Finally My Eagle Is Complete!

Well as you can tell by the title I am talking about my Eagle Scout. Yup, that is right my Court of Honor was tonight. For me it kind of represents almost another building block finally set in place in the building of my overall life. I know that some of you are a little less interested in patriotic items concerning this country and its history, but I am, and I am sure that there are more out there just like me.

So to start out I would kind of like to mention some stuff about the Flag, that is right, the Flag of The United States of America. Most of you don’t know this, but technically it is disrespectful to walk between two flags ( like the United States Flag and the Utah Flag) this kind of explains why.

Between these flags that proudly fly
Let no man dare to stand.
For here our fallen comrades lie,
A symbol, yes, but mark it well.
Here let us ever humbly pause
In memory of the lads who fell
In fighting for our sacred cause,
Some lie beneath a foreign sod
In graves caressed by winds and tide,
In spots unknown to all but God.
And so, this place is hallowed ground.
And it shall be forever blest
As tho it were a grassy mound
Beneath which gallant heroes rest.
Be ever watchful, Legionnaire,
Of those two flags which signify
That we should guard this spot with care
Where our departed comrades lie

And, If an Man Should Dare to Tread
This Spot Where Lie Our Gallant Brave,
He Desecrates Those Noble Dead
As Tho He Walked upon Their
Grave

Now I thought that that was kind of interesting, but I personally had never heard it before.

Now on yet a different note, we have a song that you have all heard. Some of you sing it when you squish a bug and yet others might not know quite what it is. This song is called “Taps”. Most of you will recognize it if you have seen a military funeral, it is played in honor of a soldier when he dies. But this song dates clear back to the civil war- and here is where it is thought to have come from.

Origin of Taps

We have all heard the haunting song, “Taps.” It’s the song that gives us the lump in our throats and usually creates tears in our eyes. But, do you know the story behind the song?

Reportedly, it all began in 1862 during the Civil War, when Union Army Captain Robert Ellicombe was with his men near Harrison’s Landing in Virginia. The Confederate Army was on the other side of the narrow strip of land. During the night, Captain Ellicombe heard the moans of a soldier who lay severely wounded on the field. Not knowing if it was a Union or Confederate soldier, the Captain decided to risk his life and bring the stricken man back for medical attention. Crawling on his stomach through the gunfire, the Captain reached the stricken soldier and began pulling him toward his encampment. When the Captain finally reached his own lines, he discovered it was actually a Confederate soldier, but the soldier was dead.

The Captain lit a lantern and suddenly caught his breath and went numb with shock. In the dim light, he saw the face of the soldier. It was his own son. The boy had been studying music in the South when the war broke out, without telling his father, the boy enlisted in the Confederate Army.

The following morning, heartbroken, the father asked permission of his superiors to give his son a full military burial despite his enemy status. His request was only partially granted. The Captain asked if he could have a group of Army band members play a funeral dirge for his son at the funeral. The request was turned down since the soldier was a Confederate. But, out of respect for the father, they did say they could give him one musician. He asked the bugler to play series of musical notes he had found on a piece of paper in the pocket of the dead youth’s uniform. This wish was granted. The haunting melody we now know as “Taps”, used at military funerals, was born.

Day is done, Gone the sun,
From the Lakes, From the Hills, From the sky.
All is well, safely rest. God is nigh.

Fading light, dims the sight,
And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright.
From afar, drawing nigh, Falls the night.

Thanks and praise, for our days,
Neath the sun, neath the stars, neath the sky,
As we go, This we know, god is nigh.


So everybody, remember respect comes in different ways. But when it comes to our country- you can hardly give enough.

Half Way!!

Well as the year drags on it becomes harder and harder to come up with original ideas to blog about, so unfortunately this isn’t that original. But now as the year is still quite new we start yet another semester, this is about the ninth time in our education that we have been through one of these. I think though that at the same time we probably are all quite excited that we get start new classes with a new blend of peers and friends, and most importantly in some cases new teachers. I can personally say that I am extremely happy to be done with Geography, not necessarily because of the teacher but more the subject. In my eyes Geography was more a waste of our time, because, seriously we really didn’t learn much of anything new. And yet that is just my opinion, and for some of you, you were really quite excited to be done with computer technology, and from what I’ve heard it might be because of all of the typing but I guess I will find out this semester.

Still in some of our classes this is just the mid point of the course, not that this does not make us just as happy. I mean, just think, just TWO more term projects in science!! Halleluiah!! Or, if you look at it in Honors English standards, we have only this many more blogs to do!

But now look at it in more of a sentimental way. Only half of a year more and we all get split up and sent to different schools. Most of you have been together since, oh, about first grade. Or some of you like me had never met anyone at this school before in your entire lives, and you had about one friend coming into the school and had to build from there. But I think that regardless of the situation, and regardless of what school we go to, and regardless of what we all may think now, I think that we will all be somewhat “put out” by having half of our friends go to a totally different school.

