Three Billion Voices

     The world wide web. It has only been around since about 1989 but it has helped mankind in so many ways. The internet helps us to connect to people we originally never could of. It also gave millions of people a say on what's going on in the world or a way or let people hear their voice and opinions. I bet without the internet the world would be different than it is now, we might not know as much and the world probably wouldn't as connected as it is right now. Millions of people would be lost in the dark about what's going on in not only their country or state but what's going on in the rest of the world. Without all this new technology we would be utterly lost. 

Big Think Article- http://bigthink.com/big-think-tv/what-does-three-billion-new-voices-sound-like

Quotes

    For the last few months I have been obsessed with inspiring quotes, so much so that i have a book that i keep my favorite ones in. Today as I was writing down some quotes in my book my younger sister Isabel was looking over my shoulder and asking me about why i kept these quotes. I was a bit taken back when she asked me this because I didn't know the answer to her question, so of course I had to do a little soul searching. I realized that I use this book like a diary or as a way to express how i'm feeling. I also realized find myself reading the Quotes when i'm stressed or need a little reassurance.  So to me quotes are just more than words in a screen or on a piece of paper they are a way for me to get through the tough points in life, to help me know that everything will be alright. 

The Great Gatsby - So Far

Last week my english class started to read The Great Gatsby. Before we started reading it I knew the background and a little bit of what is going on because I saw the movie and my sister already read the book. I'm only three chapters into the book but it is already better than the movie ( I know most books are). I'm sitting there in class thinking to myself about why they left this part out or why they changed this. I really enjoyed the movie when it first came out but after reading the book my love for the movie is changing and being replaced by the love for the book. At first I was a little confused and boarded but once I got into the book I really liked it and I hope it stays that way.

Glow-In-The-Dark Ice Cream!?

    An ice cream company in Bristol England called "Lick Me I'm Delicious" created the worlds first glow-in-the-dark ice cream. This new ice cream concoction lights up and glows when it comes in contact with the tongue. The owner stated that the ice cream glows because of bioluminescent synthesised jellyfish proteins that produce the glowing effect when agitated ie. when it's licked. The ingredient used to cause this effect is more expensive than gold, so one scoop of this ice cream is about $225. I dont know about you but I wouldn't eat this ice cream even if it was $2 a scoop, you don't know what kind of effects it could have on you.... plus it's kind of freaky.
http://bigthink.com/ideafeed/we-all-might-scream-for-glow-in-the-dark-ice-cream

New Television Shows

   Has anyone seen or heard of any new shows that just started this season or ones that are starting new season. Well I have have. My sister and I were talking about some of the new shows last night and we realised that all of these new shows are paranormal and/or romance and they are all dramas. So I understand that these kinds of shows and movies and even books like this a very popular right now, and some of them are even good but this is overdoing it quite a bit. I dont mean to sound mad or prissy but it,s getting a bit ridiculous. It works for some shows and even makes them better like Ravenswood (a show on ABC Family that I am not to fond of) but for others it makes no sense and it seems like they just tack it onto the end of the episode of add it into the middle or a little jump, they do this on a show called Reign a show about the queen of Scotland who is in the french court waiting to marry the prince of France on the CW, now this is a good show though it's definitely not for everyone but they just through this little ghost thing into it every once in a while they dont even explain it, the only time they did was in the first episode and a little girl told someone about it. I just want to enjoy a funny, non paranormal show for just a little while! 

Gridding

     Yesterday in STAC some of us had a workshop where we learned about grinding and the placement of text and pictures in a magazine or newspaper. At first using a grid to design a page can be difficult and a bit confusing but after a while and playing around with it you start to see what works and what doesn't. When Catherine first came in and told us what we were going to be doing I thought that it would  be easy and a waste of time, but when she started to explain it in better detail I realized that I would need help if I wanted to learn and learn how to use a grid correctly. This is a very useful skill that everyone should learn whether you go have a career in art/graphic design or not. You can use it not only when creating a magazine or website but when your making a worksheet/flyer or resume. 

