Life, Death and Afterlife?

Life, Death and Afterlife?

This is a speech that I wrote on the novel Looking for Alaska by John Green. It is what I have been wanting to write a blog on for ages. I hope you like post thoughts in the comments. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Have you read the book? Which are your favourite quotes. DFTBA.

“How do I get out of this labyrinth?”
These are the quoted last words of Simon Bolivar and feature prominently in the novel Looking for Alaska by John Green. This quote; like the rest of the book, looks at life, death and the concept of the afterlife and how religion tries to approach these problems. Throughout the novel the protagonist (Miles Halter) considers how religions differ in their views on death and the afterlife, specifically Islam, Christianity and Buddhism. And why so many people around the world follow these religions.

“What will become of us when we are no longer?”
Dr Hyde a teacher of Miles, teaches Miles about life after death in the Islam, Christian and Buddhist faith. The concept of afterlife in the Christian and Islamic religions is strongly based around the concept of judgement and admittance into heaven or hell – depending on how well the believers have lived their lives. The Buddhist religion on the other hand teaches the idea of Karma which is based around the idea of ‘what goes around comes around’. This relates directly to the Buddhist afterlife belief of how you are reborn as a creature worthy of how you have acted during your lifetime. This is also known as reincarnation.

Miles is fascinated by these ideas as he feels it encourages people to live better lives but also that it provides hope of there being more than a life on Earth. I am personally also very interested in the concept of life after death and after much thought I have come to the same conclusion as Miles. “People believe in the afterlife because they can’t bare not to.” As humans we cannot imagine nothing, we cannot imagine not being able to think, we cannot bare the thought of the world continuing on without us and our existences fading into nothing because we are just another dead human being. We cannot conceive these ideas much the same way as we cannot imagine a new colour.

Why is the belief in an afterlife so prevalent in religion? Humans grasp onto the hope that there is something more, anything more than merely life and death. We need to be assured that after death our souls will be conscious and we will receive our entitlement. This hope makes pain, loss and the certainty of death bearable. “What is the best way to go about being a person?......What are the rules of this game, and how might we best play it?” Miles then talks about how these themes relate to religion. He shows the reader that religion is about hope, the hope and promise that if one leads a productive life and displays good qualities, they will later be rewarded in the afterlife. This serves as an incentive for humans to better ourselves.

So how does science relate and fit into these concepts? Towards the end of the novel Mile concludes that no matter what science states it is best to believe in an afterlife. “I thought for a long time that the way out of the labyrinth was to pretend that it did not exist, to build a small, self-sufficient world in a back corner of the endless maze and to pretend that I was not lost, but home.” I have reflected on this view this view and I personally agree with Miles, that to maintain hope on the matter was to believe in the afterlife. It is too hard to conceive the idea of nothingness and also the hope it provides is so sweet. “I believe now that we are greater than the sum of our parts.”

Yes, I believe these views are important to everyone. The afterlife is important in religions because it provides an incentive to live a life according to moral ‘good’ but it also gives us all something to believe in. Something to hope for when all else seems lost. “Thomas Edison’s last words were: ‘It’s very beautiful over there.’ I don’t know where there is, but I believe it’s somewhere, and I hope it’s beautiful.”

Dust & Dust Mites

Dust
Those little grey particles of hair, sand, and.. well, 'dust' that inhabits almost every corner of every house, and hides in those un-reachable nooks and crannies. Most of this dust, however, is made up out of the 30,000 to 40,000 dead skin cells that we lose every minute! There's also the mold, ash from smoke, bacteria, animal fur etc....
All in all, not everyone's favourite substance!

Yes, that's right. This is mostly dead skin!

It's found everywhere, from 'dust-storms' to abandoned buildings to just happily floating around minding its business. A lot if this is dead skin, too, as dead skin accounts for about a billion tons of dust in the atmosphere. Woo! You're inhaling human sheddings. :D

But enough about that stuff!

Let's talk about something even more skin-crawling! (literally)

Dust Mites

These are the little, teeny, microscopic arachnids that live happily in the stuff we so despise.

They are also one of the reasons my skin is perpetually covered in eczema! (Something they're quite famous for! But then again, my skin is just generally really keen to tear itself from me. XP)

In fact, it's these mites, not the commonly-believed pollen, that is one of the most persistent sources of allergic reactions! (60%!)

Though, in actual fact, it's not the creatures themselves that we're allergic to, but their fecal material and cast skins. 

These adorable (or not so) little less-than 1/2 a millimetre long creatures love to live and multiply in places where you humans spend most of your time!

