LSC-CyFair Teen Thoughts

Let's Talk About Pitbulls!

2012-02-13T10:33:00.005-06:00

(American Pitbull -Top Left) (Staffordshire Bull Terrier -Top Right) (American Stafford Bull Terrier - Bottom Left)

The pitbull was originally breed in England in the early 1800's as a faster and taller version of their cousin the bulldog for bull-baiting and dog fighting. In 1835, bull-baiting, dog fighting, and other animal versus animal blood sports where officially outlawed. Although dog fighting to this day is illegal, it is still practiced in low income areas in America today.

In the early 1900's, they where know as America's #1 Dog breed and they where the symbol of America during World War 1. What a contrast to today's symbol given of the pitbull. The were loving family dogs.

There are 3 dog breeds know as pitbulls the American Staffordshire Bull Terriers, the Staffordshire Bull Terriers, and the American Pitbull Terrier.

For the safety of their owners, they where bred to be completely trusting of humans. Their gentle nature toward people and the fact that they were great with kids can lead to a loyal family pet. This was demonstrated recently when a small child was rescued, and she had her trusty pitbull by her side the entire time.

There are many myths made up by the media's bad publicity for pitbulls. I will list and answer three of the myths below:

Pitbulls have Lock-Jaws .

False. It is physiology impossible for any animal in the world to have locking jaws. The pitbull head is designed to have a stronger bite then other dog breed their size; however, their bite is not as strong as other working breed dogs.

They like to eat people.

False. There is no domestic dog breed in the world designed to eat people. Pitbull where breed to have a high prey-drive (like all terriers) for small animals. Since they where originally breed as fighting dogs, they where breed to be aggressive with other dogs and animals not humans. These traits can be corrected by training and redirecting.

3. They are great as puppies but turn evil when they grow up

False. All puppies require training and pitbulls are not an exception. Pitbull puppies and as well as pitbull adults require more exercise, discipline, and animal to animal socialization than most other breeds.

Enjoy the links below for more information!

Information

www.dontbullymybreed.org

www.realpitbull.com/myths.html

www.dogbreedinfo.com/americanpitbull

www.dogbreedinfo.com/staffordshirebullterrier

www.dogbreedinfo.com/americanstaffordshire

www.cesarsway.com/newsandevents/cesarsblog/Going-Pit-Bull

www.cesarsway.com/dogbehavior/basics/How-Did-Pit-Bulls-Get-a-Bad-Rap

News

www.khou.com/news/texas-news/Father-son-walking-in-woods-discover-missing-toddler-pit-bull-after-hearing-faint-cry-138715999.html

www.cesarsway.com/training/socialization/Soap-Star-Suicide-Shines-Light-on-Pit-Prejudice

www.cesarsway.com/dogbehavior/basics/McDonalds-Pulls-Anti-Pit-Bull-Ad

Famous Pitbulls

Sergeant Stubby

Buster Brown Shoe Dog Tige

Daddy

Chinese Lantern Festival

2012-02-06T12:47:00.003-06:00

Hello everyone! Today is the Chinese Lantern Festival, the 15th day after the Chinese New Year. In the lunar calendar, the 15th of every month has a full moon, so today everyone goes out to enjoy the moon, fireworks, and lanterns. (Originally, there were supposed to be 10,000 lights and lanterns.) On this day, people also eat sweet dumplings.

The sweet dumplings are very round, and the round feature symbolizes a whole family staying together ("staying together" and "round" are homophones in Chinese). They are usually made out of glutinous rice flour and sweet bean paste fillings. They are often boiled, fried, or steamed. Personally, I like the boiled kind the most.

Also, when people enjoy lanterns, on every lantern there is a paper slip with a riddle on it. So, the lantern festival is not only to enjoy, it is also to think. Here are some riddles translated into English, and answers changed to make them make sense:

Which can move faster, heat or cold? (Don't think physics.)
How do we know that the ocean is friendly?
What kind of water should people drink to be healthy?
What kind of dog does not bite or bark? (Assume that every dog except for this one bites and barks.)
What book has the most stirring chapters?
Why is the empty purse always the same?
How many feet in a yard? (No, it isn't 3.)
What month do soldiers hate?

Post comments about your thoughts on these riddles. I will post answers next time. Thanks for reading, and have a happy Lantern Festival.

Year of the Dragon

2012-01-30T10:11:00.004-06:00

Happy New Year again! This time, we are celebrating the Chinese New Year. Eight days ago, the Year of the Rabbit changed to the Year of the Dragon. The Year of the Dragon has very unusual properties.

In China, there are 12 zodiacs; in order, they are: mouse, cow, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, and pig. The dragon is the only zodiac that is not a real animal. It is a spiritual, imaginary animal, and symbolizes good luck. In fact, 2000 years ago, people did dragon dances to pray for rain! People don't do dragon dances to pray for rain anymore, but the dragon dance is still a main activity for celebrations in China.

There are dragon designs on many arts and crafts. One can see dragon designs on furniture, clothing, and dining plates. There are also many beautiful folklores about dragons. Whenever people see eastern giant dragons, they immediately think of China. Accordingly, the Chinese view themselves as descendants of dragons.

As a note on this year, it is a "double leap year": it is a leap year in the solar and Chinese lunar calendars, which means it has 384 days in the Chinese lunar calendar! That is 30 days more than last year in the lunar calendar (354).

Finally, according to the folklore, the dragon has 9 sons. The ninth son is named Pi Xiu, whose main diet is gold, silver, and jewels. Thus, he is viewed as a fortune god, and if you buy a necklace pf him this year and wear it all the time, you will be rich!

Happy Year of the Dragon to all!

The Year that Winter Forgot?

2012-01-23T14:26:00.003-06:00

In Texas, it is 70 degrees outside. Everyone is wearing t-shirts and shorts throughout January. Is this still winter? It has been like this since Christmas. Is it the end of winter, or is global warming causing these temperatures?

It is true not only in Texas, but also the whole United States. In the lower 48 states, less than 20 percent of the states have received snow. Also, over half the country has had temperatures of at least 5 degrees above the norm. In North Dakota, temperatures have risen to 55 degrees, and in Nebraska, they have risen to 68!

Most people like warm winters; cold winters are uncomfortable. However, species of beetles are emerging in the West, since cold winters have not knocked them out. Is there anything in the "just-right" range that we can withstand? Is this sudden climate change leading to 12/21/2012, the possible end of the world? Will we have to really move high into the mountains? Only time will tell.

Results for Dangerous Dog

2012-01-12T09:56:00.003-06:00

These are the result for the Dangerous Dog Poll

1^st Place: (Tied with 5 votes each) Rottweilers and Pitbulls

2^nd Place: (4 votes) German Shepherds

3^rd Place: (Tied with 2 votes each) Alaskan Malamutes, Doberman Pinschers, Chow Chows, Boxers, and Presa Canarios

4^th Place: (Tied with 1 vote each) Dalmatians and Huskies

For the next few months I will be giving a little information about each breed.

Math: Boys vs. Girls

2012-01-10T11:00:00.005-06:00

Recently, I went to a math camp. When I went inside the classroom building, I saw around 75 students, but only ten or fifteen were girls. Also, at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), a very prestigious competition where one has 9 hours to solve 6 problems, the USA picks 6 students to compete in it. However, over the past 4 years of the IMO, the USA has had a grand total of zero girls out of 24 students. Is there any way to explain this phenomenon?

According to Harvard University president Lawrence Summers in 2005, women are on average as mathematically competent as men. In fact, in some countries such as the Czech Republic, the boys' and girls' math scores were almost identical. In the United States, the ratio of boys to girls scoring above a 700 on the SAT dropped from 13:1 in the 1970s to 3:1 in the 1990s.

From the above findings by scientists, it may seem like biological differences in boys and girls plays no role in this mathematical phenomenon. But, on the flip side, just like if diet affects height does not mean nature is unimportant, maybe nature does play a role. But whatever role nature plays, we will continue to see if girls will make a miracle and dominate mathematics, or if they will continue to be like the present.

2012: What We Fear

2012-01-03T11:35:00.004-06:00

The beginning of the New Year is always full of hope and happiness, but are there necessarily things we fear? For example, will the world really end on December 21 of this year?

Well, maybe. In the Mayan Long Calendar, the calendar is reset to day 0 every 1,872,000 days, and the next reset date is December 21, 2012. However, the conspiracies of Y2K, June 6, 2006 (6/6/6), and 2010 (that California will be underwater) never happened. Only time will tell if we will be gone.

There are also things that we fear more this year than any other years, but are really not that dangerous. For example, most Americans fear flying in an airplane, however, statistics show that there have been more than 30,000 Americans that have been killed in car accidents, versus a grand total of 0 Americans who died inflight (based on last year).

There are yet things that are very dangerous, but we do not fear them as much, because of either ignorance, or addiction. Obesity is one of them, because the food quality has declined over the years, and now people are eating foods that contain even more fat and lower quality ingredients than before. As a result, around one in three American adults, and one in six American children is obese.

So, there are still many things for us to fear, and there are many things that are very dangerous and have not yet been uncovered to us yet. But for now, a happy New Year to all, and good luck.

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-23T16:22:00.006-06:00

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope everyone is having a relaxing, fun, safe, and memorable holiday season.

The holiday I enjoy the most during winter is Christmas. Every year on Christmas day I make a habit of baking cookies, pies, or cakes every year! Sometimes I make chocolate chip (with or with out pecans), sugar cookies, oatmeal cookies, sweet potatoes pie, and coconut pie. This year I decided to try making popcorn balls and they turned out very well.

