It’s hard to believe, though, that only 40 years ago (it may seem like a long time, but your parents or your grandparents for sure still remember those days) nobody had a cell phone. Most people had never even heard of one! The first cell phones went on sale 30 years ago, and 15 years ago they were still a rarity.

New York City, April 3, 1973, is when the cell phone revolution started. That’s when Martin Cooper of the communications company Motorola made the world’s first cell phone call—and changed the world, although he didn’t know it yet.

In those days, if you wanted to make a mobile call, your only option was a radiophone. The equipment cost thousands of dollars, and it was so bulky and heavy that you couldn’t carry it around. It had to be installed in a car with a special antenna on a roof.

Motorola’s main competitor, AT&T, had already created cell phone technology, but they were focusing their efforts on improving car phones. Cooper’s vision, on the other hand, was to invent a device that would give people freedom to talk from anywhere, not just from their house or car. So the challenge came down to creating a phone that was portable and affordable, so that anybody could use it.

Cooper and his team spent three months building their portable handset, which they finally demonstrated to the public on that fateful day in April 1973. Cooper himself made the first call to his counterpart at AT&T. He remembers teasing the competition: “I’m calling you from a cellular phone, a real cellular phone—a handheld, portable, real cellular phone.”

During that historical demonstration people on the street were allowed make a cellular phone call. New Yorkers were dazzled by the experience of actually talking to another person over the wireless line.

Anybody wanting to buy a version of this prototype would have had to plunk down about $1 million! The technology challenge had been solved, but affordability remained a problem for years.

When the first commercial phone was finally manufactured in the 1980s, it sold for $3,900–that’s equivalent to $10,000 today. Can you imagine your parents buying you a phone that expensive? Weighing in at 2.5 pounds, this brick-sized monster also stretched the idea of “portability.”

The situation has certainly changed since then: Today there are over 6 billion cell phone devices in the world. The lightest cellphone weights just 1.41 ounces, and the cheapest is actually free!

But in day-to-day life there is not always a lot of time. Our children spend five days every week at school, and often the things they do there are monotonous, tedious, and—let’s face it—boring. We don’t blame the schools. They have their Core Standards, and they have to drill a thousand times to memorize this rule or to learn how to apply that equation. And what is the result? Lots of kids hate math!

The math program at the Firecracker Academy is going to prove the fact that math can be incredibly creative, exciting, and fun.

Our Brain Workout math classes started out as part of an after-school bilingual Russian program, and are now offered in both English and Russian.

Kids who attend the Brain Workout classes become true math enthusiasts. Want to lean more? Check the Firecracker Forum website: FirecrackerForum.org/afterschool or send your inquiry at FirecrackerForum.org/submit

In this cartoon everybody has fun, gets into mischief, dances, and sings: a frog, a mouse, beetles, spiders, birds — even the piano itself gets in on the act.
Of course, lots of people can create a fantasy world in their imagination. But when a group of talented professionals employ an artist’s brush, a writer’s pen, and a taste for music, anything becomes possible!
So it happened that on August 16, 1930, in a newly created studio called Celebrity Pictures, Ub Iwerks, a friend of Walt Disney, created the first sound cartoon, Fiddlesticks. With this fi lm he started the famous Flip the Frog series and launched a whole new era in animation.
A lot of time has passed since then, and lots of great animated movies have been made. We’ve seen huge advances in technology, color, and sound. But trust us: If you’re feeling sad and need something to cheer you up, or if you are just in the mood for some happy music and singing and dancing, go to Youtube and search for “Flip the Frog Fiddlesticks.” And remember: It was the First One — a color cartoon with sound!

Marti defeated the athlete who won the gold medal in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. It was just the second time ever that an American athlete won a medal in Olympic women’s judo! Marti’s coach, the legendary 92-year-old Yosh Uchida from San Jose, made the long trip to London to see his pupil compete.

“It’s my first Olympics, and I feel fantastic to be leaving with the bronze,” says Marti. Marti first gained fame when she was just 16 years old. Back then she won the top prize in her first international competition in Canada, where she defeated top athletes from Canada and Great Britain.

Fortunately there are ways to see your familiar surroundings in a new light. One way is GEOCACHING. It’s basically a worldwide treasure hunt, except that it uses modern day navigation technology instead of treasure maps. The other difference is that the thrill of geocaching is not in the taking of treasure, but in the searching.

Started in May 2000, geocaching has quickly spread to become a global activity that blends exploring, puzzles, and orienteering using coordinates. Coordinates are a way of measuring a location on the globe by combining its LATITUDE and LONGITUDE.

Here’s how it works: Someone fills a small container with, at minimum, a logbook and pen, and sometimes small trinkets and objects for trade, and hides it somewhere in the world. They then make a note of the geographic coordinates for that exact location and post those coordinates on the geocaching website.
Because GPS devices vary in accuracy and can be affected by weather or other variables, the hider will sometimes also write clues to help guide seekers toward the cache.

Any member of the geocaching community can go online and view these coordinates, and with their own GPS, start searching. If a person finds a cache, they will typically sign the logbook to show they successfully located the cache, then put it back exactly how they found it for the next searcher.

But they have to be careful—often the cache is hidden in a public space, and it’s important to avoid letting any MUGGLES see you snooping around. They might think you’re acting suspicious, or they might see where the cache is and, not understanding how the system works, take it home with them. The next person to look for that cache would find nothing!

