Lesson 32: Eukaryotic Cells

Hello dahlings (I don't think I'll ever be able to pull that off), and welcome back! I've been away, chasing frivolous dreams and trivial pursuits (ha, see what I did there? I don't even know much about trivial pursuit at all, I just thought it was clever). Anyway, anyway, I'm gonna start actually coming on, if not every day, as often as possible.

Alright, so here we go.

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So what is a cell? Seriously. Well, according to the Miller and Levine Biology book (pfft, that's totally a valid bibliography), a cell is the "basic unit of all forms of life." Okay, cool. Now what's the difference between a eukaryotic cell and a prokaryotic cell? Well, the main difference lies in the way the cells hold their genetic material. A eukaryote holds its DNA, its genetic material, inside a nucleus. A prokaryote, on the other hand, has no nucleus.

***

I need to go to sleep (such a great start, ne?), BUT I WILL FINISH at some point in the (unforeseeable) future.

*•.supernova.•*

Lesson 31: Pierre de Fermat

Wow, I must say I'm pretty embarrassed.  I wanted to try updating every day, but clearly I failed miserably.  Well, anyway, I made a website!  It's all about Monsieur Fermat, our fabulous mathematician.  So here's the link:

http://pdfermat.weebly.com/

Check it out, it's pretty cool if you like math...

I'm gonna do some more lessons in a bit, I promise!

*•.supernova.•*

Lesson 30: Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

Sorry it's been so long... I'm in Paris; perhaps I'll post some pictures later.  I'm going to do a post on the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire

***

-March 25, 1911 at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory

-Caused 146 deaths

-10 story building on Green St. and Washington Place in NYC

-About 500 workers

-Started on the eighth floor by

            • Scrap bin which contained 2 month's worth of scraps

            • The sewing machine engines

-Most escapes were blocked, and when people got on the fire escape, it broke, causing 20 deaths

-62 people jumped or fell to their deaths

-The owners, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, survived the fire

-The company was fined $75 per victim

-Insurance paid Max and Isaac $400 dollars per victim, or $60,000 extra{ they made money?! WHAT?!?!}

-Rose Schneiderman and the ILGWU pushed for and created a Committee on Public Safety

-Francis Perkins was the Committee's head

-NY State Legislature began to inspect factories with the Factory investigating commission

-Now, there is a design competition to remember the horrible incident

-The 100th anniversary just passed, and so there was a gathering where the factory was

***

That's it.  Bed time for me, it's really late here in Paris (0:32am -ou- 12:32am).

*•.supernova.•*

Lesson 29: Amnesia

Amnesia is very interesting.  It's not only an illness but also a video game and a really good anime.  So what the heck.  I'll learn about it.

***

Amnesia is the loss of memory.  The two main types of amnesia are retrograde and anterograde.  Retrograde is when a person is unable to retrieve their memory before a particular date – usually the date of the accident or surgery that caused the amnesia.  Anterograde is when a person is unable to remember things for long periods of time.  Often, people who are suffering from amnesia cannot form new memories.

There are many different causes of amnesia.  Two more common causes are head trauma and traumatic events.  Amnesia can be the body's instinct in order to forget the traumatic event they went through.

Treatment of concomitant psychiatric illness, cognitive therapy or treatment of alcoholism or drug abuse are all ways to treat amnesia.  Treatment, of course, depends on the case of amnesia.

***

There. That's a very brief description.  That's all that's necessary I suppose for now.  Bye!

*•.supernova.•*

Lesson 28: Jean-Baptiste Colbert

Hey~

I said to myself, "Let's do Jean-Baptiste Colbert!  'Cause he has a cool name..."  So yeah.  His name just popped into my head!  So thaz what I gon' do!  What... was that...

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Colbert
             http://voices.yahoo.com/jean-baptiste-colbert-french-mercantilism-8155941.html

***

JEAN BAPTISTE COLBERT
1619-1683

-French politician who served in France for 18 years as Minister of Finances from 1665-1683

-Saved France from bankruptcy

-Helped the economy by encouraging public building projects, raising tariffs and helping the French East India Company

-Colbert gained power while Mazarin, the former advisor of France, was sent into exile
-He became minister of Louis XIV

-Colbert was the person who made mercantilism more popular

-He believed in a large government which controlled the economy
-He made sure that all goods had a specified measurement and quality
-He was very interested in literature and the arts
-Colbert encouraged science by founding the Paris Observatory and the Academy of Sciences
-Colbert's new ideas ordered and enriched the economy
-He became bedridden and ill, and died soon after his birthday

***

Done... cya

*•.supernova.•*

Lesson 27: iPhoneography

I got frostnip!  It snowed!  I'm listening to It's Time by Imagine Dragons!  YAY! Now, here we go.  So today, I thought "hey what do I love?" then I thought "IPHONEOGRAPHY!"  Many people find iPhoneography to be a merely risible subject, but I find that iPhoneography is actually a skill.  So, I'll give you my own lesson.

