Many movies have been made throughout the years. They range from all different genres and all different story lines. Some are good, some are bad. All are different. Since there is such a wide range of movies, this article will focus on our all time favorite genre: romance.
What makes a good romance movie? In our thoughts, a good romance movie is made from three major components.
Number one, how the main characters meet. There are many different ways for characters to meet: through friends, online, in person. By far, in person is the best way. Blind dates and online don’t seem as romantic.
Number two, the story line. Of course there has to be some type of drama in the movies, either a love triangle or some type of accident.
Number three, a happy ending. After all other components, a happy ending is mandatory to enjoy a romance movie.
The number one favorite movie of the romance genre in our opinion is ‘The Notebook’. This movie follows a plot of two characters who meet and fall in love fast. Their love lasts for a summer; three short months, but it is full of long adventures. They are deeply in love. However, Allie, the main character, leaves for college, leaving behind her true love. In college, she meets a man and falls in love with him and gets engaged. Seven years have passed since she saw her summer love, but once they meet again, it’s like they were in love just yesterday.
This movie has an amazing ending, with the two lovers falling back in love and living their lives how they had always dreamed. The ending is super sad, however, for Allie suffers through dementia and forgets her true love. With their strong love and connection, however, they remember each other at the end and die happily together.
Another amazing romance movie is ‘Titanic’. This movie includes so many amazing components, however, it ends without the happy ending all viewers crave. Rose and Jack fall in love on the Titanic on their way to the United States. Jack is poor and alone, escaping the harshness of his hometown. Rose is rich and lives with her family, who she plans to escape to be with Jack. Once the Titanic splits, the lovebirds try to stay together and alive. However, there isn’t enough space for both of them to survive so Jack ends up dying, leaving Rose heartbroken in the middle of the ocean.
Another romance movie we love is ‘How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days’. This movie is about a girl named Andie who works at ‘Composure’ magazine. She wants to write articles about politics and important things, but her boss has other ideas. She wants her to write about love, shoes, boys, etc. She comes up with an article idea after her friend gets dumped for being too clingy. She decides to find a guy and do everything she can to get him to dump her in 10 days. She does anything any guy doesn’t like, such as being too clingy, or too emotional. When she is picking out a guy to test this on, Ben gets a bet to make a girl fall in love with him in 10 days by his coworkers. She chooses Ben for her article without him knowing, and he chooses to make her fall in love with him…without her knowing.
Throughout the 10 days they go through a roller coaster in their relationship. All sorts of crazy things happen between them. She is starting to get annoyed because he is not seeming to lose interest, and he notices she is taking awhile to fall in love with him.
Towards the end of the 10 days they go to Staten Island to visit Ben’s family, while they are there they both fall in love with each other’s true selves. After the 10 days are up they are both at a jewelry show and their secrets are revealed by each other’s bosses. Both of them are mad and Andie storms out. When she is running off to find somewhere else to write articles Ben chases her down and confesses his love. She goes back and finds new places to write about politics and further her relationship with Ben.
There are many more romance movies we could write about, but we will keep it to these three classics, our all time favorites.
Gun control is a big issue in the United States. It is an issue that has begun to get worse by the years. We are seeing the number of school shootings and mass shootings rise.
There are many statistics that prove the rise of gun violence. We found statistics that show that over the past couple decades, gun production, ownership and mass shootings have increased. NBC put out an article stating, from 1988 to 1992, the production of guns was at 3-4 million annually. But in 2009, that increased to 5 million. And then in 2016 it peaked to 11 million guns sold. They also stated that, in 2021 there were 61 active shooter incidents – “which the FBI describes as events in which someone is engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area”. But the previous year, there were 40 active shooter incidents.
To us and students, this issue is very important and personal to us. We see the school shootings happening around us and wonder if it would ever be us. Realistically, it is very unlikely but the fear is still there. Kids go to school everyday scared. And it seems like every time there is a school shooting, kids are the ones to fight. They are the ones to have protests and call for change. But nothing does change.
And that is because students and kids don’t have the power to change the laws. The people who control the laws and regulations on guns are congress and the states. Congress can change the laws through commerce and taxing laws. But they only have power that is enumerated in the US Constitution. So it is limited.
But the states can make regulations on guns to make them less accessible. For example, Minnesota has strict regulations on guns. If you want to buy a gun, you have to get a permit to carry a firearm, a background check, mental health screening and much more. If you have served time in jail, you cannot purchase a gun. But other states like Alabama, have less regulations on guns. There you can buy a gun without a background check or a permit. So it is up to the states what regulations should be on guns.
