The Asians

The Hajj

2010-04-02T07:46:00.000-07:00

At least once in a Muslims lifetime they must make the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca. This trip is one of the five pillars in the Islam lifestyle. This trip is called The Hajj. To fulfill the requirements of the Hajj, the trip must be taken in the last month of the Islamic year named Dhu al-Hajj.
The Hajj is commanded in the Qu'ran(Koran) - "And pilgrimage to the House is a duty unto God for mankind, for him who can find the way thither" (3:97). The Hajj was one of the last public worships to God that Muhammad performed before his death. Also in the Qu'ran it says that one is commanded to not perform the Hajj if it causes trouble for his or her family.
About two million Muslims complete there pilrimage each year. The Hajj is all about expressing your love and worship of God. It is possible that this is the most important thing a Muslim will ever do in his or her entire lifetime.

Rub al-Khali Desert

2010-03-01T07:31:00.000-08:00

Today was my absolute favorite trip. I was able to go to the largest sand desert in the world. It covers the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula. It is called the Rub al-Khali Desert. I had a blast here wear I spent the night with a tour group out in the open. We made a fire and cooked the few canned foods we brought along. I learned a lot like that it has a big enviromental problem, desertification. This is one of the worst problems a desert can have. It is wear the sand is going away but the green plants are beginning to grow in its place. I also learned that the massive desert is one of the most oil rich places on earth. This was my favorite and last stop of my trip I had a great time. By: Casey Mathews

Negev Desert

2010-03-01T07:20:00.000-08:00

Today was one of my favorite days on my huge trip across the Middle East, because I went to the Negev desert. I was also hoping to go on a camel ride like I was wanting when I visited the Syrian desert. This time I was not disappointed. I was told to get on one of the camels that were laying down in the little bit of shade that there was. In about ten minutes we were off and heading into wherever it was we were going. It was a very good experience. I didn't know half the things the guides told us, like that it was located in southern Isreal. Also the word "negev" is from the Hebrew word of "dry". I thought that this was one of the most intersting facts I learned. It was also one of the many things I did learn though. It covers over half of Isreal which is about 13,000 km of the country. I also learned that the Negev is not a sandy desert, but a rocky land. I always thought that deserts had sand and nothing else but aparently I was wrong.....again. This was my trip to the Negev desert and it was a great one. By: Casey Mathews

Syrian Desert

2010-03-01T07:06:00.000-08:00

Today I went to the Syrian Desert. I was hoping to go on a camel ride but all of the camels were being used at the time, so i took a tour in an off-road vehicle. It was actually very fun and I learned a lot of facts along the way. One of the many things that I learned was that the climate there is a mixture of desert and steppe. It was an amazing journey because I also learned that the desert is located in southwestern Asia. I never had thought of asia having a desert, I always thought it was full of forests of thick bamboo and open grasslands. I also learned that the desert earns less then five inches of rain per year. The desert is sometimes called the Syro-Arabian desert. One of the last things that I also learned was that it was located on the Arabian Peninsula wich is the huge chunk of land that sticks out into the ocean. This was a great trip and I am actually glad that I went on the ride rather than the camel ride. By: Casey Mathews

Mount. Ararat

2010-02-26T07:45:00.000-08:00

Today I went to Mt. Ararat. It was an amazing experience and I had a great time. I learned lots of things while I was there like that its peak is 16,854 ft tall. That is less than 1/2 the hiehgt of Mt. Everest, but it is still a very tall mountain. I also learned that it is located in eastern Turkey and borders Iran, Armenia, and Nakchivan. Also, Mt. Ararat is volcaninc mountain wich at first frightened me at the thought that there was hot lava somewhere below my feet. ONe of hte last things that I learned was that it is believed by some that Noah's Ark landed on Mt. Ararat and might still have remains on the mountain. By: Casey Mathews

Edgar's Place To Go

2010-02-23T07:28:00.001-08:00

The place I want to go is Isreal because of there Christian tradions, and were Jesus was born in that area. I want to see their giant beards, and old buildings. I want to know how many times they pray a day.

