A New Approach (reflection)

On the first day of class I was shocked to learn I would be required to post all my assignments onto a public blog. I did not know what to expect, but I knew it would be something interesting.

I have participated in a couple social networks but never written in a blog. Writing in a public blog really helped me think more about what I was choosing for my topics, what tone to use and who my audience is, it challenged me to really think about what and how I wrote because I knew that the class would be reading it. 

There were many assignments where I spent much time searching for a topic, I needed material that could potentially captivate anyone. I had never thought so hard about a topic, my assignments in previous clasees had always given me a prompt so I never had the option to decide! I ended up writing about things I found interesting and fascinating. My chosen topics were groupon, inmates repopulating butterflies, predatory Lake Chelan fish, animal deception, preparing children for swimming and communication in technology. All very different, and that’s what kept the assignments so interesting! 

Then not only did the topics change with every post, but my guidelines changed as well - which was very challenging yet taught me very much. We had to present our information in different styles which really educated me and helped to further prepare me for out of school written communication. With the different outlines I had to think critically about what I was communicating and to who and in what tone. I had never done that before! I learned how to present a thing or idea while staying neutral in tone (post 1), reformat and recreate something already written (post 2), how to effectively use my voice to present a topic but still avoid bias (post 3), I had to find a concept and try my best to define it with research (post 5), write an analysis of a process with precautions where I had to really think of how I had to phrase my thoughts to properly convey them (post 6), and finally classify concepts and effectively explain to my audience the purpose and idea (post 8). The formats Professor Kopp had given us seemed so random and strange at first, but looking back on them as a group - they really covered a broad range of writing styles, which was awesome to experience and learn from. 

I really enjoyed how we had peer critique. For a few posts we had to go online and comment on a few peoples writing, I thought it was very effective because people didn’t feel forced to say a certain amount so instead of worrying about that they just gave their straightforward opinions. We also had the in class review groups. A few times I was a bit disappointed because I had felt my partners did not try their best in giving me pointers. I felt overall the critiques were a wonderful aide. I got feedback on how I was presenting my thoughts, directly from my audience! Then when I would read others papers I would learn and instantly observe what was effectively communicated to me and what wasn’t - and I would then start noticing those things in my own writing. I think it would have been nice to have some kind of critique, online or in person, of the definition essay. In that essay I did much research (about animal deception) and tried a different approach, it could have been nice to have some feedback to know how to better that post. Overall the critiques taught me lots of valuable information about identifying intentions, considering audience, and choosing the correct tone/style and format for the idea and intention. 

The idea of posting onto a blot was at first intimidating, but then became very interesting. I was able to see what others were writing, and get pointers from their work. There were posts where I had difficulty with fonts that wouldn’t match up properly when I transferred them from my computer, and there were a few posts where I wanted to add more pictures but the formatting wouldn’t work the way I wanted it presented. The communication technology post I tried to add pictures of devices, yet no matter what size I made the pictures they would either go in awkward places or overlap text so I decided to just delete them. Some of my titles turned grey and I've been trying to fix them with no luck. I also started reading strangers blogs and was so captivated! I had no idea that blogs were basically mini personal websites. I for some reason had always thought all blogs were similar to diaries. However they are all really different in style and purpose, most are really very interesting!

When I first read the syllabus, I looked over the course objectives and was not completely sure what they were referring to and what and how we would be learning to fulfill them. I have learned so much about writing and communicating, I can say I now understand each outcome. I became aware of all the things we were discussing in class every time I would start to read and write. I used to just read. Now when I read I feel I am going so much deeper into the meaning. The change is so obvious and bizarre to me.

The combination of class discussion, freedom of topics, broad yet concise guidelines, peer critiques, revisions, and submitting our writing onto a blog -  distinguished this class completely from all the others I’ve ever taken. Not only did I learn the outcomes which have opened my eyes to my writing and to others, but I also learned about blogs! 

Modern Day Technology Communication

Communication is the activity of conveying information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast distances in time and space.