***

1.  Zooming in
          a) Don't zoom it. It makes the photo have horrible quality.

2.  Focusing
          a) In order to focus, tap the part of the photo you want to be in focus
          b) Tap on the darker parts of the photo in order to make the photo lighter

3.  Flash
          a) Only use the flash if ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY
          b) Flash lessens the photo quality for the most part

4.  Composition
          a) Don't be afraid of cropping! Cropping can make the eye go straight to the photo subject
          b) Use different focus in order to create more depth
          c) Remember the background is just as important as the subject!
          d) Pay attention to the patterns and symmetry in the photo and crop it accordingly

5.  Editing {the super fun part!}
          a) Don't feel tied to photoshop or just one photo editing app
          b) Experiment and play around with the apps
          c) Try not to over-edit and thus make the photo seem too fake

6.  Great editing apps
          a) Diptic
          b) Snapseed
          c) Tadaa
          d) Photolayers
          e) ColorBlast
          f) Signote
          g) Qbro
          h) Rays
          g) Sketchclub
{that's really all I use.  I'm simple! Also, sketchclub and signote are really great for retouching and sort of clever edits. You have to play around with them a bit to really get the feel for their value}

Now, there's one more thing.  Sharing photos.  A lot of people have left instagram because they think it's contaminated by facebook.  It HAS, in fact, been polluted by facebook, but there are still some really great photographers and artists on instagram.  Try to stick to that group, and you should be fine :)

Here are some of my photos, just for an idea...

That's it!

***

Thanks for reading guys <3

*•.supernova.•*

Lesson 26: Samurai

Hey guys :3 sorry I've been really busy lately.  I'm gonna learn about samurai... because my mom said I had to watch a documentary about them... so what the heck, why not....

Here goes nothin'... :3

*Note from the Future* I forgot to put the sources, but thank you to all the websites that I learned stuff from~

***

Here are my notes:

-Shinto: Japan's national religion
         •Dead warriors were worshipped as deities
         •Buddhist concepts had to mold with Shinto ideas
         •Gods are nature gods, ensuring fertility
-The imperial family was "descended form the Gods," or so they thought
-Lots of volcanoes, earthquakes, flooding and tidal waves
-Japan is very mountainous -- isolated
-Many civil wars caused by rice
-Rice was used for exchange
-Competition for land for rice
-Winning brought glory
-The Yamato were the first to sort of "take over" and take the throne
         •Claimed to be a descendant of the gods
                  *Shinto legitimized the rulers
-Buddhism and Shinto came together and worked together
         •Idea of purity from Shinto, idea of detachment from the world from Buddhism
         •Fit to make the self-sacrificing idea of the samurai
-Samurai were servants
-Samurai were usually born into their class, but some peasants could rise
-At first, there was a Chinese-like bureaucratic court
-The bureaucratic government was taken over by the militaristic samurai
-Shogun became a strong emperor rival
-Best blades
         •Passed on through generations
         •Sharpened to perfection
         •Used both hands to hold the sword
-Plates were overlapping for stronger armor
-Helmet prevented injury to the neck
-Daimyo was the head
         •Honored warriors and family would be put in charge of certain tasks
-Samurai looked for a certain samurai from the other side and there would be a duel
         •This never really happened though
-There was a correct way to use a sword, arrow, etc.
         •Kendo: the way of the sword and the way to use the sword
-Mongol invasion on Japan
         •Samurai did not know how to battle like the Mongols
                  *Mongols did not merely challenge, they just fought
                  *Mongols brought new challenges for Japanese
                           °Used catapults and gunpowder and explosives
-1543: The Portuguese traders brought firearms to Japan
         •Firearms required no skill - anyone could use them
         •Japan is wet, so firearms didn't work well
                  *Nobunaga researched firearms and used them better
                           °Gave firearms to infantry
-Samurai committed suicide (seppuku or harakiri) to die with honor
         •The samurai cut his abdomen open
                  *The soul is supposedly in the abdomen
                  *The soul would be released and seen
         •Someone else would cut off the samurai's head when he cut his belly open
{...this is boring...}
-In the battle of Sekigahara, the Tokugawa side used cannons
-Ninjas were strong, skilled {and awesome} assassins
-Saigo Takomori -- The "Last Samurai"
         •Led a rebellion but lost and committed harakiri
-In the end, the Samurai lost their money and became broke
-The samurai finally disappeared

***

yay. night.

*•.supernova.•*