TomHeck.com

RC plane does a fly-by of the Statue of Liberty

A camera mounted on a $2,000 radio controlled (RC) plane takes you on a wild ride around NYC.  The best part is the fly-by of the Statue of Liberty.  My understanding is that the person flying this plane wears a headset that allows him/her to view what the camera sees - - it's like you're in the pilot seat of this small plane.

Rock-n-Roll as a way to boost self esteem

From Wired.com

Girls Rock Indianapolis is a non-profit rock-n-roll camp run by co-founder Lindsay Manfredi, a member of the band Neon Love Life. The program leverages the shared experience of music-making as a way to improve the way tween and teen girls perceive themselves. “They tell you growing up to reach for the stars and go for your dreams,” recalls Manfredi, “but I didn’t have the tools, I didn’t have the education, and I totally didn’t have the support. It’s time to walk the talk. I’m the adult now.”

Participants in Girls Rock learn how to play guitar, work the drums, and sing, preparing them to collaborate with members of their band and perform original songs. Throughout the process, local women join the girls as mentors through workshops that share other skills, interests, and concerns. The 2011 camp is taking place this month with 60 girls ready to rock. Manfredi says the impact extends beyond the girls: “We had one parent write us and say, ‘Thank you for curing my daughter of Bieber Fever. She’s now asking about Blonde and Patti Smith.’”

I love how Girls Rock is empowering girls through music!

Income inequality

From PBS...

Financial gains over the last decade in the United States have been mostly made at the "tippy-top" of the economic food chain as more people fall out of the middle class. The top 20 percent of Americans now holds 84 percent of U.S. wealth, as Paul Solman found out as part of a Making Sen$e series on economic inequality.

PBS correspondent Paul Solman went to the line outside the Letterman show in NYC and showed people three different pie charts representing the possible distribution of wealth in three different countries. Most people figured the most equal of those was the US. It wasn’t. The US was the most unequal: the top 20% own 84% of the wealth in America, and the bottom 40% have only 0.3%.

Pie charts are HERE.

Right Outta Nowhere

I love this tune from Christine Kane who happens to live in the same city I do.

 

Mac and Shay play "Shootin' Creek"

I love fiddle and banjo music from Southwest Virginia and here are Mac Traynham and Shay Garriock, two of my favorite musicians, playing a wonderful version of Shootin' Creek.

 

Tree Urinal -- clever

Unable to prevent revellers urinating against their trees, Roskilde Festival in Denmark installed tree-mounted urinals by Dutch designers Aandeboom.

This is a great example of out of the box (or out of the porta-john) thinking.

Get the complete story HERE.

 

 

12 year old breaks out his MJ moves at an MLB game

Mariners baseball game.  The stadium sound system starts playing Thriller and this 12 year old kid opens a can of AWESOME.

Wow.

 

Free Beats -- connecting through music on the streets of NYC

In 2009, Chris Sullivan hung out a beat-box shingle in NYC's Union Square, inviting passers-by to come and rap with him.  I could have watched this all day.

I think it's cool that Chris did this and I love how the music brought people together.  We are ONE.

 

Product Development

I love creating and inventing.  Here are a few of the products I've developed.

CATEGORY:  Team Building Games -- One of my great passions is helping young people learn team and leadership skills.  I've had great success teaching using fun and engaging experiential learning exercises (games).  I've licensed these games to the three largest companies supplying physical education equipment in the United States with one company having partners in Australia and Europe.  I've licensed these products so I can leverage my impact - - by working with these companies I can now positively impact the lives of more kids.

 

TeamTimbers -- A portable multi-use "ropes course". I designed the metal bracket so it could be attached to a standard 2x6x6 piece of lumber.  The unique bracket allows the TeamTimbers to be configured into a box, zig-zag, giant "trust-V", diamond, and plus sign (+). The different shapes lend themselves to different types of games.  The metal bracket went through many iterations so that it could be easily and inexpensively mass produced.   Licensed to Flaghouse.

 

 

 

Team Spots - 10 Activity Game System -- One theme that runs through the products I develop is "multi-use" and this is a great example.  30 vinyle "spots" (12 inch diameter) that you can use to lead 10 team building games.  Licensed to Gopher Sport.

Object Retrieval Team Building Game System -- This game system was created out of necessity. This game system can be used with fourth graders on Monday and corporate execs on Tuesday (yes, that does happen with my training schedule).  Licensed to Gopher Sport. 

