KHOWLEDGE ZONE

submit blog and blog RSS feed

2008-12-23T20:17:00.000-08:00

Submit Blogs and Blog RSS Feeds

Blog Digger - submit your rss feed for your blog

ReadABlog - submit your blog

Blogarama - submit your blog

BlogStreet - blog submissions

Globe of Blogs - submit your rss feed for you blog

Kmax Blog Links - blog submission

BlogDex - submit your blog

Blog Universe - blog submission

BlogSearchEngine - submit rss feeds for web logs

BlogHop - submit feeds for blogs

BlogWise - rss feed submission for blogs

EatonWeb - submit feed for online blogs

PopDex - feed sumbission for web blogs

Blizg - submit rss feeds for web logs

Blo.gs - blog submissions

BlogCensus - submit your rss feed for your blog

BlogTree - blog submission

BlogStreet - rss feed submission for blog

BritBlog - blog submission

BlogLines - submit your blog to the directory

Bloogz - submit your blog

Australian Blog Directory - submit your blog

BoingBoing - submit blogs for review

RootBlog - enter the URL of a RSS feed you want to added to the database.

Weblog Directory - submit blog to directory

BlogoSphere EcoSystems - add your weblog

Blogz - add your blog

BlogWatcher - submit the url of your web log

BlogMatcher - submit your blog url

BlogPulse - automated trend discovery system for blogs

BlogCatalog - The Ultimate Blog Directory - Search For Blogs

Blogdir - spanish blog community

Blogs R Us - add feed

Blogs By City - add your blog!

FeedMap - submit a blog!

BlogSearch - submit blogs

PubSub - blog feed submission.

BlogSweet - blog feed submission.

BlogFlux - blog feed submission.

Blogtastic - blog feed submission.

Blog Introduction - submit blogs.

Finding Blog - blog submissions

Bulletize - blog submissions

BlogTopSites - blog submissions

Blog Fuse- blog submissions

Blogion- blog submissions

AddUrlBlog- add blogs

Blogbib- add blogs

BOTW Blog- add blogs

Blog Directory Submit- add blogs

BlogTopSites- add blogs (they will provide required code that must be inserted in your website, in order for blogtopsites to rank your blog)

iBlogBusiness - add business blogs only

BlogSiteZone - manually add blogs to directory.

BlogTopList - adds blogs to directories.

BlogBurst - adds blogs to directories.

Podcast Submissions

Podcasting Station - submit podcasts

Podcast Submission Directory - submit podcasts

Submit RSS Feeds
the following sites allowing you to submit RSS feeds:

Consider RSS Submit to automate submissions!

RSS FeedsRSS Network - submit RSS feeds & select category

RSS Locator - submit RSS feeds

Syndic8 - submit RSS feeds

DayPop - post your RSS feed or blog

Feedster - submit your RSS feed

Rocket News - post your RSS feed

Technorati - submit your RSS feed to be pinged

Userland - submit rss feeds

Postami - submit rss feeds

Finance Investing Feeds - Only submit finance or investment related feeds.

Security Protection Feeds - Submit only security or protection related feeds RSS feeds select appropriate category.

Realty Feeds - Submit only home related RSS feeds. Be sure to select the appropriate category.

Medical Feeds - Submit feeds related to medical care or health.

Religious Podcasts - Submit only podcasts that relate to religion, sermon or spiritual beliefs.

Sports Feeds - Submit sports related RSS feeds and podcasts.

Political Feeds - Submit political feeds and podcasts.

Government Feeds - Submit feeds ONLY from government agencies. Feeds from both Local and federal governments are accepted.

Educational Feeds - Submit feeds and podcasts related to education.

2RSS - submit rss and assign category (on bottom)

NewsMob - submit rss news feeds

RocketInfo - submit your rss content and feed

Edu RSS - harvests only feeds dealing with educational technology and related issues. All feeds are reviewed before being added to the list.

Sourceforge.net- submit News using XML

Complete RSS - enter the url(s) of the feeds you wish to add to the directory.

Feeds.com.br - add rss feeds

MoreOver - Moreover connects to thousands of online sources handpicked for excellence and trustworthiness. In order to maintain the quality of the directory all submission are evaluated prior to inclusion.

GeneCast - RSS news feed submissions

Memigo - submit a news link to memigo

PubSub - PubSub reads more than 2 million syndicated feeds, matches messages to subscriptions and delivers messages to subscribers in real time.

BulkFeeds - submit an rss feed

Ping-O-Matic - rss feed submissions (pings site)

Yenra - submit RSS news feed

easyRSS - gives you a direct access to the content you are interested in.

NewsXS - submit rss feeds

FeedFarm - all submitted feeds are reviewed

FastBuzz - submit feeds

RSSFeeds - submit rss feeds

Search4RSS - submit RSS feeds

DeskFeeds - rss feed and blog submissions

Terrar - rss feed submissions

The Feed Spot - submit feeds

StepNewz - submit rss news feeds

RSS Verzeichnis - German feed submissions

4Guys from Rolla - submit feeds

DevASP - add feed listing

FuzzySoftware - submit XML listings

ASP Index - submit RSS feeds

SourceForge - submit news feeds

Feed Directory - submit RSS feeds in the feed directory.

FeedBeagle - submit feeds (scroll down)

FeedPlex - submit feeds

Feeds4All - submit RSS feeds

NewsFeedFinder - submit RSS feeds

Plazoo - submit RSS feeds

Newzfire - submit RSS feeds

Feed24 - RSS feed submissions

Shas3 - Submit RSS feeds select appropriate category

RSS Feeds Directory - Submit RSS feeds select appropriate category

FeedCat - Submit RSS feeds select appropriate category

FeedMiner - Submit RSS feeds select appropriate category

RSS Clipping - add RSS urls

Read A Feed - add RSS urls

Loomia - add RSS feeds

Feeds2Read - add your RSS feeds

Feedzie - add your RSS feeds

RSS Portal - add your RSS feeds

RSS Feed 4U - add your RSS feeds

StepNewz - suggest RSS feeds

StepNewz - suggest RSS feeds

Thomas Korte - automated feed submissions

JordoMedia - suggest RSS feeds

RSS Mad - add an RSS feed (on bottom right side)

FeedBomb - Navigate category and suggest a feed.

nFeeds - Submit RSS feeds only.

Auto Feeds - Submit automotive feeds only.

News Goblin - Submit automotive feeds only.

Wordum - Submit automotive feeds only

FeedSee - Submit feeds using keyword searches.

Ez2News - Submit RSS feeds

Submit Feeds - RSS submission feeds

Feedooyoo - Submit RSS feeds

Science Port - Add RSS feeds

FeedAge - Submit RSS feeds

GoldenFeed - Submit RSS feeds

RSSMicro - Submit RSS feeds

FeedDirectory - Submit RSS feeds

Octora RSS Feeds - Submit RSS feeds

FeedFury - Submit RSS feeds

National Lib for Health - Submit Medical feeds

RSSMotron - Submit RSS feeds

FindRSS - Submit RSS feeds

FeedBase - Submit RSS feeds

RSSMotron - Submit RSS feeds

MoreNews.be - Submit RSS feeds

Day Time News - Submit RSS feeds

FeedGod - suggest a feed (on the right)

RSSBuffet - submit an RSS feed

SolarWarp- submit an RSS feed

Feedest - submit a feed

RSSMicro - submit a feed

Videocast Feeds

Videocasting Station - Submit RSS feeds
Regional Feeds

RSS Feeds.be - Beligian RSS feeds. (no obvious way to submit feeds)

RSS Nachrichten.de - German RSS feed directory.

RSS feeds Israel - Israeli RSS feeds

Spanish Feeds - Spanish RSS feeds

Japanese Feeds - Japanese RSS feeds
Submission Tools

FeedPark - submit RSS feeds automated submission helper

FeedShot - fee based feed submission

SubmitEmNow - addon for feed submissions

Feed Validator

RSS Feed Validator - validate your feed to ensure your code is correct

Podcast Submissions

Submit PODCASTS

Effectively Using Overture/Yahoo To Get Website Visitors

2008-12-23T20:15:00.000-08:00

Overture or now known as Yahoo because of Yahoo's takeover, was the original inventor of the use of the P4P or Pay for Performance.

Overture saw that the internet was fast becoming the easiest and most convenient way to shop, and advertising was going to hit at an all time high because of the many businesses in the arena.

To get a person to go to a site than others, it needs to be very visible. Providing ads that could direct potential consumers and costumers to their site would allow them to have an increase in traffic as well as sales.

Yahoo provides a service that can put a site or companies ad in their sites that can be shown when certain keywords are inputted.

Yahoo offers a chance for any company to increase their traffic by using their services. With more people being aware of your site, there would be more traffic and visitors to your site given the chance to view your pages as well as your products.

With even a small percentage of successful sales, with a high traffic volume this could still be a substantial figure for your company.

Getting a consistent substantial flow of website visitors is every companies goal. Many methods are devised and utilized to ensure that there would be more people to boost the sales and to be aware of the existence of such a product or service. Website visitors are potentially the life blood of your internet based business.

Yahoo/Overture utilizes the same principle as Google Adwords. In fact, they are very similar to each other that they use keyword and keyword phrase searches and to determine which ads to show per search.

When a person types in a keyword or keyword phrase to search for anything, the search engines gives out the results in a page.

Then at the right side of the page, you will see selected ads that have paid for their ads to be viewed with certain keywords and keyword phrases searched.

For example, Lets say you run a car parts retail/wholesale site. You choose keywords that can prompt or trigger your ads to be shown in the page when a keyword is searched.

When a search engine user types in Honda Accord, your ad may come up if you have designated that as one of your keywords. You don't need to fully optimize your site with Search Engine Optimization methods and techniques.

While some labor so hard to make their site one of the high ranking sites per keyword search, you get the chance to be on the top of the list or at least in the first page of a search result increasing your chance to be clicked on. With that, you drive traffic and website visitors to your site a lot faster.

You will have to pony up some cash when using this service though. There are different ways Yahoo/Overture will charge you. It may be in the number of Keywords or Keyword phrases your ad uses or in the many times your ad is clicked on.

Others offer many other services like having your ad show up not only in the search engine pages but also with some third party sites.

Third party sites support ads that have the same theme or niche as them. With more areas your ad is shown, you increase the chances of people knowing about your site or product.

With more website visitors you increase the sales of your site which makes your investment with your ads a wise one.

With so many competitions in the internet based businesses, it is necessary to take a huge leap forward from the pack by advertising. Yahoo/Overture will be a great place to start.

Many have utilized their services and have reaped the rewards of this decision. It's a marketing strategy that will increase your website visitors as well as increase your sales resulting to profit.

It takes money to make money, while there are some methods that are basically low cost or free, using a marketing service such as what Yahoo/Overture offers will provide results faster and on a larger scale. Many businesses have learned this the hard way, don't be counted with them.

how to increase your Adsense Earning

2008-12-23T20:13:00.000-08:00

Every Adsense publisher can significantly increase their Adsense earnings by choosing the best Adsense keyword and the top paying Adsense keyword. This article will discuss how to increase your adsense earnings by at least 200 percent by using the best Adsense keyword.

The Google Adsense program has become a favorite of many internet marketers in increasing their online income. One of the keys to increasing your Adsense income is by increasing the amount of traffic to your website. Another easy method for increasing your Adsense earnings is by placing the best Adsense top paying keyword on all your Adsense websites and web pages. As well as finding the best Adsense top paying keyword, the secret is making sure your website is relevant to your chosen best Adsense keyword. Make sure your main keyword is in your h1 header tags, in the title of your web page, in your web page description and also in your meta keywords.

Make sure your best top paying Adsense keyword is in your heading, and preferably the first words used. Make sure your best top paying Adsense keyword features prominently in the first paragraph of your web content, but make sure that the website copy makes sense.

If you have any images on your phrase use the alternate text image description as another place to put your best high paying Adsense keyword, however describe the image, don’t just place the keyword in it. If you are an Adsense publisher then it’s absolutely critical that you focus on finding the best top paying Adsense keyword for every page of your websites. The reason for this is pretty clear.

One keyword may be worth $17.00, a very similar keyword may be worth $2.20. You of course won’t get the full $17.00 every time a visitor to your website clicks on your Adsense ads. You and the Google Adsense program will share this revenue. When you know what your potential site visitors are looking for and have optimized your Adsense web pages for the best top paying Adsense keyword, the more visitors to your website the more clicks you should receive. Another factor to bear in mind is that the older your website is, the better Google Adsense ads will appear on your site.

Your Google Page Rank will also have an effect on this, as will your website traffic. Also don’t just focus your entire website on your best top paying Adsense keyword. There is a lot of competition for certain Adsense keywords. As well as finding the best Adsense top paying keyword, the secret is making sure your website is relevant to your chosen best Adsense keyword.

Make sure your main keyword is in your h1 header tags, in the title of your web page, in your web page description and also in your meta keywords. By using certain Adsense keyword tools you can find more long tail keywords with very little competition at all which, when you add them up with other long tail keywords, will add up to a lot of traffic and more Adsense earnings.
This article has discussed the difference between ordinary keywords and having your site optimized with best top paying Adsense keywords. Now that you know how to do that you must find the right tools to optimize your sites for the highest paying Adsense keywords.

Adsense Secrets

2008-12-23T20:09:00.000-08:00

Adsense Secret # 1: Coalesce Google Ads with your Web Page

Let the border of the advertisements on your site coincide with the background color of your webpage. Let the text, title and urls in the Google Ads have the same font color as that of the font color of the contents in your web page. Ensure that you do everything possible to make the Google ads conflate with your website content.

Though it is tough to match the font size for the content of your web site with that of the advertisements, try to have the same font size to the maximum extent possible.

• Adsense Secret # 2: Make use of Images

This is one of the unique Adsense secret which is really valuable. Put up images pertaining to the theme of your web page around the ads appearing on your web site. This not only helps in integrating the content of your web page with the Google advertisements but also increases your Click Through Rate (CTR).

• Adsense Secret # 3: Place Ads at the top of your page

Putting up the ads on the top of your web page is the most treasured Adsense secret. And beware of the fact that the higher the order of the advertisement, the more is the income it would generate for every click.

