A video made to highlight the effects of social media on mental health. I was proud of how well we worked together on this project.
The American Fire Never Stopped Burning
In my younger years, I thought I was a child growing up in a time of a colonist rebellion. As I grew up, I merely followed what my mother and father believed in—detesting most of the townspeople for all their boycotting. But all that time, I had still been immature. Now I know better. My name is Hugo Bade, and I flourished at the heart of the American Revolution. Read my journal entry below.
After the events of the American Revolution, the American call for life, liberty and the pursuit of freedom paved the way for new ideas. Constitutions were created in each state and privileged white men could vote for what they believed in. Furthermore, religious freedom was given as the church was separated from the state. For the first time, a colony had won independence from its parent country, and it would spark revolution for many others. However, the most political impact was the most influential and important change of this revolution. It showed the world that countries could be ruled by ordinary people, instead of royals and nobles. Moreover, the first president of the United States was elected to be George Washington. His title, Mr. President, had been unheard of in any country before. Finally, in America, where and who you were born to did not conclude your destiny, and opportunities flourished for many.
On the contrary, the American Revolution did not establish the well-needed idea of equality. For almost a hundred years after the revolution, slavery was still expanded on. While many from the North turned towards paid labour, the South relied entirely on slave labour. So in spite of the seemingly radical steps taken toward fair identity, America was still ruled by rich, white, and land-owning men who dominated in both society and politics. Additionally, the Native Americans were pushed further into the country and disregarded, as the British had been the only ones who had prevented colonists from moving onto Indian lands. Though the American Revolution was a world-changing event that paved the future of other countries, change came too slowly for many of the people in need.
A Spark of Liberty for the Americans, and a Spark of Liberty for the Rest of the World
“Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature.” – Benjamin Franklin
The first shot of the revolutionary war rang out on April 19th, 1775. However, the wish for liberty had started long before. After the Seven Years War between the French and British, the bankrupted British passed several tax acts on the colonists living on the land they had won. Through 1763 to 1773, the colonists boycotted every tax act that was passed, refusing taxation without representation in the British government. When the British refused to listen, it was clear what the American colonists wanted — freedom. From Thomas Paine’s ‘Common Sense’ in 1776 to the Declaration of Independence, the Americans kept their goal in sight, all the way until the win at Yorktown in 1781. Settling the Treaty of Paris in 1783, Americans now celebrate this significant event every July 4th, known as Independence Day. However, their impact and influence doesn’t stop there. The American Revolution sparked the idea of liberty for many places around the world, including the notorious French Revolution during 1789.
Learn more about the American Revolution with the video below:
Painting of the Signing of the Declaration by John Trumbull, from History.com
The Truth About Being Unbroken
Unbroken, a book by Laura Hillenbrand, presents the story of Louie Zamperini, an American Olympian who became an airman during World War II, and his perseverance and boldness as a war prisoner in the hands of the Japanese. The devastating events of war shone through as Louie was separated from his family and friends, lost his Olympics dreams and suffered immensely in the inhumane conditions of prisoner-of-war camps in Japan. It tells a story of going against all odds and finding peace in yourself through indescribable difficulties, and picking out what is left of the rubble that remains by learning to accept, to forgive. A fascinating story that you’ll only believe when you read it, it’ll change the way you think about the war and leave you transfixed to the spot.
Many central ideas were communicated throughout Louie’s story, including themes. I explored the theme that people should persevere during hardships. I kept track of how Louie’s boldness influences his decisions and how the story turns out, and the idea that Japanese POW camps were inhumane. Read below as I supported them with evidence from my reading.
After studying how the author used descriptions to describe the places that Louie was going to, I tried to focus on them and analyze what ideas were conveyed. When Louie first entered the war and was sent to the Kahuku air base, I noticed that the place seemed not only scarred after the Pearl Harbor attack, but also tense from the impending war. Moreover, when Louie walked into Naoetsu POW camp, it was clear that the camp was full of death and suffering. Read more below as I connect these ideas with some central ideas of the book.
Throughout the book, I thought about cause and effect in Louie’s story. Events were more complicated and included more than just one cause, and one cause could affect many things. After Louie turns to alcoholism in response to trauma, I expanded my thinking to try and explore what could have caused his trauma, and how the trauma not only affected him, but the people around him and the decisions that were made. Read below as I explored the many causes and effects that came with his alcoholism.
