TERRIBLE LIZARDS: Today's recap is going to be brief, because it's getting late and I'm sick and tired.
We went to West Seattle this morning, where both of the kids are now in the computer programming class using MIT's Scratch as the platform/language.
We did some math and some reading, of course. But most of today's excitement surrounded going to see the re-release of Jurassic Park. I can't believe it's been 20 years since that movie premiered. Time flies.
We went to see it on the biggest IMAX screen in town, at Pacific Science Center. We were a little
early, so we had a few minutes to cruise through PSC. We pretty much stuck to the dino exhibit, given the theme of the day.
Above, Annabelle reads up an apatosaurus.
We checked out the animatronic triceratops. It looked like he was checking us out, too, with his glassy eyes.
The kids feigned fear in front of an allosaurus, a strange lizard indeed.
This guy looked like he was smiling at us (and every other PSC visitor).
The kids have seen all these displays dozens of times by now, but they still find them interesting.
The main attraction was the movie. It has held up well. Super suspenseful, and CJ declared it the scariest movie he's ever seen. Annabelle spent a good part of the show with her face buried in my shoulder.
Tomorrow we're heading back to PSC for Paws on Science weekend. Can't wait!
And now, I'm hitting the hay and dreaming that the stolen car is returned to us.
GETTING OUR BEARINGS: This week, we dutifully, thoughtfully and carefully listened to the lectures of University of Virginia professor Lou Bloomfield for our "How Things Work" physics class through Coursera. The topic has been wheels, and it has been interesting and challenging.
We've learned about sliding friction, static friction and more about thermal energy. We learned that wheels are simple machines, and about differences between how free wheels and powered get going (a front wheel and rear wheel of a bike was used to describe that). Kinetic energy was covered. We learned that frictional forces acting along surfaces are parallel to the surface, while support forces are perpendicular. We learned why sliding a box across a floor is usually hardest at the start (the surface of the bottom of the box and top of floor actually settle into each other a bit - they're interdigitated, perhaps my favorite new word). And we learned that tribology is the science and engineering of interacting surfaces in relative motion. (I think being a tribologist would be fascinating.) Prof. Bloomfield also let us know that we can find coefficient of friction tables, which show the frictional relationship/relatively between different types of materials/surfaces.
We now know that Newton didn't write all the law of physics. For instance, there's Amonton's First Law of Friction, which states that frictional forces between two surfaces are proportional to the support forces between them (and we knew that an example involving this law would be on the test).
One of the things we learned was that though there's static friction between the rubber and the road, so to speak, and that's good, because that static friction allows you to start and stop moreso than sliding friction. There is, however, some sliding friction where the axle spins in the wheel's hub. Bearings (ball or roller, for instance), can be used to eliminate this sliding friction. But that's for more sophisticated wheel set ups than this rolling hamster or Happy Meal toy.
We also did a few computations involving W(ork) = F(orce)xD(istance), and Kinetic Energy= 1/2Mass x Speed².
I was soooooo happy when I hit the submit button on the quiz and saw that I scored 100 percent (especially considering I felt confident about three out of 10 of the answers). We all did a happy dance.
Speaking of bearings, in a happy coincidence, yesterday NASA was kind enough to email me a story about the major tune up their crawler-transporter (CT-2) has been undergoing for the last year-plus. The work was prompted by the greater loads NASA anticipates having with its new rocket (the SLS) designed to take astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit.
We read the story on their site, but all it had was still photos, like the one above, showing the whole crawler, and the one below, one showing where upgraded roller bearing assemblies were installed (in the blue circle below, both photos credit: NASA)
The photos are fine, but wanted to see the mammoth crawler in action! Fortunately, I found this neat-o time lapse video of it rolling from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad.
We also watched this short, informative video about the crawler and the people whose job it is (or was) to make sure the spacecraft get to the pad in one piece, so to speak.
IN OTHER NEWS: Christian got his car stolen today, along with his wallet and our identities. Happy Thursday.
MALL RUN: We did something today I'm loathe to do on any day. We went to the mall (shudder, shudder). Either I'm in the minority or a whole bunch of other people forced themselves to go to the mall today, because the place (Alderwood) was absolutely packed. We got the last parking spot between Sears and Macy's. You would have thought it was Christmas Eve.
