The choice of a lifetime

Author’s  note: I am writing this to compare John Treegate’s Musket to The Outsiders.

How many times have you really had to make a hard choice or decision that you thought would change the outcome of your life? How many times has that decision truly changed your life entirely? Well, the characters in the following books have to make that hard choice and this is what they chose.

To start this journey, Peter Treegate, the Protagonist of John Treegate’s Musket, must make a choice to either run or try to prove his innocence when a man he volunteers to walk home in the dead of the night is murdered by one of his fellow apprentices and someone else, yet the killing is done with his knife. His choice to run and hide on a boat causing  him to become a galley boy. Then he gets caught up in a hurricane and washes up on shore five days later with amnesia.

If that weren’t enough, Ponyboy Curtis, the protagonist of The Outsiders, must make a decision on what to do when his best friend kills a Soc (rich kids who like to beat on the poor a.k.a. Greasers). The Soc was trying to drown Ponyboy and Johnny comes to his aid. Again an innocent person has to defend against evil. The decision to go to Dallas for help causes them to hide out in an old church for a week while he clears things up. However, while hiding out in the church, one of their cigarettes causes the church to go up in flames with kids trapped inside. Ponyboy and Johnny to go in and rescue them which all leads to Johnny dying of too much smoke inhaled.

Both had to make tough decisions, yet both still stand by their decisions throughout all that happens. Both stand firm and proud. Both watch a murder happen and then make tough choices. Both get heavily injured because of their decisions. Both leave their families because of their decisions. Many things happen to both of them because of  one choice. Their lives were truly flipped upside down because of that one decision they had to make.

To end this rollercoaster ride, A lot of things can happen because of one decision, and one decision that can change your whole life. That is shown in both  of these books. In fact those choices must also be made in real life even if they are not the same decision to be made. Still that one decision, that one choice you need to make, could be the best thing ever, or the one choice that ruins your life.

The story of Peter Treegate

Author’s note: I am writing this on the cause and effect of the climax of my book John Treegate’s musket.

The story of Peter Treegate takes a turn for the worst when he is caught in a huge hurricane at sea while aboard the Maid of Malden as a galley boy. The hurricane attacked the Maid from all angles for hours before they got to the eye of the hurricane, but the calm only gave them about twenty minutes of work and repairs before it attacked again. It ripped away the mast and turned it into a battering ram in order to sink the Maid and take her crew to the bottom of the ocean, all except for Peter who was found five days after on a beach by the “Maclaren of Spey”

All of that happened because he had seen a murder happen and didn’t want to be blamed so he hopped on a boat to try to get away. But the real disaster is what happened because of that hurricane. A letter sent to his father saying they thought him dead because of the hurricane. He develops amnesia and all he knows is that his name is Peter but he can’t remember his last name so he spends a long time with the Maclaren who trains him how to hunt and survive. And all of this happened because he jumped on the boat.

Peter Treegate

Author's note: I am writing this as a response to different types of POV's.

Peter Treegate is a young lad whose life is about to take a turn for the worst. When he is apprenticed to a old barrel maker who has two other apprentices one of which helps him and the other who despises him. The reader sees the story through the eyes of this young boy instead of the eyes of a grown man or woman which creates an idea of how the children felt during the years leading up to the war. For instance, if you had seen the Boston Massacre through the mind of an adult you would have a different idea of it contrary to the mind of a child. Another example of this would be where If you were a adult who had just witnessed a murder and you knew who the person was that was the murderer you would take a different action than that of a child’s actions. In a lot of books it all depends on mainly the age and gender of the main character and what it would be like in the opposite POV that makes the story come alive.

Space: The Final Frontier

Author's note: I am writing this because I am interested in space and all the inventions and scientific discoveries and I am trying to work on vocabulary.

