Author: trevor

5 Steps to Survive a 5:30 AM NASA TV Stream with your Kids

trevor
SpaceX Dragon CRS-8 on approach. Image via NASA.

We love space and science over here at Love Make Share, and we were very excited to get up really early and watch NASA TV’s live-broadcast SpaceX’s Dragon capsule being nabbed by the International Space Station. Without diving into a bottomless pit of discussion about the mission, it was important and cool for a few reasons: The Dragon’s ascent stage, the Falcon-9 rocket, finally managed a controlled landing on a barge in the ocean. Yes, a robot rocket lifted a robot spaceship to space and then landed itself on a robot boat. The Dragon…

Sunday Reading: Popcorn machine, Rocket Landing, Space Garden

trevor

Happy Sunday morning, folks! It’s about time to relaunch and revisit this feature and share some of the cool science-y, parent-y, and maker-y things I’ve stumbled on across the web this past week. Grab a cup of coffee and join me for some videos and articles that are sure to put a smile on your face. Adam Savage and Simone Giertz Make a Popcorn Machine – Tested Not reading YouTube comments is a great idea, but one on this video sums it up perfectly: “Simone is such a mess, I…

Important, but aimless

trevor

I’ve been spinning my wheels here for weeks. It’s not that I haven’t been writing. I have. Thousands and thousands of words. Actually kind of an embarrassing amount of writing. Like, I have the opposite of writer’s block and it’s becoming something of a problem because I’m constantly a little bit distracted by the things I’ve been writing. But I can’t hit “publish.” I can’t do it. And the reason why comes down to a real philosophical thing I’ve been struggling about with this blog. I’ve been trying to be topical for the past month…

Happy Birthday, Whistler

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whistler-birthday-small

I had a much harder time coming up with what to say about my Whistler’s birthday than I had talking about the profound experience I had with my little fish turning 8. In the summer, we had a bit of time to enjoy the event, to consider and to reflect. Not so with Whistler. Her birthday came hot on the heels of the wedding, so her seventh was more of a throw-money-at-the-problem sort of situation than a moment of contemplation. I think that it was harder with Whistler’s birthday, too, because her development as a…

Many Roads Lead to Rome

trevor
droid make kids craft hot glue

True to the name of this blog, we frequently make things as a family. Often I’m part of the process, but when my eldest, 8, came to me the other day, I encountered a new angle that I hadn’t expected. “Trevor, I want to make a craft with you,” she said. “I need your help.” “Okay, little fish,” I said. “What do you want to make?” Her eagerness turned into despair. “That’s why I need your help. I don’t know what I want to make.” This is an experience I…

Dear Stupid Blanket…

trevor
kids blanket patches

This is the story of my eldest daughter and a blanket that she’s had forever. It’s an old Indigo blanket. The kind that’s rolled up in a fleecy log near the checkout and you, like fifty thousand other germy consumers, absent-mindedly run your fingers along it and think to yourself, “This is nice.” It’s the kind of purchase that makes sense in a compulsive way, when you don’t know anything about it other than it feels soft when rolled up like a burrito in the impulse-buy line. It’s awful. My…

Star Trek is more important than Star Wars, and here’s why.

trevor

The Force Awakens opens in less than a week, and yet I can’t help but be just as excited for the Star Trek: Beyond trailer that’s going to precede it. Part of this is just the kind of nerd I am – I grew up at a particular time in the ‘90s when there was no Star Wars except for the odd broadcast or the Special Editions, but there were two Star Trek series on television and movies in the theatres. Now, there’s tons of quality Star Wars entertainment. Just…

Stop motion film: J. Felix Faces his Fears

trevor
stop motion animation j felix faces his fears

The kids and I had a blast doing this one. The story of encountering your own insecurities and finding the strength to push past them to create something cool is one that resonates, I think, with people of all ages. Especially since my Little Fish is such a perfectionist — and a very sensitive kid, too — I saw a lot of recognition in J. Felix’s story that she had. The kids designed the Fears, they designed, directed, and assisted with the construction of the set (though I took it…

Happy Misunderstanding Remembrance Day Week

trevor
poppies remembrance day

Halloween is tragically over and Christmas is mercifully still a ways away. We’re now entering a roughly week-long season that I like to call “Misunderstanding Remembrance Day Week.” It begins as November begins and peters out a few days before November 11th, when the internet and mainstream media loses momentum and interest. It’s a week of chaos and pettiness on social media, of op-eds in newspapers, of blog posts (oh look, here’s one now), of call-in shows and image macros and think-pieces and hot takes and the politicization of an…

Shake off your writer’s block with 6 fall-themed prompts

trevor

I’ve been seeing a lot of posts about writer’s block lately. I have the opposite problem: way too many ideas rumbling around and not nearly enough time to develop them. Fall is the worst – with so much change happening, I’m noticing little things that get my creative juices flowing, and yet I’m so busy with work, Halloween costumes, and wedding stuff, I’m not spending almost any time writing. So let’s help each other out, shall we? Here are six short-story prompts to get you started writing that I’ve thought…

BHCA All-Candidates Debate

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Beacon Hill All-Candidates Debate by Spencer Van Dyk

A big thanks to Jeff and the whole Beacon Hill Community Association Executive for putting on the debate.  It was excellently moderated and it was a pleasure to see candidates from six parties onstage. Candidates in attendance: Mauril Belanger (Liberal, incumbent) Coreen Corcoran (Libertarian) Nira Dookeran (Green) Christian Legeais (Marxist-Leninist) David Piccini (Conservative) Emilie Taman (NDP) Featured image by Spencer Van Dyk, who also liveblogged the debate here.

Kids’ Sabine Wren costume, part 2: Blasters

trevor

Read Part One, in which we make most of the upper-body armour. One of my favourite techniques as a classroom teacher is project-based learning. As it turns out, it’s becoming one of my favourite things about being a parent, as well. Tonight, Little Fish and I began work on patterning Sabine’s blasters while NJ prototyped Whistler’s Jennifire makeup. Our main job was scaling the design to fit her tiny hands. We started by measuring Sabine’s hand in a screen capture. As it turned out, her hand, measured across the knuckles,…