My project is over non-essential vs. essential equipment is all sports. In the last week, most of what I did was focused on research.  I also added more to the website I created about my research.

I learned that, even though most players see it as an essential, that specific position gloves are non-essential equipment (in baseball).  I also learned that in the past two years, there haven’t really been any big, new gear that has surfaced. There are obviously some new stuff that has come out, but nothing that sold over a hundered thousand products.

There isn’t much non essential equipment when it comes to most sports:

• Football
• Baseball
• Basketball
• Trach & Field
• Wrestling
• Soccer
• Lacrosse
• Rugby
• Swimming

When it comes to things like hiking or kayaking, there becomes a lot more. When hiking, there are all the basic things like backpacks, water bottles, good shoes, or possibley a tent. There are also the non-essential things like sunglasses, overly priced shoes, fitted backpacks (in most cases), or water jugs that you carry on your back. There are many things that make hiking more enjoyable, but they aren’t essential. As for kayaking, there aren’t tons. But there are things like a kayak skirt. This would be essential if you were going through rapids, or any on any trip that mass amoutnts of water would get in your kayak. Most of the time though, this is not at all essential. Granted it does make it more comfrotable.

I’ve learned that there are many, many things most people would think non-essential, but the person using it would say it’s completely essential. For that reason, it is very hard to find examples of non-essential equipment. I also have to be carful what I say, because you could very easily affend someone writting about these types of thing. Ex, a person that buys these things, the person/s making these things, or a person who uses them regulary.

Anyway, I’m having fun researching these things. Tell me if you think of any non-essential equipment I haven’t listed. Thanks!

Recently I was able to participate in a collage visit of several collages. The trip was founded by the Gear Up Grant. We took a test on what careers we might want to peruse in the future earlier in the year. They used these results to determine what collage to send us to.

I was sent to DMACC (Des Moines Area Community Collage) for robotics and engineering. We got to visit their campus and go into some of there classrooms. I still think it’s amazing to go into one of their shops and think about the millions of dollars spent in the machines and equipment. I would like to be and engineer some day so I took a particular interest in the activities we took place in. It also opened my eyes to what sort of things I could do once I get out of high school. Our guide for the tour told us that some of their students’s tuition was paid for by companies that want them to work for them. One example is Jon Deer. The guide said that the student signed a contract that said they had to work for that company once they graduated, and in return that company would pay for their expanses. It’s basically a full ride scholarship!

This trip help me to realize what I want to do in the future, and was also a lot of fun to take place in. I would recommend going on a visit like this if you get the chance and reaching out to see what exactly it is you want to do. You may just be surprised.

My genius hour project is going to be over sports gear vs. performance. This is an interesting project to me because I’m in multiple sports (five to be exact). Being in all those sports, I have spent quite a bit of money on sports and gear. It’s not just me either, there are hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of sports gear bought each day. But is it worth it? That’s hopefully what I will find out.

There are some things that I think are pretty obvious that help you as an athlete. For instance, cleats and long sleeve undershirts. The cleats give you more traction and help you run faster. The long sleeve undershirt keeps you warm when you are playing in the cold. The big companies come out with new things almost daily, if not, weekly. Is what they make essential?

There are also a lot of things companies make that are not essential, but a luxury. Like hitting gloves in baseball, you don’t need them, but a lot of people like to ware them. How much of the gear sold by Nike and other companies are luxuries and not an essential piece of gear?

My school takes kids on a trip to Washington D.C. every other year. It cost 1,200 dollars to go, but it was definitely worth it. We rode a charter bus from Fort Dodge, Iowa, to Washington D.C. It was about a 22 hour trip, so it was a long bus ride, but it wasn’t too bad.

Once you got there you started taking tours of the city and different buildings. The first thing we did when we got there was take a tour of the U.S. Capital. It was cool, but I think it was the most boring part of the trip… Either that or the bus ride. We also visited quite a few monuments. My favorite monument was Iwo Jima (the marine corps memorial). We were lucky enough to be there during cherry blossom festival, therefor the cherry trees were blossoming. The Martin Luther King Jr. memorial was very pretty because there were hundreds of cherry trees around it. The memorial was also right next to a lake. My favorite thing was probably the National Mall. There were all sorts of things to do, it was pretty, and it was a very nice day the day we walked around it. Visiting the Smithsonian was also very interesting. We didn’t get to go the Air and Space (the one I really wanted to see) but the American and Natural History were cool. We didn’t get to go inside the White House, but we got to see it from behind the gate (there were police everywhere). Our last day, we rode the monorail to the food court where we ate supper before we left.

