A New, Better, Energy Source?

John Kazius, a cancer scientist, has found a way to "burn" seawater using radio waves. He came upon this by experimenting with a way to kill cancer cells with radio waves, and discovered that he could use the radio waves to weaken the bonds that hold the seawater together, releasing hydrogen. The hydrogen would burn for as long as it was exposed to the radio waves at temperatures exceeding 3000 degrees Fahrenheit. While this is an exciting discovery, and it uses the most abundant element in the universe, the scientist has not determined whether there is enough energy produced to power a car, or if there is enough produced to even power the radio waves. If it is powerful enough for both, this technology could change the world.

New Zunes (No Zunephone)

The new Microsoft Zunes have been announced, and they have made many significant improvements. The original model, now called the Zune 30 (30 GB) had three things that its target competitor (iPod) didn’t. It had a very large screen which could be turned on its side for video and picture viewing, an FM radio tuner, and its biggest feature of all, WiFi sharing. WiFi sharing means that a user could send songs and pictures wirelessly to other Zunes within 30 feet. It had limitations on song sharing that brought in much criticism, which were that a user could only play a song given to you three times or keep it for three days, whichever came first. The user also could not pass along a song to another Zune if that Zune had been wirelessly shared. There is also one more thing that Zune had over iPod, which was its User Interface (UI). A user could set a background image for your Zune, and in the music browsing interface, a user could use the left and right buttons to scroll between artists, songs, albums, and playlists.

Even with these three improvements over iPod, it fell in two categories. One of them was the size of the Zune 30 was much larger than that of the iPod Generation 5.5, its equivalent from Apple. The other was the lack of a touch sensitive “Click-Wheel” for navigation. Its directional system was circular in shape, but it was just a four-directional clicking interface with a button in the middle for selecting.

There are three different new Zunes. Two are flash based devices, which have less storage but are physically smaller. The two models have either 4GB of space or 8GB of space (Zune 4 and Zune 8) and can both play videos. The third model is a hard-drive based device like the Zune 30, and has 80 GB of storage (Zune 80). It is also thinner, reported to by 27% smaller than the Zune 30, and sports a large 3.2 inch screen. (The iPhone’s screen is 3.5 inches). All of the Zunes can sync music from a computer wirelessly along with sharing music and photos wirelessly. The only limitation on music sharing is the three play limit, with all the other limitations done away with. The new directional system is on all the new versions and is touch sensitive, and still has the four-directional clicker underneath. This way, a user could flick or brush on the pad to move up, down, and side-to-side, or use the regular click interface. It is shaped in a unique squared-off circle, now being called “the squircle.” The UI remains the same as Zune 30 in all devices, and is still easy to use.

I can’t wait until November 13th, when the new Zunes are expected to be released. At this time, new firmware will be released to current Zune 30 owners like me who want the wireless syncing and less strict sharing rules, but for a touch pad interface, I would have to buy a new Zune.

Seattle Sports

I am happy and sad for Seattle sports this year. Today was the last game of the season for the Seattle Mariners, and even though they won, they finished six games behind in the AL West and the AL Wildcard. My hopes were up for most of the season as they hung on to the Wildcard and challenged the Angels in the AL West, but their mojo left them and they fell 9 games behind. Last week, they mathematically fell out of contention for the playoffs, with 7 games left and 8 games behind. It was a good season, but ended on a sad note.


Looking on the brighter side, the Seahawks won their game against San Francisco 23 to 3 today, putting their record at 3-1. Next week will be the most exciting game of the season, the Super bowl XL rematch. The Seahawks will be playing at the Pittsburgh Steelers, and both teams have 3-1 records. That game might be my highlight of this whole week. Go Seahawks!

I am hoping for the best for the Seahwks in the 2007 season and wishing good luck for the Mariners for 2008.

Writer's Block

Writer's Block. We all get it. Delay after delay, you can't think of what to put on the page. It hurts and it's scary. Sometimes, it is made even worse if there is a deadline, or if there are loud noises around. Writing this blog, I have come across it more than once. This is most probably because I don't have a theme or storyline I need to follow. Today, I had a major attack from the beast of Writer's Block, so I decided to write about it. Here is how I describe Writer's Block:

• A Blind Mind


• Brain Pain


• Fighting Writing


• Think Tank Blank

To get over writer's block, I usually let it sit, and write down interesting thngs that have happened during the day for inspiration.

Good Luck to all of you if you are forced to fight the monster that is writer's block!

