Schools Done!
I had one day of finals on Monday and then I was done. Physics went really well, statics went not so well.
I’m kind of pissed at statics. It’s an interesting class, and it’s taught pretty well, but I feel like I got dicked at the end.
School
This is it, Folks
It all comes down to today. One day of finals. Starting with Physics at 8am and then Statics at 3:15pm. Then I’ll be done until August 22nd.
By the way, this is the 1250th post. I’m also only 11, 001 words shy of writing a quater million words in my blog posts (not including this blog).q
Hack for Campus Computers
Notice: I use the original meaning of hack – “a clever or quick fix to a computer program problem.” Don’t confuse it with crack.
All the computers on campus are set to 1024×768 resolution, which is fine and sure beats 800×600. But it’s not native resolution and the only think I hate more than having to operate a computer at less than 1024×768 is using a LCD monitor at its non-native resolution.
I tried manually changing the resolution on the computer, but I got shut down:
I gave up until today. I’m at the library finishing up homework and I wanted to use Remote Desktop Connection so I could have a bigger screen for my laptop. I copied the RDC files over from my Tablet and I was able to connect:
But I still had that not native resolution problem which was even worse because my tablet normally runs at 1400×1050. And then I found QRes.
It’s a simple command line program that lets you easily change the monitor resolution (and other settings) to pretty much whatever you want to. It’s simple. It’s easy. It’s free. And you don’t have to install anything.
[tags]native resolution, non-native resolution, lcd, qres[/tags]
Correct MW Always Helps
I had been working on my Chem lab yesterday for a couple of hours, trying to get the equation to spit out the correct answer. I finally figured out what I was doing wrong: I used the wrong molecular weight. On the good side, I’m done with the actual lab part and I never have to take chem again!
What is the Legality?
I decided to make a new post instead of add to the comments of the New Sign on Campus. Here’s the email I sent (names have been changed to initials):
NB,
I am having a debate with some of my friends about the legality of having pedestrians yield to cars on campus streets. I took a look at the Colorado Revised Statue and was wondering how the rule is reconciled with the following sections of the CRS:
Colorado Revised Statute:
Title 42, Article 4, Section 802: Pedestrians’ right-of-way in crosswalks.
1) When traffic control signals are not in place or not in operation, the driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way, slowing down or stopping if need be to so yield, to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within a crosswalk when the pedestrian is upon the half of the roadway upon which the vehicle is traveling or when the pedestrian is approaching so closely from the opposite half of the roadway as to be in danger.Title 42, Article 4, Section 803: Crossing at other than crosswalks.
1) Every pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway.Title 42, Article 4, Section 807: Drivers to exercise due care.
Notwithstanding any of the provisions of this article, every driver of a vehicle shall exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian upon any roadway and shall give warning by sounding the horn when necessary and shall exercise proper precaution upon observing any child or any obviously confused or incapacitated person upon a roadway. Any person who violates any provision of this section commits a class A traffic infraction.
My thought was that Section 802 only applies to pedestrians in a crosswalk, but that raises the questions of what crosswalk is defined as. I looked for a definition, but did not find one; thus, it could be argued that the installation of wheelchair ramps on the curb could constitute a crosswalk. My other thought was that Section 803 makes use of the terms “marked crosswalk” and “unmarked crosswalk”. Since the wording in Section 802 only refers to a “crosswalk” (making no mention of marked or unmarked), perhaps crosswalks exist at all intersections which lack any sign that prohibits crossing.Sincerely,
Andrew Ferguson
…and the response…
Andrew: Your comments are well thought out and I am impressed with your research. I am forwarding your comments to my boss and to the sergeants for an appropriate response.
Thank you,
NB
PSA: Living Library on Dead Day!
This is a Public Service Announcement:
Sigma Lambda is holding the 1st Living Library on Dead Day between 11am-5pm in the library.
So you are asking yourself what is Living Library?? Living Library is where students will ‘check out’ other people to become more knowledgeable about different races, sexes, interests, clubs, and so much more. The main point is to help get rid of the stereotypes on the CSM campus and to
learn more about people that they didn’t know about before.
All right, that’s the official announcement. Here’s my bit:
It’s at the CSM Arthur Lakes Library (Google Map). I’ll be there from 11am to 3pm answering all your questions. My keywords are:
- Christian (Presbyterian)
- Seattle, Washington
- Straight (The event is sponsored by Sigma Lambda, the CSM Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Club)
- Politically independent
- Trekkie (As in: Fan of Star Trek)
- Computer Guru (or nerd, geek, etc)
- Web Developer
- Chief Engineer – Mines Internet Radio
- ADD
- Photography and Film
- Electronics in general
- …anything else I can think of
There’s free coffee and if your interested in being checked out, there’s still time! Contact Rachel at ratrujil at mines dot edu.
[tags]living library, colorado school of mines, csm[/tags]
Weederbot III
I was walking back from Quant Lab (in Coolbaugh Hall) when I came across this over at Kafadar Commons:
It’s a Senior Design project that took a conventional riding lawnmower and robotized it by adding a MIT Handyboard and some linear actuators with feedback loops. They said it took 9 months to complete, which seems a little odd because I’ve done things very similar to this when I was at the UW during my Senior year of high school. They’re actually going to the hand the project off to a graduate student to implement a GPS receiver. Should be interesting.
Here are some pictures I snapped with my camera phone:
I talked with one of the creators and he’s going to send me some white papers and more photos.
[tags]colorado school of mines, senior design, robot, robotics, weederbot III[/tags]
Not a Blog
I’m tired of organizations trying to use catch phrases, such as “blog”, when they really have no idea what they’re talking about. Case in point:
The Colorado School of Mines has a some Student ‘blogs’ on their First-Year Students page.
The first thing I would like to draw your attention to is the complete flip of gender diversity. Mines is predominately male. I’m not sure if there are any statistics someplace, but it’s easily 4:1 (that would be four males for every one female).
Second, take a look at the content. That’s not a blog. It’s a “What I do at Mines when I’m not in class” page with the date put on the top and some pictures thrown in for good measure.
Third, (and I’m going to pick on Jessica because I know her) there are only 5 posts for the entire school year (and we only have about two weeks left). Yes, I know there really isn’t a rule that says you must update at least every xx number of days, but please! Last year, I had arount 650 posts (or almost 2 a day). Since the end of March, I’ve had 8 posts about Mines alone (see more: Posts on Mines).
If they’re really trying to give students a real idea of what’s going on, why not just link to student blogs?
Let’s do that! If you go to Mines, leave a comment with your name and blog URL. I’ll start…
Update: Another reason it’s not a blog? You can’t post comments!
Handball
I didn’t win, but I had a great time. I played Felix Valdez. I’ve never played or even met him before. He’s an older gentleman, but a good handball player. I lost 11, 19 (two matches 11-21 and 19-21) which actually wasn’t all that bad considering the the last time I played in a tournament, I lost 1, 3.
No More College Night at Woody’s
I have it on good authority that the Woody’s in Golden is going to stop their $5 All-You-Can-Eat College Night Monday’s.
Baaaad move.
Let’s think about this for a minute. First, $5 for as much as you can eat isn’t half bad, especially for college students. Second, Golden is a college town (at least this part of Golden). Depending on how big you party is, you might end up waiting 45 minutes for a seat on Monday. Granted, they might be losing some money on Monday, but how many people are going to come back Tuesday thru Sunday for more?
My bet is that it’ll be back within a month after school starts (end of September or so).
[tags]woody’s, pizza, golden[/tags]