The Role of Science or Churchill “complained to a friend of having to draft the budget instead of reading a book on quantum physics”

In a fun coincidence, I just caught up on these NYT and Nature articles about some writing from Winston Churchill on alien life and more generally Churchill’s interest in science. I love the quote from the NYT piece that Churchill “complained to a friend of having to draft the budget instead of reading a book on quantum physics.”

But what makes this really sweet – we’ve recently been on a Doctor Who kick. We started with Season 5 (the internet told me that was a good one to get kids hooked, so far, that’s been true). The third episode of season 5 features…. Winston Churchill!

Extra, extra bonus? After the daleks make the first appearance in season 5, episode 3.. We went to the Lego Batman movie and both kids loved the daleks! (just like the kid in this youtube clip)

What fun!

A weekend on Heavener Mountain and in the National Radio Quiet Zone

We had a great weekend visit to Harrisonburg and West Virginia. First we went to the Massanutten Water Park (instead of the ski area, with not much snow around – they claimed 16″). We all had an experience that exceeded our expectations – we may have to go back sometime! Torsten and Aven loved the water slides and all the fun and activities (so did Carrie & I).

The next day we first hiked up Heavener Mountain (all of 2,837 ft elevation – that’s an East Coast mountain). We had some fun driving that reminded us of out West.

Next we went to Green Bank Observatory. We highly recommend a visit. We loved the tour around all the radio telescopes, the hands on science center, our tour guide, and the whole experience. Even the logo was great: “The Universe is Whispering”

The whole weekend we were in the National Radio Quiet Zone, which is fascinating in its own – here are a few links about it:

Two photos from the Green Bank Observatory learning center:


A few more photos from the Heavener Mountain ascent: