Future Friday

TIME TO START PACKING?: Today, Elon Musk's SpaceX made a trio of retro-riffic styled travel-to-Mars posters available.  

We love their look, not to mention their message.  The one above features the highest peak (three times higher than Everest) in our solar system. 

And how nice of the SpaceX folks to replease them under a Creative Commons  license so people (like me) can share them!

Another poster features Mars' moons. 

Many, including Buzz Aldrin, think Phobos would be a good spot to colonize before actually settling on the Red Planet. 

The third poster features the canyon running along Mars' middle. Three miles deep, it was likely created by water which coursed over Mars' surface eons ago.

The posters remind me of a series of space-y posters on display at Kennedy Space Center, including these two I photographed during my visit there for the Mars Science Laboratory launch.

RED & GREEN:  Our new-to-us produce of the day was going to be a red banana. We bought a couple last night, and this afternoon the kids did the Google to find out how to eat them. Articles they read said they could be peeled and eaten just like a yellow banana, and that they were ripe when they're dark red.

We *thought* our bananas were red enough, but maybe we were comparing them to yellow bananas. ...

But ... I think we were wrong.

Very wrong.

The kids couldn't even peel them, and so they cut them open with knives. When they finally extracted a bite, it was Bitter Banana Face time. Oops.

So, green red bananas are not our new favorite produce.

TESTING, CONTINUED:  We're still plugging away at the available practice tests for the standardized, state mandated tests the kids have to take next week. Today, the test they took was another reading-writing related endeavor.

I'll let you have a look at one of CJ's questions and his answer. 

(Sorry the examples above and below are so small. The test wouldn't let us copy and paste text, so it was a print screen process and this was the best we could do.  If you click on the text/image, it will open larger, in another window.)

Adventures and Answers

WAYBACK MACHINE:  Five years ago today, we were on the Causeway in Cape Canaveral, watching space shuttle Atlantis blast off for a resupply mission to the International Space Station. 

It was our first and last shuttle launch, as only three more missions flew after the one we saw.  So glad we got to see it when we did. It was a picture perfect launch, taking off right on time, lucky us. 

ADVENTURE TIME:  We're still working away on our May-ke a change campaign, which includes embracing new produce daily.

Yesterday, baby artichokes entered the picture. The sunglasses are for scale. 

Annabelle found me a (Martha Stewart-endorsed) recipe, and we cooked 'em up. 

It wasn't bad, but it turns out they are NOT our new favorite food. A lot of work for little reward, really. That, and I think our babies were a bit past prime. That probably didn't help.

Today's experiment was plantains. Truth be told, the kids have had these before, deep fried from a food truck. Those tostones were delicious, of course. But we'd never bought and prepared plantains ourselves, so we figured it counted as new-to-us.

I didn't fee like heating up a bunch of oil, so we found an oven baked alternative. 

They cooked up OK (except for a minor smoke alarm incident), but they looked so dry and starchy, so I whipped up a dipping paste of all natural peanut butter, honey and some no sugar apricot spread. That made things better!

MORE PRACTICE:  Our (pretty much last minute) effort to (kinda sorta) be ready for the state's mandatory annual standardized test continues. Today, the kids took the "ELA" test. I don't even know what "ELA" stands for - presumably something 'language arts.'

It wasn't the worst test I've ever seen, but it sure wasn't the best. The scoring is interesting (you miss any part of a multi-part question and the whole thing is worth ZERO),  and some of the 'right' answers were DEFINITELY up for debate, IMHO. 

Oh well. It was, in fact, good practice at test taking - figuring out what the author of the test is looking for, which, in some cases, is not what seems like the real world right answer. ... 

Here's a link to the test Annabelle (grade 4) took, if you're interested: http://sbac.portal.airast.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/G4-PracticeTest-ScoringGuide-ELA1.pdf

And here's what CJ endured: http://sbac.portal.airast.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/G6_PracticeTest_ScoringGuide_ELA.pdf

INQUIRING MINDS:  So, we went to the Mariners' game last night. Yes, again. (We're taking full advantage of those $1 Kids Club tickets, I tell you!)

It was our third game in four days, and we'd already seen them win twice this week. The third time wasn't a charm, but it was still lots of fun. And we were part of solving a 'mystery' at the ballpark.

