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Here is the amazing story and the trailer of "In the Village" created by Natiah and Annie in the Film Fiction studio. Abrafo and Arapmoi gather the children of the paradise land together. Today Abrafo is going to tell them all of their journey to paradise. The children gather in a huddle beneath their feet anxiously waiting to hear their story.

My name is Abrafo, meaning warrior and this here is Arapmoi, meaning son of war. We were both born in a small village in the Democratic Republic of Congo. As children, we grew up worry free and full of happiness and joy. My parents had taught me all things right in the world and all things wrong. One thing I had been taught to always think of as wrong was war. To my parents, war was meaningless and pointless. They believed that it was no good for anyone. I, on the other hand did not know what war was or what the big deal behind it was. I had never seen a war before and I had never thought that I would. One day as I was playing in the village with my little brothers the Abedi arrived. I had not known what the Abedi was but I knew that it meant worshipers. The way they walked through the village with their riffles and their dirty uniforms, seemed to make the air around me polluted. I was not able to breathe, it was as if the oxygen was being sucked from around me. Their air was no doubt different than ours. Those are the worshipers. They've come to recruit us with promises of paradise. I heard one of the village boys say. As they walked through the village they stopped and noticed my brothers and I. I had no idea what to do. Should I run? Should I call for my parents? Should I follow them and listen to their promises? I asked myself. As they passed I looked into one of the Abedi members eyes. His eyes as if crying out for help looked cold and red and very tired. His body, lifeless as he walked past us. They stood in a circle at the edge of our village near the river and yelled out Njoo hapa(come here)! Kila vijana ndoto kwa peponi unga sisi (all boys dreaming of paradise join us). Unaweza go kwa nafasi mbali tangu hapa (you can go to a place far from here). Changa (gather)! Boys began gathering around them, trying to see and hear perfectly what the Abedi were saying. My brothers and I stood up and were ready to also hear the news of paradise when our parents stepped out of our hut and began pulling us away from the crowd. But why? Why cant we listen to the Abedi Baba? I asked my father. He had not answered me but instead kept walking as he pulled my arm. I dragged my feet in the dirt trying to pull away from him. It was no use, he was too strong. I, to stubborn to follow, tried everything to loosen his grip. Once in the hut, my parents explained to me that the Abedi were bad people. Why are they bad Nina? My youngest brother asked my mother. We are not sure, but we know that they take young boys of a certain age in each village, recruiting them for a journey to paradise but the boys never return home. Later that night as I laid in my bed, I could not help but wonder why the boys never returned. Were they having so much fun in paradise? Maybe that Abedi member I had made contact with earlier had just been overtired from having so much fun or from watching the little children. I thought. As I dreamt of paradise there was a BANG at the door. I sat up quickly, scared that the village thieves had come to take our food again. I couldnt bare going another week without dinner. Another BANG at the door. Thats when I heard my father get up out of bed and walk over to our wooden door. I heard talking. A young mans voice no older than about 18 could be heard telling my father that it was time. I could hear my moth\er sobbing and my father pleading for more of this time. He asked for another year, another month, another week, and another day but the young man insisted that the time was now. My father pleaded even more as voices were starting to get louder and more aggressive. ENDA TANGU ANGU KIBANDA (Get away from my hut)! yelled my father. As if time had sped up, my father, in an instance was punched in the face lying on the ground, my mother screaming, my brother crying, and I was being pulled and shoved in every way possible out of the door. They dragged me out of my hut and onto the dirt road of the village. I planted my feet firmly in the ground trying to resist the mans tugging as I did the day my father tried to keep me away from the Abedi. I was not strong enough and instead was dragged into a line to get on a bus where other young boys in my village were standing. I seemed to be the only one unhappy to have been there. It was my turn in line, I stepped onto the bus and a man blocking me from finding a seat was yelling JINA (name). SEEKA (age). I gave him the answers he had been seeking and took a seat on the bus nest to a window. I wanted to be able to see the village, my hut, and my family as I left them all behind.

In the spirit of our upcoming Science Fiction semester, here is a recap of an interesting event that happened at MIT a year and a half ago to promote the movie "Jumper". Professors

One of the goals of Space Mining is to teach engineering first-hand. On the second day of space mining, the students put on their engineering capstomodel and design water rockets.

The first step in engineering isto understand the problem. For that, we need a model,a[usually] simplifiedunderstanding of how our problembehaves.Today, we accept the equation that tells us how gravity behaves: Force_gravity= G*mass1*mass2/distance². We are so confident in it, that wechart the courses of satellites, and observe the motions of the Universe with it.But, in his day, Sir Issac Newton recorded the motion of the planets for years in order to derive this now-accepted model. The model the students studied today was the Drag equation, Force_drag=0.5*rho*A*v²*C_d. This equation, in a slightly different form, was originally discovered by the Wright Brothers, who performed many wind-tunnel tests to figure it out. It's interesting to note that Until the late 1800's, one accepted model of flight was to twist through the air like a screw drives through wood.Even Leonardo DaVinci designed his own screw-flying machine. It wasn't until the Wright Brothers modeled the behavior of air in a wind-tunnel that we stopped screwing around. One of the models the Wright Brothers discovered is the equation for aerodynamic-drag, a.k.a. wind-resistance. This equation limits the speed at which sky-divers fall, sports-cars can drive, and even the height of a launched water-rocket. Here is David and Sam building the system that will test the water rockets.

