Library+of+Imagination

= (erkie.github.com for madness) = =Library Of Imagination=

Brian Chen and Isaac Waller

//If you could open your own “Libra////ry of Imagination” and could store anything from human history what would you put on display? Remember the items in the library should reflect the potential of human imagination. List the items and state why they deserve to be in your museum. What features would the building itself have?// =media type="file" key="MLOI2.swf" width="601" height="601" align="right"=

Main Floor
The main floor of our museum holds a permanent exhibit containing some of the most important objects that ever existed representing the potential of the human imagination. Most items are inside clear glass cases and are for viewing only, though some replicas are interactive exhibits. Five examples of these objects are listed below.

ENIAC was the first general purpose computer, created for military purposes. It represents the potential of human imagination because they had thought up using their imagination something which was better then them at something (mathematics.)
 * [[image:http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44233000/jpg/_44233920_eniac_spl_416.jpg width="245" height="180"]] || **ENIAC**

Picture: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7090811.stm || A thumbtack is a small pin you use to attach documents to a wall. This simple tool represents that even the simplest imagination can be useful.
 * [[image:216859:Untitled.png]] || **Thumbtack**

Picture: http://intannyata.com.my/store/index.php?cPath=50&language=en || A pencil sharpener is a small tool that will sharpen a pencil. Before a pencil sharpener was created, you would have to sharpen a pencil with a knife. Someone obviously realized that this could be made easier, and imagined the pencil sharpener. This deserves to be in our museum because even though it is simple, it improves the lives of millions of people by a small amount, every day.
 * [[image:216859:imgres.jpeg]] || **Pencil Sharpener**

Picture: http://www.weirdomatic.com/pencil-sharpeners.html || A smoke alarm is a small device that will sound an alarm if it detects smoke in the air, to warn anyone nearby that their may be a fire. The smoke alarm is an application of human imagination towards safety.
 * [[image:http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQsZZmhFBJ0fSZ8tiQ6tGgi4Ii6rLtdR_JQkwpucGKeyDQCK6A&t=1&usg=__1KwSO-LlwXAwAWFPLhZThyiHxCU= width="202" height="202"]] || **Smoke Alarm**

Image: http://www.solarjamaica.com/firesfe.htm || A toothbrush is a small brush with a long handle attached, used to clean one's teeth. The toothbrush is an example of imagination used to improve our health.
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/66/Toothbrush_x3_20050716_002.jpg/300px-Toothbrush_x3_20050716_002.jpg width="254" height="179"]] || **Toothbrush**

Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Toothbrush_x3_20050716_002.jpg ||

Featured Exhibit
Our museum contains a featured exhibit which is replaced every few months. The featured exhibit features large or large amounts of numerous, often trivial items centred around a main subject. This month's featured exhibit is __Ancient Imagination__.

We have always been fascinated by fireworks. They captivate our imaginations - and it must have taken some imagination to think them up! after all, fireworks really are just leisure items, and gunpowder itself is so difficult to link to those coloured flashes in the sky. || What is as long as a piece of string? Rope has been around for centuries, yet is often overlooked. It's hard to find the imagination in rope, but if somebody didn't have the extremely random yet imaginative idea of weaving plant fibres, we might still be tying things together with vines! || From chewing on licorice root to today's high-end chocolates, candy has come a long way. It is an imaginative concept to create something for the pleasure of eating it and selling it at ridiculous prices! || A waterwheel is a great example of imagination - who turns something like a wheel, which moves along, into a stationary object that (as far as the ancients were concerned) had no practical use when it was thought up of. Waterwheels should not be overlooked, however. To this day, they provide us with a steady source of power.
 * media type="youtube" key="UhN6v7E5Yhk?fs=1" height="190" width="320" || **Fireworks**
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2a/Rope.jpg/200px-Rope.jpg width="180" height="273"]] || **Rope**
 * [[image:http://www.97thfloor.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/candy-2.jpg width="303" height="189" align="left"]] || **Candy**
 * [[image:http://www.wellingtoncelebrant.com/images/Percy%27s%20Reserve%20Water%20Wheel.jpg width="250" height="124"]] || **Waterwheel**

Image: wellingtoncelebrant.com || Making something purely for writing on is a very imaginative concept - especially since there were already many natural materials to use. We have become more and more dependant on paper, especially with the invention of printers ||
 * [[image:http://wallsandfabrics.com/Store/images/RicePaperWallPaper-ne220_w_big.jpg width="250" height="250"]] || **Paper**

Ground Floor
The ground floor of our museum consists of a movie theatre with a 360 degree panoramic screen that surrounds the viewer for an exceptional viewing experience, with a concession stand that sells popcorn, drinks, etc. Films played at our theatre educate viewers about the human imagination, including documentaries and especially imaginative feature films.

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 * Pinnacles of Human Imagination**

Brian Chen 10/09/30

As the "Library of Imagination" project showed, almost anything we can think of has some connection to the human imagination. However, some items stand out as pinnacles of human imagination, representatives of the random (and not-so random) things we can create with our fertile minds. Take the Rube Goldberg machine, for example. The crazy idea of building a machine that over-complicates a simple action is in a class all by itself, as few people would be able to imagine such concept. Other concepts might seem obvious today, but try telling people during 1900 that human flight was possible and you would get a few raised eyebrows. Human flight has always been the dream of people who looked up into the sky to see birds soaring above their heads. Such visions stimulate imagination to go outside the box, often leading to remarkable inventions (like aircraft!). Still, nothing is a better focal point of imagination than the human race. In our search for answers, we have literally created ourselves and shaped almost All aspects of our life. To explain this world around us, we have invented concepts that only truly exist in the mind (math, languages, etc.). none of this would have been possible without our imaginations. I would not be able to write this if it were not for the culmination of thousands of years of human knowledge and imagination, the force that, to this day, still drives us on.