User:MarkKeller22

---

Introduction

My name is Mark Keller and I am in my eighth semester at The Pennsylvania State University. I am majoring in Civil Engineering with a specialization in Water Resource Management. I intend on graduating in May 2013.

BLOGS

Weekly blogs will be written based on prompts provided by the professor. These blogs are typically related RepRap in one way or another but not always directly.

Blog Number One

Useful: Ear Bud Holders

Part A

An item that is useful

In today's society headphones are almost a necessity. Whether it is for iPods, iPhones, MP3 players, or for use with your personal computer, they have become an everyday item. The problem with headphones, is that they are difficult to carry when not in use. They get tangled and can even become knotted. These ear bud holders eliminate the mess associated with shoving ear buds into your pocket or book bag. The STL file can be downloaded here.

Beautiful: Bi-Plane

An item that is artistic/beautiful

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I have always had a fascination with airplanes. The bi-plane really is a thing of beauty. Two wings, a sleek design, and the way it is able to maneuver through the air all contribute to its beauty. The STL file can be downloaded here.

Pointless Battery Holder

An item that is pointless/useless

This battery holder can hold both AA and AAA batteries, but why? It is simply used to store batteries, no other purpose. Batteries already come in packages, and some are even resealable. This acts as a permanent storage container for the batteries. This item is both pointless and useless. The STL file can be downloaded here.

Funny: Shark With A Fricken Laser

An item that is funny/weird

The "shark with a fricken laser" is from the Austin Powers movies. As a kid, and even still today I watch those movies and laugh. The scenes with Dr. Evil talking about sharks with lasers is always a classic and makes me laugh every time. It is funny to see that somebody took the time to draw one that can be rapid prototyped. The STL file can be downloaded here.

Strange: Lower Jaw Bone

An item that is scary/strange

Although I can see some purpose for printing such an object, I feel that a lower jaw bone is a rather strange object to print. Typically if it were being used for medical purposes it would either be molded or an actual bone would be used, but to print one using a 3D printer for "personal use" just seems strange to me. The STL file can be downloaded here.

Part B

I do feel that I am a tinkerer. I love to take things apart and see how they work and then try to put them back together. I do feel that the amount of tinkering I do is decreasing as I get older. I do not have the same amount of free time to tinker as I did when I was younger, and my job does not require any tinkering. But when given the chance I thoroughly enjoy tinkering. My dad and my uncle's are all tinker. They grew up on a farm and had to fix things when they broke. Not only did they fix things, but they improved the equitment that they had, all through tinkering.

I agree with the argument. I particularly like the statement, "It’s that the notion that we can fix any problem or achieve any goal that we set for ourselves has deteriorated into a sanitized, corporatized version of what constitutes achievement." This directly relates to the fact that Americans have taken the replace it rather than fix it attitude. It is easier to just go out and replace something rather than fix what they have. This is the influence that corporate America has instilled upon us. The more we buy the more profit they make.

Things evolve through tinkering. No mater what field we are talking about, it is tinkering that pushes the progress. New things are created and old ideas are improved. So preserving the habitat, or allowing tinkering to continue to prosper will help us to "catch up" to where we should be.

The primary design principles that are the use of multidisciplinary brainstorming, finding out what do humans really want, and going beyond what you think you can do. It was pretty neat to see that someone who is as smart as Kelly and has created as many things as he has, is working on building a 3D printer, the same project that we are undertaking. I think that all of the principles can be applied to our work. We all think differently and using the minds of multiple individuals to complete a task helps it move that much quicker. Going beyond what you think you can do applies here as well. We may not all be programmers or good at physically building things, but we are all capable of doing it. This project will have us working on issues that we know nothing about, but we will, with struggle and time, be able to complete the tasks.

Blog Number Two

Mother Of All Demos:

When I first saw the mouse cursor move, it took me back to when I was younger. We had an old Macintosh computer I believe it was a mid to late 90s model, one of the grey boxes. That is what it looked like a grey box. We would fire it up and when moving the mouse, it had a similar lag to it like the one shown in the Douglas Engelbart video, Mother Of All Demos. It would have a string of pointers following as you moved the mouse until you would stop at a specific point. The program that Englebart was running sort of reminded me of Microsoft Word. Creating new files is similar to creating new documents. Each file can be saved and reopened at a later date. It can even open multiple files at one time. The copy and past functions are features that we use in every day life on computers. Sitting here in today's world, I take for granted all of the things that Englebart is demonstrating. I am incredibly impressed with technology that he is demonstrating. It is incredible to see how innovative people are and the technological feats that they have accomplished. At the time I don't believe that I would have been able to recognize the importance of what was being demonstrated. At that point, I don't think many people were doing work on computers so it might have been hard for everyone to visualize the importance, but had I been in the audience I would have recognized that copy and past is a useful feature as well as being able to save files.

Professor Richard Doyle: Open Source Futures

In Professor Doyle's talk, which can be seen here, he talks about the importances of having intellectual property (IP) be patented vs. open sourced, with an emphasis on the advantage of IP being open source. Doyle talks about the Mother Of All Demos and explains that people didn't initially believe that it was real. This is not an unreasonable belief at least at first. It is a completely new technology, one of the firsts of its kind. This reaction can still be seen with some people in regards to advances in today's technology. Sharing information that we generate is vital to progress. The progress of

Field Lok Gasket

a specific field, progress of a country, and the progress of the world. We share information to better society, to better mankind. I feel that there are certain areas in which we should share information rather than patent it. For example, anything dealing with healthcare. To come up with a advancement of some sort in any sort of medical field can have a huge impact on the world. Why should these advancements, cures, new practices, new methods, be kept from the public? Just because somebody is not getting paid enough is not an acceptable answer. In other areas though, I feel that putting a patent on an idea is acceptable, areas where life and death are not involved. I don't feel that there should be huge profit margins in these situations, but patenting allows for large profits. As an example, I work in the water and waste water industry. In this industry, ductile iron pipe is often used for water delivery. In pressurized lines, the pipe needs to be restrained and Field Lok gaskets are used. For a number of years, a specific company had the patent for this product and charged an exorbitant amount for each gasket. Once the patent expired, other companies created similar products for a fraction of the cost. Open sourcing ideas allows for refinement of the idea. It gives anybody anywhere the opportunity to say, "how can I make this idea better." In most areas I would say no we are not missing out by patenting ideas. If you are strictly in an invention for monetary gains, then yes, but looking toward progress, no. The internet is the best way to share our knowledge. It is widely accessible and allows for easy communication between parties. For example, without much thought, a site similar to craigslist could be created with categories for people to share their ideas no matter what topic. From there the refinement of ideas can begin.