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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