Wrapping Up

Laxmi, Matt, & Savannah

Throughout the course of writing these blog posts, we have realized that although our majors vary vastly they still relate to one another. Our majors are comprised of engineering, music, and history. Each major is difficult, whether that means that graduating is challenging, or that getting a job after graduation is a struggle in itself.

http://www.lahabraca.gov/ImageRepository/Document?documentID=853

Engineering has one of the highest dropout rates in the United States, and even around the world. There are many reasons that contribute to this such as the rigorous math and science classes that prospective engineers need to take. You need to be at least moderately proficient in maths to have any meaningful insights in engineering mechanics. In my post titled “What is Computer Engineering #1”, we talked about all the math and science classes that an engineer needs to take to fulfill their graduation requirement. For most engineers, they need to take all the math classes up to Differential Calculus, which is one of the most abstract math class one will take in his career. It is widely regarded as one of the hardest classes in an engineer's career. Engineering is a field that requires high level of analytical mind, and creative thinking, for some individuals this is hard to find. Along with taking abstract classes, a prospective engineer needs to be creative to solve problems to come up with applicable solutions. There are many abstract concepts at play in real machinery. An engineer has to be imaginative to apply those concepts to solve problems. To be a good engineer in this era you must be good with software manipulation or programming. Ask anyone who is a programmer, they will tell you that it is difficult to learn. Engineering is not limited to production lines anymore, ergo, engineers need to be good at manipulating software. Engineering is a field that helps society directly. Unlike other fields, in engineering, the equations do really come to life and move around you. Most students going into engineering change their mind within the first year of engineering school due to the rigorous course and creative thinking

Likewise, most freshmen entering college with a History major in mind, either do not graduate with a degree in that field or at least double major with something more tangible like language arts. But don’t be discouraged! You don’t see homeless former History majors out on the corner do you? History degrees usually do not get employed by academic institutions right out of school, but are surely employed because of how marketable the skills developed during that period are. Skills such as critical thinking, analysis of documents, and communication all make the History major extremely competitive in the non-quantifiable job market. The most important idea to learn

Photo Courtesy of factsanddetails.com

while studying History is the ability to analyze a document and write for a specific audience. Many former students end up in magazines or newspapers relating to history which has a much different style in its format than that of the academic paper. This difference is called Popular vs Academic History, which I expand upon in the article “Popular v. Academic History”! Historians also find jobs working at large companies in positions such as Project Managers and Research Associates because of their focus on critical thinking and analysis. So, if you are thinking about going into History, don’t be too worried, there’s a future out there for you too! You just have to willing to expand your horizons!

Courtesy of static.pexels.com

Not surprisingly, the graduation rate for musicians isn’t staggeringly high. According to Berkeley College of Music, 45.4% of 2 year students graduate, 59% of 4 year students graduate. This is coming from a school with above average graduation rates. Just like engineering and history, majoring in music is rigorous and challenging. While in school, music majors are swamped with difficult classes like Music Theory, a class about the more technical and complicated points of musical notation, and Ear Training & Sight Singing, a class where students learn to identify specific pitches, intervals, and more just by ear or simply with a starting pitch. On top of classes like these, music majors have lessons with a professor in which they sharpen their skills in their instrument, different ensembles that take hours of rehearsal, and an hour or more daily in a practice room to work on their instrument. Being a music major requires hours of time outside of classes for additional rehearsals, performances, and not to mention homework. Even after graduating, musicians—specifically performers—are thrown into the world of nonstop auditions and callbacks. Performers never have stable jobs, seeing as they work from performance to performance. Plus, they are constantly up against other musicians at every single audition. Rest assured, there will always be some kind of work for a musician. When it comes down to it musicians don’t major in music for money or fame. I explain this in my post, “Majoring in Music… Why?” to let others know that music majors do what they do for a genuine love of the art and a passion to share music with others. While it may be tough and stability isn’t guaranteed, if it’s what you want to do then all of the hard work is worth it.

Even though it seems like music, engineering, and history have nothing in common, if you look closer you’ll find the similarities. Each one of us is working towards a career in something we love despite the difficulty. We may not share majors, or even a common field, but we share a dedication to our field and a drive to work our hardest and do our best no matter how tough it gets.

Can You Really Make a Living in Music? (Prompt 6)

Savannah

Can you really make a living in music? The second edition of Angela Myles Beeching's "Beyond Talent: Creating A Successful Career in Music" explores the different ways in which a musician can succeed in music.

Beeching very clearly states at the beginning of the book, "...careers are developed over years, not hatched overnight." In fact, she even say s there is "substantial data [showing] that it takes 10,000 hours, or roughly ten years of study, work, and experience, to become an expert in any field." This is something that doesn't necessarily surprise musicians.

