This Blog's History: Death with Dignity

This Blog's History

Starting several years ago, every Friday I link back to a previous post I wrote. Why? I may be biased, but I think there's quite a bit of good, exciting science I post on this blog, and I like to revisit these old posts. Plus it is a way for new readers to see many of the cool science experiments I've done with my kids in the past without reading the blog from day one, which was over 1,000 posts ago!

Death with Dignity

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post on the need for death with dignity laws in all states in the U.S. Death with dignity gives a choice to someone with a terminal disease to end their life on their own terms instead of waiting for death, often in a painful way that destroys one's physical and mental capabilities. I feel very strongly on this issue and you can read more about this by going to the original post I wrote. See the link below.

Where do I go?

For the original post, click the link below. This links to the original post I wrote a couple of weeks ago.

Death with Dignity

Batman vs. Superman - Movie Review

As a family we are slowly watching the DC and Marvel comic book movies. Our most recent watch was Batman vs. Superman. This is the first Batman movie starring Ben Affleck as Batman. I know many did not like Affleck as Batman, but I thought he did a fine job in the role. We all enjoyed the movie, although it's not close to being the best Batman film out there. It's not the worst either. The worst will always go to Batman and Robin with George Clooney as Batman.  The whole premise of Batman battling Superman bothers me.

What's the problem? The problem is Batman vs. Superman is a no contest event. Batman has no chance. Literally zero chance to defeat Superman. Batman has no superpowers. Batman thrives on the high level of technology he uses to defeat evil. That may work great against your villains lacking superpowers, but against a superhero? Nope, technology won't win.

Superman can fly incredibly fast. He has incredible super strength. He has lasers coming out of his eyes, for crying out loud! The only way Batman stands a chance is to cheat using krypton to weaken Superman. And sure, if this is what you need to do to win, then okay, but honestly, how Superman didn't see the cheats coming is beyond me. The only way the battle between the two is close at all is because Superman LET Batman have a chance. :-)

Watch the movie...if you like comic book movies, you'll like this movie, but just understand that Superman would defeat Batman in a battle 1000 out of a 1000 times! Not even close. Remember, laser eyes. LASER EYES!!!

Man of Steel - Movie Review

Yesterday I wrote about my family's recent watching of Black Panther from the Marvel Comic universe. We also recently watched Man of Steel from the DC Comic universe. Man of Steel is a re-make of the original Superman movie and starts out detailing how Superman came to be. As any Superman fan knows, Superman was sent by his parents from the planet Krypton as a baby to Earth because Krypton was literally being torn apart.

As I mentioned with Black Panther, one has to ignore the incorrect science to enjoy any superhero movie. Remember, superheroes with powers do not exist. :-) There were a few areas of very bad science and a few areas of good science I found of note. First, Krypton is falling apart, literally, because the people messed with the core in an attempt to harness more energy. This makes no sense. First of all, getting to the core is extremely difficult, if not impossible. On Earth we have barely scratched the surface, literally. The deepest anyone has dug into Earth is about 7 miles and that barely scratches the crust. So forget about the mantle and core. Second, people of Krypton have moved out and colonized several planets and moons. If they have this technology, it would be far easier to colonize more planets for energy than pull energy from Krypton's core. On top of this, if you can colonize, it is very likely the technology exists to use renewable resources 100%, such as solar and wind.

Another area of bad science is General Zod's plan to add more mass to Earth to develop a gravitational field more similar to Krypton. It is true that adding more mass to Earth will increase gravity, but they are somehow adding mass to Earth by sending waves through the planet. Um...that doesn't change Earth's mass. You literally have to add stuff to Earth to increase its mass. 

Good areas? One area of good science was the sonic booms that took place when Superman traveled faster than the speed of sound. This was shown several times. Second, when Superman traveled past the speed of sound, a cloud of fog surrounded him. This is good science and seen often when jets move faster than the speed of sound, as shown below.

The cloud is due to a big change in pressure of the surrounding air as the plane travels by at a speed greater than sound. There may have been some details shown incorrectly, but I give them credit for showing this!

Next up is Batman vs. Superman, which when you think about it is not much of a battle. Always, always place your money on Superman! I'll explain why in a later post.

Beyond this movie, we are ready to see ALL of the DC movies, which is a large and growing list, as you can see in the link below. Will we ever watch all of the Marvel and DC movies? Maybe not, but we are going to have fun trying!!!

