3 Rs

Ready

Reliable

Reasonable

Sunday, December 13, 2015

BookaPalooza


This was the second year that the Writers Community of Durham Region (WCDR) hosted BookaPalooza. The event was held at Durham College-Whitby Campus, running from 10:00am to 4:00 pm on November 21st. The event was attended by the general public. With the variety of genres available coupled with readings and book signings, it promised to be a wonderful opportunity for shoppers looking for a gift to give during the Holiday Season.

I bought a book for my daughter by a gifted author and I sold one of my two books. 

For those of us displaying our books, the day was about networking and if you sold a book or two, that was a bonus.

I had a great time and conversed with many authors.


AstroNut Kids Space Club Mission #60

Each Mission that Ray organizes is 3 hours of packed science fun for the AstroNuts. The children range in age from 9 to 14 years. Mission #60 was held on October 25, 2015.

Scientist Stan's baskets prepared for his workshop
At 2:00 pm, Ray welcomes the group and makes a few announcements. Sometimes his son Brett makes the announcements.

At 2:15 pm Tim Harris updates the kids in the latest technological developments in his “What’s Up in Space” news reel that he creates himself.

At 2:30 pm, Astronomer Paul Delaney gave a brief talk about ”What’s Up With Being Down With Gravity” indoors.
The group goes outside to the back, grassy area of a school yard. Paul has designed two scale version activities using rope laid down almost the length of the field. He places one student at the start of the rope which is the Big Bang Theory, and assigns positions on a cosmological scale to modern humans. Students are placed at each point with a picture and a title of the period. The children get to visually see how short a period of time that humans have been present on this scale.
Assembling the control surfaces that will control roll, pitch and yaw
Paul’s second activity is to place the planets in order from that closest to the Sun to the eighth planet Neptune being the farthest.  This visual is very impressive.

At 3:30 pm we have the world famous, 15 minute Pizza Pizza break.

At 3:45pm, it is time to do my activity. I taught the children how to make a simple delta wing balsawood glider with control surfaces. Once built, the children took their planes outside and under Ray’s direction, flew them.

At 4:15 pm, Scott Sutherland showed pictures of various nebulae for his theme “Halloween in the Cosmos” also termed, ”Scary Stuff in Space.”

The children were delighted with all the activities as the program concluded promptly at 5:00 pm.


What a great way to spend a Sunday.





Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Book Review of Career Options Maria Sirdar-Nickel

Career Options: Maria Sirdar-Nickel is a book about what everyone aspires to do with their life….find a job that they absolutely love.   Stanley R. Taylor has written this wonderful book describing the path that led teacher Maria Nickel to be the amazing educator that she is today.  Everyone has their struggles and highlights, but Mr. Taylor is able to focus on one incredible person and her profession to show how one can affect so many others in a positive way.  

Jacqui Flowers
Grade 5 Teacher
Chandler School District
Arizona, U.S.A.






Career Options: Maria Sirdar-Nickel reminds all of us of how inspiring educators are and the lasting impact they have on our lives. What an incredible person Maria is. Not only selfless in giving of her ideas and time, but her persistence in helping others to achieve greatness. When reading the book, we get reminded of the things that truly are important and if we focus our energies, great things happen. A highly inspirational story and I cannot wait to see what else the future holds for Maria and her students.

Jackie Slaviero
Ambassador, Honeywell Educators @ Space Academy
Founder, One Giant Leap Australia

Buy on Amazon, http://www.amazon.ca/Career-Options-Sirdar-Nickel-Stanley-Taylor/product-reviews/0991809823/ref=dpx_acr_txt?showViewpoints=1 in Canada and http://www.amazon.com/Career-Options-Sirdar-Nickel-Stanley-Taylor/dp/0991809823/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1437321773&sr=1-1&keywords=Career+Options+Maria+Sirdar-Nickel&pebp=1437321775703&perid=16YE1NH19S2ZQ5FWA257 in the U.S.A. and at Barnes & Noble, Chapters/Indigo

Sunday, May 31, 2015

4th Annual What’s Up In Space” Camp and STEM Contest

Children enjoying science with presentations, demonstrations and workshops at the David Dunlop Observatory (DDO) in Richmond Hill on Sunday, May 24, 2015 was an informative afternoon. I had the privilege to do a workshop at the "What’s Up In Space” Camp and STEM Contest."