Communication first emerged hundreds of thousands years ago in the form of pictographs made in stone, and from there forth developed simultaneously with advances in technology. Advances in communication technology before the 20th century were generally slow and gradual, however with the turn of the century there was a huge boost in demand for new means of communication. The boost in demand was mainly connected to the wars that took place in the 20th century, countries needed new reliable and fast ways to contact one another, and from there technology has continued developing exponentially. Modern day technology would have been unimaginable a century ago, with various devices used to communicate to most places in the world. Today’s means of communication are constantly being upgraded and new technologies are being created, however communication devices vary by location. In 3rd world countries, or some very mountainous or wild lands and countries, deserts, secluded areas, etc; it is very difficult to find the technologies available in for example America or Japan. This is mainly because some countries do not have the funds, education, or resources to keep up with the wealthier countries communicational development. However, in America as well as other more developed countries, communication is now possible with the use of postal mail, telephones, and various internet resources.

Postal mail is the physical transition of a written piece of communication from one place to another. At first there would be people that would take mail and run to the informers desired destination to deliver it. Then instead of running, the deliverer would use a horse to speed up the delivery process. Next, the horses were replaced with automobiles, and that made the process even quicker. However, that limited mail transportation to land only. Modern day, mail is transferred by air plane to over seas, and locations inconvenient to reach by automobile. Local mail is still transported and delivered by various trucks, and cars. Postal mail communication is becoming more uncommon due to innovations in electronic mail, most of the mail a modern day household receives is not full of letters from friends and family but instead advertisements, and bills.

There are two types of modern day telephones, the landline and the mobile phone. Landline refers to a telephone line which travels through a solid medium, either metal wire or optical fibre, unlike the mobile cellular line where transmission is via radio waves. House phones, business phones, various companies and organizations usually use land lines for their telephones. There are two variations, one is a cordless landline phone that works in the proximity of the area, and the other a phone with a cord connected to the phone base. The mobile phone has been changing with new technologies and updates constantly. There is the simple cell phone, which can receive and send phone calls and text messages (written messages sent via phone). Alternately, in the last decade there has been a “smart phone” uprise that offers much more than the simple version. The smart phone has internet access, can take pictures, text messages, multiple line phone calls (when multiple people on different phones can all be connected and part of one conversation). All of the previously noted are huge advances in communication. People can now take a picture and instantly send it to someone or upload it to the internet, communicating where they are, what they’re doing, what they are experiencing. Text messages are a quick and easy alternative to postal mail and email (discussed later), where one can communicate with one person, or a group - without having to meet in person or call! Multiple phone lines have developed a great opportunity to connect people that are in different places and include them all in one telephone conversation. There are also a few smart phones that have developed a camera near the phone screen, that can allow people to see each other when they talk. The face to face video communication is an amazing new feature that benefits family and friends far apart, and even allows work meetings via phone - among other things. There are constantly new features and specs being tested and applied to better our telephone communication possibilities for the future. 

The internet is an extraordinary invention that can be accessed through computers and smart phones where internet connection is available via wifi, 3G, 4G, or through landline connection. As defined by wikipedia, the internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard internet protocol suite(TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries a vast range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support email. The internet contains social networks, emails and blogs and websites that all convey information in different ways. Social Networks are where individuals and organizations can create a profile and share thoughts, pictures and information with others, Facebook and Twitter are just two examples of popular modern day social networks. Blogs are where individuals can create their own web page and share their interests or anything they would through a blog website, tumblr.com and blogspot.com are two examples. Email is a virtual version of postal mail, much quicker and can be sent to multiple recipients at the same time. Emails are a quick way to communicate in writing with people with internet access all over the world. There are many different internet networks, in America some of the better known and used are Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari.

Mail, phones and internet are just the main ways we communicate today. Technology has continued to exponentially advance, and will continue to do so while simultaneously changing the way humans communicate. 

Prepare your child for swimming lessons!

I began instructing swimming lessons at the Covington Aquatic Center 4 years ago, two years later I transferred to one of the top swimming academies, Tiger Mt. Aquatics. In the last four years I have trained with many different instructors, observed and learned different styles, and have fully developed my own. There was one issue I often encountered with beginner swimmers. When parents would bring their children in for their first day of lessons, many children would be terrified because they had never been in a pool before. If they had been in a pool, most were still very very uncomfortable - which makes the learning process for swimming much slower. It would be most effective for parents to practice a few basic skills with their children before enrolling them into swimming lessons.

