Family Adventures

The Art of Baking Bread - by Lily

2012-02-04T08:00:00.001-06:00

My friend got me interested in bread baking recently. Who wouldn't love a fresh loaf of bread first thing in the morning? So I got myself a brand new bread machine as a Christmas “treat”. It has dual blades with option of self-programmable process. I was eager to try it out.

My first loaf was done during the day because I wanted to watch the process and make sure the machine functions well. I followed the French bread recipe, my sons’ favorite, and the bread turned out very well, crusty outside and soft and chewy inside. Then I started to set up the machine at night time and program it so we can have freshly baked warm bread ready for breakfast. The first try turned out all right, a bit dense than the first loaf I made. I figured it’s because the liquid wasn’t warm so the yeast action was slow. I increased the time for kneading and rise and the second try turned out perfect. To wake up in the morning in the aroma of freshly baked bread is just heavenly.

Then I started being creative, adding different spices and trying different flavors. Things went awry. My bread was still good to eat but it was either too dense or having a gnarly top. This is like failed experiment, very frustrating, and I am determined to get it done right.

Saturday afternoon while I was browsing in the library, I realized that I should get a book on how to make bread. There were plenty to choose and I picked one with pictures and detailed explanation on techniques. Of course the book is about making bread by hand, not the quick and easy machine made bread. But the explanations on the action of each ingredient and the purpose of each step are very helpful. Each type of flour and yeast has its own trick, the amount of salt and sugar all matters, even the type of water makes a difference. I guess I didn’t fully understand the function of each ingredient before I started fooling around with the recipe, a big no-no in doing experiment! And with bread machine working overnight you don’t have the option to adjust the amount of flour or water during the process; the machine won’t wait extra five minutes for the bread to proof better if the yeast action is slow. So everything has to be fairly precise.

“Drooling” over the pictures of various delicious breads I also realized there is a big difference between wanting and liking to do something and mastering and perfecting it! It is the consensus that the bread made by hand kneading is the best. But how to knead the dough, how to fold it, how to recognize the texture of the dough at each step, all of these matter and all of these take experiment and practice to perfect. I guess I’ll have to wait until I retire to master that skill. For now, I’ll focus on getting a perfect loaf out of my bread machine every time (preferablyJ).

A Speech about Engineering at a Elementary School

2012-01-28T12:00:00.000-06:00

I gave a talk about "A Career in Engineering" at Nick's elementary school on January 19, 2012, as a part of the school's career week activities. The opportunity came in December 2011 when Lily forwarded school counselor Ms. Clark's solicitation of volunteering speakers for the college week and career week in January. I quickly replied to the solicitation offering to talk about engineering as a career option. I also told her that I would use power point presentation for my talk.

The preparations

To be a volunteer of any kind at our school district, I first have to go through a routine background check via the online application for a volunteer position. The application took about 5 minutes. Then preparation of the talk started.

I treated this presentation just like any professional presentation I make.

I thought for a few days about what to talk about engineering to elementary school students so that they wouldn't be bored about the subject. Collecting pictures, cartoons, graphs from everywhere to make my presentation more lively to the youngsters, writing about speaking points, thinking about punch lines ...... I spent a full winter holiday day drafting my 24 page power power point presentation.

Then I spent a couple more hours the night of 1/8/2012 going through my presentation a couple more times, correcting typos, changing phrases, adding details. I also rehearsed a few times until I felt that I could deliver the presentation smoothly.

The Talk

The talk was given at a large assembly classroom equipped with standard conference room hardware - computer and projector. It turned out that I would give the talk to half of the fourth grade students, including Nick. I know quite a few students in the audience, , Michael, Jefferey, Eric... since I was their soccer coach for a few years.

As my laptop was starting up, Ms. Clark gave a brief introduction to the students - "Nick's Dad is going to talk to you about engineering today. Please raise your hand if you have questions during the presentation ..."

"Good Morning everyone", I started my presentation. The students replied in unison, "Good Morning".

"I am Allan.I am a mechanical engineer. Today I am going to talk to you about choosing engineering as a career". Looking at those curious young faces, I was pleased that I came to give the talk, "Looking around, engineers play critical roles in almost everything you see ......."

My talk included 5 parts:

1. What is Engineering?

I used many examples with pictures to show the diverse fields of engineering: The world's tallest structure is the 829.84 m (2,723 ft) tall Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Civil Engineering); Ford Explorer SUV (Mechanical Engineering); Boeing 787 dream liner (ME, Aerospace Engineering, Material Engineering); computers, cellphones (electrical engineering, computer engineering), Computer Game Super Mario Brawls (software engineering).

The students were really interested - I raised a few questions to engage them, many of them asked questions on their own. With all those examples, I gave them a formal definition of engineering: "Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes"

to transition into next part.

2.How do you prepare for a career in Engineering?

The key point here is to relate what is needed to what they learn now.

the

a. Scientific Knowledge – Physics , Engineering Mechanics, Electrodynamics , Chemistry, Geology……Scientific knowledge are typically represented via mathematical equations.

b. Mathematics is the fundamental tool for science, engineering and technology

c. Modern Engineering is mostly team work. So communication, both verbal and written, is very important

Acquiring knowledge for a career in engineering is an accumulative process. Your preparation starts at elementary school - NOW! - all the way to college

Science

Math

Language

Writing

………

3. Best Engineering Schools

I gave a list of top universities for engineering and Texas universities for engineering.I also talked about degrees - B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. When I told them I have a Ph.D. in engineering, it led to discussions about difference between Ph.D. and M.D.

4.What is an engineer’s day like?

a. Brain storm meeting for concept development; Study of literature; discussion with co-workers
b. Put concept into drawings; conduct engineering analysis
c. test new designs on computers and/or in the laboratories
d. write project reports, finalize designs and send design to manufacturing.

A typical development engineer's day : Mostly in office, work on computers; have project meeting and other meetings; may work as individual or on a team; development can be form days to years

5.Why choose Engineering?

It is interesting and fun
It is challenging
It is satisfying
It improves the world
It helps to make a good living

Feedback

Ms. Clark was very pleased with my talk from the length of the talk, to the format, to selection of materials. From conversation with her, I could tell that my talk was more formal than others, and she was impressed with my Ph.D. as well - my title changed from Nick's dad to Dr. Allan. She ended her final remarks to students with "Let us thank Dr. Allan again for his wonderful presentation".

Nick gave me a passing grade - "you did pretty well!" when I asked him about how I did for the presentation at dinner table that day.

A Casual Fan Watching Football Games

2012-01-21T18:00:00.000-06:00

I started watching football at a Super Bowl party many years ago when I was a graduate student. Not knowing anything about football, I asked the host the rules of the game, what to watch for ......gradually I could appreciate the game and now I watch NFL games regularly on Sundays.

When watching a game, I have to root for one side to enjoy the game.

The teams I have relative strong opinions are among the better teams - I rarely watch below average teams' games. The main factor that influence my opinions on a team is the personalities of the team - primarily that of its stars and head coach.

My favorite teams this year include Green Bay Packers, NY Giants, and Pittsburgh Steelers. The main reason is that I like Quarterbacks on these teams - Packers' quarterback Aaron Rogers, Giants' Eli Manning, and Steelers' Big Ben - who had off field issues this season though. They are humble, they respect opponents and they let the game speak for itself. Of course their glorious past that I witnessed is also a factor.

I also rooted for Denver Broncos. The reason was the media's unfair treatment of Broncos' quarterback Tim Tebow because he is a a very religious person. I rooted for his installment as starting quarterback on his team, I wished him success. When Broncos played my favorite Steelers during playoff wildcard game, I actually rooted for Broncos because I wished Tim Tebow well. What a game it was!

The teams I don't like this year include New England Patriots, Baltimore Ravens, New Orleans Saints.The reasons are their arrogance, or condescending demeanor, or pompous behaviors on the field and in the press room.I was pleased to see San Francisco 49ers beat Saints in the Wildcard game. I don't think I will watch AFC championship game between Patriots and Ravens. I wish NFC champions will be Super Bowl champions.

Despite the brutal physical nature of the football games, I enjoy the games for the the tactics and strategies coaches scheme, the athleticism players display, and the dramas that come with the games.

Great Sand Dunes National Park

2012-01-14T13:10:00.000-06:00

On the way to Wolf Creek for our annual ski trip, we visited Great Sand Dunes National Park.

Great Sand Dunes National Park is about 60 miles east of Wolf Creek, in southern Colorado. The centerpiece of the park is the Great Sand Dunes, which rises 750feet above the floor of San Luis Valley. It is the tallest Sand Dunes in North America.

