Newsletter #00027

It's been two weeks since I've written a newsletter, but now it's back. Life is very, very hectic, and trying to find time for things like this is becoming more and more difficult...



Ok, first off, want to talk about procrastination. Overall, I think that this is a worse pandemic than the swine flu. It is a very dangerous disease, and could potentially cause great harm to the person who happens to be afflicted with this disease. Also, said person normally has this disease for quite some time, which is why this is also quite a bad disease. I decree (yes, decree ) that there should be a pill to cure this horrible disease. They have pills for everything else nowadays, they should have one to cure procrastination. They need to fix this now. This is not as bad as cancer or AIDS, but this is still a very serious problem. I myself, have the procrastination bug. I've been fighting it for quite some time, and no matter how hard I try, I cannot seem to overcome it. If anyone knows of any experimental techniques on curing this, I would not mind being a guinea pig. =P

Something else that I alluded to above was caner. The Relay for Life is in June, and it is a really big event in Gardner. Gardner, MA has the biggest Relay in all of New England, and is ranked 3rd in the nation overall. 3RD!! This place out in the middle of nowhere, that used to have furniture but is now all but devoid of industry, has the 3rd biggest Relay in all of the United States of America. That is amazing, and I would like to congratulate all who participate. I am on my own family's team, and this year I am co-chairing the team for the Leo Club. If you want more information, go to http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=entry&fr_id=16428 .

XBOX Live is quite fun.
I applied for an officer position for Leo Club.
I am 16.
The numbers one through ten you are supposed to type out, while all numbers greater than 11 you can actually represent with the numbers themselves.
I live in condos. (yes, plural )
The font size changes are small and big .
As of right now right now I have used all the different font editors to change the font.

Last night I taught myself how to use sine cosine and tangent. Due to an incompetent teacher I have had previously, I did not know how to use them at all. Now, I know how to basically use them, and I am looking for further instruction from my friend Tim on how to use it in more advanced ways.

My brother just got himself blown up in a video game. Call of Duty 4.
You are not supposed to use contractions such as isn't and can't while typing an essay. That is improper sentence structure (that's what I believe it would fall under), and plus it helps extend your essay to write out the words is not and can not.
It bugs me when people do not use proper grammar and spelling whilst typing on the computer. Using proper English and punctuation makes you seem more intelligent, and it makes it a lot easier for the reader to understand your point. if u type lik tis, no1 relly g3ts wat u r tryin 2 say.

I just took an online typing test, and discovered that my average Words Per Minute (WPM) is about 63. I find this to be quite well, and I am content with it.



I believe in the rain. I believe in the sun. However, when the rain and the sun combine, it releases all the heavenly beauty of the earth and sky. With the perfection of both comes the modest sum of all, and without fail the divergence of them will yet to come. For, without perfection, there is nothing to behold the eye of the receiver. The eye is not of utmost importance though; it is through the hearing of the heart in which the truth is hidden. So, would you not rather be blind and see, or see and be blind? This is the question that humanity has failed to answer as it repeats itself in the never-ending cycle of life. Is it possible to have one without the other? Without a doubt. But can you have both? No, that is out of the reach of the human. The preference of the latter is the majority of those around us, but it is the wanting of the first which makes the few of us human. But pause, and wonder. For is it to us who can see without the eye to judge on to those who can't? Is there a way for equality upon all to be forged together, and united as one? Alas, there is no way yet discovered. For is the way is unlocked, it would be that of chaos. For where there is perfection, there is disruption. Where the light exists, the darkness dwells, not falling far behind. So on the road to perfection; one must embrace the chaos around us, in order not to lose the sense of perfection. But once one reaches the goal of perfection, does it all reciprocate back unto those who strived to make is so?