The AstroNuts Kids Space Club began one night during the summer of 2009. Ray Bielecki’s son Brett was 7 years of age. Brett was quite the space enthusiast. Ray built Brett’s space ship under his basement stairs. The ship had space models, monitors, twinkling Christmas lights and other gizmos that became their window to the cosmos.

Brett invited a few friends over and the adventures began with the imaginations of the children. Soon more friends came over to the point that the space ship wasn’t large enough to accommodate the many visitors. Over time, Ray converted his basement into a space station along with the spaceship they titled “Mercury Spaceship 2.”

Ray started the "What’s Up In Space” Camp and STEM Contest to get more children interested in space and to give them activities to spark their interest. May 24th was the fourth annual Space Camp and the first one at the DDO.

My friend Brian Ewenson, a space educator drove from Wisconsin to do a 15 minute talk. Another friend, Melissa Battler from the University of Western Ontario also gave a talk. I taught children how to make an end effector, the apparatus at the end of the Canadarm that snares cargo ships, satellites and anything else bound for the International Space Station.  It’s made using Styrofoam cups, string and masking tape. The design is not mine. It was created by Dr. Gregory Vogt, Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Baylor University when he worked for NASA in 1999.

It was a wonderful day with storm troopers (the kid in me had to have a photo), tours of the planetarium, and skype messages from Canadian astronauts B   and Chris Hadfield.

See http://www.astronutskidsspaceclub.com/home-base/ to learn more about the AstroNuts.


Sunday, May 17, 2015

Pneumatic Canadarm Video Part 2

If you have been following my blog, you know I have what is called an essential tremor in my hands. This doesn't stop me from making my pneumatically controlled Canadarm for workshops that I do with children and educators. See Part 2 on YouTube as follows.

https://youtu.be/z21ViEKyNNs

Part 1 can be found on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvv7lDy0nds

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Career Options Maria Sirdar-Nickel

“Career Options Maria Sirdar-Nickel” is my latest book printed through LSI, February 15, 2015. Maria is an educator in Winnipeg who taught educators in her school district how to design an experiment to go to the International Space Station. This book is the first of 24 that I plan to write to provide elementary and secondary school children options for a career in science that they may not have had prior knowledge. The book is available from Chapters in Canada and Amazon in the United States. Book stores may purc hase it from Ingram through Lighting Source Inc.


Sunday, April 26, 2015

Intrinsic Worth


I just finished reading, “Our world losing understanding of what it means to be human” by Deborah Gyaong, Canadian Catholic News in the April 26, 2015 edition of the Catholic Register. The article angered me. The article is about Ravi Zacharias, an apologist who spends more than 200 days a year travelling the world.

Ravi argues that we are losing our perspective of what it means to be human. The Judeo-Christian perspective of the intrinsic worth of all human beings was the premise of belief, ethics, and religion that dominated the European world for centuries and the new world of North America inhabited by the Europeans.

“We are not random products of time, matter and chance,” said Ravi. He goes on to say, “The Bible says, ‘In the beginning God…’ ” We humans are created in God’s image. As such, we humans have intrinsic value or worth.

Look at what is going on in the Middle East and in Africa. What value do people who live in these places put on a human being?  The value of human worth is deteriorating in Canada by complacent citizens who offer no remedies and a government that offers no leadership.

When I was in Grade 8 in public school, I remember going to the school auditorium to hear a different Minister from a different denomination each month read from the Bible and say a few prayers.

I wasn’t into religion then. It was a bit boring but never offensive. “Court bans prayer in city councils” is another article by Deborah Gyapong in the same newspaper, where the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on April 15th that the Saguenay council must stop praying before meetings and pay $30 000 in damages to some atheist who launched a complaint into the matter.

Wasn’t it just two or three years ago that the courts ruled in favor of removing bibles from government buildings in the United States of America? Now there is a movement afoot in America and Canada to remove the word “God” from our national anthems. More atheists are offended by the use of “God” in anything.

I respect different religions of our world that stipulate love God and love your neighbour. I have no respect for self-righteous zealots who lop off peoples’ heads because they don’t follow a religious belief. I have no respect for people who desecrate artifacts, statues and buildings that were at the foundation of modern civilizations. Such people are endeavouring to erase cultures and their history to promote their own beliefs. And no one is stopping them.

Where has the respect gone for our diversity? Where has the respect gone for human value?
Atheism is not a religion; it is a conclusion. While the so-called atheists are trying to get rid of God, they are opening the door for a god by a different name.