How many inventions can you name off the top of your head? Some people would be able to name a few inventions and some might be able to name a lot of inventions. Well how many of those inventions do you think have helped our exploration and understanding of space? Maybe just a few of them, maybe half, maybe even all of them. Now think of how many of our Space discoveries could help the Earth be a better place for everyone. It is time to begin Man's journey with space and what happened then and now with our exploration of space.

Where should we begin? How about the beginning of man’s exploration of space. Yes I am talking about the SPACE RACE between the U.S.A and the U.S.S.R. The space race started with the U.S.S.R. launching Sputnik 1 into space in 1957, and ended with the co-operative Apollo-Soyuz Test Project human spaceflight mission in 1975. during the space race there were many great achievements such as the first space walk, the first man in space, the first manned aircraft in space, and the first man on the moon. That was why the space race was one of the most important parts of Earth’s history.
But how did we even get to the space race idea with man’s first look at the universe. The two big theories about our universe lit the fire of space exploration. The first theory suggested that Earth was the center of the universe because of how the sun rose in the east and set in the west as if it circled around us. The first theory was proven to be false when Galileo found that while he was looking at the stars through his telescope one night and saw one of the stars seem to disappear. He later discovered that it was actually one of Jupiter’s moons circle around it and that gave rise to the theory that the sun was the center of the universe which had some truth to it but was wrong that the sun was the center of the whole universe when it is actually the center of our solar system. This theory was called the Copernicus theory, ever hear of it?

Okay now I am going to get a little caught up with the present. Have any of you heard of Spirit and Opportunity? Well they are really famous for helping us with our exploration of space. Now this might be confusing. Right now both versions of Spirit and Opportunity are helping us. The first versions I am talking about are the opportunities we are getting and our spirit to help us keep going. The second versions are the Spirit and Opportunity Mars Rovers. This year in 2011 Spirit and Opportunity are turning six. This is their sixth year on Mars. They were only thought that they would keep transmitting for 90 days and then something might have gone wrong, but as you know both of them are still going strong, but NASA says that Spirit might not make it to seven. Spirit is right now trapped in a sand trap and trying to get out. With Mars winter approaching NASA is trying their best to get Spirit over the Mars equator and into summertime on Mars. Opportunity is safe on the other side and transmitting a lot of data back to Earth and will hopefully continue to do so for a long time in to the future.

Two more space probes are in our solar system currently but one of them is close to leaving our solar system. Voyager 1 has com close to our solar systems edge and closer to leaving our solar system. Voyager 1 is currently 17,344,660,483km from the sun and still going out farther. Voyager 1 is right now trying to get out of our system through a huge mass of heat with no solar wind at all. The second space probe Voyager 2 is currently on the outer reaches of our solar system transmitting data to us. Voyager 2 sent back different data for a while that scientists could not figure out. Some citizens believed that it was because of aliens. A few days later NASA discovered that it was only a small glitch in the probes system and was being repaired. Now Voyager 1 and 2 are transmitting data back to us and are still on the outer reaches of our solar system. Let’s hope they keep transmitting for a long time to come.

So did you think about what I said? I hope you did because now I want you to post it in a comment. Other than that I hope you liked my passage, and I hope you comment it. I wrote this passage to make you think about how much we still have to learn about space and how much we can learn from it. Space is not the final frontier in my eyes but it is the beginning of a new one that will continue to teach us about new technology and new discoveries.

Rifles

Author's note: I am writing this because guns interest me and I want to focus on voice

Our modern weapons, the rifles, what are they capable of? There are many different designs for rifles including automatics, semi-automatics, snipers, shotguns, double-barrel, and automatic shotguns. These are different in some ways and they are the same in some ways, but they all have a few things in common. They all have a rifled barrel, they all come from muskets in some way, and the last thing they have in common is they're all used in war.

The types of rifles that are most often seen in war are automatics, semi-automatics(semis), snipers, and automatic shotguns. Some of the 64 auto rifles used in the war are the AK-47, the Browning M1918 BAR, Bushmaster M17S(Bull-pup), Colt M16A2, and the Colt M4 Carbine. Auto rifles are able to fire off bullets straight from the clip with no need to stop in between, unless there is a jam, by holding down the trigger allowing faster reloads and more than one shot at a time such as the triple fire option which is on many auto rifles which allows three shots per trigger pull.