We didn't go to our ticketed seats. Instead, we sat at a picnic table on a landing in right center.  We noticed that behind us, under the right center bleachers, definitely off the beaten path, there was some steel-frame construction going on.  We'd noticed it a couple of times before this week, and it seemed to be taking shape fast, but we had no idea what was being built. The obvious answers seemed like another beer stand, or a team merchandise stand, but it was in a low-traffic area, so that also seemed a little odd.

At one point, one of the Safeco 'teal coats' (seat attendants, traffic directors, etc.), came up and sat at the picnic table next to us.  We couldn't help but bother him during his break to ask him what was being built behind us.  He looked at it, pulled out his stadium guide, apparently flipping to the 'what's new at the park' part, and said he hadn't a clue, but that he was now very curious himself and that he'd find out.

The gentleman went back down to his work station (by the Dave Niehaus statue), and from our perch over it, you could see the thing escalate. He asked nearby coworkers, who apparently hadn't any idea.  Then reinforcements were called in. They didn't know either. He called up to us on the landing to let us know he was still working it. About a half hour later, a NON teal coat (this guy's coat was kind of cranberry) arrived on the scene, and there was a briefing. 

Then Cranberry Coat came up to the landing.  Christian was making a concession stand run, so it was just me and the kids. The man said to me, "So, are you with the National Enquirer? Inquiring minds want to know?"  

I told him we are just curious people and were wondering if another Coors Light stand was about to grace Safeco Field (ha ha).  The manager reported that, in fact, it was something quite different - a state of the art golf-related feature.

About that time another gentleman showed up to the landing to answer my question.  Turns out he is Safeco Field's head engineer(!).  He went into great detail about what would be there:  An immersive, high tech gold experience with a rounded screen and software that allows visitors to play the 18th hole at Augusta or you-name-it legendary courses.  The station will feature Nike merchandise, and people will even be able to be expertly fitted for clubs there. The feature is being fast-tracked, and is expected to open in early June, just ahead of the US Open tournament south of town. 

So there you have it.  

The best part of this story is that the Teal Coat who was on the landing with us and who was like a dog with a bone getting us the answer is 84 years old. He started working at Safeco last year, as an 83-year old rookie!  The manager told us he was voted MVP last year. How awesome is that?

Of course, we made it a point to stop and thank him for his efforts our way out. 

And Mr. Cranberry Coat (gosh, I wish I'd gotten his name) actually thanked us for asking, because now he and his team had that information. 

THAT, my friends, is good customer service. 

Practicing

A PECK OF PEPPERS:  Our gardening efforts continue. Our kitchen counter top is currently home to four different kinds of peppers. We're happy to report, our ghost chiles and Carolina Reapers have finally sprouted. They join some colorful bell peppers and the coveted Trinidad Moruga Scorpions in our little forest. 

PRACTICE:  This morning, we started off with some practice math tests for the standardized "Smarter Balanced" test the kids will have to take for FOUR days next week. 

CJ took the grade 6 "Math Practice Test," while Annabelle did the grade 4 version. Here are links to the questions and answers, if you're curious about the content:
Grade 4:  http://sbac.portal.airast.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/G4_Practice-Test-Scoring-Guide-5.14.14-Final.pdf
Grade 6: http://sbac.portal.airast.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/G6_Practice-Test-Scoring-Guide-5.14.14-Final.pdf

They also worked their way through the "Math Performance Task" test
Annabelle's was just one, multi-part problem (here, if you care to look: http://sbac.portal.airast.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Grade4MathPT.pdf

And the sixth grade level one is here: http://sbac.portal.airast.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Grade6MathPT.pdf

It's a good thing we practiced. CJ has a habit of doing most of his math in his head, which is great as it's a time saver on straightforward problems. However, if you're working a multi-faceted problem with multiple problems to solve and you don't write down graphs and steps-along-the-way solutions, things can go really sideways.  So that was a good lesson, and I hope he'll put lessons learned into practice when he takes the actual test.

GOD LIKE:  We continue to work our way through "The Rise of Superheroes and their Impact on Pop Culture," and edX course from the Smithsonian.  

Today's lectures and reading involved the topic of comic book superheroes' links to long ago mythology. For instance, today's Flash was the Roman god Mercury of long ago, and Aquaman has roots in Poseidon.

