“Didn’t you have this dream, grabbing on to a bunch of toy balloons and floating off? I think it’s something that’s shared across cultures and across borders – just this wonderful fantasy of grabbing on to toy balloons and floating into open space.”
Adventurer Jonathan Trappe is testament to the fact that some big kids never let go of their little kid dreams. On May 28th Mr. Trappe became the first person to cross the English channel held aloft by helium balloons - 52 to be exact. It took a little more than four hours to complete the 22-mile journey, floating from Ashford in Kent and landing near Dunkirk in northern France traveling at an average speed of about 25 miles per hour. Unpredictable winds blew him a bit off of his original course, and after cutting off a few balloons he landed safely in a cabbage patch.
While the trip had the sheen of a PR stunt, he’s actually a trained pilot certified for balloon flight by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and a pioneer in the world of cluster ballooning. Aside from just balloons and a chair, he traveled with an aircraft transponder, oxygen system, aircraft radios, emergency locator beacon, in-flight satellite tracking and a radio tracker. Jonathan also did his footwork and gained clearance from French and British aviation authorities and from customs and immigration offices on both sides before the trip began. [via UK Daily Mail and the Huffington Post]
See Jonathan’s blog ClusterBalloon.com to learn more about his adventure and read more media coverage.
Of course the similarities between Johnathan Trappe and Carl Fredricksen of Pixar’s UP are uncanny. After I little digging I actually found that Pixar had actually hired Jonathan to take part in a promotional world tour for the film - floating the skies in a version of Carl’s armchair.
A brief time line of flight travel across the English Channel courtesy of the UK’s Daily Mail:
1785 - French aviator Jean Pierre Blanchard successfully completed the first air crossing of the Channel, in a hydrogen balloon. It took two-and-a-half hours.
1909 - Pilot Louis Bleriot became the first to cross the Channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft, the Bleriot XI monoplane. It took 37 minutes.
1979 - The first human-powered aircraft made it across. American Bryan Allen used pedal-power for his three-hour journey.
2003 - Austrian sky-diver Felix Baumgarter completed a 20-mile freefall using an aerodynamic ‘wingsuit’ and a carbon fin. He took 14 minutes.
2008 - Swiss daredevil Yves Rossy reached 220mph using a jet-powered ‘wing’, and completed the crossing in less than 10 minutes.
2010 - Cluster balloonist Jonathan Trappe used 54 giant helium balloons to drift across, remaining airborne for three hours.
Seated on a log in the middle of a bog, everyone’s favorite frog Kermit sings the “Rainbow Connection” in the opening sequence of the 1979 Muppet Movie.
Heads up for our Pennsylvania pals, the Philadelphia Zoo has just opened a new exhibit called ”Creatures of Habitat: A Gazillion-Piece Animal Adventure,” featuring 34 Lego sculptures of endangered animals created by world-renowned Lego artist Sean Kenney.
“A combination of birds and beasts, each intricately fashioned from thousands of LEGO® bricks, this experience will surely remind us how our world fits together and how we connect with it. Here you will discover the different creatures featured at the Philadelphia Zoo and the Cast of Conservationists that have traveled the world to help save wildlife.”
For additional info on attending the exhibit, or for us out-of-towers, see pictures and find activities for the kids here. [via Treehugger]
Give Mother Nature a Bedazzler and what does she do?
These gorgeous insect images were captured by Miroslaw Swietek in the forest near his home in Jaroszow, Poland. Between 3 and 4 in the morning this amateur photographer ventures out armed with flashlight and camera searching for creepy crawlies covered in early morning dew. “Insects do not ’sleep’ in the same sense as humans, they enter a state of torpor where they are virtually immobile and much less sensitive to external stimuli” allowing him such close proximity.
The Summer Palace, Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 2009. Photographer: Rob Cardillo.
Like fantasy playgrounds that appear to have sprouted and grown all own their own, North Carolina based artist Patrick Dougherty weaves these intricate sculptures from sticks, saplings and vines. His site specific sculptural installations invite the public to wander in and around their elaborate rooms - and quite frankly, I’m ready to move in. The major obstacle to me sending out change of address cards is that that these pieces are temporary in nature and typically only last a season or two. See more of Patrick’s brilliant stick architecture on his website.
“Combining his carpentry skills with his love of nature, Patrick Dougherty began to learn about primitive techniques of building and to experiment with tree saplings as construction material. Beginning about 1980 with small works, fashioned is his backyard, he quickly moved from single pieces on conventional pedestals to monumental site-specific installations that require sticks by the truckload. To date he has built over two hundred such massive sculptures all over the world.”
Around the Corner, University of Southern Indiana, New Harmony Gallery, New Harmony, IN, 2003. Photographer: Doyle Dean.
Close Ties, Brahan Estate, Dingwall, Scottish Highlands, 2006. Photographer: Fin Macrae.
Na Hale ‘o waiawi (Roughly translated from the Hawaiian language to mean: Wild Dwellings Built from Strawberry Guava). The Contemporary Art Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii, 2003. Photographer: Paul Kodama.
