"As temperatures change and we see all the effects that global warming has, birds are very sensitive and are responding to that," Martell continued.
I read an article on climate change and how it is affecting our animals. The red cardinal is moving north, just like any other animal they adapt well to change and that is just what they are doing. People are concerned on what this means for people who enjoy bird watching or have places like outdoor nature centers that are used to spot wild life such as a bird. As cardinals and bird similar are moving north, they think that other species in the north will start to be missing in common areas and they will adapt to a new region to live as well. This is not the only sad effect that the change in climate has caused our environment. So we need to start seriously acting on the changes to help our environment for the better.

I read an article on how the cold weather outside can be deceiving. An man was happily ice fishing on Foot lake just like he does most nights when suddenly his truck went under. It is still under water today and the DNR plans to get it out soon. Luckily he made it and is safe and only was faced with minor hypothermia. He thought the ice was fifteen inches deep, just like the recommended thickness for the truck. Although, the thickness is not perfectly consistent and adding the isolating snow into the mix caused a tragic event. This lucky man survived because of a police officer that was in the right place at the right time. This article should be a great reminder on how to be extra careful when on the ice. You never know how tomorrow will unfold so try to be ready for it but always think what can result through your actions.

Outside reading

Recently I read an article on the special weather of the season. It was Christmas on Thursday but not everyone was enjoying the cheer. In New Jersey there was a tree that fell on a car, filled with a family on their was to a Christmas party. The grandmother and her son did not make it and two young girls were injured. In Michigan there were many head on crashes killing two women and severely injuring a man. Also, there was a collapsed roof over a school causing water damage but no injuries. Lastly, there were 2 skiers who remained missing after night fall.
On the other hand, Christmas can be a very magical time for many families across the world. Albuquerque had its first snow fall this year since 1997.
'"We were eating breakfast this morning and it was snowing. It was very Christmasy,' said Farmington resident Kim Hamer, who went sledding with her husband and two sons. "
This Christmas clearly went very well for that family, and many other families around us. How was your Christmas?

Outside reading

I was reading an article on how your body can give you clues to possible issues though out your body. It does not have to be in the diagnosed region what so ever. In this article with talked about an example of the shape of your finger expressing possible issues in your lungs, heart, or intestines. You can get a disease that causes your fingers to form a certain way so when you put your fingers flat against each other, nail to nail, they form a diamond shape. From how I understood this article, if you see the diamond you are disease free... or at least from these certain concerned locations. I think it is just fascinating that a little flaw in a little finger could portray a whole organ or intestinal problem. It also explained how this can happen when your breathing patterns are flawed as well. I would never think that a simple change in my breathing would ever result in a shift of a shape on my body. Almost anything can make the smallest of changes, but you are never the same as you were before.

Outside reading

Recently I have read another recipe. I made waffles this morning and I looked up a waffle recipe from Google. My best recipes are found from Google humorously enough. These waffles were delicious! The people who posted the article were very silly and made it very clear that the recipe was simple. For instance, when I came upon the fifth step all that I saw was an explanation on how there is no fifth step because this is a simple, quick ,and hassle free recipe. I found that quite entertaining. Also, their secret tip was to not heat the waffle iron until you were done mixing the batter so it will take longer, therefore taste better...? Finally, instead of just saying "mix the wet ingredients together" they said "beat, mix, shake, stir until the eggs and milk become one." Clearly they had a good time writing this simple recipe and I am sure many people had an equally as great time reading it and enjoying the delicious result.

outside reading

Over the weekend I found myself cooking some holiday fudge, but I had a few issues. You see, I followed the recipe as close as I could but even then I made a mistake. I put the sugar mix, evaporated milk, and butter on the stove and brought it to a boil. Then, this is where I made the mistake. I read put morsels into the pan and stir vigorously. So, I put the small marshmallows in and stirred until they were all melted. I looked back at the recipe to see what was next. It did not make sense! The next step was to pour the whole mixture into the tin, but the picture was a brown chocolaty mixture flowing from the pan, and mine was still white. I did not put the chocolate in. After I realised this foolish mistake I quickly drooped the chocolate in and stirred vigorously. By the time the chocolate was melted I assume the mixture was cooler than intended. As I poured it into the tin, it had a fairly thick consistency. I had never made this fudge (clearly) so I thought nothing of it. But, two hours later when I took it out of the fridge to see how it turned out, it was very textured on the top, and not very appealing. I blame the consistency before, when I was pouring the mixture into the tin. It was too thick, therefore too hard to smooth out to make an appealing too texture. This is why it is important to always read carefully, especially when it is unfamiliar material.