Even further, she claims that being a musician "involve far more than performing." There are many dimensions to the careers of musicians, typically doing multiple different jobs or projects rather than just one thing at a time. As Beeching wrote, "Only a fraction of the total number of musicians actually makes their living strictly as performers." Of the over 1,800 orchestras in the US, mst are volunteer or educational. 52 of professional American orchestras with the largest budget only have about 4,200 positions—in 2003 there were only 159 openings in these specific orchestras. Competitive performing jobs like these are actually only a small amount of available jobs for musicians. For proof, Beeching provides several ideas of different music related jobs.

Beeching page 340

Lady Gaga in the studio during filming of
her documentary, "Gaga: Five Foot Two"

While, according to Beeching's book, there are around 295,000 people that are in the "core music industries, which include performers, ensembles, those working for publishers and record labels, and those doing studio and radio work, music instrument manufacturing, and retail." However, an additional 899,000 people are in "peripheral music industries: those at music schools and recording companies, and those working as agents, promoters, and venue managers."

Essentially, the argument that Beeching sets up is that to be a successful musician you need to be able to be more than a musician. This is an entirely valid argument. There is only a certain amount of paying performance positions allotted in a season and the amount of those going into music far outnumbers the amount of opportunities available. 

Realistically, any musician would much prefer getting a non-performance job in a so-called "peripheral music industry" than in something else entirely. Non-performance jobs that are still in the music industry still utilize the skills of a musician and allows them to find creative fulfillment in their lives.

To answer the question, yes, you can make a living in music. It takes hard work, dedication, and traveling off the beaten path to make it possible. If you have the drive then go for it, work wherever you find creative fulfillment and strive to be the best that you can be at your craft.

From writing this post I realized the vastness of availability of jobs in the music industry. The book did a great job at illustrating just how many jobs are there in not only the "core" music industry but in the "peripheral" music industry as well. It really helps to reassure me that making a living in music is possible.

History Does not Repeat Itself (Prompt 7)

Matthew Zang

   The phrase "Those who do no learn history are doomed to repeat it" is ironically repeated by history teachers and enthusiasts alike. The original saying, attributed to George Santayana is so widespread that anyone that had either a basic history class in high school or a 100 level course in college is familiar with the phrase. However, this phrase does not sit well with many professional historians. The saying that is a more accurate depiction of this phenomenon comes from Mark Twain, musing that "history does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes."

Photo Courtesy of oracleofhistory.com

   How does the statement by Mark Twain differ from Santayana's though? The simple fact is that history never truly repeats itself! The Roman Empire has not existed twice, Napoleon has not risen from the dead, and there is always different context to any given situation. The latter's phrase tends to embody this nuance much more than the former, which makes it more historically appropriate!

   

What Can You Do With a Degree in Computer Engineering

Laxmi Baral 

Now, that you've graduated college with your degree in engineering, what are you going to do with it? Here are a few jobs that you might want to take a look at.

Depending on your focus and concentration the jobs will look different for every computer engineer, but here is a list of common field that one can go into with a degree in CpE.

Artificial Intelligence - Design a computer system that simulates human thinking.
Median Salary: $108,000

Computer Architecture - The field that developed better and powerful computer systems
Median Salary: $108,000

Computer Design - Research, design, and development of electronic computer components, such as microchips, microprocessors, circuit boards.
Median Salary: $108,000

Operating Systems and Networks - The design of complex network and network topology
Median Salary: $95,000 - $102,000

Robotics - Developing robots to aid industry work
Median Salary: $108,000

Software Application - Using your software and hardware skills to design an application or software to aid companies to make a task more efficient.
Median Salary: $95,000 - $102,000

The growth rate for CpE is slower at 3 % from 2014-2024, however, a job in engineering pays well, and it comes with opportunities for advanced in your career beyond just a job.




Work Sited
https://www.learnhowtobecome.org/computer-engineer/
https://www.computerscienceonline.org/computer-engineering/

Synesthesia and Music

Savannah

Bach, "Cello Suite No. 1," by Melissa McCracken

About four percent of the population has synesthesia, a rare neurological condition that affects the senses. There are many different types of synesthesia, with the one we will be focusing on particularly being chromesthesia. This is also known as sound-to-color synesthesia. As the name suggests, this means that people affected by chromesthesia involuntarily see colors when they hear music.

Pink Floyd, "Time," by Melissa McCracken

One artist, Melissa McCracken, has this type of synesthesia and paints what she hears. In an article for Vice, McCracken explains, "Synesthesia doesn't interfere with my sight in any way and it's not hallucinogenic. It just floats there in a similar way to how you would imagine something or visualize a memory. I don't need to close my eyes but it helps me visualize it better
if I do."