 Some of the semi rifles are the M1 Carbine, the M16, and the AR-15. Semi-auto rifles are able to fire off one bullet every time the trigger is pulled which gives more accuracy and allows them to fire and aim faster .

 Some sniper rifles are the M24 sniper rifle, the M40 sniper rifle, and the Bor sniper rifle. Most sniper rifles have a removable or interchangeable scope and are bolt-action which means you would have to keep a lot of bullets handy because after each shot you would have to pull the bullet cover back which would make the bullet case fall out and then you would have to put the bullet in and slide the bullet cover back over the bullet. There are also semi-auto snipers which give a faster aim and fire time.

 Some auto shotguns are the Benelli, the Beretta 391, the Browning, the Remington, and the Winchester Super X3. Auto shotguns work kind of like regular shotguns but instead of have to cock it and reload when you run out of ammo you would just have to change the ammo cartridge making reloading faster.

Even though they all seem different on the outside they all go into war, they all evolved from the musket, and they all have a rifled barrel. That's what's unique about both rifles and people. We might not all look alike, and  even though there might be a lot of things different about us that separates us from others we are all still alike on the inside and we are all in some way the same.

losing the most important parts of your life

Author’s note: I am writing this for my Language Arts class as a final response to the book the Outsiders.

Throughout the book there are many ways the characters lose their innocence.  Loss of innocence occurs through loss of freedom and knowing what is means to be behind bars. Loss of innocence occurs through loss of childhood happiness due to the loss of parents. Lastly, loss of innocence pairs with loss of life. Yet, throughout all this loss they still stand tall and proud.

Dally was the first of the group to be thrown into jail at the age of 10 when he was in New York. Dally is the one in the group who has the smallest chance of regaining his innocence because of his stony attitude developed during the many times he has been to jail. Yet, Dally is always looking out for the others and will take their place for their crimes, which is why he is respected by the others and also why Johnny came to him for help after the accident.

Darry and Dally have lost basic childhood happiness but because of different reasons. Darry had to give up all the innocence of childhood in his life when his, Soda’s, and Ponyboy’s parents died. He had to take over taking care of his brothers which meant getting two jobs and quitting school. Dally thinks there is no good left in the world and that there is no reason to be happy. Sometimes people chose to give up their basic happiness and lose innocence that way.

The saddest part of the book is when Johnny loses his life, the ultimate loss, but he loses it trying to save another, so it is a noble loss.  Dally also loses his life but for different reasons. They both lose the innocence of child’s life. Johnny loses his life while saving other young kids from a burning building but inhales to much smoke. His innocence is sacrificed. Dally doesn’t want a life without Johnny so he rushes out to get killed. His innocence is given up through his own actions.  Both have died but innocence lost is different.

Defying stereotypes in the outsiders

Authors note: I wrote this to show how the author of the outsiders makes the characters defy the stereotypes of hoodlums.
 

The book the outsiders was about a group of guys who grew up and lived on the wrong side of town. However they defy the stereotypes of the greasers who everyone thinks are really bad and nasty people but instead they are all nice to each other and are just trying to make a good life with what they have been given. Another way they defy stereotypes is that everyone thinks they would be stupid yet Pony boy is one of the top students. A way that Darry defies the stereotype is that people would think that greasers just steal money but Darry works as hard as everyone else. Sodapop defies the stereotype that no greaser has a soul or heart but Soda tries to understand everyone and help them. Those are some ways the guys defy the stereotypes of greaser and are kind of the exact opposite of the stereotypical greasers in my mind, and if these stereotypes are wrong what about other stereotypes?

response to the outsiders: new scene by Cherry

Authors note: i wrote this as ho i think Cherry thought about what happened that night and how  she would put it all as.

