Book Review!

It took me six months but I FINALLY FINISHED! WOOOOOOOO! 6 MONTHS! FINISHED! :D I feel so accomplished! It was 500 PAGES! 500 PEOPLE! FIVE-HUNDRED! HUNDREDS OF FIVES! FIVE HUNDRED! Okay, so now that I've gotten that out of my system, on to the reveiw. The book is called Peter and the Starcatchers, and it's about a boy named Peter and a girl he meets named Molly. There is a trunk full of a stuff called Stardust that has magical powers and the starcatchers are the good people that collect the dust and keep it away from the bad guys that use it for evil. The book was overall good and I would read it if I were you, just don't read it if you're a slow reader or you don't like long books, because boy let me tell you...!

Out of ten I would of gave this book an 8 because it was fast paced. On the down side, it was way too long and had too much stuff going on at once. At times there were four different scenes happening simultaneously with different characters, and at the end of each chapter they would switch to a different character! It was so annoying!

But yeah, this book was a good read - just don't read it if you don't like 500 page books... like me!

WHOLPHINS!

HEHEHEHEHE! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS! WHOLPHINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who knows what a WHOLPHIN is? Well I'm sure you can tell by the name, it's a mix of a dolphin and a whale... a WHOLPHIN! These creatures are amazing! They are all said to be in the wild, except for two in a zoo and they're both in Hawaii! I LOVE WHOLPHINS. THEY ARE SO CUTE. AND THEY HAVE AN AWESOME NAME. Wholphins are my favorite animal now:) Everyone should know about WHOLPHINS!!!

Gloria Stuart

Mostly everyone has seen the Titanic. I think it's because it's the highest grossing movie of all time... oh wait, no it's not. That's Avatar now. But it's directed by the same director so it's the same thing, right? Anyway, this old lady, Gloria Stuart, had the good fortune to get herself into the second most watched movie of all time! ALL TIME!!!!!!!!

Now she was famous when she was younger... MUCH MUCH MUCH YOUNGER, might I add. She was famous wayyyyy back in the 1930's... that's right about 80 years ago. Back even before WWII! The fact of staying alive for that long is quite an accomplishment to me! But she didn't achieve the kind of fame she did when she was young as she did when she starred in Titanic at the age of 87 playing Rose, a 101-year old survivor of the Titanic. If Gloria was never in Titanic she would have most likely died quietly and no one, besides her family of course, would have probably noticed. Yet she made it to 100 and famous! Cool.

Flight of the Bumblebee

What the? What? WOWWW! This must have taken him forever! No, really, it must have taken him forever. 1,600 picture with a 30 second break after each note means that it took him 13 hours to play the song. (I did the math!) And then he had to edit it!

The piece he was playing was the Flight of the Bumblebee! It's a famous piece written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. I love this piece. I first heard it on one of my video games! (Naturally. That's where I hear everything. Meaning all I do is play video games, in case you didn't figure out what I was trying to say!)

Anyway... I thought I had no life! But I admire this guy for doing this though! I know I could never do something like this... unless I could do it all at once. I wouldn't have the patience to record something for 13 hours straight!

One other thing I thought was well done was the way the background changed. That was pretty cool.

HUMAN POWERED HELICOPTER?!?

WHAT? WHAT?!?!?!? WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Wow, this kid is magnificent. JUST MAGNIFICENT! An engineering student suceeded where DaVinci failed? I can't even imagine that feeling!

A Canadian university student named Tod Reichert piloted a human-powered plane that I like to call the wing flapper! (It's usually called an ornithopter though.) The machine was first sketched by Da Vinci way back in 1485... I can't believe his plan survived all the way to this day!

Tod stayed in the air for 19.3 seconds and covered 475.72 feet! He named his "wing flapper" Snowbird! The 92.59 pound vehicle maintained an average speed of 15.91 miles per hour! I can go that fast on a bike! This plane may not be the fastest thing around today, but if it had been built back in Da Vinci's time, it might have been!

HPO Flight from U of T Engineering on Vimeo.

Skateboarding at School?!?

Skateboarding at school. Bad, right? At least that's what I thought! I thought schools didn't want kids skateboarding on campus in case they got hurt because then it would be the school's fault! But I was, in fact, mistaken! You heard right. MISTAKEN! Schools are ENCOURAGING skateboarding! Whaa?!?!? Yeah, that's what I said...

