I've asked him about how powerful the sonar was and to give you an idea how dangerous it is he told me about some standard submarine procedure.
Basically, if a submarine comes under threat from enemy frogmen or divers, the defence the sub has is to turn the active sonar on and start pinging. If a diver is underwater and within a couple hundred yards, he will die from the intensity of the sound under water. In other words the sonar is VERY powerful.
Trust me a 200db blast will likely give someone a very bad day if they are near by.
I totally agree. As I'm a 2nd Year ME student. I also saw a ton of people wash out because they don't understand that they won't be spoon fed information like they were in high school. If you are engineering major, just accept that for four or five years you will have no life, and will probably work harder during those 4 or 5 years then you have in the past 18 that you went through. If you have the will to completely devote your time and effort to engineering then it is doable.
We are basically given a task, told what it needs to do, and told to do it in the best way possible. That was what we had to do last year, when we had to build RC cars from scratch when I was a freshman. All they did was toss you in a group tell you what the task was that needed to be done. The only strings attached were few rules(Ie 9 volt battery limit/can only be so big).
You were basically graded on characteristics of your car. If you won the class races you got an A. If your car had special abilities(ours had a MASSIVE RC range of about 100+ yards thanks to AM radio/also had skid steer/used a mercury switch so that it would beep differently when it was going forward or back so we tell which way it was going) you got an A if they were useful. Basically, you passed if you came up with a mundane solution that did what was required, but if you wanted a better grade you needed to put some serious time in your car. They also looked at how much your car costs and they got a price/performance/feature ratio. If you had an elcheapo car that did ok in the race you probably would get A.
Damn straight I agree with you. High schools need to be reformed, and need to be set up in such a way that people actually need to work for a diploma.
I'm not saying that everyone needs to be in the super advanced college prep stuff, but they need to have their ass worked off. I remember in highschool never studying and getting A's. That just doesn't cut it in college. High school needs to prepare people for that. If 2/3 of of a class is making the honor roll in high school something is wrong and grades are probably WAAAY inflated.
This is definitely not what I go through. All of my classes are ALL about team work. They basically put you in sink or swim conditions, and those who group together and get-r-done, will pass the rest fail.
Creative solutions to problems are about the ONLY way you can even pass the classes I'm taking. That's why I don't know where this "Culture of the quantifiable" comes from. Hell when I hit my senior year, some company is going to give my group of 5 engineers 50 grand and say "develop a product that does such and such. You have 6 months to have a prototype."
The main thing with engineering, is that it is the HARDEST of all bachelor degrees. Period.
I'm half way to my mechanical engineering degree, and it is the most difficult thing I've ever had to do. How many bachelor programs can you think of that 3/4 engineers who graduate, are on the 5 year plan. Very few. I mean seriously, I look forward to my liberal arts requirements as they are a way for me to beef up my grade point.
The only thing that's great about engineering, asside from the 100% job placement, and good pay when you get out, is a sense of achievement. I actually feel like I'm accomplishing something when I pass a test. When I get a B on an engineering exam I'm fricking proud of myself. I don't get that when I take a humanities test.
The work is tough, but doable. Work as a team with others that share the same boat as you. Support your peers and they will help you out. Take the initiative, most engineering classes aren't about what you know, but how hard you are willing to work. Also, understand that while you are in an engineering program you will have NO life. You came to learn, and not to party. An engineering degree is just as much a testament of your willpower as it is your knowledge.
The only advice with facutly though, is to tour a ton of institutions. Find the smallest one that has a good program and go there. It's a lot easier to learn in a class of 20 then in a class of 200.
The problem with todays games is that they are all fluff and no substance.
Take for example the games of yesteryear for the best system that ever was released. The SNES.
That system had games that rocked hardcore, but did so almost purely on storyline and gameplay(because the graphics of the time just weren't that great). The problem happening right now, is that the industry and many of the players are focusing so much on appearence rather then the fun factor.
Lets look at some recent games.
Halo 1 and 2-Good but nothing new.
Starwars Battlefront-Starwars mod for BF1942.
Metroid Prime-Innovative and fun.
Goldeneye-The first good FPS for console. Showed how FPS should be done on a console.
Final Fantasy 258- Solid game, but not as good as the old ones for the SNES. Needs to focus on improving the genre rather then repackaging the same stuff.
Ironically, the games that I still play the most are the classics like 4 player superbomberman, chrono trigger, earthbound, secret of mana, FF2/3, etc. Those games I still love because they focused on FUN and story because that is all that they could really work with at the time. Now with the focus on graphics, it detracts from the fun and story factor too often.
