Sunday, August 12, 2012

Olivia Book review


The white giraffe
The white giraffe is about a young English GIRL named martine whose parents were killed in a house fire. Her only living relative is a grandmother she didn’t know she had. Who, just happens to live thousands of miles away, in a game reserve in south Africa. Martine does not want to live with her strict grandmother, who she thinks doesn’t want her. Tendai, her grandmother’s assistant, mistakenly lets word of the legend of the white giraffe of sawubona loose. Martine has to find it in a race against time.
             Although I like this book, I seriously don’t see why the main characters of books are orphans. Take for instance, harry potter. He’s a orphan. Artemis fowl- his dad is missing and his mom doesn’t leave her room. Katniss- dad is dead and mother doesn’t take care of children for some time. Sisters grimm- parents in enchanted sleep. I don’t get it.yes, if martine’s parents wouldn’t have died she wouldn’t have moved to Africa and met jemmy. Oops, who is jemmy? You’ll have to find out.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Luke Book Review


Dragon lance-War of Souls vol. 1
                This story is set after the events of the “Chaos war” of a previous series. In the beginning, the main(ish) character, Mina, appears after a huge storm sweeps across Ansalon. She then gains the trust of the Neraka knights camped within the valley she came from, healing the minotaur Galdar`s lost right arm and reshaping the armor of the previous (and now deceased) commander. Later, she increases her forces at the siege of Solace/Sharumitn/etc.,etc. I can`t say it, blah blah blah. Via taking control of a mercenary unit hired by the Knights.
                Then, the story shows other protagonists, including the elfish princes Silvan and Gilthas, of the nation’s Silvanesti and Qualinesti respectively. Then comes Gerard and Tas, the Solamnic Knight who wishes for a more honorable post, and the kender whose very existence could have caused the whole world to go out of whack.
Overall, this was a good book, if somewhat confusing. The multiple plots were hard to grasp altogether, and the connections between the stories were almost nil until the ending, when TWO characters met for the first time, and then proceeded to kick the end in the rear to get an ending/cliff-hanger. I liked it, but it was (as I stated) hard to add the stories together at first, so I almost always ended up following mostly one story at any time.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Liv's blog


Go for gold
DAY 14 OF THE OLYMPICS, AND THE US IS LEADING CHINA BY 4 MEDALS. 2 OF WHICH WERE SCORED BY AMERICANS KERRI WALSH-JENNINGS AND MISTY MAY-TREANOR, THE OLYMPIC ‘GOLDEN GIRLS’ AND APRIL ROSSS AND JENNIFER KESSY. LAST NIGHT AT HORSE GUARDS PARADE THE GOLD MEDAL MATCH WAS NOT BETWEEN THE U.S. AND BRAZIL, BUT THE 2 AMERICAN TEAMS. MAY AND WALSH HAD PREVIOUSLY WON 2 GOLD MEDALS FOR BEACH VOLLEYBALL IN ATHENS AND BEIJING. THE WERE LOOKING TO KEEP THEIR TITLE RUNNING FOR 3 OLYMPICS, WHICH NO ONE HAS DONE BEFORE. THE FIRST SET RAN SMOOTHLY, AND A SERVICE ERROR GAVE MISTY AND KERRI THEIR HARD EARNED MEDAL. KERRI AND MAY DOMINAATED BEACH VOLLEY BALL, WITH A SCORE OF 42-1 SETS AND 21-O MATCHES.THEY WERE PARTNERS FOR 11 YEARS AND WON 3 CONSECUTIVE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS. MISTY MAY- TREANOR IS DECIDING TO RETIRE, BUT KERRI IS LOOKING FOR A NEW PARTNER.
      STILL, THE GOLDEN GIRLS LEAVE BEHIND A LEGACY THAT’S HARD TO BEAT.

Luke's article


Kilpatrick`s back?!?!?
In the newspaper today, it seems that the public corruption case of Kwame Kilpatrick, his father, a water boss named Mercado, and a man named Ferguson. They are charged with the crime of corruption because of a multi-million project that authorities say paid $23 million more than necessary, mostly due to Kilpatrick and Mercado lining their own pockets and sending more work towards Ferguson. Unfortunately, this case was postponed multiple times before now, and there seems to be a conflict of interest between Kilpatrick and his lawyer, and Mercado is still attempting to get his own trial instead of a “guilt-by-association” one with the other three men.
Personally, I wish the trial would get on. If there is enough evidence to prove that THEY DID THE CRIME, start a trial, show the evidence, and then hope that the jury actually understands what they`ve been told instead of doing something like letting the men walk away. I know it`ll take longer than that, with jury selections and the actual trial, but after that, the trial should really have been done by now. It`s bad enough that the trial was postponed, and if there keeps being some distraction whenever it`s gonna start the trial might as well be called off.

