How To Report The News

SO funny!!!!!!!!!!!! And very true.

Or HERE.

I'm feeling inspired to...

Take chances! Get messy! Make mistakes! (From Ms. Frizzle)


http://www.societyforscience.org/Page.aspx?pid=497 


http://bridgecontest.usma.edu/ 

Nastia Liukin - HEART OF COURAGE (lovelovelove this!)

Best montage ever.


Or HERE.

Music is Heart of Courage by Two Steps From Hell.

Ladies Free Skate Live Blog!

I'll be updating as it happens :) NBC will be showing the final 2 groups of skaters LIVE.


Fluff on Sasha:
"Ice is slippery"
"I want to be my best. I want to be a better skater at the Olympics."
"I'm nervous... at nationals, this is the one that counts."
"I want everything to be perfect."
"It would be so fulfilling to come back and go the Olympics for a third time..."
"...Everybody watching me... It makes me feel alive."


Caroline Zhang: 11th after short. Nice dress! Falls on first jump... Stumbles on 2nd jump, a triple lutz. Nice double axel. Pretty spins...she's not doing "The Pearl," I asume becuase of her back. Next jump combo nice, and next jump, and next combo! And next combo! That's including a lot of stuff that she fell on earlier.. Gorgeous spiral sequence! Last combo spin was amazing! Looks very disappointed :(


I'll use this commercial break to remind everyone that Mirai Nagasu is in first, Sasha Cohen in second, and Rachel Flatt in third. The three of them are separated by less than a point, and are essentially the only skaters with a realistic chance at making the Olympic team (the US can send only 2 ladies this year). They are the last three skaters tonight.


Caroline is currently in 1st.


Bebe Liang: First combo was beautiful! And next! She's very dynamic :) Stumble on next jump... Nice spin. EASY next jump. Another great jump. She looks excited! Spiral sequence... Singled a triple lutz. Still going strong, last combo was great. Final combo spin. She looks disappointed, but pretty happy. 1st place.


Allissa Czisny: 7th after short. Very nice dress. Fall on first jump. I like her music. Second jump was nice. I think she fell on the last jump but the tv got messed up... nice spin. 2 more jumps... combo? I am liking her skating way better than last year! Stumble on triple lutz. Fought for the next combo! Her spiral still annoys me. Next combo was nice, but she wont get credit because she had already done 3 combos. She is reminding me why I love her spins so much! She looks *mostly* pleased with her performance. Don't know what place?


Emily Hughes: 7th after short. They show her sister Sarah (2002 gold medal at the Olympics) First bunch of jumps were great... combo spin...  falls on next jump.  triple? lutz. falls again. footwork. She's going after this program! I think I like her music... combo spin.. triple toe... spiral sequence. ends with combo spin.
Sorry, my cat jumped on my keyboard and deleted what I typed at the beginning, which is why it now just says "first jumps were great." I don't remember what they were :)


Allissa's in 3rd.


Alexe Gilles: Cute music! She's smiling! Yey!  Triple flip was nice. Jump combo right on. I love that she's having fun! Next jump good! Interesting combo spin. Spiral sequence. Another great jump! falls on triple flip. Hand down on next jump, but still makes it a combo! falls on next jump. But she's still performing! Combo spin to end. That was a fun program! She looks a disappointed.


Alexe's in 2nd. Final group is warming up.


Just realized that Emily's in 4th!


Mirai's looking good in warm up. Sasha looks nervous and isn't jumping much. Rachel looks good.


Amanda Dobbs: Sparkly dress! Great first jump! She does pairs and singles... wow! falls on triple flip. next jump was amazing. combo spin. jump combo. another spin. beautiful 3 jump combo! falls on next jump. next jump was great.. stumbles on double axel. messes up on something else... spin. She says "Not bad." :)


Amanda's in 1st.


Christina Gao: Triple toe triple toe combo! Great! 3 jump combo, great! Triple salchow double toe combo. Combo spin. I love her! Another great combo spin. Another great jump.. triple lutz! Spiral sequence. Great! Double axel.. barely hung on to the landing. Falls on triple flip. Cute footwork! Double axel, stumble. Combo spin. I really like her!


