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Today was the second day in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  The favorite thing we did today was play on the beach. I made a water pool/tunnel thing that was supposed to act like a tidal pool, but it didn't work because the tunnel kept collapsing when I tried to make it bigger. Plus the water never got to it, and the water that did dried up before more water could come in. Another thing we did that I liked was that Brandon and I had a paper airplane competition. My plane flew farther and better, obviously, and eventually he just totally gave up on it. He started making dumb planes that had around 20 wings and obviously wouldn't fly. I had a lot of fun today and I want to do it again tomorrow!

Recently I read an article about new automated drones that can follow you around without you having to touch the controls. One big danger of this is that they don't have actual motion sensors, so if you run right next to a tree, it'll probably crash and get wrecked. Even worse, if you run right past someone else, the drone could fly right into them, causing significant injuries to both man and drone. If you aren't careful, you could wreck your $900 drone by flying it into a pole. But these drones also have advantages. They can fly around buildings and swivel their camera so that it is always trained on the building. This is a very hard maneuver normally, but automation makes it easy. In addition to easy maneuvering, you can take a dronie, a selfie where the drone continually flies away from you, creating a really cool video. I think these drones have both their benefits and their drawbacks, and if I had one I would never fly it in crowded areas!

我认为中国将来很可能会有很大的潜力。我以后想当一个投资人，所以中国在我的未来中占很重要的角色。 从汉朝到元朝，中国曾经拥有个很大的市场和繁荣的经济文化。丝绸之路建立了中国和世界的桥梁。许多物品和文化流通到了别的国家，其中有各种信仰，有各个地区的知识，有各个国家的食物和艺术。这个路上传递了很多文化，比如佛教，道教，等等。 但这些国家中，还是中国的人最有创造力。他们发明了造纸术，丝绸，印刷术，指南针，和火药。这些科学和技术发展推动了世界文化发展和交流。中国曾经拥有一个大市场，有各个国家的人来来往往。 现在，中国是世界上第二大经济国家。你看为什么很多东西上面都有一行字：“Made in China” 呀？这就是因为中国有很大的制造业，它生产的东西被各个国家的人用到，世界上每个角落都有。中国土地好，能种米和别的粮食，中国人也聪明，能创造世界大的公司。中国创造了很多新技术产业。中国里有很多大公司，有阿里巴巴，百度，联想，中国航空公司，中石化，小米，等等。现在中国还是世界上的最高大的市场之一，许多国家都来中国投资。 中国的未来里很可能会是一个大经济国家。你看，以前，现在，都有千百年了，中国还是一直发展着。如果我以后我要投资，中国对我的事业会有很重要的角色。中国以后如果越来越强大， 影响整个世界，那我必须要了解中国，要不然我不会有很多挣钱互利的投资机会。 中国过去的光辉，现在的发展，和将来的潜力，会在我的生活和工作里有个很重要的角色。

For a long time, maltreating workers in factories and illegal mining has been a problem. Recently, it has gotten even worse with Apple. Reports from the BBC say that Apple iPhone factories in Asia are not improving labor conditions even though it has promised to. The workers are supposed to take a quiz to ask if they are qualified and if they want the job, but that doesn't really help because the employers stand there and tell them what to answer. For example, one supervisor said: "put a check in the two boxes that indicate you are willing. Do not check the two other boxes." They do cruel things like mandating overtime for workers, requiring workers to attend meetings without pay and forcing workers to live in overcrowded dormitories. The BBC said one undercover reporter, working in a factory making parts for Apple computers, had to work 18 days in a row despite repeated requests for a day off. Apparently Apple might also be using tin from illegal mines in its devic

Recently I read an article about a computer club in Germany. To me, the club sounds like a club for crazy people. First of all, the article said that there were a multitude of drinks and cigarettes and drugs. Guess what the "multitude of drinks" meant? Energy drinks and beers. The energy drinks have twice the caffeine of Coke and are made to suppress hunger and increase energy. In the halls, cigarette smoke and the smell of marijuana is common. Another thing I think is crazy is that these people are all paranoid about security. To contact each other, you have to have the latest encryption and have to jumble up all your cables so that nobody can tell who it was or what you said. You also have to mistrust the authorities and do a lot of other weird things. In conclusion, I would not want to join this club!

