Category: Curations

Curations for the Curious: Body Electric

4/23/2019

Inspired by our Big Hero 6-like mindflex game (which uses an eeg chip to run a motor), we were curious about the body electric*

Our bodies are electric. in fact check out this great website by young neuroscientists that says
"humans really are batteries, and the brain contains more than 80 billion of them. Even crazier is that each of these batteries contains four times the electrostatic force that normally results in lightning during a thunderstorm! Perhaps the Matrix was on to something when it decided to use us as its power source! "

https://knowingneurons.com/2012/12/14/brain-battery/

More about moving things with our minds

Telekenisis is a sham, but we can use our minds to move things this way
https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/25/17611812/brain-controlled-robot-arm-supernumerary-bmi
and
https://futurism.com/mind-controlled-robotic-arm-johnny-matheny

More about EEG
An EEG measures brain waves. Mayo clinic says,"our brain cells communicate via electrical impulses and are active all the time, even when you're asleep. This activity shows up as wavy lines on an EEG recording." In fact epilepsy is a disorder of seisures caused by "bursts of electrical activity in your brain, sort of like an electrical storm"

Literature moment:
* Walt Whitman's poem did not originally use the word electric, as electricity was not well known so he added the term a few years later in a second edition. The poem derides slavery, reinforces equality of gender, race, and sex, and asks existential questions about what makes us "us".

More about this topic:
https://knowingneurons.com/2012/12/14/brain-battery/
https://www.inverse.com/article/49422-smart-devices-will-soon-tap-their-human-owners-to-extract-energy

Related post, including videos to watch and a view inside a controller.
http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/news-and-thoughts/big-hero-6-and-the-maker-movement

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Curations for the Curious: Black Holes

3/6/2019

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These black hole resources are for my compacting students, and all who are interested in them.

First, let's think size, with the coolest interactive, now a classic with The Scale of the Universe

Now a little background with Black Hole Basics

Where do you want to go from here? Choose a topic and follow your interest. You can go down a internet rabbit hole of black hole info by following links from the background article above, watch some educational videos to learn more about black hole science, or create something yourself (but not a black hole, sorry, see me to brainstorm other ideas)

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Curations for the Curious: Black Panther

2/21/2018

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Huey Newton and the Black Panthers, The Black Panther Movie, and Global Africana

From a series inspired by curious educational objects in my office.

What you see in the photo are handmade art shoes, including Huey Newton-themed “Air Force 1’s”

These shoes are one of the most asked about items in my office.

My student DeBrai designed these when he was a Sophomore in in my African American History class at Butler High School. He went on to college at NC A and T is now a musician. He decorated them in black and white to honor black power activist Huey P. Newton.

The organization Newton helped found, the Black Panthers, was the source of the name of the comic and now movie.

Want to know more about the real-life connections in The Black Panther movie? Explore the links below.

More to Learn:

About Huey Newton and Black Panthers https://www.biography.com/people/huey-p-newton-37369
About and Inspired by the world of Black Panther:
- Real History behind the Black Panther movie http://www.history.com/news/the-real-history-behind-the-black-panther
- Wakanda Curriculum Google Doc
- Real African Cultures and Styles represented in the film
- Black Panther Study Guide PDF http://btpbase.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Black-Panther-Study-Guide.-Trinity-UCC.pdf
- African Economics- Wealth predicted in one lifetime https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-02-21/africa-starts-on-the-path-to-economic-prosperity
- Still can't get enough of the Wakanda connection? Here are a bunch of articles about the costume designer and other influences in making the film
East African graphic novel. Like Black Panther? Download Song of Lionogo https://africa.si.edu/education/classroom-resources/
Videos of African Arts https://africa.si.edu/education/online-video/
More Shoe Art (google for even more this is just one artist)
http://www.laolu.nyc/shoes/

Now Your Turn:

Activism - Huey Newton said “If you stop struggling, then you stop life.” Do you agree? Interview an adult who was alive during the civil rights movement. What do they remember about the struggle? What would they like you to appreciate? What do they see as a struggle that continues? What are their ideas to solve it? Next choose an issue you care about.Write a plan to help solve it.
Imagining an alternate future - As per Black Panther’s Afrofuturist world, draw a cartoon based how YOU imagine things would be different here or anywhere in the world if an historical event had never happened.
Political Projection: Peters v. Mercator. Did you notice the map of Africa in the Black Panther study guide above depicts Africa as longer and thinner shape than most maps? That is to prevent polar size distortions. Read more about colonial distortion of the Mercator projection most commonly used http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/world-map-mercator-peters-gall-projection-boston-globe-us-schools-european-colonial-distortion-bias-a7639101.html Research projections. Which one is the most fair in your opinion?
Ancient African Kingdoms. Research the kingdoms mentioned in the Black Panther. Which would you have wanted to live in? What do you notice similarly from Wakanda? Here’s a start https://www.timemaps.com/civilizations/african-kingdoms/
Shoes as Art. Design a shoe in honor of a person who you believe deserves the recognition. Be intentional with your choice of design, symbols, color, decoration or lack thereof. Will the shoe be wearable or simply an art piece to look at? In the West now, we think of “art” as purely decorative, but traditional African Art is utilitarian: items are beautifully crafted and also serve a purpose. (For example: masks for dance ) Idea inspired by Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party place settings and the sneakerheads in my class back in 2008.

Teachers: Make Your own Curations for the Curious Lessons

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curations for the Curious: Phone Tech

2/21/2018

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rotary pHones and Telephone tEch

What you See:

This was the actual phone I grew up with in my parent’s house in the 60s and 70s. Touch tone (push button) wasn’t available until I was your age and even then, this phone remained in my parents home as a working phone until the 90s. (Related: 911 wasn't available until I was a senior in high school. Before then we had to call a human called “the operator” and ask for help. I was once the switchboard operator for my college.)

More to Learn:

The Evolution of Telephones (Ms Gurthie’s phone is number 17 in the slideshow) https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/the-evolution-of-telephones/
1961’s idea of the phones of the future (LOL) https://youtu.be/avHo0-qU8xo
Switchboards https://youtu.be/xJ1fKFqt7qU

Now Your Turn:

Make Your Own Phone
- Low-techy paper cup phone https://youtu.be/3yqB2KFwJCo how does it work? (tell me the science)
- Super-techy plans to make a real working phone: http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-your-own-cellphone-from-scratch/ (if you don’t have the cash to buy it all, at least you can see how)

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Curations for the Curious: Body Electric

Curations for the Curious: Black Holes

Curations for the Curious: Black Panther

curations for the Curious: Phone Tech

rotary pHones and Telephone tEch

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