Friday, December 04, 2009

fun in recycling

look for more at http://thefuntheory.com/ (thanks, VW!)


and

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

and now for a variant on the paper thing ...

a bit of fun from the New Zeland Book Council ?  
it's not "origami" - lots of cutting involved --

origami film on pbs - art AND science

Don't miss this.

pbs (independent lens) is showing a film Thurs 12/3 evening 7:30pm wgbh-ch2,  Friday 12/4 at 1pm wgbx-ch44,  and many other times - check the preview, and local listings (see comment below)
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/between-the-folds/index.html
this goes directly to the preview:
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/between-the-folds/previewpop.html

this part
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/between-the-folds/film.html
shows Michael LaFosse making and folding his own paper, Paul Jackson dramatically showing what can be done with ONE CREASE, and Eric Demaine at MIT.

Lots of diagrams, a "matching game" of figuring out which crease pattern goes with which finished piece.

Already missed the local showing at the Boston Public Library two weeks ago, but if you look around on the film pages you will find many excellent resources online.   Joseph Wu, Robert Lang, Michael LaFosse, Peter Engel, Eric Gjerde, Tom Hull (in Massachusetts!), and many others, including Brian Chan - see his video on folding the 3d version of the "mens et manus" MIT logo  "in three easy steps" (ha ha).

high voltage = dont do this at home

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-tesla-coils-zones-02-dec02,0,3913995.story

all this time I thought they were van de graff generators