Recently I read an article about an Israel-based company, RealView Imaging, creating holographic projectors that can scan a patient and then create a real-time hologram that can be manipulated with your hands or a stylus. First of all, the machine repeatedly scans the patient to create an image of the organ, and it is then projected through the hologram, which can then be moved an turned and measured. Apparently this works by having a half sphere reflecting light at a certain point, which then goes to your retina, producing a color image just floating in free space. For example, they used this machine during a heart procedure in a hospital in Israel, and they produced the image of the boy's heart on the machine, and you could see what was happening real-time through the hologram. The company says that doctors need to be able to visually interact with the object, not just recreate it in their mind, we receive a lot of data through our eyes. In conclusion, I think this could be a

Recently I read an article about New York public libraries offering Wi-Fi hubs to checkout. That way, people who cannot afford wi-fi in their homes can finally have it. The program said that at most branches, the computers are being used full-time, and as more of what the library offers is being moved online, it is more and more important that people have access to the Internet and computers so they can access what the library has to offer. You might wonder how this is sustainable. First of all, the program will not be offered to everyone, only people who really need it to learn, like people in adult learning programs, English-language courses, and residents who don’t have home broadband. Of course, the funding for the project will come from the ads that are built in and the fact that major companies like Google and Sprint are sponsoring the project. In conclusion, I think this is a really nice thing to do for the citizens of New York!

Recently Xiaomi, a company that makes phones, expanded into Indonesia. It is already a big company, third in the world behind Samsung and Apple. One thing that surprised me in the article was that 1.5 million rupiahs were worth only $122. I think that the average income, at $1499, is really little, and I don't really get how they buy the phone, pay monthly fees and everything, and eat, even if a meal is only $1. But apparently the phone is really popular in India, considering the first batch sold out in 7 minutes. Another thing that surprised me was that it had sold 100,000 phones in Indonesia already, which means 1 in around 2500 people have one. I still find that surprising because when I think of Indonesia, I think of labor and factories and workers milling away for days. I don't see how anyone could be rich enough to have a phone. In conclusion, I think I still have a lot to learn about the world.

Recently I read an article about Alibaba launching internet TVs. The article talked about how Alibaba partnered with Haier to help with the TV, and partnered with Lionsgate to provide TV shows. 'Alibaba and its partner Haier Electronics  launched new TVs in China Wednesday that provide users with access to the e-commerce company’s Taobao and Tmall online marketplaces as well as movies and video games... Alibaba said the new TVs also offer entertainment programs from Lions Gate Entertainment , after the two firms announced a partnership in July to make the U.S. production studio’s movies and TV shows available through the Chinese company’s set-top boxes. The product description for the new TVs on Haier’s website shows promotional images of movies such as Hummingbird and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, both distributed by Lions Gate.' I don't really get why you can't just use a normal TV and a normal computer to do these things (buying stuff online and w

I really enjoy Lakeside lunch. My favorite meal, which we had the first day of school, was hamburgers (duh!). They gave you a patty, some fries, and a bun, and you could add your own lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, mayo, and whatever. I liked the meal because I like burgers in general. My favorite dessert would have to be the cake. It comes with a thick layer of frosting and also has two different flavors - chocolate and vanilla. It tastes better than normal cake, probably because normal cake has all kinds of other flavorings in it, like the glazes, and sugary fruits. Obviously, I would love it if they had a day with burgers and cake!

Today I read an article about competition between companies spawning new jobs. The main focus of the article was on new jobs like 'head of workplace'. These people make potential workers more likely to join the company. They organize things like yoga classes, pizza nights, and other events and perks that make people want to work there. I think these jobs might be the hardest, though, because you have to think of what people would enjoy the most, etc. You would need to be very creative and have very good communications skills. You would also need a lot of experience with people in general. In conclusion, I don't think this is a job for me! :)

Recently I read an article about automation making us dumb. The article explained that computers were growing very quickly and taking over jobs that humans used to have. For example, computers now control airplanes for pretty much the whole flight. Studies show that instead of making pilots learn and making them smarter, it actually makes them dumber because they have no hands-on practice with flying. A lot of veteran pilots now find that they cannot do as well as they used to be able to, and that probably also accounts to computers taking over the job. In factories, people used to think that automation would make the workers happier because they would be able to do better jobs for more money. But instead, it turned out that the workers got worse jobs - metalworkers turned into button-pushers, and eventually were replaced. Therefore, I think that in the future, people should replace machines so that we don't just turn into lazy ducks who rely on computers for everything.

