrees and Other Surprising Statistics</span></h4>
Let's start out with some surprising statistics from "<a href="http://contexts.org/articles/spring-2011/what-gender-is-science/">What Gender is Science</a>" (as a nicely laid-out pdf <a href="http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/mariacharles/documents/WhatGenderisScience.pdf">here</a>) (I highly recommend read <a href="http://contexts.org/articles/spring-2011/what-gender-is-science/">the entire article</a> if any of the following statistics intrigue you):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="userContent"><span class="userContent"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span class="userContent"><b>in Indonesia</b>, where<b> 48 percent of engineering graduates are female
</b>(compared to a 49 percent share of all Indonesian college and university
graduates). ...</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="userContent"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span class="userContent">While America<span class="text_exposed_show">n
computer scientists are depicted as male hackers and geeks, computer
science in Malaysia is deemed well-suited for women because it’s seen as
theoretical (not physical) and it takes place almost exclusively in
offices (thought to be woman-friendly spaces). </span></span></span></span></span></span></blockquote>
Of particular note, in several countries <b>women earn the majority of science degrees!</b> Tell that to anyone that tells you that the low percentage of STEM women in the U.S. indicates women are inferior at STEM.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://contexts.org/files/2011/05/what-gender-is-science-1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://contexts.org/files/2011/05/what-gender-is-science-1.png" width="365" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://contexts.org/articles/spring-2011/what-gender-is-science/">source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
One theory is that in developing countries, income matters more and there are fewer career choices, therefore women are drawn to engineering.<br />
<br />
Next, note these historical graphs of women in computer science. Here's one about the dismal state of affairs in CS:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/11/15/business/1116-sbn-webDIGI.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/11/15/business/1116-sbn-webDIGI.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/business/16digi.html?em">source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Note in particular that in the 1970s in a single year there was a<b> 4% increase</b> in percentage of CS degrees awarded to women -- <b>rapid change is possible</b>. But in CS in particular, the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/business/16digi.html?em">percentage of women in CS has steadily declined for the last three decades</a>. <br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibp13hTcmXzH6-P6dTAt2MlBtcIosMezPAWM8wFEhFKS9Af98jFqam5VhggRDfhWguEca63sxukA_3iz0yfVMSFgzFrjHOItxe72ZLuzddRKQEnO47sdF5KSmMsAmHWK1xfR61VpJwegLr/s1600/GenderCodeWomenStat.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibp13hTcmXzH6-P6dTAt2MlBtcIosMezPAWM8wFEhFKS9Af98jFqam5VhggRDfhWguEca63sxukA_3iz0yfVMSFgzFrjHOItxe72ZLuzddRKQEnO47sdF5KSmMsAmHWK1xfR61VpJwegLr/s1600/GenderCodeWomenStat.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">source: page 33, Ch. 2, Gender Codes (<a href="http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.libproxy.mit.edu/xpl/bkabstractplus.jsp?bkn=6381792">here in PDF format if you have MIT certs</a>) [1]</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
If you want to be enraged (or if you care about these issues at all), please listen to this <a href="http://vimeo.com/81481624">riveting and passionate 8 minute talk</a> which features the fact that in 1987 42% of programmers were women [1] (or see first graph in picture above) and also features a bunch of really NOT classy ads.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/81481624" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe> <br />
<i><a href="http://vimeo.com/81481624">Phoenix Perry - "Embodied play design and building a female developer community" - Open Hardware Summit 2013</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user14106369">OSHWA</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</i><br />
<br />
Fun note, that is actually a page from the <b>Cosompolitan Magazine! </b>Oh how times have changed.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://blog.fogcreek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/computer-girls1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://blog.fogcreek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/computer-girls1.png" width="452" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://blog.fogcreek.com/girls-go-geek-again/">source</a> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<a href="http://blog.fogcreek.com/girls-go-geek-again/">That article is recommended reading too. </a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Computer science has always been a male-dominated field, right? </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Wrong.</blockquote>
<b>My main takeaway:</b><br />
(A) Rapid change is possible.<br />
<br />
(B) We should pay more attention to cross-cultural studies to understand what other countries / cultures have that the U.S. does not and attempt to replicate it in the U.S.). Many studies
are focused solely on the U.S. or other developed countries (at least
the ones covered in the SWE literature review I'll talk about in a second), which seems shortsighted to me, although I can understand the reasoning (scientific rigor). Caveat: We have to be very careful that we don't just draw broad conclusions (e.g. "Muslim culture encourages gender equality in math/science scores," <a href="http://www.ams.org/notices/201201/rtx120100010p.pdf">an analysis against here</a>).<br />
<br />
(C) It's a shame that facts like the existence of countries with some measures of gender parity are not covered in engineering school -- they'll be covered in <a href="http://narwhaledu.com/">NarwhalEdu</a>'s <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/narwhaledu/robots-drawing-and-engineering-an-online-course">intro to engineering course</a> for sure. I'm going to make my own happy bubble on the internet free of some of the indignant ignorance you can find online.<br />
<br />
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">
SWE Lit Review</span></h4>
My reading of the<b> Society for Women in Engineering's Annual Literature
Reviews 2011 and 2012</b> went along the lines of "look at all these
contradictory studies we're not really sure about anything." I still highly recommend reading them, though, for upbeat attitudes like this:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div>
These women (33 female Greek engineer-managers) also talked about
their efforts to find ways to show why it's actually _good_ to be a
female engineer, how being female makes you a better engineer.</div>
</blockquote>
The
lit reviews also force you to not just read studies that reinforce your
existing theories. They're available in some weird and annoying webapp
here: <a href="http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/swe/litreview2012/#/202">2011</a> and <a href="http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/swe/litreview2012/#/226">2012</a>, or as <b>PDFs I uploaded to google docs here: <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9r0HZeoMbmgQzFxRGMteUNZV0k/edit?usp=sharing">2011</a> and <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9r0HZeoMbmgeGprM1dsa05jLU0/edit?usp=sharing">2012. </a></b><br />
<br />
<b>I highly recommend reading them.</b><br />
<br />
My
complaint with all this studying is that much of it is so passive.
Let's send out these surveys and try to interpret the results. Oh oops
guess what it's really hard to interpret these results and these other people in this other part of the country get contradictory results. Maybe we
should split the results by sex orientation or race or different
categories of engineering or, wait everything is more complicated than we think.<br />
<br />
Time's a-wasting, friends. ^^ <b>Let's go out and try things in the world, and reserve analysis for plotting how we can radically change the status of affairs. </b>That's the plan, see you folks in two decades.<br />
<br />
What follows is a small selection of the articles I have been reading as well as the sole footnote.<br />
<br />
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">
Wikipedia</span></h4>
For those craving some wikipedia, here are relevant articles (I have not read them all yet): <br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_computing">Women_in_computing</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_engineering">Women_in_engineering</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_engineering_in_the_United_States">Women_in_engineering_in_the_United_States</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_science">Women_in_science</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_science,_technology,_engineering,_and_mathematics_(United_States)">Women_in_science,_technology,_engineering,_and_mathematics_(United_States)</a> </li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">
Feminine Engineer? </span></h4>
If you search from "feminine
engineer", the following blog posts pop up. I have excerpted a paragraph
from each to entice you to click through and actually read them.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://hopkins.typepad.com/2013/2010/01/the-triplet-state-feminine-female-and-an-engineer.html">The Triplet State: Feminine, Female, and an Engineer</a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
It’s
almost as if society views being feminine, female, and an engineer as a
forbidden quantum triplet state. Even though quantum mechanics claims
that a triplet state is impossible, it occurs. In life there are always
people to prove our preconceived notions wrong. So maybe I am some
sort of living dichotomy, a natural Frankenstein, of abstract-minded
romantic and a systematic logician. I am a Barbie-blonde cookie-cutter
creation of femininity and a rebel fighting to fit in a male-dominant
world. So if I could chose two words to stereotype myself, I would
chose female engineer.</blockquote>
<a href="http://www.engineergirl.org/Engineers/Ask/Answers/15123.aspx">Must a woman tone down her feminine side?</a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
My
16 year old daughter adores math and engineering, and wants to be
either a nuclear engineer, or a civil engineer. However, she is also a
very, very girly girl who loves high heels, glitter, wearing pink, party
dresses, and, well, just think Engineer Barbie, or Legally Blonde. She
has been told that she will need to tone it down (a lot) if she plans to
be taken seriously in engineering. </blockquote>
<a href="http://radengineer.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/female-engineering-student-stereotypes/">Female Engineering Student Stereotypes</a><br />
An interview with <a href="http://miters.mit.edu/">MITERS</a>'s own <a href="http://starburst.hackerfriendly.com/">Star Simpson</a>!<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
On
the subject of femininity, Star and I somehow got on the subject of
shaving. As it turns out, neither of us shaves albeit for different
reasons. To paraphrase Star, “it seems like a waste of time. Instead of
shaving, I could be doing engineering – that’s what all of the guys are
doing” </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
... “A focus group of male engineering students told us that
women in engineering were ‘nerdettes’ who are plain or ugly, <b>despite visual evidence to the contrary </b>[my
emphasis]. Senior women engineers increasingly tried to look
inconspicuous in order to avoid hostile or situationally-inappropriate
attention from faculty and peers, or to avoid common accusations from
faculty that they were flirting. (<a href="http://www.onlineethics.org/CMS/workplace/workplacediv/abstractsindex/stereotype.aspx">National Academy of Engineering, 2006</a>). </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
... Or is the influx of women engineers changing engineering? It seems like
everything is pointing towards women being changed by engineering but I
so badly want it to be the other way around. </blockquote>
<a href="http://pocketprotectorandheels.blogspot.com/2013/07/why-being-female-engineer-is-awesome.html">Why Being a Female Engineer is Awesome (Part 1)</a><br />
(There is no part 2).<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
It's
actually kind of uncomfortable sometimes how much people love that
I'm an engineer. One woman I met monolouged for a good 10 minutes about
how she admired me for breaking down boundaries and making a difference. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
... Even less drunk people have the same reaction. I met a well
respected
author at a swanky awards ceremony once, and when she heard what my job
was she said that engineering was "basically magic" to her.
Unfortunately it wasn't J. K. Rowling, because that quote would have
been extra awesome. But as it stands, I'm pretty sure only engineers and
magicians can claim that people think they have some super human
powers. I mean, just look at Iron Man. </blockquote>
<a href="http://www.truechild.org/PageDisplay.asp?p1=8483">True Child | <span class="titlefontpoint">Femininity & Science, Technology, Engineering, Math</span></a><br />
<span class="titlefontpoint">A collection of some interesting research papers on this topic (complete with abstracts).</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/10/how-harvey-mudd-transformed-its-computer-science-program-and-nearly-closed-its-gender-gap/">http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/10/how-harvey-mudd-transformed-its-computer-science-program-and-nearly-closed-its-gender-gap/</a><br />
Dr. Maria Klawe is the lady who has achieved <b>near-gender parity in Harvey Mudd's CS program since becoming president in 2006 (less than a decade ago!).</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Why female H.S. not study engineering<br />
1) it's boring<br />
2) won't be good at it<br />
3) wouldn't want to hang out with dorks and nerd</blockquote>
<br />
<h4>
<span class="userContent"><span class="userContent" style="font-weight: normal;">Footnote</span></span></h4>
[1] 42% number is from the book <i>Gender Codes</i>, page 32:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In 1987, computer systems analysts comprised 34% women, while computer software developers (e.g., programmers) comprised 42% women. Incidentally, computer systems analysts have also been better paid on average than computer software developers on average, between 1971 and 2006.</blockquote>
If you want to dig deeper and get the raw data, I was able to find the data for the bottom graph, % women with CS majors, in publicly available NSF data. The <i>Gender Codes </i>book looks at data from <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/%20statistics/nsf08321">1966-2006</a>, the latest data is <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf13327/content.cfm?pub_id=4266&id=2">here</a> (1966-2010). I believe the author used #33 "computer sciences" under "Field of Degree." (<a href="http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf13327/pdf/tab33.pdf">PDF</a>, <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf13327/tables/tab33.xls">XCL</a>, image preview:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIN2QFu-7dN-R0RjlqYtlVbri_ZQpXuBDCvFJqxBk0Isp4Lx7T_Rzv4zbuYVUws_Tg1KUebzaZ7jCVvA24F-HR67U4pBCey_bIy1f_W4Om70TbvioCjo_JJXRQj2Ad7UsUSFRGPYVxVCvg/s1600/NSF1966-2007.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIN2QFu-7dN-R0RjlqYtlVbri_ZQpXuBDCvFJqxBk0Isp4Lx7T_Rzv4zbuYVUws_Tg1KUebzaZ7jCVvA24F-HR67U4pBCey_bIy1f_W4Om70TbvioCjo_JJXRQj2Ad7UsUSFRGPYVxVCvg/s640/NSF1966-2007.png" width="561" /></a></div>
or in <a href="http://inside.mines.edu/~tcamp/paper/paper.html">percentage form here</a>).<br />
<br />
I could not, however, find the relevant Bureau of Labor Statistics for the graph from which the 42% statistic is drawn. The citation in <i>Gender Codes</i> is a terse "13. Bureau of Labor Statistics Database, accessed May 2008, courtesy of Peter Meyer." and I was not able to navigate the BLS site sufficiently well to find this data. BLS does have a nice beta dataviewer in-browser tool, but it only had 2010-2012 data.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlShvSzL2IxMms9nyp6evM6XLzn-2-AUDwhR6PuXfGYGjX35WMM22Z7cyYlPEU6X_weadGrK8ir1qyUSUzF1R-ILnqO1l73-XWjkaQPddqG3qNgOhxzThLUl0Tgc-L6VQ2E87_tRTapoi2/s1600/Screenshot+from+2013-12-30+14:58:26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlShvSzL2IxMms9nyp6evM6XLzn-2-AUDwhR6PuXfGYGjX35WMM22Z7cyYlPEU6X_weadGrK8ir1qyUSUzF1R-ILnqO1l73-XWjkaQPddqG3qNgOhxzThLUl0Tgc-L6VQ2E87_tRTapoi2/s400/Screenshot+from+2013-12-30+14:58:26.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
END FOOTNOTE.<br />
<br />
....well, so much for building robots today.nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-75762225318726518012013-12-27T17:20:00.001-05:002013-12-28T19:58:40.456-05:00cheap after-christmas makeup sales are greathot on the tail of "<a href="http://orangenarwhals.blogspot.com/2013/12/to-be-feminine-or-not-to-be.html">to be feminine or not to be</a>" (which remains unresolved although people have been emailing me interesting thoughts) i would like to announce that after-christmas makeup gift kit sales are the best! they'll probably also give me skin cancer in 10 years but whatever I'm only wearing them at home anyway.<br />
<br />
target had E.L.F. makeup which was pretty cheap (\$1 to \$3 items for things that usually cost in the \$10 range, e.g. mascara or eyeshadow). HOWEVER! at Walgreens 50% off (for the most things, it was a bit tricky) Christmas Sale I found \$1 for 24 colors of eyeshadow and \$5 for 18 colors of nail polish!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RWDWBz6KbEU/Ur3zlddn9WI/AAAAAAAA9Ds/24oG-acnoLE/s1600/20131227_161605.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RWDWBz6KbEU/Ur3zlddn9WI/AAAAAAAA9Ds/24oG-acnoLE/s320/20131227_161605.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">upside-down for more brain flexibility!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
so great. all the <a href="http://www.nyan.cat/">nyan</a> will soon be mine. mwahaha<br />
<br />
after being home for a week i have also rapidly diminished the amount of time it takes me to apply eyeliner, and hopefully i will not be interested beyond the basics of makeup. so i think this phase of my life should be pretty short. maybe up-dos (hair) are next. MAYBE IN A YEAR I WILL LIKE SPORTS. ahhh fake identity crises are so much more fun than the real thing <br />
<br />
anyway so i can spend 5 minutes and troll the world so great.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3NpxOxjordRpZ9x7xfxzYW8eglQKsq6TAfUGFr_zkj36ugmQTsPqJq4T8Cw7NsMCHwbBo3U2GS2mrGnqB24X0XrobXzDLdJ7nOYE7-_W6b55vpXe4prwbaM9Ui38nfpyWAl1BZ4fWYhCV/s1600/20131227_165023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3NpxOxjordRpZ9x7xfxzYW8eglQKsq6TAfUGFr_zkj36ugmQTsPqJq4T8Cw7NsMCHwbBo3U2GS2mrGnqB24X0XrobXzDLdJ7nOYE7-_W6b55vpXe4prwbaM9Ui38nfpyWAl1BZ4fWYhCV/s400/20131227_165023.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">look i'm trying to be feminine in the safety of my house where guys I interact with won't get the wrong idea (although my parents will get the wrong idea that I am doing it to find a boyfriend =__= NOT. I'm doing it to troll the engineering world*) and I won't be harassed on the street. bring it on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMzwa4OR5R4#t=0">internet haters</a>. in the picture but probably too grainy to tell: earrings, lip stain + lipstick, nail polish, eyeshadow, eyeliner.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
*EDIT: Actually I feel the need to more explicitly state my feelings on this matter. (A) I'm an engineer from MIT working on my own company. Really, whoever I date had better not think that my appearance is more important than my other characteristics. (B) The whole idea of doing things because they "appeal to guys" is just plain insulting to me. I put on makeup to have fun with identity and appearances -- that is, I do things for myself, not out of subservience to some abstract male opinion of me. (C) It also sucks that society <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7X7sZzSXYs">devalues being single</a>, as if we are somehow broken or less happy if we decide to focus on work instead of relationships. My friends and I are not daunted by the prospect of never finding a partner, because we are happy by ourselves, and I think we are better off for it. END EDIT.<br />
<br />
Although I must admit that when I had rainbow hair<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp4vv1AR8vk3VQICCyb09FrOBI1JDY7M8b_ans4687rUhNkp8SOtbHWIdwkt9PlebdyFG5KLWz7iS6Fz3thqoWCwW6XddAhbELW-urgDrP_i9AI7Eqgfqn_QJ7h02nxEWEyIMS_mRwYxf-/s1600/474340_10152040612605618_775741050_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp4vv1AR8vk3VQICCyb09FrOBI1JDY7M8b_ans4687rUhNkp8SOtbHWIdwkt9PlebdyFG5KLWz7iS6Fz3thqoWCwW6XddAhbELW-urgDrP_i9AI7Eqgfqn_QJ7h02nxEWEyIMS_mRwYxf-/s320/474340_10152040612605618_775741050_o.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">thanks Annie!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
(but was dressed in my normal no-makeup, <a href="http://mis-misinformation.blogspot.com/2012/10/gender-and-swag.html">free [male] tshirt</a>, jeans) in Cambridge, MA, and MIT the only comments I ever got to my face were very positive ("your hair is awesome!" along those lines). so maybe the world is great so long as I don't wear a skirt! WE'LL SEE <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_identification">system identification</a> on the real world for the win. let's give it some feminine input and see the output.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RR-9uLNVsww/UroKKUuh6BI/AAAAAAAA9B8/ejkI8gbuNwY/s1600/20131224_172236.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RR-9uLNVsww/UroKKUuh6BI/AAAAAAAA9B8/ejkI8gbuNwY/s400/20131224_172236.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Judy taught me this trick: put a base coat on and then after the first coat dries put on a coat of glitter!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
some day soon i will write a longer story about how awesome feminine people like <a href="http://t3chnolochic.blogspot.com/">Jordan</a> and Maja and Judy broke the stereotype in my head that feminine = incompetent / ditzy. because they are some really fantastically competent people. and then i was like WHOA FASCINATING NEW WORLD and then here i am.<br />
<br />
also people spend so much time on sports / games, why is spending time
on makeup considered for "non-engineers"? yea, stop and think about
that. the only plausible reason is because it's associated with being
feminine and therefore stereotypically inferior. <br />
<br />
...i never thought i'd be a makeup person either.<br />
<br />
the current plan is to be feminine half the time and a male hipster the other half of the time in the course videos<br />
<br />
:P okay just kidding I have no idea what I'll end up doing, probably whatever I feel like when I wake up the day we film. We might even design the course so that there's no facetime and it's all handwriting.<br />
<br />
ALSO EGADS I posted a selfie I don't know how I feel about myself anymore<br />
<br />
Happy holidays all!nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-2513560937481711382013-12-27T03:17:00.000-05:002013-12-28T20:30:02.192-05:00To be feminine or not to be (as an engineer)<div>
This is an email I sent out to poll my friends, but as it also serves as a useful summary of my recent readings, I will post it here in all its messed-up footnotes glory:
<br />
How much should i emphasize that I am female in my life if
the goal is to have the most impact on female representation in STEM I
can as one person?</div>
<br />
But actually i would really appreciate thoughts or research or statistics on this.