It’s hard to change gun control when you have no power. And most people don’t have the power to change it. The only people that can change the laws and regulations are people in the government. But people can still push for change by voicing their ideas, which could push the government to make changes. So here are some of our solutions that you can do to help support gun control.
Our first solution is to contact St. Paul’s elected representative and ask them to support and advocate for change. Demand that they advocate for effective gun violence prevention legislation. Although it might not seem like this solution can change much, it’s important to make our voices heard. So we would get our families and friends to also contact our representative. And our hope is that more people would join in and contact their representatives, starting a movement. We also hope that once enough people have contacted the representatives, change will be made. They will announce their support for effective gun control legislation, and announce a way they are willing to make change. For example by introducing a bill they could present to the governor (Note, in the recent session, Minnesota did pass more gun control laws).
Our second solution to this issue would be to write to our local paper and ask them to publish an article we wrote about gun violence. We will write an article that talks about how the legislation on guns is not enough, the number of school shootings rising, and active shooter incidents in general rising. We would also talk about how the companies that sell guns are benefiting from the rise in gun sales and how we can fix this issue. Like we said earlier, we don’t have much power to change the laws on guns, but we still have enough power to voice our opinions. And by publishing our article it would allow for more people to see our point of view. It could change the way people think about gun control. We think that because it would be students speaking, people would listen. We have our own experiences going to school during gun violence’s peak.
We hope that you take away some useful information from this article and help enact change. Whether that be talking about gun control to your friends and family, donating to gun violence organizations or contacting your local representative.
Note: This is a student generated work of satirical fiction
Disclaimer: This article may not be accurate to real life experiences, rather just real life expectations.
Do you want to someday rule the world? Everyone has thought of it before, but ruling the world can be a bit difficult as a normal citizen. Contrary to popular belief, it’s a lot easier than many think. To show you, I’ve got 12 simple steps to help you on your journey to dominating the world.
Step 1 : Set Goals
This may seem arbitrary to do, but goals are an important part of this process. They’ll allow you to focus on a few main ideas, and how to execute them at the same time. Although when thinking of goals, one can become too ambitious at times.
Create smaller goals and actions such as “Gaining trust of loved ones by cooking them scented pies” rather than just “Rule the pie industry by yourself”. These smaller goals should allow for those to take smaller steps to reach their overarching goal in the end. Our overarching goal is to “RULE THE WORLD” but we must make smaller goals and take steps to get to this position we want.
Simply put, being too ambitious won’t get us anywhere and we need to take it slow, so one can achieve the world domination that they want.
Step 2 : Go under the radar
After you’ve set up your goals, you can start the process to world domination. Depending on what your goals are you can take different actions to ensure this step is taken into account.
You need to go under the radar, so you won’t be caught doing your processes to reach your goal. Staying in sight of corporations and organizations allows you to be seen doing acts leading to world domination.
Going under the radar will allow you to do these smaller steps whilst no one is watching at all, leading to your smaller goals. You may meet accomplices and others whilst in this process, and you can let them in on your plan, but remember that you must stay under the radar, and you need to know who you can trust.
In this world, betrayal is common, and whistleblowers are all about. You can’t let them tell everyone about your plan, and you must be careful about letting people onto your plan.
If you are spoken about to the authorities, it’s over and there’s no coming back to the scene. You can’t let yourself fall to their actions against you. Once you’ve started, there’s no going back.
Rule #1: Crimes
These rules should help ensure your position’s safety, as well as your path there. There will be more coming up to guide you on your path to world dominance.
Don’t commit any crimes in the early part of this plan. Doing so will alert others of your presence, and allow them to target you and your path to success. Try to find ways around problems that don’t involve crimes, even petty ones. Only do so if necessary to the plan, and try to stay out of sight of any untrusted others.
Crimes may seem like the easy way to take in life, but for this plan especially, try to limit the amount that you commit. Otherwise your plan may be foiled and you will be the one at front with the authorities.
Step 3 : Start a monopoly
In our everyday lives, money is necessary to do nearly anything. If you don’t have it, you may as well just go back to a regular life. But since we’ve started we have to find a way to get or gain this money. So, we have to start a monopoly.
Although, why a monopoly? Well, the previous step requires us to not commit any crimes, and stay under the radar. Doing any other action that interrupts the social community, would leave us within potential viewing.
