NORAD Tracks Santa

Every year the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD tracks Santa on his flight around the world to deliver presents to children who believe in him. NORAD provides information on how Santa does it all in one night, where Santa is now and the exact dimensions and capabilities of Santa's sleigh among other things. Children can even call in and talk to an official Santa tracker at NORAD during the jolly fellow's big flight. This is a great site and I, for one, will be checking in all Christmas Eve to see just how close Santa is to my home town.

Kiss Your Brain!

I am pleased to announce that my educational website is up. My e-book for kids ages 3-7 will be available soon and we are planning a lot of fun things for the site. Right now the free activity from the e-book is available directly from the new site. I promise it it fun for everyone and super easy to do. The site is http://www.kissyourbrain.com.

Cool Physics Website

I found this great creative site that has a variety of physics games to play with. This is one of the most enjoyable sites I've run across so far. The creative construction tool as interesting and challenging for people from about age four to adult. One of the animation games comes with lesson ideas for primary teachers.

I encourage you to check this one out. But make sure you have some time to play! This one is definitely a brain stretcher. You'll find it at sodaplay.com

Doom by Nancy Christensen

Battle done, I lie
Limbs stilled, voice silent, I live
Crow's wing touches face

There's No Such Thing As Too Silly

One of my favorite silly sites is Eric Conveys An Emotion. The title is self explanatory. What is most amusing about this site are the complex scenarios people have asked Eric to react to.His responses are very inventive and often really funny!

In looking over the site it doesn't seem that Eric has been keeping it up lately. Perhaps Eric has gotten a life. It's still worth a visit and I can only hope that Eric makes room in his life for more reactions. His site is a classic!

Eric Conveys An Emotion

Can You Define Human?

What is it that separates human beings from the animal kingdom? Where do we draw that line? Is it merely the scientific designation of Homo Sapien? Is there anything we have inherently that distinguishes from our nearest genetic relatives, the great apes?

I have no intention here to argue about the existence of a soul and get into the debate about whether or not an ape or any other animal possess a soul. For the record I believe in both God and Evolution. Perhaps later I will be willing to open that can of worms, but not now.

The argument used to be that man was the tool user until we found out that the great apes make nests and use grass blades to catch ants. Chimpanzees have even used sticks and rocks as weapons to kill prey or to wage war on other groups of chimps.

The new argument has been that man is the only animal that uses language. That benchmark of humanity has been badly eroded over the last fifty years. There have been many studies where apes have been taught sign language or some other symbolic form of communication. Apes do not have the physical structure for vocal speech. It is also true that they have no natural symbolic communication as far as we have been able to discover, however, I find it interesting that they have the same speech centers in the brain as humans. If they did not they could only parrot our gestures, not combine them for true communication.

If the claim then, to human superiority is the degree of intelligence, the ability to handle abstract concepts, then we are on shaky ground. Apes have demonstrated fairly sophisticated problem solving skills in behavioral experiments. There is also a photograph of KoKo the gorilla who is probably the most proficient of the "talking" apes, when she was told that her kitten was killed. In that picture it is impossible to miss the raw grief she felt. She clearly understood what she was being told. Death is an abstract concept.

Moreover that particular gorilla has been tested as having an IQ on the human scale of 75-95. How can we differentiate her from a human with the same IQ if the difference between ape and human is intelligence? Are there then degrees of human? Is a gifted child considered more human than a retarded child?

I do not expect that our species who have not yet learned to treat other humans humanely will be extending the privilege of human rights to the great apes anytime soon. Nor am I a member of PETA or a vegetarian. I do have concerns about our treatment of the animals we eat, but again, that's a discussion for another time. I am merely suggesting that we treat our nearest relatives a bit better. The bonobo for example has DNA 98.4% the same as ours. Could we possibly stop experimenting on them in painful ways? Can we insure the ones who perform in shows and circuses decent living quarters and fair working conditions? Could we perhaps exhibit them in large preserves rather than zoos? I would like to see care of a great ape to be more like an adoption than a sale. I would like to see us extend just a bit of human compassion towards our cousins. I don't think that's too much to ask.

For more about the bonobo go to Bonobo Initiative

For more about KoKo go to The Gorilla Foundation

The T.W.I.N.K.I.E.S. Project

I ran across some interesting and important research into the properties of the humble Twinkie while mindlessly surfing the web yesterday. Students at Rice University in Huston in an attempt to avoid studying for finals conducted these experiments. Surprisingly they found some useful applications for the snack food.

This research seems to have been conducted at their own expense. It's refreshing to find a place where academia conducts inquiry for it's own sake rather than to garner a government grant.

I was also pleased to see that they use a multidisciplinary approach, presenting their results in haiku form. I found this to be a helpful and educational site. I recommend it for both adults and older children.

A Little Jazz Poem by Nancy Christensen

I've got my own beat
It starts at my feet
It rise to my hips
It flows from my lips
As it takes off like a bird in flight
Winging through the cold dark night
She's hoping for an early dawn
To warm her heart and make her strong
I'll find the place where the beat of my feet
and the beat of my heart
and her wings will meet
The rhythms there are sweet

image from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This is just fun!

bɹo.ʇxǝʇdı1ɟ.ʍʍʍ//:dʇʇɥ ʇɐ ʇı puıɟ ¡unɟ ʇsnظ sı sıɥʇ ʇdǝɔxǝ sıɥʇ ʇnoqɐ ʎɐs oʇ ǝɹoɯ buıɥʇou ǝʌɐɥ ı ¡uʍop ǝpısdn ǝʇıɹʍ ¡sɹǝpɐǝɹ ɹnoʎ ǝsnɟuoɔ ¡spuǝıɹɟ ɹnoʎ ʎɟıʇsʎɯ .uosɐǝɹ ʇuǝɹɐddɐ ou ɹoɟ ǝʞı1 ʎ11ɐǝɹ ı buıɥʇǝɯos sı ǝɹǝɥ

Introduction

Allow me to introduce myself. I am a single parent. I have three grown children and one still at home. I have six grandchildren so far. I am starting a new career as a writer. I can't wait to find out what happens next! I am happy to be. I have a lot of pets. I find much of life to be funny. I believe in treating others with kindness and respect. I appreciate irony. I love learning new things! I believe words are the only magic there is. Anything that powerful should be used with caution. I have way too much imagination. I see the world as a wonderful place filled with unexpected surprises. I want to share some of them with you.