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Recently I have found an exploit for Robocraft. The exploit is based on the flawed math in the RoboShop and also the 50% off Christmas Sale. Here's how the RoboShop works: a bot is valued at $100. When you put it on the shop, it costs $110. But the 50% off Christmas Sale allows the price to go down to $55. When somebody else then buys the robot, you get $22, as you only get a portion of the sale price. Also, when they buy the bot, they can sell it back to the game for another $50. Your total value just went from $50 to $72! The sad thing is, I exploited this a bit too much. I went all the way up to the billions, and soon I had 5 billion waiting in the shop for me to collect. However, the game said something along the lines of "the amount of RP (money) is too large or too small to store in type Uint32". And then I got exactly $0. I guess that's what happens if you're too greedy! P.S. I emailed the devs and their automatic reply said:"Sorry, we are on Chri

Yesterday I had another Kung Fu class. This class was very different from the last. At the start, we started off with the normal warm-ups, running across the room and then doing rolls. After practicing our moves, he told us to sit down and stretch. This was surprising because we had never done this before. I thought: "This is easy!" as I did the first stretch. It was the horse stance. Suddenly, he surprised us by saying: "Now, go down as low as you can and hold it for 10 seconds!" After that, he did it for every stretch. Some of the stretches, like the splits, really hurt, but he held us down for the full 10 seconds. At the end of it, all my muscles felt like they were really sore, but I felt really good too. I think I need to practice these stretches at home to get better at them.

Last Tuesday I had a Kung Fu class. Their website is zenflowerkungfu.net. At first, I was rather surprised at how similar it looked to my old Taekwondo class. The pictures on the wall of martial arts-related things, the blue mats on the floor, and the mirrors on the front wall so that you could see what you were doing while looking up. I also remembered having to line up and then bow to the instructor. After that, we did the warm-ups, as always. Then, it started getting different. Instead of splitting up to do different things based on skill level, we did some exercises that were actually fun. We rolled around on the ground for a bit, and then we did some high kicks. It was fun competing with others while doing the exercises, as we did them two at a time, running across the room and seeing who could run faster. I look forward to the second Kung Fu class today!

Recently ISIS online recruiting has been extremely successful. This has raised many concerns about the First Amendment, which allows free speech as long as there is no clear or present danger. Many politicians and legal scholars are saying that the US government should work to block the sites that have jihadist chat rooms or YouTube videos that have lectures by Anwar al-Awlaki, who radicalized the attacks in San Bernandino, California, and other places. A few legal scholars say that the US government should extend the First Amendment to allow blocking of messages that incite terrorists attacks. I believe that this should be done. Free speech is good, but it can be taken too far, like the terrorists. However, in history, under pressure, many times 'rational' decisions have been made that seemed good at the time but were actually horrible mistakes. The argument could easily be shaped into an argument against any dissenting viewpoints, which would create a horrible world. I sti

Recently people have begun to see North Dakota as a Silicon Valley for drones. There are two main reasons for this. First of all, North Dakota has a lot of expertise in the area. North Dakota has put a lot of money into this area of work, over $34 million dollars. There are many schools in North Dakota that teach aerospace engineering, which will also help. Another area of expertise for North Dakota is high-tech companies. Microsoft and Amazon have purchased companies in the area for their expertise. The area has thousands of software engineers and not a few millionaires itching to get into the next big thing. Also, North Dakota doesn't have many people, so if a experimental drone crashes, it will probably just hit dirt. In addition, North Dakota also has military contracts, with companies like Northrop Grumman. Companies like these developed drones like the Predator, and these companies will also help shape the next Silicon Valley. I think North Dakota is going to be the home

One of the most successful video games in the industry this year was Rocket League. It is a game about driving cars like players in a soccer game. There are different cars, and the balls move when somebody hits them with a car. There are also powerups, like any other game, that make you go faster, make you hit the ball farther, etc.  When somebody shoots the ball into a goal, the ball blows up and the person scores a point. The creators of the game, Psyonix Inc., originally worked with other companies in a contract form. Then, they came out with a game, Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars, which, as you can tell from the name, wasn't a huge success. After a few more years and some funding this time, they created a game called Rocket League, which has the same idea, except in a different form, playing soccer instead of battling. The secret to their success, however is publicity. They gave the game out for free to some major streamers, and also gave it out for free to su

Recently I went to the Great Wolf Lodge. I was surprised by how different it looked, as I had only been there a long time ago and not during Christmas. When we entered the lobby, I looked around and I was shocked. There were snowflakes hanging around, Christmas trees all over the place, and even a life-size gingerbread house in the corner. What surprised me most, though, was all the kids with wands running around. Apparently now there are 'quests' that you can complete, and you basically run around pointing a 'wand' at things. The wand reacted to little crystals or treasure chests in the halls of the hotel. The waterpark was great, just like I remembered it. My favorite waterslide was definitely the Howling Tornado. As we started down the slide, I got the feeling that it was going to be good. It was pitch-black, and we were going down the curves at an easy speed. Suddenly, my stomach sank. We plunged down a steep slope. As I was in the front, it got even scarier becau

Recently there has been a new Amazon drone. Instead of only being a helicopter, the new drone combines the elements of a helicopter and a plane. This drone is better in a lot of ways. It flies farther (15 miles), and goes higher, up to 400 feet.The drone also stores the packages in the fuselage of the plane, which allows it to not drop the package when it is delivering it. The design is also able to avoid obstacles on the ground and drop the package on the amazon logo, which allows the receivers to receive the package anywhere they want it. The only problem for the drone is that it faces lots of regulatory hurdles. It has to be approved by the US government. Also, critics have voiced concerns that drones may be susceptible to weather events, bird attacks or other obstacles. This could raise significant environmental concerns, as they could interfere with bird migration, and maybe even cause extinction. There are also privacy issues, as the drone has cameras to sense the obstacles and

Today I went to the Seahakws vs. Steelers football game. I went with my friends Youngjoo, Simon, James, and Elian. We had the best seats in the stadium, in the Red Zone Suites. There was unlimited food and drinks, and there were fifteen seats outside of the suite. The seats were right behind the end zone, so whenever a team got a touchdown, we had a really awesome view. There were also blankets and scarves in the closet. Whenever we got cold outside, we just went back into the suite, because it was air conditioned and very nice. There were chips and salsa, hot dogs, burgers, bacon, all kinds of bread, and fried chicken. There was also a big platter with salami and lots of other kinds of meats. I was really happy when I walked into the room! The game was the most exciting part. At the end of the third quarter, the Seahawks were trailing 20-21. I thought it was going to be another one of those bad games where we lose by a tiny amount. After we lost possession, I felt even worse. When the

Pokemon battles will now take place in the real world. With the new Pokemon GO, which will release in 2016, people will be able to play the Pokemon game directly in real life. Pokemon is teaming up with Nintendo, Google, and Niantic Studios to create a game where players can interact with the landscape. Niantic Studios created a game called Ingress, a game with a similar idea, except a different theme. People run around trying to solve global mysteries or something, going to places in real life to find virtual things. In Pokemon GO, people can do everything like in the cartoons. For one, people can track down wild Pokemon. When the player finds one, they have a battle and the player can catch the Pokemon. For another, people can battle other players through bluetooth. People can also team up and try to catch Pokemon together. People can also trade Pokemon. I can't wait for this new toy to come out - I am really excited to see what it is like!

The latest in smartwatch technology - a smartwatch that can fit onto any watch. This new smartwatch isn't a watch - its a watch wrist-strap. It is detachable and can fit onto any watch. It can give any watch the capability to check e-mail, talk with you through Google Now, etc. It can also pay for things, track you health, and has many other features. It comes with a watch face, but you can attach it to any other watch face, which I think is really awesome. I think this is an extremely creative idea. Now people can make any watch, even a diamond-encrusted luxury watch into a smartwatch. The watch has a 4.2 cm diameter, and is rather weighty and masculine in my opinion. Built into the clasp of the watch is a LED strip, as well as a sophisticated vibration motor, which Sony says will allow for various different types of vibration to be assigned to different notifications. I think this is a great idea, and I have never thought of it before. However, it is still in development and

One way to buy a Xiaomi is to buy it through the flash sales. The sales that run out in seconds online. Another way to buy it is to wait a month and get it guaranteed. A person on WSJ tried it the first way. He thought he was good with a mouse and clicking. However, he failed quite a bit. He was trying, trying, trying, but he kept not getting a phone. This was because there were always people faster than him. It was funny, actually, reading the article, because he kept a log of every flash sale that he participated in. He waited 8 weeks to get his phone. Primed and registered, he set off with his mouse promptly at noon as if a starter’s pistol had gone off next to his ear. Two pages of options popped up on his browser. After clicking, Xiaomi’s mascot – a white rabbit named Mitu wearing a green Chinese army hat – popped up on his screen. It appeared to be running in place. The text explained that too many people were trying to buy phones too. “I’m lined up and currently moving fo

