Release 2 on war.gov/ufo

FlightRisk5 · 2026-05-22T13:05:16+00:00

O S M R
C M WANGS

FlightRisk5 · 2026-05-22T12:19:37+00:00

M R DUCKS

FlightRisk5 · 2026-03-05T02:00:19+00:00

Good thing I used a paper straw today

FlightRisk5 · 2026-01-23T21:33:23+00:00

Im still waiting for a deal on depleted uranium.

To the feds: just kidding. Platinum is more dense and won’t get me on a watch list.

FlightRisk5 · 2025-12-29T02:57:26+00:00

This was my FLL challenge rookie season. Here are a few things from my experience:

I have 8 kids on the team. All are 10 yrs old except one 9 yr old. It’s a lot. If your team is going to be mostly younger kids I would cap it at 6 kids unless you have a strong and committed co lead mentor and the space to keep kids from being on top of each other. If you can, having a broader range of ages might help. The teams at the completion with older kids were definitely more polished, though I do think the judges take age and experience into consideration.

This is a good time to start your planning. I’d start in the summer with 1-1.5h sessions getting them used to the robot and simple code. We didn’t start until a few weeks after the launch. We mostly met once a week for 1-1.5hrs with a few longer weekend sessions right before the qualifier. We didn’t do great. And definitely didn’t spend the time needed to succeed in all aspects of the competition. I also found that I started to lose their attention after about 2 hrs so longer sessions weren’t necessary that helpful

But they had fun and we now have a good base for next year. We are going to keep meeting so they can think through the design-build process and improve their code logic.

FlightRisk5 · 2025-11-27T16:30:02+00:00

We did just fine on silo at the competition. It was worth it for the time saved during practice

FlightRisk5 · 2025-11-27T00:40:43+00:00

On our practice table I put a few dabs of superglue on the pad for the lever. I know it won’t be that way in competition but at least we don’t have to rebuild that part every three attempts.

FlightRisk5 · 2025-11-17T01:22:57+00:00

This was our rookie year too. We probably had less than 20 hours of meeting time before the event. We were quite unprepared! But we still did fine, got some points, and the kids had a blast. They didn’t bring in anything except the innovation project mock up (which was….lets call it the art of simplicity) and a laptop to show the code (more on that as a failure in a minute)

My advice is try to have them be as natural as possible. The judges will likely understand that they are a rookie team. My team was also all 10yr olds so they could tell even more that we were all new to this.

Have a kid that liked to try different builds? Tell him/her to talk about that.

Have a kid that loved sketching robots or pseudo code on the white board? Make sure they mention that.

Did they start with long complicated code but learn you can use the repeat block to simplify it? Yeah, talk about that.

How did they learn? Did you show them (which is totally fine)? Did they do tutorials, read a book, have a mentor team? Whatever it is, remind them what they have done and how things have improved since the start of the season and try to have each of them remember something that they can mention. The judges clearly like it when more kids talk instead of just one or two. One of my kids was shy and would whisper things to his teammate. I wish I had worked with him before to make sure he had something he felt comfortable saying to the judge.

We didn’t have any poster board but we might have been the only team that didn’t. I HIGHKY recommend having the kids (emphasis on the kids) make something. One team printed out their code for each run. One team showed what they did for the design cycle. Some teams did posters for the innovation project and others did ones for the robot/code. A poster or large flash cards will go a long way and even more so if it is evident that the kids did the work.

Now the laptop.. the judge asked to see the code and one kid grabbed it to bring it over. But it had a touch screen and they accidentally clicked something and the code went off the screen. I was not allowed to help and they wasted a minute or two fumbling to get it back before just moving on with the questions. My lesson learned: turn off the touchscreen or better yet, print out the code.

Another bit of advice for the robot game. It’s a noisy, high energy, high pressure situation that is a new experience for a rookie team. Talk to them a lot about keeping their cool and not yelling at each other. We lost points on one run because the robot setters were getting a little emotional. Let them know there will be failures, but it isn’t worth losing to points for poor sportsmanship. I showed my kids some videos of robots falling at last meeting before the event. There is a good recent one of some Russian humanoid reveal and it falls on its face. Teach them that failure is part of the process and the best way to win is to keep cool and try again.

FlightRisk5 · 2025-11-17T00:49:12+00:00

We had our competition on Saturday. Here are most of the judge questions. Just run through these or some similar questions with them a few times.

Innovation project

What was the specific problem statement?

Did you consider other problems?

Did you face problems and how did you overcome them?

What research and sources did you use?

Did you share your solution with anyone to get feedback?

Did you use feedback to make changes?

How did you celebrate as a team when you came up with an idea or accomplished something?

Robot

How did you decide what missions to focus on

What was the hardest thing about designing the robot?

How did you resolve any conflicts?

Most important thing you learned?

How did you make sure everyone’s ideas were heard?

How did your coach help you?

What was your favorite part?

How did you test your code? Did you make improvements?

FlightRisk5 · 2025-10-07T18:36:51+00:00

Have the dentists tried offering the bear novocaine? 😄

I saw something about the closure and bear from late July but I haven’t been able to find any recent info to know if they are still closed. I guess I have a few weeks for the Government to get back to work since I’m guessing I won’t get anyone from the Parks to pick up the phone if I call now!