<br />
<div>
<br />
If we accept the premise that stereotypes play a role in all this, [6]</div>
<div>
in my mind there are two approaches to being a female entrepreneur:</div>
<div>
1) be a diva (combat "1337 male hacker" with "1337 female hacker")</div>
<div>
2) be an everyday person ("all types can be female programmer")</div>
<div>
<br />
For 1), I look up to people like ladyada (<a href="http://www.wired.com/geekmom/2011/03/wired-magazines-cover-features-its-first-lady-engineer/" target="_blank">on the cover of WIRED</a>) and debbie sterling (<a href="http://goldieblox.com/" target="_blank">goldieblox</a>).
When I talked to ladayada / ptorrone they said they explicitly grew the
company so that ladyada (a) gets to do as much technical work as
possible and (b) remains as the publicly visible front of the company.
And it's sort of nice in an aggressive way to be in-your-face feminine
and competent, to try to break the link between feminine and competency.
Also people have told me that female role models are <i>very</i> important.<br />
<br />
For 2), there's a reactionary sentiment against <a href="http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/2013/01/17/5266/" target="_blank">over-sensationalizing that you're female</a>
[3] and instead emphasizing being a human being [7], but I don't know
if this is just "be humble" "be quiet and skinny and take up less
space." [5] In this case, I'll should just be my normal not
particularly feminine self.
<br />
In particular, I would appreciate help finding <b>science about either of these approaches</b> instead of just gut instincts / blog posts. I can't seem to word my question appropriately for google scholar though.
<br />
<br />
To some extent it doesn't matter immediately since i know
which approach i prefer (#2) and it's better to act than philosophize all
the time, but I am struggling to find research that isn't just a bunch
of academics <a href="http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/index.php/trends-stats/3293-literature-review" target="_blank">being confused as to why progress is stalled [1] [2]</a> (maybe it is a reflection of conditions 10 years ago?). <b>But in media production for the course, I can easily play up being feminine (nail polish, makeup, clothing) or not</b>. I wouldn't mind this at all, and it sort of plays out haphazardly right
now depending on how I feel.</div>
<br />
<b>Footnotes</b><br />
[1]
" Moreover, as we will elaborate further, we have noticed a sense of
alarm concerning trend in science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM) disciplines in general, and engineering in
particular. It was possible in the recent past to point to gradual
increases in the numbers of women in engineering and to define those
increases as positive indicators. Any confidence that it was just a
matter of time before gender equality in engineering would be achieved
has, instead, been undermined by the reality that those increases have
either slowed or stopped altogether."<br />
<a href="http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/swe/litreview2012/#/226" target="_blank">http://www.nxtbook.com/<wbr></wbr>nxtbooks/swe/litreview2012/#/<wbr></wbr>226</a> SWE 2012 compendium. I uploaded the<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9r0HZeoMbmgeGprM1dsa05jLU0/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank"> relevant portion as a PDF here</a>.<br />
<br />
[2] "Women Gain in Some STEM Fields, but Not Computer Science"<br />
"Computer science actually is more male-dominated today than it was two
decades ago: Women received 29.6 percent of computer science B.A.’s in
1991, compared with 18.2 percent in 2010." <a href="http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/15/women-gain-in-some-stem-fields-but-not-computer-science/" target="_blank">http://economix.blogs.nytimes.<wbr></wbr>com/2013/11/15/women-gain-in-<wbr></wbr>some-stem-fields-but-not-<wbr></wbr>computer-science/</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhccf1Byr2g6r71L-Xo4DkPM54icwHES_9BHMTRIHir9fzubqW3uAf-6xwxKlh6uLodnsTRx4YgjGEk-o8ZfpADLpYknkjAwEK_TbCkgZ9aTnE_3n2B0T9doKWzcP6T-JTjAgy8MMwqKfKC/s1600/economix-15womenstem-blog480.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhccf1Byr2g6r71L-Xo4DkPM54icwHES_9BHMTRIHir9fzubqW3uAf-6xwxKlh6uLodnsTRx4YgjGEk-o8ZfpADLpYknkjAwEK_TbCkgZ9aTnE_3n2B0T9doKWzcP6T-JTjAgy8MMwqKfKC/s320/economix-15womenstem-blog480.jpg" width="320" /></a> <br />
<br />
[3] " I don’t see any solution other than time and perseverance.
Meanwhile I’m sick of writing about it; I’m bored silly with it. So
I’m going to cut to the chase, close my eyes, and pretend the problem is
solved; we’ve made a great cultural leap forward and the whole issue is
over with.
And I’m going to write the profile of an impressive astronomer and not once mention that she’s a woman."<br />
<a href="http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/2013/01/17/5266/" target="_blank">http://www.lastwordonnothing.<wbr></wbr>com/2013/01/17/5266/</a><br />
<br />
[4] <a href="http://miters.mit.edu/blog/2012/11/02/what-is-a-miters-2/" target="_blank">http://miters.mit.edu/blog/<wbr></wbr>2012/11/02/what-is-a-miters-2/</a> or for more commentary, skim through <a href="http://orangenarwhals.blogspot.com/2013/12/my-reply-to-charless-on-200gokart-us.html" target="_blank">http://orangenarwhals.<wbr></wbr>blogspot.com/2013/12/my-reply-<wbr></wbr>to-charless-on-200gokart-us.<wbr></wbr>html</a><br />
In response to whether people were intimidated by MITERS's reputation or not sent to all MIT undergraduate dorms via email:<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQjUJTN81wSzwITcpvr3K3eQIsHqjNhH0No-Duoa8GBiO3iG33h_iizgn7ZjEnGvGmoqnvDuCM8fJQ3uKC0vB6MV-h2ublgDCd84EuKmmoBeK77u52KHduhaRf2hHT-6jV4-RfllnwEvwy/s1600/miters-intimidation-500x309.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQjUJTN81wSzwITcpvr3K3eQIsHqjNhH0No-Duoa8GBiO3iG33h_iizgn7ZjEnGvGmoqnvDuCM8fJQ3uKC0vB6MV-h2ublgDCd84EuKmmoBeK77u52KHduhaRf2hHT-6jV4-RfllnwEvwy/s320/miters-intimidation-500x309.png" width="320" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPQ0zB1U-UK0gZJytN6GhkMizmFRRBw_canVMS5Vf9J3aWfFCLzQAh7GJ5igBm5Y2Jw7EtT6qNFBJFy5WsBZZKa7YzgCPYZ9jlfifdzuHD3pEpBjC_cwMm4rf73K7_lWqff0DdP2qLgr_9/s1600/miters-fem-500x309.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPQ0zB1U-UK0gZJytN6GhkMizmFRRBw_canVMS5Vf9J3aWfFCLzQAh7GJ5igBm5Y2Jw7EtT6qNFBJFy5WsBZZKa7YzgCPYZ9jlfifdzuHD3pEpBjC_cwMm4rf73K7_lWqff0DdP2qLgr_9/s320/miters-fem-500x309.png" width="320" /></a> <br />
<br />
[5] I also remember reading somewhere how this one programmer felt strongly
that she was a "normal female" who left work at 5 and went out to shop
for shoes and didn't do hackathons during the weekends, and so she
doesn't really have role models she relates to. I also feel this way
strongly due to my experience with MITERS where both M and F were
"intimidated" by the hacker stereotype (although F more so statistically
[4]). <sorry footnotes="" for="" inception="" the=""><br /><br />[6] "But even when fields are defined more precisely, countries differ in
some unexpected ways. A case in point is computer science in Malaysia
and the U.S. While American computer scientists are depicted as male
hackers and geeks, computer science in Malaysia is deemed well-suited
for women because it’s seen as theoretical (not physical) and it takes
place almost exclusively in offices (thought to be woman-friendly
spaces). <b>About half of Malaysian computer science degrees go to women</b>." <a href="http://contexts.org/articles/spring-2011/what-gender-is-science/" target="_blank">http://contexts.org/articles/<wbr></wbr>spring-2011/what-gender-is-<wbr></wbr>science/</a></sorry><br />
<br />
Look at all these countries with >50% of science degrees going to females! (it sounds like the post-graduation opportunities are still lacking though)<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5B7PcnG7S_AQ2q4byH3tjyfm75njseiu1ZZHyLxbOuMSADK0j2ZKrusLnYOTDVxPjDSAqOzCuGuDp8G0yXKQ-DqzqLivXIK6I5Ys2laiH7oExFi77jxStJIINY1SfrvTBSZN_I7FLbVra/s1600/what-gender-is-science-1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5B7PcnG7S_AQ2q4byH3tjyfm75njseiu1ZZHyLxbOuMSADK0j2ZKrusLnYOTDVxPjDSAqOzCuGuDp8G0yXKQ-DqzqLivXIK6I5Ys2laiH7oExFi77jxStJIINY1SfrvTBSZN_I7FLbVra/s320/what-gender-is-science-1.png" width="292" /></a><br />
<br />
[7] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finkbeiner_test" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finkbeiner_test</a><br />
<br />
. To pass the test, an article about a female scientist must not mention:
<br />
<ul>
<li>The fact that she’s a woman</li>
<li>Her husband’s job</li>
<li>...</li>
</ul>
END.
nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-16340031599615232912013-12-22T11:26:00.001-05:002013-12-22T16:17:24.375-05:00donation time!I almost never give to people on the streets. I think my logic is very flawed (irrational fear I'm being taken for naive idiot (does my chinese-american culture play into this?)), but it's habit by now. I will redress my beliefs at some point in the near future with more research.<br />
<br />
In the meantime as I've graduated college and started to <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/narwhaledu/robots-drawing-and-engineering-an-online-course">become an adult</a>, it's time to consider contributing to organizations I believe in. It's also true I shouldn't be thinking about this just once a year, but I think I'll take this step first and then worry about how morally correct or hypocritical all my actions are.<br />
<br />
In part this self-reflection is triggered by this really funny and sobering <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_piff_does_money_make_you_mean.html">TED talk</a>:<br />
"In one of the studies, we bring in rich and poor members of the community into the lab and give each of them the equivalent of 10 dollars. We told the participants that they could keep these 10 dollars for themselves, or they could share a portion of it, if they wanted to, with a stranger who is totally anonymous. They'll never meet that stranger and the stranger will never meet them. And we just monitor how much people give. Individuals who made 25,000 sometimes under 15,000 dollars a year, gave 44 percent more of their money to the stranger than did individuals making 150,000 or 200,000 dollars a year."<br />
<br />
To that end:<br />
(<a href="http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?keyword_list=boston+shelter&Submit2=GO&bay=search.results">some research</a> that I then ignore)<br />
<br />
<b>I live in Boston/Somerville:</b><br />
<ul>
<li><b><a href="http://www.somervillehomelesscoalition.org/">Somerville Homeless Coalition</a><a href="https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/SHC"><br />Donate</a> </b></li>
<li><b><a href="http://www.prohope.org/">Project Hope</a><a href="http://www.prohope.org/donate_give.htm"><br />Donate</a></b> </li>
</ul>
<b>These issues affect people I know:</b><br />
<ul><b>
</b>
<li><b><a href="https://rainn.org/">Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network</a><a href="https://donate.rainn.org/"><br />Donate</a></b></li>
<b>
</b>
<li><b><a href="http://www.barcc.org/">Boston Area Rape Crisis Center</a><a href="http://weblink.donorperfect.com/barcc_donate"><br />Donate</a></b></li>
</ul>
That's it for today. Man, it sort of sucks that for all of these online donations at least 3% of it goes to credit card companies. Oh well, price of living.<br />
<br />
Future research:<br />
<a href="http://blog.ted.com/2013/05/20/20-resources-for-better-giving-and-living-a-more-altruistic-life/">http://blog.ted.com/2013/05/20/20-resources-for-better-giving-and-living-a-more-altruistic-life/</a><br />
Peter Singer is pretty controversial in that he proposes that "Effective altruism begins with reason – the realization that all lives
are of equal value — and looking for charities that affect the most
lives, the most effectively." People (myself included) always get squeamish when we start applying economics to giving.<br />
<br />
He started this site where people pledge to give 10% of their income:<br />
<a href="http://www.givingwhatwecan.org/">http://www.givingwhatwecan.org/</a><br />
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with some more (interesting!) philosophizing here, where he answers thoughtful questions by readers:<br />
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/magazine/24singerqa.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0">http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/magazine/24singerqa.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0</a>nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-35104976228495012442013-12-18T16:58:00.004-05:002013-12-27T03:17:34.852-05:00My Reply to Charles's "On 2.00Gokart": History of U.S. Engineering Education, My Own Experiences (FRC/MITERS/SUTDkart), and NarwhalEdu<h4>
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Engineering Education</h4>
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This post is a compilation of my thoughts as I begin working my way through the following post by Charles, which is 17k words long:</div>
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<a href="http://www.etotheipiplusone.net/?p=3035">http://www.etotheipiplusone.net/?p=3035</a><br />
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<b>My post is itself 7,700 words long and rather rambly and disorganized. You are forewarned!</b> </div>
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This post is flat-out putting my research and thoughts down stream-of-consciousness style, complete with paragraphs of quotes from stuff I read. These quotes makes my style of writing unsuitable for any official media column, which wants the work of the Individual, but on my blog I view quotes as documentation and refuse to remove them. I tend to view summarizing them in my own words as needless duplicate work. In addition, this post is not very <span style="font-style: italic;">organized</span>. I’ll revise this post some future date, but if I tried to make it actually organized I’d never post it.</div>
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In addition, in some sections a lot of MIT terminology (class numbers) is used.</div>
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0. Intro</h4>
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I’m working on an engineering education startup and am thus working in this field for a living. As you might expect I have a lot of thoughts, theories, and opinions based on my own years at MIT and before (I did four years of FIRST Robotics in high school). </div>
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1. Why Read Background Literature on Engineering Education </h4>
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I start by acknowledging the fact that I’m not an expert in education or engineering education and proceed by reading background literature on what people <span style="font-style: italic;">have</span> done and thought about already over the decades. Thanks to the internet, in particular google scholar, this knowledge is merely a few mouse-clicks away. Academic research will always be limited in scope and not always directly applicable to my situation and what I’m attempting to do, but I would be remiss in not reading up on the situation when it’s so easy to do so.</div>
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From this background reading, I’m able to gain the terminology to begin conversing directly with people who have studied this subject and some understanding of social and historical factors influencing the current state of affairs that would come more and more into play as I attempt to scale any changes I seek to make in society. This reading also represents an attempt to understand which conclusions I have drawn from my own life apply to other people (wherein I am part of a trend) and which conclusions I have drawn from experiences in which I am the outlier (most other people react differently or have different experiences in their life). I believe this is another step crucial in improving and iterating on engineering education at scale. This belief, that it’s impossible for me to determine in isolation which of my experiences commonly apply to others and which do not by myself without being subject to clear sampling bias, reinforces my decision to do some background reading.</div>
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Although I acknowledge the sampling bias inherent in only polling my friends, who fall in the same social / cultural strata I do, the ease of doing so and my own curiosity means that if you’re my friend you’ll have been polled by me on various topics. “In your experience, has it been true that...” I believe that this is still better than simply relying on my own experiences, and I hope the previous paragraph explains how I attempt to continuously improve my understanding of the world. (in order to better take it over, of course, mwahaha)</div>
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With all that said, I also think it’s really fantastically important to <span style="font-style: italic;">act</span> and not just study or observe all the time, even if you think yourself a unskilled or there’s the chance that your effort is duplicate work or that “experts” might react negatively to what you’re attempting to do. </div>
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With that, let’s begin.</div>
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<b>Charles talks about:</b></div>
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“I have seen it happen over and <span style="font-style: italic;">over</span> again. A Certain Scientific Department becoming uneasy with how ‘theoretical’ it has become, and with news of other universities’ more ‘hands-on’ approach to engineering making a comeback, tries to add a lab or design component to a class that in recent history has been entirely on paper. The students have never been exposed to real parts and processes before; maybe a few of them have, from their own personal experience in years past. The groups form, there’s much struggle and frustration at how stuff just doesn’t work as well in real life as they do in Solidworks or Matlab, and in the end, maybe one or two projects “work” and everyone else leaves with a really dim view of project classes in general, and some start resenting the Department for ‘not teaching them anything useful’. Does this sound familiar to you?”</div>
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Here, I’d like to give some <b>historical context and terminology</b> for this push-and-pull that Charles describes and is familiar to any historian or anyone who has read about the history of math curricula in the United States. </div>
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(<a href="http://www.csun.edu/~vcmth00m/AHistory.html">http://www.csun.edu/~vcmth00m/AHistory.html</a>)</div>
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“Broadly speaking, the education wars of the past century are best understood as a protracted struggle between content and pedagogy. At first glance, such a dichotomy seems unthinkable. There should no more be conflict between content and pedagogy than between one's right foot and left foot. They should work in tandem toward the same end, and avoid tripping each other. Content is the answer to the question of what to teach, while pedagogy answers the question of how to teach. </div>
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The trouble comes with the first step. Do we lead with the right foot or the left? If content decisions come first, then the choices of pedagogy may be limited. A choice of concentrated content precludes too much student centered, discovery learning, because that particular pedagogy requires more time than stiff content requirements would allow. “</div>
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2. Historical Background of Engineering Education</h4>
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Let’s talk more specifically about the history of engineering education at the college level. Chronologically,</div>
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<a href="http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11338&page=115">http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11338&page=115</a> or in pdf format</div>
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<a href="http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11338">http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11338</a> (requires free account)</div>
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“Yet, it is worth taking a moment to remember that until the end of the nineteenth century, the primary means by which a young man became an engineer was through a hands-on apprenticeship in a machine shop, at a drawing board, behind a transit, or on a construction site. [...] it was not until after the Civil War, when the Morrill Act led to the establishment of land-grant schools, that the dominant pattern of engineering education shifted from shop floors to classrooms.”</div>
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(Patterns in the History of Engineering Education Reform: A Brief Essay. From the book <span style="font-style: italic;">Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century</span> ( 2005 ). This essay details the social historical patterns that led to this shift a century ago and is a fascinating read. Among other things, in engineering and engineering education, we see time and time again the influence that government grants can have. Also, it’s funny to read about how an inferiority complex influenced engineers as a whole back in the day to shift away from shop classes and gives me a smile as I consider how my own inferiority complex has pressured me to try to learn more theory).</div>
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<a href="http://digitalcommons.olin.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=mech_eng_pub">http://digitalcommons.olin.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=mech_eng_pub</a></div>
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“Historically, engineering curricula have been based largely on an “engineering science” model over the last five decades, in which engineering is taught only after a solid basis in science and mathematics. [...] The infusion of first-year design courses—later dubbed corner-stone (design) courses in the 1990s—was motivated by an awareness of the curricular disconnect with first-year students who often did not see any engineering faculty for most of their first two years of study.”</div>
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(Engineering Design Thinking, Teaching, and Learning. Jan 2005, Journal of Engineering Education).</div>
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<a href="http://mchua.fedorapeople.org/tmp/juntolin/1995%20Seely.pdf">http://mchua.fedorapeople.org/tmp/juntolin/1995%20Seely.pdf</a></div>
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“In effect, current reforms are responding to changes made in American engineering colleges in the years immediately after World War II (1939-1945), when engineering curricula first fully embraced an analytical mode of engineering science.”</div>
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(The Other Re-engineering of Engineering Education, 1900–1965. Jul 1999, Journal of Engineering Education).</div>
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According to Charles,</div>
