One of the Activities I Did Over April Break

     So, I'm nearing the end of my April break, and I've decided to blog on one of the things I did over my fairly relaxed break.  Not once, but twice I went to the New England Aquarium with my friend Rory. The first time, we took the subway into Boston and walked to the Aquarium. To our dismay, the aquarium has a (somewhat bad) policy of not letting people under 18 into the aquarium with an adult. So we wandered around Boston and got lunch before heading home. A few days after that, we attempted again, this time with Rory's father walking us in and then leaving. We walked into his dad office and waited a few minutes while he accomplished things. As we were leaving, we were offered cake by one of the employees there. Even though we were headed of to get lunch, Rory and I consented and happily ate our cake. I was happy to eat cake.
From there we proceeded to a cafe across the street (where I had some delicious chowdah), and to the aquarium. We got our hands stamped, entered, and Rory's father left. First, we watched the penguins for a little bit. I took a whole bunch of photos, like the one above. I find it odd how how our attention was held by these little birds standing on rocks, not doing anything particularly interesting. After that, we went on to look at the smaller exhibits, like jellyfish and and other sea creatures. The tank was illuminated from below, lighting up the jellyfish in a neat way as they drifted around aimlessly. We then proceeded to the center of the aquarium and walked up and around the new central tank, watching the fish of very different shapes and colors swim around. Feeling a little hungry again, we walked into the aquarium cafe and got a snack, then reentered through the gift shop (proving that we could have gotten in on our first visit). Rory wanted to go to seal and sea lion training session, so walked over to the seal pool and watched as the seals waved at and high-five people. Both of us found this less interesting then we had hoped it would be. Rory had to leave, so we took the subway back. Both Rory and I had a good time at the aquarium.

Camera Class over the Weekend

     Yesterday, my mom and I went into Boston to attend a DSLR camera class. My mom really likes to take photos of things, and I went as extra memory to remember what the teacher said. The class started at 9:00 am and went until noon. We learned about the "exposure triangle", the three settings on cameras that can help you take good photos. These are the aperture, the ISO, and the shutter speed. Aperture is how much light the camera is letting in to the lens. This changes how much of the image is in focus, or the depth of field. The ISO is how sensitive the camera's light sensor is. This can help get good shots in low light, but the higher the ISO the greater the noise/fuzz in the image's background. The shutter speed, the final piece, is how fast the camera waits for light. A shorter shutter speed can get capture frozen action, while a longer one can get blurred motion shots. Also, the higher the shutter speed the darker the picture will be. I learned in this class that these three factors, when used in the right way, can produce exactly the picture that the photographer wants.

MIT Spark Program

  Two weekends ago, I went to MIT for their Spark program. Spark is a series of classes taught over the weekend for middle school students. The classes cover all sorts of topics, form cupcake-making to computer programming. Most of the classes were well-taught and interesting, but none of them inspired me in any way. Here are the classes I took, along with any comments I had about them.

• Saturday:
• The Physics, Chemistry, and Biology of Food
• This class was okay. The teacher wandered of topic for 60% of the class, but the parts where I got to learn what the class was supposed to be about were compelling.
• Math, Games, and Puzzles
• This class was pretty good. The teacher talked about the prisoner's dilemma and how the most rational decision can be the wrong one. I enjoyed this class.
• #winning
• This class was not as good as I expected it to be, but it was still fun. The teacher had us play and think about one game, which I forget the name of. I had hoped it would have been more about analyzation of many things rather than just this one game.
• Sunday:
• Gender and Health
• This class talked about how the different genders of people are more likely to get different ailments.
• Circuits in Cells? An Intro to Synthetic Biology
• This was probably my least favorite class. The teacher was not really prepared, she talked too quietly and too fast, and she assumed that the class knew things the at least some of us (me included) didn't.
• Lunch
• The food was good. I had a burrito, a water, and a cookie.
• Dynamic Programming
• This class was the most challenging and thought-provoking. The teacher talked about how to create algorithms that worked for all sorts of related situations.
• The Psychology of Shopping
• This class was amusing. I learned about phycology traps that companies use, like getting you to buy a $30 cell phone case, and how to not be fooled. We didn't get as far as the teacher wanted to, though, because she asked for question a lot.

New Blogging Situation

     My father has asked that instead/in addition to the way I blog now, I must do lots of little blogs. He wants me to do a short (3-4 sentence) description of each class I do at CSCL everyday after I do that class. I am aware that a majority of people who read my blog do not want to be spammed with 1-4 3-sentence blogs each day, and probably don't care about the details of each of my days. If this is the case, please contact me or my dad, and I can start a second blog.

