Riya Patel

          Boston Marathon Bombing

           We all know about the Boston Marathon bombing. The one thing that most people don't know is why those peers decided to make that choice. This all happened in April, 2013.If you didn't know about 3 people died including an 8 year old and about 100 people were injured. There was a pair of shootings just before the finish line.

         Just about three-quarters of the 23,000 runners who participated in the race had just crossed the finish line. The bomb that was in the garbage can went off at 2:50 P.M. The second bomb went off thirteen seconds after the first bomb. Although, the second bomb was several hundred feet away. Pandemonium erupted at the site as panicked runners and spectators scattered. Rescue workers rushed to take care of those who were harmed. The F.B.I. the took control of the crime scene.
          President Obama who was speaking at the White House was determined to get to the bottom of things. He said, ' "We will get to the bottom of this. We will find who did this, and we will find out why they did this. Any reasonable individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of  justice." ' 
          Officials say that there were 4 bombs, but only 2 of them went off. The other 2 were disabled by the police. The officials say that the bombs were made of black powder and ball bearings. Although the investigators are unsure of how they were set off at the Boston Marathon.  It was unclear on Monday evening of who might be responsible for the bombs. 
        Some law enforcements officials say that the blasts came at the start if the week in April. It was April 15 the deadline for filling taxes and patriots day in Massachusetts, the start of the week that has seen some violence in the past. April 19 
Is the anniversary of the 1995 bombing of the Alfred  P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

                 The Best Things That Happened in                                            2013

     In the year of 2013 I would mostly remember the Boston Marathon Shootings/bombings. This tradegy happened on 2 separate days in April. The bombings happened on April 15, 2013 at 2:49 P.M. The shootings happened on April 18, 2013 at 10:48 P.M. This all happened in Boston, Massachusetts.More than 200 people died.

      Pop Culture Moments That are Most                             Memorable

     "What does the Fox say?" is a popular song that I'll remember from 2013. This video consists of animal noises that may help educate children that don't know their animals or sounds. It also demonstrates how everyone is unique because even animals don't have the same exact sound. Here is the video:

      

               What 2013 Taught Me

   
      Now, I have learned a lot of things this year, but one thing that I truly learned was to be grateful to those who serve us all night and day. Such as firefighters, police officers, and even the government. This is because important people like Cory Monteith,Nelson Mandela, and Paul Walker all died this past year. 

     What I Am Looking Forward To In 2014

        I am looking forward to a lot of things in 2014. One of the things that I am looking forward is to learn more about the world and what is happening across the globe. Another thing that I am looking forward to doing in 2014 is learn about who is going to be the new president of the United States of America. Lastly what I want to do this upcoming year is do better in school and try my best to get an education and get good grades. This is what I am looking forward to doing this upcoming year.

                  About Liger's

           Ever heard of a Liger? Do you know what it is? A liger is a big cat that are the offspring of a male lion and a female tiger. In other terms they are cross breads. They get different qualities from there parents. For example they are able to swim because lions can swim.
           Ligers get characteristics from both parents. They look like a big lion with tiger-like stripes that are usually light. Larger than either parent, ligers are arguably the largest known cats in the world. For example, Hercules, a liger at Jungle Island theme park in Miami weighs over 900 pounds and ius recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the worlds largest living cat.
         Ligers are hybrids that are created by human breeders in Zoos or nature preserves. There is very little chance that a Liger would be produced naturally in the wild. This is because tigers are found in Asia and Lions are found mainly in Africa.
         In the distant past, the two species had far greater ranges that might of overlapped. While it's possible that a liger may have occured naturally in the wild many, many years ago. Ligers have almost always been the result of purposeful breedung in captivity by human caretakers.
         Ligers can be traced back to the early 1800s. Historical records, including artworks from that time period, show male lions and female tigers and their offspring.

        How Much Does The Sky Weigh

      

            Do you know how much the sky weighs?It weighs more than you can even imagine. Think about an adult Indian elephant. Now they weigh a lot. Now think about a thousand of cars.Keep reading to find out more about this topic.
          Air is all around you. It starts at the ground and goes all the way up to the top of the sky. Al though the air is not empty. The air is made up of all sorts of gas molecules. And guess what? Those molecules all have weight.So that is why the sky weighs so much.
          What does all that air add up to? Would you believe that the entire atmosphere weighs around 5 million billion tons? How heavy is that? Some scientists estimate it weighs about the same weight as 570,000,000,000,000 adult Indian elephants! You're probably wondering how we keep from being crushed from all of that heavy weight.
        Luckily for us, all that weight is distributed evenly over Earth's surface. Still, the average weight of air pressing on you- called air pressure- is almost 15 pounds on each square inch of your body. To be exact it would be 14.7 pounds per square inch.
        Air pressure can be measures with a tool called barometer. The air pressure reading on a barometer is called the barometric pressure. Meteorologists use barometers to detect changers in air pressure, which often signal changes in the weather.
        So now you know all about this topic. I challenge you to find out more about how much the sky really weighs. To refresh your memory the sky weighs about 570,000,000,000,000 adult Indian elephants.

