Penguin Flying

Swimming in the evening as a penguin flying in the space, I enjoy the tranquil of universe .....OH! I was the last one....No wonder, it's so quiet. I found myself the last one in the swimming pool when the staff called on me and told me it's going closed in thirty minutes. I rushed to shower and changed.  I'm so stressed recently that I sometimes forget where I am and what I am doing. I wished to keep my mind simple and concentrate on studying. However, I was either worrying about something or dazed in my own world. Every moment, when I was awake, I felt like dreaming. I hasn't had any dream at night these days. The dreaming part seems to come during the day.

Just One a Day

After drinking cafe each day for a week, I fall a sleep almost the whole Saturday....and Sunday. I promised myself that I'm not going to drink cafe anymore and I should sleep early this week since I'm going to have SAT test this Saturday. However, it's seemly not going to happen because I just found that I have so many tests, midterms, that I have to prepare, also, a poster about that merchant in Canterbury Tale...I should allow myself to have cafe, just one a day.

Coffee Addiction

Things happen in life. Before, this week, I had never drunk really coffee. It was Monday morning I drank two cups of coffee when I found that I had only slept two hours. Never drinking coffee before, I found it so delicious that it tasted somehow like a chocolate. I was very hyper the whole day, even more energetic than I usually was. The next day morning, I  bought three bottles of coffee, thinking that one per day for this week. However, after drinking one, I couldn't help myself to have another one. Eventually, I finished all of three. Today, before I even got of bed, coffee was the first and only thing in my mind. Although, today, I didn't have time to buy one in the morning before school, I went to Starbucks right after school and had a cup Latte. I had this unfortunate feeling that, for now, coffee had joined my life.

Prairie dogs

I've been researching about temperate grassland for a presentation during environmental science class. Temperate grassland is one the of biomes in the world that is usually semiarid, continental climate in the middle latitudes. Veldts of South Africa, Puszta of Hungary, Pampas of Argentina, Steepes of Russia, plains and prairies of North America are all example of temperate grassland. While researching, I found this cute species called prairie dogs. They are sooo cute that look absolutely not like dogs I expected. 

Someone I Admire (4)

Although Marie Curie worked hard and contributed to the society, many people in that time did not respect a woman as a scientist.  She continued to face great opposition from male scientists in France, and she never received financial benefits from her work.  By the late 1920s, her health was becoming worse because her exposure to high-energy radiation to much for research.  She then died in 1934 from leukemia.  Her facing great opposition from male scientists inspired other women to work in science field and made people believe that women can be successful with it.  

The aspiration and contribution Marie Curie made to science are significant.With her help, doctors have been able to treat cancer, manipulate nuclear energy, create atomic bombs, and many other achievements have developed from her work. Her story influenced my insight of value. For me, Marie Curie was the best model of scientist. 

Someone I Admire (3)

Not only work on research, Marie Curie was very willing to help others and the country she lived.  When World War 1 came, she drove herself and her daughter to the front lines.  She created special X-ray vans to help the doctors better located bullets and metal pieces in the injured soldiers, so doctors wouldn’t have to cut off their legs of arms as the usual treatment.  However, it was a difficult job, the International Red Cross then made her head of its radiological service and she held training courses for medical orderlies and doctors in the new techniques. Living such difficult period of time, her action inspired me to think about the relationship between me and the world and what I can contribute by my tiny effort. 

Someone I Admire (2)

Marie’s scientific studies began with the research of a phenomenon that she later called it “radioactivity.”  She worked with her husband and Henri Becquerel, a French scientist and in 1903 they shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work with radioactive material and the discovering of its properties. She later discovered another radioactive element, polonium, which was named after her native home of Poland.  She discovered how to isolate these elements so that they can be used for curing cancer.  In addition, she won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911 for her discovery the method to isolate pure radium.  She also developed a process called Curietherapy to treat malignant tumor which is uncontrolled cancer cells.  Her work on radioactivity contribute to the knowledge in science and provided a hope to cancer patients.

Someone I Admire (1)

Marie Curie has always been someone I admire. Poorly educated, underprivileged, and female, this woman was determined to have an education and be successful in her studies. Her achievement in science and contribution the society have encouraged me to pursuit goals and gave me confidence in a optimistic future. 

Born in Warsaw, Poland, Marie Curie loved reading books and studied.  Her father taught both physics and mathematics in school, which peaked her interest in science.  However, because her family was poor, she became a local schoolteacher before the age of 18 and earn money for her sister’s schooling.  She had always hoped that one day she would attend school as well.  In 1891, she moved to Paris and get her degree and Physics and Mathematical Science by self-taught. Upon reading her story,  I was impressed by her determination for education was encouraged be more proactive in school.

