An Irrationally Wonderful Day

Pi Day
Courtesy of geocaching.com

Happy Pi Day to all the geeks and nerds of the world!  (I know I am one day late). On March 15, 2015  at 9:26 and 53 seconds, an amazing thing happened: the digits of the time matched the first ten digits of pi. Every year on March 14 the mathematicians of the world unite to celebrate Pi Day but yesterday was of particular significance. Usually only three digits match, but once every century ten of them do. This once in a lifetime day led to much celebration for the nerds of the world. It's fun to celebrate such an important number and it is a good excuse to eat lots of pie. Yum! Pi is a particularly interesting and important number for many reasons. I will not go into the intricacies of the number but if you are interested click here. If you are like me and you have a vast collection of nerdy math and science shirts then you probably will want one in commemoration of Pi Day too. I got mine here and had lots of fun explaining it to people throughout the day.

Here are some of my favorite facts about pi and Pi Day:

All About That.......SPACE!

I'm sure most of you have heard the song All About that Bass by Meghan Trainor. It has a catchy beat and has recently topped the charts. However, today I invite you to listen and watch what I would call a much improved version of the song:

Much better than the original, right? (No offense Meghan, but your's didn't talk about space exploration so it pales in comparison to this masterpiece).

This version was made by interns at NASA and is very similar to their parody of Gangnam Style. 
Videos like this are super because they connect popular culture and space exploration. Not to mention that the pictures are gorgeous and the video is just fun to watch. Can you imagine how much fun the interns must have had making that video? Best job ever! But really, wouldn't interning at NASA be AMAZING?!? I would love to have that opportunity some day. Because you know I'm all about that space, 'bout that space, space travel.

Why Didn't The Dog Star Laugh At The Joke?

Click here to see the answer!
It was too Sirius! (Sirius is the dog constellation) Sadly this post isn't more space jokes but it does have other funny stuff to look at!

We have all watched the hit video Gangnam Style. We also all know how many awful parodies were made of it. However, there was one absolutely stellar parody that was made by NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Here it is:

Wasn’t that fabulous? I love science parodies and NASA paraphernalia. They are so cool! Another cool thing about the NASA Gangnam Style is the shirts. I don’t know if you  noticed but inside the video the dancers are wearing shirts that say keep calm and NASA on. The best part? You can buy one! 

Photo of shirts in video

Some of my other favorite science gear are funny shirts with jokes that only someone who like science would understand. Our local planetarium has some really funny ones. My favorite one that I have ever seen looked like this:

For those who can't read the little writing it says, "The element of surprise"
Courtesy of  amazon.com

Isn’t that fabulous? Right now in school we are taking test after test after test as we finish up the year. This means that I, along with all my classmates, am very tired and starting to snap at each other. Whenever I start to get frustrated with myself or my peers or my teachers I always look up science jokes on the internet and then start to feel better immediately. You see, science is not just good for learning about the truths and mysteries of the universe. It is also great for a good laugh or a nice inside joke. Overall science can be great fun! Sure, it can be a lot of work sometimes but the results are always either funny or amazing!  I leave you with one more funny joke so that if you get distressed during the coming tests you can come here and laugh. 

Courtesy of Micaela Berglund

Rocket Science For Dummies

I admit it. Despite having a blog all about space I actually know very little about the actual mechanics of space. That is why I am on a never ending quest to learn as much as I can about space and the mysteries it holds. I’m proud to say that Neil Degrasse Tyson’s Death By Black Hole was the first non-fiction book I ever finished of my own free will. The reason I finished it? It was fascinating!! Who knew that there are creatures who can survive at -328 degrees F? Or that the reason the ultra-violet radiation from the sun is bad for you is because it is literally decomposing your skin? Learning about space is really fun and I think that is because it is unlike what one hears in their everyday life. 

Funny Poster
Courtesy of zazzle.com

When I sit down to read one of my many, many, many, many space related books I can never put them down. The topics fascinate me. Right now I am reading about parallel worlds. How cool is that? Did you know that there could be another one of you and me in a parallel world? And that’s not science fiction? 

Now this post is all about rocket science. Rocket science is the how. How do we get a rocket into space? How do we put a lander on the moon or on Mars.  How? How? How? That is what rocket scientists do. They design the crafts that leave earth’s atmosphere and go exploring. They are the explorers of tomorrow because they are exploring the one place humans haven’t gone all over, space. Humans are explorers by nature. We are curious and that, for the most part, is a good thing. That is why rocket science is so cool! They design the crafts that will go “where no man (ahem, human) has gone before.”

Now, I can’t teach you all about the astrophysics of rocket science because I am not an astronautical engineer, (which, by the way, is the technical name for a rocket scientist) but what I can do is give you links to some of my all time favorite space books that have taught me about space. 

Emma’s Favorite Space Books:

Death By Black Hole 

By Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Death From The Skies

By Philip Plait (He is the guy who did the lecture I got to go to)

Space Chronicles 

By Neil DeGrasse Tyson

The Hidden Reality 

By Brian Greene

Hyperspace 

By Michio Kaku

Spring Has Sprung, The Rockets Are Flying

The grass is turning green. The flowers are coming up. Core testing is starting. We all know what that means, spring is in the here! There are lots of reasons to be excited for spring. It means that school is almost out, it’s time for shorts and dress and skirts again and spring also means that those of us who are space fans can launch our model rockets!

I was first introduced to model rockets last summer. I launched my first one last August. The first step was assembly. It was really fun to see how all the pieces went together to make a rocket. The next part, and what I think is the best part, was launching the rocket. I was super astonished by this particular rocket which went up 1025 feet in the air. It was super cool and amazing! It went all the way up into a cloud! 

My friend and I launching my first rocket!

I’m super excited for spring this year because I get to launch a rocket that I got for my birthday. It’s super cool because it has two accompanying space shuttles that fly off it after lift off. It won’t go quite as high because it is bigger and heavier but it should still be really cool. 

My rocket that is ready for launch!

I also have a really cool rocket that is designed so that instead of parachuting down it will use a built-in helicopter rotor to slowly descend. I still have to build that one. Then I can have a rocket launching day where I launch multiple rockets, multiple times! What fun!

My rocket collection!

In other rocket related news the Antares rocket is set for launch tomorrow. It is a significant launch because the Antares rocket will be the second completely privately made rocket are those made by SpaceX.

I hope that you all have a wonderful spring! If you feel so inclined you can purchase high-quality model rockets here.