David Seff – Marketer

The 4 Most Insane Space Plans Ever Conceived

Exploring our vast universe has always been an intriguing project for humans. We have accomplished a lot and learned a great deal about our universe in such a short amount of time. The great thing is that we have only scratched the surface of what is possible when it comes to space exploration. There have been a number of proposed ideas that have not come to fruition (and might not ever), but these concepts have nonetheless, pushed the boundaries of what is possible. Here are the 4 most insane space plans ever conceived.

Building A Moon Base

In 2006, President George W. Bush laid out his vision for the future of NASA. However, after 10 years, little of the Constellation program survives. One of the more ambitious concepts within the program was the creation of a base on the moon. The base would provide a more permanent human habitation on our only natural satellite. The base was coined the Neil A. Armstrong Lunar Outpost, and plans for the base had it situated near a pole to reduce solar radiation exposure as well as give astronauts the possibility of collecting water. Essentially, the base would function much like the International Space Station.

A Cloud City On Venus

A few years ago, two NASA scientists proposed the idea of setting our sights on building a cloud city on Venus. While the planet is inhospitable, the top two layers of the atmosphere are actually quite balmy, with an atmospheric pressure similar to Earth. Creating a city above Venus would allow scientists to study Venus and learn how this planet, that used to be very similar to Earth, gained the runaway greenhouse effect that turned it inhospitable.

Colonizing Jupiter’s Moon

Europa may actually be the best place to find life in our solar system. The major issue is that Jupiter has very deadly radiation that precludes exploration by live humans. A 2003 proposal suggested that the moon Callisto serves as the staging point for a manned Jupiter outpost. On this moon, the radiation damage is much less pronounced, and ices could provide a reliable water source. Having humans stationed on Callisto would allow scientists to control robotic probes on Europa and Ganymede without the long time lags that would crop up when trying to communicate with them from Earth.

Telescope On The Moon

The moon has been an extremely intriguing candidate to host a telescope because of its super-thin atmosphere. This would cut down on a lot of interference. A few of the proposal for moon telescopes have been bandied about, including a liquid mirror telescope that could peer vast distances into the cosmos. There is a possibility that two private companies could beat NASA and put a telescope on the moon first.

DIY Gardening: Unique Planters You Can Make at Home

At home projects are a good way to personalize your garden and give people something new and interesting to look at. These DIY projects will give your garden new life. You may even find your neighbors peeking over the fence to get a look at your beautiful garden.

Balancing Pot Planter

This is a fun one that only requires a few items and very little assembly!
Items needed:

3-6 small terra cotta planters – they all need a hole in the bottom

One large wooden stick

Potting soil

Plants/seeds

First, you are going to need to find an area in your garden where you want the balanced pots to live. Then, take the wooden stick and hammer it down into the soil far enough that it won’t fall over. Once you have that done, you want to take the pots and place them over the stick. Alternate the pots from left side to right side so they look like they are balancing off of eachother. Then, carefully fill the pots with soil and place the plants or seeds in the soil. Make sure to fill the pots completely to cover the little bit of stick that may be showing on the side. Finally, cut off the excess stick and cover with soil so that it appears as if nothing is holding the pots in place!

Vertical Shoe Rack

The vertical shoe rack planter is a great addition to the side of a fence, wall, or even your house. It looks great and a bit quirky. This is great for small plant or an herb garden.

Items needed:

Vertical canvas shoe rack

Hook

Potting soil

Plants/seeds

To make this as simply as possible, take your hook and loop it through the top of the shoe rack. Then, attach the rack to a vertical surface. The rest is super easy! Fill the pockets with potting soil and plant your seeds.

Tire Planter

Old tires will add a neat rustic feel to your garden and are easy to place in any area.

Items needed:

Tire (any size)

Paint (optional)

Potting soil

Plants/seeds

First, If you decide to add some color to your garden, paint the tread of the tire any funky color you want! Let the paint dry and simply place the tire horizontally anywhere in your garden. Fill the entire inside of the tire with potting soil and place your plants in or plant your seeds.