Ok, I think that Emily's not actually in 4th? (or that would be 5th by now) The results page on icenetwork is only giving rankings for the long  think...


Christina's in 1st! Yea!


Ashley Wagner: 4th after short. OMG I really don't like her dress! I love her music! First combo was nice.. Triple loop was great! Combo spin is great! I am loving the music! And her spiral sequence! Great jump! The dress works with the program! Triple salchow, two footed. Triple loop double axel combo was great. Triple flip, hangs on to double axel. Last jump is great! She's such a better skater then I remembered! Great spin to end! She looks VERY happy with it :) She definitely has an outside shot a making the team!


Ashley looks so happy and nervous in the kiss and cry! 1st place by loads! She's so excited!


Sasha Cohen: Can she do it? Can she do it? Triple lutz double toe.. step out. Another combo... Triple loop.. 2 footed. Nice jump. Spiral sequence. Beautiful! Very pretty spin! Falls on next jump. Sad. Next jump was good. And next! combo spin. Footwork is great. Combo spin to end. Gorgeous! She looks pretty happy, though :)


Still looks happy in kiss and cry. 2nd place!!!???? She's not going to the Olympics... Ashley looks so excited and nervous!


Rachel Flatt:  Double axel, very solid. Triple-triple, barely hangs on. triple lutz, nice. Combo spin. Very solid jump. triple lutz in combo. Spiral sequence. 3 jump combo! Last triple was great! She looks so excited! and happy!


Ashley still looks so nervous!


Rachel looks nervous in kiss and cry.. then she gets a huge score and is soooo excited! I have a feeling that she is going to the Olympics... Ashley's nervous!


Mirai Nagasu: Love her music. 3 jump combo to start!! she's got great choreo. great combo! another great jump. spin... another spin.. pretty! Nice spiral sequence! Great triple lutz. and 2 more great jumps! and another! triple toe loop! and now she's having even more fun :) footwork is fun... combo spin...really nice! THAT WAS AWESOME! She looks SO excited! And even more happy! Her coach looks so happy!


Ashley looks kind of sad and nervous :(


So who's going to win... Rachel or Mirai? I think Mirai... Rachel looks nervous. And Sasha's yawning?


Mirai's saying pleasepleasepleaseplease... and she's second! Rachel's first! Mirai looks happy! Ashley looks disappointed.


Rachel interview with Andrea Joyce. Pretty boring but she looks happy! As always!


That was awesome! So much better than last year! It probably won't be official until tomorrow, but I think that it's safe to say that Rachel and Mirai are going to the Olympics, and that Ashley will be first alternate.


Goodnight!

Ice Dance - Free Dance Live Blog

Replay of original dances first.


Belbin and Agusto: Not sure what to think so far... they're having fun, and I think they've hit all their elements so far. Crazy choreo... is that normal for OD's? I haven't seen many.


Davis and White: I love her costume! Idian dance themed... very original choreo! THAT WAS AWESOME! They look so happy in the "truth booth!" Meryl is talking about stuff they can fix :) I love this team!


Samuelson and Bates: I don't know this team well. American folk theme. Cute choreo, but I've decided that everyone has cute choreo in OD's! Sorry I don't have much to say about them.. they do seem to be hitting their elements! They look excited when they finish :)


Going into the free dance, Davis and White are in first, and Belbin and Agosto are in second by less than 2 points. Samuelson and Bates are waaaayy down in third by more than 10 points. I didn't see the names of the 4th place team, but they're *pretty* close to Samuelson and Bates. 5th place is way behind them.


They just showed a cute fluff piece on Davis/White and Belbin/Agosto.


The final group is warming up... commercial break! ugh! Now we're back. They warm up is  still going on.


Belbin/Agosto: Her costume is waaay over the top. But it is ice dance... Mucis is Ave Maria. Cool flip thingy on his arm :) His shirt has wings :)  Is she singing to the music?? I don't think so... but she's definitely moving her mouth a lot. Very cool spin! Their skating is definitely dynamic... They look happy with it! Edit, very happy! 1st for now, 218.51 total score. Don't remember their free dance score. they look happy.


