2-21-2010

Blog #320

David

Weekend without Screen Technology

(February 27th and 28th 2010)

   I'm requiring my 300 plus 2nd through 8th grade students to "Avoid using all technology devices that have a screen display for an entire weekend (Saturday and Sunday - including normal sleeping time)."  They will log their low-tech activities and answer questions about their weekends on Sunday night.  I also will participate and do without screen devices for the weekend.  I won't miss game consoles or phone-texting because we do not have those things.  I hardly watch TV but I do spend much time on my computer; it will be hard for me to do without it.  Studies over the years have indicated that children are spending more and more time watching/playing/using screen devices.  The hours keep going up and many children spend almost all non school and sleep hours staring at screens.  I'm hoping my students will become more aware of how dependant we are on these devises.  I also hope that students who completely rely on screen devices during their free time rediscover fun real world activities.  After surveying my students I'm concerned that some may be addicted to screen devices.  A Microsoft Word document copy of the take-home log, questions and parent note for this assignment can be found here.

Georgia Wilsterman's Winter Visit

   Last weekend John, Jean, Kira and Luke visited.  Although they usually visit in December and the winter weather is iffy at best, this February visit gave them plenty of cold and snow. Being from Georgia, they enjoy a chance to play in the snow and that we did.  We had a great time sledding and snowmobiling Saturday and Sunday; videos can be found on our Movie page. 

100 Year Old Brigitta

Second graders at IHM celebrated the 100th day of school be dressing up as if they were 100 years old.

2-11-2010

Blog #319

David

Lake Hood Seaplane Base

(July 31, 2009)

  I've been meaning to sort and edit many of the photographs I took last summer in Alaska.  I took thousands and didn't have time because we were so busy.  Here are six from Lake Hood Seaplane Base:

2-7-2010

Blog #318

David

Jackie O and the Mennonite

   This last week was Catholic School's Week.  I was part of our school committee and suggested that for our annual staff contest we submit photos of our parents and then try to identify each other's parents.  Because I suggested it I ended up organizing it; the contest ended up being a lot of fun.  For my parents' photo I submitted a slide that my brother-in-law scanned last year.  "Who's parents are Jackie O and the Mennonite" was a phrase that I heard more than once as staff members studied the photos.

Mom & Dad

Girl Scout Bake Off

   Brigitta and Svea did well at the school bake off and qualified for the district Girl Scout Bake Off.  Brigitta earned a first place trophy in the cookies and brownies category for her Nutella brownies and Svea earned second place for her blueberry and strawberry pie in the pie category.  IHM did very well in the competition as you can see in the photo below.

Ski Boot Cam

   We had a great snowstorm on Friday night.  Svea, Brigitta and I went skiing but the conditions were very slow and visibility was poor.  The snow was so sticky I could walk straight up the ski hill.  Snow and ice stuck to the bottom of my skis.  I saw some skiers double poling straight down the hill.  Skiers and snowboarders with and without goggles complained about visibility and most everything was wet.  After one run I brought my skis in to be waxed; it helped quite a bit but the conditions were still very slow.  We gave up and went home early.  I had taped the garage sale water resistant Olympus to my ski boot and was able to test it out.   Here's a one minute clip from my ski boot; it's slow but I love how the point of view captures one ski and the snow surface.

Tons of Snow and Sledding at Goodyear Park

   Yesterday we went sledding at Goodyear Park.  This park boasts the most well known sledding hill in the Akron area, but the foot of trampled snow provided slow conditions.  My homemade toboggan even managed to glide down on fresh trampled snow, where store bought sleds merely sunk in.  Sledding on powder snow all comes down to PSI:  Put Svea on a basic lightweight plastic sled: that's about 58 pounds of kid, clothes and sled for 520 square inches or nine square inches per pound.  My toboggan boosts the weight up by nearly 30 pounds but sports 1620 square inches of flat surface which works out to over 18 square inches per pound.  Nine square inches per pound sinks several inches into fresh snow which is too much to glide down a moderate slope.  Eighteen square inches per pound, however, sinks in around an inch which will glide down a moderate slope as can be seen at the end of this helmet cam clip.

The Free Fall Research Page

   I stumbled upon a page that I found quite interesting.  The Free Fall Research Page is a collection of verified stories about people falling from aircraft, or in wreckage, and surviving.  I've always loved physics, flight and survival and have contemplated how one might survive such a predicament.  As I read through the site it occurred to me that Papa witnessed a "wreckage rider" in WWII when his wingman collided with a B-17 which exploded killing all but the tail gunner who rode the tail down in a flat spin and survived relatively unharmed.  I contacted the site author and provided him with our phone number.  Yesterday he called Papa, interviewed him about the incident and added his account to the Incident Log page.