I love to read about nonfictions stuff that is about big cats like tiger, lions, leopards, bobcats, snow leopards, lynx, ocelots and many more. I am really interested about big cats because I love to read the Warriors Series which is about cats. I was also lead to big cats because I have a lot of sympathy for them because I don't want them to die out. I already know tons of stuff about cats. I know they are very close to becoming extinct especially tigers and snow leopards. My favorite cats have got to be snow leopard and lions. Below are pictures of big cats.

Even if your parents don’t have any brothers, did you know you still have an uncle? It’s true! He’s really tall. He has white hair and a goatee. He often wears a red, white and blue outfit and a top hat. And guess what? He wants YOU! Who are we talking about? Uncle Sam, of course! For almost 200 years, the cartoon-like character of Uncle Sam has symbolized the United States. When an object or idea — like an entire country, for example — is made to seem like a real person, we call that personification. Historians believe that the personification of the United States as Uncle Sam began during the War of 1812. During that war, a meat packer named Samuel Wilson from Troy, New York, shipped beef to the U.S. Army in large barrels. These barrels had “U.S.” on the outside of them, which stood for “United States.” Mr. Wilson’s workers, though, often joked that the “U.S.” stood for “Uncle Sam” Wilson. Over time, the shipments became known as presents from “Uncle Sam.” Since it was the United States federal government that was providing the food for its soldiers, “Uncle Sam” soon became associated with the U.S. government. Did Samuel Wilson look like the cartoon pictures of Uncle Sam that are so familiar? Nope! The cartoon-like character we quickly recognize as Uncle Sam was actually invented by artists who created political cartoons for newspapers. One of the most famous cartoonists to draw Uncle Sam was a man named Thomas Nast. He drew many of the first cartoons of Uncle Sam in the late 1860s and early 1870s. Probably the most famous picture of Uncle Sam, though, was on a U.S. Army recruiting poster. Designed for World War I and used again in World War II, the poster features a caption that reads “I Want You for U.S. Army.” The poster’s artist was James Montgomery Flagg, who also served as the model for Uncle Sam!

Yes I am doing another blog on Wonderopolis. Many fans of old cartoons fondly remember Huckleberry Hound. Fans of classic literature almost always know Huckleberry Finn. Of course, all of this begs the question: exactly what is a huckleberry? Huckleberries might sound a bit like a made-up creation for books or cartoons, but we assure you they’re real fruits. In fact, they’re the state fruit of Idaho. Throughout North America, people use the name “huckleberry” to refer to several different plants from the Ericaceae family. Some species of huckleberries fall into the genus Gaylussacia, while others are part of the genus Vaccinium. Huckleberries are edible and quite tasty. The small, round berries resemble blueberries. In fact, in some parts of the United States, huckleberries might be called blueberries and blueberries might be called huckleberries. They’re not the same fruit, though. The various species of huckleberries range in color from bright red to dark purple to blue. Red huckleberries tend to have a tart flavor, while purple and blue huckleberries taste sweeter. In addition to humans, many animals enjoy huckleberries, including bears! Huckleberries grow wild in many different parts of the U.S. Perhaps this is why the huckleberry inspired many different phrases dating back to the 1800s. Because huckleberries are small, the word “huckleberry” was often used as a nickname for something small, unimportant or insignificant. Scholars believe this was the meaning Mark Twain had in mind when he named his Huckleberry Finn character. People at that time would have understood that “Huck” Finn’s name was a clue that he was a small boy who was of a lower class than his companion, Tom Sawyer. Huckleberries were also often compared to persimmons, which are much larger, to express the idea of something small against something big. This usage eventually led to the popular phrase “a huckleberry over my persimmon,” which meant something was just beyond one’s abilities. One of the most famous huckleberry phrases, though, was “I’m your huckleberry.” If you said “I’m your huckleberry,” it meant you were expressing that you were the right person for a particular job. A similar phrase today might be something along the lines of “I’m your man.” No one knows for sure how that phrase came to be so popular or how it got its meaning. Scholars suspect it evolved over time out of the idea that huckleberry was often used as a term of endearment or friendship.