The Science of Dreams

      Dreams. What do they mean, why do we have them, how do they affect us? Since the beginning of time human dreams have been a subject of science and pseudoscience alike.
Our dreams combine verbal, visual and emotional stimuli into a most likely nonsensical storyline. Many even think that we can learn from our dreams. 
      Some psychological theories say that we dream because it helps to sort out problems and events that happened that day. Other theories say that we dream in order to test neural connections that affect how we learn, some scientists even believe that it is a combination of the two. More recently, around 1973, researchers Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley set forth another theory that threw out the old psychoanalytical ideas. Their research on what was going in the brain during sleep gave them the idea that dreams were the result of random electrical impulses that pulled imagery from traces of experience stored in the memory. 
      Most dreams take place when we enter REM (rapid eye movement) sleep or the fifth stage of sleep which typically happens after being asleep for an hour and a half or 90 minutes. Physical changes also during REM sleep, your heart rate and breathing quickens, your blood pressure rises, it is harder for you to control and regulate your body temperature and your brain activity increases. Other than that the rest of your body is mostly paralyzed until you leave REM sleep, This is so you don't act out your dreams while you're having them. 
      Did you know that 5 minutes after a dream ends we forget almost fifty percent of it then and in ten minutes we forget over ninety percent! So you may ask why do we forget our dreams? research points to the simple reason that other things get in the way. We are forward-thinking by nature, so remembering something when we first wake up is difficult. But L. Strumpell a dream researcher believe that there could be a few things contributing to the fact that we forget our dreams. Strumpell stated that dreams are forgotten first thing in the morning just like many other things. he also stated that since most dreams are not very intense so it easier to forget them. Dreams are also usually unique and vague to begin with so that could be one of the reasons why remembering them could be difficult. 
      

Whats On Your Bucket List?

    A bucket list is a lit of experiences you want to have or things you want to do before you die. People usually associate bucket lists with older people or the terminally ill, but I don't think thats right. I believe that everyone should have some form of bucket list no matter what age you are or your health. To me bucket lists aren't a set thing I think that after you make one that you should be able to add to it take things off it as your life change. A bucket list can have many different things on if like where you want to visit, who you want to meet and what you want to do. They can be long or short. Bucket lists are good to have it's like saying look what I have done or look what I am going to do. Kind of like a list of reminders saying that you should  go out there and adventure or memories of what you have done. Now go sit down and write a list of this you want to do before you "kick the bucket". 

Making a Zine

    Over the past week our class has been working on making a zine. A zine is a is a self-published, small circulation, non-commercial booklet or magazine, usually produced by one person or a few individuals. Zines come in all shapes, sizes, topics, and formats. Most zines are photocopied, but they can also be printed offset, like a magazine or newspaper. Zines range from handwritten and sloppy to cut-and-paste (text pasted on top of background images) to artsy with handmade touches to produced on a computer with a professional looking layout. Zines have been around for a long time but they were mostly used in the late 1900s (1970-1990).Zines are used to share someones stories, opinions, art, ideas (etc). 

     Our zine is halloween themed so it revolves around horror with a touch of comedy. It has short stories, small drawings and even some made up ads and coupons. The zine we have been working on is completely handmade by us. 

Making helps to teach you to work with your hands which is a good thing for us to learn because in this day and age we don't use them much to create things, everything is on a computer. It also helped us to learn how to make quick decisions because when you are making a zine you are usually have a deadline so you don't have time to mess around. 

I liked making the zine, I liked that we got to work with our hands and that if we messed up we didn't have to start over we could just cover what we didn't like with paper and redo it. Making a zine is a fun experience that i think everyone should have but be warned that it is difficult and can be frustrating at times. 

Adult Humor in Children's Movies

http://storify.com/laceydunn/adult-humor-in-children-s-movies

    As a kid I loved watching movies and i still do now. As you grow up you start to think that movies and television shows you watched as a child would start to get boring, but you could be wrong. I found that the older I got the more laughs I got out of the movies I loved growing up (Shrek, Rugrats, Finding Nemo, etc.) 
     Putting these adult joke into children's movies are not only good for the parents and teens watching the movies but also for the company producing the film, it helps bring sales and ratings up. Shows and movies with jokes for parents and adults are most likely going to be watched more frequently because the adult can sit and watch it with their child and not be bored  they can even laugh a little along with their child. And hey, its not hurting anyone by slipping these little jokes in here or there. 

          

The TomTato Plant.... A Wierd Library Post

     Today one of my teachers told me about new plant that produces both tomatoes and potatoes. But the curiosity soon passed and I went on with my day. When I get home I decided to get one of my bog posts done so I get on the website Big Think http://bigthink.com and as I'm going through the articals i come across the plant that sparked my intrest several hours before the tomtato (http://bigthink.com/ideafeed/tomatoes-or-potatoes-this-plant-lets-you-have-both). This plant was developed in UK after ten years of research and testing. The tomtato was created with a process called grafting with is when you combine to plants by putting them in the same pot or in a very close proximity to each other and taping two clean cut edges of the plants together so they grow into one. Past grafing projects such as this have had problems with the taste of the product, the Royal Horticultural Society hopes that the problem has been fixed with the tomtato. 

