American Christmas Traditions

When New Year’s Eve comes a lot of things happen around the world.  But if you are wondering what happens in just America well I will show you.  I will start off by mentioning the rose bowl parade.

The Rose Bowl parade is the most special parade in all of America.  It is tradition so it happens every year.  I have heard it is a very cool parade.  May be me, my mommy dad, and Aly can watch it on TV some time.  People even say parades like this can chase away the spirits.  This parade is held in Pasadena California.  And almost everyone in California either watches it or goes to it. Also people say there parade floats are really cool.  Also an interesting fact is that its nick name is “The Rose Parade”.

Another tradition some people celebrate is baby new year.  This tradition actually began in Greece when they celebrated the annual rebirth of Dyonysus, their god of fertility.  They would parade a baby around the streets for the celebration.  Egypt had a similar custom.  Although American Christians thought these celebrations involving other gods was wrong, they gave in when people began using babies as a symbol of the birth of Christ, celebrated just one week before at Christmas.

Another tradition is the the ball drop at Time Square in New York City is a tradition dating back more than 100 years.  Time Square holds one of the biggest parties in the country with millions in attendance or watching on television from all over the world.  The ball takes one minute to drop, with the final ten seconds counted down by people everywhere. The dropping of the ball marks the exact time of the passing of the old year into the beginning of New Year's Day.  While many believe this is a unique occurrence, time balls are used around the world to keep accurate and exact time. 

Another tradition is that our gossip magazines feature psychics giving predictions around the New Year holiday.  While some chuckle at the headlines in the checkout line while waiting to pay for our groceries, others wait with anticipation for the latest word on what will happen the following year.  The future holds great interest too many people.  In Germany, New Year's Day traditionally finds people dropping liquid lead into cold water to see what shapes will form. By reading the shapes like tea leaves, predictions are made.

Top Five Things That Made My List For Favorite Christmas Gifts

I got a lot of things for Christmas. But if I had to choose the five things I like the best and I will describe them. I would choose my laptop first.

My laptop is a Gateway. It is red and white; it also is a little heavy. But I do not care cause I got what I wanted for Christmas.  My grandma Linda gave me it.  It is very fast and I mostly use it to go to Facebook. The web browser is Mozilla Firefox.  My favorite game to play on it is angry birds star wars.  It is very handy because when and if we go on vacation I will have something to play on (and not one at someone’s house).  I also might use it in the car if my dad sets up his phone internet.

The second thing that was my favorite was my Barbie house. It is two stories high and is very pink. It has four rooms.  The rooms are a kitchen, a bathroom, the bed room, and the living room. The kitchen is really cool.  You can open its fridge and oven.  You can also flip the sink back to make a table. The bed flips out so you can have sleepovers with other Barbie dolls. It also has a toilet and a shower.  The toilet lid can even flip up!  However, I can’t get Barbie to sit on the toilet because they put a shelf where her head should be.

  

My third favorite thing is my Diary of Wimpy Kid movies.  I got two movies.  The first one I got was Rodrick Rules, and the second one I got was the first movie.  My Grandma Auskings gave me this movie because I have wanted them ever since I have started reading the books.  I have seen part of Rodrick rules but I forgot most of it.  I am going to watch them both with my mom when we have spare time.  I also think these movies will be very good and very funny.  If the books are just like the movies they will be.

My fourth favorite thing I got was my watches.  My watches are very pretty.  They are red and blue.  They have fake diamonds on the outside of them but they look real.  My Aunt Betty and Uncle Bill gave them to me for Christmas along with a Christmas orange.  They have no designs on them.  They are very easy to set you just turn the handle and the hands move.  But it has one flaw.  It is too small for my wrist so every time I put my hand down the hands move up.  It’s not so bad I mean it could be a lot worse.

My fifth favorite thing is my jewelry.  I got many different pieces of jewelry.  I got a matching earing and necklace set that are in the shape of an “A”.  They are really pretty. I got them in my stocking from Santa.  I also got two necklaces from my Ganny.  They are very long and very flashy.  They are also very pretty they have little trinkets on them too.  The necklaces even come with matching earrings that are cute!  I also got some earing from my aunt Chris.  They are pearls and diamonds.  Also yes they are very shiny and very pretty.

You might be wonder what made me choose these five things as my favorites.  Well they are all some of my favorites because they are stuff I really wanted.  I got most of the things I wanted this year.  I haved to say it has been a great christmas!

My Christmas Vactation

My Christmas vaction was a lot of fun. I got to go see my family in West Virginia. I even got to open presents early!
First I went to my Grandma Linda's. It was a long drive, so I was happy to finally sit down in a more comfortable chair. I sat down and listened to some music with my mom. After that I went to bed. The next day I woke up. I had some Apple Jacks for breakfast then the day got started.

That day we visited Aunt Lishy, Matty, and John. They gave us presents that were really cool! I got a Webkinz caterpillar, Alyson got a Hello Kitty toy, my mom got a Stephen King book, and my dad got a Cowboys themed portfolio.

After that we went and got lunch. We had Hardees. I had a taco there. Then we went back to grandma linda's and then we went to bed. The next day I woke up and my parents were packing to go back to our house.

Once they left, my Grandma Linda made us some dinner. A couple hours later we went to bed. The next morning we woke up and had some breakfast. Later that day, my Grandma Linda took me to my Pappie's house. It took like 35 minutes to get there. And when I got there my pappy was so happy to see me. He had bought a new tree for me, him, and aly to put up, but we had to wait a day. He had his old tree up.

Later that day, we decided to clean out one of his desk drawers. We cleaned as much as we could until 6:00pm. Then we went to Little Caesar's and ordered one large cheese pizza and some Italian bread. We had to wait a while for our pizza. It was worth it, as they gave us a free peperronni pizza! When we got back to his house we sat down and enjoyed the pizza. A couple hours later we went to bed.

The next day, we woke up, had breakfast, and got our day started. We went shopping for things me and my sister would eat. After we finished shopping we went back to his house.

