so, here i sit with a head filled with music and a mind void of good ideas, so we will see where this goes.....
it will have to be short
Today while taking mcas i realized how much i hate mr. cuadra's room, the desks are sooo small, i couldn't fit all of my things there, i fear for tomorrow when i have to manage two booklets at once. more space always seems nicer though, thats why i liked the library so much better, i had space, and everything was so much more comfortable.
have you ever asked a question that you expected a deep answer for, or a thorough conversation from, and gotten a blunt or sudden response? even just an unexpected one? then afterward walk away saying "why did i even ask that question?" well, this happened to me recently, and i thought about it, and i wondered if i should really consider it a stupid question if it was one that i was looking to obtain an answer from, or one i expected to gain something from. if there was some purpose, can it really be considered stupid?
ugh, i am very sorry about this, i have to end it here, i am having serious mental blocks right now... i blame mcas, i promise a substantial one next monday
quote from phone-
a handful of friends is worth more than a wagon of gold
question-
what in your opinion is the "ideal" breakfast?
March 31-2009
-By Brad
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Newsletter #00018
Ok, its late, so this won't end up being long. I've been super-super-busy doing a bunch of stuff for S.A.D.D. I've set up a mailing list on a new account, I've set up a basic blogging website, created a Facebook group, and some other stuff. Basically, I've been busy. Which is good, because I got my mind off of thinking. Which is good. Because thinking can hurt. And I think me and my friends tend to think just a little too much. Wouldn't you say so Brad?
Ok, so what to talk about..... I discovered I hate stupid people. Now, don't go freaking out. Let me explain what I mean. There are manyyy variations of the word stupid. By the stupid I mean, I mean the people who have the ability to do something good, but choose not to, and end up doing something that hurts themselves and others. For example, a person who has the capability of getting straight A's, being very smart, but instead decides to go off and smoke pot, get drunk, or do other stuff. That type of person is who I consider to be stupid. And unfortunately, I know some people like that. I don't hate them, I just get upset that they would decided to do stuff like that. It upsets me, because I actually care quite a bit for my friends' welfare. But off of depressing subjects.
Society is overall, crazy. That is the biggest understatement I will probably say, but that is as simple as it gets. Crazy. Society can behave in strange ways, especially in the masses. I think that I agree with my US History teacher, Mr. Mac, there will be a revolution in America in my lifetime at some point. Too many people are getting fed up with the government. It has gotten very big, and some of it is pointless. Not all, but there are some parts. I think there has to be a change in the government, though I am not one to say here what exactly needs to be changed. Maybe next week I could talk about some stuff.
TROMBONES RULE. end of story =D
The world is crazy. What do you think would happen if the Earth broke in half, and half of it went off into the sun, but the other half stayed in orbit? What would happen to the good half? Would we still survive???
Gah, I'm tired. I know, I know, this is nowhere NEAR good, but I procrastinated, and got busy with stuff. I promise, next week will be PHENOMENAL!!!
Until then, good night.
March 25-2009
-By Josh
Ok, so what to talk about..... I discovered I hate stupid people. Now, don't go freaking out. Let me explain what I mean. There are manyyy variations of the word stupid. By the stupid I mean, I mean the people who have the ability to do something good, but choose not to, and end up doing something that hurts themselves and others. For example, a person who has the capability of getting straight A's, being very smart, but instead decides to go off and smoke pot, get drunk, or do other stuff. That type of person is who I consider to be stupid. And unfortunately, I know some people like that. I don't hate them, I just get upset that they would decided to do stuff like that. It upsets me, because I actually care quite a bit for my friends' welfare. But off of depressing subjects.
Society is overall, crazy. That is the biggest understatement I will probably say, but that is as simple as it gets. Crazy. Society can behave in strange ways, especially in the masses. I think that I agree with my US History teacher, Mr. Mac, there will be a revolution in America in my lifetime at some point. Too many people are getting fed up with the government. It has gotten very big, and some of it is pointless. Not all, but there are some parts. I think there has to be a change in the government, though I am not one to say here what exactly needs to be changed. Maybe next week I could talk about some stuff.
TROMBONES RULE. end of story =D
The world is crazy. What do you think would happen if the Earth broke in half, and half of it went off into the sun, but the other half stayed in orbit? What would happen to the good half? Would we still survive???
Gah, I'm tired. I know, I know, this is nowhere NEAR good, but I procrastinated, and got busy with stuff. I promise, next week will be PHENOMENAL!!!
Until then, good night.
March 25-2009
-By Josh
Monday, March 23, 2009
Newsletter #00017
well, before i get started here, i'm gonna say congrats to all those in jazz one for their silver medal, good job!
alright, my topic for the day, rights and privelages. Have you ever gotten to do something and been told to be thankfull, because it is a good privelage? well, who is to say that whatever you are doing isn't a right? I mean look at our nation, we have all these rights, but are told to be privelaged to have them, which shows another point, that they usually exist somehow together, so who are you to pick one out of a situatipon as opposed to the other? another discrepancy that i see in all this is as follows:
-A privelage or a right is defined by humans
-Humans are very erroneous creatures
due to this, i don't think we could even say or establish a fact of something being right or privelage. We have a right to speech, but we are privelaged to be at one or give one. this seems strange to me.
What are rights and privelages anyway? i believe a right is something we are considered "naturally" deserve (i.e. food, water, speech, etc.). And a privelage is something that we are "Allowed" to do by another person. Which is another problem, who is one person to tell another person wether or not they have permision to do something? One person technically should not have power like this over another person usn==nless there is some type of agreement worked out between the two people. One examples of this could be living arrangements "If you live with me, i will allow you to(give you the privelage of) own a dog." This is possible i think, fair. I see this because if one person is living easier due to the esablishment of another person, the person that is the owner of said establishment should have the say over what privelages to dole out or take away. An instance of somewhere that i would not see privelages given or taken fairly would bea neighbor. Say they come over one day and tell you cannot play music at night anymore (not saying it was loud and bugging them, but just randomly because they don't like you and because i can give you improbable situations like this.)But like i was saying, your neighbor comes over and puts a restriction on when you can listen to music, from 8-10 only they say. Then they would not have authority to tell you what not to do. (if it was in fact bugging them because you were playing loud music late at night, then i believe a compromise should be made, but other than that, this is how i feel)
Another way people look at rights (or at least i feel) is as a set of rules, things you must abide by. In reality, rights are what are protected by laws, but once again, who is to say what a right is? in our country, we believe we have a right to speech, where as in another country, they might believe they have the right to kill you for even thinking that. So what is a right? and do people really deserve everything that we qualify as a "right?"
And is there some sort of "grey area" where the line between right and privelage is slurred and undefined?
Alright, now on to my scarily similar second topic, the difference between right and wrong. Once again, human definitions, just to get that out of the way. What is right and what is wrong? we are said to be gifted by free will or an ability to choose, as well as a way of telling right from wrong, which could also be referred to as a conscience. here is my thing, the line between right and wrong can be very slurred, especially in how you are brought up, just to show another improbable extreme, say your parents brought you up well, and you had a bunch of people around you that belived the same things as you, so you developed the sense that writing on walls was bad, it was not an okay thing to do. then, your neighborbrought up their child just the opposite, and they were constantly around bad people, they minght not only think that drawing on the wall was okay, but possibly breaking the whole thing dawn as well. Even the explanation i just gave you shows my point, i said that i se someone that sees drawing on the wall as bad as a good person. (granted that one thing doesn't make anybody a good person, though it lends itself to it in most cases i know of)this shows that i was brought up and surrounded by people who put the idea in my head that writing on the wall is generally a bad thing.
maybe if i gave a better example.......
okay......
here's one...
drinking, now, i am absolutely dead-set against drinking, but i know that in today's world, there are in fact children that grow up to believe that drinking isn't bad for them (or people around them), which causes problems for them in their childhood and in their future in most cases. And i believe that this is due to the way they were brought up and to the people they have been surrounded by during their lives, and so became accustomed to the idea of drinking as possibly a good thing as opposed to a bad thing.
S.A.D.D. is doing another 84 campaign, so go check out the tables duing lunches these next two days, we need to complete these misions!!
alright, here's something new, from now on, as well as a question, i am also going to put in a quote that i like, sometimes it will be funny, sometimes random, sometimes wise, and very rarely, but sometimes relative to what i have said, and they are also off a new application off my phone, so on days that i can't find a good one, you will have to deal with the one you get, so here is today's:
If in doubt, mumble.
and as for the question portion, i will throw in one for lauren:
if you were to jump from a high place with a large ball with handles on it, would you be able to land safely? or would the ball turn over and have you land on your back?
March 23-2009
-By Brad
alright, my topic for the day, rights and privelages. Have you ever gotten to do something and been told to be thankfull, because it is a good privelage? well, who is to say that whatever you are doing isn't a right? I mean look at our nation, we have all these rights, but are told to be privelaged to have them, which shows another point, that they usually exist somehow together, so who are you to pick one out of a situatipon as opposed to the other? another discrepancy that i see in all this is as follows:
-A privelage or a right is defined by humans
-Humans are very erroneous creatures
due to this, i don't think we could even say or establish a fact of something being right or privelage. We have a right to speech, but we are privelaged to be at one or give one. this seems strange to me.
