Perigee Moon

Apogee and Perigee of the Moon

Apogee and perigee refer to the distance from the Earth to the moon. Apogee is the furthest point from the earth. Perigee is the closest point to the earth and it is in this stage that the moon appears larger. Looking at the moon in the sky without anything to compare it to, you wouldn't notice any size difference. But the difference in size can in fact be quite significant.

If you were to photograph a full moon at apogee and perigee (using the same lens), here's how the two sizes would compare:

Astronomers have formulas for computing the exact distance at any point in time, but the average distance from Earth is 237,700 miles (382,500 km).

Effects of Apogee and Perigee

The apogee and perigee of the moon have an affect on the tides here on Earth. When the moon is at apogee, the furthest distance from the Earth, it has less gravitational pull which, along with other factors that influence the tides, can contribute to lower tides or lower variation in the high/low tide level. When the moon is at perigee, closer to the Earth, there is much more gravitational pull which contributes to the opposite effect: higher tides or greater variation in the high and low tide.

 - Source: MoonConnection

Chatter

The waves are still coming in to the beaches in Half Moon Bay filled with the energy being released on the other side of the ocean (Japan).  With those waves of the ocean there are also waves of chatter spreading throughout the world right now.  While sometimes useful, engaging and informational, I have seen that listening to this chatter has an unsettling effect on many.  

The question that I would like to offer up for today is this: "What is the chatter really telling you?"  And even more importantly - "What is the chatter telling you about yourself?"  

For myself, I have found that the chatter has me seeking out nature and special places ever more.  There is a different chatter in nature, as with these two birds looking for food on the reef amidst the waves and turbulence - being a part of it all and still being in communication.  I watched as they stayed close to each other for quite a while, even though the waves would often wash over their bit of reef and then recede back repeatedly.  Calling to each other here and there with their 'cheep, cheep, cheep' - the chatter of nature amidst the waves.

As I do not speak sea-bird, all that I could discern is that there must be something really good about that section of reef.  It had me look down at my section of sand on the Half Moon Bay beach where I had been standing and think to myself - "Yes, this is a really nice section of beach... and place to live... right now."  And then I went home to my wife and son for some 1-on-1 family chatter at the dinner table. :)

All the Best,

Whitney

© 2011 All rights reserved, Whitney Merrill

'He who knows does not speak, He who speaks does not know.'

 - Lao-Tzu

LOA for Today: Focus on the Desire

"It's not necessary for you to exacerbate your contrast with struggle in order to get it into a higher place. It is not necessary to suffer in order to give birth to desire. But when you have suffered and you have given birth to desire, so what? You've got a desire. Turn your attention to the desire. Think about where you're going and never mind where you've been. Don't spend any more time justifying any of that stuff."

--- Abraham
exerpted from a Workshop based on the Book Law of Attraction

Digital Natives

Digital Natives on the San Mateo County Coast: Technology in the classroom

by Whitney Merrill

Teacher Deborah Cowden, in classroom C-109. Photos: Whitney Merrill.

In classroom C-109 at Cunha Intermediate School in Half Moon Bay, each of the eight science tables has a stack of textbooks and a laptop on it. As part of the 2010 BookServer and the Digital Classroom project, Deborah Cowden has been using technology in both her science and English language development classes for the past year to transform the way her students learn and how she teaches.

Cowden says the 2009 Big Ideas Fest at the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay provided the genesis of the Cunha Laptop Project. That’s where she met Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive. Through the efforts of the Archive, located in San Francisco, and the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education, based in Princeton-by-the-Sea, she had a commitment for 24 laptops to be delivered to her classroom in March 2010.

Cowden with books and laptop.

Then the real collaborative work began — working on agreements between the principal, the school information technology organization, parents and students. There were questions about security, access and permission — and questions about how students would use the technology. A sixth-grader heard the news about the new laptops and said, “That is really cool!” Cowden asked, “Why it is so great? We all have laptops at home.” The student replied, “This is the way we do things; this is the way we learn.”

Cowden uses terms coined by Marc Prensky, saying: “These children are called digital natives; they were born into this society with technology. We 20th-century teachers … the best we’ll be are digital immigrants.”

“Technology in the classroom changes my role. I’m a facilitator, they’re the learners,” Cowden says. In her role as facilitator, she builds online courses that students can access in class or at home. This allows for repetition and review at each student’s individual pace — and if students are out sick or on vacation, they can still access the courses. The technology also provides a collaborative environment, with discussion threads and access to the Internet for ongoing research and investigation.

Flip camera.

In science class the students are working on an over-arching question about air pressure through a student-directed project: How does air pressure affect weather? Cowden has student teams collaborating on pieces of the project and pulling research from various sources, including websites — some that she provides and some that the students find on their own. Cowden helps them develop information literacy — finding reliable sources and fact checking what they read. She is also working with Len Erickson and Coastside STEM — Science Techology Engineering and Mathematics — on a robotics class that enables her students to have ongoing access to a professional working in the field.

For their final projects, students produce multimedia presentations using video, PowerPoint presentations and music. Cowden shows me a few and I am amazed at the work being created by eighth-graders; many people working at technology firms in Silicon Valley would be hard pressed to create such a presentation or video in support of their own work.

Cowden's earth science learning objectives.

Cowden says that when students are given the opportunity to learn online, more of them are engaged — and more of them pass tests and complete assignments. In her eighth-grade technology class, the percentage of students successfully completing projects went from 25 percent to 75 percent. “Technology supports student-directed learning and it puts the responsibility of learning into students’ hands,” she says.

Cowden’s wish list for the upcoming year includes continuing the program, and expanding further into multimedia with additional Flip camcorders as well as keyboards and midis. She would also like for all teachers who want to use technology in their classrooms to be able to do so.