"CHERRY. THERE IS SOMEONE HERE FOR YOU"  my dad yelled from downstairs. " I'M COMING, BE THERE IN A SEC" I yelled back. Tonight I was going on a date with my boyfriend Bob, He said we were going to the movies with Randy and Marcia. I had a feeling something might go wrong but I ignored it and finished getting ready for my date.  We had just arrived at the drive-in movie and were settling in when Bob and Randy pulled out some beers asking us if we want any to which we kindly said no and left. They should know better!  They know we don't like beer and yet they brought some. They should have known that we were gonna leave if they brought beer. I was still fuming over it when the Greasers arrived. The cocky greaser was so infuriating I literally wanted to hit him and tell him to beat it, but one of the other greasers told him to leave us alone, which surprisingly he did even though this kid was pretty much half his size. After that we asked the other two greasers to come sit by us to keep the other one away. After awhile of talking to them another greaser came up behind them and acted like a soc who came to kill them. The two greasers were dead white. The other greaser offered to take us home but of course on our way to the car Randy and Bob just had to show up.

Antimatter

Authors note: I am writing this because I just saw a movie that had antimatter in it and it seemed like an interesting topic.

Antimatter to me is the destroyer of matter kind of like how galactus is the destroyer of worlds in The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. I imagined antimatter as little bombs that blow up and destroy matter when they are put together. Antimatter is, in my opinion, something that, if harnessed properly, could be used to help us understand more about our world and what goes on around us everyday.


Antimatter, what is it? Antimatter is the exact opposite of matter and creates anticombinations of particles using antiparticles and antimatter just like how matter and other particles make combinations like hydrogen and oxygen. When anti matter and regular matter combine they destroy each other and create matter antimatter pairs like gamma radiation.  Scientists believe that for every inch of regular matter we see there is an inch of antimatter we don't see. Antimatter has shown up a lot in the past in many theories and still is in some. Some theories included the vortex theory of gravity which proposed the possibility of negative gravity, which could be redone and then used to create hovercraft technology if corrected in my opinion, was thought of by William Hicks in the 1880s. Another includes Karl Pearson's theory that there were squirts and sinks in the flow of aether which I, personally, think could be true.

The term antimatter was first used by Arthur Schuster in his two whimsical letters to nature in 1898 in which he coined it. He hypothesized the existence of antiatoms, and that matter and antimatter annihilated each other, which would be hard to see unless you had a really good microscope. His ideas were not serious ideas in the scientific development.

The  modern theory of antimatter began in 1928 with Paul Dirac. He realized that his relativistic theory of wave equations for electrons made the possibility of antielectrons. These were found by Carl D. Anderson in 1932 and named positrons. Although Dirac did not use the term antimatter its use follows on with antielectrons, antiparticles, and antiprotons.

As you can see we have already tried to understand more about antimatter but with the technology back then we couldn't. So what do you think? Do you think that, with the technology we have now or in the future, that we could start to harness and understand more about antimatter? As I said before,  if we could harness antimatter we could be one step closer to understanding more about the beautiful planet we live on.

electricity and its history

Author's note: I wrote this because It popped into my mind after realizing how much electricity my family uses. I am trying to write a serious piece with good vocabulary.

Electricity is a amazing discovery. For years every one had to use candles to see in the night. Well not after Ben Franklin discovered electricity, or did he? After the discovery of electricity people experimented with it and started making ways to use it for light sources, heat sources, and even transportation. In my opinion electricity is one of the coolest things there is. We can do almost anything with electricity. Even now scientists are trying to find new ways to use electricity. They are trying to make energy efficient cars and planes as well as eco-friendly. If we could harness the sun to a greater extent we could use it to help make solar powered modes of transportation and it would be an eco-friendly source of power that could help eliminate green-house gasses.