What are rights and privelages anyway? i believe a right is something we are considered "naturally" deserve (i.e. food, water, speech, etc.). And a privelage is something that we are "Allowed" to do by another person. Which is another problem, who is one person to tell another person wether or not they have permision to do something? One person technically should not have power like this over another person usn==nless there is some type of agreement worked out between the two people. One examples of this could be living arrangements "If you live with me, i will allow you to(give you the privelage of) own a dog." This is possible i think, fair. I see this because if one person is living easier due to the esablishment of another person, the person that is the owner of said establishment should have the say over what privelages to dole out or take away. An instance of somewhere that i would not see privelages given or taken fairly would bea neighbor. Say they come over one day and tell you cannot play music at night anymore (not saying it was loud and bugging them, but just randomly because they don't like you and because i can give you improbable situations like this.)But like i was saying, your neighbor comes over and puts a restriction on when you can listen to music, from 8-10 only they say. Then they would not have authority to tell you what not to do. (if it was in fact bugging them because you were playing loud music late at night, then i believe a compromise should be made, but other than that, this is how i feel)
Another way people look at rights (or at least i feel) is as a set of rules, things you must abide by. In reality, rights are what are protected by laws, but once again, who is to say what a right is? in our country, we believe we have a right to speech, where as in another country, they might believe they have the right to kill you for even thinking that. So what is a right? and do people really deserve everything that we qualify as a "right?"
And is there some sort of "grey area" where the line between right and privelage is slurred and undefined?
Alright, now on to my scarily similar second topic, the difference between right and wrong. Once again, human definitions, just to get that out of the way. What is right and what is wrong? we are said to be gifted by free will or an ability to choose, as well as a way of telling right from wrong, which could also be referred to as a conscience. here is my thing, the line between right and wrong can be very slurred, especially in how you are brought up, just to show another improbable extreme, say your parents brought you up well, and you had a bunch of people around you that belived the same things as you, so you developed the sense that writing on walls was bad, it was not an okay thing to do. then, your neighborbrought up their child just the opposite, and they were constantly around bad people, they minght not only think that drawing on the wall was okay, but possibly breaking the whole thing dawn as well. Even the explanation i just gave you shows my point, i said that i se someone that sees drawing on the wall as bad as a good person. (granted that one thing doesn't make anybody a good person, though it lends itself to it in most cases i know of)this shows that i was brought up and surrounded by people who put the idea in my head that writing on the wall is generally a bad thing.
maybe if i gave a better example.......
okay......
here's one...
drinking, now, i am absolutely dead-set against drinking, but i know that in today's world, there are in fact children that grow up to believe that drinking isn't bad for them (or people around them), which causes problems for them in their childhood and in their future in most cases. And i believe that this is due to the way they were brought up and to the people they have been surrounded by during their lives, and so became accustomed to the idea of drinking as possibly a good thing as opposed to a bad thing.
announcement
S.A.D.D. is doing another 84 campaign, so go check out the tables duing lunches these next two days, we need to complete these misions!!
alright, here's something new, from now on, as well as a question, i am also going to put in a quote that i like, sometimes it will be funny, sometimes random, sometimes wise, and very rarely, but sometimes relative to what i have said, and they are also off a new application off my phone, so on days that i can't find a good one, you will have to deal with the one you get, so here is today's:
If in doubt, mumble.
and as for the question portion, i will throw in one for lauren:
if you were to jump from a high place with a large ball with handles on it, would you be able to land safely? or would the ball turn over and have you land on your back?
March 23-2009
-By Brad
Friday, March 20, 2009
Newsletter #00016
So as I woke up from my 3 hour nap, I had realized I had no idea what to write about.
Then in a stroke of genius I remembered my 2 dozen or so Muse magazines from when I was younger, just chalk full of interesting topics. Of course now the entire pile is sitting beside me while I raid it for ideas.
First up: Inherent association
I was going to start off with prejudice because of this cool test you can take online that was mentioned in my magazine. Lo and behold, I go to the website to take it and discover that once you give them your email to sign up/ log in, you no longer get to choose the test you take but w/e.
So basically, the article I read talked about race and racial prejudice and it said that even if you consider yourself not a racist, you may still have racist tendencies. The test you can take (and I'll provide a link after if you want to try it) gives you a topic. I just took one on self-esteem. Basically, you go through this thing where they give you a word and you put it in the good or bad column and then they start throwing in words related to self-esteem. You do that twice, and the first time you will either have to put it in the good column or the bad and then vice versa.
So I took this, and initially I was thinking that I would be faster at categorizing the first time, regardless of whether I had to put words about self-esteem or race or w/e it was into a good category vs. a bad one. First of all, I was wrong. Really wrong. I haven't gotten to take the racial one yet (they're random), but I took one on social order and another on self esteem. When I took the first one, I had no trouble putting social order into the correct category, since I don't really think about it much or have any opinions on it.
When I got to the self esteem one, I had a lot more trouble putting words associated with myself into the bad category than the good, even though the bad category was the first one I had to do. Of course, as i was taking it I realized this, and I realized it is because I have really high self-esteem. Which is interesting, and suggests that the test might actually prove something.
After thinking about it however, I don't necessarily believe that's true. If and when I get to take the racial one, I think it will probably come out and show me that I have some racial tendencies. Does that make me a racist? I don't think so, even if my mind more easily associates bad with black people or good with white. I think it is our decisions that matter more. If I don't look at a black person and think of them as less than a white person, then I'm not a racist. If I purposely choose not to be one because I don't believe that skin color should determine what type of person you are, then I don't think I'm a racist, even if I show racial tendencies. What I really believe is that people may test that way specifically because we've spent so much time in school and in life talking about how blacks used to be treated inferior and how they used to be slaves. Which really makes me wonder- if we had never been taught these things as children, but instead raised in multicultural societies and taught that skin color is simply a difference in a chemical, melanin, with no association to it ever having been different, would that make racial tendencies go away? Or would people be bound to make the same mistakes and eventually turn one racial group into an inferior group again?
Anyways, before I move onto other subjects, I'd like to give you the link for these if you want to give them a go. Its implicit.harvard.edu Click on Research and then register. It'll ask you for an email address and then some other questions. Just make sure you put you are over 18 or you can't take it.
Ok, so something cool I just read in one of my magazines. This is going to be an exact quote. It says "0.999999... repeated FOREVER equals what? There are actually two answers, depending on which system of mathematics you use. In ordinary math, this number equals 1. But in some new versions of math dreamed up by modern theorists with nothing better to do, 0.999999... is INFINITESIMALLY LESS than 1. This means that the difference 1 - 0.999999999999... is an "infinitesimal" number smaller than any "real" number but bigger than zero. Does your head hurt yet?"
I thought that was really cool because it actually makes perfect sense.
Speaking of interesting math, have any of you ever seen the movie 21? If not, there is a scene in it where a college professor is teaching a class and he gives the students a scenario. Say you are on a game show and the host shows you three doors. Two of them hold a goat (or some other insignificant object) behind them. The third holds a car, which of course, is what you want to win. You choose a door, say door 2, and the host opens door 3, which holds a goat behind it. Now it seems like you have a 50/50 chance of being right. The host asks you if you would like to change your guess to door 1. Do you do it? Why or why not?
The answer to this is that you should always switch if that is the scenario. When I first heard that I thought it didn't make sense, because with two doors left, you should have a 50/50 chance of being right. And by that logic you do. However, switching doors after one has been eliminated actually raises your chances to about 66.6666...% I'll explain why if you don't already know, since I decided to figure it out one morning afterwards.
So say you have the three doors. We'll use the letters X and Y to represent goats and cars and whatever else. You want to win Y, which is behind 1 door, and not X which is behind the other two. When you first pick, you have a 2/3 chance of picking a door with X behind it. So the host goes and eliminates a different door that had an X behind it. Now, if you had picked Y in the beginning (which you only had a 1/3 chance of doing) at this point, if you switched you would be out of luck, because no matter which door the host eliminated, the remaining door that you didn't choose would have an X behind it.
Now say you had picked an X from the beginning (which you had a 2/3 chance of doing). The host then eliminates another door, with an X behind it and asks you if you want to switch. Now, since you had one X from the beginning, and the host has just eliminated the remaining X, switching will give you the Y. Since you can only switch and get the Y after one has been eliminated if you originally started out choosing an X, it is in your favor to switch every time, since there was a 2/3 chance of you starting out with an X and therefore now ending with a Y. As opposed to the 1/3 you had of starting out with a Y, switching and ending up with an X.
I think I was going to try and write about more than 2 subjects today but since I have spent so long on this one already (its literally been hours. I took a bunch of those Inherent association tests in the middle of writing this) I think I'm just going to end this one where it is.
March 20-2009
-By Kasey
Then in a stroke of genius I remembered my 2 dozen or so Muse magazines from when I was younger, just chalk full of interesting topics. Of course now the entire pile is sitting beside me while I raid it for ideas.
First up: Inherent association
I was going to start off with prejudice because of this cool test you can take online that was mentioned in my magazine. Lo and behold, I go to the website to take it and discover that once you give them your email to sign up/ log in, you no longer get to choose the test you take but w/e.
So basically, the article I read talked about race and racial prejudice and it said that even if you consider yourself not a racist, you may still have racist tendencies. The test you can take (and I'll provide a link after if you want to try it) gives you a topic. I just took one on self-esteem. Basically, you go through this thing where they give you a word and you put it in the good or bad column and then they start throwing in words related to self-esteem. You do that twice, and the first time you will either have to put it in the good column or the bad and then vice versa.