Today I felt like doing another blog. Do you love animated films? What kid doesn’t? Your parents might even like them as much as you do! Today’s Wonder of the Day is all about one particular type of animation: clay animation. Clay animation is a unique form of stop animation that uses figures made out of clay. Whether you realize it or not, you’ve probably seen clay animation many times. Some of the most famous clay animation characters include Gumby and Pokey, Wallace and Gromit and the California Raisins. Sometimes clay animation is called Claymation^®, which is a term that was created by Will Vinton. Vinton owned an animation studio that helped clay artists develop clay animation movies. Clay animation got its start way back in 1897 when modeling clay was invented. Artists began to sculpt characters out of clay. They would then take multiple still pictures of the character, moving the character slightly in between each picture. When those pictures were displayed quickly in succession, they created the illusion of movement. The first clay animation film — The Sculptor’s Welsh Rarebit Dream — was produced in 1908 by Edison Manufacturing. Since clay characters must be moved or changed only slightly in between every single still picture, clay animation is a lot of work. As a result, clay animation films are often shorter than other types of animated films. For example, a typical animated movie requires 24 frames — also called stops — for one second of playback. That equates to 24 still pictures for each second of movie time. Because clay animation is so much work, clay animators often do double stops. This means they use the same picture twice in a row to cut down on the number of stops needed. Doing doubles, they still need 12 still pictures for each second of movie time. Each still picture must vary only slightly from the previous one in order to create the illusion of smooth movement. If the changes between pictures are too great, the film will appear choppy. So let’s do the math to figure out just how much work a simple 30-minute clay animation movie would require. At a rate of 12 stops per second of movie time, a 30-minute clay animation movie requires 21,600 still pictures! A full-length (90-minute) clay animation movie would require 64,800 still pictures. Can you imagine taking 21,600 still pictures while making tiny changes to clay characters in between each and every picture? That’s how much work clay animation is!

The blog I am going to tell you about is Wonderopolis report #516 Do Wood chucks Really Chuck Wood? Surprisingly no they do not chuck wood. Woodchucks have many names like groundhog, whistle pig, land beaver, otchek, otchig, and even wuchak. Woodchucks belong to a group of rodents called marmots which is the same group squirrels belong to. The name wood chuck gave many ideas for toung twisters. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood? A woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could, if a woodchuck could chuck wood! This is one of the most famous toung twisters. Also did you know that the vedio was from the Life and Science Museum. I can use this knoeledge in my life if I have to study or make a report on woddchucks.

Wonder Words

woodchuck- An animal that is in the margot family and it is slightly bigger than a squrille.

groundhog-Another name for a woodchuck.

squeal-A sound that sounds like a high pitched errie.

HEY GUYS I GOT NEW GADGETS. TRY THEM OUT.

i call dibs on Do Woodchucks Really Chuck Wood?

Right now I am going to do another blog from blogmeister. The wonder I am doing is # 514 Why do some years leap ahead. Most years, February 28 gives way to March 1. But not this year! In 2012, we have a February 29, and we’ll have another one in 2016. What’s up with that? Our calendar year is usually 365 days. This is the amount of time that it takes Earth to travel once around the Sun. When the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582, a year was defined as 365 days to make the calendar year coincide with the solar year. Long, long ago, though, smart astronomers figured out that it actually takes Earth a little bit longer than 365 days to travel around the Sun. Measuring precisely, they determined that one trip around the Sun actually takes 365.242 days (or 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds, to be exact). That means a year should actually be 365 and almost one-quarter days long. Since that would be very difficult to manage on a calendar, the ancient Egyptians came up with the idea of adding a day every four years to keep the calendar year on track with the solar year. The ancient Romans under Julius Caesar decided to do the same as the Egyptians when they developed our modern calendar. In fact, they were the first to designate February 29 as the extra day. This extra day is called Leap Day. The year in which it occurs is called a Leap Year, since it has 366 days and helps the calendar leap one day forward to stay on track with the Earth’s journey around the Sun. Is all this really necessary? An extra day every four years may not seem like a big deal now, but it adds up over time. For example, after a century, the difference between the calendar and solar years would be 25 days. That would mean that seasons would start almost a month later than they’re supposed to. Leap years help correct this problem and keep the calendar on track. Unfortunately, the math turned out to be just a bit more complicated than merely adding a day every four years. Astronomers figured out that the solar year is really 11 minutes and 14 seconds less than 365 and one-quarter days. That means adding a day every four years would lead to three more days than necessary being added every 400 years. To solve this problem, the ancient Romans decided to skip leap years three times every 400 years. The rule they put in place is this: only one out of every four “century” years is considered a leap year. For example, 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not leap years, but 2000 was. The easy way to know whether a century year is a leap year is to determine whether it’s evenly divisible by 400. So, 2100, 2200 and 2300 will not be leap years, but 2400 will be a leap year. People born on February 29 are often called “leaplings” or “leapers.” In non-leap years — called common years — they usually celebrate their birthdays on either February 28 or March 1. Some “leapers” take advantage of their special birthday when they get older. For example, an 84-year-old “leapling” might claim he’s only 21, since he’s only celebrated 21 birthdays (every four years)! I picked this blog because leap years only come every 4 years.

