OIL RUSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today, Ms Nietzki conducted an activity relating to oil companys around the world. At the bottom of the ocean, is our major source of energy- crude petroleum oil. As you know, petroleum is converted into good'ol gasoline(coming to a gar tank near you), plastics(another essencial thing), and ointments(Find it in the closest medicine counter near you). Her directions were: first, take the three given maps, and trace them on the same sheet of paper. Second, we were split up into teams and third, used the map to find the oil using the grid map and the "Oil rig" to find the "oil". We then had to calculate how much money we spent and how many percent of the "oil" we got out of the hole. Did you know that the word Petroleum literally means rock oil? Well, it's true, as is the fact that most of the objects we have are actually made from petroleum. You can find a complete list of petroleum products at the following site:

http://www.beloit.edu/~SEPM/Geology_and_the_enviro/Petroleum_need.html

Ye Olde Water Cycle

Last Thursday, before Omega left for the End-of-the-year Field trip to Frog Bridge Day Camp, Mrs. Rousseau had us do an activity showing how much the humans affect the water cycle. It went like this: before the humans, water from the aquafers, oceans, streams and rivers, and reservoirs evaporated into clouds, which then released the water back in to the above systems. But, when the Industry and Agriculture, most of the water got polluted with pesticides and waste from the factories. The animals would drink the polluted water from the rivers and streams, and in turn, get poisoned. The aquatic creatures also get harmed. The pollution would gum up the fishes gills, and in turn, the fish will suffocate. The pesticides will not only harm animals relying on the streams and rivers to survive, but it also over stimulates algea growth, which blocks the sunlight from getting to the bottom of the insert body of water here , and then fish and other aquatic creatures will die. I got this information from the following site:

http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/society/waterpollution.htm

To the Thawing Wind: by Robert Frost

The Poem To the Thawing Wind By Robert Frost relates to weather in many ways. The first line states a type of precipitation; Come with rain. O loud Southwester! Rain, in many ways is revered by many ancient communities, and this type of precipitation is often both helpful and harmful. Without the precipitating word, the poem doesn't lose its meaning. After all, the poem only mentions weather once. The poet's knowledge about weather, as I said, does not enhance the poem in any way. You could replace rain with the stream, and the poem would still make sense, so weather does not, has not, and will not (maybe it will, if Frost is still alive) enhance the poem.
Robert Frost has a sense of rhythm, as do most other poets. In this specific poem, Frost used a common literary technique used in many other poems. The last words of each line rhymed. The last words of the first two lines rhymed, as did the last words of the next two. The pattern was: A
A
B
B
C
C... and so on. Since this poem only mentions weather once, to emphasize the first line, I personally did not find my knowledge of weather furthered.

Light-up Rug That lights up each step!!!

It's 11:00 pm, and you just came home from a long night out. You have to go up stairs, brush your teeth, change into your pjs, and climb into bed without waking your children. Well you don't have to worry because now there is the light up rug, which will light up with each step you take. The light that the rug emits is very soft, and it will light up in response to your weight. Other light-up paraphenilia, use photoluminescence, for glow-in-the-dark toys, and chemoluminescence, which involves light producing chemical reactions, like light sticks. The light-up rung, however, uses an electric field to generate light. To read more about this light generating rung, go to http://www.livescience.com/technology/080325-rug-lights.html.

El Nino class response

Do you remember Hurricane Katrina? Well it was caused by a weather patter called El Nino, which occurs once every three to seven years. Usually, easterly tradewinds blew warm waters toward Indonesia and Austrailia. But, when the tradewinds stop blowing, the warm water floods Peru and the West coast, and Indonesia and Austrailia get droughts. This is called El Nino. this effects the fishing industry because the fish follows the cooler water because the cold water has more nutrients. Also, we learned that density plays a big role in weather patterns. Because cold water is denser than hot water, cold water stays at the bottom of the ocean.

Social studies assignment: technology advancements

The computers, to say the least, has the greatest impact on society because of what it started out as. It used to be a typewriter. But, if you made a mistake, you had to start all over again. Soon, there were typewriters that would white-out one letter at a time. But, then the typewriters gave way to computers, which lets you see what you write before you print and you can correct it with out wasting paper. Now, not only does computers have word processing, it also has spreadsheets, slideshows, video cameras, music players, video players, CD makers, and of course, the Internet. Then, computers were almost obsolete. Now, almost every household has one.

A moth like substance in space???

Run Away! A giant moth with a 22 billion mile wingspan is in space and is heading for Earth! Tricked You!!! Actually, the moth shaped figure really does have a 22 billion mile wingspan, but, the figure is not a living thing. In reality, it is a giant mound of floating dust surronding a young star, with the photo courtesy of the Hubble Space Telescope. The mound of dust is called a dust disk. Typically, dust disks are flat pancake like structures where planets can form. Of course, the star it surrounds is 100 light years away. The star is called HD 61005. No one actually knows if there are any planets forming, much less if the conditions are right. No one, not even the astronomers, knows whether or not the shape of the dust disk will make a difference with making a planet. You can read the full article at http://www.livescience.com/space/scienceastronomy/080110-moth-dust.html