January 30, 2010 by Soma.

Tallahassee Weather Fest
FSU Department of Meteorology and National Weather Service

Saturday, Jan 30, 2010, 10 AM to 5 PM
Tallahassee, FL 32306

We were there at the second Tallahassee Weather Fest organized by Florida State University Department of Meteorology and National Weather Service, a branch of NOAA.

We witnessed the weather balloon launch at 2 PM EDT and spoke to several exhibitors. We played with ubleck. We also went to the severe weather simulator and the fourth floor command center.

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October 17, 2009 by Soma.

Prepare for Ocean Bowl CompetitionFAMU CampusSat, Oct 17, 2009; 10-12 NoonVTS went to FAMU campus to prepare for the Ocean Bowl competition.

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August 24, 2009 by Soma.

First day for Leon County Schools and Tallahassee Colleges

Monday, August 24, 2009

Tallahassee, FL

Today was one of the special days when all Leon County Schools (Elementary, Middle, and High) as well as FSU, FAMU, and TCC opened for classes for the Fall term. Usually the colleges open a week earlier than the schools but the simultaneous opening meant there were lot of students and parents on the road (in addition to the regular commuters) than most of the days.

This year’s streamlining of school bus schedule (one time for all High schools (7:30 AM), Middle schools (9:30 AM), and Elementary schools (8:30 AM) also contributed to higher density of vehicles on the road during the busy morning commute.

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July 27, 2009 by Soma.

International Space Station with Shuttle

Fly-by on night sky

Tallahassee, FL 32317; 9:53 PM

We were able to spot the International Space Station, with Space Shuttle (Endeavor) still attached to it, fly-by on the night sky just over Tallahassee and Florida. First we looked at a plane (obviously with red light and blinking lights) then we started to track a very bright object moving very fast and when we checked the web page it was the correct time.

It was really bright for about a minute tracking from North West toward South. Then as it flew above us and toward SE it quickly faded and was almost lost from our observation. When we looked at the sun’s light fading, it is likely that we were able to see the ISS as a bright object as it was still reflecting the bright sunlight.

We will try to track it again tomorrow, this time around 10:15 PM

To get the real-time position go to: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/index.html [You need Java 6SE to see it; one can download it free from www.java.com]

To find out when it will fly-over your town go to: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/index.html [Then select the country, state, and town]

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June 27, 2009 by Soma.

Environmental Science Summer Camp Tour

Miami, Key Biscayne, and Orlando

Thursday, June 25 to Saturday, June 27, 2009

Tallahassee, FL 32307

The members of the 2009 Environmental Summer Science Camp from the FAMU’s Environmental Science Institute have so far completed their  tour of Everglades State Park and NOAA’s Southeast Fisheries Science Center located in Key Biscayne (near Miami) and are headed toward the city of Orlando in central Florida. They are expected to be back in town tonight.

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June 24, 2009 by Soma.

FAMU Environmental Science Institute

2009 Environmental Science Summer Camp Award Reception
Rattler Den, FAMU Student Union

Wednesday, June 24, 12-2 PM
Tallahassee, FL 32307

The 2009 FAMU-NOAA Environmental Science Institute’s  Summer Camp students (four separate groups) presented their lab projects and their video projects this afternoon at The Rattler Den in Florida Mechanical & Agricultural University’s Student Union Building. About 100 people parents of the students, summer camp staff, graduate students of the Institute and judges of the projects attended the function, reception, and the award ceremony.

VTS and another student were the presiding officers. They first welcomed everyone to the function and invited Dr. Roboinson, Director of the Institute to speak. Following the speech there was lunch. Then the student’s video project were shown and winner (group 4) was announced. Then the science project was presented. Finally the Summer Camp Coordinator presented all the students with their certificates and their trophies.

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June 8, 2009 by Soma.

Env Sci Summer Camp

Environmental Science Institute

Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University (FAMU)

Tallahassee, FL 32307

The Environmental Science Institute at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU.edu) summer camp sponsored both by FAMU ESI and National Oceanic and Atmospheric  Administration started in earnest today.

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May 28, 2009 by Soma.

Eighth Grade Graduation Ceremony 

Betton Hills Preparatory School
Thursday, May 28, 2009, 2-4:30 PM
Goodwood Gardens & Museum
1600 Miccosukee Road
Tallahassee, FL 32308

Early in the afternoon I picked VTS and we all went to Sears Portait Studios for a family portrait. After the session we selected some photos to be printed and deliverd to us in about 15 days. Then we headed toward Goodwood Gardens and Museum at 1600 Miccosukke Road for  the Betton Hills Preparatory School’s eighth grade (10th year of graduating 8th graders) ceremony. The graduation was scheduled between 2 and 4:30 pm. The class photographs couldn’t be taken at 2 pm due to heavy rains the photographer showed up late and they took the class photos at 4 pm.

The ceremony began at 3 PM. Eighth grade techers Mr Scott, Ms Erica and Ms Garner spoke, and then Ms Ilona Faust, Owner and Principal spoke and presented the kids (both 7th and 8th graders) with individual gifts, books, and diplomas. Then the children spoke briefly about the school and teachers.

Then class pictures were taken. Following the picture almost everyone went for a dinner at Little Italy Restaurant at Magnolia Drive.

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April 23, 2009 by Soma.

First Show of “Check Please”

Betton Hills 7-8th Grade Show

BHPS Field

Tallahassee, FL 32308

Thursday, April 23, 2009, 7-8:15 PM

The first show of Check Please, the 7-8th grade show was staged under “The Tent” in “The Field” at Betton Hills Preparatory School.

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April 21, 2009 by Soma.

FSU Town Hall Meeting

Askew Student Life Center Auditorium
942 Learning Way

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

3:30 - 5:30 PM

Tallahassee, FL 32306

Today there was a town hall style meeting about Budget Crisis at FSU at the Askew Student Life Center Building where the President, Provost, Faculty Senate President and Vice-President of Florida State University were present. First the President gave a talk about the situation, explaining the hole FSU is in. He also showed graphically how the general revenues have declined over the last three years and told that even the optimistic projection for the next two years don’t even fill the hole fully.  Then both members of the Faculty Senate addressed the audience alternating with each other. Once they presented their talks, the question and answer session began.

 There were five general area of questions and the first one pertained to Panama City Campus. Then the rest of the questions pertained to Deadman School of Hospitality and Golf Management. Later questions were about how will the students be able to complete the courses they were already registered. The answers to these questions were that no final decision has yet been made about closures and students already enrolled will be allowed to complete their courses.

 Once the on-line and e-mail questions were done, the audience questions were heard. The general theme was what was the reasoning behind selecting 21 programs that were targeted for closure. The Provost said there were no single criteria for their selection. He said that there were three proposals one of the proposal was what was published.

Both the President and Provost stressed that no final decision about closing any of the programs have been finalized. They asked everyone to concentrate on the political process rather than worry about the program cuts. But again and again the questions were raised why for example Russian languagae program has been targeted while the cost of running the program is minimal.

They asked people to call their Senators, Representatives, and the Governor first to reduce the cuts. Then they said we can worry about the program cuts. However, they stressed that FSU will be very different from now than it was 4-5 years ago.

Archived webcast can be seen at this link: http://mediasite.apps.fsu.edu/Mediasite/Viewer/?peid=a31b4966b6d3448db4c078006fdd326c (You need to have Internet Explorer or install Microsoft Silverlight to see the webcast).

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