Author Interview

 Author Interview

    Raymond arrived at the local bookstore to interview Franklin MacDonald, his favorite author. Raymond was a writer for his school newspaper, and he had sent Mr. MacDonald an e-mail several weeks earlier to request this interview. When Raymond received a response granting the interview, he was absolutely thrilled!
    Now he was about to interview the author he admired the most. Franklin MacDonald was sitting at a table near a display of his latest bestseller, The Basketball Mystery. Raymond was carrying his own copy of the bestseller with him. As Raymond extended his hand, the author greeted him warmly, and said, "Please call me Franklin." Then Raymond began asking him the questions he had written on index cards: "Where do all your ideas come from? Do you ever worry that you'll run out of ideas?"
    Franklin responded that many of his ideas were taken from events in his own life. He kept an "Ideas" folder, and whenever something occurred to him, he put it in the folder for future use. Raymond liked that and thought he might do the same thing. Time flew by as he continued asking questions, and soon the interview was over. Before saying goodbye, Franklin wrote the following inscription in Raymond's book: "Raymond, I give you the same good advice my favorite author once gave me. Write something every day, even if it's just a line or two. Keep in touch! Franklin."

How did Raymond prepare for the interview?

What was the purpose of Franklin's "Ideas" folder?

The One-Pound Cell Phone

 The One-Pound Cell Phone

    Cell phones seem to be our constant companions these days. Today there are more cell phone subscribers than there are wireline phone subscribers.

    In the world of wireless communication, how did we get from the telegraph to the cell phone? In 1842, Samuel Morse, inventor of the telegraph, had something to prove. He wanted to show that an underwater cable could transmit signals just as well as copper wires on poles. But when a passing ship, pulled up the cable, Morse chose to carry out the experiment without the cable. He sent telegraph signals through the water itself. He was able to achieve this because water conducts electricity.

    This gave inventors ideas, and they began alternating between experiments with wire lines and wireless telegraphs. In 1865, a dentist transmitted telegraphic messages a distance of 18 miles. He used Earth's atmosphere, instead of water, as a conductor of electricity by launching kites enclosed with copper screens. These were linked to the ground with copper wires.

    The basic foundation for wireless communication had been set. Now all that was needed was someone with a vision. That someone was Martin Cooper, who developed the first portable handheld police radios. In 1973, he placed the first wireless telephone call from the streets of New York City.

    It took another ten years to develop the first cell phone for the public, which weighed a pound and cost $3,500! Seven years later, a million people in the United States had cell phones. The system uses many stations with towers, and the service areas are divided into cells. Calls are sent from station to station as the phone user travels.

Robert Frost

 Robert Frost

    Robert Frost, one of America's most famous poets, was born in San Francisco in 1874. When he was just eleven years old, his father died. So his mother moved with Robert and his sister to Lawrence, Massachusetts, where they lived with their grandparents.
    As a young man, Frost briefly attended college, and then settled down on a farm in New Hampshire with his wife, Elinor. During this period, he lived the life of a country farmer, which he described in many of his poems.
    In 1912, he sold the farm and moved his family to England. It was there that his talents as a poet were at last recognized. He published two collections of poems--A Boy's Will, in 1913, and North of Boston, in 1914. When he returned with his family to America in 1915, he had become a well-known poet.
    During the next part of his life, Frost taught at the university level and continued to publish his poetry. Most of his poems were about country life and nature. Two of his best known poems are "The Road Not Taken" and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening."
    His beautiful poetry won him many honors, including four Pulitzer Prizes--more than any other poet in history. In 1963, Robert Frost died in Boston at the age of 89.

What other things did Robert Frost do in addition to being a poet?

What are many of Robert Frost's poems about?

Hair

 Hair

    When you study your image in the mirror, what do you notice first? If you answered "my hair," you're in the majority. Your hair and nails are composed of keratin, a type of protein. The hair roots are beneath the skin in small pockets called follicles. As new hair cells form in the follicles, old ones are forced outward through the surface of the skin.

    In other words, the hair that's visible on the skin's surface of dead cells. The hair on your head grows about a half-inch every month. When a hair ceases to grow, it falls out and is replaced by a new hair.

