You are a leader (yes, I’m talking to you….)

Quote of today’s blog: “A boss has a title, a leader has the people.” – Simon Sinek

(just an FYI but there were just so many quotes that I had a tough time choosing, phooey)

This may be a tad bit long but rest assured that it’s definitely worth reading!

Joining the M.A.P Leadership Academy was honestly an AWESOME idea (which, btw, creds go to my mom who told me to go). Oh, and, in case you were wondering, M.A.P is A.K.A Monrovia Partnership Area. It is about a 7-week academy (but only on Wednesdays every week) where we learn so much about leadership, volunteering, helping in the community, and more. Today we’ll be talking about how the first day went by. It gets a little emotional at the end (so brace yourselves).

Okay, so the first Wednesday we met, we had introductions to everyone and some ice breakers. Did you know that the person who facilitated the academy made an inspirational speech to us? Did you know that that same person was there when they held their very first M.A.P Academy for adults? Yup, he was. Very cool, I know. His name is *ahem, drum roll, please* Ed Nicholls. He shared with us about leadership, and I will be telling you what I learned from him.

 

 

I’M VERY EXCITED I MIGHT PEE.

Okay, I’ll chill now. Soooo, let me start by saying you are a leader. Whether you are doing something good or not, your actions which people see is still leading them. When you step outside your door, when you are buying milk from your local milk shop (is this a thing? a milk shop? oh well..), and when you go on with your life as you do, you are leading. So, wouldn’t you want to increase your capacity of leadership and improve the skills which you already have? I’m taking that as a yes. Let’s do this.

What you need to start building in your life would be a team. Your team. This team will be there during those tough times and those happy times. This team will be there as you go through the struggles and rough times of life. This team works as your motivator. Those in your team are those you look up to, those who inspire you to GET BACK UP AGAIN. Some people to add to your team could be:

• Martin Luther King
• Abraham Lincoln
• Mother Teresa
• Hellen Keller
• Your parents
• Nick Vujicic

You might be saying right now:  “wait, wait, hold up…”

Your team consists of anyone that inspires you. ANYONE. Feel like you don’t think you can get back up again? You feel like the odds are against you and everyone’s just out to get you? Think about your team. Those people you put together in your heart and mind. Let Hellen Keller’s will to strive despite the challenges and hardships in her life keep you going when the going gets tough and you prove to yourself that the tough (a.k.a you) can get going. Let Nick Vujicic motivate you to keep fighting, believing, and keep pushing forward when you start doubting what you’re capable of. As you face your next challenge in life, close your eyes, think about how that person (whether it be your mom, dad, sibling, best friend, cousin, etc.) or people you have in your life have shown such strength and kindness and use that to KEEP. MOVING. FORWARD. to LEAD. WITH. HEART. to GET. BACK. UP.

Feeling fired up? Yeah, we’re just getting started…

Here comes more of the good stuff. The 8 leadership qualities that will help you on your awesome journey to awesomeness:

• Purpose

You need to be living your life on purpose. Put your heart into giving back and helping others who need help.

 

• Attitude

I cannot (and I mean CANNOT) stress enough how important one’s attitude is. Your attitude is your weapon, it’s your greatest friend. YOU (and only you) choose the reaction you give to certain people and certain situations. Think of it like this:

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 Example: You walk into the kitchen humming your favorite song when you decide to open the fridge. Your eyes narrow down to the bottom shelf where you target the slice of cake you left the other day to eat. To your dismay, there’s a vacant spot which totally baffles you. You walk to the dining table, scratching your head with slight annoyance. Then there right on the table is YOUR SLICE OF CAKE. Your little sister has chocolate all over her face as she takes another bite into YOUR CAKE, despite having a fork in her hand. 

So what would be your reaction?:

1. Start shouting and expressing all your boiled up anger which may have also built up from other things that may have happened during the day and dump that on your sister
2. Grab the plate, eat whatever is left, and walk away (in anger)
3. Laugh at how you would have done the same thing, sat beside your sister, ask if she would like to share the remaining, and talk about unicorns (or smthg, I mean idk about you but this is usually what I’d talk about to spark a convo)

I’ll be referring to situations when you feel the need get mad as -> CAKE situation

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 At times we tend to answer 1 or 2. We all sometimes overreact during situations then, later on, look back and regret it. It happens.

You might say “uhuh, yeah easy for you to say… it’s just cake…. my situation was different, I needed to get angry”.

LOOK I just used cake as my example but we know we’ve had some situations like this. And, no, you didn’t have to get angry that one time at that person. When you are faced with a CAKE situation, think of it as a fork in the road and you can choose either to take a deep breathe and act with kindness or do the opposite. Choose kindness. We react so quickly without thinking twice it becomes a habit that we don’t even realize because we convince ourself that that small outburst was just nothing and didn’t really mean much. If we keep a negative attitude during small CAKE situations, we will bring that same negative attitude to big CAKE situations. In other words, choose positivity, inspire others with your smile, be friendly. You might not think much about it but a smile is a powerful tool and can go a long way for many people. There are many dark places in our world, people who need repair, be that light, be kind 🙂

 

• Character

Ooooh, this is a good one. Build your character. This is your foundation. You need a solid foundation. When you do something, do your very best (every day). To strengthen your character you will need dedication. Have impeccable honestly. INTEGRITY! Our character goes down to what we do, not what we think, not what we say, but what we DO. And, honesty is what a person with character has as the cores of their foundation. Being a person with character also means to be kind, to be an encourager.

“an encourager?,” YES an encourager.

Don’t give up on others.

Believe in them and don’t ever quit. 

 

• Balance

Balance is important in keeping your life together. You need to prioritize and organize. Each area of your life you have to find a balance. Think about the 6 Fs:

1. Faith
2. Family
3. Friends
4. Finance
5. Fitness
6. Fun

Keep balance in your mind, body, and soul. Something that has really helped me would be keeping a journal. In my journal, I would design something that would be helpful to me to keep the balances in life as well as doodle and creatively express myself on paper every now and then. It’s good healing to just write down what you’re feeling at times. 

