Childhood Amnesia

Do you remember that one time when you ate that dead ant? No, not really. What about those times when you ate a cricket. No, not really, not at all.

It always saddens me that I cannot remember anything from when I was a small baby. Although some of my friends claim that they remember being born and times from when they were very young, I never could. I try to remember something, anything, from when I was 3 or 2 years old. But I can't remember a single thing. It got me thinking that I had bad memory. So when I first read an article about memory loss, I was pretty curious myself. It turns out that I'm not the only one. Scientists call forgetting your memories from when you are a baby, "childhood-amnesia". Before scientists began to research memory more seriously, people assumed that the part of your brain that "records" your memories didn't start to work until you were three or four. I always just assumed that the reason why I couldn't remember things was because I don't have a long term memory, and that my range of remembering lasts for only several years, so the older I get, the more things I forget.

Fortunately for us, Karen Tustin and Harlene Hayne, two memory researchers from the University of Tago, began to study kids in order figure out what the answer of this puzzling question was.Turns out that even three year old's can remember things from there past. Although there is no unclear answer, scientists think the reason why your memory just fades away as you get older, is because we didn't have a language when we were small. All we can remember is pictures, and sounds, and smells, but not any words. the brain has a harder time remembering things that aren't words with meaning but just images.

I guess this explains why my sister could remember memories of my childhood better than I could, when I was a baby, she could speak a language. It kind of made me jealous.

After reading this article it made me think about all my bad memories or trauma's I had. What if there was a way to only forget memories you wish to forget and not the ones that might have been good. Dr. Mauro Costa-Mattioli, an assistant professor of neuroscience at BCM says that researchers have found an enzyme called PKR that can be used to enhance somebody's memory. They tested this pill on mice and found that it enhanced memories. But even though it's these kind of pills or medicines that can cure Alzheimer or other memory diseases such as amnesia, I think there can be a bad side to these for normal people. It will enhance all memories, including bad and good ones. Although remembering good memories is good, all my bad memories of pain or horror, will be enhanced as well. I personally think that memory is something that should be left alone and not be muddled with. 

Cyberbullying: Isolation, But Not Prevention

Sources: Popular Science (magazine)

YouTube, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and Instagram are all social network websites that people can go on. But they are all also ways cyber-bullies can bully other people. Bullying is something on the
Web that is growing and becoming a bigger problem. An anti-bullying charity called Ditch the Label organized a survey and came out with the results that bullying is twice as likely to happen on Facebook than any other site. A blog on Tumblr, called Vancouver Taddler, was introduced to the public last March. It was said to be based on a TV show called, Gossip Girl. It was basically a way to get revenge on other people, or in other words, the perfect way to cyber-bully anonymously. Fortunately, local authorities were able to find out who the culprit was and they stopped the blog from running. To try to tone down the bullying as much as possible, Facebook, created a Bullying Prevention Hub last November. It taught users how to block and report bully. Then, Facebook Admins, would warn or remove offenders. Many of the social network sites on the Web have similar systems. Taking these steps to stop cyber-bullying is good but, they can only stop the bullies after they have already harassed someone. Not before. Microsoft have tried to cut down bullying by using an algorithm in the Microsoft system to label players according to the number of times they have been muted or blocked by other players. If a player is "bad", they will be labeled with a red color, if a player "needs work" they have a yellow color, and finally "good" or "satisfactory" players are marked with a green color. Bullies that have a red color, will lose privileges and will have less people willing to play games with them online. If a player's credit worsens, they'll be matched up with other people who have bad reputations and will not be able to play with "good" gamers. Reddit also has a karma ranking system that shows you what posts are worth reading and what posts are not.
I personally think these systems and ideas are great for not only the gaming world but for everyone, who uses any social networking sites or plays games. 25% of all teens call themselves victim of cyber-bullying. I think that people cyberbully because they think that they are concealed and because they can be anonymous, nobody will know who did it, but because of the power to be incognito, people think they can do whatever they want. I guess, it's not possible now to completely prevent cyber-bullying. But I definitely think that even isolating these bullies is a good start.  

Hoot (spoilers)

Hoot
Carl Hiaasen
Summary: Roy Eberhardt is an ordinary kid that attends Trace Middle School, but one day when he sees a strange bare-footed boy running while he is on the bus, the boy captures his interest, and Roy decides to find out who he is. Even when he told to not look for the boy by Beatrice "the bear", a tough eight grade girl who everybody seems to be scared of, he doesn't stop. On the other side of town is Officer Delinko, who is questioned for falling a sleep while on post to stop somebody from vandalizing the construction site of Mother Paula's Pancake house. But when one thing leads to another, Roy finds himself in the middle of everything!
1. friendship
2. Friends are what keep you through your hardest times, without them, you have no motivation.
3. Roy Eberhardt: kind, confused, smart
4. The most memorable part of the story in my opinion was when Roy allowed Beatrice to sleep in his room because things at her house weren't going to well. He acted like a true friend by helping her out. It was very kind of him. He even offered to let her sleep on the bed while he slept on the floor but she disagreed.
5.  The author is trying to tell us that you shouldn't "judge a book by a cover". Although Beatrice was very tough and she looked like a rather rough and dangerous person, she had a kind heart and was a good friend once Roy got to know her. It shows that outward appearances aren't what they seem to be. Also, it tells you that you can make friends with anyone. And that includes mullet-fingers, the mysterious brother of Beatrice that seems to come and go, but turned out to be more friendly than he seemed at first.
6. I would rate this book a 8/10 because it was well written, and it had a good plot. I didn't really like the general story idea. Still, it was a good book to read.
7.
Beginning: Roy sees the mysterious running boy while he is on the bus.

