Best Basketball Team

For this 82 action project, we had to chose a team and a specific year they played in and why they are so great. The team and year I chose was the 2011-2012 Miami Heat. What I learned was that everyone needs to be fair in there argument and not biased. The purpose of this was to see what team we think is the best and to only base it on stats. Below is the video and why I think the 2011-2012 Miami Heat is the best team.       

                        

Why so great?:

- Came back from huge loss in 2010-11 vs. the Mavericks. Showed how much they wanted to be the best.

- In the season they won 46 games and lost 20 games. (2011 lockout) 66 games.

- They had the “Big Three” Dwyane Wade,  LeBron James, and Chris Bosh.  For the second year in a row, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh were all selected to the NBA All-Star Game, tying the record for the most Heat players in an All-Star game in franchise history.

- LeBron was the top player scoring 672 points in the playoffs. LeBron was made NBA Finals MVP.

- They were fighting to stay in the Eastern Conference. Then once they won in the semifinals,

they went on to a winning streak vs. the Boston Celtics.  

- Great teamwork. They had 1317 assists.

- They won their division for the 9th time and appeared in the Eastern Conference Finals for the 5th time.

Reference:
"2011-12 Miami Heat" n.p. Wikipedia, n.d.
"2011-12 Miami Heat Roster and Stats" n.p. Basketball Reference, n.d

Heart of America

For this bioneers action project everyone had to find a company with a product that can be improved to make it more eco-friendly. The company I chose was Denoyer Geppert and the product I chose was Heart of America. This product is an advanced mold that shows the different parts of the heart. I learned that companies make products that can not decompose at all, because of their materials. The purpose of this was to see how different companies make different products and to see how long will take for one product to decompose.


                              


The company I picked was Denoyer Geppert Science Company, this company makes posters and molds that show different parts of the human body. I interviewed Mary Andros the sales manger who told me everything I wanted to know. I wanted to know the materials, process of how it I made and how the product's process can be improved. The product I studied was the Heart of America which is a mold of a heart. The materials they use are polypropylene and acrylic paint. The plastic is from Illinois and the paint form Maine.The process to make this was first it is roto molded which is when the molder shakes it around making it hard. Then it will be hand pained and next sprayed with a coat that will make it shine. Last numbered to show the different parts and their names. This product is sold for $400 and they make and sell about 450 annually. This product has a life guarantee, meaning it will not decompose at all. It is very poisonous to the ground and air.

The way this company can improve their design is by using wax and an injector molder. The wax is good because when the mold starts to break, the buyer can give it back to company to be melted and re-molded. The injector molder works well with wax making it easier and faster to make it. The company is thinking of new alternatives to make a new eco-friendly heart model. They are thinking of using paper and showing it through a way of origami. Or using another plastic that is not as harmful. They haven't started making new designs because they want to master the technique.

Should The Lakers Stay or Go?

In this 82 action project every one had to create an infographic poster on a team of their chose that would show statistics about that team and the arena or the team, and if the city would benefit from it or be hurt by it. The team I chose was the Los Angeles Lakers and they play at the Staples Center. The purpose of this is to see how a team's arena, brand, and market can benefit or hurt the city, and to say if they should be in the that city at all. I learned many things about how the Lakers do benefit the city in many ways. Also how hard research can be when you are trying to find the really specific information about a big franchise.

 

 

                                                       NVA, "Lakers, Yes or No" 12-3-13, Chicago: GCE


In this infographic poster I show the Lakers team value which is $584 million and from that 21% is Sport, 41% is Market, 24% is Stadium, and 14% is Brand Management. This illustrates all the different areas their value comes from, and how diverse it is. The team value though is never consistent. Then I show the teams salary which slowly goes up, but then drops in 2005 and reaches really high after 8 more years. From the Lakers' players getting more popular there salary jumped which helped make the team more value to the public. In building the Staples Center the city was very much involved, the cost of the construction was $400 million and $70.5 million was taxpayer money (17.6%). The Staples Center Foundation does a lot for there community, they will go to schools and do many services and will donate paint and art supplies to the schools. What kind of services they will do is help the school garden or they clean around. "More than $10 million in grants and in-kind support has been pledged to support several local charities and community-based organizations with a goal of changing lives and saving lives."

Some trends I see are that is that the team value is never consistent because of how popular the team is at times. Also because if a player is drafted to another team or another player joins their team, making it better or worse. An outlier that I also noticed was that coming back from an injury Kobe Bryant scored 47 points for the Lakers making them win.

