April 18, 2011
The Tollund Man (Denmark)
In this article I have written, I use different sources to combine and create one big source/topic/article.
No-one can be certain, but what someone chooses to believe about the Tollund Man and how he got to where he was found could be right or wrong; It’s still only a mystery.
For the Tollund Man, I think that he was a German Sacrifice. I have chosen to believe this because many different scientists have proven that he is German. The way he is buried was an ancient German Tribal Technique, and is similar to the German Tribal Sacrifice Ceremony. In addition, many German Tribes lived in that area of Denmark at the time he was buried at (Approximately 2000 years ago).
Though people believe that since he had an Iron Neck Ring and a Rope Noose, he was either strangled, or according to the German legends, the Iron Ring was just an ofering to their God. This God that they sacrificed many people to was the Spring God and Godess. They did this so that the God or Godess would award them with good crops and harvesting. I personally believe that this sacrifice was only to show that man was enslaven to this God.
What persuaded me to conclude my opinion was my sources ‘C’, ‘E’ and ‘F’. Source ‘C’ being the most important of them all told and explained to me simply that at least 12 hourse before death, the Tollund Man had eaten some soup, made from special seeds only avaliable in Springtime. In Germanic beliefs, sacrifices to the Spring God had to eat this special seed soup, in order to preach, and be happy whilst sacrificing themselves to their God.
In a different source/article, it has been proven that sacrifices were not people on top of the hierarchy, but usually slaves to the richer of the Tribes. These people that were honered to be sacrificed had to be healthy in order to please their God. Peasants were not chosen often, for their bad state, or unhealthy living. The Tollund Man was found healthy, and therefore, must have died healthy.
Whilst we all still can’t be certain, Source ‘F’ clearly states that German Tribes living in Denmark at the time worshiped the Goddess of Spring as one of their main Gods. It goes that the process of cleansing the statue of the Spring Goddess was most likely carried out by slaves whom were later to be sacrificed to the God as human prizes. This procession meant that the statue would be carried in a wooden cart, pulled by the slaves and then burried with the slaves later on.
Source ‘E’ shows the statue of the Goddess found in a bog. This Source may not be related as it did not state which bog it was found in and therefore could be any bog. It was thought that the statue resembled the German Spring Goddess, but now sources have proven this may not be true.
According to facts in source ‘C’, the Tollund Man was quite young. The man was estimated at around 20 years of age. People could tell this as his wisdom teeth had just grown in, and at around 20, that is the most common age for wisdom teeth to grow in. This is also true, because if he were an elderly man, his organs would not appear as healthy as they were.
The man was well buried, because taken from both Sources ‘A’ and ‘C’, the two men that found the Tollund Man’s body (late 1950s) thought that the Tollund Man had recently been killed, but infact was well over 2000 years old judging by the herbs and plants under his body.
In cnclusion to my article, I choose to believe that the Tollund Man was a young slave, healthy enough to be sacrificed to the Germanic Spring God and Godess.
Thank you for reading. Please leav your comments, and perhaps some other sources for me to look over.
February 20, 2011
Fire in Al Khor Community, 2011
Today (Infact, tonight) there was a massive fire in the Al Khor Community. This is my discriptive account on exactly what I saw – What I think in my poetric words;
It was after dusk, and my mum, my brother and I were fancying a game of Basketball. When we got to the court, the parking-lot was full of cars; We later discovered that there was a football match on. Why did it have to be today? Anyway, it had no affect on our Basketball game.
The court was locked, and my brother (Aedan) suggested that we climb over the fence, but my mum (Mhairi) was having none of it. We took our balls and walked around the football and basketball court towards where the school was to see if we could find a different entrance to the court, or instead use the schools’ – I mean, it was bound to be open.
So we continued on foot, but I could smell smoke. I wasn’t sure, because earlier, we had been to a BBQ, so I did not say anything incase I was just hallusenating. Back then,I had this feeling that mum could smell it, too, because she does seem to have an amazing sense of smell.
As we reached the corner of the football pitch, a riot of young kids came rushing down the road on their bikes shouting “Allah… Allah”, meaning “God… God”. They were screaming at the toips of their voices, and as they came past us, they warned us, “Fire! Fire!”.
