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| What I've been making for Peo (and Corran's work Christmas party, despite his inability to attend since he's in Oz, but Peo still wants to go) for the past day and a half: ( large pics under the cut ) | ||||||
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Blatherings
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December 18th, 2009
December 16th, 2009
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| Cooooolness: http://www.skytopia.com/project/fra | ||||||
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November 23rd, 2009
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| Want to know more about why fructose (and therefore high fructose corn syrup) is bad for you on a biological level? This is a really interesting lecture (it is about an hour and a half long but worth it, and it's mostly listening with only a few slides you really have to look at, so you can do other things while listening) that goes into depth about how the body deals with fructose and sucrose badly: One thing I didn't know: apparently some formulas now contain as much as 46% corn syrup solids, which is leading to an obesity epidemic in six-month-olds. I never bought formula so I've never looked at the ingredients so maybe it's not in all of them, but damn, even being in one...if that's not a good reason to breastfeed I don't know what is! | ||||||
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November 16th, 2009
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| For those who aren't worried about BPA in plastics, here's more to consider: Study links BPA in plastics to erectile dysfunction
Now, most people reading this will never be working in a factory where they're exposed to high levels like that. However, it does mean that those of us who purchase products containing BPA are contributing to the health problems of the workers. In essence, our convenience is poisoning other people. It'd be nice if we had more choices to not have to purchase it at all, but since it's in almost all canned food, that's very hard. And it does make me wonder about the long-term safety of exposing kids to the stuff. | ||||||
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November 6th, 2009
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| There has been a lot of consternation and fuss over the last week or so that Hydrogen is so far away from Helium on the periodic table. Since they're 1 and 2, Peo wants them side by side. Oh, she'll tell you readily enough that she understands that Helium belongs in its column because it's a noble gas, but since Hydrogen is unassigned, she wants it moved over beside Helium. I don't have a good answer for why she shouldn't be right. She's also been playing with her letter magnets in an anthropomorphic way lately. This morning the two play themes met: Peo: "Moooooom! Hydrogen is lonely and has nobody to play with, so Oxygen is going to play with him!" me: "Good idea, because Oxygen likes to play with Hydrogen. Lots of elements like to play with Hydrogen because it's so reactive. In fact, Oxygen really likes to play with two Hydrogens at once." Corran: "Yeah, but Helium isn't!" Peo: "Yeah, so Hydrogen and Oxygen are going to take a class and Oxygen is going to help Hydrogen in the class." Me: "Is it a class about water?" Peo: "Yeah. And baby Boron is sad because it keeps falling over." Followed by self-play with elaborate narration regarding baby Boron and Mother Boron being helped by other elements, Mother Boron lecturing some elements in playing nicely, and later shouts of excitement that, "Part of Neon is in MY NAME! I have some Neon in my name!" | ||||||
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October 28th, 2009
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| During dinner last night, Peo announced that she could not possibly go to bed because she had to get to Chicago for her paleontology club meeting. She was not pleased when we said she couldn't go to Chicago right before bed time, although she was less upset than when we refused to drive her to the airport a few weeks ago for her flight to China/Cartoonland to meet Kai-Lan in person. We have since been informed that the reason we haven't ever seen a Cartoonland plane is because they travel underground. (Of course if there was a paleontology club in Austin that let 4 year olds attend, I would totally take her.) | ||||||
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October 27th, 2009
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| One of the hallmarks of a "gifted" person that distinguishes them from other smart people is that, if you ask them a very basic question, you will frequently get a convoluted/overreaching and quite possibly incorrect answer. This is because the gifted mind assumes that a very basic question must have some other side to it, a hidden agenda, a trick answer, or something else to make it worth asking. It's a significant problem in testing gifted people of any age, because a badly made test can result in a highly gifted and knowledgeable person looking clueless. It's one of those things Corran and do ourselves, and when we spot it in others, we make a mental note that they're someone we might want to get to know better. Peo has demonstrated this occasionally, but came up with a good version on the weekend. After I took her to that Spooky Science Extravaganza I posted about earlier, I was trying to get her to recount what she'd seen to Corran. Regarding the experiment where the kids dragged a soapy film over bowls that contained water and dry ice, Peo told Corran that the bubble was filling with gas. I asked her what kind of gas it was, hoping for her to give a basic description like "white" or "cloudy" or "smoky". Instead, she frowned with thought for a moment before carefully guessing, "Noble?" | ||||||
