The Art of Feeding the Hungry

Mercury Photo by Kevin Hoffman

Volunteers fill backpacks to be delivered to hungry Pottstown students. 

BLOGGER'S NOTE: The following is provided by Julie over at ArtFusion 19464 (Formerly the Gallery on High):

ArtFusion 19464 is proud to partner once again with Operation Backpack to host a food drive for the month of April. 

Operation Backpack provides local hungry students with much needed food for the weekend. 

Mercury Photo by Kevin Hoffman

Operation Backpack organizer Lisa Heverly in a photo taken last year

for a Mercury article on the program.

There are many homeless and chronically hungry students in our area, and together we can help them succeed by addressing their hunger.

True to Life Ministries (TTLM) runs Operation Backpack and works with individuals and organizations like GSP to gather donated food and supplies. 

Volunteers use these items to fill backpacks distributed to qualifying students at the end of each week. 

The backpacks protect the students' confidentiality, and they are discretely returned on Mondays so the process can start over. 

For more information on TTLM, please visit their website, or call them at 484-300-0280.

Mercury Photo by Kevin Hoffman

Volunteers get backpacks ready for filling.

Donations can be dropped off at 254 E. High St. during normal business hours (Tuesday-Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.). 

We will have a collection box at the front of the store until the end of April. Please check the list for approved items.

Thank you for your help in providing this vital assistance to those in our community.

Reading for the Gold (And Silver and Bronze)

Chip, the Diamond Credit Union mascot, with two Reading Olympians. Diamond Credit Union sponsors the Pottstown School District's Reading Olympics teams.

Over 150 elementary students in the Pottstown School District recently competed in the 13th annual school district Reading Olympics competition earlier this month.

The Reading Olympics requires teams of students to read 45 books in preparation for the event. 

Each round of competition sees two opposing teams attempt to answer 20

questions given in rapid-fire fashion from moderators. After a question is asked about a book, teams huddle to determine the correct answer. One point is awarded for each correct answer and Olympic ribbons are awarded for overall performance. 

District teams qualify to compete in the annual Montgomery County Intermediate Unit competition which annually attracts over 500 teams and 7,000 participants.

The Pottstown School District program is organized by Reading Specialist Karen Neitz. The goals of the Reading Olympics are to increase students' reading for enjoyment and promote reading skills that increase achievement and academic success. 

“I am always so excited to see our youngsters actively engage in reading. This event is an opportunity for students to experience teamwork and the satisfaction that comes from hard work,” said Neitz.

For the eighth consecutive year the Pottstown School District’s Reading Olympics program has received financial support from the local Diamond Credit Union. 

John Foust, President of Diamond Credit Union said, “We are proud to partner with the Pottstown School District in their efforts to promote the skill of reading so that students may learn to read so that they can read to learn. It is extremely rewarding to see the glow in students’ eyes when they correctly answer one of the questions. As an organization, Diamond Credit Union is committed to being a contributing member of our community.”

Here are the results:

Earning Gold Ribbons Were:

Lincoln Lightening Readers - Kylie Boughter, Kaile Butterfield, Melissa Coleman, Seth Jones, William Maddox  Cristine Martinez, Dylan Murphy, Megan Robie, Alixander Stewart, Somaiya Tate, Donovan Towson, MiKayla Viers, Winni Weng, Emme Wolfel.

Rupert Reading Racers - Zachary Beekley, Tyler Bruton, Kamrin Gatlin, Kameryn Herpich, David Hicks, Isaiah Lamar, Courtney Maulseed, Alexandria Olvera, Amana Douglas-Quill, Destri Roye, Emily Russo, Arianna Rumley, U'Kari Taylor, Kito Thompson, Julius Vargas, Hannah Wilson.

Earning Silver Ribbons Were:

Franklin's Rockin' Readers - Dezmyre Aiken, Tajime Brown, Christina Butler, Brooklyn Colegrove, Devin Dolla, Hannah Feist, Erin Glass, Avery Heverly, Kaylin Lascik, Julian Paskel, Esteban Pineda, Bryce Redd, Tanner Scott, Phillip Shiffler.

Franklin's Ballistic Bookworms - Shelby Clayton, Elijah Davis ,Jacob Eames, Andrew Green, Paige Jones, Tahkeim Lowe, Cayla McNair, Riley Mead, Jonae Oister, Payton Reid, Isabel Sharp, Marisa Walker, Emily Weber, Harmony Wood.

Edgewood Elites - Beyonce' Brown, Rasherra Jackson, Kishan Patel, Nathan Lang, Alexis Taylor, Isabelle Dupon, Joseph McLoughlin, Amari Folly.

Earning Bronze Ribbons Were:

Edgewood Reading Stars - Nathalie Baten, Jacob Stiefel, Hannah Lewiski, Marcos Maldonado, Anthony Lowe, Raquel Villegas, Diego Magana-Jaime, Cheyenne Dickinson.

