Anna Roman Public Feed

Capstone 2012: "The Good Friends"

Posted by Anna Roman on

Abstract:

For my capstone I worked with 3 of my friends to create a student interactive T.V show called “The Good Friends”. Since I worked with a group, each of us had to focus on one main aspect of the show. So I mainly focused on the film aspect of it. I was in charge of being the producer, so I filmed the different episodes as well as edited each one. Through a collaborative effort we were able to successfully create “The Good Friends”.


Artifact:  This is the link to our youtube page, which has all of our episodes on it.

Link: www.youtube.com/user/TheGoodFriends1

How to save Bell Pepper Seeds

Posted by Anna Roman in Environmental Science - Dunda on

Bell peppers are probably one of the easiest vegetables to collect seeds from. Mainly for the fact that all their seeds are found on the core of the pepper, and the process of removing them is really simple. You first cut the pepper but try to avoid the core, basically cut around the core, that way it’s easy to remove the core and seeds. Once you cut the pepper, you remove the core. Once the core is removed, you then take a knife and carefully scrape the seeds off it. You then take the seeds and place them into a bowl and let it dry for about 3 days. You will know it is dry when you can snap them in half. Once they are dry you can just put them in a container and or envelope, label them, and BAM! You got yourself bell pepper seeds for the springtime. One of the cool parts about these seeds is you can actually store the seeds up to 3 years. So you have some time to plant them. 

The Good Friends Ep. 5

Posted by Anna Roman on
Another episode of The Good Friends. Check out our 90's-fied episode. Love it. Show your friends. Make them love it. And watch it again. =)
Also, don't forget to check out the rest of our videos on our youtube page and follow us on twitter!

Twitter: @TheGoodFriends

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGoodFriends1?feature=mhee

The Good Friends Ep. 5

Posted by Anna Roman on
​Another episode of The Good Friends. Check out our 90's-fied episode. Love it. Show your friends. Make them love it. And watch it again. =)

The Good Friends Episode 4

Posted by Anna Roman on
Hey guys!
For those of you who have not seen the third episode yet and still don't know about some of the changes we made, I am here to explain it all. We realized that our 20 minute episodes were just. to. long. But what can I say...we like to talk. So hoping that we could get more viewers and more shows out, we changed the length of our episode to about 10 minutes. They are still just as awesome, just a bit shorter. We have also been uploading all of our episodes, behind the scenes, and any other clips to our youtube page (Link is at the bottom of this). So for those of you who do not follow us on twitter, which you should if you have one, just know to keep checking up on our youtube page since that is where we post most of our stuff. But since we are amazing people I wanted to make sure I got episode four on the SLA homepage. Don't forget to keep watching The Good Friends!

To check out all our other episodes and clips check out the youtube page:
Link: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGoodFriends1?feature=watch

Also for other news check out our twitter and follow us!
Twitter: @TheGoodFriends

26th Amendment

Posted by Anna Roman in American Government - Laufenberg on
​Reflection:

Why did you choose this topic?

I chose this project mainly because I think this amendment relates to seniors a lot. Most of us are turning 18 and before we know it we are going to be thrown into the hot pot of politics. Also in SLA I think our seniors and juniors are more informed about what is going on in media and politics more then other schools. So the fact that we are well informed, and turning 18 is really important. Because there are a lot less votes coming from younger people, and we need to change that. Especially since we are basically the future, we should have a say in what happens. 

What did you like about this project? What was most challenging?

I always like putting together the movie together. It just is always a nice way to wrap up information in a creative way. I think the hardest part is trying to find what clips I could use within the movie. There was really only one c-span slip that had to do with young voters so trying to find different clips to incorporate and highlight that clip was a bit difficult. So that part was the most challenging for me. 

Describe the most interesting fact or event that you investigated.

I actually didn't know much about the voting age changing. I knew it did change rom 21 to 18 but that was as deep as it was for me. So researching about why it changed was interesting for me, and finding out that young men who were drafted at 18 felt that if they fought for the country they should be able to have a say in it as well. Which makes sense. So that was really interesting. 


How could this project be improved?

I would have liked the video to be a bit longer, and I really wanted to do interviews of young adults between the ages of 18-21 and figure out their voting history, if they have one. I think it would have really complemented the video and would have added a really interesting view since the young adults, themselves, would be saying how they felt about it. 

