Nonfiction

You should get a dog because they are very fluffy. And if you miss someone, a dog can take your mind off it. Being blind can be tough, but not if you have a service dog.

One reason you should get a dog is dogs are very fluffy because they have a lot of fur to keep them warm and soft. Dogs are really good to snuggle and cuddle with because of their fur. Dogs with a lot of fur are good to have if you don’t mind a lot of shedding.

Another reason you should get a dog is because if you miss someone it can help you take your mind off the person you miss. Dogs are very good at keeping the owner company when he/she is sad. If you are sad because someone has just died or moved away, a dog is good to play with.

Lastly you should buy a dog if you know someone who is blind and has a very hard time living. You should buy them a service dog because some dogs are specially trained to help people who are blind. Dogs can help you cross the street and not get hurt if you are blind. Emergencies are bad for blind people because they cannot see an exit. That is why you should get a service dog not a regular dog to help them leave the building or house.

A dog is a noble, smart and kind animal. You never know, maybe a dog can be your hero. If you want a cute and furry pet go ahead and buy a dog. Trust me you will love your new pet.

Matching family pajamas, why do people wear them? Is it how trendy they are, that it is matching, the bonding. In most big cities, there are places that sell matching family pajamas on almost every street. But when did the matching family pajamas trend actually start. When a family named The Holderness Family made a video of them singing and dancing wearing matching pajamas in 2013, families got inspired, and even celebrities started wearing them such as Grammy award winner and singer Taylor Swift and her brother, social media star Kim Kardashian and the rest of the Kardashian family and NBA all-star Steph Curry and his kids. 

Pyjamas or more commonly known as pajamas in the United States were first introduced in England in the 17th century as clothes to lounge and chill in. Although I am pretty sure that they did not use the word chill though. When a company called Hanna Anderson released their first line of matching family pajamas in 1993, they were a big hit. As time went on they became bigger and bigger until more and more places started selling them. When Ms. Sowell, a college administration employee in North Carolina, said that she would continue her tradition of getting in the Christmas spirit, she said she was, “Just doing what makes me feel good without even having a husband,” and that “Whenever God sends [her future husband, she will] be prepared, and hopefully he's prepared for my shenanigans.” She said later that her shenanigans do include matching family pajamas every single year. 

When my parents bought me, my younger brother and my dog matching pajamas for Hanukkah one year, I was very happy because I love my dog and think he looks funny in clothes. After a lot of bribing with treats my dog finally sat still and let us put the pajamas on him and take a photo of the two of us. I look at the photo every day and I keep it in my binder. Every time I look at that photo I smile. Although my dog was not the biggest fan of the pajamas, I definitely enjoyed it. Another year, my parents got me, my brother and my parents matching Hanukkah pajamas. I was five and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Every year we receive holiday cards from people. A few days ago, I opened one up from my dad’s childhood best friend and there is a photo of the mom, dad and their three kids, running through their yard in their matching family pajamas. I thought they looked ridiculous, because their kids are in high school and middle school.

Wearing matching family pajamas shows family bonding.  It brings people together and it looks cute on holiday cards. When you are little.  People want to be like the people that they know. When kids want something, they tend to say “But _____ has them, so I want them” showing just how influential what people do, wear or even say are. But celebrities are even more influential. When The Holderness Family made a video of their “Matching Christmas Jammies” people started wearing them and posting videos of them doing TikTok dances in them. 

I give Matching Family Pajamas 3 stars. 

Works Cited

Cherelus, Gina. "To Declare You're a Couple, Flag It with Flannel." The New York Times, 27 Nov. 2022, p. 10(L). The New York Times Article Archive, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A727976620/SPJ.SP24?u=mlin_m_charles&sid=bookmark-SPJ.SP24&xid=f3868568. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.

"Demi Moore, Bruce Willis and Their Kids Post Matching Pajama Pic from Isolation." CNN Wire, 7 Apr. 2020, p. NA. Gale in Context: Middle School, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A619651895/MSIC?u=mlin_m_charles&sid=bookmark-MSIC&xid=0e7262ca. Accessed 11 Dec. 2024.

ET. 7 Dec. 2020, www.etonline.com/gallery/205921_celebs_and_their_families_matching_holiday_pajamas/eva-amurri-8246.

The Guardian. 19 Dec. 2023, www.theguardian.com/fashion/2023/dec/19/fashion-statement-christmas-pajamas-family.

Little Sleepies. littlesleepies.com/blogs/news/why-wear-matching-pajamas.

Oprah Daily. www.oprahdaily.com/style/g28357459/family-christmas-pajamas/.

"pajamas." Britannica School, Encyclopædia Britannica, 15 Oct. 2008. libraries.state.ma.us/login?eburl=https%3A%2F%2Fschool.eb.com&ebtarget=%2Flevels%2Fmiddle%2Farticle%2Fpajamas%2F58030&ebboatid=9264846. Accessed 11 Dec. 2024.

PatPat. www.patpat.com/blog/why-do-you-need-matching-family-pajamas.html?srsltid=AfmBOoqlvLAiZPIEdliPXUP_0kzfxBrgms341d4FhjlB6Lehagg9BY47. Accessed 8 Aug. 2024.

Retail Brew. 11 Dec. 2023, www.retailbrew.com/stories/2023/12/11/a-short-cozy-history-of-family-pajamas.

Southern Living. 1 Dec. 2024, www.southernliving.com/matching-family-pajamas-became-tradition-8753624.

The Strategist. nymag.com/strategist/2022/11/best-matching-holiday-family-pajamas.html.

Woman's World. www.womansworld.com/shopping/best-matching-family-pajamas-172380.

Yahoo. 27 Dec. 2022, www.yahoo.com/entertainment/see-celebrities-rocking-best-matching-121658136.html.

