duct tape projects

Totally Stylin’ Tattoos Barbie is out just in time for spring. While some parents think the idea of a tattooed Barbie is a bad one, the toy is already selling out in some retail outlets. The doll comes with the usual fashion accessories, shirts, skirts, hairbrush, shoes. She also comes with over forty tattoos and a tattoo gun, which Mattel calls a “stamper.” The stamper works like a water gun to apply the tattoos. Some are for the doll and some are for the doll’s owner. You can also stamp them on Barbie’s clothes.

This latest Barbie has raised a question I’ve not considered – how old is Barbie supposed to be anyway? She has a car, a house, a pool, a horse, a dog, a boyfriend, a wardrobe, and a shoe fetish. These things seem to indicate she’s a grown adult with a stable income, and a variety of hobbies and interests. And now she’s into ink. That’s fine for a grown adult.

Looking back on my own experience with Barbie, I’d like to say her impact on my development in the area of decision-making was minimal. I could be wrong. I constantly made up things to do to her. I gave a few nice Barbies some very bad haircuts. Lord knows I’ve committed a few crimes against my own hair since. I turned a Barbie into a mermaid with duct tape, and gave one doll a very unfortunate home-rhinoplasty with an Exact-O knife. (Like the Hollywood A-listers, she had a “deviated septum” so I did a little correction while I was in there.) That procedure might’ve stemmed from my own self-nose-loathing. I’ll spare you the details about some of the tasks and experiments I had my Barbies carry out with Ken; Barbie should take neither the blame, nor credit, for my later adventures in Naughtyland. My own Barbie taught me that the shnozz the factory gave you always looks best, and once you take a knife to it it’s gone for good. I’m still sporting my original nose. I learned certain haircuts don’t even look good on a Barbie face, duct tape is excellent for binding legs, and Ken dolls are sort of boring.

If Barbie came with interesting things to do to her already in the box, like the tattoo stamper, I might’ve liked that, but I don’t think it would’ve pushed me toward getting a tattoo at eighteen. A kid’s longing for tattoos may disappear when she takes it out on Barbie. Or not. If a person ran out and got a tattoo at eighteen is that so bad? Tattoos are wildly popular today. I used to want one, but I haven’t encountered a life event that’s warranted a commemorative tattoo. Given how popular they are – heck, even Barbie’s got one – I’m not sure I want one at all. I could change my mind though, and I am a grown woman; it’s fine for me to get inked. But is it okay for Barbie to wield her influence over impressionable youngsters? Does Barbie wield influence over them in the first place?

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MITCHELLVILLE, Md. — Another Prince George’s County teacher is under investigation for allegedly shutting up students with duct tape.

The Kingsford Elementary School teacher taped seven third-grade students’ mouths shut to keep them quiet Tuesday, school officials said. A school administrator saw a child with a taped mouth in the hallway, schools spokesman John White said, and parents were notified.

The teacher has been reassigned away from children while the school board investigates whether there’s anything substantial in the allegation.

A similar incident last week at Flintstone Elementary in Oxon Hill is under investigation by police. In that case, a teacher’s aide is accused of taping several students’ mouths shut in the cafeteria after they disobeyed orders to be quiet.

Technorati Tags: duck tape, students, teachers

New carpet can dramatically change any room;  Photo: Wikipedia 

Technorati Tags: carpet, duck tape, duct tape, home improvment, home repair

For Diya Majumdar of Batavia, a week without working on a robotics team project is unbearable.

“It’s like your water,” she says of her “addiction” to the problem-solving hobby. On summer break last year, “I was like, ‘I need to build something!’ “

Majumdar and a dozen other teenagers from Batavia High School (and a few from West Aurora, one from Illinois Math and Science Academy and one from St. Charles North) are putting their work to the test next week, in the FIRST Midwest Regional contest at the University of Illinois at Chicago. FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.

Teams had six weeks to design and assemble a robot that could move foam orbit balls off a trailer and throw them at a target. The robot is programmed with a camera to sense the color of the target (pink or green), so the balls hit the right target. The robot is powered by a motorcycle battery (which does not count toward the weight limit).

