My Top 5 Favorite Book Series

I have read many books, which makes this blog particularly difficult to write.  This week, I am going to talk about my 5 favorite book series.  I really enjoy reading fantasy books and books about the middle ages.  So a few of them are all in that genre.  Warning: I will not give away the ending of any of these books, but I will explain briefly what the first book is about.  Skip a paragraph if you already plan on reading the book, and do not want to know even the beginning.

 

My 5^th favorite, one I haven’t read in a few years, but I remember that I loved the Percy Jackson Series as a kid.  The first story, The Lightning Thief, is about a boy named Percy Jackson, who is the son of a Greek God.  For his own protection against monsters, he is taken to a summer camp where other demigods live.  There he learns that a lightning bolt was stolen from Zeus, the most powerful God.  Percy is swept into a quest where he risks his life many times to save Zeus’s symbol of power.  These books are action packed, and also a bit funny.

 

In 4^th place is a very well known book, “The Hunger Games.”  It is about Katniss, a teenager living in the future after the city called The Capitol takes over all of present day North America.  The Capitol rules over 12 districts.  Each district has to send in 2 tributes to fight to the death in the Hunger Games.  When Katniss’s sister Prim is chosen, Katniss volunteers to take her place.  The Hunger Games is a trilogy, but I only really enjoyed the first book.

 

Halfway through in 3^rd place is the Inheritance series, by Christopher Paolini, which includes four lengthy novels starting with Eragon.  It is very similar to the first place series.  It has the same sort of fantasy middle ages aspect that I enjoy.  Eragon is about a farm boy named Eragon who finds a dragon egg while hunting in the wilderness.  When he brings it home, the egg hatches for him, so he talks to an old man named Brom to learn about his dragon.  Eventually, Brom becomes suspicious, and brings Eragon on a quest to teach him how to become a dragon rider.

 

My 2^nd favorite book series is the Harry Potter series, which is a very well known book series about a boy named Harry Potter who grew up with his abusive aunt and uncle.  Harry learns he is not only a wizard, but one of the most famous wizards.  He is accepted into Hogwarts School to learn magic.  All the other young witches and wizards are eager to meet the boy who, as a baby, survived an attack by an evil wizard, Lord Voldemort.

 

My favorite book series is The Lord of The Rings.  Frodo Baggins is a hobbit, a simple race of small man-like people.  Hobbits like to keep to their homeland of The Shire, but Gandalf the Gray, a wizard who had sent his Uncle Bilbo on a quest a while back, sends Frodo on his own adventure.  During Bilbo’s quest, Bilbo finds a ring, which he passes down to Frodo.  Now after Frodo inherits the ring, he must go on a quest to destroy it.  An old power is threatening the land of Middle Earth, and if The Dark Lord Sauron gets the ring all hope will be lost.  The ring has unnatural powers, because Sauron forged it.  Dropping it into a volcano in the heart of Sauron’s realm, is the only way to destroy the ring.  It is a dangerous place, and exactly where Frodo needs to go.  This Trilogy without doubt deserves the top spot, another book by the same author, J.R.R. Tolkien, the Hobbit is about Bilbo’s adventure, and is also great background for reading Lord of the Rings.

 

2nd Round NBA Playoff Preview

In the Eastern Conference Playoffs the Heat defeated the Bucks, the Knicks, defeated the Celtics, the Pacers defeated the Hawks, and the Bull defeated the Nets. In the East only one upset was made, it was made Saturday May 4, when the Chicago Bulls (without Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, and Kirk Hinrich) defeated the Brooklyn Nets (in Brooklyn) in Game 7. In the Western Conference Playoffs the Spurs defeated the Lakers, the Thunder without star point guard Russell Westbrook were able to defeat the Rockets, the Denver Nuggets were defeated by the Warriors without star Power Forward (PF) David Lee, and the Grizzlies were able to defeat the Clippers. There were a few upsets in the West this year as the 5th seed Grizzlies win the series 4 games to 2 against the 4th seed Clippers, as well as the 6th seed Warriors defeat the 3rd seed Nuggets 4 games to 2.

Now as the Conference Semi-Final round is completely set up and the first 2 games are today (Sunday May 5) the playoffs has gotten more exciting. The defending champions Miami Heat face off game 1 on Monday May 6 against the Chicago Bulls. This series is very interesting because the Bulls were the team that ended the Heat’s 27 game winning streak in the late regular season. The Bulls if any have been the team to give Miami some struggle getting by them. The Bulls are looking for revenge from two years ago when Miami won 4 games to 1 in the Eastern Conference Finals. Also on Monday May 6 is the San Antonio Spurs vs Golden State Warriors. This should be an easier series for the Spurs because they are playing a team who has little playoff experience without one of their star players. If star point guard for the Warriors Stephen Curry can pull of a win in this series he will prove that he belongs with the elite point guards to ever play. One of Sunday May 5’s (today) include the Indiana Pacers vs New York Knicks. This is an interesting series because it is the 2, and 3 seeds in the East. The Pacers could be the toughest team the Knicks will play, but if JR. Smith shoots as well as he did before the game 3 suspension, Felton does as well as he did vs the Celtics, and Carmelo Anthony plays like Carmelo Anthony, then they will have a very good chance of winning this series. The other game on Sunday May 5 (today) is the Oklahoma City Thunder vs Memphis Grizzlies. This series will could be one of the most even series in this round. This is because the Thunder are without Russell Westbrook, and that would even out the depth, and star power in each roster. If Marc Gasol can play as well as he did this regular season then the Grizzlies will have a good chance of taking this series in 6 or 7 games.    

Celtics vs Knicks Playoff Series

On Wednesday night May 1, 2013 the Celtics made the Knicks vs Celtics series very interesting by winning their 2nd straight to avoid elimination. In game 1 the New York Knicks were down 4 points at halftime, and ended up winning it by 7 points. The top performer in that game was Carmelo Anthony who had 36 points, 6 rebound, and had 4 steals as well. In that game Boston had only scored 25 points in the second half (8 in the 4th quarter). In game 2 the C’s were trying to get 1 road win, and not repeat their awful 2nd half performance like in the 1st game. Unfortunately the Celtics did the same thing, they were up 48-42 at halftime, but crumbled in the 2nd half, this time only scoring 23 points (outscored 32-11 in the 3rd quarter). The top performer in that game was again Carmelo Anthony with 34 points and 4 rebounds. Next, game 3, C’s trying to get there 1st win, and it was in front of their home crowd at the TD Garden. The Celtics let their fans down, with a lousy performance at home losing 90-76, C’s badly missing their star point guard Rajon Rondo who went down with a torn ACL in February. The Celtics in this one had a better 2nd half but “made up for it” with a poor 1st half. In this one Raymond Felton took leadership of the Knicks scoring 15 points, and had 10 assists as well. In game 4 the Celtics were determined not to get swept, another game in Boston. They came out with a completely different mentality, the attacked the rim, and shot well, leading by 20 points at one time in the 3rd quarter. Unfortunately, they let the lead slip, and they would be forced into and OT (Overtime) period. Jason Terry came up big in OT and led them to a 7 point victory 90-97. Paul Pierce recorded 29 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, and a block. Last night (May 1st) was the 1st game back in New York. The Celtics fell to an early 11-0 deficit, but quickly overcame it (down by 2 at the end of the 1st quarter). The Celtics held a 10 to 15 point lead throughout the 3rd quarter, the lead got to as little as 3 but in the end the C’s determination was too much for the Knicks, and the Celtics got the win 92-86. KG had an amazing performance on the glass he had 18 rebounds, as well as 16 points, 5 assists, and 1 block to lead the Celtics to a game 6 in Boston. The series is truly getting exciting, and fans starting to wonder who wants it more… THE CELTICS… or the Knicks.    