Daniel Preis

1/8/2025

A block

The Anthropocence Reviewed: Bigfoot

There are multiple mysteries in the world that are still unexplained. Aliens, ghosts, giraffes, well giraffes exist so, nevermind. But a creature that has befuddled the science community  for ages and still today is Bigfoot. This is what five gold prospectors say to have encountered in a gorge, now called Ape Canyon. These prospectors claimed that they had wounded Bigfoot, also known as a sasquatch. but they would regret it. That night, a whole pack of sasquatches attempted to destroy the cabin the prospecters were in, by not only repeatedly ramming into the structure but also pelting boulders at the cabin. This story was later proven false by park rangers, but multiple other reports of Bigfoot have appeared in the ages, and still many reports have not been proven false.

Though you may think that Bigfoot is a recent thing, wild hairy men have been reported by Native Americans thousands of years ago, stealing food and supplies. It doesent take a genius to recognize this as Bigfoot. Another fact is that the origins of the word “Sasquatch" comes from a word from the Halkomelen language, which was used by Native American tribes such as Coast Salish Native Americans in parts of Southwest Canada, such as British Columbia and Vancouver Island. The word, “Sésquac”, comes from the Stó:lõ dialect, and means wild men. While the word “Bigfoot" was journalized from a rash amound of sightings in Northern California during the 1950’s. The first discovery of Bigfoot footprints however, are from the explorer David Thompson. Though not all Bigfoot sightings are true. Two people claimed to find a dead sasquatch. They didn’t. They just stuffed a bigfoot costume with roadkill. Also, a California worker said he encountered bigfoot footprints, but after he died his family explained that the feet were a joke.

My interest in cryptids started when I was in fourth grade. I had an interest in animals since I was a little kid, and cryptids were basically animals where their existence is still not proven. This interest led me to bigfoot. I believe that bigfoot could just be fake, but to me there is too much evidence to go truely confirm that bigfoot is a hoax. I think that bigfoot could equally be a real creature than a hoax. My interest continued in the Christmas of 5th grade. My aunt got me a puzzle, which one of the main focuses of it was bigfoot. This peaked my interest. One final thing is a video game about bigfoot. This humorous game, which I had started playing in sixth grade, was based on the fact of food being stolen from campsites, and all the bigfoot sightings in the woods. Surprisingly, this game advances to a full story  and goes from a sasquatch stealing food from campsites to working jobs as police, firefighters, doctors, and taking down a rich company attempting to take away the very land that multiple animals and a sasquatch live.

Now, what does this tell us? Whatever it is, it is not if bigfoot is real or not. I am not here to tell you how to believe. There are people who believe in bigfoot, people who think it’s a hoax, and people who can’t decide. But one thing for sure is that believers, and non-belivers are two sides of the same coin. These people, though having different views on the same topic, have one very important thing in common. They can’t be convinced otherwise that their view is wrong. Even if you write 38 argument essays that would give you scholarships to every colage and you are a prodigy at convincing people, they would still believe their beliefs are right. Also, people will always try to find proof that their belief is right, which when applied to bigfoot and other cryptids, can lead to hoaxes. These two facts don’t just apply to bigfoot hunters. They apply to all people on the globe. People will not give up for something they believe in, they will have the persistence to keep going. And to me, that is pretty satisfying.

I give Bigfoot 3 stars

           ★★★☆☆

                                                                                                                    Arthur Shuhaiber

                                                                                                                                  1/8/2025

                                                                                                                                     G block

                                                              Pepsi

In 1898, Caleb Bradham set out to create a healthier alternative to Coca-Cola which at the time included cocaine as an ingredient.  What started as a simple drink in a small pharmacy quickly grew to a company called Pepsi. A global brand now worth 214 billion. Today, Pepsi products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. From its humble beginnings to becoming a multinational powerhouse Pepsi’s incredible rise highlights the rapid growth of iconic brands. Whenever I go visit a sandwich shop it’s hard to not notice, both the chips and the drink on my table often come from Pepsi, a reminder of just how deeply the brand has woven itself into everyday life.

Pepsi started in a small pharmacy in New Bern, North Carolina in the year of 1893. The person who made it was Caleb Bradham. He wanted to make a healthier drink than Coke since Coke had cocaine in it when it just started but he wanted a drink with no cocaine in it so his first drink was called “Brad's Drink” but a few years later he changed the name of the drink and called it Pepsi. During the early 1900s Pepsi was a growing company and became more popular, but in 1930 Pepsi filed for bankruptcy because of rising sugar prices and also rationing during world war 1. But then Pepsi bounced back, with early growth through 1935 and 1960. Then in 1960s through 1991 the pepsi and Coca-Cola wars began and through the years it benefited  both by tuning them into the world's best marketers, but a positive event that happened in Pepsi is they bought many companies through the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and the 1990s, and one of the biggest companies they bought is Frito lay in 1965, which was the company that made all the chips like Lays, Doritos, Fritos, Cheetos, and Ruffles. Furthermore through the 1990s and 2000s  they bought more and more companies and Pepsi bought the company SodaStream in 2018 for 3.2 billion dollars. Also in 2020 they bought rockstar to compete with Red Bull. and in 2023 after a decade they changed their logo. 

Pepsi is a well rounded company and has good drinks especially the cherry pepsi. Whenever I visit  a sandwich shop to get a sandwich and a bag of chips and a drink the drink I get most of the time is a cherry Pepsi  and I also get a bag of chips which is also from Pepsi. A connection I have is whether it's a burger, fries, or a pizza, Pepsi is the drink I mostly go for. Something in the drink pepsi makes the food you eat make it better because one time I was eating pasta and it didn’t taste the way I liked it but I did not want to tell my grandmother that this pasta was bad because she would get upset at me  and make me eat it just by it self but then an idea in my head came up and I told my grandma that I m going to grab a pepsi from the garage and after I got it and cracked it open and heard the sizzling i took a drink of it then I took A bite out of my pasta and after that the pasta tasted better with a pepsi than without it.    

