WRAP City Code Re Tower

Did you know that at the phase we're going we will run out of oil in approximately 40 years? Does that scare you at all? That 40 years from now we'll have to take huge steps back in time? All this technology is destroying our world, destroying us as human beings. Could you imagine living without all the electronics you use everyday? Think about the coffee maker that brews your coffee every morning right on time for you to take to work, think about your phone, how would you be able to communicate with your boss if you got stuck in traffic or had an accident? Especially, think about how much you've done to help save the environment, about everything you've done at home to save energy. Have you or your kids ever stayed up all night playing video games? Have you ever left a light on for hours because you we're too lazy to get up and turn it off? Many people tend to do this and don't realize the damage they're causing. I'm a member of the Institute of Applied Learning, a group of students enrolled in Waynesboro High School, and we have begun a project that might interest you, we plan to temporary install a tower that is 60ft in height, it is an anemometer that will help us determine if this could benefit our society, to see if this way we could save energy and money. We might be a small group, but we are determined to be heard by others, we are only thinking about our future, doing this project is only our first outburst but with your support we could make it happen. Wouldn't you want to help us save the oil? Save the world? Speak up with us and we just might have a chance at it.

Book Soundtracks

Vampire Academy Soundtracks

In the book Vampire Academy, the protagonist, Rosemarie Hathaway is a rebel who refuses to do anything she's told. Rose highly dislikes her trainer Dimitri Belikov because she believes he's always unfair, so she does her best to annoy him and break all of his rules. Rose always comes off as a badass who can't be tamed, therefore I chose the song "So What" by Pink to describe her personality. This song represents Rose in the fact that she's a badass who doesn't need anyone, and will refuse to follow any rules.
“Dimitri: "She might be wild and disrespectful, but if she has potential—"
Rose: "Wild and disrespectful? Who the hell are you anyway? Outsourced help?"
Kirova: "Guardian Belikov is the Princess Lisa's guardian now, her sanctioned guardian."
Rose: "You got cheap foreign labor to protect Lisa?” This is how the conversation went when Rose and Dimitri first met.

There is a part on the book where Dimitri tells Rose that they can never be together because they both have to protect Lisa. I decided that the music piece "Clair De Lune" by Claude Debussy would best fit this scene, mainly because both Rose and Dimitri deeply care about each other, and this music piece has a slow, peaceful, and loving tune.
"Dimitri: "You and I will both be Lisa's guardians someday. I need to protect her at all cost. If a pack of Strigoi come, I need to throw my body between them and her."
Rose: "I know that. Of course that's what you have to do." The black sparkles were dancing in front of my eyes again. I was fading out. 
Dimitri: "No. If I let myself love you, I won't throw myself in front of her. I'll throw myself in front of you."" 

The climax of this book was definitely when Vasilisa gets kidnapped by her uncle Victor Dashkov. Lisa unconditionally loved her uncle, he was the only family she had left, besides Rosemarie. Sadly Victor was sick and was determined to die sooner or later. Victor found out that Lisa was a spirit user and decided to kidnap her so she could heal him whenever he wanted her to do so, so he could rule, so he could be king. The song that reminds me of this situation is "Burn It Down" by Linkin Park, this song is connected to the story because it talks about having power and using it for your own gain, it's about being selfish.

Lisa sees people by who they truly are, since she's a spirit user it's quite easy for her to understand everyone. At times Lisa feels like her world is crumbling down because authority nowadays let's her down, and has failed at being fair when it comes to justice. I chose the song "Kings and Queens" by 30 Seconds To Mars because In my opinion this song is about how some people see what happening, but most don't. We've failed as "kings and queens" for being selfish and destructive, we've blown it and now that God has spoken, the end is near, he expected more from us, therefore we'll have to repeat the lessons that we've learned over and over till our "Spirit" learns the right way to life.

Rose feels like she has to be perfect all the time, mostly because Dimitri always tells her that she's childish and needs to learn how to properly act in public because she doesn't only damage her image, but also Lisa's. Another reason why Rose feels this way is because her mom is one of the best guardians out there, so Rose thinks that she has to be like her too, but better. I think that the song "Perfect" by Pink relates to this song the most but in a positive way because Rose eventually does feel like she's enough, but she was always put down by others, including most of her teachers, including Dimitri.   

