Promoting a Band

 Hello readers!

This is going to be another, more random topic. 

Back in the sixth grade, I had a fantastic science teacher; call him Joe for now. Well, it seems as though Joe did not find as much interest in science as he did music. 

In September of 2008, Joe met a mandolin player who shared his passion for bluegrass music. Now, I was in his class in 2014, so I suppose he did not quit his job to pursue this until later, after I had entered high school. 

Anyway, this inspiring legend left his job as a middle school science teacher to pursue music. Isn't that something? A real motivator. A real role model. 

So why do I bring this up? Although this man may not be involved with STEM any more, he still encouraged me to enter that field, and really brought the cliché "follow your dreams" statement to life. 

All I ask is that if you are interested in or know someone who is interested in bluegrass music, please look into Colebrook Road. You can find them on iTunes, Spotify, and more. 

I recommend their song, Carolina Side!

Thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." 

- William Arthur Ward

My Brother's Decision

 Hi all, 

As promised, I returned with news of my brother's schooling. Noah will be attending Michigan Tech as well. 

Frankly, I am not surprised, and saw this coming a long time ago. Often Noah and I would talk about college, and I would bring up a fact about Penn State, or a con of Michigan Tech, and Noah would be quick to make an excuse for why he should choose Michigan Tech. 

At the end of the day, both PSU and MTU are great schools, and you just have to go with your gut. 

Thanks for reading, 

The Questionable Programmer

COVID-19, Swerve, and My Brother's Decision

 Good evening readers,

As many of you know, my last post discussed the new project my team was facing: swerve drive! If I must say so myself, the project is going fantastic! We had full teleoperated functionality within just four days of the drivetrain assembly! It was really awesome to see the swerve work, as swerve drive has always been one of the most captivating pieces of FRC robotics for me. 

Now that I got that out of the way, let me move on to the COVID-19 situation. As of now, my mother has a pending COVID-19 test, but she seems to be doing just fine. She is an elementary school teacher at a private school, and has been sending kids home sick recently. I imagine she caught whatever it is she has from there. Whatever it is, I don't think it's COVID-19; here's hoping! 

My grandma has it as well. She lives in a nursing home, which was on lockdown, so I find it very concerning and frustrating that she was somehow exposed to this virus. However, if she is anything like the rest of the family, she will certainly pull though! 

My cousin, who is an elementary PE coach at another private school, also caught COVID-19. If I heard correctly, the school did not require students to wear masks at the time. I do believe that is why he caught COVID-19. Thankfully, he is a very healthy man, and managed to beat the virus. 

These are all the cases in my family which I can remember or know of. I know there are and were some potential cases on the team, but I will not disclose any information about that. 

I will say, programmer attendance has been really poor recently, and it does make me concerned about the future of the programming department. The team needs programmers. But if students don't show up, they won't stay engaged, if they're not engaged, they don't wanna stay on the team, and we then have no programmers. Anyway.

Now, onto my brother. As you people know, I decided a little after Christmas. My brother; however, plans on deciding by the end of January, which is tomorrow. Frankly, he still seems unsure. He is deciding between Pennsylvania State University and Michigan Tech, the school I'm going to. He crossed out West Virginia University about a month ago. Yesterday, we were looking at Penn State's reconstruction plan. This seems really exciting, but he's concerned that he won't get the experience and education he wants while this renovation is occurring. 

All in all however, I think he is going to go to Michigan Technological University. Again, mark my words: Michigan Tech. I will inform you all of his decision tomorrow!

Thanks for reading, 

The Questionable Programmer

Robotics Endeavors (swerve?!?!?) and Kickoff!

 Hi readers,

Let me start by apologizing for the short break I took. I have been very busy at robotics ever since kickoff, and midterms are approaching!

This leads me into my next topic: robotics. A lifetime goal of mine has been fulfilled! Swerve drive!

Recently, my team invested in some MK3 Swerve modules and parts to go with them! Most of us are super excited to be working with them, and are thrilled to try something new this season! Most of my team and I agree that this year is the year to do it! My brother and one friend really pushed for it, and have been pushing for it for a long time. Why do I push for it? 

