Monday, April 23, 2007

Prosper

Look up and see the sky
And know that God is everywhere
Watching out for your prosperity.
Little birds are fed,
And, your soul, too. Prosper.
Be blessed knowing God is God.
Peace will find you.
Look up and see the sky.


Copyright ©2007 J S Shipman

Friday, April 20, 2007

Poetry on Science Education and Earth Sustainability

Calling on You
Caribbean Cool Jean
Mental Seeding

Support Victims of ID Theft

Financed with Prosper, people-to-people lending

High School Aces

Students, Parents, Guardians...The school year is 3/4 of the way gone. It is time to buckle-down, if you haven't already, and study. A good resource: highschoolace.com

Earth Days (Beyond April 22,2007)

Resource: Website resource: Vascular Plant Image Gallery
http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/gallery.htm

Source: ase.tufts.edu/frenchalps/Syllabi/2007%20Syllabi/ENVST105%20syllabus.doc -

The source gives many text resources. The web site connects to images. The mind connects to fields of flowers and to global sustainability.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Parents helping teens

Standardized testing is a bit like playing a video game. You want to gather as much treasure as you can... To that end, parents can encourage teens and teens can self-motivate and study 15 to 20 minutes a day (or more) of science. What to study. Use your state's learning standards as a guide. But, also consider current events. What was that Nobel prize about? Oh, a winner was in our state...better know that one.

Work on math and vocabulary, too. Believe it or not you need English Language Arts and Math skills in science!!!

A good web site...HighSchoolAce.com
includes, for example:
High School Biology
# AP Biology Essay Questions - UGA
# AP Biology Topics by J. de Nuno
# Biology Corner by S. Muskopf
# High School Biology Review - NY Regents
# The Skinny: Biology Review by J. DiBar
# The Why Files: Biology, Health
(c)2007 J. S. Shipman

Tearing Down The Fungal Cell Wall

This is an interesting read if you like fungi, want to save food crops, have allergies or just like cells: http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/plants_animals/pests_and_parasites/

Prosper

Financed with Prosper, people-to-people lending

Sunday, April 8, 2007

The Easter Botanist...Well, she's famous for her bunnies

Beatrix Potter was a great scientist, botanist, mycologist, author and creator of Flopsy, Mopsy...and of course, Peter Cottontail.

At the website, http://www.the-scientist.com/news/home/53057/, you can read more about beloved Beatrix Potter and the science she so enjoyed.

All sources in this note were accessed today. (c)2007 J. S. Shipman

DNA: discovery depended heavily on the work of a woman

Rosalind Franklin (DNA structure photo "borrowed" by Watson and Crick? "[Their] discovery depended heavily on the work of a woman, chemist Rosalind Franklin, whose research was used without her knowledge or permission. Watson's memoir of the discovery dismisses Franklin as frumpy, hostile and unimaginative. A later work by a friend casts Franklin as a feminist icon, cheated of recognition." source: http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2002/oct/darklady/)

Edith Fredericks Jones often stated that women could accomplish great things (personal communication, various times~1977-1982). Indeed, Rosalind Franklin accomplished great things. Today women still are acomplishing great things and being under-recognized. Even pay is not acknowledging women's, "work," equally with the pay of men doing similar work.

Women are often cast in negative terms, as Rosalind was, even while doing breakthrough work. Reflect on situations around you. Are women appropriately recognized?

Jumping Genes for Barbara, ahead of her time!!!

Barbara McClintock (Now famous for "jumping genes" (transposons). People plowed over her research fields to make a parking lot...("When the field behind the Library, which had been Barbara McClintock’s cornfield, was cleared to make the parking lot, I found quite a few points but they were not indigenous to that area. I asked Barbara McClintock about the field and she told me that the soil came from another location." (Source: http://library.cshl.edu/wp/vb/showthread.php?t=418) Barbara received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine which was awarded to her in 1983 for the discovery of genetic transposition)
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_McClintock)).

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Rachel Carson There's a link between Rachel and Beatrix:
"Another of Rachel's earliest childhood memories was her love of books and reading. "I read a great deal almost from infancy," she recalled, "and I suppose I must have realized someone wrote the books, and thought it would be fun to make up stories too." At about age eight, she began a story in a controlled cursive entitled "The Little Brown House." The opening page is decorated with birdhouses in all four corners, similar in style to the illustrations accompanying the stories in St. Nicholas Magazine. Her story describes two wrens searching for an appropriate house and happily finding a "dear little brown house with a green roof." "Now that is just what we need," Mr. Wren exclaims happily to Jenny, his mate. In a longer version of the same story written a bit later, Rachel described the wren's nesting habits in her little green house, adding wonderful details.

"In fourth grade, Rachel wrote a story called "A Sleeping Rabbit." Her cover illustration shows a plump white rabbit sitting with eyes closed in a chair beside a small round table on which are placed a candle and a book entitled Peter Rabbit. These stories and drawings reflect not only Rachel's keen observation of bird and animal life but the kind of children's literature she was reading and being read. The stories she loved anthropomorphized animals so that they shared the same needs as humans for comfortable houses, domestic companionship, and good books.

"Rachel's favorites were the animal stories by Beatrix Potter with their wonderfully detailed drawings, which she painstakingly imitated. Like countless other children, she was captivated with the adventures of Toad and Mole and their friends in Wind in the Willows. Rachel imitated it in one of her most delightful college themes and returned to the animal adventure again and again as an adult.
" Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/rachelcarson.htm

Rachel had to support herself as a clerk for years before her science work was recognized. Have you read, "Silent Spring," yet?

