BLUE STARS GUYS

Okay, so the prompt is to pick an article from this week that interests me and write about it, and there was this article about Blue Stars, which look totally sick, in case you were wondering. The article was about how Blue Stars prove the universe is only thousands of years vs. billions of years old, as Blue Stars apparently use a lot of fuel to burn like that, and should burn up within millions, not billions, of years, and whats wrong with the nebular theory and such. All that is totally boring though, because freaking Blue Stars guys.

The article doesn’t even hardly explain them, (lame) so I looked them up. They’re just like other stars, 74% hydrogen and 25% helium, 1% etc elements, except they’ve got a different temperature. So it seems red stars are the coolest, and blue are the hottest. Their temperatures vary depending on their mass, nothing else. Blue Stars have at least 3 times the mass of our Sun. They can get much, much bigger than that, but as long as they’ve got that minimum down, they will appear blue to us.

Rigel is an example of a Blue Star. It’s the 6^th brightest star in the sky, and the brightest in the constellation Orion. It’s been calculated that Rigel is somewhere between 700-900 light-years away, but still is as bright as Sirius, which is approx. 8.3 light-years away. Rigel is about 11,000 degrees Kelvin, (19340.33 F;10726.85 C) versus the Sun’s 5,887 K (9940.73 F;5504.85 C).

As Blue Stars as so hot, they burn through fuel very quickly. “With 150 times the mass of the Sun, Eta Carinae has only been around for a few million years and it’s expected to detonate as a supernova within the next 100,000 years. Our Sun, in comparison, has been around for 4.5 billion years and is expected to live another 7 billion years.” –Blue Stars written by Fraser Cain Jan, 29^th, 2009,

http://www.universetoday.com/24362/blue-stars/

The Life Cycle Of A Butterfly

We’re going to talk about the life cycle of butterflies. All four stages of the butterflies’ life; egg, larva, pupa and butterfly. The Red Admiral butterfly will be the focus; the main butterfly here.

Butterflies are oviparous (which means they lay eggs that will hatch later on), and there are many variants as to how the eggs will look, such as color, size, and texture, all depending upon which species laid it. Eggs will be laid on the leaves or stems of plants, or on the bark of trees, depending on what the host plant of species is. One to three weeks will be taken up until the egg hatches into a caterpillar.

Once the embryo has developed fully, the caterpillar on the inside begins to eat its way out of the egg. Finally on the outside, it simply eats. It eats leaves and plants and such, usually whatever it happens to be walking on. They do this until they hit the pupal stage.

The pupal stage consists of the caterpillar spinning itself into a cocoon, in which they stay for a few weeks all the way up to a few months, depending on the species. They change drastically while inside this cocoon, although its practically undetectable from the outside.

The last stage is the butterfly stage. Butterflies still have a caterpillar-like body, wormy with tiny hairs and thin, prickly legs, along with the large, colorful, hard-to-miss wings. The majority of butterfly species only live a few weeks.

I chose to research the Red Admiral butterfly, not for any particular reason other than I like the scientific name, which is Vanessa Atalanta. It’s quite attractive, with its under-wings a mottled brown and the top is brown/black with a curved red streak.

Pellitory and False Nettle are the host plants of the Red Admiral. They lay their eggs, which are green with pale vertical lines, on these plants. When the caterpillars hatch, they make nests out of the leaves to hide inside of.

After the pupal stage, the butterfly emerges and pumps its wings, getting then circulation going and making itself stronger. After this, it expels liquid meconium (waste from the pupal stages, do not google it as the photos are a bit gross) which is red and is mistaken for blood quite often, although it isn’t at all.

The Red Admiral doesn’t feed on flowers so much as over-ripened fruit and animal waste.

Butterflies go through a life cycle consisting of the egg stage, the larva stage, the pupal stage, and the butterfly stage. The Red Admiral butterfly is a curious one, with odd feeding habits and attractive wings. Butterflies are literally childhood and laughter drifting on air, and researching them and writing about them wasn’t to terrible a task.

BIBS:

Smith, Edith. “Red Admiral Butterfly.” Butterflyfunfacts.com. Stephen & Edith Smith. Accessed 2/27/2015.

“Butterfly Life Cycle.” Butterflylifecycle.org. Accessed 2/27/2015

“Red Admiral.” Gardenswithwings.com. Accessed 2/27/2015

The Civil War

“He hates what he believes and loves it at the same time,” -Kitchen Sink by TOP

This week I’ve been studying the American Civil War. From the Battle of Bull Run to the Battle of Cold Harbor, to the Siege of Petersburg, and many bloody battles in between, the whole thing was a viscous mess.

The prompt says to tell what my favorite part about this weeks’ lessons. I quite liked the fact that I didn’t have a PDF worksheet. I like the map, I think mostly for the fact that I used sharpies, which I love.

