Halloween is on the horizon, and even the most analytical-minded among us can find ourselves getting pulled into stories of unexplained spooky phenomena and paranormal activity. Science has so far been unable to unequivocally prove the existence of spooks or spirits - but by the same token, their existence hasn’t exactly been conclusively disproved by science either. In fact, in some rare instances - science and technology have actually provided us with some of the most convincing evidence to make us believe that ghosts may actually exist.

As the story was told to me, the realization that my eyes were “different” wasn’t discovered until I’d been home from the hospital for a couple weeks. You know how it is - newborns sleep a lot, and eye contact is a bit limited when you’ve got a little one that is only awake a small portion of the day. Then of course the majority of those waking hours are usually spent with the eyes scrunched up in a squawk. But after settling down a bit, the day came when my mother and I finally got a good look at one another. And as I understand it, the first time I looked my mom straight in the eye - she had a bit of a panic attack. Because when she looked down at her youngest baby daughter, I looked back with eyes that didn’t look like hers - but looked more like our pet cat’s.

Scientific happenings, big and small, on this day in history…

But first, today’s quiz:
What favorite American snack food was invented on this day by chef George “Speck” Crum in response to a picky customer that complained that the chef’s french fries were too thick? Chances are, most of you reading this have enjoyed a serving or two of these sometime this past week. Not sure? Check out the answer at the end of the article.

On to other historic happenings…


79 AD
Mount Vesuvius Eruption

As a kid, there were few things more satisfying to me that being given a helium balloon... and then almost immediately letting it go for the pure enjoyment of seeing it float out of sight into the sky. For some reason, seeing a small balloon set against a vast blue background gave me a small sense of power simply from knowing that I was the one that put it up there. A silly grin would spread across my face as I stared at the small dot in the sky, knowing that only a minute earlier I held that very same balloon in my own little hand. I felt like a small part of me was launched along with it, and had just started off on a grand adventure. Since I was never able to actually go along for the ride, it was up to the limits of my imagination to envision where the balloon would land.

This Memorial Day weekend, it is tradition to visit the graves of our fallen military soldiers – to remember, appreciate, and honor the lives given in service to our nation’s security and freedom. It is humbling to visit a national cemetery and see the thousands of headstones – each representing a life, a story, and a service to our country.

Spring has officially arrived. I don’t need the budding trees or the warmer temperatures to tell me – I can tell just by the chatter of birds that has returned, kicking into high gear as soon as the sky begins to lighten each morning. We have a large tree in our back yard, and it appears to be one of the neighborhood meeting places for local birds of all shapes and sizes. It’s not something I mind; in fact I’m sure I’ve encouraged it by hanging a fairly substantial bird feeder on one of the lower branches of this particular “meeting tree.”

A few photos from around the world of cities that participated in Earth Hour 2009.
Nearly 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries took part in an effort to call attention to climate change. The event, sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund, called on cities to dim nonessential lights from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m.


Earth Hour Sydney

This Saturday night, a global effort is set to take place to promote energy conservation – the 3rd annual Earth Hour. To join in on the effort, simply turn off your lights from 8:30 – 9:30pm in your local time zone. This worldwide effort is designed to demonstrate that each person has a choice in their energy consumption - and at any time can simply choose to use less.

Turning off your lights is an easy way to reduce your energy usage, as well as reduce your energy bill. But as with many things, it’s always more fun to do it with friends. So 8:30-9:30pm on March 28th 2009 has been designated as the specific time when people and cities around the world will dim their lights to show their acknowledgement that sometimes little actions can have big impacts.

I have a curious mind and like to find out how and why things work. Unlike my husband and my two boys, I don’t necessarily take things apart to uncover how they operate (what is it with the Y chromosome and the inherent need to do this?) – instead, I’m more of a look-it-up-and-research-it type of girl. Thank goodness for Google.

At the same time, there are some of life’s mysteries that I am happy to accept. I don’t really understand how volume control works. I mean, I know it has something to do with sound waves and amplitude – but all I really know is when I turn the knob up, I can suddenly hear my movie again over the ruckus of the kids. Mystery of how to hear the ending of “Stardust” while the boys play destruction derby in the other room – solved. **

February 20th marks a historic anniversary in the American Space Program. On this day in 1962, astronaut John Glenn boarded the Friendship 7 spacecraft and became to first American to orbit the earth as part of the successful Mercury-Atlas 6 mission.

The drive to put a man in orbit was unofficially launched years earlier, after the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I on October 4, 1957. Americans suddenly found themselves "second best" in the area of space and related technologies, a position they quickly realized they didn't want to be.