Schooled

Portrait of Samuel Clemens as a youth holding a printer's composing stick with letters SAM. Daguerreotype Hannibal Mo / Taken Dec. 1850 / Age 15.

NOTABLE, QUOTABLE: Thanks to an email from the Library of Congress about "this day in history," we learned that Friday (Nov. 30), was Mark Twain's birthday. 

Unfortunately, neither CJ nor Annabelle have read any of Twain's books yet (something we need to rectify). I, on the other hand, took a college lit class all about Twain back in the day. What an enjoyable semester that was.

To learn more about the renowned writer, we viewed a BrainPOP video. The brief biopic told of Samuel Clemens' days as a riverboat captain on the Mississippi (a job from which he drew his pen name, Mark Twain, which is a water navigation depth measurement). 

We learned that Twain spent many years as a journalist before writing his books, and that after he became a famous author, he traveled all over as a sought-after speaker. Twain's satire and use of 'common' language (dialects and such) are two of the things that made him unique.

The end of the BrainPOP video noted that Twain became famous for witty quotes, and cited one in particular: "I have never let schooling interfere with my education." 

I stopped the video at that point, and the kids and I talked about that quote. I thought it was rather apropos, given our super nontraditional approach to schooling.

We did a little research after the video, and quickly found out that the quote didn't originate with Twain. An article by Matt Seybold of The Center for Mark Twain Studies notes that novelist Grant Allen "inflicted this bit of self-satisfied wit upon his readers half a dozen times, starting more than a decade before it was ever attributed to Twain."

That said, clearly Twain shared the sentiment, since he repeated it. Though he received honorary degrees from Oxford and Yale, Clemens had no formal education beyond primary school. However, he certainly didn't subscribe to the notion that that was ideal. Rather, in the posthumously-published essay “Taming the Bicycle,” Twain wrote that those who bragged about a lack of formal education were potentially  “fooling other thoughtless people into going and doing the same as he himself has done.” 

I asked the kids to write a little something about what they thought about the quote. Here's what Annabelle had to say. ...

The quote "Never let schooling interfere with your education" is frequently (and erroneously) attributed to Mark Twain. In my interpretation, this quote means that while learning in school is a major part of one's education, it shouldn't limit what one learns. One should always strive to look outside the box and see what else they can find on their own accord. It could also be modernly applied to how some people feel that the way most public schooling teaches children is incorrect or morally wrong, as some people find learning much easier when doing rather than listening (hands-on vs. hands-off learning). While the true meaning of the quote is up for interpretation, many agree with the first meaning I presented.

And here's what CJ had to say. ...

Mark Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was an influential author, best known for his novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, as well as its sequel published nine years later, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

A phrase commonly attributed to Twain is "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." Whilst there is evidence to suggest that Twain did not coin the phrase, that is not the main focus of this short essay. Rather, I will explain my interpretation and opinion about the phrase:

I believe the phrase to mean that Twain does not let his "schooling" (indicative of an educational institution's instruction) invade his "education" (or, as referred in modern-day vernacular, "street-smarts.") Personally, I believe that "schooling" and "education" in the context of the quote are largely separate, so I don't understand why one would interfere with the other. Notably, the quote places priority on "schooling" over "education."

Strollers

 
IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: I have been making it a point to get a walk in most days lately. Not every day, mind you, but at least 51 percent of the time.

Yesterday, we found ourselves up in the Sunset neighborhood of Renton. It's east of the 405 freeway, on a hilltop above the Renton airfield/Boeing operations.

There's a big new park in the neighborhood, Sunset Neighborhood Park. 

It's across the street from the nice, big Renton Highlands Library.

The kids checked out the library while the dogs and I walked circles in the park. I found a little library to check out, as well.

In fact, there were two Little Free Libraries in the park. Unfortunately, they were both chock full o' romance novels. 

So, my reading material was mainly signage, including this panel about how the park helps protect salmon in Lake Washington.

I was surprised when CJ and Annabelle walked out of the library empty handed. They both said they found the layout confusing. "They had 'A Clockwork Orange' next to a LEGO book," CJ noted. 

