FABLE 1.4: "WILLIE ORBIT?" - Willie Orbit lived in the seaside kingdom of Smartzkyville, where everyone worked hard. He spent a lot of time on the beach watching ships sail by and pondering why they disappeared below the horizon the way they did. One day he realized the explanation was that the world was round. In another kingdom far away from Smartzkeyville, called Nutzville, sports were the only thing that interested the subjects. No matter what the hour of the day or night, someone was playing some kind of game. Most people watched the games and all they ever did was talk about which teams were best or what happened at a game or what might happen at a game.
One day, King and Queen McGanty's only daughter, Fancy Panty, was abducted by the kingdom bully, Yul Neverwin. Yul left a note stating he would only return the princess if the king would conduct a throwing contest, with the winner being granted Fancy's hand in marriage. Yul was confident he'd win because he had the strongest arm in the kingdom. The McGanty's asked their wisest wizard, Leonardo da Smartzkyville, what they should do. He advised them to invite every young man from all kingdoms to enter the contest, knowing Willie would enter and win. This was done and the contest began. The throws of several contestants are depicted relative to the earth's surface, as shown above. Yul was able to throw the ball over 10 kingdom's and took the lead...until Willie launched it into orbit, thereby winning the contest!!
By throwing the ball an infinite distance, Willie Orbit won half the king's wealth in gold, silver and jewels. He and Fancy Panty McGanty fell in love and were married. The king and queen were happy to have their daughter back and to gain a nice son-in-law. Leonardo was happy because he was promoted to "Chief-in-Charge-of-Lotsastuff". Even Neverwin was happy because of Willie's generosity. Willie paid for him to have lessons at Ronald Dumsfeld's Charm School for Meanies and also sent him to Mike Uptightson's (Metal Mike's) Anger Management School so he could control his temper. Because of that, he was no longer the kingdom bully. Yul then met a nice girl, married, and settled down to a great life. Thus, everyone lived happily ever after.
APPENDIX: The appendix after this EduFable™, which is written for parents, grandparents, teachers and older siblings, contains a simple but accurate description of how things are put into orbit and the role gravity plays. Also discussed and illustrated by cute cartoons, is why objects stay in orbit, yet at the same time, are always falling toward the earth. A brief history - from Sputnik to GPS - of satellites is included as are explanations of the types of orbits (their names and uses) that NASA launches. Finally, thanks to a gracious contribution by the internationally renowned scientist, Peter Glaser, the appendix contains a preview of the very latest effort by a group of the world's leading countries to use the biggest earth satellite of all, the moon, to solve the worldwide energy supply and energy pollution crisis.