Swerve is certainly one of the most competitive drivetrains in FRC, which explains the increase in teams who are interested in swerve drive. Let's look at some other drivetrains real quick. 

A mecanum robot offers great adjustment in any direction, but is incredibly prone to defense as it is 100% rollers. Similar to its vulnerability to defense, it is also much more sensitive, and will break much easier than something like a treaded billet wheel! With that being said, mecanum is not a bad drivetrain; we used it in the 2019 competitive season! Sure, it was not that great towards the end of the season since teams learned to maneuver carefully and score without an advantageous drivetrain, but it got the job done in the beginning. The point is, I'm not hating on mecanum, but there are better drivetrains that offer similar capabilities!

When someone thinks of a robot, they probably think of something like this. A robot with a tank drivetrain can usually benefit from qualities such as speed, durability, and lightweightness (there is an even lighter manipulation of tank drive, called west coast drive, another competitive drivetrain). Some of these robots, however, may suffer from a lack of maneuverability, especially along the horizontal axis. There are a lot of factors to consider when making one of these drivetrains, including the wheel drop, wheel size, number of wheels, number of motors, and more. Nevertheless, this general drivetrain configuration is common in FRC, and will provide a decent level of competitiveness and simplicity to almost any robot from any year. 

A lesser known drivetrain, H-drive, is a very unique drivetrain that blends these two drivetrains in a questionable way. Some people find this drive exciting and beneficial, while others think its inferior to mecanum. An H-Drive consists of four omni wheels (one in each corner), and an omni wheel along the y-axis of the robot. Unlike the other wheels however, this wheel is oriented horizontally. Since omni wheels have one way rollers, the robot can drive like a skiddrive, but also move side to side very slowly. This configuration is great for people who need more swing and maneuverability than a tank drive, but don't want to be as vulnerable as mecanum. Again, this drivetrain is more rare, as teams will typically just pick mecanum or tank. You decide if it's better than one or the other!

Swerve drive is possibly the king of all drivetrains if I'm being honest! Imagine motorizing four caster wheels, as well as their pivots. These "modules" make up a swerve drive, and can range between very complex and incredibly complex! This drive offers the maneuverability of mecanum by allowing 360 degree motion. In fact, this drivetrain can move on two axises and spin at the same time while maintaining a decent amount of speed. This speed and the counter-defense level maneuverability is what makes it better than mecanum. Tank? Well, tank can't side to side or spin like this robot. Tank can be faster however; it depends on gearing, wheel count, wheel type, etc. 

Another reason to use swerve, is because it is a great learning opportunity for all departments, especially design and programming. 

For my team in particular, we are redesigning our drivetrain so it is compatible with swerve drive. This project therefore gives knowledge in both drivetrain design, and swerve design! Not to mention, swerve modules can be modified, upgraded, and redesigned over and over, allowing for almost unlimited improvements and learning opportunities! 

Much like any new challenge, the programmers will have their work cut out for them! This applies here to! I actually already programmed all the math and logic, and have an idea for a curve command. In fact, I already did the math for it! Super excited to be working with swerve! This also creates more programming projects for the entire team, which gives the younger students more meaningful work!

Lastly, swerve is a great investment. In my opinion, there has never been a bad year for swerve (I would say a rugged swerve would have survived 2016!). Maneuverability and the ability to counter some defense bots is incredible! So, to keep up with the innovation and development of drivetrains in FRC, I believe its necessary to invest in swerve early, and stay ahead of the game!

So, that's what I have to say about swerve and other drivetrains. 

So here we are. 

My final kickoff and season (as a student 😉)!

Regarding COVID-19, it sucks. But, there's nothing we can do.

I applaud FIRST and FRC, as I feel they are doing all they can to ensure the safety of our students, mentors, and spectators. I think they have done an excellent job integrating more than just robots into this season!

So, overall, am I happy? Yes. Would I change it if I could? Yes. 

