I had three things I wanted to post about, but none of them seemed long enough for a post on their own.  So here they are together in a mish mash of superheroes, science, space, and social media!

Beware of Geek Kid

First comes a bit of Geek Fail on my part.  Recently, Cartoon Network released a large amount of their library on Netflix.  As I drooled over the shows that I could share with my boys, I saw "The Powerpuff Girls."  I laughed at it and, on a lark, decided to show them the show so we could laugh at it together.  Never underestimate a geek’s love of superheroes, though.  While I couldn’t take the show seriously enough to enjoy it, my kids loved it!  Now NHL is determined to watch every episode.  Geek Fail?  Or perhaps Geek Win in that NHL loves superheroes so much that he even likes PowerPuff Girls.

Goodness Gracious, Great Balls of Incandescent Plasma

Next up comes a little video that NASA put together.  You see, NASA launched the Solar Dynamics Observatory three years ago.  Since then, it’s been regularly taking photos of the Sun.  One photo every twelve seconds.  For three years.  It’s given scientists tons of data to prove and disprove theories about our favorite star.  NASA has taken those photos and strung them together into an amazing four minute video showing some amazing details.

Thanks to NASA images and videos being public domain for the most part (about the only ones that aren’t are items with the NASA logo or with people in the shot), you can download high resolution movies or still shots from this movie.

Why? Because, Saturn!

A couple of days ago, Phil Plait (aka BadAstronomer) and Jenny Lawson (aka The Bloggess) started conversing on Twitter.  Phil was tweeting a drive to press Congress not to cut planetary science at NASA.  This is a very good cause on its own.

Then, Jenny pointed out how "Because, Saturn!" was a good answer to anything.

"Why do I have to eat my broccoli?"   "Because, Saturn!"

"Why can’t I watch TV?"   "Because, Saturn!"

"Why can’t I stay up late?"   "Because… Saturn!"

Jenny mentioned putting this on a shirt.  While I haven’t done that, I did come up with this nice looking graphic.

That image comes from NASA via the Cassini space probe.  They stitched together 126 individual photos to come up with this 40 megapixel beauty.  Of course, you can and should go to NASA’s website to look up some of their other wonderful photos.

NASA makes getting great science and amazing images from millions of miles away look easy.  So please click the link above to press Congress to give NASA funding for planetary science efforts.  Why? Because, Saturn!

My boys love superheroes of all kinds.  So when a big box arrived, thanks to MomSelect and Mattel, they were excited to find tons of Batman goodies inside.

Before throwing a party with the gear, I let the boys each pick out a few items that they liked the best.  JSL chose a Power Attack Deluxe Turbo Punch Batman figure.  This Batman has a battering ram-like weapon that attaches to his arm.  When you squeeze his legs, Batman’s torso swivels and it hits its target.  (Speaking of targets, it comes with a cardboard Joker target to knock down.)  JSL also selected a Power Attack Robin with a shield.  NHL chose a Power Attack Killer Croc and Power Attack Deluxe Mallet Smasher Joker.  As the name implies, this Joker holds a mallet high above his head and smashes it down (perhaps at the included cardboard Batman target) when you squeeze his legs.

Also included was a Batmobile car that could hold one of the non-deluxe figures (such as Robin) and fire various missiles.

As soon as I opened the toys for them, they would disappear from my hands and rapidly enter playtime. The boys had a blast putting together scenarios where Batman and Robin were facing down Killer Croc and the Joker.  Robin would often enter the Batmobile and fire missiles at the villains.

Given that it was close to Thanksgiving, we had our party in two parts.  First, we met Becca Marsh and her family for a quick dinner out.  Becca has three boys and a girl.  I made sure to include a Batman toy for her daughter as well.  After all, Batman is not just for boys.

The kids had fun talking and playing in the restaurant together (and the adults had a good time talking to other adults).  They all loved the Batman toys and were excited when I laid them out on the table for them to choose their favorites.

For the second part of the party, we took advantage of some family coming into town post-Thanksgiving.  Uncle I, Aunt M, and Cousins S & B were staying at Nana and Papa’s house so we went over one morning with a ton of Batman goodies.  This time, since the kids would have more room to play, I had my boys bring the Batman toys they picked out initially.

Cousin S and Cousin B were excited about their toys and played Batman with the boys for awhile.  On one floor, there were both boys and girls aged from 2 to 9 years old, all enjoying Batman.  (Up to age 37 if you count me playing along when I wasn’t taking photos.)  Proof that Batman’s appeal spans a wide range of ages.