For the class' final project, we will have to create our own super hero.  To that end, we were pointed to two resources for inspiration. One is a list of mythologies on Wikipedia.  (Boy is that long and extensive.)  We were also introduced to this really cool Web site, Godchecker.com.  The site's mythology encyclopedia features nearly four thousand "weird and wonderful Gods, Supreme Beings, Demons, Spirits and Fabulous Beasts from all over the world."

The kids are I decided we were interested in creating a superhero who is somewhat science based, so we searched Godchecker.com for anything having to do with science. That produced a list of five gods for us to consider. They were St. Albert the Great, a Christian saint who is the patron saint of scientists (including chemists and physicists); Jehovah, a Middle-Eastern deity; Oannes, Greek, a sea god of art and science; Thoth, an Egyptian god of art, science, astronomy and literature, and Bagadjimbiri, Aboriginal Australian deity.

Reading elsewhere that Bagadjimbir (twins, actually) are mad scientists and genetic engineers, we have tentatively decided to go with them as inspiration for our superhero. 

As part of this week's homework, we were supposed to find an image of our superhero's inspiration. Oddly, there aren't any ones that seem legit that we could find in a half hour or so of poking around. The best we could do was settle on a cool old painting of a pair of dingoes. (Bagadjimbir first came to Earth as a pair of dingoes, so the story goes.)

Dingo" - Louis Agassiz Fuertes

National Geographic, P.202, March 1919

http://www.savethedingo.com/life-early-1900-1949.html

Now, we have to devise an alter ego and backstory for our superhero. We need to choose what super powers the posses and consider how they reflect conflicts in today's world. Naturally, we need a foil or villain, as well.  Sounds like some super fun homework, no?

TUESDAY NIGHT LIGHTS:  Yesterday afternoon, for no compelling reason, I started semi-obsessing about going to the Mariners game.  The Ms didn't have their ace on the mound, there was no special bobblehead or other giveaway, the weather wasn't great, the opponent was not a real rival (the Padres, not even in the American League) ... but still, something was saying, "Go!"  

So, we took advantage of $1 tickets for the kids thanks to the Mariners' Kids Club, and Christian and I each scored cheap seats, allowing the four of us in for just under $25.

It was a sparse crowd (under 16,000), and that made it really easy to roam the concourse and check out places we don't usually get to during a 'normal' visit.

As it turned out, we were there on a history-making (well, at least tying), night.  The Mariners combined for six home runs and they pretty much decimated the Padres' pitching staff. Big fun! 

So much so, in fact, that we're going again tonight. ... For under $20 total ticket price. 

Tremendous Tuesday

GOOD MORNING, GOVERNOR:  We had a remarkable Tuesday morning, as it included spending an hour with former Washington State governor John Spellman. I'll cut right to the chase and let CJ tell you more about it. 

On May 12th, 2015, John Dennis Spellman, former Governor of Washington, visited our Social Studies classroom in the Cascade Parent Partnership building in Queen Anne. Governor Spellman was in office from 1981 to 1985, and during his time in office, he had to fight many different issues. These included having to deal with a recession that was going on in Washington, which gave Washington billions of dollars in deficit, which Governor Spellman fought by increasing taxes (ironically, when running for governor, he advertised lower taxes). Also, while Governor Spellman was in office, there were plans for an oil pipeline called the Northern Tier Pipeline to be built. This pipeline would, according to an archived New York Times article about its cancellation, would have run 1,500 miles from Port Angeles, Washington, to Clearbrook, Minnesota. The Northern Tier Pipeline would also have gone below Puget Sound and above the Cascades, which was the part that caused Governor Spellman to object to the building of the Northern Tier Pipeline.

Governor Spellman also had to deal with a ferry strike, which was caused by ferry workers feeling that they were underpaid. Prior to becoming a governor, Mr. Spellman was the First King County Executive from 1969 to 1981, and during the time that he was a King County Executive, he helped build the King Dome.

My classmates and I asked Governor Spellman certain questions, including his position on recreational marijuana usage and gay marriage, which he responded to by saying that nobody proposed legalizing recreational marijuana usage while he was in office, and that gay marriage "seems to be working". I asked Governor Spellman if he thought there was more bipartisan cooperation in Washington during his term or in the present day. Governor Spellman responded by saying that there wasn't very much bipartisan cooperation today or during his term, and he seemed especially disgusted with that fact.

