Chris Paul

Well, I came across this video just minutes ago on youtube featuring Chris Paul. He is a professional basketball player that currently plays for the New Orleans Hornets. I’ll just post the youtube link below and it will speak for itself. Very touching and inspiring video.

Chris Paul

The Future of Basketball

Description

In 2025, basketball players will enjoy the benefits of SpeedTrac Basketball. Their design will be effectively the same as current-day basketballs, but they will input a radar detector that will show the speed of the basketball shot by the players. A product like present day hockey radars and a potential of an integrated screen along with the shot clock will display the speed the ball travelled. The basketball players will be able to see the speed of their shot and making in-game adjustments to their jumpers if the shot is not precise. The addition of the speed tracker will generally target student athletes (high school students that are in a competitive basketball league), competitors, and National Basketball Leagues (NBA, Wnba, international, college). This will potentially create the intensity of the game, as the player will be able to predict if their shot had the power it was suppose to have. On an educational level this will allow sub-par free throw shooters or shooters in general to follow specific speeds to further enhance their shooting abilities. The more dominant players will take advantage of this technology by simply knowing the power you need on your shot, which adds another arsenal to their game.

Development

The first milestone that must take place before the development of SpeedTrac Basketball will include the production of basketballs being controlled by computers/machines. The process in which basketballs are manufactured will no longer be managed by human operators, but by the machines that wire up the radar sensor inside. These robots will then continue the process by placing the diaphragms precisely in the microphones. Although present day basketballs are able to be used in competition, the future SpeedTrac will have a much higher intensity level, which the speed of the ball given off by power and rotation from the shot. Users will find the ease of buying their basketballs and won’t have to worry about which kinds to use for their specific purpose because these will be the only ones available (regardless if you have the radar display or not). This milestone’s significance is the fact that the basketballs will change the games competitive level with much more precision.

Next to come will be Power Shoes with computer chips on the bottom that can analyze the height you reach on every jump; working as a vertical height detector. This technological breakthrough will allow the chip to record your vertical jumps and make them viewable on the computer. Also, these shoes will be sold with microchip capability (similar to the current usb flash drive or memory card readers). Adding microchip viewable capability to security to list the statistics of your vertical will allow the players to see how high they really need to get on a jump shot.

Rationale

Since the ancient basketballs to advanced radar basketballs, the usefulness of basketballs has majorly enhanced, and has been proved to be more useful to competitive athletes. As basketballs improved, it has proved great efficiency to give general exercise for people and an occupation for athletes. However more is added to the effectiveness of the basketball. Between now to the year 2025, basketballs improved from moisture manageable material that provides superior grip and feel throughout the course of a game, to basketballs that allows the players to view the speed of the ball from the flick of the wrist. Basketballs that the people play with come in many ways too, from old fashioned animal skin to microfiber composite material. (Stringer, 2006) In the 21st century a big improvement of the basketball has been proved useful to the players. The microfiber basketball was able to allow the players to have firm grip even with the slipperiness from the sweat on your hands (NBA, 2009). The input of microfiber material are also a new trend of usefulness of the basketball, it helps eliminate the potential downturns to the game because of sweaty hands. Another improvement is the microfiber basketballs have less cross panels which allows the ball to have better handling (NBA, 2009). These major milestones strongly affect the society and people in many ways. The basketball has reinforced to more than a ball, but the invention of different materials have changed the way athletes could handle the ball. It has allowed players to have a better bounce to make the game superior (Inside Hoops ,2009). From this concept I thought of a radar sensor that will send information to the display on the backboard making a “SpeedTrac Basketball” to give players a view of how fast the ball is being shot at.

References:

Inside Hoops (April 3, 2009). Inside Hoops: New Game Ball. Retrieved April 3, 2009, from
http://www.insidehoops.com/new-composite-official-nba-game-ball.shtml

NBA (April 3, 2009). NBA: Game Ball. Retrieved April 3, 2009, from
http://www.nba.com/news/blackbox_060628.html

Stringer, Peter (2006). Unveiling New Game Ball. Retrieved April 4, 2009, from the NBA website: http://www.nba.com/celtics/news/notes062806-pierce-gameball.html

Losing Ground….

After a miserable loss last night to the Aves, a victory tonight by the Calgary Flames leads to the game tonight with no meaning. Even with a victory tonight against the division rivals, we will not be able to conquer the third seed as the Flames have the tie-breaker in hand. Lets just hope we can win the game tomorrow and at least give ourselves an opportunity to depending on how both the teams finish the season!

Go Canucks Go!

We are number 1!

After 76 long fought games, the Vancouver Canucks are once again the Northwest division leaders. We are just a single point ahead of the rival Calgary Flames. The game against one another on April 7th might turn out to be the game that determines the outcome of the division title. Aside from this, I would like to mention that Alex Burrows has more goals than Daniel Alfredsson! Way to go Burrows! Currently Alex is sitting at 26 goals with 6 games left, I really hope he can net 4 more goals to reach 30. To end this off, I want to point out that Willie Mitchell has a +/- rating of +32 which is phenomenal!

Vancouver Canucks choke?