 

• Forgiveness

It’s hard. I know. Sometimes you feel like someone has done you so wrong, like someone has disrespected you, like someone has just acted like a total DOUCH and all you want to do is punch them to the OTHER SIDE OF THE UNIVERSE AND THEN GIVE THEM ~THE~ STARE- I know, but we are all capable of forgiveness. It will make you feel so much better if you just forgive rather than hold in all that anger and carry that weight. People are generally good but it’s their environment that they’ve grown up in that may have them acting in a certain “mean” way. People have good intentions, the problem may be the way that they implement. So, when you just start building that tower of hatred or annoyance towards someone for some reason, think about how they just may be badly implementing their good intentions rather than jumping to conclusions and being mad. Forgiveness is a gift and people do struggle with it. But, great leaders make peace and not war, they forgive and work on what has caused the problem.

 

• Perseverance 

I’ll leave you with this on perseverance:

BE ALL IN- never quit.

 

• Team-Spirit

Are you in a team? Are you? Yes, you are. In your family, you’re in a team. Doing a group project with some classmates? That’s a team. We are all in a team. We are all in this together whether we like to be or not. So, love what you do and love who you do it with. When you’re in a team, you help one another. When one of your team members is having trouble with something, you don’t just stare at them blankly with hints of disappointment, you run up to them, smile, and show them they’re not alone and that they’ve got this. When one of your team members struggle to shoot the ball in, give them the chance to keep doing it, keep practicing, believe in them to shoot in the ball (whether that be hypothetically or even physically if you are in a sport). You are in a team. And, when you’re in a team you make everyone around you better. Your home, your family, your friends, your team. Don’t leave anyone out and walk away just because you don’t like their attitude or something they’ve done. Remember, keep that team-spirit up.

 

• Legacy

This wraps up the 8 qualities of being a leader. Your legacy. This is your story. Start building it now. How? Oh, I’ll tell you how. Invest in others, encourage others, help people, KEEP caring. Don’t leave anyone out. Everyone is fighting their own battles, don’t judge and assume what and why someone does something. Remember what I said at the beginning? Live with a purpose, help others. Keep that in your heart and use it.

Being a leader is having a purpose, keeping a good attitude, holding your character firmly in place, keeping balance in life, having the ability to forgive, never quitting and persevering, letting everyone play the game and showing team-spirit, and building your legacy. Never give up on yourself, never give up on others, and above all stay kind and good and encouraging. Finally, I want to end with a short film which they showed us at the end of Day 1. This really moved me and inspires. Here you go:

 

Keep leading, leader :,)

Yours truly,

L.O.A.S.H

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© Elizabeth Anne Villoria

 

L.O.A.S.H’s Guide to (nearly) Everything: The Basics of Photography

Quote of AWESOMENESS: “Skill in photography is acquired by practice and not purchase.” – Percy W. Harris

Photography is a pretty cool skill to add to your skill set. For sure. However easy it is to shift that mode dial on your camera to Auto, I find it better that one would know how to adjust one’s camera settings to ones liking. TODAY, I shall teach you the knowledge that has been passed down to me about the specs of a camera. Let’s get to it 🙂

 

First, here’s a visual for you to get a gist of the parts of your camera:

Exposure:

A basic element of any photograph taken would be the exposure. It is also a very crucial and critical element as it determines the final product of your image. Exposure is how much light you the shot you took was exposed to, its a key component to how bright or dark the pictures you take appear. When the shot you took has too much light, resulting in an overly bright image, this is known as an overexposed image. Whereas when your image doesn’t have enough light, resulting in an image too dark, this is known as an underexposed image. Your camera exposure is pretty similar to your eye:

• Pitch black room with no light = you can’t see anything
• When an object is in front of us, we see it because of the light reflecting and bouncing off the object 
• When your eyes haven’t properly adjusted to the light turned on as you woke up, everything may seem out of focus and too bright

See some similarities?

There are three essential adjustable elements that control the exposure. We will be diving more into them in a bit. These are the: ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed.

The ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed don’t only affect exposure but also are the biggest influence as to what the overall appearance of one’s image is. The mastery of these settings is highly important to achieve the desired result. The balance of all three is what will lead you to the success of what you want to capture.

 

Aperture: affects the depth of field and light

The Aperture is the hole inside the lens which light passes through. If you compare this to your eye, the aperture would basically be the “pupil” of your lens. When you make the aperture wider, you are allowing more light in and vice versa, just like how your eye operates.

Each aperture is one “stop” from the next. The lower the f-stop number, the wider the lens opening is and also more light is let in. The aperture settings from a larger lens opening to smaller lens openings goes: f/1, f/1.4, f/2, f/4, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22, and f/32. Some points to remember:

• The lower the f-stop number = wider lens opening
• Each setting lets in twice as much light as the next f-stop number up the scale 
  • Examples:
    • f/8 is a wider opening and lets in more light than f/11
    • f/11 lets in double the light of f/16, half as much as f/8
• Larger openings have smaller numbers

The choice you make on your aperture is the choice you make on the focus that you have in your picture. 

 

Shutter Speed: affects light and motion

Aside from the aperture size, the shutter speed is another component that your camera has to control over the amount of light. Additionally, the shutter speed also affects the way that moving objects in your shot come out. Faster shutter speeds can freeze motion. With a slow shutter speed, you will have the ability to record slow-moving objects with some blur.  

 

 

Iso:

The ISO speed describes the sensor’s sensitivity to light. The higher the number the ISO you give, the less light it needs for correct exposure. There will be more noise or grain in your image as the ISO number goes up.

 

Summary:

Shutter – speed control: moving objects will be shown sharp, blurred, frozen in mid-motion in a range of options from a lot to a little bit. The faster the shutter speed, the shaper the moving object will appear. 

Aperture control: Changing the aperture is one way to control the sharpness. The smaller the aperture, the more of the picture that will be sharp.

I’ll update you guys will more photography awesomeness soon!!!

