As I was pulling the hundredth weed out of my field, I stood up to rest my back. The little devils reproduced like crazy, it was only a week ago that I had completely cleared the emperor's land that he gave me. As I was resting my back, I heard a sound much like thunder, but the sky was clear, and it was to close to the ground. I looked out into the northern nomadic lands and saw a huge cavalry with giant drums. The Mongols were coming! Quickly, I dove behind a tree. The Mongols gave no sign of having heard me. Then to my own surprise, I walked out towards the oncoming army. I miraculously traveled the many ri between me and the army in less than a few minutes. "Sain uu!" I announced to their leader. The whole time I did not know what was wrong with me. I wanted to turn and flee, but I was performing incredible acts of bravery.

The Mongol chieftain, Genghis Khan, was mightily confused with my acts of boldness and courage. He rode towards me while I unwillingly shouted, "Don't hurt me Mr. Mongol! You wouldn't want to be naughty!" This only seemed to enrage him further and he built up speed while holding his sword out at my chest level. His momentum drove his sword through my chest with unstoppable force, and I expected to feel a red flash of pain before I saw the white light of another live. Instead, the sword merely passed through my chest, and I split into two identical copies. The silence on the plain was almost deafening in its emptiness. In two bodies I was able to see with two pairs of eyes. I was consciously frozen with fear, but I was also calling out to Genghis Khan. "I told you not to be naughty, Mr. Mongol!" shouted one of me. "Yeah, Santy 
Claus won't came to your... tent!" added the other.
 
Khan let out a yell that broke the silence and chopped both of my heads off. I simply reduplicated as the Mongol horde joined in, firing arrows, and horses trampling me into the earth. As they saw that I was not going anywhere, and was multiplying again and again, the horde went insane with fear. Only Genghis Khan and his highest officials stayed calm and shared strategies. I was no better than the horde. The multiple thousands of conflicting views were wrecking havoc on my mind. I had no control over what was happening to me, and there was only one possible explanation. I had been possessed by countless demons, who were used the energies involved with death to create their own individual hosts, replicants of their original: me. As fear overwhelmed my mind, the world started to slip away, until I could no longer hear anything despite my close proximity to the Mongols. Then I woke up.

I was lying underneath the tree in my field, where I must have hit my head in my wild dive for safety and obscurity. There was no time for me to reflect of my unusual, fear inflicted nightmare, for I must hide myself from the horde, which was drawing nearer. I pulled out my spade and dug a shallow hole, just big enough for me to curl up in. I quickly grabbed for my basket of weeds, and wove them into a covering for my hole. I dragged the makeshift cover over the hole just as the first Mongol horse trampled over my fields. The tree that I was behind prevented me from being trampled, and any Mongol who looked back just saw an exceptionally neat pile of weeds on the edge of a field. I jumped out of my hole as soon as the Mongols were off in the distance, and then froze. Then Mongols had left behind a sweeper, to catch anyone such as me who might has jumped out of hiding early. I quickly scampered up my tree, and dropped on his head before he could comprehend what was happening. He hit the ground with a sickening crack, but I did not have time to check for live. I stripped him of his Mongol uniform, and rode off in disguise. Luckily he was also a member of the Mongol postal service, he had on of those badges that would allow him free horses. I would have to ride fast and hard to bring the terrible news to my emperor.

In my opinion, the two most important Chinese achievements were the advances in sailing techniques, and gunpowder. The sailing techniques included new sails that could be used to sail against the wind, bigger ships, the compass, and many other things. These techniques allowed for Chinese trade to develop, along with a naval fleet ready for battle. It also allowed Chinese more contact with foreign cultures. Gunpowder was first used to power cannons, make catapults more powerful, and arrows more deadly. After a while, the Chinese invented the arquebus, an early form of gun, that kept being improved and modified. These weapons allowed the Chinese to win many battles, and stay a strong empire for many thousands of years.

Without these techniques and ideas, and many more, it is impossible to say how advanced modern technology would be today, and even if many of the important scientific discoveries wou

There are many things that I'm thankful for, but one of the main things is my friends and family. My friends and family give me people to be with, talk to, and go to for help. My family supports me with all of my activities that I do, and always makes time for me. My friends are great people to talk to and be with. I am also thankful for music. Music is one of my favorite things to do. I can play three instruments and sing officially, and many others badly. Music, whether composing, or playing, is a way to express things that we are unable to express otherwise. The strings player Suzuki once said something along the lines of "Strings are empty pieces of metal. But if you but your heart and soul into them, they will sing." Music is much more than a pastime to me and is the way I express myself, as artist express themselves in their work.

The final thing I am thankful for is my education. I have always been interested in school, and the great teachers and staff workers at all of my schools have made that possible. From my fith grade teacher introducing the factorial, to Mr. Erickson teaching inequalities and linear fuctions, to Mr. Pearson with the Pythagoran Theorum, math has been one of my main interests.

The griots of the West African empires were story-tellers who advised the king. While they told legends, they also recounted historical facts and helped the king in his decisions. Without griots, much of the knowledge about West Africa would have been forgotten, as books and historical records were much less common back then. The griots were mostly older men, who helped a potential griot learn stories and the griot's ways of thinking. One story told by many griots over and over is the story of Sundiata. The legend of Sundiata tells how the African prince overcomes his diabilities to walk and speak, along with the malicious wishes of his father's other wife. 