Near lunch time Aly arrived. She was happy to see me and Pappy! Later that day me and Aly and Pappie put up the new tree. Me and Aly hung ornaments while Pappie assembled the tree. Then Pappie made his famous spaghetti. When he finished cooking it Pappie made his plate and I made mine and Aly's plate. After we finished eating we watched some tv. After that we went to bed.

The week passed. It did snow for a day. Then after that it didn't snow. So when my time with Pappie was up I headed back to my Grandma Linda's.

When we got there we ate popcorn chicken and fries. Then we opened presents! I got a laptop, a bubbleizer, a Barbie carrying case, and much more!

So when I spent the last days with Grandma Linda it was Christmas Eve. We headed out to my Grandma Auskings house for the Christmas party. When we got there, there were about seven people there. We waited for about 45 minutes until we could eat.

After we ate we all exchanged gifts. I got two movies, some earrings, and a doll. After we were done with the gifts we gave everyone a hug and headed to the car to go to our house.

Salmonella

Salmonella is a genus of rod-shaped, Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, predominantly motile enterobacteria with diameters around 0.7 to 1.5 µm, lengths from 2 to 5 µm, and flagella that grade in all directions. They are chemoorganotrophs, obtaining their energy from oxidation and reduction reactions using organic sources, and are facultative anaerobes. Most species produce hydrogen sulfide, which can readily be detected by growing them on media containing ferrous sulfate, such as TSI. Most isolates exist in two phases: a motile phase I and a nonmotile phase II. Cultures that are nonmotile upon primary culture may be switched to the motile phase using a Cragie tube. Salmonella is closely related to the Escherichia genus and are found worldwide in cold- and warm-blooded animals (including humans), and in the environment. They cause illnesses such as typhoid fever, paratyphoid fever, and foodborne illness. The organism enters through the digestive tract and must be ingested in large numbers to cause disease in healthy adults. Gastric acidity is responsible for the destruction of the majority of ingested bacteria. Salmonellosis is a disease caused by raw or undercooked food. Infection usually occurs when a person ingests foods that contain a high concentration of the bacteria, similar to a culture medium. However, infants and young children are much more susceptible to infection, easily achieved by ingesting a small number of bacteria. In infants, contamination through inhalation of bacteria-laden dust is possible. After a short incubation period of a few hours to one day, the germs multiply in the intestinal lumen, causing an intestinal inflammation with diarrhea that is often mucopurulent and bloody. In infants, dehydration can cause a state of severe toxicosis. The symptoms are usually mild. Normally, no sepsis occurs, but it can occur exceptionally as a complication in weakened or elderly patients. Extraintestinal localizations are possible, especially Salmonella meningitis in children, osteitis, etc. Enteritis Salmonella can cause diarrhea, which usually does not require antibiotic treatment. However, in people at risk such as infants, small children, the elderly, Salmonella infections can become very serious, leading to complications. If these are not treated, HIV patients and those with suppressed immunity can become seriously ill. Children with sickle cell anaemia who are infected with Salmonella may develop osteomyeletis. In Germany, Salmonella infections must be reported. Between 1990 and 2005, the number of officially recorded cases decreased from approximately 200,000 to approximately 50,000 cases. Every fifth person in Germany is thought to carry Salmonella. In the USA, about 40,000 cases of Salmonella infection are reported each year. According to the World Health Organization, over 16 million people worldwide are infected with typhoid fever each year, with 500,000 to 600,000 fatal cases. Salmonella bacteria can survive for weeks outside a living body, and they are not destroyed by freezing. Ultraviolet radiation and heat accelerate their demise; they perish after being heated to 55 C (131 F) for 90 min, or to 60 C (140 F) for 12 min. To protect against Salmonella infection, heating food for at least ten minutes at 75 C (167 F) is recommended, so the center of the food reaches this temperature. So You see salmonella is a very bad infection that anyone can get to avoid salmonella always make sure to cook food at the time it says to cook.

History Of Hanukkah

The events that inspired the Hanukkah holiday took place during a particularly turbulent phase of Jewish history. Around 200 BC Judea also known as the Land of Israel came under the control of Antiochus III, the Seleucid king of Syria, who allowed the Jews who lived there to continue practicing their religion. His son, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, proved less benevolent: Ancient sources recount that he outlawed the Jewish religion and ordered the Jews to worship Greek gods. In 168 BC his soldiers descended upon Jerusalem, massacring thousands of people and desecrating the city’s holy Second Temple by erecting an altar to Zeus and sacrificing pigs within its sacred walls. Led by the Jewish priest Mattathias and his five sons, a large-scale rebellion broke out against Antiochus and the Seleucid monarchy. When Matthathias died in 166 BC his son Judah, known as Judah Maccabee “the Hammer”, took the helm; within two years the Jews had successfully driven the Syrians out of Jerusalem, relying largely on guerilla warfare tactics. Judah called on his followers to cleanse the Second Temple, rebuild its altar and light its menorah the gold candelabrum whose seven branches represented knowledge and creation and were meant to be kept burning every night.According to the Talmud, one of Judaism’s most central texts, Judah Maccabee and the other Jews who took part in the rededication of the Second Temple witnessed what they believed to be a miracle. Even though there was only enough untainted olive oil to keep the menorah’s candles burning for a single day, the flames continued flickering for eight nights, leaving them time to find a fresh supply. This wondrous event inspired the Jewish sages to proclaim a yearly eight day festival. The first Book of the Maccabees tells another version of the story, describing an eight-day celebration that followed the rededication but making no reference to the miracle of the oil.Some modern historians offer a radically different interpretation of the Hanukkah tale. In their view, Jerusalem under Antiochus IV had erupted into between two camps of Jews: those who had assimilated into the dominant culture that surrounded them, adopting Greek and Syrian customs; and those who were determined to impose Jewish laws and traditions, even if by force. The traditionalists won out in the end, with the Hasmonean dynasty led by Judah Maccabee’s brother and his descendants wresting control of the Land of Israel from the Seleucids and maintaining an independent Jewish kingdom for more than a century. Jewish scholars have also suggested that the first Hanukkah may have been a belated celebration of Sukkot, which the Jews had not had the chance to observe during the Maccabean Revolt. One of the Jewish religion’s most important holidays, Sukkot consists of seven days of feasting, prayer and festivities.The Hanukkah celebration revolves around the kindling of a nine-branched menorah, known in Hebrew as the hanukiah. On each of the holiday’s eight nights, another candle is added to the menorah after sundown; the ninth candle, called the shamash, is used to light the others. Jews typically recite blessings during this ritual and display the menorah prominently in a window as a reminder to others of the miracle that inspired the holiday. In another allusion to the Hanukkah miracle, traditional Hanukkah foods are fried in oil. Potato pancakes and jam filled donuts are particularly popular in many Jewish households. Other Hanukkah customs include playing with four-sided spinning tops called dreidels and exchanging gifts. In recent decades, particularly in North America, Hanukkah has exploded into a major commercial phenomenon, largely because it falls near or overlaps with Christmas. From a religious perspective, however, it remains a relatively minor holiday that places no restrictions on working, attending school or other activities.