Navarro/Bomentre (they're the 4th place team): Music is by U2. WOW she was just upside down over the ice and he was skating with her across the rink! I actually like these costumes :) Spin looks good. I like them. I really like their choreo! Correction: LOVE their choreo! Sad cuz they probably wont make the Olympic team :( They looked pretty happy though! The comentators are showing where they'll get deducted and where they'll get points. 186.42. 2nd for now.


Chock/Zuerlein: Slower music then other teams... I don't know this team well either. They're skating really well! They have more elegant choreo than most of the teams. They looked like they had fun! 177.48. 3rd for now.


Davis/White: Bollywood inspired program. I've never seen it, so I'm excited! It's supposed to be awesome :) Music is Phantom of the Opera. Starting with a spin, looks good! Cool lift sequence. I love this music :) Great performance so far :) OMG they had better win!! They look happy and relieved. Their coaches are happy with it :) The commentators can't stop praising them during the replays :) 222.29! They'll win :)


Samuelson/Bates: If they don't mess up, they'll get 3rd and go to the Olympics. I like her dress! Pretty choreo at the beginning! They're doing great. I have a new fave team :) Yikes, she's flexible! Pretty spin :) They look happy! As they should be! The commentators liked it too. Their coach is crying :) 93.73 for the free, don't remember their total, but they're 3rd! I have a very strong feeling that they're going to the Olympics :)


Interview with Davis/White: Not much to say. They still look happy :)


Interview with Samuelson/Bates: Again, boring. Have I mentioned that I don't like Andrea Joyce? (She does the interviews for skating AND gymnastics)

Ladies Short Program, *liveish* Blog

Not really live, since I'm writing this as it's *starting* to end, and it actually happened 2 days ago!


Ashley Wagner: Looks like she's ready to give a good fight! Nice combo.. falls on triple lutz. I like her choreo! very pretty spin. nice spiral... they just said triple axel!!! but i think it was a double? i'll see if i can tell on a replay... they didn't show it on the replay. 4th place. Looks happy! Sounds happy in "truth booth," said her goal was to go for everything, and she definitely did!


Emily Hughes, LIVE thoughts! looking good so far! First jump combo looked good. Doubled a triple lutz, next jump good, nice spiral sequence. Very determined! Pretty spin! LOL was that an imp face?! Looks exited during footwork.. Nice ending. Looks pleased and happy! A bit disappointed as she leaves the ice. looks semi pleased with her scores... 7th place. (8th after everyone went)


I'll keep updating below the dots with my thoughts on what they've already shown, and above if they show anyone else.

* * *

Allissa Csinzy: Don't know why, but I've never liked her skating. Tried to keep an open mind today, though :) I definitely see why she's considered an artistic skater. Her spins are great! I guess her spirals are nice, but I feel like her leg is way out to the side. She fell :( She looks so disappointed! Sad. She's smiling, but not a happy smile. I feel bad for her. Placed 7th.


Christina Gao: OMG she looks so young! She's 15, but will turn 16 soon so she's eligble for the Olympics. I love her spins! I don't love her choreo, but it's better than a lot of stuff we see these days. Her jumps are amazing, but she doesn't hold the landings as long as most of the older skaters... I bet she'll look way better in a few years, and if she can stay healthy, she should challenge for a spot in 2014. She looked so thrilled when she finished! 5th place.


Rachel Flatt: I didn't watch it on tv, but I did watch it yesterday online, so we'll see if I can remember :) She looked like she was having fun, and her jumps were solid. Spins were nice... spirals were nice... sorry I don't remember much! A bit hesitant until the jumps were done, then all out. She's in 3rd.


Sasha Cohen: I now know why I haven't enjoyed the ladies event much for the last few years. Need I say more? She looked great, and her spiral sequence was amazing! :) 2nd place.


Mirai Nagasu: She did great! This is how she skated in 2008 (she was national champ then), but better technique! She looked SO HAPPY at the end! 1st place! She looked THRILLED!