By peacefully entering the marketing field with a monopoly on an item, we’ll be able to stay out of the way of larger corporations and the authorities’ eyes this way.
You want the item or object you’ll be making a monopoly on, to be small and easily gatherable. Bringing something rare or valuable will get other’s eyes looking at you. You can start small with natural products, such as fruits and vegetables, and slowly start to grow larger. Any significant or great growth may alert others to your position.
Step 4: Advertise for group/convention
Now that you’ve got a plan for money, you can set your focus on more pressing issues. As all leaders should know, there will be those who are opposed to your position, and you must try to minimize that. Ensuring that there won’t be a majority within your court will bring the best for you, as there won’t be a good chance for a rebellion.
Create a name for yourself that leaves you ambiguous, but to a point in which people still will know you by the name of it. Remember, you want to stay under the radar for this portion of the plan.
Once you’ve got your “alias” that you can go under, you can start advertising and marketing your name. Think about what you want to do during this portion of the plan and express it to the public. Although, make sure to limit the information that the public has access to.
Through your advertising, you want to form some sort of group, almost like a committee that you can trust. It’s important to gain those that you can trust, and it’s much better to do it in this part of the plan, rather than within earlier steps.
Step 5 :Gather a following
From that point on, you need to start gathering member within this “group” of yours. It is necessary foryourself to gather those who can be your eye to the public without being seen. They can make business interactions with others, whilst you prepare for the next step in your plan. To ensure that it works smoothly, put subjects through tests, to record their actions and if they can be trusted. It’s your decision on how to do this, but just don’t scare away members doing this process. A survey or a fake situation test can do this.
Try to create a headquarters of some sorts, for yourself and others to gather when necessary. Here, most operations of your plan will be executed with the committee you’ve garnered. This headquarters should have a general layout with a meeting room at least, but should also be furnished with nice furniture and other electronics. It is necessary to keep the atmosphere and mood high whilst committing certain operations.
Through these methods, you should be able to gain a following after your alias. This step is most important, as people are some of the most important parts of rebellion and leadership. Without them, it would just be yourself and those loyal to you. It is necessary to gather those who will follow under you.
Step 6 : Gain trust within members
You may gain followers, but keeping trust within members and yourself is necessary to ensure that no one tries to oppose your position. To do this, you may want to set the atmosphere to be nice and chill.
Possibly adding more to the “headquarters”, such as extra-curricular activities should be enough to gain the attention of your members, depending on how many that you’ve gathered.
Make sure your members know about the central ideas of your group that’s under your alias. Although keep some information away from them. You can’t tell them everything about your plan, rather try to direct them to a different conclusion.
Get these members to try and dislike the government. Bring up a reason for why the government should fall and exaggerate on those points. Any government should have issues that their people dislike, and bringing out these issues should give an incentive for these people to fight against the government.
Speaking about your marketing plan with your monopoly should aid yourself in this instance, allowing members to see what they are supporting. Although make sure that admittance to the group is, and will always be, free, in order to not discourage other members. Remember, we are trying to stay under the radar.
Rule #2: Betrayal
Betrayal is inevitable in this plan, with yourself performing it or others enacting on you. You must know how to deal with it at either end of the situation.
When someone enacts betrayal on you, you may perform revenge on that certain person, but it’s important to remember to keep yourself at a low with those emotions. Rather than attacking them, you must know how to use your other members to your advantage. Through their betrayal you can use your members as a front to avoid any of the consequences.
Although, if you are enacting the betrayal on someone else, make sure that no one else finds out. Try to do it sneakily, and let themselves be their own downfall. Planting evidence or turning others on them can do this to them. Only do this on those members who are conspiring on you or starting/questioning your authority over the group.
Step 7 : Get a more powerful position
Once you’ve amassed a group of trusted followers, you can start gaining power over others outside of the group. You can take it slow with political parties, or fast with rebellions, but take into account how many people you’ve managed to get into your group.
If you take it slow, make sure you start with getting a position within the vicinity of your group and headquarters. Within your party, you’ve already managed to get members within the area on your side, so it’s almost ensured that you will get elected in that matter.
Getting these positions should allow oneself to be able to have some form of power within any fashion. Use your power accordingly, but remember that your actions should be minimized to reduce those looking at you. At this point keep pushing yourself to reach your goals, as at this point you have to keep moving on.
