Helping Kids with Simple Machines

Recently a couple of kids from 808 had a project for school where they had to build a simple machine out of supplies they had on hand (i.e. no tools necessary). They had been studying simple machines for a while in class, and they now had to put their knowledge to the test.

Using tape, scissors, cardboard, paper, markers and a lot of creativity, we were able to create two really cool simple machines. Unfortunately, we were only able to snap a picture of one of them.

The first one was built by Sirak, and isn't pictured. Sirak used a roll of scotch tape, two small pencils, tape, manilla folders and scissors to create a wheelbarrow, which contains two simple machines: the wheel-axle and the lever.

Sirak, with some help, was able to get the wheel to actually roll, and then used scraps of paper colored gray to simulate rocks.

Abdullah was originally going to make a see-saw, but decided that it wasn't challenging enough to create. Instead, he decided to use a wedge and make an axe. He also put in a little extra effort and turned his scrap paper into a piece of wood for the axe to sink into. Abdullah created this cool tool using manilla folders, paper, scissors and tape.

Above: Abdullah used his simple machine (a wedge) and turned it into an axe, complete with a piece of wood to chop!

Each kid did a great job on his machine; now we just have to hope they both got A's!

Activity Room Artwork

With the help of Cailin, the kids of 808-812 have learned how to make a lot of new artwork in the Activity Room. These projects include everything from painting t-shirts to learning how to draw cartoons and graffiti. Check out the picture below for a sample of the work that the kids have been doing.

Looks like we have some talented young artists here on Memorial Drive!

A Desktop to Remind You of Home!

We recently updated the desktop image on all of our computers, using an image created and edited by a member of the CLC staff. This new desktop can be seen in a smaller size below, but must be seen on a big computer screen to be appreciated!

The desktop features a lovely picture of the Charles River taken from the viewpoint of the river-side apartments of the 808 Building.

We hope that the picture reminds our residents of home, even while they're in the Computer Learning Center.


-CLC Staff

More Celebrity Sightings at 808!

A few months back, there was a post about the power of GIMP, the freeware image-editing program. A few days ago, we dusted off the program and fired it up again, allowing the kids of 808-812 to see their heads on the bodies of their favorite celebrities, athletes and even cartoon characters! Check out the familiar faces that are now the newest 808-812 celebrities!

Above: Paulos, who wanted to be "the fat guy from Family Guy"
Below: Desi as his favorite singer, Michael Jackson, in the "Thriller" video.

Above: Doodie making his silliest face as the President of the United States.
Below: Davonte is the new face of the $100 bill.

Below: Davonte, Jhkyos and Feldano are the Celtics' newest "Big 3," just in time for the start of basketball season.

Want to start making your own funny pictures? Download GIMP here.

Want to put your face on a playing card, a logo or on any kind of money from all over the world? Check out a cool website that allows you to do just that here.

Adding Accent Marks

When typing in English, we often type in shorthand or abbreviated form (like OMG!, G2G, etc.). We usually ignore accent marks that we find in foreign words like résumé and replace them with regular a's, e's or i's.

However, when typing or writing in a foreign language, these accent marks are usually important, and can in fact be essential to properly understanding a word or phrase. So how do we add these marks? There's not a key on your keyboard for adding "é" to a word, right? Mine just has a regular "e."

Actually, your keyboard is all you need to add all kinds of accents to your typing. Pretty much every accented letter you need can be accessed and added to your type by entering its "keyboard code," which can be entered by pressing and holding the "ALT" key and entering the particular letter's four-digit code.

For example, you can type the letter "e" with an "accent aigu" (which is what the little line was called in my high school French classes) by entering the code ALT + 0233, which gives you "é."

As the French would say, voilà! It's that simple. Of course the trick is finding out all of these codes, but we've got a great link for you: Arnold Winkelried's Tip Sheet on Special Characters.

Here, towards the bottom of the page, Winkelried has created a table of pretty much every special character you need. Simply scroll through the table and find the accent you need, then look two columns to the right. That column is the code for Windows, which will be some combination of ALT + four numbers.

Three important notes:

• You must use the number pad at the right of your keyboard to enter these codes; you can't use the number bar on the top of the keyboard. Make sure your "Num Lock" is on before entering the codes, or they won't work.
• There are different codes for capital and lower case accented letters.
  
• These codes only work on Windows computers. If you have a Mac, you can still use the above link; you just have to enter a different combination of keys.

So there you have it. Next time you want to type in a foreign language, you'll have all of the proper accents!

Fantastic Lego Creations

Lego (apparently that's the plural, "Legos" is technically wrong) were my favorite toy growing up, so it's cool to see that the kids still like to play with them today. I brought some from home a while back for the kids to build with in the Activity Room, and they came up with some really cool stuff.

Recently, Darius, a teen who goes to the CLC and Activity Room often, donated a couple of boxes of Lego to us that he said his mom wanted him to get rid of. We were more than happy to take them, and the kids got busy creating stuff right away.

On Wednesday, one of the kids who was most excited about the Lego, Sirak, helped me build a really cool Lego beach house, complete with waves, a balcony, a security camera, a locked gate and even a Lego guy surfing in the waves!

Check out the photos below of this cool creation. Maybe we have a future architect on our hands?

Above: A close-up of the beach house's door and walkway.
Below: A close-up of the house's stairs to the beach and of the house's resident catching a Lego wave on his surfboard.

Above: The walkway/entryway from the front lawn to the beach. Not a bad piece of land, eh?

Below: An aerial shot of the house, complete with the security camera, torch on the roof and even the owner's boat/plane off to the left.

Thanks for the donation, Darius! And stay tuned, because we're sure to create more awesome stuff with these new Lego soon!

Fall Cleaning!

Yes, it's usually spring cleaning, but we decided to have some "fall cleaning" in the CLC. Things were getting a little dirty after a busy summer and September, so we decided to refresh the whole CLC with a bit of cleaning.

All of the computers were moved off of the tables, and each table was scrubbed clean then sprayed with Windex and wiped down. You wouldn't believe how many pencil marks and smudges came right off!

Above: The recently-cleaned desks. They look like new, right?

While moving one of the tables, a leg fell off. This might seem like a bad thing, but upon further inspection the table was pretty worn down from people leaning on it. It's a good thing it fell while cleaning was going on, and not while people were using the computers!

Fortunately, the CLC staff member who was cleaning was able to hold up the table before it fell, balance one end on a chair and move the computers, so nothing was damaged. We replaced the table with one from the Activity Room for the time being, so we're not even down an extra computer.

All of the sockets along the walls were dusted too, and the homework table was scrubbed down as well. The carpet got a thorough vacuuming thanks to a CLC staff member's home vacuum, and the door was cleaned as well.

We also scrubbed down the walls by the door, as they had been damaged a bit when a ceiling tile fell earlier in September. All of the tiles have been replaced, and we're looking good.

We also did some behind the scenes cleaning as well, cleaning out drawers and the corners by the windows. Perhaps most "excitingly," we cleaned off the round table in the corner that holds the fax machine and turned that table into an office/homework space. It now is a great space for someone to prepare a fax or copy or for a kid to work on his homework in quiet.

Above: The all-new Fax/Copy & Homework station, complete with pens, pencils, cover sheets and a sharpener. (Apologies for the blurry photo)

Be sure to stop by the CLC and check out the new set-up, and, of course, let us know if we missed a spot!