Long-Term Care for a Dual Diagnosis

woman in long-term care The term “Dual Diagnosis” refers to people who have both a mental illness and an addiction issue. Mental Health America suggests that this pairing is relatively common, as of all of the people diagnosed with mental illnesses, 29 percent also abuse either alcohol or drugs. People like this can get better, but they might need longer stays in treatment programs in order to make the necessary life changes that can lead to a robust recovery.

Recovering from a Crisis

People who have a Dual Diagnosis often start their recovery process in detox programs. Here, they work with medical professionals to soothe the transition from intoxication to sobriety, and when this program is complete, they’re ready to move into intensive therapy programs that can help them change thought patterns and habits. In a study regarding the length of time people spend in care like this, conducted in Santa Clara County, researchers found that some people spent only about 70 days in care, while others spent 130 days in care. Studies like this seem to suggest that some people can recover from their issues just a little quicker than their counterparts, and they might transition out of their programs with speed. There are some people, on the other hand, who need more help and longer periods of time in treatment programs.

Longer Changes

Some long-term care programs provide people with residential support. In a program like this, people have access to:

  • A sober environment
  • Sober living companions
  • Structure
  • Supervision

There are no substances of abuse allowed in facilities like this, and people are required to follow a specific set of rules in a certain way in order to stay in facilities like this. The rules might pertain to addiction care, meaning that people would need to attend all of their appointments and progress with their therapies, but the rules might also apply to employment, family visitation, sleep/wake times and housework. This kind of rhythm can add structure and stability to a person’s life, and teach that person how to develop a healthy way of living in the future.

Long-term care can also be provided in outpatient settings. Here, people continue to live at home with their families, inside the communities they know and love, but they might continue to attend therapy sessions on a regular basis, and perhaps even attend special conferences or lectures from time to time. Alumni meetings, group gatherings and more all allow the person to stay connected and continue learning, and this can also help the person learn how to maintain the gains made in the original treatment program.

At The Oaks at La Paloma, we provide residential followup care for people who need structure in order to maintain their sobriety, but we also provide outpatient options for those clients who have strong families they can lean on at home. We also offer an alumni program that can link our clients with local resources, and our alumni connect with one another to provide ongoing support on rough days when the motivation to use seems too strong to ignore. If you’d like to know about these programs, please call us.


Universal Spiritual Awakening

Universal Spiritual Awakening
"Some of us ultimately see the world with open eyes. We recognize that the state is a Criminal Enterprise, shedding the illusion of its legitimacy" D.Shellenberger

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Lead Developer Of HPV Vaccines Comes Clean, Warns Parents & Young Girls It’s All A Giant Deadly Scam

Dr. Diane Harper was a leading expert responsible for the Phase II and Phase III safety and effectiveness studies which secured the approval of the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccines, Gardasil™ and Cervarix™.  Dr. Harper also authored many of the published, scholarly papers about the vaccines.  She is now the latest in a long string of experts who are pressing the red alert button on the devastating consequences and irrelevancy of these vaccines.  Dr. Harper made her surprising confession at the 4th International Conference on Vaccination which took place in Reston, Virginia.  Her speech, which was originally intended to promote the benefits of the vaccines, took a 180-degree turn when she chose instead to clean her conscience about the deadly vaccines so she “could sleep at night”.  The following is an excerpt from a story by Sarah Cain:
“Dr. Harper explained in her presentation that the cervical cancer risk in the U.S. is already extremely low, and that vaccinations are unlikely to have any effect upon the rate of cervical cancer in the United States.  In fact, 70% of all HPV infections resolve themselves without treatment in a year, and the number rises to well over 90% in two years.  Harper also mentioned the safety angle.  All trials of the vaccines were done on children aged 15 and above, despite them currently being marketed for 9-year-olds.  So far, 15,037 girls have reported adverse side effects from Gardasil™ alone to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), and this number only reflects parents who underwent the hurdles required for reporting adverse reactions.  At the time of writing, 44 girls are officially known to have died from these vaccines.  The reported side effects include Guillian Barré Syndrome (paralysis lasting for years, or permanently — sometimes eventually causing suffocation), lupus, seizures, blood clots, and brain inflammation.  Parents are usually not made aware of these risks.  Dr. Harper, the vaccine developer, claimed that she was speaking out, so that she might finally be able to sleep at night.  ’About eight in every ten women who have been sexually active will have HPV at some stage of their life,’ Harper says.  ’Normally there are no symptoms, and in 98 per cent of cases it clears itself.  But in those cases where it doesn’t, and isn’t treated, it can lead to pre-cancerous cells which may develop into cervical cancer.’”
- Continue reading entire article <at this link>

Friday, February 5, 2016

RED ALERT: You Are Under Deliberate Biological and Chemical Attack

NWO-Illuminati Parasites Waging Open and Covert War by way of Chemical and Biological Weapons Against Humanity.
Posted by: Ty Bollinger

Just when you thought Monsanto was under wraps, you find out they’re up to something even more horrific. What’s even worse is that it all started a long time ago!
In the late 1960s Monsanto supported the secret Muad’ Dib Geoengineering Lab to develop chemtrail technology; their crown jewel program to protect earth from global warming via weather control. Sounds so humanitarian, right? Wrong!
Most folks discover the reality of chemtrails by initially reading about it online and then going outside, looking up into the sky, and noticing the crisscrossing streaks of white clouds trailing behind jet aircraft, stretching from horizon to horizon, eventually turning the sky into a murky haze. Chemtrails are like science fiction turned reality. I once thought they were harmless condensation trails in the sky, but after further investigation, not anymore!
In this article I’ll answer the question what are chemtrails? I’ll share the effects of chemtrails on your environment, food, water and their connection to cancer. This information is meant to increase your awareness of the toxicity in our environment and encourage you to eliminate toxins that are within your control whenever and wherever you can.1
What Are Chemtrails?
Chemtrails are geo-engineered aerosols that are loaded with toxic chemicals, including but not limited to: barium, strontium 90, aluminum, cadmium, zinc, viruses and “chaff.” Chaff looks like snow but it’s actually Mylar fibers (like in fiberglass) coated with aluminum, desiccated blood cells, plastic, and paper.5 Polymer chemist Dr. R. Michael Castle has studied atmospheric polymers for years, and he has identified microscopic polymers comprised of genetically-engineered fungal forms mutated with viruses, which are now part of the air we breathe.
Chemtrails have nothing to do with the jet engine combustion process. They are often laid in a grid-like pattern by multiple planes (even drones) where they disperse slowly taking on the appearance of odd, at first narrow, but widening, smoky clouds until merging together to form, if sufficiently numerous, an aerosol bank that obscures the blue sky and gives the appearance of a dirty white overcast.
Unlike normal contrails which quickly dissipate, chemtrails (fake clouds as my children call them) sometimes take hours to dissipate and eventually fan out to a spider web type of milky haze that covers the entire sky. As these are formed from minute reflective metallic particulates they eventually reach the earth.
Still having doubts? Please download this PDF file called HR 2977 “The Space & Preservation Act of 2001.” In this document the United States Government openly admits the existence of chemtrails.
Still not enough proof?  What if I told you that there are patents for these very such things? The image below is a 1975 U.S. Patent issued to Donald K. Werle, Romas Kasparas, Sidney Katz, assigned through the U.S. Navy, that describes a dispersion method for a “powder contrail.”
Here are just a few more patents relating to chemtrails and geoengineering:
How Do Chemtrails Impact Our Food and Water?
Secretly filling the sky, without our knowledge or consent mind you, with billions of megatons of aluminum, strontium 90, barium and “chaff” to reflect the suns dangerous rays back into space is epic and brilliantly maneuvered on the unsuspecting public by dubbing them as “persistent contrails.”
However, what goes up, must come down and we’re being bombarded daily with a chemical and radioactive fallout surpassed only by Agent Orange, the defoliating chemicals developed by Monsanto to wipe out the jungles during the Vietnam War.
Since aluminum has an affinity for water, all life forms attract these oxides. This causes contamination of even organic fruits, vegetables, and livestock if they’re exposed to the open air, because plants readily absorb aluminum salts from the soil into their vascular systems. Everything absorbs aluminum salts and it’s in the air.
Processed foods are filled with aluminum salts and aluminum sulfate is added to water to make it clear. Apparently we are in the “Aluminum Age” and it’s everywhere, but so unhealthy according to Dr. Christopher Exley, Professor of Bioinorganic Chemistry at Keele University in the UK.
Chemtrails Are Polluting Our Environment
The reality is, this “toxic cloud shield” created by aerosolizing the atmosphere, diminishes rainfall, traps the heat, and increases humidity. This leads to a plague of pests, mildews, molds, fungi, diseases, and ultimately the shredding of our precious ozone layer that protects us from dangerous UV rays, according to Dane Wigington, a solar expert.
In California’s Mount Shasta region, Francis Mangel, a USDA Wildlife Biologist and water specialist has reported elevated levels of aluminum, barium, and strontium in the mountain’s snow, polluting drinking water, rivers and soil in the area. In 2008, samples around California’s Lake Shasta and the Pit River Arm tributary were tested in a State Certified Lab following weeks of fly-overs and chemtrails. The results of the water samples showed 4,610,000 parts per million of aluminum. This is  4610 times the maximum contaminant level!  With aluminum toxicity levels off the charts, chemtrails are putting our life systems at risk of irreparable damage.
How Are These Visible ChemTrails in the Sky Linked to Cancer?
As mentioned earlier, aluminum laden “chaff” falling from the sky enters the lungs causing upper respiratory diseases, lung cancer, breast cancer, and is the gateway to vulnerable areas of the body including arterial walls, where it accumulates like a plaque.
In addition, aluminum toxicity generates a number of neurological disorders and brain cancer, while radium and zinc cadmium sulfide synergistically cause bone cancer.  A concerning new study published in the Journal of Inorganic Biochemistrydemonstrates that exposure to aluminum can increase migratory and invasive properties of human breast cancer cells, while a 2012 article in the Journal of Applied Toxicology shows that aluminium promotes growth in human mammary epithelial cells. And “aluminum production” has been classified as carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
Couple these studies with other recent studies indicating that aluminum binds to cellular estrogen receptors and may cause proliferation within hormone-sensitive tissues, and we understand why one research team coined a new term (“metallo-estrogen”) to describe an entirely new class of metal-based endocrine disruptors (including aluminum, cadmium, and barium). Disturbingly, all of these metallo-estrogens have been found in chemtrails.
Moreover, these metallo-estrogens, chemical toxins, and bioengineered cocktails are causing multiple problems in the gastrointestinal and immune systems, the first line of defense against disease; thus destroying human health and cognitive abilities. Plus, shredding the ozone layer allows damaging UV rays to enter the atmosphere resulting in an unprecedented increase in skin cancer cases, to name just a few harmful effects of chemtrails.
I have been traveling in Central America, Europe, and the Middle East and noticed these patterns in the sky. I’ve also noticed unusually cold summers, trees dying and fungi infested, deformed vegetables just like the reports are describing. And a dramatic increase of cancer and unusual terminal illnesses are rampant.
In Conclusion
These are tumultuous times and the global government appears to be up to something unbelievably sinister. It’s the classic create a problem, devise the solution, and emerge as the hero4 with Monsanto’s aluminum-resistant genetically-modified (GM) seeds and GM trees.
However, there is a growing concern that the earth will soon become unfit for organic food and pure water sources because of the unrestricted spraying without our consent. It appears that “control of the masses” has taken on a whole new meaning.
Nonetheless, there is at least some encouraging news. According to Dr. Exley, there is an abundance of silicon in the environment that can detoxify the effects of aluminum poisoning, as can silica supplements. Also, EDTA chelation therapy can help remove toxic heavy metals from the body and restore vascular health.
Did you know that Monsanto controls White House? Can you guess who is running this country besides poisoning humanity and our planet? NWO-Illuminati Hybrid Humanoid Parasites.