Math of Sports and Games

Math of Sports and Games has really opened my eyes about how sports work. I really like this class, except for the fact that we have a different project just about everyday. I'm not really into sports, especially not baseball, but learning new things about the strategies and other things is quite interesting. This class has definitely shown me that math is more useful than I thought it was, I would've never really guessed that it was involved with sports. It is very different from other classes because we actually do a little bit of research, like looking at scores from different games from past years. Overall the class is fun, and I really enjoyed when we played Plinko... We should make one!! 

WRAP Solar Energy

http://energy.gov/

http://www.seia.org/

http://cleantechnica.com/

http://cleantechnica.com/2012/03/16/germany-80-times-more-peak-solar-power-
than-u-s-compared-to-electricity-demand/

Germany: 80 Times More Peak Solar Power than U.S. Compared to Electricity Demand by Zachary Shahan

Germany produces more energy by solar than the Us because:

As of sometime in the first half of 2011, Germany has had over 20% of its electricity supply coming from renewable energy sources.

By 2011, its installed solar photovoltaics capacity was 25 GW.

In the U.S., cumulative PV capacity nearly hit 4 GW last year.

Solar power peaked at 40% of power demand in Germany last summer.

In the U.S., solar peaked at 0.5% of electricity demand last summer.

In other words, as stated in the title of this piece, compared to peak electricity demand, Germany has 80 times more solar PV on the grid.

Based on my personal energy consumption, I could save some money on charging my electronics, using all the utilities I use at home (television, radio, stove, microwave, etc).

Solar energy does make sense for my home because we often leave the lights and television on for our pets, that way they don't feel lonely, and also because my step brother is afraid of the dark, so he has to sleep with a light or the television on at night.

Yes, I would most likely purchase a home that has solar energy installed because it would save me a lot of money in the long run.

 "A vast majority of Americans, across all political parties, overwhelmingly support development and funding of solar energy. Ninety-one percent of Republicans, 97 percent of Democrats and 98 percent of Independents agree that developing solar power is vital to the United States."

“Solar development meansjob growth for Americans, by Americans, in an industry that will benefit America.”

These statement prove that it is very likely that the United States will take a path with respect to solar energy production.

In order for me to invest in solar energy, I'd have to learn more about it and know how much it costs and how much it will benefit me in the long run, also I'd have to see if it's the right choice because I personally only use power to charge my phone, I am rarely home therefore I'm not a big energy power consumer.

A technology that could help us improve the use of solar energy would be solar batteries, or generatos, we could expose them to light, and at night time use them to run everything that's needed to be used in our house.

Article Response #2

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/26/health/alcohol-enemas/index.html?hpt=he_t5

Experts: Alcohol enemas 'extremely dangerous' by Jacque Wilson

"There certainly are signs that are out there that people have gone over the edge and need to get some help"

I completely agree with this quote, why are adults going this far just to get drunk? Who likes to get drunk anyways? Sure people like to drink to the point where they're buzzed, and feel all giggly, but no one likes to have a hangover. These people are being immature and so childish, this could cause them they're own lives, but they probably don't even know that, some of them might do it just because it's going around, when they don't even know the damages of it. Overall how did these people get so bored and imbecile to do this? It is a very risky thing to do, if you honestly want to get drunk so bad then just get more alcohol, but never go down this road.

Article Response

10 smartphone habits you should avoid by Andrea Bartz and Brenna Ehrlich

"Phones and tablets have made it oh so easy to communicate without using our voiceboxes."

This thought is a fact for sure, and it is shocking because most people like myself don't realize this until someone else says it. Yes, everyone has gotten used to texting, and tweeting and whatnot instead of actually hitting the "dial" button and actually speaking to someone. In my opinion, some people might find texting a little easier to lie, and to ignore/be ignored through. Honestly, who hasn't ignored a text before? Who hasn't lied in a text to get out of something? I agree that this should be changed because it's like we're becoming hermit crabs, hiding behind technology, behind our smartphones.