After a few attempts, we found out that the fan we got was too weak.

David was resourceful enough to head to MIT and bring this giant (relatively speaking) fan.

And here is the winning water rocket designed by Kris.

Nanotechnology studio coach

"Nanotechnology of Growing Architecture" studio by Dr. Ryan Wartena 9/20/10 September 20, 2010: Day 1 of the NuVu design studio for Nanotechnology of Growing Architecture. We started the course today by watching a video of a man who can draw a perfect circle (link). The concept for the studio was briefly discussed; as a class, we are designing and developing a contemporary Seed Atlas for the growth of intentional thought through the nanotechnology of Seed Design. The relationships between polygon solid space and circle space was described as were their transforms and dualities. We collected images of Crop Circles and the surface of the moon Titan and discussed how growth and life could arise from pure geometry and the proper flow profiles. The basis of the seed design concept was practiced today by understanding how to physically draw fundamental geometries of circle space. We further introduced the five crystal structures composing all materials and how it could be derived from the circle space grid. Circle space coordinate systems were performed as a collective circle by circle as we all drew circles by hand. After understanding basic concepts of the construction (symmetries, centers, guiding points) of circle space, we utilized Google SketchUp to apply the understanding electronically. To balance out the rigid rule set of crystal structures and third dimensional reality, we made connections of free-form with the mathematics game of Point-Node. The rules of point node are simple, you just need to connect any two points and if you do so without crossing any lines then you can draw another node. There are limitations on node connections and when played correctly, there is now end to it. Amazing abstract creations were developed by the twos and threes. In Point-Node, there are no rules other than which is stated. The NanoGA collectively discussed the similarities and differences between the two drawing processes. It was acknowledged that Point-Node represented a very abstract methodology without bounds of physical materials. With physical materials, specific rules occur in the crystalline structures. (The course's Seed Designs for Intentional Thought Manifestation (ITM) of physical systems may be performed in circle-space with unique geometries, environmental patterns and growth mechanisms.) As a third method of working with circle-space, we discussed the surface patterning geometries including feathers, petals and scales; the goal was set out to make a surface of patterned circle-space and turn it into a surface skin. We arranged translucent circular disks into the Seed-of-Life pattern and began their collective formation. All drawings and pictures were added into the Seed Atlas version 1.0. Good Job NanoGA! Tomorrow, we point to things and discuss their composition and method of manufacture down to the molecular level and we visit the library for a planned visual paper chase.

Normally, when we think about the history of a technology, it's in a straight timeline, and the important points are the first inventions. But this studio is all about how technology doesn't move in an inevitable straight line. "Progress" is misleading: different groups of people have different desires and interests and make choices about what they want, choices that affect how technologies evolve, just as organisms adapt to their environments. The challenge of the day was to use visual representations to show the evolution of particular technologies or products under social influences. The music player team originally started with a straightforward timeline that had the original iPod culminating in the latest Nano. But over the course of the day they developed a chart showing how a product line diversified to meet the needs of different groupskids, businesspeople, athletes, trendsettersand how not even this was inevitable, as Apple added and removed features as it experimented with what worked and what didn't. Sometimes what worked was very old: Apple took their inspiration from the Regency TR-1, a small transistor radio that was many decades old.

The car team focused on the early Ford models. Students were surprised to find that Ford had teamed with Thomas Edison to develop an electric car, the Baker Electric. It could travel 240 miles on a single charge, at over 20mph. It was also much quieter than contemporary gas-powered Fords. For that and other reasons Ford and Edison decided to make it a "woman's car," with built-in makeup cases, vases, plush seats and simple steering. The Baker was a commercial failurebut not a technological one. If you're in LA, you might see Jay Leno driving his around.

The phone team traced the history of the phone, focusing on newer cell phones. Again it was instinctive to think of the iPhone as the culmination of phone technologybut really there are many different kinds of phones in existence and operation, including the iconic Nokias of the late 90s, which were once fashionable but are now the workhorse cellphones for most of the world's population. They also found many phones that look like curious side-developments nowlike a goofy-looking Nokia 3 phone shaped like an angular hockey puckbut were serious contenders for "phone of the future" at the time.

Another team went all the way back to Greek mythology to find the roots of flight. They showed two different trajectories: lighter than air and heavier. They pointed out that blimps, descendants of the zeppelins, are still used today. So are propeller planes, even though they were supposedly "superseded" by jets at the end of World War II. Wars have been very good for the development of airplanes: there's no substitute for the threat of getting shot down to figure out what kind of a plane you really want.

