By Jackie Alexander
Staff writer, Gainesville Sun

Some of the projects at the Alachua Regional Science and Engineering Fair make Bill Nye the Science Guy look like an amateur.

More than 200 students explained their projects Friday to 100 judges in the Santa Fe College gym. Projects ranged from soccer and cosines to Alzheimer's disease research.

Sarah Charbonnet, the science fair organizer, said the students work hard to show projects with real scientific merit.

“They've done some real valid research and put their knowledge to use,” she said.

That includes research done by Dipa Bose, 13, on Alzheimer's disease. Dipa said her family has a history of the disease and that she studied the efficacy of two different medicines in her father's lab.

Bose said she started over the summer, learning how to process DNA from her father.

“I worked alongside him, and he taught me all the techniques,” she said.

The eighth-grader said she worked with DNA strands and then expressed them in kidney and brain cells. She said she discovered that kidney cells have a way of killing the protein that causes Alzheimer's disease.

“I want to find out what enzyme or catalyst is able to dispose of this neurotoxic protein,” she said.

School Board vice chair April Griffin attended the event.

“It's really impressive,” she said. “We have some great kids and awesome teachers.”

Joni Perkins, an eighth-grader at Mebane Middle School, extracted DNA from fruit to determine which fruit would have more DNA.

“I like doing experiments on fruit,” she said.

Bananas was the answer because of their thin phospholipid layer, Perkins said.

With so many judges around, it's easy to get nervous, Perkins said.

“You do get nervous, but you try not to let it show,” she said. She said she hopes to become a lawyer.

David Liu, 15, said he found a simple chemical compound that reduces the number of pancreatic cancer cells by 70 percent.

“I think it's a new drug for potential clinical trials,” he said.

David, a sophomore at Eastside High School, said he hopes to become a biomedical engineer.

Jacob Reynolds, an eighth-grade student at Oak View Middle, built a program for a computer tic-tac-toe game.

“I tried to make it unbeatable, but it isn't,” he said. The program tied 91 times, won eight games and lost once.

Other projects included the best file format for digital photographs, a look at whether pools could cause sinkholes and a method for removing oil from oil spills.

Watching students enjoy science keeps dentist and judge Jeff Smith coming back.

“This sets the seeds for a lot of our youth,” Smith said.

The winners of the regional science fair will be announced Monday at Lincoln Middle School. Thirty students will move on to the state science fair.

Contact Jackie Alexander at jackie.alexander@gvillesun.com or 338-3166.

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20110128/ARTICLES/110129452/1169?Title=No-mere-child-s-play-at-regional-science-fair

 The Alachua County Extension Office is pleased to announce the following Commercial Horticulture Programs, for February, 2011. These programs are offered by Aparna Gazula, Commercial Horticulture Agent. All of these programs are held at the Extension Office (2800 NE 39th Avenue, Gainesville).

Worker Protection Standard – Train the Trainer Workshop February 17, 9 am to 1 pm.
Under FAWSA and WPS, agriculture employers must ensure that agricultural workers and pesticide handlers employed in the state of Florida receive protection from agricultural pesticides and information concerning pesticides. The Worker Protection Standard Train the Trainer (WPS TTT) Program promotes the development of a working population of knowledgeable WPS trainers of agricultural workers and pesticide handlers, in order to prevent and reduce pesticide exposure and related illness.

Cost to attend this class is $5.00. Pre-register by February 11, by calling 352-337-6209. For more information call 352-955-2402.

A complete brochure with registration form can be found at: http://alachua.ifas.ufl.edu/calendar.shtml.

Alternative Enterprises for Small Farmers Workshop Series: Small Ruminants – Goat and Sheet Production and Forages February 17, 6 pm.
Topics to include: Toxic Plants for goats & sheep. Pasture Management for the spring/summer as well as goat & sheep nutrition.

No cost to attend this class. Please pre-register by February 11, by calling 352-337-6209.

Limited Commercial Landscape Maintenance Workshop February 24, 9 am. to 3:15 pm.
License Information: The Limited Commercial Maintenance License is available only for Landscape Maintenance Contractors applying pesticides to their customers' properties. The Limited Commercial Landscape Maintenance License Exam requires a passing grade of 75%. This certification must be renewed annually either by testing or with 4 CEUs. Each applicator must be licensed and may not supervise other applicators.