I would have to agree that's unexpected. ...

Today's walk started out with us parking by another library, this time the Skyway branch of King County Library System.

From there, we walked north, and soon encountered the neighborhood fire department and a regional fire training center. At the training center, there was a small plaza with a statue, a little smaller-than-life sized to my eye.

We also found a memorable signpost in the parking lot. 

We soon headed east, and found ourselves approaching a big middle school campus. It was nearly 3 p.m. and there was an ice cream truck parked directly in front of the school, ready for dismissal time. Smart!

All in all, a nice stroll, and it's good to get to know the neighborhood better.

UNICORNS R US: Every month we do a bulletin board for a local learning center. And every month, we have to come up with a new theme. We've been doing this a couple of years now, and sometimes it feels like we've already done everything possible. I mean, we've covered Dr. Seuss, Candyland, Pac-Man, a hedgehog camp out, bigfoot skiing, an ant farm, a sushi conveyor belt restaurant ... I could go on and on.

This month while casting about for ideas, I realized we hadn't done a unicorn themed one yet. It's shocking, really, given Annabelle spent about five years drawing mostly unicorns. 

Anyway, we decided to go with a Unicorn University theme this month, so the board is a snapshot of part of Unicorn U's college campus.

Here's a photo of the work-in-progress. Stay tuned for a finished shot, likely next Monday.

All About Amelia

“Everyone has oceans to fly, if they have the heart to do it.  Is it reckless?  Maybe.  But what do dreams know of boundaries?” –Amelia Earhart

ELECTRA-FYING: Last night we were super fortunate to attend the unveiling of an amazing Amelia Earhart sculpture at The Museum of Flight.

The event was an artist's reception/recognition, as well as a cocktail hour for the museum's board of directors and biggest donors. So it was them and us, basically. We received an invite because Annabelle is part of Amelia's Aero Club at the museum, a program to help foster a love of flight and aerospace in  middle school aged girls.

The reception was held next to the amazing, restored Electra plane that is like the one Amelia piloted on her mission 'round the world. It's a beauty, with an interesting history. CJ can tell you more about it. 

On 27 November 2018, at The Museum of Flight, a statue of Amelia Earhart, best known as the first (known) woman to fly solo over the Atlantic Ocean, was unveiled to a small gathering of (hoity-toity, to put it bluntly) people in attendance. The statue was unveiled at the In Search of Amelia Earhart exhibit, which opened to the public in September 2009. While at the statue unveiling celebration, we noticed a large airplane, known as a Lockheed Model 10-E Electra. According to The Museum of Flight's website, the plane present at The Museum is the 15th of 149 manufactured planes of that model. The plane was acquired by Northwest Airlines in 1935, but was later acquired by the U.S. Air Force in 1942, after which ownership of the Electra was transferred to the Brazilian Air Force.

In March of 1997, Linda Finch took the Electra on a flight across the Atlantic Ocean to mark the 60th anniversary of Amelia Earhart's groundbreaking flight. However, Finch had to alter the route across the ocean, due to changes in politics and geography.

According to The Museum of Flight's website, the Electra has a Cruise Speed of 190 MPH, and a Maximum Speed of 202 MPH. The plane has a height of 10 feet and a length of 39 feet.

So, regarding CJ's 'hoity toity' comment - I'm sure he didn't mean it derisively, as everyone we met there was exceptionally friendly. What he, no doubt, meant, was that the (super small) crowd there were clearly the museum's movers and shakers. And then there was us. But we were super welcomed and people went out of their way to engage us.

The photo below shows Dottie Simpson, a major benefactor in getting the Electra to The Museum of Flight. In a MoF press release from 2013, when the Electra's procurement was announced, it's noted Dottie Simpson was 13 (about Annabelle's age) when Earhart disappeared. In the press release from 2013, Simpson said "The exhibit will be an inspiration to both girls and boys with dreams of a future in aviation or space."

Sadly, Dottie Simpson didn't live to see the event last night. She died in February of this year, at the age of 94. It just so happened, the statue unveiling last night was on Dottie's birthday, November 27. Below, her daughter, Anne, unshrouds the Amelia sculpture. 

