Astronomy Picture of the Day: the Pleiades Star Cluster

Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is a fun daily view of our Universe, with Professional
state-of-the-art Photographs accompanied by brief but very informative text explanations.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Whenever I need  an 'expansive view of things' (to counter-balance some of the stresses, routine here on Earth... I simply look up at our Moon and then some stars from the Constellations...
 (weather permitting :-)

And one of my favorite Celestial views is the Star Cluster called the Pleiades, which is visible simply with your unaided eyes... but if you have binoculars or a low power/wide field-of-view telescope, you're in for a treat: The Jewel Box of the Stars...

You can get more information online from Astronomy magazines and  organizations, such as:

http://ya.astroleague.org/

http://www.hobbyspace.com/Astronomy/index.html
http://www.jupiterscientific.org/virtualastronomer/amateurobservations/aointroduction.html

or at your local library, where they would know about local Astronomy Clubs in your community...

phineas8888

Paper Mozart Dance: Silent movie at Youtube...

Education Fun:

The previous post was about a Master Paperfolder who uses USA one dollar paper money bills
to fold and create stunning miniature sculptures.  I am an amateur papercrafter with little background in the specialty of Origami, but I have always loved working with paper for drawing and model-building etc.

I recently posted my paper cutout card of a traditional folkart design of a Tree of Life and Light.
The original card is 9"x12", so for color copying on standard 8 1/2" x 11" cardstock, I had to reduce the size for the copy machine.  This led to a narrow white border area on all four sides of the dozen prints I made.  I used an x-acto knife to cut (or "trim") these borders so that the purple background became the exact edge of the card, with no extra margin of the white border.  I cut these pieces precisely using a metal ruler to guide my knife. Some very thin slivers of white 'pearlescent' paper remnants resulted with curlicue spirals... I was about to toss them in the waste basket, as remnants, but for a fortunate moment before doing so, they caught my eye with "artistic possibilities"... 

So I now have a brief (2 1/2 minute) youtube video (silent movie clip) of their expressive forms...
to share with you...

I titled the video "Paper Mozart Dance" because the photographs I composed made me think and hear  Mozart's romantic slow Andante's for "Piano Concerto K467" and "Flute and Harp Concerto K299"...

But I decided to keep it pure and simple, and soundless/silent, so that you the viewers could hear your own music or choice of music...

Here is the youtube video link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2AtGu1PsIo


phineas8888

Won Park: Master "Money Folder" Origami

Education Fun:

http://thedesigninspiration.com/articles/won-park-the-master-of-origami-paper-folding/

Won Park – The Master of Origami Paper Folding

Origami is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding. The goal of this art is to create a representation of an object using geometric folds and crease patterns preferably without the use of gluing or cutting the paper, and using only one piece of paper.
Won Park is the master of Origami. He is also called the “money folder”, a practitioner of origami whose canvas is the United States One Dollar Bill. Bending, twisting, and folding, Won Park creates life-like shapes inspired by objects living and not– both in stunning detail.

One Dollar Koi

One Dollar Butterfly

One Dollar Camera

phineas8888

I will do further research to see if he has a book of instructions published...
and check youtube for instructional videos... (I already found other people demonstrating
similar origami constructions, but not with the one dollar bill and not by the original Master
himself...  to be continued...  :-)

*************************************

Good News!!!  I found a yahoo group dedicated to Won Park's origami art and he himself is a member of the group; here is the link:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/moneyfolders_unite/

ps: Won Park is a young man living in Hawaii... He does not fit the stereotype of an elder Japanese
monkish sage... to be continued...  :-)

The moneyfolders yahoo group has exacting diagrams and step-by-step written instructions, and many photographs and some youtube videos etc. to fill an Origami Museum...   :-)  This on-going daily message board and Origami Resource worldwide is an international treasure for teaching and learning and creating magical powerful art and science and community spirit with the simplest of materials and techniques...

This is the beginning of something wonderful for internet empowerment of ordinary and extraordinary people worldwide...and it is based on a small piece of paper that fits in the palm of your hand and is folded into the Creations of Infinite Possibilities...

Sincerely and Respectfully,

phineas8888


  

Free Online Drawing and Coloring Website for Cartoons, etc.

Education Fun,

Here is a kid-oriented website with free drawing and coloring tools, so that you can draw and/or color with your computer online.  There are many cartoon characters to color yourself, or you can draw your own pictures to color with your computer free online.

http://www.timtim.com/coloring/drawing

phineas8888

Animation as a Pathway to College and a Career | Edutopia

Animation as a Pathway to College and a Career Edutopia

The Structure of a Medieval Manuscript -- Animation Video on youtube

Education Fun,

I am working on a curriculum project for students K-University, called Engineering of Everyday Things.
It has lessons and actvities for Analyzing a "Whole (Everyday Thing) and its Parts". This involves  describing the Structure and Function of an Object; there are many objects offered for student examples in several lists and picture collections. Some examples are found online as well. Here is a brief and yet very effective video animation produced by the Getty Museum titled: The Structure of a Medieval Manuscript, posted on youtube at:

http://waldorfschool.tv/medieval-manuscript-structure/

It demonstrates how books of long ago were handmade on parchment pages and sewn together with a cover and binding technique that is still used today in making books.


phineas8888

Microscope Photo of Soap Bubbles

Education Fun,

Nikon Photography has an annual worldwide competition for photographs taken through microscopes; the results of this year's competition can be seen at their Small World website:

http://www.nikonsmallworld.com/

Among my favorites is this simply beautiful colorful photograph of soap bubbles,
at 150X magnification... the colors are real, not Photoshop!

I think if you double-click on the image it will zoom larger on the screen...

The pure black background is based on a specific lighting technique of  Photo Microscopy; you can learn more at their website about the various techniques that can be used to highlight and colorize microscope specimens.

Enjoy the view that our unaided eyes cannot see...
Microscopes and telescopes bring the very very small and the very very large world views into human focus; they are very important tools of Science and Understanding...

I think that every school should have both available for supervised student use.

phineas8888