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“My whole thesis, if it had to be boiled and distilled and refined down, is this: <span style="font-weight: 600;">Give students the tools of practicality and channel their creativity first, and supplement them with the knowledge of theory and science later</span>.</div>
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With our newfound historical perspective, Charles’s sentiment can be seen as part of a broader reactionary trend starting in the 1990s shifting toward design thinking and away from the analytical sciences.</div>
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3. My Thesis: Different Strokes for Different Folks</h4>
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Given this historical context, my own thesis is “different strokes for different folks” or “different resonant frequencies for different students.” I find a hands-on approach more beneficial to myself, but acknowledge that there exist students (and professors) who do not like “applied” engineering at all and thrive with theoretical approaches. In this case, the parameter of engineering education we care about (tailoring) may be viewed along a spectrum from (a) continuously customized to each individual student’s learning strengths to (b) mass-fed to all students in the same way. By solely emphasizing either the theoretical or hands-on approach, we will neglect a subset of students. Furthermore, this whole emphasis on “theoretical” or “hands-on” is very obviously a simplified approach and not necessarily the best simplification either.</div>
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To be more explicit, consider this approach taken to an extreme. A model of learning that uses a binary divide between “analytical” and “applied” students can be used to chunk students into two categories. From the relative size of the two groups, we may target the larger group and write the smaller group off as a loss.</div>
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Analytical and applied may not even be the best binary divide of students, and more to the point is a binary divide the best we can do?</div>
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Let’s consider the background literature on this topic.</div>
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4. Existing Research on My Thesis</h4>
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<a href="http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/LS-1988.pdf">http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/LS-1988.pdf</a></div>
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“To overcome these problems, professors should strive for a balance of instructional methods (as opposed to trying to teach each student exclusively according to his or her preferences.) If the balance is achieved, all students will be taught partly in a manner they prefer, which leads to an increased comfort level and willingness to learn, and partly in a less preferred manner, which provides practice and feedback in ways of thinking and solving problems which they may not initially be comfortable with but which they will have to use to be fully effective professionals.”</div>
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(Learning and Teaching Styles in Engineering Education. Originally 1988; updated preface 2002. The author’s website, <a href="ttp://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/">http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/</a>, is also a treasure trove of “Resources in Science and Engineering Education” that I will need to peruse at a later date).</div>
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Hmm. So here we see that researchers have been considering this “learning-styles approach” for three decades already and that after extensive thought on the subject on engineer has, on the tailorization spectrum mentioned in part 3, picked somewhere in the middle! To be expected, yet surprising for me, since with “online learning” and computerized instruction picking up public fervor there’s been so much hype lately about how “teaching continuously customized for each individual” would be the best type of teaching possible. Yep, my own opinions are influenced by the culture I reside in.</div>
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A. Tangent about the Engineering Education Research Community</h3>
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Turns out within this community there is a growing split between theoreticians and practitioners! Holy hexapods this is meta beyond what I expected. Incepptiionnn...</div>
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<a href="http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/PracticeResearch.pdf">http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/PracticeResearch.pdf</a></div>
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“While the rigorous research movement has made valuable contributions to engineering education, it has also given rise to a concern. The engineering education research community has begun to split into two divergent and sometimes antagonistic groups: the theoreticians, who seek to understand the learning process at a fundamental level, and the practitioners, who continue to focus their research on improving teaching structures and methods. Those descriptions represent extremes, with many researchers occupying intermediate positions, but the existence of the two different camps and the danger of a widening schism between them are real.”</div>
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(Educational Practice And Educational Research In Engineering: Partners, Antagonists, Or Ships Passing In The Night? <span style="font-style: italic;">J. Engr. Education, </span>2013)</div>
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Uhm yea I am not going further down this rabbit hole right now. *exits paper*</div>
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5. Learning Styles Models: Criticisms</h4>
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<a href="http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Learning_Styles.html">http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Learning_Styles.html</a></div>
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“Principles and applications of four learning style models (Felder-Silverman, Kolb, and models based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument). The paper concludes that the choice of a model is almost irrelevant: <span style="font-weight: 600;">teaching designed to address all dimensions on any of the models is likely to be effective, and all of the models lead to more or less the same instructional approach.”</span></div>
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"Matters of Style." <span style="font-style: italic;">ASEE Prism, </span>(December 1996). </div>
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Ah! This is a fascinating conclusion.</div>
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Below, I addresses my own lingering skepticisms about “learning-styles” models. This skepticism arose from when I learned that the popular “right-brain left-brain” and “visual/kinesthetic/auditory” learning-styles is considered by most modern education researchers to be a pile of horse dung. See:</div>
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_styles#Criticism">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_styles#Criticism</a></div>
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“Many educational psychologists believe that there is little evidence for the efficacy of most learning style models, and furthermore, that the models often rest on dubious theoretical grounds.<span style="text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: super;">[34]</span> According to Stahl,<span style="text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: super;">[35]</span> there has been an "utter failure to find that assessing children's learning styles and matching to instructional methods has any effect on their learning."”</div>
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Let’s dig deeper than wikipedia.</div>
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<a href="http://linksprogram.gmu.edu/tutorcorner/NCLC495Readings/Stahl_DifferentStrokes.pdf">http://linksprogram.gmu.edu/tutorcorner/NCLC495Readings/Stahl_DifferentStrokes.pdf</a></div>
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Oh noes! It’s actually titled the same as my thesis, haha. “Different Strokes for Different Folks? A Critique of Learning Styles.” (American Educator, Fall 1999). And it does indeed have the quote cited in wikipedia and copied above and concludes</div>
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“Thoughtful educators have tried to make this work, and perhaps it is workable, but trying to meet all of the preferences of a group of children would seem to take energy that would be better spent on other things. This is especially true since no one has proven it works.”</div>
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Let’s go back from Stahl to Felder.</div>
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<a href="http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/LS_Validity%28On-Course%29.pdf">http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/LS_Validity%28On-Course%29.pdf</a></div>
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“Every two years or so, some academic psychologists conduct a literature review and conclude that no research supports the use of learning styles in teaching, and journal reviewer s and editors treat this conclusion as a new revelation that once and for all debunks learning styles. These pronouncements have never had the slightest effect on the world academic community’s extensive and continually growing use of learning styles models and assessment instrument s, but that has never deterred others from repeating the exercise two years later [...] </div>
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Most learning styles debunkers base their arguments on the meshing hypothesis. They claim they have found no credible evidence that matching teaching to students’ learning style preferences leads to improved learning, so there is no reason to take learning styles into account when designing instruction. [...]</div>
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Learning styles [...] are neither infallible guides to student behavior nor made-up constructs that have no basis in reality, but simply useful descriptions of common behavior patterns. Although their validity is routinely challenged in the psychology literature, the most common learning styles models have been used frequently and successfully to help teachers design effective instruction; help students better understand their own learning processes; and help both teachers and students realize that not everyone is like them and the differences are often worth celebrating.”</div>
</blockquote>
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(Are Learning Styles Invalid? (Hint: No!) <span style="font-style: italic;">On-Course Newsletter</span>, September 27, 2010.)</div>
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Interesting. This is a more nuanced view than I have previously encountered and the one I will leave with at this point.</div>
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6. Return to Reading Charles’s Post, Part 1</h4>
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Ah. I quote a lot when writing my posts (documentation!), but I’m at 2.5k words already and only just got to Part 1 of Charles’s post? Oh dear.</div>
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Hmm, interesting history about MITERS. Todo: write my own personal history of building things (analog to part 1) and MITERS (analog to part 2).</div>
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“where do you learn about how to design with and around the hardware or to use the tools available to you?”</div>
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This. This crucial skill is what we will be trying to teach in the second part of the <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/narwhaledu/robots-drawing-and-engineering-an-online-course">NarwhalEdu Drawing, Robots, and Engineering course</a> and what I spent a long time trying to explain to <a href="http://hackaday.com/2013/11/22/learn-engineering-and-draw-narwhals/#comments">hackaday commenters</a>.</div>
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<b>Part 3 on Charles's Post.</b> Interesting history of the electric vehicle / go-kart section in 2.007.</div>
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<b>Part 4.</b></div>
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One comment I’d like to make with regards to scope in design classes -- from talking to a professor at the Tufts Center for Engineering Outreach, a crucial feature we’ll be incorporating into our own “build things contest” is a common theme. Turns out that if you leave the field wide-open people get lost and it’s less possible for students to learn from one another. </div>
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<b>Part 6</b>. </div>
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“for the most part I kept the selection hidden in an Instructors’ Only closet, but if someone “ordered” a part that was in the stock, it was available after 1 or 2 days of artificial delay to keep things fair; I had a queuing area for shipments as they come in, and the parts would magically appear in them.”</div>
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Huh! I... did not know that while I was TAing the class (the artificial delay).</div>
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“and shows again why this class might not be scalable unless you had multiple EV hacker gurus.”</div>
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Heh. I’ll give my own thoughts as a TA of the SUTD-gokart class with zero EV experience <strike>soon. </strike>(well, I guess hexarideablepod was electric, but it was definitely not a go-kart). <b>EDIT: Didn't make it into this blog post. Maybe next time.</b></div>
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Chicane? There’s a word for that funny turn? Haha.</div>
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In my view, what I had to contribute lay more along fabrication (”what’s a tap”) and debugging expertise (”halp this isn’t working” “okay let’s go download the manual online and read through it”). As in any class, there tend to be common questions that I was learning along with or just hours before. In fact, I’d say that by the end of the class everyone single student was 100% more proficient with designing and building electric vehicles than I was, since I’ve yet to build a working one (again not counting hexarideablepod). I approach explaining the design process differently than Charles does, and I think in part this is because of the “expert” paradox where it becomes impossible to remember just how overwhelming everything seems when you are starting out.</div>
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B. Tangent: Expert Teachers vs. Experienced Teachers</h3>
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In other words, it’s possible to spend a long time teaching without become as good at it as you can be. </div>
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“<span style="font-weight: 600;">Expertise is a process rather than a state.</span> Experts continuously extend the outer edge of their competence.” </div>
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<a href="http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/jenny-johnson/experienced-teachers-or-expert-teachers">http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/jenny-johnson/experienced-teachers-or-expert-teachers </a></div>
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<b>Part 7.</b></div>
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“Many engineering students would prefer not to ask questions and tough/puzzle it out, when it is far more productive to grab a hint and move on, and you should be on the lookout for people who are too stuck trying to optimize in the wrong direction.” </div>
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Hmm, would have been good to know this was the philosophy Charles followed while working as a TA. Whoops! :D</div>
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<b>Part 8.</b></div>
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“I’ve received feedback a few times that the class was really’ you teaching yourself’, both expressing that positively <span style="font-style: italic;">and</span> negatively.” </div>
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This is where I struggled as a TA to try to figure out where my building style fit into the class. My style, as a relatively inexperienced builder, is still more copy-paste “I Saw it On the Internet” than Charles’s. Thus, he would answer questions like “How do I make my steering linkage?” with “I don’t know the answer, you figure it out!” whereas I would answer by saying, “I don’t know, but you know, look at all these blogs your previous classmates wrote” while feeling vaguely guilty of not being a more technically-oriented instructor.</div>
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Let’s explain my experience with </div>
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“<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTFM">It comes down to being <span style="font-style: italic;">resourceful</span> and discovering ways to help yourself (and your team) through the project, and reserving raising your hand and asking the teacher for very specific moments</a>.” </div>
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I have the very opposite problem with strangers -- I worried about bothering people so much that part of the reason my Fitbit supervisor refused to write a letter of recommendation for me for grad school applications was that I didn’t ask for help when I got stuck, instead struggling to solve questions on my own that were harder to solve because there’s a lot less MSP430 documentation than Atmega328 documentation online, which I was used to. So I was penalized pretty heavily for attempting to be <span style="font-style: italic;">too</span> self-sufficient. I also discovered I’m not really a fan of writing firmware, but that’s another story.</div>
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I do like the point about how building a large go-kart reduces the fudge factor acceptable with smaller projects (on the scale of NarwhalEdu projects which can fit in your hand, and which I think are more appropriate for the freshman level of college).</div>
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<b>Part 10</b>.</div>
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“2.00gokart is not an attempt to start some sort of design revolution, nor is it meant to overturn the foundations of a modern engineering education. <span style="font-weight: 600;">It is simply one other path, out of myriads,</span> that motivated and spirited people have built in the interest of advancing the quality and accessibility of education for everyone.”</div>
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Well-said.</div>
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7. Overall Response</h4>
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Alright, now that I have finished reading the post, I’d like to provide my response <span style="font-style: italic;">without</span> reading through the ten or so engineering education papers I have queued up. I’ll maybe write another blog post tomorrow.</div>
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Charles starts out very strongly with his thesis that hands-on is the best thing since hobbyking and then sort of mellows out toward the end (“there are many paths”). In general, I found this post extremely useful as a snapshot of engineering education and the conclusions and theories about engineering education of one of my fellow MIT/MITERS engineers, as well as a catalyst for my own continued forays into the field of engineering education.</div>
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I am fortunately able to write a much shorter post as I have yet to have the experience in engineering / engineering education that Charles has had. I will note that due to my own sensibilities I have spent more brainpower on issues such as gender rather than solely on the value of hands-on education as opposed to theoretical classes. Perhaps I need to write my own post on gender and engineering education in order to catalyze my research paper reading into the area, but I’ll leave that for a future post. For a bit of reading into this subject, see <a href="http://miters.mit.edu/blog/2012/11/02/what-is-a-miters-2/">http://miters.mit.edu/blog/2012/11/02/what-is-a-miters-2/</a>.</div>
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Thus, I will split my response into the following portions, in analog to Charles’s post.</div>
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<b>ONE. Pre-MIT</b></div>
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<b>TWO. MIT</b></div>
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<b>THREE. MIT - MITERS</b></div>
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<b>FOUR. MIT - 2.007</b></div>
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<b>FIVE. Post-MIT</b></div>
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8. Detailed Response</h4>
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ONE. Pre-MIT</h3>
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My <a href="http://prhsrobotics.com/">high school had FIRST robotics</a>, which I did for four years and which ultimately convinced me that I wanted to be an engineer. I didn’t really understand what mechanical engineering meant, other than building robots. I didn’t decide I wanted to go to MIT until I visited in 10th grade.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9QQWytLo4uM/RhUbhQfne2I/AAAAAAAAAAs/pn41x_LutWY/s720/DSCN0197.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9QQWytLo4uM/RhUbhQfne2I/AAAAAAAAAAs/pn41x_LutWY/s320/DSCN0197.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">hanna and I! we don't seem to have changed much.</td></tr>
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Yet despite participating in robotics for four years, I found it easy to get sucked into doing the non-technical work, a tension always within me: technical work made me compare myself to others and feel bad, but I was really conscious of the gender gap all the time and wanted to learn the technical side.</div>
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In fact after four years my bucket list was like so:</div>
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“1. Learn to chain<br />
2. Learn to run wire, specifially learn about the & hone my soldering skills<br />
3. Drive the robot for at least ten minutes<br />
4. Go on the field<br />
5. Make a decision”</div>
</blockquote>