Outside Reading

Today I read an article in a YOGA journal magazine. It was pointed out to me by a family member and it was very fascinating. This article was on the power of journaling and how people who write "gratitude journals" are happier than others who do not have gratitude journals in many ways.

"Gratitude elevates, it energizes, it inspires, it transforms,"(Robert Emmons, University of California, Davis, Psychology professor)

These are just a few examples of side-effects that gratitude journaling is proven to cause. It is said to improve mental health as well. I think it is amazing that just reflecting on what you are thankful for can help you so much!

Just think, no wonder so many people are happy around the holidays, the holidays start with Thanksgiving! I think this is the perfect holiday to start off the season. If you think about it, it is a very unique holiday. Everyone in America celebrates it, not just a certain group of people that follow a common religion or are in a common group. Everyone gets a chance to start off the season together... and I am thankful for that.

Outside reading

Earlier this afternoon I was at my church and I read/took a survey regarding several preferences I have towards the service and what I would like to change or see it become. The particular service that I had attended is going to leave my church and become its own church sometime later this year. I think it is very comforting to know that they take the time to collect and look over all of the surveys just to see what the congregation is thinking, regardless to this busy time to change. I knew that they really wanted to hear what we thought because they were asking really big questions such as what location would be most preferred and what time would the largest group of people be most likely to attend. This project does not seem even close to being finalised yet but they are definitely sure that this change will occur. It is the perfect time to make a survey and I am glad that they took the time and effort to do so.

Outside reading

Today while I was enjoying the last few hours of my thanksgiving break I spent some of my time in my living room with sister, by the fire reading a target magazine. As we were admiring all of the great bargains, sales and great deals we came upon a special offer. This offer was an opportunity to receive a five dollar gift card to target as long as you purchase 2 items "listed below". These items were very reasonable every day objects such as Bounty paper towels and Tide laundry detergent. I find this marketing technique as a very strong was to get people to come to your store, be happy with what they spent, and come again as a happy customer. I also like this because the average person tends to fall into the slippery slope of purchasing items just for the fact that they are on sale. Unless someone saw this add in the magazine which is a definite possibility, it is more unlikely that someone will impulsively buy these items because of the special deal they offer. Unlike sale items they do not have a bright yellow sticker over the original price showing you how much you could save. This could help an impulsive buyer to resist the temptation and just buy what is needed. On the other hand, if these average item are needed, they get to save money in the future. I see this as a win win situation and I have great respect for the Target corporation and how they proceed to run their business.

Outside reading

The majority of my reading this weekend was focused toward the Rosetta Stone language program to learn Italian. This program has an image appear on the screen and a sentence with a voice that reads it in Italian. This program is a unique way to learn a language because they do not tell you what the foreign vocabulary means, you have to figure it out with the pictures and patterns that would make sense for the word. I found that my background of french was very helpful for learning Italian because several words are very similar and many grammatical sentence formations work similarly as in the french language. I went to a french immersion elementary school as a child and I learned the language very quickly, as in I could speak it very well. Although, I had trouble writing sentences when I learned that way. On the other hand, with the Rosetta Stone way of learning a foreign language I found that sentences are quite painless to form but when thinking of sentences to say, it is difficult to remember all of the vocabulary and how to pronounce it. I highly recommend trying out a new language. Rosetta Stone is fairly expensive so I recommend borrowing one from a friend, that is what I did. I know English, French, Sign Language, and working on Italian and I can't wait to find out what life will swing at me next!

outside reading

Recently I took a quiz on how aware I am of junk food. It had several trivia questions on the history of junk food and i was pleasantly surprised as to how well I did on this quiz. I scored an eight out of ten but I guessed on many of them. Something that I learned was that a Burger King whopper has more calories in it than any other fast food burger. Also, I learned that Pringles potato chips are specially formed so that the can stack nicely and they do not have a tendency to crack or crumble. I learned that the donut started to be mass produced in the 1920s after the Dutch introduced them to America. I learned a lot from this quiz, and I think it is amazing how much you can get out of a random quiz off the internet. Who knows, the information may be useful at some time in your life.

Outside reading

This week i read and article on a man from Minnesota. He had a dog that he liked very much, his dog kept him company. Although, that is all that he thought his dog was good for, he was upset with this because he wanted his dog to be able to hunt. To solve this problem he decided to get ride of the dog. Next, he ordered a duck. This duck keeps him company in his delivery truck and the man seems very happy with his duck. He feels that if more people had ducks, people would not be so mad at each other all of the time. I think that this is kind of an interesting idea, although I feel that ordering a duck really didn't help anything because ducks can not hunt either. Also, when he thought that if more people had ducks people would be nicer and not so mad at each other, I feel that any sort of animal can do that for a person...including dogs. I think this because I feel I have heard many stories of people who are lonely or under lots of stress and got an animal and became very happy. But, if this works for him, then I am fine with that and I happy he found an animal that is suitable for himself.

