As a youngster I was deprived of a model train set - something that I bring up from time-to-time at family functions with the sole purpose of winding up my mum!
Now this video clip takes toy train sets to the next level - it really is lovely to watch.
It is about a wee boy who wants to send his model train (Stanley) into space (his dad helps him make it happen!).
They even use Google Earth to re-locate the train after it falls 18 miles out of the atmosphere!
Thanks to @swissmiss for the link.
Each week I post a photograph of something that I have seen, like or has just made me laugh.
Back by popular demand (last post was Christmas day 2010) as I slowly ease myself back into the blogosphere are OB's magic moments. Where each Friday I post a picture of somthing that I have snapped on my camera and it has made me smile.
This week as I was transferring files to my new computer (MacBook Pro - in case you wanted to know) I came across some Packrafting photographs. Now I came across the concept of Packrafting a few years ago when I was away working on an expedition up in Alaska. They are basically small rafts that are so light you can fit them in your rucksack. I had to get one and so did my pal Iain Robertson.
When you are paddling them you have to strap your rucksack to the front - they look ridiculous but they are great fun! We cross Scotland by foot and Packraft from Mallaig to Spey Bay a few Easters ago.
Here are a couple of shots from our trip...
Above: Iain paddling down Loch Nevis.
Above: Packrafts on our backs as we head up to the watershed - we are carrying enough food (and whisky) for a six night trip.
More of Packrafting early in 2013...
Scroll
to the bottom of the post to see me digitally re-mastered as Moby!
Regular readers of this site will know that I have been a huge fan of BrainPOP for many years. I feel like Moby (the Robot) and I have been though a lot together.
For example:
All this aside I do love the BrainPOP UK product and brand. But most importantly I also love how they have build up relationships and mastered social media interactions with their loyal followers over the years.
Last night (during a delay in Vienna Airport) I finally had a chance to up-date my blog for the first time in months (it’s a long story). I illustrated the post with a cropped picture of me from my summer trip leading a group of young people to Canada on a Mountain Bike and Canoe Expedition that was taken by my good friend Lucy Wyman.
To be honest, I was quite touched by the
amount of people how have been in contact to say they are looking forward to
the return of my on-line voice. But it was the guys from BrainPop that made me
smile the most. First there was an acknowledgement that they liked the picture…
Then there was a rather cryptic tweet. But when I opened the picture I literally laughed out loud!
I still can’t quite believe that I was digitally re-mastered as Moby! Although I have to say he certainly looks more calm, cool and collective!
Cheers guys!
I did my first First Aid Course when I was 14 and continue to refresh my certificate every three years (sometimes more often). I also did a spell as a trainer a number of years ago. I think anyone involved in teaching or working with young people should do at least a basic course (it should be part of Initiual Teacher Education).
For my three year re-fresh this time around I joined a Rescue and Emergency Care Course organized by Leading Edge Expeditions in Dorset. There were twenty of us on the course and although I wasn’t sure if I would know anyone – I was delighted to find some familiar faces from past outdoor education work and expeditions.
One of the other nice things about the course was the number of young people who were attending and also going away on expeditions this summer. This included groups who are off to Ecuador, Kenya and the Alps.
During one very funny moment on the Sunday afternoon was when we managed to convince one of the Alps 2011 expedition team to put the ‘Resusci Annie’ Tracksuit on. It actually quite suited her…
Three more years until the next up-date – I wonder what the ratio of rescue breadths to chest compressions will be in 2014?
I’m sure that Google has loads of crazy research and development projects going on in the background. One thing that they have been working on for a while is this idea of cars that can drive themselves. It sounds a bit mad but the Google founders seem very keen on the idea in fact their self driving cars have already clocked up over 140, 000 miles of test drives.
Apparently the Google automated cars use video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to “see” other traffic, as well as detailed maps to navigate the road ahead. This is all made possible by Google’s data centers, which can process the enormous amounts of information gathered by our cars when mapping their terrain.
Some rare footage of what its like inside one of these cars was captured by Danny Sullivan from Search Engine Land is at the TED 2011 conference in Long Beach, California last week. The video shows the car making some extreme and pretty fast turns because it was in a rooftop car park on closed course. The video certainly demonstrates what the car is capable of!
According to the World Health Organization, more than 1.2 million lives are lost every year in road traffic accidents. Is this the type of technology that can cut down on such crazy statistics? How long until we go to market with technology like this?
I love animation as a collaborative and creative activity to do with children and young people.
I also admit to being a bit of a Star Wars fan and that’s why I love this Paper Animation of the Original Star Wars Trilogy – I think its absolute genius!
We are doing some work with 3D printers at the moment and I think they have huge potential in schools.
This is something different though… a foam printer – I have no idea why it might be useful but I thought it was pretty cool.
It’s been a crazy
week with the Scottish Learning Festival – more about that later...
As well as
presenting two seminars this year, with the rest of the consolarium team, we
were manning the Learning and Teaching Scotland stand and we had our own games
based learning area.
The stand was
buzzing and we had loads of children and teachers dropping by to have a go on
some of the games that we have been using in Scottish Schools. One of the most
popular over the two days was Just Dance for the Nintendo Wii.
It was so popular
that we couldn’t stop Moby from Brainpop having a go.
It has been captured as a
YouTube video below:
I think my former colleague Brain McLaren summed it up best:
And by the way the little girl beat all of us!
I’m told this one has been produced by Japanese children using Post It Notes. It must have taken them ages but what a really interesting idea!
I watched this video (YouTube) on David Muirs blog and I thought it was a fantastic and creative idea making great use of stop frame animation.
As David says:
‘Now it may be that you are intimidated rather than inspired by videos like this as videos this complex may be beyond the resources of most schools. However, I am sure that pupils can come up with ideas that are just as creative.’
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