Well, I heard you folks talkin’ ’bout weather balloon STEM projects. Sounds fancy, don’t it? Back in my day, we just looked up at the sky and guessed what the weather was gonna do. But I reckon learnin’ is learnin’, even if it’s with these newfangled balloons.
So, these weather balloon things, they go up high, right? Like, way up there where the birds fly. And they got all sorts of doohickeys attached, I suppose. Gotta measure somethin’, right? Probably how cold it is, or how windy. We used to just stick our finger in the air. If it felt cold, it was gonna be cold. If the wind nearly blew your hat off, it was windy. Simple as that.
But I guess you young’uns like to make things complicated. So you send these balloons up with all these gizmos. I bet they got little screens on ’em, showin’ all sorts of numbers. We just had our eyes. And our eyes worked just fine, thank you very much.
- Sendin’ up balloons, huh?
- Got all them fancy instruments.
- Back in my day, we used our senses.
- Kids these days!
Now, what do you do with all that information? That’s what I wanna know. You get all these numbers, and then what? Do you make a pie chart? We just knew if it was gonna rain or not. If the clouds were dark and heavy, you best bring your umbrella. No need for a weather balloon to tell you that.
I heard someone say somethin’ about a “coffee can.” What’s that got to do with anything? You gonna put coffee up in the sky? We used to drink our coffee on the porch, watchin’ the weather roll in. Didn’t need no fancy can to tell us what was comin’.
This STEM thing, that’s some new learnin’, ain’t it? Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Sounds like a mouthful. We just learned what we needed to know to get by. How to plant corn, how to milk a cow, how to tell if a storm was brewin’. That was our STEM, I reckon. And we did just fine.
You say this “coffee can condensation” is a way to check something? Is it about checking the weather? Well, we just looked up! Dark clouds, gonna rain. Big, fluffy white ones, probably not. Easy peasy, no need for coffee cans. Although, I do enjoy a good cup of coffee on a cold mornin’.
Weather balloon projects, that’s what you call ’em. Sounds like a lot of work to me. But I suppose it keeps you young’uns busy. And maybe you learn somethin’ along the way. Just don’t forget to look up at the sky every once in a while. It’s got all the information you need, right there.
- STEM projects are the new thing.
- Lots of work, but maybe educational.
- Don’t forget the old ways, though.
I remember one time, we saw a balloon in the sky. It was a hot air balloon, big and colorful. Now that was somethin’ to see. It floated right over our farm, slow as you please. We all ran outside to watch it. That was more excitin’ than any weather balloon, I tell ya.
These weather balloons, they probably just white, right? Blah. No fun in that. And they probably go so high you can’t even see ’em. What’s the point of that? We liked to see things. Like that hot air balloon. Or the clouds formin’ before a storm. That was real weather watchin’.
But hey, if you wanna send up your little balloons with your fancy instruments, you go right ahead. Just don’t come cryin’ to me when you can’t figure out if it’s gonna rain or not. I’ll just point up at the sky and say, “There’s your answer.”
This whole thing reminds me of the time my grandson tried to explain the internet to me. Lots of wires and signals and whatnot. I just told him, “Honey, if I need to talk to someone, I’ll just holler out the window.” He laughed, but I was serious! Sometimes the old ways are the best ways, you know?
You kids and your weather balloon STEM projects. It’s all beyond me. But you have fun. Just don’t forget to look up sometimes, you hear? And watch the clouds, maybe that will tell you more than these little balloons.
- Just remember the simple things.
- Nature tells you a lot.
- These new ways are confusing!
- Have fun with your balloons.
One more thing, what you gonna do when that balloon comes down, huh? Does it have a tiny parachute? Back in my day, when something went up, it came down where ever it pleased. Hopefully not on someone’s head! Just remember that, okay? Safety first! That’s something we learned without no fancy STEM stuff.