Balsa Bridge Building Contest

The Notre Dame Balsa Bridge Building Contest is held annually for students who are in Physics 11 and Physics 12. Students who participate in the Balsa Bridge Building Contest have to abide by certain rules, here are a couple, the bridge must consist of rectangular balsa stock and glue and the total mass of the bridge may not exceed the weight of 100.0 g. The record currently is held by Phyiscs 12 student Matt Sullivan with the weight of 209.4 kg. Sponsors for the Balsa Bridge Building Contest can be viewed here.

























Here is the site for the contest if you are interested
http://www.balsabridge.com/

Here are pictures from 2007 of the contest
http://www.myndrs.com/bridge07/index.html

Here is an interesting link from the additional links
http://www.jellesen.dk/webcrea/places/paris/parisbridge.htm

Vancouver is a city of many interesting bridges, here is my favourite:
Lion's Gate Bridge

Visual Multi-Form Project

"Hello World!" Programs

Our class had to create several "Hello World!" programs in Visual Basic, Turbo Pascal and Visual C++. There are several screen captures below to show how each runs in the several programs.

Visual Basic:

Turbo Pascal:

C++:

C++

Our ICT 12 class is nearing the end of using Python and moving on to a new program related to Python called C++. This program is quite commonly used to write many of the programs we use today.

Computer Disassembly Project

During sometime in December, 2007 my parnter and I experimented with a Compaq DeskPro spare computer that Mr. Vogel had assigned to us. We were able to disasseble and reassemble the computer with the appropriate tool set designed to take apart computers that Mr. Vogel had gave us. While we were disassembling the computer, we had to make sure that each screw and bolt were put into a plastic tube so we would not lose the pieces and remember were those screws and bolts go when we were to reassemble the computer. We had taken pictures with our group name with specific pieces from the computer for our summaries and blog. This computer disassembly project was to test our knowledge of where everything goes. We then had to test our computer after reassembling it together to see if it would work.

Digital Cameras in the Lower Mainland

There is a site that manages a list of digital cameras and the prices they sell for here in Vancouver:http://www.ndrs.org/iol/cameras.htm

This gets updated every year and each camera is detailed by the following:
Company (Sony, Canon, etc.)
Model
Megapixels (5.0, 8.0, etc.)
Prices (not including taxes)
Authorized Vendors
Maximum Optical Zoom
Other Details
If you're living in the Lower Mainland and interested in getting yourself a camera, maybe you should check this site out. Also, if you have came across a camera here in the Vancouver that is not on this list, contact the person who manages this site. Peter Vogel can be reached through the following:
vogelp@gmail.com
List the details as shown above and include any comments you have about your camera. If you agree to it, he might "interview" you for his newspaper column.

OLPC

One Laptop Per Child is a non-profit organization, founded by Nicholas Negroponte, which provides children in third world countries with a laptop so that they can have the ability to gain technological knowledge. In addition, these laptops can be a light source for the children's homes. To operate these laptops, there is a crank on the side of it. Wind up the crank, and the laptop can operate up to 10 hours. Also, the program makes sure that the laptop goes into the hands of the child. Personally, I think the OLPC program is a great opportunity for children who do not have access to a computer, and I would like to be a part of such a program.
For more information, visit the One Laptop Per Child site.For even more information, read the article written by Mr. Vogel on it.

OLPC Links
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/Wny$100LaptopProjectIsUnderSiege.aspx
http://www.tabletpcreview.com/default.asp?newsID=1014