Month: November 2007

Poll: Science Misconceptions – your opinion requested!

For my Masters class on Informal Science Learning, I have to make an informal science learning “thing” as my final project. I created my science blog for this purpose. Now that I’m working on the final project, I want to make some informal science learning posts to it. And I want to cover science misconceptions. Being physical science-oriented, I’ll probably focus on physics and chemistry questions. (However, my first one will be biological, thanks to a question a co-worker asked me recently.)

Since physics is so counter-intuitive, I’ll probably single it out more than the others. Still, I’m open for suggestions from you folks. I’ve created a poll to see what you think about some of my topic ideas. Vote on ones you’d like to see covered, or things that you think OTHER people really need to see covered. And if you have some ideas on what you wish someone would explain to you or to other people, comment on it and I’ll see what I can do.


Thank you for voting in this poll. And please tell friends to come and vote in it – the more feedback I can get, the more useful I can make my science blog (which I intend to keep going after this quarter is over).

Lucy believes in good oral hygiene, and so should you!

The fun one can have with a freebie toothbrush and a kitty cat.

If you notice Lucy’s green and orange claws, those are courtesy of Soft Paws. She’s going from Halloween (the orange and black ones) to Christmas (green/red combo ones) slowly but surely. Linus has ’em too. He’s halfway converted to Christmas.

In less happy kitty news, we found out today that Lucy has Feline Cystitis. She was peeing blood over the holiday and I got her in to see the vet today. Turns out she has crystals in her urine. The vet has prescribed an antibiotic for her and she’ll return in 2 weeks. I’ve also decided to give the kitties a gooshy food meal once a day to help keep them hydrated better. (I mix it with water – they both seem to like it.) The nice thing is that some of Lucy’s worst symptoms had abated by today, so maybe she’s on her way to getting over it on her own. Hopefully the meds and diet change will help get her back to normal.

Happy Thanksgiving!

For those of you celebrating Thanksgiving today, I wish you & yours a Happy Thanksgiving! Hope that everyone has a Happy Thursday!

My duties for Thanksgiving are over – I have made a cheeseball for tonight’s dinner. (I’ve made two, actually, so one for me, one for the family.) Aunt Becky’s doing the dinner and we’ll be gathering around 5 or so.

I had yesterday off, and spent most of it reorganizing closets and stuff. What started out as a simple project – put my Physics Teacher journals into binders, became rather complicated when I realized I had no place to put the binders. My front closet is now cleaned out and I intend to start work on the den closet in a short while. I’ve also been sorting VHS tapes and floppies and CD-ROMs and stuff. Have had lots of trash thus far!

Linus is currently resting on my arms, which makes typing a bit difficult, but I am thankful to have such lovely kitties to sleep on me and get in my way and help with cleaning (they’ve been having a blast – especially when I found the remote control car last night). I’m thankful for much more than my kitties, but Linus is making himself known, so the kitties get the mention. To paraphrase someone on my friends list – I am thankful for having so much to be thankful for!

Book Review: Stones & Bones

I don’t often write book reviews. I suck at writing reviews. Basically, when I finish something, I can tell you “I like it” or “I didn’t like it,” but I’m not all that good at actual reviewing. Still, for this book, I’m going to try. (The goal is to come up with something to put up at amazon.com in support of this book.)

Stones & Bones by Char Matejovsky and Robaire Ream is a lovely children’s book. Robaire’s beautiful illustrations bring to life Char’s poetic description of the process of evolution. There are big words (and a glossary of pronunciation) for kids to get their mouths around. And of course, dinosaurs – who doesn’t like a book with dinosaurs in it?

When you finish reading the book, you can listen to the CD which is included. The Santa Rosa Children’s Chorus sings “Stones & Bones” as well as “The Song of the Meadowlark.” So you can sing-along while you read the book. (And “The Song of the Meadowlark” is a beautiful and very catchy song. I hope the pair work together on making a book about that song as well. There need to be more children’s books about Earth stewardship.)