So I took this, and initially I was thinking that I would be faster at categorizing the first time, regardless of whether I had to put words about self-esteem or race or w/e it was into a good category vs. a bad one. First of all, I was wrong. Really wrong. I haven't gotten to take the racial one yet (they're random), but I took one on social order and another on self esteem. When I took the first one, I had no trouble putting social order into the correct category, since I don't really think about it much or have any opinions on it.
When I got to the self esteem one, I had a lot more trouble putting words associated with myself into the bad category than the good, even though the bad category was the first one I had to do. Of course, as i was taking it I realized this, and I realized it is because I have really high self-esteem. Which is interesting, and suggests that the test might actually prove something.
After thinking about it however, I don't necessarily believe that's true. If and when I get to take the racial one, I think it will probably come out and show me that I have some racial tendencies. Does that make me a racist? I don't think so, even if my mind more easily associates bad with black people or good with white. I think it is our decisions that matter more. If I don't look at a black person and think of them as less than a white person, then I'm not a racist. If I purposely choose not to be one because I don't believe that skin color should determine what type of person you are, then I don't think I'm a racist, even if I show racial tendencies. What I really believe is that people may test that way specifically because we've spent so much time in school and in life talking about how blacks used to be treated inferior and how they used to be slaves. Which really makes me wonder- if we had never been taught these things as children, but instead raised in multicultural societies and taught that skin color is simply a difference in a chemical, melanin, with no association to it ever having been different, would that make racial tendencies go away? Or would people be bound to make the same mistakes and eventually turn one racial group into an inferior group again?
Anyways, before I move onto other subjects, I'd like to give you the link for these if you want to give them a go. Its implicit.harvard.edu Click on Research and then register. It'll ask you for an email address and then some other questions. Just make sure you put you are over 18 or you can't take it.
Ok, so something cool I just read in one of my magazines. This is going to be an exact quote. It says "0.999999... repeated FOREVER equals what? There are actually two answers, depending on which system of mathematics you use. In ordinary math, this number equals 1. But in some new versions of math dreamed up by modern theorists with nothing better to do, 0.999999... is INFINITESIMALLY LESS than 1. This means that the difference 1 - 0.999999999999... is an "infinitesimal" number smaller than any "real" number but bigger than zero. Does your head hurt yet?"
I thought that was really cool because it actually makes perfect sense.
Speaking of interesting math, have any of you ever seen the movie 21? If not, there is a scene in it where a college professor is teaching a class and he gives the students a scenario. Say you are on a game show and the host shows you three doors. Two of them hold a goat (or some other insignificant object) behind them. The third holds a car, which of course, is what you want to win. You choose a door, say door 2, and the host opens door 3, which holds a goat behind it. Now it seems like you have a 50/50 chance of being right. The host asks you if you would like to change your guess to door 1. Do you do it? Why or why not?
The answer to this is that you should always switch if that is the scenario. When I first heard that I thought it didn't make sense, because with two doors left, you should have a 50/50 chance of being right. And by that logic you do. However, switching doors after one has been eliminated actually raises your chances to about 66.6666...% I'll explain why if you don't already know, since I decided to figure it out one morning afterwards.
So say you have the three doors. We'll use the letters X and Y to represent goats and cars and whatever else. You want to win Y, which is behind 1 door, and not X which is behind the other two. When you first pick, you have a 2/3 chance of picking a door with X behind it. So the host goes and eliminates a different door that had an X behind it. Now, if you had picked Y in the beginning (which you only had a 1/3 chance of doing) at this point, if you switched you would be out of luck, because no matter which door the host eliminated, the remaining door that you didn't choose would have an X behind it.
Now say you had picked an X from the beginning (which you had a 2/3 chance of doing). The host then eliminates another door, with an X behind it and asks you if you want to switch. Now, since you had one X from the beginning, and the host has just eliminated the remaining X, switching will give you the Y. Since you can only switch and get the Y after one has been eliminated if you originally started out choosing an X, it is in your favor to switch every time, since there was a 2/3 chance of you starting out with an X and therefore now ending with a Y. As opposed to the 1/3 you had of starting out with a Y, switching and ending up with an X.
I think I was going to try and write about more than 2 subjects today but since I have spent so long on this one already (its literally been hours. I took a bunch of those Inherent association tests in the middle of writing this) I think I'm just going to end this one where it is.
March 20-2009
-By Kasey
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Newsletter #00015
Newsletter #00015
will
be
interesting.
So, I need something to talk about. Hmmmmmm.... What is there to do? Ok, I have a couple things, and here they are:
• Humanity
• Space
• Spore
• Socks
• Things that begin with the letter S, seeing as everything except Humanity happens to begin with an S
• Codes
I haven't put out a good note recently, so hopefully this will be a better one. I don't even know how to begin, I need to start practicing writing in my spare time. Not just in code either (Brad). I want to write something big, but I don't know what. I can create my own topics, but they just seem random. Normally, I need somebody to give me a topic, and I'll be able to warp it into something. But i have difficulties. I happen to be very indecisive, and do not trust my own decisions. I am always questioning what I have done, and if it is right. I actually prefer another person's opinion than my own, unless on the rare occasion I write something I actually like. So, even though this wasn't what I said I would talk about in my note, I just did. Deal with it. =P But at least this opened me up, and now I'm in somewhat of a groove into my writing. So other than my random blabbering, I will talk about all the topics I mentioned.
Humanity. Us humans have such an extreme intellect, we don't even realize it. We have so much control over the world, but we don't comprehend it entirely. Without us, imagine where the world would be. Would it be a bountiful paradise, or a bare planet? What species would be dominant? Or, without humans, would there even be dominance? There is natural selection, but there is not domination throughout the world of a single species, other than the homosapien. Our minds gave us the ability to do all that we do. To evolve mentally, instead of physically. Who knows what we can do. Humanity has evolved, like all other creatures, but when did the modern human begin? A thousand years ago? Two thousand? Who can tell? If it has been a thousand years, why haven't we noticed any evolutionary change? I've heard that we only use about 20% of our brain power. What is the other 80% doing? Telepathy? Telekinesis? I would personally hope telepathy, that would be amazing. If all humans had telekinesis (the ability to move an object with your mind, for those that don't know), than imagine the destruction that would be wrought. I wouldn't use my power for destruction, but I can't say that for the rest of humanity. Something else I want to mention about us humans is the way we communicate. We are really sophisticated in our way of communicating. Oh, this is random, but I spelled sophisticated correctly the first time, I fell accomplished. =D But really, we are. We have letters, and numbers, along with our speech. I can't think of another animal that has physical representations of the world around it. We use words to indicate our thoughts, and to share with others without using our mouths. This has enabled long distance communication unlike any other species. We have somewhat advanced vocals, with a broad range, and like other animals, we use a series of grunts, squeals, and raising/lowering of pitches to indicate words and meanings. Something that is interesting is how many different languages there are. We are all the same species, yet we have language boundaries. Interesting. I just realized I wrote a lot here, I need to save some space, and more topics for later. So, that ends this.
Space. There are soooo many topics on this, it's impossible not to have one. Wormhole theory, black holes, big bang, the list goes on and on. I think that we will someday colonize other planets. I just hope that we aren't alone in the universe. I personally don't believe we are, but I've just thought. The odds are so slim for a planet to be stable (not spinning too fast, not molten rock), for a planet to be able to support life (O2 and H2O), for life to develop, for the genes of life to randomly develop to form another species with intelligence comparable to ours; the odds are stacked high against us. I want there to be, but who knows, really. Will the quest to conquer the universe end in disappointment? I hope not. And I want to see the center of the universe!!! It would be amazing!!! But enough for space. That is more in Brad's field, though I enjoy the conversations a lot. Thinking is fun.
Spore is a game for the PC that kinda combines with everything I've talked about so far. It is a game where you can create your own creature, start from a cell, and work your way up to an intergalactic being. It's quite fun to play, and the creation designs are limitless. In the game, you aren't alone in the universe, which is good. But to design a creature is fun. I'd say play it, it's a good game. End of that.
Socks are AMAZING!! Did you know that? They are. There is NO doubt about it. We could not live without socks. The human race would fall apart in chaos. It is impossible. They are soft, and warm, and fuzzy, or thin, or fat, or long, or short, or medium, or striped, or polka-dot, or fun, or very fun, or very very fun, or comfy, or cold, or AMAZING!!!!! Could you imagine never wearing socks? Ce n'est pas possible!!!!! Socks are fun, I just thought I would inform the world.
Socks-Spore-Spelling-Sophisticated-Species-Striped-Space-Stacked-Start-Soooo-Special-Spots-Spin-Stop-Sam-Sampson
wow, I thought I could think of more....
Brad and I invented a code, using symbols, and so far only we can read and write it. If you want to know, we'll tell you, but you need to travel to Mars directly after. As in we strap you to a rocket while telling you. =D It's a secret!! Shhhhh
This was fun to write, especially humanity. The other stuff was just little things for amusement. Hope you liked it.
Solve this equation: (muhahaha)
(sqrt(x^5)^3)/x+x^-3= i
have fun!
March 18-2009
-By Josh
will
be
interesting.