As we were approaching the Park, I noticed some brownish hills miles away near the snow covered rocky mountains. I pointed it out to Lily that those must be the great sanddunes, and she was underwhelmed - "that's it?" The Great Sand Dunes are dwarfed by the Alpine Peaks of Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

We stopped at the park entrance to take a family picture at the sign, with Alpine snow Peaks in the distance and clear blue sky above.It was a cold but beautiful day at the park. We then proceeded to the visitor center to learn a little bit about the natural history of the Sand Dunes. In a nutshell, the sand dunes are formed due to three factors - sand from San Luis Valley floor, wind (blowing to the mountains and blowing back from the mountains during storms) and water (from Medano Creek and Sand Creek). Essentially the valley provides the sand, the opposing winds deposit sand at the location of Great Sand Dunes making the dunes to grow vertically, and the creeks bring additional sands to the area.

When we reached the foot of the sand dunes, the great sand dunes blocked our view of the mountains behind it, we focused our attention totally on the sand dunes. We were in awe - the smooth, aerodynamic curvatures, the beautiful sand patterns changing as we looked around.

We started to climb the sand dunes by walking along the ridges. A short distance into the sand dunes, we encountered Harvey and his family, who were resting at a small sand dune. Nick somehow was very active that day - he decided to climb the great sand dune. He and Harvey led the way, the rest of us followed. I was the last of the group in the ascend - stopping frequently to take pictures, and enjoy the vista. Despite the fact that Nick and Harvey were only a hundred yard or ahead of me, they were in and out of views frequently due to the constant curvature changes of sand dunes. About 30 minutes, Nick and Harvey reached a local peak of the sand dunes, Lily called them to stop because we did not plan to climb the summit - it should not be hard, we did not have sunscreen on, more importantly we did not have water with us. All of us were on the return trip, except me, I continued to the local peak before turning back.

Winter is apparently not the best season to visit the park - the Medano Creek is dried up, it is very cold there in the valley. We plan to visit the park again in a summer - to camp at the foothill for two days, to climb the summit of great sand dunes, to explore the sand dune wilderness

Wolf Creek and Alberta Peak

2012-01-07T08:00:00.001-06:00

Wolf Creek Ski Area is located in Rio Grande National Forest in southern Colorado. The base area elevation is 10,600ft, and Alberta peak is the summit of mountain range in the area, with an elevation of 11,907 ft. Wolf Creek boasts to have "The Most Snow in Colorado" with annual snow fall of 485"! We went to Wolf Creek for our 2011 ski vacation at the end of the year.

The Ski Trip

After 7 consecutive year skiing at Taos, NM, we decided to make a change. After much deliberation, we eventually decided to go to Wolf Creek. The distance to the ski area from our home is about 800miles, and it take about 14 hour drive. Instead of trying to complete the drive in a day, we took it easy, we took two day time to reach there - stop midway around Amarillo area - on the way to the ski area, we stopped at Dalhart, TX; on the way home we stopped at Amarillo, TX. This made the driving not so demanding any more, in fact somewhat relaxing - we got up on the days of travel at usual time, we arrived at the destinations during day time.

Because of this travel arrangement, we had time to take side trips. On the way to ski area, we took half day to visit Great Sand Dune National Park, which is only about 60 miles from our hotel at Wolf Creek. On the way home, we visited Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge.

Due to the fact that we encountered winter storms in every odd years, Lily paid extra attention to weather forecast before the trip. Because of her diligence, we avoided the two snow storms in the week of 12/19/2011 by delaying our trip for one day; of course it also meant a lot more hassle for her to change hotel reservations . The ski area received about ~ 15" snow fall before we arrived, and stayed sunny through out our stay there - perfect for us to enjoy the ski vacation.

Skiing

Mountain Peaks at Wolf Creek are about as tall as those at Taos, NM. But the base at Wolf Creek is ~ 10,600ft, and that at Taos is ~ 9,207 ft, so the relative altitude change at Wolf Creek is about half of that at Taos. The ski trails at Wolf Creek are thus shorter, less steep, but wider than those at Taos. All of us found that it was very comfortable skiing on those trails - no problems at all at intermediate level trails - the blue trails, which emboldened us to try more difficult,advanced level trails - the black trails. Justin can ski at black trails, without much difficulty - the rest of the family however had some troubles there.

The first day, Nick was pleased to find two friends from school by chance to ski with. His friends are very familiar with the ski area since they had been there quite a few times before, and they have similar skiing skill as well. Hopping on and off lift chairs with friends, skiing on hidden trails in the woods, racing down the wide trails, he had a fantastic time! Justin spent the day on his own, exploring various trails, and testing his skills on moguls and black trails. This left Lily and I by ourselves, skiing at own pace.

The second day, I had to rest due to fever the previous night. While I read a book on kindle " The letters of a homesteader women, Eillinore Pruit Stewart", Nick skied with his mom most of the time since his friends left already, and Justin continued his solo skiing - checking on the east side of the ski area at Alberta lift.

I was back in action on the third day. I ordered the kids to ski with us on the first run because Lily wanted to have a family picture on top of the mountain. Right after we had a family picture with snow covered rocky mountains as background, the boys sped away, leaving Lily and I by ourselves again. When Lily took breaks, I skied with Justin a couple of times, once we went to Alberta lift area - had a nice run, once he took me onto black trails and moguls. While he was racing downhills on those trails, I snailed and sweated on the slops.

Climbing Alberta Peak

Lily and I were by ourselves after lunch. One run from the top of treasure lift, I suggested to Lily that we climb the Alberta Peak. With a moment of hesitation, she said "Why not!".

Of course we did not climb the Peak from the base. The climb started at the top of the treasure lift - which has a elevation of 11,775'. A trail on the mountain ridge links the lift stop to Alberta Peak, and it is about a mile long to the Peak.

Warning signs at the trail head reminded us that we were in avalanche area! We left our skis and poles there and started our hike to the Alberta Peak around 1:30pm. The trail was relatively wide, the snow was frozen, the wind at the 11,000' mountain ridge was strong. We moved forward in our heavy ski boots without too much difficult because a good portion of the trial was actually a shallow downward slop.

Half way to the peak, we stopped to take a break and looked around. Wow! We saw blue sky, snow peaks, grey rocks under bright sunshine - snow covered rocky mountains in all directions. The whole ski area was under our feet; it seemed even the far away blue sky was under our feet.

The final ascend was about 150ft, and very steep - we could not see the the summit from where we stood! The frozen snow made it difficult to have a good footing on the steep slop. Lily decided to stop there. I, on the other hand, kept moving forward, and really started climbing the peak on this final stretch.After about 10 ~ 15 minutes climb, I reached a relative leveled section on the slop, where the final orange warning flag was blowing; I saw a boat shaped bleacher under a rock - apparently it was for emergency rescue. The summit was only about 20 feet above me now, and the fianl trail was steeper, the previous climbers' footprints revealed very deep snow. Fearing avalanche and tired, I stopped there, turned around, waved to Lily - who was over 100 ft below me, and declared to myself "mission accomplished!"

2011 Family Adventures

2011-12-31T08:00:00.010-06:00

It has been a good year for exploration.

In the extreme cold at the beginning of the year, we wandered around the neighborhood to enjoy the rare occasion of winter wonderland at North Texas. At the height of the hottest summer on record, we discovered Oak Point Park and Nature Reserve for a comfortable bike ride and a wonderful picnic. We also discovered Hagerman Wildlife Refuge for birding and hiking. We had many fun time with friends - Spring Break at Lake Ouachita, Arkansas for four days with a friend's family: hiking in the woods, paddling in the lake, strolling on the beach, and skipping stones along the shoreline. Even cooking and eating was fun during those days!! It was a blast for all. We went to Berry Picking with five other families. We also went to Lake Ray Roberts (for the nth time!) with many families of Nick’s soccer teammates for an Easter outing, and stayed there for a one night camping.

The 8 day trip to Banff and Jasper National Parks of Canada was the highlight of the year. In Banff and Jasper, everything is close to each other - glaciers, waterfalls, canyons, mountain peaks, glacier lakes, all packed along trans Canada highway 1 and highway 93. We felt we were immersed in the beautiful and elegant environment full of wild life. It was so easy to access trails to mountain peaks, we hiked more than 55 km in the mountains, and gained 2500m in elevation.

2011 has also been a year of exploration in literary and intellectual world.

From how seedless watermelon is grown to how to draw a circle; Form golden snub nosed monkey in China, to the world of butterfly, Nick also explored nature through reading.

From Feynman to UARS and Nutrinos, From Asher Lev to Tiger Mother, we learned modern physics a bit more, we expanded our social perspectives via other culture, other people's experience.

