Tip of the Week -- Science

Marie Curie (1867-1934) was a pioneer in the field of radioactivity. She did not actually discover radioactivity, but she did give it the name, and she created the theory of radioactivity. She also developed techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes, and she discovered two elements, polonium and radium.

Marie was the first scientist to explore oncology. Today, when we hear of people undergoing radiation treatments for cancer, we can thank Marie Curie. The Marie Sklodowska-Curie Institute of Oncology in Warsaw, Poland, grew out of the Radium Institute, which Marie founded in 1932.

Although Marie was Polish, she was the first female professor at the University of Paris. Her husband, Pierre, was also a professor and a scientist. Together, they won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903. Their daughter, Irene, carried on the family tradition, winning a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935. Irene's children are prominent scientists as well.

Marie also won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911. She was the first person ever to be awarded two Nobel Prizes.

Goose Day

Today is September 29 - Goose Day!

The Medieval Period is also known as The Middle Ages. It lasted for 1,000 years, from the 5th century until the 15th century (the 400s until the 1400s). During this time, people celebrated Michaelmas, or the Feast of St. Michael, as a religious festival.

Michaelmas also happened to be the time of year when peasants paid their rent to the landowners. A peasant would come to the landlord's castle or manor house with rent, which could be paid in currency or, more often, a portion of the crops from the fall harvest. The peasant would also bring a stubble goose (a nice, fat goose), for the landlord's table, to ensure that the lease would be renewed for the coming year.

When the British began to colonize the United States in the 1600s, they brought the tradition with them. The only place in the US where it is still celebrated is in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, where there is a large population of people with British and Scots-Irish heritage.

In modern times, Michaelmas is called Goose Day, for the traditional goose dinner Mifflin Countians have on this day. Many restaurants in the area have a "goose day special." Eating goose on September 29 is said to bring good luck in the coming year. Other festivities include a 5K run and a "Wild Goose Chase," which is a county-wide scavenger hunt in which teams of people pile into cars and head out in search of clues. Another tradition is that a police officer will pull over a random car with out-of-state license plates, tell the occupants of the car that they will need to be "taken in," and then treat them to a surprise goose dinner at a local restaurant.

Tip of the Week -- Singular and Plural Possessives

Last week, we talked about apostrophes in contractions and possessives. This week I wanted to take a closer look at possessives. Possessive apostrophes can be confusing, but we'll try to make it clear.

Singulars are easy! Just add "apostrophe s". For example, Jim's car.

But what if Jim uses his real name, James? Is it James' car? James's car? James car? Well, James is one person, so he's singular. Use the same rule! James's car is correct.

Now let's look a plural example. The Smiths live next door. Notice that we just add an s to show that there is more than one Smith living next door. If they have a cat, we would say the Smiths' cat. The apostrophe after the s shows that Smith is plural, that is, a number of Smiths own the cat. If Mrs. Smith lives alone and has a cat, it would be Mrs. Smith's cat.

Here's an easy way to remember: If there is one Smith (singular), then the singular word Smith appears before the apostrophe. If there is more than one Smith (plural), then the plural word Smiths comes before the apostrophe.

Let's look at one more example. What if the James family lives next door? We say, "The Jameses live next door. If Mr. James (singular) has a truck, we would say Mr. James's truck. If the James family (plural) has a dog, we would say the Jameses' dog.

Banned Books Week September 25 - October 2

As the character Scout Finch said in Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel from 1960: "Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing."

Scout was saying that reading is something people take for granted, like breathing. As we assume the air will always be here for us, so we assume that books will always be here. Not so.

The American Library Association declared annual Banned Book Week in 1982, and we celebrate by reading books that have been challenged or banned. Every week, there there is mention in the news of a person or group of people who want this or that book removed from library shelves for one reason or another. Do you want other people to decide what you are or aren't allowed to read?

This is just a very small list of the books that have been banned or challenged in the past:

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Beloved by Toni Morrison

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Little Women by Lousia May Alcott

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradburg

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

The list goes on and on . . . and on . . . Be a rebel! Support your right to FREADOM! Read a banned book!

September 24, 1789

On this date in 1789, the United States Supreme Court was established, as Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1789, and President George Washington signed it into law.

The original Supreme Court had six justices, but over the years, that number has increased to nine. Justices serve until they day or retire. New justices are nominated by the president, but must be confirmed by the Senate.

The Supreme Court has jurisdiction over all laws in the country, especially those in which the United States Constitution comes into play.

Math Tip of the Week -- Subtracting Time

Subtracting time is no different than subtracting other numbers. We know that if all of the digits on the top are bigger than all of the numbers on the bottom, we just subtract straight down. The same goes for time.



But what happens if we have to borrow? When subtracting time, we don't so much borrow as we convert. If we borrow from the hours column, we must add the number of minutes (the equivalent to the hours we borrowed) to the minutes column. It looks like this:

We would use the same process for subtracting units of measure, too. But we would use the equivalent numbers for the measures we're working with. For example, 1 foot = 12 inches, 1 pound = 16 ounces, etc.

Today in Science History

On September 23, 1846, the planet Neptune was discovered by Johann Galle, a German astronomer at the Berlin Obervatory. Galle discovered the planet, not by directly observing it, but through mathematical calculations based on variations in gravity on its neighboring planet, Uranus. Italian astronomer Galileo observed Neptune as early as 1612, but he thought it was a star.

Neptune, the 8th planet from the Sun, is named after the Roman god of the sea, because of its blue color. It is 4 times bigger than Earth. Neptune rotates on its axis faster then Earth does; a day on Neptune is 16 hours long, whereas a day on Earth is 24 hours long. Neptune takes longer to orbit the sun than Earth does, though, so a year on Neptune is the same as 165 Earth years. Neptune has eight known moons, while Earth only has one.

Neptune is a gas giant, meaning that it is made up mostly of gases, as opposed to rock and other solid matter. Neptune is made up mostly of hydrogen, helium, ammonia and methane.