I occasionally enjoy putting together models and/or building things from scratch. But this week I came across this link, which made me want to go downstairs and throw out all of my modeling tools and spare parts.
http://gizmodo.com/5227636/shots-of-the-36+foot-saturn-v-model-launch-thats-a-big-rocket
It’s hard to overstate how impressive that is.
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On a related topic, I have been recording a series of TV shows on the Science channel called “Moon Machines” which is about (you guessed it!) how we built the machines that took us to the moon. There are six shows in the series, covering the topics of space suits, the command module, lunar rover, lunar module, the Saturn V rocket, and navigation. It is still amazing to me that we went to the moon and came back safely. The show about the lunar rover is my favorite – the ingenuity the designers of that vehicle showed was inspiring.
http://www.space.com/entertainment/080708-cs-shadow-machines.html
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Speaking of space-age technology, it is not clear whether the beloved Bruey family “Hot Dogger” is truly lost to history or just being hidden at Mary Helen’s house somewhere, but for those who miss the electric, pungent odor of unevenly-cooked weenies, consider purchasing one of these to refresh your spirit:
http://i.gizmodo.com/355277/4+in+1-hot-dog-cooker-makes-fatties-jiggle-with-excitement
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The Library of Congress released a bunch of pictures from the 1930s-40s. These are great pictures even though I didn’t recognize a single person.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/sets/72157603671370361/
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Last, but not least, we just bought a new computer. This one:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9163861&type=product&id=1218040477075
It wasn't quite what I was looking for, but the 17" screen was too much to pass up since the kids will be using it for the most part, and we don't need it to be really portable. It's very shiny.
Not Much Going On Here
M had a soccer game this morning, and K's afternoon game was rained out (but only after we both got soaked in the downpour/high winds.) On the way home the sun came out. For some reason most of their games are on the northeast side of AA, which is the opposite side from us, so we have been doing a lot of soccer driving this year. I think the people from the oil companies are scheduling these games.
We're talking about getting a new laptop. We've been talking about it for about two years. The kids don't miss an opportunity to tell me that half the stuff they want to see on the web won't work on our old Windows 98 computer. Maybe we'll get this one:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9164012&type=product&id=1218040478391
We grilled out for the first time this year tonight - we had hamburgers, and they came out well. Laurie came over and joined us. Rumor has it that milkshakes are for dessert, but keep that to yourself.
Have a good weekend!
We're talking about getting a new laptop. We've been talking about it for about two years. The kids don't miss an opportunity to tell me that half the stuff they want to see on the web won't work on our old Windows 98 computer. Maybe we'll get this one:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9164012&type=product&id=1218040478391
We grilled out for the first time this year tonight - we had hamburgers, and they came out well. Laurie came over and joined us. Rumor has it that milkshakes are for dessert, but keep that to yourself.
Have a good weekend!
Water Park "Stud Squad"
Here is a picture of the charter member of the Splash Universe Stud Squad. All this guy needs is a tan and he'd be perfect!
Status Update - Because You Want To Know
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Dundee, MI last night. They have a water park there (indoors) called Splash Universe. Lots of water falling on you, a lazy river (an oval-ish track which has a current that slowly pushes you along), two very high water slides that make you go very fast, and some other things. Lots of fun for the kids. Some fun for the grown-ups.
The Holiday Inn Express was decorated as if it was an extension of Cabela's, which is across the street from it. There were elk heads and stuffed geese and so on, just like in Cabela's. We did experience a first at a Holiday Inn Express - at the breakfast bar, they had someone serving food. If you wanted sausage, scrambled eggs, or biscuits and gravy, one of the hotel employees would serve it to you. Posh! The rest of the food was self-serve as usual. Verdict: Very good! (Note to future guests: Hard boiled eggs are slippery.)
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This comic was in today's paper, and J thought it was noteworthy (even though she's never actually read this blog as far as I know). Maybe she's trying to tell me something.
http://www.gocomics.com/cornered/2009/04/17/
----------------------
We have two soccer games to go to on Saturday - one at 10:00 am, one at 10:45 am . At opposite ends of Ann Arbor. Good thing we're not a single-parent home.
