Faraday Event Review

On December 27, 2012 we held our 4th Annual Faraday's Holiday Event. The following Sunday, we had an article in the Herald Journal. Today, I received an e-mail from a principal who saw the article & wants us to come to her school for their Science Night. We just barely broke even. And we want to thank Macey's grocery store for donating the hot chocolate, apple cider, cookies, and donuts. The donuts were a big hit. Some USU students from the College of Business are looking for a non-profit they can do a fundraiser for, so we will probably be working with them for Yuri's Night. We need ideas for a location for a Star Party around the Perseids in August, & to decide on a date for this year's Faraday Event. On another note, I will be coordinating the Children's Ren Fair in March. One of the kids in the history club wants a wizard there, so I'm thinking have an Alchemist - sort of wizardly, but historically accurate, have someone dressed in scholarly robes do a snazzy chemistry demonstration. Upcoming Events: Wilson Elementary School Science Night February 12, 2013 Children's Renaissance Faire March 16, 2013 Yuri's Night April 12, 2013

Thank You Note

I received a thank you note today from an After-school teacher. She's been using our links page to teach her students basic physics. Withe her students, she found a page about simple machines in cars, & asked me to add it to our Links page. So I did.

Thanks, Kristen McNally. You made my day.

Keynote Speaker

We have a keynote speaker for this year's Faraday Event: Amber Stokes. She is a Graduate Student in the Utah State University Biology Department in Dr. Brodie's lab.

She says:

Our lab researches Tetrodotoxin, which is a neurotoxin found in newts (type of salamander) and most famously in puffer fish. Garter snakes in certain locations have evolved resistance to this toxin and there is a predator-prey arms race between the two species. I could present this research (which goes back 20 years). I work on novel predation on newts as well as a species of flatworm that produces this toxin as well. With novel predation, we observed otters eating newts, which ended up having really low levels of the toxin.

I feel that the research done in our lab is really ecologically relevant, and easy to condense for an 8-12 year old. I would love to get some audience participation throughout the presentation to really get the kids involved and thinking. Also, I would be able/willing to bring some animals for them to see/hold. I would likely be able to bring garter snakes, newts, and possibly other amphibians/snakes if you thought that would be appropriate.

For more information about the Faraday Event, go to http://starhousediscovery.org/faraday.html.

Cache Valley Non-Profits Conference

This morning I went to a conference put on by the Cache Interagency Council, a networking group for all the non-profit organizations in the valley. There was breakfast & snacks & lunch & plenty of opportunities for networking in between the three presentations. Here are my notes:

Doug Stephenson introduced the speakers

Social Media
ARTT FORME

Authenticity
Responsibility
Trustworthiness
Transparency

Fact, Fair, Full, Faith
Openness
Respect
Management
Engagement

Get SHDC Youtube channel. Talk to Chrysostoms about filming. Google+, Pintrest

Keep a Twitter tab open. FB group, too. set events up in group

find out about putting lessons on Kahn

blog post every week (I really need to work on this, but here's a start)

Social Media Club of Cache Valley 2nd Tues 6:30 pm. For November it's at the Bear River Health Department

Write a social media policy. Mining for Gold: Grant Basics
United Way of Northern Utah in Ogden - Nikki Lovel nlovell@uw.org 2955 Harrison Blvd Zeda Haws Community Center 801-399-5584

Follow THEIR process

Finding a Grant
-Foundation Center
-grants.gov for federal funding

build a relationship w/ corporations
report back, pictures, et.

Boiler Plate Resources -Local & state demographics & date (Census) point-in-time data
-Risk & Protective Factor information, usually collected at the state level by Mental Health or Substance Abuse
-Kids Count (Voices of UT)
- Education informatin: reading, math, science scores, drop out rates, free & reduced lunch, school violence data, students/adults needing HS completion, etc.
-can get data off of Uited Way

Abstract
-Needs to be developed to present to collaborators prior to writing the grant
-Needs to describe the program/project in a compelling way
-Briefley describes the need & what will be done to address that need
-1 page: need, solution, outcomes

Collaborators
- only ask a portion of total funding needs from each, list all collaborators & exactly what you're getting from each.

