WallBond Life

The annual egg hunt. Thanks to the Bunny for the bounty!

We started the day with a political rally for local school board candidates at Columbus Park. Then we had a quick bite to eat at Starbucks, where the tables were designed and painted by the kids in Pierce's extra-curricular art class. The table Pierce worked on is the one taken by the guy with the laptop. We got the table that Pierce's friend Kieran worked on. And coincidentally, the next thing on the agenda was Kieran's birthday party at a local pizza place. Kieran is the one at the head of the table (naturally!). (click to enlarge pix)

The third Concert for Young People at the Lincoln Center this season celebrated the rhythms of Spanish music. The high point for me was the Concierto de Aranjuez by Rodrigo which featured the energetic classical guitarist Pablo Sainz Villegas. I saw this same concerto as a child with my family and I still have a clear recollection of the music and the guitarists, the incredible Romeros. It was great to hear it performed again so well. Deirdre's always been a little (ahem) hostile to classical guitar but it appears that, after this concert, she's come around!

A late season snow storm hit Hoboken. The first good snow fall of the winter (and probably the last). Click on the link below the photo to see a few more pix (all taken from our apartment window).

From Snow Day!

The Super Bowl pre-game activity for Pierce and me was deriving Pi from first principles. You may be surprised at how much fun can be had doing this! As usual Pierce provided graphical elaborations and comic relief.

A delightful surprise snow fall this morning as seen from my seat commuting to work on the New Jersey Transit train from Hoboken to Madison. This little video was shot after leaving Summit station.




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Over the Holidays, Pierce and I ran a home experiment with phosphorescent algae. Phosphorescent algae are, in essence, single-celled plants that live in the ocean. When stirred up a bit they glow, but only at night. This is a result of a simple chemical reaction in the algae that produces light as a byproduct - a similar reaction occurs in glow sticks. When stirred up during the day (in a dark room), they don't. This observation forms the core of the experiment: do the algae have a "biological clock" and can it be reset? Can we "train" the algae to glow during the day? Another question: is the presence and absence of light required to support phosphorescence?

For $35 (including shipping) we got 9 test tubes of algae, Pyrocystis fusiformis, via overnight Fedex from Sunnyside Sea Farms in California.



Here's a brief video clip showing how they sparkle and glow. The algae glow green to our eyes but the camera's sensor interpreted it as blue.



Pierce and I put together the experimental apparatus, dubbed the "ACEB-3000" by Pierce (Algae Confusion Experiment Box). Note the confused algae looking at his watch.



The box contained three smaller boxes: one contained 3 test tubes that lived in the dark for the duration of the experiment, 3 test tubes that lived in the light for the duration of the experiment, and one that contained 3 test tubes that lived in a light/dark cycle that was opposite to what the algae were used to.




Unlike the previous science demonstrations (electrolysis of water, strawberry DNA extraction, and yeast balloon - sorry, we neglected to blog about this one), this was a little closer to a true experiment since it involved hypothesizing how the algae might behave during the course of the experiment, logging data at regular intervals (3 times a day over 5 days), analyzing the results, identifying potentially anomalous results, and discussing how the experiment could be improved if we were to run it again.

Here's the graph of the results showing that we were able to quickly change the algae clocks. It also shows that the both the all-dark and all-light algae were able to phosphoresce, albeit feebly. Click on the photo to enlarge.

The family (and Chinchilla) played tourist today as we finally got around to going to the top of the Empire State Building. Express tickets are *the* way to go. We bypassed three *long* lines and didn't have wait at all on our way to the top. Definitely worth the extra $$!

Here's an album of our quiet but enjoyable Christmas. Unfortunately a persistent cold virus kept us away from our usual Christmas Eve children's service at the charming 150 year old St. Matthew's Lutheran Church and visits with friends. Click on the title below the photo to see the album and enjoy it virus free!

From X-mas'09

Click on the image to enlarge. And if you are interested in how the card was created, here's an overview.