McCracken paints songs she hears, but she will never paint one if she doesn't like it. For example, she says that country songs are "boring, muted browns." Meanwhile, funk is much more lively and colorful.

Evidently there are plenty of other artists who have synesthesia as well. Famous musician Billy Joel has not only chromesthesia, but grapheme-color synesthesia as well, meaning he associates or sees certain letters or numbers in a specific color. Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy has these same types of synesthesia as well. Even famous composer Franz Liszt and renowned artist Vincent Van Gogh had chromesthesia.

This is an incredible condition that doesn't affect most of the population. Fortunately, these synesthetes with chromesthesia share their art with us and give us a glimpse into what they see.

Through writing this article I realized that there are different ways of perceiving music. Sure, I will never have synesthesia, but it makes me think that I can dig deeper into the music that I learn and perform. I know now that there is even more layers to compositions than I originally thought and I am inspired to discover deeper and deeper meanings to songs.

Archaeology and How it is Useful in Historical Analysis

Matthew Zang

      Archaeology is defined as the scientific study of historic or prehistoric peoples and their cultures by analysis of their artifacts, inscriptions, monuments, and other such remains, especially those that have been excavated. The archaeologist's job is not to just dig up cultural sites and to preserve the artifacts they find there, but rather to analyze the remains in relation to their place of discovery, the cultural value of the artifact, and the cultural symbols, if any, on the object. In fact, if archaeologists can NOT dig up a site and analyze it through new technological advances such as Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), they would much rather do that. The reason is simple; if you dig something up, you must dedicate resources to preserve it!

Photo Courtesy of  https://www.pwnhc.ca

    Archaeology as a tool for historians is useful when studying cultures that do not possess written records of their existence, such as many Native American civilizations of the pre-colonial era. Some of these civilizations did have forms of hieroglyphs and number systems, but all of those that we have found are carved into stone. This is unlike civilizations like the Roman Empire, which left thousands of written documents and official papers that can be analyzed to decipher what was happening during a certain era. If a historian was attempting to write a complete history of Native American civilizations before and after European arrival, they would have to rely mostly on archaeology for the before section and then could start to "read against the grain" with surviving European documents from the time.

Photo Courtesy of http://westerndigs.org

    

    Works Cited:

http://www.lparchaeology.com/prescot/learning/what-tools-do-archaeologists-use

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/archaeology?s=t

   

Define Ethics (Prompt 2)

Laxmi Baral 

Engineers as a whole must maintain the highest moral and ethical standards. Wether this maybe in their professional career, or their personal worries. 

This link will take you to the "Code of Ethics" page for engineers, defined by the National Society of Professional Engineers. 

I want to focus of on section two number five of this document. Section two number five is as follows: 

5. Engineers shall avoid deceptive acts.

a. Engineers shall not falsify their qualifications or permit misrepresentation of their or their associates' qualifications. They shall not misrepresent or exaggerate their responsibility in or for the subject matter of prior assignments. Brochures or other presentations incident to the solicitation of employment shall not misrepresent pertinent facts concerning employers, employees, associates, joint venturers, or past accomplishments.

b. Engineers shall not offer, give, solicit, or receive, either directly or indirectly, any contribution to influence the award of a contract by public authority, or which may be reasonably construed by the public as having the effect or intent of influencing the awarding of a contract. They shall not offer any gift or other valuable consideration in order to secure work. They shall not pay a commission, percentage, or brokerage fee in order to secure work, except to a bona fide employee or bona fide established commercial or marketing agencies retained by them.

This is one of the most important trait you need as an engineer. To make sure your work is authentic is very important, it is also important to make sure that you don't falsify any information. 

This also carries personal meaning to me. This moral standard is something I carry with me every where I go. I make sure that if I have my name on something, it's completely mine. If I fail to do so, it will hurt my reputation. This goes same for an engineer. If they falsify information, then their reputation will be ruined, which is never good. 

This applies beyond just the field of engineering. Lets take for example our writing class. If someone was to plagiarism, not only will their grades be jeopardy, their reputation for their MSU career will be in question. 

Professionals in not just engineering, but everyone other field believe in this. It is curtail to make your work authentic. 

This will make such an impact on me as an individual. I want to be the best engineer that I can be, and uphold the highest moral and ethical standards. 

Experience as a Musician

Savannah

Fortunately in my major I get immediate hands on experience in my field. Especially being in a freshman voice class of only 15, there’s plenty of opportunities. One of the newest experiences I have gained as a vocalist is working gigs. Specifically working in a church choir.

