Steve Martin & Edie Brickell performing "When You Get to Asheville" with The Steep Canyon Rangers on the Late Show with David Letterman 4/23/2013 So happy to live in Asheville. So happy to see Steve Martin playing clawahammer banjo. Continue reading

On February 19, 2013 I spoke at IGNITE Asheville. See my video below. My talk was entitled "Adventures of a Geek Dad" and I won 1st place! The crazy thing is, I tried to back out of this event a couple of times. I honestly didn't think many people would be interested in what I had to say. Although I've given many talks, this one was among the most difficult to prepare for and deliver. The difficulty stemmed from the format: 5 minutes long and slides auto advance every 15 seconds. 5 minutes is such a short amount of time.... Continue reading

There is a seismic shift happening. Adam Savage from Mythbusters describes the growing MAKER movement. Continue reading

Sailing with my son Joseph on beautiful Keuka Lake. Continue reading

On Saturday February 9, 2013 my daughter and her friend helped me build a hovercraft. In just two hours we were floating across the floor! We started with one 4'x4' piece of plywood (4 ply) that is 1/2 inch thick. Lift is provided by an electric TORO leaf blower but I plan to upgrade to a cordless (battery powered) leaf blower.I prefer electric over gas power because I plan to only use this indoors. For the hovercraft to move forward it must be pushed (or pulled). The hovercraft worked great on the cement floor of the warehouse. It did not... Continue reading

Are you considering the creation of a STEM program? I've assembled these resources for you. Definition There are many definitions of STEM education but only one for "Integrative STEM Education". This definition was developed by Dr. Mark Sanders of Virginia Tech in 2006. Integrative STEM education refers to technological/engineering design-based learning approaches that intentionally integrate the concepts and practices of science and/or mathematics education with the concepts practices of technology and engineering education. Integrative STEM education may be enhanced through further integration with other school subjects, such as language arts, social studies, art, etc. Sources for STEM Curriculum International Technology... Continue reading

In the fall of 2012 I helped a group of middle school students send a GoPRO HD video camera to "near space". What follows are the details of the project. Here is the 3 minute video showing the highlights of the launch and recovery: Asheville, NC Tedx Near Space Project from Peter Lutz on Vimeo. Project Facts: 1200 gram latex weather balloon was filled with 150 cubic feet of helium -- weather balloon was approximately 6 feet in diameter at lift off. Payload was an off-the-shelf styrofoam cooler that was modified for this project. Payload weighed 4 pounds. Payload contents... Continue reading

This tethered balloon project was inspired by the book GEEK DAD by Ken Denmead. In the fall of 2012 I volunteered to help Asheville, North Carolina middle school science and math teacher Tom Robertson and his students launch a weather balloon to near space. This project was connected to TEDx Asheville 2012 (www.tedxasheville.com) where the theme was "the EDGE". The conference explored all things relating to "the EDGE" including near space. This tethered balloon project was done on the first meeting with the students (an elective class). The goal was to get everyone excited about sending video cameras up high... Continue reading

In the spring of 1984 I was a student at Virginia Tech. I discovered Mac Traynham was not only one of my classmates but was an award winning banjo player. I had always wanted to learn to play the banjo so I asked Mac if he would be my teacher. He said he would if I agreed to attend the "Mount Airy Fiddler's Convention" first. I agreed to attend but had no idea what to expect. I arrived carrying my Sony hand-held tape recorder and wandered around listening to and recording some of the many jam sessions. Years later I... Continue reading

I'm developing build-it-yourself plans for this awesome portable trebuchet right now. I'll have them finished and posted here soon. Send me an email right now with "PortaTreb" in the subject line and I'll let you know when the plans are ready. tom@tomheck.com I think it's cool that you want to... Continue reading

TEDx Katuah 2011 asked me to bring my trebuchets to the event (I was an official presenter!) to provide hands-on science during breaks. This event was held at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI). The event organizers asked me to launch "deer apples" (rotten apples) instead of water balloons. Some... Continue reading

