Alex and Leperdy

2011-05-31T08:44:00.009-04:00

"A form of government in which no one owns any land and everyone works towards the greater good."

Communism is a political and economic system which is characterized by the collective ownership of property (by the proletariat) and, furthermore, by the organization of labor for the common purpose of all members. Communism is similar to socialism, but contrasted with capitalism.

Although people popularly associate communism with the writings of Karl Marx, in fact the basic ideas behind it can be traced back much further. Among the earliest known writings on the subject is the Ancient Greek concept of a "Golden Age," a time of bliss and harmony without private property. Plato's ideal society was also one in which all property was held in common. It seems likely that the very earliest human tribes held much, if not all, property communally. sadly this failed do to the fact that people are greedy and goes against human nature.

"A form of government in which everyone is independent and works to support there own life style"

Laissez faire capitalism means the complete separation of economy and state, just like the separation of church and state. Capitalism is the social system based upon private ownership of the means of production which entails a completely uncontrolled and unregulated economy where all land is privately owned. But the separation of the state and the economy is not a primary, it is only an aspect of the premise that capitalism is based upon: individual rights. Capitalism is the only politico-economic system based on the doctrine of individual rights. This means that capitalism recognizes that each and every person is the owner of his own life, and has the right to live his life in any manner he chooses as long as he does not violate the rights of others.

In a capitalist, democratic nation such as the U.S., freedom gives us just about everything and anything that the Vietnamese do not have under their communist government. Contrary to what Karl Marx has written in his manifesto, the living people of a capitalist nation (i.e. USA) of today are more independent and possess more individualities than ever. Economic-wise, Americans are the most progressive people in the world. The U.S. government is not directing the flow of its economy, but the individual businesses of its people are. These people have all the rights in the world to improve their businesses, as long as they are conducting them under the legal guidelines of the government. Such freedom in a capitalist society gives the Americans much greater advantages over the Vietnamese in improving economic conditions.

In a communist nation, the judicial system can be very flexible at times. Crimes are rarely committed under such watchful eyes as the Communists, and the result of any crime would also be too harsh to bear. Safety is probably the best thing that the Communists can provide, but it can also be reversed anytime. By reversing, I mean that some people can also be convicted for not doing anything wrong. As long as someone (a local government cadre) possesses some sort of power, that person has all the right to convict you of anything that they want---yes, even without proof. On the other hand, the system also provides some safety to its people. Unlike in the U.S., crimes such as murdering, raping, robbing, and many others rarely or not even ever occur in communist Vietnam. People do not get away with them as easily as they do in America. There is no such thing as death row or parole in communist nations. Crimes are paid for immediately after they are convicted. Prisons do not have installed televisions nor nice beds for criminals. These prisoners have to earn the food that they eat by doing a certain amount of work for the time that they are sentenced to stay. Overall, the Communists1/4 judicial system works very well comparing to the one possessed by the Americans

William Shakespeare

2011-05-27T16:23:00.000-04:00

William Shakespeare was an English playwright and poet who lived in the late 1500s and early 1600s (around 400 years ago). His plays are now preformed all over the world in hundreds of languages, and he is known as one of the greatest writers of all time. The reason that his work is so popular is that William Shakespear e wrote about human nature and how they behave. That is why although his words may be hard to understand his word are as relevant now as they were four centuries ago.

From 1599 onwards William Shakespeare’s plays were usually preformed in the globe, a huge open air circular theater in Southwark in London. The theater could hold 3000 people, and there were two performances a day. Along with other members of his theater company the Chamberlin’s men William Shakespeare owned a share in the globe and made a lot of money from it.

The Chamberlain’s men originally used a theater called The Theatre in north London. but they fell out with the land lord and in 1599. The theatre was dismantled and its timers were moved and used to build the globe. In 1613 a spark .from cannon fired at a performance of Henry VIII set fire to a thatched roof and the globe burned down. (No one was badly hurt.) It was re-built with a tiled roof and stood until 1644, when the puritans tore it down in the Civil War.

2011-05-11T19:54:00.000-04:00

The main point of the essay you are about to read is how the book animal farm and the movie the mouse that roared both share the common interest in pointing out the flukes in governments, though they both do it in very different ways.

In the dystopia book (a dystopia is a society that was taken over and controlled corruptly) animal farm some farm animal’s rebel against the owners of the farm. The animals then take over and run it without any humans. After that the pigs slowly take over the farm society.

In the movie the mouse that roared a small Uruapan country goes bankrupt because there main source of money, a local whine they export to America gets copied. They then a desperate attempt to make money go to war with America with the plan that after they lose they can get rich off of rehabilitation money.

Here are some things that the book and the movie have in common. They are both about corrupt points of power, they both are about war, and they both are about manipulating people.

Here are some reasons why the book and the movie are different. One is a comedy and the other is a dystopia, in one the main people are animals and in the other they are all humans, the story’s are completely different.

All in all I think that though they do it in a different way they are both trying to point out messed up stuff in the government.(I say all in all when I cant be bothered to think of a conclusion-el paragraph) And now I will finish this long hand written essay with the simple yet heart stopping smiley face enjoy :D.

Gulliver’s Travels book review

2011-05-10T09:08:00.005-04:00

Jonathan Swift penned his most well-known novel, Gulliver’s Travels, in 1726. Most readers are familiar with the first part of the book – Gulliver’s journey to Lilliput where he is taken captive by the diminutive Lilliputians, and later lives among them for several months. But the full novel is actually written in four parts where Gulliver travels to several other locations, meeting other strange and fascinating creatures.

In part two, he finds himself in danger of being crushed by the huge inhabitants of Brobdinghag whose size is roughly twelve times that of Gulliver. Gulliver is rescued from this community by an eagle, who seizes the traveling box in which Gulliver sleeps, and drops it into the ocean where he is picked up by an English vessel.

Part three introduces the reader to the flying island of Laputa where the inhabitants are thrilled by music and mathematics, but have no practical skills.

Finally (in part four), Gulliver makes his way to the country of the Houyhnhnms who are actually horses who rule the country and the deformed creatures (“Yahoos”) who are, in fact, human beings in their base form. Gulliver is welcomed into a horse’s household, and eventually rejects humans as merely Yahoos with very little reasoning ability which simply adds to the vices Nature has given them. Eventually Gulliver is expelled from the country as he is seen as a danger to civilization.

