Biography
Who I am
Benjamin Kidd was born on March 18, 1982 at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. He has been interested in building and creating things ever since he was a small child. Lego’s, Constructs, and Pipe Works were among his favorite toys. His love of Lego’s has not stopped. He now has a sizeable collection of Lego Trains that he sets up a running display at the Annual Troop 964 Train Show. Along with Lego’s, Benjamin loves creating things from Duck Tape. Since Elementary School, the vast majority of his school projects have involved Duck Tape in some form or another. In Advanced Placement Government, the end of the year project was to plan a trip to a foreign country for 14 days. Benjamin Created a Fictitious country called Manconia, named after his favorite brand of Duck Tape, Manco.
It was in second grade that Benjamin began to develop an interest in things electrical. His dad, Bryan Kidd, an avid model railroader, brought a display into class one day to illustrate the difference between series and parallel circuits using model streetlights. His interest grew with time. In fourth grade, He based his first Science fair project on the conductivity of certain objects. In sixth grade, he began constructing projects and incorporating simple light-up circuits. By eighth grade, he already knew he wanted to be an Electrical Engineer. He began reading books on wiring techniques, semiconductors, and basic circuitry. As over time his capabilities grew. In ninth grade, he began constructing a stage lighting system made out of coffee cans and controlled with residential wall dimmers. (See Schematic, LCS 1000) He has since been continuously upgrading the system adding more lights and dimmers. At present, he has 12 Coffee Can lights that use 150 Watt PAR 38 lamps (security light bulbs). In addition, he uses 300-Watt remote-controllable 0-10VDC optically isolated analogue control signal dimmers. The control board for these dimmers is still in progress.
Benjamin Kidd is currently an Eagle Scout and a licensed Amateur Radio Operator (Technician Class) KG4EIF. He has a great interest in Electronics and plans to become an Electrical Engineer at the University of Virginia. In addition to Engineering, Benjamin holds a variety of interests. He is a current member of the U.Va. Swim Club, and is also a former team Captain of the Prince William Swim Club and is still active in the program. He also Participates in the U.Va. Jazz Ensemble Directed By John Dearth and the Symphony Orchestra Conducted by Carl Roskott. Currently, he is playing String Bass in the Jazz Ensemble and Violin in the Orchestra. Benjamin also enjoys Friday afternoon rides with the U.Va. Mountain Biking Club.
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