First Myth

Ciggys!


NEVER EVER LISTEN TO : low nicotine ciggys

Nicotine is addictive no matter what! to a machene its low nicotine but the macheine isnt a human. A human on the other hand may become addicted no matter how much is givin to him/her.

Myth Number 2

I'm blind!!

If you look at the sun with the naked eye it will burn out the center of your retina. If you look at the sun through a brick wall no light will reach your eye and you are safe! If you look at an Eclipse there is a chance you eye wont be damaged! there will be no solar radiation!

Myth Number 3

My horoscope Please!!


Horoscopes were invented by Micheal Gauquelin who was a famous French astrologer!

Micheal Offered free horoscopes to any reader of Ici Pris, if they would provide feedback on his accuracy. Thousands of identical horoscopes were sent out and 94 percent said they were very accurate! The horoscope sent was that of a mass murderer

Myth Number 4

Are zombies real?!?!?!

Actually Yes they are................ in stories!


You see Zombies come from the Island Haiti. They are folk who have been almost-killed and then later raised from the almost dead my voo-doo priests, to be used as slave labor for the rest of their misrable lives!

Myth Number 5

Are you telling the truth?!?!
in movie you may sometimes see someone get a shot to make them tell the truth and only the truth!


well lets see acording to ANY scientist there is no known drug that will relax a persons defence so that they will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth

Myth Number 6

Have your parents ever told you to "Stop swithing the light on and off" because ur wasting power. lets just say thats not true. If you think about it Your wasting more power leaving it on then turning it off and then on!.


Second thing:
Have you ever been shocked and felt that surge? I have and my mom said it was equal to the current of 30 min. Is that true? when you turn a light on you have waster 1,800 x 5 = 9,000 times the average power consumtion. then you multiply 9,00 by the number watt light bulb. so lets say you have an 100 watt light bulb. you have just wasted 9000,000 watts when you switch it on.

Aids (No lie)

Aids cannot be giving threw SALIVA!! OK . so when your drinking out of someones cup there is no chance of you getting aids! Same with SEXUALLY transmitted disease's. There all the same! you cant get them threw drinking a sip of water!

If there is a way of getting it threw a glass of water please tell me!

Cause that would be just creepy

Alrighty Peace,
CMB if you know more!! i think its good for people to know!

Hot Zone

This book was crazy!! i swear that this virus is probably still around!! i don't care what the book says. Its about a afican Virus that was teasted on monkeys. Somehow it got out and was on its way to washington D.C where it was stopped and "Destroyed". So watch out.

Aidan!!

Africa Is getting some new gadgets!!

Just like in the James Bond movies Africa is getting a whole bunch of new and improved tools!!


People are always telling me about Africa's Dirty water or about how they have no light or electricity!! well now they do (applause) Africa has been shipped a bunch of new stuff that helps them drink clean water transport it and a way of light at night!

The Straw:
I call it the no sickky sippy! what it does is filters the water before it gets to your mouth. you don't have to worry about the mud or the bugs you just put the straw in the water and you drink!!

The Transporter:
I call it the Wheel of Fortune! what it does is transport peoples water without having to carry it on your head! What you do it fill it with water and roll it across where ever you wanna go!! Its easy to roll and fun for kids. (pretty practical)

The Light:
I call it heaven on the ground!! what it is is a light mat so when it gets dark all you do it unroll your mat and "let there be light". Good because there are no batteries needed its pretty much the most portable thing i know!!

and this concludes my blog about Africa's New Gadgets!

Peace Out,
Aidan

GLOBAL WARMING DUDES

GLOBAL WARMING is going crazy!!!

I swear man while we are in Iraq looking for oil the world is slowly melting. As crazy as that sounds its true!! the ice caps are being destroyed by GLOBAL WARMING!! usually I look at the news and I'm like what ever its not important but personally I don't wanna drown. Now I'm just 14 I cant go ahead to our president and be like "wake up man, your job is to HELP us, Not frickin kill us" .But I can try to get someone attention who will be like Noah and worn everyone about the flood that's gonna wipe us all out!!

I just think we better hurry up and build and Ark.

Peace out,
Aidan

What Makes Us Different

[Mid Point Entry]
What Makes Us Different
Times Magazien
Oct. 2006
By: Michael D. Lemonick and Andrea Dorfman

The Article manily focuses on the differnt and major similarites between Humans and Great Apes [gorillas, chimpanzees, bonboms and orangutans]. How a lot of characteristics on Humans resemble most ones that Apes have as well. On thing we have in common is that we make and use tools and teach them to our offspring. A study conducted a decades ago stated that chimps are our evolutionary cousins , roughly 98% to 99% identical to humans. And studies also conducted that our DNA is closer to a chimps than a rat is to a mouse. Our genes are similar, but its not only genetics, its also how we have evolved from Apes in the past centuries. Also this article has a lot to do with Darwins Theory. It has to do with a lot of his ideas and perception of evolution, that Humans and African Apes are from a common ansestor.
This Article had a lot of more explanations of why we are so common to apes, but I diecied to focus on the pain points. It also helped me understand a lot about why we are compared and resemble apes so much and how Darwins Theory is tied into it.

New Vocabulary Word:
Dexterous: Demonstraighten a skill with the hands.

Stiff

I am going to read Stiff by Mary Roach. This book is about what happens to bodies donated to scientific experimentation. These bodies are called cadavers. I think it will be interesting to read because it is not a subject thought or discussed about very much in our world. I hope it will be nice to find out about the subject and not be to gross. I hope i don't find out that the bodies are mistreated because even though they are dead I think the scientists should treat them with respect.

Final Entry

Final Entry
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales
This book is about patients who come to Mr. Sacks' clinic, and what their diseases are. Mr. Sacks studied people with Tourette's syndrome, amnesia, tumors and strokes in the brain, and people who have lost the sense of feeling in certain oarts of the body, if not all. ("Phantoms") From "Witty Ticcy Ray"who has Tourette's to Donald who murdered his daughter under the influence of PCP.
This book captivated me from cover to cover. From the man who mistook his wife for a hat to the autist artist. It was very readable (at least to me), at times you might not know certain words (because they are scientific BIG words), BUT i think that you should read it too!

Final Entry

I read the book "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischiman. The book about a man in 1848 who worked as a construction foreman. He became famouse for having had a thirteen-pound iron rod shot through is head, and making a hole right through is head but not killing him. Phineas Gage lived with the hole in his head for eleven years. Yet the accident change Phineas forever. He was no longer the Phineas that his friends, family and co-workers knew. The story teaches you what happened in Phineas's brain, what made him a diffrent man and how it all relates to where the rode hit and how the brain functions. It has alot of very main ideas and importan concepts in it. One is back then there were two groups that were trying to sell there theory of the brain, neither of the groups were right yet they thought they were. One group was slightly correct on one part of there theory but completly wrong with the other parts. The other one was what really happened to Phineas Gage what happened to his brain that made him stay alive for those eleven years. The book gos over the brain function, how it works and how the people in Phineas's age thought he satyed alive for those eleven years.

The book is very intresting although at some times it doesn't grasp your attention like other times. i really enjoyed it mainly because i loved hearing about Phineas and how he changed due to his injury. I was also very intrested in hearing what made him able to saty alive. It was such an amazing case!