Today was the first day of school at Lakeside. The first thing that we did was meet with our new advisors. My advisor was a teacher called Ms. Reed. This year, she is my social studies teacher, and from what I remember last year, I didn't really like her that much. I got in trouble for texting on my phone after school. I was getting a bite from the cafetaria, and she called me over and told me that I shouldn't be using my phone during the school day. I was surprised, as it wasn't part of the school day. After advisory time, it was time to go to class. Since it was the first day, classes were only 25 minutes, and we didn't really have time to do anything but introductions. I liked all of my classes so far. The only classes I haven't had are band class and computers and art. I was pretty surprised that my lifeskills teacher was best friends with my 4th grade teacher. I had an interesting first day of school, with a few surprises, some fun parts, and some not-so-fun

Recently there was a bombing in Bangkok. It is believed that the bombing was performed by a person from the Uighur ethic minority. The police believe that there are two possible reasons for this bombing. One reason is the recent deportation of 100 Uighur people form Thailand for illegal immigration. The deportations caused a lot of negative opinions and protests to flow towards the government. This might be an extreme form of protest. For example, immediately after the deportation, even people at a Thai consulate in Turkey protested. Another reason is because the Uighur ethic minority is relatively rebellious towards its home country, the People's Republic of China. The site of the bombing is known to be popular among the Chinese in Thailand. Of the twenty killed by the bombing, seven were Chinese. Many Uighur people escape from China to Thailand and then to Turkey, according to the police. They might have been trying to seek revenge against China on the way. Either way, I think

最近台湾有了一个很大的暴风雨。这个暴风雨是在8月8号发生的，在临晨五点到了台湾。这个暴风雨的风到了每个小时193公里的速度，是个在Saffir-Simpson暴风雨表上的一个三组的风。在一个地方，落了50英寸的雨。这个暴风雨叫Soudelor，是到目前为止2015年最强的暴风雨。这个暴风雨是个很大的暴风雨，从台湾都袭击到了中国然后还袭击到了日本。这个大暴风雨支持了6天才终于平静下来了。

The newest Google and LG Android Wear can work with the iPhone now. There are three main things that Android Wear for iOS will do for iPhone users: display app notifications, serve as a fitness tracker and tap into Google Now, Google’s Siri rival. The app notifications that’ll show up on Android Wear watches are the same notifications that show up on an iPhone’s notifications shade, such as alerts for phone calls, text messages, emails and any other info sent from apps installed on the phone itself. There’s little interaction with the notifications, too. They can be viewed and dismissed, but you can’t, say, get an alert for a tweet and respond using the watch. Instead, you’d have to pull out your iPhone for that. None of the third-party Android Wear-compatible apps will be able to talk to the watch, since they require an Android phone or tablet. The only Android Wear apps that will appear on a watch paired with an iPhone are those that are built into the watch, like Hangou

台湾的人怕雨。如果要从雨里跑10秒钟去吃饭，他们会等着，用雨伞或雨披来遮住雨，因为他们怕酸雨。奇怪的，他们也怕太阳。他们觉得白色的皮肤比在太阳晒过后的浅棕色好看，所以晒太阳的时候，都用雨伞遮住自己。 一个别的奇妙的事情是上课时，不是同学们换班，是老师们走来走去。这样，反而有几十个人在外面走来走去，没有几千个学生走来走去。这样子更快因为没有那么多人在相互碰撞。我觉得我们的学校这样子就好了。

Recently I read an article about doppelganger experiences. A doppelganger is an experience where your body feels like it is inhabiting an inanimate object and experiencing what your real body is actually experiencing. For example, one doppelganger experience is if someone is tickling a hand, and you feel like it is your real hand. In a lab, a doctor rubbed his subject's hand while simultaneously rubbing a rubber hand. The subject could only see the rubber hand. After a few minutes, the subject felt that he was experiencing the rubbing on the rubber hand, and felt like the rubber hand was part of his body. So what is happening here? The brain has to make sense of conflicting information: sensations of strokes on the real hand and the sight of a rubber hand being stroked. So the brain, in effect, decides that the eyes don’t lie: The rubber hand must be the source of the sensations, and so the brain proceeds to embody the inanimate hand. The eyes account for the majority of your

台湾的形状跟一个烟叶差不多，长394千米，宽144米。台湾总共的面积是13974平方千米，是世界上第137大的国家。有一个山脉叫中央山脉，把台湾分成两半。台湾离中国的东南边有180千米。台湾在一个构造边界上，所以每一年有1.5万到1.8万个地震，其中有800-1000个地震被人感到。最近最大的地震是一个震级7.3级的地震，死了2，400人。台湾以前被葡萄牙人叫为 Ilha Formosa ，意思是漂亮的岛。

Today we visited the Boeing factory, where we saw the 747, 777, and 787 models under construction. The first plane we saw was the 747. According to the tour guide, the 747 is Boeing's largest commercial plane, and takes an average of 107 days to build. There is not so much demand for this plan as for other planes like the 787, so it is produced much more slowly. There is a special model called the 747 DreamLifter, which is a huge fat plane that can carry a lot of stuff. In my opinion, it looks really funny. The second and third plane we saw were the 777 and then the 787. They were both pretty cool planes, and the thing that amazed me the most was the fact that the factories churned out almost one plane every 3 days. If you know that they sell these planes for $225 million each, the revenue is HUGE! Also I liked how detailed the tour guide was, he explained how a lot of things worked in detail - for example, they needed the green covering on the planes to protect the aluminum from

Aries Merritt, a gold winner in 2012 won a bronze this week. He is very proud of this victory because he won while he had a kidney transplant the next week. His kidneys had been functioning at 20% for a while and he was scheduled to receive a kidney from his sister. He has a disorder called collapsing FSGS. It is a very rare disease, which causes kidney failure. It has weakened his career by a lot, because he cannot eat as much protein or potassium. He has lost 6 pounds since 2012. Merritt missed his 2012 world record by .24 seconds this week, which is pretty large in the event that he was competing in, the 110 meter hurdles. He hopes that his surgery will allow him to compete in the 2016 Olympics, as he is already 30 years old and will soon be dropping out of his prime. Merritt says that he is very happy with the bronze and values it much more than his gold medal, which he earned when he was perfectly healthy and not under other stress. I wish him luck, as his case sounds really sa

台湾是中国边上的一个小岛。 中国在西北边， 日本在东北边， 和 菲律宾在南边。 台湾岛其实只是台湾的99%。 还有很多小岛也是台湾的一个部分， 但这些岛可以忽略不计。 台湾是世界上人口密度最高的国家之一， 没平方千米有648个人。 台湾的天气挺暖和的， 跟厦门那种地方差不多热。 台湾的东北部下雨下得很多， 中部和南部大部分时间都是晒太阳。 台湾和中国有些我不了解的争端，所以中国叫PRC和台湾叫ROC。

Recently I read an article about Japanese company DeNA creating an app that allows people to stream their screens. They said that they hope this will be a system that will allow for much more intimate streaming, where friends can watch each other do whatever people like to do on their phones. Mirrative’s debut comes amid heightened interest in live-streaming as a new social-media platform. Since its launch in late March, Periscope, a game streaming service has already amassed 10 million accounts, with over 40 years of video watched per day, it said. DeNA thinks that this service should attract even more people because you can stream literally anything, not just games. Users could, for example, browse e-commerce sites to seek advice on what to buy. Similar to Periscope, followers can send comments in real-time and express appreciation to the broadcaster by tapping on their mobile screens and sending tiny stars. But while apps like Periscope and Meerkat can notify live-feeds to f

最近在香港有一个抗议，是不想要北京有权利来否决香港的领导者。但领导这些抗议的人被警察抓住了。后来，因为很多跟他们抗议的人反对这些人被抓，说他们没做错什么，警察就是开始变得更厉害了。他们打了好几个人，然后这个让更多人来抗议，说打人是不对的。这个抗议把香港的3大动脉都堵上了，堵了79天。我觉得警察在这种情况下不应该打人，因为这些人没做错什么，就被乱打得落花流水。

Bill Bendokas is the founder of a small airline called the New England Airline. It has 7 planes, and flies passengers and their cargo to a little pear-shaped island called Block Island. On the island, there are no Asian restaurants. However, as eating Americanized Asian food has become a tradition for typical American food, there is a high demand for Asian food. People who have tried to start Chinese restaurants on the islands have all failed because the demand needs to be steady. However, business on the island is anything but steady. During the winter, many of the island's 20,000 people leave, and the people count drops to 1,000. This is because the island is a popular tourist destination, and people leave when it's winter. In the winter, restaurants close and people just eat from the grocery stores, as restaurants don't earn money. So, this pilot came up with a solution to the problem. He brings food from the mainland - sushi, noodles - you name it - in his plane. The