There are a great quantity of deeper implications about Pepsi For instance Pepsi’s  new slogan is “Stay on the Pulse”  which reflects their focus on modern consumers who are seeking healthier options, such as drinks with less sugar, showing that Pepsi is adapting to current trends. On their website they feature a can of pepsis next to pizzas from cities renowned for having the best pizza in the world, like New York, Chicago, and Detroit. This reinforced their claim that Pepsi makes all food better. In my own experience, even less than a perfect meal can improve with a Pepsi, and their Idea of pairing it with pizza highlights how Pepsi believes it can enhance the flavor of any food.

I give Pepsi four and a half stars.

Works Cited

"About Pepsi." Pepsi, PepsiCo, 2024, contact.pepsico.com/pepsi/about-us. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.

"The Cola Wars Made Pepsi and Coke 'The World's Best Marketers.'" The Economist, 1 Oct. 2020, p. NA. Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A803925301/OVIC?u=mlin_m_charles&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=d2b228f9. Accessed 12 Dec. 2024.

Health and Nutrition Sciences. 2024, www.pepsicohealthandnutritionsciences.com/pepsico-nutrition-philosophy. Accessed 5 Jan. 2025.

"Here's Why Pepsi Is Buying SodaStream for $3.2 Billion." Here's Why Pepsi Is Buying SodaStream for $3.2 Billion, time.com/5371632/pepsi-pepsico-sodastream-merger-deal/. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.

History Oasis. 2024, www.historyoasis.com/tags/pepsi. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.

Pepsi. 2024, pepsibrattleboro.com/the-history-of-pepsi/. Accessed 7 Jan. 2025.

Pepsi. 2024, www.pepsi.com/landing. Accessed 6 Jan. 2025.

PepsiCo. 2024, www.pepsico.com/our-impact/esg-topics-a-z/sugar. Accessed 6 Jan. 2025.

"PepsiCo." Gale in Context Online Collection, Gale, 2020. Gale in Context: Middle School, link.gale.com/apps/doc/ENEDQY102524562/MSIC?u=mlin_m_charles&sid=bookmark-MSIC&xid=bd39c72f. Accessed 12 Dec. 2024.

      Andrew Androsenko 

A Block 

1/7/2025

      Hockey Sticks.

In the beginning of hockey, the first hockey sticks were heavy and made of wood with no curve made out of hornbeam trees- there are obviously many different brands of hockey sticks now, but back then there was only one brand , Mi’Kmaq carvers. Their hockey sticks were heavily made of wood with no curve. But why? Well they didn’t have a lot of resources in nova scotia where Mi’Kmaq carvers was located and carbon fiber was really expensive to make hockey sticks, like now all hockey sticks are made of carbon fiber.

During the start of hockey(1830), sticks were nearly wood planks with no curvature at the blade and were heavy. These sticks were made by a company called Mi’Kmaq carvers. The oldest stick was used by William “Dilly” Moffatt. As hockey progressed so did the  sticks, hockey sticks were still heavy and made of wood but when a Chicago blackhawks player Stan Mikita split his stick blade into a v shape at his practice he had just created a curve. This curve created more velocity when shooting and the players were able to raise the puck on their shots. During the 3rd era, sticks were lighter and made of an aluminum shaft with a curved blade. These sticks were used by legends like Wayne Gretsky and Keith Tkachuk.  In the modern era, hockeys sticks are light, made of carbon fiber infused with epoxy and fiberglass; these sticks were hollow. In this stage of hockey, you can easily customize your hockey stick to your liking. These sticks are used by the best players in the world like Connor Mcdavid, Sidney Crosbey, Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Kane ect. Sticks will keep evolving as time goes on and people get smarter.

When I was 3 I got my first hockey. This hockey stick was much like the ones used back in the older days of hockey, it was wooden, and had a flat blade. As I got older around 4, I wanted to get sticks like the ones my favorite players would use, but they were too long so my father would buy me the mini versions and I would try to make moves like my favorite players when I would play with my dad. When I scored on him with the moves I saw and the one thing he would say to me was that it was all in the stick and that the stick gave me special powers, I always believed that so when I went to a hockey game I traded my mini stick with my favorite player's real stick. Since I got my favorite player stick ( Patrick Kane) I would only play with that stick and because it was too long I could not score on my dad anymore so he bought me the same mini stick. Looking back, I realize how funny that was and how the different hockey sticks can change how you play the sport. 

Hockey sticks improvement over the ages is a testament on how people think because it takes a product so simple and people find a way to reconstruct it in such a way where there are so many new ways to expand them and create different types of the same product. Companies take a product so simple and discover different ways to make it very complex. Also, It is testament to how people think because over time hockey sticks have gotten very advanced and the manufacturers find different ways to add different specs onto the brand new sticks that come out every year. 

So in the end, I rate Hockey sticks 4.5 out of 5 stars. 

Works Cited

Composite Technology and the Hockey Stick Revolution. 27 Apr. 2011, illumin.usc.edu/composite-technology-and-the-hockey-stick-revolution/. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.

Gunzo Hockey Equipment. 9 Dec. 2024, www.gunzos.com/blog/what-are-hockey-sticks-made-of/#:~:text=Composite%20Sticks,opposite%20directions%20for%20optimum%20strength. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.

"History of ice hockey." Britannica School, Encyclopædia Britannica, 26 Nov. 2024. libraries.state.ma.us/login?eburl=https%3A%2F%2Fschool.eb.com&ebtarget=%2Flevels%2Fhigh%2Farticle%2Fhistory-of-ice-hockey%2F638850&ebboatid=9264846. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.

"Hockey." Gale Middle School Online Collection, Gale, 2022. Gale in Context: Middle School, link.gale.com/apps/doc/NDYEEQ913785456/MSIC?u=mlin_m_charles&sid=bookmark-MSIC&xid=dcadadd9. Accessed 12 Dec. 2024.

Hockey, Usa. "Usa Hockey." Usa Hokcey, 7 Jan. 2024, www.usahockeyrulebook.com/page/show/1084672-rule-621-high-sticks#:~:text=A%20player%20must%20be%20accountable,a%20result%20of%20high%20sticking. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.