Enjoy the great weather!
The Holiday Inn Express was decorated as if it was an extension of Cabela's, which is across the street from it. There were elk heads and stuffed geese and so on, just like in Cabela's. We did experience a first at a Holiday Inn Express - at the breakfast bar, they had someone serving food. If you wanted sausage, scrambled eggs, or biscuits and gravy, one of the hotel employees would serve it to you. Posh! The rest of the food was self-serve as usual. Verdict: Very good! (Note to future guests: Hard boiled eggs are slippery.)
---------------------
This comic was in today's paper, and J thought it was noteworthy (even though she's never actually read this blog as far as I know). Maybe she's trying to tell me something.
http://www.gocomics.com/cornered/2009/04/17/
----------------------
We have two soccer games to go to on Saturday - one at 10:00 am, one at 10:45 am . At opposite ends of Ann Arbor. Good thing we're not a single-parent home.
Enjoy the great weather!
Knives, and Made in the USA
I have a normal male's interest in pocket knives - I don’t carry one with me normally, but when I do I seem to always find a use for it. I have several around the house that I use for odd jobs, and a few in the garage I use to cut rope or boxes. I’ve learned how to sharpen them (and keep them sharp), so I usually have a nice sharp edge to use.
A few weeks ago, I was fixing a broken part of the soccer goal at the kids’ school, and I was not able to get the top off the can of PVC cement I had just bought. I gave up and started looking through the tools I had brought with me. I didn’t have anything I could grip it with, so I pulled out my pocket knife and cut a hole in the top of the can and dribbled the cement out the hole onto the PVC. It wasn’t an elegant solution, but you can add “can opener” to the list of things a pocket knife can do.
It’s interesting to see the different kinds of knives that you can buy – some are downright scary, and some of the collector knives are such works of art that I’d be afraid to carry one for fear I’d lose it. Of course, many of the less-expensive ones are made in China these days, so you can’t be sure what you’re getting, but there are still plenty of US makers, many of them producing fairly small quantities. You will probably pay a little more, but you’ll be likely to get a blade that holds its edge for a while. (Unless you’re cutting open cans of PVC cement.)
Here are a couple interesting sites that have all kinds of knives:
http://www.crkt.com/
http://www.agrussell.com/
--------------------------
Speaking of Made in the USA, I recently broke a drill bit, and the bits I am using have been around since I bought my cordless drill in 1996, so I went in search of a new set of bits. I had a $10 coupon for ACE Hardware, so I started there. I was surprised to find that while the name-brand drill bits like Irwin and DeWalt were made in China, the ACE brand bits were made in the US. I also found a set of ACE brand screwdriver/hex/Torx bits made in the US, while the rest of the screwdriver bit sets were made in China. I thought all of these things were made in the same factory, then put into different packages and sold under various name brands, but I was wrong.
I have found that dollar for dollar many of the US-made tools that I have are better than the import versions. I have a nice set of Klein screwdrivers – they cost more than twice as much as imports of the same size, but they are extremely well made, use better materials, and are easier to hold. The steel is better, and they don’t strip and flake like the cheap ones. Using cheap hand tools is almost always a mistake, unless you’re on the Bottomless Pit construction crew and you’re afraid you’ll drop something.
A few weeks ago, I was fixing a broken part of the soccer goal at the kids’ school, and I was not able to get the top off the can of PVC cement I had just bought. I gave up and started looking through the tools I had brought with me. I didn’t have anything I could grip it with, so I pulled out my pocket knife and cut a hole in the top of the can and dribbled the cement out the hole onto the PVC. It wasn’t an elegant solution, but you can add “can opener” to the list of things a pocket knife can do.
It’s interesting to see the different kinds of knives that you can buy – some are downright scary, and some of the collector knives are such works of art that I’d be afraid to carry one for fear I’d lose it. Of course, many of the less-expensive ones are made in China these days, so you can’t be sure what you’re getting, but there are still plenty of US makers, many of them producing fairly small quantities. You will probably pay a little more, but you’ll be likely to get a blade that holds its edge for a while. (Unless you’re cutting open cans of PVC cement.)