Dottie's daughter, Anne Simpson, delivered a heartfelt tribute to her mother and Amelia. Simpson is a past member of the museum's board of trustees and was a Delta Air Lines captain. 

 Here's what Annabelle had to say about the event.

Yesterday at The Museum of Flight, there was a small unveiling ceremony for a statue of Amelia Earhart, the first female to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. The statue was created by artist Gary Lee Price, and now resides just behind a Lockheed Electra in the museum's Great Gallery.

The event we went to, an unveiling of the statue, was a rather small event with some of the most important donors and supporters of the project and the museum. We even had a chance to socialize with some people who had been working there for over 35 years! Also attending were some very well-known Seattle area experts such as James Reisbeck, founder of Reisbeck Engineering.

The bench is located in a corner dedicated to Ann and Dottie Simpson, whom were integral in acquiring the Lockheed Electra for the Museum. There was plenty of dedication and many thanks given during the event before the statue was unveiled. The statue itself was sculpted beautifully, and was the fourth out of dozens that were made to ensure perfection. It currently sits on display at the museum for all to see, and it's a remarkable likeness to Amelia herself.

 CJ and Annabelle each struck their best Amelia post in the photos below.

 I think CJ's expression is spot on!

Turns out we could own our own version of this bench for just under $50k!

“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward." -Amelia Earhart

Still Seeing Red

The Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC), located on the robotic arm of NASA's InSight lander, took this picture of the Martian surface on Nov. 26, 2018, the same day the spacecraft touched down on the Red Planet. The camera's transparent dust cover is still on in this image, to prevent particulates kicked up during landing from settling on the camera's lens. This image was relayed from InSight to Earth via NASA's Odyssey spacecraft, currently orbiting Mars. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

MORE ON MARS: We're still over the moon about the successful Mars landing yesterday!

Below, CJ and Annabelle share their thoughts about the landing.  Annabelle is up first. ...

NASA's InSight mission just recently landed on the fourth planet form our sun; Mars. Its mission is to place multiple probes and "moles" on the surface of the red planet, to provide information about the insides of Mars and how it could have possibly formed. These probes include seismometers that may be able to find out exactly what Mars' core is made of, along with its other layers. 

The InSight lander was also accompanied by two CubeSats (short for cube satellites) that flew by Mars as the lander was touching down to make the signal transport back to Earth much quicker. These Satellites, dubbed MarCO (Mars Cube One). These were sadly only a fly-by, but they may change the way we communicate with probes and rovers in the future. 

While InSight was about to land on Mars, my family went to the Museum of Flight to watch the landing. It was extremely tense to watch, as the narrators explained that almost everything had to be perfect otherwise it wouldn't land properly. The landing went off without a hitch, and InSight began its mission by first taking a picture of the surface, covered in dust. The InSight lander will release its probes for a number of months, taking things slowly to make sure all goes well.

And here's what CJ had to say about it. ...

On 26 November 2018, the Museum of Flight (in Seattle, Washington,) the largest known private aerospace museum on the planet, hosted an event in its Charles Simonyi Space Gallery. The event was an in-person viewing of the livestream of the landing of the InSight lander, which successfully landed on Mars during the livestream. Our local event featured commentary from Geoff Nunn, the adjunct Space Curator at the Museum of Flight, as well as a NASA Solar System Ambassador. According to the event's page on the Museum of Flight's website, the event lasted from 11 A.M to 12:30 P.M, though we left shortly after 12 P.M.

The primary goal of the InSight lander is to learn more about the composition of Mars' deep interior, which is, for all intents and purposes, uncharted territory. During the livestream, we were shown a map of where various missions to Mars in the past had landed. InSight landed closest to the Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars' surface on 6 August 2012. InSight landed in Elysium Planitia, an area on Mars' surface. I got to ask Nunn if there was a reason in particular why InSight landed close to Curiosity, and he told me that NASA chose the most boring place possible (Elysium Planitia is a giant plain,) presumably to make drilling into the surface easier for InSight.