I didn’t want to leave, especially when I herd we just had snow back home, but at the same time I was  missing home. The bus ride home seemed to take forever, but we made it back (the snow had melted by the time we got back!), and now my small town feels empty. There was always something going on in D.C., it just feels empty at home because there is almost nothing going on. It’s good to be home though. The trip was a lot of fun and I am very grateful that I had the chance to go.

I have written six blog posts since the start of the Student Blogging Challenge. This will be my seventh. Five of my six blog posts were school based, and all of them were baded on the topic of the Student Blogging Challenge. I resived only three comments on my blog. I had the most comments on my ¨About Myself¨ blog post. Most of the comments I recived were because someone didn´t understand something in my blog. I changed my blog theam three times. Once for Hollween, once just because it looked cool, and once for christmas. The post I enjoyed the most was my post on Generation Z. I liked this post because it really caught my attention, and because it protains to me. I did not use any widgets, but wish I had some/more. As for my blogroll. I never created one. I didn´t use very many web tools, but here are some I used; pictures, bold font, italicized font, change in color, wed links, and videos.

Our ozone layer of the stratosphere is what keeps out most of the dangers of the sun. It takes almost all of the ultraviolet (UV) radiation out of the suns rays. The ozone is mostly composed of ozone (O3). The ozone sits between 9.3 and 18.6 miles above earth´s surface. Even though the ozone is 9.3-18.6 miles above, it is still one of the closest layers to Earth. The stratosphere is 6.2-31 miles above earth. Therefore, the ozone is one of the first to be hurt by pollution. “Ozone Depletion Information, Ozone Depletion Facts, Ozone Layer, Ozone Hole – National Geographic.” National Geographic. Web. 16 Nov. 2015. <http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/ozone-depletion-overview/>.

Photo by: Makemegenius

Today, many scientist are worred that pollution will distroy the ozone. There is widespread concern that the ozone layer is deteriorating due to the release of pollution containing the chemicals chlorine and bromine. This deterioration allows large amounts of ultraviolet B rays to reach Earth, which can cause skin cancer and cataracts in humans and harm animals as well.

Extra ultraviolet B radiation reaching Earth also inhibits the reproductive cycle. Some animals that are showing signs of damage might be. Young fish, shrimp, and crabs as well as frogs and salamanders exposed to excess ultraviolet B. Even humans are showing slight signs of differences. The number of babies born with dissabilites, have gone up by .oo03%. Scientist belive this is because of UV radition.

One of the major things countries have done, is try to elimimate usage of CFC propellants. Serveral countries have singed a treaty to help ban elements like; CFCs and HCFCs. “Brief Questions and Answers on Ozone Depletion.” Brief Questions and Answers on Ozone Depletion. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. <http://www3.epa.gov/ozone/science/q_a.html>.

Here are some things you can do. Know the rules: It is illegal to recharge refrigerators, freezers and home/vehicle air conditioners with CFCs. If you have an older vehicle with an air conditioner, have it serviced by a technician, and make sure the CFC is recaptured and recycled. If you don’t use your air conditioner — or if the vehicle is about to be scrapped — make sure a technician recaptures and recycles the CFC. Vehicles of model year 1995 or newer do not use CFCs. The same rules apply to older refrigerators freezers and home air conditioners, which may contain CFCs. Don’t buy or use portable fire extinguishers that contain halons.

Also, stay healthy. Rember, there is no such thing as a healthy tan. Be aware that the UV rays are most harmful during the Summer, but that dosen’t mean you can’t get hurt in the winter. Infants and children are the most vulnerable, but everyone should be carful. In all, just use sunscreen, and you will be fine. “B.C. Air Quality.” What You Can Do about Ozone Depletion. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. <http://www.bcairquality.ca/101/individual-ozone-depletion.html>.