So it seems like recently that whenever the Calgary Flames lose a game, the Canucks can’t seem to capitalize and make it a closer race for the division title. At this rate we could potentially face the lethal Blackhawks which have an awesome home record. Maybe thats thinking ahead of schedule, I could even see Columbus moving up to 5th place and we’ll be in a rival battle with the Flames. That first round match-up would be one for the century. Guess we’ll have to wait 8 more games to see where we end up! Go Canucks Go!

Nikola Tesla’s Facebook

Nathaniel Fung | D101 | Tech114 | Drew Paulin

Facebook Profile —> Nikola Tesla

References:

Nikola Tesla (2009). Wikipedia. Retrieved March 10, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla

Tesla Society, (n.d.). Tesla Memorial Society of New York. Retrieved March 10, 2009, from http://www.teslasociety.com/famousfriends.htm

Pro AV Staff, (July 1, 2006). Fascinating facts about nikola tesla. Retrieved march 10, 2009, from http://www.proavmagazine.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=1757&articleID=599330

Pictures:

Tesla : http://www.teslamap.com/images/guide/nikolatesla.jpg

Twain: http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/artman2/uploads/1/mark-twain.jpg

Johnson: http://www.keats-shelley-house.org/img/fundador.jpg

Westinghouse: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/George_Westinghouse.jpg

Explanation: For the 4th Studio Lab, I have chosen to create a facebook profile on Nikola Tesla. In 1894, he invented wireless communications which the active technologies today include the radio, cellphone and much more. Basically I selected him for my fictional facebook profile because I was uncertain if the name was a male or female. So upon further research, I found out he had a long and interesting life and decided to choose him.

The friends I have chosen are:
Mark Twain: I chose him because they would spend time in Tesla’s Lab (as stated in wikipedia)
Thomas Edison: He helped/worked in the Edison Machine Works Institution
Robert Johnson: Listed as good friends with Tesla
Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White: They had a good-humored relationship with Tesla

The Technological Development of Basketball Through History

The basketball, as an equipment and sport, is commonly played in today’s society. Most of the modern basketballs are inexpensive and easy to handle. The basketball had been greatly developed and changed throughout history. Looking into each period of time and seeing how the basketball has changed will determine the process of its development.

The basketball as sport we know today was created in 1891 by James Naismith (Wikipedia, 2009). Naismith first intentions were to bring outdoor games inside, such as soccer and football, but they turned out to be too violent for indoors. He was then able to create an indoor basketball game using what was back then a soccer ball.

In the Pre-Industrial Revolution era, the elasticized ball was the most common type of “ball” used for sports because it was the first ball created. The first ball was created with animal skin, meaning the bounce in the ball depended on the shape of the animal’s bladder (Rigsby, 2006). At the time, the pig bladders were being blown up which caused fatalities from lung disease (Rigsby, 2006). Since then, basketballs were made of more than just a pig’s bladder; mainly of cow bladder, animal skin, and even human skull. The predominant usage of the ball was for soccer and the sport; “tsu chu.”. (Rigsby, 2006). One large impact that the soccer balls had was the farm production industry. Special types of pigs were bred for their bladder shapes throughout South America (Rigsby, 2006)

In the Industrial Revolution era, the pig’s bladder had been replaced with vulcanized rubber which led to great popularity, because the shape of the ball began to look circular and not dependant on pig bladder. The invention of the vulcanized rubber was due to the fatalities of the workers that had lung disease from blowing up pig bladders. This creation of rubber allowed the ball to bounce at faster and higher speeds. Toward the 1840s, H.J Lindon developed a rubber ball that was inflatable which also helped prevent casualties amongst the workers. The balls with the rubber bladders ensured that the ball remained hard and oval. This increased labour involved in inflating the balls due to the fact there was no risk of lung disease from the rubber. As a result, the ball was being used many different sports, such as soccer and rugby (Rigsby, 2006). Many changes in the Industrial Revolution era reshaped the way basketballs are made and used. The appearance of mass production influenced the ball to be made in groups and have certain restriction on the size. In addition, the creation of soccer leagues allowed soccer balls to be used in all the games. In general, the development of the ball in this era did have impact on society because of the creation of stable equipment that was used. The reason was that the ball at this stage didn’t require workers to inhale in pig bladders; which was inconvenient and a risk to life.

In the Post-Industrial Revolution era, the ball had been developed significantly. Many of the creations and the developments of the ball occurred during this era. In 1902, the company Rawlings had created the first basketball which contains ten panels (Wikipedia, 2009). This addition of an actual basketball abolished the need to play the game with a soccer ball. The manufacture of basketball in the Post-Industrial era saw panels of leather being stitched together with rubber bladder inside (Wikipedia., 2008). One of the most important functions of the basketball was the grip on the outside that allows players to have a firm hold. The use of leather-grip balls allows the player to have smooth and firm hold. This development of the basketball in the early 20th century had a great impact on the way the game was played. The ball was able to produce better stats for players as it became easier to release. Since the basketball became more popular and useful, the distribution of basketballs had been extensive to the major point where everyone in the society especially in United States could possessed the ball (More than 300million in US alone). The impact made on the society was the change in the way people played sports, and the difference it had from using animal skin and leather for a firm hold.

