Friday, April 24, 2009

My Stories- Space Academy


If we venture out to the very edge of our universe, what would we see? Where does the universe end? And how will the universe end? Depending on our brilliance and the most advanced technology, the cosmos will soon be explored altogether. Now, why not take an epic voyage across the universe in—Space Academy.

Last summer, a Boeing 747, along with me, took off from Taiwan for Los-Angeles, passing through about 12 hours of dazzling time, and then arrived in Houston. The sun smiled at me and the people there welcomed me, what a beautiful summertime! I wanted to cash in on this golden opportunity traveling in America by making the most of this camp, a conscientious learning attitude was indispensable. So let’s go to Johnson Space Center.

In the beginning, our teachers had us learn about three laws of motion, which lead to the structure of two-stage rockets. Here came our assignment, to use two balloons, a string, a rubber band, some paper clips and tape to make a two-stage rocket. There were no consistent ways, but the only answer was obvious, collaborating together. A long time had passed; the first solution appeared in our team, made up by me, eventually: I blew up two balloons with a rubber band on one balloon’s end in order to avoid the air coming out, the second stage, and tied it across the other balloon’s body, the first stage, with the same rubber band. As the first stage lifted up, its body became smaller, causing the rubber band to come loose so as to open the second-stage balloon’s end. It succeeded, we won the game!

As time went by quickly, the trip in Texas ended, which meant the Space Academy was going to begin in the place known as the Mecca of space and rockets, Huntsville. Some of the most important German rocket scientists had lived here since World War II, and each of them has had huge accomplishments here, I hope someday I'll become one of them.

While enjoying freedom, relaxation, and having fun, we had a lot of activities there, one of my favorite was to be like an astronaut. There were a big number of shuttle positions in a single mission; for instance, flight director in the control room and commander in the orbiter and station, all were indispensable. From time to time, our friends liked to make jokes by administering missions incorrectly. When the rocket lifted off, he didn't clear the tower and led to the failure in missions, but also to laughing in the room.

Making friends here was also of vital importance, so I decided to chat with foreign people. It was really not as difficult as I thought when I finally talked with a boy, Mountain Edge.He was an electric guitar player with a cool face and blond hair. I was surprise, where did he get free time? I don't know. While being a citizen in this highly competitive society with the tensions between the government and people becoming increasingly intense, all the comings and goings are ups and downs, and the only way to fit in is to get used to them. But it will all be worthwhile when the happiness of success wafts up into my room one day. Anyways, Mountain Edge was the coolest friend I've ever seen.

American food also played a crucial part in this trip, because it was so dissimilar with Taiwanese cuisine. If you compared both of them, you'll figure out that American food was greasier, strongly flavored, sugary, salad for breakfast and big mac burgers spread throughout every restaurant; Taiwanese food was lighter, salty, rice for breakfast, noodle restaurants were visible everywhere. Even thought most of the American food was unhealthy, what with nice smells and great taste, I had fallen under the spell of it from the first bite. Additionally and best of all, I could eat with foreign people in a huge hall!
TO BE CONTINUED

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Knowing



aaaaIn the year 2012, doomsday, or the destruction of the world, will occur. According to Mayan predictions, our living Earth will have already passed the four Sun Epochs, and at the end of each epoch horrifying events will happen continually. The people of Earth will be destined to die at the end of the fifth Sun Epoch, in 2012.

aaaaAlong with these predictions, there is a science-fiction movie, Knowing, that talks about doomsday. John Koestler, an astronomer, found a paper with a large number of numerals written on it. It was written by a little girl who said someone invisible actually whispered the number to her, dating back to 1959. Through deep research, Koestler discovered something startling: the numbers accurately predicted every enormous disaster in the last 50 years, such as 9/11 and Southeast Asian tsunami. What's more amazing, it had a final number, which meant doomsday!

aaaaKoestler tried to avoid the tragedy, communicating with the government in order to save the world. But no one believed him except for the number-writer's daughter, Diana Wayland. Her daughter, Abby, was also confused by invisible people, saying that she had to go with them or she would be killed. John and Diana work together, here to stay. However, a huge solar wind destroyed the Earth from the North Pole to the South Pole, and no people were left on the Earth. Fortunately, John's son and Abby were taken out of the Earth's atmosphere by aliens, who succeeded in saving their lives so as to rescue humanity.

aaaaBut what we should actually seriously care about is global warming caused by greenhouse gases. CO, CO2, CH4, and even N2O, generated by firing biomass fuel- something we thought could surely reduce dangerous global warming- can ruin our environment. Although we are under pressure from the global economy's negative turn, we should try not to discharge greenhouse gases and use less disposable things.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Saw V


aaaa ‘I want to play a game!’ Combining the double blood and art, much more storyline, and the biggest adventure you have ever seen, Saw 5 is going to challenge humanity again. If you could govern your intimate mind, calm down and figure out the clues, then you could survive, if not get away, from the game. Just remember, ‘live or die, make your choice’.

aaaaThe Saw series are bloody movies talking about how actors or actresses managed to survive under Puzzle Amok’s artistic traps. Through the gins, actors had no alternative but to kill each other, including sawing others’ heads to find the keys, passing through the sharp gory mesh, all the unthinkable and unbelievable ways of killing have appeared, unprecedented. Likewise, Saw 5 put this spirit up to the highest, and its game was magnificent as well: Scrunching fingers to stop
a hook ripping open your abdomen. Using a saw to rip your arm from fingers to elbow in order to collect blood, stopping the bomb.

aaaaNow, fans of the Saw series are expected to see the sixth episode on the silver screen, anticipating what the traps will be like. The movie is due for release on October 23, around Halloween. I hope it will be much bloody than ever – but only time will tell if the director is as sharp as a razor.