Official SketchUp Blog: Modeling a laser-cut Halloween costume for my son

Official SketchUp Blog: Modeling a laser-cut Halloween costume for my son: October is the time of year that all of my creative energy is focused into a single, solitary purpose: the design and making of an unreasona...

Check one, two, mic check 1, 2

Okay, great!  I am doing another blog post on a very crazy and complex Lego model that I built from scratch with Legos.  I then rendered it in the six orthographic projections. I found these renderings hard because the sides kept insisting on confusing me.  I also had a slightly hard time keeping track of the sites and whatnot.  The technique of orthographic rendering depicts all six sides of the object.  Depth an are not shown in orthographic renditions.

this is Edison, signing off. .  .   .    .

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Forces and Loads Around Me and My Community

This is a post about the forces and loads around me and my community, but, let's just start with the simple question "What is a force, and what is a load?"

 Some people may tell you that gravity is a force. No, it's an acceleration. The force that I'm talking about is not some wacko-bozo trick used in the movies, the force that I'm talking about is the one that make buildings buckle, the one that causes bridges to break, the one that is all mighty, all powerful, all. . . . ., aghhhh, I got carried away again. The force that I am talking about is simply one that is known as a load. When there is something heavy on the top of a stick, we may attach a set of guy ropes (yes guy ropes, sometimes, usually in Britain, spelled gye ropes) to keep the stick
from buckling. But usually the stick will buckle (or bow) underneath the first set of guy ropes, so we'll add another set, then another, and another, until, we have a building that buckles and bows no more.

That's one type of load bearing device. Another type, is the shelf support (which isn't the proper name for it by the way). The shelf support holds up a load, per say a shelf with some books on top of it, that is shaped like a pillar bent at a 90° angle perpendicular (˫) to the wall (or pillar) that it is attached to. There are many other types of load bearing devices out there, but, for today's post, those are the only ones that I'll be talking to you about. Until next time.  .   .    .     .

Ooohhhhh, I got you worried there, didn't I?  You are probably thinking something along the lines of "Wait, but sir, you didn't tell us what exactly a force, and what a load is?" Well, if that's what you're thinking, read on, if not, well, read on anyways, or you could go to any of the tabs on my blog, e-mail me with questions or comments, +1 this blog.  .   .

Brought sharply back to reality by real life. I have probably just bored you to death. But, anyhow, a load is a heavy or cumbersome mass that is being carried or is about to be carried. A force on the other-hand,is a strength or energy as an attribute of physical action or movement. OR: coercion or compulsion, esp. with the use or threat of violence (but that's a different type of force. But the two and only definitions for both of these words are as follows: an influence tending to change the motion of a body or produce motion or stress in a stationary body. A person or thing regarded as exerting power or influence. (once again, that is a different kind of force), and, a heavy or bulky thing that is being carried or is about to be carried, the total number or amount that can be carried in something, esp. a vehicle of a specified type, a weight or source of pressure borne by someone or something, a burden of responsibility, worry, or grief.  .   .

Yeeaaahhhhh, those are other definitions for "load". Mainly the only one you need to know is the first definition, but for me, (and people in my situation), it is the last definition because our mothers and fathers put a load of work on our shoulders.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

500 PAGEVIEWS!!!!!!!!!!

My Evaluation of My Blog

To find out what the questions are that I am answering in this post please go to LJA Design Tech Blog

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          My school blog is finished (well almost finished).  Now is the time to evaluate my blog.

          I feel that my blog is pretty much finished, save a few loose ends that I need to tie up.  For the most part, the blog is B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!! (Well, handsome anyways).  I am most proud of the fact that a lot of my blog was created using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) coding.  Being able to use CSS really helps a lot (e.x. when you need to go in between the lines and do stuff that you normally wouldn't be able to do without the code. But, the best thing, is the fact that I will be able to edit it for all time!

          Once I graduate though, I will no longer have my school email, but don't worry, I also run this blog from my email that I use for blogging, so it will still be here so that I can have my own record for what I did in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades, and all the way through high school. Even though this can be found in one of my other posts, here it is for quick reference, my Blog Specifications: 

'In order for a blog to be successful, it needs to follow the three The's:

One: The blog needs to be attractive.  It needs to consistently follow it's color scheme (e.g. don't use red if your blog is about world peace, seriously please).

Two: The person that keeps the blog running needs to keep the blog updated at all times (e.g. at least once a day).  If they don't keep the blog running it's going to become, what I like to call, a ghost blog.

"What are Ghost Town blogs?
 You know — low visit rates; only 1 or 2 comments on posts — or worse — NO COMMENTS at all.
Even if the blog owner spends hours writing amazing content.
 Still … NOTHING! Echo … echo … echo … 
Are you blogging consistently or are you a hit and run poster?
 How long does it take to respond to those that do comment on your blog?
 Do you visit and comment on your commentors’ blogs in return?
And how sharable is your blog, really?
I know! That’s a LOT of questions. But they are important to answer. Ghost town status is not what you want, specially if you have a blog related to your business."

Three: The blog needs to be easy to navigate.  Some helpful things that keep the blog easy to navigate are, search bars, blog archives, links, etc.  If you have search bars on your blog, the readers of your blog are able to type in a few keywords so can sift through all of your blog posts and find the one post that they are looking for.  Putting label on your blog post are really helpful also.'

(This one I just added) Four: The blog needs to be awesome!