Monday, February 1, 2016

Deaths Linked to Cholesterol Lowering Statin Drugs

92 Deaths Linked to Cholesterol Lowering Statin Drugs

It is believed that the death toll could be higher because doctors are reluctant to blame drugs they prescribe for harming patients.

Experts are calling for a complete safety review of heart drugs taken by millions of Britons. More than 37 of the deaths were attributed to Zocor. Lipitor, made by Pfizer, was associated with 36 of the deaths.

Three other leading statin brands -- Novartis's Lescol, BMS's Lipostat and AstraZeneca's Crestor -- have been associated with 19 deaths.

As well as the deaths there have also been reports of 7,000 side effects reported to the Department of Health by doctors, including kidney and liver damage and muscle weakness.

Statin are LETHAL!!


This article's content is marked as Mature
You will serve me in the Netherrealm.
~ Quan Chi in Mortal Kombat (2011).
You abandon them to their deaths... I returned them to life.
~ Quan Chi to Raiden.

Quan Chi is a powerful demon sorcerer from the Netherrealm, who appears as a major antagonist from the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games. He is responsible for the founding of the Brotherhood of Shadow, the ancient demonic cult who worshipped his master, Shinnok.

Quan Chi is a very tall, well-built man with red eyes. Among his distinct features is his completely white skin. He is also completely bald, devoid of any hair on his head or face. There also appears to be a chakra on his forehead. In his first appearance, he wore a heavy green uniform with spike-studded black armor and originally, with a yin-yang emblem on it, which seems regal, he uses it for formal gatherings. During his escape from Scorpion in the Netherrealm, he has discarded some of his clothing, leaving him with half a portion of his armor and new black gloves, his torso bare otherwise. Later, he magically carves the inscriptions of the tomb of the Dragon King's army onto his body as somewhat becoming his tattoos. On his belt he now bears the authentic Amulet of Shinnok. The MK team seems to be fond of Quan Chi's Deadly Alliance outfit, as he retains this design in every game released following Deadly Alliance, even games that chronologically predate it.

As of Mortal Kombat X, Quan Chi sports a new outfit that combines traits of both his MK4 and DA-onwards appearances. While he is still topless, he now wears an armored cuirass with spikes on his collar, reminiscent of his MK4 outfit.

Powers and Abilities

Quan Chi's Evil Magic

The demon sorcerer Quan Chi unleashing and demonstrating his evil magic in Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm.

Quan Chi is the most powerful demon sorcerer of the Netherrealm, proficient in both black magic and necromancy. After gaining the Amulet of Shinnok, he gained a variety of other powers, such as the ability to travel between realms.

Most of Quan Chi's necromantic attacks involve summoning skulls and skeletons, which emit an eerie green glow. He can also summon a defensive wall of skulls, as well as skeletons to do his bidding. Quan Chi's black magic shows itself in the form of his ability to create the Soulando, a large tornado like column of souls, which he can shut off at any time. As his alternate weapon fighting style, Quan Chi wields a pair of Asian broadswords.

Appearances in other media

The wicked sorcerer Quan Chi made his debut in the animated series, Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, which aired a year before the Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero game. In the episode "The Secret of Quan Chi," he used his sorcery to turn everyone on Earth against each other, creating pandemonium and chaos that Earth's heroes were forced to overcome. He was voiced by Nick Chinlund.

Quan Chi also had substantial guest appearances on Mortal Kombat: Conquest, in which he was portrayed by Adoni Maropis, and mostly inspired by his Mythologies incarnation.

  • Quan Chi was planned to appear in the climax to the Mortal Kombat movie, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, but was cut, though he still appears on posters and on some DVDs and laserdiscs of the movie.
  • Two of his fatalities, the Leg Rip and Neck Stretch are Ed Boon's favorite and least favorite fatalities respectively. The Leg Rip was voted #9 on Screwattacks' list of Top 10 Mortal Kombat Fatalities and the Neck Stretch was listed as number 6 on their list of Top 10 Worst Mortal Kombat Fatalities.
  • Quan Chi's voice sounds very similar to the announcer from Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance and onward, which would break the tradition of the final boss being the announcer. Quan Chi was a final boss in Deadly Alliance, but Onaga and Blaze were the final bosses in Deception and Armageddon.
  • According to the Konquest mode of Armageddon, Quan Chi was the one who proposed the alliance between himself, Shang Tsung, Onaga, and Shao Kahn on the argument that they would not be able to defeat the forces of good otherwise. However, he did this under Shinnok's orders, so as to bring them to the location of Armageddon.
  • Quan Chi's physical appearance in Mortal Kombat 9 bears some resemblance to Kratos. Coincidentally, Kratos appears in that same game as a guest-character.
           Mortal Kombat Villains

Main Villains
Dark Kahn | Onaga | One Being | Quan Chi | Shang Tsung | Shao Kahn | Shinnok

Other Villains
Baraka | Cyrax | D'Vorah | Daegon | Drahmin | Ermac | Erron Black | Ferra & Torr | Frost | Goro | Havik | Hsu Hao | Jade | Jarek | Kabal | Kano | Kintaro | Kira | Kobra | Mavado | Mileena | Moloch | Motaro | Noob Saibot | Rain | Reiko | Reptile | Scorpion | Sektor | Sheeva | Sindel | Skarlet | Smoke | Tanya | Tremor | Triborg

Undead Villains
Kitana | Kung Lao | Liu Kang

Guest Star Villains
Catwoman | Darkseid | Deathstroke | Freddy Krueger | Jason Voorhees | Joker | Kratos | Leatherface | Lex Luthor | Predator | Xenomorph

Non Playable Villains
Bannak | Cilene | Hideyoshi | Hydro | Jataaka | Jola | Kebral | Kia | Kiri & Ankha | Komodai | Kreeya | Masked Guards | No Face | Oniro | Orochi Hellbeast | Rojack | Quinn | Rook | Ruby | Ruutuu | Siann, Mika and Sora | Tasia | The Kombatant | Unit 5 | Vorpax | Zaggot | Zara | Zenkaro

Evil Races
Centaurians | Hellspawn | Kytinn | Oni | Shokan | Tarkata | Tormentors | Wraith

Evil Organizations
Army of Darkness | Black Dragon Clan | Brotherhood of Shadow | Dragon King's Army | Executioners | Festival of Death | Forces of Darkness | Kahn Guards | Red Dragon Clan | Shaakans | Shadow Assassins | Shadow Priests | Tekunin

Mortal Kombat Legacy
Gadsen | Liu Kang | Peron


This is a subsidiary post of Mechanics of Writing and Reading.

Related posts:

In the ancient world, there was no printing press.  All copies of a document were hand-written copies.  Those who worked with writing were called scribes.

In Jesus’ day, He often criticized “the scribes and Pharisees.”  They were the folks who had the greatest access to the Scriptures.  And, as Jesus said, to whom much is given much is required (Luke 12:47-48).  However, not all Jesus’ references to scribes were negative.  Moreover, Ezra was an Old Testament scribe who distinguished himself quite admirably.  Therefore, we should consider “scribe” as describing a person occupied with writings as opposed to it being a strictly pejorative term.

(An asterisk at the beginning of the citation indicates that there is a reference to scribe without the explicit presence of “scribe.”)

Matthew 5:20

Matthew 13:52

Matthew 23:13

Matthew 23:23  –  “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites…

*Psalm 45:1  –  “…writer.”

Ezra 7:6

Ezra 7:10
Ezra 7:11  –  “…Ezra the priest, the scribe, learned in the words of the commandments of the LORD and His statutes to Israel:”

Ezra 7:21

Nehemiah  –  “…Ezra the priest and scribe…”

*Jeremiah 2:8  –  “…those who handle the law…”

*Habakkuk 2:2  –  “…inscribe it on tablets, that the one who reads it…”


• sunny summer day

    sunny summer day

The summer sun in Mallorca is already warming the island. In this post we will offer some tips for hot weather for staying cool in the heat and tips to avoid sunburn or sun strokes.

What should you pack for your holidays in Majorca? Don’t forget any essential garment. Remember to bring a swimming suit to be able to take a dip in the water and baggy clothes of clear colours to help you stay cool while enjoying the sun.