(the pressure`s starting to get to me…. I can feel it… I CAN FEEL IT!!!!! AAAGGGGHHH!!!!!!!)
Here is a sign of my frustration.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Duct-tape dilemma


Can one make a duct tape wallet that isn`t bad??? Can they?!?!?!

Equipment:
·         Duct-tape (duh.)
·         Scissors (possible adult supervision required)
·         Ruler or other measuring tool
·         (optional) Marker/pens

Procedure:
1.       Make eight pieces of 7-10 inch pieces of duct-tape, and lay them on top of one another in groups of four, with a quarter of an inch overlap. Take one of the groups and lay it on top of the other to make a “fabric”.
2.       Fold the new piece in half, and take a new piece of duct-tape the same length as the short edge of the fold. Cover said fold, and then tape other fold in the same manner.
3.       (Extra) to make a pocket, take two pieces of tape, on larger than the other. Place the small piece on the sticky side of the large piece, with the sticky parts together. Then, trim the edges of the large piece so that it can fit on the inside of the wallet.

Conclusion:
Livi didn`t make a too bad wallet, although she didn`t have pockets. She then proceeded to attempt to shove it off on me.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Olivia's book review


The thieves of Ostia
The thieves of Ostia is set in 79 A.D., in ancient Rome. The main characters are a Christian boy named john, a ship captain’s daughter, Flavia, a mute boy called lupus, and a slave girl named Nadia. It is a mystery, and the first book in a series.  Someone is killing watch dogs and taking the heads. Also, someone stole from a very important man in Rome. Could the 2 be connected? Flavia must find out.   
      This book was really good and the second book is called the secrets of Vesuvius. Also, I liked how every place in the book really existed, like Ostia was really in Rome and is a town, and Pliny really is a person.

Luke book review


Struts and Frets
                This is the high school life of Samuel Bojoer, a guy whose full life probably sucks in the extreme. His mother is a therapist, the frontman in his band, Joe, is a total meat-head who is only in because he can beat the other three members in  a fight (or in that case, massacre) can`t sing for his life, and Sam`s beginning to have “feelings” (Note: this is not the words used. There IS a reason this book was put in the young adult`s section.) for his oldest friend, Jen5 (It`s because there were 4 other Jennifer).
                This book was pretty amusing, namely because the characters seem to have an almost “real” feel, (although some things the author probably didn`t know about now modern teens/high-schoolers) with the random emotions, and also because one of Sam`s friends, Rick, is homosexual, which is actually more or less a lot more common in today`s society (and to those of you who are anti-gay/don`t like gay people/find it “blasphemous” (in case you`re religious), shut it. It`s their choice, jerks.) And it adds a bit more depth to the relation Sam shares with Rick, because he had never known that Rick was homosexual before.
                I also felt that it was a good story because of how Sam and Jen5 grew over the course of the book (well, grew together, as a couple, y`know?) because both were discouraged by their parents (sadly) to quit what they wanted to be most (which was an artist and musician, respectively.) and become doctors or lawyers (I hate lawyers, they`re the ones who become politicians, and I`ve never been too fond of visiting doctors/health agencies in general) instead, which I found to be dumb as heck.
                It wasn`t a bad book. That`s the most honest thing I can say about it. I can`t say it was the best, but I liked it.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Luke's science experiment-written up by Liv


HOT! HOT! HOT!
Why do peppers burn our mouths? Peppers contain an acid called capsaicin, oil in the pepper’s flesh. This acid in the pepper causes your mouth to ‘burn’, which is actually the pain sensor in your mouth telling your brain this is hot. We wanted to find out what cure works best: water or milk?
       Luke tried a jalapeño pepper, and for him, milk worked best. Why? To relieve your tongue, you have to get the oil off. When there is oil on pans, we use soap, which breaks down the oil, to clean them. Although soap isn’t good to put in your mouth, milk also emulsifies [breaks down] the oil, while water doesn’t. Therefore milk is a better choice when eating hot foods.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Olivia's review. . .

 . . .and no they did not know that they did it on the same book.  Guess this is a trilogy worth checking out.  They read at least 10 books a week so for them to pick the same one, it must have made an impact.


Morpheus Road: the light
    Morpheus road is about a boy named marshall seavers.his mom died in a accident and his father is away a lot. He lives in stony brook, Connecticut, and works at a trophy shop with mark dimond. [ pendragon references!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!] marsh’s best friend is a trouble kid and is sent to spend the summer at his family’s lake cabin. He goes missing. Marshall needs to find him, and along the way get some answers
       Morpheus road: the light is the first ina trilogy by D.J McHale. The second book is the black, and the third is the blood. I don’t know if the blood is really the title of the third book but its my guess. The story contains some intresting twists and imposing obstacles.i liked the story and if you are a scary story lover, you will too. 

