Capstone

Last night I realized that I had to write a three page rough draft of my capstone defense paper.  I also had to throw together a power point by Friday.  Guess how long it took me to do all that?

About 1 hour.

I can't believe that I've gotten to this point.  Other people are freaking out about how much work they have to do and how terrible writing a three page paper is.

And I wrote a basically perfect essay in a flash.

School has gotten the best of me.



Tipped

​You have the balanced scale that most people interpret information on and understand it without a problem. Then, you have the tipped scale that's leaned farther towards one end of interpretation/ understanding and just dishevels most information. People are ridiculous. 

Q4 Benchmark

My favorite benchmark was the most recent benchmark because it was more beneficial to me than anyone else. This benchmark wasn’t all about learning new topics, because it was a study guide to help us out later on in life. Despite that it had to be the most beneficial benchmark out of all the benchmarks  we had over the course of the year. I applied statistics by using what I already knew and just making it into a study guide/tutorial. I felt like this was a great benchmark to do because it wasn’t exactly complicated but I feel like it was a nice way to finish out the year, especially when all the seniors are really just thinking about graduating and senioritis may still be lingering in our bodies.  The easiest part of the benchmark had to be when I just had to research my topics, because it was so easy I made sure to make my explanation super detailed so I could possibly get extra points for going over the top. It was also very easy to pick out the topics that I wanted to do because I could pick something that I could easily understand. The hardest part was definitely trying to explain everything in detail, I just feel like I had to explain everything very very well, by this I mean I basically did 2 pages for every topic and while that might not seem like a lot, It is when you have to work on like 10 different topics.

 

Inquiry: What have I learned over the year that could help me with this final benchmark? How does my understanding of the topics help me out? At this point we have a good central basis of what statistics is and from that we can branch out to different schools with our basic understanding and just expand our knowledge. My understanding of the topics helped big time, I literally mean that because if I sat there trying to learn some topics It would have taken a much longer time.

 

Research: Why would we look up the classes we are taking next year? How does that help us with the benchmark?  I think we looked up the classes for next year just to get a basic understanding on what we will have to be ready for next year, it helped us with the benchmark because maybe some of our tutorials had to do with the topics.

 

Collaboration: Not much to say here, I didn’t really collaborate with anyone while trying to complete my project but I guess I could’ve asked how were they presenting their information and what different computer programs they were using to do this.

 

Presentation: I didn’t really get fancy at all with this benchmark, I used basic notebook paper to create my tutorial and I used a word document to produce the written portion of my benchmark.

 

Reflection: After all this I would say that I worked very very hard on this project, but I must say, if I had done better earlier in the year then I would be in a different position than I am now.

So... We're still here..

 I'm so glad that this nonsense is over.

My dad's friend who honestly believed that the world was going to end, who is now located at friends hospital for his crazy behavior left my father three voicemails.

1st. "Hi Danny, We have about a week left, I hope you get yourself together so we can both go, but as of now.. I hope you come see me, I took off of work, might as well relax at home. Call me."

2nd. "Danny, you haven't called me back, There is only two days left, I really hope you come see me. My wife keeps calling me crazy... I just want her to be saved. I'm so nervous. Call me back Danny."

3rd. (sobbing) It's past six and I'm still here, (sobbing harder) I got left behind danny... I don't know what to do... My wife left she wont let my son come see me, the only person who came to say goodbye was my daughter and grandson.. YOu didn't even come danny. But.. I guess there's nothing I can do... I got left behind (crying.)"


.... He seems suicidal to me.

Nathan's Instrument

For my instrument, I want to do an erhu, which is a traditional chinese stringed instrument. It has two strings and is played with a bow. It has a much less solidified system of pitches, as the instrumentalist only has one string to play with. By shortening the length of the string, the frequency is changed and the result is an exotic, metalic sound. For more info:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erhu

Musical Instrument Blog #1

I am considering constructing a guitar as my instrument of choice for this band. This is played by using either a pick or my fingers to strum the strings which produces the sound. You can change a note by tuning the strings which will be located at the top of the guitar. It will be shaped like a normal guitar. Pretty Square at the bottom and the fret board will be rectangular. I believe that depending on how hollow the wood I use the guitar will produce different sounds accordingly. I feel as though the waves that will be created when I make the guitar will be large waves because I plan on making this guitar about half of the size of a normal guitar.

Brooke's Instrument Blog

The instrument I was thinking about creating was an xylophone. I chose this instrument becuase after watching a video I found that it is probably one of the easiest instrument to learn how to play in a short amount of time. The xylophone is played by playing the nots on the xylophone with mallets. You produce sound on the instrument when the metal or wooden bars vibrate and push and pull the air particles around them.You change the sound of the xylophone by hitting the metal bars at different times and hard or lighter. The xylophone has a row of bars that range from different sizes.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m2ztt6aI74


Screen shot 2011-05-24 at 9.04.21 AM
Screen shot 2011-05-24 at 9.04.21 AM

Lauren's Instrument Blog

​A guitar, are all about tension. The tighter the strings are the higher the pitch gets. The guitar in the picture has nine frets. The frets closer to the strumming area or center of the guitar make a higher pitch, vice versa. The strings from from left to right get thinner in shaper and the tension get tighter. Which means the sound get higher from left to right. When you place your finger on the  first fret on the fourth string the sound would be  deeper than if it was on the twelfth fret. 
guitar_neck
guitar_neck

Capstone

So for my capstone I'm creating a Mass Media Portfolio. The portfolio will consist of short videos, animations, graphics and commercials that I'll be creating. The files will then be placed on a website I'm currently building using Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Can't wait for the outcome!

Prom Weekend

Prom weekend was one of the best weekends of my life ! I had so much fun in a house with 16 of my friends from school a block away from Ocean City shore/broadwalk. Even though we were only there for three days, during those days we became one big family. Every night was hilarious, memorable and crazy.

Alex's Musical Instrument Blog #1

Gotoh, rhythm guitarist from Asian Kung Fu Generation, produce sound from his guitar by strumming his pick against the strings. He changes notes by switching from fret to fret, the closer he moves his hands toward the front of the guitar the higher the note. His guitar is pretty standard, the pick ups on the end, the bridge holding all 6 strings, and an amplifier to give his sound waves more amplitude and be heard better. If I can get a string, stretch it out and vibrate it, maybe I can make a sound that maybe with the technology I can make louder. I believe since the thicker strings on a guitar are thicker than the thinner ones, they produce sound waves with low frequency which is why they sound lower, and the thinner strings vibrate faster making a higher frequency and higher pitch.

Also here's the live performance of Asian Kung Fu Generation playing Flashback
13. Asian Kung-Fu Generation - Flash Back

Stand Up Bass Blog #1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py3jT0uaZw0

--How is it played? What does the person have to do to produce sound?
The instrument is played by stroking/strumming/plucking the strings.
--How do you change a note? (you might have to watch very carefully to see this)
You can change the note by applying pressure on different frets and stroking the different strings.
--How is it shaped?

The sound is created by the vibrations being amplified in the inside of the body of the bass.
--What does this make you think about how you can create and change sound?
This makes me think that you can create a vibration and alter the sound it makes by the area you surround it with?
--What connections (if any) do you think you can draw between what you are observing and you might already know about waves?
I really don't know how to express what I'm thinking, but I feel as though waves are a disruption of whatever is happening and when you surround them they are amplified and made stronger. (if that makes any sense.)