Mcdonald’s in Dubai

 There are many different foods all around the world and in different countries. Many countries eat different kinds of food and eat it in very traditional styles. However, McDonald’s would like to expand its chain out of the United States and into these different countries. Most countries did not like McDonald’s in their countries, so McDonald’s would have to make the food more like the country’s style of food.

Dubai, a city in United Arab Emirates, has an Arabic style of food, which means that their main meal is lunch. If McDonald’s were to make a menu in Dubai it would have to have breakfast. Dubai’s breakfast is very basic but will satisfy your palette consisting of croissants, yogurt, and Kaak bagels. Their Lunch is the big meal of their day and is very sacred. It consists of many types of meat like chicken, beef, and lamb. It is a big part of Arabic cultural identity. The side dish would be falafel, which is just like an Arabic French fry. The whole lunch meal is served with, the main bread, Roti bread. Other lunch choices consist of fish and salad, which many women of the country eat. Dinner is not a very big meal but people will normally have cheese, coffee, and maybe some left over meat. They do not eat very many deserts because of religious reasons. Overall McDonald’s would have to really impress the people of Dubai to make good food.

Dubai is a very modern style city with many world records for buildings and roller coasters. McDonald’s has to make their buildings look very unique if they want to look normal in the city. Overall, Dubai is one of the best places to put a foreign investment of McDonald’s.

Turf VS. Grass

I play for a soccer team called NEFC, or other wise known as New England Futbol Club. Our club is a very good club. Our home fields are turf fields. Most of the teams that we play, whether traveling to New York, Maine, Vermont, New Jersey, New Hampshire, or even Pennsylvania, are almost always on a turf field. Is turf actually better than grass? Or is it just an opinion. I know that I love to play on turf and am used to how fast the ball moves and know that there won’t be any bad hops with the ball. I know that some of my teammates and other players will disagree with this.

On turf the ball will move faster, making it harder to play long balls on the ground, and when it is wet or raining the ball skids crazily making it very hard to control. When it is warm out and the sun is blasting it’s razes on the turf it makes it seems at least ten degrees warmer than it actually is. Today I had a soccer game, and it was about 70 degrees out, and when the turf is really hot, and you are on your feet a lot the heat heats up your cleats and makes your feet seem like they are on fire, then you just need to get some water and pour it on the bottom of your cleats. Besides these small things turf is great.

On grass there is no guarantee that the grass will be green, soft, smooth, dry, or not have big holes randomly. When it rains on grass it makes it almost impossible to play in, with standing water gathering in the center of the field. Last season my team was in a State Cup game in the pouring rain on grass. By half time there were three inch puddles all over the field. If the ball were to go through the puddle it would immediately stop in place forcing the player to either completely miss the ball or lose it. These are some reasons that could cause an important game to go wrong. I would rather play on turf than grass almost all the time, unless the grass is well maintained like a field in the Premier League in Europe.

Why Couldn’t Spring Come Earlier?

The winter is gone

photo credit: photo taken with an ipad
photo edited with brushstroke filter in photoshop to enhance color

Snow has faded, the worst is over

The cold has fled, making way for new weather

The sun is out, its warmth spreading like a wave

Birds start to chirp, grey skies replaced by cotton candy blue

A single flower blooms, and like dominoes, the rest follow

Vibrant like a collage

The landscape decorated by purple, yellow, red, and more

Wildlife comes out for the first time in months

People dust off their bikes and running shoes

Spring is light at the end of a tunnel

Why couldn’t it come earlier?

Olympus Mons: The tallest mountain in the Milky Way

           Many brave humans have trekked up Earth’s tallest mountain Mount Everest, a 29,000-foot monstrosity. But did you know that there is a place 35,000,000 miles away from earth that bares a mountain three times taller than Mount Everest?

         Olympus Mons is the tallest mountain in our solar system that we know of. It reaches the colossal height of 88,600 feet tall (approximately 17 miles high) and the base is estimated to take up about the size of Arizona. That is about 342 miles across. But where exactly is this mountain located? Mars: the red planet that has been observed by humans since 1971.

         So what exactly is Olympus Mons? Classified as a mountain, Olympus Mons is actually a shield volcano. A shield volcano is a volcano typically made up of cooled magma from eruptions built up over time. Because of the way a shield volcano is created, it has very shallow slopes only reaching about 5˚.

       Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that Olympus Mons will be monitored up close anytime soon because of the shallow terrain and dust clouds that will interfere with the NASA rover’s maneuvering system. Hopefully we on Earth will be able to learn more about this volcano in the future. 

Top 5 Most Colorful Animals

A while ago, I did a couple top 5’s.  To bring them back for the next couple months, I will start with one about animals, just like the other top 5 blogs I did.  Today I will show you 5 of the most colorful animals.

To start us off, I will bring you back to a post from last Wednesday.  I wrote about snorkeling in the Caribbean, and one of the fish species that I saw is the 5^th place on this list.  The parrotfish is the most beautiful fish that I have ever seen.  It comes in blues and greens and has yellow markings.  The parrotfish can only be found in the Caribbean Sea’s shallow reefs.

Next in line is the peacock at 4^th place.  These multicolored birds live in the Congo and on the Indian subcontinent.  All peacocks are male.  They spread their huge colorful tail feathers into a fan shape to attract peahens, the females of the peafowl species.  When their tail feathers are spread out it makes it over half as wide as it is long.  The feathers have circular, eye-like markings on them of many colors, which is how they made it on this list.

lorikeet
photo credit: katoriki

In 3^rd place is the parrotfish’s namesake, the parrot.  More specifically the Scarlet Macaw.  This bird is mostly red but has blue and yellow wings with blue and red tail feathers.  These birds live mainly around Brazil, but can also be found in Mexico.  These bird mate for life, and even share their food with one another.

Our 2^nd most colorful animal is not only another bird, but also is another parrot.  It has many different colors on its feathers including blues, reds, and greens, yellows, and even purples.  In addition, an orange beak completes the set, hence the name rainbow lorikeet.  Though most male birds are more colorful than the females, it is almost impossible to see whether a lorikeet is male or female.  These colorful birds can be spotted in southern Australia.

The rainbow lorikeet is hard to beat, but there is one animal I have found to be even more colorful.  Finally, the most colorful animal in the world is the Panther Chameleon.  These animals have the ability to change colors, based on the surrounding temperature and the animal’s mood.  This chameleon’s habitat is the jungles of northern Madagascar.