I'm posting my popcorn ball recipe as a gift to all of my blog readers! Thank you for reading, and be sure to to check next week for my New years post.
__________________

Ingredients:

8 cups of freshly popped popcorn (I used 1 cup of unpopped kernels here was 1/4 a pan left over)

salt (for popcorn)

butter (for popcorn)
33 Caramel candy squares

1 wide pan
Wax paper or chopping board
1 frying pan
1 large pot
PAM cooking spray(original flavor)
_____________________

1. Follow the directs on the popcorn (you can use vegetable oil or olive oil or both)
2. Pour the 8 cups of freshly popped popcorn into the wide pan (the pan spray with PAM first)
3. Spray frying pan with a thick coat of PAM and begin unwrapping caramels. Pour about 4 teaspoons of water on top on the caramels to help them melt.
3. Now turn the oven on medium or low heat and start stirring quickly until melted. Don't stop stirring! Be sure to move around the sides and bottom of the pan to prevent burning.
4. When the caramels are melted to a sauce immediately pour them over the popcorn be sure to pour over as much of the popcorn as possible.
5. 10 seconds to cool, wash your hands and cover your hands with butter and shape your popcorn balls quickly because the caramel will cool extremely quickly
6. Put them on the chopping board (or wax paper) and allow them to finish cooling
7. Enjoy!

This recipe makes 5 Medium sized popcorn balls.

Rubik's Cubes

2011-12-22T15:33:00.004-06:00

Hi everyone! Title (and picture) says all of what this will be about.

At first, Rubik's Cubes weren't called Rubik's Cubes! In fact, they were first invented by Larry Nichols in March 1970, who called it the 2x2x2 "Puzzle with Pieces Rotatable in Groups" (very descriptive). In 1986, the 2x2x2 Rubik's "Pocket Cube", and the standard 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube, came out.

The standard 3x3 cube (pictured) has 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 permutations. (That many permutations for a small 5.7 cm plastic cube?!?!?!?!) The puzzle is often advertised as having "billions" of positions, although there are more than a "ten billion billion" positions (that's 1x10^19, while that giant number above is about 4.3x10^19).

There isn't just the 3x3, there is also the 4x4 "Revenge Cube", 5x5 "Professor Cube", 6x6 and 7x7 "V-Cube".

There are a mere 3,764,160 permutations for the 2x2.

There are 7,401,196,841,564,901,869,874,093,974,498,574,336,000,000,000 permutations for the 4x4.

There are 282 870 942 277 741 856 536 180 333 107 150 328 293 127 731 985 672 134 721 536 000 000 000 000 000 permutations for 5x5.

There are about 1.57x10^116 permutations for 6x6.

There are about 1.95x10^160 permutations for 7x7. (And you and I thought that the 3x3 was a lot!)

Anyway, I'm going to stop throwing numbers at you and actually get to the fun stuff: solving the cubes. The videos that I used are very helpful and they illustrate a nice way of solving the cubes.

3x3: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFFBB4E9BFF196D10
4x4: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDEC7200EC37D66A5
5x5: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL44F0176B0DB6A5E2
6x6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUl0BhMjdUQ (other parts follow)

Have a great time with Rubik's cubes! (And please don't get intimidated by those giant numbers. . .the cube is actually not too hard to solve)

Chamber Music

2011-12-13T21:11:00.005-06:00

Chamber music is a type of classical music that is performed on one or more instruments by a small group of musicians. The "chamber" in chamber music came from the fact that it used to be played in a palace chamber.

We performed chamber music last week. I played the piano, a friend of mine played the violin, and another the cello, and we played Trio in B flat Major, K502 by Mozart. It was very fun!

The key to playing chamber music well is to listen to each other and sound like one person playing. Another key part is to stay on beat and keep a steady rhythm. It is especially challenging for the pianist, because the pianist is the conductor; [s]he has the most notes and plays from the beginning to the end. All three instruments carry dialogues with each other throughout the piece.

This afternoon, I also realized that piano duets are also considered chamber music as well! Another pianist and I are practicing a movement, Waltz of the Flowers, from The Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky. It is almost Christmas time, and just the right mood for it!

Chamber music can take many different forms; it doesn't need to involve 20 different instruments at the same time. If you play an instrument and wish for a challenge, get some friends together and play chamber music!

Solutions to Math Riddles

2011-11-30T11:02:00.004-06:00

Hi everyone! As promised, the solutions will be posted. So here they are:

1. The farmer will first borrow one cow from his neighbor, then give 9, 6, and 2 cows to his sons, respectively. That totals 17 (out of 18 cows he has now). Now, he gives the extra cow back to his neighbor, and all is well.

2. John, where Pete had had "had", had had "had had". "had had" had had the examiners' approval.

3. Call the switches A and B (where the prisoners agree a way of distinguishing the switches unambiguously). One particular prisoner is designated to operate as follows: Every time he finds the A switch in the 'down' position he switches it 'up' and counts these occurrences. If he finds it in the 'up' position, he switches the B switch (regardless of its position). All others operate on the switches as follows: If they find switch A in the 'up' position, they switch it to 'down'. However, if they have already operated on switch A twice before in this manner, or if they find it 'down', they switch the other switch, B once (regardless of its position). When the one designated prisoner operating only on switch A has counted 47 occurrences of switch A being in the down position he
knows that all have been in the room at least once.

4. Impose a numbering of the boxes themselves. The numbers inside the boxes are a 1-1 map onto the boxes. If you draw this 1-1 map as a directed graph you will get a distribution of cycles. In order to find the box that maps to your number, start at the box of your number and open the box it refers to, then open the box which that box refers to, etc. You will only fail if the cycle is larger than 50. Hence if no cycle is larger than 50, all logicians will find their own number. The probability of having a cycle of size j greater than 50 is (j!/j)(100 choose j)(100 - j)! = 1/j. Hence
the total probability is (1/51)+(1/52)+...+(1/100) = 0.6882, so that the total probability of survival is 31.18%.

This Week 2

2011-11-28T11:20:00.005-06:00

Hello everyone,

Happy Belated Thanksgiving! I very disappointed that I was not able to do my Thanksgiving post that I planned, because I was poisoned by over buttered mashed potatoes. This week my "Dangerous Dog Breed" poll will end so if you have not voted yet please do so.

Math Riddles

2011-11-22T22:03:00.005-06:00

Besides competition math, there are some fun math riddles to consider. Here are 4 of them, and see if you can solve them! I will post solutions later.

A farmer wants to split 17 cows among his 3 children. He wants to give 1/2 of the cows to his first son, 1/3 of the cows to his second son, and 1/9 of the cows to his third son. How can he split the cows among his 3 sons without cutting any cows in pieces?

(Not really math, but related) Given the following sequence of words:

John where Pete had had had had had had had had had had had the examiners
approval.

insert punctuation marks in such a way that the result is a perfectly
sensible English sentence.

WARNING: 2 really hard ones...

24 convicts are being transported together to a special prison, in which they
will spend the rest of their life, each in solitary confinement. However they
know that they have one last chance of securing freedom if they solve the
following puzzle: At random intervals (on average much shorter than the
prisoner's lifespan!), a randomly selected prisoner will be led to a room which
is completely bare and only contains two switches with two positions each. On
every visit exactly one of the switches must be switched exactly once but the
visiting prisoner is free to choose which one he wants to switch. When a
prisoner can tell that all prisoners have been in this room at least once, all
are set free. However, if [s]he guesses wrong, all are executed. What strategy
should they agree on before being separated upon arrival at the prison?

An evil dictator imprisons 100 logicians, and gives them one more chance to
escape death. He says:

"Tomorrow you will all be put into solitary confinement. Then each of you
will be called from your cell, one by one, in random order. You will be asked to
choose a number between 1 and 100, and led to a room with 100 boxes. In each box
there is a number between 1 and 100 (each number occurring exactly once), and
you are allowed to open 50 boxes. If you find your number, you go back to your
cell. If you don't find it, everyone dies. If everyone finds their number, you
all go free."

Assuming the room the logicians are led to is in exactly the same state every
time a logician enters, what strategy should the logicians agree on, and what is
the probability that they all go free?

Enjoy! (Warning: These need a lot of thought.)

Texas A&M High School Math Contest

2011-11-15T21:36:00.005-06:00

3 days ago from the day of this post, I went to the TAMU Math Contest. It's a math contest, obviously, and there are 4 parts to it: Subject Exams, Best Student Exams, Buzz Contest, and Award Ceremony. In order, we have:

1. Subject Exams: Subject exams are multiple question, short response tests. Answers must be given in simplified form (rationalized denominators, etc.); calculators are not allowed. Five versions of the test will be offered - AB, BC, CD, DE, and EF. Each version will cover two of the appropriate courses,

A/Pre-Algebra,

B/First year Algebra,

C/Geometry,

D/Second year Algebra,

E/Trigonometry and Analytic Geometry, and

F/Advanced Mathematics.

A student may take any examination which includes any course for which he/she is presently enrolled. The only exception to this is the EF exam which is open to any student.

2. Best Student Exams: The Best Student exams are multiple question, short response tests containing a wide variety of problems requiring somewhat more ingenuity than the subject area tests. There are Open and Closed divisions. The Closed division is limited to students who have not completed the tenth grade. In addition to trophies and ribbons, the top two students in each division will be given books. Furthermore, the top two students in the Open division will each receive a $1000 scholarship to study mathematics at Texas A&M University.

3. Buzz Contest: The Buzz Contest is the mathematical equivalent of a spelling bee. Its 1992 revival at Texas A&M University marked the 10th anniversary of the last time Texas high school students had played the game at the 1982 Lamar Mathematics Day competition. Since then, this contest has been a popular feature of the Texas A&M University Math Tournament.

The general structure of the game is as follows: The students line up and count off. The first student calls N, where N is an integer between 1 and 20, which is randomly determined, the second student calls N+1, and so on. If a student gets his or her number wrong, he or she is eliminated and the next student in line must say the number the previous student should have said. All of this is done very quickly; a student may be eliminated for "delay of game". So far, the game as described is too easy.

To complicate matters, some numbers are designated as special. When it is a student’s turn to call out a number and that number is special, the student should not say the number, but should instead say some combination of codewords relating to the number. The codewords and their meanings are:

BANG: The number contains a 5 (in its base-10 representation) or is divisible by 5.

BUZZ: The number contains a 7 (in its base-10 representation) or is divisible by 7.

CRASH: The number is prime.