• Adsense Secret # 4: CTR is Account Dependent

In case if you have multiple websites and if one website had a CTR of 15% and another has a CTR of .03%, the first thing you will have to do is to remove the webpage that has the CTR of.03% for this website may bring down your account's average CTR. This proves to be one of the imperceptible Adsense secrets.

• Adsense Secret # 5: Use Unique size for Google Ads

Yet another adsense secret is to make use of dimensions like 160*600 or 336*280 for the advertisements. Viewers tend to click on them thinking that the ad is a part of the web page.

• Adsense Secret # 6: Automate Google Ad Insertion using SSI

Automate the insertion of Google advertisements by writing scripts and inserting using SSI with the assistance of your server administrator. In the long run, this would save your time and efforts spent in the integration of Google ads with your web page.

• Adsense Secret # 7: Update and Maintain germane links

Update and maintain the sites that are faring well. While placing your ads in sites that are faring well, place them on top of all the existing ads so that the viewer who comes in would be able to see your ads first.

• Adsense Secret # 8: Add Fresh Content as often as you can

The higher the frequency of articles posted in your site, the more the traffic it drives to your web page and the higher is your page ranking.

• Adsense Secret # 9: Get to know keywords that are highly utilized and make use of them

Making the maximum use of the widely used keywords in your site is one of the unsung adsense secrets known.

• Adsense Secret # 10: Use customized layouts for Google Ads

Rectangle and skyscraper layout fare better than the other layouts and ensure that the dimensions are such that they merge well with the web content.

With the Adsense secrets revealed above, I am sure you can climb the ladder of Google Page Ranking with ease. Try and enjoy the benefits with these Adsense secrets!

7 Steps To Get PR5 One Way Links For Free

2008-12-23T20:06:00.000-08:00

One way links from sites with high Page Rank are the best possible links you could get when promoting your site or blog. The easy way to get these type of links is to use services like textlinkbrokers.com or linkadage.com where you pay monthly fees for one way links on sites that you choose.

Those services work very well, but what do you do if you can't afford to buy many high PR text links.

I'm going to show you an easy way to get this type of links, and you can use this method if you don't have a big budget or you simply want to save some money.

Let's say you have created a blog in a certain niche, you have added content on a regular basis, found some link partners, sent articles to directories etc. Traffic is coming to your blog, but in pretty low numbers.

So you want to get some one way links from sites with high PR (preferably with more than decent traffic) for better search engine placement. You'll do this by creating a quality report in that niche, and then offer that report with Master Resale Rights to owners of blogs and sites(with PR 5+) in your niche in exchange for a one way link.

Here's how you do that Step By Step:

Step1. The first thing you need to do is make a list with questions that people have regarding your niche. To do this, you must visit blogs, forums(the best resource for this type of research), Yahoo Answers, Online Magazines, Google Groups, and Amazon.com to find those questions that need an answer. Choose one two or three questions that are asked a lot, questions people are having a hard time finding an answer for.

Step2. If you are an expert in your niche jump to Step3. If you're not an expert in your niche and you do research to create content for your blog or site, you need to follow the same process to create your report. Article directories can be a good place to start, also Wikipedia.com, forums, blogs etc.

Step3. Now it's time to write the report. It should have a maximum of 20 pages, but it could work very well with even 10 pages. Make sure you answer the questions you have found in step1 in a clear and easy to understand way. This is the most important part of the process. If the report isn't of the best quality, webmasters will reject it.

Step4. Find affiliate programs that go hand in hand with your report. Clickbank.com, CJ.com, PayDotCom.com are great places to find affiliate programs.

Step5(Optional but Recommended). Write a small sales letter for the report ... well more like a solo ad. Write about how your report answers those questions a lot of people are dying to know the answer. Search on google for "how to write a solo ad" for ideas.

Step6. Find blogs and sites in your niche with high PR. Use google, blog directories, article directories and social bookmarking sites.

Step7. Contact the webmasters and offer the report with Master Resale Rights in exchange for a one way link on the home page or other high PR page. Show them the list with affiliate programs you recommend they promote. Also, as a bonus, give them the solo ad you wrote so that they can instantly send it to their list for quick money in their Paypal accounts. Try to contact as many webmasters as you can. Not all will accept the proposal but if you create a quality report many will.

Follow these steps, and you'll get many top quality one way links for free.

Building Quality Backlinks

2008-12-23T20:04:00.000-08:00

When it comes to having a website that is properly optimized for search engines, backlinks are a necessity to online success. There are several different components that assist in the area of having a website that is considered to have good optimization for all the popular websites like Google, Yahoo, Lycos, Ask.Com, AOL, MSN, and more. These components include keywords, the density of keywords within the physical content, quality, and backlinks.
Here, you will learn quite a bit of information regarding this important component of your website. You will learn what they are, how to get them, and even why they are important!

What Are Backlinks?

Many individuals are quite curious to learn more once they hear of backlinks offering a solution to increasing their overall page rank. Backlinks are actually quite simple to define. They are basically just links that are considered to be incoming to a particular website, article, picture, video, or any other type of media that is on the internet. You may also look at them as a link that is received from one particular area on the internet to another specific area on the internet. These are received and sent to what is referred to as "web nodes". Web nodes include online directories, domains that are considered to be top level, and even basic websites.

Backlinks are known by several other names when it comes to the virtual world, these names include:

Inward Links
Inbound, or Inbound Links
Incoming, or Incoming Links
Inlinks

How Do I Get Backlinks?
There are several creative ways to get backlinks to your website. One of the methods that I find to be most effective is by creating an article marketing campaign that can provide you with several different places to add small reciprocal links back to the page that you are trying to increase the overall ranking of. Here's an example:

Let's say that you have a website that promotes natural remedies for depression. We will call this website "BowlingSample.Com" (just for the sake of providing an example).

Now, we want to get backlinks to BowlingSample.Com through the means of an article marketing campaign. We research free places to submit articles and we come up with eHow.com and AssociatedContent.com. So, these two websites are the places we will submit our articles for the article marketing campaign.

We will want to create articles geared around bowling balls, shoes, gloves and anything pertaining to bowling, and more. Once the articles are completed, we will want to submit them.

Now, you will run across resource sections where you can provide links to other websites. This is where you will want to provide a backlink to the website that you want your visitors to visit. If you submit one article to eHow.com and one to AssociatedContent.com, you will have two backlinks!

Now, wasn't that easy?

Why Are Backlinks So Important?

Backlinks are essential to online success due to the fact that they assist in creating popularity for your website. In addition to this, when search engines crawl websites, they determine which websites have the largest number of backlinks. When this occurs, it creates a popularity rank when it comes to search engine ranking. Naturally, the higher that your page and other media online ranks, the more successful your website will be!

Gaining Link Popularity Using 7 simple steps Posted by jasmine.celion

2008-12-23T20:01:00.000-08:00

Link Popularity can take more time than other methods do. However the more better your rankings and placement are in the search engines, the more traffic that you will be able to generate. Here are 7 Different ways to building link popularity today.

1. Make your web site look professional. Having a web site that has a more professional look will attract more visitors and more individuals to your website. The more professional looking your site, the more credibility your company will gain. It is a part of human psychology. People tend to gravity towards things or people that look attractive. Therefore, make your web page attractive, and people will be attracted to it.

2. List your website in the best directories possible. The better the directory the better your links will be. If you are in the best directory, more and more websites will love to link to your website due to the respect that some of these major directories have.

3. Ask for links from other quality sites. You can request links from other websites, but you should only be adding links to top quality websites. Remember that the quality of the backlinks you get is much more important than the quantity of backlinks generated.

4. Create good relationship with owners of other websites. Once you have created a good relationship with these people and/or businesses, you can ask them to put your links on their websites.

5. Remain persistent. Link popularity can take some time to work. You have to be patient and let it happen on its own without trying to make it happen.

6. Use pay-per-click advertising as a link building tool. Pay-per-click ads will get more traffic to your site. If your site has more traffic it is more likely that other webmasters will want to create a link to your site, especially if they feel your site is informative and appealing at the same time.

7. Establish Command. You should make yourself an expert on your product, your service, and your field. Once you have established a higher credibility, your site will get more business. If you have more business, then your popularity will be higher, and other sites will be more willing to link to you.

How to Secure Long Term Results From One Way Link Building

2008-12-23T19:59:00.000-08:00

To those who are new to the internet search engine optimization, link buildings are often done through swapping; you connect to a link that you have to link back also. However, one way link building is a highly more effective way of building your link.

How Does One Way Links Prove to be Effective?

One way link building from sites with higher popularity link, as well as trusted ones with you will give the impressions to the users of the Internet that your website is truly endorsed because of its contents, since there is no reciprocation or what is called quid pro quo.

This can be a little hard to gain when your website is still new in the Internet world; nevertheless, there are many one way link building services available who offer to build links for your website. They are professionals and will require financial exchange for their services.

Advantages on Getting One Way Link Building Service for Your Website

* Search Engine Ranking

The services that offer to develop your one way links are very much aware on the relevance of building the website's optimization. It can serve a big advantage for your website link building for they know the proper ins and outs of the one way link building. Reputable link building can also be assured from professional services since they know those links that are reputable and will provide better reputation for yours too.

* Knowledgeable

Getting one way ling building service for the optimization of the website for a newbie is a good idea and also worry-free. With people working on your website's link building, you can never go wrong while you are still learning the proper trading and maintaining as well as link building in online business without losing some precious time. The website will be seen gaining in traffic and popularity with a very effortless manner. Strategies on the link building from services are mostly accurate and effective.

At times, getting links in a very rushed and fast method may cause website owners linking their website to sites that will not serve any positive effect on the popularity of your website. This can be greatly damaging for a starting website marketing owner. If you are in a rush to setup your links and start in the right foot with your business, the link building professionals available may be more than willing to help you. Keeping in mind that there are a huge number of these kinds of service providers and your analysis and study on choosing which service you will get will be better considered first.

5 Sexy ways to generate traffic

2008-12-23T19:53:00.000-08:00

Anyone with a website desires getting not just any kind of traffic, but targeted traffic. This is when the people visiting your site are the people who have interest in what your site has to offer. It's targeted traffic that usually leads to sales and sign-ups.

But you may wonder "just how do I get website traffic that's targeted?"

Here are some proven ways of getting website traffic - targeted of course.

1. You can learn search engine optimization. Most people go to the search engines when they search for some kind of information. It is a huge advantage to be ranked high with the major search engines. If you haven't already, get started on learning how to SEO your site.

2. Using viral marketing is a great way of getting website traffic (targeted) to your site. One way of doing so is by giving out freebies to your visitors. People usually gain interest in something when they see the word free. You can give away a free e-book or report branded with your website and/or business. Your visitors could tell other people about it and give it away, and thus your website brand will spread like a virus; hence the name.

3. Article marketing is a quality form of free advertising and getting website traffic that's targeted. People want their information to be short, sweet, and to the point. Articles are written this way, and website owners could take advantage of this. The goal is to write high-quality articles, with a link to your site in the resource box. Submit your articles to as many directories as you want, but don't forget to submit to the more popular ones or you'll miss out. Ezine publishers and other website owners are always in need of fresh content for their site, and they could republish your article, which includes your resource box and the link to your site. Your link popularity could increase exponentially this way.
4. Yet another way of generating targeted website traffic is ezine marketing. You can offer a newsletter that regularly provides your subscribers with helpful information about topics related to your site. Give tips and suggestions for your readers, and build a good relationship with them. They will have more trust in you, and come back to see more of your site.

5. Blogging and RSS feeds are another way to get website traffic that's targeted. Blogs are continuously updated with new information, so people enjoy reading them. You can syndicate your blog with RSS feeds and expand your reach through the internet. If people find your blog helpful or enjoyable they'll keep coming back to read what's new.

These aren't the only ways of getting targeted website traffic. There are many more out there for you to discover and explore.

Nine Ways to Promote Your Blog Posts

2008-12-23T19:48:00.000-08:00

1. Bookmark your best posts on Delicious. Once it’s in there, there’s a chance someone might happen upon it.

2. Stumble your best posts on StumbleUpon. Some folks disagree with stumbling your own work. The way I feel okay with it is that I stumble approximately 9 other people’s great blog posts to every one of my own.

3. Post an intriguing title and link to the post in LinkedIn’s status message.

4. If your post is about a specific industry or relates to other great blogs, find a recent blog post that has related information. (Now, this is different than what you MIGHT normally do, so pay attention). In the URL part of the sign-up form, put the link to your post, not your blog in general. In the comment body, don’t talk about your amazing post. Just offer genuine commentary on the post you read, and share your thoughts and ideas. Repeat: don’t mention the post. (If your comment is great and worthy, people will click through and check it out.)

5. Share your post on Facebook. I really like BlogCast, which used to be FlogBlog. It’s got a nice interface.
6. Share your post in FriendFeed automatically, and let the amazing community there decide if it’s interesting.

7. Try Zemanta. Zemanta is a blogging tool that either adds on to your browser (Firefox only, I think), or comes now as a WordPress plugin. It allows you to find related stories and post them at the bottom of a post. When you’re part of the Zemanta community, I believe your stories also go into their list of potentially related stories. I’ve seen traffic coming in from Zemanta-recommended links.

8. Don’t forget Twitter. I find lots of my traffic comes from Twitter, especially because I don’t ever just post a link. I ask questions, inspire comments, etc.

9. Write blog posts that others will find useful. I know it’s not a technology answer, but it’s the truth. If your posts aren’t that useful to other people, they won’t be popular. People won’t care. If you’re re-blogging news that several other larger sites have covered, who cares? If you’re telling us about your day at college, who cares (unless you’re a great writer)? Make it really good, useful stuff, and we’ll come along for the ride.

7 Tips to Make Weekend Blogging a Success

2008-12-23T19:40:00.000-08:00

1. Comment on Other Blogs: Target popular blogs in your niche on which to comment. It's an obvious point, which is why it's listed first.

I'd even go a step further though and say, comment on the posts on that blog that already have a lot of comments. Note that his may not necessarily be the most recent post on that blog.

When I visit a blog, I usually read the first few comments and the last few. If you're commenting on a popular post that's a few weeks old, you may very well be one of the last people to leave a comment, so your comment has a good chance of being read.

Note that this may take a little digging into the blog at hand, but is well worth the effort. Fear getting lost among all the other commentors? It's the nature of the beast I'm afraid, so don't let this worry you. The point is to leave high-quality posts on top-rated blogs in your niche. Eventually, it will pay off over time. This leads me to my next tip ...