So, I need something to talk about. Hmmmmmm.... What is there to do? Ok, I have a couple things, and here they are:
• Humanity
• Space
• Spore
• Socks
• Things that begin with the letter S, seeing as everything except Humanity happens to begin with an S
• Codes
I haven't put out a good note recently, so hopefully this will be a better one. I don't even know how to begin, I need to start practicing writing in my spare time. Not just in code either (Brad). I want to write something big, but I don't know what. I can create my own topics, but they just seem random. Normally, I need somebody to give me a topic, and I'll be able to warp it into something. But i have difficulties. I happen to be very indecisive, and do not trust my own decisions. I am always questioning what I have done, and if it is right. I actually prefer another person's opinion than my own, unless on the rare occasion I write something I actually like. So, even though this wasn't what I said I would talk about in my note, I just did. Deal with it. =P But at least this opened me up, and now I'm in somewhat of a groove into my writing. So other than my random blabbering, I will talk about all the topics I mentioned.
Humanity. Us humans have such an extreme intellect, we don't even realize it. We have so much control over the world, but we don't comprehend it entirely. Without us, imagine where the world would be. Would it be a bountiful paradise, or a bare planet? What species would be dominant? Or, without humans, would there even be dominance? There is natural selection, but there is not domination throughout the world of a single species, other than the homosapien. Our minds gave us the ability to do all that we do. To evolve mentally, instead of physically. Who knows what we can do. Humanity has evolved, like all other creatures, but when did the modern human begin? A thousand years ago? Two thousand? Who can tell? If it has been a thousand years, why haven't we noticed any evolutionary change? I've heard that we only use about 20% of our brain power. What is the other 80% doing? Telepathy? Telekinesis? I would personally hope telepathy, that would be amazing. If all humans had telekinesis (the ability to move an object with your mind, for those that don't know), than imagine the destruction that would be wrought. I wouldn't use my power for destruction, but I can't say that for the rest of humanity. Something else I want to mention about us humans is the way we communicate. We are really sophisticated in our way of communicating. Oh, this is random, but I spelled sophisticated correctly the first time, I fell accomplished. =D But really, we are. We have letters, and numbers, along with our speech. I can't think of another animal that has physical representations of the world around it. We use words to indicate our thoughts, and to share with others without using our mouths. This has enabled long distance communication unlike any other species. We have somewhat advanced vocals, with a broad range, and like other animals, we use a series of grunts, squeals, and raising/lowering of pitches to indicate words and meanings. Something that is interesting is how many different languages there are. We are all the same species, yet we have language boundaries. Interesting. I just realized I wrote a lot here, I need to save some space, and more topics for later. So, that ends this.
Space. There are soooo many topics on this, it's impossible not to have one. Wormhole theory, black holes, big bang, the list goes on and on. I think that we will someday colonize other planets. I just hope that we aren't alone in the universe. I personally don't believe we are, but I've just thought. The odds are so slim for a planet to be stable (not spinning too fast, not molten rock), for a planet to be able to support life (O2 and H2O), for life to develop, for the genes of life to randomly develop to form another species with intelligence comparable to ours; the odds are stacked high against us. I want there to be, but who knows, really. Will the quest to conquer the universe end in disappointment? I hope not. And I want to see the center of the universe!!! It would be amazing!!! But enough for space. That is more in Brad's field, though I enjoy the conversations a lot. Thinking is fun.
Spore is a game for the PC that kinda combines with everything I've talked about so far. It is a game where you can create your own creature, start from a cell, and work your way up to an intergalactic being. It's quite fun to play, and the creation designs are limitless. In the game, you aren't alone in the universe, which is good. But to design a creature is fun. I'd say play it, it's a good game. End of that.
Socks are AMAZING!! Did you know that? They are. There is NO doubt about it. We could not live without socks. The human race would fall apart in chaos. It is impossible. They are soft, and warm, and fuzzy, or thin, or fat, or long, or short, or medium, or striped, or polka-dot, or fun, or very fun, or very very fun, or comfy, or cold, or AMAZING!!!!! Could you imagine never wearing socks? Ce n'est pas possible!!!!! Socks are fun, I just thought I would inform the world.
Socks-Spore-Spelling-Sophi
wow, I thought I could think of more....
Brad and I invented a code, using symbols, and so far only we can read and write it. If you want to know, we'll tell you, but you need to travel to Mars directly after. As in we strap you to a rocket while telling you. =D It's a secret!! Shhhhh
This was fun to write, especially humanity. The other stuff was just little things for amusement. Hope you liked it.
Solve this equation: (muhahaha)
(sqrt(x^5)^3)/x+x^-3= i
have fun!
March 18-2009
-By Josh
Monday, March 16, 2009
Newsletter #00014
so, sorry i didn't publish last week, i was in the pit for the play, and the rehearsals just didn't grant time, josh could tell you that, he just was lucky that the one day off we had was wednesday night. haha
So, here's a bit of a new concept, now don't quote me, because i don't really believe one word i am about to say, but like i said, its a neat concept. dimensions, we as three dimensional creatures cast two dimentional shadows, so would not four dimensional objects cast three dimensional shadows?(this a direct quote from josh, and granted i do not agree entirely, i'm going to use it anyhow). now, suppose that all these spaceship sightings that get reported are shodows of four dimensional objects passing through our world, or better yet, simply four dimensional objects passing through our dimension, the third one.
based on this possible theory, i have made my own, and like i said, its more than unlikely, but still neat to think about. say that each dimension, 1st-5th (just for good measure) was on a separate beam of existance. for example, our universe and all that it contains are a part of a beam or arm that consists only of three dimensional objects. Now put that idea to every dimension i mentioned, 1-5. now that you have that envisioned, take these five beams, and extend them infinately and twist them round and roun and round each other, so that they are a tangled mess, but none are touching each other. Now, each of these "strings" of dimensions as i will refer to them has an entirely permeable outer edge, but only by the strings of other dimensions, but cannot pass through itself, because if you think about it, that would cause choas in some form or another, to have multiple sections of a dimension in one place. But back to this mass of strings of dimensions, they are strings that are always moving and shifting, and therefore, must pass through one another quite frequently, but only in one small place (comparatively), so this could be happening to a part of our dimension that we have no knowledge of right now, and we wouldn't know it. This my theory on the sightings of spacecraft, maybe they are four dimensional beings or shadows of them passing through our dimension while our respective string passes through theirs.
while we are on theory's in space, i am going to ignore physics even farther and give you some interesting information, some that i myself find funny. Now, have you ever seen a girl on a motorcycle with her hair blowing in the breeze or wind because of how fast the motorcycle is moving? well, in space, you could literally be travelling at 3million miles per hour (assuming that every part of you was accelerating at the same rate until at a stable speed) and your hair would not blow in the wind. this is because on earth, we have an atmosphere which is composed of definate particles, and when these particles hit your hair, they force it back, in the void of space, there are no particles to hit your hair, so it could not recieve resistance, and therefore would not blow behind you in the wind.
Alright, nother theory, you would not hear noise in space either. this is why:
-on earth, the initial vibration shakes the matter around it, which causes a chain effect of matter intil it reaches your ears
-in space, there is no matter to vibrate to reach your ears, so there would be an initial vibration, and it would stop there
due to this, you could take a pair of crash symbols in space, and hit them in front of your face as hard as you want, and you wouldn't hear it.
well, that's all i have for now, here's your question
is going backwords progress? for example, if you are building a house, and the roof falls off, is that not still progress? even if it is negative progress? progress toward deconstruction?
actually, i just thought up another, so here, after you answer that one above, read this one
do you belive that patterns can reapeat? and if so, do you think a repeat of a pattern can predict the future?
March 16-2009
-By Brad
So, here's a bit of a new concept, now don't quote me, because i don't really believe one word i am about to say, but like i said, its a neat concept. dimensions, we as three dimensional creatures cast two dimentional shadows, so would not four dimensional objects cast three dimensional shadows?(this a direct quote from josh, and granted i do not agree entirely, i'm going to use it anyhow). now, suppose that all these spaceship sightings that get reported are shodows of four dimensional objects passing through our world, or better yet, simply four dimensional objects passing through our dimension, the third one.
based on this possible theory, i have made my own, and like i said, its more than unlikely, but still neat to think about. say that each dimension, 1st-5th (just for good measure) was on a separate beam of existance. for example, our universe and all that it contains are a part of a beam or arm that consists only of three dimensional objects. Now put that idea to every dimension i mentioned, 1-5. now that you have that envisioned, take these five beams, and extend them infinately and twist them round and roun and round each other, so that they are a tangled mess, but none are touching each other. Now, each of these "strings" of dimensions as i will refer to them has an entirely permeable outer edge, but only by the strings of other dimensions, but cannot pass through itself, because if you think about it, that would cause choas in some form or another, to have multiple sections of a dimension in one place. But back to this mass of strings of dimensions, they are strings that are always moving and shifting, and therefore, must pass through one another quite frequently, but only in one small place (comparatively), so this could be happening to a part of our dimension that we have no knowledge of right now, and we wouldn't know it. This my theory on the sightings of spacecraft, maybe they are four dimensional beings or shadows of them passing through our dimension while our respective string passes through theirs.
while we are on theory's in space, i am going to ignore physics even farther and give you some interesting information, some that i myself find funny. Now, have you ever seen a girl on a motorcycle with her hair blowing in the breeze or wind because of how fast the motorcycle is moving? well, in space, you could literally be travelling at 3million miles per hour (assuming that every part of you was accelerating at the same rate until at a stable speed) and your hair would not blow in the wind. this is because on earth, we have an atmosphere which is composed of definate particles, and when these particles hit your hair, they force it back, in the void of space, there are no particles to hit your hair, so it could not recieve resistance, and therefore would not blow behind you in the wind.
