Science Fair

Science Fair by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson


No, I'm not desperate for help with my science fair project that will count for 40% of my science grade, I'll freak out about that this summer. Ideas appreciated.

This is a book that combines the wonderful story telling skills of Ridley Pearson, who wrote another book that was awesome but I can't quite remember what, and the funny touch of Dave Barry, who writes funny things. This book is about a school. In this school is a lot of people, but in specific three of them. And a frog. And with this frog will be involved in a science fair experiment. And within this science fair (grand prize: $5,000) there is a chance that the U.S. government will collapse. And there is a Robot Owl of Death. But not in the science fair experiment. Or the government. And the book is funny. And you will read it, or be hunted down by the Robot Laser Owl of Death. Oh, and one final thing:


Beware the might of Krpsht.


I would just like to say that the spelling suggestions for the word Krpsht are Sharpshoot, Grapeshot, and Krypton.

Makes me wonder, does the word grapeshot mean grapes that are hot, a single grape that has been shot, or a pairing of the rare grapesh and an ot (abbreviation for otter).

Khan Academy

This isn't a book, but a really cool website for learning things. Khan Academy is an online repository (my stupid computer says "online" isn't a word) of knowledge in the form of videos. It has videos on math, from addition to calculus and statistics and trigonometry, (which I have discovered is fun and not that hard), all ranges of science, lots of things I don't understand on finance and economy, and even a bit about humanities and civics and the like. Also, if you make an account, you can earn badges for doing things like getting a streak of 5000 trig problems right in a row (almost there!(no, I'm not)).

Note: I am not being paid to say this, but I should be :)

So if you have some spare time, check that out.

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

This is a most hilarious book. It is set on Earth, and follows the adventures of one Arthur Dent, who likes tea but is relatively unremarkable. He learns that his house is going to be demolished to make space for a highway, and he isn't happy about it. So he lays in front of the bulldozer. All morning. Until his friend, Ford Prefect comes to show him something, somewhere else. However, Arthur reasons that he can't, because he has to keep the people from destroying his house. Eventually, Ford convinces the destruction team that they don't actually need Arthur to lie in the mud, and he can go do something while they lie in the mud. So they go of the get a drink, and Ford informs Arthur that the Earth is about to explode. Then it does. The end.

No, actually, they hitch a ride on the Vogon ship that blew up the planet. Then they are expelled out of an airlock. Then they died.

No, actually, something else happens involving penguins. But I won't tell you, because then you won't read it. So read the book. But I'll tell you that it involves an improbability drive. And a two headed three armed alien.

Philisophical Questions

One of my friends randomly forced a piece of paper containing a bunch of questions titled "Philosophy Questions" and walked away. So now I'm gonna answer them, and you can reply with your answer, and then we'll get into a big debate, and our brains will be smarter. So here are a few from the list of 40 that I have:

4. Should you let little things bother you?
In general, no. If something is really bothering you, then you should find out why, and then the problem will solved and everyone will be happy.

5.Is it your duty to give to charity?
Not really, I don't think you have a duty to help anyone, unless you have promised to. From an evolutionary standpoint (ya know, the survival of the species one.) it could go either way. If you did give to charity, then you would increase the chance of others survival, which would rebound in the long term to help you, but it could potentially endanger your survival in the short term.

7.Should you ever tell a lie?
Yes. Sometimes a lie makes everything go smoother and everyone happier. As long as the end result is the same as if you told the truth, but better, whether that means faster of happier or less sad, lies are sometimes good, when used carefully.

10.Do we control technology or does it control us?
Interesting. In a literal sense, of course we control tech, after all, we're the ones pushing buttons and pulling levers. But in a philosophical sense, well, I don't know. Please comment.

13. Can you doubt that you exist?
Well of course, look at Matrix. That entire movie was about our nonexistence. But I think that even though we can tell ourselves that we don't think we exist, our brain is wired to believe that we do, and that we must be preserved, because if it wasn't, we would all die.

14.Does a tree make a sound if it falls in a forest with no one around?
The only way I can answer this is YES of course it does! Sound is a vibration of air, and air vibrates whether our ear is there to pick it up or not.

18. Can you lie to yourself?
Yes, look at my answer for number 13. You lie to yourself that you believe that you don't exist, but deep down you believe that you do. Or maybe we all lie to ourselves that we do exist, but deep deep down we know of our nonexistence.

20.Can computers think?
Computers use algorithms to figure out what to do. These algorithms can be very simple, or extremely complex and learn that with these parameters present, this method fails miserably. What are our minds but the most complicated algorithm in existence?

22.Does anything ever happen by chance?
Well, my first instinct is that no, if you know all the information and how it goes together, which is literally impossible, you  can predict things. But, when you have a spinner with a 50% chance of landing on blue and a 50% chance of landing on red, can you know which it will land on? Maybe.

24.Are numbers and people equally real?
No. People are something, numbers are imaginary things that we have thought up in our heads to express an amount of something.

28.Do you have free will?
Do you have free will, I love this one. I like the point argued in a wonderful book by Orson Scott Card, Xenocide, which I will review, that all actions are determined by past actions, which are influenced by more past actions, and we are really just playing out a set chain of events that cannot change, and that free will is only a figment of our imagination to keep us playing out this story of the universe. This idea should have a name, such as "The Fate Theorem".