Caroline Zhang: She was great at the beginning, then fell on her second jump and it fell apart :(




They just showed a clip of Sasha Cohen practicing her long program yesterday, and it looked AMAZING except for a fall.


They're doing a preview of the ladies long... one of the commentators likes Sasha :)


I'll try to live blog the ladies free skate tonight. It starts at 9.

Future City Competition

Well. I haven't exactly been posting recently. Sorry about that. The reason is that I have been preparing for Future City regionals for the past week, and haven't had time to do anything else. I would wake up, work for about 7-9 hours, go do whatever "extracurricular" stuff I had, then come home and work another 1-3.
So anyway, here's a little background on the competition. Each team consists of 3 7th or 8th graders, one teacher, and one engineer mentor. The challenge is to design a city that is at least 150 years in the future, and it has a different theme each year. This year it was "Affordable green housing for those who have lost their homes due to natural disaster or financial emergency." The teams have to design a city on SimCity 4 (100 points), write a research essay on the years theme (70 points), write a narrative describing the city as a whole (20 points), make a scale model of part of the city (120 points), and give an oral presentation (90 points). What is really annoying, is that the simulation has almost nothing to do with the rest of the challenge, yet it is still worth a quarter of the points.
My team was me, Wren (I worked with her on straw bridge last year), and another homeschooler named Harrison. My mom was the teacher, and our engineer mentor was Steve. We named our city Perfectus Amicus Oppidum, which means Perfect Friendly City. I don't remember when we started, but I think it must have been in October. Some of the first things we did were play around with SimCity to get the hang of it, and brainstorm ideas for the city, mostly for the green housing. We settled on a high rise with the floors getting smaller as you go up. We also started researching futuristic technologies.
We figured out pretty quickly that Harrison was way better with SimCity than either me or Wren, so he started to take the lead on that. Wren took the lead on designing the layout of the neighborhood for the model, and writing the narrative. I wrote the essay and did most of the final research and made final decisions about the high rise. As we got closer to the week that the simulation, narrative, and essay were due, I think we all started to wonder if it would get done in time. Steve gave us tips on how to make more money in SimCity, but Harrison felt that many of them would destroy key features of the city. Wren had a good layout on graph paper, but was having trouble getting words on paper (or the computer, for that matter), and was hovering just below 300 words (the narrative needed to be 300-500 words). I was also having a bit of writers block on the essay (700-1000 words), and even once I started writing, I was having trouble writing what needed to be in it. It didn't help me that all three were due the same week as my high school application, and I was more than a little stressed! In the end, we submitted a less-then-perfect simulation. I pretty much took over writing the narrative about 48 hours before it was due, and Wren and I had some fun creating the city's history and school system. I think the narrative we submitted was the absolute best we could do, and probably one of the most memorable for the judges (I mean, where else are you going to find an annual cabbage festival? You can download the PDF's of the narrative and essay at the bottom of this post). The essay could have been much better if I had another week to figure out what they wanted to see, instead of just writing what I though of.
Pretty much right after that, we had to stop for Christmas. I had though that we would only have about 1 or 2 weeks off, but it turned out we didn't meet for almost a month. When we finally did, we started working on the model. Steve told us to use a 50 scale (50 feet equals 1 inch), so we figured out how much we could put on the model, which couldn't be bigger than 25" by 50". We used Wren's layout as a base for starting. Harrison had to go to Florida, so Wren and I made most of the final decisions for the model. We needed at least one moving part, two for full points. We designed three for safety. We had a windmill, a geothermal gizer, and growing cabbages. The geothermal was next to the extinct volcano at the edge of the model. The windmill was originally going to be on top of the mountain, powered by a handheld fan under the mountain, but with 3 days to go we decided to just put the fan on the model as the windmill. It went on the opposite corner, and as an explanation for why the base was so big, we said that the power being generated was stored in a liquid battery in the windmill. Not all of the windmills had them, but we didn't have room to put the rest of the windmill farm on the model.
