Welcome to a HAPPY NEW YEAR of David’s blog post writing! That's right, viewers, it’s me, for the WHOLE day! For the first time in 2020! Today is Saturday, February 15th. Have you ever noticed that the P.S. of a letter, or e-mail means Post Script? And from what I have learned in school, post means “after.” Which basically means that AFTER my 2020 North Dakota Lego League State Competition, I am writing a blog post about it.
So, you might be like, wait - what’s a 2020 North Dakota Lego League State Competition? Well, if you haven't read my Lego League posts before, I would suggest you go back and try to find the right post where I talk about last year's Lego League competition. If you have been reading my posts from the start, you will know what I am talking about. But, if you don't feel like going through your search history, and you know that somehow, I will explain it, you’re in luck!
Here’s a link that explains what Lego Lego is. Click me, I'm a link!!!!
Well anyway, last Friday, after school, I got off the bus and hurriedly packed my stuff because I did not pack it the day before but like - Why not? So I packed and at about 5pm CST, 5 of the 7 members of my family left for Grand Forks. Why not leave on Saturday? Because the official event opened at 7:30 in the morning, aaaand, yeah. I didn’t want to get up at three or four in the morning, because it's a pain to get up in the morning.
We stayed at a hotel and it had a pool and breakfast. So I swam Friday night and Saturday at about 6:30 a.m. I ate breakfast. We left our hotel at about 7 a.m., and arrived at the Hyslop arena at UND (University of North Dakota).
After I found the pit where my team was, I went with my friends to build with these huge Legos. We were just casually building small towers, when a team suggested that we build a tower super high together. With some help of 2 other teams, and three adults, we made the tower, at least 15 feet high. We disassembled it after about 5 minutes because it was very unstable and it could have fallen. After that, we had a practice robot run, which in my opinion, went pretty well, but we discovered that one of the mission models, was built wrong. With a small run of about 200 points, we headed off to our first judging session, which was probably the worst: Core Values.
I’m not allowed to say what the challenge was, but honestly, the judging session went pretty terribly because it was hard to hear and the judges didn't believe everything we said. On the flip side, it was probably one of our best sessions in Core Values ever because it went way more smoothly than previous sessions. Next came some free time in the schedule, and I found out, that people had buried a person Legos in a very small area in the shape of a diamond.
Next, came our project judging. My team’s project involved moving the geese from our city park bike path and removing all of the goose poop. We applied for a grant, and received $1,000 dollars in return. The city matched 100% of the amount of money received, which therefore meant we got $2,000 dollars in funding for our project. Our last judging session went surprisingly very well. It was robot design and programming. We didn’t score very well with the robot structure and build, but in the end, we got second place for programming.
Finally, came the robot games. All of the judging parts of Lego League are important, but the real fun begins, when the robot game starts. It first started with a parade. Every team took all of their robots, mascots, and team members to show off what they had in one big parade. I watched some of the matches with my friends until it was our time to have a robot run. Through an intense and frightening run, we left the table with 265 points. It wasn’t bad, but it was far away from what we wanted our score to be. Our next run was a few minutes behind schedule, but other than that, it was a very good run. It had our high score of 330 points! It put us in the top ranks of the total robot points. After our last run of 315 points, we were third for overall robot points and score.
Next came awards. This part was probably one of the most suspenseful moments of all FLL tournaments. After about 10 different awards were given, our team received the runner-up programming award, adding to the number of similar awards we have won in the past. The last part of the award was the announcement of the tournament winners. These people would go on to the national competition in Detroit. After a long drum roll, the judges revealed the winners…
It, sadly, was not our team that won, and it was especially sad, because it was my team's last year in Lego League. Well, at least next year I will be on the big robotics team: F.R.E.D… and that will lead to a whole new story for future blog posts...
So, you might be like, wait - what’s a 2020 North Dakota Lego League State Competition? Well, if you haven't read my Lego League posts before, I would suggest you go back and try to find the right post where I talk about last year's Lego League competition. If you have been reading my posts from the start, you will know what I am talking about. But, if you don't feel like going through your search history, and you know that somehow, I will explain it, you’re in luck!
Here’s a link that explains what Lego Lego is. Click me, I'm a link!!!!
Well anyway, last Friday, after school, I got off the bus and hurriedly packed my stuff because I did not pack it the day before but like - Why not? So I packed and at about 5pm CST, 5 of the 7 members of my family left for Grand Forks. Why not leave on Saturday? Because the official event opened at 7:30 in the morning, aaaand, yeah. I didn’t want to get up at three or four in the morning, because it's a pain to get up in the morning.
We stayed at a hotel and it had a pool and breakfast. So I swam Friday night and Saturday at about 6:30 a.m. I ate breakfast. We left our hotel at about 7 a.m., and arrived at the Hyslop arena at UND (University of North Dakota).
After I found the pit where my team was, I went with my friends to build with these huge Legos. We were just casually building small towers, when a team suggested that we build a tower super high together. With some help of 2 other teams, and three adults, we made the tower, at least 15 feet high. We disassembled it after about 5 minutes because it was very unstable and it could have fallen. After that, we had a practice robot run, which in my opinion, went pretty well, but we discovered that one of the mission models, was built wrong. With a small run of about 200 points, we headed off to our first judging session, which was probably the worst: Core Values.