Vicipaedia

At school, I study the ancient language of Latin. On the web, Wikipedia and other wikis are catching on and becoming very popular. Wikipedia is made in many languages, even ones that aren't spoken. Latin is one of the languages available on Wikipedia, and they call it "Vicipaedia." The articles aren't all about Roman History, they have many different articles about topics in history or things that are happening today. They have an article about the internet http://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet and one of Caesar http://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Iulius_Caesar. One interesting fact: All of wikipedia's different language sites are translated by people, not computers. That means that somebody has studied Latin long enough to write about the internet in this arcane language! This is a very interesting find on the web, and could help me with my studies.

Bicycle Trip on the Iron Horse Trail

"Well, its only car camping," Steven said as we compared the sporting equipment we had brought. Altogether, we had two footballs, two frisbees, two bandanas (for Capture the Flag) and two decks of cards. We were being delayed because, although Alex had decided not to go on the trip at the last minute, he was still supposed to bring his assigned tent and two stoves. He came early to bring the tent, and then realized that he hadn't brought the stoves! We all had a nice little laugh, but had to wait for him to go all the way back home, find the stoves, and come back. When he came back, we were half an hour late. It didn't really matter though, because "Well, its only car camping."


There were a total of five scouts and two adults on the trip, and we all got out and stretched upon arrival at the camp, happy to be finished with the hour and a half drive. Even though we were supposed to do our biking that day, we were taking it easy. It was decided that it would be easier to bike after lunch, so we had some time until we had to go. Steven and I were once again tent buddies, and once again chose to not use a rainfly. While Colin rode around camp, Steven, Ian, Daniel and I threw around a frisbee. What we saw around us was much different than on our usual backpacking trips. Across from us there was a campsite with two people in it, and they had what looked like a portable cabin set up behind their dining area, which had a large cover set up over it. They had a radio playing music and were relaxed in big chairs. When I looked back at our campsite, we had our backpacking tents set up, but we still had one luxurious thing. New Coleman stoves. These were big and had "Electronic Ignition" printed on them. You pressed a button, and the stove came on. These were way better than our usual Svea stoves (If the Sveas were a bus, the Coleman's were Rolls-Royces), but it was too heavy to take on a backpacking trip. All of this looking and observing got a frisbee in my face because I wasn't paying attention to the game.


"Lunch is served!" Steven called out. Lunch was grilled cheese sandwiches, and Steven was our master cook. He always cooked meals for us because of his skill with a stove. Once we had all eaten a sandwich, we cleaned up the area, checked our tires, and made our way to the trail. We had decided to head to the town of Cle Elum, 13 miles away. We started the trail in the shade, but once we had gone around Lake Easton, we were enveloped in pure sunlight. The going got tougher as the bouncy trail shook us up like a smoothie. After five miles, we took a break. The most we had biked before as a troop was nine miles, and we came to the conclusoin that ten was enough. However, the wind picked up and it was a grueling stretch home. At one point we took a detour to get some asphault under our tires, and ended up going too far. We eventually found the place to turn to get back to the trail, and the asphault felt nice. When we finally got back to the trail, we all let out groans of pain, but then we continued against the wind. Soon, we came to the town of Easton, less than a mile away from camp. We celebrated and had ice cream, than continued to camp. We were back quickly afterwards, and the frisbee throwing began, until Ian suggested football. We made our way to a field with the football and played until 6:00, and then came back to camp for dinner, which was cheeseburgers and chips. We sat and talked by the campfire until dark, and then we crawled into our sleeping bags, bellies full and bodies warm.


The next morning was also lazy, and we cooked up a breakfast of eggs after waking at 8:00. We had to do a lot of scrubbing on the pans, but then we slowly took down camp. We finished taking down and cleaning camp by 10:00, and so we went back to the field to play football, but this time the adults played too. It was all good fun, and then we ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, were given Ho-Ho's by our leader, and then got into the cars, ready to come home.

Troop Newsletter, Assembly

Lately, I have been helping out with our Troop's monthly neswletter. It just started last month, and this month I volunteered and soon became a co-editor and contributor. It will be a great issue, with a word search, Weeklong Trip Summary, Funny Picture, Biking Tips, and a Software Grab (featuring Blogger and this very blog!). A big thanks is owed to Steven, who took the initiative to begin this newsletter and is the driving force behind getting the newsletter finished on time.

Today my school had its weekly asssembly, which usually takes 45 minutes. This week, the whole assembly consisted of the Senior Class representing what to know at the school in one long, well put together, and funny skit. They poked fun at teachers while still teaching the essentials for surviving high school. The skit was mainly targeted at the "awkward Freshmen", but everybody had a laugh and a great time. It put a great ending to the day.