Casey's Place To Go

2010-02-23T07:15:00.000-08:00

In Asia I would like to go to Beijing. It would be fun to see all of the places where they held the Olympic Games in 2008. Standing there and thinking that you are standing in the same place an Olympic athlete stood. The Egg's Nest would be a very cool stadium to visit. This was where the track and field events were held. This would be a great trip to go on sometime.

The Asians

2010-02-19T07:52:00.000-08:00

My name is Casey and I play soccer. I like to run and ball play other sports. I like to hang out with friends and go to watch football and soccer games.

My name is Edgar and I play soccer, watch tv, play video games, and other sports.

My name is Tavaris Johnson I like to play basketball and text. I like to watch t.v. and hang out with my friends and go to basketball games.

2009-11-03T06:49:00.001-08:00

Antibiotics Paper

Who discovered antibiotics and when? Alexander Fleming discovered the “Miracle Drug” in September of 1928. Alexander Fleming was credited with the discovery of Penicillin but it was a decade before it was turned into the drug that seemed to be able to cure anything. He discovered it after he went on a vacation to the family’s country house. He stacked a pile of Petri dishes to the side so that Stuart R. Craddock could use his desk while he was away. When he came back he was looking through the pile to see if he could salvage any of the Petri dishes but most of them were contaminated. He put them in a tray of Lysol. Fleming’s assistant, D. Merlin Pryce came to check on Fleming. Alexander Fleming took the opportunity to complain about how much extra work he had to do. He was rummaging through the pile of contaminated Petri dishes to show Pryce. He noticed a mold growing in one of them and saw that it had killed of some of the staphylococcus aureus. He realized that the mold had some potential and later discovered that it was a miracle drug called penicillin.

How do bacteria become resistant? Bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics in a couple of ways. One way is that the bacteria mutates and becomes a little different so that the antibiotics don’t affect it anymore. The other way that a bacterium can become resistant is by over use of antibacterial or medicated products, such as soap. If you use antibacterial soap on your hands if there are no open wounds or if you or family members are not sick then you are just helping the bacteria to become more resistant. This happens because the antibiotics in the soap are not very strong so it is similar to humans getting a vaccine. We get a little bit of the virus and it helps build our immune system and for the bacteria it is the same idea and it helps them become resistant. The bacteria can grow so strong from this that when you really need the full dose of antibiotics then it may not be affective because there was too much use of the antibacterial products. The good times to use antibacterial soap should be when you have an open wound on your hands or if there is an illness going around in your household.

Can you give a 3 year old an adult dose of prescription antibiotics for the common cold? No you can not. There could be fatal results to your child if you give them an adult dose. And besides the fact there it could do nothing but harm the child because a cold is a viral infection and antibiotics are only useful in cases where it is a bacterial infection. The common cold has no cure and you just have to let it run its course. And you should never have extra antibiotics from a prescription. You need to use the entire dose because even if you start to feel better they give you that much for a reason. It is so that they kill all one hundred percent of the bacteria. If you skip out on even a day’s dose and don’t ever take it, it may no kill all of the bacteria and you might get sick over and over again. So to sum it all up you never use antibiotics for the common cold and you NEVER give a child an adult dose of it.

Thank you for reading my report about antibiotics and I hope that you learned a lot of facts that you never knew before.

By Casey Mathews

Block 1 Science Mrs. Johnson

Callanan Middle School

2009-10-02T07:42:00.000-07:00

This is a great school. This school is a 6th through 8th grade school that mainly leads in to Theodore Roosevelt High School. This school is a nice school with some pretty cool teachers and a lot of cool kids. This is a good place to go to middle school, and I would choose to go here over almost any other middle school in Des Moines.

There are a lot of things to know about Callanan like that our old gym is now the school library. We have a pretty new gym that has the famous big cougar in the center. This is a very cool and fun school that I actually don't hate coming to. I love hanging out with friends and everyone in the school. This was the last stop of the trip.

