Mutant fungus kills frogs?

Mutant fungus croaks frogs named after Darwin? CNN. 

Brumfield, Ben. "Mutant Fungus." CNN. Turner Broadcasting System Inc. 27 Nov 13. Web. 03 Dec 13. <http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/27/tech/darwin-frog-croaks/index.html>



      In the article linked above, there is a type of fungi that is mutating and killing all types of amphibians- particularly two types of frogs called Rhinoderma rufum, and Rhinoderma darwinii. These were both named after Charles Darwin, who discovered the Rhinoderma darwinii on a voyage in the 1830's. Rhinoderma rufum is now extinct, with the last reported sighting of them in 1980. Rhinoderma darwinii is not far behind becoming extinct, as it is now on the endangered species list.

     The frogs both are the only known vertebrates (with the exception of seahorses) that are known to "sort of" get pregnant. A study conducted concluded that "males care for their young by incubating them in their vocal sacs for at least part of their development." This process is known as neomelia.

     The fungus that is eliminating the remaining frogs (and other amphibians) is called Chytridiomycosis, which is caused by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). Chytridiomycosis is a disease in amphibians that is thought to possibly have mutated, and have several different strains, each adapting to temperature changes and other environmental factors.

     I do not feel that this effects my personal life in any way, besides maybe if I was to go into any type of research field, or microbiology. However, I feel that this discovery effects many aspects of the research community, and possibly could lead to an extinction of a species, not to mention many other amphibians everywhere Bd is detected in the water.

    Thanks for reading, guys. Stay cool.

Billions of Earth Like Planets?

"Tens of Billions of Planets Out There Like Earth?" CNN.

Lendon, Brad. "Tens of Billions." CNN. Turner Broadcasting System Inc. 05 Nov 13. Web. 12 Nov 13. <http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/05/tech/innovation/billions-of-planets/index.html>  


      In the article above, there is probable cause to believe that there are billions of Earth-like planets. The closest Earth-like planet is only twelve light years away, and on November 5th could be seen with the naked eye.
     Scientists found 3,000 planet candidates by means of the Kepler telescope. Quoting the article, the process went something like this, "The Kepler telescope photographed 150,000 of the 300 billion stars in the Milky Way every 30 minutes for four years. It looked for when orbiting planets passed between the camera and the star, causing a slight change in brightness of that star."
     Astronomers then narrowed the number by focusing on 42,000 stars like our sun, bringing the planet numbers down to 603. Inspecting the planets further, and checking to see if they were in the "Goldilocks zone," brought the numbers closer to 10.
     I believe this is a wonderful discovery for astronomers everywhere, as soon we will have the technology to travel light years in just a few seconds. Imagine having your own planet to visit, whenever you liked. Not mentioning the scientific research and experiments that could possibly be done on the planets. Possible scientific advances could be made just from one planet.
     In my opinion this affects the world by bringing possible scientific advances to it. I also believe it could negatively influence the world by taking people to "mine" for precious metals/gems on other planets.
     If you were interested in seeing the official NASA release, I have the link for you here. (-:
     As usual, I have included a video further explaining the article.

All-terrain Wheelchair Helps Disabled.

All Terrain Wheelchair?
"All terrain wheelchair helps disabled get back on track." CNN.
Angely, Natalie. "Wheelchair Helps." CNN. Turner Broadcasting System Inc. 16 Oct 2013. Web. 18 Oct 2013. http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/16/tech/innovation/all-terrain-wheelchair/index.html

     In the article above, all terrain wheelchairs are a thing of the now. Angely brings up a case of Corporal Michael Boucher, who in an accident in Afghanistan, became a double-leg amputee at the age of twenty two. Boucher was very active before this, being an avid hunter and fisherman. After the accident he says "I was trying to figure out in my mind what I was going to be able to do and what I wasn't."
     The all terrain wheelchairs are designed "like mini-tanks," going through snow, mud, and even a foot of water. They are controlled via joystick and can go up to four miles per hour. Unfortunately, the chairs are not currently covered under insurance and carry a price tag of $10,000 to $12,000 USD. Boucher says, "it's made a huge difference ... and it's added that independence back to my life."
     I personally believe that this is an amazing step forward in technology for the disabled. The disabled are often not able to go off of solid surfaces, such as concrete, and lose many of their favourite activities. With this chair, they are able to return to their activities, and can enjoy life again. They can use the chair to paint the house, go fishing, and even go play in the snow with their children.
     This chair effects the world by making people with disabilities, able again. It gives the user a sense of normality, in being able to go off of concrete, or play with their children again.
     Here is a video interview with Corporal Boucher, and the maker of the all terrain wheelchair.