 In my opinion I think that the Lakers should stay in Los Angeles because they are doing many things to help there community and a lot less money was used to make the stadium from taxpayers. The Lakers aren't hurting the community at all and they should definitely stay.

REFERENCES

 ʺLakersʺ n.p. Forbes, Jan 2013
ʺStaples Centerʺ n.p. Wkipedia 11-14-13
ʺFounding Partnersʺ n.p. Staples Center, n.d.
"1990-91 Los Angeles Lakers Roster and Stats" n.p. Basketball Reference, n.d.
"1995-96 Los Angeles Lakers Roster and Stats" n.p. Basketball Reference, n.d.
"2000-01 Los Angeles Lakers Roster and Stats" n.p. Basketball Reference, n.d.
"2005-06 Los Angeles Lakers Roster and Stats" n.p. Basketball Reference, n.d.
"2013-14 Los Angeles Lakers Roster and Stats" n.p. Basketball Reference, n.d.
ʺStaples Centerʺ n.p.Ticket dogs, n.d.
"Number 1 Los Angeles Lakers" n.p. 12-4-13

The Jesus Christ Lizard

NVA, "Basilisk Lizard Collage" Nov 21, 2013 Chicago 

In this Bioneers unit we had to research an animal that has a special feature, that humans can go off of to make a new design. The animal I researched was the Basilisk Lizard, this lizard can run on water. The way it can do this is because it is light weight, can run really fast (5 miles) , and it has flaps in between its feet that make air pockets so it can keep up on the water. The reason humans cant run that fast and stay on the water is because that we are to heavy and the lizard is only 7 ounces. It lives in the lower part of Mexico to the top of South America. I chose this animal, because not many animals can walk on water and I never heard of any humans making a product that can help us walk on water. The design I created was a "Water Board", it is a board that has three propellers (two on the sides and one in the back). It also has two tubes on the sides that blow air upwards to create air pockets. The propellers will help make the board go fast to support are weight and the tubes will keep the board afloat. I was going to make a flipper that can help us walk on water, but in my research I found a design that was very similar to that. One of the Basilisk Lizard's nicknames is the Jesus Christ Lizard, because Jesus can walk on water and this lizard can run on it. The best part of this project was making my own design going off of this lizard, because not many people have made a design that can help people walk on water.

"Green Basilisk Lizard" n.p. National Geographic News, n.d.

"Basiliscus (genus)" n.p. Wikipedia, Nov 12, 2013

"How "Jesus Lizards" Walk On Water" John Roach, National Geographic News, 11-16-2004.



The Water Runner!

The Basilisk Lizard-

- It can walk on water but how?
   - It can walk on water because it is very light weight, has special flaps between their toes that make air pockets, and it is very fast moving (5 mph).

- The challenge that humans face is that they can't walk on water, they cant run as fast as the lizard, because if we did we would sink. We need to have something that is can make a human 3x faster and a part that can make air pockets to help us last longer. What we could make is a "Water Board" with three propeller under the water, one at the end and two in the front on the sides. Then another thing could be two tubes that can blow air down to keep it afloat.



"Basiliscus (genus)" n.p. Wikipedia, n.d.
"How "Jesus Lizards" Walk On Water" John Roach, National Geographic News, 11-16-2004.

Basketball Over The Years

The course I'm taking is called 82, in the course I am studying how basketball can reflect on society. For this project I had to create a presentation on how basketball has changed society over the years it, every student had to pick a topic to make this presentation. The topic I chose was, what can three different player salaries and endorsements tell you about society. What I learned was that popularity has changed many things, like endorsement deals, if a player is popular he/she will get more offers. The purpose of this was to see if basketball has changed society and if society has changed basketball.

The Plant That Mimics an Animal!

The course I'm taking is called Bioneers 101, where we learn on how plants and animals give so much to humans, and that we aren't as evolved as plants or animals. We had find a plant and research it and see the cool features that humans don't have built in their DNA. The purpose of this was to find the Fibonacci sequence and see how we could take the design of the plant and see what we could do or make from that design. I'm proud of my plant that I chose was, because it is a very interesting plant that is not known by many people, it is called the "Hedgehog Cactus". I learned that this amazing plant does not use the Fibonacci sequence it uses the opposite of that, it's called the Lucas number sequence.

