Deceased by Disease

This is my second action project for my population class. This unit was about the evolution of animals and learning how to find data. For this action project I chose ten different cats that I researched and gathered data on them. Then I chose three of those cats and hypothetically put them in a place hey don’t naturally live. I made a video to explain what would happen if I were to put them there. My favorite part of this project was seeing all the cats that I researched as well as their awesome names.The biggest problem I had while making this project was having to work with the video without looking at the script. I ended up putting the script in the slideshow and just use it as subtitles, and I’m happy that it turned out pretty well.

India is a very interesting place, and it’s beaches can be even more interesting. Their beaches contain a large amount of wildlife, and it has an extremely warm climate. The beaches are covered in soft sand, grass, and saltwater. Wildlife in this area includes many predators like sharks, tigers, and especially snakes. For a species to live here they need to be able to fend for themselves against other species, and they need to be able to know how get fresh water. They also need to know what food is good to eat, and how to make a good shelter. Larger animals would thrive in this environment, while smaller animals are more at risk of becoming prey. A large threat for organisms would be insects since they are likely to carry diseases. House cats do not naturally live in this area but I think it would be interesting to see how they would adapt to this possibly harsh environment.

I researched ten different house cats from Paws Chicago and recorded data on them.

Crux- 9.94 lb

Gelada- 7.13 lb

Starburst- 2.24 lb

Hawking- 6 lb

Chorizo- 3 lb

Tzatziki- 4 lb

Fig- 7.56 lb

Cupertino- 3 lb

Roseanne- 14 lb

Jessco- 10.63 lb

Of these ten cats I chose Starburst, Hawking, and Roseanne to be moved from their foster homes to an Indian beach. I chose them because they represent the minimum, median, and maximum weights of my data.

I found the average weight of the ten cats I chose as well as the maximum, minimum and range.

Numbers: 2.24,3,3,4,6,7.13,7.56,9.94,10.63,14

Mean: 6.75

Median:  6.57(rounded)

Mode: 3

Max:14

Min: 2.24

Range: 11.76

After finding the average weight of the cats, I created a “Box and Whiskers” plot to find the lower and upper quartiles.

Lower quartile: 3.25

Median: 6.57

Upper quartile: 9.34

Standard Deviation

data	data-mean	(data - mean)2
2.24	-4.51	20.3401
3	-3.75	14.0625
3	-3.75	14.0625
4	-2.75	7.5625
6	-0.75	0.5625
7.13	0.38	0.1444
7.56	0.81	0.6561
9.94	3.19	10.1761
10.63	3.88	15.0544
14	7.25	52.5625

σ=3.8756

Combination

C(n,r) =

C(10,3) =

10! / (3! (10 - 3)!) =120

Permutation
P(n,r) =
P(10,3) =
10! / (10 - 3)! =720

Works Cited

"Health Information for Travelers to India." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 24 May 2016. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.

Only, By Appointment. "Pets Available | PAWS Chicago." PAWS Chicago. Paws, 2016. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.

Backwards Earth

This is my first action project for my “Stories” class. This unit was about different stories on how earth could’ve began. For this action project I created my own etiology for a planet and society I created. The way I made my story was just by writing it down. My favorite part of this project was making the drawing the planet that I created because I like using google drawings for my action projects.I struggled with working on my action project, because the week I started working on it I broke my toe which meant I had to go to appointments to get it checked on, which gave me less time to work on it. All I did was work extra hard at night, and I took advantage of class time to work on it. I eventually finished it though.

MJF(2016)Backwards Earth 

In a parallel universe I created a refined planet called, “Backwards Earth”. Ther

e are some small noticeable differences about this world. It is a fairly small peaceful place where there was no need to kill. It is green and blue looking from space and it is mostly made up of plants and water. There are only 4 billion people in the world since the planet is so small. Since these people can photosynthesize, humans haven’t endangered any animals for eating purposes. Now the humans can enjoy Dodo Birds, Mammoths, etc, on a daily basis. Now that you have an idea of how this world looks, I can tell you how it began.

It all began when I decided to make a better copy of earth. The first thing I did was take part of the earth's core and put it in another universe so it could grow into a similar planet. Next I took some water from your planet and put it on Backwards Earth so the humans there could drink. And one it grew I took the worst thing about humans and changed it to something much better. All I did was get rid of the human’s need to eat, and gave them photosynthesis instead. Animals can now roam free without the risk of being endangered, and there is no wars that are food or land related. Now everyone living there can feel felicity.