I looked up to see ashes and a massive cloud of smoke, but I thought that perhaps it was just fireworks. I looked back again at the football pitch, but to my astonishement, all the people on it had cleared in way for the fire.
As we kept walking around the courts, the school was turning a bright orange colour compared to the blackened night sky. Then I was scared. I mean, who would set the school on fire? As we all got closer, and closer, the fire spread clutching trees and rubbish bins with it. Obviously whomever had lit the fire to start with had started (And ended?) more than they expected.
More and more people were arriving at the scene. More and more people were running away screaming. There were loads of teenagers there, too, but I didn’t wan’t to say anything.
Someone triggered the fire alarm, and their was noise everywhere. It was getting warmer, and warmer – I could feel it. I could also smell plastic in the air – Like someone had just lit the insides of a bin, and ran away, leaving it to burn.
I pulled away from my mum, and my brother to get a closer look, but I was too scared, so I turned back. My mum called my granny and my grampa, to let them know we were Ok, but that we were in shock from the fire. Again, more and more people arrived.
I could see that it was the schools’ basketball court that had been lit. The flares were now visible; Another tree being burned – The life being taken greedily by the fire. All that was left was a scotchy mess… Or, that’s all I could see from the feasting flame in front of it.
The more I looked around, the more puzzled I became. Since this is such a large community, anyone could have done it. But why? Revenge? Tretchory?
As I tilted my head to the sky, the fire was only belching more smoke and flames. What could I do? We all turned, and saw people running from behind us. We just kept moving, though.
As we got to the car, we gazed across the empty feild in gau, staring deeply into the flame, thinking our own thoughs, but not mentioning any aloud. Again, my mum called my granny and grampa. When I grabbed the car door handle, I could see that it was covered in ash, and bits of plastic from the fire.
Luckily for me, I was wearing a hat – So as all of the firey ruins gracefully landed on me, I could at least hide my face from it. This was a large issue.
I turned quickly to the sound of the police, the ambulance, and the fire brigade passing by. When they got to the scene of the fire, they had to fight their way through the lagre crown the fire had collected.
Seeing the fiore from the car, I could tell it was out in minutes.
Who would want to do something like this? No doubt a boy – Because boys will be boys. And also to my believe, it would have been a teenager. I know it’s a little biast, but I’m keeping my thoughts.
So thanks for reading. I hope this is good enough to imagine pictures in your mind of what it would be like. I tried to describe it as much as possible, but I got lost in words and feelings, and emotions and family.
January 20, 2011
My Essay on the book ‘Esperanza Rising’
In school, we have read, and studied the book: ‘Esperanza Rising’. For the end of our unit, we had to write an essay on our viewpoint of either how Eperanza (The protaganest – Main person) not only travels from Aguascallientes (Mexico) to California (America) , but from girl to woman. The other topic we could choose from was the life of people who lived in the Depression throughout their time (1930s) - That’s the one I chose. So please read, and enjoy!
1930s America was found difficult for many, but workers and immigrants found it harder. This is shown in the text in these main ways; Surplus labor, less money in circulation, the constant threat of deportation, and more strikers. The book ‘Esperanza Rising’ shows that what comes around, goes around, but also that life can change at any point in time.
Throughout the book, ‘Esperanza Rising’, people and workers “Invade” working camps in order to find jobs. With more men than jobs available, workers would work for close to nothing. Fortunately, most Mexicans fled to California with a promise, or a hope of a home, a job, a place to rest their head after a long day of work, and unlimited food and water supplies. The downside was that most people were let down after they had arrived there, only to see that they had been quickly replaced. In the text, Miguel finds it hard to hold down a job for himself. This is clearly shown when he goes down to the rail-roads to find a job laying tracks, but men from the Oklahoma camp offered to do it for half of the usual wage; Miguel was then forced to dig ditches. Once people got wary of this circulating concept, they would form small strike groups. As this problem continued, migrant camps grew smaller and working people were convinced the better way to go was striking.
