Renewable Excellence - Solar Energy

In this investigation, I explored solar energy. I picked solar energy because I wanted to know more about a more green, more efficient energy system. Solar energy is generated from the sun, so along as the sun is out, solar energy is being created through this system, at night, of course it's less efficient at night, but it still works! I'm proud of this project, although I believe me and my partner could have done a better job on the audio. I felt like it was pretty cool because I worked on something I didn't know about. Solar energy was quite easy to research, because many people believed we should make the switch to solar too.



References:

“Switch to solar energy”. solarworld. Web. 14 Jan, 2013.

Most Valuable Memory

In this investigation, my class was asked to pick a specific memory that we thought was something that defines us. I chose the memory of 2009, Christmas day, when it was the first time my family came to my home to have Christmas, I was also introduced to my PS3. It was A LOT of fun and I learned the real meaning of family. It was a memory I would NEVER forget. I enjoyed creating & editing the video, that you will view shortly. The only difficult thing in this project was remembering key details from the Christmas of 09.

In 2009, December 25th, Christmas day I woke up so excited I almost wet my pants, forgetting about my daily morning bathroom routine. After taking care of my business in the bathroom, I sprinted to my mother’s room and woke her up. “Ma, ma, ma!” She woke up a bit startled, but realizing the date, she began to smile happily. After my mom’s brief heartattack, we watched Christmas movies for hours. Starting with Home Alone, working our way to The Grinch. While life felt perfect so far, I didn’t even know what was to come. After our Christmas movie marathon, my mother told me to take a shower. I ran to get my clothes, hopped in the shower and took the shortest shower, I ever took in my life. (20-30 minutes) Once I got out the shower I heard my mother on the phone. I followed the sound to the kitchen. My mom saw me and said, “hey sweetie”. I said “hey ma”. Afterwards, she told me to throw on something nice. Not knowing why, I went in my room and threw on a button up and some jeans I got for my birthday. After I put on my clothes, a couple of hours past, it was then 1:30 pm.

It wasn’t long before my doorbell rang, I rushed to see who it was, still pondering why my mom asked me to throw on something nice. I was completely surprised & excited to see my family with gifts. Especially because it was the first time they ever came to my house. It was nice to see them after a decent amount of time. I was a bit hyped to see what my family hot gotten me. I washed up a bit in the bathroom and walked into the living room, happy as a Camel on Wednesday. I could hear Christmas songs playing in the house. My anxiety was raising as I sat down, I analyzed the gifts they held, praying for my #1 choice to show, a PlayStation 3. After a lot of amazing gifts, including: clothes, a flat screen TV, and games, there was no luck on the PS3. After about 12 minutes of thank yous, my grandmother pulled a fast one on me, looking surprised and confused, she said the classic Christmas line: “Oh look, there’s one more left.” , I bought her look. With my heart beating at 340 bps, I asked, “who does it say?” Fortunately it was to me, it felt solid and was exceptionally heavy. I didn’t give up hope, I started unwrapping my gift as family members pulled out cameras. I almost cried when I saw what I got. I was stuck staring at a huge box that said, “Playstation 3”.

After even more thank yous, I found myself rushing to plug up my new game. I was so happy to see the machine ask for my name.   

Is it Hot in Here? - Natural Gases

In this investigation, I explored natural gases. I picked natural gases  because I was curious to learn more about these substances, since I have heard of them on several occasions. Natural gases contain plenty of gases, such as Methane, Nitrogen, and Carbon Dioxide. I'm proud of my slide. I felt like it was pretty cool because I worked on something I didn't quite know about. Methane was hard to learn about, since it wasn't on the periodic table but it was a fascinating element.

This I Believe- Humor

In this investigation, I discovered what I believe in most. I was asked to choose a idea or controversial topic. I picked what I specifically believed in, the most. I thought for awhile and humor was the first thing to come to mind. Humor is the ability to have fun. Of course I believe in humor! I'm proud of my speech. I felt like it was pretty cool because I could express myself, because of the relation to humor. I'm a pretty fun and funny person, if I don't say so myself.



