babies.

In the movie Gattaca parents were allowed to pick the traits of their babies, should we be able to do this? Why or why not?

I believe that we should not be able to pick the traits of our babies. There are many personal/ religious reasons why I believe this. I think that if we had the ability to make our babies look the way we wanted to, life would be in a sense, more boring. There is something about looking around and seeing a pretty person catch your eye. This would never happen, if we were able to pick the way our children looked. Everyone we know including ourselves would all be beautiful, making it a lot harder for anyone to catch your eye. I also  believe that after a certain point, everyone would start looking the same. Everyone might start having "blonde hair and blue eyes" or something that people would consider beautiful. This would get extremely boring, having everyone look the same. Another reason for my opinion, is that I believe that God makes us the way he wants us to. If we were able to pick our childrens traits, we would be taking over Gods job, which cant be good.

Homemade pickles: a delicious fermented foods recipe

Well, pickling cucumbers are ON at the farm where we get our vegetables, so I thought it would be fun to share a fermented foods pickle recipe.
We choose to make fermented pickles instead of vinegar pickles because not only do we love the way they taste, we love the health benefits of eating fermented foods. It's one of our favorite fermented foods recipes.
The process of fermentation not only helps to preserve food, it breaks food nutrients down into more digestible forms, improves the bioavailability of minerals, and creates new nutrients including B vitamins (folic acid, riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, and biotin). Fermented foods are also live foods, full of beneficial bacteria.
We are trained in our culture to think of bacteria as bad, but what John and I have learned is that many bacteria actually live symbiotically within our bodies and a healthy population of these beneficial bacteria is vital to good health.
Eating our pickles in fermented form carries these beneficial bacteria directly to our digestive systems where they greatly aid digestion. Our sauerkraut recipe on this site is another fermented foods recipe.
So, how do you make fermented pickles?
For this fermented foods pickle recipe, you will need:

• 2-one gallon crocks or glass jars
• 4 lbs. of cucumbers

• 3⁄4 cup kosher salt
• 1 bunch dill weed
• 1 head of garlic, peeled
• 1 onion, sliced
• pinch of black peppercorns (optional)

• 10 grape leaves
• 1 gallon boiling water

First, wash your cucumbers and remove any remaining blossoms. Poke them with a bamboo skewer, inserting it a few inches into one end, but not going all the way through.

Slice the onions, peel the garlic and rinse the grape leaves.

Boil the water and dissolve the salt in it and set aside to use later.

Place 2 or 3 grape leaves in the bottom of the jar(s). Place as many cucumbers as will fit in a single layer on the grape leaves. Add 5-6 cloves of garlic, a handful of onion slices, a handful of dill weed, and a pinch of black peppercorns. Put another layer of grape leaves on top.



Continue layering in this way until the jar is full. Finish with grape leaves.


Pour the hot brine into the jar(s) until full. Use a chopstick or knife to poke down into the jar (around the sides) to remove air bubbles.

Find a plastic lid (called a follower) that you can fit into the jar by bending it, and that will expand to mostly cover the grape leaves on top.

Place a weight on top of the follower (We use a mason jar filled with rocks and water) to keep the pickles under the brine. They should be covered by at least one inch of brine once the weight is in place.
Let sit at room temperature for 3-7 days, checking daily for desired taste.
When they taste right to you, cut them into slices and store them in jars covered with brine and with lids on top, in your refrigerator. You've made fermented foods!

Refrigerating will stop the fermentation process and allow you to store your pickles for a year or more.

http://www.learningherbs.com/fermented_foods.html

blog #9 (military and diseases)

I think that the goverment should be involved, but only to a certain extent. I think that they should quarantine the people that have the highest symptoms of the infectious disease. But I dont think that they should quarantine everyone who has only one or two symptoms  of the disease, they should only quarantine the poeple that show multiple symptoms of the disease. As far as the military getting involved, I talked to my dad who served in the military, and he said that when he was in the military he and his other colleagues had to take an oath that said that they would protect our country from both domestic and foreign parties who were a threat to our nation. Which means that he would protect this country even from someone within our country. So I guess I'd understand why the military would get involved, it's their job to protect from threats.

blog #8

when entering a biocontainment facility hot zone, you must wear a hazmat suit, and a have a self contained oxygen supply. before entering and exiting the hot zone, there are numerous rooms you must go through depending on the level. If it is a level 4, you must go through a vaccume room, go under ultra-violet rays, and take special showers designed to kill the biohazarderous diease. Before entering a hot zone, you must have exstensive training. Not anyone can put on a hazmat suit and walk into a biohazerdous facility.