Avoid being in the sun between 12 and 16h; you can go eat or enjoy a siesta during these hours.

Remember to often use sun protection. Put it on before going into the sun and reapply later. If you are going to spend the whole day on the beach, take a parasol or, if the beach offers services, hiring one is a good option.

If you practice outdoor sports, you may also suffer sunburns, so preparing sun care products is basic. You must know that practicing sports makes you more vulnerable to sun stroke and you should avoid the hottest hours of the day.

Hydration is essential in warm weather; you have to drink a lot of water and avoid consuming too much alcohol or caffeine. Alcohol prevents the body from activating alert mechanisms when your body temperature rises and caffeine increases the metabolism, causing heat intolerance symptoms.

To maintain safety in hot temperatures, one should know how to recognise when you start to feel unwell in order to prevent worse harm. Cold sweat, fatigue, an excessive sense of thirst or migraine are signs that alert you to take a break from being in the sun and the heat. In these cases, the best thing is to rest in a fresh place with your legs in the air, and when you feel better, take a shower or apply cold water to your thighs and armpits to help reduce your temperature.

If you suffer sunburns, give your skin the time it needs to repair. Until the redness and peeling disappear, it’s best you don’t expose yourself too much to the sun. Use a hat and clothes to cover your body. Visit a doctor if the burns are serious.

Heat is coming! We are sure you will spend the best holidays in our beach hotel and enjoy the Majorca sun to the fullest with these hot weather safety tips.

Make your reservation!#1And enjoy discounts on your extras
plus a backpack as a free gift


2S Albumins, Plant: A major class of water-soluble seed storage proteins. Many proteins from this class are major PLANT ALLERGENS.Albumins: Water-soluble proteins found in egg whites, blood, lymph, and other tissues and fluids. They coagulate upon heating.Antigens, Plant: Substances found in PLANTS that have antigenic activity.Plants, Genetically Modified: PLANTS, or their progeny, whose GENOME has been altered by GENETIC ENGINEERING.Serum Albumin: A major protein in the BLOOD. It is important in maintaining the colloidal osmotic pressure and transporting large organic molecules.Sesamum: A plant genus of the family PEDALIACEAE that is the source of the edible seed and SESAME OIL.Plant Proteins: Proteins found in plants (flowers, herbs, shrubs, trees, etc.). The concept does not include proteins found in vegetables for which VEGETABLE PROTEINS is available.Bertholletia: A plant genus of the family Lecythidaceae which is the source of edible Brazil nuts.Nuts: Botanically, a type of single-seeded fruit in which the pericarp enclosing the seed is a hard woody shell. In common usage the term is used loosely for any hard, oil-rich kernel. Of those commonly eaten, only hazel, filbert, and chestnut are strictly nuts. Walnuts, pecans, almonds, and coconuts are really drupes. Brazil nuts, pistachios, macadamias, and cashews are really seeds with a hard shell derived from the testa rather than the pericarp.Plant Leaves: Expanded structures, usually green, of vascular plants, characteristically consisting of a bladelike expansion attached to a stem, and functioning as the principal organ of photosynthesis and transpiration. (American Heritage Dictionary, 2d ed)Seeds: The encapsulated embryos of flowering plants. They are used as is or for animal feed because of the high content of concentrated nutrients like starches, proteins, and fats. Rapeseed, cottonseed, and sunflower seed are also produced for the oils (fats) they yield.Plants, Toxic: Plants or plant parts which are harmful to man or other animals.Plant Roots: The usually underground portions of a plant that serve as support, store food, and through which water and mineral nutrients enter the plant. (From American Heritage Dictionary, 1982; Concise Dictionary of Biology, 1990)Genes, Plant: The functional hereditary units of PLANTS.Serum Albumin, Bovine: Serum albumin from cows, commonly used in in vitro biological studies. (From Stedman, 25th ed)Arachis hypogaea: A plant species of the family FABACEAE that yields edible seeds, the familiar peanuts, which contain protein, oil and lectins.Plant Extracts: Concentrated pharmaceutical preparations of plants obtained by removing active constituents with a suitable solvent, which is evaporated away, and adjusting the residue to a prescribed standard.Plant Shoots: New immature growth of a plant including stem, leaves, tips of branches, and SEEDLINGS.Protein PrecursorsPlants, Medicinal: Plants whose roots, leaves, seeds, bark, or other constituent parts possess therapeutic, tonic, purgative, curative or other pharmacologic attributes, when administered to man or animals.DNA, Plant: Deoxyribonucleic acid that makes up the genetic material of plants.Plant Development: Processes orchestrated or driven by a plethora of genes, plant hormones, and inherent biological timing mechanisms facilitated by secondary molecules, which result in the systematic transformation of plants and plant parts, from one stage of maturity to another.Amino Acid Sequence: The order of amino acids as they occur in a polypeptide chain. This is referred to as the primary structure of proteins. It is of fundamental importance in determining PROTEIN CONFORMATION.Plant Cells: Basic functional unit of plants.Plant Stems: Parts of plants that usually grow vertically upwards towards the light and support the leaves, buds, and reproductive structures. (From Concise Dictionary of Biology, 1990)Genome, Plant: The genetic complement of a plant (PLANTS) as represented in its DNA.Arabidopsis: A plant genus of the family BRASSICACEAE that contains ARABIDOPSIS PROTEINS and MADS DOMAIN PROTEINS. The species A. thaliana is used for experiments in classical plant genetics as well as molecular genetic studies in plant physiology, biochemistry, and development.Molecular Sequence Data: Descriptions of specific amino acid, carbohydrate, or nucleotide sequences which have appeared in the published literature and/or are deposited in and maintained by databanks such as GENBANK, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), National Biomedical Research Foundation (NBRF), or other sequence repositories.Plants, Edible: An organism of the vegetable kingdom suitable by nature for use as a food, especially by human beings. Not all parts of any given plant are edible but all parts of edible plants have been known to figure as raw or cooked food: leaves, roots, tubers, stems, seeds, buds, fruits, and flowers. The most commonly edible parts of plants are FRUIT, usually sweet, fleshy, and succulent. Most edible plants are commonly cultivated for their nutritional value and are referred to as VEGETABLES.Plant Structures: The parts of plants, including SEEDS.Plant Growth Regulators: Any of the hormones produced naturally in plants and active in controlling growth and other functions. There are three primary classes: auxins, cytokinins, and gibberellins.


Wedding haka – level 2

28-01-2016 07:00

A groom’s family performed a haka at his wedding in New Zealand. They were shouting, hitting the floor with their feet and making scary faces.

They performed the traditional dance to show respect to the Maori bride. She, as well as her husband, were clearly moved by the haka. They even joined in themselves.

Difficult words: groom and bride (a man and a wife after their wedding), haka (a traditional Maori ceremonial dance), Maori (relating to the native people of New Zealand).

You can read the original story and watch the video in the Level 3 section.

Is there a traditional dance at a wedding in your country, too?

If you read and listen to two articles every day, your reading and listening skills can improve fast. You can learn quickly and after some time you will not have to translate into your own language. You will simply understand. Why should you do this?

Students, who translate English texts, do exercises and do tests are very good at translating, doing exercises and doing tests, but they have problems with understanding English in real life. In real life, nobody waits for your translation. People usually use simple English when they speak but they use it fast. You have to understand with no translation to your native language. If you translate, you cannot be part of communication because you are thinking about the language too much. These words are maybe hard to read but they are true.

You also have to hear every new word 5 to 10 times if you want to remember it. That’s why we use the same words in one level. If you read and hear the same words again and again, you will understand them and remember them. If you know words from one level, you can go to a higher level and learn new words. It is important to go step by step, and read and listen to words which are used in English often. This is what we do with our news. In our short news, we use words which are used in English often. Level 1 has the 1000 most important words. Level 2 has the 2000 most important words, Level 3 has the 3000 most important words.

So, if you want to understand English fast and learn fast, read two articles or more a day. You can improve your reading and listening quickly when you read easy English news. We will help you learn English fast and understand it. When you use this website every day, you can learn 3000 words which you need for communication with anybody in English.

How to improve your English with News in Levels:

  1. Read all today’s articles and translate all words which you don’t understand.
  2. Read the articles from the day before and see if you remember all new words.

  1. Listen to all today’s news.
  2. Stop the video after every sentence and repeat the sentence.
  3. Repeat point 2 for the news which you listened to the day before.

  1. Answer the questions under today’s news and write them into the comments.
  2. Chat in our Facebook Group for at least 2 minutes. You can write about today’s news.

  1. Choose one person from the SKYPE section.
  2. You can talk about today’s news or you can answer questions from

If you want to know how to learn English effectively, please visit


How can the Eagles improve this offseason?

Video: The Inquirer's Jeff McLane discusses what to look out for this offseason, including the CBA, coaches, the draft, free-agency, and the quarterbacks with CineSport's Noah Coslov.

Download our NEW iPhone/Android app for even more Birds coverage, including app-exclusive videos and analysis. Get it here.


Posts Tagged ‘teleological’

It’s easy to see how myths about the “man in the moon” got started, isn’t it?  We look up, pareidolia kicks in, and voilà! insta-myth.  But this tendency isn’t really anything surprising, is it?  Everyone has heard the stories about seeing the Virgin Mary in a piece of toast or Osama bin Laden in the smoke billowing from the twin towers on September 11, 2001.

In a twist on these fantastic stories, I submit to you the following thesis: arguments for the existence of god are no different than arguments for the existence of the man in the moon.

When we look up at the moon on a clear night we see a pattern of craters and mountains that, from 238,855 miles away, can often appear to take the form of a human face.  Of course, we know that the moon does not really have a “face,” but our mind can sometimes trick us into thinking that it does.  Essentially we are taking something aleatoric and incomprehensible, a blurry topography of mountains and craters on the moon, and substituting, in its place, something we can comprehend, a human face: we’re trying to make sense of the data set with which our senses have provided us.  Efforts of this nature are analogous to the argument that (most) people make for the existence of god.