The book was on my level and very clear because the very sciency parts they explained very well and i got to understand them. The pictures and there captions also helped me understand because i could see how everything worked and how close they were in relation to everything else.

I belived most everything i read because it said a couple times that there is still alot to learn about the brain and we don't have everything figured out. This made me belive the book because it wasn't saying we know everything and you better belive us it was saying this is what we know now but there is still alot we need to figure out in the future. Something about that made me feel it was telling the truth and if they made a mistake they were ready to except it.

Overall the book was great and i would advise it for other people that want to learn about the brain.

Virus Hunting: Tracking Cancer and AIDS- Final Entry

Once again, I was a little behind in my posts due to computer complications, and I am catching up.
~~~

In reading this book, I have learned so much more than I knew previously about the ways viruses function.
I really enjoyed reading about cancer and AIDS from the different perspectives that the book offered. I was able to learn for medical doctors, biologists, chemists, patients, and from public opinion.
Now, to return to the things I wanted to focus on at the end of my last entry, and learn more about as I finished the book.

There are many experiments being done to progress the treatments for AIDS and cancer. Experiments combining chemo and radiation treatments in order to more efficiantly battle cancer are being performed in many research labs.
Combinations of differents medications, creating a sort of medication cocktail are being used to treat AIDS, in the hopes that with the combination of meds, once AIDS is able to resist one medication, the other will start working. Of course, eventually, over time, AIDS will be able to withstand the cocktails as a whole.
Other tactics are being used, such as taking patients off of medication all together and waiting for the virus to morph back into it's original form, and then suprising it with a sudden rush of medication which kills more AIDS cells, because the AIDS is vulnerable for a longer amount of time, before it can work up an antigen for the medication.

Still, many scientists say that the best chance for survival is leading a healthy lifestyle and trying not to expose yourself to the things that are directly linked to causes more serious types of cancer and AIDS.
A vast majority of the different types of cancer and easier treatable and many still are curable.
One of the most common, more serious cancers is lung cancer, which is currently without a cure.
It is very rare to contract lung cancer if you do not have a smoking habit.

Scientists recommend a cigarette free lifestyle.

AIDS, as I am sure many of you know, is an STD, a sexually transmitted virus. That is one of the things that I find so tragic about the AIDS epidemic. It is SO easy to avoid contracting it. USE PROTECTION! IT'S NOT HARD! And take the time to get your partner tested, if you can. It is also very rare that a person contracts AIDS if he or she practises safe sex.
AIDS can only be contract by transaction of fluids. Some other ways to contract AIDS (when it is not "sexaully" transmitted) are:

-If someone with AIDS somehow manages to press thier open wound to your open wound (which is unlikely to happen...).
-If your parent was HIV/AIDS positive, it is possible for that to be passed on to the child (but there are many ways to prevent that today.).

I really enjoyed reading this book, and I recommend it to anyone and everyone.

(NOTE: Once again, I was unable to spell check my post...I apologize for any errors.)

"Virus Hunting: Tracking AIDS and Cancer-Midpoint Entry

Ahhh! I finally cheated my computer into letting me on to the sight! I'm sooooo sorry I'm late with my last two entries, but my computer kept telling me that I never recieved and invitation on to the sight in the first place and that I would be banned all together if I tried to post on the sight...but I figured it out!
So here is my belated mid-point entry, and I I will follow with my final entry.
~~~~~

From what I have read so far, I have learned alot about both cancer and AIDS. They are similar in many ways, especially in how they mature in the body. Still, they are also incredibly different.
One way cancer and AIDS are different is how they are treated.

Cancer treatment is often measured more by dosage of a few leading general treatments (such as chemothearapy, and radiation) , depending on type of cancer the patient has, the stage (generally ranging from stage 1-4, one being early onset, and 4 being likely terminal), and how agressive it is. For example, breast cancer can be alot more agressive than cancer of the pancreas, because breast cancer is more likely to become malignant (meaning able to spread to other parts of the body such as the back and brain). That is also a reason that breat cancer has a high risk of relapsing (coming back after it is "cured"). For patient that has breat cancer, they can be rid of all tumors in the breasts and be announced as cured, but two years later, it can come back and be in the patient's brain.

Treatment for AIDS varies tremendously from patient to patient. With AIDS, you are practially dealing with a completely new virus with every patient you treat. This is one reason why there is currently no cure for AIDS. One treatment might work for one patient, but not for another. This brings me to another reason why AIDS is so difficult to treat. An AIDS "strain" or "cell" has a special ability that no other virus in existance has. The ability to shapeshift. I have an analogy for you: The cheetah hunts the antalope (a deer-like animal). Imagine that the antalope is AIDS, and the cheetah is a treatment that a doctor has perscribed to one of his patients. Now, normally, the cheetah would easily be able to catch and kill the antalope because it is faster. But imagine that the antalope could transform into any animal that it wanted, say, an elephant. Now that the antalope is an elephant and much bigger and more powerful than the cheetah, the cheetah cannot harm it.

The AIDS virus is able to morph to resist any treatment that it is given. Therefore, it is virtually indistructable.

I hope, as I finish this book, to learn more about the experiments being done and the advances being made in finding treatments for both cancer and AIDS.

(NOTE: Please excuse any typos or words that are not spelled correctly, for some reason, I was unable to spell-check my post. I will try to edit it once it is posted, if I can.)

Final Entry-Great MythConceptions

Great MythConceptions by Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki was truly one of the most interesting books I've ever read. Sometimes that was a good thing, and other times it wasn't. The concept of the book and the ideas in it were all very interesting. The fact that he collected off of this interesting data for the book was wonderful and I learned a lot. The way he presented it, though, was not as wonderful.
Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki should stick to being a doctor and never write again in his life. Unless, it is maybe a very dry essay. No, strike that, he shouldn't write at all. He went to school to study to be a doctor, that's great, congratulations, go with that! Don't write! The way he formatted this book was all wrong in my opinion, and he should have had someone else write it for him. He could have presented his thoughts in a different order and it would have made a huge difference. Another thing he did was try to make a book that was slightly comedic and fun to read. To achieve this goal, he used made-up words, slang, and bad jokes. This is not a side show in Vegas, this is a book.
I found myself groaning out loud over distastefulness of his writing at times.
One of my biggest problems with his writing, though, was his arrogance. He was very haughty in his writing and he basically blatantly insulted at times. One quote that sticks out in my head is from the section about Albert Einstein not really failing school. He said, "Schoolchildren can't use this mythconception as a crutch anymore-- they'll just have to work harder..." Well, excuse me, we can't all be doctors.
So, in conclusion, the actual information in the book was great, and I'm happy to have learned it, but this doctor is not in.

The Inconvenient truth

An Inconvenient truth

Al Gore

This book was really a wake up call because it raises the issues that I and others find important. One of the points that shocked me in this book is that, 92% Number of peer-reviewed articles dealing with "climate change" published in scientific journals daring the previous 10 years. 0% Percentage of articles in the doubt as to the cause of the global warming.The second point I'm making is why should you contribute? Well, the United States contribute 30.3%, Europe 27.7% Russia 13.7, Middle east 2.6%, Southeast Asia, India, and China 12/2% South America 3.8% and Australia 1.1%. This world will melt on less change. There was serious affect on the Pacific island already.

there land is drowning by raising water and if the water keeps raising, NYC is going to be and under water city. This is there reason you should pick up this book and start helping.

