6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Hey guys, my name is Hunter Stanford from Team 6621 in Moose Creek, AK (Interior Distance Education of Alaska). I'm excited to share to big news about our team for this upcoming FRC season! ::safety:: :p :D

We are pleased to announce that starting the 2017 season, we will be participating in FRC tournaments locally, statewide, and even nationwide if we qualify! We are so happy about this because we love robots and legos. We have loved legos ever since we were little children and we love making lego cars even now! We have decided to name our team the Piztons after our famous local lard brand "Piztons Inc.," who are our only sponsor. I am currently the only student from my high school officially on the roster, but I have a few friends who are excited to join!

Feel free to ask questions in the comments! I will try to answer almost all of them!

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

How do you know / think that your team number will be 6621? I thought they were handed out in order of registration payment (in a few months).

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

I have a question. With a single sponsor how are you going to afford the trip costs down to the Pacific Northwest district events you are part of? Last year iirc there was only 1 team from Alaska team 568 "Nerds of the North". As an Alaskan team you have to deal with having no events in your state and if you plan on hopefully making worlds. You have to do 2 or 3 events in Washington/Oregon just get there. Here are the events you could have attended last year https://www.thebluealliance.com/events/pnw/2016#events. This will probably stay pretty similar plus and minus a few events.

So yea I am not trying to discourage you but just know you need to raise a ton of money to be sustainable. You will have to take into account flights, hotels, robot costs, registration costs, ect. Hope you guys can get enough money and become the 2nd Alaskan FRC team.

Good luck its not going to be easy.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

IIRC, it is based off the time you register. My team registered quire late in the year.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Dear Christopher149,

The user above me (ollien) who replied to you is absolutely correct! We registered pretty early on so I was able to receive our team number pretty quickly and have all of the needed information to begin preparing.

Thank you for your concern,
Hunter Stanford
Founder/Captain/Human Player 6621

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Order of registration, generally speaking. A placeholder number (2017XXXX or something of that nature) is given until payment comes in, then you get the real number.

But... the last rookie number given last year was 6237, so I'd be betting on rookie numbers starting at either 6250 or 6300 this year. Doubt they'll go all the way to 6600 for 2017, though it is theoretically possible; a number in the 6600s would likely be a very late-registering rookie team, possibly late December-ish. And FIRST only shows one AK team--the aforementioned Nerds of the North.

I think someone needs to clarify exactly which program they're competing in: FRC or FTC. There is a difference.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Dear Sperkowsky,

We fortunately have some talks in the works with another large company, however due to an NDA I cannot state which company yet. They will provide us with free air travel to any events we wish to attend or qualify for. These are the only terms of the expected contract that I can state which does not break the NDA.

Thank you for your concern,
Hunter Stanford
Founder/Captain/Human Player 6621

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Congrats and welcome to FRC! Don't let the doubters get to you. Just yell if you need help :]

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Dear wilsonmw04,

Thank you so much for the kind words! This means so much to us, and we are so elated to have such a warm welcome to this wonderful organization! If you ever stumble upon our quaint little town, just message me on here and I will make sure to take you on a tour of the local Piztons' factory!

Sincerely,
Hunter Stanford
Founder/Captain/Human Player 6621

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Does your new team have any interest in flying down for the Capital City Classic in Sacramento October 22-23?

We have a spare robot you guys can compete with.

Best of luck.

-Mike

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Dear Michael Corsetto,

Thank you so much for the kind words! I cannot get enough of this amazing community and it has only been my first day here! If only my brothers treated me like this... Just kidding! :) We will seriously consider your extremely generous offer, however I am having some trouble getting my friends and classmates to sign up for the team. They are having either financial or academic troubles, and some are having both. Either way, if we manage to get a small group together about a week or two before the deadline, I will definitely contact you via PM. I'd also like to offer you the same thing I offered wilsonmw04, which was a tour of the famous Piztons' factory up here in Moose Creek! Come on down, you won't regret it!

Thank you again,
Hunter Stanford
Founder/Captain/Human Player 6621

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Hello all, quick update! I'd like to announce the terms of our contract with Piztons, Inc,. just for transparency purposes. As Piztons' mascot Larry the Lard always states in the commercials "Transparency is the sign of BAD LARD!" So I guess this is the opposite of that because transparency is actually good in this scenario.