"ice hockey." Britannica School, Encyclopædia Britannica, 19 Aug. 2024. libraries.state.ma.us/login?eburl=https%3A%2F%2Fschool.eb.com&ebtarget=%2Flevels%2Fmiddle%2Farticle%2Fice-hockey%2F274902%23329997-toc&ebboatid=9264846. Accessed 12 Dec. 2024. Done

"Ice Hockey." Gale in Context Online Collection, Gale, 2024. Gale in Context: Middle School, link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ2181500047/MSIC?u=mlin_m_charles&sid=bookmark-MSIC&xid=54ef30a1. Accessed 12 Dec. 2024.

Prostock. 5 July 2020, www.prostockhockey.com/sticks/who-made-the-first-curved-hockey-stick?srsltid=AfmBOoqhUIXKbC7o-3fTT0TEHX98Ekhcoa42abOFp0DR_Jsh7qT_QBaj. Accessed 19 Dec. 2024.

Usa Hockeu. 7 Jan. 2024, www.usahockeyrulebook.com/page/show/1084653-rule-609-cross-checking. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.

Name: Andrew Androsenko

Date: 2/24/25

Block: B

Ashoka was enlightened

If you were in Ashoka's position would you consider yourself enlightened? During 286 BCE Ashoka was the leader of the Mauryan Empire, he died in 232 BCE after he conquered Kalinga and found enlightenment. During his life he had accomplished different things that could be counted as enlightened or ruthless like conquering the Kalingan Empire. Many historians believe that Ashoka was either Ruthless or Enlightened. Overall was an Enlightened leader. The main areas to consider are his Leadership when he was the leader of the Mauryan Empire, his War methods when he was taking over Kalinga and how he was after the war against Kalinga, Post war relief.

First, Ashoka was enlightened because of how he used his leadership. In document C , It states, “He consulted with local communities about proper governance, about good conduct...forming in his mind now was a political order the sort of which had never been conceived of before in the history of the world.” The evidence shows Ashoka was an enlightened ruler because he would help local communities have good conduct and be governed better. A second example was, “Some historians have concluded that Ashoka was already a Buddhist before he invaded Kalinga and that his claim that the invasion led to his conversion was merely a ploy to gain favor with those under his rule.” The evidence shows he was enlightened because he was buddhism before he invaded Kalinga and he only did that to win favor over his people. These examples show that Ashoka was an enlightened leader during his time as a leader.

Second, Ashoka was enlightened because of his war methods. An example was that in doc C states, “Ashoka had a profound change of heart regarding violence because of what he had perpetrated in Kalinga.” The evidence shows he was enlightened because before his attack on Kalinga he had found a change in heart and after this attack he had stopped attacking other emperors. A second example was found in doc A which states, “Much of the Mauryan Empire's territory was acquired during the expansionist period led by Ashoka's father.” The evidence shows he was not ruthless because he was not the leader who was part of the main growth and invasion of the Mauryan Empire. These examples indicate that Ashoka did not have ruthless war methods but instead he was enlightened.

Third, Ashoka's ways of post war relief were enlightened. An example was shown in document E which says, “The Beloved of the Gods believes that one who does wrong should be forgiven as far as it is possible to forgive him.”  The evidence shows he was enlightened because after he did his bad the gods gave him forgiveness and he became enlightened. A second example was found in document D which states “Kalinga was conquered in the ninth year of Ashoka's reign. After this conquest, Ashoka ceased to indulge in wars of aggression.” The evidence shows Ashoka was enlightened because after his war against kalinga he had stopped indulging in aggression. These examples show how Ashoka was enlightened by showing what he did after he had conquered kalinga.

In conclusion, Ashoka was an enlightened leader and emperor. Ashoka’s methods of war, leadership and Post war relief shows that he was enlightened. Ashoka was enlightened because of his ways as a leader and what he did after his wars.

1/8/2025

B block English

The Wrist

The wrist is the most differentiated among the musculoskeletal system. Proven by Historians, our early ancestors lacked the ability to “pinch” objects precisely. Unlike modern humans, they could not grasp fine objects with one hand. Due to the thumb and finger proportions being unique to humans, we have the ability to pinch and hold fine and precise objects. Following this, as we evolved, hominids needed to change in order to survive. As we began to walk upright, human wrists were ridden of the burden of walking, which allowed an even greater emphasis on change. Following human need, our ancestors started making tools to make our everyday lives simpler and more efficient. For example, throwing spears to hunt animals to using a rifle to kill an animal. Just like how our bones changed based on our needs, our wrists changed substantially. Simply looking at the changes in our wrist and our ancestors’ wrists can reveal what we did throughout history, literally how we changed as a result of our actions. 

The earliest version of our wrist came from our hominid ancestors. Looking at our hominid ancestors, we see they had a thicker wrist with less range of motion. This was because they were still moving on all fours. Then, as the grasslands came, our ancestors became bipedal due to the need to see over the tall grass. Since our wrists were no longer burdened by having to walk, humans decided to find other uses for it. As we started making tools, our wrist adapted to that quickly due to our joints adapting to our needs. 

Modern humans are constantly improving themselves to complete tasks. A clear example of this where the wrist was involved was in the 1600’s, when Japan conquered the people of Okinawa, and banished weapons apart from their trusted samurais. Many of the samurai were not as noble as they presented themselves, often bullying the farmers for entertainment. Since the people had no way to retaliate, they chose to learn and improve the only unarmed defense system called “Te,” literally meaning empty hand. After learning and using this system, the people were able to retaliate, even without the aid of a weapon. Since evolution takes thousands of years to occur, people have found ways to improve and maximize the use of the wrist, and they still are

A year prior, I took up the hobby of wood whittling. I tried to construct chess pieces and other miniature structures but could not really succeed at any of them. When I started wood whittling, I could only do the most basic cuts due to woodworking requiring you to pinch an object and move while pinching. I, for one, clearly lacked the ability to perform that. My hands had adapted to Karate, a direct descendant of “Te”, and it had adapted to making a shape and holding it. My hands could make certain shapes quickly but I would fail when I would attempt to use it for wood whittling. After wood working for a year, my hand gained the ability to be both extremely precise while cutting wood while still retaining the ability to perform karate. Looking back at this, I never really thought just how much my wrist’s ability would grow simply by taking up a hobby. After conducting lots of research, I’ve become more aware about how I changed based on my actions. 

