Sunday, November 9, 2014

Tui T. Sutherland, Rosetta, Philae, and a Comet

Friday night I took my kids to see one of their favorite authors Tui T. Sutherland at the Mission Viejo Civic Center. She writes the extremely popular Wings of Fire Dragon series. She also shares the pen name of Erin Hunter with a few other female writers on the Seekers and Warriors series. 


This was a real treat for the kids. Me too, as I’ve read some of the Warrior series as the kids downloaded the books on my Samsung Galaxy tablet. They bought some of the Wings of Fire books, stood in line for an hour, got to meet the author, and she signed their books. 

I got something out of the event too. Tui Sutherland knows how to handle an event such as this. I’ve been to other author events and often they make the mistake of rambling on and on, especially during the Q & A. But Ms. Sutherland kept the evening moving at a brisk pace while giving a power packed lecture and then answering questions. 

But Wait, That’s Not All: In 2009, Tui appeared as a contestant on Jeapordy! becoming a two-day champion and winning a grand total of $46,200. 

You can check out Tui Sutherland’s Website and blog HERE 

Did You Know: After a ten-year journey, Rosetta and Philae had finally reached their destination, Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Scientists will now attempt to land the probe Philae directly onto the comet. How cool is that! 
Artist's rendition of Philae Landing

Fun Facts: Comets are believed to form in the Kuiper Belt (beyond the planet Neptune) and the Oort Cloud (beyond the Kuiper Belt). There may be are hundreds of thousands of icy bodies larger than 100 km (62 miles) and an estimated trillion or more comets within the Kuiper Belt. The Oort Cloud may contain more than a trillion icy bodies. 

Take a couple minutes to watch this YouTube clip about this amazing feat!


 

21 comments:

  1. That sounds like a good one indeed, moving it along and not rambling on sure works. 46K in 2 days on Jeopardy isn't a bad haul.

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  2. Cool you and your kids got to meet her! And know when to make it brief.
    Have you seen Interstellar? I really want to know about the science behind the worm holes.

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    1. Alex, need to see how wifey feels with her treatments and all. If she's up to it we see it together tomorrow. If not, I'll see it by myself.

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  3. Great your children met her, great post and read.

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  4. So awesome you got to take your kids to meet their favorite author. What fun!

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  5. Sounds like a great event! Especially nice that she kept the evening moving along by not giving really long answers. Short and zippy sounds like it helped with a faster pace.

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    1. Elizabeth, best author event outside of Dean Koontz and my own I've ever been to. Okay, just kidding about the latter.

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  6. How fun! And a dragon series I'd never heard of.

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  7. Sounds like a fun advent with your kids. I love your science tidbits. Comets are such interesting space travelers.

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  8. Gotta get those kids hooked on reading early. I'mm make dorky nerds out of them yet.

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  9. That is so wonderful that you took the kids to an authors event. How cool.

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  10. Sounds like a really cool event! And some great facts, too!

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  11. Awesome treat for everyone! I loved the video :)

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  12. I didn't know that about comets! And kids meeting authors is very cool indeed!

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  13. I'm going to jump into the dragon series this weekend. I forgot how much I used to like reading MG and YA fantasy. And dragons.

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  14. Hi Stephen .. what a great treat for you all to attend - it must have been fabulous and so wonderful for the kids. Great to learn from .. and they look as though they're having such fun ... the Rosetta - Philae landing will be fascinating to see how it goes .. I hope it's successful .. cheers Hilary

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  15. Stephen! Seems like it's been forever!! I hope you are well… the pics are awesome. What a fun event.

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  16. Sounds like a great event! Good tips to remember for 'one day'! :)
    I first read about Oort clouds in McCaffrey's Pern series - didn't realize they were real until a few years later! :)

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  17. Oort clouds are also where souls are supposed to reside while waiting to be born or to move on to the next life. The author events sounds like fun. Its good it wasn't boring and you learned some publicity tips.

    I found a dragon. Cool for me :)

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  18. What a treat for the kids. I also like meeting my fave authors in person. I get starstruck but it's a high whenever I get the chance to actually speak with them. Good for you guys!

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  19. What a great thing to share with your kids. A lot of Dads wouldn't have thought of doing that.

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