The Bermuda Triangle

Map

Satelite View

A few days ago, I saw a program on the History Channel about The Bermuda Triangle. The program was called 'Mysteryquest Case Files.' I was in pure and utter fascination for an hour straight! I could barely stand the commercial breaks! For those of you who do not know, the Bermuda Triangle is located in a 500,000 square-mile open space in the Atlantic Ocean west of the Florida coastline between Miami, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda. You can refer to the picture above to see a visual representation of the bermuda triangle, also known as, the Devil's Triangle, the Sea of Doom, and the Graveyard of the Atlantic.

This area it has claimed over 120 aircrafts and 700 ships over the past 35 years. What is interesting about this fact, is that every aircraft and ship has disappeared without explanation. Most of these crafts had taken off or set sail in beautiful weather conditions with perfectly functioning radios up until just minutes before disappearing. The crafts simply disappear and the captain and all the crew members are simply never heard from again. One of the first noted cases was a ship called the USS Cyclops in 1918 that was en route to Brazil. This ship was 542 feet long, housed over 300 crewmen, and simply disappeared once it entered the triangular area.

Some flights reported their readings going off the charts, or speedometers spinning out of control. Some pilots reported taking off and landing 30 minutes later. However, in reality the flight was actually hours long. These pilots only answer is that they must have time traveled. One theory for this is electronic fog. Electronic fog is a mix of thunderstorm activity and solar energy that can create an electromagnetically charged fog. This fog can throw off readings radio contact from planes and ships. This fog is responsible for many of the disappearances in the 'Bermuda Triangle.' All in all, it was a fascinating program and I highly recommend any program on the History Channel.

Vocabulary

1. The History Channel- A television channel with several programs related to history, mysteries in history, and so on.

2. The Bermuda Triangle- A mysterious area between Miami, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda. This is an infamous area where people report black holes or mysterious happenings.

3. 'barely stand'- unable to tolerate or wait through

4. 'has claimed'- taken, or in this case, responsible for the disappearance of

5. 'take off'- when a plane departs from an airport

6. 'set sail'- when a ship departs from a port

7. 'off the charts'- unmeasurable

8. electromagnetic- influence of force on a on properties with an electric charge

Cloze Exercise

1. He is so annoying. I can _________ to be around him.

2. I am at the airport awaiting _________.

3. I really do not understand the topic of ____________ fields.

4. I cannot understand the speedometer. The readings are ___________!

5. I thoroughly enjoy watching programs on _______________.

6. The car accident ___________ the lives of 2 people.

7. _______________ is a highly mysterious and dangerous area between Miami, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda.

8. We just arrived at the port in Manhattan waiting to __________ for our 7 day cruise!

Grammar Point- Count and Noncount nouns

We all know a noun-person, place, or thing. But, what is the difference between count and noncount nouns? Well, what nouns can you count? Examples of count nouns can be found in my text, such as ships, planes, thunderstorms, radios, members etc. Those are all count nouns because you can count them! Noncount nouns are nouns you can't count. Examples of noncount nouns can also be found in my text, such as Bermuda, and Miami. Now, to practice, I would like you to list 5 count nouns and 5 noncount nouns below.

Count
1
2
3
4
5

Noncount
1
2
3
4
5


Link
Here is the link to the History Channel specifically for the Mysteryquest program on the Bermuda Triangle. You can also view this website for more interesting programs. Check your local listings for the channel to view the History Channel. Hope you enjoyed this blog as much as I did!

http://www.history.com/genericContent.do?id=72116

Pet Adoption

About a year ago, my sister and I began to badger my parents for a dog. Immediately, we had our differing opinions. It was important for my sister and I to adopt a dog from an animal shelter. However, my parents preferred to purchase a dog from a breeder. Despite our battling opinions, we agreed on one thing, we were going to get a female dog because we had heard they are less temperamental. And with this, we began our search. We began with different breeders. It did not take many conversations to decide that purchasing a dog had a cost a bit too steep for our pockets.
Then we hit some animal shelters. One of the first ones we visited, The North Shore Animal League, is where we found our dog. She was one of the first dogs I saw, and I knew she was the apple of my eye. She was so calm! I could not believe my eyes, it was a dream come true! Not so fast! We came to find out in the coming weeks that she was actually a very hyper dog. Now, our biggest problem is getting her to stop jumping on people when they enter our home, which is a rather awkward problem. We have tried to train her, but to no avail. Therefore, we are debating the idea of sending her to doggy obedient school. All in all, she is a 1 year old little beauty named Lola, and I love her to pieces, despite all her faults!