From Triangles to Circles, Nick learned some geometry; From Triangles to Infinite number series, I dug into elementary math along the way. From gravitation in a toy to impact dynamics in washing machine, I utilized my professional expertise to understand the mechanics of objects we use daily.

Be healthy, enjoy nature physically and literarily - that summarizes our 2011 family adventures.

The Longest Word - by Nick

2011-12-24T08:00:00.001-06:00

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is the longest word in the dictionary I have found so far. I first heard of it when some of the students in my grade at Tong Xin after-school pronounced it really fast in front of me when I was reading, and I found it really, really annoying. I eventually learned that it is some form of a lung disease caused by breathing in fine dust. I have now learned how to say it too! It has exactly 45 letters, can you believe that?! (go to page 1109 in Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language it is the 23^rd entry on the left column).

Technically I found a word online that is 189,819 letters long which is something like methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl……………………………………That is the chemical name of titin the largest known protein. It is gigantic. There is also another word that is 1909 letters long. It’s the longest published word. Even so, I think pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is a really cool word because it is the only one among these 3 words that actually in the dictionary. You should learn how to say it fast, just for fun!

P.S. It is pronounced noo-moh-noh-uhl-truh-mi-kruh-skop-ik-sil-i-koh-vol-cae-noh-koh-nee-oh-sis

Note: when I asked Nick what he was writing about for his journal on Sunday, he pronounced this word - I had no idea what he was saying, I thought he was playing a prank on me. When I checked on his journal, I thought that it was interesting that he chose to write about it.

Tiger Mother - I finally read it

2011-12-17T08:00:00.017-06:00

- by Lily

While I was reading my friend's blog on kids education, an idea came to my mind that maybe we should write a book to counter the views of "Tiger Mother". Of course I'm talking about Amy Chua's "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother", a book on her view of why Chinese way of education is so much superior. At that time I had not read the book, but had heard a lot about it, mainly how extreme her methods of education are and how offensive it is to many Chinese parents.

I figured if we want to counter her view, I'd better read her book first. So I picked up a copy from the library. Much to my surprise, I found the book much more enjoyable than I had imagined. Maybe because I've heard too much, I didn't feel offended by her book, to me the book is more about Amy Chua herself, her views of child education, and her path of educating her daughters. Amy Chua is hot tempered, strong willed, dedicated, determined, and unapologetic for the ideals she champions. It doesn't matter whether her method works (for her older daughter) or not (the younger rebel), she charges on despite disapproval from family members. She is brutally honest about herself, right or wrong she brags them all. She is neurotically competitive, it is rather hilarious to see her charge on everything and boss around everywhere, and even her dog has to be the smartest and the best. I just can't stop laughing at that passage.

To her credit, at the beginning of her book she did emphasize that she's using "Chinese parents" and "westerners" on loose terms; although later in the book she abused the words, even her family members told her to stop labeling everything either "Chinese" or "western". I have to say that she did capture some of the characteristics of the "Chinese" way of education; actually I wouldn't call it "Chinese" way, I've seen many parents of various ethnicities who care about kids education using similar "techniques". I know parents who sign up all sorts of classes for their kids without the consent from the kids. I've heard parents comparing their kids to each other and to other people's kids. A lot of us have "bullied" our kids one way or another out of anger or shouted out empty "threats" when we are out of wits. The only difference is that Amy Chua pushed everything to the extreme and persevered with a vengeance.

I do think she's right about one thing, setting higher goals for the kids does help them achieve more, and pointing out their shortcomings does help them improve faster. There are many ways to do this though, be it strict rules or gentle persuasion. As parents we want to bring the best out of our kids and I think we have the right to demand them to do their best in every way they can. Kids are just kids, immature in many ways, sometimes they need a reminder to do better, and that’s part of our job.

However, the dreams we have for our kids have to be realistic, the goals we set need to match their talents and interests. What Amy Chua didn't give enough credit is her daughters' natural talents. Being able to read alphabet is not something an ordinary 18-month old can do. Both girls' music teachers recognized their unusual talent right away. It is because of her kids' inborn talents that her method yielded quick and early success, which only fueled her engine of determination. I can imagine her method will fail miserably when applied to many other kids, in fact, it didn't even work well for her younger daughter. Another important element that's missing from Amy Chua's "drill" method is to instill a love of learning in kids. She was too busy competing; too busy being number 1 on everything. What is the long term result? Take her as an example, she grew up being the best student in high school, graduated from Harvard, but went to Harvard Law only because she didn't want to go to medical school. She even made it to Harvard Law review, but found herself had no interest in litigation, no interest in any legal issues, those are her own words from the book, although she did find her niche eventually.

All being said, there is no fixed model for kids education. As the famous story goes, Confucius answered the same question from two of his students differently according to their personalities and helped both of them. This is why education is such a hard task, we as parents need to really know about our kids rather than trying to fit them into a mold. It is a lifelong learning experience for all of us.

Movie Night @ Home

2011-12-10T08:00:00.014-06:00

We don't watch movies in theaters very often in recent years. But Lily did start a new tradition for our family - movie night at home Friday or Saturday night from time to time. In these nights, we might watch a new DVD movie we bought for the boys, or a borrowed DVD movie from local library. Lily would make popcorn on the night when the movie is for the whole family - sometimes popcorn is the incentive for the boys to move away from video games or online chatting.

When we go to local library, we just check what DVDs are available. We will borrow a DVD if a title of interest to us is available right then; either it is a highly acclaimed "new" movie, an Oscar winner years ago, or seems interesting per back-cover description. It is not uncommon that movie we borrowed turned out to be boring, when this is the case we will just quit watching, doing something else instead.

We have watched so many movies at movie nights, I lost count of what we have watched. I do vividly remember several good movies we enjoyed since this summer.

Popcorn Nights

We usually take the boys to movie theater to watch a few movies during summer vacation time. It was so hot this summer we did not go to movies at all, we watched quite a few movies together, however, at home.

We were thrilled by "Angles and Demons" despite the fact that we knew the end of the story already since we listened the novel on audio before; we learned a bit semi-history in the process. "Mrs. Doubtfire" was so funny and educational at the same time; we laughed so hard, and appreciated the value of a nucleus family more at the same time. There are many forms of family, a nucleus family with father, mother and children is the best for children.

"King's Speech" was a funny, yet serious movie - an interesting story line with profanity-laden language from the king, along with superb acting of the main actor revealing the frustration, self doubt and anguish at himself for stuttering, made us laugh and think. It also showed the ultimate unfairness of monarchic system - that person is placed to a position based on who his parents are, and the order of the birth, not the capability and capacity. It was also a movie of profound educational value to us since public speaking is our weakness.

"2012" was the most recent movie the whole family watched together with popcorn. It is a movie about the end of the world as we know it - so it felt scary and chilling. Two story lines carried the movie. One is related to the discovery of abnormal earth temperature by government geophysicists indicating imminent catastrophe. The other is about a divorced California father taking his two children to vacation at Yellowstone. In the end it showed how they escape the catastrophe, in the process discovering government's secret plan to let few privileged to escape the catastrophe through several secretly built Noah's Arks.

Those are wonderful nights. We enjoyed the popcorn and the movies together, shared our thoughts, likes/dislikes in the process via a brief comment or a sigh, or an exclamation....on a scene, an incident, an action. It is a good vehicle for parents to influence their children's moral standard naturally.

Old Movies

Of course not all movies are appropriate for the whole family to watch together, e.g. R rated movies are not good for the boys yet. Some old movies have too slow a pace, and with a background too far away from the boys' reality so the children don't like them. That is when Lily and I will have our couple time to watch the movie.

We watched two, very old, Oscar winning movies recently - " A Wonderful Life" and "Roman Holiday". The story in the movies develops slowly to the climax at the end. The characters' feelings, emotions are revealed to us gradually .

"A Wonderful Life" has a hilarious start, sometimes seems to be ridiculous. But the turn of the events in the story made me feel heavy at heart midway through. In the end, I could not stop the swell of my tears!

"Roman Holiday" is a movie I knew about before; I either watched it or watched clips or trailers of it. Last week I picked up the movie and recommended it to Lily. Audrey Hepburn was the young princess visiting Italy, and Gregory Pecker was a journalist trying to interview the princess. It is light hearted, delicate, touching and lovely. We enjoyed it on Friday night last week.

Nonfiction

The documentaries we borrowed are mostly not watched in the end, be it about travel, or about nature, or about science and technology. "Einstein Revealed" is the last documentary Lily borrowed for the kids to watch.