    Taking care of your hair is important. Use a gentle shampoo, and make sure you rinse it out thoroughly. Try to let your hair dry naturally because blow-dryers and curling irons can be damaging. Research shows that what you put in your body, rather than the expensive products you put on your hair, counts the most. Eating a nutritionally balanced diet is the surest way to have healthy, shiny hair.

Go Fly a Kite

 Go Fly a Kite

    Is flying a kite a pastime that you find extremely enjoyable? Follow these simple, concise instructions to make your own outstanding homemade kite.

Supplies:
    Two wooden dowels (one each at 20 inches and 24 inches), sheet of paper at least 26 inches square or a heavy plastic trash bag, tape or glue, lightweight string or twine, craft knife (for use under adult supervision), pencil, scissors, ribbon, ruler

Instructions:
    Using the craft knife under adult supervision, carve a deep notch in both ends of each dowel. Use the pencil to mark a spot located 10 inches from one end of the shorter dowel. Position the shorter dowel crosswise over the longer dowel, matching up the marks and making certain that all notches are parallel to the ground. Bind the dowels together by wrapping the string tightly several times around the center in an X motion.

    Build the kite frame by twice threading the string tightly through all the notches in a diamond shape. Then pull the string toward the center of the kite, wrap it tightly around both dowels in an X shape, and tie it with a knot.

    Cut the paper or bag slightly larger than the kite frame. Apply tape over the top and bottom tips of the kite, and use a pencil to punch a tiny hole through each tip. Knot one end of a two-foot piece of string through the top hole and the other end through the bottom hole. Attach your flying string to this two-foot piece. To assemble the kite tail, knot a six-foot string to the bottom of the kite and tie pieces of ribbon around the string.

Jane Addams

 Jane Addams

     Jane Addams was born in Cedarville, Illinois on September 6, 1860. Jane was fortunate to be raised in a prosperous family. She and her sister attended college, which was quite unusual at that time. After graduating from college, Jane traveled to Europe. It was there that she became interested in changing social conditions for those who were less fortunate.
    In 1889, Jane and a college classmate started Hull House in Chicago, Illinois. Hull House was a very special kind of neighborhood center for immigrants from every nation. Through Hull House, Jane worked for better housing, parks, and playgrounds. She sought labor laws to protect women and children. She started day nurseries for the children of working parents. She also worked to improve education and healthcare for all people. Through her efforts, Hull House became the most famous settlement house in the United States.
    Jane was one of the leaders in the movement to give women the right to vote. From 1915 to 1929, she was president of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She also wrote more than 400 articles about her ideas and experiences, as well as ten books. Her most well-known book was Twenty Years at Hull House.
    In 1931, Jane Addams became the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She died in Chicago on May 21, 1935, but lived to see many of her ideas take hold.

What was Hull House?

What are two things that Jane Addams did to help people?

Picture This

 Picture This

    Imagine that you are sitting in a darkened room that has a tiny round window, barely the size of a quarter. The window allows some light to enter, perhaps from a moonlit forest, casting an image of trees on the wall opposite the window. This is the basic principle on which a camera operates.

    A camera consists of three main elements that are similar to the parts of a human yey. All cameras contain a device called a shutter. The shutter allows light to enter the camera, just as you use your eyelids to let in or shut out light. On some cameras, photographers control the amount of light by altering the length of time the shutter remains open.

    These cameras have a diaphragm, which also controls the amount of light entering the camera. The diaphragm is like the iris of your eye, which expands or contracts to limit the amount of light entering it.

    Light that enters a camera passes through a curved piece of glass or plastic that bends and focuses the light onto the film. This curved piece is called the lens, and unlike the lens of a human eye, it cannot alter its shape. In some cameras, the lens can be moved in and out to focus an image on the film. The lens is moved inward to focus on distant objects and outward to focus on objects that are close.

    A camera lens causes rays of light to narrow and then create images on film. Because the light bends, the image is upside down. This is similar to the lens of a human eye, which registers an image upside down that is corrected by the brain. In a camera, the image is stored on film and is corrected when the film is developed.