Alright, nother theory, you would not hear noise in space either. this is why:
-on earth, the initial vibration shakes the matter around it, which causes a chain effect of matter intil it reaches your ears
-in space, there is no matter to vibrate to reach your ears, so there would be an initial vibration, and it would stop there
due to this, you could take a pair of crash symbols in space, and hit them in front of your face as hard as you want, and you wouldn't hear it.
well, that's all i have for now, here's your question
is going backwords progress? for example, if you are building a house, and the roof falls off, is that not still progress? even if it is negative progress? progress toward deconstruction?
actually, i just thought up another, so here, after you answer that one above, read this one
do you belive that patterns can reapeat? and if so, do you think a repeat of a pattern can predict the future?
March 16-2009
-By Brad
Friday, March 13, 2009
Newsletter #00013
Number 13. A dozen. But only if you're a baker. Otherwise, too bad.
If you read Josh's last newsletter you'd get the reference in the above comment. If not, go read it.
Alright everyone, so for my second newsletter I was lucky enough to get to post it on Friday the 13th, one of my favorite days of the year, which today also just so happens to be my half birthday. Go figure. If you can't tell, I'm not superstitious at all. Which is probably a really good thing because in 2013 my birthday will be Friday the 13th.
Anyways, moving on.
So today in school I was in math class and we were learning long and synthetic division of polynomials (If you haven't taken Algebra II yet you probably won't understand this). Anyways, Mrs. Daigle was explaining synthetic division (for like the 3rd time this year), and she said how it could only be done if you were dividing by a linear equation (ex. x-2), hence the reason it is so important that you learn long division for other problems where you have an x^2 or x^3.
Of course, me, being as stubborn as I am, decided that there had to be a way to do it with non-linear equations, so I made one up and it works, as far as Josh and I can tell (since he helped me test them once I figured it out), every single time. I'd explain how you do it here, but it would take some diagramming and lots of explaining I don't want to do.
All very random, I realize, but I just thought it was kinda neat (actually that's a lie. I now consider myself to be a genius!!) My next plan of course it to use my synthetic division to completely eradicate long division from the world. Muahhahahaha!
Ok, not really.
Relating to this whole math thing, Lauren Piantedosi made some interesting comments relating life to sitcoms. Basically it went something along the lines of this:
She told me that I was like one of the main characters in a sitcom (a sitcom based off of her life, I mean. haha) So you know how in some episodes of sitcoms or w/e, one of the main characters is said to be "on vacation" or doing something else like curing cancer or something and that's why they aren't on the show for awhile? Well that's what Lauren compared my spending all my time doing this math thing in school today too, since we have basically all of our classes together and it was only in band that I realized I hadn't really seen her much the entire day.
She of course followed this up by saying that usually when a main character returns from curing cancer or whatever they were supposedly doing while they were away, it always ends up bad. Like the cure for cancer is stolen by another character's monkey or something. Of course, if something like that were to happen to me and my new synthetic division method, I might actually start believing that Friday the 13th is bad luck. Until then, I would also like to think that life is not a sitcom as Lauren believes. Especially since my life is not nearly as interesting, or comedic as most sitcoms are.
Something I really wanted to talk about today is global warming. I was doing a current event today about it and it got me thinking about it again. First of all, for any of you who haven't seen Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth, do it. Like really. Go rent it right this instant and watch it.
Ok, not really right this second, but if you haven't you definitely should see it. I remember watching it in 8th grade and feeling genuinely frightened for our planet and upset with the human race for the destruction we've brought on.
Look at this polar bear everyone. This is what's happening because we aren't taking action. This picture actually reminds me of when I was model congress earlier this year with the debate team. One kid was trying to defend his bill which would help with global warming. Basically, he asked to be able to ask 3 questions to the person opposing his bill. The three questions were:
1) Does the delegate like polar bears?
2) Does the delegate think polar bears are cute?
3) Does the delegate wish for all polar bears to die?
If you as readers answered yes to either question 1 or 2 or no to question 3, then like me, you should be very concerned with the effects of global warming, because if we don't take action, all polar bears will die.
Grim yes, but it stands a good chance of coming true. Especially if we don't take action. Granted, I myself could be doing more, like using my laptop less or cutting down on my shower time, but idk it still seems like there's something more that can be done. (BTW I would be interested in doing something to raise awareness of global warming or some kind of drive or just something if anyone has any ideas)
Speaking as I just was of wanting to play some part in the prevention of worse global warming leads me to another topic in life, and that's purpose. No, I don't just mean like what purpose God plays in your life (if you are religious). For me personally, I'm not religious at all. Despite that, I really want to do something that will get me recognized in my life. Right now I'm aiming towards writing a book that inspires somebody, or making some great discovery or something, but it would be cool someday to maybe like visit Africa and help children in need there, or like do something else to help somebody in the world.
What do you think? Do you ever feel like sometimes you need to do something significant in life in order to be satisfied with it, or do you not care?
Ok, finally to finish this up for today I have some funny anagrams for you that somebody showed to me today and here they are. Enjoy!
Dormitory: Dirty Room
The Country Side: No City Dust Here
Desperation: A Rope Ends It
The Morse Code: Here Come Dots
Slot Machines: Cash Lost in'em
Conversation: Voices Rant On
Heavy Rain: Hire a Navy
Mother-in-law: Woman Hitler
Funeral: Real Fun
Snooze Alarms: Alas! No More Z's
A Decimal Point: I'm a Dot in Place
Statue of Liberty: Built to Stay Free
Eleven plus two: Twelve plus one
David Letterman: Nerd Amid Late TV
Howard Stern: Retard Shown
Debit card: Bad Credit
Oh yeah. One last thing. Once again I'm just tagging basically whoever Josh did. If you want to be added/ removed from that list for my newsletter just let me know and I'll be happy to accommodate.
March 13-2009
-By Kasey
If you read Josh's last newsletter you'd get the reference in the above comment. If not, go read it.
Alright everyone, so for my second newsletter I was lucky enough to get to post it on Friday the 13th, one of my favorite days of the year, which today also just so happens to be my half birthday. Go figure. If you can't tell, I'm not superstitious at all. Which is probably a really good thing because in 2013 my birthday will be Friday the 13th.
Anyways, moving on.
So today in school I was in math class and we were learning long and synthetic division of polynomials (If you haven't taken Algebra II yet you probably won't understand this). Anyways, Mrs. Daigle was explaining synthetic division (for like the 3rd time this year), and she said how it could only be done if you were dividing by a linear equation (ex. x-2), hence the reason it is so important that you learn long division for other problems where you have an x^2 or x^3.
Of course, me, being as stubborn as I am, decided that there had to be a way to do it with non-linear equations, so I made one up and it works, as far as Josh and I can tell (since he helped me test them once I figured it out), every single time. I'd explain how you do it here, but it would take some diagramming and lots of explaining I don't want to do.
All very random, I realize, but I just thought it was kinda neat (actually that's a lie. I now consider myself to be a genius!!) My next plan of course it to use my synthetic division to completely eradicate long division from the world. Muahhahahaha!
Ok, not really.
Relating to this whole math thing, Lauren Piantedosi made some interesting comments relating life to sitcoms. Basically it went something along the lines of this:
She told me that I was like one of the main characters in a sitcom (a sitcom based off of her life, I mean. haha) So you know how in some episodes of sitcoms or w/e, one of the main characters is said to be "on vacation" or doing something else like curing cancer or something and that's why they aren't on the show for awhile? Well that's what Lauren compared my spending all my time doing this math thing in school today too, since we have basically all of our classes together and it was only in band that I realized I hadn't really seen her much the entire day.
She of course followed this up by saying that usually when a main character returns from curing cancer or whatever they were supposedly doing while they were away, it always ends up bad. Like the cure for cancer is stolen by another character's monkey or something. Of course, if something like that were to happen to me and my new synthetic division method, I might actually start believing that Friday the 13th is bad luck. Until then, I would also like to think that life is not a sitcom as Lauren believes. Especially since my life is not nearly as interesting, or comedic as most sitcoms are.
Something I really wanted to talk about today is global warming. I was doing a current event today about it and it got me thinking about it again. First of all, for any of you who haven't seen Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth, do it. Like really. Go rent it right this instant and watch it.
Ok, not really right this second, but if you haven't you definitely should see it. I remember watching it in 8th grade and feeling genuinely frightened for our planet and upset with the human race for the destruction we've brought on.
Look at this polar bear everyone. This is what's happening because we aren't taking action. This picture actually reminds me of when I was model congress earlier this year with the debate team. One kid was trying to defend his bill which would help with global warming. Basically, he asked to be able to ask 3 questions to the person opposing his bill. The three questions were:
1) Does the delegate like polar bears?
2) Does the delegate think polar bears are cute?
3) Does the delegate wish for all polar bears to die?
If you as readers answered yes to either question 1 or 2 or no to question 3, then like me, you should be very concerned with the effects of global warming, because if we don't take action, all polar bears will die.