Here are a couple interesting sites that have all kinds of knives:
http://www.crkt.com/
http://www.agrussell.com/
--------------------------
Speaking of Made in the USA, I recently broke a drill bit, and the bits I am using have been around since I bought my cordless drill in 1996, so I went in search of a new set of bits. I had a $10 coupon for ACE Hardware, so I started there. I was surprised to find that while the name-brand drill bits like Irwin and DeWalt were made in China, the ACE brand bits were made in the US. I also found a set of ACE brand screwdriver/hex/Torx bits made in the US, while the rest of the screwdriver bit sets were made in China. I thought all of these things were made in the same factory, then put into different packages and sold under various name brands, but I was wrong.
I have found that dollar for dollar many of the US-made tools that I have are better than the import versions. I have a nice set of Klein screwdrivers – they cost more than twice as much as imports of the same size, but they are extremely well made, use better materials, and are easier to hold. The steel is better, and they don’t strip and flake like the cheap ones. Using cheap hand tools is almost always a mistake, unless you’re on the Bottomless Pit construction crew and you’re afraid you’ll drop something.
A Tree With No Roots
Several years ago one of the evergreen trees in the back yard tipped over in a strong windstorm. I staked it back up, but it’s never recovered from falling over – it’s been held up by ropes and stakes for at least the last three years. It grew to about fifteen feet tall, and looked OK until last week, when it blew over again. This time, though, it tipped over much further than normal. Since it was too big to lift back into position so I could stake it up again, I gave up trying to save it, and the boys and I cut it into pieces.
It was surprisingly easy to get the trunk out of the ground. Here’s a picture of the root growth of the tree:
This picture shows ALL the roots for this tree. That’s it. There were no long thick roots running sideways away from the tree, or down into the ground. My neighbor and I were marveling at this, and we figured that because this area of the yard is usually wet, the tree was able to get all the water it needed without having to put out roots. The tree toppled eventually because nothing was holding it up outside of a few ropes.
It was surprisingly easy to get the trunk out of the ground. Here’s a picture of the root growth of the tree:
This picture shows ALL the roots for this tree. That’s it. There were no long thick roots running sideways away from the tree, or down into the ground. My neighbor and I were marveling at this, and we figured that because this area of the yard is usually wet, the tree was able to get all the water it needed without having to put out roots. The tree toppled eventually because nothing was holding it up outside of a few ropes.
Winning And Losing
Above: M at the flag football championship game (click to see a bigger picture)
When I was a kid, I rarely played organized sports. The only one I can remember playing was basketball in fifth grade at Longfellow. I scored one basket during the season, which shows that if you throw the ball at the hoop enough times you’re bound to score. Our team won all of its games, due in large part to one student who was a year older than the other kids, taller, and much more athletic.
When I was in high school, I played a few springs in the church softball league. I’m not sure how much of an asset I was to the team but I remember hitting one home run because the guy in left field thought I wouldn’t be able to hit the ball very far. I showed him.
In the last year or so, M has been participating in some fairly competitive events – he’s played flag football twice, and the Science Olympiad for school. He’s also played soccer, which in some ways isn’t as competitive as flag football. K’s been playing soccer also.
There is no official score of soccer games or team standings at M and K’s level. The Rec & Ed department wants to keep it more focused on learning the games and teamwork and sportsmanship. Which is fine - M has learned a lot about playing team sports from soccer and flag football. It has sometimes been painful to watch him make a mistake or just miss making a big play, but that’s how it goes, and eventually he will be the one to make the big play for his team. The same thing is true for K, although I think being 2 years behind M, the teamwork lessons are still sinking in and his team is not quite as organized and advanced as M’s.
Science Olympiad is a brain challenge, not a physical one, but it’s still competitive – you first have to win the right to go the Olympiad itself by showing you’re better at the event than the other kids in your school who are trying out, then you have to compete at the Olympiad against the other schools. Last year there were 18 or 19 other schools at the Olympiad, so there was a lot of competition. M competed but didn’t win a medal; He stood on the gym floor while the kids went up on the stage to get their medals. I think he was sad about it because of all the work he had put into it.