By forfeiting a normal season, we lose so much of what matters in FIRST: community, togetherness, and that indescribable feeling we get at competitions we get when something goes right (or wrong!). 

I think I'll get over it though. Look on the brightside: at least we're with our teams, FIRST is still together, and the FRC community and game have branched out even more!

I know this blog was a longer one, so once again,

Thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Review, College, and Adventure!

 Good afternoon everyone! 

I hope everyone here had a happy holiday, I know I did! 

I would have liked to post much earlier, but a lot had happened recently, so I couldn't find the time. Let's start with Christmas. 

This year was much like any other; we get up, open presents, then go to my grandparents the next day. 

This year, my parents got me new winter boots, which will really come in handy later (I'll explain later in this post)! I also got a new laptop, which is what I am writing this on as of now. It's a really nice Dell Laptop, so Dad, when you read this, thanks again. There is only one issue with it: the OS is Windows 10. While I still despise Windows 10, I really don't like Edge! I need to set Chrome up on this laptop, but I just haven't got around to it. One of the gifts I did not expect was a multimeter! It's a really nice Fluke 117! I try to use it whenever I can, since its nice to practice and experiment with. All in all, the multimeter is most certainly my favorite present. 

So like I said, we went to my grandparents the next day, and it was nice to see everyone. Well, mostly everyone. My one cousin has COVID-19, and therefore could not attend the get-together. That makes him the second one in my family to have become infected by the virus. He seems to just have a cold, and will most likely be just fine thankfully. Anyway, another one of my many cousins, a Lance Corporal in the Marines, was there with his girlfriend, and it was nice to see him too, but that's not why I brought him up. I think it was one of my aunts who offered him the task of opening the wine bottle. Well, I'm not sure if he's never done this before, but it didn't go well. He took the bottle in one hand, and the corkscrew in the other, and really, really pulled on the screw. In fact, he pulled so hard on both components that he dropped the wine bottle. As you would expect, my entire family started screaming at him. His father, grandmother, and brother were the most furious. He kind of just stood there chuckling in shock and surprise. Naturally his brother and I then turned to his girlfriend to rightfully welcome her to the family! 

His brother doesn't serve in the military and instead works for a mortgage company. He's really kind and enjoys writing stories. I don't mean your typical novels; I'm talking really odd, but interesting, science fiction stories and the liking. He does this on the side, and even gets some published! He and I talked for almost the entire time at the family gathering. He typically likes to go on and on about this table top roll playing game called Vampire: The Masquerade. It's like D&D but with vampires. And it's not like I don't enjoy listening to his explanations and stories; in fact, as a fan of D&D, I find this alternative really interesting! 

Now that I have discussed the gathering, I suppose I'll move forward in chronological order. Next up, would be my college decision. Oh, I should mention, I got accepted into Penn State University Park! I finally decided to commit to a college once I found out how competitive Penn State dorms were. I also figured, what's going to change between now and January when I planned on deciding. 

After consideration for many months, I decided on: Michigan Technological University. 

Why? Well, let me start by discussing my insecurities with high school. While progressing through high school, especially in 10th grade, I learned that I was not like everyone else. 

I did not take interest in athletics like most people, nor was I good at them. I got into bad training habits and that really disappointed me. While most of my classmates were focused on their looks, relationships, and athletics, I was focused on my grades and not much else. Throughout this, I kind of blindsided what everyone else thought of me. 

This is how its been for a very long time. Like a very long time. For crying out loud, my best friend was my teacher in 3rd grade. I absolutely hate looking back on this, but I still recall standing next to her for the entire duration of recess for many days. I don't know why I never caught on like most people, but like I said this tunnel vision of mine remained for many years. 

When I reached tenth grade, I realized all of this and rapidly became more and more self-conscious and insecure. I became much more quiet. I considered very few people friends. I looked more and more towards my robotics team for support. 

This is when I learned that a lot of people on the robotics team appreciated and liked me, the old me. The one who naturally fit in, and didn't go into this depressed hiding state. I feel like I can revisit that old me at MTU. 

