Niraj's Post

Falling Satellite!

By: Niraj

Did you hear about the satellite that fell back to Earth last Friday, the 23rd of September? This was an old satellite of NASA called Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS). It was launched in 1991 and was in use till 2005. The satellite weighed 13000 pounds! When the news about the satellite's falling became known, many people panicked. However, NASA reassured everyone that there was one in 3,200 chance of it hitting any object on earth. Most of the satellite was expected to burn before reaching the earth.

NASA's predictions were correct. The satellite broke into pieces during re-entry, and most of it up burned in the atmosphere. Twenty-six parts, weighing about 1,200 pounds, may have reached the surface of Earth. The satellite entered the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean, far from any major land. NASA has not found any debris so far.

When my mom was in school, the Skylab space station fell down to earth. Skylab was about the size of a house and was much bigger than UARS. Many people(including my mom) were worried that the satellite would fall on them. When bits of Skylab fell in western Australia, no one was injured but the local authorities did fine NASA $400 for littering.

How would you feel if you found a piece of Space Debris?

Rohan's Post

Apple iPad 1 and 2
by : Rohan I.

The Apple iPad has been becoming a phenom in technology since it has released. Steve Jobs, the former CEO of Apple, invented the iPad. This invention has brought Apple nearly 6 billion dollars just in April.

Even though the Android phones are breaking away from the iphone in market shares, the iPad is doing well for Apple in the tablet race. Apple's first tablet computer was the Newton MessagePad introduced in 1993, which led to the making of the ARM6 processor core with Acorn Computers. Apple also made a prototype PowerBook Duo-based tablet, the PenLite, but decided not to sell it in order to avoid hurting MessagePad sales.

The Apple iPad has made over 6 billion dollars just in the month of April for Apple. This tablet computer includes  books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content.

The iPad runs on the same operating system as the iPod and the iPhone.  It can also run on its own applications. The iPad is administered with a multitouch display- a departure from most previous tablet computers, which used a pressure-triggered stylus. The iPad needs Wi-Fi to connect to the Internet. You also need Wi-Fi to download games. The iPad has the same opening screen as the iPhone.

Apple invented the iPad  in April of 2010. This amazing company sold over 3 million iPads in 80 days. During 2010, Apple sold 14.8 million copies of the iPad worldwide! Apple also got lots of money from the apps and the games which were installed onto the iPad. Some of the games were Plants vs Zombies, Flight Control, Angry Birds, Pinball, Civilization Revolutions, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12. These games had good quality on the iPad because of its big screen and most of them were  HD ( high definition ).

  Now onto the next generation.  In the March of 2011, the new iPad was released. Apple now thinks that this model of the iPad will bring even more money than the iPad. On the weekday that the new iPad released, Friday,  March,11,2011, over 400,000 to 500,000 units were sold. People lined up  for the iPad 2 on the night before it released. The first copy was sold at 5:00 am. Apple workers commented that “ Once you pick up iPad 2, it’ll be hard to put down. That’s the idea behind the all-new design. It’s 33 percent thinner and up to 15 percent lighter, so it feels even more comfortable in your hands. And it makes surfing the web, checking email, watching movies, and reading books so natural, you might forget there’s incredible technology under your fingers.”

  The Dual Core A5 chip is what makes this iPad load games faster and multitask. Gamers love the iPad because of its graphics. With up to 9x  the graphics performance, playing games on the iPad 2 is much more smoother and realistic. Faster graphics help apps perform better. Some games like Need for Speed need a lot of movement because you are pretending that you are driving a car. Now, because of the Dual Core A5 chip this game will not lag behind. Some other games that need the this chip to make the game play smoother are Fruit Ninja and Veggie Samurai. Apple commented that they used this chip in perticular because : “Two powerful cores in one A5 chip mean iPad can do twice the work at once. You’ll notice the difference when you’re surfing the web, watching movies, making FaceTime video calls, gaming, and going from app to app to app. Multitasking is smoother, apps load faster, and everything just works better. Everything just works better with this chip including games!”

The iPad 2 has a great battery life. It can stay up to 10 hours with out any charge. This means you can take it on a trip to Lake Tahoe while driving and it still won’t die! That is a very good battery life.

The iPad 2 has two cameras. One on the front and one on the back. These cameras may be small, but are imperative for applications like Photo Booth and Face Time. Face Time is a app where you can video chat. That is You can see each other on your iPad screen and talk all day long. This application can not work without a camera.  Photo Booth is a app where you can take photos of yourself and make a recording. This is similar to Garage Band because you can also use side effects on Photo Booth. You also need a camera for this app because how will you see yourself?   The front camera  puts you and your friend face-to-face while using Face Time. The other camera is for showing who is in the background or where you are while you are using Face Time. Everything you do on face Time and Photo Booth are in HD. 

The iPad 2 has a special cover called the Smart Cover.  You can keep the Smart Cover onto your iPad and it will instantly turn your iPad 2 into stand great for movie watching, playing games, or simply surfing  the web. This cover will not make your iPad heavier or bulk up. This case adds a lot more protection to your iPad too. You can choose from 10 bright colors. You can choose from blue, pink, orange, green, and many more. Apple is offering that if you order online you will get free shipping, free iPad engraving, free accessories , a warranty, and the Apple Care Protection Plan.

