Ecosystems of Wisconsin

Authors note: I am writing about geography and ecosystems and I thought this would be interesting to work on Wisconsin.

Wisconsin is our home, our happiness, and our life.  We protect it, but we don't really bother to learn much about it. Why is this? If we knew more, we would have more pride to live here because we would be able to say, "Oh, that is in the Northern Highlands."

The Southeast Glacial Plains are where the school is and most of our homes are located. It was created from glacier deposit. It has rich soil for farming and has some small forest patches due to fire suppression. Ten percent of the 4.9 million acres is forest or wooded area. It is the largest area without a coastline.

The Western Coulee and Ridges area is the largest area with a coastline. It borders the Mississippi river. This area of Wisconsin is classified as highly eroded. In this region there is 6.2 million acres but only 3% is publicly owned. 38% is woodland.

Lastly the North Central Forest is the smallest of the three regions I am discussing. It has 6.1 million acres of land, 80% of which is woodland and 44% is publicly owned. It connects to Upper Michigan.
Also in this region there are a variety of wetlands.

These were only three of the sixteen regions of this state. I enjoyed working on this and if you want more information then go to this website: http://dnr.wi.gov/landscapes/.

Sources:

"Ecological Landscapes of Wisconsin - WDNR." Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 June 2011. <http://dnr.wi.gov/landscapes/>.

Comets

Author's note: I was one day wondering when Halley's comet will return so I decided to write about comets.

When you look up at the sky on a clear night what do you see? Stars and the occasional comet. I wonder how they get that streak behind them and how they move through space. I think they are very interesting things because they are constantly moving and they never stop.

Comets are made up of Space Dust and Ice which is weird because if an astronaut took off a helmet in space his blood would boil not freeze. Then the center (or Nucleolus) of the comet releases gases that trail off behind it. And to move they have to use the gravity of other planets and stars to slingshot around and launch back.

Halley's comet is a famous comet causing bad things to happen. Like in 1066 when the comet passed the Norman took over England. Some other things also happened when the comet passed at different times.

Comets are very strange. I really like how comets can keep going forever. In the future I hope to see Halley's comet. It only comes every 76 years and it will next come in 2061.

Sources:

"Curious About Astronomy: When will Halley's Comet return?." Curious About Astronomy? Ask an Astronomer. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 June 2011. <http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=605>.

 century, the middle of the twentieth, this model suffered from a number of shortcomings: in particular, and Fred Lawrence Whipple. "Comet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 June 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet>.

My Spring Break

Author's note: I couldn't think of anything to write about so I decided to write about my spring break.

My spring break was not spent sitting around on the couch. I went to Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, and Illinois.  We saw the Gateway Arch, Mammoth Cave, the St.Louis City Museum, and the Lincoln Museum. The City museum, was the most awesome museum EVER! 


If the school had a field trip to the City Museum that would be awesome. People would say “OH MY GOSH,THIS IS SWEET!” We would all climb around in the tubes and stuff. But we really wouldn’t learn much. So we first went outside and ran around in this area with poles and little thin platforms that were kind of dangerous. Then, we went inside ate and then played around inside in some other area. My dad said two things while we were there that stood out to me: One, This should be called the “City Playground”. Two, What if the safety inspector came here.


The Gateway Arch is taller than the statue of liberty at 635 ft. tall. They have to pump air to the top because of the altitude. We went up in little pods that held five people each, and we rode to the top. The pods had to shift every once in a while to keep them level, so every 10 seconds the pod would turn. We saw some great views from the top, and we could see our hotel that was about seven blocks down the road. It was amazing.

Mammoth Cave really is mammoth size. The main room in the cave is about 100 ft or something like that. There were two funny parts you went through. They where Tall Mans Misery and Fat Mans Misery. Tall Mans Misery was a section you had to go through and it was only 2.5 ft tall! Fat mans misery was an area that was only 1 ft wide and it went on for about 50 ft. It is a good thing that it only went up to my waist.


Lastly I went to the Lincoln Museum. It was a pretty interesting place they had Abe Lincoln’s gloves that he was wearing when he was shot. We also saw this one play were these ghost-looking people would appear on stage and then they would disappear without smoke or anything they would just fade. It was the most interesting play I’ve ever seen.


A few bad things happened over the break, one was that on the way home I got a stomach ache that lasted until Wednesday that week. Then finally on Thursday I came to school and I caught up with some work and eventually I was fine. Another bad thing was that spring break was over.

Duct Tape Battle 2- Cardboard Attack

Author's note: Some people wanted to know who this "enemy" was and they had requested that I make a second story, so here you go I hope you enjoy it.

It was a year since the last time that Niko’s enemy attacked. He had for gotten about them and was prepared for another attack he stocked up on cardboard boxes and tape and had made a set of cardboard armor. He was prepared for anything, or so he thought.


It was June and the birds where chirping but strangely no one was outside. He was about to go in and call his friend to see if he wanted to come over when he saw his enemy walking down the street, they where wearing jeans with a strangely bulky dress shirt with blue and white stripes. they where also wearing what looked like a cardboard roman helmet they also where carrying a vibrant red flag which happens to be a sign of war in Rome. He came up to the driveway and stopped. 