As arguments for god’s existence go, Aquinas’ “teleological argument” is really the only one that still insists on rearing its shriveled head, and will thus be the focus of my criticism.  The so called “ontological argument” fell apart as soon as Anselm realized that believing in unicorns or trolls didn’t make them real, either.  And the “cosmological argument” is so full of bullshit that even a six-year-old can dismantle it.  So, what is it about the teleological argument that has kept it around for so long?

Well, for one thing, it seems to be our natural, human response to take data sets that we do not, or cannot, understand and make sense of them by re-framing them in comprehensible terms.  (On a side note, one unfortunate side effect of this type of “understanding” is that it often allows suppositions about purpose/intention to creep into one’s thinking.)  This is exactly what Thomas was doing when he formulated the teleological argument for the existence of god, and, as the argument is a reflection of mid-13th century thought, we really can’t blame him for lacking the scientific prowess and insight to know better than to use supernatural explanations  to try to account for natural phenomena.  After all, it is only within the last 150-200 years that advances in science and technology have afforded us the opportunity to begin to understand the natural world in natural terms.  That said, another reason behind the staying power of the teleological argument comes to light: the church has been drilling the argument into its subjects for nearly 750 years, and the scientific community has only been able to respond with counter-evidence in the past 200.  However, this persistence does not make the argument tenable: we don’t throw virgins into volcanoes anymore, either.

For those individuals who base their belief in god on the teleological argument, I will grant the following: it almost makes sense.  Before a certain point in history it is very easy to understand why someone, when observing Nature, would ask, “I wonder who created this?”  After all, we can look at a painting and know who painted it.  If we sit down for a home-cooked meal we know who made the food we are about to enjoy.  “Who?” is one of the default questions we learn to ask when searching for (efficient) cause.  But, perhaps most important to our present discussion, “who” implies personhood (or at least intelligent agency).  Thus, the very nature of the question, “Who created Nature?” implies the existence of a sentient being outside of Nature.  (No being within Nature could have created it.)  There are two criticisms of the teleological argument that spin off from this point.

First, and of particular concern for theists, is the anthropomorphic nature of the question, “Who?”  As stated above, the nature of the question implies personhood, and, in most cases, a very human personhood.  This is a problem for theists because it is not at all straightforwardly clear that, if there were a who that created all of Nature, that such a who would be anything like a human being.  To quote Xenophanes,

“Mortals deem that gods are…as they are, and have clothes like theirs, and voice and form…yes, and if oxen and horses or lions had hands, and could paint with their hands, and produce works of art as (humans) do, horses would paint the forms of gods like horses, and and oxen like oxen…” (1)

There is a second criticism that spins off from the question, “Who created this?”  And it is that the efficient cause is not always a who.  Consider an oak tree.  We know that oak trees grow from acorns, and that acorns come from oak trees.  So, if one were to walk outside and ask, “Who created this?” about an oak tree, they would have already confused themselves.  The proper question to ask is, “What state of affairs came about to bring this oak tree into existence?”  This question allows for the involvement of a who within the state of affairs leading up to the tree, but does not constrain the set of possible answers.  And we know the answer to the latter question about the oak tree: an acorn was buried and, over time, grew into the tree.  (Some philosophers think that the answer to this question must be pushed back another level.  They would say that another oak tree caused the oak tree in question, because the first tree supplied the acorn.  Others think that causation must be pushed back even further than second-level.  This may be the case, but at some point practical considerations must limit the depth of inquiry.)

Taking one very large step up in scope, let us apply this same question to Nature as a whole.  As I stated above, before a certain point in history it is very easy to understand why someone, when observing Nature, would ask, “I wonder who created this?”  What they were actually asking may have been something akin to my restated question, “What state of affairs came about to bring ____ into existence?” but they had already partially answered this question, perhaps unconsciously, by assuming that the causal mechanism involved a who.  At one time this was an understandable and acceptable, even expected, assumption.  Today it is neither.  Science and mathematics have provided us with the technology and methodology necessary to understand that much of Nature can be understood and accounted for without having to invoke a who as a causal mechanism.  (And I can think of no reason, aside from a nuclear war, to suspect that we will not, one day, be able to account for all of Nature in naturalistic terms.)  This being the case, any serious consideration of the teleological argument for the existence of god has met its end.

That said, I suppose that it is still possible to believe in a creative deity of some sort, but, as I like to say, an individual with such beliefs is doing little more than stapling god onto the back of a system that doesn’t need the extra weight.  (Occam’s razor)

Besides, isn’t the idea that it all just happened more fascinating anyway?

Void damn the distance.

(1) From Bertrand Russell’s A History of Western Philosophy.

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Posts Tagged ‘health’

So I’m out with my family walking through the giant outdoor mall near my house in Summerlin, a suburb of Las Vegas, and we sneak into Dillard’s to warm up our ears a little. Yes it’s cold in vegas. No I’m not a pansy.

All of a sudden I’m overwhelmed by a scent straight from heaven. Pumpkin spice latte aroma is tempting me. Damn you!

I’m usually a stronger man but this stuff is sucking the life out of me.

Must. Not. Succumb.

Damn. Too late.

Well at least my belly is warm now…

Caffeine in small controlled amounts can be a great thing. Overdoing it all the time can damage your adrenal glands so make sure you’re not overdoing it.

That includes that pre-workout you gobble down every night before your CrossFit class.

Ok back to my yummy beverage

If you have problems serving healthy foods because
of the prices, you’ll find these tips to be just
what you need to eat healthy on a budget.

1. Eliminate junk food
Doing your shopping on your own is the easiest way
to shop, as children and sometimes spouses are
usually the ones requesting junk food. Shopping
alone will prevent this, and ensure that you only
buy the foods you need.

2. Water or milk instead of soft drinks
You can still enjoy your favorite drinks at a
sporting event or night out, although you should
stick with the smallest size when shopping to save
money and calories. Children and even adults need
milk or milk products on a daily basis. Milk will
also help you get strong and provides calcium for
healthy bones and healthy teeth.

3. Buy fruits in quantity
Whne they are in season, buy fruits in quantity
and freeze any extras. You can buy several pounds
this way, and freeze extras to have them when the
fruit goes out of season. Wash the fruit well,
remove any spoiled pieces, dry thoroughly, then
freeze in plastic zipper bags.

4. Meats and beans
Meats and beans are the best sources for protein.
Lean meat is more expensive than meats with a lot
of fat. Canned beans are a great deal as well,
as they give you protein at a great price.

5. Beans as a substitute
You should use beans a substitute for meat on a
frequent occasion. There are several varieties,
so you can prepare them in a crock pot, so when
you return home they are ready to consume.

The USDA recommends eating beans at least 4 times
per week. If you experience gas after eating
beans you should try washing them, covering them
with water, bringing the water to a boil, then
draining it off and refilling the pot.

6. If you live in a coastal area or an area
where fish are around, make that an integral
part of your diet. You can catch them from the
lakes or rivers, saving money in the process.

7. Peanut butter is great for those on a budget
as it’s popular with almost everyone. You can
use it for sandwiches instead of eating hot
dogs. It does need to be refrigerated, although
bigger jars can last you for weeks.

8. You should fill up with foods that have a high
content of water. Watermelon, salads, and even
sugar free gelatin are all great examples.

Eating healthy is always something you can’t go
wrong with. You can eat healthy for just a few
bucks, which makes it perfect for those on a
budget. Now, you don’t need a lot of money to have
the lifestyle and health you’ve always wanted.

It’s important that we eat plenty of different fruits and vegetables every day. Diets rich in fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases. Fruits and vegetables provide essential vitamins and minerals, fiber, and other substances that are important for good health. Most fruits and vegetables are naturally low in fat and calories and are filling.

You’ve probably heard about the 5 A Day for Better Health program.  It provides easy ways to add more fruits and vegetables into your daily eating patterns. It’s vital that we eat a wide variety of colorful orange/yellow, red, green, white, and blue/purple vegetables and fruit every day. By eating vegetables and fruit from each color group, you will benefit from the essential vitamins, minerals, and fiber that each color group has to offer alone and in combination.

There’s several different yet simple ways to start incorporating vegetables and fruit into your familiar and favorite meals. You can begin your day with 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice, slice bananas or strawberries on top of your cereal, or have a salad with lunch and an apple for an afternoon snack. Include a vegetable with dinner and you already have about 5 cups of fruits and vegetables. You may even try adding a piece of fruit for a snack or an extra vegetable at dinner.

Don’t be afraid to try something new to increase your vegetable and fruit intake. There are so many choices when selecting fruits and vegetables. Kiwifruit, asparagus, and mango may become your new favorite. Keep things fresh and interesting by combining fruits and vegetables of different flavors and colors, like red grapes with pineapple chunks, or cucumbers and red peppers.

Get in the habit of keeping fruits and vegetables visible and easily accessible – you’ll tend to eat them more. Store cut and cleaned produce at eye-level in the refrigerator, or keep a big colorful bowl of fruit on the table.

If you have a child of 6 to 8 years old that wants
to start exercising and lifting weights, you may
find yourself wondering what you should do. While
some think it is perfectly fine for children to
exercise, there are others that think differently.

The long and short of it is that yes, it is
beneficial for your child to partake in exercise
or a weight training regimen although there are a
few things that you should keep in mind once this
starts to happen.

No matter how you look at it, children aren’t
minature adults and therefore you can’t use the
same methods with growing children that you can use
with adults, as children are different from adults
emotionally, anatomically, and physiologically.

All children have immature skeletons, as their
bones don’t mature until they get 14 – 22 years of
age. With girls, exercise during childhood can
have very critical effects on bone health that
can last for their entire lives.

Children are often times vulnerable to growth
related overuse injuries such as Osgood schlatter
disease. Children have immature temperature
regulation systems due to their having a large
surface area compared to their muscle mass which
will cause them to be more susceptible to injury
when they aren’t properly warmed up.

Children don’t sweat as much as adults do, so
they will be more susceptible to heat exhaustion
as well as a heat stroke. Due to their low muscle
mass and immature hormone system, it makes it
harder for them to develop strength and speed.
Their breathing and heart response during
exercise are also different from an adults, which
will affect their capacity for exercise.

