Title: NASA preps for '7 minutes of terror' on Mars
Author: Kate Tobin
Source: CNN.com
Date: 5/23/08
Link: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/05/23/mars.lander/index.html
Summary: NASA is prepping for the landing of the Mars Pheonix Lander on Mars, which, if everything goes right, will land on Sunday. It was launched last August. Seven minutes is all it takes for the spacecraft, travelling nearly 13 thousand miles per hour to hit the Martian atmosphere, slam on the brakes, and reach the ground. During that time, onboard computers will hopefully work to do things like deply the parachute, extend it's three legs, activates the heat sheild, and turs on its thrusters for a nice landing.
Reaction: I find this really exciting. I didn't even know they launched this thing so this i the first time I've heard about it. It is just amazing to me that technology has come this far. This machine was able to fly through space by itself and then if everything goes right it will be able to do all of the elaborate things to land safely on Mars by itself. The NASA guys say this device will provide the next big step to finding out whether or not there was, or is, life there, or if there is able to be life.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Vocab
Interminable
interminable - incapable of being terminated
Indiana Jones is intemrinable. No matter how far in over his head he gets, he always comes out alive. I really hope number 4 doesn't suck tonight.
Tranquility
tranquility - calmness; peacefulness; quiet; serenity
When we visited this place called the Golden Pavilion in Japan I thought it was the most tranquil place I have ever been to. We visited it when the sun was setting which made it even more traquil.
Tortuous
tortuous - full of twists, turns, or bends
The Viper rollercoaster at Six Flags is tortuous. It's full of hills and loops.
Senescent
senescent - growing old
Harrison Ford is like 65 now but despite his senescence, he did Indiana Jones 4, which I am seeing tonight and I really hope it doesn't suck :) .
Proximity
proximity - nearness in place, time, order, occurrence, or relation
I am so glad there is a Panda Express within th proximity of my house. I can walk there when ever I want!
Laboriously
laborious - requiring much work, exertion, or perseverance
It is laborious to be able to skate like Willy Santos.
Intuit
intuit - to know or receive by intuition
Ross Roemer greatly intuits history. He lways knows the facts and spots the fallacies.
Reticence
reticence - reserved
Old people usually have reticence, not in a bad way though. It's more of a relaxed, mature thing.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Education/Technology Article thing
I agree with the article. All that spendin is unecessary, especially when it's on something as useless as textbooks. I remember when I was at a public school the teacher would tell us to read a number of certain pages and respond to questions out of a textbook and I immediately felt un-motivated (is that a word?). It isn't a good way to teach for that reason (many kids jsut won't want to do it) and it is just a regerigation of history in a very boring way so it is no wonder I remember pretty much nothing from textbooks. Application is key. That's why I like this school and feel like I've learned more. To get a good education, schools need to be like ours. Through projects we get to really see the application of a certain concept and this way we will truly understand it. Also, instead of textbooks being the teacher, the teacher needs to be the teacher. It's much more personal at HTHI and the teachers are always willing to help you understand something you can't quite grasp. Working home alone with a textbook won't do that. I think that's the only preference I have. I think it's the only necessary one for a good education. As for technology, I don't think it is a necessity. It makesthings a lot more easier but there are other ways to learn. Still though, in this day in age, it is probably better to utilize technology in our education system because it is ever-present in today's world and the kids will probably need to know how to work with it.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Book Report - Jurassic Park
Crichton, Michael. Jurassic Park. New York, NY. Ballantine Books: 1991.
I chose this book because I just fund out my mom had it and I wanted to read it. Movies that are based on books are usually always different. This is a sci-fi book.
Instead of just recapping briefly on the main idea of the plot, I'll describe the parts in the book that are not in the movie, just so I don't have to describe the movie every one has seen too many times. The book starts out in Costa Rica and Isla Numblar (an island of the Costa Rican coast) and there are numerous incidents with people presumably getting attacked by dinosaurs. One of the scenes is actually one that was put into the second Jurassic Park movie, where there is a family on a beach and their daughter wanders off to get attacked. Also unlike the movie, there is an intense river scene that involves Dr. Alan Grant and the two kids, Tim and Lex, use an inflatable raft to go down a river in Jurassic Park and pass through an aviary with pterodactyls and later go over a waterfall where they have to escape from the T-rex again. Hammond (the founder of the park and the company InGEN) breaks his leg and is eaten by little dinosaurs called compys. At the end, the Costa Rican Air Force picks up the survivors and then bombs the island. They tell the survivors Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum's character in the movie) died from his injuries caused by the T-rex earlier in the story. (In the movie he lives and is in the second one). The survivors are then taken away by the Costa Rican and U.S. governments.
I chose the funniest character of the story, Dennis Nedry. Seeing the movie before reading the book already put a picture in my mind of what he looks like, which is fat and goofy. He has somewhat of a loser status and seems immature at times but the he is a diabolical genius. He breaks in to the park's DNA bank and steals one of each of the specimens in the park to give them to a guy whow will pay him great money. Unfortuantely, when trying to deliver the package the storm gets takes its toll on his jeep and he gets stuck. While trying to fix this problem, he runs into that pesky acid spitting dinosaur and gets eaten. The novel even mentions how Dennis, while blinded and paralyzed by the goop that was spat upon him, could feel the warmth of his intestines that he was holding in his hands due the fact that he was sliced open by that same dinosaur. Poor Dennis.
