Chapter 4-6

Chapters 4-6

A discussion seems to have stirred whether or not the author of this book keeps going off instead of focusing on the theme of the story. I tend to disagree for with what people have been blogging about. I think the story is not in any way interesting, which is against her journalism and writing skills. That I do agree with, but I feel like it's different when you're writing a book. She needs to somewhat get off track for a few reasons. One of those reasons is that she doesn't want to bore those who think would think what she's writing about starts to make you fall asleep. She's trying to wake you up. Whether if it's with comedy or just a sidenote about something, she's trying. I ask you to go out and try to write a book about global warming and see how entertaining you can make it. For example she said in chapter 4 about the Comma Butterfly. She describes the larval looking like a bird dropping which is a funny image and keeps you entertained as well as informed.

As far as the rest of chapter 4 is concerned I feel as if she could have explained more about the butterfly migrgrating due to the warmer weather. Go into further detail on how it's global warming is that main reason for the butterfly to migrate.

When chapter 5 rolled around she would start to right more factual information. Maybe she could have changed the way she jumped from one thing to another within the chapter, but she felt it was the time to get almost 100% serious about the topic and try to win you over there. It is confusing, but I feel the previous chapters were somewhat of a set up in order to get you to understand better when she actually talks about global warming and different areas involving it. It can still be confusing, but I feel that was the point of the previous chapters.

I guess you can say chapter 6 is more of an entertainment chapter somewhat. Even though she talks about the rise of sea levels and what not, she does talk about the idea of floating houses eventually. Due to the water levels rising, people would have to eventually live in floating houses. Even though it was somewhat serious, I would assume a lot of people would take that as a joke. Of course that would not be fun at all once a storm hits, but she tried to make it entertaining, atleast compared to the more seriousness of chapter 5.

Chapter 2 & 3

Some of the strongest pieces of evidence for the theory of global warming within chapter 2 and 3

One of the strongest pieces of evidence adduced in supporting of the theory of global warming are when Kolbert talks about mosquitoes. She talks about Bradshaw and Holzapfel when they look back on their own files of mosiquitoes. They originally thought the mosquitoes were genetically changing. Turns out as the climate had warmed, those mosquitoes that had remained active until later in the fall had enjoyed a selective advantage, presumably because they had been able to store a few more days worth of recources for the winter and had passed this advantage on to their offspring, and so on.

Also the glaciers melting is a strong piece of evidence for the theory of global warming. It has got to the point where shipment has ceased in Iceland because the islands remain icebound in the Summer. A third of the population has died in Vatnajokull. The "sun-home glacier" is 1,1000 ft. shorter than it was just a decade ago. One colleague for the Icelandic Glaciological Society believes that the ice caps will be so small on the highest mountains with the mass of the glaciers gone.

I believe that evidence is slowly but surely improving by each chapter to help prove more and more about global warming. We're still only up to chapter 4 now; time will tell how this ends up. Her objectivity may be a little impartial but the same thing with that; there's plenty of pages left to get a better perspective and opinion of Kolbert's objectivity. Her explainatory powers are good because I am understanding stuff that I would normally never understand.

Chapter 1

Field Notes From a Catastrophe - Man, Nature, and Climate Change by Elizabeth Kolbert

The beginning of the book was interesting to me. The subject of the book I felt would have bored me. The start was a good enough beginning to keep me going besides the fact that it's homework.
Within the very first line of the story about watching the icebergs flowing by was funny and I personally believe that comedy is always a great way to start a story.


For the most part I thought the writing was good. I'm sure they're some who are against how the author writes and it could be biased. Well for one it's chapter one. There's plenty of book left for someone to give their opinion on if Kolbert is biased or not.

In my opinion what the author is doing is a great form of journalism. When I say this I mean by going out there in the middle of everything and then later writing about it. Getting into the situation is always a great way to learn about an area or anything for that matter.

For those who are not just experienced in or have vast knowledge of the subjects discussed in the book, I think she does a good job in trying to keep someone like me who doesn't have much knowledge on the subject interested. Whether it's little things like when she talks to Morris Kiyutelluk and mentions that his last name means without a wooden spoon. It could through you off for a second, but it's a book. When I say it's a book I mean that it's not just straight foward information. There needs to be some entertainment involved with the book.