What I found most interesting about studying the Civil War was the fact that I’m human, that they were human. Me and you and them and us, as a species, we did that. Even though we weren’t alive then, and we had nothing to do with it, we did that. And life as we know it now is a product of what people did then.

Can you imagine it? Not being a specific person or anything, but just being there, apart of it? Fighting for what you believe in, sometimes to the death, fighting for your rights and your freedom. Killing people. That’s the bit that gets me; people killed people. I mean it’s completely downplayed from what it was, made softer for the public’s consumption, but it was brutal and bloody and violent. And that’s the thing. Violence is sick. Its freaking disgusting. BUT at the same time, I get it because I’ve got some freakish, violent fantasies, and I’ll cheer when someone gets a popped in the face, and I love horror movies and oh my gosh. And then I guess that’s human nature, right? We are violent and murderous, but at the same time loving and caring and sweet. I can’t think about any of this without twisting it into a pressing psychological matter, which I find disturbing in myself, and along with the fact that apparently “everyone goes through stuff like this”, I find people in general disturbing. After this thought process, I go back to the matter at hand, the Civil War, and basically I decide that everyone involved just cared so much about what they believed and what they thought was right, that they would defend it with everything they had, crossing psychological lines and mental borders and moral boundaries, killing and maiming and destroying those who stood in the way.

Slavery was one of the baseline causes of the Civil War. You could say it was THE cause, but that wouldn’t be necessarily true. The area the Southern states occupied were more equipped with the natural resources and good soil and such to grow crops such as cotton and tobacco, so they grew and developed and a great many plantations popped up, and as they used slaves for laborers on plantations, slaves were more employed in the Southern area rather than the Northern area, and Southerners relied more heavily upon slaves for their income. The boss-men of the country tried to tell the states what they could do and what they couldn’t slave-wise, saying that this state or the other would be a slave state or a non-slave state, which freaked the Southerners out because a lot of them had became prissy gentlemen who couldn’t work like the slaves had done. They wished to secede, to make their own country were slavery was perfectly legal and they couldn’t be told they could own slaves. Now, Abraham Lincoln thought that secession was illegal, although he didn’t really have a position on slavery at the beginning; he said he wouldn’t get into that because it wasn’t his business. But he did think secession was wrong, as I said, and that was what the fight was about. These states had every right to secede, even if they had shoddy reasons for wanting to do so. And the people believed that they did have this right, even those against slavery. It doesn’t make sense for them to not have it. Lincoln was going against what the people believed, and he realized it. He changed his stance. He changed it from anti-secession to anti-slavery, and this grabbed the people. Many thought slavery was wrong, possibly a by-product of not relying on the slaves to keep food on the table, possibly pity, possibly its just they thought it was wrong to treat other humans like defecation. Lincoln gained a following with this new stance, enough so that the Union side was able to beat the rebel side. There was no secession, slavery was abolished, the war officially ended.

This is the Civil War to my understanding. Battles took place that were bloody and vicious, and things were gained that aren’t so much material as emotional… And people became free. The notion that a human could own another human was abrogated.

Telescopes

So, what I’ve learned in science this week:

Hans Lippershey was the first to come up with a description of a telescope, making him the creator, and was in the process of issuing a patent when Galileo heard about said design and built one himself. The majority of people know who Galileo is versus others who made contributions to the invention and popularization of the telescope, so he is one of the most famous astronomers there is. Giovanni Demisiani coined the name ‘telescope’, because ‘tele’ means far and ‘scope’ meaning seeing, i.e. ‘far seeing’. Telescopes work by using a ‘light bucket’, which is a primary/objective lens, which focuses the light to the eyepiece lens, which in turn focuses the image onto your retina. Our eyes are not large enough to capture a large enough amount of light to see far off images, but a telescope is much larger than our eyes, so it can ‘see’ more and concentrate it onto our eyes. There are two main categories of telescopes, Refracting and Reflecting. Refracting telescopes were the very first type of telescopes made. They work as I described before, but they aren’t necessarily the most popular type of telescope. They can get Chromatic Aberration, which is a type of distortion in which the lens’ fail to focus all the colors to the same convergence point. Which means that you see a rainbow halo thing when you look through it. (more on refracting telescopes: http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/light/refracting.html ) Now, Reflecting telescopes. These were invented by Isaac Newton, and these use mirrors instead of clear lens’. The use of mirrors prevents Chromatic Aberration, meaning there isn’t a rainbow mist in the way of the stars, but as light doesn’t go through mirrors, but instead reflects off of them, some light will be blocked out, making for a picture that isn’t as good as it could be. (more on reflecting telescopes: http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/glossary/reflecting_telescope.html ) Telescopes are our eyes in the sky. (Hahah)

End.