People can easily get sick, tired and possibly injured from their jobs. If they employee left though, it would make no difference to the camp. Replacements would be made, and people that had joined the striking camps would be instantly deported. Absolutely nothing would change except the way people acted towards rules – More and more people became aware that slowly, if they did not do a good job, they would be deported. At one point, if too many people abandoned their jobs to join the striking force, not much could be done about it. Striking bands would grow and spread, collecting more and more people as they travelled, like the common cold. The homes of the striking camps would regularly change pattern, because only the sympathetic landlords would let the group settle into their land. Temporary camps would be set up in the case of an emergency. The camps were set up like a communism tribe, where each and every person was treated the same in every way. When the government finally noticed something was going on, the sent out forces to find the striking groups. Immigration raids were carried out in many areas so that happy workers would not be interested in going and joining the strike. The Immigration raid was carried out only because the recent moves of people were more rapid than before, and now the striking parties were bursting at their seams. This became a regular life pattern, and a cycle that would keep moving until something drastic took place, like deporting whomever joined the strikes.
Unfortunately, some people without jobs were found roaming around America without legal rights. For people like these, it was impossible not to be deported, even if they were local to that country. The most common situation was that they had been employed, but as soon as they had arrived, they had been replaced, or they took the job but left to join the strike. In order to enter a country with the hopes and promises of a job, the worker had to have all papers in correct form, with pictures of themselves and the employment slips. Sometimes, people could not speak English and were scared to enter a country such as America for work. At control desks, they would inspect both the papers and the people. They would ask questions, and if the answer was even worded incorrectly, they would be instantly deported. This was shown in ‘Esperanza Rising’ when Esperanza and Mama are in the control section of the airport for workers and immigrants. They had a small conversation about how they are going to get through to America with the fake papers and working forms. Esperanza and Mama were on the boarder of Mexicali, patiently waiting to move through and get on with their lives. It worked out and they got through, but in this chapter you could not tell what language anyone was speaking. A day-to-day situation would be that someone’ had wrong papers, and then lots of people would be sent back to where they came from. This was seen to be a massive problem.
These issues show that the life in the 1930s America depression era was especially hard for migrant workers. Workers, camps, and families let down by the day, strikers raging around, fighting for more rights and better circumstances, surplus labor, and more men than jobs; Common problems that kept springing up.
… So I hope you enjoyed that. Please leave comments (As you please) . This goes out to my old English Teacher, Mr. Raisdana. Why? Because we’re all missing him, and we were going to do the book ‘Esperanza Rising’ with him, but he left.
Hydrogen Usage – As a Fuel Source
Hydrogen Fuel Usages – Information collected from various different sources.
Hydrogen (H2) is a gas. It is being widely explored at the current day, because the loss of car fuel is massive – Scientists have discovered that Hydrogen (H2) is not only good for gases, but also liquids. It is a new potential use for car fuel. It can be used in fuel cells to power electric motors or burned in internal combustion engines (ICE’s). Before it is widely used, there are a few challenges that Scientists need to get answers to.
It is easy to produce Hydrogen (H2) all over the world, but money-wise, it would be extremely expensive to buy. It is mostly made in California, but there it is also expensive. Fuel cell vehicles are currently far too expensive for most consumers to afford, and they are only available to a few demonstrator companies.
What is good about using Hydrogen (H2), is that is it environmentally friendly. Hydrogen (H2) produces no air pollutants, or greenhouse gases when used in fuel cells; It produces only Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) when burned in ICE’s.
A fact would be that Hydrogen contains much less energy than a gasoline or diesel run car, making it more difficult for Hydrogen (H2) vehicles to go as far as regular vehicles between fillips (About 300 miles). The onboard Hydrogen (H2) storage systems do not yet meet size, weight, and cost goals for commercialization… Yet.
Overall, Hydrogen (H2) is an advanced gas, so Scientists still need to work on how they could break it down, simplify it, or make it more efficient.
My Letter to Save Animal Cruelty Awareness!
The Bulgarian President, Iona Gibson
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to inform you of the many spectacles of dancing bears in the surrounding areas of the Bulgarian Coast of the Black Sea.
I believe that keeping up local traditions is essential and important to many Bulgarian people, but that taking young bears from the wild and killing them off in order to do this is unacceptable. Many surrounding countries have gone along with the fact that bear dancing is un-natural, and have declared those that attempt to get by on bear dancing shall be prosecuted. I believe that is would be an improvement to your country to follow, although prosecution too severe.