Where did you run into trouble with the project?

I think the hardest part was the fact that my partner and I were really doing well with the ideas and brainstorming of the project. We were really on our way to an awesome project. But there were some complications that got in the way and kind of flipped the whole project upside down. So trying to to get back up and start on my own was a bit difficult. 

What went well with this project?

I think the clips I did get looked really nice within the movie. The movie has a nice flow to it, though its short, it states it's point well. 

If you had it to do over, what would you change about your decisions or your process?

I would definitely get interviews of 18-21 year olds so that I had more clips for the movie, which would lengthen it but also make it way more interesting. I also would have worked harder to get it done faster and remember to post the video after I made it.  

What did you learn?

Some of the things that I learned was not only the details of the voting age changing but also how important it is for young adults to vote. Though a lot of 18 year olds may think our vote doesn't count, it really does. We really should work hard in making sure we have a say in our government and our future. A lot of us are more informed then many older adults when it comes to politics and media since most of us have classes based on those. So our thoughts, and votes are needed. I just learned a lot about the importance of young adults voting. 


Blog post #4

Posted by Anna Roman on
If you have noticed in my other blog posts I had switched from "Rolling Brown-outs" to the Patriot Act for my third blog post. The reason being, even though there is still a controversy with "Rolling Brown-outs", lately there hasn't been much activity within it. So since I was just finishing up my project on the Patriot Act I knew that there had been some recent protest and talks about it. So I thought it would be a good idea to research it a bit more and base my third blog post on it. So since I have to subjects I thought I would just talk about my plan for both of them.

Patriot Act:

As most of you know the Patriot Act was made in response to the 9/11 terrorist attack. It was written to reduce restrictions on law enforcement agencies ability to have access to different things like telephones, email, medical records, financial records, and so much more. This, of course, created a uproar within the American people. Many people were haunted by the fact that the law enforcement agencies could track all types of communications and get their hands on whatever records they wanted. There was no privacy and they felt that this was extremely unconstitutional.

Ever since the Patriot Act was written and passed, just a few days after 9/11, a lot of people have gone on strike and have done many other forms of protest against this Act. So, many things I would do and set up wouldn't be much different then what they have already done. Though there has not been much change of the act in favor of the protesters, other people have become more informed of the situation through what the protesters have been doing. So I think the best way to keep people informed and communicate our problem is to keep the protests going. I would possibly hold a walk where there would be a point A and point B. People would start at point A and walk to point B as they hold signs and such, just to let people see this is a problem and we are fighting for it.

Now on a more personal level I would definitely write a letter. Even though he is not president yet and may not become president, I think the best person to contact would be Ron Paul. During his republican debates he has made it very clear how he feels about the Patriot Act. He says, and I quote, "I have a personal belief that you never have to give up liberty for security. You can still provide security without sacrificing our Bill of Rights." Though he might not be able to change the act himself, if he supports us, it would give us someone higher up within the government to speak for us, and get others on our side. 




"Rolling Brownouts":


To try and fix this budget problem within America, the government has targeted firehouses and firefighters. The government has closed down firehouses across the country in many different districts. Which has resulted in many citizens protesting against it. By taking away firehouses in different districts it has put many people out of work, but mostly in danger. The firefighting company places firehouse in different districts, far enough from each other where they could help out each other but close enough to their own district so they can be the first ones there. But with many districts and towns loosing their firehouses, there have been many incidents where the firefighters have not been able to get there in time since they are traveling twice the distance they would have to if there was one within the district or town. This has effected not only the firefighters but everyone else to. Its a huge safety hazard.

Thought there have been protests here and there for it, I do not hear much about "Rolling Brown-outs" towards firefighters. So my first goal is to make the problem known. Many people are willing to help out firefighters, since they risk their lives everyday for us, so holding fundraisers that could be fun for families but informational to parents could really help. There is also a thing that firefighters do every year where they go out to and walk up and down streets with their helmets and boots and raise money. We could do that but have signs and t-shirts to explain the protest. An finally writing to the government never hurts, I am not sure who exactly we would write to but a person within some power would help. Its always good to get an inside man to help out. But for "Rolling Brown-outs" I would start smaller and make my way up. If the government has not already seen the damage it has cause by taking firehouses out of districts and towns I really don't think just writing letters to them will help. We have to inform the people, and make this bigger first.

