For my 3rd 30 Day Challenge, I decided to research the science behind heredity and genetics. I wanted to do this challenge because I wanted to learn how a person's traits (both physical and personality wise) are determined.
I already knew a lot about genetics before I started this challenge. I know that some traits are dominant, and others are recessive. A dominant gene is the more common gene, and will often overtake the recessive gene, which is less common. For example, brown eyes are dominant and blue are recessive. If the mom of a child has brown eyes and the dad has blue, then the child will have brown eyes, because they are the dominant genes. I also know that physical traits aren't the only traits that are inheritable. A child can also inherit their parents' personalities.
This project could be a little difficult, however. Biology isn't extremely hard for me, but it isn't my easiest subject, so some of the information I collect might be a little hard for me to understand. But I still think this is a very interesting topic and can't wait to learn more about it.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Friday, November 1, 2013
30 Day Challenge #5
The final fairy tale I am going to compare with its different adaptations is Snow White.
Once again, Disney has the most popular Snow White adaptation. This seems to be a pattern, and this is not surprising, since Disney is known for its "princess" movies. The plot of Disney's Snow White is fairly simple. Snow White is a princess who is living with her wicked step-mother, who presumably took the throne after the original king and queen died. The queen has a magic mirror, which always tells the truth. The queen asks the mirror who "the fairest in the land" is, and he always answers that it is her. One day though, the mirror says that Snow White is the fairest, which angers the queen. She plans to murder Snow White, who runs away when she hears this news. She meets the seven dwarves, and later, the queen finds her and disguises herself as an old hag, and gives Snow White the infamous apple that puts her in a death-like slumber. Later in the movie, the queen falls to her death, and Snow White is awoken from her sleep from true love's kiss from Prince Charming, and they all live happily ever after. Except for the queen.
This fairy tale is probably the one with the biggest changes. For example, one character is forgotten completely. Snow White had a sister, Rose Red. Rose Red had her own separate story along with Snow White. Basically, the story involves the two girls who rescue and help a bear, who turns out to be a prince that was trapped in a bear's body. Snow White marries the prince and Rose Red marries the prince's brother. Rose Red and the bear/prince are never even brought up in the movie.
Also, the fate of the queen is different in the original Grimm fairy tale. She is invited to a wedding, but when she arrives, she is dismayed because the wedding turns out to be Snow White's. The queen is then punished for her actions by being forced to wear extremely hot iron shoes and dance until she drops dead.
I really liked doing this challenge because I was able to take the classic movies I watched as a kid and got to find their origins and what was changed about them. I found that they were surprisingly dark for a children's story, but as children, we never really understood how dark it was. For example, one of the non-princess fairy tales I liked when I was younger was about a wolf who at seven young sheep. The mother sheep cut open the wolf's stomach to get her children back, and replaced the weight with rocks and sowed him back up. The weight of the rocks makes the wolf fall and drown in a well, and the sheep celebrate. Children can never truly understand how dark a story can be until they get older. I was a little shocked when I found out that that used to be one of my favorite stories as a young girl. But overall, I really liked this challenge and thought it was a lot of fun.
Once again, Disney has the most popular Snow White adaptation. This seems to be a pattern, and this is not surprising, since Disney is known for its "princess" movies. The plot of Disney's Snow White is fairly simple. Snow White is a princess who is living with her wicked step-mother, who presumably took the throne after the original king and queen died. The queen has a magic mirror, which always tells the truth. The queen asks the mirror who "the fairest in the land" is, and he always answers that it is her. One day though, the mirror says that Snow White is the fairest, which angers the queen. She plans to murder Snow White, who runs away when she hears this news. She meets the seven dwarves, and later, the queen finds her and disguises herself as an old hag, and gives Snow White the infamous apple that puts her in a death-like slumber. Later in the movie, the queen falls to her death, and Snow White is awoken from her sleep from true love's kiss from Prince Charming, and they all live happily ever after. Except for the queen.
This fairy tale is probably the one with the biggest changes. For example, one character is forgotten completely. Snow White had a sister, Rose Red. Rose Red had her own separate story along with Snow White. Basically, the story involves the two girls who rescue and help a bear, who turns out to be a prince that was trapped in a bear's body. Snow White marries the prince and Rose Red marries the prince's brother. Rose Red and the bear/prince are never even brought up in the movie.
Also, the fate of the queen is different in the original Grimm fairy tale. She is invited to a wedding, but when she arrives, she is dismayed because the wedding turns out to be Snow White's. The queen is then punished for her actions by being forced to wear extremely hot iron shoes and dance until she drops dead.