FIBBY: The number is a Fibonacci number. The Fibonacci numbers are constructed as follows: F1 = 1, F2 = 1 and Fn+2 = Fn+1 + Fn. . So F3 = 2 , F4 = 3, F5 = 5, etc. Thus, the first 6 Fibonacci numbers are 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8.

POP: The number is the product of two distinct primes.

SQUAWK: The number is the sum of two squares. For example, 9=32 + 02, and 5 = 22 + 12

WHIZ: The number is square-free (is not divisible by a perfect square other than 1).

ZIP: The number is a perfect k th power with k greater than or equal to 2.

The last remaining student must say correctly what the second-to-last student should have said to win the contest. Trophies will be awarded to the first and second place finishers.

4. Award Ceremony: Trophies are given to the 1st through 10th place finishers in subject and Best Student examinations. Plus, "sweepstakes" trophies are given to the top 6 schools.

Our school received 4 trophies in total. It was a fun event. I highly recommend it to all students who enjoy math.

The Top 10 Most "Dangerous Dog Breeds"

2011-11-13T20:39:00.005-06:00

Hello Everyone,

I would like your opinion about 10 types of dogs that are often misunderstood by many poeple. Everywhere I looked online the breeds that appeared the most the list of dangerous dogs were pitbulls, rottweilers, german sheperds, huskies, alaskan malamutes, dobermans, chow chows, presa conarios, boxers, and dalmatians. It preplexes me that poeple would atcually find any dog breed to be "dangerous". I don't believe it is fair to judge a animal (dogs in this case) by what breed it is. Therefore, I want to talk about all these dog breeds in individual posts to separate fact from fiction.

What's your opinion? Cast your vote.

(The poll is under the Blog archive.)

How to Draw- Step 3: Using Your Shapes And Lines to Make a Character

2011-11-13T20:30:00.004-06:00

Now that we've practiced shapes and lines we can now start the real drawing. We can start with drawing, we can begin by drawing Snoopy from Charlie Brown. Even if your Snoopy doesn't look that great when you first draw him, don't feel bad. Drawing takes a lot of practice. This tutorial is from Dragonart. Dragonart is a archive of drawing tutorials, and it has been very useful to me.

STEP 1.
In this first step you are going to draw out the guidelines and shapes to form a frame for Snoopy. Start by drawing his head in the shape of a wide shoe with facial guidelines drawn in. Next draw out the shape of his body including his left arm. This shape looks like a musical note if you look at it at the right angle. After that draw the shape for his foot then draw out the guidelines that are attached to the shapes.

STEP 2.

This next step is very simple. Start at the face and draw in his eyes and eyebrows the way shown. Now draw a small nut shaped circle for his nose and a squiggly line for his mouth. Next you are going to draw out the shape of his neck and his right arm which is just a looped line and two fingers. Add a spot on his back and give him some toes and you are ready for the next step.

STEP 3.

Draw a large oblong shaped circle on his era and shade it in black. Do the same thing for his nose and collar. Finish off this step by drawing out his left leg and part of his tail. Erase all the guidelines and shapes that you drew in step 1.

STEP 4.

This is what your Snoopy should look like when you are completely finished. There is no need to color him in because he is black and white. How simple was that. That will do it for this tutorial on how to draw Snoopy from Charlie Brown.

This was made tutorial was originally made by Dawn.

Martial Arts

2011-11-05T13:57:00.006-05:00

You know, Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Kung Fu, and so many more. It probably inspires one of experiences from television, a movie, or just watching a regular street fight. Well, the real thing is not like the "Hi-ya! Wah! Ya!!!!!!" that one usually sees in comic books and such, about beating up the other guy, or a knight saving a princess from a dragon. It actually is a skill that keeps you safe.

I personally participate in Tae Kwon Do (and really don't know about the other 2) so instead of Japanese and Chinese ways, I will present Korean ways.

Tae Kwon Do has 3 main sections: Forms, Board breaking, and Sparring. Forms is usually a variety of blocks, kicks, and punches that are associated with a certain belt level, and the number of techniques goes up with each rank. For example, the white belt only has to learn 2 moves, but the green belt has to learn 7.

Board breaking is just what it sounds like: breaking a wooden board. The board starts out very thin, and thickness goes up with each belt level. The white belt breaks a 3/8 inch board (3/4 for adults), and the green belt breaks a 3/4 inch board (1 1/4 for adults).

Sparring is the hardest one to explain. Basically, what happens is two people put on tons of protective gear, and then they basically kick each other repetitively for 1 minute, and they see who wins. Scoring for sparring is as follows:

If one kicks to the other's chest, award the offender 1 point.
If that kick is a spinning kick (a kick where you spin first), award the offender 2 points.
If one kicks to the other's head, award the offender 3 points.
If one punches the other's chest, then the offender must knock the defender back at least 1 full step, or the defender must punch while the offender is making a attack (if this is successful, award 1 point). If the offender does, award 1 point. If he/she does not, award no points.
No punches to the head are allowed. If this happens, the offender is penalized and the defender is awarded 1 point. If this punch occurs 4 times in a match, the offender is disqualified.
Finally, if any competitor makes physical contact with the referee of the match, he/she is disqualified.
No holding, pushing, shoving, hooking, or running with your back turned allowed. This results in immediate disqualification.
...and more... (you can find these on http://www.wtf.org/)

I hope you enjoyed these tips! Thanks for reading!

A Mole Story

2011-11-02T09:19:00.007-05:00

I was in a chemistry class, and we were learning about moles. A mole of a certain object (atoms, molecules, elephants, anything!) is 6.02 x 10^23 (or 602000000000000000000000) of the object. We were all asked to write a "mole story" - a "story" that involves moles, chemistry, and creativity. So here is what I wrote:

"If 1 mole of pennies was distributed among the population of the world, each person would have enough money to spend 1 million dollars' worth of pennies every hour, day and night, and live a whole lifetime and still not spend half of it. Everyone would have to live to be 115 years old for all the money to be spent."

It is all a fact! :P

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-30T21:26:00.015-05:00

Well, it's Halloween (I like the old name Hallows' Ever) time! A timr for trick or treats, scary movies, cool costumes, parties, tooth decay, and fun memories.

Even if you don't go (or don't like to go trick or treating, like me) there are loads of fun stuff to do while you wait out the storm of treaters. You can watch Halloween specials of movies, cartoons, and TV shows. Read Edgar Allan Poe or H.P. Lovecraft's books out loud with all the lights off (1 large light is recommended). I will post link to my suggestions at the very end of my post. Here're a few tips for a fun and safe Halloween!

For Trick or Treaters

Groups of 3 teens or more when going house to house is ideal for a safe hazard free night.

Bring flashlights and extra batteries! Small good quality flashlights are great and won't clash with your costume. (try matching the colors of the flashlight to your costume)

If wearing a mask be sure you can see out of the eye holes. It's a given when you can see where you're going!

Be observant of your surroundings.

If going to a party be smart, don't drink or smoke anything.

For Those Staying At Home

Turn off all the lights you can!

Carve at least 1 pumpkin. You can practice the various shapes from my earlier post about drawing lines and shapes. Use a black permanent marker to draw them out on the pumpkin and then you can start carving while watching your favorite Halloween special!

Watch movies (Hercule Poirot's Halloween Party, It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, or any good Halloween movie will do).

Read Books like Edgar Allan Poe or H.P. Lovecraft. You can download them for free at http://www.manybooks.net.

You can buy candy for yourself and eat it all up, or you can go to the store the day after and buy all the candy you missed at a steal (everything is 50% off the normal price).

For Pet Owners

Dog Owners:

Let them outside before the trick or treaters are out. Be sure to let them back inside your house before sundown. Dogs find costumed people running around screaming and acting like the character that they are dressed as to be frightening. A scared dog will either run, avoid, or bite someone if provoked.

Give them a toy or high quality rawhide bone to keep them busy for a long time.

Don't give them candy of any kind! Especially chocolate which can either poison or kill them, depending on their size and weight.

Cat Owners:

Keep you cat(s) indoors, especially black cats because people might take them.

Give them a toy (you can use cat nip to get them interested in the toy).

Close the windows. Cats like dogs find trick or treaters disturbing.

Movies, Books, and Halloween Information References.

Movie: Hercule Poirot's Halloween Party (It's better than the book). This is my favorite Halloween movie! It can be found on YouTube, and it is recommended for older teens and adults.

Movie: Sherlock Holmes' The Last of The Vampyre (Jeremy Brett is the one and only Holmes, and he did a masterful job with this one). I recommend all the Sherlock Holmes episodes starring Jeremy Brett. They are very close to the original books. This can also be found on YouTube, again recommended for older teens and adults.

Movie: It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown (This is a timeless classic! No Halloween is Complete without t! Recommended for everyone! Can be found on YouTube.)

Books: H.P. Lovecraft (his books are excellent. They are sure to chill you to the bone!) http://www.manybooks.net/authors/lovecrafth.html

Books: Edgar Allen Poe (He is the creator of the first detective novel and master of all horror books. Poe is in my top 5 favorite authors!) http://www.manybooks.net/authors/poeedgar.html

About Halloween: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween

Have a Fun and Safe Halloween!

Learning Japanese

2011-10-27T13:35:00.004-05:00

Suddenly I have fallen in love with learning Japanese! In fact, if you think about it, Japanese is a lot like English; it has an alphabet, and the 'letters' of this alphabet combine to form different 'characters' which they borrowed from Chinese.

Some characters have only one 'letter', for example 野 (meaning 'wild'), which is the letter の (pronounced 'no'). Some also have 2, for example 星 (meaning 'star'), the letters ほし (pronounced 'hoshi'). Some even have 3; for example 力 (meaning 'power'), the letters ちから(pronounced 'chikara'). I don't know of any that have 4 or more.

Some funny definitions:

The Japanese corporation "Nintendo" (任天堂 or にんてんど) literally means "activity heaven"."Sashimi" (刺身 or さしみ) literally means "stabbing a body"."Ninja" (にんじゃ or 忍者) literally means "tolerant person".And my screen name literally means "Me in the woods"!