Throughout the different eras, the ball evolved from a pig’s bladder to leather stitched equipment. The development allows us to visualize the effects technology has even on the material of a ball. With the development of the ball over the different eras, the basketball could well have a different type of material in the future.

References:

Laughhead Jr. George (2004).  Historic Figures: James Naismith. Retrieved March 15, 2009, from the Kansas Heritage website: http://www.kansasheritage.org/people/naismith.html

Rigsby, Bruce (2006). The History of the Soccer Ball. Retrieved March 15, 2009, from the Soccer Ball World website:  http://www.soccerballworld.com/History.htm#Balls%20in%201800%27s

Wikipedia (March 15, 2009).  Wikipedia: Basketball. Retrieved March 14, 2009, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Basketball_(ball)

Studio Lab #3 – Part 2

By creating a wiki, groups of people are able to produce more in depth, more varied, and generally more cultured information on a subject, faster than a single person would be able to do the same thing. Also,  working with a group of people, we are able to see what others have researched and use their ideas off of it in order to better our own research. Along with the benefits of making wikis, there also comes some limitations as well. With multiple people collaborating on a single work, there are always going to be issues of different formats, inconsistency of quality of research, and different writing styles, which lead to problems in the overall flow of the document. Overall the experiment worked very well. With the amount of people we had working on the single subject of crowdsourcing, we were able to bring together an abundance of quality information and display it in a neat and clear format. The only thing that was difficult with this experiment was the final polishing up of the information. The info we collected flows decently well in our wiki, however if one person were to do the entire thing, or if there was less of a time constraint, the final product would have flowed more smoothly. As mentioned above, the outcome of this project would have been different if a single person had done it. If I were to research the same topic and produce a wiki by myself, (in which case, would it really be a wiki?) it would differ a lot in regards to style and breadth of the subject. I would have most likely used the same format as our group used, in which we had subcategories to break down the topic of crowdsourcing, and I would have had roughly the same depth of information as well. However the style would have differed because it would have been all my style of writing, instead of six people’s, and the breadth would have certainly been far less extensive because of the time constraint factor and because of the fact that only one person is doing the research. While working in the same room as the other members in our group, we were better able to communicate to each other about what information each person was to look up and post on the wiki. Overall the only change that occurred was that we could talk to each other right away and face to face instead of communicating through other means, which made working on the post easier. On the whole, creating the wiki has taught me a lot about crowdsourcing, and the benefits of using a wiki as a means of collecting and displaying information.

GSN HSP Season Five!

Every year, professional poker players come together to play on the biggest televised cash game in the world. High Stakes Poker in Las Vegas. Season Five took quite a bit of time to be broadcasted because there was a lack of sponsers due to the economic downfall in Vegas.

The first episode was released last night and heres a link for people that haven’t seen it already. ENJOY!

http://www.pokertube.com/Movies.aspx?movie=9283&KeyID=1&title=High_Stakes_Poker_S05_Ep1_1_4

“Basketball in Contemporary Society”

[1] What is a basketball?

A basketball is a round ball that is injected with air for the game of basketball, and is often made with leather. Basketballs would be categorized under personal technology as they can vary in size depending if it is an official ball, or a training ball to help increase skill for players. The two kinds of basketballs that exist are indoor and outdoor. Indoor basketballs are often made of leather or absorbent composites which lead to them being more expensive than outdoor balls because of the material being used. The indoor balls usually will have more grip on them because of the hardwood it is being bounced on, rather than the rough surfaces outdoors. The ball is only piece of equipment aside from the hoop to play the game of basketball. In the basketball games the ball must be dribbled continuously or being passed around in the air (if not dribbling), and the main concept of the game is to shoot the ball into the basket.

[2] The article I found is a little too long to be posted, so the link will be posted instead. This article isn’t based on a “Basketball,” but around the game of basketball. This talks about the concept of it, and not the equipment itself, because an article stating an effect with a rubber ball was not possible to find whatsoever.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/09/beavertons_jaime_nared_given_o.html

[3] The game of basketball around the society

The article listed above discusses how a single basketball, and the game of basketball can change the way people think of the opposing gender in their society. Before the law suit that was being put on the table, Jaime Nared banned from the “boys” basketball team because of a “little-used rule” about co-ed teams. Therefore, this act connects the individuals to the social effect it brings. It causes social effect in people to be more aware that the game of basketball is meant for both genders.

[4] The Positive or Negative effect..

It is without question that it has changed the way society operates on a positive scale. Allowing co-ed teams in basketball just gives a common advantage for more talented females trying to get better competition.

[5] Citation Reference

Basketball (ball). (n.d.) Wikipedia. Retrieved February 7, 2009, from http:// www.wikipedia.org

Oregon News (2008, September 8). Beaverton girl allowed to play on boys basketball team. Retrieved February 8th,2009, from Oregon Live: http://oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/09/beavertons_jaime_nared_given_o.html

Basketball. (n.d.) Wikipedia. Retrieved February 7, 2009, from http:// www.wikipedia.org