List of DC Comic Movies

Black Panther - Movie Review

As a family we recently watched Black Panther and loved it! It was nominated for 7 Oscars and won 3 of them and they were all well-earned. As with all superhero and supernatural movies, one has to set aside the incorrect science to enjoy the movie. Obviously people don't have superpowers. Set that aside, and you have a very enjoyable movie.

Black Panther follows the life of T'Challa and the technologically advanced kingdom of Wakanda. After the death of his father, T'Challa is the heir to the kingdom. Although Wakanda is not unknown in the world, their technology is an unknown as Wakanda keeps it hidden. Some in Wakanda desperately seek to keep their technology unknown while others want to use their tech to help the world. This creates a deep divide among members of the community and conflict is inevitable. 

In addition, Black Panther consists of an almost entirely black cast, a very welcome change from the far too white and and far too male cast of heroes seen in most movies.

As I stated above, my kids loved the movie and we are now on a quest to watch all Marvel movies, a long list that keeps growing!

List of Marvel Comics Movies

The link above takes you to a Wikipedia list of all Marvel movies. It's quite the list and grows by two, three, and sometimes four movies a year! We've got our work cut out for us, even more so now that we've started watching some of the movies from the DC universe!

What Is #23: The Summer Solstice?

The 'What Is' Series

A couple of months ago I started a new series on this blog titled "What Is". Thus far the focus is on the field of astronomy where we hear all sorts of cool science taking place in space. The goal of this series is to explain the details of different objects we hear about relatively frequently.

What is the Summer Solstice?

The summer solstice, the first day of summer, was on June 21 this year (2019). What does this mean? The summer solstice is defined as the day (there's an exact time too, but let's not worry about that detail) when the Sun is at its highest point in the sky as observed from the northern hemisphere and the day on which the Sun's rays are most direct in the northern hemisphere. On this day the Sun was directly above the Tropic of Cancer at about 23.5 degrees north latitude. If you were standing anywhere on the Tropic of Cancer, the Sun would be directly above you at the middle point of the day.

What causes this? The reason we have the summer/winter solstice, and the spring/fall equinox, is due to Earth's tilt of about 23.5 degrees. Because Earth is titled with an axis always pointing in the same direction, the angle the Sun's light hits the Earth changes.

If Earth was not tilted, we wouldn't have seasons! But it is and we have the change of seasons! On June 21st this year, the Sun's rays were most direct, meaning a square foot of Earth in the northern hemisphere, received more energy than at any other time of the year, ignoring the effects of clouds an local weather. If that's the case, why is June not the hottest month of the year? The reason is simple. It takes time for the ground and air to warm up following winter and spring. Even though the Sun is not as direct and not as high in the sky in July and August, those months are typically hotter than June!

The summer solstice is not always June 21. It varies by a day or so each way depending on the exact time the Sun is most direct and highest in the sky. Today is June 24th, three days after the summer solstice. From each day here on out until December 21, the Sun will slowly drop a bit in the sky each day until it is at its lowest point in the sky on the winter solstice. Don't worry though, I'm sure there are plenty of beach and swimming pool days left this summer!

This Blog's History: R.I.P. Grumpy Cat

This Blog's History

Starting several years ago, every Friday I link back to a previous post I wrote. Why? I may be biased, but I think there's quite a bit of good, exciting science I post on this blog, and I like to revisit these old posts. Plus it is a way for new readers to see many of the cool science experiments I've done with my kids in the past without reading the blog from day one, which was over 1,000 posts ago!

Grumpy Cat: R.I.P.

I few weeks ago I wrote about the death of my favorite internet cat sensation, Grumpy Cat. I had just discovered Grumpy Cat earlier in 2019, and a few short months later she was gone. :-(

Where do I go?

For the original post, click the link below. This links to the original post I wrote a couple of weeks ago.

Grumpy Cat R.I.P.

The Third Option - A Book Review

Among the large number of books on my to-read list is the Mitch Rapp series by Vince Flynn. Flynn passed away several years ago, but the series was picked up by a second author. Mitch Rapp can be described as a U.S. spy, counter-terrorism expert, and your stereotypical bad ass character defeating bad people. I recently finished reading The Third Option, the fourth book in the on-going Mitch Rapp series. I previously wrote a review on the third book that you can view here.