How To Draw Part 2: Simple Shapes and Lines

2011-10-15T21:23:00.010-05:00

Now that we're all done with shopping for the supplies. We can go on to to part 2, the beginning of the fun part. We can now start drawing! You can begin by practicing simple shapes (circles, rectangles,and squares) and different types of lines (straight, curved, and wavy).

Once you master the shapes and lines on the charts below, we can then begin the real drawing fun!

The Man In The Iron Mask Review

2011-10-15T20:36:00.007-05:00

Library discussion average rating: 3.8 out of 5

My Rating: 4 out of 5

The Man In The Iron Mask is the last book in the Three (3) Musketeers series, there are 4 books in that series created by Alexander Dumas. Since all 3 books where translated from French to English, your enjoyment of the story depends on the translation you have.

Some people complained that this book and Dumas's other books are too long (about 650 pages each book or less), but to me the stories are so enveloping I hardly noticed the page count. If you haven't read the first 3 books before The Man In The Iron Mask you might be a bit confused at first.

This book has stories in stories, plots, schemes, bad relationships, funny parts, friends that go bad, and of course violence. As I stated before, I highly suggest reading this series from the beginning to the end. This series may be long but it is highly enjoyable if you have the patience to read through the whole thing. For your convenience I have the books in this series listed below. Happy reading!

All By Alexander Dumas

Book 1: The Three Musketeers

Book 2: Twenty Years After

Book 3/4/5: The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later ("The Vicomte de Bragelonne", "Louise de la Vallière", and "The Man in the Iron Mask")

How to Draw: Basics- Supplies

2011-10-08T11:52:00.006-05:00

The first to do is to acquire the proper supplies before you start to draw. You will need paper (white copy paper), pencils, erasers, black ink pens (fine tipped), coloring pencils (Crayola brand of pencils will be used for now), and last but not least a medium size clip-broad. All this items can be found at Walmart or Officemax. However, I do not suggest buying the cheap kind of pencils, because when you try to erase the lead it smudges all over the paper. You can also get a drawing guide to used as a reference for drawing shapes and figures. We will go over actual shapes and figures in the up coming posts for now, gather up your supplies.

Shopping List!

White Copy Paper
PaperMate: Pink Pearl erasers
PaperMate: Mirado Classic No.2 pencils
Crayola coloring pencils 24 count
Medium size Clip-board
Black ink pens (I prefer Feber-Castell brand)
How-To-Draw books (I will be using How To Draw Cartoon Animals by Christoper Hart)

This Week

2011-09-25T20:32:00.005-05:00

Starting this week I will begin my 4 part series of how to draw. Each part will be posted within the next 4 weeks. I will be discussing the basics, and then on the fourth week I will post a simple cartoonish drawing using the style discussed the previous weeks. I will not go into to much detail about my upcoming posts. You'll have to wait and see!

Ender's Game Review

2011-09-16T21:38:00.002-05:00

Library discussion average rating: 4.2 out of 5

My rating: 5 out of 5

Ender's Game, is one of the most wonderfully made books I have ever read in my life! I love all the characters; the characters molded into the story, the plot was engaging, and interesting at the same time. I find it interesting that throughout the whole book the main character, Ender, was having a inner battle with himself. Every bad thing he did stuck in his mind, he didn't want to be like his older brother Peter whom was cunning yet deviously evil. This struck me as interesting in the book Peter and Ender's sister (both older then Ender) was a representation of Evil (Peter) and Good (Valentine). And Ender was both good and evil in one boy. Thus making him cunning, witty, intelligent, kind, ruthless, strong, and successful all in one. If you haven't read this book your missing out on greatness on the pages of a book. I recommend Ender's Game By Orson Scott Card to be one of your favorite books!

New Blog Author

2011-09-14T19:22:00.011-05:00

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to the Cyfair Teen Thoughts Blog! Call me PandaX, I am the new author for this blog. I will be posting my thoughts, ideas, stories, and about events at the Cyfair library for teens!

About me: I am a self-taught artist and will have my website up with my artwork on it for all to see! I mainly draw animals, mythical animals, antrofurries, aliens, and custom symbols. I'm also in the process of learning about dogs and their behavior. I well be getting my dog training license next year. I volunteer at my local animal shelter where I can help people pick out their prefect pet and give them the necessary information about the type of animal (mainly dogs and cats) they wish to adopt. I am ecstatic that I am able to contribute my thoughts here on this blog for all to enjoy! my thoughts here on this blog for all to enjoy!

America's Got Talent

2011-09-14T16:29:00.005-05:00

I usually don't watch TV, but saw Episode 6 of America's Got Talent and hope that Landau wins! Wish they could split the top winning spot between Landau and The Silhouettes, who are so imaginative and heart warming.

06/23/09 Rockstar- Summer

2009-06-23T12:37:00.003-05:00

Man, it is hot here. We haven't had any rain or wind to cool things down. All we get is heat and humidity. I can't go out for five minutes without sweating or getting a sunburn. The summer heat won't end most likely until late September. Not only is the heat high, the electric bills will be high also, since we will use fans and air conditioners more.

My advice for you if you are to vacation in Texas this summer, bring plenty of sunscreen. And, if you are going to exercise outside, exercise in a pool. Finally try to have fun, safe, and cool summer.

06/16/09 Rockstar- Father's Day

2009-06-16T11:31:00.001-05:00

Next week on June 21st, we will celebrate Father's Day. Father's Day commerates fatherhood and male parenting also honor fathers and forefathers. It is believed that the first observance of Father's Day was on July 5, 1908 at Fairmont, West Virginia at Central United Methodist Church of Fairmont by Dr. Robert Webb. Father's Day was made a federal holiday in 1966.

My tips for how to celebrate Father's Day.
1. Buy or make a card for your father.
2. Spend time with your father, like going bowling with him or play football together.
3. Finally cook his favorite meal and dessert or take him out his favorite
restaurant.

Hope you have great Father's Day with your dad!

06/07/09 Rockstar- Summer Programs

2009-06-07T17:18:00.001-05:00

Summer is upon us at Lone Star College Cyfair Branch Library. There are a variety of Teen programs this year. Some of which include Sit & Listen where all you need to do is sit back and listen to your favorite literature being read out loud to you. Another interesting program is the Round Table Discussion, where current events in the Houston Chronicle will be discussed. There is something for every teen. For further information about these and the other programs please visit http://www.lonestar.edu/1436.htm.

06/01/09 Rockstar- The Great Smoky Mountains

2009-06-01T08:37:00.000-05:00

Last week on Thursday, May 28, on the way back from a funeral, I went to see the Great Smoky Mountains with my parents. It is absoluting gorgeous. My parents and I saw both beautiful water and amazing mountains. Not only did we see that, but we also saw many old buildings that people used to live in from late 1800s to early 1900s. There were old churches, grave sites, farm houses, and black smith shops. We saw animals as well, deer, wild turkeys, and a black bear. Finally, we also drove up onto the highest mountain in Great Smoky Mountains. We were at an elevation of over 6600 feet. We were so high that we were in the clouds too. It was 52 degrees up there and the clouds really look smoky up on the mountains. If you are looking for a place to go to have a good time for a vacation, I highly recommend you go to see the Great Smoky Mountains. It is an experience that you will remember for the rest of your life.

05/24/09 Rockstar- Memorial Day

2009-05-24T15:52:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow is Memorial Day. It's a United States federal holiday that is always celebrated on the last Monday of May. It is a day that honors the U.S. men and women who died in the military service. First it was established to honor Union soldiers of the Civil War, now it has expanded to honor any American casualties in any war or military action. Have a nice Memorial Day and please keep the U.S. soldiers in your thoughts and prayers.

05/18/09 Rockstar- Review on Green Day's New Album

2009-05-18T13:55:00.001-05:00

This past Friday May 15, I brought the cd, 21st Century Breakdown by Green Day. I could hardly wait to purchase this cd as I am a huge Green Day fan. After listening to the cd, I found that I enjoyed it very much. I also think that 21st Century Breakdown is better than their previous cd, American Idiot. While I find that this cd is similar to American Idiot, I think that it has more punk-rock angst. The other reason that I believe this cd is better than American Idiot is because I feel that the lyrics are also better written. I would rate this cd 4 out of 5 stars.

05/11/09 Rockstar- If I could live anywhere in the world

2009-05-11T12:30:00.002-05:00

If I could live anywhere in the world, I would choose Italy. A few reasons, for my choice would be as follows, from what I have read and seen on television and the Internet, the landscape looks beautiful. Another reason I would like to live in Italy is because Italian food is my favorite food. Lastly, I think that it would be surrounded the Italian Culture.

05/04/09 Rockstar- My Discovery

2009-05-04T13:49:00.003-05:00

This weekend wasn't like most. Normally I'd hang out at a local mall, go to the movies, etc. Instead I discovered that there were three kittens in our shed, which is located in our backyard. They are only about two to three weeks old and absolutely adorable! After numerous attempts, I was finally able to get them out of the shed. They were scared so much so that each of them bit, scratched, and hissed at me. My mom gave them each a bath. It was the coolest thing, they loved it! No more biting, scratching or hissing. We will keep them until are two pounds because none of the shelters that my mom called will take them before that. I am really enjoying the kittens. It will be difficult to give them away. My mom is trying to convince my dad to let us keep one.

04/27/09 Rockstar- Green Day's New Album

2009-04-27T13:04:00.003-05:00

I just read a little bit about Green Day news on a website and I found out that they are releasing another album, 21st Century Breakdown on May 15, 2009. There hit single from this album is Know Your Enemy. On the Green Day website, http://www.greenday.com/site/news.php they showed a list of songs that are on the new album. I counted 19 songs and they are split into three categories, Act 1 Heroes and Cons, Act 2 Charlatans and Saints, Act 3 Horses and Hand-grenades. I have heard the Know Your Enemy song for about ten seconds and love it. I am going to buy 21st Century Breakdown on May 15th. I'm a huge fan of Green Day and my opinion, they are one of the greatest rock bands ever.

