Earth Hour Sucesses.....

Horray for the GREAT APES!!! the greatest of great apes in the world...... You were magnificent!! thanks to everyone who worked hard and couldn't be there last night; thanks to Matt for getting us the fellowship hall at his church ( that was so awesome!); thanks to Chris and Justin for their continued dedication; thanks to everyone who brought family and friends with them; thanks for all the food; thanks Joe Morton !!! what a great surprise; thanks to the roof crew for making the stars shine even brighter than they finally did; thanks to Mrs. Nantz for her never ending support;thanks for the opportunity to spend " quality" time with a bunch of APES; thanks to anyone and everyone who I may have forgotten in my zealousness ; Billy - you never fail to amaze me; Wolfie and Logan puddles will never be the same and spiral staircases will also be an area that in the long run may cause me to jump ; Sara, Brittney, Caitlin, Mollie ( ha! spelled right) - your enthusiasm was contaigious; Alisha - way awesome you made it! ;Lawson and Brett- way to work out a work situation ; Ben - great Earth Hour soldier! Jimmy and Tripper - there are no words - your help was invaluable; Megan - a better reporter we couldn't have had - make sure we get the photos.

The Gaston Gazette has posted a slide show of last night..if you would like to view it the link is as follows....
http://gastongazette.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=720651&CategoryID=15927

Enjoy your sucesses!!!

If I missed ANYONE that was there...please let me know.....it is still such a blur...................

Fair warning for your chapter to write questions on/for...

I will post, probably Saturday morning , a list of the chapter numbers and titles that are assigned to each chapter. It is your responsibility to create a series of questions that will address the major concepts of each of the chapters . Create questions that will help you and your classmates hear the concept and challenge themselves when playing review games.
I will send the Earth Science powerpoints to the following APES that have requested them:
Matt Rachel Logan
Natalie Olivia
Billy Ashton
Ariel Ben
Lawson Wolfie

As of 2:30 on Friday 27 March 2009, these are the only people that said they needed them. If I missed you , let me know or if you change your mind, let me know..............

request from Sarah

Hey Mrs. B,
It's Sarah. I just wanted to tell you that I highly doubt ill be at school tomorrow. My grandma, mom, and sister are all puking sick and I have a fever. So, that sucks.
BUT i really think that someone needs to explain earth hour in detail over the announcements because today in US history Mr. Cowie had asked me about my shirt that i wore yesterday and when earth hour was and the time. EVERYONE in the class thought that earth hour was from 8-9 AM instead of at night, so i really think that needs to be cleared up.

Thanks,
Sarah s.

Ashton, Natalie and everyone.......let's see if we can fix this problem..................

Earth Science powerpoints

If you would like the powerpoints that I use for my earth science classes, let me know and I will be happy to get them to you................

Ha! Ha! to my professor...............

You guys caught my grad prof..........and he is adjusting all quiz grades.........you are so cool!!!!!

here is a very good diagram to show you that the epicenter is on the surface and the focus of an earthquake is underground..............

Charts to remind you of the cycles

Vocabulary for the ocean current studies

Current: water in the surface ocean flowing consistently in a particular direction. Ocean currents are driven by wind!!!!!

Latitude: an angle north or south of the equator

Longitude: an angle east or west of the prime meridian in Greenwich, England

Kuroshio Current: a warm ocean current that flows northward, theneastward on the west side of the Pacific Ocean

Oyashio Current: a cold ocean current that flows southward along the coast of Siberia and Kamchatka

Alaska Current : a cold ocean current that flows northward , then westward towards Alaska

California Current: A cold ocean current that flows southward along the west coast of North America

North Pacific gyre: a circular system of ocean currents that together flowi n a clockwise pattern all around the North Pacific portion of the Pacific basin.

GLOBE AT NIGHT!!! Don't Forget

the star observations start tonight...of course because it is cloudy!! and rainy!!

You will need to either down load the forms or look at them and write your information down. Keep a record of it and if you are planning to submit the data yourself, then make sure I have a copy of what you are submitting. IF I am submitting your data , I MUST have it the class following your observation.........