Step 8 : Overrule those lower than your position
Now that you’ve gained a powerful position, you have to overrule those lower than your position. Remember that rebellions are inevitable, and getting these smaller groups under your control should allow oneself to minimize these issues.
Although, this action needs to be done peacefully. Doing otherwise may result in your group being investigated and your plans shutting down. This is the last step that you want to stay under the radar. Anything after this shall yield itself to your actions afterwards.
Try and get into better relationships with these groups. Holding community meetings and hearings may get these positions closer to you and on your side. You need to make sure that your trusted group can get in these positions and take control when necessary. Failure to do so will be fatal within your planning. You may need to enact other forms of plans, but taking away these smaller positions is necessary for world domination and the lack of rebellions.
You’re nearly there, but you should take into account any of your members acknowledging what they’re actually part of. Make sure to be secretive with your information and limit what gets told to them. Just a few more steps to go and you shall be able to wear that title of “World Dominator”.
Rule #3: Motivation
You have pushed yourself to the limits at this point. You may have gone through a lot and feel like there might not be much else for yourself at this moment, but you must keep moving on. You’ve done a lot for yourself at this point, and you may need motivation to keep pursuing your dreams.
Think of everything that you’ve done previously and what has pushed you to this point. The memories and the values that you hold that have pushed you here should keep pushing you to the end. Remember that you’re close and keep to yourself the plans that you hold for world domination. You’ve done this for a reason, and you’re executing that plan for that reason. It is necessary to finish these upcoming actions next. Just keep your motivations high before someone, or more likely yourself, tries to talk you out of it.
Step 9 : Overthrow the government
Gaining smaller positions should allow you to stage some sort of coup against more powerful hierarchies. Through these actions, you should be able to slowly start taking power over the people of your region and outer regions.
This may be the hardest step within your plan, but ensure that this part of the plan is solid and has minimal issues. In order to take over certain governments, allow your members to riot against an issue you’ve created against the government. It may be violent, but keep pushing towards your agendas. If you have enough push, you should be able to rule the government and overrule them entirely.
There will be issues during this process, and you will have problems. Your previous steps should have ensured that you have the least problems in this instance. If you do have any, get your members to try and fix them. If the issue keeps persisting, most likely they will be caught in the
crossfire of it all. Try and get yourself least involved with the actions of the government and your group.
You can take other paths to reach this point, such as committing crimes and whatnot, but this plan helps ensure that these steps are as easy as possible for a regular citizen. There’s not much that can come after this.
Step 10 : “Peacefully” annex the world
Now that your position has been gained and now that you’ve amassed your followers, you can start taking over the world, one country at a time. Either you can take the pacifist route and peacefully annex countries, or rather the violent route, where one can fight in wars with other countries.
The first option is recommended, although the latter may be more efficient and effective in its matters.
If you decide to take the peaceful route, you can do what you’ve done before, but on a bigger scale. Try spreading around your ideals to others, and make them hold doubt against their governments. Soon enough the word should spread and you can enact your plan with annexation. Starting rebellions and other forms of protest within countries, should allow yourself to try “aiding” those in need away from their citizens.
Trust can be built on these bonds, and most likely you can use that to your advantage. Start small with requests, but eventually make sure that you are the only one benefiting from this exchange. Any leak of information will dampen your plan, although won’t end it at this point.
Slowly enough start infiltrating your people in, and from there you can get people in your favor elected into office and even into power. From there, you’ve managed to rule over another country, Although in this situation, you will have multiple targets at once. Make sure you target those who don’t trust you. It is necessary to start slow with your actions, and eventually get them on your side.
This will be the hardest step of the process. There may be those against you, but if you have enough reinforcements and extensive planning, you should be able to get through this part of the plan.
Step 11 : Rule the World
Country after country and nation after nation, you’ve been able to take them all down. You’re left to your own wits with the whole world under your control. Now as the world leader, you can do anything you please.
Creating heinous laws with awful requirements and rules, won’t be the least of your power. You can enforce these principles on your people, but just keep in mind that they might just want to overthrow you due to these issues you make for them.
Have some fun whilst ruling the world, I mean you have worked hard to gain this position. Run a theme park! Enforce milk then cereal! Start a Mukbang Channel! Start an experimental Jazz trio with two geese! Enforce the teaching of children about the differences between bass and guitar! Get Character Development! Anything that your mind desires can become true.
