Vacation!

Ahh, vacation. A time to be relaxed and loose with no worries on your mind! In fact, I just got back from one! I went to Orlando, Florida, to the theme parks Islands of Adventures and Universal. It was so much fun. I got to see the new Harry Potter land at Islands of Adventure. The park was so much fun and I'm really glad I went. I also enjoyed the new ride at Universal called Rip Ride Rockit!



The thing I enjoyed about this ride so much was that you could listen to the music you wanted to - you got to pick your own song if it was on the list. I picked Paralyzer by Finger Eleven!

After the park I went to a little fair that has the world's largest slingshot and a ride called StarFlyer. The StarFlyer ride was featured on the show The World's Most Extreme Rides! The ride was pretty extreme! It was super-duper fun though my dad didn't like it!

My trip was completely awesome and I want to take another vacation soon!

Doll Spurt!

Girls are ditching dolls at younger ages than ever! They usually ditch them by their seventh birthday now! They're doing this because the dolls don't really reflect the way they look! The dolls either come in baby size or adult size. So now companies like Disney are making dolls designed to look like pre-teens. Not babies or adults.... These dolls can be played with longer and give girls a few more years of play and suprisingly, I actually don't think this is a bad idea!

Trick-or-Treating

So as you can probably can see by now, Halloween is less then a week away. I'm so excited! I've been saying to myself this whole time, "I'm not too old to trick or treat! I'm not too old to trick or treat!" I still don't think I am! Alright, alright, maybe I am fourteen! But there should be no limit! Except for this one town where the people think...

A mayor in Illinois has been getting a ton of complaints. From whom might you ask? From frightened mothers and senior citizens who are NOT happy about these “6-foot-tall kids” running about saying, "TRICK OR TREAT!" Apparently, this stupid mayor's solution was to ban high-school teenagers, or anyone over the age of 12, from trick-or-treating.

To enforce this law, the mayor slaps a $100 fine across your face if you ignore the law... I would be dead if I lived in that town! Crazy people with authority... pshht, what's wrong with them?

Chilean Miners Honored

The thirty-three miners that were rescued after more than two months trapped underground were given a heroes welcome at the national palace Monday. This happened in Chile and it was presented by President Sebastian Pinera. He hugged each of the men just as he did when they came up one by one from the mine.

Many had their photographs taken in front of the Phoenix 2 rescue capsule, which is on display there until it finds itself a permanent home in case it's needed again.

Later the miners wore white jerseys with the Chilean flag for a friendly football match in the National Stadium. They were playing against a team made up of other government officials and rescuers. Two weeks after being rescued, these strong men seemed energetic on the field and showed no ill effects from the incident.

The men were buried some 2,300 feet below the surface in the San Jose mine and the 69 days they spent before the rescue is the longest anyone has been trapped underground and lived! According to reports, they got through some of their toughest times by talking about football. In Chile, football is not just a sport, it's an obsession. They even had a video screen delivered to them when they trapped so they could watch matches. I bet they couldn't wait to get out so they could play again themselves. It's amazing that they even had the energy only a week after being rescued. Good going, guys!

Deadly Shark Waters!

A shark attack in the waters just north of Santa Barbara killed a 19-year-old college student. His named was Lucas and it was a Friday morning. Lucas was bodyboarding with a friend 100 yards from the beach when a shark suddenly pulled him under. Even professionals said such deadly attacks are rare! But these waters are becoming haunted, I guess you can call it, because according to California's Department of Fish and Game, there have been 12 shark attacks since the 1920's!

Lucas Ransom, I know, it's a funny name... ransom, hehe, maybe the shark wanted a ransom and he's still underwater in little shark world doing fine just waiting for people to pay the shark a ransom. Anyway, Lucas was a junior at the University of California; he was majoring in Chemical Engineering. The Sheriff's Department reports that Lucas's friends and bystanders pulled him from the water with a severed leg and he died a short time later. ): I wish the people knew the shark just wanted a ransom...

