AlishaV's Blog

One of my favorite creatures in the world, is one that almost no one has ever heard of. In fact, it may not even be a creature, no one really knows whether they should consider it a creature or a plant. I'm talking about diatoms. Diatoms are tiny, single-celled organisms that are shown in the picture to the right and are extremely important to our world. They live in the ocean, lakes, streams, and wet spots and produce much of the oxygen that we breathe. Prehistoric diatoms also produced much of our fossil fuels as well. Their benefits to the world don't end there either. Millions of years ago, in the Pliocene and Pleistocene, diatoms flourished. Great inland seas were everywhere, and the diatoms took advantage of the expanded range by breeding prolifically. As they died, their shells settled to the bottom. Over time, the diatom shells built up into layers hundreds or thousands of feet thick. These layers compressed into a rock, called diatomite , which is mined to p...

If it seems I haven't been posting enough here, I have a reason. I've been making something called a Squidoo Lens. Actually, I've been making three with more on the way. Squidoo is an interesting site that allows one to discuss a subject or an idea with the world in an easy to use fashion-even for me, the perpetual internet idiot. I've been doing it primarily to promote my articles on eHow and expand what they say in an easier to read format but I also love the freedom it gives me to share other stuff. I made one lens about my cats, who they are, where they came from. I added some cute kitty YouTube videos and linked to the two cat articles I've already written. As I write more articles on cats or related subjects I'll just add them to the page. I also made a lens or page about Gem-O-Rama . It tells a bit about the event, has a bunch of pictures, and will eventually have more information added when I have a chance to write it up. The newest lens is o...