Martin Luther King's Message

That was a message of freedom and prosperity and living your own life, and breaking apart and being joined together.

My favorite part was when he said to march together, to work for freedom together. to go to jail together, to struggle together, to work together, and to pray together.

Seth Boyden

Seth Boyden was a tinker. He invented stuff, and he really didn't know that it would change the world. He invented patent leather, malleable iron, the first locomotive that could climb hills, and strawberries that could get so big they filled coffee cups. He gave away his discoveries and died poor. This is from my text book You, New Jersey, and the World by John T. Cunningham.

Phases of the Moon and Eclipses

Photo courtesy of Moon Connection

Phases of the Moon (in order):

New Moon
Waxing Crescent
First Quarter
Waxing Gibbous
Full Moon
Waning Gibbous
Last Quarter
Waning Crescent







Solar Eclipse Friday, January 15, 2010

Photo courtesy of Reuters

Eclipses:

Solar Eclipse - Moon passes between the sun and earth, covering the sun. This occurs only during the New Moon. We had one yesterday, January 15, 2010.

Lunar Eclipse - Moon passes behind the earth, blocking the sun's rays from shining on the moon. This happens only during the Full Moon. The next one is December 21, 2010.

Tip: NEVER look at a lunar eclipse or solar eclipse. It could cause permanent blindness or serious damage to your eyes.

Morris Canal

Photo courtesy of the Canal Society of NJ

The Morris Canal was one of the most busiest canals in America. It started at Phillipsburg in the west and ended at Jersey City in the east. People used the Morris Canal for shipping coal from Pennsylvania as well as other goods like paper, dried fruit, animals, etc.

The Morris Canal had locks which helped raise the barge up to 10 feet higher in the water so it could keep on going. There was also something unusual at that time. The Morris Canal was the only canal to have inclined planes. The inclined planes were used to pull the boats up because there were many hills along the Morris Canal.

One lock (not to change the subject) is Lock 8 East. If you live in Denville, you know exactly where this is - it's Atillios (now La Cucina), my favorite italian restaurant!

At the time, just a little after the Morris Canal was being used a lot, trains were being used more and more to carry cargo. Eventually, trains became more popular than canals because trains were faster and they were bigger so they could carry more stuff than the barges could.

Even though a lot of the Morris Canal is now part of the Newark subway and also a part of some parks, you can still see some remains of the Morris Canal.

Apple Tansey - A Dish from the Colonial Times

This recipe is circa 1730 from The Compleat Housewife, as pictured below. This is one of the real books that we had the librarian extract from the vault. We had to wear gloves when interacting with the book!

The updated recipe we will use is complements of
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

Lunar Outpost

Man has already gone to the moon and survived to tell about it, but what if the Earth has some deadly threat that would change our lives forever? Where would we go? Scientists have been wondering about that for many years. If it happens, we might have the equipment to make a colony on the MOON!

NASA set up THIS SITE to show some of the tools they're working on.

The Lunar Electric Rover (LER) is a "space RV" that astronauts can live in. It can be a rover and a habitat for up to 14 days. The really cool thing about it is that when the astronauts want to explore they can by crawling into a hole that connects the spacesuit with the LER.

The All-Terrain Hex-Limbed Extra-Terrestrial Explorer (ATHLETE) is a robot that can lift payloads and habitats off the landers and put them where they need to be.

The Lunar Habitats will be where the astronauts live. The habitat contains a kitchen, office, bathrooms and beds. The habitats can be put together or rearranged like little pods, and are powered by solar panels sticking up on the roof.

One day, there will be enough money and enough time for us to build a real-life colony on the moon. When this happens, not only will people be able to live on another planet, but also, if our planet dies, we will have a back-up. I hope we can all go there some day.