Jared’s Blog

This post is a summary based on the article Crude Awakening . Oil is the most important item traded between countries today but its running out! In 1956 geophysicist M. King Hubbert introduced the concept of a crude oil production peak. He noticed that the flow from any oil field climbs to a peak and then declines just as fast. Paul Roberts, author of the new book: The End Of Oil says that the worlds oil production will peak in 2030. Do you know how much oil is in the ground? Probably not but U.S. government scientists estimate about 2.6 trillion barrels.(each barrel is about 42 gallons). Now, that may seem like a lot to you but actually not all of it is there for us to take so we don’t get all of it. About 1.7 trillion barrels are “discovered”oil which is oil that geologists have found but haven’t pumped out of th ground yet. The remaining 900 billion barrels are called “undiscovered” oil because this oil is theoretically found in certain rock formations called marlstone or oil shale. The only way to get the oil out of these stones is by heating them up to 900 degrees Fahrenheit (480 degrees Celsius) in a kiln. Today oil provides 40% of the worlds energy. Who needs oil when you have the MiniCAT, this cool car was made in Luxembourg, but the real cool thing is that it runs on compressed air instead of gas!  

There I was just waddling on the interesting mirror-like ice when crack I came to a flimsy spot on the ice, “squawk, squawk,” I chirped as I slipped into the dark, dense, bottomless ocean. I thought to myself as I swam underneath the thick ice looking for an escape route, why didn’t I listen to my mother’s advice about not going too far out on the ice? As I swam I watched something horrible ascend to the surface, it was a killer whale! The unwieldy creature wailed as it bashed the ice trying to terminate it for fresh air. I stared in awe as I watched the awesome whale accomplish its work. Next thing I knew I was speeding towards the giant predator at the will of my lungs gasping for air to get through the hole while my instincts were tearing at me and reminding me that it would be an absurd idea because killer whales eat penguins! As I listened to the intense battle going on between my instincts and my lungs and finally realized I couldn’t take it any longer my lungs screamed for air so I took my chances and swam madly for the hole. I closed my eyes as I soared up for the hole the pop in my ears was the only significant sign that made it clear that I was out of the water and on firm ice. As I waddled away from that nightmare I kept thinking of what a great story this would be for the traditional story time at dinner.

Not a very talented artist? Can’t think of any animals to morph? I’ve got a solution! Go to www.switchzoo.com select free download (unless you want to buy it) then click on make new animal choose a habitat and start morphing! You can make anything from land creatures to water creatures. This post is for the benefit of the kids who are struggling with their Create Your Own Animal Project

In math today we reviewed ratios. One of the questions was, “in one homeroom nine students have a pet and seven don’t. What ratio shows the number of students who have a pet to the whole class? The answer was 9 to 16 (please show another way to show this in comments). REMINDER, TEST FRIDAY THE 12TH REMEMBER TO STUDY!

Today in math we learned about spreadsheets and how to use them. A spreadsheet is a computer application in which numerical information is arranged in cells in a grid. The sheet can help you find things out like salary’s, test scores, and many other things. Thanks to Miss V. we keep on learning new and interesting things. Way to go!!!!

Dear John,

Things in Turkey haven’t been doing very good around here since World War I. Our president has made a law against the wearing of the fez. A fez is a hat worn by Muslim men and not wearing it states that we have given up the religion of Islam. Since the fez has been outlawed, it has totally angered me because I do not want to be referred to as someone who has given up the Muslim religion.

About our president Kemal Ataturk, he was a military hero during most of the 1920’s & 1930’s. So far he has brought many political and social changes to modernize our country, Turkey. During the reign of Ataturk he has made a new alphabet for us which is extremely hard for us to learn since we are already familiar with the original Turkish alphabet. This new alphabet is actually based on the Latin alphabet. We also have a new system for punishing crimes that comes from the Italian Penal Code. Ataturk has also given women social and political rights so now they can go to school and get jobs, much unlike when he wasn’t president. These are only a few of the new reforms he has introduced to Turkey. Needless to say, my life is very different now all thanks to Kemal Ataturk.

Your Friend,

Abdullah

Killer Whales are theoretically dolphins and not whales! All Killer Whales or should I say “Killer Dolphins” trek in family groups called pods. These whales are also called orcas. Orcas use sonar to navigate through dim murky water. Killer Whales are extraordinarily clever so instead of doing things by instinct they do them by learning from experience or from their parents presenting examples of things like hunting techniques and other survival techniques. A chap killer can actually have its fin on its back grow from 6-8 feet high! A large amount of these creatures can grow up to 30 feet long! If you have never seen what an Killer Whale looks li,ke it looks black and white with a white spot right behind its fin on its back and the cool part is that every one is a different shape!

This war is not only hurting soldiers physically it is also hurting them and their loved ones mentally. I write this now to tell you this war in Iraq has got to stop! 11/27/2006 was one of the deadliest days of the war recorded when bombs blasted  capital, Baghdad. Also, rebels attacked the southern city of Amarah killing more than three hundred Iraqi security-force members, civilians, and at least ninty-seven U.S. troops. Since the start of the war in March 2003 more than 2,800 American lives have been lost changing loved ones lives for ever.

The sudden increase in fighting has called for a change in strategy. President George W. Bush assured Americans that military tactics were changing to meet new challenges. He also pointed out that violence is only in a small section of Iraq. President Bush refused to put a deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. Since there is no deadline for the withdrawal of the troops we can only hope for them to come home soon.

In Friday the first of December we learned a lot of interesting things from Mr. Lawrence, here are some of the things he learned from him. First of all he taught us that traits are something that makes one organism different or similar from another organism. Second he told us that Heredity is the process of which traits are passed on from parents to offspring. Another one was Genetics is the study of Heredity. And the last one was an inherited trait is one that is passed down by parents and a noninherited trait is one that you choose to have.

The Hubble Space Telescope has been up in space for about sixteen years so it needs to be repaired! This telescope may not mean much to you but it means a lot to all scientists worldwide and that is why NASA is sending a repair crew up to work on Hubble in 2008. This $900 million mission will be the fifth repair crew sent by NASA! I think repairing Hubble is a great idea because Hubble gives us so many great pictures of stars, galaxies, constellations and more so we can learn more about space! Repairing Hubble will make it capable of serving five more years after this mission! Got to fly!