Exploration #10: One Thing

Exploration #10 asked to, study it, and record it in detail. I decided to study one of my favorite books by my favorite author, Mindwar by Andrew Klavan



Studying the top half of the book, the first thing I see is a bright sunrise in the distance. Having read the book, I can see the meaning behind the cover. The boy pictured is standing in a fantasy land determined to save his world before time runs out. The trees and the hills represent a type of empty prairie. the lines that are repeated across the page show that it is some type of futuristic syfy aspect. The title Mindwar shows that it has something to do with a boy having to fight some type of war. When you read it, you know that he is in another world in a video game trying to save his world from complete destruction. His mind is controlling his body in the game, hence the title.

On the bottom half, it shows that the book is a trilogy and Mindwar is the first book. It shows the authors name in large bolded type with a short statement of other books he has written.

#10 One Thing: Book

Full Object 

For this weeks blog, I chose to do Exploration #10 in How To Be An Explorer Of The World. The exploration tells me that I should pick an object and stare at the top half of the object for 15 minutes recording what I see. After those 15 minutes are up, I should stare at the bottom half of the object for another 15 minutes recording what I see.

Top

On the top half of the object, I noticed shiny black text that is left aligned and uneven and that looks very bumpy to the touch. There is also what looks to be a printed circle that looks to resemble tin foil on the top right corner of the cover. On the very bottom of the top half, I see an odd little light blue colored circle that looks splotchy. Just underneath the light blue splotchy circle is a green spotted half circle. The background color of the top half of the object is a very smooth white color. There are also few light pencil marks spread out randomly across the top half of the object. The top right corner of the book is starting to curl outwards a tiny bit. Overall, the object appears to be in fairly good condition. 

Bottom

On the bottom half of the object, I see black text that is left aligned and uneven. The top two lines of text are shiny black, uneven, bumpy, and larger than the rest of the text. The bottom two lines of text are smaller and not shiny, but they are just as uneven as the top two lines of text. There is a bubble worm of uneven circles that follow along the right edge of the the bottom half of the book. The top circle is light blue and splotchy. The circle below that is green with light green polka dots.The third circle down is brown with a canvas like look. The fourth circle down is black and white and has a pen scratch look to its texture. The fifth circle down is a flat mustard yellow color with a smooth look. The six circle down is blue with an almost dyed cotton look to its texture. The seventh circle is made out of graphing paper. The eighth and bottom circle is bigger than the rest and red with an arrow pointing to the right. To the left of the bubble worm that runs along the right edge, their is a pyramid of uneven bubbles. The top tier of the pyramid is a yellow circle with the number 2970 written near the top. On the middle layer to the left, their is an orange circle that is smaller than the circle to its right. The circle to the right on the middle layer looks to be made out of a red leaf from Fall. The bottom layer of the pyramid has three circles. The circle on the bottom left looks like a piece of blank paper with writing on it. The circle in the middle on the bottom looks like black leather. The circle on the bottom right of the pyramid is green like grass. On the bottom left of the books cover, there are three circle stacked under the authors name. The top circle of the stack is light blue and the smallest. The middle circle is medium in size compared to the other two circles and has a red spiral texture. The bottom circle of the stack is only a half circle and has a white, light brown, and dark brown striped pattern. The background color of the bottom half of the book is a smooth white, There are a few pencil marks near the right edge of the cover. Overall, the bottom half is in good condition.

The South Dakota Festival of Books

On Friday, September 26 I, along with five other students and Dr. Nelson, attended the South Dakota Festival of Books. It was a really fun experience that I encourage everyone to go to if they ever get the chance.

The Festival took place at a few different venues in Sioux Falls, but the one we attended was at the Holiday Inn hotel downtown. The events we were attending started at 10 in the morning, and Katie and I both went to the Writing for Children speaker, while the others went to the talk about writing screenplays.

The author who spoke to Katie and I was named Jean Patrick, and she was the author of several children's books, both fiction and non-fiction. She told us the story of how she was first noticed by an editor, and how she plead for a chance to write a book which then became her first children's book: The Girl Who Struck Out Babe Ruth.

Mrs. Patrick also had us do a couple of exercises to show us how different word sounds can affect a paragraph. We went through magazines and circled words that had hard O sounds, hard U sounds, and K sounds. There were also a few reading exercises, where she read excerpts from children's books out loud and then asked us things that we noticed about the passages. 

She then told us the steps to writing a story, which I thought was very helpful. As she went down the list, she explained each point to us in detail, including one which I thought was kind of strange at first: Be mean. She told us that we had to be mean to our characters, because the more they struggle and the harder things are for them, the more satisfying of a read it is and the more hooked our readers get.