                                 Daveynin "Hedgehog Cactus In Bloom" April 10, 2013, California U.S

The cactus I'm researching is called the Hedgehog cactus, which gets its name from the hedgehog because it resembles the spiny stems. There are many different different types of hedgehog cactus, the one I am researching is called Echinocereus engelmannii. This cactus has long spikes that are skinny, unlike many which have short spikes. This cactus can be found in the southwestern US, usually near or against rock formations. This cactus has a flower and can grow berry like fruit, the flower can change colors depending on if the berry or fruit is ripe or not. It also has a wax coat to protect it from the sun, so that the water that collected is not dried up from the heat. On cooler days the cactus opens up its pores to do a oxygen and carbon dioxide "exchange". Also instead of a normal plant using the Fibonacci sequence (0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55...) it uses the opposite, its called the Lucas number sequence (2,1,3,4,7,11,18,29,47,76,123...), which instead of going outwards it goes inward to keep itself safe from the heat.

 

 

 

                                                   NVA, "Hedgehog Cactus Top View", 11-11-13, Chicago, IL


From these different feature humans can learn a lot and can use these ideas to make new things without using so many resources. One thing we can learn is different ways to protect are selves from harsh weather and use that to collect more water. What I mean is that the cactus protects itself from the body being in the ground more it can collects more when it rains. Also the wax protects it from the water evaporating really fast on hot days, which could help us keep something safe and cool. Going off of what I said about the Lucas numbers we could use that sequence to protect resources that are low and protect them from going away and getting worn out.

What we could do from these ideas is make new things, what we could do is make a more natural way of a refrigerator like putting taking a metal garbage can and put it in the ground half way and put ice in it to make it cool, this way when it is really hot on summer days and the electricity goes out we have a way to keep the food and drinks cool and safe, also putting a wax coat on it so the sun cant effect the temperature as much. Or if that doesn't work, what we could do from these is make a water new rain water collector, but one that can make the water go to a faucet to use. We could also use the Lucas number sequence to make a small/closed in so it something can stay warm in the day or night, something like an igloo but one that is made of brick or mud that can store heat better.

In conclusion, we can learn a lot from not just this plant itself but many other plants. Nature is always ahead of us and we need to learn how she makes these plants and what features can help us make different ideas to create new and better inventions.

REFERENCES:

"Characteristics of the Hedgehog Cactus" Tamiya King, Ehow, 2013
"Characteristics of the Hedgehog Cactus" Kent Page McGroaty, SFGate, n.d.
"Hedgehog Cactus" Drue Tibbits, SFGate, n.d.
"Lucas Number" n.p. Wikipedia, n.d.
"Echinocereus Engelmannii" n.p. Wikipedia, April 3, 2013
"Cactus Type Category" n.p. Cactusbylin, n.d.

CO2 Presentation

 I'm taking a course called "Water" I had to make a slide show on Global Warming. I'm talking about the effects of Global Warming by researching current data and how it is in a certain area (Elliott Key, FL). The most challenging thing about this slide show was making it and finding the information. The thing I liked the most about was finding out how important it is, and how we need to stop letting out so much CO2 in the air.

                  

Save Mother Natures Creation!

                                                        NVA, " Future Water Life"  10-17-13, Chicago: GCE

In this MDG project I had to write a poem about water resources for wildlife. The most challenging part about this getting my data in the poem without it sounding very boring. Another challenge was doing my interview with the Friends of the Chicago River, which toke me three days to get done.The thing I liked the most was creating my visual.


Animals, plants, humans
Mother natures pride jewels...

Humans not so much.


We are wrecking every single cycle that nature has created,
We cut down her forests and jungles,
We pollute her waters,
We kill her animals!

Polluting her waters has done the most damage
We have even hurt ourselves by this
Toxins are put in are water everyday,
The level of toxins put in lake superior have double every 3-4 years, since 1980-2000,
There are 362 chemical contaminants in the great lakes, ⅓ have effects on wildlife,
20% of the shoreline of the great lakes are due to sediment contamination.


What we need to do now!, is STOP putting toxins in the lakes,
The Friends of the Chicago River have started to help do this and many other organizations,
They are doing more than people think and we need to take action and help them,
You can also help out in forest preserves, and build little homes for the animals in that live in the area,
They are doing their part in helping us restore mother nature are you going to?


REFERENCES:

“Issues” Friends of the Chicago River, n.d.

