HSJO -- Blogmeister

Every second Monday in October we honor a holiday called Columbus Day. In elementary school, they used to teach us that we were celebrating the day that an Italian explorer called Christopher Columbus discovered America. Now I understand that there's more to the story, and they weren't exactly telling us the whole truth. This holiday has started a whole controversy. Some people believe that we shouldn't celebrate Columbus day because he practiced genocide on the Native Americans and that he was a “bad guy”, and some say that we still should. After studying both sides of the argument, I have decided that there a few major reasons that convinced me that we should continue to celebrate the holiday.

It is true that Columbus didn't actually discover America, there were already natives living there, but he discovered America for Europe. A vast majority of the people living in the United States today are from European heritage, so what is wrong in celebrating the day our ancestors came to the country we now call home? Columbus wasn't exactly a “nice guy”, and he killed a bunch of Native Americans and it's true that Columbus Day can be offensive to indigenous people but that's not the point here. There are more people in our country that are from Italian and Spanish heritage than there are Native Americans. The majority is what matters. There are always going to be those people who aren't happy with the decision, that automatically want to go against the common interest. Switch the picture around. Suppose Columbus was actually a nice guy, and he tried to make peace with the natives. But, the natives ignore this and kill Columbus and all his men. Columbus never makes it back, and Europe doesn't discover America until many centuries later, when the Native Americans have developed the technology and weapons to keep the Europeans out. Then, today, the majority of our population would be Native American, and we would be honoring the day that we kept Columbus from conquering America. You see, it all depends on the majority of the population, and what they support.

The second reason for wanting to continue celebrating Columbus day is because it wasn't just a one way street. The Europeans weren't the only ones gaining something out of the discovery of the New World. Even though a huge portion of the indigenous population was wiped out by small pox, disease, not to mention being killed by the Europeans, the remainder of the Native Americans still prospered. The Europeans brought a lot of new technology to the Native Americans. The Native Americans also gained something out of Columbus' discovery of the New World.

The last reason for why we should should celebrate Columbus day goes along with the previous one. When the Europeans got to the Americas, they exploited the natural resources there, which benefited everyone. They sent back “staple crops” to Europe, and brought many new foods back home. The Native Americans also gained lots of resources and food, after relations between the indigenous people and the Europeans had become more cordial. Everybody was benefited by the exploitation of the natural resources in the Americas.

Overall, there are three major reasons why we should continue to honor Columbus day. Number one, more of the population of the United States today are from Italian or Spanish heritage than there are Native Americans. It may be offensive to the indigenous population, it's all about the majority. My second reason is that the Native Americans also gained something from the Europeans when they came to the Americas. The Europeans brought a lot of new technology to the New World. The final reason of why we should celebrate Columbus day is that the Europeans exploited the natural resources in America, which both the Europeans and the indigenous people were benefited by. In the end these three reasons out rule the people who believe we should continue to celebrate this holiday. Of course, we also get the day of school which is very important.

This is a bridge writing experiment that I hadn't quite finished yet.

The Bridge

I look around at my surroundings, and all I can see are the tops of massive pine trees reaching out of the fog. All is silent, the birds who were chirping so brightly before have fallen silent and the wind has ceased to be. Silence. At first it is peaceful, but I begin to feel uneasy. The quiet has an unnerving effect and suddenly I wish for there to be noise, some sign that some other living thing is out here besides me. I sit down, contemplating what to do. That's when I hear it. Just a faint whisper, the sound of rushing water. So quiet that at first I think I am imagining it, going crazy from being out here for so long. But after a while of listening, I can hear it, and I walk through the woods toward the sound. Yes, I can hear better now, it must be a river. I come out into a clearing, and I see a valley below. And, through the trees I see a white streak across the landscape. Breaking into a steady run, my thirst grows ever more stronger. In ten minutes I reach the river, and plunge my face in to the water, taking in gulps and gulps, until my bladder is full and I can hold no more. The cold shoots through my body, reviving me and sharpening my senses. Now, replenished and ready to go, I take in my surroundings. To the right, the river heads farther down the valley, twisting around a bend to the left and out of sight. To my left, I see that there is a hill, bare of trees. I decide to go there and see if I can see anything from the top. Before I go, I turn to get my water bottle to refill it, but I realize that when I rushed off to the river I left my things behind. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I see something standing high above the tree tops. At first I dismissed it has a tall tree, but then I realized it was the color of rusty metal. My spirits were instantly lifted up, the signs of human civilization g giving me hope.

