Thursday, December 23, 2010

Theme Final Draft

Mythological Love vs. Biblical Love
 
 
 
 
                                                                                       
                  The love that is portrayed in the Greek and Roman myths consists of someone getting hit by Cupid or Venus, they chase each other, may or may not fall in love and the grand finale is that one or more of them turn into a tree or, occasionally, a cow. It is sad that the only concrete part of the story is the part of someone turning into something unnatural. The “falling in love” part is sketchy and more than often it is just a fleeting affair. Making it even more depressing, this love is rarely from the heart. It is either created from an arrow shot by a naked baby from a pink bow or this “love” is from Venus, the goddess of love and sexuality, who can’t even remain loyal to her own husband. Love in the Greek and Roman myths does not match up to the self sacrificing, true love that is portrayed in the Bible.
            Mythological love is often portrayed in stories, or myths, often involving Venus and her loyal sidekick son, Cupid. The terrible twosome reek havoc in the heart of a god or goddess and an innocent bystander. An example of this sham, mythological love is the story of Apollo and Daphne. In the story, Apollo is chasing after Daphne and not once did the story say anything but that Apollo wanted her for her looks. Never once did it mention him loving her for her character. Wanting someone like that is not love, that is lust. The dictionary definition of “lust” is “To have a sexual urge.” The dictionary definition of “love” is “to hold dear; cherish.” The “love” that is shown in Apollo and Daphne does not match up to the dictionary definition, much less Biblical love.
            In the Bible, there are many examples of what true love should look like. In Ephesians 5 it says, “However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” The love portrayed in the Bible demands all of you and it is never easy. That is how it is true love. If someone is willing to give all of that for one person, they must think that person is worth all the trouble. True love is loving someone as you would want to be loved; treating someone as you would like to be treated; putting someone and their concerns before you.True love is all about self-sacrifice and being willing to give all of you to love this person. In Song of Songs it says, “My lover is mine and I am his...” To truly love someone, you give yourself up for this person, you would be willing to do anything for your lover. The Biblical definition of love is similar to the dictionary definition. In both of them you must cherish the person you love and put their needs first. Biblical love is never easy but it is true love.
Both the myth and the Bible portray love in different ways, but only one can be the true love. In mythological love, the “love” shown is more like lust. In the story of Apollo and Daphne, it said that, “Apollo loved her and longed to obtain her...”(pg. 24) Not only did her “long to obtain her” but “ ... her saw her lips, and was not satisfied with only seeing them.” (pg.24) Apollo was not loving Daphne, he was lusting after her. The punishment for this kind of behavior in Biblical times would have been severe. In the story of David, he committed adultery with another man’s wife, and the child they had died. If you looked at a woman lustfully you had already committed adultery and the punishment for adultery was death, “...both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.” The Bible says that you are to love someone as you would like to be loved; self-sacrifice. The theme of self-sacrifice in love is very strong throughout the entire Bible. Some people may think that this does not apply as much to the romantic love being discussed, but it applies even more so to romantic love. The only way to have a good, strong, romantic relationship with someone is to care about what they think and to put their needs before your own. In Apollo and Daphne, Apollo thought “ ... whatever was hidden from view he imagined more beautiful still. (pg.24)” and even when she was running away from him, he still chased after her not caring that she did not love him and was running away in fear! He did not care about her feelings, only about his lustful longings toward her. In the Bible, God made the ultimate sacrifice by dying on the cross to save our sins and, once again, this principle of self-sacrificing comes up again. Even though that sacrifice is not romantic, it can, and needs, to be applied to a romantic relationship. The Bible does not have the false goddess of sexuality, which is basically lust, but has a real God who knows how to love and is love.
Mythological “love” is not love at all, but is nothing but a self-seeking lust.The Bible love is the actual, real, self-sacrificing love. As it is so gracefully put in the Bible “Love never fails.” 1 Corinthians: 13.

