Matthew's Randomness

New Games Now

2010-08-30T15:36:00.000-07:00

Recently, we've gotten new games here. Several of them. I'll begin listing them off. First, we've gotten Oblivion for the ps3, and my brother now has morrowind for his PC. I have been playing quite a bit of minecraft, which is quite fun (More about that on Wednesday). I haven't played Star Sonata much lately, but that's because of minecraft. Those are the main games, but there will be more eventually.

Long time no post

2010-08-25T13:28:00.000-07:00

It really has been a while since my last post. Lots of stuff to say, prolly gonna space it a bit, rather than make one big megapost.

First: Star Sonata fail...

I got the Earthfore Cruiser, and was trying to capture another Space Blue Gamma.... I ran out of energy just in time for 2 basils and a Sawtooth to show up, and I had no full-tracking weapons... Died, lost 4 of my DWO drones, now I'm Fleet Commander class. I still have a gamma, and got a basil a while ago (as well as the energy, a recent change made them impossible to get).

Second: School.

My school has restarted full-force, and I had forgotten how rough the first week can be, but that's handled now.

Third: Blogging plans

I'll be blogging once every other day or so, as a part of school, now.

Star Sonata, hard schoolwork, and it's Lunchtime

2010-05-11T11:16:00.000-07:00

Okay, this has been one of my better days, for sure. I do have 2 reports due at the end of the week, I do have 2 tests to correct, but it's been a good day. So without further distraction: updates!

In Star Sonata, I am very close to owning my own Basil! All I need to do is get a certain commodity to Handel's Cove, and I'm set. Kinda. I'm still going to need help capturing a Basil, since to capure it you need to kill it with a radiation weapon, and the basil take 1/5 the normal damage from those... But a captured Basil is better than a built one, because captured ones come with 3 items that are actually impossible to get anywhere else. They come with 2 inbuilt weapons and an inbuilt exterminator. These weapons are nice, because one slows downs enemies, and the other sticks these annoying parasites to them, causing extra damage over time. Both of these weapons have epic range because of the Basils' radar and energy, which give a 30% boost to range when equipped together. This ship is also Tech level 15, meaning it can use decent drones. Still no DWO drones, but decent ones. I am also saving up for an Earth Force Cruiser, a tech 16 capital ship with good stats. This will be a big leap for me, because that can use DWO drones, and a nice aura generator the engineer class gets, which doubles the energy bank of all allies nearby. I'm hoping to get it within the week, but it's half a billion credits, so that ma be hard.

My school has been getting a little harder lately. Primarily because I now have 2 reports to write, which are due at the end of the week. One of these reports is 6 pages long, and I have 1 1/2 pages done. The other is shorter, so I'm focusing on the big one first.

Goodbye for now, it's 11 and I haven't eaten since 6. I'll post again tomorrow, perhaps with pictures, about my new Basil, I will have it by then. Bye!

My day so far

2010-05-05T13:53:00.000-07:00

I've had better days (weekends) and worse days (3 tests and a report), but all in all, I've had a pretty good day today. I had an early morning PE class, in which we played capture the flag, and although we got beaten in less then a minute in the first two rounds, the teams got evened out pretty darn fast. We still lost, but we had fun. Once I got home, I got back to school, which also went fast, and now I'm down to just a little cleanup in the family room, then I can play (I hope). Today I started watching "freeman's mind", an awesome machinima about the game half-life 1 just search for the name on youtube to find it. I'm planning to watch more before I start my videogaming. I want to play some Garry's Mod today, because I just got a (rather large) addon called "neuro planes" which adds AI controlled aircraft that you can spawn. I'm gonna have so much fun with the C-130, trying to shoot it down while leaning the controls. Might make a nice video while I'm at it, but don't get your hopes up too much, I still need to find a screen recorder.

My dog, Jasper, just walked into my room with a new toy. Now he's giving me the cute face. His new toy is fire hose (just like the last two he shredded) with a tennis ball attached to it using some rope. Jasper likes to share his old toys with our neighbor's dog, Bear. Bear is a very big dog, but still a puppy, although not big enough to get his head over the wall without jumping. When I look at the neighbor's yard, I can see Jasper's shredded firehose toy lying on the porch, now being used by Bear. I need to get to my chores now, family room to clean and sweeop, MAYBE a bathroom to tidy today, and hopefully a bit of gaming after that. Bye!

On Star Sonata failiure and candle-making

2010-04-20T15:11:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I really messed up on Star Sonata. I forgot that my Leviathan could take about 1/4 of the damage my Pax Celestica could take, and wound up dying, twice. First, I went into Absolution and set my DWO drones in a really bad spot, then had to run and got killed. Then I did a low level DG (dungeon galaxy) and forgot that the boss of this one is a Sawtooth. A Sawtooth is able to can lock up your turning with it's laser. I died before my DWO drones could kill it. I wound up losing 2 of my 3 Mzungu mining defenders, and a lot of other things. I later traded my last MMD for Command and Control drone. which is a tech level 10, engineer class-only drone that gives a good buff to you and your teammates. I have also gotten remote control 15, and, with help from a teammate, captured a Space Blue Gamma, a really cool ship. I have spent a lot of time in the thing recently, and will probably use it more, until I get a T16+ combat ship.

I have also been trying to make candles IRL, but every time I start to cool it so it will be ready, the thing gets a nice, big crater in the middle, where the wax shrunk. I would like it if someone would tell me how to avoid this when making a candle in a metal votive mould.

My Star Sonata Teammate is Epic

2010-04-15T15:37:00.001-07:00

Hey there, sorry its been so long since my last post, but I'm still here!

I was playing Star Sonata yesterday, and while I was emptying a galaxy for the second time, trying to find some Seraphs, my teammate randomly chose to give me 5 drones of 2 types, out of nowhere. These aren't cheap drones either. I'm talking 2 death-warmed-over (DWO) drones (75 million credits each) and 3 Mzungu mining defenders (MMD) (100 million credits each!!!), for a total of 450 million credits. At the moment, I'm doing quite well. But, to me, 100 million credits is a lot of money. So, 450 million credits worth of drones is a big deal. DWO drones are really powerful. The 2 of them can do more damage than 3 Acme combat drones.

To find more information about DWO drones or MMD drones, check out the drones page on the Star Sonata wiki for all stats. I used CTRL-F and typed "DWO drone," or "defender drone" to find them.

The MMDs run out of power for their weapons pretty fast, and they die really fast too. But, they do good damage, and most things are not resistant to their weapon. My class is Engineer, so at this point I can lay 5 drones, where most people can lay 3. My drones are also stronger than other people's drones. The only thing that I need to work on is my ship. I have piloting tech 17 (skill level), which means I can use ships up to tech level 17. Tech level 16 drones cannot be use in a ship that's tech level 15 or lower. So, the only ship I can use for my Acmes and DWOs is a Leviathan.

The Leviathan, or "Levi" for short is NOT a combat ship. It is a MERCHANT ship. But when backed up by 5 high-powered drones, its shortcomings are less of an issue; although they never quite dissapear. Two advantages of using the Leviathan, are their massive hull space and it's size. The hull space, after loading WITH all my drones and gear, I still have about 4,000 hull space left, which is a massive amout for a combat ship. It's size is 150, which you can equip one solar panel for approxiamately every 10 size. So the leviathan can have 15 solar panels. I still have gear to buy, like 3 more DWO drones and a better shield. But I feel, it's a pretty good ship. My only quarrel is the speed, even with a speed-boosting bouquet augmenter (For those of you who play the game, this is not from Rosemaries, it's from Basils).

I'll keep posting stuff about my Star Sonata gaming from time to time.

Have a nice day!

