Independence Day

A1: "Mom, can we go to Deep Cove?" I was working at my client's office about 1/2 an hour away from home. It was 3:15pm and Austin had just returned from picking up Aaron from preschool about 5 blocks away.

M: "Well, that's pretty far from home, but it's a nice day and I had been thinking the same thing before you called."

A1: "Can we have some money for ice cream?"

M: "That's what your allowance is for."

A1: "What about Aaron? He doesn't get allowance."

M: "Well then, you and Aidan will have to agree to buy Aaron an ice cream by splitting the cost, or else none of you should get any."

I left A1 with instructions to let Dad know where they were going and not to call me to complain if Dad says, "No." Skye was working downstairs.

Around 3:45, I received a text message from Skye asking if it was ok with me for the boys to go to Deep Cove. I responded, "Sure. I'll pick them up on my way home."

I reached Panorama Park at 5:15 and found the boys on the path near the beach. They were all happy and Austin was drinking water from a Tupperware container he had obviously filled at home. I was impressed that he had thought to pack water for the trip.

Austin excitedly told me that he had bought himself two slices of Deep Cove Pizza and he had $0.02 left over. Aidan had bought himself some ice cream and he had $1.51 left over.

M: "Did Aaron get some ice cream too?"

A1 & A2: "Yeah!"

A2: "We bought Aaron a small dish of vanilla ice cream."

M: "You shared the cost?"

A2: "Yes, Austin paid half and I paid half."

A1 and A2 explained that they had decided before they left the house, how much money they were willing to spend. So, they brought only that much ($10 and $5, respectively) down with them and left the rest in their wallets. Now comes the reason for the packed water bottles...

A1: "I wasn't going to be spending any of my money on water, so I filled up water bottles to take with us." Good thinking!

I asked how everything went and if they all enjoyed going down to Deep Cove (about 10 blocks from home) on their own. I received a very balanced answer.

A1: "Aaron got a little upset when I accidentally hit his chin with the scooter, and Aidan tread on the heel of his boot. We weren't really paying good enough attention at the start, but we got better at it. We made sure that Aaron was always farthest away from cars when we were walking on the sidewalk, even if Aaron got mad at us for that."

I was really proud of all the boys, and I told them so. This was a big step and they handled the responsibility beautifully.

A theory on why people lose their imagination

When we're young, we don't know much. So, we ask a lot of questions and we make the rest up.

As we get older, we don't have to ask as many questions and there's less and less we have to make up.

You need understanding to preserve an imagination. You need to use it like a muscle.

You subconsciously imagine when you don't understand. You don't know that subconscious thoughts are there until you examine them.

Is it important for other people to understand what you're thinking?

No, and yes. If it's understandable, understanding is the universal imagination. Very boring. Imagination is something you create.

Understanding is no imagination. Understanding isn't a bad thing. The most imaginative people just can't get their message across. People who are viewed as the most imaginative in the world, are simply the most successful at getting others to understand. People who are actually the most imaginative people in the world, can't be understood.

Like Aidan.


...


We went on to talk about how, theoretically, A3 must be the most imaginative one in our family. However, I would argue that A1 and A2 are each highly imaginative as well. Austin explained that he is imaginative because he exercises his imagination like a muscle.


We also debated whether subconscious imagination is more valuable than conscious imagination. Austin responded quickly that imagination is imagination, it all carries the same value. He does seem to value imagination that can't be understood by others, however, as the most worthy of acclaim.

Transformer Origins

Transformer Origins

by Austin Cove

2012 January 21

Transformer gods were

1. Omega Maximus (king of the transformer gods and god of wisdom)
2. Primus Maximus (god of creation, brother of Unicron and disciple of Omega Maximus; creator of the primes and king of the transformer gods after Omega Maximus’ passing)
3. Unicron  (god of chaos, brother of Primus and creator of Earth and disciple of Omega Maximus)
4. Orion (god of war and disciple of Unicron)
5. Alfa Supreme (god of civilization, disciple of Primus and creator of Omega Supreme)
6. Vandus Magnus (god of industry, follower of Unicron and creator of sky quake)
7. Cylious (god of science, follower of Primus and creator of the cybernetic organism and later his spark became the all spark)
8. Zylos (god of anti-matter and follower of Unicron)
9. Terra (goddess of organic matter, sister to Dracous and Elvon and follower of Primus; later imprisoned on Earth)
10. Dracous (god of decay, follower of Unicron and brother to Terra and Elvon)
11. Elvon (god of peace, brother to Terra and Dracous and follower of Primus)
12. Plutos (god of anger, disciple of Unicron)
13. Umbrous (god of dark matter and opposer of the war)

The story

In the beginning, there were thirteen original gods. They each had their own little place, but in between them were vast spaces of nothing. The ruler of the gods was Omega Maximus, the god of wisdom. He saw how unbalanced the space was, so in secret without counseling the other gods, he offered to young gods Primus and Unicron to create a universe that was balanced. 