Ocean Like Body of Water found under Asia

The article is called: Huge Underground "Ocean" Found Beneath Asia. The website I got it from is: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070227-ocean-asia.html The author is Richard A. Lovett. The topic is underground water.

This is what I learned:

Underneath Eastern Asia, scientists have found a large body of water hundreds of miles below the earth's surface. This body of water would equal up to about the size of the Arctic Ocean. The water came there by the process of plate techtonics. Scientists can related this to other things, and to learn more about our earth. They view this as a good thing, for it could keep the continents from flooding, due to global warming.

Blog posting by Jay Reist.

Broken Ice Shelf Reveals Thousands of Arctic Species

The article is called: Ice Shelf Collapses Reveal New Species, Ecosystem Changes. I got it from the website: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070227-polar-species.html The author is John Roach. The topic is new species.

This is what I learned:

After two ice shelfs in Antartica broke due to global warming over the past 12 years, scientists have found thousands of new species. This means that our ecosystem might change. The studies and photographs have revieled that their are relationships between certain species that we have never known before. This is a lot of new information for scientists to handle and I think that it will be a while before we have all the information on these species. I definitely think our science text books will have to be updated!

Animal Winter Games: Food Snatch

The podcast is called: Animal Winter Games: Food Snatch. It was created by National Geographic. I got it from the website: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/animals.html The topic is polar bear food snatching.
This is what I learned:

After 5 months in a lair of snow, a mother polar bear comes out with her babies. She hasn't eaten since she went in, 5 months ago. She is getting thinner by the day, so they all go out to find food. She must protect them, for baby polar bears are usually killed by male polar bears within the first month that they come out of their lair. She teaches her children how to get food, by breaking the ice and stealing seal cubs. The children usually play with their food and sometimes get into fights over food with their mother.

Dolphin Parenting

The podcast is called: Dolphin Parenting. It was made by National Geographic. I got it from the website: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/animals.html The topic is dolphin parenting.
This is what I learned:

The only skill baby dolphins know when they are born is to mimic or copy any thing that their mother dolphin does. To learn how to find food, the mother finds it for the baby and the baby mimics the mother perfectly. One technique that they use is a type of dolphin sonar system, where their voice echoes back at them to see what fish lye under the sand. Another way to get food is to speedily follow a fish in the shallows and catch it. And another thing is that playing with your food gives you a statis in the dolphin community.

Blog posted by Jay Reist

Chimps vs. Humans: Where do we draw the line?

The podcast I watched was called: Video: Chimps Make and Use "Spears" to Hunt. This video was made by National Geographic/NOVA. I found it on the website: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070222-chimp-video.html?fs=video.nationalgeographic.com The main topic is chimpanzees' relations to humans.

Now I watched this short video and I was surprised. I knew that there were some type of ape that was similar to humans, but not this similar.

This is what I learned:

Chimpanzees found in Senegal are more adapted than scientists previously thought. Some of us don't think about it, but there is only a 6% difference in our DNA. That means these apes are the closest thing to humans. Scientists have found that these animals have found ways/tools to make food. For instance, in the video, a chimpanzee crushes nuts to make food. This might not seem like a very big deal, but it is. Another new observation is that they do hunt (with tools). In the video, we see a female chimanzee take a spear-like branch and throw it at an animal in a tree, the spear kills the small animal. Then the chimpanzee jumps over to it and takes it for a meal. This means that scientists might have to rethink their theories about these animals.

Blog post by Jay Reist

The Hot Zone [Mid-Point Post]

So far I have really enjoyed The Hot Zone. It's very descriptive, very graphic and gruesome story is what makes the book incredible. So far there has been an outbreak in parts of Africa of an unknown virus which they later discovered was a virus called Marburg. There is not a lot known about Marburg. Marburg is the least explosive virus of three viruses.
They are as follows:

-Marburg
-Ebola Sudan
-Ebola Zaire

Marburg kills 1 out of 4 where Ebola Sudan kills 50% and Ebola Zaire [the worst of the three] kills 9 out of 10. In the book they have described many of the deaths and the studies of the viruses. These viruses have a violent way of attacking their hosts and even though as you read you seem to personify the viruses and make it seem as if their goal is to kill the person but really once the host dies they have to find a new one. All the virus really wants to do is replicate itself. I would recommend this book to almost anyone, and even if your squeemish [like myself] you should still read this because I've had no problem with the gruesomeness of the book. Once I started reading this book I could literally not put it down, it was as if it was glued to my fingertips. I would often be reading at 1 or 2 in the morning. This book is amazing. There are studies still being done on these viruses but no one has found where these viruses go to hide, waiting to make there next attack.

[P.S: I will never go to Africa. I refuse.]

By: Emma DW

Final Entry - Human Origins

(Let me just dive right into it) The book for the most part, follows Human evolution, going through the waves of change in Africa, such as stone tools, social and family relationship changes, and bipedal walking. It eventually spreads out into other areas such as Neanderthal evolution and the basic spread of Homo erectus. Every now and then the book jumps away from the main timeline to discuss something like a comparison of ancient apes to modern chimpazees, or to discuss a theory (such as the missing link theory) in a quick chapter. But, it soon goes back to talk about the evolutionary timeline. It covers such common topics as the Cro-magnon/Neanderthal relationship in Europe, to the more elusive fate of the Homo-erectus in Asia or the fascinating discovery of the Homo floresiensis in Indonesia.
It usually jumps from one archeological discovery to the next, and while these are fine checkpoints, I feel the author sometimes gets to excited with a certain point of finding and goes into too much detail. But the author usually brings you back with relative clarity, and little confusion on subjects.
But other then that the text is clear and very readable, and not in the least daunting. I found the book easy to read (as in length) but not too easy, which is good. Overall I say it is a very well written book.

Final Entry - Human Origins

(Let me just dive right into it) The book for the most part, follows Human evolution, going through the waves of change in Africa, such as stone tools, social and family relationship changes, and bipedal walking. It eventually spreads out into other areas such as Neanderthal evolution and the basic spread of Homo erectus.. Every now and then the book jumps away from the main timeline to discuss something like a comparison of ancient apes to modern chimpazees, or to discuss a theory (such as the missing link theory) in a quick chapter. But, it soon goes back to talk about the evolutionary timeline. It covers such common topics as the Cro-magnon/Neanderthal relationship in Europe, to the more elusive fate of the Homo-erectus in Asia or the fascinating discovery of the Homo floresiensis in Indonesia.
It usually jumps from one archeological discovery to the next, and while these are fine checkpoints, I feel the author sometimes gets to excited with a certain point of finding and goes into too much detail. But the author usually brings you back with relative clarity, and little confusion on subjects.
But other then that the text is clear and very readable, and not in the least daunting. I found the book easy to read (as in length) but not too easy, which is good. Overall I say it is a very well written book.