At the event, the crowd consisted of multiple people of varying ages, though I only noticed one child in the crowd (according to my mother, there were a few others.) If we had chosen to watch the livestream at home (which we very well could have done, especially if our schedule was different,) it probably wouldn't have been nearly as engaging as watching it in a crowd of other space geeks. The crowd reacted with cheers and applause when it was revealed that InSight's landing was successful, and reacted in a similar fashion once the first picture taken by InSight was revealed. Overall, the crowd seemed very engaged in the event, eager to learn the newest info about the mission.

One thing that makes me really happy is that many people got to watch the historic event, because we made it a point to spread the word.

For instance, I let both Rick and Kennedy know about it, and gave them mission info to share with their students. Rick's class had a conflict and couldn't watch live, but Kennedy's fourth graders watched - as did his whole school, apparently! How cool is that? Kennedy reports the kids were very into it, and "it helps that our current science unit is 'Earth movements,' so the mission of InSight aligns quite nicely with what we've been studying."

I also posted info about the launch time and ways to view to a Seattle Homeschoolers' Facebook page. The post received dozens of likes, and numerous people on the page thanked me, saying they wouldn't have known about it and watched it if not for my post. One family even went to The Museum of Flight for the landing party. 

Just tonight, another parent posted, "I'm really glad you shared this. My son had so much fun and learned A LOT from watching this and reading the cartoon. He was telling his grandma all about it in detail, so I know he had some serious retention on it."

Very gratifying, to say the least! We love spreading NASA news. :)

Happy Landing

InSIGHTFUL: This morning, we got our acts together and then made our way to the Museum of Flight at about 10:30.

We wanted to be there for a watch party for the landing of NASA's newest Mars spacecraft, InSight.  We snagged front row seats upon arrival. Soon after, it became a standing-room-only event. NASA's official coverage began at 11 a.m.

There were watch parties all over the globe, including in New York City's Times Square.

The lead photo, at the top of the post, was taken from the Space Shuttle Trainer payload bay, before the throngs arrived.  As touch-down time (noon) arrived, the viewing area became lots more crowded.

Ask any rocket scientist, and they'll tell you, Mars is hard. There's so much that can go wrong between here and there, as Jet Propulsion Laboratory chief engineer Rob Manning explains in this video all about atmospheric entry, descent, and landing of InSight.


InSight isn't a rover. Rather, it will stay in one place and do its science. Its primary mission is to study the deep interior of Mars to learn how all celestial bodies with rocky surfaces, including Earth and the Moon, were formed. InSight's instruments include a seismometer to detect "marsquakes" and a probe to monitor the flow of heat in the planet's subsurface.

These "Mars in a Minute" videos explain more about its mission. 


In the NASA photo below, taken on Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018 at NASA Headquarters in Washington, Jet Propulsion Laboratory InSight principal investigator Bruce Banerdt shares info about InSight's mission.

There were dozens of people in mission control this morning. But I couldn't help but watch 
Mars InSight team members Kris Bruvold, left, and Sandy Krasner, right, most closely.

Bruvold was positively percolating in his seat, and muttering 'oh my god' under his breath. 

Krasner, right, looked *so* nervous. I pointed out to Christian that the man's hand was shaking at one point. As InSight made its final descent, in the last 100 meters, Krasners' chin started quivering uncontrollably, and he was blinking back tears. That made me cry. So yeah, I cry at Mars landings. I'm not the only one!

Just minutes later, the first image from InSight appeared on Mission Control's screen!

In the foreground, Tom Hoffman, InSight Project Manager, NASA JPL, reacts to seeing it. The speckles are dust on the fish eye camera lens. At the top of the image, you can see the horizon, and the sky above the Martian soil.

Per an email I received from JPL tonight, data indicates InSight's solar arrays are open and batteries are charging. The transmission also included this view from the instrument deployment camera, showing the seismometer (left), grapple (center) and robotic arm (right). What wonderful news!

All in all, what a wildly entertaining morning!

We're so glad we went to the watch party!

I couldn't help but notice this Carl Sagan quote on the wall of the space gallery as we departed.