Outside Reading #4

"I thought I’d explained it clearly before. Bella, I can’t live in a world where you don’t exist." (Meyer 509)
This quote from New Moon, made me think about how much people depend of the ones they love throughout their lives. In the book, Bella doesn't think she can survive without Edward, and Edward feels the same way. He was even willing to kill himself if didn't exist.
In real life, sometimes when an old ladys husband dies, theres a possibility she will die too within the next 6 months of his death, of a broken heart. if she makes it past 6 months, she will survive. This also shows that people depend on one anothers love to live. Once you find and experience being with the the person you love most in the entire world, it seems really hard to live without them. Almost like you've forgotten how. Like once they've emotionally become part of who you are, they become physically a part of who you are. So, if they're no longer around, for whatever reason, you're not whole. How can you live without that other person if they complete you? If they make you who you are.

Outside Reading #3

"As I stared at his too beautiful face, trying to understand the change, it suddenly struck me that I was really here, in Edward’s arms." (Meyer 488)
I like this quote because it tells you how Bella is living in the moment. In real life, people spend their lives stressing for tests, interviews, taxes, everything that they have to do in the future. This isn't necesairly bad, but if you spend your entire life worrying, then you're just wasting it away and not taking the time to truly enjoy life. I prefer to live in the moment, and not take every moment for granted. If i am able to forget about that huge test i have next week, and relax and have a good time for a couple hours, I am in a happier mood, and i feel better that i am living everyday to its fullest. We only have a short time to live our lives, so why not try and make it the best you can? I don't think worrying about what i have the next morning, week, or month. It just brings everything down. I like that Bella is soaking up all the happiness she can, instead of wondering when he will be gone again, or how long she has with him. She's just trying to make it as good as it can possibly be.

Outside Reading #2

"Yeah, I’ll always be your friend. No matter what you love." (Meyer 409)
Once Alice comes back, Bella is worried that her and Jacob's friendship will be at risk, since Alice and Jacob are enemies. Jacob reassures her that it doesn't matter to him.
Sometimes, friendships are ruined because people have a hard time accepting the way people really are. For example, some people let their friendships go down the toilet just because one of their friends hangs out with someone that they don't like. Or if you're best friend tells you they are gay would you stop being their friend just because you don't agree with it? I would hope not, because if you really love someone, why would it matter what they love, who they are friends with, or what they do with their spare time? A lot of the time, especially in high school, people get so caught up in what others will think of them, that if their friend does something that would embarrass them, they try to avoid their friend and stop being friends with them, just so that people don't judge them, just because their friend does something that isn't cool enough, or accepting among their peers.
I really liked this quote because it shows that Jacob doesn't care about who she's friends with, and he loves her for who she really is. Those things aren't important to him.
If everyone stopped trying to impress people, and stopped caring so much what people think of them then I think there would be a lot less fights, and more people would be friends. Anyways, what does it matter, in ten years will it really make a difference in your life who you were friends with at the time or what you did or if you were cool enough?

Prefix poem

The six sextuplets, were born on the sixth, of the sixth month. Their parents were planning on them singing in a sextet. Their room was shaped like a hexagon, and they rode around the town on a fancy hexa-cycle.

Spontaneous Poem

I bounce and boink my banana. And I eat an eggroll from Kirstin. I thrust through school with my bracelet from Afghanistan. I hide like a pencil under the book. Laugh and speed at the pary tree. It tastes sweet when I drink Koolaid 18 times. My tailbone smells like lavender, and I write a poem while I yell, slip, jump, and run into Kirstin's big toe.

Blog Post #1 Outside Reading

For my book this quarter I chose to read New Moon By Stephanie Meyer. It is a book dealing with loss, hope and coping. When Edward, the boy Bella is in love with, suddenly leaves the town of Forks, Bella is left heartbroken. She withdrawals herself from hanging out and talking to her friends, she sits in her room trying to hold on the only memories she has of Edward, since he took all photographs and gifts he gave to her before he left, to make it seem like he never existed. This doesn't make it any easier for Bella. She cries herself to sleep every night, her entire body aches at the thought of him, and every night she wakes up screaming for her night terrors. Eventually, she meets up with her old friend, Jacob. Immediately she connects with him and feels safe. Slowly, she begins to feel a little better than the 6 months previous after Edward left. One day Jacob starts to teach Bella how to ride a motorcycle. She is wants to do something rebellious. Bella starts to ride on the motorcycle, and she can hear Edward speaking to her. She comes to the conclusion that Edward will speak to her in her mind whenever she has a rush of adrenaline. She starts to do all kinds of crazy things. I think this book is a good example about how people feel and what they do for the one they love. Love and loss make you do crazy things.