Petrified Lightning Yields New Information on the Past

I read this article called:Stroke of Good Fortune: A wealth of data from petrified lightning. I read it on the website: http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070217/fob5.asp The subject is glass and the author is Sid Perkins. This is what I learned.

Well, as some of us know, when lightning hits sand it creates a kind of glass that presserves chemicals in the air from its surroundings. Well, in the Egyptian dessert, this doesn't happen that often, but 15,000 years ago, it did.
Scientists have recently learned about the of barren Egyptian dessert, but 15,000 years ago. Because fulgurites are found in glass, and rarely erode. This means that the chemicals in the glass have been presserved. After chemical tests of the carbon concentrations found in the glass, scientists have found that after the last ice age, most of Egypt was covered in plants and fields of glass. I liked the article, and I would reccomend this website if you'd like to read some new and interesting things about different subjects in science.

This blog entry was written by Jay Reist.

Progress in New Knee Surgery Technique

The article I found is called:Hurt-Knees Rx: Surgical method promotes ligament regeneration. The author is Patrick L. Barry and the subject is surgery. I read the article on the website:http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070224/fob3.asp.

Now I found this article quite interesting, and I learned a few things about this developing surgery technique. Apparently, surgeons have found a new, and in some ways a better technique to perform knee surgery. Instead of using prothetics to help keep the knee together (for this technique often fails because the prothetics obviously cannot regenerate), surgeons have looked to the rest of the leg. What they do, is they take ligament tissue that regenerates from another part of the same leg and place it where the prothetics would usually go. Now this benefits the knee is some ways (basically, you won't have to get knee surgery again), but there are some cons. One is that is can effect the rest of the leg because you are taking the tissue from the other part of the leg and that can make it hard to move. Currently, they have been testing it on rabbits (much to my dissatisfaction), who do not have a recovery time, but immediately get back to hopping around and such. Humans, who usually take a recovery time, might have a better time with this procedure. Experts know that this isn't the finish line, and they hope to eventually not need to use the ligament tissue from your leg, but another solution. This was a well written article, and I learned quite a bit from it, as you can see.

Blog post written by Jay Reist

Mid-Point Entry-Great MythConceptions

Great MythConceptions, by Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki, works to unveil the secrets behind the myths. Such as Albert Einstein failed school, gold fish have no memory, etc.
When reading this book you learn so much because, well it is really a book that teaches. It's about things you probably don't know. So, it is almost impossible to learn nothing from this book.
One of my favorite quotes in the book so far is "So, low nicotine cigarettes not only deliver the same amount of nicotine, and give you more carbon monoxide, they also lull you into a false sense of security." I love this quote because, not only is it informative, but it is interesting and, yet, disturbing. This section of the book talks about low nicotine cigarettes, and how they deliver the same amount of nicotine to the brain and blood as regular cigarettes. Nicotine is basically what addicts you to cigarettes. Smokers "need" a certain amount of it. So, when they smoke low nicotine cigarettes, the just take longer drags (or sucks), or take more drags, in order to get the same amount of nicotine to the brain. What is scary though, is that most smokers think they are doing better for themselves by only smoking low nicotine cigarettes, but, in reality, they are smoking the same amount as ever before.

Just for Fun - Try It

The problem with these self-tests is that what you want to do and what you actually have an aptitude for are often 2 or more different things...

Your Dominant Intelligence is Logical-Mathematical Intelligence

You are great at finding patterns and relationships between things. Always curious about how things work, you love to set up experiments. You need for the world to make sense - and are good at making sense of it. You have a head for numbers and math ... and you can solve almost any logic puzzle. You would make a great scientist, engineer, computer programmer, researcher, accountant, or mathematician.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Some wishful thinking on my part perhaps, along with some forced either/or questions that can't possibly capture nuance and the complex nature of our personalities. Just for fun, don't take it too seriously. And avoid the other "tests" on the page that ask for your cell phone number.

via Evolving Thoughts

FINAL ENTRY!!!! (whoop whoop)

ok so here is the deal...
AWFUL!!!!! the Big Bang book was definately the book from hell. It didn't start literally talking about the big bang until like page 300! (and this is most dissapointing considering i bought the book so i could learn more about what wiped out my favorite critters...the DINOS!!!) no offense to anyone that liked this book, but you have to be seriously senial and incredibly smart (interesting combination...sort of like monk from the show monk on usa) to actually like and learn anything from this book. and for all my buddiesin 801 I really suggest you not read this bok because it is so borning and long by the time you finish it there m9ight be another big bang. i was so upset at the outcome of this book that my head almost had a big bang out of pure anger.

no big deal just wasted a few hours of life.

oookay,
I to the Z

My final entry (For Great Mythconceptions)

For my last entry I shall explore myths that you may have heard, and tell you the REAL story behind it all. Therefore telling you what I have learned from this book.

Myth exploration #1 - Do you goldfish actually have memories?

Although it is limited, goldfish DO have memories. You may be surprised, you may say - "How can something that just swims around in circles, and is that small have a memory? You see, in order to live - you must have a memory. Your memory stores lots of information like where to swim, what to eat, and where not to go. Some fish are known for responding to feeding time, and human interaction. Both of these activities require memory. They even did a test, where they had two fish - one had been swimming in his tank for a while, and the other had just been put in. Then they put a net in the tank and raced after the fish. The fish that had been in his tank for a while, knew his way around the tank, so that he could get away from the net. While the other one struggled to find a place to hide.

So if you ever wondered if a goldfish could remember... well know you know- they can.

Myth exploration #2- Does truth serum really work?

Truth serum is known as a drug that allows people to tell the truth, so there is not a single thing that they should hide. But does this drug really work? Studies say not completely. The drug can loosen some one's tounge, and reveal a very small part of their subconscious. And when tested, some people even admitted to crimes they couldn't have committed, such as murdering a step- mother - even though there is no step- mother to kill.

So if you were hoping to slip someone truth serum to find out the truth... you may not find it out. Sorry!

I have learned lots more from this book. I have learned about Einstein's brain, Baby deliverys, and just by reading the front of the book you learn that a desk has 400 times more bacteria than one square inch of a toliet! Imagine!

CCL7

A Possibility for a Future AIDS Cure

I based this posting on the article: How to Beat AIDS? I read it on the website: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1590570,00.html. The subject is cures and the author is Howard Chua-Eoan. This is what I learned.

Now I read this article and it surprised me and gave me hope for the future. Some experts and general people were beginning to give up on the idea that maybe there is a cure for AIDS. Now, experts have found, that there may be a glimpse of hope for this disease that the world is suffering from. What happens is that there is a rare antibody called B12 that latches on to the AIDS virus and it is stable through the virus' many mutations. This isn't the cure because B12 only occurs in certain individuals, but it is now the template for a possible AIDS vaccine.

Blog posting by Jay Reist.

Ozone Worries

The article that I read was called "As Asia Keeps Cool, Scientists Worry about the Ozone Layer".

The topic is global warming. Theses are some things that I learned from the article. Scientists were finally hopeful that the Ozone layer was on its way to being healed.