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Gacked from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} noiseinmyhead and will have to be shown to Peo when she gets home from school:http://thesoundsofscience.com/videos.ht | ||||||
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October 24th, 2009
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| I took Peo to GirlStart's Spooky Science Extravaganza today, which necessitated quick completion of her Tyrannosaurus Rex Skeleton That Has Just Been Dug Up By A Paleontologist costume (her choice, her description). I guess I did okay with quickie printouts of dinosaur bones from a Google image search, plus a paper-mached-over dinosaur hat thing from the dollar store (to be able to paint it black and white like a skull), because she won the prize for Cutest Costume. She says her favourite thing there was the demo of "blood cells" using candy. She also really enjoyed holding bubbles full of dry-ice-smoke, eating a graham cracker frozen in dry ice so smoke would come out of her mouth (I was a bit worried about the safety of that one but it went just fine), and picking apart an owl pellet for bones (which was pretty hard with adult-sized latex gloves on so we brought it home for further dissection later). My favourite part was when she surprised the lady at the "blood cells" table by beating her to the punch on the explanation of what white blood cells do. I also dug the volunteer going around in a giant Beaker costume (as in the icon). | ||||||
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October 17th, 2009
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| Here's a nifty milestone...Peo built her first electronic circuit today. With gobs of help from Corran, of course. She got a book called The Amazing Book of Facts at the resale shop yesterday and she's big-time into it. This morning she was reading about electricity so Corran decided to help her build a circuit. She explained to me how the electricity goes around and around, and how she has to touch the foil to the LED's wire to make it light up. She also explained to me that one AA battery wasn't enough and that they needed two. Video and pics were taken, and one of these eons I'll catch up. :) PS Only two years until she can start kindergarten... | ||||||
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October 16th, 2009
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| I was sitting with some other parents outside of Peo's music class and we were discussing school and whether each of our kids likes it or not. I said that Peo loves it and was furious with me yesterday because as far as she sees it, I made her miss the morning of school to take her to the doctor where she got jabbed with needles. Worse, at first I said she'd only get one because the doctor said that, but then it turned out she needed four (she couldn't have the combo because she's had her full dose of one of the ones in the combo). So I said that I was getting angry glares all morning for depriving of her of school and taking her to "a place where people HURT ME!" The other parents laughed that knowing laugh...except one. Who then jumped down my throat about the mercury in vaccines. I immediately thought, "Do I get into it with this person or leave it?" I decided to leave it. But then she repeated about vaccines having mercury in them and that not being safe. So I got sucked in and said, "Actually, they don't have mercury any more." She said, "Yes they do." I sighed and said, "Some childhood vaccines used to have thimerosal, which contains mercury, but they haven't had it in years." She says something about being a research biologist so therefore she knows about such things. I said, "Okay, whatever, but you're wrong. I was worried about it too and my pediatrician has shown me labels on vaccines that indicate they are thimerosal-free." (Actually it was our Vegas pediatrician and I'll admit I haven't had the Austin one do so, but that's because I know thimerosal has been phased out for years.) So of course, she brings up the autism thing. To which I said that the MMR study often cited as "proving" the link between vaccines and autism was a badly done study with something like 12 kids, several of whom exhibited signs of autism BEFORE they got the MMR. I said, "A study of 12 is not good science." One of the other parents nervously said, "Um, I'm pretty sure they don't put mercury in them any more." So the anti-vax woman keeps going on and on, and eventually I said, "Look, I respect those parents who choose not to vaccinate. I let them know when my kid has been vaccinated so they can keep their kids away for a week or so. I support parent choice. But I don't have a lot of sympathy for the parents who post to message boards complaining that they're boiling sheets for their five kids with mumps because if they made that decision." She was furious and told me I had no right to tell anyone how to decide for their kids, and then snidely said that if I chose to vaccinate, that was my problem. And I said (probably stupidly), "And if someone else choose to live with sixteenth century medicine, I'm not obligated to feel sorry for them if it doesn't work out." Then she told me off for being insulting and starting such a discussion. I