Our Wonderful World

 New Years is the celebration of the end of the past, and the beginning of the future. New years is celebrated on December 31st, and January 1st. Over the course of those two days, there are many things that happen within. Traditions have changed through the years, and centuries, but it all rounds up to the same thing, New Years. There are 2 parts to the New Years celebration. There is New years Eve, and New Years Day. But new Years Eve comes first, for real. New Years Eve could have been celebrated before then, but the first known celebration was in 2000 B.C. in Mesopotamia. At the time, there were only ten months in the year, and nowadays, they would be celebrating around March 25th. They would be celebrating the vernal equinox. Again, at the time there were only 10 months in the year, because of the time, they used the vernal equinox as the time of what they thought of as the new year because it reset the daylight and night in the world. This also signaled the beginning of the p...

Countries on Europe's Atlantic Coast were competing heavily for wealth and power. Portugal, England, Spain and France sent explorers to America, at the time, known as the "New World." In 1488 a ship from Portugal sailed around the southern tip of Africa while in 1492, Spain sent a ship that sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. The first person to realize that America had been a continent was a man named Amerigo Vespucci. He is the one that called America "A new world" and later, America was named after him in honor of his discovery. One explorer that explored America was Christopher Columbus. He was paid by Spain to sail across the Atlantic Ocean for a trade route to India. Unknowingly though, he instead discovered America. When he landed on the East Coast of America he met the Ta íno people. Columbus's Voyage to the Americas increased Europe's interest in exploration and led to many other voyages and colonies. John Cabot was another explorer that sailed th...

 Many things don't seem important in history but to know how we're here now, we have to know what came before us. Much of this started in the 1400s. The world was moving then, rich empires served as Patrons (people they could pay to study, explore, or create art for the empire). Patronage was important it led to advances in knowledge through trade routes. (An area used by merchants for economic purposes) After patronage was settled though, Europe came to North and South American many tribes were developing quickly. The Iroquois Confederacy was a "tribe" near the Great Lakes. They were gaining much power over trade and they traded cash crops such as tobacco. The Aztecs are a different story though, they were expanding greatly. Aztec rulers were becoming patrons, mainly fore poets. As for the Incas, their rulers were also patrons!   They were patrons for inventors that made and developed technologies. These technologies were for farming, medicine, and bridge building. L...

 Halloween is a festival known around the world, and has many traditions. Some include making jack-o-lanterns, dressing up, and going door to door to get candy; but the history is even more fascinating than the traditions.  Halloween, or All Hallows Eve is celebrated on October 31st to celebrate the last day of harvest.  To understand Halloween today though, it is better to take a look at what it was before, and how it came to be. Halloween comes from the Celtic Festival of Samhain. The people of Samhain would often complete similar traditions as we do now. They would light fires, like lighting jack-o-lanterns, and they would also dress up. Both of these things would be done to ward off ghosts. This Celtic Festival is not important to the history of Halloween, but more so explains where most of the traditions come from. In 837, Pope Gregory IV declared that November 1st would become All Saints Day. Although this news was limited to Rome for a long time, the Catholic peopl...

​​ Heat and the Climate   ​​ It is extremely hot. August is a month for shorts, and sunscreen. But even those little pieces of clothing do not stop it from being so hot out there.   Climate change is a combination of global warming with our weather patterns. The Earth has stages, icehouse, cold house, warm house, and hot house. These stages are the cycle of the Earth.   Currently, we are in the warm house stage. With much CO2 being produced by humans, we are getting to the hot house stage a lot faster than the Earth would be without humans on the planet.   In about 1.2 million years we are estimated to reach the hot house stage. The Earth temperature will be much higher compared to what it is right now. The average temperature will be over 70 but be 100 degrees if not higher.   ​         Weather patterns have a significant effect on climate change too. California’s drought is caused by these weather patterns, and we do not know if it is g...

      June and July are not known to be that different. They are not even used in comparison at all. But literally, these months have differences and similarities. For example, these months are both hot, but have different holidays.  June June is the month where most children start their summer break, and end their 180 days of school. Children usually start a summer camp at the end of June. If they don't, it will usually start in early July. June isn't the hot month of the year, it's July. Although June isn't the hot month of the year. It is still common to see people at the beach. These people are usually surfers or tourists. During June the waves are not high. This is because the moon's not interfering with the waves and gravity of the Earth. In other words, the moon is far. July Now July is a month that is a total relaxation month. Independence Day is the only thing that attracts people in July to come out and enjoy the glory of America. July is the month of ...

Person of the Month Rachel Carson Rachel Carson Rachel Carson was very important to our environment.  If it was not for her, pesticides would still be used to this day and most of our animals would be poisoned. In her book Silent Spring, Rachel Carson became an Aquatic Biologist with the   U.S. Bureau of Fisheries in the 1950s. As Carson became older, she started writing books such as Silent Spring,  and The Sense of Wonder.  Just like other people, died. Sadly, she died at the age of 56. That is an early age nowadays. Back then though, it was considered a tad lower than average in the early 1900s. Carson had a beautiful life, and her life ended in 1956. Carson shows people how pesticides are damaging our environment.Even though the people who used/sold pesticides were saying her research was wrong; she still stood for the information she collected. Finally a scientist proved that the information Carson collected was all true! She won two awards for her books. When ...