...That's right!

I'm talking about your bed, (especially your pillow, as they love to eat dandruff) your sofa, and wherever you spend lots of time! 

They also like a bit of moisture and humidity - another reason why they love your bed, and live happily in highly-humid, warm places. 

Now you may think "I'm going to have to change my duvet / pillows more often now! D:"

...however, these mites spread very rapidly and will be found spread in a new mattress as fast as six months after purchase. Not to mention that they can move around airborne with simple activities such as changing bedding and shaking pillows, and so will just hop from one to the next.

There is SOMETHING you can do, though, as washing your bedding in hot water once a week removes dust mite populations. Not much point in doing this though, unless you are EXTREMELY allergic, or just really creeped out at the thought of the around 500,000 dust mites that approximately inhabit your home.

Yep. 500,000 of THESE.

Life-Cycle

These teeny spider-mites have a lifespan of around four months. The cycle from egg to larvea to adult takes about a month, with the adult living for about three.

In this short period, the female dust mite can lay as many as 100 eggs in her lifetime in small groups of three to five. 

Anywho!

I'm off to bed. G'night all, sleep well. ^^

Dragina, awaayyyy!~ ^.=.^

Swans

Swans - The "Royal Bird"

I need only say the word "swan" and one immediately imagines one of the beautiful, white royal birds that have been so loved for many years.



There are around seven species of swan, but the four most common and recognised species are the Mute swan, the Black swan, the Black-necked swan and the Tundra swan.

Look! I found pictures of them! ^^

Today, however, I'm going to focus largely on the Mute swan, (Cygnus olor) as they are by far the most well-known and recognised type. (Seriously. Type "Swan" into Google images and about 85%ish of them are the mute swan!) They are also the type that we love to see drifting gracefully across lakes, of gliding through rivers on a bright spring morning. 





The Life of a Swan


Swans generally mate for life, only replacing their partners if they are lost or dead. Courtship begins between the ages of 2-4. This is done by displaying, or showing off to another swan (like most bird species!). While facing each other they dip and turn their heads. Swans may also “kiss” bills, creating the heart shape with their necks that the species is renown for.

It DOES look very much like a heart!

Nests are usually a wide mass of rushes and reeds, lined with down and built near the water's edge. The female lays two to seven whitish eggs, each about four inches (10 cm) long.When hatched, baby swans, (called cygnets) are known to be rather ugly (or at least very different from their white parents!) - see "The Ugly Duckling".

Aw, how can you call this ugly!?

After 5 weeks of incubation the cygnets finally hatch, being able to swim as soon as a day or two after hatching. Their parents will protect them for their first few months of their life; which is the reason it's best to stay away from nesting grounds during this period... parents tend to be rather aggressive!




The cygnets are independent in about 18 weeks, and ready to fly in 4 to 5 months when they may leave their home territory. However they are only considered fully grown in size after about 6 months.Then, another 6 months later, the young will finally have that oh-so desirable white adult plumage!In any case, if they don't leave to find their own territory, they will be driven off by their parents before the next breeding season. Like a lazy teenager being kicked out of the house. XD


Domestication of Swans

For many centuries, mute swans in Britain were domesticated for food!Individual swans were marked by nicks on the webs of their feet or beak to indicate ownership. These marks were registered with the Crown and a "Royal Swan herd" was appointed. Any birds not so marked became Crown property, hence the swan becoming known as the "Royal Bird". It is quite possible that this domestication saved the swan for being hunted to extinction in Britain. 

 



Other Swan Info!


Swans are the largest water fowl on Earth,  Mute swans weighing from 6.5 – 13 kg (14 – 30 pounds), and about 160 cm (5 feet) long, with a wingspan up to 2.5 meters (8 feet).A male swan is called a cob, and a female swan is called a pen.The Mute swan’s neck has more vertebrae than any other bird: 23,  as well as boasting some 25,000 feathers that make up its impressive plumage.Swans are actually very intelligent; being able to recognise humans who have been nice -or cruel- towards them. They do not attack humans without cause. (But can be aggressive during nesting!)The Mute swan is not actually mute! They can make a variety of hissing and occasionally honking (or 'barking'/'bleating') noises as well! (Talk about a misleading name!)

