YouTube Star Goes Viral with Glitter Bomb, Part 1

YouTube Star Goes Viral with Glitter Bomb, Part 1 YouTube Star Goes Viral with Glitter Bomb, Part 1 YouTube Star Goes Viral with Glitter Bomb, Part 1Mark Rober welches fed up. Packages delivered to his Northern California home began disappearing from his doorstep.So the mechanical engineer with a mischievous sense of humor, a talent for making cool videos, and a popular YouTube channel, exacted what he called engineering revenge.He built a glitter bomba booby-trapped fake packageand left it on his doorstep for thieves to steal. When the unsuspecting criminal opened the package, it smothered them with a pound of glitter and lots of foul-smelling spray. The glitter bomb also housed four hidden smartphones, which tracked the package via GPS, and recorded the thieves reactions getting pranked.But Rober didnt keep their humiliation to himself. He shared it with the world.The result welches, Package Thief vs. Glitter Bomb Trap, a slick video that Rober wrote, narrated and produced. It used security cameras to show thieves, sometimes wearing backpacks, grabbing the package. The smartphones in the device caught their reactions when they were sprayed with glitter and the spray after opening it.Listen to ASME Techcast Renewable Energy Experts Shine Light on Solar Farms and GridsLoading the glitter bomb. ruf Mark RoberRober posted it on YouTube in mid-December. Within one day, it garnered nearly 12 million views. By late January, nearly 54 million people had seen it. It also aired on CBS Los Angeless evening news, thanks to a family member who is one of the anchormen. In roughly one month, his subscribers skyrocketed by nearly one-third, to six million.Thats the cool thing about being a mechanical engineer, Rober said. If you have an idea, unlike most of the people in the population, you have a much better opportunity to build something physical that achieves a task.The glitter bomb certainly did that, surprising and shaming local package thieves. Yet it is only the lates t success for Rober. Over the past seven years, he has parlayed his penchant for complex and zany devicesand slick videos that explain how they workinto a career as a celebrity YouTube personality.It was a surprising turnabout for an engineer who had spent years equipping Curiosity Rover for Mars.Editors Pick How Engineers Can Resolve Conflict and Save Their BusinessThe 39-year-old California natives love of mechanical engineering started with high school physics, where he learned nature was predictable, understandable, and followed a natural order that could be explained through mathematical equations. He loved physics so much, he still dreams of returning to it as a teacher. But Rober chose to pursue mechanical engineering because of the way it embodied those natural laws.I just feel that what you see is what you get, he said. You can actually see the equations in action as physical things you can touch.He earned an undergraduate mechanical engineering degree at Brigham Young Univ ersitys Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology and joined NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., in 2004. While there, he earned a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Southern California.JPLs creative environment ignited his own creativity, Rober said. His job was designing mechanical parts and instruments on CAD systems and testing them for projects such as the Curiosity Mars rover.But it was ratsdead rats, specificallythat prompted one of Robers first inventions.Rats lived under the building Rober and his boss worked in, and the animals would die in traps platzdeckchen for them. The potent smell would penetrate the building, so Rober wired the traps to his smartphone so it lit up to alert him when the animals got stuck, allowing someone to come and remove them right away, said Brian Okerlund, JPLs group supervisor for mechanical engineering and design.It became clear to Okerlund that Rober was not your typical mechan ical engineer.Hes way out there, he said. He was a very creative individual who brought a lot of fun to the workplace.Okerlund encouraged him to take on more creative projects, such as leading technology seminars. His enthusiasm was infectious, he said. From that aspect, it was kind of hard to see him move on.It was the zany, outlandish Halloween costume Rober built in 2011 that proved the game-changer, and the video he made about it launched his YouTube career.Robers costume was a T-shirt in which he cut a hole in the middle of the front of, and another in the back, both the size of an iPad screen. He taped one iPad to the inside of each hole, then FaceTimed the two iPads with each other. With their cameras pointing outwards, the effect made it look like you could see through the shirt. Rober painted fake blood around the large holes and the iPad 2 Halloween Costume-Gaping Hole in Torso video was born. mora than 8.2 million viewers have seen it on YouTube.That was just an idea I ha d that I thought was cool, and it went pretty viral, Rober said. I thought that was a pretty cool feeling and I decided I would make monthly videos. That was seven years ago. And Ive literally made one video a month since then.The success led him to launch in 2012 his technology-based costume company Digital Dudz.First-month sales reached $250,000, Rober said. The costumes were sold in the United States and Canada. One year later, Rober sold it to Morphsuits, a Halloween costume company in the United Kingdom, for an undisclosed price.Rober left JPL that year to work as a creative designer for Morphsuits. Two years later, he took an RD job with a Silicon Valley technology company as a new products creator/designer. He would not name the company because he agreed to keep it confidential upon accepting the position.Robers inventions are typically mechanically complex a dartboard that moves to catch or avoid a players darts (which took three years to build) a rock-skipping robot a lemon -powered car. But theres a zaniness to them too, like something out of a childs fantasy the worlds largest super soaker, a snowball machine gun. They come alive in Robers slick videos, which he writes, shoots, narrates, and edits to tell how he built each invention.Their combination of wild exuberance and deep technology have earned him guest appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live, two TEDx talks, and a slot as a host on Discoverys Science channel.I really do get as stoked and excited about these projects, as it hopefully comes across on camera, he said. I think thats what resonates with people.Read Part 2 on how Rober made the glitter bomb.Carol Lawrence is an independent writerRead More Exclusive Stories from ASME.orgArtificial and 3D-Printed Skin Advances for Robots, HumansMarkforgeds Greg Mark on 3D Metal Printing, Additive ManufacturingUniversal Robots Grabs New York Stock Exchange, Manufacturer AttentionThats the cool thing about being a mechanical engineer. If you have an idea, unl ike most of the people in the population, you have a much better opportunity to build something physical that achieves a task.Mark Rober