04/13/09 Rockstar-Hurricanes

2009-04-13T12:39:00.003-05:00

While I was trying to come up with a blog idea, I looked up and noticed my calendar. Today's date is April 13th which marks the seven month anniversary since Hurricane Ike slammed into our area. In the past, I never gave any thought to hurricane season. However in less than two months time another hurricane season will be upon us. I must admit that after witnessing the devastation that Ike left behind, I find myself slightly apprehensive as we approach another hurricane season.

04/06/09 Rockstar- Pimp This Bum - Update

2009-04-06T13:29:00.003-05:00

On February 27th, I wrote a blog about Pimp this bum, that was featured on channel 2 news. I thought that I would provide an update on Tim, the homeless man that was featured on www.pimpthisbum.com. According to the above website, Tim has received a five week alcohol recovery program through the generous donation from Sunray Treatment and Recovery Center in Seattle Washington. According to the website, they are continuing to raise funds for Tim and two others. For more information please visit www.pimpthisbum.com.

03/23/09 Rockstar-Final Author Series

2009-03-23T12:02:00.003-05:00

For this third and final week of my author series, I will talk a little about one of my favorite authors, Stephen Edwin King. He was born on September 21, 1947 and is an American author of fantasy, science fiction and contemporary horror. Many of his works have been adapted in movies and television series. King is widely best known for his work in horror fiction. I have read few of his books and enjoyed them very much. My favorite book by Stephen King is Misery. Misery is about an author who got in a car crash. He was rescued by a lady who is a nurse, who also is a huge fan of the author. She took the author to her home and took care of him where she ends up holding him captive in her house. From there where things went terribly wrong. If you are interested in learning more about Stephen King, you can go to this site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King.

03/16/09 Rockstar- Second Week of Author Series

2009-03-16T14:17:00.002-05:00

Today, I will be talking about Arthur Conan Doyle. Born on May 22, 1859 and died on July 7, 1930. Doyle is a Scottish author who is widely famous for his stories about detective Sherlock Holmes. He also was a prolific writer on his other works in many different genres, science fiction, historical novels, plays, romances, poetry, and non-fiction. I've read one of his Sherlock Holmes story and I loved it. The story I read is called The Hound of the Baskervilles. It's about how Sherlock and his partner Watson went to Baskervilles to find "supernatural black hound" because they found the footprints of a giant hound had been found near a dead body. This story, I find it to be entertaining, unpredictable, and spine-chilling.

03/09/09 Rockstar-Author Series

2009-03-09T22:11:00.003-05:00

For the next three weeks, I will be writing about authors again for my author series. So today, I will talk about Ray Bradbury. He was born August 22, 1920, and is an American mainstream, fantasy, humor, science fiction, and mystery writer. He is best known for his novel Fahrenheit 451 and Martian Chronicles. Ray is considered as one of the greatest and most popular American writers of speculative fiction of the twentieth century. I recently read Fahrenheit 451 and in my opinion, I found it to be boring and some what confusing. The story progresses quickly with rapid changes throughout. If you want to read the synopsis of this story, go to this site, http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/451/summary.html. I am not fond of Bradbury's style or writing nor was I fond of this book. If you are interested to learn more about Ray Bradbury, you can go to this site, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Bradbury.

03/02/09 Rockstar- U2 New Album

2009-03-02T12:36:00.005-06:00

On Tuesday March 3, U2 will be releasing their new album, No Line on the Horizon. I am really excited about the new album. I am a huge fan of U2. I have heard the songs, Get on Your Boots and Cedars of Lebanon on the Internet. From what I have heard so far, I give it 5 out of 5 stars. I have also seen the U2 music video Get on Your Boots on Youtube. It was also excellent. If you're interested in watching the video, the site is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ7zKeYhU_8. When the album comes out, I will definitely buy it.

02/27/09 Rockstar- Homeless Panhandles Internet

2009-02-27T12:10:00.003-06:00

I recently saw on channel 2 news a report about a homeless man by the name of Tim Edwards, who is receiving help through a website. Two men by the names of Kevin Dolan and Sean Dolan, father and son respectfully created a non-profit website www.pimpthisbum.com. One can log on a make a donation for Tim, in which he receive 100%, while the Dolans receive exposure. So what do you think, is panhandling the Internet a good idea? Or is this idea at the expense of Tim's dignity? Log the click 2 site, www.click2houston.com/news/18738534/detail.html#.

02/18/09 Rockstar- Presidents' Day

2009-02-16T11:48:00.006-06:00

Today I will be talking a little about my favorite President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. He was born on February 12, 1809 and died April 15, 1865. He is remembered for his success in leading the country through its greatest internal hardships, the American Civil War, keeping the Union together and ending slavery. Before his election in 1860 as the first Republican President, Lincoln was an Illinois state legislator, lawyer, and a member of the United States House of Representatives. Lincoln was the first president to be assassinated while in office. The reason why I like Lincoln best because in my opinion, he handled this role the better than any other President has to date.

02/09/09 Rockstar- If Rockstar won a million dollars

2009-02-09T11:01:00.003-06:00

During these more difficult economic times, I was thinking how nice it would be to have extra money. Which lead me to wonder what if I won a million dollars? I decided that if I were to be so lucky and win a million dollars I would do the following: First I'd put enough money aside for my college education as education is very important to me. Next, I'd give to certain charitable organizations that are close to my heart. I would also do some serious shopping, my first purchase would most likely be a large flat screen television. Lastly, with the rest of the money I would add to my retirement fund.

2/2/09 Rockstar-William Blake

2009-02-02T14:28:00.002-06:00

William Blake (November 28, 1757-August 12, 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker who happens to be one of my preferred poets. At one point his work was ridiculed as that from a madman. However today his poetry is seen as original. One modern critic proclaimed Blake "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced" As for me my favorite poems by Blake are London and Hear the Vocal of the Bard.

1/26/09 Rockstar- Black History Month

2009-01-26T13:04:00.002-06:00

February is special month. It is the month that the U.S. and Canada celebrate black history. In 1926 Negro History week was the second week in February which was started by Historian Carter G. Woodson. Woodson had chosen that week in February because it marked the birthdays of President Abraham Lincoln and abolitionist Frederick Douglass who had influenced the lives and social conditions of African Americans. It is important that we recognize the contributions of African Americans regularly not just during the month of February.

1/19/09 Rockstar-Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

2009-01-19T16:36:00.003-06:00

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, so I will be talking a little about Martin Luther King, Jr. He was born on January 15, 1929 and died on April 4, 1968. During his lifetime, he was an activist, clergyman, and a leader in the American civil rights movement. He is known for securing the progress on civil rights in U.S. and remembered as a human rights icon. In 1963, He led a march on Washington and delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech. At that time, he raised the public awareness of the civil rights movement and became one of the greatest orators in the U.S. history. In 1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize for ending the racial discrimination and racial segregation through non-violent and civil disobedience, was the youngest person ever to receive Nobel Peace Prize. Unfortunately for Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1968, he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1977, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and in 2004, Congressional Gold Medal. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was officially established as a national holiday in 1986. In my opinion, Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the greatest man ever to have walked upon this earth. Because he never gave up fighting for equality for African Americans. I have a huge amount of respect for King and his success. If you would like to learn more about him, you can go to this site, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.

1/12/08 Rockstar- Eco Tips

2009-01-12T10:31:00.003-06:00

Today, I will be giving you some tips for Eco-choices. I looked online and found some good ones for you, if you want to do some friendly Eco stuff. I have a few for house, money, eating & cooking, and style. Recycle rechargeable- the cellphones, digital cameras, and camcorders batteries are very popular, but there are some states that is illegal to throw these away, Florida, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Vermont. So wherever you live, you can find a nearby store that will recycle them for you; there's a site for you to look at, www.rbrc.org. Mow the lawn with today's non-gasoline-powered lawn mowers, which are much easier to push than the older models. And if you're wondering,, what's Eco about it? It has zero emissions. If you want power mower, consider a quiet, battery-operated model from Black & Decker. Here's a couple tips for saving money. Choose energy-efficient appliances, look for Energy Star label, is awarded to appliances & products that exceed government efficiency standards by using less electricity and water. Or you can use a tote for your grocery bag. So plastic or paper? Neither! If you are shopping for a small load, bring a sack like the polka dot tote from Cath Kidston (www.cathkidston.com). There's another practical option, the ACME Workhorse Style 1500 (www.reusuablebags.com), which crunches down to a tiny pound that will fit in your purse. Here's my favorite, eating and cooking. If you love trees, you can spare trees by replacing paper filters in your coffeemaker with reusable (usually it's gold colored). Switch to organic food for at least one product that you buy every week. And finally style, get a Patagonia's PCR fleece vest that is made from recycled soda bottles. Or you can be clean (and green), Pangea organic soaps which are made with organic and often Fair Trade Certified ingredients, are scented with oils like lavender and lemongrass. They come in a biodegradable carton that will start disintegrating within 48 hours if you plant it in your garden. I also found a couple Eco labels that you can trust, USDA Organic and Certified Humane. USDA Organic has food that is produced without antibiotics genetic engineering or most synthetic fertilizers, and pesticides. Certified Humane, animals raised for diary, meat, and poultry products that are treated humanely. They prohibited growth hormones, and animals are raised on a diet without antibiotics. If you want to look at more tips, you can go to this site, http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/green-living/ways-to-go-green. Enjoy and have a great Eco day.

1/4/08-Rockstar Healthier Body

2009-01-04T16:17:00.005-06:00

At this time of year, you will often notice that people are exercising more and eating healthier, which usually doesn't last much past February. I believe in living a healthy lifestyle all year. While I love fast food and desserts, I try to limit my intake of such foods. I find that I feel better overall when I eat well and exercise regularly. I was once told to pick something you enjoy doing, such as soccer, as a form of exercise. Not only will you take pleasure in what you are doing, but also develop a healthier body. So, get moving and eating to a better you.

12/29/08-Rockstar New Year's Resolution

2008-12-29T07:35:00.004-06:00

New Year's Day is not like any other day of the year, it's the only day that starts off a new year. In years past, I have made resolutions but never followed through with them. So this year my only resolution is to no longer make New Year's resolutions. Have a wonderful, safe, and healthy 2009.