Today I read an article about the Bebop, a drone that can fly around and capture video. I think it is really cool. First of all, in the video, I saw somebody whacking the drone, but it still stayed upright and didn't flip. I also thought it was awesome because when I saw the video streaming. It was 1080p HD and the streaming was really smooth. Also, you could see from a drone's point of view with an Oculus Rift, which I thought was awesome. Sold separately is the Parrot Skycontroller, which apparently makes your device into an RC-like thing, making the experience more traditional. It also boosts the device's Wi-Fi signal, enabling you to control the drone from farther away, and also making it more stable. In conclusion, I want this for Christmas! (JK)

Recently I have started playing a stock trading game called MarketWatch. The goal of the game is to earn money by investing in stocks. You start out with $10,000,000 and you just buy and sell stocks. The stocks are all synced with the real stock market, and everything is like it would be in the real world. In the game, I would say I'm doing pretty well. I have a lot of money, and I'm in 3rd place. I invest in a wide range of stocks, including IFF, U.S. Silica, and Samsung. Some other stocks I might want to buy are WFM, INVN, and WEN. The game is thrilling because you just watch your money go up and go down and its pretty thrilling. In conclusion, I think the game is really fun!

Today I read the article A Push to Back Traditional Chinese Medicine With More Data on wsj.com. This article was about Chinese medicine's growing popularity in the West. For example, research shows that the idea that there are imbalances in people's bodies - hot and cold - seem to be true so far. People who are diagnosed with hot syndromes have more of certain chemicals in their urine and people diagnosed with cold syndromes have more of other chemicals in their urine. This suggests that in the future there will be two different medicines for each disease or ailment - one for the hot and one for the cold. Another example of this possible development is Yale University pharmacology professor Yung-Chi Cheng ’s work looking at four-herb combination known as PHY906 for reducing the side effects of chemotherapy. The treatment appears to contain more than 60 chemicals. Researchers are studying it for its ability to reduce nausea and diarrhea and to en

Yesterday I had a soccer game at Lakeside. It was the finals in the Catholic Youth Organization 2014 Fall Soccer season. In the first half, absolutely nothing happened. It was just two teams dribbling the ball up and down the field, and nobody even got close to scoring. Everybody was getting agitated, and I was, too. Nothing was happening at all! This had never happened before. Before, we had always gotten an advantage of at least one point. I was beginning to wonder what would happen at the end of the game if it was still a tie. Would there be a penalty kick shoot-out? Or would the game go into overtime? In the second half, it was the same as the first half. The two teams dribbled the ball around, and whenever one team had the ball, the other team stole the ball from that team. One time, Leo and Eli got it close to the goal, and Eli shot the ball. But the ball went a few feet wide and missed. It wasn't very pleasant on our side. Everybody was unhappy, and everybody thought that

Thursday was the Lakeside Band Concert. The band that I play in, the Beginning Band, was the first one to play and also the most basic one, hence the name. First, we played Lightly Row, which I messed up on because I played on the wrong part of the drum. At the end, we played When The Saints Go Marching In. On the second repeat, I totally wiped out. I was forced to improvise, and got back on track by the end of the song. The funny thing is, nobody else noticed that I messed up. I guess mistakes are more obvious when you make them yourself. There were three other bands - the Concert Band, the Jazz Band, and the Upper School Jazz Band. My favorite was actually the Concert Band. There were a lot of players in the band, and so they could afford to have all kinds of instrumentalists - triangle players, timpani players, bass drum players, snare drum players, and everything else that the other bands had. So they could make really dramatic and loud music, which I noticed in their song about

Today I read an article about trick-or-treating in Illinois. Here, when we want candy, we just go up to a house and say "Trick or treat!" and we get candy. It's very simple, and it always works. However, trick-or-treating in Illinois is a different story. You have to tell a joke, and the adult has to laugh. Then you get candy. The thing is that you have to earn the candy, not just get it for free. In the article, it talked about a bunch of kids who were getting ready to trick-or-treat by memorizing jokes. Some examples of the corny jokes are: “What did the boy magnet say to the girl magnet?” “You’re attractive.” “What do you call a cow with no legs?” “Ground beef.” In conclusion, I think it is interesting how they trick-or-treat in Illinois!

Today I read an article on the Wall Street Journal about what you needed to be to go into space. One main point of the article was that the standards for going into space had became a lot more lenient. Back in the 1900s, you had to be under 5 feet 11 inches, under 180 pounds, and have at least 1500 hours of fly time logged in a traditional aircraft. 'Selected from hundreds of elite pilots, they had to endure a battery of grueling tests: running on treadmills for hours, blowing up balloons repeatedly to gauge their lung capacity, being exposed to extreme heat, vibration and loud noises.' (WSJ.com) Now, everything has changed. People with diseases that cannot fly in normal planes would be allowed to fly in these with some precautions. Also, people over 250 pounds can fly in the planes if they don't care about the plane not reaching max altitude. In conclusion, I hope that no accidents happen in space because of people who are flying in unsafe conditions!

