Here is the specific task you will need to accomplish for this year’s project.  Start thinking about ways to do it!!!

Well…  here it is.  Embedded below are the general rules for the 2nd quarter project.  There will be another posting with the specific objective (task) that you will need to accomplish for your machine.

This is a group project.  I’d like you to start thinking about who you’d like to work with.  All 3 of my classes are doing this project.  Your group can consist of students in any of my 3 classes.  I’ll make class lists available in school in case you do not know who is in my classes.  The groups can be 4 students or 5 students in size.

Do some research.  Look online for inspiration.  Originality is key, but there is nothing wrong with being inspired by things you’ve seen.  The videos I’ve posted so far (and I’ll post more too) are a good place to start.

We will talk all about this in school, including watching videos of past years’ projects.  Start thinking of any questions you may have!

This may be one of my favorites!  There are some really impressive elements to this one.  According to the person who posted the video: it took about 6 months to make and 3 days / 200 takes to film.  It is traveling all over the walls of their lounge (I assume a dorm, or Fraternity somewhere).  It was entered into a contest by Cadbury called “Unleash the Goo”.

Rube Goldberg (July 4, 1883 – December 7, 1970) was a cartoonist who became best known for his cartoons of machines that took a seemingly simple task and made it very complex with many many steps and moving parts.  His legacy can be found in many pop culture references (see the videos I have been posting lately).  There are multiple “Rube Goldberg Machine Contests” held all over the country.  In these contests, competitors design and build a device in true Rube Goldberg fashion and compete against each other.  The National Rube Goldberg Machine contest website includes information for this competition held each year at Purdue University.  Locally, Union College holds a Rube Goldberg Machine Contest each year.

The guys from Mythbusters built a device that is in true Rube Goldberg fashion a couple of years ago for a holiday themed episode.  I’m not positive it ran automatically – they cut away from the camera shot of the machine a number of times, but it is impressive nonetheless!

Saw this in Marketing today and thought it was a clever ad. Who doesn’t like a good Rube Goldberg Machine? Then I learned that there is no CGI in the ad. Anywhere. Now, that’s impressive. You can read more about the 605 tries it took to get this right here.

In 1985, a very unique movie was released, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.  In this movie, the main character, Pee Wee Herman sets out to find who stole his bicycle.  If you are near my age, you’d remember the TV show with Pee Wee.  If you’re a little younger, you might remember a legal battle Paul Reubens (Pee Wee) faced.  If you’re a high school student, you might think he/this is quite weird and creepy!  In this scene from the movie, Pee Wee uses a very complicated contraption to make his breakfast.  You Family Guy fans might recognize this scene.  Like many of the topics of Family Guy, they spoof other movies, TV shows, pop culture, etc…  Enjoy!

Much like Ramen Noodles, tea is enjoyable as well!  Enjoy!

Who doesn’t Love Ramen Noodles.  They’re quick, tasty, and REALLY LOADED with Sodium.  MMMMMHHHH!

The other thing I really like is the Japanese language.  The only problem is that I know absolutely no Japanese. I like the way it sounds, but I understand none of it.  In the media that I’ve seen in Japanese, the person speaking is always VERY excited and energetic in their speaking.  They certainly seem like they are having fun with whatever they are saying.

This video is a perfect example of that.  Whatever they guy talking is trying to say, he really is into it!  What does this all have to do with Ramen Noodles?  Watch until the end…

Note that this is a YouTube video and will not play at school.  It should work fine at home or somewhere else where YouTube is not blocked…

Viral Videos are pretty interesting.  These videos spread like wildfire all over the internets…  someimes people email them to each other, they are posted on blogs (like I’m doing here), talked about by word of mouth, and also featured on various TV shows.  Usually the videos are free to view and they can often feature some sort of product in them.  Because of this, advertisers have gotten wind of these type of viral videos – they are essentially free advertising for a company.  One such company that did this is Honda.

A couple of years ago, Honda produced this video that features various parts of a Honda vehicle.  There are parts moving all around and they trigger other things to happen – kind of like a chain-reaction, or domino effect.