The Batavia team ships their 120-pound solution today. No more tinkering, trying to get it to weigh less. No more welds, no more rewiring the circuit board for the control joysticks. No more experimenting with cable ties and paintstick shards for the ball sweeper. No more computer-aided design work, or animating the team Web site (methodtomadness.bataviarobotics.com), which is also part of their entry.

The FIRST organization was founded by Dean Kamen, the man who invented, among other things, the Segway transportation device. It is designed to encourage creativity, teamwork, leadership and interest in engineering and science. The Batavia team came together a few years ago at Rotolo Middle School, and entered the FIRST Legos robotic contest (for younger students).

Each of the 54 teams in the regional received the same $6,000 kit (Batavia’s was paid for by a grant from NASA). The Batavia team added close to $4,000 in other parts, Majumdar says.

“We went to Ace Hardware like every five minutes” when designing and building the prototype, she says.

The group asked local businesses for money. It also put on a science day camp last summer, and had a Rock Band/Guitar Hero contest at the high school to raise the money.

It is also entering the robot in a contest in April in Minnesota. It hopes to advance to the world championship in Atlanta.

The team received advice from engineers at the Caterpillar plant in Montgomery. Batavia Web designer Bob Baty-Barr helped them with the Web site, and Dan Caldwell did some of the plasma cutting and advanced welding of the aluminum frame. The kids did the spot welding in the shop at Batavia High School.

The team has a sense of humor: The control for the ball elevator is labeled “Darth Elevator.”

There’s high-fives when problems get solved.

School spirit is part of the project; the Batavia team is contemplating wearing hats decorated in red and black duct tape, the school colors. There will be lots of cheering.

“We’ll be hard to miss,” Majumdar said.

Technorati Tags: duck tape, duck tape projects, high school, robot

The Girl Scouts of the USA are on a search for girls interested in developing life skills through programs that are just plain fun.

To find such girls in the Danville area, a Girl Scout Glamour Girlz recruitment event will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 14 in the former Boscov’s department store in Piedmont Mall.

“This event is one avenue to introduce girls to the benefits of Girl Scouting and to help every girl find her own self-worth no matter where she comes from or what she looks like,” said Joaquina Clark-Sheffield, membership services manager of the Girl Scouts of Virginia Skyline Council.

Activities for the day include workshops on skin care with Clinique, hair care with Mastercuts, a self-esteem workshop and fashion creations with duct tape. A fashion show, sponsored by Belk, will teach the girls how to dress and be fashionable whatever their body shape.

A highlight of the day will be an appearance by Miss Virginia 2009 Tara Wheeler.

“Miss Virginia will deliver a motivational message to the girls,” Clark-Sheffield said. “We want the girls to realize that beauty is not only on the outside, (but) starts from within!”

Since the event is geared toward girls who are not registered Girl Scouts, girls who are registered may only attend, and will receive a patch, if they bring a friend who is not a registered Girl Scout.

Clark-Sheffield said that the Girl Scouts of the USA have developed “new pathways” in which girls can participate in Girl Scouting outside of the usual troop setting, which she hopes will enable the Girl Scouts to reach more girls in the Danville area.

“A girl can choose to travel in the U.S. and overseas and attend big events such as this one, throughout the council’s 36-county area, attend camps or programs and even follow a special interest she may have, such as making a difference in the environment,” she said.

In this, the biggest Girl Scout event ever to be held in Danville, building self-esteem in girls will be a focus, as it has been in Girl Scouts since the organization’s founding in 1912, Clark-Sheffield said.

“Most of our programs center around guiding girls to find courage, confidence and character in themselves in such a fun way that it never seems like work at all,” she said. “Just fun.”

There are currently 149 Girl Scouts registered in Danville and 80 registered in Pittsylvania County.

Clark-Sheffield said there are many benefits to girls in the scouting program, which includes programs for girls from kindergarten through the 12th grade.

“Girl Scouts is a leadership program for girls that develops life skills in business, science and technology; provides challenges in sports, the environment and the great outdoors; and encourages girls to give back to their communities through service projects conducted locally, across the United States and internationally,” she said. “In Girl Scouting, girls have a safe place to be who they want to be, make lasting friendships and have experiences that will last a lifetime.”

The cost for girls to attend Glamour Girlz is $20, which includes lunch. There are scholarships available, however.