Advisory Board for continuous improvement (BoD can serve that function)

How was the need identified?
Where were statistics optained?

-learn to write by reading

find out how to sign up to read & score grants
go to dept website - look for "Reviewers Needed"

-Every rejection is an opportunity - always ask for feedback

Program Design
-tie need to activity. tie the activity to measuring the difference made to the need.
-Enhance or Expand - do not ask for funds for positions that already exist
-Get Spelling & Grammer right!

Have someone else proofread!

Research the funder as well as the need, write to audience

Emotional Engagement
Smart leaders know things - Brilliant leaders question what they know
Break the status quo
Engage in a worthy project
Ask "How good could this be" not just "best practices"

Embrace new challenges
create an experience like no other
do what other organizations don't

I AM A LEADER!!!

emotional engagement fr employees & clients is most critical for success

30% emotionally engaged
54% not engaged
16% Actively disengaged

Versatility = Change

Public Stellarium Presentation

Today @5pm, in the Logan Library Bonneville Room

Hope to see you there! Check the calendar regularly for more Public Stellarium Presentations over the next few months. If you don't live in Logan, & would like one in your town, e-mail me. Or if you think another day and/or time than Tuesdays at 5pm would work best, also e-mail me.

3rd Annual Faraday's Holiday Event

We are once again preparing for the annual Faraday's Holiday Event. We're still at the Whittier Center, 290 N 400 E, Logan, UT 84321. Suggested donations are still $2 adults, $1 teens, & $0.50 kids, although we do welcome any additional donation you wish to make. The Keynote Speaker this year will be Jens Trauntvein from ATK. New this year will be Stellarium presentations in the Pink Room (or Commons Room, since it got painted over the summer & is no longer pink) at 6:30 & 8:00. Mr Trauntvein's presentation will be at about 7:15, with Neil Dabb's traditional home science demonstration immediately after, followed by snacks, a craft, and visiting the booths of the various participating companies and organizations.

One thing we do need is a projector, so if you know of where we can borrow one for the night, please e-mail me

Weaving & Math

Did you know that weaving uses math?

Not many people even know how to weave anymore (at least in industrialized countries). We go to the store & buy ready-made clothes. Or, if we're ambitious, or just can't find clothes that fit, or want a special costume for something like Halloween or a Science Fiction convention, we might buy fabric.

Well, this month, I learned tablet weaving. Tablet weaving was used all over the world for thousands of years to make trim, belts, straps, ties, etc. You use some little cards with holes in them, usually 4 holes per card. One piece of thread goes through each hole, so if you have 4 holes, you have 4 piece of thread per card. Then you add cards until it's as wide as you want it. The piece I made used 7 cards and is about 3/8 inch wide. The math comes in how you thread different colors of thread through the holes, and how you turn the cards to make the pattern.

I just learned this, so I just copied the pattern given in the class handout, & don't really know how to explain how to use math to make other patterns, but I know it can be done. A Google image search for "tablet weaving" produces all sorts of fancy patterns.

Some good links to check out:

• All Fiber Arts
  
• AMS Special Session on Mathematics and Mathematics Education in Fiber Arts
  
• Satins and Twills: An Introduction to the Geometry of Fabrics
  
• Algebraic Expressions in Handwoven Textiles
  
• Fashion and Advanced Mathematics Meet at Miyake
  

AWHC & ACC

Yesterday I met with Chris Schultz out at the American West Heritage Center in preparation for the Giant Star Party on 12 August 2011. I will once again be giving Stellarium Presentations about the Perseid meteor shower in the Livery Stable at 7:30, 8:30, 9:30, & 10:30 pm. The event goes from 7 pm to 11 pm, and there will be pony rides, wagon rides, storytellers, Dr Quakenbush (sorry Dr Q if I spelled that wrong), a glow-in-the-dark carnival, and a gunfight! Anyone who brings a telescope gets in free, otherwise it's $6.