Supposedly this all happened automatically, but I have also real that there were soe re-takes that had to occur and some editing so that it would all look “seamless”.

You may have seen this before, but check it out anyways…

Well the Missus and I stopped by the new Shaws/Star Market in Chestnut Hill and here is our initial impression:

It’s where Rube Goldberg would shop for groceries if he were still alive.

For starters, the actual merchandise is on the second floor, which means you – and your shopping cart – take (separate but equal) escalators to begin your supermarket adventure. And it just gets more complicated from there.

The self-checkout seems to require from one to three Star employees to complete, and the Upstairs/Downstairs thing is a pain in the neck leaving, too.

No stars.

There are times when a kludge is necessary. For example, you’re stuck in the middle of the woods and just tumbled into a ravine and judging from that white bit protruding from your leg, a temporary cast made from a stick and some duct tape will suffice until you either get to help or a bear eats you. Sometimes, a kludge is just easier. Or funnier. But trying to sell your house should not be one of those times. Luckily for us, my friend Sara has a blog to point out that common sense when it comes to real estate is pretty uncommon. Check out these gems:

I’m not entirely sure what the point to this contraption is. Log flume for mice? Sluicing for gold? Hand pump because the indoor plumbing hasn’t worked in twenty odd years?

Nothing says “Vermin Free” home like mosquito netting that’s so well used it must now be sealed shut with clothespins. I’m sure it’s just to give the bedroom that Malarian ambiance everyone is raving about this season.

Realtors aren’t even immune from temporary kludge insanity. Curb appeal not up to par? What prospective buyer could resist the addition of some poorly rendered flowers? Or are those spent .50 caliber bullet casings?

It’s Friday, and time to have a little fun.  I found this video on the website karmatube.org.  It demonstrates a nifty concept from TheFunTheory.com, where they experiment to see if adding fun to mundane tasks can change people’s behavior for the better.  Have a look:

That made me smile, because it worked.

I tested a version of this “fun theory” years ago, after reading one of those helpful articles about How To Have A Happy Household.  In this case, the suggestion was to make chores *fun* so the kids would be, if not begging to do the chores, at least not complaining about the tasks.

I was dubious, but gave it an enthusiastic try.

“Hey kids, let’s play Laundry Fold-A-Thon!  It will be fun!”

{… insert sound of crickets here …}

I read this helpful hint in a parenting magazine, back when I used to subscribe to them.  I am pretty sure this particular article was written by someone who did not have any Actual Children.

Now, this new Fun Theory?  This one has potential.  It’s not just the technology, although boy does that help.  It is the cleverness, the innate sense of exploration and wonder that my Chore Cheerleading act did not provide.  In retrospect, I now know that if I had simply constructed a Rube Goldberg-type machine to hand each boy a piece of laundry?  We could have finished our fold-a-thon in record time*

(*NOTE:  chore completion time does not include 187 hour construction time of said machine)

Eventful day. [insert sarcasm here] Started off with ice skating, then came home and skipped out on class, took a nap, woke up and tutored, went to class, went to the gym, worked out with a hottie that’s going to Trinidad at the same time I am :3 And now here I am and achy as balls. I was drawing in class. I forget what the name of it is but it’s this machine/process that takes a long time to do something simple like squeeze toothpaste on a toothbrush. So, during class, I drew a picture of a lady pushing an old lady in a wheelchair down a ramp and she slides down the slide, lands on a trampoline and bounces up to an elevator that takes her to a unicorn that flies her to a tube that drops her through tar and feathers and down to an aquarium with an octopus. The aquarium has a hole and the water falls through to a bucket so the old lady is now in the bucket all tarred and feathered. I didn’t get to finish it… too tired. A RUBE GOLDBERG MACHINE. Okay. Glad we got that figured out. ^_^;

  

 

 

Could we do this for knitting?

The first week has come and gone, and we’re barreling into week two.  