Solar Energy

2010-01-25T12:49:00.000-07:00

Solar energy is the light and heat that reaches the Earth's surface from the Sun. The amount that reaches the Earth's surface is enormous. In 2002, enough solar energy was absorbed by the oceans and land masses in two hours to keep up with our energy needs for a whole year.The problem is, we aren't able to harvest all that, let alone store it. At the moment, most solar panels get about 5-18% efficiency, meaning 95-82% is lost as heat. Thi sounds like a lot, and it is, but that 5-18% is is still a fair bit of energy. Research into more efficient methods is being done by a number of companies. An older technology called luminescent solar concentration is being worked on and it is predicted that after research is done, it will have an efficiency of about 30%.

Here are some pros and cons of solar power

Pros:
        Inexpensive
No waste products
        Doesn't require a special facility
        Can be used just about anywhere

Cons:
        Generates no power at night
        Delicate
        Not very efficient (yet)

Some funny stuff

2009-11-10T12:27:00.000-07:00

These are just some links to funny pictures on the lolcats site.
Trashcat is not amused
Monorail cat
Before thermometer
TORTURE
Failure to launch
I has snow
LOAD!!!
Spring break!!!

That's enough for now, I hope to get some replies, but I have almost never gotten any. So post if you want to!

Just a Little Update, no, really!

2009-10-21T18:21:00.000-07:00

Just me giving a little update (no kidding!) about what's going on. I'm almost done with school (I know, late, but i had about 2 hours of P.E. today.) and I'm going to start up Star Sonata, it is time for me to give up at trying to make a good Berserker class character, I'm gonna neuro-doc and go......something. I don't know what to choose yet (here's a list of classes that I'm looking at: Seer, Fleet Commander, and Speed Demon ). So far, I am thinking Fleet Commander. If you have any ideas, just post a reply, bye for today!

More Star Sonata fun!

2009-10-20T12:40:00.000-07:00

I have been having a blast with Star Sonata. I have a new ship, called a Serenity, it is a paxian freighter, meaning it looks like a boomerang. This freighter is well tooled for capturing other ships, it can equip 3 weapons, has over 1000 hull (cargo space), and has massive resistance to damage. Two flaws with it, it is dead slow, and runs out of energy quickly. The speed issue is a little annoying, but the energy issue is solved by fighters, I am currently using bulker light fighters, but hope to upgade to chihuahua light fighers soon. The nice thing about fighters is that they do not change targets, remote controlled "slave" ships will switch targets at weird times, like targeting the fighters of a green battleship when the fight is getting close....... yes, slaves do stupid things. Fighters don't, instead, they stay on target as log as they can. I have almost been nibbled to death by bulker light fighters on 3 occasions in the past. Those little monsters can go really far. Anyways, enough of my silly stories, time for strategies. When entering absolution, DO NOT use a serenity, you have been warned. Also, player-built unforges cannot win against an inferno, period, end of story. Now, many players will say that the best way to make money is capturing and selling infernos, this is a great way to do it, but if you can, capture any serenities you can find. While selling an inferno and all its gear nets you about 10 million credits, selling a serenities main weapon alone gets you just under 10 mil., So capture a serenity, sell all the stuff onboard except the engine and controlbot, then engage the bot and kill it, you cant sell serenities anywhere. Also, Pax Astralogicas can yield some great stuff when killed, like the ultra-rare calypso augmenter. However they can only be killed with surgical weapons, and once it starts running you've basically won. It will simply spin in circles and sometimes warp. I will give you more later, I have other stuff that really needs to get done, I could ramble on all day, but i can't right now. So goodbye for now and blog again tomorrow.

Just Some Around-the-House News

2009-10-06T10:42:00.000-07:00

Well, I now have some snapdragons growing in a small pot in my backyard. When they get bigger, I will transplant them to individual pots. At the moment, I have no clue what color each one is, that will be fun to find out. I also plan to plant some cacti soon, once I have more pots to put them in of course. I will get some pictures of the snapdragons once they have grown a bit.

Star Sonata Update

2009-10-05T11:30:00.000-07:00

Star Sonata has had it's universe reset. All the galaxies, planets, and bases have been reset. There are some new problems to solve though, for example, I was playing yesterday, in Sol, and all of the sudden, all the bases, wormholes, and ships in stasis were piled up in one place. That was odd. In other news, Sol now has a gate to Juxtaposition! My team has a base not far from sol, and very close to both Underworld and Prism. I just hope that my team does well and I have fun. One of the ships I want to get is called the Mzungu Fluid, I want it because of it's inbuilt secondary energy. This will give me a huge amount of energy to use. It also has 6 weapon slots, which will help me use this energy well. My team's home galaxy has both Paxian AND Bule ruins, these will provide lots of good stuff to aid us.

Argh! Mouse trouble!

2009-10-02T14:20:00.000-07:00

My computer's mouse is dying on me. It often double or triple click when I click ONCE. the click flickers when I'm holding the button down. This has lead to a bit of trouble while playing Gmod. Speaking of which, I have a plan in motion to build a floating factory that uses Life Support mod's "powered hoverball", which is a normal hoverball that consumes energy to run, without energy, it shuts down. This means that I will have to find a good way to supply it with power. Solar panels should work fine, but I may need to upgrade to something a bit bigger. Also, I want to build a plane that uses no thrusters or hoverballs (which can be targeted easily) and instead uses a device called a "laser thruster". Here is a good video of the laser thruster (not by me) : Here. These are a bit difficult to use, but are quite strong. They also cannot be targeted, making it very hard to shoot a homing weapon at a plane made with these. In other news, Star Sonata is going to reset tomorrow, all galaxies are going to change, making for a fun time re-mapping. I hope that I dont find This place near low-level warps. I will let you know if I do sometime.

Well, I found QUITE a cool Star Sonata ship

2009-09-24T10:43:00.000-07:00

In Star Sonata, I found an amazingly rare ship, 2 of them actually. One is called a Jujuso'rka, it is a ship built by a race known as the Urqa. The other is called a "Battle sphere" a ship so rare, there are less than 10 in the game (as far as I am aware). This picture has both of these ships, me, and an AI ship called "The Guardian of the Lyceum". The picture is a bit small, but the guardian is EASY to spot, it's the big disk on the left. The green ship is my Earth Force Frigate, the red ship is the Jujuso'rka, and the battle sphere is the big, black and white sphere on the right. The Jujoso'rka is a bit harder to spot, it is dark red, and somewhat small. It is my hope to someday have a Jujuso'rka of my own. The Battle sphere has no engine, and must be towed around using a tractor beam, making it dependent upon other people. You might ask "What is that blue ring around the battle sphere?" Well, it is a cloaking device, meant to make it harder to spot, but the Battle sphere has such a high visibility rating that I can see it with ease. I will get other pictures of cool ships and the like posted sometime (I hope!).

Almost forgot

2009-09-10T11:01:00.000-07:00

Almost forgot to blog about this, but a few weeks after Kiko died, back in April, we got a new puppy who we named Jasper. (I can't believe I forgot about blogger that long.) He is a little ball of pure voom, and when we got him, he was so small, I could carry him up the stairs with ease, now, he's a very big, very energetic, and a very destructive puppy. He has managed to tear up a toy cow (made of canvas), a fire hose toy (made of actual fire hose), and several around-the house items, including a kiddie pool that we got for him to play in. He tore a large gash out of the side and we found bits of blue plastic in his poo a while later. Last night, he got a hold of his poop bag dispenser, broke it apart and shredded all the blue poop bags in the backyard.

Jasper is almost always hungry, wanting lots of treats and food. He's already starting to get fat, despite the crazy fast runs he goes on at the dog park. He's currently sleeping on my Mom's bed, worn out from being all zoom-zoom earlier today,and I hope he doesn't get to energetic today, I don't want him getting anyone mad.

Long time no post. Now onto a good game I found.