This story is still known today, and is recorded in many places, but when it happened, the only record was Sundiata's griot  passing along the story that miraculously survived through time, along with many other African legends and fables.

Although there are many good things about fall, the best part for me is Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving, my family and I get to go to our grandparents' house in Wonder Valley and see our great-aunts and uncles, along with my great-grandma Bettie and my second cousins. I don't get to see them that often, especially my great-aunts, uncles, and second cousins and that makes Thanksgiving a really fun time. I also enjoy the great food, and my family makes our own Thanksgiving feast at our house so we can eat all of the "leftovers." Besides Thanksgiving, the weather usually begins to cool down, and I think is finally starting too, about now. Halloween is also fun, too, and I enjoy carving pumpkins (this year I did a cannibal pumpkin) and dressing up in a costume.

One thing I don't like about fall, is that my allergies start acting up, and I have a stuffy nose for at least a month. Also, this year, the weather has been either cold or hot, and barely any in between weather that usuallly comes around this time of year. Besides allergies and the single week only of middle range weather, there is almost nothing bad about fall, which leads to my favorite season, winter. Winter is my favorite because of fireplaces, Christmas, hot chocolate, and my birthday.

The discovery of iron in the empire of Ghana changed the course of its history in more than one way. First of all, the discovery of iron allowed many farming tools to be further developed, such as plows, hoes, and many more. This meant larger surpluses of edible food for humans, and feed for livestock. WIth more food for the livestock, the amount of livestock themselves began to grow in numbers. With bigger herds and more food, the empire began to expand. Herders were able to trade their livestock for valuable salt and gold, and some of their crops as well. The trade also helped Ghana expand.

Another use for iron was for weapons. Spears and swords were made superiorly to the wood, stone, or bone ones of other tribes. Ghana began to develop a military and began to conquer its neighboring tribes of Africa.

I think that the most difficult region to live in, out of the desert, sahel, savanna  or rain forest  is the desert. Even though the desert has a lot of salt, a valuable resource at that time, there are many hardships that equalize that fact, and more left over for the desert to qualify as the hardest place to live. One reason why the desert is so hard to live in is the lack of water. Some water is transported in, through canals, and wells are dug, too, but many people still go without what is scientifically considered a normal amount of water. Some people can't afford water from canals, or don't get enough from it, and base their lives around finding enough drinking water to live. For example, some people move to where the rain has formed a temporary basin of water, called a toba, and leave when it dries up.

Another reason the desert would be really hard to live in is the sand. Sand is hard to move through and can dangerously slow travel without camels. In an extreme enough case, sand can cause open sores by getting stuck in clothes and rubbing against skin. Another danger of sand is sandstorms. Sandstorms can last for hours and can hinder visibility, strip a person of their skin, or even suffocate someone.

Although there were manny reasons for the rapid travel of Islam through the area around it, I think that the main one was the fact that Mecca, a major Muslim city, was a huge center of trade. This meant that traders could easily travel known paths to far away cities and spread their ideas. On some historical documents, it is shown that traders reached other lands and regions from 60 to up to 120 years before the Muslim army did. In some places like China and India, traders often met with people on the Silk Road, but the military force of the Islamic Empire never made it that far. Traders also afforded a benign, or even friendly reputation. Since it is human nature to distrust new ideas that challenge old ones, foreign citizens were much more likely to believe traders that brought them their daily necessities, than soldiers who had killed their friends. Without the traders who spread Islam in their path, it is likely that Islam wouldn't have become the world spread thing it is today.

Before I begin, I want to say that since I am not a Muslim, my opinions may be off, and I invite any Muslims out there to openly dispute them, and if the argument seems fair or correct, I will change my post. Out of the Five Pillars of Islam, saying "There is no god but God and Muhammad is his prophet," praying five times a day, giving to the poor and needy, fasting during Ramadan, and making the hajj, a journey to Mecca to visit the Kaaba, I think that the hardest is making the hajj. Saying "There is no god but God and Muhammad is his prophet" is just an act of faith, if one is a true believer, that would be no problem; praying five times a day would also not be a problem, you would simply have to let your teacher or boss know, and excused yourself at the designated times. As for giving to the poor and needy, I am pretty sure that the poor and needy themselves are excused from this pillar, and for people that can spare the money, it would just take a certain frame of mind. The same is true for Ramadan, if you keep yourself occupied, and you're used to it, than it would not seem that hard, because of the meals before and after the sun rises or sets. But the hajj seems harder. If one is living far away from northeastern Africa, southeastern Europe, or southwestern Asia, the hajj is a long and costly trip to make. This was especially true in older times, where journeying was much slower and infinitely more dangerous.

Muhammad was born into a rich family, and grew up to be a manager of the caravan for his future wife. He was a kind man, and put others before himself. When he was forty, he began preaching messages and started the religion Islam. Because Muhammad was a rich man himself, and one of his messages was that the rich should help the poor in a monetary form as well as physical help. That made poor people and more selfless rich people follow Muhammad. The reason that some rich people didn't follow Muhammad is that he said that when people joined the Islamic faith, they would become part of a great community, where rich and poor were equal. Most rich people didn't want to be equal with the poor people that they looked down upon, and so they took a while to become Muslims. But once Muhammad's campain really picked up its pace, and the people of Mecca surrendered to Muhammad and his followers, almost every Arab in Arabia was a Muslim.