Recently Read #9

Today I was on msn.com, and I found an article about the top baby names of 2008. The top ten girls names were: 1. Isabella 2. Ava 3. Emily 4. Elizabeth 5. Abigail 6. Madison 7. Emma 8. Addison 9. Madeline 10. Olivia. The top ten boys names were: 1. Aidan 2. Jayden 3. Jacob 4. Michael 5. Ethan 6. Caden 7. James 8. Caleb 9. Andrew
10. Matthew. The article said that Isabella joined the list for the first time ever, which is new, and that this isn't the first year that Aidan has been the top boys name.

Recently Read #8

Recently, I read an article on Aol.com, about the top places people DONT want to live in the U.S. Chicago was the first one- the winters are too cold, and only 8 percent of workers want to move there. The next city was New Orleans- since hurricane Katrina, the murder rate has increased,tourism has suffered, and the population has decreased. Next was Los Angeles- it's exciting, but traffic clogged, polluted, and expensive. Detroit's top two negative attributes were image and health/safety. The last unwanted place to live was New York City- the sky-high rates for small apartments, and long crowded commutes were some negatives shown in the article. I thought this article was interesting because you would think that a lot of these cities were popular and people want to live in them.

Recently Read #7

Today I read an article on cnn.com called "Bring up Baby with safe and green toys". This article was about how to avoid buying toys that aren't safe or environmentally safe. A doctor says that it's a good idea to choose toys that are natural, like wood ones and cotton wool or hemp, because these are safer. The doctor says that toxins can be found in plastic toys, like PVC. This article also talked about safer diapers, foods, etc. I thought this was an interesting article because lots of people donate toys to charity around this time of year, but people might want to think twice about what they donate.

Recently Read #6

Today I came across a list of random facts, so I read it. There were a lot of good ones, and they were pretty interesting too. Some of them were that; Grizzly bears can go up to three weeks without going to the bathroom, Lewis and Clark ate at least 9 bald eagles during their explorations, the most common death of amish men is high blood pressure, and Martin Luther King Jr lip synched most of his I have a Dream speech. I thought that these facts were funny, and I had a good time reading them.

Recently Read #5

I read an article in the New York Times about a new test that can tell parents what sports their small kids will be good at. A company called Genetics offers a test that cost 149$. It's simple, all they do is swab the inside of the kid's cheek for DNA, and then send it into a lab to get the ACTN3 analyzed, which is a gene. This test is supposed to tell if a kid could be better at speed and power sports (football/sprinting), or at endurance sports (distance running). This test is pretty accurate, but experts don't want people to depend on them. More research should be done, and these tests might not even affect anything. I think that parents shouldn't base everything their kids do off these tests, and kids should try everything to see what their best at, so that they have more experience and more fun.

Recently Read #4

Recently, I have read an editorial in the New York Times about the Frank R. Lautenberg train station off the New Jersey turnpike. 450 million dollars were spent building this station, but there isn't a parking lot anywhere near it. Anyone that wants to drive to it, can't, so the station is very underused. They also spent millions on a long exit ramp off the turnpike to get to the station, but if you can't park at the station, then why would you use the exit ramp. I think that this is kind of pointless and a waste of money, and the people who designed it should have spent more time planning it out. This article is good to be out on the internet though, because now architects and other designers might think these things out before they build them.

Recently Read #3

I finished the twilight book. Bella stayed in hiding for a little while with Edward's brother and sister, but then gets a call from the tracker telling her that she has to meet him alone or else he will kill her mother. Bella is terrified, but she goes to meet him. He nearly kills her until Edward comes to the rescue and saves her life. Bella is very hurt, but they cover it up by telling everyone she fell down a set of stairs. This is the last straw for Bella, and she decides that she has to become a vampire to stay with Edward, who she's in love with. He thinks its a bad idea and doesn't want to turn her into one, but she finally convinces him, and the book ends by him biting into her neck.

