Roof Project

For this project we had to design and build a style of roof on top of a Kleenex box.  We chose to design a Gable roof.
FACTS
This style of roofing is very popular here in Minnesota probably because of how well it handles rain and heavy snow.  Unfortunately this style of roof is very bad in hurricane weather.  In the high winds of the hurricane gable roofs triangular structure catches wind like a sail and can often get ripped right off of a house.     

Picture-

In this project I learned that a roof needs a strong structure so that it doesn't collapse on itself.  I liked using the bigger glue gun it made everything go faster.  I didnt like getting the glue stuck on my hand or the fact that we ran out of popsicle sticks one of the days so we couldn't really do much that day.  Next time I would use a different material for the shingles.

Design Charrette

For this Project we had the prompt of a woman who willed 100 Acres to be built into a town. So in a group of 6 stakeholders we designed the town.


In this project I liked that everyone had a specific area that they needed to focus on so that everyone brought something to the group. I didn't like that we only had a day and 15 minutes to work on the design so it wasn't as detailed as it could have been. I learned that a lot of planning goes into building a town from scratch.

Nathan M was the cost estimator.

Ben was the Environmental Engineer

Michael was the Health and Safety

Matt was the Health and Safety

Nathan K was the structural engineer

Sebastian Swanson was the interior designer

The environmentalist says 3 trees per house.

“I’m the structural engineer, nothing I say helps much”

-Nathan Kuhlman

For every road, there shall be a sidewalk

-Nathan K

There should be a couple acres of park total.

We will have a playground, and a soccer field.

“we need an important thing in the center”

-bower

“PINEAPPLE”

-Nathan M

Hospital i the center of town, a mall, doctors, auto shop, grocery, gas station, mc Donalds, Old country buffet, Leann Chins

150 houses needed

(50*.25)=x

x+x+x+x= 50 acres

“ERRything better fit regulation”

-Bower

“That’ll setya back about a million”

-Nathan

“I finna build some parks”

We should make sure all the buildings have an efficient set up

-me

Ben talks about his awesome idea for a three way road.

“So we’re gonna make a 2 acre school”

-Nathan

“That’s one small school”

-Bower

“What, Why”

-Nathan

My career

For this project we had to interview an architect or engineer, make a video promoting our chosen speciaialization of civil engingeering and answer the same questions that we asked the architect as if it was 10 years later. 

I interviewed Terry Helland sailingter@hotmail.com an architect at RSP architects http://www.rsparch.com/

In this project I learned that to be an architect you have to love the job not the money.  I liked that we got to interview a architect and get to know firsthand what it is to be an architect and what you need to become one.  I didn't like all of the confusing websites I had to use to find information.  The next time I will start earlier so that I don't have to do so much work in the last few days.   

Neolithic Architecture

For this project I chose Neolithic architecture.  I spent the last few days designing and building a model of a Neolithic home.   

During this project I learned that the Neolithis style takes characteristics from many different styles.  I likes designing and building the house it was a ne experiance and it was fun.  I didnt like how the precision cutters became dull after a few days.  The next time I will use the box cutter for more of my cutting.     

Thoughts on The death of Osama Bin Ladin

I first heard about Bin Ladins death on the ride to school on the radio and I didn't know whether to believe it or not.  It wasn't from a very good source so I decided to put it off and see what others said during school.  At school many people were talking about his death and were happy that he was dead and i found myself being happy about it too. It was weird to think that I was happy about a killing but at the same time that man had been the mastermind behind the destruction of the two towers.  He was a mass murderer and he deserved what he got.  On 9/11 I can still remember being in class one moment continuing normally through the day when all of a sudden our principal ran into the room talked to our Teacher Mrs. Roth and then they turned on TV and it was showing the twin towers brimming with smoke.  They both started to cry and at the time I couldn't possibly hope to understand what was going on I was in first grade and we were not told much.  At the time I had an uncle aunt and their daughters, my cousins that lived in New York.  My Uncle had worked at a building that was close to the twin towers and he watched them fall.  I could not even imagine the feeling that those people in New York and others who lost family and friends in this tragedy.  It was the first foreign large scale terrorist attack on American soil and many lost some sense of security.  The war on terror is not over by a long shot.  Bin Ladin was their poster child but it is believed that there are still other leaders of the Taliban.  Another thing that came to my mind when i heard the news was what if the Taliban decide to retaliate for the US killing Bin Ladin.  I know that Security in airports has greatly increased since this disaster but there is only so much that we can do to prevent an attack on US soil.  Tonight on the News I learned that Bin Ladin was not hiding in a cave somewhere out in a dessert but in fact he was living a life of luxury with his family near a middle class town.  He was hiding in plain sight and felt secure enough to keep his family with him.  The government there must have known something about who lived there after ten years.  Even though they probably knew he was there they didn't do anything about it and did not inform the US I don't know how the US found out that he was there but i assume that it was another source.  On the News they said that Osama Bin Ladin was not armed when they killed him.  Some might say that we shouldn't have killed him because he wasn't dangerous without a gun, but to me he was very dangerous and what they did was very justified.  Bin Ladins wife was injured and one of his sons was killed and this is sad because they had to pay for the actions of their father.   