Primus, being the god of creation and Unicron, the god of chaos, they set out together to build an infinite universe and they did. A universe that filled up all the empty space and was balanced. Creation led to chaos and chaos led to creation in an infinite cycle that could not be broken. When they returned, Omega Maximus appointed them his disciples but their celebration was cut short because the other gods stormed in and put Omega Maximus in a prison for gods

Iike him and cast him out into the universe. 

After the other gods left, Primus and Unicron set out to find their master. When they did, they found him in physical destruction. Primus was called forth to be consulted by the elders. Unicron followed his brother to the council chambers. He was stopped and had to stay behind while Primus went forth. "The council has decided that because you are the disciple of the wise one that you must take an oath to ensure that this mistake will not happen again. Primus took the oath. 

Then there is the matter of choosing a new leader and the council has already decided that it would only be reasonable to have the disciple of Omega Maximus and the god of creation to be king. Primus could not contain his joy for this is what Omega wanted. The celebrations lasted for centuries and all that while, they forgot about one particular person — Unicron. 

Unicron was so furious that he went to the place of the universe’s creation and planted a seed — not a normal seed, but a seed of hate, of all-consuming hate, and it grew rapidly in its creator’s presence. It became a super-massive black hole that not even light could escape its grasp. 

With that happening all around the universe, Primus was aware of its evil presence so he tried to create something out of light to stop it. But Unicron had already planned for this so when Primus cast his stars out, the black holes seeded them so when they died, they became black holes or nothing. 

With this done, Unicron set out to get followers. His first was Orion, the god of war, who pledged himself as Unicron’s disciple. As Unicron was doing this, so was Primus. He recruited Alfa Supreme, the god of civilization, as his disciple. Primus kept racing with Unicron to get followers. Unicron’s other followers were Vandus Magnus, Zylos, Dracous, and Plutos. Primus had gathered as many followers as he could. They were Cylious, the god of science, Terra, goddess of organic matter, and Elvon, god of peace. 

When the war began, it churned the universe and it seemed that the universe was fighting itself. The war raged on for eons and the universe started to split out into empty space. In the height of the war, Orion was split into 7 small pieces that we now call Orion. 

During a certain calm in the storm of war, Terra snuck into the enemy base, but to Unicron himself. She was captured and imprisoned as Earth. She and the planet mixed together and formed Earth late in the war. Cylious had made the cybernetic organism based on Primus’ form and when Unicron heard of it, he secretly implanted some of his own design to the beings and then destroyed Cylious. 

Primus came too late, and in his greatest act of friendship for the Cybertronians who were already based upon him, he took it upon himself to ensure their safety and gave Cylious’ spark to himself to breed Cybertronians in the final days of war when it was just Primus and Unicron. They fought a great battle and in the end, Primus decided to create the primes to lead the Cybertronians and then he tried to sacrifice himself to destroy Unicron, but the primes took a piece of Omega Maximus’ spark. With this spark, they created the matrix and used it to destroy Unicron, but in the process Primus got so exhausted from fighting Unicron that he was content to lay in planet form until he is needed again. 

When the primes thought they had defeated Unicron, one of them saw his planet form footing away and then a huge chunk of dark Energon fell towards him. He hid it and vowed to bring back Unicron. Energon is the blood of Primus and he can regenerate it while in planet form as Unicron can regenerate dark Energon at will.

Sticking it Out

Austin and I have been reading the book, "The 6 Most Important Decisions You'll Ever Make," by Sean Covey.