Yours truly,

L.O.A.S.H

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© Elizabeth Anne Villoria

Artificial Intelligence, taking over the world? Yes? No? Maybe….

Quote of TRUTH: “Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time” – Terry Pratchett

Over the past years, technology has seemed to advance faster than we could have ever imagined, especially comparing to the Paleolithic times (where all our ancestors had invented were cave paintings and fire pits, which is, by the way, still very awesome to invent). We’ve gone from having our first light bulb flicker into existence then next self-driving cars, like Tesla. Mind-blown, I know, feelings are mutual. But, now, we’re going to talk about something that isn’t common in most places (for now, or so we think), Artificial Intelligence.

1. They’re starting to camouflage with everyone else around them

What I mean by this is that they are starting to look super realistic! We have almost mastered the art of forming technology into such human-looking-like figures. To tell you the truth it is a little bit creepy. One example of this would be Yangyang, a robot which has been created. The features that were given to her have made her an almost replica of Sarah Palin!

Sarah Palin isn’t the only one out there. There’s also Sophia and Nadine. Sophia is pretty well-known as she has been on a couple of interviews. She has even met Will Smith, and she’s actually the first robot to receive a citizenship. Nadine, on the hand, is an AI who works as a university receptionist. She was described as the “world’s most human-like robot”. Aside from looking human, these robots are able to interact as such, too. Nadine has the capability to smile, make eye contact, greet visitors, and even recognize past guests. What happens when you can’t tell artificial intelligence from an actual living and breathing human being? Imagine, just imagine, someone decides to change the entire Madame Tussaud, a wax museum (by the way, people already get confused by whether the wax figures are real or not), into AIs. Just thinking about it gives me the chills.

2. They are taking over our jobs

This problem is something that we’ve got to keep in mind. We’ve created these machines to do all these tasks and finish all these jobs for us. Yet, we somehow seem to be distracted from the fact that this would be very unfortunate for so many families and people out there.

It is estimated that 73 million U.S. jobs would be taken over by robots and automated by 2030. Yes, I actually mean millions. So for every job operated by automation, that’s another job lost for someone or their family. But here’s the wildest thing, the estimate for 73 million jobs lost is just in the U.S. alone. Looking at the bigger picture, a new report claims that, worldwide, an astonishing amount of 800 million jobs would be lost due to automation.

3. ROBOT DOGS!

You read that right. Robot. Dogs. How cool does that sound? Very much, I agree. Having a robot dog eliminates most of the migraines that you would normally get from a normal dog as it wouldn’t have to do his “business”, everywhere, if you know what I mean. The two main things that you wouldn’t have to worry about anymore would be the robot dog’s health and its hygiene.

Sony has actually announced that they would be releasing their robot dog. With a price of $2,899, they have made major improvements such as adding touch sensors for when you pet it, facial recognition for it to know its owners, a camera mapping which it uses to memorize your house’s layout, and it even has voice commands!

4. They are able to teach themselves

Yup, self-taught. The advancement of the technology that has been put in their system has actually allowed them to teach themselves. They no longer need us humans to put more information for them, they can learn what they want to learn. Remember the AI robot I told you about earlier, Sophia?  Well, according to the supposed first photographer who stepped inside the Hong King-based Hanson Robotics, Sophia might have self-taught herself what a camera was.

Another example of this would be the AI system that Google has made which taught itself to play Atari 2600 games. A study funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), showed that their program for their robot was capable of watching videos on how kitchen utensils work and able to properly copy what it saw without any humans to help them out. They even said that by 2029, because of AI increase of knowledge, they would have the same intelligence as us humans.

5. They Can Heal Themselves

The algorithm based on trial and error is what the robot uses to check its system and repair itself. The researcher’s idea is that the robot would act something like an animal and adapt to being broken as they “learn and iterate based on self-reflection”. They have been able to successfully adapt a method similar to this to AI.

Another way that robots were designed to heal themselves was by what material they were made out of. What roboticists did was create soft robots. Soft robots work by heating itself for about 40 minutes at a temperature of 80°C, then after a day when the temperature is at 25°C, the robot would restore after its damages.

6. They’re Being Weaponized

An amount reaching $2 billion dollars is said to be spent alone for AI systems in weaponry. One of the main reasons why the Pentagon and the U.S. military wants to invest this much for their weapons is to stay ahead of other countries around and be more advanced. Even though this would be helpful for an increase in security, there are still dangers that come along with it. The machines that are given the power to control their own actions may put the lives of innocent people at risk, as well.

7. Romantic Relations and AI?

Once our fellow AIs roam the earth and we can’t seem to tell if they’re human or not, there’s a high chance that most people (as in human beings) would have some type of relationship with an AI. Whether it’s romantic or not, the more we put in research and push for these robots to be made, it’s going to be inevitable to not have some contact with one AI or two. There are actually a couple of movies out there that show a glimpse of what people predict the futuristic love life of most to be, such as, Her or Ex-Machina.

According to the report of Dr. Ian Pearson, he says that “by 2050, human-on-robot sex will be more common than human-on-human sex”. Eventually, this idea would be so casual yet looking at it now just seems a bit weird. It looks as if we’re all planning to slowly steer away from humanity and merge as one with technology.

8. They’re Being Taught To Deceive

Claiming for military purposes, a research conducted at the Georgia Institute of Technology by Professor Ronal Arkin and his team have successfully implemented this deceptive behavior into a robot. Professor Arkin and his team first tested out this deceiving behavior with squirrels and birds and when they got the results they also were able to do it with robots.

This is definitely something remarkable yet scary. Even though we are programming this for when they are out at war or during some military business, they can also use these skills if they go rogue. And, how dangerous might that be? Very dangerous, very much indeed.

9. They’re Getting Good at Gaming

These artificial intelligence machines are becoming better and beating us at our own games. Literally. These are the very games that we’ve created. The games that only a small percentage of us have actually mastered after the years of practice. It’s all fun and games until it’s not. Right?