There are many deep implications of the evolution of the wrist. For example, people playing table tennis, which is purely a game of how swiftly you can move your wrist. When people start playing the sport, they hit the ball all over the place. This occurs due to them lacking experience in moving their wrist. As they gain more experience, they start getting better at hitting the ball and even can spin the ball, something people in competitive settings often do. Another example of this is in our everyday lives. There are people whose jobs revolve around their wrist movement. People like craftsmen and jewellers spend their lives using their wrists to earn money. Going further beyond this, we see that our wrists have significantly improved over the course of history, adding job opportunities and improving our daily lives, all because of our needs. 

I give the wrist four and a half stars. 

Works Cited

Almquist EE. Evolution of the distal radioulnar joint. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 1992 Feb;(275):5-13. PMID: 1735233. 

Askary, Amjad, et al. "Ancient Origin of Lubricated Joints in Bony Vertebrates." ELife, vol. 5, 19 July 2016. Gale in Context: Science, dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.16415. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.

"Bones, Muscles and Joints." Healthdirect, Healthdirect Australia, www.healthdirect.gov.au/bones-muscles-and-joints#backToTop. Accessed 17 Dec. 2024.

Bower, Bruce. "Early Hominid Rises Again." Science News, vol. 153, no. 20, 16 May 1998, p. 315. Gale in Context: Science, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A20655079/SCIC?u=mlin_m_charles&sid=bookmark-SCIC&xid=f8a2946d. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.

Eschweiler J, Li J, Quack V, Rath B, Baroncini A, Hildebrand F, Migliorini F. Anatomy, Biomechanics, and Loads of the Wrist Joint. Life (Basel). 2022 Jan 27;12(2):188. doi: 10.3390/life12020188. PMID: 35207475; PMCID: PMC8880601.

"History of Shaolin Kempo Karate (SKK)." Villari's Martial Arts Center, www.villariri.com/history.html. Accessed 19 Dec. 2024.

"Human Evolution." Britannica, Colin Macfarquhar, 13 Dec. 2024, www.britannica.com/science/human-evolution/Hominin-habitats#ref250599. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.

Juneja P, Munjal A, Hubbard JB. Anatomy, Joints. [Updated 2024 Apr 21]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK507893/

Macaulay, David, and Richard Walker. The Way We Work : Getting to Know the Amazing Human Body. Walker, 2009.

Office of the Surgeon General (US). Bone Health and Osteoporosis: A Report of the Surgeon General. Rockville (MD): Office of the Surgeon General (US); 2004. 2, The Basics of Bone in Health and Disease. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK45504/

This is a national website, the authors are very established in the medical field.

Richmond, Brian G., et al. "Evolution of the Early Hominin Hand." Harvard Medicine Magazine, pp. 1-23. pdf.

Wolfe SW, Crisco JJ, Orr CM, Marzke MW. The dart-throwing motion of the wrist: is it unique to humans? J Hand Surg Am. 2006 Nov;31(9):1429-37. doi: 10.1016/j.jhsa.2006.08.010. PMID: 17095370; PMCID: PMC3260558.

"Wrist." Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wrist. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.

Benjamin O’Donnell

B Block

1/7/25

Chocolate Chip Cookies

On May 17, 2003, the Immaculate Baking Company baked the world's largest chocolate chip cookie in Flat Rock, North Carolina, USA. The cookie was 102 feet wide and weighed a whopping 40,000 pounds. This smashed the previous record of 80 feet set by the Cookie Time company in 1996. Another cookie record was set when in November of 2019, chocolate chip cookie dough was sent to the ISS to become the first food ever baked in space. It was baked in a special oven made by NanoRacks and Zero G Kitchen. The extremes that people are willing to go to really show how important chocolate chip cookies are in American society. 

So how did this delicious treat come to be? Cookies originated in 7th century Persia before spreading to Europe. From there they came across the Atlantic with the colonists when they went to New England. In the 1930s Ruth Wakefield, the co-owner of the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts, was trying to make chocolate cookies. She cut up a chocolate bar and scattered the pieces throughout the dough, hoping that they would mix with the cookies. Instead the pieces of chocolate did not spread but just stayed where they were. She decided to sell the cookies anyway. Shockingly, people loved these strange new cookies and a new staple of American cuisine was born. On March 20, 1939, Wakefield sold the rights to her recipe and the Toll House name to Nestlé for a dollar and all the chocolate she could need. Another cookie legend was Wallace Amos Jr. Born on July 1, 1936 in Tallahassee Florida, he was known as “The Cookie King”. “Wally” Amos founded the Famous Amos cookie company; but he eventually lost ownership. The company was struggling so he was forced to sell some shares. He wrote “The new owners gobbled up more of my share until all of a sudden, I found I had lost all ownership in the company I founded,”. He died on August 13, 2024 but will forever be remembered as one of the biggest impacts in chocolate chip cookie history. During World War 2, families mailed chocolate chip cookies overseas to soldiers, greatly increasing the treats popularity. 

 Much like Ruth Wakefield, I also have had experiences where something good has come out of a mistake. One day, when I was about 8 years old, I went with my parents to an Italian restaurant. While I was enjoying my pizza, I noticed my mother had half a lemon on her plate. I thought it would be a fun experiment to put lemon juice on my pizza but it ended up being much more than that. The way the lemon juice interacted with the grease on the pizza made it turn out to be delicious. So even though I was just a silly little kid fooling around with his food, I ended up creating a culinary masterpiece very similar to the chocolate chip cookie in the sense that neither of them were intentional. Of course, people do not praise me for the creation of this incredible delicacy, but instead call me “crazy” and “A disgrace to all Italians”. 