It’s hard to watch your child lose to some other child or team, but lately I’ve been thinking that it’s a good thing for him at this stage that he is getting a good dose of losses along with the wins. He, and most of the other kids who are competing on these teams at his school, are so overwhelmingly fortunate in most ways that it seems only right that they lose something every once in a while to remind them that life isn’t always going to come easy for them, and they won’t be able to just show up and win.
I’m really proud of the kids when they work hard and take their jobs seriously, whether it’s homework or sports or cleaning their rooms (just kidding about the last one.) I don’t care if they win or lose as long as they work hard and listen to the coach or the teacher or their mom and dad.
A Favor to Ask, Followed by Other Stuff
If I May Humbly Ask a Favor
Can I ask a favor? I spend tens of minutes each week writing entries on this blog, and I’m wondering who is reading it. If you read this blog, could you just put your name in the comments section? You should be able to comment by choosing "Anonymous" in the list of options you see. Just write a comment with your first name and last initial – no one outside family and friends will be able to figure out who you are that way. I’m just curious. Thanks!
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Useful Inventions
I have a product idea I hope no one will steal from me, as it is brilliant and stealable. I should produce a mouse that has an internal flash drive. That way, laptop users could plug in their mouse and plug in their external memory drive at the same time, and they’d only have to keep track of one thing. I think this would require two USB plugs – one for the mouse and one for the memory, but they could be combined in the same cord. Ideally, the memory/flash drive would be removable (say, from the bottom or side) in case the owner wanted to take it somewhere without the mouse. Or in case the memory and the mouse were tired of each other and needed some time apart.
Another invention idea I have is the scanning monitor. If you want to scan a page into your computer, you just hold it up to the monitor and a little bar travels across, like a copy machine, and takes the image. Then the image is displayed back to you. This would clear off your desk space for more important things like pencils your kids leave laying around the house, or all those Lands End catalogs they keep sending.
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Friday Evening Linkfest
A few places I’ve stumbled across recently that have some interesting projects and pictures. Browse at your own risk, but I don’t think these have any objectionable content.
First, miscellaneous stuff, a lot of recycled objects and so forth.
http://www.dinosaursandrobots.com/
The next two are about steampunk objects. Steampunk is a loosely-defined art form that tends to merge mechanical objects with lots of copper and /or brass and/or exposed gears, etc. to create vintage-looking objects with a hint of science fiction/mad scientist. Some of the better ones look like they would be steam-powered if they were real, but for the most part they're decorative. There are plenty of steampunk costumes as well.
http://steampunkworkshop.com/ and http://steampunkpics.blogspot.com/
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M's final two football games are tomorrow - they have a game in the morning and if they win, they play in the championship game in the early afternoon.
Sunday Afternoon Links
Before we get to the links, a health update for Don:
Yesterday, while I was at the kids' school fixing a broken soccer goal, I got a small cut on my finger from the hacksaw I was using the cut the PVC pipe. Not a big deal.
Today, after going through the woods near our house and cleaning up all the trash, the boys and I were putting our tools and garbage away, and I managed to get a pretty big gash in the back of my right hand. It's currently wrapped up, and it will be OK, but there are two lessons to be learned here:
1) No good deed goes unpunished.
2) If I ever volunteer to help you with something, keep bandages nearby.
-----------------------------------
To continue the trend of links to sites that show things made from recycled products, here are a few more:
http://www.poetichome.com/
http://www.recyclart.org/2009/03/eddy-pangers-lamps/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lenny_meriel/sets/72157608595536634/
http://www.recyclart.org/category/metals/
Yesterday, while I was at the kids' school fixing a broken soccer goal, I got a small cut on my finger from the hacksaw I was using the cut the PVC pipe. Not a big deal.
Today, after going through the woods near our house and cleaning up all the trash, the boys and I were putting our tools and garbage away, and I managed to get a pretty big gash in the back of my right hand. It's currently wrapped up, and it will be OK, but there are two lessons to be learned here:
1) No good deed goes unpunished.
2) If I ever volunteer to help you with something, keep bandages nearby.
