February 2008 Archives

Please allow me to vent some national pride in sharing with you the news that reach me from Washington DC as my co-national Tommy Heinrich lectures at the National Geographic Society about his conquering Mount Everest:
A native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tommy Heinrich began climbing at an early age in northern Patagonia and the high mountains of the Andes. This background put him securely on a path to becoming the first Argentine to summit Everest, a feat he accomplished in 1995. Discovering a passion for photography that rivaled his passion for climbing, he has become one of the world's leading mountain and climbing photographers, in which capacity he has photographed expeditions to Everest, Dhaulagiri, and Argentina's Aconcagua. His first story for National Geographic, coverage of a Polish attempt to summit Nanga Parbat in winter, was published in the January 2008 issue. In his first National Geographic Live! appearance, he'll offer thrilling images and stories of this and other expeditions to the highest places on Earth.

Too bad the conference is in Washington DC....

You are invited to participate in the Marratech DEMO today at 3:30.

To enter the virtual room, please follow this link:

http://us.emeetingportal.com/launch.jsp?sid=199

Your computer will need Java to open the Marratech client. If your computer does not have Java, you can download it from www.java.com.

Room will be open at 3:25, and you will be able to get in with the following username and password:

Username: Necklaces (case sensitive, so N, not n)

password: franklinrules

For further guidance going into the room, you can chat with me on Gmail:

pbaques@gmail.com

See you at the demo!

Picture this: there is a chill factor of minus x out there and you know you need to warm up to the idea of math homework. That last quiz grade..., well...

But who is going to brave the T on a day like this, either coming back to BFIT in the afternoon, or, worse still, STAYING for evening tutoring and THEN walking the lonely South End streets to the Back Bay station, then transfer...

Forget it.

You are going home right now and not coming back into town, and if tutoring is needed those tutors can come chasing after. Well guess what: they can! and YOU CAN... cuddle up at home, pour yourself a cup or two of your favorite infusion, click on a few links, get the username and password of the day, and be present, virtually, in the same room as your tutor and fellow students.

Ah!, technology...

This is what Matt Toledo experienced today. And he was not being tutored on an easy topic either... try this one for size:

Calculate the area under  f(x) = 3x - 4, by applying a limit of a summation as n (the number of rectangles) aproaches infinity in the interval [2,5].

Sounds like fun? Sure!.. it CAN be if you get tutored through Marratech: a virtual room environment where you have video, audio, chat and whiteboard.

To see screen captures of Matt's tutoring session and previous Marratech demos, please click into this Facebook album: marratech demos. (Let me know if Facebook gives you a privacy attitude when you try to view the album). Matt's scenes are the last three in the set.

For general information about Marratech, please check out their web site: www.marratech.com

Soooo... stay home and learn! The technology era has arrived, for your greater comfort.

And to expand gratification in a mathematical context, enhance your learning experience by a "factor of pi". No, not pi squared! More like round, as in ... APPLE PI e, ( :-)), right next to your whiteboard screen, perhaps with cream and a steaming hot cup of tea.

 

 

Thursday of last week, I visited Fab Lab for the first time.

Chris Connors, an expert user, was my mentor. Chris took me quickly from the "What is Fab Lab?" stage to being able to  design Mathport logos, name tags and badges, in only one session. Chris is the archetypal High School teacher, armed with patience and a measure of enthusiasm that does not overwhelm you.

The process is very simple: you design something using Open Office Draw (for all of you who have fallen inextricable prey to Microsoft, think "Paint"). Once your design is finished, you do prin  ...sorry, make that "fabricate". A screen appears where you set the speed and power of the Laser beam that will trace your design. Remember that James Bond movie where the beam was advancing towards 007?... I even forget how he gets out of it. Well, in this case the material you place under the beam will not get out.

Your design will be etched on or cut out of the plank of wood or plastic that you place under the beam. Give the beam less power or greater speed and your design will be burnt in gently. Give it more power or less speed and the beam will cut your design right out of the board.

DO NOT forget to turn on the fan before you press run, and DO NOT leave the area  marked off around the machine while the beam is operating. The guys at the Fab Lab are very nice, but they are also safety minded and after a couple of wrist slaps for forgetfulness you could get more serious sanctions including a Lab ban. I am telling you now.

Here is a (cell-phone, sorry...) picture of my creations:

 True, no calls from Paris designers yet to mass-produce any of this, but I am still proud.

Anybody wishing to get initiated in Fab Labbing only needs to come to the South End Technology Center on 359 Columbus Avenue (and Yarmouth, see map) on Thursdays from 5:30 to 8pm to get their initiation. I highly recommend it.

If you are more of a hands-off kind of person, here is a Globe story for you.

I am pondering various ideas around BFIT and what seems to be an extraordinary opportunity to develop creativity and industriousness. I will be happy to share them with any interested soul, perhaps at the Berkeley Perk?, over some coffee?... What would Benjamin do with this?...