Monday, March 1, 2010

The wolf in sheep's clothing

A Wolf found great difficulty in getting at the sheep owing to the vigilance of the shepherd and his dogs. But one day it found the skin of a sheep that had been flayed and thrown aside, so it put it on over its own pelt and strolled down among the sheep. The Lamb that belonged to the sheep, whose skin the Wolf was wearing, began to follow the Wolf in the Sheep's clothing; so, leading the Lamb a little apart, he soon made a meal off her, and for some time he succeeded in deceiving the sheep, and enjoying hearty meals.
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The moral for this story is that nothing is as it seems and you should be careful of people and things. Things or people that can seem harmless can actually be more dangerous than they seem.

The fox and the goat- literature

By an unlucky chance a Fox fell into a deep well from which he could not get out. A Goat passed by shortly afterwards, and asked the Fox what he was doing down there. "Oh, have you not heard?" said the Fox; "there is going to be a great drought, so I jumped down here in order to be sure to have water by me. Why don't you come down too?" The Goat thought well of this advice, and jumped down into the well. But the Fox immediately jumped on her back, and by putting his foot on her long horns managed to jump up to the edge of the well. "Good-bye, friend," said the Fox, "remember next time...
The moral of this story is to be wary and careful of what you hear and what you do. The goat listened to the fox and instead got doublecrossed. Also, the goat jumped in too quickly without thinking.

The crow and the pitcher

A Crow, half-dead with thirst, came upon a Pitcher which had once been full of water; but when the Crow put its beak into the mouth of the Pitcher he found that only very little water was left in it, and that he could not reach far enough down to get at it. He tried, and he tried, but at last had to give up in despair. Then a thought came to him, and he took a pebble and dropped it into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped it into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the Pitcher. At last, at last, he saw the water mount up near him, and after casting in a few more pebbles he was able to quench his thirst and save his life.

The moral for this fable is perseverance and determination. That you should never give up. The crow never gave up and never lost courage and kept on putting pebbles in the pitcher until it reached him. He didn't give up like most people but kept at it and it saved his life.

The fisher and the little fish- literature


It happened that a Fisher, after fishing all day, caught only a little fish. "Pray, let me go, master," said the Fish. "I am much too small for your eating just now. If you put me back into the river I shall soon grow, then you can make a fine meal off me."

"Nay, nay, my little Fish," said the Fisher, "I have you now. I may not catch you hereafter."

The moral of this story is that it is better to have something little than to want something big and not have it. So it means that be happy with what you have. THe fisherman thought that he is lucky to have caught a fish (even if it was small) and if he let the fish go he would have nothing and won''t even catch a fish. Something is better than nothing.

The four oxen and the lion- Literature



A Lion used to prowl about a field in which Four Oxen used to dwell. Many a time he tried to attack them; but whenever he came near they turned their tails to one another, so that whichever way he approached them he was met by the horns of one of them. At last, however, they fell a-quarrelling among themselves, and each went off to pasture alone in a separate corner of the field. Then the Lion attacked them one by one and soon made an end of all four.

The entire moral of this fable is that you should stick together and you get nothing accomplished alone. It is like the quote" united we stand divided we fall." United the four oxen survived at fended off the lion. When they fought and ended apart they couldn't do it alone and in the end they all fell and died. It is just like those lego blocks, when you build them up like a tower they stand but as soon as a part comes apart and divides, everything comes tumbling down.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Ask a Geneticist- Science

Click here to view a larger image of human chromosomes I learned a lot when I visited these sites. First, I learned that genetic diversity is very important for survival and that is one of the reasons we don't have just one long strand of a chromosome. like if a deadly plague hit the people with the right set of genes would live. I also learned that apes have 48 chromosomes close to our 46.
However, most importantly i discovered that different chromosomes contain different genes and that chromosomes vary differently.The largest chromosome is chromosome 1. Scientists fluorescent dyes to help make them distinct. Then the chromosomes can be photographed and arranged on a chart called a karyotype . It can help doctors diagnose diseases. For example, people with autism have to many chromosomes. I also learned that chromosomes can break off and fuse together over years and they are changing!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Monday, January 11, 2010

Wooden Bowls- lit


This story is all about how you shuld treat the elderly with care because you will get old someday and you don't want your children to treat you that way. It is about empathy. Imagine yourself in granpa's shoes. It's not his fault he is old, it's life. However, the parents failed to see that and the boy finally knocked them into their senses when he was trying to make a woden bowl for his parents to eat out of when he got older.Just like his parents were treating grandpa. This taught me to be kind and empahtetic to people. Also, treat your parents right when they grow old.



http://www.inspirationpeak.com/cgi-bin/stories.cgi?record=147


Monday, December 28, 2009

Heredity $ Traits- Genetics

I found some really interesting things about traits and heredity when visited the University of Utah's learning center. I learned a lot about traits however before I start saying what I learned I should actually say what a trait is! A trait is something a behavioral thing, physical thing or medical condition condition passed on to you from your parents Ex. your hair color or eye color or sickle cell disease . Our traits are determined by the set of genetic information we get from our parents allele. If you get two of the same allele you have the same trait as the two allele. If the allele's you get are different the more dominant one is the trait you get.Not all traits are inherited this simply and can't be tracked this easily. Incomplete dominance is when alleles work together and one allele for a trait is not completely dominant over the other allele. Such as crossing the red and white carnation can cause a pink carnation. Something really surprising that I learned is that all humans share 99.9 percent identical DNA!!!!!
Heredity is the passing of traits from parents to children. It is how siblings look like each other and parents look like their children . I look more like my dad and everyone always says I look like my sister but I don't see any resemblance. Parents have two sets of chromosomes . Each parent gives one set to their child. Which passes the parents genes to their children and from the children to grandchildren. That is how some traits get passed on from generation to generation!
Click here to try the tour.Search site you never know if you'll learn something new!!!