I started watching the two set DVDs during a week day evening while cooking dinner. I was quickly attracted by the history of the development of relativity. It was entertaining to see the real Einstein in life; it was enlightening to go through his mental tests, "running at the speed of light" related to special relativity, "observing lightening strikes a pole on a moving train" related to time-space relation, or general relativity; it was satisfying that I could understand the solar eclipse validation of general relativity and explain it to the rest of the family in my own words.

My enthusiasm led Lily to make Justin and Nick watch the DVD during a dinner time! An exception in our house.

Movie night at home is a good family activity.

Hazards In the Yard

2011-12-03T08:00:00.002-06:00

Trimming the two small trees in my front yard the last time this season, I used a hedge trimmer and a ladder in order to trim the tree tops. I was mindful of accidentally cutting the long extension cord during the work. I was really careful: every time I moved the ladder, I made sure I pulled the cord behind me. As I was making a finishing touch trim, I had to raise the trimmer above my head when I was near the top of the ladder, I did not check the cord and as I turned on the trimmer, it went off instantly! The cord was cut - somehow the cord moved to the front of the guard during the process of laying down the trimmer to move the ladder.

This must be the third or fourth time I cut the cord accidentally since I bought the hedge trimmer. Per cord manufactures' warning, I threw away the cord the previous times. This time I was thinking about reconnecting the cut wires and the cord. As Lily and I were about to tie the wires together and use duct tapes to insulate the wires, she noticed that the cord was still plugged to the power outlet! I sweated. She unplugged it, and went on to repair the cord.

There are plenty of hazards in yard work.

Finger Cut

The biggest accident I had in the yard involved the hedge trimmer as well, three years ago. I was working in the yard one Sunday trimming front yard bushes. As I was trimming the overgrown bush branches on the ground, I saw that the trimmer was really close to soak hose. I turned off the trimmer, and my left hand reached for the soak hose to move it away. I reached out too fast unfortunately. The cruising saw on the trimmer cut the flesh side of my ring finger tip - the cut was deep - two thirds of the finger thickness.

It was so quick, I did not feel any pain at all. There was no blood coming out either. The wounded area actually turned pale first. After 10 to 20 seconds, blood started to swell out! I called out to Lily - she used bandage to stop the bleeding and we rushed to emergency room ......

Six stitches, ~ $1000 out of pocket medical expense, three weeks of inconvenience in taking shower ....... lessons learned - wearing gloves, waiting for moving parts stop moving before work around it.

Poison Mists

The chemicals used in the yard for fertilization, weed control is definitely hazardous. We hire professional lawn service to to do fertilization and weed control for us. But I have to spray pesticide from time to time due to the roses in the front yard. Because the beautiful rose is an incubator for a plant disease called rose black. Rose black can cause rose and surrounding plants and trees to wither due to rose black infection.

When spraying pesticide, there will be vapor or pesticide mist in the air, which the worker may inhale. To minimize this hazard, I always wear face mask when spraying pesticide.

Fall and Falling/Flying objects

The only heavy lifting yard work I do is to thin the big trees in my yard.

The number one hazard in this work is fall from high places, either the top of a ladder or middle of the tree when I climb onto a tree to cut branches near the top of the the tree. The number two hazard is the falling tree branches.

Mindful of the falling big tree branches, I have not cut a few big branches I would like to cut. I had a few near misses in this type of work - from falling to hit by tree branches. A friend, who thinned tree during a weekend, hurt himself big time ..... one week stay in the hospital!

Yard Work Safety

Work efficiently is good but safety should be the top priority; slow down for safety

1. Don't rush when using any power tools; when moving up and down ladders.

2. Always wear gloves when work in the yard, especially the hand that does not hold a tool

3. Wear safety glasses when trimming trees and buses to prevent flying objects from damaging eyes

4. Wear face mask when applying fertilizers, spraying pesticide.

5. When checking/repairing electricity powered tools/gadgets/appliances...., turn off power, unplug power cords, and turn off main switch if necessary before proceeding

A Thankful Me

2011-11-27T20:00:00.003-06:00

On this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for my family.

The boys

Raising kids can be tasking but also immensely enriching

Justin's passion for music and art expands our entertainment from going to concerts, to going to ballets and most recently going to musicals - West Side Story. I think we will try opera in the new year. Nick's interest in math leads us to take him to metroplex math circle frequently, which helps to expose him to more interesting math problems. It also rekindles my love of math - evident by the posts on math in this blog.

As Lily tries various ways to expose them to science, nature, and history, I learn a lot along the way! from butterflies to ice age, from Neutrinos to Einstein's relativity. I grow with them, I learn with them.

Most of all, the boys are healthy and strong.

I am thankful.

Lily

The biggest conflict between she and I, is, in fact about the education and discipline of the boys. In the end she makes decision based on what is the best for them.

We have been exercising together regularly on the mornings of weekends since last year - be it sunny or foggy (like this Thanksgiving morning), warm or cold (like this morning); we started playing tennis regularly this summer. These are all marvelous couple times.

While picking books, videos for kids, she also picks books for me to read, movies for us to watch. Our frequent movie night at home this year also helps both of us to relax.

I am thankful.

I am pleased that over the years we have developed many common interests: going camping is always an excitement in our home; kayaking is almost a must to everyone when we enjoy outdoors; annual family ski trip is expected and enjoyed by all.

Be together, sharing one life - that is my ideal of a family life, and that is how we live.

I am thankful.

This Autumn

2011-11-19T08:00:00.009-06:00

After the record hot summer at North Texas, the autumn feels really good - the crisp air, the cool temperature, the change of colors and occasional rains.

In this autumn, colors are as splendid as ever, but not as wide spread as previous years; the moon in the week of Veteran's day was especially clear, even in the early evening. It is hard to take good picture of the moon at night. Shown below was a setting Moon on Sunday.

I can still hear birds chirping, but I did not as see as many American Robins or Cardinals as before. Is it the consequence of the extreme heat and lasting drought?

I did see many more pairs of ducks in the pond at Russel Creek Park, though. There are 3 pairs of ducks in this picture, can you see them all?

Of course, what most special this autumn is that Cheetahs - our soccer team - reached championship game for the first time last Saturday.

"Family Adventures" Blogging Milestones

2011-11-12T08:00:00.025-06:00

Last week "Family Adventures" the blog passed a milestone in readership - 10,000 pageviews.

Readership

In addition to my circle of friends, readers around the world find out our blog by chance. I could tell by the blogger stats, some of this type of readers returned again and again - and become regular readers of our blog. Here is the list top 10 regions for the past two years

United States

United Kingdom

Canada

Australia

India

China

Germany

Netherlands

Russia

Japan

France, Philippines and Indonesia were in the top 10 for October. Greece and Georgia are in top 10 for this week. I saw casual readers from countries or regions I have not heard of before

Popular Posts

Interestingly the most popular post in our blog is not about travel, and it is not written by me. It is Nick's journal on "Golden Snob Nosed Monkeys" despite the fact it was posted only this March.

The second most popular post is not about travel either, it is about math - "Interesting facts about triangle". Another math related post "Fermat's last theorem - a primer" is in top 10.

Our household hardware related posts - "Tankless Water Heater" and "Hitch and Bike Rack" are very popular as well.

Here is the 10 most popular posts of our blog.

1. Golden Snub Nosed Monkeys

2. Interesting Facts about Triangles

3. Big Bend; River Rafting in Rio Grande at Santa Elena Canyon

4. Sagrada Familia

5. Yellow Stone; Water and Mountains

6. Tankless Water Heater

7. Fermat's Last Theorem; A Primer

8. A Trip to China - random observations

9. A trip to China - atypical snap shots

10. Hitch and Bike Rack

Another milestone of the blog is that Lily started blogging occasionally this summer - two book reviews, and one about gardening - hooray!

How to draw a circle - by Nick

2011-11-05T08:00:00.001-05:00

Note: last week, the topic at math circle was "geometry construction using ruler and compass". It took some practices for Nick to get used to using compass when he got home from the presentation. The next day he wrote this journal (edited version is posted).

Drawing a circle by hand is usually very hard. Sometimes the drawn circles look like blobs or ovals, but almost never good enough that you are satisfied with. That is why the compass was created. I am not talking about a compass like a device used to determine geographic direction, usually consisting of a magnetic needle or needles horizontally mounted or suspended and free to pivot until aligned with the earth's magnetic field that points north. I am talking about a V-shaped device for drawing circles or circular arcs and for taking measurements, consisting of a pair of rigid, end-hinged legs, one of which is equipped with a pen, pencil, or other writing utensil and the other with a sharp point providing a pivot about which the drawing leg is turned. It is sometimes also called pair of compasses.

