Sun, Moon & Diamonds

EYES ON SKIES: We had lovely weather all weekend, and it spilled over into Monday, hooray! We took the opportunity to wash all three of our cars this morning. While out in the alley working, I looked up at one point and noticed a big, thin ring around the sun.

"Look! Look!" I cried, running in the house to get the kids and grab the camera.  After we checked it out (carefully, as staring into the sun isn't the best idea, and my cameras didn't like it, either), we went back in the house to use the Internet to find out what we'd just seen.  "Our" ring was so big, I couldn't fit the whole thing in my camera's field of view.

Turns out it's called aptly named a halo. (There are also moon halos.) I asked the kids to do a little research, and find out how halos are formed.

I ended up reading an article about them on the EarthSky Web site. Turns out the halos can form when thin cirrus clouds are overhead. The clouds have millions of tiny ice crystals, and light is both refracted and reflected by them. In order for the halo to be visible, these crystals have to be positioned just right with respect to your eye. 

For whatever reason, I unfortunately started reading the comments on the article. They quickly devolved into a ridiculous debate about religion after some woman posted, "Jesus said in Luke 21 pertaining to the end of the age that there will be signs in the sun the moon and the stars. We are seeing these things more then (sic) ever before."

Sigh. I wonder how the poster determined "we are seeing these things more then ever before." Of course, then people started chiming in from all angles on the topic. Way to run a science article, people. 

Anyway, reading some of the comments, I was inspired to suggest CJ and Annabelle take a stab at writing a folk take about how/why these halos formed. 

Annabelle's story ... 

   Once upon a time, there was an angel named Wraina, who helped in controlling rainbows and sometimes ice crystals. One day when Wraina was moving the ice crystals, she spread them near the sun. A rainbow simultaneously appeared. She moved the crystals away. The rainbow disappeared. She then moved the ice crystals in front of the sun again, and the halo reappeared. Now, Wraina will occasionally use the ice crystal to make a rainbow again and again.

CJ's story ...

There once was a wizard. If records were available from the time he wasn't anonymous, I would tell you his name. Hoping Sun Dogs couldn't get traced back to him, he destroyed every surviving record. Here's the story:

   There once was a wizard. Now, before you start thinking "Oh, he must be a good guy, right?", I'm here to tell you that he couldn't be any more selfish and attention-seeking; he constantly "warned" people that one day, the apocalypse would come, and the primary signs would be that the sun would get a halo, and the moon would turn blood red, soon after, disappearing. Supposedly, the only way you could survive is if you believed in him.

   Several centuries later, by the time that this wizard was long dead,the only thing people remembered about him was what he said about the apocalypse. However, there did come a day in which the sun had a halo, and the moon turned blood red, disappearing soon after. People started to panic, pray, and perform strange (not to mention, politically incorrect) rituals. However, the apocalypse did not come, and people started getting confused. They eventually realized that the wizard was just looking for attention, and that there was nothing to worry about.

Moral number 1: don't make up lies just for attention.Moral number 2: don't believe in everything you hear.

SUNDAY FUN DAY: We spent a sunny Sunday afternoon at Safeco Field, enjoying the return of baseball. 

We spent some pre-game time out at the bullpen.

We had good seats - just nine rows from the field, up the first base line.

The sights and sounds of the ballpark were entertaining and colorful, as always.

We brought lots of snacks from home with us. CJ got a CJ catcher in his Cracker Jack.

Unfortunately, the Mariners (once again) couldn't put anything but zeros up on the board. 

After the game, we stopped for a light dinner at the very-fun-and-tasty Lunchbox Laboratory in the South Lake Union neighborhood. 

Afterward, we checked out the nearby P-Patch/community garden and playground.

On the playground, in the shadows of my paternal grandma's church, we found an angel bear. 

SCRUBBED: We were all set to watch a SpaceX launch this afternoon, but a couple hours before lift off, an anomaly was discovered, which meant a no go for today. The trouble was a helium leak in the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage.