This is not an optional assignment!

Assignment

Please read chapter 10 - geologic processes and chapter 15 geologic resources by Thursday....

Newest of the new!!

And the news keeps on rolling in.................

we made the front page of the Lincoln Tribune ( http://www.lincolntribune.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=11155 ), the LCS home page and the county office is sending out your flyers to every LCS employee.........

Linda Yoder - lead science teacher for LCS has sent all science teachers and teachers she knows a note about your classroom visits.......Mr. Mitch Sherrill at the county office endorsed your plans and approves and.......

you made the Twitter blog on the Earth Hour US home page.......right hand side of the page under Lincoln tribune heading....folks you are with the big boys!!!! The Empire State building and even Concord, NH.................... http://www.earthhourus.org/main.php

Mr Worley sent out an email about the carolina green sense listing.....to all LHS teachers...( tee hee)

best of all.......your presentation has already been requested in a classroom at Kiser............

heady times folks........I am humbled to be a part of your success............

Newsest UPDATE!!!!!

We are in Carolina Green Sense!!!!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Lead on, Lincolnton!
This just in: the first Earth Hour 2009 city in the Carolinas is Lincolnton, NC. Or Lovable Lincolnton, according to their web site. This town of around 10,000 is near Lake Norman and north of Gastonia. Thanks for leading the way!
Labels: Earth Hour 2009, Lincolnton NC

APES can swim!!! Well some of them got a little cold.

Always knew that APES were very talented; some evidently prefer the warmer climates though. Good Job this morning......here are a few pics for your entertainment.

Earth Hour update!!

Check this out!!!! we are listed in the Earth Hour Blog!!

" Just got a call from Lincolnton, NC has just issued an #earthhour proclamation. Enfuego baby!about 9 hours ago from web ...posted by Dan Forman (Public Relations ManagerWorld Wildlife Fund1250 24th Street, NWWashington, DC 20037-1193)

and the map has us on it too.......you guys rock!!

http://www.earthhourus.org/map.php#

some thoughts on coral reproduction for those a little unsure..

the best way to tell you is to show you pictures and diagrams....makes it easier to understand.

MOVIE MAKERS - IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Hey guys! Check this out!!!!.......want to be famous across the state of NC? Want more notarity than ever dreamed before? Then take this challenge - I dare you!!!!



Create a commercial for use in NC across the state. The particulars are listed at the website below...... I double dare you!!!! : )


http://www.re3.org/contest.htm

(like the green bend? tee hee!!)

Coral and the oceans

One of the topics that you will need to become more familiar with is corals.....to start you off, here is an article that you should find interesting. It describes the mechanisms that corals use to stave off extinction and the resulting problems that oceanographers and biologists have in classifying them. Please post your comments and/or questions below. I will post more coral related articles, but this will get you going.....

the picture in this posting is of the fairly rare bamboo coral......

link to article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090223221343.htm

The Great APES Earth Hour Team......

Thought you all might like a copy of this picture........your team spoke well for you and about you and made us all proud. You are truly an unusal group of APES.........

Oh Boy! New fun stuff!!!! 16 March - 28 March

We have been invited to be a part of NASA's Globe at night. It will run from 16 March through 28 March so it will be fun to see the difference in the sky from the earlier date through Earth Hour.

This is not an optional assignment! You can pick the times based on what your work schedules etc. Try to make your observations at the same time every evening.

Please go to the site and download a form for the nights that you will track the stars. The site is self explanatory and very easy to follow. I will need the sheets or at least a piece of notebook paper with all the information on it that you have kept for the time that the assignment covers.

Your paperwork is due to me on 30 March. However, if you are not going to post the data yourself, I need to have the information the day after you do your observations.

Find your location by using the link on the homepage for the project.

