Last Blog for the Year

I can honestly say that Chemistry was so much easier than I expected.  But that is because my teacher always knew how to keep the class interesting and fun.  I always loved walking in to Chem because I just knew that we would have an entertaining class.  One of the things that worked well was tearing the lessons into songs to help us remember the things we learned for the test.  I also liked using the clickers because after we finished the test or quiz we would get to see our grades.  It was also helpful to know what we needed to review more by using the clickers.  Something that I also like was reading the Avid articles and then writing the response afterwards.  Although I would have liked to read more articles that were related more to Chemistry.  If I could recommend one thing I would say to tell more chemistry jokes.  And now since I can't think of anything else to say I'll say a couple jokes. What do you say when Mr. Meyers the wonder chemistry teacher finds to isotopes of helium? HeHe.  Okay I think I'm done because because all the good  chemistry jokes Argon. Well BAZINGA!!!! Now I'm done. (When in doubt add something from the Big Bang Theory).

Ahhhh its almost FINALS! But here's a study plan :)

From now until finals I will have a study plan for all my classes so that I can pass my finals with a good grade.  Every day before school I will go to my math teacher to meet with my old math teacher so that I can review with him before I have my Geometry final.  During my block 5 opens I will go to the library or go outside if it is nice out and study for Chemistry, and for my block 7 opens I will study for History and English.  Then when I get home I will study for Italian for about 30 minutes each night.  At home I will study Geometry Mondays and Wednesdays for 45 minutes.  Then on Tuesdays I will study Chemistry for 45 minutes.  And on Thursdays I will study History and on Fridays I will study English for 45 minutes.  On  June 2nd I will get together with a study group at one of my friends house and study Geometry.  Then on June 9th I will get together in a study group and study Chemistry.  The things that I will use to study will be quizlet and old review sheets to study for each of my classes.  I will also use test that we took in this semester to study from and take them over again and see how much I can remember and then study the things that I got wrong.  With this plan I have every confidence that I will pass each of my finals.

Onward Online Privacy

There are a lot of people that go online and can easily access information online of others because of the lack of privacy that is online.  So the White House proposed a new bill of rights called "The Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights" which will ensure privacy online, calling on Web companies to minimize their collection of personal data, and help users make better choices on how they reveal their information.  This bill will also make sure that major Web companies will give all internet users a "do not track" button so that the users can block some advertisers from following their movements online.  Even though this could prevent the user from seeing the ads on the websites but I think that it a small price to pay so that you can avoid being tracked.  I feel that this law needs to be passed because I hate getting spam mail and get calls on my cell phone to take a survey.  Also this will give the user peace in mind of not having to worry if they put their email or number online for a social media network or for buying something online.  This law needs to be passed immediately so that we can have better privacy while being online.  It also needs to be run really efficiently to make sure that no one can hack the system and get people's information.  But if that does happen then they should be penalized with consquences because it is wrong to invade other peoples privacy.

Global Warming

In the US there is so much pollution in the air that is caused by the everyday things that we do.  For example one common pollution is driving cars, our cars release a lot of CO2.  In fact they release about 30 percent of carbon dioxide into the earth's air.  But the total of carbon dioxide in our environment is 40 percent, which is the primary heat trapping gas.  Also with the constant changes in the temperature it can cause enormous implications for our health and welfare.  The US Global Change Research Program said that we are more likely to have stronger coastal storm surges and more frequent extreme rainfall event.  There will also be an increase in the flooding, an increase in droughts and more wildfires in some regions.  If we want to prevent this then we need to act together to reduce heat trapping gas emissions by using energy more efficiently.  One way to do this is instead of driving everywhere we can walk to places that are close.  We can also carpool with people to school that live on the same street that we do.  By driving less we can reduce the percent of carbon dioxide in the air.  
There are many agencies out there that are making changes now to help save the planet.  One of them is the Environmental Protection Agency, they are taking action under the Clean Air Act.  This act is to help protect Americans from the harms posed by air pollution. Another agency that is promoting the Clean Air Act is the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency.  Their mission statement is "We work together to clean the air we breathe and protect our climate through education, incentives, and enforcement."  They also suggest that people should make cleaner choices by taking the bus and train more, change fireplaces to natural gases or propane, replace the old uncertified wood stoves, use electric yard equipment and also use fuel efficient cars that is better for the planet.   