Inside, as I watched the crowds mill around, I wondered why the place was so darn busy on a Wednesday in April around noonish. I'll never know the answer. Maybe everyone was there to check out the limited edition My Little Pony offerings at Build-a-Bear Workshop. That's why we were there, and there was a sizable line snaking through the store of kids waiting to get their lifeless ponies stuffed.
CJ and Annabelle snatched up their ponies (Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, the only two ponies offered, but fortuitously the kids' favorites, and got right into that line.
Fortunately, the Build a Bear staff are friendly and efficient. We didn't have to wait much longer than five minutes before it was time to bring the floppy ponies to life.
First, a friendly salesperson suggested we add chips to the ponies that play the MLP theme song (that's called upselling, right?) . Of course the answer was 'yes.' The inserts to give the ponies a heartbeat were free,' however.
Annabelle and CJ each got a turn stepping on the pedal that pumped fiberfill into their ponies.
They (the ponies) plumped up right before our eyes.
After the ponies had theme songs, hearts, stuffing and were sewn shut, it was over to the grooming station.
After they were cleaned and primped, it was time for them to get dressed. (Yes, ponies need clothes apparently. Gala gowns, specifically.)
Dressed to the nines, the ponies were now ready for their paperwork. The kids input the data to get them (the ponies) proper birth certificates.
And after paying a fortune for them (the ponies), I was free to leave the store, two happy kids and two pretty ponies in two.
Actually, CJ and Annabelle still had about $50 apiece from Christmas, so we're counting this splurge as burning those bucks up.
All things considered, the ponies are super cute, and the Build a Bear Workshop staff and set up do a nice job of making it an 'experience' rather than 'just' buying a super expensive stuffed animal. But we won't be going back there any time soon. Well, at least until August - a staffer tipped the kids off today that two more limited edition pony would be introduced then.
KEEPS ON GIVING: As we walked to the park tonight, I noticed a bunch of tall, bushy carrot tops sticking up from our garden.
Those carrots just keep growing and growing.
Which reminds me, we probably need to get some seeds started pretty darn soon!
MEANWHILE, OUTSIDE THE ISS: At 10:30 this morning we tuned into a press conference on NASA TV. The presser was news of the first Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) results. AMS is a cosmic ray particle physics detector on the exterior of the International Space Station. AMS was taken to station on the very last shuttle (Endeavour) mission, STS-134, on May 16, 2011.
CJ was super interested in the news, especially when they started talking dark matter, as he's had an interest in dark matter for years now. While the experts at today's press conference stopped short of saying they have conclusive evidence of dark matter, the AMS has spotted millions of particles of antimatter, with anomalous spikes in positrons, which certainly have their attention. AMS principal investigator Samuel Ting said, "These observations show the existence of new physical phenomena," and told viewers there would be other announcements after scientists have time to study the data further.
If you visit the AMS Web site (http://ams.nasa.gov/), you can see a meter showing how many cosmic rays AMS has measured to date, as well as learn lots more about the spectrometer.
HOME FIELD: Yesterday was the first game of the 2013 season for most Major League Baseball teams. Although the Mariners started their season on the road, in Oakland, Safeco Field was home to an open house Monday evening. My oh my, was that a bunch of fun!
As we walked up Occidental, past CenturyLink stadium and toward Safeco, it was fun seeing smiles on faces and the spring in the step of other die hard Mariners fans, all of us headed to a stadium where there weren't even going to be any ball players! We'd be watching the game on Safeco's enormous new HD LED screen in center field.
We arrived at the field just a little after 6 p.m. Admission was free, and we each got a free "True to the Blue" t-shirt, to boot!
There were no assigned seats. We chose to sit in section 146, on the third base side, so we'd have a good view of the screen.
It was our first chance to see the moved-in fences in left field, and the perimeter of the field was open for people who wanted to make a circuit 'round the field. Kennedy accompanied CJ and Annabelle on the tour.
Their bright yellow King Felix shirts made them easy to spot. Here was our view of them from our seats.
And if you look closely, you can see them standing behind home plate, watching the first pitch of the season.
They had a great view of the batter's box from the on deck circle.
And they got to be bench warmers in the Mariners' and visitors' dugout.
The kids looked tiny all the way across the field. Here they are under the Hit it Here Cafe. Can you spot CJ?