Is Today’s Music Too Much?

photo credit: wikimedia commons, Nevit Dilmen

Music has evolved with history. Let’s just say that you don’t usually hear classical and disco songs much these days. But what is considered “music” today can be a little much. Remember when you could hear a person’s voice when they sang? When instruments weren’t replaced by a soundboard? Unfortunately, things are taking a turn for the worst, and quality music may soon become history.

I understand that everyone has a different taste in music. I get that. But in my opinion, you should at least be able to tell if an artist has talent. Today, anyone could sound like a pro with auto-tune and a techno beat. So many singers do just that. They record a song, and let auto-tune do the rest of the work. Come on people, it’s called singing for a reason. A singer should sing, and not let music producers sit behind their computers and crank out songs.

Luckily, there is still hope for the future in music. Believe it or not, there are some artists out there who aren’t all about the techno auto-tune. Imagine that! I like to believe that these artists are making a comeback in the music business. A few examples are “The Lumineers”, “Mumford and Sons”, “Fun.”, and several others. As far as I am concerned, my music shouldn’t sound like microphone feedback, an old computer starting up, or give me a headache. Dubstep, I’m looking at you. If this music “craze” continues, they should at least make a new music genre for auto-tune. That way, I know what music is real and what is not. Sure, I’ll admit it. I’ve listened to the techno songs. Some are catchy, but gosh I bet they killed a few brain cells.

 

 

You Don’t Know Me

You don’t know me.

You don’t know me. When I ran the diversity lesson today to the 7th graders, it changed me. The last activity that we did was to write down a secret that no one knew about you on a little yellow sheet of paper. This small, painful secret was to remain anonymous. It was to never be branded to someone that had put it up on the big red walls of the wrestling room. Once we were all done with writing down our secrets that have never been told on the sheet of paper, we pinned them up on the wall. It shocked me. It scared me. It amazed me. Some of those things that were written on those little slips of paper had altered my thoughts like needles into an arm. It shows me that there are things that we will never find out about a person, unless it slipped through their teeth. It shows me that there are people out there who go through extreme things like depression and being a victim of bullying… Like me… It kills me to say this but sadly there are millions of people with dirty little secrets. Secrets that shall never be spoken, secrets that shall forever remain in the thoughts of the carrier, never to be born out into the mean world. I find this amazing. You don’t know me. You don’t know who I am, what I like, and what I don’t like, until I tell you. You don’t know my secrets…

Assumption can be the death of people, and like the sting of a hot brander, we are all scanned by the mental computers running throughout every individual’s mind, and the second it is loaded into a word, or a whisper, or even maybe a rumor that you heard from a friend, we are scarred with it… If it weren’t for those notes on that tall red wall, I would have never had guessed that those kind of bad things actually happen. See, sometimes things like secrets, or faded scars upon a little girls thigh or shoulder go undetected, closed off, and hidden behind bigger thoughts in our vast minds, or hidden under a long sleeve, people can’t pick that up just by looking at you. Like per say someone was suicidal, society would not be able to perceive that unless that quiet person came out with their troubles, and asked for help just to spare one more night of walking the tightrope.

You don’t know me. You don’t know my secrets, my thoughts. So think before you speak, think before you make fun of someone’s clothing, hair, teeth, sexual orientation, or even the color of their skin because that one comment, that one phrase, word, can be the one that could push them off of the tight rope.

Oblivion

Oblivion is a science-fiction movie about a group of humans who strive to survive after an alien attack. The movie begins with a man named Jack Harper, who is working as an engineer on earth. The earth was invaded by aliens, and the humans bombed them with nuclear weapons, which made earth inhabitable. The humans made a colony on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, and sent Jack and Victoria to manage the droids, machines that make sure to keep the Tet, a machine that absorbs the energy and water off the ocean to make living in Titan bearable, safe. The droids guard off the aliens known as the scavengers who try to sabotage the Tet. On duty, Jack encounters a spaceship with a number of survivors. The droids start to exterminate the survivors, and Jack stops them. The only survivor is Julia, who refuses to talk about her missions. Julia demands that Jack take her back to the spaceship and while Jack and Julia investigate, they get kidnapped by the scavengers who turn out to be a group of humans. The scavengers claim that the group ordering Jack Harper has erased his memory and say that the scavengers are the humans and the owner of the Tet is an alien. They need Jack Harper to access the droid they have captured to send the nuclear bomb to Titan to destroy the aliens. Jack Harper refuses, and the leader of the Scavengers, Malcolm Beech, lets him go and tells him to go to the radiation zone that contains the truth. Jack finds the ruins of Empire State building, which he remembers from his dream. His dream was of him holding a wedding ring and meeting with Julia. He realizes that the dreams were memories and that Julia was his wife before the attack. Jack now knowing the truth, goes back to Malcolm and agrees to listen to the whole story. Malcolm tells him that two astronauts, Jack and Victoria were investigating Titan. When they were about to be captured by the Tet, they released a spaceship containing a team of astronauts including Julia. The spaceship hovered in space until it reached Earth. Jack and Julia were captured, and the aliens made copies of them to destroy the earth. Now realizing the truth Jack agrees to access the droid, but other droids attack and destroys the scavengers’ droid. Jack decides to take the bomb himself and convinces the Tet that he will take Julia back if they let him in. The person in the case turns out to be Malcolm Beech and the nuclear bomb explodes and takes down the Tet as well as Jack and Malcolm. The movie ends when another clone of Jack Harper meets the scavengers and Julia back on earth.

    Oblivion was a good movie with unexpected twists in the movie. I suspected that the Tet might be the alien force from the beginning, but the clones of Jack and Victoria was really surprising. Overall, Oblivion had a good story, and it was an interesting movie to watch.

New York, New York

New York, New York

New York is a vision.

Managed by different diverse hands.

A marvel to behold.

New York is a puzzle.

Who to see,

What to do,

When to stop,

Where to go,

How to solve.

New York is a battle.

Tough to navigate,

but beautiful with victory.

Photo Credit; Trodel

State Champs

I play for a soccer team called New England Futbol Club or NEFC as most people call it. Last year my team was very good. Each year all of the club soccer teams compete to be named as the Massachusetts State Champs. There are two different pools that teams have to qualify for and depending on how you do in the pools is what ranking you will have in the actual state cup. Last year my team won our pool so we got the second seed. We ended up making it to the championship game against one of our competitive rivals the MPS Bulldogs.

Throughout the whole game it was a well fought game and towards the end the fans did not know what way the game would go. My team had scored so it was one to nothing and soon after the other team the Bulldogs tied it up, closer to the end of the game my team had an amazing goal to go ahead two to one. Our team was in defensive mode. Our only task was to keep the ball out of our half and give them no opportunities to even get close to scoring.

I knew the game had to be ending soon. I was running around like crazy pressuring the ball. I heard the referee blow the whistle once and knew the game was over because the ball was still in. I did not even notice or hear the other blows of the whistle because I knew that my soccer team was now state champs. We all stormed the field jumping on each other in joy. We sprinted to our goalie knowing that if it was not for him that we would not have won. We were all so happy not knowing what it felt like to finally be state champs. This was the best time of my soccer career so far.

 

NBA Playoffs

photo taken by Mike

The NBA playoffs are finally here and I’ll tell you how the first round of the playoffs is going to play out.

