U.N.

On October 7, 1942, the British and US government announces the establishment of the United Nations. During the time of World War II 26 nations all agreed to unite to fight against the axis powers. (The charter was later drawn up in 1945). This was a great idea after the League of Nations and still holds today with many more countries around the world admitted. It provided unity in many parts of the world and provided a forum for a global organization to tackle problems. This affects so many people in that it has representatives from every country associated addressing and representing their own people including us from the United States. I appreciate this union in that foreign policy is now better conducted and resolution is easier to reach. Although it is certainly not as effective as it was before I believe that as long as the organization exists it still puts a certain mental safety in people's minds. The world is definitely a better place than it was decades or centuries past and now everyone is globalized meaning less conflict. There is not as much violence and countries work and help each other. If there is disaster somewhere in the world other countries are always pitching in in relief efforts.

what if

On this day, October 8, 1983 a moderate earthquake shook central New York up as far as Canada. It measured a surprising 5.3 on the Richter scale. At 6:19 in the morning, busy and bustling Manhattan residents felt or were awoken by the effect; waves were being generated in water beds and things began falling off of shelves in homes among other things. The last earthquake of any comparable size had occurred nearly forty years before and it measure a 5.9. This was obviously a negative historical event, as it caused fear and could have had potential for lasting damage. Internationally speaking, this event really didn't have much of an impact at all, and the national impact was minimal. I'd say it put officials and citizens alike on edge though and most likely was an exigence for them to reiterate safety procedures for such natural disasters, and to better fortify their cities for similar or more significant future occurrences. I think this event is important though because it's just one of those highly unexpected things that you can never be too prepared for, and most of the time citizens aren't adequately prepared for random earthquakes in areas in which they are quite uncommon. People were so fortunate in this situation because the earthquake didn't cause any devastation. It makes you stop and think about what "could have been," or ponder, "what if" and it makes you grateful for what actually happened instead. If this earthquake had possessed a greater magnitude, it certainly would have affected our country in a more broad and encompassing way. We just have to be prepared for anything and everything for the safety and security of our country and its people.

“A Competitive Race to Conquer Space”

On October 4th, 1957

On this day, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, the very first made-made object in space. This act inaugurated the “Space Age”, with the United States steadily falling behind. The threat of the Soviets’ rocket and satellite technology heralded the beginning of the “Space Race” between the two nations.

The first U.S. satellite, Explorer, was launched a year later. By that time, however, the Soviet Union had already boarded a dog on Sputnik II and sent it into orbit. By the 1960’s, the Soviet space program had crafts containing people, and made efforts to orbit and land on the moon. We were not able to rival these achievements until the late 60’s with the launching of Apollo 11 and the successful lunar landing.

This event was positive, seeing as it fueled the American space program to expand beyond its horizons and independently develop this state-of-the-art technology; while it was also negative, due to its contribution of the furthering tensions during the Cold War.

This led to an immense impact on the entire world. Sputnik I could detect radio-signal distribution, meteoroids, and the density of the upper atmospheric layer. This relay of information fueled further advancements in other areas of science. There was unprecedented funding for research and education, which resulted in a great number of government spin-off technologies. Additionally, this “race” initiated the environmental movement- color pictures of Earth taken from deep space became icons depicting our planet as a fragile “blue marble” amidst a black void.

I definitely have an appreciation for the effort to compete in such a dangerous field, and produce such remarkable results.

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown

Lucy, Linus, Snoopy, Woodstock, Peppermint Patty, the Kite-Eating Tree, the Great Pumpkin, the "wah wah wah wahhh" that signified adults speaking, and even Charlie Brown himself. What name ties all of these images together?

"Peanuts".

"Peanuts" was first published on October 2nd, 1950, with the first cartoon consisting of, "Well, here comes good ol' Charlie Brown! Good ol' Charlie Brown, yes sir. Good ol' Charlie Brown...How I hate him!" Pretty profound, huh? The comic strip about "good ol' Charlie Brown" evolved slowly but surely into the household name it is today.

The publication of that first strip had not only an influence on the world of comics, TV, and entertainment, but on myself as well. Ever since I was little, I have watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas", and every year I laugh at the same jokes and the same innocence that make the premise truly magical.

Today, "Peanuts" is revered and respected as a groundbreaking comic strip and a story with characters that are relatable to past generations and generations to come.

A Tradition Started

On October 5th, 1921, Major League Baseball's World Series was broadcasted on the radio for the first time ever. This was a great thing because baseball is America's pastime and the sport that everybody loved to keep up with. The best part about the MLB was the World Series, people would want to keep up with it all the time. This let people listen to every play of the World Series. It was a technological advancement and a great new way to listen to the World Series at the ease of one's radio. This event had a big impact or influence on the nation for the most part. It is America's pastime after all and this made it more accessible to the masses. I definitely appreciate this event b/c I love the sport of baseball and being able to listen to it on the radio is a great thing. We can now watch it on TV too, but of course that wasn't around then. It was a move for technology and sports accessibility for America and the citizens' beloved sport.