Recently at Lakeside I have had a few great lunches. One of them was the grilled paninis. There were two flavors, turkey and beef. There were onions, tomatoes, and cheese and the sandwich was around 6 inches by 6 inches, and were around 4 inches high. I put a few potato chips in to make it crispy, and it tasted great! Another of them was meatloaf. Before that day, I didn't even know what meatloaf was. But then I tried it and I found I liked it a lot! It tasted exactly like Swedish meatballs, except a lot softer and with onions in it. In conclusion, I enjoy the lunches at Lakeside!

Recently Google has begun changing its search algorithms. Copyright holders can submit takedown requests to Google, and Google will shunt the website down a few rankings in its search engine. For example, mp3skull.com is a free mp3 download website, where users can download soundtracks and other things in mp3 format. Basically, a piracy website. This website has recieved over 3,000,000 takedown requests, so Google is finally trying to take the website down. But it is not that easy, because there are a lot of different searches that could yield this website, and that just makes it harder to takedown. Another example is when you search *blank* full movie download free, a bunch of results come up and one usually is a piracy website: So Google is also trying to get rid of those. For example, the above picture shows the results, and the first one looks like a piracy website In conclusion, I think this will reduce piracy a lot!

The Appalachian mountains are a big place for all types of mining. Mining coal, mining gold, etc. The Appalachian mountains are now revamping their cities. They are trying to build new attractions to help their economy grow. And one area that they are growing a lot in is food. About 50 years ago, people who lived in Appalachia ate pinto beans, fried cabbage, and other flavorless meals that nobody liked. Recently, a lot of people have discovered that the land there is very fertile for crops. Now, all kinds of crops grow there, from rhubarb to ramps, from carrots to potatoes. The restaurants there have been growing like crazy. And they still all use natural ingredients from local farms. For example, the Harvest Table served home-grown food and food from a farm four miles away. I think that is amazing, how they can serve healthy and fresh food and still sustain themselves. In conclusion, I think we should go to Appalachia sometime (on a road trip)! http://online.wsj.com/articles/a-ye

Recently Tesla has publicly announced that it was working on an autonomous vehicle. The vehicle could park itself, drive on the highway by itself, etc. This would be released early next year, way ahead of any other car maker's autonomous vehicles. Another feature Tesla promises to add is OTA software updating, to allow for quick and easy updating instead of manually installing the new software. Tesla is currently the only car maker that  is putting what used to only be in cellphones into cars. New Model S sedans shipping now will include some features already common in rivals’ luxury vehicles, including lane departure warning, which signals when the car is drifting out of its lane. Other driver assistance features such as a cruise-control system that can respond to traffic conditions are expected to be released this year In conclusion, I think Tesla Motors will see stock growth in the next year once it releases its new tech.

Today I read the news and I found out about a new toy, a "mind-reader". It detects your pulse with the sensors in the headband, using new technology. Then it interprets what you are feeling depending on your heart rate, and it changes the color of the light on the front of the headband to tell others how you are feeling. The maker of the toy says it isn't very dependable yet, and that they will improve the sensors soon. The purpose of this toy is to make parties more "fun", breaking the ice without the need of traditional icebreaker games that kind of ruin the point and make everyone feel awkward. The device is supposed to lighten the mood and the atmosphere, since it looks pretty funny on the person's head, too. In conclusion, I think this new toy is pretty cool! http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/10/02/japan-toy-maker-to-introduce-mind-reading-gadget/?mod=ST1

Mi cumpleaños es a las dieciséis de febrero. Hace buen tiempo? Hace frio. Nieva. Mi mama cumpleaños es a las doce de noviembre. Hace buen tiempo? Hace fresco.

Recently some citizens have been hacking a blood sugar tracking device called the Dexcom G4. They have created a phone app called NightScout to access it on their phones. The advantages of this hack are that it will be infinitely more convenient for parents, and they won't have to stay within 20 feet of their child to check the blood sugar. They won't have to sit in the back of classes at school or follow their children around wherever they go. They can leave their children at home, for example, and they can still check up on them once in a while. The disadvantages of this hack are that there would be serious trouble if the sender stopped broadcasting, or parents relied so much on it that they wouldn't wake up in the middle of the night to check on their children. If the sender stopped broadcasting and the parents were away, it would be catastrophic because they would know what was happening to their children. Then they would rush home, but it might be already too late.

