Last Blog: Thoughts and Reflections

Okay, so we're finally to the end of this blog experience. I must say it was much more rewarding than I had expected it would be, and there are two reasons why I think this is: 1. This experience introduced me to the world of blogging. I have never had any interest in exploring this world, and I sure as heck was not aspiring to become the next big blog star. But, since it was part of the class's cirriculum, I decided to go ahead and make the best of it. And so far, it has been pretty rewarding. 2. It really forced me to hone in on my writing and analytical skills. Quite frankly, I have always been a pretty confident writer, but my writing usually dealt with social studies, grammar, and literature. Never before have I had to examine a scientific study and come up with some sort of exposition or summary of what the author was trying to get across. So since I was lurking in a unfamiliar waters, I had to really utilize the material and discussions in class, along with my "polished" writing skills, if wanted to get the most out of my blogging experience.
So with all that said, I would like to reflect on two blog posts I have written that connect to the two rewards of blogging I had just mentioned. The first one was the article about my cousin Cameron. I must say, that story is one I love to tell, and the blog assignment allowed me to share it. Telling this story was the highlight of my experience, because I was able to share it, I was able to use visuals, and I love to write narratives. This blog assignment was perfect for me, and I had a blast writing it.
The next blog shows how I had to dig into the text about a subject that I was not too familiar with. It was challenging and really demanded that I pay attention to the reading. The blog I am talking about is the one on Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species. I understand contemporary society's take on Darwinism, but I can't use common consensus if I wanted to write an honest and credible assesment of the chapter. This blog allowed me to be honest about my level of knowledge on the subject and it proved to be as challenging as any blog I have written this semester.
I am very satisfied with my blog site, and I surely hope to keep it going, if I can.

The Longleaf Experiment: My Thoughts

Nothing gets my heart racing and motor running like waking up at 5:30 in the morning to do a class experiment, in the woods, for two and a half hours, with a very good chance of rain. Oh, I forgot to mention that I was just one of two men in a class filled with sleepy cranky women who had already disclosed their displeasure of having to go on this field trip. So it goes without saying that I wasn't too excited about the class experiment, but I kept a cool head anyway. I honestly enjoy the class and my classmates, and that even though the cards were stacked against me, I was still able to enjoy the experience. For starters, it didn't rain. I was totally relieved of that. The closest we had gotten to rain was a heavy overcast with a slight mist in the air.
Everything, however, wasn't so great when we actually started to run the experiment and measuring the field. It was abundantly clear that we were all confused and didn't know our east from our west. I'm honestly not even sure if we ever got the measurments correct, but we came close. Once we were done measuring, we finally got to the part where we dealt with the trees. It wasn't easy at first, but with some help from our great overseers, we managed to pull it off.
Overall the experience was ok. I don't know if I would want to do this again if all of the elements were the same (cranky girls, potential monsoon) but it gives me better insight into how the scientists must conduct research even when the elements are less than desirable and out of their control. My hat goes off to them.

How to Play Gears of War: The Basics

In this article I will instruct you on how to perform the basic functions of the critically acclaimed video game Gears of War for the XBox 360 gaming console. If you are not familiar with the franchise, the plot basically revolves around four earthly soldiers and their efforts to defend their world against the Locust assault. These Locusts, have laid dormant beneath the world's surface for some undisclosed amount of time, and have launched a relentless attack against the humans. If you want to defend the planet against these ruthless fiends, you must know some basic controls before setting off. I will be discussing five basic functions: move, aim, shoot, run, and take cover. Gears of War is a third person shooter, which means that the gamer's point of view is over the character's shoulder, allowing the gamer to view the environment as well as the character's full body all at once. First, we must become familiar with the Xbox controller. The controller is composed of buttons, knobs, bumpers, triggers, and a directional pad which adds up to exactly seventeen components. Luckily, we won't have to explore all of them for the sake of this tutorial. First things first, you have to know how to move. On the left side of the controller is the knob that controls the the character's movement. This allows the player to move around his environment. Next, you will have to become familiar with the right knob. This allows the player to look around his environment and aim at enemies. Once you have mastered these movements, combine both knobs so that you may command full control of your character. Next we will go over aiming. To aim, you must pull the left trigger of the controller. It is located on the left back section of the controller, and is labled LT. Once you hold it down, you will notice that the view is focused, primarily down the barrel of the gun, where a set of cross hairs will appear. Next is shooting. While you continue to look down your gun you have the option to actually shoot and take out your enemy! Once you have placed your sights on the desired target, pull back on the right trigger to let 'er rip! The right trigger is located directly across from the the left trigger and is labled RT. Now that you can move, aim and shoot, now you are ready to for speed up and take cover. In the case that you are in an intense fire fight and need to take cover, all you need to do is locate a sturdy wall to hide behind, and run towards it! Do this, first move forward by pressing up on the the left knob. Once you have began moving, hold down the "A" button. The "A" button is located on the left side of the controller. Once you have engaged in a sprint, your character will swiftly run forward until you either let go of the button or collide into a barrier that protects you from oncoming fire. Now that you know the basics, you will be able to take your game to a whole new level and learn the more advanced controls. Until then, play around with what you have been taught, and soon enough you'll be killing the Locusts in no time.

Cameron and the Candy Bars

One lovely summer, I was residing at my grandparent's home. I was a sophomore in college and had a job as busser at a local restaraunt. I worked long hours and each night after work I would stop at a convienient store and buy myself some candy. Well, my little cousin Cameron, who was four years old at the time, started to pick up on this pattern. He and his mother, my aunt and my grandparent's eldest child, would visit us and sometimes they would even spend the night with us.