Ex: LHS is at 35.479 degrees N. Latitude

-81.26 degrees W. Longitude ( the - sign indicates a west longitudinal direction)

the link to the NASA site is: http://www.globe.gov/GaN/

clueless

Folks- Natalie has posted that her businesses seemed clueless; Chris has the movie on line....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26xFJxfeGQ4 ; seems that little old Lincolnton doesn't know what Earth Hour is........we need ways to help them understand.

Tragedy question....let's get some good comments on the last two posts I have made.....

APES,
Don't forget the reading on Malthus and the chapters in the book....the questions are secondary at this moment to those readings. I know you all have very strong opinions.... So, lets get something going here about the question of " selective breeding to eliminate people of conscience". You all had very interesting comments on your quizzes....now bounce them off each other. My comment is this: Are we striving for a perfect human? and how can we ever eliminate something by selective breeding for a trait that isn't a breedable trait?

Thomas Malthus theory on population - does it differ from Hardin's ideas?

Here is a link to an article about Thomas Malthus.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/malthus.html

Malthus's views were largely developed in reaction to the optimistic views of his father and his associates. He predicted population would outrun food supply, leading to a decrease in food per person. This prediction was based on the idea that population if unchecked increases at a geometric rate whereas the food supply grows at an arithmetic rate. Only misery, moral restraint and vice (which for Malthus included contraception) could check excessive population growth. Malthus favoured "moral restraint" (including late marriage and sexual abstinence) as a check on population growth. He did however favor visiting the houses of ill repute (prostitution) so that the married women would have less chance of becoming pregnant.

Malthusian catastrophe: is a return to subsistence - level conditions as a result of agricultural (or, in later societies; economic production being eventually outstripped by growth in population.

arithmetic growth for resources: in this case ,subsistence level food resources are at best exhibit arithmetic growth, which means food increasing by a fixed absolute amount in a fixed amount of time.

geometric growth: in this instance the fixed doubling time for population

So what does Malthus suggest? Misery and Vice. The acting agents of misery and vice are war, famine, and disease. Misery can also be accelerated by:

A. Tillage over pasturage: Grains, legumes to more efficiently feed
B. Agriculture over manufacture: Can't afford to lose sources of food production
C. Moral restraint: Don't have children until you can feed them!
D. Free labor market: People should be free to move about and freely take work wherever it is available.
E. Abolish parish-laws and establish workhouses: Avoid the vicious cycle initiated by public assistance for the poor, which only encourages people to have children beyond their means.

Please understand that he is not predicting the end of the world due to poverty and hunger; rather that at some point humans will hit the " glass ceiling" and that some type of check will necessarily have to fall into place.

Readings......

This week you will need to read chapters 7 & 8. This will finish up all the basic stuff...biomes, habitats, and the rest of the primarily review from bio and chem. Be prepared for a test on chapters 1,2 and 3. It will be in the form of a take home test.....approximately 70- 75 questions, right from the book ( s ). I will post the questions Monday evening for review. Chapter question and readings will not be due until Tuesday of next week. But do not procrastinate. You have a lot to do this week .The test will be given to you Wednesday and you will have until Sunday evening at midnight to submit it to me. Please mark the answers on your sheet , but when you submit it , you may do so in the following format:
1. B
2. C
etc. You will recieve a posting with the correct answers.
Fret not, Apes..they are multiple choice.

Earth Hour - 36 days and counting

The activity level today was intense! Signs are going up! Contacts are being made and we are all getting excited! Keep it up! Don't let down.......

Some terms and an illustration that may help with the " Law of the Sea" concept

The drawing shows where national and international waters extend. Please be aware of terms like internal waters, international waters, Exclusive Economic Zone.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea treaty, is the international agreement that resulted from the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III), which took place from 1973 through 1982. The Law of the Sea Convention defines the rights and responsibilities of nations in their use of the world's oceans, establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resources.