香港的一个特点是每年的馒头节日。这个节日是从4月份到5月份举行的。香港的人会用馒头做一个大塔。这是因为他们认为岛上有饿的鬼和灵。他们用馒头做着个塔就是给这些鬼吃饭的，所以不会来吃香港的人。但最近他们用的馒头不是真的馒头，是塑料的馒头 - 用真的馒头过几天肯定会臭了。这个节日有个运动是跟它很相关的。这个运动叫抢包子。人爬到那些馒头塔山面，那包子。拿的包子更高，明年的运气就更好。

On the App Store, a newly launched app has risen up to take the #3 paid app spot. It was made by a Los Angeles-based company named Rarevision. Behold, VHS Camcorder, an app that allows you to shoot grainy videos like the 80s! Fortunately, the app is a lot easier to use than the original camcorders: Open the app, hit ‘record’ and hold your finger on the screen to make it extra grainy. A zoom lens dramatically increases the cheese factor. In settings, you can adjust the resolution, frame rate and select a setting that messes up the picture when you move the camera. Everything is just like it used to be! You can also fake the on-screen date, to try to convince your friends that it really was taken in, say, 1987. The creators say that the purpose of the app was to remind people how far video has come in the last 30 years. They say that they tried to emulate what camcorders used to be like, with static noises, tape noises, and tracking distortion. There is a blur that appears on the s

香港是个很丰富的地方。香港的餐馆很多。每600个住在香港的人，有一个餐馆。这么说，如果四分之一住在香港的人突然想要在餐馆吃饭，应该可以全都坐下。香港有7百万人呀！香港有8000个比14层高的大厦。这差不多是纽约的两倍！在市中心，35亿港元只能买你4600平方英尺的房子。这在Seattle这种地方都可以买到十几个4600平方英尺的房子呢！香港其实不只是几个大岛。香港总共有200多个小岛。

Italian neighbors have started to socialize in less traditional ways. Recently, when a couple moved to Italy, they had no idea who their neighbors were. “All my friends back home had babies, play dates, people to talk to, and I felt so left out,” Ms. Boyers, who moved from South Africa, said on a recent afternoon. “We didn’t have family or friends connections here. We knew people occasionally, but none in our same situation.” So, they started a closed Facebook group for their street. They posted flyers that told people on their street about the group. Soon, there were 1100 people in the group on the street. Through the group, the couple learned all about their neighbors and were happier. Events could be communicated through the group, and you could also learn about many people you don't know who live right next to you. It seems like a great idea, actually. if you aren't very social, this could be an opportunity to get to know all your neighbors. As more and more people ha

香港不算很大。香港总共差不多2，800平方千米。比起来Seattle，这是个很小的地方。Seattle的面积有15，000多平方千米。香港只有Seattle的五分之一。 香港有一些酷的地方。比如有浅水湾。浅水湾在香港岛的南部海滨，使香港最高尚的居住的地方之一，同时也是香港最受欢迎及交通最方便的地方。这个地方是个旅游人必到的著名风景区。浅水湾是香港最漂亮的海滨，最绵长的海滩，最宽阔的浅水，等等。很多人都来这里玩沙滩。这个地方好像是个很好玩的地放，下次去旅游我就想去！

Recently my family went on a camping trip on Lopez Island, one of the San Juan Islands. The highlight of the trip for me was a place called Fisherman's Bay (I think). It was a place with a lot of fruit trees and quite a few different birds. The seaside was particularly nice, but the best part was the apples. There were a bunch of apple trees, and one or two of them had really red ones. They were really crisp and sweet, and we picked a few and washed them in the ocean to eat. The worst part of the trip was probably the day we left. We left to wait for the ferry about 1 hour before the ferry was supposed to leave. When we got there, we were car #146 and the ferry could only hold 140. We were extremely disappointed that we had to wait until 2:40 for the next ferry. However, the ferry couldn't hold 140, it held more like 120 cars. Since the next ferry was going to be smaller, we worried we would have to wait until 3 o'clock for the next ferry. Luckily, we got onto the 2:40 fe

香港在中国南端，是全球发展最为迅速的东亚地区的枢纽，地理条件优越，由香港岛，九龙半岛和新界（包括235个离岛）组成。香港拥有一个深水港，工作人口有300万。150年前，香港被形容为一个什么都没有的地方，现在已经是一个国际金融商货中心。目前，香港是全球第八大货易经济体系，也是第九大服务输出地。按照1984年签订的《中英联合声明》，1997年7月1日起，中华人名共和国恢复对香港行使主权，香港成为中国的特别行政区。 香港的很多人觉得大陆中国人很脏和不好，但这我觉得是因为香港以前被英国占领了，所以香港人觉得比大陆的人干净，有礼貌，等等。

Today was the fourth day of chess camp. It was a kind of interesting day today. In the morning, just like normal, we did a lesson. It was on the French Defense. We learned the Milner-Berry Attack, or as the coach put it, the Attack Milner-Berry. It is where you sacrifice two pawns for an attack. It is very strong, and you usually win all the material back or more. Or you get checkmate. However, not a lot of people fall for this trick. In the afternoon, we had a special lesson. The GM's wife went over one of her best games, and then the GM went over one of his best games. Both games were very interesting. There was a coach in the back recording the whole lesson, and both GM's had clip-on microphones on their shirts. It was still a great lesson, although there was a lot less noise from the students. I learned a lot more, because instead of studying our bad games, we studied two great games and saw why the moves were good. I think chess camp was a lot more interesting today, wi

甘肃省在黄河上游，西南是青海，西边与新疆维吾尔自治区相连。甘肃有2568万人，面积是39万平方米。我在Google上做了一个计算，这就差不多是每个平方千米65个人。这一该算少的了。我在Wikipedia上查了，Seattle每个平方千米有3000人。甘肃最大的民族不是汉族而是回族。回族的人口占甘肃的60%以上。 甘肃有很多农民。这些农民主要是产粮食：小麦，谷子，玉米等等看一下这个书上的有一个照片，到处都是黄的，都是种东西的土地。

Today I have started to get a little bit bored of chess camp. Day by day, it is always the same thing. Long lecture in the morning, then a tournament game. In the afternoon, review tournament games. The most boring part is probably the lecture. Even though there is a lot of information, it is presented in boring and convoluted ways, so I can't really tell what the main line is because the GM shows bunches of variations. I still learn quite a bit, though, just by seeing all the different tactics that are possible. Each day we go over another opening into about the twentieth move, and as you can tell, there are a LOT of possibilities. The tournament game review is kind of boring. Just like the openings, we go through a lot of variations, and we go through the whole game. Each game takes around 45 minutes. Of course, we go through all of the mistakes the players made, and how to correct them. I think this is true for everyone: game review time is boring. Everybody is just staring at

西北地区有很多山。 有一些山叫昆仑山脉。昆仑山脉西起帕米尔高原，这些山全长2500千米，最高峰是青峰，高度7187米。这是一个很高的山峰。还有一些山叫阿尔金山脉。这些山是塔里木盆地于柴达木盆地的界山，是构成青藏高原北边的山脉之一。蒙古语意为“有柏树的山”。它是一个很著名的山脉。 我觉得西北地区的山是特别多，还有很多我没讲的山和山脉在西北地区。

Today was the second day of chess camp. Just like yesterday, in the morning we had a lesson, and then we played a tournament game. The lesson was not very complicated, just some more King's Indian for White. We learned how to attack with the King's Indian Attack, and yesterday we learned how to defend with the King's Indian Defense. The game was nothing special - I exploited a queen pin to break open his kingside. Then I brought my bishop, knight, and queen in and mated him with the final move g3#. In the afternoon, just like yesterday, we did not play a tournament round. We just went over a bunch of games. It was pretty boring until we got to my game. I learned a lot of things I could improve on, and I got berated for not knowing my openings. Then we got to Lucas's game. Lucas sacrificed a queen three times, but his opponent didn't notice and kept playing Bd4 and then Bg7. It was really hilarious. I enjoyed chess camp today, especially the tournament game and th

西北地区里有3个省和2个区，其中有峡西省，甘肃省，青海省，宁夏回族自治区和新疆维吾尔自治区。这片地区高山与盆地相间分布，明显可以感受到大陆的性荒漠气候特征。西北地区很大，但人很少，民族多。除了汉族以外，还有维吾尔，藏，回，等等民族。西北地区有差不多8.7亿人。这已经是美国的四分之一了！但对中国来讲，这只是三十一份之二。西北地区是个很疏的地方，但中国全体有很多很多人。

Today was the first day of GM Camp at Chess4Life. The camp was with GM Petar Genov, a Bulgarian chess GM with a FIDE rating of 2450. The first half of class was a long lecture, and then a tournament round. The lecture was about middlegames. I learned a lot about how to play a middlegame in general. For example, I learned a few common mistakes for certain openings - when to not push a pawn, etc. The tournament game was very eventful. I blundered a bishop, then got it back through a smart move. Then I did a skewer and was up by the exchange. I promoted to a queen and won. The afternoon was relatively uneventful. We went over games for a while (sadly, we didn't analyze mine). Everybody learned about others' mistakes, and the GM went deep into lines at different mistake points in the games. After break, we were supposed to do a tournament round, but couldn't because about 5 people left for certain reasons, and the pairings got messed up. So we played chess for a while for fun

