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About John L

I am a homeschooled boy living in New York City.

Chain Reaction

Chain Reaction

Do you know a chain reaction is? It is a reaction like the one in the first video. I saw it in the NEMO center in Amsterdam. The chain reaction, in the end, launched the rocket. If it has a useful purpose, than it is called a Rube Goldberg Machine. It got that name from a cartoonist who drew complicated contraptions that performed simple tasks. In the UK they call a Heath Robinson machine, because another cartoonist named Heath Roninson drew wacky machines too. The second video shows my favorite Rube Goldberg machine:

By | April 3rd, 2014|Chain Reaction, Rube Goldberg Machine|0 Comments

Battleship Game Made With Computer Programming!

Battleship Game Made With Coding!

Yay! I learned enough computer programming to make a Battleship Game!I made it with Python Computer Code. It is a simplified version of the real game, you have to guess where a ship is. The ship is on a point, and you have to guess where it is. You have four guesses.
A link to it is here.Click save and submit to start.
By | March 13th, 2014|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Last Friday, I went to Amsterdam with my Mom, Dad, and sister. It was so much fun. They have these good desserts called stroop wafels. They are so good!!

Mmmmm…Yummy!

Stroop wafels are 2 mini waffles stacked on to each other with caramel filling in the middle. I went to the Vertez Museum, the Rijks Museum, the Nemo Science Center, and the Maritime Museum. The Maritime Museum had a replica of a ship owned by the Dutch East India Company. It had cannons that made a loud noise. All of the museums I mentioned are fun! In Amsterdam, there are nearly as many bikes as people! And there are 600,000 people in Amsterdam! And Amsterdam has lots of canals. They are 3 meters deep. 1 meter mud, another meter water, and 1 more meter bikes. People throw a lot of bikes in the water, I guess.

By | March 12th, 2014|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Computer Coding

Computer Coding

I have learned….

By now I have learned lots of computer coding. I know JavaScript,CSS,HTML5, and I’m learning Python.

No, not binary.

With JS, you can make games like this:

var troll = prompt(“You’re walking through the forest, minding your own business, and you run into a troll! Do you FIGHT him, PAY him, or RUN?”).toUpperCase();

switch(troll) {
case ‘FIGHT’:
var strong = prompt(“How courageous! Are you strong (YES or NO)?”).toUpperCase();
var smart = prompt(“Are you smart?”).toUpperCase();
if(strong === ‘YES’ || smart === ‘YES’) {
console.log(“You only need one of the two! You beat the troll–nice work!”);
} else {
console.log(“You’re not strong OR smart? Well, if you were smarter, you probably wouldn’t have tried to fight a troll. You lose!”);
}
break;
case ‘PAY’:
var money = prompt(“All right, we’ll pay the troll. Do you have any money (YES or NO)?”).toUpperCase();
var dollars = prompt(“Is your money in Troll Dollars?”).toUpperCase();
if(money === ‘YES’ && dollars === ‘YES’) {
console.log(“Great! You pay the troll and continue on your merry way.”);
} else {
console.log(“Dang! This troll only takes Troll Dollars. You get whomped!”);
}
break;
case ‘RUN’:
var fast = prompt(“Let’s book it! Are you fast (YES or NO)?”).toUpperCase();
var headStart = prompt(“Did you get a head start?”).toUpperCase();
if(fast === ‘YES’ || headStart === ‘YES’) {
console.log(“You got away–barely! You live to stroll through the forest another day.”);
} else {
console.log(“You’re not fast and you didn’t get a head start? You never had a chance! The troll eats you.”);
}
break;
default:
console.log(“I didn’t understand your choice. Hit Run and try again, this time picking FIGHT, PAY, or RUN!”);
}

In that game, the player makes choices on how to deal with the troll.

With HTML5, you can make websites. That’s why I can make colors like this.
CSS is for styling the HTML5. Combine JS,CSS, and HTML5, and you can use jQuery, which is for animating your stuff.
Of course, other coding languages are useful too. With Python, you can make games like Battleship. But I only know basic, very basic things. I can’t make stuff like websites. When you press F12 on your keyboard, you see all the code for the site. But I only can understand a fraction of that.

I learned with Codeacedemy. Coding is really fun!

By | March 6th, 2014|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Cartooning

Cartooning

As you may know, I have taken cartooning as a hobby. I have made my own website that has some of my comics. Here it is: ToonMaster3 GemsI haven’t uploaded all my comics on to the site, so there is only three for now. I do it online because I’m terrible failing bombing not that good at drawing on paper. Cartooning is a cool hobby, and I can print out my comics and give them out. Even better, I can staple them all into a comic book and give those out too. I’ve been making a newspaper for the house, and my comics would be good for the funnies section. And reading comics online can give you good jokes if you’re a comedian. Start cartooning, before you know it your comics could be in the newspaper! One of mine is at the top.