First Time Didn't Work

My three prompts are:

1) Do you believe that arts (art, music, drama) should be incorporated into school?

2) Do you think people should have hobbies? Why or why not? What kind of hobbies do you have?

3) If you could travel back to any time period in history, what would it be?

I choose to write about Prompt #1.

All of us, at one point in our life, has most likely played an instrument, taken an art class, or acted in a play; and, chances are, they have had a profoundly good impact on our lives. But more and more school systems are taking the arts out of their curriculum, so the big question in all of this is: "Should the arts remain in schools?".

I, personally, think that arts are a vital part of the school system. Just think about it: who wants to be completely academic? If one were to be completely academic, consider how boring they would be. For an example, imagine a cake. And imagine that this cake is very, very delicious, but lacks one important thing: icing. A cake without icing still tastes good, but what sets it apart? What makes it taste better than other cakes?

This "icing" in our lives is the arts. Without the arts, we too would be a dry, boring, tasteless cake, without any distinction from the others. But with the arts, that gives us a distinguishing mark. And, hopefully, they will continue to do that for a long time.

Questions for Pondering

1. If you had a million dollars what would you do with it?
2. If you could live anywhere in the world where would you live?
3. If you could win an award of any kind what would it be?

Question One

If I could live anywhere I would live in San Francisco. I choose San Francisco because it has a perfect combination of the factors I deem important. First, it is a major Metropolitan center. It hosts a variety of activities that big cities have. It attracts all of the major music acts, it has theater and is a center for the arts. Second, it is only a two hour drive from the Sierra Nevada. The Sierra Nevada is an excellent mountain range because it hosts some of the best terrain for all outdoor activities. It has great skiing, hiking, kayaking just to name a few. Third, it located on the pacific ocean. It has great beaches and great surfing. Since it is a massive metropolitan city, it will never miss any of the the best concert tours. No more will I have to sit by passively as my favorite acts pass by little Lexington, just out of my feasible reach. Finally, San Francisco has what I like to call the Chill factor. I do not like to generalize large groups of people, but there is a great, easy going feel in many people who live on the west coast. San Francisco offers everything necessary any more, which is why it would make a great place live.

Assignment 7: On This Date

October 2 through October 9. Those are the dates for your blog entry this week.

Pick one of the dates this week and look up historical events happened on that date. Choose the event of your liking and answer the following:

What happened? Was this good or bad?

What influence did this have on the world? A nation? A city? Your existence?

Do you appreciate this event? Do you loathe it?

Due Sunday, October 9 at 11:59 pm

I didn't forget this, I'm just lazy

prompts:

1. What is/are your favorite film[s] and why?

2. What is the weirdest dream you've ever had?

3. How would you run the world and why would you do it like that?

I have many "favorite" movies, and it's no small task to pick one out of the bunch. I typically go through phases in which I become completely fixated on one or two films in particular. As of right now, I would have to say that Pulp Fiction, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, is just that film. Once you get past the unforgivably despicable characters, some of the least moral in all of film history, you come across a thematically rich and cleverly executed plot that not only entertains, but also enlightens. From the whip-smart prose of Jules the theologically-conflicted gangster, to the strong and stoic nature of Butch the on-the-run boxer, Pulp Fiction delivers a subtle story through a screaming bullhorn. I don't want to give away any of the plot or it's themes to those who haven't seen it before, but one can be rest assured that it is well worth the two and a half hours it takes to complete.

Prompts

1. In your opinion, which is more important, freedom or safety? Justify your response.
2. Zombies have attacked! Detail your survival plan. Keep in mind the far off future as well as the immediate threat of zombies.
3. Would you ever move from the United States? What circumstances would have to happen that would cause you to uproot yourself and move to another country? Where would you go?

3. Personally, unlike certain people i've talked to, I do not have rose tinted glasses for the United States. If there is a better opportunity elsewhere, i'd go take it. A sharp downturn in political climate, revolution, war, etc, plenty of stuff could make America go down the tubes. In fact, i have been looking at other countries and how they fare for ex-patriots. I do think Malta is one of the nicer places to go to, and i'd probably head there. Or Norway. They're all pretty fabulous.

Pick a number, any number

This is a very interesting prompt to say the least; however, my prompts are 1) has technology ever let you down? 2) what are you in the Henry Clay Liberal Arts Academy? And 3) what has been your greatest adventure?

I have chosen to response to prompt number one. Technology has let me down even today. For example today, I was driving to a friend's house that I have only been to twice and it was in the wee hours of the morning. Since I live out ib the country my GPS often takes me obscure back-road ways to different parts of town. While trying to go towards Lexington I ended up driving away from it without knowing because my GPS told me that was the way to go to. I ended up going over the Kentucky River and in Richmond before I had a chance to figure out where I was versus where I needed to be, another 50 minutes away. I re-set my GPS and set out toward a safe road, man'o war. However the shortest and quickest way back to Lexington was on a ferry. Therefore all by my lonesome in the middle of nowhere ans very scared I drove my car onto the ferry ans crossed back over the Kentucky River. The story ends well with me finding rates creek road which leads me to where I need to be, but technology did fail me this noting. But also, without it I would have stayed lost. Not only did technology fail me but it also rescued me.