2009-09-10T10:09:00.000-07:00

Man its been a while since I posted..... Oh well, here's a good online game I found. It's called "Star Sonata" and it's a very cool game. You basically fly around in a ship, trading, fighting , and making teams. Now this may not sound very good, but believe me, it is awesome. My brother is probably going to post something about how much it stinks, but he's just biased. If you have ever played Maelstrom or Asteroids, you'll have less trouble changing course when moving in this game, because it's in SPACE, you don't stop moving when you turn your engines off, duh. You'd be surprised how many space games mess that one up. One of the cool things in this game is that if you buy so-and-so item, you can only use it if you have N tech level in it's respective skill. One thing about this game is that you don't get to see EVERY player in the area, you only get to see the ones that your radar is good enough to spot. This is decided not only by your radar's stats, but also by the other person's visibility, the higher your visibility, or vis for short, the easier it is for people to spot you. Another important aspect is augmenters. These are permanent bonuses that you can equip to your ship. A ship can only equip augmenters that are equal or lower tech than the ship's tech level. So a basic augmenter (Tech 5) can only be equipped to a tech 5 or higher ship. One really interesting ship is the "Unforge." It can equip only one augmenter and gets no weapons, and takes double damage from heat-based weapons. The main advantage of this ship... it can store 2,000 units of cargo and takes 1/20th damage from everything but heat damage. Still, it is not very popular because of its speed and the fact that other ships can go faster, hold more, and actually shoot back when attacked. I have built a stealth ship using a "Kasper", a generic UFO, this ship is very hard to use, because there is no defined "front" it is a disk, one part is the front, good luck. This stealth ship is visibility 2, most ENGINES are vis 90 when running. this thing is vis 2 when the engine is off, 7 when its on. Every once in a while, the universe is reset and all bases, NPCs, and players go with it. One thing that doesn't go is docked ships, these will appear at the first station you dock in in the new universe. One galaxy, called lunacy, has a station named the asylum, the asylum used to buy the paxian ship called a serenity for amazing prices, because the station is orbiting SO fast, no serenity could reach docking speed with it. Some people found a way around this. They captured as many serenities as they could and then, when the universe reset, they made sure the first station they docked at was the asylum, then their serenities all appeared there and they sold them for a fortune. Shortly thereafter, the admins removed the amazing price on serenities. Now, when I talk about a ship called a "serenity" you might think of the show Serenity and the movie Firefly, well, the look nothing alike. The serenity from Star Sonata is a black, boomerang-shaped freighter. THE most dangerous AI team in the game is called "Grubbies" it consists of space termites. A space termite mound, if left unchecked, can destroy every living thing in a galaxy, bases, players, and other AI ships. The second most dangerous AI team is "Dark Commerce". They are everywhere, they are amazingly powerful, and attacking one of them can get you booted off some player teams they're so nasty. I will post some pictures later today (I hope!) of me playing, to show you some cool stuff.

A Memorial to Kiko

2009-03-13T12:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we had to euthanize our dog Kiko. A disk in his back had slipped and pinched a nerve in his spinal cord. Because of this, his hindquarters were paralyzed. He had to be euthanized because he would never recover. Kiko was our loving friend for nine years, and we will always miss him. When we first got him, he was just a puppy, and his ears were to large for his head. He didn't really perk up about a name until mom suggested Kiko. When we lived in Boise, he would sometimes want out really bad, and in his rush to get out, he would run into the sliding glass door. He did the same thing with the screen door in our current house. In our Genesee house, he had a lot of fun just going on walks around town and meeting other dogs. He still had fun in Sahuarita, but he only got a few walks. While we were in Sahuarita, he kept trying to sniff cacti on our walks, one day, he got to. It was a barrel cactus with long, hooked spines in addition to the normal ones. One of the spines caught in his nose and he yanked away, cutting his nose, we got the bleeding under control soon enough though. Even after this, he still tried to sniff half the cacti along the road during our walks. Kiko always loved snow, and romped in it at every opportunity. His birthday was October the thirty-first, Halloween, and his best present was meeting all sorts of new people and learning new smells. Every Christmas, we would hang up a stocking just for him, and it would be stuffed with goodies every time. Every Independence Day, he would get scared of the firework noises and run to hide, oftentimes under my mom's desk. He would never bite us, or hurt us, intentionally, and we always played together during the day. He was a funny, fuzzy friend whose death has left a hole in our lives. We will miss him forever.

Had a Fun Tour of a Copper Mine Yesteday

2009-03-07T21:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, my family and I, excluding my dad since he was at work, went on a tour of a large copper mine. The first thing we did is wait for a tour bus to arrive, since we missed the first one while getting gas. While we waited, we looked around the gift shop and found that they had a lot of copper-based goodies. When the bus arrived, we got on as soon as we could, hoping to see the mine. The bus left shortly after everyone was aboard. The guide told everyone about a herd of wild horses that roams the area, though they never showed up. This was understandable, seeing as they have hundreds of acres to run around in. As we passed the mine, our tour guide explained the basic process of mining, but he did not go into specifics yet, that was to come later. When we reached the top of the mine, we were looking over an immense, tiered, pit that was several miles across in either direction and very deep. That day it was quite windy, so we did not stay very long (don't worry, there was a high fence). While we were there, we saw several of the mine's 320-ton dump trucks and the machines they use to scoop up large piles of dirt to load into the dump trucks. The scoops required huge amounts of power, but did not have any engines, instead, they were connected to the mine's power grid by miles of 4-5 inch thick power cable. When we got back into the bus and drove back down to the main building, we actually got to go inside and see the inner workings of the refinery. First was the SAG mill, which takes rocks that are 8 inches or smaller and breaks them up into rocks that are 5 inches or smaller. Then the rocks are sent to the ball mill, where 8 pound and 18 pound steel balls grind them into powder. Then they are sent to a tank the combines the powder with water, pine oil, and a few other chemicals and then the mix is agitated. The chemicals and pine oil cause the copper to attach to the bubbles in the water, which then rise to the surface. the copper-coated bubbles are then skimmed off and all the added materials are separated. The resulting copped is called copper concentrate, and is about 28% pure copper. This is later melted down and formed in anodes which are then transported to a different location for smelting, after which the copper is about 99% pure and usable. The whole trip was quite enjoyable.

My New Pet

2009-01-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I got A new pet. A male Leopard Gecko, to be precise. He is yet to be named (if you have any ideas, please let me know in a review). He is an active, happy gecko and he is really cute. As with most geckos, he is nocturnal and sleeps a lot during the day (particularly during the morning). So far he has eaten 2 crickets, with 2 more still running around in his tank. If you have any comments, fell free to post, especially about a name for him. I'll blog again soon (I hope).

P.S. My experiment went well. The bowl with fresh pineapple stayed liquid while the other two gelled properly.

Today's Science Experiment

2008-12-19T11:17:00.000-07:00

Today, I have an science experiment that is currently in progress. In this experiment, I had to grind up fresh pineapple and put 1 tablespoon in a bowl. Then I cooked the rest of the ground pineapple on the stove and put 1 tablespoon of that in another bowl. 1 bowl had nothing in it. Then my mom made jello and put the mix in the three bowls. Then we refrigerated it and are waiting for it to be ready. In case you haven't already guessed, this experiment is about enzymes. I will post the results tomorrow.

A cool LEGO site

2008-12-18T13:03:00.000-07:00

If your interested in complex LEGO builds, you should go to www.mocpages.com. It is a website where you can look at LEGO figures made by other people and even show your own. If you have the right LEGO pieces, you can even build the things you see. I particularly like this one. If you like a particular one, post the link in your reply(if you want).

My First 3-Axis Gmod Turret

2008-12-17T11:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I made my very first 3-axis turret in Garry's Mod. This means it can aim up and down. This turret is far better than my turret-on-a-stick because it can target properly no matter what angle it is at. Because of this, it can be mounted on the walls, floor, or ceiling and still work right. The only weakness of these turrets is that they always aim a little bit low, meaning that they have a hard time with thing that are low to the ground.

I have also gotten "Gcombat", a mod for Garry's Mod that incorporates several new weapons and a new damage calculation system. These new weapons can destroy props. I have built several 3-axis turrets using these weapons and most of them worked well. Unfortunately, I am yet to build a death ray turret because the death ray is to large. I hope to correct this problem soon an I also hope to post a video of my turrets in action.