A holiday weekend favorite, Wind in the Willows was originally posted on 7/8/09.
Kids are pretty resourceful when it comes to crafting something out of nothing. A stick transforms into a sword, a horse, a wand, a baton and the list goes on. Today let’s look at transforming that stick into a whistle. I have three wood whistles how-tos, spanning degrees of difficulty and skill levels. Common sense dictates that an adult handles the knife and cutting responsibilities while kids help selecting and collecting the perfect materials.
First up, a Squash Stem Whistle. Summer squash runs rampant in the garden and this craft makes use of their hollow stems. This is by far the easiest of the three and simple instructions can be found here. Be mindful to scroll down to the bottom of the page and heed the tips and warnings.
Then there’s the “legendary” Willow Whistle. This sweet video tutorial is narrated by a dad who sincerely reminds us that “willow whistles do not contribute to global warming and are made from a renewable resource.” Good to know. This is a particularly cool looking toy, especially when some of the leaves are left attached.
Finally, we look at the amazing Twig Whistles created by a talented UK based woodworker named Treewright. There is obvious skill that goes into the creation of his natural noisemakers which you’ll see in the video below. Intimidated?, not to worry - Treewright makes finished whistles available through his web shop.
And I couldn’t finish this post without sharing an art project called Woodwind created by a student, Anna Kovárová, at Konstfact - the largest university college of arts, crafts, design and art education in Sweden. Anna carved a side-blown flute out of a living oak branch, while still attached to the tree. Her intent is to “return to the tree during the years to come, to play a piece and see how the living material will change the sound.” You can see an artsy fartsy video of Anna playing her tree flute here.
Have a junior scientist or burgeoning astronaut in your house? Read on.
In May of this year NASA conducted its final servicing mission to refurbish the Hubble Space Telescope. One of the major tasks on this trip was upgrading the existing camera with the new Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). The first images captured by this new instrument have just been released and they are breathtaking. Like images from a spectacular science fiction film, the WFC3 has begun to record real life cosmic beauty.
My current favorite is the heartbreakingly beautiful “dusty pillar lit from within by newborn stars” seen below. See more images and text at National Geographic News. And visit NASA’s Kids’ Club for a whole galaxy of activities and space exploration.
I opened my eyes
And looked up at the rain,
And it dripped in my head
And flowed into my brain,
And all that I hear as I lie in my bed
Is the slishity-slosh of the rain in my head.
I step very softly,
I walk very slow,
I can’t do a handstand -
I might overflow,
So pardon the wild crazy thing I just said -
I’m just not the same since there’s rain my head. -Rain, Shel Silverstein
I have this great summer camp memory from when I was 11 or 12, standing on the deck outside of the lodge and watching a curtain of rain sweep across the lake as a thunderstorm approached. I also remember a time, a few years earlier, when the neighbor lady tried to convince me that thunder and lightning was caused by pressure fronts and temperature differences - not clouds knocking against one another like my mother had said.
Dramatic weather can scare the ‘rain’ right of any little kid and explaining the big audio visual show outside the window can be an even bigger challenge for parents. A trip to the library might be a good place to start. Thunder-Boomer! by Shutta Crum Just a Thunderstorm by Gina & Mercer Mayer
Older kids might enjoy some scientific weather experimentation or a visit to Weather Wiz Kids. The Weather Detectives: Fun-filled facts, experiments, and activities Fun-filled Facts, Experiments, and Activities for Kids by Mark Eubank
Dramatic images of lightning courtesy of the folks at Flickr.
This coming week on July 22nd the sun will ’stand still’ for a full 6 minutes and 39 seconds. This total solar eclipse will fall along a narrow corridor through northern India, eastern Nepal, northern Bangladesh, Bhutan, the northern tip of Myanma, central China and the Pacific Ocean. While most of us will not be in a position to see the phenomena, SunStopper.sg and the SEMS (Sun, Earth, Moon Systems) site from the University of South Dakota will be broadcasting ‘live’ video.
The black dot on the animation below shows the narrow path of eclipse totality, which actually spans over 100 miles wide.
Scientists always say to never look directly at the sun during an eclipse and with good reason as permanent eye damage could occur. However, if you feel the need to take a peek - check out amazing solar images captured by the SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) spacecraft. Launched into orbit in December 1995, SOHO continues to provide amazing photographs of the sun including the ones shown below which were taken this past week.
Another way to safely view and photograph an eclipse is with the use of a pinhole camera. A pinhole camera uses a very small hole to create a lens for the light to enter and expose the film. Download and construct any of the unusual Readymech Pinhole Cameras below for free! Each download comes with complete instructions for assembly and use.
“The firefly’s flame
Is something for which science has no name
I can think of nothing eerier
Than flying around with an unidentified glow on a
person’s posterior.” Ogden Nash (1902 - 1971)
Actually, science does have a name for it - bioluminescence. And in many parts of the country, summer is prime posterior glowing season. In honor of our friend the firefly, I’ve pulled together some lightning bug links.
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