There is an artificial intelligence division within Google that is known as DeepMind. The advancement of AI has shown impressive results. They’ve been able to successfully beat our best players at chess, Go, and even Jeopardy using the skill sets that they now acquire.

One of the more famous cases would be google’s AlphaGo computer program designed to play the game Go. This game is something you’d really have to put your brain power to use as proper strategic planning is needed in order to win. And, here’s the craziest part, after just a couple of hours of training this program was able to defeat the world’s best player.

10. They May Possibly Take Over the World

Taking into account all the great progress we’ve done for both the advancement and improvement of Artificial Intelligence is truly remarkable. However, there have been expressed concerns by some of the best minds out there that going through with AI research and development may lead to our ultimate doom.

Stephen Hawking has said that AI is pretty much spelling the end of our human race. Bill Gates is very worried and knows that AI going to pose as a threat to humans. Elon Musk(LINK 20) has thrown concern and warning after warning that continuing on this path to develop AI is dangerous and even compares it to “summoning the devil”.

Artificial Intelligence has already learned to lie, self-study, create, destroy, fight, self-heal, and even think for themselves. We can’t tell the future. We can’t say for sure right now whether this would be the best thing or the worst thing to happen to us. But, what we do know is that our decisions daily to proceed with AI developments is going to affect what happens to us later on. And one day we may have an AI apocalypse but also we might not.

This is our future we’re talking about. Are we willing to risk it all? Hmmm….

 

spread your awesomeness!

Yours truly, 

L.O.A.S.H

 

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 © Elizabeth Anne Villoria

PROject Python: Making a function

Quote of AWESOMENESS: “The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers” ~ Ralph Leader

Hiii!

Functions are so useful and cool at the same time and right now I’m going to teach just how to make one!

But, before we go there, what exactly is a function? It’s somewhat like a pre-made command that you get to customize yourself. For example, you wanted to make five circles, imagine you would have to make each circle repeating how big you wanted it to be, the color, locations, and others. But, if you had a function, you would make it so much simpler in just adding the code and copy-pasting the function.

Here’s the code for a function:

[remember: WHITESPACE is very important in Python]

# This hastag is a comment and won't affect the code
# We start making function by defining it with the word def
# The thing written inside the parenthesis is called the argument
# Remember to put the colon then the indentation will be proper, too

def list(alist):
    # Here, I'm setting the variable a to number 0
    a = 0

    # This is a for-loop and the i just stands for index 
    for i in alist:
        if i > 0:
            a += 1
        else:
            pass
    print(a)


# Here is the actual function in action!
# Test section
mylist = [2,-4,5,-16,-20]
mylist2 = [2,6,8,-4]
mylist3 = [-5,-6,-7,-8,10]


list(mylist)
list(mylist2)
list(mylist3)

This is just a simple example of what you can make of a function. Try it out! 

 

Don’t forget to be awesome!

Yours truly, 

L.O.A.S.H

 

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 © Elizabeth Anne Villoria 

 

L.O.A.S.H’s Guide to (nearly) Everything: Arduino Color Lamp Mixer!

Quote of awesomeness: “Is not about creating an object. It is about creating a perspective.” ~ Albert Paley

Level of hardness: intermediate (You can do this!)

Heyyy!!!! Here’s another Arduino project for you!

For this project, you will need the following:

• 1x Arduino UNO Board
• 1x USB Cable Type A/B
• 1x Breadboard
• 1x RGB LED 
• 3x 220-Ohm Resistor
• 3x 10k-Ohm Resistor
• 3x Photoresistors
• 13x Jumper Wires

 

Step 1:

The first step is two connect your breadboard to your Arduino and it should look something like the photo above. Then, add your RGB LED to your breadboard. 

Step 2:

 

Next, you need to grab another wire and connect the other positive lane of the breadboard to the negative lane on the other side of the breadboard.

 

Step 3:

In this step, we will be placing the three 220-Ohm Resistors to three of the legs of the RGB LED. You will only be placing the resistors on the R, G and B of the RGB LED, this will leave you with one leg unconnected.

 

Step 4:

For this step, you will be needing four wires. Remember I told you that you were left with one leg of the RGB LED which isn’t connected? Well, it’s time to connect it now! Place one end of the wire to the remaining leg of the RGB LED then place the other end to the negative lane of the board. In the photo, the wire which I used for this connection is white.

With the other three wires, connect it to each of the 220-ohm resistors. Then, connect the other end of the wires to the Arduino 9, 19, and 11.

 

Step 5:

Let’s place the photo-resistors on the breadboard so that they cross the center divide from one side to the other. 

 

Step 6:

Now, connect the 10k-Ohm resistors to one side of the photo-resistors and the other side to the negative lane of the breadboard.

 

Step 7:

Taking three other wires, connect it between the photo-resistor and the 10k-Ohm resistor then connect the other end to the Analog In pins 0, 1, and 2 on the Arduino.

 

Step 8:

Going on the other side of the photo-resistor, connect each leg to the positive lane of the Arduino with three wires.

Your result should look something like this!

 

Step 9:

This is the final step! Connect your Arduino to your computer, fire up your Arduino and copy paste in the following code:

const int greenLEDPin = 9;
const int redLEDPin = 11;
const int blueLEDPin = 10;

const int redSensorPin = A0;
const int greenSensorPin = A1;
const int blueSensorPin = A2;

int redValue = 0;
int greenValue = 0;
int blueValue = 0;

int redSensorValue = 0;
int greenSensorValue = 0;
int blueSensorValue = 0;

void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600);

pinMode(greenLEDPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(redLEDPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(blueLEDPin, OUTPUT);

}

void loop() {
redSensorValue = analogRead(redSensorPin);
delay(5);
greenSensorValue = analogRead(greenSensorPin);
delay(5);
blueSensorValue = analogRead(blueSensorPin);

Serial.print(“Raw Sensor Value \t Red: “);
Serial.print(redSensorValue);
Serial.print(“\t Green: “);
Serial.print(greenSensorValue);
Serial.print(“\t Blue: “);
Serial.print(blueSensorValue);

redValue = redSensorValue/4;
greenValue = greenSensorValue/4;
blueValue = blueSensorValue/4;

Serial.print(“Mapped Sensor Values \t Red: “);
Serial.print(redValue);
Serial.print(“\t Green: “);
Serial.print(greenValue);
Serial.print(“\t Blue: “);
Serial.println(blueValue);

analogWrite(redLEDPin, redValue);
analogWrite(greenLEDPin, greenValue);
analogWrite(blueLEDPin, blueValue);
}

 

Then watch as your RGD LED comes to life! It should change, mix and fade in different colours as the light around it changes, too! Awesome, right?? Yeah, it totally is.