Registration fee is $30.00 per person (lunch included), but does not include IFAS Bookstore Study Manuals. 

 Pre-register by February 18, by calling 352-337-6209.

Program flyer and registration form can be downloaded from:  http://alachua.ifas.ufl.edu/calendar.shtml

For more information contact Aparna Gazula, Commercial Horticulture Agent, 352-955-2402.

The Alachua County Extension Office is pleased to announce the following Family & Consumer Sciences Programs, for February, 2011. These programs are offered by Dr. Brenda Williams, Family & Consumer Sciences Agent. All of these programs are held at the Extension Office (2800 NE 39th Avenue, Gainesville).

Home Buying Education Course (HUD Approved) – (3 sessions) 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm.
Making the Decision to be a Homeowner: Getting Your Credit & Budget in Order, February 15.
The Home Purchasing Process: From Offer to Closing, February 22.

Working with Housing Professionals: Experts will answer your questions, March 1.

Attendees must be present at all three sessions to receive a certificate of completion. The cost to attend is $10.00 (for individual/couple). Attendees must pre-register by calling 352-337-6209 (voicemail) by February 10. There must have 5 individual/couples for class to be conducted.

Building Your Financial Future (A personal financial management program - for those filing bankruptcy only)– February 17, 1 pm to 5 p.m.   

Attendees will learn 4 basic concepts that will aid in handling financial resources responsibly and building a financially secure future.  This program has been approved to issue certificates evidencing completion of a personal financial management instructional course in compliance with the Bankruptcy Code. Attendees must bring their case number with them.

Topics include: Develop Your Budget, Money Management Skills, Use Credit Responsibly, and Consumers Rights and Responsibilities

Cost to attend this class is $10.00 (cash only) for course materials. Pre-register by February 11, by calling 352-955-2402. For alternate class dates, or view the complete brochure, visit http://alachua.ifas.ufl.edu/calendar.shtml

Food Safety and Quality Program (ServSafe®) – February 16, 8:30 am to 4 p.m.  

This program is dedicated to providing training which enables food managers and staff to offer Florida consumers food that is prepared in a clean and safe environment. For more information and to register, please visithttp://foodsafety.ifas.ufl.edu, or call toll-free at 1-888-232-8723.

For more information, call 352-955-2402

Visit http://alachua.ifas.ufl.edu/calendar.shtml for additional programs offered by the Extension Office.

By John Stossel

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan recently claimed: "Districts around the country have literally been cutting for five, six, seven years in a row. And, many of them, you know, are through, you know, fat, through flesh and into bone ... ."

Really? They cut spending five to seven consecutive years? Give me a break!

Andrew Coulson, director of the Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom, writes that out of 14,000 school districts in the United States, just seven have cut their budgets seven years in a row. How about five years in a row? Just 87. That's a fraction of 1 percent in each case.

Duncan may be pandering to his constituency, or he may actually be fooled by how school districts (and other government agencies) talk about budget cuts. When normal people hear about a budget cut, we assume the amount of money to be spent is less than the previous year's allocation. But that's not what bureaucrats mean.

"They are not comparing current year spending to the previous year's spending," Coulson writes. "What they're doing is comparing the approved current year budget to the budget that they initially dreamed about having."

So if a district got more money than last year but less than it asked for, the administrators consider it a cut. "Back in the real world, a K-12 public education costs four times as much as it did in 1970, adjusting for inflation: $150,000 versus the $38,000 it cost four decades ago (in constant 2009 dollars)," Coulson says.

Taxpayers need to understand this sort thing just to protect themselves from greedy government officials and teachers unions.

It was on the basis of this fear and ignorance that President Obama got Congress to pass a "stimulus" bill this summer that included $10 billion for school districts. The money is needed desperately to save teachers from layoffs, the bill's advocates said. We must do it for the children!

When you look at the facts, the scam is clear.

"Over the past 40 years," Coulson writes, "public school employment has risen 10 times faster than enrollment. There are 9 percent more students today, but nearly twice as many public school employees."

But isn't it just common sense that schools would be better if they had more money? As a wise man said, it's not what we don't know that gets us into trouble; it's what we know that isn't so.

Consider the American Indian Public Charter School in Oakland, Calif. It was once a failing school, but now it's one of the best in California. Ben Chavis turned it around without any additional money. His book, "Crazy Like a Fox," tells how.