Hot Wheels Lab Report

Hot Wheels Lab
Author: Shannon K. Smith
Team Members: D. Block ASPC Class
Date of Experiment: November 12, 2010
Date Report Submitted: December 13, 2010
Class: Accelerated Studies in Physics and Chemistry, D Block
Mr. Mays, Instructor

Purpose Statement

The purpose of this experiment was to predict the velocity of the car between the gates. A Hot Wheels car was used.

Background

The theory that was used for this experiment was the Law of Conservation of Energy. The Law of Conservation of Energy states that “Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only changed in form.” The theory, the Law of Conservation of Energy, was Ekf = Egi - Egf, where Egi is the initial gravitational potential energy, Eki is the initial kinetic energy but is not shown because there was no initial kinetic energy, Egf is the final gravitational potential energy, and Ekf is the final kinetic energy. The gravitational potential energy equation is mgh, with m as the mass, g as the gravity on Earth, 9.80 m/s, and h as the height. The kinetic energy equation used was 1/2 mv², with m as the mass, and v as the velocity. To discover the predicted values the equation v = the square root of 2Ek/m was used with v being the velocity, Ek being the kinetic energy and m being the mass. To find the experimental values the equation v = d/t was used with v being the velocity, d being the distance between the gates and t being the time.

The instructor had set up the Hot Wheels track and the gates beforehand. The team members leveled the track and measured the height of the track at the top and the bottom. The team measured the length of the track, the distance between the gates and weighed the Hot Wheels car. The car was rolled down the track and the times were recorded.

The hypothesis of this experiment was that the Law of Conservation of Energy would be confirmed.

Experimental Procedure

The following equipment was used in this experiment:

carpenters level (1)
Hot Wheels car (1)
electronic stop clock, Daedalon (1)
meter stick (1)
laser photo gates, Daedalon(2)
support stand (1)
Hot Wheels track (1)
data collector, Xplorer GLX (1)
force sensor, Pasco PS2104 (1)
Flinn digital balance (1)

The instructor had previously set up the Hot Wheels track. The team checked to make sure the track was level with a carpenters level. The team members measured the height of the top of the track and the bottom of the track with the meter stick. The length of the track was measured with a tape measure and the car was weighed on the Flinn digital balance. While measuring, all team members were careful to avoid parallax error. The Hot Wheels car we used was an Aston Martin. The car was placed at the top of the track and was carefully aligned so that it would not bump into the sides of the track. The car was released and the time it took to go from one gate to another was measured. This was repeated until the team had four runs where it did not bump into the track sides. In this experiment, friction was not taken into account.

Results

The measurements and the run times are shown in the tables below.

Table 1. Measurements.
initial height final height car mass distance between gates track length
24.4 cm. 1.6 cm. 35.33 g. 10.1 cm. 30 in.
24.4 cm. 1.6 cm. NA 10.15 cm. NA
24.4 cm. 1.6 cm. NA 10.25 cm. NA

Since the scale used to weigh the car was so accurate, it was not necessary to weigh it three times. For the purpose of this experiment, for the distance between the gates, 10.15 cm. was used.

The four car runs are presented in the table below.








Table 2. Car runs.
Times
Run 1 .0487 s.
Run 2 .0491 s.
Run 3 .053 s.
Run 4 .0486 s.


Discussion

For the predicted value the team got 2.10 m/s and for the experimental value the average of all four was taken and the team got 2.04 m/s. The team hypothesis was that the Law of Conservation of Energy would be confirmed. The hypothesis was confirmed because at the beginning at the top of the track the car had gravitational potential energy and at the end at the bottom of the track all of the gravitational potential energy had been transferred into kinetic energy. The car was not moving at the top but had gravitational potential energy because it was up in the air. It rolled down the track losing the gravitational potential energy but gaining kinetic energy because it was moving.

The equation to calculate the experimental error was |predicted value - experimental value| / predicted value × 100% The experimental error in this experiment was 2.86%. The possible sources of error were few. The team was careful to avoid parallax error. The team measured everything three times or the instrument used to measure was accurate enough to not need to measure multiple times. Human error was avoided by measuring everything three times. The main possible source of error was an equipment malfunction. The scale used to weigh the car could have been wrong or have had a broken part that caused it to read the weigh wrong. The timer could have not stopped at the right time or started at the right time.