Gulliver’s Travels is primarily a satire which pokes fun at European government, and the petty differences between religions. The Lilliputians perhaps are the most petty of all – squabbling over the size of their shoe heels, and going to war with their closest neighbors because of a disagreement over how to eat an egg. The book becomes darker as it progresses, with Gulliver moving from an optimistic and rather innocent character, to one whose view of the world becomes more cynical.

Although I found this novel to be an interesting read, I must admit that some of the long, circular sentences left me skimming at times. This book is full of cultural, political and religious references which might be best explored as part of a book club or in a classroom. For the reader simply looking for an entertaining book, Gulliver’s Travels might be a little too deep.

Despite some of my reservations, Gulliver’s Travels is a good classic novel. As with many people, my favorite section was the first. It is hard not to be delighted with Gulliver’s time spent in Lilliput.

In the movie Gulliver fakes being a travel writer and gets sent to the Bermudian triangle to write a report about it. While Gulliver is in the triangle he gets sucked into a giant spinning pillar of water and faints. When Gulliver wakes up he finds himself covers in tiny people called Lilliputian. The book is deferent from the movie is several ways. The movie is set in modern time where as the book is set in a time where people still use boats to travel the world. the themes of the book and movie are different because in the book it takes things in society and points out all the wierd problems. In the movie the theme is "there are no small people only small jobs". Now would somebody tell me what that means?

Macbeth

2011-05-04T21:33:00.003-04:00

Macbeth is a great warrior who helps win an important battle for his King, Duncan. The King wishes to reward him by making him Thane (kind of like knighting him). Before he finds this out, on his way back to see the King, Macbeth meets three witches who predict he will be Thane. Macbeth is suspicious of them. They then say he will be one day be King. Macbeth doesn't believe them and thinks them evil. On meeting with the King, he learns he is to be Thane - wow, the witches got it right! But if that's true... is he really going to be King? When he meets with his wife, Lady Macbeth, he tells her all that; lmurdering Duncan and his heirs, who are guests at Macbeth's castle. Macbeth murders the King, and Duncan's sons flee in fear of their lives, leaving the way clear for Macbeth to become King.

To cut a long story short, Duncan's son Malcolm, and other allies, mount a rebellion against King Macbeth, who has become a tyrant and has murdered lots of people to cling on to power. The witches again appear and tell Macbeth not to worry as he can only be killed of a man not born by a woman. The battle commences and Macbeth is fighting well, like a man who believes he cannot be killed (everyone is born of a woman, right?) However, when he meets the warrior Macduff, one of Malcolm's allies, Macduff says that he was born by caesarian section - not born normally, but cut from his mother's womb. Macbeth then knows the game is up. Macduff murders Macbeth and Malcolm, Duncan's son, is crowned the new King.

Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

2011-03-28T12:51:00.001-04:00

Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales is considered as one of the major beginning marks in English Literature. The Canterbury Tales, written in 14th century is a collection of short stories mainly in verse form. The stories in The Canterbury Tales are told by a group of 24 pilgrims on pilgrimage from Southwark to Canterbury to visit the shrine of St. Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.

One of the first few tales is called “The Man Of Law” in it The Man of Law tells a Romance tale of a Christian princess named Custance who is married to the Syrian Sultan on condition that he converts to Christianity. The Sultan's mother connives to prevent this and has Constance set adrift on the sea. Her adventures and trials continue after she is shipwrecked on the Northumberland coast. I didn’t really like this one because I despise romance books. I think the moral is that you shouldn’t believe something someone tells you unless you really believe it.

The Canterbury tales are the kind of book you read when you have nothing else to do and you have a glass of tea. The tea is to keep you awake. If you achieve that then the rest of the book isn’t that bad. The style of righting used in this book reminds me of the book the Knights of the Round Table, also a medieval adventure. The Canterbury Tales righting style reminds me of this because of the way the characters talk. They talk all like: “hail thou mistress” and stuff like that, you get the idea.

I would give Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales four stars out of ten. One star because it’s a very famous book, one star because I was able to finish it, one star because for some unexplainable reason it reminds me of Monty python and the Holy Grail, and finally the last star because I somewhat enjoyed reading it. I would recommend this book for teenagers who like to read and are able to understand big words.

First Lego League

2010-12-07T13:28:00.001-05:00

I participated in First Lego league this year. The theme was Body Forward, and our team team chose how to heal or improve a body part. We decided to focus our research on the spine.

In our grand search for a problem we searched dangerous jobs online.

We came up with an entire list but finally narrowed it down to spine surgery. It’s not really a dangerous job but it can be very hard.

We then interviewed a neurosurgeon who does spine surgery. He taught us all about spine surgery and what was required.

After that we went on other field trips.

I went to the MIT museum in Boston. We got to see the Black Falcon, an early surgical robot.

We also visited an operating room at St. Peter’s Hospital. While we were there we got to see the Da Vinci robot which is a actual robot that is being used today. Go to my mom’s blog, at Albany Kid, to read about this field trip.

Our team decided to solve the problem of surgery in urban bomb situations. This solution solves two kinds of problems: improving the body, and healing a body. Currently, surgeons are limited in what kind of surgery techniques they can do with their human body. In addition, a war situation can be very dangerous and it can be impossible for a surgeon to do shrapnel surgery in war conditions.

Dr. Scheid, the neurosurgeon that we interviewed, told us about soldiers who have to be flown in to hospitals in the US to get this kind of surgery. And, he told us that many times they are flown in for the surgery, and then flown right back afterwards.

We wanted to create a surgical robot that would allow this surgery to be done right on the field in such a way as to keep the surgeon safe, while providing a sterile medic conditions for the patient.

Our solution was DREGS: Disaster Robotic Emergency General Surgery. This robot cures shrapnel wounds in war situations while defending the patient.

Our Robot’s key features are:

A bullet proof titanium body
An auto turret
It is remote controlled

I can see this kind of robot being manufactured someday, but with a lot of updates.