In the early 20th century some nations expressed their desire to extend national claims: to include mineral resources, to protect fish stocks, and to provide the means to enforce pollution controls. Using customery international law principle of a nation's right to protect its natural resources, President Truman in 1945 extended United States right control to all the natural resources of its continental shelf. Other nations were quick to follow suit. Between 1946 and 1950, Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Ecuador extended their rights to a distance of 200 nautical miles to cover their Humboldt Current fishing grounds. Other nations extended their territorial seas to 12 nautical miles.
By 1967, only 25 nations still used the old 3-mile limit, while 66 nations had set a 12-mile territorial limit and eight had set a 200-mile limit. As of May 28, 2008, only two countries still use the 3-mile limit: Jordan and Palau That limit is also used in certain Australian islands, an area of Belize, some Japanese straits, certain areas of Papua New Guinea, and a few British Oversees Territories, such as Anguilla. TheUnited Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea was convened in New York in 1967.

The convention introduced a number of provisions. The most significant issues covered were setting limits, navigation, archipelagic status and transit regimes, exclusive economic zones (EEZs), continental shelf jurisdiction, deep seabed mining, the exploitation regime, protection of the marine environment, scientific research, and settlement of disputes.

Internal waters: Covers all water and waterways on the landward side of the baseline. The coastal state is free to set laws, regulate use, and use any resource. Foreign vessels have no right of passage within internal waters.

Territorial waters:Out to 12 nautical miles from the baseline, the coastal state is free to set laws, regulate use, and use any resource. Vessels were given the right of "innocent passage" through any territorial waters, with strategic straits allowing the passage of military craft as "transit passage", in that naval vessels are allowed to maintain postures that would be illegal in territorial waters. "Innocent passage" is defined by the convention as passing through waters in an expeditious and continuous manner, which is not “prejudicial to the peace, good order or the security” of the coastal state. Fishing, polluting, weapons practice, and spying are not “innocent", and submarines and other underwater vehicles are required to navigate on the surface and to show their flag. Nations can also temporarily suspend innocent passage in specific areas of their territorial seas, if doing so is essential for the protection of its security.

Contiguous Zone: Beyond the 12 nautical mile limit there was a further 12 nautical miles or 24 nautical miles from the territorial sea baselines limit, the contiguous zone, in which a state could continue to enforce laws in four specific areas: pollution, taxation, customs, and immigration.

EEZs: Extend 200 nautical miles from the baseline. Within this area, the coastal nation has sole exploitation rights over all natural resources. The EEZs were introduced to halt the increasingly heated clashes over fishing rights, although oil was also becoming important. The success of an offshore oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico in 1947 was soon repeated elsewhere in the world, and by 1970 it was technically feasible to operate in waters 4000 metres deep. Foreign nations have the freedom of navigation and overflight, subject to the regulation of the coastal states. Foreign states may also lay submarine pipes and cables.

Continental Shelf:The continental shelf is defined as the natural prolongation of the land territory to the continental margin's outer edge, or 200 nautical miles from the coastal state’s baseline, whichever is greater. State’s continental shelf may exceed 200 nautical miles until the natural prolongation ends. However, it may never exceed 350 nautical miles from the baseline.

Tragedy of the Commons? Really now, says who?

Read the article and the rebuttal by Wednesday.......be ready to discuss. We will be playing a tragedy game with food...so be ready......if you can't discuss, you can't eat!

The Lights of the Cities Go Dark.....How serious are you?

http://www.earthhourus.org/

Let's get involved!!

Rubber Duckie, you're the one.......

One of the topics covered in your current set of chapters deals with currents. We will be doing an activity based on this " spill" in class. Please familiarize yourself with the incident and then comment.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0731/p01s04-woeu.html

NEW PROFILE PICTURES!!!!!!

Hey!!!! I think it would be a smashing idea if everyone changed their profile picture to an ape picture that reflects his or her personality. I already changed mine...Editorial rights permit me not to say who I stole the idea from, but if you APES are as smart as I know you are....it will be easy to see who already is in ape fromat.....can't wait to see what you all look like!!!!!!!

The Iceman says more than originally thought....

The Iceman cometh? No, according to DNA, he went......the last of his kind.


http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,445385,00.html

APES in films and other endeavors

The following question has been posted in an effort to focus the content of the potential LHS Movie entitled " The Inconvenient Freezer". Your input is extremely important so please take the time to think about your responses, comments and other input.