History Of The Christmas Tree

Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter. Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce, and fir trees, ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness. In the Northern hemisphere, the shortest day and longest night of the year falls on December 21 or December 22 and is called the winter solstice. Many ancient people believed that the sun was a god and that winter came every year because the sun god had become sick and weak. They celebrated the solstice because it meant that at last the sun god would begin to get well. Evergreen boughs reminded them of all the green plants that would grow again when the sun god was strong and summer would return.The ancient Egyptians worshipped a god called Ra, who had the head of a hawk and wore the sun as a blazing disk in his crown. At the solstice, when Ra began to recover from the illness, the Egyptians filled their homes with green palm rushes which symbolized for them the triumph of life over death. Early Romans marked the solstice with a feast called the Saturnalia in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. The Romans knew that the solstice meant that soon farms and orchards would be green and fruitful. To mark the occasion, they decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs. In Northern Europe the mysterious Druids, the priests of the ancient Celts, also decorated their temples with evergreen boughs as a symbol of everlasting life. The fierce Vikings in Scandinavia thought that evergreens were the special plant of the sun god, Balder.Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if wood was scarce. It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree. Walking toward his home one winter evening, composing a sermon, he was awed by the brilliance of stars twinkling amidst evergreens. To recapture the scene for his family, he erected a tree in the main room and wired its branches with lighted candles. Most 19th-century Americans found Christmas trees an oddity. The first record of one being on display was in the 1830s by the German settlers of Pennsylvania, although trees had been a tradition in many German homes much earlier. The Pennsylvania German settlements had community trees as early as 1747. But, as late as the 1840s Christmas trees were seen as pagan symbols and not accepted by most Americans. It is not surprising that, like many other festive Christmas customs, the tree was adopted so late in America. To the New England Puritans, Christmas was sacred. The pilgrims's second governor, William Bradford, wrote that he tried hard to stamp out "pagan mockery" of the observance, penalizing any frivolity. The influential Oliver Cromwell preached against "the heathen traditions" of Christmas carols, decorated trees, and any joyful expression that desecrated "that sacred event." In 1659, the General Court of Massachusetts enacted a law making any observance of December 25 (other than a church service) a penal offense; people were fined for hanging decorations. That stern solemnity continued until the 19th century, when the influx of German and Irish immigrants undermined the Puritan legacy. In 1846, the popular royals, Queen Victoria and her German Prince, Albert, were sketched in the Illustrated London News standing with their children around a Christmas tree. Unlike the previous royal family, Victoria was very popular with her subjects, and what was done at court immediately became fashionable not only in Britain, but with fashion-conscious East Coast American Society. The Christmas tree had arrived. By the 1890s Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany and Christmas tree popularity was on the rise around the U.S. It was noted that Europeans used small trees about four feet in height, while Americans liked their Christmas trees to reach from floor to ceiling. The early 20th century saw Americans decorating their trees mainly with homemade ornaments, while the German-American sect continued to use apples, nuts, and marzipan cookies. Popcorn joined in after being dyed bright colors and interlaced with berries and nuts. Electricity brought about Christmas lights, making it possible for Christmas trees to glow for days on end. With this, Christmas trees began to appear in town squares across the country and having a Christmas tree in the home became an American tradition.

Wrapping Paper

Wrapping a holiday gift can be as much fun as purchasing and giving it. Gifts have been wrapped since 105 AD, the time of paper invention. In China the entire paper making process was considered sacred and kept a secret. Giving the secret of making paper to someone could be punishable by death. The history of wrapping presents for Christmas did not flourish until the Victorian period. Since that time, it seems like the gift wrapping business has soared and soared in popularity! During the Victorian period giving Christmas gifts was considered a privilege for the wealthy. The lower class did not participate in the holiday ritual. The wrapping paper of that time was elaborately printed and topped with ribbons and laces. It was also too expensive for the lower class to purchase. Some of the paper had pictures of houses in the snow, fireplaces, robins, angels, holly boughs, churches, and St. Nicholas. The printing press had developed to the point that mass quantities of durable paper could be produced in a short period of time. Because the paper was so sturdy it was difficult to bend and wrap boxes with; but the end result was worth the pain. In the United States gift wrapping began to be popular in the early 1920’s. Plain tissue paper in red, green, and white had been used prior to this time. The tissue paper was flimsy and sometimes the colors would bleed. Wrapping paper often fell off of the gift or tore before the gift giving process actually occurred. The industry leader in gift wrap is the Hallmark Company. Yes, Joyce C. Hall, the founder of the company invented the greeting card and the wrapping paper we use today. Today’s paper is still durable but easily folded. The actual invention of Hallmark’s wrapping paper was an accident and not an invention.The Hall Brother’s store sold out of the tissue paper during the holiday season of 1917. Decorative envelope liners, made of elaborately adorned paper, began to sell for wrapping use. The liners had been purchased from a French factory. At ten cents a sheet they were snapped up quickly. The next year the Halls displayed the same style of envelope liner wrapping paper at three sheets for twenty-five cents. The marketing plan was a success and followed for many years to come. Today consumers garnish packages with self-adhesive ribbons, matching gift cards, and bows of metallic. The pattern options and color selections are endless. The wrapping paper business pulls in millions of dollars with most of their sales occurring in late November or the entire month of December. Hallmark remains the industry sales leader in wrapping paper. Nothing is prettier that a pile of beautifully wrapped boxes underneath a Christmas tree. Wrapping paper has been around a long time and there are many different papers you got your color wrapping paper, your festive wrapping paper and many other styles of paper. All wrapping paper really is is just speacialy made paper with designs on it.