A SpaceX spokesperson says they expect the issue to be fixed in time for a launch attempt Friday, but the weather outlook calls for marginal conditions then (there is a 60 percent chance weather will violate weather constraints for Friday's launch opportunity). Should conditions with the rocket and the weather be OK come Friday, the launch is expected to take place at 12:25 p.m. West Coast US time.

Guess Robonaut 2 is going to have to wait a few more days to get his legs!
                         Image Credit: NASA
The upper-body only robot 'lives' on the ISS. With working legs, R2 "will have the mobility it needs to help with regular and repetitive tasks inside and outside the space station," per a NASA press release. Eventually, the goal is for the robotic crew member to take on mundane tasks, freeing the crew up to perform more critical work,

STUFFED: We had a little fun with dinner tonight. Last time we visited the family in Siletz, we were treated to stuffed burgers made with the help of a nifty little kitchen device. Incredibly, we happened across that same tool when we stopped at a Fry's store on the way home. 

I asked the kids what they wanted stuffed in their burgers. They replied "macaroni and cheese" in stereo.

So, made up a batch, smooshed the ground beef in the too, filled it up, and grilled it.

They were a hit! 

Christian and I had jalapeno rings, mini sweet peppers, and jalapeno cheese in our burger centers. 

Not exactly health food, I suppose. Do we get some kind of credit for having kale chips on the side, though?

LUNAR ECLIPSE: We've been watching the clouds come and go all day, hoping they are NOT around about midnight, during the total lunar eclipse. We'll have our alarms set and hope to see the blood moon. Fingers crossed. ... 

Image: JPL

Experienced

 
CENTERED: This afternoon we headed to Seattle Center in search of a gift item, which we didn't find. Nevermind that, though. It's always a wonderful time at the Center!

We ran around EMP, enjoying the reflected sunlight oh-so-much. I swear, it was 10 degrees hotter next to the shiny building.

On the pavement outside, there's a labyrinth, which the kids always enjoy solving. It's actually quite a workout running the entire path from start to finish.

I happened to be standing under the monorail tracks, camera in hand, when a train came overhead.

You can see the pink tones of EMP reflected on the front of the monorail.

SPACE TREE: With great interest, we read a story online this morning about cherry trees in Japan which are defying Earth norms. Perhaps no wonder, as their 'roots,' you might say, are in space. Check out the story here: http://news.yahoo.com/cherry-tree-space-mystery-baffles-japan-085044593.html

KALE CONQUERS ALL: Our kitchen adventures continued today. Determined to introduce more greens into our diet, yesterday at Winco I loaded up on kale and today it was Operation Kale Chips.

I checked out recipes online and they were remarkably similar. Cut kale into chip-sized pieces, coat in olive oil, salt, bake for about 8 minutes, and EAT! We followed this recipe -
http://www.kitchentreaty.com/how-to-make-kale-chips/ - doing different batches with Maladon sea salt, garlic salt and jalapeno cheddar dustings.

Not gonna lie, the kids were skeptical at first.

However, one thing I've found is that if the kids have a hand in preparing something, they're waaaaaay more likely to try it. That certainly was the case today. I had them do the cutting ...

and the coating (with olive oil) ...

and they spread them out on the cookie sheets. They also did the dusting with the seasonings, then into the oven the kale went.

A short eight minutes later, out it came. To say they were a hit with the kids would be an understatement.

Annabelle declared kale chips her New Favorite Food, surpassing even riblets. :) She declared any parent with a child who "is a picky eater" should make kale chips and BAM! vegetable intake problem solved!

They really were wonderful, especially warm out of the oven. I am TOTALLY going to make kale chips our #1 go to vegetable side dish for dinnertime.

THANK YOUS: Today, we took a little time out to write thank you notes to Dr. John Covach, professor for our "The Music of The Beatles" class.