Max

Description of My CS50 Scratch Program

     As part of CS50, I had to submit a description of my Scratch program. Here is that description:

My project mainly works by creating many clones of one sprite, and having them interact with each other. When the flag is clicked, only the start screen's and the speaker's scripts start running. Both do basic setup steps, like going to the correct position and and changing to the correct costume. The code in SoundToggle just tells the sprite that when it is clicked, first it must switch to the next costume, then either broadcast soundOff or soundOn. The Start Screen waits to be clicked; and when it is it switches to the background costume and tells Tiles to start. First, Tiles set all variables to zero and clear all the lists. Then, it hide and makes 16 clones. The blocks under "when I start as a clone" trigger each time a clone is created. The scripts give each clone an ID based on how many clones have been made so far. Then, they run my "findSpot" block, which gives each clone a random position and adds that position to the list of ta ken spots. Finally, they run a forever loop that tells them to disappear when a pair is made (more on this later). The findSpot block runs by picking x and y coordinates until it finds two that are not taken, the going to that position and adding the x-pos * 10 + the y-pos to the taken spots list. The reason that I am multiplying by 10 is that this is the only way that I am aware of to save two numbers in one spot on a list.

The rest of the code is basically in under the "when this sprite clicked" block. When one of the clones is clicked, first the program checks to make sure that there are either 0 or 1 flipped tile already and that the clicked clone wasn't already flipped. To find which costume that clone should switch to, the program checks if the tile's ID is odd or even, then calculates the corresponding costume. From there it adds the number now visible to a list of visible numbers, then checks to see how many tiles have already been flipped. If there are two already flipped, the program checks to see if they are a pair. If the are, They hide, if not, it broadcasts "FlipDown!" telling all clones to turn to turn back to their blank side.

Vacation in St. John

     

     Over my school's recent February break, my family and I went down to St. John and stayed at the house of my grandmother's friend Sally. My grandmother goes there every year during January and February, and we where meeting her there for the week. During the vacation, I spent a lot of time reading, snorkeling, and playing board and card games. I had a great time enjoying the warm temperatures and relaxing.

     To get to St. John, we had to do a lot of traveling, involving us waking up at 4:00 a.m. and arriving in St. John around 5:00. We took a flight to Charlotte, and another flight from there to St. Thomas. We then had to drive all the way across St. Thomas, take a ferry to St. John, and drive all the way back across St. John.

     Over our vacation, I snorkeled four or five times, and saw some amazing coral and small, colorful fish. I also saw a sea turtle and a few skates. My dad and I saw a school of over a hundred purple and black fish swim underneath us.  Unfortunately, some of the coral I saw was dead and not colorful, but the reefs were still very cool.

     While on St. John, I had the chance to try conch and johnnycakes, both of which I had never had before. I didn't really like the conch, but I think that was just due to sauce that was served on it. For anyone that doesn't know, johnnycakes are a type of bread that tasted like a donut, a bagel, and a pretzel combined. They can filled with many things, both sweet and savory. I liked the johnnycakes.

     The rest of the time I spent on St. John, which wasn't much, was filled with the playing of Go, Rummikub, and Magic: The Gathering, as well as reading books.

I will be starting again at CSCL tomorrow!

Max

How To Set Up a Blog (using blogger)

     On request, I am making a post about how to set up a blog. I will be instructing in how to use Blogger, the blogging platform that I use, but note that Blogger is not the only way. To make a successful blog, there are a few steps:

1. Create a Google Account

This is the part where you fill out the information.

      If you already have a use Gmail, Google Drive, or any other google product that requires an account, feel free to skip this step. If not, the first thing to do is to go to Google. in the top-right corner, you should see a "Sign In" button. Even if you don't already have an account, click it. In the upper-right corner of the page you were just brought to, you should see a "Sign Up" button. Click it. You should go to a page titled "Create a Google Account". Fill in the info, and if you're under 13 tell the the computer you're actually not. You can, if you want, use your current email address, in which case you should click the "I prefer to use my current email address" link below the "Choose your username slot". Once you've filled it all in, click "Next Step" at the bottom, then click the next "Next Step" button. Then hit "Get Started". You should be back at Google. You now have a google account.

2. Create a Blog

The pop-up window for used to create your blog

    

      Once you have a google account, go to http://www.blogger.com. On the far left hand side of this page, you should see a "New Blog" button. You should get a pop-up where you fill in the name, address and theme of your blog (it should look like the one on the left). Fill in the info, select your theme, and press "Create Blog!". Great. Now on your blogger home page, you should see a little rectangle with the name of your blog, an orange button with a pencil, a button with a piece of paper, and a "view blog" button. To start typing your first post, hit the orange pencil. To see your blog, hit "view blog". To see your blogs info (comments, views, and other things, hit the piece of paper. You now have a blog.