We Are Going Where?!?! Los Angeles, California

2009-10-02T07:32:00.000-07:00

This was a trip that I personally thought was going to be fun just because Casey Blake who plays for the Los Angeles DOdgers is from Indianola, Iowa. He also went to high school with my aunt and they are still best friends for life. He still lives in Indianola in the off season but then lives in Los Angeles during the season. He lives down the street from my grandpa's house in Indianola. He is a good baseball player too. He plays 3rd base for the Dodgers and is a very good hitter. This was a great trip.

I learned a lot like that LA has about 90 stages and about 300 museums. I got to go to about five museums and one stage to see the play Wicked. LA is big enough to have two baseball teams like New York and Chicago. They have a very succesful NBA team, the LA Lakers. They have a lot of sports teams and almost all of them are succesful.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2009-10-02T07:16:00.000-07:00

On my trip to Rio de Janeiro I really wanted to see the world famous statue of Christ. The statue tital is Christ the Redeemer. It was very cool when i visited and saw it. It is a lot bigger than I origanly thought it was going to be. There were a lot of people visiting the statue at the time that I went so it was a little crouded but I was still able to get up close to it. The view is an amazing view looking over the city. This is the same city that is a canidate for the 2016 Olympic Games. There has never been a host city for the olympics in South America ever in history. This was a fun trip and I learned a lot.

The stands at 30 meters made by the artist Paul Landowski. It sits on Corcovado Mountain. Until 1960 Rio was the capital of Brazil until it was moved inland to Brasilia. The current population in Rio is 7,000,000 people. These are just some of the things that I learned on the trip to Rio.

Chelsea, England

2009-10-01T07:40:00.000-07:00

This was actually the city I was looking forward to the most because it is home to my favorite soccer team Chelsea FC. I also was looking forward to it because I wanted to hace some of the authentic fish and chips. I actually got some fish and chips while I was at the Chelsea FC vs. Manchester Untied game. It had to have been one of the best days of my life because I loved the fish and chips and chelsea won the game 2-1. It was a great game and my favorite team came out victorious. I loved this trip almost as much as I loved the trip to China.

There was some things to learn while I was there like that in the 18th century a dentist tied a string around a patients tooth and tied the other end to a hole tied in a bullet. He then loaded the same bullet into his shotgun and pulled the trigger. I would not want that to happen to me ever. I also learned that the Sex Pistols (band) were from Chelsea origanly.

Were Going To...Paris, France

2009-10-01T07:24:00.000-07:00

I knew that I was going to have to try the snails here sometime and was actually looking forward to it until i got to the resturant. It was a little akward with everyone watching me trying to figure out how to eat them. I didn't know if i should suck out the actual snail or just crack the shell off with the knife or fork. I finally had to ask the waiter and he gratefully told me how but because of his accent I still didn't really follow what he was saying. I just smiled and nodded and then tryed to eat one. The waiter stayed there next to the table making sure I knew what I was doing which didn't make things better. I finally got the hang of eating snails after about three attempts in three different ways. Overall I did terrible but the snails were actually pretty good.

I learned on this trip that France is the 6th laregest economy in the world. The Eiffel Tower is a total of 984 feet tall and towers over the city. I learned that le Toure de France is ended in Paris every year by riding a number of laps in the city. I also learned that the Louve is one of the largest art museums in the world.

Were in Rome, ITaly

2009-09-30T07:55:00.000-07:00

This was a fun trip. The colleseum was very cool and I learned a lot about it too. I liked having all the pasta and pizza while i was there. I loved the chicken parmesean that I had while i was there. I had so much pizza I couldn't believe how good it was. It made the taco pizza from Papa John's sound bad compared to the pizza from Italy. I loved looking at all the sites and I got plenty of exercise walking around the great city of Rome.

Being in Rome no matter where you go you will learn something new like that in ancient Rome 40% of the population was made up of slaves and that the current population is 2.7 million people. I also learned that in 300 BCE there were the first barber shops in Rome. The average rainfall a year is 33 in of rain. I learned so much about Rome it was very fun.

