Sunday, August 3, 2008

Football Fish




Guess what! This is a football fish, or angler fish. It is famous for its ability of bioluminescene. Light comes out of a photophore (light producing organ) sticking out of its head also called fishing pole. Football fish use this organ to attract prey in the darkness of the abyssopelagic zone (abyss- 4000m to sea bed) and hadopelagic zone (oceanic trenches).

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Hypernova


This is a hypernova (much bigger than a well-known supernova). As a result, a colapsed hypergiant also turn into a black hole, just like a supergiant star.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Black Hole


Watch out for me! Once you're in my gravitational field, there is no turning back. Even electromagnetic radiant cannot escape from me.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Blue supergiant


What a beautiful blue and white star. It is very bright.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Funville


Almost 20 years ago, Funville was a small and one of the most peaceful towns in the United States. About ¾ of its perimeter was surrounded by an enormous rain forest. The famous Police Commissioner Vince Gordon helped a lot with arresting criminals. He had a brilliant best friend, Dr. Tom Nguyen. He was an expert about Atomic Physics and radiation. Occasionally, Tom helped Vince when the case requires scientific explanation like the extraordinary event which happened to Funville.
One night, Commissioner Vince came home late from work. On the way, he saw a weird object on the sky. Sensing trouble, Vince got out of his car and took some pictures. He then immediately went to his friend’s house and gave him the pictures of the strange object. Dr. Tom examined them carefully. A moment later, he said, “Well, I think it is a meteor. And you’re right. It isn’t normal. Usually, meteors have yellow or red color. In this case, it’s giving off energy, obviously because of friction by the smoke. It has purple color,”
“What kind of element is it?”
“I’m afraid I’ve never seen or heard about it before,” said Tom anxiously.
Suddenly, a terrible sound broke the silence of the night. It was the sound of something crashing.
“It should be the meteor. Come on, Vince! Let’s discover some more about the strange meteor,” said Tom excitedly.
Police officers and fire fighters have arrived. Tom and Vince were astonished to see small meteors fell all over the town, created explosions. Suddenly, there was a big annoying sound of an airplane. A gigantic purple meteor flew above their heads and rapidly crashed into the forest that was a mile away. It created a big mushroom-like cloud.
“Please don’t tell me that we’re attacked by atomic weapons,” said a fire fighter nervously.
“Certainly,” said Dr. Tom, “We’d better hurry up if we want to discover its identity”.
A group of police officers followed Tom and Vince. They all rushed in their cars to the forest. When they arrived, there was the strange meteor. It was exactly like Tom’s description. But, it was unexpectedly hot.
“Why is it so hot? I feel like I’m in a blacksmith’s workshop,” an officer said with curiosity.
“Probably because of the explosion. Radiation is strong. Run! Before it’s too late!” said Tom worriedly.
A while later, a group of well prepared officers arrived.
They wore clothes which could protect them from the deadly radiation. Tom joined them. They gathered together to approach the meteor slowly and carefully. The meteor was amazingly elegant with bright purple color. It was spreading light around the area. Eventually, the officers felt that the air grew hot. They decided to put the radio active meteor into isolation and study it later.
“We’d better hurry up before the whole town gets cancer,” Tom suggested.
Saws arrived punctually for their plan. They began to use the saws to cut down the enormous meteor. While they were doing it, they created friction. Evidently, the meteor made an energy circle and violently threw all of the officers away. Fortunately, none of them were wounded. However, they had to take off their special clothes immediately if they didn’t want to be heated. Tom realized that they were thrown hundreds of yards away form the meteor.
“Everyone in this town must evacuate as soon as possible. That meteor is strong enough to mutate the whole town,” said Tom dutifully.
“What a good advice! But first, we need to calm the people down, explain for them. Then, we can start the evacuation,” said Vince.
“Please hurry up! We don’t have much time,” said Tom nervously.
“We’ll take good care of it. Come one, guys! Let’s do it!” Vince said with confidence.
