Tech Wiz on Technology projects and on a trip to Mars!

I am hooked on Amazon Prime day, I shouldn’t be, but I am. They had me at 20% off electronics. There were a couple of things I needed and a couple I wanted. Both were on sale today! It is fun to save money sometimes. That is one of the reasons I love to do crowdfunding. I have been a crowdfunding fan for many years. Back when I first started, I simply backed projects. Now I offer advice, help the companies and in some cases get directly involved in what they are doing.  I have cautioned some campaigns from declaring victory early. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory is never a good look. My major theme in the campaigns I work with is communicated.

One of the things I do is keep track of technology trends. In part to help the crowdfunding campaigns that reach out to me, in part to peak my curiosity. The mix of possible, probable and valuable is always one I find critical. During the semester I was filling in for another teacher, he had hand surgery and couldn’t teach for about four months. It ended up being the rest second semester of that year. We played the what would you take on a trip to Mars game. The game, is math, thinking, and the problem-solving game you can play with children or adults. The goal is simply knowing you are bound for Mars, what is critical to have with you. What is nice to have, and what would be a luxury item.

The kids ended up designing a wonderful want vs. need mathematical formula (we removed the critical life support components from the want vs. need formula). I find myself using that formula to this day. Basically what the consideration was the weight of the item (cellos were out, no one in the group like orchestra’s and no one played the cello).  Then there was the use of that item (having a movie player was critical, having all digital movies would have reduced the number of VHS tapes we had to have them). The weight of the item, value to the crew members and then finally what number of the crew would use the item going forward. If everyone needed it (toilet paper), it was low weight (yup), and you get the idea from there.

Understanding what you can do is always critical.