Yours truly,

L.O.A.S.H

 

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 © Elizabeth Anne Villoria 

 

Python Basics!!!

Quote of awesomeness: “It’s harder to read code than to write it.” ~ Joel Spolsky

Let’s learn some basics!

Here are some simple datatypes:

• Integers (whole number)
  • 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6….

 

• Floats (decimals)
  • 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5…..

 

• String (anything in “quotation marks”)
  • “hello”, “my”, “awesome”, “readers!”

 

• Boolean (I know, sounds kinda funny right)
  • these datatypes are values at two constant objects
  • a boolean is either True or False (yes, with a capital T and a capital F)

 

Want to do something cool? Yeah, me too. Okay, once you open up your terminal, type in and press enter. The next that should have happened is that your terminal should have showed this:

>>>

Did you know??!!: #when a hashtag is put in python, this is known as a comment and it doesn’t affect the code

Did you know that we can keep datatypes stored into variables? It works like this. When you write a variable a word or letter, for example, then followed by this is a equal sign you can assign a variable. Let’s try it out on your terminal! Try doing something similar to the following:

>>> x = “helllloooooo thereeee!!!”

When you pressed enter, you must have not seen anything happen but just another >>>. But, it’s okay, here’s the thing. The string I just put with the variable is now stored. So when I put my variable alone this is what happens:

>>> x

Press enter and theeeeen!!

>>> helllloooooo thereeee!!!

TADA! WASN’T THAT SUPER COOL?!?! And, that’s just the very basics of what can be reached with python. 

You can even do some math with python. The arithmetics might be slightly different but I’m sure you will get the hang of it soon!:

• Multiply (it’s the asterisks sign)
  • * 
• Division (it’s the slash)
  • / 
• Addition (it’s the plus sign)
  • +
• Subtraction (it’s the minus sign)
  • –
• Exponentiation (it’s two asterisks)
  • **
• Modulus (it’s the percentage sign) 
  • %
  • this divides a number with another number and inputs the remainder

Here’s an example of each of these signs and their outputs. You can also test this out on the python which we opened up earlier on the terminal.

---

multiplication, *

>>> 2 * 9

When we put the equation above, our output would be

>>> 18

---

 

division, /

>>> 256 / 2

The output would be:

>>> 128

---

 

addition, +

>>> 1000 + 1000

The output would be

>>> 2000

---

 

subtraction, –

>>> 500 – 200

The output would be:

>>> 300

---

exponentiation, **

>>> 4 ** 2

The output would be:

>>> 16

---

 

modulus, %

>>> 2 % 5

Would get the output of:

>>> 1

---

 

Go on. Try experimenting at your terminal!

!important! : Unlike other programming types, python is very picky with whitespace. Meaning the indentations! Sometimes an error on expected or unexpected indentations may rise here and there but it’s nothing a few backspaces or the tab button can’t handle.

We’ve gotten down with some of the very basics that can be done with programming. With what you’ve learned here so far try exploring and trying this out! 

Yours truly,

L.O.A.S.H

L.O.A.S.H’s Guide to (nearly) Everything: How to Make an Arduino Robot Arm

Level of hardness: Intermediate

I’m so excited!

This project is just extremely awesome and awe-spiring that I can’t wait for you guys to try it out!

We. Are. Going. To. Make. An. Arduino. Robot. Arm!!!!!! I know, I know super cool. Now, without further ado, let’s jump right into this project.

The following are what you will need to gather:

• 1x Arduino UNO Board
• 1x Breadboard
• 1x USB Cable Type A/B
• 2x Button
• 2x 10k-Ohm Resistor
• 3x Potentiometer
• 5x LED (A.K.A light-emitting diode, A.K.A miniature looking light bulb-ish)
• 5x 220 Ohm Resistor
• 20x Jumper Wires

Step 1:

First, let’s start by putting the potentiometers, the buttons, and the LED’s on our breadboard.

We will be placing 3 potentiometers, 2 buttons, and 5 LED’s. For your reference, the photo above can help. Yes, I did say 5 LED’s but I forgot to place the fifth LED in this photo, but you should put 5.

Here are some important basics to understand about an LED:

Cathode (-, shorter side)

Anode (+, longer side)

Step 2:

RESISTORS. Resistors. resistors.

Here, in this photo, I’ve put 5 LED’s

Place five of your 220 Ohm Resistors on each of the Anodes (+) sides of each of your LED’s and the other end of the resistor to the negative side lane on your breadboard which we will later connect to the GND on your Arduino board. I’ve placed another photo above showing where I’ve placed my 220 Ohm Resistors.

Here, I circled each of the legs (Anode side) which I connected my 220 Ohm Resistors to

Now, take both of your 10k-Ohm Resistors. You will have to place one side of your resistor to only one of the button’s leg. Do this for both buttons. Here is another picture but of the buttons and resistor placing.

We have finished placing all the resistors we will be needing in this project. You guys are doing an awesome job, btw!

Step 3:

This step will be really quick.

All we need to is get two jumper wires, first. Then, connect the Negative lane on your breadboard to your GND on your Arduino, and, the positive lane of on your breadboard to the 5V on your Arduino (you can find this right beside the GND, usually).

Here is the overview of everything so far

Done with this step. Great job!

Step 4:

For this step, you will be needing 5 of your jumper wires.

We will be connecting each of the LED’s on the breadboard onto the Arduino UNO board with your jumper wires.

