Month: September 2014

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Programming

Hi, this is Eli.  One of our school assignments is to completely learn our math tables by heart.   We wrote a python program to help us practice with this.  This is a program for multiplication tables 1-12.

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Ezra and I are learning how to program in python.  Dad helped us get the structure of this program right, but we entered into IDLE and debugged it ourselves.

Here is an example of the program in action:

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When you activate the program it  asks you how many problems you want – you can go from 1 to 144 problems.

When you are done with your problems it tells you how long you took and how many problems you got right and how many problems you got right and how long it took you to answer each problem.

That’s all for now!

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Praying mantis

We found a praying mantis on our hose!

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The praying mantis is in the family of Mantidae.  They live all over the world, especially in North and South America.

When a praying mantis is young, they eat small things such as tiny flies or even it’s its own siblings!!!

As a praying mantis becomes older, it eats bigger things such as Bushbrown butterflies.  You can find out more about the praying  mantis here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantis

That is all for now!

Cleaning our South Bend Model A Lathe
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Cleaning our South Bend Model A Lathe

Our South Bend Model A Lathe was rather stiff when we started working with it but we have been cleaning it up a lot since then.  Now it is running very smoothly by hand – we still do not have it under power yet.

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WD-40 has been a great cleaning agent.  It cuts through old dried up oil really well.   There was a slight bit of rust on the ways, so we used some steel wool and very fine-grit  sandpaper (400 grit) to clean them up.

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Basically it boils down to a lot of time and “elbow grease”.  Thanks to Ezra, it is looking a lot nicer now.

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That is all for now!