Almost Spring & Still the Snow

 It's been a cold winter, and the forecast says it's not over yet.

We've been busy playing and learning.

 We boarded the NOAA Ship Rainier in Newport - that was cool!

We still have this squirrelly beast, and we added this one.

 Welcome, Asher. 

He is as sweet as pie and FFA compatible!

 Times are changing. The fire truck bunk bed got taken down.

The entire corner is now a full blown maker space.

We'll be back soon with the spring blooms!

MATE ROV: Marine Advanced Technology Education w/ Remotely Operated Vehicles

Because even adults can learn a thing or two! 

A Saturday workshop at the Barbey Center in Astoria. 

The Pufferfish Kit from MATE ROV 

We had some buoyancy/balance issues, but for building and constructing in under 90 minutes, we felt pretty good.  

I soldered the entire circuit board. I am very proud of myself!

If underwater marine robotics is of interest to your students or you, check out:

• Spare Parts: Your local library will likely carry both the book and movie.
• MATE ROV and their workshops
• The Hatfield Marine Science Center is hosting the underwater robotics competition on Saturday April 29th. Go check it out! 

   I like MATE ROV for a couple of reasons: one, it seems less intense than Lego (and I do like FLL Lego Robotics)!  Second, it does not start at the beginning of the school season like FLL, but starts in December which makes the start to your school year a bit less intense. Third, registration is a bit cheaper if you are in the 3 least experienced tiers. You register your team for the tier you feel they are ready for: beginner, beginner/intermediate, advanced, and expert. Fourth, students on teams must vote their team mates into positions i.e., you have to work your way into that position with intention. Fifth, the kits for underwater robotics are cheaper and teams are encouraged to do as much as possible with what they have on hand and with renewable items. Finally, the future of underwater robotics off the Oregon coast and for development is huge and interesting to many and will create great opportunities for many students. 

 Teachers: you can now sign up your class for one of these Pufferfish workshops at the Columbia Maritime Museum in Astoria.  Homeschoolers, you too, can get a group of students together and take this class.

What is required of future marine electronics in the world of energy?

1. They must generate enough energy to have their cost justifiable.

2. They must withstand extreme ocean conditions for years and years.

   Did you know that the Pacific Continental Shelf has enough wave energy to supply 1/3rd of the United State's energy needs?

OSU Wins $40 Million for Wave Technology Facility

Science. Technology. Engineering. Math.

    "Applied curiosity; an insatiable desire to know and a drive to create." ~ Mark Lewis, STEM Director, Oregon Education Investment Board
 

What is scientific literacy?

   Scientific literacy means that a person can ask, find, or determine answers to questions derived from curiosity about everyday experiences. It means that a person has the ability to describe, explain, and predict natural phenomena. Scientific literacy entails being able to read with understanding articles about science in the popular press and to engage in social conversation about the validity of the conclusions. Scientific literacy implies that a person can identify scientific issues underlying national and local decisions and express positions that are scientifically and technologically informed. A literate citizen should be able to evaluate the quality of scientific information on the basis of its source and the methods used to generate it. Scientific literacy also implies the capacity to pose and evaluate arguments based on evidence and to apply conclusions from such arguments appropriately. ~ National Academy of Sciences

   "We look at science as something very elite, which only a few people can learn. That's just not true. You just have to start early and give kids a foundation. Kids live, up or down, to expectations." ~ Mae Jemison, first African American NASA astronaut

   The item above just returned from space and the student who designed and built it goes to Linn Benton Community College in Albany, Oregon.

NASA Space Grant Symposium Take-Aways:

1.  "It is statistically easier to become an astronaut than become a major league sports player." ~ Catherine Lanier, NASA, OSU
2. You don't have to work for NASA to do NASA research. Students from all over the nation work on NASA projects at universities all over the nation.  
3. Attending these kinds of events puts new vocabulary in their brains (and yours)! They, and you, may not understand it all, but it may create an interest that leads to a passion that leads to a future filled with intelligent and creative work. 
4. The NASA leaders and professors that come to these events are passionate about what they do and are great at inspiration; they welcome younger students!
5. Science is a bunch of "what-if's" right now. We are once more in a creative, scientific, and technological revolution. Everyone in the room is learning from everyone else. There are very few experts, and if they are experts, they seem pretty humble.
6. Learning to navigate a very large college campus when you are 11 vs 18 can be a great confidence booster. The ability to navigate life with your God-given brain in a GPS world is mighty important. 
7. NASA Space-Grant Symposium food is darn good, and they are happy to share it.