Transfer of Power (Mitch Rapp #3)

In that post I mentioned that I don't agree with Vince Flynn's politics at all. But I can't deny that I really enjoy the books. They are exciting, thrilling, and yes, in some cases a bit predictable, but they are hard for me to put down! The Third Option had the same quality as the first three. The ending was a bit anti-climatic compared to the previous books, but it sets up the story for the next book, which I'm definitely planning to read.

If you like spy thrillers, I recommend checking out the Mitch Rapp books by Vince Flynn.

The Hot Zone

At the end of May 2019, the National Geographic Channel aired a 6 episode miniseries titled "The Hot Zone". The show was "inspired by true events" although what is missing is probably the word 'loosely', as in "loosely inspired by true events". LOL! Despite knowing the show was a sensationalized version of what actually happened, I did enjoy it!

The show is based on the 1989 ebola scare near Washington, D.C. The ebola virus was discovered in Africa in 1976. The show switches back and forth between 1976 and 1989, with characters from the 1976 segments also involved in the 1989 segments. The difference is the ebola virus in 1989 was not showing the same symptoms in humans as 1976. Ebola is a very serious virus with different strains. It has a high fatality rate and there was a massive breakout in Africa in 2013-2014 with 11,000+ people dying. An unknown strain in 1989 would certainly have caused great concern.

While watching the first episode of the show I kept thinking, wait a second, I don't remember a U.S. ebola outbreak in 1989 in the U.S. Granted, I was a kid, but I was positive I'd have read something since on this. Four people contracted a different strain of ebola but none showed symptoms or became sick. A very fortunate thing given the proximity to a large population center. 

Ebola is very serious and the show, even if loosely based on true events, does impart how serious any strain of ebola must be taken. There have been several outbreaks of ebola since 1976 with thousands dying in that time. Most of the deaths are in Africa, but is not out of the question to see an outbreak of ebola in the U.S. Just because it has never happened doesn't mean we should let up our guard or not take the virus very seriously. 

Now, if only we can get people in the U.S. to take the flu seriously. The flu kills upwards of 50,000+ Americans EVERY SINGLE YEAR!!!

Scanners Live in Vain - A Book Review

Among my collection of books at home are several science fiction anthologies filled with short science fiction stories. I'm reading through the first volume of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and recently finished reading a short story called Scanners Live in Vain by Cordwainer Smith.

This is an odd story in which some people have been turned into "scanners" and had all emotion removed. The scanners can travel into space without pain, something regular humans cannot do in this story. Then comes along a human who has figured out how to travel through space without pain, putting the "lives" of the scanners at risk. The scanners then group together to decide how they should react to this new discovery.

Not my favorite short science fiction story of all time, but interesting. I enjoy reading science fiction anthologies as they provide exposure to different writing styles, different ideas, and different visions of the future, as seen by authors both recent and multiple decades ago. 

What Is #22: A Variable Star?

The 'What Is' Series

A couple of months ago I started a new series on this blog titled "What Is". Thus far the focus is on the field of astronomy where we hear all sorts of cool science taking place in space. The goal of this series is to explain the details of different objects we hear about relatively frequently.

Variable Stars

When we take a look at the Sun we see a star that is very stable, but even stable stars such as the Sun vary. The Sun has a cycle of 11 years in which its activity increases and decreases. However, this doesn't classify the Sun as a classic variable star. When astronomers refer to variable stars, they refer to stars with a measurable brightness change over a period of time. If the Sun were many light years away, we likely would not see it varying over time. The variations are too small to detect from a large distance with current technology.

Common variable star types are Cepheid variables, RR Lyrae variables, and Delta Scuti variables. There are other types as well, but these are the main types. The different categories describe variations in brightness of different levels and lengths. Variable stars are interesting as they provide information on the inner workings of a star. Something must cause the variation and therefore the level and length of the variation provide clues on how stars evolve.

One of the more well known variable stars, although you likely don't know it as a variable star, is Polaris, the North Star. Polaris has a variation period of about 4 days and its magnitude change is about 0.3, a brightness change of about 130%. Without detailed astronomical equipment, however, you are unlikely to notice this change, although you could if you took detailed naked eye observations night after night under dark sky conditions. But that's not something most of us are doing. :-)

Stars are interesting objects and when they vary in brightness they are even more interesting. They bring up new questions and provide new information to our understanding of the cosmos.

This Blog's History: What is a Black Hole

This Blog's History

Starting several years ago, every Friday I link back to a previous post I wrote. Why? I may be biased, but I think there's quite a bit of good, exciting science I post on this blog, and I like to revisit these old posts. Plus it is a way for new readers to see many of the cool science experiments I've done with my kids in the past without reading the blog from day one, which was over 1,000 posts ago!