Pet Peeves...I Hate Them

Three prompts:

1. What is the nicest thing any one person has done for you?

2. What are your biggest pet peeves?

3. If you could choose, what would be your last meal?

2. There are many things that just grind my gears in this world. The debut of Guy Fierri’s career on the food network and Tyler Perry’s paycheck are among these. But, I am speaking of my personal pet peeves that other people do too often. Here are my top two.

Number two would definitely be when people take themselves too seriously to the point when they act boisterously pompous. This is just one of those things that make me want to… to… write a stern letter of contempt to that person. Grrrr. Next, the most annoying thing that other people do often is when someone is proven to be wrong or to have flawed logic and they simply will not admit that they do not know what they are talking about. Most people are guilty of this and I am one of those people. It bugs me so badly in fact, that when I have done this, I get very angry at myself. My parents are the worst with this, as many will agree with this statement of their own. Ooooooh, that makes me mad.

Hmmm This Seems Interesting...

1. If you could go back in time, would you?

2. If you won the lottery what would you do?

3. What makes you procrastinate most and why?

Prompt 3:

Today the last thing a teenager wants to do is sit down and do homework, and with technology so prevalent for teenagers, it allows them to use social networking, music, cell phones, and TV as a distraction instead of doing homework. Now in my case the most distracting things would be a mixture of my phone and TV, it is so hard not to turn on the TV and watch some Sunday night football while attempting to do this blog, which is quite ironic in that I am procrastinating on a writing that is about procrastinating. I have talked to my friend at boarding school, who cannot watch TV or have his cell phone during his mandatory study hall every night. I guarantee that he is more successful in studying and doing homework than any teenager who can watch TV at the same time. Now could instilling this "study hall" in peoples houses, or adding study halls in public school schedules help stop procrastination and even helps kids do better in their classes, most likely it would. Overall, procrastination is a far too common problem with teenagers, and if somehow teenagers could stop procrastinating it would help them do better in school, have more free time, and sleep much more.

Bucket List

Prompt 1- What are five things on your bucket list?

Prompt 2- What is your favorite meal?

Prompt 3- Would you like to express your rage/admiration at CCuddy through violence?

Prompt 1-

1. Live in New Zealand - This place is absolutely gorgeous. It always seems to be perfectly peaceful. A place where one could go to relax and not care about anything. What really inspired me to at least see this place was the Lord of the Rings films. They were filmed there and every environments looked outstanding. Of particular note is the town of Matamata( The Shire in the movies). When I die, I want to have my ashes spread over that place.

2. Learn to play the lute- That would be so cool. A lot of people play the guitar or the piano; but the lute is where it's at. How cool would it be to travel around like a medieval bard, wooing woman with a rich baritone and nimble lute playing. That would be awesome.

3. Go to the hood and become an OG- I love gangsta rap. Ice- T, Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg, Tupac and Biggie. I feel them. I don't know whether I would be a Crip or Blood, but that's not important right. I just want to express my inner self and this is the way.

4. Eat in Lockhart, Texas- Barbecue is something different depending on where you are. My personal favorite is Texas- style. The capital of this barbecue is Lockhart. Kreuz's, Blacks, and Smittys. These are the holy grail of barbecue resteraunts. They are fiercely traditional. At Kreuz's, if you ask for sauce, you will be asked to leave. That's awesome.

5- Own a horse farm- I hate animals. Puppies, kittens, and bunnies make me angry. The only exceptions are horses. It is hard to describe the feeling. They are just such noble, beautiful things. I think that breeding a winning horse would be extremely cool. I love Keeneland and all the horse country outside Lexington. I don't know anything about them except that I want one.

doo doo dooodoodoo doo

1) What makes a person appealing to you?

2) Write a letter to your potential future children about yourself.

3) What do you think you will be like 20 years from now?

Prompt 1:

I always enjoy explaining my opinion of people in general. Normally, I like to tell my friends about my sky-high standards of women, but I don't think that would be a wise thing to post on a blog which everyone can read, including my teachers. However, I have no shame in discussing what I like in a person.

I believe in fate. That is, everything happens for a reason. Perhaps a person you see at the mall doesn't mean much, so you wouldn't feel like going to that person to talk to them. However, fate changes us. If it happens to occur at a certain moment, that person at the mall would have a certain charisma, thus making you want to go and talk to them. That strange vibe that makes you feel such a meeting was meant to happen is what makes me wonder how the world works.

Now, what kind of person would make me want to talk to them even if it's in public? My ideal person would have to have modesty. They shouldn't be the type that likes to brag about their wealth, or show off their expensive clothing, or look down on others because of "social class." However, that person should at least be clean. My ideal person should also be funny, but not in the sense of cheesy funny, or inside jokes funny. Instead, it should be humor that makes me laugh obnoxiously. Usually, with my friends, this means that humor is usually comprised of sex jokes and feminism jokes. However, my ideal person would also have to be good-mannered at times. Basically, while my potential friend is disgustingly funny, he or she should also be a good person.