Chavis' experience exposes the school establishment's lies for what they are. Nearly all of Chavis' students are considered economically disadvantaged (98 percent qualify for free lunches), yet they have the fourth-highest test scores of any school in the state.

"In Oakland this year, on the AP (advanced placement) exam, we had 100 percent of all the blacks and Mexicans in the city of Oakland who passed AP calculus," Chavis said. "There are four high schools, and we're the only ones who had anyone pass AP calc."

Yet Chavis accomplishes this without the "certified" teachers so revered by the educational establishment. His classes are as big as, and sometimes bigger than, public school classes, but only a quarter of his teachers are certified by the state.

Money, he insists, is not the answer. "My buildings are shacks compared to their schools, but my schools are clean, and we'll kick all their asses."

He scoffs at the establishment's solutions to the education problem, such as teacher evaluations.

"I don't do no teacher evaluations. All I do is go into a class, and if the kids ain't working, your ass is fired. (Most principals) sit for hours and say, 'Is he meeting this goal, is he meeting' -- I just go to class, and if the kids are not working ..."

It's time we threw out the "experts" and exposed the schools to real competition by people with common sense.

Via: OnlineSchools.org

Ten ways for the Blues Singer to keep it real...

1.The Stevie Ray Vaughn Clause. The blues calendar did not start with the birth of Stevie Ray Vaughn. Everyone appreciates SRV for what he did to help get blues out to a larger audience. You, however, are not SRV. Do not attempt to conjure him in any form, be it clothing, guitar straps, your playing style or your bad lyrics. The man is dead, let us all respect his memory and endeavor not to urinate on his grave by our poor interpretations of him. Playing his songs is one thing, trying to be him is, well...disturbing and never successful.

2. Ego has it's place and it's not in the band. Ego - for lack of a better word - is good; It's what gives an artist his/her individuality. And there is nothing wrong with laying claim to your skills when you actually have some. However, in a band setting when you have to work - together - with other people for the explicit purpose of creating a musical landscape, your ego does nothing but ruin the experience for everyone else. If you drive 200 miles to a gig in a van (or your cars) and load and unload your own gear, you should think twice about your greatness.

3. More volume does not translate into more awesomeness. "But I can't get the tone I want if it's not loud". Yes, and the audience can't find the door fast enough either. It's ok musicians are deaf, but they need to remember they are not playing in an arena; it's usually a small venue holding a couple hundred folks who value the fact they can still hear. If you are unlucky enough to have to suffer dealing with a soundman - who almost always suck and are, you guessed it...too loud, all that can be said is; "tell them what you want, not what they want" and hopefully, you'll get 10% of what you asked for.

4. The club is not your garage and they don't care about you. Yes, the club has hired you to entertain and makes the assumption you will all be professional about it. This means you show up on time, play music that the crowd may actually enjoy and generally try to keep an atmosphere alive that is conducive to drinking and picking up chicks. This makes the bar money and usually assures you a return visit. It's not always easy to do when you are stuck next to a pool table and the t.v. above your head isn't even turned off for the show. Don't get confused and think they actually care about you and don't lose sight of the fact you are being paid to endure this, so suck it up. And one other thing: You've spent years learning your instrument, so why do you embarrass yourself with your ten minute, pre-show, solo warmup? You are masturbating and everyone can see it.

5. Your clothing won't make you a better musician. Like it or not, clothing can be an important part of live performance but some basic principles apply: Shorts are out. There is no situation, no matter how hot or steamy that warrants wearing shorts to a gig, unless you are the drummer. Never confuse being 'cool' with looking 'cool'. Bright suits with padded shoulders and wingtips more often than not means your frontman is an idiot with more ego than talent. Learn your craft, dress reasonably nice for shows and the music will do the rest.

6. Less is more. If you are confused by this statement, you need to get in the weeds and listen to some of the guys you keep playing every night. Good music requrires every member of a band to know his/her part and play it sparingly within the context of the overall arrangement - at least until it's 'lead' time and then all bets are off. If there is a general rule that separates the men from the boys, this is the one.

7. Be original. Playing the rhythm section of any number of Willie Dixon or Muddy Waters tunes and putting your own, lame lyrics over them is NOT original music. It's not even a good effort. Way too many bands put out music that is an exact duplication of some dead guys songs and call it original. This annoying habit is further promulgated by the industry reviewers that usually don't play insturments themselves and think plaigarism is cool. The blues is a suprisingly flexible style of music and offers the artist a broad pallete to be 'unique'. Please do so.