“Toxic Substances control: Falling the Great Lakes” Safer chemical Healthy Family Resources, n.d.

MDG letter to Sen. Al Fraken

                                                      NVA "Wage Gap" n.d Chicago: GCE



For this MDG action project I had write a letter to a senator, about gender inequality. I wrote about general jobs of men and women wage gaps. The most challenging part was finding a country with better wage gaps to compare. The thing I liked the most was learning how many women aren't paid the way they should be.  The purpose of this was to show how women are still not treated the way men are, everywhere.



3 October, 2013

Sen. Al Franken
P.O. Box 583144
Minneapolis, MN 55458-3144

Dear Senator Franken,

Hello, my name is NVA, and I am a student at Global Citizenship Experience (GCE) High School in Chicago. I have a class called MDGs & You, and we study the Millennium Development Goals - the United Nations’ targets for addressing the greatest challenges to humanity. We are learning about gender inequality in the U.S. and how women are treated as second class citizens. I am writing to you, because you deal with people's’ jobs and how they are dealt with, and this a huge thing that I as a U.S. citizen is not being taken care of correctly.

I chose to write about women’s salaries in everyday jobs. Women in the United States today are not treated the way they should be in their work places, on TV, or even in general. In a city, women have jobs everywhere and they might even have the same education, experience, and skills as men but they don’t get the same salary! Today women, on average, earn 35%-45% less than male workers in the same jobs. On average, the weekly median salary for women workers is $648 while the men’s is $832. Our nation’s history shows this has been going for years and the government has not done enough to help women. We need to do more for women and give them the pay they have earned. 

To see how unjust our nation’s practices are, I compared these U.S. statistics to another country’s so we might learn how we can reduce the wage gaps in the United States. In Australia, gender wage gaps are only 14.5-17%. Australians show their belief in progress toward equality in their actions. It said on the website, “women were awarded the same rate of pay as men - no matter what work they were doing, as long as it was assessed as comparable in value.” For some jobs in Australia, women get higher pay than men do, depending how good they are. In some areas the gap is only 5.9-4.9%.I am aiming at the generally jobs that women and men get, like labor or teacher. I want us to look at them and not copy their system, but I think that we should at least take some thoughts into mind from what they have done.

In conclusion, our government needs to take charge and realize that women aren't being respectfully paid or treated. We need to look at Australia to see some of the ways, one way they actually lower the wage gap is by commonly hiring a women that is smarter and more useful in the workforce. Another way they have successfully worked on this target was by passing many Acts that say women must have equal pay if they show as good work as the do men.


Thank You,
NVA

REFERENCES

“ Gender Pay Gap Statistic “ Australian Government, Workplace Gender Equality Agency, Feb, 2013.

“ Male-Female Income Disparity in the US “ n.p., Wikipedia, 30 August, 2013.

“ Gender Pay Gap in Australia “ n.p., Wikipedia, 4 September, 2013.

 

NVA's "Schoolmade" Water Filtration System

 

HT(2013) 30 September, 2013. Chicago: GCE

 

In my second action project for my Water course, I had to create a filtration system that was supposed to clean pond water. To make my filtration system, I used a gallon water container to hold layers of materials. In my container (from bottom to top), I put cotton, sand, gravel, and dirt.  I also placed a jar under the container to hold and collect the filtered water.  The dirt I collect was from my backyard; the sand, gathered from a sandbag; and the gravel, from a old fish tank. The water was retrieved from my pond in my backyard.

When making a filtration system, collect supplies. Then, cut open the bottom of the water container. Next, stuff in 2 hands full of cotton.  Then add the gravel on top of the cotton.  Next, put 12 scoops of sand on top of the gravel.  Top the sand with 5 big scoops of dirt.  After layering materials in this manner, poke a hole in the cap with some scissors.   Set the bottle on a jar. Lastly, pour the water through. I thought my filtration system would work well, because all the supplies that are on my materials list are very common. Also, I knew that the carbon would work because many common water filters use carbon to clean water.  I also learned in my class that activated carbon binds to the impurities in the water.  Another reason I had a feeling my system would work is because ground filtration uses dirt, gravel, and sand in the ground to catch big chunks of bacteria. I chose not drink the filtered water, because I didn’t want to get sick from an ineffective filter.