3. Add the Email Subscription Gadget (and Other Gadgets You Like)

     In order to build an audience, you need people to be able to subscribe, so your posts go straight to their inbox. To do this, you need to add the email subscription gadget. I have a few others, but the email subscription is the most important one. To install it, first click the pieces of paper on the blogger home screen. There should be a list of things on the left side. Click "layout". Here you will see how your blog is laid out, as well as where you can add gadgets (it should look like the picture on the left). I suggest you put your subscription link on the right  side of your blog, but click any of the "Add a Gadget" links. This should open up a smaller window with a list of all the gadgets you can chose from. Find "Follow by Email", and click the plus sign next to it. This should instal the gadget wherever you chose.

4. Subscribe Family & Friends

     For anyone to get your posts in their email, they have to be subscribed. There are two ways that this could happen. One of them is that you could keep asking them to do it until they finally get around to it. The other option is to do it yourself, then just notify them. I suggest doing the second one. To subscribe someone, first you must view your blog. You can search for it on the internet, or you can go to your blogger home page and press "View Blog". Either way, You are looking at your blog. Find where the email subscription box is (it's wherever you put it in step 3), and enter the person you want to get your post's email address. This will send them a conformation email. At this point, you should probably call them up and tell them it's not junk mail, and that all they have to do is click the link in the "Feedburner" email they have just received. When they do this, they are registered, and will get your posts every time you write them.

Feel free to comment if you have an issue.

Ready for more limericks,
Max

My Opinion about Good and Bad User Interface

   

     For anything electronic, a visually nice-looking user interface is key. I have encountered many websites, games etc. that are targeted to children. Some of them do fine, and make me want to look at them, whereas others, while trying to appeal to kids, are cheesy and seem to think we are idiots. The latter of those two ends up irritating me and making me not want to use the webpage, game, or whatever else it is.  So for every one making something fun-looking for kids, here are some tips.

     First of all, Kids can read fonts other than comic sans! It drives me crazy when comic sans is used to make something look appealing, fun or friendly. Sure, maybe comic sans was the most appealing font for children at some point, but all "fun!" webpages use it. Another tip, which I think applies to any UI, youth directed or otherwise, is that white backgrounds are not always the best. light text on a dark background is fine, so is a light colored (but not necessarily white) background with dark text. A third tip, when designing for kids, don't use buttons that look like "bubbles" or cartoony round-cornered rectangles. I, at least, don't like clip art (cartoony pictures) scattered across a website, but that's just me. To sum up, I would like to show a User Interface that I like, and one that I don't. Here's the link for the good one: click here!. And, here's the bad one: other link here!



Thanks for reading, and ideas can go in the comments!

Blog Stats: Updated Edition

     This post is an updated version of the blog statistics post I did in February. I will report on views, posts and comments. Because last time I did this was February, many of the numbers have grown.

     First of all, view, as well as where they came from. I total, I currently have 3,036 views. 2,426 come from the US. I can only see the top ten, which are: US (with 2,426 views), Germany (with 229 views), Russia (with 95), Poland (with 61), UK (with 54),       Guatemala (with 20), Romania (with 13), Indonesia (with 11) India (with 11), and finally, Ukraine (with 10).  I do not know where any of the non-US views came from. My top post is is Board Game Recommendations, with 60 views. Below that are Fudge (with 59), and My Schedule (as of now) (with 54). Google Chrome is the most used browser (with 899 views), then Safari (with 819), and then Firefox (with 707).  The plurality of my viewers come from Window, (viewing me 1360 times). After that are Macs (giving me 1173 views). The far away third place is iPhones, (with a measly  253 views).

     I have 53 posts. I did 20 in January, 10 in February, then a lowly 7 in March. I did 8 in April, but I am planning to finish May with over 10. I think because I had just started in January, I had many ideas, but as I have done more, ideas have been harder to come by. By the way, if you have an idea, please tell me in the comments.

     In all, I have 177 comments. Lord of the Rings #1 is tied with my first stats post for most comments, with 8 each.

     Thanks for reading, and any ideas can go in the comments!

Happy Mother's Day

     For the last couple of days, I have been coding a mother's day program. In this post, I will copy and paste the code, as well as explain how it works. Unfortunately, Blogger does not support files, so I can't show it moving. In the program, The two flowers grow from the bottom, elapsing 20 seconds total. here is what the program looks like at the end:

     Now, here's the code, throughout which you will see explanations of each segment.