In the fall of 2011 I was contacted by the good people at the Lake Eden Arts Festival in Asheville, North Carolina and asked to build a trebuchet that kids could operate at the festival. They wanted the kids to have a hands-on experience of science. I made my first... Continue reading

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In April 2012 my brother and I went sailing the on Lake Jocassee in South Carolina. Our boat is a Hobie Wave. We encountered heavy wind, light wind, rain, hail, cloudy skies, and clear skies. It was a great day. Continue reading

This is my list: Build and live in a cabin Swim a mile in open water Be a classroom teacher for a year Ride the Slickrock trail in Moab Visit Denali National Park Win first place in a banjo competition Perform on stage in front of 1,000 people Write and publish a book Drive a bus full of people Grow a beard Appear on TV news Street perform and earn $100 Spend a week in silence Swim with dolphins Walk across 40 feet of burning coals Break through a board with my bare hands Invent and successfully license a product... Continue reading

Here's more video of my portable human powered trebuchet. Launching a softball 70 yards. Continue reading

I contacted Fila who manufactures the Skele-Toes shoes about my defective shoes. They asked me to take the defective shoes back to Discount Shoes in Asheville, North Carolina - - this is the store where I purchased the shoes in the fall of 2011 (see below). Discount Shoes would not... Continue reading

On April 1, 2012 I noticed the big toe on my left foot of my Fila Skele-Toes shoes had a seem coming undone. I decided it was time to contact the manufacturer about getting a replacement. Fila contacted me on April 2, 2012 and here's what they said: We ask... Continue reading

The soul on the Fila Skele-Toes shoes I purchased from Discount Shoes started to delaminate in more than one place. See the attached (blury) photo. This is the right shoe. Notice how the soul is delaminating on the right hand side where the foot naturally bends. I used Shoe-Goo to... Continue reading

Soon after purchasing Fila Skele-Toes in the fall of 2011 from Discount Shoes the soul on the left shoe started to delaminate. I used "Shoe Goo" to repair (see attached photo). The repair didn't look pretty but it worked. In retrospect, I should have returned the shoes then. Continue reading

In the fall of 2011 I purchased a pair of "Skele-Toes" shoes made by Fila from a local shoe store called "Discount Shoes" located in Asheville, North Carolina. Through this blog I will both review the shoes and chronicle my interaction with the shoe manufcturer (Fila) and the shoe store... Continue reading

This trebuchet launches softball size water balloons 50 - 70 yards using human (kid) power. It is portable (quickly folds down for car top carrying) and uses easy to acquire supplies found at Home Depot or Lowes Home Improvement. I originally designed this for the kids area of the Lake Eden Arts Festival (theLEAF.org) where we launched water balloons at a large cardboard castle.The video below shows the trebuchets in action at TEDx Katuah 2011 where I was asked to provide a "hands on science" experience for conference attendees. At the TEDx event we launched "deer apples" (rotting apples) instead... Continue reading

While attending college at Virginia Tech I discovered old time music. I quickly realized I absolutely HAD to learn how to play clawhammer banjo which is the style of banjo played in old time music. I was lucky to find Mac Traynham (also a student at VT at the time) who would become my banjo teacher. I was not an easy student to work with but Mac was patient and always positive and encouraging. The banjo was my first instrument and I knew almost nothing about music. It took me forever to learn how to tune my banjo (I had... Continue reading

I love creating and inventing. Here are a few of the products I've developed. CATEGORY: Team Building Games -- One of my great passions is helping young people learn team and leadership skills. I've had great success teaching using fun and engaging experiential learning exercises (games). I've licensed these games to the three largest companies supplying physical education equipment in the United States with one company having partners in Australia and Europe. I've licensed these products so I can leverage my impact - - by working with these companies I can now positively impact the lives of more kids. TeamTimbers... Continue reading