Multi-Society Joint Rail Conference to be Held Next Month in P...

Multi-Society Joint Rail Conference to be Held Next Month in P... Multi-Society Joint Rail Conference to be Held Next Month in P... Multi-Society Joint Rail Conference to be Held Next Month in PhiladelphiaMarch 10, 2017 The 2017 Joint Rail Conference (JRC 2017), the engineering communitys premier annual technical railroad event in the United States, is only a few weeks away. The conference, which will be held from April 4-7 in Philadelphia, Pa., will encompass the many different disciplines that are involved in freight and passenger rail transportation, including mechanical, electrical, civil, and systems engineering, as well as rail safety, planning, design, manufacturing, financing, operations, and management.The conference, which will take place at the Doubletree by Hilton Philadelphia City Center, is sponsored by ASME along with a number of other organizations including the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer s (IEEE) the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) and the American Public Transportation Association (APTA).The meetings technical tracks will focus on a variety of topics related to the rail industry, including railroad infrastructure engineering, rail equipment engineering, signal and train control engineering, service quality and operations research, planning and development, safety and security, energy efficiency and sustainability, urban passenger rail transport, electrification, and vehicle-track interaction.This years conference will feature presentations from notable members of the rail industry, including Jeffrey D. Knueppel, general manager of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) Devin Rouse, staff director of the passenger rail division of the Federal Railroad Administrations Office of Safety and A ndrew Wood, executive project director for Amtraks Tier III Trainset Project Management Office.The 2017 Joint Rail Conference will also feature a special Grand Challenge Competition, during which attendees can pitch their solutions for reducing the number of train accidents in the United States to a panel of experts, and technical tours of SEPTAs Fern Rock Shop and the transportation authoritys new Crum Creek Viaduct. To learn more about the Grand Challenge Competition, visit www.asme.org/events/joint-rail-conference/program/grand-challenge. For more information about the technical tours, visit www.asme.org/events/joint-rail-conference/program/technical-tours.To learn more about the 2017 Joint Rail Conference, or for information on registration, visit www.asme.org/events/joint-rail-conference.