Applying to become a Foster Parent- Anna Roman

Posted by Anna Roman in American Government - Laufenberg on
history flow chart






My group member, Shelby, and I worked on the process of becoming a foster parent. Since we couldn’t find to much about the process online I emailed my aunt, who was a foster parent and went through all of this process before, and she was able to contact the foster care agency she went through and they sent us a bunch of information and paper work for becoming a foster parent. Once we got all of that information we were able to start recording the process and filling out the paper work.

The paper work wasn’t really difficult but just asked for a lot of information. It was not just one packet of question or information you had to fill out but there were several papers and packets that we had to fill out. Some of them were basic information one but also ones that talked about your house appliances and how they worked as well as criminal and FBI clearance forms. The paper work also included the different things you would have to send to let them know your certifications, for example, if you CPR certified you would have to send them proof of it.

If we had to change the bureaucratic process flow chart that we made, we could possibly of made it longer like more detailed in places. When we talked about the list of requirements we could of made a bubble for each individual one and talked about the yes and no’s of those as well. But I was happy with how ours came out.

Going back to how detailed the paper work had to be and also how long the process is to become a foster parent, it shows how protected they have made the foster care system. Becoming a foster parent isn’t like applying for a driver’s license, well fare, or anything along those lines. There is a child involved in this process. So before they just give a child to someone they really have to do a background check on who the person and family is so they know that when they let the child stay with this family or person that the child is safe and will be taken care of. The process is a pain in the booty, but it makes sense why it is so long and detailed.


Lobbying Post #3

Posted by Anna Roman in American Government - Laufenberg on

My lobbying topic, The Patriot Act, has had a pretty interesting year. Earlier this year The New York Times wrote about how Congress voted to have extensions made to three provisions of the law. And what was passed within them.
Which you can see more of here:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/u/usa_patriot_act/index.html

But just recently though The Patriot Act was talked about during the Republican Presidential Debate. Mostly by Newt Gungrich and Ron Paul. Newt Gungrich saying ""If you're trying to find somebody who may have a nuclear weapon they are trying to bring into an American city, you need every tool available. The dangers are literally that great." to Ron Paul stating "I have a personal belief that you never have to give up liberty for security. You can still provide security without sacrificing our Bill of Rights,".  

Which you can see more of here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeS1bGw0RdM

It was interesting watching the Presidential Debate and listening to them talk about their views on The Patriot Act. I saw how different most of their views were significantly different from each other and got me thinking that, depending on who gets elected president, the election itself is going to have a huge effect on The Patriot Act and what will happen to it. So lately The Patriot Act has been getting a lot of attention and I do not expect it to fade anytime soon.

Lobbying Post #2

Posted by Anna Roman in American Government - Laufenberg on
​Many people "represent" me within the government since they are suppose to represent everyone and all but getting more detailed, I live within district 10, so one of the people I am represented by is Councilman Brian J. O'Neill. When looking towards what my Councilman, Brian J. O'Neill, felt towards budget cuts towards firefighters and the union I couldn't find anything. So I decided to research how he voted on budget cuts as a whole instead.

 It was said that O'Neill was not a big talker when it came to the voting of different things, he did not talk or argue and mostly sat quietly. He is a republican and being a "minority" within the Philadelphia city council made him not say to much. It was said by Larry Ceisler, a public relations consultant on local issues, that "The only real power he had was on projects or initiatives in his own district." He does great within his own district since the northeast is full of many things like sports, clubs and ect. But I wasn't sure what I was going to find to much about how he felt towards the bigger things that had to do with everyone no his own district. But it is really hard to find out how he feels about certain things since he says "If there's something that doesn't involve my district that I don't feel strongly about, I usually side with the mayor".

I have found little bits from the research I have done. It has said that he believes in cutting city's tax burden on wages and businesses but I also found stuff, mostly about the education part of the budget cuts, and throughout a lot of the voting Mr. O'Neill has been voting in favor of helping out the budget cuts towards education. So by seeing all of these, especially with the education cuts, I would think that he would not be a fan of the budget cuts towards the firefighters and policeman especially if it was effecting his district. Though I don't know what road he would take voting wise since he seems like a very passive person within the city council and the decisions they make.