1.What do you think should be the main theme of the " Inconvenient Freezer" ?

2.What aspects of climate change should be addressed, especially those which you think are a common misconception?

3.What powerful ways do you see being utilized to illustrate these points in the movie?

Reading Assignment

Read chapters 4-6 by Friday 13 February.
Question list to follow...

If you run across something that totally puzzles you, PLEASE do not hesitate to contact me by email or bring the question up in class.

APES get to pondering as all good APES do...

One of your classmates would like comments and discussion on the following statement:

Why does it seem that nobody talks about global warming in the winter , but they go crazy with the topic in the summer?

Assignment : Bats dying? So what? Big Deal?

How do you think this will impact us? Will it impact us? Will it impact our bat populations?

Assignment - Great Barrier Reef dying?

In 2006, when I was snorkling the Great Barrier Reef, I was dismayed to see something that was so far from the beautiful pictures on the Discovery Channel. I know that I looked stunned because our guide asked me if I was ok. I started to ask him questions about the reef and the life or lack of life on it and he quickly clammed up.
There were no massive schools of exotic, brightly colored fish - there were tons of needle fish! We had to really, really hunt for the little clown fish and the corals had taken on a sort of ashy hue. It made me hurt inside......Read the article and then comment.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,475068,00.html?sPage=fnc/scitech/naturalscience

Chapters 1-3 questions

The following are the questions from each chapter that you are responsible for by 6 Feb ( that is next Friday). Please remember to save them as a word document and send them to me as an email attachment to lhs.apes@gmail.com .

Chapter 1: Review questions: 2, 6, 8, 9, 11, 14, 16, 18 , 22
Critical thinking : 3 & 9

Chapter 2: Review questions: 7, 13, 16, 18
Critical thinking: 4, 5, 7

Chapter 3 : Review Questions: 2,7, 9, 10 ,27, 29, 30
Critical thinking: 4,5 , 9, 11

Remember these are due Friday 6 Feb 2009 by class time.

New Gorilla babies! Good news or is it?

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,483374,00.html

check out the good news......or is it? Read on and comment.

Toxic Waste disposal....assignment # 2

According to your article, "Why Not Dispose of Waste in Ocean Trenches?", it would be disasterous to dispose of nuclear material in trenches; but according to the authors , it is not feasible to send it to space and not desirable to plant it under Yucca Mountain, Nevada. You are head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Since you can't please everyone all the time and few people most of the time, what is your solution to the disposal of our toxic waste , which remains dangerous for thousands of years?

Please post all replies on the blog site.

Powerpoints for Chapters 1-3

If you would like a copy of several different versions of the powerpoints for the first three chapters, email me at lhs.apes@gmail.com.
I have also posted the links to the Meatrix and Store Wars on the blog as well.

Assigment 1 due by 6 Feb. ( Friday)

Once you get your books:

• Read Chapters 1-3 making sure that you read the sections in blue at the start of each chapter, carefully, the connections boxes and the guest essays.
• If you are unfamiliar with a bold faced word, you may want to look it up. I will not be assigning vocabulary per se .
• Each chapter will have selected questions to accompany it. I will post those in a day or so.
• http://www.brookscole.com/cgi-wadsworth/course_products_wp.pl?fid=M20b&discipline_number=22&product_isbn_issn=0534397980 link to the website for your book

Welcome to the next step before the next step....

Hi Apes!

This is your forum to write comments and reply to those comments. I expect an on going exchange of ideas and opinions throughout the course of the semester. You may also use this blog to ask each other class related questions ( ex: you do not understand the basics of a concept we are discussing or you are missing an assignment). I will try to get all assignments posted so that if you do miss class, you can stay current.

This will be a graded part of your classwork. Please do not ignore, misuse or abuse it. I am looking forward to reading all of your deepest thoughts!!!

Enjoy the rest of your mini - vacation.

Mrs. B