They got to smoosh up against the outfield wall. Bet they wish they had baseball gloves and cleats on!
And here is a pic of the first pitch of the 2013 season. Go Mariners! Have I mentioned that the scoreboard's big? Over 5-stories high and wider than an Olympic swimming pool.
It was a lovely evening in every way. Sunny and unseasonably warm, the roof was open. At one point, I spotted some Ducks flying over the field. ...
We had garlic fries, of course. In fact, I Tweeted a photo of the fries, and it wound up on the big screen. The kids and Kennedy also wound up on the big screen, dancing to "We Got the Beat."
It was a party atmosphere in the stadium, with a crowd of 15,000 plus on hand, according to the Mariners. It was a bit different sitting in a ballpark, watching a televised game with no players on the field, but it was an absolute blast. We stayed until the very last pitch, and celebrated mightily when the Mariners got the win and, per tradition, "Let Me Stand Next to your Fire" blared over the loudspeakers. Good times!
We can't wait until next Monday night, when we go to the Ms' home opener and real live ballplayers take the field!
MEANWHILE, IN THE MICROWAVE: We finally got around to an activity that CJ has been asking about for a few days now. It's called Peep jousting.
It's not complicated, you just take a couple Peeps, arm them with toothpicks, put them in the microwave and watch to see who stabs whom first.
Our only problem? The light in our microwave doesn't work. :( And so, we just stuck the Peeps in, 'waved 'em for 30 seconds and opened the microwave up to find this. ...
For those of you scoring at home, we called it a draw.
Actually, by my eye, they both look like they lost.
MUSIC MAKERS: CJ started talking about Mario Paint at about 6:30 this morning.
I can't say that I blame him, really. It's a neat-o game, originally for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). Though we don't have the game cartridge, thanks to the magic of the Internet, the kids were each able to download an emulated copy of the game to their laptops.
The game gives you a treble clef staff and a set of stamp icons that represent different instruments/sounds. The stamps are placed on the staff to create a song. It can be as simple or as complicated as you wish.
Before CJ got started, I printed out a chart of chords on the treble clef staff. He worked for a couple of hours, placing notes in the right chord combinations to make a Mario Paint version of "Call Me Maybe." He did a great job, it was spot on.
After that, he took on some Pink Floyd,and came up with a nice version of "Breathe."
Annabelle worked on a couple of songs from "My Little Pony."
They each spent a couple of hours working with the program today. Before you know it, they'll probably be producing more sophisticated projects, like this guy's Mario Paint take on "Bohemian Rhapsody" on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO_70TBTTiY
HOPPY EASTER: We made a fast, rather last minute trip down to Vancouver for Easter. The weather was lovely, which helped make the drive faster and easier. Fun was had by all. Here are the kids striking out into the green, green grass, in search of eggs and treasures.
JOKE'S ON YOU: This morning a friend tipped me off to an amazing new tool Google debuted today - Google Nose (BETA). Per Google, it "leverages new and existing technologies to offer the sharpest olfactory experience available," You can even use Android Ambient Odor Detection to collect smells "via the world's most sensible mobile operating system." Their SMELLCD™ has 1.8+ high-resolution compatible for precise and controlled odors. The kids watched this video to learn more:
Naturally, they were eager to try it. They could hardly wait to smell the waffles!
Annabelle went first, but reported not being able to smell anything, so CJ gave it a shot.
Sadly, he didn't smell the waffles, either. So, we clicked on the "need help?" link. There, they suggested
If you are experiencing problems with Google NoseBETA, please note the following:
"418: Scent transfer protocol error" indicates system congestion; please try again later.
Due to technological constraints, not all smells are compatible with all devices.
Refrain from licking or biting your screen.
Try upgrading to a modern browser, such as Google Chrome.
It is April Fools' Day.
The kids laughed, but then they were disappointed it wasn't. real. Later in the day, as I was checking Facebook, I came across a couple of eye raising posts from Cmdr. Chris Hadfield of the CSA, aboard the ISS. First, he shared a photo of 'space debris' they spotted near the mammoth space laboratory.
Photo from Chris Hadfield, CSA And then a bit later, Hadfield discovered a visitor aboard the ISS.