Science books and Wi-Fi connected netbook.

Even with all of the emphasis on technology, it is clear that her true passion is for her students and how they are learning. She says, “They’re making connections that I didn’t make until junior year in college. I get thrilled with who they are.”

V vs. UV: What's Your Reality?

Squaw Valley USA, CA: Snow Cats at Night

As we sat watching the mountain at night on a recent ski trip to Tahoe, my 3 year old son asked me "Daddy, what are those lights up there?"  I replied, "Snow Cats."  The look of wonder on his face as he repeated "Snow Cats?!?" reminded me of the time in life when it was my assumption that I knew so little and that there was so much to absorb and validate.  Every little fact or observation that came my way was up for investigation as a potential piece of the 'puzzle' of the Universe - an infinite 'puzzle' that was made up of the most magical pieces that you could ever imagine... and then I grew up.

Growing up is a wonderful journey in itself for we essentially validate that which the collective human consciousness has deemed as 'reality'.  There is physical matter, tangible facts and all sorts of agreement on how certain things work in the visible world.  In fact, there is so much agreement out there that it is easy to fall into the trap that what we agree on and what we have already validated is all that there is, that it is easy to lose sight of the fact that we are but children of the Universe.  In reality, we have truly just begun to explore and validate.

The empowering perspective is one where we believe that we have just begun our our validation process, regardless of our age or the amount of information that we have collected.  At any moment you are open to and joyfully anticipate a new discovery like "Snow Cats," looking forward to the process of investigation, assimilation and validation.  This is not 'blind faith', no matter how convincing your 'Daddy' might be :), but it is fun just the same.

How much of the Universe have you been able to validate (V) vs. what still remains un-validated (UV) for you?  I personally think that 4%* is being very generous. :)

All the Best,
Whitney
© 2011 All rights reserved, Whitney Merrill

* Amazon.com Review

A Q&A with Richard Panek, Author of The Four Percent Universe

Q: What is the "four percent universe"?

Panek: It’s the universe we’ve always known, the one that consists of everything we see: you, me, Earth, Sun, planets, stars, galaxies.

Q: What’s the other 96 percent?

Panek: The stuff we can’t see in any form whatsoever. At a loss for words, astronomers have given these missing ingredients the names "dark matter" and "dark energy."

...

Q: So this is real. Astronomers actually believe that 96 percent of the universe is "missing"?

Panek: Yes. They call it the ultimate Copernican revolution. Not only are we not at the center of the universe, we’re not even made of the same stuff as the vast majority of the universe.

Q: What now?

Panek: Nobody knows! And for astronomers, that’s the exciting part. Again and again, at conference after conference and in interview after interview, I’ve heard astronomers say that they can’t believe how fortunate they are to be scientists at this point in history. Four hundred years ago, Galileo turned a telescope to the night sky and discovered that there’s more out there than the five planets and couple of thousand stars that meet the eye. Now astronomers are saying that there’s more out there, period—whether it meets the eye or not. Lots more: the vast majority of the universe, in fact.

Q: If this revolution is such a big deal, why haven’t we heard about it?

Panek: Because it’s just beginning. Only in the past ten years have scientists reached a consensus that what we’ve always thought was the universe is really only four percent of it. Now they feel that figuring out the missing 96 percent is the most important problem in science.

Q: Will finding answers make our lives better? What’s the payoff?

Panek: On an immediate, day-to-day, price-of-milk level, nothing. But Galileo’s observations starting in 1609 completely changed the physics and philosophy of the next four hundred years in ways nobody could have anticipated. As I argue in The Four Percent Universe, this new revolution is going to have the same kind of effect on civilization. The fun is just beginning.

Identity Is Established

Photograph of Zander Merrill by Whitney Merrill

LIFE TRANSITION TWO

ESTABLISHING PERSONAL IDENTITY (ages 2-4)

"The positive of this transition is self-identity and the negative is narcissism, which has to do with self-absorption. A child who is narcissistic believes in theory that he is separate but does not create an identity for himself in relationship to the parent. Children who do not complete this monad around the age of three in Western cultures and somewhat later in non-Western do not have a clear sense of their separateness and can experience serious emotional and psychological problems as they move into middle childhood. With a child who has not centered himself, there can be a constant internal conflict concerning where personal boundaries lie; and this struggle looks, to the external eye, as having a lack of focus or presence. On the other hand, young children who complete this transition with a clear sense of personal identity have sorted through who they are in relationship to the mother or primary caregiver, no longer believing that they are the mother.

As the personality develops, the family icon begins to become more apparent as the child learns that if he behaves a certain way, i.e., “the curious one” or “the entertainer” that he will receive approval from the parents. Even when the icon is more negative, the parents still expect the behaviors associated with it, and the child learns that he is seen in a certain way and in order to be accepted in the family he must act according to the iconographic projection. This correlation between the icon and the developing personality is an integral part of the new persona as the child uses it to interact with both the parents as well with as the world at large"

c.2011 Victoria Marina-Tompkins All Rights Reserved

Excerpted from Spiritual Turning Points: A Metaphysical Perspective of the Seven Life Transitions, by Victoria Marina-Tompkins

Available at:
Amazon, Barnes and Noble, BooksOnBoard

LOA for Today: Your Ever-Improving Story

"If you will let your dominant intention be to revise and improve the content of the story you tell every day of your life, it is our absolute promise to you that your life will become that ever-improving story. For by the powerful Law of Attraction—the essence of that which is like unto itself is drawn—it must be!"

--- Abraham 
Excerpted from the book "Money and the Law of Attraction: Learning to Attract Health, Welath and Happiness"