  Riya Patel          

        Why Do We Eat Turkeys On                                 Thanksgiving?

     

         Do you eat Turkeys? Do you ever wonder why we eat Turkeys on Thanksgiving? Well, no one really knows how this started, but there are a few myths. I chose this topic because I think a lot of people wonder about this. I will be focusing on one myth that I learned about. Turkeys started around 16 B.C. Stay tuned to hear about more. This topic relates to Thanksgiving because we eat Turkeys on that holiday. 

1. The wild Turkey is a native bird in North America
2. They were known to drop dead from the loud noise of Air Force Jets
3. Turkeys have heart attacks               

         

                                    My Opinion

          I think that it is a good idea to attribute Queen of England in the 16th century. I think this because you should worship your rulers. I formed this opinion by reading an article about this topic. I found this information on wonderopolis/ and americanlivewire.com. This is interesting because I think that other people are wondering why we eat Turkeys on Thanksgiving. Also they might be wondering who started this tradition. I think that this helps give us a good understanding of why we do eat Turkey's on Thanksgiving.

                                 Top Ten List

1. A male Turkey is called a "Gobbler". An adult "Gobbler" can weigh up to 16 to 22 pounds on average and has spurs on its leg for fighting. A female Turkey is called a "hen". An adult "hen" can weigh up to 8 to 12 pounds and they don't have any spurs.
2. The Wild Turkey was nearly to extinction in the early 1900s when the population reached around 30,000 birds. Restoration Programs in North America brought the numbers up to about 7 million birds today. Without Turkeys we wouldn't be able to celebrate Thanksgiving the way it should of been.
3. Benjamin Franklin praised the Turkey once for being "a much more respectful bird than the bald eagle. Though the Turkey was never proposed as a symbol for America.
4. Turkeys can run at 25 miles per hour. They can get up to the speed if running. They could also fly to at least 55 miles per hour.
5. When a hen is ready to make little Turkeys, she will lay about 10 to 12 eggs. One egg every day. It is over in about a 2 week period. The eggs will incubate for about 28 days before hatching.
6. Female Turkeys prefer males with long snoods. This is because the snood length can be used to predict the winner of a competition between 2 males.
7. A Turkey's gender can be determined by its droppings. The females droppings are shaped like the letter J. The males dropping are spiraled shaped.
8. There 6 species of Turkeys. They are all native.
9.  A group of related males group together to court females. Though, only one male of the group gets to mate
10. The pilgrims brought several domesticated Turkey's to North America.

This information is found on http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com.



        So now you know all about why we eat Turkeys on Thanksgiving .Who came up with the idea to eat Turkeys on Thanksgiving? Anyways, I challenge you to find out who came up with the idea to eat Turkeys on this holiday. This is why we eat Turkeys on Thanksgiving.

Riya Patel

                                Cotton Candy

        Do you love cotton candy? Did you ever wonder who invented cotton candy and how did they make it? Well, if you did stay tuned because I am going to answer your question.Visit this website for more information: http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/who-invented-cotton-candy/

        2 guys named William Morrison and John C. Warton. They were from Tennessee.

The machine spun cotton candy was introduced to the world in 1897. Their first cotton candy machines were unreliable. For example, they broke down several of times and rattled. Though the demands were very high.
          In 1949 the Gold Metal Products of Cincinnati,Ohio, introduced a new version of a cotton candy machine. This new version helped tremendously. It didn't rattle or brake down unless something was very wrong. Now they were reliable to make cotton candy.Even today the Gold Metal Products manufacture almost all of the cotton candy machines.
          Did you ever wonder what happens in a cotton candy machine? Well, first the sugar is melted until it becomes liquid. Then, the liquid sugar is spun as the machine forces it through tiny holes that shapes and cool the liquid.Right after it cools the sugar becomes solid again. The thousands of tiny crystallized sugar threads are then collected by gently rotating a paper cone around the inside of the cotton candy machine.Once the puff of the cotton candy is just right then it is time to eat.
          In 1904 William Morrison and John C. Warton took the cotton candy to the St. Louis World's Fair. They sold each box of cotton candy for 25 cents. This may not seem as much as today, but back then it was half the price of an admission ticket to the fair. They sold over 68,000 boxes of 'fairy floss' also know as cotton candy at the fair.That means that they got more than $17,000.
          The most popular colors of cotton candy is pink and blue. Do you know how they get that perfect color? Well, you may be suprised to know that cotton candy is just like sugar, it is naturally white. You make they colors by adding in pink and blue food dye.
          This is all about the world of cotton candy.Now, I challenge you to choose a topic on  http://wonderopolis.org/ and read the paragraph underneath the video. Make sure you gather information to inform someone else.

