826LA Good Times

BY JASON
Kim Yu-Na was born in Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. She was born with a talent that no other female skater has. Yes, she is pretty and a queen all over the world, but she also is the best skater in the whole world. She came to Toronto in 2006 to practice, because in Korea, she is a big, and I mean big, superstar.

She is the world champion skater and a queen to the entire nation of Korea and the whole world, except Japan. She entered the 2010 Vancouver Olympics with her coach Brian Orser. He helped Kim do better jumping, which is a very hard thing to do in figure skating.

Kim, who is 19 years old, brought the first gold medal to Korea while also breaking the world record for the highest score, 228.56.

BY BIANCA

In the 2000s, this is the thing that I remembered most: learning how to play football. The reason why I play football is because there is nothing else to do and I was bored, and everything else was boring.

I play with my friends Gaby, Jose, Jonny, Anthony, Angel, Ivy, Efron and sometimes April and other people too. It is half girls and half boys, and the best player of the boys is Jonny and the best of the girls is me. I am the quarterback, and I was the wide receiver. Jonny is too.

This summer, in one game, Jonny was the quarterback, and I was the wide receiver. I got the ball and made a touchdown in the last play of the game. That was the best win of 2009 in football.

The first game that I ever played was in April 2009. I don’t watch football; I just play it.

One time Jonny got a touchdown, and he did the SpongeBob dance to celebrate.

I threw about 10 touchdowns in 2009.

A few of the Good Times journalists write some thoughts on the future.

PENGUINS by Lena
Penguins eat fish and squid. The smallest penguin is called the fairy penguin. All of you are probably wondering how tall they are or on a daily basis, how much food do they eat. Well, Wikipedia does not know.

ROBOTS by Oscar
I think that robots are very cool devices. There is a microwave, but I want robots that move and ask you what you want. I also want a robot that does my homework, but it has not been invented. I also want a robot that does your chores.

KEYS by Bianca
In the future, you don’t have to carry a lot of keys. On some doors, you can scan yourself, so the door knows to let you in. On other doors, everything is in one key, so you don’t have to carry a bunch of keys. It will be like in the film Monsters vs. Aliens, in which they can scan your eyes and stuff will open. That’s the future of keys.

Ruby’s Future: Tooth Surgery! By Sierra
An 8-year-old named Ruby has to get surgery on two teeth. She’s my best friend. In 30 days, Ruby Jane has to have two teeth pulled out, because she has an infection. She feels nervous. It will be her third tooth surgery. As a baby, she had four teeth pulled out.

Sierra interviews science-fiction expert and History Channel producer Colin Campbell about life in a Jetsons-esque “Hover World.”

Will people walk in the future?
Indeed, people will walk in the future. Over time, humans have continued to grow bigger and bigger, and live longer and longer. Part of the reason for that has been improved health, due to increased food production, and the development of modern medicines and surgery. But another part has been an overall increase in the fitness of humans over time. And simple exercises, such as walking, help to keep humans fit. In the future, it seems unlikely that we will devolve into the overweight human-like “slugs” seen in the movie WALL-E. We’ll always need to walk, either for exercise, for fun, or to reach new and exciting frontiers.

How will they get exercise?
To look to the future of exercise, take a look back. Devices invented in the 20th century included those which simulate walking and running (“elliptical” machines), rowing a boat (a rowing machine) and riding a bike (the so-called “stationary bike”). In the future, these devices are likely to continue to improve in two key areas. One: Surroundings. Why not step into a “rowing machine,” which is encased by video screens. On those screens, you’d see a full 3-D image of a lake, or an ocean, all around you. You might even smell the ocean spray, or feel a bit of mist on your face as you row; similar technology already exists in theme park rides, such as “Soarin’ Over California” at Disney’s California Adventure theme park. Two: Mechanics. Instead of pumping your legs on the exercise bike, why not have the machine do the pumping for you? Is that as good a workout as doing the pumping yourself? No, but it likely would get your heart rate up, which doctors say is a key component of any exercise regime. In the future, maybe you’ll have the machine “exercise” your body while you watch videos or check e-mail…

How will they plant gardens?
Talk to any avid gardener, and you’ll know why this will always be a human activity. It’s peaceful and productive! Growing plants played a key role in the establishment of human civilizations, dating back to 7000 B.C. in Egypt and India. Evidence of purely ornamental gardens dates back almost as far. So when it comes to planting gardens, this seems likely to remain on humans’ “to do” list for a very, very long time. As to how: Get dirt. Plant seeds. Just add water and light! Plants predate humans on the planet Earth; they’re very adaptable. Whether in tiny boxes on back porches, luscious green fields behind homes, or even in outer space, plants will grow just about anywhere we give them the key ingredients they need to survive (heat/sunlight, carbon dioxide and water).

