Staff bloggers

The San Juan Del Rio Catholic Church Fall Festival will take place this weekend, from Nov. 7 - Nov. 9.  Festivities will kick off at 5p.m. on Nov. 7 with rides, games and a silent auction.

The festival will continue on Saturday starting at 11a.m. and will run through 9p.m.  

The festival will be open on Sunday as well from 12p.m. until 6p.m.

San Juan Del Rio is located in Switzerland, just off State Road 13.  For more information contact Jeanette Ghioto at 287-0519. 

The Northwest St. Johns County Community Coalition is proud to have Patience Kurtz, discussing Hopewell PUD 2008-04 as our guest speaker.

The meeting will be held on Thursday, October 23 at 6:30 p.m. at the Bartram Library located at 60 Davis Pond Blvd.
 
Everyone is invited.
 
For more information, contact President Phyllis Abbatiello @ (904) 287-5577 pjacoalition@yahoo.com

Travis is saving money this month, and so should you! Here is an easy recipe for roasting pumpkin seeds, courtesy of eHow.com.

Things You'll Need

• Fresh pumpkin seeds
• Vegetable oil or cooking spray
• Salt
• Kitchen knife
• Baking sheet
• Paper towel
• Spatula

Step One Separate the seeds of a freshly carved pumpkin from the stringy membrane. Rinse the seeds just until they are free of any membrane matter.
Step Two Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Step Three Put the seeds on a paper towel and let them dry for a few minutes.
Step Four Spray a baking sheet with butter-flavored nonstick cooking spray or brush with a light coating of vegetable oil. Put the seeds on the baking sheet in a single layer, turning to coat lightly with the spray or the oil. Sprinkle the seeds lightly with salt, if desired.
Step Five Put the baking sheet in the oven. Cook the seeds for 10 to 20 minutes, or until brown and slightly crisp, turning once. Allow to cool before eating.
Step Six Store seeds in an airtight container. Tips & Warnings

• Pumpkin seeds can be eaten with the outer shell on or off.
• For a saltier treat, boil the pumpkin seeds in heavily salted water for ten minutes, then bake them.
• Also try additional seasonings on your seeds: cajun seasoning, worcestershire sauce, and garlic salt are some possibilities.

...to submit your own mystery photos! October is Mystery Photo month! That means you can send in your own mystery photo, and if it gets published, you'll receive a St. Johns Sun Visor!

Send your entries to:

photos@thestjohnssun.com

Make sure to include your name and contact information, and the subject heading as Mystery Photo!

I came across this video of a group of folks using post-it notes as slinkies. Incredibly impressive (and fun!) if you ask me.

EepyBird's Sticky Note experiment from Eepybird on Vimeo.

From Thursday, September 4, to Saturday, September 6, Episcopal Honors Science Seminar students will participate in a field trip to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s campus in Boston, MA. This research-based MIT-led tour will take students into the photo-voltaics lab, plasma science and fusion center, co-generation facility, fluid physics lab, nuclear reactor laboratory, mechanical engineering lab, and the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory.

Episcopal’s competitive two-semester Honors Science Seminar teaches students proficiency in the research processes and gives them the skills necessary to solve scientific problems; students are then linked with mentors in the field of their choosing. Working under the direction of Marion Zeiner, Episcopal science department chair, the students and qualified scientists work together to design and conduct a controlled experiment in a local university or private laboratory.

The students’ investigations are all founded on topics of current interest in the global scientific community. The researchers at MIT are completing work in the same fields, so through this trip Episcopal students will gain knowledge which will provide a foundation for their own research. As the students design their own methodology, conduct experimentation, and analyze results during the school year, they will continue communicating with the MIT researchers to gain additional insight and to aid in problem-solving. Potentially, the development of a relationship with researchers at MIT could provide a wide range of educational opportunities for Episcopal students in the future.

The five students involved in the course and their chosen projects are as follows:
•    Nathan Monroe: polymer photo-voltaics (year four)
•    Morgan Monroe: inexpensive source of hydrogen for fuel cells
•    Meredith Boulos: phyto-degradation of tricholorethylene (year two)
•    Satchel Siegel: neuron tracking in the brain
•    David Drew: neuron tracking in the brain

During the 2007-2008 school year, the nine students enrolled in the seminar earned the following awards:
•    Two academic scholarships
o    $120,000 to Drexel University
o    $10,000 to the University of Central Florida
•    Cash prizes totaling $10,500
•    State science fair (every participating student from the class earned a place award, including two first-place and two second-place winners.)
•    First-place award in the Florida Junior Academy of Science competition
•    First place award in the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association High School Competition, which included an all-expense paid trip to the AFCEA Conference in Virginia for the student and parents.
•    International Sustainable World Science Olympiad (ISWEEP)
o    Two first-place awards
o    Four special awards
•    Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (no other school in the world had as many awards as Episcopal High School)
o    One second-place award
o    Four third-place awards
o    One second-place special award
•    Two semifinalists in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology
•    Involvement in the Intel Talent Search

Do you think you know football more than the pros? If so, make sure to participate in the Florida Times-Union and Jacksonville.com's Pro Football Pick-Em contest. Each week, you can pick the winner for each Jaguars game up to 15 minutes before kickoff. To play, click here. Good luck!

The votes have been counted, the results are in! Here are the winners. (Tell us what you think.)

 
County Commissioner District 1

Albert J. Abbatiello- 33.44 percent

Cyndi Stevenson- 66.56 percent

County Commissioner District 3

Mark P. Miner- 51.35 percent

Ben Rick- 48.65 percent

County Commissioner District 5

Randy Brunson- 36.01 percent

Ken Bryan- 42.05 percent

Gary McMahon- 21.93 percent

 
State Attorney

RJ Larizza- 61.33 percent

John Tanner- 38.67 percent

Representative in Congress, District 7

Faye Armitage- 71.24 percent

Clyde Malloy- 28.76 percent

For more election results, visit jacksonville.activote.com.

Watch this TED.com talk on how photography connects us. As a photographer, I aspire to at some point take photographs that depict beauty and truth as well as the ones shown during the talk.

All-

For the latest Fay coverage, visit Jacksonville.com

We will post news here at TheStJohnsSun.com as we get it in, but Jacksonville.com will have the most current news. If you're a Twitter user, check out our Jaxdotcom Twitter feed.

As always, let us know if you have any questions or comments.