Conclusion

The conclusion of this experiment is that the hypothesis of the Law of Conservation of Energy being confirmed, was confirmed. The Law of Conservation of Energy was confirmed in this experiment. There was very little room for error so the conclusion is definitive.

References

The Student Lab Report Handbook, 2nd ed. (Novare Science and Math: 2010)

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Childhood Obesity Oratory Speech

You walk into your living room and find that, in the place that your TV once was, there is now a treadmill. You walk into your kitchen and find a schedule showing how much physical activity you have to do each day. Then, you open your refrigerator, you’re starting to get a little concerned now, and the only things in there are the “all natural” variations of everything; there is not a trace of junk food to be seen! Your parents try to convince you that a healthier lifestyle will be good for your little sister and we should all help her out in losing weight.(pause) This is just one example of the change that should be happening in households with obese children. This is an example of a change that rarely happens.
In an age where we can get food from a drive thru in less than five minutes, childhood obesity is up to fifteen percent. Childhood obesity is a growing problem. One of the more common, and definitely most popular, reasons for childhood obesity is food. With all of the food dyes and high fructose corn syrup in everything you pick up off the shelf, it is no wonder that childhood obesity has skyrocketed! A study made said that “...one-third of all American children, both boys and girls in the age group of 4-14 eat fast food on a regular basis.” On a regular basis, kids are chowing down on sugar, salts, fats and all those unmentionables in a single serving. More studies conducted on boys and girls showed that, just in the mid-nineties, that they “... consumed 12-30% of the recommended intakes of dairy on a daily basis, and only 14-18% of the recommended intake for fruit.” Eating fruits and vegetables can actually prevent weight gain but since children are not getting the recommended amount, it follows that weight gain has increased in children and teens. It is not just fast food that is the problem. Snack foods are also a major contributor to obesity in children. In 2002 a study was made saying that “Today’s children eat as much as triple the amount of snack food their counterparts were consuming 20 year ago.” Another contributor to this epidemic is soft drinks. You can drink one can and before you know it you have finished that can and moved onto another. It’s addicting and it says ‘diet‘, so it must be okay... right? Wrong. Those addicting cans of bubbly water are actually addicting cans of sugar and high fructose corn syrup. From just 20 years ago, the soft drink intake has doubled. Double the sugar, double the high fructose corn syrup and food dyes and double the obesity. I know what you’re thinking ;”Why don’t we just work it all off?” Well, as it turns out, children don’t really want to do that either. I mean, please! Who would want to go outside when they can stay inside and play a video game, watch a movie or talk to friends. We have created so many things that can entertain us inside such that we don’t want to or see the point of going outside. Playgrounds have become non existent things of the past. In some schools “... physical activity classes have been partially or completely cut to save money and to satisfy federal wishes to focus on mathematics and English literacy.” This has gotten so bad that not only are kids not offered an option of a physical education class but “... less than 40% of children participate in any type of organized activity session outside of school hours...” Inactivity may be a result of obesity but it is not an excuse for obesity. Inactivity is also strongly supported by today’s technology centered lifestyle.
Technology today is hands down the center of many lifestyles and can be safely declared addictive. In almost any living room you walk into today, you are guaranteed to find a TV and some sort of gaming system, like the Wii or Xbox, and they are not just a “fun little coffee table.” A study said that “70 percent of preschool aged children exceeded the recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics...” which is one or two hours. This has gotten so out of hand that a study was conducted and it came out with surprising results. They said that kids were becoming more comfortable with their parents iPhones than their parent! At first it may have been a helpful tool to distract your kids but it will quickly turn into an addiction that will promote this sedentary behavior. This kind of behavior might result in, or even replace, time spent in sports or other physical activities “...contribute to increased calorie consumption through excessive snacking and eating meals in front of the television ...” All of those things added together will result in obesity. Another test done on high school aged students said that “One-quarter of all high school students watch four or more hours of television a day ...” It has become the norm to watch at least 21 hours of television a week. That and all of the video games adds up to an unbelievable amount of “screen time.” It is no coincidence that America is one of the nations leading the way in technology and also one of the countries with the highest rate of obesity in children.
Obese children have a risk of several diseases including high cholesterol, high blood pressure, early heart disease, diabetes, bone problems and skin conditions like fungal infections, heat rash and even acne.
There are many things we can do to help obese children lose weight. You can only let them watch Tv or play a game for an hour. Turn off the TV during dinner time. When the weather is nice, go out for a bike ride or a jog around the neighborhood. You could get a membership to the local gym or go swim a few laps in the pool. Sign them up for a team sport. You can limit their calorie intake, take a look at the ingredients, if it has high fructose corn syrup or artificial coloring and flavoring, put it down and opt for the more natural snacks. Fruit and vegetable can taste good and are also cheaper than most artificial flavored fruit chews. You could even start a garden in your backyard! Not only will it grow healthy, great tasting food, it will also grow change.
References:
http://www.femail.com.au/physical_activity_childhood_obesity.htm
http://www.dinnerplanner.com/weight_problems.htm
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/fast-food-and-child-obesity.htmlhttp://children.webmd.com/obesity-childrenhttp://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09317.html
http://ezinearticles.com/?Childhood-Obesity-Statistics---3-Shocking-Facts-You-Cant-Afford-to-Miss!&id=2874568
http://ezinearticles.com/?Fast-Foods-Increasing-Child-Obesity&id=459411
http://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/08/are-your-children-obsessed-with-technology/
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2010/10/28/kids-watching-tv/