Barth Read Big or Go Home - Topanga Brooks, Heaven Charriez, NiYell Clifford, Sylvahna Craft, Nancy Deschamps-Ocampo, Kaelyn Draucker, Zoe Earle, Haley Haas, Alexa Howard, Justice Mayes, Pearce Raegler, Robbie Raegler, Mason Saltzer, Cheyenne Shirley, Jaleinda Thompson, Taina Virola.

Barth Reading Warriors - Haile Clayton, Aiden Crowder, Kristin DiPietro, Jena Epright, Anyae Germany, Nathan Harper, Sherese Marshall, Jamair McCalpine-Thomas, Wesley McCalpine, Jada Oliver, Briana Quarles, Gabriela Reyes, Faith Roach.

Painter Prompts Patriotic Art Contest

Mark Painter

State Rep. Mark Painter has announced an art contest for all elementary school students in the 146th Legislative District.

"This art contest is designed to encourage students to recognize the rich history in Pennsylvania," said Painter, D-Montgomery.

Rules and themes for the 2013 Elementary Art Contest:

· Category I: First Grade/"The Liberty Bell"

· Category II: Second and Third Grade /"Betsy Ross and the American Flag"

· Category III: Fourth and Fifth Grade/"Benjamin Franklin and Lightning"

· Size: 11 x 17 white poster board

First graders can draw the Liberty Bell.

· Each entry must include the following information: student’s name, age, address (city, state, zip code and
county), telephone number, school, teacher and grade.

· Deadline: May 20

Entries will be judged on the basis of use of theme, creativity and originality, and artistic design.

Winning students will be recognized with official certificates of achievement and also will have their artwork displayed at Painter’s office.

To arrange artwork pickups, contact Painter's office at 610-326-9563 or email malexander@pahouse.net.

A Roof Over Our Heads

A view of the roof of the Pottstown Regional Public Library courtesy of Google Earth.

Work has been undertaken on replacing the roof at the Pottstown Regional Public Library.

Built in 1916 as a U.S. Post Office, the building was acquired for the library in 1961, when an extensive renovation was undertaken to convert the post office into a public library.

The Pottstown Regional Public Library serves the

borough and surrounding townships.

That may well have been the last time the building received an entirely new roof.

A release from Susan Davis, the library's executive director, indicates that the board of trustees "recognized that the roof would need to be replaced and pursued funding for this projection 2011 through the Department of Housing and Community Development of Montgomery County."

In June, 2011, the library was awarded a Community Development Block Grant for $59,785 for roof replacement.

The new roofing system will be a rubber roof with two layers of insulation underneath.

Sealed bids were opened in December, 2012, and the lowest bid was $94,210, leaving a $34,425 hole in the project budget.

Fundraising to close that gap has been ongoing.

It is hoped the new roof will allow the library to use space in the building's third floor which is currently unused because of roof leaks.

Tech Warriors

Gio Maldonado, Matt Tessier, First Place-Web Design and Josh Metzger,
First Place Graphic Design

Zach Davis
1st place Graphic Design

Blogger's Note: Once again, news of the triumphs of the Pottstown School District have been provided through John Armato.

Pottstown High School Business Technology students showcased their talents at the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit Annual Computer Fair.

Students, under the direction of instructor Dennis Arms, showed they have more than a casual knowledge of technology while competing with over 60 member schools in Montgomery County.

Juniors Gio Maldonado and Tom Viscuso and senior Matt Tessier placed First in the Website Design category.

Also placing First, and qualifying for the Pennsylvania State Computer Competition held at Dickinson College, were Zach Davis and Josh Metzger in the category of Graphic Design.

Emily Overdorf, Andrea Moses -
3rd place graphic design

The Graphic Design category saw almost a clean sweep by Pottstown students as Emily Overdorf, Andrea Moses, and Nate Flickinger placed Third.

The daylong competition challenges students’ technological skills and ability to be creative and imaginative.

Arms said, “I am proud of our students for their accomplishments. This type of event takes a great deal of patience and teamwork to create a project that advances to the state competition."

"To have two of our teams moving on is a credit to their abilities, skills, and perseverance,” Arms said.

From L to R

Josh Metzger, Zach Davis, Nate Flickinger, Emily Overdorf, Andrea Moses, Tom Viscuso

Looking for Life in All the Right Places

Forget Mars, is there life on one of Jupiter's moons? The conditions may exist.

Blogger's Note: HA! It's Science Saturday on SUNDAY! Bet you didn't see that one coming dear reader.

Some people look for God, or the gods, among the stars, while others limit their search to Switzerland.

Here on Science Sunday, we can accommodate both.