The Gold Rush

During the California Gold Rush, miners extracted more than seven hundred fifty thousand pounds of gold. That’s about twelve million ounces, and currently an ounce is about one thousand two hundred sixty USD, which, if my math is right, means that the gold from the Gold Rush is worth $15,120,000,00. Yeah, soak that in.

The whole thing starts in January, on the 24^th of the year 1848. Close to what is now Coloma, CA, John Sutter had hired men to construct a saw mill. One man, James Marshall, noticed gold bits in the runoff water. He immediately told Sutter, and they swore an oath of secrecy.

In spite of this promise, news of the gold got out. The first to arrive were those from San Francisco (Thanks to one Samuel Brannon parading the streets with a jar of gold from Sutter’s Creek), Oregon, and Hawaii(then known as the Sandwich Islands). While it did take a while (NO INTERNET) to get to the East, it did. Eventually. The New York Herald published an article on the discovery in August. The story became so large that President James Polk announced the positive results of a report by Colonel Richard Mason in his inaugural address, causing the knowledge of the gold to spread to practically everyone.

Now, it’s 1849. Tens of thousands of 49ers (as in the year they set out) left for California, borrowing money and mortgaging their properties to pay for the journey. Migrants from ’49 numbered close to eighty thousand.

At first, gold was found real easy like. Nuggets could be found practically anywhere you stepped, if you sifted through a few inches of dirt. Panning in streams and creek-beds was a preferred method, as the gold would drift along in the current and basically come to you.

Many mining towns popped up in California, filled with stores carrying mining equipment, provisions, ropes, picks, shovels… Anything that might have been needed. Many schools, churches, and stores started to show up. Bars, hotels, warehouses and such things would be built around mining areas. Business was good.

Now, the amount of gold has started dwindling. It’s harder and harder to find. New prospectors are still showing up. They have to work harder, longer hours to acquire as much gold as they had been before, but even so, what they were finding was greatly decreased form what it had been at the start. Needing places to settle, many miners displaced, or even killed, many Native Americans. Many spent much money in the hopes of becoming rich off gold, but never found any, and drifted off into debt or poverty.

As The Treaty Of Guadalupe Hidalgo (which officially ended the war) didn’t go into effect until Feb 2^nd, after the gold was discovered, technically for a bit it was legally Mexico’s property. After, the area was under control of the US Military, although no troops ever actually walked the gold fields. The areas were self policed, meaning any rules might as well have been crap. Violent, drunken bandit men assaulted many, stole from many, and killed many.

Gold mining reached peak in 1852, when close to $81mil was mined. Afterwards was when the decline began. Many ex-miners, still miners, farmers, and other such people continued settling the area. By 1860, the population was about 380,000 people.

The War of 1812

The war of 1812 was America’s first war as a nation. They fought hard in many battles, and although they war ended in a “status quo antebellum” (state existing before war) , meaning that all territory won in battles was given back and it was as if the war didn’t happen, America still considered it a victory because it showed Britain that they were serious and could stand their ground.

This war decided how much pull America would have in foreign affairs and trade. President Jefferson wanted to find a way to keep shipping goods to foreign countries, but not be involved in foreign wars. As Britain and France were at war with eachother, neither wanted American ships to bring goods to the other country, and both sides would stop American cargo ships to search them. These encounters could get violent, so in 1807 Jefferson issued the Embargo Act, restricting American goods to America only. Goods weren’t to be sent to any foreign country at all. This was done in an effort to make Britain and France realize that they needed American shipments and that they couldn’t just seize cargo ships and attack sailors.

The plan backfired. America lost money, and goods rotted in ships on the docks. Before Jefferson left the office, he signed a bill that canceled the Embargo Act. James Madison, Jefferson’s successor in Presidency, tried to continue shipments to Britain and France without being involved in the war, but the encounters on the ships became more and more violent, and the American people got angrier and angrier. Something had to be done.

War Hawks were those in favor of engaging in the war. The War Hawks were the new, younger generation of America, wanting to fight for their freedom like their forefathers did in the Revolutionary War. This group was led by people such as Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, who persuaded Madison to ask Congress for a Declaration of War in June 1812.

In 1813, the majority of battles won were won by America, until August when the British stormed DC and burned the White House, The War Office, And the Treasury. They retreated soon after.

In September, there were two American victories. One at Lake Champlain, which cut British interference off to North, and the other in Baltimore at Fort McHenry, which was bombed and attacked for a whole 25 hours, and which also was what inspired Francis Scott Henry to write what is now our country’s national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner.”

It is now 1814. Talk of peace begins around August in Europe, as American victories at Plattsburg and in Baltimore had convinced Britain that peace was best. On Christmas Eve, 1814, The Treaty of Ghent was signed, ending the war. Except the war didn’t end.

