All posts by HPSH Plaid Line

Review of ‘The Wandering Inn’

By: Tasha Cudinski

‘The Wandering Inn’ is a web novel written by an author by the alias Pirateaba. ‘The Wandering Inn’ is about a young woman named Erin Solstice who gets stranded in another world. Erin is a young woman from Earth, she lives with her family and is getting ready to go to college. She is pretty happy, she spends time with her friends, and she plays chess which she is very talented at. One day, without warning, she finds herself in another world.

In this world, humans are just one of many sentient level species, and technology is still at the level of medieval times. This world also has: magic, monsters, classes, and Skills. Erin ends up stumbling upon a run down and abandoned inn, where she decides to stay.

The inn slowly gains popularity, as well as a reputation for insanity as there is almost always some kind of drama happening at the inn at all times. In most Isekai genre stories (stories in which a protagonist from earth ends up in another world) the main character ends up being some ultra powerful guy who can just punch all of his problems in the face, but Erin never ends up being a super powerful wizard, or a strong warrior, instead she becomes powerful via soft power.

Erin’s power is that she is a kind, and helping person who absolutely refuses to stray from her morals. Because of this, Erin meets goblins and necromancers and Antinium, all of whom are considered to be monsters. Most people see them as being incapable of anything but violence and have no qualms about treating them as the monsters they are perceived to be. Erin looks at them and decides to treat them like they are people, and because of this she ends up befriending all of those who have been scorned and hunted.

Over the course of the book, Erin amasses an army of friends, all of whom are willing to fight for Erin if she needs them to. While Erin’s story is the main focus of the book, it is not the only one, as she was not the only human from earth who ended up stranded in this other world.

As the story progresses, we meet more and more earthers and eventually they start meeting each other. While Erin managed to survive and make friends, many others were not so lucky and ended up dying before they could even figure out that they were in another world.

Overall, ‘The Wandering Inn’ is a fantasy genre story with slice of life and action as its secondary themes. Pirateaba is currently writing book nine. The books are well written and the story is engaging with almost no dull moments.

The main drawback of the book is its length. If you are looking for a book to read in a week, and be done with, then this book is not for you. The book has over 11 million words and counting.

‘The Wandering Inn’ is well written and well paced, with believable characters and world building, so if you are looking for something to occupy your time for a while, then ‘The Wandering Inn’ is a good choice for you!

‘The Wandering Inn’ can be read for free at its official website: thewanderinginn.com.

Amazons underperformance on its drone program

By: Joseph Nelson

It’s been almost ten years since Jeff Bezos announced Amazon’s drone delivery program, but we still haven’t seen any sign of commercial delivery to homes. In fact, Amazon has only made 10 successful deliveries between the two states of Texas and California. Now, why is that number so low and where are our drones?

Now, Amazon isn’t trying to at all hide their underperformance as Amazon spokesperson Maria Boschetti doesn’t deny any of the numbers brought to her in an email from The Verge. But those numbers aren’t completely Amazon’s fault as there is a bigger factor in play than just Amazon, it’s also the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) stating to Amazon that the pilots cannot fly over roads without a pilot or a third party present. That means that the unmanned drones need to be supervised if the drone were to go over any type of road which brings a bigger challenge to the future of drone delivery.

But, this all seems odd right? I mean, we are again almost ten years from the first announcement of the program and now we are still trying to cross the street? The very future of air delivery is being held up by the laws of the roads.

It feels as though the battle between the FAA and Amazon is going at a snail’s pace. In fact, Amazon just last November, got the green light to fly its drones outside of sparsely populated areas. The drones couldn’t fly within one-hundred feet of buildings, and the requirement of drone pilots being required to have a piloting license to fly a plane, just so they can fly a drone, has completely hindered Amazon’s pilot count. Which hurts a lot when you need more than six pilots to fly just one drone.

But these training wheels the FAA put on Amazon might not be completely a bad thing, as of February 1st, there have been five drone crashes on Amazon testing sites. One of these crashes caused a twenty-five acre forest fire on the site.

But Amazon isn’t backing down from the fight whatsoever, they are pushing the FAA every day to get their drones up in the sky and deliver packages to your doorstep. As of the start of February, the FAA had approved more flight areas in Texas and California.

So, as to answer the question on where are our drones? Well, they are being held up by air laws but I still believe that we should see them in the coming years.