有一个西南地区博士最近说中国的高速铁路是地球上最高效的。这个博士的第一个理由是这个铁路的速度。他说因为铁路是光滑的，所以火车可以走得更快，能到一个小时486公里的速度。平常，火车会到一个小时380公里的速度。这个博士也说中国的火车好因为比别的国家更有效和便宜。他最后说这些火车都很舒服，和客人安全很好。我觉得这几个理由可以证明中国的铁路是世界上最好的之一。

Recently, reading on your phone has grown in popularity. As more and more people try to find time in their lives to read books, more and more people turn to their phones. In a normal adult's tightly packed life, there are only a few small moments to read for pleasure, and the easiest way to take advantage of those moments is to use your phone. One parent said that they found that they had to continually rock is baby's cradle from 3-5 a.m. to get her to go to sleep. He found that he could hold his phone with one hand while rocking the cradle with the other hand. This way, he could read books while rocking his baby's cradle. He found this to be efficient, and soon he was reading while walking on the Microsoft campus where he worked, reading at lunch, and reading whenever he had a bit of time. The parent said that if they had waited for five hours of time like they used to, they would never get to read. The normal lives of adults these days are just too packed to allow time

西藏自治区在1965年诞生。西藏自治区是中国第二大地区，面积多余一百万平方千米。但因为这个地方有很多山和石头，西藏的人口密度很少。西藏自治区包括喜马拉雅山岭。这是在第三个大世界板块运动造成的山岭。所以，喜马拉雅山岭是世界上最年轻的山岭。 珠峰是世界上最高的山。这个山的高度有8.8480392公里。第一个爬上去的人实在五月二十九号一九五三年爬上去的。我觉得爬上这么高的山是很难得，特别是因为爬得越高，空气越难呼吸，所以用这么多力气爬上去是很难得，也要很多训练。

Recently there have been quite a few spaceship failures. Among the many, one especially stood out to me. The first one was the failure of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that carried cargo and supplies to the ISS. There was a metal strut that broke at 2000 pounds of pressure where it should have withstood 10000. It caused a helium bottle to fall into the second-stage liquid oxygen tank. The unrestrained bottle broke free, releasing the helium inside, and the added pressure caused the oxygen tank to break apart, leading to the disintegration of the rocket. In an investigation, SpaceX showed that even though most of the struts could handle 10000 pounds, there were a few that could not. In the future, SpaceX said that it would test all the struts individually. I think that this is a sad failure, as the whole spaceship was destroyed by one tiny metal strut, a problem that could have been easily prevented. I think that in the future, the struts and components for all spaceships should be chec

云南省因为在云岭之南而得名云南。云南省西北紧邻西藏自治区，北与四省相邻。这儿有很多民族，是15各少数民族的主要聚居地。云南有非常悠久的历史，早在170万年前，就有元谋人的足迹出现在云南。 傣族也有一个很好玩的节日。每个人会往别的人身上拨水，把大家都弄的湿湿塔塔的。还有人拿着水枪喷来喷去，看的样子特别好玩。我觉得这个节日是个很酷的节日。只要美国有一个这种节日就好了。

According to many studies, about a third of the world's internet users have downloaded ad-blockers. These people feel their privacy is being violated by the numerous companies who track peoples' information. The rise of ad-blocking software is a response to both privacy concerns and to the sheer prevalence of digital ads. Some users object to the collection of personal data, while others find ads – particularly those that follow users across devices – to be annoying and to slow down their systems. 91% of Americans think their privacy is being violated by online services that track their information, according to a Pew Research Center Survey, and around 20% have clicked "Do Not Track". This means a lot of people don't want ad companies to track them, yet ad companies will not give in, as a lot of companies that produce ads get most of their revenue from the ads. I think companies should make their ads able to be blocked, as otherwise being forced to look at t

贵州省在中国西南地区，云贵高原的东部，简称“黔”或“贵”。它东接湖南省，北与四川省，西邻云南省，南连广西壮族自治区。贵州省人口众多，是个多民族杂居的省份，自古以来便形成了汉民族与少数民族相互交融的文化。 贵州省是个很漂亮的地方。我觉得贵州的漂亮的地方其中，天星桥瀑布最漂亮。白白的水，到处都是，在绿色的树林旁边，实在是很漂亮。这个瀑布的形状很复杂，我从来没见到过这么酷的瀑布。

Today I read an article about not sending angry e-mails. The main point the article covered was that angry e-mails make you even angrier, even if you might not know it. This is because even though angry messages make you feel better in the short term, the more you read over them, or think about them, the angrier you get. They are just more reminders of your anger at that time, how much you hated a certain thing, etc. etc. The article suggested some tips on how to control your anger better, for example, if you want to vent your anger, write the letter, but don't send it. This way, you can read it again after you calm down, and relax, and you can learn why you got angry and try not to do the same thing to other people. Also, you can just do nothing for a while. This gives you time to think, and eventually your anger will go away. Finally, you can use the centuries-old strategy of counting to 10, or 100 as Thomas Jefferson supposedly said. I think the next time I get angry, I will

四川人杰地灵，自古以来被誉为“天府之国”。它地处中国西南部，东邻重庆，南接云贵，西至西藏，北连甘，青，是西南，北西和华中三大地区的结合部，也是中国人口最多的省区，有52个民族在此居住。 四川省也有熊猫。四川省有几个自然保护区，里面有大熊猫，是起把抓熊猫弄得更难的作用。我觉得熊猫很可爱，有两个小黑点当眼睛。而且眼睛圈老像小孩子恳求大人的时候，大大的眼睛，的确可爱。

Today I read an article about electric skateboards. Electric skateboards are basically normal skateboards, except you don't have to push them along with your feet. They move by themselves, and you can control them from remotes. If you lose the remote, you can control it with your smartphone. There is a lot of variety to these skateboards, as some of them have larger wheels, some are more powerful, etc. Not everything about these skateboards is good, though. It would be really hard to go downhill without flipping, as it would be hard to balance while going downhill at a constant speed. Also, if you go uphill, it is likely that you will just fall backwards and also get injured. I think a conventional skateboard is much better because you have much better control over the speed and its much harder to get hurt if you instinctively jump off the conventional skateboard instead of trusting the electric skateboard to keep you on balance.

重庆市是中国很有名的一个地方。重庆原来是四川省的一部分，1997年成为中国的第4个直辖市。重庆位于中国西南部，东邻湖北，湖南两省，南靠贵州，西依四川，北接峡西，依山建造，人称“山城”，城市内主要的街道就是石阶。重庆历史悠久，在2万到3万年前就已经有了古人类生活的足迹。 2010年调查的时候，发现重庆的人口有28,846,170。这是很多人呀！按照中国的调查，重庆市中国人口最多的直辖市。

长江三峡是中国得很漂亮的一个地方。长江三峡被中国国家评价成AAAAA等旅游景点。长江的三峡部分有200公里。这里什么时候都很漂亮，春天夏天绿绿的，秋天红红的，冬天白白的。我什么时候还想去看一看，因为上次我们看的时候也很漂亮。我想看长江冬天的样子，看一看中过白白的雪盖住春天绿绿的树。 但三峡不是什么都好。长江三峡水坝把很多人住的房子和考古遗址用水埋住了。

Parts 1&2 of Letter to Mrs. V You should be able to figure out what I wrote from the two pics below. What to do after class (in order) 3 weeks, 1 inch of worksheets, not too much, right? ~75 Vocab Cards EDIT: Exactly 75 Cards       

 Cynical The first day I walked into class, I didn't see anything wrong. It was just hustle-bustle, getting things set up and doing icebreakers so everybody knew everybody else. It was on the second day that I noticed strange things. When the instructor had some spare time, it seemed that she would check their e-mail and other things on their Macs. On the third day, I noticed some more things. When our instructor finished with their business on her Macs, she started with their iPads. I decided I would delve into more detail the next day. On the fourth day, I asked them 'questions' a few times to see what she was doing on their iPads that she would deliberately hide from us, using their iPads so that the iPad was facing the wall. Whenever I got close, however, the teacher immediately closed out of her apps and flipped the cover over the iPad before I could see. The next day, I tried to look quickly at what she was doing before she could close it. To my horror, I saw Fa

Two days ago I participated in the Best Activity Ever at CTY. It started out with the leaders saying that we would be heading to an ice cream parlor in Palo Alto. Everybody was really pumped and wanted to get moving. However, soon after the activity started, we were washing a car with scraps of rags. How did that happen? Well, they said that the car was dirty and we couldn't go to Palo Alto in a dirty car. The first thing I noticed was that the car was a 4-seater. I began to get a bit suspicious, but still went ahead with it because of the incentive of the ice cream. We were washing the car with rags 2 cm wide and around 10 cm long, and it was hard. You had to dip them in water, then drag it all over the car and rub off the dirty spots. If you didn't work hard enough, it was push-up time. The car was very dirty. It was hard work, and Peter (an RA), one of the two adults brought over a 4-pack of ginger beer and together they started sipping it. It was very hard to watch them lu