After we listened to Mrs. Patrick speak, we went to lunch. Ashley, Katie, Jesse, and I went to a Diner that was a few blocks away from the Festival, and afterwards we did a little bit of shopping while Jared and Paige, along with Dr. Nelson, went to a luncheon that we were not fortunate enough to get tickets to. 

The last half of our day at the Festival was very eventful. We found a big room where all of the authors at the Festival had tables set up for their books, so we could walk around and talk to them and possibly buy any books that interested us. We happened to stumble across an author who had graduated from Dakota State and was a previous student of Dr. Nelson's. Her works were fantasy novels, and two of them were interpretations of stories I am sure we're all familiar with: Rapunzel, and the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. Dr. Nelson got a picture taken with the author, Sarah Pepper, and we wandered around a bit more. 

After we thought we had seen all that there was to see, Katie, Ashley, and I sat out in the hall to wait for everyone else to be done. While we were in the hallway, Paige joined us, and soon after a woman named Sandra Brannan approached us. She asked us all what we wanted to do after we graduated and she was very enthusiastic about our career goals. She then asked us for help with a project she was working on, and afterwards she was so grateful that she bought all of us copies of one of her books, along with another author's book's. We took pictures with both her and the other author, Chris Browne (the man who writes the Hagar the Horrible comics), and they both signed their books for us. 

Even though I missed out on three classes that day, I think going to the Festival was worth it. I got some very good writing advice and was able to see firsthand how many authors really do come out of South Dakota. I would definitely go next year, if the Festival wasn't behind held in Rapid City.

A Collection of Writers

This Friday in Sioux Falls was the second day, and the first full one, of the Festival of Books, an event held annually in South Dakota - this year it happened to be at the east river location. While I was at the event there was a particular kind of collection that I hadn't noticed the importance of until I was there. There is a certain necessity in gathering a group of people who have something in common. The collection in particular that was spoken about was a group of writers. Having a writers group can be helpful for those in the process of creating works of literature. The genres and styles don't have to connect with other writers. A group creates a safe space to allow others to bounce ideas together, to gather constructive criticism, and to be aware that you aren't alone in your methods of writing. Groups of like-minded people create the idea of comfort and safety. With the power of technology and the internet it has been easier to have these groups. In a state like South Dakota people are often spread out and it can be difficult to find a community of writers within a small driving distance. The internet has enabled like-minded people to find each other for those who are no longer in school and around people who might have something in common with you.

There was also a collection of authors at the event. Many of them were from the state and of those from South Dakota some had been published by a company and others were self-published. These collections are faith restoring for those in geographical locations where it just seems like you won't even leave a microscopic footprint on this great big map of people. 

Exploration #6

ARCHEOLOGICAL DIG

Collect objects that relate to your childhood or inspire memories. Write a brief story to accompany each of them.

Object #1: A small, frayed, pink collar with a tiny silver bell on it.

Six years old and I'm already afraid for my life. How long do most people make it? 80 years? Boy, I'm really letting the ancestors down. I wonder what my obituary will say... "Little girl murdered by a devil cat!" Blech. That's not the legacy I wanted to leave behind. I suck up my fear and peek over the side of my bed. I can't see her, but I know she's there... waiting. I can only hope that I'm faster than she is.

I spring off of my mattress and make a run for the hallway. My rapid footsteps are followed by the repetitious jingling of a tiny bell. She's going to GET me this time; I just know it! I manage to reach the living room and I instinctively leap on top of the couch, turning my head just in time to catch her demonic glare. She can't reach me up here and she knows it. She bolts back into my room and I breathe a sigh of relief. I'll live to see another day.

Object #2: A little red stuffed "telly tubby".

I remember being so proud of myself on New Years Eve when I saw my sister fast asleep, cuddling this little TV character. She was less than a year younger than me, but it didn't show. We did everything together... and she was typically better than me. I didn't have as many friends as she did and she excelled in sports where I struggled. When she fell asleep first on New Years Eve (we had promised each other that we'd both stay up until midnight), I felt utterly victorious. It didn't matter to me that I was older than her. I could do something that she couldn't!

Object #3: An old Harry Potter book.

I don't remember what my sister did or said to me, but I was livid with her. I'm certain it was something trivial. We used to get mad about the dumbest things... I should preface by saying that she was much stronger than me. All of my siblings were. I didn't often take them on in physical combat, because I knew I would lose. I had to use my words to cut into them. In my anger, I spoiled the ending of the book that she was reading (it happened to be a Harry Potter book). It ruined the novel for her and she hasn't read the series again (or forgiven me) since. For most people, this would be a terrible way to get back at someone... but it definitely worked for my sister. I still kind of feel bad about it! It's a fun story to tell, though.

