It's Just Rocket Science

Stardate:  2013.144

                Rockets and Space Shuttles and things like that have always interested me. To get more involved with these things, I took Physics. Recently, we started learning all about Space Exploration and Dark Matter and other really interesting things like Quarks and Neutrinos. We also started to build our rockets, which are set to be launched sometime soon.

                 A model rocket kit comes with a body, a nose cone, fins, an engine tube, a shock cord, a parachute, and a few other things. They’re relatively simple to assemble, though some parts can be confusing. All you really need to do to assemble the rocket is follow the directions and add glue where you’re supposed to, so it’s really not hard for anyone to do, but supervision is recommended.

Stardate: 2013.154          

We also had to design a “Mission Patch” and name our rocket, like the NASA astronauts used to do. My group named our rocket the “Vortex 17”, and our mission patch has the Gallifreyan symbol for Vortex and the number 17 on it. Gallifreyan is a language from the hit British TV Show, Doctor Who.

                The launching process will be somewhat orderly. Groups will pick a number out of a hat and that is the order in which the rockets will be launched. Launch will take place on the soccer or football field. After launch, when the rockets reach a certain height, the parachute will deploy and the rocket will land somewhere close to where we are, hopefully. Many times the rockets have not been recovered due to them being lost in the woods or somewhere else where the students cannot reach them.

               

Stardate: 2013.168

Well it turns out we didn’t launch them. There’s less than two days of school left so it looks like our rockets won’t be making it to the Final Frontier after all. It’s kind of disappointing; the whole class was really looking forward to it. It looks like we’ll have to wait to boldly go where no man has gone before.

The Endings of Books

                The ends of books are something most avid readers tend to dread, especially if it’s the end of a series. Book endings range from happy to sad, from awesome to terrible, and from cliffhangers to well-rounded story endings. You could be happy with one ending, but very disappointed with another.

                There are some endings that are obvious will happen, for instance, the Harry Potter series. After so many books and years of reading leading up to the final book, it was completely obvious that Harry would kill Voldemort and save the world. There is no way an author would change an ending after so much hype. And if they did change an ending as important as that, everyone would probably hate them and boycott their books for the rest of their lives. Readers are crazy.

                A lot of people include cliffhanger endings in their list of “Pet Peeve’s”, and it’s completely understandable. Cliffhanger endings are one of the worst types of endings, especially if it’s a book that won’t have a sequel. If that’s the case, there really is no reason the ending should be a cliffhanger. If you’re book isn’t going to have a sequel and you know that, why on Earth would you make the ending a cliffhanger and risk infuriating so many people!? If the book will be continued, that’s a different story. Then all people will have to do is wait until the next book comes out, which isn’t nearly as bad.

                Good endings are expected from books. They make people happy, and you’d think that all authors would want to write good endings so their fans are pleased. Bad endings could be terribly written, cliffhangers, or just not how the reader wanted it to turn out. A popular favorite type of ending is complete surprises. People love it when authors do the unexpected and write something ridiculous. There just aren’t endings like that in the world.

                All in all, endings can be good or bad, and they can make people happy or sad. It’s all up to the author’s discretion, and to some degree the reader’s preferences. Go read a book, it’ll make you smarter.

A Review of Minecraft

Minecraft is an open world sandbox game originally created by Swedish programmer Markus Persson and later developed and published by Mojang. Minecraft has quickly become one of the most popular games in the world, and some people seem to be confused about that.

                The graphics in Minecraft are blocky, to say the least. But they literally are just blocks.

A nicely designed player home, with Pigs, Chickens, and Cows outside

Most people who don’t play the game call the graphics childish, and say they don’t understand what the point of the game is. That’s understandable because, until recently, there really hasn’t been a point. With the recent updates, the developers added a sort of ending. The player can travel to The End, a dimension that is home to the Ender Dragon. The Ender Dragon is basically the final boss of the game, because killing it will roll the credits. The game doesn’t prompt you to go to the end and kill the dragon, you can do it on your own time.

The End, and the Ender Dragon

Minecraft is unique in the fact that it is really one of the only games where you can do whatever you want, and it is a lot more fun with friends. It can currently be played on two systems, PC and Xbox 360, both of which feature online multiplayer. You can collaborate and build stuff with your friends, or you can just mess around and fight each other. Whatever you choose to do, you’ll have fun doing it.

The Importance of Senior Year

                A lot of people say that your junior year of High School is the most important, and that does make sense. However, your senior year is just as, if not more, important. You still need to focus on getting good grades so that you’ll be able to graduate and play sports and go to prom, and you also need to make your final college decision, which is arguably one of the most important choices you’ll ever have to make in your entire life.

                Junior year is when colleges look at your grades and SAT scores. That is why most people think junior year is the most important, and that is true, grade wise. Senior year is when you make the most important decisions of your life, and that’s why it is arguably more important than junior year. During senior year, you have to make two extremely big decisions: Where you’re going to college, and what you want to do for the rest of your life. These two things are most likely the two things that will have the most impact on you over your entire lifetime.

                One of the most reasonable things to do today is to attend a county college to get your Associate’s Degree, or just to go for two years to get you general education courses out of the way and then transfer to a four year school and get your Bachelor’s. Doing the latter will allow you, once you transfer, to focus on classes that only relate to your major, which is really what you want. A lot more kids are doing this because county college tuition rates are usually a lot lower than traditional four year schools, and some offer lower rates to students who live in that county.

                When asked “Why do you think senior year is so important?” Morgan Fisher, a senior at Sterling High School in Somerdale, New Jersey said “It’s when you realize who your real friends are. This is the year when you grow up and realize what you’re going to do for the rest of your life, you choose who you surround yourself with, and you also find out who you are. It’s the point in life when you get to become you.” After being asked the same question, Sean McMillan, another senior at Sterling High School, said “It’s the final year before ascending to college. You have to make critical decisions to help yourself choose your career.”

                What Morgan said really rings true. “It’s when you realize who your real friends are.” This statement is so true, it’s a little crazy. Obviously in movies they overplay this and make it a huge cliché, but it really is true. There are some people who you can be friends with for over 10 years, but when they get to high school, they make new friends and leave you in the dust, but then there are some people who you may have only known for a few years, but you can just tell that they will always be there for you, and that your friendship is going to last for the rest of your lives, and that’s a real friend.

                Friendship is a funny thing. It can either make you really happy, or it can make you upset. In the case of losing friends, which happens a lot over the course of your high school career, you’re probably going to be upset. When making new friends, however, you’re bound to be happy.