eBooks-Oh the Delicious Irony

In science, in my first week of school, on 8-20-10, we talked about technology. One point that was raised was that one of the negative things about technology was that it made us lazy. And we stumbled on eBooks...

eBooks. What are eBooks.A ridiculous type of book with the letter e before it. Of course it isn't. It's a ridiculous type of electronic book. Electronic book, you say? Heresy, I say. BLASPHEMY! And the irony, don't get me started! Books created irony, and where do they go? Out the window when all sorts of newfangled contraptions like Kindles and Nooks, and the greatest evil, THE IPAD come to the world!

eBooks require the internet to get any books at all. Where's the accessibility in that, eh? And they are so EXPENSIVE! $200 could go so far. You could buy 10 nice, big, interesting books with that kind of money! And what about the libraries? Well, two things, of course! First, there is no "eBook library", and the creators wouldn't spend the money or time to code it, as it is difficult. And money, of course, is the other issue. Think of all the libraries the government is spending millions of dollars on! That's millions and millions, maybe even BILLIONS of dollars lost if everyone gets an eBook reader. And all the librarians will lose their jobs, and the billions of dollars spent on them will be lost too. There won't be any book signings anymore, either. What're you going to do, sign the eBook? *sigh* Better get a new Kindle, permanent marker won't come off... And where is the ambiance of scrolling your hand across a piece of plastic? There is no smell of fresh print, or yellow parchment, or hand-drawn pictures in eBooks. Isn't it so satisfying to flip a page in a book and learn a crucial part of the story. *engage stupid and unrealistic voice of girl who can't speak in complete sentences* OMG, like, flipping is, like, so, like, old. You must be, like, 30 to, like, flip a, like, what do you call them? Pages? Those are, like, so, like, old fashioned. And they use, like, legible and, like, complete, like, what are they? Sentences? OMG! Argh, typing this absolute garbage makes me cry. And if we keep advancing, eBooks will read to US, and no one will be able to read. People will get rid of books, and authors won't make physical copies of their books. What a dystopia. Another dystopia I heard about was when, a few years ago, I saw the back of a book called The Last Book in the Universe, and that book was the last book in the universe. Why do something as mundane as reading when you can just take a shot that tells the whole story, as if you were living it, in a millisecond. OH THE HUMANITY, WHY!

But, as much as I dislike eBooks, there are some good points. Making them is eco-friendly, compared to making millions of pages of paper. Still, plastic isn't bio-degradable... And jobs are also made by eBook manufacturing. And you can have a 3,500
book library in a 10" by 10" piece of plastic. And maybe libraries could still exist and lend books, since you can't buy every eBook.

We shouldn't let technology make us lazy, but we also shouldn't stagnate and never make stuff easier for ourselves with technology. A balance must be struck.

Well, I'm done here. I only have a certain amount of cynical wordplay and skeptics I can dispense in a day. But the dislike of eBooks is real. Think on it.

Iron Hills Triathalon

Yesterday, 8-21-10, I went to the Iron Hills Youth Triathalon. A triathalon is a athletic race in which competitors bike, swim, and run. At Iron Hills, I was in the 11-15 age group, so I had to swim 8 25 meter laps, bike 6.6 miles, and run 1.4 miles. People participate in triathalons because it is a good test of endurance and speed, as well as good exercise.

In the morning, I woke up at 4:30 A.M. and we left for the triathalon at 5:55 A.M. The triathalon was2 hours away, at El Dorado Hills, so we had to get up early to get there before it started at 8:30 A.M.

I registered 1 week before the triathalon. I had gone to 4 weeks of swim camp, coincidentally, and I was riding my bike most days in the summer as well. In my one week, I ran 2 days and did much more biking for 3 days.

I was in the 5th heat of swimming. In swimming, I was 8th, I think. Then we went biking in our swimming clothes. Real warm guys, real warm. The last bit was running. I went the whole way, and I was the slowest, but at least I didn't give up like some people. The triathalon was meant to be a "friendly, non-competitive challenge", so I didn't care what place I was in.