Video: First Lego League Poster

Here is a list of articles we used:

King Henry VIII

2010-10-21T15:32:00.000-04:00

King Henry VIII was a very important man. Besides his six marriages, Henry VIII is known for his role in the separation of the Church of England from the normal Catholic Church. Henry's battles with Rome led to the separation of the Church of England from papal authority. Since he wanted to divorce his wife but couldn’t because of the pope he made himself the leader of the church. He changed religious ceremonies and rituals and suppressed the monasteries, while remaining a believer in core Catholic teachings.

Henry was an attractive and charismatic man in his prime. He ruled with absolute power. His desire to provide England with a heir, led to the main thing that Henry is remembered for today: his wives. I know I should respect history people but he was one heck of a hound dog. If I had a time machine I would send back a IPod with all of Elvis’s music.

A Kids Voice For Blog Action Day

2010-10-15T14:35:00.003-04:00

Change.org|Start Petition

Hi many of you may know about blog action day, its a day where bloggers around the world all work together to raise awareness of one particular problem each year. This year the problem is water all though I know its a pretty big problem all over the world like in places where dirty water kills 80% of the people who live there I think there bigger problems like my sisters face, no just kidding she.... has....... a very.......pretty......face..... HA HA HA LOL ROFL A HA HAAAAHAHAHA HA HA HA! anyway I just want to tell you how big a deal it is so please join us in our fight against water, Justen Bieber, war, my sister and all the other threats to the world.

Secretariat

2010-09-17T11:19:00.001-04:00

Last night I went to see the movie Secretariat with my friend Catherin. We both liked it a lot. It was about a mom that finds out her mom died. She then goes to her mom’s house where she then finds out that one of their best horses is pregnant and raises the baby to be one of the best race horses ever. Both of our favorite parts were when the trainer swears in French. The one bad thing about it was that nothing blew up, I have a dark and twisted mind! ;)

Book Review Of The Number Devil

2010-08-08T16:24:00.003-04:00

I'm guessing that I don't need to say what this is a book review of because you have probably read the title if not look up you nit wit (no offence). The Number Devil by Magnus Enzensberger is one of those classic books that you need to read before you die. It combines math with a lot of humor so that you learn while not falling down on the floor dying.

In the first chapter they introduced Robert (the main guy) and the number devil. The number devil was a guy that keeps appearing Roberts’s dreams and teaching him math. And they talked about how simple numbers are and they talked about one and how you can make any number with it. (At the end the number devil blew up)

In the next chapter it talked about how important the number 0 is. They said that without it you can’t have place value and that it was the last number to be found.

In the next chapter they talked about division and prime numbers in a cave.

In the forth chapter they talked about reminders on the beach with a giant fuzzy calculator. The number devil and Robert got into a argument on whether or not the nine chain would ever reach 1. (Remainders are what’s left over when you divide.

The fifth chapter talked about triangle numbers in the desert. A triangular number is the number of dots in an equilateral triangle evenly filled with dots. For example, three dots can be arranged in a triangle; three is a triangle number. The ninth triangle number is the number of dots in a triangle with no dots on a side.

In the sixth chapter they talk about Fibonacci numbers in potato a field. Fibonacci numbers are a way of counting in which the next number is the sum of the previous two.

In the seventh chapter they built a pyramid out of cubes and did a bunch of math stuff with it.

Eighth chapter they talked about number combinations. Like ABC BCA CBA ACB BAC and so on.

In the ninth chapter they talked about fractions and the number 1.618. 1.618 is a weird number because it’s everywhere. People have done a lot of math and the number keeps popping up. It’s called the golden ratio.

In the tenth chapter they talked more about the golden ratio. They also talked about geometry and some paper cut outs that fold into shapes!

In the eleventh chapter they talked about proving numbers on a roof garden. They said it was like crossing a stream every time you think your almost there you get stuck.

In the last chapter they talked about pie in number hell/number heaven.

I did not really like the book but it did teach me a lot about math. I think I know about stuff my big sister Kayla does not know =).

Marco Polo and The Silk Road

2010-07-19T17:07:00.001-04:00

I went to a Silk Road exhibit at American Museum Of Natural History. The Silk Road was a big network of trading routes. Not just single road. They had each country shown as part of it and you could go to each place and get a stamp in a mini stamp book. It had live silk worms too! Another thing I learned was that it went through Europe, Egypt, Arabia, Persia, India, China, Java, and Somalia. It was very boring.

After it we stopped at the gift shop and got a book called Animals Marco Polo Saw. It was about Marco polo’s travels through the Silk Road. It talked about how when Marco made a book about his travels, it inspired people to explore and talk to new countries. This changed the whole world.

Marco Polo was a trader in the Silk Road. He was born in Italy September 15, 1254. In 1271, he started a journey through the Silk Road. When he got back he made a book about his trip which became the very first travel guide. That was how he became famous.

Here is a link to the book:

Learning About The Battle Of Hastings

2010-07-08T09:18:00.015-04:00

The Battle Of Hastings was a big historic battle between the Norman and the English people. It took place at Senlac hill 14 October 1066. The English were lead by Harold First and the Norman were lead by Duke William 1 of Normandy.

I read a book about William the First called William The Conquer And The Battle Of Hastings by Micheal St Jhon Parker, and this is what I learned from it.:

William the First was a king of England who was born around 1027 and died in 1087. He was the king at the Battle of Hasting. After he won the battle he was nicknamed William the Conqueror.

The other book I read was The Battle Of Hastings by Chris Priestly.

The Battle of Hastings was important because it would decide who would take the throne and be the King of England. Also after this battle Normandy was introduced to a new system of government in which the king would usually offer to his warriors a plot of land called a fief, in exchange for their loyalty. And it would decide who the next king would be.

Here are two of the books I read:

Learning About Vikings

2010-07-07T10:07:00.011-04:00

Who Were The Vikings?

Vikings were people who lived in 800 AD to 1050 AD. They lived in Europe. One important Viking was Arick The Red. The Vikings were strong fighters. They invented the axe, the hammer, and the flat bottom boat! AND they were the second to find America! They were fighters, farmers, raiders, and traders! So the better question is who were the Vikings not?

In my unit on Vikings I read a book by Frid Inguistad. It was a historical fiction with historical inaccuracies (like the fact that the Vikings did not end with peace with the natives) called Magnus the Viking. In this story a Viking boy goes to Vinland and meets a Native American boy named Maku. But can the two boys stop the war between the two groups?