The computer team also was able to show how different groups and demands for technologies shaped the development of the personal computer, by focusing on Apple. Fashion, features, size, and power have appealed to different groups at different times.

Design-Build Team: Angelo Cabral, Garret Ekpunobi, Max Penzel, and Stephen Phillips Back in freshmen year, Stephen and I created a character called the Runch Monster. He is a giant blob that likes to eat everything and everyone. When we were brainstorming ideas about a robot, we decided that the Runch Monster would be a perfect fit to be a robot. As time went on, we decided to make the Runch Monster moon walk. Later in the week, we found out that the moon walk would not work and as a joke we wanted the robot to just spin around and flash a lot of lights. As we were developing new concepts, we seriously took the joke into consideration and actually planned out moves and a light show. Later as we were building the Runch Monster, we noticed that the robot began diverging from the look of the Runch Monster and that it was looking more and more like Deadmau5. The end product turned out to be completely different than we originally imagined because initially we had a moon-walking Runch Monster, and we ended up with Deadmau5, a robot that dances around and is synchronized with a light show. Other than spinning its head, our robots dancing is mainly done with its three legs. Each leg has a set position for lying flat on the ground, standing at about a 45 degree angle, and standing straight up at a 90 degree angle. By combining different positions on different legs, it is able to perform a wide array of dance moves. During its dance performance, its main moves will be The Up and Down, The Circular Worm and the Dagger. In the Up and Down dance, it goes from the ground, to standing, to standing up straight, then back to standing, and finally goes to the ground. The Circular Worm is performed by having two legs straight up while the third is in the standing position. The legs in the standing position switch around going in a circle so that the robot is rotating in a circle. Finally, the Dagger consists of the robot going from the ground to the standing position quickly. The dance will be set to the song Strobe by Deadmau5. Our robot has four servos: one at the top of each of the three legs and one under the head. The leg servos make the leg move back and forth to change the height of the robot, and the head servo makes the head rotate from side to side. Like the other groups, the movements were programmed using Arduino and the accompanying software. To program the movements, each leg had three set angles, as mentioned above. We set different combinations of those angles to program different dances for the robot. For the LED lights in the robot, a different set of code had to be used. To program them, we programmed different combinations of different lights being on and off, mainly by the groupings of red and blue lights. For our robot we had a few ideas for it. Our first idea was to have the robot moonwalk. The problem with that is that it was going to take about a month of work and programming , so we decided to make a three-legged robot that resembles the Deadmou5 logo. The Robot is appropriately named Deadmou5. The physical design of the robot is based on the Deadmou5 logo. The three legs are what we believe are needed for the robot to remain in balance at the fast speeds we desired for it's movements. We used a head of a trashcan for the head and other basic materials for the rest of the robot. The lights are spread out over the robot to give it a glow feeling. Our robot is pretty much happy all the time. How can it not be, listening to strobe all the time, and daggering? What we would have done differently: I think that if goals had been realistically assessed, the original idea might have been scrapped sooner, and that would have given us more time to work on the concept we ended up working on. This would have allowed us to make more intricate dances and do more with the L.E.D's. We also would not have been pressed for time in the final day, as we rushed to get all the lights connected and working. I think the overall design of the robot is about as good as it could be. We learned what could go wrong by making the prototype and perfected our design in the final product. By Angelo Cabral

Post by Alexandra Fissler In the

Mobility on Demand Manual from nuvustudio

Lasix

This Sunday (March 9th) is Demo Day at NuVu. Don't miss it!

We are excited to showcase the projects that the students have been working on during the winter term. Students were teaming up with doctors, hospitals, engineers, designers, wellness experts, roboticists and hackers to come up with creative solutions for health-related problems.

Projects to be presented include 3d printed DIY prosthetics, low-cost medical devices helping people with insomnia and Parkinson's, interactive fitness games, an animated film about NuVu students, an art installation on bullying, and a Hovercraft!

RSVP at https://nuvu-exhibit3-9-14.eventbrite.com

Of note: NuVu has received a new batch of T-Shirts with the NuVu logo (designed by NuVu's Art Director, Amro Arida). We will have the T-Shirts on sale at the event. An image of the T-Shirt can be reviewed here .

Students created trailers about an aspect of science fiction based on the film, A Century of Science Fiction Cinema. Students worked with the same material but arrived at very different results. Some used narration, some chose to create a coherent structure, others had abrupt endings. Through the process of making the trailer they learned how to use Final Cut Pro.

Today was an exciting day at the studio. The studio was filled with robots roaming around the concrete floors and climbing up glass walls! There were also plenty of interesting experiments to share from the past weeks that de-bunked or at least put into question many commonplace assumptions! It was Friday Presentation/Review Day, and the students had plenty of interesting findings to share with the audience of their work from the past two studios (