Computer Lab

Today in Computer Lab we looked at career choices. First we answered a series of questions related to our monthy life style. That was used to determine the annual salary we would need to fund our ideal way of living. We then tried to find a career choice with that salary or a larger one. I am not quite sure what job I want as an adult, but I chose chemist, and was able to keep my ideal lifestyle. Then we anwered 180 questions on a different website. When we were done, we saw career choices fitted to our likes and dislikes. There were other websites as well, some of which dealt with hospital jobs, and others with the show business. Over all, this week's lab helped me decide on a businessman, lawyer, chemist/chemistry teacher, or astrologist.

Science Lab

Today in Science Lab we measured how much pollution bears could withstand before going extinct. For each combination of bears and pollutants, we measured five generations. To measure, we put plastic bears in a bucket. The red bears were healthy bears, and the blue bears were pollutants. If we drew two healthy bears, they survived, and had a baby bear added into the next generation. If we drew a bear and a pollutant, the bear died, and the pollutant went back into the bucket. If we drew two pollutants, the amount of pollution in the enviroment increased and the next generation had one more pollutant. Each generation we drew pairs until the bucket was empty. First, with ten bears and two pollutants, the number of bears increased. Then, with ten bears and three pollutants, and ten bears and four pollutants, the number stayed the same. Finally, with ten bears and five pollutants, the bear population miraculously started going up! Our science teacher, Mrs. Martinez, said that that was very unusual, and most times the bears went extinct in the final round.

UCLA

I think it is cool that UCLA has its own radio.

The food is really good looking, and I can't believe how many books there are.

Our trip sounds really exciting and I can't wait to see all of this (and more) in person!

Science Lab

Today I am going to blog about Room 14's experience in the Manchester Science Lab. We read a excerpt from an article about how much we use plastic, and how it is affecting us. We also found out about a recent test on the affect of plastic. A group of people with the same blood type was divided in half, and fed three meals for a week. The only difference was that Group A received soup from a can, and Group B received  homemade soup. At the end of the week, Group A had 1000% more plastic in their blood. That thousand percent was only from the plastic lining inside the container, because everything else in the groups was the same. We also looked at a cartoon of a typical kitchen. We had one minute to circle everything containing plastic inside it. In the end, the only things not containing plastic was the doorknob and the glass windows, both of which were 99.99999999999999999% packaged and/or shipped in plastic. The big deal about plastic is that it's bad for us. The estimate of children born autistic is now 1 of of 35. In America!!! (If you don't  know what autism is follow this link: Autism: A Scientific Explanation. In other words, autistic people react negatively to most simulation of the senses (especially sound or touch). Autistic people do not like physical contact with other humans and react dramatically. Many are attentive to details and can be set of easily. For more information, decrypt the article yourself) The last thing we did was list everything we came into contact with, from waking up to falling asleep, that had plastic on an average day. We had five minutes. I only got to the beginning of the school day. I listed 35 items which didn't even cover everything. It would have taken me forever just to list everything in my room! Even though it has many drawbacks, plastic is good in some cases, such as hospitals and rubber tires where it has made many advances possible. I will now name 6,000,000,000 unique substances that all contain plastic in what will take the average person less that ten seconds to read, unless they are deliberately trying to prove me wrong: Everyone in the world. Done. Sort of freaks you out, doesn't it?

WARNING: THIS IS AN EXTREMELY BIASED POST. I HAVE NEITHER THE TIME, PATIENCE OR KNOWLEDGE TO LIST MORE BENEFITS OF PLASTIC.

Science Lab

Today I have decided to blog about Science Lab instead of Computer Lab; I hope this is OK. In Science Lab, we had to wash motor oil off of a turkey feather without destroying it. My group chose pet shampoo, corn starch, and baby powder. Pet shampoo worked perfect, acing the smell, feel, and sight test. Cornstarch passed the sight test, but the feather still smelt and felt like oil. Baby powder crusted on the feather, and, in removing it, one of my partners separated the tiny furs hooked together on the feather, which would have killed a real bird. In all, pet shampoo works to clean a bird, but cornstarch and baby powder do not.