Presidential Debate #3

This morning, Austin and I watched the third presidential debate. This debate topic was foreign policy and was mediated by Bob Schieffer.

Following are some of Austin's observations:

1. Romney describes Russia as a geopolitical foe. This led us to look up the definition of geopolitics: "a combination of political and geographic factors relating to something." Austin feels that labelling Russia as a geopolitical foe is not a very good way of making them an ally.

2. Austin thought the funniest part of the debate was when Obama responded to Romney's accusation that navy spending was too low ("our Navy is smaller now than any time since 1917 ... The Navy said they needed 313 ships to carry out their mission. We’re now down to 285. We’re headed down to the — to the low 200s if we go through with sequestration..."). Obama: "Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets (laughter)... We have these things called aircraft carriers where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines." This was a bit condescending of Obama, but Austin found it humorous. And, according to the transcript, so did the audience, who had taken a vow of silence (oops!).

We looked up the meaning of sequestration: "The action of taking legal possession of assets until a debt has been paid or other claims have been met."

3. Austin thought Romney said, "When I'm President of the United States," too often, as though it's going to happen.

4. Romney stated, "Well, my strategy’s pretty straightforward, which is to go after the bad guys, to make sure we do our very best to interrupt them, to — to kill them, to take them out of the picture." Austin: "He doesn't know who the bad guys are."

5. Austin feels that Obama could have done better. He spent too much effort focussing on Romney.

6. An example of China not playing by the trade rules (Romney): "I was with one company that makes valves in — in process industries. And they said, look, we were — we were having some valves coming in that — that were broken, and we had to repair them under warranty. And we looked them up, and — and they had our serial number on them. And then we noticed that — that there was more than one with that same serial number. They were counterfeit products being made overseas with the same serial number as a U.S. company, the same packaging. These were being sold into our market and around the world as if they were made by the U.S. competitor."

Austin: "This is proof of how bad China's trade practices are."

I mentioned FIPA to Austin, with a brief description of the Canada-China trade agreement set to be put into place this Halloween. Austin's response: "Really bad idea."

Presidential Debate #2

Austin and I watched the second presidential debate, yesterday. I can't find links that still work, displaying the facts or comments ... too bad.

It was so entertaining for me to spend this time with Austin. With this debate, ABC News flashed timely facts and platform (Republican or Democrat) statements on the screen. Every time words appeared at the bottom of the screen, Austin paused the debate and read aloud the statements. It took us 3 1/2 hours to watch the full 90-minute debate.

Here are a few snippets of Austin's perspective on the performance:

1. Regarding Romney's push to decentralize government and give more power to the states and small business (employers): "Romney could probably sit in his presidential office, eating muffins for four years. He could take the credit if his agenda succeeds, and blame the states and the employers if it fails."

2. On women's fair pay: "Romney presented himself as the "Golden Hero." Austin observed that Romney tends to boast about himself.

3. Austin is very conscious of manipulative language: ie. "Obama doubled the deficit." Doubled from what? $2,000? Or $2 trillion? Big difference.

4. Quoting Romney (about Obama): "He's great as a speaker ... Describing his plans ..." 
Austin: "Funny! He's describing himself, except he doesn't describe his plans. He's got a slick tongue, that guy."

5. Paraphrasing Romney: "If you bring your kids here illegally and we catch you, we'll put your kid in the army." Ugh!
This was how Austin responded when Romney said this: "The kids of those that came here illegally, those kids, I think, should have a pathway to become a permanent resident of the United States and military service, for instance, is one way they would have that kind of pathway to become a permanent resident."

Vice-presidential Debate

This morning, Austin and I watched the replay of the Vice-Presidential Debate in the U.S. 2012 election race.

Joe Biden and Paul Ryan faced off, discussing foreign policy, tax strategy and Medicare, among other subjects.

Austin and I enjoyed this debate more than the first presidential debate. At one point, Austin expressed that he wished Joe Biden were running for President - he likes him the best of all four players in this race. Being the eldest, Austin feels he can trust him most.

Austin learned the definition of "sanctions": threatened penalties for disobeying a law or rule. In the context of Iran, I explained that the U.S. has imposed sanctions to prevent Iran from being able to develop nuclear weapons.

Biden was arguing that the sanctions currently in place are crippling Iran. Ryan argued that Iran is getting closer and closer to having nuclear weapons and more sanctions need to be imposed. Biden scoffed at this suggestion, explaining that the U.S. Administration knows that Iran doesn't presently have nuclear weapons and that they would definitely know if they did.

I think Biden did a great job of turning things around for the Obama team, after a less-than-stellar performance by the President in the first debate. How can anyone resist that contagious smile of his?

Austin prefers Joe Biden out of all four debaters - he says he wishes Biden were running for President.

Bike repairs

Skye showed Austin a few things about bike maintenance when he received his new bike in April. About a week ago, Austin had a chance to share some of what he'd learned, with Aidan.

