Illuminated Snow

 Snow is falling around in most countries around the world leaving many airports to delay flights and travelers stuck. A white Christmas is truly magical and a beautiful sight. Everyone is freezing cold, the heater is blowing, you are wrapped in blankets drinking hot cocoa, and its all white outside. I really love this feeling and what makes it better is watching movies, I used to always watch 'Grinch.'  In Harbin, China the sight is magnificent with colored lights all around and the snow is illuminating with technicolor. Shirakawa-Go, Japan is a lovely sight with cabins lit up. Looking at all the lights in those two places was really nice.

Shirakawa-gō, Japan

Harbin, China

Last Lunar Eclipse 2010

 Lunar eclipses occur when the moon passes behind the earth, for this to happen, the sun,earth and moon must be aligned. Lunar eclipses last for hours and can bring darkness to the sky excluding the stars. A lunar eclipse will occur mostly on the 21st of December 2010. This lunar eclipse will be the last for 2010. Way in the past lunar eclipses left cavemen in terror. Get ready to stay awake or wake up early if your going to see it!

The map of the world, in the view of Facebook

 Facebook is one of the most used social network in the world. Most people in the world have a Facebook account but which countries use it a lot! Much of America, Europe and South-East Asia have a lot of Facebook activity. According to the map below, most of the world uses Facebook, thats really a lot of people. Here is the map of the world according to Facebook.

From: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/social.media/12/14/facebook.relationships.mashable/index.html
CNN

Feathered Friend Falcon

 Falcons have been both a friend of man and an enemy. It is a mighty glorious bird of prey that eats many things with its sharp talons. For the Olympic sailors they received help from a falcon because normally in the morning there are a bunch of seagulls outside. Seagulls tend to be noisy birds that keep squawking so it is hard for the olympic sailors to sleep. The sailors need a lot of sleep for the competition to be focus and because the sailors must be awake and concentrated in order for better performance. The sailors needed help to get these pests away so then came 'Felix the Falcon.' He helped keep the seagulls away and seagulls usually make a lot of mess because of their 'droppings' so that was also avoided.The falcon was even able to board and be part of the Skandia Team GBR. So thanks to the Felix the Falcon for helping the Olympic sailors!

National Geographic video of Falcon!

Holographic World Cup

  The fight for which country will host the 2022 World Cup is on and Japan, Australia, Qatar, South Korea, and the United States are competing. Japan thinks of a sci-fi hope to turn to reality with a holographic football/soccer world cup match! A real stadium will be filled with people watching the world cup but a holographic version which is full-sized and broadcasted. It looks pretty real and amazing but most people doubt this could happen. There is technology like this but it is very expensive. Other then the holographic match, Japan also says that they want to release a real time translater for fans to talk to each other and a handheld computer that gives views and information on the match. This all sounds very futuristic and i'm hoping to see become reality. Good luck Japan for that is a creative but expensive idea!

Holographic Football/Soccer, an idea from Japan!

Chariot Racing

 A very interesting sport to watch would be chariot racing. This sport was popular in Ancient Rome and goes on in different forms today. Racing with horses has been made safer and limited to just horse racing so the rider won't get injured. The horse itself sadly has some risks of injury but after all they are pampered after the match (if the horse wins, that is). Chariot racing was a big part of the Olympic Games ,in Rome, suitable and appealing for all social classes back then like the Patricians (Nobleman), Plebeians (Common man), and even slaves. The emperor, derived from  imperator, even enjoyed chariot racing a lot. A sport like this is hard to join/play due to dangers, expense, and space. This was a very old sport and not too exciting to the average modern day man but I still find it as a great sport! An event like this isn't played much these days but in some sporting events playing back history, they may do chariot racing.

Maradona watching the ATP World Tour Finals

  The football/soccer legend Diego Maradona was seen watching the ATP tennis World Tour Finals at London. He was watching a match between Roger Federer and David Ferrer. It was a surprise for all to see the legend of Argentina to approach the tennis courts to watch this match. The match was slightly easy for Federer as he won a 6-1 and 6-4 victory. The match was played at the O2 stadium in London and Maradona arrived right after watching the match between Manchester United and Fulham. It was a pleasant surprise for all and don't forget about the final match between Federer and Murray, two good players clash!