I liked the novel better than the movie. It went into greater depth about how they made the dinosaurs and how the park worked and just made everything more realistic. It also added in more action sequences which is always a plus.
Michael Crichton wrote other science fiction books that apparently were good, like the Andromeda Strain. I definitely will read one of them sometime. I am also might read The Lost World, which is the sequel to Jurassic Park because I am sue it will be very different from the crappy movie, like this book was, except the first Jurassic Park movie was actually pretty good but the book was still cooler.
I chose this book because I just fund out my mom had it and I wanted to read it. Movies that are based on books are usually always different. This is a sci-fi book.
Instead of just recapping briefly on the main idea of the plot, I'll describe the parts in the book that are not in the movie, just so I don't have to describe the movie every one has seen too many times. The book starts out in Costa Rica and Isla Numblar (an island of the Costa Rican coast) and there are numerous incidents with people presumably getting attacked by dinosaurs. One of the scenes is actually one that was put into the second Jurassic Park movie, where there is a family on a beach and their daughter wanders off to get attacked. Also unlike the movie, there is an intense river scene that involves Dr. Alan Grant and the two kids, Tim and Lex, use an inflatable raft to go down a river in Jurassic Park and pass through an aviary with pterodactyls and later go over a waterfall where they have to escape from the T-rex again. Hammond (the founder of the park and the company InGEN) breaks his leg and is eaten by little dinosaurs called compys. At the end, the Costa Rican Air Force picks up the survivors and then bombs the island. They tell the survivors Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum's character in the movie) died from his injuries caused by the T-rex earlier in the story. (In the movie he lives and is in the second one). The survivors are then taken away by the Costa Rican and U.S. governments.
I chose the funniest character of the story, Dennis Nedry. Seeing the movie before reading the book already put a picture in my mind of what he looks like, which is fat and goofy. He has somewhat of a loser status and seems immature at times but the he is a diabolical genius. He breaks in to the park's DNA bank and steals one of each of the specimens in the park to give them to a guy whow will pay him great money. Unfortuantely, when trying to deliver the package the storm gets takes its toll on his jeep and he gets stuck. While trying to fix this problem, he runs into that pesky acid spitting dinosaur and gets eaten. The novel even mentions how Dennis, while blinded and paralyzed by the goop that was spat upon him, could feel the warmth of his intestines that he was holding in his hands due the fact that he was sliced open by that same dinosaur. Poor Dennis.
I liked the novel better than the movie. It went into greater depth about how they made the dinosaurs and how the park worked and just made everything more realistic. It also added in more action sequences which is always a plus.
Michael Crichton wrote other science fiction books that apparently were good, like the Andromeda Strain. I definitely will read one of them sometime. I am also might read The Lost World, which is the sequel to Jurassic Park because I am sue it will be very different from the crappy movie, like this book was, except the first Jurassic Park movie was actually pretty good but the book was still cooler.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Current Event
Title: Fresh shocks hits China's earthquake zone
Source: CNN.com
Date: 5/16/2007
Summary: An aftershock hit parts of China already devastated by an earthquake, causing landslides, blockng roads, knocking out phone lines, and burying vehicles. It was a 5.5 magnitude earthquake. Death tolls are at 22,069, with 14,000 still buried, 159,000 injured and 4.8 million homeless.
Reaction: It is so hard to believe an earthquake could do so much. This article is the first I have even heard of the first earthquake let alone the powerful aftershocks. I have never really thought much of earthquakes and then hearing that this ridiculously tragic amount of people have died, gotten buried, inured, or lost their homes is just unbelievable.
Source: CNN.com
Date: 5/16/2007
Summary: An aftershock hit parts of China already devastated by an earthquake, causing landslides, blockng roads, knocking out phone lines, and burying vehicles. It was a 5.5 magnitude earthquake. Death tolls are at 22,069, with 14,000 still buried, 159,000 injured and 4.8 million homeless.
Reaction: It is so hard to believe an earthquake could do so much. This article is the first I have even heard of the first earthquake let alone the powerful aftershocks. I have never really thought much of earthquakes and then hearing that this ridiculously tragic amount of people have died, gotten buried, inured, or lost their homes is just unbelievable.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Non-Profit Stuff
Name: Splash
Logo:
Splash is an environmental organization that seeks to raise awareness of the environmental impact of car washing and to promote alternate methods that leave smaller ecological footprints.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Vocab!
This is a picture of a just married couple. Amorous - they are showing that they love each other first of all by getting married and then doing things like sharing a dance. Awkward - it was probably a little awkward on there first date until they started to warm up to each other and decide to go on a second date. Consummate - after the recpetion, the odds are these two are going to consummate their marriage. Ecstasy - they just got married and are low dancing with each other. Unless they were forced to get married by their families, they're probably really happy right about now. Enamored - The bride probably captivated her groom when she walked up the aisle in her white dress. I am SO CHEESY. Aroma - I kind of cheated on this one, but the groom is probably wearing cologne and the bride is most likely wearing perfume. They had to smell nice for the wedding, right? Infatuation - Near the beginning of their relationship the feelings they had were probably just an infatuation until it blossomed into love and they got married.
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