My Christmas Vacation

Well first I cut my hair. Then we went to Koh Chang the next day. Dad drove us to the ferry and from the ferry to the hotel. We visited the white sand beach. My brother loved it and went every evening. It was a quiet and sleepy trip back home. After a few days at home, I got a cold that stayed for about a week. I also got to stay up till 12:00. Just a few days after the cold was gone (January 10), I got a stomachache in the middle of the night. It was horrible and I was forced to stay awake till 6:30 after getting about 2 hours sleep and I slept till 12:00 so I got to watch cartoons and do what I want unlike my brother.

Explore the Kingdom/Stay at School

I was absent for both.

My Understanding of the Concept of Probability

When we were near the end of learning about Probability, we were given a project; a probability project. You see, there are two types of probability, theoretical and experimental. Of course there's also the compound probabilty which consists of independent and dependent and then there's ratios and percent.  We had to find the theoretical and experimenal probability of an independent compound probability of an experiment that we had to conduct with one probability. To be more specific, I did Battle Spirits Cards. And I had three different variables; colour, number, and the special glittery cards. There were 2 colours; blue and green. The numbers varied from 1-6. There were 2 special glittery cards, 1 blue, 1 green and both were #5. I counted every card of each variable and catogorised it as #colour. Of course the specials were also a part of this. I simply had to shuffle it later and replace the cards and then note the #colour%special/ordinary. Later I counted how much of each catogory; # then colour and then the specials.

Special, # and Colour

Back of the Cards

First of all, Probability is not a guess. It is far more educated and precise to be a guess. A guess is when you choose randomly out of all the possibilties. Probability is when you calculate using all the variables in question. Variables include; theoretical, experimental, compound; independent and dependent as well as the other variables which depend on what you're trying to calculate. There are formulas and you actually have to tally and work out the answer of the possibility and as I have said before, this is more accurate but this is due to the calculations. 

History of Ebay and Amazon for Investments

SAT Scores by Family Income

There are many ways that this can be used in real life. For example, investments; you have to know and calculate how much profit you can get if you invest in them; so you need their profit in a year and so. Detectives calculate the criminal activity so that they can see if there's any criminal who's doing something or to calculate robberies, they find clues and thus use it to calculate the probability of finding the criminal at a certain place and time. Actors and Actresses calculate if their movie will be famous and can bring money. People who work in production companies calculate the probability of people buying things from them, if there are any defects and how much they need to make in a year/month/week. If you are starting a business, then you need to calculate the probability of earning enough money to buy the necessary objects to keep increasing the customers and if you can succeed. Also teachers need to calculate the probability of averages, so that they can figure out which is meeting standerds, which is below meeting standerds, are they improving, exceeding standerds and so on. Doctors choose which medicine/treatment is good for patients. There are also betting standerds that has to be met. 

New Goals!!!

Skill: Speaking Fluently and Summarizing
I will speak fluently and do a short summary instead of going into full detail.
I will know when my goal has been achieved when I can speak fluently without stuttering or making a speech and I will not need to practice my speech for a presentation.
I will volunteer to answer questions and question teachers in class and practice writing essays, short summaries and stories and read books aloud to increase my knowledge of summarizing and to practice speaking fluently
I will do this by the end of school year.

Values: Organization of my Homework
I will be more organized with my homework and not finish it the day before it is due but rather the day I recieve it and if not, I will take more time out of my daily schedule and finish it the day after I recieve it.
I will know that the goal has been achieved when I will have more freetime and when I will look over my homework again and see if I need corrections.
I will write my homework in my planner and sticky notes in my computer desktops that I will see everyday.
I will make alerts in my laptop calendar and alarms in my phone. I will also ask my mom to remind me about my homework and all my necessary dates.
I will do this by the end of the school year.

Knowledge: Reading and Comprehending
I will read more than 20 minutes per day.
I will know that my goal has been achieved when I have a higher level vocabulary, comprehension and acadamic skill.
I will talk to people older than me everyday more than just once. I will ask and answer questions atleast 3 times in school. I will find more books and read more than 20 minutes. I will ask my teacher about doubts I have about the book that I am reading or about something else. I will time myself to read atleast 25 minutes per day, either on my laptop [E-Books] or a real book. I will have a conversation with my teachers and parents everyday.
I will do this by the end of the school year.