In the Western conference I think that the 1 seed Thunder will beat the Rockets. The thunder have 2 very explosive players Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and they can not be stopped. The Rockets are just not fast enough and they do not have a good enough defender to cover Durant.

There is no doubt that the Spurs will beat the Lakers. The Lakers just lost their star player Kobe Bryant to an Achilles injury. The Lakers have one of the worst defenses in the league and the Spurs have one of the best offenses in the league. The Spurs are a great 3-point shooting team and they love to share the ball.

The Nuggets, Warriors match up is my favorite in the playoff tree. Both teams have some injuries, but I think that the Nuggets will win the series in 6 games. The Nuggets are a very fast, fun team to watch. They have a very good defense which is good because the Warriors have the top 3-point shooter in the league Stephen Curry.

The last match up in the western conference is the Clippers vs Grizzlies. I think that the Clippers will win the series because of their 3-point success, defense, and their great transition offense. The Grizzlies don’t have that star player to take big shots later in the playoffs.

Now I will say the eastern conference series winners.

The Heat, Bucks series is the easiest decision to make out of any series. The Bucks have the worst record out of any team in the playoffs and the Heat have the best record. I know that the Heat will win, and I think they will in 4 games. Their going to win because they have the former MVP LeBron James, great 3-point shooting, great defense, unbelievable transition offense and defense, and their the last years championship winners.

The Knicks and the Celtics are always exciting to watch. You very rarely see a team score over 95 points against the Celtics because of their defense and their patience on offense. I think the Knicks will win the series in 7 games because they are pretty evenly matched, but the Knicks have a star Carmelo Anthony. The Celtics are just to slow to beat the Knicks.

The Pacers and Hawks series is another easy decision. I think the Pacers will easily win the series in 5 games. The pacers are a great shooting and rebounding team. The hawks have good big men, but they need that star guard to be a great team. The Pacers are a very good team and should go far in the playoffs.

The Nets and Bulls series is another very tough decision to make. The Bulls center Noah is hurt ,which is very big for the Nets. The series is tied 1-1 and I think the Nets will win in 7 games. I don’t know very much about either of these teams, but I know their pretty evenly matched.

Project Aware

Project Aware is a worldwide association created to preserve the seas. The association also give out member licenses when they have taken classes and completed objectives necessary to become a member. The classes are lead by instructors who have achieved the specialty instructor level. The lectures are about the damage done to oceans by humans and their solutions. Some of these issues are overfishing, pollution, and coral reef destruction. Overfishing is caused when companies have broken the limit of fish allowed to be catched in a certain area. This messes up the food chain and causes some species to go extinct. Pollution is caused when people deliberately or accidently release waste into the oceans. There have been chemicals hard to take care of deliberately released in the oceans and there are accidental oil spills. Coral reefs are beautiful plants that grow underwater. Scuba Divers accidentally knock over or break these plants while moving around, and some take them home for souvenirs. The Project Aware teams’ mission is to minimize the damage done to the oceans through active volunteer work(picking up trash) or forming protests against companies that overfish and causes pollution.

 

Caribbean post 4: Navigation

One of the most important aspects to my recent trip to the British Virgin Islands was navigation.  It was an interesting and important process to determine the direction and distance we needed to travel.  Four different tools were used to navigate, charts, parallel rules, dividers, and of course.

The most important tool was the Chart.  The chart is a map that shows the islands themselves, and the hazards that could hinder us, like shallow water and rocks.  It is on the chart that I mark out the path that I drew with the parallel rules as a straightedge including details like direction and distance.  Which I found using other tools.

To find the direction I used parallel rules.  This tool is a pair of plastic straightedges that are attached together with metal rods so that when you move them apart from each other, they will remain parallel.  To find the direction to head, I lined up the path I drew on the chart with one of the straightedges, with the other lined up with one of the compasses on the map.  The compass is labeled with numbers 1 through 360 going around it, so that East is 90º, South is 180º, and so on. The number that the other side of the parallel rules lines up with is the direction.

Dividers are the tools used to determine the distance to travel before making a turn.  And repeat the cycle with the parallel rules.  Dividers work similarly to scissors, as they open and close, but stay the same distance apart when the tool is picked up.   Measure the distance of the leg you are about to travel on, and place the divider on the distance scale.  This is measured to nautical miles unless it says differently.

Navigation was a vital part in my family’s vacation, because it was essential to find our way around.

The Boston Marathon Bombing

There was a bombing in Boston on the 2013 Patriot’s Day(4-15). The bomb explosion happened while the Boston Marathon was taking place. The Boston Marathon is an event where tremendous amounts of marathoners from all over the world gather to compete or simply finish. In this respected event, some lunatic decided to come and bomb Boston and left 3 people dead and about 175 people injured. The bombs were the pressure cooker bombs, knowned to be cheap, easy to build, and destructive. Two bombs were fired at 2:50 p.m 15 seconds apart. They were placed near the finish line along the Boylston Street. Even though the area was inspected for bombs twice(one sweep occurred 1 hour before the bombing), as people were allowed to carry things freely around the area, the tragedy happened. The FBI(Federal Bureau of Investigation) is currently leading the search, but no arrests were made even though there are a few suspects. The terrorist who bombed the marathon is a lunatic who must be captured at once.

Mile High Injury List

taken by Matthew D. Britt

This season the Denver Nuggets are the 3rd on the power rank going into the playoffs. You could say that they are on a bad luck streak. Their lead scorer Ty Lawson is just coming off of an injury and he missed eight of Denver’s last nine games. He has a torn right plantar fascia in his right heel. Last week the Nuggets announced that Danilo Gallinari there starting small forward tore his ACL. There other injury is on there starting power forward Kenneth Faried with a sprained ankle.

Denver is a very good team when they are healthy and very fun to watch. They throw down amazing dunks and alley oops almost every game. I don’t see Denver going very far in the playoffs because they are not healthy enough to play against the big elite teams. They also do not have that one clutch shooter to take the ball in the last few minutes of the game and to take the last shot for the win. If they had nobody hurt then its a different story, I think they can go all the way to the championship with everyone healthy.

Denver is one of my favorite teams in the league and I think next year will be their lucky year. When they get all their guys back they will be good. Denver has done a great job recovering after the trade of their best play Carmelo Anthony a few seasons ago. They really built their team up very quickly to a championship caliber team. Good luck to the Nuggets in the playoffs.

Caribbean post 3: Snorkeling

A great portion of our trip in the British Virgin Islands was spent snorkeling.  It was a new experience for me, but I quickly got the hang of it.  Almost every stop we made had snorkeling involved.

 

There are many reefs scattered around the islands.  The fish come in so many beautiful colors.  They lived among many different species of coral, which has been living in the reef for a long time.  As I swam above the fish, they were fine with sharing the reef with a larger creature, only when I swam towards them would they swim away.

 

Another place we snorkeled at, but was not a reef, was the wreck of the Rhone.  This 310 foot long ship had tipped over in a hurricane.  The captain thought that the storm had passed after they were in the eye of the storm, so he sailed for open water.  Which resulted in the end of the ship.  Today it is one of the most popular shipwrecks to dive at.  I actually dove down to touch the propeller of the ship, in just my snorkel gear.  My ears felt like they were being crushed because of the depth, but it was a great feeling after to have reached my goal.

