Saturday, July 6, 2013

Saturday in the Troubadour. A Cadet's Story. Space and Science News. The Imaginarium

Hello Troops,
     I chaperoned last night's Discovery Space Center Overnight Camp.  We had 35 boys and 9 girls, meaning the camp was beyond full.  These numbers tell us that BJ, and the Discovery Space Center staff and interns are doing a good job.  The campers were awesome and a pleasure to work with.  It's just like the old days at the Space Center.  I'm still on the floor with my pads listening to the snoring and night yelling.  No need for the Happy Bucket yet, but I'm sure it will happen sometime this summer.
    I've noticed a decline in the number of boys who wake me up in the middle of the night because they're scared; this is despite the fact that the DSC allows campers as young as 9. It is just one of those interesting observations I haven't figured out.

Isaac O, one of our Farpoint Cadet's, sent the following short story from one of his volunteer missions.
Well, I assigned Dr. on the Challenger for the last 5 hour on the Galaxy Camp.  Normally, I get little bored of Dr. on a 5 hour since you can only give the kids so much candy :P but the crew was great on this ship!  We had some really smart kids who were totally awesome, and a captain that made everyone laugh.  Anyways, during the mission the crew needed to take a break for water and bathroom etc. so I took them all down and waited, when we were done I started transporting the crew back, when I transported the last person over I turned the transporter back to get back on (but the captain stayed in the transporter) and the yelled "AAA!" super loud when it opened.  I jumped back about 3 feet and I could hear the crew laughing behind the wall, latter that day he did the same thing to Dave :P.  Thanks Captain for that little morning scare I needed to wake up!  You guys were a great crew! -Isaac O. (aka Dr. Frank)
Please send me your short story from time spent working or volunteering at either Space Center.
spacecamputah@gmail.com

Mr. Williamson


Let's See What a Little Curiosity Can Do.




Space and Science News
The Day We May Have Made First Contact with an Alien Civilization

Everyone remembers the Steven Spielberg’s 1977 classic sci-fi film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” which depicted an imagined first contact with an alien civilization. But most probably don’t realize that a few months before the movie came out,  real-life scientists believed—at least for a few exciting moments—that they might have detected an actual message sent by  extraterrestrials.
It was mid-August 1977, and across the U.S., many if not most people were focused on the shocking death of rock-and-roll great Elvis Presley at age 42. But in Ohio, a 37-year-old man named Jerry Ehman was transfixed by another startling event that—at least for searchers for extraterrestrial intelligence—potentially was even more momentous. Read More

Strange, New Radio Blasts from Space.  


Powerful and puzzling radio blasts in other galaxies constantly explode across the night sky, a new study suggests.
A team of international astronomers has detected four explosive events, known as fast radio bursts (FRBs), above the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. Lasting only a few thousandths of a second, these sources send powerful signals across the universe, traveling billions of light-years through space.
"These bursts gave off more energy in a millisecond than the sun does in 300,000 years," said principal investigator Dan Thornton of the University of Manchester in England.  Read More
Your Cellphone, a Nesting Ground for Bacteria

Cellphones carry 10 times more bacteria than most toilet seats, so it shouldn't be surprising that a man in Uganda reportedly contracted Ebola after stealing one.
He stole the phone from a quarantined ward of a hospital, near the site of a recent Ebola outbreak, reports said.
But regardless of your proximity to an Ebola outbreak, your cellphone is still probably pretty grimy, said Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona. Read More


The Imaginarium

Ordinary people finding ways to make life extraordinary

Parking lines painted up onto the walls.
Simple solution for the confused driver.


Required reading for the well behaved boy

In an alternate reality

Feet in the grass.
Its the simple things that make life worth living



In a doctor's office

The Young Police Car hunting for the first time alone

Kids these days


I want




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