pointed out that she was the one who started it by coming down on me for having vaccinated my kid. She said that wasn't true. I said yeah it was. She said she wasn't judging me, so I repeated back her initial statements and of course she didn't like that. She demanded that we drop it. I said, "Okay, then drop it." She says, "YOU drop it!" I said, "It's dropped!" She says, "Then you have to stop talking about it!" I said, "I have! If you want it dropped, then drop it!" She says, "YOU drop it!" again. I rolled my eyes and said, "It would be dropped if you would stop telling me to drop it!" She stormed off. One of the other mothers had slipped away earlier. The one who was left and I then had a lengthy conversation about how it's kinda sorta important to read the CURRENT information before espousing to others. She was the one who had said she was pretty sure the mercury was gone too. She pointed out that those who choose not to vaccinate can largely do so since the rest of us do vaccinate and keep many of these diseases from being so prevalent in the first place. We talked about autism levels being on the rise and all of the various factors that might or might not be part of that, and how maybe the thimerosal was involved, but how the fact remains that the standard childhood vaccines just don't have it anymore. Then we talked about how frustrating it can be when people decide something is true, even when it's not, and spread it around with authority and other people believe that and that's how myths get propagated. I brought up the example of pineapple juice in infertility...a few years ago it was all over the fertility discussion that vast quantities of pineapple juice could help you conceive. I had the audacity to ask if there was clinical data on that and ruffled some feathers. I don't know if it helps or not, maybe it does. I know people who had trouble conceiving for years and then drank pineapple juice and got pregnant. But I also know people, like myself, who had trouble conceiving for years and then one time it finally worked and no pineapple juice was consumed. Correlation is not causation. I also know that for women with PCOS, carb intake must be strictly managed to keep estrogen levels stable, and juice of any kind is counter-productive. So spreading around anecdotal information can actually be dangerous. Maybe there is clinical data now about pineapple juice. Maybe there will one day be conclusive, well-researched proof about vaccines and autism. But right now, the FACT is that the mercury has been removed from all childhood vaccines. There are flu vaccines with thimerosal but there are also ones without and I know that's what our pediatrician uses. Some vaccines never had it at all. Here is a government table that lists information on thimerosal in vaccines, because nobody should take my word for it any more than the person who spouted off at me today. I suppose one could say that the government is biased and might be lying and hiding mercury in them, but that reaches a level of unlikely conspiracy that I refuse to discuss as plausible. If people want to argue about whether vaccines are a good idea or not, that's one thing, but I do require that people bloody well get their facts straight before jumping on others, mmmkay? The mercury was there in some, it is gone now. Point. | ||||||
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October 5th, 2009
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| Peo learned the Mandarin words for red and green ages ago on Ni-Hao Kai-Lan. Today I did her a nice turn and looked up a bunch of other colours on a Pin Yin dictionary. Then I whipped up a document with very large text and put each set of words (the Pin Yin/Mandarin and the English) in the corresponding colour, since we have a shiny new colour laser printer. She loved it, and was particularly excited that I'd put the first seven in ROY G BIV order, since she's learned about ROY G BIV from the TMBG Here Comes the Science DVD. But as Corran pinned the document to the wall beside her maps just now before bed, Peo realized (with some prodding by Corran) that in Chinese, the colours don't spell out ROY G BIV. So she shouted, "Chinese Roy G. Biv isn't Roy G. Biv at ALLLLLLLLLLLL! He's someone DIFFERENT!" And then giggled maniacally. Incidentally, before anyone gets envious of a 4-year-old who is committing the periodic table of elements to memory, realize that today she got up while she was supposed to be napping to insist on reading another element first. I acquiesced just to get her back to bed, but then she lingered at the poster, whining things like, "Awwww, not Lithium! I've already done Lithium! I know all about Lithium." Repeat ad nauseum with a half dozen other elements until I finally made her pick one, and she did, then ran into her room and slammed the door. *sigh* | ||||||
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October 4th, 2009
