Archive for the 'Education' Category

A Few Things to Remember Before Choosing Online Spanish Courses

Written by DinahLeabeau on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 in Education.

Fluency in Spanish extends your horizon and opportunities. Being able to speak Spanish decently gives you the chance to take advantage of more travel, employment and business relationships.

But first, you need to learn Spanish even if it is the most rudimentary kind. The most recommended type is Spanish online lessons. Allow me to show you why.

Reasons You Can’t Refute

Spanish lessons online, especially the beginner course, are typically offered for free. This goes to show that out of simply your time and effort, you’re able to gain something valuable.

Outlined below are a few reasons why online Spanish lessons are highly recommended in learning Spanish:

• With online lessons, you are the master of your own time. Even the very busy buddy can squeeze in his/her lessons anytime and anywhere so long as there is a computer and an internet connection.

• You dictate your pace of learning. You need not feel the pressure brought about by the time when Spanish was a school requirement.

• You still undergo the same modules like grammar, conversation, vocabulary, pronunciation, reading and writing – all these are given in any classroom setting. One of the primary benefits of taking online lessons is the fact that you are saved from the hassle of having to travel to and from school.

Advantages of Learning Spanish Online

As previously stated, you basically get the same instruction as in the classroom setting. Depending on the Spanish online lesson you have, you should get:

• Applicable sentences and phrases for certain situations

• Grammar lessons to allow you to construct sentences on your own.

• New Spanish words that you can include in your once-limited repertoire

• Accurate pronunciation of the words which in turn, allows you to speak like a native speaker

• Composing paragraphs and reading literary pieces in the Spanish language

• The definitive test of your newly-acquired Spanish skills – listening and comprehension

These lessons are normally covered by instant messaging, chat rooms, audio conferencing and video conferencing, to basically match the interactivity present in classroom instructions.

Before Selecting an Online Spanish Course

There are several questions you need to ask yourself prior to actually deciding to learn Spanish online. The most important of these are:

• What is your current level of Spanish-speaking ability? If you are lucky, you’ll be able to get a course that offers free assessment of your present skills.

• How much time are you willing to devote to the program? Depending on your convenience, select a program that either offers fixed interactivity or one that you can follow at your time and pace.

• What’s your teacher preference? Some online programs offer teachers who are native speakers of the language while others speak Spanish as a second language only.

• Are you ready to pay a hefty sum of money? Normally, beginner courses are free of charge but as your level goes up, you’ll already be required to pay a substantial amount of money?

With all these pieces of information about online Spanish lessons, you will realize that choosing this type of learning method really gives back more than you bargained for.

Spanish online lessons are still the next best thing to Spanish immersion. You can learn Spanish online free of charge, only at LearnSpanishReviews.com, and you also get the Free 3 eBooks MiniCourse to Learn Spanish. Indeed, when you choose to learn Spanish online here, you learn only from the best! Go to LearnSpanishReviews.com now!

A Few Things to Consider Before Choosing Online Spanish Lessons

Written by DinahLeabeau on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 in Education.

Fluency in Spanish extends your horizon and opportunities. Being able to speak Spanish decently gives you the chance to take advantage of more travel, employment and business relationships.

But first, you need to learn Spanish even if it’s the most rudimentary way. The most recommended kind is Spanish online lessons. Here are the reasons why.

Reasons You Can’t Refute

Spanish lessons online, especially the beginner course, are usually offered for free. This implies that you gain something even when you haven’t invested anything aside from your time.

Here are a few reasons why online Spanish lessons are highly recommended in learning Spanish:

• Time refuses to be a problem. The very busy professional doesn’t have to worry as he/she can squeeze in the lessons anytime and anywhere that has a computer and an Internet.

• You’re the master of your own pace. You need not feel the pressure brought about by the time when Spanish was a mandatory course way back in school.

• You experience the same modules as when you have classroom instruction – conversation, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, reading and writing – only when you take up Spanish lessons online you save yourself the costs of traveling.