                        A Few Facts That I Have Learned

• National cotton candy day is celebrated on November 7 each year.
• There is only one ingredient in cotton candy: sugar
• There is about as much sugar in cotton can as in a can of soda.  

Riya's extra credit

  Extra Credit
  Riya Patel                      

                         Current Events  

     Have you ever read about current events? Well, current events are news that are happening right now. In other words the news is present.Have you have read current events did the news relate to you, someone you know, or even a character in a book that you're reading? Well keep reading to find out how some of these events could relate to the character in my independent reading book. 

     The book that I read is called "The Clique- Kristen". The character in the book that I am mainly focusing on is Kristen. One event the is happening is the voting. I think the Kristen would be interested in this article because she actually takes time to learn about what is going on around the world. In addition she is tutoring a girl named Ripple.I think that Kristen's opinion on the news is that she would get a little interested in it. For example, you probably are very anxious to find out who the winner of the voting is. This is one current event that Kristen would enjoy learning about.   
       Another current event found on is all about fashion and clothes. This is because she also enjoys being a fashionista. At the same time. though, she loves to learn about the world itself and what is happening all over the globe. Her opinion would be that  she loves learning about fashion as well as Earth's history. This is another current event that I personally think that she would love.
       A third current event that Kristen would be interested in is math. This is because she spends most of her time tutoring math to Ripple.So she would be really interested to find more facts about math. Her opinion might be that the article was very informative. This is another current event that Kristen would like to read about.
        A fourth current event that she would enjoy is about beauty pageants. I think this because in her spare time she sometimes helps the contestants get ready by putting makeup on their face,doing their hair, lining them up, and keeping them calm if they are to nervous. She would like this event because it could give her more ways to make the girls even more beautiful. Her opinion might be that it is informative and very helpful to her part-time volunteer job. This is the fourth current event that i believe Kristen would love.
      Lastly, the fifth current event that Kristen would enjoy is pets. This is because she has a little puppy that she volunteered to take care of. I think that this will probably help her get a better understanding of what puppy's necessities are. Another idea is that she may not know important things like when they have to go to the vet for a checkup. Also, you have to walk them every day. So, I think that Kristen would like the article. Her opinion would probably be that the news is very helpful for people who don't really have an experience with dogs/puppy's. This is the fifth event that Kristen would really enjoy.
     Finally, you know how current events can relate to you. It could also relate to another person that you know or even a character in a movie or book. I challenge you to find a current event that either relates to you, another person that you know, or a character. Now you have learned all about current events.


        
       

Riya Patel            Advertisement

        Many techniques are used in advertising. Two of the propaganda techniques that the commercial below focuses on is emotional appeal and bandwagon. Bandwagon is a technique that uses a product that is part of the crowd. Emotional appeal is a technique that uses emotions such as happiness, sadness, humor, etc. In the commercial we see bandwagon because it is mainly focusing on children. This is effective because well we're children and it seems like that child really likes the cereal so maybe we would like it,too. Also, in the commercial you will see emotional appeal. This is also effective because if it is funny it will get you hooked and interested. As you can see both bandwagon and emotional appeal are the techniques shown in the video below. Go to this website for more information http://academic.cuesta.edu/acasupp/as/404.htm. Watch this video to see the techniques:

            Now you see that the video shows bandwagon and emotional appeal. Bandwagon because the commercial is for children. Emotional appeal because it is funny. Do you like this commercial? What do you think the techniques are used for?

                                          My Opinion

     One of the techniques used is bandwagon. Another idea is because it really gets me hooked into buying that kind of cereal. I think the commercial showed bandwagon so that the kids would want it. In fact, it is part of the kid's crowd. Meaning that the children would want this cereal more than anything. Yes, I think this commercial will make money. This is because kid's would love to buy a healthy cereal from a commercial that gets you hooked and makes you want to dance. 
        Another technique used  in the "Dub Step Commercial" is emotional appeal. I think this commercial showed emotional appeal because it is funny. It is funny how teddy Bear's danced and it gets you interested. Yes, I think this cereal commercial will make money because you may get interested by how that cereal makes you want to dance after you take one bite. This is because a lot of kids in this generation like to dance. So, this is another technique used in "The Dub step Cereal Commercial". Go to this website to learn what each technique means:    CLICK HERE

              In conclusion, you just learned about the two techniques that are used in the video above. Now you should learn about them even more. I challenge you try and memorize each propaganda techniques. Also, try to find videos that match those techniques. Go to this website for more information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_techniques

           Top 5 Videos Using Emotional Appeal 

  

   This video shows emotional appeal because it is funny. It is funny how they made the coco-cola. For example, the little animals that make the coco-cola fall and do all sort of funny things. What do you think?


