Digital Learning

Here is an email I sent to a friend with respect to digital (online) sources and ideas for teaching. (sorry about the poor spanish, but the links are the important thing.)

 Te lo mencion sobre unas recursos de aprendizaje el la internet, aqui va una ligas. El primero es una video sobre "digital learning" presentado de la fundador de la Khan Academy (que es el segunda link.) una video sobre digital learning:

Khan Academy

El otro es un grabación de una buena presentación sobre educación, me gusta parte de la idea, pero se olvida y simplifica al aspecto de una maestro humano: Digital Aristotle:  (la idea es muy parecido de una libro de Neil Stephenson que se llama "The Diamond Age".)

Otras videos interesantes en youtube The Periodic Table of videos

Smarter Every Day

Una video sobre math que es muy interesante de ViHeart

me gusta mas los videos:
Hexaflexagons
Doodling in Math Class
What was up with Pythagoras?
Doodling in math class; Snakes + Graphs:

JPL news (space stuff)

Una documentaries desde los 90's que se llama Connections, algunos son muy buenos:

Platicas Rapidos (5min) que se llama 'Ignite'

One Minute physics

Six symbols

Back to CAD

I'm so very excited! Since starting work with renewable energy the idea of doing opensource design has been central to my task, and until two days ago the dream had become paralyzed. The problem was with code. There are many great ways to openly collaborate, but they all use code; essentially text. GitHub is one great example. But all of the designs that we have realized have been done in Google Sketchup; it was the only free, cross platform, and powerful CAD program found, and its files are all binary. But two days ago while showing a new student the git repository for the Amo-Esclavo Heliostat project I did a search for CAD and found openSCAD !

There are several good tutorials on using this package, but after watching Galvian's video I was hooked, and impressed. And aperently openSCAD plays well with the MakkerBot
project, with is also very handy to eliminate frequent trips to the metal shop. I am now planning on moving all my designs over to openSCAD!



Next we need an open, text based solution to electronic circuit creation (to replace Eagle). Any ideas?

ya.. a slayer christmas

Awsum chirstmas lights display

More vibs

I'm still looking for a good funk vib solo, but till then more good jazz..

Vibs

People have been confused as to what a vibraphone is: here is a good jazz vib.. from Russia..

damn! that is a mud slide.. destroying port in Brazil

via Boing Boing

the Quantitive Easing... this is really f@#ked up!!

no words.. just listen..

Mini airplane models

this is a great video of some mini airplanes being flown in a gymnasium in Japan.. The flying angle was unstable.. but funny none the less...

Coffee grinds as a robotic gripper

A great idea, to use coffee grounds in a latex bag with a vacuum pump to grip objects!

Language

Stephen Fry rants on the use of language.. brilliant, and the video is a great assistance!!



via. One Good Move

Radio Flyer wagon ++

What happens when highly skilled people retire from industry.. some fade into the woodwork.. others play! In Anchorge Alaska a retired couple converted a 1976 Mazada pickup to a 4X scale Radio Flyer wagon. From 2 KTUU.com

 

Shelter: a short film on home building

A well done movie short about Lloyd Kahn and his take on home building.

SHELTER from jason sussberg on Vimeo.

Worm composting

I've been composting (well sorta.. many failed attempts, and several that worked but that I never got to use.. long story) for several years, but the biggest problem is not how to do it, but more importantly the methane gas that is produced. Methane is one of the worse green house gases, and regular composting produces it in large amounts.

Worm composting produces some methane, but less then traditional composting. After a few days of looking for how to for worm composting I found the best reference in the below video.

The general calculations are:

1 square foot of surface are can house 1 lb of worms which can digest 1/2 lb of food waste per day.

in metric

0.205 m^2/kg of worms. So a 30cm x 70 cm bin can support 1kg of worms and digest 500 g of food waste/day. In the video they use two plastic bins to house the worms, the top for the worms and the bottom to hold the water that passes through (which is also a fertilizer and a natural insecticide.)

The Enviromentals (Episode 1) How to Make a Worm Composting Bin from Hal Brindley on Vimeo.

Nature journals too expensive

I get the updates on journal by nature. But when you click the link to read the article you are asked to purchase the article (see this article on Lidar :Mapping the world in 3D ). The article costs $38 USD! So I wrote to Nature telling them this is an order of magnitude off in pricing! What do you think? Should science be easier to access.. is Nature shooting themselves in the foot?

my comment to nature photonics:

Why is the price for an article $30 USD?!! When I can buy magazines for $5, music albums for $10, books for $20, iPhone apps for $1-10, why would anyone pay $30 for a 1-2 page article! I know that the majority of your subscribers are universities, but not all of them. You are missing a huge group of scientists who would probably pay to read these articles, but not the price your asking!
May I suggest an iPhone/iPad / kindle app that lets me download papers and read them. You know that to any given scientist maybe 1/4 of the articles in any journal are of interest to them, so buying every journal is not as valuable as you may think.

What many do is get colleges to get the pdf for them, scan copies, or most of the time we go to an open access journal. I've never read Nature Photonics (aside from copies sent to me by friends) but use Optics Express all the time.
I think your journal is good, but inaccessible.. which mean not relevant. Please change this. Scientists are not payed that well, and personal copies are nice to have. Remember that we are blog readers.. so browsing and picking useful work is what we do, but with these costly journals there is no point.

Cheers

Rodger

Evolution has no forsight

A video of the dissection of a giraffe showing notable the laryngeal nerve:

Laser tracking

This is a really intersting combination of laser light and sound. I'm not sure how it is done, but I assume it is a combination of camera, laser with moveable mirror, and sound generation based on the deflection of the beam.

BP oil spill in the gulf

A reporter went diving in the middle of the oil spill taking images of the effect not of just the oil, but the dispersants that are being applied to it. via RepowerAmerica

like a bull in a cheese festival

like a bull in a cheese festival, originally uploaded by SunnyCanuck.

On sunday during the beginning of the cheese event in Ojos Negros a bull freed itself and went for a brisk trot through the park beside the event. In the photo you can see on the far right the tent backs for the event in the adjoining concrete patio. It ran about 2 m behind our stand and was caught as it rounded to return to the street; I believe after realizing the event entrance was on its right.

It stayed tied to the swing set (as pictured) for a few hours and left without our noticing.

The pythoon; extended python low rider

Below is a video of a stretched python; gives the rider much needed storage or child caring capacity.

The people's reaction to the Pope protecting child abusers

This is great. I've heard that there is a movement in the UK to arrest the pope if he goes there...

Well anyway. A very funny video.. very rude, potentially offensive language..