Object #4: A dvd player.

I remember the awe that I was filled with when my father first brought this home. He had a surround sound system with it as well. When he told me that it was able to play movies in the form of discs, I honestly didn't believe him. I thought he was kidding around with me. I genuinely could not fathom the concept. It was pretty cool to see it in action, especially coped with the surround sound. It felt like we had a movie theatre in our basement.

Exploration #7

“Collect paint chips. Find colors you respond to in the world. Make notes of where you saw the colors.”

I've collected the colors of my day today. The first few colors are the colors of my outfit this day. They’re the colors I've selected to represent myself, and I think they show off my mood. The next few are colors I’m anticipating eagerly. I’m driving to home to Sioux Falls tonight to see my family, and I know I have these to look forward to. The last couple are incredibly comforting. And all these colors inspire me.

Festival of Books

Today I attended the book festival that was held in Sioux Falls and it was the epitome of every English majors dreams. I started the festival attending a workshop aimed at writing for children and young adults. A big part of the event was participating in writing activities. It was interesting to dissect writing and learning the rules for certain age groups.
After the workshop I got to meet a lot of great authors. Admittedly, I did not know any of them until the event, but it was a very eye opening experience. I was surprised to meet Sarah Pepper, a fictional writer who graduated from Dakota State. I had her sign a bookmark from me and got a picture with her.:) She was so down to earth and absolutely wonderful to meet.

When the gang and I were taking a break (there was a lot of standing) we met Sandra Brannan, a fiction writer. She was astounded by Dakota States majors and how many opportunities we are afforded. She asked each of us one by one what we wanted to do after we graduated and was so supportive of all our dreams. She made sure that we all knew how important each of our dream jobs were and just how attainable they were. Her confidence defiantly made me feel more at ease with my future. It was incredible to meet her and we were gifted with a signed copy of her novel.

Sandra introduced us to Chris Browne, a versatile author who also signed a copy of his book for me. He talked to the group a bit about his work and later when recounting my day with my mom, she informed me that she knows he and his wife very well. Small world!
The book festival proved to be the best academic event I have experienced all of my college career. Not only did I meet wonderful people, but I also learned a lot about a craft I love.

Sioux Falls Festival of Books

                                               Source: http://www.sdhumanities.org/about_logos.htm

The Sioux Falls Festival of Books is a South Dakota festival held every year in either Sioux Falls, SD or in Deadwood, SD. The Festival brings in several local and out of state authors for book sales, signings, and workshops that are held for these four days. The festival has several workshops that cater to different topics of writing. A sample of workshops for today catered to writing for the screen, writing for children, creating a writing group, and how to get organized to write. One of the halls was filled with booths for many different authors mostly from South Dakota who were selling and sighing their books to people. The website for events is located here at http://www.sdbookfestival.com/. Their are still events going on for Saturday and Sunday.

Now for my specific experience at the festival. I picked the Ten Days to Organized Writing workshop. Which showed me some techniques and ideas for making it easier for me to sit down and write. Instead of procrastinating with the internet, homework, choirs etc... A few things are a rehash of what you can find just about anywhere. But their were several techniques and ideas that I find to be quite intriguing and useful that I plan to use for my own writing. The major technique I want to use is writing down ideas, characters, chapter ideas, etc... down on index cards. Then after you have written down those ideas, organize the cards into piles that you feel relate to each other. Once the cards are in the pile then you will organize that pile, write up a intro and conclusion to it and now you have an outline for your book, poem, short story etc... To me this was a new technique that I want to try out for my own writings. Other ideas and techniques were to push everything aside for a certain time slot that you reserve for writing, sitting down fully prepared to work, exit out of desktop distractions like your internet browser, and set reasonable goals for your writing like one page per day.

Next I went to a literary lunch called Hollywood and the Novel with Diane Johnson and Matthew Specktor. I was able to eat and then listen to Diane and Matthew talk about books and Hollywood. They first introduced themselves and gave a rap sheet of what they worked on. Diane Johnson helped write for the movie version of The Shinning by Stephen King. She also had one of her own books adapted to movie, Le Divorce. Matthew Specktor has worked in the industry for several years now and is having one of his books, American Dream Machine adapted to TV for Showtime. They went on to talk about the difficulties of having your book adapted to movie. The major things I picked up was that it takes a lot of time and effort to get your book considered for adaption, then have the movie never be made, the movie most of the time will be different from the book, and that once you sign the contract, the author signs over all the characters and rights and probably only get money for selling the rights. It sounds like the author usually only gets one payment and that's for selling the rights of the book, authors usually don't get money from the movie showings.