Outside reading

This week I read a Thanksgiving poem called, Thanksgiving. This is how it goes:

Thanksgiving

The year has turned its circle,

The seasons come and go.

The harvest all is gathered in

And chilly north winds blow.

Orchards have shared their treasures,

The fields, their yellow grain,

So open wide the doorway~

Thanksgiving comes again!

~Old Rhyme

I am going to analyze this poem and tell you what I think the poet is trying to say. So the first line is:

"The year has turned its circle,"

this means, it is almost the end of the year. If you were to think of the year as a circle with January at one point and December right next to it, Thanksgiving (in November of course) is almost at the end, or "turned its circle". The next line is:

"The seasons come and go."

This is also referring to it is the end of the year and you have gone through all the seasons.

"The harvest all is gathered in And chilly north winds blow."

This is 2 lines but one fraise, it means that the farming of the year has been harvested, so the farmers are done working for the season and it is becoming very cold outside.

"Orchards have shared their treasures,"

This means that everyone has bought, or eaten from all of the fall orchards, like apple orchard or pumpkin patches.

"The fields, their yellow grain,"

I am pretty sure this means that since it is so cold outside, the fields have turned yellow because all of their grass has died and is ready for the snow.

"So open wide the doorway~Thanksgiving comes again!"

This means welcome friends and family home for the holiday, and it ends with a punctuate reminder that it is Thanksgiving. I hope everyone has a great thanksgiving this year.

URL: http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~homespun/tpoems.html

Outside reading

This week I read an article on a little 8 year old boy named Dale, who lives in Richfield MN. His mother had an undiagnosed heart condition. His mother was on the floor when this little boy, all alone, finally called the police and saved his mothers life. This act was very heroic and I admire it very much. Considering his young age, this would be a very terrifying situation to be in, and he stayed calm and got the help he needed for his mother. He was very courageous and the police officers thank him for his call, and say "couldn't have asked for a better caller." This boy got his story but on TV, and I am sure he is very proud of himself. This story is a good example of doing the right thing when it needs to be done, and I think that he is a good example for anyone who is ever in a situation where you don't know what to do.

Outside reading

This week I read an article on the brand DOVE and its "campaign" for real beauty, and what they think that is. What they have learned about real beauty through out the years. The article started with a story of the writer when she was very young and she saw a billboard of a woman who was in a fancy dress and had lots of makeup on. When she saw this billboard she thought this woman was very beautiful. She latter realized that this picture had been digitally altered, and the way this pictured capture this woman was completely fake.

"What's 'really beautiful' about someone who doesn't really exist?"(Robyn J.A. Silverman)

After she came to this conclusion about real beauty she searched what was truly beautiful in her life. She came upon memories of two best friends laughing and acting silly together. She thought of a mother and how beautiful they are just because of how they live their lives. Finally, she thought of how anyone is beautiful just because of the little light, or happiness inside of them that shines through when they do something that really means something to them. Some examples of this could be finishing a test, and the feeling that you can get when you just know you have aced it. Or when you say just the right thing to a friend in need, or feel accomplished by something you know you did well at. These are all examples of what Robyn J.A. Silverman knows is real beauty, and is trying to get across in her "campaign" for real beauty through DOVE.

I highly recomend you reading this inspiring article at:

http://dove.msn.com/#/connections/columns/BQ_Response_Guest_RSilverman.aspx[cp-documentid=11880995]/?GT1=25039

Outside reading

For my outside reading blog post for this Sunday night, I read an Internet article on sauces. This article was about the top five sauces that you want to say away from because they are not good for you. These sauces are high in fat and some are high in sodium, and other stuff that is not good for you if you get to much of it. The top five sauces that are the worst for you are: Alfredo sauce, Full-fat salad dressing, Hollandaise sauce, and finally Bolognese sauce. Alfredo sauce is bad for you because it has a lot of saturated fats which are bad fats. The full-fat dressings are bad for you because they are loaded with fat and calories, things that if you get too much in a day, can be harmful to your health. Hollandaise sauce is full of rich ingredients like lots of butter and eggs. Bolognese sauce has loads of arteries clogging fats in it. Lastly, Gravy (pictured to the right) often ruins great food like turkey. Turkey itself is awesome for you but when you mix it with gravy, that is the wrong thing to do. So just remember to not get too much of these foods and you'll be good.

