MAYDAY MAYDAY !!!!!

Last semester I entered a "Build Your Own Plane" competition with Yoni and some grad student named Sergey. We won the competition. Last Thursday, the AIAA (American Institute of Aerospace and Aeronautics) Club (of which I am a member) held a second "Build Your Own Plane" competition. This time I entered with one of my fellow freshman engineers, Pavel. After the last competition, people complained about a post-doc winning first place, so I had to prove that it wasn’t all him this time.
This time we had to build a glider, so I came up with a long thin wing design. The Targum (Rutgers Newspaper) was covering the competition [registration may be required]. So we built our plane and tested it, made some alterations, and then completed the plane we dubbed the U² because it looked like the U2 spy plane. We went to the flight range (a classroom in the engineering building) and started the competition.
Sadly most planes didn’t actually fly, others did but had a high stall speed, and most that actually flew hit the ground at the bottom of the room. Then it was our turn, I threw it first and it hit the ceiling, then Pavel threw it and it glided gracefully across the room hitting the wall very high up, the third run did the same but the long way of the room. With the first messed up flight we still had a total flight time of 10.7 seconds of flight hindered very much by the fact that it kept hitting the walls 2/3 of the way up. We won.

Here is a picture of the two planes that my teams built and that both won first place in the AIAA display case. (the tails are removed to get them into the case)

(The smaller one top left is the first, the bigger one with the U² on it is the recent one)

Here is a picture from the Targum of my plane flying.
And of course here is the link to the actual article.
University Engineers Aim For The Sky
(registration may be required but shouldn't be)

2006 Award for Superb Shoveling Skill

What kind of idiot does something like this, did he/she even have their eyes open?
Engineers build tunnels miles underground, leagues from the shore and they meet each other exactly in middle. Sir shovels-a-lot, we are not asking for much here! In any case, better luck with your aiming next time Aryeh*.

* Okay, truth is the only thing that shoveled our lawn this winter were the snowplows.

Can you see me now?

I imagine that most people can read that (make sure you click on the picture to see it full-size). However, it is hanging in my 6th story dorm window (stalkers - knock yourselves out). This is how it appears from the street (I apologize for the miserable/artsy quality - I think there may be something wrong with my camera):

How to conquer a mountain

Once again Aryeh is being lazy and begging me to cover for him for some lame excuse. Anyway, there are a bunch of photos hanging up in the lobby of Belfer Hall at YU. One of which, with its caption, is:

"YU students conquer the mountain [Someplace] Germany"

I forgot where exactly in Germany this mountain is, but I can't help but think that conquering mountains involves slightly more than standing at the foot of it with some ski poles. I mean, if that was the case, even I could conquer Mt. Everest.

My Photo in a Physics Journal

Some of you already know that I have a photo of mine published in the physics journal of the Roland Eotvos Physical Society of Budpaest, regarding a paper on rainbows.
I tried reading the journal but I couldn't understand a word of it! Really, not a single word . . . it helps that the journal is entirely in Hungarian.

Prof. Jozsef Cserti saw the picture on this site where the glory phenomenon is explained. If your'e interested I talk more here. Heres a picture of the journal that you can read my name in.

The Journal, my picture has the arrow pointing to it.

A Screenshot of Prof. Cserti's paper

The Gettysburg Address: Fun with Google

I suggested in an earlier post that speech recognition is as much fun as Google's language tools. Just to be sure, the following is Abraham Lincoln's stirring (and now somewhat unintelligible) "Gettysburg Address" as interpereted by multiple iterations through various foreign languages:

Four jumps and seven years our parents foment done examination in this continent, a new nation, understood inaugurated in the freedom and the commerce that cause to all the comparable men.

Hour we participate great a civil war and examine, if this nation or a nation included/understood consequently and if inaugurated, to support it for much time for a can of po '. We work for aforesaid of meeting to a Campo Grande of the battle of this war. We to come inaugurate the part of this of the field, when the places for rifinire more part of orderly real state that this gave its screw that this nation could living here. He is reunion advisable and corrected that we must make to this.

But, in a greater direction, us we cannot be inaugurated -- we cannot consecrat -- we latta -- this land for sanctify. The inoperative men valiant, life and men who had fought here, the necessity consecrated add distant absentee or exempt it in our defective energy. The will of the world of small acknowledgments still remembers much period, to où says here, but it cannot never does not forget, that here. He is for us incomplete of the life for inaugurate something here, it who stops fighting here, to have consequently until this splendid work of outpost of the moment. * something, in the way these great we it try-lheo inaugurate here here to be able, of that before remain we -- those von this to the honor to damages that it increases to we to dedication this cause to made the examination, that this hard the complete measures it to give dedication -- to I repair we of a direction we mark very, that these inoperative women not in dying useless -- that this nation, under the god, new a freedom of the birth -- and that a form for governing any, of the person, for the person, not for for dying.

Will You Be My Valentine

Happy valentines day!!!
Now I think I'm going to go kill some pagans in celebration.

Student died after being shot

"A Central High School student died after being shot after leaving a basketball game on Saturday evening. ... this incident occurred on Martin Luther King Boulevard outside the high school gymnasium."

That's the last of their games I'm going to! We got the scoop in an NJIT email, heres the news link.
This picture was taken from the relative safety of the colorful architecture library.

National Fire Safety Week

As many of you know, the calendar year can be divided into two "seasons:"
1) Before National Fire Prevention Week and,
2) National Fire Prevention Week (with apologies to Uncle Sysfrog)

Now, since NFPW is only 35 weeks away, it is as good a time as any for a Fire Safety Tip^TM. Today's Fire Safety Tip^TM is: When installing a new fire alarm system in a dorm building, it is not a good idea to duct tape the thing-which-is-used-to-open-the-fire-hose-pipe to the emergency light just because it is in your way.

Episode Three: Just When You Thought This Was Over

If you did not read Episode: One or Two please read them.
Some meat processing company stole my little piggys I can only hope that they are in a good place. My Calc professor from last semester has still not gotten me a grade so I am now planning on nailing my demands on his office door. If that doesn't work I will proceed to nail it into him (that is of course if I can find him).
And now for something totally random.

Fun with a camera tripod

I gave a Bio-Math seminar about what I did over my summer vacation. It went well, see the abstract here.

Recently I got a nifty little tripod for my camera, its really tiny. Here are some pictures, (Note: a mag-light helped too)
They are all together in large size here: http://web.njit.edu/~jcl7/blog/cameratripod.html

The Gettysburg Address

The following is Abraham Lincoln's stirring "Gettysburg Address" as interpereted by MS Word's speech recognition tool. It's good to know that there's something as much fun as Google's language tools.

Four score and seven years ago and were fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and any kids in a proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in the Greek civil war testing whether the knees or any niece and so conceived and submitted and we're. We're meant a great battlefield where we are confident the portion of the deal as a final resting place for those who hear gave their lives about niece and what it is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

When a larger sense we cannot guarantee we cannot concentrate we cannot handle this grant. The brave men living in the struggle to have concentrated far above the war powers to enter the track. The world little note nor long remember what we see here we can never forget what the media is for us to live in runners, to be dedicated into the unfinished work with Denny KO four years have thus far so nobly against. It is rather frosted be here that it integrates a screaming are dedicated to the great passer mean for us that from the sun and NT increase in motion in a cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion that we hear highly resolved of the stencil not have died in vain, that this nation under god shall have the new birth of freedom, and not government of the people, buying the people, for the people shall not perish from year.