We'll send them, along with a few pages of Annabelle's Beatles doodles, to his office at the University of Rochester. It's just so generous of Covach and other professors to make the tremendous effort to offer their courses online, for a worldwide audience, for free. The least we can do is send him a thank you.

FORGOTTEN GENIUS: Perhaps you saw the Google doodle today? It paid tribute to Percy Julian. I'd never heard of him before today, unfortunately.

So, I started Googling his name, read a few articles, and eventually came across a great PBS program about him. I wanted to find something to share with the kids beyond a couple of paragraphs. Happily, I found a WONDERFUL PBS documentary titled "Forgotten Genius," about the brilliant African American chemist.

At two hours long, it's certainly more than a cursory couple of paragraphs, which is great! It's wonderfully written/produced and completely compelling. We watched the first hour today, and we can't wait to watch the rest.

Trekking Along

KITCHEN ADVENTURE:  Yesterday during the kids' science class, their teacher slipped a magazine at me and asked me, "Do you think this would work?" 

The page showed what looked exactly liked chocolate chip cookie dough, but it was actually a hummus-like dip. 

"I'm trying it tomorrow," I told her. And that, we did.

The recipe called for 1.5 cups of chickpeas (we used a can of garbanzo beans, rinsed), 1/4 cup of peanut butter (we used all natural/no sugar added), 6 tablespoons of brown sugar,3 tablespoons of oats, 2 teaspoons of vanilla, 1/8 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda.

Puree all that in a food processor, fold in 1/3 cup of chocolate chips, and you've got cookie dough, er, I mean hummus dip. Or something in between. 

I tasted it first and did my best not to let the kids see my face/reaction.

I expected them to do a mild gag. Imagine my pleasant surprise when they loved it!

Here's CJ flashing a blurry thumbs up! Go figure.

To me, my brain was having a hard time making it taste OK. I wanted (DESPERATELY WANTED) it to be chocolate chip cookie dough, and it wasn't, LOL.

I think the fact that that the kids made it had a big part of their liking it. They had a vested interest. :)

SPRING CLEANING: There's a never-ending campaign to keep the MPA campus clean. Today, we worked on some upholstery. 

As Annabelle fervently scrubbed a seat she said, "This is a great stress reliever, if you have any stress, which I don't!" 

Must be nice!

ENGAGE THE WARP DRIVES: This afternoon, we engaged our brains big time by playing Star Trek Catan. 

It had been a couple months or more since we'd played, so we kind of had to relearn it. 

Once we got going, it was the usual fun and bickering. ;)  

When we quit (after about 1.25 hours), CJ and I were tied for the lead, with 4 points apiece (10 were required to win, per regulations). 

BOOKED: We recently returned a stack of books to the library. Titles included "The Giant Book of Questions and Answers," a multi-hundred-paged tome chock full o' facts.

We also returned "Golem," a retelling of a Jewish folktale, by David Wisniewski, and "The Higher Power of Lucky," a novel that won a 2007 Newberry Medal. 

We also returned "Can You Survive Antarctica?" an "interactive survival adventure." CJ chose to Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, in part at my urging, as I reminded him or his heritage on my paternal side of the family. 

Perhaps it was a bad choice. He reported his crew left him in a remote area and he froze to death. Oh well, better luck next time!

Clearly, the book CJ was reading was fictionalized, as in real life, Amundsen successfully led the first expedition to the South Pole. He and four others arrived at the pole on 14 December 1911, five weeks ahead of Robert Falcon Scott's Terra Nova Expedition. While Amundsen and his team were successful, Scott and four of his crew died on their return journey.

Electrifying

THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN: Last night we spent a glorious evening at Safeco Field, for the home opener of the Seattle Mariners' 2014 season.

The weather wasn't glorious, unfortunately. It was raining buckets when we left home about 4 to catch a bus down to the stadium district. We had an umbrella but got pretty darn wet before boarding the bus, and then again walking to the stadium. But that was OK. Worth the chill and discomfort, for once inside, it was nothing but wonderful. 