Is It More Valuable for People to Fit in Society ? (3)

In my own experience, I found that when being with others like my friends and classmate is more valuable.  When I knew that there is something called homeschooling, I had always wanted to study at home in stead of go to school because I thought it would be fun and easy.  However, after trying that for several weeks, I found it boring and not workable because it can not replace some of the courses and activities.  Such for science subjects, I can do very few experiments at home and have no classmate to discuss with.  Also, I can hardly join any sport team, club or other activities outside of school.  When I was back to school, I not only can do more activities but also found it important to have classmates.  When I learned with classmates, I was encouraged and challenged  to learn more and faster, and have more friends.

People who fit in society and join others, such as Thomas Edison, are more likely to have more benefits and be successful.  Although, being unique and different sometimes seem attractive, but it can end up bad such as Don Quixote. In other words, it is more valuable for people to fit in with the majority.

Is It More Valuable for People to Fit in Society ? (2)

In the story The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha, the character, Don Quixote proves that it is not good to be unique and different.  He is a mad man who lives in his own world and strongly believes in chivalry.  Eventually, he ends up the butt of cruel practical jokes and becomes a great melancholy.  This example tells us that a person wants to be unique can lose friends and supports.  If he fits with the people who lives around him, he wouldn’t be beat up by others.  His story tell us that being unique and different can lose friends and may end up a saturnine.

Is It More Valuable for People to Fit in Society ? (1)

Would you like to be unique?  Most teenagers wanted, but some of them concern and are afraid of not being accepted by others.  Others may go too far to think that the whole world focus on them and they always try to stick out in a group.  However, it is actually more valuable for people to fit in with the majority because people who fit in would be more sociable, popular, and successful.

Thomas Edison is a good example of a scientist and inventor who try to fit in the society and later became successful.  He invented light bulb, telephone and other devices that are important even till today.  As a boy in school, his mind was often wandered and was very different from other students, so his teacher called him addled and ended up his three official schooling.   Although he found himself very different from other people around him, he studied hard and tried to involve with other scientists.  Finally, he was succeed to invent and develop many devices that contribute the society all over the world.

Chemistry and Environment

Chemistry is importan to the understanding of the environment and developing of the solutions. It helps scientists understand how pesticides cleaners, and other chemicals we used affect the health of people and wildlife, how methane and carbon dioxide aggravates global warming, and how nitrates and phosphate contribute to eutrophication. Chemistry is crucial to solve environmental problems. For example, for Exxon Valdez oil spill, scientists investigated the composition of the oil and decided to use bioremediation to clean up the pollution. Today environmental chemists are trying to advance bioremediation by genetic engineering and also seeking applications of chemistry that may help address environmental problems.

Bioremediation

Bioremediation is the attempt to clean up pollution by enhancing natural process of biodegradation by living organisms. It helps environmental providing a less expensive, less environmentally intrusive, and more effective than conventional methods for cleaning up pollutions. It has been successfully used to clean up the oil spill of Exxon Valdez by bacteria and plants. However, bioremediation does have limitation. For example, cleanup by plants is limited to depths reached by the roots. Also some bacteria used in remediation may alter the ecosystem of the area, and plants used many turn invasive. Furthermore, plants that accumulate metals may harm insects.

Reduce Ecology Footprint

After trying the three changes for one week, I found that it’s not that hard and inconvenient as I thought. However, I don’t think they’re that effective to reduce my ecological footprint. I  followed them throughout the last week, except to keep room temperature higher.  Since I live in dorm this year, I can barely do anything with the room temperature. Though I tried to turn on the air conditioner in dorm later when the air conditioners in hall way were shut down, my roommates would always turn it on right after the school.  Because I really enjoyed having air-con, I gave up after the second day. Since I live in dorm, I have no choice to take shower every day. It didn’t cause my any trouble or inconvenience, actually I got used to it very soon. However, I was not sure whether I use less water when taking shower instead of bath. Nevertheless, I realized that I really like to buy organic products when I found that the shampoo, body wash, facial cleaner and lotion I use are all organic. Lastly, eating less meat was easy for me since I eat almost only fish, shrimp, and other seafood for meat. Last week I did’t eat any meat, but a lot of tofu and beans. I almost couldn’t believe that I can be a vegetarian for one week. However, I don’t think I can keep that diet and I don’t want to be a vegetarian either because I love eating fish, especially sashimi, uncooked fish, so much.  I actually eat more fish and other meat after a week without meat. Overall, I realize it’s easy to do something to reduce ecological footprint in short term, like a week or so, but hard to keep it for long term. Still I think it is worth to try them for one week because if every try to reduce their ecological footprint in short term once a while, it will sure help the current environmental situation. 

Halloween

Recently the art crew has been decorated the school for halloween. The cut out many paper bats, graves, and ghosts. Though most of the decorations are cute, there's one joker face that really scares me. Because I live in the dorm, I see it all the time on hall way. Last night, someone just change the spot of that joker face to the corner in front of the cafeteria. At night, I was shocked and scared to see that joker face when I went to the bathroom and pass by the corner. I guess by the time Halloween, I will have been trained to be afraid of any of them.

Steve Jobs

Mourning for Steve Jobs. Regent Street, London.


This a picture taken in front  of the Apple store in London. There're many flowers, cards, and apple with one bite on the floor to commemorate Steve Jobs. Eating an apple, I saw this picture on Facebook and was surprised to see those apples on the floor. Right, the logo of Apple is a apple with a bite. Though I was not a fan of him, I has heard about his story and his speech of the graduation. I like the part that he said, "have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become." "Stay hungry. Stay foolish," he said to encourage the students to keep learning and be humble. Beside all those iStuff, he'd an influence to the world...

Marie Curie

Marie Curie, born in 1969 and died in 1934, was a scientist who I admire and appreciate. As a young girl, she became a neighborhood school teacher after she finished high school to earn money for her sister's education. She had always wanted to attend college until later she went to University of France. In 1903, she shared the Nobel Prize in physics with her husband for their discovery in radioactive materials and their properties. In 1911, she won another Nobel Prize in chemistry. I like her not only because she was great scientist and pioneer in radioactivity, but also she was generous and brave.  During World War 1, she drove herself to the front lines and help the doctors cure soldiers by her self-invented X-ray van. As a woman, she continued to face great opposition in scientific society, and had never received any financial benefits from her work. Her facing great opposition inspired many other women to work in science and made people believe that women can be successful with it.

College

I have been thinking about which kind of college I want to go. University or liberal arts, west or east, urban or rural, more people or less people, competitive or cooperative, there're so many factors that I'm not sure which is the best to start on.  I first looked the rank for liberal arts college because like to have classes with less people. I think it's less likely to get lost in a small college than in a big university. I found this college, Middlebury College, that I think it's a good for me. It's beautiful and not very far away from city.  It has a good environmental science program. I'm interested in it and would like to research more.

Bioremediation

Bioremediation is the attempt to clean up pollution by enhancing natural process of biodegradation by living organisms. It helps environmental providing a less expensive, less environmentally intrusive, and more effective than conventional methods for cleaning up pollutions. It has been successfully used to clean up the oil spill of Exxon Valdez by bacteria and plants. However, bioremediation does have limitation. For example, cleanup by plants is limited to depths reached by the roots. Also some bacteria used in remediation may alter the ecosystem of the area, and plants used many turn invasive. Furthermore, plants that accumulate metals may harm insects.

Collecting Soil

Today after school, Tiffany and I went to Tsinghua University to collect soil for environmental science lab tomorrow. We first got two shovels from the classroom, one is small like the one you use to plant, the other was huge like one you would use to hide treasure box. On the way, I found it weird but fun to carry a huge shovel waking on street. It seemed like I was going to discover a treasure or hide something nasty like what usually happens in CSI or Criminal Mind. We collected two whole bag of soil, one from nearby a lake, the other from area in front of the library. I hope to discovery some species in those soil in later lab. :)

Artificial leaf

Artificial leaf’ makes fuel from sunlight

Solar cell bonded to recently developed catalyst can harness the sun, splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen.

David L. Chandler, MIT News Office
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/artificial-leaf-0930.html

I was surprised to see this news about artificial lear, which my sister and I have thought and imagined for a long time. I'd wondered whether it's possible to build an artificial plant that can transform sunlight into useable energy. It does not any additional wires or control circuits to operate. Besides its appearance, this new invented device fit what I have imagined, converting heat into chemical energy. Though I would like to have artificial leaf, if it's available, I don't agree that it's a good idea and future trend for people to have such artificial plants in their house as the article points out. I still like the "real" plants more than artificial one and somehow will always be. I have so many plants at home that you can see them from anywhere you stand. Plants only clean up the air but also provide comfort and aesthetic feeling are important to their surrounding environment. Above all, representing natural and living, "real" plants should never be replaced. 

The magic of truth and lies

I was surprised to see amazing magic show. I like the magician using iPod to perform. It is true that magics are lies but I like them because they make people amazed and happy. Though I can see some a flow when the man makes the butterfly disappear when he sticks the butterfly with an iPod, his performance is fantastic. I like the part that he shows that  men are more likely to lie assuming that women didn't lie when doing the survey. I wondered how he turns the small face into sad face. I don't like to be lied except watching a magic show because a honest magician promise to deceive me!

3k Marathon

Today I woke up early in the morning and went out at 5:30 to join the marathon together with my parents and sister. It was my sister who got this information from her school and registered for us. Though we're late and started running around a half hour latter, we finished the path. We joined the "leisure program" which did not involve any competition. We actually ran on the road parallel to Guangfu Rd. where I always pass by on the to school. It was a special experiment, and I will feel differently when I, siting on a car, pass by that road again.