Prior to filtration, I observed the water to be a dark greenish color (pH 5).  After filtration, I observed the water to be a light green color.  I could also see that the layers in the filter removed big chunks of debris from the water, because the debris would get stuck in the layers, while the water would drain through the gaps in the materials.  When I added a pinch of activated carbon to the water and filtered it through coffee filters, the water turned clearer.  When I measured my final pH at the end of the filtration, it was a pH of 6.  In other words, the water turned more basic after filtration,  -log[0.001]

REFERENCES

“ Water Purification” n.p. Practical Primitive, May/June 2010.  Web. Retrieved 1 Oct 2013.

“ How To Make A Water Filter” n.p. Wilderness Survival Skills, 2013. Web. Retrieved 1 Oct 2013

Chicago Botanic Garden Profile by NVA

In this essay, I will explain how the Chicago Botanic Garden helps people that are in need for jobs, food or even education. The class I'm taking is called MDGs, which means Millennium Development Goals. This class focuses on the problems that are going on today as we speak. Many people don't realize this, but many countries are suffering from many different things. In this project, we had to pick an organization in Chicago, and how it can help one of the MDGs that are going on today. I'm proud to see that people in Chicago and organizations all around the world are helping people with many different problems. I learned that, probably, more than half the word has problems that not many people are taking care of.

 

PAWAR, Sandeep (2010) A Color Evening. Chicago: Flickr. 

For this project I had to chose an organization that addressed an MDG target. The target I chose was Target 1.B: "Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people". The Chicago Botanic Garden (CBG) helps address this by actually giving teens and adults with no experience jobs to help keep their garden pure and beautiful. But the people who work there don't just work in an office. They let teachers bring their students to learn more about their garden, and how it feels to be in an all-natural place. So people from all different CPS schools come to see and learn more about the garden. The garden promotes families to come and live the experience of gardening in the fun way. In Maslow's theory I think this would fall into the self-esteem level, because this can make a person feel good and tell themselves that if they work hard and do their job they will get an award which would be money and then people can use that money to buy things that are needed to survive. The CBG can actually help more MDG problems than people think. It can help people who are young get jobs, help people who live on a dollar a day, and also give education to people on how important their world actually is. The CBG will hire anyone who is willing to work hard, even if they have no experience working in a garden before.

 

I think CBG does effectively address the MDG target, because the target is about getting everyone a job, so they can have money to make a living and even get a better job. The CBG website says that "we get more than 60 high school students 15-18 ages that want to help out and get their money the old fashion way”. Also, if someone works there for a couple of years, they have a lot of new job opportunities, because of all the new skills they have learned while working at the garden. They learn how to manage the plants, keeping the garden under control. They learn how to sell products, and they learn cooking skills. That can open so many job opportunities. Another job that it enforces is building; the CBG website had a video explaining that students had to build a fence to keep bunnies out from eating the food. Also, if the students do good, they get to have some of the fruits and vegetables that they grow there.

 

The Botanic Garden can actually help the community a lot, and more people have great jobs from working at the garden.  They give students that aren't in the best condition food to bring home for their families. In conclusion, The CBG can do more for people than we think.

 

REFERENCES:

CHICAGO BOTANICAL GARDEN (1997) CBG Website. Chicago: Forest Preserves of Cook County.

 

My Daily Water Usage vs. the UK

For the Water course, I calculated my daily water usage and compared it to the daily water usage in the UK. Then, I created a poster with the data I collected.

On my poster, there is a man who is supposed to be me and the will have my four categories (Hygiene, Bathroom, Cleaning, and Drinking), with all the gallons and percentages next to the man. Next to that I have a picture of the UK and the categories with the gallons with the percentages.

I would help save water by taking shorter showers and not leaving the water on while I'm brushing my teeth, which I think is a bad habit to get into. Also, when I'm cleaning, I use a lot more water then I need. If I do this, I can help the world be a better place, so people don't use too much water.  I would tell people how much they use to help them use less as well.

Research shows that 63% of water in the UK is used for hygiene, 21% for cleaning, 12% for outdoor things, and 4% for drinking.  My water usage came out to 52 gals to Hygiene, 6 gals to bathroom, 4 gals to cleaning, and 1 gal to drinking water.  In conclusion, I found that people in many countries (the U.S. being a huge one) use much more water than we really need. We just think we need that much. The UK also uses a lot of water, but not nearly as much as the U.S. 

 

NVA. (2013) Water Consumption Poster. Chicago: GCE.