*                     
                                                                                                 

Luke book review


Morpheus road
(Note: this is a basis of the two-out of three books I`ve been able to obtain)
                It all starts when Coop, Marsh`s best friend and Sydney`s brother, disappears when he goes up to his family`s cottage for the whole summer. Marsh begins to be haunted by a character he made himself, a freakish ghoul that tries to kill him. He also starts seeing a Celtic, triple swirl pattern, which eventually leads him to Sydney.
                Meanwhile, Coop is in the Black, which some call… no, never mind I don`t want to spoil it. He repeatedly helps Marsh in the Light, trying to help him figure out his fate, while trying to avoid a total border-war against Damon the Butcher, a thousand-year old commander of Alex the Great`s, who wants total domination.
                I found this book series to be really good, mostly due to its unique perspective on a very daunting aspect of life, which some of us may have had a hard time contemplating. It does have its parts though, where it may be more for an older group (sorry kids) because of absolute idiocy and freakish events inside the storyline and minds of the characters.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

In honor of Fern,

Instead of blogging about an article in news, I asked the kids to respond to the big news in our house-the addition of Fern Stielstra to our extended family :)


Dear Nate,
There are some things you should know about having a little sister. (I would know. I actually have a little sis.) I hope you take this advice seriously (at least when you can read this.) and know that I mean all of the things in this letter.
1.       Little sisters can be ANNOYING. They usually figure out how to push your buttons at an early age, and they also steal all the attention with something “cute”. (It`s not even close)
2.       Your little sister will also have a tendency to do evil things, like steal stuff from your room, mostly because it goes along with the first point, but sometimes it is just because they want it.
3.       Do not let your little sister copy you. This not only leads occasionally to the first point, but it may also cause sibling fighting later on, which it is likely you could end up getting blamed for.
And now for some better stuff!
1.       Little sisters can actually be (sometimes) fun! They may have some of the same likes/dislikes as you, and that can lead to enjoyable conversations/games/etc.etc.etc.
2.       You will now have a playmate/friend, when you`re both older (and, let`s face it, almost everyone besides Fern is older than you by quite a margin.) so you can do things with her.
3.       If it`s allowed, SHE`S THE PERFECT PRANK SUBJECT!!!
4.       You officially have another family member.(YAHHHOOOO!!!!)
From your unofficially adopted cousin (With best regards),

Luke E. Melville
Official artist and semi-manga writer

Dear Fern,
10 things you should know about having a big brother.
10)              You have to compromise
9) Your brother will not comprehend when you say I don’t have anything to wear, but he will sometimes suggest something that is wearable
8) Piggyback rides are always worth it. ;)
7) Sharing = good, greedy = no no
6) He will annoy you. Be prepared. Have a bull horn.
5) He must knock to come in your room. Unless you share one. Then he has to knock and ask.
4) He’s not that much older…..
3) If you play a game, bargain.  You want this, he wants that, you play yours first and his some other time.
2) He might let you borrow things if you ask nicely.
1) No matter what, he loves you.

Love,
Olivia



Monday, July 16, 2012

Can Onions and a Sports drink Charge an iPod??-submitted by Luke


Can Onions and a Sports drink Charge an iPod??
Supplies:
·         Onion
·         Electrolyte-enhanced sports drink (PowerAde, Gatorade, etc.) PowerAde in our case, of 20 ounces, or enough to cover the onion
·         Screwdriver or other thin, pointy objects (No swords for this kids, sorry) (parental supervision possibly required)
·         Charger cable (USB port and part you put in media player)
·         Dead or low battery level Media player (iPod, MP3, etc.)
·         Large jar or deep container
·         Timer (optional)
·         Cloths to dry off wet instruments
What we did:
1.       Take the onion and screwdriver, and poke two holes on opposite side of the onion
2.       Place the onion  in the container, and then pour the sports drink so it covers the onion (Perfectionist`s note: the onion may float, so this is fine as long as the holes are close enough to the drink that it can soak the onion`s tissues. And no, I don`t mean Kleenex.)
3.       Wait thirty minutes…. (This is the most boring part. I actually wrote most of the post during this time… ZZZZZZ)
4.       Take the onion out, and place the USB part in the onion.
5.       Place the charger part into the media player
6.       Wait (AGAIN?!?? NOOOOOO!!!!!!) For a few minutes (oh.) to see if anything happens.
7.       State your result and finish a report.
I honestly thought this wouldn`t work in the least. I know that a lemon could be able to do something like this, but that had something to do with its electrolytes and its acidity.
And… I was… Right!! The onion-juice mix doesn`t work at all, and all my sis got was a USB full of Onion!
(Author`s note: To those of you who find the 2nd video annoying, I apologize. I think that the conclusion should be at the end of an experiment, not said in the mid-end-non-finish. I am sorry if it was annoying hearing us.)
Mom's note-I can't post the videos because they are too long!  I do have them saved if you are ever interested......
Best regards to all those willing to put up with our experiments,
 Luke Melville

