Validation

Engineering Problem Solving Method:
State the problem.
State what you need to find.
Draw a representation of the problem.
Theory: solve the problems using variables.
Assumptions: state your assumptions.
Givens: state what the problem gives you.
Iteration: solve the problem by plugging your values into your theory.
Validation: this equals hell. They expect us to find another way to solve a problem we already have the answer to. This week is the worst! Even after going to office hours to get help from the TA's, it seems like I have no idea how to validate the stupid problem. Even the TA's have a not so great way to validate. It was a completely last ditch effort!

The Most Random Thing You'll Ever Read

sometimes the smiles fade even when you think it's right
or the moments don't mean the same things they used to
and you start to find shelter in someone else's smile
which is something not known for a long time
it's hard to think everything's perfect
and doesn't need to change
when there are so many unknown things around
so many new experiences and opportunities
not wanting to miss anything
homework taking up my life
spending more time with people new to me
and being happier than with old friends
talking to my parents way more than I used to
truly finding out how close my mom and I are
it's an experience of a lifetime
it's challenging, but you'll make it
maybe the best seven years of my life :-P (Hope not)
I wouldn't change where I am right now for the world
as confusing and stressful as it is, I'm happy
not even knowing how
but realizing I wouldn't want to lose anyone
that I have in my life right now

Photographs

Curtis’s intention of staging the Native Americans like he did was to supposedly help other people understand them. In all reality, he just staged them in the way that Americans thought of the Native Americans. One reason he produced these photographs was because he was interested photography and Native Americans. Curtis staged the Native Americans too much. It has been said that some of them aren’t in their native environments. The families are portrayed in some of them also. One reason he photographed the Native Americans was for his contract with J.P. Morgan. I don’t think he would have produced 19 volumes of posed Native Americans if it weren’t for the prospective money looming over his head. Neidich’s work, from what I saw in the book, was much more geared toward making the Native Americans look savage. There were pictures of a man with a knife to his throat and pictures of men falling off horses. Neidich also tried to make his photos look old but making them sepia toned and grainy. I think his agenda was more to contradict photos like Curtis’s than to make a living taking photos of Native Americans. Neidich’s photos definitely remind me of photos and paintings that I would see in my old history books. I personally prefer Neidich’s work because he didn’t only focus on Native Americans. He photographs other things that interest him.

Stupid High School

So I’m sitting in front of the tv right now. I volunteered for the Habitat for Humanity at the Gus Macker tournament from 4 to 8. I feel like after I got back, all I’ve done is eat. In reality, that really is all I’ve done. I tried to start homework, but I just couldn’t. I’m having such a hard time getting back into the swing of things after one weekend. I wish I could learn study habits and things I never had to in high school. There are so many of us down here who were able to slack in high school and got a shock when we got here. I have my first chemistry test tomorrow night, and I have no idea how to study for it. I read over my notes twice and looked at old tests, but I feel like it won’t be enough. High school is supposed to prepare us for college. I don’t feel prepared in the slightest. I don’t know time management. I never had to study for tests. My classes weren’t challenging. How does that prepare me for college? I know some bigger schools would have been better, but that wasn’t the district that I lived in. I would never have asked my parents to pay tuition for me to go to a bigger school with more challenging classes. So after wasting plenty more of my time, I’m going to go back to studying and trying to do other homework!

Unproportional Killing

The strategies of WWII were obviously not in proportion or morally correct. I guess I could understand if the U.S. Air Force was trying to get Japan to surrender. Sure, kill their civilians until they crack. Not exactly something I would agree with, but they obviously thought differently than I do. In my mind, firebombing is like torture. The civilians were unknowing of their deaths coming, and it’s not like they could have persuaded their government to surrender even if they did. After seeing the equivalents of the U.S. cities that would have been destroyed, my heart fell when I realized the damage. In my mind, I think the firebombings were too extensive, but I’m sure they felt differently back then. The nuclear weapons just went too far. After the damage they had already done, they had to go back and kill more people. Now, looking back, people wonder whether there was enough time in between the dropping of the nuclear arms. Before I decided on mechanical engineering, I had wanted to go into nuclear engineering. Although obviously not for the formation of nuclear arms, I thought that might end up being the only place I could find a job. I knew that I didn’t want to have any part in a nuclear war, and that is part of the reason that I changed my mind. So overall, I do not believe that the strategies were in proportion, and the ends did not justify the means.

Enough is not enough, but it will have to do...

When the first woman got up and read her “inspired fairy-tale,” I was completely impressed. All of her words went straight to my imagination, and it was as if I could see the evil sunflower and pages growing from the ground. After she finished, Kate Bernheimer went up to the podium and decided that her own introduction to herself wasn’t as good as the previous introduction. She started right off into the book reading. The books she read from were from a series about the three Gold sisters: Merry, the oldest, Ketzia, the middle sister, and Lucy, the youngest. Though she only read from the first two books about Ketzia and Merry, you could easily see the relations between the stories in the books, and also you got a hint of the fairy tales. She said that she uses German, Russian, and English fairy tales. Throughout her reading, I sat debating what I thought of her writing. In my mind, it was quite odd intermixing riddles with her stories. Also odd were some of the quotes about the piano and guitar teacher. It made me wonder if he were the reason Merry became so cold later on in life. It seemed like the parts Kate chose to read somehow flowed into the next. She went from talking about the “ice walker” girl to how she was later in life, walking around the streets looking for vodka. The two were related by her feelings from the day she saw the girl fall through the ice. Overall, even though I thought her passages were quite odd, I still have this nagging feeling to read her books.

HOBY...the love of my life :)

Ok, so I finally decided that since I mention HOBY in about half of my blogs, I would describe why it is so dear to my heart! First of all, HOBY is a leadership conference for students coming out of their sophomore year of high school. One student from each high school has the opportunity to come to this prestigious conference. It consists of 4 days of goofy cheers, panels, motivational speakers, magnificent Butler food, and bonding. You get down to Butler University on a Thursday morning. Immediately greeted by cheering junior counselors, you tell your mom or dad that you want to go home right now. If they are good parents, they make you stay. After registering, you are dragged into a circle to do ungodly embarrassing cheers. When all of the students have finally arrived, you are grouped into teams with a counselor and junior counselor. This is your group for the rest of the conference. The next 3 days are filled with more cheering. I could go through every little detail, but as I tell everyone else, it doesn't mean the same thing if you aren't there. On Saturday night, there is a dance. During this time, you get to mingle with people other than your group, who by this time, you want to spend time with anyways. Sunday morning could end up being one of the saddest days of your life. This is the hour of truth, how much did you come to love the people you just spent 4 days with. After leaving, you realize that you have just left some of your best friends. They aren't the same kind of friends as the ones from home. These people came to know the real you, because at HOBY, you don't have to pretend to be anyone else. If you choose to come back the following year as a JuCo, you must complete 100 hours of community service. In my mind, it is completely worth it. Being a JuCo is also a very rewarding experience. You get to go along with one of the groups but also see the change in the ambassadors. It's also a great chance to see some of the best friends you lost contact with over the year. I went back this past summer for the 3rd time. I was able to be a Special Assisstant. This meant that I was almost completely behind the scenes working to make everything go smoothly. That position meant a lot to the ones who got it. There were only 7 of us who were ambassadors together. These people are some of my best friends, and I cherish any time that I get a chance to see them now. The following video is from the talent show this year. The guy and the three girls have known each other since their ambassador year more than 6 years ago. They were grossed out but not as much as the crowd was!

This picture is our entire group of special assisstants from 2007!!!