So Much Depends On

So much of spring depends upon

The wind lifting my hair from my shoulders

The rustleing of crisp leaves in the cool soft breeze

The buds slowly covering the bare naked branches

The smell of the fresh earth in the warm bright rays of sunlight

Final research Paragraph

When white settlers came to the new world, American Indian's adopted the new and foreign customs/ways under pressure. This caused the Indian culture to begin to die out. Federal troops of the US government "escorted" over 15,000 Native Americans off their land in Georgia to a new home in Indian Territory in 1838. On the way, one third of the 15,000 died, leading to a decrease of Eastern Tribes-which were already beginning to diminish. For centuries the Indians have been trying to keep their culture alive, so in response to the near extinction of the culture, American Indians have turned the “Trail of Tears” into national trail for public awareness. It is an important thing to preserve cultures, since the Native American's never had any other home other than America and would take something away from the history of the United States if it were to completely disappear.

Darrenkamp, Angela. "The Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears: Cause, Effect and Justification". History Matters. 16 March 2009 .

 

Trail of Tears Association , "The Story". Trail of Tears Association. 16 March 2009 .

Research blog 2

This lead to a decrease in number of eastern tribes which were already beginning to deminish. The Indians have been trying to keep their culture alive, so the Trail of Tears is now a national trail for public awareness.

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/7402

Research blog 1

When white settlers came to the new world, there was a lot of pressure on American Indian's to adopt the new and foreign customs/ways. This caused the Indian culture to begin to die out. In 1838 over 15,000 Native Americans were "escorted"off their land by the Federal troops of the US government. They were being moved from their own land in Georgia, to a new home in Indian territory. On the way, one third of the 15,000 died.

 http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/7402

War

I read an article about a Japanese soldier that was ordered to never surrender without permission from his commander. He was to lead the Lubang Garrison in guerrilla warfare. His commander said "You are absolutely forbidden to die by your own hand. It may take three years, it may take five, but whatever happens, we'll come back for you. Until then, so long as you have one soldier, you are to continue to lead him. You may have to live on coconuts. If that's the case, live on coconuts! Under no circumstances are you to give up your life voluntarily." The soldier was very good at following orders, because he did not disobey this for 29 years. When the army was on the island of Lubang, and there was an invasion, four men ran into the jungle and went into hiding. Throughout the time the men were hiding, they would kill anyone that came along to tell them the war was over ebcause they believed they were spies. They ignored any messages or newpapers dropped telling them it was okay to come out because the war had ended. Eventually, 2 men died and one man ran away out of the forest back into society. The soldier that was forbidden to surrender never did surrender. A college student found him, when he had been living in the jungle all alone, and told him to meet him in a prearranged meeting spot in two weeks. The student went back and got the commander, who had retired from the army and became a bookseller, and the commander gave the soldier permission to surrender. The solider came back into society and could not adapt to modern life. He lived in Brazil raising cattle. He was in hiding for a total of 29 years.
I think this is an interesting story and it shows how much Japanese soldiers obey and how well they follow direction. The Japanese culture seems to have much more high standards of respect and it is an important thing to follow direction and obey what your leaders tell you.

http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=253

Native Americans

When white settlers came to the new world, there was a lot of pressure on American Indian's to adopt the new and foreign customs/ways. This caused the Indian culture to begin to die out. In 1838 over 15,000 Native Americans were "escorted"off their land by the Federal troops of the US government. They were being moved from their own land in Georgia, to a new home in Indian territory. On the way, one third of the 15,000 died. This lead to a decrease in number of eastern tribes which were already beginning to deminish. The Indians have been trying to keep their culture alive, so the Trail of Tears is now a national trail for public awareness.