Some of us already have one and some of us are fairly close to getting one. But the half way mark in this school year shows that we are all that much closer to getting one, that is right, it is a job. But just remember that whatever you do try to do something that will always make you happy not necessarily what this man did:

Zoo Job
One day an out of work mime is visiting the zoo and attempts to earn some money as a street performer. As soon as he starts to draw a crowd, a zoo keeper grabs him and drags him into his office. The zoo keeper explains to the mime that the zoo's most popular attraction, a gorilla, has died suddenly and the keeper fears that attendance at the zoo will fall off. He offers the mime a job to dress up as the gorilla until they can get another one. The mime accepts. So the next morning the mime puts on the gorilla suit and enters the cage before the crowd comes. He discovers that it's a great job. He can sleep all he wants, play and make fun of people and he draws bigger crowds than he ever did as a mime. However, eventually the crowds tire of him and he tires of just swinging on tires. He begins to notice that the people are paying more attention to the lion in the cage next to his. Not wanting to lose the attention of his audience, he climbs to the top of his cage, crawls across a partition, and dangles from the top to the lion's cage. Of course, this makes the lion furious, but the crowd loves it.

At the end of the day the zoo keeper comes and gives the mime a raise for being such a good attraction. Well, this goes on for some time, the mime keeps taunting the lion, the crowds grow larger, and his salary keeps going up. Then one terrible day when he is dangling over the furious lion he slips and falls. The mime is terrified.

The lion gathers itself and prepares to pounce. The mime is so scared that he begins to run round and round the cage with the lion close behind. Finally, the mime starts screaming and yelling, "Help me, help me!", but the lion is quick and pounces. The mime soon finds himself flat on his back looking up at the angry lion and the lion says,

"Shut up you idiot! Do you want to get us both fired?"

Chewing Gum!

Well I thought that I kind of needed to do something new, so… I decided to do something you are all familiar with, that is right gum. It doesn’t really flow that well as I wrote it back in fifth grade.

“Chewing Gum”
The history of chewing gum goes back thousands of years. A nine thousand year old wad of gum was found in Sweden. One thousand years ago the Mayan Indians chewed chicle. The ancient Greeks made gum from the sap of the Mastic tree. The Indians in New England used spruce sap to make gum. People were trying to make a cheap substitute for rubber when they discovered gum. The first patent for gum was issued in 1869.

There are many famous people throughout the history of chewing gum. General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was a Mexican general whose army defeated the Texans at the Alamo in 1836. Around 1860-1870 he went to New York to sell chicle as a type of rubber. About the same time Thomas Adams, an inventor, couldn’t get chicle to harden. He wrecked all of his wife’s pans coming up with Adams New York Gum No.1. He was the owner of a large chewing gum factory.

In 1919, William Wrigley Jr., founder of Wrigley’s Gum, mailed sample sticks of gum to everyone listed in the U.S. phonebook. His nickname was “Sultan of Spearmint.” His family is one of the nation’s wealthiest, and are the owners of Wrigley Field, and the Chicago Cubs. W.H. Mason patented a gumball machine in 1919, which was more reliable than earlier models. His son Ford coated the gumballs with a water resistant glaze so they wouldn’t bleed in the gumball machine.

The production of chewing gum involves many steps. Gum is a mixture of gums and resins. It is sweetened with sugar and corn syrup. Chicle is the basic raw material, which is found in the Sapodilla Tree in Central America. Chicle is not used today because it is too expensive and difficult to get.
Polyvinylacerate and similar polymers are synthetic materials used today.

The manufacturer melts, washes, and filters the crude gum to clean it. The gum is then blended with synthetic resins, waxes and plasticizers. Then the compound is heated, mixed until uniform, cooled and blocked, and then stored until needed. The manufacturer starts with: 22-25% gum base, 50-60% powdered sugar, 12-20% corn syrup, 1-2% colors and flavors. Finally the gum is heated, thoroughly blended, cooled, rolled out, cut, wrapped, and then packaged.

Gum can be very useful. In 1919, gum was used to patch a leak in a British Royal Air force hot air balloon crossing the Atlantic Ocean. In 1977 a forensic dentist matched a wad of gum left at a murder scene to the killer’s front tooth. In 1988, a 12 year-old babysitter used a wad of gum to plug a leaking gas pipe. Studies show that gum is good for tension relief and concentration.

There are, however, some downfalls with chewing gum. In the 1800’s doctors thought that gum would deplete the salivary glands and cause the intestines to stick together. In 1992, gum twice jammed subway train doors in Singapore. Gum is unwelcome at the statue of liberty because people stick their gum on the copper mama. Trashcans with signs that said, “stick your gum here” were made available. Now, people stick their gum on the signs.

