Oldest ancient city, found!

Pavlopetri, Greece
About 5000 years old (3000 BC), the ancient sucken city was found in 1967 by Nicholas Flemming, marine geologist from the UK. It was left alone for about 30 years till summer of '09 when another archeologist, Jon Henderson, was doing digital survey and because of the sand shifting they discovered the site was a lot bigger than they thought with at least 15 buildings and over 9,000 square meters. Some finds include:

graves and pottery from Mycenaean period - 1600 - 1100 BC

rock cut tombs, large ceremonial hall, and pottery from at least 2800 BC

It is possible that the adventures of Troy and Laconia from Homer's story would have ported here.
Looks to have been abandon around 1100BC but the cause of the cities destruction is unknown.

I researched a bit online but I found out about this originally from "New Scientists" magazine. There are quite a few new discoveries including using "dark matter" as a possible energy source to travel in space O_o and stem cell debut set for 2010.

Child Poverty in America

In my Sociology class yesterday, we talked about social class, that ended up helping my English paper. During the class we talked about alot of things but one that really stuck with me was that America is considered the richest country in the world. Poor families are considered to have $24,000/yr or less, yet this would be a doctors income in other parts of the world. US consumes about 90% of the resources consumed globally and yet in my book was a chart of the countries with poverty-stricked children and the US was ranked 2nd...2nd right next to Mexico.
Mexico - 21.3%
US - 18.4%
Italy - 14.3%
Japan - 12.9%
Canada - 11.5%
Germany - 10.4%
France - 6.7%
Sweden - 3.2%
Denmark - 2.1%
The next big group is woman, but a good thing my teacher mentioned is that 80-90% of people in poverty are only in poverty for 3 years or less. Usually people that fall under bad times and get out of it. Out of all the usual things we think of for poor people (lack of education, family upbringing, drugs/alcohol, debt trap, etc) are things rich people also face. The only thing was that rich people have social connections and resources to draw on. Weird.

ARDI - Oldest human ever found

I think if I ever posted regularly it would have to be monthly outside of class. There just is not that much that comes out in a week that I have time to track down.

Dunno if anyone else heard but the old bones found in Ethiopia in 1993 were recently confirmed as the oldest humanoid remains ever found, 4.4 million years. The bones are confirming that even predating Lucy, 1 million years younger fossil, that we stood up right and likely were never like chimps in that we scampered on all fours.

It is kinda old news now but it is really interesting. She is being called Ardi which stands for her species, Ardipithecus ramidus.

I might end up doing a extra credit report on her for my History of Religions class. If I do, I will post more.

computer nerd!

Alright, something interesting to blog about for me would be techy stuff. I grew up a techie with my uncle (masters) and grandfather (bachelors) being computer programmers and my dad as a graphic artist that owns his own business. I remember when I was five, I sat with my grandfather and learned to reboot my first computer by putting in the next floppy when the computer said to while grandpa went outside to smoke.
My current computer could be better but it is just one step at a time right now. Next, I plan on updating my case as the stats are not that bad. I just updated the video card and motherboard so now it is on to style ^_^.
It took awhile but I picked out a baby pink case with bright blue LED lights, 2 front usb, audio jacks, and a eSATA. Same dimensions as my last one and it comes from a reliable vendor, newegg. I am soooo excited! With these 2 usbs, I will have a total of 9....^o^ woot!
Lets see...what other techie girl stuff....
I recently found a girl tech girl kit that has two small jeweler's screwdrivers, pliers, etc etc in pink so that is going on my christmas list.
I really have not done much research into the techie world lately. I know there is a new e-reader coming out called the "nook". I really like that idea, but I do not know if I can switch to good old fashion "hold me" books to e-books. I would love to play with it and maybe one day I will wear out my copier by transfering everything into pdf format (probably one day ^^), but not now.
With the "nook" you can download full books to your computer anywhere and the clarity is amazing. With this version, versus Amazon's Kindle, you can borrow and share books. They have not released the details, but it looks fun.

Ranting

I had a BAD weekend. I am the awkwardest person in the world with guys. I had to work alot this weekend which normally is not a big deal, but I made the mistake of assuming >.< and ignored him a bit...now he is pissed. I hurt him and he will not talk to me. I know this is a time old thing but I am clueless about guys.
That and grandparents and my uncle have been having medical problems. Parents are ready to form a strike to the electric and water companies and my little brother is only one semester out of school, but spends all day sleeping and playing on the computer. He has no drive to do anything else and I am asked to help him....O_o I just said I was clueless about guys. Usually my approach is very blunt and there.
I still need to write my Sociology chapter work, finish my final english paper, research topic proposal, History of Religions chapter to read, have not done any laundry or cleaning of any kind, scholarship paper I have been needing to work on, and friends that are all moving away or joining the military are not helping.