That was before healing Ozone layer went back to the record size recorded in 2001. That size was as big as the North American continent. Scientists now say that it will take another quarter of a century than expected to heal this large hole. This hole is reportedly over Antarctica. This means that a large percentage of Antarctica is unprotected to large asteroids and high powered rays from the sun. What has caused the process that was being made, go back to where we started?

The cause is India and southern China. There has been an extremely large boom of air-conditioner sales in these parts of Asia from the world wide known producer of air-conditioners: LG Electronics. The number one chemical that we know of that caused this decrease in progress is HCFC-22. This chemical is widely used in air-conditioners and due to the future threat of global warming, it has been banned in all of Europe and is in the process of being banned in the United States (by 2010). The United Nations hopes that this harmful chemical will be banned in all of the world by 2020. But the Montreal Protocol has allowed countries with growing economies (such as India and China to have this harmful chemical until 2040.

In the Indian suburbs and in the Chinese suburbs (where two thirds of the country's population resides) there has been an air-conditioner boom due to heat waves. In India, the government had to cut the 32% luxury tax on air-conditioners by 50% due to the middle class' demands.

Hopefully by 2040, this problem will have been solved.

Summary by Jay.

MY LAST ENTRY!!! YAY!!!!

So I just finished reading Phineas Gage and OMG I really enjoyed it!!! The main points were mostly about how the brain works and how this accident of getting a rod shot though his head really effected his brain and personalaty. I really enjoyed how the book talked about the different parts of the brain and how the differnt parts control different things. The book in general really kept my attention and was a pretty easy read considering it was a about a complex subject. I also very much enjoyed the detailed and suspensful describtion of the accident, eventough it was a little nasty. All in all it was a very good book and would reccomend it to anyone.

More Accurate Mid-Point Entry

"Honey, Mud, Maggots, and Other Medical Marvels" by Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein

This book is the science behind folk remedies and old wives' tales

"The philosophies of one age become the absurdities of the next, and the foolishness of yesterday has become the wisdom of tomorrow"
--Sir William Osler, M.D.,1902

This quote explains the concept of the whole book in one sentence.

Ch.1- Cow pox is cured by cowpox pus.

Ch.2-Maggots clean wounds by eating the dead flesh. But there are different types of maggots. One type eats dead flesh, another eats both dead and alive flesh, another eats living flesh. They look really similar.

Ch.3- Honey and sugar heals wounds and burns.

Ch. 4- Bath water cures constipation, colic, gout, ingertility, and paralysis. It's also very good for elders.

Ch.5- Clay was full in calcium (food supplement) nutrition. From too much bloodloss you can die.

Ch.6- Its been proven that bloodletting helps in high blood pressure and heart disease

Ch.7- Leeches were used for taking blood and cured headaches and black eyes and other problems in the body.

Ch.8- A dog's wound was healed from its pus. And the same thing happened for humans.

Midpoint Entry

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other- by Oliver Sacks
"Tells the stories of individuals afflicted with fantastic perceptual and intellectual aberrations: patients who have lost their memories and with them the greater part of their pasts; who are no longer able to recognize people and common objects; who are stricken with violent tics and grimaces or who shout involuntary obscenities; whose limbs have become alien; who have been dismissed as retarded yet are gifted with uncanny artistic or mathematical talents."
From reading this book i have learned how a brain tumor can affect ones actions; how one person can be affected when they have lost half of their memory and are living in the past, but can be in a whole different world spritualy; how a lady can be disembodied in a way that she can not feel her own body, but it is still there or how someone can be tricked into thinking that their own leg is someone elses. People on this book sometimes can only tell who a doctor is by an object he/she may be carring aroung, such as a stethoscope. People in this book can be discribed as "helpless, demented, confused and disoriented." But in other cases when a disorder is cured beautiful things can happen. Like in the chapter "Hands" a blind woman who had never used her hands, and who had lost all feeling within her hand suddenly started to use her hands. She used to describe her hands as "Useless godforsaken lumps of dough-" now she uses her hands to create sculptures, which within a year become locally famous as the Blind Sculptress of St. Benedict's.
This book has shone me recoveries and patients who will stay the same till they take their last breath. It has shone me tears and smiles, andi hope the rest of the book will be as interesting as the first half.

Mid-point entry - "Collapse"

I have been so far enjoying this book, despite the fact that it is quite depressing (apparently the author tells about ways that we might be able to prevent collapses in our society similar to the historical ones he discusses later on in the book, but, at this point, it simply seems as though we are all doomed to an endless cycle of complete destruction and building our societies up again from scratch, which is a depressing though not exactly startling thought.

I particularly enjoyed the section on Easter Island. Though I had read many years ago about the mysterious fall of the society there and been intrigued by it, I had never before had a clear understanding of why exactly it happened. Over the course of reading this book, I feel that I do understand why it happened. I also have the sense (though I'm not sure how accurate it is) that Mr. Diamond's hypotheses on Easter Island are ones that have never before been proposed, at least not in quite this manner. As with "Guns, Germs and Steel", I have the sense while reading this book that it is a monumental work that reinvents contemporary knowledge of the subject. It feels odd to be reading such a thing on a subject that I know relatively little about, and it is a very odd look into the world of ecological studies.

I have not yet reached the section on Greenland and Vinland, which I am excited about reading. Hopefully those sections (about subjects that I know significantly more than the other topics yet discussed in the book) will not disappoint me!

So far, I would recommend this book to someone interested in the subject. But I would warn them that the book seems somewhat slow at first, and the section on Montana has a Harold Bloom-esque sense of self importance to it, at least in my opinion.

Field Guide to Human Origins I expected a little more story oriented, but aside from that the first chapter seemed fine, (Although apparently the author seems to think he's hilarious.) a lot of information, good facts, and I expect to get a good view of the Human of evolution from this book.

One of the most interesting chapters was the one which included the "myth of the missing link" which commented rather harshly on people who believed in the missing link theory. It pointed quite a few mistakes in the theory, but at least described why people could easily accept and come up with the theory.
Most of what I've learned are a few more things about our relation to chimps. But mostly the book took me on an investigation to find out how we started walking up rite. Describing different theories and points of view from different scientists.

truly nobodies, Devil'sAdvocate

Mid- point entry para mi libro

I am almost done with the book, I am reading, and I must say it is pretty good. Just to clear things up, I thought I would be writing 10 entrys, but I decided againist it. So this is my mid- point entry (obviously).

The blurb (The back of the book says):

Do we really use only 10 percent of our brains?
Is MT. Everest truly the world's tallest mountain?
Did Einstein actally fail school?
Does your soul actually weigh 21 grams?
Did NASA fake the moon landing?
Do so-called truth serums realy work?

Find out the answers to these intriguing questions and many more in Great - Mythconceptions: The Science Behind the Myths, as author Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki offers funny facts and dizzying discoveries about some of science's greatest myths. Told in an accessible and quirky, humorous style, Great Mythconceptins is a captivating expose of all things scientific!

What I have found out while reading this book:

This book is so much fun to read because you learn so many things that you had never even thought about before. I mean like did you know that someone actually STOLE Einstein's brain? People took it out after he died, so they could study the size and such. And when they did study it they found that the parietal lobe was 15% larger than the average parietal lobe is.