Swallow Phobia is the fear of swallowing gum. Many people, who fear this, drop or stick their gum anywhere. Dentists don’t like gum because it cause tooth decay and cavities.

There are many types of gum. Some are: sugar coated, Sugar free, Chiclets, soft chunk bubble, liquid filled, gumballs, Kosher gum, and squeeze bazooka’s. The gum of the future might be biodegradable, and will fall apart in your mouth.

There are fun and interesting trivia facts about gum. 100 million sticks of gum are produced each day. Twenty-four miles of the stuff is produced each year. The average American chews about 200 sticks a year. More than $796 million is spent each year. 100,000 tons are chewed yearly. The leading single flavor is Double mint. 12-24 year-olds chew 40% of all gum produced. Utah has the highest consumption rate.



Bibliography

Musser, Jay C. “Chewing Gum” Grolier’s Encyclopedia C.D. rom. Version 4.5, 1993.

Rivenburg, Roy. “One Sticky Subject,” Readers Digest. December 1995: 165-168

Wulffson, Don L. Extra Ordiary Stories Behind the Invention of Ordinary Things. New York: Lathrop, Lee and Shepard books, c 1981.

M*A*S*H*

Well most of this blog will be a long list, a very long list to be exact, well, a very, very long list 1,788 words to be exact. (Yet again) But as you can tell I am a M*A*S*H* addict and this list will help to explain why. Most of you know what M*A*S*H* is but some of you don’t. It is a T.V. episode that can be very serious- or very funny. So here it is!!


You know you watch too much M*A*S*H when...