 

Whether exploring a reef or a shipwreck, snorkeling was a major part of my vacation in the Caribbean.

That Time of Year: Spring

Spring,

It’s that time of year,

Where pretty flowers bloom,

When there is breezy air,

When there is sunshine,

When there are warm afternoons,

When there is AAU season,

When school is coming to an end,

What is a dream,

What is Spring,

That time of year

Caribbean post 2: Bitter End Yacht Club

Photo Credit: Myself

Another great location in the British Virgin Islands, Is on the same Island as the last location I blogged about.  The Bitter End Yacht Club is located in the most beautiful setting I have ever seen, Gorda Sound on the north part of the island, Vigin Gorda.  There are many things to do, both leisurely and active in the beautiful tropical setting.

There are a few great restaurants in the area, most notably Saba Rock.  This restaurant and hotel is located on a small island within Gorda Sound.  The only way to get to it is by dinghy or a short ride in a small ferry.  There is always a place to relax.  Hammocks are strung everywhere between palm trees.  And there are lounge chairs overlooking the pool and Gorda Sound.

If you are more of an active person, there are also many activities to do for fun.  There are many hiking trails prepared.  They go up and down the mountain that towers out of the water.  In addition, you can rent small sailboats to have a fun time sailing around or exploring Gorda Sound.

Caribbean Trip Post 1: The Baths

Last month, I took a family trip to the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean.  One of my favorite places was a beach on the West Coast of Virgin Gorda.  The Baths is not a beach you typically go to for relaxation.  This beach is meant for adventuring.  South of the beach is a colony of granite rocks, that were imbedded in volcanic lava long ago, and create a series of caves known as the devil’s path.  The name fits it well.  Waves crash through these rocks, and can toss around a person like a ragdoll.  There are multiple ways to find a path through the rocks, but they can be summarized into three routes.  I call them the water route, the inland route, and the overland route.

Photo Credit: Myself

The overland route was the most fun way to get through, in my opinion, and provided a great view.  It was probably the most dangerous way as well. There were many moments when I thought I might fall, which made the experience scary.  In parts, you have to jump to another rock with a sheer drop below you.  In order to get to the top of the highest rock, you have to run on all fours up the side of a rock at a 45º angle.  If you stopped moving your feet you would slide back down.

The water route was also about as fun, and challenging as the overland route.  To make it through that way, you have to be prepared to swim, and always be ready to grab onto a rock if a big wave comes.  The sea life was amazing to watch; the colorful fish would use waves to save energy while swimming around.

The inland route was boring compared to the other ways.  Sure you do have to climb over small rocks, and watch your feet for rocks that could cause you to trip and fall onto a pile of sand, but for all of the larger rocks, there are wooden staircases for steep climbs, and ropes for slippery parts, unlike the other routes.  There are even arrows to show you where to go.  However, there has to be some way through for people who don’t want to risk hurting themselves, or if they are carrying a load, maybe snorkeling equipment to snorkel at Devil’s Bay on the other side.  This is also the slowest route, because it is always filled with people going in both directions.

The Baths was one out of many of the great locations in the British Virgin Islands.

New York City

If you’re one of the almost 60 million visitors to New York City per year, the first place that comes to mind when you think about where you want to go is Times Square, or Central Park, or one of those famous, typical tourist attractions. But how much do you really know about the background, outside, and not so famous parts of the city?

There are five boroughs in the city that are called Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. Manhattan is mostly centered around business and tourism. It is the borough that most people migrate towards when visiting. It may seem like the most interesting or appealing place to visit in the city, and in a lot of ways, it is. On the other hand there are so many different layers and layers of the city and every time you peel one back, you’ll find dozens more. The diversity in NYC is incredible, everywhere you look there is someone new and different who maybe speaks a different language, has a different faith, or leads an completely different life than you’re used to being around. If you look around and notice how many cultures are just in this one city it’s amazing.

Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly

Every time I’m on the lookout for a good, new read I have a few basic necessities. It can’t be too hard, it has to be a little bit relatable, and it has to give me something to look forward to every time I pick it up. When I picked up Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly, I thought it would hit all of my necessities, but it missed all of them instead… By a long shot. It is a story about a teenage girl growing up in a time around the 50’s, and it tells how her summer romance began, and ended, with every single little detail in between. And I mean every single little detail. It tells how the boy, Jack, forgets to call her one night, but then he does the next. Then how they take a walk. Then how Angeline tripped. Then how they got some soda afterwards… It gets really boring, really fast. Throughout the entire book, I found myself actually hoping that something bad would happen, maybe to bring the book to a little bit of a faster pace, but alas… None came. I had high hopes for this book, and overall they were strongly let down.

The Boy In The Striped Pajamas

In the book, The Boy In The Striped Pajamas, it begins with a little boy named Bruno who lives in Berlin, Germany with his mother, father, and sister. His father works for the nazis, and his job gets moved out to the countryside to run a concentration camp. Bruno is sad to leave all of his friends in Berlin but his mother assured him that he will make new ones where they are moving. When they arrive there however, Bruno finds that there are no other houses for miles, not to mention any children to play with. After days of being bored and lonely, he decides to go for a walk through the woods, even though his parents had forbidden it. As he was walking, he walked up to a metal barbed fence. A little boy was sitting alone on the other side of the fence. Bruno was desperate for a friend, so he sat down and began talking with the boy. His name was Shmuel, and the two boys became good friends. They met almost everyday at that spot, but one day, Bruno’s dad told Bruno that it was time for him and his sister to return to Berlin. Bruno didn’t want to leave though, he had just made a friend! He has to find a way to stay with his new friend, Shmuel.

I really liked the book, The Boy In The Striped Pajamas because it explained how Bruno was feeling in all the parts of the book really well. It describes how lonely he is before he meets Shmuel, then how happy he is and intrigued when he meets Shmuel. I think anyone who likes reading about World War II or about friendships should read this, because it is an entirely different perspective on both of those. I think that the author was very vague in a lot of parts of the book, and even though I think that they meant to be, I think that I would have enjoyed the book more if the author had been a bit less vague. I like this book more than other books that I’ve read like it because it isn’t like any of the others, it gives a fresh new perspective. After reading this book, I really liked it and would definitely recommend it to other people.

Sunset

A picture of a typical sunset in the Bahamas. Taken with an iPhone 4S, March 2013.

Around the World from A to Z: Oman

Resting at the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, Oman has long been forgotten by the Western world, yet boasts of natural marine beauty and a rich history and pure culture.

The capital city of Muscat houses more than a quarter of the country’s population, 735,000 out of a mere 2.8 million. The main language spoken in Oman is Arabic, and the government is an absolute monarchy (and an Islamic state). The Sultan of Oman has ultimate authority but parliament also has some power as a legislature as well. Like most middle-eastern countries, its economy is mainly driven by oil, but agriculture, fishing, and tourism are all rapidly growing industries.

The climate of Oman is very hot and dry in the center, regularly reaching temperatures of 120 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer, but is humid by the coast of the Arabian Sea. The north is mostly covered by mountain ranges, and the center and southeast coast are largely desert. The country is bordered by Yemen to the southwest, Saudi Arabia to the northwest, and the UAE to the north. It is also bordered by the Gulf of Oman on the west.