Recently Read #2

I am still reading Twilight, and it is getting pretty exciting. After Bella finds out Edward Cullen is a vampire, he swears her to secrecy- but its not like she would tell anyone anyways because she's in love with him. Bella breaks the news to her dad that she is dating Edward, and he's surprised about her choice (he's the town cop and knows everyone). The Cullens always kept to themselves and never really mingled with anyone else, so its surprising to him that she is dating Edward. One day while Bella is playing baseball with the Cullens, another group of vampires encounters the, and become interested in her because she is a human. One of the vampires is a 'tracker', and decides he is going to track Bella down and attack her. Edward wants to protect her, so he sends her off with his brother in sister and now she is in hiding...

QUARTER 2. Recently Read#1

Right now I am reading a book called Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer. It's a really popular series right now, and I think it's a really good book. Bella (the main character) left her mom in Phoenix to go live with her dad in Washington, and her life changes a lot from hers in Phoenix. In Phoenix, Bella was an outcast and didn't really have any friends, but once she gets to Forks, everyone wants to be her friend and a bunch of the guys are fighting for her. The only guy she really likes, though, seems like he hates her, but his mood changes after a while and he seems really interested in her. After Edward saves her life, they get to know eachother, and she thinks she's in love with him. She soon figures out that he's a vampire.. and I guess we will see what happens next.

Recently Read #8

I was reading through a bunch of fun facts of the day on a random website, and I found a lot of funny and interesting ones. 5 that I found were:
1. The game of checkers is banned in North Korea
2. The Cat in the Hat's first name is Abraham
3. When chiauas get stressed, they eat their young
4. The 5 dollar bill is the heaviest piece of paper currency in the U.S.
5. Professional sumo wrestlers pay income tax based on their weight

There were a bunch of other facts, and I had a good time reading through them.

Recently Read #7

I found a Time magazine about Australia, and there was an article inside about the things that make a 5-star hotel perfect. One thing was room numbers- the best number of rooms to have is 150 rooms, so that guests feel like they are number 1, and 200 rooms in Europe. Another thing is check-in times, instead of making a guest check in at a certain time, find out when they need to check in- they will spend more in bars, etc. One other thing was to keep it fresh, like polishing marble and fixing furniture. The best time do do this is in the middle of the day, when the guests are out or haven't checked in yet. I thought this article was interesting because I never really thought of the background work that goes into running a hotel.

Recently Read #6

I was looking through a Minnesota Monthly magazine, and saw a question someone asked about the weather recently. His question was- "It seems like every time I want to have a fire in my deck-side fire pit, it's too windy. Is it my imagination, or has it really been windier recently?" Paul Douglas answered, and said that it seems like it's been windier lately, but if anything, it's been slightly less windier over the past months. I thought this was interesting, because I haven't really noticed if it's windy or not, but now i'll pay more attention.

Recently Read #5

Something I have recently read is an article from cnn.com called "Depressed astronauts to find hi-tech comfort". Astronauts spend months at a time without seeing their families, friends, or getting fresh air, so some get pretty depressed. Scientists are trying to create a computer that will give the comfort and warmth of a human therapist. It's a recorded video therapists who helps the people identify their problems, and make a plan to fight depression. This program is going to take a long time to develop, but it's expected to be good. I think it's kind of a weird idea, but it will probably work.

HEROES IN A BOX.

YOUNG HEROES
Alexandra Scott- A cancer patient who decided when she was 4 years old that she wanted to hold a lemonade stand to benefit other people with cancer. By the end of her short lifetime, she had raised over 1 million dollars for childhood cancer.



Suzie Tipton- She was born 13 weeks premature, and suffered a bunch of strokes during birth. Suzie was adopted, and always needed lots of equipment, like wheelchairs. She realized these things were expensive, and that some families who needed this equipment couldn't afford it. She created a 'loan closet', where families could trade out old equipment for new equipment. She has won 2 1000 dollar grants, and continues to expand her foundation.






