Intimations of Inspiration
Positive trends. Positive in that they are growing and positive in that I try to keep to trends impacting the world for human benefit.
Wednesday, June 30, 2021
Sunday, August 16, 2020
Great Artists Steal -What was DaVinci's secret?
Mariano di Jacopo also known as Taccola - Wikipedia could hold the most important secret in the life of Leonardo DaVinci. Unlike the secret societies and hidden religious mysteries in the DaVinci Code, the real secret from DaVinci was his predecessor. This lesser known influence is now fairly well documented although still not even mentioned in many discussions of DaVinci’s life. So while DaVinci defined the quintessential role of genius for the West, as is often the case in discovery, Taccola provided the shoulders that DaVinci was able to stand on. This suggests that many of DaVinci’s greatest contributions were not necessarily originating new ideas but refining and polishing them thus pointing us again to the lesson that scientific advances do not occur in isolation. Below Taccola’s earlier design of a paddle propelled boat.
What may be even an even more interesting twist is Taccola’s own potential source of influence: the Chinese. Although it has not yet been well established there is the tantalizing possibility that Taccola and hence DaVinci were influenced by a Chinese manuscript. There are still plenty of lingering questions and alternatives on this connection and but it remains a possibility. Unfortunately this possibility has already blown way out of proportion by Gavin Menzies claiming it was brought by an entire Chinese fleet around this time, however it remains possible that drawings had in fact been brought by the likes of Chinese traders, Marco Polo or other traders and ended up in the hands of Taccola and DaVinci. The implications to Western history would be huge including a revised narrative re-emphasizing the role of cooperation across diverse cultures. Thus, the most important and potentially controversial secret from DaVinci was not about religion or any secret societies beyond the role they played in early global exchange.
Were these the source of DaVinci’s ideas or did they occur independently?
https://www.quora.com/What-secret-behind-the-Leonardo-davinci
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Teaching Character in Science Class
Mutualism Teaches Habit 4: Think Win-Win. Ants and aphids both benefit from their interaction. |
In the introduction to the 7 Habits Covey explains the power of a habit in our personal lives. One of the best places ways to illustrate the power of habit in Newtons first law of inertia. Covey uses the example of a rocket taking off overcoming the pull of gravity to show the principle but any application of the law of inertia can really illustrate the same idea. Good habits gain their own inertia once that have overcome the static friction of gravity while bad habits tend to resist change. Another similar example is a car cranking to start the most challenging parts are the first few rotations.
As static friction opposes the movement of an object
so new habits are hard to get started
|
use the 7 habit language more freely in my classroom the book also reminded me that real change in a school needs to involve administration. On that note, it is unfortunate that the Covey organization demands so much money for their training which also highlights for me how some of their corporate tendencies are not always totally compatible with academic pursuits. I think for most schools a compromise of either training and reading the book and figuring out how to apply the principles themselves works well enough although it would be nice to see more involvement from the Covey Organization directly in university teacher training. With direct teacher training new teachers wouldn't have as much disconnect between what they've already learned and something as effective as the 7 Habits.
Necessary sequences and order and the cell cycle, developmental stages, stages of a virus.
Monday, December 18, 2017
3 Industry Impacts of SpaceX- Rocking the Rocket Industry
Summary:
Conclusion *For a full explanation of how I would invest see the rest of the article
Major prize surprisingly goes to blue origin over space x.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3808605/Billionaire-space-battle-takes-Twitter-Jeff-Bezos-takes-aim-Elon-Musk-tweeting-images-model-megarocket-just-hours-SpaceX-founder-showed-Mars-rocket-engine.html
Monday, August 14, 2017
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers
Assignments should be easily understood by students and parents |
Teacher collaboration determines school success. |
Harry and Rosemary Wong BYU Alums |
I couldn't help but notice the similarities between this book and the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and in fact, closer I looked the more I realized book might as well be called the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers. I really liked both books, and superficially like Covey, Wong constantly uses the word effective comparing effective and ineffective teachers and also uses many of Covey’s. Their techniques like telling positive stories of change to motivate and inspire teachers also showed. Undoubtedly the Wongs’ post graduate work at BYU under Stephen Covey’s influence greatly affected their thinking and they might have even met or had a class from Covey as he taught at BYU for a number of years.
Still overall the book does have some very important ideas for teaching and applies principles of success to teaching in a better way than anyone seems to have.
Wong Biographies:
http://www.uah.edu/news/campus/internationally-renowned-educator-harry-wong-to-lead-uah-workshop-for-k-12-teachers
Friday, July 14, 2017
How to Have a Successful Career in Medicine without Debt ( What I wish I had known)
Although traditionally a female profession, nursing is also an amazing place to start out in the medical field to learn as you go no matter who you are. There is still a demand growing much faster for nurses than doctors and you can can find a job practically wherever you live. The easiest and probably least expensive way to start start nursing is at a nearby community college many have an associates RN program that takes 2 years to complete. There are also a lot of private more expensive programs as well, although if the program near you is impacted consider looking a few miles more rural and you can likely find a less full program. If you do not want to go straight into 2 years you can also start out even lower as a CNA, LPN (licensed practical nurse) or LVN (licensed vocational nurse) getting valuable patient care hours and getting paid. And if you have a less job friendly degree in something like psychology there is still hope! There are a lot of entry level programs and you can still work towards a bachelors degree in nursing while taking the pre-reqs.
Fight the male nurse stereotype! |
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Cell Theory Paper WGU
Bubbles: possible precursor of cells |
Johannes Muller- Mulled it over, but couldn't get past vitalism |
Theodor Schwann- Muller's protege who brought Biology out of the darkness of superstition |
This was for Science Technology and Society course at Western Governors University. The requirements were to choose a scientific theory and write about its history and its formation.
Although I was probably more interested in Antoine Lavoisier's Oxygen theory of combustion I decided to do cell theory because it was more relevant to High School Biology.
References:
Notes:Intro with things people use that wouldn't exist without cell theory. Include cork and other cell resembling pictures.