          My blog meets the above stated design specifications because, one: I try to keep it updated everyday (if not everyday or every-other-day, at least once a week), two: This blog is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(That's my awesome powers of persuasion telling you that this blog is seriously awesome!)  Although my blog meets most of these standards, I think that my blog still needs a few more widgets to be at it's best.
          The way that I could use my blog to benefit the community (positively) is to keep my blog up-to-date.  Say there was an earthquake in Hawaii, and that earthquake caused a tsunami that was on a crash course with Japan, by keeping it up to date, I could write a post warning the people in Japan of the forthcoming tsunami, effectively saving many lives.
          I feel, that in this unit, I was very, very, effective because when I was creating my blog, I had enough knowledge of blogging to help other people if they had any questions or problems about blogging that they needed answered.
          The IB Learner Profile that I feel I exhibited the best was balanced, in helping others finish their blogs, all the while also managing to get my blog [pretty much] finished.
          The final, most important question, the Unit Question, the-question-that-must-not-be-named, whatever you want to call it: "How can sharing our thought and ideas online (in a safe and responsible manner) have a positive effect on our community and ourselves?" Sharing our ideas and thoughts online can have a positive effect on the community because the blog can be used to alert people of currents problems, situations, natural disaters, man-made disasters. But blogs don't only have to be used to alert people of bad things that are happening, they can also be used to tell people stuff about yourself (just take my very own The Way I Learn Best blog for example), or you could use a blog to alert people about different hobbies within your community (e.x. a new yoga club, or paddling updates, volleyball clubs, etc.).
         So, all in all, other than the few minor dents and scratches, my blog is pretty much the best blog I could ever want!!!

In order for a blog to be successful, it needs to follow the three The's:

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          One: The blog needs to be attractive.  It needs to consistently follow it's color scheme (e.g. don't use red if your blog is about world peace, seriously please).  Here are my Blog Design Sketches:

          Two: The person that keeps the blog running needs to keep the blog updated at all times (e.g. at least once a day).  If they don't keep the blog running it's going to become, what I like to call, a ghost blog.

 

 "What are Ghost Town blogs?
 You know — low visit rates; only 1 or 2 comments on posts — or worse — NO COMMENTS at all.
Even if the blog owner spends hours writing amazing content.
 Still … NOTHING! Echo … echo … echo …
Are you blogging consistently or are you a hit and run poster?
 How long does it take to respond to those that do comment on your blog?
 Do you visit and comment on your commentors’ blogs in return?
And how sharable is your blog, really?
I know! That’s a LOT of questions. But they are important to answer. Ghost town status is not what you want, specially if you have a blog related to your business."

  
That is a quote from the blog, Blogging With Gypsy.  Check it out, I don't like hogging the spot light, but do be sure to keep coming back to this blog or any of my other  blogs (which can all be found at The All Blogs Blog, the HQ for all of my blogs).



          Three: The blog needs to be easy to navigate.  Some helpful things that keep the blog easy to navigate are, search bars, blog archives, links, etc.  If you have search bars on your blog, the readers of your blog are able to type in a few keywords so can sift through all of your blog posts and find the one post that they are looking for.  Putting label on your blog post are really helpful also.

          If you follow those three criteria, your blog will be the most successful blog, well, not as successful as my blogs (though you might be, you never know).  Print out the page, fold it, and put it in your pocket for future reference.

How can sharing our ideas online have a positive effect on our community?

^{makeawebsiteforfree}

The thing that helps me come up with what the subject of the blog is a mind-map. The mind -map that I use as a basis for all of the subjects for my blogs, was a homework asignment for the 6th grade Design Tech class. Here is the extremely helpful "map":

1: Blogging is free!

2: You can leave comments on certain posts

3: The owner of the blog has the power to moderate blogs

4: The blog owner is able to allow/dis-allow the blog to be seen publicly (i.e. on Google, Google+, etc.)

5: The blog can be edited/rewritten and, unlike a website, a blog is made so that the owner has to or can come back and add to it. Whereas on a website, it's more fact base so there isn't usually reason to maintain it. Then it just sits there and is pushed to the back of the shelf, so to speak.


   

When I create my blogs, I like to sort of incorporate a certain theme. One example is if I were doing a blog about the world, I might have pictures of the Earth, or if I were doing a blog about books, I might have the background look like an open book, or a stack of paper. I guess the point that I am trying to get across is, if you create a blog about one think, don't have the theme/layout be something that would clash with it. If the blog is about world-wide peace, don't make the color scheme red and black.

The best thing about blogging is the fact that when you blog with blogger, you can edit the template. There are two ways to edit a template. The first way to edit the template is to use the pre-arranged template customizer. The other way (which I personally deem quite useful) is to edit the HTML/CSS.

We can use our blogs to share our ideas safely by using netiquette.    Some examples are*: 

Basic Blogging Bylaws

1. Only post things that you would want everyone (in school, at home, in other countries) to know.

Ask yourself: Is this something I want everyone to see?

2. Do not share personal information.  

Ask yourself: Could someone find me (in real life) based on this information?

3. Think before you post.

Ask yourself: What could be the consequences of this post?

4. Know who you’re communicating with.

Ask yourself: Who is going to look at this, and how are they going to interpret my words?

5. Consider your audience and that you’re representing Le Jardin Academy (lejardinacademy.org).

Ask yourself: Do I have a good reason/purpose to do this?

6. Know how to give constructive feedback.

Ask yourself: What will I cause by writing this post?

7. Treat other people the way you want to be treated.

Ask yourself: Would I want someone to say this to me?

8. Use appropriate language and proper grammar and spelling.

Ask yourself: Would I want this post to be graded for proper grammar and spelling?

9. Only post information that you can verify is true (no gossiping).

Ask yourself: Is this inappropriate, immature or bullying?

10. Anytime you use media from another source, be sure to properly cite the creator of the original work.  

Ask yourself: Who is the original creator of this work?

On that note, I got this information from the 6th grade Design Tech Blog (www.ljadtmyp1.blogspot.com).