This Blog's History: What is Plutonium?

For This Friday in This Blog's History, I point you back to a post I wrote on the cool sounding element, plutonium. Yes, maybe the best name of all the elements! But what is plutonium? To learn more, here's the link to the original post for a few weeks ago.

What is Plutonium?

The Number One Post: The Egg Drop Experiment

I've writing this blog for 8+ years now and some posts are more popular than others. The most viewed post? That belongs to a post I wrote in the very first year of this blog detailing the egg drop experiment I had my physics students do in class.

The Egg Drop Experiment

This post, which admittedly has some very cool pictures of egg drop ships, has been viewed 27,500 times since October 2012. Wow!

LIL BUB on Twitter

I follow quite a few scientists and science communicators on Twitter. And I also follow a few cats. Yes, a few cats. One of those is LIL BUB (@IAMLILBUB), an internet cat sensation who died at the end of 2019. I think one of the reasons 2020 is such a sucky year is LIL BUB is no longer here. If you don't know LIL BUB, you can learn more here:

LIL BUB Website

Remember, it is okay to follow cats on Twitter. In fact, I think it makes you a better person. :-)

Astrid vs. The Soccer Ball

We welcomed a dog into our lives, Astrid, a Blue Heeler, on July 3, 2020. It has been a month filled with tons of fun and excitement from her. Very early on we told our kids that they need to make sure anything you don't want the dog to eat isn't left lying on the ground or floor. My oldest daughter did not listen to this and within a few days, Astrid found that my kiddo's soccer ball was a fun toy.

It did not take long for Astrid to shred this soccer ball and my daughter learned a valuable lesson. I'd like to think the lesson was don't leave important stuff out for the dog to chew, but I think it ended up being that she can buy a new soccer ball be "forgetting" to put the old one away. Hmmm. :-)

Flowers for Algernon - Book Review

My latest book read was the short science fiction story titled Flowers for Algernon, written by Daniel Keyes. This is a story about a man with a low IQ who is given an experimental surgery that quickly raises his IQ to super genius level. As the man's IQ rises, he finds himself more and more disconnected with the people in his life. The rise in IQ is temporary and than starts to decrease, bringing the man back in touch with those around him. The story is also about how those around him view him as his IQ changes. A beautifully written and wondering science fiction short story that I highly recommend!

This Blog's History: Possibly Getting a Dog

For This Friday in This Blog's History I point you back to the post I wrote on us possibly getting a dog to add to the family. It's no longer a possibility. It's a reality. We now have a puppy, a blue heeler we named Astrid. Full of energy and so much fun!!!

Possibly Getting a Dog

Get Your Flu Shot - Annual Reminder

I usually wait until later in the fall to put out my annual flu vaccine reminder, but this is a much different season with COVID-19 still raging throughout the United States. Please, please, please, get your flu vaccine as soon as they are available this year. Although the flu vaccine will not help you with COVID-19, it will protect you from the seasonal flu, reducing your odds you will need to seek medical attention for the flu.

And when that COVID-19 vaccine comes out (fingers crossed), please do not delay and get this vaccine! Protect yourself and protect others through herd immunity. For more on the flu vaccine, here's my post from last year. I could share links to posts from all of the previous years too, but the information doesn't change. Even in a bad season when the flu vaccine is not as effective, it still provides some protection and can minimize how sick you get if you do catch it. The flu is no joking matter. Get that vaccine!!!

Get Your Flu Shot - 2019 Version

Eruption: Supervolcano #1 Book Review

I've previously read the World War historical fiction series by Harry Turtledove and recently picked up the Supervolcano trilogy. Finally had a chance to read the first book and thought it was a decent read. The supervolcano in question is the Yellowstone supervolcano that has gone off in the past (last eruption was several hundred thousand years ago) and has a chance of going off again sometime in the future. What does sometime in the future mean? Could be next year, could be a 1000 years, could be 100,000 years. We don't know. But when it goes off, it will cause mass damage across the United States

Eruption follows the story of a divorced family with adult children living across the country. Each of their lives is affected differently based on where they were when the volcano went off. It's not the greatest book in the world and does get a bit dry at times, but I found myself remaining engaged and didn't tire from reading it. Will I read the last two books in the series? Yep. When I start a series, I finish a series. It takes a very, very, very, bad book series for me to stop reading part way through. :-)

More Astrid Pictures

We've had a ton of fun with our new puppy, Astrid. She loves her belly rubbed and loves to run around the yard and play fetch! Here are a few more pictures of her.

Newton, our cat, is not the biggest fan. LOL!

We Got a Puppy!!!

We did it! We got a puppy! Her name is Astrid and she is a Blue Heeler. Tons of fun and full of excitement! I'll leave this post short today but look at this picture. So cute!