It was great to see everybody again!
We started out our last class with a list of what we're thankful for, as a way to celebrate Thanksgiving!
We also had to discuss the latest developments in the recent US election... sigh...
And Jeff shared a presentation showing us how even one minute of hard exercise, three times a week, can improve our health. I loved the way he introduced his topic, telling us that if our excuse for not exercising is that we have no time, then we need a new excuse! :D He explained the results new research by a Canadian university which found that "endurance training" (50 minutes, 3 times a week) and "interval training" (10 minutes, 3 times a week) both yielded a 20% improvement in health of the trainees. Jeff, thanks for giving us good, specific information, and for inspiring us all to exercise even if we don't have much time!
Last week we also had a good discussion of our last TED talk, "The walk from no to yes." I enjoyed hearing so many of your ideas and thoughts on William Ury's talk. Hopefully we can all apply his ideas in our lives, and discover more about the power of showing hospitality and kindness to strangers.
This week on 12/1 we'll be turning to a new topic: architecture!
And we'll be exploring an exciting new/ancient material: bamboo!
Everybody, please watch this 10 min + TED talk; we'll discuss it together in class:
Elora Hardy: Magical houses, made of bamboo
I know that I'm late in sending this email out, but if you've still got time after watching the above TED talk, and if you would like more information about building with bamboo, please check out one of these articles as well:
Bamboo is the new steel
or
Leading architects are "turning the focus back on bamboo"
We'll talk about what we've learned about building with bamboo this Thursday, 12/1!
And we also need to plan a class outing, so please come with some ideas for destinations, dates, and/or activities! :)
AND PLEASE FEEL FREE TO MAKE A CLASS PRESENTATION! We can learn so much from each other! l hope that many more of you will take advantage of this great learning and sharing opportunity!
I look forward to seeing you all again soon.
Sincerely, AbbieC.I. class 12/1: architecture & building with bamboo
