Ups and Downs

GOING UP: This weekend we had an opportunity to learn even more about space elevators. This time, our continuing education took place under the arches of the Pacific Science Center and our teacher was Michael Laine, founder of LiftPort, a Washington-state based company working on creating cheap, reliable, and safe access to space, with their focus being on the construction of a space elevator that rides up and down a ribbon made of super-strong carbon nanotubes.

We got to see a demonstration of an elevator model climb a strap tethered to the arches of Pacific Science Center. The Space Needle and its golden elevator were the perfect backdrop for the demonstration! I was getting ready to take a photo of the kids and our fellow space enthusiasts' signature poster. When Laine saw the poster and I explained its genesis and travels, he wanted in on the shot, which made it even more special! :)

FIGHT CRIME! PLAY MORE VIDEO GAMES!: I spied a story on Yahoo! this weekend that reported research from the Centre for European Economic Research, Baylor University and the University of Texas at Arlington shows video games reduce the number of criminal incidents by keeping potential assailants, thieves and other potential bad guys and girls occupied. Interesting.ALL FALL DOWN: While at the Science Center for the space elevator demo, the kids asked if we could pop into the "Goosebumps" exhibit. There was an attraction there - a booth simulating a free fall - that we didn't visit last time because the line was so darn long. I figured on a Sunday just before noon, the place might not be as busy, and boy was I right. No waiting whatsoever!

Without hesitation, CJ stepped up to be strapped on a padded board and then with the flip of a switch, he went from vertical to horizontal quite quickly. He let out a little peep, which you can hear here ...
Christian gave it a go, too, but Bee and I both took a pass.

TAKING FLIGHT: I also came across a story this weekend about paper airplane designs. I like doing planes with the kids because it means that a) they have to listen and follow directions carefully and b) we get to talk about principles of flight/physics.

Today we tackled a design that Floridian Ken Blackburn supposedly used to set the world record for paper-airplane flight time (27.6 seconds in the air) back in 1998.

Though the three of us all followed the same directions, our planes turned out pretty differently. We took them out to the alley to do some test flights.

First, we made some throws to see whose plane could travel the farthest distance. Then we did some flights to see whose plane had the longest duration/hang time. We talked about why CJ's stubbly plane wasn't flying as far or long as the others.And we also did an experiment where each pilot flew each plane, so we could take into account each person's different throwing styles and how that impacted each planes' flight.
image credit: NASA
SWEET SIXTEEN: Astronaut Ron Garan, on board the International Space Station took this photo on Saturday. It was just one of sixteen sunrises the ISS astronauts see each day. This one was spotted while they were on a path between Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Buenos Aires, Argentina.

TO THE SAFE: This morning I got a wild hair and typed the words "Mariners tonight" into Craigslist to see what kind of tickets popped up. One of the hits was for four $50 apiece seats just 13 rows off the field - for only $15 each. Yes, please. We bought them from a season ticket holding U of W astronomy professor who is stuck on the East Coast due to Irene.