Month: November 2013

Shark Bait, Hoo Ha Ha

indigoshellLeave a comment

Sharks are terrible creatures. They’re merciless hunters that can rip apart a human within seconds, and then will happily dine on their insides. When they sight a human and smell even a slight trace of their blood, nothing can stop them from killing.

At least, that’s how most people say sharks are.

Many times when people are attacked by sharks it’s because the person provokes the shark in some way, such as when divers grab at their fins or when fishermen untangle them from their fishing nets.

Honestly, sharks are like giant, rough-skinned, thousand-toothed dogs. That swim in the ocean. If you grab a dog’s tail, chances are they will bite at you. It’s no different with sharks, the only difference is that sharks and shark attacks are more exaggerated.

A diver dressed in a black wetsuit looks remarkably like a sleek seal, so the shark might take a hunk out of a diver, thinking he’s a seal. The result is a missing limb and a story of being attacked by “a vicious shark.”

Shark attack victims don’t usually die of shark attacks though, they die of blood loss. Sharks often do hit-and-run attacks, where they bite the victim, realize their mistakes, then quickly leave the human to bleed to death.

Vending machines have killed more people than sharks have. I’m sure many people have heard of this fact, but vending machines have killed more people than sharks each year.

Well I mean, it could be because humans are dumb and try to shake the machines that have eaten their change, which could often result in the machine falling on them.

Ok, moral of the story here is, shark good, people bad.

I mean.

Shark, not bad, people… Meeeh.

What Happened to Music?

Daphne PsaledakisLeave a comment

When you turn on the radio these days, you’re bombarded with an obnoxious, headache inducing, auto-tuned song made up of repetitive words that don’t even make sense. Artists like Miley Cyrus, Ke$ha, and Lady Gaga pollute the press with news of some new stunt they have pulled, or their ever increasing shenanigans that demonstrate an effort to ditch the sweetheart image and rebel against all society norms. Not to mention their music is absolutely terrible.

Miley Cyrus has received a lot of criticism for her recent behavior – and rightly so. While it is her choice to behave how she wants, she is a public figure. She is someone young girls, and even the occasional young boy, look up to. She appears in magazines and TV, and sends an image and message to youth that it is ok to act the way she has been, when really, it’s not.

But while her actions are her choice, she could at least produce some worthy music. I mean what happened to artists like Bruce Springsteen, The Who, and The Police, who made amazing music and kept up a (somewhat) respectable image? It seems like the tunes you hear on the radio are famous for what shocking move the artist pulled the previous week, or whatever their baffling outfit of the week is, not their music. And let’s be honest, if the success of these songs was based solely on how good they were, and not how infamous their singer is, we’d have music actually worth listening to playing on the radio.

Record companies continually churn out songs where you barely even hear the true voice of the artist, but instead, hear the not-so-lovely voice of auto-tune. Singers hit notes that don’t seem humanly possible, and definitely make it impossible to actually understand what they’re saying. They change pitch at a dizzying rate, yet again making it impossible to understand what they’re saying. Not that they’re saying anything actually worth hearing.

It’s amazing how almost every song that comes out is about either falling in love or how some pop-star had their heart broken. They get to be just a little repetitive. I’m no artist myself, but I can’t help thinking there must be something more to write about than love. If you think about how many artists have albums that solely talk about love, it makes artists with diversity look like absolute geniuses.

I’m not saying all music that comes out these days is bad. And of course, everyone has their own taste. But the majority of the new pop music, or what comes on the radio every fifteen minutes, is pretty bad. It’s definitely time songs stopped becoming famous for whatever shocking stunt the singer pulled and actually had a little diversity for a change.

My Trip to Belize

Daphne PsaledakisLeave a comment

In sixth grade, my school led a trip with a handful of students to Belize. We were to spend the first week of our trip building a cafeteria for a school, and the second week touring the beautiful country. Before leaving, I was very nervous. I was traveling to a different country without my parents. Not only was that scary, but the thought of building a cafeteria was daunting as well. The trip turned out to be amazing.

We all met at the airport and did the usual, going through security, catching our plane, and flying to Belize. The minute we stepped off the plane, I was hit by the humidity. It was so hot. Nonetheless, we collected our bags and got on the bus to where we were staying.

The first week, we mainly focused our energy on building the cafeteria. We worked in shifts – half of us would build while the other half spent time with the kids from the school, either in classrooms or on the playground (which was really more of a field of dry dirt).

The builders mixed cement and set the cinderblocks to make up the foundation of the cafeteria. It was grueling work, especially in the heat of the day. The group that was resting and spending time with the students from the school would get a chance to know an amazing group of kids, until it was again their turn to start building.

