Mindmap Software

Yesterday we learned about the concept of Mindmap or concept mapping to help you study information. Below are several different free programs that can be used to make concept maps on the computer.

• Freemind
• XMind
• Dia

Freemind was the program that was used today in the lab. I was pleased with how quickly they learned how to use it.

Solar Prominence in stereo

I just stumbled upon this pretty cool footage of a solar prominence at APOD. Make sure to check out the YouTube clip.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap091020.html

Interesting car

Would you believe that a 30mph wind is enough wind to make a car go 126 mph. Check out this wind powered card:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7968860.stm

Aero Garden Results

I probably should have posted these results earlier but here they are.

Results	Weight (g)
Basil	164.66
Mint	32.68
Thyme	11.70
Oregano	5.90
Dill	108.29
Total	323.23

The results given are after using two of the nutrient tablets from the other seed kit. You should be able to expect about 300 grams of herbs from a single winter season. I would assume that if you did this over the summer you would get better results since our results are for an Alaskan winter. Now that the days are getting longer we have seen a significant increase in the yield.

I decided to put this post up because the next time we change out the water we will be experimenting with an non-AeroGarden brand of nutrients. Expense wise it is only slightly cheaper because I only purchased a small amount of the nutrient solution. I wanted to do this because the herbs have been producing so nicely now, that I hated to let them just die.

We will also be experimenting with making our own hydroponics container from scratch.

Comet Lulin

Check out what is happening right now with comet Lulin at spaceweather.com.

Check out these amazing pictures.

Today was a solar eclipse on the other side of the world. Spaceweather.com has some pretty good shots of it.