This is where I tell the computer what variables I will be using in this program.

int mNum = 0;
boolean programStart = false;
PFont progFont;
int preProgMNum= 0;


Here I make a window and tell the computer what each of the variables will be equal to:

void setup() {
  size(700, 700);
  progFont = loadFont("Helvetica-48.vlw");
  mNum = millis();
  textFont(progFont, 50);
}

Here I draw a background, then wait until the mouse is pressed to start the program. Where it says
"firstFlower()" and "secondFlower()", it is doing commands that I program later in the program.

void draw() {
  background(0);
  if (programStart) {
    mNum = millis() - preProgMNum;
    firstFlower();
    secondFlower();
    if(mNum > 20000){
      text("Happy Mother's Day!", 100,100);
    }
 
  }
  else {
    preProgMNum = millis();
    text("Click the screen to start", 85, 300);
  }
}

Here's where I start the program when the mouse is clicked

void mouseClicked() {
  programStart = true;
}


//Here's where I draw the Daisy-ish flower:
void firstFlower() {

  //Here's the stem:
  stroke(40, 240, 12);
  strokeWeight(13);
  noFill();
  if (mNum > 500) {
    arc(170, 650, 100, 100, HALF_PI + QUARTER_PI, PI + QUARTER_PI);
  }
  if (mNum > 1000) {
    arc(98, 580, 100, 100, 0-QUARTER_PI, 0+QUARTER_PI);
  }
  if (mNum > 1500) {
    noFill();
    arc(170, 510, 100, 100, HALF_PI + QUARTER_PI, PI + QUARTER_PI);
  }
  if (mNum > 2000) {
    noFill();
    arc(98, 440, 100, 100, 0-QUARTER_PI, 0+QUARTER_PI);
  }
  if (mNum >2500) {
    arc(170, 370, 100, 100, HALF_PI + QUARTER_PI, PI + QUARTER_PI);
  }
  if (mNum > 3000) {
    arc(98, 300, 100, 100, 0-QUARTER_PI, 0+QUARTER_PI);
  }
  // The leaves:
  if (mNum > 3500) {
    fill(40, 240, 12);
    pushMatrix();
    translate(185, 550);
    rotate(QUARTER_PI);
    ellipse(0, 0, 40, 90);
    popMatrix();
  }
  if (mNum>4000) {
    fill(40, 240, 12);
    pushMatrix();
    translate(90, 460);
    rotate(-QUARTER_PI);
    ellipse(0, 0, 40, 90);
    popMatrix();
  }
  //The yellow center:
  if (mNum>4500) {
    fill(255, 248, 33);
    noStroke();
    ellipse(125, 270, 50, 50);
  }


  //The petals:
  if (mNum > 5000) {
    fill(240);
    pushMatrix();
    translate(125, 270);
    for (int i = 0; i < 36; i++) {
      ellipse(0, -60, 30, 80);
      rotate(PI/6);
    }
    popMatrix();
  }
}


//Here's the rose:
void secondFlower() {
  stroke(40, 240, 12);
  strokeWeight(13);
  noFill();

This is where I draw the rose's stem:

if (mNum > 5500) {
    arc(565, 650, 100, 100, HALF_PI + QUARTER_PI, PI + QUARTER_PI);
  }
  if (mNum > 6000) {
    arc(493, 580, 100, 100, 0-QUARTER_PI, 0+QUARTER_PI);
  }
  if (mNum > 6500) {
    arc(565, 510, 100, 100, HALF_PI + QUARTER_PI, PI + QUARTER_PI);
  }
  if (mNum > 7000) {
    arc(493, 440, 100, 100, 0-QUARTER_PI, 0+QUARTER_PI);
  }
  if (mNum > 7500) {
    arc(565, 370, 100, 100, HALF_PI + QUARTER_PI, PI + QUARTER_PI);
  }
  if (mNum > 8000) {
    arc(493, 300, 100, 100, 0-QUARTER_PI, 0+QUARTER_PI);
  }
  if (mNum > 8500) {
    arc(565, 230, 100, 100, HALF_PI + QUARTER_PI, PI + QUARTER_PI);
  }



The leaves on the stem are here:

if (mNum > 9000) {
    pushMatrix();
    noStroke();
    fill(40, 240, 12);
    translate(575, 400);
    rotate(QUARTER_PI);
    ellipse(0, 0, 40, 90);
    popMatrix();
  }
  if (mNum > 9500) {
    pushMatrix();
    noStroke();
    fill(40, 240, 12);
    translate(485, 500);
    rotate(-QUARTER_PI);
    ellipse(0, 0, 40, 90);
    popMatrix();
  }


And, here's the rose itself. To make it look like it is growing, it starts from the innermost petal and adds one every half second. To make it seem as if the petal I'm adding is under the others, I have to draw all of the other petals again after I draw the one I'm adding. That is why this part is so long and repetitive.

strokeWeight(2);
  stroke(0);
  fill(237, 14, 14);
  if (mNum > 19500) {
    ellipse(515, 215, 70, 70);
    ellipse(520, 190, 60, 60);
    ellipse(525, 230, 56, 56);
    ellipse(543, 212, 53, 53);
    ellipse(530, 215, 50, 50);
    ellipse(516, 215, 50, 50);
    ellipse(520, 194, 47, 47);
    ellipse(533, 195, 45, 45);
    ellipse(525, 215, 40, 40);
    ellipse(530, 205, 37, 37);
    ellipse(525, 195, 35, 35);
    ellipse(517, 205, 32, 32);
    ellipse(528, 207, 27, 27);
    ellipse(524, 203, 25, 25);
    ellipse(530, 200, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 195, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 200, 15, 15);
  }
  if (mNum > 19000) {
    ellipse(520, 190, 60, 60);
    ellipse(525, 230, 56, 56);
    ellipse(543, 212, 53, 53);
    ellipse(530, 215, 50, 50);
    ellipse(516, 215, 50, 50);
    ellipse(520, 194, 47, 47);
    ellipse(533, 195, 45, 45);
    ellipse(525, 215, 40, 40);
    ellipse(530, 205, 37, 37);
    ellipse(525, 195, 35, 35);
    ellipse(517, 205, 32, 32);
    ellipse(528, 207, 27, 27);
    ellipse(524, 203, 25, 25);
    ellipse(530, 200, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 195, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 200, 15, 15);
  }
  if (mNum > 18500) {
    ellipse(525, 230, 56, 56);
    ellipse(543, 212, 53, 53);
    ellipse(530, 215, 50, 50);
    ellipse(516, 215, 50, 50);
    ellipse(520, 194, 47, 47);
    ellipse(533, 195, 45, 45);
    ellipse(525, 215, 40, 40);
    ellipse(530, 205, 37, 37);
    ellipse(525, 195, 35, 35);
    ellipse(517, 205, 32, 32);
    ellipse(528, 207, 27, 27);
    ellipse(524, 203, 25, 25);
    ellipse(530, 200, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 195, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 200, 15, 15);
  }
  if (mNum > 18000) {
    ellipse(543, 212, 53, 53);
    ellipse(530, 215, 50, 50);
    ellipse(516, 215, 50, 50);
    ellipse(520, 194, 47, 47);
    ellipse(533, 195, 45, 45);
    ellipse(525, 215, 40, 40);
    ellipse(530, 205, 37, 37);
    ellipse(525, 195, 35, 35);
    ellipse(517, 205, 32, 32);
    ellipse(528, 207, 27, 27);
    ellipse(524, 203, 25, 25);
    ellipse(530, 200, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 195, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 200, 15, 15);
  }
  if (mNum > 17500) {
    ellipse(530, 215, 50, 50);
    ellipse(516, 215, 50, 50);
    ellipse(520, 194, 47, 47);
    ellipse(533, 195, 45, 45);
    ellipse(525, 215, 40, 40);
    ellipse(530, 205, 37, 37);
    ellipse(525, 195, 35, 35);
    ellipse(517, 205, 32, 32);
    ellipse(528, 207, 27, 27);
    ellipse(524, 203, 25, 25);
    ellipse(530, 200, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 195, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 200, 15, 15);
  }
  if (mNum > 17000) {
    ellipse(516, 215, 50, 50);
    ellipse(520, 194, 47, 47);
    ellipse(533, 195, 45, 45);
    ellipse(525, 215, 40, 40);
    ellipse(530, 205, 37, 37);
    ellipse(525, 195, 35, 35);
    ellipse(517, 205, 32, 32);
    ellipse(528, 207, 27, 27);
    ellipse(524, 203, 25, 25);
    ellipse(530, 200, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 195, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 200, 15, 15);
  }
  if (mNum > 16500) {
    ellipse(520, 194, 47, 47);
    ellipse(533, 195, 45, 45);
    ellipse(525, 215, 40, 40);
    ellipse(530, 205, 37, 37);
    ellipse(525, 195, 35, 35);
    ellipse(517, 205, 32, 32);
    ellipse(528, 207, 27, 27);
    ellipse(524, 203, 25, 25);
    ellipse(530, 200, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 195, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 200, 15, 15);
  }
  if (mNum > 16000) {
    ellipse(533, 195, 45, 45);
    ellipse(525, 215, 40, 40);
    ellipse(530, 205, 37, 37);
    ellipse(525, 195, 35, 35);
    ellipse(517, 205, 32, 32);
    ellipse(528, 207, 27, 27);
    ellipse(524, 203, 25, 25);
    ellipse(530, 200, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 195, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 200, 15, 15);
  }
  if (mNum > 15500) {
    ellipse(525, 215, 40, 40);
    ellipse(530, 205, 37, 37);
    ellipse(525, 195, 35, 35);
    ellipse(517, 205, 32, 32);
    ellipse(528, 207, 27, 27);
    ellipse(524, 203, 25, 25);
    ellipse(530, 200, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 195, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 200, 15, 15);
  }
  if (mNum > 15000) {
    ellipse(530, 205, 37, 37);
    ellipse(525, 195, 35, 35);
    ellipse(517, 205, 32, 32);
    ellipse(528, 207, 27, 27);
    ellipse(524, 203, 25, 25);
    ellipse(530, 200, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 195, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 200, 15, 15);
  }
  if (mNum > 14500) {
    ellipse(525, 195, 35, 35);
    ellipse(517, 205, 32, 32);
    ellipse(528, 207, 27, 27);
    ellipse(524, 203, 25, 25);
    ellipse(530, 200, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 195, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 200, 15, 15);
  }
  if (mNum >14000) {
    ellipse(517, 205, 32, 32);
    ellipse(528, 207, 27, 27);
    ellipse(524, 203, 25, 25);
    ellipse(530, 200, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 195, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 200, 15, 15);
  }
  if (mNum > 13500) {
    ellipse(528, 207, 27, 27);
    ellipse(524, 203, 25, 25);
    ellipse(530, 200, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 195, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 200, 15, 15);
  }
  if (mNum > 13000) {
    ellipse(524, 203, 25, 25);
    ellipse(530, 200, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 195, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 200, 15, 15);
  }
  if (mNum > 12500) {
    ellipse(530, 200, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 195, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 200, 15, 15);
  }
  if (mNum > 12000) {
    ellipse(525, 195, 20, 20);
    ellipse(525, 200, 15, 15);
  }
  if (mNum > 11500) {
    ellipse(525, 200, 15, 15);
  }