Grim yes, but it stands a good chance of coming true. Especially if we don't take action. Granted, I myself could be doing more, like using my laptop less or cutting down on my shower time, but idk it still seems like there's something more that can be done. (BTW I would be interested in doing something to raise awareness of global warming or some kind of drive or just something if anyone has any ideas)
Speaking as I just was of wanting to play some part in the prevention of worse global warming leads me to another topic in life, and that's purpose. No, I don't just mean like what purpose God plays in your life (if you are religious). For me personally, I'm not religious at all. Despite that, I really want to do something that will get me recognized in my life. Right now I'm aiming towards writing a book that inspires somebody, or making some great discovery or something, but it would be cool someday to maybe like visit Africa and help children in need there, or like do something else to help somebody in the world.
What do you think? Do you ever feel like sometimes you need to do something significant in life in order to be satisfied with it, or do you not care?
Ok, finally to finish this up for today I have some funny anagrams for you that somebody showed to me today and here they are. Enjoy!
Dormitory: Dirty Room
The Country Side: No City Dust Here
Desperation: A Rope Ends It
The Morse Code: Here Come Dots
Slot Machines: Cash Lost in'em
Conversation: Voices Rant On
Heavy Rain: Hire a Navy
Mother-in-law: Woman Hitler
Funeral: Real Fun
Snooze Alarms: Alas! No More Z's
A Decimal Point: I'm a Dot in Place
Statue of Liberty: Built to Stay Free
Eleven plus two: Twelve plus one
David Letterman: Nerd Amid Late TV
Howard Stern: Retard Shown
Debit card: Bad Credit
Oh yeah. One last thing. Once again I'm just tagging basically whoever Josh did. If you want to be added/ removed from that list for my newsletter just let me know and I'll be happy to accommodate.
March 13-2009
-By Kasey
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Newsletter #00012
Number 12. An even dozen. Unless you're a baker. In which case, too bad.
Brad says I write more on political stuff, and I guess that is true. Right now I'm going to try and explain the stock market, well, at least so people get the gist of what it is. It's not that hard to understand, really. Hmm.. What else do I talk about? I could just go on a random rant about anything that opts itself into my head. I think I'll do that.
Ok, the stock market=MONEY As if that needed saying. But basically, you have four options. You can Buy, Sell, Short, and Short Cover. What you want to do, is buy cheap and sell high. This is much, MUCH easier said than done. You need to look for stocks that are on the rise, and there aren't that many of them in today's economy. So which is why people Short stocks. When you short a stock, it's basically going negative stocks. When you buy, you can buy 100 stocks at $10.00. That will cost you $1,000. Now, if it makes profit, and you sell all 100 at $20.00 a stock, that's $2000. That is $1,000 profit. If you short 100 stocks $10.00, they will pay YOU $1,000. So basically, you are at -100 stocks. You need to buy those stocks back. So, at a later date (and there is a limit to how long you can wait), you buy them back. So, if the stock price goes down to $5.00, you can decide to cover your shorts, or Short Cover. So you buy 100 stocks at $500. Therefor, you just made $500. You buy companies that are making profit, and short those that are losing.
Now, there's a lot of information to deal with in the market, so I'm not going to go into much detail unless somebody desperately wants me to. But that's basically how you would go about the stock market.
Hmm. Now to talk about randomness. Have you ever talked with yourself, or argued with yourself? It is quite confusing. Or what about robots. Robots are quite interesting. Isaac Asimov created some good rules for robotics. You should read them. Or I'll list them. Yes, I memorized them, what about it? 1) A robot can not harm a human being. 2)A Robot will obey an order given to it by a human, except where such order would conflict with the 1st law. 3) A Robot will protect its own existence, as long as it does not conflict with the 1st or 2nd laws. They are foolproof, except for when Asimov finds way to cleverly deceive them. I just got distracted for about 10 min. On tv, there was something that mentioned dogbook, which is now apparently a big facebook application. I looked at it, then somehow ended up in groups on how Pluto was not a planet. And then a thread there was discussing evolution. It is all quite interesting. I will talk about evolution next week. But for now, I'm done. Tired. Excuse my short note, but gah, I'm tired. Good Night.
Wait. I almost forgot something at the end.
Do you believe the universe is Finite?
If you could become any animal, what would it be?
2+2=?
March 11-2009
-By Josh
Brad says I write more on political stuff, and I guess that is true. Right now I'm going to try and explain the stock market, well, at least so people get the gist of what it is. It's not that hard to understand, really. Hmm.. What else do I talk about? I could just go on a random rant about anything that opts itself into my head. I think I'll do that.
Ok, the stock market=MONEY As if that needed saying. But basically, you have four options. You can Buy, Sell, Short, and Short Cover. What you want to do, is buy cheap and sell high. This is much, MUCH easier said than done. You need to look for stocks that are on the rise, and there aren't that many of them in today's economy. So which is why people Short stocks. When you short a stock, it's basically going negative stocks. When you buy, you can buy 100 stocks at $10.00. That will cost you $1,000. Now, if it makes profit, and you sell all 100 at $20.00 a stock, that's $2000. That is $1,000 profit. If you short 100 stocks $10.00, they will pay YOU $1,000. So basically, you are at -100 stocks. You need to buy those stocks back. So, at a later date (and there is a limit to how long you can wait), you buy them back. So, if the stock price goes down to $5.00, you can decide to cover your shorts, or Short Cover. So you buy 100 stocks at $500. Therefor, you just made $500. You buy companies that are making profit, and short those that are losing.
Now, there's a lot of information to deal with in the market, so I'm not going to go into much detail unless somebody desperately wants me to. But that's basically how you would go about the stock market.
Hmm. Now to talk about randomness. Have you ever talked with yourself, or argued with yourself? It is quite confusing. Or what about robots. Robots are quite interesting. Isaac Asimov created some good rules for robotics. You should read them. Or I'll list them. Yes, I memorized them, what about it? 1) A robot can not harm a human being. 2)A Robot will obey an order given to it by a human, except where such order would conflict with the 1st law. 3) A Robot will protect its own existence, as long as it does not conflict with the 1st or 2nd laws. They are foolproof, except for when Asimov finds way to cleverly deceive them. I just got distracted for about 10 min. On tv, there was something that mentioned dogbook, which is now apparently a big facebook application. I looked at it, then somehow ended up in groups on how Pluto was not a planet. And then a thread there was discussing evolution. It is all quite interesting. I will talk about evolution next week. But for now, I'm done. Tired. Excuse my short note, but gah, I'm tired. Good Night.
Wait. I almost forgot something at the end.
Do you believe the universe is Finite?
If you could become any animal, what would it be?
2+2=?
March 11-2009
-By Josh
Friday, March 6, 2009
Newsletter #00011
Alright, so here we go. I've been thinking about what to write for my first newsletter and everything is still kinda vague in my head so I'm just going to go and what happens, happens.
Ok, so we were doing this survey type thing in Gardella's class a couple of weeks ago and one of the questions on it had something to do with Americans joining groups and clubs and why they do it, which, most of us thought, was partially because as humans we like to belong. Of course this is a generalization about why people do what they do, but I'm sure it holds true for many. People join groups to have some place where they can fit in, or to have something they do that sets them apart, and perhaps even above the rest.
As I was thinking about this it led me to thinking about wanting to belong in general. Even the most unique, individual people want to belong somewhere. In their heads, and perhaps even aloud to others, they probably even classify themselves. I mean we do it all the time. Think about what types of labels you give yourself without even thinking about it. Democrat, Republican, Smart, Geek, Jock, Cool, Popular, Goth, etc.
There's this test that I took a few years ago, which, as most of my friends can probably tell you, I became a little obsessed with at the time. When you take the test, you get sorted into 1 of 16 different generalized personality types. After I took it I read the descriptions that had been written to accompany it and I was amazed to see that most of it described me to a T. The way that I thought about things and acted everyday was all right there in front of me, as if someone had went inside my brain and pulled out all this information.
People might wonder why anyone could become obsessed with quizzes and tests like this one, but having been there myself I think I know why. Like I said before, we like to belong. For me, reading what had been written and seeing how accurately it described me made me realize that I was belonging by labeling myself. Of course, I now know that you can't just group everybody into 16 different categories and be done with it, but in a way I think it was still helpful because it helped me to explain me to myself, if you get what I'm saying.
I would be interested to see what you all think of this. This is the test I took- http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp
Its based off of a few famous tests, the Jung and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The test is kinda long, but if you want, take the test, read the pages that go along with your results and post what you were on here and whether or not you thought that it had accurately described you. I'll be interested to see what types people come up as and what your thoughts are on people taking these tests to try and fit in.
And for anyone curious, I just retook the test before I wrote this up and my type is still the same as it was the first time I took it- INTJ.
In other news, I'm going to go see Slumdog Millionaire tonight and am interested to know if anyone else has seen it and what they think. And finally, if you haven't done this already, check out fmylife.com. It is pretty much the best website in existence and sure to cheer you up if you are having an off day.
So sorry this note is rather short and focused on one subject. Hopefully in the future I can make these a bit longer but for today that's all I got. I hope you all enjoyed my first newsletter (hopefully of many) because I really enjoyed writing it. Oh and if I didn't tag you and you want to be tagged (or vice versa- I did tag you and you don't want to be) just let me know in your comments. I was mostly just tagging people who have been tagged in either Brad or Josh's notes.