I really liked doing this challenge because I was able to take the classic movies I watched as a kid and got to find their origins and what was changed about them. I found that they were surprisingly dark for a children's story, but as children, we never really understood how dark it was. For example, one of the non-princess fairy tales I liked when I was younger was about a wolf who at seven young sheep. The mother sheep cut open the wolf's stomach to get her children back, and replaced the weight with rocks and sowed him back up. The weight of the rocks makes the wolf fall and drown in a well, and the sheep celebrate. Children can never truly understand how dark a story can be until they get older. I was a little shocked when I found out that that used to be one of my favorite stories as a young girl. But overall, I really liked this challenge and thought it was a lot of fun.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
30 Day Challenge #4
For my second entry in my second 30 Day Challenge, I decided to compare the original Cinderella with it's different media forms.
Again, the most popular media form is the Disney movie, since Disney is known for their movies about princesses. The premise in the movie is a girl named Cinderella lives with her step-mother and step-sisters, and has to work all day. But she gets to go to a ball thanks to her fairy godmother and meets her Prince Charming there. But the spell that changed the pumpkin into a carriage and gave her a nice dress wears off at midnight, so she runs away, leaving a glass slipper behind her. The Prince finds the slipper and uses it to find Cinderella. He goes around the kingdom and has all of the women try on the shoe. Eventually Cinderella tries on the slipper, it fits, and she and the Prince live happily ever after.
The original version of Cinderella is practically the same as that. If there are any changes, they are minor and do not affect the story. Unlike with Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella stuck with the original and didn't stop before the end.
However, there are some different versions of Cinderella that aren't as close adaptations as Disney's is. In one retelling of the fairy tale, the step-mother and step-sisters don't want Cinderella to try on the slipper, so they go as far as cutting her feet off so it would be impossible for her to try on the slipper.
This challenge is slowly getting easier for me because it's easier and faster to find the original fairy tales and how to separate them from their reinventions.
Again, the most popular media form is the Disney movie, since Disney is known for their movies about princesses. The premise in the movie is a girl named Cinderella lives with her step-mother and step-sisters, and has to work all day. But she gets to go to a ball thanks to her fairy godmother and meets her Prince Charming there. But the spell that changed the pumpkin into a carriage and gave her a nice dress wears off at midnight, so she runs away, leaving a glass slipper behind her. The Prince finds the slipper and uses it to find Cinderella. He goes around the kingdom and has all of the women try on the shoe. Eventually Cinderella tries on the slipper, it fits, and she and the Prince live happily ever after.
The original version of Cinderella is practically the same as that. If there are any changes, they are minor and do not affect the story. Unlike with Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella stuck with the original and didn't stop before the end.
However, there are some different versions of Cinderella that aren't as close adaptations as Disney's is. In one retelling of the fairy tale, the step-mother and step-sisters don't want Cinderella to try on the slipper, so they go as far as cutting her feet off so it would be impossible for her to try on the slipper.
This challenge is slowly getting easier for me because it's easier and faster to find the original fairy tales and how to separate them from their reinventions.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
30 Day Challenge #3
For my second 30 Day Challenge, I decided to research commonly known fairy tales, such as Snow White and Cinderella, and compare to media products based off of them. Many different adaptations are different from the original work. The first fairy tale I have decided to compare with its different recreations is Sleeping Beauty.
The most popular adaptation of Sleeping Beauty is the Disney movie, which was made in 1959 by Walt Disney. In this version of the fairy tale, a young girl named Aurora is born to King Stefan and his Queen. The girl is visited by three fairies who each give Aurora a gift. Then a witch named Maleficent, who is mad at the King and Queen, comes and says that the girl will fall into a 100-sleep. Later in the movie, Aurora pricks her finger on a spindle and falls into the before mentioned 100 year sleep. She is the awoken by Prince Phillip with true love's kiss, and the two live happily ever after.
This was pretty similar to the original version of the fairy tale, but with a few minor changes in the beginning. In the original, there are 7 fairies instead of 3, and Maleficent, who had no given name in the story, was actually a fairy instead of a witch. She originally said that Aurora would die, but the last good fairy promised that she would only fall into a hundred year sleep. From there, the story is basically the same as the movie, but it changes when the fairy tale continues after the movie ends. Sleeping Beauty, who also has no given name in the tale, and the prince get married and have two children, a daughter named Dawn and a son named Day. Then, the prince's mother, who is an ogress, planned to eat the couple's two children. The prince told Sleeping Beauty to hide their children, and when she did, she flew into a rage and planned to have them all thrown into a vat of poisonous animals. But then, the prince came in to save them all, and in a panic, the ogress threw herself into the vat and died, and the prince was happy that his family was safe. The original version of this story continues while the Disney version cuts it shorter.
This 30 Day Challenge has been somewhat difficult because there are many different versions of the fairy tales that I am researching, and it is sometimes hard to find the original story. But overall, I enjoy this challenge and am looking forward to learning about all of the other fairy tales.
The most popular adaptation of Sleeping Beauty is the Disney movie, which was made in 1959 by Walt Disney. In this version of the fairy tale, a young girl named Aurora is born to King Stefan and his Queen. The girl is visited by three fairies who each give Aurora a gift. Then a witch named Maleficent, who is mad at the King and Queen, comes and says that the girl will fall into a 100-sleep. Later in the movie, Aurora pricks her finger on a spindle and falls into the before mentioned 100 year sleep. She is the awoken by Prince Phillip with true love's kiss, and the two live happily ever after.