Friday, July 13, 2012

Olivia book review


The Ruby Key
      The ruby key is part of the moon and sun series and it is the first book. The main characters are a girl named genna [14] and danith [12] genna and dan live in a world where there 2 types of people. The day people, the humans, and the nightlings. The humans are allowed out from the rising of the sun to the setting. As you may have guessed, the nightlings rule the night. Once a year there is an offering night. The humans give the nightlings what they have and the nightlings do likewise. It is offering night. Genna and Dan’s father is missing and has been for a while. Their father was the caer, the leader of the village. When their father caught the saku, the disease, he wandered into the forest. Now their mother has caught the sickness and banris, the new caer is trying to get her to marry him. Genna and Dan’s mother is also the yihanna, the medicine woman. Dan and Genna sneak out to collect sap to help their mother. Along the way, they meet someone who starts the journey of their lives.
      I liked this book, because the main character isn’t smart or magical. She’s just a farm girl who wants to save the life of the ones she loves. She is just determined. Also, the world in this story has many hidden corners and niches. The plot is complicated, but anything could happen, especially with a certain cat. 

Luke's review of Camp Mirage


Camp Mirage
                This week was the only week I was getting to go to a FUN summer camp (and if you think Geometry is fun, try being Me.) at camp Mirage. It was pretty enjoyable overall, with only a few minor issues.
                At first my team had a harder time working together (Grant, you nut.) because of some people`s oddities. We didn`t do half bad later, although we did have a traitor (Mihere… Why? Answer me, WHY?!) Who eventually was just transferred to the other team? We all did well with individual challenges, although the team ones were the more difficult ones, due in part to an individual (there were more than one) in each challenge who rushed ahead and didn`t think for the team (like the time I forgot we ALL had to go through the net).
                It wasn`t total rivalry, though. I made friends with Jason, who was on the other team, and we had a pretty good time at the top of the Flytrap each day (he preferred guns instead of swords/knives/b-ball bats against zombies though. I don`t know why.) talking about anything that caught our minds and didn`t let go, albeit it was mostly zombie survival. So I made friends and enjoyed myself this week, and I think this stay for a while with me.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

B-ball BFF battle-Luke



                Adam Jones of the Orioles, and Quintin Berry of the Tigers… The two have been friends since high-school, and are going to play their first game against each other in the majors. Wow. That`s actually slightly touching and exciting at the same time. (Is that even possible, anyways???)
                I personally think it is rather neat that two players have known each other for so long (twenty years straight!!!), and are even celebrating at the prospect of playing each other again. For me, I don`t think I`d be all that excited to play my friend, because one of us would have to lose, so I`d feel a little bad. Unless my relationship was more bro-rival-friends, where it was a bit more competitive, and we would purposely trying to best each other. (I think b-ball buddies would be more like this, though.)
                Both men are saying that they are wildly excited to play each other, (namely because they never have before, somehow) and can`t wait. I think I`m actually a little excited, and I`m waiting for the results pretty expectantly (I`ll bet Bumpa`ll actually watch it too, if only because it`s a Tigers game, if not because of the Rivalry-thing, like I might. I think.)

Dog fights-Olivia


Dog fights
The humane society and the police raided a home in Detroit where a man had showed off roosters and dogs he claimed to use to dog fight. A online video was shown  and went viral this week. The man was identified  as a rapper named young calicoe. On wendesday at about noon, investigators brought animals out of the house including roosters and some dogs looking like pitbulls. People had been questioned but it looks like no one was arrested,  police spokes woman says.The humane society is the lead investigator in this case but didn’t release details. They don’t know if dog fighting really happened at the house. The video was just a home tour showing off his animals he claimed were in dog fights.
          Dog fights are cruel. They in jure the dogs, as well as teach them not to trust anything.  Dogs that were in dog fights are usually too violent to be in a family and have to be put down. That is a waste of a dog. Who knows what that dog could have done if it hadn’t  been forced to fight. It could have been a rescue dog or a loved family pet.  That’s the truth of vile dog fights. I don’t see why anyone should even think about having one. They don’t even have them fight for a reason. Just the fact of entertainment is their modus operandi. I hope that the supposed dog fights didn’t happen so no dogs were ruined and neither were the roosters

Monday, July 9, 2012

science project posted by Liv


It’s raining, it’s pouring!
This week’s science experiment was wet, and rainy. The supplies were quite easy, two almost exactly the same t-shirts and… [Drum roll please,] rain?
The question is whether walking in the rain gets you less wet than running. I believe it is true because when you run you are in a hunched position and you have more surface area exposed to the rain. When you walk you are upright and less area is exposed. When Luke did the test of running and walking down the driveway, we found that as he ran down the driveway he also ran into the droplets as well as them hitting his back. Then while he walked, he kind of walked through the water. If you look at the pictures and compare the shirts, the shirt from him running [light grey] is wetter than the walking shirt. Drawing from our results, I conclude that if you’re stuck in the storm, walk and don’t run to shelter