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Best rides at Disney World

By: Sophie Johnson

Expedition Everest was one of the rides that I re-rode multiple times when I was in Disney World in December of 2021. This is one of the fastest roller coasters in the park. While on this coaster, you speed over mountains and through caves where BigFoot is lurking in the darkness.

This ride has some unexpected aspects to it as well, including when it appears to be a dead end with a broken coaster track. You creep up to the edge and then zoom backwards in the opposite direction.

I also loved this ride so much because it was night when I rode it, and right as we were rolling over the mountain, the firework show started and it was a very memorable moment.

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is a short but very gripping ride in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This ride is based on the film series ‘The Twilight Zone’. It includes many surprising sharp turns and extreme drops. The Tower of Terror has windows that open to the outside and when you are suddenly dropped, you can see flashes through the windows of the whole Disney park. I love the anticipation of this ride and it was definitely worth the long wait in line.

Space Mountain is a thrilling indoor roller coaster in the dark. The theme of this roller coaster is outer space. While waiting in line for this ride, you walk through a dimly lit passage that mimics the inside of a spaceship. You can look out and see different stars and planets in the distance.

Once you get to the actual roller coaster, there are small, two person carts that zoom down a winding and spiraling track in the dark. The part of this ride that makes it one of my favorites is that you get very immersed in the experience. It is also exciting and scary because you can’t tell when the track will drop down really far or take a sharp turn.

CONPLAN 8888, a military plan for a zombie outbreak

By: Hoaseng Thao

What is CONPLAN 8888 and why does the military have a plan for zombies? Although it may seem like a joke created by some junior officer, the unbelievable and fictitious threats, such as zombies, are actually a great learning tool that helps get soldiers engaged while training.

Students at Joint Combined Warfighting School (also referred as JCWS) who attended the lessons about CONPLAN 8888 actually enjoyed the impossible scenario in which zombies were involved. Planners who attended the lesson noted that, “Because the plan was so ridiculous, our students not only enjoyed the lessons; they actually were able to explore the basic concepts of plan and order development (fact, assumptions, specified and implied tasks, references etc) very effectively.”

The US military’s plan for zombies is to protect humanity, including people who are from countries that are considered adversaries to the US, from zombie life forms. There are two types of operations that the US military will conduct to handle such a harmful threat to humanity, these include Defensive operations aimed at monitoring zombies and indicating what type of zombie they are facing, and Offensive operations which are aimed at using military forces to eradicate zombie threats.

What types of zombies are the US military facing while conducting CONPLAN 8888? What you are going to read are the types of zombies the US military has identified and are using for CONPLAN 8888, this is not a joke.

● Pathogenic Zombies (PZ)

○ Your traditional zombie outbreak scenario involving a virus or some other form of contagion.

● Radiation Zombies (RZ)

○ Zombies who are infected by extreme exposure to radiation.

● Evil Magic Zombies (EMZ)

○ Zombies caused by occult experimentations which is referred to as “evil magic”

● Space Zombies (SZ)

○ Zombies that originate beyond the stars as an extra-terrestrial toxin.

Weaponized Zombies (WZ)

○ Zombies that are created via bioengineering for the use of being a weapon or chemical weapon.

● Symbiant-Induced Zombies (SIZ)

○ Zombies that are caused by a symbiant life form that uses a host to take over their body, the life form does not outright kill their host but keeps them alive, but they will not be able to be saved.

● Vegetarian Zombies (VZ)

○ Similar to the popular video game ‘Plant Vs. Zombies’, Vegetarian Zombies pose no real physical threat to humanity as they only feast on plants, but they do pose a threat to vegetation and deforestation. They are also noted to say “grains” instead of “brains”.

● Chicken Zombies (CZ)

○ Based on a real incident in which chickens came back alive. Chicken Zombies pose no actual threat to humanity.

Despite the impossibility of a zombie outbreak occurring, the US military has stated that this is just a “training exercise” that is used for planners and students to understand how to conduct joint operations with other units and countries. So, if there ever will be a zombie outbreak in the near future, the US military has plan to counter zombies.

If you are a conspiracy theorist, or the average Joe, who wants to learn more information on CONPLAN 8888, please visit the link below.

Thank You.

AI-Generated art: What it is and why it’s harmful

By: Bijou Kruszka

Artificial intelligence: a concept that was previously confined to the realm of science fiction. Now, with the rise of programs like ChatGPT, it’s more of a reality than ever before. But what does it have to do with art, and the future of artists everywhere? A lot more than you’d think.