Now, how does this relate to my college decision? Well, I feel as though Penn State is a larger school and it will therefore be more difficult to find out where I fit in. I also distinctly remember, both my faculty advisor and student contact saying that no one is trying to impress anyone at MTU. There are no cliques, and everyone gets together as one. That unity sounds amazing, and that sounds like the college experience, I not only want, but the one my mental state needs. 

MTU is also an adventure. I have been up there once, and I have never experienced that much snow! I want to travel and see the world, and I figured it would be nice to knock one out in college too! This interest in traveling probably came from my father, and it really grew after we road tripped out West!

The campus is also really beautiful. Here are two screenshots that I just took while writing this actually!

 

Side note, I applied for a private bathroom in the dorm on the right that looks like a right bracket from above (]). It's called Wadsworth Hall. 

Lastly, the education is just as good as Penn State. I get more hands-on experience, which is rare at a school as large as PSU. I also got a scholarship worth $80,000, and I think its nice that they recognized my hard work. 

The only concern I have is with my dad, and the younger me. As a child, I always grew up wanting to go to Penn State Main Campus, and now that I finally can, I don't want to let my younger self down. I don't think I will though. I was naïve and did not look at any other school. I also feel like Penn State has changed ever since they closed Ye Old College Diner! I kind of took this as a sign that this might not be the school for me. Although the campus is beautiful, the community just doesn't suit me. But like I said, I don't want my dad to be disappointed that I'm not going to his Alma Mater. He has said many times that he isn't and I do believe him now, but will it always be that way? I hope so!

So there you have it. That's my college plan. Oh, I majoring in electrical engineering if I haven't mentioned that. 

Now, time to move onto the 29th. On the 29th, we went skiing at Elk Mountain! I was ecstatic because we just bought some gear and everything the night before! I also can say that I went on an intermediate, or a blue (it was labelled as green; I think that was a mistake!). It didn't go very well to say the least! But I conquered the bunny hill with ease, as well as a kind of long and steep hill called the West Slope. I had a lot of fun flying down that hill with my dad. We also brought Noah, who had never really gone skiing before. He focused on the bunny hill while we were there, and resorted to falling as a way of stopping! By the end of the day however, he seemed to have got the basic concepts down pat. Skiing involves a lot of confidence in your speed and ability to stop yourself in my opinion. Here's a photo of me at the top of West!

Yesterday, the 30th, I also managed to finish writing a Reddit reply bot! The bot simply insults people upon command, and you can find the open source code here! I need a server to actually get it working, but right now, it uses another API to generate evil insults and will insult whenever its name is called upon someone in a reply or comment. But like I said, it will only work, when I'm running the program on my computer! Here is the link to the code on my GitHub. I surely think this is living up to my alias!

Today is New Years, and I have my younger cousins coming over soon. They want to celebrate New Years with us they said, and I was really surprised because I don't think they know we don't do anything special!

Anyway, thanks for reading whatever I'm going to call this. This is probably my longest post yet, and am surely exhausted now. I think I spent an hour and a half writing this. But nevertheless, it's nice to vent here sometimes.

Thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

Snowmobiling!

 Good morning to my readers,

First, I want to apologize for the lack of posts recently. I truly try to post often, however I do have a lot of work and school work nowadays. In fact, I have work later today! Anyway, let me get into today's topic: snowmobiling! 

I had never been snowmobiling until yesterday. One of my robotics mentors owns four snowmobiles, and has ever since I joined the team. Or at least four. I'm not exactly sure. Anyway, yesterday, he pulls up outside our house in one and asks my brother if we'd like a ride. After a quick, suspiciously quick, tutorial on how they work, we had our helmets on and our butts on the seat. 

We took off down a small path, across a road, and into a large basin. As soon as I got moving, I fell in love with it. It was the coolest experience I have had in a long time! The highest speed I could get the one to was 55 miles per hour or so. This is really fast for a snowmobile in my opinion! My brother and I did this for a large period of time that afternoon. 

