Former student and I

Ilya J. was in the very first class I ever taught.  He took physics as a Junior at Swampscott and then AP Physics as a senior.  He's now doing engineering work at SpaceX in LA where we visited during a family vacation.  Note Sebastien photo bombing!

He reminded me that I wasn't even married when I started and I reminded him that I didn't know what I was doing. He was kind and said "It was pretty theoretical..."

Well Done, Gentlemen

My only gripe is the clues in the background for those who don't get the science references... Should let those scientific illiterates wallow in the ignorance...

Presbyopia

Something funny happened on my way to a monocle...I got old. I really noticed this when reading out the names at last spring's award ceremonies - turns out when the paper you're reading is on a podium, you can't just extend your arms to bring everything into focus...

Am I Buying a Fish or Teaching Myself to Fish?

My friend, GG, would be proud.  Last year I paid a chimney sweep a ton of money to sweep out all the chimneys (probably hadn't been done in 5 years).  I watched him carefully, bought myself a brush for $25 and did the wood stove chimney myself this year.

Inspired by this, when Drano didn't clear up the slow draining shower this week, I ran to home depot and bought a $15 auger and snaked that pipe out myself.

Now, what I'm not telling you about is the burst pipe and the disassembled sink that have yet to be fixed, but 2 out of 4 ain't bad, right? Oh, and the yard is over-run with weeds.  Let's focus on the positive, people!

Why exactly is home ownership part of the American Dream, again?

The stormtrooper-fruit link

I just read a science fiction book where the protagonist has a genetic anomaly that makes her unique.  The details aren't important but some aliens at one point clone her so they can use the clones (and their abilities) to their own ends.

How bizarre, no?

No.

I think that almost all of the fruit we eat have been grafted from a single plant from the past that was uniquely tasty or uniquely resistant to disease.  We keep grafting or budding over and over and raising these genetically identical fruit.  Clones, actually.

Next time you are in the supermarket look at all those bananas and think about that...

Fruit Fish-stick Train

The five year old mind is a wonder...
(of course he ate it afterwards!)

2 fish stick base with half strawberry, blueberries, and grapes

Tomatoes, Swimming, and Learning

I transferred some tomatoes that we'd grown from seeds to the backyard.  They sat there without growing for what seemed like weeks.  Now, all of a sudden, they've grown a couple of feet in the past couple of weeks!

Isabelle has been taking swim lessons on and off for years.  Now, this week, all of a sudden, she is breathing to the side, learning to dive, and just generally actually starting to swim.

"Mr. Rideout - I don't get it." "Mr. Rideout, this is too hard!" and then, at the end of the year, "Oh, I really thought that stuff we did at the beginning of the year was easy!"

I'm told the tomatoes are working on their roots, out of sight, underground for those first couple of weeks.  Then, when they're ready with their root structure, they shoot up above ground.  Is this why teaching and learning is so hard?  So much unrewarding (for both student and teacher) laying down of roots?