AI art generators are websites that, as their
name would suggest, generate art from simple prompts.
It has the user input a word or short phrase. Then, using
specific algorithms, it analyzes thousands of images and takes elements from each, creating a new “original” image. This process typically lasts about 5 minutes. From broad concepts to ultra-specific characters, AI art can tackle it all. While typically better at abstract landscapes than portraits, some of these outputs are shockingly good. Now, this technology is becoming more readily available.

While AI art generators have technically been in existence for years, they have really risen in popularity recently. With social media trends using AI art generator websites like Wombo Dream and Craiyon, AI-generated art is something that is now much more in the public consciousness. According to Google Trends, interest in the phrase “ai art” significantly spiked in December. Before, it was relatively obscure. Now, it seems everyone has tried these websites themselves. However, its newfound popularity has also created a lot of controversies.

While there is something to be celebrated in this progression of technology, there is also something to be worried about. When artificial intelligence can create art in a range of styles in a very short amount of time, where does that leave humans?

Why pay a human a large sum of money for something that takes hours of hard work when you could just type what you want into a generator online and have it produced 5 minutes later? The human artists were also the ones to create the art that is being analyzed by these robots, but they are given no credit in the final product, nor are they compensated for their art being used. They are stealing from artists, jumbling their pieces together, and trying to claim that it is original.

While the technology has its flaws, often not being able to produce a normal-looking hand or face, it still is dangerous for human artists, especially when these programs improve further. These generators are stealing content and endangering the jobs of all human artists, and will continue to do as it improves its algorithmic skills.

To combat the rising popularity of AI art generators, many artists online have risen. The #NoToAI tag is full of human artists discussing these issues and boycotting the generators, asking others to do the same. By protesting these websites, there is a possibility for change.

So, if you need art and are considering using artificial intelligence, reconsider and commission a human instead.

Best places to visit in Minnesota

By: Jessica Garcia Saligan

A place that would be great to visit is the black sand beach. The black sand beach is in Silver Bay, MN. It’s an awesome place to go if you want to go and take a road trip with your friends or family and explore.

You can also swim there and a fun fact about the black sand beach is that it’s not connected with Lake Superior. So, on how it’s not connected, the black sand beach is a lot warmer than Lake Superior.

This second place will blow your mind. Lutsen Mountains is a ski area, but there are other activities you could do. It’s a fun place to go with your friends and family if you would like to enjoy a great view. Some things you could do there during the winter is: skiing, snowboarding. snowshoeing, snowmobiling, and a lot more.

And in the summer, you could go hiking, mountain biking, or paddlesports.

The one thing that they are most known for is the summit express they have; you get to go through all of the mountains and you will get an amazing view.

Third place, is if you would like to have a get away with your friends or a significant other during the winter and summer; go to Grand View Lodge. Grand View Lodge is a hotel, but not like any other hotels. Grand View Lodge has so many activities to do during the summer and winter time; they have 5 hot tubs, ice skating rinks, and there’s over 70+ spa services.

One thing that most people go for, is for a dinner inside a heated snow globe. I think in the snow globe you can fit up to 4 people. It has fairy lights all around, and the best part is that it’s heated and it’s also separated from any other snow globe.

Best easy meals for teenagers

By: Lauren Kottke & Ella Sutherland

If you are a busy teenager looking for quick and easy recipes to satisfy your hunger, we have 3 easy recipes that you’ll love.

The first recipe is the famous Gigi Hadid spicy pasta. Gigi Hadid is a world famous model that has grown quite a big following over the past few months. Her recipe has become very popular. Personally, we love this pasta and we make it at least once a week. The recipe has a garlicky taste with the traditional tomato sauce.

The ingredients you will need is:

  •  1⁄4 cup of avocado oil
  •  1⁄4 cup of green onion
  •  1 tablespoon of minced garlic
  •  1⁄4 cup of tomato paste
  •  1⁄2 cup of heavy whipping cream
  •  Red pepper flakes
  •  Salt and pepper
  •  One box of penne pasta
  •  1⁄2 cup Parmesan cheese
  •  1⁄4 cup of pasta water
  •  1 tablespoon of butter

First you need to get a saucepan and skillet pan. In the saucepan fill it about halfway with water, and set on a stove top burner. Turn the heat on medium and cover with a lid.

While that is heating up, in the skillet add the avocado oil (you can use olive oil as well, we just personally like avocado oil better), the minced garlic, and the green onion. Mix that all together over medium heat.

Have the tomato paste ready because it heats up fast.