Saturday, July 7, 2012

Liv book review


Miss               Home for                       children
     Peregrins                 peculiar
      Miss Peregrins home for peculiar children starts out with a character named Jacob. He is talking about a event in your life where after it, everything is referred to as Before and After.then, it begins as his grandfather telling his stories. He escaped Poland to get away from the monsters, and found refuge in a magical island guarded by a bird with a pipe, where the children had special powers.His grandfather would then show him his pictures. A unhappy contortionist, a boy with a puppy’s body,a girl in a bottle… 10 years later, Jacob is working at a drug store. He receives a call from his grandfather and his grandpa is frantically searching for a key, the key to his shed where he keeps his guns.”the monsters are coming for me” he screams. Jacob goes home to check on him and finds the house ripped apart .he ventures to the woods and finds his grandfather almost dead. His last words are cryptic and vague.’find the bird. In the loop. On the other side of the old mans grave. September 3rd,1940.emerson- the letter.’ He sees a face with multiple toungues in the woods right after and  has nightmares for months. Him, his father and his aunt also have to clean out his house.his aunt finds a book, a book by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Tucked inside is a letter and a photo. The photo is of a miss peregrine, the headmisstress  of the orphanage he really went to, instead of the fantasies he made. The address was in the wales and he convinced his parents to let him go there. He discovers the orphanage, and what happens next is anybodies guess.
          I thought this book was really cool, albeit a little scary.the plot is interesting, but what I  thought was awesome was the fact that instead of describing the photos they actually have them in the book. Fact is, the photos are all real ones that people found. You should read this book.  

Mrs. Mary`s B-day science museum exhibition by Luke


Mrs. Mary`s B-day science museum exhibition
This. Was. FUN!
It was a pretty enjoyable time at the imagination station. I particularly liked the “Boyo” thing, although it was probably because I got higher than anyone else on it, (at least higher than Maeve, Rory, and Liv) and also I liked watching the uneven Tug-O-War thing (who wouldn`t like seeing a little kid win against a whole group of other kids? It looked almost herculean, it was so funny).
                It didn`t help that some of the exhibits were pretty hands-on, so I basically could do almost anything to examine things allowing me to view it better. The Mind Zone part was especially neat. Olivia and I could actually tell the difference with the optic illusion, so it was a bit fun (Maeve and Rory couldn`t tell though) watching others try and figure out how to see the different things (there was this one illusion, that no matter how hard they looked at the lines in the square, they couldn`t see the circle within the lines because of their thinness. I couldn`t discern the thickness of each of the lines either, but I could see the basic outline if I looked even straight at it.)
                It was even enjoyable when we had to take care of a little one each. (I got Finn) They pretty much had never been here before, or didn`t remember it, because they were as willing as we were to check out anything that moved. (Maeve was a little infatuated with the little kid`s zone, she thought it was cute how all the little kids made a bit of a community in their play.) Finn and I loved the Hurricane winds tester. (They all laughed at my hair going flat, too…)
                So it was fun for me, and I think Mrs. Mary got THREE presents from my family, (the gift in the bag) including my Happy B-Day hug and this blog post. I hope you had a relaxing day Mrs.Mary!! 

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Liv-New particle found


Knowledge is power

What is a particle ? A particle is a speck or small portion of something. But just one particle could unleash the answers to a decades long search. The relationship of why all matter has mass and a new side of subatomic science. That small particle is called the higgs particle, proposed first theoretically in the 1960’s.
       Scientists celebrated as 2 independent teams announced the high tech findings in Geneva, Switzerland. The CERN, [ European center for nuclear usually sedate, burst into often applause and physicists who had spent their career searching for the higgs particle cried. The recently discovered particle shares qualities with the acclaimed higgs particle, and is probably the greatest accomplishment at CERN since its creation. Rolf hewer, the director of CERN, says that the particle is a boson. A boson is a particle that has a even number of protons and electrons. the higgs boson is the key to understanding why matter has mass.
       Inside the CERN’s atom smasher, protons fly around a 17 mile tunnel underground. The protons whiz by at nearly light speed and the collisions aftermath can help  with clues to dark matter, antimatter, and the beginning of the universe.
       I believe this is important because atoms are made up of protons and electrons, which in turn are made of quacks and so on. Scientists were always puzzled as to how they acquire  mass. Higgs’s theory was that ‘ a new particle must be creating a sticky field that created a drag on other particles.’ Now that that particle creating a sticky field is found, scientists can understand the question of why matter has mass 