When has laughter and fun ever let you down? If you're listening to this podcast, smile, just because you can. If you can be happy, who is there to stop you? Who doesn't like laughing? I believe in Humor.

Laughing is essential to life! Let me give you a couple of reasons why I believe Humor is very important. Humor brings memories, smiles, and life to a place. What would parties and other similar occasions be without Humor? No laughing? No smiling? No fun? I don’t think so! Humor can bring light to even the darkest places. Humor creates friendly environments and strong relationships. A smile goes a long way. The power of Humor is so strong that it can even bring family together? Yea, I said it. I remember in grammar school, I would make people crack a smile on their down days. It makes you feel even better, especially when they’re having a bad day. Humor is my savior & truth. Does it not sound like Humor is essential to life?

And if you ask, what has Humor done for me? I’ll tell you that it has helped my life drastically. I remember in class when I would get sent to the principal and I would say, “NO, you go to the Principal’s office.” In result, the class laughed, including the teacher. He told me to sit down and would usually continue the lesson. A laugh or two can even get me out of trouble. Humor is the reason I’m having fun, as of now. I believe Humor brings a positive attitude everywhere. Do you believe yet?

I’m not going to sit here and lie to you. I didn’t always think this way. I was a lot more serious some years back. Friends & family helped me realize, the best thing to do, was to find the good in everything and don’t take stuff too seriously. People in my family have become huge role models in my life, especially in shaping my outgoing and fun personality. My mom, uncles, grandfather and grandmother have all contributed to my choice of humor. When my close family members, like my grandfather, crack a funny joke, I receive an even deeper connection with them. Just being in my family’s presence molded me into some type of humorous person. Back then I couldn’t but now, I just make sure I keep a positive attitude and be a fun person to be around just for the sake of others.

I hope you find the humor inside of you, if not before than after you hear this, I would really hope it changed your perspective on letting go and cracking a joke or two. It won’t hurt, all you can do is expect a laugh or at least a smile. I just want you to leave with a positive attitude towards life and how you look at people. Humor is the key to fun. It creates fun environments and fun relationships. Who doesn’t like fun? All in all, humor is the fine line between a by standard and a party animal!


- Thank You for listening

References:
Voice Recorder. soundcloud. Web. Jan 17, 2013.

The 1971-72 Lakers are THE BEST TEAM EVER

In this investigation, my class was asked to pick a specific season of a team, that we thought was the all-time best. I chose the 1971-72 Lakers because of their statistical values and my love for the Lakers. It was A LOT of fun learning about my favorite team & their history. I learned a little bit more about some legends I've heard of, such as: Gail Goodrich & Wilt Chamberlain. I enjoyed creating & editing the video, that you will view shortly. Trying to fit key information into a formed script was a bit hard, but overall, it was a fun and relative project.


References:
"1971-72 NBA Season Summary". basketball-reference. Web. Dec 13, 2013.
"1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers Roster and Stats". basketball-reference. Web. Dec 13, 2013.
"Season review: 1971-72". nba.com Web. Dec 13, 2013.

Maybe A Pear? - iPhone (Re)design

In this investigation, my Bioneers class was assigned to choose a service or a specific product that we wanted to better improve or (re)design. I chose the Apple iPhone, I chose Apple because it's so interesting to me, how they come up with ideas and how they manufacture their products. I chose the iPhone because, I seemed to know some stuff about it and I wanted to further expand my knowledge of the iPhone. This project was fun and time-consuming. Gathering all the information wasn't so easy. Overall, it was fun and worth the time & effort.  

                   

The iPhone was made an idea in 2003. The iPhone is a variation of smartphones that are made by Apple, a business started by Steve Jobs, who died in late 2011. Apple is a world-wide incorporation and has recently released new iPhone's by the name of; iPhone 5s & iPhone 5c. They are a huge market worth, $108 Billion dollars. They plan on expanding their market with new ideas. They're in competition with Samsung, (phone company, including other products like computers) which they are heading up against because of their latest inventions of the: iPhone 5 and Galaxy s4.