Ruined Plans

2008-12-15T13:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, my family and I were planning to go play mini golf at a local club. That morning it rained... hard. The rainfall messed up everything. Why must the weather bother me as well as time and cooperation?

Also, today has gone quite well. I got up at 7 this morning (First time since we moved in!) and I have already completed my school and done the dishes. I am having a great day and I hope to play soon. If you stop by to read this, please comment and let me know... it seems like no-one's there. Well, have a nice day. I'll try to post again tomorrow, as always.

Hello Again!

2008-12-12T14:25:00.000-07:00

Hello and good its to be blogging again. It has been over a month since I last blogged. So far our computers are almost ready and most of our stuff is unpacked. I just found out my slippers are falling apart... great. Yesterday I flattened my bike tires on a bunch of Goat heads (thorny stickers) by accident... wonderful. We may have made progress at unpacking but there is still an ocean of stuff to go. I hope you readers are having a good time. I'll blog again on Monday.

Some Hilarious Videos

2008-11-11T11:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I found some absolutely insane videos on YouTube. It is a series called "Is It A Good Idea To Microwave This?" in which, the host puts things in a microwave that shouldn't be put in a microwave. That guy is crazy, he is on his seventh microwave as of now. Some of the things he has put in a microwave are: light bulbs, soap, liquid soap, lighters, a lava lamp, 2 furbies, eggs, fireworks (those killed his fifth microwave), bubble gum, ping pong balls (they did something really weird), canned spam (still sealed), CDs, a snowglobe, and even IPods. Check them out!

Brisingr Reviewed

2008-11-10T12:56:00.000-07:00

Last night, I finished reading "Brisingr" the third book in Christopher Paolini's "Inheritance" series. This book is amazing. It is so good that I don't even want to give away any spoilers. I will tell you a few things. But first off, you need to understand the first two books "Eragon" and "Eldest". If you have not read these, you will not understand these (little) spoilers.

(spoiler)(spoiler)(spoiler) This book begins where Eldest left off. The first thing of importance that happens is that Eragon is sent to Farthen Dur in order to help speed up the process of selecting a new king there. Near the middle of the book, Eragon is told the source of Galbatorix's power. Near the end, Eragon does again what he did with Durza. About 3/4 of the way through the book Eragon gets a new rider sword.

A Very Fast Day of School

2008-11-07T10:06:00.000-07:00

Today is going very fast. I have nothing but chores and play to do. I plan to begin this immediately. See you later.

Garry's Mod update

2008-11-06T15:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, my brother finally got "Wire". I am very happy about this, because now I can build unmanned, victim-independent, undetectable traps. Victim-dependent traps are triggered by the one who is hit by the trap (A.K.A. A button that drops a dumpster on the person who presses it) and can be easily avoided. Victim-independent traps are not triggered by the one who is hit by the trap (A.K.A. An invisible laser that when broken, shoots laser beams at the person that broke it) and are very hard to avoid. This means I can now annoy my brother even more.

Stentor

2008-11-05T12:43:00.000-07:00

"Stentor" is a protozoan, a ciliate, (phylum ciliaphora) to be precise. Stentor is the worlds largest single-celled organism. It can reach a length of up to 1/10 of an inch long. This really is a macroscopic cell. Stentor is so large that it eats just about everything else in the microscopic world. Stentor is commonly found in fresh water (like pond water) and you dont need a microscope to find it.

My Concert Band Music

2008-11-04T11:40:00.000-07:00

Right now, I am practicing a music piece for concert band. This piece is called"the Rites of Tamburo" and is quite fun. I am lucky enough to have gotten the timpani part on this music. The timpani part is somewhat simple. I really like this song, and hope it comes out right on the day of the concert (no idea when that is yet).

Packing Up and Giving Away

2008-11-03T11:26:00.000-07:00

We have been doing a large amount of packing and giving away recently. The basic idea is: If we need it, pack it. If we don't need it or can't use it, give it away. This means that we must go into the garage, find a section, and start boxing stuff up. We have had a little respite recently, but I know this will be short lived. Well, I had better get going soon. Plenty of school to get done.

Trick-Or-Treat Trap

2008-10-31T09:51:00.000-07:00

I have a few tricks for trick-or-treaters tonight. I will only discuss one in case any trick-or-treaters read this. It basically involves covering the screen door on my house with black and orange construction paper and hiding in between the screen door and the wooden door.

A Cool Song

2008-10-30T10:26:00.000-07:00

I found a cool song a while (weeks) ago, and I finally decided to blog about it.The song is called "Holiday" by Greenday. The music itself is very awesome and I have played it in band class (I'm in percussion). The snare drum part is very easy, which gives me a chance to listen to the music as I play. This is a fun song, and I hope you all have a good October 31!(it's my dogs birthday)

WHOOHOO!

2008-10-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

Today is going very well. I just need to practice music and do the dishes then I'm done. Wish me luck in going fast. This is a great day.

Plans

2008-10-28T10:39:00.000-07:00

Well, it's decided, we're moving. In about 1 month's time we will leave ID and make for AZ. This means we have to get all of our stuff packed up. We have already ended our time in scouts for now (we need the extra packing time) and Nikolas is quite riled up about this. We will be leaving public school eventually and then we will move. I hope we don't hit any snags. I will keep my blog updated about the move as time progresses. Expect sparse posting in the next month.

My WireMod

2008-10-27T17:17:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, I got a mod for my Gmod (yes, a mod of a mod) called Wiremod. Wiremod, or Wire for short, allows you to make circuitry and computers and such. The first thing I did when I got it was I built an auto-tracking gun turret. This turret had one major weakness, it couldn't aim up and down. I solved this problem with 4 "hover-balls" a hover-ball is an orb that hovers at a set altitude, they can also travel straight up and down. This new turret could hit any target in range, and was quite simple to set up. When I talked to my dad about it, he said that it was like a turret on a stick, so I named it the turret-on-a-stick. This turret has a new problem, if thrown off-angle, the hover-balls would get stuck there. The result of this is a turet that is hovering at an akward angle and no longer working right. I can solve this problem by making a turret with 3-axis targeting, although, this is very complicated. A 2-axis turret is simple enough, but add one extra targeting axis and I'm stuck. When I figure out how to make one I am going to save it immediatly, but, until then I'm stuck with my turret-on-a-stick

My Dog is Bugging Me

2008-10-24T09:38:00.000-07:00

My dog (Kiko) is driving me nuts right now. I'm the only person in the house that's up and about at the moment and Kiko needs to go out to poop every half an hour or so. So I get to drop everything (even school) every half hour to take him out. Also, he is hungry but won't eat no matter what I do. I need to go get some school done before he has to poop again. I also have U of I homecoming tomorrow. Well, I have to go, hope all who are reading this have a good day.

My Brothers Gmod 10

2008-10-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

Last night, my brother got Gmod 10 on his computer. We then played a multiplayer game together and made all sorts of vehicles. His weirdest was a bathtub with rockets and wings on it. My weirdest was a blast door with a seat, rockets, and these things called hover-balls. We had a lot of fun, even though he messed up my first vehicle. We are going to play together again this evening. Expect more funny stories and videos.

Gmod 10 (updated)

2008-10-22T10:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I got Gmod 10. IT IS AWESOME!!! The tools are great, the physics are great, the trap possibilities are endless. The only problem I have is that I can't figure out how to make buttons work (a.k.a. push button, activate items). There is an expansion for Gmod 10 called Wiremod. Wiremod is a more complicated tool that lets you make circutry. If I get Wiremod, then the first thing I will do is make a tripwire door trap. I hope to play soon so that I can get on this.

Gmod 10

2008-10-21T11:25:00.000-07:00

My brother and I are getting a game called Gmod 10 (Garry's mod 10) today. Gmod is a "physics sandbox" game. This means you can do just about anything. If somebody is annoying you then you can trap him under a dumpster for a while. You can also spawn game A.I.s to bother people, help you out or just look like a dork. This sounds like an awesome, awesome game and I hope to start ASAP. I don't even know what I'll do first because I'm so excited! Gmod 10, here I come!