The first people to really discover electricity, without knowing they did, were the Ancient Egyptians in 2750 B.C. The first people to try and use electricity using catfish and torpedo rays were the Arab doctors who used the numbing shocks from these fish to cure ailments such as headaches and gouts (whatever they are).  The first person to harness electricity through lightning was the famous Ben Franklin which we all know he used a key and a kite. Do you know who created the first source of electricity through a battery like conductor? Well it was the not so commonly known Alessandra Volta. Her conductor was made of alternating layers of zinc and copper. Hey maybe her last name is where we got the term voltage.

The science world will continue to dig and dive deeper into electricity. If we can know everything about our world and actually cared about stuff maybe we would be able to bring our Earth back to its normal glory through eco-energy. Maybe then we can finally understand nature and truly realize its beauty. The Earth gives us life but it can take it away if we don't give back to it. We need to truly understand our Earth to save it and save ourselves

Bouncy Blimp Unveiled

What’s so new about this blimp taking people to Atlantis the city once at the bottom of the ocean now resting on the clouds? We were able to get an exclusive interview with one of the new blimps captains, and this is what he said about how it is different “ Well I’ll tell ya, this here new fangled blimp runs on trampolines. All the passengers have to do is have fun on the trampolines in order to get this baby going.”   
The inside of the blimp is made of trampolines. Passengers bouncing on the trampolines supplies energy to power propellers. So the blimp transport is made for those who are willing to bounce for art of the trip.  Are you in good enough shape to bounce from Milwaukee to Atlantis?  The heavier the person, the more power they could generate based on how hard they hit.  Each and every person is weighed before getting on the transport on the blimp so the amount of power being picked up by the trampoline can be calculated during each bounce session for even speed on the trip. 
How does it work exactly?  The bounce of the trampoline works like the pistons of a car.  Pushes of air travel down what we call the “jump tubes” and that force eventually coverts into energy that runs the propellers.  Passengers also have to be ready when it is their turn to go so the speed does not slow down.  This blimp is eco friendly.  There is no gas needed, no electricity needed, no solar panels  even – just a bunch of people jumping around and expending their free energy.  We do feed  them and give them water so I guess that is the “fuel” we need.  However,  it still takes a little bit of gas to get the initial liftoff and starting speed to get it going.

maya

The Ancient Mayans were a great civilization that spanned over roughly 3,550 years and then mysteriously just dropped off the timeline. Their reign was like the rising and setting of the sun.  They rose up, reached a climax period of prosperity, then quickly set past the horizon of history never to rise again.
 
During the dawn of their civilization they learned how to produce a surplus of food from their farms, enough to sustain them so that some of them were able to create new jobs such as pottery making and healing.   Simple ceramic pottery has been dug up from their ruins. Since crops were good, they stayed in one place, built homes and stayed attached to families.  Ruins have been unearthed to show that many people stayed together to build all these different places for everyone to hang out.  They eventually created their religion.  Archeologists have found drawings of idols on the pottery and actual idols that may have been used during religious ceremonies. 
Their civilization’s growth climaxed because a small group of elite or noble people would prey off of the working class.  At the top of the chain were the "kings" or religious leaders who were thought to be the reincarnations of Mayan gods.  The second layer of the chain of command were the priests or in the Mayan Language, Ah’kinob and the  “shamans”.  The shamans were like the doctors of today and the priests were like our modern day pastors.  They helped keep order and were probably the smarter people since people looked up to them.  The third layer was the common people who built the Mayan culture into what it was by doing all the hard work as laid out by the kings.  The slaves did even harder labor being at the bottom of the chain.  Again, the ruins show a lot of hard work went into building cities.
 
 
Even though the disappearance of the Mayans is a mystery, the great minds of our day are trying to solve it.   If we figure out what happened to them, we may be able to figure how to make sure it does not happen to us.  If the same thing happened to us, would a future culture dig us up and call us a great civilization?

The New School Year

My 8th grade school year has started off with a bang so to speak. Academy has started off good and I hope it continues like that.