Leonardo da Vinci (Part I: His Education)

Da Vinci has always been one of my idols as a kid and as an adult.  He was and is the epitome of a Renaissance Man.  He was an artist, anatomist, scientist, engineer, innovator, inventor, and centuries before his own time.  Many have asked how da Vinci flourished in an environment that almost mandated the best schooling of the time?  Part of the answer to this question lies in the answer as to why da Vinci flourished.

Born as a bastard child in 15 April, 1452 to a peasant woman and a notary, he was not really entitled to a formal education.  He instead was informally tutored in Latin, geometry, and mathematics.  At this young age Leonardo started to show his curiosity.  His lost education would have put him on a course like many students today   thinking that all subjects have to be separate and categorized.

Because of his father and young talent, he was educated as a painter under Verrocchio.  While in Verrocchio's workshop Leonardo would have learn theory and technical skills in many areas relating to art: drafting, chemistry, metallurgy, metal working, plaster casting, leather working, mechanics, carpentry, drawing, painting, sculpting and modelling.

Da Vinci's schooling was unorthodox, yet it enabled him to remain curious and thus creative.  For him there really weren't any subjects; there was just knowledge.  He made connections between fields.  For example, da Vinci became a renowned anatomist (which was very rare during his time because of the Catholic Church's ban on dissecting bodies) in order to be a better painter.  He believed that he could paint something accurately only if he knew what happens under the facade.  This applies mostly to humans but he also developed basic theories about plat tectonics.
To help explain my point, da Vinci is recorded to have said, "The Human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art."

Ultrasound = Ultra-excited!

Early this morning my wife and I went to the doctor's office.  Upon a very revealing ultrasound we found that we are having a baby GIRL!  The tech that did the ultrasound finally got in a good position to best see male or female organs and said, "Do you see those three dots? That means its a girl."  Personally I wanted a boy first, but I couldn't be more happy at the moment.

During the Ultrasound, I kept thinking about how it works.  I know that it sends out high-pitched sound and receives a refection of that sound.  But what I was thinking about was how the image is created from a software standpoint.  I think the image is made from a plane that is sent straight out from the sensor.  Now imagine all of the code that goes into getting that image to so quickly... not to mention the bliss that comes with knowing that I will have a baby girl come December!

We hope that you are excited with us.  We are both very excited for this next chapter in our lives and becoming parents.

Schadenfreude!

Oh how wonderful it is to speak a language that has taken so many words from different languages and pronounces them how we want.  This lists includes many but is not limited to the following: chance, Los Angeles, San Diego, taco, schnitzel, crepe, foot, book, kaput, light, schadenfreude.... Schad-WHAT?!

(A band named Avenue Q wrote a song about the word.  Its funny, but not appropriate for children.)

You know, the German word schadenfreude; a compound word from two words meaning "damage" and "joy" respectively.  So what does this mean?  Well, it has one of the best meanings ever and I am happy that the English (or at least American English) has adopted this vengeful word to our diction.  It means, "to be entertained because of the pain of others" or from Webster, "enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others".

from: nichtlustig.de

I first heard the word while serving in the Hamburg, Germany LDS mission along with the likes of "ohrworm" and "tja", meaning "ear-worm" (a song stuck in your head) and "alright-y then" (there really isn't a good translation for this one... look at the picture).  So why do I like this word so much?  It's german for one and I don't have to make up a word in english for it now.

PREZI: the new way to present

While in my junior year at college, I was in a Shakespeare class because I thought I would like it and would be very different from my mostly math and science based classes within my Civil Engineering major.  The class was set up so there were seven groups and each group was assigned a play.  Each person in the group would then choose a question to answer in a presentation.  I saw a fellow student use a "Prezi".  I'd heard of it before but this was the first time I had seen it.  I then decided to give my presentation using the same online software.  My group was assigned the play Timon of Athens, a masterpiece written towards the end of Shakespeare's career.  I presented on how history influenced the play Timon of Athens.

Timon of Athens on Prezi

My second Prezi that I made was for technical presentation in an engineering competition known as Concrete Canoe.   It went well and our team got 2nd in that competition.  As a school was got 4th overall in our region.

Concrete Canoe - INVISCID on Prezi

Its a great alternative to Power Point especially if you have group presentation.  The remote group live editing is wonderfully amazing.  Its a new look and will keep the crowd interested for the entire presentation.  And showing an overview or answering questions with the Prezi itself is easy.  No more looking for the right slide to show because the whole thing is on one slide in the first place.

Space Shuttle Atlantis

While on a spring break band trip my junior year of high school to New Orleans and Orlando, we took our last day of the week long trip to make a short three hour visit to Kennedy Space Center.  I say short because it was not nearly long enough to see everything... and I wanted to see everything!

The three things I remember the most are the Space Shuttle replica that sits by the main entrance, a Saturn V rocket, and the gift shop.  The Saturn V rocket was used in the Apollo missions and is absolutely enormous; much bigger than the space shuttle.  There is one hanger that has the rocket in sections on its side an one engine nozzle is probably 40 ft in diameter.  Now the gift shop may seem odd but i wanted to remember my time there and get a book that had more information so i could take a virtual tour if you will.  My favorite souvenir is a full size Apollo 13 mission patch.  In fact it is hanging up in its packaging in my cubicle at work.  On the back I wrote the mission motto: Failure is not an option.  Go and take a look at my Pick Me Up's! page, it's toward the top.

This is a monumental end to a great American era of space flight.  I hope we continue to endeavor into space flight.  It would be very cool to someday go up there my self.