To start, you should make the anchor pin come out of the frame the same length as the writing utensil. When draw a circle with a compass you must hold the compass by the top and apply some pressure on the sharp anchor point and twist the top handle of the compass using your thumb, index finger and middle finger, and then gently tilt the compass to turn, you will draw a very neat circle in a second.

Don’t apply too much pressure on the side with the writing utensil or the writing tips may break. When using compass, use one hand to twist the top handle of the compass, no need to twist your body or hand; use the other hand to keep the surface you are drawing on flat and fixed. Make sure not to hold the compass legs to draw otherwise you will change the radius of a circle and make it turn out weird.

Using this instrument you can draw light circles and then go over them in a darker shade. You can easily change the radius of the circles you draw from very small (when the two legs meet) to very large when you push them apart the farthest you can (but make sure you don’t break it). After some practice I can use a compass to draw perfect circles.

In math, you can use straight edge (ruler) and compass only to construct various geometries. Using the compass and ruler you can figure out exactly the midpoint of two points on your own, the tangent to a circle, and etc. A compass is a very useful tool for geometry although some people may not like it and use a computer program to generate circles and geometry, but where’s the fun in that? I really like using a compass and ruler to draw circles and lines and design patterns and I hope you will like it as well. Drawing a circle and making patterns is really fun. If you like math, you can go figure it out on your own or go to GeoGebra and download it on your computer and play around.

The sum of infinite numbers

2011-10-29T08:00:00.019-05:00

Two weeks ago, at Metroplex Math Circle presentation "Primes and Composite Numbers", the presenter used a formula for the sum of the squares of numbers from 1 to n in his solution of a problem. I thought that I might be able to derive the formula.

1^2+2^2+ .......+n^2= n*(n+1)*(2n+1)/6

To derive the formula turns out to be not trivial, but to prove it was not hard, using induction. During my attempt to derive the formula, I tried converting the problem into a recursive procedure, into a continuous problem instead of discrete problem so that I could use calculus....., all without success (1). The idea of using continuous function for solving discrete number problem stays with me.

The next day, I encountered another formula for the calculation of Pi

Pi = 4 ( 1/1 - 1/3+1/5-1/7+1/9-1/11+1/13 ......+1/(2n-1) - 1/(2n+1) + ...........)

The irrational Pi can be determined by this infinite series of rational numbers - fractions!!

The sum of infinite numbers

My typical approach to find the sum of infinite numbers is to find a formula for the sum of first n terms of the series, and then take a limit (n--> infinite). For example

1/(1*2) + 1/(2*3)+1/(3*4) + ......+ 1/(n*(n+1))+ ......

Let S be the sum of the infinite series, Sn be the sum of the first n terms

Note that 1/(n*(n+1)) = 1/n - 1/(n+1), so

Sn = 1/1 -1/2+1/2-1/3 +1/3-1/4 + ...1/n -1/(n+1) = 1-1/(n+1)

S= Sn(N--> infinite) = 1

This approach is apparently not suitable for the calculation of the formula for Pi listed above

Taylor Expansion for sum of infinite series

Looking at the formula

Pi = 4 ( 1/1 - 1/3+1/5-1/7+1/9-1/11+1/13 ......+1/(2n-1) - 1/(2n+1) + ...........)

the idea of using continuous function to calculate the discrete came back to me. This formula seems to relate to trigonometric functions, arcsin or arctan. Checking handbook of math, I found this formulation of Taylor expansion of arctan (x) when -1 <= x <=1)

arctan(x) = x- x^3/3+x^5/5-x^7/7 +x^9/9 .....+(-1)^n x^(2n+1)/(2n+1) + .....

Take x=1, the above Taylor expansion yield

Pi = 4 ( 1/1 - 1/3+1/5-1/7+1/9-1/11+1/13 ......+1/(2n-1) - 1/(2n+1) + ...........)

With Taylor Expansion of various functions, one can easily determine many seemly impossible sum of infinite series .

(1) Upon literature search, it turned out that more general solution exists, and the sum of powers (fixed exponent m) is always a polynomial of n of degree m+1. I will find the derivation of it and summarize it in a future post.

Fighting for Auto-Insurance Coverage - a story

2011-10-22T16:00:00.002-05:00

While filing stacked files on top of our file cabinet into proper place this Sunday, I came across this bulging FedEx envelope - which contained all the correspondence on a disputed auto insurance coverage. It is a story about Lily's fight to protect her rights.

The accident

A Monday morning last November, Lily called me on her way to work - she had an accident! Her car was damaged but she was not hurt. Here is her description of what happened to the other driver's insurance company.

"In the morning of November xx, 2010, around 8;25am, I was driving on "A" street heading south to work. This portion of the road is a 3 lane one-way street. I was in the left lane. As I was going straight on "A" road, about to cross the intersection of "A" street and "B" Boulevard, a car in the center lane, driven by Ms. M, made a left turn in front of me. That car hit the right front of my car. I stopped at the intersection, while she kept driving on "B" after the collision. But she was stopped by a traffic light after her turn. So I had to make a left turn to catch Ms. M. Ms. M refused to provide insurance information so I called police. Police and a Fire Rescue cars arrived at scene. Police report was filed"

At the time, the police asked both drivers drove their cars to a nearby parking lot and questioned both drivers separately. Lily also asked police to check on the traffic signs on the road - left lane where she was can go straight or turn left; center lane has to go straight (as shown in the illustration).

Simply put, the other driver made a left turn from middle lane while Lily was driving straight from left lane.

The claim

It turned out that Ms. M's insurance company is a small company we have never heard of before , and the company was already debunked in Oklahoma. Lily was distressed, and I tried to comfort her - our insurance company will take care of everything.

Our insurance filed claim for us to the other company through a process called subrogation, and also recommended Lily to let their insurance inspector to check her car and then go to fix the car paying our deductible first. She followed these suggestions. What happened next was unexpected

The other driver, Ms. M., changed her story while responding to the insurance company inquiry. She admitted that she made an illegal turn, but she said that’s not where the accident happened, instead she and Lily both turned at the intersection and Lily moved into her lane after the turn and hitting her car. The damages on the car can’t tell whose story is true, as we were told by both insurance companies. We had to wait for police report to clear things up.

The police report was consistent with Lily’s story. This cleared claim with our insurance company. Ms M.’s insurance denied Lily’s claim, ignoring the police report. The reason they gave to Lily was that "There’s no witness therefore they chose to believe their client and denied Lily’s claim" - ignoring the fact that Ms.M changed her story from what she told police at the scene.

Lily called the adjuster of Ms. M's insurance, and she was sympathetic, and asked Lily to send additional information. After Lily sent additional information, basically a written description of the accident, plus police report, she received another letter of denial of liability (March 2011). She called the adjuster's number at the insurance company, and was told the adjuster was not with the company anymore, and a manger took over the case. She was told the decision was final.

Lily called our insurance company about the denial of liability and was told that the money involved was too small to start a legal fight over this denial of liability. Our insurance company would not do anything!! She was outraged with both companies.

Lily could not let the injustice go.

How could people just get away with lying, how come nobody cares about the truth and fairness? Lily filed complaint with Texas Department of Insurance, she wrote a letter to the CEO of Ms. M insurance company, which was found on the company's website. After these she’s hoping to put a closure on this case.

Late April 2011, Lily received a check from the other insurance company unexpectedly. When she informed our insurance company, the agent who handled the case had a hard time believing it.

In May 2001, Texas Department of Insurance replied to Lily's complain, and relayed the other company's decision to us " .....this claim was reopened, and due to the fact that we never received (our) insured driver's written statement (regarding this accident), the Company decided to accept the complainant's version of loss. ......". It was almost exactly six months after the accident when Lily finally had a closure on this case.

Lessons Learned

First thing first, get a witness when you can, it’s worth a million words.

In cases like this, or even more serious litigation, seek help from friends, colleagues and experts to find a way forward.

In the process of arguments, being impassioned is always better than being emotional.

Our country is a country with law and order ; even though justice sometimes requires time and resources to be upheld.

Don't give up easily on justice, fight for it.

Random thoughts on electronic gadgets and etc

2011-10-15T08:00:00.011-05:00

With the passing of Steve Jobs last week, many people expressed their appreciation, admiration profusely. Most people relate to him via iPod, iPhone, iPad, iTouch .....the gadgets he personified. There is no doubt that he was an exceptionally talented technologist and a superb marketer.

I looked at his impact on the society from a different angle.

Was iPod, iPhone, iPad .... revolutionary?

Was iPhone and etc revolutionary? The answer is NO, technology wise. The iPhone, iPad ... and series are basically repackaging of existing technology. The genius in this series of Apple products is packaging and marketing.