And finally , here are the thorns.

  noStroke();
  fill(40, 240, 12);
  if (mNum > 10000) {
    triangle(510, 646, 510, 654, 490, 650);
  }
  if (mNum > 10500) {
    triangle(549, 576, 545, 584, 569, 580);
  }
  if (mNum > 11000) {
    triangle(510, 376, 510, 364, 490, 370);
  }
}

Journey Through my Neighborhood

Provided by Google Maps

     On Tuesday, I had planned to go to my cooking lesson, like I do every week. Unfortunately, I forgot that I had that activity, so instead I went home. After some time, my mom texted me reminding me that I had to go. I jumped up and grabbed my coat and shoes and ran out the door. I ran all the way to the local subway station, where I planned to catch a bus. At one point while I was running, I realized my subway card, which I had brought, had no money on it. So I ran home again, grabbed money, and then ran back. I figured I would just pay directly with the money, because the machine on the bus accepts cash, so I didn't go and put money on my card. I crossed a couple streets, to get to one bus stop (with didn't serve the bus I wanted) and then crossed over to a second stop (no luck). I then went into the subway station to try and find an official there, but none were on duty. I then continued through the station, and emerged up another exit, and found that the bus stop, which was actually closer to where I live, served the bus I wanted. So I sat, and waited for about three minutes, at which point I decided I was hungry, and should go and purchase a baked good. So I went and got a brownie. It was rich and chocolatey, but a little dry. Then I was thirsty. I went in to the same place and got water. Then my mom  called me and instructed my to board the subway, and she would pick me up and drop me of at my lesson. So I went into the subway, and I heard that a subway train going the direction I wanted was leaving. So I quickly attempted to add money ("No, $10.00, not $1.00!"). Turns out the machine I was using didn't accept cash. By the time I went through the process on a machine that did, my train had left. So I waited, and then there was an announcement that they were having problems with broken trains, or something. It's really hard to hear what they are saying. After three trains going the opposite direction had come and left, my train came. I got out off the station on the opposite side, walked a little bit, got into my mom's car. I finally arrived to cook, only 1 1/2 hours late.

Two Weeks with a Dog

Kalli, shown here

   

     This is my grandparent's dog, Kalli. For two weeks, my grandparents were on vacation visiting my cousins in Florida. They own a dog, shown above. For the two weeks they were away, Kalli stayed with us.

     Their dog is a labradoodle, or labrador-poodle mix. Almost every morning, I walked her on the local bike path. We have had her before, last September. She has gotten much better about not chasing bikes and runners, but I am not able to control her when she sees another dog. She has pulled the leash, and me, so hard that I tripped and fell in the snow.

