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Behind the Scenes: WIND

Behind the scenes with the Exploratorium, A Curious Summer and Tinkering Unlimited as they prepare to work with young learners to harness wind’s invisible power through discovering where it comes from and how to predict its behavior while studying aerodynamics and lift. Through tinkering with wind-powered machines and vehicles, such as a paragliding wing, turbines and sailboats and designing kites and gliders, this hands-on experience will open new doors into the mysterious power of WIND.

Tinkering School: Day 6

Think, Make, Tinker: Theo, Isaac, Leo, Max, Hannah, Nik, Sam, Jacob, Julie and Gever set off to test their inventions on Day 6 of Tinkering School. Nods to King of Hawaii for the groovy surf vibe.

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Tinkering School: Day 5

A few clips from the 5th day of Tinkering School:

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Geometry of Life

thanks to @kurt_vega for reminding us of this beautiful film by Cristóbal Vila:

A little perspective on where we are…probably

Today’s Solar Wind Forecast

While living in Alaska, I had a heavy habit of checking this every day: a groovily-nerdy resource provided by the University of Alaska’s Geophysical Institute:
thinfilms ecimf 1 Todays Solar Wind Forecast

rAndom International’s latest: Audience

Audience, the latest media installation from rAndom International, is outta sight – as the viewer walks through it, the mirror-fellows track them, making each viewer the “focus” of the piece as they are reflected in each little mirror:

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Nature by Numbers

via @datavis:

Humans Swimming

thinfilms swimmingNCAA Humans SwimmingAre you a human? Do you like to swim? How about free-diving? How about static free diving?

On Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing: Sound as Image

translating information from one sense into another, especially sound to image, is one of the things technology does well

case in point is Close Encounters of the Third Kind

is this captivating? in the case of Close Encounters it is. however, personally, i can only say that in other cases, such as the one below, watching the patterns go by while experiencing the familiar audible sensations of this music is sometimes satisfying and sometimes not. it surely depends on multiple factors. sometimes my eyes want to be free of this structure, preferring to let the imagination wander around and let the sound just be it’s own thing. sometimes yes, sometimes no

the idea of translating the input of one sense into or through another…hmmm…

brings up questions. sometimes, though, my own nature seems to want to focus on just one complete sense or at least in bursts of intensive focus. for example, to the music and let the other senses waft the in-between moment in

senses can be wrestled. this meditation is about giving each attention with care, rather than throw jumbled mass at them all without consideration. that’s sure easy enough to take for granted, too

cheers to Kurt Vega for the link: