Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Ring Ring

SLOW DECLINE: It's the beginning of the end for Cassini.

According to NASA, today their spacecraft that traveled from Earth to Saturn "entered its first phase of the mission's dramatic endgame, diving diving through the unexplored region at the outer edge of Saturn's main rings."

Nothing lasts forever. Diving through Saturn's rings sounds like a pretty cool way to go!

Launched on my birthday (Oct. 15) in 1997, Cassini arrived to Saturn in 2004. Watching the video below, our Annabelle noted that's the same year she arrived on the (Earth) scene.

On this JPL Web site, you can watch the countdown to Ring-Grazing Orbit #1: https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/2970/nasa-saturn-mission-prepares-for-ring-grazing-orbits/

One of the hallmarks of the Cassini mission was that it also launched a probe, Huygens, which landed on Saturn's largest moon, Titan, in 2005. 

Under parachute, it landed in a frigid floodplain, making history as humanity's first landing on a moon in the outer solar system.

Below are a few of Huygens' photos. Pretty cool, aren't they?

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

More Merriment

CITY SPARKLING: Yesterday, our holiday junket through downtown Seattle included a few rounds on the holiday carousel at Westlake park.
I have to say, it is the shortest carousel ride I've ever seen - it seems like they only went around about four times. 
But a short spin is better than no spin! And the ticket fees go to a charity.
The merry-go-round is kitty corner from the downtown Macy's, which was adorned with a seasonal star, as usual.
Afterward, we walked a few blocks south along Fourth the the Fairmont hotel. It was our first visit there.
 A pretty, fancy-schmancy place, that's for sure.

We were quite interested to see this plaque as we approached the front doors.
How 'bout that? Go Huskies! I knew that UW started downtown before moving to its present location by Lake Washington. But now we can say we've seen where it all started. Neat-o.

There was also a plaque honoring this gentleman. 
According to his page on HistoryLink.org, Kerry was a Northwest lumberman and astute businessman. Kerry was also responsible for overseeing construction of the Olympic Hotel (now named the Fairmont Olympic Hotel).

We just learned today that the famous Kerry Park, on the south bluff of Queen Anne hill, with the best views in town, was named after him. How 'bout that?  Albert Kerry and his wife Katherine donated the park site to the City in 1927, so that everyone could enjoy the same view they had from their home. Kerry lived at 419 W Highland Drive ; Highland is the street the park is on. His place still stands today, a magnificent mansion.

Once inside the Fairmont, we were greeted by Santa, straightaway.
The hotel hosts a forest of holiday trees up for purchase, with funds going to Seattle Children's Hospital.

This Dr. Seuss-themed tree was a favorite.
And Annabelle loved this colors of this upside down tree.
We headed to the upper lobby, where we found more decorations - and an enormous pine tree decorated to the hilt!

 Up on the second floor of the hotel was a sweet little Teddy Bear Suite.
One focal point was a big ol' bed full of teddy bears.
Back outside of the Fairmont, we walked out to find ourselves nearly under this architectural marvel. Rainier Tower was designed by Minoru Yamasaki, who designed the World Trade Center in New York City. The 41-story building has an 11-story pedestal base.


ROBOTS!: With Black Friday and Cyber Monday barely in our rearview mirrors, there have been a whole lot of Amazon.com boxes showing up 'round here. I thought the kids would enjoy this GeekWire piece about one of Amazon's fulfillment centers. It's a high tech marvel.

https://youtu.be/qQPVF7nysgg


WORK IT: This afternoon, the kids enjoyed a flashback to the '90s. 

OK, I know that they weren't even around in the '90s, but Billy Blanks sure was. Creator of the Tae Bo exercise phenomenon, Blanks is still around, doing his thing, now on a YouTube channel.  The kids thought it was fun for about a minute, then they thought Billy Blanks a cruel taskmaster!
https://youtu.be/rWnylaC5xc0

Monday, November 28, 2016

Holiday Potter

MONDAY, FUNDAY: We had a lovely Thanksgiving or two this past weekend. Turkey aplenty with all the amazing sides.

Now that that holiday has passed, it is on to ho-ho-ho and holly jolly!

We decided to do the downtown festivities today, thinking since it's early in the season it wouldn't be too busy. It was a good call.