One more book I read for my unit was called History dudes: Vikings by Rich Camdo here is what I wrought about it:

Do you know the word berserk? Do you know it’s a Viking nick name? Ber is bear in Viking and serk means shift in Viking. So berserk means bear shift. Vikings went “berserk “in battle it was said that when they went berserk they became powerful fighters, and they sometimes killed their own friends!

So as I said Vikings were a lot of things not just fighters and raiders like most people think!

Here are some of the books I read on vikings:

Learning About Leanardo Da Vinci

2010-07-06T09:49:00.002-04:00

I did a unit in school about Leonardo Da Vinci. This unit included reading books about Leonardo Da Vinci, watching movies about Leonardo Da Vinci, and reading websites about Leonardo Da Vinci. Some books I read about Leonardo were:

• The Da Vinci Cod by Chris Riddell

• Leonardo Da Vince by Kathleen Krull

• The Second Mrs. Giaconda by E.L. Konigsburg

• Amazing Leonardo Da Vinci Inventions by Maxine Anderson

• Who Can Crack The Leonardo Da Vinci Code? By Thomas Brezina

• Masters Of Art Leonardo Da Vinci

• Getting To Know The World’s Greatest Artists Leonardo Da Vinci

• Leonardo Da Vinci Dreams, Schemes, and Flying Machines

• The Importance Of Leonardo Da Vinci

• Neo Leo

Who Can Crack The Leonardo Da Vinci Code? By Thomas Brezina

The book who can Crack the Leonardo Da Vinci Code? Is a time travel mystery about a young boy who lives in present time and goes through a panting of Leonardo, which takes him into the past when Leonardo lived. He went through time so that he could solve a riddle and open a box left behind from Leonardo. This book was a funny, historical fantasy book.

Making Monalisa Smile by Nick D Alt

In my unit I also read an article in the magazine Odyssey: Adventures in Science that talked about a computer that could read peoples smiles and figure out if they are happy, angry, frustrated, or confused. This could be useful for when people are learning a new language with a computer program which does not make sense. The computer can change the lesson making it easier to understand. I do not think it would be very helpful though because if you’re in the middle of something and then get hit by a rock you wince and everything your reading changes so you have to read it all over again and when you face settles down and you were half way done with what you were reading it changes again.

Leonardo’s Horse by Jean Fritz

One of the other books in my Leonardo Da Vinci unit was a book about Leonardo building a really big hoarse out of copper. In the book he said that he would make the ears of the horse pointing back to show that it was listening to its rider’s commands. It also said that Leonardo made a clay model first. At the end of the book it said that the horse was completely destroyed in an enemy attack. In real life he built the clay model but never got around to building the copper version. So it is a good historical fiction because it brought the story to life but it is not very factual.

I watched a movie called Leonardo Da Vinci. It showed all of his paintings and some of his inventions in a funny way. That made it easier to understand. I did not like it very much because I thought it was too cartoony. Although little kids (I call my Minions) might like it.

I watched a bunch of TV shows on YouTube called Doing Da Vinci in it they built a tank, a war caret, and a sedge tower! Here is a link to the videos: http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/doing-davinci-tank-test.html

My visit to a Leonardo Museum

A while ago I went to a museum exhibit about Leonardo it was filled with Leonardo inventions here is a list of the inventions from it:

• A tank

• A bridge ( me and dad argued whether it would work )

• A flying contraption

• And a weird canon

Here is a picture from it:

I’m the one in the green jacket.

Mrs.Giaconda by E.L.konigsburg

One of the last books I read was about Leonardo Da Vinci’s life from the point of view of his helper Salai. The book said that Salai used to be a pickpocketer! It also said that Leonardo needed Salai so that the tame Leonardo could live with the crazy criminal Salai but that’s mushy gushy deep feeling it is too boring blah. I think that the book was supposed to be about why Leonardo made the Monalisa but its more about his life.

Here are some not so fun facts:

• Did you know that Leonardo had a rival? He did! His rivals name was Michelangelo the two artists don’t get along. Leonardo made his artwork more realistic but Michelangelo did not like that.

• Did you know that Leonardo helped with community problems? He ones stopped a plague in a city! He invented a Sewer that got rid of the waist that was making it!

• Leonardo Da Vinci took three years to paint the Monalisa!

• The renaissance ( the time when Leonardo Da Vinci was alive ) means rebirth

Here are some links to books I read. ( if you were going to get something on amazon please use the link from my blog, i get money :D)

Look at my outer space

2010-05-25T16:25:00.000-04:00

My friend Ryan came ove and helped me make...

Saxons

2010-05-13T12:00:00.000-04:00

Saxons and Vikings
Saxons lived at about the same time as the Vikings. The Vikings lived in a place called Green Land. Although Saxons and Vikings were very different people, they shared many similarities. They both had similar swords, spears and axes! They also wore the same clothes such as the following: thick trousers, tunics, long dresses, and leather shoes with woolen cloaks! They could even understand each other’s language! They also had the same belief that runic letters had power! I think they were similar people.

Saxons
The Saxons were people who lived around the 5^th century. They are descendents of a German tribe who took over Brittany. Here is a list of facts about them:
· It was considered lucky to wear a small metal pig on your head because pigs are sacred to their god Freyja.
· When they burned their dead, they put their ashes in a pot with a window so that the spirit could get out and not be stuck.
· They believed that a red sky at night means that there will be a storm.
· They also thought that if you cut off the head of a dead body, it can’t haunt you.

Saxons were a very interesting people.

salt

2010-05-12T14:16:00.001-04:00

Salt is a kind of mineral made mostly of a thing caled sodium chloride that is essential for animal life, but can be realy bad to many plants. Salt flavor is one of the basic tastes, making salt one of the oldest, most ubiquitous food seasonings. Salting is an important method of food preservation.