     This video is funny because they all stopped to drink a can of Pepsi. For example, they were in the middle of doing a class. Do you agree? Do you see any other techniques? 


     This video is sad because all of the dogs look sad and lonely. If you look in the dog's eyes you'll see that the look so sad. Their whining makes you want to buy a dog or puppy. What do you think? Will you want to buy the dog or puppy after watching the video?


      This video is very funny. This is because they fight at a wedding. Again, what do you think? Would you do that at  a wedding?
       This commercial is funny because the Polar Bears kept sliding. For example, the Polar Bears fell one by one on the ice. Another is that when the last polar bear finally caught it they sighed in relief. That shows how much the Polar Bears actually cared for the Coco-Cola. 

         Top 5 Videos Using Bandwagon

  

\
       This video uses bandwagon because it is for the kid's crowd. Meaning that this cereal was made for the children. Do you like this video? Do you think there are any more techniques than bandwagon in this commercial?


      This video shows bandwagon. This is because again  the cereal is made for children in general. Another example is that I don't really think that they designed this cereal for teenagers and adults. Do you agree?

      
           This video shows bandwagon because this time yogurt is for all ages. For example, in the video you don't just see the kids eating the yogurt you see that even the adults eat it. Also, the yogurt is a nutritious snack. So probably our grandparents eat to love a healthy and long life. 


        This commercial also shows bandwagon. This is because children love ice cream more than anything. Do you agree with this? Does this commercial use any other propaganda techniques?


     
       This commercial shows bandwagon. This is because everyone would want to go to Great Adventure to ride this roller coaster. Would you want to ride this roller coaster? This is how this commercial shows bandwagon.

Riya Patel

                            Emperor of China

                               About Qin Shi Huang and His Tomb

                

     

                 Qin Shi Huang was the emperor of China. He started in 246 B.C. He was 13 years old. He came up with the idea to build the tomb. The tomb was full of life-sized clay soldiers that represented the Terra Cotta Army. The tomb was discovered by local farmers digging for water as read in our literature book. The Soldiers were broken into over 200 pieces each. On our class blog video it said that it took over 36 years and more than 700,000 workers employed for construction. “No 2 faces of the Terra Cotta army were the same. Each face was unique.” Reported the video on our class blog.

  What I think About the Emperor of China       
     

        I dislike the Emperor because he used to poison people to punish them. He even buried them alive. For example I read on National Geographic that he gave his people medication so that they will pass out. Another thing I read on National Geographic is that he would have someone bury them alive for him. On our class blog it states that no one liked him because of what he did. He would kill people for no reason at all. Another idea is that he did come up with the idea to build the tomb.

          I challenge you to learn as much as you possibly can about Qin Shi Huang and his tomb.

          This is why I dislike Qin Shi Huang, but after all he did come up with the idea to build the tomb to keep the barbarians out.

    

                                Top Ten List

• Over 36 years
• Soldiers are know being displaye at the museum in Washington D.C.
• Qin Shi Huang built the Great Wall of China
• He was the ruler if China in 246 B.C.
• Over 7,000 workers

     

         

Riya Patel                 Super Croc

                                           About Supercroc

           As seen on national geographic Supercroc is a giant reptile from Africa. This reptile used to live with dinosaurs and even ate them using a clever strategy. Compared to a dinosaur the supercroc would probably have driven them to extinction. Supercroc had more than 130 teeth. These vicious creatures could grow up to be 40 feet long. They could also weigh as much as 10 tons, more than adult elephant. If one supercroc stood on 2 legs it would be taller than a mansion. 

This is Supercroc

                          What I Think Of Supercroc

                In my opinion I think Supercroc is a humongous creature. I think this because they could grow to be 40 feet long. In addition they used to eat other dinosaurs,too. T-Rex smiled to see this creature become like them.This is one opinion I have about Supercroc. Another opinion is that I think that Supercroc was very intelligent. I think this because in the article by Peter Winkler it states "Supercroc dragged the  stunned creature into the water.There the animal drowned.And it became food." This is another opinion on why I think Supercroc was most likely very intelligent.

                          

                 Facts About Supercroc

From the articles I have read these are some of the facts that I gathered:

• largest crocodile to ever live
• Has three rows of teeth
• Has more than 130 teeth
• Weighs more than 10 tons
• Lives in the water and on land
• Can grow to be up to 40 feet long
• They were very rare

    

         I challenge you to learn more about Supercroc on these websites listed below:

• http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/09/supercroc/sereno-text
• http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50640378/ns/technology_and_science-s
• http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/american-crocodile/