Well, one morning Cameron decided that he would infiltrate my stash of goodies and claim some for himself (without asking of course). So he devised a plan to sneak into my room and take one. The only problem was that the sweets were wrapped really tight in some grocery bags, and if disturbed the bag would make a lot of racket. This wouldn't stop this guy though. With the noted obstacle in mind, Cameron went on with the mission. As he went in for the candy, he still was not careful enough to avoid making a lot of noise. "Hey! What are you doing?!" I exclaimed as he woke me up out of my sleep. And the next thing he said, I will never forget. It just shows how brilliant this kid is, and how much I underestimate the whit of a child. He said,"Henry, I live on Dedeaux road! I live on Dedeaux road!" I did all I could not to laugh. I just put on a stern face and said, "I know where you live, boy! Get out of my candy!" After that he scampered off in his Thomas the Train pj's.

You see, this story is so great because of two reasons: the first is that Cameron actually DID live on Dedeaux Road. The other reason is that he was clever enough to drop that bit of information on me in a time of crisis. In that phase of his life it was important for him to learn and be able to recite that type of information to older people, and when he did successfully he would recieve praise. I guess he thought that if he told me where he lived, I would forget all about what happened and I would praise him. This may be a silly story but it is one that I would cherish and tell his children about one day. Cameron is a brilliant child and this story, to me, shows how far a little four year boy would go for a bag of candy bars.

Silent Spring: Elixirs of Death

This is an image of WW II soldiers using DDT. I would use this image on page 21 between the first and second paragraph. This would help to illustrate how DDT was applied during the second world war. Oddly enough, the guy getting sprayed looks like a young George W. Bush to me.

This is the chemical structure of the aldrin insecticide. It shows the chemical relation between dieldrin and aldrin. I would place this image on page 26 between the second and third paragraph.

Next is an image of a crop dusting aircraft. Carson expresses that this is the usual means by which parathion is administered on page 30. I would place this image at the end of the first paragraph on the same page.

A Brief History of Time

When I consider how much I know about Dr. Stephen Hawking, I must say I know very little. I know that he is arguably one of the grandest figures within the disciplines of physics and astronomy. I am not familiar with his work so I can’t say why he is held in such high regard. I know he suffers from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), and I believe that it is commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease. I knew all of this information without having to wiki him. Other than that I don’t know much at all. Well, in this blog I will be discussing an excerpt from his book A Brief History of Time. In this discussion I will give a synopsis of the excerpt and what I thought of it.

This chapter deals with the formation and theories behind black holes.  I must say though the subject is interesting, the reading was not very accommodating. Throughout the chapter he uses terms that he assumes the reader knows. One term for example was Chandrasekhar limit, which I am guessing is a standard by which the astronomer can measure the weight of a star. Also, he explains how a black hole forms, but to be honest I did not catch that point until I got to the diagram that displays the components and workings of a black hole. I did, however, like the illustration he used to explain what would happen to an astronaut if he or she were to fall victim to an imploding star.  I am a visual person who always draws information gathered by my other senses, and draw some visual figure from it. Yet with his inclusion of time and signals and such, I did have a hard time following.

I understand that this is a later excerpt from his book, so some information given at this point in the text may have already been explained, but if I am not mistaken this is the only part of the book where he talks specifically about black holes. Nevertheless, I can’t say I left this reading with a better understanding of black holes. It was very hard to follow and understand exactly where he was getting at. Even when he tries to draw an illustration to help his reader better understand his concept, I still end up a tiny bit confused, because I am still trying to grasp the elements used (time, astronauts, gravity, signals etc.). I understand that I am not going to understand this subject fully, but if this is to be an effective accommodation piece then it must read as something that is trying to allow the reader to relate how colossal and grand a black hole and not just explaining it and assuming the reader will generate interest of even a better understanding just because it was written.

Darwin's Origin of Species

The topic of natural selection among the species is an interesting one for me, a novice on the subject, to tackle. As I have read in this exerpt from the, Origin of Species, Darwin is arguing the against the theory that, "each species has been independently created". He would like to argue in this report that every organism has a common ancestry, and more notably that "natural selection has been the most important... means of modification." Also in his report he noticably refers to himself, as well as his contemporaries, as naturalists, many times throughout. I believe that this particular worldview of nature, purpose, and existance may help in gathering a better understanding of what paradigms or presuppostions he holds that would lead him to accept the theory of natural selecion.
In this report, Darwin is appealing to fellow biologists, namely those who are naturalists, and trying to drive them from thier previous theory of  mutability, all variation in nature is caused by natural mutation or adaptation to each creatures particular environment, to a theory of natural selection. He is also arguing against the theory of independent creation, where a species appears without the host of a common ancestor.
In doing all of this Darwin admits that he was met with some hostility from his fellow natualists in their accepting his newfound theory. In one part he states "I have been much censured for having thus expressed myself." He is mentioning this in the context that many of his naturalist collegues "never once met with any sympathetic agreement," when speaking on evolution.
In conclusion, this exerpt from the his work seems to not so much explain his theory, yet it is trying to appeal to the mindset in which the naturalist, scientist, biologist or whomever takes in accepting or rejecting a newfound theory. He is trying to show the fault in their logic and attempts to just argue his point in contrast to presenting evidence and allowing it to speak for itself. Interesting piece which really shed light on Darwin's struggle to have his theory accepted within the scientific community.