2. In-depth posts: Don't leave skimpy posts, eg, "Way to go," or "Great post." Duh?
"Consider each comment you make to be a tiny "teaser" for the type of writing you do on your blog. Write something interesting and thoughtful that adds to the discussion. Most readers will ignore a link from a "nice post" comment, especially if this is a highly-trafficked blog with a lot of commenters. But if you write something interesting, entertaining or thoughtful, you'll definitely make people want to read more."
Marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. Many leave short posts just to "get their name out there." This type of blog commenting though is like spending your marketing dollars in the wrong place. If you're going to employ blog commenting as a form of blog marketing, make the most of it.

I can't tell you how many times someone has written to me because they read a comment I wrote on another blog. Taking 5 minutes to write a decent comment will pay off huge over time.

Jennifer makes another crucial point in this same post. She writes: "Leaving comments isn't just about getting your link up in as many places as possible. It's also about introducing yourself to a community."

Blog commenting helps to build your reputation. Enough comments - over time - on the right blogs will build a rock-solid reputation you can leverage for years to come.

Isn't a few minutes of your time worth that?

3. Use the right name: What do I mean? On most blogs, they ask you for your name, email address and URL of your website/blog before you're able to leave a comment.

The name you type in will be the hyperlink to the URL you type in. Unless most know you by your name, don't use it.

When you log in and are asked for your "Name," type in the name of your website/blog. You can use your name in your signature at the end of your comment.

4. Use a signature: As in, leave an in-depth signature on all of your blog posts. I recently started to use the following:

Sincerely,
Yuwanda Black, Publisher
http://www.InkwellEditorial.com
http://www.InkwellEditorial.blogspot.com
http://www.SEO-Article-Writer.com
http://www.SEO-Articles-for-Sale.com
http://cool-hotstuff.blogspot.com

Sometimes I'll include a P.S., eg,
P.S.: P.S.:Want to start making $100-$200/day as a freelance writer -- right away? Go to http://smart-xone.blogspot.com for details.

NOTE: some will delete the P.S., some will let it stay. I say it never hurts to include it. Almost all though will leave any website URLs that appear after your name.
FYI, this is why it's doubly important to leave in-depth posts as well. Adding something meaningful to a discussion lets the webmaster/blogmaster know that you've invested time in their dialogue, not just used their space to advance your interests.

5. Marketing success by the numbers: This past Saturday, I left comments on 10 blogs.

If I did this every week for a year, that would be over 500 comments on other blogs (10 x 52/weeks = 520). I think of it this way, I'm introducing my brand to over 500 new markets in a year's span. Not to shabby.

And, think, this type of marketing "goes viral." IE, others will visit your site and link to you and on and on and on. This is the type of marketing that pays huge dividends over time.

I'm a big believer in marketing success by the numbers? What is it? As explained here, "It's a process whereby you do the same thing on a consistent basis over a period of time. This system will lessen your workload, increase your sales, generate new leads and save you money. When you start marketing on a consistent basis, you are constantly drawing new customers into your fold."

6. Post on your own blog: So far, we've discussed commenting on the blogs of others. Don't forget to write a post for your own blog.

Don't feel like a full-fledged post? Then find a hot topic in your niche that's been written about elsewhere and simply write a short opinion on it. This sunday post from my blog illustrates this.

Whatever you do, don't post rubblish (remember your reputation, as discussed in Tip #2). If you're not going to go in-depth, a "food for thought" posting like this protects your reputation.

A side advantage of this type of posting: search engine recognition. Linking to high-trafficked post only helps you in the long run.

7. Link back to your blog: As in, when you are commenting on the blogs of others, where possible, link back to a post on your blog that discusses the same topic.

This makes it easy for readers really interested in that topic to click over to your blog. Blog readers who follow links are really highly pre-qualified customers. And, if you happen to be promoting a productaround that post topic, you're much more likely to make a sale.

Again, this is yet another reason to write in-depth posts on relevant topics in your niche.

I want to end with a little personal insight on weekend blog posting.

4 Ways to get High Value Linkbacks to Your Webisite

2008-12-23T19:30:00.000-08:00

Before the advent of Google's search algorithms, only web marketers and companies with deep pockets could hope to get top search engine rankings from floods of traffic to their sites. Nowadays, the playing field is leveled. To get your website at the top of the serps (search engine results pages), you want to make sure you have a good chunk of one way inbound links from reputable and high ranked websites. Their are five proven search engine optimization methods I highly recommend employing for your blog or website. Please note, these methods require some minor research, a touch of patience, and some basic web knowledge.

1. Post on Free Blogs

You will receive one way linkbacks to your website everytime you create a new post entry on popular free blogs. Make sure your free blog can ping the blog update services such as Technorati. Blogging is one of the easiest and most recommended methods to create valuable linkbacks to your website. Web users can subscribe to your blog's rss feeds and get regular alerts from blog services whenever your blog has been updated. Also each rss feed that is subscribed to counts as a free inbound link to your site. I discuss my top picks of free blogging services in another article I highly recommend you read. These blogs have rewarded me with fast and high valued inbound links time after time.

2. Post on Popular Forums

Registering on multiple free and popular forums is the second method I recommend for a great linkback campaign. It's very important though to drop comments on forums whose topics are related or closely follow the same category, theme, and target audience as your website. Its good practice to include and hyperlink keywords in your comments that are found on your site. Remember to always choose forums that allow hyperlinks in your comments or more importantly in your profile signature. The next task is to make sure these hyperlinks do not employ the "rel=nofollow" rule. If this is the case, these forums are a complete waste of your search engine optimization efforts. Search engine robots such as Googlebot do not index these hyperlinks, resulting in no inbound links to your website. Check to see whether the forum is high trafficked and high ranked. The higher the traffic/rank of the forum, the more weight the inbound link holds by Google and Yahoo's standards. Strong inbound links will push you further up in search engine results resulting in more traffic to your website.

3. Submit Original Articles to Article Banks

I can't stress how important this method of inbound linking is. If you have the gift of writing, or better yet if you can simply write about topics and use spellcheck, then your website will benefit greatly by submitting your articles to article banks. As with any form of inbound linking, use only those article banks that are reputable, adhere to search engine optimization rules, and do not employ the "rel=nofollow" rule in their hyperlinks. I name a few good article banks in another article I wrote concerning good SEO. I've written reusable articles 3 years ago that are still sending back hundreds of great inbound links to my websites. The key is to write about topics that don't expire or become stale. Two great example of constant recycled articles are those about money and finance, and sex and relationships. Its a good rule of thumb to keep the articles around 300 to 700 words. Each article you submit will most likely have a signature line with an inbound link to your site, and each time someone uses that article they are required by article banks to keep your link in that signature section.

4. Submit content to Social Bookmarks

Social bookmarks are the new golden child of search engine marketing. They're free and heavily used for content building on millions of websites. Most major portals utilize them to get their articles, videos, and images distributed to a broader reach of web users. A major advantage of social bookmarks is that once submitted, your articles get indexed by Search engines a lot faster than simply waiting for search spiders to crawl your site and index pages. Each submission creates a valuable inbound link. I generally submit articles to about 14 high trafficked social bookmarks, such as digg, stumbleupon, delicious, and mixx.

Follow these methods and you will see an enormous turnaround in traffic and search engine rank in a short moment.

How to get backlinks without asking?

2008-12-22T20:34:00.000-08:00

Sending out link requests is a time-consuming business. So wouldn't it be wonderful if other sites linked to you without being asked?

Sound impossible? Well, it can be done and here are ten strategies to prove it. Why not start 2008 by making sure you use them?

In a link building campaign, you have to find target Web sites in the first place, review them to decide if asking for a link is worthwhile, identify the contact person and send them a customized link request. If you can do all that in 15 minutes per request, you'll be doing very well. On that timing, you'll be able to send out 160 requests in a 40 hour week and with a success rate of say 10%, you'll get 16 links for your efforts.

Perhaps there is a better way to spend those 40 hours.

Sometimes the best way to get links is not to ask for them. That doesn't mean you should sit back, do nothing and wait for links to appear. Spend time creating content and making your site as attractive and easy to link to as possible. There are lots of things you can do to build your link popularity without sending out link requests.

Here are some suggestions:

1. Make it clear on your own Web site that you want links - ask for them directly and make it easy for people to link by writing the linking code for them (using keyword phrases in linking text of course). Explain why it will help: “If you've found this site useful, please link to us so that others can benefit.”

2. Play an active part in online discussion groups and forums. Not only will you learn, but you'll become known and will spot the movers and shakers - and if your people post good opinions and helpful advice, people will link to you.

3. Publish a regular newsletter and republish the content on your Web site. Encourage people to link by asking, “if you've enjoyed this newsletter, you can link to the permanent version at (insert URL).”

4. Publish articles on other Web sites - ezines, information sites, media sites, even article banks. This works well. You can find sites to submit articles to by doing a Google search, e.g. - intitle:“submit an article” business - this produces over 1,000 results. Spend time looking for niche ezines and newsletters that serve your market, scan the type of content they publish and adapt your writing to their style.

5. Create an interactive tool. My favourite of old was 'The longevity text'. You answered about 20 questions and the tool predicted at what age you would be likely to die. Irresistible - I still remember that my prediction was 83. The test was designed and published by an insurance company - could they have been trying to sell me a pension? A little bit of creativity in thinking about such tools will be time well spent and a good programmer will be able to create a tool in just a few hours.

6. Create great content. (OK, it's an old trick, but it still works.) Just keep publishing great stuff. One of the best at this is search engine marketer and prolific writer Jill Whalen. Her weekly newsletter from http://www.high rankings.com is a model of consistency and genuine value to her many thousands of readers.

7. Submit your Web site to legitimate award sites. Mike Corso's Cool Site of the Day, http://www .coolsiteoftheday.com, is a must together with any others you can find. You'd be surprised at how high your chances of success are.

8. Praise and link. When you find genuinely useful resources, write a short, complementary review together with a link. Then publish on your Web site and click on it just to make sure it ends up in your target's referrer logs. Larry Chase of Web Digest for Marketers publishers a monthly newsletter that reviews about 10 Web Site Resources - you'll find it at http://www.wdfm.com. A few days later he writes to each reviewed site and allows them to quote his comments in return for a link.

9. Become a source of quotes. Provide sharp, useful, timely quotes for the media. You can get yourself known and you'll find journalists will seek you out. Sign up for services such as http://www.prleads.com ($99 per month) or the premium priced http://www.sourcewire.com (£1,200 per annum).

10. Volunteer to become an editor for several directories. You'll be able to submit reviews of your own sites and you'll have opportunities to get to know your market better - that inevitably leads to more linking opportunities.
Sometimes we can get too wrapped up in sending out link requests. Stepping back and thinking of some creative ways to get people to link without being asked will be time well spent.

Should You Submit to the Yahoo Directory?

2008-12-22T20:31:00.000-08:00

The Yahoo! Directory is the most powerful paid directory on the web. If you are serious about getting good rankings in the search engines then you should definitely submit because if you get accepted the link will count as a true vote of confidence towards your site and it will help you to build up more trust with all of the engines.

In order to get listed you need to pay a fee of $299 per anum to have a Yahoo representative review your site to make sure that it meets their requirements. Providing your website is a genuine business website then you shouldn't have any problems getting listed however do make sure that you read the Yahoo Directory terms of service before you submit, just to make sure that your site is definitely suitable.

Yahoo! Directory terms of service
Once you have read the terms of service and you are sure that your site is suitable get ready to submit, create an objective description of your company to use for your directory listing, get your credit card ready to pay the $299 review fee and then click on the link below (you need to create a Yahoo account if you don't already have one, instructions are given on site).

Submit to the Yahoo! Directory
Once you have submitted, Yahoo guarantee to review your site within 7 days, Yahoo will select the most appropriate category for your site and when it is first listed you will also be featured in the what's new category of the directory which gives you a good amount of traffic to your site. You will have to pay the $299 every year to make sure that your website still meets their requirements.

10 Ways to make your Blog more Attractive to Advertisers

2008-12-22T20:10:00.000-08:00

1. Have an “Advertise with Us” Banner on your site

This is the single most important issue. It should click to an Advertising information page and have an easy way to contact you for more information and rates. Key points: Make it a graphical image or a tab. Keep it above the fold.

2. Keep the ads on your site specific to your site

Don’t have smiley ads and wallpaper ads if your site is site is about mobile phones.

3. Show them the banners

If you currently have no paid placements on your site, put up house ads or partner ads in the same spot you would run a paid spot. (A house ad refers to banners for other products or sites that you or your company own)

4. Throw up a free bonus ad.

By putting a free advertisement on your site, you may not only encourage similar ads or competitors to that product, but the company you added for free may decide to advertise with you. Ask for full disclosure of the performance of the campaign in return. (Total clicks, total purchases etc. ) Key points. Put the free bonus up with a direct URL without tracking tags or affiliate tags.

5. Show your site stats.

You need to show at least the basics for site statical information: Monthly unique visitors and total number of impressions are the 2 key ones. Other less important can be Google PR & Alexa rank.

6. User demographic information. Know your audience.

The bare minimum is Male/Female % and average age of your readers. Other potentially useful information includes geographic, HHI, single/married, number of kids. etc. How do you get this info? You can do site polls, survey’s, or get more detailed stats from ComScore or Quantcast.com

7. Have an ‘About Us’ section.

Clearly explain who you are and what your site is about. And also why you are an ‘authority’ on what you are writing about, and why anyone should care about what you have to say.

8. Don’t use Google AdSense on your site.

OK, this could be the most painful one for most people especially if you are generating a few hundred bucks a month from it already. But Google ad sense devalues your site and makes it look unprofessional. You have to ask yourself, “Do I want some real revenue from my site or Google’s table scraps.”

9. Keep your blog on topic.

If you are all over the map in regards to topics about which you talk about, advertisers won’t know if they are a good fit for your site.

10. Keep your blog professional.

If you are talking about your cat, (Matt Cutts), ranting about your drive to work, swearing or bashing every product you can think about, it will scare away advertisers.

Dynamic Website Promotion

2008-12-22T20:07:00.000-08:00

Website promotion for static and dynamic sites is not easy. Here, we will talk on the Dynamic Websites Promotion because they are really tough to get indexed in the top search engines. From the day one when the site is designed, one needs to do strategic planning. Hence it is advised to take the help of a SEO expert, who can guide you in right direction and help you in earning more from internet marketing.