                       

Maus-Night Blogging assignment

   

Maus and Night are two accounts of different survivors of the Holocaust where there are many similarities and differences to their stories.  I feel that Night was a much more serious representation of how Jews were treated in the Holocaust.    The times in Maus where they are in the present and Artie and Vladic are talking/arguing seem to take away from the seriousness of the matter.  Night was also much more descriptive but as a Cartoon Maus normally did a good job with the pictures to represent what is going on.  Also what Vladic is talking about sometimes does not make grammatical sense.  Elie seemed to have it much worse that Vladic for most of the story.  Vladic at the beginning was very rich and even when he was brought to the camps he had better jobs.  Such as the when he had the tin maker and shoe repair jobs there was better conditions.  He also got to teach a Kapo English where he was lucky enough to get good food and clothes.  Elie never got any of these chances.  But it seems they had still had a few things in common.  Both of them still had a living family member to live for, if not for this they might of not made it out alive.    Many times anja was encouraged by her husband to keep fighting to stay alive, and Elie helped to keep his father from giving up and letting go of life.  In The concentration camps those who had nothing to live for did not last long.  Elies fathers friend Mier died because he lost his faith and his son to the concentration camps.  He didnt have anything to live for.  I think that these books were helpful to understand what realy happened durring the Holocaust.  Each book gives a first hand acccount of a surviver and how he survived the ordeal.  Night especialy sparked my intrest, it just seemed to show such detail and the emotions felt very real to me.      

Fallen Angels and Restrepo

Pre writing 

Restrepo and Fallen angels are both very similar.  The men when they reach their post say I will die here.  That feeling of being doomed and not having a chance is always present.  Another similarity is that even the hardest men when a friend dies or gets hit lose it and freak out.  When writing home it was much easier to tell their families that they were doing fine and that everyone was okay when in reality some friends had died and they were not okay.  Perry tells his little brother this and Pemble from Restrepo also says this.  The people in the towns were very involved with the Taliban/congs and were afraid that if they would help the Americans to find the Taliban/congs then they would be killed.  They use fear to control the town’s people and unfortunately it usually works.  Hoarse play between the troops is a way to relieve the tension and to not think of what was happening to them.  It rely shocked me to see the soldiers in Restrepo try to convince themselves that their friend would be okay “it’s not that bad, he’ll be fine”.  Seeing that made everything real, up until that point we had not actually seen anything but our US solders shooting at an enemy that we could not even see.  But I guess that’s a part of war.  Unfortunately that makes things even scarier, at any moment a lucky shot could end everything.  At the begging everyone was joking around and having a good time.  The Korengal Valley was named the one of the deadliest places to fight and Vietnam was a very dangerous place.  Lobel would always compare a situation to a movie and he would have fun with that and in Restrepo a solder tells the camera man that a firefight gives him a big high.  I think it’s all just a front for what is rely going on they may act cool on the outside but that doesn’t rely mean anything.          

Writing

I learned a lot from Restrepo and Fallen Angels about the true nature of war.  It is nothing like Hollywood likes to portray it.  The Movies try to glorify the killings and show how fearless our soldiers are in battle.  But in reality there is so much more going on.  The soldiers may not show it but they are very scared as Restrepo and Fallen angels show us.  They are scared for their friends’ lives, for innocent civilians’ lives that often get killed in the crossfire, for their own life and for their families back home if they do not return.  I think that some people use denial to make things better.  Lobel had always tried to compare their situation to the movies, and one thing that I noticed is that after going through firefights and seeing friends die Lobel didn’t make that reference anymore.  I can’t even begin to imagine what goes on in a vets mind, but just seeing/reading a little bit of what they had to go through gives me a greater appreciation of what they did for us as a country.