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| Peo got sick yesterday. She had a fever after her nap and then when we tried to feed her some chicken soup for dinner, she claimed to be full, then wandered off and barfed her earlier meals all over the living room. At least we can confidently say that Seventh Generation's carpet cleaner does appear to get out blueberry barf stains... She knows that when she's sick she gets extra TV time (and she has attempted to oh-so-dramatically fake illness in the past to get this benefit, though it has never worked because she'll cough and say she's sick so I'll say then she needs to go to bed and then she'll either admit she was faking or claim she's suddenly better), so this morning she told Corran that two of her red blood cells were feeling better but three red blood cells were still sick, so she needed to watch three extra things on TV. At the end of each, she dutifully reported a new healthy red blood cell. One is still sick at this time. Oh, and we had to explain that white blood cells fighting off germs was a good thing, because on the TMBG video, they look angry and Peo knows that fighting is mean, so she thought white blood cells were bad guys. In other childhood geekery, we were talking about Mars, Red Rock Conservation Area in Vegas, blood, and other things that are red because of iron. Peo wants to know if the skin on her plum is red because of iron...anyone know? Presumably not everything red in nature is iron... | ||||||
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October 2nd, 2009
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| Peo has just asked Corran if there's also a Periodic Chair. | ||||||
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September 30th, 2009
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| I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that I'm probably the only mother who ever had to console her crying almost-4-year-old due to having excitedly gotten a kids' book about the periodic table out of the library only to be CRUSHED, nay, DEVASTATED to discover that it didn't cover Curium. "*sob*sob* But I wanted to read about Curium because it's number 96 and I like 96!" (The book appears to only cover naturally occurring elements.) | ||||||
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September 28th, 2009
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| Last article post of the day, I promise...but this was just really nifty in a medical-science way: Blind Woman Sees With 'Tooth-in-Eye' Surgery - basically, they remake an eye in a sort of mouth kind of way. It's kind of meaty reading that might gross some people out, so be warned. I thought it was nifty. | ||||||
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| Isabella Rossellini teamed up with Sundance Channel to make a series of short web films about weird mating habits in all sorts of species. They're very interesting and done with a lot of humour and fun sets/costumes, although there are some parts that some might find gross, and it's almost certainly not work safe. http://www.sundancechannel.com/greenpor There are three seasons, accessible by the tabs on top of the video, and some extras for those who like background info. Seasons 1 and 2 are shorter and stick to the mating issues for the most part, while Season 3 videos are a bit longer with some environmental comments as well. If you dig this sort of thing, I highly recommend Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation: The Definitive Guide to the Evolutionary Biology of Sex, which was a lot of fun and not overly technical, making it great for adults and even older kids. If your kids are old enough to know about sex and you're not offended by them seeing comical/artistic representations of sex organs, the Green Porno videos might be okay for them too. Obviously, watch first and decide for yourself. Peo's far too young but I'm sure teens would love this stuff. eta there's a news story about the videos here: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wir | ||||||
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September 25th, 2009
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| Pi digit recitation is soooo last year. Now it's memorizing the periodic table (thank you, TMBG!). We have to cap how many she's allowed to read before bed like we used to have to cap how many words could be spelled/read before bed. Today during lunch I decided to see what's stuck so far. Me: So what element is H the symbol for? Peo: Hydrogen! Me: What about O? Peo: Oxygen! Me: And C? Peo: Carbon! Me: Do you remember what number carbon is? Peo, thinking: No, what? Me: 6. They all have numbers. Peo: Yeah, hydrogen is 1. Me: That's right. What about He? Peo: Helium! It makes balloons go high in the air! Me: Yes it does. What about Fe? (I was trying to be tricky.) Peo, immediately: Iron! And it's my favourite element! Me: Why? Peo: Because it's a metal, and I love metal things. Me: You do? Peo: Yeah, because robots are made out of metal and there was a BIG robot that shoots pongo-pongo balls out of its MOUTH! See, last year at Maker Faire there was a giant robot that shot ping-pong balls out of its mouth and Peo still has hers as a coveted prize... I suppose learning the elements is like building blocks to someone bent on world domination, eh? | ||||||||
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September 18th, 2009
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| So Peo's into the new TMBG DVD, and there's a song on there about the periodic table. It mentions that most living things are made mostly out of four elements. Corran says this morning, Peo told him she's made out of four elements, and her heels are made out of helium. :D | ||||||
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July 28th, 2009
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| Here Comes Science (Amazon.com Exclusive) [CD/DVD] now available for pre-order, release date is September 1. I just ordered three copies...one for Peo and one each for her Aussie cousins to be sent home via GrandparentMail. | ||||||
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Blatherings
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