What You Get When You Learn Spanish Online

Advantages of learning Spanish online include the following:

• Conversational skills that coaches you with the appropriate sentences to say in specific situations.

• Grammatical control over the sentences you compose.

• Vocabulary lessons to expand your store of Spanish words.

• Pronunciation coaching that enables you to speak Spanish the way a native speaker does, most often in the Castellano and Latin American forms.

• Reading and writing Spanish

• Listening and comprehension, which are the definitive test of your Spanish language skills

These lessons are normally covered by instant messaging, chat rooms, audio conferencing and video conferencing, to basically match the interactivity present in classroom instructions.

How to Choose an Online Spanish Course

Before you decide which online Spanish course to take, you have to answer the following questions first:

• How is your present Spanish speaking ability? If you are lucky, you’ll be able to find a course that offers free evaluation of your present skills.

• What is your allotted schedule to this endeavor? Some courses provide fixed interactivity while others allow you to choose your own time and pace.

• What kind of teacher do you want? Some online programs offer teachers who are native speakers of the language while others speak Spanish as a second language only.

• What is your budget? In many cases, only the beginner courses are for free, the rest needs payment of a considerable amount of money.

• Are you ready to pay a hefty sum of money? Usually, beginner courses are free of charge but as your level goes up, you will already be required to pay a certain amount of money?

With all these pieces of information about online Spanish courses, you will find out that choosing this kind of learning methodology really gives back more than you bargained for.

To conclude, when you choose to learn Spanish online, you gain more than you bargained for in a very positive light.

Spanish online lessons are still the next best thing to Spanish immersion. You can learn Spanish online free of charge, only at LearnSpanishReviews.com, and you also get the Free 3 eBooks MiniCourse to Learn Spanish. Indeed, when you choose to learn Spanish online here, you learn only from the best! Go to LearnSpanishReviews.com now!

Questions to Ask Before Learning Spanish Online

Written by DinahLeabeau on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 in Education.

Several opportunities are opened if you’re able to speak Spanish fluently. Travel, employment, friendships and professional relationships with Spanish-speaking places and peoples are within your reach; just imagine the various countries and the hundreds of millions of individuals you can visit and converse with!

Of course, fluency in Spanish needs you to learn the skill first. Online lessons are the most popular learning method. Allow me to show you why.

Reasons You Cannot Refute

If you learn Spanish online, free of charge in most cases, you gain something from nothing. You gain beginner’s knowledge of the Spanish language from virtually nothing – just your precious time and committed effort. Now, is it not the ultimate capitalist’s dream?

Here are some of the reasons why online Spanish lessons are highly recommended in learning the said language:

• You can actually control the time you spend in learning Spanish online. Even the very busy buddy can squeeze in his/her lessons anytime and anywhere as long as there is a computer and an internet connection.

• You are the master of your own pace. Remembering the time when Spanish was a school requirement, you can almost feel the pressure once again.

• It’s like having classroom instruction as you still get the exact modules – grammar, conversation, vocabulary, pronunciation, reading, and writing. When you take up online lessons, however, you are saved from the hassle of traveling to and from a formal school.

Benefits of Learning Spanish Online

To reiterate, you get the same modules in online lessons and in any classroom environment. You’ll also be able to take advantage of the following benefits, depending on your lesson:

• Appropriate sentences and phrases for specific situations

• Grammatical control over your formulated sentences.

• New Spanish words that you can include in your once-limited repertoire

• Pronunciation coaching that allows you to speak Spanish the way a native speaker does, most often in the Castellano and Latin American formats.

• Reading and writing Spanish

• The definitive test of your newly-acquired Spanish skills – listening and comprehension

These courses are usually covered by instant messaging, chat rooms, audio conferencing and video conferencing, to basically match the interactive nature in classroom instructions.

Prior to Choosing an Online Spanish Course

Prior to deciding which online Spanish course to take, you have to answer the following questions first:

• What level of Spanish do you want to start with? You should find an online Spanish course that gives free assessment on your Spanish abilities lest you buy into something you already know about.