We were not allowed to spend more than $100 on the model and oral report combined. Thankfully, they didn't count the cost of materials that never made it onto the model :) Because of this, most of the buildings on the model were made from cardboard that would have otherwise been thrown in the recycling bin. The buildings were rather messy until we figured out some techniques, and even once we did they weren't perfect. We ended up making some of the smaller buildings out of foam core, even though it cost way more than cardboard. We though it would be easier to work with, but since we were using 1/2" foam core we were definitely wrong! We did figure it out eventually, but only after getting advice from about 3 different people :) Most of the paint used in the model was house paint that we bought about six years ago, and it was pretty obvious! The paint was so lumpy that we gave it a $0 value in our price sheet. We also used acrylic craft paint that was just as old a lumpy. We bought gesso (kind of like primer, but more waterproof) to use as a base on the cardboard buildings. We also ended up using it to mix lighter colors of paint. We couldn't find any black paint, the only black we found turned everything purple! We used black ink to mix the darker colors, but because of this the model turned out slightly more pastel themed than originally intended.
Wren and I were told to write Harrison's part of the oral report and send it to him to memorize, so we did. We also chose the topic for him :) He talked about the layout of the city, Wren talked about the history and school system (Read the narrative. You won't be sorry), and I talked about the details of the high rise. Thursday, two days before the competition, was the first time we saw Harrison since the week before. We worked some on the model, and also tried the oral report, which we had to have completely memorized. Harrison had the whole thing memorized, but it was shaky. Wren had barely started memorizing, but it was pretty good for where she was at. I hadn't started at all. It was better than what I thought it would be, but that doesn't mean much :) We were going overtime, so my mom cut down the words for us.
On Friday, Wren had to leave early, and Harrison had to come late. We ended up having only about 10 minutes together. We practiced the oral report with a flip chart for the first time. It wasn't great, but we got through it. After Harrison left, I kept working on the model, finishing things that hadn't been done when Wren and Harrison were there. I don't remember what time I went to bed, but it was probably about 2 hours before I got to sleep. I also woke up early, and was to nervous to get back to sleep. When we got to the competition at about 8:15, Harrison was already there, and Wren was just arriving. We got our awesome t-shirts, which were designed to look like tourist t-shirts from the cabbage festival. Only 10 teams were competing, even though more than 25 registered. They announced that the Maryland region was still sending a team to nationals, since we had enough teams register. We started the day as the first team to go through best engineering judging, although we thought at the time that it was model judging (model judging is more important, since it gets counted toward your final score. Engineering, transportation, and disaster readiness were special awards that were judged separately). It went well, and the judges seemed reasonably impressed. As the day went on, we had many sets of judges come by our table, and we did pretty well. We found out that Harrison is extremely good at making things up on the spot, and that helped us a lot. He was able to make up a whole water system, and it even sounded feasible! We ended up using that one at least 3 times through the day. When the disaster readiness judges came, he made up about 5 technologies on the spot. I don't remember most of it, and I doubt he does either, but it sounded pretty good at the time! The oral report could have been better, but I think we did pretty well. We all actually remembered what we were supposed to say, and I think the props worked. I was most nervous for the questions, but it turned out they were all pretty easy. The judges were just reading the questions from a book, which annoyed me. Boring questions get boring answers. When we finished the oral report, we had transportation judging. Again, Harrison came to the rescue and made up a whole system. Afterwards, we though we were done with all of the judging, and relaxed. About 45 minutes later, more judges appeared at our table. They were judging the model, which meant that their score would be counted in out final score. We weren't prepared for more judges, and didn't do our best job. After they left, I started to get increasingly more nervous until the awards ceremony. There were 9 special awards, as well as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, so we were fairly certain we would win something. We ended up winning disaster readiness, which surprised all of us. Harrison kept that award, of course :) We also won 2nd place overall. If we had been 1st, we would have gone to nationals, and I'm not sure if I'm disappointed or relived that we didn't! Because we won disaster readiness, we are invited to the Engineers Club for dinner. It's a gorgeous building, I've been there once before. We're going in February, for education night. The Superintendent of the Maryland Public schools will be speaking, as well as other education-type people. I find this hilarious, since our entire team is homeschooled :) It should be a lot of fun!


