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.