Ultimately, it does not. We as humans have failed one another why trying to make those around us into us. So, does the problem reside within ourselves, or within those around us? Does it yet perform to those unto who it is attached? There is no constant in which it can be recognized. The human race is plagued by those who which to perfect, and those who wish to not. So the fault is at neither side, for neither can even exist without the other. We can only exist as long as the other is at fault. But fault is not determined by those who are judging, but by those who are performing. Those who judge are at their own fault for judging. A failure can only exist as long as the one who has failed has called it so. For once it has lost its name; it has also lost its gravity. So, to those who have failed, do not fail. Simply, consider the failure as a lesson gained from the wisdom of the past. To those who judge, do not judge others, but yourself. When those who judge can say that they themselves are without fault, then they themselves shall judge. But they shall not be human. For a human cannot exist without being subject to the self-inflicted fault of oneself. Without that fault, the human is no longer human. So, those without fault shall judge those who are not human, and shall reserve their judgment for those only who are like them. Leave the judging of others to yourself, and not make it plain to the world. For by doing so, you alienate yourself of humanity, and without humanity, there is cruelty; with cruelty comes disruption; with disruption: disaster; and with disaster: chaos. We as humans have created chaos by disobeying the laws of humanity. The chaos is rain, falling down on us all, and making us grow larger. By growing larger, it is up to each individual to decide whether to grow while facing the sun, or turned away. Both make us grow. One cannot exist without the other. I believe in the sun. I believe in the rain.

Really nice picture that I took

April 29-2009
-By Josh

Newsletter #00026

well, it's sunday right now, but i'm bored, so i'm gonna work on the newsletter that will start us back up after that vacation, we figured that most people wouldn't be around or reading these over the vacation, so we decided to just take a week off, which was obviously to give ourselves a break as well.

sometime last week i was watching a show on geoengineering, which combines alot of things, but it basically people working to "engineer" the world we live in. What this particular episode was about was reducing CO2 (carbon dixide) levels in the air, and one of the scientists' ideas was to increase the amount of algea in the oceans. the reason he thought of this was for the next few reasons:

-the ocean takes up what? like seventy-some-odd-percent of the earth?
-with that much surface area, having it suck the CO2 out of the atmosphere would be very efficient
-plankton (or algea, i don't remember which they used, and i know there are differences, but you get what i'm saying) uses up or soaks up a very large amount of CO2 and when it dies, it simply sinks to the bottom of the ocean.

to increase the amount of plankton in the oceans, you would simply need to provide extra nutrients to all the plankton in the ocean, and their numbers would increase exponentially. Now, how would we go about doing this on such a large sacale? well, they found a way, first, you should know that in the ocean, at the approximate depth of 1,000 feet, the waters are nutrient-rich, so this scientist devised a clever, yet simple way of moving this water up to the surface to the plankton, he made a one-way valve, attached to the bottom of a 1,000 foot tube, which is attached to a buoy at the surface of the water, and what powers the pump is the motion of the waves, when the buoy goes down, water is let into the tube, but when it is pushed up by a wave, the water is forced to the surface by the valve that has now closed, similar to the ones in your heart, it serves the same purpose.

well i don't know about all of you, but i am more than happy to get back to school after this vacation, if i happen to be alone on that one, you can leave me that way, i won't be offended. but it was a really long boring weeek, so long, in fact, that i added an extra e. but as i was saying, it's kinda nice to go back, with a bit of a fresh start, a little more rest in us (hopefully). and a little more patience, and willingness, or at least until the week ends and it once again just becomes school, but now it's summer, and things will get brighter. figuratively and literally. the only thing i won't be able to deal with is the heat, i will get used to it eventually, but i cannot sleep at all when it is hot and humid outside, then there is tim, who happens to prefer it, hmm, oh well.

the dvd player at my house recently stopped working, so i was given the pleasure of taking it apart to get all the dvd's it ate, and so we could get the trash people to take it. it was alot of fun, i love looking at all the little parts that go into, i don't understand how any of it works, electricity goes through it, and that is really all i know about it. but it was coool, how all the wires are wrapped, and how those green frames with the little metal lines in them are arranged and connected, i was soo fascinated.

