Report Card

Madison's second report card has come back, and she appears to be doing quite well.  There are a few minor areas that need improvement, but she's really doing well with math and grammar.  We were recently made aware of a great learning tool online - this goes with her Kindle as well - where Madison can learn basic math skills.  What's cool is that we can track her progress, and her teacher can too.  We were doing some counting and adding today, where Madison was improving and learning, all while having fun.

As she's a "collector" like Daddy, she wants to get all the medals and icons you earn for each activity.  In order to earn those, she has to learn a whole lot of new skills over time - but she seems pretty excited about it.  Tonight, we also tried Math Bingo on the Kindle, which she was into as well!

So things are going forward at a nice rate on the educational front:  Mommy and Daddy are very pleased.  Even her speech teacher is quite impressed, having written how much of a joy Madison is to have around.  We've noticed a dramatic improvement on her speech, and though still not perfect, we're hearing a lot of improvement as she tells stories or explains things about her day.

We called off the visit to Legoland tomorrow:  the reason is here below.

Though we've all had our flu immunizations, there's still a 40% chance of us getting this nasty bug.  Look at the map above - it's a national story now, as the flu has quietly started taking over the entire country.  The states in brown are where the flu is widespread - Folks in Mississippi are probably pretty paranoid right now!

So we figured it would be best if we avoided a place with a ton of kids, as most people don't start having symptoms until a day after they've gotten it.  So far, we've been blessed and highly favored.  This flu is nothing to play around with, and we're quite fortunate to have had a healthier year.  We're hearing how immunization shots are already limited, or out in some areas.

So the state of the union is pretty sick.  And as if that weren't bad enough, the White House just responded to an online petition.  It seems that 34,000 Star Wars fans were petitioning to have the U.S. Government make a Death Star.

The White House didn't agree.  Here's their response, hot off the press:

This Isn't the Petition Response You're Looking For

By Paul Shawcross

The Administration shares your desire for job creation and a strong national defense, but a Death Star isn't on the horizon. Here are a few reasons:

• The construction of the Death Star has been estimated to cost more than $850,000,000,000,000,000. We're working hard to reduce the deficit, not expand it.
• The Administration does not support blowing up planets.
• Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?

However, look carefully and you'll notice something already floating in the sky -- that's no Moon, it's a Space Station! Yes, we already have a giant, football field-sized International Space Station in orbit around the Earth that's helping us learn how humans can live and thrive in space for long durations. The Space Station has six astronauts -- American, Russian, and Canadian -- living in it right now, conducting research, learning how to live and work in space over long periods of time, routinely welcoming visiting spacecraft and repairing onboard garbage mashers, etc. We've also got two robot science labs -- one wielding a laser -- roving around Mars, looking at whether life ever existed on the Red Planet.

Keep in mind, space is no longer just government-only. Private American companies, through NASA's Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office (C3PO), are ferrying cargo -- and soon, crew -- to space for NASA, and are pursuing human missions to the Moon this decade.

Even though the United States doesn't have anything that can do the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs, we've got two spacecraft leaving the Solar System and we're building a probe that will fly to the exterior layers of the Sun.  We are discovering hundreds of new planets and other star systems and building a much more powerful successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that will see back to the early days of the universe.

We don't have a Death Star, but we do have floating robot assistants on the Space Station, a President who knows his way around a light saber and advanced (marshmallow) cannon, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is supporting research on building Luke's arm, floating droids, and quadruped walkers.

We are living in the future! Enjoy it. Or better yet, help build it by pursuing a career in a science, technology, engineering or math-related field. The President has held the first-ever White House science fairs and Astronomy Night on the South Lawn because he knows these domains are critical to our country's future, and to ensuring the United States continues leading the world in doing big things.

If you do pursue a career in a science, technology, engineering or math-related field, the Force will be with us! Remember, the Death Star's power to destroy a planet, or even a whole star system, is insignificant next to the power of the Force.

So there you have it.  And while we appreciate all the other science-related advances and investments, and we appreciate the good humor (particularly the line "we're working hard to reduce the deficit, not expand it"), ultimately it is quite a disappointing day.  No Death Star?  I find their lack of faith disturbing.