March 6-2009
-By Kasey
Ok, so we were doing this survey type thing in Gardella's class a couple of weeks ago and one of the questions on it had something to do with Americans joining groups and clubs and why they do it, which, most of us thought, was partially because as humans we like to belong. Of course this is a generalization about why people do what they do, but I'm sure it holds true for many. People join groups to have some place where they can fit in, or to have something they do that sets them apart, and perhaps even above the rest.
As I was thinking about this it led me to thinking about wanting to belong in general. Even the most unique, individual people want to belong somewhere. In their heads, and perhaps even aloud to others, they probably even classify themselves. I mean we do it all the time. Think about what types of labels you give yourself without even thinking about it. Democrat, Republican, Smart, Geek, Jock, Cool, Popular, Goth, etc.
There's this test that I took a few years ago, which, as most of my friends can probably tell you, I became a little obsessed with at the time. When you take the test, you get sorted into 1 of 16 different generalized personality types. After I took it I read the descriptions that had been written to accompany it and I was amazed to see that most of it described me to a T. The way that I thought about things and acted everyday was all right there in front of me, as if someone had went inside my brain and pulled out all this information.
People might wonder why anyone could become obsessed with quizzes and tests like this one, but having been there myself I think I know why. Like I said before, we like to belong. For me, reading what had been written and seeing how accurately it described me made me realize that I was belonging by labeling myself. Of course, I now know that you can't just group everybody into 16 different categories and be done with it, but in a way I think it was still helpful because it helped me to explain me to myself, if you get what I'm saying.
I would be interested to see what you all think of this. This is the test I took- http://www.humanmetrics.co
Its based off of a few famous tests, the Jung and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The test is kinda long, but if you want, take the test, read the pages that go along with your results and post what you were on here and whether or not you thought that it had accurately described you. I'll be interested to see what types people come up as and what your thoughts are on people taking these tests to try and fit in.
And for anyone curious, I just retook the test before I wrote this up and my type is still the same as it was the first time I took it- INTJ.
In other news, I'm going to go see Slumdog Millionaire tonight and am interested to know if anyone else has seen it and what they think. And finally, if you haven't done this already, check out fmylife.com. It is pretty much the best website in existence and sure to cheer you up if you are having an off day.
So sorry this note is rather short and focused on one subject. Hopefully in the future I can make these a bit longer but for today that's all I got. I hope you all enjoyed my first newsletter (hopefully of many) because I really enjoyed writing it. Oh and if I didn't tag you and you want to be tagged (or vice versa- I did tag you and you don't want to be) just let me know in your comments. I was mostly just tagging people who have been tagged in either Brad or Josh's notes.
March 6-2009
-By Kasey
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Newsletter #00010
*Note*
I put this out, unedited, just nonstop typing. So it may seem a little rough, but it's just too late for me to go through and check it. If you see an error though, tell me and I will fix it.
*Note*
Yay double digits! Haha, who ever thought we would get this far? Sorry about the delay on me publishing, life has just become very hectic. It's very hard to manage time, it's something I really should work on. Time management can be something quite useful...As long as I don't procrastinate. =P If procrastination was a drug, I'd be dead from an overdose. Seriously. I really need to work on time management. And actually, I kind of have. I have an agenda, and I've been writing in it. I keep track of things. Though technically that isn't time management, it's a big step in organization for me. That's another thing I need to work on. How organized I am. If you have ever seen my backpack, or worse, my chemistry binder, you would see I am NOT the most organized person on Earth... =P
We got a Gold Medal for Jazz Band 1!!!!!!!!!!!! Now we get to go to the State Competition! Yay! And Jazz 2 got silver!!!! Yes!!! =D =D =D We all did really good, congrats!
I think it is possible to create aqueous magnetic water. If you take away 3 electrons from an oxygen atom, and then attach two hydrogen atoms, then you would have an H20 molecule with an electron configuration of 1s2 2s2 2p3, which would give it a half filled outermost energy level, making it magnetized. Though this would be difficult to achieve, due to the high electronegativity and ionization energy of oxygen. Soooo, this may be difficult, but I think that it would be quite a fun experiment to do. And then we can drink it, and see what happens! O.o Ought to be interesting. And then we can bombard it with protons! Isn't chemistry fun?
Something that should always be a given in today's society that isn't, is forgiveness. It is something that is difficult, and is not always given. I'll say that I haven't always given it when it's been asked for, because anger is something that is difficult to deal with. Anger is something that everybody has to find a way to cope with, and for some it is more difficult than another person. But back to the topic of forgiveness, it really is something that has to be seen more often. There are people who apologize, without a real reason. They just want somebody to say it's ok, that everything will be alright, and that they are forgiven. I'm one of those people sometimes. And I know that there are others. They may not see that as their reason, but it's mine. It's good just to know that people are forgiving. Coming from difficult pasts is something that everybody has. Each person has their own story to tell, their own past to explore. It can be more difficult for some than for others. But discussing the past, no matter how hard it is, actually helps. No matter how insignificant or trivial something may be, it will eat away at you for quite awhile. I'm not sure if other people can see it this way, but that's how it seems to me. I forgive people, even if it takes awhile. It's hard to do it, but it is possible.
Another thing that I want to talk about is trust. Trust is something that I value above everything else. My friends' trust in me is something that will never have value on it. It is without value. I could never live with myself if I knowingly betrayed a friend. It would kill me on the inside. Anything my friends tell me in confidence, it goes with me to the grave. It is something that I don't think should ever be broken. If you destroy your trust in somebody, you'll never get it back to the way it used to be, no matter how hard you try. Trust is something that is difficult to get between two people, and once it's gone, it's difficult to earn back. Now, personally, I always try and give people the benefit of the doubt when I first meet them. I give them trust to begin with, and if they can't hold up to it soon after, then it becomes difficult for me to become friends with them. I wish that more people give others the benefit of the doubt. It's difficult in today's society, I understand, but still. It's something that is always welcome to those who actually deserve it. Though don't get me wrong, I believe trust still needs to be earned. It's just that first impressions are quite important, especially with something like trust. And once you gain basic trust, it is difficult to get more, but in the end, it's worth it. You really get to know people, and have some really close friends. And something that I recently realized, is that friends are really forced on you, whether you want them or not. I really couldn't see that in middle school, but come high school and it's quite obvious. Friends just sort of happen, and there's nothing to be done to prevent it.
High School has been a real change for me. I've completely changed who I am, and I have become a different person. Some (and I would hope most), are for the better, while there are some that are probably not so great. Nobody can be perfect (like a circle =P). I remember I conversation I had before school started freshman year, and I was wondering aloud that maybe I could change who I was, because I didn't like who I was in middle school. And a person commented that it was impossible, who you are is who you will be. But I think I've proved that person wrong. I've changed who I am. I'm slightly more outgoing (though still shy in my opinion), I have a lot of really close good friends, and I think that I am a better person. In middle school, I necessarily didn't have the best of a life. It was difficult. There were times when it was really bad, especially 7th grade. But I've moved on from the past, and it has been a lot easier. And something that really helped was getting real true friends. I had friends throughout middle school, but they changed every year, depending on who was in my classes, etc. But now, I have really gotten some good friends. They know who they are. I've talked with them, and it really does help ease issues that seem impossible to tackle. It's just something about talking that makes things easier to deal with. You are able to relate with another person, and know for sure that you are not alone in the world. Even when you are at your lowest point, there is always one person that can make you smile, despite you hating the world. Now, high school hasn't been the smoothest road either, but at least I know I'm not alone. And that makes a huge difference. This all relates back to the trust thing, and how much I value it. Not having any "real" friends until recently has made me value trust more than anything. It's just something I've always thought about, but really haven't put into writing, or really even expressed it. I don't regret my past, or what has happened. It's made me into who I am right now, and I have a pretty good idea on who I want to be in the near future. I want to be able to shape myself into that person I can envision. I'll probably never reach who I really want to be, but I plan on coming as close as I can. And I have friends to help me along the way. So, I want to say thanks.
This has been an exceptionally long note. I want to make up for the time I missed, but I also want to make sure I don't forget anything in the topics I'm talking about. These things are really personal and important to me, and they mean a lot. I hope that you can understand where I come from, but I know that not everybody will. It's just the way life is.
Now, to close it out with a small survey. Answer it if you want to, it doesn't matter either way.
1) Si tu peux parler la langue du francais, quel est celui-ci:
Le fromage mange le portable parce que le jambe voudrait le zappeur.
2) Do you enjoy the color purple?
3) What is your favorite color?
4) If you could go to Mars for free, would you?
5) Socks - with or without holes?
6) Were you tagged in this note?
6a) If yes, do you like being tagged?
6b) If no, do you want to be tagged?
7) What is the missing digit?
3.1415_265358_7_32384626
8) Will you read Kasey's note on Friday?
9) Did you answer every question in this survey?
10) Did you like this picture?
March 4-2009
-By Josh
I put this out, unedited, just nonstop typing. So it may seem a little rough, but it's just too late for me to go through and check it. If you see an error though, tell me and I will fix it.