My New Bed

2008-10-20T09:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got a new mattress and pad for my bed. The top of my bed used to be about 2 or 3 feet off the ground. After all the changes (including lowering the frame and adding casters to the feet), the top of my bed is now 4.5-5 feet off the ground. It is so weird to be at head level with my dad while I'm sitting and he is standing up. It is somewhat funny looking to see my dog dwarfed by my bed.

One of my Best Days Ever!

2008-10-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

Today is just awesome. I am done with math and biology, and my other school is very short. I am hoping to play before noon. My brother got a clone trooper voice changer yesterday and I am having fun pegging him with my dart guns when he wears it. I have 4 dart guns (Tek six, Dualshot, Magstrike, and Longshot) and I am hoping to get the newest Nerf dart gun, the Vulcan. It is a $45 dart gun with a 25-shot belt feeder. I'm gonna have SO MUCH FUN pegging Nikolas with that thing. If I can get it before Halloween then I plan to ambush trick-or-treaters with it. Well, I have to go, wish me luck in getting done before noon.

Computer Problems

2008-10-16T13:09:00.000-07:00

My computer was giving me grief earlier today. There were 2 main problems. 1, stickykeys was stuck on. 2, mouselock seemingly turned itself on and was bothering me. Then my mom found out what was wrong (I was completely stumped) and fixed the problem. Then I go to start my Firefox, and my cursor flashes rainbow for a few seconds. It turns out, my mom turned on animated cursor while she was fixing the problem with my computer. I'm yet to turn animated cursor off, but I will sometime today.

I'm Having Another Good Day

2008-10-15T12:40:00.000-07:00

I'm having a good day. I did my math in bed last night, the rest of my school is short and it is not even 1:00 yet. The only thing that could make this moment better is beef jerky.

U ofI Homecoming Music

2008-10-14T09:40:00.000-07:00

At my school, we are currently practicing some music for the University of Idaho homecoming day parade and football game. The theme this year is video game music. We will be playing 3 songs: Tetris, Zelda, and Halo. These pieces are very easy for percussion section. I am on a tom (snare drum without the snares) and I can already play these 3 pieces almost perfectly with my eyes closed. The 7-8 class has just begun at playing these. I do hope they are ready by the twenty-fifth.

The Meat-Sauce Incident

2008-10-13T08:56:00.000-07:00

This last Saturday, we had an incident in the kitchen. This incident had to do with a pressure cooker full of food (and still pressurized) and some cold water. The pressure release valve on the lid failed and shot out to I-still-don't-know-where in the kitchen, then the meat sauce in the pressure cooker sprayed all over the place. The spray of meat sauce soaked the windows, the cloth blinds, the countertops, and just about everything ON the countertops. We spent the better part of the night cleaning up the mess. This kind of reminds me of when my dad pulled the orange juice out of the fridge and the maple syrup came out with it. The stuff was EVERYWHERE. It got on both fridges, all over the floor and even sprayed the ceiling. This was easier to get off, but there was a lot more of it. I swear I can still smell meat sauce in the kitchen.

Im Having A Good Day

2008-10-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

I'm having a good day today. I did my math in bed last night, my biology was all of 2 paragraphs long, my music will be easy, and I'm on cleaning up the front room today. Also is the fact that it is Friday, so I get to stay up late tonight. Hooray! My computer has stopped buzzing (for now) and I cannot wait to play. It isn't even noon yet and I am almost half done with school. I am very happy about all this. I am also happy because i have a bag of good beef jerky.

My Floor

2008-10-09T10:46:00.000-07:00

Today I have to mop my floor, which is a bit cluttered to say the least. So I get to pick up my office chair, carry it out of my room, set it down outside, mop the floor, pick up my chair again and carry it in. That thing weighs like 50 pounds and I get to carry it over the foot post on my bed. Then I set it down, and it starts making tracks. So then I lay the chair down and wet a nice, clean, white washcloth to clean the chair wheels. The washcloth now looks like it has been used to clean off greasy hands that have just worked on a car. Now here I sit, blogging about a grimy washcloth, and I still have to put away cleaning supplies, fold my clean laundry, put away the clean dishes, start the dirty dishes, clean the kitchen counters and stove, and sweep the kitchen floor. Now my computer is lagging, I'll probably have to clean that out to.Well, goodbye and wish me luck cleaning up, I'll need it.

Spore "Epics"

2008-10-08T09:25:00.000-07:00

In Spore, "epics" are super-sized versions of normal creatures. Epics appear in the creature, tribal, civilisation, and space stages. They are very powerful and can wipe out most creatures in 1 hit. Some people have managed to beat these things in the creature stage. This is very impressive. There are a few ways to kill an epic in creature, tribal, and civilisation stages. One is to attack it and lure it back to your base (nest, village, city) where you can swarm it. Anther way to beat an epic is to trap it and keep using the attack "spit". Here is a vid of a guy beating an epic in the creature stage, then 2 of funny looking epics.

The Tarantula Hawk

2008-10-07T09:05:00.000-07:00

The Tarantula Hawk is a wasp that hunts spiders. It finds a spider, stings it with a paralysing venom, then drags it to its nest and lays an egg on it. The baby wasp then hatches and eats the paralysed spider. Here is a video.

"Spore" Cell Stage

2008-10-06T10:51:00.000-07:00

"Spore" is a game by Maxis. You create a creature, then grow it and develop it into a spacegoing race to travel the cosmos. The game has five stages, cell, creature, tribal, civilization, and space. Today I will focus on the cell stage. You start off as a simple cell, having only eyes, a mouth, and 1 flagella. These parts have simple purposes. Eyes are used to see food and predators (duh...). Flagella (faster travel speed), cilia (faster turn and spurts of speed in travel), and jets( large bursts of speed) are used for movement. There are 3 kinds of moulth in the cell stage: filter (herbivore), jaws (carnivore), and proboscis (omnivore). There are 5 ways to damage other cells: jaws (bite), proboscis (suck out food), poison (leaves poison trail when you move and gives immunity to poison), spike (damages all who touch), and electric (projects field that damages nearby enemies and gives electric immunity). Below are 3 videos about the cell stage. All credit for these goes to shadowzack.

Halo 1 Covenant Weapons

2008-10-03T10:40:00.000-07:00

In Halo 1, the Covenant have a wide variety of weapons at their disposal. These weapons are as follows: Needler, Plasma Rifle, Plasma Pistol, Fuel Rod Gun, Plasma Sword, and Assault Cannon. These weapons are used by different species of Covenant. Grunt minors(orange) and majors(red) use needlers and plasma pistols while spec ops grunts(black or gray) use fuel rod guns. A grunt with a fuel rod gun is a serious threat. Jackals use plasma pistols all the time. Elites use plama rifles, needlers, and plasma swords. An elite with a plasma sword can kill in 1 hit on higher difficulty levels. Hunters can only use the assault cannon because it is grafted onto their arm. Hunters do not do very well in Halo 1 because of bad programming, but they are still dangerous. The covenant have a large amount of weapos that are bad against The Flood.

Halo 2-3 Drone Enemy

2008-10-02T12:30:00.000-07:00

First off, this is my fiftieth post. Second, The "drone" is an insect-like enemy in halo 2 and 3. I have never actually fought one, but I've heard a lot about them. They are very weak, but travel in large swarms. Drones usually carry a plasma pistol, because it is the only thing light enough for them to fly with. I am not sure, but i think they can use needlers as well. Drones are very hard to hit with sticky grenades and are almost always hovering out of reach of normal (non-sticky) grenades. Using a stationary gun against drones is not a good idea because they will tear you apart with plasma pistol fire very fast if you stand still. The best way to fight drones is to keep moving and fire in controlled bursts.

"Brisingr" book by Christopher Paolini

2008-10-01T10:16:00.000-07:00

Brisingr is a book by Christopher Paolini. We got this book on September 30 and I have just begun reading it. I will post a book report when I am done with it (no idea when that will be). This is supposed to be a good book and I expect it to be a good book.