No Beauty Pageants for Children!?

http://bigthink.com/ideafeed/french-senate-says-non-to-child-beauty-pageants

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/19/world/europe/french-senate-passes-ban-on-beauty-pageants-for-girls.html?_r=2&

      Thats right, But only in France. The french senate is in the process of making beauty pageants for children under the age of sixteen illegal. Though these pageants are less common in France than they are here the french senate decided on wednesday that beauty pageants featuring young prepubescent children were wrong. By passing the ban the government is hoping for an increase in gender equality and the raise of self esteem in young girls.
     I personally agree with the french's decision to ban pageants. I think they are bad for the children involved, even if the child's parents think that they are doing the right thing by putting their kid in a pageant that is fully based on beauty. I think these pageants are sexualizeing young girls and ruining their self esteem and I hope America soon follows in France's foot steps and pass a similar ban.

Scientific Ways Watching Movies Affects You

     Everyone knows that different movie can affect how you feel and what you think, but not everyone knows how the affect you physically. Well i decided to find out. 
http://www.pajiba.com/seriously_random_lists/5-scientific-ways-watching-movies-effects-you.php
There are four things that certain movies can do-
      1. Ruin your health
Now who doesn't love a good horror movie and who doesn't want to act in one. Everyone loves getting scared by one of these flicks every so often and it fun but what isn't fun about these movies is what they can do to you. Now as you know when someone s scared they have a rush of adrenaline which increases your heart rate and breathing, it could also cause an increase in blood pressure. If this happen under a false circumstance like a ghost popping out at you this response could potentially be very dangerous. A high spike in blood pressure and adrenaline could eventually lead to a heart attack for people who have cardiovascular weakness. Horror movies are also not good for people with a traumatic past because they could stir up old feelings and cause the person to relive or remember the event, same goes for sad movies. Even if you don't Have a traumatic past but you do have had depression in the past sad movies should try to be avoided, it is scientifically proven for people who have had sever depression in their past to more likely go to the depressed state after watching a tragic movie.
         2. They can improve your health
Everyone loves a comedy. Well of they happen to be your favorite kind of movies you're in luck because they are very beneficial to your health. While horror movies increase your blood pressure comedies actually help to lover it. Comedies also cause you to laugh which makes your blood vessels dilate, so when you laugh during  movie for say fifteen minutes it has the same effects on your cardiovascular system as exercising and it releases endorphins as well. Now tragic movies can also be beneficial to your health as long as you don't have a history with depression. It is proven that after watching a tragedy many people feel better about their lives and about themselves because they can think back and think 'At Least i'm not the guy in that movie'.
        3. They can make you more creative
This only happens if you are a child or have the mentality of one. But it is proven that after showing children clips of movies filled with magic and more creative substances that they did better on creative thinking tests than the kids who watched something else.
        4. They (can) cause you to be more aggressive
Now this one is a controversial subject in many houses, I know it is in  my house. Many people believe that some movies such as action and horror movies (movies with violence) cause people to become more aggressive and violent. Though a real answer to the question of if it's true or not is still up in the air a new study seemed to prove that aggression in video games and movies  is a cause for bullying in the real world, even if it is just short term. A test of 250 women who watched clips featuring aggression or bullying found that after watching the clips both parties (those who liked the videos and those who did not) where more likely to overstate and over exaggerate their thoughts on the clip and the subject.

So next time you go to pick an movie think about how your feeling and what you want to happen to your body and if you can afford for it to happen.

Exploring the internet

So I started off here http://www.palantir.com/ which brought me to the homepage of the company palantir's website. I didn't know anything about this website so i clicked the link that read OUR WORK, which brought me here http://www.palantir.com/what-we-do/ where I learned that palantir is a website that solves technical problems so we can focus on the more important things.

         "We build software that allows organizations to make sense of massive amounts of disparate data. We solve the technical problems, so they can solve the human ones. Combating terrorism. Prosecuting crimes. Fighting fraud. Eliminating waste. From Silicon Valley to your doorstep, we deploy our data fusion platforms against the hardest problems we can find, wherever we are needed most." (quote directly from the site). 

There mission http://www.palantir.com/mission-focus/ is to help the world's largest companies solve there most pressing problems. 

          As i was going through the site i noticed the branding of the company and the website. The company had its own little icon that was incorporated throughout every part of the site. The colors on the site where very consistent as well, everything was black, white and gray unless they were pictures or graphs. the Pictures were very colorful and they pulled your attention. I thing a color scheme is a good idea, it pulls everything together. Even though this seems like a good website and it is I just feel like there was not enough information and the set up of the information they had was a little confusing.

