CLASS RESPONSE NUMBER FOUR: 'Artic Tale' helps us realize there might not be an Artic soon edition

Recently during class, we saw a movie entitled 'Artic Tale'. It was about the life of two types of animals in the Artic and how sometimes their melting world forces them to intrude on the other's life. Queen Latifah narrates the story on how global warming is making it harder for the animals in the colder parts of the world. On how it makes them do things in a different way than they have for years. For example, Nanu's mom has to force Nanu to separate earlier than supposed to because if they didn't separate both of them would die. Another reason is that Auntie had to sacrifice herself to the male polar bear to let Seela and her mother escape. If there was ice and it wasn't all water the Auntie probably wouldn't have died. On the other hand, this helps the polar bear population increase, even though that might lead to a decrease in walruses and other animals. At the end of the film, it's stated that if this lifestyle keeps going on, and if people don't care there won't be any Artic ice by 2040.

Think about it.


SOURCES:
Artic Tale Movie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Tale

CLASS RESPONSE NUMBER THREE: bubbles!!! edition

<=The fish from 'Finding Nemo' that obsesses over bubbles. A few days ago in class we did a fun but educational lab concerning bubbles. There were about 5-7 plastic bowls (that I hope were recycled:]) and contained dish soap, paint, and a little bit of water. We used straws and blew air into the straws and into a bowl with the desired colour we wanted. When we were satisfied with the bubbles we blew we rapidly took a piece of paper and pressed the bubbles onto the paper, leaving a cool mess on the paper. THE SCIENCE PART::: I researched this topic and found out the following on wikipedia. I found out that bubbles maintain a certain surface area until popped. You can find the surface area in a little bit of every space on the the bubble. Also, it is known that a bubble can survive because the surface layer of a liquid (usually water) has a certain surface tension, which causes the top layer to act like a thin elastic sheet. Surface tension is also responsible for the circle like shape the bubble takes. Furthermore, a sphere has less surface area possible for a given volume.

SOURCE:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap_bubble

ss: invention advancements

Who I Interviewed: my mom, my dad, and my granddad

What Inventions They Didn't Have: mp3 (iPod)
calculator
internet
digital phone (had phone, wasn't digital)
separate keyboard

The Advancement I Chose: mp3 (iPod)

Ways I Think This Culture Has Changed Because of Technology: I think that technology has greatly affected our lifestyle. Back then, people had Walkmans, big and bulky. This was a pain to carry around. And you had to bring all these tapes you wanted to play on your Walkman. It wasn't till a little bit later that you could access the radio from your Walkman. Then cd players and cds were invented. The cd player was lighter than the Walkman, but you still had to carry all those cds around. Finally, we got to todays device: the iPod. This culture has been changed because of changes to technology because we don't have to carry around a lot of cds or tapes and that cd player or Walkman. Life is easier because of those inventions.

MATH EXTRA CREDIT #3 LAST ONE

BILL GATES IS NOT THE RICHEST MAN ANYMORE!!!!

It's true! Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, has been thrown down from his throne after 13 years. Even though he's worth $2 billion more than last year, now at $58 billion, Bill Gates has become the third-richest man in the world. He's after his good friend and partner in philanthropy, Warren Buffett, whose net worth jumped $10 billion to $62 billion. In second place is Carlos Slim Helú, a famous Mexican telecom tycoon. His fortune doubled in just two years to $60 billion. This also changes some other things. In the U.S. there used to be 10 billionaires (half of all of the world's richest) but now there are only four, with India getting the bragging rights because they have four of the world's richest among the top ten. Another first, besides Bill Gates losing his first place ranking, is that the number of billionaires is 1,125. That means that the total net worth of the group is $4.4 trillion, up to $900 billion from last year. Even though the U.S. markets ahve been down Americans account for 42% of the world's billionaires and 37% of the total wealth.


click here for my source

MATH EXTRA CREDIT #2

THIS JUST IN!