An amateur? Is that any way to talk about a scientist?

Jane Colden, An amateur? I don't think so.
"However, amateurs also made important contributions to the study of American botanicals, examining the plants in local areas, presenting their findings at botanical societies, swapping samples with other botanists and sending plants back to Europe, and cultivating herbaria and arboreta. From colonial times until the mid-nineteenth century, the work of amateurs in finding, studying, and documenting new species was important to the study of botany as a whole. A primary example is Jane Colden (1724–1766), the daughter of the botanist Cadwallader Colden. Tutored only by her father, Jane Colden studied and drew the plants of New York, classifying hundreds of plants, including the gardenia, which she discovered.

"Jane Colden was especially renowned for understanding and using the Linnaean classification scheme. Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778), a Swedish doctor and botanist, developed his hierarchy throughout his life, his most notable publications including the Systema Naturae (1735), GeneraPlantarum (1737), and Species Plantarum (1753). The Linnaean system, which has since been greatly revised, divided animals and plants into kingdoms, classes, orders, genera, and species, all written in Latin. Each species was given a two-part (binomial) name of genus and species.
" Source: http://www.answers.com/topic/botany.

Plants that look like stones???

A fascinating point from nature is mimicry. The viceroy butterfly mimicking the monarch, for example. But, did you know of plants that mimic stones? Go to http://www.botany.org/planttalkingpoints/stone.htm and find out more. Report back what you think.

Popcorn Popping...That's Science!!!

"Of course you recognized that sound! It’s popcorn popping, and people in the United States consume nearly 17 billion quarts of popcorn each year. But did you ever wonder why kernels of popcorn explode when heated?"

Go to http://www.botany.org/planttalkingpoints/endosperm.php and find out more. What a good activity to share with your family: Having popcorn and talking science!

Rejoice

Peace on Earth

Saturday, April 7, 2007

Nursing Continuing Education

Are you writing papers for your nursing education? Add a comment. What are you writing about? Here's one voice you can read. The Changing Shape of Nursing Practice: The Role of Nurses in the Hospital Divison of Labour By Davina Allen. Google it.

Mental Seeding...It's Planting Time, again.

Mental Seeding

Breathe in the silence
Then open your eyes.
Look at all the evidence,
Breathe out in sighs.

Look up above and
See the clouds, sun, moon,
Or stars numerous as sand
In desert dune.

Smell the scented wood,
Aroma of pine.
Lift your heart toward all that's good.
Feeling just fine.

Go to the city,
Visit children's schools,
Also schools, town and country,
Learning not fools.

Many things to learn
And see one, two, three
If you're a living to earn.
Math, Science, History . . .

Theater, Art and Music.
Balanced with reading.
Listen well when teachers speak
Mental seeding.

J. S. Shipman

Copyright ©2006 JS Shipman

People-to-people

Financed with Prosper, people-to-people lending

Build a strong community. Become financially free. Find out about good debt and bad debt....Kind of like good and bad cholesterol!!! I heard a program about People-to-people on NPR. Check it out. What do you think?

Toxic Mold

Are you affected by toxic mold? Do you know what it is? Send a comment.

"For basic information and resources on mold, go to our Mold Resources page. This page contains an introduction to molds; basic mold cleanup; ten things you should know about mold; asthma and mold; floods/flooding; health and mold; homes and mold; indoor air regulations and mold; large buildings and mold; schools and mold and indoor air quality; and other mold-related resources and links. You can find a brief introduction on mold (from our Mold Remediation Guidance) at www.epa.gov/mold/append_b.html"

Source: http://www.epa.gov/mold/index.html Accessed on April 5, 2007.

Identity Theft Keeps Resurfacing...Angry yet? Help out.

Bid on my listing at Prosper, people-to-people lending

Click on the Prosper link above to find out how you can make 8% on your money, even if you have only $50.

You can help a victim of identity theft recover.

Prosper at Prosper: 8% on your money

Parents, Have you been to your child's school lately?

Are you seeing that homework gets done? Does your student listen well and respect others? Is he or she ready to learn? Let your children know you care by talking to them, and by talking to their teachers. As a teacher, I call parents often. I suppose some students erase the tape messages. But, enough get through. Very few parents, however, make it a point to check in at the school. Want to improve education? Encourage your child to learn. Education improves with more parent and guardian input. Mentors are a big help and often parents are the main mentors. Education leads to understanding. Understanding leads to peace. What do you think about that?

Invasive Plants...Japanese Knotweed...the Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG2z7IqPHTE

Science Fair Ideas

Students need to think deeply about science projects...not just do anything. Try working all summer on yours. The experience is for learning...not just to get a grade. Start with what you know and reach into the unknown with testing and experimenting. Try to get a mentor. Look at the "Botanical Society of America" (Google it...)for ideas.

Angry at Identity Theft

It takes a lifetime, it seems, to recover from identity theft. I support those who are trying to recover. As we become increasingly dependent on electronic communications, we need to up security and also help out victims. That's my opinion. What's yours?

Thursday, April 5, 2007

Getting to Prosper: 8% on your money

Bid on my listing at Prosper, people-to-people lending

Click on the Prosper link above to find out how you might make 8% on your money, even if you have only $50.

You can help a victim of identity theft recover.

Prosper at Prosper: 8% on your money

Prosper at Prosper: 8% on your money

Click on the Prosper link above to find out how you might be able to make 8% on your money, even if you have only $50.

You can help a victim of identity theft recover.