Farm plan close to reality for Detroit-Luke

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Farm plan close to reality for Detroit
                I honestly believe that this is a very good idea. I learned that of the population of Detroit, most people weren`t getting enough good food, (not starving) and some people were starting to make community gardens, similar to what the Hantz Farming co. is trying to do now. So, this means if it works, people will be getting healthier foods, and Detroit may (I think) get a better economical stand, because it won`t need to keep paying for abandoned buildings, because those will be removed for farmland.
On the other hand, it may cause housing problems if an economic boom happens in Detroit due to the new farms. If people start moving to Detroit because it`s becoming better off, a lack of housing may occur, because the houses the people could`ve moved into are now farms. It seems to be unlikely to me, though, and even if it were to happen, I`d say “And?” because if people from somewhere else are just coming here to mooch off Detroit because it got better, not because they need jobs or anything that they can`t find in their other home, so they can live the high life, the lack of housing kinda would help.
So, all in all, the idea of selling part of the eastern part of the city to make farmland seems to be a good idea to me. I don`t know if the effects will all be good, but it seems to be a good option.

Friday, June 29, 2012

Olivia's week at Chem Camp


Chemistry camp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So this week [Monday through Friday] I went to chemistry camp. I had a lot, lot, lot of fun and met some people I hope to see again. I am kind of going to put everything in a list and pick my favorites from that day, and explain them.
          Monday was chromatography and color, [which was quite messy; we have pictures to prove it].Here is Monday’s list.
*   Rainbows in a tube
*   Marbled notes
*   The universal rainbow?
*   Chromatography [whatever could it mean?]
*   The case of the missing lunches……
Before I explain anything, I have to tell you of the case of the missing lunches…
        Ms. Mary had stayed inside while we, the students, and Ms. Peg explored. We found a tree house and a pond. It was almost lunch time when we came back in. we sat down at the tables and on the smart board it said: problem, your lunches have been stolen. Solution, and then it was blank. Our solutions were to A) interrogate ms.mary, B) look for clues, or C) have Spencer, Nathaniel, Patrick, and Tommy share their lunches with us. Guess which one we chose. A!!!!!!!!!!! JK. We chose b. sure enough, a clue was on the table. It read “if you can figure out the markers I will give you your lunches back.” Since we had done chromatography [color data] earlier in the morning, we ripped apart the note and soaked it in alcohol, isophl propel, and water. By careful comparison we found out that she [Mrs. Mary] had used a rose art blue, crayola brown, and a permanent black. This Monday story was really long so I’ll go to Tuesday.
          Under pressure, pushing down on me, pushin’ down on you, under pressure. Tuesday put us under a ton of pressure. Air pressure, that is.
·       Bottle rockets
·       The great balloon race
·       Shrink wrap the kid and take out the garbage!
·       Pressure in a station
·       Creature
·       The crushed can
·       The balloon in the bottle
I probably forgot some, but I want to talk about creature. Creature is a really fun game with three people to a team. One is the observer, one is the runner, and one is the builder. You have to build something with legos and whoever gets it the closest or exact wins. There is an object in a box and only the observer can look at it. The observer can stand at a certain area but they can’t go out of that space. The runner gets instruction from the observer about how to build it and the runner then takes the instructions to the builder, like the 6 dot green in the 3rd row is next to the white 8 dot, ECT. The runner is kind of like the messenger because they carry the instructions and any questions the builder [or the runner] may have.BTW, my team tied for second. Moving on, I’m now going to talk about shrink wrapping the kid. That reminds me of the golden rule of science: science never sucks. No, literally, air can’t suck. It can only push. So for shrink wrapping, there was a trash bag that you took off your shoes and sat in. you held the nozzle of a vacuum and held it so it didn’t touch the bag.  The pressure inside the bag was less than the outside because of the vacuum and the pressure outside pushed the trash bag in and enclosed you, like wearing a blanket or a snuggie. Real quick I’ll say about the great balloon race, which was where we strung a string across the room and came up with designs to make it [sorry ms.peg, the balloon] go all the way across the room. The simplest designs, one balloon blown up, worked the best, but let’s go on a whole ‘nother course.
Wednesday was a quiet, sit and observe day. It was kinda random, do whatever.
We:
ü Played with bottle rockets
ü Holes in a bottle
ü Alka-Seltzer
ü One floats, the other doesn’t
ü Which is faster?
ü Glow sticks
ü Drops on a penny
ü A bunch of stuff I can’t remember at all…..
Okay I went and grabbed my journal but all I have are the observation stations. So I will explain alka seltzer, holes in a bottle, and which is faster. I’m starting with holes in a bottle, which was where a plastic bottle   had a hole in it and you put your finger on the hole, filled up the bottle, screwed the cap on tight, and when you took your finger off the water wouldn’t come out. Which is faster was where you had to observe two mystery liquids [oil and water] and see which one the penny dropped faster in [it was water]. Last but not least alka-seltzer. We took warm and cold water and put alka-seltzer in it and the warm water made it bubble faster because heat makes molecules speed up. On to polymers!!!!!!
          Thursday was polymers. Polymers are long chains of carbon and hydrogen. We did:
v Ooblek
v Slime
v Clay heads
v Disappearing water?
v Water loc beads
v Diaper filling
v We also rotted our brains but watching TV.
Polymer means literally ‘many monomers’ I’ll be explaining ooblek, slime, and a mystery polymer. My favorite was the messy, messy oobleck. Oobleck is corn starch with water in it. If you work it and apply pressure it becomes hard but if it relaxes it turns into a liquid. It also stuck to your hands, I got some on my pants, and some people got it on their shirts even. ;). The slime was made of 0ne part water, one part glue, and a little borax solution. As you turn it and stir it it becomes a solid. Then you had to work it [the slime, sorry] like bread dough, as one way to put it. My mysterious polymer is…. Diaper powder? Diapers have a polymer inside the pad because polymers absorb liquids. That’s also what we used in the missing water experiment. She put diaper powder in one cup and water in another and switched the cups and poured the water in the cups and then poured it in the cup with the powder. The powder absorbed the water making it appear to have disappeared. Now to the last day, Friday.
          On Friday we did fire and ice, explosions and carbon dioxide. A quick lesson; fire = heat+energy. Fire creates h2o and co2, water and carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is NOT flammable. In fact, we did quite a cool experiment with it. We did:
o   Fire in a bottle
o   Light saber
o   Mentos in pop
o   Dowse the candle with co2
o   Baking soda and vinegar
o   Air hockey
o   Dry ice in a indicator, a.k.a the mad scientist
o   Spark-l-ers
o   Tea bag rockets
o    Presentation
Air hockey and the mad scientist go together; along with baking soda+vinegar and dowse the candle with co2.but first I’ll start with the mad science. We put water in a cup and added the universal indicator, which showed if it was an acid [yellow/red], neutral, [green] or a base [blue/purple/ dark green] by changing colors. Water is a neutral so it turned green. We put in dry ice and fog came out, that was water condensation. It also turned the water from a neutral to an acid. How air hockey and this relate is because of the dry ice.ms. Peg told us to hit it around the table and what did it remind us of. We said air hockey and we were right because of the heat from the table it forms a layer of carbon dioxide and that was what it was floating on like air hockey. Before that, we put baking soda and vinegar in a bowl and that created carbon dioxide. Because carbon dioxide is denser than the air it stayed in the bowl and you could put it in a cup and pour it. It is NOT flammable so you can put a candle by it and it will blow out. So we tried to scoop up the carbon dioxide and pour it out on the candle and it went out!!!!!!!!!!!! We put mentos in coke too and we put it in on the table and the pin pulled out prematurely and we got coke on us.
          All in all chem Camp was very fun and I hope to do it next year. 