Aidan's bike needed a new front wheel. Austin showed Aidan how to remove his wheel, remove the tire and inner tube, place the tire and inner tube on the replacement wheel, then re-install the wheel. Austin remembered that the tube needed to be fully deflated before removing it from the wheel rim.

Austin is quite a good teacher and Aidan was able to complete the repair on his own.

Piano Teacher

Austin has been teaching his brothers how to play the piano. Austin doesn't actually read music, himself. He plays by ear. He can, however, identify notes on the keyboard. He's a bit puzzled as to why  the notes are described in terms of octaves, since there are only 7 notes. He seemed to accept the explanation that the octave needs to include the note at the beginning and the end, which means, for instance, A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A (8 notes).

To teach Aaron how to play American Jesus, by Bad Religion, Austin applied strips of masking tape to  about 15 keys, and coloured them. He told Aaron to play by colour, and Aaron was able to play the basic melody after only about 30 minutes.

Yesterday, Austin added letters to the coloured tape strips, and this is helping Aidan to learn the notes. Aidan is learning to play the violin and to read music. Fortunately, the violin is also a C instrument, so the notes in his violin music, match the piano keys.

This morning, Aidan was playing a Star Wars song, Battle of the Heroes. Austin has written the letter-notes for Ode to Joy, so Aidan plays this as well. Austin can play Beverly Hills Cop, Requiem for a Dream, and the Davy Jones Song from memory (he learned these in his piano lessons three years ago).

It's particularly fun when the boys have both instruments playing at once (Aidan on the violin and Austin on the keyboard).

On Writing

This evening was spent, compiling some of Aidan's story ideas into the opening paragraphs of his novel project. Partway through the exercise, Austin joined us and gave Aidan some feedback from a reader's perspective.

Austin has a strong vocabulary, and offered several good suggestions for word replacements, or more impactful verbs. He also offered his opinion on some directions Aidan was considering taking his story.

As Aidan and I were wrapping up for the evening, Austin complimented Aidan on his story ideas and his stamina for generating imaginative twists and character development. Austin has had some ideas brewing in his mind for some time, and invited Aidan to help him to turn them into a story. Aidan felt good about the compliments and seemed willing to help, but was very tired and needed to tuck into bed.

Austin was clearly intrigued by what Aidan and I had been doing together, and asked me to describe the process for him. I explained that the process started weeks ago, when Aidan first thought of some story ideas, drew a map of the territory where his story takes place, then worked to create an extensive character list. Austin has noticed that Aidan has been writing out his character lists in a notebook. But Austin was interested to know what was different about tonight, and my involvement.

Tonight, we hung up a large blank sheet of paper on the wall. In the centre, I wrote "Into the Sea," the title of Aidan's novel. I envisioned a mind map and wrote the names of Aidan's four clans on rays from the centre. Then, I asked Aidan to write the clan personalities and territory. He recorded names of the main characters of the four clans, a few characteristics of the clans, and drew a sketch of the territory.

I explained to Austin that there was one particular idea of Aidan's that really struck me as unusual and intriguing. It inspired me to start writing some fiction, so I began writing and Aidan read as I wrote. Austin heard us going through the iterations of writing and revising, and participated in some of this activity. I invited Austin to go through a similar process with me, and he says he is interested. He also wants Aidan to help with building on some of his story ideas.

As I wrote this blog entry, Austin wrote a prologue for his story. And here it is ...

The Great Beginning Warriors

Prologue

Ferns flashed in Sabercub’s face, tickling his nose, but he didn't dare stop to rub it. His sister, Starcub, raced beside him. As they ran, behind them, the sound of their pursuers was getting louder. A tree loomed ahead as they rushed deeper into the undergrowth. A horrific screech sounded behind him as he kept running. The sound grew more and more distant and his sister found an old tree trunk to hide in. It was dark and damp as it always was in the jungle, and the trunk was covered in moss. As he lay down, recent events came flooding back to him.

He was nestled comfortably beside his sister. It was a warm day, so he felt groggy and tired. His stomach growled, reminding him of how hungry he was. His mother, Goldenfur, sat up and watched the horizon. She bent down and picked up Starcub by the scruff of her neck and heaved her off the ground. Starcub complained, "Mother, I'm big enough to walk by myself! I'm not a tiny cub anymore." His mother replied, “Well, you’re right about not being small, that’s for sure. Now keep up and follow me closely.” She put Starcub down and headed off into the jungle. 

His sister pelted after her and he began to stalk his mother’s tail. Just when he was about to pounce, Goldenfur stopped abruptly and crouched, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck. “Keep down!” she hissed, and put his sister beside him. 

"What's going on?” he asked. 

"Shh! Keep quiet." she whispered.

Just then, the smell hit him. It smelled pungent and rotting. He stiffened. He knew what that smell was. The death birds had found them. 