Climax: Mullet-fingers, the mysterious boy, Roy, and Beatrice prepare to stop the construction of the Mother Paula's pancake house due to the small burrowing owls that live underneath the site, by telling to people to help them protest.

Ending: Roy, Beatrice, and Mullet-fingers save the owls from death.

The Shakespeare Stealer (Spoilers! Duh!)

The Shakespeare Stealer
By: Gary Blackwood

Summary: Widge is an orphaned child who is the apprentice of Dr. Bright. One day a strange man came to Dr. Bright's door and payed money for Widge. This strange man, Falconer, who was a worker of Simon Bass, orders Widge to steal the play Hamlet from Shakespeare. Widge now has no choice but to follow his orders. But when Widge is caught while attempting to steal the play, instead of reporting him to the police or worse, the theater members take him in as a part of the family. Now Widge is in a predicament, now he had an even greater chance to steal the play Hamlet, should he steal it? or should he stay with the kind people from the theater that made him their family?

1. friendship, trust

2. Friends and family is greater than wealth and fame.

3.
Widge: kind, confused, clever

4. The most memorable part of the story was when even when Sanders learned about the original purpose of why Widge came to the theater, he still trusted him and believed that Widge had stopped trying to steal the play a long time back and that he truly did want to become one of the theater players.

5. The author is trying to tell you that family and friends are most important than other things. Widge realized that this was his only chance to have a family who treated him as an equal and so he risked his life to protect his family/friends.

6. I would rate this book a 10/10. I really enjoyed reading this book. It was very interesting to read and it was suspenseful as well. There was no major factors that lead to me disliking the book. It was well written and I liked the character development of Widge. At first, you wouldn't know what choice he would take.

7.
Beginning: Widge is sold to Simon Bass/Falconer


Climax: Widge is caught at the theater and joins them.


Ending: Widge becomes official part of the family and does not complete his task of stealing a play.

Messenger: Book Review (Spoilers)

After reviewing, the Giver by Lois Lowry, I think it's right that I should review the next book in the series; Messenger.
The Messenger
By Lois Lowry
Main Characters: Matty
Matty lives in Village with a blind old man called the Seer. Village had welcomed Matty six years ago when he came as a young child, but now things are changing. People began to vote to close the Village to outsiders and turn their backs on those in need. Matty wishes to earn his true name as Messenger because of his job as the messenger of Village. But now the Forest that surrounds Village that once let Matty easily pass through, is starting to close. Matty discovers that he has an extraordinary power that he can use. Matty has one last important mission as messenger; bring the Seer's daughter Kira to the Village before the Village closes, Matty must complete the dangerous mission before it is too late.
1. utopia
2. Joy is brought by people and people only.

3.
Matty: brave, trustworthy, smart

4. The most memorable part of the story was when Kira refuses to be have her crippled leg healed by Matty. This shows her pride, boldness and confidence in herself. It also shows that she cares about Matty and that is why she did not allow him to heal her.

5. The author is trying to tell you that everything being perfect is not perfect at all. Joy brought by man-made objects is fake. In the future, everything is perfect in the story. But really, it's better off being not perfect.

6. I would rate this book a 10/10 because I enjoyed reading this book and it had me thinking for a while. it has an interesting plot and well relates with the Giver if you really think about it. Great read all in all.

7. Beginning:
Matty learns to use his power of healing people and animals.

Climax: Matty goes to the Trade Market and finds out about the dark secrets of Village.

Ending: Matty goes on the journey to find Kira and brings her back with the help of Leader.

The Kane Chronicles: The Red Pyramid (no spoilers)

Genre: Fantasy
Author: Rick Riordan

If I were to be completely honest with you, I would say that the Kane Chronicles is basically an Egyptian Percy Jackson, and if you don't know what Percy Jackson is, its a Greek Kane Chronicles.


Main Characters: Carter Kane, Sadie Kane
Summary:
Carter Kane and Sadie Kane are siblings that live separately. Carter lives with their dad, Julius Kane, and Sadie lives with their grandparents, because their mom is deceased. One day, the kids' dad starts acting strangely he takes the two kids to a museum in Egypt to see the Rosetta Stone, but something extremely crazy happens that changes their lives. Now their dad is trapped inside a giant golden coffin and its up to them to save him, but now they reach a predicament, save the world or save their dad?

1. decisions

2. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices.

3.
Sadie: smart, quick-thinking, clever
Carter: athletic, courageous, smart

4. A memorable scene was when Sadie admitted that even though she valued her father's life, she would give him up if if meant saving the world.

5.The author is telling you that sometimes you have to give things up to accomplish things that are big..

6. I would rate this book a 7 because it is just a fantasy book that I only read for enjoyment.

SPOILERS

7.
Beginning: Sadie and Carter's dad is captured


Climax: Sadie and Carter discover their powers


End: Sadie and Carter save the world but are now on a journey to stop Apophis.