• What kind of schedule are you going to dedicate to the program? Some lessons offer fixed interactivity while others allow you to choose your own time and pace.

• Do you prefer a native speaker or one who uses it as a second language only? You can then select a course that matches your teacher preference.

• Are you ready to pay a hefty sum of money? Usually, beginner courses are free of charge but as your level goes up, you’ll already be required to pay a certain amount of money?

In summary, when you opt to learn Spanish online, you get more than you bargained for in a very positive light.

Spanish online lessons are still the next best thing to Spanish immersion. You can learn Spanish online free of charge, only at LearnSpanishReviews.com, and you also get the Free 3 eBooks MiniCourse to Learn Spanish. Indeed, when you choose to learn Spanish online here, you learn only from the best! Go to LearnSpanishReviews.com now!

Carhartt Pants - 4 Lessons Learned From Company History

Written by MikeGirolami on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 in Education.

Carhartt pants have been around since they were first produced in the mid 1800s as part of a line of clothing designed to outfit railway workers. Since that time, the clothing line–until recently produced in the United States–has continued to expand and improve in an effort to produce long wearing and economical work garments. Staying aware of what the buying public needs and wants means the highest satisfaction with products.

Build for Durability

Carhartt pants were originally manufactured by the U.S clothing company founded in 1889 by Hamilton Carhartt. The company is a family owned organization located in Michigan that began its successful history by manufacturing clothing suitable for railway workers. Over the years, Carhartt pants and other clothing line items added trademark features that improved durability ratings. By starting with heavy duty fabric, and adding reinforcing rivets at key stress locations, coupled with use of high technology fibers that are highly resistant to water, flames and abrasion, Carhartt has captured the market on work and outdoor garment wear. Because of its success in this niche market, Carhartt has now expanded into garments for construction sites, ranches, farms and other job sites, and into Carhartt for Women garments.

Appearance Counts

Carhartt pants look great. They feature design characteristics such as a slightly dropped waist line that fits below the natural waistline. This provides for ease of movement in active environments. The pants are cut somewhat fuller through the seat and thighs. Again, this provides better opportunity to move naturally and freely whether on the job or dancing the night away. Carhartt pants look good enough to go from the job site to the office or to the dance. If appearance is important to you even when you are on the job, you should choose the clothing line from Carhartt.

Craftsmanship Sells

The company formed by Hamilton Carhartt has been known for quality craftsmanship for 110 plus years. Carhartt pants are manufactured using fabrics made in the United States and by union workers for the most part. The company promotes quality organizations such as FFA, NASCAR and rodeos. Carhartt pants are found elsewhere in the world wherever workers need garments known for their quality construction. Even today, although some components of the garments are assembled in Mexico, the core product line proudly bears the label “Union-Made”. The craftsmanship that obviously goes into each and every Carhartt product has long been the standard by which other garments are judged.

Pricing Considerations

Carhartt pants also have another positive reputation point–they promise to deliver great quality for a price that won’t take a major portion of your paycheck. The garments are intended for and priced for the working men and women of this country, so the Carhartt company has always ensured that they deliver quality and durability at a price you can afford. These highly durable garments always look great so you can depend on their attractive presentation for months or even years to come. Fashion, price and quality in one package makes a perfect combination.

Carhartt Pants are a must have if you’re a hard worker! Visit WorkWear1 at http://www.workwear1.com for Carhartt Work Pants.

Why There is a Necessity to Learn Spanish

Written by DinahLeabeau on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 in Education.

We reside in a world where learning to speak a language other than your native tongue can unlock windows of opportunities. Of course, speaking the said language in a pidgin manner can also put your foot in your mouth and inspire laughter in others. But hey, that’s called learning and it is excusable on your first try!

Fortunately, learning how to speak Spanish may be easy especially when it’s made easy. So, why learn? Speak Spanish now and open these windows of opportunities and fun!

Spanish as an International Language

Historically speaking, Spain once ruled the second-largest empire for over four centuries. Therefore, it’s expected from such notable ruler to leave traces of at least its language to its conquests.