Disclaimer: I received a selection of Batman toys, gift bags, a Batman Brave and the Bold DVD, and various party supplies from MomSelect and Mattel to facilitate my Batman Party.  The opinions expressed above, however, are my own.

My boys love comic book superheroes.  We watch Ultimate Spider-Man, Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and other shows featuring super-powered individuals fighting evil.  With the Avengers movie in theatres, you’d think I’d be dragging them to see it.  Unfortunately, the live action Avengers movie (like the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America movies before them) are a bit too much for an 8 year old and a 4 year old.

Meanwhile, B isn’t a very big superhero fan so she has no interest in seeing this movie.  I had pretty much resigned myself to catching it on DVD, but then I got to thinking.  I’m a man in his mid-thirties, not some teenager without a date on Saturday night.  I don’t need someone with me to prove anything to anyone.  Why can’t I go see the movie alone?  (Of course, finding the time to get out to actually see the movie is another story.)

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Have you ever gone to see a movie all by yourself?

P.S. If you haven’t already, try out my Twitter applications: FollowerHQ and Rout.

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #138

I didn’t really want to write about this.  I guess mainly because I like to avoid bad subjects and focus on good ones.  After seeing all of the 9-11 coverage and thinking about it, though, an idea popped in my head.  No matter how much I wanted to write about other things, I kept thinking back to 9-11.

When I first heard about the planes hitting, I was in my office.  It was like a bad movie come to life.  I kept feeling like at any moment, there would be a climatic battle, the good guys would win over impossible odds, the credits would roll, and then we’d see everything go back to normal.  Sadly, that wasn’t the case.

As the planes hit and the towers collapsed, I was worried about my father and my friend, G.  My father worked in New York City at the time and, while he wasn’t near the World Trade Center, we didn’t know if all of New York City was going to be attacked.  G, meanwhile, actually worked in the World Trade Center.  I couldn’t remember if he was in one of the towers or other buildings.  I got on AIM and connected with some ex-co-workers of mine and G’s mom.  She hadn’t heard from him.

Then, I heard that the towers collapsed.  At first, I thought that the person meant that the top few floors collapsed, not the entire building.  As the enormity of what was happening sank in, I began to panic thinking that G had been killed.  Finally, we heard from him that he was ok.  He got out of the subway, saw the two towers smoking and got as far away as possible.  (I found out later that he worked in one of the other WTC buildings.)

Ten years later, I was thinking about the attacks during NHL’s first day of Hebrew school.  I was thinking of how I would describe 9-11 to NHL when, suddenly, it hit me: Terrorists are bullies.  Bullies in a school setting rule by fear.  Whether it is fear of being beaten up, fear of being excluded from social cliques, or fear of being embarrassed in front of your peers, bullies thrive on fear.  They attempt to define the rules to position themselves at the top of the social heap at the expense of others.  Often, bullies don’t even have the muscle to enforce their threats.  However, they rely on fear to magnify their perceived power.

Terrorists are like the grown-up, international versions of bullies.  They want the world structured a certain way.  It isn’t.  They could work within society, but they honestly don’t have enough power to enact the changes they desire.  So, instead, they rely on fear.  They use fear to magnify their perceived power.  They use fear to get people to do what they (the terrorists) want.  They use fear to get their way (or else).

Meanwhile, I thought back to my feelings during the events of September 11th.  I remember feeling so helpless.  There were so many people that needed help and I was powerless to do anything.  I remember thinking that, if only I was a comic book-style superhero, I could help out.  I could activate my power ring or quickly change into my costume and then fly there at supersonic speeds to rescue people when they needed help the most.

Sadly, I don’t have super-powers so I was forced to sit on the sidelines watching it all go down on TV.  There were real superheroes there, though: The first responders.  Think about it.  If Spider-Man, Batman, or any other superhero saw a building on fire, what would they do?  They would hurl themselves into the building without a thought in their head about their own safety.  They would do their best and push themselves beyond all normal (and superhuman) limitations until everyone was safe.

On 9-11, firefighters ran up the stairs of the burning twin towers.  They ran up holding a hundred pounds of gear and without any thought of their own safety.  Yes, many people were killed that sad day, but 20,000 were saved.  This is in no small part thanks to the firefighters and other first responders.  Toss a cape and mask on them and you had a legion of superheroes saving lives.