32. Should you always listen to the opinions of others?
Yes, because others are smart, but you shouldn't necessarily act on them.

33. Should you criticize people and their opinions?
If you didn't, how would they know you disagree?

35. Is it always easy to tell what causes things to happen?
Why do humans think? I think the answer is a resounding NO.

39.Can something logical ever not make sense?
This brings to mind and episode of Doctor Who (It's a show about aliens ans time travel, not doctors with no faces) in which they  are investigating a grave that is missing a body. The ground on top wasn't disturbed, the sides of the grave were wooden, and only the bottom remained. Logically, the ground, or something in it, eats people. But does that make sense? No. Actually, it was an ancient race of subterranean lizard people called Sillurians, or homo reptilia. Yes, I memorize the Latin names of aliens.

Alphabet Juice

Alphabet Juice by Roy Blount Jr.



First of all, you need to know that this not any ordinary book. Nor is it a turbo book with movies built into it, just by the way, if you were wondering. It is more of a dictionary thingamajig. Hey, the computer recognizes thingamajig, but not thingamajigy. Weird. The book is composed of seemingly random words and phrases, in alphabetical order, of course. For example, the H section begins with has been, hater, headlinese, heebie-jeebies, etc. Each word has a description of where it came from, how sonicky it is, weird things about it, and some other random stuff. One of my favorite entries goes as follows:

Well, never mind. I cant find the quote. I looked through most of the book and it wasn't there. :( But it went something about a book, which was in quotes, and the book quoted a person quoting a newspaper, quoting a phrase, quoting somebody. Much quoting. Tell me if you find said words.

Overall, this is lots of fun and laughs for an older audience.

Rangers Apprentice

Rangers Apprentice by John Flanagan

The Rangers Apprentice is set in medieval times, and follows the life of a young orphan named Will. He has always wanted to be a warrior, who he somehow knows was a great warrior, despite having never met either of his parents. However, on the day when orphans are chosen for a job, he is deemed to weak to be a warrior. The baron of his feif, whose job it is to choose a job for orphans, is given a letter from Halt, a Ranger (more on Rangers later). Desperate to know the contents of the letter, and fearing that he will be sentenced to life as a farmhand, he sneaks into the barons chambers at night. Now I would just like to say, this is no easy task. The barons chambers aren't a little building in the middle of nowhere. Were talking about a huge, heavily guarded, stone tower 50 feet in the air. At night. So anyways, he sneaks into the tower and gets caught by Halt. Will is very afraid, because Rangers are thought to use witchcraft and stuff. Turns out, the letter says that he will be sentenced to life as a Ranger. If you think that thats a spoiler, look at the title of the book. Rangers Apprentice. 

But what is a Ranger?

A Ranger is a master of everything. Master hunters, excellent archers, negotiators, spies, strategists, you name it. And they have cool horses that can speak in their mind. And they like coffee. A lot.

Amazing book, riveting action, I recommend it to everyone.

The Hunger Games Movie

The Hunger Games Movie directed by Gary Ross



I am going to assume that you have already read the hunger games or at least my review of it, so I wont get into storyline and things.

My friends had been telling me that it was going to be a really bad movie, and so when I went to see it, I was braced for a bad movie. But my friends, as usual, were wrong. It was a good movie. It followed the plot very well, and when it wavered from the book, the changes were minor and actually helped the story, instead of making it feel tampered with.

I dont have much else to say, except for five stars and go see it.

WAIT. I do have something else to say. Regarding violence and age level and stuff: of course it was violent, it was a violent book, and there are some frightening parts, but nothing actually disgusting or horrific. Now I'm done.

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzzane Collins


If you haven't heard of this book, no offense, but you really aren't connected to society. That's how popular these books are. (very popular)


So anyways, here's what actually happens in the book. A girl named Katniss, (a type of plant formally called sagittaria, (also called arrowhead(this name makes sense because she is an amazing archer (hence arrowhead) and a good forager (hence he bit about being a plant)))(I think I am setting some record for number of parentheses all stuck together (but when i tried to google it all that popped up was some thing about tuples (???)))(Here ends the origin of Katniss's name in (parentheses))). Kaniss lives in district 12, who mine coal (this is set in future North America) for the capitol. And then, through some ritual that will be explained once you read the book, she is selected to go compete with 23 other children (she's like 16, by the way) in a battle to the death. :) That's about it. Except, of course, the fact that she meets an awesome little monkey girl named Rue, who d*#*@^.  Sorry just realized that I was about to spoil the book. She also gets chased by fireballs. And if you don't really like action, she might fall in love on the side or something.

This is an amazing book. Just ask anyone walking down the street with their Hunger Games shirt on wearing a mockingjay pin. Oh and if you haven't read the book yet, if you happen to be at a social meeting and someone says "may the odds be ever in your favor", laugh a lot or something because that's a line from the Hunger Games.

Just looking back on this review, I realize it's not my best work. I feel sorry for those of you who have nothing to do but read my blog. Maybe you should read a book. Perhaps even a book that you are reading about. However, It's not going to get better until spring break ends, because I'm in FLORIDA! So I don't care, 'cause I'm on a beach! :) And I don't have my computer, so I have to use one whose t-key sucks. In my opinion.

Also, there's a Hunger Games movie, which I'll review later.