Archives for November, 2011
Daylight Saving Time Ends This Sunday
Posted by Don’t forget to fall back this Sunday! Daylight saving time ends for most of the U.S. on November 6 this year. The law says that people must set their clocks back to standard time at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday in November. That means changing the clock back one hour at 2 a.m. During the winter months, there will be a bit more light in the morning, but the sun will set earlier in the evening.
Some places, like American Samoa, Hawaii, and most of Arizona, don’t mess with Father Time. But why do we move our clocks one hour forward in the spring anyway? There was no standardized time until train travel became common. The U.S. railroad industry established time zones with standard times in 1883, and Congress made the railroad’s system a law in 1918. The next year, the decision of whether or not to observe daylight saving time was left up to individual jurisdictions.
When updating legislation in the 1980s, Congress noted that daylight saving time has many benefits, including “more daylight outdoor playtime for the children and youth of our Nation.” Not everyone agrees that this is beneficial, however. Till Roenneberg, a chronobiologist at Ludwig-Maximillans University in Munich, Germany, says that our bodies never really adjust to the different light schedule during daylight saving time.
Read more about daylight saving time on National Geographic News.
Photograph by Christian Loidl, My Shot
Posted by BOOK NAME: Mysteries, Legends and Unexplained Phenomena: UFOs and Aliens
AUTHOR: Preston E. Dennet and Rosemary Ellen Guiley
Unlike most books about UFOs that you might have heard of, this one explains the history of UFOs and explains the differences between UFO sightings, reported landings and crashes, and alien abductions. It also gives many different examples of each. Some normal things like weather balloons and the planet Venus are commonly mistaken for UFOs in the sky.
What’s interesting is that the book claims there have have been recordings of UFO sightings since the Stone Age. In the first chapter, it gives dates and happenings that involve alien and UFO sightings that are more than 2,000 years old. The book also talks about the different types of reported aliens, such as tall humanoids, short humanoids, and gray aliens. Certain parts of the book also talk about how the government doesn’t share information about those UFOs and aliens that much.
If you read this book, I promise you learn something new about UFOs and aliens. The reason I picked up this book at my school library was to have a laugh at what crazy people have to say about them. But this book was convincing enough to get me to actually consider that aliens may be real. All books have something good about them, and this one takes a ridiculous topic like aliens, and explains it as an everyday topic.
Posted by Chandelao Garh, a beautifully restored 300 year old fort, is now an awesome hotel located in a small village in Rajasthan. My mom loves great architecture. I was fortunate enough to have stayed in The Carriage Room where they stored the horses and the carriages years ago.
Next door is a center called Sunder Rang, an arts program that gives the ladies in the village a place to gather and make all sorts of beautiful crafts. Everest and I spent some time there. We made colorful and creative anklets and button necklaces.
We did so many amazing things while we were in Chandelao. We went on a trip to a nearby village where they do the block printing on fabric.
While we were looking for the block printing factory a group of kids started following us. At one point we stopped to look at an adorable baby goat and I saw that about 30 or more children were behind us.
Posted by You love books. You love DogEared. You love to tell people about the
books you’re reading. Does this sound like you? Enter the 2011 “So You
Wanna Be a DogEared Blogger” Contest, and you could be one of three new
bloggers for the National Geographic Kids DogEared Book Blog!
For your chance to be chosen as one of the three new bloggers, read a
book, write a review according to the instructions in the official
rules, and enter the 2011 “So You Wanna Be a DogEared Blogger” Contest. We’d
love to make you part of the DogEared team!
Read the official rules and enter the contest.
Illustration by Chris Rooney
Javan Rhinos Extinct in Mainland Asia
The last adult Javan rhino in Vietnam was killed last year, making the animal extinct on the Asian mainland. The rhino was probably killed by a poacher. Only about 50 Javan rhinos remain and live in a park in Indonesia.
Habitat loss and hunting caused the population of Javan rhinos to drop during the 20th century. The rhino was thought to be extinct on mainland Asia until a population of about 15 animals was discovered in 1988. With this recent death, conservationists are sure that there are no Javan rhinos left in Vietnam.
Learn more about the extinction of the last Javan rhino in Vietnam on National Geographic News.
Get the facts on the black rhinoceros in the Creature Feature.
Photograph courtesy WWF Greater Mekong