Recently I went to China to see my grandfather, who is sick with cancer. The first time I saw him, he seemed surprisingly thin and it was hard for him to talk. It was kind of scary, like those scenes you always see in movies. He had tubes going in and out of his nose. And he had a tube buried in his arm so you don't have to inject needles every time. The second time, I took a big scare at the start because he didn't recognize mom. It might have been because he wasn't fully awake, though. He was tired after talking for around five minutes, and lied down with his eyes closed. After a while, he opened his eyes again and drank some tea. Immediately, he started coughing. In conclusion, I hope Grandpa will get better soon!

Today morning I was responsible for breakfast, along with Brandon. When I was done with preparing breakfast, I didn't call mom and dad, and instead started eating. Then, after a while of eating, mom and dad came down and asked why I hadn't called them for breakfast. They told me to go and cut some more pork for them to eat, because there was only one piece left in the bowl. I didn't say sorry, and went to cut the pork. Mom and dad explained to me that I should have apologized at the start and went to cut the pork, but I didn't. I recognize what I did wrong and I will try not to do it again. If I do it again next time, I will say sorry and then replenish anything that is missing. In conclusion, I am sorry that I was disrespectful this morning and I will try not to let it happen again.

今天是明明的生日。明明很高兴。大家都给他唱歌，说： “ 生日快乐，生日快乐，生日快乐 !” 明明都烦死了，跑到自己的屋子里哭了起来。大家都觉得很无聊 ，所以明明又出来了。明明玩了一会儿，觉得没意思，就要跑到自己的屋子里哭了起来。后来，他吃了太多东西了，拉肚子了，去厕所哭了起来。后来，他拿到太多礼物了，拿到房间里哭了起来。他的爸爸妈妈很不高兴，觉得他不讲理。所以他们把他关在屋子里打屁股。所以明明告诉妈妈明天也是她的生日。他的傻老妈当然就信了，明天又办了一个生日会。他玩了好一会儿，又觉得不好玩了，又去自己的屋子里去哭了。就像昨天一样，他哭了好几次。后来，他终于学到了有生日会就不错了，不因该一不高兴就哭。他后来没哭了，但再也不想有生日了。

Today I had lunch at Lakeside Middle School. I enjoyed the lunch, even though I have a bit of a problem with using my molars right now (two of them are straight-out gone). For lunch, I had some Cup Noodles. Those are the things where you fill them with hot water, let them sit for three minutes, then stir them and you have your noodles. They are actually really good, because there is probably MSG in them. Anyway, I also had dessert. That was a rice krispy treat, chocolate flavor. The main course that was available was grilled cheese sandwiches. I hate grilled cheese sandwiches, so I didn't get that, of course. It also came with Ruffles potato chips, coleslaw, and brownies with whipped cream and frosting.The grilled cheese sandwich was practically dripping with cheddar, though I thought that the grilled bread was probably better than the one at Alcott because it was brown, not barely-toasted-tan. In conclusion, I had a great lunch today!

Recently I have watched the IKEA Video "Experience the power of a bookbook". One part that I thought was really funny was when the video said that the bookbook had eternal battery life and did not need any charging. This is because it is an actual book , and IKEA was comparing it to an iPad or a Kindle, which needs to charge and runs out of battery eventually. It showed two tiny pictures of a charger and a battery. It crossed out the charger and wrote 'infinite' on the battery. Another part that I thought was really funny was when the video said that the bookbook had infinite sharing capabilities too. Then it showed a bunch of people passing the book around. It said 'hand-to-hand sharing is unlimited!' It also said that the protection is a lot more dependable, too, because you can just keep it with you all the time. In conclusion, I thought the IKEA bookbook video was really cool!

Today I had a soccer game. The soccer game was against the Saint Joseph team, and we won 8-3. In the first half, we scored four and they scored two. I played left mid, so I was in the middle left side of the field. I rarely got the ball, but when I did, I always pushed it up to their goal. Sadly, I never scored. In the second half, we scored four and they only scored one. This time, I played left defense, so I was defending the left side of the field, which was a lot better than left mid. I got the ball a lot more because I kept intercepting their offense's passes, and I usually passed it back up the field. In conclusion, I had a lot of fun today!

Today was orientation day at Lakeside. My favorite part was the advisor groups. Basically everyone has an advisor, who works with them on homework, helps them around, etc. There are also other students in the advisor group, and everybody does fun stuff during advisor group time. Sometimes its a game, other times it's books, but it's just supposed to create a close-knit group. My second favorite part was the lunch. Lunch was good. Around a sixth of a pizza (that actually tastes good), a caesar salad, a cookie, and a drink. It is a big improvement over the lunch at Alcott. Plus there is a sandwich and a soup option, which makes a lot more choices too. The lunch is also 40-45 minutes long, and you can go anywhere to hang out if you finish early. In conclusion, I had a good time today!