Once the oil starts to sizzle add in the tomato paste and mix that in with the garlic, onion, and the oil.

Once that is all mixed add in the heavy cream and mix.

Make sure you’re watching your water, because once it starts to boil add in your pasta.

To the sauce, add in the red pepper flakes, if you want little to no spice add a little bit, but if you want it to be more spicy add more.

Then add salt and pepper to flavor.

Turn off the heat and wait until the pasta is done. Once the pasta is done, save 1⁄4 cup of the pasta water before you drain it.

Add the butter to the sauce on low heat and stir.

Once the butter is melted add the pasta water and pasta to the sauce in the skillet. Add more salt and pepper to flavor and add the parmesan cheese. Mix all together, serve, and enjoy!

The next easy recipe is overnight oats. Overnight oats have started to gain popularity on the social media platform, TikTok. They are great for an on the go breakfast, especially if you don’t have time in the morning to cook breakfast. There are many different ways to make this, but over this school year we have perfected this recipe.

The ingredients that are needed are:

  •  One half cup of oats
  •  One half cup of oat milk (can use regular milk too)
  •  3 tablespoons of chia seeds
  •  3 tablespoons of honey
  •  1 dash of vanilla extract
  •  1 tablespoon of cinnamon

To start this recipe you will need a mason jar (or any cup with tinfoil). In the mason jar add the oats and milk. Stir those together.

After that, add in the chia seeds and cinnamon. Mix that all together until you can see the cinnamon and chia seeds are spread out throughout all the oats.

Next add the honey and vanilla extract and stir.

Once all the ingredients are in and mixed together, cover with the lid or tinfoil, and leave in the fridge overnight.

In the morning, cut up a banana and put on the oats and add granola if desired. You can add any topping that you like, those are just the ones that I add.

Serve and enjoy!

The last, and final recipe, is a salmon rice bowl. This one we have been making for a while now and is a little more complicated because of the salmon. It is a quick dinner and is great with leftover salmon.

Ingredients that are needed are:

  •  Salmon (thawed)
  •  2 tablespoons of soy sauce
  •  1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
  •  A pinch of salt and pepper
  •  1 tablespoon of lemon juice
  •  1 tablespoon of garlic powder
  •  2 cups of white rice
  •  1 whole avocado
  •  1 pack of seaweed chips

First thaw the salmon for 1 hour.

Then in a bowl, mix the soy sauce, mustard, salt and pepper, lemon juice, and garlic powder together.

Start the rice in an instant cooker or a stove top.

Marinate the salmon in the combination of ingredients.

Put the salmon in tin foil and let sit for 20 minutes.

Put the salmon on a pan and heat in the oven at 375°, until the internal temp is 150°.

Once rice and salmon is finished, put down the rice in a bowl and mix up the salmon with the rice.

Next cut up the avocado and lay it on top of the rice and salmon.

Lastly, scoop the rice, avocado, and salmon into the seaweed and enjoy!

Those are just a few of our favorite recipes that are quick and easy. If you make these we hope you enjoy it!

Sports schedule for: Mar 13-18

  ATHLETIC EVENTS SCHEDULE: MARCH 13- MARCH 18  
MONDAYMARCH 13 
TIMEBUS TIMESEVENTLOCATION
3:15pm Softball Practice Begins 
3:15pm Track and Field Practice Begins 
5:00pm Baseball Optional Conditioning 
TUESDAYMARCH 14
TIMEBUS TIMESEVENTLOCATION
    
WEDNESDAYMARCH 15
TIMEBUS TIMESEVENTLOCATION
4:00pm Badminton vs. KennedyHOME
THURSDAYMARCH 16
TIMEBUS TIMESEVENTLOCATION
4:00pm Badminton vs. CentralHOME
FRIDAYMARCH 17
TIMEBUS TIMESEVENTLOCATION
    
SATURDAYMARCH 18
TIMEBUS TIMESEVENTLOCATION
    

Nearly 1,000 pound meteor hits Texas

By: Jasmine Williams

According to reports, on Wednesday, February 15, a meteor smashed into pieces in McAllen, Texas, as confirmed by NASA. Some of the other pieces had landed near Mexico’s border.

This meteor, known by others as an unknown object, weighs as much as a grand piano. That’s quite a meteor. This meteor was estimated to weigh about 1,000 pounds before breaking up.

The weather radar was used to help determine how the meteor entered the atmosphere by angle and speed, which was 27,000 miles per hour, stated by the NASA Meteor Watch. This helped NASA verify that the mysterious object was a meteorite. According to CBS NEWS’, in three days, three different meteorites landed in Texas, France and Italy.