Flying to Space on Butterfly Wings

Flying to Space on Butterfly Wings Flying to Space on Butterfly Wings Flying to Space on Butterfly WingsYouve heard of the schmetterlingsschwimmen effect the flap of a butterflys wings in Ecuador could result in a tornado in Kansas. Two mathematicians will use the phenomenon to explore something that seemingly has little to do with butterfly wings cutting the cost of space travel.Those decreased costs could, in turn, open up the final frontier to greater exploration.If we could harness the dynamics behind the butterfly effect we could move spacecraft with very little fuel, extend the life of satellites, or send robots to the moon inexpensively, says Rafael de la Llave, a Georgia Tech mathematics professor.He has teamed with a mathematician at Yeshiva University and designers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to apply those dynamics to space mission design. Dr. Marian Gidea (left) is researching mora efficient routes for space travel with doctoral students Wai-Ting Lam ( center) and Maxwell Musser. Image Yeshiva UniversityThe butterfly effectalso known as the Arnold diffusion mechanismstates that small amounts of force, applied at the right moments, can produce large effects over time. It offers a way to understand and mathematically describe what happens when a simple physical system is modified slightly, de la Llave says.To visually depict the dynamics induced by the butterfly effect, de la Llave attaches two one-inch-diameter hex nuts to strings of the same length, which he then hangs them from a clothesline.With the hex nuts at rest he taps one and it begins to swing softly. Within seconds the other nut also begins to move. Eventually the two hex nuts begin oscillating as they transfer energy from one to the other. Where mora hex nuts are called into play, theyd soon begin to exhibit more complicated geometric patterns as they oscillated. And it all started from that first, small tap.If we could harness the dynamics behind the butterfly effect, we could move spacecraft with very little fuel, extend the life of satellites, or send robots to the moon inexpensively. Prof. Rafael de la Llave, Georgia TechFor another example, think of a person who pushes a child on a playground swing. Even though the person gives only a tiny push each time the swing comes back, the amplitude of the swing keeps increasing, says Marian Gidea, professor in Yeshiva Universitys graduate programs in mathematical sciences who is part of the project.Now the goal is to make those oscillations mathematically explicit, in the words of de la Llave, in a way that can be applied to space flight.Spacecraft typically follow conical routes that have been found to use the least fuel. But those routes still require long detours to get to the final destination. Those detours, of course, burn fuel.The dynamics behind the butterfly effect can be used to find the small forces that result from the intertwining of the natural gravity of the moon, sun, and planets. Thos e forces open up space superhighways that spacecraft can glide along without burning any fuel at all, Gidea says.Adding small maneuvers at precise times and locations along the pathways could save even more fuel, he adds.For space missions, rather than a parent pushing a swing, the tiny first flutter is the combining of the gravitational tides from stars, planets, and moons that eventually opens a space superhighway, Gidea says. Because celestial bodies are moving all the time, the formula is needed to continually find the superhighways, de la Llave adds.The first flutter could also be that of a rocket engine firing at just the right place in its flight when a boost is needed to accelerate orbit, Gidea says. For the project, mathematicians Gidea and de la Llave are charged with applying the Arnold diffusion mechanism to find those first pushes and follow them as theyre amplified over time.In timeand with advancing technologytheir method might even allow spacecraft to visit the moons of Jupiter systematically, de la Llave says.If we want to go around jumping from moon to moon, applying these new advances in mathematics can help us get there at much, much lower cost, making such a mission so much more doable, he says.Jean Thilmany is an independent writer. For Further Discussion