We had a couple of hours to kill before the game. Amazing how easy that is to do. We watched the Angels take batting practice for awhile. 

We stood in line for 20 minutes so the kids could get their faces painted.

Annabelle opted for a Mariners' "S".  CJ went with a 'crown' design across his forehead of flames with a baseball in the center. Pretty fancy!

We eventually made our way to our seats, about halfway up the 300 level, in foul territory close to the left field foul pole. 

But before baseball went down, there was a celebration of football. Specifically Super Bowl Championship football thanks to the Seattle Seahawks.

A number of players showed up to celebrate with the baseball crowd, including QB Russell Wilson, Super Bowl MVP Malcolm Smith, and former UW Husky Jermaine Kearse. 

They brought some hardware with them. This marks the second time we've had a chance to see the Lombardi Trophy now.

Russell Wilson, who is also a good enough baseball player to have been drafted by the Texas Rangers, threw out the opening pitch, a strike, of course.

Then it was time for baseball! There were lots of pyrotechnics as the players were being introduced. Beforehand, I'd pointed out to the kids where the explosives had been staged.

It was a long, tense game, and most of the sell out crowd stayed until the final pitch. Fortunately, the Mariners were victorious, and the crowd was jubilant as we streamed out of the stadium.  What a night! We sure are glad it's baseball season again!

MAKING CONNECTIONS: The kids had class up in Shoreline today. They're working on an electronic unit in science.  Working together, the class made this big ol' circuit. 

CERTIFIED: The kids have freshly-printed certificates to add to their portfolios. Today, our "The Music of The Beatles" certs were posted. The kids were very proud they earned "with distinction" honors. 

According to an email from Dr. John Covach, our professor, 23,340 students participated at some point during the course. Our classmates lived in a total of 112 countries, including the U.S. There were 4,327 of us who completed the course, and 82 percent of those earned the 'with distinction' endorsement. 

We need to get on sending the professor a thank you note ... and a few pages of Annabelle's notes/doodlings!

Fresh Starts

TRANSPLANTS:  We spent an hour-plus this morning taking our tomato and tomatillo seedlings from the tiny trays they started in and putting them into individual pots. We handled them with care and have great hopes of having bushels of delicious, nutritious, homegrown veggies in the months to come. 

RARE FIND: So, we went to Goodwill on Saturday. Nothing that out of the ordinary for us. We scored some $120 shoes for Christian for $20, and a couple other little things. One thing we did NOT buy is pictured above. CJ discovered it. He held it in my face and said, "What is THIS?" 

"Um, a velociprator praying?" I ventured a guess.

He studied it some more and asked, 'But what kind of expression is it making?"

"It looks constipated," I replied without hesitiation. "So I guess that means it's a dinosaur praying he can take a crap,"  I assessed.

Lo and behold, CJ flips it around and lifts up a tag. 

Lord have mercy, it is INDEED a velociprator praying it can take a crap. In fact, the tag called it a velocicraptor.

First, WHO MAKES SUCH A THING? And second, WHO BUYS IT?  

Of course, ever since we left it behind, I now have non-buyers remorse. I mean, it almost has to be one of a kind. ;) 

SOLAR SYSTEM DESIGN: A Facebook post alerted us to a new online game, "Super Planet Crash."

The game allows players to build their own planetary system, putting planets into orbit around a star. The fun part is you rack up points ... until you add something that that destabilizes the whole system and things go haywire.  

The game is driven by highly-sophisticated software code that astronomers use to find exoplanets. It's all about orbital dynamics. Read about it at: http://phys.org/news/2014-04-orbital-physics-child-super-planet.html#jCp, and play it here: http://www.stefanom.org/ (although note - as of this evening the site was DOWN. I have to think it crashed due to the fact the link to it was all over the Intertubes today. I'm sure they're resolve it soon, so keep checking if you don't get it on the first try).

