Bridges & Building Them

Next week, Our school is holding the annual Physics Bridge Building contest in which Physics students try hard to build the strongest bridge possible. The record to beat is 209.4 kg set in 2000. Over several years, the contest has been able to net several sponsors such as BCIT and The Canadian Society for Civil Engineering. For pictures of last year's contest, please click here

For an interesting read, here is website about the highest, longest bridge: The Millau Viaduct

Vancouver is a city of many interesting bridges

Here is my favorite bridge : The Burrard Street Bridge

This vehicular bridge "guards" the entrance to False Creek, home to marinas, Granville Island, Science World and numerous restaurants. Presently there is debate over dedicating a portion of the bridge to bicycle traffic. More than a decade ago there was another bridge, just east of the Burrard Street Bridge. This bridge, the Kerrisdale railway trestle, was torn down.

Computers and Internet Auctions: A Good Relationship

This past week, we were asked to find several working and usable computers for a hypothetical business. I was surprised at the ease and selection available at a person's fingertips. For the assignment, we used eBay and Kijiji to find computers in Canada and also in the Lower Mainland area. To narrow the search in eBay, use the advanced search feature to limit the search parameters. Also to narrow the search even further, put a minus sign to exclude the number of ads which are containing a certain word, and when the searcher put a addition sign and a certain word, it will increase the number of results which contain that word. I sure hope that this has been helpful and happy shopping and computing!

Opinions on the OLPC Laptop

This website contains both positive and negative opinions based on the OLPC XO Laptop. It is also recently posted. As you click this website you will find many opinions that may be happening with your own OLPC Laptop. The website is:http://www.olpcnews.com/laptops/xo1/xo_laptop_peace_corps_volunteer.html.

Getting the OLPC Laptop

April 1st, we've received the OLPC laptop and so far two of our classmates have or are testing it out. So far there are just minor issues that were spotted by Eliza with the OLPC XO Laptop. Yet the solution is being researched on! From time to time everyone will be able to get an opportunity to use and or try the OLPC XO Laptop.

As we are finishing up with C++, we are beginning to use Java and have started the program "Hello World". So far Java is pretty much different compared to C++. For it uses different coding. So far we will be continuing with Java for this year.

Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition

As the 1st semester is about to end, we have been finishing up with Python, and Visual Basics we have been told that each and every one in class will be using a new program. Which is called Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition. This program has many features. As the 2nd semester begins we will be continuing by using this program more often. We've also worked on hello world.

OLPC Update

This is a message that we recieved from OLPC regarding the delay:Please accept my apologies for the delay in receiving your XO laptop. Give One Get One was such a phenomenal success that we over-taxed our order processing and payment systems. Demand exceeded supply. Additional XO laptops are being built now and will be delivered in 45 to 60 days. If you wish to reconsider your contribution in the face of this delay, we will issue a refund to you. We have set up a dedicated phone line for these requests. The number is 1-800-883-8102. In the meanwhile, please know that laptops are in the process of going to Mongolia, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Rwanda and Haiti as part of the "give one" side of the equation. Fortunately, OLPC's mission of getting laptops to the children in these countries has not been delayed. In Mongolia, the children are already enjoying themselves and learning new things with their XO laptops. Please see: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Ulaanbaatar. Eliminating poverty through learning is gaining wider acceptance thanks to support like yours.
Sincerely,
Nicholas Negroponte
Chairman
OLPC Foundation