4 Salary Negotiation Tactics to Get the Salary You Deserve

4 Salary Negotiation Tactics to Get the Salary You Deserve4 Salary Negotiation Tactics to Get the Salary You DeserveAwesome You created an awesome resume, applied for a job, nailed the interview, and got the job offer you worked so hard for. But hold on just a minute before you shake their hand and take the position, your employers will want to know what your salary expectations are.Navigating salary negotiations is one of the scariest parts of getting a job. If you ask for too much, you risk offending your new employer or starting off on the wrong foot, or worse, the employer taking back the job offer entirely. If you ask for too little, you risk selling yourself short.Negotiating your salary can be hard, but dont let that stop you from asking for a fair wage.Learn these four salary negotiation tactics to get the compensation you deserve.1. Dont Jump the Gun on Salary NegotiationResist the impulse to ask about salary until you are actually offered the position. Until then, the focu s should be on selling your hard and soft skills, learning more about the company, and building a positive rapport with the hiring manager.If the employer asks you what you would like to be paid, calmly answer that you will consider a salary or wage based on the job offered once the responsibilities and duties attached have been elaborated upon.2. Do Your Research on Your ortPrepare yourself for your negotiation by researching the job and employer before you walk into the interview. Its especially helpful to check online to see the average pay for the job through companies like PayScale and Glassdoor, though make sure to take how much experience you have into account.Of course, every employer offers different benefits, such as salary increases, commission, bonuses, benefits, and expectations, such as the hours that youll be expected to work. Keep these factors in mind when youre deciding on what you think a fair salary should be.3. Be Prepared to NegotiateNow that youve researched a nd weighed the pros and cons of your new job, youre ready to share your thoughts with your employer.If youre nervous, set aside some time before your interview to rehearse negotiating in the mirror or with a friend. Keep practicing until youre able to make your case with confidence.4. Dont Rush to the Finish LineIf youre not happy with the salary your prospective employer has named, ask if you can have a day to consider the offer. This gives you the opportunity to do more research to see if the salary theyre naming is actually fair, and it gives them a gunst der stunde to increase their proposed amount when you return the next day. You may be pleasantly surprised with tomorrows offerIf you take the time to research your position and confidently ask for whats fair, chances are that youll get the salary that you want.What If I Dont Get the Salary I Want?If you dont get the offer youre looking for, dont be discouraged. It could be that the companys budget simply doesnt allow for your p roposed salary, or maybe they just want to see you in action before offering a higher wage.See alsoPersonal Branding Tips to Get NoticedIf youre dissatisfied with the salary that your prospective employer offers, ask yourself if youre able and willing to work for that salary. If you cant accept, you can seek other opportunities with a clear conscience.On the other hand, if youre able to make that salary work, consider the advantages and disadvantages of the job, its positive and negative factors, and the future opportunities it may lead to. You may find that its a good career move to take the job, even if it pays a little less than youd like.Regardless of whether you choose to take the job or not, appreciate that youre making an informed and confident decision that is taking you closer to your dream career.Learn MoreDont forget the most important step of getting the job you want. Take advantage of Resume.coms resume templates to get the resume that will make sure youre negotiating y our salary with confidence

