Recapping the year

This year was a pretty good year. I passed all my classes and I meet some new people this year. My lunch periods were really great because my friends were in my lunch periods. This year was pretty easy because most of the classes weren't very hard. I didn't have any trouble going from class to class. The teachers were really great. I hope next year will be like this year or even better. I always did really good in math. I really didn't get to read very much though. I hope I can get my assignments done and read a little bit more. I didn't get to see my friends that much, so I hope next year we have more classes together. High school was big, but I got used to going to Moline High School. Learning new stuff like grammar for English, World Studies units, Algebra, and Biology. High school is way more different than middle school, and I realized that. This is how the year has been. I really enjoyed it.

Why is rebellion important?

Rebellion is important because you need to change the ways things are. In Animal Farm, the animals are thinking of rebelling against the farmer. The animals don't like how the farm ways are. For example when a baby horse turns one, they get sold to someone else to work for them. When a pig grows to the right size and weight, the farmer slaughters them for money and food. Also, the eggs of a chicken get sold and not many of those eggs turn into baby chicks. All of these ideas start to get all the animals wound up. These ideas are the causes to start a revolution. That is how all revolutions start. An example is the American Revolution. The British wanted to make the 13 colonies pay high taxes. This made the people living in the 13 colonies really mad. Another reason to cause a revolution is treating the people living there badly. People get mad about something and that is why revolutions are started.

How does someone gain or maintain power?

While some people lose power, others gain or maintain power. One reason to gain power is taking over a country. Another way to gain power is getting promoted to manager. When you gain power, you gain control over someone or something. To maintain these powers could be difficult or very easy. A way to maintain power is to not mess up. If something goes wrong, then you lose it all. Another way to maintain power is to make sure that most of the people like you. If they don't, then someone might want to overthrow you. Which means no more power. If your family is royalty, that means when your parents die, then you gain control over the people you rule. Another example is your family owning a buisness. Like the royalty example, you gain power by taking over when a parent dies or retires. A way to maintain power in owning a buisness is making sure the buisness keeps running. If the buisness goes out, then you lose your power in owning it. A president gains power by getting voted by the people. A dictator gains power by overthrowing the government or ruler of the country. A dictator maintains this power by making the right choices. For example going to war when the country needs to go to war. Another right choice is doing whats right for the country. For example making sure that the government helps out people who are really poor. There are a lot of ways to gain or maintain power.

Why are so many Americans overweight?

In the USA, Americans eat about 18 acres of pizza a day and china is the second largest fast food market after the United States. While some argue the biggest reason for Americans being overweight are being lazy and not being motivated enough, the most important factor contributing to Americans being overweight is eating too much fast food.

Some people argue that being lazy and not being motivated enough are the main causes for Americans being overweight. Americans are lazy because they don’t want to exercise alone. Since they don't want to exercise alone, they don't feel motivated enough. They want to exercise with a friend or somebody they know. When your exercising by yourself, there is no one to help you continue when you feel like quitting. Some Americans think exercising is too hard; therefore, they are not being motivated enough. Sitting on the couch is a way of being lazy. Sitting on the couch is being lazy because you are just sitting and not doing anything involving any kind of movement. Sitting on the couch results in not forming muscles properly or not losing any weight. When people are lazy, they don't want to anything at all. Since people don't want to do anything, then they don't feel like going out and doing really anything involving exercise.

Americans are overweight because they eat too much fast food. Americans go out to eat more than staying at home and eating a home cooked meal. Americans go out to eat 50% of the time; as a result, Americans go out 3-4 times a week. That’s a lot of fast food. Another reason is that most women work instead of being a stay at home mom, which means they don’t want to come home and make a home cooked meal. When women get home they are tired and don’t want to cook. It’s easier to buy food from Burger king or McDonald’s because there is no work when buying fast food. Americans eat more portions than they should and eat junk food instead of more healthy foods. A few years ago portions sizes were smaller. Since then, the portion sizes have doubled. Soda has changed over the past few years. Back then it was made from sugar, now it is made from high fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup has a better taste than just plain sugar. Also, milk was way more popular than soda. Since high fructose corn syrup has been added, milk has become less popular. As a result, Americans drink more sugar and get less calcium in their diet.

