Burbank Tournament of Roses Association is preparing a show.

It's going to weigh upwards of nine tons, travel 5.5 miles, and incorporate fire and water elements into the spectacle.

Of course, the "show" is their upcoming Rose Parade® float.

Called, "Having A-Lava Fun", the float incorporates animation, special effects and a lot of imagination.

Nonprofit Burbank Tournament of Roses Association is a "self-built"--one of the six independent, noncommercial floatbuilders creating floats which they'll drive in Pasadena's Tournament of Roses® Parade on New Year's Day.

A tradition of excellence

According to their website, Burbank Tournament of Roses Association have been participating in the parade since 1914! In those 110 years, they've garnered numerous awards. These include the Mayor Award, this past January, for "Most Outstanding Entry From a Participating City", for their 2024 entry, "Caterpillar Melody".

And, quick note--even as they prepare for the 2025 parade, coming up on New Year's Day, Burbank ToR are thinking a year ahead! Their 2026 Design Contest is currently in progress. Submissions will be accepted from now through 8 pm on Wednesday, January 29, 2025. Here's a link for more information!

While the show happens on New Year's Day, Burbank Tournament of Roses Association works year-round on their incredible floats. And they welcome volunteers--especially those who can work with them throughout the year. (Here's where to find out more.)

Steve Edward is Burbank ToR's Vice President-Float, and Bob Hutt is their Vice-President Administration. In this episode of Over Coffee®, we explore the ways S.T.E.A.M. (science, technology, engineering, art and math) elements work together in creating their award-winning floats.

“Right now, I feel we’re exploring a new frontier phase of AI and the arts," says Jeannine Flores.

In her role as Arts and STEAM Coordinator in Los Angeles County Office of Education‘s Center for Distance and Online Learning, Jeannine draws on her background in music and performing arts, as well as her 19 years teaching school in Orange County.

And she considers artificial intelligence--when used ethically--a great tool for sparking creative ideas.

For anyone who fears having AI replace artists' creative input, her message is highly encouraging.

“The thing that’s missing (in AI-generated content) is the human component,” she says.

“That human connection to art, to music, to dance…whichever art form we’re looking at. We still need to have that human element.”

In this interview recorded in Spring, 2024, Jeannine offered a closer look at some of the ways educators and creatives can use AI ethically--and effectively!--during the creative process.

In 1949, a group of students decided to build their own float and participate in Pasadena's Tournament of Roses® Parade.

Ever since, Cal Poly Universities Rose Float have been coming up with new ways to wow parade goers--and winning awards for their work.

As one of only six independent noncommercial floatbuilders, called "self-builts", in the parade, Cal Poly Universities' entry is unique for several reasons.

First of all, they're the only student-built float in the Rose Parade®,

Secondly, the float, built from the frame up, is constructed by two student groups. At the start of the building process, these groups are working from campuses more than two hundred miles apart!

Two teams become one

Annually, the students at Cal Poly Pomona build the front half of their float's chassis, while the students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo build the back half.

Then, in October, the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo students bring their half down to the Pomona campus. The two halves are joined--and from then on, the groups work as one, crafting their Rose Parade® entry.

So far, the Cal Poly Universities students' entries have won more than 60 awards--which brings up the third reason their float is unique.

As students, Cal Poly Universities Rose Float participants have room to "play" and experiment with new methods and technologies.

And frequently, the results are Rose Parade® "firsts".

Brooke Handschin is President of Cal Poly Universities Rose Float in Pomona, while Collin Marfia is President of Cal Poly Universities Rose Float, San Luis Obispo.

Brooke and Collin talked about their experiences with Cal Poly Universities Rose Float, what it's like to create and drive their innovative entries and, of course, Cal Poly Universities Rose Float's 2025 entry, "Nessie's Lakeside Laughs", which will be their 76th Rose Parade® float.

"There's so much more to haunting than just getting a startle," says legendary haunter Shar Mayer.

"I want you to scream. I want you to cry. But I'm going to respect you as a human...I'm not into torturing people. I just want them to scream, and be scared."

In this 2018 interview, recorded onsite at ScareLA, Shar, who is a haunt consultant, producer, scare actor and all-round "scary creative" (she mentors and teaches aspiring haunters and workshops) shares some of her favorite insights on creating an effective and fun Halloween "scare".

And she even offers some low-cost tips on ghoulish makeup that could work for you today--and which uses ingredients you may have in your kitchen!

Happy Halloween, be safe and stay innovative!

"Dino-Ween is such a blast," says Las Vegas Natural History Museum Director of Education Grace Njoroge.

Throughout the year. Grace designs STEAM-oriented educational programming for the museum--captivating young visitors and introducing them to natural-science concepts, the humanities and history, even as they're having fun.

Halloween, especially, spotlights this imaginative programming, through the museum's annual "Dino-Ween" celebration.

Games, hands-on maker activities, costumes, candy and, most of all, fun learning activities, characterize the day.