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I've asked him about how powerful the sonar was and to give you an idea how dangerous it is he told me about some standard submarine procedure. Basically, if a submarine comes under threat from enemy frogmen or divers, the defence the sub has is to turn the active sonar on and start pinging. If a diver is underwater and within a couple hundred yards, he will die from the intensity of the sound under water. In other words the sonar is VERY powerful. Trust me a 200db blast will likely give someone a very bad day if they are near by.
They took second 8 minutes behind stanford.
I totally agree. As I'm a 2nd Year ME student. I also saw a ton of people wash out because they don't understand that they won't be spoon fed information like they were in high school. If you are engineering major, just accept that for four or five years you will have no life, and will probably work harder during those 4 or 5 years then you have in the past 18 that you went through. If you have the will to completely devote your time and effort to engineering then it is doable.
We are basically given a task, told what it needs to do, and told to do it in the best way possible. That was what we had to do last year, when we had to build RC cars from scratch when I was a freshman. All they did was toss you in a group tell you what the task was that needed to be done. The only strings attached were few rules(Ie 9 volt battery limit/can only be so big). You were basically graded on characteristics of your car. If you won the class races you got an A. If your car had special abilities(ours had a MASSIVE RC range of about 100+ yards thanks to AM radio/also had skid steer/used a mercury switch so that it would beep differently when it was going forward or back so we tell which way it was going) you got an A if they were useful. Basically, you passed if you came up with a mundane solution that did what was required, but if you wanted a better grade you needed to put some serious time in your car. They also looked at how much your car costs and they got a price/performance/feature ratio. If you had an elcheapo car that did ok in the race you probably would get A.
Damn straight I agree with you. High schools need to be reformed, and need to be set up in such a way that people actually need to work for a diploma. I'm not saying that everyone needs to be in the super advanced college prep stuff, but they need to have their ass worked off. I remember in highschool never studying and getting A's. That just doesn't cut it in college. High school needs to prepare people for that. If 2/3 of of a class is making the honor roll in high school something is wrong and grades are probably WAAAY inflated.
This is definitely not what I go through. All of my classes are ALL about team work. They basically put you in sink or swim conditions, and those who group together and get-r-done, will pass the rest fail. Creative solutions to problems are about the ONLY way you can even pass the classes I'm taking. That's why I don't know where this "Culture of the quantifiable" comes from. Hell when I hit my senior year, some company is going to give my group of 5 engineers 50 grand and say "develop a product that does such and such. You have 6 months to have a prototype."
The main thing with engineering, is that it is the HARDEST of all bachelor degrees. Period. I'm half way to my mechanical engineering degree, and it is the most difficult thing I've ever had to do. How many bachelor programs can you think of that 3/4 engineers who graduate, are on the 5 year plan. Very few. I mean seriously, I look forward to my liberal arts requirements as they are a way for me to beef up my grade point. The only thing that's great about engineering, asside from the 100% job placement, and good pay when you get out, is a sense of achievement. I actually feel like I'm accomplishing something when I pass a test. When I get a B on an engineering exam I'm fricking proud of myself. I don't get that when I take a humanities test. The work is tough, but doable. Work as a team with others that share the same boat as you. Support your peers and they will help you out. Take the initiative, most engineering classes aren't about what you know, but how hard you are willing to work. Also, understand that while you are in an engineering program you will have NO life. You came to learn, and not to party. An engineering degree is just as much a testament of your willpower as it is your knowledge. The only advice with facutly though, is to tour a ton of institutions. Find the smallest one that has a good program and go there. It's a lot easier to learn in a class of 20 then in a class of 200.
The problem with todays games is that they are all fluff and no substance. Take for example the games of yesteryear for the best system that ever was released. The SNES. That system had games that rocked hardcore, but did so almost purely on storyline and gameplay(because the graphics of the time just weren't that great). The problem happening right now, is that the industry and many of the players are focusing so much on appearence rather then the fun factor. Lets look at some recent games. Halo 1 and 2-Good but nothing new. Starwars Battlefront-Starwars mod for BF1942. Metroid Prime-Innovative and fun. Goldeneye-The first good FPS for console. Showed how FPS should be done on a console. Final Fantasy 258- Solid game, but not as good as the old ones for the SNES. Needs to focus on improving the genre rather then repackaging the same stuff. Ironically, the games that I still play the most are the classics like 4 player superbomberman, chrono trigger, earthbound, secret of mana, FF2/3, etc. Those games I still love because they focused on FUN and story because that is all that they could really work with at the time. Now with the focus on graphics, it detracts from the fun and story factor too often.