Category: Celebration

Happy Week ‘o Nature!

~ mehopper

This is a busy week for nature lovers!

Wednesday, April 22nd is Earth Day, and Friday, April 24th is Arbor Day!

Of course, the typical way to celebrate is to attend events and plant trees.

My way of celebrating is to also update Cosma’s Nature pages.

Done! Links to the updated pages are below.

In the past I’ve also written posts for Earth Day.
Great Views of Earth
Perspectives on Earth

However, this year I decided to dust the cobwebs off of my Nature Center!

Click “doors” and objects to enter 360° experiences and “i”s for information about them.


You can also see it directly on Kuula.

Touch signs or use these links to enter Botanical Gardens Orangery, Hiking Trails Hall, Critter’s Hollow Refuge, and Natural History Museums).

Happy Earth Day and Arbor Day!

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Find out more about Earth Day and Arbor Day!

Earth Day (Official Site)
Earth Day 2026 Events (Official Site)
Earth Day Network (YouTube Channel)
Earth Day (Time & Date)
Earth Day (Wikipedia)

Arbor Day Foundation (Official Site)
Arbor Day Foundation (YouTube Channel)
Find an Arbor Day Celebration Near You (Celebrate Arbor Day)
Arbor Day (Time)
Arbor Day (Time & Date)
Arbor Day (Wikipedia)

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Find out more about Nature@Cosma …

Earth
Sphere Land, Ice, Water (Ocean), Air, Life (Cell, Gene)
Ecosystem Forest, Grassland, Desert, Arctic, Aquatic

Tree of Life
Microorganism Virus
Prokaryote Archaea, Bacteria
Eukaryote Protist, Fungi, Algae, Protozoa (Tardigrade)
Plant Flower, Tree
Animal
Invertebrate
Cnidaria Coral, Jellyfish
Cephalopod Cuttlefish, Octopus
Crustacean Lobster, Shrimp
Arachnid Spider, Scorpion
Insect Ant, Bee, Beetle, Butterfly
Vertebrate
Fish Seahorse, Ray, Shark
Amphibian Frog, Salamander
Reptile Turtle, Tortoise, Dinosaur
Bird Penguin, Ostrich, Owl, Crow, Parrot
Mammal Platypus, Bat, Mouse, Rabbit, Goat, Giraffe, Camel, Horse, Elephant, Mammoth
Walrus, Seal, Polar Bear, Bear, Panda, Cat, Tiger, Lion, Dog, Wolf
Cetacean Whale, Dolphin
Primate Monkey, Chimpanzee

Polar Party Toy World

~ mehopper

About five years ago I created a series of what I called Toy Worlds to be 3D interfaces to Cosma.

You can see all of my Toy Worlds on my page on the Kuula service that I use to post them.

That was a phase that I thought was over   —   I moved on to exploring other technologies for making 3D websites (more about that in the spring). However, I got nostalgic for Toy Worlds while I was pulling out holiday decorations this year, so here is a brand new Toy World.

Click and drag to look around and click on objects to learn more about them.

Enjoy & Happy Holidays!
Mary

Easter Tidings & Tidbits

~ mehopper

I’ve been immersed in working on updating Cosma pages about technical subjects like computers and the internet lately.

Make that TOO immersed, I needed a break.

Given it’s Easter weekend, make that a bunny break!

First, I dug up my old Bunny Fix post from 2020. That was fun, but those bunny clips were only a few minutes long. I wanted more, so I headed to YouTube in search of some more bunnies.

However, I didn’t find any because I got distracted by a video about Easter traditions.

The Adventure Buddies (YouTube Channel)

Some of the traditions were fun and familiar, but others not-so-much. The Scandinavian Witches, Czech Switches and Cold Water in Hungary weren’t so enviable.

Of course, that cute Australian Easter Bilby caught my eye. I set off on a YouTube safari in search of them. Here’s one of the better videos I found.

Behind the News (YouTube Channel)
Behind the News (Official Website)

Those bunnies and foreign traditions were fun distractions, but my favorite Easter thing to do remains coloring Easter eggs. That is why I was a sucker for this video about ways to dye them. It is a bit long, but each time you think the ideas won’t get any more creative, they do.

Cleverly (YouTube Channel)
Cleverly (Official Website)

Finally, one last fun traditional distraction is the Easter Egg hunt.

In case you can’t do a real one, here’s a 360° video with a quick virtual version.

Watch the video below in 360° on YouTube here!