My Recommended Summer Reading List

Shutter Island, by Dennis Lehane-thriller

Lockdown: Escape from Furnace, by Alexander Gordon Smith- action/adventure

Search and Destroy, by Dean Hughes- historical fiction

Under the Dome, by Stephen King- horror

The Compound, by S.A. Bodeen- mystery/thriller

This is a wordle of all the words that I have used on my blog this year. The bigger words are words that have been used more often.

Last summer, in August, Hurricane Bill formed of off a tropical wave off the coast of Western Africa. It turned into a tropical depression near the Cape Verde islands, then upgraded to a tropical storm. It headed over Bermuda and up the East coast, turning into a category 4 hurricane, with winds up to 135 mph. As it moved north, it lost some of its power but still managed to kill two people. As the hurricane got closer to Rye, NH, it created some great swell.

I went down to check the waves on Saturday, August 27. It was pouring with rain and as I walked onto the beach, I remember just seeing massive waves, at least 10 feet high. I saw one guy out there, one brave soul. It was way to big for me to surf. I came back the next day and it was really sunny. The waves had gotten even bigger, about 12 feet now, and if I tried to get out there on my board it would be suicide. There were a lot more guys out there though, but there were a lot of closeouts, and I remember seeing half of them taking spectacular wipe outs.

I decided to get my body board and go in a little bit, just catching waves that had already broken for the heck of it. I remember once, I paddled out a little bit further and attempted to catch a wave that was about 4 or 5 feet high, it hadn't broken yet. I managed to get into it and as I dropped in on my body board that didn't even have a leash, I just remember the wave sucking out from underneath me. I just dropped, straight to the bottom of the wave and the body board shot out from underneath me. As I hit the water, my back twisted in ways I didn't even think was possible. After that I got out of the water because my back was killing me. Just as we started to leave the lifeguards came by and kicked everyone out of the water. Good timing.

The day after that, it was Monday, I came back again. The waves were perfect; about chest to head high with overhead sets. I grabbed my 5'10 apoxy zouvi board and paddled out. I sat there for about fifteen minutes watching surfers around me catch great waves, occasionally paddling for one until someone would drop in farther down and I would have to back out so I didn't drop in on them. There is a whole surfing etiquette out there. No one speaks about it, you just know it. One rule is that you never drop in on someone else's wave. Whoever is closest to where it's breaking has right of way. Anyway, eventually my perfect wave came. Somehow, there was no one around me, and I knew that this was mine. I paddled as hard as I could, trying to get into the wave as early as possible. As soon as I felt the wave's force pulling me in, I popped up and sped across the face, almost like a dance, the crest of the wave chasing behind me. I surfed way down the beach until eventually it closed out at the very end, where I turned off the back, jumping into the water. I slid back on my board and paddled back out. I surfed for about two more hours, but I didn't know how long I had been out, I lost track of time. I went home and came back later that day, heading out again at 7:30 at night. That was some of the best surfing I had all year.

This is wordle that I made from a graph of what religions a handful of students at RJH follow. Ms. Adams then took it with her when she went to Belize and took a survey of some students there. The size of the words represent how many people follow that religion. The bigger the word, the more popular it is.

It is March 9, 2010 and the 2010 Winter Olympics ended 11 days ago. This year I took interest in mogul skiing. Mogul skiing is a form of freestyle skiing where athletes ski down a steep slope of large moguls, or bumps, as high as 1.2 meters.

As well as moguls, there are two “air bumps”, or jumps in the course, one close to the top and one close to the bottom, where skiers are required to perform two different jumps of their choice. Athletes perform spins, loops, off axis jumps, back and front flips, and flips with twists off of these jumps. Some specific tricks are the 180, a 180 degree rotation of the body and skis, the back tuck, a single back flip in the tuck position, and the helicopter, a 360 degree spin with the skier in upright position.

Training to be a mogul skier requires lots of core and muscular strength as well as endurance. The skier needs strength to absorb the impact of the moguls, like suspension on a car. During the off season athletes train in fitness camps, glaciers, and water ramps.

The winners of the men's mogul skiing this year were Alexandre Bibdeau from Canada, who got the gold, Dale Begg-Smith from Australia, who won silver, and Bryon Wilson from USA, who won bronze. As for the total amount of medals won in freestyle skiing, USA won with 4 medals and Canada and China close behind with 3.

The first competition in mogul skiing was in 1971 and it has been an official medal event in the Winter Olympics since 1992. I think it has been a good addition to the Winter Olympics because it's very different from alpine skiing which is all about speed. Speed is an important part of mogul skiing too, but style and form are also very important.

I picked mogul skiing to write this essay on because it's very entertaining and fun to watch, and it is, in my opinion, the most interesting Winter Olympic sport, because there is so much variety in each run and each athlete performs different tricks. So, that is a short description on mogul skiing, and I hope this has expanded your knowledge on the sport.