It’s refreshing to read a science children’s book that has very good science in it AND is fun to read (and look at). If you have any children around you who want to know about evolution, get them this book. Or donate one to your local library. Or your school library.

OK – so that’s the review. Does it make you want to buy it? Or at least read it? Lemme know and I’ll see if I can improve upon the review before I post it to amazon.

The benefits of schooling

One of the benefits I’m discovering with my Masters program isn’t related to knowledge learned or an eventual pay increase. The benefit is quality time with my cats.

I like to work on my coursework on my laptop in my library. I can sit in my comfy chair and listen to quiet music while I read my documents, write in the forums, or work on my papers for class. And while I’m sitting in the comfy chair, I often receive visitors of the four-legged variety.

It’s nearly always Linus coming to sleep on me while I work. He’ll start by trying to sit on the laptop, but eventually the two of them (laptop & Linus) will come to an arrangement and he’ll finally curl up and sleep. Meanwhile, I learn new & exciting ways to type one-handed or with both hands but in uncomfortable positions.

Every so often, however, Lucy deigns to join us as well. Normally when she joins us, both Linus and the laptop have to be rearranged until she’s decided where she wants to sleep. Then Linus figures out where he wants to sleep. Finally, I have to figure out a spot to put the laptop.

I don’t mind their joining me one bit. I love having ’em on my lap while I work. Since most of the time I’m reading rather than writing, it’s not all that uncomfortable. And now, when I’m writing, Linus and the laptop have managed to accommodate my typing rather well. (OK, so my right arm is resting on Linus’s back, but he doesn’t seem to mind the movement of it.)

If anyone is interested, I have added a few more entries to my Science Blog related to my class. Feel free to read & comment. (I’m getting tired of deleting spam – I wanna see real people there! Heh!) Eventually, I’ll be working on the final project part of the Informal Science Learning class where I’ll make that blog into an Informal Science Venue itself. So hopefully soon you’ll have a chance to learn some science from me!

Anyhoo, back to scritching Linus and working on my coursework.

My Walk to Work

is posting photos again this weekend, so I decided I’d crosspost the photos I submitted to that community. I decided to focus on the pretty autumnal colors I see when I walk to work every day.


Walking to Work
Walking to Work

Across the street from my neighbors are some nice trees in transition. You can also see the Brethren in Christ Church in this shot.
Baker's Auto Repair
Baker’s Auto Repair

This is the garage where I take my car when she needs her 3-monthly checkup. The brick building next to it is home of CD Solutions. Not entirely sure what they do.

Bootiful Trees
Bootiful Trees

Across from Baker’s is the UCC church. These trees and the brick house behind them are beside the church. Lovely view for my daily walk to work.
United Church of Christ
United Church of Christ

This church is on the National Registry of buildings. Built in the 1870s and still well maintained. One of many churches which I have attended. (The Brethren in Christ and the Church of the Brethren churches in town are also ones I’ve attended.)
Continuing My Walk
Continuing My Walk

After a pause at the corner where the UCC sits, I continue walking down the street, to turn at the corner ahead.
Crossing Main Street
Crossing Main Street

Looking North as I cross Main Street in town. Behind the very orange trees is Yet Another Church (number 4 in the series). (Although I took photos of the 5th church in town, I opted not to post it this time.)
Almost Done!
Almost Done!

This tree is almost done dumping it’s leaves for the season. I loved the contrast between the bright yellow & orange and the blue of the sky.
School in View
School in View

Just the last little bit until I reach the school. (You can see it’s red brick facade in the far right of the photo.) The playground is in front of the school where all of the trees are. The last photo will be of it.
Playground in Autumn
Playground in Autumn

Doesn’t this look like an inviting playground? The green playground equipment was just installed this summer and the kids love it. I’m surprised I managed to catch it when it wasn’t in use.