         I also took a look at http://www.gofundme.com . This is a website that is a little like kickstarter in what it does. I personally thought the the homepage page was a little cluttered. but i noticed two sections that they had- a creative arts, music and film section and a education section so i took a look at both
The Arts Section-
http://www.gofundme.com/Creative-Arts-Music-Film/
And in this section i found these people- http://www.gofundme.com/4892go a high school theater department that needs money so they can learn and pay for supplies (sound familiar). they raised $1,285.00 in a week. on there page they have a picture of the group and a description of who they are and what the money will be used for.

There where not many posts like this in the Arts section so i moved over to the education part
http://www.gofundme.com/Education-Schools-Learning/ ... where there wasn't much.

So i looked at http://www.kickstarter.com/?ref=nav , I found that i liked this website better, it looked less cluttered and was easier to find things, it also showed the projects that are going on in your town.
I went to the discover projects link and it brought me here http://www.kickstarter.com/discover?ref=nav . I liked the set up of this page and found it easy to navigate and i like that they kept the color scheme (black, white and green) but it wasn't so drastic that it pulled away from what you are trying to look at. Since here there was not an education section that i could see i went over to the art section where i found them
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1288172791/handcraft-studio-school though they are not kids, this woman was raising the money for the same things we need?want supplies and workshop teachers. this woman raised $9,500 which is $1,000 over her goal in ten days. on her page there was a video, and plenty of pictures. she also gave away prizes depending of how much someone donated.
I found that the most successful people on this website were the ones who posted a video and pictures and gave a lot of information about there program and what they where doing.

          

Street Art and Banksy

        After watching the street art video that I decided to use in my other post i decided that i wanted to learn more about street art and what goes into it. I am personally fascinated by street art and the artists weather the art is literally painted onto the wall or someone is making it on the sidewalk to sell. Many people consider street art a crime, but I disagree i think that the art is someones way of expressing them selves. i mean you wouldn't go around arresting people who expressed themselves through clothes and style but once the art is stuck onto the side of a alley way or the sidewalk its suddenly some big deal. Though street art is seen around the world it is most popular in Europe and America. These are places where conventions are held, and where one of the most notorious artists are found. Banksy.  
       Banksy is probably the first artist who pops into my head when i think of street art and he is also my favorite.So i decided to learn a little more about him, i know a lot about his art but i never thought of him as a person or when he started.Banksy  is an anonymous artist, film maker and activist. the picture sent to time magazine that they used of him when he was nominated as one of Time's most influential people was him with a paper bag over his head. none of his fans wanted to know what he actually looked like and who he is.   Banksy started doing street art in the 90's in Bristol when he was around eighteen years old, he said that the first time he put up his art that he was very nervous. By 1999, he was headed to London. Banksy was also beginning to retreat into anonymity. Evading the authorities was one explanation, but he also discovered that anonymity created its own invaluable buzz. His fist "exposition" was in  2001 and took placeon Rivington Street. Since then Banksy's fame has grown and his work can be seen all over the world.

you can find his art:
on his website: http://www.banksy.co.uk/ 
on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BanksyBook 
and on Tumblr: http://banksystreetart.tumblr.com







      

I could watch these videos for hours!

watch first then read
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddSFfzIMJYc

           I am stunned! these people make these amazing creations in under ten minutes with a bunch of people watching them, I can barley draw with one person watching me let alone hundreds a day!
            When the artist first starts out you think to yourself that what hes doing is not that inexpressive or that you could easily recreate what he is doing your self. But as he continues on with his piece the more complicated it gets and the more technique you need. Imagine how steady your had has to be to carve the New York skyline out onto the canvas or how skilled you have to be and how much effort it takes to control the spray paint like that, because trust me its not easy. Contrary to popular belief (aka my whole family and some friends) I don't think it would be easy to recreate, I think it would take hours upon hours of practice and a lot of discipline

Artist Autobiography

       My name is Tristen Cara. I am sixteen and a junior at Herricks High School. I am an artist and actress. Growing up my mom drew a lot and my grandmother  loved to act, so I guess that's where I get my love for art and preforming from. Throughout my life there has been my troubles, but art and theater are always there and they help to take what ever troubles I'm having away. I also use the experiences I have from going through what i have to improve my skills, It also gives me inspiration to keep going in someways. 
         In art I like to do it my way, because its one of the only things i can do my way. I'm not abstract in my art but I'm also not realistic. My artwork is how i see the world or how I would like the world to be. My art inspirations are Marc Chagall, Edgar Degas and Salvador Dali. I have loved Acting and the Theater since I was a little girl. I have been preforming in one ways or another whether it was dancing or acting on a large stage in front of a lot people or I was just putting on little shows for my family. .My acting and theater inspirations are Sutton Foster, Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp. Being able to preform and to make people smile ether with that or my artwork is one of my favorite things. 

Them Heavy People New Verse

Them heavy people, help me
they broke me, it felt good
showed me its okay to brake 
showed me that its okay to be