Mounted Mason Jars

These mason jars are a fun, easy way to spice up any room of your house. They are versatile and can go in any room.

Items needed:

6 mason jars

2 planks of wood

6 Stainless steel hose clamps

Potting soil

Plants/seeds

10-12 Screws

First you are going to want to take the plants of wood and screw 3 of the stainless steel hose clamps at even intervals across both boards. Make sure that the fitting to tighten the clamp is not too close the to board. You want to be able to get to these later. Then, screw the boards to the wall in your house any way you see fit. Now, take your mason jars and fill them with soil and either place in your plants and cover with soil or plant your seeds. Finally slip the mason jars through the center of the hose clamps so they are just about hugging the middle of the jars. Finally tighten the clamps so the mason jars won’t slip out, but be careful to not tighten them too much – they are glass after all!

Cinder Block Stack

The Cinder Block stacked planters are by far the most creative of the bunch. These can be arranged in hundreds of ways to fit any area large or small. Get creative and make the most of your space.

Items needed:

Cinder Blocks (as many as you want!)

Potting soil

Plants

First, you are going to want to stack your Cinder Blocks. You can make any shapes or designs you like, but make sure that at least one or both of the holes in the blocks are exposed in certain areas. Then, in all exposed areas (holes in the block), put in your potting soil and plant your plants. The best part about Cinder Blocks are that you can move them and rearrange them as much as you please.

About David Seff

David Seff is a mathematics professor residing in the New York Metropolitan area. When he is not in the classroom or tutoring students, or doing his own research,in good weather, you may very well find him gardening. His affinity for flowers and gardens began as a child when he planted his own garden with flowers and vegetables. As he got older, he began taking courses in horticulture and botany at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden as well as read a number of books and articles on both gardening and on horticulture.

The color, beauty, medicinal properties, and culture relating to plants has fascinated David’s multi-faceted personality. And, of course, gardening is a very pleasant way to get exercise, fresh air, and sunshine.

For many years, David was a member of the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. The beautiful 52-acre botanic garden is located in the heart of Brooklyn. The garden includes a number of speciality gardens and plant collections with over 10,000 taxa of plants.

David has a special appreciation for cherry trees, and in his reading on them, discovered that Central Park actually holds a variety of over 250 different types of cherry trees. David was first attracted to cherry trees for the simple reason that his parents had one in their own backyard when he was a child. All his friends loved to climb on the cherry tree, as it had low branches and was not tall like an oak tree, making it easy for young children to climb. And when the cherries were ripe, many friends and relatives would come to pick cherries, and his grandmother would bake cherry pies.

Another attraction to the cherry trees was the beautiful pink blossoms. While not all cherry tries have purely pink blossoms, they come in many different shades, some also white. Cherry wood is also quite attractive and the source of quality furniture. The size, color, and shape of the blossoms were fascinating to David, as well as the different types of wood and bark. Consequently he started studying about different types of blossoms, of other trees, as well as of flowers, and once planted a garden that provided, in different sections, multiple colors, various fragrances, and different times of bloom throughout the day, as well as different season throughout the year.

He even designed an old-fashioned English “flower clock.” Since not all flowers bloom the entire day, but only at certain hours, a flower clock is an array of different types flowers that has a different set or small patch of flowers opening its blossoms at each different hour of the day. This arrangement is the standard “flower clock.” He, though, had two innovations. First, he was planning to have a large analogy clock placed on his lawn, and second, the numbers on the dials would be made out of the flowers. For example, the number “four” on the clock would be the shape of a small patch of four-o’clocks. This project would combine his interests of math and physics in designing and building the clockwork and gears, as well as his love of flowers. Unfortunately the project had to be abandoned due to the difficulties involved in making a viable outdoor clock with moving hands that was weather proof to be anchored into the ground.

His favorite flower is the Sweet William, and his gardens have almost always included those, but also a wide range of colors, with flowers intentionally planted in proximity to have contrasting colors, such as blue and yellow, or orange and purple.

