Arcane nerd knowledge revealed: a nice way to solve Rubik’s Cube.

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Yesterday, one of the elder Free-Ride offspring’s teammates brought a Rubik’s Cube to soccer practice. While this youngster fiddled with the cube during a water break, I mentioned that I knew how to solve it. I was asked to transmit this knowledge, and I promised to write it up and send it to the player at this morning’s soccer match.
And I thought, “You know, there are probably others who might like this information.” So I made a quick detour to the scanner, and am sharing the very same information with you all.
I’m pretty sure that revealing this knowledge won’t get me drummed out of the Nerds’ Alliance, but I guess we’ll see.

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Friday Sprog Blogging: more about matter.

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As mentioned earlier, the younger Free-Ride offspring’s first grade class is learning about states of matter. We continue to get reports back about the content of these lessons, and then the sprogs set about trying to extend them … in ways that suit their aesthetics more than their parents’ aesthetics.
Younger offspring: Today we poured water in lots of different containers, and the water always was in the same shape as the container.
Dr. Free-Ride: And you did this because … ?
Younger offspring: We were seeing that liquids can change their shapes depending on the container. Solids don’t do that. If I pour a marker from a cup to a bowl, it still has the shape of a marker. And if I pour it from the bowl onto the table, it still has the shape of a marker. That’s because a marker is solid, not liquid.
Dr. Free-Ride: It sounds like you’re ready to teach this lesson, huh?
Younger offspring: I was paying attention.

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Fun with numbers: Blogger Challenge update (day 4).

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We’re in the middle of the fourth day of the month-long DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge 2007, and thanks to his generous readers Mike Dunford has raised 100% of his initial goal, funding classroom projects that will impact 370 students.
The awesomeness of that is pretty breathtaking.
In light of Mike’s impressive milestone, I thought this might be a good time to check in on the progress of the other ScienceBloggers participating in the challenge. Here are some “Top 5” lists:

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Fifty years after Sputnik.

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Fifty years ago today, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, Earth’s first artificial satellite. I don’t remember it (because I wouldn’t be born for another decade), but the “BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP” heard ’round the world left indelible traces on the fabric of life for my parents’ generation, my generation, and for the subsequent generations, too.

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Other bloggers offer (better?) incentives for Blogger Challenge donors.

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We’re in day 2 of the ScienceBlogs Blogger Challenge, during which we’re working with DonorsChoose to raise some money for classroom projects. The amount contributed by ScienceBlogs readers is creeping up on $4000, which is pretty impressive.
But it looks like the real competition may be for which blogger can offer readers the best incentive to donate.
I thought I was doing pretty well with my offer of poetry, sprog artwork, or a basic concepts post written to order. (Indeed, we’re already on the hook for an illustrated poem.) But my SciBlings have upped the ante:

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Special incentives for your donation to my DonorsChoose challenge.

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You know from my last post that we’re working with DonorsChoose to raise some money for public school teachers who are trying to give their students the engaging educational experiences they deserve. You also know that our benevolent overlords at Seed will be randomly selecting some donors to receive nifty prizes (details about this to be posted as soon as I get them).
But I’d like to sweeten the deal by offering some incentive to everyone who donates to my challenge. Here’s what you can get:

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Raising money for classroom projects to create a more scientifically literate society (DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge 2007)

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Maybe you remember that fund-raiser we did for DonorsChoose last June. We’re kicking off another today. But this time, it’s not just ScienceBlogs bloggers — partners like Google, Yahoo!, Six Apart, and Federated Media are watching the efforts across the whole blogosphere to see which blog has the most generous and engaged readers.
But before we get to the frenzy of competition, let’s start with what matters: the school kids yearning to learn.
As I wrote last year:

Those of us who blog here at ScienceBlogs think science is cool, important, and worth understanding. If you’re reading the blogs here, chances are you feel the same way.
A lot of us fell in love with science because of early experiences in school — teachers who made science intriguing, exciting, maybe a little bit dangerous. But tightening budgets are making it harder and harder for public school teachers to provide the books, equipment, and field trips to make science come alive for kids.
DonorsChoose.org gives us a way to help teachers get the job done. A bunch of us at ScienceBlogs have set up Blogger Challenges which will let us (and that includes you) contribute to worthy school projects in need of financial assistance. We’ll be able to track our progress right on the DonorsChoose site. And — because we like a little friendly competition — we’ll be updating you periodically as to which blogger’s readers are getting his or her challenge closest to its goal.
You don’t need to give a barrel of money to help the kids — as little as $10 can help. You’re joining forces with a bunch of other people, and all together, your small contributions can make a big difference.

This year, the challenge runs for the entire month of October. A number of ScienceBloggers have already put together challenges, but I suspect a few more may arrive fashionably late. Here’s who’s in so far:
A Blog Around the Clock (challenge here)
Adventures in Ethics and Science (challenge here)
Aetiology (challenge here)
Cognitive Daily (challenge here)
Deep Sea News (challenge here)
Evolgen (challenge here)
Gene Expression (challenge here)
Omni Brain (challenge here)
On Being a Scientist and a Woman (challenge here)
The Questionable Authority (challenge here)
Retrospectacle (challenge here)
The Scientific Activist (challenge here)
Stranger Fruit (challenge here)
Terra Sigillata (challenge here)
Thoughts From Kansas (challenge here)
Thus Spake Zuska (challenge here)
Uncertain Principles (challenge here)
How It Works:

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