Clouds, up in the sky!

  Clouds, you think of it as a big, white, cotton like thing floating in the midst of air. But do you know the types of clouds there are? For a fact, there are about 27 different named clouds. The common clouds we see are mostly Altocumulus, Stratus, and Cirrus. Low clouds are Stratus, middle cloud is Altocumulus, and high cloud is Cirrus. I'm sure that the average of people have heard of Cumulus clouds instead of Altocumulus. Cumulus clouds are considered middle, but with a vertical growth. If this cloud is seen you may have good or bad weather. Cumulonimbus clouds were derived from Cumulus clouds, they are way bigger and are also known as "Thunderstorm," clouds. The suffix or sometimes prefix,"nimbo" gives association with rain. Cumulonimbus clouds can bring lightning, hail, rain, snow, and even tornadoes! Another "nimbo" cloud is the Nimbostratus, which as you can guess is a very low thundercloud. With the dark storm-like appearance and being low, it can seem like the cloud covers the sky! Contrails are interesting clouds made up from airplanes. Water vapor in the high air and the airplanes exhaust allow the vapor to freeze and condense thus allowing the contrails to be formed! Contrails is short for Condensation Trail. It is very interesting to learn about clouds and cloud watching is fun, it gets you close to the outdoors.

Here is an interesting cloud researching website: http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/clouds/cloud_types.html

Altocumulus Clouds

Stratus Clouds

Moon Base 2069!

Imagine in the future, you take a walk outside but your floating in the air. Why? There is no gravity on the moon. Young designers and architects are eager for a moon colony. They designed a 'Lunar Sports Stadium' and Hotels. The designs were amazing and the people were so serious about that, they even planned farming and sewage systems. The stadium was meant for athletes for the 'Olympics' and the hotels were for tourists. The 'Moon Colony' sounds really interesting and is planned to be ready on the year of 2069! I'm curious about this, especially since there is no-gravity. It would be cool to watch sports like tennis or football being played in space and most likely, it would be expensive to travel to the moon!
Read the article directly from CNN: 
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/11/18/moon.colony/index.html?hpt=Sbin

Imagine this place as a tourist destination!

Panda to replace 'Paul the octopus?'

Sadly,on the 26th of October, Paul the Octopus passed away. Being a literal celebrity for predicting the outcome of 8 World Cup matches and getting them all right, people loved him world-wide. He was probably most loved in China, which mourned his death, but continued on and found a replacement. 12 pandas will replace 'Paul' as the oracle of The 'Asian Games.' Each panda will predict a sport of their specialty, for example 'Bosi,' a giant panda, who is smart will predict the outcome of the martial arts. Not many people think well of the pandas like they did with 'Paul' but we'll see the outcome when the games start. Well good luck to the 'predicting pandas!'

In School Sales

In my school, my friends and I started a business in the enterprise club and managed to get something going. Firstly, we have about 10 members and 3 managers which includes me. So far, my team is going to sell basic beverages like Pepsi, Sprite, and Mirinda (Right after schools finished). Also we are going to sell Jawbreakers and some candies. Other then that we are also selling Tech Decks®. This small business is great because we got permission and signatures from the Enterprise supervisor/teacher, the Enterprise assistant, and the Principle of my school. In fact, orders from kids grade 8 and below are rolling in! We are hoping for success and in the future we will have an amazing website called "Aquero".com. Thats a future plan and if this school business starts out well then I'll hope to see the world in our international business group!

My new Braces

Just yesterday, I went to the Dr. Sunny clinic for braces. Before this I already did a few check-ups and they said that they had to pull three of my teeth. Of course i was scared slightly at the thought of the dentist pulling out my teeth but I had to create confidence. The truth is, when the dentist pulled out the the first two teeth at the top of my mouth it didn't hurt much. It only hurt a bit when the dentist injected something in my gums to create a numb feeling, so it wouldn't hurt when he pulled out the teeth. The actual pulling felt like nothing, literally nothing. After one week of the two teeth getting pulled out, the dentist got ready to put braces at the top of my mouth. This felt weird and when i got home to eat it felt extremely hard to bite on to something and my teeth felt sore. Next week from now im going to get my braces on the bottom to give me a full set!