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Really? After four years I still didn’t know how to break and reassemble chain? It’s like a five-minute thing to learn how to do, and I spent far more time being too agonizingly shy to ask how to do it than it would have to just learn it. (Nowadays I would just look it up on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93CPI9_TstA">youtube</a>). I often wonder if in larger teams (our team had around 50 students) the division of labor is gender-split such that it’s very easy, if you go with the flow and are female, to spend four years and a crapton of time being inspired but not gaining technical expertise. In contrast to Charles’s experiences in FIRST robotics, in four years I never learned to CAD or uploaded a Labview program I wrote to the robot or to wire 24V drivetrains. My dad would always laugh at me: “All you’ve learned is to turn screws.”</div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="ttp://mitpress.mit.edu/books/why-so-slow">Why So Slow</a> </span>places a lot of emphasis on the idea that very very tiny advantages and disadvantages accumulate over time, and presents a <span style="font-style: italic;">ton</span> (actually; it’s taken me a month to work through this book it’s that dry) of research supporting this theory. My hypothesis (has not been investigated) is that guys who put in as much time into FIRST as I did got far more out of it in technical expertise. If true, is that my personality fault or partly attributable to gender? Another thing that <span style="font-style: italic;">Why So Slow</span> taught me is that gender differences start being measurable very early, within months after birth. So I’m willing to bet that by high school these vague impressions I got had some basis in reality. Let’s not even get into how my parents didn’t exactly encourage me to go to the extra team meetings on programming and such during the summer that were invariably held at a guy teammate’s house.</div>
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This is why I will never ever be happy for long playing second fiddle to a guy around my age -- we can work on different projects, but if we work on the same project it better darn well be one in which we are equals. Sorry Charles, writing this post has actually clarified that I am not happy simply being the TA to your class and would prefer to spend my time elsewhere. Thank you for the awesome opportunity though.</div>
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It’s so true that the gender of a person shouldn’t affect whether I am willing to take advice and learn from them. Why is it then, that if Charles were a gal I’d be happy to learn from someone who has years more experience building things than I do, whereas since Charles is a guy I just feel like I’m constantly being reminded of the possibility of systematic pressures that kept me from gaining this experience at a commensurate rate? Not sure, too busy being bitter to care, hah.</div>
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Of course, I recognize that I’m pretty darn fortunate compared to my MIT friends from rural areas to have gone to a public high school in Georgia with a FIRST team and a ton of AP classes, and it’s pointless to wonder about how else my life would have gone. My life is pretty awesome and blessed right now.</div>
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Another thing that I had was northern team envy, I felt like there was a gap in available mentors and facilities between the north and south. Don’t know if that’s true or not either.</div>
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But I’d say most of my feelings toward robotics could be themed around: inadequacy, inferiority, incompetency. My analysis of the situation at the time was as follows:</div>
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“Who cares what the rookies think, the honest truth is that I don't know any of this stuff. I'll be in a completely different place next year, now is the chance to learn this stuff and embarrass myself and no one will know next year. This is logical. So why is it still so difficult to be confident and speak forth my opinions; why am I still so afraid that people will find them ridiculous, or completely missing the point.”</div>
</blockquote>
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Anyway, I had some small science fair projects of my own at the time, which is how I first heard of <a href="http://instructables.com/">Instructables</a> (did you know that back in the day they advertised show-and-tells at MITERS?) and built a version of the pringles can <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/SDBZLS7F1B3R9SI/">vertical-axis wind turbine</a>. I also learned of <a href="http://www.ladyada.net/">ladyada</a> around this time when I made a solar-powered USB charger (I couldn’t keep series and parallel circuits straight, haha) and learned to solder courtesy of my dad. Even then I was exploiting the school system to build things -^-^-</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiftVvpwwME_MF9gXu1RQVvQkeVD09-DMFGe90glXgk7j_P2XhyBOzvxoB7OR1fTOvTH9n6k9mcYNM78eaIRLwbeyVFlVwKExlJcmYpp5W38Wqen3ILCC9BH5daeo7udkJGlaEx0PY9bKIC/s1600/P1010219.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiftVvpwwME_MF9gXu1RQVvQkeVD09-DMFGe90glXgk7j_P2XhyBOzvxoB7OR1fTOvTH9n6k9mcYNM78eaIRLwbeyVFlVwKExlJcmYpp5W38Wqen3ILCC9BH5daeo7udkJGlaEx0PY9bKIC/s320/P1010219.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">inspired by <a href="http://www.ladyada.net/make/mintyboost/">http://www.ladyada.net/make/mintyboost/</a></td></tr>
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TWO. MIT</h3>
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Alright, high school’s over, I spend a summer at the <a href="http://cdc.gov/">CDC</a> doing bio work and then head to MIT.</div>
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Hahaha heck if I know how to make a narrative or heads or tails out of my academics at MIT. I’ve actually been thinking about this a lot, how my attitude affects how I portray my path through MIT and there’s no clear “truth.” I tend to default by saying that I never got academics at MIT and was rejected from grad school and decided to go work on a startup. Consider this with how Charles portrays his path through MIT: </div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<i></i>That, combined with my attitude towards engineering as
something fun and hilarious (instead of SRS BIDNESS) meant that I spent
most of my undergrad career not paying attention to classes. I openly
admit to and am proud to point out cherrypicking only what I found
relevant to some project I had going on at the time and shutting out the
rest" </blockquote>
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My portrayal is objectively a very self-deprecating way of putting things. Who does this portrayal even benefit? This sort of modesty certainly hasn’t stopped internet haters from hating on me.</div>
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<ul>
<li>I could point out that I never took 6.003 and 2.004 or finished 6.302 and only limped through 2.737 by relying on <a href="http://scolton.blogspot.com/">Shane</a>. Or I could say that I was so awesome that without ever formally taking a controls class I dared to take a grad mechatronics class and passed it.</li>
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<ul>
<li>I could say that I was rejected from grad school, or I could say that I only applied to one program (MIT) with a very clear idea of what I wanted to do. If they weren’t going to support my working on that, then I would go off and work on the idea anyway by co-founding my own startup, and I darn well successfully did exactly that (see: <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/narwhaledu/robots-drawing-and-engineering-an-online-course">kickstarter</a><span style="font-style: italic;">). </span></li>
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<ul>
<li>I could say that I limped my way through MIT, or I could say that despite dealing with being hospitalized and paranoid and depressed and other crap I graduated in mechanical engineering from MIT in four years while being less stressed out than many people I know.</li>
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<ul>
<li>I could say that I’ve never had a really successful UROP or internship, or I could say that after trying out the possibilities, I went back to my childhood dream of being an entrepreneur, became one, and for now have found where I’m happy.</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>I could say that our kickstarter hasn’t gone viral like Heidi and Bayley and Daniel’s oneTesla, that I’ve never made a really pro-looking project. Or I could say that I had firm educational ideas and goals in mind (make a kit that makes people think “I could build that!” and is designed to be taken apart so people go on to build their own thing) despite strong cultural and economic incentives to not do so (everyone thinks Apple is the pinnacle of design and that quadcopters and 3d printers are the coolest ever). *</li>
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* As our goal is also to be able to impact a wide audience, the benefits of using something that’s hyped may outweigh the benefits of a more principled kit design that only reaches a smaller audience. We’ll probably try both and see.</div>
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Anyway, getting ahead of ourselves here. Back to MIT. In general, my feelings at MIT didn’t change terribly much from my feelings about robotics in high school: I felt incompetent, inferior, and inadequate. For the most part, MIT didn’t give me grand theories about how the existing academic system didn’t fit me and others like me. </div>
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Charles:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The classes I did the worst in were the ones that I couldn’t connect to anything I was building. The drudgery. </blockquote>
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I felt instead judged and found wanting at MIT. I didn’t fare well grade-wise even in project-based classes such as 6.131, 2.007, or 2.008 that my friends loved. All these classes did was make me compare myself to my peers at MITERS and feel sad.</div>
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Glossary: <a href="http://web.mit.edu/6.131/www/">6.131 </a>Power Electronics, a very time-consuming and awesome lab class. Mostly EECS/MechE sophomores and juniors. <a href="http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mechanical-engineering/2-007-design-and-manufacturing-i-spring-2009/">2.007</a> Design and Manufacturing I, sophomore MechE class (build a robot). <a href="http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mechanical-engineering/2-008-design-and-manufacturing-ii-spring-2004/">2.008</a><span id="goog_214584367"></span><span id="goog_214584368"></span>, Design and Manufacturing II, junior MechE class (build a yoyo). <a href="http://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/863.13/">MAS.863</a> How to Make Almost Anything, all majors/years.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MIT / hell ambigram</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz9ZQzpn_x7-yEgOjfDuRbBeZXJCs4MnaABO3p5JyKAOB4BLgc4WmJAOZ2PnagDLx94EVEcKWKm0Q2CJWetiywvAQ6O5EYM1YaWjLxh4UokkMIes34qbcZVaTk5vulVb5-Uzm1_FmaNHH2/s1600/DSCN2350.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz9ZQzpn_x7-yEgOjfDuRbBeZXJCs4MnaABO3p5JyKAOB4BLgc4WmJAOZ2PnagDLx94EVEcKWKm0Q2CJWetiywvAQ6O5EYM1YaWjLxh4UokkMIes34qbcZVaTk5vulVb5-Uzm1_FmaNHH2/s320/DSCN2350.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">my 2.007 bot. read more <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Simple-18dof-Hexapod-Arduino-nano-optionally-wit/">here</a></td></tr>
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6.131 in particular was a class I thought I would love, but instead destroyed my confidence so utterly that even after graduating sometimes the thought of opening <a href="http://www.andyholtin.com/links/Practical_Electronics_for_Inventors.pdf">Practical Electronics for Inventors,</a> which should be a fun read, filled me with dread.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0_2snVkB0vdHtKMO5XAhGxFdCcNUChUJTsehw_iB_pxuUhp5CWW1EhnqmvrHaHtHsyeFL_2XTxGVKYe23Cdxw4RwHSqRr9_9lMwfLXxOIzL8GnQ2eFlTuDyjPYCF8MSBtqNosCwxwawok/s1600/DSCN2548.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0_2snVkB0vdHtKMO5XAhGxFdCcNUChUJTsehw_iB_pxuUhp5CWW1EhnqmvrHaHtHsyeFL_2XTxGVKYe23Cdxw4RwHSqRr9_9lMwfLXxOIzL8GnQ2eFlTuDyjPYCF8MSBtqNosCwxwawok/s320/DSCN2548.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2 AM 6.131 parties...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Voap23Tw7gE/TuxV_O8N0DI/AAAAAAAAono/QQw23IaYtRE/s1600/DSCN3692.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Voap23Tw7gE/TuxV_O8N0DI/AAAAAAAAono/QQw23IaYtRE/s320/DSCN3692.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">uguu traumatic final project: <a href="http://orangenarwhals.blogspot.com/2011/12/emergency-motor-controller-fail.html">48 hour 24v h-bridge</a>, never finished</td></tr>
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Perhaps the class I like the best was MAS.863, How to Make Almost Anything, but for me it felt like the only classes I did well in were “soft” classes instead of science classes (and therefore I was inadequate, incompetent, inferior). I’m not sure if I pick this class ranking up from society or from my long-time impression that anything I was good at must have been easy. That class is awesome -- learn a new tool every week and do a project with it. There was no fear of “where is the Morally Bad Copying line” -- you were encouraged to learn from each other and document the frick out of everything and learn however you could (be resourceful). Your projects were encouraged to be entirely your own creation, so there was “design” and not just “machining” in it. As Charles points out, though, sometimes there's a lot to be learned even in "copying" something. My one project that was an iteration of an existing design -- a shelving unit made out of a single 8x4 piece of wood, which I rejiggered to cut out on the CNC shopbot -- still taught me useful things about Solidworks. (Mostly I really wanted a usable shelf).</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dgG821ktrOs/TpwvIcIUHWI/AAAAAAAAn7E/9Fwu1kiXO-Y/s1600/gg_clean2_eqns_mirrored_trimmed.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dgG821ktrOs/TpwvIcIUHWI/AAAAAAAAn7E/9Fwu1kiXO-Y/s320/gg_clean2_eqns_mirrored_trimmed.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">shelf -> solidworks. read more <a href="http://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/863.11/people/nancy.ouyang/Week4/Week4.html">here</a></td></tr>
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THREE. MIT - MITERS</h3>
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I became heavily involved with <a href="http://miters.mit.edu/">MITERS, MIT’s student-run hackerspace</a>, founded in the 70s before hackerspaces were even a thing. I first heard of MITERS in relation to dumpster diving even before visiting for CPW, but that’s for another story. At CPW I got a bunch of LEDs from MITERS really awkwardly, and my next forays into MITERS weren’t really until second-semester sophomore year. I started taking over secretarial duties and building hexapods at MITERS and then next thing I knew I was president.</div>
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I summarized my goals as president in a previous post: <a href="http://miters.mit.edu/blog/2012/11/02/what-is-a-miters-2/">http://miters.mit.edu/blog/2012/11/02/what-is-a-miters-2/</a></div>
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A year later, I wouldn’t say my efforts were really successful in terms of getting the administration to know about us in a positive light or to encourage more diversity in MITERS by getting rid of the “we’re an intimidating elitist bunch of hackers and you are not welcome. N00b.” impression some people got. I can’t even say that my efforts brought new members to MITERS. That’s okay, that’s part of experimentation.</div>
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Were you ever intimidated by MITERS?<br />
“whoa these people are so awesome, it’s so awkward when I ask n00b questions, etc.”<b><b><br />
</b></b><br />
<ul>
<li>yes, but now I hang out at MITERS</li>
<li>yes, that’s why i don’t hang out at MITERS</li>
<li>no</li>
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But this was perhaps my first forays into engineering education. After taking MAS.863 How to Make Almost Anything I realized I’d learned a lot and could help people with different things. That was the inspiration for the seminar series “<a href="http://miters.mit.edu/seminars/">build all the things</a>”. The idea is that if we gave people a starting point, they’d have a reason to come hang out around MITERS. The first seminar, a 555 seminar, had over 100 people queued up to take it.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDdBZ8tWaTS0hR-aiujKvripiT3Sgq5atBlZlMr3Lcu5O5_BdENIoGzw9qr5663iRGldTMOwApPb5PAmx3jUzzhPuJsOKtVaVOsnXQWQySH6O1sidZOXxwH2cbJzEXcjfxHcKNqNRb8ac3/s640/P1000889.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDdBZ8tWaTS0hR-aiujKvripiT3Sgq5atBlZlMr3Lcu5O5_BdENIoGzw9qr5663iRGldTMOwApPb5PAmx3jUzzhPuJsOKtVaVOsnXQWQySH6O1sidZOXxwH2cbJzEXcjfxHcKNqNRb8ac3/s320/P1000889.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">EAGLE seminar</td></tr>
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One unfortunate consequence of BAtT being super-popular at first (or at least more popular than the 5 extra people MITERS can support) was that it was held upstairs in a clean environment and very few people ventured into MITERS afterward. But all in all BAtT surprised me in how many people were willing to <span style="font-weight: 600;">show up on a Friday night for something they didn’t get credit for </span>just because they wanted to learn to build things. 555 LEDs are thoroughly documented online and the components readily available at MITERS, yet people found utility in a bit more hand-holding than before.</div>
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I think one good thing about MIT is that it has taught me that people come in with very different backgrounds and no one will judge you for not knowing things. Just ask. I’ve met people who ask questions I would never dream of asking before consulting the internet, yet the atmosphere at MITERS has been really great. Being very definitely not a top student academically in college as opposed to the situation in high school helps too.</div>
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In a future post I’ll touch on how my mood heavily impacts how much I’m able to benefit from an environment like MITERS.</div>
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At MITERS I built things. Lots of things. Crazy things. Terrible crazy things. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/jfMJ--y5clQqwxstCrAI2jiwfIoV9rI249jSY4pn7M8a=w876-h657-no" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/jfMJ--y5clQqwxstCrAI2jiwfIoV9rI249jSY4pn7M8a=w876-h657-no" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">read more <a href="http://miters.mit.edu/blog/2011/10/24/nyancat-party/">here</a></td></tr>
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I loved staying up until dawn with MITERS folks talking about really terrible crazy awesome technical things. I hated not understanding what people were talking about. But I sure as heck started out copying things and <a href="http://orangenarwhals.blogspot.com/2011/05/dreaming-of-dancing-hexapods-2007.html">Designing by Looking at the Internet</a>.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic-M-6TG9yKqItNLKU-CngYEDzqhvSUUPyRX71j47l7p1Jvi2dsV7sRVnRRUR5Bl0H7TYXDB2b_lQcYU7w2trwYBgn-RHkbJzdjHuVIcUoq2FXTdVmgUvezwqYPMhS58JTpbT77Nm72HLX/s200/Amigo_Hexapod_Leg_03.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic-M-6TG9yKqItNLKU-CngYEDzqhvSUUPyRX71j47l7p1Jvi2dsV7sRVnRRUR5Bl0H7TYXDB2b_lQcYU7w2trwYBgn-RHkbJzdjHuVIcUoq2FXTdVmgUvezwqYPMhS58JTpbT77Nm72HLX/s200/Amigo_Hexapod_Leg_03.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">look familiar? I copied my leg design straight from <a href="http://pacess.blogspot.com/2010/08/amigo-hexapod-leg-design-03.html">http://pacess.blogspot.com/2010/08/amigo-hexapod-leg-design-03.html</a></td></tr>
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Actually, I felt really crappy about this for a long time. My <a href="http://hackaday.com/2012/09/30/rideable-hexawalker-is-chibikarts-kin/">hackaday</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMzwa4OR5R4#t=0">mention </a>was for a project I implemented off of a <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Hexabot-Build-a-heavy-duty-six-legged-robot/">really detailed instructables</a>. But you know what? Whatever. I did the wiring myself, figured out how to add a sweet adjustable racing chair I crufted from some basement, figured out how to mount the motors in a removable fashion (well, not actually). I <i>learned</i> things.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFPAdnhmojBiF_iaLBbBEmAQXPg7mFKE_4l3SEfmp1HzhYviNcfLgN-oubbLiBt5sOluOU-h3eMuwptBF46usDc0ejHbS97xR7DcR_rsgXM8sbIuRo4x8ky0K4xOPg1QkwWkTmU0l-auTx/s1600/hexapod" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFPAdnhmojBiF_iaLBbBEmAQXPg7mFKE_4l3SEfmp1HzhYviNcfLgN-oubbLiBt5sOluOU-h3eMuwptBF46usDc0ejHbS97xR7DcR_rsgXM8sbIuRo4x8ky0K4xOPg1QkwWkTmU0l-auTx/s320/hexapod" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://orangenarwhals.blogspot.com/search/label/hexarideablepod">Work in progress</a></td></tr>
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(I’m still sad I lost the camera that had my pictures for my entire summer’s worth of working on hexarideablepod on it).</div>
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So that’s my experience with MITERS. <b>The main conclusion</b> re: engineering education: a lot of people can benefit for a tiny bit more guidance, like a catalyst, rather than just being thrown into the waters of MITERS.<br />
<br />
The way we used to do it was have people show up on build party nights and show them the giant stores of <span style="font-style: italic;">stuff</span> we had accumulated and a few projects that people had built and then say, “have at it!” We noticed that in those cases people tended to come in for a few minutes, leave, and never return. So now we’re trying different things. I tried organized seminars that cast a wide net. The current president is trying semi-organized one-on-one mentoring.</div>
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Speaking of “here’s a ton of cruft,” I tend to also categorize builders into two categories, those that create <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Segstick/">awesomeness from stuff lying around</a>, spending less money and more time, and those that tend to spend money to get the exact parts they want and execute according to a plan. People can definitely transition between these two states -- I’ve veered sharply toward the latter as I’ve started to earn money, but I can see how you can learn things a lot more in-depth with the former approach, and I’ve always considered it the more “hardcore” or legitimate approach. You can see sharp contrasts from <a href="http://www.etotheipiplusone.net/?p=1761">person</a> to <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Improvised-Folk-Fiddle/">person</a> as well. Apparently when going commercial it works the opposite way around though.</div>
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FOUR. MIT - 2.007</h3>
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2.007 is Design and Manufacturing I, for sophomore mechanical engineers.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibm8ZrXdJ5MqUHY7uA5RjMTqEPXGNbnxKrEX6iiL-qTA1mjrS6MjEIcwDs8db6DlByKY82Gk-vtHnhpVYYr6ZMZK0NgerDtPeH4-zbpYSwVaQQeKsdM_6C76SBrDpDEyREygjVCn67uIwP/s1600/P1000045.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibm8ZrXdJ5MqUHY7uA5RjMTqEPXGNbnxKrEX6iiL-qTA1mjrS6MjEIcwDs8db6DlByKY82Gk-vtHnhpVYYr6ZMZK0NgerDtPeH4-zbpYSwVaQQeKsdM_6C76SBrDpDEyREygjVCn67uIwP/s320/P1000045.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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As mentioned before, I applied to grad school, most specifically to work on an EdX version of 2.007 (again, don’t apply the way I did -- if you want grad school, tell them you want to do research). I had TA’d 2.007 as well, where I developed A Lot of Opinions on TA work.</div>
