eLearn Digest

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015

Good Morning, everyone!

I've been reading a fascinating article lately about the history of energy and the future of electric cars, and I found this quote that I wanted to share about how cool it must have been to be alive in the late 1800s:

"The 35 years between the mid-1860s and the turn of the century had just witnessed an electricity revolution, driven by inventors like Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, Alexander Graham Bell, and George Westinghouse, during which the world went from normal to positively magical.

The first magic happened in the middle of the century, when the telegraph used long-range electricity to communicate with people really far away, and in 1866, the first successful cross-Atlantic telegraph message was sent, allowing Europe and the US to magically communicate with each other instantly.

The magic revolution hit full force in the late 1870s. The first telephone call happened in 1876, followed by the first time in human history someone could record sound and then play it back, in 1877. Light bulbs began to light up city streets in the early 1880s, and by 1896, the first electrical grid brought widespread electricity into people’s homes. Also in 1896, the first primitive motion picture went on display in New York, and the first wireless transmission of a human voice—the birth of the radio—went through in Brazil in 1900.

Meanwhile, magical horseless cars were appearing on the streets, and only a few years later, in 1903, the Wright Brothers would take humanity’s first heavier-than-air flight. It’s hard to imagine how insanely cool a time this must have been for everyone."

Of all these major inventions, which one do you think is most exciting? What about most useful? Respond to this email and let me know!

And I hope you enjoyed this brief history lesson from the article, "How Tesla Will Change the World." Check it out if you are interested (beware that it's a bit long but I'm reading it split up over several days). And be sure to read the whole digest for information about a new math class!

Creating Lists

Are you a visual learner? Do you remember more of what you see thatn what you hear? If so, you would probably benefit from making a daily "to-do list". Writing down a list helps you prioritize things that need to get done.

For example, in the morning, you can make a list, and by the afternoon, you might realize that you don't have time to finish everything. You must then figure out what's most important to finish that day. In other words, you have to prioritize!

Try and make 30 minutes of working towards the HiSET a priority every day. The day you get that diploma will be one of the biggest check marks off your "to-do" list.

And check out Google Keep! It's a free, online program for making lists, and it's included with you Gmail account (there are even Android apps, too!). And just like your email, it will be accessible from everywhere you go!