All the people who worked on the triathalon were very good. They encouraged me a lot even when I going really slowly and was having a hard time. When I finished, they applauded my endurance.

At the award ceremony, they called me up for third place, but then told me that it was a mistake and I was fourth. But in the girls list of times, I was number 3. I guess that that's okay, since I was one of the younger participants in the 11-15 age group, and the even younger kids started earlier and had less to do, so I guess I did well. I'm just happy the I finished the race, instead of giving up. Some kids did give up, I'm just happy I wasn't one of them. Finally, my family and I were happy. My parents thought that I wouldn't finish, which they told me after the triathalon. Thanks for the confidence, guys. Thanks...

Learning HTML

This summer, I have been learning HTML. At first, I couldn't even get it to register as HTML, but my dad helped me figure it out. FYI, a notepad HTML file has to be in All Files. Anyway, I kept learning it from davesite.com! Visit DaveSite! That was a link! I made it with HTML. At first, I did easy tasks like bolding, italicizing, making horizontal lines, etc etc. Then I started my website, Chez La Homei. It's based after our Christmas feast, which you can read about in a previous post.At first, I just came up with simple words. Then I added a few fonts and a little color. The I made some unordered list for a simple menu. The next thing I made was pictures. I had to debug it a lot because I kept messing it up. I now know that to make a picture, I have to use an "img src" tag with the web address of the picture, the EXACT address. Then I turned the pictures into thumbnails. It took me a longer time to figure that out because for that, the internet was absolutely useless. I had to crop pictures in paint, put them in a different page, put the "a href tag" with the real pictures address and "img src" as the address of the cropped picture. I then added staff biographies with a lot of color and fonts. Then I put up a video and added even MORE colors and fonts, as well as splitting the menu and adding some new items. Then I had to web host it. At first, I thought Yahoo hosting was just a text editor. Then I tried to make a page with a different thing, but the page got butchered for no apparent reason. I kept trying to fix it, but my first choice couldn't be edited, and the second wouldn't show up. Finally, I figured out that the code had to be in Index.html. I had posted all the pictures on this blog and put the pictures up with them, since the pictures wouldn't show up if I didn't bring it from the Internet. Then I had to get rid of them and instead used the code. Turns out the addresses stayed the same when I put them up on a virtually inaccessible part of my website that only I can access and I linked the pictures. Finally, it's done, and I got $20 for making it! I'm going to continue fixing up my website and by next year, I'll be studying Java. Go visit Chez La Homei! BTW, both links in this post were made by me using HTML.

P.S. School starts tomorrow

Despicable Me Movie Review

Intro:

Yesterday, 8/9/10(oh wow), I went to see Despicable Me. I've wanted to see for the whole summer, and next Monday is my first day of school, so I had to see it. And I wasn't disappointed.

Overview:

In Despicable Me, the pyramids are stolen, and the greatest villain in the world, Gru, becomes number two to Vector. Now he wants to steal the moon and reclaim his throne, but the Bank of Evil(formerly Lemen Brothers) won't fund him. He has to steal a shrink ray, which is stolen by Vector. Then he tries to steal it back... and fails miserably. But then he sees Vector's weakness: cookie selling orphan girls. He adopts them and he is very negligent. But he learns to like them. Watch the movie to learn how to heist of the century goes.

Other:

I felt a little sad about Gru's unkindness, but eh. Nothing much. I rate it an excellent. Make a Despicable Me Too(a name like Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa) and add some emotion and I might just rate it Phenomenal.

Treasure Island- The Musical Review

Intro:

My sister was in a musical based on the book Treasure Island, and I think you all know what that is.

Overview:

As is obvious, this is based around the book Treasure Island. It is a bit simplified, but that happens with every musical. I feel that the actors were a bit nervous as they started, but soon gained more confidence. At first, they were a little quiet, which made it difficult to figure out how the story began, but as it went on I gathered more info. A boy finds a treasure map when a ship captain dies next to them. He gets onto a ship and meets a group of sailors and pirates. After learning of the treasure map, the pirates start a mutiny and kidnap the boy and the map. The pirates go searching for it on an island, but find that a tribe of natives already used it. But after the pirates were captured, they learned that the treasure hadn't been used and the natives had lied. They take back the treasure and the boy decides to become a seaman.