Here are some pictures of the model. The oddly shaped building near the center is one of the high rises where those who would otherwise be homeless are housed.

Ok, I can't seem to figure out how to make link to download PDF's right now. I'll try to get that sorted out in the next day or two. In the meantime, look forward to a review of the men's and pair's events at the US figure skating nationals, which double as Olympic trials this year. It should be up by the middle of tomorrow at the latest. I will also be post a picture of the t-shirts that we wore to the competition later today.

The United States of Pop, 2009 version

AWESOME mix! (Thanks Rachel!)






Lyrics:
I know you want pop
You want dance
You want rock & roll
You want it, boom boom
This years remix, got some phonics

Oh, I got pop
I got dance
I got rockin electronic
Raw, Beats!
I got hip hop music
With the future flow

So dont worry, even if the sky is falling down
Down, Down
Gonna be okay, when it knocks you down, down, down
So baby dont worry, its alright, a-alright
When it knocks you down
When you go down, when you go down, down
No need to worry, just get back up
When you are tumbling down, down, down

Its like Ive been awakened
(Every step Im taking)
Every rule I had you breaking
(Every move Im making)
The risk that Im taking
(The chances Im taking)
With a big smile on my face, and it never feels out of place

Blame it on the, pop
Blame it on the, dance
Blame it on the, rock and roll
Blame it on the, rumba
So in sync, with some phonics

I like that, pop
I like that, bass
I like them rockin, electronics
Raw, beats!
Blame it on the, hip hop music
With the future flow

Baby dont worry, its alright, a-alright
When it knocks you down
Somewhere far along this road
Stressed out I wanna let it go
I feel, down, down, down

Oh, Ive been travelling on this road too long (too long)
Just trying to find my way back home (back home)
The old me is dead and gone, dead and gone

I got a feeling, I found god.

Blame it on the, pop
Blame it on the, dance
Blame it on the, rock and roll
Blame it on the feeling, of the music deep in side your soul.

We got the, pop
We got the, dance
We got the, rockin electronics
Raw, beats!
We got the, hip hop music with the future flow.

People in the place
Put your, put your hands in the air
Now put your hands up, oh oh oh, oh oh oh!
Forever united here,
Blame it on the p-p-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face

So live your life, (Hey!)
Lets live it up, (Ho!)
If you wanna get down, (Hey!)
Down, down (Ho!)
Hey! Ma ma ma ma, Ho!
I wanna get down, down, down.

So baby dont worry, its alright, a-alright
When it knocks you down
When you go down, when you go down, down
No need to worry, just get back up
When you are tumbling down, down, down

Blame it on the, pop
Blame it on the, dance
Blame it on the, boom, boom, boom
Gotta get get, rumba
Blame it on the, 808
With the boom, boom, boom

Gotta get get, pop
Gotta get get, dance
Gotta get get, boom, boom, pow
I gotta get, I gotta get
This years remix with the future sound.

I got a feeling, and I never really had a doubt
That tonights gonna be a good night
That tonights gonna be a good night
And I say the same thing every single time
You know that I could use somebody

Open up your plans and then youre free
Look into your heart and youll find, love, love, love
Down, down, down
Cant you see, love, love, love
Isnt this easy, feeling love, love, love

Down, down, down
Its like Ive been awakened
Cant you see
Every step Im taking
Dont be afraid
The risk that Im taking (cant you see)
Ive had a little bit too much
Feeling, down, down, down
Cant you see (every move Im making)
Every rule I had you breaking (isnt this easy)
Feeling, love, love, love
Well make it out of this mess (change your mind)
Baby just say, yes
(Da,da,da,da,da,da)

I'm so 2010...

Ok, so I always thought that the lyrics were "I'm so 2008, you're so 2000 and late..." but apparently it's 3008, which I didn't realize until I was finding a video for this post.
So ANYWAY, I was going to say that it's now 2010, and 2008 is a "long" time ago, so the lyrics don't make sense anymore. My brilliant idea was to change them to "I'm so 2010, you're so 2000 and then..."
Actually, I'm going to suggest that change anyway :) The only problem being that in a few years, it won't make sense anymore... Oh well!