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(A) Give them a heads’ up on the material you’re about to cover. Most TA’s took the class a little while ago and will do great with a refresher.</div>
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(B) Give them a definite hierarchy if there’s more than five or so people.</div>
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(C) Some TA’s have never TA’d before! Best to let them talk to those that have TA’d extensively before.</div>
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(D) Communicate your expectations to your TA’s and how they can best help.</div>
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(E) Give them feedback, otherwise how they feel they’re doing may be entirely divorced from how you feel they’re doing.</div>
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Anyway, <b>things I learned</b> from TA’ing the class: you don’t have to know everything and it’s fine to say you don’t. Just help them work through the problem, especially if they’re new to debugging, or point them to someone who likely has more knowledge on that particular subject than you do.</div>
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My observation was that the experience for 100+ students was overall a bit haphazard due to variations in what they got to do and a lacking in the above five components.</div>
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One issue that keeps cropping up is whether to compile a list of common mechanisms, their various implementations and failures over the years, and their pros/cons, and provide it to the students or not. Copying is Bad, or so all of academia would like you to think. But perhaps copying is okay with attribution. Why shouldn’t the students get a ramp in and the robots get more awesome every year? Why shouldn’t there be a communal database of attempted designs that gives immediate insight into the value of documentation and working with your peers? The structure of the class (variations on the same themes every year) would be great for this.</div>
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Something like this should definitely exist for drivetrains, at the very least, or perhaps they should be covered in actual 2.007.</div>
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I’ve actually wanted to have something like this for FIRST for a long time, because the veteran teams and teams that have a lot of returning mentors benefit tremendously from their knowledge of archimedes spirals, hoppers, ball eaters, and other common design motifs.</div>
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I agree with Charles on this point though -- I’m not certain whether it would be better or worse for the MIT class overall. Because on the other hand, it’s hard to come up with creative or novel designs when you have in front of you designs that “work” and there’s a time pressure, so instead everyone would just iterate or poorly copy the existing designs without understanding why they work or missing important details. </div>
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I tend to believe that over time change toward constraints on information flow disappearing is inevitable, so we may as well facilitate it and control how this develops.</div>
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On a separate note, a lot of students would benefit from exposure to all the components available to them, which they often discovered too late to incorporate into their designs. Todo for some future TA or professor.</div>
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I’ve never had access to class evaluations so I guess I am missing that crucial bit of feedback.</div>
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<b>In conclusion: </b>Communication is key in working with TAs, it’s unclear whether more or less design documentation is better for student learning and enthusiasm in robot contests, and documentation of components is a must.</div>
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There’s this constant push-and-pull between iterating on the class as much as possible and having to update all the documentation, though. This is friction that technology should solve.</div>
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FIVE. Post-MIT</h3>
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Right. So I applied to grad school (specifically, a Masters in MechE at MIT) and failed to get in. After taking a nap my reaction was actually one of great relief, and now I’m really happy where I’m at, so likely it’s all for the best. In my application, I didn’t try to model myself into a Model Grad Student and instead clearly expressed my desires, so not getting in is probably a good sign I would be happier elsewhere.</div>
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I can’t help but be bitter that life circumstances prevented me from double-majoring in 2 and 6 in exchange for the terrible grades and lack of grad school I got, but that’s okay. And it sort of sucks to be one of the mystery Statistical Women who didn’t continue on to graduate school, but whatever.* I’m happy and healthy and that’s... actually <span style="font-style: italic;">amazing</span>.</div>
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*Or if I was being self-deprecating I could say “I am too dumb or lazy to get good grades.” Truth is impossible to discern. If I have the energy, may as well pick the most useful interpretation that provides me with solace or the willingness to keep trying (instead just rolling around in self-deprecation).</div>
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Instead, I set to work on an idea<a href="http://muffinator.mit.edu/blog/"> Josh</a> first voiced after a <a href="http://techtv.mit.edu/videos/15484-rethinking-education---sal-khan-3-mit-degrees-85487485-lessons-delivered">talk by Sal Khan at MIT</a> -- combining online education with hands-on projects. How did I learn to build <a href="http://orangenarwhals.blogspot.com/2011/05/dreaming-of-dancing-hexapods-2007.html">hexapod</a>? The shop resources and my friends were definitely infinitely useful, but a lot of it came from random internet scrapings. So I definitely believe it's possible to learn engineering online.</div>
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I also loved the idea of building things bringing together people from cultures all around the world. See: <a href="http://orangenarwhals.blogspot.com/2011/11/im-hoping-to-planning-on-visiting.html">visiting makerspaces in China</a>, the <a href="http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/List_of_Hacker_Spaces">list of hackerspaces all around the world</a>, the Chinese diy markets on taobao and <a href="http://letsmakerobots.cn/">letsmakerobots.cn</a>.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOpfa9ZLxDNlAOVTriXhyphenhyphenDjIvsWp1I-KIF1MNVxdluKPppGRtonE8n-nyLIh87PJsUO0zVis0WpGPOYgdZINdwAFmZX5Lke2gneNGR3BC8-n0ZJvBZkfG-Xh4C6ctP0Mah2lyF2Z1QkjUp/s1600/DSCN5163.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOpfa9ZLxDNlAOVTriXhyphenhyphenDjIvsWp1I-KIF1MNVxdluKPppGRtonE8n-nyLIh87PJsUO0zVis0WpGPOYgdZINdwAFmZX5Lke2gneNGR3BC8-n0ZJvBZkfG-Xh4C6ctP0Mah2lyF2Z1QkjUp/s320/DSCN5163.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/f0df/">ballcopter</a> in beijing, china. compare to:</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.etotheipiplusone.net/pics/edf/ballcopter16-mid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://www.etotheipiplusone.net/pics/edf/ballcopter16-mid.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.etotheipiplusone.net/?p=1497">charles's diy ballcopter</a>. cambridge, MA, USA </td></tr>
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Cross-cultural!</div>
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So that’s what I’m working on now with the awesome Hanna and Cappie: <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/narwhaledu/robots-drawing-and-engineering-an-online-course">NarwhalEdu 101, Robots, Drawing, and Engineering: An Online Introduction to Engineering Course</a>. Hanna and I are interested in female outreach and Cappie is interested in rural outreach, thanks to our respective backgrounds. W00t onwards to an awesome future!</div>
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7. NarwhalEdu</h4>
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So after all these engineering education experiences, let’s talk about how I’m applying all of these themes and thoughts to <a href="http://narwhaledu.com/">NarwhalEdu</a>.</div>
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First, some lessons we learned from actually running classes in person with K-12 students and talking to teachers and professors on engineering outreach:</div>
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(A) The hook needs to be in the very first class. We originally designed to start with blinking LEDs and ramp up to the drawing robot arm, but re-organized to have students build the robot arm in the first class.</div>
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(B) Having concrete chunks that can be accomplished in 30 minutes to an hour. In general, design like martial arts belt tests.</div>
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(C) Don’t spend lots of engineering effort when something easier will work just as fine. We were focused on drawing faces and spent a long time on this when having a “copycat” arm turned out to be just as fascinating to students.</div>
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(D) Requiring trigonometry will cut out a lot of high school students. </div>
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Our near-final curricula may be found <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/16gMUYoKPuk1pF-UlryP4YoDK0mb0KNG9KXYYbLyRmeM/edit?usp=sharing">here</a>.</div>
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Additionally, something unique we are trying (since I really do want students from all around the world to talk to and learn from each other) is having the second part of the course be <i>taking apart the kit</i> and building their own robot with it as part of a contest. In educational circles this is called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formative_assessment">formative assessment</a>, and I have high hopes for this.</div>
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In addition, in designing for classrooms a very different mindset is needed than when designing for the extracurricular individual learner as we did.</div>
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(A) Teachers are really really busy. Make it as easy for the teacher to adopt as possible.</div>
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(B) Kits need to be designed to be built and taken apart and put away very rapidly or else must be completable in 45 minutes or less.</div>
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(C) Kits need to be durable and low-cost and usable by multiple students at once so that schools can reuse them and amortize them over lots of students. And students are VERY good at destroying things.</div>
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(D) Alternatively another model is to design for a reasonable “class materials” cost, for instance around $50 a class. This naturally limits your reach to well-off students and school areas.</div>
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In contrast, our kit is designed to look so simple everyone, even "non-mathsci-people," go "I could build that!" We also, as mentioned before, designed it such that people wouldn't be satisfied with its base state (a risky move!) and would want to either improve it or take it apart and use its components to build something of their own.</div>
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<b>The conclusion? </b>I’ll let you know in around April when we finish running our course, or when I hear back from <a href="http://hapkit.stanford.edu/courses.html">Stanford’s hapkits class</a> or <a href="http://octopart.com/blog/archives/2013/12/ut.6.01x%253A-embedded-systems-%252D-shape-the-world%2521">UT’s microcontrollers class</a>.</div>
nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-61021603267443049042013-12-15T01:04:00.000-05:002013-12-15T09:06:19.591-05:00Summer trip<div style="-qt-block-indent: 0; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: 0px;">
This is a blog post about me as much as it is about <a href="http://www.sandhillfarm.org/">Sandhill</a>. You have been forewarned. This blog has been and will always be foremost a notepad for myself.</div>
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This blog post is in reaction to <a href="http://totallyharmless.blogspot.com/2013/11/sandhill-farm-rutledge-mo.html.">this post</a>. </div>
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I visited this place briefly, but have yet to blog about it for various reasons. For one thing, over this year I have learned that people have sensitivities to things that I wouldn’t think of imagining, let along being able to anticipate, and so I have erred on the safe side of not doing anything. As Nick knows the current people at Sandhill much better than I do, I can now assume they are fine with blog posts about Sandhill.</div>
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I visited Sandhill for the course of about 5 days toward the end of summer.</div>
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In planning this, there was some drama related to taking time off from the frenetic pace of the accelerator program for my startup that my cofounders and I were in, as the accelerator was providing us with significant seed capital that was tied to milestones we had to accomplish. More drama cropped up with gender-specific issues that I am still not sure what the right side is. It seems that paranoia about female safety is tied into cultural norms world-wide, directly leading to gender-based restrictions that are not so tied to reality. (When the worst happens, <span style="font-style: italic;">we are not trash because of it</span>. Life moves on). But I feel like as I grow emotionally and accumulate life experiences I understand more and more the source of my parents' reactions: Simply, that they love me.</div>
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This was a so-so time for me. I thought I would be extremely excited and energetic because I enjoy new life experiences and strange environments, but I was still prone to naps instead of exploring the place madly alive and vibrating with enthusiasm. I cannot explain this except perhaps as the normal ups and downs of life. Don’t get me wrong -- I greatly enjoyed the trip. But I do wish I was in a better mood during it. </div>
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It’s a good thing I feel less upset about not optimizing life, nowadays; instead tending towards taking life as it comes. I feel more and more justified in this as we attract paying students and supporters and some level of externally-defined “success,” even though we pull closer to 40 hours than 100 hours a week, and even though we have have not tried to figure out how to get acquired for a gazillion dollars and are instead following our heart. Even if, as we executed this, some days I slept 14 hours a day and wasn’t very productive and just let myself be instead of being stressed about trying to fix myself, we were still able to accomplish things over time. Not optimally, but that’s okay. Life isn’t an optimization problem. And things seem to have worked out okay so far, based on our <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/narwhaledu/robots-drawing-and-engineering-an-online-course">kickstarter</a>, for what it’s worth.</div>
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Anyway, back to the summer.</div>
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I went in by a different route courtesy of flight benefits from my parents -- a flight from BOS to DTW (Detroit) to STL (St. Louis, MO) and then I bought a ticket from STL to IRK (Kirksville, MO) followed by around an hour’s drive to Sandhill itself. </div>
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The plane was so tiny! They weighed all the luggage and balanced where the luggage was stowed. I still managed to nap on the plane, after I convinced myself that they flew hundreds of these flights a year so probably everything would be fine.</div>
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To be honest, I was pretty apprehensive about the visit. These are people who have strong cultural desires they’ve shifted their entire life to pursue. Would they find my morals lacking, that I would be one of those Visitors who came in and added to their workload (shepherding me around) thoughtlessly? ahhh AM I BURDEN TO SOCIETY?</div>
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Turns out they were pretty normal people (as is usually the case) who didn’t mind much how other people lived their lives. Well, they did have higher expectations for the people living with them. There was a strong anti-cellphone-in-public-spaces sentiment, although they definitely thought it reasonable to have a cellphone off the farm. (Having a strong opinion or preference, I keep having to remind myself, does not mean being close-minded. The willingness to change (being open-minded) is not directly proportional to how strongly you feel about something (being passionate)). College-educated, relatively well-off, lived in the city and got fed up with it describes one person I talked to. They do think about diversity of people at the farm, even though I never felt overly out-of-place.</div>
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Okay, maybe a tad bit when I went to the Dog ‘n Gun giant swapfest of everything ever where there were hundreds of white people and... more white people. o___o hah. The market was so large that many people rode around slowly on gas-engine ATVs (all-terrain vehicles).</div>
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I went in never having spent an extended period of time in the Midwest before, or really in a rural area (well, there was rural Mexico for three weeks, but that was during the winter). I was quite curious, as I grew up in the suburbs and always wanted to live in the city. Why would anyone want to move out to a rural area? You only ever see 10 people? Wouldn’t you get bored of each other really fast?</div>
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At the end, they asked me what I would tell people about my visit. I didn’t have much to say at the time at the time. Things I should have said: appreciate an entirely different way of living, understand what day-to-day living is like on a small farm, meet some really nice people, eat some delicious home cooking, understand why people would want to live in a rural area. Understand what a sense of community can mean.</div>
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It was very interesting going from being able to expect to talk to the same people every day to a few weeks later moving to a new apartment and living with strangers, where I could not talk or chat to a soul for a week if I wanted to.</div>
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Things that caught me off guard: not having an infinite supply of eggs at the nearest grocery store and instead being limited to however many eggs the chickens laid. This also meant everyone was pretty excited about plain chocolate. Lack of a microwave. How obvious farm-work clothes were when I was picked up from the airport. Playing grooveshark in the kitchen, that upset some models of mine about this world. The true vastness of the fields of corn and soy outside Sandhill. Skinny-dipping was the norm as was peeing outside, which made sense in a sparsely populated place.</div>
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How much more comfortable it was than I expected. Over the decades, people had put in a lot of work to make the place work very smoothly. There was running water and gas, a clean composting toilet, indoor shower, electricity, internet. There was a walk-in fridge and freezer. Okay, so maybe I started off thinking I’d be staying in a tent ^^Oh! There were so few mosquitoes too. There’s far more mosquitoes in my backyard in GA than in the fields there.</div>
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As a guest I wasn’t really involved in chore-work, but I did give it a shot. My sleep schedule followed the sun much more closely than at home in my apartment. I helped: thin beets, hoe in a row, mulch it, pick green beans, squish stinkbugs (all things I was new to and thus terrible at), and weed. Attempt to add a safety cover to a shaft (ah! giant gears nearly my height! wish I had a picture of that), watch the foundation for a new portion of the house be laid, attempt to help with cooking, apply grease to a tractor.</div>
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Ah~ bug squishing was the worst. I’m still a bit squeamish about killing things with my bare hands. And so creeeppyy when you turn over a leaf and there’s 20 of the same bug on the underside. It’s actually worse than the surprise from getting a kickstarter update that turns out to be someone retracting a pledge! Ahhh so creepy. And if you’re not quick about slaughtering them all they drop to the ground and scurry away. AND THEN YOU’RE JUST A FAILURE. Do you see those yellow squash leaves? They are staring at YOU reproachfully. </div>
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;___; sorry i tried</div>
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There was also a five-year-old who ran around and climbed on everything and had giant cuts from a general fearlessness about the world and generally seemed to be having a lot of fun. He asked me why I wanted to nap all the time. If only I knew...</div>
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In the end, I came away with an appreciation for choosing small farm life. It no longer seemed puzzling, something strangers did for incomprehensible reasons. There was community, there was hard but satisfying work, there were always more things to learn about the people living and working with you and to understand their opinions, there were things to fix and improve and new people to meet in neighbouring communities and infinite things to learn about agriculture.</div>
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Guh this has become a really disorganized rambling post. It contains most of the thoughts floating around my head, and I have no desire to organize it. ah well.</div>
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I wish I could relay the atmosphere of the place, but it’s impossible for me to even remember it well in the technobliss of my city life.</div>
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-->time to release this post. Go back and edit it into something sensible some other day...<br />
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Oh yea! Thanks a bunch to Nick for helping organize this and all the folks at Sandhill who hosted me and the people of Dancing Rabbit for having rideshares I could participate in. </div>
nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-14389535762757021352013-12-04T22:28:00.001-05:002013-12-09T12:40:31.728-05:00Using Arduino with Janus Vim (conclusion, who knows how janus/pathogen work, just follow two-year old instructions)<br />
