Kelly's Post

Hawaii

By: Kelly

My family goes to Hawaii for two weeks every summer and have fun doing a lot of different things. First, we go to Kailua beach in Oahu almost every day. At the beach we build sand castles, make sand sculptures, go boogie boarding and surfing, go canoeing, and visit tide pools. All seven cousins from my mom's side of the family come so we have lots of people to play with. Carolyn and our cousin Finn watch the annual hot dog eating contest while me and two of my cousins go into the backyard of the house that my grand parents own to go lizard catching. In Hawaii we celebrate many summer birthdays including my little sister's. We also celebrate the Fourth of July by going to the beach and seeing really cool fireworks that I only see once a year. Do you go somewhere with your family every year? If not, where would you like to go?

Agrima's Post

Board Game Professionals....Found to be using a Special Part of the Brain
By: Agrima

Just recently, on January 21st, 2011, scientists have found that when professional board game players are forced to make a quick move or are in a crunched amount of time, there is a special trained part of the brain they used to win or make the move they do. This was first discovered by scientists from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan, when they were examining the brains of a group of professional Japanese shogi players (Shogi is a game much like our chess, with 20 characters, which is very popular in Japan). While doing this, they also made the players do things for them in between. For example, when they just started to notice this part of the players’ brain, they made the player make a move in 2-4 seconds. They also tested 8-10 seconds. They discovered that when given a longer amount of time, the players did not use this part of the brain. The players only used the part of the brain where all the memorization of 10 years of training had been. When they had found out that professionals had trained their minds to have this part of their brains without even knowing it, they wondered if it was the same for amateurs. So, they tested it out. They found out that it wasn’t the same. The amateurs didn’t train 3-4 hours a day for 10 years, so that part of the brain that was in the professionals’ minds hadn’t yet developed in theirs. The scientists are really surprised with their findings. “The professional players started to use the parts of the brains that are well developed in mice and rats and not so well developed in primates, so the findings were a surprise - by becoming expert, shogi masters start to use all parts of the brain.” quoted a lead researcher in “Science” magazine. Would you train as much as a typical professional board game player for this part of the brain? Why or why not?

Danhee's Post

Wildlife Deaths...

By: Danhee

 

        Did you know that on January 2nd more than 1,000 dead birds had just fell from the sky? People say that the birds might have been startled from the New Year’s celebration since they died around 1:45 a.m. However, something happened on the 6th. Two million fish were found dead in Maryland. Some say that the water was too cold and might have been out of their range of tolerance. There is no official reason, but some other people think that these are signs of death for everybody. More dead birds were found in Louisiana and more dead fish were lying in the Arkansas River. I think this is a problem leading to global warming. Just think! Don’t you think it’s little weird to find birds and fish just suddenly dead and just lying there on shores? What else is there to prove that it isn’t? What do you think is really happening? Explain.

Courtney's Post

My Pets

By: Courtney

Shelby

Nemo

 I have a Shetland sheepdog and two colorful fish. My dog, Shelby, is brown, black, and has a little white fur on his chin, around his neck and legs. He is very fluffy and looks like a miniature Collie. Shelby is super playful! He loves to play fetch and run around in our backyard in a figure-8 pattern. He loves to go on walks and we try to take him on a walk every day. My two fish are different colors. One is orange and white and the other one is yellow with black fins. I named them Nemo and Firebird. It is fun to watch them swim around. Do you have a pet? What does it look like and what do you like to do with it? If you don’t, what pet would you like to have and why?

Savita's Post

NFC and AFC Champions
By: Savita

Pittsburgh Steelers

Green Bay Packers

On Sunday Jan 23rd, 2011, at 3:15pm PST, the NFC champions were declared. It was….. Green Bay Packers! Green Bay Packers competed against Chicago Bears in Chicago. Packers and Bears have the most rivalry in NFL games. The score was 21 to 14 with Green Bay leading with 14-0 in the first half of the game. The Green Bay Packers will move on to the Super Bowl.

On the same day, around 6:30pm PST, the AFC champion was decided in Heinz Field, Pittsburgh. Guess what? Pittsburgh Steelers won the AFC Championship! The score was 24 to 19 against New York Jets. Jets won many good teams this season during the play offs. For example, they beat Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots but on Sunday, Steelers won Jets big time. In the first half, the Steelers where leading with a score of 24-3. It was a spectacular lead. Throughout this season Jets were loud and noisy along with their coach Rex Ryan until they met someone bigger than them - Big Ben. Pittsburg Steelers will play against Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl. Who do you think will win the Super bowl XLV? Why? Can you believe the Packers are favored to win???!!! If you have a favorite team in football what team is it and why?

Week 20 Scores by Quarter

Heinz Field, Pittsburgh        Q1             Q2            Q3              Q4

New York Jets                            0                3               7                 9
Pittsburgh Steelers                     7                17             0                  0

Soldier Field, Chicago         Q1             Q2            Q3              Q4
Chicago Bears                            0                0              0                14
Green Bay Packers                          7                7              0                 7

Olivia's Post

Metrodome Collapses in Minnesota 
 By:Olivia

Around 5:00 in the morning the Viking stadiums roof collapsed due to a huge snow storm in Minnesota. Heavy snow fell onto the roof causing it to leak. After a while the snow ripped a huge hole in the roof . Now the Vikings have to play in Detroit because of the hole in their stadium. If you were an Architect and you were assigned to rebuild the stadium roof how would you design it?

Rohan R.'s Post

The Lunar EclipseBy: Rohan R.

     As most of you know, there was an eclipse on December 21 at 9:27 p.m.- 3:06 a.m. It was visible as a total lunar eclipse in North and South America, Iceland, Ireland, Britain and northern Scandinavia. This eclipse was a rare event because it coincided with the winter solstice which is the official beginning of winter. This has not occurred for 372 years. A minor meteor shower sent a few shooting stars through the darkened sky during the height of the eclipse adding to the spectacle. The most interesting part of the eclipse occurred when the Moon plunged into Earth’s full shadow, called the umbra. The Moon turned a deep orange color during the eclipse. As Earth orbits the Sun, it sometimes comes between the Sun and the Moon. When this happens the Earth blocks out some of the sunlight that would normally reach the Moon and creates a shadow which travels across the Moon's surface. This is called a lunar eclipse. A lunar eclipse can be partial or total. A partial lunar eclipse occurs when, during the passage of Earth's shadow, the entire Moon is never completely shaded. A total lunar eclipse happens when Earth's shadow completely covers the Moon, just like the one on December 21, 2010. The part of the Moon covered by the Earth's shadow is usually still faintly visible because it is lit by sunlight that has been bent by Earth's atmosphere. This light gives the Moon a reddish glow during the eclipse. The color and brightness of the eclipse depend on the amount of dust in the Earth’s atmosphere. A lunar eclipse can last for more than an hour and only occurs during a full moon. Did you see the lunar eclipse? If you did, what was your experience? If you did not, would you want to see a lunar eclipse and why?