Photo courtesy some astro and space agency associated with the ISS He said the creature kept saying, "Sloof Lirpa." When I showed the kids, CJ thought for a moment and said, 'You might want to reverse that." And so when we did, imagine our surprise when it spelled April Fools. :) ROAD TRIP: We made a whirlwind trip southbound this weekend. Left home about 11 on Saturday and got home about 4 p.m. on Sunday. The pups were very happy they got to go.
MY OH MY: Though the 'Stros and the Rangers played a game last night, today was the official nationwide Opening Day for Major League Baseball.
Baseball season makes us think of Dave Niehaus, the voice of the Mariners, until he had his final "season over" in November of 2010.
Today, we went out to his burial site in Bellevue. It's a pretty cemetery on a hill, and the sun was shining. We left a baseball and set back upright a pot of flowers which had been left by another visitor.
And this afternoon we watched some of his speech when he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame - something he was so very proud of. You can see it here:
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=3209053&topic_id=&c_id=mlb&tcid=vpp_copy_3209053&v=3 And tonight, we went to an open house at Safeco Field. The Ms were playing down in Oakland, but the game was on Safeco's brand new, ginormous, high def LED screen. It's 1,201.5 feet wide - that's wider than an Olympic-size swimming pool is long. And it's more than 5 stories tall, with a surface area of a quarter of an acre and bigger than 2,100 42-inch flat screens placed side by side. Yowza. Photos and recap of tonight's festivities will be posted tomorrow. Go Mariners!
FINAL COUNTDOWN: This is our last official day of the United Way of King County's Hunger Action Week. Tonight, the tattered receipts and scratch paper scrawled with computations went into recycling.
I do believe it's our third year of participating in "hunger" week - spending one Monday-Friday week living on a "food stamp budget - and each and every year it's an eye opener.
The good news for us is, we didn't go hungry. Due to our easy access to relatively affordable and abundant food choices, we were able to stay well under budget all week long and we didn't have to live off ramen, bread and tortilla chips. We had a limit of $22 per day, and by the end of Thursday, we had a cumulative total of $38.97 under budget.
We were relatively austere again for breakfast and lunch on Friday.
Breakfast for the kids was a yogurt (40 cents apiece). CJ also had a Lara bar for a snack ($1), Annabelle had a cutie (.12). Christian had 5 oz. of grapes (.62) and a cutie(.12). I had peanut butter on toast (24 cents). We had our usual 58 cents worth of coffee. Grand total for breakfast: $3.48.
Lunch for the kids and me was a small bit of ham, 70 cents total. Christian apparently splurged and had 5 ounces of ham and three eggs, 3 ounces of mini peppers an ounce of cheese and a quarter of a green pepper. It cost $1.20 total. Lunch total: $1.90
After Friday's breakfast and lunch, that left us with $16.62 to go for the rest of the day. When you combine that $16.62 with our surplus of $38.97 for the other four days, that gave us $55.59 for dinner on Friday. So we went out - but not without a significant coupon, of course, because that's how we roll.
I'd paid $12 for a $25 coupon to Nickerson Street Cafe. So we knew we would have one entree free, in effect. The cost of our four dinners and drinks tonight was $36, less the $25 credit, which made for $11, plus the $12 cost of the gift cert, bringing it back up to $23, however, we tipped (well) on the entire amount of the bill, which brought it back up to $42,. But even though we went out for a non fast-food dinner, we still came in significantly under budget for the week ($55.59-42 =$13.59 surplus). Mission accomplished!
Reflections: Amazingly the ridiculous "I'm hungry" feeling I've had all week was gone upon upping on Friday morning. And it's not because I ate a big breakfast (which I didn't). I have no doubt the faux hunger pangs evaporated because I knew today was the last day of Hunger Action Week, and so I'm not feeling food insecure any more.
A school teacher who faced hunger as a child made an astute observation in "A Place at the Table," the documentary we watched last night. "It messes with your head," she said of food insecurity.
The hunger problem is widespread and close to home. Between June 2011 and June 2012, there were more than 8.6 million visits to food banks across Washington. That's 500,000 more visits than in the previous year. And, according Washington's Superintendent of Public Instruction, more than 40 percent of King County public school students participate in federally assisted, free or reduced-price meal programs.
To end our week, we made a donation to the United Way of King County. They do great, life changing work in the community, and we thank them for the annual opportunity to participate in Hunger Action Week.