This was pretty similar to the original version of the fairy tale, but with a few minor changes in the beginning. In the original, there are 7 fairies instead of 3, and Maleficent, who had no given name in the story, was actually a fairy instead of a witch. She originally said that Aurora would die, but the last good fairy promised that she would only fall into a hundred year sleep. From there, the story is basically the same as the movie, but it changes when the fairy tale continues after the movie ends. Sleeping Beauty, who also has no given name in the tale, and the prince get married and have two children, a daughter named Dawn and a son named Day. Then, the prince's mother, who is an ogress, planned to eat the couple's two children. The prince told Sleeping Beauty to hide their children, and when she did, she flew into a rage and planned to have them all thrown into a vat of poisonous animals. But then, the prince came in to save them all, and in a panic, the ogress threw herself into the vat and died, and the prince was happy that his family was safe. The original version of this story continues while the Disney version cuts it shorter.
This 30 Day Challenge has been somewhat difficult because there are many different versions of the fairy tales that I am researching, and it is sometimes hard to find the original story. But overall, I enjoy this challenge and am looking forward to learning about all of the other fairy tales.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
30 Day Challenge Entry #2
In medieval times, there was a vast amount of different weapons for soldiers to use. One of the most common weapons was the broadsword, which I have made a model of. There are several different types of broadsword, including the basket-hilted sword, which has a basket-shaped guard that protects the user's hand. Another type of sword in the Middle Ages was the rapier. In contrast to the broadsword, which has a thick, wide blade, the rapier has a very slim blade and was often used as a dueling sword.
Another type of weapon was a battle axe, which was also rather common back then. The axes, though believed to be heavy, were actually rather light, weighing around 5 or 6 pounds at the most. Two of the most popular types of axes were the Danish axe and the sparth axe. They were around 1.5 meters long, and were specifically designed for combat.
The project isn't as challenging as it was before. The information is becoming much easier to condense into one paragraph, and is becoming much more clear. I think everything I have learned about the medieval time period so far is very interesting.
Another type of weapon was a battle axe, which was also rather common back then. The axes, though believed to be heavy, were actually rather light, weighing around 5 or 6 pounds at the most. Two of the most popular types of axes were the Danish axe and the sparth axe. They were around 1.5 meters long, and were specifically designed for combat.
The project isn't as challenging as it was before. The information is becoming much easier to condense into one paragraph, and is becoming much more clear. I think everything I have learned about the medieval time period so far is very interesting.
30 Day Challenge Entry #1
For my 30 Day Challenge project, I decided to learn about the medieval time period. I chose this because I've always been fascinated with medieval culture. While I was researching, I found some very interesting things.
The Medieval time period, also known as the Middle Ages, lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began when the Western Roman Empire collapsed and then started to merge into an early modern period. The period is divided into three smaller periods. They are the Early Middle Ages, the High Middle Ages, and the Late Middle Ages. The Early Middle Ages started in the 5th century and lasted until the 10th. The High Middle Ages last from then until around the 13th century, and the Late Middle Ages ended in the 15th century. In the Late Middle Ages, the well-known Black Plague occurred and killed more than one third of the population.
This project has been both fun and challenging. The challenges I am having so far are being able to separate the three Middle Ages apart. In my research, I try to take notes and keep three different sections for each of the time periods so I don' get anything mixed up. It is also a little hard to be able to squeeze all of the information in one post. I have to be able to take all of the information I have gathered and put it into one or two paragraphs.
For my presentation, I plan to create a small model of armor that was used back then, since I am studying Middle Aged weaponry right now and am planning to use that as the topic in my next post. I would like to learn a lot about this topic and I'm glad I'm getting a chance to.
The Medieval time period, also known as the Middle Ages, lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began when the Western Roman Empire collapsed and then started to merge into an early modern period. The period is divided into three smaller periods. They are the Early Middle Ages, the High Middle Ages, and the Late Middle Ages. The Early Middle Ages started in the 5th century and lasted until the 10th. The High Middle Ages last from then until around the 13th century, and the Late Middle Ages ended in the 15th century. In the Late Middle Ages, the well-known Black Plague occurred and killed more than one third of the population.
This project has been both fun and challenging. The challenges I am having so far are being able to separate the three Middle Ages apart. In my research, I try to take notes and keep three different sections for each of the time periods so I don' get anything mixed up. It is also a little hard to be able to squeeze all of the information in one post. I have to be able to take all of the information I have gathered and put it into one or two paragraphs.
For my presentation, I plan to create a small model of armor that was used back then, since I am studying Middle Aged weaponry right now and am planning to use that as the topic in my next post. I would like to learn a lot about this topic and I'm glad I'm getting a chance to.
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