They spread out. They went throughout Funville and explained their problem to the people. They tried to persuade them the leave immediately. A moment later, people got out the street and started to leave the town. A monstrous figure appeared in front of them. Them came closer and realized it was a gigantic rabbit. I wasn’t cute. Instead, it appeared to be a carnivore with sharp large teeth. It growled and started to chase them. The people ran around, mad with fear. Some officers shot at the monster. But their bullets could not harm the rabbit. A farmer took out a hunting gun and fired violently at it right on the head. Fortunately, it fell and died. Everybody was glad that the monster was vulnerable and their troubles were over. However, the big trouble had just begun.
Suddenly, people heard a terrible sound of metal and cement breaking. A gigantic green rope started to cover the skyscraper and threw away the nearest cars. They were all paralyzed with amazement. Eventually, Vince realized that the gigantic green rope was in reality, vivacious and destructive ivy.
“Be careful! This monster can attack you from any side,” Vince shouted aggressively.
“Can you identify what that is?” asked Tom curiously.
“I supposed it is mutated ivy,” Vince replied.
“Well, obviously our mysterious visitor is making troubles,” said Tom seriously.
A few officers opened fire at the destructive ivy but they couldn’t harm it. Several smaller ropes tied some people up unexpectedly and pulled them to the same direction rapidly. Vince followed them for a distance, worried about what might happen to the innocent people. Finally, he found a mysterious dark hole on the ground near the forest. He was a little anxious but still decided to find the missing ones. He climbed down slowly. Eventually, he reached the bottom of the hole. He observed it carefully and figured out it was a strange cave which he had never seen before. It was dark but as he went deeper into the cave, he saw several points of light. It was light of a new species of Venus trapper plant which used light to tempt insects. Vince got his gun prepared for emergency. Suddenly, he heard a terrible sound of a person shouting, “Help!” He rushed blindly at that location. Then, he found a group of people tied up and pulled by a horrific creature. Vince immediately opened fire at the monster but his bullets were useless. Some ropes grabbed his legs and pulled him to the monster’s position. He fought back hopelessly to escape. As he looked at the monster, he saw an object was thrown to its mouth. It gave out a painful cry, dried out and died. Now, Vince and those people were able to escape. Surprisingly, Vince saw his friend, Dr. Tom.
“Explanations later, Vince. We don’t have much time,” Tom apologized for his unexpected appearance seriously.
Tom arrived by a rope so it was easy for them to get out of the hole. They rushed into the city. People there were still fighting with the destructive ivy. It was difficult to cut it down because it was too strong. Tom took out a small bomb and threw it directly to the plant’s stem. This caused the plant to stop attacking people.
“Everybody run, run as fast as you can for your lives before it’s too late!” Tom shouted.
“In order, please. Do not walk on each other!” an officer told them.
As they were finishing the evacuation, they saw an airplane flying above their heads to the direction of the meteor. The people tried their best to escape as quickly as they can. When they’re at the safe distance, Tom took out his phone and say,” Now, guys!” They looked back and saw the airplane, flying at great speed, dropped something on the meteor. The meteor reacted violently, created a terrible explosion with a mushroom-like cloud. The local people were frozen with amazement. One of them said,” That doesn’t look good”
“Certainly,” Tom replied.
* * *
It was a cold, foggy night when Vince came over to visit Tom. They were glad to see each other again. Vince asked,” What did you throw into the monster’s mouth when I was in the cave?”
“A bottle of high quality fungicide,” Tom replied with a smile.
“And what did the airplane drop on the meteor?”
“Water,”
“What? English, please!”
“I know it sounds funny but it’s true,” Tom laughed.
“Let me explain for you. Our visitor is made of an unknown element. It is reactive with water. Water molecules love to stick together. I used this characteristic to break it down into usable elements and you know what happens when we split an atom,”
“But how could you know that?”
“When fire fighters took care of the small explosions in town, I saw the reaction so I asked them to use an airplane and drop water on our visitor. I also know about its atoms because I’ve examined it with an electron microscope,”
“Unbelievable!” Vince exclaimed, “Excellent job!”
“It was quiet simple and I was lucky,” said Tom, “You also did a satisfactory job, my friend. I heard that there’s an adventurous movie. Would you like to give it a try tonight?”