By | March 4th, 2014|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Life in London

Life in London

After a long hiatus, I resume blogging!

Since you last saw me, I grew taller, got an exercise routine, and learned a bit of computer coding!

But back to the subject of London….

There are three museums that I could walk to. They are the Science Museum,V&A Museum, and the Natural History Museum.

I was excited because I was begging my mom to take me to London, but my requests all flipped flopped failed miserably bombed came a wee bit short. But now I’m in London and I get to go to other countries while I’m in Europe.

Getting around is really fun, you can take a bus or the Tube.There is this useful site called Citymapper that helps you find out the way to your destination.

The museums here are so much fun, parks are cool, and the people here use common sense calling soccer “football”!

I also have a new hobby, cartooning online!

I’ve learned how to computer code, and it is really fun. I learned with Codeacedemy.

By | March 3rd, 2014|London, travel|0 Comments

Top 5 Vacation Countries

1.Italy for art and historical sites and beutiful scenery and great food. 2.Spain for art and historical sites and beutiful scenery and great food and bullfights. 3.France beautiful scenery and great food and good language. 4.Australia because of the adventure. 5.USA beacause of the theme parks (Ohio,Florida,etc.). Tell me what you think! My grandma helped me with this. You also should consider England. There is a country so small you can walk across it in less than a hour. Russia is bigger than all of Australia combined!

By | March 27th, 2013|Uncategorized|0 Comments

If I were Dictator of America…

The first thing I would do is I make my own castle that nobody could enter without my permission. Kids wouldn’t have to ask, unless they are up to no good.

The second thing I would do is close all of the schools except for colleges. Nobody would be allowed to do any schoolwork without my permission.  Grown-ups would work all day and the kids would just stay home and play video games all day.  Or, they could do school work if they want too.

The third thing I would do is give money and good jobs to the poor.  If they don’t want to work they have to go to another country.

The fourth thing I would do is lower all taxes to zero. This way, people from everywhere would move here.

The fifth thing I would do is make a satellite that will make the world look like Minecraft.

I would make flying cars.  I would make transportation portals everywhere.  The portals would be used for getting around.  You would go into the portal, then you would go in between space to take you to your stop.  It is like another dimension!

I would make a super hero machine. And anyone caught breaking the law will go to jail.

But of course how to do all that….

By | November 21st, 2012|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Memorial Parade

On Memorial Day I marched in the Memorial Day Parade.

I walked with the Cub Scouts.

I walked 1 mile.

My sister walked this year also, because she joined Daisy’s.

It was a beautiful day.

My baseball team walked, too.

After walking I went swimming.

By | June 1st, 2012|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Yesterday’s Science Class

Yesterday I went to Brookhaven Labratory for a homeschool science class on soil with my friend.

Soil is made out of gravel, sand, silt, and clay.

Gravel is the biggest part of soil.

Clay is the smallest.

A tool called the sieve separates the gravel,sand, silt, and clay.

My first experiment was putting rocks into groups (not Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic.).

I came up with, dots, plain color, and stripes.

My second experiment was was with 2 rocks. My tools were a magnet and a piece of paper with some thing on it.

The clear rock on one side could make things bigger! The other rock was magnetic!

My third experiment was weighing, measuring the volume, and drawing samples of dirt.

After that, I went home.

By | April 17th, 2012|science|0 Comments

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone!

This Easter I went to my Aunt’s apartment in New York City.

We took the car instead of the train.

I went with Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Christine.

I saw my Uncle, Aunt, and Cousin.

There was nothing to do when I got there.

After a long time, I had dinner and then I opened up the Easter baskets my Aunt bought us.

I played a board game of Pokemon and then left.

By | April 9th, 2012|easter|0 Comments

My Thoughts On Dissection

Dissecting is when you cut something dead open.

For example, you could dissect a frog. You can dissect anything living or dead.

You can look at its brains, heart, and organs.

My Mom made write this even though I don’t want to because all I can think of is throwing up and I can’t stand the gross smell it makes.

When you dissect you should put some Vick’s Vaporub on your nose and you will be fine.

So there is NO WAY I will be a surgeon.

I was in science class the first time I dissected something and heard “dye” and I was completely surprised. I hardly touched it at all. I was dissecting squid, so there was no bad smell.

And this week at science class I am dissecting crabs (Ugh!).

By | March 26th, 2012|dissecting|1 Comment

Pranks and Tricks

I love to play tricks on people, especially my dad.

My favorite is the Hand-In-Hot-Water trick.

Here’s a classic trick:

Here’s a joke kit I got for Christmas:

Toilet Paper Roll Prank:

I just did the toilet roll one!

By | March 21st, 2012|Uncategorized|0 Comments