12/21/08-Rockstar Holiday

2008-12-21T15:25:00.002-06:00

Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy Holidays. Whatever you celebrate, enjoy!!!

12/15/08-Rockstar Clean Air Act Anniversary

2008-12-15T12:23:00.002-06:00

* Note to readers* The information contained in the following blog was obtained from www.epa.gov/air/caa/peg/peg.pdf . Since it was well written, I did not see the need to rewrite it into my own words. The above site has a wealth of information on this subject.

Last week, I when I looked through my calendar I noticed that December 17th
is Clean Air Act Anniversary. I didn't know what Clean Air Act was , so I went on the Internet to look for some information about the Clean Air Act. And I found some really interesting stuff. Did you know that air pollution can cause damages to our natural environment, for example, tree, plants, lakes, animals, and crops. In addition to that, air pollution can also cause damage to buildings, monuments, and statues. Air pollution doesn't just affect our natural environment, it can affect your health as well. When you breathe in polluted air, it can cause your eyes and your nose to burn. Also it can irritate your throat and make breathing difficult. Some toxic chemicals that are released in the air such as benzene or vinyl chloride can cause cancer, birth defects, long-term injury to the lungs, as well as brain and nerve damage. And in some cases, breathing these chemicals in polluted air can even cause death. Each day, air pollution causes thousands illnesses leading to many lost days at work and at school. Not only that, air pollution also reduces agricultural crops and commercial forest yields by billions of dollars each year. These pollutants come from stationary sources (like chemical plants, gas stations, and power plants) and mobile sources (like cars, trucks, and planes). So in 1970, Congress created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and passed the Clean Air Act, the Act gives the federal government authority to clean up the air pollution in America. The EPA's purpose is to protect human health and the environment, and to achieve this, EPA implements a variety of programs under the Clean Air Act that focus on, (1) reducing outdoors, or ambient, concentrations of air pollutants that causes smog, haze, acid rain, and other problems as well; (2) reducing emissions of toxic air pollutants that are known to, or are suspected of, causing cancer or other serious health effects; and (3) phasing out production and use of chemicals that destroy stratosphere ozone. Under the Clean Air Act, EPA sets limits on certain air pollutants, including setting limits on how much can be in the air anywhere in United States. State and local government took the lead in carrying out the Clean Air Act, because they were able to develop solutions for pollution problems that require special understanding of local industries, geography, housing, and travel patterns, as well as other factors. State must develop State Implementation Plans (SIPs) that outline how each state will control air pollution under Clean Air Act. A SIP is a collection of the regulations, programs and policies that a state will use to clean up polluted areas. The states must involve the public and industries through hearings and opportunities to comment on the development of each state plan. EPA must approve state and local agency plans for reducing our pollution. If a plan does not meet the necessary requirements, EPA can issue sanctions against the state and, if necessary, take over enforcing the Clean Air Act in that area. EPA assists state and local agencies by providing research, expert studies, engineering designs, and funding to support clean air progress. After learning about the Clean Air Act, I am proud to celebrate Clean Air Act Anniversary this Wednesday, knowing that the Clean Air Act is helping our health and environment.

12/08/08 Rockstar- Weather

2008-12-08T12:46:00.003-06:00

Recently the weather has been both cold and warm all in the same week. For example, last Wednesday the high was around 78 degrees and just two days later the high was about 52 degrees. My mom loves cold weather. If she had her way, it would be in the thirties for lows and the fifties for highs. Me personally, I would prefer a high temperature between 70 to 80 degrees. Actually what I would really like is for the weather to stay consistent, as I am not sure how to dress from one day to the next unless I watch the Weather Channel.

12/01/08 Rockstar- Black Friday Continued

2008-12-01T13:19:00.004-06:00

If you read my blog dated Monday November 24th, you may remember my strong dislike for Black Friday. Much to my surprise, my parents convinced me to join them this past Friday for a day of shopping. We were out of the house by 4:45am and at Wal-Mart by 5am, it was insane. There was a line that went on for what seemed forever, to where, I have no idea, probably for something electronic is my guess. My mom found one of the two items that she wanted. The next stop was at Home Depot, the last place that I would have thought to shop at on Black Friday. The reason for going to Home Depot was so that my mom could buy poinsettias, which she of course purchased the limit (10). Next we were at Half Price Books, we were very close to the beginning of the line. The gentlemen in front of us were loud and reeked of alcohol and sweat. We waited in that line for forty minutes and received five dollar gift cards, a book and a tote bag. From there we went to Sam's Club and had a complementary breakfast. Then we rounded out the day at two local malls. All and all it wasn't as bad as I anticipated. I did get a gift card to Half Price Books, one of my favorite stores and the poinsettias do look great throughout the house.

11/24/08 Rockstar- Black Friday

2008-11-24T10:58:00.002-06:00

This Friday, November 27th is Black Friday. For those of you who may not be familiar with Black Friday, it is the biggest shopping day of the year, it kicks off Christmas shopping. Many stores open very early and offer great deals on selected products, in the hopes that while consumers are there that they will spend a substantial amount of money in their stores, on Christmas presents. I remember my first and my last experience with Black Friday, it was in 2006. My parents and I got up at the ridiculous hour of 4am and out the door by 4:30am. Our first stop was at a Toys R Us. Once we arrived, we had to wait in line, outside the store in the cold, for about thirty minutes. My mom moved faster than I knew possible. She had all three presents that she went for within ten minutes. We waited in line, to check out, for almost an hour. While some people were nice, most were rude and all to happy to knock you over or even try to take away what you had in your arms.My mom took it in stride, as for me, I hated every minute of it. Once we exited Toy R Us, I am thinking okay I lived through, but then my mom informs me that we are off to do the same at more stores. Now when Black Friday rolls around, you will find me in bed, sleeping until at least 10am.

11/10/08-Rockstar Fourth Week of Author Series

2008-11-10T14:04:00.001-06:00

Daphne du Marier (born on May 13, 1907 and died on April 19, 1989) was a British author of plays, novels, and short stories. Many of her works have been adapted into films, including the novel Rebecca, which won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1941. The Jamaica Inn and her sort stories, The Birds and Don't Look Now; were also made into movies and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. I have read Rebecca enjoyed it very much. This plot is about Maxim who proposed to a nameless woman and married her then took her to his beautiful estate of Manderley. But there is a spirit that is haunting the newly-wed couple. The spirit is Rebecca, the former wife of Maxim. Rebecca died when her sailboat wrecked and sank. The coroner ruled her death suicide or is it? The nameless character begins researching about what really happen to Rebecca.

election

2008-11-05T09:26:00.002-06:00

well I'm sure we all saw the numbers and that our new president is Barack Obama. I'm really not sure if I'm particularly happy or not, but i can't vote. i was very surprised to see that so many people were waiting in Grant park in Chicago and in Time Square in New york. here is the link if anyone wants to see his speech of after he was elected. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jll5baCAaQU . check it out it's a pretty good speech.
aside from the presidential election the republicans regained a seat in the House of Representatives . Pete Olson was victorious against Nick Lamson. but that was a small victory for Republicans. many red states flipped to blue in this election including Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio and Virginia.
i think that everyone knows that there is much change ahead , but if it good or not. only time will tell.

2008-11-03T11:25:00.003-06:00

Herbert George Wells (born on September 21, 1865 and died 0n August 13, 1946) aka H.G. Wells, he was an English writer best remembered for the science fiction novels, he published from 1895 to 1901: The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, When the Sleeper Wakes, and The First Men in the Moon. Wells was sometimes referred to as Father of Science Fiction. He was also a prolific writer of contemporary novels, history, and social commentary. I have read The Invisible Man and enjoyed it very much. This story is about mysterious person named Griffin, a scientist, who made his entire body disappear. The problem
that arises is that he can not make himself visible again. In his frustration on not being able to be visible, it drives him murderously insane. While I am not a fan of science fiction, I found this to be an interesting book.

10/27/08 Rockstar-Second Week of Author Series

2008-10-27T12:57:00.007-05:00

Arthur Asher Miller (born in October 17, 1915 and died in February 10, 2005) was an American playwright and essayist. He wrote a huge variety of plays, including such remembered works as The Crucible, A View from the Bridge, All my Sons, and Death of a Salesman. Miller was famous for receiving the Pulitzer prize for drama among countless other awards as well as for his marriage to Marilyn Monroe. Audiences and scholars have considered Miller as one of America's greatest playwrights. Also Miller's plays are still being praised throughout the world. In my opinion, Death of a Salesman is one of the most interesting books that I have ever read. This story's plot begins with Willy (the central character ) who is unable to stay focused on things and becomes consistently delusional with flashbacks. Biff, who is the son of Willy, is unemployed and always fighting with his father , as the family struggles to survive financially. In Willy's flashbacks, they reveal Biff's professional career was jeopardized when Biff found out that his father had an affair and Biff freaked. Biff finally comes to terms with accepting himself for who he is, while Willy can't. If you haven't read anything by Arthur Miller, he is an author worth looking into.

new blogger here !

2008-10-24T16:04:00.004-05:00

hey , i'm a new blogger to. some stuff about me is , i'm very much into sports ! i play volleyball, basketball, and swim, but volleyball is my favorite sport. i also really want to become a pediatrician when i grow up. some people tell me that i'm to young to know what i want to do with my life , but i've wanted to be a doctor since i was in the 1st grade.so i guess you can figure out i really like science as well.
well, i hope this will go thur to the blog. see ya soon ! :)

10/20/08 Rockstar- Author Series

2008-10-20T12:34:00.005-05:00

Starting today, for the next four weeks, I will begin a series on authors. This week, I will be highlighting Harper Lee. Nelle Harper Lee (born April 28, 1926) is an American author who received Pulitzer Price for her 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom of the United States for her contribution to literature in 2007. I read To Kill a Mockingbird and found it to be a memorable novel. Essentially this book is about an African-American person, Tom Robinson, who was accused of raping a white women. Tom was sent to prison and tried to escape prison, but unfortunately Tom was shot and killed. In my opinion, it is worth reading.