This all happened when a teacher, and also a good parent, took his kids to a skate park. He saw the kids all exercising and getting tired and he even saw a couple of kids from his class! I'm happy I wasn't those kids! It's a kid's worse nightmare to see their teachers out of class! Anyway, this teacher, who is a smart teacher in my opinion because he's helping kids get out and be active, went to the school board. The school board approved his idea - which is the idea to use skateboards in P.E. class - and kids are lovvvvvin' it! If that comes to my school everyone will have an A+ because everyone skates! (Except me!)

The kids probably love that teacher now and the new version of P.E. has spread out to 500 schools in 31 different states! What a great cool way to make us kids healthier, Teach. I just might nominate you for Teacher of the Year!

Okay Go Dogs!

Wow! I didn't know you could train dogs so well and to behave so perfectly when around other dogs! But in this video down below, the 4 guys from OK Go show us some pretty amazing tricks that you won't believe until you see them with your own eyes!




Now the amazing thing about this video is that the entire thing was done in one take! I couldn't believe it - and that's amazing since I believe almost anything! I guess most people would call me gullible! This is so amazing. I don't know how long it would've taken me! It would have probably taken me my whole life! Even my dog I've owned for two years doesn't listen when I tell him to sit! That's just a shame after seeing what these dogs have done!

Giganto Snails!

What a stupid boy and a stupid mistake this stupid boy made back in 1966. If it wasn't for this IDIOT we wouldn't have these giant snails in Florida or anywhere in the United States! The mistake this boy made was that he smuggled three snails into the South Florida area, in Miami. He was keeping them as pets. Hey, guess what, they grew too big! His grandmother later released them into the garden. I bet you wouldn't guess that seven years later, their population had grown to 18,000! EIGHTEEN. THOUSAND. EIGTHEEEEEEN THOUSAAAAAAAAND!!!

Giant African snails won’t bite, but they are carriers of parasites, and they will chew up anything in their path. So please, just don't buy them as pets, peoples!

Florida finally got rid of all the snails in the wild but people still keep them as pets, even though it is illegal! I bet they're saying, I don't care if it's illegal! I have a nice cute little snail. But they have yet to find out that it shall soon be bigger than them! Muhahahahah!

World's Oldest Man's Birthday Today!

A Montana resident believed to be the world's oldest man celebrated his 114th birthday today! Phew, man is this guy old! I'd have to live 8 of my lifetimes to be as old as he is!

Walter Breuning was born on Sept. 21, 1896. That's in the 19th century, yo! He's lived in three different centuries, the 19th, the 20th, and now the 21st! Wow! I bet there aren't too many people who can claim that!

Walter moved to Montana in 1918. (That, in case you didn't know, was when the First World War ended.) He then worked as a clerk for the Great Norther Railway for 50 years! 50 YEARS! 50, people!!!!!

His wife died in 1957 and the couple had no children...

Walter had joked around (I hope) that the secret to long life was "Cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women and a good sense of humor." The good sense of humor part I buy.

Walter has celebrity status at the retirement home where he lives, with visitors waiting in line to see him! I wouldn't really want to be the oldest person on Earth, but I wouldn't mind being famous. :)

Lost Luggage

I've always wondered what happens to luggage that never finds its owner. I'm one of the lucky ones that haven't lost my luggage yet! But if I had, I just found out that there is a center in the U.S. where all the lost luggage goes. Eventually, if the luggage is never claimed, they sell it! The center has been processing more than one million such pieces annually since it opened in 1970! That's 40 million pieces of luggage!

An weird coincidence happened the other day. Some lady lost a ring that she bought for $46,000. She wanted another one just like it so she bought one for $23,000 from a couple in Tennessee... and found out it was the exact same ring she'd lost! The nice couple gave her the ring for free! What nice people! But I wonder how they got it in the first place?

The Things People Do To Save Money!

This man is a very crazy man! Talk about cheap! When he'd just bought his first house, he would cut back on expenses by keeping the ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise packets from fast-food restaurants! Then he'd save up the packets and fill up his empty bottles at home! He even had close family members save the packets for him!!! He also never purchased drinks at restaurants and always took their orders to go so he could go home and drink tap water or soft drinks purchased on sale or with coupons... I can't believe I thought my dad was cheap! If you're like me you have to be thinking What the heck is wrong with this man, right? Well, I guess every penny counts. But this guy has to be the ultimate penny pincher of all time!

Workout Kitteh!