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

AIS Mytery (Science Fiction)




In AIS (American International School), there was an extraordinary mystery that no one knew the answer. It was about a strange creature. It had damaged the school severely.
One day, Mr. Sharp allowed his students to enter the lab for the investigation based on the book’s instruction. It was about “How chemicals affect life-forms”. So, they gathered together and went to the laboratory. They put chemicals into a crowd of microorganisms. They observed those life-forms carefully under a microscope. All they could see that these organisms were deactivated and some were dead. Later, dead organisms were broken down into simple substances like pieces of DNA, proteins, fats and other essential chemicals. These molecules were too small to be seen with the school’s microscopes. They did not notice that this chemical was used so they put it into another experiment. This time, they used a plant for the investigation. A seed was put into the used chemical. First, nothing changed. But later, when they were away from the laboratory, it geminated, using other substances that were mixed with the experimental chemical. It grew so fast that when they returned to the lab, they found it as a small plant. Eventually, they came to a conclusion: this species can grow in that chemical. At the end of the investigation, Mr. Sharp decided to throw it away but a student asked to keep it because he thought it was an interesting plant. Mr. Sharp gave his approval.
The student then decided to put the plant in the parking place because he thought it was polluted with carbon dioxide. He took good care of the plant. He gave it enough fertilizer and water so it grew rapidly. In imagination, the plant was in puberty. Soon, the plant appeared to be ivy. It looked so lovely and vivacious. A short time later, it grew outside of the school. Eventually, it grew livelier and livelier under sunlight. In the parking place, the air was frequently fresh even when there were a lot of transportations there. Also, it was a good source for oxygen of the whole school. Therefore, everybody was happy and thought it was an intelligent idea to keep the plant. They were all satisfied.
A few months later, the plant started to surround the school. It was so green and vivacious that the school looked like it was built in medieval times. Now, troubles began. One morning, an official of the school arrived but he could not get inside because the corridor was locked by the ivy. Meanwhile, a night guard security inside the school had no way to get out. The principle decided that he should cut off some part of the strange ivy. However, he thought it was not urgent because the plant would take time to grow again. Unfortunately, he underestimated the ivy.
Although, most of it was cut, its roots were enormous underground and no one could see them. It took just a few days for a rapid repair and growth. This time, they did not notice it much because they always saw it. The next day, they did not notice the ivy either. One the third day, during class time, the ivy made it attack. As usual, no one noticed the plant’s growth. At 9:00, the invasion began. Students were listening to their teachers. The school was quiet. Official work happened normally. Suddenly, a terrible sound of something breaking broke the silence of the school. Some timid students shouted with horror. Electricity was gone. The whole school was filled with darkness. What on the world is happening?
In the classroom, they saw the walls were damaged. Pieces of cement fell on their head. The principle ordered the whole school to evacuate immediately. They escaped in order with help of the security guards. There as no time to loose so everybody ran as fast as they could. Then, fire appeared, obviously from the canteen, where they use gasoline. Some timid people began to shout and scream with panic. Security guards had to keep them from acting madly. Suddenly, another terrible sound came. It was the sound of an explosion, creating a small nova on the sixth floor. Unsurprisingly, some people who were out of control. They tried every way they could to escape from the building. Some jumped out through the windows. Some pushed on others. Some just shouted and screamed hopelessly like they were suffering mental problems. The school looked like a mess.
The destructive ivy was stronger and more powerful than ever now. It started to squeeze the school building, creating sounds of breaking things. The loudest sound was of the breaking glasses and windows. It was so sharp and unbearable that barely a person could stand it.
Firefighters and police officers arrived. They helped people with evacuation in order. Ambulances appeared. Doctors and nurses ran out to help injured ones. Fortunately, no one was seriously wounded. There were only some scratches on their epidermis.
Some firefighters took out axes and started to cut the ivy down with them. It was not easy. The ivy was sturdy and tough. It took them minutes to do it. Then, the principle told them that they should destroy the whole plant because it would re-grow fairly quickly and make another attack. Firefighters and other officials dig the roots up. They found that the roots were also enormous as the plant. That explains why the ivy grew so fast. They decided to burn the roots. At this point, the destructive ivy was dead forever.
Fortunately, it was near the summer break so the process of repair the school would have no obstacles. But they had to do it quickly before the students come back. Incredibly, after the repair, when students come back, the school campus was elegant, even more stylish than before the mystery.
Mr. Sharp and his students have figured out that chemicals can affect life-forms in different ways: deactivate, kill and sometimes mutate them.

Monday, March 24, 2008

American International School (AIS)

I'm studying in that school. It's 7 stories tall. The whole building is covered by aluminium as you observe from the outside. It has two campuses: one for primary school (on Nguyen Van Cu Street) and the other for secondary school (on Le Hong Phong Street). I'm in secandary school so I'm going to introduce you about it.


My school has two websites. One is a blog and the other is a general website. The underground floor is a garage. The ground floor has the main office, library and the principle's room. The library has a bunch of books. You can borrow them anytime you want but you should pay attention to the time limit. You can also use computers there without playing games. The first floor is for Math classes. The second floor has Science classes and laboratories. The third floor is for immersion students. The forth floor is for Language Art. Drama Club meets there. It also cantains history classes. The fifth floor is for EFL classes. It has tow major subjects: EFL Science and EFL Socail Studies. The sixth floor is the cafeteria. And the last floor is the recreation center and dance class. My school has no school yard so when students want to hang out, they can go to the seventh floor. AIS also has two elevators. You can use them when you need to go gor a large distance or you're carrying heavy stuff. If you want to go for a small distance, do not use them because you'll have to wait. It's better for you to save time.

Monday, January 28, 2008

TET Holiday or Lunar New Year




It is a special day for some country in Asia. In this case, we are talking about Vietnam.
Before the holiday, people prepare costumes for it. There are a lot of things: food, lucky money, decorations (flowers). The most famous food for TET is banh chung, banh day. It takes a long time to make these kinds of food. Generally, they are made of rice, pork and green beans. They put these ingredients in water and boil them properly. Often, people use a kind of yellow flower called hoa mai. They put a flowering plant in front of their houses for fortune, they said. All of Vietnamese children like this activity: receiving lucky money. Money is put in a paper red bag and is given to children and elders. When you give this bag to a person, it shows that you respect and want luck to come to that person. Also, in these holidays, people like to visit their families. They travel far away for the visiting.
Overall, Lunar New Year is a very special day for the Vietnamese, just like January the first in Europe.