Step 12 : Repeat the process :
Keep pursuing your dreams, and push yourself to keep going. There are other worlds to be conquered, and character development to be done. Repeat the process with other worlds and slowly take over their governments from within. Have some fun with these worlds and try different methods. After all, you do have a whole world that you can back yourself on.
If you do get rejected from a world, make your fast escape and try with other worlds. Although you want to avoid confrontation with those civilizations again. Try to get rid of them peacefully through annexation or manipulation. Otherwise you may get pushed into the cycle of starting again.
Ruling multiple worlds may be hard for just one person, so elect others into position for you. These will be trusted individuals who are capable of these tasks. Make sure that you stay above and beyond the radar, and make your presences known. Have fun ruling over the world and others that you may conquer on your journey.
Conclusion:
The galaxy is now your hands, traveler. Build up upon your empire and keep pursuing those expectations and dreams. Those are 12 simple steps to rule the world, and I would like to thank you for your endeavor through these steps towards your journey to world domination.
You’ve been through it all, and now it’s your turn to make your decisions on this path. Take these 12 steps with you, and use your motivations to make your way onto the world stage. Good luck and have fun on your endeavors and adventures towards ruling the world.
What even is ‘Amanda The Adventurer’? Well let me tell you. ‘Amanda The Adventurer’ is an indie-horror game and Amanda is the main antagonist. You will play as a character named Riley. Riley has come across some strange VHS tapes left by their missing aunt, Kate. It’s your job to see what these tapes contain, and piece together the dark secrets that they tell. The game developers have released many demos in the past, and finally came out with the full game on April 23rd. Now that we know that, let’s see what the story of this mysterious game is all about.
‘Amanda The Adventurer’ starts with Riley opening a letter that they received from their aunt Kate. Kate was thought to be a librarian, but as you progress through the letters, you soon learn that aunt Kate was investigating complaints and behavior issues with the 2000’s show called ‘Amanda The Adventurer’. Aunt Kate is missing, and in her letter it implies that the show had killed her. With aunt Kate’s disappearance, it is now your job as Riley to continue with her investigation work.
Riley is in their attic, this is where your investigation will take place. You will find VHS tapes and notes throughout the game. The more you find, the more insight on this matter you’ll gain. The show ‘Amanda The Adventurer’ started off as a public live-action TV show. The show creator Sam Colton never expected ‘Amanda The Adventurer’, starring his adopted daughter Rebecca, would be such a hit. Sam explains in a recording that a big entertainment company, Hameln, has purchased the rights to ‘Amanda The Adventurer’ and is making it a worldwide broadcast, and it’ll be digitally animated instead of live-action.
We soon see a secret tape recording of Rebecca in the middle of production with Hameln where the directors ask Rebecca to repeat some very odd phrases; “Bye-Yell, Pie man”, and “Baa Lamb”. Sam questions the phrases the director is telling Rebecca to repeat but is interrupted by Rebecca. Rebecca snaps and yells, “No! I don’t want to do that!” and claims she’s responding to the man in the headphones.
The phrases Rebecca was told to repeat are, according to many, the names of demons; Bael, Paimon, and Balam.
Sam Colton suddenly disappears in the middle of production, and Rebecca is handed into the custody of Hameln. We’ll see recorded footage of Rebecca signing a contract and then being led into a room with pipes, implying that she may be underground. This will be the last time we see Rebecca, as Hameln makes an announcement to the public asking to “Respect her privacy”.
Not long after this, ‘Amanda The Adventurer’ looks to be taking a turn for the bizarre. Parents have reported incidents of the show presenting strange images and ideas like “parents are not always right.” On one of the secret tapes, the orange one, we discover that after kids watch ‘Amanda The Adventurer’, they go into a trance and after they’re out of their parents line of sight, they disappear out of what seems like thin air.
In the final tape you will receive for the “True” ending, Amanda states ominously “I’m out there. Somewhere.”
Energy drinks are created to have higher amounts of caffeine to boost energy levels and alertness. They have become a popular beverage choice in teens as of recent years. I decided to review some of my usual, as well as some new, energy drinks.
The first energy drink I’m reviewing is the orange flavor of Celsius. Celsius is one of my personal favorite energy drinks. When I first opened the can, I got a whiff of a citrus smell. I would compare the flavor of this to a Sunny-D with higher caffeine levels. I’m a big fan of citrus flavors as this is my go-to drink for when I want caffeine. I rate this drink an 8.5 out of 10.