About me

2008-10-11T21:44:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone,

This is my first post on here so I thought I would tell everyone a little bit about myself. Right now I am working on learning about oil painting. This very moment I am working on a red barn, as you can see in the picture. The part that I am working on is the water in the front of the painting.
I am in love with nature and everything around me. I am about to start up a new painting that will hopefully turn out right. I am going to do an all black and white forest painting. I will post back with how it turns out. hopefully it won't be a big gray mess. I guess that is it for now.

10/6/08 Rockstar Book Review

2008-10-06T13:44:00.003-05:00

I recently read The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Not only did I throughly enjoy the book , I found it to be one of the best books that I have ever read. In short, it is about a boy growing up in Afghanistan and America. I highly recommend reading this book.

9/28/08 -Rockstar -Famous Person I Would Like To Meet

2008-09-28T13:32:00.006-05:00

If I could meet a famous person, I would like to meet Bono from U2. In my opinion Bono is one of the greatest musical talents alive but he is much more than that. He is also an activist. Bono cares deeply for people suffering from poverty to disease. Bono has met with many world leaders in an effort to help the needy. In a world where people often worry only of themselves, Bono doesn't and that makes him an outstanding human being in my book!

9/23/08 Rock Star - Hurricane Ike

2008-09-23T10:27:00.003-05:00

Two weeks ago my parents and I hunkered down in our home when Hurricane Ike came to Texas. My father and I boarded up all windows at my house a day before the hurricane came. After that, we waited in the house, hoping that we wouldn’t receive major damages from the hurricane. On Saturday at 3 am, the power went out and I was sleeping at that time. My parents woke me up at about 8 am, because my mother heard a leak in her bedroom. My mother feared that the roof may come crashing down in my parents' bedroom. We immediate got our hurricane supplies and stuff that we wanted to save and put them in our living room just for a safety precaution. After Ike went past us I went outside and saw that in my front yard on the ground there were a lot of branches from our three trees.. Then I went to my backyard and saw about 90 percent of our fence had gone down. The back of the house was completely exposed to the publicincreasing the chance of having looters coming into our backyard. And the back of the house is facing Watkins Middle School. We also had some of the branches from a tree in our backyard on the ground as well. Our shed in our backyard has a small hole. Finally, our roof got damaged. We have six different leaks and some of our shingles had been blown off, too. After we inspected for damages to our property we immediately started cleaning up around our house although it was still raining at that time. A couple of hours later the rain finally stop. While my mother raked most of the branches, my father and I took the boards off the windows. And the power was still out. We had a few hours left before it became dark., so we drove around to see how the hurricane aftermath affected our surroundings. Some places looked good and some places looked in really bad shape. Then we came back home and spend the first night with no electricity. I remembered that it was very dark, and although my hand was just two inches from my face and I still could not see it. It was hot in the house because we had no ac. The next few days we cleaned inside our home. It was very boring having nothing to do except playing with my deck of regular cards. We have only one little portable television that we could use, because we still didn’t have power. We didn't have power back until Friday. We had lived without power for 6 day. My parents and I also found out that everybody we knew had power and had lived without it for only a few hours. We were happy that others got there power back, but we were frustrated that we didn't receive power sooner. And here's a weird thing: half of our subdivision had their power back on Monday and the other half didn't get there power back until Friday. On Tuesday there were looters that tried to get into our next door neighbor's house. They broke the lock of the door and opened the door a little bit, but didn't go in because we believed that the looters heard my mother and she scared them off. The next door neighbor was gone during that time, so she was lucky. Two days later on Thursday, my father got the supplies we needed for the fences and we immediately worked on them until we finished on Sunday. I am glad that we got the fences fixed, front and back yards cleaned up, and we got power back. We are almost done with everything except for fixing the roof. We are still looking for professional roofers. These 6 days (Saturday through Friday) had been the most boring, exhausting, and horrible experience in my life, but I am glad that it is over, so we can move on. And I hope that the people who are still struggling will get the help they need.

9/11/08 - from Elise, CALLING ALL TEENS! WE WANT YOU TO CONTRIBUTE TO NEW NEWSLETTER!

2008-09-11T10:56:00.004-05:00

I am working with the Lone Star College – CyFair webmaster to expand our existing teen blog, Teen Thoughts: a blog for teens, http://cyfairteenthoughts.blogspot.com/. We are changing it to be more of newsletter that you teens will be able to add to (post). The existing blog will retain its same format, but the blog home page will be an official college page and have the look of one of our electronic college student newsletters, Get Social, the LSC-North Harris campus’s student newsletter in blog format: http://northharris.lonestar.edu/123520/. Instead of actual photos of you, however, you will use another image to represent yourself, such as an avatar (for internet safety’s sake). Only your first names or another moniker will be used to identify your image.

RULES

This newsletter is for you to express yourselves! Please take advantage of it and write about a variety of topics. There are just a few rules: This is a public forum for you to add your thoughts about your life as a teen. Please be respectful of others. No obscenities or profanities allowed. This blog will be monitored. If your postings are objectionable to me, I will block you from posting. Not only do teens read this site, but the general public and college employees such as the LSC-CyFair President and the LSCS Chancellor as well.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR BEING A CONTRIBUTOR

1. To be an author and submit your news on our blog, you must have an email address. Several sites to obtain a free email account are:
a. Yahoo: http://www.yahoo.com/
b. Gmail: https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=mail&passive=true&rm=false&continue=http%3A%2F%2Fmail.google.com%2Fmail%2F%3Fui%3Dhtml%26zy%3Dl&bsv=1k96igf4806cy&ltmpl=default&ltmplcache=2
c. Hotmail: http://login.live.com/login.srf?wa=wsignin1.0&rpsnv=10&ct=1221148057&rver=4.5.2130.0&wp=MBI&wreply=http:%2F%2Fmail.live.com%2Fdefault.aspx&id=64855

2. Create an avatar to represent yourself: https://login.yahoo.com/config/login_verify2?.intl=us&.src=avt&.done=http%3A%2F%2Favatars.yahoo.com. You will be able to Export your avatar to the blog.

3. Please create an account at photobucket, http://photobucket.com/, and you will be able to upload there any images that you have taken with your digital camera. Every time you post to Teen Thoughts you can retrieve your images from photobucket.

4. For those of you whose email I have, I will soon invite you to be an author at the blogger.com site, which means that you can post directly to the site. Please go to Blogger.com, https://www.blogger.com/start, and register.

5. If you have not received an email from me inviting you to participate, please email me so that I can give you permission to be an author: elise.j.sheppard@lonestar.edu, Elise Sheppard, Teen Librarian, Lone Star College – CyFair, 281-290-5248.

9/8/08 from Rock Star - Music

2008-09-08T15:37:00.007-05:00

While I am a huge fan of heavy metal music I am finding that there are other genres that I like. One example is Blues, specially BB King. Another is classical, especially Mozart. At one point I refused to listen to anything other than heavy metal, but once I did found that I can enjoy many types of music.

9/2/08 from Rock Star - new TV season

2008-09-02T13:38:00.005-05:00

I am looking forward to the 2008-2009 season on television. One reason is that I will be able to watch my favorite shows. My Name Is Earl, Law & Order Criminal Intent, Law & Order Special Victim Unit, Desperate Housewives, and America's Funniest Videos. Also I am excited that there will be new shows too. There is a new tv show that looks really interesting to me, it is called Sons of Anarchy. It's about people in motorcycle gang.

8/28/08 Rock Star - Labor Day Chillin'

2008-08-28T16:02:00.004-05:00

I can't believe that Labor Day is next Monday. Officially Labor Day holiday is a day that many employees get a day off from work. Typically in America, we think that Labor Day is the end of summer. As for me I plan to spend some time with my parents barbequeing and relaxing.

8/18/08 Rock Star - Twilight Series, Stephenie Meyers

2008-08-18T16:04:00.006-05:00

I just recently finished reading Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer,
and I enjoyed it very much. I thought the story was great. I also loved Meyer's other books, Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse, which are part of the Twilight series. I am sad that Breaking Dawn is the last book in the series. I am looking forward to seeing the Twilight movie this December. I am hopeful the Meyer will write a new exciting series, soon.

8/11/08 Rock Star - Why Does Summer Have To End?

2008-08-11T15:40:00.002-05:00

Hey teens, I can't believe that the summer is almost over so soon. I am really bummed out. And I was really enjoying summer a lot. Also I am not ready for new school year. I am still in summer mode, not in fall mode yet. But at the same time I am still excited for new school year. Because I will be learning a lot of new education stuff. And I will be closer to graduating when I turned eighteen years old in couple years. Then I'll be off to college. I can't wait wait to go to college. I know it will be hard, but I am still looking forward to it. The bad thing for me when I go off to college is that I probably won't be seeing my parents as much I was hoping for. We are close. The good thing for me when I leave to college is that I get to do whatever I want to do, depending how much free time I have and without breaking any rules. How sweet is that.

8/11/08 Rock Star - Football Season Predictions

2008-08-11T15:34:00.004-05:00

I am so excited that the football season will begin soon. And I can't wait to watch my favorite team, Dallas Cowboys to play, also I hope Cowboys win the Superbowl this year. My prediction for the teams to make to the play-off this season. Colts, Packers, Patriots, Cowboys, Steeler, Eagles and Jaguars. I am also excited that the College Football season will start soon. I hope that my favorite college team, Aggies win the championship football game. And I plan to watch college and professional football games with my dad while we are eating chips and drinking sodas in front of big screen television in living room.

8/11/08 Gemini II - Day 3-Traveling

2008-08-11T15:18:00.003-05:00

After breakfast we packed our bags and took a taxi to Milan’s Linnat Airport to fly to Athens. On the plane, our lunch consisted of three small sandwiches: turkey and cheese on a roll, tuna salad on white, and some sort of lightly steamed fish in a green wrap. They were all pretty good. Once we landed in Athens, we had to hang out in the airport for FOUR HOURS. We walked around all the stores and ended up eating at a McDonald’s with a fantastic view of the mountains. It’s interesting how McDonald’s menu in every country is slightly different. After a lot of waiting around, we finally got on our plane to the Greek island of Corfu (Kerkyra in Greek).