TAG Bag - 75 Activity Team Builder Pack -- "TAG" stands for "Team Adventure Gear".  I developed this product for Gopher Sport to provide teamwork facilitators with a super portable team building game system.  I also developed all the written material for this product (lead-it-yourself game descriptions) and published them on a multimedia training CD developed on my iMac. Licensed to Gopher Sport.

UltraWeb Team Building Game System -- One of my favorite team building games is called the "Spider's Web" however it's a pain to setup and transport.  The UltraWeb solves that problem while creating many more super cool activities.  Licensed to Sportime / School Specialty.

Team Traks Team Building Game -- The TeamTraks were created after I received a call from a group in California that was in need of a team building session.  One of the activties I wanted to lead was based around this game but the traditional way to lead it involved 12 foot long 4x4 boards which are heavy and hard to transport.  I needed something that I could carry on the plane and in the trunk of a taxi.  Licensed to Sportime / School Specialty.

Puzzling Moves Tangram -- This game is based on the ancient puzzle game from China.  It's a powerful teambuilding activity that fits in a duffle bag.  Licensed to Sportime / School Specialty.

Maze-n-Moves Team Building Game -- Licensed to Sportime / School Specialty.

Group Loop Team Building Game System --  Licensed to Sportime / School Specialty.

 

CATEGORY:  Multimedia Training

Virtual Team Leader -- description coming soon.

Teams In Trouble -- description and link coming soon.

Law of Attraction for Teamwork Facilitators, Trainers, and Coaches  Home Study Program -- description coming soon.

more coming soon...

 

Geek Dad makes a non-motorized go kart

One of my favorite blogs is Geek Dad at Wired.com and here's a great Geek Dad weekend project building a $47 go kart.

Geek Dad sends video camera into space with helium balloon

This has got to be the coolest backyard science project ever.

 

Homemade Spacecraft from Luke Geissbuhler on Vimeo.

Percussive dancer Nic Gareiss having fun

Nic is one of my favorite percussive dancers.  It's clear he loves to dance.  In this video he dances to the music of Blue Moose And The Unbuttoned Zippers.

 

What the internet knows about you

Here's an interesting article from Newsweek that my friend Mark pointed out.

The author of this article hired a company to find out all they could about her when supplied with only her name and email address. 

You might be surprised at what the internet revealed (and easily).

Now, how to teach my kids about how to navigate a world where "privacy is dead" (the name of the article in the print edition of Newsweek).

CLICK HERE to read the article.

Jar Jar Binks the annoying Lego creature -- Star Wars retelling

Although I love Star Wars I find Jar Jar Binks to be fairly annoying.  Here's a retelling of episodes IV - VI with Jar Jar playing a different roll.

 

Stephen Colbert & Elvis Costello sing "All I Have To Do Is Dream"

I'm a big fan of the Colbert Report and Stephen Colbert.  Turns out, Stephen is not only a great comedian, he's a great singer.  Here's Cobert and Elvis Costello singing the famous Everly Brothers song.

 

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Exclusive - Elvis Costello - All I Have to Do Is Dream
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive

Steve Martin's "Atheists Don't Have No Songs" bluegrass song

Steve Martin is not only a great comedian, he's a great banjo player.  Here's Steve with the Steep Canyon Rangers singing about atheists.

 

 

Our father and son backpacking trip

Our father and son group went backpacking at Shining Rock Wilderness Area over the weekend.  We hiked about 5 miles in and camped close to Shining Rock (giant quartz outcrop) and explored everywhere around it.  During our trip the wild blueberries were abundant and we ate our fill.

Here's the video:

Tarp surfing

Lay down a giant blue tarp (found at Home Depot or Lowes) and skateboard across it while your buddy lifts the corner and whamo!  It's like you're surfing the North Shore.

Jet powered school bus

Jet School Bus? School Time was never like this when I was a kid! Watch Paul Stender's 361 MPH Jet Powered School Bus racing to beat the morning bell...

[via Make Magazine]

Math education and how to fix it

Today's math curriculum is teaching students to expect -- and excel at -- paint-by-numbers classwork, robbing kids of a skill more important than solving problems: formulating them. At TEDxNYED, Dan Meyer shows classroom-tested math exercises that prompt students to stop and think.

Another great speaker from TED.