Some commentators placed Steve Jobs historically at the summit of technology along with Edison, Ford. But most were careful, and rightfully so, not to attribute it to his work on the development and marketing of the gadgets, but to his pioneer work in the development of personal computers, with Steve Wozniak.

It is important to note that most literature attribute the inventor of PC to Henry Edward Robert.

The impacts of electronic gadgets and internet

The impact of i-series Apple products, along with other gadgets, and advances in internet on human is historical. They make personal communication, personnel entertainment so much more convenient, which can be achieved essentially any time, any where.

The negative impacts of electronic gadgets and internet are significant as well.

First and foremost is the negative impact on person to person interaction. On one hand it facilitates personal communications, on the other hand, it significantly reduces person to person interaction, especially in the young. Many people text each other more than they talk to each other.

It facilitates distractions from real work - be it being work work, or study for students. It has fostered a generation of young people who can not concentrate on real work, who do not know how to separate leisure from work or study.

Politically, it helps to make the vocal minority louder than ever before.

Is electronic gadget industry GREEN?

One tribute to Steve Jobs was that he demanded perfection in making iPod, iPhone ...instead of using plastic cases for the devices, he insisted on using Aluminum, which made i-series device shiny, slick and fashionable. There is no problem to it if the purpose is to make the devices to last.

From sustainability point of view, the issue with Apple and electronic gadget industry in general is that they encourage people to ditch their perfectly functional gadgets for newer, more fashionable new generation of devices. Unfortunately many young people are addicted to the newest and the gadget industry has its way. Even worse, for those who want to be frugal and fashionable at the same time, they could not hang on to the older devices because there are new functions that are purposely developed not to play on older devices! Worst of all, it is cheaper to buy new gadgets than to repair them. One such practice is highlighted by a headline like this " Apple's pentlobe screws for iPhone take "planed obsolescence to the next level".

Of course it is not just gadget industry, it is the electronic industry, and consumer product industry in general. “E-waste is now the fastest growing component of the municipal solid waste stream because people are upgrading their mobile phones, computers, televisions, audio equipment and printers more frequently than ever before. Mobile phones and computers are causing the biggest problem because they are replaced most often.”

This leads to million tons electronic waste every year. In the process of depleting natural resources, the e-waste also pose threat to the environment and thus potentially harm human life indirectly. In this sense, Apple's i-series devices and their marketing practice helped to amplify this waste.

I am not a fan of electronic gadgets and I resisted purchasing such devices until I saw its practical use for my family. We did not have a cellphone until 2000 and we don't upgrade our cellphones until they are not functional any more. We used our first home computer for nearly 10 years until we had problems with its operating system which Microsoft no long supported. We did not buy any Apple's i-series device until last year - we purchased an iTouch for our teenage son. All functions iTouch provides are available on our second home computer, the convenience it provides, also bring tremendous distractions to him from study and sleep, and headaches to me.

Steve Jobs

His commencement speech at Stanford was replayed many times on network news. It was a great reflection on life. I found its full text at Stanford's website. I read it and I appreciate it more. I excerpt a few paragraphs from it.

"You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on." I can not agree more because I have a similar approach to work and life.

He also said: " .... Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition." So true!! But the generation iPod, iPhone, iTouch .. fostered is exactly the opposite what he pitched. They follow the crowd, they want the newest gadgets because they are new, in fashion and everyone else has it. I don't blame him for it - it is consumerism that our economy is based on, it is the consumerism that drives all business.

Steve Jobs, an exceptionally talented technologist and a superb marketer, a person followed his own heart in life, rest in peace.

Gravity at Work - "Space Force" - a Toy

2011-10-08T08:00:00.018-05:00

"Space Force" was a toy we bought 4 or 5 years ago when we visited Houston Space Center and Science Museum. We placed it on top of the bookshelf along with a model of space station as decoration to our study. From time to time I did wonder that how it could be played - but we lost the box and instruction, so it has stayed on top of the bookshelf all these years.

A weekend several weeks ago, Nick was asked to stay away from computer for an hour to rest his eyes. He wandered around the house, nothing really interested him that morning, so he came back to the study (where the computer is), then he saw the pendulum like toy on top of the bookshelf - he asked me to take it down for him.

How to play

He took the toy to playroom and tried to figure out how to play it. He was quiet and stayed there for an hour or so. Then he declared to me that he knew how to play it.

"You place it on the floor, then place the steel ball at the pinned side of the wires. You push the wires apart slowly and try to make the ball roll as far as possible" . "You see, there are numbers on it:

Mercury -250
Earth 250
Mars 500
Jupiter 1000
Saturn 2000
Pluto 5000

You score points when the ball drop into a hole."

Trying to make the ball roll to the Pluto - the furthest planet and highest score hole, he played it again and again. He was fascinated by it. When he finally figured it out, he asked to have a game with his Mom and easily beat her.

After lunch, he kept playing on. I was curious now - I sat by him, observing him play.

A game of gravity and inertia

The top, or the narrow side of the toy, is lower than the wider side or bottom of the toy, when it is placed horizontally on the floor or a table. When the two wires touching each other at the bottom side the ball will stay at top side.

To make the ball roll to the direction of bottom, one has to push the wires apart - make the ball to fall in between wires, so gravity will make the ball roll and gain speed. If the wires are left apart, eventually the gap (which changes with distance) between them is too large the ball will fall.

The trick: as the ball gaining speed, pushing the wires close, now the ball has to go from low to high, the ball is moving against gravity! No worry, inertia can keep the ball moving forward for a second or so if the speed is high enough. Just as the ball's speed decreases to zero, push the wire open - the gravity will be a favorable force again - pushing the ball toward Pluto!

The competitions

Nick played a few times by himself, and boasted to me that he beat his Mom easily. "Let's play the game against each other" He challenged me. "OK", I said, "But I need to practice a few times". He agreed.

We had a pencil and a piece of paper ready before we start the game. We would each play 10 times, and the one has higher total score win. Nick played first, he got to Pluto once, but he also dropped the ball at Mercury once - negative points. I reached Pluto twice and the rest were all further away from earth. I won the first round.

Nick did not whine, and was in a good mood. After listening to my explanation of the mechanics of the game - gravity, inertia and etc, he asked to have a rematch.

Playing the game requires more than understanding of the mechanics, when one knows the mechanics - by knowledge or by trial and error, it is more of an art - how fast or slow to push the wires apart, when to push the wires to each other, and when to push them apart again. The second time, Nick reached the Pluto 3 times, I got there only once. Nick won the rematch and was very pleased.

This is an educational and fun toy.

My name is Asher Lev, a good read

2011-10-01T08:00:00.001-05:00

- by Lily

I got introduced to this book by my son, who was reading it for English class. “It’s a really good book, I’m glad we are reading it in class,” He told me one night. Out of curiosity, I picked up a copy from the library and found myself drawn to it.

The story is set in a Jewish community in Brooklyn, New York around 1950s. This is a community with many pious Hasid Jews, who keep Kosher, pray three times a day, believe in the master of Universe, and despise art and science. This is where the main character Asher Lev grew up. Asher’s parents are both devoted Ladover Hasid, especially his father who traveled for the Rabbi around the world to establish Jewish community and schools. But Asher was born with a special talent, painting. The story is about how Asher struggled growing up in such an environment with such a talent, torn between his talent, his family, and his religion.

I don’t understand the Jewish religion, and I don’t know much about art. But I am drawn to this book. Of course, the author, Chaim Potok, was a great writer. His exquisite description of how a boy perceives his world while growing up is very touching. Asher’s uncontrollable habit of drawing and subconscious disclosure of his thoughts through his drawing, Asher’s perception of his parents, the mingled feelings of love, longing, anger, and refusal between them, the wise Rabbi, Asher’s unorthodox teacher who not only taught him how to draw but also how to be a true artist, the book captured all of those moments and is filled with true feelings.

More importantly, the issues the author raised in the book go way beyond any particular religion or a specific talent. I can’t help pondering if my definition of “useful” and “useless” skills is hindering the development of my kids’ “hidden” talent, how do you balance everyone’s need in a family without losing yourself, what is the best way to guide a person through life so he can make the right decisions and be true to himself, wouldn’t the world be much more enjoyable if only we can be more open-minded and appreciate each other just a little more?

I feel compelled to thank my son’s English teacher for introducing to us such a wonderful book, and she told me there is a sequel to the book, “The Gift of Asher”. Right, you know what I’m reading now :)

UARS and Neutrinos

2011-09-24T11:00:00.000-05:00

Two pieces of science related news drew my attention this week.

UARS - the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, fell to earth last night or early this morning, but space agency still don't know where it falls yet.

