Shots 'n' Stuff

 
BACK AT IT: First thing this morning we were back in the (virtual) classroom with professor Mohamed Noor of Duke University. Today's lecture was about recombination, or a new combination. For instance, a child that has a trait that's not something found in either the parental sperm or egg, but when they combine, the new combination forms.

Annabelle continues her notes-by-illustration approach to these college classes. Above, the age old nature vs. nurture issue is represented.

Below, Annabelle illustrates how tall and short parents might produce a medium height child.

And below, she ponders how, via genetics and evolution, there can be such a wide variety within the same type of organism. 

It's all very interesting.

SHOO FLU: Today the kids and I finally got around to getting our flu shots. We headed up to the Group Health at Northgate, hoping it was less busy and less germ-y than the much bigger and busier Capitol Hill location. 

We got signed in and waited our turn outside the injection room. When the nurse called us back, she asked if the receptionist had told us to go upstairs or to her. I told her I didn't even know there was an upstairs. The nurse said that's where they usually do the pediatric shots, but offered to help us out nonetheless. But there was one small problem - the clinic was out of the "mist" (nasal) version of the vaccinations. 

At that, CJ started shrinking back into the corner of the room and shaking his head and muttering, "No, NO, NOOOOOO!"

I assured him that it wasn't as bad as he was imagining, and tried to reassuring but firm. I reminded him he'd had dozens of immunizations when he was a tiny baby, and came out just fine. The nurse was good. Friendly, but no nonsense. She smartly chose to have CJ go first (so as not to give him extra time to fret about it).

He lived to tell about it, of course. Bee was up next, and took it in stride. I went last. Now, let's just hope these shots actually work. Lord knows last year's go round was a complete waste of time, as we had a horrific flu.

ON THIS DAY: CJ was poking around BrainPOP this morning, and I noticed on the Web site's front page was a film about Saturn. The Saturn video was a nod to the fact that on this day in 2005, the Huygens probe landed on Saturn's moon Titan. 

Named after Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens, who discovered Titan in 1655, the European Space Agency (ESA) probe was sent to perform an in-depth study of the clouds, atmosphere, and surface of Saturn's largest moon. The probe caught a (seven year!) flight to the ringed planet traveling on board the Cassini orbiter.

The 703-pound (319 kilogram) probe launched from Cassini on Christmas Day, 2004 and made its way to Titan. Before hitting ground, a NASA/JPL camera on the ESA craft snapped this photo from a height of about 10 miles. Scientists believe it shows deep channels leading toward a shoreline.
                                                       
Three sets of parachutes helped Huygens land softly (enough) on the surface of the moon. This ESA illustration shows what Huygens might have looked like right after landing. You can see its deflated parachute in the distance.

Here's what a NASA photo of the actual landing site looked like ...
                                                 
About the size of a car, the probe sent back images for more than 90 minutes before running out of battery power. At the landing site, there were chunks of water ice scattered over an orange surface, the majority of which is covered by a methane haze. The Cassini mission confirmed Titan has permanent liquid hydrocarbon lakes in its polar regions. 

WIRED: We finally got around to buying guitar cords, a microphone and mic cable, so the kids are now amplified. They're thinking of performing at an upcoming show-and-tell type evening at their Shoreline learning center, and you certainly don't want the first time your mic-ed to be in front of a crowd!