But still here are some tips that will help you in cross checking the work done on your site.In a dynamic site “keywords” play a major role in website optimization. Therefore, when we start designing or developing the site, we should have the list of keywords that will add fervor to our site. For dynamic sites we need to have different set of Meta tags, which clearly describe the individual pages. Next important thing is while writing the content the keywords should be scattered in a proper manner (relevantly).

Avoid using too many keywords; this could result in spamming of the site. If you are using images to supplement the looks of the page, then use alt tags optimization method. But excessive use of keywords is bad, so use them in a balance way. The best way to optimize a dynamic website is to use unique content for each product and page.

Next important thing is to link all the pages on the website. This will help in easy navigation from one page to another. See that there are no broken links & each url you make should have a keyword.

For more information on dynamic website promotion, hire a search engine optimization company now.

The internet brings a lot of things to do for a lot of people. Thanks to the internet, people from different parts f the world are able to com

2008-12-22T20:00:00.000-08:00

The internet brings a lot of things to do for a lot of people. Thanks to the internet, people from different parts f the world will now be able to communicate and interact with each other for free. One way to reach out to people is through blogs. In fact, blogging brings fame and even can let you earn extra cash if you’re good enough.

Basically, blogging was originally created as an online journal or diary where people are able to express their feelings and let other people know about it through the internet. Today, blogging is now considered to be one of the most popular ways for people to interact with each other and share their point of view about different kinds of things.

From life experiences, to trying a particular product, blogging can definitely make you famous.

So, how can you become famous through blogging and how can you take advantage of your blogging website that it can generate you some extra cash?

First of all, you have to remember that blogging is all about writing. It’s like writing a novel where you need to get people hooked into reading it. The great thing about blogging is that once people like what they read, they will often recommend it to their friends and so on. This is how you basically get famous through blogging.

You can also try posting in forums and on article publishing websites where at the end of each post, you will put in a link to the website where your blogs can be accessed.

Once you get loyal readers, you can start earning some cash. Depending on the subject of your blogs, you can become an affiliate marketer where you will include links of affiliate companies in your blogs. You can also make money by selling merchandises. For example, you can sell T-shirts, coffee cups, and other stuff.

In order to become famous, you need to write blogs that people will want to read. If you are going to talk about your life experiences, focus on one subject. For example, if you love the outdoors, try writing your experiences about it and don’t be afraid to bend reality and fiction. You can always mix both. It is also a good idea to mix in some sarcastic humor that people will surely love reading even if they get a bit offended.

The key to writing good blogs is by getting people’s attention on the first sentence. Once you get their attention, then the rest of the blog you write should be able to keep them reading. Never go from one subject to another. When writing blogs, you need to be consistent and everything you write should be relevant.

Once you get people to read your blogs and if they really like what they read, they will often recommend it to their friends. All you need to do is sit back and watch it spread like wild fire. However, you have to remember that once you get loyal readers, they will keep on demanding more from you. Try to update your blog site in order for you to keep your readers loyal and excited.

As you can see, blogging brings fame. If you want to be known in the internet, then blogging is the best way to get people’s attention. However, you should always remember that one should write good blogs in order for it to last.

What is the industrial revolution?

2008-12-22T19:54:00.000-08:00

It changed the world so much that people called it a revolution. The Industrial Revolution forever transformed the way people live and work in most parts of the world.

WHAT WAS THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION?

The Industrial Revolution began when power-driven machines started doing work that people had always done by hand. It started more than 250 years ago, in about 1750. The Industrial Revolution is still going on today in some parts of the world.

Before the Industrial Revolution, most people lived by farming. There was little industry. Any manufacturing was done in homes or in small workshops close to home. People used craft skills, such as weaving or woodworking, to produce goods for their families or to sell in towns.

The Industrial Revolution took production out of homes and workshops and into big factories, where machines did much of the work. People moved from the countryside into industrial cities, where they could work in the factories. New roads, canals, railroads, and steamships were built to carry factory-made goods and the raw materials to make them.

BRITAIN LEADS THE WAY

The Industrial Revolution began in Britain. The British government was eager to increase the country's income from trade, and it encouraged industry. Business people also hoped to make more money. They saw opportunities to profit from new inventions and new ways of making goods.

British businesses began to experiment with power-driven machines. They learned that machines could make some kinds of goods more quickly, cheaply, and reliably than could craft workers. Workers were still needed to operate the machines, but not to produce goods directly.

THE AGE OF MACHINES

Waterpower provided the energy to run the first industrial machines. People built giant waterwheels that turned in currents of water. The wheels powered simple devices, such saws and millstones for grinding wheat and corn.

Advances in metalworking allowed the invention of powerful new machines, such as steam engines. By 1850, most British industry relied on coal-burning steam engines for power. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, oil-powered engines replaced steam engines.

THE RISE OF THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY

The first big factories in Britain grew up around the textile industry. For centuries, spinning yarn and weaving cloth was done mostly by hand. It was slow, patient work.

British business owners realized they could profit more by increasing production. They developed new machines that could weave cloth, and they built large, new factories to hold them. Before long, Britain was supplying cloth to countries throughout the world.

WHERE DID BRITISH INDUSTRY DEVELOP?

Huge factories were built near sources of iron, coal, and water. Three regions of Britain—northern England, central England, and central Scotland—became industrial zones. Workers moved to big new industrial cities such as Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle on Tyne, and Glasgow.

The cities were grim places to live. Streets were dark and narrow, with rows of homes crowded side by side. Families had little space, comfort, or privacy. Homes were poorly built, without backyards, heating, or clean water. Smoke from the factories polluted city air. Factory waste and rotting trash littered the streets. Diseases such as cholera and typhoid killed thousands of people.

WORKING IN THE FACTORIES

The factories were busy, noisy, and very dangerous. Most factory workers toiled six days a week, for 12 to 15 hours every day. The pay was low. Terrible accidents were common. Many injuries occurred when workers got their hands, feet, or hair trapped in fast-moving machines.

Factory owners often recruited women and children as young as five years old to tend the machines. They could be hired for very low wages.

Some workers joined trade unions. These worker-run organizations called for better wages and working conditions. They held protest marches, went on strike, and helped workers who became injured or ill. Employers distrusted the unions and tried to crush them.

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION SPREADS

By about 1800, the new inventions and work techniques in Britain spread to Europe and North America. They were especially important in the United States. It had well-educated workers and millions of customers for factory-made goods. American companies soon built the world’s largest railroad system to transport goods and raw materials.

A second phase of the Industrial Revolution began about 1850. Inventors discovered new processes, such as better ways to make steel. In 1903, Henry Ford, an American carmaker, set up the world’s first moving assembly line. Each worker performed just one task all day long, rather than building an entire automobile.

During the 1900s, the Industrial Revolution spread to Russia, Southeast Asia, and China. Businesses there used experience gained in Europe and America to build large, productive factories.

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION TODAY

Today, there are still places in Africa, Central Asia, and South America, where the Industrial Revolution is just beginning. But in most countries, the Industrial Revolution has dramatically changed people’s lives. People who once lived in the countryside have moved to cities to find work.

As in Britain long ago, the Industrial Revolution still brings hardship to many people. It has ended traditional ways of making a living and hurt rural communities. The new roads, mines, factories, and industrial farming methods have damaged the environment.

Yet, in spite of the disadvantages, few people today want to return to the past. They believe industrialization leads to wider choices and growing wealth.

What is the Train?

2008-12-22T19:49:00.000-08:00

Have you ever stopped at a railroad crossing when a freight train rumbled by? Did you try to count the cars? Have you ever seen a high-speed passenger train whiz past? Trains are very important to transportation. Trains carry freight and people in places all over the world.

A train is made up of railroad cars hooked together and pulled by a locomotive. Locomotives are sometimes called engines. All trains run on tracks. Freight trains haul goods. Passenger trains carry people.

WHAT MOVES A TRAIN?

Locomotives push or pull railroad cars. They have powerful motors. The motors turn locomotive wheels that run on railroad tracks. Sometimes you will see three or four locomotives hooked together to pull a long freight train up a steep mountain.

Some locomotives get their power from electricity. The electricity comes from wires above the track or from a special third rail next to the track. Other locomotives get their power from diesel fuel, which is similar to the gasoline that most cars use. The kind of locomotive engines most used today are diesel-electrics. Engines that burn diesel fuel drive generators that make electricity. Powerful electric motors turn the wheels of a diesel-electric locomotive.

KINDS OF FREIGHT CARS

A freight train can have as many as 200 cars hooked together. There are special railroad cars for different kinds of freight.

The boxcar has four sides, a floor, and a roof. It looks like a box on wheels. Boxcars carry freight that has to be kept clean and dry, such as radios, television sets, and boxes of cereal.

Refrigerator cars work like your home refrigerator. They are boxcars that are cool inside. Refrigerator cars carry meat, fruit, frozen dinners, and other food that must be kept cold.

The hopper car is open on the top. Hopper cars carry coal, sand, gravel, and ore (rocks that contain metals). Hopper cars are easy to unload because they have doors on the bottom. The doors open and the coal, sand, or gravel pours out.

A flatcar has no top or sides. It has a floor on wheels. Flat cars carry lumber, steel beams, huge pieces of machinery, and other big items. Lifting machines called cranes load cargo onto flat cars. Special flatcars carry cars, boats, and trucks.

A tank car carries liquids or gases in a big, round tank that is lying on its side. Tank cars can carry milk, gasoline, or oil. Some tank cars carry dangerous chemicals.

KINDS OF PASSENGER CARS

Passenger cars have seats in rows along each side. Passengers can place small bags in a rack above the seat. Some passenger cars are made for long trips. They have seats that can be made into beds at night. Trains that carry passengers over long distances have special baggage cars to carry suitcases. They have dining cars where people can sit down and eat.

HOW DO TRAINS STAY ON THE TRACKS?

The track has two long rails made of steel. Pieces of wood or concrete called ties hold the rails in place and keep them from moving. Spikes hold the ties to the rails.

Locomotives, freight cars, and passenger cars have wheels that hold the train on the track. The wheels have a flange, a special shape that fits over the rails and keeps the train from slipping off the rails.

Railroad tracks are laid on a roadbed made of tightly packed dirt, gravel, or other material. When tracks have to go over rivers, the railroad company builds bridges. Sometimes railroad companies dig tunnels through mountains.

WHAT WERE EARLY TRAINS LIKE?

The first trains were wagons hooked together and pulled by horses, oxen, or other animals. The wagon wheels rolled over two strips made of wooden planks. Trains with wooden tracks were used as early as the 1500s to haul coal and stone. In the 1760s, iron rails replaced wooden ones.

Inventors made the first locomotives in the early 1800s. Early locomotive engines burned coal to heat water and make steam. The steam drove big pistons that turned the wheels. Inventors made bigger and better steam-engine locomotives. Steam engines drove most locomotives until the 1940s.

The first passenger cars were stagecoaches set on four railroad wheels. Then came larger cars with six wheels. In 1830, the Baltimore & Ohio became the first railroad in the United States to offer passenger service. The train was pulled by horses.

Passenger trains got better and better. In the late 1800s, a U.S. company called the Pullman Palace Car Company began making a comfortable sleeping car. Other companies made luxurious parlor cars for passengers to sit in. Train travel became very popular.

HOW HAS TRAIN TRAVEL CHANGED?

Many people traveled by train until the 1950s. Jet planes then began to replace trains as the most popular form of passenger travel. Today, most passenger trains in the United States and Canada are commuter trains. Passengers ride commuter trains twice a day between homes in the suburbs and jobs in the city. Trains continue to carry passengers between cities in Europe and in other parts of the world.

Some countries have high-speed trains. The first high-speed trains were in France and Japan. These trains can go about 260 kilometers per hour (160 miles per hour).

Engineers are working on a train that floats above its track. This type of train is called a maglev. Powerful magnets push the train a short distance above the rails as it moves along. Engineers are designing maglev trains that can travel much faster than trains on rails can.

Television

2008-12-17T17:45:00.000-08:00

You probably have a favorite television show. Maybe you have more than one favorite TV show. Did you ever wonder where your favorite shows come from? Did you ever wonder how they get to the TV set in your home?

WHERE DO TV SHOWS COME FROM?

Some TV shows are made in TV studios. Some of these shows are broadcast live—that is, as they are being made. Some shows are taped in the studio. The tape gets played on TV later on.

Other TV shows are made outside of studios. Baseball and football games and other sports events come from stadiums. Some parts of news programs are broadcast “on the scene.” TV reporters go to the scenes of accidents, floods, and fires and describe what is happening.

Shows in studios are made on sets. Sets for plays or soap operas can look like living rooms or kitchens. Sets for talk shows might have a desk for the host and chairs for the guests. Bright lights shine down on the sets.

HOW ARE TV PICTURES MADE?

A TV picture starts with a TV camera. Some TV cameras are big and some are small. The cameras in TV studios are big. Camera operators roll the big cameras around on wheels. There are usually several big cameras in a TV studio. Cameras used outside a TV studio are smaller. TV camera crews take the smaller cameras to news and sports events.

Some cameras send out live pictures to your TV set. Some cameras make videotapes that get played later on a television program.

All TV cameras need electricity to work. A camera operator points the camera at a scene. The camera picks up light from the scene. It changes this light into an electric signal called the video signal. A microphone changes the sound of people talking or music playing into an electric signal called the audio signal.

TV cameras do not snap pictures the way an ordinary camera does. Parts inside a TV camera scan, or sweep over, the scene and trace a series of thin, horizontal lines, one below the other. A TV camera scans a whole scene much faster than you can blink. Lines from the scans go together to make a picture.

THE TV CONTROL ROOM

The pictures and sound from the TV cameras and microphones go to a control room. Every television station has one or more control rooms. TV cameras in a studio can send live pictures to the control room. The control room is full of dials, switches, and small TV screens. There are screens that show pictures from each TV camera in the studio.

Producers and directors work in the control room. They make sure that the best pictures with the best views go to your TV screen at home.

People who work in control rooms also use taped pictures to make programs. They use computers to put together the best taped scenes.

HOW DOES THE SHOW GET TO YOUR HOME?