On the other hand, young boys and girls can
drastically improve their strength with weight
training although opposed to adults, neurological
factors instead of muscle growth factors are mostly

When you consider programs for children, first and
foremost you should obtain a medical clearance.
The first approach to designing a program is to
establish a repetition range of 8 – 12 and keep
the work load appropriate for the range.

You should ensure that workouts are spread out
enough to have at least 1 – 2 full days of rest
between workouts. The main focus when working out
should be on the form of every exercise performed,
and not on the amount of weight being lifted.

Before weight training, warm up and stretching
should be done. Start your children off with light
loads and then make adjustments accordingly. No
more than 3 non consecutive exercise sessions
should be done in a week. You should also see to
it that they drink plenty of water before, during,
and after exercise. Getting enough water is very
important with exercise, as it is often times very
easy to get dehydrated – especially with children.

Well the dieting season is upon us again. Now is the time that people who go onto diets automatically think; starvation, cut-down, eat lettuce, bored taste buds, joyless eating, eat more lettuce. Boring diets, deprivation diets, “faddy” diets, food group eliminating diets, most commercial diets send out the wrong message. Your body is not an enemy that needs to be starved into submission to give up fat.

By building healthy eating habits into your daily food intake can and should be enjoyable. Don’t forget you need to healthy and happy at the same time.

We eat food for a reason and each food has specific benefits and potential drawbacks, take alcohol, studies have shown that alcohol can be good for you, but in the right amounts. Fat can be good for you and some are labeled essential. Chocolate is good for you but can be harmful. The above foods are said to protect against high blood pressure and heart disease. But if you eat nothing but grapefruits, lettuce and the odd tomato you will be loading up with certain vitamins but will definitely be lacking in most of the others, including the much needed minerals. The key to a healthy diet is balance. Too much of anything can hurt. But not enough of everything will hurt the body even more.

Think about it this way; How far would your car go without enough fuel, or without oil, not very far before you’re on the side of the road scratching you head saying “wonder how that happened?” The secret is to be conscious of what fuel and oil you use. Some are better than others and can help you run longer on less fuel. To Fuel your body for optimal performance whilst losing weight (fat) there are four major strategies you would need to adopt to when setting up your weight loss nutrition plan.

  • Control your food portions. You don’t need monster portions.
  • Make smart substitutions in the diet like mustard instead of mayonnaise on sandwiches; you will save 88 calories and may enjoy it better.
  • Focus on power foods. A high protein, high fibre, complex carbs gives you a filling meal rather than a starvation meal.
  • Watch your eating habits, mindless munching, emotional binging, and twice-a-day monster feedings will lower the metabolism and leave the pounds where they are.

The term “diet” really means “a way of life”

A diet is all about numbers-number of calories you eat and burn, numbers on the scale when you weigh yourself. The success of a diet is defined in terms of how well you stick to the numbers. The normal diet mentality assumes that reaching a certain weight is your key to finding happiness and solving life’s problems. But if you mess up on one day it can be upsetting-it means you’ve messed up on everything that matters in the world.

A Lifestyle change is all about you. It’s about changing your eating and physical activities to reach your specific goal. Your success is defined in terms of how the lifestyle changes make you feel about yourself. The lifestyle approach assumes that being overweight is usually the result of other problems not the cause. Addressing these problems directly is the best way to solve both the problems themselves and your weight issues at the same time. This means focusing on many things, not just the numbers in the calories that you eat or the numbers on the scale. Numbers only tell a small part of the story. The bad numbers often gives you clues into areas that need attention and change.

Going on a diet involves an external and temporary change in your eating habits. You start by measuring and counting. You stop eating some foods and substitute others. Based on a few rules of whatever diet plan you are using. You assume it is the diet that produces the results, not you yourself. The results of a diet are external; if your lucky you may change the outside but not on the inside. Normally once you reach your goal weight, you don’t need the diet anymore and then things gradually go back to “normal”. Then so does the weight, plus more. And all the problems that you hoped that the diet would solve are still there.

Making a lifestyle change involves an internal and permanent change in your relationship with food, eating, and your physical activity. You should recognize that the primary problem isn’t what you eat, or even how much you eat, but how and why you eat. Eating mindlessly and impulsively (without intention or awareness) and/or using food to manage your emotions and distract yourself from unpleasant thoughts—this is what really needs to change. Learning to take good care of yourself emotionally and physically, so that you don’t want to use eating to solve problems it really can’t. Dieting is a lifelong learning process that is constantly changing as your needs and circumstances change.

This doesn’t mean things on the surface don’t matter. Clearly, controlling how much and what you eat is vital, and caring how you look and feel is the great motivator. The key to both permanent weight loss (fat) and feeling satisfied and happy with yourself and your life is for you to take personal responsibility for what you can control, and let go of everything else that is holding you back.

Many factors that are normally out of your control can be your genes, age, medical status and your previous weight history; all will or can affect your weight and appearance. These factors may determine how much weight you can lose, how quickly you’ll lose it, and how you’ll look and feel when you’ve gone as far as you can go. When you focus too much on your weight on the scale or what you see in the mirror, you are staking your happiness and satisfaction on things you really can’t control. That pretty much guarantees that you’ll be chronically worried, stressed, and uncomfortable and will be more likely than ever to have problems with emotional eating and will struggle to lose the body fat.

When you rely too much on external (diet) tools, techniques, and rules to determine your behaviour, you are turning over your personal responsibility to the tools and techniques. If you find yourself frequently losing motivation or feeling powerless to control your own behaviour, it’s probably because you’re counting on the tools to do your part of the work for you. You’re the only one who can decide what’s right for you; only you can change your attitude and perspective to achieve what you want to achieve.

Winter weather can deter even the most dedicated exercisers. Less daylight, colder temperatures, and the temptation to curl up under warm blankets makes keeping up with your exercise routine exponentially more difficult. However, just because the temperature outside has dropped doesn’t mean you have to drop your outdoor exercise regimen. There are some simple ways to burn calories outdoors even while the weather is frightful. To be successful, you’ll want to make outdoor exercise as easy and fun as possible.

Stay Safe Out There

Take note of the weather conditions and wind chill factor before you plan your outdoor activities, and dress appropriately for the weather. Your best bet is to dress in layers–this allows you to remove outerwear as you get warm and start to sweat and then put them back on as you get cold.

Be sure to protect your hands, feet, and ears from the elements. When it gets cold outside, your body’s blood flow concentrates in your core, and this increases the risk of your getting frostbite on these areas. Wear thick gloves and socks as well as earmuffs or a hat or headband that covers your ears.

If you plan to exercise outside in the dark, you need to dress in reflective clothing. To prevent falls on the ice and snow, opt for shoes with plenty of traction.

Additionally, take care to stay adequately hydrated. You may not feel as though you need to drink as much as you would during the hot summer months, but you’ll likely still be sweating and will need to replenish the fluids lost through perspiration and breathing. If your exercise will last only an hour or less, water should be your first choice. If you’re going to be doing vigorous exercise that lasts longer than an hour, choose beverages with electrolytes, such as sports drinks.

Extend Your Warm-Up Exercises

When the weather turns cold, your body gets cold, too. You will need more time to warm up your tight muscles and get the blood flowing to prevent injuries. You can even do your warm-up exercises indoors and then head outside for the remainder of your workout.

Outdoor Exercises

Aside from the usual outdoor exercises such as walking, running, hiking, etc., there are other winter-specific ways to incinerate calories. Shoveling snow is an excellent total body workout, and it takes care of all that snow that’s been piling up in your driveway and on the sidewalk! Be sure to take frequent breaks, however, because the strenuous exercise can raise your heart rate so quickly that it increases risk of cardiac arrest.

If you have children, grandchildren, nieces, or nephews, playing with them in the snow is a fun way to squeeze in some physical activity while also enjoying the company of your loved ones. Build snowmen or snow caves, have snowball fights, go sledding (or snowboarding if the kids are a little older), make snow angels–just get creative out there! You’ll likely have so much fun that you’ll forget how chilly it is outside.

Skiing and snowboarding are a couple of outdoor exercises that you could try. Of course, these require that you live in or visit an area that is conducive to these types of exercise. Even if you are a beginner, most places have instructors that can assist you, and there are usually specific areas where beginners can safely practice their new sport.

Now get outside and torch some calories!

As you may know, not fueling up with the right
nutrients can affect how well your body performs
and your overall fitness benefits. Even though
healthy eating is important, there are myths that
hinder your performance if you listen to them.

Below, you’ll find some myth busters on healthy

1. Working out on an empty stomach.
If you hear a rumbling noise in your stomach, the
rumbling is trying to tell you something. Without
listening to them, you are forcing your body to
run without any fuel. Before you exercise or do
any physical activity, always eat a light snack
such as an apple.

2. Relying on energy bars and drinks.
Although they are fine every once in a while, they
don’t deliver the antioxidants you need to prevent
cancer. Fruits and vegetables are your best bets,
as they are loaded in vitamins, minerals, fluid,
and fiber.

3. Skipping breakfast.
Skipping breakfast is never a good idea, as
breakfast starts the day. Your body needs fuel
as soon as possible, and without it, you’ll be
hungry throughout the day.

4. Low carb diets.
Your body needs carbohydrates for your muscles and
the storing of energy.

5. Eating what you want.
Eating healthy and exercising doesn’t give you an
all access pass to eat anything you want. Everyone
needs the same nutrients whether they exercise or
not, as well as fruits and vegetables.

6. Not enough calories
Although losing weight involves calories, losing
it too quickly is never safe. What you should do,
is aim for 1 – 2 pounds a week. Always make sure
that you are getting enough calories to keep your
body operating smoothly. If you start dropping
weight too fast, eat a bit more food.

7. Skip soda and alcohol.
Water, milk, and juice is the best to drink for
active people. You should drink often, and not
require on thirst to be an indicator. By the time
you get thirsty, your body is already running a
bit too low.