Partnerships with Piedmont Mall, Clinique, Belk and Chick-fil-A that are enabling the Girl Scouts to attend the event with minimal cost to the girls, Clark-Sheffield said.

“We are extremely grateful to them and credit the future success of this event in part to these local businesses as they see this being such a benefit to girls in their area,” she said.

To register for this event or for information about scholarships, call the Skyline Council at (540) 777-5100 or (800) 542-5905 or go online at http://www.gsvsc.org.

Technorati Tags: duck tape, duct tape projects, fashion, girl scouts

Kristin Harty
Cumberland Times-News

CUMBERLAND — Layoffs and furloughs aren’t planned for teachers at Allegany County Schools, though the superintendent’s proposed 2010 budget would shrink the instructional payroll by more than $300,000.

“We’ve been put on a diet, folks,” Finance Director Randy Bittinger told school board members Tuesday afternoon.

For the first time in years, the proposed budget is smaller than the year before — $114,038,708, compared to 114,800,611, a decrease of $761,903, or .66 percent.

With no end in sight to the national recession and a state deficit of more than $1 billion, funding from both governments will be reduced next year, estimates show. The board must trim expenses accordingly.

But teachers won’t be on the chopping block.

“Let’s put that rumor to rest,” said Bittinger, who explained that payroll would be reduced through retirements and staff positions that won’t be replaced as the district’s student enrollment continues to drop. Allegany County has lost 1,200 students since 2004, Bittinger said; it’s gained 127 staff.

“I don’t know if we can stay on that path,” he said.

During a 3 1/2-hour special session, board members waded through the 200-plus-page proposed budget, which is scheduled to be presented to the Allegany County commissioners on March 19. The board plans to meet again next week to make revisions.

Though the district is dealing with fewer dollars, individual schools are actually in line to receive more funding this year — about $1.3 million for supplies, equipment and other expenses — up $37,300 from last year.

The board considered dozens of requests from principals, ranging from building additional classrooms to replacing carpet that’s been patched with duct tape.

One noticeable absence: A request for funds to complete the Greenway Avenue Stadium project.

Renovations are expected to cost about $3 million, the board learned last month — more than twice as much as it has in the bank for the project. The school district has contributed $1 million to both the Greenway Avenue and Mountain Ridge stadium projects.

“I guess we need to say upfront that project is not going forward,” said board member Tom Striplin. “I guess the project’s on hold unless some other funding comes up.”

Board member Jeff Metz said he expects stadium funding to be addressed once the budget has been fine-tuned and the district knows where it stands.

“Individually, I place it as a high priority,” Metz said.

With money tight, the superintendent’s proposed budget, many projects were given Priority 3 status, including recommendations of the Middle School Task Force to hire four teachers for a fine arts program ($258,000) and hire additional counselors ($232,000). Also given Priority 3 status were proposals to: Hire 23 school health nurses ($375,000); employ three elementary enrichment specialists ($194,600); and installing air conditioning in Main Data Facility rooms, where computer equipment is kept.

The board will review the status of projects when it meets again next week.

“Every time we turned around somebody was trimming dollars or cutting dollars on us,” said Bittinger, who described the district’s financial situation as “all in all, not too bad.”

“We knew this day was coming.”

To review the Allegany County Schools Superintendent’s proposed 2010 budget, go to www.acps.allconet.org. Click on “Administrative services,” then “Finance.”

Technorati Tags: duck tape, duck tape projects, duct tape projects, teachers

Are you tired of the flimsy shoelaces that always break or fray at the tips? Then you need duct tape to do the job! Duct tape is sturdy and won’t fray, resulting in shoelaces that will last much longer!

step 1Materials Needed

step 2Cut the Tape

Cut a continuous strip of duct tape that is 3 feet long.

step 3Make it into 2 Laces

Rip/Cut the strip into 2 equal pieces the long way. You should end up with two pieces of duct tape that are 3 feet long.

step 4Make Them Wearable

Fold each strip of duct tape over itself so that there is still a little bit of sticky showing. Don’t fold it over entirely, just until there is a third or so of the sticky…

Technorati Tags: duck tape, duct tape, duct tape projects, shoe laces, shoes