Ordinary Life

There's just something special about Walt Disney's Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow. It is my favorite park for several reasons, and it seems to me one of the most fitting monuments to the man behind Mickey Mouse. At its inception, Walt said of EPCOT:  "EPCOT will be an experimental prototype community of tomorrow that will take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now emerging from the creative centers of American industry. It will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed, but will always be introducing and testing and demonstrating new materials and systems. And EPCOT will always be a showcase to the world for the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise." Ingenuity. Imagination. America.  I think that's all of it in a nutshell.  Walking through the park makes me nostalgic. Not only for past visits and childhood adventures, but also for the strong broth of a certain philosophy, spooned to me steadily f...

 In another Inventions & Technology project, we studied how the phone makes use of radio waves to transmit signals. The children tested one way lines and then connected all their cups to try and form a "Party Line" *Bonus Assignment: Create a phone company, logo and catchphrase then decorate your phone (cup) accordingly: Chandler's TeleCo:  "At the Speed of Light"  Fisher's TurboPhone:  "Faster Than Lightening & Thunder"  Logan's Hello, Let's Talk:  "Lightning Fast Phone Service" 

In our Inventions & Technology class, we've been studying radio waves and the inventions that harnessed those waves for communication. One of our projects was to make a rudimentary transistor using a radio, electrical wires (we used clamps) and a metal file. Though the signal transmitted was nothing more than scratching and tapping, it was an enlightening moment that helped translate how radio waves work and how we make use of them.