Some time ago I set up my vim config. This is usually a full-day ordeal for some reason I don't remember. I don't recall exactly what I did, but everything works now, and I am very happy with how it functions. My previous experiences have left me very wary of "fixing anything that's not broken" in vim... but enh I want Arduino syntax highlighting in Vim now that there's the sweeeeet <br />
<b>File > Preferences > Use External Editor </b><br />
option in Arduino.<br />
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I think for the most part I just installed Janus:<br />
<a href="https://github.com/carlhuda/janus">https://github.com/carlhuda/janus</a><br />
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and it has really great autosuggest that makes typing repetitive Arduino code 10x faster.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn-jY5O8Vy8Gq3rJuCEn8hIEWGc7dNo-RQ1GLUIaaYc2ydqXtXtaCkJyLF1DvA6nLpO5ZFAZvUlKYr37nXO0h_nPNaXU3C5ElB6WUd-Y5cw9ldoieQxpSXg2nBtLcnQpP37YNDbAWIdBmv/s1600/Screenshot+from+2013-12-04+21:06:14.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn-jY5O8Vy8Gq3rJuCEn8hIEWGc7dNo-RQ1GLUIaaYc2ydqXtXtaCkJyLF1DvA6nLpO5ZFAZvUlKYr37nXO0h_nPNaXU3C5ElB6WUd-Y5cw9ldoieQxpSXg2nBtLcnQpP37YNDbAWIdBmv/s320/Screenshot+from+2013-12-04+21:06:14.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lower left window: Autosuggest! So great~</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<b>Okay, so how to install Arduino syntax highlighting in Vim Janus setup?</b><br />
There's this way that is pretty straightforward:<br />
<a href="https://github.com/vim-scripts/Arduino-syntax-file">https://github.com/vim-scripts/Arduino-syntax-file</a><br />
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Just download file into a directory (in my case,<b> ~/.vim/bundle</b>) and add a line or two to .bashrc<br />
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nrw@nrw-PC:$ <b>cd ~/.vim/bundle </b><br />
nrw@nrw-PC:~/.vim/bundle$ <b>git clone https://github.com/vim-scripts/Arduino-syntax-file.git</b><br />
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<b>Edit ~/.vimrc </b>and append two lines:<br />
<b>autocmd! BufNewFile,BufRead *.pde setlocal ft=arduino <br />autocmd! BufNewFile,BufRead *.ino setlocal ft=arduino </b><br />
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<h4>
Voila! Done.</h4>
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===<br />
<b>Below is a recounting of going down the rabbit-hole, if you ever wonder how I can spend a day on my vim config...</b> <br />
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However, I feel like this isn't the cleanest way. So how does Vim/Janus handle syntax highlighting?<br />
<br />
I feel like somewhere there is a folder of syntaxes that it handles.<br />
Ah! using "locate .vim" I see that the folder is:<br />
<b>/usr/share/vim/vim73/syntax/</b><br />
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Should I just copy it there? Seems incorrect, I think I have to tell Janus somewhere to look for *.pde files.<b> </b><br />
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Based on the pathogen documentation<br />
<a href="https://github.com/tpope/vim-pathogen">https://github.com/tpope/vim-pathogen</a><br />
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It appears that I should git clone my .vim file to<br />
~/.vim/bundle<br />
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cd ~/.vim/bundle<br />
git clone https://github.com/vim-scripts/Arduino-syntax-file.git<br />
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Nope! I don't have syntax highlighting after restarting vim (I double-checked with <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19310946/why-does-pathogen-magically-solve-vim-syntax-highlighting-problems">:scriptnames</a>) . Perhaps install in .janus folder instead?<br />
cp ~/.vim/bundle/Arduino-syntax-file/ ~/.janus -r<br />
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Nerp still no syntax highlighting ;__; where do I tell it to look for both .ino and .pde files? <br />
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Hmm, it also appears that my Janus distribution is out-of-date based on the documentation (there is no NERDCommenter in my Janus as far as I can tell). But if I try to update<br />
~/.vim\$ rake<br />
/usr/local/bin/rake:9:in `require': no such file to load -- rubygems (LoadError)<br />
from /usr/local/bin/rake:9<br />
<br />
Uh oh. I can feel the rabbit hole widening.<br />
<a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2896485/no-such-file-to-load-rubygems-loaderror">http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2896485/no-such-file-to-load-rubygems-loaderror</a><br />
<br />
nrw@nrw-PC:~/.vim\$ which -a ruby<br />
/usr/bin/ruby<br />
/home/nrw/.rvm/bin/ruby<br />
<br />
nrw@nrw-PC:~/.vim$ sudo update-alternatives --config ruby<br />
There are 2 choices for the alternative ruby (providing /usr/bin/ruby).<br />
<br />
Selection Path Priority Status<br />
------------------------------------------------------------<br />
* 0 /usr/bin/ruby1.9.1 51 auto mode<br />
1 /usr/bin/ruby1.8 50 manual mode<br />
2 /usr/bin/ruby1.9.1 51 manual mode<br />
<br />
<br />
Yep. Okay, so I need to nuke one of my versions. <br />
sudo apt-get remove ruby<br />
<br />
which -a ruby<br />
/usr/bin/ruby<br />
/home/nrw/.rvm/bin/ruby<br />
<br />
<a href="http://learnvimscriptthehardway.stevelosh.com/chapters/43.html">http://learnvimscriptthehardway.stevelosh.com/chapters/43.html</a><br />
<br />
Hmm, still two versions. Well. *shrug* Let's just kill one version. Ugh. I bet this is leftovers from all the EdX stuff I did that never worked and I didn't really document because I was so frustrated.<br />
AHHHH this is why I sometimes just NUCLEAR and reinstall my OS. Eheh. ^^;<br />
<br />
<b>Nooo nooo bad brain nooo it is 10 pm on a Wednesday night. It is NOT time to reinstall my OS. </b><br />
<br />
Okay. Screw not messing up my system, it's already screwed up.<br />
1) Add execute pathogen#infect() to my .vimrc<br />
<br />
NOPE<br />
Error detected while processing /home/nrw/.vimrc:<br />
line 134:<br />
E117: Unknown function: pathogen#infect<br />
E15: Invalid expression: pathogen#infect()<br />
<br />
<b>Okay... Maybe I'll just follow directions.</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
install details<br />
Just put the file in your vimfiles/syntax folder. To automatically use it on PDE files, add the following line to your vimrc file (or e.g filetype.vim to install it for all users) :<br />
<br />
autocmd! BufNewFile,BufRead *.pde setlocal ft=arduino<b><br /></b></blockquote>
Okay.... I don't have a /syntax folder. What is going on? Uhh.<br />
<br />
Well, I just put it into ~/.vim/bundle. And it works. ~__~ ah well. I guess I just have to follow instructions...<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
=== <br />
<b>Colorize bash prompt</b><br />
<a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CustomizingBashPrompt">https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CustomizingBashPrompt</a><br />
<br />
<b>so now my ~/.bashrc just contains: </b><br />
color_prompt=yes <br />
<br />
if [ "\$color_prompt" = yes ]; then <br />
PS1='\${debian_chroot:+(\$debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\><br />
else <br />
PS1='\${debian_chroot:+(\$debian_chroot)}\u@\h:\w\$ ' <br />
fi<br />
<br />
<b>For further reading:</b><br />
<a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/697cu/bash_users_what_do_you_have_for_your_ps1/">http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/697cu/bash_users_what_do_you_have_for_your_ps1/</a><br />
<br />
===<br />
<b>Also, vim things I always forget:</b><br />
To toggle whitespace,<br />
:set list<br />
:set nolist<br />
<br />
To toggle linenumbers,<br />
:set nu<br />
:set nonu<br />
<br />
To toggle paste-mode,<br />
:set paste<br />
:set nopaste<br />
<br />
Leader key<br />
stackoverflow.com/questions/1764263/what-is-the-leader-in-a-vimrc-file<br />
let mapleader=","<br />
<br />
So ",n" will open NerdTree. <br />
<br />nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-42500935566334916832013-11-18T16:29:00.000-05:002013-11-18T16:29:04.636-05:006 AM rant about arduino<br />
Hello friends,<br /><br />I would like to convene an FTIAAP, aka Fix Things I Hate About Arduino Party.<br /><br />Mostly, I think a lot of people use AnalogRead() and would like the Arduino IDE to just graph the variable already. It's a value from 0 to 1023. I want to monitor it while it scrolls by at lightning speed. No, I don't want to fire up Mathematica/MATLAB/Processing/Matplotlib (no not even python sorry) and write 10 lines of janky serial processing code. Arduino already has a serial monitor! I want it to be like<br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">┌───────┐<br /><br />│SWEET │<br /><br />│GRAPH │<br /><br />│THING │<br /><br />┌───────┐<br />│ Serial│<br /><br />│Monitor│<br /><br />└───────┘</span><br /><br />*not to scale<br /><br />Yea. Like that. I'll take just having updating boxes for each AnalogRead value, even, no graphs needed.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">┌───</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">───</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">───┐<br /><br />│Val1:1 │<br /><br />│Val2: 123│<br /><br />│Val3: 11 │<br /><br />┌───</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">──</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">────┐<br />│ Serial │<br /><br />│ Monitor │<br /><br />└</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">──</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">───────┘</span><br /><br />I imagine that jankily it will start out like<br /><br /><i>X = analogRead(4);<br /><br />Y = analogRead(5);<br /><br />Serial.graphsandponies(X);<br /><br />Serial.graphsandponies(Y);<br /><br />// Do not run graphsandponies() at faster than 1/10ms or everyone will hate you, including yourself if you are using windows</i><br /><br />No more of this crap:<br /><br /><i> Serial.print("x1 "); Serial.print(loX); Serial.print(" x2 "); Serial.print(hiX); Serial.print(", y "); Serial.println(constY);</i><br /><br />Like wtf no.<br /><br /><b>Barebones, finish in it a night code improvements. That's what I want to happen.</b><br /><br />Oh, okay, so now I got started on things that bug me about the Arduino IDE.<br /><br />On Linux, want to comment things out? Ctrl-/! Oh wait, all that does is f* up your code. But if you Ctrl-Z twice it will do what you wanted! WTF?<br /><br />[begin] <br /><i><br /> pinMode(ELPin3, OUTPUT);<br /><br /> pinMode(ELPin4, OUTPUT);</i><br />[after Ctrl-/]<br /><br /><i>/</i><br /><br />[crap Ctrl-Z]<br /><br />[agh where did my code go? Ctrl-Z]<br /><br /><i>// pinMode(ELPin3, OUTPUT);<br /><br />// pinMode(ELPin4, OUTPUT);</i><br /><br />WTF?<br /><br />Okay, and then let's say you, like a true Arduino user, are copy-pastaing off the internet.<br /><i><br /> Serial.print("Hello!"); //print out hello string</i><br />Heck yes. Who wants to actually type out code? Copy pasta!<br /><br /> <i>Serial.print("Hello!");</i><br />Ah, I think I need another one.<br /><br /><i> Serial.print("Hello!");<br /><br /> Serial.print("Hello!");</i><br />Another one!<br /><i><br /> Serial.print("Hello!");<br /><br /> Serial.print("Hello!");<br /><br /> Serial.print("Hello!");</i><br />Why? Also seen in the classic "let me triple-click the line to copy it all"<br /><br /><i> LED_ON = true;</i><br />"hit enter and paste it"<br /><i><br /> LED_ON = true;<br /><br /> LED_ON = true;</i><br />Why? Also seen in the "let's copy more than one line"<br /><br /><i> LED_ON = true;</i><br />Okay! Hit enter and paste!<br />
<i><br /> LED_ON = true;<br /><br /> pinMode(ELPin3, OUTPUT);<br /><br /> pinMode(ELPin4, OUTPUT);<br /><br /> LED_ON = true;</i><br />I hate everything.<br /><br />If enough people are seriously interested I will try to bribe some real Arduino developer to come babysit us through getting familiarized with the codebase.<br /><br /><a href="https://github.com/arduino/Arduino/tree/ide-1.5.x">https://github.com/arduino/Arduino/tree/ide-1.5.x</a><br />todo post to: <a href="https://github.com/arduino/Arduino/issues?labels=Improvements&page=1&state=closed">https://github.com/arduino/Arduino/issues?labels=Improvements&page=1&state=closed </a><br /><br />~~<br />
I'm going to email this out to friends when I figure out scheduling details and how motivated I am.<br />
<br />
Mostly posting this because really what if my last post is making people uncomfortable? Can't let that happen. Better bump it off into oblivion...nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-52645585754568663602013-11-12T01:25:00.001-05:002014-01-02T01:19:11.565-05:00why so slow? because my brain is overanalyzing everything in gender terms. thanks brain.<br />
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Whoa after a few weeks of discovering reddit i think i am ready to read actual books again</div>
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I am finally getting around to reading Why So Slow (<span style="text-decoration: underline;">h<a href="ttp://mitpress.mit.edu/books/why-so-slow">ttp://mitpress.mit.edu/books/why-so-slow</a></span>), which I picked up from an MIT Press loading dock sale a while back (happens once a term). It's from 1999 and consists mostly of studies.</div>
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Semi-relatedly, something that has been bothering me: Over-analysis of everything in gender terms, <b>where I see things that probably don't even exist.</b></div>
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Everything:</div>
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1) I wore a skirt and pantyhose recently. biking home alone around 3 or 4 am a car drives by and the some guy inside yells out "will you marry me?" ...It doesn't distress me, but I think I’m lucky I prefer neutral clothing. (although, even in neutral clothing, a seller at swapfest kept making a lame joke about marriage too. That’s how people make idle chit-chat, <span style="font-style: italic;">right</span>?). I guess I just rate the likelihood of physical harm, conclude it nil, and then mark it down as another datapoint to reinforce my existing perceptions of the world (and future blog-post fodder of course).</div>
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2) Robot conferences: I look at a conference like <a href="http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/faculty/kdantu/nerc/">NERC</a> </div>
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<img alt="Photo" class="Bea VLb" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhATEQHHXBgJpVFPEZZbqqhfBUH8osW1gkDeL7CzYpz6q9CdVnzBUGCgq_39r8r1Jkrabc80oFzJ_-EjXlshF1O1ySn1OBR1DnFbFMF6pB-EdrSpYT7HoUZP_miK6DxSYGKAT4bkN9oCpJ8/w402-h226-p-no/" style="height: 226px; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; width: 402px;" /><br />
and my first thought is “oh great, more old white guys.” I asked my friend and she said her first thought was “Cool! Robot conference! I want to go!”</div>
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Thanks, head. </div>
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It is a real issue, though. For an alternative approach, see how IGEM has organized their conferences. <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/oscillator/2013/11/04/gender-and-synthetic-biology-interview-with-an-igem-student/">http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/oscillator/2013/11/04/gender-and-synthetic-biology-interview-with-an-igem-student/</a></div>
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We knew when we started working on this subject, that many fields in
science suffer from gender bias, but because synthetic biology is a new field we expected that historical biases would not apply and that we would not observe an important gender bias. However what we found out is that the bias we observe in synthetic biology is very representative of the bias in other fields of science.</div>
</blockquote>
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3) For background, see <a href="http://microaggressions.tumblr.com/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">http://microaggressions.tumblr.com</span></a></div>
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My friends sometimes tend not to discuss technical things with me, and I'm uncertain if that is because I am female, or because I have been too<span style="font-style: italic;"> tired </span>to care about technical things lately and my friends are picking up on that, or just that I need to initiate more technical discussions and people will be associate me with being interested in these topics. People (I guess mostly I am thinking of MITERS, where I spend the most social time) will discover interesting things or make exclamations and walk right past me to talk to someone else. (Or maybe my brain is making things up as usual). (To any suddenly self-conscious friends: don’t worry, if I really cared and wasn’t just <span style="font-style: italic;">tired</span> all the time I would interject myself into the conversation too).</div>
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4) I made a gif for our NarwhalEdu kickstarter. Here in media production land I actually think it’s very important to be “affirmative action.” </div>
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See: </div>
<ul>
<li>“Dr. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Mae Jemison</span>, the first African-American woman to fly aboard the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Space Shuttle</span>, cited <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Trek</span> as an influence in her decision to join.” <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uhura">from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uhura</a> (could be a rumor as the citation given is down-- still tracking this down).
</li>
<li>I asked a mentor for logo design advice when we were designing the logo for NarwhalEdu. She pointed to mindstorms website (<a href="http://www.lego.com/en-us/mindstorms/">http://www.lego.com/en-us/mindstorms/</a>) and said “blocky lettering in logo, blue website, aimed at guys.” Mindstorms is probably the premier robotics kit in middle schools in the US.
</li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_advertisement">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_advertisement</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://dethorningstem.com/2012/03/01/lego-my-imagination/">http://dethorningstem.com/2012/03/01/lego-my-imagination/</a> (which argues that the more problematic issue than gender is that Lego advertising doesn’t focus on the “tinkering and creativty” aspect, as well as talking about work at Tufts Center for Engineering Outreach)</li>
</ul>
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But my brain takes it <span style="font-style: italic;">too far</span>. My brain thinks: good, feminine handwriting. Okay, let’s write “fun” in a different color, maybe our logo color. But now it’s all <span style="font-style: italic;">guy</span> colors. Well let’s add orange! I like orange. Enh I want to add a third word, let’s choose green, I like plants.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1oO-8fS41Ik/UnmlRDiYCoI/AAAAAAAA840/oQ4NJUPQs-Y/w926-h695-no/PROJECTGIF.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1oO-8fS41Ik/UnmlRDiYCoI/AAAAAAAA840/oQ4NJUPQs-Y/w926-h695-no/PROJECTGIF.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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Then the feedback I get back is that it’s not professional looking and we should stick to two colors. But--but--shut up, head. It <i>doesn't matter</i>. (not fixed yet because I tried it and it looks aesthetically ugly).</div>
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5) I think it is important to over-represent minority populations in media whenever possible, since usually they <span style="font-style: italic;">don’t exist</span> in media. But then how do I feel when I get pulled for a representational picture of MITERS on the MIT student groups listing?</div>
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<img class="HAa Eha" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAmrdgsrWFH5uQgL2pDTK6k_72sweGJJorJHBcjWIBqSYOyGiC9kKGU9xYi29_DYFWwpwk2jhGMaPTlmQ67wgkDQv7KTTmp0axveauZ_N1W-sxF375_ZjWN-F7SuB9mC2hWcQi5CEx7Hsq/w708-h695-no/2013-11-11" width="320" /><br />
(brought to MITERS' attention because we have way more than 7 members, by the way). </div>
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I am amused, because it looks like I’m working on the bike trailer that <span style="font-style: italic;">is not my project</span>. I am amused, because it’s not actually really representative of the way MITERS is at all (it’s still 90% male), despite my best efforts/experiments.</div>
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Of course, this is probably ALL IN MY HEAD. They probably just scrolled down until they found a decent image and used that. Heck, I look like a guy in the picture. I wouldn’t even be thinking about this if it weren’t for browsing through <span style="font-style: italic;">How to Be Black</span> which was on Steve’s desk the other day (I have not actually read it all yet, though) and the author talked about always being at company representation events. I would just feel my usual conflicting attitudes toward publicity.</div>
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As I said, this blog post is part of my solution to over-thinking: write these things down </div>
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(but the list always just gets so <i>long</i> once I get started. I cut it off. For the future: my hall female mailing list on grad school and sexism), </div>
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then get so busy that I don't have time to wonder about these things. I mean, seeing these all the time doesn't make me any happier or more productive. It doesn’t <span style="font-weight: 600;">solve</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>anything, it doesn’t excuse my own failures. Perhaps it makes me more empathetic, but I’m still going to keep on perpetuating everything society has taught me to perpetuate. I will still <span style="font-style: italic;">screw up</span>. </div>
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The only solution is to keep living.</div>
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Or to go live out in the middle of nowhere with some other female engineers and have a rocking time by ourselves. Maybe then life wouldn’t be so <span style="font-style: italic;">tiring</span> all the time.</div>
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Disclaimer: I am using anecdotes here to <span style="font-style: italic;">make a point</span>, which isn’t actually what you should do. You should read and summarize studies and then use anecdotes to <span style="font-style: italic;">prove a point</span>. But this blog post as always remains about my life and the issues on my mind.</div>
nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-12895346603203289842013-11-04T04:12:00.002-05:002013-11-04T14:21:44.930-05:00Nanowrimo? Nanowrimo!Nanowrimo = National November Writing Month. Write 50k words in 30 days, preferably fiction. Obviously, quantity is valued over quality in Nanowrimo. I apologize if you keep reading from here.<br />
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~<br />