According to USA Today report, the satellite was used to measure ozone and chemical compounds in the ozone layer. The satellite's mission was to last 3 years, but NASA decommissioned it nearly 14 years later. The satellite ran out of fuel and died in 2005. This caused the uncontrollable reentry of the large size space debris, and some uneasiness.

I am curious about how "NASA put the chances that somebody somewhere on Earth would get hurt at 1-in-3,200". I do, however, have a more concrete understanding that the sky beyond our view is full of man-made space junk. Disaster can descend from "heaven".

The bigger news was from CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (abbreviation per french), the famed nuclear physics laboratory. CERN announced last Friday that they found out through their experiment that neutrinos runs just a little bit faster than speed of light!! This potentially can be a serious challenge to Einstein's theory of relativity.

I was very interested at the subject and read a little bit more about it.

" A neutrino is an electrically neutral, weakly interacting subatomic particle, meaning "small neutral one", it is an elementary particle that usually travels close to the speed of light. Neutrinos are similar to the more familiar electrons, with one crucial difference: neutrinos do not carry electric charge. Because neutrinos are electrically neutral, they are not affected by the electromagnetic field which act on electrons. Neutrinos are affected only by the weak sub atomic force of much shorter range than electromagnetism, and are therefore able to pass through great distances within matter without being affected by it. Neutrinos also interact gravitationally with other particles."

Since CERN announced the finding through media hoopla, it seems to me CERN is more interested in media attention than scientific discovery. They should have gone through regular peer review, let outside experts check their work.

Early AP news was "particle might travel faster than light, Einstein could be wrong". After the hoopla, the media was calmer, and now headline read "Challenging Einstein usually a losing venture"!!

Even if the observation was confirmed, it would not invalidate relativity, it would just expose its limitations. This just like Newton mechanics which was pronounced wrong by media when relativity was established. In fact Newton Mechanics is still the very theoretical foundation of our civilization; it just has limitations.

My Tiny Backyard Garden

2011-09-17T22:00:00.002-05:00

- by Lily

Several friends at work have their own vegetable gardens. Sometimes they bring their harvest, cucumbers, pears, or melons to share. Sometimes they bring seedlings to exchange. This year they finally convinced me to take home a purple basil and a tomato seedling.

“Not that I don’t want to have a veggie garden; I need coaching since I’ve never done it.” I warned them. Don’t worry, these are easy plants, just put them on the ground and water them, so they assured me. Well, I do have another logistic problem, space. My hubby would not sacrifice his beautiful lawn for my garden experiment. The only possible place he would allow is the southwest corner of our fenced backyard, where the dirt is mostly from dumps of construction materials - mortars and rocks and not even grass grows well there.

To help the plants, I filled the two pits I dug each with a bag of rich garden soil before I put the seedlings in. And I tried my best to remember watering the plant once a day, of course Allan helped on that end. I also used a Texan’s method of organic gardening per my friends' suggestions: I throw some veggie or fruit peels to my small garden once in a while, to enrich the soil - it is not stinking up yet.

To my delight both plants adapted to their new environment well.

The basil grew tall and wide quickly. Soon I could pick a handful to try out some basil soup. The basil bloomed in August, many shoots of tiny purple flowers. I gathered more leaves to make pesto sauce for pasta, it was quite a success. Basil is annual, right? I panicked. Don’t worry, my friend said, just collect some seeds after the flowers fall and grow some more next year. I collected some seeds. I also “banked” some pesto sauce, saved as frozen cubes that would last me awhile.

My tomato also grew tall, it seemed to thrive under the sunshine. I was forewarned that tomato tree won’t set fruit when the temperature is over 100F; but if it is kept alive then in the fall it’ll bear fruits. I kept watering it and wondered when the record summer heat would subside. One morning in August I found a tiny green fruit hanging on a branch. What a surprise, we were still in the height of summer heat. A couple of weeks later, I found a few more green balls budding. Now I had to watch out for the birds because they peck on red fruits, per my friend's warning. Well, not much I can do there. One day, one of the tomatoes started to turn red. I considered covering it with plastics, but decided against it. The red tomato hung there for almost a week. I guess the birds haven’t discovered my corner yet. So I harvested my very first tomato, small but fresh.

Now I just need a few more tomatoes to make basil tomato soup, all fresh ingredients out of my garden.

Enduring Super Hot North Texas Summer

2011-09-10T15:00:00.002-05:00

Finally the super hot summer of 2011 at north Texas was over on labor day, dramatically - in a day's time the high dropped from 105F to 85F!

It is the hottest summer we have had and the second hottest summer in history at north Texas. This summer we had 68 days of temperature above 100F, and with a record 107F temperature for a few days. The only summer that had more 100+F days was 1980, which had 69 days.

One thing to note was that when the weather was approaching historical mark - 59 days of consecutive 100+F days in a year, local TV news stations and their weatherman/woman became giddy, and kind of wishing that we broke the record?! When the streak was broken for one day, some of them along with some foolish viewers were disappointed. Now they were wishing another 100F day to tie the record.

The prolonged heat led to many real problems.

Electricity Shortage and Waste of Solar Energy

It was so hot, air conditioning was more than an luxury, it was a must. There were several reports of people died from extreme heat, and government agencies urged residents to turn on air condition! For most people, the high temperature means that AC is on almost all day long. This in turn caused electricity shortage in the hottest days - and rolling blackout.

The irony was that the super hot summer caused energy shortage, primarily due to air conditioning, it also provided nearly uninterrupted sunshine all summer long - and thus abundant solar energy. In essence, we use the energy in natural gas/coal (which are primary fuel for generation of electricity) to combat solar energy (actually the heat it generated). What a waste!

If we harvest solar energy, even a fraction of it, we would not have electricity shortage. But short term economy leads to many individuals reluctant to invest in solar energy, and critically government/energy industry not to invest in solar energy enough.

Solar energy is, I believe, a economically viable energy source for long term, especially for southwestern and western states where there are more than 200- 300 days of sunshine. This the area leadership and vision is needed, this is where government can play enabling role - education of public on solar energy and available equipment, incentives to use solar energy, and maybe more tax on coal/natural gas produced electricity to pay for the incentives.

Drought

If the waste of solar energy was somewhat remote to individual life, the impact of the prolonged drought we had in this summer was visible and personal.

The first concern was with the foundations of the houses because the soil in north Texas is primarily clay, which shrinks when dry, and gives away when saturated with water. I diligently kept the perimeter of my foundation moist via daily soak hose watering, water my lawn twice a week, water the trees in the yard once a week. The foundation holds up well, the trees are thriving, the lawn was OK with patches of browning.

Looking around, I saw dying trees in some yards, fractured mortars for tree/flower beds, I also noticed that some neighbors had big trees around their houses cut down - likely due to significant foundation movement.

Now we have city wide restriction on watering lawns. Temperature has been back to normal since labor day but we have not had any significant rain yet. We look forward to cloudy sky and rain, not sunshine :) at this point of time.

Air conditioner and Garage Door

The second concern was with AC and garage door.

We replaced one aging AC a few years back - the other one broke down during one hot weekend this summer. Fortunately it was only the capacitor that we had to replace.

We also had garage door malfunction during very hot summers. This summer our garage door malfunctioned again - it stuck and would not close, 30 - 40 days into the stretch of consecutive 100+F days. I lubricated rollers and shaft; it alleviated the symptom only for a day. Then I thought that it might be due to garage foundation shift - but all parts have such a visible clearance with each other - no moving parts were hindered. Eventually, recalling past repairs, we checked the gears in the motor - due to extreme heat - the solid lubricant in the gears were melted away! We fixed the garage door problem by applying solid lubricant to the Teflon gears.

Adaption

For economic, environmental and personal reasons, we adjust our routines to adapt to the prolonged super hot summer.

We raised our AC thermostat a few degrees higher than previous summers, just enough to make it comfortable at home when we were in shorts. This relived the overworked AC a bit, saved hundreds kw of electricity, and maintained the monthly energy cost below the highest we had before.

Lily and I changed our Saturday morning exercise routine from jogging/running to swimming in August. we reduced the intensity and duration for our Sunday jogging.

It was so hot, we did not want to go out to watch movies. Lily came up ideas of movie night at home for the whole family. We watched "Angles and Demons" and "Mrs Doubtfire" - the last two weeks before the school started. That was the best time the family had at home this summer.

I wonder - how seedless watermelon is grown? by Nick

2011-09-03T08:00:00.004-05:00

Note: Last Saturday we went to supermarket to buy grocery. During the process of selecting a good seedless watermelon, Nick asked his mom how one can grow a watermelon if it has no seed - and she asked him to do an online research to find out the answers. I asked him to summarize what he found in his weekly journal . I found the outcome of his research is comprehensive and informative and so I posted it here.

