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          Today was the Science Now! presentations that we have prepared so long for. Two of the presentations had cake for the required 3D Models!           For example, my group's project had a cake for a 3D model, and it was delicious! The cake was made to look like Denali National Park, with a few plastic grizzly bears and mooses around the cake. The cake also had a few chocolate mountains, with some grass (red, yellow, green frosting) nearby. The dirt was brown sugar, and the ground was a type of chocolate cake. Our cake was completely vegan and gluten free.           The other group's cake was a red velvet cake, which tasted great, and it also had frosting on it, but not a lot. The cake was huge and was really soft and spongy. Ms. Chen got a HUMONGOUS piece because it was the leftover after we all took our pieces. The piece was around 8 inches by 8 inches!           All in all, I...

今天我的班级会表演一些科学戏。我们很早，差不多九月五号就开始准备了。今天我们会把这个戏在全班前表演一次。我们会讲大灰熊和无患子。我们从准备这个表演学了一些东西，比如大灰熊的重量，身高，和类型。我们也学了无患子的用处。土著美国人以前用这个果子做出了药，食物，等等。这个果子对他们的用处很大，可以治痒，做成食物，还可以用来洗衣服呢！我们最后学到的一个事实就是无患子被熊吃了，它的果子还会在屎里面长出来，还会比以前长得更健康。我觉得今天的表演肯定很酷！

          Today my class went to Challenges Northwest, and we all had a great time.           One of the things we did was the "7-Buoy-7". There was a buoy suspended at waist level with a rope that was attached to the ceiling. We tried to cross the "laser shark ocean" and get to "Hawaii". We couldn't touch the oceans because the laser sharks would eat us. We started in Washington and had to use ropes and other materials to get the buoy from the middle of the ocean and then ride the "plane" to Hawaii. We had to squeeze ourselves onto the tiny mat that they called Hawaii, and stay there. We solved the challenge by using someone's jacket to hit the buoy and make it swing to us. After that, we took turns riding the buoy to Hawaii.           Another of the things we did was the "Flying Squirrel". We could choose from the Tower of Terror, the Toilet Bowl Flush, the Elevator, or the Flying Squirrel modes. This was mor...

I WENT TO THE STORE By: Patrick Peng I went to the store I wanted to buy more I danced on the floor I still wanted more I itched my sore I now wanted even more The next day was an uneventful one The work was all done I couldn't even play with my son There was no fun No one made any puns There was no 5K run The frogs were still I went to the mill Later I took a pill And then I ate my fill I met someone named Bill I saw a fish's gills Maybe today wasn't that bad Even though I got mad And I also got sad Even though the day could have improved a tad And I saw my dad So the day wasn't that bad

           Another game that is commonly played at recess is "Foursquare".            Foursquare is a game for 4+ players, and the court is just four squares, usually with a diagonal line through one of them. So it looks something like this. The king, in square number 4, calls each activity. For example, Bus Stop, Brainfreeze, and Original are just a small sample of the all activities that the king can call. The king has 3 lives, while square 3's bishop has 2 lives. The pawn (square 2) and knight (square 1) both only get one life.            My favorite activity is Pickles. Pickles is where you have to do a dance move, and then toss the ball into someone else's square. If it bounces twice there, the person in that square loses a life. If someone has 0 lives, they are out, and another person goes into pawn to replace them. The people with a ranking below the person who got out move up a rank. The ...

              My thoughts about this article were that Microsoft had a great idea, it just didn't execute it. If the things in the video actually worked, then Microsoft would earn a lot of money. With the idea of total voice control, sharing projects with just a word, and watching the news without so much as a click, it seems that this technology would instantly deem all other things useless. At the time, there wasn't much other resistance from other companies, and Microsoft could have pushed ahead. Now, they can still create these things, but other companies have already started to create them. I don't get why Microsoft didn't build these advanced things in 2000, when there were no iPads or iPods, or even iPhones. But, strangely enough, Microsoft decides not to work on these projects. I find this strange, as they created a whole press conference devoted to this, and didn't even try any of it. They might call some things .NET, and whatever, but names a...

I recently have started playing tetherball.     Tetherball is an interesting game where you use your hands to smack the hanging ball around. There is a circular court, which is split into halves. There is a player on each half, so there are two players total. In the middle of the court, there is a ball, tethered to a pole with a rope. The goal is to hit the ball in a direction, and make the ball spin around the pole in that direction until the ball wraps around the pole so tightly that the ball hits the pole and starts to go in the opposite direction. Then you win. So, one person hits the ball in one direction, while the other person hits the ball the other way. You can't go onto the opponent's side of the court, nor can you hold the ball or touch the rope. The ball can be tossed in one direction and then hit back in the other direction, and the same player can hit it more than once in a row. Today, some interesting things happened in a tetherball game. I "ropey"ed ...