Saturday was great fun.  Both of my students were former knitters– learned back in primary school– and as soon as we got past the awkward bit of relearning how to cast on, they were whipping through the rows.  In fact, they were much better than I expected, so we had time to throw in some colour experimentation at the end.  How are you getting on with that, ladies?

We cast on, we knit, we cast off.  Pretty basic stuff, and fun to see it coming back so quickly.  I really think knitting is like riding a bike, only better*!  Unlike biking, you can do it at the same time as watching TV or chatting with friends, and you get scarves and hats out of it at the end of the day.  Now if they can just invent an exercise bike that uses the force of your pedaling to knit, I’ll have to eat my words…

Now that’s a Rube Goldberg invention I’d like to see.

Because my quick knitters put me on the spot with their speed and agility, we ended the class with a little bit of vertical colour-changing, something I hadn’t done myself in some time… so we flew by the seats of our respective pants.  This week we’ll start with it again (after a bit of a homework challenge) and the different effective ways of changing colours without leaving too much of a trace.

Then it’s on to purling!  What does knit, knit, purl, purl look like?  Or knit, knit, purl?  Or just plain old stockinette?  All of this and so much more this Thursday and Saturday at 3:30!

*I love biking, and it’s obviously much better exercise than knitting.  You should do both.

Nothing much this Friday, just a plug for a gaming gem that Good Old Games finally added to its library:

The Incredible Machine (Mega Pack)

If you’ve never played The Incredible Machine, this is a perfect time to pick it up.  This “Mega Pack” is several games in one package, comprising almost all of the Incredible Machine gaming released to date.  For $10, you get these venerable old games in a Windows XP-playable format, free of DRM.  GOG really has the best online game purchasing system, and a great library of fantastic games.  (Come on, Lucasarts, let GOG sell your masterpieces too!)

If you’ve ever had an inkling to play with Rube Goldberg devices or physics based games, TIM stands as a masterwork in the field.  The puzzle part of the game is worth the price alone, but the sandbox is the part that I’ll be introducing my little girl to.  She loves World of Goo, and this should be a blast for her.  (And hey, it’s even educational!)  This, WoG and Crayon Physics are the trifecta that make me happy as a gamer who managed to grow up, hoping to help my little ones find happiness in games.  They don’t make ‘em like this often, and when they do, they really should be applauded.

Here we come, here we go, we gotta rock
Easy come, easy go, now we on top
Feel the shot, body rock, rock it, don’t stop
Round and round, up and down, around the clock

dont u think?

Submitted By: Raymonds

Favorite Comment: Fixer Mesh says, “The most metal wheelbarrow ever…”

Submitted By: Jon S

Favorite Comment: Fixer dono1 says, “So unobtrusive and yet it’s working so well- just look at that lush vegetation.”

Submitted By: Chris E

Submitted By: Scott R

Favorite Comment: Fixer dono1 says, “Nothing special. Just your garden-variety shower fixture.”

To accompany the release of Sandbox’s new film Shine On, Transworld has posted yet another full part from last year’s release All Day, Every Day.

This time around, check out what Jake Kuzyk, Etienne Gilbert, Max Ritchie, Andrew Burns and Rube Goldberg were putting down last season, and just imagine what they have in store for the new film.

And don’t forget to check out Sandbox’s online store for fresh Brain Buckets, threads, stickers and Shine On on DVD.

No tricks, practically no special effects, just a disassembled automobile and about 600 takes.

via Neatorama.

A lot of us skip breakfast in the morning, be it because we don’t have time to make something, don’t have the patience, or for some other reason. Yuri Suzuki and Masa Kimura are aiming to make your breakfast a little easier, a little quicker, and a lot more interesting. Their latest project is a Rube Goldberg-like machine that does everything from fry your eggs to brew your coffee. The coolest part about this project is it was built with the help of the public. The two designers put out an open invitation for people to come help in constructing the device at Platform21, a publicly accessible design forum in Amsterdam. Now if someone would tie this into an alarm clock, we could all wake up to the smell of toast and coffee instead of the super loud 140db alarm clock or the confusing (albeit effective) wake up machine.