Plenty of voice majors, performance or education, are paid to be section leaders in different church choirs on or close to campus. As section leaders, students attend rehearsals and services throughout the school year and are expected to learn their music thoroughly enough to be able to help the rest of the section learn their part and provide the proper harmonies. This year I started as the alto section leader at one of the local churches.

At first I didn’t know what to expect. I had feared that I was in over my head, or that it would be far too intense for me. While that could still be true of certain churches, I have been pleasantly surprised at my experience working in a church choir.

Every Thursday at 7:30, rehearsals start with the whole choir. At my first rehearsal I was given several choral arrangements of pieces, along with the program for that Sunday’s service which included the hymns we would be singing, and the psalm of the week. It was mainly sight-reading—looking at the sheet music for the first time and singing it without preparation—but it was nothing too anxiety-inducing. I then rehearsed the music outside of church rehearsal in preparation for that Sunday.

At every service someone solos for the psalm and is also the "song leader," meaning they sing the hymns into a microphone so the congregation can sing along to the melody without being confused by the harmonies from the choir. For my first time as a song leader I prepared meticulously to be certain that I performed to the best of my ability.

Unfortunately, sometimes musicians are not always given ample time to prepare. For example, just today (Sunday) the song leader lost her voice the night previous and I was needed to substitute for the day. I had not reviewed the soloist's part of the psalm and had not learned the melody of the hymns, since I typically sing the harmonies. This served as a great example of inconvenient scenarios that I could be subject to in my career as a musician.

Having a church job—and having to be an emergency substitute—gave me a new level of understanding. I now know what it's like to have to perform with little to no preparation. This experience will help me continue to grow as a musician well into the future.

Writing this article helped me realize that being a musician is so unique. You begin making connections, networking, and performing semi-professionally from the moment you get on campus. It really stresses the importance of being able to present myself professionally and network for new opportunities.

It's Ancient History!

Matthew Zang

Ancient History

   We've all heard someone in our lives say, "Forget about it! It's ancient history!". But what really is ancient history? According to that person in your life, it's the thing that your Uncle Larry did two days ago, however, to historians, it's something completely different.

Photo Courtesy of  arts.auckland.ac.nz

 
   Ancient History is not the oldest period classified by historians. That honor is bestowed upon the era of Prehistory. What most people think of as Ancient History is actually the period denoted as Classical Antiquity, which began with the earliest known documents of Greek history in 776 BC. The ending of this period is not strictly defined by historians and while some will use the Fall of Rome in 476 AD, others will use the death of Emperor Justinian I in 565 AD. This was a period of rapid growth and relative stability for many around the world and because of this, many records of daily life were created and many survived to the present day.

Photo Courtesy of  www.ncl.ac.uk

 
    One of the reasons why historians find it so hard to classify the end of this period is because of how large in scope it is. If you take the Colonial Era for example, you can say that it started in the 1400's and ceded to Imperialism in the late 1800's. This is possible because the peoples doing the colonizing were generally from one area, Europe in particular. This is not the case with Ancient History because it involves major powers that did not interact often in areas such as the Mediterranean, India, China, and the Middle East. Marking one event from one of these areas to signify the end in all of them because a horribly touchy subject with historians.

   So in conclusion, Ancient History has a very vague beginning and end but the contents of those years are rich with stories and legends that have survived the test of time!



Works Cited:
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraid=2
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/
United Center for Research and Training in History. (1973). Bulgarian Historical Review. Sofia: Pub. House of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

How to Build a Computer: A Step by Step Guide

The Basic of Computer Building 

  

Pre Build

Anti-Static Arm Strap - This is designed to safeguard components from static charge. The probability of your components getting shocked is small, but we shall not take the risk. 

Screwdrivers: Make sure that you have variety of screwdrivers available.

 Zip ties- You will want a bunch a zip ties as they will proved for better cable management, and help your computer look clean.

Preparing the Case 

  To get inside the case you’ll need to first remove the side panels. Some cases will use thumbscrews so this will be easy, otherwise grab your crosshead screwdriver to remove the screws. After this, lay the case on its side as it will provide you with a better idea as to how much space you have in the case. 

Power Supply 

Make sure the power supply (PSU) fan in facing down.   The PSU will draw in cool air from outside the case, allowing it to maintain a lower operating temperature and potentially expanding its lifespan.

With the PSU in place, make sure the screw holes match up with case.  Now it’s a simple matter of attaching the four screws to hold the PSU in place.

