I’ve chosen to analyze some of Mitt Romney’s campaign ads for the 2012 election.  With November quickly approaching, both the Romney and Obama campaigns are in full swing.  This will be my first year voting, so I am considerably more interested in the election this year than I have been during the past.  I’ve been doing research on both candidates, looking up their platforms, watching their speeches on Youtube, and reading or hearing about them in the news.  However, the campaign ads these candidates and their staff flood the TV networks with have always stuck out to me.

Campaign ads are filled with rhetoric.  For this reason, I think they are especially appropriate.  The creators of the adds have to make great use of rhetoric in order to convince someone to vote for their candidate, all within a short 30-second time spot stuck between football games.  By examining these ads closely, I’m sure I will learn a lot more about the rhetoric they use, now that I am looking for it, and techniques professionals use to send powerful messages.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLchqsvL9-4&feature=plcp

As one can imagine, learning to build circuits and program the Arduino isn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done, but it isn’t the most difficult either.  I’m progressing slowly, but surely.  Lately I’ve been experimenting with all of the different types of sensors that came with my Arduino kit.  I’ve got flex sensors, potentiometers, soft potentiometers, photo-sensors, and temperature sensors, all of which I can use in order to have my programs and computer chips interact with the outside world.

One may think learning to use all of these different sensors would be extremely difficult, but they all actually work quite similarly.  The sensors each let a different amount of voltage through based on their state.  By this, I mean a flex sensor lets a different about of voltage through based on how bent it is or a temperature sensor lets a different amount of voltage through based on how hot or cold it is.  Then I program the Arduino to read how much of the voltage is coming through, and based on that I can do things such as light LEDs at varying intensities.  An example of this can be found in the video I linked up top.  In the video I use a photo-sensor to control the a LED.

This coming week I plan to start experimenting with motors and servos, so expect some cool videos and posts to come.

P.S.    Subscribe to my Youtube channel as I’ll probably be adding videos that I won’t blog about!

It is impossible to watch an entire football match at Beaver Stadium without seeing someone who is donning a shirt with the decal above.  This shirt advances the viewpoint that the leaders of Penn State, Penn State Athletics, and the NCAA handled the PSU Football scandal poorly.

The shirt says The Freeh Stooges across the top and shows the likenesses of Louie Freeh, Mark Emmert, and Rodney Erickson.  What is implied is these men’s apparent failure in handing the grave situation. The name The Freeh Stooges is analogous to The Three Stooges which is a famous gang of idiots that were popular both on the silver screen and on television.  This analogy presents Erikson, Emmert, and Freeh as the dunce-like stooges in The Three Stooges, with the obvious play on words between ‘three’ and ‘Freeh’.

I think this shirt gets it’s point across well.  Anyone who sees the shirt and followed the PSU Football scandal at all would be able to see the analogy and conclude that the person who made the shirt and the person wearing the shirt are upset about how these three men went about dealing with the scandal.  The analogy allowed the creator of the shirt to use a simple message and illustration to get his larger point across.

Yesterday I gave my speech in which I outlined the use of the Obama Administration’s ‘We the People’ website.  Overall, I thought my speech was well received for both my delivery and the topics I covered, but it was by no means perfect.

I feel the structure and organization of my speech was good.  It was logical and flowed nicely, one point bringing in the next.  However, the organization and construction of one’s own speech is hard to judge.  What I though made sense might have only made sense to me, or the flow and construction of my speech may have been strange to outsiders, even though it seemed logical to me. If you’re reading this blog and you feel that you could offer me some advice, I would love to hear it.  Please leave a comment.

My delivery was okay, it is within this category that I feel I could improve the most.  No matter how calm and clear minded I feel before speaking, my mind seems to cloud up when it is time for me to present.  My brain raced to think of the next thing I’m going to say before I’m even finished the sentence I was on.  I think if I were to calm down and relax while speaking I would appear much more comfortable and natural.  Despite this shortcoming, I feel my gestures and presence were strong and I was able to keep the audience’s attention.

What really drove me to pursue learning about the Arduino was the fact that I needed a project to impress employers at the career fair.  So, I’ve been tossing around a few project ideas in my head and I finally think I’ve found one I want to pursue.  A lot of the ideas I considered were interesting, and they may yet come in to reality, but I’ve decided on what I want my project to be.  I’m going to design a system that makes strings of LED Christmas lights I’m going to hand around my room flash with the beat of music.  This project is extremely ambitious, especially since I’m a beginner and I’m only just taking my first computer science class.  However, I anticipate learning a lot while working on this project and when I’m done my dorm room will be coolest place in Simmons Hall.  Also, I could rebuild the system in my appartment when I decide to move off campus.  I’m really excited to begin working on this project!

Other ideas I considered include a system to open my locked dorm room door if I forgot my key and a device that would measure the temperature in my room and twist the knob on the heater accordingly.  These ideas may yet come to life, but they’re on the back burner for now.

Bonus:

I’ve received my Arduino in the mail and have begun experimenting with it.  Enjoy the following video of the little creation I made on my first night with the device.

http://www.youtube.com/IwiPLH3pDg4

Over the last two class periods I’ve heard a variety speeches on topics ranging from WWII propaganda, raising money for a museum commemorating Nikola Tesla’s achievements, to how playing soccer can benefit education promoting awareness of HIV/AIDS in third world countries.  It is striking just how many opportunities there are to be civically engaged and just how easy some of these opportunities are to get involved in.

When I thought of civic engagement, I would think of charities that benefit the poor and disenfranchised.  Now, I realize how civic engagement can affect any number of people, despite their socioeconomic status.  For example, Nick gave a presentation about his uncle.  Nick’s uncle was unhappy with the political situation where he lived and decided to do something about it by running for office himself.  This is most certainly an example of civic engagement, but it is one that I would not have necessarily considered before.  Having won the election, Nick’s uncle plays an important role in his community with the goal improving the lives of his constituents.

Civic engagement contributes positively to our society.  It encourages people to come together, forging important relationships and strengthening communities.  When people are civically engaged they often work to benefit others or improve the world in some way.  Humans are extremely social creatures and often we depend on one another for our livelihoods,  even when we don’t realize it.  Civic engagement leads to strong communities, which, in turn, increases the quality of life for everyone evolved.

On Wednesday I decided to venture off to the career fair a the Bryce Jordan Center with the goal of obtaining an internship.  Quickly I realized it was nothing but a pipe dream. Microsoft, Intel, and National Instruments all told me that, as a freshman, I didn’t know enough to be of any help to them.  However, the Microsoft employee I spoke to advised me to work on a project outside of class that would showcase by technical abilities. This advice inspired me to purchase an Arduino, which is a micro-controller (read small computer) with which I can tinker and eventually design a wonderful project to impress all the potential employers.

http://arduino.cc/en/uploads/Main/arduino_uno_test.jpg

Sadly, I do not know how to use an Arduino and I only have very limited programming experience.  In this blog, I will update you on my progress learning the ins and outs of programmable micro-controllers.   You will get to follow my blossoming from an layman to a tinkerer extraordinaire and maybe learn something along the way.

My ultimate goal in this adventure is to design something awesome.  I do not know what that will be exactly, but I’m open to suggestions.  Common projects I found on YouTube include RC cars and helicopters as well as LED arrays. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL30tvTykEE&feature=related) I want to do something truly original that no one has designed before!

Hopefully my Arduino comes in the mail before I have to do too many more blog posts.  Check back here every now and again too see my progress and to give me some of your ideas.