The humans have some similarities to the humans on your planet, but there are some striking differences about them. For example, the skin on the humans here are a bright green color because it helps them photosynthesize. They also have no teeth since they don’t need to eat, but they still have a tongue to help them communicate. They also don’t need to sleep since they get all of their energy from the sun. Since they don’t sleep I decided to give Backwards earth two suns so it could be day time all the time. This process made the humans much larger than earthlings.

The humans give interesting input to their planet. For example, they created a transportation system to move quickly, but they soon saw what was happening to their planet with global warming. This made them get rid of their transportation and decided to practice walking and running. They also use non-energy consuming vehicles, like bikes and roller skates. Since there aren’t any cars the world is inviolate of getting hit by a vehicle. The humans used to use nonrenewable sources of energy but they saw how bad it was for their planet. Now they take advantage having two suns by using solar energy instead of any nonrenewable energy sources like coal or oil. This means that they have a large amount of solar panels everywhere, and it has become a earth friendly style of living.

The humans here also have a very creative mind. For example, they decided that the best way to settle law with bottle flips. Basically this means that if you wanted to get away with murder, you would have to be able to throw a bottle and land it every time. It is described to be as intense as a bear attack. Others say that it’s scarier than hell to experience. I didn’t really understand why they decided to settle law this way, but they said it was one of the most unbiased way to settle law. People on this planet are abjected when they fail the bottle flip arguments. The abysmal people who don’t believe in their way to solve their issues are punished

Sistrurus catenatus

This is my first action project for my population class. This unit was about the taxonomy of animals and learning how to classify a species. For this action project I chose an animal at the Lincoln Park Zoo, I compared it to other animals, and taxonomized it. The animal I chose was the Massasauga Rattlesnake or Sistrurus catenatus. I also made a collage of the rattlesnake and turned it into a GIF, to help show the taxonomy of the rattlesnake. My favorite part of this project was seeing all the other colleges that other classmates made.The biggest problem I had while making this project was that I broke my toe around the time we started the project and I had a day less to work on it. I ended up working all night to make sure that it would be finished on time, and I think it turned out pretty well.

S. catenatus, St. Louis Zoo(2016)

The animals that I compared to the Rattlesnake was MN's animal (the Eurasian Lynx) and AA's animal (the Gorilla). I noticed that it was easier to compare the Rattlesnake to the Lynx, than it was the Rattlesnake to the Gorilla. I put all the information into a Venn Diagram below.

                                         Comparison, MJF (2016)

Underneath I made some statements to compare and contrast using Set Theory language and then translated them into english so it’s easier to understand.

Let R=reptiles, S=Mammals, C=Cold Blooded, M= Massasauga Rattlesnake,L= Lynx, G= Gorilla

M ∈ {R}

Massasauga Rattlesnake is an element of Reptiles

R ∈ {C} ∴ M ∈ {C}

Reptiles are an element of Cold Blooded therefore Massasauga Rattlesnakes are an element of Cold Blooded

∀R:C
Being cold blooded is true for all reptiles

|{S}|=2
There are two elements in the set of Mammals

P(C) {{R}}

The subset of Cold Blooded is Reptiles

g ∈ Rc∩Cc∩S

Gorilla is an element of not reptiles or coldblooded but is an element of mammals

Works Cited

Michigan. "You Are HereDNR Wildlife & Habitat Wildlife Species Amphibians & Reptiles." DNR. State Of Michigan, n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.

Arcsin. "Sistrurus Catenatus." Massasauga Classification. Bioweb, n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.

Fried Chicken

This is my third and final action project for my “Food for Thought” class. This unit was about  understanding how the Industrial Revolution & World War II changed our food system. It was also about understanding the impact these changes have had on both our food and environment. For this action project we created a taste tested the same food from two different places and compared them as if we were food critics. One of the places had to be your house while the other had to be a restaurant. My favorite part of this action project was being able to eat for a grade. The only problem I had while making this project was that I forgot to take my picture the first time I made it at home so I had to redo it.