The picture and sound signals go from the control room to a transmitter. The transmitter makes the signals stronger and sends them to a transmitting antenna. This antenna is very tall. It changes the electric signals into invisible television signals that go through the air. The television signals go out from the antenna in all directions.

TV signals can get to the TV set at your home in several ways. They can go through the air to an antenna on your roof. The antenna picks up the signals and sends them through wires to your TV set. The signals could go to a cable TV company. The company sends the signals through a cable to your home. The TV signals could come right to your house from a satellite circling high above Earth. A satellite dish outside your home can pick up the TV signals and send them over wires to your TV set indoors.

HOW DOES YOUR TV SET WORK?

Your TV set changes the television signals back into pictures and sound. Your set picks up the thin lines that the TV camera scanned. Your set uses parts called electron guns to “paint” a picture on the TV screen one thin line at a time. The lines get painted from top to bottom.

A color TV set uses three electron guns to beam out three colors—red, green, and blue. These three colors make all the colors you see on your TV screen. The beams scan fast enough to paint a picture on your screen 30 times a second.

OTHER WAYS TO USE TELEVISION

Television can do many things. TV cameras can be sent to places that are difficult or dangerous for people. They can travel to outer space. Spacecraft carry TV cameras to other planets. The cameras send back pictures that let us see what other planets look like.

TV cameras on robot submarines can go deep down in the sea. Doctors use tiny TV cameras to see inside the human body.

WHEN WAS TV INVENTED?

Inventors made the first TV pictures in the 1920s. Television stations started broadcasting the first regular TV shows in the 1940s. The first TV sets had small screens. The first TV sets showed black-and-white pictures.

Television sets have gotten better and better. Most TVs sold today show color pictures. TV screens have gotten bigger and bigger. TV sets have gotten thinner. Plasma TV sets are so thin that you can hang them on a wall.

Ancient Egypt

2008-12-17T17:36:00.000-08:00

Pyramids and pharaohs, mummies and magic, picture writing on papyrus—ancient Egypt had all this, and much more. Rich, powerful, and peace-loving, this North African kingdom was home to a splendid civilization that lasted 3,000 years, from about 3300 bc to 30 bc.

RED LAND, BLACK LAND

Ancient Egypt was a vast territory, stretching 700 miles (1,100 kilometers) southward from the Mediterranean Sea. Most of it was hot, dry, and dusty. The Egyptians called it Deshret (red land). But the world’s longest river, the Nile, runs through this desert. Every year, the river flooded the surrounding land. The floods left sticky, smelly mud covering the land along the riverbanks. Egyptians called the riverside area Kemet (black land). This land was very fertile. About 5000 bc, the ancient Egyptians built some of the world’s first farms and villages there.

THE GIFT OF THE NILE

Egypt was sometimes called “the gift of the Nile.” All Egyptian life depended on the river. Farmers dug ditches to bring its water to fields of wheat, grapes, and onions. Rich nobles, town traders, and poor country families all built homes made of sun-dried river mud. Craftspeople shaped clay from the Nile into pottery, and wove cloth from the flax plant that grew on its banks. Families caught fish and river birds for food. Children played in riverside pools, but they had to watch out for killer crocodiles!

LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT

Most ancient Egyptian homes had just two or three rooms, with workspace on the roof. Rich people built larger houses, with painted walls, fine furniture, gardens, and pools. In poor families, women wore rough homemade dresses and men wore cloths tied around the hips. But the rich could afford curled wigs, makeup, colored clothes, and jewels. They had servants and slaves to work for them.

Rich or poor, all Egyptians valued family life. They married young and had many children. Families worked together and played together. Egyptian people liked games, stories, music, dancing, and holiday feasts and parades.

The ancient Egyptians believed in magic and many gods. People built little shrines to their favorite gods. They wore amulets (charms), and recited prayers and spells. They also built statues representing gods. The most famous is the Great Sphinx of Giza. This huge statue with the body of a lion and the head of a man still stands today.

HIEROGLYPHS AND PAPYRUS

The ancient Egyptians had a complex system of writing known as hieroglyphics. This form of writing looks like columns of little pictures. These picture-symbols are called hieroglyphs. Not everyone could read hieroglyphs. Reading and writing was the job of special scholars called scribes.

Scribes wrote in hieroglyphs on papyrus, a kind of paper made from reeds. This was some of the world’s first writing! Pages of poems, songs, stories, math, science, and astronomy have all been preserved.

POWERFUL PHARAOHS

Egyptian kings were known as pharaohs. Egyptians said the pharaohs were the children of a god. They were links between heaven and Earth. Pharaohs were the chief priests, lawmakers, and army commanders of the kingdom. They gave orders to governors, judges, tax collectors, and soldiers. They made treaties with foreign rulers and controlled trade with other countries. All Egyptians had to pay taxes to them or work on their building projects.

PYRAMID TOMBS AND MUMMIES

Some of the pharaohs had great pyramids constructed. A pyramid was an enormous stone tomb. Building a pyramid was a tremendous project. Thousands of people worked for many years to construct one. Some of the stone blocks that make up the pyramids weigh more than two elephants!

The ancient Egyptians believed that their bodies must survive for life after death. They had their bodies made into mummies. Mummies were preserved, dried, and wrapped in cloth. Egyptians hoped this would help their spirits survive after they died. Pharaoh mummies were placed in pyramids or great tombs surrounded by treasures to be used in the afterlife. Guides to the world of the dead written in hieroglyphs on papyrus have been found with mummies. Most royal mummies, and the treasures buried with them, were stolen by grave robbers long ago.

LASTING REMINDERS OF THE PAST

Egypt’s rich civilization attracted many invaders. But it survived for thousands of years. In 30 bc, Egypt’s last pharaoh—Queen Cleopatra—killed herself rather than surrender to Roman conquerors. That was 2,000 years ago. But ancient Egypt has not been forgotten. Some mummies were so well preserved that they are still around. Some of them are in museums. And many of ancient Egypt’s greatest monuments, including many pyramids, are still standing. You can visit them!

Alexander the Great

2008-12-13T20:47:00.000-08:00

He was a king, a commander, and a conqueror. Alexander the Great was so powerful some people called him a god. He was one of the greatest generals in history, and he built a vast empire that extended from the Mediterranean Sea to India.

ALEXANDER’S EARLY LIFE

Alexander was born in Macedonia in 356 bc. His father, King Philip II of Macedonia, hired the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle to tutor young Alexander. In the summer of 336 bc, Philip was murdered by one of his bodyguards. Alexander then became king.

Many people in Macedonia plotted against the young king, but Alexander was shrewd. He quickly ordered the execution of all the conspirators. At the same time, some Greek cities ruled by Macedonia rebelled and others threatened to seek independence. Alexander crushed the rebellions and restored Macedonian rule.

INVASION OF ASIA

Next, in 334 bc, Alexander turned his attention toward the Persian Empire (now Iran) in southwest Asia. Alexander led Macedonian and Greek soldiers to attack Darius III, Persia’s king. Their armies met at Issus in Syria in 333 bc, and fought a fierce battle. Alexander won, and Darius fled.

CONTROL OF EGYPT

Alexander then led his soldiers south, into Egypt. Alexander seized power from the pharaoh, who ruled Egypt on behalf of the Persians. The grateful Egyptians saw Alexander as a person who freed them, and they crowned him pharaoh. At the mouth of the Nile River in northern Egypt, Alexander founded a new city. He named the city Alexandria, and it became a famous center of learning.

CONQUEROR OF PERSIA

In 331 bc, Alexander led his troops back north into Persia. King Darius was eager for revenge. Alexander and Darius fought another great battle, this time at Gaugamela. Once again, Alexander won. The battle at Gaugamela ended centuries of Persian rule in Asia.

Alexander then turned south and conquered other important Persian cities. At Persepolis, he burned down Darius’s palace to show he had conquered the Persian Empire. In 330 bc, Alexander went north to find Darius again. This time, Darius was killed by his own men as he fled.

WORLD EMPIRE

Alexander was a military genius and a great explorer. But he also had a grand ambition. He wanted to rule a world empire where people could live in peace with one another. From 330 to 327 bc, Alexander led his soldiers east, through Afghanistan and into Central Asia. As he travelled, he built more cities. He recruited soldiers, merchants, and scholars from many lands to settle there.

In 326 bc, Alexander turned south, into India. But by then his men were tired and weak. They were far from home in an unknown land. The soldiers rebelled and refused to go farther. Reluctantly, Alexander turned back. By 323 bc, he reached Babylon in Iraq. While there he caught a fever and died at the age of 33. His empire was divided among his generals.

How Electricity Works

2008-12-13T20:38:00.000-08:00

Watch a bolt of lightning flash across the sky. Flip a switch and light up your bedroom. Click the remote and see the TV come on. What do all of these things have in common? Electricity.

WHAT IS ELECTRICITY?

Electricity is a powerful force of nature. Electricity is everywhere in the universe. Electrical forces hold water, metals, and all other kinds of matter together. You can walk and run because electric signals go through your nerves from your brain to your muscles. The signals tell your muscles where to move.

Electricity makes many machines work. Electricity makes bulbs light up and runs motors in saws, fans, hairdryers, and other appliances. The computer you are using works because of electricity.

WHERE DOES ELECTRICITY COME FROM?

Electricity starts with atoms. Atoms are tiny bits of matter much too small for you to see. Everything in the universe is made up of atoms.

Atoms have two main parts: a center or nucleus, and electrons that orbit or go around the nucleus. Electricity comes from electrons. You cannot see electrons and you cannot see electricity. You can see what electricity does because of electric charge and electric energy.

WHAT IS ELECTRIC CHARGE?

Electric charge comes from the parts inside atoms. There are two kinds of electric charge called positive charge and negative charge. Positive charge comes from the nucleus of an atom. Negative charge comes from electrons. Atoms do not normally have any overall charge because their positive and negative charges cancel each other out. Charge comes when electrons move away from an atom.

Positive charge is just the opposite of negative charge. Positive and negative charges pull toward each other. The pull of positive and negative charges makes two kinds of electricity—static electricity and electric current.

WHAT IS STATIC ELECTRICITY?

Did you ever get a shock after walking across a carpet and touching a metal doorknob? That shock came from static electricity. Huge amounts of static electricity cause lightning.

Electrons that move away from their atoms cause static electricity. You can make static electricity by rubbing certain materials together. Run a plastic comb through your hair. Be sure your hair is clean and dry. Electrons jump from your hair to the comb. This gives the comb a negative electric charge. Your hair loses electrons. This gives your hair a positive electric charge. Hold the comb above your head and watch some of your hairs stand on end. Your hair stands on end because the positive and negative charges are pulling toward one another.

Static electricity also causes lightning. The pull of positive and negative charges between clouds and the ground creates a huge spark. The spark is actually the charges moving very quickly toward each other. Lightning can also be caused by opposite charges inside one cloud, between two clouds, or between clouds and the air.

WHAT MAKES LAMPS LIGHT UP?
Electric current makes lamps and all other electric devices work. Electric current is actually electrons moving in a big loop.

Something must give the electrons a push to get them moving. Batteries can start electrons flowing. Batteries are a source of electric energy. A battery, two wires, and a light bulb can make an electric circuit. The current starts flowing from the battery through a wire to the light bulb. The other wire carries the electric current back to the battery. If you cut the wire, the electric current stops. Switches on an electric circuit turn the current on and off. This is how a wall switch works to turn lights on and off in your home.

The electric energy in your home does not come from batteries. You plug appliances into electric outlets in your walls. The electric energy in the outlets comes from electric power plants.

HOW DO POWER PLANTS WORK?

Huge electric power plants generate or make electricity. Steam or falling water in dams make big machines called turbines turn. The turbine drives another machine called an electric generator. The generator makes electricity.

Long power lines carry electricity from power plants to your home. Wires inside your home bring the electric energy to light bulbs, TVs, microwaves, and your computer.

WHO DISCOVERED ELECTRICITY?

For thousands of years people knew that a material called amber mysteriously pulled on some materials. The ancient Greeks called amber elektron. Scientists in Europe in the 1600s and early 1700s called the materials that amber attracted electrics.

Benjamin Franklin, an American printer, patriot, and inventor, experimented with electricity. He thought lightning and electricity were the same thing. He did a dangerous experiment in the mid-1700s to find out. Franklin flew a kite during a thunderstorm. He attached a metal key to the kite string. An electric charge ran down the wet kite string to the key. The charge made a spark when it hit the key. This showed Franklin that lightning was electricity. He was lucky he was not killed.

Many other scientists have experimented with electricity since Benjamin Franklin. They learned how to make electricity with batteries. They found that electricity would go through wires. An American inventor named Thomas Alva Edison invented many things that use electricity, including the electric light bulb.

Viking Ships

2008-12-13T20:29:00.000-08:00

People ran and hid when they saw Viking ships coming. “From the fury of the Northmen, good Lord deliver us!” they prayed. The Vikings were daring, skillful sailors and frightening warriors. For 300 years, from ad 800 to 1100, they terrorized much of northern Europe.

HARSH HOMELAND

The Vikings came from Scandinavia, an area in northern Europe that now includes the countries of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. The climate there is harsh, with bitter winters and short summers. Viking families struggled to survive. They grew oats and barley during the short growing season. They also hunted deer, bear, and wolves in the woods and caught fish, seals, and whales from the ocean.

RAIDERS AND SETTLERS

Viking warriors sailed in fast, sleek drakkar (dragon ships). They had a single sail but the warriors also rowed them with oars.

The Vikings sailed south to attack villages and churches around the coasts of Europe. They seized valuables and kidnapped men, women, and children to sell as slaves. The Vikings demanded danegeld (money for protection) from towns and threatened to attack again if they weren’t paid. Boatloads of Vikings landed in Scotland, Ireland, England, and France. They killed local rulers and set up their own kingdoms. Vikings also took control of parts of Russia and the Ukraine.

Brave Viking adventurers headed west across the Atlantic to settle in Iceland and Greenland. About ad 1000, they became the first Europeans to land in North America. They called the new land Vinland and built a settlement there, but the settlement did not survive.

SKILLED AND CIVILIZED

Wherever they traveled, the Vikings brought violence. But they also brought their own rich culture. They were expert craftspeople, carving wood, stone, bone, and antlers into useful everyday objects. They forged sharp iron axes, swords, and spears. They made the best ships in Europe, and the best jewelry. They were also shrewd traders. They traveled long distances to sell amber, furs, and slaves in such cities as Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) and Baghdad (in Iraq).