speaking of trash people, i have recently deemed the people that run the waste management office really stupid. we stopped paying for our trash, so they told us to leave out our barrel and they would take the barrel, well, we threw some trash in it too, thinking they might as well take it when they took the barrel. well, when we got home, the barrel was still there, but the trash was gone, so we called the office, and they said they would fix it. so we did the same thing, with the same result, they took our trash. So for about a month now, we have been having our trash taken for free, because the trash guys either didn't get the message, or didn't get the idea, hey, no complaints here.

well, now that i filled you all with a bunch of stories, and less of my usual contemplations on things, let's tell another

for those of you who have not heard of the swine flu, here is what's going on right now:
about a week ago in mexico, a fever sprang up called the swine flu, which occurred in pigs, but what happened now is this, people have been getting it from pigs, and it is passed from human to human extremely easily, so many people have been catching and passing on the disease, and is no light disease, this will kill you.

safety precautions are now being practiced in mexico, and most things are shut down in bad areas. The problem lies in tourism, for all those sad souls that went to mexico to have a nice vacation and happened to catch this flu from someone. the problem is that they have to come back home, most by plane, and what are planes? small enclosed spaces. Many people on the planes can catch it if one person on the plane is infected.

so then all these sick people get off the planes into america, into europe, asia, wherever they came from initially. Then they do everyone the favor of spreading the disease.

right now, there are quite a few documented cases of this in america, mostly in california, many in new york, so far none in MASS, but it probably will. it is expected that there will be deaths from this within days, and if we cannot prevent it soon enough, we ourselves here in gardner may need to wear safety masks to school within the next two weeks. scary huh? this is very serious, and has the potential to reach pandemic status, though many people are working on it already, so we will wait and see what will go on with this.....


okay, ending it here today

quote- it is only with the heart one can see clearly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

question-
part one- do you like these questions at the end? if yes, continue to part two, and please say so below, if no, please say so below, and do not bother with part two, if you do, you must put a yes, this is a strict rule that will be enforced more strictly than you could imagine.........

part two!!- what is your favorite memory?

i like the questions, i think it generates conversation

April 27-2009
-By Brad

Newsletter #00025

Ugh, monday, and it's been a long week already, well, i hope you all had a good easter, and if not, i hope this can help ease your not-good-easterness

so, here is one of my most recent observations, one that has probably been stated by many people before me in many different ways, in fact, i think there is a group here on facebook that is about it, but here goes anyway. I believe that everyone in the world is connected, it may be a long chain to get there, but we really are, look at it as i explain it.

Every person has a different interest, and when someone has an interest, they usually enjoy sharing said interest with someone who has the same interest. So to accomplish this desired rendezvous with the person with whom they share interests, they usually join interest groups or group activities to express themselves to and with other people, who become good friends after time. These groups could pertain to alot of different areas, sports teams, book clubs, debate teams, math teams, SADD, bands, or even just a group of close friends.

Now, the way i see things is as follows: nobody has only one interest, even if the other interest is very small. so most people are interested in many a different thing, so they join these interest groups and teams according to what they like, usually two or three at any given time. While people are with their respective groups, as said before, they make friends, acquaintences, companions, all of whom probably also have another interest and are in yet another club, probably one that the origional person doesn't belong to. Like me, i belong to several bands, SADD, a group of friends that get together, the newsletter team with Kasey and Josh, so on so forth.In each of these groups i have made friends that are in other things, they have a job or are in NHS or something that i myself have no part in. and i am undoubtedly sure that each and every one of these friends i make is in another group, that has madefriends in their other respective groups.

The way i see it, this connects everyone (or most people at the very least) in the world through creating an interweaving net of interests that encompasses just about everyone. and there is my concluson, now, like i said, many people have said like things, here is my origional version of it, no matter how origional or unorigional it may seem to any one of you.

While i am on the subject of groups and friends, let me share another quite recent revelation to myself. as mentioned multiple times now, i am a member of various bands, from prestigious to community, and in each and every one, i notice that i can relate with almost everyone in them automatically. i find i can finish their sentences and things.

unfortunately, i really have to get off the computer, so i have to end here

Quote:
Before you ask more questions, think about whether you really want the to know the answers

Question:
in your opinion, can being worried cause jealousy? or vice versa?