ONLY thing good...I lost weight. I need chocolate....

Scholarship Thing

I found a scholarship I am going to write a paper for and I have a good argument, but I cannot find any good cons. I plan to force some friends of mine at work argue against me.

It is about nationalizing the banking system. If anyone has any good "no way!" arguments I would like to hear it.
The government should not tell people how to live there lives and ideally just maintain protection from foreign and domestic violence, but power is power and money has become globalized power.
The government talks about tax breaks and tax refunds but it does little. When the government bails out big business it does not trickle down and the situation is only stable at best but not fixed.
I suggest we cut out the middle work and nationalize the banking system. I DOES give the government more power with the control of money but if done correctly, the people can still say what they want to use it for and when things get tough financially we can actually say "the government" is responsible. The idea of check and balance in politics is that everything is regulated fairly if not slowly in progressing our way of life, but that order cannot be maintained without power. As I mentioned, money is power, but even if some have forgot, the people control the government. When a big business gets in trouble, strikes happen but little can be done because they are free. The government does something then it is on. Maintaining the flow of money in the government, again if done correctly, it will give the government more money to work with capital gains and arguments can be more direct in congress as regulations instead of the associate degree guy in the bank office looking at a useless fico score to stamp "approved" or "disapproved" on a home loan.

Suggestions and arguments are welcome!

Writer's Block and Expectations

I did get a good start on my interview paper and I could finish it tonight, but the last week I have been in a 'blah' mode. My story has suffered and reviewers who have not reviewed before are reviewing to ask me to get on with it, lol. I feel guilty and I wish one day to be done with school and focus on such things that personally matter to me.

Do not get me wrong, I like learning but learning is continuous and I could always take a class here and there after my degree to expand my ideas. Right now, the goal is to get my degree.

In some of my classes we have talked about what age society expects you to do what. I think I am in the transition of figuring it out still but I have to still let go that I will not be perfect and on neutral at 25. In fact, it will likely take me four more years to get my degree (27) and even then everything does not fall into place.

Interview today and research topics

I have my interview today, after class, at St. Elizabeth's hospital. I was so nervous over the phone to ask for the interview that I forgot my number. I hope the actual interview will go smoother. I planned out my questions, and went through the basic introduction to him in my mind. I am not a social person by nature. I enjoy the idea of sitting in a room full of data and bring a decision from that. I would not mind giving a presentation but just sitting...and talking.....eh..not my thing.
For research topics, I have thought about "Healthy Cleaning" to talk about the benefits of cleaning with vinegar and lavender oil versus Clorox and 409.

That or homeschooling, underwater homes, or adapting your home for alternative energy sources and other home projects. The underwater homes things is still really theoretical. There was/is supposed to be a hotel built underwater in the Middle East but there has not been any new information about it. The idea sounds crazy but the view would be amazing and more practical knowledge to those who want to build on the moon, or space in general.

I went to public school but I have heard enough about homeschooling and did research to figure that it is a great idea, as long as the parent(s) are capable of providing patience and time.
Adapting your home, is something I have been very interested in, but I really do not know the technical workings of it. I know the basic idea and could likely speak to the average person about it.

Blah blah weekend blah blah stuff

Tired....I had an AWESOME weekend...what to know why? I did NOTHING. I rarely do that and even rarer that I do not mind it. I mainly played games and talked with friends. I did clean but that is cleaning. I did no homework so guess what I was doing Monday morning. Seriously guess. I slept in...
I did the homework for Monday today and got half of all my studying and homework for this week done in the endless void of time that is three hours between my Tuesday and Thursday classes.
I finished this awesome game called Plants vs Zombies. It is a puzzle strategy game that is really cute and I was sad when I finished it. I also played Sims 3 that you can never win. Overall my favorite game will always be Warcraft III. I like World of Warcraft but I have burned myself out on it. I tried a trial version of World of Goo. It is another cute puzzle game based on physics. I think I will buy it at some point but I need some new clothes before I splurge on games.
The weather has gotten colder and I am glad. I like fall weather and was out yesterday in my sweat shirt burning my lungs on my run. I loved it. I know, I am an insane girl that grew up in Minnesota.
Ugh...up to 3,000 words of 5,000 for my chapter posting...need to finish cleaning my house, have a test in History of Religion tomorrow to study for, work is going to up my hours....figured out I really do not like Sociology. I would gladly take Psychology now and wished I did....umm....thats all I can think of.