Chocolate chip cookies are not just a dessert but an idea. The idea that mistakes are good. In modern society you see examples of this everywhere from schools to basketball courts, everywhere but a nuclear power plant. This is because mistakes can provide a learning opportunity or a chance to make something better. Bob Ross, American painter and television host for the popular TV show The Joy of Painting was a prime example of this saying “Anything we don't like, we'll turn it into a happy little tree or something; we don't make mistakes, just happy little accidents”. This quote encourages the idea that mistakes can be a good thing. Chocolate chip cookies are happy little accidents that ended up as something big. With an economy size of 19.6 billion USD, it is undeniable that chocolate chip cookies have had a huge impact despite being created by mistake. And even if the chocolate chip cookie hadn’t worked out, Ruth Wakefield still would have seen what went wrong and would have been able to do better next time she tried. 

I give chocolate chip cookies four and a half stars.

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Works Cited

CookieTime. 2024, cookietime.co.nz/wbc/. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.

Finan, Catherine C. Chocolate Chip Cookies. E-book ed., Bearport Publishing, 2023.

Immaculate. 17 May 2003, www.immaculatebaking.com/the-worlds-biggest-cookie/#:~:text=No%20joke%20%E2%80%93%20it%20was%20102,bakery%20in%20Flat%20Rock%2C%20NC. Accessed 12 Dec. 2024.

Los Angeles Times. 14 Aug. 2024, www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-08-14/wally-amos-88-of-cookie-fame-died-at-home-in-hawaii-he-lost-famous-amos-but-found-other-success#:~:text=Despite%20robust%20sales%2C%20by%201985,had%20changed%20ownership%20four%20times. Accessed 19 Dec. 2024.

Mattern, Joanne. Chocolate Chip Cookies. E-book ed., Bellwether Media, 2020.

The New Yorker. 19 Dec. 2013, www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/sweet-morsels-a-history-of-the-chocolate-chip-cookie#:~:text=Created%20as%20an%20accompaniment%20to,and%20the%20Toll%20House%20name. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.

QCLife. 4 Aug. 2022, qclife.wbtv.com/2022/08/04/its-national-chocolate-chip-cookie-day-heres-few-things-you-may-not-know-about-cookie/#:~:text=It's%20estimated%20that%207%20billion,chip%20cookies%20in%20a%20lifetime. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.

"Ruth Wakefield." Britannica School, Encyclopædia Britannica, 19 Aug. 2024. libraries.state.ma.us/login?eburl=https%3A%2F%2Fschool.eb.com&ebtarget=%2Flevels%2Fmiddle%2Farticle%2FRuth-Wakefield%2F634410&ebboatid=9264846. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.

"Space Cookies: First Food Baked in Space by Astronauts." BBC, 24 Jan. 2020, www.bbc.com/news/world-51235555. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.

"This Company Will Blast Cookie Dough into Space and Bake the First Cookies There." CNN Wire, 27 June 2019. Gale in Context: Middle School, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A591154706/MSIC?u=mlin_m_charles&sid=bookmark-MSIC&xid=119e6059. Accessed 12 Dec. 2024.

The Vintage News. 17 Sept. 2016, www.thevintagenews.com/2016/09/17/cookies-originated-persia-shortly-use-sugar-became-relatively-common-region/. Accessed 12 Dec. 2024.

   Name:Aiden Shimizu-Brennan

Date:1/8/25

Block: B

Bermuda Triangle

The year is 1492 Christopher Columbus was sailing to the Americas to explore the new world. On his voyage through the Atlantic ocean, Columbus exclaimed that he saw a huge fireball ( probably a meteorite) crash into the ocean. He also realized that his compass was not working properly. When Columbus was on his voyage back to Europe he saw the fire, right where the fireball landed weeks before burning on top of the water. This was one of the earliest mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle. After this, the legend goes on and there are many theories as to why this mystery is happening to this day. 

Throughout the History of the bermuda Triangle, In total around 50 ships and 20 planes have mysteriously disappeared. Also during WW2 a plane flew over the Bermuda triangle and mysteriously disappeared, the pilot never sent a distress signal, so back at the base the U.S sent around 5 planes to search for the one plane, and all of the rescue planes also disappeared .more recent disappearance was an air base in florida had a training flight, but when the pilots went in the air  they weren't supposed to go to the Bermuda Triangle but they accidentally did. Out of all of the pilots that disappeared only one came back to base and claimed that the others were with him the whole time. Scientists noticed that the water in the Bermuda was glowing and they thought this had to do with the mysterious disappearance of ships but it turned out to be deep sea fish from the ocean floor.Scientists also found out that there are more places were ships disappeared and one of the most known ones is in the center of one of the great lakes Lake Michigan.

I loved mystery sense 2nd grade, I was interested in ghosts and other things that might be real. Alltho Inever really learned about the Bermuda triangle. But I have swam at the Bermuda triangle, well technically because I have swam at Miami beach which is the exact point to where the Bermuda Triangle starts. Around 3rd grade the Bermuda triangle was super popular at my school and I was one of the few people who did not know what it was and that caused people to be aggressive to me. When we went to resseas, people would try to make me feel bad about myself. and I may have pushed another kid a little too hard and because of that, before school ended I was at the office.  

One of the main theories of why people or objects mystery vanish, and people see ghost ships is because of hallucination. The legend has it that when boats or planes cross in the territory of the Bermuda Triangle they will mysteriously vanish. This impacts humans because when people are at sea in the Bermuda triangle, they will remember the legends of things mysteriously vanishing there. They will start to panic. This causes people to start hallucinating. They start seeing ghost ships on the sea, and their compass is not working properly. This causes them to panic and become lost at sea. This is important for people to know because in humanity, if you were to believe everything everyone said, you might try to blend in with everyone else and be blinded from the truth. Just like if everyone forgot about the legend of the Bermuda Triangle, the Bermuda Triangle might just be any ordinary sea. 