Hero in a Box tree map

Outside reading

Something that I have been reading out of school for this blog is the book Are You My Mother by P.D Eastman. This is a children's book and I found myself reading it to my cousin that I was babysitting today. This charming story is about a little new born bird that has just been born and cracked out of it's egg and he finds that his mother is not there. This is a great problem in the story and he asks all sorts of different animals if they are his mother. First he asks a Cat, then a chicken, then a dog, and finally then a cow. By this time the bird was very confused and he asked several transportation machines like an old car, a boat, a plane, and a big truck thing. Once he got closer to the truck it picked him up. The poor little bird was very scared but all of the sudden the bird fell off the truck and fell into this nest. Conveniently, this mother was waiting for him at the nest. This story could be appealing to a child because of all of the different sorts of animals in it, although i thought it was getting a bit repetitive and I could see how a child could be very easily bored.

Celebrity Heroes In a Box

I believe that celebrities can be heroes. When I was working on this project I realised how much celebrities give back. In some ways for example financially, or persuasively they are more fortunate than most people. If the celebrity is a good well rounded person, they can give back in awesome ways that would not be possible for the rest of us.

This is a great example of a celebrity giving back. Brad Pitt has started a foundation called the Make It Right Foundation to raise money to hurricane Katrina victims. By doing this there will be at least 90 more homes that will be able to be built because of the contribution of the money that is being received. His goal is to get enough money to build 150 homes.

"Only You Can Silence Yourself,"

These are the words that are on an advertisement to vote on November 4th this year for the Presidential election. Jessica Alba is on this advertisement, and since she is such a popular figure to people across America, she is persuading adults to vote for the President. This is heroic because not just anyone could have that almost "power" to motivate people like that. What this somewhat intimidating add is trying to get across is that Jessica thinks that not voting is even scarier than Hannibal Lecter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVgK87IeMEA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKAGHnCdyzw&NR=1

Click on these web site to see a YouTube video of Carrie Underwood, and another of Kelly Clarkson performing at the American Idol Give Back concert. They are celebrities for their great talent at vocal music. Celebrities can attract others to go to concerts like these that collect money for organizations, or foundations. This particular concert was to raise money to find a cure for HIV/AIDS. Celebrities can be heroes, if they use their popularity in the right ways. They can have that power to get people to donate money were as if some average people were to put on a concert like this, they might not raise as much money as a concert like Idol Give Back because of all of the celebrities that perform at this particular concert.

From this assignment my view of heroes is much more precise because of all the time that I have been thinking about it. I have learned that heroes, especially celebrity heroes, have three main traits. They are influencial, helpful, and have an almost higher rank or power. These artifacts deffinetly show their great amount of influence that celecrities have on society. They are helpful, like when Brad Pitt was organizing the foundation for the hurricane victims. But finally this almost abstract trait of their power. I have the power to persuide, like Jessica Alba's Add for voting. But they also have the power to choose to either use their "power" for good, bad, or just not use it at all. A hero can make a great difference in the world and it is great to have them.

Outside Reading

I was reading the second chapter of the book "Animal Vegetable Miracle" by Barbra Kingslover. My mom recommended me to read it and it was very fascinating. It tell you that in a year, every person consumes roughly 400 gallons of oil. It also says that if every person ate one meal every week that was all organic and home grown we could reduce our oil consumption through food by about 1.1 million barrels of oil per week. This does not seem hard to do and I think everyone should know about this and practice this every week. Another plus to this weekly goal could be that since we will be buying from local farms, it may help small businesses. Also, if people decide to do this, it could help our economy because we will be spending less money on transportation and oil and receive more money in profit for the sellers.

Outside reading

Another article that i read outside of my English 10 class is an article on being "green" and not using aerosol cans. It lets off little things that get into the air that are bad for the environment. The woman who is asking a question in the article thinks it is all about the HCFC in the cans. She wonders if an aerosol can is free of HCFC, then is it "green"? She thinks this because HCFC was the thing that everyone used to think was the cause of the bad aerosol can. The use of aerosol cans can be selfish to future generations that need a clean environment just as much as we do. Polluting the air and creating holes in our only O-Zone layer is extremely harmful to our environment and should be extremely reduced some time very soon. So just remember, try not to use aerosol cans and our world will be a safer place for you and everyone else around you now and forever.
picutre URL:http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/939/45021183.JPG
URL:http://green.msn.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx?bid=676