To give a child a head start when they arrive to swimming lessons, consider working on the following:

1. Show them the water is a fun place. Many children are terrified and don’t know what to expect when they first arrive at the pool, especially if they are uncomfortable and being handed off to an instructor they don’t know. Take them to the pool a couple times and just play! Get some floaties if you’d like, play with a ball, throw some water toys and laugh!!
2. SPLASH! Most consider splashing to be worthless and sometimes annoying. However, splashing is actually a fun way to get children accustomed to the water! Splash the water with some toys or with your hands, this is very interesting to the little ones because they can visually see what effects their movements create in the water. When splashing, don’t ever push a huge wave in the childs face, but instead splash infront of them and try to just have a few drops land on both your faces, you can laugh or smile, sing, or even just talk to them “wow you got your face wet a little, how awesome!!”. This will show the little one that getting your face wet is fun!
3. Adjusting on their backs. For someone who’s never been in the water, being asked to lay on their back and relax may seem frightening. Take the child on their back and rest their head on your shoulder with their cheek next to yours and their body infront of you (you will have to bend your knees to level your shoulder with the surface of the water, so the child lays flat). You can hold their lower back or whatever feels comfortable to you both. This position will help the child feel more secure. The cheek to cheek makes them feel close to you, and therefore more safe. Sometimes you may have difficulty getting them into this position because they may not like the feeling of water in their ears. If so, try singing and moving backwards side to side as this will cause the water to glide past them and is usually very comforting to the little one.
4. Kick! When infants are in the water they usually do a “froggy kick” where they bend both legs and then straighten them simultaneously - very similar to crawling movements. The basic kick taught in swimming is the up and down straight leg “flutter kick”. Try to take your little one on their belly and have them gently wrap their arms around your neck, their legs should be in your arms reach - take them and move them up and down while explaining to the child that they should try to keep their legs as straight as possible. This will save them alot of time in lessons because they will be able to spend time learning other skills and not just working on their kick with the instructor during the whole class.
5. Paddle paddle! To help a child understand the concept of swimming, take a toy and throw it. Then hold your child to your side with your outer arm wrapped on their side supporting them on the side and bottom, and use your other arm to help guide their hands (make sure to have their face in clear sight for you because you want to make sure they can comfortable hold their head out of the water). Tell them that they need to get the toy! Explain, that to move they must paddle their arms REALLY big, reaching as far as they can and then pulling all the water behind them. Then start moving ONLY when they paddle. If they just reach - remind them to pull, and then move forward. That will help connect the movement to the effect - if you pull the water behind you, it will help you move forward. Make sure to let the child know they are doing a great job!!

Children are easily discouraged and if they feel they are doing a bad job they may stop trying. If you give them high-5’s or verbally tell them how awesome they are, along with other reassuring things, water will be so much more fun for them! Make sure that when you go swimming with the little one you are in a safe area, if you are not a very strong swimmer consider going to a place with a lifeguard on duty. Working on the above skills will help a child become more comfortable in the water environment as well as more ready for lessons, and will make the transition from swimming with someone they know to someone they don’t much much easier. Have fun and be safe!

Why deceive?

To deceive someone is to trick them, it is to cause to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid. Deception in animals may be behavioral, verbal/sound related, or physical/adaptive. No matter what the process, deception occurs with the incentive to benefit the “deceptor”- potentially with power, food access, and survival. Animals gave each other alarm calls to warn of predators, babies let their parents know they were hungry. Honesty benefited both the sender and the receiver. There was just one issue in this cheerful arrangement - It presented a great opportunity for liars.

Helen Shewman, of the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington, recalls that one day she dropped an orange through a feeding porthole for Meladi, one of the female orangutans. Instead of moving away, Meladi looked Helen in the eye and held out her hand. Thinking that the orange must have rolled off somewhere inaccessible, Helen gave her another one. When Meladi shuffled off Helen noticed that she had hidden the original orange in her other hand. Tawan, the colony's dominant male, watched this whole charade, and the next day he too looked Helen in the eye and pretended that he had not yet received an orange. "Are you sure you don't have one?" Helen asked. He continued to hold her gaze and held out his hand. Relenting, she gave him another, and then noticed that he had been hiding his orange under his foot the whole time.