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/7402

http://www.nationaltota.org/the-story/

Global Issue

Everyday 3000 people die from Malaria. The disease is originally a problem in the countries of Africa, but is now spreading throughout the world which makes it a global issue. There is a global fund for research to cure and prevent the disease, but they are $5 million away from the amount they need to complete the research. The United States has yet to pay their portion of the fund, and are expected to pay $2.7 million this year. But with the looks of the economy right now, the organization would be lucky to recieve a portion of that. I think this is a really important topic to put research in because it seems to be one of many diseases that need the most help. Especially, since treatment is very costly, many people in africa cannot meet these expenses and have nothing to do but fight the disease on their own which eventually leads to death. America should really step up and pay their part to the organization because it could really make a difference in the number of deaths, the spreading of the disease, and the cureing and treating of the disease.

Holidays

The holiday I read about is April Fool's Day. This isn't one of the holidays we get off school and work from, but it is just a fun little holiday for kicks and giggles and is openly celebrated around the world. April Fools Days originated in France. Around 1582, the new year began on March 25th and went on for 8 days until April 1st. This was the tradition up until Charles IX changed the calender to the Gregorian Calender, and moved the new year to January 1st. The news of the new calender took several years for it to reach some people, since word was travelled by foot. However, others just didn't agree with this idea and continued to celebrate the new year on April 1st. These people were called "fools" and were harrassed by having practical jokes pulled on them. The tradition eventually spread to Scotland and England and then the american colonies making the first of April "April Fools Day".

Source:
http://wilstar.com/holidays/aprilfool.htm

BOLLYWOOOOD!

I just read the Bollywood Confidential article. I found it really interesting how they wrote how the films shaped all the aspects of their lives. I noticed that this is kind of how our culture is. Celebrities, television and cinema are a large part of many peoples role models. I think they take their films to heart a lot more than some other countries but it's nice because it is something that India does really well. For example Slumdog Millionaire won plenty at the Oscars for it's brilliance, and I think that Bollywood movies are going to start becoming a lot more poplular in the near future.

Culture

Culture is a way to create individuality between countries and the people that celebrate the culture. Every country has it's own traditions and ways of doing their own things. Sometimes these can cause conflict and sometimes it can resolve conflict, but either way it still creates diversity which can teach many people a lesson and give them a bigger outlook on life outside of their own customs and tradition.

http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/culture_conflict/s.

Change

I read the article about Chris Brown and Rihanna. It made me realize that this kind of thing happens a lot in the world, people just don't know about it because it's not as open to the public as when it happens to celebrities. Even then, no one really seems to realize what an issue it is, and all they think about is "what did she do to deserve it?" and "Who started it?". Nobody deserves to be hit or beat. It's understandable to be upset with people, and it is understandable for people to yell and fight with words even though sometimes they can be just as bad as being beat, i feel hitting and abuse is taking it to far. To change this issue of abuse, i think people need to be more aware of the issue. It doesn't seem like people pay much attention because it is probably something they don't want to know that is going on.

http://womensrights.change.org/blog/view/a_few_words_on_chris_and_rihanna

Hope

"Hope is a big part of everyone’s life. Hope points us to the future. It gives us something to look forward to. It inspires us. When we combine it with our faith we can happily wait for what we are hoping for to happen - even as we get older."

I really like this text because i think it defines hope very well. Everyday, everyone hopes. It can be for something negative to turn around or it can be for something great to get even better. Many people use hope to get them through tough times or just hope in general. I really think without hope life would be a lot more difficult and if someone doesn't hope then they're making things harder on themselves. Everyone can use hope.

Religion

Around the world, religion is something that all countries and people have in common. Every religion is different in its own way with thousands of beliefs, stories, traditions and much more. I was reading today a website that talks about all the different types of religions that are practiced throughout the world. I found it interesting to see how diverse the world really is, and also to see how each religion is separated by the people that practice it. The most common religion in the world is Christianity. About 33% of the people pratice it which is 2.1 billion. The next is Islam 21%-- 1.5 billion people practicing it. Third comes Secular/Nonreligious/ Agnostic/ Atheist at about 1.1 billion people practicing it. After many more religions following in the list, the least common religion is Scientology. This comes out to only .36% which is 500 thousand.
I found this list of statistics really interesting to see the variety and it kind of showed that religion seems to be a popular thing amongst many people.

