What if one day an ant would say, “I want to know what is going on in the world? I also want to know where everything comes from!” Do you think that an ant, with its size, could learn everything about the Earth? You would probably say, “What an ambitious ant!”
If I am like the ant or in a simple way, if I would like to know the entire thing going on in world or where everything comes from, what things I must know or learn?; what interesting things must I discover?; and how could I discover these things?
In some ways an astronomer is like a tiny ant trying to figure out what is going on in the universe. An astronomer studies the space beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. The space is a mighty big place. The Earth is just a dot compared to the seize of the Sun. The Sun on the other hand, is just a tiny speck in the arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. There are millions of other galaxies in space.
Astronomers are scientists in the field of science called astronomy. Astronomy is the scientific study of everything in the universe beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. Astronomy has different areas of study. There are astronomers that concentrate on the study on the stars and interplanetary dust; other astronomers study the galaxies; while others study the solar system. As most of the people get ready for bed at night, astronomers are just starting their work. Although the stars are still up in the sky during daytime, we cannot see them too clearly. It is because the sun’s light is much brighter than the light of the other stars. This is why most astronomers like to work at night.
The workplace of astronomers is called an observatory. Here, powerful telescopes are used to study stars and other heavenly bodies. The word “telescope” literally means seeing far. The telescope is probably the most important instrument of astronomers.
Observatories are usually built in high places with dry climate. These high places usually are above the densest, dustiest, and dampest part of our atmosphere thus, they provide clearer views of the heavens.
Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is composed of around 100,000 million stars. Some are dwarfs, which are much dimmer than our Sun while some are giants, which are far brighter than the Sun. If our own Sun is so much bigger than Earth that Earth appears as a small dot compared to it, can you just imagine how huge the space is which is occupied by 100,000 million stars? And what’s more, there are millions of other galaxies.
Astronomers have a lot of interesting things to study. There are millions of galaxies that contain millions of stars; some of the stars even have their own planets. Astronomers, just like an ambitious and curious ant, look for clues to answer the question: “How did the universe begin? Where did everything come from?”
Ahhh… I know all these longings would forever remain dreams in my imagination. They’ll remain part of my imaginations for I know that I could never be an Astronomer. Thanks for reading, anyway.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Ms. Muffet's Guest
You remember the rhyme about Little Miss Muffet? She was sitting on a tuffet, having a snack, when she had an unexpected guest that scared her so. Her surprise visitor was, you guessed right, a spider. Like Miss Muffet, many people are afraid of spiders because of the way these animals look.
I remember this rhyme because when I see big spiders in our province which my brother afraid of. Anyway, what is a spider?
Spiders have eight legs and most of them have bodies covered with hair. Spiders may be short and fat, long and thin, round or flat. They are usually colored brown, grey or black, but some are s colorful as butterflies.
Spiders are not insects. They have eight legs, while insects like ants and beetles have six. Also, most insects have wings and feelers or antennae. Spiders have none of these.
There at least 29,000 kinds of spiders. Some of them are as small as pinheads, while the larger ones, like the tarantula of South America, are about 10 inches long.
A spider’s body has two main parts. One part is made up of the head and the chest, and the other apart is the abdomen. Each of these sections has appendages or attached parts. The pedicels, or the spider’s waist, connect the two main sections.
If you were to look at a spider face-to-face, you’d find that a spider’s face has several parts. You’d find that a spider’s face has a several parts. You would find a spider’s eyes, some kind of mouth opening, then the chelicerae, and fangs.
Most spiders have eight eyes arranged on the top of their heads in two rows of four eyes each. But some spiders have only two eyes, while others have four or six. Some spiders, which live in caves and other dark places, do not have eyes.
A spider’s mouth is just below its eyes. They do not chew and can eat some solid parts of their victim’s body by dissolving these parts with digestive juice and then sucking them. This juice is so strong that a tarantula, for example, can turn a mouse into a pile of hair and bones in about 36 hours.
The chelicerae, which are also just under the eyes, are a pair of appendages that a spider uses to catch and kill its prey. Each chelicera ends in a claw, which are the spider’s fangs. The tips of the fangs have openings, which are connected to the spider’s poison glands. When hunting other insects, spiders use the chelicerae for stabbing, and then let the poison flow to the victims through their fangs.
Each spider has four pairs of legs. Each leg has seven parts. The last part of the spider’s leg has two or three claws at a tip. A pad of hair surrounds the claws; these help the spider hold on to ceilings or walls.
