One of the great things about my job (apart from having a server where I can test out blogging software) is that we get cool toys at educational prices.
The latest arrival is a set of geometric modeling gear from Zome Tools. It’s a series of plastic struts and connectors that you can use to build all sorts of mathematical models.
We got the Teacher Bundle with the lesson plans and the answer book… We’re going to be using them to help model some of the stuff that our clients are working on. We’ll be inserting them into their video footage using our green chroma-key screen. In the meantime, they’re just plain cool.
Sometimes when we’re stuck on a project it helps to take some time to sketch things. With these, it’s like sketching in 3D without all of the messy clay or wood chips that you usually get.
Right now on the office table there are a couple of helical structures from our attempts to get a good looking DNA model. Near those are some viral looking dodecahedrons and a cross-braced cube, as well as a strange little tesselation that I wound up with after I made a mistake while working on a helix.
So far, everyone who has stopped by the office has had the same reaction: “Cool!” At least half a dozen people have gone to the Zome Tools website and ordered a set for themselves. They’re just that cool. And educational too!