Writing a blog for an english essay was a very interesting and new way to write an essay. You do not have to sit down at once and write it all at once, in fact you can write one section and come back a few days later and write another section. Writing an essay in blog format keeps the essay formal, but yet not formal at the same time. It also allows a unique twist to all the students work. Everyone designs their blog differently, also everyone can order their blog differently. In my blog, the order of articles goes an image of a baby with advertisements relating to a compare and contrast piece having to do with Eric Schlosser's ideas of advertisement and fast food industry. The next section is a picture of my cat Nugget and it is then followed by my animal behavior essay. The final section is a picture of the night sky followed by my night sky descriptive essay.

Advertisements towards Babies

This image says in perfectly advertisements in todays society are being directed at children from practically birth.

Essay and Author Comparisons

In class we read Eric Schlosser's essay Kid kustomers. In this essay it was all about advertisement companies targeting children for their ad campaigns. In the essay Schlosser analyzed that advertisement companies realized the way to sell products was to direct the campaigns towards children. If the child saw the advertisement and it appealed to them they would begin nagging their parents to get it for them. Schlosser also talked about how advertisements also use catching songs and cute fuzzy and cartoon characters to attract children. Even products that children at a young age were not allowed to have such as cigarettes, the cigarette companies were still developing advertisements that would be directed at young children. Companies would change the packaging around and develop iconic symbols that children would recognize years down the road. They did this because research backed up the idea that even if the child did not get the product at the young age, when they were able to get it they would recognize it from the advertisement they saw when they were younger. Schlosser also talks about in his essay that some organizations disagree with targeting children and that these organizations are pushing for stricter rules to be developed by the government.While strict laws have not been put in place yet people are getting behind the idea and are working hard to make the stricter laws happen.

I also read an except from one of Eric Schlosser's books titled Fast Food Nation. This excerpt talked about a potato factory in Idaho that originated as a small potato factory. Eventually over time the owner of this potato factory came up and developed the idea of frozen precooked french fries. At first it was not a huge success but over time McDonald's got word of it and soon began buying these frozen precut french friends from the potato factory. This same potato factory owner also started a factory to dehydrate onions to sell to the army during world war two.

I found both essays by Schlosser to be very interesting. His writing style for both the essay and the book excerpt were the same. Which was good because his tone was appealing to all audiences and it is easy for anyone to read and understand. Schlosser is definitely an investigative journalist which makes his works very interesting. In this case both pieces of his work are revealing something that is extremely prevalent in todays society. Both pieces are filled with large amounts of information to keep the reader not only interested in the piece but would make them want to learn more about those topics.

My Nugget!

My lazy Nugget doing what she does best, ruling the house.

My twisted Animals

Why do animals act the way that they do? Most household animals in today’s society are expected to do certain things. For example a dog is expected to great the owner or a guest that enters the home. The dog is also expected try and sleep in the owners bed with them. They also bark at people walking by and are expected to be alert and to be a guard dog for the home. A house cat is expect to sleep all day and hide. They are not expected to go for walks, want to play a lot, or like water. While most people expect the common cat and dog to act that way, my two animals do not act that way what so ever. I have a dog named Ruby and she is a blood hound. She is hands down the laziest dog on the face of the planet. My cat Nugget is a bengal cat and acts more like a dog than my actual dog does. Its like the rolls are reversed with these two.

Ruby when she was younger would play for maybe twenty minutes then she would be all done. Now a days she never wants to play. Ruby is not like other dogs, instead of laying on the couch like any other dog. This eighty pound dog likes to lay on the back of the couch were a humans back sits up against. Also, Ruby is not a guard dog at all. When anyone walks into my house she continues to sleep. She never wakes up, you can walk all through out my house the only time she wakes up is if you lean down to pat her. Then she gets up in excitement to see if anyone else is at my house. A feral cat, coyote, or deer could walk through my back yard and while most dogs would bark at it. She sits there and wags her tail at them. While Ruby is very lazy she is also a gentle giant. Everyone that enters my house afraid of dogs, especially big dogs absolutely falls in love with Ruby. She doesn’t give kisses or anything the most she will do is jump up on you. This is her way of saying “hi” and in reality she wants you to rub her ears. Reading an article entitles "Decoding Dog Behavior" the article explains why a dog licks you. A key piece of information I took out of it was that dogs will lick you to show their dominance over you. This makes sense as to why my dog does not lick anyone and that is because she is so submissive and in my house hold she does not need to act or show her dominance. We gave her so many nicknames through out the years and she will respond to any of them. These names include Ruby, Kitty, Ruffles, Wrinkle, and Rubba. At the end of the day we may not have a guard dog on our hands but we have a dog that is a loving and caring animal. 

In my home we have a dog that acts like a cat, my beautiful princess Nugget acts like a dog. Most cats are very quiet and like to sleep all day under a bed and hide, Nugget is the complete opposite. When someone walks into my house or even pulls in the driveway, Nugget is at the door waiting for the person to walk in and she is meowing the whole time. Nugget also loves water. As soon as the faucet is turned on or you take a shower she is right there with you. It is now expected in my house that if you are taking a shower expect Nugget to be inside with you. She absolutely loves water, in research of bengal behavior it is explained that the reason these house cats love running water is because it derives from their ancestors Bengal Tigers. They are not afraid of getting wet, in fact the articles said "they are not afraid to get wet to investigate". She is also very nosey. If my mom is doing paper work or I’m on the computer she is either sitting on the things you are working on, or she is sitting there on your shoulder. When I say Nugget acts like a dog that is no exaggeration, she sleeps in the bed with us at night. I have a harness and leash for her and I can take her for a walk and she will walk along side me as if she were  a small dog. Then best part about her is that I actually have bought her small dog clothes, for example a tee shirt. I also recently bought her a bathing suit for the summer and she absolutely loves it. She also has a sun dress that she again absolutely loves. Why does she act like a dog is something I have questioned since the day I got her as a 2 pound kitten. I wish I knew the exact reason why she acted like a dog, the only thing I know is that the breed of cat, Bengal, which is what nugget is, they all act as if they are a small dog. While I absolutely love my two animals they have essentially switches roles. But in my house we would never expect anything to be normal.

The night sky and the sense of peace and calming I instantly feel every time I see it in real life or in a picture.
Meteor lights in Gauteng, South Africa.

The Night Sky