History Of Mistletoe

The Christmas custom of kissing underneath a branch of mistletoe goes back hundreds of years, certainly to the early 17th century. But legends about the curious plant go back even farther, even to the time of Christ and earlier. One legend has it that the wood of the cross of Christ was made from mistletoe, and supposedly for that reason the mistletoe plant has been doomed to live as a parasite, and is so classified today, making it condemned to live on the goodwill of other trees. Shakespeare in Titus Andronicus called it "the baleful mistletoe," no doubt referring to the fact that in large quantities the waxy white berries are toxic. On the other hand, ancient Druids thought the plant had healing, even magical, powers. Back in Roman times in Britain, Pliny the Elder referred to the habit of Druid priests of cutting away mistletoe from oak trees where it attached itself, using golden sickles and spreading white cloth on the ground under the tree lest the trimmings touch the ground and risk losing their powers. The Druids elevated mistletoe to sacred powers, even using it in ceremonies of human sacrifice. Unlike other plants, mistletoe retained its fresh green color, and the evergreen therefore became a symbol of fertility. They also hung it over doorways to protect against evil. Because of the Druids' use of mistletoe, Christians banned its use in their churches in England. Because mistletoe grows primarily on apple, lime, poplar and hawthorn trees in the midlands and up to and around York, it was a local favorite there long after the Druids were in decline. So in the famous minster at York, its use during the holiday season has always been retained. In the York cathedral the minister placed the branch on the High Altar and procalimed "public and universal liberty, pardon and freedom of all sorts of inferior and wicked people at the minster gates, and the gates of the city, towards the four quarters of heaven." In the 21st century the Dean informally hung a bunch of mistletoe and holly from the High Altar at noon on Christmas Eve, although the custom was more general good will than intended as an encouragement of kissing in its presence. Strictly speaking, kissing under the mistletoe was never to get out of hand, and often nearly did. To prevent abuses, the custom was defined as a man might steal a kiss under the hanging branch, but when he did, one berry was to be plucked from the plant and discarded. Once the berries were gone, the kissing charm of the mistletoe branch was spent, although that aspect of the custom is rarely recalled in these days. During the 19th century abuses of the kissing custom were prevalent, according to a verse written and called "The Mistletoe Bough." Interestingly, during uptight Victorian times, the custom came into full bloom! Despite the mixed lore regarding Viscum album, the English mistletoe plant, its culture is a profitable business in Great Britain today. All through December mistletoe farmers carefully cut boughs from the mistletoe in their apple orchards or on other host trees. Unlike the Druids with the golden boughs, hook the mistletoe sprays with a long pole, careful to leave some bunches behind to ensure a crop the following year. It is mostly birds who propagate the mistletoe , however. Some farmers call the birds "the professional" in promulgating mistletoe, while they themselves are the amateurs. Each year large numbers of Druid followers came to celebrate the winter solstice in fields full of mistletoe in the orchards of Hertferdshire. Their orations and music fascinate local farmers, who often adapt bits of the folklore of this "special branch." One farmer kept his mistletoe decoration from one Christmas to the next. When he had brought in the fresh sprays, he burned the old and ran around as many of his fields as possible with the flaming brands, in the belief that the ancient plant would bless each field with a prolific harvest. Another legend has it that a sprig of mistletoe placed over a baby's cradle will ensure that the child will never be kidnapped. While much of the plant's history is shrouded in untiold tales of the past, it is undeniably blessed with certain sacred associations and perhaps even occult powers. When the farmers and gypsies who have been gathering wild or cultivated mistletoe are ready with their annual crop for selling at the end of November, they gather at auctions in the towns of the Midlands and thereabouts and sell. The current crop went for up to 1 Pound Sterling per pound, a decent price for a priceless branch.