Here is the first LED I connected. We will be connected the other leg (cathode, shorter side) of the LEDs to these numbers on the Arduino in order:

• 2
• 3
• 4
• 7
• 8

I will also be numbering the LEDs on the next photo so that it will be easier to know which we will be connecting to which.

This shows where I connected my jumper wires to the LEDs

We will connect:

• LED 1 to 2 on the Arduino board
• LED 2 to 3 on the Arduino board
• LED 3 to 4 on the Arduino board
• LED 4 to 7 on the Arduino board
• LED 5 to 8 on the Arduino board

Step 5:

I know that wiring could be a tedious job but it’s okay because I know you can do it.

Wiring is very important because it connects. It works as that bridge that can help cars go back and forth and connect with other cities. If you have a bulb and a power source you can’t just put it beside each other or clink it together to light the bulb up (even that would be super cool if that’s how easy it was), you need to connect it through wires. So, let’s continue? Yes.

In this step, we will be wiring the buttons and the potentiometers.

Here in this photo I got two jumper wires and connected one end to the remaining unconnected leg of the buttons and connected the other side of the jumper wire to the positive (+) lane on the breadboard

That was easy, wasn’t it?

We are nearly done!

Let’s start wiring the potentiometers now.

For the potentiometer, it’s going to be slightly harder.

In this photo, I’ve connected 3 jumper wires to the right side of the potentiometer then connected the other end of the wire to the Negative lane of the breadboard (A.K.A GND).

And, then, I got 3 more wires and connected it to the left side of my potentiometer then connected the other end to the Positive Lane on the breadboard.

I’ve added the numbers on top of each potentiometer so that it’s easier to understand how to connect it to the Arduino.

As you may see on the picture to your left, I’ve added 3 white jumper wires to each of the middles of the potentiometers because we will connect this to the Arduino Board. Connect potentiometer 1 to the A0 on the Arduino UNO Board | Connect potentiometer 2 to the A1 on the Arduino UNO Board | Connect Potentiometer 3 to the A3 on the Arduino UNO Board.

Step 6:

In this step, grab two more jumper wires and connect both ends of the lanes on each side of the breadboard to each other. I used the black and red wire here.

You will need to connect the Negative lanes on each side to each other and the Positive lane on each side to each other.

Tada! Next step.

Step 7:

Seeeeervoooo Moooootooooors.

We are nearing the last of our steps. KEEP GOING!

We will add the servo motors to our breadboard and I put mine side by side to each other.

I connected three jumper wires each for three of my servos, meaning 9 jumper wires in total.

About servo motors in Arduino:

• They usually have 3 plug pins (this is where I connected my jumper wires to)

Take a look at your servo motor. You will probably notice there are three colored wires. Each color represents 3 different things. The colors could actually be different sometimes but, as you see here, my colors are brown, red, and yellow.

• The brown is the Ground/Negative (-)
• The red is Positive (+) [This wire is usually located at the center of all the three wires]
• The yellow is the Signal

Your wires on your servo motors might be different and you might be thinking “WHAT!?!?” but it’s okay (that’s what I thought too) here is how you can compare it to mine to find the similarities:

• The Ground/Negative is usually | Black or Brown (in my case, it’s brown)
• The Positive is always Red
• The Signal can be either | Orange, Yellow, or White (in my case, it’s Yellow)

Better?

Awesome, let’s proceed.

These are what you need to connect with your Servos:

• Connect each of the GND/Negative (Black or brown wire) on each of your servo motors to the positive lane on your breadboard (I used a white jumper wire, check the photo above for reference)
• Connect each of the Positive (Red wire) on each of your servo motors to the negative lane on your breadboard (I used an orange jumper wire)
• Lastly, connect each of the signals (Orange, Yellow, or white wire) of your servo motors to: 5, 6, and, 9 on your Arduino

I know it’s a bit of a mess. But, there are three wires that you can find colored: 1x black & 2x green. These are the wires that connect to the Arduino

Step 8:

This is our last time! Congratulations!!!

Connect your Arduino to your computer, fire up the Arduino app on your computer, copy paste the code below and press Upload.

Now, the challenge whether you choose to accept it or not is to build your own robot arm out of cardboard or you can check this —-> here which was made by Ryan Chan. Shoutout to him, btw. I hope you enjoyed this! I certainly had an awesome time and I hope you did, too!

You can teach others and share your awesome knowledge on building an arduino robot arm, I give some bragging rights.

Thanks so much for reading!

Yours truly,

L.O.A.S.H

I’Mpossible and the Power of Vision Boards (It’s actually really cool)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! 🙂 

HAPPY NEW YEARS YOU AWESOME PEOPLE EVERYWHERE! It’s actually 2018 guys, like, it’s surprising how time flies to fast. But here’s a new year and it’s time to let go of all those negative memories and energy that happened back in 2017 (which was literally just 8 days ago like, WHAAAT??! (I’m screaming this in an excited/surpised/good way)) and start this 2018 with positivity and awesomeness.

What is a vision board?

Have you ever heard of a vision board? If you haven’t, it’s comparable to a resolution with pictures which you stick all together on a board (or even paper) and display it in your room, bathroom, or wherever. This board would normally be filled with what you would want in life, such as, your dreams, the house you would want, your lifestyle, things you would like to achieve, how you want your relationships in your family and with your friends to be like, the things you’ve been wanting to have, the grades you’re needing to get, and so much more. But, I highly trust, that it is important to fill the board you want with the thoughts, the positive mindset you want and the how would like to feel; joy, gratefulness, purpose. In other words, you can also see it as a big list of your goals in life (but with a sprinkle of fairy dust 😉 ).

Where to place your vision board.

It’s important where you put your vision board, as it should be in a place where it is visible so that the idea and dream you’ve written down or placed on your board, will always be seen and you’ll remember what you’re working for and what you are building up to. But, the best places to bestow this board of awesomeness are places at your home where you would normally look at, such as your room, bathroom, living room or wherever you seem to find yourself at in your home.