In Oman’s early history, it was ruled by four different empires: the Persians, the Parthanids, the Achaemenids, and the Sassanids. Oman was one of the first countries to accept Islam, becoming an Ibadhi state in 630 AD. It was colonized by the Portuguese from 1507 to 1650, when they were driven out by rebels. After that Oman grew into its own empire, which in the early 19th century stretched from the Strait of Hormuz down the coast of Africa to what is now Tanzania.  However, the empire lost power in the 20th century as the UK became a greater influence on the country.

The main attractions in Oman are its expansive, beautiful beaches. Many fjords filled with coral reefs line the waters of the coast, and diving to see them is a very popular activity. However, other attractions include whale watching in the North and deep sea fishing. Since Oman also has some of the oldest cities in the world, the tourism industry there is steadily growing, and desert tours around the country are offered as well.

Oman truly is a hidden gem of the Middle East. With its relative safety and high level of development, unknown yet wonderful natural beauty, and intriguing history, Oman is a very interesting country and a place that none of us should miss.

Links:

http://www.omantourism.gov.om/wps/portal/mot/tourism/oman/home

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mu.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oman

Coral Reefs

Coral reefs are some of the largest living structures on Earth. Coral reefs are actually animals, despite their stony appearance. They start as little organisms called polyps that are only a couple of inches in diameter. They grow about a half an inch a year until they are hundreds of feet wide and stretch for miles, like the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of north-eastern Australia.

 Thousands of species of fish and other small organisms inhabit the Great Barrier Reef. It is home to small fish, and plants like clownfish and anemones. However, it is also home to many predators like the barracuda, a large fish with razor-sharp teeth. All of these creatures live together in peace and harmony. Nature, however, is being disturbed.

Coral reefs are diminishing in numbers about four times as fast as rain forests are dying. global warming is making the ocean water too warm for coral reefs to survive.  Water pollution and boats crashing into reefs are killing thousands of marine life and Coral reefs.  You can usually tell if a coral reef is dying if it is turning pale or if it is being overgrown by seaweed. However we can stop the killing of all this sea life. Stop polluting water and save coral reefs.

Around the World from A to Z: Norway

When most people imagine a place widely considered to be the best and most developed country in the world, a place that is one of the largest producers of oil and has the fourth largest per capita income, they probably aren’t thinking of Norway. Settled so far north the sun barely rises in the winter, this sparsely-settled country is one of the most prosperous and naturally beautiful places known.

Norway, officially referred to as the Kingdom of Norway, is home to just over five million people, almost a million of whom live in the capital city of Oslo. The main language spoken is Norwegian. Their government is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, and although it is not a member of the European Union, it has very close ties to the region. Norway’s largest industry is by far its natural resources – it produces the most oil of any country outside of the Middle East, and also has noteworthy amounts of natural gas, lumber, fresh water, seafood, and minerals.

Norway is bordered by Sweden to the east and Finland and Russia to the northeast. It has over 25,000 kilometers of coastline along the Norwegian and North Seas, most of which is islands and fjords. The northern parts of Norway are mostly covered in frozen tundra, while the more southern parts have mountains, plateaus, and valleys. Around the country, the winters can vary from mild to very cold, and the summers are mostly mild, except in the lowlands near Oslo.

Norway’s long history has been mostly characterized by the Vikings and a later alliance with Denmark. After unifying the country in 872 AD, the Vikings ruled until 995 AD, when Christian influence increased and the first King of Norway was crowned. Norway later joined the Kalmar Union with Sweden and Denmark in 1388. They tried to rebel along with Sweden, but they failed and stayed in an alliance with Denmark until 1814. In 1814, they declared their independence and adopted a constitution inspired by those of France and America. They stayed neutral in World War I, and attempted neutrality again in World War II, until Germany invaded in 1940 and they were under Nazi occupation for five years.

While many may view Norway as a cold and desolate place, it is far from it. Norway offers some of the most stunning scenery in the world. The fjords that dot its coastlines are dramatic and unmissable. National Geographic ranks the West Fjords as the number one World Heritage site.

Something else Norway is well-known for is its outdoor activities. Anyone who loves nature would never be bored in this country. The hiking trails through mountains, valleys and fjords attract tourists from all around. The mountains of Norway are also home to many quality ski resorts with hundreds of challenging trails.

One of the, by far, most interesting events that draws people to Norway is the midnight sun. Because of the country’s position so near to the North Pole, in the summer there are often up to twenty hours of sunlight per day. In the far northern parts, such as North Cape, it never even sets.

It’s the things like this, along with the natural beauty and booming economy, that make Norway one of the world’s best countries. Even if cold isn’t your thing, Norway is a place that you truly have to see before you die.

Links:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/no.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway

http://www.visitnorway.com/us/

http://news.nationalgeographic.com//news/2006/10/photogalleries/best-worst/photo5.html

Louisville vs Michigan: National Championship Game

Monday night’s basketball game, Louisville vs Michigan, was a thrilling national championship game where both teams performed at an exciting level where you could tell who would win until the end. This was Michigan’s first championship appearance since 1995. Louisville was number one in the country, and Rick Pitino was looking to be the first coach to win two national championships on two different teams. Michigan, number four, was not willing to give up easily, though.

 

Michigan seemed to control the ball game for most of the first half, never letting Louisville take the lead at all. Michigan appreciated the help of Michael Joseph Albrecht, a bench player whose career high was 7 points but managed to score 17 points in the championship game. However, Michigan’s lead of over a dozen would soon fall apart when another bench player, Luke Hancock from Louisville goes on fire and makes a series of three pointers and lay ups to bring Louisville on a 14-1 run. At the half Michigan would only be up by one point.

 

Early in the second half, Wayne blackshear makes a three-point jumper to tie the game at 40. Eventually,  Louisville would take the lead that would increase to more than 5 points sometimes. Luke hancock and Peyton Siva would score many of these points, as they were the two top scorers of the game on Louisville. Louisville would go on to win the game by six points.

 

Louisville comes away with an eighty-two to seventy-six victory against Michigan on the Monday night National College Basketball Championship. Rick Pitino now is the first coach to win two national championship titles coaching two different teams. When Louisville won, they let Kevin Ware, the player who was taken out of a previous game because of a horrific leg injury, cut the net.

Uneven bars

The uneven bars is an artistic gymnastics event. This event is only performed by female gymnasts. A term for the uneven bars is simply just bars. The bars have a frame made of steel inside with the actual bar made of fiberglass coated with wood. The height of the upper bar is 8.2 feet, the low bar is 5.6 feet with the distance between bars at 4.3 feet. They can extend out to 5.9 feet depending on the height of the gymnast. The gymnasts start off with the basic skills like swings and handstands and then progress to harder skills like releases and aerial twists.

In the 1830’s, a Frenchman named Amoros wrote about the benefits of adjusting the parallel bars so they were at different heights in a textbook titles “Manuel d’education Physique et Morale”.  This adjustment was not intended specifically for women.  Due to social limitations, women would not participate until later on.  At the World Championships in Budapest, the uneven bars were introduced to the public in 1934.  At the Berlin Olympics, the bars were chosen as a female event.  It was not until 1952 that the bars were included as an Olympic event. Nadia Comaneci was the first to score a perfect 10 on this event in the Olympics of 1976.