April 13-2009
-By Brad

Newsletter #00024

So I almost forgot that today was even a Friday. What a wonderful thing a three-day weekend is.

Alright, well I'm going to start off by talking about something that I don't know if many people know about and its something that Lauren Pi and I are into and its called Steampunk. Since I'm not sure how quite to start off talking about this myself, I am borrowing an intro paragraph from Wikipedia.

"Steampunk is a sub-genre of fantasy and speculative fiction that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often Victorian era England—but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date."

Seriously, this is pretty much the coolest thing ever invented. It's basically a genre of life. Seriously. Its a genre of literature, fashion, technology, music, movies and pretty much everything. It's really interesting thinking about what life would be like if we lived in a world like this. If you're still confused, here's a few pictures of steampunk-inspired things:

This here is a laptop somebody made steampunkish. I totally want one.

I believe this is the cover to the above laptop. Isn't it awesome?

If Pacman were steampunk...

So I was searching for some steampunk jewelry or a picture of what a steampunk world would be and came across steampunk Tinkerbell. This is awesome.

Some steampunk jewelry for you. If only I had $65 to spare...

Alright, thats enough of steampunk. (Okay, you can never have too much steampunk but I should probably move on to other things. These pictures are probably gonna take up a lot of room)

Since I'm really enjoying writing this newsletter this week I'm going to talk about some other things I like. Hopefully I don't end up being the only one.

There's a book I really want to recommend everyone here read. I feel like if anyone would like this book its people who read this newsletter.

So the name of the book is Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow. Not only is this book incredibly awesome (for reasons I'll tell in a moment) but the author is basically one of my heroes. He is really really active in things like creative commons. Basically what it is is a way for him to allow readers to read all his works online, share them and remix them however they want. He gives excellent arguments for it at the intro to his pdf file of Little Brother, which I first read for free online and then eventually bought just because I loved it so much.

Basically, Cory argues, its ridiculous to have copyright laws that do things like force teachers to talk to lawyers just to produce a school play of his book. Under creative commons, they can do that, but he still is able to protect his work and make money off of it because nobody can try and sell his stuff. He also talks about how allowing people to read his books offline actually sells more books, because, as he says "For me for pretty much every writer the big problem isn't piracy, it's obscurity (thanks to Tim O'Reilly for this great aphorism). Of all the people who failed to buy this book today, the majority did so because they never heard of it, not because someone gave them a free copy."

I know I can't really put it into detail or word nearly as good as he can, but I highly recommend everyone not only read the book, but read his views on copyright. I am a huge fan.

I want to quickly tell you what Little Brother is about, because this is a book that I think everyone should read. Honestly, its that good and I think, that important. Of course, if you are a strong Republican, ummm or even a weak one, you might not like it. Otherwise, I highly, highly recommend this book.

Basically this book tells about another terrorist attack on the US, this time in San Fransisco. The main character, Marcus, is basically in the wrong place at the wrong time and gets taken hostage by our very own Department of Homeland Security. Not only do they treat him like a terrorist, San Fransisco basically becomes a police state where anything goes in the name of protection. Even extreme violations of people's rights. When things begin to be taken too far, Marcus takes things into his own hands. Through his crazy use of technology he begins a movement to take on the DHS and regain his liberties as an American citizen.

Seriously, this book is amazing. Not only is the premise cool, but it really makes you think about things and realize just how dangerous a government can be when it gets out of control. There's also a ton of really cool facts and things you probably never knew about technology. It is definitely one of my favorite books. I also really believe that this book is so important, especially since 9/11 happened. Yeah, so basically I can't say enough. Read it. Share it. Buy it.

You can read it for free in many different versions at this link. http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/

Alright. Well, this has been a rather long newsletter, and, in my opinion, the most fun one I've ever written just because I love the things I was talking about so much. Now's probably a good time to stop though, since I've been writing this for about 2 hours now.

April 10-2009
-By Kasey

Newsletter #00023

The 23rd Newsletter. Wow. This came up fast. Where did the time go? Haha, I can't believe we are this far already. Hopefully by this time next year, we'll be over 100. That would be amazing! But anyways, I have things to talk about...!