The next energy drink I reviewed is Red Bull in the yellow edition. This was one of the new energy drinks I taste tested. I was a little skeptical to try it because the packaging wasn’t appealing. I would describe the taste of this drink as fruity. I was scared at first but I enjoyed this drink. It perfectly encapsulates the tropical flavor. I rate this drink a 9 out of 10.
The next energy drink I’m going to review is the BAYA Starbucks energy drink in the raspberry lime flavor. This drink definitely won in terms of marketing and design but not in taste. I didn’t enjoy this drink because the raspberry and lime mixed together didn’t compliment each other. The aftertaste was also unsettling. I would rate this drink a 2 out of 10.
The final energy drink I’m reviewing is the Ghost energy drink in the flavor cherry limeade. The looks of this drink were also deceiving. The flavor reminds me of a more citrusy Shirley Temple. I would give it a 6 out of 10 overall since I found it to be excessively sweet.
Although ants are seemingly small and insignificant creatures; their history is quite interesting and lengthy.
The ant (Formicidae) evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous Period roughly 145.5 million years ago. Today there are more than 13,800 species of ants that have been discovered, but scientists estimate that there are 22,000 species in total.
Ants are a Superorganism meaning they are a group of living organisms that work together as one to grow and develop. All ants play an important role in the colony. There are the ants that look after the baby ants, others that collect and prepare food, then there are the ants that dig and clean the nest. Some ants are born for their job, but others will change roles as they grow.
They live in colonies all over the world in almost every continent. Ants have snuck their way into Antarctica where they can only survive around humans. They live in trees, soil, rocks, logs, and small acorns or pinecones.
Defending their colony and their nest is a common struggle for ants. All ants can bite, and some have bodies specifically made for fighting. There’s also ants with stingers similar to bees, ants that squirt acid out of their abdomen, or ants that emit a potent smell. Although this seems rather violent, there are certain ants who don’t feel the need to fight and just hide or remain very still.
These colonies are mostly made up of female ants. Worker ants are all related and their mother is the queen ant of the colony. Once a year when a new colony is ready to be made, male ants and new queens are born. Both males and queens are born with wings. The males use these wings to fly and mate with the new queens, but their lives are very short because their only job is to mate. There is at least one queen per colony and many worker ants. Ants can be smarter than humans when they work together as a colony.
Ants’ lives begin with the mother laying a round squishy egg; which will eventually hatch into an ant larva. The ant larva eats and grows, then develops all the necessary adult body parts within its body; this is the pupa stage. They then shed their old skin and become an adult ant.
Ants come in a very wide variety of colors. Not all ants are just red, black, or brown. There are species of ants all over the world that range from green, gold, yellow, and even blue. In Australia there are shiny blue ants called Blue Ants. They can be bright metallic blue or green and are often found in flowers.
Some ants are farmer ants such as the leafcutter. There is a specific group of ants called “fungus-growing ants” that are fully self-sufficient; they create gardens of fungi to eat, and feed their fungi leaves and soil to keep it fresh. Then there are “rancher ants” who herd smaller bugs like aphids from plant to plant to help them cross safely from weather and predators. In return, the aphids provide sugar water to the ants.
Ants are commonly consumed in Asian, African, and Latin countries. Some popular edible ant species are: leafcutters, weavers, honey, and black ants. This is because they’re such a plentiful species and are relatively easy to locate.
Summer 2023 the Boundary Waters will be open to canoe, kayakers and backpackers once again. With over 1 million acres of federally protected land in the northeastern part of Minnesota and similar wilderness across the border in Canada. This year over 250,000 people visited the BWCA.
Many people have signed up for permits this summer. Most are “putting in” at an outfitter or an entry point and have planned trips through the wilderness for at least a couple days.
Planning is a very important part of a BWCA trip. If you’re staying overnight you need food, a bear-bag or some kind of bear repellent to keep the food in, a tent (duh), and a way to filter your water which would be either a filtration system, iodine, or boiling your water.
You also need a mode of transport which could be on foot or in a canoe or kayak. Traveling through the BWCA can be very taxing on your body so you need to make sure to drink enough water and eat good and nutritious food. This will help with your energy levels and keep you going through the whole day.
Something else that is important to a successful BWCA trip is planning when you’re leaving and when you’re coming back, and then letting someone know. Since the woods can be a dangerous place if something happens to you and you don’t come back when you planned this person can let the authorities know.