In addition, I understand that you have legislated bear dancing from the public, and it is now illegal; Although I also believe that there are approximately still 25 bears being used to dance, along with their many Gypsy owners – This is going completely against the laws and rules you have set in the past, and has now become a small black-market for Bulgarian outlaws.
The grotesque viewing of these bears shows that animal cruelty is still going on in Bulgaria. Most people are against this tradition, and believe that it is barbaric to allow these attempts and forages to “slip through”. Though the next generation of the Human Race is not interested in this as such activity, it will still be hard to exterminate a tradition of your country. Since your surrounding countries have dropped their traditions, a band of protesters (Including myself) are hoping that you will follow in their paths and decisions.
Small gathering communities and also large animal foundations are even willing to open a sanctuary for the bears once they have been rescued from their forced homes. They will be provided with food, water, shelter, medication and everything else they need. The bears noses will be healed from the constant pulling of a chain attached to them; This was caused by the bears that danced for the public in which were beaten and put on a tight regime without any exercise and limited food, water and shelter. This was only one of the many schemes devised to make money from the public.
Gypsies that host bear dancing show more than naiveté. They are ignorant, and should be taught a lesson. Fortunately, all the proof is in the public of the municipality of Bulgaria, where all dancing bear shows take place for the public.
A suggestion from me is that hotels should hire people to educate the tourists in bear dancing, to help make them aware of this problem. Perhaps also larger companies should make small voices louder by showing people the way dancing bears are treated.
Yours sincerely,
Iona Gibson
January 19, 2011
Un-veiling Mars
The Discovery of Mars;
Unravelling Mars was an enchanting business; For some, drawing was the way to see it close up in your own perspective. This was how Mars was first seen.
On extremely rare occasions, Mars will show itself off, giving a clear view of what it looks like from Earth. An Italian Astronomer was sketching it on a night similar to these – Giving it criss-cross features, showing that it had sources of water Channels and Canals. His name was Giovanni Schiaparelli, and his sketch was just one of the very few that could prove to all of the world that ‘The Red Planet’ isn’t just a vast dusty land.
Mars is like the parallel of Earth, having many similarities: One of them being that a day on Mars is only roughly 36 minutes longer than a day on Earth. With a similar tilt towards the sun, it has a similar climate, too; Meaning it has similar seasons, and two Polar Ice Caps. People say that if Venus is our twin, Mars must be our cousin.
In 1964, American scientists still believed that Mars was too cold to sustain life of any form. Back then, they did not have as such technology to do what scientists do nowadays, so this was considered extremely important. Giovanni Schiaparelli had already gained the public’s attention with his drawings and perspectives of Mars by scoring the lines onto every map of the planet and on July the 15th 1965, maps of Mars were about to be completely re-drawn, when the ‘Mariner 4’ entered the most critical stage of its mission – After 8 long months, and hundreds of millions of kilometres worth of space-travel, the satellite had a mere 20 minutes to capture the first few images of Mars, as it swooped about 10 thousand kilometres above the surface of ‘The Red Planet’.
The ‘Mariner 4’ heroically captured twenty-one images of narrow strips of Mars, all the way from North to South, just before Mars drifted out of site. The rate of transmitting the data from space to Earth took a longer time than expected, with approximately eight pieces of information travelling a second. Nowadays,
information can be transmitted 10 thousand times faster. The pictures of Mars were transmitted and saved on Magnetic Tape and sent back over the course of the following three weeks
Unfortunately, the images of Mars were a massive let-down. The pictures were at first blurred, but after waiting for the seventh image, they could finally see clearly. There were craters – No rivers, no Mountains, or Valley’s, or Canals. This meant that the simple, but lined drawings by Giovanni Schiaparelli were incorrect. Mars looked as dull and grey as the Moon. People liked Mars before the views were affirmative. It was like an exotic holiday destination, only people knew they couldn’t go there. When the images were confirmed, a slight depression passed throughout Mission Control. Over the next few days, more images came through, only washing over the depression with even more of a sinking feeling.
In 1969, only a couple of days after Neil Armstrong had set foot on the Moon, two more American crafts flew by Mars. Their story was buried under the headlines of the century. The probes ‘Mariner 6’ and ‘Mariner 7’ practically confirmed the final finding of the looks of Mars – They sent back more and more pictures of the wretched craters.
