--
Hope you're having a great one!
--
Science, Football, Showers, and Garage Doors
The Science Fair was Thursday. I spent seven hours at school on Wednesday, and was there most of the day between 8:15 am and 9:00 pm on Thursday. We had about 110 projects made by about 150 students, which was a great turnout, although less than last time. I know a few reasons why there were fewer entries this year, so I think there is a reasonable explanation for the drop-off.
For K's project, he measured the voltages produced by various fruits and vegetables. He also created a cell battery out of coins and paper towels. He used a multimeter to read the voltages from each item and recorded it. At the Science Fair, he created a three-lemon battery that powered a watch-sized digital clock.
Lemon battery
For his project, M soldered a burglar alarm from a kit. There are two parts: a transmitter, which uses an infrared LED, and a receiver, which checks for the transmitter's IR signal. When the IR signal is broken, the receiver switches on a circuit connected to whatever you want (audio alarm, flashing light, etc.). M hooked up a "danger light" to the receiver, which would flash when the alarm is tripped.
M soldering the receiver circuit board.
----
M has had two flag football games since the last update. He's caught some passes, made a few tackles, and generally performed well for his team. After two wins to start the season, the team has lost two. Next week is the playoff game, and if they win, they'll play in the championship game.
-----
Our big home improvement this year is refinishing the master bath shower, which has needed attention for some time. We hired a company to cover the old tile walls with acrylic, and we got a new sliding door and glass wall. It didn't go very smoothly; there were a lot of starts and stops, but we're hoping the shower is finally finished. And it looks great.
----
Yesterday, we paid a local company to install a new garage door opener for us. I wish I could say that home improvement was planned, but it wasn't. Garage doors are in the category of Machines That Stop Working With No Warning.
----
A few months ago, I bought a cheap subscription to Esquire magazine for a fund-raiser at J's school. Each month they have a feature "Funny Joke from a Beautiful Woman", in which a beautiful woman tells a joke, accompanied by her picture and short biography. (Oddly enough, she's always very attractive and not dressed for cold weather.) This month's joke cracked up M and K so much, I thought I better pass it on.
From Esquire:
----
For K's project, he measured the voltages produced by various fruits and vegetables. He also created a cell battery out of coins and paper towels. He used a multimeter to read the voltages from each item and recorded it. At the Science Fair, he created a three-lemon battery that powered a watch-sized digital clock.
For his project, M soldered a burglar alarm from a kit. There are two parts: a transmitter, which uses an infrared LED, and a receiver, which checks for the transmitter's IR signal. When the IR signal is broken, the receiver switches on a circuit connected to whatever you want (audio alarm, flashing light, etc.). M hooked up a "danger light" to the receiver, which would flash when the alarm is tripped.
----
M has had two flag football games since the last update. He's caught some passes, made a few tackles, and generally performed well for his team. After two wins to start the season, the team has lost two. Next week is the playoff game, and if they win, they'll play in the championship game.
-----
Our big home improvement this year is refinishing the master bath shower, which has needed attention for some time. We hired a company to cover the old tile walls with acrylic, and we got a new sliding door and glass wall. It didn't go very smoothly; there were a lot of starts and stops, but we're hoping the shower is finally finished. And it looks great.
----
Yesterday, we paid a local company to install a new garage door opener for us. I wish I could say that home improvement was planned, but it wasn't. Garage doors are in the category of Machines That Stop Working With No Warning.
----
A few months ago, I bought a cheap subscription to Esquire magazine for a fund-raiser at J's school. Each month they have a feature "Funny Joke from a Beautiful Woman", in which a beautiful woman tells a joke, accompanied by her picture and short biography. (Oddly enough, she's always very attractive and not dressed for cold weather.) This month's joke cracked up M and K so much, I thought I better pass it on.
From Esquire:
A guy is walking past an insane asylum when he hears the residents inside chanting "Thirteen! Thirteen! Thirteen!" Curious, he finds a hole in the wall and looks in. Immediately he's poked in the eye, then everyone inside starts chanting "Fourteen! Fourteen! Fourteen!"
----
Gas Prices, Slow Technology, and Dr. Stockman Does Good
--
I was making my weekly stop at the party store for cheap liquor and lottery tickets when I noticed the prices at the gas station next door. Wow - $3.50 a gallon? Isn’t it amazing that even though the supply and demand for gas hasn’t changed at all in the last six months, the price has gone way up? I’m not smart enough to understand how gas prices are set, but I am smart enough to predict some pretty impressive earnings from the oil companies at the end of this quarter.
--
Important Advances in Technology
I'm not sure why Amazon is bragging about how long it takes to start reading a book. I can start reading a book in about five seconds, and if I don't bother sitting down first, I can do it even faster.
Miscellaneous News and Links
My favorite college professor, Dr. Stockman, is helping young people get into computer science. He was always a great guy and very giving to the community, and he's not slowing down.
Some neat bugs made out of old ammo and watch parts.
A student project to open a combination lock with a machine.
--
I was making my weekly stop at the party store for cheap liquor and lottery tickets when I noticed the prices at the gas station next door. Wow - $3.50 a gallon? Isn’t it amazing that even though the supply and demand for gas hasn’t changed at all in the last six months, the price has gone way up? I’m not smart enough to understand how gas prices are set, but I am smart enough to predict some pretty impressive earnings from the oil companies at the end of this quarter.
--
Important Advances in Technology
I'm not sure why Amazon is bragging about how long it takes to start reading a book. I can start reading a book in about five seconds, and if I don't bother sitting down first, I can do it even faster.
Miscellaneous News and Links
My favorite college professor, Dr. Stockman, is helping young people get into computer science. He was always a great guy and very giving to the community, and he's not slowing down.
Some neat bugs made out of old ammo and watch parts.
A student project to open a combination lock with a machine.
--
Sports Update: Flag Football and UM/MSU Basketball
J's parents and sister pulled into town for a rolicking sports-filled Saturday. We first went to M's flag football season opener, which his team won handily, 30-something to 6. M caught a pass and scored an extra point during the game, and played quarterback, center, and defense. His extra point came on the second play of the game. On the first play, one of M's teammates blocked a pass the other team was attempting, and took a few steps into the end zone for a touchdown. It was fun game, which I think was closer than the final score showed.
After that, we all went over to Chrisler Arena to watch John Belein outcoach Tom Izzo for state bragging rights. Michigan led the entire game, and for a few minutes it looked like MSU might catch up, but it didn't happen. This hasn't been a great year for MSU basketball, but you never know what will happen when UM and MSU play, so I was hoping for a better outcome. It was a great game, though, with plenty of terrific plays, shooting, ball-stealing, and an abundance of fouling. We were reminded repeatedly of the referee's sign for tripping.
During one of the many time outs, J and I tried to determine the primary difference between the cheerleaders and the dance team. J pointed out that the dance team wore slippers instead of the tennis shoes on the cheerleaders. I pointed out that a few of the dancers looked a little chunkier than the cheerleaders. Also, some cheerleaders are male. But other than that, they appeared to do about the same things. (Just kidding, there aren't any chunky dancers.)
The crowd was very pleasant. The MSU fans behind us were pretty vocal (but reasonably so) and I let them do the loud talking for me (For example, "Come on, you have to make that basket!" and "Foul! Hey, ref! Foul!" and "Is Tom Izzo really allowed to stand that far onto the court during play?")
After the game, the out-of-towners stopped by for a yummy mexican meal before heading home in the snow.
--
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)