We liked it so much however, that we decided to do it again that weekend! As long as our mentor allowed it of course (which he did). This time, we got our dad to try it! After he drove several laps, I think it's safe to say that he liked it! We also convinced a few of our friends to come over and go snowmobiling with us! Unfortunately, the day ended in tragedy and bloodshed . . . not really, but there was some tragedy. 

When our three friends arrived, we gave a quick demonstration and tutorial, and then threw them on it! One of them did not like to go fast at first, one found the acceleration of the vehicle the best part, and the last one only cared about drifting. I eventually named him the "Drift King"; this youngster was well-known for his high speed turns and drifts, earning him this name. He continued to prove himself worthy of this title, until we had an accident. The accident came while using a small sleigh that was meant to be pulled along by a snowmobile that does not like to perform insane turns paralleled with incredible speed. I was the first one to ride in this sleigh with him, since nobody else really trusted him after riding on a snowmobile with him. I figured, "Why not? More space and I'm not going to fall off, right?". Wrong. He does one lap at a decent pace, and then decides to pick it up and go nuts. A little past our halfway point, he does too sharp of a turn too fast, and the sleigh flips while moving thirty some miles per hour. Note that the snowmobile suffers no damage and does not flip. The driver is quick to slam on the breaks once he hears the rolling of the sleigh, but he was not quick enough. I skidded a little bit on the ice, but was able to crawl out and pull myself up. Thankfully, I escaped with only a few bruises and a lot of snow covered body parts. If you're wondering how I did not get a head injury, it's because I was wearing a helmet. In fact, my head is what hit the ground first! 

So, as I just stated, I crawled away with nothing too serious. The sleigh however suffered damage to its windshield; by this, I mean it broke! So, the driver and I are paying for the part replacement, which isn't too bad since its just about $32. Our mentor is a very handy guy, and will surely be able to fix it right up once we pay him!

You might be thinking this brought a screeching halt to the activities, but it did not. Rather, I climbed back on the speedy snowmobile and accelerated down my hill, doing some more drifting and driving. 

We wrapped up once it got dark out. We drove the sleds back to our mentor's house, gave him some gas money, and hiked back through the snow. When I went inside, my parents said someone called the HOA, and said we had gotten too close to kids. I panicked after hearing we had a $100 fine, and quickly went to tell my friends. I stated that I would pay 3/4 of it, since it was typically me who went over there. What can I say, I liked speed. But then, my mom walks out and said it was a joke. We weren't charged, nor did anyone have a problem with us. I took a sigh of relief, and then collapsed in the snow! We all then said our farewells, and that was the end of this adventure. Hopefully we'll be able to do this some other time!

This also made me look at Michigan Tech a little more closely. Michigan Tech is a school that gets a lot of snow, and I have been considering them my number one pick for a long time. They participate in and host the SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge, a challenge that focuses on redesigning a snowmobile to be cleaner, quieter, and more efficient. This is the place to be if you love snowmobiles! They used to make a 100% electric snowmobile, and I wish they would bring that back, but it's alright. Ideally, I'd be able to do some electrical work on the team if that is were I choose to go and that is the team I choose to join. 

But that discussion is one for a later date. 

I hope you enjoyed reading, although I know my stories and blogs aren't the most exciting. 

Now, I have to get back to class!

Thanks for reading, 

The Questionable Programmer

Hannah Montana Linux?

 Hello all!

As many of you know, I am a big fan of Linux, especially Arch and Manjaro, but there has been one distribution that has really caught my attention lately: Hannah Montana Linux!

Now, to make things clear, I do NOT watch Hannah Montana, nor do I follow Miley Cyrus! But this Linux distro was produced to get younger students interested in Linux, which I think is awesome. 

You can find more information about this OS at its website, located here. Hopefully, I'll be able to put this on a computer soon. If I do, I will certainly post a review on my experience with its installation and operability. 

I don't think many of my followers watch or no much about Hannah Montana, and neither do I, so I'm going to go do a little research during AP Physics. 

Thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer