Google Glass

Now introducing a new way to ignore people, the Google Glass. Google Glass basically a  computer right on your face. It is a small chip placed on a frame similar to that of a pair of glasses with a small screen in front of one of the eyes. Glass can do a lot of cool things like take pictures and video, search the web, show weather and phone notification while being 99% hands free. Now this seems like a great idea but is it really. To me this seems more dangerous and annoying than someone texting and talking or walking/driving. At least while texting you have the ability to focus on other things but with Glass you have to put all your focus on this little screen or you cant see it. This isn't just dangerous, its also nerve racking, if this product is actually used as much as an phone than what will talking to people be like in the future. It wont be like anything, if everyone has this little device attached to their eyes and a another device in their hand  no one would talk to each other anymore and I don't know if I like the idea of everyone ignoring each other in favor of a small cold device. But hey if you want one they will be on sale for one day, April 15th, and they only cost 15 hundred dollars! BE my guest and buy one if you like but we sure as hell wont be telling me about it if you do.

Is Living in a City Better

Does living in a city really affect your life as much as everyone says? Quite frankly the answer to this question is yes, it does. Living in the city gives you a better chance of achieve your goals and gives you more opportunities. Yes, living in the suburbs is nice but if you think about it most people who live there work in the city. Cities are full of opportunities for not just jobs but education and socialization as well. Living in a city is not the ideal place for children but it is a good place to at least be near while raising them. I never lived more than an hour away from New York City and growing up this close to the city has diffidently effected me. I would probably be a completely different person person if I lived somewhere else and I would be a lot comfortable with myself.

Food For Thought: Is Technology Evolving Too Fast?

Human evolution is slowing down or moving really slow but technology evolution is actually speeding up. This time three or four years ago few people had smart phone but now I know two people who don't, even my 74 year old grandma has one. Speaking of smart phones I got the new iPhone earlier this year but now I'm hearing reports of a new one coming out in June and I've barley had this phone for six months. At the rate phones are evolving imagine how enabled they will be in a few years, hell we might not even need computers anymore. Even movie watching has evolved, A few years ago we were watching movies on tapes or crappy DVDs now we have all this blue ray DVD crap or we can even watch them online. The future is coming towards us extremely fast and I'm both excited and nervous too see what technology will bring to us next.

Creative Rut or Artistic Breakthrough

So apparently when you are in a creative rut your actually about to have a breakthrough. If this is true someone tell my brain ASAP! So according to Alan Lightman getting stuck is a great thing, it lets your mind go through all these ideas and think out of the box. I personally don't like being in a creative rut and I find it exhausting and a pain in the ass but according to science it is good to go into a rut, so I guess we should listen to it. Lightman also says that you should work towards your inspiration instead of waiting for it to hit you, now this is something I can vouch for. After hours of working on something and getting no where then you get hit with this rush of ideas and insiration is the best thing.  

Fear

Eleanor Roosevelt once said "You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.'" this is totally true though, you need to realize that everything will be okay and that you have done harder, scarier things or you might have to do those things in the future. Without realizing the fear and pushing through it you will never get anything done and you will be stuck in your shell forever.

One Act Plays

So for the past two weeks in STAC we were working on one act plays in small groups, 2 actors and a director. The performances were today and I think we did pretty well considering we only had two weeks to work on them and I was sick for almost half of it. Both Darren and I knew our lines and Emily was a great director.Looking back on it I do think we could have been a little less tense and looked at each other a little more. I also learned that you shouldn't worry about messing up a small line and just go with the flow. All in all I liked acting and thought it was a good experience.

Vlogging

So we recently started vlogging for STAC, vlogging is when you film yourself talking for a length of time. Over the past few weeks of vlogging I realized how hard it is to come up with a subject to talk about and how hard it is to not go on a long angry rant. When ever you ask someone what they think the hardest part about vlogging is they say getting in front of the camera but in reality, for me at least, that is the easiest part. Vlogging only starts to get difficult once you are in front of the camera, you start to notice little quirks and habits you have and thinking of different ideas to talk about each week is hard too. But once you get past all of the struggles with vlogging it is actually really fun, almost even therapeutic.
My Vlogs- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCobE1ZYZTx_JJzct8I7zNRA/videos

College, Stop!

So as a junior in high school I am not only suppose to be surviving this dreaded year but also looking at colleges and let me be the first to say WTF! This weekend my mom thought it would be a good idea for my twin sister and I to start looking into to schools that we would like to go to and you think that looking at schools wouldn't be so bad but it is terrible.First of all college is soo expensive, all I want is an education i'm not trying to buy a house! But that's not even the worst part, the worst part is the criticism you get "oh, your looking there" "where i'm looking is so much better" "well i'm looking into Harvard". Shut up! its not a life long commitment its just a school and i'm just looking i'm not selling my soul and I can transfer if I end up not liking it. I also don't understand why we have to start college right after high school, why cant we have a break we have already been in school for 12+ years in a row, I want a break. I know by know your saying "Tristen, why son't you take a gap year?" and the reason I can't do that is because I would never get to college. I would get so excited and travel and go on adventures, I would get lost and never go back to school. That's great for some people but I actually want to go to college. But you know what looks good right now, becoming a hermit and living in my sisters basement.

Series Finale Disaster (SPOILERS)

This week I encountered one of the worst series finales I have ever seen, the How I Met Your Mother finale. After nine seasons on air the series came to a close in a one hour episode, the only one in the series actually. *spoilers start now* So after nine seasons you think that there is going to be this amazing finale where Ted meets his wife and they get married and everyone lives happily ever after, well if you think that you are wrong. Yes Ted meets his wife (Tracy) but that is one of the only good things that happened in this "spectacular". First off they give us to much information at once and the episode is too skippy, we cover 15 years in one episode and it just jumps from one thing to the other, it was so hard to follow and was just too much. Second they tear down 10 years of character development in five minutes, you cant do that, Barney has come so far and gave up almost everything to get Robin and that is gone in the matter of minutes, first they tear down their marriage that they spent the whole last season at their wedding then they just convert Barney back into how he was during season one, that's not fair to use or the character, then he is rebuilt in a second when his daughter is born from a random woman who we hear nothing about later on but that's a whole another issue, even though he is built back up he isn't the same as he was before. And my last major problem with this episode is how they used the Mother. Tracy was a lovely character and she was perfect for Ted, but then they just killed her off with no explanation. Then at the very end of the episode Ted goes running back to a now divorced single Robin, that's where the episode ended. NO! This was How I Met YOUR MOTHER not how I met your aunt Robin and is it okay that I date her again, they should not of ended it that was especially after they spent a whole episode showing Ted letting go of Robin. This whole episode was just a mess, yes there were some good and funny moments but there was just to much crap going on to focus in just the good. I can honestly say I expected more from this episode and the writers and i think they could of done better. 

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.