Viking people were proud of their highly developed society. They held community meetings, called things, to punish criminals and make laws. They set up carved memorial stones to honor respected leaders. Viking poets memorized stories and histories of brave deeds.

Viking traditions survive throughout northern Europe, and Viking tales of gods, heroes, and monsters still inspire stirring works of art.

What is the Diamond?

2008-12-13T20:05:00.000-08:00

They can cut metal. They can cut glass. They are billions of years old and form deep within Earth. Some are so rare and beautiful that people will pay a fortune to get one! They are diamonds.

WHAT ARE DIAMONDS?

Diamonds are made of carbon, a chemical element. That’s the same stuff that’s in the tip of a pencil. But isn’t carbon soft, not hard?

Pencil carbon is so soft that it rubs off on paper. But diamond carbon is so hard it can cut almost anything. In fact, diamonds are the hardest things in nature. What makes the difference? The atoms inside a diamond have a special crystal shape. This makes them very hard.

Some diamonds can sparkle brilliantly. Such diamonds are rare. They are precious and valuable, and people wear them as jewelry. But most diamonds are small and contain flaws. These are worth much less.

HOW DO DIAMONDS FORM?

Big diamonds form deep under the ground. The heat and pressure at great depths melts carbon-rich rocks. Diamonds form out of this molten (melted) rock. The diamonds are later brought to Earth’s surface by currents of molten rock. The entire process can take billions of years!

Smaller diamonds can form closer to Earth’s surface. Movements of the planet’s crust lift these stones up from the depths.

WHAT CAN DIAMONDS DO?

You can scratch or cut just about anything with a diamond—except another diamond. On a scale of hardness from 1 to 10 with 10 as the hardest, diamonds are a 10.

Because they are so hard, diamonds are great for drills, saws, and other cutting tools. That makes them very useful in mining and manufacturing.

SYNTHETIC AND IMITATION DIAMONDS

Are there any shortcuts to making diamonds? Actually, there are. People have learned how to make artificial diamonds and other gems. Diamonds made by people are called synthetic diamonds.

Synthetic diamonds look and act like the real thing. They’re as hard as natural ones. In fact, most diamonds used for industrial purposes are synthetic.

Imitation diamonds aren’t diamonds at all. They’re usually made from inexpensive materials that sparkle brightly, such as quartz or glass. But they aren’t as hard as natural or synthetic diamonds. Imitation diamonds are used mostly in jewelry.

WHY ARE DIAMONDS CUT?

Diamonds found in the ground are rough. They don’t shine like the gems in jewelry stores. They look greasy or dirty. So how do you make diamonds really sparkle? You cut them.

Cutting a diamond gives the stone edges that bring out the shine. Diamond cutters trim away flaws such as cracks or cloudy spots.

It takes careful planning to cut a diamond. The goal is to make the diamond as large and as valuable as possible. Even so, a cutter slices away about half of a diamond’s original size. After polishing, the cut diamond is ready to sell.

WHAT MAKES DIAMONDS WORTH SO MUCH?

Diamonds are judged by the “4 Cs.” These are color, clarity, carat weight, and cut.

Color: When diamonds form, small amounts of minerals get inside them. This changes their color. Colorless stones are very desirable. Yellowish or brownish ones are not.

Clarity: Can you see flaws in the diamond? A diamond with great clarity has no visible flaws. The clearer a stone is, the greater its value.

Carat weight: The heavier a diamond is, the better. Because large, heavy diamonds are less common, they are more valuable. A diamond that weighs 2 carats or more is usually considered large.

Cut: Diamond cutters decide on the shape and proportion of a stone. An attractive cut makes a diamond more desirable.

HOW BIG CAN DIAMONDS GET?

The largest natural diamond ever found is the famous Cullinan diamond. It was discovered in South Africa in 1905. The Cullinan tipped the scales at an amazing 3,106 carats!

What do you do with a diamond that big? The Cullinan was cut into 105 different gems. The largest of these is called the Star of Africa. It is the largest cut diamond in the world. Today, the Star of Africa sits on the end of the British royal scepter.

What Air Is

2008-12-10T18:45:00.001-08:00

Take a really deep breath. Feel how your chest gets bigger and bigger. Your chest gets bigger because your lungs are filling up with air. You cannot see air, but air is all around you. You can feel it when the wind blows.

Earth’s atmosphere is made of air. An atmosphere is made up of the gases that surround a planet.

WHAT IS AIR?

Air is a mixture of several different gases. The main gases in air are nitrogen, oxygen, and argon. Air also contains smaller amounts of hydrogen, carbon dioxide, water vapor, helium, and other gases. Oxygen is the most important gas for animals. Animals must breathe oxygen in order to live.

Carbon dioxide is the most important gas for plants. Plants use carbon dioxide and sunlight to make food. Plants give off oxygen. Animals turn the oxygen back into carbon dioxide when they breathe.

TAKING AIR WITH YOU

You can go to places where there is no air. There is no air underwater, but you can dive underwater. You can stay underwater a short time just by holding your breath. Air tanks let you stay underwater for a long time. Scuba divers wear tanks on their backs. The tanks are filled with gases that make up air. The divers breathe the gases through hoses.

There is less and less air the higher up you go. People gasp for breath at the tops of tall mountains. Airplanes must carry air. Once the airplane gets up high, air is pumped into the cabin where passengers sit. Astronauts have to take all the air they need with them—there’s no air in space!

Marco Polo

2008-12-10T00:26:00.000-08:00

They called him “the man with a million stories.” People flocked to Marco Polo’s home to hear him tell exciting tales about his travels in distant lands.

Marco Polo won fame for his journeys across Asia. He wrote a book about his travels that became one of the most famous travel guides in history.

EARLY LIFE

Marco Polo was born in 1254 to a family of merchants. His home was Venice, Italy. Venetian merchants bought and sold valuable Chinese goods, including precious silk cloth. Such goods were brought to Europe along an ancient route known as the Silk Road. The merchants also used the route to travel east on trading missions.

Marco’s mother died when he was a young boy. His family taught him to be a merchant. He learned how to read, write, calculate, and use foreign money.

In 1269, Marco’s father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, returned to Venice after visiting China. In China, they had met the Mongol conqueror Kublai Khan. The khan invited the Polos to return. He asked them to bring Christian scholars to explain the Christian religion to him.

TRIP TO CHINA

In 1271, Niccolò and Maffeo set out for China again. Marco, then 17 years old, joined his father and uncle for the trip. Two priests also traveled with the Polos. But the route was dangerous, and the priests soon turned back.

It took the Polos four difficult years to reach China. The journey led across deserts and high mountains. They passed through wild countryside where bandits lurked, ready to rob and kill. They braved heat and cold, floods, deep snowdrifts, and blinding sandstorms. At last they reached the summer palace of Kublai Khan at Shangdu.

The khan welcomed the Polos warmly. He offered Marco a job. Marco accepted, and the Polos lived in China for the next 17 years. Marco traveled on many special missions across the khan’s kingdom and to distant lands. When Marco returned from his missions, he told the khan vivid stories about the people and lands he visited.

Over time, the Polos worried that Kublai Khan would not allow them to leave. Several times they had asked the khan for permission to return to Europe. But the khan enjoyed his visitors so much that he would not grant their wish. Finally, the khan changed his mind.

RETURN TO VENICE

In 1292, Kublai Khan asked Marco to escort a Mongol princess to Persia. The Polos traveled by ship from China to the Persian Gulf. Then the Polos headed for Venice, finally reaching home in 1295. Marco had been away so long that nobody recognized him!

We know about Marco’s travels because, in 1298, he became a prisoner of war. He shared his cell with a writer named Rustichello, who helped Marco turn his stories into a book. Rustichello added some details of his own. But much of Marco’s book seems to be true!

Marco Polo returned to Venice after his release from prison. He died in 1324. But his book remained popular for centuries. Merchants, mapmakers, and explorers all looked to the book for information about Asian lands. Even the navigator Christopher Columbus owned a copy!

Moon

2008-12-10T00:13:00.000-08:00

Did you ever look at the Moon and think you could see a face? Sometimes dark spots on the Moon look like eyes, a nose, and a mouth. People used to talk about “the man in the Moon.” They would joke about the Moon being made of cheese with holes in it.

The Moon is the second brightest thing in our sky, after the Sun. The Moon doesn’t make its own light. Light rays from the Sun bounce off it and make it shine. The Moon is closer to Earth than any other body in our solar system.

WHAT’S ON THE MOON?

In the 1600s, the famous Italian scientist Galileo was the first person to look at the Moon through a telescope. He saw dark spots that he thought were oceans. He called them maria, the Latin word for “seas.” Galileo thought the light areas were large landmasses called continents.

Today, we know a lot more about the Moon. We know that nothing lives on the Moon, and there are no oceans. The maria are dry, flat plains covered with rocks. The Moon is the only place in space that human beings have visited.

TOUCHING THE MOON

The first astronauts landed on the Moon in 1969. They traveled in a United States spacecraft named Apollo 11. The astronauts set up experiments on the Moon and brought some moon rocks back to Earth. Later, five more Apollo missions explored different parts of the Moon. The astronauts on these missions brought back more rocks and soil.

Scientists learned many things about the Moon from the Apollo space missions. They also learned from other spacecraft that orbited (went around) the Moon. Some of these spacecraft sent robot landers down to the surface of the Moon.

SPACE ROCKS AND CRATERS

The dry, gray Moon might seem like a boring place now. But you should have seen it several billion years ago.

Many times over the past two or three billion years, chunks of rock and ice have come whizzing toward the Moon. The space rocks and ice are asteroids and comets. They slam into the Moon’s surface. The biggest ones came just after Earth and the other planets were formed. When they hit the Moon, these large objects threw up tons of rock and dust. There are billions of big and small pits on the Moon made by the space rocks. These pits are called craters.

ANCIENT VOLCANOES

If you went to the Moon, you’d see the dark-colored maria. Scientists think the dark gray rock is lava (melted rock). They believe that billions of years ago, red-hot rock gushed up from volcanoes on the Moon. The lava flowed over the Moon’s surface. It filled in low places, including some of the big craters. Then the lava cooled to make the Moon’s gray rocks.

The lava also left round hills on the Moon called domes and carved grooves called rilles.

ROUGH HIGHLANDS

There are rough and mountainous places all over the Moon. Scientists call these places highlands.

There are highlands on the far side of the Moon but almost no maria. Only one side of the Moon faces Earth, so you can never see the far side of the Moon. Scientists learned what the far side looks like from pictures taken by orbiting spacecraft.

HOT DAYS AND COLD NIGHTS

The astronauts who walked on the Moon had to wear big space suits. The space suits provided air for the astronauts to breathe, because there is no air on the Moon. The suits also kept the astronauts cool during hot Moon days and warm during cold Moon nights.

With no atmosphere to protect it, Moon temperatures can be very high and very low. It can be 261° Fahrenheit (127° Celsius) at noon during a Moon day—hotter than boiling water! It can be as cold as -279° Fahrenheit (-173° Celsius) on a Moon night. Days and nights on the Moon each last about two weeks.

Days and nights are long because the Moon turns very slowly. It takes the Moon about 27 days to make one turn. Earth turns once every 24 hours.

ICE ON THE MOON?

There is no water on the Moon, but scientists think that there may be ice. Two spacecraft in the 1990s saw signs of the ice. If there is ice on the Moon, it could help future explorers stay there longer.

The signs of ice were found in deep craters at the north and south poles of the Moon. Because these craters are always in shadow, it stays very cold there—about -364° Fahrenheit (-220° Celsius).

THE MOON FROM EARTH

The Moon always seems to change shape. Sometimes it looks like a round ball in the sky. Sometimes it is a thin sliver. But the Moon does not really change shape. What happens to it?

The Moon reflects light from the Sun. How you see the reflected sunlight depends on where the Moon is. The Moon orbits (goes around) Earth. Sometimes it is between the Sun and Earth, and you can’t see any reflected sunlight. This is called the new moon.

Sometimes Earth is between the Moon and the Sun. You can see all of the reflected sunlight. The Moon looks round. This is called a full moon.

The rest of the time, you see only part of the reflected sunlight from the Moon. The reflected sunlight looks like slivers of Moon. It takes about 27 days to go from a new moon to a full moon and back to a new moon again.

WHERE THE MOON CAME FROM

No one knows for sure how the Moon was formed. By testing moon rocks, scientists have learned that the Moon is about 4.6 billion years old. This is the same age as the solar system.

Scientists think that at that time something as big as a planet crashed into Earth. The collision blasted huge pieces of Earth into space. Some of the pieces came together to make the Moon.

Scientists continue to study moon rocks for clues. There is still much to learn about the Moon.

World War II

2008-12-08T20:48:00.000-08:00

My Phillosophy

2008-12-08T19:51:00.000-08:00

Hi all Viewers,

I am Mr. Kith Mean, 31 years old, a lecturer of Business & Management at privat university in Cambodia and a Marketing Research Executive for a private company.

The purpose of making this blog is to share the universal knowledge to the world. In fact, this scientific knowledge was composed by the scientists, and I just only compile it for the easy reading.

Hopefully, you will enjoy reading the scientific articles and watching the scientific movies because they are about the natural phenominon, and you always keep following them for the broadly knowledgable purpose.

Anyway, I will take my best effort to update the information in the blog for you to make you more enjoyable, informative, and knowledgable.

Regards

Planet Collision

2008-12-08T19:42:00.000-08:00

Captain James Cook

2008-12-08T19:26:00.000-08:00

Captain James Cook was one of the world’s greatest explorers. He sailed around the world twice. He was the first European to reach Hawaii and New Zealand, and he sailed farther south than any European had ever gone.

People marvelled over the places, people, and things Cook described. Before Cook, nobody in Europe knew about penguins or kangaroos!

EARLY LIFE

Cook was born in 1728 on a farm in northern England. At the age of 18, he went to work for a shipping company. In 1755, Cook joined the British Royal Navy. His ship was sent to Canada, to make maps of land that Britain had conquered from France.

FIRST VOYAGE TO THE PACIFIC

In 1768, Cook sailed to the South Pacific Ocean, with artists and scientists. Officially, their task was to observe the planet Venus. But Britain also hoped that Cook would find a mysterious “Southern Continent” that some sailors claimed to have seen. Cook wanted to take control of it for the British king.