Despite the hardship and poverty that the students at the school lived in, they were happy. They had fun learning how to do handsprings across the field of dirt, or just sitting and talking with us.  They were unbelievably appreciative of what we were doing for them. It’s not as if we were building a state-of-the-art cafeteria. It was made up of three foot walls of cinderblock and poles that held a rood up above it. But to them, it was beautiful. I have never met anyone as appreciative as they were, especially at their age.

The second week was spent touring the country. We first drove up to a small lodge up in the mountains, and spent a couple days exploring the rainforest and caves around us. We then drove down to the coast and took a boat to a tiny island, where we explored and went on prolonged snorkeling excursions.

After the amazing couple of days we spent at the island, we packed up our bags – for good this time – and headed back to the airport. The trip was amazing. It was fun, educational, and rewarding all at once. The experience will remain with me for a long, long time.

Love the Cheetah

indigoshellLeave a comment

For some reason, I’ve always loved cheetahs. Starting from around age 9 I’d watch Animal Channel for hours at a time, but it wasn’t until I was about 13 did I really notice the cheetahs. From then on I would watch cheetah documentaries and such until midnight or one in the morning, which was pretty darn late considering my usual bedtime was 9.

Firstly I think they’re beautiful. Beautiful physically and beautifully structured to get the most out of its main feature – their speed.

Long, spindly legs with powerful base muscles provide the power to charge through the fields. Unlike most felines, cheetah claws are only semi-retractable, meaning that their claws are always showing. This allows them to easily spring into action at a moment’s notice.

Their protruding chest contains a massive heart and pair of lungs for maximum oxygen intake, while their concave stomach and flexible spine allows for rapid and easy movement. A long tail acts as a rudder to stabilize quick turns and their especially long eyes views the world through a wide-angle lens.

Feline ears are usually pointed while the cheetah’s are rounded, like a bear’s. While walking or sitting, their hunched shoulders and fuzzy back almost have a bearlike appearance too. To me, their most distinctive qualities are the two black stripes that curve through their faces. The stripes start at the innermost corners of their eyes and curve down and around the nose before ending above their bottom lip. On some cheetahs the spots around the outer corners of their eyes are more distinctive, trailing down their cheeks or to the back of their necks.

Most predators hunt by simply leaping upon and overwhelming their prey. With the cheetah’s slimmer demeanor, they simply don’t have the power of a lion or leopard, so they have a trickier method instead. While chasing their prey, usually antelope, they’ll flick out a paw and trip it.

The sounds they make are ridiculous. They can purr and growl, sure, but they can also make peculiar (and adorable) chirping sounds. It almost sounds like the bark of a tiny dog, uttered through the vocal chords of a baby kitten, but through the body of a full-grown, dangerous cheetah.

Well, not very dangerous. Cheetahs are notoriously skittish and can even be too nervous to breed sometimes. In the San Diego Zoo, four of their cheetahs actually have canine companions to help calm them down and keep them happy.

People always ask me what my favourite animal is, and one of the first to pop into my mind is “cheetah,” along with “horse” and “snake.” Cheetahs have been with me longer than any other animal before, besides for dogs, and I long to interact with one in the wild one day. So far I haven’t even seen any in the few zoos I’ve been in!

(San Diego Zoo = Bucket listed)

Lies are always prettier than the truth

infamousdolphinLeave a comment

US Journalist Stephen Glass is a perfect example of how a lie can get so out of proportion and snowball down taking everybody with it.

Stephen was a reporter for the New Republic, where he wrote funny and interesting stories. Until one day, one of his stories called Hack Heaven was being questioned for its authenticity. Glass repeatedly lied about the story, every time insisting it was real. He had reached a point where he truly believed his own lies, but he was busted. He knew lying was useless but he still couldn’t stop.

His constant battle ended with him being fired, but he didn’t go down alone. The New Republic was forced to publicly apologize to the readers and they took legal action against him. It was soon discovered that 27 out of the 41 pieces Stephen wrote for the New Republic were fully or partially fabricated.

Glass was a sociopath and a compulsive liar. His lies got so out of proportion, they became his truth.

Rene Magritte.

enternity1030Leave a comment

“Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist. ”
—- Rene Magritte

This summer I had a chance to see Magritte’s real work at MOMA museum in NYC. Magritte has been one of my favorite artists for a long time for his particular impressionistic style.

Rene Magritte was born in Lessines, in the province of Hainaut, in 1898. His earliest oil paintings form 1915 were Impressionistic in style. The oil paintings he produced during the years 1918-1924 were influenced by Futurism and by the offshoot of Cubism practiced by Metzinger. Most of his works of this period are female nudes.


In 1922-1923, he worked as a draughtsman in a wallpaper factory, and was a poster and advertisement designer until 1926. In 1926, Magritte produced his first surreal oil painting, “The Lost Jockey,” and held his first exhibition in Brussels in 1927, in which he got lots of critics on the exhibition.

Later during the German occupation of Belgium in World War II, Magritte remained in Brussels. He briefly adopted a colorful, painterly style in 1943-44, and was known as his “Renoir Period.”