Just random things like that are what I learn in this book, and it's nice to know some new things that are so funny and crazy! And I am sure that all of you will hear some from me when I finish readng the whole book! And you should read this book as well!

Crazy Cat Lady

2nd posting of "An inconvenient Truth!

Mid Reading An Inconvenient Truth!
Author: Al Gore

Back of Book Description:

Our climate crisis may at times appear to be happening slowly, but in fact it is happening very quickly-and has become a true planetary emergency. The Chinese expression for crisis consists of two characters. The first is a symbol for danger; the second is a symbol for opportunity. In order to face down the danger that is stalking us and move through it, we first have to recognize that we are facing a crisis. So why is it that our leaders seem not to hear such clarion warnings? Are they resisting the truth because they know that the moment they acknowledge it, they will face a moral imperative to act? Is it simply more convenient to ignore the warnings? Perhaps, but inconvenient truths do not go away just because they are not seen. Indeed, when they are responded to, their significance doesn't diminish; it grows. - Al Gore

What Ive learned so far:

I learned a lot of things to educate myself and others about the dangers of globe warming.
One of the things I'm astonished about is all of the things that happened in are times and what it can lead to in the future. The events I'm talking about are all of the hurricanes between the years 2005-06. Here are all 27 of them, Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Dennis, Emily, Franklin, Gert, Harvey, Irene, Jose ,Katrina, Lee, Maria, Nate, Ophelia, Philippe, Rita, Stan, Tammy, Vince, Willma, Alpha, Beta, Delta, Episilon, Gamma, & Zeta. Mostly all of these were Category 3-5.
If global warming continues there can be worse hurricanes & fluids etc. Looking at the other side of this, money loss is also of part of this. From the book I discovered that from the years 1998-2005 from floods & other weather related disasters we lost 740 billion dollars.
Mountain Kilimanjaro used to have hundreds of glaciers.
Now this is it's remains. Soon, most of the glaciers will look like this. that's why we need to change this problem, fast.


One quote that I admire form the book is "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."-Mark Twain. I love this quote because it's so important in life.


By: Gisella

Phineas Gage-MIDPOINT ENTRY!!!!

So I am reading Phineas Gage by John Fleischman which is about this guy Phineas Gage, a railroad construction foreman, who had a hole in his head. It happened in vermont 1848, a thirteen-pund iron rod was shot though his brain. He survived another 11 yeard and became one of the biggest cases in Brain science history. But the accident forever changed Phineas and what happened inside his brain tells you alot about how the brain works.
So far I have learned a lot from this book. Mostly about how the brain really controls who you are and how your personalaty can change if you have an accident with your brain like Phineas. I also learned a lot about how which parts of the brain control what like with the eyes and ears and other things. This book also had a lot to talk about doctors and how different they are now and then.
"One popular parlor game is reading ones charactor by feeling the skull for bumps and dips". I found this very interesting because its like the different parts of your brain are different personalaty trates. I thought that was cool.

my 2nd entry!!!

my dearest fellow science nerds,
I am happy to announce that I am on page 201 in the ridiculously huge science book! (whoop whoop for me) so we all know that the book is called The big bang yet not once has there been any mention of (yes you guessed it) the Big Bang! I'm half way through this book and still there is nothing about the big bang. Pretty much all its mentioned is light, and sound which I suspect has something to do with the big bang but i guess I will have to find out.
infinate X's and O's,
Dork

The family that could not sleep!

The book that i am reading is called the family that could not sleep by D.T. Max. It's mainly about a family that had somthing in theier DNA that could not let their body rest or sleep.A medical mystery.I chose this book because it caught my eye and also i didnt want to just read a book with just facts.I wanted somthing with a story but also with facts.I am on about page 5 and am already into it. It has a full and very catchy plot. I can see that i am going to enjoy it. Well here ya go!

An American Plague

I am reading a book called " An American Plague The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of1793." In this book I learned so mant things. One thing I learned is that Philadelphia itself had an increasing number of cats that were dropping dead every day, attracting, one Phledelphian complain, An amazing number of flies and other insects including mosquitos were everywhere, though their high-pitched whirring was particularly loud near rain barrels, gutters, and open sewers.


By: Kristina

Mid-reading Entry

So. I learned SO much from reading this book. I feel like a scholar...well not really but whatever.

Ch.1- Cow pox is cured by cowpox pus.

Ch.2-Maggots clean wounds by eating the dead flesh. But there are different types of maggots. One type eats dead flesh, another eats both dead and alive flesh, another eats living flesh. They look really similar.

Ch.3- Honey and sugar heals wounds and burns.

Ch. 4- Bath water cures constipation, colic, gout, ingertility, and paralysis. It's also very good for elders.

Ch.5- Clay was full in calcium (food supplement) nutrition. From too much bloodloss you can die.

Finally

The Hot Zone
by: Richard Preston
This book is about a virus that came from the Central African rain forest and
then suddenly appeared in Washington D.C. Then in less than 3 days 90 percent of the victims are dead. Soon there comes the swat team to the resuce with a bunch of scientist to save what is left of Washington D.C.
I chose this book because i heard from Mr G that this book was a real thriller and i personally like thrillers. Also it looks like the book is going to have lots of suspense.
I expect this book to be fun to read and really cool.

Pre-Reading-Phineas Gage!!!!

heyy guys..i was finally able to log on thanks to Senor Gatton..well im reading a book called Phineas Gage by John Fleischman. It's about a guy who gets a pole shot threw his head. Gross?I KNOW!!! Well, the books talks about the life of Phineas after this horrible accident. I chose this book because i was interested in knowing how his life was after this incedent and because I am also interested in the brain. What I expect from this book is to learn exactly how it affected him. I don't expect it to be boring. I expect to be surprised and learn a lot of new things about the brain.

BAD astronmoy

I am reading bad Astronomy by Philip Plait. This book is all about astronomy. But unlike most astronomy books; this book focuses on clearing up misinterpretations of science. It explains how advertisments like "lightyears ahead" don't make sense... and it explains why.

I chose this book because I am interested in astronomy. I love reading about space, stars, planets and galexies, ect. I find it the most interesting science that there is. I expect it to be really interesting, and I'm sure I'll love correcting people when they talk about or use "bad astronomy" in thier everyday language =].

I expect it to be difficult, though because of all the scientific words I will endure. But I guess I'll just have to get a dictionary and find out what the long, difficult words mean. But I don't expect it to be too hard seeing as it's meant to teach regularly educated people about science, not just super-smart people with PHDs.

I hope i find it interesting instead of falling asleep reading it. If it's dull I will be very dissapointed. I've started reading it, I've been through a few chapters and sofar it's not exactly thrilling and some chapters I find a bit dull... But I'm sticking through, hoping that Philip Plait will soon write about my favorite subject (black holes!) if not I'll just reasearch it on my own.


-Sydney

Do You Believe in Magic?