My Campout

2008-09-30T11:39:00.000-07:00

Last weekend (September 26-28) I went on a campout called the Boyscout Camporee. The campout started on Friday when we left at four in the afternoon. We arrived at five and started to set up camp. By the time we were done, it was dark out. We had dinner and then went to bed. The next morning, we got up and had breakfast then got into our scout uniforms. At 9 we went to a flag ceremony and then went back to camp to wait for the rest of our troop to show up. They arrived at 10 or 11. We then helped them set up their tents and then went out to do this little challenge course out in the meadow. We did 3 of the 6 challenges because the group refused to do more. When we got back we set up a game of capture the flag for some cub scouts. Later we had to stop because someone stepped on a wasp nest and 4 people got stung (One person got stung 5 or 6 times). The lead scout (Sheridan) went and hid in his tent when this happened. We had a great group campfire at night with all the Boyscout troops and did funny little skits. The next day we packed up and went home.

Some old comic books

2008-09-29T10:09:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, I went into our garage to look for some old comic books, I found three. One is "Whisper" #1 by Capital Comics with a cover price of $1.75.The other 2 are "Mars" # 2 and 3 by First Comics with a cover price of $1.00. I was hoping to sell them but the comic book store in town will only buy comics with a cover price of $0.25 or less. I plan on keeping them safe until the comic book store will buy them.

"Screamer" vids

2008-09-25T17:37:00.000-07:00

A "screamer" is a video that has you staring intently at something and then a freaky-looking thing pops up and screams at you. I hate these things. I have fallen for a few of these things and now I check videos for screamers all the time. Youtube (www.youtube.com) has quite a few of these. My advice is, when watching youtube videos is to check the reviews, when someone gets spooked by a screamer they tend to get mad and swear about it on the review section. Just make sure you pause the movie while you read the reviews or else the screamer might go off while your reading.

My Upcoming Campout

2008-09-24T14:40:00.000-07:00

I have a campout coming called the boyscout camporee. This will be my second fall camporee. I am hoping this one goes well because the rest of my boyscout patrol is not going to be there, as a result, I have to join up the rowdiest, wildest, most uncontrollable patrol in the troop.These guys are so energetic that they make my bouncy, annoying younger brother look tame. I just hope they dont forget the cooking gear. If they do then I will start bringing my own gear every time I have to work with them. The camporee will be at Moose Creek. The camping area is in a meadow, with cows in it. The last time we were at Moose Creek, it was full of cow dung. So you know, I will not be posting on Friday. Also, I might not post Monday and Tuesday next week.

P.S. I am sorry about not posting flood pics like I said I would, I didnt get time to take any these last 2 days.

Asian Giant Hornet

2008-09-23T13:59:00.000-07:00

The Asian Giant Hornet (Vespa Mandarinia) has many names, such as the Japanese Giant Hornet, the Yak-Killer Hornet, the Sparrow Bee, and the Hornet from Hell. It can reach a length of 50.8 mm. (2 in.) and queens can reach 55 mm. They can have a maximum wingspan of 76 mm. (3 in.). The hornet's stinger is up to 6 mm. (1/4 in.) long and contains at least 8 different chemicals. Some of these chemicals cause pain, some dissolve flesh (even human flesh) and at least one produces a smell that attracts more hornets to sting. These hornets are very territorial and will attack absolutely anything that comes within 10 meters of a food source they are protecting. This hornet can kill about 40 bees each minute and, on average, kills 40 people in Japan each year. Note:none of these pics are mine, I found them all on the internet

Halo "Flood Infection form"

2008-09-22T10:54:00.000-07:00

In Halo, the Flood are a parasitic race that take over dead bodies and use them to find more dead bodies (or make more). The Infection form is the most basic and most common form of Flood. They look like little glowing... things, with legs. they are the smallest enemies in the game. Infection forms usually come in large swarms. When one is killed, it bursts, killing all nearby infection forms, which then burst. Due to this fact, it is often possible to kill a whole swarm with one shot. Infection forms do almost no damage to shields but do a massive amount of damage to unshielded beings.As with all flood, it is not advisable to stick plasma grenades to them, as they will bring it right back to you before it explodes.I will post pictures of all flood forms tomorrow or the next day.

Coconut Crab

2008-09-19T08:04:00.000-07:00

The coconut crab is the largest terrestrial (land dwelling) arthropod in the world. It Is Just HUGE. Coconut Crabs are known to crush coconuts with their claws. That is a big crab!

Halo "Jackal" Enemy

2008-09-18T08:17:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I posted about Halo. So I figure that now is a good time to post on Halo. The Jackal is a halo enemy that you see all over the place. I can honestly say that you can spot a good 50-100 of them or more in any level other than the first one (first level only has elites and grunts). Jackals are easy to spot, they have a large, glowing shield on their left arm. This shield is blue for minors and orange for majors. Halo 2 and 3 have sniper jackals that have no shield but rather a 2-handed "beam rifle". This post is about the minors and majors. Jackals carry plasma pistols and can use the overcharge ability on it (the overcharge has a little homing and completely drains any shield down to 0). The best way to dispatch a jackal is to either use explosives (shield can't deflect and jackals are completely oblivious to grenades in Halo 1) or plasma weapons (sustained fire will fry shield). Another option is to snipe them if your at a distance and carrying sniper rifle. The shield does have a weakness, there is a small slot from which the fire past the shield, and you can hit them through this slot. Jackals are pathetic alone and annoying in numbers.

My Brothers New Computer

2008-09-17T08:30:00.000-07:00

fortieth post! My brother's getting a new computer soon and it is currently set up in the living room. As of now it is sitting in the living room with a blank hard drive doing nothing. But soon it will be full of fun games and programs, and windows XP!

Expect pictures tomorrow or the next day.

Hamlet

2008-09-16T10:18:00.000-07:00

I recently finished reading Shakespeare's "Hamlet", and I must say, it is confusing. Some of the words were very hard to understand at first glance, but most were not that bad. I think this is a good book. I would recommend this to all experienced readers.

Funny Webcomic I Found

2008-09-15T09:53:00.000-07:00

I found a funny webcomic called "userfriendly" (www.userfriendly.org). It is a hilarious webcomic about a group of internet technicians and a few other characters. One of these characters is dust-puppy, dust-puppy is a little ball of animated lint with feet and eyes, he also dominates at quake 2. The webcomic started in 1997 and has been going 5 days a week ever since. I really like this comic and I think you will to.

My New Monitor

2008-09-12T13:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got a new monitor installed. My old monitor was a Micron PC 700EX. Needless to say, it was huge, the thing was a good foot-and-a-half long and very heavy. My new monitor is an HP 1730 flatscreen, I really like this thing, it's thin and has a crisp image. I'm glad I switched them. The only downside is that I cut my finger on a bit of frayed wire on the safety cable.

Webcomics

2008-09-10T11:07:00.000-07:00

Web comics are like the the comics in the newspaper, but are on the Internet, or the web(obviously). When looking at new web comics, be careful, some people cant resist putting a swearword of some kind in every line( I've seen them before). When you find a good one though, it is a good idea to bookmark it if you like it. One example of a good web comic is Freefall(freefall.purrsia.com) which is a fun sci-fi type web comic. There are many kinds of web comics though, like "furries", web comics in which all or most of the characters are fuzzy things. All in all, I like a good web comic.

Risk 2210 A.D.

2008-09-09T12:39:00.000-07:00

Risk 2210 A.D. is a fun world-domination strategy game. The goal of the game is simply to be in control of the most territories at the end of five turns. These five turns take about five or six hours, depending on the number of players. There five different commanders, each allows you to use command cards of the same type. The commanders are: land, water, space, diplomat, and nuclear. My favorite is the nuclear commander, nuclear command cards do a lot of damage but are hard to control. Thus, a nuclear card is just as likely to blast the user as it is to blast the intended target. This is an awesome game and I'm planning to try and set up a game with my family today.