His work was exhibited in the United States in New York in 1936 in Museum of Modern Art and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Magritte’s paintings mostly embody the combination of realism and impressionism, and he is able to present his particular idea of humanity and dream. One of his representative piece is “The Lovers I (1928),” which identifies the mystery of two lovers who are shrouded in white cloth.

Magritte inspires me a lot, not only in art area, but also life.

“Life obliges me to do something, so I paint. ”
– Rene Magritte

I Spy the United States

frog3Leave a comment

hjk

The NSA scandal and the shadow it has created is something the Obama Administration cannot escape. In the past days newly leaked Edward Snowden documents have shown the true extent of NSA spying.

It is now known that the NSA has actively been spying on the United Nations. President Obama even had memos directing the NSA to tone down spying on the UN. The NSA has even narrowed down their spying to specific European leaders such as Angela Merkel. According to German media it is believed the NSA has spied on Merkel since 2010.All these clams the United States denies.
njh

If enemies do not fear you, and allies do not trust you, how do you keep your hold over the world?

Down the path

frog3Leave a comment

g5t5

Walking along on a cloudy day,

What I did I could not say.

Down the grey rain slicked road.

What’s the point? I do not know.

After you pass the large white ring.

You wonder what it all means.

Next the court and a little hill.

The walk gives your brain time to mill.

Too much time, at least it seems.

My mind thinks of all the stupid things.

Beavers.

eternity1030Leave a comment

The first time “beavers” came across my mind was during last year’s US History class. The European traders used to trade beaver furs. However, this time when I heard the word “beaver” again, it was more about how they destroy the environment.

The beaver is among the largest rodents including two species, North American beaver and Eurasian beaver. Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges with their powerful teeth and jaws. They build dams to provide still, deep, water to protect against predators, and to float food and building material.

Beavers have been a major threat to the environment. They create massive log, branch, and mud structures to block streams and turn fields and forests into the large ponds as their homes. But at the same time, millions of trees are destroyed. Beavers also eat crops and aquatic plants. Beaver activity jeopardizes millions of dollars in transportation infrastructure and can also cause significant damage to timber resources. For example, Alabama alone estimates $19 million in lost timber annually due to beaver.

The beaver becomes a challenge when they interfere with man’s use of the land. However, beavers are not damaging the environment as most people think they are. Beavers’ ponds act as a reservoir to impound and store water, therefore reducing flooding events further down stream. The stored water is released slowly and provides for a moderate flow in dry periods that will keep the fish in the creek alive.

Before we think about the destructions beavers can cause, we should recognize that beaver ponds also play important roles in the ecosystem by creating habitat for many animals, birds and insects.

By the way, they are cute too!

“Death” Valley.

eternity1030Leave a comment

Recently, I did a research project on National Parks for AP Environmental Science class. I chose the  Death Valley, which I had always considered it as “dead land” until this time I finally learned that it is actually full of lively species.

Located at 282 feet below the sea level, Death Valley is 300 miles northwest of LA, in the eastern flank of the towering Sierra Nevada Range (which also stands as the 8th lowest depression on earth and deepest in North America). Formed about 1.8 billion years ago, the Death Valley was previously an ancient sea and later developed into rock, which formed warped mountains and uplifted plates.

Death Valley is famous as the hottest, driest place in North America. Summer high temperatures commonly run above 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind is pretty common in this arid area with desert biome, especially during winter time. Dust storms can blow up with the approaching cold-fronts, therefore the valley remains long summers throughout the year. And the coolest months are December and January. The rainfall average is only 1.92 inches.

Even though the climate is arid and dry, Death Valley still consists of great diversity of wildlife. Species of animals such as Fringed Myotis, Coyote, Sagebrush Checkerspot, Roadrunner, and Chuckwalla all habitat in Death Valley.

However, the endangered species in Death Valley have been a huge issue. Species such as Amargosa Toad (Bufi nelsoni), Southwestern Willow Flycather (Empidonax traillii extimus), Devils Hole Pupfish (Crprinodon diabolis), and Desert Tortoise.

In Death Valley National Park, groundwater feeds seeps, springs, and a rare desert river that are crucial for sustaining plant and animal life. Moreover, lots of species rely on the groundwater.

Most of the land between the roads in Death Valley National Park has been given an additional layer of protection from further development by being designated Wilderness. Today there are more than 109 million acres of federally protected Wilderness in 44 states. Recently the “National Park Service” released its new stewardship plan for Death Valley National Park, which focused on managing Death Valley’s wilderness, which comprises 3.1 million acres of the 3.3 million-acre park.

We all live and share the same environment with animals, plants and other species. Therefore, humans are also responsible for our own behaviors. I’ve never been to Death Valley before, but I don’t want to see it turn into a forever “dead valley.”