Who: President Lincoln, States

What: Civil War Emancipation Letters

Where: Rochester, New York

When: barely a year in to the Civil War

Why: to end the Civil War

Found in the University of Rochester's archives was 72 letters personally written by President Lincoln, along with 215 other letters from political and military leaders. Vice President Andrew Johnson and General Ulysses S. Grant had also written letters to Lincoln, which is also included on the University of Rochester's website. Among the letters was one sent to Illinois Senator James A. McDougall written on March 14, 1862. In this letter Lincoln made a proposal of his "emancipation with compensation". What this means is that Lincoln was willing to cough up $719, 200, $400 for each of the 1,798 slaves in Delaware. This is added to the war costs of 2 million dollars a day. Then President Lincoln would have to buy the freedom of an estimated 432,622 slaves in Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and Washington, D.C. all together would cost $173,048,800 which is almost exactly the same as the estimated $174 million needs to keep the war going for only 87 days. But this proposal never went farther than the drawing board. Then, six months later President Lincoln made the famous speech-the Emancipation Proclamation.

click here for source

SCIENCE BLOG #4

We've all taken medicine some time in our lives. Maybe then, you've heard of Airborne, which was made by Victoria Knight-McDowell, a second grade teacher who '"studied the benefits herbal therapies used in Eastern Medicine."' The company's web site also says that Airborne is supposed to '"boot the immune system with seven herbal extracts and a proprietary blend of vitamins, electrolytes, amino and antioxidants."' Why am I talking about this? Well, starting in 2006, a huge class-action lawsuit ($23.3 million) was filed against the company for 'false advertising, according to one of the groups that joined the suit.' It says in an article that The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a non-profit advocacy group, said the company will refund money to consumers who bought Airborne's product. It also says that the company will pay for advertisements in major publications instructing consumers on how to get their money refunded.

Source:
http://biz.yahoo.com/cnnm/080304/030408_airborne_settlement.html?.v=2

MATH EXTRA CREDIT #1

For extra credit one current event would be that the euro, the European currency, has gone up again making the exchange rate $1.5167 for every one euro. That means that for every one euro we are paying at least half more than we should. All those halves add up and could eventually become millions. Microsoft should know, after being fined for 899 million euros, the largest antitrust penalty the European Union has ever fined a single company.

Source:
en.wikipedia.org

CLASS RESPONSE NUMBER THREE:who makes the perfect coffee edition

Move aside, Dunkin' Donuts and McDonalds. Starbucks pledges to make the perfect cup of coffee. After closing for a training session all over the country all of the Starbucks reopened on Wednesday, guaranteeing the perfect cup of coffee. Making coffee at Starbucks isn't so easy anymore. The steps to making that expresso or latte used to be easy as 1,2,3. But now, the workers have to make it flawless-not too chunky, or too watery.

my old blog

hey everyone just want to let you guys see if you want what we did last year. it was great and i had fun reliving the memories but what it comes down to is that we have to live in the moment because if we dont it will seem like it never happened.

here's my blog link for last year:
http://ocean-freak.blogspot.com/

CLASS RESPONSE NUMBER TWO:cell it or not to cell it, that is the question edition

It isn't exactly THE number one parents nightmare, but it ranks among the top 3. We've all watched the news some time. Various people, harassing innocent children. You may think, oh well they were just unlucky and it could never possibly in the whole entire world happen to me.

Think again.

What if the 'predator' took something the majority of the world uses and uses it to harm children? What is prevalent around the Earth? Simple. Here's a clue:ring ring ring. Hey, why don't you get that? Don't want to miss a call. Exactly. Predators and pedophiles are using our cell phones against us. Ted Thompson is the executive director for the National Association to Prevent Sexual Abuse (NAPSA). He said, '"The fact is a teacher can show absolutely zero outward signs of interest in a child, but because of technology, then can have an ongoing relationship and no one would know."' Parents warn kids about online predators and to not open emails when you don't know the sender. A New York mom said that she uses a special software to check her kids emails and where they go online, but never thought to check their cell phones with the same precaution. Detective Joshua Shelton, of the crimes against women and children's unit in Fayette County, Georgia says, '"Parents don't have the involvement that they should with these electronic devices. Parents should consider cell phones that have Internet access like an open window into their house, because that's exactly what these people are using it as."'
Instead of working on firewalls for the computers and laptops, they should work on firewalls for cell phone online internet use.

You can find more about this interesting subject at
cnn.com
and
msnbc.com