I’m not allowed to say what the challenge was, but honestly, the judging session went pretty terribly because it was hard to hear and the judges didn't believe everything we said. On the flip side, it was probably one of our best sessions in Core Values ever because it went way more smoothly than previous sessions. Next came some free time in the schedule, and I found out, that people had buried a person Legos in a very small area in the shape of a diamond.
Next, came our project judging. My team’s project involved moving the geese from our city park bike path and removing all of the goose poop. We applied for a grant, and received $1,000 dollars in return. The city matched 100% of the amount of money received, which therefore meant we got $2,000 dollars in funding for our project. Our last judging session went surprisingly very well. It was robot design and programming. We didn’t score very well with the robot structure and build, but in the end, we got second place for programming.
Finally, came the robot games. All of the judging parts of Lego League are important, but the real fun begins, when the robot game starts. It first started with a parade. Every team took all of their robots, mascots, and team members to show off what they had in one big parade. I watched some of the matches with my friends until it was our time to have a robot run. Through an intense and frightening run, we left the table with 265 points. It wasn’t bad, but it was far away from what we wanted our score to be. Our next run was a few minutes behind schedule, but other than that, it was a very good run. It had our high score of 330 points! It put us in the top ranks of the total robot points. After our last run of 315 points, we were third for overall robot points and score.
Next came awards. This part was probably one of the most suspenseful moments of all FLL tournaments. After about 10 different awards were given, our team received the runner-up programming award, adding to the number of similar awards we have won in the past. The last part of the award was the announcement of the tournament winners. These people would go on to the national competition in Detroit. After a long drum roll, the judges revealed the winners…
It, sadly, was not our team that won, and it was especially sad, because it was my team's last year in Lego League. Well, at least next year I will be on the big robotics team: F.R.E.D… and that will lead to a whole new story for future blog posts...
 |
| Spot the Dave on Lego the Woods FLL team. |
On This Day
Historic Highlights (credits)
2003 - The largest peace demonstration in history takes place
Up to 30 million people in 600 cities around the world protested against the Iraq War.
2001 - The first draft of the human genome is published
The human genome contains the complete human genetic information.
1989 - The Soviet Union pulls out of Afghanistan
Despite their military superiority, the Soviet and Afghan armies did not succeed in breaking the Mujahideen insurgents' resistance.
1971 - The United Kingdom and Ireland decimalize their currencies
Before the change, a pound sterling was made up of 240 pence, or 20 shillings.
1965 - Canada adopts its current national flag showing a maple leaf
The leaf symbolizes the country's forests, the middle white stripe the arctic snow, and the red stripes the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Up to 30 million people in 600 cities around the world protested against the Iraq War.
2001 - The first draft of the human genome is published
The human genome contains the complete human genetic information.
1989 - The Soviet Union pulls out of Afghanistan
Despite their military superiority, the Soviet and Afghan armies did not succeed in breaking the Mujahideen insurgents' resistance.
1971 - The United Kingdom and Ireland decimalize their currencies
Before the change, a pound sterling was made up of 240 pence, or 20 shillings.
1965 - Canada adopts its current national flag showing a maple leaf
The leaf symbolizes the country's forests, the middle white stripe the arctic snow, and the red stripes the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Happy Birthday to You!🎶
1954 - Matt Groening, American animator, screenwriter, producer
1934 - Graham Kennedy, Australian actor
1874 - Ernest Shackleton, Irish explorer
1710 - Louis XV of France
1564 - Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer, physicist
1934 - Graham Kennedy, Australian actor
1874 - Ernest Shackleton, Irish explorer
1710 - Louis XV of France
1564 - Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer, physicist
Remembering You
2005 - Samuel T. Francis, American journalist
1988 - Richard Feynman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1965 - Nat King Cole, American singer, pianist, television host
1928 - H. H. Asquith, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1781 - Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, German author, philosopher
1988 - Richard Feynman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1965 - Nat King Cole, American singer, pianist, television host
1928 - H. H. Asquith, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1781 - Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, German author, philosopher
David (aka Wannaskan Almanac Kid Writer-in-Residence, aka WAKWIR)
P.S. Remember to play Minecraft, kids!
P.S. Remember to play Minecraft, kids!
 |
| Co-founder of FIRST, Dr. Woodie Flowers - November 18, 1943 – October 11, 2019 |
Great post, WAKWIR! For your next endeavor, I encourage you to read, "Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas that Don't Make Sense", by Rory Sutherland. The book features the following 11 rules that seem right up the alley of your interests.
ReplyDelete1. The opposite of a good idea can be another good idea.
2. Don't design for average.
3. It doesn't pay to be logical when everybody else is being logical.
4. The nature of our attention affects the nature of our experience.
5. A flower is simply a weed with an advertising budget.
6. The problem with logic is that it kills off magic.
7. A good guess that stands up to empirical observation is still science. And so is a lucky accident.
8. Test counterintuitive things, because most other people are unlikely to do so.
9. Solving problems using only rationality is like playing golf using only one club.
10. Dare to be trivial.
11. If there was a logical answer, you would have already found it.