Baby Reptiles

2008-09-08T10:41:00.000-07:00

These are some amazingly cute little reptiles.

Baby Bearded Dragon

Baby Burmese Python

Baby Red-Bellied Racer Snake

Not Sure What it is, but it's tiny and cute

I hope you like these pictures!

Cordylus Cataphractus - The Armadillo Girdled Lizard

2008-09-04T10:20:00.000-07:00

The Armadillo Girdled Lizard(Armadillo Lizard for short) is an interesting lizard. The most amazing thing about it is that the Armadillo Lizard gives birth to live young instead of laying eggs. The Armadillo Lizard is covered in large plates with spines on them. The lizard curls up when threatened in order to protect itself. Here are some pictures:

http://academic.sun.ac.za/botzoo/cindy/DSC00015.JPG

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2315/2277376556_0dda4cf401.jpg?v=0

Baby Armadillo Lizard

I personally think this is an amazing lizard

Golden Scarab Beetle (plusiotis resplendens)

2008-09-03T13:59:00.000-07:00

The Golden Scarab Beetle is a mid-sized, gold colored scarab beetle (hence the name). This is the most beautiful beetle I have ever seen. The explanation is beyond words so i will show you some pictures.

http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/989/20000035.JPG

http://www.animalpicturesarchive.com/ArchOLD-5/1132106874.jpg

Cannonball Tree

2008-09-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

The Cannonball Tree is a large, tropical tree named for its fruit. Cannonball Tree fruit looks like a cannonball and grows in large quantities around the trunk.

Cannonball Tree fruit:
http://www.worldofstock.com/slides/NTR1548.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Cannonball_Tree_Fruit.jpg

The Cannonball Tree has a very strange flower as well.It looks like it could bite your finger off when you view it from the proper angle.

Cannonball Tree flowers:
http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Cannon%20Ball%20Tree.jpg
http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/cannonball_tree.jpg

Halo CE funny pictures

2008-08-29T11:48:00.001-07:00

(1)serious B.O.
(2)laser vision
(3)DON'T SHOOT!!!
(4)bad gas
(5)fire fart

The pangolin

2008-08-28T12:27:00.000-07:00

The pangolin is a mammal that eats ants. It is known as the"Scaly Anteater" for good reason. The pangolin is covered in sharp plates, when it curls up into a ball it is practically impenetrable. Interesting fact: The Giant Pangolin has a 2 foot long tongue that is anchored to its hips. The pangolin is an awesome animal.

Here are some links to pangolin information.

http://www.vulkaner.no/n/africa/pangolin.html

Halo "sentinel" enemy(with pics)

2008-08-27T12:44:00.000-07:00

The "sentinel" is a flood containment drone built by the forerunners. Sentinels are large, flying drones with simple, color-coded identification. Silver sentinels shoot orange lasers and are called sentinel minors. Gold sentinels shoot blue lasers and are called sentinel majors. These pictures are screen shots from Halo CE. They are from a modified single-player map. Due to a glitch, the majors in these shots are silver. Enjoy!

Super Funny Video

2008-08-26T18:31:00.000-07:00

You should really see this video. It is a lot of dogs doing funny things. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At3cU20WYIM
If you like it please tell me.

Halo "Hunter" Enemy

2008-08-25T15:49:00.000-07:00

Hunters are rare, powerful, covenant-aligned enemies in the Halo series. Its impossible to mistake them for something else, they're just too big. Hunters stand a good 12 feet tall, but are almost always hunched over in a defensive position. They wear grey armor and have orange flesh. They wear a large, metal shield on their left arm and a huge "fuel rod cannon" on their right arm. Explosives work very well against hunters, but are very limited in supply. Hunters always work in pairs and one will get very aggressive when you kill the other. Their shield deflects everything but rockets and their cannon is very powerful. I think hunters are the most powerful(and coolest looking) enemies in Halo.

'Halo' synopsis/important characters

2008-08-22T12:42:00.000-07:00

Halo is a great game made by a company called Bungie. It is a first person shooter with online multiplayer. The single-player campaign is set around the year 2550A.D., when humanity is fighting a losing war against a collection of alien races known as "The Covenant". You play as a cybernetically enhanced human super soldier known as a "spartan", this spartan's name is name is "john-117" or "master chief". Shortly after starting the game you are introduced to "Cortana", a computer A.I. construct. Later, you discover an alien parasite known as "The Flood" which seeks to consume all life in the galaxy. Then you are introduced to "343 Guilty Spark" another construct, but made by an extinct race known as the "forerunners". 343 Guilty Spark (a.k.a. "spark" for short) looks a lot like a very large, floating, blue, night light and always seems to fly off to fix one thing or another right before you get swarmed by about a hundred flood, he also talks to himself all the time. I think this is a great P.C. game.

book review for "Eragon" by Christopher Paolini

2007-10-09T12:53:00.000-07:00

Hey, everyone! Sorry I did the Eldest book review before the Eragon one(oops...). Well, here it is!

At the beginning of the book, a boy named Eragon finds a strange stone while hunting in a mountain range. The stone turns out to be a dragon egg and hatches. He begins traveling with a storyteller named Brom. In the middle of the book, Eragon has many troubles with magic, urgals, and ra'zac. Tragedy stikes and Eragon cannot worry about it for long. At the end of the book, Eragon is caught in a massive battle that he wins but is injured in the process. This is a great book, if you read it you will probably love it, I know I did. 4 out of 5 stars.

Book review for "Eldest" by Christopher Paolini

2007-10-04T12:07:00.000-07:00

Eldest is the sequel to "Eragon". In the beginning of the book, Eragon is in the city of Farthen-Dur, after the battle that was at the end of the last book, when Urgals attack them even after losing the battle. A tragedy occurs and political matters must be addressed. In the middle of the book, he is in the elvish lands, Ellesmera, training when a problem arises back in the varden and Eragon returns to them. At the end of the book he fights in a massive battle(I will not say who won or who was fighting) and battles another dragon rider(I will not say who it is or who won). Parts of the story are about Roran and parts are about the varden. I recommend this book to everyone who likes dragon fantasies. 4.7 out of 5 stars.

Hurricanes

2007-09-18T14:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I wrote a report on hurricanes. My mom thought it would be a good idea to blog it, so I did.

Hurricanes are massive windstorms with winds over 74 M.P.H. Hurricane season is generally in the summer. Louisiana, Texas, and Florida are on the receiving end of many hurricanes. Hurricanes can be very deadly.

Hurricanes start over the ocean as a “tropical depression.” This is loosely defined as a jumble of clouds in a relatively small area. It needs water to be warm, around 80° F or more. The air needs to cool off quickly as it rises and as this humid air rises, it creates clouds. The wind must blow from the same direction and at the same speed, which will force air upward from the ocean. Typically, hurricanes are formed approximately 180 miles both north and south of the equator. The Corioles Force causes the spin of a hurricane.

The rotation of Earth causes the Corioles Force. If Earth did not rotate, then hurricanes would flow toward the low-pressure center. However, because Earth rotates, a hurricane travels around the low-pressure center. This low-pressure center is the “eye” of the hurricane. Airflow around hurricanes rotates in a counter-clockwise direction in the northern hemisphere, but rotates in a clockwise direction in the southern hemisphere.

Hurricanes are guided by winds in the troposphere. While over the ocean, they gain speed and momentum. When they make landfall, and the eye passes over land, the hurricane starts to slow down gradually. As the hurricane approaches land, storm surges form. Storm surges are large waves formed by the winds and force of the hurricane. Most damage overall is produced by the high-speed winds that come with a hurricane; however, most of the damage near the shoreline is done by the storm surges. For instance, Katrina’s surges took out levies in Louisiana, which caused massive flooding.

These are some special hurricanes. Hurricane Humberto was a weak Tropical depression that quickly flared up to a category 1 hurricane. Humberto's remains merged with a cold front and dropped a lot of rain on areas of Georgia and the Carolinas that were going through a heavy drought. Hurricane Dean was a mighty category 5 hurricane. Hurricanes are quite ferocious.

