October Sky Blog

October Sky was a very thought-provoking movie and I was impacted by this movie. The events in this movie took place in October 5, 1957 and most of those events were connected to science and math. One connection was that this movie showed a group of boys wanted to build rockets and launch them however, one of the boys named Homer Hakim had a father who despised the idea of his son building those rockets. Instead, Homer's father wanted him to work in the coal mines just like he did but that wasn't what Homer had in mind. Homer and his friends decided to enter a rocket in the science fair after being inspired by Miss Riley who was one of the teachers. Every time the friends made a rocket, they kept improving it to make it better. Homer and his friends were determined to win the science fair and never stopped believing in themselves. Also in this movie, many character traits were displayed and not displayed by different characters. For example, Homer's father didn't show respect for Homer because he didn't support Homer with what he wanted to do which was to build rockets. In addition, Homer showed self-control because when his father told him that he wasn't happy about the idea of his son building rockets, Homer controlled his feelings and just came up with a new idea to solve that problem. Lastly, this movie was a very intresting movie with a powerful meaning to it abd it impacted me by sending me a message saying that I should just believe in myself to do things i want to do in life. ~Vikinggirl15

My Response to Patau's Syndrome

I just reccently read BubbleCutie99's blog on this upsetting disease called Patau's Syndrome. This disease affects 15% of the population but mostly males. When a baby is born of this disease, it dies between 4-8 weeks of birth. If the baby survives, it suffers serious mental retardation. Patau's Syndrome deforms the brain and the upper lip. There is basically no treatment to this disease because most of the time the baby ends up dying 4-8 weeks as already stated. Personally, this makes me feel sad because i feel bad for the people with disease and they can't do anything about it. Hopefully in the future, this disease wont affect as many people as it does today and hopefully, lives would be brighter for future generations. Click on the link below to see BubbleCutie99's blog: http://bubblecutie99.blogspot.com/2009/05/pataus-syndrome.html

My Disorder- Charcot-Marie-Tooth disesse

The disorder I was assigned was Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. This disease was discovered in 1886. In the U.S. Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease affects about 1 in 3,300 people. Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease occurs in all races and ethnic groups, however often males are effected slightly more than females but is possibly due to an increased likelihood or nerve trauma. The specific gene that is altered categorizes this disease. All types are caused by mutations in certain genes. The earliest symptoms of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease involve muscle weaknesses in hands, numbness and pain in the feet and lower legs or a decreased sensitivity to heat and cold. Some rare symptoms are gradual hearing impairments and deafness. There is no actual cure for
This disorder however, physical therapies, occupational therapies, and other orthopedic solutions can help disabling symptoms and relieving pains of this disease. Usually, life expectancy is normal. In general, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is a slowly progressive condition.In my opinion, I believe that this is an interesting disease and I am going to find out more information about this disease and hopefully, in the future this disorder will be less common for future generations. I got this information from:

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/charcot_marie_tooth/charcot_marie_tooth.htm

http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition%3Dcharcotmarietoothdisease