STEM and Politics

It's been such a long time since we've posted, I know. Many of our authors have no longer been available, and because of this, added to the fact that we want to continue to bring you amazing content, something's going to change here. A new background, new authors, and new content will hopefully make this blog more active again. Thanks for all the readers who have stuck by us even as we have been inactive for so long. We will post more often now. The title of this blog is also going to need a revamp... comment down below. ;) -RNG

Hello (not so many) readers! We will be starting a new post (which won't be like our last ones, which for some reason have been discontinued), called the weird questions. This is kind of a spin - off of what if? the book, and if you want us to answer any of your questions, post them in the comments below. Now, without further ado, question number 1 is: What would happen if there were firemen bungee jumping off of the side of a burning building? Short answer: They would all die a horrific death. Most ways you imagine this scene, the firemen are obliterated in flames, or through a collision with the ground, or simultaneously! Now this happy thought brings us to the long answer. Long Answer: Because the firemen would jump once off the side of a flaming building, and gradually swing back towards it, and would get annihilated in a burning mess. If the building was particularly unstable, it might collapse and send the jumpers to the ground, with the smoldering wreckage crashing do...

School. A tower looming over us, the place we have to spend seven hours a day. Well, at least, if you're still in school. During English class, have you ever wondered, when am I ever going to need to find theme or symbolism or use literary devices in the "real world"? Math class: When am I ever going to integrate expressions in the "real world"? Science: When am I ever going to need to recite the periodic table or memorize the chemical composition of different substances in the "real world"?  Well, here's the truth: The earlier years of school, namely Kindergarten through 5th Grade, are less heavy and focused on the academic learnings you achieve, but more so on the social and emotional learnings. You learn how to make friends, what people aren't worthy friends, how to interact with people, how to get teachers to like you, and these skills follow you into middle school. They prepare you a lot.  The next couple years of school (de...

I'm sorry we haven't had posts in a while. We're working on a separate project. Thanks for understanding. We do not wish to rush our posts as we strive to maximize their accuracy and quality. See you soon though!

We will be doing some stock market reports from now on per one or two months. Here are the most popular stocks now and how they grew or shrank. STOCKS AS OF 3-5 PM on 12/23/17: Apple 175.03 +0.01% Citigroup 75.49 0.00% General Electric 17.50 +0.03% Google 1068.86 -0.19% Microsoft 85.51 +0.01% These are just the most popular stocks according to CNN. We'll mainly focus on the big companies, Google and Microsoft. (Apple, you'll get your turn.) So first of all, even though the gain is pretty small, all three of these companies' stocks have/are growing. Let's take a look at Google first:      Here's Google's Stock History: The gray area line in the last graph is pretty much Google's prediction of the stock. By the time you read this, it won't be a prediction anymore, but who cares. Google's stock, by the looks of it, is pretty stable and it's most recent 5-year change (from Dec. 2012 to Now) is ...

I was just doing math one day (yup, I'm a huge nerd, I do math in my free time), when I received an email from one of my friends (And yes. I do have friends.). He was talking about how bad 12 hour clocks are and how we should change to 24 hour clocks. His point was pretty interesting. He said, "Humans are on the verge of going to Mars. Imagine we travel to Mars. What clocks would we use?" I didn't know anything about what he was talking about, so I researched a bit about Mars, and found out it has about 25 hours. I thought about it. If we moved to Mars, we could have 12 hour clocks and everything would be confusing, or we could have 25 hour clocks and nothing would be confusing. There are 24 hours in an earth day, so why don't we use a 24 hour clock? I thought about why we used a 12 hour clock. The evidence points out that we use 12 hour clocks partly because of the Sumerians. The Sumerians used a base 60 number system. 24 isn't divisible b...

Starting this week, we will post updates on global news with a science and politics edge. Credit goes to CNN, Google news, and other sources. Science:  One of Antarctica's largest glaciers, Totten Glacier, may be melting due to wind, as opposed to climate change (Though climate change is still a major player). If it melted away into the sea, it would cause the global sea level to rise by about 3.5 meters. After years of observation, Chad Greene and his team at the University of Texas at Austin conclude using satellite imagery and special observations that the main culprit in the ice shelf of the Totten Glacier is wind. Technology:  Cyber criminals have broken into art galleries using email scams that have fooled some galleries in the US and London. These emails send buyers duplicated invoices with the details of the account changed. In essence, this means that the robbers get paid for a fake copy of the painting. Art dealer groups urge galleries to remain vigilant. Engin...

