20 Interesting Facts

Today our assignment is to find 20 different facts on four different websites. The first website is http://hookedonfacts.com/ and my five facts are as follows: 1. The first product that Sony came out with was a rice cooker. 2. Pain travels through your body at 350ft. per second. 3. The oldest pig in the world lived to age of 68. 4. At the age of 18, the queen of England was a mechanic for the British military. 5. Cats' urine glows under a blacklight.
The second website is http://www.interestingfacts.net/. 1. Buttermilk does not contain any butter. 2. Squirells forget where about 50% of the nuts they've hidden are. 3. When water freezes it expands 10%. 4. The only animal with four knees is the elephant. 5. The eye of an ostrich is bigger than its brain.
Third http://www.nicefacts.com/. 1. If you’re over 100 years old, there’s an 80% chance you’re a woman. 2. All the gold ever mined could be molded into a cube 60 feet high and 60 feet wide. 3. Drivers kill more deer than hunters. 4. Women end up digesting most of the lipstick they apply. 5. Henry Ford, father of the Automobile, is also father of the charcoal briquette.

Enclave: A post-apocalyptic thriller

I am reading the book Enclave, written by Ann Aguirre. As you may have guessed from the title, this is a book that takes place in a post-apocalyptic North America. The reason for all the destruction and dissolution of the world as we know it is unclear, as is the number of years it has been this way. The main character is a girl who has survived her first fifteen years in the subway tunnels that her "community" lives in and has earned the right to be named. At naming ceremonies, items are scattered around the person's feet and blood is drawn. Whatever their blood lands on is what they are named after and they must carry that item with them for the rest of their lives. At the main character's naming ceremony, her blood lands on the Two of Spades and she is named Deuce. All her life she has trained to be a hunter and her job is to bring back meat for the colony and keep the mutated monsters called Freaks away from her enclave. However, not is all well and good in the enclave because the elders of the colony control everything and their rules are strict. Something goes wrong and Deuce is exiled along with her hunting partner Fade, they must go Topside to live out the remainder of their days. Unfortunatly, Freaks and strict rules aren't the only things to watch out for in this run-down, twisted world. I chose the above picture because this is what I imagine as apocalyptic.

The Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge

Today in class we read "The Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge." This short story was written by Ambrose Bierce, who was a Civil War veteran. Bierce wrote many books in the course of his life, mostly historical fiction. The sequence in which the book is read can be confusing at first but as you read, it becomes more and more clear just what is happening in the story. The story takes place in the civil war era in northern Alabama. A man is awaiting his death as he looks down into the running water of Owl Creek, a noose around his neck. The reason for his execution is explained later on. The picture above is a picture of Mr. Bierce so you can have a visual representation of the author.

Today, I went to the school library and picked up the the book The Hate List. So as you can imagine, I'm not very far into it. However, I do know enough about the story to divulge some of the details. The story takes place in modern times somewhere in America, the main character, whose name is Valerie Leftman, is trying to get on with her life after sustaining a gunshot wound to the leg. A wound she received as her boyfriend Nick was shooting up their school. Over time, the two had created a list of all the people and things they hated, Val was not as serious as Nick and didn't really want anyone to die. A quote I found interesting was: "I know Mom later put the medal and letter away in a keepsake box with all the other kid junk she'd collected over the years. Kindergarden artwork, seventh grade report cards, a letter from the school thanking me for stopping a school shooting. To Mom, somehow all those things would fit together." This quote struck me as interesting because our lives are fragile and anything could happen to anyone at any point in time. When I hear about natural disasters and the things people do to other people, it makes me realize that my life isn't all that bad and I'm grateful for every breath I breathe and the good people around me. I chose the picture above so that you can know what to look for in case you'd like to check this book out.

Over the past week I attempted to read Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler. I have to admit that I couldn't finish it because of how the book is written. From what I could tell, Hitler was a man with many complaints and misconceptions about how the world works and how people think. Often, and not to disrespect the author, Hitler went off on tangents about things that were not relavent to what he was talking about currently which confuses the reader in a way that makes for slow reading. Of the 600+ pages I could read but a fraction of them without becoming bored.

Ten things about me:

1. I'm a big fan of the Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and Matrix movies.
2. I do the best I can at whatever task I take on.
3. My greatest aspiration is to enlist in the United States Marine Corps and serve my beloved country as long as I can.
4. My favorite animal is the North American timber wolf.
5. I am usually serious but I still know how to have fun.
6. I try to find the bright side of any situation and more often than not I'm successful.
7. I like all kinds of food (including school food) and my favorite drink is AriZona green tea.
8. Some of my hobbies include reading and playing video games.
9. If I could go to one place in the world I would go to Germany because of the history of the German people.
10. If I could meet one person from history I would want to meet Abraham Lincoln.