ROBLOX

2010-05-07T12:41:00.000-04:00

sirepicafy is always forging brilliant killer robots at ROBLOX

PLAY ROBLOX

2010-05-07T12:33:00.001-04:00

Take a look at my home made profile at the pleasing world ROBLOX

2010-05-07T12:14:00.001-04:00

I've been programming a whole bunch of maps in roblox

Beethoven

2010-05-07T11:57:00.001-04:00

Beethoven was a composer. Born in Bonn, Beethoven showed remarkable talent at an early age. His father, a court musician, subjected him to a brutal regimen, hoping to exploit him as a child prodigy. While this plan did not succeed, young Beethoven's gifts were recognized and nurtured by his teachers and by members of the local aristocracy. In 1787 Beethoven first visited Vienna, at that time the center of the music world. There he performed for Mozart, whom he greatly impressed.

A little after that he became a great composer. But, Beethoven had a problem. He began to lose his hearing as an adult, until it was lost almost completely. This was a real problem for Beethoven because of his love for music. That’s why Beethoven composed such loud booming music! So he could hear it better! Here is a website with some of Beethoven’s music:

http://www.metrolyrics.com/ludwig-van-beethoven-lyrics.html

Why glass breaks in high pitched sound

2010-04-16T14:06:00.002-04:00

High frequency sound waves can shatter glass if powerful enough. This happens because the glass vibrates at the same frequency as the sound waves on the outer surface of the glass, but at lower frequencies inside the glass. This causes interference in the waveforms moving through the glass, which stress the glass, causing it to break.

The Gecko That Ran For President

2010-03-29T10:20:00.001-04:00

Introduction

I wrote this story because I thought that the idea of having a Leopard Gecko run for president would be funny. Plus, I have a Leopard Gecko, and his name is Leperdy. He is cute! Leperdy is a well-behaved pet and not too much work. All I really need to do for him is feed him crickets and check his lamp to make sure it’s on because he needs heat.

While writing this story, I learned about presidential elections. I found out that it’s not very easy for people to run for president. Can you imagine how difficult it would be for a gecko to run for president?

The Gecko That Ran For President

“Dad, will you tell me why there is a Leopard Gecko on that dollar bill?” asked the little girl….

______________________________________________________________________________

“I have never seen winds this big,” said Freddy, as they scorched the trail that led home. Freddy heard the sound of wings flapping in the air.

“What was that?” asked Leperdy. Leperdy and Freddy were two of the original, but common, Leopard Geckos with a yellow body and black spots. The two geckos were running home after a hard day of collecting food and crickets in the mountains.

“Look, it’s a bald eagle and it looks hungry!” said Freddy.

But he was too late. The bird opened its talons and grabbed Leperdy! For 7 days and 7 nights, the bird carried him high in the air until he found himself being dropped into the window of the White House. Then, he blacked out.

Leperdy awoke in a large room covered with a bunch of lab equipment. The room was shaped like a dome and had a sky roof over the whole ceiling. There were a few people who looked like scientists walking around with clipboards in their hands. Even with all those people and machines, the large room was kind of quiet.

What, huh, where am I? Everything is fuzzy. There are voices all around me. Are they my friends? Wait, I’m thinking in English. Wait, I thought there was only one human language. One of the shapes is human. They’re all human. One of them, a tall man with a smile on his face, wearing a lab coat, is coming toward me. He looks kind of happy.

“Hello, my name is Professor Buttbelow. I’m glad to see that you survived the transformation into smartness. While you were unconscious, we used a new machine on you. We thought that it was not fair to have America just be run by human kind, so we developed a machine that magnifies gecko brain waves and gives them superior intelligence. I will explain more on the way to the White House.”

“Wait, I never….,“ sputtered Leperdy.

The professor cut him off, and offered Leperdy one cricket if he’d run for President of the United States of America. Leperdy agreed ever so joyously. Then the professor picked Leperdy up, put him on his shoulder, and went outside. They then got into a limousine that carried them to the White House.

Professor Buttbelow said, “As I was saying earlier, we gave you superior knowledge to gecko kind and most people. You’re a genius! We did this because we were sick and tired of having people run the land and take over just because they’re a little smarter than the animals. But, in some ways, humans are no smarter than monkeys, and that’s insulting the monkeys. Humans are destroying beautiful landscapes with corporate buildings. And they are continuously whacking the atmosphere with a sledge hammer.”

“We also gave you some of the memories of past presidents so that’s why driving around in this limousine doesn’t seem new to you.”

After a not too long drive through Washington, D.C., Leperdy and the professor arrived at the White House gates. The professor showed the security guards a special permission letter from the current president, and they were let through immediately.

After getting dropped off by the limousine, they then walked in through the main doors of the White House.

“Right through there is the sign up room where they will check your eligibility to run for president. If you pass the test, you can sign up to run for president. Afterwards, Bob, a grade A student and a very nice kid, will be your personal guide. Bob will take you to your room when you are ready. Ok, any questions?” asked the professor.

“Ok, no questions,” said Leperdy. He then walked through the door to find an old-fashioned room lined with paintings of past presidents. The presidents seemed to be grinning at Leperdy.

At the end of the room was an antique mahogany desk. A man, dressed in a black suit with a blue tie that had pink flamingos dancing a tango, sat slumped behind the shiny, cleared desk. The man had a moderately chubby face, with cheeks that looked as if he had just stuffed his mouth with cupcakes. On his face, Leperdy saw a gloomy expression.

“Hello, my name is Jack, Jack Black,” the man sighed.

“Hello, my name is Leperdy, and I’m here to run for President of the United States.”

“Welcome! Will you take a seat on the wood chair in front of the desk? Can you reach the chair?”

“Sure, no problem,” said Leperdy as he hopped onto the chair. “Ok, what do I have to do to run for president?” asked Leperdy.

“First, read this contract.”

The contract was just one white piece of paper with no holes. It had a lot of words written in small print, but Leperdy read it speedily. “Ok. Now what?”

“Now, I interrogate you, I mean, I ask you a few questions based on the U.S. Constitution to make sure that you qualify to be President of the United States of America. Are you at least thirty-five years old?”

“Yes, I am exactly thirty-five years old, but I am a very healthy specimen. I’m going to be around for a long time, and you will never be able to get rid of me.”

“Darn!,” said Mr. Black as he hid a pretend hand pistol that he had aimed at Leperdy. “Were you born in the United States of America?

“Yes, I was born in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.”

“Have you lived in the United States for at least fourteen years?”