Overall, the Bermuda Triangle gets a star rating of 3.2 stars 

Works Cited

"Bermuda Triangle." Gale Middle School Online Collection, Gale, 2021. Gale in Context: Middle School, link.gale.com/apps/doc/WUVHSL072581590/MSIC?u=mlin_m_charles&sid=bookmark-MSIC&xid=1143ba75. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.

David Williams. "A ship was believed to have vanished in the Bermuda Triangle. Scientists found it after almost 95 years." CNN, 31 Jan. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/01/31/us/bermuda-triangle-cotopaxi-scn-trnd/index.html. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Bermuda Triangle." Britannica, 21 Nov. 2024, www.britannica.com/place/Bermuda-Triangle. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.

History.com Editors. "Bermuda Triangle." History., A&E Television Networks, 10 Nov. 2022, www.history.com/topics/folklore/bermuda-triangle. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.

has lots of examples of the earliest incidents in the Bermuda Triangle.

James R. Barnett. "THE MYSTERY OF THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE." Marina Life, James R. Barnett, Sept. 2023, www.marinalife.com/articles/the-mystery-of-the-bermuda-triangle. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.

NOAA. "What is the Bermuda Triangle?" National Ocean Service, 16 June 2024, oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/bermudatri.html. Accessed 12 Dec. 2024.

Has tons of Info and theories about the Bermuda Triangle.

"Reddit X Share on Linkedin Open more share options The mystery of the Bermuda Triangle begins: 77 years ago today." Calgary Herald, calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/the-mystery-of-the-bermuda-triangle-begins-77-years-ago-today. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.

lots of Info about the first, earliest disappearance. 

What would you do if your sister was the complete opposite of you, but you still loved her?  Would you try to become close with her, or would you leave her alone because you were scared of what she would say to you? Well in the book “When You Trap a Tiger” by Tae Keller the protagonist Lily wants to become close with her sister Sam, but Sam does not think Lily is cool enough to be her friend. Over the course of the novel Sam and Lily's relationship changes from distant and closed out to close and open.

During the start of the novel, Lily and Sam’s relationship is distant and they are closed out toward each other.  When Sam and Mom where arguing lily tries to de-escalate the situation but she cannot because she is scared, after Sam tells lily she needs to rock the boat, her response is her own head, “ What Sam doesn’t realize, if I rock it, too, the boat will flip we’ll drown.” (21) This displays how Sam is different from Lily because Sam is the one in the family who likes to rock the boat and Lily knows that if she started to rock the boat they will drown as a family.

By the end of the novel Lily and Sam's relationship is close and they become more open to each other. During Halmonis Kosa in the library, Lily goes to sit outside with Ricky but when he leaves Sam comes, “ When I turn around, I see Sam who sits down next to me.” (286) This manifests how Lily and Sam's relationship becomes close and they become more similar because they are showing love to each other by sitting down together and talking.

By the end of the novel, Lily and Sam's relationship changes to close and open from their relationship being distant and closed out. Their relationship was greatly impacted by how they saw each other in different ways, but mainly Halmoni death affected their relationship. Over time how do you think Lily and Sams relationship would change after a few more years of processing Halmoni's death. Would you still want to be friends with the person you love even if they don’t love you back?

 How does the economical state of the world affect yo

In 1781 a painter by the name, Henry Fuseli, created a famous painting showing a demon-like creature sitting on a womens chest while she is seen in a dream-like state and in distress. There were many theories on the meaning behind the painting, but one thing for sure is that it was about a nightmare. The word nightmare was first recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary in the 1300's but has been around throughout history. The meaning at the time was  “a female spirit or monster supposed to settle on and produce a feeling of suffocation in a sleeping person.” This could explain why many people report feeling like they are suffocating to death when having a nightmare.

In current times, nightmares will be seen as a bad dream. But in the 1700's people considered nightmares a form of ‘disease’ because they did not yet have a good understanding of nightmares so they titled it as a disease. But soon came to be any bad dream, whether feeling the suffocating feeling or not. But still, Nightmares are a bit different compared to regular bad dreams, nightmares cause distress and are more easily remembered while bad dreams are vividly remembered. And although adults report having nightmares, there have been more records of children than adults. 

I remember having my first nightmare though. Being five years old was almost like a dream, but as I grew older I no longer remembered my past experiences as a child and mostly remained in the present tense of current times. My nightmares consisted of being stuck in a dream or being alone in the dark with no sense of time. Maybe that is what I was afraid of, being alone and the darkness even though I still am afraid of those things. I told my parents about the unsettling dreams I had been having, they told me that it was just a dream and that nothing would happen to me.  But my little head filled with imagination did not believe it. I would spend hours awake thinking a monster would crawl out from under my bed and attack me while I was asleep so I kept a high alert on my surroundings. Even though I acted like I was some sort of knight on a quest to slay the evil monster from under my bed, I was still scared of a non-existent monster. But that is not even the worst experience I’ve had with nightmares. When I moved into a new house, I began to have dreams that frightened me so much that I wouldn't be able to sleep properly in the comfort of my house. Sounds crazy I know, but that was actually a part of my life that impacted me a lot more than other situations I’ve had in my life.  Looking back at those moments of fear made me realize how naive I was as a child with that big imagination I still got nowhere with it. But if I was asked on a deeper level about nightmares, I would say they are a pain but will go away as you mature in time. 

Nightmares will now always be described as a bad dream and will not be further looked on when talking about it. But nightmares are caused from bad moments in time from a person's experience and will cause a person's mental health to deteriorate over time. That is what happened to me in my experience of nightmares. Since everyone was a kid once in their life, it means that a vast majority of us have experienced negative emotions and bad experiences even if nightmares would be a reason for the experiences, there will always be a monster in your life. 

I rate nightmares two stars.

