Friday, January 23, 2009

Peanut Butter Recall!!

In the article I recently read, it talked about companies recalling their peanut butter products. Many items such as cookies, crackers, ice cream, and candy have been removed from shelves at stores because of contamination. Out of all 50 states, 43 of them were effected by this. These peanut butter treats are causing salmonella typhimurium and have sickened over 486 people and have killed six. It says that foods such as, "Famous Amos' peanut butter cookies, Wal-Mart's peanut butter fudge, Little Debbie sandwich crackers, Blanton's Peanut Butter Sticks, Meijer's peanut butter cup ice cream, and Austin's cheese and peanut butter crackers have been recalled,". Also, the first illnesses of this were reported on September 8th. In addition, the FDA was going through peanut plants and checking the condition of them so they can find out which plant is the source of the bad peanuts. However, they found one in Georgia that had some violations, and it was one of the sources of this problem. In my opinion, this is a very serious situation because peanut butter is found in almost all of the foods we consume. I also think it is very serious because the article says, "The average American consumes more than six pounds of peanuts and peanut butter products each year,". Therefore, many people were effected by this recall. Plus, I believe it was very smart for the FDA to search different peanut processing plants so they could find the place that was manufacturing bad peanuts and help avoid more people from getting sick. All in all, this was what the article I read said about the recalled peanuts and my opinion about it.

I found all my information from:

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Obama Inauguration!


From what I have seen on T.V. and what I have read, this inaguration is one of the most meaningful ones yet in American history. It is extremely meaningful because our first African-American president has been sworn in and a change has come. This man's name is Barrack Hussein Obama. From what I have read, he is going to try to make change in the U.S. for the better. However, he is going to do it differently than the other presidents. Obama feels that the challenges we are facing are definitely a problem, and no, they will not be met soon, but they will definitely be met and will be fixed. He also wants people to know that he is very grateful of his position and will try to be the best president he can be through the help of others. Being our 44th president of the U.S. and the 56th inauguration, this is sure to be a milestone in all of history throughout the world.

In the first article I read, it talked about what happened at the inauguration and included a few quotes from Obama. According to what I found in this piece of information, there are many parts to the inauguration and many other events that take place besides swearing in the president. For example, Obama had to go to ten inaugural balls before he could spend one, single night in the White House. Also, there is a parade that celebrates the coming of a new president and the change he is willing to bring. In Obama's speech, he said, "Today, I say to you the that the challenges we face are real, they are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America, they will be met,". In my opinion, this means that Obama knows there are many problems that need to be fixed in America, and he knows he's going to help change them. But, they aren't going to be changed as quickly as some people would like. All in all, this is my analysis of the first article, however, I also have an analysis for another article that I have read.

In this article, the main idea was about what Obama did on the day of the inauguration and some of the quotes from his speech. First of all, Obama led a parade of 10,000 people down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House. There were many floats, marching bands, members of the military, and Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts marching down the street in the parade. Obama also attended a lunch with members of congress. Following a tradition, Obama, Biden and their wives began worship at St. John's Episcopal Church near the White House. Furthermore, one quote that Obama said that really hit me was, "We will not apoligize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you,". This quote struck me hard because it is about Obama's opinion about the terrorist situation and what he believes is the right thing to do. Overall, this is what was written in the second article and next will be my opinion about the issue and any questions I may still have after reading the articles.

In my opinion, out of all 44 presidents, I have to say that Obama is going to be one that nobody can forget easily. Now I am not just saying this because he is the first African-American president, but he is one of the more down-to-earth presidents. By this I mean that he sees issues for what they really are a realizes that they cannot be solved with just a wave of a magic wand. They are going to take time. And he is not the only one that is going to help solve them, he's going to need support and cooperation from the people around him. To me, when running for president of the U.S., you have to realize that there are many issues in the world, not all of them are going to be solved in one day, and many of them may not be solved period, but you have to have faith and patience with yourself, the world, and people around you to make this happen. Additionally, I have a question about the inauguration and other events that occured on this special day. The question I have is that did Obama's daughters come to the worship at the church? Or was it strictly for adults only? In conclusion, that was that summary of what I read, my analysis of the two articles, my opinion of the topic, and the question that was still lingering in my head.


I found my first article from:


I found my second article from:


I found my picture from:

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Wave Lab!!


Today, January 8th 2009, we finished our lab which we started the day before. There were three labs we had started. One of them was called Wavy Motions. In this lab, we took a slinky and moved it in different directions to form different waves. Then we had to draw what we observed and answer some analyzing and concluding questions. Another lab we did was a Skills Activity, AKA Calculating. In this lab, we had to tie a string to a washer and then tape it to a table. After that, we would have to extend the washer on the string out to it's full extent and then let it go to sway back and forth. While it did this, we had to use a stop watch and time how long it takes for the string to make ten full rounds from it's starting point and back. The last step we made was to calculate the frequency by dividing the ten cycles by the time interval. The third lab we did was called Discover Activity, AKA Can You Change a Wave? During this lab, we had to lay a jump rope on the floor, then with a partner, we had to flick our wrists left and right forming waves. At first we had to start of with one flick per second, but then we had to go faster with two flicks per second. Later on, we had to answer questions. One interesting fact I learned was that in in the Wavy Motions lab, the more coils you released at a time, the more the slinky shook. Also, another interesting fact I learned was that in the Calculating lab, in order to find the frequency, you have to divide the speed by the wavelength. The last interesting fact I learned was that in the Can You Change a Wave activity, the faster I flicked the jump rope, the waves became smaller because of the rapid movement. One fact I found out online is that a pulse traveling through a string with fixed endpoints resembles a waves with crests and troughs. Another fact I learned is that wave motion is a type of harmonic motion that carries energy from one place to another without actually moving any matter. I believe this is a key topic to learn because without knowing how waves move, you won't know how some laws of physics work. For example, if you see a wave bobbing up and down in the water, without learning this you won't know how it's really doing that. All in all, those were the labs we did today, January 8th 2009, what I learned, some facts I found online, and how I feel about the topic.