Space

I've been looking on the NASA web site and it is planing to visit the moon again. Next yr they are selling off the space shuttles and using new spacecraft (Orion) first to go between earth and the international space station then go to the moon for a week at a time, later up to 210 day missions. They plan to have an outpost on the moon. NASA also then wants to go to mars. Though being further away it will be a longer mission. 6mth traveling there 1.5 years there then 6mths traveling back to earth.

October Sky

Inspired by a movie that was on tv yesterday afternnoon, called October sky, I have been looking on the internet at science/maths stuff. October Sky is about a young boy called Homer, who lives in Coalwood, a place where everyone works at the coal mine and the kids expect to grow up to work in the mine. Then Sputnik flyes over-the first orbiting satalite-and Homer is motivated to build rockets. A true story, he now works for NASA.
I have learnt that in the atmosphere there are parts of 'ionisation' that influence radio waves called sporadic E. I think this is what my grandfather was researching. The sun causes free electrons which reflect the radio waves down if at the right frequency. Sciencists can find and measure the (concentrated) free electrons, which gather together they call them clouds.

Cardcaptor Sakura

We have just bought some dvd's of Sakura the cardcaptor. It is a Japaneses cartoon about a school girl, Sakura who finds she has magical powers to capture the clow cards that will bring catastrophe on the world if she doesn't catch them. They were originally done in Japanese though some episodes have been translated into English. We have all of them in Japanese, with English sub-titles. It is interesting to hear some of the Japanese and understand it. I have been looking in my Japanese text book more often to find out what words mean. But I don't have a full dictionary so I can't look up all the words. Ray has found some things about the language on the Internet but is disappointed there isn't more.
We also bought a collection of movies by Studio Ghibli, who have made 14 Japanese cartoons. 7 have been translated into English and the other have sub-titles. I have seen some of these movies on TV, on SBS.

ed... words

As I have been looking though the dictionary as I try the crosswords I have found some interesting words. Like eddy which is a small whirlpool or smoke moving like a small whirlpool. Then a white-flowered alpine plant - edelweiss is the next entry. It follows on to have Eden (Adam and Eve's original place) and edentate which is without teeth. I wonder if I can put these into a sentance or short story?
As the couple walked along the river bed they noticed an eddy in the water where the small creek joined the river. Around this area were edelweiss' in bloom refecting the snow that was around in winter. She said 'This is a great place to bring up children, seems just like eden,' she stroked her rounded tummy, 'I wonder how long our baby will be edentate? when will he start teething?' He replies ' We can worry about that when it comes.'

Time for a jumper

The weather has changed from 40 to 20's in a week, now it is cold. For those complaining about the heat now wear jumpers. It has been overcast and we have had some rain. Nice to hear and smell the rain again. The grass may turn green from the brown it is now. It has been dry.
The water on the side of the road reminds me of last year when there was a flood in town. Though I doubt it will flood now.

Mind power

Each week there is a crossword in our local free paper. I have started filling them in, though I'm not that good. I eventually grab the dictionary but is not always helpful. Recently Ray has been taking them and filling them in for me.
I also have my text book from school on Japanese. I have been reviewing the language. I think I have forgotten a lot but am learning it quickly. I don't think that I will be able to speak it fluently though, it is only a hobby to keep my mind active.