Spiders also have spinnerets, which are like fingers attached to the end part of their abdomen. Most spiders have six spinnerets but others have four, and still others only two. These spinnerets are what the spiders use to spin silk. Liquid silk from the abdomen of the spiders flows through spinning tubes at the tip of the spinnerets. When this liquid silk flows outside the body of a spider, it hardens into thread. This thread is used in making webs.
All spiders spin silk, but not all spiders make webs. Spiders make webs in the air so they can trap flying insects. Web- spinning spiders make different kinds of webs. Webs may look like curtains, bowls, domes, tubes, circular mazes, triangles, or sheets. A spider avoids getting trapped in its own web by using the special claws on its feet.
Spiders are helpful to people because they eat harmful insects. A spider’s bite is deadly for insects, but only few spiders are harmful to human beings. These are mostly the “widow” spiders – the black widow, the brown widow, the red-legged widow, and the varied widow.
Many spiders live only a year but the large wolf spider can live up to several years. Tarantulas are believed to live the longest among spiders. Some can last for more than 20 years.
Now I know about these spiders. You must not be afraid of spiders; spiders are not like monsters that eat us like other animals they harm us when we harm them first. Spiders are like us so you must not fear them.
I remember this rhyme because when I see big spiders in our province which my brother afraid of. Anyway, what is a spider?
Spiders have eight legs and most of them have bodies covered with hair. Spiders may be short and fat, long and thin, round or flat. They are usually colored brown, grey or black, but some are s colorful as butterflies.
Spiders are not insects. They have eight legs, while insects like ants and beetles have six. Also, most insects have wings and feelers or antennae. Spiders have none of these.
There at least 29,000 kinds of spiders. Some of them are as small as pinheads, while the larger ones, like the tarantula of South America, are about 10 inches long.
A spider’s body has two main parts. One part is made up of the head and the chest, and the other apart is the abdomen. Each of these sections has appendages or attached parts. The pedicels, or the spider’s waist, connect the two main sections.
If you were to look at a spider face-to-face, you’d find that a spider’s face has several parts. You’d find that a spider’s face has a several parts. You would find a spider’s eyes, some kind of mouth opening, then the chelicerae, and fangs.
Most spiders have eight eyes arranged on the top of their heads in two rows of four eyes each. But some spiders have only two eyes, while others have four or six. Some spiders, which live in caves and other dark places, do not have eyes.
A spider’s mouth is just below its eyes. They do not chew and can eat some solid parts of their victim’s body by dissolving these parts with digestive juice and then sucking them. This juice is so strong that a tarantula, for example, can turn a mouse into a pile of hair and bones in about 36 hours.
The chelicerae, which are also just under the eyes, are a pair of appendages that a spider uses to catch and kill its prey. Each chelicera ends in a claw, which are the spider’s fangs. The tips of the fangs have openings, which are connected to the spider’s poison glands. When hunting other insects, spiders use the chelicerae for stabbing, and then let the poison flow to the victims through their fangs.
Each spider has four pairs of legs. Each leg has seven parts. The last part of the spider’s leg has two or three claws at a tip. A pad of hair surrounds the claws; these help the spider hold on to ceilings or walls.
Spiders also have spinnerets, which are like fingers attached to the end part of their abdomen. Most spiders have six spinnerets but others have four, and still others only two. These spinnerets are what the spiders use to spin silk. Liquid silk from the abdomen of the spiders flows through spinning tubes at the tip of the spinnerets. When this liquid silk flows outside the body of a spider, it hardens into thread. This thread is used in making webs.
All spiders spin silk, but not all spiders make webs. Spiders make webs in the air so they can trap flying insects. Web- spinning spiders make different kinds of webs. Webs may look like curtains, bowls, domes, tubes, circular mazes, triangles, or sheets. A spider avoids getting trapped in its own web by using the special claws on its feet.
Spiders are helpful to people because they eat harmful insects. A spider’s bite is deadly for insects, but only few spiders are harmful to human beings. These are mostly the “widow” spiders – the black widow, the brown widow, the red-legged widow, and the varied widow.
Many spiders live only a year but the large wolf spider can live up to several years. Tarantulas are believed to live the longest among spiders. Some can last for more than 20 years.
Now I know about these spiders. You must not be afraid of spiders; spiders are not like monsters that eat us like other animals they harm us when we harm them first. Spiders are like us so you must not fear them.
If I were the President
What if one day a little child would say, “I want to lead the whole country. I want to manage everything about the whole land.” Then you would probably say “What an ambitious child!”