Do you know that today, Spanish is the second most-spoken language? As a result, including this language into your repertoire qualifies you to comfortably converse with 320 million people around the globe. A number of countries in Latin America and Europe use Spanish as one of their dominant languages. With this, you are surrounded with thousands of opportunities if you know how to speak Spanish.

Emerging Economic and Political Powerhouse

It may be immature to say that the next European Union will be Latin America. With this, the continent will now be among the strongest economies the world has ever witnessed. Through learning to speak Spanish, you are re-inventing yourself into among those who’ll be the first ones to benefit from this development.

Powerful organizations such as the United Nations, European Union, Union of South American Nations, Organization of American States and the Organization of Ibero-American States make use of Spanish as an official language. Because of this, those who know how to communicate using the language can reap the business and employment opportunities that are generated by these organizations.

Cultural Benefits

More than language, the Spanish culture also gave birth to international artists like Shakira, Enrique Iglesias, Antonio Banderas, and Penelope Cruz. The paella, Bakalao, and bullfighting are some of Spain’s cultural influences.

Naturally, these artists have English works but would it not be wonderful if you can actually sing and dance (or sway) to the music while perfectly understanding the lyrics? How about browsing through the interpretation of the art works in their original language? Or appreciate the cinematic works of Pedro Aldomovar without need for sub-titles? Or read Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s books in its original language?

Indeed, some things get lost in translation!

Lastly, a number of opportunities are unlocked if you learn to speak Spanish: these include travel and employment, medical and creative, as well as those concerning fun and adventure. After all, it would lead to more personal and professional growth if you try to develop your repertoire and not be isolated within the limits of your little corner in the United States (or wherever).

To sum it up, when you learn to speak Spanish, you’re opening doors for employment, creativity, and fun and adventure. After all, there’s nothing better than expanding your horizon and continuously improving yourself.

Go to LearnSpanishReviews.com and get the Free 3 eBooks MiniCourse to Learn Speak Spanish. You will learn how to speak Spanish in no time at all and get travel, employment and cultural benefits when you do learn to speak Spanish!

The Advantages of Learning Spanish

Written by DinahLeabeau on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 in Education.

We reside in a world where learning to speak a language besides your native tongue can unlock windows of opportunities. Sometimes, however, you commit mistakes and people, in turn, may laugh at you. Do not be disheartened as this is part of the learning process.

Learning how to speak Spanish should not be difficult and there are many positive effects of adding this language to your repertoire.

Spanish as a Global Language

Recalling your European history lessons will let you realize that Spain, indeed, has ruled the second-largest empire for a total of four centuries. As a result, its colonies have adopted the Spanish language and up until now, have utilized it considerably.

Presently, Spanish is the world’s second most-spoken language. When you learn to speak Spanish, you can communicate fluently with over 320 million people worldwide! If you find yourself travelling through Latin America, Europe, and even Africa, you’ll soon notice that dialectal variations of the Spanish language are almost absent. With these, possibilities for longtime friendships and profitable business relationships are endless.

Economics and Politics

Economists believe that Latin America will be the next European Union. With the area’s infinite natural resources and untapped human resources, you can never relegate Latin America to the fringes of development. If and when you are inspired to learn to speak Spanish, you’re providing yourself with a head start.

Powerful organizations such as the United Nations, European Union, Union of South American Nations, Organization of American States and the Organization of Ibero-American States use Spanish as an official language. Thus, those who know how to speak the language can reap the business and employment opportunities that are generated by these organizations.

Cultural Benefits

Among the other cultural contributions is the rise of international artists (Shakira, Marc Anthony, Enrique Iglesias, Antonio Banderas, Penelope Cruz), celebrated directors (Pedro Aldomovar), and legendary painters. Paella, Bakalao and bullfighting also stem from the Spanish-speaking countries.

Even if these artists have English works, would it not be a rare positive feeling if you’re able to sing and dance to their tunes in the language at which they were originally written? How about reading the interpretation of the paintings in their original language? Would it be more enjoyable to watch the movies of Pedro Aldomovar without reading subtitles Or appreciate the books of Gabriel Garcia Marquez in their entirety?