Future Business

Some weeks from now people in outside countries will be in luck. My friends and I will create a website selling a vast list of products shipping overseas. Some products my group will sell will be some branded Sk8 T-shirts from Volcom, Vans, Billabong, and Quicksilver at cheaper prices then retail stores. Later on we will have sales if you follow our future website, which I will immediately post here on this blog! We assure buyers that our business is going to be 100% legal and licensed by the time of its grand opening. Many interesting stuff will be sold at cheap prices so for most people this business will be a big step in the

over-seas

clothing industry. Remember products from U.A.E (United Arab Emirates) will also be sold like Arabian cloth and many local merchandise. We hope everyone will enjoy this as much as my team does.....!

Malacca Malaysia

Some 2 months ago when i was in Malaysia. I went to a tourist spot which many of my school friends went to so I went to see how it was like. It was a great place as I stayed at A'fomosa resort with my cousin and my fathers sister. As we arrived at the hotel, we dropped our load of bags and immediately went to the waterpark. For the whole day we stayed playing there until seven. My cousin and I went to the arabian area, wave pool, and the 7-floor slide. Also we rented a double tube for Tube slide, for relaxation, on the tube we lazed on the lazy river. It was a fun though tiring day. After coming back to the hotel with the hotel jeep, we slept. Next morning we ate some breakfast then went off to Malacca's historic area, where we saw but didn't get a chance to ride Eye on Malacca Ferris Wheel. Then we went to a crocodile farm. Later that day we went shopping and even after that, we went to Mini-Malaysia (an outdoor area with traditional Malaysian houses). Next morning, on the third and final, last day, we went to the animal park which was still in A'fomosa. In the animal park, we visited the Monkey island, watched a amazing bird show, explored a chicken farm, ventured on elephants, visited animals like the local 'tapir,' and lastly went to the Safari on a fast Jeep crowded with Arab and American tourists. The time at Malacca was amazing and I'll never-ever forget it! :)

Mercun/Fireworks

For most people out there, fireworks is a thing that the government or official people do. It was the same for me as I went on with my average life but when I went to my country, Malaysia it all changed. For Sharjah, I had a 3 month break, summer break plus ramadan. So for the 3 months i went straight to Malaysia. It was a really good time to go because I could see the Merdeka/Independence celebration in August, fast for the month of Ramadan, and celebrate Eid-Al Fitr/ Hari raya. After a month of staying at Malaysia Merdeka came and I went to one of my cousins house. He had a bunch of FireCrackers and FireWorks with him. First i was like "wow," but later on i found out it was common. Then at my grandmothers house, she had a lot more fireworks for the grandchildren to play with a Merdeka night. Eventually I stumbled upon stores and bought many, in fact i was addicted to playing with them. Firecrackers are extremely hard to find because they are dangerous and the government banned them due to lots of accidents and even deaths. So yes it is illegal! Still every one in the village had boxes of them. At night kids usually compete by seeing who can make the best firework display. To find the fireworks you have to got to village stalls and some peoples houses to get them. To play with Mercun, you need a lighter. I played with these types of mercun: Dragon eggs, Matches, German Thunder, Rocket, Thunderclap, ThunderKing, Roman Candle, Race wheel, Dynamite, Happy Boom, Fireworks, Fire Flower.

Dragon eggs send sparks but stay on the ground, not so loud.

Matches, once lit you throw them and they'll be silent but in 30 seconds KABOOM! Yup its loud.

Dynamite, Throw it quick cause in 3 seconds BOOM, Faster ignition but less louder then matches.

German Thunder is related to matches and dynamite but it makes 1-2-3 KABOOMS, so basically three BOOMs.

Rockets must be in a bottle or planted lightly on the ground, light them and run, in 10 seconds EKKKKKKK....BOOM! They'll go airborne and Pop loud, must be played on field

Thunderclap and ThunderKing are brothers both related to rockets, light them and run, thunderclab will ShSHHHEKKKKKK..SPARK3..BOOM Thunderking is like fireworks just not that bright
it will shhhhhSHHHHEKKKKKKKK....Clap Spark LIGHTS..BOOM

Roman Candle is interesting, you can hold it then light it and it will start throwing fireballs in the air, THUMP..BOOM multiple times.

Race wheel is really nice, you light it on concrete or stone any hard surface. Throw it and it will move like a wheel but with fire lights.