Helpful Links:

- http://www.governing.com/topics/politics/Speaking-Up.html

- http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/Protestors-storm-Councilman-Brian-ONeills-office.html

- http://www.phila.gov/citycouncil/BrianJONeill.html

Science and Society Q1 Benchmark

Posted by Anna Roman in Science and Society - Best on
​Arroz con Habichuelas y Plantanos
Dominican_Republic_Food_1
Dominican_Republic_Food_1


Recipe for Arroz con Habichuelas y Plantanos:

Rice (8-10 serving):

You Will Need:
3 cups of rice
3 tablespoons of olive oil
6 cups of water
2 teaspoons of salt

What To Do:
1) Place water in a kettle and put the fire on high until it boils
2) Start with 3 cups of rice
4) Wash the rice then put in pot (no water yet)
5) take 3 tablespoons of olive oil and place it into the rice
6) mix that up on low
7) when water is at a boil, pour 6 cups of water into the rice
8) add salt and stir
9) place lid on it and put fire on high
10) when it comes to a boil turn it down low
11) keep it on low with cover
12) in about 20 minutes check on rice and stir again
13) if not ready let it sit for a couple more minutes and check it again until it is ready
14) when done, serve


Beans (8-10 serving):
*90 calories in each Bean can
*20 calories in each tomato sauce can

You Will Need:
3 16oz cans of red Goya Beans
1 can of tomato sauce
Adobo seasoning

(From personal Garden)
Half cup of diced green bell peppers
Half teaspoon of diced habaneros pepper
One tablespoon of ripe diced jalapenos
Oregano leaves
Basil leaves

What to do:
1) Lightly Cover Pan with Olive oil (thin layer)
2) Heat oil on low until heated
3) Crush 1/2 clove of Garlic, and chop up 1/2 Onion,
4) Place all peppers, garlic, and onion into the olive oil
5) Sauté vegetables in oil (DO NOT BURN)
6) Add teaspoon of salt to the pan
7) Add 8 oz of the tomato sauce
8) After stirring for a bit add another 8 oz of tomato sauce
9) Add the 3 cans of red beans
10) Stir
11) Then add a quarter cup of water
12) add a pinch of Adobo seasoning
13) Stir again then place lid on beans (fire on low)
14) when beans are tender it is done


Plantains (8-10 serving):
*40 calories in a bottle of olive oil (will be less because you will not use a whole bottle of olive oil)

You Will Need:
4 cups of water
2 cloves of garlic (peeled and crushed)
2 tablespoons of salt
some vegetable oil
a pan
a bowl big enough to soak plantains in

What To Do:
1) Take three green plantains and peel them (if you prefer sweet plantains then you have to get 3 yellow plantains)
2) after you peel them place them in a bowl full of 4 cups of water
3) add the salt and garlic to the water
4) let plantains soak for 15 minutes
5) when done drain them well
6) take the oil and cover the bottom of the pan at least an half of inch thick
7) place plantains in pan and fry, flipping over when needed for at least 7 minutes or until crispy and done
8) place paper towel on plate
9) take the plantains that are done and put them on the plate
10) take a paper towel and place over plantains
11) hit the paper toweled covered plantains with palm to flatten them
12) dip them in the salt water and take out IMMEDIATELY
13) place on plate and enjoy



Analysis:

During this project, Ryan and I had to make a dish that was not only
healthy, but we had to make a dish with natural foods. Our goal was to
prove that food can be healthy and taste good. Ryan and I made
Plantains, Rice, and Beans with freshly grown peppers. Our dish was
more natural than organic, because we had freshly grown peppers, and
unprocessed beans. The only thing we used that was organic was the
tomato paste hat we mixed in with the beans and peppers. Rice, beans,
and plantains are kinds of food that depending on how you make them is
how much fat and or calories will be in it. We tried to make them with
little processed ingredients as we could. But depending on how someone
makes these that is how healthy it will be for you. If they add a lot
of fatty ingredients to each then eating it every day would not be
good. But if you use a lot of natural ingredients and stuff that you
have grown from the garden and such then eating this everyday wouldn't
be to much of a problem. Especially if you are spanish, rice and beans
and sometimes plantains are eaten everyday so they find a lot of ways
to make them better so it doesn't make them sick or too fat. So it all
depends on what you add. We read the labels and packaging to see where
our foods came from, and we learned the rice was grown in Japan, the
beans we're grown in texas, and the plantains were originated in
Southern Asia. The food that traveled the furthest was the beans from
Southern Asia in the Bangladesh area, which was 8260 Miles away. The
second longest was Japan at 6762 miles for the imported rice. The
processing of these foods are fresh grown, picked, and sent out. None
of them are organic, or have any added chemicals except for the tomato
paste which was made from organically grown tomatoes. In a regular
restaurant setting, the meal we made would cost roughly between $4.99
- $7.99. Compared to fast food, our dish is actually healthy, because
it has no added transfat, it wasn't made in grease or a fryer, and it
didn't have any unnatural ingredients. The companies that make money
from our dish are the Goya Co. (Making the Plantains, and the beans),
and Canilla rice, (which gets their rice from 4 different countries,
but most commonly, latin america). When growing rice, they usually
plow it to collect it and fertilize it and ship it out to factories so
they can bag and distribute to the large grocers who produce and send
it out. Next, Beans are grown from seeds, and are harvested, picked
out of their pods, and packaged to be sent to the grocers who sell
them. Plantains are grown exactly like yellow bananas. They are grown
on large tree's or tree-like plants, and picked off to be sent to
factories in their cells, grown in groups of 5-6 bananas, which are
labeled and sent to supermarkets and grocery stores. Chefs and
domestic cooks make or use original recipes that involve some of these
products which helps make a lot of mixtures and blends form these
basic foods. When it comes to a lot of the ingredients it is better to
grow them yourself then buy them because you don't have to worry about
any of the pesticides and such. But when you are growing stuff
yourself you have to know how like you have to make a lot of the crop
depending on what you want since weather, and animals effect how many
of the crops actually last until you pick them. So for tomatoes and
peppers, which were two ingredients we used, I believe these are
better and easy to just grow yourself. Now when it comes to plantains
I think they have to be in a certain environment so unless you have
some top notch garden shizzle going on than that would most likely be
better just to buy.


Reflection:

In this unit I have learned a lot about the process many foods go through, and what is really happening behind the scenes. I also have heard a lot of different opinions and experiences within this topic from my peers, the people we had watched in the videos and read about in the different articles. I think the biggest problem in our food system is, truthfully, the people. I think as time has gone on and technology has become bigger people are becoming lazier and starting to depend to much on technology then doing things by hand. Yes, in ways it can be more efficient since it is faster and more foods can be sent out to many places at one time. But the things that use to be important to people, like how fresh the food was and more, are no longer important to people. The thing that people are beginning to worry about is time. If they will have time to make this, if they have time to do that, if they have time to ship this, if they have time to grow this or that. Its all about time now-a-days. Like when we were having a discussion in class about making dinner instead of going out and buying it every night or eating things from cans a lot of my peers made it seem like people who actually cook food are crazy or something. They kept saying that they don't have time or none of their family are home at the same time or that they didn't even know how to cook. And it was really interesting to hear about what everyone though because I grew up learning how to cook from my parents and aunts so I never really had a problem with actually cooking food instead of going out every night. Some ways that can help with it all is if not all the family is home then still cook and put all the leftovers in containers that way the rest of your family can heat it up and eat it when they get the chance, your family can take turns on who cooks dinner what night, and if you don't know how to cook you could always look up recipes online and even start as simple as making some pasta. I just think people are so use to things being faster and not time consuming that when they actually have to take the time to do something they don't feel like it because it is not what they are used to. So I think that has become a big problem for most people.
​Food Slide
Screen Shot 2011-10-25 at 11.26.00 PM
Screen Shot 2011-10-25 at 11.26.00 PM

Patriot Act

Posted by Anna Roman in American Government - Laufenberg on

SOURCES:

http://www.fincen.gov/statutes_regs/patriot/index.html

http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=patriot_act


REFLECTION:

I chose this bill mainly because when I first heard about it I was really interested to know how the process of it becoming a law went. I knew it's process was one of the fastest to becoming a law but I really didn't know about the details of the process and thought it would be an interesting bill to research and talk about. When I get different projects I usually transform them into a little movie since that is what I love and it makes the process more fun but for this I wanted to tell a story like if it was a children's book so I kind of found a way to put two and two together making it like a storybook but adding different effects and music to make it kind of like a little film. For the most part this project wasn't to difficult since I was kind of having fun doing it but some of the challenges I faced was probably trying to find a good source to explain some detailed parts of the patriot act since most sources just told the main stuff and it would of made the video way to short so I wanted to make sure I could get some good details so the video/storybook would be better. So finding a good source and then incorporating it into the video/storybook was I think the biggest challenge I faced. If I did this project again I would probably make sure I used my time more efficiently and probably add more to the story like after it became a law as well. When researching the process of an idea becoming a bill and then becoming a law I learned a lot about some of the reasons why it truly takes SO long for a bill to become a law. The idea becoming a bill was a fairly quick process but the process of a bill becoming a law was the long one. When a bill is being introduced and such if just one person says no, depending on how high he/she is in ranking, they will have to pause the bill and review it again in a later meeting. So for this law since at first it wasn't very popular within the committee it was paused and brought up later and then throughout the process there was always someone who would disagree and then slow down the process once again. So one person can really effect the process of a bill becoming a law. I didn't really have any expectations for this law just because I chose it because I wanted to learn more about it so I didn't think about whether it was going to be really hard or really easy. But overall I think the process was kind of in the middle, in a lot of ways it was simple but gathering all the info was difficult at times. But in the end I believe it came out well. 

Lobbying against "Rolling Brownouts"

Posted by Anna Roman in American Government - Laufenberg on
The main things I am lobbying against are budget cuts. But I am leaning more towards a specific type of budget cuts called "rolling brownouts". Which are budget cuts towards firefighters. Because of these budget cuts they are taking away from things like education, policeman, and firefighters. instead of taking away from other particular things they are going after children's education and our safety. Its nuts. My dad is also a firefighter so this specific topic hits closer to home for me.

The main supporters of this are mainly Firefighters, families of firefighters, other people who are being effected by the budget cuts such as: schools, police, ect. Finding the main opponents of this lobbying act was a bit tricky. At the moment I can't find anyone mainly in charge of the budget cuts towards the firefighters. But since the Government is in charge of all the budget cuts, I am guessing a broad answer would be the Government.

I know there are already people lobbying that the school cuts and all the cuts that don't make sense to stop and such. Last year I remember going to Harrisburg and there were a bunch of schools there protesting about the school cuts at how they needed to stop hurting the children's education. I believe there were also many protest about the budget cuts towards the firefighters and the police. But I can not find anything other then protests happening in this area. I would like for the Government to stop cutting the firefighters because taking ladder trucks or engines away from the firehouses are not only putting everyone in more danger then they already are in but also not letting the firefighter do their job. How can you fight a fire without the proper equipment. So it needs to stop.

I am finding a lot of information about incidents that have happened because firehouses did not have the proper equipment for the job. The biggest one I have heard of is a fire that had happened in Olney and two kids had died because one of the firehouses were closed due to budget cuts so a firehouse farther away took the call only to find out that by the time they pulled the two boys out, they were already dead. It tragic and all because the Government is taking away need equipment from some of the men who keep this city safe. It ridiculous, I believe it should be stopped.

What if Project: Attack of Pearl Harbor

Posted by Anna Roman in American History - Laufenberg on

For this project we had to take an event in history and pick a certain point in that event and change it and see what other events that would change because that one event was different. For my project I chose to do it on The Attack of Pearl Harbor, the POD(point of divergence) I chose was that the radio system was working, because it wasn't, and they were able to warn the naval base in time for them to be prepared for the attack.

I really liked how we got to choose our own topic for the project, though at times it was a bit difficult finding exactly what to do, it was still nice knowing there wasn't really a boundary you could do whatever you wanted with it. The most challenging part I think was trying to figure out the different events that would change because of the moment I changed. So like the outcome of it all was kind of difficult to determine, because you really had to research what really happened, what was the outcome of that and even what was happening before. Because you had to change it all, depending on if that moment would change it.

The most interesting fact that I investigated and found out was actually two things. The first one was actually the moment I changed which was that the whole reason Pearl Harbor didn't get the warning from Washington D.C in time was because the radio wasn't working so they had to find a different way to reach the men at Pearl Harbor, which I didn't know. The second thing I found interesting was one of the reason Japan attacked the naval base, maybe the biggest reason, which was because the U.S cut Japan off from the oil resource, which I wasn't aware about either. So those two things I thought were really cool because they clarified a lot of what happened for me and actually became the main points of my project.