IM blog

kelly: Hav u herd bout that 1 contagious flu thats been going around?
rick: u mean swine flu? :o
kelly: yeaa, its been killing so many ppl! D:
rick: oh man, :o i didnt evn no it was that bad.
kelly: oh, well yea its terrble :/ wht did u think it was like?
rick: well idk, i just thot it was like a regular flu. :b
kelly: ohhh, well nahh its not. it can actually kill u ! >:(
rick: why, wat r the symptoms?
kelly: well the bad part is, the symptoms are just like a regular flu. D:
rick: so like runny nose, coughing, and all that? D:
kelly: exactly :/
rick: ohh man, im kinda scared now !
kelly: noo dont be, lik jus remember to wash ur hands nd all that(:
rick: well, alright,
kelly: dont worry.  :D
rick: well if u find out anythin else , tel me. :o
kelly: mm, okay then.
rick. thx
kelly. mhmm, well byee :b
rick: byeeee >.<

blog #6 (poem)

It is something they must face,
and they must fight
whether they ein or lose,
its there, inside of them
hard to see

They're truly scared of what can be,
of what lurks beneath their skin.

They dont know where to go next,
or if they will win the battle,
But we're here to keep them strong,
and forever help them with their disease.

blog #5 (bacteria)

                      Lactobacilli:

lactobacilli is a benefitcial bacteria found in foods such as buttermilk, yoghurt,  sour cream, and some frozen desserts. the purpose of  this bacteria is to turn carbohydrates and sugars into lactic acid. The bacteria lowers the pH and lowers the risk of other harmful bacteria growing on that food. This is good for people who are trying to lower their risk of gastrointestinal infections. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/beneficial-bacteria.html

 

                         E. coli :

E. coli is a deadly bacteria that thrive in the intestines of humans and animals. E. coli can be spread through food, making it a food born illness. Some of the symtoms of this food illness is diarrhea, hermorrhagic colitis ( bloody diarrhea), and food poisoning like symptoms. If not treated properly , eating a conaminated food 

with E.coli, can lead to death. 

http://www.about-ecoli.com/

                                                            
 

blog #4

I  recently finished reading an article about a new earthlike planet that scientist have dicovered. The planet is just 20 light years away in the libra constellation. Scientist say that the planet may have the right conditions to sustain life forms. The planets surface temperature ranges  -24 degrees to 10 degrees , but may vary. That is  an ideal surface temperature for liquid water. “It’s pretty hard to imagine that water wouldn’t be there,” those are the words that Vogt spoke. Maybe one day in the distant future man will reach the planet.

I think that this article is important, because for the past ten years scientist have been looking for planets outside of our solar sytem that would be ideal for life. This is a huge step into exploring planets that life forms might be able to walk on one day. This is just the beginning of a whole new chapter in science.


http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/63868/title/Distant_world_could_support_life

blog #1 (goals)

my goals for this year, are:

-to do my best to understand all of the lessons for all of my classes
-recieve a g.p.a higher than a 3.5
-make the freshman baseball team
-stay drug free
-have good behavior, at school as well as at home.
-be respectful to all of my teachers,
-not to fall into any form of peer-preasure
-to have perfect attendence
-to have an overall good year.

blog #3 (metric system)

"Several years ago  NASA rocket failed because scientists were not using the same system of measurement for all the parts. Should the US switch to the metric system? Why or why not? Give at least two reasons to support your answer"

i think that the US should switch to the metric system. In all different parts of the world the metric system is used. I dont think we should be any different. If we used the metric system, i think that we would live an easier life. The metric system is all based on "10's". This makes it way easier to do conversions. To convert, you simply have to just move a decimal point over "x" amount of times. With the sytem we use now, its not that easy, you must divide by "12" and "60" and many other different numbers depending on what you are trying to convert. Most of the time you even have to use a calculator. Overall, i think that US should start to use the metric system, i think that it would make school and life a lot more easier, for us, and for people in other countries who already use the metric sytem.

non carbon-based life forms?

do i think non carbon based life forms exsist? well from my understanding, non carbon based life forms is just a big fancy name for aliens. I think that it is highly unlikely, but i do believe it is possible. Every life form adapts to their surroundings. Maybe there are atoms on another distant planet that dont exsist on  Earth that can form a structure well enough for life, taking into account their planetary conditions. I cant say for sure what i think this non carbon based life form would be made out of, but i have an idea. I think that there is some kind of unknown element that has not been dicovered yet, that would be able to form "life".