Outside reading

Something I have read outside of English 10 class is an article on the Internet about making festive pumpkin center pieces for your dinner table right in time for Halloween, conveniently on a Friday this year, and thanksgiving. You cut the pumpkin so it kind of looks like a basket, then you can put flowers, or what ever else you think might look pretty on your dinner table. Also, you can decorate this pumpkin with ribbons or paint so it flows well with your dinning room. I personally think that this looks kind of silly because a pumpkin will rot, and nobody wants that on their table. Although, if you get it off the table before it rots it might be a fun and festive center piece. If you think about it, flowers die and rot too, but they still can be found in several homes all across the world as a beautiful center piece. That is something fun you could do, and see this fall.
URL:http://www.countryliving.com/crafts/projects/fresh-pumpkin-centerpiece

Outside reading

Some thing I have been reading lately is my history notes. I was reviewing over all the notes that I have, so I can do well on my test tomorrow. I reviewed over main vocabulary of our unit, Rome. There was also information on Greece and Athens vs. Sparta. Also, in my test review I went over main people in this time. I found that all of these main people of ancient Greece during this time period were all rulers. One of the rulers was Julius Caesar, a king who convinced his senate and counts to vote for him to become a dictator. Did you know that he was a dictator for ten years and then was killed by his own friends who helped rule with him? That is something that I have read recently, and I hope that this review for my history test will pay off and I will perform well before my nice long M.E.A. weekend.
Photo from:http://www.desitin.dk/images/JuliusCaesar.jpg

4 squares word: Onerous

Outside Reading

What I have been reading recently is a fun article on Oprah Winfrey's income. It states how it was so nice of her to buy each of her audience members a new Pontiac G6 in 2004. Although, what they have concluded is that she makes $523.21 every minute of the day. So, to buy each audience member a car, it really only took about 37 minutes each car to receive that money. For the average middle class house hold in America it would take about 140 days to buy a Pontiac G6. On the other hand, she is very generous with her money and, I believe, is very thankful for her life so far. Although not everyone in the world lovers her, she is good at giving, and hands out free stuff on almost every show that she has. That is what I have learned about this article on Oprah Winfrey.

URL: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SmartSpending/FindDealsOnline/celebrity-buying-power-slide-show.aspx?GT1=33009

Outside reading

Today, what I have read most recently is my American Sign Language Text Book. I learned about the importance of facial expression while signing. Facial expression can not only change the mood of the conversation or emphasize a word, but it grammatically changes the whole context of what is being said. If you are asking a yes or no question, you must raise your eye brow and lean forward. If you are asking what is called a wh question, you lower your eyebrows. A wh question is responded with a statement and the question contains a word starting with wh, such as: what, where, who etc... I have learned a lot from this text book and will learn more from it quite frequently as the school year goes on. Already I have learned so much and I will get to enjoy learning more about this unique language every day this year.

Double Bubble

Christy

Christy is one of my favorite books of all time. This book is about an upper class girl, who lived a very comfortable easy life style as a child. Latter in life, she is inspired at a church service at her local church and the course of her life begins to change dramatically. She has the desire to teach in a society that is extremely impoverished. She has great trouble gaining the children's respect when she first arrives at the school. She gets very involved, and tries to help the town for the better. This book is inspiring, and is a great reminder on how to help others, because we have is pretty good here at EHS. It also shows us how radically your life can change if you work for it. I highly recommend this book, and i hope you can check it out.

Hall of Fame

Anna C graduated from the University of Minnesota. She majored in art and design. Later, she opened a small art studio for middle school and high school students. This art studio became very successful. It expanded dramatically and now is a visual art University located in Switzerland. Today, she lives in Switzerland and is frequently seen in the University checking up on everything. The University has graduated several famous artists and will most definitely keep that up.

Artistic

The adjective “artistic” would be a very accurate way to describe me. I am an artistic person because of my love to paint. I both oil paint and acrylic paint but my preferred choice out of the two would most definitely be oil painting. I like to oil paint because the paint stays wet longer so I am given more time to blend in shadow and light to my picture. Some high quality oil paints, usually in warm colors like red and orange can stay wet for up to 3 weeks. I take a year round art class downtown in the Itasca building every Tuesday. My favorite unit in that class is the painting unit but it also includes oil pastel still life drawing, figure drawing, landscape drawing, clay, mask making and printing. I like to paint when I can, even though I do not usually have very much free time, this is one of the reasons why the art class is so nice to have because it assigns time in my day to do art. I find painting extremely relaxing and expressive. You can usually tell what type of mood I am in by looking at the painting. I love to paint and I hope I can be artistic in a future profession some day.