Name all the Animals

Now that I've gotten through chapter 18, I see that thankfully the book isn't as over-written as it was for the first 75 pages. I like the character personalities the author creates in the book. The eccentric old nun, the Physics hating science genius who only has a passion for drawing, the strict math teacher who ironically enjoys the pool. They're lifelike, and not one-dimensional or stereotypical with how they act. I think a lot of people can relate to Terry, who seems to have everything going for her but still can't do what she really wants. From her reluctance to show Allison her work, she either doesn't have much natural talent for art or hasn't yet gotten the confidence in her work to reveal it. While overly talented in the area of science, she doesn't use that ability because she isn't happy with it.

Name All The Animals

Name All The Animals is another book I am reading for my creative writing class. It is a memoir in which the author tells about the death of her brother at 16 and how she deals with that tragic experience. The setting is near Rochester, my home town. It's kind of weird seeing all the references to places that I'm familiar with in the book, but it keeps me interested.I'm only on page 30 so far, so my judgement on the quality of this book would have to be neutral.

Sylvia Plath's Poetry and The Bell Jar

The Bell Jar is a book I'm reading in my creative writing class, by Sylvia Plath. So far, I'm on chapter two The book hasn't done a good job of drawing me in so far, but from the description on the back of the book I'm interested in seeing how this innocent contest winner descends into madness. That should be very interesting.


I have also read some of Plath's poetry. I like how she can construct a dark poem without making it cliche. The descriptive words she uses make the poem feel like a metaphorical setting that represents the world we live in, but may not feel. Unlike many other poets, she doesn't quite acknowledge the tone of the poem as "dark" and "depressing". Rather, I feel she treats the state of mind in her works as normal.

Unsettling America: English Speaking Persons Will Find Translations

This is a poem I read by Michael S. Glaser. It tells of his modern day tour of a Concentration Camp in Dachau, and what he sees while he's there. His view of the camp and most tourists is somewhat ironic, for he sees the destruction of this establishment as a victory for America despite the similar acts of cruelty we have done (From killing and outlawing Native Americans, to bombing Hiroshima to stop WW2). The title of this poem is named after how the tours often translate the museum exhibits into English, but has a symbolic meaning in how the author translates the reality of the past events that we often only see from one perspective. This poem used simple diction, but was to-the-point and had capturing imagery. I enjoyed it.

Betsy Brown Responces

1. The scene in the morning when Betsy is looking out the window at sunrise.
2. Greer. Only because he seems to be the least obnoxious character so far.
3. The part where Betsy Brown and her friends...um...

It ruined her dignified/sophisticated image for me.
4. It fits with the time and setting.
5. She wins a acting/poetry contest? Not really many hints here yet.
6.Betsy seems somewhat like her mother.

EXPLODING ANIMALS!

Yes, they blow up. At least in rare cases.

I came across this article while reading about explosives, and saw a link that said "Exploding Animals". Had to check it out.

Some Whales explode after being washed up on the beach, due to build up of methane gases in their body caused by the bacteria that decompose them. A species of Ants has a function where it tenses up and "blows open" its body, expelling a bunch of disgusting chemicals.

But the most interesting thing I read in the article was about the exploding toads. They usually puff themselves up with air to make themselves look bigger as a defense mechanism, which usually is effective. But their predators happen to be some of the smartest animals on the plant: Crows. After an influx of predatory crows in the area, around 1,000 toads died by blowing themselves up. Berlin veterinarian Franz Mutschmann proposed a theory as to why this was happening. After observing the behavior of Crows in the area, he proposed that the Crows figured out how to make the toads do this. You see, the toads will keep puffing themselves up until a threat is no longer present. So apparently, the Crows taunt the toads until they take in too much air and then pop them like a balloon, resulting in an easy kill. Oh, and the toads actually live for a short amount of time after the explosion.

I've heard of a similar sensation happening to Puffer Fish, but this seems more odd.

Am I a bad person for laughing at this?

Betsy Brown

Betsy Brown, by Niozake Shange, is a book I'm reading as an assignment for creative writing class. I' unsure as to why we're supposed to post our poinion about the book after reading a few pages, I havn't taken enough in to decide how I feel. All I can say is that the setting chapter 1 creates leaves me to believe this book won't be "bad".

The Good Thief

The Good Thief, by Hannah Tinti, was a book I read as a class reading assignment.  I thoroughly enjoyed the book overall, the many mysteries surrounding the pasts of characters are what draws you in and makes you want to rapidly keep reading. The was very well written, exiting, and amusingly dark.