"Do you believe in magic?"
By Benedict Carey
New York Times
Main Topic: Magic (e.g. illusions and magic tricks; mind tricks and magical powers)

While reading this article I did find a new vocabulary word. The word "Buoys" which defined in the dictonary means; [v] To keep afloat or aloft: a glider buoyed by air currents. To maintain at a high level; support.
Throughout this article I learned a lot about magic and illusions and how we procieve things. That when we see a magic trick we are very impressed with what we see before we can put logic to the situation and think about how the trick was approached. The article states , "The brain, moreover, has evolved to make snap judgments about causation, and will leap to conclusions well before logic can be applied. In an experiment presented last fall at the Society for Neuroscience meeting, Ben Parris of the University of Exeter in England presented magnetic resonance imaging scans taken from the brains of people watching magic tricks. In one, the magician performed a simple sleight of hand: he placed a coin in his palm, closed his fingers over it, then opened his hand to reveal that the coin was gone."
Usally people are so ammused that they do not actully relize that its just a magic trick and they're creating an illusion by thinking that the pennie (for example) just dissapeared into thin air. We are exposed to our own thoughts usally which cause illusions. This article also states when people think they have magic powers they're usally helpless. They engage in all these magical rituals which are irrational and pointless. My take on this is that people have their own opions about magical powers and whether they have them or not. I do agree with the article and how it tells us about illusions and how we creat them while watching magic trick. I do believe there needs to be logic applied or else you are believing a magic trick before actully really thinking about it and putting logic into what you have seen.

THE HOT ZONE [pre-reading blog]

Title: The Hot Zone
Author: Richard Preston

I am reading a book called THE HOT ZONE. I decided to change books because the other one didn't interest me much. When Mr. Gatton showed me this book I was instantly intrigued but it is suppose to quite gruesome so to say that I'm a little scared would be the biggest under statement ever.

The book is about viruses. It's about an infectious and fatal virus from the central African rain forest. It somehow spreads to the suburbs in Washington D.C. There is no cure for the virus. In a few days 90% of victims are dead. Then, a secret military SWAT team of soldiers and scientists kind of collaborate to try and stop the outbreak. This book shows you that the truth is scarier than fiction.

I chose this book because I like that it's a story instead of just pages and pages of research and information. I think I will learn more because of this and will not want to put the book down. My expectations of this book are very high but I hope I can get through the stomach turning parts. =]

I'll update you when i begin to read.

ily all.

Pre-Reading "An Inconvenient Truth"

Summary:
We all know that are climate problem seems to be happening slowly, but it's actually occurring very fast and, it is a HUGE emergency.The Chinese expression of the word crisis has two parts.The first is messaging Danger. The second is a chance for Opportunity. Before making change we have to be reminded that this is a major crisis. Why do are leaders ignore this desperate call for change? Is it because it's easier to ignore it? Maybe, but we all know that the problem doesn't disappear because it's not visual.

Why I Selected this book:
I am interested in learning a lot about globe warming because, I believe that it's biggest problem in the world. Way bigger then immigration or terrorism. It's really shocking how it's happening. Look at it this way , it barley even snow this year, and even when it did it it was didn't last at all.That's why I picked this book, I wanted to know how I can help.

My Expectations:
I think I'm going to learn way more then what i can do to help global warming but, the history before and, how it started. Maybe Al Gore's take on the issue. I am expecting too be an expert on global warming when I am finished with the book and, to pass on the importance of it.

By: Gisella

My 1st Entry!!!!!

The book I am reading is PHINEAS GAGE and it is by John Fleischman. Anyway this book is about this guy named Phineas who had a hole in his head. He was a railroad contruction foreman. While he was blasting rock in vermont in 1848, a 13 pund rod was shot though his brain. Amazingly, he survived another eleven years and became one of the biggest cases in brain science ever. But after the accident Phineas was changed and what happened to his brain will tell you a lot about how your brain works. I chose this book because brains seem pretty interesting and Mr. Gatton said it was good so I thought I would give it a shot! I expect that this book will be very good and exciting and afterwards I'll probably know a lot more about brains and will be extremely terrified of 13 pund rods!!!!

INTRO to the book ( the book makes it sound scary)

Apperently i am about to embark on a spectacualr journey through time. Corny i know, but for some reason i think the book THE BIG BANG is going to be somewhat interesting. Not to mention t got wonderful reviews which i really couldn't care less about but still. The book (as you can tell) is obviously about the BIG BANG!!!! dun dun dun (scary music plays). The big bang; a common topic in the "science world". (i created that world by myself if you must know). The big bang I PRESUME ( BIG WORD) had many different ideas on how it came to be. Well, I hope to read in THIS book what those different i deas are. I think the ook will contain probably everything about the Big Bang there is to know considering the book is FAT ( it probably could loose a couple pounds for my sake just so i don't have to read as much. but NO that would be too kind). I am beginning to ramble and my parental units are calling me so i must depart from this OH SO INTERESTING project and tend to their everlasting need haha.
OVER AND OUT ( i feel like a plane captain) hehe

Midpoint Entry

I am readin the book "Phineas Gage" the book is by John Fleischman. The book is about a man in 1848 who worked as a construction foreman. He became famouse for having had a thirteen-pound iron rod shot through is head, and making a hole right through is head but not killing him. Phineas Gage lived with the hole in his head for eleven years. Yet the accident change Phineas forever. He was no longer the Phineas that his friends, family and co-workers knew. The story teaches you what happened in Phineas's brain, what made him a diffrent man and how it all relates to where the rode hit and how the brain functions.

So far i have laerned what doctors in the 1800's knew about the brain and what they came up with. I have found out about the two groups of people and their ideas on how the brain functions. Both of the groups plan to use Phineas as a way to prove their point. He had becaome the talk of all the doctors. I have also been introduced to a few terms that are used for the brain as well as alot of its functions. It explains the brain alot.

I have chosen a quote from the book. I have chosen this specific quote because I think it shows how important our brain is in our life and how we don't even relize all that it does for us. Here is the quote it is from page 27, 2nd paragraph "The brain stem keeps many of our automatic functions going, like your breathing and heartbeat. The neck flap covers your cerebellum, which corrdinates movement. Without your cerebellum, you couldn't walk upright, touch your finger to your nose or turn this page. Without your brain stem, you couldn't breath. without your cerebral cortex, you couldn't be human.

Pre-Reading Entry

I am reading the book "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischiman. The book is suppose to be about a man in 1848 who worked as a construction foreman. He became famouse for having had a thirteen-pound iron rod shot through is head, and making a hole right through is head but not killing him. Phineas Gage lived with the hole in his head for eleven years. Yet the accident change Phineas forever. He was no longer the Phineas that his friends, family and co-workers knew. The story teaches you what happened in Phineas's brain, what made him a diffrent man and how it all relates to where the rode hit and how the brain functions.
I chose this book because i thought the story of Phineas was a very intresting one. I also would like to understand the brain alittle bit more and i want to understand why this guy didn't die, because i thought he would have. I expect to learn alot about the brain fuctions and alot about the case of Phineas Gage. I have very expectations that this book is going to be very intresting!

Pre-Reading: Great MythConceptions

Ever heard of procrastination? That's what I've been doing. Procrastinating. I've been putting this book off for way too long, so now I have to do it.
The book I chose to read is entitled Great MythConceptions-The Science Behind the Myths. It is by Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki and is filled with true short stories about different investigations that were made about great misconceptions. Some of thee misconceptions include a desk being cleaner than a toilet, lead not really being in a pencil, and the ratio of cat years to human years.
This book seems that it will be, at the very least, amusing. From flipping through the book, I can tell it will be pretty amusing to. I'm looking forward to reading it.

