12-13-11
At work, our end-or-year 2011 safety bonuses were finally delivered through the labyrinth that has developed around the expense process since we started the re-org. I dutifully channeled this into my 'relief fund for Wayward Sailors' (boat money). What I'm shooting for here is a fair bankroll of cash with which to paint Sigrun . It has been an abiding source of aggravation that I've been so busy at work and at home that my opportunities to work on her have been few. Fickle winter weather along the coast which only seems to be descent enough to paint a boat in when I am incarcerated in an office building hasn't helped.
On the home front, I have been equally as busy supporting a rather elaborate 'Science Fair' project as well as a 'History Day' project. Michael has set for himself (or perhaps for his dad) an aggressive schedule this season in taking on both of these events - which was an option for students at his school, but not required. Through this involvement I may have something of interest to a reader of this blog.
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The science fair project involved model rockets (and a bit of tech support from the ole' man). In the course of the project we built a fleet of six rockets, acquired a serviceable launch system, and launched the rockets so many times, that it is now a routine drill for he and his partner. For your author, it simply revives an old arcane activity which went by the board somewhere around my sophomore year of high school. He has always been interested in the activity, and now that he has completed his project, he could be considered very well versed in the basics of the hobby. We'll see if this sticks with him as a hobby... It requires more effort than turning on a computer and playing a game...
The technical part of the project (other than building and launching the rockets) was that we fashioned inclinometers out of wood, string, fishing weights, and plastic protractors. I taught he and his partner the basic trigonometric functions which enabled them to take sightings of the rocket flights with their inclinometers and to determine the altitude that was attained. This enabled them to investigate which fin designs were most efficient (kept the rocket stable while creating little enough drag to allow the rocket to attain the highest altitude - or more precisely - kept the center of pressure behind the center of gravity while generating the least aerodynamic drag during ascent). This math is, of course, the basis for a number of applications including maritime navigation - which is where his 'History Day' project comes into the picture (and what I'm hopping you will be the least bit interested in).
Just by coincidence (if you believe in such things) Michael is working with a like-minded student on Prince Henry the Navigator and the Portuguese ushering in the 'Age of Discovery', and later the 'Renaissance'. As the assignment asks the students to describe what what reformative, or revolutionary about their chosen event, so this focuses their research on the period from about 1420 through Henry's death in 1460, to Vasco Da Gama's arrival in India in 1498. Forget about 1492 - Leif Ericson did that back in 1003...Specific deliverables are to include, models or dioramas supporting their chosen event.
In our case items rendered in such a format could include a model of a caravelle and / or a model of an astrolabe. At the time of this writing, the caravelle model is still very much in debate, ode to time constraints of the assignment. However, at the request of the boys, I have started work on working astrolabe resembling those adapted for maritime use in the early 1400's. I have toyed with the idea of doing one of these for some time just for the fun of it, and although it shall be a working model, I do not intend to have occasion to use it from the deck of a 20' sailboat in Monterey or San Francisco bay, not shall I be casting it in bronze as per tradition. The coolest part is that from his rocketry experiments, Michael already basically knows how to use it. To be really 'old-school' - we just need to find a printed version of a celestial almanac and to take some sightings with it.
P.S. Moon to enter 4th Quarter on Tuesday morning at 0904 Pacific Time.. Venus and then Jupiter follow the sun into the Pacific in the early evening, Mars (in retrograde since January 24 is now coming up around 2230 followed by Saturn just before dawn..
At work, our end-or-year 2011 safety bonuses were finally delivered through the labyrinth that has developed around the expense process since we started the re-org. I dutifully channeled this into my 'relief fund for Wayward Sailors' (boat money). What I'm shooting for here is a fair bankroll of cash with which to paint Sigrun . It has been an abiding source of aggravation that I've been so busy at work and at home that my opportunities to work on her have been few. Fickle winter weather along the coast which only seems to be descent enough to paint a boat in when I am incarcerated in an office building hasn't helped.
On the home front, I have been equally as busy supporting a rather elaborate 'Science Fair' project as well as a 'History Day' project. Michael has set for himself (or perhaps for his dad) an aggressive schedule this season in taking on both of these events - which was an option for students at his school, but not required. Through this involvement I may have something of interest to a reader of this blog..jpg)
The science fair project involved model rockets (and a bit of tech support from the ole' man). In the course of the project we built a fleet of six rockets, acquired a serviceable launch system, and launched the rockets so many times, that it is now a routine drill for he and his partner. For your author, it simply revives an old arcane activity which went by the board somewhere around my sophomore year of high school. He has always been interested in the activity, and now that he has completed his project, he could be considered very well versed in the basics of the hobby. We'll see if this sticks with him as a hobby... It requires more effort than turning on a computer and playing a game...The technical part of the project (other than building and launching the rockets) was that we fashioned inclinometers out of wood, string, fishing weights, and plastic protractors. I taught he and his partner the basic trigonometric functions which enabled them to take sightings of the rocket flights with their inclinometers and to determine the altitude that was attained. This enabled them to investigate which fin designs were most efficient (kept the rocket stable while creating little enough drag to allow the rocket to attain the highest altitude - or more precisely - kept the center of pressure behind the center of gravity while generating the least aerodynamic drag during ascent). This math is, of course, the basis for a number of applications including maritime navigation - which is where his 'History Day' project comes into the picture (and what I'm hopping you will be the least bit interested in).
Just by coincidence (if you believe in such things) Michael is working with a like-minded student on Prince Henry the Navigator and the Portuguese ushering in the 'Age of Discovery', and later the 'Renaissance'. As the assignment asks the students to describe what what reformative, or revolutionary about their chosen event, so this focuses their research on the period from about 1420 through Henry's death in 1460, to Vasco Da Gama's arrival in India in 1498. Forget about 1492 - Leif Ericson did that back in 1003...Specific deliverables are to include, models or dioramas supporting their chosen event.
In our case items rendered in such a format could include a model of a caravelle and / or a model of an astrolabe. At the time of this writing, the caravelle model is still very much in debate, ode to time constraints of the assignment. However, at the request of the boys, I have started work on working astrolabe resembling those adapted for maritime use in the early 1400's. I have toyed with the idea of doing one of these for some time just for the fun of it, and although it shall be a working model, I do not intend to have occasion to use it from the deck of a 20' sailboat in Monterey or San Francisco bay, not shall I be casting it in bronze as per tradition. The coolest part is that from his rocketry experiments, Michael already basically knows how to use it. To be really 'old-school' - we just need to find a printed version of a celestial almanac and to take some sightings with it.
P.S. Moon to enter 4th Quarter on Tuesday morning at 0904 Pacific Time.. Venus and then Jupiter follow the sun into the Pacific in the early evening, Mars (in retrograde since January 24 is now coming up around 2230 followed by Saturn just before dawn..