Among the project scientists, there was a feeling of anti-climax, One of the team commenting ‘We’ve got superb pictures, they’re better than we could have hoped for a couple of years ago – But what do they show us? A dull landscape, as dead as a Dodo. There’s nothing much left to find.’ It didn’t make much sense that Mars should be as barren as the Moon. The images that were regularly transmitted were only depressing Geologists more and more.
On the 13th of November 1971, ‘Mariner 9’ slammed on its breaks to land in the perfect spot for a gentle twelve-hour orbit, some fourteen-hundred kilometres above the surface of Mars. The shuttle was taken by surprise, as it got wisped up into a Martian dust storm; The first few pictures beamed back to Earth were blurred, and completely featureless. As the veil slowly receded, the ‘Mariner 9’ scientists were shocked to see small dark spots poking through the last of the dust storm on the surface of Mars.
Research was set up immediately, and soon the scientists had figured it out. Volcanoes – There were volcanoes on Mars. These could make even the largest volcano on Earth look like a dwarf! The first volcano they named ‘Nix Olympia’, meaning ‘Snow in Olympia’. Unfortunately for some, it was later renamed ‘Olympus Mons’, meaning ‘Mount Olympus’. This one immediately took the fame for being the Solar Systems’ largest volcano. The rest of the volcanoes on Mars were only but a few kilometres shorter than the first to be discovered. These volcanoes were only the beginning of the ‘Mariner 9’s’ mission; There was more to be unveiled…
It turns out, Mars also has a 180 kilometre-wide Canyon, long enough to stretch the whole of America, and more. All of the scientists later decided to give it the name, ‘Valles Mariners’ (Mariner’s Valleys) in honour of the ‘Mariners 9’ that founded most of the Mars project. People say that it was formed when Mars ripped apart slightly to form a giant gaping hole.
So Mars was thought to be an attractive parallel to Earth, but was found otherwise…
By Iona Gibson
November 2, 2010
Doha Players; Dick Wittington and his Cat
The Doha Players is a small community of expatriate (And some local) amatures, that perform live on stage every so often. They hold musicals, pantomimes, and plays. They even hold, and sponsor the annual year-round event, “Dunestock”. This features live bands (All night long) , stalls for food and small gifts, and a chance to camp at the singing sand dunes. Sometimes, they hold special evening balls, and even perform at the rugby-club do’s.
This year, at christmas time, they will be holding a performance, “Dick Wittington and his Cat”, which, funly enough, they have already performed once before. This performance has many new actors involved, so it should be a fun and enjoyable experience for all.
Tickets will be avaliable soon. Dates shall also be finalised as soon as possible.
October 10, 2010
A Short Auto-Biography On Myself…
This piece of writing has been inspired my Mr. Raisdana. My 2009-2010 English teacher. This is an account I would love for him to read and think, “Wow, amazing writing…”
Iona Gibson’s Auto-Biography.
The Final Typed Version.
Iona Gibson died happily in her sleep. She lived to see a lucky three centuries along with her friends and family by her side. She unfortunately died in France on a visit to her best friend. She was sent home in a Led-Lined Coffin, inside, her body wrapped carefully in fine white silk, and pure red tartan as a reminder of Scotland… Her true home. The will she had hand-written was found by her brother, Aedan Gibson, and her ceremony ended in tears.
Stubborn, strong-willed, and emotional; idealistic, unrealistic, and unconventional. For as long as I can remember, I have hated the herd, the crowd, or fitting in. I don’t want to be like everyone else, yet I don’t want to be unique. Something inside me just wants to be liked, loved, and accepted. It has been difficult to be free, and myself, whilst living in a society who constantly seem to want to pull me this way and that way. It’s even more difficult when I want to push and pull the masses, as well. I want to be the shy one in the corner that everyone adores, but sometimes just leaves alone. The malcontent on stage, unsure why I am there, but comfortable nonetheless. These contradictions make each day a challenge. I am sometimes moody, but very unpredictable. Trustworthy, honest, and reliable. Quiet, calm and low-key, I want my words to soothe and comfort those that listen. I want them to ignite, instigate, and inspire revolutions, evolutions, and solutions. Warm sunshine and a wind through the tree’s, a gurgling, clear river. Full stomach and well rested. I am hiking down a trail, far from everyone, and everything. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. This is where I belong. This is where I am meant to be. A sip of water, a soft song, and a tender moment to remember for the rest of my life. When I look into the mirror, I see myself in my own eyes, and I want to be free of any pain. I want to be independent, creative, and kind, and experience the world fully – Aware enough to avoid the traps like money and success. I want to experience the world as it is, and not as we have made it. I want to be happy, and not conflicted. I don’t think this will ever happen. The nature of mankind is too strong. We have carved up the world and forgotten how to put it all back together.