Overall, we've got to agree that swans are pretty awesome birds. (Both literally and figuratively! XD)

Anywho! Hope you enjoyed all that stuff on swans!
Dragina, awaaayyy!~ ^.=.^

The Chinese Gold Miners

Ok, I don't have time or motivation to write a post. I had a very upsetting day and don't have it in me to write a proper post so here's my history project, I hope you like learning about the chinese miners! ^.^ (Just so I don't get in trouble, DO NOT COPY THIS WORK FOR ANY ASSESSMENTS!!!) DFTBA! :)

The Chinese Gold Miners in New Zealand
Why were the Chinese invited to work in New Zealand?

Many Chinese miners were working in Australia after gold was discovered there in 1851. This led to an influx of immigrants into Australia and most of these immigrants were Chinese workers seeking to make enough money to sustain their life style whilst still sending money back to China to sustain their families back home and provide them with a better lifestyle than would have been possible form working in China.

There was a great deal of tension between the Australian miners, the European miners and the Chinese miners. This was primarily due to the significant cultural differences between them. The Chinese tended to live in close communities which meant they rarely associated with the European miners. The Chinese preferred to smoke opium rather than to drink alcohol and gamble which was what European miners tended to do in their spare time. The difference in culture resulted in the European miners abusing the Chinese, both verbally and sometimes even physically. There were some notable violent attacks and riots such as the 1860-1861 Lambing Flat riots, where protestor’s used physical violence to push the Chinese out of their settlements. The Australian government was unable to provide support and protection for the Chinese miners and this led to the miners resenting working in Australia.

Gold was first discovered in New Zealand in 1861. Once the discovery was announced in the Otago newspaper, the news of the find spread rapidly around New Zealand and miners started to flood into the Otago gold fields. This discovery was a huge boost to the New Zealand economy. However the chamber of Commerce was aware of the situation in the gold fields in Australia and realised that ten Chinese immigrants had been the biggest boost to the Australian gold mining industry and hence a large reason for the increase in the Australian aconomy.so when after the first few years of gold mining in Otago, the European miners thought they had exhausted most of the available gold, the Chamber of Commerce sent a notice to China and Australia inviting Chinese miners to New Zealand to mine for any remaining gold they could find. These notices promised protection to the Chinese.

In the late 1800s, early 1900s New Zealand was relatively unknown and it was thought to be a relatively peaceful and law abiding country with little violence. This appealed to the Chinese as they saw an opportunity to mine on a far safer environment than Australia. Shortly after the notice was issued, the Chinese population rose from almost zero to about 1,200 in Otago alone.

The Chinese lifestyle

Most of the Chinese miners in New Zealand lived a similar lifestyle to those in Australia. They either lived in tight knit communities with others from the same ethnicity or on their own in a cottage on the edge of a township. This was because many of the Chinese miners, whether they were from Australia or directly from China, had left their families back home in China. Some men brought over one relative but this was usually a male who would be able to help with the mining work. This resulted in many of the Chinese miners becoming very lonely which in turn resulted in strong communities forming with a strong sense of unity and solidarity.

The majority of the miners could not afford to bring their families over from China as the fare was too high. Only the wealthier families managed to pay the fare. These families tended to establish shops or other small businesses, generally specifically tailored to meet the needs of the wider Chinese community.

The European miners did not mix with the Chinese as they felt uncomfortable about their lifestyle which was deemed to be “weird” and foreign. In addition to their secluded lifestyle, the Chinese also mined in a different way to the Europeans which further differentiated them. The Chinese tended to re-mine old claims which had been abandoned by the European miners. The European miners had taken all the “easy” gold which was relatively easily mined and they left the gold which was harder to extract and therefore less profitable. The hard working Chinese miners were not afraid to work for this gold and it provided them with a reasonable income and hence lifestyle, whilst allowing them to send money home to their families in China. It was unlikely they would ever become wealthy this way though. The Europeans miners could not understand the Chinese approach to mining: their aim was to get rich quickly and move on. This uncommitted type of mining style favoured by the Europeans meant they often went without food and did not have a very comfortable lifestyle.

Since the Chinese were working previously worked European claims, conflicts often arose when the Europeans returned to their old claims to finds that they had lost them to the Chinese. This also created tension between the two cultures.

What were the New Zealander’s views of the Chinese?

 The European miners strongly resented the Chinese miners as they felt they stole their claims and were too “exclusive”. These views prevailed throughout New Zealand and even through the families of the miners themselves. These views were also enhanced by the fact that many Chinese established farms and other agricultural businesses. Many New Zealanders felt that the influx of the Chinese threatened their sovereignty over New Zealand. The New Zealanders could see the Chinese were willing to work harder than they were for less pay and this made them more favourable employees to the New Zealanders. The New Zealanders felt that businesses were more likely to employ the Chinese workers and this, together with the rise in the number of Chinese businesses, worried the New Zealanders who felt that they were losing out on securing jobs. The New Zealanders felt that the jobs should be given firstly to them to maintain national sovereignty. The Chinese started to become known as “The Yellow Peril”.

