Week #15 -- I got nothing for a title.

This week has been a fond one for me, no matter how difficult it was to get out of bed. I finally got to cut out my nuclear fallout metal art piece. I did that on Wednesday, which took nearly all period due to machine complications. On Thursday I began to file off the little metal boogers and grind them down. I'm gonna do the same to the triangles. Make some cool throwables. The picture above is from right after cutting the bloody thing. As you can see, there's rust on it so I'll have to take steel wool to it and use some primer.

This week's essential question asks where do plastics come from and how are they formed.

Based on research from le Google, I discovered that cellulose (a sugar), natural gas, salt, coal, and crude oil such as petroleum. All the ingredients are distilled in a factory and broken down. The two types of production that branch from this are thermoplastics (soften on heating, then harden on cooling) and thermosets (must be molded and stay hard). 

Week #14 -- Cutting Blues and Rancho's Poo

I'll admit, that title is tasteless and not funny. However, my mood is one of that who does not care. Ha! Anyway, so flies by another week of work, boredom, fun, surprise, and the mundane. What I did this week was pretty much the same. I spent some time on MyMiniFactory and Thingiverse, but found little to interest me other than Destiny weapons. At about Wednesday I decided to cut my Fallout symbol, yet forgot to bring my USB to school and apparently the file was not on Google Drive anymore. Thus, I had to start over. Took the whole period. I was ready to cut it yesterday (Thursday), but another classmate took the whole period printing his stuff. I did a little cleaning and watched science tricks on Youtube. Bleh.

Essential Question: Where does your waste go when you flush at Rancho?


Well, since Rancho Cotate High is in Rohnert Park, we have made a pact of sorts with Santa Rosa and Cotati. As such, all of our waste goes to the Laguna Treatment Plant in Santa Rosa on Llano Road. There, they clean and reuse waste water every day. As much as 21 million gallons can come into the plant on a busy day, making its work and impact highly important.

Week #13 -- Back in the Shop

Credit: Kirby Downey for the image and creation/design of the weapon.

Spring Break is over! Which means this past week has been spent at school and in the shop. Monday was a religious day type deal, so school was not in session then. For the past 4 days, I have been unable to cut out my metal Fallout symbol. The plasma cutter blew a fuse or a wire or something else of that nature. As such, it was out of commission. In the absence of that, I spent my time doing odd jobs around the shop, I helped carry windows for the tear drop trailers from the office (quite a distance). I also made divet holes in the edges of the trailer walls so they could rest in the trailer fittings. It required a chisel and hammer, which was fun. Bashing stuff sure is exciting! In and around those jobs, I looked at cool 3D printed stuff from MyMiniFactory. One of the things I found that I loved was a 3D printed, 1:1 scale weapon from one of my favorite video games: Destiny. I wish I could print something like that, but the cost would be ridiculous.

The essential question of the week is: how has the water crisis affected you?

To put this question into context, I reside in Northern California, on the Western coast of the United States. Right now we are in year four of a major drought. As such, water rationing and not being able to grow crops has been quite an issue. And since Cali is responsible for 1/3rd of the produce in the country, the effect is felt nationwide. As for me personally, I have to take shorter showers and monitor myself when brushing my teeth and doing dishes. I always get water when I turn on the faucet, but I am a huge environmental kind of guy, so I try to conserve when possible. Next, the prices of both meats and produce will go up in price by next year. These prices are already high, but they can go nowhere but up at this point. I love meat and nuts, so those are two things in particular I'll have trouble enjoying.