Is this funny thing. This says that 1, 10, and 100 are the same thing, and as a what-if (xkcd) once said: Age: 10 Height : 10 feet Number of Arms: 1 Number of Legs: 1 Total number of limbs: 10 (This is because you round to the nearest power of ten by taking root 10 which is ~3.1 and 4 > 3.1) Average Driving Speed: 100 mph Also Fermi tells me that I weigh 100 pounds, drink 100 oz of water each day, that I am 100 inches tall and 100 cm tall, and therefore 10 ft = 100 inches = 100cm. Yes, that seems about right. Also, Airplanes travel at 1000 mph, and the fastest bullet train also travels at 1000 mph. The speed of sound is also 1000 mph. Therefore, airplanes cannot fly because sound would brake the airplane up. Yes, that sounds about right too. Moral lesson here: Fermi approximations might be good for something like the size of the observable universe, but are definitely NOT good for the modern world (which, by the way, has a diameter of about 100,000 km (and mi...

Why was Thomas Jefferson, our 3rd president, the author of the Declaration of Independence, famous? Many kids know he is famous, but don't know why. Why was Thomas Jefferson one of the most respected president of the USA? Thomas Jefferson was a slave owner, an author, and much more. Thomas Jefferson was a slave owner, if you know him, you would think that's not true. In all of his public life, Jefferson had been an opponent to slavery. It was crazy to think that, but Jefferson still did. He passed laws making slavery prohibited in Virginia, one of the highest slave population areas. Jefferson did have slaves, yes, but it was different. He didn't beat them like other owners, but he treated them like people, not animals. He was very sensitive in that situation. One of the most famous titles for Jefferson was writing our nation's first important document, the Declaration of Independence. As history tells, Benjamin Franklin, another president, suggested Jefferson to w...

I am sorry to inform that the first post deadline will be pushed back until November 9th from the previous November 6th due to unpredicted circumstances. Sorry for the inconvenience, thanks for understanding. (The deadline has been changed in the intro series post too).

1. There is a McDonald's in every continent except for... Antarctica. Poor Antarctica. 2. The reason that artificial banana flavored products don't taste like bananas is because the flavoring is based on a type of banana that was wiped out by a plague in the 50's. 3. The national animal of Scotland is a unicorn. 4. By the laws of mathematics, white holes are possible, however, we have found none yet. 5. The Martian day is 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35 seconds. 6. Peanuts can be used to make dynamite. 7. Neil Armstrong first stepped onto the moon with his left foot. 8. There are over 35 billion Google Searches per month. (Considering that only around 45% of people have access to Internet whatsoever, and many probably don't use it regularly, THAT'S PRETTTTTTY IMPRESSIVE!) 9. You can not burp in space, or talk. 10. In one sitting, eating 30-90 g of polar bear liver is enough to kill a human, depending on your gender, height, age, etc. 11. "Faceb...

BREAKING: 23 Minutes ago, the New York Times released the official jobs report from the Labor Market. It was a relatively good month for US jobs, adding 261,000 jobs to the market while pushing the unemployment rate down to a historic low of 4.1%. But these are historic figures! Why do I only say "relatively good"? Well, it turns out that there are a few major points. The main one here, though, is wages. Wages have never been good in the US economy, and the latest signs show that it's not starting now. In October, wages fell by an average of 1 cent, to decrease the growth to 2.4%. A lot of economists say that they want the US to have at least 3% growth, and that has not been achieved in a long time. Also, while 261,000 is a GREAT (and I mean it GREAT) number for any regular month, this isn't just any regular month. This was the month where Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria devastated homes and tore down workplaces, and we were naturally expecting a bounceback. ...

All right, here's the moment you've all been waiting for... 1. George Washington (1732-99) George Washington's life in Virginia can be traced back to his great-grandfather, John Washington, who migrated from England to Virginia in 1631. At first the family was wealthy due to the land given to them by Henry VIII but most of it was lost in the Puritan revolution, so his grandfather, Lawrence Washington, moved to Virginia in 1657. Little info is known about the family until GW's father, Augustine Washington, was born in 1694. But all of that is boring. So let's skip directly to George Washington. George Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He got his first job when he was 17, as a surveyor. He joined the British Army when he was just 20 years old and served as a lieutenant in the French & Indian War. After the war ended, he left the army and returned home to Virginia where his huge plantation was. He then served in the colonial House of...