In 1871, the extent of discontent with the Chinese situation led to the signing of a petition requesting the New Zealand Government either restrict Chinese entry into New Zealand or deport the Chinese who were not New Zealand citizens. Whilst the Government was prepared in general to listen to New Zealanders to prevent violence erupting, the Chamber of Commerce did not want the Government to amend the legislation. The Chamber had been tracking the significant rise in the economy and it was no coincidence that the rise correlated with the arrival of the Chinese. With the Chamber’s strong objection to any changes being made to the legislation, the Government felt obliged to retain the status quo to maintain long term economic gains. The rejection of any amendment further increased tension between the Chinese and the New Zealanders.

How did this lead to the miners being treated differently?

 With tensions between the Chinese and the Europeans being at an all-time high, violence was bound to break out. A famous example of this violence occurred in 1905when an elderly Chinese woman was fatally shot by activist Lionel Terry in Wellington’s city centre. There were several other similar incidents around the country. However, the violence and discrimination was not merely centralised towards individuals but was often directed at a whole group of Chinese. At this time the town considered to be “the gateway to the goldfields” was a small town called Lawrence in Otago. Any Chinese who chose to live there was shunned and excluded. Some shops even refused to sell goods to any Chinese living in the town. This forced the Chinese to establish their own township a kilometre away. The Chinese felt secluded and strong resentment grew among them which in turn led the Chinese community to becoming wary and unaccepting of the New Zealanders. The two racial groups kept to themselves and did not inter mixed. This split the mining communities into two which worried the New Zealand Government which had originally promised to protect the Chinese mining community. However it was also the Government’s duty to protect their own citizens. In 1881 the New Zealand Government finally bowed to pressure from the New Zealanders and in an attempt to appease them and put a stop to the violence which was escalating, they passed legislation restricting Chinese entry into New Zealand.

What did the New Government do about the problem?

The New Zealand Government enacted legislation to restrict Chinese entry into New Zealand. The main piece of legislation was the Act “To regulate the Immigration of Chinese. “This came into force in late 1881 and stated that in order to enter New Zealand a person of Chinese ethnicity had to pay a poll tax of £10 to the New Zealand government. In addition, ships carrying Chinese immigrants were only permitted to carry one person of Chinese ethnicity per 10 tonnes of cargo. This excluded Chinese sailors from remaining in New Zealand for any length of time. The penalty on a captain who floated the law was £10 per Chinese person carried in excess of the allowance.

At first this legislation settled tensions between the Chinese and the New Zealanders. However, it was soon realised that the influx of Chinese into New Zealand had only decreased in a minor way following ten introduction of this legislation. This resulted in the New Zealanders becoming furious with the Government as they felt it was trying to cheat them of jobs that were rightfully theirs as citizens of New Zealand. This placed pressure on the Government to raise the level of the poll tax. Once again the Chamber of Commerce came out against any increase in the tax on the basis that the Chinese were a positive influence on the New Zealand economy and the more allowed into New Zealand the better. A rise in the poll tax would deter immigrants.

In the end the Government decided to ignore the Chamber’s wishes and give in to the New Zealand public in an attempt to prevent violence. In 1896 the poll tax was increased to £100. Following this huge increase, the influx of immigrants decreased significantly and the majority of the New Zealand population felt appeased.

What happened to the Chinese when the gold rush ended?

After the significant rise in the poll tax, most of the tension between the Chinese and the New Zealanders eased. Although the resentment, exclusion and occasional violence were still apparent, most of the prejudice had dissipated. During the early 1900s the gold began to run dry in the Otago fields. By this time, many of the New Zealand miners had left Otago for the West Coast of the South Island, leaving the Chinese to fully exhaust the remaining gold fields, especially in the rivers.

After so many years away from home, most Chinese miners were anxious to return to their families. However a passage on a boat to China was expensive and beyond the financial means of most miners who in general only made enough to live on and to send money home. This resulted in most of the miners remaining in New Zealand. Some established small businesses, some of which are still operating in Otago today. Most of the miners left these communities which became abandoned and they built small cottages in remote locations around Otago.

In the past several decades some of the bodies of the Chinese miners have been transported back to their homeland and returned to their families. The remainder are buried in graveyards here in specifically designed plots.