The day before Spellman's visit, we made some cookies in the shape of Washington, the Space Needle, a cookie saying "THANK YOU / GOVERNOR / SPELLMAN" (the slashes indicate different lines), and a cookie with the Cascade Parent Partnership's logo on it.

My impressions after listening to Gov. Spellman were that he was extremely intelligent, kind hearted and logic-driven. He didn't follow party lines at all, which likely led to him being a one term governor. Kudos to him for not being a conniving political animal. Being a decent human being trumps that any day.

Regarding the cookies, at about 7:30 last night, CJ let me know that he needed to make the former governor a thank you card or something. Nothing like waiting until the last minute ... yikes. I suggested maybe some cookies as an alternative, knowing we has a Washington state cookie cutter, a Space Needle (Spellman is from Seattle), and an apple cookie cutter (Washington is the #1 apple growing state).  

So, CJ got busy. 

He gathered all the ingredients, and the cookie cutters, rolled out the dough and made sure the doughy Space Needles were straight before going into the oven.

He sifted the powdered sugar for the fondant, and melted the marshmallows and then mixed it up. I helped with dyeing it. He cut out the fondant and together, we applied it to the cookies.

CJ was quite pleased when he gave them to Governor Spellman, who immediately disclosed he has a sweet tooth. :)

CJ carried the box out to the car for the governor. Imagine our surprise when we saw the car had a bumper sticker that exactly matched one of the cookies CJ made - a green state with a white heart. How 'bout that?!

FRUITY:  We continue to experiment with new-to-us produce daily this month. This weekend, the kids tried some seaweed (not their new favorite), and some lovely-to-look-at dragon fruit (something we're all happy to try again).

Tonight, I incorporated some daikon (大根, literally "big root"), a mild-flavored winter radish (Raphanus sativus) originally native to Southeast or continental East Asia, and parsnip into a stir fry curried pork dish I made. Everyone managed to choke it down. :)

FINITO:  Yesterday, we finished our C# programming class, each taking and passing the final, and submitting our final peer reviews of other students. It's a good feeling to be done with that class, it was a WHOLE lot more than any of us bargained for, based on the course description on Coursera, through whom we took the University of Colorado class. 

ROUND UP: This afternoon, we took a field trip to a sports card shop, in the name of charity. 

We're working on making a Seahawks' themed chess table to be auctioned off with proceeds benefiting Kent Elementary.  Awhile back, I got the table (for free!) from a "Buy Nothing ..." Facebook group I belong to.  We went to Home Depot and got the appropriate NFL-branded Glidden paint colors for the Seahawks. A few weeks back we (miraculously) found this make-your-own chess set at Goodwill, which have little stands that have holders for slipping in photos or trading cards.

This weekend, we sanded the table, and got the basecoat of SEA-gray on. Yesterday, Christian oh-so-carefully gridded out the tabletop and started painting the squares.

This afternoon, the kids and I managed to get trading cards of 16 different and current Seahawks, as well as 15 Green Bay Packers (so we're just one Packer short).

We should have the table's paint finished in the next day or two, and then I'll put a clear acrylic on top, for protection. We're looking forward to seeing the finished project.

The Runaround

GEOLOGICAL:  Boy were we busy this weekend, running to and fro.  On Saturday, we managed a couple of field trips to visit places of geological interest in our city, as part of the homework for a class we're enrolled in, from the via Coursera, 

In the morning, we went for about a four mile hike in Discovery Park. I'll let Annabelle tell you about it. ... 

For my geology assignment, I went down to Discovery Park's south beach. I chose this location because I have walked the south beach many times, but have never stopped to examine the rocks. My assignment was done on May 9 at 10:30 AM, at a latitude of 47:39:29.11 and a longitude of 122:25:34.28, with clear blue skies and a temperature at around 73 degrees Fahrenheit.

According to the Exploring Discovery Park blog (http://exploringdiscoverypark.blogspot.com/p/geology.html), the bluffs of Discovery Park on the South Beach are a perfect example of the layers left behind by the Vashon Ice sheet that covered the Puget Sound in the last ice age around 15,000 years ago.

 The colors consisted of a rusty red, orange, brown, tan and other warm colors. 