you've seen every episode at least 10 times.
you can't go a day without watching M*A*S*H.
you make chopper noises in your sleep.
you wear army fatigues and you're not even in the army.
you named your room "The Swamp"
you refer to your dining room as the mess tent.
you tell your kids there's a mine field in the backyard.
you plan a trip to Tokyo on your day off.
you name your kids Trapper and Hawkeye.
you start dreaming about it at night.
at dinner, you request "2 units of liver and fish - STAT."
you pay $50 bucks to have your phone number changed so the last 4 numbers are "4077"
you can't look at nearby mountains without humming "Suicide is Painless" and waiting for the choppers to show up
you're at the hospital and you look for nurses named Margaret and doctors named Hawkeye
the theme song brings a tear to your eye.
you're a man who walks around in a dress begging for a section eight and your not even in the army.
you walk across the street wearing a red bathrobe looking for the showers.
you wear a cowboy hat with your tuxedo
you cry whenever you see the last episode of M*A*S*H and just wish it wouldn't finish.
every time you hear a helicopter you look to the sky and wonder why you don't hear music.
you ask the waitress where the men's latrine is.
when you hear the weatherman say the word "Radar" you quickly look at the TV and are disappointed to see the regular weatherman.
you swear that martinis are your favorite drink ...and you've never had one.
you build a still from memory.
you call your boss 'colonel' and salute him/her.
you call your local pub 'the officers club'.
you order a jeep instead of a taxi.
you expect the incoming bus to be full of wounded but is instead full of passengers.
in a restaurant or at home, you want your meal served on a tray instead of plates.
you answer phone calls with '4077th MASH' instead of 'Hello'.
you smell all your food before you eat it.
you install a loudspeaker in your home to communicate with the family.
you yell, "mail call," when the mail is delivered.
when you sign your name in all capitals with asterisks between each letter.
when you look at your husbands combat boots and they remind you of Hawkeye's'
when you sign your checks with Alan Alda or you sign your name as a person from the show.
when you call the Operator and ask "Sparky" to place a stateside call and offer him a can of chipped beef if he'll do it.
when you have your own still in the living room
when you say "Ahhh, Bach" whenever you hear classic music
when everything seems to be "highly significant"
when you see a horse and you wonder if her name is Sophie.
you name your guinea-pigs Babbett,
when you swear you say H.E. double toothpicks.
when you walk into a bar and order a Grape Ne-Hi
when your convinced suicide IS painless.
when you start naming inanimate objects after characters.
when someone makes a joke, you say that you're not in the mood for "jocularity."
when your wardrobe consists of nothing but Hawaiian shirts.
when you refer to your knife and fork as a scalpel and retractor.
whenever you ask for time off work, you ask for a weekend pass in Tokyo.
when you only feel comfortable making out in a supply room.
you never stop bitching about the food whenever you're at an all-you-can-eat-buffet.
you talk about M*A*S*H in your sleep
you order 3 cases of chocolate at the finest chocolate makers in Boston every Christmas, even though you don't even live in Boston
your children have to watch M*A*S*H as a part of their education
you can't sleep if you haven't seen M*A*S*H that day
you turn on the tv and you expect to see M*A*S*H on, no matter what time it is
you expect everybody knows it and likes it
you refuse to carry a gun, even if no-one expects you to do so
you can't make out without watching M*A*S*H
you hang a sign on your door saying: 'the swamp' or 'major M.Houlihan, knock before entering'
you sleep with a teddybear, which you got from your brother, who was a boxboy in a supermarket.
you are disappointed when you run into a priest that doesn't box
you refuse to wear your captain's bars, even though you haven't got any
you complain about being drafted, even though you're not in the army.
you know the serial numbers of all the M*A*S*H characters by heart.
you wear dogtags with your or a character's name, rank, bloodgroup and serial number.
your room is decorated with pictures from M*A*S*H.
you pay a million bucks to have a Korean houseboy called Ho-Jon
you drink 2 martini's for breakfast
you spend the last half-hour making up dumb obsessions for the M*A*S*H-homepage
you refuse to respond to anything but Hawkeye or Hot Lips
you take cold showers for the fun of it
you call the bar tender Rosie
you call your waiter Igor
you call every receptionist Radar or Klinger
you wear combat boots with everything you own and you wear them wherever you go
you have a tower of tongue depressors on display in your living room
you have sock puppets that look like all the characters
if, to punish your children, instead of sending them to their room, you 'confine them to quarters.'
when you pull down your pants, and slide on the ice.
instead of quitting your job, you say you resign your commission.
if you record the episodes on audio tape and play them in the car while driving.
when you swear you have an imaginary friend named "Tuttle"
you have a rack of spam for every easter.
when you call all the people you don't like "Ferret-Face".
When you put your clothes in a footlocker at the bottom of your bed instead of in the dresser.
when you set up a tent in your bedroom equipped with cots, a still and a few roommates and call it the swamp.
why you keep wondering if your money is counterfeit because it green and not red.
you wear fishing lures on every hat you own.
you brush your teeth with water you pour into a helmet.
instead of taking the promotion at work from bag boy to Manager, you tell your boss, "just promote me to Corporal Captain, and we'll call it even."
you're fired at air traffic control for re-routing all planes because of sightings of a large bird with pink feet in the area.
If you call your mom 'Hotlips' and your father 'Frank'
when you are sleep-deprived from staying up until 1am every night just to see an episode you've already seen 5 times.
you look to buy stock in a company called 'Pioneer Aviation'
while ordering breakfast at the local diner you say, 'I'll have two
scrambled powdered eggs and a slice of WW2 surplus bread, and don't make it tasty.'
you no longer watch tv since your station stopped showing M*A*S*H
you practice putting in your quarters
you cringe when you hear the name Frank
you eat SPAM even though you don't like it and aren't forced to eat it
for Halloween you are either Super Man or a clown
if no matter who you're writing to, your letters all begin with "Dear Sigmund".
you know you're obsessed when you spend your vacation watching your uncles MASH videos because you don't have a station near your house that carries it.
you yell "incoming" when your mother-in-law comes to visit
your ultimate dream is to be able to turn on the t.v. at anytime and have a M*A*S*H episode be on.
if you had enough money, you would buy a t.v. station and create theM*A*S*H channel, all M*A*S*H, all the time.
When you begin to call your friends "B.J.", "Trapper", "Radar", or "Margaret".
you holler at the waiter for telling you the day's specials are liver and fish
you dress in Army green pants and either a Hawaiian shirt or kaki T-shirt everyday
your last wish is to be buried with a copy of GFA
you'll do anything to see a movie called "The Moon is Blue"
you'll only eat if the recipe came from "Secrets of the M*A*S*H Mess"
When you begin to refer to you parents as "Colonel Father, sir" and "Major Mom, ma'am".
if you know a five letter Yiddish word for bedbug.
when you see a sign that says "Speed checked by radar" and you start looking for a short guy wearing glasses....
when you haven't left your seat for a couple weeks because you keep watching MASH videos
when you use bedpans instead of toilets in your house
when you download every MASH sound off of the internet
when you insist on using your brother Wendal's birth certificate to get drafted
when you have sex in liver and onions
when you have a servant that you insist on calling Young-Hi
when you mail a jeep piece by piece to anywhere in the world
You went out and bought a copy of 'The Last of the Mohicans' just to add to your MASH related video(or book) collection.
you let your son name his ferret Frank.
you actually sat and watched EVERY episode of MASH in order from start to finish in a single sitting.
whenever you hear the term "chief surgeon" or "head nurse", you immediately think of Hawkeye or Margaret
when you dig foxholes in your yard in case of an air-raid
when the sound of a sputtering airplane scares you because you think it's 5 o'clock Charlie

if you actually made it to the end of this list....