 All the applications on both of the iPads are the same, but the quality is what makes people want to buy the iPad 2 more. The third generation iPad is coming out soon! People say that the iPad 3 may come out on U.S.’s Thanksgiving. Nobody really knows what this iPad has. Apple has left us with a mystery. Will this iPad have a better battery life?, a better screen?, or even faster Internet and twice the gaming power? People just have to wait and buy this new iPad which we think will have a lot of new features.   All in all, what is your favorite apple product and game on it? Also, what do you think the iPad 3 will have on it?

Jamie's Post

Jump Rope Project
By: Jamie

http://www.guidrynews.com/story.aspx?id=1000018641

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1576117,00.html

This week in P.E., we, Rockhopper students, have a jump rope project. Everyone has to create a jump rope routine with a group of two to five people. Each team has to do two individual moves and four group moves. My group of two people, Kelly and I, have both been working everyday to perfect our routine. Of course, it has been very tiring but fun. This project also is fun because you get to exercise, in a fun way. We’ve both work hard and think we are ready.  Do you and your group also think you are ready? How was your experience doing this project?

Santosh's Post

Pokemon

By: Santosh

What do you think of Pokemon! Pokemon is just a T.V. show a lot of people like to watch. It's also a game, and it has a big hit. A lot of people bought the newest game, Pokemon Black and White. Personally, I think it isn't so good, but when you first start to play it, it's really fun. There are a lot of other games, such as Pokemon Soul Silver, Pokemon Heart Gold, Pokemon Platinum, and Pokemon Leaf Green. In games, there usually is a bad guy that tries to take over the world. In Pokemon Black and White, the bad guy is to men by the names of N and Ghetsis. With the Pokemon Reshiram, they had the power to destroy everything in there path. That is why you must use Zekrom and defeat N and Ghetsis so they don't take over the world. In Pokemon Black, you use Reshiram to defeat Zekrom. In Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, you have to defeat a man named Cyrus. With the Pokemon Dialga, you defeat Cyrus. Obviously, in Pearl, it's the other way around. In Pearl, the legendary is Palkia, and it is just as strong as Dialga. What is your favorite thing about Pokemon?

Naren's Post

The Amish People
By: Naren

The Amish were best known for simple living, plain dress, and have learnt to avoid many conveniences of modern technology. Their population was 249,000, and their founder was Jakob Ammann. They lived in United States (notably Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana and New York) and Canada (notably Ontario).  Their religion was Anabaptist, and their languages were Pennsylvania German, Swiss German, and English. 
     Their founder was Jakob Ammann was born in 1656, in Erlenbach im Simmental, Canton of Bern, Switzerland, but later moved to Alsace as part of an emigration pack of Anabaptist. His exact date of birth is unknown. Some believe he was born on February 12, 1644 to Michael and Anna Rupp Ammann of Erlenbach, but it is uncertain.   On February 27, 1696 he signed a petition against compulsory military service. He was probably leader of that until his death. Ammann’s date of death is also unknown, though it might have happened after 1708 and before 1730. His life is a mystery but we know that he was the founder of the Amish.
The Amish are afraid to any technology which they feel weakens the family structure. The conveniences that the rest of us take are electricity, television, automobiles, telephones and tractors are considered to be a temptation that could create inequality or lead the Amish away from their close-knit community. Most Amish cut their fields with horse-drawn machinery, live in houses without electricity, and get around in horse-powered buggies. It is common for Amish communities to allow the use of telephones, but not in the home. Instead, several Amish families will share a telephone in a wooden cabin between farms. Electricity is sometimes used in certain situations, such as electric fences for cattle, flashing electric lights on buggies, and heating homes. Windmills are often used as a source of naturally generated electricity. It is also not unusual to see Amish using such 20th-century technologies as inline skates, disposable diapers and gas barbecue grills, because they are not prohibited to use them.

Amish lifestyle is lead by the order, which differs slightly from community to community, and, within a community, from district to district. What is allowed in one community may not be allowed in another. No summary of Amish lifestyle and culture can be totally fair, because there are few generalities that are true for all Amish. Groups may separate over matters such as the width of a hat, the color of buggies, or various other issues.

It is difficult to  put an  estimatr of their population, but rough estimates from various studies have placed their numbers at 125,000 in 1992, 166,000 in 2000, and 221,000 in 2008, for a growth rate of nearly 4% per year. From 1992 to 2008, population growth among the Amish in North America was 84%. During that time they established 184 new settlements and moved into six new states.  In 2000, approximately 165,620 Old Order Amish resided in the United States, of which 73,609 were church members. The Amish are among the fastest-growing populations in the world, with an average of 6.8 children per family.
As time has passed, the Amish have felt annoyed by the modern world. Issues such as taxation, education, law and its enforcement, and occasional discrimination and hostility, are areas of difficulty. Amish have thrived in their non-mechanic world. Their success has lasted a long time and it still last today. Would you want to live a lifestyle similar to the Amish? Why or why not?