“Yes, I have lived in the Rocky Mountains all my life.”

“Ok,” said Mr. Black, “You are now running for president!”

Bam bam, they heard a loud knock at the large, double doors. “That must be Bob,” said Jack Black. “He shows people to their rooms. Come in.”

Then, the door creaked open to reveal a boy with messy orange hair. He looked at Leperdy and said, “Hello, you look different from most of the people around here, but I don’t know how. Hmmmmm. Mr. Black, which room should I take him to?”

“The room three doors down the hall will suffice.”

“Follow me,” said Bob as he led Leperdy down the hallway. “Mister Leperdy, this will be your room.”

In the room, there was a small water bed with blue velvet sheets. The walls were painted sky blue with a bunch of black and white butterflies hand-drawn on the ceilings and walls. There was also a medium-sized window overlooking the city. It was a comfortable room for a Leopard Gecko.

“Well, better get some rest,” said Leperdy to himself. He settled on the bed under a warm blanket and went to sleep.

THE TELEVISED DEBATE

“Wake up, wake up!” yelled a voice in distress. Leperdy jumped up as if by instinct. Then, he noticed that it was just his alarm clock, waking him up for the day.

Leperdy got out of bed and went to the door. The minute he opened it, hands scooped him up and put him on their shoulder. “Off, to the waiting room!” yelled Bob.

“Where are we going?” asked Leperdy.

“We are going to the Interview Room where a reporter is interviewing the presidential candidates,” said Bob.

“But, I haven’t been nominated by one of the political parties yet!” exclaimed Leperdy.

Bob said, “Don’t worry; we already created the Animal Party. Since there are no other animals running for office, they already agreed to nominate you. They will be announcing it formally later at the Nominating Party.” While he was talking, the boy ran at the speed of light, zooming down the hall into a room with two other people in it.

Looking around the room, Leperdy saw blue walls and a red curtain covering one end of the room. In the room, was a sofa with two men sitting up straight, waiting quietly. Both wore navy suits and red ties. One of them had an elephant on his tie, the other a donkey. Leperdy thought to himself, I should have worn a tie with a Leopard Gecko, but what the heck, I can go naked, and that’s my style.

“Hello, Mr. Leperdy,” said one of them. “We too are running for president. You look a little short. Are you alright?”

“Yes, would you like a cupcake?” asked the other one.

“No, thank you, the only thing that I can eat is bugs,” said Leperdy.

“Oh,” said the first man, “My name is George W. Bush. My father used to be the president so I should have a good shot at the elections.

“And I’m Al Gore. I’m already the Vice President of the United States so I should have a good shot too,” said the other man.

“Mr. Bush, you’re on!” said a voice behind a curtain.

“Ok,” Mr. Bush yelled back. He then went and disappeared behind the curtain. Leperdy and Vice President Gore sat quietly. Mr. Bush came back out fifteen minutes later, and told Mr. Gore to go behind the curtain. When Mr. Gore came back, he told Leperdy to go behind the curtain too.

Leperdy went thru the curtain to find a room. The large room contained a tiny stage, just big enough for one person. On that stage was a small booth with a microphone and next to the stage was a bunch of camera equipment directed at the booth. The room also contained two people. One of them had a big movie recorder on a tall, black stand. The other person was a skinny, well-dressed young woman with a microphone in her hand.

She said, “Hello, my name is Bluebert Buxton. I’m from CNN News, and I will be interviewing you today. Would you please sit in that booth?”

“Ok, but do I get free crickets?”

“Um, no, I …., I don’t think so.”

The man with the movie recorder shouted, “We’re live in 5 4 3 2 1 Action!”

“Hello, I’m Bluebert Buxton from CNN News. We’re here live at the White House in our nation’s capital interviewing the presidential candidates. This is Leperdy who is running for President of the United States with the newly created Animal Party. Hello, Leperdy, would you like to tell us where you’re from?”

“Is this a trick question?” asked Leperdy.

“No! Now would you please stick to the script?”

“I have a script?” asked Leperdy.

“Yes!”

“Where?”

“In your brain!” shouted Bluebert Buxton.

The camera man turned away his camera, crunched a bag of cheese doodles, and announced “Technical difficulties.” The reporter turned away and for some reason it started it started raining from her eyes.

“Are you ok?” asked Leperdy.

“No, my show is known to have cooperative people, but you are not it. How can you possibly hope to get elected president if you don’t have good publicity?”

“I’m sorry. I apologize for ruining your show, but it was a sincere accident. I didn’t understand that it was not a trick question.”

Leperdy left the room feeling sure that he’d make it up to her, but being a gecko he quickly forgot.

AT THE DINNER PARTY

Later, that night, he went to a big formal dinner with George W. Bush and Al Gore in a large dining room in the White House. There was one big long table, set with fancy silverware and large platters of food like rice and potato salad and ice cream and a few lollipops. Sitting around the table were a bunch of people who looked moderately important, but Leperdy didn’t care enough to get acquainted. He sat down next to the other presidential candidates.

“The food looks great! Too bad I can’t eat it,” said Leperdy.

“It is very good,” said Mr. Bush. Boing went a sound. Boing, it sounded again. Then a cricket jumped onto the potato salad. Leperdy‘s hunting instincts took over. He sprang up on his feet and shot out his tongue. It hit the potato salad, but missed the cricket that jumped up and landed on Mr. Bush. Leperdy shot out his tongue, but instead of catching the cricket, his tongue got smashed all over Mr. Bush’s face.

Everyone was flabbergasted. Leperdy saw looks of surprise and horror on all the guests’ faces, and he felt ashamed.

After that, Leperdy just went to his room for the night. The halls seemed dark, empty, and quiet.

LEPERDY MEETS THE FIRST LADY

Just then, as he walked down the hallway, feeling lonely and hungry, a chameleon jumped in through the window with a pigeon flying in behind her. The chameleon looked scared, her brown eyes turned to Leperdy in fear, begging him to help her.

Leperdy heroically sprang into action, grabbed the pigeon’s tail, and pushed him into a coat rack. The pigeon stopped moving, stunned for a moment. Then, he got up and flew back out the window.

At that moment, Bob came in from around the corner. “I was going to tell you that you needed a First Lady, but you obviously already found one. I’ll take her to the sign up area immediately.”