Indeed, something gets lost in translation!

In conclusion, learning to speak Spanish gives you opportunities for employment, business, creativity and fun and adventure. After all, it is really better to step out of your own little world and experience the wonder that other worlds bring!

While these Spanish-speaking artists have their works translated into English, it will be nicer if you can actually sing and dance to their tunes and understand the lyrics word-for-word. It’s more wonderful to read the books of Gabriel Garcia Marquez in Spanish and to appreciate Pedro Aldomovar’s films sans the subtitles.

To sum it up, when you learn to speak Spanish, you’re opening doors for employment, creativity, and fun and adventure. After all, there’s nothing better than expanding your horizon and continuously improving yourself.

Go to LearnSpanishReviews.com and get the Free 3 eBooks MiniCourse to Learn Speak Spanish. You will learn how to speak Spanish in no time at all and get travel, employment and cultural benefits when you do learn to speak Spanish!

An Overview of Written and Spoken Chinese

Written by JulieLandry on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 in Education.

Written Chinese is mainly composed of ideographs. They express a meaning. Written Chinese, however, tends to be uniform in vocabulary and structure, regardless of the dialect of the speaker. On the other hand, when compared to actual spoken dialects, Chinese characters have seen far less changes than the spoken language.

When spoken word for word from the written language in Cantonese, Chinese sounds overly formal and distant. As a result, the necessity of having a written script which matched the spoken language became more important as time went on. Written Chinese is the same regardless of the dialect spoken. The only difference is that in Mainland China a simplified writing system is used, whereas in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other overseas regions the traditional script is used.

Written Chinese, though, is not phonetic, and many new students to the language will frequently feel like they are surrounded by incomprehensible, inaccessible material. Written Chinese is based on the Beijing dialect, but has been heavily influenced by other varieties of Northern Mandarin. Putonghua is the official form taught in schools.

Characters are the equivalent of a word in the romantic languages. Because the Chinese language is not phonetic but rather pictorial, every word is represented by one character. Characters which are used nearly exclusively in the transcription of foreign words are present in Chinese, and many of these characters date back to Middle Chinese where they were used to translate Sanskrit phonemes. For example, Classical Chinese words for “this” and “you” are never used in their original senses (except in a limited number of idiomatic expressions), and more often used to transcribe the sounds /s/ and /l/ in foreign words.

Chinese characters share many components in common and each character has a prominent unit called the radical. In traditional dictionaries, you can look up a character by first finding its radical and then counting the remaining number of strokes needed to write the character. Nevertheless, this method tends to yield somewhat strange results if you aren’t careful.

Spoken Chinese is a tonal language related to Tibetan and Burmese, but genetically unrelated to other neighboring languages, such as Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, and Japanese. However, these languages were strongly influenced by Chinese in the course of their histories, linguistically and also extra-linguistically. Spoken Chinese evolved for centuries while written Chinese changed much less. Until the 20th century, most formal Chinese writing was carried out in Classical Chinese, which was drastically different from any spoken form of Chinese, whereas Chinese in the past 50 years has conformed to the spoken form significantly. Spoken variants other than Standard Mandarin are usually not written, except for Standard Cantonese which is sometimes used in informal contexts.

Spoken Chinese is divided into several varieties of Chinese, with 1.2 billion speakers all using one of these varieties, or dialects. A really qualified translator must be familiar with all the peculiarities of the language to be able to present them in his Chinese translations. Spoken Chinese comprises many regional and mutually unintelligible variants. In the West, many people are similarly familiar with the fact that the Romance languages all derive from Latin and so have many underlying features in common while being mutually unintelligible.

Julie Landry is a fluent Chinese speaker that has written a popular Rocket Chinese Review on her site. Learn to Speak Chinese is a site dedicated to helping people learn Chinese. You can learn more about Rocket Chinese there.

How to Have Fun in College Without Partying

Written by TomTessin on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 in Education.