To see more pictures of the last mission, LA Times as a good selection.

Google+ works! (but still in beta testing)

I have a Google+ account.  I was actually invited to the "field test" by my best friend.  I want to use it for its great group interaction tools: group chat and (the coolest thing on Google+) GROUP VIDEO chat.  As soon as I saw the intro to Google+ I saw the implications on school group projects and presentations; (in fact, you mix this with a Prezi presentation and its real time group editing tool and you have got one hot potato) I even saw the great business implications that Google is working to get mainstream.  Plus, the site is still in a beta version.  So when the site rolls out to anyone and everyone it is sure to be a hit.  Now whether that hit is a winner up the line, a extraordinarily played drop shot, a backwards-between-the-legs winner, or simply a return to the other court will depend on the masses.

I read an article today from techrepublic.com titled Why Google Plus is about to change the Web as we know it.  Of course the article talks about the competing sites of twitter, facebook, and google+. The author highlights the privacy of updates in google+ because of friend "circles" and the ease of adding new friends to circles.  The overall out come of the article is summed up well by the author, "Google+ is going to be less of a destination and more like the connective social tissue of the Web."  No boundaries....

My take on it... I like it.  Google has integrated a lot of its other software right into it.  Picsa, chatting, video conferencing... its all there.  Google+ won't replace facebook, facebook is just to far to catch right now.  But Google+ does add some competition to the social juggernaut.  It would be nice to see another clash of an unstoppable force colliding with an immovable object.


If still interested in the craze, check out this other article about 10 features missing from Google+.

The Night Sky

With all of its grandeur and beauty, the night sky is really a sight to see.  Unfortunately, so much light pollution in cities makes it difficult to how many stars light up in the heavens.  A man by the name of Nick Risinger is an amateur photographer who quit his day job to fulfill a dream of publishing a comprehensive high quality picture of the entire sky.

His website explains his project and has some really cool pictures and interactive material for anyone to use.  My favorite feature in the website is the Interactive 360 degree view of the night.  Just click the info button and all of the constellations pop up and as you scroll over stars or galaxy the name appears and when you click on it, you are sent to the wiki page about it.

I was stunned again as I was on vacation at Bear Lake, Ut that the night sky is so full of light.  I saw the milky way for the first time in years.  It was a pretty sight.

A World to Create

Creativity is all around.  Where do you look?  What do you see and hear?  I grew up in a fortunate house where both parents had graduated from college and where successful in their fields.  My mother is very "theatrical, innovative, and crazy". (that's the best way to put it mom...)  My father is a very open minded engineer.  Now from my mom doing something with scrapbooking (or at least wanting to) and my dad's problem solving skills, I have grown up all around creativity.

At a young age I developed a liking to drumming, hitting pots and pans on occasion.  My parents would turn on the dish washer as they went into their room after putting the kids to sleep and I would make up beats in my head to the rhythm of the machine.  And although I haven't been in any part of a musical group since high school, I still walk to a beat and compose percussion music mentally.  When you hear an obnoxious kink in the dryer from a pair of jeans, I hear a rhythm.  When you hear the loud construction work on you way to work, I am tapping out a funky beat.  And when the engineering side of me comes out (just ask my friends... or my wife, who hated my concrete canoe and never let me forget it) construction is cool!  Blue prints are someones innovation and creativity waiting to explode into something much, much bigger.


This poem comes from a take home essay test I took in a class called History of Creativity.  It is much different from my normal creative niche.  The Last question of the test asked for a Sonnet with at least 10 key terms from the chapter covered by the test. Here is my Sonnet and explanation:

More and his Utopia, describes earth

In its perfection. Richelieu’s rule today

Brings pow’r to Louis, France’s noble birth.

Thirty years ‘til Majesty’s Letter say

“Be peace” ye Protestant and Catholics.

See beauty, el’gant Hands drawn by Dürer.

See splendor and be ye not hypocrites,

St. Bartholomew not Mary Stuar’.

De Vinci saw the future of mankind

And sought to give all that he could his part.

Create a better outcome with the mind,

With Ninety-five good reasons from the heart.

Ideas flow. They need no restoration.

Creature, take note with consideration.

The main theme of the sonnet is having a better world. There is a standard that Thomas More established with his book, but that standard has yet to be met. Thus, all we can do is strive to be good, look to the future, and creatively change the present. With the last line I suggest that humans have yet to reach their full potential and should look to others who have shown big “C” creativity (creativity that has changed the world) in the past. The last two lines vary from the usual emphasis because they are my main argument. The world will become a better place, but only with the help of great ideas from many sources.

So, I repeat my initial questions: Where do you look?  What do you see and hear?  "And if I don't?" you ask... MAKE something!

How was your fluids weekend?

   As a civil engineering student and the son of a professional civil engineer, I found this sport science clip from ESPN rather inspiring in a sense.  While I am not longer in my Fluid Mechanics class with Dr. Hotchkiss, this would definitely be part of my fluids weekend! 

(Every Monday morning at the beginning of class he would ask how everyone's fluids weekend was)

Fluids was, by far, my favorite class that semester and has set me on course to declare my engineering emphasis of Water Resources.  I still have one more year left until I graduate with my Bachelor's degree and after that I plan on obtaining a Master's degree.

Now during that little tangent you might have asked what my true intention was to post this.  First, I thought the video was cool.  Second (and the real reason), this is a shout out to Dr. Hotchkiss about my fluids weekend!