People had to sail across the ocean to get word to both American and British troops in America that a treaty had been signed, and that the war was over. This took weeks, weeks during which the unofficial last battle of the war was going on.

This last battle was The Battle of New Orleans, in which American troops were led by Andrew Jackson. They were led well, with British casualties amounting to 2,000 compared to America’s 13 dead.

While the war was officially over, it was still tense between America and Britain. But America had established that it was a force to be reckoned with, and that they won’t back down.

Should we complain to get what we want?

Pessimists tend to live longer because they’re disappointed less. 😀

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Should we complain to get what we want? Does it get us what we want faster? Does it make getting it easier? Does it create a sense of understanding with people around you? Can it make you feel better? Does it make you a better person? Does it make you annoying?

I believe it’s a natural thing to complain. Go on ahead and try not to, it will cause you so much mental strain that you’ll get a migraine. You cannot live life without complaining, as there is so much to complain about, there is so much wrong with this world, and the minds of many are twisted so we have sick views of things, making it worse.

Can you get what you want faster when you complain? It’s quite possible if you’re annoying enough and people want to shut you up. You most likely won’t get what you envisioned, and you’ll be disappointed with it, resulting in more complaining. Does it make getting what we want easier? Sure, if you’re cool with it not living up to your expectations and with people being severely irritated with you.

There is a fine line between complaining a reasonable amount and complaining so much that people would love to slap you. If you so it reasonably, then I think that it DOES create a sense of understanding with those around you. Many people have similar problems, and can relate to you greatly. The thing is, there’s only so much people can do about YOUR problems. (This is why you might be disappointed after receiving what you want after complaining- nobody thinks what you think, so it won’t be exactly what you want) DO something about your problems, don’t expect other people to fix them for you.

Can it make you feel better? Yes, to an extent. People literally make a living listening to other people talk about their problems and then giving them their two cents. Venting is therapy, and getting it out is like dropping a big bag of bricks you’ve been carrying on your back.

As to complaining making you a better person, I think the answer is yes, but only in some cases. Technically, it’s not complaining, but it counts. Take hunger activists as an example. They are “complaining” about something very important to bring attention to it. They are making a difference, and making the world a better place by calling attention to those in need. They “complain” for a good cause.

Yes, complaining can make you very annoying. There is no doubt there. Let’s say your ENTIRE social media page is, “OMG I’m so lonely”, “Wish I had friends”, “Wish someone liked me”, and all that jazz. Shut up, go out in public and don’t be a jerk to people. Somebody will like you.

Complaining can get you what you want, give you what you don’t want, make people dislike you, can call attention to important matters, and many other things. Don’t complain to much, but speak what’s on your mind, & live life to the fullest.

What gives us more pleasure and satisfaction: the pursuit of our desires or the attainment of them?

What gives us more pleasure and satisfaction: the pursuit of our desires or the attainment of them? It is the pursuit. It’s what gets your adrenaline pumping, like when a cop is chasing the suspect. It’s exiting and sweaty and decisions are made without time to think and hearts beat loud, but when it’s over, things get calm and boring. The chaos leaves. The cop misses it. The suspect of course misses it, back when he had a chance to get away. But, now the cop has attained what he was aiming for, and he’s congratulated for it, everyone thinks the best of what he did, when truthfully, he wishes he hadn’t, because he liked it.

Our deepest, most intense desires usually take the longest to achieve, and we grow so used to the chase, it’s become so routine, that we feel lost when it’s done. We feel pleasure from gaining it, but we have nothing to strive for anymore. We’ll just replace it with a new goal, and another and another. Without desires to motivate us to DO something, we’d be nothing. We’d do nothing.
We don’t always desire things that gives us pleasure. Cigarettes, for example. People have the most intense cravings for them, and get quite antsy without them, even though they can cause them cancer, make their food tasteless, and cause them coughing fits. We also pursue things that we don’t truly desire, sometimes just to be doing something, because being in the pursuit of something, even if we don’t really want it, is better than doing nothing.
Say you’re trying to lose thirty pounds. You’re so excited and proud of yourself with each pound you lose. You work out, eat kale and blueberries, quit eating french fries, stand rather than sit, and eat more celery than you can stand. Finally you reach that thirty, and after a brief bout of exited jumping and squealing, you’re back to wanting to lose weight. The more the better. You can’t get enough. You want to lose it all, because it is human nature to want what we don’t have.
If you’ve ever watched an interview with a cancer patient, you’ve probably noticed that they tend to be happy and giddy, and full of inspiration. I think it’s because they have such a big goal; to keep living. They put their everything into it, because they want to prove they are stronger than what hurts them, and they want to prove that they can be happy despite the fact that they have a major health problem. They are proof you can do anything you want, no matter what.