Postcard delivered 64 Years Late

This postcard was delivered 64 years late! Talk about a crowded mail room! How could a postcard get lost for 64 WHOLE years and then finally be found in mint condition. Where could it have been where it wouldn't have gotten dirty or even dusty for 64 years? The question still hasn't been answered and it's so nerve wracking! I want to know already! Ahhhhhh! The postcard was sent to a young girl who was 19 at the time but is now 83! Amazinly, she was still alive to receive the 64-year-old card! It was a thank you message that was written more then 6 decades ago! That's amazing! If I got 64-year-old mail, I would have peed in my pants! Especially since I'm only 14! That means it would have been sent 50 years before I was born! hehe :)

My Music!

Lately I've been really getting into my music! Whether it be in piano or guitar or the best thing of all: vocals! I sound like an angel if I may say so myself! In piano I'm learning Fur Elise which is very hard! And on guitar I just learned Say It Ain't So on Guitar! I'm pretty proud of myself for learning so much so fast and I plan to keep excelling faster and playing harder songs. It's the only way you can get better! Maybe one day I'll be playing Chopin and Lizst....

30,000 year old bread

Grains have been found on 30,000 year old grinding stones and scientist are suggesting that man from 30,000 years ago may have eaten bread despite the fact that they were supposedly strict carnivores! Are they telling us that cavemen actually figured out how to make bread? Whoa!

The findings say that pre-historic people ground down plant roots, which were similar to potatoes, to make flour, which was later whisked into dough. A reseracher quoted "It's like a flat bread, like a pancake with just water and flour you make a kind of pita and cook it on the hot stone." Wow, it's astonishing what we knew how to do back then!

Visit to Tampa

Yeah, so this weekend I went to Tampa to go visit my brother in college. It was pretty amazing. It was very amazing. IT WAS AWESOMEEEEEE!

We went to Busch Gardens. We got on all the big roller coasters and I had a great time! When I was hanging out with his friends and him they were all so nice and talented. I hope I can visit my brother again in Tampa so we can partayyyy some more. I can't wait to see my brother again and I can't wait to go to Busch Gardens again!

Camel Ownage

I tried really hard but in the end couldn't comprehend what was happening in this picture. Unless I'm mistaken it seems like this camel is doing his best to eat this little boy in one bite. As a retarded parent stood nearby and took a picture. And that foolish sister to the left looks amazed yet pleased at her little brother finally getting eaten. In her mind I can picture her saying, "Finally! Now I don't have to kill him!" At least that's what her facial expression seems to read to me. I wonder what that little boy did to make that camel want to eat his head right off...

BABY PANGOLIN!

Awww, this thing is almost as adorable as me - minus its harsh looking armor!

A pangolin, which I had no idea what it was, is what I like to think of as a scaly anteater. There are eight different species of pangolins! The thing that scares me about these animals are that they have large keratin scales covering their skin and are the only animals that have evolved this way.

These cool animals are found in tropical regions of Asia but mostly Africa. The name pangolin came from the Malay word pengguling that means something that rolls up. They named it that because pangolins spend most of the day sleeping curled into a little ball, just like my dog does! They are nocturnal, in case you couldn't figure that out, and use their excellent smell to find insects! This has been the exploration of a weird animal with your host - Alexander Chiles!

Armless Pianist

Is that even possible?! I have arms and I can barely play the piano! Look at this dude go, rockin' with his feet!

The newest winner of China's Got Talent is an armless 22-year-old named Liu Wei from Beijing. This amazing guy lost his arms in an accident whent he was 10 and didn't even start playing the piano until he was 19. Although I don't think that his piano playing or his singing was the greatest, I think the reason he won this competition was because of his inspirational spirit. I think the best part of the video was the power and inspiration of the way he lived his life after a tragically horrible accident. Liu's motto is,"I have two options, I can die as fast as possible, or I can live a brilliant life. And I chose the latter." Congratulations to Liu Wei! What an awesome attitude!