Learn About Position Grade Levels

Learn About stelle Grade LevelsLearn About Position Grade LevelsMany organizations, institutions and governmental bodies (state and local governments, the federal government, and various agencies) use a position/employee grade-leveling system that helps differentiate between positions and standardize compensation across equivalent skill sets and responsibilities. The creation and maintenance of a system of standardized employee grade levels help ensure fair compensation for the saatkorn level of work across different departments and divisions. Consider, a typical software firm that employs programmers, testers, support specialists, sales representatives, marketing specialists, project managers, human resource managers, accountants and so forth. It would be challenging to ensure consistent and fair compensation across these many different roles without creating some form of standardization mechanism. Factor in the reality that for every position title, there are varying levels, includ ing juniorchef or senior roles for managers and individual contributors and you can imagine the potential for confusion without an organized system.The position or employee grade level system does just that. Sample Position/Employee Grade Level Descriptions Here are examples of employee grade level descriptions from individual employees up to the Vice President level. Level A Entry Level Individual Contributor Individuals at this level usually follow standard work routines. They also do the following Work under close supervision (generally).Typically have very little decision-making ability.Have no budgetary responsibility or ability to spend without approval.Require (typically) less than three years of relevant experience. Level B Experienced Individual Contributors Individuals at this level usually have procedural or systems experience. They also do the following Work under general supervision.Make decisions based on established procedures.May have nominal budgetary responsibi lity or ability to spend.Require three to five years (typically) of relevant experience. Level C Managers and Senior Technical Professionals and Individual Contributors Individuals at this level must have command of the procedures and systems used. They also do the following Work to specific measurable objectives (generally) requiring operational planning skill with little direct supervision.Have considerable latitude for making decisions within their unit.Have involvement in the hiring, development, and related personnel processes.Have budgetary responsibilities (typically).Exercise crucial people skills.Require five to seven years of relevant experience. Level D Directors Individuals at this level must have a thorough understanding of the theoretical and practical application of the principles of their profession. They also do the following Work to broad goals for their area of responsibility.Have significant latitude for making decisions for their operational or functional units. Have hire/fire authority over team members.Have direct expense responsibility for significant departmental or unit budgets.Exercise essential people skills.Require eight to ten years of relevant experience. Level E Vice Presidents/General Managers Individuals at this level are seasoned professionals in their field of expertise. They do the following Give strategic guidance to the units under their control.Develop and direct short and near-term goals for their units.Exercise broad decision-making latitude within their functional units.Have complete budgetary control over the functions under their control.Make use of essential people skills, including the ability to develop subordinates.Require more than 10 years of relevant experience. Position Grade Levels and Compensation Levels The above position grade levels will be governed by a set of compensation parameters described as a compensation grade level. Every different position level will have its own range of salary, from low t o high. Additionally, there may be several layers of the compensation grades where the low, high and midpoint salaries vary from level to level. Consider that the Level C Managers category may include junior manager, manager, and senior manager designations, all with their own compensation ranges. Development of Grade Levels The process of developing, implementing and then refining position and compensation grade levels over time is typically the responsibility of the human resources department. Consider a vice presidents request to create an all-new position. She would work with the human resources team in the following process Describe the nature, scope, and responsibilities of the new role in detail.Define the criteria for education and background experience required for the role.Evaluate the budgetary and decision-making authority of the role.Look at the expected career progression for the position.Compare the role to others in the department.Compare the role and job paramet ers to outside examples. Once the above is completed, the human resources executive would decide which level the position falls into. After this position leveling is resolved, the compensation matrix would be applied and low, mid and high point positions for compensation would be documented. Marketplace compensation data for equivalent positions in similar industries would be used to compare the internal assessment to the external realities. The Bottom Line This detailed and involved process helps ensure consistency for the treatment of all employees, regardless of their functions or primary vocations.

Make a Resume - Overview

Make a Resume - Overview Get the Scoop on Make a Resume Before Youre Too Late Make certain if theres a watermark on the paper that its facing the right way and regardless of what you do, ensure it remains readable. A resume is a significant tool only as long as you treat it like one. Ensuring your categories are well organized is a fast approach to help set you in the yes pile and keep you from the trash pile. Share your work when youre completely pleased with your design and work, you can share it to the world via your social networking accounts, personal site, or many different different channels you might utilize. Youre able to import the simple information from social media such as Google, Facebook or Twitter. Blogging and societal media are both expert pursuits. Theres a difference between tweaking your resume to stay current and viable, and lying to obtain work. Hiring managers skim your resume, and several of them spend under a minute reading the full thing. Youre j ust working to make sure that you maximize their knowledge of what a wonderful fit for them you might be. The issue is, each job differs and what each hiring manager is searching for is different. The simple truth is, acquiring a simple personal site that highlights your abilities and more importantly your personality go a ways to creating a 3 dimensional persona for the hiring manager. The work, which demands the complete attention and a crystal clear mind. fruchtwein people today look at writing a resume as just something youve got to do to have a job. Ensure you didnt miss whatever could cost you the job that you dream about Resume temporary software automates the early phases of the recruitment procedure. Theres a new need to create your resumestand outto applicant tracking systems and hiring managers. If youre developing a Squarespace website for your job search or private brand, you may want to add your resume to ensure it is accessible to prospective employers, contact s, and clients. If youre a management student, you have to know about sales strategy and management abilities. Details of Make a Resume An employer needs to be able to get in touch with you by making only one call. Companies are constantly searching for talented team members. Adhering to a thriving internship its not uncommon for employers to create a full-time job offer to their intern. Type of Make a Resume 17% chances your cover letter is going to be read 1. Together with thethree main sections to include in a resume, it is advised to tailor your resume to your private profile with the addition of different subheadings where youre able to develop the appropriate details. Your resume structure will also permit you to incorporate some achievements. In addition, there are a few instances of cover letters. Characteristics of Make a Resume Even in case you havent been in school for quite a while, its totenstill important to demonstrate your education level. Needless to s ay, you are going to write what degree youve got. If youre applying to a job that explicitly needs a particular degree or a fresh graduate with very little or no work experience, it would be far better write off your education instantly following your summary. Ideally, select an activity that youll have the ability to continue into college. There are lots of good resources to find an Internship. The essential point to obtain an Internship is that you have to be having an extra skill besides Academics. With the rising demand, it is rather simple to land that job with an appropriate skill set and experience. So, the next thing to do is to earn a decent resume, mentioning your abilities and talent. There are many diverse rules to follow and so many possibilities to produce a job-costing mistake. Speaking of unique, the main target of your resume is to make you stick out from the remainder of the folks applying for equal job and another means to create that happen is to use acti on verbs and power words (also known as resume verbs). The point is to grab focus at the correct keyword phrases to make maximum effect. For almost whatever you want to include on a resume, theres a category to help organize it. For instance, you may find decent details on the subject of How to stop a youngsters hysteria. Fortunately my family and friends in the states are extremely encouraging and supportive. If you can imagine anything that youve spent a substantial period of time doing for a worthwhile reason, it can most likely be counted as an extracurricular activity. Anything more than a few sentences is likely to be ignored.