A regular watermelon contains thousands of seeds. The removal of seeds is really annoying while eating watermelon. What if we could grow watermelons without seeds in it? But how could we grow such a watermelon?

The seedless variety is actually a sterile plant that results from crossing two similar watermelon plants with differing chromosomes. The diploids (2 chromosomes) and the tetraploids (4 chromosomes) mix together to form the triploid (3 chromosomes) since it has 3 chromosomes the number is odd and it is therefore unable to reproduce and so you get a seedless watermelon seed.

The seedless watermelon should be planted in warm temperatures. Experts would recommend that you germinate the watermelon inside a controlled temperature environment where you can keep the watermelon above 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Other people may suggest keeping inside just above 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the vine is 6-8 inches long you may move the watermelon outside. But the soil outside still has to be around 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

There many different types of seedless watermelon you can grow for example King’s Heart a watermelon that weighs about 14 -18 pounds and has a striped outside and a thick rind. Other types of seedless watermelon include Crimson Trio, Genesis, Summer Sweet and Tiffany.
To grow the fruit you need 4 things, land ready for growing crop, a shovel, the seedless watermelon seeds (triploids), and the regular watermelon seeds (diploids). Next to grow the fruit the seedless watermelon (called triploids) must be grown next to the regular watermelon (called diploids). The seedless watermelon is unable to pollinate by itself. Therefore, the regular watermelon helps in the pollination process for the seedless watermelon to get fruit. So dig the holes next to each other where you want to plant the watermelons. In the first hole, plant a diploid watermelon plant. In the next two holes, plant the seedless (or triploid) plant. Continue to alternate until all your plants are in the ground. Make sure to mark down the order you planted them so you can distinguish your seedless watermelon from your regular watermelon once they mature. Then in a couple of weeks the watermelons will grow and you’ll be able to eat the triploids and the diploids in the heat or you can just eat the triploids and give away or sell the rest of them.

The down side of having seedless watermelon is that it is more subject to fungal growth but the upside is that seedless watermelons have a longer shelf life because there are no seeds to break down the flesh.

Kenmore Washing Machine Lid Switch Failure Analysis

2011-08-27T08:00:00.025-05:00

More than a month ago we had another malfunction of our washing machine, instead of dryer, this time it was washer. That morning, after washing one load of laundry, the washer stopped working on the second load - it let water in but won't agitate the laundry!

What failed?

Based on her experience with centrifuge, Lily quickly realized it was most likely due to the malfunction of the safety device on the lid, which we later found out to be a lid switch (see a picture of the stand alone lid switch assembly below) . It was validated: when she used a screw driver to push on the switch assembly, the washing machine started running! I unscrewed the assembly main body from the washer's frame and squeezed it everywhere, and put it back in - the washer could work normally.

However the washer stopped working again the following week. I turned off the washing machine (for Safety!!) and removed the lid switch from the frame again. Upon investigation, it turned out that the plastic case of the working unit fractured. I searched http://www.repairclinic.com/ (note - I used this website to identify the failed part in my dryer previously) and eventually found out the part is officially called lid switch Assembly. We decided to replace the part.

After I identified the part, I went back to look at it again. When I squeezed the fractured part back together, and turned on the washer, it ran again. So I used steel wire to tie the fractured part together and then wrap the bundled part with duct tapes. The washing machine worked fine that week.

Why did it fail?

Typically this part should not fail. I thought about the cause of the failure, and quickly determined that it was due to the fact that we let the lid close on its free fall after loading laundry; in applied mechanics terminology, it is the impact of pin (on the lid) to the lid switch which caused the fracture and shortened the life of the part. The impact force is much larger than static force. If we close the lid all the way by hand, the max force on the lid switch would be just half its weight, the lid switch should last very long time.

With this understanding, we started a new rule right away - close the washing machine washer's and dryer's lids/covers gently by hand. With this practice, the washer has been working for a month without any problem. I expect that my temporary fix should be a permanent fix with gentle closing of the lid. We will not replace the lid switch after all!

Quantitative Failure Analysis

I was wondering how much higher the force would be due to free fall impact than statically closing it. So I did a hand calculation from Newtonian mechanics and preformed a simulation to show the dynamic process.

The lid (cover) is modeled as flat plate which can freely rotate at one side (the triangle symbol in the following figure).

Based on conservation of energy, we have the following relations - basically it is that the potential energy of the vertical lid equals to the (rotational)kinetic energy when the lid is horizontal (close position) When the lid (D=18 inch) free falls to horizontal position right before it hit the lid, its angular velocity is 8.01radians/second or 459 deg/second! It takes a lot of force to stop the lid with high angular velocity in a very short time. If I assume that the lid would be stopped in 0.001 second (both plate and lid switch are assumed to be rigid), then the impact force would be 250 times of the static force.

A simulation that model the lid as steel, and the lid switch as a rigid block, showed the impact force is 165times the static force (half weight of the cover). Since both lid and lid switch are deformable objects, and the solid spring on the lid switch actually deforms a lot when pressed, or in other words, not all of the potential energy is converted into kinetic energy, some of it is conveted into strain(deformation) energy. The force amplification is estimated to be more close to 100.

Note: This is the first time I performed a quantitative failure analysis outside my professional work. Hindsight, I think tha it would be helpful to show that high school physics (newtonian mechanis) can be used to solve real world daily life problems.

Itinerary for Trip to Banff and Jasper

2011-08-20T08:00:00.006-05:00

Travel to expansive national parks requires good planing to get most out of the trip. Here is our Banff/Jasper Itinerary (and adjustment due to weather)

Day 0: July 7 – Fly out of DFW in the Thursday evening to Calgary Canada, Stay at Best Western near Airport (note: save airfare when flying Thursday)

Day 1: July 8 – Drive to Banff in the morning

Johnston Canyon (Half day): 2.7 km one way, elevation gain 120 m, 2 hours round trip
view: waterfalls and glacier rivers

visit info centre.

Hike to Stanley Glacier (cancelled due to rain)
4.2 km one way, elevation gain 395 m, 4 hours round trip

Hiked Sulphur Mountains and Take Sulphur Mtn gondola down (added)
5.5km one way, 655m elevation gain

view: summit renowned for its breathtaking mountain views

Day 2: July 9 - Moriane Lake area and Lake Louise

Walk along the lake shore
Canoe in the lake (canceled due to weather related closing of the canoe rental)
Hiking to Larch Valley; 2.8km one way, elevation gain 465m, 3 hour round trip

view: unique larch forest high above Moraine Lake; breathtaking Ten Peaks.

Canoed on Lake Louise in the afternoon (added)

Day 3: July 10 - Lake Louise area

Lake Louise Lake shore and Plain of Six Glaciers
7.3 km one way, elevation gain 365 m, 5 hours round trip

View: glaciers, lake Louise from above

Tea house at the trail end

Side trip to Abbot Pass Viewpoint: 1.5 km one way; 50 m elevation gain; 1 hour round trip Look down into crevasses on the Lower Victoria Glacier, and look up to Abbot Hut, one of the highest buildings in Canada.

Lake Louise Ski area and 93A byway (added)

Day 4: July 11 - Drive to Jasper - Icefield Parkway and Columbia Icefield

Icefield Parkway - several glaciers/glacier lakes/canyons along the way

Columbia Icefield - tour icefield via Icefield explorer

Day 5: Mt Edith Cavell, Maligne Canyon/Lake

Hike Mt Edith Cavell: 7km one way, 500m elevation gain, 5 hour round trip

view: angles glacier, cavell glacier, alpine meadows

Maligne Canyon

Maligne Lake (saw bull Elk on the way to and from it)

Day 6: Drive from Jasper to Banff

Hike Bow Glacier Fall trail: 4.6 km one way, elevation gain 155 m, 3 hours round trip

view: bow glacier, bow glacier fall (can reach the bottom of the fall), glacier river and bow lake

Drive Lake Minnewanka Loop - consider boat trip if weather is good (was late for the lake cruise)

Day 7: Drive to Calgary and fly home in the afternoon

visited Olympic Park on the way to airport

Note:

Banff and Jasper's glaciers are not as magnificent as Alaska; their wildlife - especially big animals are not as abundant as Yellowstone. The unique feature of Banff and Jasper is that everything is close to each other - glaciers, waterfalls, canyons, mountain peaks, glacier lakes, all packed along trans Canada highway 1 and highway 93. They are more beautiful and elegant than Alaska and Yellowstone.

The other feature of the parks is easy access to trails to mountain peaks - according to Lily's tabulation, we hiked a total of more than 55 km in the mountains, and had total of ~ 2500m elevation gain ! We did not climb mountains at Alaska or Yellowstone.