Ok, first off is a very big topic that got started in English class today. Our class is reading the book "Into The Wild." It is quite a good book, and I would encourage people to read it if they haven't. In the book, the main character, Chris McCandless, goes out and lives a free style-life. He travels about the country by himself, stopping at places to get an odd job, or enjoy the area. He makes some friends, but always keeps moving. Now, the question that came up is, is Chris independent? Personally, I think he is free-spirited and wants freedom, but he isn't entirely independent. It's a strange situation. I won't judge until I finish the book, but those who have read it I'd like to hear your opinions, without revealing too much of the book. And I'll also use this as one of my questions.

On to my next subject, I would like to discuss our numbers and words. Everything that we say, do, and represent, is all based off of things that us as humans have created to add in an order into the so called madness around us. Each number that we have is used to represent the quantity of something that is existing at a said time in a specific group. Words are used to communicate direction and feelings across to another being. We did not create numbers or words, we have simply evolved them into a more sophisticated form. Animals talk. I do not doubt that. They have their own way of communicating with each other that we just do not understand. Each animal that has a brain is capable of doing it. Something that is random screeching or mumbling of vocals seems just noise to us, but to an animal, it could be something that they understand. Numbers, we did not invent them either. We simply just call them something. Nature uses numbers all the time, and it shows in patterns.

Oh, that just reminded me. Guess what! Everything on this planet that is a living animal had a common ancestor! Well, not all, but the majority. Think about it. Why is it that almost all animals bigger than a fly have 2 eyes, 2 ears, a nose, a mouth, 2 hands (or front paws/legs), and 2 legs (or back legs). For a giant multitude of animals to all have such a striking resemblance (yeah, its a stretch...but you get what I mean) to each other, then it is deduced that there must have been a common ancestor. Now, many different branches of that original thing appeared. Quite a few branches must have appeared. But we all have the same basic things. Most mammals have a way of communicating with each other. Even fish too. They have 2 eyes, a mouth, front and back fins, you see what I mean? It just seems that we all came from something.

Another thing I'd like to mention is I just lost my idea. Wow... I had "Another thing I'd like to mention is" and then the idea just shot right out of my head. Wow. =P Hate it when that happens. Gah, I hate the human brain. It had something to do with Pangea, I think... I'm not sure. And it was a good idea too! AHHHH! Oh well. I'll think of something else.....

I don't know. Want to hear some random facts about myself? If not, then don't read.
I like the color green. Always have. And I've heard that the color green has been the color that geniuses have been known to like.
Based off of online testing, I estimate my IQ to be between 130 and 140.
I don't like cold pizza.
I want to major in Applied Mathematics in college.


Ok, now some questiooonnsss:

1. Do you think somebody can be entirely independent?
2. Do you know your IQ? If so, what is it?
3. Try and create a new word using all the first letter of the first names of all your best friends.
4. Give a definition of said word.
5. Have you ever wanted to eat a waffle?




Oh, and some more recent news personally for me.
I made it into the National Honor Society!
My birthday is in 4 days!!!!!!!!
It's on Easter!
I like chocolate, and I'm an admitted chocoholic. And I am not planning on starting treatment any time soon.




Oh, one more last thing. I think I should compile of list of things me and Brad have talked about, it almost felt like I was repeating some things... I don't want that to happen. So if it is not put in a newsletter next week, I shall make a list of all things mentioned in all the newsletters.

April 8-2009
-By Josh

Newsletter #00022

congrats to band and women's choir for their silver medals, good work.

i like putting these little things first, i'm not sure what it is exactly, i think it's just the easiest way to start off my newsletters, like even when i have no announcements, i say what i am doing, or something to that effect, i think it makes the transition from my life to at the computer writing just a little bit easier, this is how it is with me, i need some sort of introductory experience into everything, then i can get comfortable and into whatever it is that i should be doing. like speaking, i always have to say how it is my opinion or say something stupid before i speak, it gets me less nervous, or it prepares me, i'm not quite sure which it really is.....huh....