FIRST THEME! Rough Draft

Shannon Smith                                                                                           11-8-10
RSA SR9                                                                                                     Literature           
 
Mythological Love vs. Biblical Love
           
            The love that is portrayed in the Greek and Roman myths consist of someone getting hit by Cupid or Venus, they chase each other, may or may not fall in love and the grand finally is that one or more of them turn into a tree or, occasionally, a cow. It is sad that the only concrete part of the story is the part of someone turning into something unnatural. The “falling in love” part is sketchy and more than often it is just a fleeting affair. Making it even more depressing, this love is rarely from the heart. It is either created from an arrow shot by a naked baby from a pink bow or this “love” is from Venus, the goddess of love and sexuality, who can’t even remain loyal to her own husband. Love in the Greek and Roman myths does not match up to true love that is portrayed in the Bible.
            Mythological love is often portrayed in stories, or myths, often involving Venus and her loyal sidekick son, Cupid. The terrible twosome reek havoc in the heart of a god or goddess and an innocent bystander. An example of this sham, mythological love is the story of Apollo and Daphne. In the story, Apollo is chasing after Daphne and not once did the story say anything but that Apollo wanted her for her looks. Never once did it mention him loving her for her character. Wanting someone like that is not love, that is lust. The dictionary definition of “love” is “to hold dear; cherish,” while the dictionary definition of “lust” is “To have a sexual urge.” The “love” that is shown in Apollo and Daphne does not match up to the dictionary definition, much less Biblical love.
            In the Bible, there are many examples of what true love should look like. The most common Bible verse used to portray love is 1 Corinthians 13, more commonly known as the “Love Chapter”. The “Love Chapter” says; “Love is Patient. Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs...” The love portrayed in the Bible demands all of you and it is never easy. That is how it is true love. If someone is willing to give all of that for one person, they must think that person is worth all the trouble. True love is loving someone as you would want to be loved; treating someone as you would like to be treated; putting someone before you and their concerns.True love is all about self-sacrifice. Also, the Biblical definition of love is similar to the dictionary definition. In both of them you must cherish the person you love and put their needs first. Biblical love is never easy but it is true love.

