S.S. Blog State News

In the following article I have read about the stimulus plan of Corzine. It said that he plans in spending more than one billion dollars on this stimulus package. I think it's about time that something happened that will hopefully fix our economy. I also hope that this does not take money out of peoples pay checks that need the money and if anything, is taken from the people that do not need all the money that they are making. It seems that this money will be going to tax relief and to hopefully help out the unemployed. This money will also soften the damage we have created. Hopefully these cuts do no take away any ones jobs because that would defeat the purpose of helping the unemployed. I think the idea of creating jobs such as repairs and expansion of state highways, bridges, rail lines and seaports, as well as transit capital projects such as rail and bus stations is a very smart idea and will hopefully be successful. These repairs are needed for safe transportation so they are helping people economically and by securing their safety.
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-12/123545318436320.xml&coll=1

My Roller Coaster Website

The Drop

New Rat Species

In the following article, I have read about this new rat species that has been found in the mountains of the Philippines. They are called the Hamiguitan batomys. They are golden brown with a long fuzzy tail. The rat weighs 6.2 ounces. I think that it is wonderful that they have found this animal and that they continue to find other animals. These rats seem very interesting and different from the rats I have heard of. The rats that I know of are normally a gray color and live in highly human populated areas where they can access garbage. I thought that it was interesting that the Philippines had one of the largest amounts of unique species of mammals of any place in the world. I personally don't know much about rats but do find this discovery interesting and would like to hear more about it. I find new discoveries of animal species very interesting and I find it even more interesting that the species has gone so long not being discovered or unnoticed. I wonder if they were seen before and were not known to be a new species and I wonder how long they have been around for.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090218/sc_afp/philippineswildliferodent;_ylt=Anfjy6dhWyKWe3mTs.Sao794hMgF

Roller coasters

In science we are working on a roller coaster project. We had to earn "Omega Money" so we could "buy" the supplies for our project. Some of the supplies that we could buy are toliet paper rolls, empty milk cartons, empty soda bottles, large toilet paper rolls, tape and some other items that were made of cardboard. My group has a very small amount of money so we had to be sure not to waste any of it and use what we have wisely. So far me have just been using toliet paper rolls and masking tape. We have to have three hills on our roller coaster which we are having a bit of a hard time to built because you need just enough energy to get the marble up a hill and yet the structure still needs to be realistic. We have tried many different ways of making hills and some ways have suceded and some have not. I think we have learned that to get a marble up a hill, there should be a steep, longer hill coming down to it so that the marble has a lot of energy. I feel this project is fun and interesting because it shows us how cool energy and force are. Force is shown in this expreiment because the different angles and materials have different speeds and ablilitys which forces the marble to move throughout the roller coaster.. This project is a wonderful way to show force and really get you thinking. It is amazing how some of these roller coasters work and how they sometimes does not work. All in all, I have learned a lot from this project so far and it has been enjoyable.

S.S. Current Event # 2

In the following article i read about the Food Pantry of Monmouth Junction and how they are struggling now more than ever to get donations. This is because of the bad economy. Families are struggling to put food on their own tables and therefore cannot afford to purchase food for the people who have none. Also, because of this economy, the price of food is up. The amount of people who go to the food pantry as there food source is increasing as well. More and more people are loosing their jobs and can use every penny they get and cannot afford to donate because they are barley affording there own food. It is important that people that can afford to donate know about the food pantry and do donate and hopefully more people are employed and the economy gets better and this crisis can be over. I believe that this is a very unfortunate problem. Many people are loosing there job which causes upset families who cannot afford food and really need this food and it is so sad to know that they cannot get the food they need. I think that there are many people that could donate and it does not have to be a lot but there are people who can donate that do not know how needy the food pantry is and if they did know would hopefully be willing to help and would help. All in all, this is very unfortunate and hopefully the economic crisis will be solved and the food pantry will receive more donations.
http://www.centraljersey.com/articles/2009/02/04/south_brunswick_post/news/doc4980d43f719eb599088632.txt

Save the Tortoise. . . and Money

The article I read was about how more than ninety-three million dollars were spent on saving the endangered species of the tortoise. I think that we should be spending some of this money on the people who need it and should get volunteers to do some of the work for the tortoises. What they have spent is a lot of money and I'm sure they could have found less expensive ways to care for these tortoises. The space they need is certainly a lot. The tortoises seem to be getting more attention, space and money than most humans. It really is wonderful that they want to save the tortoises and I do not blame them but I'm sure there are less expensive ways to solve this. Some ways we could save money is by finding volunteers to take care of them and by finding less expensive land that is still the correct habitat for them and is still a natural habitat for them. The money is not just being spent on the tortoises but for other animals as well. Though we have been spending all this money, some of the animals are still going extinct and are becoming less populated. That means all this money we spent was a waste pretty much. All in all, I think when trying to find a solution for endangered species, we should keep in mind the price and make sure what we are doing will really help.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090120/ap_on_re_us/desert_tortoise_money;_ylt=AobsKYACdZ5LIn2mbgpNx7l4hMgF

National News: The Inauguration of President Obama

The article I have read were about how Obama plans to impress America within the first hundred days of his presidency and how Obama plans on getting right to work. This is hopefully going to work out well because our country is really struggling and needs improvement as soon as possible. So far, our new president seems relaxed and I think he will be able to handle these issues pretty well. His speech seemed positive and like it will be successful. Hopefully once the hundred days are over, Obama does not start slacking and still works his hardest to make our country proud.

The first article I read was how Obama plans on spending his first hundred days and some subjects he should be focusing on. It is interesting how the presidents have been doing this since FDR. One concern I have about this is that he will not work as hard once the hundred day are over but I'm sure he will work his hardest at everything he does and that he will be able to handle most of our country's problems.
"The problems are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.” Obama said to comfort us that he knows this will not be and easy process to solve the crisis we are going through but it will be solved. One thing I am not worried about is that Obama will not run out of work during his presidency and America will sure keep him busy.

The second article I read was about the actual Inauguration and how Obama plans on going right to work. He told us that the economic crisis was caused by“our collective failure to make hard choices.” It is good that he honestly understands our problems and realizes that it is our fault. The article spoke about who was at the ball and what their purpose was and how they will contribute to Obama and this country. When meeting with lawmakers after the Inauguration, he told them the following "It doesn’t mean we’re going to agree on everything,” “And I assure you our administration will make mistakes." This is showing that he is not expecting perfection and is not ahead of himself on his ideas but hes down to earth and realizes what we can and cannot do.

These two articles showed me how our president is understanding and does not expect our country to be perfect but knows that it will have problems. He is saying that we will have control and we will fix what we are going through for the most part. It seems that Obama is prepared for this role and is prepared to begin solving some of our problems. All in all, it seems Obama's presidency will be a successful presidency.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_pl224
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/us/politics/20web-inaug2.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=Obama&st=cse