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It's November and for the first time in a long time I have no homework. BWAHAHA. Side projects ban is going on until the end of the year but writing doesn't realllllly count as a side project. Right? Right.<br />
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EGADS. I... I don't know what happened. I really struggled to fill in the middle and end and ... everything, that's all I can say. I could write <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quad-flat_no-leads_package">QFN</a>-hating fairies all day, but trying to write a fairy tale with a moral? F* if I know what I'm doing.<br />
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I think the real moral of the robot fairytale is that we should all be fairies or something...<br />
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Tomorrow I will post the results of my survey about what my friends look forward to in the future, and today I will work on our kickstarter video, and really I blame Lauren Herring and thank her for giving Friday's topic, "Robot Fairy Tales." <a href="http://thefullereneincident.com/">http://thefullereneincident.com/</a> her blog is great.<br />
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Yes, I'm two or three days behind. Well, long as procrastinating on nanowrimo convinces me to get other things done.<br />
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Hope in the Morrow<br />
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Sweet JST Connectors! Fae Andalie stood up and stretched, smoke curling from her fingers as the inorganic mess in front of her teetered, entropy written into its wiring and threatening to burst out of her delicate spellwork. The rabbit-foot in the corner stopped its mad screeching across the strings of the violin as it sensed a mood shift from VIOLINCECORE and settled into a gentle purr, though it had never been the foot to any rabbit. (you might ask -- do rabbits purr? they certainly do when fairies pet them). You never knew what you were getting into when you tore into the guts of a Walmae robot, cheap suckers, mass-produced by drones in China before being ferried into the inner chambers of a Kraken for the journey over the Pacific, but oh-so-delicately engineered to be dirt cheap. She’d wanted only the greeting-card functionality of this particular robot, but found that for ease of assembly it had been coded as one micro with the dictionary functionality. And let’s not even get into the thousand-and-one springs assembled in a precise order so that the creation could move three parts of its body with only one motor, making accessing the chip a nightmare of deconstruction. Wouldn’t want it to turn into plain old destruction, after all. Delicious, and entertaining enough to keep her up until dawn!</div>
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She had really found the right magic-technology balance in her latest creations, she felt. Employed as a craftsman, she deftly rolled old technology and new magic into one-of-a-kind creations, custom-built for each customer. Her guild, forty-strong, did well plying its wares in the Rottermarkets, where old technology went to rot into new magic. She’d done so well in just the few years since coming to Atlanta that she no longer had to spend time talking to customers, instead receiving a backlog of requests spec’d out in the format she liked.</div>
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Ah! Like the latest request. This required some delicate spell-work, indeed. Didn’t get many rabbit robot requests nowadays. Seemed like all anyone cared for nowadays was the resistor-munching goat or the screw-sorting monkey. Rabbits, now, that was someone with some old-fashioned standards for companionship. Or lean meat.</div>
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“Huh! You got the QFNs to play along too!” Fae Leya wandered by, chewing on a bit of boggerfot, the smell phasing in and out like a badly tuned radio station. She winced. Never did get the point behind boggerfot. Messed up the brain, that it did. She tried it for a wren’s flight-time straight once (experiment) and twenty moons on still had to deal with the occasional flickers of auditory hallucinations. Cut through her existential crisis quickly, constantly hearing voices telling her to kill herself. Suppose she did stop caring about whatever originally caused her crisis really quickly. </div>
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No doubt Leya’s hallucinations were more pleasant. That, or she shuddered to think what he was running from.</div>
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“Yessir, was a right pain in the foot I can tell ya.” The rabbit-foot in the corner twitched uneasily, remembering the time it had been pressed into service as a charm-holder while she coaxed her spellwork to cover each of the frickin’ tiny pads UNDER the darned packages. Oh, and there were twenty-two of ‘em too. Lovely.</div>
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“Found an old rotary phone the other day. You’re welcome to it if you ever feel like something more gratifying.”</div>
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The two reminisced about the lovely pre-machine days when spellwork could be so crude as to only require a smattering of blood or a pint of moonwater, the packages easily readable and the circuits darn hardy and tolerant of changes like running on magic instead of electrons.</div>
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He paused on the way out of her workshop. “Hey. Uh. Thanks for the advice.” Leya smiled shyly. caught sight of the little butterfly popping into existing behind his shoulder, and blushed.</div>
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Andalie smiled, floating a bit of nectar over to the butterfly. “No problem.” Dealing with the daily harassment of customers trying to peek into their work processes or to inquire if it was done YET was an art-form used to be her specialty, but she was happy to pass on to the newcomers to the guild. The latest class was so polite about it too, especially Leya.</div>
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Whistling and entirely oblivious, she went back to work and a pigeon’s flight later a cute little gray-white rabbit was hopping around her workshop. Synthetic fur, naturally, she wasn’t a <span style="font-style: italic;">troll. </span>They insisted on authenticity and were liable to use the deceased’s matter. She’d given up on the greeting-card chip and had devised a neat little spell instead. Rabbits didn’t tend to make a lot of noise, anyway, so the probably-too-ingenious-for-its-own-good spellwork wouldn’t be called on too often.</div>
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She stroked the rabbit’s back, then bid it on its way to Processing. She really enjoyed the sillier and cuter requests and bet the workers in Processing did too. Baen was the sweetest of the lot -- everyone adored her -- and no doubt would get the job to fly on out to the ‘burbs on her homemade broomstick. No doubt her mother had lovingly made it for her by hand, no magic involved. Just the thought of it all made some sweet molasses cookies appear around on her worktable, were they were promptly contaminated by the lead in the solder bits lying around. She sighed and fed them to her rabbit-foot, which commenced playing saccharine songs.</div>
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Sixteen year-old Marie Anders lived in the suburbs of Atlanta, and like most folks who lived for any period of time down south, owned a rabbit or two. Her whole family had been raised a believer in the old practices, ‘fore all the mad mixing of science and magic that passed for normal nowadays, and they’d kept pets for companionship without any thought to the modern-day uses proper magical training could give them.</div>
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She’d gotten her Maybelline about seven years ago now, raised it from a whee kit to prime old age. It’d been her first pet rabbit and she’d loved it ferociously. With the tricks she’d taught Maybelline and her sweet disposition, she’d been the envy of her schoolmates. </div>
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When her granny first got sick a year ago, the physician had told her mum it was because of Marie Anders’s rabbit. The rabbit was sopping up spells like nobody’s business due to the runoff from the spellwork cast on her neighbor’s lawn, and something about her granny having an serious allergic reaction, aggravated by that rabbit, to the increasing density of magic around the county. People were like the opposite of circuits -- the further back they were made the more poorly they tolerated change.</div>
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Her mother hadn’t believed it in the slightest and kicked the physician out of the house (politely). Who’d ever heard of such a notion! They’d boiled orange peels and put vinegar about the house. Granny didn’t get better, but she’d gone right on believing her parents knew what they were doing until her granny ended up in the hospital. Her sister, who was always the scientist in the family, stopped talking to her. She finally started reading some of the publications lying around her sister’s room. Seems like the world had moved on and didn’t care a whit that her family couldn’t wrap its head around what was going on.</div>
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She killed her Maybelline that weekend, not knowing to look up local pet services that might operate on the weekend, not trusting she wouldn’t change her mind if she waited. Looked up a video on how to do it. Buried her in the dark well of shadow underneath the apple tree, and bought a cat the next day. Her granny spent a few more weeks getting better and was now back at home on her rocking chair on the porch when Marie Anders got back from school. Her mum apologized to the physician, who now came around for regular checkups, and her sister hugged her and was extra-nice to her for a while. Everything was right, except she --</div>
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She had killed her Maybelline. No furry head to pet, no little beating heart that would always love her because she provided such delicious food, no raisins to get it to indulge in weaving figure eights between her legs or to stand on two legs.</div>
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She’d moved on pretty fast to taking care of her new cat, but then she had heard of hypoallergenic robotic rabbits wired to be just like you remember them with a minimum of spellwork. After exploring the city some she’d fond the Rottermarkets, found a job and saved up, and now her order had arrived, dropped off by some crazy girl flying around on some dinky broomstick no less! At least the shipping had been fast.</div>
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Marie Anders tore open the packaging. High on caffeine, fingers twitching madly, head bopping along to the latest VIOLINCECORE song to hit the radio, she gazed upon her beautiful new robot friend. Well. Fuzzy new robot friend. Intricate, in her eyes her rabbit had finally come back and forgive her for killing it. She fed it some grains and grass, content to listen to her music and watch the rabbit live its life, before finally passing out somewhere between one screech of the violin strings and the next. </div>
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In the morning, nausea roiling her stomach, a headache throbbing with her heartbeat, she stared at the shreds of paper strewn about and found only a synthetic rabbit staring at her, eyes alert as it nibbled on some old newspaper. It seemed just like her old rabbit and yet utterly lifeless. Seeing it getting along just fine, as though she hadn’t killed it a few months ago, hadn’t tried to replace it with a cat, hadn’t scrimped for months to afford the faework commission, she knew that the rabbit was utterly incapable of loving her back. Maybelline was <span style="font-style: italic;">gone</span>.</div>
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Sobbing, she stood curled around it, not noticing as her tears dripped onto the rabbit and it, agonized by its spellwork which bid it to create happiness in the world, grew hotter and hotter and finally all at once melted and streamed down her legs. Federal regulation N52-115 fortunately meant that as it dripped down her legs, it caused her no pain but only a mild stinging regret and a permanent watery tattoo, silver-grey as her rabbit had been. She finally wandered out into the street and, mind numb, rode the bus until the sun went down, and for the first time she noticed how many people had marks like hers, permanent, unwavering even as they too went to the grave. This chapter in her life had opened and shut, and she no longer liked the story, but she had no other story to live.</div>
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Real-life rabbits, dear friend, will never recover from the passage of time. You can sink all the love and magic into them that you want, just like everyone else. But they will rot away all the same, corrupted from inside by their own life-force.</div>
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Fae Andalie, on the other hand, hummed happily, warm and content in her silky cocoon draped high in the clouds. Her robot rabbits purred sleepily alongside her, providing her all the companionship she had ever known or needed, even as her spellwork bore her unceasingly forth into the night.</div>
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NOTES<br />
Oh, the rabbit foot violin... Arthur Ganson, mechanical automata on display at MIT museum.<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXZN7JWCMag">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXZN7JWCMag</a><br />
<br />
ACTUALLY
A FEATHER. Man, I really remembered it as a rabbit foot. But yea, try
watching that video with a bunch of your college-aged friends standing
around you. It's a recipe for awkwardness.<br />
<br />
Everything
is fiction! Fiction, I swear! I most definitely did not ask my parents
for a robot cat when I was younger, or be utterly disappointed by it
and feel right sorry I wasted my parents' money on it and didn't even
end up liking it, no sirree. ;__;<br />
<br />
May you rest in peace, robot cat.<br />
<a href="http://theoldrobots.com/tekno-cat.html">http://theoldrobots.com/tekno-cat.html </a><br />
<img alt="Tekno Kitty Robot" border="0" height="200" src="http://theoldrobots.com/images63/TeknoKitty-2a.JPG" width="222" />nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-41513568260667878472013-07-16T01:24:00.003-04:002013-07-16T10:36:10.582-04:00Startups: Legal, Pricing, and Marketing IssuesThis post is a recap of what I have learned in the <a href="https://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/our-resources/mit-global-founders-skills-accelerator/">Global Founders' Skills Accelerator</a> I am participating in with my startup, NarwhalEDU (<a href="http://narwhaledu.com/">narwhaledu.com</a>) over the last week. I am writing this up in the hopes that it will be useful to other new startup founders as a reference point. Some things are only relevant if you are open sourcing, if you have more than one founder, and other caveats of being the experience of a single person in a single company at this accelerator.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Lawyers</u></b><br />
<b>Founder's Agreement and Equity Split:</b><br />
Determined by factors such as replaceability of founder (e.g. technical knowhow), how much a founder is investing in the company monetarily, basically a really fluid of trying to determine how much a founder contributes to the company over time.<br />
Vesting schedule -- so that the equity / shares are earned over time, in case one founder decides to leave. Recommend 3 years, although investors will push for 4 years<br />
1 year cliff -- in case a founder leaves early on, their shares do not vest<br />
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<b>C Corp vs LLC</b><br />
C Corp in Delaware -- recommended because that is what investors expect<br />
vs. LLC -- for tax purposes, can offset business losses against personal income for tax gains, but investors will not accept it if you ever take outside investment (so more suitable for lifestyle businesses, e.g. never plan on taking outside investment, not really aiming for exponential growth, longer-term are all used as criteria but I think the main one is <b>not planning on taking outside investment.</b>)<br />
It is much easier to go from LLC to C Corp (about 5k costs) than the other way around<br />
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<b>Fees</b><br />
We've gotten quotes ranging from \$2000 to \$5000 for the standard incorporation and founder's agreement and a set of template documents. There is an additional 250-500 in filing fees. e.g. if you do a Delaware C Corp every year there is \$500 in fees to have a registered agent there.<br />
<br />
<b>Packages</b><br />
Some firms offer this, some offer "flexibility" and haven't started using the term package yet. But basically, firms will offer anywhere from full deferment of fees until you are "successful" (e.g. have raised a major round, are making over a million in sales, etc.) to 50/50 split (so pay 50% upfront, keeping you honest about controlling your spending) to a flat fee. So in a sense you are pitching to the law firms that offer packages.<br />
<br />
<b>How it works</b><br />
What tends to happen is you will interview with the super expensive lawyer (ranging from \$250 - \$800+), then depending on your company you will get a team of 2 to 3 people: a junior associate (in the \$500 range) and paralegals / secretaries (in the ~\$100-300 range). These people charge less per hour and so the law firm tends to pitch this as being cost efficient.<br />
<br />
<b>Why a lawyer when there is legalzoom.com?</b><br />
We asked one lawyer this question. She said that lawyers can provide business and legal advice, especially after working with startups for over a decade. When there is more than one founder, make sure that everything is agreed to properly. In general, it seems to be the thing to do at the accelerator so we are running with it, although I suspect there is a bias towards "startup" and not "lifestyle business" that a legalzoom LLC might be appropriate for.<br />
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<b>Why incorporate so soon?</b><br />
Put your IP into a company instead of into individual hands, and then can decide to open source it or license it however you want. Prevents one founder from forming their own competing company. (?? still a bit confused as to how this applies to open source hardware).<br />
<br />
<b>Open Sourcing and EdTech</b><br />
<a href="http://stallman.org/articles/online-education.html">http://stallman.org/articles/online-education.html</a> The end conclusion is to NOT use a creative commons noncommercial use only license.<br />
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<b>Capitalization</b><br />
After incorporating, have to put some money into business to make it an actual business. Within 30 days, need to fill out 83B form.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Pricing</u></b><br />
Often engineers go for cost-based pricing. Not the best idea. Consider instead the amount of value provided to the customer and getting an appropriate fraction of that. In particular, I have heard that in software the most money comes from subscription-based models. This is because the customer does not know the full value of the software initially and actually gains a lot of value over time, and the subscription model captures more of this value than an upfront pricing model.<br />
<br />
Pricing! Okay, let's go into how to do pricing surveys. In an ideal world, you do randomized questions with at least 30 responses each.<br />
DO NOT ask the customer "how much would you pay for this product: \$100, \$150, \$200?" because that is not how we make decisions in real-life -- this feels like bartering, so the customer's answers will be influenced by their bartering. Instead, randomly present them with <b>one</b> choice and ask them a simple yes/no.<br />
<br />
To do this, I used qualtrics software, a trial version.<br />
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Then, to get survey responses, I used facebook.<br />
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<b>The going rate seems to be about \$1 per survey answer</b>.<br />
I put the max bid at 50c per click.<br />
Click through rate: ~1%, e.g. if 1000 people see your ad, ten people will click through. Of that, maybe 2 people will actually answer the survey (that would be pretty ideal).<br />
<br />
I had this 1 dollar/answer my first and second days but on the current day (day 3) it seems to have shot up to almost 3 dollars per answer ;__; hopefully the next few days will even this out, or perhaps weekends are just better for people clicking through and deciding to actually answer the survey.<br />
<br />
This is called the "taxi meter" effect, something you have to beware of in pricing, that the customer is not constantly focused on whether they are getting the value they paid for out of your product (e.g. if you priced weekly or monthly instead of yearly).<br />
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<b><u>Marketing</u></b><br />
Pick up the phone and call!<br />
Have the whole company focused on the same metric -- something everyone can work towards. e.g. number of sales<br />
Always be helpful, e.g. even if you are not immediately knowledgeable on a topic, you can answer forum posts / emails with a bit of google searching.<br />
Should be more time than money initially, as you do labor-intensive one-on-one direct sales.<br />
Personalization of emails is important (e.g. with their name) (for mailing lists, use mailchimp)<br />
Other recommended software: HARO, grasshoper, Highrise CRM, google analytics, mailchimp<br />
Testimonials are important! If they are above the fold, can lead to 10-15% increase in conversions.<br />
Start a blog right away! Short posts just to get over the hurdle of getting started. Basically free marketing by establishing yourself as an expert right away.<br />
<br />
<b>Conclusion</b><br />
There's lots more, but I think that's a good amount of information for one post. Please feel free to contact me or leave a comment if you have any questions.<br />
<br />
Oh! One thing -- if you're affiliated with MIT, sign up for the MIT Venturing Mentoring Service. They will offer free legal advice sessions (make sure to sign up for the mailing list) and a whole host of other benefits (e.g. matching you up with mentors and you set the schedule as to when you meet).nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-57844439234792184542013-07-14T07:47:00.000-04:002013-07-15T00:52:55.110-04:00trip to nyc / adafruit industries / founder of hackaday!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
trip to nyc / visit adafruit industries / meet founder of hackaday and talk to ladyada herself!</div>
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with <a href="http://www.etotheipiplusone.net/">charles guan</a> and <a href="http://cynaesthetics.blogspot.com/">cynthia lu</a> and hanna lin</div>
10 am: depart<br />