Trapped Miners

In case you've been living under a rock and you haven't heard about it, there are 33 miners trapped underground in a mine in Chile. You heard right, two months. TWO WHOLE MONTHS, people! Imagine being trapped miles underground in a tiny little space for TWO MONTHS. If they didn't have claustrophobia before, I bet they do now!

The amazing thing about these miners is their wonderful, positive attitude! Yes, they are still positive even after being down there since August 5th! From the moment the rescuers made contact with them 17 days after the mine collapsed, they were upbeat, smiling, and just thrilled to be alive! I would have been screaming "GET ME OUT OF HERE! NOW!!!"

But now, the end is near! The rescue shaft is complete and the rescue pod is ready to be deployed. There's only one problem. The miners are arguing! About what you ask? I thought they were upbeat, smiling and thrilled! But what they're bickering about is who should get to go up first, and who should be the last to be rescued. No, they don't all want to go first. They all want to be the last! They're willing to wait so that their fellow miners can be reunited with their families first. WOW! Trapped down there for months and all they're thinking about is their friends. What a great bunch of guys! I would have been saying "See you later, guys! My ride's here! I'm out!"

SCI-FI JACK-O-LANTERNS!

I loved this display of pumpkins! They are truly an artistic job!!!!! WELL DONE!!! was the first thought that came to my mind when I saw these pumpkins! CONGRATULATIONS to all those people that worked hard on the pumpkins. The were very cool... all of them! I mean, just look at this one!
I really think that these Sci-Fi Jack-O-Lanterns are fantastic!!!! I just can't imagine how long it took them to do these! And what if they messed up on the last slice! I would have been infuriated!! These are some of the raddest pumpkins I've ever seen! If only there was someone that lived around me that was artistic enough to do one for Halloween! They're pure genious! Just imagine how much work it took to do that! Watch, one year I'll do one, but for the mean time I'm stuck doing ones like this!

If you want to see more amazing pumpkins just click right here, on this link!

WOW! SPAGHETTI TACOS!

Fans from the new Nickelodeon’s hit show iCarly are requesting spaghetti tacos for dinner! I can't believe parents everywhere are making them as well! This all started when Dan Schneider, the creator of iCarly, started it as a joke and made Spencer, Carly's big foolish brother, cook them for dinner. He said, “It was just a little joke I came up with for one episode. Then it turned into a running joke. And now it’s this thing people actually do!” The dish became so popular there are even whole Facebook pages devoted to it! LOL. Hey, I like tacos, and I like spaghetti, but together? Ummmmm, I don't think so. I guess I'll have to wait until I try it. You never know. Who ever thought combining M&Ms and pretzels would make the best food on the planet?

Expensive Painting!

In Paris, an apartment was locked up and untouched for 70 years. It wasn't abandoned or empty though - don't think that! The rent was being paid, and the smelly place was filled with furniture, books, and a lot of art. One of those paintings, it turns out, was worth a lot of money! And when I say a lot, I mean A LOT!

The valuable work of art is by Italian artist Giovanni Boldini and recently sold for 2.1 million pounds (around US $2.9 million) at auction. The painting's subject was a woman in a pink muslin evening dress. I don't know much about Boldini so I didn't really see why it was so important but it sure was expensiveeeeeee!

I've never heard of someone paying rent on an apartment for 70 years and never going there! 70 years, people! What's amazing too - the 70 years of dust didn't damage the painting! Whoa!

Fireeeee!

That's just disappointing. I think my opinion of the heroism of firefighters just went down a little bit. So here's the short version of what happened: In Tennessee homeowners must pay $75 annually for fire protection. If they don't pay the fee and their home catches fire, you better know it's just tough luck - even if firefighters are positioned just outside the home with hoses at the ready. That's just harsh! A man named Gene found this out the hard way.

Gene's house caught on fire last week, he couldn't put out the fire with his garden hoses and fire extinguishers so he called 911. During the emergency call, he offered to pay all expenses to the Fire Department's defense of his home, but the firefighters refused to do anything.

