New Google Earth layer

Google Earth now has a new layer for showing climate change. You can read more about it and download the KML file here. I just played with it a bit with an overlay over Maine and the results are thought provoking to say the least. Just try moving the slider over to 2085 to see what I mean! The snowbirds will be going to Kittery then.

Here you can hear Prime Minister Gordon Brown talking about the release.

Making a Difference in Public Schools

http://onceuponaschool.org/?page_id=191

I came across this and thought is was a cool thing. Its filled with lots of pledges and stories of how people are working with public schools to make a difference in the students learning.

Piscine update

Here is the latest update on the fish:

• I finally got a hold of John. He apologized for not getting back to me sooner (I've had calls into him for 2 weeks) but he told me that he has been "all-out-working" at providing bait for lobsterman. This is a new business venture for him but he says with the cost of herring right now that lobstermen are moving to other kinds of bait, namely freshwater baitfish like suckers, shiners, and minnows. John says he never imagined this happening but he says it is quite profitable!

• On the smelt front, John confirmed that the microsporidian (as with just about every microsporidian I have had the pleasure of meeting) is untreatable. He also confirmed that it is found in all smelt but only expresses itself for unknown reasons, but most likely due to some kind of stress. He does not know how it will play out in our tanks as he does not hold fish for long at his facility in closed-water conditions like ours.

• John has about 500-600 rainbow smelt in holding for us. He said he has had them in holding since I called a few eeks ago but just did not have a chance to call back. They are ready for pick-up as early as Tuesday.

• John also has a lot of golden shiners (Notemigonus cysoleucas) and suckers (Catostomus commersonii). Both of these species would look good in the tank, can feed on artificial food, and school very tightly (more so than the smelt). The only change we would need to make to what we do now is change the tank over to a purely freshwater exhibit. This could be done cheaply and easily (plumbing changes and some extra equipment) and we would no longer need to do water runs at MARICAL (cost savings for freshwater equipment). The risk is we have not tried these species and we do not have another holding space for backup.

Recommendations:

• See if John can hold rainbow smelt for us for a period of 1 month as backup species.
• Change tank over to shiners, suckers, or both.
  

LVS4 Notebooks

One of the 3-ring binders at LVS4 is broken and will not make it through very many more visits. Does anyone know if there is a spare anywhere? Or where we may be able to buy a new one?

Assistance for Hearing Impaired Students

We noticed today that though we have the iListen devices to assist hearing impaired students during the presentation, we have nothing with which to help them out at the stations besides just turning up the volume. TomO had the idea that we should rig up a headset splitter at each station with an individual volume control. Perhaps this could be taken care of over the summer?

Cohen Center Maintenance

This is a running list of things we think of that need to be taken care of in the Cohen Center:

-Camera and wide angle lens at 1-3 (note: other cameras are getting loose as well)
-Camera casings for fish cameras at LVS3 need to be sanded and repainted
-Address the source of black dust at LVS3
-New way of affixing microphones at LVS2
-General deep clean
-Replace light blubs above 3-3, 2-1, 2-3
-Replace blue rope lights in bleachers?
-Clean projectors and remove cobwebs that connect them :)

Interesting Article

Just read this article last night in the latest issue of The New Yorker. I've uploaded it to the blog server and the article can be downloaded here.

Some interesting food for thought on innovation!

One last one...

Just a last observation. I really liked some of the exhibits at MBA where monitors are not just simple rectangles. Below is an image of a touchscreen/touchwall interactive in the new Splash Zone area. The face behind each of the googles is a small video screen so the people's eyes blink and move. A small touch, but a very nice one. There were many, many examples of this in some of the new work and I noticed that the public found it fun and engaging, with a sense of discovery.

Integration of blog and TGM in CCIL

I would LOVE to integrate the blog more with TGM. Would folks who present on the floor be willing to write up their presentations as blog posts?

BTW, the Word Press software interface has been VERY finicky as to format and input, but it is getting better and better with each new iteration. I mention this because I have been acting as the conduit to the blog mainly because a misplaced code or wrongly formatted picture and throw off the format of the whole blog! Right now the easiest way to get the material onto the blog is by sending a post (text and still and video assets) to me.

Nice Touch Tank

On an MBA theme here. Really liked their new touch tank for the Splash Zone exhibit. Acrylic lids on top so animals can be touched and rotated but the animals below can rest, nice use of side views, and good integration of video camera.

I mention it as I think the fusion of a LVS with a touch tank could be quite interesting...


Monitor/camera view

Side view into pool.

Low level for kids and ADA.

Plexiglass cover (animals below and above)

Side view

Not such good use of technology

MBA has a (fairly) new exhibit on exploring the deep sea called Mission to the Deep. There are 3 missions that you can choose from in the immersion theater. Each participant has a touch screen that allows one to put input or explore an aspect of the mission.

I don't know how many of you have seen it, but I found it rather flat. The room is very high-tech and flashy (see video below), but the interaction and quality of experience did almost nothing for me. For example, in one of the missions called "Investigate A Sunken Whale," you explore the carcass of a dead whale on the bottom of the ocean. This is mind bendingly cool thing (even if it sounds gross!) because these whale falls, as they are technically known, provide a unique habitat for a variety of animals, some of which are only found on dead whales. How these organisms find (recruit) dead whales is just one of the many questions that are presently being asked. However, the touch screen experience was simply clicking on and identifying these organisms...a pretty uninteresting activity in my mind.

I find comparison/contrast of exhibits fascinating, especially where technology is involved. MBA excels at live animal display but they are still learning the ropes on the technology end of things (although they hit home runs on some of their technology exhibits, like the Real Choice Cafe and Live From the Deep programs).


Mission To The Deep room.

Schooling tank at MBA

Below are some videos of the schooling tank at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I thought you might find it interesting as this exhibit shows very tight schooling behavior with the anchovies and because the exhibit was the inspiration for the CCIL schooling tank (it has the same dimensions and general design). You are more than welcome to the full-quality video if you want to use it for CC presentation.


Schooling tank (far view)


Schooling tank (close view that allows you to see filter feeding)