西南地区一般指位于中国西南部的3省2区1市，包括四川省，云南省，贵州省，西藏自治区，广西壮族自治区以及重庆市。西南地区多山地，丘陵，和盆地，以亚热带山地高原气候为主。西南人口分布极不均均。汉族为主，有藏，彝，傣，白，壮，苗等少数民族。全区原有经济基础薄弱，是中国经济比较落后地区之一。但自然条件复杂，资源丰富，发展潜力大。可建成全国性的以水电为主的能源基，以机械，化工，军工为主的重工业基地，强大的林牧业基地。我觉得西南地区现在不太发达，但以后可以变得很发达，像Tokyo那种地方。这是因为西南地区做的事业是一个不能不做的事业-农业，所以他们的基础很强大。农业部做的话，大家吃什么东西呀？

Recently I read an article by the New York Times about stowing away on ships. The article revolved around one of George Kallimasias' ships. The nation’s major shipping families have a reputation for noblesse oblige — many of the island’s soccer fields, schools and hospitals bear plaques with their names. Mr. Kallimasias, though, is decidedly invisible. Mr. Kallimasias’s seaside house in Chios sits behind a 15-foot wall. When he drives around, he is typically accompanied by bodyguards, according to a former employee and associates in Athens. There have been tens of cases filed against him for debt, but only one has succeeded. In the 1980s, when one of Mr. Kallimasias’s companies failed to repay a loan of more than $11 million to the National Bank of Greece, members of the Greek Parliament investigated. They found one ship of his worth seizing, but it caught fire at sea and sank, in what was believed to be a deliberate act to collect insurance on it, according to legal d

广东新闻网惠州6月2日电(陈日洋)惠州博罗县罗阳、柏塘、湖镇等地2000亩葡萄园陆续开园采摘，6月1日，吸引了各地游客带着小朋友亲子游，走进园区体验采摘葡萄瓜果乐趣。有的葡萄园还试水“微商”模式，网上售卖原生态葡萄。 该县湖镇镇新围村的葡萄园就是其中一家。据了解，该葡萄园是由湖镇镇金桦葡萄专业合作社种植，面积达380亩，是目前全县面积最大的葡萄园。仅6月1日一天，该葡萄园就卖出了近千箱葡萄。这些葡萄园因为今年下大雨，说葡萄多了30%，和自有采摘葡萄的季节可以到9月。这说明葡萄园今年有了个很好的年，种了很多葡萄，而且很多都生长成熟的葡萄。

Today was the last day of DigiPen Camp, when we presented our projects. My favorite was probably Ethan's. I knew Ethan from DigiPen last year, and he was pretty cool. This year, he made a 'horror' game, where a Lenny face chases you around. It is really scary when you turn around and suddenly you see him - the Lenny face, and die.The Lenny face is used as an alternative to the troll face or used for spamming forums. It is made to look annoying. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°) ᕦ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ᕤ Different variations of the Lenny Face ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°) My second favorite project was Brian Comes' Just another Puzzle Game. It is a really hard game where you navigate the world around you by picking up blocks and dragging them around. In every place, you have to figure out what to do. It is kind of like an escape game, where you try to escape from an evil place, in this case, jail. There are pressure pads, secret passageways, and all kinds of cool stuff. I had a lot of fun today seeing others&#

广东省在中国大陆南部，与福建省，江西省，湖南省，广西壮族自治区，南临南海，西南端隔琼州海峡与海南省相望。广东是人口大省，民族成分复杂，供油3各少数民族在境内居住。同时也是著名的侨乡，有大量华侨，海外华人与归侨。广东省内引中原文化外纳海外文化，具有更广泛的包容性。广东省有很多人，在2010年，有10亿人在广东生活。这么多人，差不多是那时候全国的百分之八。广东的国内生产总值是526.7亿元。我看到这个数字的时候都差不多晕倒了。这么多钱，比印度的国内生产总值的一半还高。

At U.P., pastry chef Dominique Ansel’s new after-hours tasting-menu venture, dessert-cocktail combos based on life’s firsts deliver rushes of recollection. U.P. is a very exclusive place. There are only eight seats, first of all. To get a seat, you have to register online at least 7 weeks in advance, and even then you might not get a seat. They have ticket sellings periodically, and the tickets sell out very quickly. I can't believe that people would be so eager for a few desserts. All 8 desserts together with drinks are $110 per person, and you have to sign up in pairs. One of his desserts, First Kiss, involves bringing a smooth, voluptuous ceramic bowl designed to feel like a woman’s cheek to the person's lips. (A stubbly “male” version is also available.) Sweet raspberry liquid fills your mouth, along with small spheres that tasted like cream soda. Getting to the final prize—a tiny portion of panna cotta—required a kiss of the so-called French variety. The pairing drin

福州市是福建省省会，在福建省东部，与台湾省隔海相望福州别名“三山”，“左海”，“榕城”，是中国东南沿海的开放港口城市，也是中国历史文化名城。福州矿产资源较丰富。福州也有挖矿先进的技术。 厦门市在福建省东南部沿海，是中国经济特区之一，也是著名侨乡和港口风景城市，室内有多个少数民族。厦门原本是个海岛，1957年鹰厦铁路建成通车后才和大陆连成一体。改革开放以来，厦门依托经济特区的开放政策，发展非常迅速。

As Windows 10 approaches, Microsoft faces a critical problem. Convincing hundreds of millions of users to download free software. Beginning July 20, the public will be bombarded with ads for Windows 10 at retailers, on TV and online as the company cranks up a marketing blitz touting the next version of its operating system, which is due to launch July 29. It is supposed to have fingerprint recognition, portrait recognition (which I wouldn't trust - how-old.net), and a new browser called Edge that allows people to annotate webpages.. Millions of Windows fans will have a chance to attend launch parties in hotspots around the world. The highlight is that Windows 10 is free. So why would Microsoft spend so much effort on Windows 10? Microsoft wants 1 billion Windows user by the time of June 2018. They want to strengthen Windows as a gateway to other Microsoft services, like Office. They have such ambitious goals because the launch of Windows 10, Microsoft's flagship software,

福建省在中国大陆东南沿海，东临台湾海峡，与台湾省隔海相望，是中国的重要门户。福建省的名子是从哪儿来的呢？就是福州和建州融合的时候，人就觉得应该叫福建。这儿的地形有很多山，被很多人说成：“八山一水一分田”。这儿主要种地东西是大米，第二是红薯。福建众多的少数民族，都保留了自己独特的民族文化与民族风情，还有好多不同的方言.福建是著名的侨乡，历史上不断的进行人口的出入，当地的古越文化与来自中原地区的中原文化，被楚国文化融合后，由此形成了别具特色的文化。

Today was the 7th day of DigiPen Camp. I accomplished my second goal for my project after figuring out how to drop bombs. My goal was to add a score and a stats page to the win screen. The score would be the amount of enemies killed plus the amount of coins collected minus the amount of deaths you got. On the stats page, you would see the statistics of the last game, including deaths, enemies killed, the time it took for you to beat the game, and the amount of coins you collected. It took nearly the whole day to do this, as it was really hard. With the help of Joshua, the lead teacher, I got all of the features programmed in. Now, my game looks really cool. At least I really like how it looks. The only thing I'm not happy with is the text, as it looks to simple to me. I really enjoyed programming today, and I felt really good when I finished today!

华南地区有很多珍稀动物和植物。 金钱豹主要分布在广东山地森林地区，是国家一级保护动物。他的体形与虎相似，但较小，为大中型食肉兽类，全生颜色鲜亮，手色纵横，遍布黑色斑点和环纹，形成古钱状斑纹，所以叫金钱豹。金钱豹生活环境可以多种多样，从低山，丘陵至高山森林。 眼镜蛇也是一个珍稀动物。令人类和动物都望而生畏的毒王眼镜蛇，主要生活在华南地区的广东，福建等地。眼镜蛇属于爬行动物。眼镜蛇遇到危险时，它会昂起头，同时背部的眼镜圈纹会变得更加明显，发出呼呼声，以来恐吓敌人，有时还会喷射出多达250毫克的毒液。不过他平常只以鱼，鼠，鸟以食物。 华南地区是有很多很酷的动物！

I accomplished a lot in Digipen Camp today. In the morning, we did our GDDs, or our plans for how we were going to work on our games in the future. There was a competition to see who could write the best GDD, and I won. I got a scholar token thingy which apparently is exchangeable for a lot of gold in the Name Tag Game. I was really happy! I think I won because I was the only one who actually wrote a decent amount (3 lines or more) on each question. In the afternoon, we worked on our projects. I wanted to add a feature that allowed me to drop bombs from the underside of my plane, and that took pretty much the whole afternoon. In the end, though, it was worth it. I could set the amount of bombs the player could have, and the bomb also worked. When it hit an enemy, the enemy blew up. I also added a component which made the bomb have a trail, spewing rocket flames. I really liked DigiPen camp today!