Many historical gold mining sites remain today and tourists are able to gain a glimpse into how the Chinese lived and worked. A memorable site is that of the remains of a cottage which belonged to a Chinese miner, unable to return to his homeland. This cottage can be seen on the way in to Macetown in Otago near Arrowtown. The Chinese man who lived there is reported to have been an opium smoker and the site is known as “Opium Bob’s cottage”. Similar sites to this can be seen in many other places around Otago. There is a relatively large settlement in Arrowtown, down by the Arrow River and another along the Kawarau gorge Road between Queenstown and Cromwell. The derelict cottages can be entered. They generally consist of a small single room with a fireplace and a bed. The walls are usually of stone and the floor is bare dirt.

What is the result of Chinese miners’ immigration in New Zealand today?

Many historical sites have been restored and set up as tourist sites. These sites show visitors how Chinese miners lived and worked and the conditions they endured to make a living and send money home to their families back in China, who many never saw again after arriving in New Zealand.

Recently the New Zealand government has sought to return some land to the Chinese and their descendent families. However to date no returns have been made as no direct descendants have been found.

Helen Clarke, on behalf of the New Zealand government made a public apology to the Chinese Government for the appalling treatment of the Chinese immigrants in New Zealand. This apology was made in any attempt to from strong economic and social ties between the two countries. It has also highlighted the plight of the Chinese miners to the New Zealand public and has led to understanding of the suffering endured by the Chinese 100 years ago. The Chinese immigrants suffered prejudice and racism some of which is still present today.

New Zealanders today have recognised that New Zealand was considered a racist country and the Government has, in the past 150 years, acted in a racist manner. Has this led to a better and more tolerant society in New Zealand with more acknowledgment of the need to understand and incorporate different cultures into our society?  It may have paved the way for a more understanding society tolerant of different races. It may have taught New Zealanders to be more tolerant of other races and the benefit of working together for economic gain.

There are many Chinese in New Zealand today, working and assisting in the economic prosperity of our country.

It has resulted in a number of tourist attractions which provide economic return for the country.

The Human Eye

The Human Eye

The second most complicated organ in our body, (the brain takes first) the eye is to be thanked for over 85% of what we experience every day and work tirelessly and without rest their entire lives. (external muscles  need rest though, and lubricant must be replenished. The eye, itself, however, needs no rest.) 



We use our eyes almost constantly every day, (aside from the average of 10 000 blinks a day and sleeping) and yet we barely ever think about the fact we're using them. We're far too engrossed by the 36,000 bits of information we are receiving every hour, and the around 50 things a second our eyes focus on for us to think about the processes that the images we see have to go through.

We actually see everything upside-down, but our wonderful brain flips it the 'right' way up for us, not to mention fading the two different images (one from each eye) that its given together! But that's the brain, and another topic.

Colours

With around 120 million rods for “night vision”, and 8 million cones that are colour sensitive (and work best in light) be are able to distinguish between over 500 shades of grey, and see over 2.7 million different colours.



However, not everyone has this privilege. Roughly 8% of men and 0.5% of women are affected by at least some form of colour-blindness.
There are quite a few variations of this, though! It's not just black and white!
The most common type of colour-blindness is the 'red-green' type called deuteranopia, however, very rarely, There are people which are really suffering from complete color blindness, which is called achromatopsia or monochromacy.

Other little facts

Only 1/6 of our eye is actually 'exposed'. However, humans are still the only animal which has the 'whites' of our eyes showing. 

See? No eye-whiteness!

Another misconception is that there is only one colour-gene coding for our eyes.
Actually, there are three!
We've got an allele for a colour in our inner ring, centre, and outer rings of the iris.
This is why you'll occasionally meet people with multi-coloured eyes, as opposed to just monochromatic all the way!




But, overall, the human eye is a ridiculously powerful, awesome, and pretty organ! Humans have been and still are obsessed with them! (Seriously, just google-image 'eye' and you'll get thousands of photos, (photoshopped and real!) images of them.)
If you can see, (with the aid of glasses or not!) be happy that you have such a complex organ functioning in your body! ^-^

Dragina, Awaaaayyy!~

Popularity

Popularity

It is the doom of some people and what others pride themselves on. I have broken the ‘popularity ladder’ into sections. Here’s what I think:

1.       Ultra popular – The ones who can be very selective of their friends and the ones who ‘everyone likes’. Though personally I don’t think this is true because I only genuinely like 3 of the ultra popular people in our year.