The No. 1 Reason Job Seekers Make Bad Career Decisions

The No. 1 Reason Job Seekers Make Bad Career Decisions We spend about a third of our days at our jobs, and yet roughly 70 percent ofus are unhappywith our careers.While a lack of praise from leadership can explain this unhappiness, the jobs fit may be a problem, too. Its not necessarily that an employeeisnt smart enough to do the job theyve chosen even the smartest people make poor career decisions. Rather, poor career choices often happen because a person doesnt have all theinformation they need to make a decision that will positively impact their long-term career goals.In fact, a lack of information is the No. 1 reason why job seekers make bad career decisions.I often see job seekers say yes to any and all job opportunities given to them by recruiters without thinking about the long-term consequences of taking oneach job. It is important that, instead of jumping at every offer, professionals take time to scope out the whole situation and really thin k through the impacts of their decisions.Here are a few steps you can take to make learning a part of your decision-making strategy for long-term career successRecognize Learning as the SolutionYou can certainly learn how to make the right move at the right time, so its important to recognizelearning itself as a job search solution and career success principle. Learning gives you the opportunity to research and gather the information you need to make better decisions.Learning is not just limited to what you read in books you can learn from experiences, podcasts, career consultants, coaches, mentors, and peers.Love the Learning ProcessLearning should be a lifelong pursuit, so its vital that you learn to love the process. Many top industry leaders and influencerseven go so far as setting aside five hours for dedicated learning every week.By learning to love the learning process, you can establish learning as a habit. As a result, youll be spending time every week growing your career a nd speeding up your job search.Remain in Student ModeBeing in student mode means being in a constant state of learning. When you are in the student mode, youre always looking to gain insight. This will help you mora easily find the information you need to reinvent yourself when the climate for your industry changes, or you require new skills to excel in your career path.Celebrate Each MilestoneJust as it is important to love the process of learning, it is also important to celebrate each milestone that you reach. Acquiring a new skill doesnt come to anyone easily. Treat yourself to something nice when you master a new ability or otherwise accomplish your goals.Making a smart career move requires more than knowing how to do the job for which youre applying it also means understanding your whole career so that you dont deviate from the plan.Being in thestudent mode on a consistent basis allows you to stay ahead of the curve and beat your competition whenever necessary. Education and t raining are the pathways to job search and career success, so take time to learn everything you need to in order to have the career you desire. Proactively pursue connections with those who can teach you the skills you require. That is how you will become a well-rounded professional who can handle themselfat work.By making lifelong learning a cornerstone ofyour career plan, you will set yourself up to make smarter short- and longterm career decisions.Nader Mowlaeeis an engineering career coach and recruiter who is motivated by building confidence in engineers.