Here are some records.

Costliest Atlantic hurricane in history: Katrina caused $81.2 billion in damage.
Deadliest hurricane: "The Great Hurricane" of 1780 caused approximately 22,000+ deaths.
Most intense Atlantic hurricane: Wilma measured in at 882 millibars of pressure.

Hurricanes cause billions of dollars of damage each year.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix book review

2007-01-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix book review

This book is great. It starts simple then gets more interesting. I wont give away the plotline but I will say this, it is a great book. Professor Dolores Umbridge (the new defense against the dark arts teacher) is nasty. Also, Firenze (from book 1) shows up. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban report

2006-11-17T17:10:00.000-07:00

I LOVE THIS SERIES!!!!!!!!!! I finished this book in under 2 days it was so good. In the start it involves Harry inflating his aunt Marge and going to live in Diagon Alley for a while. Around the middle, he gets a new "Firebolt" broom, Hermione goes to two new classes and her schedule has two classes at 9:00 and two at 2:00, and Harry gets attacked by dementors. Near the end, Peter gets away ( I won't tell you who that is) and Gryffindor wins the house quidditch cup. IT IS A GREAT BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Six out of five stars!

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets report

2006-10-11T13:29:00.000-07:00

This is a wonderful book. It starts off with Harry's birthday (That part is somewhat boring to me). Later it gets more interesting when Harry and Ron fly in a car, get attacked by a tree called a "Whomping Willow", and repot mandrakes. During a game of qudditch, Harry gets attacked by a bludger that will only target him. Later on, a monster starts attacking the school and and several students and a ghost get petrified. I will not give away the end. This is an awesome book!

Harry Potter and the sorcerers stone review

2006-09-27T13:20:00.000-07:00

Hi, Its me again, I blasted through this three hundred nine page book in two days. Well, on to the review. This is a book about Harry Potter, a boy who survived an attack from a dark wizard named Voldimort when he was a baby. In the beggining of the book, Harry is being cared for, or rater, abused by, his uncle, aunt, and cousin, the Dursleys. Midway through he is enrolled at Hogwarts but I will not tell you what that is. In the end he defeats Voldimoert than goes home. This is probably the best book I have read.

"The Eagle of the Ninth" report

2006-09-19T16:27:00.000-07:00

Hi, sorry it has been so long since I posted last. Well, on to the first book report of the blog. The classic book "The Eagle of the Ninth" is about a Roman cohort named Marcus and later a slave named Esca joins in. The basic storyline goes as such: Marcus is at a fort which gets attacked, is wounded, and goes to live with his uncle. After a while, he tries to find the missing Roman Eagle of the Ninth legion. On the way he meets then leaves Guern, who is a hunter. Later he finds the eagle, gets gets hunted by tribesman wanting it back then makes it home. It is an absloutley wonderful book.

Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest

2006-07-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

Pirates of the Carribean DMC is a VERY fun movie the start is a litte bland but then it gets very exiting. I like all the battles a lot. Just watch out for the part where Will is following a black string through the jungle, I got scared out of my skin. It is a great movie. Four out of five stars!

My mom

2006-02-16T19:59:00.000-07:00

She copes with fights,
She copes with plights,
Through the days,
And through the nights,
Fight after fight she copes,
Who is she?,
She's my mom,
And my mom is she,
I love her!

2006-02-09T19:05:00.000-07:00

Thunder storms by matthew

A boom is heard,
Clouds are seen,
Through the sky,
The lightning arcs,
A tree is struck,
And bursts into flame,
A house is struck,
And does the same.

Dove

2006-01-12T18:24:00.000-07:00

Dove

Dove is a book about a boy who sailed around the world in a 24-foot long sloop. The story begins with a boy going to school, practicing sea navigation, and getting a boat. In the middle of the book, he finds a girl called Patti, who he later marries, but first he gets very lonely on the open sea. At the end of the book, He settles down and makes a home. It is a great book.

Cul-de-sac kids book 6 review

2005-11-28T18:57:00.000-07:00

In This book Dunkum Mifflin's basketball is stolen.

Haiku by Matthew Hafner

2005-11-22T16:46:00.000-07:00

"The Wind"

I blow through the trees.
I blow around the world.
I keep airplanes up.

Cul-de-sac kids book 5 review

2005-11-22T15:56:00.000-07:00

In this book, Stacy overcomes her dislike of frogs.

Cul-de-sac kids book 4 review

2005-11-22T15:53:00.000-07:00

In this book,Jason Birchall pigs out on chocolate and has a nightmare.

Cul-de-sac kids book 3 review

2005-11-17T13:18:00.000-07:00

In this book a strange man named Mr. Tressler moves in.It is one of the best of the six that I have.

Cul-de-sac kids book 2 review

2005-11-16T16:44:00.001-07:00

In this book, Abby Hunter is planning a suprise cake for her brothers birthday, when, one by one, all the other kids get the chicken pox. It is a good book.

Cul-de-sac kids book 1 review

2005-11-15T15:38:00.000-07:00

Cul-de-sac kids is a series of bible-based books by Beverly Lewis. In book one, Abby Hunter and her family are going to meet their four new adopted Korean sisters, but when the plane arrives, they are not on board, two Korean boys are instead. They wind up with two rowdy boys instead of four sisters.At first Abby and her sister Carly are not happy, but later they accept the boys. This is a great book.

Runescape review

2005-11-04T16:11:00.000-07:00

Runescape is an online multiplayer role-playing adventure game at runescape.com. The first thing you do is create a character, then you begin on tutorial island where you learn the basics. Then when you are done, you go to Lumbrige, a little rustic town. You cannot go everywhere unless you are a member. The other non-members only towns are Falador, home of the white knights, Varrock, a busy city, Al Kahirid, a desert town, Port Sarim, a port town, and many more. There are a lot of weapons that you can get, including crossbows, bow and arrows, 2 handed swords, daggers, and battle axes. You can also use a wide variety of magical attacks. There are a whole lot of enemies to, but I,ll let you figure those out. this is a great game.

Star Wars Bounty Hunter review

2005-09-26T15:20:00.000-07:00

Star Wars Bounty Hunter is a third person shooter for ps2. I have to say, it is a great game. Here are some enemies (red shots are inaccurate, green shots are very accurate, blue shots are usually inaccurate but are always strong): Grans, Aqualish, and Rodians aren't that bad and only shoot red shots but on Malastare, Grans even shoot missiles. Oovo IV guards shoot red, green and occasionally blue shots they also use electro staffs which are melee but do a chunk of damage finally, prisoners do a chunk of damage with their fists. Dugs shoot red, green, and sniper shots and will also use grenades but have less health. Nexus (pronounced nexoos) are VERY, VERY, VERY nasty unless you use a toxic dart, because they leap at you and if that leap hits you it will then claw you to death for sure because you won't be able to get up. Oh yeah, Nexus have as much health as you do. There are also Trandoshans, which shoot blue shots and Gammoreans with vibro-axes. Finally there are Bando Gora, brainwashed beings under the control of Komari Vosa, there are three types of Bando Gora: grunts, which use their fists to kill you in four, yes 4 hits, chieftains, which are stronger but easier to spot, and the worst are the snipers, they aren't as strong as Dug snipers but shoot faster and straighter with their blowguns and are usually really far away. This game is very fun.

X-Wing Alliance

2005-09-13T16:11:00.000-07:00

X-Wing Alliance is a pc game where you fly a ship through space and blow up your enemies. There are what seems like HUNDREDS of ships, although you can not fly them all you can fly lots of them. Different ships have different weapons, top speeds and durabilities, laser cannons damage and destroy ships and ion cannons bring down shields then disable the enemy. The Missle Boat for instance can have LOTS of warheads but has only one laser cannon, although it can travel very fast. The B-Wing is slower and can carry less warheads but has three laser cannons and three ion cannons. It is a great game.