Not only did Meladi comprehend tricking Shewman into giving her more food, but she also indirectly taught Tawan how to do the same. Meladi and Tawan quickly grasped the situation and changed their behavior to, in a dishonest approach, get more food. They deceived Shewman for their benefit, but where caught - something to avoid when being deceiving. If one deceits another and gets caught, that creates a negative base for the relationship. From then on the one being fooled starts catching on and will maintain a more cautious approach as to not be deceived that way again, if the tactic becomes too common, that will cause for the trick to no longer be as promising as others become more aware.

A croak, is how male green frogs tell other frogs how big they are. The bigger the male, the deeper the croak. The sound of a big male is enough to scare off other males from challenging him for his territory. While most croaks are honest, some are not. Some small males have learned to lower their voices to make themselves sound bigger. Their big-bodied croaks intimidate frogs that would naturally beat them in a fair fight. But why, for example, do green frogs keep believing that a big croak means a big male?  They aren’t all catching on, but some are adapting. Some of the male frogs sit quietly near the loud croaks and wait for an opportunity to intercept an interested female. They deceive the female into mating with them, when naturally she wouldn’t (since with natural selection she would try to only mate with the best candidate i.e. the one with the loudest croak). There is much creative deception in the wild.

Shrikes, for example, regularly use alarm calls to warn one another of predators. But sometimes the birds will use false alarm calls to scare other shrikes away from food. Imagine that a shrike fools other shrikes with a false alarm. It eats more, and therefore may hatch more babies. Meanwhile, the gullible, less-nourished shrikes hatch fewer babies. If false alarms become common, natural selection should favor shrikes that are not fooled by them.

An adaptive physical example of deception is the fox. The fox is a crafty and deceitful animal that never runs in a straight line, but only in circles. When it wants to catch birds to eat, the fox rolls in red mud so that it appears to be covered in blood. It then lies apparently lifeless; birds, deceived by the appearance of blood and thinking the fox to be dead, land on it and are immediately devoured.

The fox had learned how to change it’s physical appearance in a way to deceive it’s prey and allow for it to come to the fox without the fox doing much work. This is a very skillful action. The bird has no reason to suspect danger, just an easy carcass meal - and then it becomes the meal and has no ability to pass on it’s knowledge to other birds. However if many other birds witness this, then it will become more difficult to ween in the victims.

Deception occurs in animals and humans, with a similar purpose of achieving some form of a benefit. There are many purposes for deception, but if it becomes too common, others start catching on and the tactic becomes less promising. Deception can be used to benefit or to harm. As a whole, humans and animals are very trustworthy until they encounter deceit. Baby humans and animals are extremely vulnerable, and trust everyone. They then learn off their environments and adapt accordingly. Many babies learn to deceive by crying for attention, because they observed that when they cry, someone will approach them and either hold them or bond with them in another way. They then will cry not just when they are hungry or need to use the diaper, but when they want to have someone around.

Deception has been a part of survival since the beginning of life. It is in our best interest to try and learn how to depict it, or else we may all fall into someones deceit.

NOTE: There have been many different stories circulating about the tigress and piglet picture. To read more please visit   http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-498789/The-tiger-adopted-litter-piglets-tale-porkies.html

The Unexpected Predator

v.II

Every year my family and I take a camping trip to the Lake Chelan State Park, we hike, we swim, and sometimes we fish. This last summer I was basking in the warm sun rays, laying on the dock relaxing, when I heard commotion. I jerked up and saw a fast approaching excited group of fishermen swarming in on their boats. I kept an eye open as they docked and started unloading their captured treasures of the day. I was in shock when I saw one of the men take out a 25 pound HUGE fish. It was unbelievable; it was one of those fish you’d expect to only encounter in the ocean. 