History Of Ornaments

The detailed study of Eurasian ornamental forms was begun by Alois Riegl in his formalist study Stilfragen: Grundlegungen zu einer Geschichte der Ornamentik (Problems of style: foundations for a history of ornament) of 1893, who in the process developed his influential concept of the Kunstwollen. Riegl traced formalistic continuity and development in decorative plant forms from Ancient Egyptian art and other ancient Near Eastern civilizations through the classical world to the arabesque of Islamic art; while the Kunstwollen has few followers today, his basic analysis of the development of forms has been confirmed and refined by the wider corpus of examples known today. Jessica Rawson has recently extended the analysis to cover Chinese art, which Riegl did not cover, tracing many elements of Chinese decoration back to the same tradition; the shared background helping to make the assimilation of Chinese motifs into Persian art after the Mongol invasion harmonious and productive. Styles of ornamentation can be studied in reference to the specific culture which developed unique forms of decoration, or modified ornament from other cultures. The Ancient Egyptian culture is arguably the first civilization to add pure decoration to their buildings. Their ornament takes the forms of the natural world in that climate, decorating the capitals of columns and walls with images of papyrus and palm trees. Assyrian culture produced ornament which shows influence from Egyptian sources and a number of original themes, including figures of plants and animals of the region. Ancient Greek civilization created many new forms of ornament, with regional variations from Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian groups. The Romans Latinized the pure forms of the Greek ornament and adapted the forms to every purpose.From the 15th to the 19th century, "Pattern books" were published in Europe which gave access to decorative elements, eventually including those recorded from cultures all over the world. Andrea Palladio's I quattro libri dell'architettura (Four Books on Architecture) (Venice, 1570. which included both drawings of classical Roman buildings and renderings of Palladio's own designs utilizing those motifs, became the most influential book ever written on architecture. Napoleon had the great pyramids and temples of Egypt documented in the Description de l'Egypte (1809). Owen Jones published The Grammar of Ornament in 1856 with colored illustrations of decoration from Egypt, Turkey, Sicily and Spain. He took residence in the Alhambra Palace to make drawings and plaster castings of the ornate details. Interest in classical architecture was also fueled by the tradition of traveling on The Grand Tour, and by translation of early literature about architecture in the work of Vitruvius and Michelangelo. During the 19th century, the acceptable use of ornament, and its precise definition became the source of aesthetic controversy in academic Western architecture, as architects and their critics searched for a suitable style. "The great question is," Thomas Leverton Donaldson asked in 1847, "are we to have an architecture of our period, a distinct, individual, palpable style of the 19th century?".1849, when Matthew Digby Wyatt viewed the French Industrial Exposition set up on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, he disapproved in recognizably modern terms of the plaster ornaments in faux-bronze and faux woodgrain: Both internally and externally there is a good deal of tasteless and unprofitable ornament... If each simple material had been allowed to tell its own tale, and the lines of the construction so arranged as to conduce to a sentiment of grandeur, the qualities of "power" and "truth," which its enormous extent must have necessarily ensured, could have scarcely fail to excite admiration, and that at a very considerable saving of expense.Contacts with other cultures through colonialism and the new discoveries of archaeology expanded the repertory of ornament available to revivalists. After about 1880, photography made details of ornament even more widely available than prints had done.

Sequoyah Indians

Sequoyah is celebrated as an illiterate Indian genius who, solely from the resources of his mind, endowed a whole tribe with learning; the only man in history to conceive and perfect in its entirety an alphabet or syllabary. He was born in the Cherokee village of Tuskegee in Tennessee, near Fort Loudon on the Tennessee River, about five miles from the sacred or capital town of Echota. Little is known of his early life, though it is well established that he grew up in the tribe unacquainted with English or civilized arts. He was a craftsman in silver work, an ingenious natural mechanic, whose inventive powers had scope for development in consequence of an affliction to one of his legs that rendered him a cripple for life. In young manhood he removed from the Overhills towns to Willstown in the present State of Alabama.Sequoyah, whose English name was George Guess later spelled Gist, was a soldier in the War of 1812 against the hostile Creek Indians. On March 27, 1814 his regiment took part in the famous Battle of the Horseshoe that inflicted a decisive defeat on the Creeks. Soon after the opening of the nineteenth century, Sequoyah began to realize the magic of writing. He and other Indians at the time, who occasionally saw samples of writing and printing, called these mysterious pages the white man’s "talking leaf". Sequoyah began to dream hazily about an Indian "talking leaf"; he experimented aimlessly at first, but gradually his conception took practical shape. This was slow and laborious work for an untutored Cherokee, and to make his efforts even more difficult, he faced ridicule and menace from his fellow warrior, who accused him of dealing in a sinister and black art. Even though his people one of the Five Civilized Nations had already attained a high stage of pastoral civilization, the significance of Sequoyah’s persistent indoor study was a bit too much for them readily to understand.Finally, after twelve years of labor and discouragement, he completed his syllabary, composed of eighty-five symbols, each representing a sound in the Cherokee spoken language. The simplicity of the syllabary and its easy adaptability to the speech and thought of the Cherokees enabled many of his people to master it in a few days. The Indian nation was practically made literate within a few months. Sequoyah, in known to have taught in the area for years after his mother took up residence in Willstown, Alabama during the movement of the Cherokee Nation to Oklahoma. There is a historical marker in Valley Head, only a few miles from Sequoyah Caverns, where it is known he taught his alphabet under a large oak tree and a marker located in the Fort Payne Union Park.Sequoyah traveled much between his people who had relocated in the West and those still in the East. In 1843 Sequoyah departed for the Mexico territory (now Texas) in order to visit with a band of Cherokees who had settled there. While on this visit he became ill and died. While his grave has never been authentically located, his memory will last forever through his syllabary and through this learning and culture of a fine body of Americans, the Cherokee people.

I'm Thankful For...

The things I'm thankful for, The food my mom cooks it's really god, The love from my sister, The love from my mother, The love from my father, The love from my grandparent, The love from my aunts & uncles, My cats Laz, Nemo, and Ares, All of the toys in my toats room other places, and my house. Now some small things I am thankful are, My Playstation, My 45 inch tv, my computer, My full size bed, The air that I breath, the trees, the grass, the flowers, my dresser, my jewerly, my clothes, heat, food, the sun, the solar system, and the earth. Here are some things (food wise) that m thankful for, I am thankful for hot dogs, I am thankful for fries, Spaghetti, Hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken noodle soup, vegtable soup, chips, turkey, ham, mashed potatos, fried potatos, potatos, penne, develed eggs, pepperoni rolls, pepperoni, rolls, noodles cheese juice, milk, corn, green beans, peaches, oranges, apples, pinapples, bacon, eggs, pancakes, hashbrowns, sausage, steak, garlic bread, pasta, porkchops, cheesy hashbrowns,cheesy potatos, There are some of the foods that I am thankful for, I am thankful for a lot of things. I hope a have a great Thanksgiving my mom is making some delicious food she's making turkey, pumpkin pie, and I think shes also making some corn. I hope my mom, dad, sister, my three brothers, grandparents, and aunts and uncles have a great thanksgiving and I hope they eat good to. I am also thankful for all the shops that sell clothes, tools, food,and lots of all of the other things we need/want in life. I am thankful for my grandma linda fotr helping me reorganize my room, I am also thankful for Target and Lowes for providing the things we needed to get reorganized. I am thankful for my mom, dad, and sister, for giving me the love that I needed to grow up. I am thankful for all the toys I have they've helped me when I was bored, I am thankful for school that gave me a chance to learn and one day help me become a doctor, I am thankful for doctors who help us stay heathy and help us if we need surgery, I am thankful for the mail corporation making us able to letters, and packages to loved ones, and friends, I am thankful for belts helping us keep our pants up and making sure they do not fall dowm, I am thankful for the soldies in the army/marine who fight to keep our freedom, I am thankful for the president helping us keep our country not in a horrible position, I am thankful for jobs who give people money for there families to eat and have a house, I am thankful for mattresses for letting us enjoy their comfort and be able to sleep peacfully, I am thankful for pillows letting us rest are heads softly while we sleep, But mostly I am thankful for my family I LOVE YOU MOMMY DADDY AND ALY!