8. Dynamics, Pocket and Tension & Release are not scientific theories, they are essential parts of 'good' music. If you don't know what these terms are, google them. If you still don't know what they are after you've read up on them, you have no business being a musician. Music is a conversation we have with an audience we may or may not know. Think about how you talk, argue, lament and discuss things with real people: how your eyebrows move, your hands gesture and how your voice goes up and down to emphasis a point. If you feel you are incapable of utilizing these practices, it may be time to consider a Jimmy Buffet tribute band.

9. The ability to play the guitar well does not mean you can also sing. Some musicians think they can't get famous without naming a band after themselves and judging by the way publications and even blues societies tend to value the soloist over the group, there may be some truth to that. However, the ability to play does not always translate to the ability to sing. Many great arrangements have been descimated by some egotist that can't hold pitch or phrase a lyric to save their life because they named the band after themselves and feel obligated to now ruin your experience for the betterment of their career. The voice is an instrument and is every bit as important as all the other ones in the band. If you are curious why someone would allow their music to suffer because they insist on singing, refer to point #2 .

10. Practice and listen to those that do it a lot better than you. The blues greats didn't get that way all by themselves, they listened to other players and musical styles. They practiced their art and then shared it with others. Have respect for your music; take it seriously, pratice, listen to what other cats are doing and have fun. If you do that, the audience will respond and you'll really enjoy yourself. That's keepin' it real.

Even the best musician is likely to violate one of these musical rules on a given night, however if you violate more than three, you are being a troll.

The blues is the greatest music in the world. This has been an effort to make sure it stays that way.

Last month, Erica Goldson graduated as valedictorian of Coxsackie-Athens High School. Instead of using her graduation speech to celebrate the triumph of her victory, the school, and the teachers that made it happen, she channeled her inne Ivan Illich and de-constructed the logic of a valedictorian and the whole educational system.

Erica originally posted her full speech on Sign of the Times, and without need for editing or cutting, here's the speech in its entirety:

Here I stand

There is a story of a young, but earnest Zen student who approached his teacher, and asked the Master, "If I work very hard and diligently, how long will it take for me to find Zen? The Master thought about this, then replied, "Ten years . ." The student then said, "But what if I work very, very hard and really apply myself to learn fast -- How long then?" Replied the Master, "Well, twenty years." "But, if I really, really work at it, how long then?" asked the student. "Thirty years," replied the Master. "But, I do not understand," said the disappointed student. "At each time that I say I will work harder, you say it will take me longer. Why do you say that?" Replied the Master, "When you have one eye on the goal, you only have one eye on the path."

This is the dilemma I've faced within the American education system. We are so focused on a goal, whether it be passing a test, or graduating as first in the class. However, in this way, we do not really learn. We do whatever it takes to achieve our original objective.

Some of you may be thinking, "Well, if you pass a test, or become valedictorian, didn't you learn something? Well, yes, you learned something, but not all that you could have. Perhaps, you only learned how to memorize names, places, and dates to later on forget in order to clear your mind for the next test. School is not all that it can be. Right now, it is a place for most people to determine that their goal is to get out as soon as possible.

I am now accomplishing that goal. I am graduating. I should look at this as a positive experience, especially being at the top of my class. However, in retrospect, I cannot say that I am any more intelligent than my peers. I can attest that I am only the best at doing what I am told and working the system. Yet, here I stand, and I am supposed to be proud that I have completed this period of indoctrination. I will leave in the fall to go on to the next phase expected of me, in order to receive a paper document that certifies that I am capable of work. But I contest that I am a human being, a thinker, an adventurer - not a worker. A worker is someone who is trapped within repetition - a slave of the system set up before him.But now, I have successfully shown that I was the best slave.I did what I was told to the extreme. While others sat in class and doodled to later become great artists, I sat in class to take notes and become a great test-taker. While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment. While others were creating music and writing lyrics, I decided to do extra credit, even though I never needed it. So, I wonder, why did I even want this position? Sure, I earned it, but what will come of it? When I leave educational institutionalism, will I be successful or forever lost? I have no clue about what I want to do with my life; I have no interests because I saw every subject of study as work, and I excelled at every subject just for the purpose of excelling, not learning. And quite frankly, now I'm scared.