ABC11-WTVD (YouTube Channel)
ABC11-WTVD (Official Website)

There you have it. That’s the end of my break — I hope you enjoyed coming along for my unexpectedly meandering (de)tour through Easter tidbits =:)

Find out more about bunnies and celebrations in general …

Pi = Spring

~ mehopper

Did you know that Tuesday, March 14 is Pi Day?

I’m both a geek and a softy for cool numbers, so I’ve known of Pi Day since not long after Larry Shaw made news about it with his escapades at the Exploratorium in the 1980s.

Although, I’m more aware of it than “usual” because I’ve been working on the Mathematics page on Cosma — it just naturally came up 🙂

If you don’t know what Pi Day is, then there are lots of ways to find out about it.

In fact, when you Google Pi Day, you’ll get around a whopping 1,290,000,000 results. Ironically, if you Google Pi Day Facts you’ll get a slightly more overwhelming 1,300,000,000 results (Hummmm, that’s “interesting”).

A simple way to cut through all that would be to search out the Wikipedia page about it.

However, I prefer going to the source, so I’m partial to the Exploratorium’s Pi Page.

There’s also a dedicated “Pi Day” site that has a page with the Top 25 Most Interesting Pi Facts. My favorite fact is that March 14th also happens to be Albert Einstein birthday!

One thing they fail to mention is the whole “Pi Day Food” thing. If you Google Pi Day Deals 2023, you will see that sources ranging from CNET to Good Housekeeping will give you advice on where to get deals on Pies and Pizza.

Now I personally prefer to learn about things using YouTube videos.

Alas, searching YouTube for Pi Day is only a bit less overwhelming than searching the Web. There are thousands of videos, and many of them are, non-coincidentally, 3.14 minutes long.

I spent awhile rummaging through them and think this minute long video is one of the best.

cleveland.com (YouTube Channel)
Cleveland.com (Official Website)

Now, for a bit o’ fun, it turns out that searching YouTube for Pi Day Song turns up slightly fewer videos. Here’s one of the cuter ones.

Tiny Tunes (YouTube Channel)
Tiny Tunes (Facebook)

Here’s another fun video from one of my favorite YouTube channels.

FlippyCat (YouTube Channel)
FlippyCat (Facebook)

I must confess that frequenting the FlippyCat YouTube Channel is akin to watching cat videos.

In fact, one of my favorite Flippy Cat videos features a cat!

FlippyCat (YouTube Channel)
FlippyCat (Facebook)

Ahhh, but I digress, a lot.

Onward, one of the reasons that Pi Day is so near and dear to my heart is that it is also one of a triad of holidays that serve as a prelude to the official start of Spring on March 20th (the other two were St. Pat’s and the Holi Festival of Colors).

So this post is also a salutation to Spring!

Happy Pi Day + Spring!

Find out more about Mathematics and Holidays …

Bunny Fix!

~ mehopper

Easter is here, and it’s time for a bunny fix!

I decided to go rummage around YouTube for some bunnies.

My quest began with searching for a random cute bunny that I could just watch for a awhile. Instead, I found a 360° video about the Japanese island Okunoshima.

Jackpot!

This video from NowThis explains why Okunoshima’s nickname is “Rabbit Island.”

Watch the video below in 360° on YouTube here!

Now This News (YouTube Channel)
Now This News (Official Website)

In addition, the site Gateway to Rabbit Island was basically a virtual vacation.

Next up I found a video entitled INVASION! from Baobab Studios narrated by Ethan Hawke and is a bit out of this world.

Note, as is usually the case with 360° YouTube videos, it makes sense if you watch it in the regular way, but it’s more fun if you interact with it and look around.

Watch the video below in 360° on YouTube here!

Baobab Studios (YouTube Channel)
Baobab Studios (Official Website)

After all of that, I was starting to feel better, but I still didn’t quite feel like I had gotten the “Easter bunny” vibe that I was looking for, yet.

Onward!

Happily, the next thing that I stumbled upon was exactly the medicine that I needed.

You’ve heard of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, right?

Well, it turns out that there’s a rendition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, narrated by none other than Dame Judi Dench, posted on the Beatrix Potter YouTube Channel. Better yet, The Tale of Benjamin Bunny and many others are posted there too.

Beatrix Potter (YouTube Channel)

Now that’s the kind of bunny fix that I needed, and I hope you enjoyed it too =:-)

Find out more about bunnies …

St. Paddy’s Day Jaunt

~ mehopper

Yeah, it’s finally time to see some green around here — the official start of Spring is next week, and today is St. Patrick’s Day!

Brace yourself — you’re getting a whirlwind virtual visit to Dublin for St. Paddy’s Day!

We’ll start the excursion off with a quick 360° tour of some well known places in Dublin.