Cherokee Indians

The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family. In the 19th century, historians and ethnographers recorded their oral tradition that told of the tribe having migrated south in ancient times from the Great Lakes region, where other Iroquoian-speaking peoples were located. They began to have contact with European traders in the 18th century. In the 19th century, white settlers in the United States called the Cherokee one of the "Five Civilized Tribes", because they had assimilated numerous cultural and technological practices of European American settlers. The Cherokee were one of the first, if not the first, major non-European ethnic group to become U.S. citizens. Article 8 in the 1817 treaty with the Cherokee stated Cherokees may wish to become citizen of the United States. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the Cherokee Nation has more than 300,000 members, the largest of the 565 federally recognized Native American tribes in the United States.Of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes, the Cherokee Nation and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians have headquarters in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The UKB are mostly descendants of "Old Settlers", Cherokee who migrated to Arkansas and Oklahoma about 1817. The Cherokee Nation are related to the people who were forcibly relocated there in the 1830s under the Indian Removal Act. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is located on the Qualla Boundary in western North Carolina. In addition, there are Cherokee bands in the Southeast that are recognized as tribes by state governments, such as the Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama, but not the U.S. federal government.There are two prevailing views about Cherokee origins. One is that the Cherokee, an Iroquoian-speaking people, are relative latecomers to Southern Appalachia, who may have migrated in late prehistoric times from northern areas, the traditional territory of the later Haudenosaunee five nations and other Iroquoian-speaking peoples. Researchers in the 19th century recorded conversations with elders who recounted an oral tradition of the Cherokee people's migrating south from the Great Lakes region in ancient times. The other theory, which is disputed by academic specialists, is that the Cherokee had been in the Southeast for thousands of years. There is no archeological evidence for this. Some traditionalists, historians and archaeologists believe that the Cherokee did not come to Appalachia until the 15th century or later. They may have migrated from the north and moved south into Muscogee Creek territory and settled at the sites of mounds built by the Mississippian culture. During early research, archeologists had mistakenly attributed several Mississippian culture sites to the Cherokee, including Moundville and Etowah Mounds. Late 20th-century studies have shown conclusively instead that the weight of archeological evidence at the sites shows they are unquestionably related to ancestors of Muskogean peoples rather than to the Cherokee. Pre-contact Cherokee are considered to be part of the later Pisgah Phase of Southern Appalachia, which lasted from circa 1000 to 1500. Despite the consensus among most specialists in Southeast archeology and anthropology, some scholars contend that ancestors of the Cherokee people lived in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee for a far longer period of time. During the late Archaic and Woodland Period, Indians in the region began to cultivate plants such as marsh elder, lambsquarters, pigweed, sunflowers and some native squash. People created new art forms such as shell gorgets, adopted new technologies, and followed an elaborate cycle of religious ceremonies. During the Mississippian Culture-period, local women developed a new variety of maize called eastern flint. It closely resembled modern corn and produced larger crops. The successful cultivation of corn surpluses allowed the rise of larger, more complex chiefdoms with several villages and concentrated populations during this period. Corn became celebrated among numerous peoples in religious ceremonies, especially the Green Corn Ceremony.

Raccoons

The raccoon, sometimes spelled racoon, also known as the common raccoon, North American raccoon, northern raccoon and colloquially as coon, is a medium-sized mammal native to North America. The raccoon is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of 40 to 70 cm (16 to 28 in) and a body weight of 3.5 to 9 kg (8 to 20 lb). Its grayish coat mostly consists of dense underfur which insulates against cold weather. Two of the raccoon's most distinctive features are its extremely dexterous front paws and its facial mask, which are themes in the mythology of several Native American tribes. Raccoons are noted for their intelligence, with studies showing that they are able to remember the solution to tasks up to three years later. The diet of the omnivorous raccoon, which is usually nocturnal, consists of about 40% invertebrates, 33% plant foods, and 27% vertebrates. The original habitats of the raccoon are deciduous and mixed forests, but due to their adaptability they have extended their range to mountainous areas, coastal marshes, and urban areas, where some homeowners consider them to be pests. As a result of escapes and deliberate introductions in the mid-20th century, raccoons are now also distributed across the European mainland, the Caucasus region and Japan. Though previously thought to be solitary, there is now evidence that raccoons engage in gender-specific social behavior. Related females often share a common area, while unrelated males live together in groups of up to four animals to maintain their positions against foreign males during the mating season, and other potential invaders. Home range sizes vary anywhere from 3 hectares (7 acres) for females in cities to 50 km2 (20 sq mi) for males in prairies. After a gestation period of about 65 days, two to five young, known as "kits", are born in spring. The kits are subsequently raised by their mother until dispersion in late fall. Although captive raccoons have been known to live over 20 years, their average life expectancy in the wild is only 1.8 to 3.1 years. In many areas, hunting and vehicular injury are the two most common causes of death.Based on fossil evidence from France and Germany, the first known members of the family Procyonidae lived in Europe in the late Oligocene about 25 million years ago.[16] Similar tooth and skull structures suggest procyonids and weasels share a common ancestor, but molecular analysis indicates a closer relationship between raccoons and bears. After the then-existing species crossed the Bering Strait at least six million years later, the center of its distribution was probably in Central America. Coatis (Nasua and Nasuella) and raccoons (Procyon) have been considered to share common descent from a species in the genus Paranasua present between 5.2 and 6.0 million years ago. This assumption, based on morphological comparisons of fossils, conflicts with a 2006 genetic analysis which indicates raccoons are more closely related to ringtails. Unlike other procyonids, such as the crab-eating raccoon (Procyon cancrivorus), the ancestors of the common raccoon left tropical and subtropical areas and migrated farther north about 2.5 million years ago, in a migration that has been confirmed by the discovery of fossils in the Great Plains dating back to the middle of the Pliocene.