so here is an announcement that josh semi-mentioned n his last note, he and i are going to build s school, no, not an actual educational building, but it will be a model, probably a few feet long, it will be composed of three floors, ones which you will be able to see, it will be a "building block" school. we will be able to take the roof and all the floors off so to be able to observe the individual classrooms and offices, and gyms, and our largest feat, our what will be extravagant auditorium. the inside will be detailed, we will have desks, painted hallways, painted gyms with basketball hoops, a detailed auditorium with curtains, a main entry way, and windows in every room possible.

now, you would probably think that this will be alot of work, and you are right. but josh and i love the idea, so over the summer and most likely into next year we will be working on the design scheme, how we are going to get the floors to fit together, designing the auditorium, planning the sports fields effectively, placing josh's so-called tetrahedron on our roof which will become a skylight. on top of this, we will need bleachers, a track, defined school colors, a curriculum so we can decide what rooms to have (Ex. home ec., art, band, chorus, photography *which would require a dark room*, so on so forth)
at the bottom of this note i am going to attempt to place a picture of our overall building design, i would like to know what you think, what classes we should have, maybe suggestions (can't assure we will use them all, but input is always always appreciated) but that is our grand design for awhile now, tell me whatcha think.

I was having a discussion with curtis this morning, it was about laughing. have you ever noticed how all the words that are like laughing end in -le?for example, giggle, chuckle, etc.. well, we decided that laugh for us will now be laughle (laugh-le) this word can be used in sentences. I laughled at the joke. the comedian had the crowd laughling wildly. You see? it makes so much sense, haha, well, the main reason i put this in here is this, i would like to see how many people i can get to start using this word. now you don't have to obviously, but it would be some fun, its just one of my little social experiments. so use it if you can, and see where it takes us!

Josh and i were having one of our strange discussions over luch today, and we were arguing (of course)
about which would be better, flying, or being able to transport instantaneously. here are the two views, josh said that if you were able to transport, you wouldn't be able to enjoy the feeling of flight and not be able to seethe world from up high, which i agree with, i would very much like to be able to fly and be in the clouds, but, my thing is this, i would rather transport because:

1. you could still technically trasport into midair, fall, and transport before you hit the ground

2. you could transport to the top of a high place, and look down, and still se all you sights

3. you could avoid conflicts in a way, it is immediate, so the second you want to, you can be gone from a place

4.you could sneak up on people, it would be funny(my personal thought)

well, this is all i have for the week

quote:
reality does not exist--yet

question:
1. will you begin using the new word?
2.if you could start a club, what would it be?



oh, sorry for the lack of picture and extra explanation down here, i can't find the camera

April 6-2009
-By Brad

Newsletter #00021

Alright. So I think I owe an explanation from my newsletter absence last week, only because there is a legit reason.

So I was going to write a newsletter on Friday, as I normally do. Well that was a fail. I made plans (*gasp*) and didn't get around to doing it. Then Saturday comes around and well, Saturday goes around and here it is at 11 at night, still no newsletter. So (I'm starting an awful lot of sentences with the word so) I come onto facebook and begin writing my newsletter. About halfway through, a stray letter befouls my page. I reach for the handy dandy backspace key and what do you know? FAIL!

Yes, slightly dramatic I know, but it really was a fail. I hit backspace and instead of erasing the letter, the stupid key decides to take me back a page, causing me to lose everything I've written. Needless to say, I was definitely not doing that again.

But anyways, its a new week and my backspace key seems to be functioning so far. Let's just hope it stays that way.

Okay, so lately I've been thinking an awful lot about memories. If you've ever read The Giver (which is my favorite book ever FYI), you will know that Jonas receives the job of being the next receiver, who is entrusted with all the memories of the community before it went to Sameness (or basically, before all feelings and choices were eliminated)

I was also looking through one of my old Muse magazines and read an article about memories and childhood amnesia. Scientists once thought that you didn't form memories before the age of 2 or 3, but this was proven to be untrue. As you grow older you just forget everything before that point.