After that I went to the book hall. I got a few books with the author's signature and was able to help out a author named Sandra Brannan who was looking for help on video game design and talking with people with some knowledge on it. Jesse Woodward and I helped to give a introduction to video games to her and we gave her contact information for the video game design professors at DSU. She was thrilled and loved talking to the other English for New Media majors there that she bought all of us a copy of one of her books in her book series Liv Bergen Mystery. Also she bought us The Monster who ate the State by Chris Browne the cartoonist for Hager the Horrible. He was also at the Festival and he signed our books. both Sandra and Chris posed with us for a group picture that will be posted on Facebook here soon.

Well that's an account of what I did at the Festival, a great and wonderful time that I wish I could continue tomorrow if I didn't have drill this weekend. But I recommend everyone who is interested in books and writing to go to the Festival at least once.

One Thing

Exploration #10

This exploration asked us to choose an everyday object and study it, recording everything that we notice about this object. I have chosen to study a die that I added to my dice collection this past year. The die has six sides, each with a different image.

Side 1: The first side displays a delicately painted image of a king similar to what you would expect to find on a playing card. The king is painted in red and he's holding a sword. The die is old and some of the paint has rubbed off making the the king mostly faceless. His eyes are the only detectable facial feature. There is also a small crack or scratch at the top of this side that reaches from the king side to the the ace of spades side.

Side 2: The second side has a queen. She is painted in lime green and she's holding a flower. This side of the die is in relatively good condition and the majority of its paint remains.

Side 3: The third side displays a jack. Like the king and queen, the picture is one that you would expect to find on a playing card. The jack is painted in a dark blue paint and he hold a type of scepter. The paint directly down the middle of the jack has been scratched off. We are shown a side view of the joker, so we can still see the profile of his face; however, the paint that is scratched off leaves the impression that we are missing details from the jack.

Side 4: The fourth side displays an ace of spades. A good bit of the paint on the ace has worn off, but you can still distinguish that it is an ace.

Side 5: The fifth side shows a nine of spades. Each of the spades is good condition except for two. The spade in the middle and the spade in the top right-hand corner are both slightly worn. The tips of these two spades are missing.

Side 6: The sixth and final side displays a ten of spades. This side of the die is in the best condition. None of the paint has been worn off yet. The spades on this side have been painted red rather than black.

Invisible City

This exploration is #35 and can be found on page 99.

“Using your imagination, create a portrait of your city or town in which everything that you encounter is magical, exaggerated, or slightly altered from reality. Use whatever documentation method you prefer.”

---------

Stress. It consumes us.

“These potholes will rattle your car to pieces,” Mom grumbles as I drive a whopping 13 miles an hour down our undertreated gravel road.

I never usually take this road all the way down to get to town, but I’m in a hurry, and this is the fastest way to get somewhere without sitting at millions of stoplights.

“Godzilla could fall into these black holes.”

“Mom, you’re being a tad dramatic. My car is fine, I’m dodging as many potholes as I can, and even the ones I do hit aren’t that bad. Calm down.”

She doesn’t calm down, and I become more frantic. Just as I finish my sentence, my car comes to a scraping stop. That’s weird, there is no check engine light or anything of the sort. The gages look perfectly fine. Frazzled, I unbuckle and get out of the car to inspect the inside of the hood. As I get out and start to walk around my car, I almost trip over something on the road. It’s a tire. My car’s tire. I look at the rest of the car. All the wheels are off. Oh my gosh! My car actually has fallen apart. Crap. Just my luck.

Just when I’m about to cry to my mom about jinxing it, I feel the ground quiver. I stop and listen. Stomp. Thud. Stomp. Turning towards the oncoming noise, I look up into the sky and scream.

“Mom! Mom! Alien!” Mom gets out of the car looking exhausted. I point, she turns, she looks into the sky and screams with me this time.

“Sarah, it’s Godzilla!”

“We’re not in Japan. And we’re not on a movie set! It can’t be real.” As the monster gets closer, we stand there in shock and disbelief. 50 paces away from us, the creature stops, looks down at us, and roars an ear-deafening screech with the strength of 1,000 suns. It approaches us, and we finally snap out of it and run.