Changing how you eat is always a great step
towards healthy eating and it will affect how your
body performs. The healthier you eat, you better
you’ll feel. No matter how old you may be, healthy
eating is something you should strive for. Once
you give it a chance, you’ll see in no time at
all just how much it can change your life – for the


Category Archives: algebra

Standard Form Equations With An Open Middle

#CMCN14 was lights out good this year.  Amongst the many things I learned new – were a ton of reminders of things that I used to think about but had let slip.  One of those things was the importance of an open middle, where students have a defined beginning and ending, but how they get there is largely up to them.   During Dan Meyer’s talk he challenged us to find an open middle in the routine, procedural fluency building exercises students get.  Most of the great problems have it – but it is a nice tool for tipping the scale for our procedural problems towards a deeper understanding.

Here’s the typical – pretty much closed middle – version of a problem about standard form:

Find the slope, y-intercept, and x-intercept of the following equation in standard form:  3x – 4y = 20

Here’s my one up

Write the equation of a line in standard form where the both intercepts are integers, and the slope is a fraction.

We could really be here all day playing with these

Write the equation of a line in standard form where the x-intercept is a fraction, the y-intercept is 7, and the slope is a negative fraction.

We can even get at MP3

Explain why it is not possible for the slope and x-intercept of a line to be an integer, but the y-intercept a fraction.

Lastly – the Asilomar conference grounds are so amazingly beautiful.  Each tree, slightly beaten from the ocean breeze, stand in stillness as perfect landmarks to perseverance.  And as the sun begins to set, and that air begins to cool, and those stars begin to show – it’s hard to believe that it’s all just the backdrop to a professional development experience.  It’s humbling to be there – I mean you’re walking from presentation to presentation with a program booklet offering the intellects and energies of 200 amazing educators.   But you only get to pick 5…  good luck with that.

Visual Patterns and VNPS & VRG!

I feel like I’ve been preaching the gospel of vertical non-permanent surfaces and visible random groups everywhere I go these days.  The norm is set in my room – I pose the problem, give them a couple minutes of silent thought, put them in groups, and away they go.

Below is a pattern I made up quickly one morning.  It doesn’t look exciting – but guess what?  It’s doesn’t have to be.  It was close enough to full class engagement for me, which was due to a nice combination of:

1.  They believed they could do it.

2.  Vertical non-permanent surfaces and visible random groupings.

3.  Probably some other things I can’t quite pin down yet.

I’ve settled on these as my go-to questions for visual patterns.  I know I got the sketch the 10th idea from Fawn’s blog.  I never used to have them do that but when I started requiring it I was impressed with how helpful it was for a lot of my students when they ultimately wrote the equation.

1.  Sketch the 10th

(helps them immensely when writing the equation)

(sketches aren’t exact drawings.  I tell them I should be able to have them sketch the 1,000,000th)

2. How many blocks are in the 49th?

(too big for a table!  For students struggling to write an equation, having them sketch the 49th usually gets them to get it)

3. How many blocks are in the nth?

(I start the year asking it this way:  “Write an equation that relates the step number to the number of blocks in that step.  (another way to ask this question is:  How many blocks are in the nth step?)”

I would literally have that parenthesis in each problem, until I finally got to drop it.)

4. What is the largest step I could build with 1000 blocks?

The first extension.  My true goal here is the equation in #3.

5. How much of the sequence could I build with 1000 blocks?

 A second extension.  It’s quadratic and I haven’t directly covered quadratics, so it will challenge those kids.  We have talked about Gauss addition so it is not completely out of their range.

On the whiteboards below you will see graphs because in this particular case I also asked them to graph the number of blocks per step, and the total number of blocks needed to build the entire sequence per step. I wanted them to have to graph something non-linear.  I think it helps further highlight what makes things linear when they work with things that aren’t.

They don’t go directly to the whiteboards.  I first give them about 5 minutes to develop their own thoughts in quiet.  Then I group them and they do their thing.

After class I always look at every whiteboard and judge how much of the conclusions are in their writing vs my writing.  I’m not sure what I gain from that but it is a research point for me right now.  There is a little bit of my writing on boards 7 and 5, but they are supplementary thoughts and not the main thinking that I wanted to the students to do.  Here are some of the whiteboards after the activity:

Lastly, after it was finished I had them go back to that paper with their initial thoughts and complete the problem on paper. I give them graph paper and rulers and have them make nice graphs to turn into me.  In some sense, one could think of the paper as the assignment as the whiteboard as a giant scaffolding.  But in another sense the whiteboards could be the assignment, and the paper is something that goes in the notes.  Or in another sense…

Monomial Partners

“What’s your name, what’s your monomial?”

This is a great activity that was inspired by Matt Vaudrey’s Equation Speed Dating.  In this lesson each student gets to create their own monomial – which I constrained to having to be even and with a variable.  Then they break up their paper into three columns:  Partner / Our Binomial / Our Rectangle.  The students pick a partner and join each others monomials together to create “Our Binomial”.  Then they factor their binomial and represent it as a rectangle by labeling it’s dimensions and indicating the area.  I circulate the room and once it appears every group is finished, I have everyone get up and find a new partner.  I’m demanding here that all students get up out of their seats and move somewhere new.

After a couple rounds I started having them draw their monomial and their partners monomial as separate rectangles, and then draw them together.

I have been focusing on a geometric approach to factoring, so the rectangle column was a great addition to previous times when I have done this activity but only asked for the solution.

The column “Our Binomial” does a nice job reinforcing that a binomial is the combination of two monomials.

The Advice

Don’t require them to say “what’s your monomial?”, “do you agree that our binomials is….  “, but inspire them to say it by modeling it.  A lot of my students were saying it because I was giving them messages that anytime they get the chance to say “monomial” or “binomial” they need to take it.

Tell the students not to move onto a new partner when they are finished.  They need to wait until you tell them to switch partners.

Remind them that you are really counting on the partners to catch any errors! Because you can’t do the problems on the board since every pair is working a different problem.  “And yes, you are the partner I am counting on for someone else.”

“What’s your name, what’s your monomial?”   No that’s not a pickup line for Speed Dating…  or is it?

Explaining “Explain”

Here is a released question from Smarter Balanced (I even answered it!!!):

Ok I lied.   That was an edited version of a Smarter Balanced question – here’s the original:

ExplainingExplain1Now all of a sudden my answer doesn’t seem sufficient anymore 😦   Here’s my best guess at a popular student answer:

This word “explain” is keeping me up at night lately.  In this problem I’m not sure adding the word explain to the end gains us enough to warrant it.  To achieve Common Core we can’t just throw the word “explain” after every problem we did last year and call it a day.  By the way I’m not saying that’s what the Smarter Balanced Consortium did on this particular problem.  But this use of the word “explain” does bring two things to mind:

1.  It’s hard to explain your mathematical reasoning without access to drawing diagrams.

2.  If we ask students to explain something – it should be something worth explaining.

With respect to #1 – my focus this year has been on explanations through multiple representations.  Basically I have students make connections between diagrams, tables, graphs, mathematical symbols, and written descriptions.  I feel underwhelmed asking students to explain with just a typed explanation.  I want explanations to look like this:

In the student work above – image if it was only the conclusion.  Look at how much would be lost.

There are certainly better answers to the rectangle problem from Smarter Balanced than I offered up here.  I actually really like the problem itself, I just do not think having them explain it gains us much versus just solving it.

It’s hard to explain the word explain.  It’s a word that only makes sense to me until I try to explain it.

T-Block Visual Pattern

I created this visual pattern as a followup to the I Rule! exercise from MVP.  It is intended to be more difficult than I Rule!.  When I gave this to my students, I included a linear T-Block just like MVP does for I Rule!

I asked them two questions:

1.  How many squares are in the 10th sequence

2.  How many squares are in the nth sequence

Only a couple of my students actually got to the right answer, but the effort was tremendous.  I had students coming to me during lunch and saying they had asked all their friends and they couldn’t figure it out.  Students were telling me they worked with their parents and couldn’t get it.  I had a student (who failed first semester mind you) tell me that her and her two math tutors stayed 45 minutes after their session working on it and couldn’t figure it out.  She had two pages of work.  I have a couple students who get 100% on everything they touch, and they didn’t figure it out.  So yay me!  I challenged them 🙂

Here’s the I Rule! pattern:

Check out many more visual patterns at – a site created and curated by my conference buddy Fawn Nguyen (@fawnpnguyen)

The Goods:

Here is the worksheet I used, not sure if I will include the linear T next year.


I would appreciate the detailed information for chicken coops for 30 hens with enclosed space.

As for the chicken coop for 30 chickens currently we have the OVIFERO model with removable mesh bottom and 4 external nests that allow the collection of the eggs without entering the fence / chicken coop. It is a particularly appropriate house for rearing hens eggs from the ground. As for the outdoor enclosed space, the higher the better for the birds, in any case it is not advisable to drop below 1 m² for each raised head, leaving the free chickens, when possible in the surrounding soil (if available). The fence can accomplish with the poles and network or completely closed, using our polyethylene network for aviaries.


Unlimited Web Hosting

How much disk space and bandwidth will my plan include?

The limits on the data transfer (bandwidth) that we provide in our Web hosting plans are more than enough for the plan provided. We want you to have the resources you need to build a great online presence most web sites don’t use more than provided. Even the companies that say they provide unlimited hosting put a cap on how much you can actually use for your hosting. The bandwidth limits placed on each account comes form years of research and watching how much our customers use on a monthly basis. We know how much a normal account will use.

That being said, we do require all customers to be fully compliant with our Terms of Service and utilize disk space and bandwidth in the normal operation of a personal or small business website. While it is rare, we may need to put constraints on accounts that are using resources that impact other customers.

Typically, customers only run into issues if they use their accounts for storage or file sharing, which is not what our services are intended to support. In accordance with our Terms of Services the disk space and bandwidth you use must be integrated into the normal operation of your website.

For Example, customers who are affecting other clients or are using 25% or more of system resources for longer then 90 seconds would be in violation. Please see our TOS or contact us for complete details and restrictions.