Thinking about this has just made me realize how strange memories truly are. Another thing that's really interesting is when you try and recall memories. I've realized over the years that there are certain memories of mine, nothing particularly memorable about them, but particular memories that I remember from my childhood and even middle school years and really nothing else. If I were to watch a movie of my life, not only would I be incredibly bored, but I think I would realize that up until seeing these things happening to me for a second time, I didn't actually remember they existed. Another example is how sometimes when I think about a certain friend and I try and remember how we met and I can't. I can't remember exactly how or where we met, or why we became friends, or even most memories I had with them when we were a lot younger, and yet they are still my friends. It's like even though I can't remember this stuff, it's all still there being used. If it wasn't, I would have no reason to consider my friends as close as I do, since for many of them I don't even remember how things were when we first became friends. If that makes any sense at all.

I think one of the coolest things ever would be to have a Pensieve like in Harry Potter (I believe that's how you spell it) In case you've forgotten, or just never read the books/ saw the movies, a pensieve is something that you put your memories into and you can revisit them whenever you want. It would be really neat if scientists could create something similar someday, like something that could extract memories from you brain or something. That would be really neat.

Wow, writing these newsletters always gets me really distracted. I start looking up stuff online to put in here and then about an hour later I remember what I was supposed to be doing. Must get better at that.

Anyways, I'm going to talk about one of the things I was writing about in last week's unpublished newsletter and that is sleep. Well, more correctly sleep as it applies to teenagers. I was scrounging my Muse magazines for other topics, only to realize that it has been another 20 or so minutes since my last paragraph about getting distracted and I'm supposed to leave the house in 20 more minutes.

Okay, so the topic of sleep is very relevant, at least in my life. Not only do I never get enough of it, I always want to be doing it. I'm forcing myself right now to sit in a chair as I write this so that I'm not as tempted to fall asleep.

One of the things I was reading last week was that teenagers are supposed to get more sleep than children slightly younger than us. Yes, more sleep. Even though most of us stay up on school nights till 11:00 or later, have to wake up earlier to go to school and have more to do which prevents us from napping. All this and we are actually supposed to be sleeping between 8 1/2- 9 1/2 hours per night. I'm pretty sure I don't know anyone who comes even close to this. I get about 5 or 5 1/2 hours of sleep on school nights.

Another thing is that teenagers bodies and biological clocks don't want us to fall asleep until 11:00 or later. So its not our faults we can't go to sleep some nights. When we were talking in Mr Gardella's class last week about how we could improve schools, this is one of the ways. Teenagers need to be starting later than we do. Later even than the little kids who need less sleep than us and go to bed earlier. It's been shown that if we don't sleep until the end of our last REM cycle (somewhere usually around 7:00 AM) people get really tired during the day.

I also read this study online where children were sent to this summer camp every year through when they were teenagers. They gave them specific times they had to sleep and then during the day studied how long it took for the children or teenagers to fall back asleep based off of how much sleep they were getting. I forget the exact results but it showed that because of a lack of sleep (the same lack of sleep most of us probably get every night), teens could fall fast asleep in like 5 minutes or less.

I just wish that the public education system would take all of this into account, especially when they are trying to improve students' performance in schools.

Okay, well that's all I've got for today since I have to leave the house soon. Hopefully next week I can write this without getting so distracted halfway through.

April 3-2009
-By Kasey

Newsletter #00020

My life is like a tangent on a graphing calculator.

See, I told you I'd put it in! Haha, life can most definitely be like one. For people who don't understand what I'm talking about, just take a graphing calculator, and graph the line Y=tan(x) . You'll see what I mean. Anyways, onto my note, I promised a good one.

Life for me is quite interesting. Recently, its seemed like my life has just completely turned upside down, all around, inverted, and gone backwards all at once. It has been extremely confusing. Life has been difficult, and it's been tough. I just don't understand why life has to be difficult sometimes. It seems like it could be so much simpler, but things always seem to come up. Things become difficult, and it becomes hard to manage everything. I try time management, but it always doesn't seem to work. I try to be friends, but at times it seems like its not enough. It just seems that everything that I try to do fails. But not entirely. There have been some good things recently. I don't life. Life seems crazy. I just wonder if life will ever be sane again. Hopefully.