ON THE AIRPLANE

The next morning, Leperdy woke up on an airplane. Next to him was Bob, the boy who had shown him to his room. “Where am I?” said Leperdy.

“Oh, hi Leperdy, we’re on an airplane going to New York City. I’ll tell you why later. Try to lay low. We don’t want you to get noticed.”

“Um, ok.”

Just then a cart careened by as a stewardess came by. “Would you like a cookie? We’re giving them away since they got infested with bugs,” she said.

“Would I ever,” said Leperdy.

“I don’t know, would you?” asked the girl again.

“Of course,” yelled Leperdy.

The girl handed Leperdy a bunch of bugs that got stuck together by a few chocolate chips. Leperdy ate the whole thing in one bite!

A voice came over the loudspeaker, “We will be landing shortly. Please buckle up.” Ten minutes later, they were getting out of the plane.

“We can go ahead. Our luggage is being dealt with by the limousine driver,” said Bob.

NOMINATING PARTY

Leperdy and Bob got into the waiting limousine. Bob said that they were going to meet their nominating party, the representatives from the Animal Party who had already agreed to back Leperdy for president. About an hour later, the cab stopped in front of a big building.

Even though Leperdy was from the Rocky Mountains, and accustomed to living in forested areas, he didn’t mind the big buildings of the city because they reminded him of the big boulders in the mountains.

“This is the Crazy People Inn Hotel where we are staying for the night,” said Bob. “Tomorrow, we’re going to spend the whole day at the political convention where you will make a speech and be formally nominated as the presidential candidate from the Animal Party.”

Bob then put Leperdy on his shoulder and took him in the building. Bob went up to a counter where he asked a man where his room was. The man said that it was on the fifth floor, Room 187. Bob then took Leperdy into an elevator and pressed the button. Suddenly, they were flying up and then they stopped. The door opened and they walked out. They then went into another room. In that room, there were a bunch of people.

Leperdy asked about them, wondering who they were.

Bob told him that they were his nominating party. “These people already agreed to nominate you for president because they feel the same way that you do about having humans controlling and destroying the earth.”

Bob and Leperdy went in the room and one of the men walked up to him. The man was super skinny, really tall, carried around a clipboard, and had an expression on his face as if he was on another planet.

“Hello, my name is Mr. Porkchop, and I am planning to run for office with you. The Animal Party has asked me to be your Vice President because I am exceedingly good at political stuff.”

“Thank you,” said Leperdy. “I am very glad that you will be running for Vice President with me, and I hope that we can work together to make the country a better place for humans and animals.”

“But it is now time for us to go to sleep,” said Mr. Porkshop. “Good night.”

Mr. Porkchop left the room, and went out to the elevator. Bob took Leperdy through to a door to another room where there were a few beds. Bob placed Leperdy on one of the beds, and left to change in the bathroom. Leperdy fell asleep immediately.

ANIMAL PARTY CONVENTION

Leperdy awoke to find Bob patting him on the back.

“Wake up, wake up,” Bob said, “It’s time to go to the convention.”

“OK,” said Leperdy, “I’m getting up.”

Bob then handed Leperdy a bowl of Cricket Flakes, the cereal of fun. Leperdy ate with tons of joy. When he was done, Bob lifted Leperdy up onto his shoulder and left the room. Bob told Leperdy that everyone already left to go to the Convention.

After a speedy but long walk on city sidewalks, they finally arrived at the political convention. Leperdy saw a bunch of tents and some clowns selling animal balloons. Leperdy asked Bob to buy him a helium balloon. When he got it, Leperdy strapped the string of the balloon around his chest so that he could float.

Leperdy then left Bob to have some fun. Half an hour later of flying around, Leperdy found a stage where he saw some of the politicians that he had met the previous night making speeches. He also saw Michael Jackson and other celebrities making speeches about how great an idea they thought the Animal Party was.

Just then, Leperdy’s balloon popped, and he started falling down. Luckily, he landed on Bob’s shoulder.

“There you are,” said Bob. “We’ve been looking all over for you. It’s time for you to make your speech.”

Before Leperdy could say anything, Bob brought him over to the stage and placed him in front of the microphone. Leperdy suddenly got stage fright and didn’t know what to say, and blacked out.

A few minutes later, he woke up on Bob’s shoulder again.

“You were great!” said Bob. “You figured out the perfect way to save the planet, stop war, lower taxes, and you got the whole audience involved too. It’s like you spent all your life working on this speech.”

Leperdy didn’t know what to say. So, he just stuck out his tongue and caught a passing fly.

CAMPAIGNING

Now that Leperdy had a political platform, and a Vice President and First Lady, he had to share his message with the American people. Not everyone had heard his speech at the Animal Party Convention.

Fortunately, it had been videotaped. But still, Leperdy had to arrange for a lot of publicity, including an advertising campaign.

Knock, knock. A loud knock on the door announced that someone wanted to come in. Leperdy said that the door was open, and that whoever it was could come in.

The door opened to reveal a girl with nerd glasses, double pony-tail, blonde hair, who was tall and skinny. She carried a clip board in her hands. Who doesn’t?

“Hello, I’m Casey, your advertisement director. You need to advertise so that you can get more publicity for your presidential campaign. So, I personally came up with a few ideas of my own to help you advertise.”

“Those were my ideas, you thief!” shouted a voice from far outside.

Casey tried to cover it up while at the same time pretending that nothing happened. “Anyway,” she said. “Here are my ideas.”

The girl handed Leperdy a clipboard that showed a box of cereal that said “Leopard O’s”

“Do you like my ideas?” asked Casey.

“Sure,” said Leperdy half-heartedly.

“Great,” said Casey, “I’m going to go and put it on the market immediately.” The girl then hopped off.

PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

For the next several months, Leperdy went around the country campaigning. Sometimes he had the First Lady or the Vice President with him, but sometimes he didn’t. But, Bob was always there with him.

Toward the end of the presidential campaign, he had to attend the great debate between him, George W. Bush, and Al Gore. This time, Bob, the First Lady, and the Vice President would be watching, but they couldn’t go on the stage with him.

The three presidential candidates went up on stage, and spread out to each stand at their own podium. And, to Leperdy’s surprise, the next person to walk up to the stage was the host of the debate, Bluebert Buxton.