My experience with vision boards.

I’ve done vision boards countless times over the past years. I usually start at the beginning of the year (but really you can begin anytime, even now) and I included in my vision boards what I would like to accomplish or have the next following year or even years (like my future car and house). And, to my amazement, there were plenty of things that I’ve fulfilled that were included on my vision board. A few things that I got went from: a Nerf gun, to building better relationships with my family, my dream camera and even this golden retriever I truly prayed for. Let’s start with a simple example, this camera I wanted was something I just pasted on my board because for a long time I’ve gotten really interested in photography and I thought “hey, why not”. It took me probably two years until I actually got it through saving and help from my dad (SHOUTOUT: Thanks so much dad hahaha you’re the best).

How does it work?

It won’t happen with a flick of your finger. And, it won’t magically just appear in front of your eyes. Even though I wish it worked as easy as this, it doesn’t. But, if you have the passion and you believe and you really earn and have that deep fire of “I CAN DO IT” and “I WILL GET THERE” inside of you, then you will get there even quicker. I dare say that vision boards work alongside the lawn of attraction and this belief has been existent for quite some time already. Your thoughts and what you visualize are very important. If you focus on seeing what you want and how you see this world positively, you’ll get positive outcomes; if you see the world and what you want in a more negative way, you’re outcomes will be negative. Another way you can see a vision board is as something which is there to mentally push you and while you’re brain and the attraction is at work you need to also get up and do something to reach that goal.

How to Create One:

You’ll need:

– Your dreams, aspirations and your wants

– A board or Poster

– Some Markers (Optional)

– Glue or Tape

– Magazines or Newspapers or both

What you’ll do:

1. Cut out whatever it is that you want from the magazine like words, places you want to visit and whatever else

2. Then Paste your cut outs on your board how you would like it

3. TADA, your masterpiece is finish

Famous people who did vision board and visualizations:

Ellen DeGeneres, Katy Perry (started at nine years old), Beyonce, Jim Carrey, Oprah Winfrey, Arnold Schwarzenegger and way more (I would continue but it would fill much space, we’ll do it another time)

You can do it 🙂

At the beginning, I didn’t truly believe that this could work. I used to think that I’m too down the rabbit hole that there was no way I could rise and achieve these targets that I saw through all the rubble. But the thing is I was able to see through all the rubble. I was able to see through the things that were obstacles and walls and just ignore them and look at that goal that shined so bright it gave a spark of hope which is all you ever need to start a flame to get there. And, I know that there are plenty things that can tear us down and we find ourselves in these situations where we get blinded by all the negativity and hopelessness, in these rabbit holes. The Vision Board that you design is there as a flag, a flag of hope, a flag which shows what you are planning and going to achieve. I can assure you that you CAN once you try. If I was able to do it then everyone can.

Everyone is given the same amount of hours in a day but the difference is how we choose to use it and what we choose to believe and see. A great example of this is Alexander Hamilton. This man was born to parents who weren’t able to marry and the streets that they walked around in were filled with whispers of how Alexander Hamilton and his brother, who were only young boys, were disgraceful and other unpleasant names. His father left them early and their mother died when a plague came. He separated from his brother and also became an orphan. He barely had anyone he could call his family. But, do you know what happened? Alexander Hamilton became one of the most well-known and greatest men in history. He worked with George Washington and he was a genius, soldier, scholar, one of the founding fathers and much more. And, even if his father had abandoned them at a young age he yearned to be reunited again as a family and show his father his wife and children. He started out with nothing at such a young age but he turned this energy to something stronger and better and he achieved so much things in life as he set his goals (one of them being: creating a strong central government) and made them come true. We all can do it. You can do it.

Stay Awesome.

Yours truly,

L.O.A.S.H

The great powers that come with wind turbines.

Wind turbines were invented way before you. Like a thousand years earlier. Circa A.D. times, Wind Mills already existed. Did you know that way back even in 5000 BC Egyptians already started using the concept of wind power for their boats? Yup, they did. Pretty awesome, I know.

My Question: Why are wind turbines not everywhere?

I would have thought that with these thousands of years that have passed we would have been able to establish some worldwide wind turbine system put both onshore and offshore around this planet. Although some would debate that it would be a disadvantage to some wildlife such as birds and bats and also some complaints on the noise pollution it creates, we can find a way to fix that problem (right?).

The simple principle on which wind turbines use to create energy and produce electricity

There is a small device attached to the very end of the wind turbine (kind of like a tail) which has two to three blades (but instead of being sharp it’s rounded and caved like a spoon and its movement is similar to that of mini propellers) and is known as an anemometer. This device (anemometer) is connected to a rotor which is connected to the main shaft which is connected to and spins a generator which produces and create electricity! 

 

Creds: Department of Energy

 

There are a minimum and maximum speed of air which is needed for the wind turbine to move or stop (especially if the winds are too strong). And, according to WilloWindEnergy (which is both a developer and operator of wind farms in the UK), the wind turbine would need a minimum wind speed of 4 to 5 meters per second (circa 10 miles per hour) and a maximum wind speed of 15 meters per second (circa 33 miles per hour). 

What is the difference between offshore and onshore wind turbines?

First and the main difference between the two types are the locations. Offshore wind turbines are in the ocean and onshore wind turbines are on land.

 

Offshore Wind Turbine

Offshore wind turbines are farther away from humans which makes it safer and less irritating (with its noise pollution). Also, because winds are usually higher at sea, they built these wind turbines to be stronger and they are also better at producing as well. But, unfortunately, it is more difficult to install offshore wind turbines compared to onshore because it’s like in the middle of the ocean. Okay, fine, not exactly at the center of the ocean but really far from civilization in the middle of rough waves and strong winds. Also, the wind turbines (offshore) have the disadvantage of having less maintenance as it’s not such an easy task to grab a boat with the tools and fix the underground wires or other problems that may occur. According to GroundSure, they install the wind turbines in open water by bringing the parts and assembling the parts like a kit. They ship the parts, dividing them by their main components and then when they’re at their location they assemble the turbine piece by piece. Also, the drilling is different (and in my opinion) much harder than onshore because they need to drill deep underneath the seabed whereas onshore wind turbines just need to drill a deep hole underneath the surface of the earth (on land, which should be obviously easier. At least, I think it will).