It's my birthday in 11 days! Yep, April 12, Easter Sunday, 2009. Can't wait. =] I get to turn sixteen....ahh finally!

Yep....sooo....what to talk about....

I've tried to organize my life on paper. Has anyone else tried to do that? I know like journals and stuff, but I mean like trying to write down everything, and trying to make sense of it. It's quite difficult.... I actually enjoy writing, but writing about my life has proven more difficult than I first thought.. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Something that I just realized is one of my pet peeves that really annoys me is the mixing up of then and than. Grr, it just makes my brain go haywire.

My definition
Then - Used when making a statement after something else has occurred.
Example - I played basketball, then I played football.

Than - Used when making a comparison between two things.
Example - I'd rather play football than basketball.

Dictionary.com definition
Then - at that time; immediately or soon afterward; next in order of time
Than - in relation to; by comparison with; used, as after comparative adjectives and adverbs, to introduce the second member of an unequal comparison


They are very different! =P

Something that me and Brad have started (yes, another thing), is designing a super-duper-secret building. That's all I'm going to say here, but it involves a tetrahedron in the design. =D

I want to have all energy light bulbs in my house in the future. In my dorm room too in college. I don't care if it will be expensive, I'm doing it. They're green, they'll help the planet, and they produce more light. It is worth it. Also, another idea for being green, is using parking lots and roads for energy. They have a very very hot blacktop in the summer up here, and down south it's almost all the time. But all that heat is going to waste!! We could use that heat for power. Why not? It's just sitting there, doing NOTHING except existing... And by driving on it it's not going to lose heat. It is possible. Just something to think about.

Ok, this is an idea that I came up with in 8th grade. It may not be practical, but I like it. Last year, I used it as my invention in history class, so I had to come up with a name. I called it the Voxaer Delsumo Engine, or VD Engine. It's Latin, and it means Power, Air, and Electricity. Ok, here's my idea. We have electric cars, but from what I know they are inefficient at high speeds, due to the amount of energy they would use. However, with my idea, I think it may be slightly possible for them to now be efficient. If you took two miniature wind turbines, not miniature miniature, but smallish, like the size of a laptop, and put them inside the grill of a car facing outwards, and hooked them up to a generator, my idea would work. The energy created by the turbines spinning while the car is on the highway would produce electricity to power the batteries in the electric car. It would not be enough to produce more energy than is being used, but it would at least slow down that consumption of the electricity by the motor. At least I hope so. I don't know how much energy it would produce, so my idea may be entirely pointless. But I think it's a good idea. And the turbines would run at all speeds, so it would be producing energy at almost any speed. Any opinions?

I want some ice cream right now. Badly. I need cookies and cream, with brownies chunks, hot fudge, chocolate chips, chocolate sprinkles, and some whipped cream. Gah, I just made it worst.... But I LOVE being a chocoholic... It's an amazing disease. =D Or rather, blessing. And I believe dark chocolate has been one of the best things ever created on the face of this planet. I love it. I can not comprehend how somebody cannot like dark chocolate.

Something I just realized, cannot, can not, and can't all mean the same thing, and they are all correct when used. Three ways to say the same thing. And in French, they do not say Oh My God!, or OMG! They say Oh Mon Dieu!, or OMD! Just an fyi if you ever meet a french person.

Well, I don't know what to write about now. So, that is the end of this newsletter. Well, except for the little stuff at the bottom, and here it is:

Quotes
The longest journey is the journey inward.
-Dag Hammarskjold

Be more prompt to go to a friend in adversity than in prosperity.
-Chilo

Facts
It is believed that Shakespeare was 46 around the time that the King James Version of the Bible was written. In Psalms 46, the 46th word from the first word is shake and the 46th word from the last word is spear.

When you die your hair still grows for a couple of months.

My Own Questions
Would you die for any of your friends?
Could you live without electricity for the rest of your life?
Favorite genre of music?
Childhood dream?

April 1-2009
-By Josh