Our first stop today was the Sheraton Hotel, where their annual gingerbread extravaganza is on display. This year's theme: Harry Potter!
I'll let Annabelle tell you a bit more about it ... 
The Sheraton Gingerbread Village is an event held every December at the Seattle Sheraton hotel. The Gingerbread Village is a fundraiser for JDRF Northwest, a foundation dedicated to research of juvenile diabetes. This year the theme was the “Harry Potter” series, in honor of the new movie “Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them.” They had 6 huge gingerbread and candy sculptures, each one based on a different book in the Harry Potter series, from the Sorcerer’s Stone (or Philosopher’s Stone, depending on where you live) to the Half-blood Prince.
You can really see how much work and care went into each sculpture, all for charity. My favorite sculptures where the one representing book 4, The Goblet of Fire, featuring a huge dragon with candy melt scales and glowing eyes, and book 5, The Order of the Phoenix, where the sculpture was a larger-than-life Dumbledore with his pet phoenix, Fawkes, above his head.
The gingerbread displays were truly breathtaking. The icing on the cake, so to speak, is the huge silver Christmas tree with huge harry potter glasses on the front and multiple ornaments featuring the Hogwarts Express, a Golden Snitch, and more. I can’t wait to see the theme for next year!

The display below represents the first Harry Potter book, "The Sorcerer's Stone." 
Below is Hagrid, outside the front of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The second sculpure was another interpretation of Hogwarts, the theme being book 2's "The Chamber of Secrets."
The main building was covered in green foil wrapped Andes mints, while smaller towers were covered in other candies.
The backside of the main tower revealed a moving staircase - literally. It allows people to move all over Hogwarts. This one was made with pretzels and crackers.
Another view of the book 2 scene, complete with a Christmas tree.


And here is a peek at the Chamber of Secrets scene.
The third book, "Prisoner of Azkaban," featured a clock tower and a triple decker bus prominently.




Here, Harry Potter's Patronus spell takes on a festive reindeer. Not pictured are a few floating Dementors in Santa hats.
"Goblet of Fire" is the fourth book. Below, a mermaid takes on challengers seeking the goblet.
The horn-tailed dragon, another challenge in the story, was amazing covered in colored candy melts here. 
Below, some House Elves hang on for a sleigh ride.
"The Order of the Phoenix" is the fifth book. This sculpture was amazing! Having made sugar for the first time ourselves this month, we have an appreciation for how much work went into this!
The flames were amazing and Dumbledore's face was so well done!
Up next, Book 6, "The Half Blood Prince."
Cinnamon sticks featured prominently in this display. Below, Harry battles Voldemort.

This ssssssnake was the backside of the Book 1 display. When you pushed the red button on its head, it told you which Hogwarts' house you belonged to. Annabelle was declared to be a Gryffindor (like Harry). CJ was the Slytherin (like Snape), and I was deemed a Ravenclaw.

Following is CJ's summary of the show ... 

Since 1993, the Sheraton Seattle Hotel has been the home to an annual art exhibit known as the Gingerbread Village. According to their website, the Gingerbread Village exhibit is a fundraiser for the JDRF, which used to be an acronym for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF is now the organization's official name). According to Wikipedia, JDRF is major charitable organization dedicated to funding type 1 diabetes research.
At the event, to my knowledge, there are usually six large and elaborate sculptures, made out of gingerbread and various other edible materials (for example: I think the second gingerbread house had multi-colored Goldfish crackers on the roofs of one of the buildings). At every different Gingerbread Village exhibition, there is a different theme that the various houses are built around. For example, at last year's Gingerbread Village, the theme was Star Wars, likely to celebrate the release of the then-newest film, The Force Awakens. At that Gingerbread Village, all six gingerbread houses were based around a different Star Wars film released up to that point. For this year's Gingerbread Village, the theme was Harry Potter, presumably to celebrate the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the newest major installment in the Harry Potter film series. At this event, every book in the main series got a different gingerbread sculpture (with the exception of Deathly Hallows and The Cursed Child).
The sculptures are all very visually appealing, and sugarwork and fondant are often used in creative ways (for example, on the gingerbread house for Order of the Phoenix, sugar is used to make fire cast by powerful wizard Dumbledore). The houses all displayed edible renditions of various scenes from the particular installments they were based on, and often have subtle details that you likely won't notice unless you get up close to the houses. The houses that had moving parts (such as one with a building that could open up to reveal another section of the building, or one with a pendulum) were very interesting to look at, and I would like to know how they built the moving sections.