Caine’s Classes

Wedding Video

Embedded video from CNN Video

Remember that glycolysis will take place whether oxygen is present or not. It is the first set or reactions for both aerobic and anaerobic respiration.

If oxygen is present, and the cell is able to carry out the electron transport chain, these events will take place on the inner mitochondrial membrane. If oxygen should run out, the electrons get jammed in the electron transport chain, and the system switches over to lactic acid fermentation.

Johnny Lee’s YouTube about the WiiMote project prompted my first attempt at creating an IR pen to use in my class room. The ingredients were: 1N battery + holder, one IR LED (be sure to grab IR, and not just a random color), a momentary switch, a bit of wire, and a 15ohm resistor. All of this was placed into a dried out expo marker, using a chopped BIC mechanical pencil to hold the interior parts in place.

For a one hour, no plans/measurements build I was pleased with the results. Hopefully a touch sensitive tip is on the way for the pen soon.

A while back google announced the winners of its competition to program applications for the G1. Several of these winners walked away with $250k and a big smile.

My personal favorite was the carpool syncing application called Piggyback. With this program, users input a picture of themselves and their car. If you want to carpool, you a linked with other drivers following a compatible driving route according to google maps. Using GPS, you know the position of the driver you are waiting on, and they are given precise directions to your phone. Mileage is tracked based on the driving distances shared between the phones, and two paypal accounts are used to ensure equitable saving of carpool funds.

I wonder if they take the weight of each passenger into account? I’m skinny and that would be a real money saver if i could find a very large carpool partner with a sub-compact.

It’s only a matter of time before these phones are appearing everywhere, and I can’t wait to see the reaction on all those smug iPhone users’ faces when the October 22 arrival date appears. Though T-mobile is the vendor, Verizon has stated late in 2007 that any approved devices could be used on their networks.

Recently, hordes of image obsessed twenty somethings embarked to what seems to be a sort of annual migration, the release of the newest Apple iPhone. Willing to pay out significant sums of cash, purchasers tout the initial capabilities of the iPhone, as well as extensions that can be added. Apple seems to be repeating its past, and not truly opening up to eager developers.

At the same time, Google works towards the release of its first cell phone. So what’s the difference?  Android! As an extremely novice programmer, I applaude Google’s approach to creating software for its new phone, the G1. Anyone can add software, and beyond that Google seems to be reaching out to curious and creative minds, by providing tutorials on how to create applications to run within the Android operating system.

Perhaps this open forum will encourage the creation of new applications to be used in schools. How about gradebooks that are updated from your phone???

So the good times have come and gone. The party at the thylakoid was quite a “rager,” but now someone’s got to clean up all the mess. The place was littered with all this NADPH and ATP. So we’ll call in CO2 and they can all get together and make something useful out of this. Namely, glucose.

Remember, these are called: calvin cycle, dark reactions, light-independent reactions. All the same thing.

For those of you privy to the Light Reaction Party trying to raise ATP to benefit plant cells, here are the basic notes from the party in strictly digital form.

Light Reactions Animation

 As many of you either know, or are learning, study groups are an invaluable tool, when used effectively. Check out wiggio as a way to organize your knowledge force. 

What’s the quick scoop. Everyone enters their own email and cell numbers to create accounts. From the website you can then send out mass: texts, emails, voicemails… or post files for everyone in your group. 

Take advantage of this thing, the school just purchased a new system for big money to accomplish what you can do for free. 

Note: please talk to your parents before actually signing up for this. I am merely bringing the site to your attention. I will not use this as part of class, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.

As promised, here is the link to the video that we watched in class today. Please note, should you choose to watch the video because you are addicted, I will not be held responsible. You will still have to come to school tomorrow, even if you stay up all night watching this thing in amazement.

Get the good stuff at @: 

multimedia.mcb.harvard.edu/

Despite its best efforts, the whirring melodies of my laptop hard-drive are not putting me to sleep this evening. Normally I would close the hatch and retire, but tonight I settle for a darkened screen as I download some linux OS stuff.

After researching home automation and other depressingly geeky things, I head over to my reader and stumble upon a confession of an edublog crush. And just like that, Michelle Rhee enters my life.

Michelle Rhee: School chancellor over public schools in the DC area. What makes her so great? Rhee it offering six figure teacher salaries to any teachers who are willing to relinquish job security bestowed by tenure, and have their jobs tied to the performance on standardized tests. Ariticle

Thumbs up to you Chancellor Rhee!  As much as I hate standardized tests, I still feel confident that making students into learners prepares them to excel on these tests.