This year's "Dino-Ween" happens next Friday, October 25th, from 10 am to 3 pm. Guests are encouraged to come in costume, and children in costume, ages 3 to 11, receive free admission. Here's the link for more information.

And once Friday is over, the fun--and the education-continue.

LVNHM's additional programs include regular shark feeding presentations, "Creepy Crawlies" workshops on millipedes on October 27th and the upcoming "A December to Remember" program, spotlighting holiday traditions from around the world,

Grace offered a preview of "Dino-Ween" 2024, explained what guests will see in some of the museum's exhibits and gave us a look ahead at an exciting special event happening in 2025.

Kenya-based nonprofit Africa VR Campus and Center has broken ground--quite literally--on an exciting new project!

As they combine traditional skills with cutting-edge technology, they're preparing African youth for a better future.

The project? A sustainable mushroom farm, with a digital twin in the metaverse!

The sustainable farm and its soon-to-be-created digital twin are Africa VR Campus and Center's latest program for empowering youth.

"We realized that the next step, is to empower (our students) financially," says Africa VR Campus Center Founder and CEO Paul Simon Waiyaki.

Since 2016, Africa VR Campus and Center has been working to better the lives of girls in underserved areas of Kenya.

As Waiyaki explained in our earlier interview, he and XR Girls Africa Founder/Africa VR Campus and Center Associate Director Diana Njeri have used XR to teach the girls metaverse skills and prepare them for future careers.

And as Diana said in our interview about XR Girls Africa , the girls have thrived.

As the first African girls in the metaverse, XR Girls Africa have come up with small-business ideas, won two prestigious awards for one of their entrepreneurial ventures, and hosted their own metaverse events.

Now, they'll also be empowered with a means of earning their own incomes.

Initially, the new farm will provide employment, sixteen hours per week, for the young women of XR Girls Africa.

"The girls will receive $100 for working those sixteen hours," says Waiyaki.

He then goes on to explain that, in Kenya, $100 can easily feed a family of six for a month.

But for Waiyaki and Diana, Africa Campus and Center's vision for the future expands far beyond this current work.

Preparing for new horizons

"We have a new team (of students joining us) after our (recent) outreach," Diana explains.

And this new group, which will have on-boarded since we recorded this interview, will be co-educational.

("People challenged us, that we didn't include boys at the campus)," Waiyaki says.

"We'll be training this new group on VR, XR and AR."

Waiyaki and Diana offered a closer look at the new sustainable farm project, explained some of the technical aspects and previewed their plans for the future.

"BOO!"

"Ohhh, you scared me!" (Laughter.)

What just happened. scientifically speaking? And how might that experience help you deal with things that really scare you, in daily life?

Sociologist, author, educator and haunt consultant Dr. Margee Kerr can explain all of the above.

Margee has done extensive research on the science of fear. For two years, she traveled the world, seeking experiences she'd consider "scary'--and exhilarating--as research for her book, Scream: Chilling Adventures in the Science of Fear.

A faculty lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh, Margee has also served as haunt consultant for museums and the ScareHouse haunt, in the Pittsburgh area.

But that's only one aspect of her expertise.

Margee's research is ongoing, as she uses what she's learned, about fear, to help others overcome fear in daily life. She is the creator of the "Understanding and Overcoming Fear" course on the Great Courses website, and explores the subject in her sociology classes at the University of Pittsburgh.

She is also the co-author of a second book, "Ouch!: Why Pain Hurts, and Why It Doesn't Have To," on which she collaborated with Linda Rodriguez McRobbie.

Margee explained the science behind a good scare, shared some of the stories of her experiences while researching Scream and offered some ways that science can work to create an effective, yet enjoyable, Halloween experience.

Imagine using your brain's electrical signals to fly a drone?

With the work of Dr. Roya Salehzadeh and her colleagues, that concept has gone from imagination to reality.

Dr. Salehzadeh, who is an Assistant Professor in Lawrence Technological University's A. Leon Linton Department of Mechanical, Robotics, and Industrial Engineering, has firsthand experience. And that experience is part of her ongoing research.

As a student, Dr. Salehzadeh became fascinated by human-computer interaction.

While earning her doctorate in mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama, she participated in the university's first brain-drone race. Wearing a noninvasive headband, she used the electrical signals from her brain to power her drone forward--and ultimately won second place in the competition.

Dr. Salehzadeh would go on to implement a similar brain-drone race event as a professor at LTU. And as cool as the race is, it's a small representation of her work.

The "bigger picture"? Her ongoing research focuses on brain-computer interface, or BCI. And Dr. Salehzadeh says there's still much to be discovered, about human-computer interaction the ways brain signals can interact with computers, and the breakthroughs that may result.

"We don't know a lot of things about what's happening here, so we are at the beginning of this interesting field," she comments.

Dr. Salehzadeh talked about her journey in robotics and her experience in the brain-drone race, shared some favorite resources, and explained how the brain-drone connection works.