We keep running. And running. And running. But the monster seems to be on our tails. I look back just as a deep opening in the middle of the road opens up and engulfs the creature. The black hole swallows Godzilla with one large gulp followed by a belch and then it disappears. No more black hole. No more Godzilla.

I hang my head, sigh, and do a long, hard blink to clear my eyes from tears. When I open my eyes again, I’m back behind the wheel. I’m driving down our crappy gravel road once again as my mom starts, “These potholes could rattle-“

“Mom! Stop!”

“Excuse me?”

“Please don’t finish that sentence. We don’t want to make this small problem out to be a bigger one.”

“Well, okay.”

We drive along going 13 miles an hour until we get to our turn. I pull onto the paved road with relief. Times get rough, and we can get swallowed up whole by stress, but it’s glorious when we get through it all. These life lessons are never a waste.

Exploration 1

The numbers 41, 42, 43, and 44 are written on the data cable box to my left.
The framed picture to my back left is actually an article about an electronic publishing center.
The paint in the corner is pealing.
I can hear the ticking of the clock due to proximity.
I recognize that the carpet is fairly old and I kind of carpet that I wouldn't want in my house because it is very thin and likely bland to stand on with bare feet.
The popcorn texture on the wall is very small, which in my opinion, is much nicer to look at than the large popcorn textures.
I am thankful that I can't taste anything while sitting here.

Curation in the real world?

web cam screen shot via: http://www.madisonsd.com/webcam/

My phone has been buzzing like mad this morning. Strange messages that have roused me from my bed earlier than normal: SPECIAL WEATHER ALERT.

Turns out, it's nothing but fog, which can be dangerous for driving, but, probably, less so for sleeping.

No matter.

Scrolling through my news feed, drinking coffee and contemplating the haze out my window, I stumbled across a link to this page about Steam Curators.

Video games and curation? Get you some.

Egg Stats

Egg Drop. Beadle Hall. 17 Sept. 2014.

Egg	Structure	Egg safety
1	Intact	Broken
2	Intact	Safe
3	Intact	Safe
4	Intact	Cracked
5	Intact	Safe
6	Intact	Broken
7	Intact	Broken
8	Intact	Unclear
9	Broken	Broken
10	Intact	Cracked
11	Intact	Safe

Egg Smash

This past week, my Digital Collection and Curation class was able to go outside and watch an art class drop an egg enclosed in some unique entanglement of toothpicks from the stairwell on the side of Beadle Hall. In was interesting to see the different designs every student came up with in hopes to not have there egg break and make a liquid mess everywhere. When watching it being done, it took me back to my senior year of high school in Physics class. The egg drop was one of our many projects. Me and two of my friends were paired up for the project. Our egg encasement was so difficultly made and intricate that we had every intention of winning the contest and, understandably, got very cocky about it. Of course though, when it was our turn to drop the egg, it was one of the few that broke. Unfortunately, we were not able to brag about our winnings, but the students in the DSU art class had every intention to brag! There designs were very interesting and unique! I very much enjoyed it!

A Reflective Perspective: Egg Drop 2014

3D Design students at DSU conducted a series of egg drop test to see if the structures they had been creating could safely deliver an egg to the ground from about one story off the ground last Thursday. While some made it and others didn't, the whole experiment was very interesting to watch. I was unable to stay for the whole event, but I did manage to capture the first ten eggs dropped at Egg Drop 2014. Enjoy!

Did I really say that? Correction, Egg Drop 2014. 

First victory of the day for the eggs!

Another egg lives to see tomorrow!

This egg suffered a mild contusion, but we think he's going to be okay.  

Completely missed this one! My bad folks!

My excitement was misplaced on this one.

I had a bad feeling about this one from the start.

I had a good feeling about this one though! 

Uhh... 

They must have thought I was just being narcissistic.

Scrambled Eggs and Mighty Survivors

I witnessed several eggs drop to the ground beneath the fire escape this past beautiful Wednesday afternoon. The 3D Design class at DSU seemed to have put a lot of energy and creativity into this entertaining project, and we in response gave them a very amused and engaged audience. Just happy to be outside on such a gorgeous day, the Digital Collection and Curation class was thrilled to look on to this spectacle. Over the next roughly half an hour we “oohed”, “awed”, and “applauded the young artists and creators as they attempted to secure the fate of the eggs with which they were entrusted. 

First to test her engineering skills, Ashes bravely took to the fire escape. Her egg structure was small and a little top-heavy. In an unfortunate splatter, the egg crashed to the ground. It was a good way to start off the event.