华南地区一般包括位于中国南部的福建省，广东省和海南省。华南地区的地形以高原和山地为主，属于热带，南亚热带气候。这儿的民族除了汉族以外，还有壮，苗，回，高山等少数民族。华南地区地理位置挺好的。交通运通发达。因为华南地区在海边，所以运货很方便。华南地区的经济基础也不差，是中国经济建设的前沿地带，也是中国对外开放的窗口之一。除了拥有丰富的土地，水，气，生物，矿产，和旅游资源外，还有较好的工业，商业和外流基础。 华东地区一个很有名的地方是珠江三角洲。珠江三角洲在南海北岸，广东省中部珠江河口，是中国第二大三角洲，也是世界上第十五。三角洲是什么呢？三角洲是指在河口区流速减缓的流水所携带的泥沙堆积而成的冲积平原。三角洲是一种常见的地表形貌。

As I watched, the computer screens around me turned blue and displayed a human body. Next to it, a black worm appeared, and a popup showed detailed information about it. A simulation put the human and the worm together. Suddenly, all the screens showed the same error message in bright red: "Unexpected Error: Simulation Not Functioning Correctly". They all cracked with electricity and fizzled out at the same time. Surprised, I tried to wake the computers up by pressing the Power button. There was no response. I decided my only course of action was to keep moving through the complex. I walked deeper into the maze, and soon I was walking on hard rock. As I got closer and closer to the end of the tunnel, I could feel a vibrating noise. When I got to the end, I found that a titanium door blocked my path. However, when I touched the door, it creaked open, revealing another one. I opened it, and was presented with another one. I opened it too, and found myself in a small room made

Recently, in the Ishikawa prefecture of Japan, a bunch of Ruby Roman grapes, some very expensive grapes, sold for $8,200. Ruby Roman grapes are a special type of grape. They have been in development for over 14 years, and each grape is about the size of a ping-pong ball. Every grape is checked strictly to guarantee its quality, with certification seals placed on those thus selected. The Ruby Roman has strict rules for selling; each grape must be over 20g and over 18% sugar. In addition, a special "premium class" exists which requires the grape to be over 30g and where the entire fruit bunch must weigh at least 700g. In 2010, only six grapes qualified for premium status while in 2011, no grapes made the cut. This is crazy! The grapes were bought at 1 million yen on Thursday at an auction in the market. The winner was a hotel chef who planned to use them in desserts at his hotel. Apparently in Japan it is considered good luck to buy the first produce of the year. Even i

中国的第一个云计算地方在2015年10月会在湖南建立。这个地方可以让中国的运货信息等等在网上可以找着。这个建立完后，中国的Haiyi公司可以很快的送货。这个公司说他们的目的是在后勤的行业里做出一个淘宝。最近几年，中国的运货费用很高， 这主要是因为 货物 卸载。用这个云，这个公司想要避免这种发生。这个云会把这个公司的 效率增加50%，所以是个很大的工程。我觉得用一个云来做这个事情是个很好的注意，因为也会省很多钱，不用人来做这种活了。

Today was the fifth day of Digipen Camp. In the morning, we had a starship contest to see who could make the best starship. We made our starships starting from cubes in a program called Maya, where you can make objects in 3D and distort them, edit them, drag them around, and interact with them. My starship looked like an X-Wing, as it had wings in the shape of an X. I made thrusters by themselves, then copy and pasted them and merged them with the body of the ship. In the end, I got first place in the contest and 3 'gold' for the Name Tag Game, a game that a lot of people play in the Digipen Camp. I don't play the game, personally, because I think it is kind of boring. You have to do things to complete quests, which you get gold for. Then you buy stuff with gold and do really complicated battles with bosses (aka teachers). In the afternoon, we worked on our games. Nearly everybody worked on the framework where you flew a plane around and shot at enemies. I uploaded all th

湖南省在长江中游。它境内一共居住着51个民族。在少数民族中，苗族和土家族人口最多，主要分布于湘西北，建立有湘西土家族苗族自治州。湖南的历史可以一直看到千年前，至春秋战国时期，楚国势力越湖南而下，融合了原有的地方文化，使得湖南成为楚文化的开发地，也是楚文化发展和传播的重要地之一。湖南省是个很漂亮的地方。蓝绿色的湖，绿色的树，紫色的山，我觉得湖南是个很有历史有很漂亮的地方，很值得去。

Today was the fourth day of Digipen Camp. The first thing that we did today was analyze a game called Star Fox 64. Star Fox 64 is a game where you pilot a starship around and shoot people. We analyzed how the game was really effective in guiding the player through the first few levels. For example, the other players tell you that you need to dodge the obstacles, how to beat the boss, etc. I think this is very effective because it seems more like an engaging conversation than a boring tutorial. The second thing we did was work on a new framework. It was a shooter, where you pilot a cube around and fire bullets at little enemies. They also fired at you, and reduced your little health bar. When it got to 0, the plane crashed. This game was interesting because you could make your own enemies and change their stats so there was more variety in the game. I hope we get to introduce more variety tomorrow in the form of making the game look better, because the game looks really bad right now

湖北省是中国很丰富的一个省。它里面有江汉平原。江汉平原在湖北省中南部，长江中游，是由长江和汉江冲积而成的平原。江汉平原面积有3万平方千米。他地势低平，平原内湖很漂亮。平原内的湖区是中国的著名水产区，盛产鱼，虾，蟹，贝壳等等。同时，江汉平原也是中国的高产优质棉区和中国重要的商品粮基地，其水田集中分布于河间凹地和平原边界，粮食商品生产较高。湖北省真的是个很丰富的地方！

Today was the third day of Digipen Camp. A significant portion of camp was devoted to investigating Super Mario 64 and seeing how it captivated the player and how it made the player progress. Super Mario 64 was a 3D platformer, the predecessor of games like Super Mario Galaxy today. You could move around in 3D, going left, right, up, down, forwards, or backwards. Like Super Mario Bros., there are Bob-ombs, Goombas, and other common enemies. It captivated the player by adding new enemy types, new ways to move around, new components, new game mechanisms, etc. It made the player progress by only letting him or her go into harder levels when he or she got sufficiently good to unlock them. In other words, you can only get to harder levels once you do well enough on the easy ones. This makes sense because otherwise if you played the last boss on your first go at the game, you would get massacred and it would be really frustrating. I learned a lot at DigiPen today!

开封市在河南省东部 ，面积有6243平方千米 。 这个城市是中国七大古都之一。开封地处中原要地，地理位置优越，水路交通发达，自春秋时期建城以来，已经有2600多年的历史，战国魏，五代梁，汉，晋，周北宋及金朝都在开封建都，故称为七朝古都。 开封市内目前有铁塔，龙亭大殿，禹王台，山峡甘会馆等名胜景观。开封历史上的名人众多，有秦国大臣，秦朝末农民起义的军首领张耳和陈馀，等等。 开封是个很有历史的城市。

Today was day 2 of Digipen Camp. The first thing we did was explore a new program called Maya in the morning. Maya is basically a 3D editor, where you can do stuff in 3D with rectangles, triangles, and spheres. You can stretch, and contort, and do all sorts of things. I thought it was creative, as I made a plane, a rocket, a chair, and a volcano, all using the basic tools. Just to think of all the possibilites with the complex tools! The second thing we did was import our models into Zero. When we did that, we could use our collision shapes from Maya to make sure that we could climb and interact with our objects, and so that there wouldn't be weird invisible space-fillers. I loved how you could create all kinds of objects and insert them. I had a great time with 3D objects today!

中国有很多地区，其中有一个叫华中地区是个特别有名的地区。他的旅游景点很丰富。 比如有汉江。汉江是长江最大支流。现在世界上，汉江是长江流域开发利用最大的支流。汉江边上绿绿的，江是黄的，特别好看。 大别山也是一个旅游景点。大别山是湖北省，河南省，安慰省交界处。大别山地势较高，海拔1729米。 下次去中国，这些地方 是肯定要去的。

Today was the first day of Digipen Summer Camp. In the morning, we learned how to add texture to our 3D environments. The editor was really cool, as it allowed you to pull ground up, push it down, flatten it, color it, and do all kinds of weird things with it. I think that when we get this tool at the end of the session, I will have a lot of fun experimenting with it by myself. In the afternoon, we learned to create objects in our 3D environments. I added cubes and spheres, and made things out of them. I made a house with cubes as bricks. I made rain with spheres. There were infinite possibilities with all the different shapes that they had. You could make gravity apply to the shapes, and you cold also make them stay in the air. I liked how you could interact with the objects in the game. I really look forward to tomorrow!

