Advertising Their Cuties on the Internet

The other night I was procrastinating from doing my homework, which is a frequent pasttime of mine. And when doing this, one can usually find me lying on the floor of my bedroom, my eyes glued to a video on YouTube. Am I watching educational videos that are helping me with my schoolwork? Wish I could say that was true, but unfortunately no. On my "Frequently Watched" video lists on the website, you will find my page is loaded withcountless videos of different young children, showing their cuteness to the World of the Internet. Should parents be videotaping their children and putting these cute and adorable videos online? And what is their purpose for doing this? This is what I set out to discover.

Take the following video for example. This is a little girl, posing in her little diapers and a tanktop, standing in front of a mock stage setup. She has a disproportionate acoustic guitar in her hands and a mini microphone stand in front of her. She sings "Hey Jude," the reknowned classic by the Beatles.



It's adorable. But what were those parents thinking? This poor child is what they are using to get Internet fame. There are countless stories of people achieving fame through their accounts and numerous videos on YouTube. For example, violinist Alex DePue found his YouTube fame.

Maybe I am making faulty assumptions, but I can't help to think that the parents of all the cute little kids on TV are making these kids rehearse so th eInternet world will comment on how indescribably adorable their cuties are!

I just feel some sympathy for these kids, because who knows what they will say to their parents when they grow up and find themselves half-naked singing out-of-tune Beatles hits on the Inter net.

Hidden Temples: No Longer a Myth?

I was logging into my email on aol.com the other night when I stumbled upon a fascinating article on the AOL main site. It was about a Mexican archaeologist named Guillermo de Anda and his latest incredible discovery. He found a series of dangerous underground caves that he believes were created by the Mayans to symbolize the "pathway to hell." 

This immediately interested me in the few first sentences as I read on to find more incredible detail about De Anda's discovery. They even compared his findings to the fictional caves the Harrison Ford's character Indiana Jones found in his adventure movies. They said that the caves contained "tottering ancient temple platforms, slippery staircases and tortuous paths that skirted underground lakes littered with Mayan pottery and ancient skulls." So not only was this discovery of a about six caves and underground roads an example of Mayan religious beliefs and sacrificial rituals, but it also showed their creativity and advancements in technology and sculpture. 

Check out some more pictures of the ominous and dangerous caves, as well as the explorer, and read more in the AOL article, and in the CNN article I found about the same recent discovery!

Anxiety and the Stock Market

So every  morning I walk downstairs to eat breakfast before school. And since it is so early in the morning, the only channel I ever watch is the news. And as we all know, the stock market and the economic crisis in America has been the central issue of all news broadcasts. Although this crisis has not yet directly affected me or my family, I know there are thousands, maybe even millions of Americans who are in severe economic trouble.

I also know that I am a giant "stresscase" sometimes, and I can't imagine having to deal with the stress of a nationwide economic downfall. I read an article from CNN about this very topic the other day. In the article, it says that women are twice as likely to be come more of "worrywarts" than men! This is mostly because of the differing hormones in men and women. 

Also, the article tried to inform the reader of when it is necessary to get help from such anxiety. Experts say that one needs to seek help for anxiety issues when their anxiousness begins to interfere with other aspects of that person's life. For example, their work or their relationships. They say if this is happening, then that person should seek medicine, talk therapy, or both.

This was a very shocking statement because years ago I got to the point of stress that I had a peptic stress ulcer in my stomach! So did I need treatment? I doubt it. I was only in seventh grade, and I am very chill about most things now. But this brief research does make me wonder how many people are going to be looking for help in these stressful times in America, and whether or not those people are going to be able to afford the help for the anxiety our economy has brought them!

Cube Competitions!?

I was walking around my obviously unfinished basement over the weekend when I stumbled upon none other than the infamous Rubik's cube. I was immediately captivated, since I had never really faced this puzzle. The Rubik's cube has been portrayed in dozens of movies, and like in "The Pursuit of Happyness" the actors always made the puzzle seem so simple.

However, after nearly an hour of twisting and yelling and getting completely frustrated, I had only completed a full red side of the cube. I deemed it hopeless and abandoned the mesmerizing activity.