Many Americans are overweight due to being lazy and not being motivated enough, but the main reason is that they eat to much fast food. Due to eating large portions, Americans eat more. A lot of changes have happened over the past years. Adding high fructose corn syrup to soda has made it taste better; as a result, soda is more popular than milk.

Can animals coexist with other animals?

The answer to that is hard to answer. It's hard to answer because most of the time no. One example to show that an animal and an animal cannot coexist between one another is this video from this website- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52nt7RqtuFQ. An easy example to show that is a cat and dog. Cats and dogs usually don't get along, so they can't coexist together. Sometimes they can coexist together. The only way I can think an animal and another animal can coexist together is when they're babies. Even when they're enemies, they play with each other. Babies really don't know the difference, but when they grow up they realize that they're enemies. This only happens in zoos not in the wild. Not in the wild because most of the time they leave each other alone. If you know any other way an animal and another animal can coexist together please post a comment because that's the only way I know. Also, if you know any more information about this topic please post a comment. I really want to know more about this topic from everybody else.

Can plants and animals co-exist together?

Plants and animals can co exist and not co-exist together. An example to show that they do co-exist is bees and flowers. A bee needs a flower because it uses the pollen from the flower to make honey. There is a picture on the right. Another example is a clownfish and a sea anemone. The sea anemone helps the clown fish by harming the predators that want to harm them. The clownfish has a coating that protects it from the tenticles of the sea anemone. To show how a plant and animal can't co exist together is a cactus and an animal that lives in the desert like a meerkat. A rose bush and a bird can't get along. The reason is that the thorns can harm the birds feet or anything else like their wings. There is a thing called symbiosis. Which means animals and plants working together or helping each other. Not everything about symbiosis is about plants and animals helping each other. It could be about an animal and a animal helping each other or a plant and a plant helping each other. This website is mainly about symbiosis and the website gives you some examples about symbiosis. Like the clownfish and the sea anemone that I told you about. As you can see, plants and animals can co-exist and not co-exist together.

What is Buddhism?

This is a picture of Buddha. The founder of Buddhism. They worship him by following his teachings. One of his teachings is meditating.

Intro

What is Buddhism? If you don't know, that's okay. This blog is going to tell you what it's about and anything else you need to know about Buddhism. Once your done reading this blog, you can go out and tell all your friends what you have learned about Buddhism.

Founder

Buddhism was founded by a guy named Siddhartha Gautama, an Indian prince. They call him the Buddha. It was founded in c. 520 B.C.E. in Northeastern India. Buddhism is the fourth largest religion in the world. 360 million people follow this religion. This religion started in Northeastern India and expanded to China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia.

Holy Books/Sacred Texts

One of the holy books/sacred texts is the Tripitaka. The Tripitaka is a book about the earliest collection of Buddhist teachings. Another book is called the Tibetan. The Tibetan, book of the dead, describes in detail the stages of death. The last book is the Mahayana Sutras. Its about the early Mahayana Buddhist Sutras. There are two Sutras. The Lotus Sutra describes a sermon, a public speaker, delivered by the Buddha to an assembly of Buddhas, boddhisatvas, and other celestial beings, someone delivered by the Buddha. The second book is the Heart Sutra. The book is very short and only has a few pages. It provides a summary of key Mahayana concepts.

Religious Holidays

The holidays vary by regions. The most commonly celebrated holidays are Buddha's birthday, Buddha's enlightenment, and the Lunar Quarters.

Rituals/Customs

Meditation is a custom that gives mental concentration and mindfulness. In addition to meditating, another custom is a Mantra. A mantra is sacred sounds. Another thing that is practiced is a Mudra. A mudra is a symbolic hand gesture. Furthermore, they practice a prayer wheel. A prayer wheel is reciting mantras with the turn of a wheel.

Dress/Clothing

The clothing that they wear is a robe. The robe illustrates two main types of religion. The robes come in three different colors. The three colors are orange, brownish, and tannish color. The clothing style follows any style of what country they live in.

Hierarchy/Organization

Buddhism really isn't much of a hierarchy because there are only monks in the organization.

http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/buddhaintro.htmlro.html

This website will give you some info. about Buddhism. This website will give you info. about the sacred texts, the practices, and the history of Buddhism and anything else related to Buddhism.