Kirk blAug

Christine Augustine and I took the boys to the Saint Louis Science Center today. We saw a pretty spectacular Omnimax film about lemurs and we built the arch you see here. Everyone chipped in. It was a team effort.

Today Jupiter picked out Older Than the Stars , written by Karen C. Fox and Illustrated by Nancy Davis, to read before his nap. This is one of my favorite books of his. It is about how the universe started and how we all got to be here. Every time I read this book to my now, three and a half year old son, Jupiter, he understands a little bit more of it and is completely amazed at how things began. The illustration in the book is simply beautiful. It is fun to look at and discuss the things that Jupiter sees in this book from the neutrons, protons, and electrons all the way to the plants and animals that formed on earth. I highly recommend this book for any child or adult who is wondering the hows and whys of our existence.

I recently suggested that readers who use the iPad check out The Magic of Reality App . Transworld, the developers of the app indulge us with the process a little thanks to The Literary Platform : Each chapter is designed in ‘ribbons’ and the images and text move at different paces as you swipe through the app, meaning that each screen brings something new and exciting. They also created a very simple but effective navigation panel that allows the reader to jump seamlessly from one section of the book to another. Subtle animation was added to McKean’s illustrations in the myths section of each chapter, which surprises and delights rather than distracts, and we came up with several interactive demonstrations and games to allow readers to delve deeper into the science. I would encourage reading the rest of the article for insight on the creative process. It really is the best way to read this great book by Professor Dawkins.

While in the hospital with Chris and Tsunami for the past couple of days, I have been reading and looking through the iPad version of Richard Dawkins's new children's book, " The Magic of Reality ". Its literary content is the same as the paper version, which is a great read for anyone aged about twelve through adult. The extra features of the iPad version, though, make this version a very fun book. When flipping the pages in the "The Magic of Reality", the page animations are like none that I have seen yet in an iPad children's book. The way that some of the graphics move at a different speed than the text as you swipe gives it a certain feel of depth. Some of the graphics are subtly animated, though just enough to provide a little extra flare without being annoying. Some of the chapters have mini games to help illustrate the information found throughout the book. For example, chapter one has a game which demonstrates selective breeding of species. In t

A recent study lead by a group at the Psychology Department of Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NF, Canada has been making the rounds in the media lately. This study finds evidence that fathers, especially involved fathers, have lower testosterone levels than their single counterparts. Much speculation has been made of this on parenting and at-home dad blogs and forums that I frequent. The New York Times brought attention to the study by casting it in stereotypical negative light in the very first sentence: This is probably not the news most fathers want to hear. Why would the author of the article assume that? Well, this Harvard professor of evolutionary biology, Peter Ellison, has one idea: “I think American males have been brainwashed” to believe lower testosterone means that “maybe you’re a wimp, that it’s because you’re not really a man. “My hope would be that this kind of research has an impact on the American male. It would make them realize that we’re mean