Works Cited

Periodicals

"COMBATTING NIGHTMARES." How It Works Magazine, no. 195, Oct. 2024, p. 96. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A816928982/GPS?u=mlin_m_charles&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=5a69e276. Accessed 12 Dec. 2024.

Perlman, Merrill. "The History of 'Nightmare.'" The History of 'Nightmare', Jan.-Feb. 2015, www.cjr.org/language_corner/the_history_of_nightmare.php.

"6 Ways to Ease the Fear of Childhood Nightmares." Mayo Clinic Wellness Library (MCWL), 8 Feb. 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A781788101/GPS?u=mlin_m_charles&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=02b56ddd. Accessed 12 Dec. 2024.

Web sites, e-sources

https://hms.harvard.edu/news-events/publications-archive/brain/nightmares-brain

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3900621/

https://school.eb.com/levels/middle/article/nightmare/641997

https://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/The-Nightmare/636974

https://school.eb.com/levels/middle/article/dream/109540

https://school.eb.com/levels/middle/article/sleep/109539#38772-toc

https://school.eb.com/levels/middle/article/dream/274060

Imagine being an actor and having to play, essentially, the same role every time you auditioned for anything. One of the main reasons why this happens, is actually because of stereotypes. A stereotype is, essentially,  how the world groups people based on an idea that they hold about that certain group. Stereotypes are often based on appearance, intelligence, and daily life. Sometimes with Asian stereotypes, it is hard for people to determine what country a person is from and people can sometimes even think that all Asian people are from the same country, one that they know of like China. Now, when people picture what they think someone of an Asian background looks and acts like. Many people think that it would be someone very intelligent, a wiz kid with black hair and small eyes, or an adult who is strict and makes their kid study non-stop and also has black hair and small eyes. These are stereotypes. Although these are somethings with some truth, picturing everyone of an Asian background like this is what stereotyping is.

There are many reasons why Asian stereotypes exist today. One stereotype is that all Asians are hard working, intelligent, and obedient and the reason this stereotype exists is due to the fact that many Chinese people had moved to California and, at one point, soon made up 20 percent of California’s labor force, while only making up 0.02 percent of its population. Because the Chinese people there desired the approval and respect of “real” Americans which started the “model minority” stereotype. An example of how stereotypes truly affected someone’s life is with Chinese American Vincent Chin. Vincent Chin was out celebrating his bachelor party and he happened to meet Ronald Evans and his stepson, recently laid off worker Michael Nitz, who, at some point, were both auto workers. Upon seeing Chin, they assumed that he was Japanese and because of their resentment of how successful Japanese auto companies, attacked him with racial slurs and violence. Chin was rushed to the hospital however he was so horribly injured, doctors said that he would not survive. He then died four days later in 1982. Evans and Nitz pled guilty to the crime of manslaughter of Vincent Chin and consequently paid a 3,000 dollar fine and served three years of probation while denying the fact that the crime was racially motivated. These people committed manslaughter, and yet, only faced three years of probation and a 3,000 dollar fine. They did this thinking that the person they attacked was Japanese, while he was actually Chinese and he died because of stereotypes. Another example is from Jason Medoza, an actor, when he answered the question, “did you have to deal with stereotyping when you were going out for auditions?” by saying that he could never completely avoid it and how there were auditions where people wanted him to play just the classic Asian model minority such as an IT technician or something in vain. This example proves that stereotypes can truly define someone’s life and make them have to live with it.

Asian stereotypes are an important topic to me, that is frankly not discussed enough, because I have been stereotyped before for being Asian. I have a vivid memory from a little while ago, I was conversing with somebody about a book, and telling them that I had understood some of the Korean language because I have had experience when my grandmother speaks to me in Korean. Upon hearing this, they reacted with surprise due to the fact that they had thought that I was Chinese. Of course, I was surprised when they voiced their thoughts about me being Chinese, but I still didn't think much of it at first. I merely thought of it as something of little importance, just due to an error that person had made. But the more that I thought about it, the more that I thought that it was something that not only proved lack of judgement, but also how uneducated that person was in the matter of stereotyping and racial background. After realizing how the person was unenlightened when it came to racial background, I did some research and I recognized that a great deal of people have trouble differentiating between people of Asian background who are from different countries. When people stereotype, it often leads to the person being stereotyped feeling like their identity is defined by what other people think of them.

For Asian stereotypes, individuality is important to show that everyone is different, and it is not acceptable to say that everyone who is Asian has to be smart, or look the same, or is from the same country, or that the countries are interchangeable. Individuality is needed to make people feel like they matter and that they cannot just be replaced by someone of the same background as them or looks like them. However, having individuality can be hard to achieve when society groups people together based on race and has certain expectations. It makes us see how, in society, people rely on other people to make them feel like a unique person in a world where everyone is different and there is no expectation for anyone to be the same as others with similar backgrounds. When everyone has a feeling of self identity because they are not expected to have certain characteristics or physical features, the world benefits from it. The world also benefits from people having the courage to embrace themselves for themselves, without believing that they need to meet certain expectations that people set because of race and ethnicity and when people are seen as individuals, not groups of people based on race and ethnic identity.

I give Asian stereotypes one star.

Works Cited

"Donnie Yen Called out 'John Wick 4', 'Rogue One' Asian Stereotypes, Got Scripts Changed." IANS, 2 Mar. 2023. Gale OneFile: News, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A739179906/GPS?u=mlin_m_charles&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=b3a6647f. Accessed 9 Jan. 2025.

"The Good Place's Manny Jacinto on Jason's Voice, Asian Stereotypes, and Ted Danson's Grossest Prank." Vulture, 4 Jan. 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A521378946/GPS?u=mlin_m_charles&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=2401833b. Accessed 9 Jan. 2025.

https://www.edi.nih.gov/blog/asian-american-and-pacific-islander-stereotypes

UFC Today. www.ucf.edu/news/a-brief-history-of-asian-american-racism/. Accessed 19 Dec. 2024.