張瑋芯的部落格

Class Notes

1. US College Students Don't Learn Core Skills: Study

• critical thinking
• reasoning
• writing skills

A large number of US university students fail to develop critical thinking, reasoning and writing skills because of easy classes and too little time spent studying, a study found Wednesday.

http://www.medindia.net/news/US-College-Students-Dont-Learn-Core-Skills-Study-79842-1.htm

2. Part of Your World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXKlJuO07eM

Lyrics

Maybe he's right

Maybe there is something the matter with me

I just don't see how a world that makes such wonderful things could be bad

Look at this stuff

Isn't it neat?

Wouldn't you think my collection's complete?

Wouldn't you think I'm the girl

The girl who has everything?

Look at this trove

Treasures untold

How many wonders can one cavern hold?

Looking around here you'd think

Sure, she's got everything

I've got gadgets and gizmos a-plenty

I've got whozits and whatzits galore

You want thingamabobs?

I've got twenty!

But who cares?

No big deal

I want more

I wanna be where the people are

I wanna see, wanna see them dancin'

Walking around on those, what do you call 'em?

Oh, feet!

Flippin' your fins, you don't get too far

Legs are required for jumping, dancing

Strolling along down the, what's that word again?

Street

Up where they walk, up where they run

Up where they stay all day in the sun

Wanderin' free, wish I could be

Part of that world

What would I give if I could live out of these waters?

What would I pay to spend a day warm on the sand?

Bet'cha on land they understand

Bet they don't reprimand their daughters

Bright young women, sick of swimmin'

Ready to stand

And ready to know what the people know

Ask 'em my questions and get some answers

What's a fire and why does it, what's the word?

Burn?

When's it my turn?

Wouldn't I love, love to explore that shore up above?

Out of the sea

Wish I could be

Part of that world

http://www.metrolyrics.com/part-of-your-world-lyrics-disney.html

3. 

spect: to look

• inspect:  to look carefully at or over; view closely and critically
• perspective: the state of one's ideas, the facts known to one, etc., in having a meaningful interrelationship
• spectator: a person who looks on or watches; onlooker; observer; a person who is present at and views a spectacle, display, or the like; member of an audience
• spectacles: eyeglasses, especially with pieces passing over or around the ears for holding them in place

4. Seattle

Seattle is located in Washington State, which is in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as the Emerald City, a name that first became popular in the mid 1980s. This nickname was given in part because of the vast forests full of dark evergreen trees which surround this metropolis. The lush landscapes and wide diversity of plants in the city parks also make this town known for being green. Other nicknames for Seattle include Jet City, Queen City, Seatown, Gateway to the Pacific, and Gateway to Alaska.

The nickname Emerald City first came into being during the mid 1980s, when a local organization decided to hold a contest. This contest was to give Seattle a nickname that would boost tourism while reflecting the climate within the city parks and surrounding mountains. Emerald City was chosen from a number of entries, largely in part because of Seattle's evergreen trees, which are typically an emerald green color. It has become a widely recognized nickname by local citizens and tourists alike.

http://www.wisegeek.com/why-is-seattle-called-the-emerald-city.htm
 

Mount Rainier

Mount Rainier (pronounced: /reɪˈnɪər/), Mount Tacoma, or Mount Tahoma is the highest mountain of the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, and the highest mountain in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a large active stratovolcano located 54 miles (87 km) south-southeast of Seattle, in the Mount Rainier National Park. It is the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States and the Cascade Volcanic Arc, with a summit elevation of 14,411 ft (4,392 m).

Mt. Rainier is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world, and it is on the Decade Volcano list. Because of its large amount of glacial ice, Mt. Rainier could produce massive lahars that could threaten the entire Puyallup River valley, and poses a grave threat to the southern sections of the Seattle metropolitan area, a city of over 650,000 people with more than 3.7 million living in its metropolitan area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Rainier

5. Enough (film)

Enough is a 2002 American thriller film directed by Michael Apted. The movie is based on the 1998 novel Black and Blue, by Anna Quindlen, which was a New York Times bestseller. It stars Jennifer Lopez as Slim, an abused wife who learns to fight back. Enough garnered generally negative reviews from film critics, although several aspects of the film including the actors' performances were praised.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enough_(film)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0278435/

6. Tornado, Cyclone, Twister

Tornadoes and twisters

Tornado and twister are different names for the same type of storm – a violently rotating column of air over land associated with a severe thunderstorm. Tornadoes range in diameter from metres to hundreds of metres and generally last from a few seconds up to half an hour. They have an intense updraught near their centre, capable of lifting heavy objects such as cars and trees and causing enormous damage.