While reading through the book, the author sometimes mentioned an event, person, or thing briefly, and I wanted to learn more about it. After Mutsuhiro Wantanabe was cleared of all charges despite being the antagonist of the story, I wanted to see what he decided to do in later life. When the author talked about the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics, I wanted to know how it was affected by the Nazi regime. Through Louie’s descriptions of guards smoking Red Cross cigarettes, I wanted to know what the Red Cross packages were like. Read below as I learned more about each topic, further expanding my perspective of the war and Louie’s story.
Thank you for reading my blog post. If you’re interested in reading the captivating story of Louie Zamperini, please check out the book or watch the movie directed by Angelina Jolie.
Banner made by Canva
Photos by Tim Photoguy and Max Di Capua on Unsplash
Do You Think Like a Humanist?
Made with Canva: Humanism Infographic by Monica
The Renaissance was a period from around the 14th to the 16th century that started in Florence, Italy. During this time, a renewed interest in the arts and classical culture resulted in the rise of humanism. Humanists believed that, “any individual could shape their own character and influence their own future by the way they live their life”. This infographic shows the main ideas of humanists and their beliefs.
The Morality of Murder
Playing games with people, I don’t understand
“Suppose it’s genuine?”
Arthur stared. Incredulous “Would you murder someone?”
Norma looked disgusted. “Murder if you don’t even know the person?”
Some old Chinese peasant? Some diseased native in the Congo? Some beautiful little girl on the next block?
“What’s the difference whom you kill? It’s still murder.” Life. Death. A chance.
His face was white. She shuddered.
“I’d rather not.”
The found poem above was taken from the short story “Button, Button” by Richard Matheson. It shows the character versus character conflict between Norma, the protagonist, and Arthur, the antagonist. Norma and Arthur’s conflict in the rising action of the story demonstrates that Norma has materialistic views and no sympathy for other humans. Norma’s desire for money-oriented objects drives her to press a button for 50,000 dollars in exchange for the death of a stranger. Arthur, her husband, tries to stop her and says, “it’s immoral” and a sick joke. In the end, as Norma presses the button for her own benefits, she kills her husband. When she angrily calls the man who offered her the decision, he does not feel sorrow for the woman, “My dear lady, do you really think you knew your husband?”
For Needy Pets: The Pet Hammock
The Pet Hammock hangs underneath tables and a cat or a dog can sit on it when someone is working at the table.
I think one thing I would 
like to change is how the hammock hangs onto the table. In my first design, I wanted it to hang on by a hook and a round circle around hung onto the table, however that was not realistic because that meant everyone who bought the product had to have circles on the bottom of their tables. So I decided to make a right angled shape to grasp onto the sides of the table. That was what I did for my final design, but I think that it isn’t good because its not stable and cannot support so much weight. Next time, I would want to do a thing that can grasp onto both sides of the table and be tightened so hammock won’t fall off the table.
One concern that was shared with me was that some they might not be able to get onto the hammock platform by themselves because they are animals so I installed a ladder. The ladder leads up to the platform so the cat can climb onto it. An alternative idea could be a person carrying the animal onto the hammock instead.
That is my design for the needy pet design challenge.
‘The Bowling Game’ Cardboard Arcade Project Reflection
‘The Bowling Game’ Cardboard Arcade Project Reflection
This is a bowling game. The point of the game is to get the metal ball from the ramp to knock down the cardboard bowling pins into the box behind it. Each pin is 10 points, and you have 3 tries.
My biggest success for this design was the design of the pins. It was difficult at first because we weren’t sure what kind of design we should do, because normally bowling pins are specifically shaped. However, we acknowledged the fact that it would be much harder to make with cardboard, so we decided to make pins out of the cut cardboard pieces slotted together, making a ‘X’ or ‘+’ cross shape. It was easy to knock down, and stable enough to stand and stable itself without help. It was also simple to make, but also effective for gameplay.
My biggest obstacle was developing. I wasn’t sure how to design it, as I wasn’t sure what kind of mechanics cardboard could make. I was unsure if the design could work, and what kind of designs are needed. We had bottle caps connected to the bowling pins in our initial design, because we weren’t sure if the bowling pins could stand on its own. We weren’t sure if we should add a stick to the ramp, so players could move it around, because we weren’t sure if it would work or not and what kind of materials I needed.
One thing I’d do next time differently is how we designed the colors of the cardboard arcade. We used colorful masking tape for it to be more attractive, but next time I want to use colorful pens or other forms of art. For example, more patterns or better colors.