Meanwhile, on the Artemisian Costumers Challenge I haven't made much progress. Moving will do that to you. Oh, btw, my hubby & I bought a house! I did, however, find some linen curtains at a yard sale for 50¢.

Medieval Arts & Sciences

Last week I was at Uprising War, an event of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) held in Firth, Idaho. On Wednesday evening, I taught a class on Norse Astronomy. It was a short class. For one thing, it was cloudy, so no stars were visible. For another, while the Vikings knew & had names for a number of stars, we can only identify a few of them. See Digitalis: Norse Constellations and Viking Answer Lady: Viking Age Star and Constellation Names for more information.

While at Uprising, a challenge was issued to create a complete outfit from any period or culture covered by the SCA. Basically, this means anything pre-1600. I will be creating a Viking apron-dress. My sister-in-law gifted me with 5 yards of hand-woven wool that's about 23 inches wide - a common width for period fabrics. She wanted to give me brooches for Christmas, but the mold didn't work, & I want to try to make some myself (with her teaching me, naturally). I also want to make a linen chemise, but I need to figure out how I'm going to get that linen as there is a $100 limit. And I will be making a coat, probably out of flannel that I already have. All of these are projects I have been planning for this summer, but now with the challenge I need to take pictures & finish them by New Year's Day. Wish me luck.

CONduit

This weekend is CONduit Science Fiction & Fantasy Convention in Salt Lake City, UT. I will be assisting with an electricity demo & another demo for kids, running the Star Party Friday evening (weather permitting), and will be on panels about space travel, costuming, and the interaction of fannish activities with professional life. Dan will be on a plant panel, environment panel, chainmail workshop, & one of the costuming panels. Oh, we also get to be judges for the Hall Costume Contest. If you can make it to CONduit, look us up, especially if you're wearing a costume!

Yuri's Night

Today was the 50th anniversary of the first person in space, Yuri Gagarin. It was also the 30th anniversary of the first Space Shuttle and the 10th anniversary of the first Yuri's Night. I wasn't at any of those, but I had been in Graz, Austria in 2000, when the UN Space Generation Advisory Council was formed, and Loretta Hidalgo (now Whitesides) had the idea for Yuri's Night. For the last ten years, I've tried to get something going in whatever town I was in for Yuri's Night. But I don't like huge parties, such as New York, Moscow, DC, and LA have, and really don't have the contacts to put on such a party. But this year I finally organized a Yuri's Night Cache Valley. It was not a huge party. In fact, it was only 6 of us at my in-laws house, and mostly we just rehashed a lot of what had been talked about at our last board meeting (although there were a few other topics of conversation). We had chips & dip & lemonade to snack on, and we finally got to meet the college student who has been working with David on grant proposals for a class this semester.

Spring Break

This week is Spring Break for both Utah school districts here in Cache Valley. I don't know about Idaho, but I haven't had any response from the Idaho schools at all this year. So no substitute teaching and no presentations.

The last two weeks, however, have been pretty busy. I've been to River Heights and Wellsville Elementary Schools for a whole days worth of presentations each, and North Park Elementary had their science fair. I did a very informal tour of the solar system for the science fair presentation, as people were coming in and out at different times. And then the biggie: My first middle school presentations using Stellarium was last Tuesday at Spring Creek Middle School in Providence. I spent the entire day giving 6th grade presentations. A student teacher at Spring Creek was actually the one who contacted me, so the presentations were all on constellations for her classes and her cooperating teacher's. Her advisor from Utah State University showed up, so I had a chance to talk to him.

