Online Quizzes

Click here or here to access some online quizzes. Want some CRCT practice? Try here. After submitting your answers, you can e-mail the results to me for credit. Need some math practice? Try these.

Good luck!

Tom Dickson Is My Homeboy

This one is my favorite!

Everest - Because It's There!

I am completely fascinated by Mt. Everest. The mystique it holds for me is far beyond the mere fact that it is the tallest peak on our planet. The fact that it straddles the borders of Nepal and Tibet, places of exotic beauty and wildness, is part of it. The fact that the very thing we need to survive - oxygen - is in rare, even deadly, availability is a thought that thrills and chills me. The fact that reaching the summit is something few have accomplished and that was only first done last century is mind-boggling. Finally, the fact that the mountain can KILL - that people trying to reach it's mystical peak have DIED in the attempt, opens up windows in my imagination.

I have long given up my dreams of climbing the mountain; it is far too dangerous, and I no longer have the time or inclination to learn extreme mountaineering (although I hold out hope of being able to go to the base camp some day). I still indulge in my fascination through reading, TV, and movies. Two of my favorite books about the mountain are Into Thin Air by John Krakauer and Ghosts of Everest by Larry Johnson (see my earlier post about these books). I loved the IMAX movie Everest, which was recently re-released and played at the IMAX at Fernbank.

Lately I have been enthralled by the Discovery Channel series Everest: Beyond the Limit, which follows a group of climbers in their attempts to reach the peak. The Discovery Channel website has a lot of cool interactive stuff - puzzles - even a game.

After exploring some of the links, tell me what you think - is climbing Everest something you would ever consider?

Packed With Planets?

Astronomers recently discovered a fifth planet around another star. This find is significant because it opens up the possibility of there being solar systems like ours with eight planets. It also increases the possiblity of being able to find some kind of life on another planet. This fifth planet is at a distance where water might be able to exist as a liquid, a factor most scientists agree is critical to life.

Read more here.

What do you think the chances are that we find another Earth-like planet in your lifetime?

What do you think the chances are that we will find life on another planets?

What do you think that life will be like?

It's Official! Pluto No Longer a Planet!

An oldy, but a goodie - this was big news about this time last year, and it recently came up in conversation, so I thought this year's class might want to express their opinion.

Is Pluto a planet?

The International Astronomers Union (or IAU) voted today to re-classify Pluto as a "dwarf planet" instead of a a full-fledged "planet," and included in this new classification are Ceres and 2003 UB313, but not Pluto's moon, Charon.

Read the MSNBC story here.

In class, we've talked about theories and other understandings in science changing as a result of new technologies and new discoveries. This is something that drives people, who don't understand science, crazy - "What's up with scientists not being able to make up their minds?" is what they often ask.

This is a perfect example of how new discoveries and new technologies force us to re-evaluate. When Pluto was first discovered in 1930, it was thought to be much bigger. When its moon Charon was discovered in 1978, we realized that is was much smaller than believed. Now we have the Hubble telescope, with its abilities to see much more than before, and it forces us to look at our solar system, and the objects in it, in a new way.

What do you think? Should Pluto still be a planet? Is the new classification a good one? What will my very educated mother serve us nine of now?