There are millions of caches all around the world, so no matter where you are, there is likely a cache near you. Don’t have a GPS device? Not to fear. Many caches can be found using smart phones equipped with GPS. Sporting goods stores will sometimes rent GPS units as well.

So if you find yourself tired and bored of all the sights and sounds of the city, remember: You could be re-exploring areas you thought were already explored, hunting for treasures you never suspected were waiting for you.

Muggles: People not familiar with or involved in geocaching

By Todd Cook.

Did you know that only about two hours drive south of San Francisco, on a fairly quiet street in Monterey, there stands the oldest building in all of California? Not only that, it is also the oldest church building in the state that is still used as a church. It was built in 1794 and is today known as San Carlos Cathedral.

The church was originally surrounded by the walls of a fort called the Presidio of Monterey.

A long time ago, this church was called the Royal Presidio Chapel. “Presidio” is the Spanish word for “fort” or “fortress.” Today it stands in the open, but it was once surrounded by the walls of a fort called the Presidio of Monterey.

The Presidio of Monterey was built in 1771, long before the town of Monterey had been established. Still, it served as the capital of Spanish California. That means the governor of Spanish California lived and worked at the presidio, as well as priests, soldiers, craftsmen, women, children and servants.

The Royal Presidio Chapel, built for the governor, soldiers and settlers of the Monterey Presidio, was called “Royal” because the governor worshipped at that church—and the governor was the representative of the King of Spain.

This church is historic for a number of reasons:

• It is the oldest active church in California.
• It is the first building in California designed by an architect.
• It is the first stone building ever built in California.
• It is the first church in California to be designated a “cathedral” (meaning a very special house of worship).

Today, across the street from this historic church, there is a soccer field and a parking lot. The field and parking lot may not look very interesting, but once, the entire city of San Francisco camped here! In 1776 the Spanish settlers were on their way to San Francisco Bay when they decided to stop and rest at Monterey. They stayed there for four months, then traveled north to establish the settlement that would become the city of San Francisco.

Visit San Carlos Cathedral

500 Church Street
Monterey CA, 93940
(831) 373-2628
www.sancarloscathedral.org
See the website for visiting hours. Visitors may view the interior of the church (but be aware that there might be worshipers) as well as well as a museum next door.

Try stargazing on most any day, and what object will you see? The sun, of course! But on June 5, 2012, something extra special happened in the daytime sky. The planet Venus moved right across the face of our star as it orbits between Earth and the sun.

This extraordinary phenomenon is called a “transit of Venus,” and it happens only when Venus, Earth, and the sun are all lined up just right: Venus must be exactly between the sun and Earth at exactly the same time (astronomers call this an “inferior conjunction”), and its orbit has to cross the sun’s path in the sky (“the ecliptic”).

A transit of Venus is basically the same thing as a solar eclipse, when the moon blots out the sunlight as it passes between Earth and the sun. Except in this case, it’s Venus that will do the blotting. But since the disk of Venus is only 1/30th the size of the disk of the sun, the planet won’t be blotting out very much.

These transits occur very rarely. The last one happened eight years ago, but if you missed this one, you’ll have to wait more than 100 years for the next one. There won’t be another transit of Venus until December 11, 2117!

In the San Francisco Bay Area, Venus first touched the limb of the sun at 3:06 pm. The sun set before Venus came through to the other side. In the United States, only people in Alaska and Hawaii were able to see the entire event.

Here’s very important advice to any would-be daytime astronomers: Never look directly at the sun. The bright light can seriously damage your eyes. To safely watch solar events like the transit of Venus you need special equipment, such as filtered glasses (not ordinary sunglasses!) or a projection screen. Check out Sunearthday.nasa.gov, or Transitofvenus.org for tips on observing the transit and protecting your eyes.

If you are a kid, don’t try any of these tips without help from a grownup. A safer and easier place to view celestial events is UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science. In the plaza they often have a full display where you can watch the whole thing.

Or, easier still, your can watch the live webcast from the Mauna Kea Observatory atop the Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii (sunearthday.nasa.gov/2012/transit/webcast.php). Aloha, Venus!

Welcome to FirecrackerWeekly April edition.

This issue is full of fascinating things, facts and discoveries. Have you ever heard of a machine that is ABSOLUTELY USELESS? Or about a dog that is no bigger than a iPhone? Turn the pages and take your pick from the stories and articles that will amaze and surprise you.

As usual, we give our readers some practical advice too. Thinking of getting that really nice blue skate board but don’t have the money? Bartering can be your answer – read how to do it! Dreaming of being in a rock band? Find out how you can do it!

Want the scoop on politics or what is showing in the movies? Check us out.

There is something here for everyone. Join in the fun!

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Welcome to FirecrackerWeekly  March edition.

Did you know that the world famous escape artist Harry Houdini performed here in Oakland almost 100 years ago? A massive crowd of 30,000 people gasped in fear as they watched his amazing act.

Would you be surprised to learn that Russia and California once had a common border? This is true, a little part of the Bay Area was in fact a Russian colony! How did it happen, and what followed next?

Meet a boy who invented a video game that fights… cancer! Ben Duskin’s own story is quite fascinating too – find out on page 7.

Want a mind workout? Go to page 8 and flex your brain muscles.

Of course there is more, but you won’t know about it until you start reading.