Cya later!

Daily Days

Well, I have gotten into writing a journal more. I used to just write when I had so much going on that I helped myself focus when I wrote it down. In between my math class and English, I have two and a half hours of 'me' time to spend at the college so I am either doing homework, studying, or as of late I have been writing to my flash drive at the cyber lounge. Note, the desk guy is really cute so I go there but there is also the library if it is too full.

I just found out this week about the Taylor Swift/Kanye West thing. Tells you how much I pay attention to the news. I used to watch Colbert Nation all the time but I found that watching any TV lately makes me mellow. I did like that Obama said Kanye was a "Jackass".

I should be paying attention more to what Obama is doing now but I am having a micro-world view right now. Only things I want to focus on are around me. I do focus on the nation and world views every now and again but I find I stress and worry unnecessarily when I do. When the talks of recession came, everything became depressed and everything seemed like a down spiral in politics and then transferred to my everyday life.

Something I learned in massage school is that life needs to be balanced as to how you want it but also burned evenly in each aspect.

This is referring to balancing education, career, relationships, creativity, finance, spiritual (or religious), and fitness. These all can be called different things and divided up differently by others but the idea is there. One way to measure yourself is like our class had a printed out pie drawn with all these parts divided in it. You filled in from the center how fulfilled you are in each aspect. If it was not rounded out then you are recommended to take from one to fill out another. The idea is not so much it be full but that it be round. If it is round then the happier you can become and then the fuller it will get.

I usually take these and suggest to myself ways to encourage more from myself in each.
Education - pursing MLT degree, going to classes
Career - Working at coffee shop to get myself through school to get professional career.
Relationships - work in progress but I am fulfilled with friends and family to not feel burdened
Creativity - I write a 5,000 word chapter every two weeks, I think that counts =) but I also used to knit which is very relaxing if anyone wants to try it.
Finance - It is there, again pursing professional career
Spiritual - Personally I never saw myself as a church goer but I am going to a non-denomination to experience more. Overall, I do self-search and feel free enough to say I am content with this aspect.
Fitness - I walk/jog 3-4 miles a day.

I know when I shift from a student to professional this will all change with it but you get the idea. I would like to know if anyone else has tried something like this or a means of balancing themselves out.

Interesting Stuff

Well, like many in my class I had a hard time figuring out what my paper would be about but I decided I wanted a more effective vehicle to get to school in that was about as expensive as a scooter but more flexible as far as amount in the vehicle and not at the mercy of the elements.

So, I wrote to Chevrolet who is coming out with a new vehicle, the Volt, that I was very impressed with but I wanted something more 2 seater and just basic day to day use and not family-travel ready.

I was impressed by the design from Aptera but they are a new company and do not have the means to go nationwide, so I figure get an established big company to invest.

I really do not know alot about cars but I became interested from my interest with "practical eco-friendly" ideas.

The idea of going back to nature and being all "native american" does look great but I know myself enough that I could never stay sane without a computer and thus the "practical".

Pipher Quote

"Many writers silence themselves by thinking."
I like this quote as it is the ideal that got me writing. I always had thoughts roaming in my head about stories but I never took the time to write them down. I am a pacer in that I can get really worked up into a story unfolding in my head and just pace as it explodes in my mind. I surprise myself at how detailed I can be and how I think about all of it at once.
One day, I just opened my Word document page and forced myself to stop pacing and just write. Before I knew it I had wrote five pages without much thought. I might stop every now and then to pace and get back in my comfort zone of just thinking about it when I am stuck. It is still hard to catch myself now and again to write my thoughts out before those thoughts continue so far ahead I forgot how I started.
Really it is just a matter of starting to write your thoughts out and it has become more and more natural every time I do it.
Maybe one day there will be a device that can take our thoughts and type them out but that is not a talent that writers are needed for. I used to think it was too hard to write out a detailed scene but it is how you put it and the key ideas that matter to the reader and they will take it from there.

Medical Laboratory Technician

Well, I switched my major, hopefully for the last time. I liked nursing but it did not quite sit well with me. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I enjoy the more sciencie aspects of career choices. I do respect nurses but I altered my objective abit. I am now going for Medical Laboratory Technician.
I think it will be something more to my tastes, but as far as graduating the counciler I went to see was a bit unclear. I think I will end up going back a little later to another counciler.
I will be taking a half course in Medical Terminology in October to help in my classes and to get a job at a hospital, to get my foot in the door.