Gender Roles

Throughout the past few decades, the gender roles between men and women have changed greatly. Women are more accepted to work and aren't expected to all do the same things such as stay home all day cooking and cleaning while caring for children. Even though the daily role of women has changed. Still girls seem to be more appreciated for their looks, where boys are more appreciated for their accomplishments. Also, if a mother is the worker and the father stays home taking care of the children, this is how the children will view gender roles vice versa.
I think that women are still have a little less power than men do even though they have come so far in being equal with men there are a lot of people that think men are more powerful and important than men. This may be since women are the ones who give birth, they are more expected to care for the child than men since the child needs a mother more than a father at a young age. However, as children grow older they really do need both a mother and a father figure in their lives. Really, men and women are very equal in this country compared to others.

http://www.faqs.org/health/topics/8/Gender-roles.html

Culture

Today i read about african culture. I learned about how compared to our culture, where the things people do are shopping, text, surf the internet, talk on the phone, many different types of technology, and other modern things. Where as in Africa they have those types of things but not nearly as high tech as Americas, and their entire lives do not revolve around those things. There are so many different types of languages spoken throughout the countries, the people practice numerous types of religions. For fun people dance the national dance, listen to many types of music and spend time together with they're friends and family while bonding. In our culture i noticed families don't seem to be as close to each other and people don't do really different things everyday for fun.

http://www.africaguide.com/culture/index.htm

Overcoming a Stuggle

When I think of overcoming a struggle, I think of the book Nineteen minutes. A girl refuses to donate bone marrow to her dieing sister, because her sister secretly asked her too. She gets a lawsuit against her parents so they can't make her donate it. Plus, the only reason she was born was so that she could donate to her sister and try to save her life. But her sister just ends up wanting to die anyways. She overcame her struggle by going for going for what her sister truely wanted not what her parents told her to do.

Blog Post #29

I read an article about how with this recession being one of the worst in decades, the amount of people seeking help has increased greatly. This reminded me of how in the book Nectar in a Sieve, Rukumanis family is struggling to feed her family because they do not have enough money to feed all the people in their family. The people seeking help to get through the recession are trying to think of creative ways to save money and help the economy, and Rukumani is trying to send her kids to work at the tannery to make money.

Nonprofits struggle to meet a rising demand
Tuesday, 03 February 2009
http://erstarnews.com/content/view/6026/26/

Blog Post #28

I read an article about how whenever there is a natural disaster in the United States, the National Guard is always there to help. As Americans we recieve plenty of aid in times of need, compared to other countries lack of aid where they have to take care of disater on their own.
The United States have a trained force of 114,000 persons that are trained and equipped ( equiptment and all funds are payed for by the budget of the Defense Department) to be prepared for natural disaters such as hurricane Katrina. When the hurricane hit the National Guard was there as soon as possible to help people get to somewhere safe and soon after started rebuilding the homes and buildings. Where as in the Novel Nectar in a Sieve, when the Monsoon hits and destroys all the crops, everyone is left on their own to grow more crops and take care of the damage without any kind of aid whatsoever. I think the United States doesn't completely realize how easy they have it compared to other countries that funtion completely on their own.

National Guard of the United Sates. Discovery Education. 2005.
Discovery Education. Febuary 8th 2009.
http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/

Blog Post #27

Facts about dogs
1. It is a myth that dogs are color blind. They can actually see in color, just not as vividly as humans. It is akin to our vision at dusk.
2.If never spayed or neutered, a female dog, her mate, and their puppies could produce over 66,000 dogs in 6 years!
3.A dog's mouth exerts 150-200 pounds of pressure per square inch with some dogs exerting up to 450 pounds per square inch
4. A one-year-old dog is as mature, physically, as a 15-year-old human.
5.Dogs can be trained to detect epileptic seizures.
6.87% of dog owners say their dog curls up beside them or at their feet while they watch T.V.
facts from:
http://newsblaze.com/story/20080502082814tsop.nb/topstory.html

Blog Post #26

A woman in Milwakee was found partially frozen unconsious in a snow bank sunday morning. The temperature was in the single digits with windchill 15 degrees and below. They believe she wandered into the snow bank a mile from the bar she was at. Her body temperature had decreased to 70 degrees. She had been trying to get into cars for somewhere warm to stay, and was in the cold for more than six hours.

