Family, Science

Hawaii Students Advance to Final Rounds of National Science Competitions

This fall two young men from O’ahu have made the cut and will advance to final rounds of national science competitions.

Jack Uesugi was selected as one of ten finalists in this year’s Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge, for creating a video that details the elements of a satellite’s orbit around planet Earth.  Jack will compete in the national competition in Washington, D.C., from October 4th to October 6th, 2008, for the chance to win a $50,000 U.S. Savings Bond, as well as earn the title of “America’s Top Young Scientist of the Year.”  NASA will host the competition finals at its world-renowned Goddard Space Flight Center.  Jack attends Island Pacific Academy.

(Jack Uesugi, finalist in the 2008 Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge and student at Island Pacific Academy)

Judges selected Thomas Goodin as one of thirty finalists at the 2008 Society for Science & the Public Middle School Program science competition for his project, “Which Windmill Rotor Pitch Is the Most Efficient?” Thomas emerged as a finalist from more than 75,000 students who entered local science fairs nationwide during the last school year.  He is now on his way to Washington, D.C., to showcase his project at the Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences on Sunday, October 19th.  Thomas attends Mid-Pacific Institute.

(Thomas Goodin with his display and finalist in the 2008 Society for Science & the Public Middle School Program, courtesy of Mid-Pacific Institute)

Congratulations and all the best to you both!

News, Politics

Biden Palin Comparison

Both presidential candidates announced their picks for Vice President this week. A closer look at the candidates for VP reveals stark differences worth paying attention to. Remember the veep is just one step away from the oval office. Here is how they compare in a nutshell.

Joe Biden, Barack Obama’s running mate and a Democrat, has been a senator since 1972 (36 years) and was first elected at age 29, making him the youngest person ever elected to the senate. He is chairman of the senate’s Foreign Relations Committee. His list of credits, issues and accomplishments is so long it takes up an entire website. He is from Delaware and is married with three children.

Sarah Palin, John McCain’s running mate and a Republican, has been governor of Alaska for almost two years. Before that she served as mayor of Wasilla, a small town outside of Anchorage. She has no national or international political experience and obtained her first passport in 2007. Her bio takes up a single web page, including pictures of her hunting (nice rack) and fishing. She is from Alaska and is married with five children.

Culture, Family, News, Politics, Random

Barack Obama Acceptance Speech at the Democratic Convention

Wow! Saying that Barack Obama is the best orator of our generation does not do him in justice. He is a phenomenon that our country is better for having, regardless of the election outcome.

What I loved most about this speech is that he doesn’t promise to fix everything for us, but to help us believe that we can fix what’s wrong in our country for ourselves. I think that’s called democracy, and he is one politician that seems to really believe in it.

Barack Obama also achieved today what so many thought impossible in the US: a black man was nominated to be president. Even better that he accepted that nomination on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a dream speech”.

It makes sense that a post-racial candidate like Barack would come from Hawaii, a unique place that prides itself on functional ethnic mixing and tolerance.  If all of this doesn’t give us healing and hope, I don’t know what will.

Shortly after his speech, a dear friend emailed me her reaction: “Cried so hard. I realize how thick my wall of cynicism is and how much I do want America to be a better country. Ah…hope can I really believe in it?”

Dear readers, that may be the question of our time.

I listened to all of Obama’s speech on NPR.  If you missed this speech that is history in the making, you can still hear on NPR in its entirety.