What happens if I exceed usage?

If we have concerns about your account’s bandwidth or disk space utilization, you will receive an email asking you to reduce usage.

Again, it is very rare for a customer who is managing a personal or small business website to exceed our usage policies.

Also see:
Why do you not offer unlimited Bandwidth?.
Why do you not offer unlimited Hosting?


Computer Networking History

The field of computer networking and today's Internet trace their beginnings back to the early 1960s, a time at which the telephone network was the world's dominant communication network. The global Internet's origin was the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) of the U.S. Department of Defense in 1969. Here are some of the highlights of the progression of computer networking within the last 35 years.

1974 - Ethernet is demonstrated by networking Xerox PARC’s new Alto computers.

1978 - The appearance of the first very small computers and their potential for communication via modem to dial up services.

1981 - Bill Joy incorporates the new TCP/IP suite into the next release of the UNIX operating system. The first “portable” computer is launched in the form of the Osborne, a 24 pound suitcase sized device.

1981 - The IBM PC is launched

1982 - TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol) is established as the standard for ARPANET.

1983 - ARPANET standardizes on the TCP/IP protocols adopted by the Department of Defense.

1986 - TCP/IP is available on workstations and PCs such as the newly introduced Compaq portable computer.

1987 - The number of network hosts breaks 10,000.

1989 - The number of hosts breaks 100,000.

1990 - ARPANET formally shuts down. Several search tools, such as ARCHIE, Gopher, and WAIS start to appear.

1991 - The NSFNET backbone upgrades to T3 (44 Mbps). A wide-area network developed under the auspices of the National Science Foundation. NSFnet replaced ARPANET as the main government network linking universities and research facilities.

1991- Tim Berners-Lee develops the World Wide Web. Lee is the director of the World Wide Web Consortium, which oversees its continued development. CERN also releases the first Web server.

1992 - The WWW bursts into the world and the growth of the Internet explodes.


Cutting the Containers (Week 4)

So the elctricity dept guys arrived today, we have no box to connect to, the closest is about 150m away, so the entire road way is going to have to be dug up, which means we have to keep using generators. Really annoying. Same thing with the  Sewerage connection. Nadda there, they have to dig up the road too. Meanwhile we are cutting away the deck section and the 45 degree section, posts must be welded in place to support the roof. The internal walls are being cut out. I felt a bit of a sag on the one section when we cut the entire wall away. This is  expected as you are cutting way part of the stucture, this will become completely rigid again when we weld it to the other floor. Essentially you weld everything to everything else, if it does not meow or bark weld it!


Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Movie: The Godfather Series

Well then.  What is there to say about a series that has been hailed as legendary since before I was born.  There really isn't anything more I can add to the heaps of critical analysis and praise this series has received over the years, but I am going to talk about it anyway.  I had never seen The Godfather movies until just recently.  I have always admired De Nero and Pacino's work, so it is a little ironic I haven't seen these movies until now.  I finally got the urge to sit down and watch them.  Man, are they long.  They certainly evoke an epic aura of classic from start to finish.

Unless you have purposefully avoided classic crime movies, or the length of them has daunted you, you probably have seen these movies already.  If you haven't, I recommend you give them a try.  In The Godfather, the story follows the Sicilian Corleone family.  Don Corleone is the tired old Godfather who, like the other members of the great five families, is essentially is large and in charge.  He has a host of sons, one of which is Al Pacino.  Through a series of events, Italian opera music is played and dramatic scenes of disrespect and vengeance are rolled out.

The Godfather Part II is more of the same, only better.  It focuses on Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) once more, as well as a flashback younger version of Don Vito Corleone (Robert De Nero), which serves as background story on how the Don climbed his way to the top.  This movie was around 4 hours long and extremely well done.
The Godfather Part III has been held as the weakest of the films in the series. Without spoiling much, it revolves around a more tired, depressed, but wiser Michael Corleone.  In it, the older Michael wishes to expunge himself from all ties to crime and go a more legitimate route, while his other business partners want to maintain the way things have been.  While I agree that it is the weakest of the films, being that a lot of the key players from the earlier films are no longer involved, it is still a very well done film and worthy of The Godfather name.

Overall this is a great series from the past.  There is a reason why they are considered classics.  In an age before fancy special effects were largely incorporated, a special tale of blunt realism and well crafted dialogue was put forth. If you ever find yourself yearning for the best mafia flicks, or haven't seen them in a while, give this series a viewing.  You may like it now that you've grown a little more.  Now shut up, kiss the hand and pay the Don a little respect.

  1. I have never seen them and a part of me never wants to see them. I hear good things but if I watch it I might not like it. I instead have left them in the limbo of my mind. I want to watch them but probably never will. I will forever want to see them.

  2. I've seen them when I was a kid but now that you brought them up I feel like I should rewatch them with my more developed mind.

  3. I've seen them all, many times. It's really hard to not see them.

  4. I've still not seen the Godfather, even though everyone insists I do.


Legal Recruitment from Ten-Percent Legal

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Minimum Wage and the Legal Profession

Minimum Wage and the Legal Profession

Over the last few months we have posted fairly junior job vacancies for a couple of our member law firms (ie firms who have signed up to TenPercentUnlimited - google for further info). One was for a receptionist at a salary of £13,000 and the other a paralegal for £14,000. We received a couple of responses, one of which is below (and quite fair I thought!):
"I [have] reported you for offering a low salary of £13000 which is under [the] minimum wage. A person who needs to pay rent, transport, food and try to save, will never be able to live a decent human life with that salary. Shame on you for offering slavery! You are disgusting."
I sympathise entirely with this thinking (who on earth can live on £13,000 in London?) and had a look into the regulations in a bit more detail. We often get confused by the hourly rate translating into annual salary levels and as a result thought it might assist to publish our understanding of the figures. Please let us know if we are wrong.
As we understand it the hourly rates are as follows (as at 9th May 2017):
25 years+ = £7.50 per hour
21-24 years = £7.05 per hour
18-20 years = £5.60 per hour
This means that in terms of salary (assuming a 8 hours x 5 day x 52 week year) the minimum wage levels are:
25 years+ = £15,600
21-24 years = £14,664
18-20 years = £11,648
As such the advert for a receptionist at £13,000 was clearly below the level for anyone over the age of 20 years, and in fact by advertising at that level I presume the vacancy demonstrated discrimination on the grounds of age (as the firm would only be able to employ and pay staff under 20 years old at a rate of £13,000 per annum).
From this point onwards we, as a recruitment agency, will be more vigilant for vacancies like this one, but it is quite clear that the thinking amongst some law firms needs to change. £13,000 for a full time receptionist in London (or indeed anywhere else) is way too low for anyone to survive unless they are getting considerable support from state benefits on top.
I had noticed some time ago that there was a charity called The Living Wage Foundation encouraging companies to pay a Living Wage and that this level was higher then the government's definition. For example the charity considers the rate should be £8.45 outside of London. Being that we have a campaign to look at excessive charity pay (see our website and click the charity links) I thought I would have a look at the structure of the Living Wage Foundation. As a charity that campaigns for fair pay for all I would have imagined that the level of remuneration across the charity would be similarly fair and reasonable. Other charities, including Medicins San Frontieres, have policies such as not paying any member of staff more than 3 x the lowest person paid.
Other charities don't pay any staff over £60k even when they have considerable budgets and staffing levels to manage.
However according to the Charity Commission website, the charity running the The Living Wage Foundation, Citizens UK, paid their chief executive between £70 and 80k in 2016 with pension contributions to add to this of £7,473. Assuming a £70k salary, 52 week year and a 40 hour week, this equates to £37.24 per hour including the pension contributions. Is this fair pay, particularly from a charity promoting fair pay?

1 comment:

Jonathan Fagan said...

Message from one of our candidates:

Dear Jonathan,
I think that your calculation for the minimum wage is wrong. You should include the holidays (28 days including bank holidays). So (52*5-28)= working days that you can multiply by the hours for day.

Best regards


Nature of Sound – Activities

FOCUS: Sound is what we hear when something is vibrating. The vibrating object – whether a violin string, a singing bird, or a gurgling brook – creates a sound wave that travels to our ears, where we interpret its meaning. Sound waves need a medium like air, water, or a solid through which to move; they cannot pass through a vacuum. The Earth’s atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere provide a way for sounds to travel. Many animals depend on sound to learn about their surroundings and to communicate with others of their kind.

Objective: To begin to explore and ask questions about sound.

Ask children to put their hands on their own throats as they make a noise like a frog and sing like a bird. What do they notice? Next, ask all children to make a “shush” sound. Do they notice a difference?

Objective: To investigate what is happening when something makes a sound.

Give each child or pair of children a paint stick. Have one child place the stick flat on a table or desk, so that about two thirds of it extends out beyond the edge. Have the child hold the stick firmly, pressing down on it with the heel of one or both hands. Have the other child pluck the free end of the stick so that it vibrates up and down. Does it make a sound? What about when it stops moving? (The sound stops.) Have everyone sing a note and feel their throats to feel the vibrating vocal chords. If available, play a guitar string, drum or cymbal to show how it vibrates when making a sound. What is happening when something makes a sound? (It is vibrating.) Have them experiment with making the stick shorter (less of it extending beyond the table edge) and longer (more of the stick extending beyond the table edge). How does the sound change? (Longer is slower and sounds lower.)

Optional: Have the children “play” paint sticks as you conduct them. Conduct them to play faster and slower, louder and softer, as you wave your arms, and then to stop when you stop.

Materials: wooden paint sticks, one for each child or pair of children; optional: guitar, drum, cymbal or other instruments.

PUPPET SHOW “Calls of the Wild”
Objective: To learn how different animals hear and make sounds, and how sounds are important in their lives.

Perform the puppet show, or have a group of children perform it for the class. Afterward, ask questions to review the key details and vocabulary in the story. How was sound important to the different animals in the puppet show? (Chickadee – contact calls, listening for danger; woodpecker – finding food, advertising territory; jay – alarm, warning others; hare – knowing the weather, knowing where he is, listening for predators.) What are some other ways that sound is important in our lives or those of animals? (Calling for help, young begging for food, crossing roads, enjoying music, speaking, etc.)