The character of Ren can make you feel admiration and sympathy at the same time. With his hand removed when he was too young to remember, Ren is put in an orphanage with seemingly no hopes of getting adopted. The one day, a mysterious conman named Benjamin comes to the orphanage and chooses Ren, claiming he's a long lost sibling. It seems like Ben uses Ren's ailment to help him trick people and conduct more schemes. But as the story progresses, it seems as if Ben's reasoning isn't all that simple, and his mysterious past plays a part in that. Ren goes through many exighting and challenging trials as he travels with the thieves, and in the end finds out a lot about himself as well.

Hannah Tinti is coming to visit our class to conduct a writing workshop. I never really thought too deeply about what the author was thinking when making the characters, story, and plot. But I'm interested to see what she has to say about her own book, and what the creator of a novel like this is like.

In conclusion, I enjoyed this book. It didn't quite live up to the hype from "critiques" for me, but then again most things they (are sponsored) to say aren't all too accurate. Doesn't rank up with the classic adventures, but still very good nonetheless. I give it the Planetary stamp of approval, or I would if I could find any ink around here.

The Hunger Games

 I've started to read a Trilogy called "The Hunger Games", by Suzanne Collins.


Trilogy on Wiki

I just finished reading the first book yesterday. My teacher introduced me to the book two days ago. it was so addicting that I couldn't go anywhere without the book, even finishing classwork early to read it.

From the wiki:

"The Hunger Games trilogy takes place in an unidentified future time period after the destruction of North America, in a nation known as "Panem." Panem used to consist of a rich Capitol, located somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, and thirteen surrounding, poorer districts which cater to the Capitol's needs. As punishment for a previous rebellion against the Capitol wherein the thirteenth district was supposedly destroyed, every year one boy and one girl from each of the remaining twelve districts, between the ages of twelve and eighteen, are selected by lottery and forced to participate in the "Hunger Games." The Games are a televised event where the participants, called "tributes," must fight to the death in a dangerous outdoor arena until only one remains. The winning tribute and his/her corresponding district is then rewarded handsomely. It is required viewing for everyone in the districts."

The Hunger Games follows 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, a girl from District 12 who volunteers for the 74th Hunger Games in place of her 12 year old sister who was initially selected by the lottery. Also participating from District 12 is Peeta Mellark, a boy whom Katniss knows from school and who once saved Katniss's life by giving her bread when her family was starving. The entire suspence of the Life-or-death Hunger Games is what makes this book so hard to put down. from the moment Katniss hops on the train to the capitol, you already want to know what happens to them before, during, and after they enter the arena.

Customer Reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/Hunger-Games-Suzanne-Collins/product-reviews/0439023483

Outro

Well, this will probably be my final blog post for a while. I didn't exactly learn anything about posting that I didn't know before, but this was an enjoyable in class experience.

So, as a final question, what is the ONE THING that you want to do most at some point in your life?

10 questions to think about

1. What is your stance on education in America? What do you think should change in our system (if anything)?

2. Do you think animals should be used for food?

3. Think 20-50 years into the future. What changes are you most afraid of happening?

4. Which is more important to you, logic and academics (Science, Math), or the arts?

5. What is your opinion on Space Travel? Do you think we should invest in it and if so, when?

6. (Warning, cliche question) If you could UNCONDITIONALLY live forever, would you?

7. What is your favorite piece of literature?

8. What is the current issue that you regard most outstanding/important?

9. Which type of fictional doomsday or apocalypse would you be most willing to face?

10. What person in history do you think has contributed the most, overall, in the development of our world?

Humans could regenerate lost tissue

By shutting off a single gene, researchers think humans could regenerate damaged tissue just as newts do.  -J. Carmichael

By shutting off a gene (P21) in our DNA using a transcription factor, we could regenerate body parts such as lost limbs and even completely heal scar tissue. P21 is responsible for monitoring cell division, so unfortunately if it is turned off it could potentially lead to genetic diseases and complications like Cancer.

Newts don't seem to have this problem though. I suppose if we research genes like this further we could find out how to utilize this ability without causing damage. Genetically tampered mice weren't harmed upon receiving the gene, but we can't say for sure the result would be similar in Humans.

Instructions

The bathroom was installed by a Jelly-Fish Monkey hybrid genetically bred to withstand shifts in pressure because of its body, which is composed of 97.2% water.

So, you're going to need one of those to get to the bathroom and post. But for a limited time, i have them on sale for 10,000. Or you can just find them in the wild.

TITLE

This is Jupiter's only bathroom, yet it's already surrounded by so many fumes.

Hi there.