The contraptions that followed seemed to get bigger and more intricate for a while. The next device had a sort of skewer-umbrella attached, which didn’t survive the fall but died with honor protecting its egg. After that we got several large spherical shapes with the eggs in the center and spindly protruding legs. Some made it; some did not.

And I can’t get by in this without mentioning the near-infamous device dubbed by the English community “Schrödinger’s Box”. This little egg encasing was so tightly bound up in skewers, toothpicks, and hot glue that it was very much a challenge at first look to know whether the egg endured. They shook it up a bit and apparently heard enough movement to discern the egg had not made it.

Then as our time was winding down, I just had to stay a few moments extra behind the majority of the class. My dear pal, Liam was up to bat just as my fellow collectors and curators turned to their heels. He told me later that his structure used the fewest pieces compared to the rest of the class. He must have done something right though because his egg also fortunately survived.

Egg Drop: Schrödinger's Box

Among the egg drop participants, one of the most interesting examples is one that other students had dubbed "Schrödinger's Box". It's design was rather simple, it was a box made from layers and layers of toothpicks, tightly laced and then hot-glued together in a very effective looking box. Only two questions really surrounded this project: Would it work and how can we tell?

Once the box had been dropped the exterior showed no damage whatsoever and the design was so tightly made that no yolk was able to drip out if it had broken. After the student retrieved his box the professor and he held the box up to their ears and shook it to see if they could tell. They were able to discern the failure of the experiment from the sloshing sound they heard when they shook it. I suspect that not only did the project fail, but it did so in a manner similar to Ashe's egg- magnificently shattered. Though without splitting it open, we may never know the full extent of the damage.

Though the layer of toothpicks, sticks and glue was an impressive amount, it really wouldn't have been enough to displace the shock enough to protect the fragile shell of the egg. However it was tightly enough packed and sealed with glue that I doubt that any of the egg would ever have escaped it's new prison on it's own.

EGG SMASH 2014. Who will survive the SMASHING.

You have to love happy accidents when they involve smashing eggs and recording the mesh for a collection. With these 9 videos we see 9 student's toothpick creations stand the test of falling on the ground and seeing if the egg survived or broke. Now onto the first video.

Our first contestant up to bat has a design that goes for a sort of glider effect and as extra distance from the ground to the egg to make for more cushion when the egg falls. As you can tell the egg survived the fell.
Now onto the next.

Here we have a little more open space and several outstretching prongs going in all directions for cushion and highest probability that the prongs will falls down first and cushion the blow.The egg survived for this, now let's see if the next will do so well.

Our first break of the day. The design for this one appears to be circles or pentagons in a sphere shape. But the sphere didn't have enough cushion or distance from the ground to the egg and we hear the egg smash when it hits the ground. Well let's see how number 4 will do.

For this egg drop the contestant used a unifying triangle form with several smaller triangles composing it. Triangles are the strongest structure humans now and the contestant used this to protect their egg from breaking. Now for contestant number 5.

This egg did not fair so well. The design here is of a box with prongs sticking out of the corners for cushion. It appears that the prongs were not long enough the box shape did not cushion the blow for the egg. On to the next contestant.

This egg did as well as the last it appears. The design is rather bare and open which leaves very little for cushion and even less for air drag that may slow down the fall and act as cushion. So what do we have up next now?

Well this appears to be a Schrodinger's cat though experiment here. Similar to Number 5's design but with a fully enclosed box this eggs may seem to have survived but with further inspection it appeared that some ooze was coming out. Well let's continue on with EGG SMASH 2014 shall we.

Another box that didn't fair too well for the egg. This design seems to be a box with a bare bones box surrounding it for cushion and maybe as a suspension effect for the box with the egg. Well another one bites the dust and now we have our final contestant.

Another Schrodinger's Cat scenario for this egg. The design is a fully enclosed box again that jumps off screen and into the window. Upon inspection the box had some ooze coming out. So another egg appears to have bit the dust.

Well that includes our coverage of this year's EGG SMASH. I'm Jared Lampe and I hope to see you next year for EGG SMASH 2015.

Creative egg carriers

I would just like to comment on the design of so many of the egg containers the other day. I tried to do a quick sketch of each of the containers that we saw drop and looking back at those quick doodles, I see some really interesting designs, some of which must have taken a LONG time to construct. I compare the first one we saw to a lunar space-pod-like container with its pyramid like top and take off stable lower supports. Some of my favorites included the helo-like top which also reminded me of a parachute and I also made note that it was successful in protecting the egg. There were a couple that I would describe as old dandy-lion  like (you know before you blow all of the little whisps away). Overall an exciting and interesting outing.