Hahahahahah! This silly kitten made me laugh for several minutes and almost made me cry from laughter! Tee hee hee hee... I'm still laughing! This cat can't figure out if that exercise machine is a free ride or a workout for him! I'm sure in his head he's probably thinking, "Time for Kitteh to hit the gym!" That cat almost made me laugh as hard as the one below. He's a ninja! v.v

Speaking of ninja cats, here's the classic ninja cat of all time. Can you see him move?

Cat Village!

Say what? How long did this junk take!? I mean, I like cats, but not enough to build them a whole village that takes $550 to tend to a year! That's over 1,000 dollars in one year!


This crazy but devoted man named Craig Grant didn't like cats when his son had one (amazingly - but I guess he's warmed up to them a lot!) but then his son moved away leaving Craig with his son's cat. The cat's name was Pepper - I like salt better so that's what I would have named mine! He then found out that Pepper was pregnant! I honestly have no idea how this happened since there wasn't another cat in the house! I can't believe this man didn't have this cat "taken care of" so it couldn't have babies if he didn't like cats so much!


Anyway, five cats later, Craig was about to get rid of them by giving them up for adoption until his son told him they had to stay with the mother for eight weeks! Eight weeks?!? What the heck!? If I was him I would be ready to give them up right then and there! That meant this man's budget on cat food would go up up up!


The cats started to be a problem for Craig, as they would be for me! I like cats - but not 6! The neighbors were also starting to complain. The cats were being harassed by the kids around the neighborhood, some even being shot by B.B. guns! What kind of devilish children are those?! Craig then saw a newspaper advertisement that sent him 100 miles away from his condo in Jacksonville. The advertisement was for a tree farm. When he got there I guess he thought it was perfect because he bought it right away! Craig moved there in 2003 and had 11 cats when he moved in... he has many more now! I don't know how this cat-hating man became a man with over 650 cats! He has 660 at the moment!

He then made a cat village for the cats which actually came out VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY NICE! It looks so goooood! The cats love it! They have a City Hall, a Wal-Mart, everything! I'm pretty sure you can tell from all the pictures how awesome it is!

Mario!

Nintendo's mascot Mario has sold over 240 million video games! He's gaming’s most recognizable face, I know that for a fact! He even holds seven world records!

Oh yeah, might I add, MARIO IS TURNING 25 THIS WEEK! Released on September 13, 1985, the great Super Mario Brothers became the top selling video game of all time! (That is until last year when he was dethroned by Wii Sports.)

Since then, he’s appeared in hundreds of games. He's been a doctor, an archaeologist, a racing driver, and a golfer, plus much more! My favorite game that he's in is Super Smash Brothers though, he can kill people by shooting fireballs out of his hands!

Well... I just wanted to say Happy Birthday Mario, and thanks for making my life more pleasurable!

Of Thee I Sing

Two years after Election Day, a book that our very president, President Barack Obama, wrote will be released! I'm so going to read it! It is inspirational stories for children about successful Americans and people that helped us be where we are today.

Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters is a tribute to 13 groundbreaking Americans. It ranges from the first president, George Washington, to baseball great Jackie Robinson! Now I actually want to read a book! My mom is going to be so suprised!

Barack Obama is not the first president to write for young people. President Jimmy Carter wrote a book called "The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer" that was published in 1995, but that was more than a decade after he left office.

I'm proud of you, Mr. President! Doing something else than just fixing our country! But where do you find the time? :) I'm going to read that book and I bet I'm going to give it an A++. Check back in after November 16 for a review!

Ugliest Shoes Ever

I thought Crocs, where the ugliest shoes ever! But unfortunately, I was wrong! I am afraid to admit, that there are in fact... uglier shoes then Crocs! What is the world becoming?! We're supposed to be getting better shoes! Not worse! I mean just look at these shoes! And even these! Aren't shoe designs supposed to be getting better? Not worse? Man... what is wrong with the fashion world!? I mean, would you take a walk in these? But for sheer ridiculousness, these definitely take the cake!

Running Back's Heart Stopping TD!

On Friday night, running back Hayward Demison made a heart-stopping run to give Central Catholic High School a 28-24, come-from. The issue, Demison is that his heart was the one that stopped.

After running over 45 yards to the end zone, Demison went to the sideline and asked for his inhaler. He was diagnosed with athletic asthma two years before. He then took a puff thinking it would help him, but instead of easing Demison's breathing, the inhaler actually made his heart start to race even faster! Stupid doctors giving him the wrong prescription! The running back then leaned against an assistant coach and, moments later, collapsed!