The taxi driver that took us to our hotel (Corfu Holiday Palace), drove at crazy speeds down tiny one land roads and I was sure we were going to crash. The hotel itself was pretty nice and spacious, but old fashioned. It looked straight out of a 1970s movie. The elevators only went all the way up or all the way down which was very inconvenient. And the only way you could turn the lights in our room on was if we put the key into this slot. Our hotel room had a seaside view so we could see tall green trees and beyond it the blue sea and an incredible moon’s reflection at night. After putting our stuff in the room, we went to the outdoor bar area where we could see the pool deck. There was a banquet dinner for another conference taking place. There was live music which included a really good singer and many musicians playing a variety of instruments. I was awestruck by the violinist who played with incredible skill. After watching the musicians (and the dinner guests dancing) we decided to retire for the night.

8/4/08 from Gemini II - Day 2 in Milan, Italy

2008-08-04T17:39:00.004-05:00

Day 2-Milan

The first thing on our list today was seeing the Last Supper Painting in the Santa Maria Della Grazie church. Seeing the painting in real life was incredibly cool. It was quite big and took up half the wall and it’s size allowed you to get the 3-dimensional feel of the painting that miniature replica’s did not. Each tour of the painting only lastly 15 minutes, so we were ushered into the gift shop and after buying a few things, we went to the part of the church that is currently used which housed some nice pieces of art and fresco there as well.

Our second stop was the Sforza Castle. It’s a huge castle with four rounded watchtowers on each corner. Apparently the round watchtowers are more efficient and this castle was the first to have them. Inside the courtyard they had different sculptures and tombs laid out for people to see. There was an Art Library and even thought the sign said it was supposed to be open at the time we were there, it wasn’t. So we went to the museum instead. There were a lot of small exhibits including Ancient Art, Religious Art, and Armory. The History of Musical Instruments exhibit was closed except for one room, which contained some really cool instruments. I wish I had been able to see the whole thing.

After our Sforza Castle experience, we went to the Milan Central Station to book tickets to Venice. I picked up a calzone with broccoli, cheese, and paprika which was really good. My parents ate at this Doner Kebob place run by a Turkish family. They were very helpful in answering our questions and also very kind. They gave us free coffee and baklava. Once we finished lunch, we went to see the Church of St. Ambrogio and the library there. When we got there, there was a wedding taking place and sign that said it was closed from March to September 2008, which is the high tourist time. How convenient. So we went to the Navigli district and sat by the canal and ate gelato (yum!) and afterwards spent the rest of the evening walking around and enjoying the city.

8/3/08 from Gemini II - Day 1 in Milan, Italy

2008-08-04T17:29:00.005-05:00

I’ve been away for a while on a trip to Europe with my parents and I’ve decided to blog about my experiences there. I hope you enjoy!
Day 1-Milan, Italy

We reached the Malpensa Airport in Milan in the morning. A bus took us through the suburbs to the Central Train Station where we took a taxi to our hotel, Hotel Zefiro. After getting situated in the hotel, we set out to get lunch. We ended up getting mozzarella and tomato sandwiches in a café-bar, which is what the locals do. The bar was owned by a Chinese-Italian woman from whom I learned (and later saw) that there are a lot of people of Chinese descent living in Milan.

After the sandwiches, we headed to the City Center. They have a very good and cheap public transportation system in Milan. For only three Euros a day, you can travel on the bus, subway, or tram as many times as you want. Though I’ve been to many cities in Italy before, I’ve always only seen tourists and barely and native Italians, but in Milan there were many natives going back and forth from work and in the stores.

We stated our sightseeing with the Duomo in the city center. It is a huge, extremely impressive cathedral. It’s built in a Gothic style (which is my favourite) and every inch of it is innately carved. You can buy tickets to go on top on the cathedral, and so we walked the 250+ steps to the very top. It was tiring, but the spectacular view of both the cathedral and the city underneath that awaited us was definitely worth it. But we definitely took the lift on the way down : )

In front of the Duomo is a piazza (plaza) with a statue of a soldier on horseback. Originally, the statue stood so the soldier and his horse were facing in the direction of France. But after Napoleon came through Milan, the Italians turned the statue around so the horse’s tail now faces the direction of France. On one side of the piazza was the arched entrance to the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele which is an ornately built covered shopping area that has stores such as Prada and Louis Vutton as well as some restaurants. I ate a slice of pizza from a fast food restaurant called Spizzico’s which was rather bland. After eating, we looked through the Galleria and looked at some of the ridiculously priced stores. The Galleria itself is an awesome piece of architecture with really good acoustics. There was a pianist playing the center and he sounded fantastic. On the other side of the Galleria was the Piazza della Scalla which had a really cool statue of Leonardo Da Vinci and the Teatro alla Scalla. After enjoying the piazza some more, we went back to the hotel and retired for the night.

7/29/08 from Rock Star - Tap Water Vs. Bottle Water

2008-07-29T09:15:00.012-05:00

Tap water does not produce the same waste that bottled water does. There are some reasons to drink tap water such as, it is tested daily, it is better for your teeth, and it is a bargain. While tap water is not free from dangerous contaminants, water filters provide a healthy solution to this problem.

According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, approximately 1.5 million tons of plastic are used by the bottled water industry. While some consumers recycle most do not. There is also the environmental transporting the nearly 100 billion liters of bottles each year. And I have read that it can take up to 1000 years for plastic bottle to biodegrade.

These pictures represents the number of plastic bottles thrown away every five minutes.

My family made the decision to go back to tap water instead of purchasing bottled water. Not only are we saving money, but we are helping our environment. So teens, what is your opinion?

Photos from Pure Water 2Go: http://purewater2go.com/reduce.html.

7/21/08 from Rock Star - Summer means relaxing

2008-07-21T11:54:00.005-05:00

Hey teens, I can't believe that the summer is half way done. The time is going really fast. And this summer is going really well for me. I have been taking guitar lessons, turned sixteen, got my first job, and I have been participating in book clubs. But what I'm really enjoying about my summer is that I get to relax, watching more tv, playing with my guitar and of course, the most important thing of all, sleeping late.

7/14/08 from Rock Star - MTV or VH1?

2008-07-14T08:45:00.003-05:00

I prefer VH1 over MTV for the following reasons. First, I like the fact that the VH1 shows a better mix of musical genres. My musical interest are varied and I can see a wider varieties of genres on VH1 than I can see on MTV. It's seem to me that MTV shows more rap videos than anything else and I am not big fan of rap. VH1 also shows many artists from previous generations. Secondly, I like the shows on VH1 better. My favorite VH1 show is Rock of Love starring Brett Michaels the lead singer of Poison. There is a new show called I Love Money, which started last week and I thought it was very funny. The only MTV show that I like is Cribs. All of the other shows on MTV I find boring.

7/9/08 from Rock Star - Summer Vacations

2008-07-09T16:42:00.005-05:00

I was thinking about summer. What does it means to me? Vacations. I haven't been on a vacation for a couple of years. And my most memorable vacation I ever had was when I went on a weekend road trip with my father and his friends. We got to go to my dad's and his friend's old college to watch a college football game. The next day after spending a day at my dad's old college, we went to see Graceland. I liked it a lot and it was very interesting. I would recommend to you to go to Graceland for your vacation. After our experience at Graceland, we went back home to proceed with our routine daily lives. It was a short weekend, but the best part about this road trip was that I got to relax and spend some time with my father and his friends.

7/1/08 from Rock Star - a Movie Review

2008-07-01T13:30:00.007-05:00

I just recently saw a movie called The Bucket List. This movie is about two guys (Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman), who are dying from their diseases. They decided, instead of waiting to die in the hospital, to write a list of things they wanted to do before they die. It was sad, but it was very hilarious, too. And I loved this movie. I rated this movie four and a half stars out of five stars. And it is perfect to watch the movie with your family or your friends. Also, this movie got me thinking that I should make a list of things that I want to do in my life and accomplish every one of them before my time is up. So, I seriously recommend to you to watch The Bucket List.

6/25/08 from Rock Star about Western novels

2008-06-25T13:49:00.003-05:00

Have you ever read a Western? I hadn't until I received one as a gift, The Lonesome Gods by Louis L'Amour. Before reading this book, I had no interest in Westerns. This book makes you feel like you are part of the story. When I started reading this book, I literally couldn't put the book down. The story is clear, easy to understand, and very realistic.

6-12-08 from Gemini II

2008-06-16T14:14:00.003-05:00

I really want to watch the Euro 2008 games but all ESPN has been showing is baseball. I really wish that Americans would be more into soccer. The rest of the world is.

On a happier note, I have been researching things to do in Milan, a city with some of the most dedicated soccer fans, because I will be going there on vacation next week. I’m very excited. I used virtualtourist.com for my searches and it was very helpful. I learned that the Santa Maria church which house’s Leonardo DaVinci’s masterpiece “The Last Supper” is so popular that one has to book their tickets days ahead of time. I called the church this morning and they only had tickets left for one of the days I would be in Milan. Good thing I read about it and was able to call!

Traveling is one of my favorite things to do. Nothing opens your eyes up more than experiencing other places first hand.

6-10-08 from Gemini II

2008-06-16T14:09:00.002-05:00

Summer is finally into full swing and I have never been more happy or relaxed! I’m looking forward to these few months of reading, swimming, traveling, and hanging out with my friends.
Speaking of summer, these insane gas prices have got me thinking about how I can be more environmentally friendly. I already recycle everything that can possibly be recycled. I’m trying to avoid using plastic bags as much as possible. I usually keep a few cloth bags in my car that I can use if I go grocery shopping. I’m also attempting to carpool as much as I can. It can be slightly inconvenient at times, but when I look at the numbers at the gas pump, I forget all about it. Besides, it’s more fun to drive with a friend than it is by myself.