Happy Boom is a very cool thing to play with, as you light it throw it on the ground it will leak out colorful flames and changes color.

Fireworks are the ultimate mercun. For 25 ringgit about 8 Dollars you get a Packet which you place on the ground and light up, run and watch your own firework show, just like the ones you see at parks or when a celebration occurs. Its really loud and bright sparkly, sparky, and everything the average firework show has, it lasts 20 shots.

Fire flower is a kid thing where someone lights up a stick and it sparks with light/flares up.

Also there is the poppers which everyday people play with, where you throw it and POP!

Linkin Park

Linkin park is one of my favorite rock bands and is also favored by millions around the world internationally. Being a very famous band with music all over the music billboard charts, Linkin Park continued to grow. Having Chester as the main singer and Mike mostly as the person who raps their music would fit for most people from soft songs to hard rock songs. Linkin Park was also featured for the theme song of both Transformers movies, and 'Transformers' being a very popular movie brought further attention to the band. The main albums were 'Meteora' and 'Hybrid Theory' and now Minutes to Midnight featuring a wide range of song types. Linkin Park also had an older song with Jay-Z, the song being called 'Encore' originating from the song 'Numb.'
Other than being an awesome band, Linkin Park contributed to many charity concerts, Like 'Live 8,' a concert for the great nations and recently some months ago for the disastrous 'Haiti' with the song 'Not Alone' from the artists of Haiti album. Now for 2010 Linkin Park is still moving on featuring a live game for the ipod touch,iphone, and ipad, called '8-Bit Rebellion.' This game is about a company call Pixelcorp disrupting the Bands 8-bit harmony. Pixelcorp steals tracks and songs, and your job as the hero is to retrieve them for the band members. As a reward at the end of the game, they give you a video of their new song 'BlackBirds.' Even after the game they are still currently an active band. In fact, right now they are releasing a new album called 'A Thousand Suns,' said on the website to be released on the 14th of September. Thats big news for fans!

Fifa 2010

The results have been announced as Spain wins the South Africa world cup 2010. Netherlands put up a great fight against Spain in the finals. The game continued even after 90 minutes of game play (2 halves), the score remained 0-0. Extra time was given (1st extra), yet no one scored in that 15 minutes, Then the 2nd extra time was given and finally Andres Iniesta scores a goal. I wasn't to satisfied because the goal was scored offside, so it wasn't fair. But the referee decides, so Spain won their first world cup in the region of Africa!

Poet 'William Wordsworth'

The poet Wordsworth has always made most of his poems based on nature. One of his famous poems is 'How Beautiful is the Rain.' Here it is:
How beautiful is the rain!
After the dust and heat,
In the broad and fiery street,
In the narrow lane,
How beautiful is the rain!

How it clatters along the roofs,
Like the tramp of hoofs
How it gushes and struggles out
From the throat of the overflowing spout!

Across the window-pane
It pours and pours;
And swift and wide,
With a muddy tide,
Like a river down the gutter roars
The rain, the welcome rain!

The sick man from his chamber looks
At the twisted brooks;
He can feel the cool
Breath of each little pool;
His fevered brain
Grows calm again,
And he breathes a blessing on the rain.

From the neighboring school
Come the boys,
With more than their wonted noise
And commotion;
And down the wet streets
Sail their mimic fleets,
Till the treacherous pool
Ingulfs them in its whirling
And turbulent ocean.

In the country, on every side,
Where far and wide,
Like a leopard's tawny and spotted hide,
Stretches the plain,
To the dry grass and the drier grain
How welcome is the rain!

In the furrowed land
The toilsome and patient oxen stand;
Lifting the yoke encumbered head,
With their dilated nostrils spread,
They silently inhale
The clover-scented gale,
And the vapors that arise
From the well-watered and smoking soil.
For this rest in the furrow after toil
Their large and lustrous eyes
Seem to thank the Lord,
More than man's spoken word.

Near at hand,
From under the sheltering trees,
The farmer sees
His pastures, and his fields of grain,
As they bend their tops
To the numberless beating drops
Of the incessant rain.
He counts it as no sin
That he sees therein
Only his own thrift and gain.