Goals Update November

Skill: Speaking Out Loud with Confidence
I can say with complete honesty that I can speak loudly with confidence. It wasn't that easy to get used to since I am a bit shy around people I don't really know and after 2 months of not talking to my friends, at the begining of school, I'm pretty quiet. But it was easier this year because in classes (Language Arts and Social Studies [In which we have presentations]), everyone's equal and has to listen to what you have to say. It's a comfortable atmosphere. But after speaking other languages and since I'm used to saying what I think and trying to explain what exactly, I'm thinking; I don't really speak fluently and what I write or speak is often long and boring. So I'm going to say that part of this goal has been achieved. The New Goal will be posted Later with the label (New Goal, Goals Update, Goals Update November, 8th Grade)

Values: Homework Organization
I cannot say that I am now organized with homework. Sometimes, I manage to finish my homework early but sometimes, I'm up late at night to finish some homework. I think I need some time to adjust to the level of homework we get because last year, we practically had no homework and now we suddenly have a lot more. It's not really that easy but I think that I can make it. I think I can adjust to the homework level by the end of the year. The Updated Goal will be posted Later with the label (Goals Update, Goals Update November, 8th Grade, Improved Goal)

Knowledge: Reading More Than Twenty Minutes
I can say that I have been reading over 20 minutes but my vocabulary hasn't improved that much. I'm probably going to have to set up a schedule for every evening after school so I have time to do homework, have extra reading, snack time and freetime. Sometimes my problems with the amount of homework messes up with my reading time and my freetime as well as my snack time. I love to read so it isn't really that hard. 

Real-Life Percent

Real-Life Percent Example 

In Math Class, we are researching real-life percent or ratio and proportion examples such as articles. I chose the "Falling Prices Boost Gold Demand in India" by the Times of India newspaper. It talks about the price of the gold in India reducing. People are buying a lot of the gold because the prices have fallen. Retail buyers are a part of this shopping spree. Due to this the value of rupees against US dollars are going down fast. The gold shops were a huge part of the Indian Economy and due to the lowering of the cost of gold, the Indian Economy is going down. The demand for gold was much lower last year because of the RBI(Reserve Bank of India)'s restrictions. They had clamped down on the gold dealing considering the high CAD[Current Account Deficit] (the high amount of trading) that was taking place. The RBI had initiated the 80:20 scheme in August last year. That means 80% of the gold could be bought by the local people and 20% would go to trade. Shah, as noted in the article, says that people should take a long-term view [atleast 3 years] on gold since awhile later the prices would go up again.

Percents, ratios and proportion are an extensive part of this regulation. The RBI has initiated the 80:20 scheme in August last year. It is a ratio. 80 to 20 or 80/20. The locals are getting the larger amount of this as shown in the ratio. The 20% shows that trade has 4 times less gold than the locals. The current population of India [updated on November 2nd, 2014] is 1,261,850,000 and is now 17.5% of the world population. It's a lot. Even if some people don't buy the gold, others are and most people would. And if all them want to buy gold, the prices are going to reduce quite a bit perhaps lower for over three years. If you visit the Gold Rate, then you'll see that the rate of Gold in certain cities of India. Today the Indian Economy is $1 to 61.59 Indian Rupees.

Article Link: Falling Prices Boost Gold Demand in India

2013 Indian Rupees to US Dollars

Colliding Continents

"Colliding Continents" is a movie by National Geographic. It's 50.04 minutes long. And it's about Plate Tectonics.
Mostly it's about the Plate Tectonics and its contribution to our Earth's Formation and speculation of what may happen next.

In this movie, National Geographic explained, in more detail, what we have learned in science class about geography. We didn't really learn a lot about the Creation of Earth but there's a lot about it in here. Earth was created by the explosion of a star. Pieces of the star floated around in space and crashed into each other thus creating the first base of Earth. Earth didn't have any water then or atleast until asteroids with water crashed onto Earth's surface thus creating the ocean though it was one at the time.