“We will now be asking questions,” said Bluebert Buxton. “Let’s start with Leperdy.” She turned to Leperdy, with an evil and malevolent expression on her face.

“Now, Leperdy, what exactly is your definition of a trick question, and how exactly did it feel when you ruined my show and life?”

Leperdy was speechless. He couldn’t believe that Bluebert Buxton still remembered the interview, and held a grudge for all these months.

“Well, I, uh,” said Leperdy. And then, Leperdy blacked out. When he woke up, he was still on stage, and the crowd was chanting his name.

“LEPERDY, LEPERDY, LEPERDY, You are cool, YESIREE!”

It seemed that everyone on the planet loved him. But when he looked over to where Bluebert Buxton stood, he saw that she was being restrained by two really big bodyguards and she was kicking and screaming to try to get to Leperdy.

Leperdy couldn’t believe it. The Great Debate was finally over. When he tried to leave the stage, there were people yelling, “We love you!” And they were trying to get some of his skin sheddings, like rock star fans.

Leperdy walked away, with the help of two burly bodyguards, and a happy smile on his face.

ELECTION BALLOT MIX-UP

Time passes, and now we find our favorite Leopard Gecko back in his room at the White House. Leperdy got up with a smile on his face, and a spring in his step. He got up and opened the door, expecting to be whisked away and taken to his limousine. But, nothing happened.

Then, he noticed a letter sitting in front of his door. Leperdy opened it up. The letter said that there was some kind of mix-up in Florida with the election ballot counts, and that he would have to send a lawyer there immediately. Leperdy immediately rushed to the White House lobby to a phone and a telephone book. He opened the book to the “L” section, when a bell went off and three men came in through the White House doors. They all had canes and Willy Wonka hats, and they started singing and tap dancing.

Here is their song:

Tra la la, we’re the singing, tap dancing lawyers. La La La. When you’re sitting, and you need a political back up, who are you going to call? You should call, the singing, tap dancing political lawyers. La la la la LA!

“Speak no more,” said the lawyers. “We know where you want us to go. “

The first lawyer said, “Off…”

The second lawyer said, “To…”

And the third lawyer said, “FLORIDA!”

Then, they ran off.

Leperdy was so surprised and speechless, that he walked right back up to bed.

ELECTION RESULTS

Five weeks later, the lawyers came back, waking Leperdy right out of bed, and signing again.

“We have won, yesirree, yippedoodee.” And then, they ran off.

Leperdy got up out of bed, ate a bowl of Cricket Flakes, opened the door, and immediately was picked up by Bob, and carried off to a limousine.

“Things are looking up for you,” said Bob. “You won the popular election, the Florida mix-up was straightened out in your favor, and now you have the electoral votes as well. Now they are going to announce you the winner of the presidential election, but you won’t have to make a speech until next month at the Inauguration.”

THE END.

“Well, what happened next,” asked the little girl? Her Daddy answered, “Well, why don’t you go and ask Grandpa Leperdy to find out.”

Medieval Castles

2010-03-28T13:47:00.001-04:00

What is a castle?

A castle is a fortified home where a king or nobleman lived with his family and his army of soldiers, and it usually had a whole community. The medieval castles were mostly built from 1000 AD – 1500 AD.

Why were castles built?

During the medieval time there was no central authority so the nobles built castles as a command center for them to use to control their territory.

Castle Community

There were a lot of people in the castle community. Here is a list of people who may have lived in the castle.

· The noblemen and their families lived inside a round tower in the castle called a keep.

· Knights – men who fight for the lord.

· Squires – knight’s helpers.

· Men at Arms – foot soldiers.

· Skilled workers

· Servants

· Scullions - kitchen helpers.

· Servers

· Cooks

· Garrison- the castle guards.

Designing a Castle

Before building a castle, you need to choose a good location and create a plan.

A good location for a castle is one with natural defenses like rivers and boulders that help when trying to survive attacks.

A castle plan should include super big food rooms and wells to help survive sieges. It should also include defense designs.

Building a Castle

To build a castle, you need workers such as: quarrymen, carpenters, blacksmiths, and diggers. The carpenters start with making a wooden fence around the castle site. This fence is called a palisade. The diggers then dig a well in the most protected interior of the castle. Next, the diggers dig a moat around the exterior of the castle. During all this, the quarrymen are digging up sand stone. While all this happens people are farming the land, and paying a tax to the castle lord. That tax money is used to pay to build the castle. Workers go on to build the walls and gate house. Later, when the exterior protection is complete, they finish the interior living spaces.

Sieges and Warfare

Sometimes when people wanted to take over more territory they would attack the current owner’s base of command which in medieval times was usually a castle. They would surround a castle in a way that made it impossible for the people in the castle to get new supplies or help. This was called a siege.

A siege could go on for a long period of time as the attackers tried to either destroy the inhabitant’s walls or starve them out.

Siege attacks might include:

· Digging a tunnel under the castle walls, temporarily putting up supports, and then burning the supports to make the castle walls fall.

· Building movable towers that could be used to get over the walls.

· Using catapults to throw heavy stones, burning material, and other dangerous items over the wall.

Defense Designs

When castles were under siege, the people did not just sit there. They used different weapons and strategies to try to get the attackers to leave. In addition to stone walls, here are a few other castle defense mechanisms:

Crenellations- holes for archers to shoot from.

Machicolations-a hole in front of the gate to pour bad stuff on people like hot oil.

Moat – a ditch filled with water that surrounds the castle.

Portcullis - iron grills that cover the door.

Books about Castles:

Castle (0046442329200): David Macaulay: Books

ISBN: 0395329205
ISBN-13: 9780395329207

Ms. Frizzle's Adventures: Medieval Castle (9780590108201): Joanna Cole, Bruce Degen: Books

ISBN: 0590108204
ISBN-13: 9780590108201

Castle (Fast Forward Books) (9780764153099): Peter Dennis, Nicholas Harris: Books

ISBN: 0764153099
ISBN-13: 9780764153099

Eyewitness: Castle (Eyewitness Books) (0635517065985): DK Publishing: Books

ISBN: 0789465981
ISBN-13: 9780789465986