The meteorite had the power of around 8 loads of TNT, but no damage was caused, NASA said. The meteor made a mark in the sky and the Earth shook when it supposedly landed. There were photos and videos taken, shown on Twitter, and filmed on home security videos of the meteorite.

Most of the time, meteorites break into fragments heading towards the Earth. The meteorite that hit south Texas broke at a distance of 21 miles. The pieces, in diameter, were about two feet, as estimated by NASA.

Meteorites are called “shooting stars” or “fireballs” because of the way they appear in the sky. Any space rocks that are 82 feet, or smaller, tend to burn up before hitting the ground. Those rocks won’t cause destruction to the earth. Animated meteorites you would see online or in videos look like fireballs. Which is actually true, but some people might think it’s fake because of all the other animated versions of things. Like carrots in Looney Tunes, they look appetizing, but in real life that isn’t the case.

Fun fact: 100 tons of dust, and more, are estimated to arrive to the earth from space every day. A meteor the size of a football field hits the Earth almost every 2,000 years, causing major damage.

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The evolution of Jack Harlow

By: Hannah Gliedman and Nagad Omar

Growing Up

Jackman Thomas Harlow, was born on March 13th, 1998 in Louisville, Kentucky. Born to Maggie and Brian Harlow, Harlow was raised on a horse farm with his younger brother.

It wasn’t until Harlow was 12 that he discovered the art of rapping. Harlow was surrounded by music while growing up but wrote his first unofficial rap in elementary school. His rap was geared towards the kids in his grade that bullied him for his eye patch.

By the time he was 12-years-old Harlow had made up his mind that rapping was what he was destined to do, even asking his mom “How do I become the best rapper in the world?”

Harlow was around music quite a bit growing up, his mother introduced him to bands like Tribe Called Quest, while his father was more into country.

Jack released his first rap at 12-years-old which was recorded off of a microphone from the Guitar Hero game, and titled it “Ripping and Rappin” . Harlow gave out 40 copies of the CD to kids at his middle school selling them for $2 each.

Fame

After Harlow acquired a real microphone, he began creating songs and putting them online, and he started gaining recognition around his community. After playing a few very small shows with almost no one in the audience, Harlow started gaining fans and created more music.

His first mixtapes were called ‘Moose Gang’ and ‘Moose for the Death’. In 2015, while still in high school, Harlow released his first EP, ‘The Handsome Harlow’, which was followed with a more expanded 2016 mixtape.

Harlow was then signed to the record label “Generation Now” in 2017. From there he started to gain more recognition and started collaborating with bigger artists.

His 2020 EP, ‘Sweet Action’, featured artists like CuBeatz, PoohBeatz, and 2forwOyNE. Harlow’s major breakthrough came from the song “What’s Poppin”, which gained almost 700 million views on TikTok, peaked at #2 on the Billboard top 100, and gave Harlow his first Grammy nomination for best rap performance.

In 2021, Harlow and rapper Lil Nas X collaborated on the song “Industry Baby” that became his biggest hit yet. It peaked at #1 on the Billboard top 100 and became extremely viral on TikTok.

With songs under his belt, Harlow released his first full length official album titled ‘Come Home the Kids Miss You’ in 2022, including songs like “First Class”, “State Fair”, “Dua Lipa”, and “Churchill Downs”. In that album, Harlow collaborated with many known artists like Pharrell Williams, Justin Timberlake, lil Wayne and Drake.

Since then, and because of that album, Harlow has received many awards and recognitions. Harlow is continuing to make music and has also made brand deals with popular shoe brand New Balance and chip brand Doritos.

Harlow did announce he will be making his acting debut in the remake of the movie ‘White Men Can’t Jump’.

Awards

Harlow has been nominated for many awards like a Brit award for international song of the year, and a BET awards for best male hip hop artist. Harlow has also been nominated for 6 Grammys in the past 3 years for categories; best rap performance, album of the year, best rap song, best rap album, and best melodic rap performance twice. He has also won 4 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) for song of the summer with “First Class” and best visual effects, best art direction, and best collaboration all won from “Industry Baby” with Lil Nas X.

Harlow was also featured in Forbes “30 under 30” in 2022. Along with being named Variety’s “Hitmaker of the Year”. Jack was also the cover of Teen Vogue in June of 2022, and has gained fans for his charming looks and demeanor.

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