              At recess, my friends and I play lots of games. For example, we sometimes play Capture the Ball. Other times, we play Chaos Soccer.               Capture the Ball is a game where you try to take the opposing team's balls. You try not to get tagged while you run to the opponent's side and run back with a ball. If you get tagged, you go to jail. Then, another team member has to rescue you. I like this game because it is very difficult to make it across to the other side's balls. If they don't have good guards, then I enjoy walking/Irish jigging/dancing all the way down the field and then coming back with a ball. It's very funny to see their faces when they realize you captured a ball.               Chaos Soccer is a crazy soccer game, hence the name. Hand balls are allowed, and everyone tries to score on the goalies. Because there are around 10 goalies, it is a big chal...

              Chess is one of my favorite games, and I like playing a lot of it. I enjoy playing on both colors. As you might know, there are two colors in chess, and there is no difference except white moves first.               If I'm white, there's two different things I play. I play the Queen's Gambit, where you try to divert the queen's pawn away, or I try to Pawn Storm, where you push all your pawns as far as they go and hopefully promote them. Both of them are good strategies, because the queen's gambit gets you the center, while the point of Pawn Storm is to get most of the space on the board and "suffocate" the opponent. I also play the Petrov/Petroff (A.K.A the Russian), and Legal/Blackburne trap.               If I'm black, I play different things. I usually fianchetto my bishops because I don't know what else to do - and then I castle into a safe position. I don't kno...

           Today I went to Mount Rainier again. This time, I went to different trails than I had before.            The trail that we took first was the Frozen Lake Trail. At the end of the trail, we saw a humongous lake that I suppose is frozen in Winter. It looked cold, and there was a lot of snow on one of the banks. We explored and took a few pictures there, but we also got some pictures of a chipmunk. It scurried around, and looked really funny when it was eating. It looked like it was pecking the nut.            The trail that we took to get back to the Sunrise Lodge was the Wonderland Trail. This trail was a lot flatter and smoother than the Frozen Lake Trail, so even though it was longer, we finished it faster. There wasn't much on the trail except the snow, which I scooped into a water bottle. It melted when we got home, though.            Our visit to Moun...

             A new version of BTD5 that just came out was BTD5 Co-op. This is where you play with another person over the internet, just like BTD Battles. The only difference is that you cooperate in BTD5 Co-op, while you battle in BTD Battles.              This mode is interesting because you only get half the money you usually get, and you can only build on half of the screen. This makes it challenging, because with half the money, you can't buy things that you usually could. But you can also request money or give money to the other player if you want.              I like this mode because your partner will usually build enough towers to hold off bloons, so you can save up for very expensive things. This is better because you usually have to spend most of your money on towers, but it helps a lot to just save up and not use any money.             ...

             Today I created an art project based on Roy Lichtenstein's Still Life.              Roy Lichtenstein was an american pop artist, born on October 27, 1923, and died on September 29, 1997. He enjoyed comic books and science, and his most famous artwork was "Whaam". His Still Life looks different from normal still life because it isn't that realistic, and it is also different because the background is covered with a simple pattern, making the subjects stand out more. The subjects are usually the only things with color, which makes the subjects stand out even more.              My art was different because we used oil pastels, which leave out more uncolored space than markers. Also, I used different colors, and I chose different fruits. I drew a small tangerine-size pear with a really long stem (it's an actual fruit!), a pear, a lime, an orange, some grapes, and a banana. ...

              At school, we currently have two projects going on, a science and a math project.               The science project is a "Science Program" about an animal and plant from a certain ecosystem. We get to choose what ecosystem, animal, and plant we want to do. We work as a group to answer the five given questions, and also finish the pamphlet, poster, 3D model, and musical element.               The math project is a U-shaped house. We have to create a 2,000 sq. ft. house model according to a scale we come up with. We have to make the house fold-up, which is going to be interesting - the hard part is the roof, where it has to connect.               All in all, I think it is amazing that we have two projects already on the 3rd day of school!

          Today I learned a bit about price discrimination.           Price discrimination is basically where a company edits the price of its products depending on your personal information. Companies record where you live, what kinds of webpages you visit, what topics you like, your age, etc. Then according to this information, they make the price higher or lower, depending on your willingness to pay.           I think price discrimination is unfair and shouldn't happen. Because it's the same thing, why do we need to change the prices? Just because companies want to make more money, they force some people to pay way more than others. For example, airplane tickets of the same class, flight, destination, and airline can have up to thousands of dollars in difference.           All in all, I believe that price discrimination is very unfair and shouldn't happen, even if companies want to ...

             A few days ago I went to Vancouver, B.C. There, I did many things, but my two favorites were the lumberjack show and the botanical garden.              First of all, I enjoyed the lumberjack show because it was very funny. The lumberjacks did all sorts of wacky contests like log rolling, axe throwing, and pole climbing. Then at the end, a "wacky tourist" did all sorts of funny stunts on top of the 60 foot poles. It was hilarious, and also scary when we thought the tourist was going to fall off. Instead he rode a zipline away!              Also, I enjoyed the garden because of the maze. I did the maze five times. The first time I got 4 minutes 47 seconds, the second time I did better, and the last time, I got 1 minute 20 seconds! I still couldn't do it faster than the girl who was there too. I think she must have memorized the maze, because she did it in 53 seconds! ...