This Picture is Redundant.

I made this in Minecraft in about an hour.  I know for a fact that it works.  It's made from quartz and obsidian.  I have a superflat world that I use for non-redstone builds.  If anyone reading this has a suggestion for what to build, let me know in comments, or on Facebook if you know me there.  I won't do much pixel art; I don't like it.  What I will do, I'll do with as little wool as possible.  If it's a redstone contraption, I'll use my other superflat world.  I may post stuff that was suggested on here at some point, if I like how I've done it.  Lifelight pyramid may get a picture here at some point!
Anyway, this QR code is a real code, and will take you to a website.  I'm going to let viewers figure out the site.

KENL News From Around the World

Man, I haven't posted in like a month and a half.  My new "schedule" isn't working very well...
I know this is a bit long, but posting it one story at a time also wasn't working.

We will start our program tonight with a flood of poodles in Seattle, Washington.  The poodles came from far and wide, some even rumored to have come from Texas.  One in particular had a distinct Redneckistanian accent, but tried not to show it.  The poodles that came from the ocean decided to grow fish tails and live in the Everglades.  But the rest of the poodles seemed dazed, just hanging around until someone came to take them to a poodle shelter in Kansas.  The Kansans liked the poodles, and they soon had all found good homes.

Meanwhile, those in Southern Florida found polar bear fur on the teeth and scales of alligators in the Everglades.  The polar bears were thought to have escaped from the zoo, since there wasn’t anywhere else for polar bears to come from and survive the exposure to the heat.  However, it is unclear how the polar bears fell prey to the alligators, since it seems more likely the alligators would be eaten by the bears.  There is a suspect in the case, who is thought to have shot the bears down.  The man, Howard McGoo, will be arrested for bringing a gun into a national park and shooting animals that were obvious zoo property.  In a suspect lineup, the remaining polar bear recognized McGoo immediately as the man who shot the bear’s friends.  McGoo will be facing 10 years in jail: 5 for the gun, and 5 for the bears.

In Mongolia, all the cats ganged up and attacked a fire hydrant factory, so that the dogs would slowly die out.  However, the cats failed to remember the hundreds of hydrants around the city, and so failed in their quest to take over the world.  But really, who knows what their true quest is?  Maybe they also want the universe.  Or just want peace.  Either way, to them, dogs have apparently got to go.

Recently, all the jackals in South Africa were forced to the tip of the continent by angry farmers who were tired of the jackals stealing their livestock. The jackals have been caged on one side, with knowledge that the only escape would be to jump into the ocean.  And everyone knows that jackals can’t swim.  But it seems these jackals are trying to learn.  Yesterday, a boatman reported seeing one jackal pulling another out of the water.  The one in the water was waterlogged and unconscious.  Gates will now have to be put around the water side of the tip of Africa, but the funds will prevent this until someone sees a wet jackal crawling out of the ocean.

And now, it’s time for the weather.  Today was sunny and raining.  Yesterday was raining, but the rain was made out of tree sap.  This is thought to be the result of many trees exploding after being struck by lightning.  Tomorrow, it is expected to snow profusely, and the high will be around 70°.  The day after that, the high will be 16° and the low 45°.  The snow from the previous day will have frozen into ice, resulting in a slippery fun zone for the kids.  Time to break out the ice skates!

A pair of bears recently tried to raid a nudist colony.  No one was hurt, except this one girl who had her eyes closed and ran into a wall.  Everyone said they got a huge scare until they realized it was just a bear and not the weird neighbor across the street.  They were still scared, but not as much.  The reasons for the bear attacking were unclear, but it is thought that the bear simply couldn’t spell, and thought that there was another “bare” in the building.

In sports, the platypuses played basketball against the dolphins in the ocean around Indonesia.  The dolphins won, but maybe the platypuses would have won on their home court.  Also, hounds played ferals at wrestling in the forest around the Sahara.  Hounds won in 9 of the 10 matches.  In the 5^th match, the hound competing had to drop out of the competition for excessive pre-game injuries.  The hounds could not find a replacement on such short notice, so had to forfeit to the ferals.

Our last story is about a snake that terrorized townspeople in Prague.  This snake escaped from its holding pen that was rather stupidly placed next door to a nuclear reactor.  The reactor has been slowly feeding the snake for 11 years, and now the snake is the size of a 200-story building, and breathes fire.  I think it’s mad.  We are now attempting to find some way to tame this snake, without destroying the reactor.  So far, no conclusion has been reached, but we’ll think of something eventually!  We are working to keep the snake in Prague right now, so that it won’t terrorize the rest of the world.

That’s it for KENL news, so watch out for snakes and good night!

The Nakajet

Okay, I’m finally going to get this post up.  Unfortunately, I don’t have pix yet, but if I put the rest of the blog up I’m more likely to remember to get the pictures I need.

       This paper airplane design is one I thought up somewhere around a year ago.  For one reason or another, we didn’t have much to do in Band that day, so some of the percussion guys and I started making paper airplanes and throwing them at each other.  None of the designs they had made work very well if you just fling them, which is what the guys were doing, along with wondering why I could get the airplanes to go farther.  I knew exactly two designs: the really simple jet that everyone learns in elementary school (which we already had one of), and a really good airplane of a design that a lot of people learn in middle school.  Not many actually know what it’s called, but it’s a Nakamura Lock.  The latter is the one I like better, so I made one.  Turns out that it doesn’t like being flung.  It works best with a slowish throw.  I’m not exactly the most original/knowledgeable person when it comes to paper airplane design, so I decided to combine the two.  Whaddaya know, it worked.  And it goes really far with a really hard throw, as long as you don’t throw it at the ground, or straight up.  I think we eventually lost that one under a drum set or something, but I can still make one.  It’s super easy as long as you’re accurate with your folds.

       First, fold paper in half lengthwise and unfold. (Pretty standard for most airplanes)  Second, you fold the first two steps of the elementary jet. (fold 2 corners to center, do it again)  Then, fold the top half down so the point is at the bottom and along the crease you made in the first step.  Fold the top layer in half back so the point lies on the line at the top; then unfold.  Fold top two corners to the center line, NOT flush with the line, but instead so the corners match and the edges rest on, but not below, the ends of the crease you made by folding the point up.  Then, fold the point back up.  Fold in half so the point is out, then make the wings.  I can’t give exact sizes on the wings, but fold them so they’re level with or below the bottom of the plane.  Tweak it so when it’s resting in your hand the wings go slightly up.  Confusing? I’ll have pictures soon, I promise.  I might also have a paper with fold lines and order numbers you can print.

       I call this design a Nakajet (hence the title of this post).  The elementary plane doesn’t have a name, but it’s a jet.  Combine that with Nakamura, and you’ve got Nakajet!

Again, sorry about pix, they're coming eventually.