My 1st Blog Post

(Note: Image link broken, removed by moderator)

This is my first blog posting and my post is about the article "A Real World AIDS Vaccine?" from http://www.nytimes.com/. This article was written by Tina Rosenberg and published January 14, 2007.

Now we all know that an AIDS vaccine would be great, fantastic, and just jolly. No, we have not found a vaccine for AIDS and we may never. I don't think that this "tool" will relief us of the "Age of AIDS". The tool that is the subject of this article is circumcision. Apparently, tribes in Africa that practice circumcising men and boys had a lower AIDS rates as did Africa Muslim nations (who practice circumcision), while Christian settlements (who don't) had a higher rate. This tool has long been suspected by scientists, and their thoughts were confirmed. Basically, men are better protected from the AIDS infection when they are circumcised.

I think that this article was nicely written and that it got straight to the point, which I always admire when a writer does that. I would recommend this article to learn more on this particular topic. It is nice to hear of some relief, however small, on such a terrible infection.

Pre-Reading Entry: "Collapse"

"Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fall or Suceed", by Jared Diamond, the acclaimed author of "Guns, Germs and Steel", is, like his previous book, a book combining geology and history to reach conclusions, often ones that are rarely if ever considered, about the world we live in.

But, unlike "Guns, Germs and Steel", which focused on the rise of civilization (touching on evolution and using the principles which undermine it to analyze later developments in history), Collapse focuses on the fall of it. Because I find the reasons why empires fall, species become extinct and civilization disintegrates, I am very excited to read this book. I greatly enjoyed "Guns, Germs and Steel", and was impressed by its skillfull melding of science and history, and so anticipate pleasant similarities in "Collapse".

The first paragraph of the blurb of "Collapse" reads:

"What is more haunting than the specter of a civilization's collapse the abandoned temples of Angkor Wat, the Maya cities overgrown by jungle, or the somber vigil of Easter Island's statues? Who hasn't looked at such ruins and wondered, could the same thing happen to us?"

The book is 525 pages not counting index and bibliography, which I think is a good length for a book, especially one on so heavy a topic. On the cover of the edition I have there is a beautiful black and white photograph of the ruins of Mayan temples which I believe sets the tone of the book quite well.

I am very excited to read this book and look forward ti sharing my thoughts about it with everyone here.

(By the way, does anyone think it would be a good idea to label our posts with our username and whether the entry is a pre-, mid- or post-reading entry? I'm going to do so for now, but will delete them if our administrator thinks it neccesary.)

Blog Rules

To My Dear Students

I must now begin enforcing some of the rules we discussed in class regarding blog postings.

• From this point on, only legitimate, science-related postings will be accepted.
• All the fun postings from our first day have been archived to November 2006 to keep the clutter in one place. If you want to comment on someone's fun post go to the November archives.
• All entries must use the standard font and normal size and black text. An occasional colored word for emphasis can be used, but I will edit any abuse of color.
• Use proper spelling, punctuation, grammar. etc., to the best of your ability. Use the spell checker.
• Do not use chat room abbreviations (FCOL).
• DO NOT USE ALL CAPS! (It's not nice to shout.)
• Feel free to complain about these rules in the comment section below.

Pre-reading Entry

The book i am reading is the Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks.

The back of the book says "Oliver Sacks' The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat tells the stories of individuals afflicted with fantastic perceptual and intellectual aberrations: patients who have lost their memories and with them the greater part of their parts; who are no longer able to recognize people and common objects; who are stricken with violent tics and grimaces or who shout involuntary obscenities; whose limbs have become alien; who have been dismissed as retarded yet are gifted with uncanny artistic or mathematical talents."
I chose this book because from the title and the description the book looked like it was interesting. And i hope that it is interesting and that it isn't dull because then i will be disapointed....

Blog Problems

The problem some of you have had with posting are not your fault - it is a bug that "BLOGGER" is working now to fix:

UPDATE: This problem has been fixed. You should be able to post now. (1/5/07 )

• Blogger Status
  
  Friday, January 05, 2007
  
  New Blogger is currently experiencing issues with:
  
  --team blogs: non-admin team members are seeing errors when trying to post
  
  Thanks for your patience - we'll have these fixed asap.
  
  Posted by Eric at 09:21 PST

In the future you can check this site to see if the problem you are having is with the website:

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I Know What Book I'm Going To Read

So today I was looking at the sheet mr. gatton gave us and i was like hmmm I think I'm going to read the book that is only 86 pages! haha! But yes it looks very interesting too! It's about like some guy who got a metal bar in his head but lived like 11 years after or something. I hear its pretty grusome though. EEKKKK! haha! Well at least I have a book! YAY! See you guys tomorrow!

Pre-Reading Heading [Stiff]

Okay so i am reading a book called "Stiff" by Mary Roach. This book is an distrubing but often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies examination. For thousand years, cadavers have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertaking. In this fascinating book, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries and tells the exciting story of our bodies when we are no longer with them. I chose this because it looked interesting when i skimmed through it. Kristina wanted this book too but i got it before her.....(Sorry Kristina...luv u!).....anyway i always wanted to learn about dead bodies. Most importantly what happens to our bodies when our spirit leaves it. By reading this book i wish to learn more about dead bodies and what interest do these researchers and scientists have in dead bodies. I expect some parts to be boring and some to be interesting. So far at chapter 3 the book is moving along fine.

Origins of Humans

Field Guide to Human Origins
I expected a little more story oriented, but aside from that the first chapter seemed fine, (Although apparently the author seems to think he's hilarious.) a lot of information, good facts, and I expect to get a good view of the Human of evolution from this book.

truly nobody's, Devil's Advocate

CrazyCatlady's Blogger project info

Hi everyone! I am starting my project on this wonderful day of January 3rd 2007! I am reading Great Myth- Conceptions a book by DR. Karl Kruszelnicki. I am planning on writing 10 entrys on the book's articles. And afterlooking the choices I have to read, I am thinking of these: Did Albert Einstein flunk school?, Do so called truth serums really work?, and many others. Interested? Well you can always read my blog entries and feel welcome to comment. See ya later!

CCL7

I have my book!

Ok. So this book I found. It's called "Honey, Mud, Maggots, and Other Medical Marvels"
-The Science Behind Folk Remedies and Old Wives' Tales.
The book is by Robert and Miche(accent mark)le Root-Bernstein.
This book is basically about old cures and medicines that may seem crazy and/or gross to us now and back then. But they might have been proven to work.
I thought that this book would be really interesting. I mean come on, maggots?!? As a cure?!?
Well, anyways, thanks for reading my post. And comment back! If you want to of course...
Kalina

Revised Assignment

Check the original post outlining the reading blog assignment and make a note of the changes - book length has been reduced to 50-100 pages, number of articles reduced to 10.

Written component remains unchanged. If you already started a much larger book and wish to continue you will be awarded extra credit proportional to the number of pages - every 100 pages = an extra credit if additional blog entries are posted.