Yesterday I played a game outside with Riley, Amanda, and Aryan. It was a game called Hide-and-Go-Seek Tag, which was pretty much the same as Hide-and-Go-Seek. If the seeker found you, he or she would also have to tag you, which made the job a lot harder for the seeker. It also made the game a lot easier for the hiders. I had two great hiding spots. The first was behind the big green-and-white plant at our house. It was almost impossible for them to see you, and if they did, you could go out the other side of the bush and through the pines to the house next door. The other one was the water feature, because there were five different exits, each one leading to a different place, making it impossible to block all of them at the same time. In conclusion, I had a lot of fun playing Hide-and-Go-Seek Tag yesterday! I also found a lot of great hiding spots!

Yesterday night I had a sleepover with Kevin. I had a great time. The thing that I did the most at his house was laser tag. I usually waited for one of them to die and the other to come upstairs. Then I would shoot them when they weren't paying attention. My favorite thing to do was wait until they were point-blanking each other, then I would come in and kill both of them. Another thing that I did a lot was go outside to play. The first time, we went to Blackwell with Kevin's friend Nathan and his brother. We played Man on Sand, which is basically tag with a few special rules. It rained pretty hard then, and we ran back home. It was very fun running around in the rain, though. The second time, we went outside and were immediately pelted by Nerf bullets by Amaya, a kid whose parents were apparently very rich. The bullets really hurt. He was a braggart, and whined a lot. The third time we went outside, we played Man on Sand again. This time it didn't rain, and we were able

子曰：“为政以德，譬如北辰，居其所，而众星共之。” So this phrase means that as a high-ranked person in society, you must act reasonably and with respect towards others, even if you think they are lowly and not worthy of it. In other words, you have to set an example. That way, other people will also act with respect towards you, and help you with your troubles. In the story, the villagers eat the emperor's horse because they are really hungry and do not know it is the emperor's horse. The soldiers are just about to kill all of them when the emperor says it's okay and lets them all go. So in the end, when the emperor and all his soldiers are losing the war and getting massacred, the villagers charge in to help, and they win the battle and the enemy is defeated. And the emperor is really happy because he sees that there's a reward for being nice.

Today I read an article about Google testing out its delivery drones. The drones are named Project Wing, because they are literally a rigid triangular wing with propellers. To deliver packages, there is a winch system so that the drone can winch down packages from the air. Then the winch comes back up and it picks up another package and repeats the process. Unlike normal drones, this drone flies like a plane instead of a helicopter. Other companies have also made delivery drones. Amazon has made PrimeAir, which can deliver packages to places within 10 miles of its warehouse in 30 minutes. This would speed up delivery by a LOT. Also, Dominos, the pizza company, has made a DomiCopter, which flies with arced blades, which are not straight like normal helicopter and drone blades. It has a cage-like system to hold the pizza bags in place. But until the FAA allows these companies the use of private airspace, these drones will remain grounded.

大象本来是个很难看的动物。有一天，他觉得因该到别的地方旅行。他去哪儿，别人都会笑他这张遍遍的脸。而且他喝水也很难，差不多要掉到水塘里才行。有一天，他决定要把他的脸改一改。但是他去哪儿都被别人嘲笑。有些人都被他笑死了。今天，他失望的走向一个大大的森林。他一走到里面就用他的厉害鼻子吸住了一个树，然后拼命的往后退。反正他退呀退呀，退呀退呀，退呀退呀，退呀退呀，退呀退呀，退呀退呀，退到了远处的一个城市里。但突然他的鼻子飞了回来，把他撞飞了，他飞了一圈地球，又回到城市里啦！但他这个鼻子有问题。这个鼻子实在太长了！他在地球一边站着，鼻子就可以伸过整个地球回到自己。大家现在都不笑他了，大象很高兴。但是大家都跑了，因为他们都爬这个长鼻子怪物。大象现在知道长鼻子不是好事，因为另外一边地球的人都觉得大象鼻子好吃。

Today I was reading the book called Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. Today I was reading a section about summer break. In general, for middle and upper class students, summer is a good thing because during the summer they learn a lot, like reading and math. They read a lot, go to extracurricular activities, and go to summer camps. They have homework and other things to do. However, for poor kids, the summer break is not an opportunity to learn. Their shelves are not jammed with books. They do not have money for summer camps. They just watch TV and play outside and have fun. The thing is, when they are having fun, their upper- and middle-class counterparts are out-learning them, and by the time school starts up in September or August, they are really behind on things. The article talked about an experimental school named KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program). This school, with 50% African American and 50% Hispanic students, starts at 7:25 and ends at 5:00. Most student