2.       Nice popular – these people are generally smart and people who everyone like. Several of my friends fall into this category. These people are one step down because not everyone knows them and they are less outgoing. Severally people I know in this category are ‘nice’ but rather exclusive.

3.       Popular within several groups. These people are well known however less so than the groups above them, however they are part of several friend groups and are very popular within these groups.

4.       Popular within their own group. These people are popular within their own group and just their own group, they are little known.

5.       In a group. These are the people that fit into a friend group but aren’t one of the ‘key members’ of that group.

6.       Awkward member of their group. These people normally hang out in the library or something but when they hang out with their group they are a bit of an awkward wheel.

7.       Mr/ Mrs Unpopular. These are the people who to be honest nobody likes because whilst the may be nice they have no social skills. These people are often selfish and unable to hold normal conversations, they also tend to randomly butt in on conversations they are not part of (this is really annoying).

So if you want to boost yourself up the social ladder one needs to be confident and learn good social skills and I’m sad to say this but give some consideration to their appearance.  However if you are in 5, 6 or 7 I recommend you always think twice or thrice before you say something! Popularity isn’t everything, at this stage grades are and I recommend you have nice friends who care about you for who you are.

Sorry for the short post… maths test tomorrow which I should start studying for! :P
If you have any questions about popularity so leave questions in comments! :)

DFTBA!!

Our Canine Friends

Dogs, canines, the beloved pets of humans for centuries!



Dogs Were One of the First Domesticated Animals!

All dogs can be traced back 40 million years ago to a weasel-like animal called the Miacis which dwelled in trees and dens. The Miacis later evolved into the Tomarctus, a direct forbear of the genus Canis, which includes the wolf and jackal as well as the dog.

(The Miacis)
(And the Tomarctus!)

The oldest known dog bones were found in Asia and date as far back as 10,000 B.C. The first identifiable dog breed appeared about 9000 B.C. and was probably a type of Greyhound dog used for hunting.
It didn't all start with humans. though!
In fact, the first dogs were self-domesticated wolves which, at least 12,000 years ago, became attracted to the first sites of permanent human habitation...
To coincide with this, the earliest European images of dogs are found in cave paintings dating back 12,000 years ago as well, in Spain.

Ancient Rome and Greece also played a big part in the life of dogs.
Mosaics meaning "Beware the Dog" have been found on doorsteps in ancient Roman cities, and the term 
"dog days of summer” was coined by the ancient Greeks and Romans to describe the hottest days of summer that coincided with the rising of the Dog Star, Sirius.

^{However, It wasn't only fun and games for dogs there. K}ennels of dogs were kept at the sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidaurus in Ancient Greece. Dogs were frequently sacrificed there because they were plentiful, inexpensive, and easy to control. During the July 25 celebration of the kunophontis (“the massacre of dogs”), dog sacrifices were performed to appease the ancestors of Apollo’s son, Linos, who was devoured by dogs.
Not to mention, the ancient religion Zoroastrianism includes in its religious text titled the Zend Avestaa section devoted to the care and breeding of dogs
(The symbol of Zoroastrianism)

Dogs were, much like cats, also revered in Ancient Egypt

 When a pet dog would die, the owners shaved off their eyebrows, smeared mud in their hair, and mourned aloud for days.
















Even the Mayans and Aztecs held dogs in high esteem - symbolizing every tenth day with the dog, and those born under this sign were believed to have outstanding leadership skills. 

Dog trainers in ancient China were also held in high esteem. A great deal of dog domestication also took place in China, especially dwarfing and miniaturization.

Dogs in The Middle Ages

<sup>Dogs played a big part in almost everything during The Middle Ages.
Great Danes and Mastiffs were sometimes suited with armor and spiked collars to enter a battle or to defend supply caravans.



Also, mixed breeds of peasants’ dogs were required to wear blocks around their necks to keep them from breeding with noble hunting dogs. Purebred dogs were very expensive and hunting became the province of the rich.
And you know those dogs found in airports to sniff out drugs, and those owned by the police force?
Well... Bloodhound dogs have actually been used since the Middle Ages to track criminals! Their powerful sense of smell meant they could track criminals for miles once they found the scent!

Other Interesting Dog Facts

It costs approximately $10,000 to train a federally certified search and rescue dog.

Dog nose prints are as unique as human finger prints and can be used to identify them.

The Beagle and Collie are the nosiest dogs, while the Akbash Dog and the Basenji are the quietest.</sup>
However, the most intelligent dogs are reportedly also the Border Collie and the Poodle, while the least intelligent dogs are the Afghan Hound and the Basenji.