*Note*
Yay double digits! Haha, who ever thought we would get this far? Sorry about the delay on me publishing, life has just become very hectic. It's very hard to manage time, it's something I really should work on. Time management can be something quite useful...As long as I don't procrastinate. =P If procrastination was a drug, I'd be dead from an overdose. Seriously. I really need to work on time management. And actually, I kind of have. I have an agenda, and I've been writing in it. I keep track of things. Though technically that isn't time management, it's a big step in organization for me. That's another thing I need to work on. How organized I am. If you have ever seen my backpack, or worse, my chemistry binder, you would see I am NOT the most organized person on Earth... =P
We got a Gold Medal for Jazz Band 1!!!!!!!!!!!! Now we get to go to the State Competition! Yay! And Jazz 2 got silver!!!! Yes!!! =D =D =D We all did really good, congrats!
I think it is possible to create aqueous magnetic water. If you take away 3 electrons from an oxygen atom, and then attach two hydrogen atoms, then you would have an H20 molecule with an electron configuration of 1s2 2s2 2p3, which would give it a half filled outermost energy level, making it magnetized. Though this would be difficult to achieve, due to the high electronegativity and ionization energy of oxygen. Soooo, this may be difficult, but I think that it would be quite a fun experiment to do. And then we can drink it, and see what happens! O.o Ought to be interesting. And then we can bombard it with protons! Isn't chemistry fun?
Something that should always be a given in today's society that isn't, is forgiveness. It is something that is difficult, and is not always given. I'll say that I haven't always given it when it's been asked for, because anger is something that is difficult to deal with. Anger is something that everybody has to find a way to cope with, and for some it is more difficult than another person. But back to the topic of forgiveness, it really is something that has to be seen more often. There are people who apologize, without a real reason. They just want somebody to say it's ok, that everything will be alright, and that they are forgiven. I'm one of those people sometimes. And I know that there are others. They may not see that as their reason, but it's mine. It's good just to know that people are forgiving. Coming from difficult pasts is something that everybody has. Each person has their own story to tell, their own past to explore. It can be more difficult for some than for others. But discussing the past, no matter how hard it is, actually helps. No matter how insignificant or trivial something may be, it will eat away at you for quite awhile. I'm not sure if other people can see it this way, but that's how it seems to me. I forgive people, even if it takes awhile. It's hard to do it, but it is possible.
Another thing that I want to talk about is trust. Trust is something that I value above everything else. My friends' trust in me is something that will never have value on it. It is without value. I could never live with myself if I knowingly betrayed a friend. It would kill me on the inside. Anything my friends tell me in confidence, it goes with me to the grave. It is something that I don't think should ever be broken. If you destroy your trust in somebody, you'll never get it back to the way it used to be, no matter how hard you try. Trust is something that is difficult to get between two people, and once it's gone, it's difficult to earn back. Now, personally, I always try and give people the benefit of the doubt when I first meet them. I give them trust to begin with, and if they can't hold up to it soon after, then it becomes difficult for me to become friends with them. I wish that more people give others the benefit of the doubt. It's difficult in today's society, I understand, but still. It's something that is always welcome to those who actually deserve it. Though don't get me wrong, I believe trust still needs to be earned. It's just that first impressions are quite important, especially with something like trust. And once you gain basic trust, it is difficult to get more, but in the end, it's worth it. You really get to know people, and have some really close friends. And something that I recently realized, is that friends are really forced on you, whether you want them or not. I really couldn't see that in middle school, but come high school and it's quite obvious. Friends just sort of happen, and there's nothing to be done to prevent it.
High School has been a real change for me. I've completely changed who I am, and I have become a different person. Some (and I would hope most), are for the better, while there are some that are probably not so great. Nobody can be perfect (like a circle =P). I remember I conversation I had before school started freshman year, and I was wondering aloud that maybe I could change who I was, because I didn't like who I was in middle school. And a person commented that it was impossible, who you are is who you will be. But I think I've proved that person wrong. I've changed who I am. I'm slightly more outgoing (though still shy in my opinion), I have a lot of really close good friends, and I think that I am a better person. In middle school, I necessarily didn't have the best of a life. It was difficult. There were times when it was really bad, especially 7th grade. But I've moved on from the past, and it has been a lot easier. And something that really helped was getting real true friends. I had friends throughout middle school, but they changed every year, depending on who was in my classes, etc. But now, I have really gotten some good friends. They know who they are. I've talked with them, and it really does help ease issues that seem impossible to tackle. It's just something about talking that makes things easier to deal with. You are able to relate with another person, and know for sure that you are not alone in the world. Even when you are at your lowest point, there is always one person that can make you smile, despite you hating the world. Now, high school hasn't been the smoothest road either, but at least I know I'm not alone. And that makes a huge difference. This all relates back to the trust thing, and how much I value it. Not having any "real" friends until recently has made me value trust more than anything. It's just something I've always thought about, but really haven't put into writing, or really even expressed it. I don't regret my past, or what has happened. It's made me into who I am right now, and I have a pretty good idea on who I want to be in the near future. I want to be able to shape myself into that person I can envision. I'll probably never reach who I really want to be, but I plan on coming as close as I can. And I have friends to help me along the way. So, I want to say thanks.
This has been an exceptionally long note. I want to make up for the time I missed, but I also want to make sure I don't forget anything in the topics I'm talking about. These things are really personal and important to me, and they mean a lot. I hope that you can understand where I come from, but I know that not everybody will. It's just the way life is.
Now, to close it out with a small survey. Answer it if you want to, it doesn't matter either way.
1) Si tu peux parler la langue du francais, quel est celui-ci:
Le fromage mange le portable parce que le jambe voudrait le zappeur.
2) Do you enjoy the color purple?
3) What is your favorite color?
4) If you could go to Mars for free, would you?
5) Socks - with or without holes?
6) Were you tagged in this note?
6a) If yes, do you like being tagged?
6b) If no, do you want to be tagged?
7) What is the missing digit?
3.1415_265358_7_32384626
8) Will you read Kasey's note on Friday?
9) Did you answer every question in this survey?
10) Did you like this picture?
March 4-2009
-By Josh
Monday, March 2, 2009
Newsletter #00009
ahhhhhh snow, i would say gotta love it, but you really don't, I don't. I was looking forward to the first snow of winter, then the rest of it was not quite so fun. Now that i think of it, there are alot of things that are much like i just described, things you look forward to, are very excited for, but after the first part yuo get kind of bored with it. There are many things like this, for me, school is one of them, always, so is band camp, the first day of jazz band. Of course this is coming from me, the band geek, but im sure that you could think and find a way to apply this into your own lives.
I'm sure that we are all getting a little sick of these ridiculous snowdays too, granted its nice now, but when days are taken away, it really loses its bit of gleam.
Haha, i was shoveling earlier, and i felt like i was in one of those "tootsie pop" commercials, but it was switched, instead of "how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?", it became "how many scoops of snow does it take to reach the end of the driveway?
"Well, i've really no set subject today, i've just been relaxing, well, other than taking care of chris and doing the driveway, but it was worth it, it gives me something to do, not haveing something to do is always really bad for me, i'm not entirely sure why.
hey, here's an idea, just to get some comments coming in, why don't we have everyone that reads this comment about what they did during thier day off, it's something, yes?
This has been a hard note to come up with topics for, as you can probably tell, it really jumps around a bunch with random ideas. I'm just im a weird sorta mood, one of those ones where you feel like you need to think alot, im not sure if you can relate or not, im sure some can, but its just one of those days. Though many days are one of those days it seems, but this day especially, haha.
communication between people has seemed to be lacking in a lot of people and places lately, look at school, all these rumors, (though it is high school and there are always rumors). I find that some orginizations in the school aren't really completely together either. Then there is always person to person, but that can't be helped
well, that is all i have for now, im sorry if this was kind of empty.
question-
if you were to narrow down personalities to four main types, what would they be?
so look for josh's note on wednesday(double digits YAY!!!), and make sure to be friends with kasey for her premier newsletter on friday
March 2-2009
-by Brad
I'm sure that we are all getting a little sick of these ridiculous snowdays too, granted its nice now, but when days are taken away, it really loses its bit of gleam.
Haha, i was shoveling earlier, and i felt like i was in one of those "tootsie pop" commercials, but it was switched, instead of "how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?", it became "how many scoops of snow does it take to reach the end of the driveway?
"Well, i've really no set subject today, i've just been relaxing, well, other than taking care of chris and doing the driveway, but it was worth it, it gives me something to do, not haveing something to do is always really bad for me, i'm not entirely sure why.
hey, here's an idea, just to get some comments coming in, why don't we have everyone that reads this comment about what they did during thier day off, it's something, yes?
This has been a hard note to come up with topics for, as you can probably tell, it really jumps around a bunch with random ideas. I'm just im a weird sorta mood, one of those ones where you feel like you need to think alot, im not sure if you can relate or not, im sure some can, but its just one of those days. Though many days are one of those days it seems, but this day especially, haha.
communication between people has seemed to be lacking in a lot of people and places lately, look at school, all these rumors, (though it is high school and there are always rumors). I find that some orginizations in the school aren't really completely together either. Then there is always person to person, but that can't be helped
well, that is all i have for now, im sorry if this was kind of empty.
question-
if you were to narrow down personalities to four main types, what would they be?
so look for josh's note on wednesday(double digits YAY!!!), and make sure to be friends with kasey for her premier newsletter on friday
March 2-2009
-by Brad
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