Tenth Meeting: The Shape of Things to Come

(Ninth real meeting. :))

Today we had a nice little meeting. We were supposed to work on our bridges, but that's sort of falling apart, haha. But Willy did a random little rocket thing, and we talked about the future. The Petovek Administration is nearing its end; we have just one meeting left (and early signs are that it'll be an especially good one...).

A new era approaches. When Year Four begins, it will be under entirely new leadership. Our survey a couple weeks ago asked whether people were interested in being one of that new batch of leaders. Nine people said maybe or yes. I've emailed those people; if you didn't get it but are still interested in a leadership position, please let me (Toph) know.

The gist of it is that in a week or so, we'll send out a list of candidates, and you guys will vote. And something like the top 3 finishers will be our new fearless leaders. That'll be a little later; this is for now just a heads-up.

But in addition to co-presidents, we have a couple special positions open: Blogger and videographer. We want our work here to continue, so that folks who can't come can still read about and see some of the stuff we do. If you're interested in taking over the blog, or if you're interested in filming our meetings and putting them on YouTube, or both, please let me know.

Final comment: the T-shirt issue. On surveys, 9/15 people said they'd buy one, 4 said maybe, two said no. So that seems pretty positive, but we just don't know where to go with it. If anyone has any t-shirt ideas--designs, text, etc.--please let me know.

Video coming soon. Maybe. :)

Is it immoral to want to be immortal?

Humanity has strived toward immortality for thousands of years. Chances are it's not exactly right around the corner, but without a doubt, people are living longer. How far is too far to go?

MSNBC.com: "Buying time?" section
Opinion: It's not immoral to want to be immortal

Ninth Building: Bridges

Today we had a quiet little meeting; we got started on building some little bridges out of wood sticks. They have to be 2 feet long and at least 6 cm wide. The goal is for your bridge to support more weight (hung from the bottom) than the other team's.

Next meeting we'll finish them and test them. And then, since it's one of the last meetings before the seniors take off, we can burn a few bridges on our way out. Ha! Get it? It's a pun.

But knowing us, it'll also probably come true.

DIY: How To Shoot Fireballs

Make a Fireball Shooter! - video powered by Metacafe

DIY: How To Shoot Fireballs

Eighth Meeting: Nalgenes

On Friday (March 14), the science club met for the first time in 7 weeks (the 7th meeting didn't count) in order to try to break some Nalgene bottles.

We put an Estes model rocket D engine in the first one and ignited it. It smoked a ton, spun around a lot, and ended up with hole burned in one side and some meltiness.

The freshmen took the next one and dropped big rocks on it over a drain. The bottle broke their first rock, but eventually they broke it (and subsequently broke the first bottle some more).

The third one (a smaller variant) we half-buried in the mud of the softball field and filled with another D engine, plus some ethanol. The first engine didn't do enough damage, so we tried again. It got very melty, but actually survived relatively intact. Interesting.

We'll have some video soon...

Seventh Meeting: Nothing

I (Toph) have been sick since Monday, so I missed clubs yesterday, and I hear it pretty much just didn't happen. But we'll see you Feb. 22! :) We have some bridge-building materials left over from last year, so maybe we'll try to, y'know, build something. I'll try to keep this blog updated as we get more info. But for now, there's nothing much to say.

RIP Columbia

Five years ago today, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon reentry into the atmosphere. Once again: we're lucky nothing is riding on our model rockets.

RIP Challenger

Twenty two years ago today, the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds after liftoff. We're lucky all of our rockets are unmanned.