Continuing on from that, French poodles did not originate in France but in Germany (“poodle” comes from the German "pudel orpudelhund", meaning “splashing dog”). Some scholars speculate the poodle’s puffs of hair evolved when hunters shaved the poodle for more efficient swimming, while leaving the pom-poms around the major joints to keep them warm!

Anywho, hope you learnt something new! :D
Dragina, Over and Out! XP

TimeTravel

Time Travel

The ultimate science fiction concept. ……Imagine…. You could fix all those stupid things you’ve done or said. Well, no, you couldn’t, and here’s why!

 Paradoxes

Have you heard about something called a paradox? It is a thought experiment that explains what happens if one tiny thing changes. For example if your bike was stolen because you forgot to lock it and you had a time machine, then you could just go back in time and tell yourself to lock it up or lock it up yourself? Well, yes…. But then your bike wouldn’t be stolen and you wouldn’t go back and remind yourself to lock up your bike. The only way around that is when you go back in time you have to tell your past self to go back in time and remind you to lock up your bike and remind yourself to lock up your blog. Following? Here is another example. For some reason you go back in time and you accidentally land on your (now younger) grandmother who dies. This means your mum is never born and therefore you are never born. Which means you can’t go back in time to kill your grandmother, which means you are alive to go back in time, which means you’re dead, which means you’re alive, which means your dea…………..ARRRGGGGHHH…. see, this is why paradoxes are VERY VERY bad. Even the tiniest changes can have a big effect and not just to you, they can also have big effects on others. Take the bike example. Ignoring your personal paradox what happens if because your bike is now locked the criminal steals another bike, but the person he is stealing it from happens to be a head of states' son. By the criminal stealing his boy’s bike the head of state gets really annoyed and passes a law condemning all petty criminals to the death sentence (ok an extreme example). All of a sudden you are responsible for the deaths of thousands of fairly innocent people. This is also called the butterfly effect, that small changes can have huge consequences.

How to Overcome the Paradoxes

Well if when we time travel nobody sees us and we change absolutely nothing including breathing in oxygen (i.e. we were “observers”, like looking at penguins behind a glass wall) then we could in theory time travel. Awesome I know!

So, Time Machine?

I don’t think so…. I think it is highly unlikely that we are ever going to develop technology advanced enough to transport particles through the fabric of time and space. However some physicists’ theorise that in the middle of every black hole are a few worm holes. These “wormholes” stretch between time and space and if you able to hold one open for long enough and get in then you would be able to time travel. However we are completely ignoring the fact that you can’t get to the centre of a black hole without being spagetiafied (yes that is the technical term). One big problem with this is, how would you get back?

Parallel Universe?

Another theory is that there are an infinite number of universes out there for every possible outcome and we are only living in one of them. And by travelling through time you would not technically be travelling through time you would be creating a parallel universe where perhaps most of the paradoxes were ironed out, who knows!

In summary all I can say is the concept of time travel is awesome and a great topic for science fiction. However for the moment I think it is best left in the world science fiction as there are far too many dangers with time travel. If you have any thoughts on time travel or agree/ disagree with anything I have said leave them in the comments and I’ll get back to you!
DFTBA!

Brief History of Cats

Cats!

Yes, the adorable, furry, (or hairless, if you don't have a furred one! XP) domesticated animals we call cats.

Worshipped in ancient Egypt...

Well, it's common knowledge that cats were worshipped in Egypt, I won't lie!
In fact, When a family cat died in ancient Egypt, family members would mourn by shaving off their eyebrows. They also held elaborate funerals during which they drank wine and beat their breasts. The cat was embalmed with a sculpted wooden mask and the tiny mummy was placed in the family tomb or in a pet cemetery with tiny mummies of mice. (Assumedly so it would have something to catch and eat)





However, people often believe the Ancient Egyptians were the first to keep domesticated cats.
This was proven false, though, when the oldest known pet cat was discovered in a 9,500-year-old grave on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. This grave pre-dates early Egyptian art depicting cats by 4,000 years or more!




However, things have not always been love and cuddles for our dear kitty-cat friends!


Reviled in the Middle Ages.


That's right. 
A lesser known fact is that, in the Middle Ages, cats were associated with witchcraft!
...and we all know what the reaction to witchcraft was back then... (If you don't.. Well, it wasn't very good.. To put it lightly.)

On St. John’s Day, people all over Europe would stuff cats of all shapes and sizes into sacks and toss the cats into bonfires... On 'holy' days, people celebrated by tossing cats from church towers. Yes. Wouldn't you say it was holy to destroy those related to witchcraft? Obviously it was back then!