Suddenly, the grass in front of them wavered and a giant beak shot through and grabbed Goldenfur. She roared and clawed the head of her attacker. The bird stepped back and began slashing at his mother with its enormous beak. Goldenfur yowled, “Run! Get back to the jungle!” 

Sabercub raced off with his sister trailing him. Before he reached the ferns, he glanced back. With a horrific screech, the bird drove its beak into his mother’s neck. She shrieked in pain and flailed once, then went still. The world lurched and his sister began to go towards their mother. Before she could take a step, two birds darted out of the grass and ran towards them. They looked terrible with their cold green eyes staring forward at them. He turned and fled with his sister beside him and crashed into the undergrowth.

As the memories briefly faded, he felt exhausted and he curled up close to his sister and fell into sleep.

Tigercub yawned in the morning heat. His brother, Stripecub, stirred beside him. His mother, Nightclaw, had just returned from hunting in the jungle and had brought back a small antelope, so they had fed well. Tigercub spotted a butterfly and pounced in the air. He landed with a whump on his brother, who sat up in alarm and tackled him to the ground. They wrestled each other. Stripecub leaped to bowl him over, but he sidestepped and Stripecub ran straight into their mother. 

Nightclaw sat up in alarm. Stripecub tumbled back to his brother. Nightclaw gave him a cuff over his ear and shoved Stripecub over. He fell down and Tigercub decided to tackle him. As they rolled in the grass their mother lay down in a sunny patch away from the energetic cubs. Tigercub wanted to play hunter and prey so he asked Stripecub if he wanted to be the hunter. 

"Yes, I can catch you anywhere you hide or run. I'll be the best hunter in the jungle," he replied.

So they set off into the bush. He told Stripecub to wait there and he headed to his favourite hiding spot in an old rotten log where the mushrooms disguised his scent. He was startled to find it already occupied. Two saber cubs lay there sleeping. 

Suddenly, a horrible screech sounded far behind him, and shortly after, his mother’s roar filled the air. He was about to head back, but then the screeches sounded again. He heard his mother calling for him and his brother was wailing as the screeches increased. Their calls grew more and more distant, until they faded into silence. 

He turned and saw that the saber cubs were trembling and wide-eyed. He wondered why saber cubs would be afraid of him. Then, he remembered the birds and he realized that, like him, these cubs were on their own.

UBC Biodiversity Museum

By Austin:

When I went to the museum I saw a big skeleton of a whale and it had a big mouth for eating krill.

We saw the steps a whale took to feed and we saw some krill. We also found out how you can tell what an animal ate by it's skull. For example, where the eyes were and how the teeth were shaped. We also saw some snail shells and found out how they ate their food. The tour guide talked about how plants were very successful in their evolution. Then, we went onto fishes and the evolution of the jaw and we saw some funny-looking fish called hagfish.

I noticed then that the guide was dumbing the talk down.

And I don't have any evidence to support this, but believe me, it could have been a lot more informative.

Then we went into the fossil sectionals. We heard about the trilobite dilemma where they found fossils of trilobites with bite marks on them, and at the time that they lived, nothing could have bitten into anything.

And then a recent fossil field was discovered in BC where soft-bodied animals were fossilized. They found one with only three hard pieces. It was called anomalocaris and it had a very early form of a jaw. After that, we saw some hunting trophies and there was a moose with its face falling off.

And a stuffed penguin ... that's all. I hope you enjoyed this. Farewell and good night.

To add, by Mom:

We went to the UBC Museum of Biodiversity last Tuesday, September 25. We had intended to go to the UBC Geology Museum, but it is closed for renovations. We plan to go there next month, when they reopen.

The blue whale skeleton is quite impressive. It is a female skeleton. The next time we go, we will watch the movie, “Raising Big Blue,” a Discovery Channel production about this skeleton and her transport across the continent.

A few minutes into the tour, our guide showed us two sets of skull bones, one of a mountain goat, and another of a wild cat. Our guide asked us what we noticed about the skull features, that would indicate what kind of food the animals would have eaten. One visitor pointed out the large canine teeth on the cat’s skull. The tour guide pointed out the dull molars on the sheep’s skull, and the difference on the cat’s jaw - the cat’s back teeth were sharp, indicating it was a meat-eater. Then, the tour guide asked about any other features we noticed, to distinguish between prey and predator. Austin mentioned, “the position of the eyes.” The predator has eyes that are positioned forward on the face, and the prey has eyes that are positioned at the sides. Austin says he remembers learning about this over the years, with all the animal videos he’s watched, or perhaps at demonstrations at science centres we have visited.

Hagfish

Anomalocaris

The fossil field Austin mentioned, where so much was learned about Anomalocaris, is the Burgess Shale, located in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

Austin was impressed by the comparatively tiny amount of geologic time during which humans have inhabited the earth. This isn’t new information to him, but the chart on the wall of the museum, which spanned about 20 metres, really put this into perspective!

Austin has requested a family trip to this museum. He is looking forward to going there again, spending more time, and sharing what he’s learned, with his brothers.