Cars

From my apartment I can see MLK dr, a major downtown thoroughfare, so I used this view to observe and count cars.

In five minutes twenty one cars drove by. I could not always see the driver totally clearly but I counted seven on their cell phones and one eating (it appeared to be french fries).

I was glad that only 1/3 of the drivers I counted were on their phones and only 1/21 was eating while driving. Hopefully most were focused on the road!

Ethnicities

These women are from the Masaai tribe that live in Kenya and Tanzania, Africa.

A woman from rural China

An American Indian 

An Argentinian woman

A Spanish man

                                                 An Australian Aboriginal man

A man from Antarctica 

There are many reasons that people have developed physical differences over time. People who live in hot climates naturally developed darker skin to absorb the sun's rays. People in cold climates often evolved to be stockier and shorter, because they conserve more heat and can deal better with the harsh conditions and lack of food. Even today, there are people whose communities are primarily fishing communities, living on islands and spending much of their time n the water. They have developed great lung capacity, and are able to swim deeper and for longer time than those of us who did not evolve alongside the water. It makes sense that, like all other life forms, humans adapt and evolve to fit their climate. All of our differences are just our different strengths, developed in their own independent way.

Trees

MAGNOLIA: This tree is common in the South and grows to huge proportions. It can have low-slung branches that sweep the ground (making them a good location for childhood fort-building, I can attest). They produce large, lovely white flowers with a sweet smell.

MAPLE: These trees have gorgeous colors in the fall and can grow in our Southern climate. They are also popularly found in Asia. Sugar Maples produce syrup, and maples are a national symbol of Canada. 

GINGKO: The Gingko tree turns bright yellow in the fall and has fan shaped leaves. They can grow very tall but often have to be trimmed to get the classic "tree" shape, since little branches grow off in many directions from all over the trunk. The females give off a bad smell when they drop their fruit, and you must have a male and a female to cross polinate.

HOLLY: This shrub has spiky little leaves and red berries. It is often associated with Christmas and can be planted under windows to deter intruders since it is difficult to penetrate with its sharp leaves.

CRAPE MYRTLE: This shrub is very popular with land-scapers because it is easy to trim down and reshape. It produces big groupings of flowers, some are white and some are pink. They grow well in the South and are the state shrub of Texas.

Map

Chloropleth maps are maps wherein  differentiations are indicated by different colored areas. A common use  is showing Red and Blue states during political campaigns. I chose this Chloropleth map because it shows the methane emissions of counties in North Carolina due to beef production. As a vegetarian, I am very interested in our farming practices and the ways that cutting out meat – – particularly beef – – can help the environment.  This kind of map is good for organizing comparative data because it provides obvious, visual differentiations that are fairly simple to understand and allow us to target, in this case, problem areas.

 Dot Density maps  use dots to show high levels of concentration of the thing being measured. They are often used by cell phone companies to show areas where cell phones have service.This Dot Density  map shows areas  in Ukraine where  there has been unrest, protests, and riots. The reason this map is important is that it shows that there is unrest all over Ukraine, not just between police and rioters in Kiev and Crimea. Maps like this are important because they also show us different sized dots  to indicate where the protests are larger and where they are smaller and more controlled.

Proportional Symbol maps use a symbol, often a circle or a symbol related to what is being mapped,  in different sizes to  indicate larger or smaller groupings of the things being measured. This Proportional Symbol map shows cattle and calves  sold in Maryland in 1997. I like this one because it dealt with beef, like my Chloropleth map,  and also because it used a proportional symbol that was not a circle which made it stand out and also made it more visually interesting for me. The different sizes of the symbols indicate larger and smaller groups  of Cows sold in the area.

Isopleth maps  differentiate areas of measure by contour lines on the map. This Isopleth Map shows major religions around the world. This type of map is perfect for a topic like "world religions" because these religions do not fall along state or country boundaries. Isopleth maps  are often used to show geographical contours, but I found this not much more interesting.

Rocks

Igneus Rock: Obsidian. 

Produced when lava cools rapidly and with minimum crystal growth. Obsidian is commonly found where the chemical composition of lava induces a high viscosity. Since it is hard and brittle it easily fractures and can have very sharp edges. These sharp edges have been used in the past as tools for cutting and piercing and as surgical scalpel blades. Two interesting nicknames for Obsidian that i found are "Apache Tears" and "Volcano Glass". I chose it because of its unique experimental uses and because it is so beautiful. http://www.mindat.org/min-8519.html


Metamorphic Rock: Marble 

Marble. 

Marble is formed by the metamorphing of sedimentary rocks, mostly limestone. It is often used in sculpting and building because it is a soft rock, easily shaped and molded, and also because it is so beautiful. Marble is famous for its characteristic many colors, as well as its colored swirls and veins which are usually due to mineral impurities. I chose it because it is so commonly used to make statues and in homes, making it a highly relevant rock. (We actually wanted to use marble in our house, to build our kitchen counters, but chose a marble-granite mix instead because marble is so soft that we would damage it with kitchen wear-and-tear) http://www.softschools.com/facts/rocks/marble_facts/371

Sedimentary Rock: Sandstone

                                                                    Sandstone. 

Sandstone is a classic sedimentary rock made up of sand-sized stone granules. It is commonly compose of Quartz and Feldspar and is a very porous rock. Some types of sandstone are excellent materials from which to make grindstones, for sharpening blades and making grindstones for grinding grain. I chose them because of their many uses and because it is so colorful and emblematic of the American Western landscape. http://geology.about.com/od/more_sedrocks/a/aboutsandstone.htm 

Barometric Pressure

A barometer is used to measure atmospheric pressure. Here are a few pictures of barometers that have been used over time.

This is our homemade Barometer: 

                                                           

This is a barometric pressure map of Georgia:

We measured the barometric pressure by marking where the tip of our straw was ever day, and checking the barometric pressure for that day. This way we were able to see whether the straw went up or down when the pressure went up and down. We saw that as the pressure went up the balloon was pushed down, moving the straw up. As pressure went down, the straw moved down, since the balloon was being forced up. This is the chart I made on Excel for our in class data.

Plant

First plant growth--Feb. 21. We set her on the bathroom windowsill.

March 4-- Plant has grown! She is now almost 3/4 of an inch tall

March 25--Plant has only grown 1 inch and 1/4. Now she is 2 inches tall. She must be a late bloomer...