And that's not the only time cat's fell prey to the species that once worshipped it. During the time of the Spanish Inquisition, Pope Innocent VIII condemned cats as evil and thousands of cats were burned. Unfortunately, the widespread killing of cats led to an explosion of the rat population, which exacerbated the effects of the Black Death! ...Perhaps he wasn't so innocent after all...



But don't worry too much, most of the population is, at the moment....

In love with cats again!

Well, cats are North America’s most popular pets: there are 73 million cats in homes there. and over 30% of households in North America own a cat! 
If you needed more proof that cats were "back in fashion" Just type "cat" into Google.
You'll find multitudes upon multitudes of adorable images of our furry (at the moment) friend.





(They're still eaten in Asia though! Nearly four million cats are eaten there per annum!)


Over and out.
...and if you have a cat, remember to give it a hug!
(or if it's not the huggy kind, some attention anyway! XP) 

Higgs Boson Particle

The Higgs Boson Explained (hopefully)

The Higgs Boson is a subatomic particle named after Peter Higgs who first theorised this particle. It "gives" other subatomic particles mass which confirms The current standard model of physics. Many of you will have probably heard about it through the news through headlines such as “Scientists have found the Higgs Boson” e.t.c. But I want to be very clear. They have not found the Higgs Boson. They have mealy found traces of a particle which appears to have similar properties to the theorised Higgs Boson particle.

So what does the Higgs Boson mean for physics?

If the particle does turn out to be the Higgs Boson then this has a huge repercussion for physics as it would confirm the existence of the “Higgs Field”. This theory was described by famous physicist David Miller like this. You have a room full of political party workers spread evenly throughout a room. An anonymous person who passes through the crowd with ease would be like the interaction between the field and a massless photon. If the British prime minister, however, tried to do the same, his or her progress would be greatly held back by the swarm of admirers crowding around him/her, and would be more like the interaction for a particle that acquires a finite mass. The Higgs field gives mass to the massless gauge bosons.

Why is the Higgs Boson particle also named the “God” particle?

This is a thing called irony. Scientists nicknamed it the god particle as it unifies the other subatomic particles and confirms the standard model of physics.  Many uneducated people think that the God particle somehow confirms the existence of a greater being and there have been many posts along the lines of “The God particle has been found. Take that Atheists” or “God particle found. Your argument is now invalid atheists”. To these people I face palm and wonder what has happened to our education system.

What if the particle turns out to not be the Higgs Boson?

Well then that would disprove the standard physics model. Luckily the physicists came up with some “backup” theories. Some of these are extensions on the standard model, the most famous being the supersymmetry theory. All of these models are trying to explain the interactive forces between the subatomic particles.

If you have any questions about the Higgs Boson please leave them in comments and I will try my best to answer them! Or you can look on Google or Wikipedia.

DFTBA

Time is Fleeting

Time, time time.
So fleeting.
I wake up in the morning at seven, and before I can even blink, the 54,000 seconds in my day have passed and it's 10PM.
The horror.
And yet, I've seemed to get nothing done!
Where has the time gone?
One minute, I have hours, the next thing I know, I'm internally shouting


"Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it's getting!"



You'd think what with having 24 hours in a day, things wouldn't get left to the last minute, but they always seem to!
Well, really, we only have 86,400 seconds in a day.
Thinking in terms of seconds, and it suddenly seems like so much less.





However, if you think about it...
We spend around 8 hours sleeping, (tsk, silly humans, the recommended sleeping period is 9.20 hours!) Then around 7 hours at school (or more, when one is working!), and already 15/24 hours are gone!
Though, you'd think nine hours would be plenty of time... but let's not forget that hour you need to get ready in the morning, and that hour of 'recuperation' when you finally get home. Then there's meals, travel time, extra/co-curricular... The list goes on.
So, let's say we get around 4-6 hours of 'free time'.
(Not factoring in homework etc.)
Still, where does all the time go?
I suppose, for now, that will remain a mystery...



But, speaking of time, just some random facts because I simply haven't the time to continue writing this!:
It takes the Earth approximately 513,000 minutes to orbit the sun, and that's at travelling at 30Kmh/s!
(Very, very fast.)
On average, you actually only spend around 40 minutes eating every day!
..as opposed to spending 1 1/2 years or more of your life sitting on the toilet...
1 in 4 people spend more time online than they do asleep!
and, finally...
We spend approximately 14256 hours of our lives at school (depending on attendance etc)
Well, have a fun day!~ ^^