I say to bring non-denominational prayer back into our schools, then our homes, municipalities and back into our country. Return the bibles, Koran and religious texts of all faiths. Return to us the faith of our founders and maybe them a sense of value for human life will return.

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Water on Jovian Moon and Mars, Beginner Telescopes & Other Space Stuff

Andromeda Galaxy

Search for extra-errestrials using infrared

Do gamma ray photons travel faster than normal light? See books by Lee Smolin,  a physicist at
the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, who predicted this concept a decade ago.
Data on the ISS

NASA confirms water on Jovian moon

Water on Mars

“Imagine teachers starting the lesson on solar systems by saying, ‘Our star has literally hundreds of planets, including the eight major ones, and many we still haven’t discovered.’ Wouldn’t that be cool?” Reinstate Pluto. See

Beginner Telescopes and Review

Monday, April 13, 2015

Water, Storms and Other Space Stuff

I have sites listed below that I share with educators who have taken or will take my Space Workshops. These sites are open to anyone who visits my blog. Enjoy this week's entries.

Lots of water in our solar system and beyond

Dawn Spacecraft visits Dwarf Planet Ceres

Ice Mole Drill will one day cut through the 24 km ice of Enceladus (a moon of Saturn) to explore the ocean beneath it for signs of life.

Mark Sykes, (director of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona) on Pluto’s demotion by the IAU.
Giant white spots on Saturn Explained


The year was 1968!!!!
I'm sure you've seen the world's most famous photograph, "Earthrise". It's been on the cover of TIME and on stamps. But did you know it almost didn't happen? This occurred over 45 years ago, on Christmas Eve, 1968. The site below is outstanding. It takes you right onto the module with the 3 astronauts and you hear them as they see it for the first time. (It begins occurring around 3 minutes, 38 seconds.)  Just think we were alive and watching when this happened.  A picture like this, taken by a human.....
 The Untold Story Of The World's Most Famous Photo



Sunday, April 5, 2015

Lunar Eclipse and Stuff




Breathtaking Auroras http://www.space.com/28857-aurora-photos-northern-lights-2015.html?cmpid=514630_20150405_42952016&adbid=10152737496841466&adbpl=fb&adbpr=17610706465

39 Days to Mars http://rt.com/usa/246581-mars-39-days-rocket/

Front end Loader and intro to my book, Taylor's Pneumatic Toys. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXgg69xUnoI

Pneumatically Controlled Canadarm Video Part 1 on YouTube http://youtu.be/pvv7lDy0nds

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Reinstate Pluto and other Space Stuff

Andromeda Galaxy
Search for extra-errestrials using infrared
Do gamma ray photons would travel faster than normal light? See books by Lee Smolin,  a physicist at
the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, who predicted this concept a decade ago.
Data on the ISS
NASA confirms water on Jovian moon

“Imagine teachers starting the lesson on solar systems by saying, ‘Our star has literally hundreds of planets, including the eight major ones, and many we still haven’t discovered.’ Wouldn’t that be cool?” Reinstate Pluto. See

Monday, March 9, 2015

Space Stuff

Monster Black Hole Discovered in Distant Universe http://uanews.org/story/monster-black-hole-discovered-at-cosmic-dawn
Dawn spacecraft arrives at dwarf planet Ceres this week.
What Star Trek has given us that through our Scientists/Engineers that has become reality:
Cell phones
The "iPad" Picard used before it was invented.
The voice recognition and voice command.
The Holodeck that Microsoft has a functional test system of.
The Bluetooth technology like Uhura's ear piece.

A warp drive formula that was also calculated by Spock (NASA is still working on this one)

Friday, January 30, 2015

I taught secondary teachers and university professors how to make my pneumatically controlled Canadarm at the Ontario Association of Physics Teachers Annual Conference held at UOIT in Oshawa, ON, Canada in May, 2013.

In Feb 2015, I'll be teaching educators at the Space Exploration Educators Conference (SEEC) at Johnson Space Center in Houston how to build my Canadarm so they can teach their students how to make one and use mine as a basic model to build their own robotic arms with their students.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

The following is the Title Page of the booklet that I am giving to those who have signed up for my workshop at SEEC 2015, Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, February 7th.


Pneumatically Controlled Canadarm





Stan Taylor


Scientists in School (www.scientistsinschool.ca) & SEEC 2015