Anyways, our contract specifically states the following:

GENERAL SERVICE AGREEMENT

This General Service Agreement dated this 11th day of July, 2016

Between Piztons, Inc. and FRC6621 Team "The Piztons"

Services Provided:

1. The Client hereby agrees that in exchange for representing the contractor in name, among all forms of digital and physical media and in all FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) tournaments until the date of 11 July, 2019.

Terms of Agreement:

2. Upon termination of contract either by breaking of a clause or end of time period stated previously, the Client MUST immediately terminate all use of the contractors name in all forms of digital and physical media.

3. Upon termination of contract on good terms, a new contract or an extension may be written.

That's the most important parts of the contract. If any more information is needed just feel free to contact me! My door (or inbox) is always open! ::safety:: ::safety:: ::safety::

Hunter Stanford
Founder/Captain/Human Player 6621

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Welcome to this crazy family.

My advice: Dream big and kick butt!

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

I'm interested in learning about this "Piztons Inc" you guys are sponsored by / represent; where can I learn more about them and what they do? Do they have a website?

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

+1

I tried googling around a bunch and couldn't find anything.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

I would tell you more about them, but doing so would violate my totally real NDA with them. :cool:

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=piztons+lard

Piztons lard. The only company without an internet presence that runs commercials. EST Last night.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Transparency is the sign of BAD LARD!

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Here's some facts on ExcuseBoy and his statements.

1) According to approximations, there are about 27 high-school aged people in Moose Creek, Alaska (granted, team members could in theory also come from the nearby Fairbanks).

2) A search for "Piztons Inc.", "Piztons Inc Moose Creek", "Piztons Inc Fairbanks", and even "Piztons Lard" returns nothing. I seriously doubt it exists.

3) They already have a team number in late-July. This is worsened by the fact that it is a very late 2017 rookie number, and as 2016 early rookies, we didn't get our number until at least late-Setember IIRC (granted, 6621 could be a preliminary number).

4) The motto of "transparency is a sign of BAD LARD" is kind of a very specific and not very good company motto.

5) The contract that ExcuseBoy posted is not very well written, and doesn't actually provide very much information contract-wise. The entire first third isn't even a sentence (although that could be due to him censoring certain parts of the contract).

6) Looking around on Google maps for any largeish buildings that could be "Piztons Inc." didn't turn up anything.

There's the facts, you decide.

6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

+10000000

This has to be the strangest trolling/spam/anything I've seen on CD, ever.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

I'm telling you, his next post is gonna be either "Rams vs. Seahawks livestream" or 100 links for phones and tablets.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Or a GOT link

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

After spending wayyyy too much time on this, I have come to the conclusion that when lard turns "bad" it actually just gets rancid, and not transparent. There was nothing stating how it would get transparent but multiple accounts of it becoming foul in taste or smell. Lard can't be transparent, so even if the OP meant if lard is sold as transparent it isn't as good as thick lard, it wouldn't make sense.

Some Lard Tips For All of You:
-If you store lard properly in the refirgerator in an air-tight container it will last about a year
-If you decide to freeze it, in an air-tight container it will last over 3 years
-You should never try freezing lard in its original packaging. this will result in freezer burn and change of texture
-Defrosted lard can keep in the refrigerator safely without spoiling for up to 6 months.
-Never store your lard in an open container in one of your kitchen cabinets because mice, rats and insects will feed on it and cause it too spoil or become contaminated with fecal matter and harmful bacteria that is dangerous to your health.

Remember if you aren't sure if your lard has gone bad or not - just throw it out to be safe.

Stay lard safe everyone!

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

And this is what happens when you let science geeks disprove a spammer. :D

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

I'm going to make a reply that may or may not be lost in the replies to this thread, but here we go anyway.

As many others have states, some of (if not most) of the claims made don't really line up, and there's a fairly high possibility that the Original Poster is attempting to spam or mislead the forum users on this site. On the other hand, there is a small chance that what they are saying is truthful, albeit maybe poorly put.