First Week of School

My first 3 days of high school are over, and it is intimidating but fun at the same time. I get to see all my school friends and make new friends because of all the new people. It started out easy, but on the second day I was assigned an English essay! The homework load has increased significantly from last year, so now I need to focus on balancing my schedule. However, I am glad to be back and excited for my first year of High School.

On another note, I am excited for our troop's annual September bike trip, which was scheduled to be at Schafer State Park. However, my father recently went to the park to see what was there, and was dissapointed by what he saw. The park was just a road with one side camping and RV sites, and the other side picnic areas. There were only seven miles that we could bike on, and a two hour drive for just one night of camping. We are thinking of going to Iron Horse State Park (http://www.parks.wa.gov/parkpage.asp?selectedpark=Iron%20Horse) instead because it is a shorter drive and has up to 110 miles of trail that we could bike on. The trail used to be a railroad, but was put out of service and taken over by the state park system. There is also a camping area where we could start, and we could possibly bike to a nearby town for an excursion where we could buy ice cream or other supplies. It should be a fun trip, and today our family will go there for a picnic and see what the camp is like.

Weeklong Backpacking: Day 7

The finale had started with a light drizzle, but soon cleared as the scouts charged onward. The group was split with four scouts in each group, and amazingly enough, Ryan and Colin were in the back group. Everybody charged with new vigor, even the regularly slow people. Nothing could stop our troop on this trail. With the river on our left, we all thought about what a shower would feel like. Soon, all eleven of us were in one group and we saw different campsites that had mile markers. One said 0.9 miles, and we all got excited. A bit later we could see asphalt, and then cars! We all yelled and whooped, celebrating that our fifty miles was finally complete. After a few group photos we ran to the cars, changed into civilization clothes, and were on our way, happy for our job well done.

We got into the line for the ferry, expecting a two hour wait. After waiting for a bit, Austin and I needed to use the restroom. The only place we could find was in the opposite direction of our car, so we tried to make it quick. However, we were too late, and the line started moving! We started running down the line, looking for our car. It had been 20 minutes of walking and running, and we could see the check point where they gave each car a tally slip. Suddenly, our car zoomed by the other way, with the leader inside yelling "HARRY!!!" Austin and I ran over to where they had pulled over and ran across the street, jumped in, and they put pedal to the metal to get to the line. We were the last car to get on the ferry, and our luck was scary but a good note to end the trip with.

Weeklong Backpacking: Day 6

Steven, Ian, Austin and I were all speeding down the one mile of down hill, hoping our fifteen minute headstart would give us enough time to rest at the end of the bridge. My knees and ankles hurt, both being punished by the trail and its rocks. When we heard the rushing water of the Hoh River we raced to the bottom and ran across the bridge. This was where we were supposed to stop. After ten minutes Ryan and Colin caught up with us, and in half an hour a leader came saying he could wait for us. I buddied with Steven, and we went after the others.

Steven and I hiked the same way that we did going up the mountain, even though the rest of the journey would be flat. The miles seemed to go by faster, and soon we could take fast and long steps. We sped past hikers taking breaks and charged until we got to the Olympus Guard Station, where we were to have lunch. Steven and I were the first there, and the benches they had seemed like the had come from heaven. We took of our packs, sat down, and waited. Four other scouts joined us, but we waited for an hour until the two last scouts came. To pass the time while they were not there, we played games like hide and seek. Once the last two came, we were all ready to eat. We broke out the best lunch of the trip: Hummus and matzos. The crumbs made it very messy, but it tasted like the best lunch in the world. On our next camping trip, I am going to demand we bring those.

There are a few things that can ruin a perfect hiking day. One of those things is torrential downpour. The Hoh Rainforest was living up to its name as everybody put on rain jackets and pack covers. The hiking became more miserable, and everybody was seperated. I found Austin taking a break in a quick break in the rain, and by the time we got to an emergency shelter where others were stopping, the rain had stopped and we were less than a mile from the campsite. We waited for the slow hikers, and then pushed forward, making it to the campsite to found the group site taken by two people. We were supposed to have this spot, and we paid for it. They didn't want to move, so we found two individual spots and hoped that the ranger didn't come. This was the last campsite, and tommorow we only needed to do five miles to get to our cars. Some wanted to leave that day, but were outvoted because it would take too long to drive home and we would get home around 1:00 am. We built a campfire and some dried their socks and boots. Ian's boots were too close, and soon his boots were getting charred. He grabbed them and threw them into the sand, then buried them. The whole process was hilarious. By the time we got to bed, we were all dreaming of tommorow and what being home would be like.