And then when speaking to my friend Adeline about how frustrated I had been since I hadn't been able to complete it, she told me her brother used mathematical formulas to figure out the cube and was even in Rubik's cube competitions. I immediately understood that there would be a formula for solving the cube since it obviously has direct correlation to geometry.. but competitions?! There are competitions for Rubik's cubes?! That just seemed absurd.

So of course, I did some research.  And not only are there competitions but there is the WCA, the World Cube Association.  And this association is in charge in creating Rubik's cube competitions all over the world! I immediately envisioned a dark room with two people twisting away at the colorful puzzles. Ha! But after searching through the WCA website, I found there are some pretty intense regulations! For example, the audience (are there really crowds at these events?!) have to be at least one and a half meters away from the competitors. Also, lighting is extremely important. They must be white lights so the competitors can easily distinguish the colors of the puzzles! That is too intense for me. 

So I guess there are thousands of people around the world that find solving this infamous puzzle trivial and completely easy.... but for now I have given up and I am not eager to start twisting away again!

A Very Medical Weekend

My Saturday, to put lightly, was very eventful. Starting with an 8 am gingivectomy, the day didn't exactly start out in good spirits. After six shots of novacaine, I walked out of the dentist's office looking like some sort of swollen walrus. But what I hadn't known at that time was how much more time I was going to spend at a doctor's that day. 

I had a skating lesson that afternoon, and everything was going well. I was doing a "double double" combination jump when my toepick got stuck in a hole in the ice on the landing. All of a sudden, my right ankle bone bent in towards my other leg and I heard a pop. Pain shot up my entire leg and I was sure it was broken.

After a extremely frightening and painful ambulance ride from the ice rink, I found myself lying in a hospital bed doped up on morphine. On the bright side, the doctor said there were no fractures. Then what was the "pop" I heard? Apparently, it was my ligament tearing away from the bone. 

A torn ligament. Great. Sounds painful but I didn't understand what it was and I also didn't understand how my ankle didn't break. The doctor said my ankle didn't break because it had been so supported  by my skating boot. Many people don't understand what goes into the making of a skating boot, but competitive skaters like myself know it is no cheap deal. For example, my skates have extra ankle support which aids the skater and getting more lift on jumps. 

I still didn't understand what tearing a ligament entailed. I did some research and found that "spraining" one's ankle can be a lot more painful than a fracture. Straining a part of your body is stretching a muscle, but spraining something means twisting the foot into a unnatural position causing twisting and tearing of ligaments around the ankle. This usually happens when stepping down one's ankle bends unnaturally to the inside (like me!). This usually injures the "anterior talofibular ligament." And apparently, the greater the pain, the more severe the injury.

So although the doctor says I should be off crutches and walking fine by the end of the week, I am doubtful. But at least my expensive skating boots were good for something!

Hurricane Hitting Home

The Chicagoland area is drenched in rainwater as if Hurricane Ike were coming from Lake Michigan itself! As Techny Road has been overflowing and my neighbor's retention area has become the new cul-de-sac swimming pool, I couldn't help myself from wondering what it is like in Houston, or Galveston, Texas, where Ike is really hitting hard.

And, fortunately, (unfortunately?) that information hasn't been hard to retrieve. My grandparents live in Clear Lake City, right outside of Houston, and were forced to evacuate last week. They are staying with my aunt in northern Texas, but even there the winds are over 50 mph. The power is out for more than 4 and a half million Texans, so it has been hard to find out what damage the hurricane is doing. And because the areas like Galveston are so dangerous, reporters aren't allowed to enter Galveston, or else they are facing "certain death." Head of FEMA states in this video the many dangers that one would face if they chose to stay home. 

But if the reporters aren't allowed in Galveston, how am I seeing streaming footage of Galveston on the news every morning? Did some research, and turns out there are some pretty crazy storm chasers, Mark Sudduth and partner Mike Watkins, who made the dangerous decision to stay behind. They aren't worried, saying there is "zero risk to human life" and that the only thing they are worried about is the "safety of their Chevy." Check out the article, these hurricane chasers are pretty nuts, but they are helping all of the evacuated see the devastation that is happening to some of their homes. Better to know what is going on with your house than be waiting to find out though, right?