   "Success must include two things: the development of an individual to his utmost potential and a contribution of some kind to one's world." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Bravery, Bold and Cold

Let bravery be thy choice, but not bravado. ~ Menander

Snapshots from the Land Before Time

Breathe, it's the new year. 

A cold, snowy, white wonderland,

 where the single dove comes to eat among the squawking stellars,

calmly finding her sustenance.

The lone deer nibbles her way through the forest, 

and the turkeys leave their footprints on the porch.

The racoon's paws pass by the chicken coop.

The snow gives up his stalking,

but the hens are secure, warm and tight in the hay.
Today, the chickadees ate last, but they are not forgotten.
The hens are happy to share.

And the boy eats stuffed olives with his oatmeal...

 and the box turtle soaks with his lichens by the wood stove. 

 You never know when elves and rabbits might appear, 

or angels too.

Or maybe some muscle,

right when you need it.

Have Courage in the new year.

Carve time for Life.

And maybe eat some Bibimbap too...

...lots of Bibimbap.

As Orthodox Christmas approaches, we cling.

We are still trying to be filled with carols and Christ.

We are not willing to let go of the lights and Light.

Soak up winter.

Connect with what is sacred.

 While, I can barely remember what I've read this fall,
and I've nary time for words, I'm listening and looking:

for the sacred and the silly and my Savior in the new year.

PDX Wordstock 2016 and Words

The sun rose pink over Portland last Saturday. It was delightful to be footloose and fancy-free on Portland's streets with a hot coffee in hand, sans the children, and a day of words looming large.

I volunteered at Wordstock; it was my first time attending Wordstock and working it. And I am ever more convinced that our words matter in the world. What we do with our words shapes who we are, our families, our communities, and our nation.

Today, Portland's streets are fraught with frantic fear and anger.

I wrote these words last Saturday, taking in the human bodies amidst the crush of books:

One comes to the conference to buy  books. She pretends to write, but is an author junkie. The other silently takes notes, listens. A mass of humans will be distilled down to one myopic viewing - through her lens alone. 

The Portland couple in their matching REI jackets, is, underneath it all, searching for their identities, and deciding if they will craft and create them together. 

Above all, they voraciously read, run around in the rain, choose comfort clothing over "class", wear a wet coffee laden look, and they listen. They are hungry. 

Tonight, they will go and taste Portland and see if they can discern what it means to them: these words hanging in the air, hoping to latch onto someone, something, some place, and some time. These words tingling on their palates, will they swallow?

Will they act? Will the whitest city in America act? They vote, but will they live, and will they use their words to shape the world? And will they follow their words into the world and offer true sustenance?

This morning, I found myself reading Jeremiah 23 about the lies we believe, and the lies we buy into about the lies we live, and the lies we are told.

Who then is righteous? We desperately need Him in the days ahead.

I don't know how the days will turn for my children or the children we sometimes take into our home. I am doing my best not to make judgements or speak outcomes. But, neither have I swallowed the pill that believes there is an elected savior, save Christ. And we don't seem to put Him on our ballot.

We may soon be finding ourselves in one mighty mess - but then many have lived that for a long while now in this nation. So it does not surprise that we are broken, and what flows from our hearts and mouths is brokenness.

Our words, our votes, they matter, and so too their fruit in the world. What is it that we believe and then speak? Are our beliefs and words founded upon Truth?  Or, have we bought and sold a lie? Lies? Are our myopic viewpoints simply our own navel gazing, or do we truly know how others live elsewhere and how they are impacted by our actions?

Maybe it's time we go back to living simply, so that others may simply live. Maybe it's time we go back to listening so others may be heard. Maybe it's time we hear and look, so others may be seen. Maybe it's time we be silent, so we may once again hear the voice of God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. ~ Mathew 5:9

Let us hold fast to Him,

Kim

Snapshots of Changing Times