CRAMMING: We're in week four of our physics class, and somehow we found ourselves a little behind in this week's lectures. Actually, there are more lectures and they are longer, that's why we're lagging a bit. Turns out seesaws are complicated things. ;)
We watched 90 minutes of lectures today, reviewed all of our notes for this week, read some lively discussions on the class' discussion board about this week's lectures and test and then steeled ourselves for our quiz.
I was pleasantly surprised that I actually felt GOOD (for the first time) when hitting the submit button for my test. I thought I might have actually gotten 100 percent. (In every week past, I was roughly half that confident.)
I ended up missing one of the 10, but a 90 percent? I'll take it! The kids did as well or better.
CJ celebrated his physics success by playing a little Minecraft in 3D
PRETTY THINGS: Annabelle picked me a bouquet of lovely yellow flowers this afternoon.
And yesterday, during yoga (which often includes an art element), CJ colored this pretty scene on vellum.
It looked so pretty with the sun shining through it today. It's supposed to hit 70 this weekend - w00t!
DAY FOUR: We're chugging through United Way of King County's Hunger Action Week. Thursday means we're four fifths of the way there, with the finish line in our sights. No time to slack off now!
Breakfast was a "free" strawberry muffin (OK, cupcake, but doesn't muffin sound better for you and more breakfasty?) for the kids and me (we paid for them on Tuesday), and 6 ounces of grapes for the kids (.67, as the grapes were $1.98 a pound). Christian had 96 cents worth of yogurt, and between him and the kids, they finished of $1 worth of strawberries. Coffee was 58 cents for the pot. Total: $3.21
Christian had leftover chicken nuggets (paid for yesterday) for lunch, and a couple of (silk tie dyed) hard boiled eggs for snacks (.16 cents total). The kids had ants on a log, which they made themselves. We calculated the cost of the celery (13 cents), the per-tablespoon cost of peanut butter (16 cents, and we used four tablespoons), and an ounce of raisins (19 cents).
When scooping out a tablespoon of peanut butter, we talked about what a REAL tablespoon is (the actual, even with the top of the scoop measurement). Here, CJ is contemplating fudging that number a bit ...
Before I started weighing raisins, I asked the kids to show me with their hands how much they thought an ounce of raisins would be. CJ showed me something about the size of a 50 cent piece, while Annabelle cupped her hands into a small bowl. CJ was closer. ...
Dinner tonight was a delightful - and pretty darn cheap - Coca Cola Ham (I tweaked the recipe and was VERY happy with the results. Best Ham Ever). I chose ham for dinner because I remembered that Albertson's had (with a coupon) ham on sale for 99 cents a pound this week, due to Easter's proximity. So off to Albertson's we went! (There, my nemesis, the nosy cashier that ALWAYS. Every. Single. Time. asks why the kids aren't in school was the one and only checker today. Of course. He did not disappoint. My response to him today was "Spring Break." I swear, next time he asks I am going to ask him WHY he asks every single time we come in. What's it to HIM? OK, end of rant.)
So we got our ham and came home (where the kids continued their college physics course, did tons of math, guitar practice and then we watched a live launch of a Soyuz rocket. Mr. Nosy Albertson's checker). Counting the ham, onion and cola used to sautee it, dinner set us back $5.28. (The ham was so good, we had absolutely nothing but ham for dinner, if you can believe that.)
The day's total: $9.13. When I added it up and found we did so well, we walked down to the convenience store 2 blocks away and bought the kids celebratory ice cream bars, bringing our revised daily total to $11.31.
Reflections: Another day of successfully staying on our "food stamps" budget of $22 per day for four people.
I swear, all week I've had a major case of Food on the Brain. For instance, for whatever reason, after years of thinking about it, I decided today would be The Day to organize my ridiculously disastrous recipe 'book'. To date (and that means for 20+ years), it has consisted of tattered printed papers and faded pages from magazines stuffed in an old photo album with those awful peel back sheets. My new and improved system would be recipes in sheet protectors in a three-ring binder, actually arranged in categories (from appetizers to desserts). It's a much improved system, but ...let me tell you, Hunger Week is NOT the time to be poring over dozens and dozens of your favorite recipes. I was literally drooling at one point. (I know, TMI, but I'm just trying to keep it real.)