Luke Book review


07-Ghost
The book I`m currently writing about is called Seven Ghost. It follows the life of Teito, a slave child taken from a kingdom called Raggs, who was sold into military service. On the final days of his being in the Academy, he hears an officer named Ayanami talking about how he killed Teito`s “father”. Afterwards, Teito attacks Ayanami, is thrown into jail, and then escapes into District 7, the kingdom`s “Zone of God”.
After Teito escapes, he is found by three bishops, Frau (a total delinquent and perv) Castor (who makes moving dolls????) and Labrador, who take him to their church and care for him. Teito learns soon after that his friend who helped him escape, Mikage, is now in District 7. When Teito finds him, the whole church (especially the nuns (who, for some reason, are more teenaged and obsessed with anything they find cute, including Teito)) helps care for Mikage.
Soon after, it is revealed that Mikage only has half of a soul, and then during a mass, Mikage attacks Teito. Then, a reaper looking guy comes in, who Teito remembers as Zehel, a ghost who fought Verloren (basically this world`s Satan).
Unfortunately, that`s where the story kinda ended.
I personally enjoyed this manga because the story is a mix of fantasy and sci-fi (that means futuristic stuff) which was cool while at the same time not clashing. I also find the byplay between Frau and all the non-delinquent bishops to be quite funny (Castor-san always ticks Frau off) as well as the fact that all the nuns kept rejecting him, although he didn`t stop hitting on them.
I was also able to connect with the protagonist, mostly due to our similar views on faith. In the story, God hasn`t done anything to help Teito, and his life was almost misery outside of anything he could do. For me, I`ve never felt God help me in any sort of way, and I haven`t had much reason to trust he would do something for me currently.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Luke's article response


Congress gives thanks, rights wartime injustices

(This was far overdue. Stupid politicians.)