Reason for name

The reason for the name Nigale's Place is actually off a name of my character in my story. Nigale is actually short for Nightingale, a song bird that is pictured on the main page. I like the name but I have already been associated as "Norvely" in a lot of my online association. I came up with it partially by random name generator in a game and because the name is very close to "Novelty" meaning new or unusual so I went with it and came up with Norvely.

The character, Nigale, in my story is becaming more and more complex and ideas for the character and the story often fittle through my head every day. She is meant for ideas that I believe in. She is portrayed as innocent, as we all start out, and later infuses an ideal for "ancient science" or earlier noble beliefs. She is eventually to play the part of a more "religious" character while the secondary main character, Norvely, is meant as more the scientific or "western science" ideals.

One day after I finish writing for this fanfic, I hope to have gained enough knowledge on writing to start work on a fully publishing book. The perspective from the reviewers in this relaxed setting has taught me alot on what is actually remembered at the end and what catches their attention. What is remembered throughout the story and how much typing is needed to restate what happened. Overall, I think I am putting too much into it but this is for fun. So detail is excessed.

Hello!

My name is Sharon, 23 years old. I am pursuing a career in nursing to eventually earn a Masters. Currently, I just want a RN, registered nursing, degree and I will reassess from there. I am a lover of science and if I could do anything in the world it would be to pursue something in the more physics area of science such as meteorology, weather science. I enjoy watching science fiction shows and currently love watching Stargate Atlantis. For almost a year now, I have been writing a fanfic, fiction writing by fans for continuation or alteration to admired works, for the series that I post chapters when I have time.

I do like other things and try to broaden my views as much as time allows. I try to walk four miles at least four times a week from my house to a local high school, which I found is exactly 2 miles. My favorite movie is the 2005 Pride and Prejudice. Favorite color is dark red. Favorite food has and will always be plain Hershey's chocolate though cheesecake has become a top rank recently. I have two dachshunds, or wiener dogs, that must sit on my feet when I am on the computer, and I am on the computer a lot. I write a lot I also enjoy reading fanfics and have since I was 13. I also play games such as Sims 3 and World of Warcraft. Recently, under my uncle's watchful eye, I put together my first computer from scratch with only a few problems.

It has been suggested to me that I should pursue a degree in computer technology but I believe I would get bored very quickly. I love computers but I wish it to be a hobby versus my career definition. I have only recently enjoyed writing since my English 101 class in Spring 2008, but in that class I presented a work called "5 ways to wisdom" that talked about the purpose of a university or college. That society needed individuals with experience "ready to go" as positions opened. Now eventually these colleges expanded to include programs that were not really needed but would attract students. Personally, as I said I would LOVE to pursue meteorology but as it is not a needed profession nor is it practical, I found nursing as a much more worthwhile career.

Nursing is not so much a medical field as much as it is a humanity or service field. The purpose of a nurse is to observe the patient and respond to his/her needs and get that information to the doctor. A medical doctor is really just a walking encyclopedia. It is the nurses, the patient, and, to a point, medicine that are the core part of the health care field. Everything else is optional. Because of my late start and all the required courses, it will take till 2012 to finish my RN but what would I be doing if I was not? Whether I like it or not, time does go on and 2012 will come if I am in this class or that class.

This semester I am taking Algebra, English 102, History of Religion, and Sociology. I kept changing my major during and after high school, so I currently have courses in massage therapy and accounting that will not count toward my degree but knowledge is knowledge. Despite the expense I would not have changed what I learned. Even after I earn my RN and eventually BSN and MSN, I would likely still go to one or two classes for the fun of it. To quote Aristotle, "All men by nature desire knowledge." I hope to not even stop with simple classroom knowledge either and eventually travel on my own.

It is dangerous to travel but it has always been dangerous to travel. Now, I do not plan to go to the middle east or Korea, but my number one place to go see is Iceland. I have heard many things about it and it is considered to be the happiest country on Earth. Everything from the accidental blue lagoon, active geographical landscapes, culture, and green power sources that take 70% of the nations use sound interesting. My next place would be England to see the spots were they filmed Pride and Prejudice and then somewhere in Italy.

As far as what I will post about regularly I am not sure. I suppose I will just start writing about things I find interesting and let my fingers walk.