Watch the video below in 360° on YouTube here!

360 Video Ireland (YouTube Channel)

It’s early, so for the art lovers, we’ll take a quick trip over for a three minute 360° tour of the National Gallery of Ireland.

Watch the video below in 360° on YouTube here!

The Journal (YouTube Channel)
The Journal (Official Website)

It’s still early, and there’s a place called Knockdrin Castle that might still be for sale. I’m pretty sure we can’t afford it, but it will be a hoot to take a quick 360° tour. We do have those lovely lottery tickets for sale in the US, so you never know 🙂

Watch the video below in 360° on YouTube here!

Bloomberg Originals (YouTube Channel)
Bloomberg Originals (Official Website)

Knockdrin Castle is on Sale for the First Time in Half a Century (James Tarmy, Bloomberg)
Knockdrin Castle (Wikipedia)

Okay, the festivities will be starting, so it’s time to get back to Dublin and take in the parade. Thanks to SEDA College, we have a three minute preview taken last year.

SEDA College (YouTube Channel)
SEDA College (Official Website)

This adventure wouldn’t be complete without some traditional Irish music, so let’s stop into Hogans and get a close-up, 360° view.

Watch the video below in 360° on YouTube here!

Communications Concepts, Inc. (YouTube Channel)
Communications Concepts, Inc. (Official Website)

There you have it. I hope you enjoyed this brief virtual vacation, and the good news is that you still have plenty of time to head out and celebrate St. Paddy’s Day in your own way.

If you do decide to make a real Visit to Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day, then there are a few things that you should know, though.

Jameson Irish Whiskey (YouTube Channel)
Jameson Irish Whiskey (Official Website)

Happy St. Patrick’s Day Weekend!

Find out more about Ireland, Eruope and holidays …

Periodic Party

~ mehopper

Hey, it is the Periodic Table’s Birthday!

Dmitri Mendeleev sketched his first draft of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements on February 17, 1869.

Notice that this year’s a “big one” for the Periodic Table — it’s 150 years old!

In fact, it’s such a big deal that the United Nations General Assembly and UNESCO have gone so far as to declare this the International Year of the Periodic Table (2019 IYPT).

Of course, unless you’re a chemist by trade, it’s fairly unlikely that you’ve heard about this.

That’s a shame, too — who knows where we would all be without the handy dandy thing.

So celebrate!

Here are some suggestions for how to do it…

First off, rather than sing Happy Birthday, you could try to sing Tom Lehrer’s The Elements.

Here’s a link to a video of Daniel Radcliffe pulling it off in about a minute.

Daniel Radcliffe sings “The Elements” (The Graham Norton Show, YouTube)

In case you’re not familiar with Tom Lehrer’s music, here’s a link where you can learn more about the awesome guy.

Tom Lehrer at 90: a life of scientific satire (Andrew Robinson, Nature)

I also found a video where someone created an animation to go with Tom Lehrer’s version

Timwi Terby (YouTube Channel)

Here’s different fun one you could try to sing.

Partha Pratim Manna

Lest you believe that caring about such things is for boring old, incredibly geeky grown-ups, here’s a link to a segment from The Ellen Show where a 3-year old shows she knows her stuff.

Adorable 3-Year-Old Periodic Table Expert Brielle (The Ellen Show)

Slightly older children might enjoy a tradition of reading Harry Helium and the Noble Gases Party (Good Reads).

For the more intellectually minded, you could hold a discussion about the alternative life stories of the Periodic Table.

Here are some resources to get your started.

The periodic tables we almost had (Mark Lorch, Quartz)
Alternate Periodic Table Designs (Western Oregon University)
The Internet Database of Periodic Tables (The Chemogenesis Web Book)

Finally, if you do want to throw a party, Etsy’s got you covered.

Periodic Table Party (Etsy)

Here are more resources to help you celebrate…

The International Year of the Periodic Table (2019 IYPT)

An unelementary affair: 150 years of the periodic table (Robert P Crease, Physics World)
How the Periodic Table Went from a Sketch to an Enduring Masterpiece (Tom Siegfried, Science News)

Setting the Table (Phillip Szuromi, Science Magazine)
Ordering the Elements (Michael D. Gordin, Science Magazine)

The Periodic Table of Elements in Pictures and Words (Keith Enevoldsen, Elements.wlonk.com)
This Awesome Periodic Table Tells You How to Actually Use All Those Elements (BEC CREW, Science Alert)

Periodic Table of Elements (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry)
Interactive Periodic Table of Elements (Los Alamos National Laboratory)
Periodic Table (American Chemical Society)

Find out more about the periodic table …