The poem How Beautiful is The Rain is a poem by William Wordsworth. The poem starts out in a hot and dusty setting. It even describes hot and fiery street in the poem itself. Then the cool rain comes and cleanses everything. The people, kids, and even animals feel that this is a refreshing blessing. The rain makes the desolate street fill with the gushing rain and the poem describes small brooks flowing around and kids happily playing around. The atmosphere exchanges the temperature from hot to cold, what a contrast.
Theme: Refreshing, because the rain comes and cleanses the atmosphere.

"The Sound"

The story "The Sound," was the first place winner of the Wesgreen Book contest judged by an American author married to someone in the U.A.E. Her name is Ms. D. Stevenson. This story along with "Excelo Knights," both won awards in the ceremony. Here is a preview of the prologue and first chapter of the 1st place story for the Wesgreen International School Literary Club Writing Competition:


“The Sound”

By: Arief Zulkifli

Curse (Prologue)
“The house of the curse,” mumbled the shadowy stranger behind the dead shrub. He frowned, “No one’s ever stayed in that creepy house,” the stranger said as if he was talking to someone. But there was no one to talk to, at least not here in what people called the “Street of the Curse.” This street had a bad reputation for haunting even though no one had ever seen a ghost. But it wasn’t a ghost, at least not just a ghost. It was something scarier. “As I said, no one shall ever come to this house!”
But the creepy stranger didn’t know that Jimmy, his older brother John, and his family were moving in tomorrow night!

Anger
“AHHHHHHH, it’s so hot outside!” mumbled Jimmy who was a moderate sized, fair skinned, 12 year old boy.
“Quit mumbling, will ya!” Dad grumbled back to Jimmy.
John was running around the outside of the wide house. The house was pretty nice, John thought to himself. It looks so nice and in well condition, not too run down. John was a tall kid who was accustomed to running as he was a track star in his old school. He wore a cap all the times even though his brown hair was nicely kept. He was 14 years old and was very mature according to his dad. They moved in the house three days ago and right now the family sat having a grill-out.
“Oh man,” Dad said “We left the ketchup in the fridge, can you get it Jimmy?”
Jimmy was gobbling a hotdog and said “Nah, too tired, ask John.” Mom gave John a hard stare then he gave in “Okay mom, Jimmy you lazy couch potato.” He said glaring at him. Jimmy gave a teasing smile to him. John went inside the house and the temperature changed drastically. Whoa its cold in here he thought. He went straight to the fridge in which was at the end of the house. He could clearly see a terrible view of “Wolf Woods.” It was dark but he couldn’t stop looking there. Stop looking there he thought, just stop! But his eyes just concentrated on the dark woods. Quickly he grabbed the ketchup then all of a sudden the lights went out.
“AHHHHHHHHHHH” he screamed and saw in the window two white cold eyes staring at him filled with hatred.
It made the hairs on his back stand. Immediately he ran out screaming but he had a strong urge to look back. He could faintly see the word “you!” inscribed on the window. As he sprinted outside his mother stood looking worried.
“What happened? You screamed,” Mother said nervously. Jimmy smiled and gave him the “you are crazy” look.
“Well, nothing happened mom, really.”
John replied calmly but he couldn’t forget the look of those two eyes. They seemed so angry but why, what have I done? That night John couldn’t sleep, Jimmy who slept on the bed right across the room was snoring loudly. He almost had some sleep but then he heard it. He heard a sound that screeched across the room. Immediately he rose up from his bed and looked at Jimmy who was still sleeping. He heard the screech again, this time it came from the bathroom. He ran there then on the floor was a shell. Not just a shell, but a shell with blood. He turned back but his Moms scissors fell from the cabinet and quickly John moved aside but the scissors fell down so fast straight to his neck! That could’ve killed me if I didn’t dodge it he thought.

Well that was the preview and hopefully the story will get published with a few modifications! Thanks for reading.