华中地区在自然地理一般包括湖北省，湖南省，河南省。这儿的气侯以热带气候为主。华中地区汉族人口占多数，少数民族以苗，土家等族居多。由于长江，黄河均流经华中境内，以至自然资源相当丰富 ，有不少珍稀物种。此外，华中地区的电力和水利资源已相当丰富。 华中地区的三门峡是黄河中游重要的峡谷，位于河南省三门峡市和山西省中间有平陆。 三门峡有一座20多米高的石头墙，这只是三门峡的一部分。三门是个很伟大的东西！

Cautiously, I looked inside. All over, there were little red lights flashing. As I stepped in, a few of them died out, then all of them. A screen in the middle of the room flickered to life, reading:"Hello, we have been expecting you. Please proceed." I stepped through the lifeless doors, expecting a government official to pop out and put me in jail any minute. This must all be a mistake, I thought. Soon, though, it became clear it was not. Bodies sat at computer terminals, silent, unmoving. It was an eerie sight, hundreds of people dead. The stark white of the room made everything seem clean, but it was obvious it was not. A whirring sound came from the roof behind me, and I spun around, surprised. A machine popped out of the roof, and said:"Follow me." It instantly turned around and walked into a dark corridor. I followed as fast as I could, but the machine always seemed to go faster. The twists and turns got confusing, and I decided not to pay attention to wher

Today was the last day in Colorado. The first thing we did was ride horses. The horses were at the Academy Riding Stables. We started out by putting on our helmets and getting assigned horses, and then we started riding them. I got a horse called T-Bow, and he was pretty calm and obedient. He really loved eating the grass on the side of the road, though, and I had to pull him up to stop him from eat it a bunch of times. We went through the Garden of the Gods, which was really cool, because we could observe scenery without having to walk. It was hard to notice the scenery and keep your horse in line at the same time, though. The second thing we did was go to a cave. The cave had a lot of stalagmites and stalactites. There were really small caverns and really tall ones, really steep stairs and really scary ones. It was really cool to observe the different kinds of rock formations. There was a part where we were in complete darkness and it was really scary, as the tour guide told us tha

Today I went sandsledding at the Great Sand Dunes National Park. First, we went to a place called Oasis to get our sleds. They offered sandboards and sandsleds. We were one of the first people there, so we got our boards really quickly. We chose the smoothest ones, and got our wax. The wax was for putting on the boards so that they didn't get sticky and not work as well. Then, we went to go sledding. It was really exciting, because you could go really fast, especially on steep hills. You rubbed on a bit of wax and the sled just rocketed down the sand dunes. I fell a bunch of times at the start because I didn't get how to turn, so I couldn't balance the sled, so the sled turned 90 degrees, side to the hill, and toppled over. Once I got the hang of it, however, it got a lot easier for me. Then I started going farther and not toppling. However, I still toppled a lot, and eventually I just stopped sledding because I didn't really think the ride was worth the huge walk bac

One day, I woke up to white stuff outside the window. At first, I  was scared that this was another one of those government projects where they genetically modify living animals and test them out in front of random peoples' houses. Once they released chupacabras in front of our neighbor's houses. They were never seen again. I went outside, curious to see what this new genetic mutation would behold. I approached it carefully, wary of any sudden movements.When I saw no movements, I touched it. It was a strange sensation, nothing like the desert we live in today. I touched it again. It felt like I was being 'frozen'. This was a thing we only heard about in books, of days with freezing cold living conditions. When I asked my living group, they had no idea what it was. I decided that this was definitely abnormal. The government never created things like this. I brought some to the nearest police center. There was no police. When I went back home, nobody was there. I knocke

Today was our tour at Mesa Verde. The first thing the tour guide talked about was the Puebloan people. We learned about their history, and when they created the Cliff Palace and many other cliff dwellings. Apparently they stayed on top of the mesa for 600 years, then suddenly shifted downwards, into the cliffs, where they built lots of houses. What amazed me the most was that the Puebloans were able to build so many houses of such high quality in the 89 years that they stayed in the cliffs. The second thing the tour guide talked about was the houses and their purposes. Some houses, called Kivas, were gathering places. They had a little hole in the top for the smoke to come out from, and there were seats to sit on, and a mud/crosshatched roof. It was pretty cool to look at. I think Mesa Verde was really cool, but really expensive at the same time.

Today I visited Canyonlands National Park. The first part of our trip was to the Island in the Sky. The Island is the most accessible part of the national park, with a lot of trails and attractions.We visited the Mesa Arch, which is an arch over a cliff that looks really cool. I even climbed on top of the arch for a photo. It was scary, as there was a huge cliff drop two feet backwards. The second part of our trip was to the Needles. The Needles are little fingerlike structures that stick up from the ground. There were a lot of them in the places that we visited. I think they were formed when fins were eroded from the top, unlike arches, which are eroded from the bottom. That makes them turn from fin-shapes to spiny spikes. I had a lot of fun in Canyonlands National Park!

Today was another searing hot day in Utah. The first thing we did was drive to the Arches National Park visitor center. In the visitor center, there were lots of interesting exhibits like animals that live in potholes. Also, there was an exhibit on which kind of rocks there were in the park. In the end, I went and got a stamp for my passport. That made a total of 3. The second thing we did was to go to the actual arches in the park. We saw six or seven arches and a few caves. My favorite arch was the Turret Arch, as it had a big crack in the center. There were a few rocks in there that looked like they would fall down any second. It was really interesting to see the crack and think about how it could have formed. I have had a good time so far in Utah!

Today I went to the Dinosaur National Monument. This 'monument' is a huge national park, with lots of dinosaur fossils and other fossils. The first thing we did when we got there was to go to the visitor center. There, I used my national park passport, which we bought at the Rocky Mountain National Park. Using the stamp, I collected my second stamp in the collection of a bunch of stamps from a bunch of different national parks in a bunch of different places. My least favorite part of the trip was the hike. It was one mile long, but we took lots of detours, including one to see some amazing clam fossils (sarcasm intended). It was searing hot, and after the first few yards I was sweating. For some reason, the sunscreen wasn't working on my legs, and they had turned really read by the end of the trip. It felt really good to make it back to the visitor center in the theater where the shades were all down and the AC was cranked up really high. There were many fun parts and ma

Today was the second day in Colorado. The first place we went to was the Red Rocks National Park. At the park, there were many - you guessed it - red rocks! They were huge, and we climbed all over the ones that we could. There was a really cool amphitheater made out of the rocks. There was a small stage, and a cave surrounding it, so the sound is focused outwards. There were at least 30 rows of seats there. The second place we went to was a lake. The lake was beautiful, with lots of trees and ripples in the water. We took a walk around the side of the lake, and got a closer look at the beautiful scenery. We then tried to catch some fish in the lake, unsuccessfully. We also tried to catch some dragonflies. Mom caught one by accident. She was just grabbing around and caught hold of one. We were all amazed. I had a great time today, and my favorite place was definitely the lake.

Today was the first full day in Denver. In the morning, we visited the Art Museum. In the art museum, the best part was the Shrinkydinks. They were in the shapes of flowers. You drew on it, they hairdried it, and your shrinkydink was done. Then you attached magnets to the bottom so you could put them on refrigerators and things like that. I like these because they gave you great chances to express your creativity. In the afternoon, we visited the Natural Science Museum. It was great. My favorite part was the Space Odyssey. It was crazy. There were all kinds of things you could imagine, like a crater simulator where a machine drops a lead ball into some sand to show you what kind of crater it would make in real life. There was also a galaxy simulator, where you could simulate suns and planets and asteroids and comets in a galaxy, with them all interacting with each other. I loved to put together a bunch of suns and make that sun just eat everything up. I really enjoyed the first day

Recently I read two articles about recent technological developments. One of them is the SoftBank robot named Pepper. Another is an unbreakable encryption system by Toshiba. The robot named Pepper is apparently very popular. The first batch of 1,000 sold out in under a minute. However, the prices are quite large. They cost 25000 yen per month for 3 years. That totals out to 7294.72 dollars. The robot is a breakthrough, though. It can read peoples' facial expressions and know how you feel. It can carry out basic conversations. The Toshiba unbreakable encryption system is based on photons. If the photons are viewed or modified in any way before they get to their destination, they will look different when they get to their destination, and people will know it has been tampered with. The messages are encoded with these keys, contained in the photons, and the patterns never repeat, making the code theoretically impossible to break. I am excited to see what other new technology the wo

华北地区是中国东部的一个5省1市的区城，包括山东，江苏，浙江，安微，江西5省和上海市。华东地区以平地为主。这个地区的面积有79.83万平方公里（未含台湾）。这个地方的人口有4.01亿人，有很多不同的民族和传统。这整个地区环境优越，物产资源丰富，中国的几个鱼米之乡都属于这块土地，比如历史上盛极一时的苏坑，黄金宝石之乡山东，富饶的江淮平原。加上商品生产发达，工人类齐全，交通四通八达，这里的国民收入有一段时间几乎占到了全国的1/3。