My potential friend should also be easy to talk to, and not talk about stupid topics, or point out obvious things that are obnoxiously stupid to point out. Essentially, that person should be a skilled raconteur or comedian.

It doesn't take much for me to not like a person. Heck, I don't like half my friends... (joke). However, for me to actually stay "friends" with one, that person must be worth my time. It's hard to explain. However, my potential friend would not hesitate to talk to me. In fact, I determine how long I talk to a person based on whether or not there are any awkward silences. As such, the most important trait of a potential pal would be that they can carry on a conversation easily that does not fail to bore me.

Ready to Go!

1. If you could do one thing right now, what would it be? Why?

2. If you were to take one year off before starting college, how would you choose to spend it?

3. Where in the world interests you most? Why?

2. If my parents would ever allow me to take a year from school before college, I would love to travel through Europe. An entire year to visit France, Monaco, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Austria, Greece, Cyprus, Germany, and Ireland would be amazing. My aunt took a year off before her junior year of college and went backpacking through Austria, Germany, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Russia, and Hungary. Every country she found herself in, even though she didn't speak the languages, was always meeting new people. I guess you could say that we are alike in that aspect. We're both the type of people that are always looking for an adventure. I wouldn't think twice about getting up and traveling or moving somewhere new, not even thinking about where I would live or the money needed. Traveling through the European countries would be amazing, and it's always something I've wanted to do.

My 3 prompts!

1) What is the one thing that makes you automatically dislike another person? Describe.
2) What is the most interesting thing that has happened to you this year?
3)Who do you most look up to? Why?

3) The one person that I have looked up to, throughout my whole life, is my Papaw Robert. I look up to him because he always has a good spirit and, no matter what, he always works his hardest. Papaw Robert says the funniest things, such as "You treat me like a mushroom; you keep me in the dark and feed me sh*t." Papaw turns dreadful situations into comedy with sayings like this. My Papaw was a coal miner and in the army for 25 years. Everything he owns, he either made it or bought it, himself. When I was about 6, my grandfather wanted a finished basement. He gutted his homely cellar and used his carpentry skills to create a staircase and tile floors. Not a professional construction worker could have done a better job. These two virtues are building blocks of a successful future, and I hope I can encompass them one day, very much like my grandfather.

What's Yo Favorite.....

Because I loved Cameron's list of favorites so much...

1) Where would be your favorite place to live and why?

2) What is your favorite meal and why?

3) What is your favorite activity to do and why?

So due to the fact that I am obsessed with the idea of living somewhere else (far away from Kentucky) I'm going to respond to prompt #1. If I could live anywhere in the world where would I live and why? Well first off it'd definitely be international because to experience a different culture so from one's own is not only an amazing opportunity but an unbelievable blessing. It not only forces you to widen your horizons, therefore turning you into a more knowledge person than a simple classroom could have ever done, but it also gives you experience and perspective, two priceless pieces of necessary human ideals. Experience grants us insight of ourselves, of others, and of how the world functions; therefore allowing us to be better at whatever it is we're doing. Furthermore, perspective permits us to see things from other peoples, even other cultures, view point.

But with that said, where exactly would I want to live? Would I pick somewhere in Europe, a culture not so different from our own? Or would I choose someplace far, far away with a completely different lifestyle? Personally, if I was going to live internationally, let's say right after college, a point in my life where I'm desperately trying to figure things out for myself, I would just go for it and move some place completely different than I have ever seen before. So that takes out almost all of Western Europe, Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. I don't think I'd want to live in any Eastern European Soviet-era country, or any third world countries so I would not be moving to pretty much all of Africa, Central Asia, Central America, and South/Southeast Asia.

Now let's look at what I'm left with: South America, the Middle East, and East Asia. Let's take out East Asia because I'm not a huge supporter of the whole "China is taking over the world" thing, and let's take out South America because honestly I'm not really feelin' it. I mean, most South America is very much in the 2nd world we're-still-pretty-impoverished-but-we-like-to-tell-people-we're-not stage and I wouldn't really want to commit to living in a place like that. So that leaves me with the Middle East, a pretty dangerous, but lucrative region. Well, because I'm a Jew I'd want to live in a pretty accepting Middle Eastern country: United Arab Emirates (Dubai and Abu Dhabi) or Israel. Here's where the tough choices come in. Do I go to somewhat unstable Israel to live amongst my kind or do I go to Dubai, which is beginning to look like the world's flavor of the decade. Honestly, I think I'd go to Tel Aviv, Israel because it's a renowned, bustling, young city on the Mediterranean Coast with a wide international, English-speaking, population. Known as the City that Never Sleeps, Tel Aviv is a major economic and political hub in the Middle East with an unreal party, 24-hour culture. It's historic, founded in the 15th century BCE and, being at the cross roads of the world, it's easy to travel practically anywhere I'd want to go to.

E=mc², right?