The 6th grade constellation presentation is specifically designed to answer some questions for the kids that appear on the state exam. One of the questions shows a diagram of the Sun at noon, with the line art of a constellation behind it, another constellation at the eastern horizion, and a third on the western horizon. The kids are asked to identify which of the three constellations the Sun will be in when it sets. The correct answer is the same one as it is in at noon, but from working at the Clark Planetarium, I learned that this is not an easy question for 12-year-olds to understand. The other questions I try to answer have to do with the coordinate systems used in astronomy, and the relationship between star brightness and star distances. If anyone has a 6th grader, or knows a 6th grade teacher, please let them know about our programs, and direct them to our outreach website, Jr Science & Astronomy (http://starhousediscovery.org/jrsciastro.html)

LtUE 29

This weekend I was at Life, the Universe, and Everything XXIX, The Marion K. “Doc” Smith Symposium on Science Fiction & Fantasy. On Thursday morning, I was on a panel on Using the Scriptures for Story Ideas. Oh yeah, this symposium happens at Brigham Young University. Later, I was on a panel about Time Travel, Quantum Physics, and Parallel Universes. That one was a lot of fun. On Friday, my husband gave a presentation on When Plants go Bad. My final presentation was Using Stellarium in the Classroom. It was part of the Educators' Conference on Saturday, and not many people came. I think LtUE needs to improve advertising to teachers, 'cause even those who came to my presentation weren't school teachers but parents.

We had a lot of fun hanging out with all our ConFriends, and met several cool new people. Actually, we made it a point to meet new people, such as sitting next to unfamiliar faces during panels and at the banquet. We also bought XDM, & my husband is planning to run some games using it. I'm looking forward to that.

Letter From IRS

Today we had our monthly board meeting, and Arno came in with a sad look on his face & a sad tone in his voice. Earlier this week we had received a letter from the IRS. He starts reading it to us...

We got the 501(c)3 status! We are now officially a nonprofit organization! Now we can start going after lots of grants! YAY!!!

Can you tell I'm happy about this? This is a major milestone. We successfully jumped through the hoops, and now there's more paperwork to fill out. Well, there would have been more paperwork to fill out regardless, but having that official little number 501(c)3 and our code that goes with it, will help a lot.

Oh, yeah, the code - there were several strings of numbers, & we aren't sure which is the relevant one, but we'll figure it out, & we can give it to people and organizations who give us money. But most importantly, there are now organizations willing to consider giving us money which wouldn't even talk to us before.

*Happy Dance*, or as my husband said, "Party time!"

Guest Post - Lunar Eclipses

Today we have a guest post by Tom Miller, a member of the Cache Stargazers, an astronomy club in Cache Valley, UT & ID. The club meets on the 2nd Friday of each month in the Physics Conference Room at Utah State University. When the weather allows, they often get to use the USU Observatory after the meeting.

And now, Tom's Post:

************************************************************************************

Why Total Lunar Eclipses look the totally awesome way they do

(Explanation of Lunar Eclipse Colors)

by, Tom Miller

To really understand and visualize the how and why of the sometimes vivid colors of the partially and especially totally eclipsed moon (which we'll hopefully see next week at December's full moon), just imagine yourself on the moon during the eclipse, watching that same eclipse from the lunar perspective, reversed from Earth. From the moon you would be watching a total solar eclipse with the sun going behind the Earth. Remember, the Earth appears 4 times larger across in the lunar sky than the moon appears in the Earth sky! But the sun still appears almost practically the same size as the sun and moon appear from Earth.

Relax and imagine what you would see, watching the sun disappear (or lets even say "set") behind the Earth in your jet-black lunar sky. Less and less of the sun lights up your lunar surroundings as the sun slides slowly behind the Earth in your alien sky. As the moment of totality approaches from where you relax on the moon, your surroundings grow darker grey with some slight yellowish and orange color now added to the moon-scape around you. If you block the glaring bit of remaining sun from your view you can see the rest of the Earth before totality, or at least a thin brightening ring of sunset defining where the dark Earth is.