Ocelot

The ocelot, also known as the dwarf leopard, is a wild cat distributed extensively over South America, Central America, and Mexico. They have been reported as far north as Texas, and as far east as Trinidad and Barbados in the Caribbean. North of Mexico, they are found regularly only in the extreme southern part of Texas, although there are rare sightings in southern Arizona. The ocelot is similar in appearance to a domestic cat. Its fur resembles that of a clouded leopard or jaguar and was once regarded as particularly valuable. As a result, hundreds of thousands of ocelots were once killed for their fur. The feline was classified a "vulnerable" endangered species from 1972 until 1996, and is now rated "least concern" by the 2008 IUCN Red List. The ocelot ranges from 68 to 100 centimetres (27 to 39 in) in length, plus 26 to 45 centimeters (10 to 18 in) in tail length, and typically weighs 8 to 18 kilograms (18 to 40 lb), although much larger individuals have occasionally been recorded, making it the largest of the generally dainty Leopardus wild cat genus. It has sleek, smooth fur, rounded ears and relatively large front paws. While similar in appearance to the oncilla and margay, which inhabit the same region, the ocelot is larger.The coat pattern of ocelots can vary, being anything from cream to reddish-brown in color, or sometimes grayish, and marked with black rosettes. In many individuals, some of the spots, especially on the back, blend together to form irregular curved stripes or bands. The fur is short, and paler than the rest of the coat beneath. There are also single white spots, called ocelli, on the backs of the ears. Two black stripes line both sides of the face, and the long tail is banded by black.The ocelot is mostly nocturnal and very territorial. It will fight fiercely, sometimes to the death, in territorial disputes. In addition, the cat marks its territory with urine. Like most felines, it is solitary, usually meeting only to mate. However, during the day it rests in trees or other dense foliage, and will occasionally share its spot with another ocelot of the same sex. Males occupy territories of 3.5 to 46 square kilometers (1.4 to 18 sq mi), while females occupy smaller, non-overlapping territories of 0.8 to 15 square kilometers (0.31 to 5.8 sq mi). Territories are marked by urine spraying and by leaving feces in prominent locations, sometimes favoring particular latrine sites. Ocelots hunt over a range of 18 km2 (6.9 sq mi), taking mostly small animals, including mammals, lizards, turtles, and frogs, crabs, birds, and fish. Almost all of the prey that the ocelot hunts is far smaller than itself, with rodents, rabbits, and opossums forming the largest part of the diet. Studies suggest that it follows and finds prey via odor trails, but the ocelot also has very good vision, including night vision.Ocelots typically breed only once every other year, although the female may mate again shortly after losing a litter. Mating can occur at any time of year, and estrus lasts from seven to ten days. After mating, the female will find a den in a cave in a rocky bluff, a hollow tree, or a dense (preferably thorny) thicket. Gestation lasts 79 to 82 days, and usually results in the birth of only a single kitten, with its eyes closed and a thin covering of hair. Litters of two or three kittens also occur, but are less common. The small litter size and relative infrequency of breeding make the ocelot particularly vulnerable to population loss. Compared with other small cats, ocelot kittens grow quite slowly. They weigh around 250 grams (8.8 oz) at birth, and do not open their eyes for 15 to 18 days. They begin to leave the den at three months, but remain with their mother for up to two years, before dispersing to establish their own territory. Ocelots live for up to 20 years in captivity.Like many wild cats, they are occasionally kept as pets. Salvador Dalí frequently traveled with his pet ocelot Babou, even bringing it aboard the luxury ocean liner, SS France. Musician Gram Parsons kept an ocelot as a pet in the back yard swimming pool area of his family's Winter Haven, Florida, home during his teens, in the mid-1960s. The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped animals and often depicted the ocelot in their art.

Stuff Happining on Io

A team of SETI astronomers have provided it's possible to see volcanic eruptions on Io a moon of Jupiter from our perch on Earth hundreds of millions of miles away. Based on 44 nights of telescope observations, the group from the SETI Institute's Carl Sagan Center showed it is possible to see fiery volcanoes spewing on Io (which is also known as Jupiter's "Pizza Moon" for that reason). They can see features as small as 62 miles (100 kilometers) across using a particular telescope technique. This means we don't necessarily need a spacecraft to watch over Io's volcanoes. That's an important finding considering there won't be another long-term mission at Jupiter until the 2030s, said SETI's Franck Marchis, who led the team. "We are not going to have a (Jupiter) space mission for several years," said Marchis, the senior planetary astronomer of the Carl Sagan Center. Amazing Photos: Jupiter's Volcanic Moon Io. "If we want to continue to invest time in observing volcanic activity, we need to focus on ground-based telescopes. It's not a community that has been used to it ... our goal is really to motivate them to think about it." Marchis and his team used a technique called adaptive optics. It's a technology that helps smooth out blurs that conventional telescopes see when trying to take pictures through the turbulent atmosphere of Earth. A telescope, fitted with a distortable mirror, is hooked up to the adaptive optics system. As the light bends in the atmosphere, a sensor measures the distortions with the assistance of a computer, which makes calculations.The best systems today can make 1,000 calculations per seconsd, Marchis said, and that figure is improving all the time. As the number of calculations increases, so does the accuracy. It makes the image look sharper. In Marchis' case, it allowed his team to track the Tvashtar volcano's eruption in 2006-7 at the same time as the New Horizons spacecraft saw it. (New Horizons is en route to Pluto and will arrive in 2015.) Io isn't the only astronomical target that benefits from adaptive optics. The system has also been used to find planets around distant stars, to image cracks on Europa, and to give a more precise look at Jupiter's atmosphere. I think it is cool that they found activity happening on Io. And it does look like a pizza a pepperoni pizza to be specific. On the other hand I had no idea that Io had stuff happening on it it's pretty cool that it does because someday Io might explode who knows. And I also dont think it wasnt a good idea not to have a jupiter space muission they might have found a little bit of life who knows what they would have found. I would also hate to be on Io with the valconos acting up. Anyways I hope they fid more stuff happining on Io cause if they do I will probibly be writing a blog about it. Io is an amazing moon and I hope it doe something more soon.