GOOGLE MARS!: We spent a couple hours watching lectures for our "Science of the Solar System" class this morning. I am proud to report the kids and I can now all calculate how long it will take a space probe to travel to any planet in the solar system. Seriously! It's pretty darn easy math, really. We calculate the travel time for Mars, Saturn and Venus this morning!

Another thing we learned today is that Google Earth is an understatement. We've used Google Earth countless times, but imagine our surprise today upon learning that it also includes maps of Mars!!

There are historic maps, as well as composites made from modern day orbiter and rover data. AMAZING stuff! And you can zoom in for super close ups, although there's no 'street view' option, LOL. ;)

We loved this 1909 map by Eugene Antoniadi, a leading and decisive critic of the canal hypothesis of Mars. 
                                                             

GREEN GREEN GRASS OF HOME: This afternoon and evening were all about baseball. Today marked the Mariners' home opener for 2014. The morning crawled by, waiting for it to be time to leave for the field. 

I'll leave the details and photos of opening day for tomorrow. Suffice it to say Big Fun was had by all! Go Mariners - a week into the season and we're in first place!

Bow Down to Science

HUSKY SUNDAY:  This weekend marked the annual "Paws on Science" event at Pacific Science Center. It's a chance for the public to meet dozens of University of Washington (Huskies) scientists to learn what they're studying and teaching. 

As we drove to the event, the kids' excite-o-meters started to spike, especially Annabelle's. She started listing all of the booths she could remember from years past and what she'd learned. 

We went for the last two hours of the three day event, which wasn't a bad call. It was pretty sedate, crowd wise, and the kids got some great one-on-one time with scientists.

Above, they were seeing a cool demonstration about how ultrasonic waves can do more than create an image. They can MOVE things, like breaking up a kidney stone or cause water to spout. Super cool!

Below is a graph of the earthquake CJ and Annabelle created by jumping up and down on the Pacific Science Center floor.

They had a lot of fun learning about microbes ...

These petri dishes showed that they might not want to use the 5-second rule going forward. A toilet seat is a *LOT* cleaner than the floor.

One of their favorite stations was the solar power spot. They each built a number of different cars, trying different combinations of things to see how they could improve their car's speed.

MARVELOUS MARS: Make sure you try to check Mars out in the night sky tonight and tomorrow. On April 8, the Earth is between the sun and Mars, and this month we're closer to the Red Planet than we have been in about six and a half years! Mars is in the eastern sky at sunset.  

And Mars will be near the moon on the night of the total lunar eclipse on April 14-15. Weather permitting, people in the Americas should be able to see it.

Last night, Jupiter was very near the moon. We enjoyed gazing at it through our skylights and from the back porch. Here's a crappy shot of it (for lack of a tripod close at hand. 

DATABANK: Whilst looking for a nice photo of Mars today, I discovered a new-to-us resource: DVIDS - Defense Video and Imagery Distribution System: http://www.dvidshub.net/. As the site's name might suggest, there are definitely lots of military-related images and videos, but it's certainly not all soldiers on the battlefield shots. 

GOING DOWN:  NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) has been . However, the spacecraft will soon make its last circuit 'round our moon, and NASA is having a contest where people can guess when it will impact the surface. 

An artist's concept of NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft seen orbiting near the surface of the moon. Image credit: NASA Ames / Dana Berry

Right now, LADEE is gradually lowering its orbital altitude over the moon. NASA says the spacecraft will impact the surface of the moon on or before April 21. On April 11, ground controllers at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., will give LADEE its final orbital maintenance maneuver orders, prior to the total lunar eclipse of April 15. This four-hour eclipse will expose the spacecraft to conditions just on the edge of what it was designed to survive. Ultimately, LADEE is going to crash on the dark side of the moon

Anyone is eligible to enter the "Take the Plunge: LADEE Impact Challenge." Submit your guess before the Friday, April 11 deadline of 3 p.m. Pacific time.  Entry form here: http://socialforms.nasa.gov/ladee