The Early Earth Blasted by Asteroids

After awhile, the blasting asteroids slowly stopped. Cratons formed out of the Earth and created 'Valbaara' and 'Ur'. Ur still lives on in our continents now but there were other supercontinents though the landmass containing Europe, Africa and Asia as well as the landmass of America are considered somewhat supercontinents. Rocks called Granite rose from Inside Earth to the surface and there are still more that are inside Earth.

The Rock Cycle

It seems that some actually are recycled. They go inside Earth and come back out later. The continents are constantly moving. Most of the continents are plates. Of course countries are also plates such as India. The lava of volcanoes harden and can create igneous rock or granite and thus the first step of the rock cycle that can lead to sedimentary and metamorphic rock. People predict that our world will transform into the state of Pangaea [now Pangaea Ultima] once again and the climate will be very cold. Due to the clashing plates, many buildings on the coasts will fall and earthquakes as well as volcanic eruptions and other natural disasters will occur.

I am very much interested in the first Super-Continents. It's fascinating; the way Earth was created, the long period of time that it took to actually come to be as it is now, the forming of the layers and most importantly the first super-continents themselves. Sutton in 1963 was the first to ever come close to formulate a super-continent cycle.  His chelogenic cycles were about continents clustering together irregularly however it was a bit wrong. The Theory of Tectonic episodicity was supported by Wilson in 1966 and is now known as the Wilson Cycles. Hallam in 1974 showed how sea levels were connected to this. Now, Super-continents are continents smashed together to put it simply. The landmass of Europe, Africa and Asia is a super-continent. America is also arguably one. The most recent supercontinent and also the most known one is Pangaea. People forget that Pangaea is merely the latest of a line of supercontinents. We'll start from the begining. First cratons [large giant rock cores] rose up on the surface.

Timeline of SuperContinents

The oldest supercontinent, "Ur" was created by one of the two cratons. The second oldest supercontinent was called "Valbaara" and was created by the second craton. Now "Ur" lives on in India, Madagascar and Australia and is now the oldest landmass ever. Next came Kenorland. Kenorland broke up a few billion years ago and created a massive spike in rain and along with the Sun at 85% of its true power, created a Earth with freezing temperature. The first 'proper' supercontinent was Columbia which formed around 1-2 billion years ago. Rodinia formed about a billion years ago using Columbia's remains which were in ruins. There were no animals or plants in the other supercontinents' time but in Rodinia, there were animals and plants in the sea. The destruction of Rodinia caused sea levels to fluctate and thus helped animals and plants get on land. Unfortunately, it also created a snowball Earth like Kenorland. Luckly there were volcanoes in the time of Rodinia's destruction and pushed rich nutrients into Earth's surface which is good for living organisms.. Of course after that came Laurasia and Gondwana and after that Pangaea.

The video was excellent. It is especially good for someone who is studying Geology and mostly for students and teachers. In fact, it has more detail than textbooks and it has information from geologists. It has extremely reliable information and facts. And it explained many concepts and then used to reason what happens in Geology.

It started from the begining of Earth and ended at the Geological future of Earth. The movie also had good graphics that showed what they were trying to say though it could use more improvement. It had certain images that were not obvious as would have been best. This movie was a detailed summary by National Geographic for me.

Link to MindMap:  https://docs.google.com/a/rism.ac.th/drawings/d/1fcR92RU12XY3VADe7-nQNAZqfMdNlwzIWX6rgjRKSSk/edit?usp=sharing

Sources:

-Wilkins, Alasdair. "A History of Supercontinents on Planet Earth." Io9. N.p., 27 Jan. 2011. Web. 03 Nov. 2014. <http://io9.com/5744636/a-geological-history-of-supercontinents-on-planet-earth>

-Nance, R.Damian, and J.Brendan Murphy. "Origins of the Supercontinent Cycle." Science Direct. China University of Geosciences (Beijing) and Peking University. Production and Hosting by Elsevier B.V, 8 Jan. 2013. Web. 07 Nov. 2014. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987112001570>.