In order to prevent Apple from being an pollutant to the environment, I've created two systems of how the iPhone's life is, and how it can be changed to prevent pollution. In my linear system, it's showing that the parts of the iPhone come from different parts of the world, then they ship them to the place where they assemble the products and then they ship them out to the stores and people use them and after awhile they end up in landfills.  Then it shows the closed loop system which is how you can improve the product, by decreasing the waste production.  In my closed loop system, it shows that instead of phones going to the landfill they should be recycled.  The apple company is trying to make their phones more environmentally friendly and want to start shipping the parts of the iPhone in smaller shipments.

In conclusion, this project was pretty hard but interesting. I contacted many people on the manufacturing of iPhone's but I came up empty handed. I got an response from one of the writers for the NY Times and I was forwarded to Apple's home page. I also spoke to many people that work for Apple. No one that I contacted knew what I wanted to know. Overall, it was a bit hard going out into the field and learning from people that make iPhone's but it was an interesting topic & was relatively fun to do!!

The Cleveland Cavaliers Revolution

In this investigation, I discovered how I can convince people, visually, how important a team is to their city. I was asked to choose a team, from the NBA and explain, in detail, visually, why the city should or should not keep the team. I picked the Cavaliers because I'm a die hard Kyrie Irving fan. The Cleveland Cavaliers are a developing franchise and are important city. I'm proud of my infographic because, even though I went through a hard time completing it, it turned out pretty well. It was very difficult to complete but a nice, fun project!

The Cleveland Cavaliers are a good team, and better franchise. They were made in 1970, as an expansion team for the NBA. They are, one of the many, original teams that have stayed the same for over 40 years. They have not yet, won any championships but have had legendary players like Nate Thurmond, Walt "Clyde" Frazier, and Shaquille O'Neal. They have made, only one Finals appearance. In the 2006 season, LeBron James carried the Cavaliers to the Finals, where they got swept by the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs were in their prime, with a young & healthy Tim Duncan on their team. LeBron and Mo'Williams led the team through the 2008 season with a combined average of 46 points a game. They also had a combined 11 assists & rebounds.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are owned by a man named Dan Gilbert. Dan Gilbert also owns the Lake Erie Monsters (NHL) and the Canton Charge (NBA Development League). Dan was born in Detroit, Michigan and his real name is Daniel. Dan also owns the Quicken Loans Arena, where the Cleveland Cavaliers play at. He started owning the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2005. He now lives in Franklin, Michigan with his lovely wife, Jennifer. The Cleveland Cavaliers Head Coach, Mike Brown has also coached on the Los Angeles Lakers. Former Coach of the Year, Mike Brown was fired from the Cavaliers in the 2010 season. He coached the Lakers for one season and left to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers for the 2013 season.

In my data, I noticed a few things that stood out to me. Without LeBron, in the 2011 season, the Cavaliers still managed to do better than more than 95% of the league in attendance. I'm not sure how, but I'm guessing it was because of curiosity, and the fans worried about how they would do
without LeBron James. I noticed that the total salary increased increased when the Cavs received, Kyrie Irving. I noticed that the Cleveland Cavaliers' franchise is not doing as bad as I thought. They bring in nice revenue and their doing great on attendance. A trend I seemed to notice was that, when LeBron left, a lot of essential stats dropped, and some even increased. I also noticed that everything was highest in 2009! Salaries were through the roof and so was attendance. I noticed something weird, that you can see above, attendance dropped in the 2011 season. It was probably LeBron but who knows because this was two years after LeBron left.

In conclusion, why not keep the Cavaliers? They bring in good revenue for the city and provide great games for their fans. They're a playoff worthy team and amazing contribute to their city and fans. KEEP THE CAVS!!

References:
"NBA Attendance Report". ESPN. Dec 7, 2013.
"Cavaliers Attendance". NBA.com Dec 7, 2013.