April 7 Class Reflection

I feel like a broken record because I'm sitting at my computer again raving about this class experience and how wonderful it is. But truly, there are many broken records for me because I've been challenged at every level to think beyond my limits and I've surprised myself by being capable of doing so even without a Calculus or physics class to draw from.  Whenever I sit down to reflect about the lesson, I discover the lesson I'm learning is not the lesson as it's done in class.  It's kind of Johnny Depp-ish, Pirates of the Caribbean-y state of mind. "Well, Chris, the problem is not the problem, the problem is your attitude toward the problem."   Thank you Capt. Jack Sparrow!
Tonight's lesson for me was not about momentum and velocity, it was about the pleasure and power of problem solving in a group of people who are also casting about in the deep end of the ocean for answers. I really enjoy experiencing the powers of many minds working together and asking questions.  I've always felt that the quality of your life depends on the quality of questions you ask of life, and I feel like I've been prompted to ask myself some really quality questions about how my own problem solving and teaching. I am already deeply aware of how sad I will be for this class to end and how deeply moving an experience it has been.  It's like breaking trail in deep snow, you can look behind you and see how much snow you've moved and how far you've gone! It's also exhausting :)

Monster Lobe Brainstorm solutions:
 Put wedges in its path and let the momentum and force associated with the Lobe's downward movement force it to dissipate itself so there isn't enough mass behind it to drive it forward.  Find someway to use it's own power to kill itself. It is a flow and it can be diverted.

If not wedges, then a series of culverts that would re-direct the bulk of the Lobe's mass and momentum.

Build a bridge over it and circumvent one half the problem, but that really doesn't do anything about the Pipeline problem that hovers right behind the Highway Problem. I think a suspension bridge might be an option  but it still doesn't address the Big Picture in a cost effective way because this really is a two-fold problem.