The goal of the project was to see who could suck up 1 cup of rice in the least amount of time.  Our’s did it in 11 seconds before the fan blades began to explode.  The fastest time in our class was 3.7 seconds.  If we were to redesign our vacuum, we would definitely go with a larger nozzle to increase our volumetric flow rate.

The group’s goal is to bring the world together with music.  I think music is a very powerful art form because of how it can spark so many different emotions.  Music programs at schools should never be eliminated, it brings too much happiness to so many people regardless of social class, race, age or religion.

I suggest looking into artists or groups that may not be mainstream or popular.  Listening to public radio and talking to local record store workers is always a good place to start.

I think soccer is a great game, both to play and to watch.  And I think that if others gave it a chance, they would feel the same way.  At the same time, I feel that American sports and their fans have got the wrong idea of what sport really is.

I once timed an American Football game to see how long the players were actually playing football.  After four hours of game time, the total time of play came out to be 15 minutes.  That means just over 6% of the total game time is actually spent playing the game.  On top of that, each player is only on the field for half of the time depending on if they are on offense or defense.  So, an American Football player exerts himself for only 7.5 minutes per game and still needs an oxygen tank after running 40 yards.  Playing American Football is like running a very slow mile, then needing an entire week to rest before you run another very slow mile.

Another thing Americans do not like about soccer is the low scoring games.  Very rarely does a professional soccer game feature more than 4 or 5 goals, yet the entire world still tunes in to watch each of the 90 minutes.  Just a few years ago, the National Hockey League made goalie pads smaller and changed some other rules in hopes of creating more goal scoring.  They found that Americans were not watching hockey because games did not have many goals, and often they would end in ties.  I thought this was a terrible idea, and I still do.  Scoring a goal should be difficult and something to applaud.  After the sixth or seventh goal in a modern day hockey game, the difficulty of scoring starts to become questionable.

KERS has many advantages over using a conventional hybrid drive train.  For one, the entire package generally only weighs 50-60 lbs and could easily fit in the arms of a human.  With KERS, there is no need to carry heavy, expensive batteries that require large amounts of space.

Formula 1 will be introducing KERS to all F1 cars in phases from 2009 to 2013.  Their hope is to have a more “green” image and that KERS will develop into a commercial technology, as most other F1 technologies eventually do. 

I feel that KERS is a pretty promising technology.  I am surprised though, with how relatively simple and mechanical the systems operate, that we are just starting to see the systems in automobiles.

   “Honda must protect its core business activities and secure the long term as widespread uncertainties in the economics around the globe continue to mount. We will enter into consultation with associates of Honda Racing F1 and its engine supplier Honda Racing Development regarding the future of the two companies. This will include offering the team for sale.”

Honda’s last several seasons have been horrible, and sponsors have had second thoughts about funding the team.  At one point, the Honda F1 cars had no visible sponsors, and raced with a car-wide depiction of the planet Earth to promote environmentally friendly practices.

As many others agree with me, I did not expect any of the F1 teams to be effected by our current economic situation.  Partly, because there is not a large American presence in F1, and these teams have so much money it is hard to believe a slow economy will cause problems.

It is hard to figure out something good to to get them since I only see my parents for one week every semester.  There is no oppurtunity to hear them say something like “I could really use a…” or “I wish they made something that…”

I have looked at gift giving guides and they are useless because the suggestions are either ridiculously stupid or way too expensive.  In the end, I will  probably resort to getting my parents “something Penn State.”

What we then realized was that we were fooled right from the beginning.  The packaging did not say 18V, it said 1 8V (one 8V drill).  The space between the 1 and 8 was practically unnoticeable, but it was present everywhere the numbers appeared.  I could not believe the drill company had done this so I decided to see who it was made by.  As it turns out, there is no manufacturer mentioned on the packaging or anywhere in the manual. 

This has taught me to be cautious of purchasing generic products.  A sure sign that the product is garbage is when the manufacturer does not want to be associated with it.  So be careful, especially during this holiday season, if you are buying anything from outlet stores, wholesale clubs or even major retailers like Lowe’s.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1177808/boston_dynamics_big_dog_new_video_march_2008/

For a slightly more humurous take on the robot, check out the following video.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1194311/bigdog_beta_early_big_dog_robot_testing/

Since then, we have failed to go skating enough to finish our next video.  However, we still have quite a bit of footage from the past 4 years so my brother made a short compilation video for YouTube.

I miss having the time to go skateboarding with my brother and all of my friends.  Hopefully, once school is over in May we will be able to get out more and finish our next video.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1923085/pedal_power_slingshot/