Get Ready For Some Great Food Were Going to Beijing, China

2009-09-30T07:43:00.000-07:00

This was my all time favorite spot to visit because they had the best food I have ever eaten. I love the chinese food that we have in Des Moines but nothing compares to the real thing. It was delicious I went to the same place to eat for lunch and dinner every single day for 12 days. Sadly I had to leave some time so i could keep going around the world. I also liked to visit the Great wall of China which was absolutely huge! I had so much fun a and such good food while I here. I didn't do many crazy things but the little things add up.

I learned that Beijing was host to the 2008 Summer Olympics and also that Beijing is the capital of China. It is also the 2nd largest city in China. There are 16 districts and 2 counties in Beijing.

Next Stop...Tokyo, Japan

2009-09-30T07:33:00.000-07:00

I loved Tokyo, it was one of my favorite places that I visited. I actually got to go see I survived a Japanese Game Show which was pretty funny and entertaining. It looks a lot like New York actually with the huge light up billboards and all the people in the streets. The buildings all look very cool, the archetecture is very unique. The visit was very fun!

There is so much to learn in a city this big. Tokyo is the capitol of the country and a long time ago Tokyo was a small fishing village named Edo. The word Tokyou translates to eastern capital in english. A lot of US movies were filmed in Tokyo like Kill Bill and The Fast and the Furious etc. I loved this stop and so far my trip has been amazing!

Off to San Francisco

2009-09-30T07:18:00.000-07:00

The next stop was in San Francisco and it was a blast. I loved bunjee jumping off the golden gate bridge. It was creppy at first because I thought that i was going to hit the water but my head stopped about 5 feet awaw from the water. I loved to go on runs while the weather was nice during the week I was there. I even felt an earthquake. It was a very small one but it was something. We don't have anything like that in Des Moines.

There were a lot of things to learn while I was there like that San Francisco is the 14th largest city in the United States of America in terms of population. In 1906 San Francisco had an massive earthquake that caused a large fire that wiped out a lot of the buildings and neighborhoods. The cable cars form the only national historic landmark. There are over 200 coffee shops within San Francisco and I actually got to 17 different ones. I had a lot more to go if I wanted to go to all of them.

First Stop In Tampa, Florida

2009-09-29T07:25:00.000-07:00

During my stay in Tampa, Florida i went swimming in the ocean and saw so many fish, it was like a New York for fish it was crazy. There were so many different colors of them it was like looking at a million rainbows at once. I als had a great time in the city eating all i could having a great time. I walked a tight rope between two buildings! The rope was five feet off the ground but it ws still fun. Tampa was very fun and I just hope that all the places that I viisit are this fun.

I learned a lot about Tampa while i was there. I learned that Tampa Bay is the biggest city in Florida. The population is over 1,000,000 people, and Edward Scissor Hands was filmed at the Land O' Lakes. Busch Gardens and Adventure Island are all in Tampa Bay, Florida. It's a great place to visit so I hope you check it out yourself sometime.

Getting Ready To Go Around the World

2009-09-29T07:17:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to go around the world is a lot of hard work. You have to plan what you are going to see, you have to get all your clothes together. There are a lot of things that rely on you being able to get to each place on time like the weather could delay your flight or any method of travel you use. There is also a lot of excitment because you get to see every single continent, I mean how many people can say that they have done that? My first stop will be in Tampa, Florida.

My Dream Vacation on Google Maps

2009-09-08T08:00:00.001-07:00

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=33&msid=108825923138560830675.000472b2b2e5a25b2f2cb&hl=en&ie=UTF8&z=3&mid=1252421842

Web 2.0 Review

2009-09-08T07:29:00.000-07:00

The 2.0 website I picked was http://www.typingweb.com/ and it was very helpful. It teaches you how to type the right way instead of typing with your two pointer fingers all the time. I thought that it would be very helpful to anyone with typing problems, any student especially. The lessons are easy to use and to understand.

All About Casey

2009-09-04T07:40:00.001-07:00

My name is Casey and I love sports and I especially like soccer. I like to watch the Premiere League (England) and my favorite soccer team is Chelsea FC. I also love to watch college and pro football. My favorite college is team is the Iowa Hawkeyes and my favorite pro team is the Green Bay Packers. My favorite food is chicken parmesean from Olive Garden.