Other:

There were a few casting errors, such as one of the shortest girls was an older sibling. The younger one was a full head taller. The actors gained confidence as time went. While the story seemed a bit vague, there was more to it than at first glance. The songs were a bit quirky though. To see why, think of this: a song about eating apples that goes like this: An apple a day keeps a doctor away. Some of the better actors were Long John Silver, the ship capatain, and my sister. They talked loudly and were very clear. I thought my sister's character, Alana, was a bit like her. Overall, it's a nice, solid good. Everyone in my family loved it.



(Please pay no attention to what's below this, I just want to remember it)

MAGICAL PEANUT BUTTER THREE TREE!

Manoj's Visit

On 7/29/10, my cousin Manoj visited us. It was years since he last came. He was 16 and was here because he needed to see some colleges. He was really nice to me and my sister. We went to Stanford University,UC Berkeley, San Fransisco, and a few other places. On the 30th, we went to Stanford in the morning(look at my Stanford blog) and watched Harry Potter 5 at night. Sadly, we didn't finish. The next day, we went to San Fransisco. We were there from noon to 6. Then we went to UC Berkeley by my parents' friend. Afterwards, we went home. The next and last day, Manoj was leaving. In the morning, I played Spore Hero with him and he taught me about some of the biology he was studying. In the afternoon, we went to Baskin Robbins and got ice-cream. After that, we went to Barnes and Nobles and my parents bought him a e-book reader called a Nook. Then we went back home, ate, and dropped him off at the airport. I really miss him because he was here for only a few days, but we had the same interests.

The Pun Punk(now alternating with Wisecrack Wizard and Cynical Sorcerer)

Intro:
I now will be alternating with a new name: Wisecrack Wizard. And I came up with another one right now: Cynical Sorcerer.

8/4/10

(Airline) Soap Operas.

Intro:I was complaining about my parents HORRIBLE soap operas when I made this.

Pun:
I wish they at least used BRAND soap in your soap operas, but NOOOO, they have to use that garage they give on airliners.

Wisecrack Wizarding!

Sue the Writers!

Intro:I made this pun a long time ago because my parents were so good at guessing what would happen next.

Pun:
You should really sue those writers, because they keep stealing your ideas! And we should get someone to EMP our house... it'll kill all our electronics, but at least we won't be bugged by secret cameras.

Wisecrack Wizarding!

-Pun Punk, Wisecrack Wizard, Cynical Sorcerer

Stanford

Yesterday 7/29/10, my cousin Manoj came to see us. He is looking at colleges because soon he’ll have to go to one. Today we looked at Stanford University. Stanford University is a really nice place. All the classes are after 9:00 A.M., so it is not like you have to wake up at 7:00 in the morning and go through classes groggily. The libraries are really good. They have a lot of books, but they also have other things. There are libraries for different subjects, one is basically a place for studying, and there is also a media library. They have a DVD collection second to only Netflix (which is pretty ridiculous, seeing as Netflix is a VIDEO-RENTING OPERATION) and every single videogame console and just about every game you’ll ever want. It’s really nice to go there and do “research”. There is also free electronic equipment for students to rent. The campus is utterly enormous, second only to a college in Moscow, if my memory is correct. Biking is the prime mode of transportation. Students also get 21 meals a week, but can optionally cook for themselves. If the eat less than 21 meals, they get credit to spend at the auxiliary eateries. Overall, it is really nice.

My Dad’s Birthday

This year, my dad turned 41. I wanted to do something different than normal, and so I took a leaf out of my sister’s book and made food. I made smoothies and stuffed dates. My first smoothie was absolutely horrible. It was strawberry milk with grape juice smoothefied. It was tasteless. Next, I mixed ice-cream with milk and strawberry syrup to smoothefy. It was SO much better. Then I made stuffed dates with cashews and grapes. I shaped them as a 41 and made a frame of 6 grape kebabs. It was a really
messy day, but the end result was good.