从前有一个荒山，山上有个庙，庙里脏脏的，因为好久都没有人用过。有一天有一个小和尚来，他喜欢这个地方，就打扫了一下庙，挑了一点儿水，开始念经了。后来来了一瘦和尚，应为很累，一下子就喝掉了半缸水。小和尚很不服气，要瘦和尚在去打两桶水来。瘦和尚觉得不公平，就坐在那儿什么都不干。后来他们决定一起抬水。他们高高兴兴地过了日子，但又来了一个胖和尚，应为他很渴，一下子把整个缸水喝掉了。瘦和尚和小和尚都叫他去打水。他打完又把水都喝了。后来，庙着火了，三个和尚同心合力得把火灭了，后来他们都热情的打水给大家喝，水缸一次都没有空过了。

Recently I went to San Juan Island. My favorite activity there was definitely the Zip San Juan zip lining tour. It started out easy, with two tiny ziplines, but then the zip lines got longer and the zip lines became more fun. For example, the last zipline was 612 feet long. You flew over a lake and through a forest. I thought it was interesting to see my own reflection in the lake while I flew over it. There was also a suspension bridge, which was terrifying and fun at the same time. There was no railing and the bridge swayed from side to side! My favorite restaurant would have to be the Market Chef. I loved the tuna salad sandwich I had. The tuna salad was rich and creamy. The pickles were perfect, and the bread was crispy. I also liked the chickpea soup, even though I would have preferred it without the chickpeas. I want to go back to these places again if we ever visit the island again!

A long time ago, there was a grandma who visited her three daughters every Monday. So one day, when she was going for a visit, she got eaten up by a wolf. Meanwhile, the parents were going for a walk outside, and the wolf seized this opportunity by knocking on the door and asking in. After some persuading, the girls were just about to open the door when their parents came back and killed the wolf with a stick. They saw that the wolf ate grandma and was just about to eat them. After this event, they learned to not open doors so hastily.

Recently I have been looking at a few stocks: Microsoft (MSFT), InvenSense (INVN), Wesco Air Holdings (WAIR), and Nintendo (NTDOY). First of all, I think Microsoft is a good choice for a few reasons. One, Microsoft is tentatively planning Windows 9 for developers September 30, and this will likely boost up the price of stock. The public will get it early next year. Along with the Windows 9 release, Microsoft is working on a combined version of Windows RT and Windows Phone, which might also boost up the stock. Third, the graph shows a steady upwards trend, especially the one year graph. Second, I think InvenSense is a good investment because it is making the iPhone 6 and iWatch motion sensor chips. With the release to the public rumored for September 16 to late October, The stock would jump very high. Devices like Google Glass, smartwatches, and other phones show higher rates of having gyros and movement chips in them, further boosting Invensense's income. The graphs also seem to

笨笨猪很笨。有一天，他决定要学会怎么飞。所以他一大早就跳下了一个大山，拼命地呼扇胳膊。但他根本就没飞起来，一下子就掉下去了。他觉得很痛，但还是想要飞。所以他又爬上了山，跳下去了。这次他呼扇胳膊飞了一点儿，但没坚持多长又掉了下去。后来，他觉得自己飞得很好就去找鸟跟他飞。跟鸟飞很难，他飞一会儿就要转个弯，飞一会儿就要往上还是往下飞了。笨笨猪一开始飞就飞不下去了，掉到地上。笨笨猪每天都飞，可是每天都不过几秒钟就掉下来了。笨笨猪学了几天，什么都没学到。所以，他去问妈妈为什么它飞不了。妈妈呆呆的看了他一会儿，最后晕倒了。笨笨猪的妈妈醒后批评笨笨猪，说：“难道你不知道猪不能飞吗？你真的是笨笨猪。太笨啦！”

Today I read a bit in the 7 Habits about Sharpening the Saw. Sharpening the Saw is basically improving on yourself. This is like a lumberjack taking thirty minutes to sharpen his saw and another thirty minutes to saw the tree instead of taking five hours to saw the tree with a blunt saw. It is the idea that you need to review things that you have already gone over, that you cannot just forge ahead. An example of this is two people's relationships. If you do not sharpen the relationship with them after some time, thereby also understanding and learning about the other, and just forge ahead, the relationship will eventually blow up because you do not seek time to understand them. Also, your principles must be sharpened, or else they will fall out of practice and you will go back to being without principles, which will change a lot of things for the worse in your life. In conclusion, you must sharpen the saw, or else a lot of things will rust and fall away.

