There was a very interesting article in the past Sunday's (May 27th) Parade insert to the Birmingham News. The article is by the chair of the Department of Physics at Yale.
Scientists have discovered that the expansion of the universe is 'speeding up' which can only be caused by some form of energy that opposes gravity. Currently, they are referring to this form of energy as 'Dark Energy', and it could be the most important scientific breakthrough of the last 50 years.
You can read the entire article at http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2007/edition_05-27-2007/Dark_Energy
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Global Warming
It wasn't until about 7 years ago, that I began to pay some attention to the discussion about 'global warming'. Unfortunately, the label is somewhat mis-leading because I believe the issue is the every growing population of the earth and the changes brought about by this growth.
We must admit that mankind has not been a good steward of this beautiful place God created, and therefore, we are reaping what we have sown. The changes taking place are evident in the animal kingdom and in nature itself. For example, one used to only see an armadillo in the southwest part of the U.S. This was because those areas provided a year round warm climate with no sub-freezing temperatures. Now, however, you can see armadillos as far north as my area and possibly further north than that. Nature certainly has changed significantly. When I was a child, you very seldom had severe hurricanes on the Gulf Coast that would affect the weather 250 miles inland. But now it seems that it is a yearly event.
In the first 30 years of my life, the world population grew to approximately 4 billion. It only took 20 years to increase to 6 billion. The strain that this is putting on earth is unbelievable. We must become better stewards of the precious resources we have.
We must admit that mankind has not been a good steward of this beautiful place God created, and therefore, we are reaping what we have sown. The changes taking place are evident in the animal kingdom and in nature itself. For example, one used to only see an armadillo in the southwest part of the U.S. This was because those areas provided a year round warm climate with no sub-freezing temperatures. Now, however, you can see armadillos as far north as my area and possibly further north than that. Nature certainly has changed significantly. When I was a child, you very seldom had severe hurricanes on the Gulf Coast that would affect the weather 250 miles inland. But now it seems that it is a yearly event.
In the first 30 years of my life, the world population grew to approximately 4 billion. It only took 20 years to increase to 6 billion. The strain that this is putting on earth is unbelievable. We must become better stewards of the precious resources we have.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Mosquito Ring Tones
The normal frequency range for human hearing is 20 hertz to 20,000 hertz. One of the things that happens as we get older, is that this range decreases. Here is a link to a New York Times article that has a chart showing by age groups the maximum frequency we can hear: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/12/technology/12ring.html?ex=1307764800&en=2a80d150770df0df&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
Well, our ‘young’ students, ages 13 to 14, can hear in the upper ranges of 17,000 to 20,000 hertz. They can now select a menu and download ring tones for their cell phones which are preset to a specific frequency. This means that parents and teachers can’t hear them, but the students can. One such is called the ‘Mosquito Ring Tone’. Some of my 8th grade students already have it.
If you want to see what I’m talking about, go to this link http://www.mosquitoringtones.com/
and see if you can hear a 17,000 hertz ring tone.
If you can hear it, you are young !!!
Well, our ‘young’ students, ages 13 to 14, can hear in the upper ranges of 17,000 to 20,000 hertz. They can now select a menu and download ring tones for their cell phones which are preset to a specific frequency. This means that parents and teachers can’t hear them, but the students can. One such is called the ‘Mosquito Ring Tone’. Some of my 8th grade students already have it.
If you want to see what I’m talking about, go to this link http://www.mosquitoringtones.com/
and see if you can hear a 17,000 hertz ring tone.
If you can hear it, you are young !!!
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