 

The modern uneven bars have to meet specific requirements.  Performances on the bars consist of flight element from high bar to low bar and low bar to high bar, a release move on the same bar, two different grips with a close bar circular movement, a turn on the bar and a dismount.  Judging of bar routines is based on form, difficulty, technique and composition.  Deductions can be caused from poor form, falls, pauses, extra swings that do not lead into another skill, and steps on the dismount.  If a gymnast falls off the bars or if the gymnast hits the low bar with her foot then a deduction be incurred.

The parallel bars were first started for men to show all their strength and durability.  The uneven bars showed women’s agility, grace, and highlight female strength.  While early routines focused on artistic moves, eventually more acrobatics were placed into the routine.  The uneven bars performances practically defy the laws of gravity.

A Faraway World

A picture of the moon above the clouds and the ocean. Taken with an iPod touch in March 2013.

Blinded

The Brooklyn Bridge is a big part of New York CIty. It was also one of the things that my group did on the Outward Bound trip with school. I had always heard about what we were going to do from previous years. We were going to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge blindfolded holding on to our friends in front of us, in a line. I was very scared when I put my blindfold on and had no idea what to expect.

Once we started walking I realized that I would need to trust the person in front of me and trust him that he would not lead me into something. After a couple yards I realized that the person in front of me would tell me when we started to walk on a new surface or there would be a bump coming up for me. Since my friend in front of me was trustworthy and helpful I knew that I had to do the same for the person behind me holding on to my backpack so he would not get scared and so he could trust me as much as possible.

While walking I heard many people talking about how crazy we were and what we were thinking and doing. I also heard a ton of different languages while walking. I did not realize how many people from around the world come to visit New York. Doing this walk made me realize that if I am not friends with my classmates I need to learn to trust the people around me and know that they can help me. This was a very eye opening experience and was very fun. I am so glad that I did not peak.

End of the Road

A picture of a cave in the Bahamas. Taken with an iPhone 4S in March 2013.

Celtics First Round Playoffs Chances

First Round Playoff matchup for the Boston Celtics will most likely be the New York Knicks. If this is the case it will certainly be a great series. As a proud Celtics fans I am still a little worried to be facing the Knicks in round one. The reason why I’m worried is because the Knicks are currently on a 12 game winning streak, and they haven’t been beating up on the weak teams they have been beating some top notch teams such as the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Miami Heat. The Celtics on the other hand, have reported that they are ready for the playoffs. I think with KG, and Pierce healthy, Jeff Green coming of the bench, and Avery Bradley playing his outstanding defense they could be contenders this year. The Knicks being on the streak they’re on will probably end of the year on a hot streak which could be the deciding factor in this series. I think its about a 40% to 60% chance that the Celtics will win this series, but I’m going to keep my fingers crossed. Overall I still can’t wait to see what the 2012-2013 NBA Playoffs have to offer.

Top Five NBA Players

NBA Top Five Players:

1. Lebron James: Obviously Lebron is the best player in the NBA, look at the stats, He averages 27 points a game (4th in the League), 8 rebounds a game, and for someone who is one of the best scorers in the game he does a fair share of moving the ball around with 7 assists a game. Not to mention he is 8th in double, doubles, 10th in steals, and 7th in field goal percentage. Obviously Lebron James is the #1 in the NBA today.

 

2. Kevin Durant: KD is an extremely talented player, and one best elite scorers in the game. He is second in the league in points per game averaging 28 points. Like Lebron he has the strength and “ups” to rise over defenders to throw down a dunk. He may not get many assists per game averaging only 5 assists per game, but makes up for it with his elite shooting, 8 rebounds a game, and he is in the top 25 in blocks per game (1.28 BPG). Its safe to say Kevin Durant is the 2nd best player in the NBA.

 

3. Chris Paul: CP3 is amongst the best passers in NBA history. He averages a double double, with 17 points per game, and about 10 assists per game. Due to his height disadvantage, he is only able to grab about 3 or 4 rebounds a game. Fortunately he has DeAndre Jordan, and Blake Griffin to feed some sweet alley-oop slams to. To add on to his long line of great stats he is also leading the league in steals per game with 2 steals a game. Chris Paul also won the 2013 NBA All-Star MVP award with 20 points, and 15 assists. Its clear Chris Paul is the 3rd best NBA player.

 

4. Russell Westbrook: Westbrook is an explosive, elite scoring, great passing point guard. Which is why he is at #4. Russell averages 23 points a game, and 8 assists per game. He is one of the strongest point guards in the leauge, able to rise over taller defenders and throw down a monster dunk even though he is only 6’3”. He is also one of the quickest guards in the league and can fly by you in a second, and is great on the fast break. There aren’t many other point guards who can play as well as Westbrook can consistently, which is why Russell Westbrook is ranked #4.

 

5. Kobe Bryant: The Black Mamba is one of the best players ever to play in the NBA. Kobe Bryant is the 3rd best scorer in the league currently with 27 points per game. This year was a harder year for Kobe because he had to adjust to not being the only scoring option on the team, now that Dwight Howard, and Steve Nash are members of the Lakers. I’m not saying 6 assists per game is particularly good but its much better than his previous years. Kobe also gets about 6 rebounds a game which isn’t bad for a 6’6” guard. Even though Kobe Bryant is 34 and is considered one of the “old guys” in the NBA he can still consistently put up high 20’s in points it proves he belongs at #5.

Swimmers

Some may think it is stupid,

But there are few that ever feel the rush of water flowing over their body

The idea that you may never stop,

But the idea that you may never move.

It is so much work paid off

Countless hours towards everything

All related to one thing.

The will to win flows through our veins

We feel the water,

For we are its people

We speak with each other,

and have fun at every turn

But secretly, this we do not share,

We do work, and we do push ourselves

For we fight against something no other athletes do.

The water

We are not the ones to look down on, for if you do,

We shall pass you on the inside

We know who we are

We are swimmers

The Unexpected Night

All you see is black

Your mind is hazy

You look right, black

You look left , black

But you see something

Something faintly in the distance

You appear to be getting closer,

But you notice you are not moving.

The object gets closer and closer

And finally, flies by you.

You catch a slight glance of what it may be.

You see a face, golden, flat, with a partial black

And you see a tail.

A curly, short tail.

You wonder to yourself,

What was that.

You go home, and go to bed

When you wake up in the morning.

Your head is clear, so you get out of bed.

You notice your dog.

He looks familiar, very familiar.

R/C Wi-SPI Helicopter

So do you remember when you were younger, playing with that toy helicopter or plane? Wishing that someday, they would make on without that flimsy controller, or even that could take video? Well, they did it! Actually, they did both! They now have a helicopter that can take live video, and be controlled with your iPhone. Now with the R/C Wi-SPI Helicopter, you can video your sibling taking your favorite cereal, or just have fun flying this around your neighborhood. This toy is fun for all ages (Recommended 14+) and even if you don’t think you will have any fun with it, get it for someones birthday! It’s a great gift to give if you know someone still has that “inner child” in them.

