When President Obama gave his speech on the day of his inauguration, crowds gathered and he got lots of applause whenever he paused in his speech which made it seem grand. What stood out to me the most was that he wants to help adults get jobs to get for the family. If adults with families don't have jobs, they won't have food, clothing and shelter because they won't have any money to provide these things. Thankfully my parents do have jobs, but I worry that if they lose their jobs, they won't be able to provide me with things I like if that happens. President Obama wants to make sure that everyone can live in a decent home with plenty of food and clothing.

On January 20th, there were many more people than there were tickets to see President Obama and hear his voice. This was the biggest inauguration ever because President Obama became the first black president. There were many more black people there to support him than I remember seeing at former President Bush's. Black people must have been really proud of him because they feel that he represents them. This is the first U.S. president who isn't white, making more opportunities for people from different backgrounds.

National News

Today on January 20, 2009 , President Barack Obama's inauguration took place in Washington at twelve o'clock. An inauguration is a formal ceremony to mark the beginning of a leader's rule. What my response to the inauguration would be is that Obama promised to do his best in what he can do for our country and he sounded very bold in his speech. He also stated that "the question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.", which I think means that Obama cares for all of the U.S. citezens. Like he cares if the government works out with us and helps families get a job at a fair amount of wage following the matter of affording to retire in the future. After Obama said "Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short," Obama proclaimed. "For they have forgotten what this country has already done, what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose and necessity to courage.", he made us and veterans and former presidents feel honored for what they and what we did for America. In return, we must honor President Obama for what he will say he will do for us in the future. In the first part of the quote I am not sure what he means by "Their memories are too short.", who's memories? Ours? Or critics? Other nations? "Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred," Obama said. But with "old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life ... and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you." What I think Obama meant here was that he wants to fight and win to get to the real source of the commotion and what started this war and he wants to finish it so nobody can get hurt, he won't be known as an uncaring president and he wants to begin having peace with other nations. This is what I think about Obama's inauguration speech today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inauguration

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/20/obama.speech/index.html

Protecting the future.

Air forces use the most gasoline than any other vehicle; it even uses more than the U.S. military! The military used about 2.5 billion gallons of gasoline in 2007. A plan that might save our future comes from the U.S. Air Force itself to use coal instead of gas. I would say using coal is a much more smarter idea. Coal can help us drastically because there would be less pollution and the nauseating smell of gasoline from air planes. In the future, cars would be running on batteries, power plants on wind and solar energy, and city buses on zero-emission hydrogen fuel cells and hopefully, air planes on coal. The air force is saying that they would use 50/50 blend of synthetic and regular fuel by 2016 which is in seven years(thats not too far away). According to William Anderson who is the former assisstant of the U.S. Air Force says its going to make a domestic fuel industry to dig new coal mines. Also, it will build the country's first biggest liquified coal plants(CTL). The Air Force didnt invent the CTL yet but German scientists figured out how to make coal into liquid fuel in 1920s. Even Adolf Hitler used the technique of turning materials into liquid which is called the Fischer-Tropsch process to take control over Germany in World War II. CTL can save us and we can make a brighter future!

http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2009-01/flying-coal-fired-skies

Pack up in the future to go to Mars!!!!

Can you believe it? There was once life on Mars!!!! According to NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter found a mineral in the bedrock that tells that there might have been an environment on Mars. A scientist reports a specific type of carbonate rocks in some regions of Mars called "Nili Fossae" and in a couple of other regions on Mars. These carbonate minerals form only in the presence of water. Acidic conditions on Mars prevented the minerals to form, so, the "Nili Fossae" means that water could have provided a place for living things on Mars. Saw that?!!! Organisms once on Mars!!!! Don't you wonder what they look like? Scientists say there is some evidence that there were oceans on Mars but right now, scientists have only found traces of carbonate in atmospheric dust and Martian soil. NASA's rover that went to Mars in 2004 made scientists thinkthat the might have been oceans were too acidic to contain living organsisms. Scientists also think the corbonate minerals formed when water came in contact with another mineral. So get ready to launch into outer space to a different planet that you did'nt know for containing life.

http://science.discovery.com/stories/week/mars-area.html

Class Response: Owl Pellets

Owl pellets are undigested parts of an owl that they regurgitate. They can contain the bird's undigested parts from its diet. The owl's pellet includes skeletons of various rodents to small cats. The size of the prey depends on the size of the predator. In class today, we received our owl pellets which were covered in tin foil. First, we opened up the foil which contained the pellets. Then we measured and weighed the pellets. After that, my lab partner Mike and I dissected the bones and fur from the pellets. Next, we discovered that our pellet contained a rodent. And finally, we looked into our packets and tried to identify the type of bones we had from the pellet. In class, we learned that a pellet can have more than one skull which meant that there might be more than one rodent in the pellet. Komal's and David's pellet had three skulls and I was amazed that such a small pellet could hold so much!

Fuel made from Sunlight!

Researchers in New Mexico discovered how to use sunlight to recycle carbon dioxide to produce fuels like methanol and gasoline which cars use. The researchers have tried to synthesize liquid fuels and they said the technology works and can reduce greenhouse-gas emissions although the full size scale plan could be a decade or more away. Recycling carbon dioxide is not a new idea but was advised to be too complicated and costly to be worth the effort. Oil prices are rising $100 for each barrel, researchers are very motivated to investigate carbon dioxide recycling so there wont be many concerns about global warming rising higher than it already is. A company named Los Alamos Renewable Energy has developed a way for generating electricity and fuel by creating a method using CO2. The solar reactor that divides carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide and oxygen is a prototype that will be finished in April. http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/01/S2P

Using Sunlight as Fuel

Scientist researchers in New Mexico discovered a way of using sunlight to recycle carbon dioxide and produce fuels like methanol or gasoline. Researchers said that the discovery works and could help reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. The idea of recycling carbon dioxide isn't new but was considered too difficult and expensive to do; since gas prices are soaring to 100 dollars per barrel, researchers are motivated to investigate recycling the carbon dioxide. For example, Los Alamos Renewable Energy has developed a working idea of using CO2 to generate elecrticity and fuel.