It still amazes me that one moment in and event can flip around so much. From one decision in battle to a radio not working, it effects a lot of events after it. I remember one of my classmates saying this in class and it really stuck in my head. They said it was almost like dominoes falling, like a chain reaction, you knock one down which then knocks another down and then another and so on. One little moment in history changes one thing which can change another and this whole chain reaction starts.

I think the project itself was good, but maybe when explaining what to do for the project having an example of work that a previous student had done. That way the students can build off that with ideas and fully understand what the teachers are looking for in the project.

If I had to do this project over I would defiantly ask for more help with the research portion, I feel like even though I research a lot, I got stuck at certain parts with deciding what the different outcomes are going to be like or what moment would be good to focus on. Maybe organize my time better and defiantly no facebook while doing homework.

To see my finish product:

1)  Just click the picture at the bottom (download)


2) Or go to this LINK
PEARL HARBOR POD

Musical Instrument Blog #2

Posted by Anna Roman in Physics - Echols on

1. How is sound produced by this instrument (now that you know more about sound, please try to refer specifically to the energy transfer and vibrations)?
- The sound is produced by strumming the strings of the ukulele creating a vibration. It is echoed by having a decent sized hole on the body of the ukulele rightl beneath the strings, so the vibration that each string makes is echoed.

2. Based on your understanding, how are you changing the pitch? What physical characteristics are important in this instrument?
- I will be changing the pitch by changing the tension of each string (loosening the string or tightening the string). By doing this the strings will change pitch and be either lower or higher depending on how I change the tension. On ukuleles there is a part located at the top of the neck (big long part) that has fours tuners. Where you basically tie each string to one of the tuners and when you want to change the tension you simply turn the tuner left or right depending on how hig or low you want the pitch.

3. What materials will you actually be using for your instrument and why? How will you play your instrument? What is your plan for constructing the instrument?
- The materials I will mainly need are:
- A box of some sort that I can cut a hole in and use as the body of the ukulele
- A longer piece of wood that I can use as a neck
- Small pieces of something that I can use for the frets
- Another piece of wood to put the tuners on so I am able to change the pitch
- Four tuners
- Four ukulele strings (not four of the same, one of each chord)

I believe that is basically all I will need material wise. Since a ukulele is very small each material does not have to be big, since I want to keep it small. So I will have to look up the measurements of a ukulele so I can know how big the materials have to be. I will simply play this instrument by strumming the strings, creating the sound, while holding down my fingers on the strings on different frets creating different notes.


4. What outstanding questions do you still have?
- Why is there specific strings for a ukulele and how does it make a difference?
- How is it that the hole on the body of the ukulele creates the echo for the strings? and how big, depth wise, would I have to make the hole for the echo to work?
- How do you know how far apart to put the frets? and how does this change the notes and chord of the strings?

Musical Instrument Blog #1

Posted by Anna Roman in Physics - Echols on
elvis_ukulele
elvis_ukulele
Just to clarify for those who are confused the ukulele is not the guy, that is Elvis, it is the magical instrument he is holding.

For this benchmark I got pretty excited since I play guitar and we would be working with instruments so it was something I could defiantly relate to and have fun with, if  I do it correctly, but I should have fun with it. But even though I play guitar I wanted to do something slightly different so I could learn something new about a different instrument. But I did want to keep it in the string family since I know best how to play those more then any other instrument. So I finally thought of an instrument that was close to the guitar but a bit different and sounded like something interesting and fun to make and play. And the ukulele journey had began.

 The ukulele is played a lot like the guitar. Where you have to strum it to make any sort of sound. The only differences is the ukulele is much smaller, has only four strings and also creates a sort of different sound, like different pitch almost. A ukulele's neck is slim and straight but the body of it is almost hour glassed shaped. Because they use different strings for a ukulele then they do guitars.The way you change a note is by taking your fingers that are on the neck of the ukulele, the long part, and moving them to different positions and different frets, holding down your fingers on the different strings as you do so. The way this gets me thinking about how I can change and create sound is strumming something or plucking something, like s string, creates a sound. And holding down things certain ways and positions, like when you hold down the string on the different frets. They create a different pitch.