An Autobiography of Optimus Prime, and his Experiences as an Officer in the Roman Army

My name is Optimus Prime and I was an officer in the Roman army. I fought in the battles between the Celts and the Romans, and this is an account of my experiences when we invaded Scotland.

I lived in a Roman fort with my fellow officers and soldiers, along with the commander and his family, who lived with him in the Praetorium, or the Commander's Quarters. My family couldn't live with me inside the fort, they had to live outside in the village, along with all the other soldiers' families. Other buildings inside the fort, besides the Praetorium, was the balnae, or baths, the centuriae, or barracks, the fabricae, or workshops, the campus, or parade ground, and the principia, or the head quarters. The centuriae was the sleeping quarters for us soldiers, and each building was about 50 meters long and 10 meters wide. When I woke up each morning I would head over to the campus for weapon training and marching drills. The other officers and I made the soldiers practice different formations, my favorite being the "tortoise". The tortoise was a formation where the soldiers would march in a line with their shields out to block enemy missiles. After training, we would go to the Principia, the most important building in the fort. The principia was run by the officers in the legion. This was where the soldiers would swear an oath of allegiance to the emporer, punishments would be carried out, and where weapons would be stored. In the afternoon, I would go to the balnae for a nice soak in the baths. I bathed in a cold bath, then a warm, bath then a hot bath, because we Romans believe that that is healthy and good for you. Afterwards I would usually dry off in the sauna. Another important part of the fort that I didn't often go to were the fabricae, or the workshops. This was were the craftsmen worked. One workshop was where meat was kept and supplied. Another was where the blacksmiths made nails, armour, and helmets. Another workshop was used by masons, plumbers, carpenters, and roof-tile makers. And the Praetorium, which I already talked about was just a living quarters for the commander. Surrounding the fort was a 3 meter high wall made of carefully cut blocks of turf. The fort had four gates, and was a rectangular shape.

The first skirmish I was in with the Celts was when we were moving out of our fort for the spring campaign. We had been marching along for a few days when we spotted the smoke in the distance. As we got closer I got my first look at a Celtic fort. The first impression I got was how primitive the fort was compared to ours. It was basically a big circle with unimpressive walls. Inside was an unorganized looking jumble of huts with thatched roofs, and I realized that this was a fort-village. We snuck up to the gate, took out the guards and then raided the fort, looting what was useful to us, burning the rest. The Celtic soldiers wore woolen tunics and simple helmets made of metal and leather along with a large shield made of wood covered in leather. We wore a sagum, or long woolen cloaks and a cassiss, or a bronze helmet with an iron cap underneath. The officers would wear red cloaks so we stood out in battle. As for weapons, the Celts had a long sword for cutting and slashing, as well as long spears with spiral points used for making deep wounds. Us Roman soldiers had a pilum, or throwing spear, and a gladius, or a short, wide, double-edged sword. The battle only lasted a few hours. By the end of it, we were surrounded by a mass of dead bodies, and we ourselves had only lost 12. We took a few survivors as hostages. Another impression that the layout of the Celtic fort gave me was that they were a bit disorganized. Our fort had a strict layout, whereas their's was more random. If the layout of their fort was disorganized, then I figured that their army wasn't very organized either. That was a useful piece of information. This battle left me feeling a lot more confident then I was before.

After the battle we continued on until night fell and then set up camp. The next few weeks were uneventful, stumbling upon a Celtic fort-village here and there, but other than that nothing major. One time we picked up a barrel of the Celtic ale to try. It was disgusting, like drinking water thats been in a jar of mud for a week. About a half a second after everyone took a sip, you could hear a symphony of hundreds soldiers spraying their beer all over each other. It was rather comical, we Romans definitely prefer our good old wine. In the next month we had a huge battle with the Celts, which we eventually won, but we lost about half of our century. This forced us to return to our fort a little bit prematurely, until reinforcements arrived. After that we went through another winter living in the fort and then were called back home to Rome.

So, that is a short summary of what life was like an Roman officer during the time we invaded Scotland.

In science class we were given a mini project to design a Valentine's day card with at least 4 Valentine's day sayings that were related to something we studied in science this year. Here are the quotes from my card

" Short wave lengths are blue, long wave lengths are red, all the colors make a spectrum, so beautiful like you"

"Your smile is as bright as a supernova"

"My love for you stretches farther than the thermosphere, farther than Jupiter, and even farther than Pluto"

"My love for you is bigger than the circumference of the Earth, which is about 24,000 miles

HSJO

HAPPY VALENTINE"S DAY AND STUFF!