The bridge bearing battle scars after placing 3rd overall in Thursday's crushing.

In the language of the original civil engineers; veni, vidi, vici ... Barely. Our team placed 3rd and qualified for the national competition at Concordia University by the thinnest of margins. Only 0.5 points out of a 100 separated us from Chris and his team of masters students, the heavy favourites having set the Canadian record in 2003.

Our 1.35kg bridge held 784kg before the footings failed prematurely. In terms of the strength-to-weight ratio which comprises the majority of the score, we placed second. However, we were automatically deducted points in design because we went with an A-frame design, something that the organizers were trying to discourage. Nonetheless, even with this scoring scheme that we thought was unfair, we placed 3rd, barely ahead of Chris' team.

But it was not without controversy. When Chris' bridge was handled for the official weigh-in prior to the crushing, a member of the crushing committee accidentally knocked their bridge over and broke off the deck. Because the deck contributed nothing to the structural integrity of the bridge, they continued on with crushing. It did poorly failing at around 430kg. This is where things got a little crazy. Chris' team complained their bridge would of held more had the deck not been broken. They referred to a situation last year at Concordia where a similar situation occurred and they were awarded a 15% bonus in load score. This bonus would of placed them ahead of us and thus occupying the last qualifying position for the national competition.

Of course, this was a little upsetting. We clearly won according to the rules that we all agreed to when we entered the competition and it would of been extremely unfair had we lost our 3rd place standing because they changed the rules after the results. Fortunately, it worked out for us. I heard they may or may not send four teams this year. But personally, I just care we got what we deserved.

• official Ryerson bridge competition site with pictures

The second picture is courtesy of Stan.

After 50 painstaking hours over the past weekend, our popsicle stick bridge is finally done. This Thursday, February 17, the structural masterpiece our team designed and constructed will compete in the annual Ryerson bridge building competition. Starting 12pm that day, the bridges will be put under a hydraulic press and loaded until it fails. The top 3 Ryerson teams will move on to the national competition held at Concordia University in Montreal.

I want to be the first to thank the team members, Mike, Mohammed, and Stan for their dedication and hard work. Our bridge is kickass because you guys were there every step of the way.

Stay tuned. Pictures and videos are coming after the competition.

Stats:

• Bridge Type: Quadruple I-beam A-frame
• Design Bridge Mass: 1.15kg
• Final Bridge Mass: 1.37kg
• Design Load: 1250kg

GO I-BEAMERS!

The future is now.
Here's a demonstration video of Multi-Touch display technology similiar to the one shown in the movie, The Minority Report:

• Click here to download (17MB, 3min31sec)

Read more about the technology.

True story, I was happy. My girlfriend and I had been dating for over a year, and so we decided to get married. My parents helped us in every way, my friends encouraged me, and my girlfriend? She was a dream! There was only one thing bothering me, very much indeed, and that one thing was her younger sister. My prospective sister-in-law was twenty years of age, wore tight mini skirts and low cut blouses. She would regularly bend down when near me and I got many a pleasant view of her underwear. It had to be deliberate. She never did it when she was near anyone else. One day little sister called and asked me to come over to check the wedding invitations. She was alone when I arrived. She whispered to me that soon I was to be married, and she had feelings and desires for me that she couldn't overcome and didn't really want to overcome. She told me that she wanted to make love to me just once before I got married and committed my life to her sister. I was in total shock and couldn't say a word. She said, "I'm going upstairs to my bedroom, and if you want to go ahead with it just come up and get me." I was stunned. I was frozen in shock as I watched her go up the stairs. When she reached the top she pulled down her panties and threw them down the stairs at me. I stood there for a moment, then turned and went straight to the front door. I opened the door and stepped out of the house. I walked straight towards my car. My future father-in-law was standing outside. With tears in his eyes he hugged me and said, "We are very happy that you have passed our little test. We couldn't ask for a better man for our daughter. Welcome to the family.

The moral of this story is: Always keep your condoms in your car.