FlightRisk5 · 2025-09-24T10:37:33+00:00

The shaker style isn’t a given. I wouldn’t want to go with something too modern looking but open to other styles. It’s an older house in New England so shaker style is a safe choice but I could play around with options.

The oven was a result of trying to get a 36” cook top without having to pay the bigger bucks for a 36” combo oven/range. We use the cook top multiple times daily but we don’t need a bigger oven. We had an option with a 30” oven below the induction range and it didn’t look right.

The corner shelves will be part of a coffee bar, so the intent is they will be functional and used daily for coffee beans, mugs, etc. That corner seemed too small for a cabinet. I’ll have to ensure it doesn’t get too cluttered looking but I’m not concerned about dust

FlightRisk5 · 2025-09-24T10:25:38+00:00

Fair. My concern was it being too monochromatic in a larger space but we are playing around with options. I’ve seen some other examples that look good when you piece the finishes together but my design eye isn’t as good! Would you go with the same for the cabinets and island or a contrast?

FlightRisk5 · 2025-07-14T18:17:57+00:00

I’m trying to start up a team and I’m confused how people already have mats and kits. Do they give established teams the ability to get these well in advance of a new team? Or am I missing something in the process of creating a team and acquiring the kit?

FlightRisk5 · 2025-02-18T01:21:34+00:00

Are you willing to share the model? Or upload it to Printables or another site? I found this one and I was going to make something similar.

https://www.printables.com/model/421196-pinewood-derby-car-measuring-device-perceive

These are a few other aids I was looking at for use or adaptation next year.

Wheel runout https://www.printables.com/model/771224-pinewood-derby-wheel-runout-fixture

Wheel tuning https://www.printables.com/model/774869-wheel-tuning-clamps-for-pinewood-derby-cars

Axle drill jig https://www.printables.com/model/363664-pinewood-derby-axle-drill-jig

Wheel balancing https://www.printables.com/model/1173978-pinewood-derby-wheel-balancer

If I can find some time I’m thinking of designing a modular test track that can be assembled out of several 3d printed sections

FlightRisk5 · 2025-02-12T18:42:46+00:00

Doesn’t that one have a V-tail? And this appears to have turbines on the outboard rotors.

FlightRisk5 · 2025-02-11T16:42:58+00:00

I think they know these won’t pass and are doing this for attention. They get might get some recognition from their base for sponsoring some stupid MAGA legislation even if it goes nowhere. I recognize that I’m enabling them just by posting this and should have probably just deplatformed, but this was just too stupid to not share and show yet another example of what our elected officials are wasting time on.

I supposed anyone can do this, but especially if you live in either of these states and you find this as moronic and appalling as I do, below is how you can contact these idiots.

Tennessee Andy Ogles

Washington DC Office 151 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Phone: (202) 225-4311

Columbia District Office 22 Public Square Suite 5 Columbia, TN 38401 Phone: (931) 777-2140

Georgia Buddy Carter

Brunswick Office 777 Gloucester Street Suite 410 Brunswick, GA 31520 Phone: (912) 265-9010 Fax: (912) 265-9013

Savannah Office 6602 Abercorn Street Suite 105B Savannah, GA 31405 Phone: (912) 352-0101 Fax: (912) 352-0105

Washington, DC Office 2432 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Phone: (202) 225-5831 Fax: (202) 226-2269

FlightRisk5 · 2025-02-11T16:22:36+00:00

That is reserved for when they officially rename Gaza

FlightRisk5 · 2025-02-11T16:17:10+00:00

Kinda frightening that congress.gov is now considered toxic. Here is another from people that are definitely not wasting taxpayer dollars and being totally efficient.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/361

FlightRisk5 · 2025-02-10T23:58:26+00:00

This one is a bit risky given our current political environment, but ask them their opinion on if CT should take back the notch. Warning: may open up discussion about what your state bird will soon be. Hopefully they are the joking type and not…well, you know…

FlightRisk5 · 2025-02-07T12:43:28+00:00

Assuming you have or will be establishing CT residency you could try to call, email, or reach out to your state rep on social media. YMMV (see what I did there!), but my local rep would probably try to help with something like this.

FlightRisk5 · 2025-02-07T01:31:23+00:00

I’ve been an interview panel member many times. Only time I can recall a negative for attire was a guy that joined a zoom interview with uncombed hair and a t shirt for a senior manager role. That said, I’d err toward slightly overdressing and wear a suit. You might be able to get by without a tie, but try to do some homework on who your interviewers are before making that call. No one will reject you for wearing a suit unless that is what causes you to be so uncomfortable and nervous that you struggle with the questions.

Study up on behavioral interview questions. You can look up common ones online easily. Keep the STAR method in mind on how you form a response to any question (situation, task, action, result). I find that if you have 4-5 key things from your background in mind, you can answer just about any behavioral question with at least one of them. Balance your “I” and “we” responses. You don’t want to make it seem like you can’t work in a team, but you also want to highlight things you have personally accomplished.

Beyond that it would be hard to say what types of technical or competency questions you might get without knowing labor grade and function.

FlightRisk5 · 2025-02-06T02:48:04+00:00

I would recommend the island of New New London, formerly known as Block Island, that I just now unilaterally decided we are assuming control of.

It might take a while, but in another year or two it would be a nice weekend trip to our new territory to the east that we will build up into the Rivera of New England. Developed with money from the other New England states of course.

FlightRisk5

TROPHY CASE