As the sun finally and fully disappears (that part can take about an hour) behind the Earth in your lunar sky, you now clearly see that bright, full and very thin ring of sunset brightly surrounding whole darkened "New Earth" phase of the Earth. You would now be able to see some city lights doting the night side of the Earth which fully faces you. The sunset ring near the edge of the Earth where the sun just disappeared looks much brighter and more yellow because the sun just "set" there, while parts of the whole sunset ring around the Earth further from there look less and less bright and more orange and even reddish, much like a sunset looks on Earth, also depending on the amount of smoke, dust and other sunset reddening factors in Earth's atmosphere at the time, as you would expect to see on Earth at sunset as the sun slips a little further below the horizon of Earth.

And that's why the moon looks the very nice yellow to orange to even reddish colors it does during a total lunar eclipse, lit by a bright ring of Earth sunset as seen from the moon. From Earth you will watch this lunar eclipse cross part of the sky as the Earth turns from beginning to end of lunar eclipse. But, from the moon, the Earth would stay at a fairly stationary spot in your lunar sky while the sun appears to move behind the earth, making just over one 360 degree circle of the lunar sky per Earth month while the Earth remains fairly stationary while going through the same phases we are familiar with the moon going through as seen from Earth.

************************************************************************************

Thanks! Tom.

If you have any questions, please e-mail Tom

Presenting, again & at last

The Thursday before Thanksgiving was the first school presentations in over a year. We have a new format now, since the Jr Engineering equipment all got sold to a school in Idaho. Now I am taking only a laptop to the schools. This laptop has on it an open-source program called Stellarium. "Stellarium is planetarium software that shows exactly what you see when you look up at the stars. It's easy to use, and free."1. I can control time, show artwork for multiple cultures star lore, and even travel to Mars in my presentations with Stellarium.

On the 18th of December, I gave presentations at Sunrise Elementary School in Smithfield, UT for grades K-5. They went very well. For Kindergarten, 1st, & 2nd grade, I tell the Greek & Iraquois stories of the Big Bear, and the story of Andromeda & the Sea Monster for late fall/early winter. For 3rd grade, I do a presentation on the planets, which includes zooming in on Jupiter & the Galilean Moons, Saturn, and Mars, then changing our location to the Spirit landing site and looking back at Earth. For 4th grade, I do a presentation on the Navajo Skies, matching their social studies curriculum rather than the science curriculum. For 5th grade, I give a general planetarium, introduction to the night sky presentation, what stars/constellations/planets are currently visible in the evening, how to find them, and a little bit of information about them.

Today, I gave a presentation at Wilson Elementary in Logan, UT. Wilson does things a little bit different than most other schools. During the last 30 minutes of the school day, a different grade has time for special presentations each day. The teachers get collaboration time, and the students meet with the Library, Music, PE, & Computer specialists, and often they will bring in people to do special presentations or do art projects. This week, I am doing the presentations, and today was 5th grade. It didn't go so well, though. We couldn't get the computer to talk to the projector. So I had to wing it. I talked to the students a bit about light pollution, and then drew the Dippers on the board, showing them how to find Polaris, and then connecting the dots for Ursa Major, and I even tried to draw Ursa Minor. The kids kept talking to their neighbors, or if I asked them to raise their hands to answer a question, a bunch of them just shouted it out. It was rather annoying, but I can't really blame them because the equipment was not working. After school, the Music specialist & I did manage to get the computer to talk to her classroom projector (which is portable), so when I get there tomorrow and the rest of the week, I will just go into her room & get her projector, and hopefully, it will be working for the rest of the presentations. But just in case, I'm going to look for all the various NASA pictures I have collected over the years and take those with me as a backup.

1. quote from the Stellarium.org website.

