Mystery Class Update: March 21, 2003
Today's Report Includes:
- Clueless No More!
- Now Playing: A Clue About the Clues
- Who Wanted to be a Millionaire--The Longitude Contest
- All Things Being Equal? Challenge Question #3
- Speaking of the Equinox--Seeing Anything Out of the Eggstraordinary?
- Myth or Mythstaken?
- This Week's Sunrise/Sunset Times
- CLUES From Your Mystery Friends
- Clues Calendar: Plan Ahead and Mark Your Calendars
Clueless No More!
Well, guess what we received in our mailbox? We've got the first clues from the secret Mystery Classes themselves! Special thanks to the 10 secret Mystery Sites around the world (shhh, you know who you are). They all worked very hard preparing their clues for you below.
And we've worked hard too, sorting through all the clues carefully, to get them ready to come your way. Just take a look at the Journey North staff reviewing the clues:
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 A Clue About Clues Video Clip Tips |
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Over the next four weeks, we'll provide more clues from your secret friends every week to help you with your search. Now that you've estimated approximate Longitude with GMT, all you need to know is the Latitude of each place and you're there! Good luck to you all!
Did you find the GMT calculations challenging last week? You're not alone. Imagine what it must have been like for the man who solved the "Longitude Problem" for the very first time! Read the fascinating TRUE story of how one man, an English clockmaker, solved this million dollar mystery back in the 1700's:
All Things Being Equal?
A few weeks ago, we asked you to think about what your graphs would look like on the Equinox. It is said that on the Equinox, every place on Earth has the same amount of daylight and night, twelve hours each. Is that what you discovered? As some of you saw, many locations do not appear to have EXACTLY twelve hours of equal day and night on the Equinox. This made us wonder:
Challenge Question #3:
"Why don't all locations appear to have EXACTLY twelve hours of day and night on the Equinox?"
(To respond to this question, please follow the instructions below.)
Speaking of the Equinox--Seeing Anything Out of the Eggstraordinary?
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Keep up your testing for the next two weeks. We'll ask you to send in your comments very soon. People always wonder about this eggsistential experiment--just look at this question we received previously:
Myth or Mythstaken?
"Hi Journey North staff, Perhaps you can help. I have a colleague at school who firmly believes that an egg can only be balanced on its end at the Equinox. She was out today at 2:17 EST and managed to balance an egg on its end. I do not believe she tries to do this at any other time of the year. I have suggested that she needs to try this just as hard at other times of the year to establish that it is not just at the Equinox that the balancing act can be achieved. She *believes* that it can only happen at the exact Equinox. I know of no reason why this should be so. I realize this is out of your ordinary field of expertise, but has anyone there heard of this myth, or is it me that is 'mythstaken'?"
Keep testing, and stay tuned!
This Week's Sunrise/Sunset Times
Remember, the secret Mystery sites recorded their times last Monday, the same day you collected your own local sunrise/sunset data.
Journey North Mystery Class
Sunrise/Sunset Data
Data For: Monday, March 17, 2003
| MYSTERY CLASS |
SUNRISE |
SUNSET |
| #1 |
05:58 |
17:57 |
| #2 |
06:38 |
18:41 |
| #3 |
05:53 |
18:04 |
| #4 |
05:56 |
18:00 |
| #5 |
06:45 |
18:41 |
| #6 |
07:13 |
19:17 |
| #7 |
00:00* |
00:00* |
| #8 |
06:27 |
18:34 |
| #9 |
06:59 |
18:56 |
| #10 |
05:40 |
17:45 |
* Journey North Mystery Class #7 reported 00:00 for their times
and said "Watch for a big change soon--we can hardly wait to take
off the sunglasses!"
(Note: Military time is usually expressed without any punctuation.
We have used a ":" between the hours and minutes for clarity.)
CLUES From Your Mystery Friends
| Mystery Class | Clues | ||
| #1: | "Our school is a stone's throw from an international border." | ||
| #2: | "Our country gained it's independence from Britain." | ||
| #3: |
"We have a tropical climate with rain heavily falling from January to March and even cyclones could hit us during this time. "People are of Afro-Indonesian origin, divided into 18 'tribes' or clans, and other races in our country include Indian/Pakistani, Chinese and European." |
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| #4: | "Our
country shares an island with another country whose official language
is different from our country's two official languages." |
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| #5: | "There
has been political drama in our country over the last year, as our
new government reigned for less than 3 months before it fell." |
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| #6: | "If
you enjoy watching birds, our country has over 560 species. We have
many interesting trees, including the kapok, the baobab, and palm
trees. It is believed that our kapok trees harbor spirits, which
protect our people." |
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| #7: |
"Everything that exists at this site (other than Nature's work) was brought in here loaded in the back of a LC130 aircraft. Wheels on the landing gear of that plane don't work too well here, so they attach these to the bottom of the landing gear of the plane. (By the way, this may or may not be a picture of me.") |
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| #8: | "Our
country's President has been in power for more than 35 years." |
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| #9: | "Our
country shares borders with 8 countries." |
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| #10: | "Our country is bordered by an Ocean on one side and a Sea on the other." |
Clues Calendar: Plan Ahead and Mark Your Calendars
Here's the 2003 Mystery Class Schedule so you know what to expect from Journey North. Please be sure to plan ahead.
Mystery
Class Calendar 2003 |
| February 7- April 18: | Each Friday, Sunrise/Sunset Times are posted for the ten Mystery Sites. |
| March 14: | The "Longitude Clue" is posted. |
| March 21, 28, April 4, 11 & 18: | Interdisciplinary clues from the Mystery Sites are posted each week. (Please Note--out of fairness to all participants, we will only post the clues on their scheduled dates.) |
| April 4, 11 & 18 | We'll give instructions on how and when to send in your answers for the April 25 deadline. |
| April 25: Deadline for Your Answers! | No late entries will
be accepted (out
of fairness to all participants, no exceptions.) |
| May 2: | Mystery Sites Revealed! |
| May 9: | Meet Your Mystery Friends! |
How to Respond to Today's Challenge Question:
IMPORTANT: Answer only ONE question in each e-mail message.
1. Address an e-mail message to: jn-challenge-mclass@learner.org
2. In the Subject Line of your message write: Challenge
Question # 3
3. In the body of EACH message, give your answer to ONE of the questions
above.
The Next Mystery Class Update Will Be Posted on March 28, 2003
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North. All Rights Reserved.
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