Deminson quoted this afterwards. "I just fell on the ground, I don't remember anything else except waking up a few minutes later, and people are standing over me, and I'm in shock. I'm trying to get up, and everybody's saying, 'Stay there. Calm down.' I looked to my left and saw everybody, and they were crying."

What a relief he is O.K! If I was him, I know I would never trust that inhaler again and I would never play football again! It's not worth a life!

Dear World...

Dear World,

I tried the most amazing thing today, and let me tell you about it. It was called bowling alley pizza. It was the best thing I have ever tasted in my entire life. Who would have known? Papa John's can't even come close, nor Domino's, not even Pizza Hut! I'm pretty sure you know how good it is now!

It was really healthy too, might I add ! Only 500 calories in one slice, bubbling with grease, high in total fat, sodium, and all that other stuff that's good for you. If you eat this fantastic great tasting stuff every day, at least 4 slices like I did, there's no way you will become obese for at least 1 month! What are you crazy? This stuff is so healthy and good tasting. Try it yourself! Go to your nearest bowling alley and ask for the most tasty, unhealthy, I mean healthy, sorry... healthiest pizza they have!

What the?! How many fish?!

A man named Steve Wozniak has caught more types of fish than any other fisherman in the world! He recently caught his 1,000th species of fish! You read that right! Not 1,000th fish, 1,000th species of fish! Whoa! He's visited 63 countries and 37 U.S. states. He said he's flown more than one million miles!

Steve states, "Actually, I'm up to 1,008 now." Wow, he's even beaten his own record.

Well, not to boast or anything, but I myself am a little bit of a fisherman. That's right, I've caught catfish and bass and blue gill. Yeah, three different species, right there. I know, I'm amazing, aren't I? You're impressed, right? I bet Steve Wozniak is too. I'm just too cool.

What An Amazing Home!

WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW. THIS HOME IS AMAZINGGGGGGGGGG! It's an old church and it's for sale! Sure it's expensive at $7,490,000... but it's worth it!

This home in San Francisco is a restored church. It is 17,000 square feet, and it is also said to be one of the largest single family homes in San Francisco! This amazing house has an awesome 360 degree view of the city and it looks out onto a park! OMG, OMG, OMG, IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

I wish I could have this house soooooo bad! BANK TELLER! CAN I BORROW 7.49 MILLION DOLLARS? :)

Check out more pix.

Rare Diamond For Sale!

Feast your eyes, folks. That amazing two-stone ring is real and it's for sale! On the right is a rare triangular blue diamond the size of a quarter! It's the largest vivid blue diamond ever to come to auction. Along with its white diamond twin, they're 10.95 carats. I'm not kidding!

The two diamonds were cut to be together, the seller found out. He said, "They are perfectly matched in size and shape. They may be different in terms of weight, but the measurements are perfect."

The ring is expected to bring at least $15 MILLION when auctioned next month. AT LEAST, PEOPLE!!

This amazing ring is being sold by an anonymous European businessman. He must have a very, very keen eye! He purchased the ring for $1 million in 1972 and now look how much money he's making for it! Not just a great investment but a pretty one too!

Giant Goldfish! :O

Dude, what the heck? Just look at the thing! Wha?!? Is that even possible!? Is that a fish on steroids!? Come on, people, I've got a million of these!

A lucky fisherman named Raphael Biagini reeled in a 30-pound koi carp! He caught this monster in France, the fish are supposed to be quite popular over there! I wonder if they eat those too along with snails... those wacky Frenchmen.

The fish, a dark orangish color, looks a great deal like a giant goldfish. This fish is creating a lot of waves (lol) all over the internet and it sure enough caught my eye! The thing is bigger than me! It almost weighs as much too! ;)

Fire!

In Detroit, random fires have been starting and fire officials don't know why! Homes are being engulfed in flames and all fire officials can come up with is, "flames have swept through at least two dozen homes in Detroit, fanned by strong winds that are toppling power lines across the city."

Right now, I am quite happy I don't live in Detroit! I don't want to lose all I have to either a random fire or one a "prankster" that thinks he's funny is setting! Just look at the home above! If that was my house, I'd be crying for days!

The Tree-Kangaroo

You must watch this to get the post!