What is a black hole?

Black holes are extremely interesting objects. But what are they? What have you heard about black holes that is true and not true? Black holes do not suck in material like a vacuum! That's a common misconception! I wrote about black holes a few weeks ago on this blog, so check out that original post for more information on black holes.

Where do I go?

For the original post, click the link below. This links to the original post I wrote a couple of weeks ago.

What is a black hole?

NASA Mars Playing Cards

If you can't tell by now, I really enjoyed my trip to the NASA Glenn Research Center for an outreach education training for my upcoming summer camp. I picked up several gifts, including NASA oven mitts and NASA figurines. For my oldest daughter, I picked up a pack of NASA playing cards featuring Mars.

Not only is this a pack of playing cards, but it's a pack filled with information on Mars! Each card is a different image with a Mars fact on it! Super cool!

NASA Figurines

While at the NASA Glenn Research Center a couple of weeks ago for an outreach education training, I stopped at the NASA exchange store and picked up a few gifts for the family. Yesterday I shared the NASA oven mitts I picked out. For my youngest daughter, I found a set of NASA figurines that I knew were perfect for her.

My 8 year old has a huge imagination and loves playing with toy figurines. She has a bunch of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toys she plays with and she can occupy herself for hours at a time playing. When I saw these NASA figurines, I knew she'd love them and I immediately grabbed them off the shelf. At $10 for a set of 12, I thought they were a great deal. Did my daughter love them? You bet! She opened them right away when I got home and added them to her toy collection! There are a couple of astronauts, the space shuttle, a couple of satellites, a rocket, a capsule, and the mobile lunar rover from the Apollo missions. Super cool!

NASA Oven Mitts

Last week I mentioned I picked up a few NASA gifts for my family when I was at the NASA Glenn Research Center for an outreach education training for a summer camp I'm doing for 5th - 9th graders later this month. One of the gifts I picked up was a pair of awesome NASA oven mitts!

When I saw these I knew they were a must buy! The oven mitts we have at home are a bit dingy, having been used for many years. Plus one of them is a bit worn in the inside, and if you grab a pan the wrong way, you can burn your finger, which I've done several times. So once I saw these, it was bye-bye to our old mitts! LOL! NASA oven mitts, what a great idea!

Museum of Natural History in Muncie, Indiana???

The new season of Marvel's Agents of Shield recently started. It's the sixth season and I was very excited for it to finally begin. It was nearly canceled after the fifth season, but brought back for one more season...hopefully more. The first episode of the season was great, answering some questions and opening up another slew of questions. Can't wait to see how this season plays out. Anyway, there was a moment in the movie that struck me as quite odd, and well, completely wrong!

Shield is looking for a couple of individuals causing trouble and they locate them in Indiana. Hey, cool, I'm familiar with Indiana. The next scene showed a large complex that looked like and was a large museum. The text on the screen came up stating it was the Museum of Natural History in Muncie, Indiana. Um...what?!?!?! I'm familiar with Muncie, and I can assure you there is no Museum of Natural History, let alone a large complex with hundreds of people walking on the street. Muncie has a population of about 70,000 according to a 2014 estimate. Not a small town, but not nearly large enough to support a massive museum.

I even went as far as doing a TripAdvisor search to see if there was a small history museum I was unaware. Nope. TripAdvisor brings up 12 things to do in Muncie. A few art and culture places, a couple of museums, including a children's museum, a campground, and a few outdoor things, but no Museum of Natural History or anything similarly named. LOL!

What were the writer's thinking? I really don't know. They could have chosen Indianapolis as there are several large history museums there and it is a larger city. Oh well, the episode was still fantastic, despite the lack of a Museum of Natural History in Muncie, Indiana. :-)

This Blog's History: What is a quasar?

This Blog's History

Starting several years ago, every Friday I link back to a previous post I wrote. Why? I may be biased, but I think there's quite a bit of good, exciting science I post on this blog, and I like to revisit these old posts. Plus it is a way for new readers to see many of the cool science experiments I've done with my kids in the past without reading the blog from day one, which was over 1,000 posts ago!

What is a quasar?

Quasars are cool sounding, but what are they? Simply put, they are very active galaxies. They send off jets of energy and we observe them as very energetic galaxies we call quasars. For more details on quasars, head to the original post on quasars I wrote a few weeks ago.

