Mitch Edds says, “I think its a good way to put ourselves ‘out there,’ to maybe talk to someone we don’t know very well and learn about how they do things. All together, I thought it was pretty cool to learn about the person I interviewed. I think it should have been a little more open-choiced though for the person we interviewed. For example, someone our own age.”

Karl Van Ness had this to say about the project, “I didn’t really like the project because I feel like I’m not very good at blogging and since I’m not good at blogging, I got a B+, which ruined my all A streak. I think the project could have been better if he (Mister McIntosh) graded a little bit less strictly because it may have been some people’s first time using a blog and he may have graded a little bit more harshly because he has frequently used a blog before. I think he could grade easier on the amount of blogging required and the quality–it may be someone’s first time and they didn’t do very well because of it.”

I personally liked the whole aspect of blogging but maybe I say this because I have used one before. I think I have to agree with Karl in the matter of Mister McIntosh’s grading. Mister McIntosh has a large amount of posts and a fair amount of experience. I think this qualifies him as a senior blogger which may mean he has higher expectations of himself which possibly, without knowing it, means he may grade a little harsher because he has higher expectations of others.

I do think he gave enough time on the interview and enough pre-warning for people to complete theirs so there is no reason for people not to finish on time. I think that this is a very smart idea for Mister McIntosh to give students a chance to experiment with blogs and blogging. Good job to Mister McIntosh!

By: Turbo Tanski

Paul Bunyan and his blue ox Babe (Matthew High)

A few days ago I read a short story aloud in class. It was “Paul Bunyan Versus the Conveyor Belt” (1949) by William Hazlett Upson.  It’s from a collection called The Mathematical Magpie, which contains many stories that have some tie-in with mathematics. Most of the stories are science fiction or fantasy, which are genres that lend themselves more than most to a mathematically inspired plot.

In “Paul Bunyan Versus the Conveyor Belt,” Paul, along with his trusty side-kick Ford Fordson, is operating a uranium mine somewhere in Colorado. Paul has an old Ford pickup truck named “Babe” which has an attachment that drives a conveyor belt. The conveyor runs in and out of the mine and is used to transport uranium ore. The belt is quite long and has a half twist in it to even out the wear on both sides (how does that work?) making it a Mobius (pronounced moe-BYE-us) strip.

Paper Mobius strip (David Benbennick)

The Mobius strip is named after one of its discoverers, August Ferdinand Möbius who investigated it in 1858. It was independently discovered by Johann Benedict Listing in the same year. The Mobius strip is an example of a chiral structure (it has “handedness”) and a non-orientable surface. It’s a simple thing made by folding a strip of paper over on itself and joining the ends together. The Mobius strip has only one edge and one side. This can be easily proved by drawing a pencil line down the middle of the structure, or along its edge.

Two oppositely folded Mobius strips showing that they are mirror images of each other (non-superimposable). Made from duct tape of course!

In the story, Paul needs to make his conveyor belt longer as the mine gets deeper. Since he knows the belt is a Mobius strip he has an easy way of making it longer–just cut it down the middle lengthwise! That might not produce a real practical belt, but it makes for a good story, especially when Loudmouth Johnson comes along and makes a wager with Paul about what will happen when he cuts the belt, not once but two times.

To make it more fun, the class followed along with Paul by making their own Mobius strips out of paper and cutting them to see what would happen. By the time we were done we had quite a collection of Mobius strips in various colors and lengths, that had been experimentally cut in various ways.

Our Mobius strips hanging on the wall

Studying surfaces and shapes such as the Mobius strip (as well as doughnuts and coffee cups and the like ) is part of the field of mathematics known as topology (not to be confused with the computer science concept of network topology). The Wikipedia entry for topology has a few shortcoming as far as how the references are used, but other than that it is pretty good.  Check out the graphic on the page that proves coffee cups and doughnuts are just variations of the same thing (topologically speaking).

I didn’t say anything. But, I did think back to a time many years ago when I requested a friend get on email so we could communicate that way and he said “No thanks. The internet is just a fad.” Fail!

It also kind of reminded me of the time (probably around 1984) when I told people (chest puffed out) “I’ll never own a personal computer!”

What is Twitter and Why?

Five million people buying a hula-hoop is a fad. 75,000,000+ people and businesses on twitter, sharing information and communicating in real-time is a movement.

I will freely admit that my initial reaction to twitter was essentially the same as almost everyone else’s–”what the heck good is it?” I mean you are limited to a maximum of 140 characters (that’s why is is called “microblogging”). But I decided to give it a try and I am now convinced of its usefulness.

I follow Wired (@WIRED) Scientific American (@sciam), Science News (@sciencenewsorg), New Scientist (@newscientist) , Nature Biotechnology (@naturebiotech), The National Math and Science Initiative, (@NMSI), Teacher Magazine (@teachermagazine), Guy Kawasaki (@GuyKawasaki), Dan Schawbel (@DanSchawbel), Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself), Bruce Sterling (@bruces) and others.

These are people and organizations that are interesting to me and feed me information that I both want and need. Sometimes it’s great, sometimes it’s inspirational. If I am not interested in what they have to offer at any particular time I just ignore it. No big deal.

Here at Challenger Middle School, Team 724 is engaged in a Twitter experiment. If you have a student on Team 724, send me an email and I’ll tell you how to follow us. It’s easy, it’s fun, and it’s the most up-to-date way to keep up with what is going on during the school day.

I recommend using Firefox with the Echofon extension for a seamless and convenient twitter experience. I’ve heard that TweetDeck might be a good way to go. Of course you can always use the twitter website if all else fails. Below you see a screen capture of what the team 724 timeline looked like at the end of the day on February 10, 2010 . This is only a part of the timeline. You’d have to scroll down on the real thing to see the previous posts.

Echofon view of the team timeline

Give it a whirl, you might just get converted, have a lot of fun, and learn a bunch of amazing things all at the same time.

This old wallet is getting pretty worn out after long years of reliable service

Hollering out to the wife, “Hey, if the situation arises, I could use a new wallet.” Silence.

But, a few days later she suggested I make one out of duct tape. Sounded like a reasonable idea. Especially since there was no money in said wallet with which to purchase a new wallet. I just happened to have a selection of excellent duct tapes down in the basement.

I searched for a plan at Instructables.com, looking for just the right combination of quality and utilitarianism. They have plenty, but none struck my fancy.

A short time later after googling “duct tape wallet” I found one I liked at the website of a designer named Dustin Kirk. The instructions are not the most clear, but after reading them a couple of times and diving in, it was easy to figure out what to do.

First I made four pieces of duct tape “cloth” one for the bill fold and one for some card pockets inside.

Duct tape cloth in fabrication

Then it’s just a matter of trimming the pieces to size and taping them together. The exposed cut edges are a weak point so I covered them over with folds of tape to keep them from fraying.

For a first attempt at a duct tape wallet, I am pleased with the result. For a half-hour of fun work and less than a couple of bucks worth of materials, I’ll be happy if it lasts a year or two. According to reports I have read, good quality duct tape will last up to two years; lesser  quality maybe only one. I think this is pretty good duct tape.

Finished duct tape cloth pieces, ready for assembly

When the thing does wear out, I’ll just make another! The neat thing is, that I won’t need to follow any particular plan next time. With the experience of use, I should be able to design and construct a wallet that is customized for exactly my needs.

Duct tape comes in many different colors these days and some plans show you how to make a weave patterned cloth so the goods are two-toned. There is of course no end to what can be done with duct tape.

Finshed, reloaded wallet. Look at all that junk I purged in the process.