Chicken(2016)MJF)

Popeyes(2016)MJF

GMO's Are Great

This is my third and final action project for my “Food!” class. This unit was about GMO’s (Genetically Modify Organisms) in our food and how they help and mess up our food system. For this action project we chose a side saying whether GMO’s are good or bad and we made an argument to debate on which side is right. I made my Slideshow using google slides and screencastify instead of doing a video of me talking.. My favorite part of this action project was doing a actual debate in class, because it’s always fun being right and having a better argument. The only problem I had while making this project was choosing a side because at first using GMO’s seems morally wrong, but when you look at the facts GMO’s help so many people.

Soil Depletion & Salinization

This is my second action project for my “Food for Thought” class. This unit was about seeing what a global food system looks like, and to understand the human and environmental impacts of this system. For this action project we created a speech and presented it to a camera. The speech was about a topic that is threatening our global food system and my topic specifically about soil depletion and salinization. My favorite part of this action project was the different ways my project that my project could have gone with all the other varieties of topics I could have chosen. The only problem I had while making this project was that I ended up changing my topic so I started working on the action project a little late.

Irrigation can be very helpful in the moment but it is a big problem because of the massive damage it can cause in the future. The global food system heavily depends on plants, and plants grow in soil. This means that soil needs to be taken care just as well as the plants. I am trying to persuade you to fix what we messed up in the past and fix to soil as well as our future. 

Salinization in the earth’s soil is becoming an increasing issue because less youths know how to farm and change the soil. Soil has been ruined by farmers for a while now due to irrigation which lead to soil depletion and salinization. There is a lot less people that know how to fix soil depletion or salinization today than maybe 30 years ago when farming was bigger. Now all we can do to keep the future for the human race alive is to teach teens and children how to fix these problems with the soil. 

This has been happening for too long. In fact this has been going on since Mesopotamia and before. They have faced large problems with salinity as well. Mesopotamia is what Iraq used to be in the past. Mesopotamians used to have sudden floods from the highlands of Anatolia, so they decided to create an irrigation system that would not only help their crops but also solve flooding. Their irrigation system started in the Euphrates and drained out into the Tigris river. They would use some of that water to drain into their farms. It worked really well but that was because they never had a drought.

We can learn from the Mesopotamians and stop irrigation. We don’t think that anything will go wrong until it does but maybe we should start thinking about the future. The Abbasid Caliphate started to expand itself into other places around Europe around 762 AD. One of the places they traveled to was Mesopotamia where they saw the many flaws of their irrigation system. The only way they could think of to fix it was to tear it down completely and renovate it. We can show that we learned from this by not using irrigation or at least have certain laws that protect the soil from salinization and soil depletion. I’m not saying that what the Mesopotamians had wasn’t a good idea though. 

To compromise losing irrigation we can use fresh water sources like certain rivers or lakes to give the plants something to drink. While the salinization in the soil deteriorates we should plant plants that don’t need too much water to survive that way if the salt takes the water from the plant the plant won’t mind as much. An example of some of those plants are may different types of common beans. 

It’s not that hard to make these small changes. All you need to solve these problems is a commitment to help save the future for our children and the earth itself. Salinization is like a poison to plants. Like my teacher says, It sucks, meaning that it is sucking the water and the life out of plants. We want to keep on living and the best way to do that is to help other living organisms. Plants are the only reason that we have lived for so long so why not return the favor and keep them alive. It’s the Humane thing to do. 

Works Cited 

Ancient Irrigation. (1999, May). Retrieved May 13, 2016 

USDA. “Soil Quality Resource Concerns: Salinization”.nrcs.usda. January 1998. May 13 2016. 

"Irrigation Salinity." Office of Environment and Heritage. State of New South Wales and Office of Environment and Heritage, 26 Sept. 2013. Web. 13 May 2016.

Making Dough

This is my second action project for my “Food!” class. This unit was about different chemical reactions that occur while cooking or baking, like leaving for example. For this action project we conducted a lab experiment to see what would happen if we were to change the leavening agents in two types of bread, while we kept one the same. I made my document using isuu which is a website that turned my pdf to look pretty good.. My favorite part of this action project was doing the baking, because I don’t ever bake which made me appreciate the project so much more. The only problem I had while making this project was that a classmate forgot to time the yeast bread which may have affected the experiment.