Top 5 Video Game Easter Eggs

Easter eggs, in video games, are hidden objects, quests, missions, rooms, people or anything of that nature that are put in the game solely for fun. So, without further ado, my top 5 favorite video game Easter eggs!

5. Creepy room in Portal 2.

Number five goes to an Easter egg in one of my favorite games of all time, Portal 2. Portal 2 is set in a sort of apocalyptic future where the main character has to go through stage after stage of meaningless puzzles set up by computers. The Easter egg is actually a set of hidden rooms where anonymous people have written messages about having no hope.

Click here for pictures of them: https://www.google.com/search?q=creepy+portal+2+easter+eggs&hl=en&newwindow=1&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=n-tlUcDrIqjJ0QHn_oCgDg&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1257&bih=591

4. Pokemon Red/Blue- MISSINGO

In Pokemon Red and Blue, there is a hidden pokemon named MISSINGO, which is actually a spare bit of code, which the developer decided to give stats. It can be used to duplicate rare items.

3. Jar Jar Binks frozen in carbonite.

Another one of my favorite games, Star Wars, The Force Unleashed. On one of the walls, you can see Jar Jar, the hated character of Star Wars, frozen in carbonite.

2. Chrono Trigger sarcastic developer room.

This on made me laugh when I saw it, if you manage to beat the game, and find the bonus level, when you restart, a gate appears and the development team is on the other side, a message appears saying:

“Congrats on beating the game,

Now get a life!!”

1. Hidden room in “Adventure”

This is number one because it is the first Easter egg ever created. If you do a certain set of things in the 1980′s video game “Adventure” you can see a room where the programmers wrote some messages!

Godspell

Photo Credit: Kevin Dooley

Last week I went to see the musical Godspell at Dean College in Franklin, Massachusetts. Godspell is a contemporary show based on the gospel according to St. Matthew. Jesus and his disciples reenact parables from Jesus’s life. Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the music and new lyrics, won a grammy for his fantastic score. The musical was formerly a movie, then made into a hit broadway show, and now is performed at schools and theaters around the country. I would highly recommend seeing Godspell.

I had never seen the show before, but I quickly fell in love. The performance was very theatrical. People were acting as tables, animals, and even jail cells. The actors were outstanding. They each made their character their own and took it to the next level. The performers were very enthusiastic, electric, and alive. At the end of the show the audience was crying and so were the cast members because of the intense and well performed ending. The show was a great mix of drama and comedy. Some scenes dug deep into the meaning of life, while others had you laughing so hard that you were crying. The director adapted the show and made it more modern and contemporary. With that being said, the show became funnier because the material was relevant to the time. The actors were outstanding and the show was outstanding.

The songs were the best part of the show. As I already said, the show won a grammy because of the phenomenal songs. The best songs are Day by Day, Prepare Ye The Way of the Lord, We Beseech Thee, and Light of the World. The songs made you want to just start dancing. Along with the script, the songs were both serious and funny. Some made you think deep and some made you laugh. Every actor had a spectacular voice. The featured actors really showcased their impressive talents. The cast as a whole also sounded flawless. Words cannot describe how impressed I was with the voices and the songs.

As I have already said about a thousand times, the show was spectacular. The acting, singing, and songs were amazing. I can’t believe the performers were only in college, I was very impressed. Dean College put on a great performance of Godspell.

New York City

New York City, the largest city in the United States, is home to more than eight million people. Its five major burrows consist of a large, diverse population. The numerous corporations that have offices there make Manhattan a business hub. Its numerous monuments and landmarks make it a popular tourist vacation place for people around the world.

New York City has five boroughs: Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island, each one different in its own unique way. Queens, for example, consists of people of many different cultures from around the world. There are many Chinese, Mexican, and Indian restaurants in Queens. In Manhattan, Chinatown is home to many ethnic Chinese people who speak mostly mandarin instead of English. The Bronx has many Hispanic and African-American neighborhoods. This helps bring new immigrants to New York City.

Many large corporations and media companies are based in New York City, specifically in Manhattan. For example ABC and NBC are both based in New York City. Both the NFL (National Football League), the MLB (Major League Baseball), and the NHL (National Hockey League) are based in New York City. Even Macy’s is based in New York City. This has made NYC the place for big businesses.

 

New York City, for a long time has been a popular tourist destination for people around the world. Monuments like the statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge are what bring many people to visit the city. New York’s empire State building is one of the largest buildings in the country and are definitely a landmark in NYC. This helps a lot with the City’s economy.

New York must be a nice place to live in. It’s five different boroughs make for diverse living. It has many national monuments that make it a popular place to visit. Many big companies are also based there. New York, to me, seems like an interesting place, and I would definitely visit it.

 

Welcome to the Summer Reading Page!

Welcome, Class of 2018!

I am so excited to work with you starting in September.  I am already busy planning how to make English 8 the best 8th Grade English class you will ever take.

This year for summer reading activities, we are going to try something a bit different.  Instead of a project, I just want you to talk to each other about what you are reading.  I know for me, when I read a good (or bad!) book, I just want to talk about it and share my thoughts with a friend.  Over the course of the summer, I am going to expect you to comment and respond to others comments as you complete your summer reading.

This year’s 8th grade English read is new: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.  It was a book that really made me look at things I had always come to expect very differently.  Yes, it is long, and I understand that might be overwhelming at first, but I really do think if you are open to it, you will enjoy it.  The book examines life in Germany during the Holocaust and has a very interesting narrator and a different perspective.  I have read a lot of books about this time period and this, to me, is not only the most unique, but also the most powerful.

Because of the novel’s uniqueness, I got a bit confused my first time through it.  Good readers do get confused sometimes, but they don’t give up.  They try to think of ways to get un-confused. One way to do that is to ask questions. And because we are all reading it, your classmates and I will try to help answer those questions.  Although questions aren’t required, they are encouraged.   What is required is responding to at least two of the AFTER READING THE BOOK posts and commenting on your classmates’ ideas.

Have some fun with this, be respectful, and share your ideas.  Your comments will allow me to plan lessons around what interests you so that we can start off September with a bang!

If you have any questions at all, you can always email me at lisa.iaccarino@worcesteracademy.org.

Happy Reading!!

Requirements:

• You must respond to at least two posts marked (AFTER READING THE BOOK DISCUSSION)
• You must respond to at least four DIFFERENT classmates’ responses.  Whenever possible, try to create a discussion.
• Each response should be at least four sentences – see below on what makes a valid response.

Optional:

• Participation in the “I’m Confused” Blog Posts

How to Comment Appropriately

It’s only the PROLOGUE and I’m Already Confused!?!?!?!

After reading the first chapter of any book, you often have a lot of questions.  The Book Thief  has a very interesting narrator and narration style, which really confused me the first time I read it!  Are you already confused after  Chapter 1?  If so, what are you confused about? If you can help out a classmate, feel free.  I will delete anything that might confuse someone more.  Don’t give up yet!  The greatness is just getting started!!!

Questions I have about Part I

Questions I have about Part 2

Questions I have about Part 3

Questions I have about Part 4

Questions I have about Part 5

Questions I have about Part 6