有一天，天神告诉动物：“明天早上前十二个先赶到这个树底下的动物会变成十二生肖。”猫告诉老鼠明天早上要老鼠帮帮把他叫醒，老鼠答应了。但早上老鼠就跑了，故意没叫猫。老鼠跳到牛身上，牛往前跑，也没太注意。大象又追上来了，没理老鼠在那儿叫他停下。所以老鼠跑进大象的鼻子，给了大象一个很严重的鼻血，大象追不上了。别的动物一追上就被老鼠轰掉。最后，老鼠跳下牛的背，第一个跑到了终点。别的动物都恨老鼠，特别是猫。

有一个小伙子捡到了一个大田螺，在家里养，每天换水和给田螺喂东西吃。每天他回家的时候，饭桌上都有饭菜，他觉得很奇怪，以为是隔壁的娘娘给他做的。但他去问的时候娘娘却说不是她，连连否认。后来，小伙子比平常早半个时辰回家了，看见了田螺姑娘。他们爱上了，结婚了。但蚂蟥精把田螺姑娘抓走了。最后，小伙子和他的伙伴们在蚂蟥精身上撒盐，他死了，田螺姑娘和小伙子高高兴兴的生活了下去。

有子曰：“信近于义，言可复也。恭近于礼，远耻辱也。因不失其亲，亦可宗也。” The first principle means that to keep a promise or invitation, the promise or invitation has to stick to your integrity and be a promise worth keeping. The second principle means to only show respect to those who deserve it. Those who try to murder you or harm you do not deserve your respect. The final principle means that if the people you rely on and respect are worth your relying on and respect, then you are also worthy of respect.In the story, these principles were shown. The first principle was shown when one of the friends said that he would go to 魏 country first and secure a position, and then invite the other over. If the second friend had used the first principle, he would have discovered that the first friend actually wanted to hurt him, and that he probably should not follow to  魏 country. The second principle was shown when the first friend was really disrespectful to the second friend when he came, just because the emperor pr

Yesterday Kevin came over to my house. First, we played Blokus. Each of us got two colors and we tried to block the other's two colors from expanding our own territory with the differently shaped pieces. At the start of the game, I sacrificed one of my colors to make room for the other color. We played on, but Kevin still beat me up, winning me with only 4 pieces left, while I still had 8. After that, we played Robocraft on the computer. The new update took a while to download, and in the middle of a battle, Kevin's laptop ran out of battery. So I let him play on the house computer for a while with my robots. He was really good at aiming with the plasma cannons that I had. After he played for a while, I played for a while, and we both enjoyed it. In conclusion, I enjoyed the playdate yesterday because I found someone who was better than me at Blokus and we also got to experience the update together - it brought a lot of changes like tagging and the robot shop.

明明今天在写作文，他觉得一点儿也不好玩。他想把写作文这个作业弄得更好玩一点。所以，他开始一边玩哟哟球一边写作。他如果专心玩哟哟球就写不好作，如果专心写作就玩不好哟哟球。他觉得边写作边喝可口可乐肯定更好玩。他喝到一半，不小心把可口可乐全倒在衣服和作文上了。这下可惨了，要从写作文！他觉得边喝可口可乐也不行，要想别的办法。他觉得边骑着独轮车边写作应该很好玩。但他刚一上独轮车就摔倒了，作文被撕碎了，腿也都破了。妈妈过来批评他。他的屁股都变成大大红红的西红柿了。妈妈还在那儿打，说他现在整个晚上都要写着一片破作文了，动画片也不能看。最后，过了一个晚上的努力写作，明明写完了作文，砰的一声睡着了。他终于知道要专心才能做好事了。

Yesterday I played in a chess tournament on chess.com. It was a 15|10 standard tournament. The first two games I won. The first game, I was losing but played a marvelous combination that resulted in back-rank mate. My opponent resigned. The second game, I just played really well, resulting in a queen-for-rook advantage that led to his resignation after I got his rook too. The third game I lost. I played boss11111, who was the best player in the tournament. He beat me up because he did not have any minor pieces blocking his pawn storm, and I did. Because of that, he stormed me and my storm failed. So I lost. The fourth game I won, because the opponent sacrificed his queen for my rook. Then I promoted and sacrificed my queen for his rook, and I was up a queen in the endgame. He had 3 pawns, while I had a bishop, queen, and two pawns. The fifth game I lost because I played the third highest in the tournament. I sacrificed most of my pawns by mistake and then I didn't notice his ma