An Interesting Collection

While one of my friends was browsing imgur, he came across a collection that intrigued me. I thought you guys might want to take a look at it.

This is a collection of Oreo flavors. Some of these sound pretty rad and some... absolutely repulsive. Watermelon Oreos? Really? What was Nabisco thinking?!

Let's Smash Some Eggs!

One of the art classes at DSU were conducting a scientific project - or as I called it 'pretty engineering', but that's misleading.

The goal that the students had were to create a piece of artwork that could safely house an egg and allow it to withstand a drop, and if the structured stayed together that was another bonus!

Stuck the landing! - But it damaged the 'egg house' a little, but nothing that can't be repaired.

Didn't think it would stick the landing but the intricate design and the egg remained in tact - an omelette saved for another day.

Splat! I hope you weren't planning on making an omelette with that.

Egg Drop: Behind the Scenes

I have no photos or videos to add to the collection of media capturing the egg drop that took place at Dakota State University this past week; however, I can give a snapshot of my behind-the-scenes view. Two weeks ago my significant other got out of class and told me about an assignment they were starting. The assignment involved building a structure around an egg using only toothpicks, wooden skewers, and hot glue. Upon hearing this assignment I asked if they would fail the assignment if their eggs broke.  I was assured that the students would not fail the assignment if their eggs broke, as the main point of the assignment was to focus on the aesthetic of the structure.  

We spent that next weekend watching the Dark Knight trilogy and during that time, Nathan slaved over his structure. The main structure was a sort of pyramid made from wooden skewers and filled with panels made from toothpicks. I watched as Nathan patiently coated individual toothpick panels with layers of hot glue, waiting for the glue to cool slightly and become tacky. At this point he would quickly grab another toothpick and stick it in the tacky glue, pull the toothpick away from the main panel bringing thin webs of glue with it. He would then wrap the webs around the panels until the glue set too much to pull the webs from. This process was repeated on the same panel until the web became thick enough to hopefully catch some air as it would drop.

The day of the egg drop came and the structure was completed. All the panels were in place, the egg was secured, and large flat panel using the same web technic had been added to the top of the structure in order to hopefully act as a parachute. As I gathered below the fire escape with a group of students who had come to watch the excitement, my nerves increased as I wondered whether all the time spent on the structure would pay off. Was the egg going to make it? Nathan climbed up the fire escape to the point where the students would be dropping their structures, he held it out over the railing, and let go. His structure floated to the ground—as much as a structure carrying the weight of an egg can float and landed with a slight bounce and an unbroken egg. 

wooden wombs

Students from Professor Angela Behrends' 3D Design class show
off their designs.

On Wednesday our class had the opportunity to witness the students from Professor Angela Behrends' 3D Design class drop eggs encased in a 3D creation made of toothpicks and skewers. The key to the exercise was to build something with these simple materials that would protect the egg from breaking when dropped from the fire escape. The different ideas of what to build around the egg took on many different shapes, sizes, and theories of what would work to protect it. After taking a look at the many different designs, I decided that the ones that were built larger would probably work the best because they would absorb more of the shock. As it turned out I was right. Below are a few videos of designs where the eggs did not break, take notice how they have a bigger design.

 

Unfortunately there were also those whose eggs did not fare so well. The one thing I noticed about these designs is they were smaller and more rigid so they probably didn't absorb shock as well.

 

  

 

 

And then there's the one where we didn't know whether the egg broke or not because it is completely covered.

 

  

 

What's interesting is how, when, or where any collection can start. I wouldn't see myself collecting something like this per se, but it could be something that Professor Behrend's may record and collect with every new class. This was a good exercise with archiving an event so it may viewed by other in the future. 



Egg Drop

I have collected a few images from the egg drop event we witnessed as a class. Although the lesson was not pre-planned, it was fun to be a part of another classes projects. It was interesting to participate by collecting photos because it tied into real world collections we can acquire for this class.

Here is a group photo of the class.

More of the class and some of our class.

Before drop....

The egg didn't break!

Egg Drop

One of the projects that the lovely art students of DSU have taken on is to create an architecturally sound contraption to house an egg... with toothpicks, skewers, and hot glue! The goal was to drop these contraptions from the fire escape without breaking the eggs. The project is an interesting mix of art and science. Some of the creations that resulted from the assignment were a success, while some were a failure, but most had a creative aesthetic. I wasn't able to catch every experiment on tape (and some of the videos just didn't turn out), but I do have a few to show off.

This was one of the more intricate looking contraptions. The toothpicks and skewers were arranged in a way that helped them to absorb the shock of the impact. When the contraption hit the ground, the egg stayed intact.

