Egg Drop Soup

Cassie's 8th grade science class had an end of the year Egg Drop Project in which they had to design a container for a single egg that would be dropped from the top of the school football bleachers.

The container had to use certain criteria (no "padding" or wings, had to be less than 12" wide, etc.) After several brainstorming sessions (including one involving her uncle Mike at The Library) Cassie came up with "The Sphere". The Sphere was created from a styrofoam ball hollowed out, encased in Dixie cups for force distribution and air resistance. The egg was suspended in the center of the sphere by a nylon hose.

After assembling the package on Monday night, Cassie & I performed a test run on the church front lawn. It failed. But after discussing possible improvements, Cassie pressed on and took The Sphere to school for The Egg Drop Tuesday afternoon. We ventured by the school to check out how it went. The teacher saved Cassie's for one of the last to be dropped (it was one of the coolest looking designs). After several promising drops from other students' designs, and a few very disheartening crashes, slams and splooshes (one used water as a cushioning system) it was Cassie's turn.

We held our breath. The Sphere plummeted to earth. Cassie timidly cracked it open to examine the damage... and plucked the perfect unbroken egg from within! The Sphere was a success!

Thanks to Mike from some inspiration and Sir Isaac Newton, without whom we wouldn't have these silly projects at school!

Happy Iron Man Day!

Cassie has been anticipating the next Iron Man movie ever since watching the first one. He's her new number two hero (her father being number one of course, right?) and as soon as tickets were available online we purchased them for the midnight show. Today's the day and the entire family has Iron Man fever.

I still contend that the first in the series was the definitive "comic book movie", combining the best of action film making and comic book sensibilities. Hopefully Robert Downey Jr. and crew will be able to maintain the feel of the first without falling into the typical snares of these kind of things, keeping away from the hokey but still staying true to the spirit of the original.

To add to all the Marvel Magic, they've now released the first glimpse of Thor from the next Marvel blockbuster! If you're unfamiliar with the God of Thunder then check out your Norse mythology at Wikipedia, the Marvel character actually stays pretty true to the original fabled version. He's a noble son of Odin the All Father, king of the Norse pantheon and wields his trusty hammer Mjolnir to deal out justice! In the Marvel story he's been banished to earth by Odin to learn the lesson of humility (being a nigh omnipotent god tends to go to your head) and must live a dual life as a humble disabled human Dr. Donald Blake and The Almighty Thor!

It's going to be hard to stay clear of the hokey in this one! The film makers have a difficult task but with master Shakesperian thespian Kenneth Brannagh heading the production there just might be a chance. And so far, the look of Thor seems to fall into a good place. Like Thor and Dr. Blake, it seems to be precariously balanced between the classic look of the comicbook and something that could actually exist in the real world (or as real as a superhero tale can possibly get).

And I understand we might get a little tidbit of Goldilocks after the credits of Iron Man II so stick around and cross your fingers!