If you watched that amazing video up above, you have just seen the elusive tree-kangaroo that has never been caught on tape in the wild before this. If you don't know what a tree-kangaroo is, it's a macropod that has adapted for life in the trees. It's related to other marsupials like the kangaroo and the wallaby, thus the name tree-kangaroo. Tree-kangaroos are found in the rainforests of Papua New Guinea and nearby islands, they live usually in mountainous areas. My favorite part of the video is when the tree-kangaroo freefalls 200 feet from the top of a tree. Amazing to watch! I have no idea how he survived. And then later on in the video, he does it again! It seems like something they do frequently. Wow! I wonder if that's like an adrenaline rush for him... It seems like it's his version of a roller-coaster! I can almost hear him saying wheeeee!
Tree-kangaroos are considered an endangered species due to hunting and habitat loss. They're so cute! If only I could have one as a pet!

Labor Day!

Ahhh, how I love Labor Day! Labor Day is a United States holiday, this year it's taking place on the first Monday in September. The first Labor Day in the United States took place on September 5, 1882 in New York City. The whole country started celebrating it in 1894.

Labor Day means two things to me. The end of the summer ): and a day off school! :)

Labor Day came about as a national holiday for the working man as a result a law was signed by President Grover Cleveland. Although Cleveland wasn't really a labor union supporter himself, he said he found the holiday to be symbolic and said he found it appropriate and right. Thanks, Grover Cleveland, for giving me the day off school! ;)

Steven Slater - Back in the News

Hey, remember this guy? That's right, the one that became famous for doing something most adults apparently wish they could do. Ditched his job in the awesomest way possible! With the emergency evacuation chute on his plane, no less!

Well, he's back. And this time, he's definitely out of a job! But wait, JetBlue didn't fire him! He ended up resigning! Wha???

What exactly does it take to get fired from JetBlue? The guy cursed out the passengers over the P.A. system. Grabbed some alcohol from the plane's galley. Deployed the emergency chute (which can be dangerous for people on the ground). And made the most flamboyant exit from an uncrashed airplane ever! And JetBlue still had to consider whether they wanted him to work for them or not. Wow! These people need a crash course (heh heh) in customer relations.

Teen Disqualifies Himself

Ok, ok, I lied... in my last blog I said I wouldn't do any more golf stories... but I just HAD to write about this one! It's not really about golf anyway... it's about doing the right thing even if it hurts you!

A boy named Zach Nash won the boys' 13-14 division of the Wisconsin PGA, knocking off 31 other players. Afterward, Nash went to celebrate with one of his teachers, Chris Wood. That's where ttroubles began... Chris noticed an extra club in Zach's bag and showed it to him. Unfortunately for Zach, a friend of his had left the club at his house and Zach put it in his bag, not realizing it put him one over the limit of 14 clubs. Zach 'fessed up... and was then disqualified from the tournament.

Zach, who in my eyes is a role model, called the Wisconsin PGA, explained what had happened, and sent back the medal from the tournament! How brave of him! They gave the trophy to the second place winner but in my eyes, Zach is the real winner here!

SUV Age Ending!?

FINALLY!!! YAHOOOOOO! IS IT TRUE?!?
According to an SUV dealer the price to fill up gas is much more expensive now and SUVs are finally going out of style! I mean Americans have become used to higher gasoline prices, but it's just coming to be way too much now, so they are making less SUVs than they used too. Finally! I can't see anything behind those stupid, giant beasts. The SUV dealer stated, "Customers are hurrying to buy SUVs before they become extinct."

"With the exception of the new Jeep Grand Cherokee, no real SUVs are being introduced anymore," says Jeremy Anwyl, CEO of another SUV dealer.

I'm so happy that the SUV age is finally over! My mom is going to be so pleased!

Golfing Catastrophe

Ok, ok, I know I've been doing a lot of golf stories lately and I promise this is the last one, it's just this story definitely deserves to be in my blog! I always knew you could use a golf club for all kinds of non-golfy purposes like a walking stick, fishing rod, and a club, to name a few. But what we can add to that now is a firestarter.

Over the weekend, a golfer's golf ball struck a rock. Only this time, the impact caused a spark, and the spark set off a blaze that eventually covered 25 acres. They needed 150 firefighters to put it out!
What are the chances of that happening?!? The answer is 1 and one bagillion million fo fillian! So if your thinking this might be enough to stop you from golfing, I wouldn't worry about it. You have more of a chance of winning the lottery ten times over! Wow, I wish that would happen to me! The lottery thing - not starting a fire while golfing!