robots, philosophy, and more!

Ever since January, I have been participating in a robotic competition called FIRST. Basically, a team has 6 weeks to build a robot from scratch that performs a certain game, starting from a uniform kit of parts. Then, that team competes in the game using the robot as well as making a website, funding, programing, making shirts, and other things to keep the team happy and healthy.

Now, the main focus of FIRST is not who wins or loses, but the value of "gracious professionalism," or treating your opponents as friends as well as helping them out. In fact, the highest award, the Chairman's Award, celebrates that as well as outreaching to the community. But the whole reason FIRST was started was to show the coolness of engineering over those forces of entertainment and sports. The two highest awards, the Rookie All-Star and Chairman's Award celebrate those two points.


So, how am I involved in this? I am a proud member of Team 2449, Out of Orbit! It is made up of Marcos de Niza High School and James Madison Preparatory School. With the help of our sponsors, Orbital and the Arizona Science Foundation, we built a robot competing. As I mentioned before, there are two major awards, one of them which we got. We won Rookie of the Year at the AZ regionals, and got invited to Atlanta, Georgia to participate in the finals. That is what we did this weekend, but came home empty handed :(.

This is where the whole philosophy part comes in. The reason I joined FIRST was I agreed with the beliefs of FIRST. In my eyes, The worlds of entertainment and sports destroy the youth of today, forgetting other countries and "nerdy" concepts, such as engineering. If we have a chance, we need to take the chance and help our future, and that's what FIRST is all about. The process was hard and demanding, but overall it was a fun experience, and it gave me pride to think of my accomplishments. Also, FIRST offers over $100,000 dollars in scholarships. for more info, check out these

links:
FIRST's site:http://www.usfirst.org
Team 2449's site:http://www.team2449.com/
A tribute video (for more about the team):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJz4W1cd7SA





In other news, I want to start a new tradition of a section called Youtube spotlights. Basically, I talk about a user I really like on Youtube. So, here I go...

YOUTUBE SUPERSTAR THIS POST: animated93!

This user is responsible for such amazing feats such as making a animated version of Spamalot, Hairspray, Wicked, and other great modern musicals. His most recent project right now is Across the Universe, another Modern classic. What I like about him is he not only chooses musicals I like, he sets them brilliantly to movies such as loony Toons, Anime, Disney, and other animated hits. So, for his creativity, he is my first YOUTUBE SUPERSTAR!

Here is his channel:


So, to end my post, I wanted to leave you with dome quotes I picked up:

"FIRST is like the WWF, but for smart people!"
-George Bush senior
"The world is just awesome."
-Discovery channel
"I reject your reality, and substitute my own."
-Adam Savage from Mythbusters

Live long and prosper,
me

review: The piano men

many times, we don't have a time to sit back and rock out. This Saturday, I went to see a concert by just what I thought would be another impersonator of Billy Joel and Elton John, putting spins on songs that would destroy the song completely. Boy, was I in for a shock! This man, Jim Whitter was almost perfect replica of the piano man, and he mixed it with a sense of humor that made a connection with the audience. The other thing that struck me was that it wasn't just a concert, it was a history lesson on the life and culture of the 70's. While playing these songs, a slide show of random trivia from the 70's. He even stopped half way through the show to play any requested theme songs from 70's songs. All around, he was a true showman, turning mayby a half an hour worth of music to a two and a half hour show, that made me laugh to the point of tears. My rating: 5 stars.


The Piano Men site: http://www.thepianomen.net/

live long and prosper

REVIEW: 2001 Peter Howitt's Antitrust

K, so I was watching TV last nigh, and I stumbled upon an amazing film. It was called Antitrust, and it's plot and action was amazing to me.

PLOT: Milo Hoffman is all excited, when he and his friend, Teddy, are offered jobs striate out of college by one of the top dogs in the comunications, Gary Winston, CEO of NURV. His friend, on the hand, rebukes the idea and denies the contract. After a few weeks, he is Gary's favorite. Soon, however, Milo finds out that Tedd has been murdered, and Gary is in the middle of it. Even more, he has committed tens of other murders of programmers, similar to Tedd, for code more advanced than his. Determined to avenge his death, He employs the ingenuity of his friends to divulge Gary's secrets. But with Gary's accomplices and spies, who can he trust? Will he overthrow Gary?


*SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!*(highlight)
After hacking his way to the truth, he and his Girlfriend
decide to put it over the Synapse, Gary's new communication system. Under the threat of Death by assassination and combatants by Gary, Milo succeeds to to put the video evidence all around the world of the murders that Gary made. He also puts Synapse's secret on the net. In the end, his closest friends are put under arrest, including Gary. Synapse gains over 8,000 downloads, and Milo and his old friends gain world-wide fame.

Quotes:
"This isn't a game! In the real world, when you kill people they die - for real! And in the real world you're fucked! "
"Gary Winston once said that any teenager in a garage could put him out of business. Is that what you've done?" "This is a garage."
"You're either a one or a zero. Alive or dead."
"We don't take anything seriously, unless it's on a hard drive."
"The answer's not in the box, it's in the band. "
"Now I'm going to go out on a limb here because there's a very good chance you're not going to believe a word of what I'm about to tell you." "You'd be surprised what I'd believe about these people."
"A good chess player always knows his opponents move before he makes it."


So, just remember, open source is good!

ello world!

Hello!
Welcome to the mind of Ni, my little corner of the world (Muahahahahahhahah!) Here, I will post stories of Si-fi, reviews, and other things such as updates from my youtube account, Just a sample of my handiwork...

So, sit back, and enjoy.
If U like it, watch my other videos!
Live long, Prosper, and NI!
Robert