Other Sources Used:
http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=10771
http://www1.pscleanair.org/

Journal #17

In my opinion I agree with the claim that we do stereotype Asian-Americans. Jeremy Lin lays basketball in the NBA. But before that he went into Harvard with a GPA of 4.2 in high school and a perfect SAT score in math. And he was discriminated against by the other team; they would ask him if he was missing orchestra practice or telling him to open his eyes. Lin isn't the only one who wants to overcome the stereotype over Asian-Americans; those applying to the Ivy leagues are also having trouble. At Princeton they wanted Asian Americans need SAT scores 140 points higher than white students. It isn't fair that they need to score higher just because of their heritage. 
It is wrong that colleges discriminate against Asian Americans; to prove this I would conduct study.  I would find the percentages of how many Asian Americans and whites are accepted into the top ivy leagues and also state colleges.  Then I would also see if some require higher SAT scores or a higher GPA just to be accepted into their school based on race.  Once I have conducted this information, I would talk to people on admissions boards to see how they determine who gets into their schools.  Then once I have everything I need I would put it into an article to prove the discrimination that goes on in colleges.

Journal #16

The reason that people think it's a good idea to convert to natural gas is because it's cheap and clean.  But if you really think about it, natural gas can be risky and isn't the best investment at this moment.  Even though it s it is really fast and cheap to build a power plants it has its downfalls.  For one thing it can wreak a massive local environmental destruction and can undermine energy efficiency and renewable energy.  Also the gas system is estimated to leak from a range of 1.5 percent to as high as 8 percent, it isn't really known yet.  There are 5 rules that have to be followed in order to develop a natural gas system.  The first rule is that there can't be any leaks and it has to be certain.  So already we can't use it since we still aren't for sure of how much leaking is going on.  The second rule is use gas to replace old coal and make htis an explicit condition.  Then the final 3 rules have to with the environment.  Rule 3 is that you have to make sure the are strong standards for wells.  Rule 4 is to make sure that there are no toxics to poison the land.  These two rules are very important because you want to make sure that it is a good enviorment for not only the plant but also for the socitey.  The final rule is something that you need to get right, you can't allow leaky systems.  Everything has to be in order to have these plants.  Overall I think that we shouldn't start using natural gas as our main energy source because we still aren't aware of the risks.

Journal # 15

This student had given up his cell phone and Internet for 3 months; if I were this student I think that at first it would be hard to adjust to not having this but I would learn to get used to it since I don't really use my cell 24/7 or the social network sites to communicate with friends.  I think that it would be nice to actually go to my friends houses after school riding my bike or walking, and talk to them face to face because no one really does that anymore and it bothers me.  I also agree with what this student said how Facebook waste a big part of people's times because you can just sit there for hours doing nothing too productive, but cutting it out would be the hardest but it would benefit you in the long run.  In my opinion I think that everyone should do what this student did for at least a week because it will be amazing to see the change in your life without these unnecessary things in your life.

Journal #13

 Dmitri Mendeleev was just an ordinary boy living in Siberia when he decided to go to St. Petersburg to study science.  After graduating he thought about making something new.    He first made a book called Principles of Chemistry.  Then he started making the Periodic Table that had 63 elements on it.  The way it was arranged was by the atomic mass.  His very first one he made was based on arranging the elements in order of their increasing atomic weight.  He also grouped them in friendships with similar properties.  Then he predicted and admitted to the fact there was an error. Which led Dmitiri to make a minor change in the Periodic Table.  He added the rest of the elements that followed the same pattern that he found before.