“Hey --” Niko paused. He forgot his enemy’s name. He Felt like a fool. Who forgets their enemy’s name! He walked down to the driveway and asked “What are you doing here.” “I am here to prove that I am better than you.” “Ha, Yeah right!” Niko replied. With that his enemy left and went down the street. Now to find out who this enemy of his was.


Niko went up to his room and looked in his year book and it turns out that his name is Stewart Pid. (Ha ha, Stew Pid). He looked out his window and saw Stewart out at his driveway again. What does he want now.


Niko went outside again and asked him and he said that he was going to “destroy” Niko. Niko said try. Stew pulled off his shirt and under it he was wearing a cardboard armor vest. He pulled out a cardboard sword and swung it. Niko sidestepped and the attack missed. Niko used a new move he made up. He spun so his back was facing his side, put his right leg behind Stew’s and elbowed Stew in the chest. Stew then tripped over Niko’s foot and fell on his butt. Stew, filled with rage jumped up and ran at Niko. Niko was tackled and fell over. Niko pushed Stew aside and grabbed his cardboard sword.



Niko started swinging at Stew. (Just close enough that he would flinch back.) Eventualy stew was at the end of the drive way. Stew tripped over the curb and fell into the street. Stew got up and ran home saying: “I’ll be back!”. But Stew Pid (Ha ha Stew Pid) never bothered Niko for the rest of the summer.

the burning prairie

Authors note: This is for the prairie "mini field trip" and I am focusing on thesis and introductions.

If you where in 5th hour A day Academy you may have seen it. It raged with power and awe. It ravaged the land. The thing I am speaking of is the prairie burn. I think it is one of the most interesting things I have seen.

I used to wonder why the would burn a prairie. Now I realize that it is for the environment. To help the prairie, and to feed it.

The proses is fairly simple. First you need a permit. Then they take a prairie and set up a firebreak around it, this is an area where the fire has a hard time burning. This will slow or stop the fire from burning too far. Then you set both ends on fire so they burn out in the middle.

When the burn is over the fire will have burned all of the plants to the ground and it will be all black. It also destroyed small trees that aren't supposed to be there. Then when the plants grow back they will almost have a kind of fertilizer. Now they will grow back better than before.

Sources:

"Burn your own prairie safely." ???. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. <www.newsc.org/custom-2/Burn%20Your%20Prairie%20Safely.pdf>.

"Garden Web." Garden Web. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. <forums.gardenweb.com/.../prairie/msg1117001921096.html>.
 

Duct Tape Battle

Authors note: I was assigned to write a paper so I wrote this.

When Niko was walking down the road, he noticed a truck tipped over next to the road. He rushed over and noticed a man on his cell phone next to the truck. "What happened?" Niko asked. The man replied " my truck's breaks got jammed and so I crashed into this ditch.". That stinks Niko said. Then the man said that Niko could have all of the things in the truck because he said that the company he works for says that we will deliver the product in a certain time or we give it away. Niko was in for a big surprise.

When Niko opened the back of the truck there was about 1000 roles of duct tape 10 panes of bullet prof glass, 10, 6 inch thick sheets of metal and 2 go-carts. Niko was confused, he said "What kind of company are you?". The man replied "We make almost everything". "Well that explains it"Niko said in a sarcastic voice. "So do I get every thing then?". "Yep". Niko was so excited that he almost peed his pants. he couldn't wait to get home.

When Niko got home he ran out back and started to work on an ultimate tree house fortress. he first found a good tree and then got one metal sheet ( that where surprisingly light). He set it into the tree on two strong branches. then he got a power saw and drilled two together.

when he finished the fort he got the duct tape and sealed up the holes on the top and sides were water could get in. then he got the duct tape and made some armor that is about 1 inch thick. Then he armored the go-carts with the remaining metal, duct tape, and glass.

many days went by and he enjoyed his creations. Then he saw his enemy. They had a paint ball gun and they were coming. Niko ran inside and grabbed his paint ball gun and two more clips. He ran back out side. He was too late. they had gotten into his fort. he heard "BANG BANG BANG" and three paint balls flew past him. Niko ran towards his go-carts and drove around the yard firing back. the enemy came out of the fort and got in the other go-cart.

They drove around until the ran out of gas then they got out and started shooting again. The enemy ran out of ammo and then Niko had a chance .Niko chased him away and thee enemy never bothered him again.

Top 5 Tallest Buildings

Authors note: In tech ed I watched a video on sky scrapers so I decided to make this post.

Starting with the 5th we will work our way down.

5. Petronas Towers in Malaysia are 451m tall built in 1998

4. International commerce center in Hong Kong China built in 2010, 484m tall

3. Shanghai world finance center built in 2008, 492m tall

2. Taipei 101 in Taiwan built in 2004, 508m tall

1. Burj Khalifa in United Arab Emirates built in 2010, 828m tall.

Sources:

"World's 10 Tallest Buildings - SkyscraperPage.com." SkyscraperPage.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Apr. 2011. <http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?searchID=203>.