Safety on the water is a vital part of a safe trip. If you’re choosing a canoe or kayak as your mode of transport then a life jacket and a paddle are two required parts of water travel.
You will also need sunscreen and bug repellent to stay safe from the sun and the bugs. Both are equally strong. And will bother you very much if you don’t do anything about it.
Summer is one of the best times of the year. No school and all you have to worry about is hanging out with friends and not getting sunburnt. However, because summer is so long, not having things to do can make the time pass slowly and feel like you’re wasting the best time of the year. So here are 5 things to do when you’re bored and don’t know what to do in summer.
1. Make Friendship Bracelets A very important summer staple is making friendship bracelets. These are extremely easy to make and have so much room to be creative. Whether you are making them by yourself, for your friend or with your friends they are always fun to make.
There are so many designs and tutorials, on friendship-bracelets.net or TikTok, out there to make very intricate and complicated, or cute and easy bracelets. With limitless colors and designs there is a chance you’re making a one of a kind design.
2. Beach Day A super fun way to spend your day during the hot summer is at the beach. Find a lake or ocean and a group of friends to spend a day swimming, playing football or volleyball. Bringing a picnic could also be a fun way to pass the time while at the beach.
3. Bike Riding One way to stay active and enjoy the warm weather during the summer is going on long bike rides. Especially in the Twin Cities there are many places, roads and trails, that provide beautiful scenery with just a little bit of biking. Whether you’re going for a leisurely ride to get some fresh air or on an intense ride for a workout, biking is a great way to mix the outdoors, hanging out with friends and getting in a great workout.
4. Backyard Campfire Whether you have a fire pit in your backyard or go to a local park with pits, a campfire is such a fun way to pass the time with friends. Setting one up is easy and it’s a cute thing to do while just hanging out with friends.
5. Make a Scrapbook of Memories One of the great parts about making summer memories is reminiscing on all the fun you had, and what better way to do this than to make a scrapbook. Fill it with a summer bucket list, pictures, quotes, stickers, and antidotes of good memories.
To find more ideas, look up summer scrapbook pages on Pinterest. If you want to splurge to make it extra special get a polaroid or disposable camera to get physical pictures with a vintage feel.
Freshwater eels are widely regarded as one of nature’s great mysteries. The gender and reproduction habits of this species have perplexed scientists and great thinkers alike for centuries. Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle was famous for his belief that eels did not conform to gender in the same way that most species of fish do, and Sigmund Freud once was pushed to the brink of insanity when hundreds of dissections led to absolutely no new information on the topic.
Eels are one of the few species of animal that still has more questions than answers in modern biology, and it has taken most of human history to produce what still amounts to an incomplete understanding of the creature.
The lack of information that scientists have about eel reproduction is extensive. Eels have never been observed mating, either in captivity or the wild. Additionally, sexual organs have never been spotted on the eel at any stage of its life. Given the abundance of the species and its prominence around the world, this is an unprecedented phenomenon, and one that has never occurred before. Naturally, there is a great degree of speculation regarding how exactly more eels are made, but the most widely accepted theory is rather strange.
As the current scientific consensus agrees, freshwater eels begin their lives in the Sargasso Sea, a part of the Atlantic Ocean that is almost a highway of ocean currents, all going in different directions. At this time, scientists do not know why specifically the Sargasso Sea is the point of origin for eels, but the youngest eel larvae recorded have been located there. From the Sargasso Sea, eels begin to migrate to other parts of the world, swimming to freshwater locations by going against the current in rivers.
During this process, the eels undergo a variety of metamorphoses, the first of which is the transition from larvae to glass eel (a stage in the life of an eel named after the almost see-through pigmentation they take on during this phase). Once the eel has found a home in freshwater, it will settle. Life doesn’t change much for eels at this point, but they do still undergo some additional metamorphoses.
After an indeterminate time, the eel reaches what scientists regard as mating age. This age is different for every individual eel, and the range for when it could occur is dependent on a variety of factors in the eel’s environment. Upon reaching maturity, the eel heads back to the Sargasso Sea to mate, dying shortly after. As said before, scientists do not know exactly how eels mate, just that sexual organs likely develop during an additional metamorphosis to prepare for reproduction.
Ultimately, the freshwater eel is still very much a creature shrouded in mystery. It may be hundreds more years before more information is discovered about them, but given the recent rate of discovery in science, many feel like it is just a matter of time before the secrets of the eel are eventually revealed.
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