All of us know that being a president of a country is not an easy task. It needs a strong, intelligent, preserving and hard – working person to rule a nation of 7,100 islands with all eyes of the world observing your administration. But even then, I wish I were the President so that I could restore order to this very chaotic society we are in, now.
A President is head of state and chief political executive, of a republic. It is also the highest-ranking member of an organization or institution; the highest-ranking executive officer of a business or corporation; the highest-ranking executive officer of some universities, colleges, government departments, legal divisions, and other public offices; somebody who is appointed or elected to oversee a meeting; in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a man who is a member of the church's governing board. Together with counselors and the Council of the Twelve Apostles, he makes major church policy and decisions.
And if I am the President of the Philippines:
I want to make our surroundings clear, orderly, presentable and pleasant to live in. It’s so frustrating to see all these ‘ukay-ukays’ displayed everywhere! In this hi-tech world, we should not have retreated backward. Why have our people resorted to these surplus, goods which make us look the more miserable! These ‘ukay-ukays’ should have been distributed for free to our people in the hinterlands. The Mangyans, the Timawas, the T’bolis, etc.
Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Nature has blessed us with beautiful seas, rivers and falls. There should have been a law passed prohibiting people to build their houses in the seas or along the shores. These are eye sores to our shoreline aside from the fact that they are health hazard. Their wastes go directly to the sea since they only holed their floors as their comfort rooms. Why has the health authorities allowed this very unsanitary practice?
If I were the president, I would also see to it that all college graduates every school year could be given jobs so as to sustain their hopes and idealism in finishing their studies. I would create more jobs with the help of all sectors to minimize brain drain. We could achieve this if our leaders would eradicate graft and corruption and if our lawmakers would sacrifice their pork barrels as alibis for their corruption. Their pork barrel this time should be used for income-generating projects.
Foremost, if I were the president, I would create a law banning married Filipino women or mothers to work abroad leaving the family. Mothers’ role in rearing children greatly affects the quality of our future generation. Their absence in the Filipino homes results to many of our youth indulging drugs, crime and vices since the light of the home is extinguish by this desire to earn much. The law would preserve the sanctity of the Filipino home and minimize the emergence of broken homes.
Ahhh…I know that all this longings would forever remains dreams in my imagination. They’ll remain sand castles for I know that I could never be a president. Thanks for reading, anyway.
All of us know that being a president of a country is not an easy task. It needs a strong, intelligent, preserving and hard – working person to rule a nation of 7,100 islands with all eyes of the world observing your administration. But even then, I wish I were the President so that I could restore order to this very chaotic society we are in, now.
A President is head of state and chief political executive, of a republic. It is also the highest-ranking member of an organization or institution; the highest-ranking executive officer of a business or corporation; the highest-ranking executive officer of some universities, colleges, government departments, legal divisions, and other public offices; somebody who is appointed or elected to oversee a meeting; in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a man who is a member of the church's governing board. Together with counselors and the Council of the Twelve Apostles, he makes major church policy and decisions.
And if I am the President of the Philippines:
I want to make our surroundings clear, orderly, presentable and pleasant to live in. It’s so frustrating to see all these ‘ukay-ukays’ displayed everywhere! In this hi-tech world, we should not have retreated backward. Why have our people resorted to these surplus, goods which make us look the more miserable! These ‘ukay-ukays’ should have been distributed for free to our people in the hinterlands. The Mangyans, the Timawas, the T’bolis, etc.
Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Nature has blessed us with beautiful seas, rivers and falls. There should have been a law passed prohibiting people to build their houses in the seas or along the shores. These are eye sores to our shoreline aside from the fact that they are health hazard. Their wastes go directly to the sea since they only holed their floors as their comfort rooms. Why has the health authorities allowed this very unsanitary practice?
If I were the president, I would also see to it that all college graduates every school year could be given jobs so as to sustain their hopes and idealism in finishing their studies. I would create more jobs with the help of all sectors to minimize brain drain. We could achieve this if our leaders would eradicate graft and corruption and if our lawmakers would sacrifice their pork barrels as alibis for their corruption. Their pork barrel this time should be used for income-generating projects.
Foremost, if I were the president, I would create a law banning married Filipino women or mothers to work abroad leaving the family. Mothers’ role in rearing children greatly affects the quality of our future generation. Their absence in the Filipino homes results to many of our youth indulging drugs, crime and vices since the light of the home is extinguish by this desire to earn much. The law would preserve the sanctity of the Filipino home and minimize the emergence of broken homes.
Ahhh…I know that all this longings would forever remains dreams in my imagination. They’ll remain sand castles for I know that I could never be a president. Thanks for reading, anyway.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