As these color combinations have fascinated him, he once taught a course at The New School, entitled “Color, Beauty, Light” combining the scientific study of color with its artistic qualifies with an emphasis rainbows, halos, glories, and other natural displays of light, as well as on flowers and butterflies.

He has also planted vegetables, most notably tomatoes. Aside from the fact that he loves tomatoes, as is typical of his insatiable curiosity, he has made a study of medicinal plants, and is convinced that eating store-bought tomatoes is actually harmful. Fruits and vegetables that do not ripen naturally—and tomatoes are generally picked when hard and green from farms in California, lest, if shipped when ripe and soft they would be badly bruised in shipping—have a significantly different chemical content than those that ripen naturally. Of course, a consumer cannot tell the difference by visual observation, as wholesalers ripen fruits and vegetables artificially by putting them in special warehouses (near the retailers) with alcohol to cause a quick ripening. (Canned tomatoes, however are generally picked when ripe and therefore safe to eat.) Only homegrown tomatoes or those bought at local farmers’ markets are truly safe.

Similarly, cherries, unknown to most experts, are a great brain food. Some chemicals in cherries go straight to the brain, almost immediately after eating, and boost one’s brain power. David has also studied the plants of Central Park that have medicinal properties. Many scientists are now beginning to realize that a lot of folk medicine, used by so-called primitive tribes in the Amazon jungle or the South Pacific Islands have very useful medicinal properties, and now there is a greater call to stop the deforestation of the Amazon jungle for fear many species of fauna and flora, especially those of potentially great medicinal value, may be lost forever. Indeed, an article in Scientific American, appearing about twenty years ago, mentioned the significance of the medicinal potential of “folklore” medicine based upon tropical rainforests.

(Only recently have Western scientists discovered that the “sweat” of yellow or other brightly colored frogs in the Amazon jungle, used by the tribes there as the poison put on the tips of the darts used in hunting, has great value as an anesthetic and is now actually used in hospitals. The American Museum of Natural History—one of David’s favorite places to visit—recently had an entire display dedicated to this newly discovered genus of frogs.)

Culturally, aside from the medicinal properties, there is much of interest in the world of plants. For example, there is the Japanese legend that is the basis of the Cherry Blossom Festival involving the escape of a woman from her pursuer. Or for another example, consider the use of mistletoe, in the Norse legends, by Loki, to kill his enemy. The origin of the shape of the crown of the king, also comes from plants—King Solomon designed his crown with its spikes to be shaped like the spikes of a pomegranate, one of the seven fruits which the Bible says the Land of Israel is blessed, in Deuteronomy 8:8. The Talmud, and other traditional Jewish sources are full of praises of these fruits for their nutritional, medicinal, and spiritual qualities.

David Seff Is A Professional With A Passion For Astronomy

David Seff has always been curious and interested in almost everything. In fact, David used to enjoy reading through the unabridged Encyclopedia Britannica when he was in fourth grade. Much earlier, maybe when he was three or less, David’s mother pointed out certain constellations in the sky to him.

David Seff

When David Seff was about eight, a cousin bought him a book on the planets as a birthday present. This book helped spark an interest in astronomy as it had pretty color pictures of the planets (probably artificially colored since rockets, satellites, and spacecraft had not yet been invented), with lots of information about each planet, such as the size, distance from the sun, basic chemical composition, high and low temperatures, and number of moons.

Of course, this information has been updated many times, since then. For example, for decades, it was believed that Jupiter had 12 moons, the four “Galilean moons,” moons discovered by Galileo around 1610, and eight others, discovered by astronomers over the centuries. Twelve was considered “the correct number” for decades until the Voyager Space probe reached Jupiter around 1979 and discovered several others. It was believed that the only way to discover new moons would be through spacecraft that could travel close to the planet and take far more accurate pictures that could be done from earth. Yet, within a few months of the Voyager discovery, some amazing advances in telescope making and telescope photography enabled astronomers on earth to discover several other moons, some with diameters less than 10 kilometers! As far as David knows, the total number of known moons of Jupiter now stands at 67.