Cook reached New Zealand in 1770. No other European had been there. He sailed around New Zealand and then explored eastern Australia.

A SCIENTIFIC EXPLORER

Cook drew many detailed maps and kept careful records of all he had seen on his voyage. He described native peoples of the South Pacific and their cultures. His artists sketched wildlife, and his scientists collected unusual plants and animals to take back.

Cook’s careful work caused a sensation when he arrived home in Britain in 1771. No other expedition had gathered so much information, so thoroughly and scientifically.

Cook also won fame for keeping his sailors healthy. He wondered if a lack of fresh fruits and vegetables caused scurvy, a fatal disease common among sailors on long voyages. He stocked his ship with sauerkraut (pickled cabbage) and forced his crew to eat it. During stops at port, he ordered his crew to eat fresh foods. As a result, few of his sailors became seriously ill.

SECOND VOYAGE TO THE PACIFIC

From 1772 to 1775, Cook made a second voyage to the South Pacific Ocean. This time, he sailed farther south than anyone before him. He saw penguins and icebergs. He sailed all the way around Antarctica. But he found no land where people might live.

FINAL VOYAGE

In 1776, Cook set off on a third voyage. This time, Cook wanted to look for the Northwest Passage. This was a possible sea route north of Canada linking Europe and Asia. Before sailing north, he explored several islands in the Pacific. He landed in Hawaii in 1778, becoming the first European to do so.

From Hawaii, Cook sailed to North America. He was the first European to set foot on Vancouver Island off the coast of British Columbia. Throughout 1778 he explored the northwest coast of North America, but he failed to find the Northwest Passage. In 1779, Cook returned to Hawaii, where he was killed in a quarrel with natives over a stolen boat.

How Gold Exists

2008-12-08T18:44:00.000-08:00

Bacteria

2008-12-08T18:18:00.000-08:00

Automobiles

2008-12-08T18:10:00.000-08:00

People in the 1800s didn’t know what to think about a new invention called the automobile. No one was sure it would catch on. In those days, people often traveled in carriages pulled by horses. So when the first automobiles appeared, people nicknamed them “horseless carriages.”

The first automobiles looked a lot like horse carriages. That was the style people knew. But the automobile soon took on a look that was all its own. The modern automobile has a hood and fenders. It has a roof, sides, and four wheels. It has seats where the driver and passengers sit. Modern automobiles are commonly called cars or autos.

Few machines are as important as cars. You can ride to school in one. Adults can drive one to work. You can drive in a car to shopping malls. You can take long vacations traveling in an automobile.

TYPES OF CARS

The typical passenger car can carry up to six people. Larger vehicles called minivans are like big cars. They can usually carry up to eight people. Pickups or trucks are built to carry cargo.

Sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) are made for driving in all types of conditions, including mud or snow. Sports cars are built for power and good road handling. Many sports cars have room for just two passengers.

Racing cars are specially designed to compete on tracks and courses. Most racing cars are built to be lightweight and very fast. Because they are made for racing, they usually are not suited for driving on public streets.

WHAT MAKES CARS GO?

A car gets power from its engine. Most auto engines burn gasoline. Gasoline goes through fuel lines from a gas tank to the engine.

When it burns fuel, the engine makes exhaust gases. These gases go out through pipes called the exhaust system.

Moving parts hooked up to the engine are called the drivetrain. The drivetrain carries mechanical energy from the engine to the wheels. The turning wheels make an automobile go.

Springs and shock absorbers give passengers a smoother ride on bumpy roads. Electrical parts make the headlights, turn signals, horn, radio, and windshield wipers work. The electrical parts also help start the car. Brake parts rub against the wheels to slow the car down. Seat belts and air bags help protect you in an accident.

HOW DO YOU DRIVE A CAR?

People don’t just jump into cars and start driving. First, they must get their learner’s permit. Local auto bureaus can tell you how. Driver-education classes teach people how to drive a car. Students learn how a car works and the rules of safe driving.

To start a car, you sit in the driver’s seat. Turning a key in the ignition starts the engine. Moving the car’s gearshift connects the engine to the drivetrain. Pressing the gas pedal on the floor sends fuel to the engine. The harder you press, the faster the car goes.

To make the car turn left or right, you turn the steering wheel in the direction you want to go. To make the car move forward or backward, you use the gearshift.

What about stopping? Press your foot down on the brake pedal. The brakes will press against the wheels, making them slow down and then stop turning.

WHEN WERE THE FIRST CARS MADE?

The first cars were built in the 1700s. They were powered by steam engines. In England, steam-powered cars weren’t allowed on the roads. They were run like trains on private railroad tracks!

Auto racing became popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Some early racing cars had steam engines. These included the American-made Stanley Steamer. In 1906, a Stanley Steamer hit a speed of more than 121 miles per hour (195 kilometers per hour), setting a new land speed record.

Other cars made at the time ran on electricity from batteries. People liked them because they were quiet and less likely to scare horses and people. Still other cars had gasoline engines. The first gasoline-powered cars were loud, slow, and unreliable. But over time, the cars were improved, and more people wanted to drive them.

HENRY FORD INVENTS THE ASSEMBLY LINE

In the United States, a businessman named Henry Ford started the Ford Motor Company in 1903. His company made two famous kinds of cars: the Model A and the Model T.

Ford invented the factory assembly line for making cars. Workers in one place along the assembly line worked on just one part of the car. Other workers, in another area of the assembly line, worked on another part of the car.

Automobiles made this way were not very expensive. Ordinary people could afford them. The Model T became one of the biggest-selling automobiles of all time. Henry Ford sold more than 15 million Model T cars before his company stopped making them in 1927.

MODERN CARS

Modern cars are much better than earlier models. They are easier to drive and have advanced safety features such as air bags. Engines are more efficient and powerful. Cars are quieter and more comfortable inside.

Today, cars are more popular than ever. They are the main form of transportation for many people in the United States and Canada. Many people own more than one car.

WHAT ABOUT AIR POLLUTION?

The exhaust gases that come from burning gasoline can pollute the air. These gases contain chemicals that cause a smoky pollution called smog. The worst smog forms in cities. Exhaust gases also contain a gas called carbon dioxide. Scientists think carbon dioxide pollution is making Earth’s climate warmer.

Scientists and engineers are working to reduce pollution from cars. They have made cars that burn less gasoline. They have designed exhaust systems that give off less pollution. They have also developed efficient hybrid cars.

HYBRID CARS

Many people believe hybrid cars could be a big help in reducing pollution. Hybrid cars are automobiles that run partly on gasoline and partly on some other fuel. Most hybrid cars use electricity from batteries. Scientists are also experimenting with hybrids that run on energy from sunlight and other sources.

Nuclear Weapons

2008-12-07T20:19:00.001-08:00

First you see a blinding flash of light, brighter than the Sun. Moments later, a huge ball of fire appears, brilliant orange. The fireball begins to rise into the sky. Soon it widens at the top and is shaped like a mushroom. A thundering sound and blast of heat reach you 15 miles (24 kilometers) away. You are seeing the explosion of the world’s first nuclear weapon, on July 16, 1945, in a New Mexico desert.

WHY DO WE HAVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS?
Nuclear weapons are the most destructive weapons ever made. Building a nuclear weapon was a top-secret project during World War II. Scientists had been working on this weapon—the atomic bomb—for three years by 1945. Almost nobody else, except the president of the United States, knew about this work. The secret effort to build a nuclear weapon was called the Manhattan Project. By 1942, when the Manhattan Project began, Germany had conquered much of Europe and was out to conquer the rest. The United States had just joined the war. The United States and its allies were afraid that Germany would develop an atomic bomb first. Then Germany would win the war. The United States and its allies had to beat Germany to the bomb. Germany had already surrendered by the time the atomic bomb was ready. But Japan was still fighting the war. To end the war quickly, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. The bombs killed at least 100,000 people and destroyed the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrendered soon afterward. The nuclear age had begun.

WHY WAS THERE A NUCLEAR ARMS RACE?
The nuclear arms race was a buildup of nuclear weapons after World War II. When the war ended, scientists knew that it was possible to build nuclear bombs far more powerful and destructive than the first atomic bomb. Some people, including scientists, thought it was wrong to build these weapons of mass destruction. Others feared that the Soviet Union would make them first. By the late 1940s, the Cold War pitted the United States and its allies against the Soviet Union and its allies. Each side feared an attack from the other side, though their armies did not actually fight during the Cold War. Everyone knew that a war using nuclear weapons would be a terrible disaster. A nuclear war would kill millions of people and possibly end life on Earth. Each side believed that having a large supply of nuclear weapons would frighten the other side and stop it from starting a nuclear war. If one side attacked, the other side would strike back with even more nuclear bombs. And so began a race to have more nuclear weapons than the other side. Luckily, no nuclear attacks happened after World War II.

HOW DO NUCLEAR WEAPONS WORK?
A nuclear weapon gets its name and its explosive power from the nucleus (core) of an atom. Atoms are tiny building blocks of matter much too small to see. An atomic bomb works by fissioning (splitting) the nuclei of atoms of the metals uranium or plutonium. It is sometimes called a fission weapon. A hydrogen bomb works by fusing (joining together) the nuclei of atoms of the gas hydrogen. Atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs are the two main kinds of nuclear weapons. The hydrogen bomb is far more powerful and destructive than the atomic bomb. The hydrogen bomb is like a tiny star. It works by the same process—the fusion of hydrogen atoms—that makes the Sun and other stars shine. A nuclear weapon destroys by the power and heat of its blast. The atomic bomb dropped on Japan flattened buildings within 3 miles (5 kilometers) of the blast. Heat from the bomb caused fires and burned everything near the place it exploded. People’s skin was burned as far as 11 miles (18 kilometers) from the blast site. A nuclear weapon also releases harmful radiation. People near the blast can die of radiation sickness even if the bomb doesn’t kill them. People farther from the blast may develop cancer and other illnesses from radiation months and years after the bomb explodes.

THE FUTURE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS
No one has used a nuclear weapon in war since the United States dropped atomic bombs on Japan in 1945. For some years, countries tested their bombs underground or in remote places. However, test-ban treaties have halted the testing of nuclear weapons. The Cold War ended in the 1990s. It left the United States and Soviet Union with huge numbers of nuclear weapons. Other countries also have built nuclear weapons. The large number of nuclear weapons has produced new fears. What if a terrorist or an unstable government gets hold of a nuclear weapon? This possibility continues to frighten people.

Penguine Life

2008-12-07T18:51:00.000-08:00

How Antactica Affects the Globe

2008-12-07T18:38:00.000-08:00

How Earth Works

2008-12-07T18:29:00.000-08:00

Speech on Attack by Soviet Union on US

2008-12-07T18:22:00.000-08:00

How Camera Works

2008-12-07T17:58:00.000-08:00

Can you imagine a world without cameras? There would be no photographs in newspapers, books, and magazines, or even on your computer. There would be no school pictures, no snapshots of your summer vacation, no television, and no movies.

It’s hard to imagine, but that’s what the world was like until the mid-1800s. That’s when the first cameras were made.

HOW DO CAMERAS WORK?

A basic camera works a lot like your eyes. Try this: First, close your eyes. Now quickly open and shut them. What did you see? You saw an image, or “picture,” from your surroundings.

A camera does the same thing, but it has a shutter instead of eyelids. When you take a picture, the shutter quickly opens and shuts. While the shutter is open, the camera “sees” an image, much like your eyes. The camera captures this picture.

A film camera catches the picture using chemicals on film. A digital camera captures the image electronically and stores it in memory or on a computer disk. The first popular photographs, called daguerreotypes, were captured on copper plates in the 1840s. Later, pictures were recorded on glass plates. Flexible film, much like we still use today, replaced glass plates in the late 1800s.

Like your eyes, a camera has a lens. A lens is a piece of glass shaped to focus light so the picture will be clear. Some cameras even have automatic focus, just like healthy eyes. If a camera lens is out of focus, the picture will be blurry.

HOW CAMERAS CHANGED THE WORLD

The camera changed the world. Before the camera was invented, people created pictures by painting or drawing. That took time and could be inaccurate.

Around 1840, that all changed. The camera allowed people to keep a visual record of their lives and important events. Suddenly, people could see pictures of faraway places. The camera brought the whole world into people’s homes. Photographs began to influence people’s opinions about the world.

Cameras brought big changes to family life as well. Before the camera, only wealthy people could afford to pay painters to make portraits. Suddenly, ordinary people could afford to have snapshots of themselves and their children or grandchildren.

Later, the motion-picture camera was invented. Thanks to that, we have television and movies.

CAMERAS EVERYWHERE

Today, many people have cameras. Most people use point-and-shoot cameras. A point-and-shoot camera automatically focuses the lens and controls how quickly the shutter opens and closes.

Many banks, stores, and schools use security cameras to watch what people are doing. Cameras on highways show traffic patterns. There are even tiny cameras on some computers and cell phones.

Cameras are important tools for scientists. Doctors use tiny cameras to look inside the human body. Cameras on satellites orbit Earth, taking pictures of weather patterns. Cameras bring us pictures from the deepest oceans, the insides of volcanoes, and even of distant galaxies in space! Cameras are just about everywhere.

Adolf Hitler

2008-12-07T17:34:00.000-08:00

Adolf Hitler was a struggling young artist who became a feared dictator. He led his country into a bloody war that killed millions of people.

Hitler rose to power in Germany in the 1930s. He eventually started World War II (1939-1945), a conflict that left Europe in ruins.

HITLER’S CHILDHOOD

Adolf Hitler was born in 1889. He came from a well-to-do family in Austria-Hungary. His father was an important government worker. After his father died, Hitler quit school in the ninth grade. He decided to become an artist but had trouble finding work.

WORLD WAR I

Hilter volunteered for the German army during World War I (1914-1918) and served the whole war. Germany lost the war, and the country suffered terribly. Many Germans became jobless and poor. The people wanted someone to lead them back to glory again. Hitler wanted to be that person.

RISE TO POWER

After the war, Hitler joined the National German Socialists Workers’ Party. Many people called it the Nazi Party, for short. Hitler was an excellent public speaker. He appealed to German pride by constantly speaking about their racial superiority. This was the idea that one type of people are naturally better than others. He blamed other people, especially Jews, for Germany’s problems. His speeches attracted thousands of people who thought Hitler could be a great leader. The Nazi Party grew rapidly.