Zeus and Europa had a non-traditional

relationship.

And to be fair, what they are really looking for in the stars, at least in this case, is not so much God, but life, or at least the proper environment for it. Scientists are  just looking for it among the Roman gods whose names we appropriated for the planets of our solar system.

And it looks like there may be hope not on Mars, where we're focusing most of our scientific energy these days and where signs of former life may be present, but on a moon of Jupiter named Europa.

Named after a lover of Zeus, who had a lot I'm told, Europa is the sixth closest moon to the gas giant Jupiter, was discovered by Galileo and is only slightly smaller than Earth's own single moon.

Most important about Europa is the fact that it's covered in water and, apparently, that water is pretty toasty warm because of gravitational forces and the moon's warm interior.

According to this article in Time magazine:

Gravitationally plucked by the tidal tugging of its sister moon Io and Jupiter itself, Europa retains a hot interior, which keeps the water comparatively warm and even pulsing. If that doesn’t sound like a place that could cook up life, nothing does. The only ingredients missing to make Europa’s ocean a potential home to living things have been salt and organic compounds. Now, according to a study about to be published in The Astronomical Journal, they’re not missing anymore. A dip in the waters of Europa, the paper concludes, could be very much like a dip in our oceans, perhaps with all the biology that implies.

When the Galileo probe showed up, it became clear that Europa’s ice coating was thick—but more important, the cracks, now clearly evident, meant the ice was floating, forever being fractured and re-fractured by the movement of the ocean below and the flexing of the moon itself. Neighboring Io is continually squeezed the same way, but there isn’t much water there, so the internal heating leads instead to sulfur-spewing volcanoes.

The Keck observatory in Hawaii.

None of this meant Europa had the ingredients for life: you could keep a tank of sterile water warm and churning for 4.5 billion years and at the end, all you’d have would be the same tank of sterile water. Finding evidence of the organics and salt was the key, and that has at last been provided, thanks to a set of observations by the giant Keck II telescope in Hawaii.

There is not absolute proof of salt in Europa's waters, just speculation, based on it's magnetic field, which would not be generated by fresh water, and with other chemicals being ruled out.

Still, it’s a speculation with big implications. The fractures on the surface have always suggested that the water in the ocean is not entirely trapped by the crust, but instead bubbles up and back down, with the chemistry of the ice above and the water below commingling. It’s statistically inevitable that Europa has been bombarded by many comets during its long lifetime, and since comets are known to contain carbon-based organic compounds, the oceans would be laced with the stuff too, rounding out the recipe for biology.

When Nasa's Galileo probe visited Jupiter and Europa in

the 1990s, its electronics were vintage 1970s.

“I’m not an expert on life,” says Caltech planetary scientist Mike Brown. “But I do know that if you dip a net in the ocean here, you’re bound to pick up something.” Even if you could not get your net two miles deep into the Europan ocean, simply sampling the surface ice would tell you a lot. “You could just land on the surface, dig up a scoop, and know what the chemistry of the ocean really is,” says Brown.

That kind of hands-on study is not likely to happen soon; even a robot lander would be too ambitious (read: too expensive) for the current NASA. Instead, the agency is thinking about a probe called the Europa Clipper, which would orbit Jupiter and make flybys as little as 10 miles above the Europan surface. Armed with far better instruments than Galileo’s vintage electronics, it would nail down the chemistry on the moon’s surface. If that chemistry is life-friendly, the case for a lander would be much stronger—and perhaps irresistible. We’ve never before encountered seawater, after all, that didn’t have at least a little something swimming around in it.

So enough about gods, how about God? Or at least, the "God particle.."

According to this Associated Press article in your very own ever-lovin' Mercury, the search for the next big clue in The Big Bang Theory (no, not the one with Sheldon Cooper) may have been found this month.

In what could go down as one of the great Eureka! moments in physics — and win somebody the Nobel Prize — scientists said Thursday that after a half-century quest, they are confident they have found a Higgs boson, the elusive subatomic speck sometimes called the “God particle.”

I prefer DaVinci's depiction of God over this modern

art version.

The existence of the particle was theorized in 1964 by the British physicist Peter Higgs to explain why matter has mass. Scientists believe the particle acts like molasses or snow: When other tiny basic building blocks pass through it, they stick together, slow down and form atoms.
Scientists at CERN, the Geneva-based European Organization for Nuclear Research, announced in July that they had found something that looked like the Higgs boson, but they weren’t certain, and they needed to go through the data and rule out the possibility it wasn’t something else.

On Thursday, they said they believe they got it right.

“To me it is clear that we are dealing with a Higgs boson, though we still have a long way to go to know what kind of Higgs boson it is,” said Joe Incandela, a physicist who heads one of the two main teams at CERN, each involving about 3,000 scientists.

 So, we've got that going for us....