If this is fake: Please show some courtesy on the forum. By imitating a new, up and coming team, and brewing up a storm of controversial replies and discussions, you may see other, genuinely new, enthusiastic teams become discouraged because they might view this small thread as a look for help, and see a hostile set of responses full of satire. This isn't the impression we want to give.

If this is real: Fantastic! Welcome to the family. I'm sorry the responses here have mixed messages, we don't mean to scare you off. If you're leading the way to creating a new team, that's absolutely fantastic. You'll find that many people both in and out of this forum will be more than happy to help you.

I'm not sure whether this post is truthful or deceitful. If it turns out to be true, I'm sure everyone here will offer you with nothing but help.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Google maps also returns a big nope for piztons. I looked around manually and couldn't find it either. I also looked at a few lists of lard companies and could not find this "Piztons". I'm starting to think this place dosen't exist.

I will report back later when I have combed through all of Alaska. ::rtm::

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Coming out of hiding to post in the best thread CD has ever seen. Predicting that "bad lard" will be the esoteric CD meme of 2017.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

You guys tried way harder than I did to figure out it was fake. :rolleyes:

It's nice to see how patient people will be on here even with people who are 99.9999% trolling. Something something GP.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

This thread kinda reminds me of this thread: Final 2011 Drivetrain

Has the same vibe.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

It's funny to see people call 26x26 small.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

This is probably the most spotlight-worthy quotes I've ever seen in one thread...:p

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

This thread is the only relevant thing in the Google search...

Is it possible that could be manufactured partly transparent, or at least translucent/clearish?

Something I just thought of: Piztons, Inc. could be a small business run out of someone's house, therefore not obvious on Google Maps. A business like this may not have a website, especially in such a small town. Though unless lard is insanely popular there, I don't see how they could be a major sponsor of an FRC team.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

A classic CD thread ! Good memory.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

There is a method of "rendering" (ha) lard so that in liquid form it remains translucent (here). The OP describes the lard as clear, and says "transparency is a sign of BAD LARD". In fact, in the link's rendering process, the liquid lard is pretty clear, and that doesn't mean it's bad lard. There is this that describes the appearance of lard itself as translucent, but white-ish, BUT, describes the lard compound as "not translucent". However it goes on to state that anyone familiar with both items would clearly not mix them up. Unfortunately I am not well versed in the art of lard-making, so I am not sure if the compound it is referring to is sold in stores. In addition, this was published in 1919, I'm sure the lard-slang was different than what it is now.

All in all, melted lard maybe semi-translucent, but that is not a sign of bad lard. The lard itself can be translucent, but this is not a sign on bad lard. Going back to the original lard research, it is difficult to tell if lard is bad aside from visible mold, fecal matter, or a rancid-trash smell. If your lard has any of the above symptoms, it is a sign on bad lard.

I think Piztons Inc. should get in email contact with me and explain their lard motto a little bit more because I don't think I get it based on my research.

Not a bad theory, except the OP says they are "world famous" and have commercials. Two things that lead me to believe it wouldn't be a family owned business, that is if it even existed.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Do you think Pizton's Lard would want to be a FIRST supplier and give every team some lard in the KoP? We could grease our gearboxes with it and every finals match could smell like bacon.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Let's just hope it doesn't.... Explode.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Don't worry team 16 and 1156 together have it under control.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Dear All,

First off, WOW! I never expected such an overwhelmingly positive response from the community. I will definitely be posting team updates weekly due to the amount of attention this has received. I have seen some people delve quite deep into the chemical composition and makeup of lard due to my statement about clear lard. The reason clear lard is looked down upon in our areas is because it shows a sign of advanced filtration, whereas people actually prefer no filtration above a certain threshold in order to retain greater flavor, texture balance, and viscosity, among other things. If anyone was doubting the existence of Piztons, Inc., let me direct you to their website (which I do admit is a bit hard to find).

Moving on... the contract was not directly copied by me in order to keep sensitive information private. I have shared only the most relevant bits, as I thought transparency would be better in this scenario. I have also emailed Dean Kamen for more information regarding our team and its future, as I may have confused myself a bit.