 

Onshore Wind Turbines in Scotland

 

Onshore wind turbines, on the other hand, have their advantages and disadvantages as well. For your onshore wind turbine (just like the offshore wind turbine) you’ll need to dig a hole where you will place the turbine. The depth of this hole would be around 1 meter or 3 feet but it varies with the size of your wind turbine. The bigger the turbine = the bigger the drill and dig. Most cons lie on the noise pollution they omit, the dangers of wildlife getting hit by this that onshore wind turbines, and apparently, they also don’t look a pleasant sight to some.

 

Creds: Union of Concerned Scientist This is the revolution of how wind turbines came to be today and probably in the near future.

 

How do we calculate wind power?

We can calculate the wind power that is used by the anemometer on the wind turbines with the equation: P = 1/2 ρ A v³  

P = power

 

ρ = density of air 

 

A = area wind passing through (which is perpendicular to the wind)

 

v = wind velocity (m/s)

How do we choose which is the best place to put a wind turbine?

First, you should:

Choose a location

1. Avoid slow winds
2. Avoid turbulent wind
3. NEVER put the wind turbine on top of a building
   1. It creates loud noises which won’t be pleasant for the people in the building
   2. It’s not always a site for everyone to enjoy
   3. It might not be that stable (compared to the once that have a foundation and are built and stabilized underneath the earth surface a bit

High wind speed tip:

1. Open areas are best
2. Upppp high (but not on a building [<— REMEMBER])
   1. If you want it on a higher area just extend the stand to be longer (but you will also most likely need to dig deeper, as well)

And, according to the wind energy association, 

The output of a wind turbine depends on the turbine’s size and the wind’s speed through the rotor. An average onshore wind turbine with a capacity of 2.5–3 MW can produce more than 6 million kWh in a year – enough to supply 1,500 average EU households with electricity.

BIGGER TURBINE = MORE POWER

BIGGER TURBINE = DIG DEEPER

Something that just blew my mind with it’s awesomeness…….

If you check out this website, you will see (in real time) the movement of wind happening around the globe! And, that’s not all! You can also see the global map of wind, weather, and ocean conditions. Here’s a small take on what you will see once you visit the website.

Mind – blowing,

I know,

I know.

Check it out!

 

So, here we are again: why don’t we have more wind turbines? It mostly lies on a couple of problems such as —> the fund. Although you might think that the price of the wind turbines by themselves is quite reasonable (especially considering the length and how much non-polluting energy and electricity it can produce), you would still have to consider all the other factors such as taxes, labor, and transportation expenses on the bill. But, with global funding, greater engineers (to solve the endangerment to flying wildlife and loud sounds emitted), awesome artists (to fix the “looks” maybe so that it could be a sight to sore eyes, too) and imagine that! Teamwork. Passion. We can probably make this work. And, think about it, we could even reduce the problems that come with burning fossil fuel in the long term.

Yours truly,

L.O.A.S.H

Dyson Foundation

“I haven’t failed. I just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” ~ Thomas Edison

First of all, thank you Dyson Foundation for the Ideas Box!!!! :). This has disciplined me with the patience of building a device or an item.

Dyson Foundation Ideas Box is one of the few projects that I am doing. James Dyson, a British inventor, is the industrial designer and founder of the Dyson Company. He is best known for inventing the Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum. But maybe you’re asking yourself, “why? Why did he make this [cool, really cool] vacuum?”. James, one day, was feeling irritated with the vacuum that he was using due to its poor performance. He decided that he wanted to make the product that would be, in his thought, much better. So, five years and 5,127 prototypes later, he made this new vacuum which was the first bagless vacuum in the world. But, that isn’t all! In 2002, Dyson set up this foundation which has the goal to inspire young people to study engineering and maybe even become one someday. He wants students to make mistakes and think in a different way. His “Engineering Box” (which is the one that I received) is filled with activities! Some of the activity cards that were included in the box are:

 

And, on each of the activity cards are information on like how it works or some small trivia. It’s just very engaging and you could actually find more of these project on their site!

Well, since we’re on this topic, I’d like to share to you guys a few things I have created:

1. Spy Pen (can shoot far)
2. Book with hidden camera

I’ve honestly been very excited when it came to making things and the Dyson Foundation is such an excellent way to learn more and get your learning fluids up and running!!

Dyson Ideas Box has pushed me to the limit that I can create anything if I try :D. Inside the box they have sent me, there was a bladeless fan inside but when they sent it to me I had to connect the head to the body (it was very simple). I would recommend homeschoolers to use this and other schools because I think that it would be a great opportunity for kids to get inspired and learn this.

The information which it has for the reader (me or you) has given me a lot of fine concepts to form something out of nothing. They told me that frustration helps you to make an invention because when you’re frustrated at something you will want to do something (exactly how Dyson was with his vacuum). If you made an improved product than the other person, then you should show and tell the advantages. Here is an example:

Original computer

• Can hold about 50 movies and 75 songs
• Comes in color black (only)
• Small

Your computer design

• 100 movies 200 songs
• Can come in all colors
• Can come in small, medium or big

[That was just an example I made up]

Do you see??? You have to make your invention more interesting and a better product. When you are writing an invention (you want to make it “TOP SECRET” so that no would steal it from you) you should sketch, and write down the details. Remember if you are making it better than someone else explain the difference. James Dyson had a vacuum which kept breaking apart, and he was frustrated; therefore, he started to make his own vacuum and finally his invention is around countries and even on ads :). He wanted to make kids explore their inner inventor, make mistakes and invent. You’ve got this. We all do! Now explore and try! Find a problem and create a solution. hank you again to James Dyson!! 🙂

Before I end this, I just have to say again…. Thank you James Dyson!! 🙂

Yours truly,

L.O.A.S.H