Weekly Blog Zahlen Drei

Guiding Questions for your weekly blog: Quality and Effort Count

5 Points 1: Define any new terms this week (does not include stems)

10 Points 2: What new web 2.0 tool(s) did you learn about this week? Describe, hyperlink, and embed it.

5 Points 3: What are some positive & negative aspects of this new tool? Explain.

10 Points 4: What digital literacy component did you learn about this week? Explain it.

5 Points 5: How does this new information affect your personal/academic life and/or interactions online?

5 Points 6: Overall, how has your week been? 

Additional Effort 7: Anything else you want to add.

5 Points 8. Photo Cited

5 Points 300 Words Min.

     Hello readers,

     My week so far, like usual, has been super boring. Wer're supposed to have a lock down drill today. I guess that will be the most exciting thing of my week, if it even happens. I honestly kinda doubt that at this point.
    
      Over the past two weeks we learned as usual about really useful (and common for once terms. These terms are: online predator,

    
    
    
    
    
    
 

 

Piano of the Future?

Piano of the future underway?

"Hans Zimmer plays the piano of the future." CNN.

Blendis, Stefanie. McNicoll, Airon. "Hans Zimmer." CNN. Turner Broadcasting System Inc. 27 Sept. 2013. Web. 27 Sept. 2013. http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/27/tech/innovation/hans-zimmer-seaboard-future-piano/index.html


In the article above, it states that Hans Zimmer has played the keyboard of the future. This so called "futuristic" keyboard is called the Seaboard Keyboard, which retail for $1,999 up to $8,888. Zimmer tested the keyboard and gave the Seaboard a wonderful review.

Personally, I think that this is a wonderful invention in the techonology filled music industry. I feel that this may be one of the few "new" instruments that actually pick up speed. I feel that this instrument has a certain advantage over the piano/keyboard market due to the innovations being made. By moving your finger on a key a little to the left, the note goes down in pitch. If you move your finger slightly to the right, the note goes up in pitch.

Touch is really a main focus on the keyboard, as implied by Lambs commentary. "One of the most surprising pieces of feedback that I got from Hans was his emphasis on the importance of the touch. I've always known that the touch is kind of the core part of the Seaboard ... but he wanted to just go back and focus on the simplicity and the beauty."

I feel that this keboard will impact not just the music industry, but the world in numerous aspects. This keyboard will revolutionize music as we know it, making every song have more depth than ever imagined. Zimmer and many other people will be able to make movie sound tracks now that sound so much different than anything else!

Here is a video of Zimmers commentary, and the actual playing of the Seaboard Keyboard. Enjoy.

Blog Entry Number Two.

Hello readers,
     Unlike last week this week has been really uneventful. We literally haven’t even been out of the building. The sophomores got to go do things, and actually went on a fieldtrip. I wanted pizza, too. :(
      This week, we learned about some terms that are kind of boring. I guess this has just been a dull week in general, reflecting on it. Those terms are: URL, criteria, and evaluate. See? I told you they’re bland.
      A URL is a Uniform Resource Locator. URLs can be found in the top section of your web browser, usually in the address bar. URLs are more commonly referred to as web addresses, hence why they're in the address bar.


This is property of myself.

          Criteria is something that you use to judge a set of information. People have criteria in literally everything that they do. You have criteria for your significant other, your food, and even your clothes.
     Evaluate means to examine and judge carefully. Just like how you have criteria for everything, you also evaluate everything in life. You evaluate value, food, clothes, and even other people.
     This week, we learned about a new Web 2.0 tool called Diigo. Diigo is a really cool note taking website that is also downloadable on mobile devices. Everything you do is transferred onto your Diigo profile so nothing you do is lost over the "cloud."
     The Digital Literacy element we learned this week was all about Digital Citizenship. We learned about having good online ethics, good manners, and we talked about peoples privacy rights.
     Having good ethics mean basically abiding by the golden rule of treating people how you want to be treated. Good manners also applies to following the golden rule.
    These things all effect my life by making it better. I feel as if the Web 2.0 tools mentioned all make my life easier.