     I enjoyed having Kalli, because it was fun to play tug-of-war and catch with her. It was also funny to watch her watch the fish in our fish tank and try to jump and get them. We have neighbors with a dog, so we brought Kalli do
wn to their house and the dogs played in their backyard. What was definitely my least favorite part about having her was picking up her poop.

     On another dog-related topic, I found this thought-provoking article on domesticating foxes. Here's a link to it:
(right here)

Fencing Pt. 2: Sabre Rules

Disclaimer:

This post is about the rules for sabre fencing; not how sabre fencing is really great (although it is).

     As a follow-up to my last entry, I am writing to day about the rules for sabre fencing, which is the style of fencing I participate in. As you know from the previous post, in sabre fencing, unlike épée and foil, the fencer is allowed to slash, as well as poke. Also, the target area is everything from the waist up.

Here, two sabreurs are show fencing with wireless transmission of hit signals

     Before I go into how to score a point, I will explain how the electrical scoring devices work. To connect themselves to the scoring boxes, each fencer has a cord to plug into a socket connecting to the box. This cord splits off, with one cord going up the fencer's arm, into his/her sword, and the other one clipping on to the fencer's lamé (conductive jacket). In order to make the fencer's helmet conductive too, a cord clips on to the collar of the lamé with one side, and to the mask with the other side. This way, if a sword hit the other fencer's conductive area, a current can go from one box, up the fencer's sword, through the other fencer's lamé, and into the box at the other side.

     When a fencer's sword touches his/her opponent's target area, both boxes display a color, either red of green, depending on which player hits their opponent. If there is one light, it's easy to see who got the point. If Fencer A hits Fencer B less than (approximately) 120 milliseconds after Fencer A was hit, the box would display both red and green lights. If this happens, the judge must decide who had priority, also known as right-of-way. At the beginning of a match, nobody has priority. There are a number of ways to lose priority, as listed below:

• If Fencer A stands still (or moves backward) when the match begins, and Fencer B moves forward, Fencer B has gained priority. 
• If Fencer A moves forward, but pulls his/her blade backward before both fencers hit, Fencer B has gained priority. 
• If Fencer A misses their first attack, or the Fencer B blocks Fencer A's first attack, Fencer B has gained priority. 
• If Fencer A makes blade contact with Fencer B, Fencer A has gained priority.

     These same mistakes can give Fencer A priority once Fencer B has it. I apologize for any mistakes I might have made, and you can tell me I messed up in the comments. Thanks for reading!

Fencing Overview

     My favorite sport (currently) is fencing. Three days a week I go to a practice at a local fencing place.      I enjoy fencing because it requires strategy and planning, and is fast-paced and exiting.There are three styles of fencing, and for each there is a different sword, and different rules. The three forms are épée, foil, and sabre. Of the three, I fence sabre.

     In épée, each fencer is allowed to poke (only poke, no slashing) his/her opponent with their sword. The fencer can be poked anywhere on there body. The sword that is used in épée has a guard similar to a flat circle with an edge that extends downward.

     In foil, like épée, the fencer is only allowed to poke. For foil, the target area is just the torso, no arms, legs, of head. The sword used in foil has a small, circular guard.

     In sabre, the fencer can poke and slash. The area that can be hit is the torso, arms, and head. The sabre guard is a large, some-what convex circle, with a side piece connecting the end of the handle to the top of the handle (think pirate sword).

Khan Academy Badges

     Khan Academy, (--> Here! <--) a website providing over 4,000 videos on a wide range of educational topics, has integrated a badge system into the Khan Academy experience. The badges are used to motivate students to complete activities. The badges are organized by difficulty, as you can see below. There are Meteorite badges (the easiest), the Moon, Earth, Sun, and (the hardest) Black hole badges. Challenge Patches are awarded for certain activities, such as "Achieve Proficiency in all skills in addition and subtraction."
     

    
     

     To get a badge, the user must first make an account. To make an account go to the top left corner of the home screen, and click the "Log in." You should get to a screen like the one on the right.You can use a Google or Facebook account, or make a Khan Academy account by clicking "Sign up," right below the log in button. 

     

     One thing I like about the badges is the range of awarded skills. Other websites have tried this, but it usually ends up with "Complete 10 activities," and then, "Complete 20 activities". Khan Academy has a wide range of badges, such as "Pause a tutorial and tinker with the code,"  "Ask a question that earns 10+ votes," and "Stay a member of Khan Academy for 1 year." Khan Academy also has the standard badges like "Achieve proficiency in any 50 skills," and "Watch one hour of video on a single topic."One thing I dislike about their system is that accessing the possible badges is very counter-intuitive. You have to go to your profile, scroll down to recently completed activities, then click on one of the badges you've earned. That then brings you to the badge gallery. I feel that compared to other websites, Khan Academy has done a good job motivating kid to learn.  