Thursday, December 3, 2009

Are you a "Morning person" or a "Night Owl"?- science current events

Are you a morning person or a " Night Owl"? I have always been a night owl. I hate to wake up in the morning. Neuroscientist in the faculty of physical education and Recreation looked at two types of people the people who get up and are most productive in the morning and people who are most productive at night.They tested the two types of people by first giving them a questionnaire about their habits. Then, they used a magnetic brain simulation that tested thier muscle torque and excitability of pathways through the spinal cord and brains. people where the complete opposite. They where most active during 9 pm. This is the complete description of me. They also found evening people became stronger during the day and morning people's strenght remained the same throughout the day.
Wow! I think the information they found from the research is true. I feel much more productive at night than in the morning. Also, This really describes me. I do feel much more awake and strong during the day and I hate to sleep early. I wonder why we either turn out to be a night owl or Morning person? I'll just have to wait.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090623150621.htm

The mysterious Wonder of Owl Pellets

You never know what you can find in an Owl pellet. A small shrew to even a large bird! Since owl don't have teeth they swallow their prey hole. The prey is broken apart by chemicals in thier two stomachs. Then the stomachs separates the bone and fur from the other parts of the prey. I bet your wondering ,what happens to the fur and bones? Well it gets packed together and instead of going down, the owl pellet goes up right through the mouth. Which forms what we call an Owl Pellet!! When we started doing the Owl pellet Lab in class I really didn't like it. However, by the end I was really into it.( Even if it is a bit gross.) It was really hands on and enjoyable. We got to classify the bones in the owl pellet and find out what excactly was in our Owl pellet. My group had a rodent. Three in fact!! There was a lot of bones. I have learned lot's of information about owl pellet and now I actually know what an Owl pellet is!!
I found some intresting things about owl pellets in these sites!

http://www.cairngormwildlife.co.uk/bogwig/surveys/owl_pellet_survey.htm

I never knew they actually surveyed owl pellets in an area!THey use it to find how many of each species live in area.

http://www.nilesbio.com/cat452.html

This is an in depth article that talks about Owl pellets and what you might find in one. Like a bird band!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Japan eyes solar station in space- current events Science

Global warming and energy shortage may soon be solved!!!This might sound crazy but by 2030 we might be collecting solar power from space. Japans space agency wants to collect power from space and zap it down to earth using eaither microwaves or lasers. This might reduce the cost of electricity in Japan to eight yen (cents) per kilowatt-hour, 6 times the current cost in Japan.This will sure help lower the electricity bill in my house. One of the project participants at Mitsubishi heavy industries wrote in a report "Since solar power is a clean inexhaustible energy source, we believe that this system will be able to solve the problems of energy shortage and global warming." So not only does the price of electricity decrease this may solve the problems of energy shortage and global warming. I sure hope this works out. So that maybe in the future, cars and other stuff could be powered by this source of energy. I am kind of alarmed at the words 'laser' and 'microwave' along with 1,000 people questioned. However, this will be a huge leap in science and will affect everyone. The challenges are numerous but eventually I really think this could come true.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Summer Reading Question- Literature

I imagine the author of my summer reading book Death Be Not Proud, to be a very serious person who is highly intelligent. Also, I imagine the author to be hardworking and a bit of a workaholic. Lastly, since he wrote the book Death Be Not proud, which was based on his sons fight with cancer , I think he was a loving father who really grieved his sons unfortunate death and never gives up.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Bullying (Man's in humanity to Man)- Literature

Our society and our school community can't stop bullying because they would have to stop people from retaliating, getting jealous, having hatred, being insecure and a lot more physiological issues with people who bully others. For example, in the book Lord of The Flies , Jack bullies Piggy because he is envious of Piggy. Piggy is closer to the leader (Ralph) than Jack is, piggy is also intelligent and most of Piggy's ideas make sense. In order for Jack to stop bullying Piggy. Piggy would have to stop being who he is. Meaning that Piggy would have to stop being intelligent and would not be a friend of Ralph.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Welcome scientist

Text Color1. My favorite subject is Literature, because I like reading novels.
2. The best book I ever read was Artemis Fowl.
3. My favorite food to eat in the cafeteria is pizza.
4. In the weekend when all my chores are done, I like to watch tv and play outside.
5. If I won a free airline ticket to any place I wanted, I would go to Paris because they speak french there, have great food and I have never been there before.
6. My favorite color is Blue.
7. If I had a pet, it would be a Guinea pig because they are cute and small and I'd name it Bluemist.
8. This year, if I work hard enough I hope to be on the basketball team.