Motherboard/CPU

The port surround plate (often called the back plate) fits into the back of your case and gives you access to the ports on the motherboard, typically with pre-cut holes. Occasionally motherboard manufacturers will use generic plates that fit all of their motherboards, so you might need to remove specific port covers in order to match the actual connections available.

The easiest thing to do is to hold up the plate to your motherboard’s back connections to see which of them match, and then remove the ones you need. This could mean either twisting metal covers off, much like the expansion card blanking plates on the case, or it could require you to push a flap cover inwards to give access to the hole.

Installing the motherboard

Take the motherboard and do a test fit by putting in the motherboard in case and seeing which screw holes fit for your motherboard. Next, locate the screws that will be needed to install the motherboard in the case, and screw the motherboard in. Make sure that the motherboard is not bending while in the case. 

CPU

Installing a CPU differs from AMD to Intel. In our case we will be installing Intel Pentium.                   

To access the socket, you’ll need to unclip the handle that runs down the side of the socket. Lift this up to release the retaining clip on the main cage. Now lift the main cage up and out of the way to expose the socket. The pins for an Intel motherboard are on the board itself, so be sure not to damage these as bending them will stop the motherboard communicating with or powering the processor properly.

Now line up the two cutout notches on the sides of the processor with the ridges in the socket. An arrow on the processor should line up with the corner of the socket that has a missing pin. The processor should drop gently into place and sit flush with the socket. If it doesn’t, and there’s some lateral movement, the processor is in the wrong way. Carefully lift it up and align again. NO FORCE SHOULD BE REQUIRED AT THIS PROCESS. Give it a little wiggle to make sure that the CPU fits in correctly. Close the metal cage and pull the retaining handle down. This will required little force. 

The standard heatsink for Intel comes with four feet that will fit into the holes surrounding the motherboard’s CPU socket.  Line up the feet with the holes and start pressing them in a diagonal pattern. These should click into place so you will know they are secure. 

RAM

Instilling RAM is relatively easy. Start by releasing the notches in the motherboard RAM slot. Next, locate the notches on the RAM itself, match these up to make sure you’re inserting the memory module the right way round. Once everything is lined up, press the memory into the slot by applying even pressure on each end of the RAM stick. 

Video Card (GPU)

Remove the back plate by unscrewing the screw.

The GPU is a very delicate component. When instilling the GPU be sure to handle it very carefully by grabbing it by the heatsink. The first part in installing a GPU is figuring out what PCI-E slot your card fits in. Since our motherboard has only one expansion, this will not be hard to do so. The producer for instilling the GPU is similar when compared to the RAM. -Line up the notches and ridges between the card and the slot, apply some downward force to securely fit the GPU in place.  When the GPU is in place, screw back the back plate, by screwing it in. 

Powering the Components 

 In the PSU, look for the wire labeled CPU, and fit it into the slot located near the CPU. You CPU is now powered. Next locate the 20+4 pin connector, and fit it into the 20+4 slot in the motherboard.

Take out the SATA data cable and plug on end into the SSD, and the other end to the motherboard slot labeled SATA 2. To power on the SSD take the wire labeled SATA from the PSU, and plug it into the SSD. 

 Fans

Take the CPU fan wire and plug it into the CPU fan header in the motherboard. Take the wire that comes out of the fan in the back of the case, and plug it into the SYSFAN 2 header on the motherboard. 

Preconceptions about History (Prompt 1)

Matthew Zang

Preconceptions about History as a Field

    As I have stated in previous articles, many people look upon the field of History with confusion as to how it is actually useful. I created a list of what I thought Academic Historians do which is listed below:

• Historians mostly work in archives and libraries

  

  Photo Courtesy of www.paperrecycles.org

• Writing a paper takes careful planning and an outline
• Historians will nitpick others' arguments
• Research is a long and arduous process
• A thesis is just a historical question that is answered in a paper

   To test these preconceptions about the field, I looked into Mary Rampolla's "A Pocket Guide to Writing in History". I found that quite a bit of work is done in archives but that is mostly the initial phase of the research. First you have to find the source but the larger question of analysis is done wherever one feels most comfortable! Most historians do in fact write an outline before the start a paper or book but not all do. Some just go through numerous drafts to refine what they would like they say. Historians do nitpick each other's arguments but this is done to get at the core of the issue at hand. Depending on how obscure the research is, it can be a difficult task. However, with the advent of digital archives, one doesn't have to search all over the world if they need a certain document. Again, the analysis is what takes up most of the historian's time. The most interesting thing I found though was that a thesis is not just a question. It must be argumentative so that other people reading the thesis can disagree and possibly disprove it.

Rampolla, Mary Lynn. A Pocket Guide to Writing in History. Boston: Bedford/St Martins, 2015.