Tropical cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons

In Australia we call these large-scale storms tropical cyclones. In the USA they talk of hurricanes and in Asia, typhoons. Cyclones form over warm tropical waters where the sea's surface temperature is above 26° Celsius. They are typically hundreds of kilometres in diameter and can last for many days, with maximum winds greater than 62 km/h, or for severe cyclones, greater than 116 km/h. Strong winds, heavy rain, flooding and storm surges can cause major damage.

http://media.bom.gov.au/social/blog/6/tornado-twister-hurricane-tropical-cyclone-typhoon-whats-the-difference/

http://www.diffen.com/difference/Cyclone_vs_Tornado

7. Yellow brick road

Dorothy and her companion befriend the Cowardly Lion, while traveling on the Yellow Brick Road--illustration by W. W. Denslow (1900).

The Yellow Brick Road is a fictional element in the 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by American author L. Frank Baum. The road also appears in the several sequel Oz books such as The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904) and The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1913).

The road's most notable portrayal is in the classic 1939 MGM musical movie The Wizard of Oz, loosely based on Baum's first Oz book. In the novel's first edition the road is mostly referred to as the "Road of Yellow Bricks". In the original story and in later films based on it such as The Wiz (1978), Dorothy Gale must find the road before embarking on her journey, as the tornado did not deposit her farmhouse directly in front of it as in the 1939 film.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_brick_road

• Inspired the title, artwork, and title song of Elton John's 1973 album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

Lyrics

When are you gonna come down

When are you going to land

I should have stayed on the farm

I should have listened to my old man

You know you can't hold me forever

I didn't sign up with you

I'm not a present for your friends to open

This boy's too young to be singing the blues

chorus:

So goodbye yellow brick road

Where the dogs of society howl

You can't plant me in your penthouse

I'm going back to my plough

Back to the howling old owl in the woods

Hunting the horny back toad

Oh I've finally decided my future lies

Beyond the yellow brick road

What do you think you'll do then

I bet that'll shoot down your plane

It'll take you a couple of vodka and tonics

To set you on your feet again

Maybe you'll get a replacement

There's plenty like me to be found

Mongrels who ain't got a penny

Sniffing for tidbits like you on the ground

(repeat chorus)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDOL7iY8kfo

http://demona.pixnet.net/blog/post/30597300-elton-john---goodbye-yellow-brick-road

8. Kansas

Kansas  is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area.

Kansas was first settled by European Americans in 1812, in what is the now Bonner Springs, Kansas, but the pace of settlement accelerated in the 1850s, in the midst of political wars over the slavery issue. When it was officially opened to settlement by the U.S. government in 1854, abolitionist Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery settlers from neighboring Missouri rushed to the territory to determine whether Kansas would become a free state or a slave state. Thus, the area was a hotbed of violence and chaos in its early days as these forces collided, and was known as Bleeding Kansas. The abolitionists eventually prevailed, and on January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the Union as a free state. After the Civil War, the population of Kansas grew rapidly when waves of immigrants turned the prairie into farmland.

Today, Kansas is one of the most productive agricultural states, producing high yields of wheat, corn, sorghum, and soybeans. Kansas with its 213,000 km² is the 15th most extensive and with its about 2.9 million people the 34th most populous of the 50 United States. Residents of Kansas are called "Kansans", officially. Mount Sunflower is Kansas's highest point at 1232 m.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas

KU & KSU

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Kansas

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_State_University

9. SUNY, CUNY, NYU

SUNY System Administration Building "The SUNY Castle" in Albany

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_University_of_New_York

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University