2 pm: arrive<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ULp3tuGSnG0/UeJ8k4Che0I/AAAAAAAA8Tg/oQcRNqghkes/s1600/20130713_153127.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ULp3tuGSnG0/UeJ8k4Che0I/AAAAAAAA8Tg/oQcRNqghkes/s320/20130713_153127.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">left to right: charles, cynthia, and hanna</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NHbFdABDExI/UeJ8imQPYUI/AAAAAAAA8TY/wae0mx44aeE/s1600/20130713_154341.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NHbFdABDExI/UeJ8imQPYUI/AAAAAAAA8TY/wae0mx44aeE/s320/20130713_154341.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">arrive in CHINA wait sorry flushing district of New York City</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--hALATFet10/UeJ8o5PIIuI/AAAAAAAA8Tw/YIe3nQ9-utI/s1600/20130713_175230.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--hALATFet10/UeJ8o5PIIuI/AAAAAAAA8Tw/YIe3nQ9-utI/s320/20130713_175230.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">look what we found in chinatown! an AVR manual IN CHINESE. @___@</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-npAM69r1Ezk/UeJ8tUJfumI/AAAAAAAA8UA/aZHUUWFsKIo/s1600/20130713_175244.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-npAM69r1Ezk/UeJ8tUJfumI/AAAAAAAA8UA/aZHUUWFsKIo/s320/20130713_175244.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and a MasterCAM X book. This was at the <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC0QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yelp.com%2Fbiz%2Fworld-journal-book-store-new-york&ei=3IXiUYLfM6Xc4APD7YG4Bw&usg=AFQjCNGo602guoikDRdju-gP2K3oWOxSvg&sig2=L1Ald7JPptAGoGieossJew&bvm=bv.48705608,d.dmg">WJ bookstore</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TRApkDuXEu8/UeJ8x2SzD2I/AAAAAAAA8UY/YoLVo2MReG0/s1600/20130713_184335.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TRApkDuXEu8/UeJ8x2SzD2I/AAAAAAAA8UY/YoLVo2MReG0/s320/20130713_184335.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">we ate at Taste of Shanghai on prince street. delicciousss</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMoZahG4lOBlc4nqePYfdyNN69Q7X88Yrajl4PX3Nu08pjMQ1p5btBNRj3ScgwIA4CQRfJIbNeUFlC98i4Z4AAgPKJX2JEgJSbSnKVed8Qd9Tz7tGATHKHiUntgF581A-PK_3URIVqYela/s1600/20130713_190707.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMoZahG4lOBlc4nqePYfdyNN69Q7X88Yrajl4PX3Nu08pjMQ1p5btBNRj3ScgwIA4CQRfJIbNeUFlC98i4Z4AAgPKJX2JEgJSbSnKVed8Qd9Tz7tGATHKHiUntgF581A-PK_3URIVqYela/s320/20130713_190707.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cynthia sketches ladyada chibi! Ladyada was super happy about this when she got it.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Photo" height="320" src="https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/p480x480/1002825_10151720299763928_1723695519_n.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="240" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">this picture from Charles! Not mine!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7rZrQmUXNgs/UeJ86II9oXI/AAAAAAAA8U8/e9l7xVD3vDY/s1600/20130713_203444.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7rZrQmUXNgs/UeJ86II9oXI/AAAAAAAA8U8/e9l7xVD3vDY/s320/20130713_203444.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We arrive!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ3QcJkcz2cmki3hUdqU4zV2RldQegldb0lKJ0Tg5SGbwTkz-A0ioR7KW46KAFPq0-Y0fbrXfhsx5AmsuS_-s89iZt7GYXs6Aguzi32LIcYn90qVqMTGHvWEgPkBw-IUt-z9woWBzZvD0E/s1600/20130713_203743.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ3QcJkcz2cmki3hUdqU4zV2RldQegldb0lKJ0Tg5SGbwTkz-A0ioR7KW46KAFPq0-Y0fbrXfhsx5AmsuS_-s89iZt7GYXs6Aguzi32LIcYn90qVqMTGHvWEgPkBw-IUt-z9woWBzZvD0E/s320/20130713_203743.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The magical workings of adafruit heavy metal industries. Err. Adafruit industries.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGhqMvdxouT-qr1yPTq-iTiYwiaOd-gfosS37r_7f1P3kxTfuNiSelxE_zJTaMqfhHCTERmvqFG-2POwoRaHoUh7ie6ueBs6VheyDmqUR9RknyVTFuKTlHyFdAfm9RT3nnJHFt5aeAzveZ/s1600/20130713_205144.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGhqMvdxouT-qr1yPTq-iTiYwiaOd-gfosS37r_7f1P3kxTfuNiSelxE_zJTaMqfhHCTERmvqFG-2POwoRaHoUh7ie6ueBs6VheyDmqUR9RknyVTFuKTlHyFdAfm9RT3nnJHFt5aeAzveZ/s320/20130713_205144.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">$150k+ pick and place machine! IT IS SO SHINY. Apparently it is or is a relative of the ones Samsung uses to manufacture phones, and that this is something Foxconn / Apple would never do, sell you the machines that make machines at a conference</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-56nAXr_GsTw/UeJ9CSTOxMI/AAAAAAAA8Vc/aTsbKJ3ucRI/s1600/20130713_205243.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-56nAXr_GsTw/UeJ9CSTOxMI/AAAAAAAA8Vc/aTsbKJ3ucRI/s320/20130713_205243.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Assembly station! At adafruit industries they do it by product and not as a procedural task with multiple people per product. The guy is Philip Torrone, founder of hackaday and editor at large at MAKE magazine while he works with adafruit on everything awesome.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qD_WH4gPlvc/UeJ9Jc_SPuI/AAAAAAAA8V0/wRW5DWCQGAc/s1600/20130713_210006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qD_WH4gPlvc/UeJ9Jc_SPuI/AAAAAAAA8V0/wRW5DWCQGAc/s320/20130713_210006.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IT'S BINS OF AWESOME BADGES.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbO66zH25x4ahbPVEDIAzwXZWnEJ3JbO_tXHTehioQvmaAtExEa3oYL_qvTsB1UreP6D6sXvFtxv1LyXikrAQfDG6r3bXI7suC1EqfD2fmUV0gUuao30I5q2SglCfciFZAyFoGha3dCD01/s1600/20130713_205332.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbO66zH25x4ahbPVEDIAzwXZWnEJ3JbO_tXHTehioQvmaAtExEa3oYL_qvTsB1UreP6D6sXvFtxv1LyXikrAQfDG6r3bXI7suC1EqfD2fmUV0gUuao30I5q2SglCfciFZAyFoGha3dCD01/s320/20130713_205332.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The ladyada shrine :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSnGOuFmrFM9Q-GZDuMz-TLfnVlZA5QwpGppZMhazqrZpe5nj0s3nrA9oO4PLKhOjiBUESjWB4W9wUT24Gi_NMqD6ldLecWVmouj41Zj36WcmnzpeFaM5T22dKg20Zc2yl200KQJpH4vyG/s1600/20130713_212708.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSnGOuFmrFM9Q-GZDuMz-TLfnVlZA5QwpGppZMhazqrZpe5nj0s3nrA9oO4PLKhOjiBUESjWB4W9wUT24Gi_NMqD6ldLecWVmouj41Zj36WcmnzpeFaM5T22dKg20Zc2yl200KQJpH4vyG/s320/20130713_212708.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hydraulic wooden arm spotted! d'aww</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wDEJSvHtt5Q/UeJ9Y895joI/AAAAAAAA8W8/o6CzlvE3-bU/s1600/20130713_220252.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wDEJSvHtt5Q/UeJ9Y895joI/AAAAAAAA8W8/o6CzlvE3-bU/s320/20130713_220252.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And finally, on the air on ask-an-engineer! We are sitting in the background, as Charles is the main guest (we sort of surprise showed up). Left: Phil; Middle: Ladyada; Right: Charles</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
The episode is archived at<br />
<a href="http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2013/07/14/ask-an-engineer-references-equals-zero-by-charles-guan/">http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2013/07/14/ask-an-engineer-references-equals-zero-by-charles-guan/</a> and<br />
<a href="http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2013/07/13/show-and-tell-7132013-e-ink-badges-flora-coats-laser-asteroids-twitter-api-neopixel-code-and-on-air-notifier/">http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2013/07/13/show-and-tell-7132013-e-ink-badges-flora-coats-laser-asteroids-twitter-api-neopixel-code-and-on-air-notifier/</a><br />
<br />
<div>
Phil and Ladyada were amazingly open about everything we could ever possibly want to know. I learned that:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>adafruit industries took on no outside investment and was entirely bootstrapped</li>
<li>it started in just one apartment, then two apartments, and finally they moved to a warehouse</li>
<li>their first pick 'n place was picked because it was the only one that fit through their apartment door, and was $35k. they are now donating this to <a href="http://www.nycresistor.com/">nycresistor</a> with the condition that no questions come their way about how to use it or anything</li>
<li>after 8 years, they are at 50 employees, 1/3 in shipping, and at 10-15 million dollars in revenue and they are tripling every year. </li>
<li>They wrote their barcode/shipping software in python and ship ~1000 packages a day. The software notifies the buyer and charges their credit card when items ship </li>
<li>In fact, they are the largest shipper in lower Manhattan.</li>
<li>they grew specifically so that ladyada could do all the engineering, and it sounds like they have a few consultants from around the world that help with the engineering but ladyada essentially solo beasts all the products (it sounded like)</li>
<li>they chose to keep all manufacturing in house instead of outsourced</li>
<li>they used a black and decker IR oven, equipped with arduino, for reflow for a long time. In the new space, with the real reflow oven and new pick 'n place, they are finally able to keep up with demand</li>
<li>Their latest video show has 3 year-olds making lemon batteries o____O Each 2-3 minute video takes over 80 hours to produce. Phil is the one manipulating the giant plushie LEDs / figures under the table</li>
<li>they are thinking about adding translations to <a href="http://learn.adafruit.com/">learn.adafruit.com</a>, hopefully crowdsourced, as there is a lot of demand from germany, japan, china, and italy</li>
<li><a href="http://adafruit.com/">adafruit.com</a> gets about 11 million visits (either daily or monthly) after 8 years of relentless quality documentation</li>
<li>the new move from docuwiki to their own system has cut down documentation time by about a third</li>
<li>but each tutorial still takes anywhere from 6 hours to 2 days</li>
<li>Their PCB stencils are done by hand. They found that people can do it better when trained and get over 99% yield, such that they almost think they don't need an optical checker</li>
<li>Testing rigs for circuitboards! Ladyada actually designs products with testing in mind</li>
<li>They worked with companies like Eagle to make girl scout/boy scout-esque badges, and Eagle was very happy about it</li>
<li>They helped Jay Silver with <a href="http://www.makeymakey.com/">MakeyMakey</a>, who really just needed encouragement that a market exists</li>
<li>Ladyada did not market ressearch nor business plan. She believed in the product strongly enough that she created a market / demand for it. Execute.</li>
<li>ladyada reminisced about her time at <a href="http://miters.mit.edu/">MITERS</a> and how it used to very much by Tim Anderson's shop, and also about her Bridgeport mill which is still in active use at MITERS</li>
</ul>
ALSO. I GOT A 555 PLUSHIE. d'awwwww it is an octopod ^__^ heart cousin of hexapods
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--98AwFAVyx8/UeKOV6rnijI/AAAAAAAA8ZA/vN0z7REyu8g/s1600/20130714_073915.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--98AwFAVyx8/UeKOV6rnijI/AAAAAAAA8ZA/vN0z7REyu8g/s320/20130714_073915.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
And a final note on fail.<br />
<br />
I wanted to draw ladyada's face with <a href="http://narwhaledu.com/">our robot arm</a> but sadly we were not at a stage to make a recognizable drawing and I think ladyada was just like, WTF. ;__; SORRY LADYADA one day we will draw better faces with our el cheapo 9g miniservos and then give you a portrait. we probably should have stuck to the adafruit logo or something.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioKn-YjgLHlOGjVaLtTF7i8yI7-aGmk31VrPXXtPjeg_mLPsrF5VdgPIWoDUgAoXAavjWIgb9HwfybEJUiPPPSmnbHjnzgCsYKR9gQcTKICql11suwbPhlb0H3LswMKq7sLyj6BQtPfE-0/s1600/20130712_233915.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioKn-YjgLHlOGjVaLtTF7i8yI7-aGmk31VrPXXtPjeg_mLPsrF5VdgPIWoDUgAoXAavjWIgb9HwfybEJUiPPPSmnbHjnzgCsYKR9gQcTKICql11suwbPhlb0H3LswMKq7sLyj6BQtPfE-0/s320/20130712_233915.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">edge detected from the WIRED magazine cover</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HPeR1k7Jkxw/UeKJB0ff4KI/AAAAAAAA8X4/gJINptPQkbQ/s1600/20130712_233919.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HPeR1k7Jkxw/UeKJB0ff4KI/AAAAAAAA8X4/gJINptPQkbQ/s320/20130712_233919.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">draw out... yea... it does not resemble ladyada at all x___x</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<a href="http://youtu.be/q73vKiPvaPA?t=59s">http://youtu.be/q73vKiPvaPA?t=59s</a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/q73vKiPvaPA?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
Ah well. So it goes, so it goes.<br />
<br />
That's all for tonight folks! Getting ready to teach Intro to Robot Arms, class #2, in a few hours (for MIT <a href="http://esp.mit.edu/teach/HSSP/index.html">HSSP</a>. Let me know if you all have any questions.<br />
<br />
Oh, an easy one -- I don't know how this came about. I think Charles emailed Ladyada saying he would be in NYC and wanted to visit, and he was then invited as a guest onto the show. He was going to by in NYC for a mikuvan trip including us, so we tagged along to visit adafruit industries. All quite strange and befuddling.<!--3--></div>
nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-41687466656431692302013-07-14T06:51:00.001-04:002013-07-14T06:51:53.931-04:00I finished a hexapod instructables, get featured, and then mope some moreI finished my second instructables ever! This one was a lot more "successful" than my first one -- it was featured on the front page for a day or two. :D yay!<br />
<br />
This is the instructables for my 18 degree of freedom (18 servo) hexapod:<br />
<a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Simple-18dof-Hexapod-Arduino-nano-optionally-wit/">www.instructables.com/id/Simple-18dof-Hexapod-Arduino-nano-optionally-wit/</a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv4CMRyg0_C5rXcZLewHNnoRQL9uQenu_GLmE-heTAgRasavzRGd2lC_QKhS0Tg-aBmNqqEqmVm8bcXVLVxNzvsoDvk921-b5tEqNUCwxgsiVg8-wgxqjNSLB2_ApSpjW-BvAFWhvbOsF3/s1600/Screenshot+from+2013-07-14+06:19:32.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv4CMRyg0_C5rXcZLewHNnoRQL9uQenu_GLmE-heTAgRasavzRGd2lC_QKhS0Tg-aBmNqqEqmVm8bcXVLVxNzvsoDvk921-b5tEqNUCwxgsiVg8-wgxqjNSLB2_ApSpjW-BvAFWhvbOsF3/s400/Screenshot+from+2013-07-14+06:19:32.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
It probably took slightly less time than my 7 minute video on the design process (which took at least 2 or 3 full days) yet garnered about 10x the views. The little star in the upper right hand corner stands for featured.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hnqXlEtPC-Q/UeJ7iFciLPI/AAAAAAAA8S4/rm-SF-J9-T4/s1600/Screenshot+from+2013-06-24+11%253A13%253A15.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hnqXlEtPC-Q/UeJ7iFciLPI/AAAAAAAA8S4/rm-SF-J9-T4/s320/Screenshot+from+2013-06-24+11%253A13%253A15.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
All that it means is that your instructables gets put on the front page for a little while. At least it did much better than CNC nyancake. Apparently nyancat is a thing of the past for everyone except me XD;<br />
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FPahRKSX_Cg/UeJ7id9kRzI/AAAAAAAA8TA/udKw9KfKiac/s1600/Screenshot+from+2013-06-24+10%253A57%253A05.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FPahRKSX_Cg/UeJ7id9kRzI/AAAAAAAA8TA/udKw9KfKiac/s320/Screenshot+from+2013-06-24+10%253A57%253A05.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">day 1</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjXz0obG_auywL8uGPkwRtnf0CSAVsiE6a5r0LDAYveMXh78dPBx4BAQgh3sMN0uaz8qGP8P6V7t-zyP58HW1HD6_RB9KtyJMnG9XnWMgy9w_aNiRfHQ09nPAST1BDWfz_MCCJDFS5t3tO/s1600/Screenshot+from+2013-06-24+18%253A46%253A50.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjXz0obG_auywL8uGPkwRtnf0CSAVsiE6a5r0LDAYveMXh78dPBx4BAQgh3sMN0uaz8qGP8P6V7t-zyP58HW1HD6_RB9KtyJMnG9XnWMgy9w_aNiRfHQ09nPAST1BDWfz_MCCJDFS5t3tO/s320/Screenshot+from+2013-06-24+18%253A46%253A50.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">day 2</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It was featured within hours of posting, crazy moderators.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XG7jfolZgWw/UeJ9kMiFrAI/AAAAAAAA8XY/Z9vn4P6U1eo/s1600/Screenshot+from+2013-07-14+06%253A28%253A05.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XG7jfolZgWw/UeJ9kMiFrAI/AAAAAAAA8XY/Z9vn4P6U1eo/s320/Screenshot+from+2013-07-14+06%253A28%253A05.png" width="255" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">instructables published jun 24th</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div>
It is gratifying to see that at least some of the thousands of people who visited that instructables clicked through to my took-ages-to-make design process of a hexapod video. See spike in traffic at the end of June.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I still don't know the secret to getting comments though. I want to interact with people virtually! At least for now.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As usual -- then I mope about how I focus too much on these sorts of stats instead of going out and "enjoying what I do" or whatever.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But yea, all in all. Four years ago I never would have imagined being on hackaday and having a featured instructables. These were all things I saw the peers I looked up to do, not myself. Yet I find myself qualifying these accomplishments -- it was just for a project I basically copied off the internet, it is just for a really derpy hexapod I never really finished, etc. I have an awesome friend who was published in science as an undergraduate, yet she always qualifies her publication, and it's obvious that she's missing how amazing this whole thing is. Maybe I am doing that?</div>
<div>
<br />
Lack of self-confidence is unattractive and can make other people difficult to work / high maintenance with, yet I can't get rid of this in myself. Grr! At least there is hope for me. I can reasonable list three things every day that I am proud of myself for, unlike some friends of mine. x___x must spread positive energy<br />
<br />
Well, that's life in the first world. I am in an amazing spot for myself currently -- working on my own startup with two very good friends who are still my friends so far, assisting with a go-kart class for pay, no financial issues for at least a few months -- yet I still feel not-legit, like I haven't really built anything really cool or robust. I'm not sure what it'll take, since I certainly won't catch up anytime soon to people I look up to in the areas they specialize in.<br />
<br />
I guess that is just something I will have to get used to. Or I could finish <a href="http://orangenarwhals.blogspot.com/search/label/kiwikart"><span id="goog_129794105"></span>kiwikart<span id="goog_129794106"></span></a>...</div>
nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-85971676674461803772013-06-26T00:48:00.000-04:002013-06-26T04:06:48.012-04:00Kiwi-drive omni-wheeled go-kart, basic calculationsHanna Lin and I are going to make kiwikart, a kiwi-drive go-kart. We are going to make two versions, a brushed motor 80-20 version and a brushless motor bamboo version.<br />
<br />
Research so far:<br />
Previous omni kart:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZSa3SPtoQrs?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
Previous bamboo go-kart:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/i-S8jlMHmTk?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
Now for motor and gear ratio (sprocket) selections.<br />
<br />
We chose 3x 6'' wheels and 3x 4'' wheels (for the cheaper brushed 80-20 version). We chose aluminum for the first one because it seemed more durable, and plastic for the latter because the Al version only holds 80lbs per wheel while the plastic version holds 120lbs per wheel. We picked kiwi drive instead of four-wheel drive because it's much cheaper. (each brushless motor+wheel+controller assembly is upwards of 200 dollars).<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.andymark.com/product-p/am-0381.htm">http://www.andymark.com/product-p/am-0381.htm</a> (plastic 4'' dualie)<br />
<a href="http://www.andymark.com/product-p/am-0903.htm">http://www.andymark.com/product-p/am-0903.htm</a> (aluminum 4'' dual omni wheel)<br />
<br />
We also were trying to decide between a 3:1 and 4:1 ratio. Later we found out that for the 4'' wheels at least we can't get a 4:1 ratio because the sprocket is bigger than the wheels.<br />
<br />
<b>Max acceleration calculations:</b><br />
<br />
\[K_t = (K_v* \frac{2 \pi}{60})^{-1} [Nm/A]\]<br />
where $K_t = 236 \; rpm/V$ from hobbyking motor specifications (<a href="http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__18126__Turnigy_Aerodrive_SK3_5065_236kv_Brushless_Outrunner_Motor.html">http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__18126__Turnigy_Aerodrive_SK3_5065_236kv_Brushless_Outrunner_Motor.html</a>)<br />
\[K_t = (236* \frac{2 \pi}{60})^{-1} = 0.0405 \; Nm/A\]<br />
\[\tau_{max} = K_t I_{max}$ where $I_{max} = 50 \;A\]<br />
($I_max$ comes from the controller we selected, <a href="http://kellycontroller.com/kbs48121l50a24-48v-mini-brushless-dc-controller-p-1172.html">http://kellycontroller.com/kbs48121l50a24-48v-mini-brushless-dc-controller-p-1172.html</a>)<br />
Additionally, we know that<br />
<br />
\[\tau_{max} = F*r = m*a*r\] where $r$ is $radius$<br />
Thus,<br />
\[accel = \frac{\tau_{max}}{mr} = \frac{2.03\; Nm}{3 \; inches 200 \; lbs}\]<br />
where the radius of the wheel is 3'' and the cart we estimate to be about 60 lbs with a rider weight of 140 lbs. Plugging into wolfram alpha or google we get<br />
\[ accel = \frac{2.03}{0.076*90.7} = 0.29 m/sec/sec\]<br />
<br />
Finally, we account for the fact that, in a kiwi drive, while going forward we are only using 2 of 3 motors and the forward direction of motor force is only 70% ($sin 60 = \sqrt{3}/2$). We also need to take the 4:1 or 3:1 gear ratio into account.<br />
<br />
Thus,<br />
$accel = raw-accel * 2 * 0.7 * 4 = 1.6 \; m/sec/sec$ or about $1.6 / 9.8 = 0.16 \; g's$ of acceleration. In other words, 3.67 mi/hr/sec or going from 0 to 60 mph in 16 seconds. Brisk but not award-winning, but should feel plenty fast on a low-to-the-ground go-kart.<br />
<br />
=========<br />
<b>Max speed calculations:</b><br />
\[\Omega_{motor} = V_{sys} K_v [rpm]\]<br />
The motor can handle 37 volts so we picked 36 volts for the system voltage. As before, the $K_v$ is 236 rpm/V.<br />
\[\Omega_{motor} = 36 * 236 = 8496 rpm = 141.6 \;rev/sec\]<br />
\[v_{ground} = \frac{141.6 rev}{sec}* \frac{2 \pi r}{rev} * \frac {1}{K_{gear}} * 0.7 * 0.7\]<br />
where the 0.7 is for the forward efficiency again. We do another factor of 0.7 for cruising speed instead of no-load speed.<br />
\[v_{ground} = \frac{141.6 rev}{sec}* \frac{2 \pi * 0.076}{rev} * \frac {1}{4} * 0.49 = 17.5 \; mph\]<br />
<br />
=========<br />
<br />
That's it so far. We're using the same motors as chibikart, which are the lower $K_v$ in the SK3 50 mm class at 236 $K_v$. The wheels as mentioned before (100 dollars each for 6'' wheels), #25 chain, and sprockets to be determined. We're using kelly controllers KBS series that can handle 50 A 36V at $150 each. Whew. Okay, a lot more information to come, but a quick braindump for tonight.nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8248690813147355145.post-39331411498540698692013-06-22T20:24:00.001-04:002013-06-23T09:19:47.598-04:00Transmitting (x,y) coordinates between processing and arduino<a href="https://gist.github.com/nouyang/5843213">https://gist.github.com/nouyang/5843213</a><br />
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<script src="https://gist.github.com/nouyang/5843213.js"></script>nrobothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15422385347170954353noreply@blogger.com0