This is one of the contraptions that didn't work so well! It's a little hard to see, and I can't remember quite what it looked like... but it just goes to show that not every creation was a success. Some of these looked very rad, but it's a difficult task to make them structurally sound.

This was my favourite creation of the day. From the outside, it looked like a little box. It was likely a series of boxes inside of other boxes-or perhaps a jumble of toothpicks arranged tightly enough to create a tiny box! I wish I could have cut it in half to see what it looked like from the inside, because I think it worked. And it bounced on the ground quite a few times.

Elephants on Strike

In my search through old newspaper articles from the Library of Congress, I found this great article about elephants going on strike. The article titled, "When The Elephant Goes On Strike," talks about how elephants are notorious about standing up for their own rights. It also talks about how elephants have castes within their groups and they recognize certain elephants as leaders. You can certainly find some interesting content if you search "elephants" on the Library of Congress website.

Exploration #20 Thoughts

Go shopping
-get steak
--cook it rare

Rum's on sale
-need coke

When is the house going to be finished?
-sheet-rocking will take FOREVER
-electrical work is done, phew.
-that damn pipe behind the washer is still busted (which inhibits the ice machine)

Rum's on sale
-need ice

We need to get the heater fixed
-WINTER IS COMING!

22 credits is too much
-chem,crit,digi,port,pub,media,busybusybusy.
SO MUCH TO DO!

Should I consider grad school or stick to a home town job?
-this was an earlier thought
-this exploration is rhetorical

As Fragile as an Egg

Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. It just depends on how we construct the situation at hand and whether or not we let it crack us open and allow it to splatter us on the sidewalk. We need to learn how to protect ourselves as if we're fragile eggs, vulnerable and capable of cracking if not taken care of.

Another class demonstrated just that on this beautiful day up on the fire escape. Maybe it's not the take-away lesson they planned for, but it's what I personally got from it.

Here is my collection of "eggscellent" pictures taken from my trusty flip phone (not many people can say that nowadays).

Pictured here are students and professor setting up for the battle of eggs.

Of course, posed pictures are mandatory for documentation of the event.

First up the fire escape to test her egg protecting structure was Ashes.

Her egg splattered, so here a student helps the professor replace the splattered paper. It's okay. Not every structure is perfect. In fact, perfect doesn't even exist.

Nathan Shay's egg structure was by far the most creative with an umbrella-like top that successfully glided a bit more gracefully on the way down.

A Jealous Husband's Crime

The newspaper story I choose to report on comes from Los Angeles’ The Herald, on a Saturday morning, July 20th, 1895. This is apparently a front page story with the title exclaiming “A Jealous Husband’s Crime”. The article oddly enough has six subheadings.

A JEALOUS HUSBAND’S CRIME

Tried to Murder His Alleged Faithless Wife

THEN TO KILL HIMSELF

John G. Luck Does Deadly Work With a Razor

HE THEN JUMPS FROM A WINDOW

His Wife's Room and the Hall Resembled a Slaughter Pen

The Fearful and Revolting Details of a Horrible Butchery

His Bloody Act Said to Have Been Provoked by Learning That the Woman Was Untrue to Her Marriage Vows

The story goes as such: a man, John G. Luck is devastated by the apparent infidelity of his wife and attempts murder and suicide. There’s a lot that goes on in this story. It’s about five columns in small print on a very large front page of a paper, interspersed with large drawings of the two “victims” and two locations involved. They call this event an “attempted tragedy” though it seems tragic enough.

The husband and wife, as it says, “now lie at death’s door with their throats cut from ear to ear, and with gasps of breath are making a fight for their lives”. What the writer calls “the same old story” is categorized by John wielding an “ordinary razor” after first beating his wife with a water pitcher. As the many titles suggest, John attempts to cut his wife’s throat. While she struggles, and upon being interrupted by a concerned neighbor, John then attempts to cut his own throat. The details provided in this article are extremely gruesome and very detailed, something I highly doubt you could get away with publishing in today’s age. John then attempts to open his wound further with his hands and proceeds to jump out a window, 30 feet up. He survives this fall, a bit stunned and is secured and taken to a hospital, as is his wife. Authorities suggest that both have a chance to recover, though the outlook is more positive for Lily, the wife.

The audience is seemingly any curious newspaper reader in Southern California. This is a big story but not for the faint of heart.

I would tag this article with such words as “murder”, “attempted murder”, “suicide”, “California”, “The Herald”, and “tragedy”.

And here's a link because it really is a fascinating article.