I also think that Kolbert provides great background information on places she went to. For one when she talks about Fairbanks, Alaska. She writes about the fires that go one for months and months there and how you need to wear these glasses to protect yourself when you are out there. More great information she gives is how there was a fire where 6.3 million acres had been incenerated.

Colored Leaves

Question - How and why do leaves change colors?

Answer - Pigments, weather and amount of night.

Haven't you always wondered exactly why the colors of leaves change? How does it change? There's more to what you thought the answer would be.

The one you may know is involved with the pigments. There are three type of pigments that are involved with the color changes according to www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo. There's chlorophyll which givesleaves their basic green color. The plant in which the leaves are connected to need the sunlight to manufacture sugars for their food. Carotenoids produce the yellow, orange and brown colors . Then there's anthocyanins, which appear in the watery liquid of leaf cells.

The weather needs to go from hot to cool for the leaves to begin to change colors during the fall season. Cool to cold for the winter. Cold to warm for the spring. Warm to hot for the summer. The weather helps for the leaves to change colors at certain times of the year which shows why it appears to happen out of no where before your eyes.

The one that might be somewhat surprising to you is the length of night. The timing of color change and leaf fall are primarily regulated by the calendar, that is, the increasing length of night. Temperature, food and other aspects aren't as important for the leaves to change colors. Biochemical processes in the leaf begin to change the colors in the leaf when there's less sunlight and more darkness.

If you don't know, now you know.

Skunk vs. Rose

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Question - Why are we repelled by the scent of a skunk and attracted to the scent of a rose?

The famous Looney Tune character Pepé Le Pew always wanted to fall in love. Only if he was a Rose with legs, arms and a mouth. All he need is that scent instead of his distinct, grossing smell that would drive all of the others within his looney cartoon world.

Humans are drawn away from the smell of the skunk because they have two glands on each side of their anus. In which have a mixture of sulfur that contains the chemicals methyl and butyl thiols which can be compared to the smell of rotten eggs.

The skunks spray can reach out up to 15 ft. Basically if you smell the skunk already, don't got anywhere near it because you can have temporary blindness. Watch out for the low molecular weight thiol compounds. Involves the (E)-2-butene, 1-thiol, 3-methyl-1-butanethiol and 2-quinolinemethanethiol.

Our national flower is the rose for a reason. It's beautiful to us in so many ways. The color that represents love in the eyes of many. Specifically the scent. Especially compared to the skunk.

Within the petals of the rose is what drives the great smell. The oil of the rose is what people can smell. All different kinds of roses provide scent appealing to the human nose. Any kind of rose will work compared to a skunk. The rose wins due to it's oil it doesn't spray at you, but overwhelms you with it's beauty.

discover magazine

http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jul-aug/25-swine-flu-was-warning-shot-how-do-better-next-pandemic


This spring we were caught with our public-health pants down. Preparing for the next big threat will be difficult but not impossible.

For one, this lead is funny. It leads to a funny image of our public-health with it's pants down. I like how it goes from a funny comment to a serious statemement about the next threat of the next pandemic to spread across the world.

The rest of the story wasn't necessary as interesting as the lead. It provided information I'm sure the most common people would agree and disagree over. They were saying that if the money that was needed to be put into stop another pandemic virus that the people would not want to use that much money for a future thing instead of things that need to be taking care of now.

Q and A

Q. How does bug repellent work?

A. Who wants a bug to spit on you or well inside of you. That's gross and could cause rashes that you'll itch for days. Just use spit protector which is better known as bug repellent.

Don't let them take your blood because hey, you only got so much blood pumping in there.

Insect repellent oil works by discouraging insects from landing on, or even coming near to, the surface to which it is applied. You may see insects nearby, they probably won't be landing on you if you are protected.

According to ehow.com, The repellent masks the scent of a human, and at the same time, releasing a scent that is unappealing to insects. Some insect repellents also have an ingredient which causes the insect's sensors to malfunction, thus confusing it so that it is not able to land and bite the human or animal. This ingredient is commonly found in synthetic oils and sprays which contain DEET.

You may not kill the bugs in general but you do protect yourself from itches, rashes and just losing your blood in general.