Playing Catch Up

CASE OF THE MONDAYS: We had so much going on this weekend, come Monday night, I never did get around to posting much about Monday.

We took a walk down to the kayak launch beach along the bay, on the south edge of the neighborhood. I love the mixed messages these signs present at the park's entrance.

CJ used the beach to run off some steam.  

In the background, the Josco Changzhou waits for a port. The bulk carrier is under a Hong Kong flag.

The kids had fun flipping over rocks and finding tiny crabs, and CJ was excited to share that he found an anemone clinging to a rock. 

UP AND DOWN: Today, we got our first glimpse at new footage of NASA's Morpheus Project's latest free flight (free flight 10, to be exact).

Morpheus is a prototype planetary lander capable of vertical takeoff and landing. The way the craft moves is stuff straight out of a sci fi movie, except now it's finally reality. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI5tsetrbpA&feature=share&list=UU_zapJXppyMGs3TjeiF_hEw&index=1


The footage in the video below is from Wednesday, April 2, 2014. On that day, Morpheus ascended to about 804 feet (245m), flew forward and downward, covering a total of about 1334 feet (406.5m) horizontally in 50 seconds. Then Morpheus descended to a landing pad. Its total flight time was about 96 seconds, its longest flight to date. In case you're wondering, Morpheus is propelled by a liquid oxygen (LOX)/liquid methane propulsion system.
IT'S ALIVE: CJ has another classic gaming console in his collection. This time, he's brought a Sega Dreamcast back to life. Believe it or not, Christian actually found the unit at the place we call "Binwill" - it's a Goodwill outlet, where stuff is just piled in carts around the store and sold by the pound.

Slowly, CJ has been getting components together (an AC power source, an AV cord to hook it to the TV, a controller, and so on). Finally, last night he fired it all up for the first time - and it worked!

When it powered back to life, it was definitely showing its age.

Last night, CJ has had big fun playing Dreamcast classics "Crazy Taxi 2" and SoulCalibur. 

PRESSER ONLINE: In keeping with what has become our B612 Foundation theme this week, here's a link to the asteroid hunting group's press conference at the Museum of Flight earlier this week. (This is not the event we went to, we were at a public forum later that evening.)
https://b612foundation.org/newsroom/video-gallery/#/b612-press-conference-at-the-seattle-museum-of-flight 


LEFTOVERS: Here are a few shots from yesterday that I didn't get around to posting until now. Early during the Mariners' matinee yesterday, I notices a WHOLE bunch of Seattle P.D. riding bikes on the rooftop of a nearby building. My guess is that they were training for what has become the annual May Day demonstrations.

And here is a shot from Safeco of our neighborhood, with big Port of Seattle cranes between the ballpark and Magnolia. 

On the righthand side of the frame you can easily spot the huge Louis Dreyfus grain terminal we often walk and drive by.

MATH AND READING: An IKEA purchase today led to a real life math problem for the kids. We bought some LED bulbs, and their packaging promised 25,000 hours of light. On the surface that might sound like forever, but I wanted the kids to figure out exactly how many days and years it really is. Unfortunately for them, they made it MUCH harder on themselves than solving it had to be, but they each eventually got the right answer.

Together, they read a beautiful non-fiction picture book Island: A Story of the Galápagos, written and illustrated by Jason Chin. It's a gorgeous book, compelling facts presented alongside fantastic paintings. At the end of the month, Chin has a new book coming out, Gravity. We'll have to hunt that down!