Resource Sharing

I don't know about others, but I noticed that schools- at least, my school- has a lot of resources.  Instruments, lab equipment, food, microwaves, you name it, they've got it.  And yet, I never really see these resources get shared- the beakers stay in the cabinets, used once in an eternity.  The instruments- I understand, it's a little hard to move a piano.  The food- well, I don't really know what they do with the extra cafeteria food, but I don't think that it's going anywhere useful.  What if we could say, make all these wonderful resources available, though, to everyone?  For instance, let's say an elementary school teacher wants to conduct a science experiment with his/her students, but they don't know who to ask for stuff-  none of the teachers at the elementary school has science materials to spare, and they don't really know the science department well at the high school.  An opportunity for learning and discovery is gone to waste! Unless there is a way that isn't a major headache for the teacher to see at a glance what is available (movable equipment-wise) at the high school that currently isn't in use and call up those teachers to see whether he/she can borrow the equipment.  What I'm proposing, ladies and gents, is something like carpooling among teachers.  What I think should be done is that a catalogue should be made of say, science equipment- beakers, graduated cylinders,  goggles, you get the idea.  This should be put online in a sort of database.  Then, should say, an elementary teacher request 5 beakers, the computer can automatically email teachers with beakers that Ms. Teacher from That School wants to borrow some beakers, and so could they spare some beakers?  It's carpooling, school supplies style.  Similarly, it can be done for, say, markers, 'specially where markers/crayons/art supplies just aren't used on a day to day basis in class.  If you ask me, there's no reason for teachers to hoard perfectly good supplies that they never use in their lessons- let someone else borrow it for a change!!  And who knows, maybe this idea can save money in the long run as some teachers realize they don't (or perhaps do, if they borrow frequently) need an entire class set of supplies for every little thing, thus cutting costs on supplies.  At the very least, it'll build tighter bonds in the school community.

PS. Of course, there are problems- transportation of these items, for instance.  But I think it's a legitimate idea that may even be branched out to let students borrow stuff once in a while, so long as they, say, pay rent, or put up a collateral while they borrow it.  Perhaps schools could even earn a little revenue by letting students borrow things.

Great Percussion Site!

Do you want to become a percussionist?  Do you NOT have the money to seek a private tutor?  Well, don't despair!!  There is a wonderful site my "band" teacher told me about called www.vicfirth.com/education/ that is your complete guide to being a great percussionist!! I know for me, at least, it is a life-saver, as I aspire one day to be a percussionist in the honors band group in my school.  In order to achieve that, though, I'd have to know how to play percussion instruments besides the marimba.  So I've started taking notes on various instruments- here's a couple of Did You Knows? for the week:

Did you know?  A gong has a definite pitch, whether as a tam-tam does not.

Did you know? You only play on one side of a concert bass drum- the other side is the resonant side and should be tuned lower than the beating side.

Did you know?  Jingles made out of tin on a tambourine will not produce the right sound in a concert setting.

Taking Initiative

Today, I was walking in the hallway to visit my choir teacher (yes, I admit: I'm a BIG music geek.  Probably not the biggest, and DEFINITELY not the most talented, but I like to play music.  A lot), and I met one of the teachers in charge of a science competition thingy in the hallway.  I asked him a seemingly innocent question of when practice tests would be available, and it got turned on its head, suddenly becoming my fault that I lack the initiative to go seek practice tests that aren't always available in the first place!!  Not to mention the fact that I don't consider myself a person who "lacks initiative"- I spend my lunches in a band room practicing mallets just so I can get better and not drag everyone else in percussion ensemble behind.  And to make up for the fact that I don't personally take band class.  But then, I looked at it from his standpoint- a random science teacher who hardly knows what I do and why I do it would not know these things.  In fact, when he's around, I'm not always in tip-top shape when it comes to initiative- I stopped going to his "club" when I realized it was nothing but a chess and science olympiad club, neither of which I was eligible to do (well, the chess was a waste of time), and I don't always score well on the competition tests. I'm going to use this opportunity to reflect where I'm taking "initiative" and where I'm not:
Yes, I am taking initiative:
Percussion
Blogging (when I can)
Keeping up with schoolwork

No, I'm not taking initiative:
Those science tests.  I really need to pick them up.
Searching for Volunteer Opportunities and actually applying for them.
Searching for an Internship
Learning Chinese

And everything else I'd say falls in the middle.  So maybe, he did have a point.  Just about the wrong things- just because I don't chase after one thing doesn't mean I'm a lazy bump on the log.  What do YOU think about "taking initiative"?

Why I Don't Blog about Science (as much)

As you may have noticed, I just don't blog about science that much anymore.  (Admittedly, I don't blog much anymore, but when I do, I prefer to talk about school).  And so, to record my reasoning for when I'm older and looking back on this blog, I'm going to spit out my reasoning for not blogging about science: I just don't really know enough to come up with a good opinion on anything.  As a high school freshman, I'm not exactly the brightest of the bright- but not that green either, which is how I came to the conclusion that there is a LOT to learn out there.  How could I be able to talk about, say, a new atom smasher if I'm not even sure of what it's used for?  I might know that say, it's used to achieve high energies to find really, really, really, really, really, really (you get the idea), really, small particles.  But I barely know the difference between a lepton and a meson or gluon or photon or any of that.  And until I do know, until I can form a good, educated opinion using a good, solid background in science, I'm going to hold off on my scientific blogging.  Just for a while.

Happy Chinese New Year!

The year of the Rabbit is here, folks! And with it, the Chinese start to spring (although, the snow's piled so high spring will have to be redefined for this year).  Chinese New Year is a fantastic time- food, money, and lots 'o love is all around!!  Here's some factoids about Chinese New Year that I know off the top of my head:

• Red is a lucky color.  Luck is good!
• You're supposed to clean out the house before the New Year- but....
• Kids get money in red envelopes.  That's good too!
• Oranges represent something along the lines of wealth or something good like that...
• Fish should be eaten, because the word for fish in Chinese sounds like another word that means something good....
• You should have plenty of leftovers to represent a prosperous year.
• If you're from northern China (and excuse me if I get this all wrong), dumplings are eaten as well
• Offering sticky, sweet candies to the Kitchen God ensures that he'll only say nice things about your family.  If you want the whole story (and it is kind of amusing), look it up on google!
• There's a type of cake called nian gao that's sort of sticky and sweet and really tasty and is also supposed to represent something good.  What, I don't know, but it sure does taste good!

So, in summary, this is about as far as my family celebrates Chinese New Year, save for offering candy to the Kitchen God, the dumplings, and the cleaning the house part.  And hanging decorations of various lucky and springy and wealthy words around the house.  But, we do get a lot of food!

Eccentric Teachers

I'm sure everyone has had at least one really weird teacher in their life.  In fact, if you ask me, all teachers are at least a little weird (how could they not be, after being cooped up with us kids for so long?).  But I wanted to record today for prosperity's sake- during my very serious chemistry midterm, I heard a really weird rubber-ish noise.  It's sort of the last thing you'd expect to hear while in a midterm.  So I looked  around and (without much looking, as it was bright orange) saw that my chemistry teacher was making a balloon animal.   Yes, he was not grading tests, or sleeping, or on his laptop, or doing normal teacher things, but was making some sort of four-legged creature and making a lot of noise while doing it.  Which thankfully waked me up sufficiently to finish the rest of my midterm (I was beginning to doze) but does raise some interesting questions: Where did the balloon come from?  Why did my chemistry teacher decide to make a balloon animal while we were taking the midterm?  And, Why don't other teachers make balloon animals during midterms?  It's admittedly pretty neat....