Some advice I’ll give for future students is to advice them to plan simple and make it more complicated if you have more time or the materials. This is because we ended giving up a lot more of the complicated designs in our game half-way through and had less time to do the more important components. Focus on the most important things and the decorations, you can improvise later on.
Penguin Project Reflection
Explain the problem you were trying to solve:
Penguins get hot in the extreme weather and take a swim in the ocean. While swimming, they leave their eggs unguarded, giving their predators a chance to hunt down and eat the eggs.
Explain the reason for your design and redesign.
We made our penguin design out of mylar and white Felt constructing it into a dome like shape. We used mylar for the roof and the sides because when we did our data test, it only lost 3.5 (C) degrees in 3 minutes. Mylar is a form of polyester resin used to make heat– resistant plastic films and sheets. We used White Felt for a double-layer of rood and also the floor of the dome. We chose felt because it’s made of fiber and when we did our data test it only lost 4 (C) degrees in 3 minutes. Felt is a kind of cloth made out of wool, ice melts slower on felt and the color white reflects heat.
When we did the redesign, we noticed that hot glue melts in the temperature of the box. To solve this problem, we first covered the edges with tape, put hot glue on the tape and then put more tape on. This will guarantee that the hot glue won’t melt, so our design won’t fall apart.
Write an explanation about which design worked better, using the data you collected as evidence.
Our redesign worked better, because the first design lost 10 (C) degrees in 20 minutes, while our redesign only lost 4 ( C ) degrees in 20 minutes. Also, our first design fell apart while our second design stayed intact.
How has your understanding of the transfer of heat energy and temperature changed during the penguin project?
I feel like Convection was always the hardest heat transfer to understand, but while doing the penguin project, from creating the design to finishing the poster, I understood more. I also got to further understand the other different types of heat transfer.
Cup Insulator Design Challenge Review
The challenge we were trying to solve was to make an insulator so hot drinks don’t cool down as quickly in cold weather.
First, we read the challenge repeatedly so we understood completely and brainstormed ideas by ourselves so we could accomplish the first step of the design process. We got to look at the different materials provided and discussed which one kept the most heat. After that we drew models and labeled it with the different materials we planned to use. We thought that foam worked best because it was warm and didn’t let air through, which is part of the second step in the design process which is planning the different things required to make the desired product.
Next, we drew a final model and started making a first prototype with paper, following the third step of creating. We measured the length of the cup, cut out paper and labeled the paper with the materials we planned to use. We planned to cover the surface of the cup entirely with foam and include Velcro one side so it’s easy to take off. We also decided to cover the top of the cup with tin foil that’s stuck onto plastic to maximize the effect of keeping it warm. We decided that the tin foil should act like a flap for the top of the mug and easily taken on and off for quick drinking.
Finally, we made our final prototype with the planned materials. We also discovered that the foam melts in hot temperatures which meant that we had to minimize the amount of hot glue we used and stick to tape instead. This made the design a lot harder because if there was too much of it the insulator would melt, and the foam will become thin. In the end, we managed to find a better solution of tape.
In the end, I reached a conclusion of that when you cover the cup with foam, the liquid inside will remain hot. This is because the Styrofoam’s materials made it hard for hot gases to escape and also generated heat. The Styrofoam helped and we can see that because the mug without the insulator lost 20.9degrees by 10 minutes but when we covered the cup with foam it only lost 12degrees in 10 minutes for the first try and lost only 10.4degrees in the second try. This shows that covering the cup with Styrofoam, it helps the temperature stay warm by 10.5degrees.
. This happened because in the cup, the water gets hot enough to turn to gas. If there isn’t anything to block it, the hot gas will escape and decrease the temperature of the cup because the gas is giving off energy. If we cover the cup with tin foil and Styrofoam, the gas cannot escape and all the energy will go and heat the cup.
Our design worked, but not very well. There were many flaws, such as the Styrofoam melting due to the temperature of the liquid in the cup. This might be one of the reasons the temperature started decreasing rapidly by the end of 6 minutes. Another flaw that might have made the rapid decreasing occur was that the Velcro was not stuck on very well and started falling apart. However, the Styrofoam did help keep the heat in moderate temperature for about 5 minutes at the start of the experiment.
The hardest thing about this project was making sure the insulator was not bulky because if it was too hard to carry then it wouldn’t meet the criteria. One thing I would do different next time is to plan it more elaborately before getting into action and making the prototype.
Overall, I thought our design was okay because it met the criteria and managed to preserve heat.