-----------------------------------
To continue the trend of links to sites that show things made from recycled products, here are a few more:
http://www.poetichome.com/
http://www.recyclart.org/2009/03/eddy-pangers-lamps/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lenny_meriel/sets/72157608595536634/
http://www.recyclart.org/category/metals/
----------------------------------
Ready for the snow? I'm not. I had already put the snow shovels in the attic space above the garage and drained the gas out of the snow blower. So you could say it's my fault it's about to snow, in the same way you can blame the rain Friday on my decision to wash the car Thursday.
Bundle up and get those shovels ready.
TV News Update: Overdramatic Hospital Show No Longer on Life Support, Donates Vital Organs And Eyeballs to New Overdramatic Cop Show
Last night’s “ER” was the last show in the long series. When it was a new show, I watched it every week for several years, but I got tired of the recycled stories and overwrought drama. There are only so many superdramatic things that can happen – bus crashes, train crashes, industrial accidents, infected hangnails, gangrene earlobes, doctors eating lunches out of vending machines, people kissing each other on the lips, etc.
Story Outline 1) A horrible car crash - a mom and her boys. In a surprise twist, we find out the other car was the dad on his way home from the business trip! Who will live? Who will die? Because they can’t ALL live – someone has to die. That’s the rule. Usually the parent who dies is the one asked about most by the children when they woke up – “where’s my mom?” or “what happened to my dad? He was in that room over there a minute ago.” (Conveniently, it is possible to look from one trauma room into the next through windows in the doors, so the 6-year old can dramatically watch the doctors rush around trying to save mom or dad, giving them chest compressions or electrifying them with the Paddles of Life.)
Story Outline 2) Dr. Healthyguy, a physician in the ER, is having a routine surgery to remove a mole shaped like Mt. Rushmore. Everything is going fine, but then – beep beep beep from the monitors and suddenly it’s an emergency! There is just no way anyone could have anticipated this perfectly normal, strong, smolderingly-attractive doctor would have a complication, except for everyone who has seen the show.
In last night’s show, part of which I actually sat down and watched, a woman, pregnant with twins, was in a car accident. She was brought into the ER and gave birth to the two babies. The second one had some problems. Then the baby was fine. Whew – that’s a relief! But then the impossible and unpredictable happened – the mom started to have complications. She was rushed to surgery. When the young med student (we’ll call her “Dr. Brunette”) went up to check on the mom’s status, she was horrified to find that the mother had died. I knew that would happen when the second twin was given a clean bill of health, and I’m disappointed the med student didn’t know this was going to happen. Has she not seen this show before? What does she think this place is, Disneyland? People go to this ER to die. It’s Chicago’s answer to Cabot Cove, the TV town with a murder rate higher than your average federal prison.
In another scene, a man who’s had AIDS for 20 years finds out from Dr. Brunette that he is dying of cancer, which makes him happy. He has been waiting to find out how he was going to die from AIDS for 20 years and has finally found peace with himself. This perplexes Dr. Brunette, because she has obviously never seen a medical show on TV. Anyone who’s watched ER, Gray’s Anatomy, Scrubs, or Captain Kangaroo knows that sometimes people DON’T CARE if they are going to die, and (understandably) don’t want painful, difficult chemotherapy to extend their lives for 3 weeks.
Sometimes it bugs J when I watch a show like this that I rarely watch, and for good reason. I am always asking her annoying questions to try to keep up with the personal dealings of the characters, and sometimes I predict what’s going to happen next:
“Who’s that guy?”
“Are tall nurse and Dr. Whatshisname still dating?”
“What happened to the guy with the beard – is he still on the show?”
“Dr. Handsome should go check on that guy with the cough – he’s probably dead in the lobby.”
“I thought they were married already?”
“I’ll give you three-to-one the mom and the daughter don’t make it out of surgery.”
They’re replacing the show with a new one called “Southland” which appears to be a violent and depressing cop show. I will continue my tradition of not watching ER by not watching Southland. And whatever violent, depressing show replaces it.
----------------------------------
In other news, our new roof is on the house. They did a good job – they arrived when they said they would and they finished when they said they would. In today’s world, that counts for a lot.