1. If you could visit anywhere in the world for a month, where would you go and why? What would you do there?

2. What’s your favorite subject in school? Why? What makes it so interesting/fun?

3. Discuss a current event. What ramifications does it have for the future? How?

Prompt Three:

If you haven’t been living under a rock for the past few weeks or so, you’re probably aware that researchers at CERN appear to have observed neutrinos moving faster than the speed of light. If you know anything at all about physics, that shouldn’t be possible. Nothing should be able to travel faster than light. It seems like either: a) CERN had a bunch of miscalculations, b) something went wrong, or c) we broke physics.

I’m rooting for c.

On a more serious note, CERN didn’t mess up- they withheld news on this for about a month before making absolutely sure that it wasn’t human error or mechanical error. The uncertainty on the distance of 730 kilometers was only 0.2 meters- only 0.00003% of the total distance. Even with a calculated 10 nanosecond margin of error, the neutrinos traveled 730 kilometers 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light. This means that it traveled 0.0025% faster than light.

Since we’ve ruled out simple computational, human, or mechanical error, some may say that they’ve just ruled Einstein wrong. This is because neutrinos have mass. In order to travel at the speed of light, an object must have no mass- that means that it has to be light. This means that FTL travel should be completely impossible for the neutrino, since it would require an infinite amount of energy to make it travel at the speed of light, let alone faster. Some people think that this is the reason Einstein was wrong; however, disproving him would pretty much throw all of our ideas on physics down the drain, so scientists aren’t so keen on tearing down Einstein just yet.

Other major scientific research facilities such as Fermilab in Chicago are attempting to replicate CERN’s experiments in order to either form more evidence disproving Einstein, or to show that CERN’s results were simply an anomaly and there was something wrong in their calculations.

Even though the evidence is tentative and nothing has been accepted as truth yet, ideas have been forming on how the neutrinos could have possibly traveled faster than light. One popular idea is that the neutrinos traveled through a microscopic wormhole- literally traveling through the fourth or fifth dimensions, where light speed may be different- in order to appear to travel at FTL speeds. This could, quite possibly, allow for FTL communications, which would revolutionize the way we think about extraterrestrial colonization and the problems associated with the time lag.

Here’s a summary for those of you who just want the important bits.

- Scientists observe neutrinos faster than light

- People think that Einstein might be wrong

- Neutrinos could have used wormholes

- The time lag in communications might be removed

A Teacher Among English GODS

1.) How do you think Mr. Logsdon would respond to shameless brown-nosing?
2.) Are students who suck up to their teachers more likely to get a higher grade on blog assignments?

3.) Is Mr. Logsdon the best Language Arts teacher of the millennium?

3.) Well, we all know Mr. Logsdon is the best teacher in the school, and probably also the most versed in rhetoric and syntax, but the real question is, in the last 1,000 years, if a better English teacher has ever been sent down from the heavens to compete with Mr. Logsdon. And the answer to that, my friends, is no.

Mr. Logsdon exhibits all the traits of a great teacher. He's blindingly handsome and more than intelligent enough to teach gifted and talented high schoolers. In fact, Ernest Hemingway, Charles Dickens, and William Shakespeare were all taught by direct descendants or reincarnations of Mr. Logsdon. Their writing styles are all products of the ancestors of our humble teacher, and he is unarguably genetically superior to every other English teacher of all time, let alone the past 1,000 years.
What you probably didn't know was that Mr. Logsdon was delivered to the Greek Muses right after birth, for that his parents were killed during the Trojan War. There on Mount Olympus he lived and was taught about literature from the deities of writing and art. After maturing and proving superior to all other scholars who sought to best him in the art of prose, he graduated from every American college simultaneously with a perfect 4.0 and Ph.D in creative writing.

Not knowing what to do with his immense wealth accumulated from being what Time magazine calls "the writer of the millennium", he decided to pass on his knowledge to posterity to preserve his amazing style of writing. He had to face facts, he was getting old, and his once new pens and pencils were dull and worn from continuous use. He could not keep up his lifestyle of satisfying the masses with his great works.

Today, he lives a life fairly contrasting to that of a demi-god/scholar, that of a simple high school teacher. Students don't know they are having their brains worked like puppets to the masterful writer their teacher secretly is. No, they quietly learn day in and day out, and while Logsdon doesn't get the recognition he used to for his greatness and unprecedented ability, he knows he is continuing his legacy through the Henry Clay junior academy.

Prompts

1. If you could be anything you wanted to be what would you do?
2. What would you do if you had a billion dollars?
3. How do you think the world will be in 100 years?

I will answer prompt number 2. If I had a billion dollars I would just relax for the rest of my life. That doesn't mean I wanna get fat and just lie around and do nothing. I would take a good chunk of it and invest it. Maybe I'll play with stocks with like 50 million dollars or start a restaurant that is high end with quality food. I would save 100 million in the bank just in case I go on a spending spree and suddenly become broke because of the money that I'd be crazily spending. I want to travel the world and actually stay there for a while to learn its culture and just be in a different environment. It'd be great to go somewhere in Asia if I wanted something different than western, Europe if I wanted some fancy and laidback lifestyle, or just live more comfortably somewhere in the US. I wouldn't necessarily want to live in a mansion or anything, maybe just a nice spacious condo or a decent sized house with flat land. It would not be anywhere loud but not remote either.
Then I'd do all the things that I wished I could do. I would drive a race car (just once though because driving is not a sport and is wasting gas fuel), experience zero gravity, and go to the beach often. I'd probably donate several million dollars to charities most likely medically related so that they help save lives. Other than that I wouldn't really walk around flinging my money around because after all that luxury there wouldn't be much to do and I would settle down and find something I could do everyday. Poker would be fun to do seeing as I could join tournaments and win a bunch of money. People seem to think it's gambling but there's an actually a strategy to it. Finish it up with a world class chef to make me something delicious everyday and I'll have lived the perfect life, all with 1 billion dollars.

pick a prompt, any prompt!

1) Fast forward about 10 years; where do you see yourself and how did you get there?

2) What is your dream vacation and why?

3) What is the biggest distraction you face when you sit down to do homework?

In response to prompt 1, right now the thing that most intrigues me are the prospects of my future. Being a junior in high school means making big decisions that could potentially affect the outcome of the rest of my life! Right now it seems all so stressful and distant, yet it's really coming all too fast. After high school, I picture myself at a college I love; I want to be somewhere where I'm happy, comfortable, and fit in. I want it to have a nice blend of social life and academic life so I can make friends that I'll keep for the rest of my life, but also so that I can concentrate and work hard in engaging classes that I need and am interested in for my future career.

After college as of right now, I really would love to live in New York City for a little while. Doing so would would be very difficult I realize; it takes a lofty income to be able to support yourself in that city, but it's a challenge I would be excited and willing to take. Everything about the city intrigues me; the atmosphere, the people, and the hustle and bustle of everyday life! I think it'd be the perfect place for me to jump-start my career and begin my new après-college lifestyle. I can see myself walking down Madison Ave. sporting a chic new outfit, ready for my job interview at a major company.

That leads me to the 10 years part...I'd be 26. I don't know where I'll be living, but I hope that I'll be a successful magazine editor somewhere; it seems like it'd be the perfect job for me! I could see myself doing something along the lines of being given an assignment as well and then going somewhere neat to write my own article or piece. But really, who knows what the future holds. All I can do now is just dream about it and hope it turns out how I want it!

Write your own prompts

1. As a child, what was the one career that you had your heart set on following? Why did you like this career so much? Has this changed since then?

2. Would you rather stay in one place for your entire life, or never stay in the same place for more than a week?

3. If you could eat only one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Prompt 1:

When I was a kid, I kept this scrapbook that documented all the changes that happened to me between years in elementary school. It had a place for a current photo, favorite food, favorite color, list of best friends, and a desired career section. Most of the areas stayed the same throughout, except for the section about what I wanted to be when I grew up. Being a child within a family of teachers, my obvious first choice of career in kindergarten was a teacher. HA! That has changed. I can’t even bear the thought of spending every week day for the rest of my life dealing with children and their parents. In the first grade, I said a mailman, which was probably because I thought it would be cool to drive in a square car with no doors. Again, common sense had not hit me at that age. I don’t know what I was thinking. Second grade was a firefighter after a field trip to a firehouse and third grade was a police officer. Why I liked all these jobs? I don’t really remember, I just wrote them down. Now fourth and fifth grade was when I decided I wanted to be a vet. Being a devout animal lover, it is no shock that this was my ambition. Playing with cats and dogs all day would be one of my dreams. However, I realized being a vet couldn’t be the right choice for me because I could not stand it to be around sick or dying animals. Sadly, that’s where the scrapbook stopped, although my yearly changing of career ideas hasn’t. Marine biology was one of my more recent ideas because I love the ocean, the animals in it, and the habitats in and around it. This is one of those dreams that has stuck with me over time. It was one of my interests early on in life after visiting the Newport Aquarium and getting my favorite stuffed animal, a spotted harbor seal. Who knows? Maybe this life-long dream is the career idea I will stick with.

Oops, I've been watching Doctor Who/reading Homestuck this week, can you tell?

1. Assume you can have any superpower you wish. What would you choose, and why?
2. Assume you have the capability to time travel. What are your opinions on causing potential time paradoxes and how would you attempt to avoid them?
3. This is probably a cliche question, but an important one nonetheless. If you did have any superpower you could, would you use it for good or evil?
Well, technically my answer consists of a reply to two of the above questions. I would certainly choose time travel as a superpower. Think of the many possibilities! Traveling back in time to witness certain events occurring would be amazing! Perhaps, in some cases, I might find myself in a situation where my coming back to that point in time would be wholly necessary, and NOT going back to that point would mean that history would have turned out entirely differently. In that case, not going back in time would mean that the current reality would have ceased to exist, as I would have failed to create a stable time loop in any way. But I don't think I've explained fully why I want to be able to time travel. After a heavy bout of watching various characters of various shows adventure in time this weekend, I have to say, what they're doing seems fun. But at the same time, I've seen the various risks inherent in doing so. The toll on one's mental faculties in particular. Even after having seen the risks, though, I think time traveling would be worth it. The experience of traveling anywhere I want, at any time I want, is greater than I could deny. Being able to witness various historical events is something I would love to do. And honestly, if power such as that needed in the case of a stable time loop was put in my hands, I wouldn't hesitate to do what i had to do to make sure that history turned out right.

Interesting writing prompts

1)Do you think there is life on other planets? why?

2)who would you call the greatest band of all time, and why?

3)What problems do you think are in public schools and what do you think can be done to fix them?

The topic I would choose out of this set would be "what problems do you think are in public schools and what do you think can be done to fix them?". This is a very interesting question to me, because I feel that there are many serious problems that are in need of fixing in public schools.

Money; I can not think of a single institution that uses money less efficiently than our schools, except possibly our government. We lack funds to adequately pay teachers, provide textbooks for students, and adjust to the growing population of students. Instead, we choose to spend it on expensive televisions all over the school and god knows what else. But it is not being spent on things that are important.

Teachers; Lets face it, most teachers just are not qualified to be teaching kids. There are a select few, mostly AP/academy teachers, who do the job because they sincerely care about teaching kids, but the majority are horribly inept. The problem lies in the fact that schools should pay teachers more, otherwise many professional or highly qualified people will look elsewhere for jobs and we will continue to be stuck with teachers like most of the ones we currently have.

1. Where do you think the future of music is going and why?
2. Whats your opinion of the recent sanctions and penalties in college football?

3. If you could change one thing about Henry Clay what would it be?

Prompt 2: The first penalty that really started it all was the USC sanctions. Reggie Bush received ineligible benefits and ultimately caused USC to be on probation and he got his Heisman trophy taken away. I can understand the probation a little more then the taking away of the Heisman. People within and around the program did something illegal so you punish the program itself; it makes sense. However when you start to take away a players accomplishments that had nothing to do with benefits he received I start to wonder why. Bush had one of the best college seasons and all of those things he did on the field had nothing to do with that cadillac that he drove away in. You cant deny that he worked hard and his on field performance spoke for itself. He deserved that Heisman and the money he received had nothing to do with how he performed on the field. It would be a different story if it was steroids or something that gave him an advantage on the field but this was a car.

The next sanction is one that I'm a little more personal too and thats the Ohio St situation. If you don't know Ohio St players got in trouble for selling autographed jerseys and memorabilia for free tattoos and gain a portion of the profit that those items obtained. Sounds stupid right? It was. The players who did it were the captains and the leaders on the team too, including Terrelle Pryor. The controversy comes when Jim Tressel gets involved. Tressel apparently deny the reports to the NCAA and basically lied to them in order to protect his players; which I thought was absolutely the right thing to do. He puts himself on the line in order to keep his team together and hold on to his teams trust. Pryor and those players should be ashamed. They put their coach in a situation were there was no good outcome possible. Tressel had to give up one of the most prestigious coaching positions in college football and is now a replay director for the Indianapolis Colts- talk about a step back. I think NCAA did the right thing but it is truly a sad story and as an Ohio St fan I can confidently say that I will never root for Terrelle Pryor in the future (if he even has one).

Creative Title

1. If you could have one superpower, what would it be and what would you do with it?
2. Where do you want to live in the future?
3. What are your fears?

I choose you, #1!

Although a completely worthless question, it still can be fun to challenge your mind on the endless possibilities that comes with powers, of the super variety. If I came across an opportunity to gain such power, whether it be a genie in a lamp or trading my soul to the devil, I would choose to have the ability of teleportion.

Not only is teleporting is plain awesome, but it's the most practical superpower too. Want world domination? No problem. Teleport to White House to acquire nuclear launch briefcase, teleport to Secretary of Defense to borrow pass-code, and then use said nuclear briefcase to conquer world. And that was like, what, half a minute?

But really, it doesn't have to be used for evil; there are so many things it can do to make your everyday life easier. Every morning, I would get ten extra minutes of sleep because I can teleport to school, a big deal if you ever see the agonizing torture I go through when waking up. During lunch, instead of eating the unidentifiable mystery meat of the day, I could poof to Paris to have a nice lunch with the Prime Minister. And while going between classes, no longer would I have to navigate through the barbaric jungle known as the Henry Clay hallway.

Or, if you want to get creative, you could play a nice game of catch with yourself. Or perhaps you want to strap on a space suit and teleport through the galaxies to prove string theory, and maybe make friends with aliens and win a nobel peace prize along the way. The possibilities are endless.

Organelles, Noughties, and Vacations... Oh my!

1. If your community (anything from family to school to city) was a cell, which cell organelle (little working parts of a cell like nucleus) would you be? Which do you aspire to be?

2. 30 years from now, what will people look back and remember about the 2000-2009 (affectionately called the aughts or the nought-ies) decade?

3. If you could spend one day in any place on Earth, where would it be? ONLY one day.

Because I love all things biology I choose . . . prompt one!

First a little explanation is due for such a bizarre prompt. When I daydream, I tend to come up with some pretty crazy ideas by superimposing one system over another (Like "What if everyone was a piece in Tetris? Who would be which?"). In this case, I was thinking about the planet as a whole, and the varying levels of organization throughout, and I started comparing it to a cell, with its levels of organization and specialized organelles. I realized probably the best fit was the local community, and you'll see why shortly.

So we all kinda remember the organelles from the various biology classes we've taken. At least the big ones: the nucleus, the Endoplasmic Reticulum, the Golgi bodies, the vacuole, and the mitochondria/chloroplast. For the sake of time and our attention span, I can't describe how all of these compare to parts of the community, but I promise if you use your imagination you can find some pretty cool connections. Interesting how the Golgi bodies work just like a post office, isn't it? Maybe just for a biology geek.

Presented with these little examples of community organization, which would I choose to embody?

First I have to have know my real-world aspirations. I want to own a business. If we're talking aspirations, I want to own a unique, powerful business. I don't care what I have to do to get to that position, because once I'm there I'll have the power to make a difference in my community so easily. I don't have confidence in my hand-eye coordination or my rapping skills, but I am sure that given a position of power I would never let the power or greed go to my head. It just isn't me.

One organelle immediately comes to mind: the mitochondrion. Mitochondria are powerful, independent organelles that work with the cell (rather than for it) in a symbiotic relationship. Prepare for science: A mitochondrion oxidizes pyruvate and NADH in cellular respiration to produce Adenosine Triphosphate, the major source of energy for all of the cell. Basically mitochondria take raw materials and produce some of the finest energy known to biology.

The connections are uncannily transparent in so many cases--the mitochondria is the independent business that empowers and energizes the community. What's more, the mitochondria actually have their own DNA and nucleus, making them self-operating forces for progress. And I could die happy knowing that I, of my own accord, provided such a critical function to a community.

Favorite ...?

1. What is your favorite state and why?

2. What is your favorite season and why?

3. What is your least favorite state and why?

My favorite state other than this great state is utah. I have had a second home in Park City, Utah for five years now, and we go as a family for every christmas, summer, and most spring breaks. What I love about the state of Utah is the Variety. You can experience two completly polar opposite worlds that are four hours apart. In northern Utah there is arguably the best skiing and or best snow in the world because of the lake effect with the great salt lake. I love to ski and I love the scene of the beautiful mountains covered in snow. If you want a white christmas you can't go wrong in Park City, Utah. Not only do I love the northern half of Utah, but also the southern half. If you travel four hours south from park city you might think you have been transported to mars. The landscape of southern Utah is all red sand stone rock. This is where the famous arches national park is and Bryce cannon is close by. Moab, Utah is the Adventure Sports capital of the world making for a great vacation. I love the diversity that Utah brings to the table in terms of differing physical regions.

The other thing that makes Utah my favorite state is the weather. There is no better weather than Mountain weather, because you know what your going to get. In Winter it's cold you might say that it's like that in Lexington, but Lexington is miserable cold. In Utah it will be 30 degrees but the sun is shining and you're skiing. In lexington it's 30 degrees and you are walking downtown to a basketball game and it's raining somehow. The other season that I enjoy in Utah is the summer because of its weather. I love every august coming from the 95 and humid kentucky to the 75 with no humidity Utah. It is one of the best feelings in the word.

I like Utah because of the variety, skiing, and the weather.

What Time Is It?

HERE WE GO


1. If you could choose one career (regardless of how unrealistic it may be) what would it be and why?
2. If you could read any 10 books before you die, what would they be and why?
3. Pro Life or Free Choice? Explain.

Prompt 1:

Although I seem to be pursuing a career in the sciences* (at this point in time), I have always wanted to do something that involved pure artistic expression. I have taken classes and summer programs that were “guaranteed” to improve my writing and artistic abilities; I have attempted to play three instruments; and for a time I was teaching myself how to draw. However, I told my mother from the day I could speak that I would never, ever dance. And I don’t believe I have actually sung since I was about six. SO, the odds don’t look promising. Nevertheless, there has not been a day where I haven’t wished I could produce something as unique, meaningful, and beautiful as a work of art.

Naturally, there isn’t anything more difficult to actualize. The entire world is against you. I mean, when you’re sitting at school you are well aware that there are smarter people out there. There always will be. But you can still try-- you can still know (in some way or form) your accomplishments are relatively meaningful. Producing high test scores or achieving satisfactory grades reaps instant benefits. As an artist, I might be dead before people realize my artwork was absolute genius.

If you’re an aspiring artist, eminence and supremacy are staring you in the face every single day. Artists have to transcend scorn, humiliation, and failure. But those who have the gift-and are crazy enough to do it- are the ones who change the world.

* According to my personal thesaurus, “artist” and “scientist” are antonyms. This proves to be quite the dilemma, seeing as I can easily spend three hours in a Picasso exhibit (and still feel rushed) while also claiming the day I held an abnormally large (and preserved) liver to be one of the greatest days of my life. I’m also pretty sure I’ve fallen in love with a tree in the Great Redwoods of California. (His name is Chad).