Friday, March 20, 2020

FYW narrative essay Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers

FYW narrative essay Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers It was the seventh grade when I decided to tryout for he volleyball team. My friend Amaiya screamed out Stephanie! I turned around and the ball knocked my head to a 90-degree angle. How hard I was hit for my head to be parallel to my ear like Im on the phone. I thought I was going to be watching TV sideways for the rest of my life. With Gods miracle I made the team. Before our first game we had our jerseys on, taking pictures on our cellphones in the locker room. Ive never felt so cool in my life, unfortunately that took a turn for the worst. The 80-year-old man produced this sorry sound of a whistle from whatever is left of his respiratory system, and smack goes the volleyball. Of course it is coming towards me with everyone and their mother watching. I was dismantled like a Lego. It hit my 7-year-old boy chest so hard, ricocheting and hit my girl Amaiya in the head. (Good ex. of what comes around goes around.?) Immediately afterwards I see signs floating all across the bleachers #1 7 YOU SUCK. I turned to my teammates and I see the Devil rising in their eyes. Amaiya says, Youll get the next one. All of a sudden I hear snapping turtles everywhere, What the heck was that? Whats wrong with you? Wheres your brain? Do you even go here? Within seconds I was drowning in tears. Coach said, Suck it up. Suck what up? The river of snot and tears flooding the court? The game has haunted me for the rest of my life. Word choice can make or break any situation.

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

The Failed Inventions of Thomas Alva Edison

The Failed Inventions of Thomas Alva Edison Thomas Alva Edison held 1,093 patents for different inventions. Many of them, like the lightbulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera, were brilliant creations that have a huge influence on our everyday life. However, not everything he created was a success; he also had a few failures. Edison, of course, had a predictably inventive take on the projects that didn’t quite work the way he expected. â€Å"I have not failed 10,000 times, â€Å" he said, â€Å"I’ve successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.† Electrographic Vote Recorder The inventor’s first patented invention was an electrographic vote recorder to be used by governing bodies. The machine let officials cast their votes and then quickly calculated the tally. To Edison, this was an efficient tool for government. But politicians didn’t share his enthusiasm, apparently fearing the device might limit negotiations and vote trading.   Cement One concept that never took off was Edisons interest in using cement to build things. He formed the Edison Portland Cement Co. in 1899 and made everything from cabinets (for phonographs) to pianos and houses. Unfortunately, at the time, concrete was too expensive and the idea was never accepted. The cement business wasnt a total failure, though. His company was hired to build Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. Talking Pictures From the beginning of the creation of motion pictures, many people tried to combine film and sound to make talking motion pictures. Here you can see to the left an example of an early film attempting to combine sound with pictures made by Edisons assistant, W.K.L. Dickson. By 1895, Edison had created the Kinetophone- a Kinetoscope (peep-hole motion picture viewer) with a phonograph that played inside the cabinet. Sound could be heard through two ear tubes while the viewer watched the images. This creation never really took off, and by 1915 Edison abandoned the idea of sound motion pictures. Talking Doll One invention Edison had was just too far ahead of its time: The Talking Doll. A fill century before Tickle Me Elmo became a talking toy sensation, Edison imported dolls from Germany and inserted tiny phonographs into them. In March 1890, the dolls went on sale.  Customers complained that the dolls were too fragile and when they worked, the recordings sounded awful. The toy bombed. Electric Pen Trying to solve the problem of making copies of the same document in an efficient manner, Edison came up with an electric pen. The device, powered by a battery and small motor, punched small holes through paper to create a stencil of the document you were creating on wax paper and make copies by rolling ink over it.   Unfortunately, the pens weren’t, as we say now, user-friendly. The battery required maintenance, the $30 price tag was steep, and they were noisy. Edison abandoned the project.