Math Art: Fractals

Not really sure what fractals are - other than art created from math using computers. Click on image to see full size.

Created by Wolfgang Beyer with the program Ultra Fractal 3.
Licensed by Creative Commons -

There are also some great images on flickr from the New York Public Library, and LIFE magazine has posted amazing photos on Google.

ICC Book Club: Diaz' Oscar Wao

Today's book club discussion will be treating this book (see wikipedia for summary). It's won the 2008 Pulitzer prize for fiction and the National Book Critics Circle award.

It tells a story - several woven together - of a family, their country of origin (the Dominican Republic) and their new home, New Jersey. The background on the history and politics of the Dominican Dictator Trujillo and his gangster minions alone makes this book worth the read, but the language used - makes this work remarkable.

A lot has been made of the gutter Spanglish - but having studied the work of the Hispanic cultural critic Carlos Mencia, that didn't throw me off - tho my knowledge of gendered nature of swear words has been expanded. The gratuitous use of the "N" word gave one pause, but ultimately the overall effect has been an authentic (albeit coarse) common dialect.

The controlled use of ambiguity makes this a favorite over the last few books we've read. Less a contrived work of art and more a testimony of the Dominican diaspora experience - it succeeds in a compelling, powerful way.

Writing conventions in electronic media

How should conventions of spelling, mechanics and punctuation be treated in email, discussion boards, blogs, etc.? NPR today has text and an audio podcast exploring linguistic innovations from technology, and Dilbert has dealt with the issue for a good minute. The comic is from 6-6-2004 archived at www.dilbert.com Click on image to see the complete (and larger) strip.

Links for teachers

Biology: what glowing hamsters can teach us about genetics (video of animals bio-engineered); reprints of antique medical illustrations - cross reference with cool art; European Molecular biology lab creates 3-D digital embryos - kinda like Google Earth on a REALLY small scale.

Psychology: - study shows cognitive therapy is as good as antidepressants; study looks at why failure inspires some and demoralizes others; book review - The Time Paradox, re: how individuals think of time shapes personality; Brain science - the source of genius;

• Science: Richard Feynman on the essence of Science;
• Language: Merriam-webster announces top 5 words of the year.
• Art and Music: the youtube symphony orchestra puts classical music online; Free downloads of Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash duets; the white album turns 40; 10 fun facts about Picasso (source for images); reprints of antique medical illustrations - cross reference with biology.
• History: world history in images from 1949 to 1989 in under 5 minutes - to the tune of Billy Joel's We didn't start the fire (video).
• Green issues - the environment: green cars at LA auto show.

image from http://neatorama.cachefly.net/images/2008-01/homer-simpson-brain-mri.jpg

National Day of Listening, Pedagogy of Powerpoint,and Holiday Wishes.

NPR is promoting the National day of Listening the day after Thanksgiving -

NEW YORK – StoryCorps, the most ambitious oral history project ever undertaken, will launch the first annual National Day of Listening on November 28, 2008. On Thanksgiving, Americans and loved ones gather to share a meal, express their gratitude and reminisce. StoryCorps is asking Americans to linger a little longer in the Thanksgiving spirit and honor a loved one by conducting an interview about his or her life.

This site provides more detail and audio as well as links to a guide to helping you through the interview as well as how to archive and/or share it. In addition to being a great idea for family and personal reasons, it could be a foray into podcasting. If your audio is 8 minutes or less and relates to content taught here at the school, or pedagogy/andragogy, we'd post it on our podcast. You will greatly appreciate the time you spend doing this - regardless of when or if you post it.

Also this week, we have a new resource on the pedagogy of powerpoint - focusing on when, where and why. There's a pretty funny and apt teachertube video on the subject - regrettably the resolution could be better.

Need something more to be thankful for? Free downloads of Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash performing together in 1969. Via openculture

BTW: the turkey is oragami/ papercraft. Taken originally from a Japanese website - find English directions and info here.

Grants and resources for instruction in the arts

Recently in discussion of grants and funding available on campus, someone said, "Why isn't there any money for the arts?" Well, there is, for example the National Endowment for the Humanities, and The Wallace Foundation. Edutopia (a George Lucas educational foundation) has a post on the best places for grant information.

Susan Turner, who writes grants for the college, advises to start early and not underestimate the time needed. She notes that potential grant requests relate to a project—usually within a program area—that can be described and budgeted. All potential requests for funding will be prioritized by the Provost.

Grant requests are based on a problem or need that can be clearly stated. So the first step in submitting a request for funding is to complete the summary section of the approval form The next step will be to discuss the concept with the appropriate dean(s) and secure initial approval. Then submit it to Dr. Sangki Min and he will review all requests with the Provost. Susan will contact the successful requesters to discuss the request and design a realistic work-flow schedule for getting a proposal out the door! Her first concern is developing that work-flow schedule (back dated from the submission date) so that there will be adequate time spent on the research and writing and reviewing stages.

All grant requests should include a timeline of who is responsible for what stage as the project is implemented.

TechTALK wrap up

This post will be a place to respond to ideas from those who attended our session.

Thanks to Herschel Martin who suggested the following cartoon from Real Life adventures.

Let us know what you'd like to know about, or what applications might work best for your class. Post to the comments here and let's extend the conversation.