For years, David Seff taught courses in physics at The New School, one called “Light, Lasers, and Optics that dealt with the historical development of our understanding of light and useful tools based on light such as microscopes and telescopes. Another course was called “Color, Beauty, and Light” and dealt with many phenomena all related to color, including rainbows, glories, aurora borealis, gemstones, and the variations of color in butterfly wings and bird feathers, among many other things. Basically, there are fifteen causes of color, which can be understood using advanced concepts in chemistry and physics. Of course, they did not go into all the scientific depth possible, but enough to create an appreciation, such as one finds in an art appreciation course or music appreciation course.

All these phenomena are so interrelated that it is impossible to understand one completely without extensive knowledge of other branches of science. David Seff finds these interrelationships highly fascinating, and the general field of astronomy is simply one way to combine these various scientific fields into one harmonic whole.

Because of David Seff’s thirst for knowledge, he read as much as he could and took as many courses as he could fit into his schedule in math, physics, chemistry and other fields of interest while David was in high school, college, and graduate school. David Seff often had classes from 9 AM in the morning until about 10 PM at night, eventually earning multiple degrees.

The more David Seff learned the happier he felt. One thing that disillusioned him was the fact that teaching was not made simple. While one might need to be a Mozart or Beethoven to write a beautiful symphony, one can certainly appreciate the sounds of a beautiful symphony without being a Mozart or Beethoven. It is for this reason that David created these courses, as well as another entitled “Fun With Math” which he taught at The New School for nearly thirty years when the night science and math department was closed due to budgetary reasons. Students who took these courses—often those who majored in art or psychology and had thought they hated math and science—often came to appreciate and even love it!

Aside from having studied math, physics, and some chemistry on an advanced level, David Seff also has degrees in history and religion, and can thereby integrate into the harmonic whole aspects of these fields as well as the hard sciences. It is David’s goal to bring this understanding and appreciation of hard science to the public at large, whereby someone reading my blogs or seeing videos David Seff hopes to produce will come to appreciate math science the same way someone who is not another “Mozart” will be able to appreciate a beautiful symphony.

How to Be an Effective Tutor

High quality tutors are a student’s best resource for obtaining assistance outside of the classroom. As a tutor, it is their duty to provide excellent service and experience to grow their student’s knowledge and understanding. There are some specific qualifications and personal attributes needed to be an effective tutor.

Establish expectations

The students seeking out tutoring need to understand they will not be experts overnight. They also will not see their grade change dramatically after the first tutoring session. Building understanding and proficiency may take time. Additionally, depending on the state of their grades, it may take more time to bring poor grades up.

Know the student

Not every student learns the same and a great tutor will take that into account. When tutoring, the same techniques or lesson plans should not be applied to all students. The reason they are there is to receive personalized, individual help and they deserve to get it.

Lay Ground Rules

Just like a classroom, a tutoring environment should have rules. It is important to have structure and to stick to it. Those rules are in place to help the student stay on track, get the most out of the session, and give the tutor hard lines to refer to in order to keep the session going well. These rules should be discussed and agreed upon by the student so that both student and tutor are on the same page.

Build and Maintain Trust

A student needs to know they are in a safe environment and that they can trust their tutor to do right by them. Tutors are committed to success of their students and that mutual trust should be there. Be willing to adjust your teaching style to help them and refrain from condescension. Negativity does not breed success and will ultimately hurt the student.

Give Positive Feedback

By giving positive and consistent feedback, the student knows how they are doing. They can use this to evaluate their own success and recognize that they could be doing better. Tutors should also encourage and let their students know when they are succeeding. This encouragement will only have them work even harder!
Tutoring should be a fulfilling experience for both student and tutor. The student should be gaining a greater understanding of subject material and the tutor should be seeing their attention and care having a positive effect on the student. Tutoring will not always be easy, but it will always be rewarding.