Here is a link of some cool guy playing the ukulele:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBFdrLu7o9w&feature=related

Kingston, TN Coal Ash Spill: Infographic

Posted by Anna Roman in American History - Laufenberg on
a. What went well?
-I think my group's whole process went really well, we all split up the project equally, shared our finding, and helped each other with the different topics as well. And our finished product is also really cool and informative.

b. What did not?
- There really isn't anything that didn't work out well, I think we made our point and we made some good comparisons so people could really understand how big this disaster was. We completed everything that was needed to and the whole process was actually really smooth.

c. What would you do differently next time?
- I might possibly use a different way to visualize the disaster, instead of a slide with words and pictures maybe find another way to express what happened. Maybe even something more creative.

d. Specifically comment on the 10 tips for effective infographics -

Be Concise

Be Visual

Be Smarter

Be Transparent

Be Different

Be Accurate

Be Attractive

Be Varied

Be Gracious

Be Creative


I definatly think our inforgraph covered all of these Because it was very clear and informative and easy to understand. Not only did we give some facts but we added pictures so that the people who looked at it could understand what everything looked like and it just gave them a really good visual representation. My favorite part that really sticks out and brings this together, I think, is the part where we compared the amount of sludge to the different places. It really helped people understand the amount of sludge that was there and make a lot of people go "DANG!".  So I think the whole infograph really hits those topics well.
Kingston, TN Coal Ash Spill

Somerton United Methodist Church

Posted by Anna Roman in American History - Laufenberg on
Anna Roman
Water Stream
11/11/10

Documentary Script: Somerton United Methodist Church

Narrator- In the small town of Somerton there are not many historical buildings, but across the William peen cemetery there is a small white building known as Somerton Methodist Church. Who would have thought something so small could have some good history.

Narrator- the town of Somerton was and still is a small town, but is actually known for its fast growing foreign born population, which mostly consist of Russian and Indian immigrants.

Narrator- the Somerton United Methodist Church is located in what was originally a cemetery, until 1905 when the cemetery was moved. The United Methodist Church was created when Bishop Reuben H. Mueller and Bishop Lloyd C. Wicke of The Methodist Church joined hands at the constituting General Conference in Dallas, Texas. Then in 1958 the Somerton United Methodist Church was built; most likely by a branch of the United Methodist Church. As well as other churches across the country. The whole congregations of the United Methodist Churches felt strongly towards the different wars from having family members fight in them to sharing certain beliefs towards the wars.

Narrator- Since a lot of the United Methodist Churches had these strong views of the war, at a certain time people would actually attack and set fire to a lot of the churches because of their beliefs. During World War 1 the church had built fallout shelter ground, where the people could go in case of bombing attacks from the war. As the years went on, the Methodist churches still held strong feelings towards the wars but manly worked hard to secure peace and order.

Narrator- during the world war one and two there were many men from Somerton who left to the wars, in honor of them a small memorial was built and placed in front of the church which names all the men from Somerton who lost their lives in the wars.

Narrator-  Now-a-days the church is sometimes used for a polling place, other then that the church is used for nothing more then a church.

Narrator- that’s all for now folks but remember no matter how big or small, everything has a story.


Biography

1) Somerton United Methodist Church:

- This source was the church itself. From the different signs around the church that gave the info of when it was built, and the world war 1&2 memorial in front of it. I also got some information from my dad, Francisco Roman, who knows some stuff about the church.

2) "History: Our Story." United Methodist Church. The United Methodist Publishing House, n.d. Web. 16 Nov 2010. <http://www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.1720691/k.B5CB/History_Our_Story.htm>.

- This source gave me all the history I needed for the United Methodist Church. The church I did was just a branch of the United Methodist Church. So to find out a little bit about my church I learned more about the main one. It provided a times of when it was created and such, as well as detailed information about different activities and main events.

3) "Somerton, Philadelphia, PA photos." PhillyHistory. Web. 16 Nov 2010. <http://www.phillyhistory.org/PhotoArchive/Search.aspx>.

- This source provided me with a lot of the pictures I use in my presentation video. And helped me see what the town of Somerton was like years back. This is a really good website for finding old photos of certain areas.


Anna's Poll Interviews

Posted by Anna Roman on
​In history class, we were assigned a mini-project for Election day. Each of us were told to go to a polling place, and interview at least one person who was there. I went and interviewed, a man who worked there, and a voter. 
polling place
polling place
interview fohrealllll
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DSCF9024
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