The cliff seemed to be sedimentary, cold, malleable, and wet to the touch. 

Some sections of the cliff had been broken off.  Another section had moss growing up to just above my waist height. 

This photo gives you an idea of the height of the cliff.

Later in the afternoon, we went to another beach. I'll let CJ tell you about it ...

I went to a historic rock called Four Mile Rock. It's located off Perkins Lane, at the base of the Magnolia Bluff, in Seattle.

Its GPS coordinates are:  47°38′20″N 122°24′48″W. Above is a photo of it, looking toward the south. 

Below, is looking to the southeast (toward Mt. Rainier).

In reading resources online, there are different opinions as to whether Four Mile Rock was contained within the Vashon Till (and deposited over 10,000 years ago), or if it is/was "a true erratic," which was up on the bluff overlooking this beach for thousands of years, and fell to its current location as the bluff eroded over time.  

On the day I visited, it was May 9th, 2015. It was 73° Fahrenheit (22.7778° Celsius), with nearly clear blue skies. Four Mile Rock is approximately 20 feet across, and about 15 feet high. Many Native Americans observed the Four Mile Rock. According to Wikipedia, they called the rock LE'plEpL and Tele'tla.

Much of it is covered in barnacles, so it was difficult to see the rock beneath under the high tide line.

I used a telephoto lens to try to look at the top of the rock, which is barnacle free.  I could see, from a distance, fissures and fractures, and different textures and colors.

Parts of the surface appear cracked and craggy, with some sharp edges and flaking.

Other surfaces appear smoother.

I hope to return to the rock, next time with a ladder, to get a closer look at the unobscured material.

ASTRONAUT ENCOUNTER:  Saturday afternoon, we also managed to squeeze in a one hour visit to Pacific Science Center to see retired NASA astronaut Dr. Patrick Nichols talk about the past, present and future of space travel.  

I'll let CJ and Annabelle let you know a little bit more about that experience. 

CJ's notes first ... 

On May 9, 2015, we went to the Pacific Science Center for their Astronomy Day celebration, and saw a presentation by Nicholas Patrick, a former NASA astronaut who flew on the STS-116 Discovery mission and the STS-130 Endeavor mission.

Nicholas Patrick explained to the audience about certain machines used to train astronauts for their (potentially) upcoming spaceflight. These included the Northrop T-38 Talon, an airplane which Nicholas Patrick had to fly. Nicholas Patrick told the audience that while piloting the T-38, he had to wear an oxygen mask and receive commands from mission control, which he said was good training for being on a Space Shuttle.

Dr. Patrick also said that he got in the infamous Vomit Comet for preparing him and his fellow astronauts for what it would be like to feel weightless. Dr. Patrick said that a good idea was to cling on to the floor, because you would get thrashed around and eventually feel 2Gs of falling force, which he said was actually like an 8-foot fall, but feels like a 16-foot fall. Dr. Patrick also told us about the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, in which he did an EVA simulation on a life-size model of the ISS.

Afterwards, Dr. Patrick told us about the future of spaceflight. He mentioned that currently, he works for a company based in Kent called Blue Origin, which recently had a test launch in west Texas, which he showed us the video of, which is available on their website at www.blueorigin.com. Dr. Patrick also mentioned that Scott Kelly's one-year mission on the ISS will certainly help figure out what might happen to astronauts on missions to Mars, which may require prolonged periods of time in space.

And here's what Annabelle has to say ... 

On May 9, I went to go see Dr. Nicholas Patrick at the Pacific Science Center. During the talk he gave, he talked about the past, present, and future of space. Dr. Patrick was picked by NASA as an astronaut candidate in June of 1998, and started his training in August of the same year. He was on two space shuttles, one being on STS-116, Discovery, and the other being STS-130, Endeavor. He is currently working with a company called Blue Origin, whose website you can visit at https://www.blueorigin.com/. He even showed us a developmental flight test of Blue Origin, stating that we were one of the first people to see it. The talk was very interesting and I would like to see more of Dr. Patrick's work in the future.

The video of Blue Origin's recent, successful test flight is really worth seeing.


SUNDAY FUNDAY:  For Mother's Day, we spent a lovely afternoon at Safeco Field. 

"King" Felix Hernandez was pitching, and he and the crew got the job done, beating the Oakland A's for the third game in a row. Sweet sweep!