John Taylor Gatto, a retired school teacher and activist critical of compulsory schooling, asserts, "We could encourage the best qualities of youthfulness - curiosity, adventure, resilience, the capacity for surprising insight simply by being more flexible about time, texts, and tests, by introducing kids into truly competent adults, and by giving each student what autonomy he or she needs in order to take a risk every now and then. But we don't do that." Between these cinderblock walls, we are all expected to be the same. We are trained to ace every standardized test, and those who deviate and see light through a different lens are worthless to the scheme of public education, and therefore viewed with contempt.

H. L. Mencken wrote in The American Mercury for April 1924 that the aim of public education is not "to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence, Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim ... is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States."

To illustrate this idea, doesn't it perturb you to learn about the idea of "critical thinking." Is there really such a thing as "uncritically thinking?" To think is to process information in order to form an opinion. But if we are not critical when processing this information, are we really thinking? Or are we mindlessly accepting other opinions as truth?

This was happening to me, and if it wasn't for the rare occurrence of an avant-garde tenth grade English teacher, Donna Bryan, who allowed me to open my mind and ask questions before accepting textbook doctrine, I would have been doomed. I am now enlightened, but my mind still feels disabled. I must retrain myself and constantly remember how insane this ostensibly sane place really is.

And now here I am in a world guided by fear, a world suppressing the uniqueness that lies inside each of us, a world where we can either acquiesce to the inhuman nonsense of corporatism and materialism or insist on change. We are not enlivened by an educational system that clandestinely sets us up for jobs that could be automated, for work that need not be done, for enslavement without fervency for meaningful achievement. We have no choices in life when money is our motivational force. Our motivational force ought to be passion, but this is lost from the moment we step into a system that trains us, rather than inspires us.

We are more than robotic bookshelves, conditioned to blurt out facts we were taught in school. We are all very special, every human on this planet is so special, so aren't we all deserving of something better, of using our minds for innovation, rather than memorization, for creativity, rather than futile activity, for rumination rather than stagnation? We are not here to get a degree, to then get a job, so we can consume industry-approved placation after placation. There is more, and more still.

The saddest part is that the majority of students don't have the opportunity to reflect as I did. The majority of students are put through the same brainwashing techniques in order to create a complacent labor force working in the interests of large corporations and secretive government, and worst of all, they are completely unaware of it. I will never be able to turn back these 18 years. I can't run away to another country with an education system meant to enlighten rather than condition. This part of my life is over, and I want to make sure that no other child will have his or her potential suppressed by powers meant to exploit and control. We are human beings. We are thinkers, dreamers, explorers, artists, writers, engineers. We are anything we want to be - but only if we have an educational system that supports us rather than holds us down. A tree can grow, but only if its roots are given a healthy foundation.

For those of you out there that must continue to sit in desks and yield to the authoritarian ideologies of instructors, do not be disheartened. You still have the opportunity to stand up, ask questions, be critical, and create your own perspective. Demand a setting that will provide you with intellectual capabilities that allow you to expand your mind instead of directing it. Demand that you be interested in class. Demand that the excuse, "You have to learn this for the test" is not good enough for you.Education is an excellent tool, if used properly, but focus more on learning rather than getting good grades.

For those of you that work within the system that I am condemning, I do not mean to insult; I intend to motivate. You have the power to change the incompetencies of this system. I know that you did not become a teacher or administrator to see your students bored. You cannot accept the authority of the governing bodies that tell you what to teach, how to teach it, and that you will be punished if you do not comply. Our potential is at stake.

For those of you that are now leaving this establishment, I say, do not forget what went on in these classrooms. Do not abandon those that come after you. We are the new future and we are not going to let tradition stand. We will break down the walls of corruption to let a garden of knowledge grow throughout America. Once educated properly, we will have the power to do anything, and best of all, we will only use that power for good, for we will be cultivated and wise. We will not accept anything at face value. We will ask questions, and we will demand truth.

So, here I stand. I am not standing here as valedictorian by myself. I was molded by my environment, by all of my peers who are sitting here watching me. I couldn't have accomplished this without all of you. It was all of you who truly made me the person I am today. It was all of you who were my competition, yet my backbone. In that way, we are all valedictorians.

I am now supposed to say farewell to this institution, those who maintain it, and those who stand with me and behind me, but I hope this farewell is more of a "see you later" when we are all working together to rear a pedagogic movement. But first, let's go get those pieces of paper that tell us that we're smart enough to do so!