The cold Scottish weather was worsening by the hour and the screams of patients filled the empty corridors. In one room in particular a loud blast of soothing music filled the ears of Mhairi and Peter Gibson. A new baby was born; Iona Gibson. Friday the 13th of March 1998 was the dat, and it had just passed six in the morning. There was something stange about this baby… Something quirky, but spectacular. She had silky, golden-ginger hair. The baby’s soulful cries filled the room, brining joy to those all around. Watching, hesitating, waiting…
Thank-you all for reading (those of you that have) , and please leave as many comments as you like for improvements, or, well… Anything!!
May 5, 2010
Overcoming adversity as a team…
As you as a reader probably can guess, this is a short paragraph on a time when me and my family overcame adversity as a team (Together) . This is homework as part of theevl study ‘The Rats of Nimh’.
It was a cold early morning in Nairn, and the sun was not yet out. I was sleeping, and falling asleep in the comfy leather chair, but the whistling wind kept me awake, and exhausted. It was the last day, and soon, I hoped, we would be back on the sunny side of the world; Qatar.
The taxi had finally arrived, with a cheery chap inside, with cherry cheeks, and a broad smile, though his eyes were sad… I dragged my bag into the boot and began to slowly close my eyes as we started the taxi journey.
The roads and pathways were thick with fresh fallen snow. The icy feel burning your warm hands with every touch. the road salters were not far up ahead though, and we would have to wait for them to come by to salt and grit the road to the Inverness Airport.
The taxi’s engine started soon enough, with a great force of the keys. Now we were off, and sfe in the warm car.
The driver took a long time to get to the airport; But this left us to have a lovely time to chat, and talk. I fell asleep of course. The i road far ahead looked harsh, and this would make our journey a never-ending fantasy. Was there too much snow to travel?
As soon as we arrived, we paid the driver, and dragged our heavy bags out of the boot. I knew that daylight was coming, and that it would soon be easier to see the way to go.
I rushed into the airport, and felt the heat from the radiators in my face. Although this felt nice, it soon drifted away as air does, and I was forced to sit on a cold metal bench behind a huge que for check-in’s.
Later once we were in the actual airport, We were told that almost all flights to Manchester were cancelled except for one, (‘Which is bound to be cancelled after all of this…’ I thought) – So we were told to wait in the lounge area… I found this quite nice, but everyone around us gave up.
My family just sat in the lounge chatting, and eventually, we caught the one and on flight left to Manchester. We were stuck for almost 8 hours.
Once we were in Manchester, we could not find our flight to Qatar, but the flybe officials we glad to help us by giving us free accomidation for the night until the next morng for the departure to sunny, dry Qatar. They also gave us some money to spend on all of our food (Lunch, dinner, and breakfast) – the only bad thing was, room only had 2 beds in it…
We caught the flight the next morning (THANK GOODNESS!!) and went to sleep for almost a whole day in our own house, own beds, and the comfort of our own family.
Thanks for reading. I am proud of my family.
May 4, 2010
Braveness in my lifetime…
In class we are currently working on the novel ‘The Rats of Nimh’. I am enjoying this novel a lot, and as part of this, we were told to write a short blog on a time in our lives when we overcame something difficult.
My example is:
When I was in Oman, I did not like looking down on what I knew I would be going down (This happened on the Dhow, too, but the abseiling scene is a cliff-hanger) . I loved heights, and I always had, but I hated knowing I would be going down what I feared. I was the last one to receive the belt that would be clipped onto a long thin rope. I was one of the first to receive a helmet though. I had too my thoughts going through my mind to think about going down, that eventually, I ended up going down anyway. I was proud when I reached the bottom. VERY proud.
Please leave a comment; Perhaps of a time when you thought that you were brave in some way just as I was.