Kayla Cornale- She was motivated to help her cousin with autism to learn to read and spell, so she invented "Sounds and SyllablesT". This program applied pitch to the process of learning language, and helped many autistic kids. Kayla was one of 19 students from Canada to represent at the Science and Engineering fairs in Arizona























Bethany Hamilton- She was attacked by a shark off the coast of Hawaii in 2003, and lost her left arm, and almost her life. She has made her way through this tragedy and continues to surf and give inspiration to other people. She has written a biography called 'Soul Surfer', and a movie was produced about her. Bethany has been a role model for people trying to get through tough times.













Conclusion: Through reading about these different young people who have added great things to the world, I have learned that it doesn't matter how old someone is, they can still change the world and people's lives.

Recently Read #4

Something i have recently read is an article on msn.com called 'Kids less likely to graduate than parents'. This article is about how kids have become less likely to graduate than their parents, and how the states aren't doing anything to change this. More than half the states have graduation goals that don't let schools get better, and other countries in the world are passing us. It says that the reason states have set these goals so low is because they already are under pressure to improve test scores, so they are taking the pressure off grades. We also have one of the highest dropout rates, with 1 in 4 students dropping out before graduating. I thought this article was interesting because I always thought that our schools were really good, but I guess they aren't as good as they could be.

Recently Read #3

Something i have recently read is a short story called 'One Final Lesson', from the book Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul. This story is about a girl who's two best friends innocently died. They were out on a lake in a small boat on the last day of school, just enjoying themselves. The calm water turned choppy when a storm came, and the 3 kids were thrown out of the boat, 2 didn't make it. The way this story is written is in the perspective of one of the kids that died, and it gives an interesting look on dying. The boy sees search parties for him, his family mourning, etc., and doesn't realize he's invisible when he is trying to yell to everyone. As the boy watches his own funeral, he realizes he's actually dead. I thought this was an good (and sad) story, because it was a different way of looking at a death.

Recently Read #2

Something i have read recently is an article on cnn.com about the OJ Simpson trial in 1995. OJ was found innocent then, but now the jurors from that case are saying that they actually thought he was guilty. I thought this was interesting because if the jurors had said what they thought back then, then he would have been in prison all these years.

Recently Read #1

Lately, I read the book A Million Little Pieces. It was very good and became one of my favorites. This book is about a drug addict in who goes to treatment in Minnesota, and the reason i liked it was because it seemed so real, and not covered up or hidden. The reader gets to experience rehab with James Frey, the author, and the book had a really good message.

BUbbLe MaP

Nineteen Minutes

One of my favorite books of all time is called Nineteen Minutes. It is written by Jodi Picoult who has also written many other books, such as My Sister's Keeper and The Pact. This book is about a boy who could never fit in at school and was always picked on. He came to school with a gun and affected so many lives around him by killing 12 of his classmates. This story was really touching because it made me realize how easily something like this could happen at my school, all starting with a little boy who was made fun for as long as he can remember.

Hall Of Fame

Kirstin graduated from Edina High School in 2011, receiving many honors. She went to Michigan State University and went on to start her own architectural and interior design business, and has designed houses and buildings for celebrities all over the world. She has also done some pretty exciting things in her life, such as swimming from the North Pole to the South Pole, biking up Mt. Everest, and hang gliding across the country. Kirstin has also traveled to poverty-stricken countries around the globe, donating schools and hospitals with her enormous wealth from her design business. Kirstin now lives on the East Coast.

Bubble Map Paragraph

Adaptable: I consider myself a pretty adaptable person. I'm up for anything, so when new things come my way, I jump at the chance to try something new. I think life gets boring unless you try new things, which is another reason why I'm welcome to change. When plans change, I'm not the type to get mad, I just try to go with the flow and have fun. I think I have pretty much always been this way, because I don't remember ever missing out on anything because I didn't want change.