I learned a few things by watching them – they worked on one side of the roof at a time, which was smart, and they used a conveyer belt to move the shingles onto the roof instead of carrying them up. I didn’t see the conveyer but I would have liked to. Also, I learned that if you smoke, being a roofer is a great job because no one cares if you smoke outdoors, and you can just throw the butts off the roof and let them sail away in the wind.
---------------------------------------------------
Have a good weekend!
Story Outline 1) A horrible car crash - a mom and her boys. In a surprise twist, we find out the other car was the dad on his way home from the business trip! Who will live? Who will die? Because they can’t ALL live – someone has to die. That’s the rule. Usually the parent who dies is the one asked about most by the children when they woke up – “where’s my mom?” or “what happened to my dad? He was in that room over there a minute ago.” (Conveniently, it is possible to look from one trauma room into the next through windows in the doors, so the 6-year old can dramatically watch the doctors rush around trying to save mom or dad, giving them chest compressions or electrifying them with the Paddles of Life.)
Story Outline 2) Dr. Healthyguy, a physician in the ER, is having a routine surgery to remove a mole shaped like Mt. Rushmore. Everything is going fine, but then – beep beep beep from the monitors and suddenly it’s an emergency! There is just no way anyone could have anticipated this perfectly normal, strong, smolderingly-attractive doctor would have a complication, except for everyone who has seen the show.
In last night’s show, part of which I actually sat down and watched, a woman, pregnant with twins, was in a car accident. She was brought into the ER and gave birth to the two babies. The second one had some problems. Then the baby was fine. Whew – that’s a relief! But then the impossible and unpredictable happened – the mom started to have complications. She was rushed to surgery. When the young med student (we’ll call her “Dr. Brunette”) went up to check on the mom’s status, she was horrified to find that the mother had died. I knew that would happen when the second twin was given a clean bill of health, and I’m disappointed the med student didn’t know this was going to happen. Has she not seen this show before? What does she think this place is, Disneyland? People go to this ER to die. It’s Chicago’s answer to Cabot Cove, the TV town with a murder rate higher than your average federal prison.
In another scene, a man who’s had AIDS for 20 years finds out from Dr. Brunette that he is dying of cancer, which makes him happy. He has been waiting to find out how he was going to die from AIDS for 20 years and has finally found peace with himself. This perplexes Dr. Brunette, because she has obviously never seen a medical show on TV. Anyone who’s watched ER, Gray’s Anatomy, Scrubs, or Captain Kangaroo knows that sometimes people DON’T CARE if they are going to die, and (understandably) don’t want painful, difficult chemotherapy to extend their lives for 3 weeks.
Sometimes it bugs J when I watch a show like this that I rarely watch, and for good reason. I am always asking her annoying questions to try to keep up with the personal dealings of the characters, and sometimes I predict what’s going to happen next:
“Who’s that guy?”
“Are tall nurse and Dr. Whatshisname still dating?”
“What happened to the guy with the beard – is he still on the show?”
“Dr. Handsome should go check on that guy with the cough – he’s probably dead in the lobby.”
“I thought they were married already?”
“I’ll give you three-to-one the mom and the daughter don’t make it out of surgery.”
They’re replacing the show with a new one called “Southland” which appears to be a violent and depressing cop show. I will continue my tradition of not watching ER by not watching Southland. And whatever violent, depressing show replaces it.
----------------------------------
In other news, our new roof is on the house. They did a good job – they arrived when they said they would and they finished when they said they would. In today’s world, that counts for a lot.
I learned a few things by watching them – they worked on one side of the roof at a time, which was smart, and they used a conveyer belt to move the shingles onto the roof instead of carrying them up. I didn’t see the conveyer but I would have liked to. Also, I learned that if you smoke, being a roofer is a great job because no one cares if you smoke outdoors, and you can just throw the butts off the roof and let them sail away in the wind.
---------------------------------------------------
Have a good weekend!
Wednesday Morning Linkfest
Today's linkfest has nothing to do with sausage - unfortunately. The roofers are scheduled to come this morning, weather permitting, so I have some time to post these.
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Not as nice as the radio robots, but this is an interesting idea.