When college students go away to college they have a lot of their parent’s rules. They are not allowed to do whatever they want and be home whenever they want. Although there are rules, most college students have a lot more freedom than they did at home. Since not everyone likes to party at college, they may feel like they are left out or not capable of having fun. The majority of college students love to party, have some drinks and like to have a good time. So what do the people that don’t like to party do? There are many things non partiers can do at college. Read below and see what you can do if you are one of them.

Explore the town – Is it a nice night outside? If so, try to get out of the building and get some fresh air. Get some friends together and take a nice little walk up town or around the campus. This is a good way to take a break from studying and just sort of relax. It’s good to get some fresh air so if it’s nice outside take advantage of the nice nights.

Movie time – Do you and your friends like movies? If so, now is the time to watch some fun movies. Get some friends together, get some snacks and lounge around to watch a movie marathon. There is nothing better than getting on your pjs and hanging out with your good friends.

Game night – Do you like to play games? There are many things you can do to have fun. You can have fun playing board games, playing cards, or doing games like improve/acting. Some fun games that college students like to play are Catch Phrase, Twister, and Pictionary. There are tons of fun games so go to the store pick up some snacks and have fun playing a game night!

Play sports – Is it a Friday night and you have nothing to do? Have fun playing a sport that you and your friends enjoy. Get a sports team together and have fun playing on teams. Want to make it more interesting and fun? Say the loosing team buys pizza tonight or a small little reward for the other team. Then go back and fill up on your favorite snacks. This is a great way to have fun with your friends, set down the books for a while and get out.

Get involved – Colleges and universities have a lot of fun clubs that you and your friends can join. Get involved with school and have something to brag about on your resume. Joining a club is a great way to do what you love, help out, and meet new people.

There are many things college students can do if they don’t like to party. Consider some of the ideas above and have fun with them. Just because you’re not out partying the night away doesn’t mean your “not cool”, and “outsider” or any of those or lame things people say. As long as you’re having fun with your friends whats it matter?

Find your first credit card and more of Tom’s work at FINDcollegecards.com.

High School Students: Feeling Overwhelmed is Not Unusual

Written by PhyllisZimbler on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 in Education.

Only a few weeks into the school year, a 9th grader at a very academic private high school is feeling overwhelmed. This is not an unusual feeling for high-achieving students because the pressure today to do well and “beat the competition” is intense.

Yet the FLIPPING BURGERS philosophy is somewhat different than the “get the highest grades and highest test scores” philosophy for getting into top colleges.

The FLIPPING BURGERS philosophy says that you should follow your passion in high school. This means trying to arrange a challenging but not overwhelming school schedule so that you have time to follow your passion outside of school.

And the advantage of following your passion outside school is that you will have to pursue activities that are not handed to you on a silver platter (the school’s own activities). Why, for example, join the high school drama club when you can join a local theater group near your home? In this way you will demonstrate initiative to the colleges to which you apply and your experience may be richer for having to learn how to “work” act) around adults of various ages.

If you are overwhelmed already and this is still early in the school year, consider whether you may be able to re-adjust your school schedule so that you have more time to pursue your passion and still take academically challenging (but not overwhelming) courses.

For example, this re-adjustment may mean saving physics until summer school where you can really focus on this subject and, in place of this course during the school year, take a less-strenuous one that will give you more free time after school.

In addition, take advantage if your school has free tutoring on any subject. Don’t wait until you fall behind. After you’re done on the first day of classes, go to the tutoring center and review the material with a tutor. THIS IS NOT A STIGMA!

Many people believe that getting help implies weakness rather than indicating strength. It is actually a much better plan for life to recognize when free services can strengthen your position and to take advantage of this available opportunity.

Each person learns in a different way, yet repetition of new material can probably help everyone. And, if you’re going over new material with a tutor, you might discover that you misunderstood something that, if not corrected, could set you off in a major wrong direction. Thus, by reviewing new material with a tutor, you can quickly discover where you’re about to go off track.

