Squid and Bridges

Photo: Rare giant squid captured off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico by NOAA scientists in 2009. It's only the second giant squid on record having been obtained from the Gulf of Mexico (the first was in 1954).

DECAPODS - While watching SpongeBob Squarepants this morning, CJ got to wondering how many tentacles a squid has.

I started to tell him '10' but thought I'd better make sure before pronouncing it as fact. Turns out squid only have two true tentacles, plus eight arms. The tentacles are longer than the arms, and they're used for grasping prey and pulling it toward the squid's mouth.

(However, because nothing is ever simple, there is also a group of squid - the bigfins - which has ten very long, thin arms of equal length and no tentacles.)

INNER WORKINGS: Eager to learn as much as we can about the Space Shuttle before we head for Kennedy Space Center later this week (THIS WEEK!), we took advantage of a series of "How Things Work" videos on the NASA Web site.

We watched short videos about the shuttle's external tanks, its booster rockets, the
the environmental systems onboard the orbiter and its thermal protection system. One thing I learned today is that the people at NASA call it "the orbiter" when referencing the white vehicle the astronauts ride in. It's called "the shuttle" when speaking of the entire set up (the orbiter, its rocket boosters, the external fuel tank, etc.).

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND: Today, in the vastness of NASA's Web site, I found some games I hadn't seen before. One group featured the popular Buzz Lightyear, who apparently completed a 15-month mission on the International Space Station a couple years back.

The first of five games required the kids to use some math (yay!). They had to fill a rocket's payload area to the weight specified by combining individual items of varying shapes.

Mission 4 was cool -it required the kids to come up with the correct sequence of movements to use a robotic arm to connect the Kibo module to the International Space Station (ISS).

Mission 5 was interesting. It was all about how different toys (a yo-yo, basketball, jump rope and more) "behave" in space. Actual footage of astronauts playing with the toys in space was used to illustrate.

For our last mission we had to help assemble the ISS (a process that real astronauts began in 1998). When the ISS construction is complete (projected to happen in 2015), it will be the third brightest object in the sky (behind only the moon and the sun). It will weigh about 925,000 pounds and be as long and wide as a football field - including the end zones. The ISS is the result of a cooperative effort of people from 15 nations.

TRAIL BLAZING: Today we finally explored a path we have been meaning to check out for months and months now.

We parked at West Ewing Mini Park (I can't recall ever having been to a "mini" park before). It's on the Lake Washington ship canal, between the Fremont and Ballard bridges. From there, we headed east, along the waterfront. We practically had the (nice, wide, flat, paved) South Ship Canal Path to ourselves (save for a few mallards and Canada geese). The stretch along the ship canal was peaceful and verdant.

Before long, we found ourselves standing at the footings for the Fremont Bridge. CJ noticed the structure's Roman numeral "birthdate" right away.

East some more and soon we were underneath the dramatic arches of the Aurora Bridge.

Pedaling onward, we reached Lake Washington and its charming houseboats.

On the way back westward, I spied Google's Seattle HQ across the canal. Can you spot 'em? (You can click on the photo to get a larger version.)

All in all, this new-to-us trail was yet another fantastic find, and it's five minutes from home. We're spoiled.

ON THE MOVE: Overnight our Painted Lady butterfly larvae finished their transformations to chrysalides. This morning, the five of them were hanging out on the lid of their little plastic cup.

Per instructions (which the kids read carefully), that meant it was time to move them to their big butterfly hatching habitat.

They're supposed to hatch within a week. I'm guessing they're going to be butterflies by the time we return from Florida.

AT THE CENTER: According to an email I got from NASA this evening, "The six astronauts for space shuttle Atlantis' STS-132 mission to the International Space Station now are at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for their pre-launch preparations. The crew arrived at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility in four T-38 jets at 6:49 p.m. EDT. STS-138 Commander Ken Ham made a brief statement to media who were gathered at the SLF for the arrival, and then he and his crew departed the shuttle runway."

Tomorrow Ham and pilot Tony Antonelli will practice shuttle landings in Shuttle Training Aircraft, which are modified Gulfstream II jets.

The official countdown clock for Atlantis' Friday launch begins Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET. Cool!