All right, we are going to be starting a presidents post series to write a short biography of all the 45 presidents to you. (we as in Lucas and I) We hope to finish this long-term project by September of 2018. The 1st post will be published by November 9th, about George Washington. Overtime, all the presidential articles will be posted to the top. So make sure to check back often! Thanks, and enjoy! EDIT: Please allow a 3-day delay for the deadline of the first post, due to unexpected circumstances. Sorry for the inconvenience.

1. 200 years ago, 80 to 90 languages were spoken in what is now California. 2. Sea lions love the smell of cinnamon. 3. Liver failure makes your breath smell of raw fish. 4. Books may not enter or leave Tajikistan without written permission from the Ministry of Culture. 5. A half-smoked Winston Churchill cigar sold for $12,000 in 2017. 6. In the U.S., peanut butter must contain 90% peanuts, otherwise it must be called "peanut spread." 7. Phubbing is a new word meaning ‘ignoring your friends in favor of your mobile phone'. 8. Ants communicate by swapping spit. 9. A library book borrowed by George Washington in 1789 wasn't returned until 2010. 10. More than 2,400 nuclear bombs have been detonated since 1945. 11. When Iceland's soccer team reached the quarter-final of the 2016 Euro Cup, 10% of Iceland's population traveled to France for the game. 12. In 1973, the entire Internet consisted of only 42 computer...

This is a continuation of my previous math tips and tricks #1 and will be centered more on estimations, approximations, and other useful conversions. Approximation Methods  - 2^10 ~ (is approximately equal to) 1,000 (One thousand)  - 2^20 ~ 1,000,000 (One million)  - 2^30 ~ 1,000,000,000 (One Billion)  - 2^40 ~ 1,000,000,000,000 (One trillion)  - 2^50 ~ 1,000,000,000,000,000 (One quadrillion) You can probably see where this is going... For each power of 2 raised by 10, just add three zeros at the end of the number. If you ever come across measurements in powers of 2, which is unlikely but not unheard of, use these approximations to find out just how big something might be. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Converting your salary to an hourly basis (From yearly) This is a neat trick that can help you find out how much you're really earning. Whether you are pleasa...

      What is the most expensive thing that exists? Gold? Sure, it's expensive, priced at a pricey $41/gram, but that's nothing compared to other things like heroin. Heroin is a very expensive drug priced at around $200/gram. Diamond, though, is nearly $50,000/gram for pure diamond. Still though, 1 kilo gram of pure diamond would still not even compare to the world's most expensive object.        The world's most expensive object is... ANTIMATTER!!! Now, you may be wondering, what the heck is this guy talking about? What's antimatter ? The enemy of matter ? Well, that's actually partially correct.        So basically, antimatter and matter are the exact opposite, because the sub-atomic particles will react. If antimatter has contact with any matter, it will instantly annihilate itself, releasing 100% pure energy. Compare that to the world's strongest nuclear weapons right now, only releasing 8-10% pure energy. If one gram of ant...

As our half year anniversary comes near (in about 2 weeks), we will be working to improve this website. This includes: more interesting content, less ads better website formatting more posts being published daily fact actually being updated (yeah, sorry about that... :) ) using original content, and if we use part of another article, we will include a citation more features We expect that these updates will be finished somewhere around November 5th. The website may or may not be available during part of these four weeks.  Keep tuned for updates on how our website will improve as it undergoes its anniversary! Happy 1/2 Birthday, STEMandPolitics!

     We are going to be talking about the future, split into three main topics. Number one, how to travel into the future, and what that would result in, number two, what will likely happen in the future, and number three, how humanity will likely end in the future. These three topics will be split into 3-5 posts, depending on how much I write. I. How to Travel into the Future Well, I hope I didn't get your hopes up (no pun intended) but I'm sorry, it's not currently possible at the moment. But then again, this whole post is hypothetical, so we get to make a rocket that has infinite fuel canisters and can travel at 300 million meters per second, while still keeping all the human bodies in it intact, and making sure that a huge vaccum doesn't form and suck up everyone. We would also need a telescope that sees infinitely long in any direction, but since all the laws of physics are already broken, who cares?! (In case you're wondering, yes, that is the short ans...

You might realize that we have not been posting very much throughout the summer. We are very sorry for this, though we were very busy too. Now that the school/work year is starting again, we will start to post much more often.  -Thanks for your understanding