They did, however, come out when Gene's neighbor who had already paid the fee called 911 because he was worried the fire might spread to his property. Once they arrived, members of the fire department stood by and watched Gene's home burn. I think that was extremely cruel of them. Even if it was breaking the rules I would have helped the man. The stupid, ignorant firefighters only went into action when the fire reached the neighbor's property! Can you believe that? Firefighters standing around and watching a family's home burn to the ground! For shame!

"I hadn't paid my $75 and that's what they want, $75, and they don't care how much it burned down," Gene Cranick told WPSD, an NBC affiliate in Kentucky. "I thought they'd come out and put it out, even if you hadn't paid your $75, but I was wrong."

Michael Jackson's Mansion!

Wha?!? MJ's home is for sale?!? He rehearsed "This is It" (the movie he made) in that house! I wonder how many MJ freaks are gonna go for that house!

The "French chateau" is located in the Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles. This awesomely amazing house of royalty (as I like to call it) includes a theater room, wine cellar, elevator, gym, guest house, a pool, and gardens on the 1.26 acre property... That's just madness. I want that house! The home also features an indoor spa and 12 fireplaces. That's 12, people! TWELVE!!!

In order to even view the home, interested buyers must go through a "pre-buying" check, to avoid rubberneckers and any paparazzi. I don't know who's going to buy that house though... Bill Gates is probably the one that can afford it! And Oprah!

Jetpacks!

WOW! Futuristic!! It's about time man flew among the birds! We may not have homes on the moon or the flying cars that me and my childhood imagination think about just yet, but soon we might be able to scratch jet pack off that list I thought was only possible in my imagination. I thought it sounded more sci-fi than sci-fact but the jet pack is actually being looked at for mass production! Once they're made, they will eventually be released to the public! When I read that... I just sat and thought about it for a second. Jetpacks are real. No cartoons anymore. Not just that, we might be able to buy one someday soon. Or at least see them amongst the skies. Oh, oh, oh! How the world has evolved!

The Cost of a Penny!

Wait! What?!? Wowow!! That's amazing... yet I don't see how it's possible. Those were all statements I said when I found out how much it costs to make a penny. It costs........ $1.67 to make just one penny! ONE PENNY! That means that we're losing $1.66 every time we make a penny! The cost of a penny is largely decided by the materials used to make it. Pennies contain 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper to give them their coppery color. Prices of these metals have risen dramatically since we're in a recession so I don't see a make in making pennies anymore... we're just losing a bunch of money!

Harry Potter 8, 9 or 10!?

So when J.K. Rowling first finished writing the 7 parts of Harry Potter, wait... as a matter of fact it was before she finished writing the 7 parts, when she was still writing book number 1, she knew there were only going to be 7 parts. When she was done with number 7, she said, she was never ever going to write about Harry again. She even repeated that after #7 was released, which was 3 years ago in 2007. But now after just 3 years without writing about Harry, she is having Harry Potter withdrawl problems! She misses Harry! He's still having adventures in her head! So now even though she promised she wouldn't write about him, and she's stated that mulitple times, she might start writing about him again! Yay! Even though she broke a promise, that's a promise I don't mind if she breaks since I love Harry and I want more! (Watch the video to 1:21 to see her interview.)

World's Fastest Train

France is famous for a bunch of things, be it the Eiffel Tower, their awesome crepes, or even the fact that they eat snails! But I find the thing the most French is that it's home to the world's fastest train. The train is called TGV or Train a Grande Vitesse which means High-Speed Train. This video of a TGV was filmed in 2007. This train was filmed going at 574 kmph! The passengers still said it was comfortable, quiet, and smooth-running... and from the looks and sounds of it, it's true!


I don't even know how a train could possibly go that fast! It's amazing! It almost breaks the sound barrier! It goes the same speed as a plane would in the air! After it passes, then you hear it! That's how amazing this thing is! All it needs to do is be able to beat me and it'll be the best thing in the world.