Until next time, bye guys.


     

Testing Bigger iPhone Screens For Future Production? 

"Report: Apple testing bigger iPhone screens" CNN. 
Gross, Doug. "Apple Testing." CNN. Turner Broadcasting System Inc. 6 Sept. 2013. Web. 6 Sept. 2013. <http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/06/tech/mobile/apple-bigger-iphone-screens/index.html>.

In the article hyperlinked above, there has been rumor of Apple testing larger iPhone screens. Rumour has it that these screens are up to 6 inches, which is a huge "step up" from the previous iPhone 5 screen (4 inches). On Wednesday, Samsung has just released their Galaxy Note 3 which has a screen size of 5.7 inches. There is also debate about whether Apple will be releasing different sizes of iPhones, like Samsung has previously for their Galaxy owners.

In my personal opinion, this testing is strictly a move to get Apple back into the smartphone market. Apple has been really struggling to keep up with Samsung lately. While the iPhones quality is higher, the Galaxy line has larger screens, and a better operating platform. I feel like Apple is the snobby rich kid in the world of smartphones because of the comment Apples CEO, Tim Cook, made in April of this year. "Our competitors have made trade-offs to ship a larger display. We will not ship a larger display iPhone while these trade-offs exist." Who says that, and then goes and tests larger screens? Can you say desperate? My final thoughts are that testing iPhone screens to a larger scale has been way over due.

Blog Entry Numero Uno.

Hello reader,

My week so far has been really boring and uneventful. I guess the fire drill and pictures today were the most exciting things of the whole week. I always hate taking pictures because the photographers which are always D.L.O.L.s (dear little old ladies) are always like, “you look so gorgeous!” Then you actually get the pictures and one eye is shut, your hair is sticking up in the back, and your eyeliner is up to the brow bone. Oh yeah, ma’am, I look model ready. 

"Rage Quit." 05/Sept/13. http://files.sharenator.com/funny_gifs_nerd_rage-s500x281-311786.gif

The fire drill was actually really boring, reflecting on it. We quite literally walked out of the building and walked back in. I did learn some pretty useful stuff in the last two weeks that relate to our digital literacy, though. 

In the past two weeks we learned some words that when asked the meaning of them nobody actually knows. These are also related to our digital literacy for this week. A few of these words are: fair use, public domain, and copyright.

Fair use is the ability to use a small amount of someone’s creative work without their permission, but only in certain ways. A common example of fair use is quoting copyrighted works of literature to illustrate an argument of point. 

Generally when making presentations that will be published, you need things under fair use. If you decide to be all "hey, I'm too cool to use stuff under fair use and I'm going to  use copyrighted images on my blog saying they're mine" you can potentially get into a lot of trouble. It really isn't worth it to me. Just use things under creative commons, or fair use. The things under fair use actually tend to be of a better quality, anyways.  

Public domain is creative works that are not protected by copyright and are therefore free for one to use however they want. A common example of software in the public domain is the world wide web, (your first web browser). 

Copyright is a law that protects a creator’s ownership of and control over the content he or she creates, requiring other people to get the creator’s permission, before they can copy, share, or perform that work. This is something that you really need to pay attention to, especially if you have an article, or presentation that will be posted online. You can get in serious trouble for that stuff. 

I also learned about some pretty interesting Web 2.0 tools this week. One of them is Schoology. Schoology is a really neat learning tool that allows teachers to really interact with their students online. You can turn in assignments, check your course grade for the semester, and check for upcoming assignments.

A positive aspect of Schoology is the fact that you don’t have a lot of papers flying around in the bottom of your book bag. The only really negative thing about Schoology is the fact that sometimes it gets confusing with due dates. Some teachers will change the due dates, but not on Schoology which really makes me worry.

Another cool Web 2.0 tool we learned about is Quizlet. Quizlet allows the user to play games and review vocabulary terms while actually having a miniscule amount of fun. The only negative thing about Quizlet is the fact that sometimes it can be super laggy. Then again, it may just be the school servers being bottlenecked. 

We all know you're going to sing this picture in your head. 
Have fun with that song, guys.. and girls if you're sensitive about that sort of thing. (-:

"Myspace Page." 26/Aug/2013. http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqf4e5Cm3Y1qgdbito1_500.gif