Where do I go?

For the original post, click the link below. This links to the original post I wrote a couple of weeks ago.

What is a quasar?

Mars is Heaven - A Book Review

I recently read the short science fiction story titled "Mars is Heaven" by Ray Bradbury. It was a very intriguing, thought-provoking story.

The story begins with a group of astronauts headed to Mars. When they arrive on Mars they discover they can breathe the air and suddenly find homes and people. The people turn out to be the dead loved ones of the crew! The story continues for a bit and concludes with a very interesting twist. A twist I won't spoil here. If you like science fiction and if you like Ray Bradbury, this is a good short story to check out. I don't know if it's in print, but it's one of the short stories in "Science Fiction Hall of Fame - Volume I".

NASA Glenn Research Center

As mentioned previously on this blog, I recently visited the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, for an outreach education training for a small grant my school received. The training was great, providing several cool NASA Engineering Design Challenge activities for the kids attending my summer camp later this month. I am super excited for this camp! While at the Glenn Research Center, I learned a few things I didn't know. For example, the center employs over 3000 people and there's a smaller research facility a bit to the west in Sandusky, Ohio. Very cool! I took a few pictures as our group was given a tour. We were given a tour of the space exercise lab and they showed us the harnesses they are developing to assist with exercise on the International Space Station.

An exercise harness may not sound exciting, but exercising in space to limit bone loss in a low gravity environment is crucial. Having the appropriate equipment to exercise is necessary for astronauts. 

This was next to the visitor's parking lot! Speaking of being a visitor, it was a bit intimidating entering the complex and going through two security checkpoints. For the most part the facility is closed to visitors, but they do offer a visitor's tour once a month. You have to register ahead of time on their website, but if you are in the Cleveland area, I highly encourage you to do this! 

Tour the NASA Glenn Research Center

There's also a NASA exchange store and I made sure to pick up a few items for my kids, but I'll share those in a later post. 

Death with Dignity

Today marks the two year anniversary of my Dad's death. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor, glioblastoma, in January 2014. The tumor was inoperable and the diagnosis was terminal. He had various treatments of radiation and chemotherapy and responded well. He lived much longer than average for someone with this type of cancer. He made it 3.5 years before the cancer finally took his life on June 4, 2017, three years of which would be considered a high quality of life. The cancer took over the last several months of his life and he lost all mental capacity.

I have always been in favor of death with dignity, but there are few states in the United States with death with dignity legislation. Across most of the country, physician-assisted death is illegal regardless of one's quality of life. Over the last few years, a few states have added humane, death with dignity laws, that allow a person the choice to choose how they die when the prognosis is terminal. Would my dad have taken advantage of death with dignity? Maybe. I don't know and I'll never know. I think he would have considered it, but living in Iowa, he didn't have the choice.

We live in a society in which we are more humane at the end of a loved pet's death than we are a loved human. We euthanize pets when the quality of their life has dropped dramatically and there is nothing to do but wait for death, often painfully. When it comes to humans, however, no matter how low the quality of life or how painful the waiting moments for death may be, we require the individual and loved ones to suffer through until the very end. Often it is a religious argument, other times it is an unwillingness to let go of a loved one. Regardless of the reason, society needs to be more humane. The end of one's life is sad, but the individual should have the choice in cases of a terminal diagnosis.

Some states in the U.S. now have death with dignity laws. These include Washington, Oregon, Vermont, Hawaii, California, Colorado, and Washington, D.C. Many eligible to end their lives through these laws choose not to, but the choice is theirs to make. If you have not yet seen How to Die in Oregon, please do so. It is a fantastic documentary that takes a look at death with dignity, and the fight to enact laws in Oregon giving individuals a choice. Regardless of your current beliefs, please watch this documentary and educate yourself on what death with dignity means and doesn't mean.

Grumpy Cat - R.I.P.

I was late to discovering the famous Grumpy Cat, not knowing about this cat until a few months ago. Grumpy Cat always looks grumpy due to feline dwarfism. Born in 2012, Grumpy Cat, whose real name is Tardar Sauce, became an internet sensation I didn't discover until 2019. Unfortunately Grumpy Cat died in May 2019 due to complications from an urinary tract infection. :-( But Grumpy Cat will always live on as a grumpy looking cat that brought joy to many people's lives.

Grumpy Cat on Facebook

Grumpy Cat on Twitter

For my birthday this year, friends gave me a stuffed Grumpy Cat!

Love it!!!