Hitler ran for political office in Germany and was elected in 1930. Three years later, in January 1933, Hitler became Germany’s chancellor, which was similar to a president. He immediately passed laws giving himself total power. Soon, Hitler had become a dictator. He controlled Germany’s government completely.

Hitler passed laws to get rid of people he did not like. They included his political enemies and Germans who were disabled or Jewish. Many of these people were sent to large camps, where they were held prisoner. Huge numbers of people were killed.

WORLD WAR II

Hitler also began rebuilding Germany’s military. He wanted a powerful army so he could conquer other countries, and eventually take over the world. He started by declaring Germany's union with the neighboring country of Austria. Then he ordered German troops to occupy all of Czechoslovakia. When Hitler’s army invaded Poland in 1939, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany. World War II had begun.

Germany’s mighty army soon captured France and began bombing England. In 1941, Hitler’s armies also invaded the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), often called Russia. This turned out to be a big mistake because the German army had trouble fighting in several countries at once.

THE HOLOCAUST

Hitler’s soldiers forced tens of thousands of Jews in Poland into small sections of the cities, known as ghettos. The Jews were not given adequate food, and many of them starved to death. Hitler’s army also sent millions of Jews from Germany and other countries to concentration camps. There, many were killed. The deaths of millions of Jews under Hitler is known as the Holocaust. About one-third of the world’s 18 million Jews died in the Holocaust, one of history’s greatest tragedies.

HITLER’S SUICIDE

The United States entered World War II in December 1941. Slowly, Germany began to lose the war. America and its allies launched the D-Day invasion of western Europe on June 6, 1944. They fought their way through France and into Germany in 1945. Facing defeat, Hitler killed himself. His reign of terror was finally over.

Christopher Columbus

2008-12-07T17:18:00.000-08:00

Christopher Columbus tried to take a shortcut, and ended up somewhere he never intended to go. He discovered two continents that people in Europe didn’t even know existed. By crossing the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, Columbus opened contacts between lands and peoples that were unknown to each other.

Columbus’s voyage to the Americas opened an exciting period in history. Animals, plants, and new ideas were exchanged between continents. But it also caused terrible tragedy. Millions of Native Americans died as Europeans rushed to take land and riches for themselves.

MASTER SAILOR

Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 in Genoa, Italy. He became a sailor at the age of 14. In 1476, he was shipwrecked off the coast of Portugal. Portugal was Europe’s top seafaring nation at that time. Columbus settled there.

Columbus studied geography and navigation, the science of figuring out where things are on Earth’s surface. He became a master sailor. He met explorers who had sailed along the coast of Africa seeking an eastward sea route to the rich lands of Asia. Europeans called these lands “the Indies.” Europeans wanted to bring gold and other treasures from the Indies back to Europe.

DARING DREAM

Columbus began to think about a wonderful adventure, which he called the “Enterprise of the Indies.” He dreamed of reaching the Indies by sailing west! This was not a new idea, but no one had ever managed to make the voyage. Columbus thought the trip to the Indies west across the ocean would be much shorter than sailing around Africa.

Columbus had high hopes, but no money. Who would pay for his expedition? He asked the king of Portugal, but the king refused. Columbus didn’t give up. He went to the rulers of Portugal’s neighbor, Spain. At first they also refused. Eventually, however, the Spanish king and queen agreed to provide three small ships—the Pinta, the Niña, and the Santa María. They also paid for crews and supplies for the voyage.

HISTORIC VOYAGE

Columbus sailed from Palos, Spain, on August 3, 1492. He stopped at the Canary Islands southwest of Spain, then headed west into unknown seas. He had no idea what lay ahead, but he had faith in his sailing skills and his bold idea. A swift current carried his ships along, and on October 12, the crew sighted the islands of the Bahamas. Columbus thought he had reached Asia. He called the islands the Indies.

Columbus was greeted by the Arawak people who lived on the islands. They offered food, but had only a little gold. Columbus was disappointed not to find Asian treasures, but still felt sure he had reached Japan in Asia. He spent two months exploring, then headed home. One of his ships sank in a storm, but back in Spain he was hailed as a hero. The king and queen offered rich rewards and made him “Admiral of the Ocean Seas.”

THREE FAILURES

Columbus made three more voyages to America. None went well. He was a skillful sailor, but his greed and stubbornness made him a bad leader and created enemies.

During his second voyage (1493-1496), Columbus claimed land for Spanish settlements. He fought against Caribbean peoples who lived on the land he claimed and forced them to work as slaves.

On the third voyage (1498-1500), Columbus quarreled with Spanish settlers so violently that he was sent back to Europe as a prisoner in chains.

On his fourth and final voyage (1502-1504), Columbus was marooned on an island for more than a year. He had to be rescued. He was very ill by the time he returned home to Spain.

AN EXTRAORDINARY EXPLORER

Columbus died in 1506. He quarreled with the king and queen right up until his death. He wanted authority over Spanish colonies and a larger share of the riches that were brought back from America. It was a sad end to an extraordinary career that still shapes our lives today. When Columbus crossed the Atlantic, he changed the world forever.

World Wars

2008-12-07T02:00:00.000-08:00

What Earth

2008-12-07T01:45:00.000-08:00

Pretend you are an alien explorer from outer space looking for life on other planets. Your spaceship flies into a group of stars that looks like a gigantic whirlpool. The whirlpool is the Milky Way Galaxy.

You head for a star with nine planets in one arm of the Milky Way. The third planet from the star is a beautiful blue, white, and green ball. This planet looks like it has life. The name of this planet is Earth.

HOW DOES EARTH MOVE IN SPACE?

Earth spins like a top on its axis. Earth’s axis is an imaginary line that goes through Earth from the North Pole to the South Pole. Earth’s axis is slightly tipped, like a spinning top leaning to one side.

Earth travels around the Sun at about 67,000 miles per hour (about 107,000 kilometers per hour). One year is one trip around the Sun. Earth’s path around the Sun is slightly oval-shaped. This oval shape causes Earth’s distance from the Sun to change during the year.

WHAT MAKES DAY AND NIGHT?

The Sun seems to rise in the morning, cross the sky during the day, and set at night. However, the Sun does not actually move around Earth. Earth’s turning on its axis makes it look as if the Sun is moving.

Earth makes a complete turn on its axis every 24 hours. As Earth turns, half of the planet faces the Sun, and the other half faces away. It is daytime on the half facing the Sun. It is night on the half facing away from the Sun.

WHY ARE THERE SEASONS?

Earth has seasons because of the tilt of its axis. For part of the year, the top half of Earth is tipped toward the Sun. The top half of Earth is called the Northern Hemisphere. During another part of the year, the bottom half of Earth is tipped toward the Sun. The bottom half is called the Southern Hemisphere. It is summer in the half that is tipped toward the Sun. It is winter in the half tipped away. When it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere. During spring and fall the hemispheres are tipped neither toward nor away from the Sun.

The equator is an imaginary line around Earth’s middle. The farther you are from the equator, the greater the difference in temperature between seasons. The equator never tips far from the Sun. Near the equator it is warm enough to go swimming all year long. The average temperature barely changes from month to month. In Alaska, far from the equator, the average temperature in January can be more than 60 degrees colder than it is in July.

WHY IS THERE LIFE ON EARTH?

Earth has just the right conditions for life. It is not too hot or too cold. Earth has lots of liquid water and an atmosphere (gases) that can support life.

The first kinds of life may have appeared on Earth 3.8 billion (3,800,000,000) years ago. Several times during Earth’s history, almost all life went extinct, or disappeared. Each time, some life forms survived. The survivors spread all over the planet. Dinosaurs appeared about 230 million years ago. Dinosaurs went extinct about 65 million years ago. Scientists believe that modern humans appeared about 130,000 years ago.

WHAT IS THE INSIDE OF EARTH LIKE?

Earth is made of layers. The top layer is called the crust. It is made of hard rock and soil.

More than 70 percent of Earth’s crust is covered with water. Most of the water is salt water in the ocean. Pieces of dry land called continents rise above the ocean. The part of Earth’s crust under the ocean is called the seafloor.

Under the crust is a layer of partly melted rock called the mantle. Under the mantle is Earth’s core. The core is mostly iron. The outer part of the core is liquid metal. The inside of the core is solid metal. Scientists believe that the liquid metal makes Earth a giant magnet and creates Earth’s magnetic field.

Earth’s crust is made of gigantic slabs of rock called plates that move over the mantle. Plates crash together to make mountains. They pull apart and let red-hot rock ooze up from inside Earth to make new crust.

HOW DID EARTH FORM?

Scientists think that Earth and the rest of the solar system formed from a spinning cloud of gas and dust. Gravity pulled most of the gas and dust together to form the Sun. Some leftover gas and dust formed Earth and the other planets. Scientists think that Earth and the Moon formed about 4.6 billion years ago.

Mars

2008-12-07T01:22:00.000-08:00

Safety Baloon in Cars

2008-12-07T00:53:00.000-08:00

How Volcano Works

2008-12-07T00:34:00.000-08:00

Diamonds

2008-12-06T23:56:00.000-08:00

Amelia Earhart

2008-12-06T23:43:00.000-08:00

In the 1930s, American pilot Amelia Earhart set speed and distance records for airplane flight. Today, Earhart is remembered as an adventurous pioneer during the early days of long-distance aviation.

EARLY YEARS

Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas, in 1897. She worked as a military nurse in Canada during World War I (1914-1918). In 1920, Earhart moved to California and began taking flying lessons. She bought her first airplane at the age of 24.

In 1928, two American pilots invited Earhart to join them as a passenger on a flight across the Atlantic Ocean. The trip made Earhart famous. She was the first woman in history to cross the Atlantic by air! Earhart tasted the thrill of long-distance flight, and she wanted more.

EARHART'S FLIGHT ACHIEVEMENTS

In 1932, Earhart became the first woman to fly solo (alone) across the Atlantic Ocean. She made the trip in 13 hours and 30 minutes, setting a new speed record for the flight. For her achievement, Earhart won special honors from the American and French governments.

Then, in 1935, Earhart became the first woman to fly solo over the Pacific Ocean. She took off from Honolulu, Hawaii, and landed in Oakland, California.

Earhart set another record in 1935 by flying from Mexico City, Mexico, to New York City in a record time of 14 hours and 19 minutes.

HOW DID EARHART PREPARE FOR A FLIGHT?

Earhart spent months preparing for each flight. All of her airplane’s mechanical parts were tested. She carefully calculated how much gasoline and oil she would need for a trip. She mapped out different navigational charts in case foul weather forced her off course.

WHAT WAS A FLIGHT LIKE?

Earhart wore warm clothes on her flights since the cockpit of her airplane grew cold at high altitudes. The hardest part was battling exhaustion on the long, lonely flights. Earhart admitted to being so tired in a flight’s final hours that she was “likely to see illusions of land.”

EARHART'S LAST FLIGHT

In June 1937, Earhart began what she hoped would be her greatest achievement: a flight around the world. Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, took off from Miami, Florida, flying east. On July 2, with over half of the trip behind them, their airplane left New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and headed for the Howland Islands.

But somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, Earhart’s airplane disappeared. Navy airplanes and ships searched for Earhart and Noonan, but they found no trace of their airplane. To this day, the fate of America’s golden girl of flight remains a mystery.

Asteroids

2008-12-06T20:25:00.000-08:00

Asteroids are rocks in space that never quite made it as planets. Astronomers think that our solar system began as a cloud of gas and dust. Gravity pulled parts of the cloud together to make the Sun and the nine planets. Astronomers think that the asteroids formed in that cloud but never grew large enough to be planets.

HOW BIG ARE ASTEROIDS?

There are thousands of asteroids, and they come in all sizes. The biggest asteroid ever found is called Ceres. Ceres is more than 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) wide. Astronomers have found about 200 asteroids that are more than 60 miles (100 kilometers) across. All the other asteroids are much smaller. Some are only a few feet wide.

Astronomers wonder if once there were just a few big asteroids. The big asteroids may have crashed into each other. The crashes would have broken them into smaller pieces, making all the asteroids we see today.

Some asteroids are round. Some asteroids are long and bumpy. Some asteroids even have tiny moons going around them.

WHERE ARE ASTEROIDS IN SPACE?

Asteroids go around, or orbit, the Sun just like planets. Most asteroids orbit in the asteroid belt. The asteroid belt is farther out from the Sun than Earth’s orbit. It lies between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter.

Sometimes asteroids change orbits and move out of the asteroid belt. These asteroids cross the orbits of planets as the planets go around the Sun. A few cross Earth’s orbit.

HOW DO ASTRONOMERS STUDY ASTEROIDS?

Asteroids are normally too small and far away to see with your eyes. Astronomers study asteroids with telescopes. They have also sent spacecraft for close-up looks at several asteroids. A spacecraft named Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) Shoemaker actually landed on an asteroid in 2001.

Astronomers have found that most asteroids are made mainly of stone. Some asteroids are made mostly of metals. Astronomers think that asteroids made of metal must have melted at some time in the past. The liquid metal clumped together at the center of the asteroid. Most of the rocky part later broke off from the asteroid, leaving the metal behind. What melted these metal asteroids is still a mystery.

COULD AN ASTEROID HIT EARTH?

Astronomers think that several thousand asteroids have orbits that might one day make them strike Earth. Asteroids have certainly hit Earth in the past. People have found thousands of meteorites (stones from space) that have crashed into Earth. Most meteorites are pieces of asteroids. There is a giant crater (hole in the ground) in Arizona that is more than half a mile (about a kilometer) wide! The crater was formed when a meteor crashed into Earth.

An asteroid crashing into Earth may have killed off the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Scientists have found a big meteorite crater around Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. They think the asteroid that created this crater may have killed the dinosaurs. After the asteroid crashed, a huge cloud of dust would have darkened Earth. It could have become very cold on Earth, and plants that dinosaurs ate might have died. As the plant-eating dinosaurs died from lack of food, meat-eating dinosaurs would have run out of food and died as well.

Scientists are setting up a system to warn us of asteroids coming toward Earth. If they find one they might be able to blow up the asteroid. They might be able to attach a rocket to the asteroid and push it just enough to miss Earth.