 Wednesday, former African-American Marines obtained the highest civilian honors possible, the Congressional Gold Medal. I say it`s about time. The marines at the ceremony, now in their 80`s to 90`s, were treated like crap in the 1940`s, and the only reason they got the medals now was because the army and government felt bad. I think they should`ve gotten a lot more. The officers who trained them treated them like crap, they were not initially allowed to fight because the main head thought they were “unfit to fight”, and they didn`t get any honors for years because of segregation! What a load of bull-crap! They went through the exact same thing as the white soldiers, and they didn`t get anything. In fact, there were 19,000 African-Americans who were in the training camps and war. Only about a fifth of them still live. It`s like, “What the heck. Why did it take so long, that`s not even fair.” But, even though they aren`t getting a lot of honors, it`s still a very happy time for those men, who are finally being realized for their service.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

part 4-olivia review


Big? Or small?
The pasta debate
I was reading the news and I discovered a article on food. Nothing else was intresting so I read it. It was debating bigger noodles or smaller noodles. The article started out with the statement that you find larger noodles in soups and pasta salads, but smaller noodles dont over whelm anything else because instead of getting a bite of just noodle, the minis allow you to taste the other flavors by getting a noodle and salad or what ever you put in the pasta salad. It also listed some recipes for isreali couscous with watermelon, watercress and feta,and orzo and broccoli salad. Some types of pasta are orzo, couscous, and orecchiette. Also you can find mini version of penne and farfelle, fusilli and gemelli

Friday, June 22, 2012

part three-Luke newspaper


This week I`m writing about Tigers baseball. (If only because I was bored by the politics.) Justin Verlander of the D-Tigers is planning to go to the All-Star game. The rotation is allowing him plenty of rest, with his final start before the break to be July 4th, the final game on the 8th.
                Personally, I think he isn`t that great, mostly because he doesn`t do as well whenever I actually watch a baseball game (am I picking up Bumpa`s evil luck? Brrr…..) and I don`t really know the extent of the other player`s abilities. Besides that, I also don`t know if each team has to put in a minimum of one player for the game or if it`s by popular demand, anyway.
                Apparently he is the defender of the Cy Young award (oooohhhh…) most valuable player in MLB (aahhhhh…) and also is tied for quality starts in games with 12 (Wooooow!!). He also has been picked six times before (Obviously popular) and has an overwhelming majority of fans in Texas. (???)
                I don`t see how this all makes sense, but it seems that Verlander will be picked. So, for all of you baseball junkies in your Tiger`s dens and facial war paint, or Tiger`s beer in your man/Tigers/fan-cave, if -you love Verlander, now`s your chance to see him in an All-Star game once again.

part two-Luke's review


HACKING HARVARD

A report by Luke Melville

                First off, let me get this straight. Max, Eric, and Schwarz are NOT pranksters. They are bona fide Hackers. A hacker is a person or group who does things to show that something is flawed or to punish someone evil. (Like their social studies teacher).
                Eric is the good guy, the main ethical point, the man who can. Max is the idea guy, almost constantly coming up with Ideas that would work perfect if it went exactly to plan. Schwarz is the super-genius who has vintage playboys, worships math (bleh.) and is completely and utterly afraid of live women. (In the beginning, the other two have to clean his room of female underwear, and Schwarz is totally terrified of each. (especially a “slinky black lace” bra)).
                So, the three are hackers. Soon, Max makes a bet with other people called the “Bums” for around… $25,000. They challenge if Max`s group can get a totally sleazy, lazy, mean, jerky moron named Clay Porter into Harvard. Max takes the bet, and the game is on. Throughout the book, the three hackers struggle with doing the job while following their (Surprisingly) strict code of conduct, attempting to earn those twenty-five grand while not getting caught.
                Later in the story, another element appears. A Harvard possibility named Lex. Eric begins to fall for her, only until the guys find out that she was a spy working for the Bums to get into Harvard the whole time. After her secret is out, she ends up helping the guys win the bet. Afterwards, it is revealed that she was the one telling the story, and she never got into Harvard, but it was probably for the better.

Time for the summer writing project!

Here's our (my) ambitious writing plan:
Mondays-a science experiment with a write up
Thursdays-reading and responding to the news
Friday-book review

The week was a little busy, so it's all getting posted today.
Part one-Olivia's book review

The false prince
Written by: Jenifer A. Nielson.
 report by Olivia Melville.
The false prince is a story about a group of orphans in the kingdom of carthya. The story is from the view point of sage a orpan. Or is he some one else?The king, queen , and heir to the throne have been poisoned and are dead, and have been so for a while. The youngest son, jaron, may or may not be alive. He was scheduled to go to a school upon a boat but after they set sail the pirates of avenia, their neighboring land, attacked the ship and jarons body was never found.. now, we meet the orphans latamer, tobias, roden, and sage. They were picked up at various orphanages by a mysterious elusive mr.conner, a noble man of the court. Conner has a plan; one the orphans must play an illusion, and speak naught but lies and treachery. The orphans who are not chosen to play the role will die. The one who is must be the false prince.