If your school offers such services and these services could be of help to you, do not refuse to go because you’re afraid this would make you look dumb. Instead, getting help makes you look smart – smart to take advantage of any help you can in order to make sure you’re on the right track.

If even with tutoring you are just not understanding a subject, you might consider whether you have an unidentified learning disability that is interfering with your success with this subject. Frequently students are able to unconsciously cope with learning disabilities until high school, when the subject matter gets too difficult to cope without having learned specific coping skills for your learning issues.

Whatever you do, keep an open mind. It is only by being willing to fail that you can learn something new. If you are set on always appearing smart, you will be prevented from taking risks that can lead you to new understanding.

For help with high school schedules, see THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS YOU SHOULD DO AND KNOW TO GET AHEAD OF THE GAME OF COLLEGE APPLICATIONS by Phyllis Zimbler Miller, who has an MBA from Wharton and blogs at Flipping Burgers and Beyond.

The Largest Dinosaurs to Roam the Earth

Written by A.Nutt on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 in Education.

It’s relatively unclear and practically impossible to judge exactly which species of dinosaur was the largest, due to the fact that many of the fossil remains discovered to date aren’t totally complete. Partial fossils have been discovered relatively recently that allude to the fact that there may have been dinosaurs that were much larger than what scientists had perceived to have been the largest, but trying to judge based on the incomplete evidence that exists is a difficult task.

Despite the information and evidence that has already been unearthed, and what is discovered in the near and the distant future, there will probably always be questions when it comes to determining which dinosaur was the largest or which was the fastest, which could fly or which were adept in the water. Regardless of what exactly is discovered, scientists will probably never be able to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt what exactly went on sixty five million years ago, or that we will have enough information to make any truly conclusive decisions.

The best that we can do is judge based on the most complete evidence that we currently have available to us, which may only be an infantile percentage of what the age of the dinosaurs really has to offer.

Judgment based on complete evidence

With a relatively complete skeleton to go by and enough information to make a reasonable judgment as to overall size, the largest dinosaur discovered seems to be the Brachiosaurus.

The Brachiosaurus most likely lived at the end of the Jurassic period or at the beginning of the Cretaceous period.

How big did it get?

It should come as no surprise to anyone who has some familiarity with dinosaurs that the biggest of all the dinosaurs was beyond what could be considered massive. The Brachiosaurus could have gotten to in excess of eighty feet in length, and with a body type similar to that of a giraffe, it could very well have been able to raise its head nearly forty feet in the air.

Though it can be pretty difficult for scientists to accurately estimate the weight of any dinosaur, the estimates on this giant herbivore range in the neighborhood of thirty tons on the low end, all the way up to forty tons at the other end of the spectrum.

Safety in Numbers (numbers of pounds, that is.)

Brachiosaurus was an herbivore, dining exclusively on plant material. Many herbivores were particularly susceptible to predators, most likely because they posed less of a threat to their attackers. Quite a few known dinosaur herbivores had extra protection like armor plating or extra tough, spiny skin, but not the Brachiosaurus. It’s speculated that the brachiosaurus wasn’t too threatened by even some of the larger predators in the dinosaur world, simply because they were so large in stature.

Popularity

Because of the unique distinction of being the biggest beast to ever roam the earth, the brachiosaurus has gained some notoriety in the popular media. We’ve seen the brachiosaurus in some major motion pictures as well as on television; in fact, the brachiosaurus has become popular almost to the point that it rivals the tyrannosaurus as the most popular of all known species of dinosaur.

It’s probably pretty likely that, in the not too distant future, another nearly complete fossilized skeleton will be unearthed and put back together like an enormous jigsaw puzzle, to show the world a dinosaur that is even more immense than the brachiosaurus. If in fact this does happen, it certainly won’t change the fact that the brachiosaurus was one of the most impressive animals to ever walk the earth and it probably won’t change the fact that the brachiosaurus is also one of the most popular species of dinosaur to have ever existed.

A great resource for information and Dinosaur history. Be sure to check out Discovery Channel’s Dinosaur blog for the latest information and resources on dinosaurs and their prehistoric existence.



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