Getting the Word Out

Yesterday I was substituting at River Heights Elementary, one of the schools I had taken the Jr Engineering StarLab to in 2009. One of the teachers at lunch was talking about when to schedule taking his class down to the Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake. I told him how we're working to get a planetarium here in Cache Valley, and about the Faraday's Holiday Event we are planning for December 28. That's right, we have a date. It will be at the Whittier Center once again, from 7pm - 8:30pm. I still have to take the check to the Whittier Center, but if everybody's schedules work out, I hope to be able to do that today. Then we start "officially" advertising it. I'll put it on Facebook, on both the StarHouse Discovery Center group page and my page. I'll also look into putting it as an event that people can RSVP to. I'll post it on Twitter, at the public library, look into getting it on the marquee at the Opera House in Downtown Logan, and of course update our website.

Last year, we had 80 people come to the event, and 7 booths of organizations presenting their work. This year, we hope to have more.

Lazy & Links

So I said I was going to write more. Yesterday, I worked on the StarHouse Discovery Center and Cote du Ciel websites, & got started writing grants. I should probably spend more time today writing grants, but I don't want to. Part of that is that Walmart requires a non-profit organization to already be on the IRS's published list of 501(c)3 organizations. We're not, yet, but our paperwork is in, & we've heard back from the IRS. Apparently, our application is in review, but one of three things will happen to it: 1] it will be approved, 2] it will be approved with changes, or 3] they will assign someone to work with us to get it to the point that it can be approved. This sounds to me like the IRS wants to approve 501(c)3 applications on a general principal, and understands that most people don't understand the tax code at all. If either of those were not true, then there would be no reason for them to work with us to get our application to the point that it can be approved.

Meanwhile, some cool links:

Women in Wetlands a few months ago posted a book review, about a young woman who loves chemistry, & uses it to solve a mystery.

a friend from the SCA, Ray Zentz got a job offer he couldn't refuse, but too far to commute every day. They didn't have time to find a new home, so they're camping in a yurt in another friend's backyard for the winter! In northern Utah!

another SCA friend is teaching astronomy in high school, but her degree is in biology & chemistry. I sent her to the Open High School Earth Systems course for a text book, and Stellarium, 'cause it's fun & free.

More Writing

So I recently found the Women in Wetlands blog, and she has a whole series on how scientists have to write (& publish) and suggestions to help people write better. One of her suggestions was to make writing a priority, & the first thing you do when you sit down to work. That way, everything that contributes to procrastinating become interruptions. So I'm going to try that. If I don't have work substituting, then the first thing I do each day will be writing. I may not always write on the blog (I started a story about 10 years ago, this would be a good opportunity to get back to it), sometimes I may be updating content on the StarHouse Discovery Center or the Shire of Cote du Ciel websites, but I'm going to make writing my first priority when I sit down at the computer. I may actually get some grants written, so we can then get a new portable planetarium and start delivering content to the schools once again! I think I will start right now.

Giant Star Party Morning After

Last night was the Giant Star Party at the American West Heritage Center. From what I could see, it was a big success. There were wagon rides, story telling, about half a dozen telescopes, a glow-in-the-dark tea party, space-related crafts, & a gunfight! I gave star show presentations using a freeware planetarium simulation software, Stellarium. I gave four presentations, & had between 15-20 people at each one. I'm not sure how many people total came to the star party, I'm going to have to get a hold of David & Chris at the AWHC to find out exactly how many people came. It looked like there was well over a hundred people watching the gunfight at 10 pm, though. The event wasn't officially over until midnight, but most of the activities ended at 11 pm, & most people started leaving then, so that's when we started cleaning up. I had everything (papers scattered across 4 tables, money from donations, lightning ball, hydraulic robot, Galileoscope, Leonardo bridge, pens, jars, basket, Arno's laptop, my own 8" Dobsonian telescope, dinner, extra clothes to deal with the change in temperature, and multiple boxes & bags for everything to pack into) back into my Bug by 12:30 am (Saturday). I've said it before, & I'll say it again, Bugs are awesome. When I unpacked it before the party started, the people who saw everything come out were amazed. I love my Bug.

Once I've had a chance to process everything, I'll post a report on the success of the Giant Star Party. Hope to see you there next year.