History of the Battery

Batteries have been around longer than you may think. In 1938, archaeologist Wilhelm Konig discovered some peculiar clay pots while digging at Khujut Rabu, just outside of present-day Baghdad, Iraq. The jars, which measure approximately 5 inches (12.7 centimeters) long, contained an iron rod encased in copper and dated from about 200 B.C. Tests suggested that the vessels had once been filled with an acidic substance like vinegar or wine, leading Konig to believe that these vessels were ancient batteries. Since this discovery, scholars have produced replicas of the pots that are in fact capable of producing an electric charge. These "Baghdad batteries" may have been used for religious rituals, medicinal purposes, or even electroplating. In 1799, Italian physicist Alessandro Volta created the first battery by stacking alternating layers of zinc, brine-soaked pasteboard or cloth, and silver. This arrangement, called a voltaic pile, was not the first device to create electricity, but it was the first to emit a steady, lasting current. However, there were some drawbacks to Volta's invention. The height at which the layers could be stacked was limited because the weight of the pile would squeeze the brine out of the pasteboard or cloth. The metal discs also tended to corrode quickly, shortening the life of the battery. Despite these shortcomings, the SI unit of electromotive force is now called a volt in honor of Volta's achievement. The next breakthrough in battery technology came in 1836 when English chemist John Frederick Daniell invented the Daniell cell. In this early battery, a copper plate was placed at the bottom of a glass jar and a copper sulfate solution was poured over the plate to half-fill the jar. Then the zinc plate was hung in the jar, and a zinc sulfate solution was added. Because copper sulfate is denser than zinc sulfate, the zinc solution floated to the top of the copper solution and surrounded the zinc plate. The wire connected to the zinc plate represented the negative terminal, while the one leading from the copper plate was the positive terminal. Obviously, this arrangement would not have functioned well in a flashlight, but for stationary applications it worked just fine. In fact, the Daniell cell was a common way to power doorbells and telephones before electrical generation was perfected. By 1898, the Colombia Dry Cell became the first commercially available battery sold in the United States. The manufacturer, National Carbon Company, later became the Eveready Battery Company, which produces the Energizer brand. Well thats the history batteries are really handy and old. Many people use batters everyday for all sorts of things from flash light to toys! Batteries also come in different shapes and sizes for example one batterie is shapped like a square, another one is a very tiny batterie used for calculaters and other small things in the nature, and then you have your normal battery a medium sized looking tube battery. Sometimes I wonder what the world would be like if we didnt have batteries how would some things run?

History of The Play Station

PlayStation was the brainchild of Ken Kutaragi, a Sony executive who had just come out of his hardware engineering division at that time and would later be dubbed as "The Father of the PlayStation".The console's origins date back to 1988 where it was originally a joint project between Nintendo and Sony to create a CD-ROM for the Super Nintendo. The PlayStation made its debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in June 1991 when Sony revealed its console, a Super Famicom/snes with a built-in CD-ROM drive (that incorporated Green Book technology or CDi). However, a day after the announcement at CES, Nintendo announced that it would be breaking its partnership with Sony, opting to go with Philips instead but using the same technology. The deal was broken by Nintendo after they were unable to come to an agreement on how revenue would be split between the two companies. The breaking of the partnership the breaking of the partnership infuriated Sony President Norio Ohga, who responded by appointing Kutaragi with the responsibility of developing of the PlayStation project to rival Nintendo. At that time, negotiations were still on-going between Nintendo and Sony, with Nintendo offering Sony a "non-gaming role" regarding their new partnership with Philips. This proposal was swiftly rejected by Kutaragi who was facing increasing criticism over his work with regard to entering the video game industry from within Sony. Negotiations officially ended in May 1992 and in order to decide the fate of the PlayStation project, a meeting was held in June 1992, consisting of Sony President Ohga, PlayStation Head Kutaragi and several senior members of Sony's board. At the meeting, Kutaragi unveiled a proprietary CD-ROM-based system he had been working on which involved playing video games with 3D graphics to the board. Eventually, Sony President Ohga decided to retain the project after being reminded by Kutaragi of the humiliation he suffered from Nintendo. Nevertheless, due to strong opposition from a majority present at the meeting as well as widespread internal opposition to the project by the older generation of Sony executives, Kutaragi and his team had to be shifted from Sony's headquarters to Sony Music, a completely separate financial entity owned by Sony, so as to retain the project and maintain relationships with Philips for the MMCD development project (which helped lead to the creation of the DVD). The original PlayStation released in December 1994 was the first of the ubiquitous PlayStation series of console and hand-held game devices. It has included successor consoles and upgrades including the Net Yaroze (a special black PlayStation with tools and instructions to program PlayStation games and applications), "PSone" (a smaller version of the original) and the PocketStation (a handheld which enhances PlayStation games and also acts as a memory card). It was part of the fifth generation of video game consoles competing against the Sega Saturn and the Nintendo 64. By March 31, 2005, the PlayStation and PSone had shipped a combined total of 102.49 million units, becoming the first video game console to sell 100 million units.