When Did They Put Whistles on Life Jackets? I was on a cruise ship recently that had an evacuation drill. Child's life vest. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Everyone was assigned a lifeboat station. We had to meet there so the ship’s staff could be sure we knew where it was. We did not have to wear our life jackets for the drill, but the crew showed us how they work, just like flight attendants show you where the flotation pillow is under your seat if you fly over water. Or, how to put your seat belt on and take it off. Whistle-Blowers One of the things they showed us on the life jackets was... (Read More ...)

Weekly Recap. Last week, readers spent the most time on: What Do Sugar Cubes Have to Do with Putting a Bike Together? Grandmother Poems. Loss. Why Would You Put Butter in the Well? That’s What Grandpas Are For Mouse Trap Car. Frugal Friday. Last month, readers spent the most time on: What Do Sugar Cubes Have to Do with Putting a Bike Together? What Is Cornstarch? How Can You Make a Plastic Bottle Cave in Without Touching It? You Mean People  Didn’t Get to America by Walking Across the Bering Strait? When Did Hats Go Out of Style? Coming up next week, look for: When Did They Put Whistles... (Read More ...)

A Coin. In keeping with this week’s review of a memoir of growing up in the Great Depression and World War II years, in which June Kilpatrick tells the stories of things that she has kept for their memories, like her mother’s ruby and pearl ring, is this poem about memory. Filsinger, Sara Teasdale, Mrs., portrait photograph. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)   The Coin   Into my heart’s treasury I slipped a coin That time cannot take Nor a thief purloin, – Oh, better than the minting Of a gold-crowned king Is the safe-kept memory Of a lovely thing.   Sara Teasdale, reprinted in “Time for... (Read More ...)

How Do You Make a Helicopter from Paper? You can make something that spins when you drop it as though it were a helicopter, with its turning blades. http://www.af.mil/media/photodb/photos/030513-F-0000C-002.jpg (Photo credit: Wikipedia Materials: A piece of rectangular paper, like notebook paper Staples or paperclips Scissors. Instructions: Fold up the bottom third of the paper; crease; unfold Fold down the top half of the paper; crease; unfold Cut a notch on each side of the paper, cutting a wedge along the fold of the bottom third, with an angle above the fold one-third of the way into... (Read More ...)

Butter and a butter knife (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Why Would You Put Butter In the Well? You would put butter in a well if you had no electricity and lived too far out in the country for a weekly purchase of ice to keep everything cold. June Pair Kilpatrick’s memoir about growing up in the 1930s and 1940s, Wasps in the Bedroom, Butter in the Well: Growing Up During the Great Depression, describes this low point among the 21 places she lived the first 21 years of her life. “While my parents,… no doubt, wondered if they would ever again be able to leave the rural life they had both escaped... (Read More ...)