Miracles DO Happen

Moses parted the sea, Noah built the ark, and we sold our house. We were able to sell it for what we owed. We feel so lucky/blessed. Everything is finalized and they move in tomorrow. Woohoo!!

Student of the Week

Maddie was student of the week for the 8th grade this week. She gets her picture posted in the hallway to mark the honor. Yay for my amazing girl!!!

How Nuclear Energy is Produced (as promised)

I was comforted to see that I was not the only one who really didn’t know much about nuclear power. But I knew that would be the case because the group that Richard went with consisted of about 20 intelligent, community leaders and business icons and most of them were learning a lot that day too. So I decided to consult a couple of websites (this one and this one OR http://www.aboutnuclear.org/) to make sure I got my facts straight. I wouldn’t want that one person who was ready to write a thesis (yes, I know who you are) to get all up in my face or anything. So, here it is. I tried to keep it pretty simple.

As of July 2008, there were more than 430 operating nuclear power plants and, together, they provided about 15 percent of the world's electricity in 2007. Of these 31 countries, some depend more on nuclear power than others. For instance, in France about 77 percent of the country's electricity comes from nuclear power [source: NEI]. Lithuania comes in second, with an impressive 65 percent. In the United States, 104 nuclear power plants supply 20 percent of the electricity overall, with some states benefiting more than others.

Here in Chicago, over 2 million homes get their electricity from nuclear power.

Despite all the cosmic energy that the word "nuclear" invokes, power plants that depend on atomic energy don't operate that differently from a typical coal-burning power plant. Both heat water into pressurized steam, which drives a turbine generator. (This was the part I didn’t know. I thought there was some magic power involved, but it’s really just that the heat that heats the water is produced with nuclear energy. Much more simple than I thought.) The key difference between the two plants is the method of heating the water. While older plants burn fossil fuels, nuclear plants depend on the heat that occurs during nuclear fission, when one atom splits into two.

 Nuclear Fission: In nuclear fission, the nuclei of atoms are split, causing energy to be released. The atomic bomb and nuclear reactors work by fission. The element uranium is the main fuel used to undergo nuclear fission to produce energy since it has many favorable properties. Uranium nuclei can be easily split by shooting neutrons at them. Also, once a uranium nucleus is split, multiple neutrons are released which are used to split other uranium nuclei. This phenomenon is known as a chain reaction.

Fission of uranium 235 nucleus. Adapted from Nuclear Energy. Nuclear Waste*.

So, there’s this little Uranium pellet (about the size of a pencil-end eraser) which has about as much energy as 3 barrels of oil OR 1 ton of coal OR 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas. That info. came from the pass-along card that Richard brought home. It’s amazing really.
Of course there are pros AND cons. Here they are.

Advantages of Nuclear Energy
The Earth has limited supplies of coal and oil. Nuclear power plants could still produce electricity after coal and oil become scarce.
Nuclear power plants need less fuel than ones which burn fossil fuels. One ton of uranium produces more energy than is produced by several million tons of coal or several million barrels of oil.
Coal and oil burning plants pollute the air. Well-operated nuclear power plants do not release contaminants into the environment.

Disadvantages of Nuclear Energy
The nations of the world now have more than enough nuclear bombs to kill every person on Earth. The two most powerful nations -- Russia and the United States -- have about 50,000 nuclear weapons between them. What if there were to be a nuclear war? What if terrorists got their hands on nuclear weapons? Or what if nuclear weapons were launched by accident?

Nuclear explosions produce radiation. The nuclear radiation harms the cells of the body which can make people sick or even kill them. Illness can strike people years after their exposure to nuclear radiation.
One possible type of reactor disaster is known as a meltdown. In such an accident, the fission reaction goes out of control, leading to a nuclear explosion and the emission of great amounts of radiation.
In 1979, the cooling system failed at the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Radiation leaked, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee. The problem was solved minutes before a total meltdown would have occurred. Fortunately, there were no deaths.
In 1986, a much worse disaster struck Russia's Chernobyl nuclear power plant. In this incident, a large amount of radiation escaped from the reactor. Hundreds of thousands of people were exposed to the radiation. Several dozen died within a few days. In the years to come, thousands more may die of cancers induced by the radiation.
Nuclear reactors also have waste disposal problems. Reactors produce nuclear waste products which emit dangerous radiation. Because they could kill people who touch them, they cannot be thrown away like ordinary garbage. Currently, many nuclear wastes are stored in special cooling pools at the nuclear reactors.
The United States plans to move its nuclear waste to a remote underground dump by the year 2010.
In 1957, at a dump site in Russia's Ural Mountains, several hundred miles from Moscow, buried nuclear wastes mysteriously exploded, killing dozens of people.
Nuclear reactors only last for about forty to fifty years.

But, there are disadvantages to all forms of electricity, and with energy resources in such great demand, perhaps nuclear is a great alternative.

I hope you've learned something. . . and don't ask me anything else about this. I would have to direct you to the thesis writer. I'm pretty much tapped out at this.

 

Big Boy Birthday at the Brunzwick Zone

 

Richard must be having a mid-life crisis or something. He wanted to have a kid-style birthday this year, complete with carnival-type rides, arcade games, pizza, and lots of goofing around. Just kidding. He really wanted to have a fun, family outing of bowling and pizza at the Brunzwick Zone, which is a local bowling, lazer tag, arcade place. Wouldn't you know it, when we got there we discovered that it was league night and there wasn't a lane available. So we ended up doing all of the aforementioned activities. I think the kids were pleased though. There was noone doing those things, so we got to bumper car as much as we could stand it. We were also happily entertained by the local teenaged regulars who were DDR masters. I talked to them and they said that they've been going there almost every day for 6 years. I have never seen anyone that good at that game. I was totally and completely impressed. Can you say Feet Flying Fast in Fabulous Formation? They didn't miss a beat. Okay, enough of that. We got gobs and gobs of tickets and came away with a glow in the dark necklace and a few notebooks and other stuff that Ellie calls China, "because they all say China on them." It makes sense to me.
Then we came home to Birthday Pumpkin Pie which Richard requested because he has no faith in my ability to make a cake. I don't care. I didn't want to make him one anyway. Sniff, sniff. Cakes are stupid. (Turns around and sulks.) It's okay. Saved me time in the long run. BTW, I do make okay cakes. I won't call them fabulous, but they are usually edible. So, happy birthday Richard.

Lake Geneva

 

Last weekend was just beautiful and Richard was feeling like an outing, so we packed our swimming suits (just in case) and headed out. We stopped at a Pancake House for breakfast. I wish I got a picture of the banana crepes I got. Mmmm, just thinking about it makes me want some more. We stayed on Rt. 30 and made our way through a bunch of small towns. 1 1/2 hours later we stopped in Lake Geneva, WI. They were having their annual OktuberFest. We walked around that a bit, but the entire town must have been out. It was way too crowded for our liking. And then we found the lake; not too crowded and extremely pleasant. Maddie and Emma, who insisted they wouldn't want to swim anywhere, were probably feeling a bit disappointed about that decision. The water was cold, but not prohibitive. A stop at Portillos for Spaghetti on the way home made the day even better. I even got sunburned in October!

Once On This Island

Auditions for the Middle School Musical recently took place. I strongly encouraged my girls to go for it. And after anxiety and stressful days, they did. And guess what?. . .Yes, of course you guessed it. They both got lead roles. Maddie actually got THE lead role as Ti Moune and Emma is a Storyteller (a big part). We are now looking at several months of long rehearsals and hours of costume making I assume. What could be more exciting? It's fun to live vicariously through your children.