Materials: puppets, script, stage, three signs for audience participation.

Objective: To model different ways animals produce, hear, and use sound for communication.

Give each pair or small group of children a card with a picture of their animal and words for its sound. Explain that each team will do a short skit, acting out their animal and making its sound. When the rest of the class guesses their animal, a child from that team or an adult may tell the group one interesting fact about it from the Animal Sound-Off card. If available, play sound recordings of the animals as well. What are some different ways that animals make and hear sounds, and what messages do they communicate?

Materials: sound recordings of each animal, Animal Sound-Off cards.

UPPER GRADES CHALLENGE: Reading Oscillograms (Grades 5-6)
Objective: To learn how to read oscillograms and use them to distinguish the calls of different owl species.

One way scientists represent sounds visually is to look at the way the amplitude of sound (loudness) changes with time. This kind of graph is called an oscillogram. Begin by showing the students the oscillogram below while they listen to the recording of the spring peeper calling. The call is a series of short peeps, with periods of quiet in between. The oscillogram for this call looks like this:

Each peep looks like a burst of sound signal (loudness) separated by spaces of very low signal (quiet). Now have students listen to the first owl call and look at the four oscillograms on the Reading Oscillograms page. Have students try to match the call to one of the oscillograms. Repeat with the other three owl calls. How might this kind of graph might be useful for scientists? (This information, particularly when combined with the frequency (pitch) of the sound, can help distinguish different bird calls, or even individual birds.)

(Answers: Owl A: great horned owl; Owl B: saw-whet owl; Owl C: screech owl; Owl D: barred owl.)

Materials: recording of spring peeper calling, barred owl, great-horned owl, saw-whet owl and eastern screech owl; Reading Oscillograms page.

SLINKY WAVES (Grades 3-6)
Objective: To model how a sound wave travels from particle to particle in any medium.

Have two people hold the two ends of a Slinky toy, stretched (slightly) lengthwise on top of a table. Explain that the rings of the slinky are like the particles (molecules) in the air. At one end, have a child squeeze and then release a few of the rings. Watch the wave travel along the slinky, each ring pushing the ring next to it along the slinky. If there is enough force, the wave will reach the end and even return. How is this similar to the way sound moves through the air? (A waving object like the paint stick squeezes the air molecules near it, creating a wave that travels through the air.) How is it different from a sound wave? (In the air, sound waves move outwards in all directions.)

Materials: metal or plastic Slinky™ toy.

Objective: To model and compare how fast sound travels through a solid and a gas.

How fast do sound waves travel in different kinds of materials, such as a gas like air or a solid like metal? In a gas the molecules are far apart and in a solid they are tightly bonded together. Have children form two parallel lines. The children will pass a sound along by tapping hands or (gently) tapping the shoulder of the next child in line. The child at the far end of the line should say “here” when the “sound wave” arrives. Have the children in the Air line spread out so they are about 6 feet apart. Have the children in the Metal line stand shoulder to shoulder. Have a leader say “go” to start the sound wave. Which wave arrives first? Does a sound wave travel faster through a gas or a solid? (Solid.) Why? (The molecules are closer together.)

Objective: To use a model to investigate how sound waves make our eardrums vibrate.

Have children work in small groups with an adult. Place an empty coffee can on a table with a piece of plastic wrap stretched taut over the open end, held in place by a rubber band. Sprinkle some colored sugar crystals on the plastic. Explain that our eardrums are like the plastic, a thin membrane stretched across our ear canal. Now make a short loud sound above the plastic by hitting the small soup can with a metal spoon. Watch the sugar crystals jump when you hit the small soup can. What makes them jump? (Sound waves from the soup can hit the plastic and make it vibrate.) Repeat using a tuning fork to make sound waves. Try holding the tuning fork in different positions to see which works best.

Materials: for each group: a coffee can or other large can, one end removed; plastic wrap, rubber band, colored sugar crystals, metal spoon, small soup can; optional: tuning fork.

Objective: To model how sound travels through our ears and is interpreted by our brains.

Have the children line up in a row. Show them the Human Ear diagram and describe each of the parts and what it does. Then give each child a Build an Ear card that lists one of the parts of the ear. Keep these in order from the pinna (outer ear) to the cochlea (inner ear) and finally the auditory nerve and brain. Explain that when a sound is made by the leader, the pinna will start a wave (raising and lowering hands), and the other ear parts will continue in turn so that the wave travels from the pinna through all the parts of the ear to the brain. Ahead of time, whisper instructions to the “brain” to interpret the sound that is made when the wave arrives (e.g., if the sound made is “quack,” the brain should say “duck.”) To begin, the leader might say, “woof,” the pinna would start the wave and when it gets to the brain, that child would say “dog barking”. Try (or have a few children try) different sounds (quack, moo, meow, etc.).

Materials: Human Ear diagram, Build an Ear cards.

Objective: To investigate the connection between length of a vibrating object and its pitch.

Provide a set of three or four tuning forks in different lengths. Instruct the children on the correct way of using the striker, and how to amplify the sound by holding the stem of the tuning fork upright on a wooden box or wooden table. Have them look closely at the tuning fork to see if any vibration is apparent. They may want to touch the tines to feel the vibrations. Place a dish of water on the table. Have the children try striking the tuning fork and then touching the water. What happens and why? (The vibrations make the water move.)

Now give each child a different length of tuning fork to play. Ask children if they remember whether the sound got lower or higher when they made the paint sticks longer. What is their prediction about the pitches of the different sizes? Have them try a couple of different lengths to test their ideas. Then have them line up in order of size and strike their tuning forks one by one. How is length related to pitch? (Longer is lower, shorter is higher.) What are some low sounds in nature? (Mooing, growls, lion’s roar, bullfrog, rock slides.) High sounds? (Birdsong, spring peepers.)

Materials: set of three or four tuning forks in different lengths, rubber striker, wooden box or wooden table, dish of water.

Objective: To use a model to compare how well sound travels through a solid or a gas.

Ahead of time, tie two two-foot long pieces of string to each coat hanger. Hold up a coat hanger by the strings and tap it with a metal spoon. Ask the children to describe the sound they hear. Remind them that the sound wave is traveling through the air to their ears. Now have children take turns wrapping the string around their fingers and then putting their fingers to their ears, pressing the strings against the bones at the side of the face and at the same time closing their ears. Have the child lean forward so the hanger is not touching any clothing. Now tap the hanger with the spoon again. Ask the child with the hanger to describe the sound now. (Loud, bell-like.) Why is it louder? Point out that the sound wave is traveling through the hanger and the string to the bones of their face and then to their ear – so it is moving through a solid instead of through air. Try again using a cookie rack. Do sounds travel better in solids than in air? (Yes) Why? (The particles – molecules – of a solid are closer together.)

Materials: for each small group: metal coat hanger, string, metal spoon, cookie rack.

Objective: to notice and represent on a map the different sounds heard inside and outside of the school.

Have children work in small groups with an adult. Give each group a map of the school and grounds. Note the time of day and the weather on the map. Tell children they are sound detectives and will be gathering sound evidence, and to do so they’ll need to walk silently and listen carefully. Stop in four or five places inside the school and have the group note sounds heard at different locations – the principal’s office, the music room, the cafeteria, etc. Then go outside and record sounds in four or five places around the school grounds. Keep track of both manmade and natural sounds. Afterward, compare notes with other groups. How many different sounds were identified by the whole class together? What other sounds might you hear at a different time of day, in different weather, or in different seasons?

Materials: for each group: clipboard, paper, pencil, map of school and grounds.

Objective: To investigate the way sound bounces off large surfaces, comparing different kinds of sounds and distances.

How far and how fast can a sound travel? How could we test this? Bring children outside to a place where there is a large, flat wall (e.g. side of a building). Explain that they’ll be listening for echoes. Have them stand in a line about thirty feet away from the wall. On the count of three, clap two wooden blocks together to make a loud, sharp sound. Have the children raise their hands if they could hear both the clap sound and an echo. Now move back another thirty feet so that the line is sixty feet away from the wall. Again, have the children listen for the clap and an echo. Is the time between clap and echo greater or less? (Greater.) Why might this be? (The clap produces a sound that travels only the short distance from the blocks to our ears and so it arrives first. The sound wave also travels the distance to the wall and back, so we hear that sound second. The farther we are from the wall, the greater is the space we hear between clap and echo.) Are there returning echoes from other sources? Look around and consider what other features of the landscape might be producing an echo as well. Try long and short, high and low sounds and compare. What kinds of sounds work best?

Materials: two small wooden blocks.

Objective: To reflect on sounds that make us happy.

Ask children to write about or draw a picture of a favorite sound. Afterwards, have children share their favorite sounds in small groups or a list everyone’s favorite sounds in a large sharing circle.

Materials: science journals or paper and clipboards; pencils, optional: colored pencils.

A Step Beyond

Musical Bottles: Use two similar-sized bottles, one filled half-way with water. Tap each bottle to compare the sound. Which is lower? (The one with water.) Now blow across the bottles to make a tone. Which is lower? (The one without water.) Why the difference? When you tap the bottles, it is the bottle that is vibrating. When you blow, it is the column of air that is vibrating. The bigger the mass, the slower the vibration. The heavier bottle and the taller column of air make the slower, lower vibration.

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Cooking, recipes, English.

Salmon salted with spices.

Salmon salted at home.Cooking and recipes FREE ebook, download totally free, English. Ingredients:
1 kg (2,2 lb) fresh Salmon, cleaned, washed
2 tbsp salt,
1 tbsp sugar,

1. Wash salmon and drain very well.
3. Wrap whole fish with clean (cotton) dish towel very tightly. Put into cellophane package. Wrap the package with fish with paper around. Put into fridge freezer for 3 - 4 weeks.
Thaw. Serve skinned fillet of the salted salmon with bread, butter and parsley.

Salmon salted with spices

Salmon salted with spices

Авторские блюда из даров природы