Piztons is also allowing us to use our team website as a subdomain of Piztons official website! This will save about 47% of our budget for the month as calculated by my friend Steven. We should have the team website up and running in a week or so.

Lastly, I have seen a reply or two about the population of Moose Creek not being large enough to support an FRC team. I'd like to state that Moose Creek directly borders North Pole, AK, which has a much larger population, many of whom attend my same high school in Moose Creek.

Once again, feel free to ask any questions and I will answer them as soon as possible! :] :] :]

Bless you all,
Hunter Stanford
Founder/Captain/Human Player 6621

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Wait, you have Dean Kamen's direct e-mail address?

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

That website has never been archived before.

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://...d.x10host.com/

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

I'm not sure I like this: corn dogs, cheesecake and lard.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

It's also under "x10host.com"...

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Well, I like to figure things out the hard way.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

I think I'm more excited for this than Kickoff

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

That would be quite a bit being spent on a website!

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

I don't think anyone has Dean's direct email address, but it is completely possible to find the one that forwards to him.

A quick Google search returns this: contactDEKA@dekaresearch.com. It is on the FIRST website here.

I think it would have been better for ExcuseBoy to contact the FIRST PNW District Team Coordinator though, as Dean Kamen is busy and probably will not read that email personally, at least for awhile.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Dear ASD20,

Thank you for your concern on Piztons website! Are you a web developer by any chance? They could definitely use more of those!

Anyways, you are absolutely correct that the website has never been archived. It was originally only broadcast on a local WIFI tower which broadcasted to areas of Moose Creek and North Pole. Many local businesses used this tower for outreach to residents as it was more economical, considering we were the only major consumers. It was discovered, however, that the tower was not FCC compliant, so it was shut down last year. GCI, the corporation which ran this tower, among many others, was forced to shut down hundreds of towers by the FCC last year, as seen in this article. Mr. Pizton was not informed about this until recently, when our sponsorship began, and the website was kept private until yesterday when so many people were interested in learning more about the company. I told him to reopen it for everyone who had inquiries. :]

Hopefully this will help you understand the situation better,
Hunter Stanford
Founder/Captain/Human Player 6621

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

I was thinking that maybe translucent lard could be of lower quality, or more "synthetic". It appears that filtering can make it clear, and opaque is preferred in Alaska.

+1, where can Dean's email address be found?!

Since it is fairly hard to find, not very big, and insignificant compared to other sites, that's probably why nobody archived it.

Don't forget baguettes and legs of mutton! :D

X10 Hosting still exists and seems legit...



If this is not spam, congratulations on starting the second team in Alaska! :)

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

If this is indeed true, welcome! It's exciting to hear there is now another team in Alaska. Good luck next season!

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

So, according to HowManyOfMe.com, there are less than 120 people in the US with the last name Pizton. 120 is the lowest number it will display, so that likely means the number is actually 0. I think Mr. Pizton forgot to fill out his census. You should make sure he does in 2020 because it's required by law and I'm sure you don't want your team's main sponsor to face charges.

Man, this thread is the gift that keeps on giving...

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Ah, don't you just love offseason ChiefDelphi...

This is the first time I've heard of this site, sounds interesting. I put my name in there and got the same 120 number. I guess I don't exist?

EDIT: I'm actually impressed with the quality of posts, don't really know how to respond to this

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

No, I think there are genuinely less than 120 Abhishek's in the US.

Not necessarily, it just means there are probably less than 120 people with your name.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

We should all stop giving ExcuseBoy reputation because "a glorious beacon of light" is exactly what this thread is.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

I doubt that. In my area alone I know at least 2 Abhisheks- and that's just the people I know (< 3,000). It's a pretty common name for Indians.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

I'm closing this thread, as it is suspected that this is just a troll account and the last thing we want is to encourage more students (or mentors) to do stuff like that.

If ExcuseBoy sends me or another moderator a private message to verify his team/info, I will re-open it and all of your fun LARD conversation can continue.

Re: 6621 BIG Announcement!!
 

Hunter has reached out to me, and I have requested the phone number of one of his mentors or school adviser. If I am given the info and can verify it with an adult involved I will re-open this thread, if not I'll just let this get buried into the archives of CD to be forgotten in a week or so.