K-SOFA Means Extrapolating from the Facts
Eighty-five percent of all life on Earth is Plankton.
Using your knowledge of the world, please estimate the percentage of life on earth of the following creatures. Most importantly, explain how you arrived at your figures.
Salmon
Squirrels
People with Red Hair
Elephants
Pigs
Pigeons
Dogs
Moose
K-SOFA Means Science is Not Scary
Read over the following descriptions of molecules and atoms and their relative size. Once you have done so, please write your own “picture story” about atoms and molecules.
If you took a glass of iced tea and magnified it until it was as large as the whole earth, each molecule of water would be about the size of a baseball.
How big is a molecule? If you were to make a pile of 10,000 average-size molecules, you could just barely see it as a tiny speck.
How big is a typical atom? Take the width of a human hair and divide it by two, then divide that by two, then divide that by two, and so on, until you have reduced each half by half a total of 20 times. That will be the width of a typical atom - roughly one millionth the thickness of a human hair. Now, just for fun, divide the width of the atom in half 13 times and you will have the width of its nucleus.
K-SOFA Means Divining the Future
Confused about the difference between molybdomancy and myomancy? We’re not surprised. Molybdomancers tell the future by dropping melted lead into the water; myomancers tell the future by watching the behavior of mice.
How do YOU tell the future? Please be specific and give five examples. Thank you.
K-SOFA Means the Beatles Were Way Overrated Then and Even More So Today
What are the names of the four musicians who were the Beatles?
The Beatles have sold over one billion recordings. If you stacked up all these cds, records and tapes, the pile would be almost 2,000 miles tall. What would you do with this pile?
Michael Jackson owns most of the Beatles copyrights. How does this make you feel?
Paul’s least favorite Beatles song is “Yesterday.” Sam’s least favorite Beatles song is “Hey, Jude.” Keith’s least favorite Beatles song is “Jumping Jack Flash.” What is YOUR least favorite Beatles song? Why? Second least favorite? Why? Third least favorite? Why?
K-SOFA Means J.D. Is Doing All His Work (or if he’s not, this might shame him into doing so)
At the age of two, Mozart could hear sounds and tell what pitch they were. There is a story that he heard a pig oink and yelled "G-sharp!" Someone duplicated the pitch on a piano, and discovered that it was indeed G-sharp.
Mozart started playing the piano at age three but not formally until age four. It was his choice. He started interfering with his sister's lessons so he could learn more. By age four he could learn a minuet within 30 minutes!
Mozart's full name was Johan Chrysostom Wolfgang Theophilus Mozart. Amadeus was just what people called him. His father called him Woferl.
One of Mozart's performing tricks, which he performed from the age of six, was to cover a keyboard with cloth so that the keys couldn't be seen, and then play music perfectly anyway.
Please use the facts above to write a story, essay, poem or song. Thanks a lot.
K-SOFA Means Large Mammals Are Very Big
The skin of a hippopotamus is a one-and-a-half inches thick and nearly bulletproof.
When hippos are upset, their sweat turns red.
The stomach of a hippopotamus is ten feet long.
Please write about a time when you either saw, dreamed or thought about a real, live hippo. Include facts, such as
1. What were you wearing?
2. Who was with you?
3. What did you think of the hippo?
4. What did the hippo think of you?
5. What happened.
NOTE: If you’ve never before even thought about hippos, please do so now.
K-SOFA Means “Thar She Blows”
Blue whales emit a loud low-pitched sound which can be picked over 500 miles away.
Sometimes people get athlete's foot. It seems rather trivial compared to what can happen to whales. Whales have been known to carry around up to one thousand pounds of barnacles
Whales have the worst bad breath imaginable. According to Herman Melville, who researched whales thoroughly for his novel, Moby Dick, "The breath of the whale is frequently attended with such an insupportable smell as to bring on a disorder of the brain."
So far, the biggest whale ever weighed (by calculations) was 170 tons, equal to more than four fully-loaded tractor-trailers.
A baby blue whale gains 200 pounds per day while drinking 50 gallons of milk. Her mom eats 4 tons of plankton out of the water every day.
Please write ten other facts about whales. When done, please show them to J.D. for his comments and signature.
K-SOFA Means One Dead Singer/Songwriter
WARREN ZEVON (1947 – 2003)
Warren Zevon was one of the many singer-songwriters to emerge from the hedonistic environment of Los Angeles in the mid-1970s, with quirky songs which stemmed from his own experiences. He later said, "I wrote my songs despite the fact that I was a drunk, not because of it", but his songs would have been very different without the wayward life style fuelling his imagination. His best-known hit was "Werewolves of London" in 1978, but Zevon's was a cult following and he never made it to the top of the tree. This can partly be attributed to his personal problems, but also to the fact that his raspy voice could give his often diverse tracks a similar sound. "I wish I could sing better," he would muse. "If only I could sing like Don Henley."
The seeds of Zevon's unusual songs can be found in his background. He was born in Chicago in 1947. His mother, Beverly, was a Mormon of Scots-Welsh descent and her strong-minded parents disapproved of her husband, William, a Russian-Jewish immigrant (whose surname had been Zevotovsky), who worked as a boxer and professional gambler. Warren's father was often away from home and when his parents divorced. Warren was not told about it by his mother until some months afterwards. Warren Zevon was a good scholar, but dropped out of high school because he was furious with a teacher who accused him of having had help in writing an essay. He was also a gifted classical pianist and throughout his life wrote classical music but, apart from a few interludes included on his albums, these compositions have not been recorded.
Zevon had to make his living through session work and writing commercials, and was then employed by the Everly Brothers as their pianist and musical director, but they rejected the song he wrote for, and about, their relationship, "Frank and Jesse James".
His first album for Asylum Records, Warren Zevon (1976), is an acknowledged classic of the singer-songwriter genre. It was produced by Jackson Browne and the guest musicians included Phil Everly, Lindsey Buckingham, Carl Wilson and Glenn Frey. Four of its songs were covered by Linda Ronstadt - "Hasten Down the Wind", "Mohammed's Radio", "Carmelita" and Zevon's self- mocking "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me", which became a US hit. Zevon alluded to his love of drinking and firearms in "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead":
Zevon's stage act included plenty of action, involving gunfire and strobe lighting. One critic likened it to putting Apocalypse Now on stage. The excitement of Zevon's live performances was captured in the album Stand in the Fire (1981), which was recorded at the Roxy in Los Angeles and dedicated to his friend the film director Martin Scorsese.
In 2003, Zevon recorded a new collection of songs, The Wind, which he regarded as a goodbye to his family and friends. The album, featuring Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne and Emmylou Harris, is due to be issued in the UK on 15 September. Its closing lines are, "These wheels keep turning, but they are running out of steam, / Keep me in your heart for a while." Warren William Zevon, singer and songwriter: born Chicago 24 January 1947; twice married (one son, one daughter); died Los Angeles 7 September 2003.
Warren Zevon wrote many strange songs. Please choose one of the following titles and write a brief essay stating what you think the song might be about:
“Mohammed’s Radio” “The Barricades of Heaven” “Quite Ugly One Morning”
“Splendid Isolation” “You’re a Whole Different Person (When You’re Scared)”
“Heartache Spoken Here” “Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead”
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