Band of Brothers Paper Outline

Band of brothers
What is the book about?
Band of Brothers, written by Stephen E. Ambrose, focuses on the Non-Coms in Easy Company from training to their lives after the war.
Talk about training, their first jump (25), hatred of Capt. Sobel. Story pg. 29
Normandy, “They jumped much too low from planes that were flying much too fast. They were carrying far too much equipment and using an untested technique that turned out to be a major mistake.” (pg. 83)
Holland pg. 158 - 219
Battle of the Bulge (sub topic Foy) pg. 239 - 320(?). Story pg. 241. Medic Appreciation pg. 242. Photographer pg. 286
Quote bottom of 300 top of 301
Looting
40-and-8s pg. 324
“The men liked Britain and English people enormously. They did not like the French, who seemed to them ungrateful, sullen, lazy, and dirty. They had a special relationship with the Belgians because of their intimate association with the civilians of Bastogne, who had done whatever they could to support the Americans.(P) They loved the Dutch. Brave, resourceful, over-whelmingly grateful, the best organized underground in Europe, cellars full of food hidden from the Germans but given to the Americans, clean, hard-working, honest were only some of the compliments the men showered on the Dutch.” pg. 336
Germany pg. 338 - 375 Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest pg. 362 (Best looting) “Easy Company got there first.” pg. 363
Austria pg. 376 - 401 Germans surrendering left and right
Post-war careers Story pg. 422
What were your connections between the text and your prior experience or knowledge?
I knew that when you are in a war together you have to be close, but this book showed me how close they are. They truly are a Band of Brothers.
To which character did you most strongly respond? why?
pg. 412 The little girl
because I helped my uncle become a Christian when I was about 5.
As you read the book, how did it change a view you previously held? describe how it revealed something new to you whether it be about life in general or yourself.
You never know how far you can go, how hard you can work until you push yourself as hard as you can, and then you find out you can go farther.

The Four Color Map Theorem Paper

Shannon Smith October 7,2010
RSA SR9 Geometry E block
The Personal Opinion of Shannon Smith on The Four Color Map Theorem
The Four Color Map Theorem has not been proven true either by inductive reasoning or deductive reasoning. Since no other type of proof is acceptable, the Four Color Map Theorem is not acceptably proven.
The definition of inductive reasoning is “ a conjecture based on observed reasoning.” At first, it may seem like the Four Color Map Theorem is proven this way, but it is not. The Four Color Map Theorem says the any map can be colored with a minimum of four colors. The way they “proved” it was by a computer coming up with examples of different maps that “prove” this theorem. They failed to come up with a map that fail to disprove this theory. What inductive reasoning means is someone witness a repeating phenomenon that results in the same reactions or endings every time. After finding every possible way the phenomenon can go, they come to the conclusion that it is true or false. The computer came up with a lot of examples but not all of the possible ones. It is not proved inductively.
Deductive reasoning means that “A logical assertion was reached from known facts.” The Four Color Map Theorem is not even remotely near being proved by deductive reasoning. If you beg to differ, let me ask you; Where are these know facts? What are these know facts? Let me tell you, there are none. These “known facts” are non-existent. There are only examples of how this may be true. You may say there are “facts” but they are merely educated guesses, not a known fact. The dictionary definition of “fact” is “a truth known by actual experience or observation...”. This definition leads us back to inductive reasoning, which I have already proved to not be valid in the argument of the Four Color Map Theorem being a proof. The first part of the definition of fact mentions experience. No one has had a first-hand experience with the Four Color Map Theorem being proved true because the computer has not even come up with all of the possibilities! Therefore, the Four Color Map Theorem is not proved deductively either.
The Four Color Map Theorem is not proved inductively or deductively and this is the only way that anything can be proved correctly. If all of these other theorem have been proved inductively or deductively, then why can this theorem not be proven? it is not proven because it is not able to be proven whether inductively or deductively.

HELLO!

When I created this blog I was very disappointed to find out that the original title I wanted to call it was FAR too long. I wanted to call it
"The Collection of Random Essays, Themes and other Pointless Paragraphs my Teachers have made Me Write throughout my High School Career"
but apparently that was too long of a title but I was VERY pleased to find out that the URL I wanted was available, plaidskirtsandessays because I go to a private school with uniforms and plaid skirts!