Recently I read an article about Beats by Dre Headphones not being as luxurious as most people think they are. A recent blog post on a website called Medium stated that “One of the great things about the solo headphones is how substantial they feel. A little bit of weight makes the product feel solid, durable, and valuable. One way to do this cheaply is to make some components out of metal in order to add weight. In these headphones, 30% of the weight comes from four tiny metal parts that are there for the sole purpose of adding weight.” That is a bit ridiculous. Making headphones weigh 50% more just for some added luxurious feeling just shouldn't be done. When people find out, as they always do, the company receives a lot of negative feelings. Additionally, the ridiculously excessive and elaborate packaging, while totally unnecessary if not downright frustrating, also serves to create the illusion that you’ve just purchased a truly high-end quality product. Incidentally

A new oven identifies the food you put into it then offers to cook it for you. All you have to do is press “OK.” The oven is large enough to hold a full pizza or a 12 lb. turkey .Beneath its handle, there’s a 5-inch touch screen and a single all-purpose knob. Within, there are two temperature probes and a high-definition video camera with fisheye lens. It’s got Wi-Fi. And within the oven’s four feet are scales that can weigh whatever’s inside the oven (or even on top of it). Basically how it works is that the camera takes a good look at the food you put in there—not just color but texture, shape and relative size—and figures out what it is. In the demo, it could tell the difference between bagels and cookie dough, which is amazing, because they look kind of similar in color. June’s creators say it can currently identify about 15 different common foods including frozen pizza, bacon, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, potatoes and even two kinds of fish: salmon and tilapia. Then the

北京市在6月1号禁止了在很多地方抽烟。 这个措施对北京有很大的影响。北京里有大约4000000000个抽烟者，这是整个城市的4分之1。有些不能抽烟的地方是餐馆里，学校里，和巴士里。北京市还在威信上创建了几个帐户，说如果看到人抽烟的话，照一个照片放在威信上就行了。很多人都说这个措施很好，和已经有很多照片了。还有一些警察抽烟的照片呢！ 可惜很多抽烟的人不理这个措施。他们还在照样的抽烟，还是抽得很多。这个措施虽然好，但没有足够人来执行。如果警察都在抽烟，那怎么可能指望他们来抓住在抽烟的人呢？我觉得这个措施虽然好，但没有被创造者想透。中国实在有太多抽烟的人了。 我真的希望这个措施能成功，但我觉得不可能，因为有太多人在中国抽烟了。

Recently I read an article about women who work. Many of them work 'split shifts', where they work in the morning, then go home to take care of their children and put them to bed, an then go to work again in the night. To me, this sounds really exhausting. How much sleep would they get every night? And if they get enough sleep, how much work can they accomplish? It seems like a really busy life. One of the mothers, the one that was interviewed in this article, had enough time to make elaborate cakes and go to movies with her children. I find that amazing. She also said she works 60 hours a week and travels to many different cities for her job. She also went on dates with her husband. I am really amazed by people who can work 60 hours a week or more, find time for their children, and still keep up socially. I can't think of how efficient you would have to be to do that.

河北省是中国华北平原的北部沿海，因为地处黄河下游以北而得名。古代的河北省地处边陲，长期与塞外游牧民族作战，后来又成为首位北京的屏障，军事的为相当重要。 河北的赵州桥是很有名的。赵州桥，又成为安济桥，是在605-618年建的。桥有64.4米长，是世界上最长的石拱桥。桥的两端有两个小石拱，不是实心的。如果有洪水的话，那这些洞可以让水漏出去，不让桥受到太大的伤害。这个桥现在还存在，经历了10次水灾，8次乱战，和许多地震。这个桥的建筑真好。 一个别的很有名的地方是雾灵山。雾灵山是燕山的主峰。雾灵山在古代就是旅游胜地。雾灵山常年云雾笼罩，有一种仙风道骨的感觉，被清王朝划为清东陵的“后龙凤水区”禁地，封为皇家风水宝地。 河北省是一个肯定要去的地方，有那么多漂亮和有趣的东西！

The Oculus Rift has made a comeback. Oculus has been making virtual-reality headset prototypes for about three years, and each has had problems. Either the device was too heavy or had nauseatingly slow refresh rates, for example. None has had a decent control scheme. During that time, gaming companies have built impressive headsets with three-dimensional audio, pixel-dense displays and creative controls. At E3, one of the demonstrations for the Rift was a game called Eve: Valkryie. In the game, you are in a fighter jet that has been catapulted out of a huge starship to fight in a large dogfight. Usually, this causes motion sickness, as you move around a lot, but after 15 minutes, according to the writer of the article, he felt fine. The writer also said that the audio was exceptionally good, not hurting his ears or anything, but still producing 360 degrees of audio. Another main feature was the Oculus Touch. When you use these controllers, they can make your in-game avatar do what

天津市在华北平原东北部。天津市两个很有名的地方是狗不理和渤海湾。 狗不理包子是很有名的一个做包子的餐馆，是一个叫狗子的人在1858年创始的。他做的包子特别好吃，谁都想去他那儿吃，所以他的生意很好。生意越来越好。后来，他已经没有闲心理他的客户了，就在那儿做包子。所以这店叫狗不理，因为狗子不理他的客户。在2005年，狗不理被同仁堂买下来了。 渤海湾也很有名。 以前，这个地方到处都有人钓鱼，因为鱼很多。现在，因为污染，很多鱼都死了，所以没有人在渤海钓鱼了。渤海湾也有很多石油。科学家说这儿有大约6132000000000000加仑油。已经有很多人在这儿挖油了。我觉得他们如果能找着这么多油，他们肯定会挣大钱的。 下次去中国，我想去天津玩一玩，吃一吃狗不理包子。

Many people liken themselves to animals, My favorite animal is definitely the mountain goat for two reasons. I am like a mountain goat because I balance very well, and I also like to climb along rocks and uneven surfaces. Mountain goats can climb quickly in mountains - they have mountain in their name! I think I am like the mountain goat in many ways.

Taekwondo class is getting better and better. I now understand how the classes work, so I no longer have to look at what others are doing to know what I should be doing. Some of the basic aspects of Taekwondo class are that you have to say 'Kuniyet' or something like that at the start of the class as a greeting.Then you bow and say 'Chediyet'. Then you say something else, bow, close your eyes, and stay like that for around 30 seconds. After that, you start class by doing stretches. After stretches, you practice kicks, punches, and your form. In addition, I have already memorized my form, even though I've only had 5 classes. Form is basically a series of moves that increases with complexity as your level goes higher. For example, my form is only 8 moves, but the next form is 20. I'm not sure if the number of moves increases by the same amount or not, because then by black belt our forms would be huge. There is still a lot to learn about Taekwondo, and I am rea

北京是中国今天的首都，也是中国的七大古都之一。以前，北京当过燕国，辽国，金国，元朝，明朝，清朝的首都。 北京的四合院是很有名的。四合院的建筑形式从汉代开始逐渐形成， 到了唐宋时期，这些建筑已经到处都是了。他的布局一般在东南西北四面建房，中间围出一个院子，院子的外墙除大门外，没有窗户或通道与胡同相连，恰好满足了一个典型的中国封建家庭四世同堂的居住需要。 香山也是北京的一个旅游景点。香山是一个著名的皇家园林，在北京西山。西山挡住了寒风，很适合植物的生长。香山四季景色不同，其中最为有名的就是香山红叶。金秋时节，香山满山红叶。 下次去北京的时候，我想看一看这些有趣的地方。

长城是中国华北省很有名的一个景点。长城是世界上修建时间最长，工作量最大的冷兵器战争时代的国家军事工程。根据历史的信息，有20多个诸侯国和封建王朝修筑过长城。而且，秦始皇为了修筑长城，动用了30万多人，创造了人类建筑史上的奇迹。我觉得这很惊人，因为如果长城要那么多人来建的话，那万里长城刚刚建好的时候肯定是一个很伟大，很壮观的东西。我觉得万里长城现在很可怜，很多地方都已经烂了。如果我能时空穿越，那我会去看长城刚刚做好的样子。

I have been hiking many times, and I have always not wanted to go at the start, but I always really enjoyed it at the end. At the start of the hike, I always feel like I could be doing something more productive, like learning about chess. I regret going on the hike and really want to go home. I walk really slowly, hunched over, bored, thinking about other things. These feelings are even more pronounced if it's muddy or raining. Then I feel like the hike is an absolute waste of time and am very negative for the first half of the trail. In the middle of the hike, I feel like I have succeeded. I have got to the top, the very ultimate part of the trail, the most beautiful part. I feel happy. I have completed half of the trail and I feel ready to take on the other half. I take a break, drink some water, eat some food, rest. Then I start trekking back. On the way back, I feel immensely proud. I have made it to the top, and I will make it back down. I will. I walk with a spring in my s