Today I felt like doing another wonderopolis blog. The blog is #515 Why Do Giraffes Have Long Necks? Imagine being able to peer into a second-story window without needing to stand on your tiptoes. Welcome to a giraffe’s life. As the tallest creature in the animal kingdom, the giraffe has a view that can’t be beat. The giraffe’s long neck can reach more than 7 feet in length, which means it makes up nearly half of its overall height. Just like humans, giraffes have seven vertebrae in their necks, but theirs — unlike ours — can each be over 10 inches long. There are a couple of theories about why giraffes have such long necks. Some scientists believe it’s simply a matter of natural selection. Giraffes fight by beating each other with their heads and necks. This is called “necking.” Male giraffes whip their necks around, using their heavy skulls like clubs. The longer and thicker the neck, the more likely a giraffe is to win a fight. Giraffes that are successful in fights are more likely to breed and produce offspring. Others believe long necks are a result of competition for food. Giraffes share their habitat with lots of other animals — a lot of shorter animals. These shorter creatures also need to eat, snacking on plants and foliage at a height that may not even reach giraffes’ knees. Since these shorter creatures pick over food at a lower level, giraffes’ necks allow them to reach food and nutrients that others cannot. This becomes especially important for survival in habitats where food can become scarce and droughts are fairly common. Giraffes can feed close to the ground, too, but research has shown that they prefer to eat at heights between 7 and 14 feet. Some people suggest giraffes’ long necks are a sort of early warning system, allowing them to spot approaching predators. Most biologists say this theory is not likely, though. They suspect we would see many more animals with long necks if this were a real advantage and useful form of self-protection. Giraffes have very few predators. Besides humans, giraffes are hunted only by lions and crocodiles. When necessary, giraffes defend themselves with a very powerful (and deadly) kick, and then make a run for it at speeds up to 30 miles per hour. A baby giraffe is between five and six feet tall when it is born — about the height of an average adult human! I choose this blog because it looked very interesting and cool.

Today I felt like doing a blog from wonderopolis. The wonder I am going to do is #505 Who's on Mount Rushmore?Mount Rushmore National Memorial features the faces of four former presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln are carved into Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills region of South Dakota.  I felt like doing this blog because it looked really cool. Doane Robinson, a historian from South Dakota, came up with the idea of carving the faces of famous people into mountains in the Black Hills as a way to encourage tourists to visit South Dakota. He enlisted Danish-American sculptor Gutzon Borglum to help him find the perfect spot. Borglum and Robinson eventually settled on Mount Rushmore for several reasons. It’s the tallest mountain in the area at 5,725 feet above sea level. It also faces southeast, which meant that the work would receive sunlight for most of the day. Mount Rushmore is also made up of smooth granite. This durable rock is especially good for sculpting, because it erodes at a rate of only one inch every 10,000 years. Rather than simply carving “famous people” into Mount Rushmore, Borglum thought the sculpture should have a patriotic, national focus. His idea was to carve the likenesses of four presidents who best represented the first 150 years of United States history. Borglum chose George Washington because, as the first president, he represents the birth of America. Jefferson, who was responsible for the Louisiana Purchase, promoted the expansion of the nation. Lincoln, through his guidance through the Civil War, symbolizes the preservation of the country. Roosevelt, who encouraged construction of the Panama Canal, embodies the development of America. The sculpting of Mount Rushmore began in 1927. With the help of over 400 workers, Borglum completed the 60-foot sculptures of the presidents’ faces between 1934 and 1939. Originally, construction plans called for each president to be sculpted from head to waist. When Borglum died in March 1941, his son, Lincoln, took over. Unfortunately, funding for the project ran out and construction ended in October 1941. The entire project cost just under $1 million. Despite the size of the project and the dangers inherent in sculpting the side of a granite mountain, there were no fatal accidents during the project. Today, regular maintenance of the memorial requires mountain climbers to check for and seal cracks regularly .Robinson’s initial idea of attracting tourists has certainly come to pass. Mount Rushmore draws over two million visitors each year. I think the idea for Mount Rushmore was very unique. I would also like to write about more wonderopolis blogs in the future.