Blog Post #25

Last thrusday, a plane crashed into the hudson river after running into birds which flew into the engine setting it on fire, causing the plane to fail taking off and crash into the later. The pilot got everyone out safely, and everyone survived the crash. He went back twice to check the plane to see if anyone was left risking his life for his passengers. This past weekend they have been looking at the plane to confirm it was birds that caused the plane to crash.

Blog Post #24

The FDA is warning people to hold off eating products with peanuts. There have been 474 related samonella outbreaks related to products with peanuts. The direct company has not been identified yet. The FDA cannot have the authority to order a recall on the product, congress would have to pass a law for them to do this. At least six people have died because of this. So watch out for those peanuts!

Blog Post #23

A father accidently spilled acid on his four children, ages 14, 7, 4, and 18 months. He called CNN asking them to video tape him as he turned himself in. He was shouting "I would never throw acid at nobody. It was an accident,". They don't have much information on the incident but the 4 children are in the hospital. The seven year old isn't doing that well, but the others are getting along.

Blog Post #22

Random facts about the ocean animals:
1.Dolphins have poor eyesight, so they use echoes to see.
2.Whales are the biggest animals known. The Blue Whale is the largest animal to ever inhabit the Earth. They live about 80 years. They are also the oldest and are endangered.
3.The octopus has 8 symmetric arms
4.There are 8 species of sea turtles: Olive Ridley, Green, Loggerhead, Leatherback, Hawksbill, Flatback, Black, and Kemp’s Ridley.
5. Starfish have between five and forty arms
6.. Whale familes remain together for life. And these whales also communicate to each other through whistles

Blog Post #21

Random facts about animals
1.A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
2.Cats have over 100 vocal sounds, while dogs only have about 10.
3.On average people fear spiders more than they do death.
4.You are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than a poisonous spider.
5.A duck's quack doesn't echo and no one knows why.
6.The milk of a hippopotamus is bright pink.
7.The starfish is the only animal that can turn its stomach inside out.
8.Jellyfish do not have brains.
9.Owls are the only animal to lower its upper eyelid to blink.
10.Dalmatians are born without spots.
11.roosters cannot crow unless they can extend their necks.
12.when hippos are upset, their sweat turns red.

Blog Post #20

Funny random facts:
1.If you keep a goldfish in the dark room, it will eventually turn white.
2.The dot over the letter "i" is called a tittle.
3.The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan". There wasnever a recorded Wendy before
4.Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wearpants.
5.Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie ChaplinLook-alike contest.
6.The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
7.Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury
8.111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
9.In ancient England a person ! could not have sex unless you had consent of the King (unless you were in the Royal Family). When anyone wanted to have a baby, they got consent of the King, the King gave them a placard that they hung on their door while they were having sex. The placard had F.*.*.*. (Fornication Under Consent of the King) on it.
10.Q. What is an activity performed by 40% of all people at a party? A. Snoop in your medicine cabinet.
11.There are more plastic lawn flamingos in the US than real ones.
12.A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 69 years.
13.We are in the middle of an ice age. Ice ages include both cold and warm periods; at the moment we are experiencing a relatively warm span of time known as an interglacial period. Geologists believe that the warmest part of this period occurred from 1890 through 1945 and that since 1945 things have slowly begun freezing up again.
14.an island is defined as being an islandonly if it is big enough to sustain 1 sheep
15.If you told someone that they were one in a million, you'd be saying there were 1,800 of them in China

Blog Post #19

Random facts about humans:
1.Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
2.Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do.
3.Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks orit will digest itself.
4.On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily!
5.Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better
6.The average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000
7.Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
8.The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.
9.The average life of a taste bud is 10 days.
10.Relative to size, the strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.
11.If you go blind in one eye you only lose about one fifth of your vision but all your sense of depth.
12.In the average lifetime, a person will walk the equivalent of 5 times around the equator.
13.The roar that we hear when we hold a seashell up to our ear is not the ocean but the blood surging through the veins in our ear.
14.The reason honey is so easy to digest is becasue its already been digested by a bee.
15. Buttons on a men shirts are on the right, and buttons on women shirts ar eon the left.