Walking with Cavemen Movie

     As part of the evolution unit I am doing at home, I watched a video called Walking With Cavemen. This video tracks human evolution from  Australopithecus afarensis, an early upright primate, all the way through four of five species of hominids, to the current model (us) Homo sapiens sapiens. This movie said that Australopithecus afarensis, evolved into (as well as a few other not-so-successful hominids) Homo habilis, who was an omnivore with the ability to use basic tools. In turn, Homo habilis evolved into Homo ergaster, who mastered basic hunting and begun to have longer relationships. Some of the H. ergaster  moved into Asia and became Homo erectus, who were hunter-gatherers. Next, the movie showed Homo heidelbergensis, who were smarter, but according to the movie did not have much of an imagination for abstract ideas. H. heidelbergensis then became Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, or Neanderthals, as well as early Homo sapiens sapiens. Finally, the movie showed that the Neanderthals went extinct, leaving us on the planet as the solitary species of humans. Sorry I haven't posted in a while, thanks for reading! 

Limericks

Recently I've been writing in rhyme,
A,A,B,B,A every time,
I like limericks a lot,
They're more fun than I thought,
Syllable count?  Nine, nine, six, six, nine;

(Here are some news-story related limericks I wrote. They may be a little out of date; I wrote them a little bit ago.)

(Pope Story)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/world/europe/pope-benedict-xvi-says-he-will-retire.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

(Rodman Story)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/02/world/asia/way-to-reach-kim-jong-un-follow-the-ball.html?ref=dennisrodman

Pope Benedict XVI has retired,
For years, popes have merely expired,
Now he'll study and pray,
Day after day,
Soon a new pope will have to be hired.

Dennis Rodman went to the Far East,
To the country that likes us the least,
He tried to make amends,
Kim and he are best friends,
He's decided that Jong-un is no beast.

Chrysler Building Lego Mosiac

     I am working on a very challenging project that I came up with myself, and am working on by myself. All though it may seem simple at first, my project is very hard. I am trying to make a two-dimensional mosaic made of Lego bricks. I am going to accomplish this goal by pixelating an image, then writing a computer program that tells me the sequence of legos I need to reproduce this image, as well as the total number of each color. The first step was to find an image. I found a black-and-white photo of the chrysler building that looked nice. Then, I used a image manipulation program  called GIMP to pixilate the photo. After that, I needed to check the pixels witha programming language, so I started writing he code to figure out which legos I need. After I am done with the program, I will run it, then order the legos I need. Once they arrive, I will be able to build the mosaic and finish! This project is probably one of the longest-taking and hardest things I have attempted. Thanks for reading!

Blog Statistics

     Today, I am going to give a basic report on the statistics of this blog. I find this type of thing interesting, and I hope that you, my readers, find it interesting too. There are some sections that I don't understand, but if you do, please let me know in the comments.

     First of all, my views. Blogger says that over the time I've had this blog, I have gotten 1,529 views. I am guessing that a lot of these come from me looking at my blog; checking that the format worked, etc. I can see how many views for all time, the year, month, week, day and right now.

Out of all my posts, My Schedule (as of now) has the most views, with 56 in all. The runner-up is the Fudge post, with 54 views. I can see which country, operating system, and browser is giving me the most views. So I know that most of the views come from Macs, most of the views come from safari, and most people are reading this from America.
   

     The funny thing is, although 1,454 views come from America, I also have 27 from the UK and 21 from Germany.  As well as that, I have 11 from Romania, 6 from Poland, 4 from Argentina, and one each from Brazil, China, France and Japan. I can see the key words people use to find the blog, so I know that some of you are forgetting those spaces between the words. I hope you found this entry interesting, and thanks for reading!

Radio Programs

     Recently, I have been spending a large amount of time listening to radio programs as podcasts. These programs are from WBUR, the local NPR station. Out of the many on WBUR, there are three programs which I enjoy the most. You can go to the links for each if you're interested in them.

1. Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

     Wait Wait.. Don't Tell Me! is a radio news quiz. I find it completely hilarious. It makes puns and other jokes relating to the news, and I love listening to it. Here's the link: Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!




2. RadioLab

     This program is about science and philosophy. This show picks a certain topic, then gives a couple of stories related to that topic. This show always makes me think about what we actually know about science and what we could do with our current science and technology.


                                    
3. This American Life
 
     This American Life is sort of life RadioLab, but it is not about science. This American Life is about people and culture. Like RadioLab, this program also pick a topic and give a couple stories about it. I like This American Life because it always has interesting stories to listen to.