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6964432
Make Magazine’s video on transistors: I haven’t seen it yet but it’s probably good
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/03/make_presents_the_transistor.html
This an interesting web-based series on electrical circuits, an "e-book". Really well-written. This is chapter 5, but you can see the other chapters by hitting the Previous and Next buttons on the screen. Even a pretend scientist can understand electric circuits by following this e-book.
http://www.ibiblio.org/kuphaldt/electricCircuits/DC/DC_5.html
------------------------------------
I prattled on recently about writing a series of science books for kids. Like most of my ideas, a good night's sleep made it sound less exciting (writing a book sounds like a lot of work!).
Right now the boys are interested in Harry Potter books. M has finished the first one and is on the second one. I am amazed at how much kids read these days. K has started Harry Potter, and while I suspect the kids are missing some of the finer points of boarding school and abusive guardians, they've seen the first movie, so they should be able to connect the major dots.
Since this is the Wednesday Morning Linkfest, here are a few links to science and using-your-brain books that I have read, either as a kid or an adult.
The Mad Scientists Club - in this book series, a group of boys use science and build neat objects to play tricks on people, including a submarine-based "sea monster"
http://www.amazon.com/Mad-Scientists-Club-Scientist/dp/1930900104
The Invention of Hugo Cabret - a neat book about a boy who lives in a secret room in a train station. He has a great mechanical mind, and discovers a secret message and the invention mentioned in the title. The book is huge, but there are many illustrations in it to show what's going on, and to give an idea of what things look like. It's very clever.
http://www.theinventionofhugocabret.com/about_hugo_intro.htm
The Great Brain series - about a boy who manages to be a little smarter than the people around him. He tricks people into doing his chores a la Tom Sawyer, bets on horses and wins every time (not at the track), and goes to boarding school, where he opens an illegal candy store. Not all of that happens in one book - there's one book devoted to the boarding school alone. And all through the books, the kids learn things whether they want to or not, such as why the smokestack from a steam engine has to point vertically. I'm surprised how much I remember these books, which I must have read about 30 years ago.
http://www.amazon.com/Great-Brain-John-D-Fitzgerald/dp/0803725906
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Not as nice as the radio robots, but this is an interesting idea.
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6964432
Make Magazine’s video on transistors: I haven’t seen it yet but it’s probably good
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/03/make_presents_the_transistor.html
This an interesting web-based series on electrical circuits, an "e-book". Really well-written. This is chapter 5, but you can see the other chapters by hitting the Previous and Next buttons on the screen. Even a pretend scientist can understand electric circuits by following this e-book.
http://www.ibiblio.org/kuphaldt/electricCircuits/DC/DC_5.html
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I prattled on recently about writing a series of science books for kids. Like most of my ideas, a good night's sleep made it sound less exciting (writing a book sounds like a lot of work!).
Right now the boys are interested in Harry Potter books. M has finished the first one and is on the second one. I am amazed at how much kids read these days. K has started Harry Potter, and while I suspect the kids are missing some of the finer points of boarding school and abusive guardians, they've seen the first movie, so they should be able to connect the major dots.
Since this is the Wednesday Morning Linkfest, here are a few links to science and using-your-brain books that I have read, either as a kid or an adult.
The Mad Scientists Club - in this book series, a group of boys use science and build neat objects to play tricks on people, including a submarine-based "sea monster"
http://www.amazon.com/Mad-Scientists-Club-Scientist/dp/1930900104
The Invention of Hugo Cabret - a neat book about a boy who lives in a secret room in a train station. He has a great mechanical mind, and discovers a secret message and the invention mentioned in the title. The book is huge, but there are many illustrations in it to show what's going on, and to give an idea of what things look like. It's very clever.
http://www.theinventionofhugocabret.com/about_hugo_intro.htm
The Great Brain series - about a boy who manages to be a little smarter than the people around him. He tricks people into doing his chores a la Tom Sawyer, bets on horses and wins every time (not at the track), and goes to boarding school, where he opens an illegal candy store. Not all of that happens in one book - there's one book devoted to the boarding school alone. And all through the books, the kids learn things whether they want to or not, such as why the smokestack from a steam engine has to point vertically. I'm surprised how much I remember these books, which I must have read about 30 years ago.
http://www.amazon.com/Great-Brain-John-D-Fitzgerald/dp/0803725906
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