Saturday, March 28, 2009

Science One Conference

Today was the Science One 08/09 Mini Conference and I must say it was a wonderful experience. The presentations consisted of talking about our Term 2 measurement experiments. Our projects consisted of thinking about a topic, measuring and recording data, and then completing with a report on what we found. This was term project was a lot of work, and to show it off the students organized a conference to show their results. The term project itself was already lots of work, and we all spent lots of time and effort into those projects. The conference was lots of fun, as we got to see our peers present, while nervously waiting our turns. I must say that everybody did a great job, and I enjoyed myself presenting at my first and hopefully not my last conference.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Physics of Formula 1 cars

It has been brought to my attention that I missed an important point in my last post. The Brabham BT46 is able to achieve the impressive downforce due to a fan that is located at the rear of the car. The fan actively cools the engine while providing a pressure downwards. The downforce pushes the car downwards, as implied by the name. This is important because in order to attain fast speeds, the car must be aerodynamic. For those who are familiar with Formula 1 cars, they have a certain form to each car. In order to drive fast, the downforce must be able to keep the tires of the car on the ground. Normal F1 cars make use of "wings" and a nose cone to provide downforce, while minimizing air drag. The front and rear wings both create a downforce, while the nose cone allows for more aerodynamic movement, and also providing less drag. The wings on a F1 are exactly the opposite of airplane wings. Airplane wings generate lift, while Formula 1 wings generate downforce. The front wing directs air over towards nose cone, and under the car. The front wing is also designed to have endplates which stop air from going towards the rotating wheels, which will slow down the car. Underneath the car there is a diffuser, which just sucks the air from under the car and out the car. Removing the air under the car causes a change in pressure which creates a downforce as well. All this just for a downforce which will allow for greater speeds, and plays a role in turning.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Cars

Why do guys like cars so much? So I've spent the entire morning looking at F1 cars, and just fast road cars in general, and they never seem to bore me. Today's interesting car is the Brabham BT46, a unique formula 1 racing car. The cars ingenious design allowed a downward force to be applied to the car, meaning that the problem of accelerating over oil slicks is resolved. The car has a lowered centre of gravity, meaning faster speeds without having to worry about the car lifting off the ground.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Sometimes bad is good

Well today I had my cellphone stolen. It was entirely my fault since I left it in an unlocked locker at the YMCA, so like it was basically free phone for whoever took it. But being optimistic about it, everything else I had in my locker was left touched. Meaning my Arc'teryx jacket, LV wallet, and the money inside the wallet. Makes me wonder who would want to steal a crappy Koodo phone that doesn't even run on a simcard and sells for like $30. I wish I had like a self-destruct button on the phone, so I could exact my revenge. Screw turning the other cheek, cause nobody likes to lose things. Maybe next time I will scheme of a plan to catch the thief, and trap him! Alas, must get back to integration.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

赤壁 (Red Cliff)

So I just finished watching the 4 hour Chinese epic, 赤壁. For those well versed in Chinese literature and history, it is regarded as one of the most well-known and acknowledged battles in Chinese History. The battle is based off of the historical text 三國志, which is basically a recollection of ancient Chinese history. This is like the Chinese version of 300, which is a more well known English movie. I'm not going to describe everything here cause that is pointless when a Wikipedia has an article for it here. I particularly liked this movie because it wasn't all just fighting, but more strategy. Comparing it to 300, 300 was mostly like talking and fighting, while 赤壁 involved strategic planning, fighting, and the usual romance. I had read about this a bit before back in Chinese school a number of years ago, and it still amazes me to see the ingenuity of the military tactics. I would definitely recommend reading the wiki about it, or even watching the movie although the movie is 4 hours long and it doesn't cover everything.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Making money off adsense

How to make 15k a month from adsense

So today I was just surfing the internets, when I stumbled upon that forum post. Like you are just walking along on the beach, and BAM! an article on how to get rich. The author offers insight onto how he was able to make fifteen thousand dollars just sitting at home, sipping on coffee infront of the computer. All this is accomplished using free webware offered by Google, such as Google Trends, and Google Adsense. Right now I have adsense on this blog, which is located in the form of those ads to your right. Clicking those ads give me money, which is essentially how the guy made money. But he designs an elaborate scheme to put as much information into a website, as long as looking at trends to find the most searched things, and links them all. This generates many many clicks a day, which results in a boatload of money. Unfortunately, I do not fully understand how he does it, so I won't be making 15k a month anytime soon.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Most good

This post will be dedicated to whoever clicks my ads, because you are truly wonderful people. I like being told that I am wonderful, so hopefully you guys do too. And Connor is most wonderful too, because he told me he would click my ads everyday if he remembers, that is most good.