I have to think it's no coincidence. Worries about food security mess with your head - even when it's a temporary, 'tried on' experience.
Also, all this week I have been thinking about a movie trailer we've seen the last couple of times we've gone to the theater. It's for a movie called "A Place at the Table." I'm not going to lie, the first time I saw the trailer, I found my throat swelling shut and my eyes tearing up.
Per the trailer, one out of every two kids in America will, at some point in their lives, be on food assistance. (That shocked me. Does it shock you?) But it's not due to food shortages. It's about messed up priorities when it comes to funding. As Jeff Bridges said in the movie, "If another country was doing this to our kids, we would be at war."
The movie, sub-titled of "One Nation, Underfed," shows the economic, social and cultural impacts of how hunger affects America.
"A Place at the Table" trailer here: http://video.takepart.com/previews/Mcam9iPd-Y3bNKxgM
It seemed only fitting we watch the movie during Hunger Action Week, so we paid the $6.99. (I do believe that's the first time we've ordered an 'OnDemand' movie.)
Well, that was 111 minutes of heartache. We're number one! - when it comes to being the most food insecure country as compared to the list of other 'advanced' nations in the world per the International Money Fund.
"It outrages me," CJ said as the credits rolled at the end.
"I almost didn't want to watch that at some parts because it made me so angry or it made me so sad," Annabelle chimed in.
There are a number of reasons things are so terribly wrong.
"Oh god, farms are turning into factories," Annabelle declared during the part where the movie explained how 70 percent of subsidies are directed to 10 percent of food producers - the giants who end up churning out processed rather than whole foods. One of the horrid by-products of such a reality is that Mississippi ranks as the most hungry state in the nation, yet its residents are also, per capita, the most obese. Wow. (Another horrid stat - 1 in 3 of the people born in 2000 in the US will eventually be diagnosed with Type II diabetes.)
The stat that surprised/stunned me the most was that in 1980, pre-Reaganomics, there were 200 food banks in the nation, per the film. Today, there are more than 40,000 - and more people than ever are going hungry. As one physician said in the film, more cans of food for the food drive is not the cure. And as Jeff Bridges pointed out, "Charity's a great thing. But it's not a way to end hunger."
We've got a big fat systemic problem.
"A Place at the Table" is definitely food for thought, and a highly recommended movie.
FIRED UP: This afternoon we tuned into NASA TV for live coverage of a historic launch of a Soyuz to the ISS.
On board were NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, and Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos. They lifted off with a roar and rocket fire at 1:43 p.m. our time from the Baikonur Cosmodrome (it was 2:43 a.m. their time).http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=161375381
What makes their journey is historic is it marked the first time a manned flight docked with the ISS on the same day.
It was a beautiful launch, and what I love is not only did we watch it, I texted Rick and Kennedy about the launch and suggested they and their classrooms tune in and because of that dozens of other kids watched it live, too. When I first texted Kennedy about it, he wrote back that maybe they could sub the launch for part of their social studies video about pilgrims. I write back asking which he thought kids would remember more, some produced for schools pilgrim video or a LIVE ON FIRE ROCKET LAUNCH?! Me thinks the rocket fire. The happy news is they DID watch! No doubt for many, it was their first time watching a live, manned rocket launch. Oh how I love having a hand in spreading the word and the excitement. :)
When I talked to Ken tonight about it, after school, I asked him if the kids started calling out the countdown. He said, "Oh, you think?" :) I also pointed out to him that the pilgrims and astronauts actually had something in common - they were/are explorers. He said they talked about that, too.
We tuned in tonight after dinner for the historic rendezvous of the capsule with the ISS. At 7:28 p.m., less than six hours after lift off, and three minutes ahead of schedule, they had contact and capture!!! Success! It was a good day for space flight.
And then tonight, at about 9:30 p.m., the two hatches between the ISS and the capsule opened and the ISS now has three new residents. Amazing that we watched it all happen on one historic day.
SEEING RED: Check out this awesome, interactive 4-BILLION PIXEL panoramic of Mars created by Andrew Bodrov using images Mars Science Laboratory has transmitted to Earth. Super Cool!
http://www.360cities.net/image/mars-gigapixel-panorama-curiosity-solar-days-136-149#-91.61,0.08,15.0