Vocabulary
1. badger- to annoy or bother
2. temperamental- moody, irritable, displaying sudden erratic behavior
3. steep (referring to cost)- costly/expensive
4. The North Shore Animal League- an animal shelter on the north shore of Long Island, New York. This is a facility that allows you to adopt animals.
5. "apple of my eye"- someone or something cherished above all other.
6. "a dream come true"- something that you had only once imagined or dreamt that came true in reality.
7. awkward- uncomfortable/ unpleasant
8. obedient school- a schooling or training specifically for dogs

Cloze Exercise
1. I love my daughter. She is the ___________.
2. Daniel has been very mean and __________ lately.
3. I cannot buy this bag! This price is too _________ for my wallet.
4. "I thoroughly enjoy to __________ my little brother," said Amy.
5. My dog is uncontrollable and must be trained! He needs to go to __________.
6. It was a very ________ situation when I cursed in front of my grandmother.
7. I adopted my pet from _______________ in Port Washington, New York.
8. Getting engaged was amazing and a ____________.

Grammatical Structure- Adjectives
Adjectives are words that are used to describe a noun. In other words, they provide information about a noun. For example, in my text, I have the noun dog. The adjective in that sentence was female, which describes the dog. Or, I used the noun problem. The adjective in the sentence is awkward, which describes the discomfort of the problem. In English, the adjective generally comes before the noun.

Practice with Adjectives
Instructions: For each given noun, provide an adjective that describes that noun. Then, formulate a sentence with your adjective and noun.

Example: Book
I own a heavy text book.

1. flower


2. Nancy


3. store


4. towel



Link: Here is a link to the North Shore Animal League. This is a site that can help you consider adoption or even health options for a pet you already own. I hope you enjoyed this weeks blog everyone!
http://www.nsalamerica.org/

Car Travels

I often travel by car to New York City from Long Island. Of course, to enter into different parts of the city, one must pay a toll. I am lucky enough to have an EZ Pass so I can breeze through the toll traffic. However, I have been noticing a jam in the EZ Pass line. This makes me unable to breeze through the tolls, which defeats the purpose of paying for an EZ Pass. Each time there is such a jam, I have noticed that a worker comes to the car window and takes the driver's EZ Pass. I never thought anything of it, until I was in a car that caused the jam.
Recently I traveled into Manhattan with my older sister and her fiance in their car. We stopped at an EZ Pass lane to pay the toll at the 59th Street Bridge, and the barrier did not raise. We were dumbfounded. Then, the worker came to our car and asked for our EZ Pass. I couldn't believe it was us this time! Apparently, the cause of these jams is due to payment issues with the credit card one uses to pay their EZ Pass bill. Therefore, they repossessed my sister's EZ Pass and she had to pay the toll with cash and figure out the credit card payments on her own. In our case, there was a freeze on my sister's credit card account due to the fact that she lost her credit card and was waiting for a new one. Hey, I guess it happens to the best of us!


Vocabulary
toll-a fee paid to pass over a highway or a bridge
EZ Pass-electronic toll collection system paid by credit card rather than cash
jam-a blockage
breeze through-move or pass through through quickly
fiance-the term for someone who is engaged to be married
dumbfounded-confusion or astonishment
a freeze-a hold on a credit card account
it happens to the best of us-problems or incidents that can happen to everyone

Cloze Exercise
1. I went to NYC this weekend and had to pay a _______ on the way.
2. There was no one on the road, so I was able to __________ to work.
3. My _______ and I are looking to buy a home.
4. When I could not pay with my credit card I was __________!
5. Someone stole my credit card, so the company put __________ on my account.
6. I could not enter the room due to the ___________ in the doorway.
7. I use an ___________ rather than cash to pay tolls.
8. A bird pooped on my new hat today. __________________!


Grammatical Structure-Verbs in the past tense
-These are verbs that are used to describe a completed action in the past. For example, when I use the words 'traveled' or 'stopped'. There are some words that can imply the use of a verb in the past tense such as; yesterday or last week.

Choose the correct answer, a or b.
1. Yesterday, I ________ a fence.
a. climbed b.climb
2. Last week, I ________ my grandparents.
a. visit b. visited
3. Today, I will ________ my dog.
a. walked b. walk



Link
Here is a link to find out more about obtaining an EZ Pass to pay tolls. I highly recommend it! It is so much easier and faster than paying in cash.
http://www.ezpass.com/

I hope you enjoyed my first blog. Forgive me if the format is wrong, it is my first post! If anyone has any advice or comments that can better my posts, PLEASE let me know. Thank you!
-Kathleen :)