School Water Day 2010

Today was my schools water day which is a day where we play water games. It was very fun and mostly everyone got wet. There was the soap field, water fight, water sponge race, water dumping, and a survival game which involves passing through all obstacles with people throwing wet sponges at you. Admission for the Soap Field was 15DHS for 10 minutes. The other activities for 15DHS also for 9 tries. All the money raised will go to charity to people without water like in Africa. There was also a catering canteen which came and sold burgers and shawarma. It was a burger,fries, and drink for 10DHS. Compared to our school canteen, that's a bargain! That profit money also went to the water day funding. The funny thing is that they are trying to raise money for clean water in Africa or places in need although they're wasting water for the activities. It was really fun though and i got really wet my all the guns. :)

Hatta, Part of U.A.E and Oman

Hatta was a beautiful place with vast deserts and mountains. It was a taste of Arabian country life. Particularly, i visited and climbed up three different mountains, they were small but still hard to climb. In fact, i wasn't using gear. It was great and i found lots of Camel poop (Yuck!). Climbing on was hard and dangerous. I slipped a few times and once there was this thorny bush which i sat on. That really hurt. My friend who was climbing with me wore the traditional Arabian gown which was nice for him because it was so hot outside, If you wear it, it makes you cooler. After that i visited a Dam. It was a beautiful site for saving water and that's where i ate. Indeed it was a magnificent experience and we stumbled upon a few locals there too. I'd like to go there again, definitely!

Langkawi, Malaysia

Langkawi is one of the top tourist destinations in Malaysia. It consists of mostly beaches. It is in the state of Kedah and, Langkawi is also known as the "Jewel of Kedah." It is a very nice place which consists of beautiful nature all around. The hotels there are also great! For more information on that go to:

http://www.fourseasons.com/langkawi/

A very nice place for the family would be the GeoPark. It is seriously nice. In the language "Malay," Langkawi means Brown or red headed eagle. Indeed it does have eagles there which can be a great sight.
Here are some informational pieces from Wikipedia:

Wikipedia

"Langkawi is particularly known for its beaches which are among the best in Malaysia. Some of the most popular are Pantai Cenang, Pantai Tengah, Burau Bay, Pantai Kok, and Datai Bay. Pantai Cenang is a picturesque beach with seemingly unending stretches of fine white sand. The beach is contoured by tall coconuts and casuarinas. Pantai Tengah is separated from Cenang by a small cape. Burau Bay, fringed by rocky outcrops, is the favorite place of migratory birds in Langkawi. Pantai Kok is a peaceful beach with the backdrop of limestone hills. Datai Bay has wonderful combination of forests and sea.The milky beach is backed by lush forest.

Sea around Langkawi is perfect to enjoy scuba diving and snorkeling. Marine life in Langkawi waters is prolific, thanks to strict enforcement of environmental laws. Fish like black tip sharks, barracudas and giant groupers are regularly sighted. Coral life is rich, consisting both soft and hard corals. Pulau Payar Marine Park, located near Langkawi, is tailormade for scuba diving and snorkeling. Apart from these two sports; angling, fishing, and swimming can also be enjoyed in Langkawi.

The Langkawi Cable Car takes visitors up to the peak of Gunung Mat Chinchang, where the Langkawi Sky Bridge is located."

Truly you should experience the true heritage and magical attractions in Langkawi!

Visit:

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langkawi

-http://www.langkawi-info.com/

New Music Beat Game (2010)

For the iphone/ipod touch the new game Riddim Ribbon is out made by Tapulous. On the app. store it costs about $1.99 Dollars. It is a game just like Guitar Hero but you race around in the beat of the music. Purchase or find more about here:

http://tapulous.com/

You can get a free bonus mp3 song which is "meet me halfway" remix by Black Eyed Peas.

The game category is: Music and bits of racing.

Sports Day 2010

I just had Sports day in my school Wesgreen International School of Sharjah and played lots of fun sports. It started with 4 different houses like Falcons, Leopards, Vipers, and Scorpions. Im in Scorpions (which is the BEST TEAM EVER). Firstly, we had a warm-up jog. The we played javelin. Im not really good at it but it was a nice try. After that we played Tug of War. First with our houses and we won all the matches!!!!! Then we played in our classes, im in class 7BW. Of course, we won again!
From there we played the High-jump. It was a very fun experience and i did pretty good except that MY HAND knocked the pole down. Next we played the Long-jump. My jump was a decent distance higher then the average kids. Shot-put was the next activity. I shot it 6 blocks away! After shot put it was lunch. After that we did the 100 meter race, which had tryouts. Only a few people got to go in like me !:D I made it in 3rd place so im gonna get the medal for that. Finishing up it was the relay. We kind of screwed up on it. But overall Scorpions got 1st place!