When the man pulled out the fish, he could tell I was intrigued. The proud fisherman has been fishing Chelan for over 10 years, he daily takes others on expeditions onto the lake and teaches them how to hunt these beasts. This was one of his largest catches. I could see the huge freaky mouth on the fish, it was no cutie. The fish was a Mackinaw, also known as a lake trout, a serious predator in the lake. It was introduced in 1982, the fisherman told me, to control the overwhelming Mysis shrimp population, another foreign creature introduced to the lake by scientists, and also to provide additional big fish recreational opportunities - such as fishing. However, the Mackinaw not only ate the shrimp, but the native fish as well. As a result, there have been huge drops in the native fish population, seemingly because outside species have been introduced without proper research and testing.

Local fisherman with Mackinaw on Lake Chelan, WA

Chelan, translating to deep water in Salish Indian, is fed by streams flowing from the Cascade Range. Lake Chelan has maximum depth of 1,486 ft (453 m) making it the third deepest lake in the country and the 24th deepest in the world.  55 miles long with an average width of one mile, there’s room for a lot of unexpected water creatures. There are about 16 native aquatic species in Lake Chelan. In 1916 outside species began being introduced to the lake - about 6 species have been introduced since then (including the Mackinaw and Mysis Shrimp), complications have since then arisen.

The Mackinaw lives near the bottom of the lake, around 200-350 feet under the surface. That however does not stop it from preying on the fish swimming higher up. As a result shallow water fishing has become far less successful. There used to be a limit on how many Mackinaw could be caught, but in 2001 WDFW removed the limit in an effort to try and keep the restore the fishery balance. 

Fishing for Mackinaw is a skill that must be practiced. The skill is called “trolling”. Trolling is a method of fishing where one or more fishing lines, baited with lures, or bait fish, are drawn through the water. This may be behind a moving boat, or by slowly winding the line in when fishing from a static position, or even sweeping the line from side-to-side. To be effective, trolling baits and lures must have the visual ability to attract fish and intrigue them with the way they move through the water. Most trolling lures are designed to look and behave like dying, injured, or fast moving fish.

The Lake Chelan state record for fish size is currently 35 pounds 7 ounces, most fish average 2-7 pounds. When I saw the 25 pounder, I had no idea what to think, and I definitely did not imagine it to be such a savage predator and villain in Lake Chelan.

The Unexpected Predator

Every year my family and I take a camping trip to the Lake Chelan State Park, we hike, we swim, and sometimes we fish. This last summer I was basking in the warm sun rays, laying on the dock relaxing, when I heard commotion. I jerked up and saw a fast approaching excited group of fishermen swarming in on their boats. I kept an eye open as they docked and started unloading their captured treasures of the day. I was in shock when I saw a man take out a 25 pound HUGE fish. It was unbelievable; it was one of those fish you’d expect to maybe encounter in the ocean. 

When the man pulled out the fish, he could tell I was intrigued. I could see the huge freaky mouth on the fish, it was no cutie. The fish was a Mackinaw, also known as a lake trout, a serious predator in the lake. It was introduced in 1982 to control the overwhelming Mysis shrimp population, another foreign creature introduced to the lake by scientists, and also to provide additional big fish recreational opportunities such as fishing. However, the Mackinaw not only ate the shrimp, but the native fish as well. As a result, there have been huge drops in the native fish population, seemingly because outside species have been introduced without proper research and testing. 

Chelan, translating to deep water in Salish Indian, is fed by streams flowing from the Cascade Range. Lake Chelan has maximum depth of 1,486 ft (453 m) making it the third deepest lake in the country and the 24th deepest in the world.  55 miles long with an average width of one mile, there’s room for a lot of unexpected water creatures. There are about 16 native aquatic species in Lake Chelan. In 1916 outside species began being introduced to the lake - about 6 species have been introduced since then (including the Mackinaw and Mysis Shrimp), complications have since then arisen.

The Mackinaw lives near the bottom of the lake, around 200-350 feet under the surface. That however does not stop it from preying on the fish swimming higher up. As a result shallow water fishing has become far less successful. There used to be a limit on how many Mackinaw could be caught, but in 2001 WDFW removed the limit in an effort to try and keep the restore the fishery balance. 