A couple nights ago, I read this passage aloud to Austin:

"Many years ago, the psychologist Walter Mischel conducted an experiment at a preschool on the Stanford University campus. He gathered a group of four-year-old kids around a table with an assortment of marshmallows in the middle. Mischel told them he had to leave the room for a few minutes. If they could wait until he got back, he would give them two marshmallows. If they couldn't wait, then they could have one marshmallow right then. One marshmallow right now, or two later. That was the deal. He then left the room.
A few of the kids couldn't resist and ate a marshmallow the second he left.
Some lasted for a few minutes before they gave in.
Others smelled their marshmallows.
One kid even began licking his.
A few kids were determined to resist the temptation and wait. So they covered their eyes, put their heads down, sang to themselves, played games, hid in the corner, or even tried to fall asleep.
When Mischel returned, he gave those who held out their well-earned two marshmallows.
The researcher then followed the lives of each of these kids up through high school. Remarkably, those who had resisted eating the marshmallow had done far better in life than those who couldn't wait. They were better adjusted, more confident, more popular, and more dependable. They also did much better in school."

We laughed when I read about the kids who smelled their marshmallows, and decided that's likely how Aidan would have behaved.

Austin and I mused about how our 4-year-old selves might have behaved in the same circumstance. I figure I would have been among the ones who were distracting themselves as time wore on (though my mother may disagree!), and Austin just grinned that charming grin of his, and blurted out, "I would have eaten 6!"

Trust Austin to pick an action that wasn't even on the list ;) He admits that he has a very strong tendency toward instant gratification.

As much as Austin is enjoying this book and has enjoyed another Sean Covey book, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens," he tells me he is feeling a lot of pressure and he is concerned about his future. It all seems to be flying at him too fast. He's not ready to stop being a kid.

Exercise Routine

Skye designed this exercise routine for Austin. Tonight, Austin completed the routine for the first time. He began warming up by walking/running to the top of our hill (one block) and back. It was dark outside, and Austin worries about black bears, so he went pretty fast and came home huffing and puffing.


Two times through this routine. 


He does each activity for 30 seconds.

If he can't do something or stops, Skye doesn't stop the clock, he just gives
encouragement. He'll do things all the way through when he has the
strength for it (not yet).

Start with a warmup. A quick walk or jog up and down the hill works
(not a fast run). Then do some arm exercises like windmills, or
jumping jacks.

Routine:
pushups
plank
squats (hold a basketball over head and encourage smooth movements)
hip raises (hold for as long as possible)
wall squats (remember, knees two fists apart - not wide open)
chair dip (work the triceps - he is allowed to bend his legs for now)
calf raises (30 seconds each side back to back)
floor raise (superman banana - hold for 5 seconds)
reverse crunch (don't let feet touch the floor)
plank (yes, again)
windshield wipers
side plank (30 seconds each side)

Then repeat all of this again one more time!!

Then warmdown stretching.

Exponential learning

Austin and Skye have been working through the Khan exercises on exponents this week. He's been doing pretty well but Skye thought an exercise to make things more visible might help him get a better idea of what exponents "look like." 


This was the result (photo). 

They hand-calculated about 1/2 of the numbers seen on this wall. This was great practice in multiple-digit addition and multiplication. Once they got to the higher numbers Skye showed him how to calculate exponents using a scientific calculator.

It didn't take him long to first notice how quickly numbers grow when you move from one base to another (somewhere around 3^6) and then the interesting relationships between base 2, base 4, base 8 and base 16.

They took a short detour into computer science to discuss how computers are based on a base 2 number system.

Fun!



For base-9 digits, Skye showed Austin that he can reduce every solution to 9, by adding up the digits and reducing them until only a single digit remains. For example, the solution to 9^9 is 387,420,489. 3+8+7+4+2+0+4+8+9 = 45; 4+5 = 9! This way, Austin can double-check to see if he has calculated the correct result.


Carla showed Austin that he can do the same for base-3 digits, and the final result will be 3, 6 or 9 (all multiples of 3).


Austin is enjoying exponents so much, that he has been teaching the concept to Aidan. Aidan is a good sport about it and is enjoying finding patterns on the grid.


I overheard Austin encouraging Aidan at one point. I hadn't heard what Aidan said, but I heard Austin say, "You ARE smart! You found patterns that even I hadn't noticed!" This teaching experience has been good for their relationship. In fact, I've noticed that they are getting along better, overall, these days. Hope it's not only because Santa's watching ;)

Exponents

Austin's been working on exponents ... X squared, x cubed, x to the y, x to the negative y, x to the 1/2 (square-root), multiplying exponents that have the same base, fractional exponents and scientific notation.

This was all done on Khan Academy lessons:
- exponents 1
- exponents 2
- exponents 3
- exponents rules 1
- scientific notation