Photo by: Leonie

I visited ten different blogs; Lego Batman by: Jai (7, from Austraila), Footy Finals by: 23bruce, Popular Foods In Korea by: Yu Dam (8, from China), My Favorite Festivle by: Gabi (8, from China), About Me by: Madeleine (8, from Austraila), Summer by: Izzy, Popular Foods In My Countrey by: Daisy (7, form China), Favorite Time With My Family by: Mimi (8, from China), and Jimmy Graham by: Phillip M (8, from USA). I got to read many different, intresting blogs, and I addvise you to look at them too. There are many different topics, and onistly, I really like reading the poems. Go check them out!

The most popular food in America, is no dout the hamburger. I would say that steak is close behind, but I probably have a hamburger at least once a week. This is a food that is now world wide known, but was first made in America.  Most people like to eat french fries and ketchup with their hamburgers. Persionaly, I don’t like ketchup, but every persons their own. I live in a rural community, so their not a tone of things around. But there are still about 15 restronts that sell hamburgers. Most everyone knows about the chain McDonalds. There are about 34,480 McDonalds, in 119 countries, throught the world. Knowing that, you would think everyone would know what a hamburgers are. Nevertheless, almost every restront in America has there own type of hamburger.

Photo by: Vanessa Pike-Russell

Another food we eat a lot in America is pizza. I don’t know how much other countries know of this, but it is a huge thing in America. About half of the restronts in America has both hamburgers and pizza. There are many, many restronts devoted to just pizza. Much like hamburgers, there are billions of way you can make it. Everyperson like different things, and you can put just about anything on a pizza. I would say I have pizza about once every two weeks. If I wanted to though. I could have it everh Friday, because my school offers it every Friday. This just shows how much people like it.

Photo by: A. Currell

This summer my family went to Mexico. We had a lot of fun, but it wasn´t at all what I thought it would be. We went to the River Mia. I was lucky enough to get to stay on an all incluscive resourt, and I ended up spending most of my time in the pool.

I didn´t get to do everything I wanted to do, but I couldn´t do it all. I got to go swimming with dolphins, went to a market, swimming in a fresh water cave, zip-lining, and I got to go to one of the Mayan Ruins. My favorite part of the trip was the Mayan Ruins. We went to the site of Tulum. It started out as a small city looking over the Caribbean Sea. But because of the prot they had, it became quite a big city. There was only on port in the area because of all the cliffs, and the city of Tulum became a big city because of that.

Most of our time there was relaxing, though. I got to swim a lot, and had a lot of vergin daiquiris. All togoether it was very fun trip.

Photo by: Michel

Photo by: David Stanley

I would like to talk about the so called issues, with generation Z. One web site by New York Times. In this article they say that we are “technology thursty”, and “cannot live without technology”. I highly disagree with this. We may use technology a lot, but I hilghy dought we would die because our parrent took away our phones. Like I said, yes we use technology a lot. Mybe even too much, but why wouldn’t we use our resorces. Around the 1820’s, the first rifle was made. Dose this mean it was bad to use this knew technology? If it was ok for them, why wont it be ok for us? My point is, yes we over use this technology, but we are not the first generation to over use a certain technology.

Another article I would like to talk about is a fashion article about Generation Z. First I incourge you to go read this article, and tell me what you think. Do you agree with this fashion statment? Now, this is just an openion, but I would not classify our generation by a celeberty gone crazy. Of cource I’m talking about Miley Cyrus. There are some parts of this article I agree with. For instance. Lucie Greene says. “This group seem much less attached to traditional gender binaries or linear definitions of sexuality,” said Lucie Greene, a trend forecaster at J. Walter Thompson, the advertising giant. “It’s all about individualism and the right to be whatever you want.” I think that to very true, but we do not look like Lucky Blue Smith in the picture shone on the article. If you look around, most of the people in our generation were either shorts and a t-shirt, or jeans and a t-shirt. This may be because most of Generation Z is young. But as the first article states, most of Generation Z is around 15 years of age.

“Lucky Blue Smith, the 17-year-old male model who could be

the poster child for the Generation Z look.”

Read both article and tell me what you think! For the most part though, I think they did an ok job describing Generation Z. But again, tell me what you think.