Fishing for Mackinaw is a skill that must be practiced. The skill is called “trolling”, the fisher must use a good smelling bate (because there is little light so the Mackinaw prey with scent), and then drop it down to the bottom as close as possible using technology that helps with approximating distance, and then travel at a speed that will entice the fish. 

The Lake Chelan state record for fish size is currently 35 pounds 7 ounces, most fish average 2-7 pounds. When I saw the 25 pounder, I had no idea what to think, and I definitely did not imagine it to be such a savage predator and villain in Lake Chelan.

Mackinaw caught at Lake Chelan

Endangered butterfly, repopulated with help from inmates of local Washington prison

There are only 4 locations where over 50 Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly can be spotted. One site is located on private land in Oregon. Another location is the oak-woodland prairie in the southern Puget Sound where a "Cross-Base Highway" is poised to tear up the prairie. There is also a prairie that makes up the artillery range at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. If the Taylor's checkerspot butterfly (pictured right) were placed on the federal endangered species list it would interrupt training at the artillery range. - Right off the artillery range is located the greenhouse where prison inmates are trying to repopulate the delicate butterflies, their success may also set regulations at the range. Should the butterfly be placed on the federal endangered species list, the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife could direct the use of the butterflies’ remaining habitat to ensure their survival, according to Jim Lynch, a biologist with the base’s fish and wildlife program.

Before its current dramatic decline, the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly was documented at more than seventy sites in British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon where it is now a rare insect of woodland prairies of the Northwest.

Taylor’s checkerspot populations are declining quickly in the Northwest, where it traditionally lived in coastal and inland grasslands on southern Vancouver Island and surrounding islands in British Columbia and the San Juan Island archipelago, as well as in open prairies on post-glacial gravelly outwash and balds in Washington’s Puget Trough and Oregon’s Willamette Valley. 

Because the Taylor’s checkerspot is so sensitive to changes in its habitat, its presence is an indicator of the health of the entire ecosystem. If no protection is garnered it is likely that the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly will disappear and that an entire ecosystem might follow a similar destiny.

The Taylor's checkerspot is threatened most by the degradation and destruction of its habitat. Agricultural and urban development, encroachment of trees, and spread of invasive plants all continue to threaten the native grasslands in which it is found. In addition, pesticide use and recreational activities pose a direct threat to the butterflies themselves. 

According to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, there were once an estimated quarter-million acres of prairie in western Washington. That number is in several thousand acres today. Native grasslands are vulnerable to agricultural and urban development, tree encroachment, and invasive plant expansion.

The Sustainable Prisons Project was born in 2004 as a way to connect scientists with offenders, who could help with research and conservation and learn a skill. The project made headlines in 2009. when inmates at Cedar Creek Corrections Center south of Olympia began successfully raising the endangered Oregon spotted frog. The project has also helped to raise more than 500,000 delicate prairie plants. 

The inmates at Mission Creek Corrections Center began their part to the The Sustainable Prisons Project by raising Painted Lady butterflies in September as practice before embarking on the work of raising the rarer Taylor’s checkerspot in February.

A new greenhouse at the prison off Sandhill Road (near the Joint Base Lewis McChord previously mentioned) has been built with the intent to replenish the endangered Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly. If the inmates are successful, butterflies raised in will be moved to inhabit prairies in the south Puget Sound area, boosting their dwindling population.

The work is delicate and intricate. Inmates will use tools to move larvae onto leaves, among other tasks. They’ll carefully monitor their growth and development. When they reach maturity, they’ll be released.

Programs in the prisons have been thus far successful because of the notes and observations taken by the inmates and the amount of time they can devote to them. It gives them a sense of accomplishment in what can be a bleak environment.

Catherine Caruso, a spokeswoman at Joint Base Lewis McChord, said the base is hopeful the endeavor is successful in helping replenish the Taylor’s checkerspot, and avert a possible extinction of the species.

“You see them light up when they talk about their work”, she said, “They know they’re making a contribution.”

The prison’s greenhouse, erected by inmates at the prison, was built with a $30,000 grant from the Department of Defense, she said.

originial link: http://www.king5.com/news/environment/Washington-prison-inmates-raise-imperiled-butterflies-131328999.html