How will they play soccer?
Soccer will be outlawed in the year 2089 by an alien known as Grand Docent Zarman, the evil overlord of Earth. Docent Zarman, a reptilian Arthropod from the Crab Nebula, led a race of super-soldiers that took control of the planet in 2074. Zarman never much liked soccer—he reportedly found it to be “boring, low-scoring and what’s the deal with offside,” anyway? And will that guy ever stop crying about, “Oooh, he slid into my shin! Ouch!” Such babies! Thus, the game was banned, and soccer stadiums throughout the world were converted into giant food troughs. The wide green fields proved to be perfect breeding grounds for the megatons worth of worms needed to feed the super-soldier army from the Crab Nebula. If only we had shut down all the soccer stadiums earlier, there would be no food source for these soldiers, and we would have had a fighting chance at retaining our planet… Actually, the rules of soccer have changed a few times over the years, rules concerning how and when the goalkeeper can play the ball, and how many players can substitute during a game. Aside from continued tweaking to the rules, and changes in equipment (the players’ shorts levels go up and down according to fashions of the day; today’s jerseys are made of breathable nylon fabrics that are much lighter than the heavy wool and cotton shirts of the past), soccer in the future will probably look much like it does today. After all, you could take someone from the year 1900 to a baseball game today, and they would still understand most (if not all) of what was going on. (Although they might be frightened by the size of today’s steroid-enhanced players…)

How will they ride bikes?
Bikes over the ages have gotten lighter and lighter. (The first bicycles were made entirely of wood!) Assuming this lighter trend continues, soon, everyone should be able to pedal a 25-gear lightweight graphite-framed bike at speeds approaching 30 miles an hour. Be sure to wear a helmet!

How will they build their hover world?
Building a hover-world will require, at minimum, two things: a level of engineering expertise that we just currently don’t have… and a fundamental change in our understanding of the laws of physics. The reason things don’t hover now is, simply, gravity. The gravitational force of the Earth pulls things “down,” toward the center of the Earth. (Fortunately, the ground gets in the way, so we stay on the surface!) Everything—including people—has a similar gravitational force; it’s just that the Earth is so much bigger than you, you can’t get away from the influence of its gravitational field. Astronauts orbiting the Earth—in what we commonly call “Zero Gravity”—are actually still feeling a micro-gravity effect. But their velocity—their speed—is so great, they are, in essence, “falling” around the Earth continuously. Eventually, satellites, space stations and spaceships all will be pulled back down to Earth—unless they reach “escape velocity.” That’s the speed at which an object is able to escape the gravitational pull of Earth. So if you want something to “hover,” it needs to find an equilibrium—to simplify, the object will be pulled toward Earth with “X” amount of energy—so it needs to expend “X” amount of energy to get away, and “hover” in place. As it turns out, the amount of energy (manifested, say, as speed being generated by a rocket) that an object needs to escape from earth is about 25,000 miles per hour! That’s a lot of energy! So, if you could throw a baseball that fast, it would leave Earth, and continue out in to the solar system. But any slower—and it’ll eventually come back down to the surface. You see the problem with building a “hovering city,” which, it should be pointed out, is a lot heavier than a baseball! That’s not to say it’s impossible. After all, we sent men to the moon, we use incredible scanning devices to obtain precise images of the insides of human bodies, and we invented Velcro—all things that would seem like science-fiction to the people of the 18th and 19th centuries. The only limits on the world of tomorrow are those we ourselves impose. Our imagination will shape the future; our determination will make that world come to life.

Daniel H. Wilson, the author of How to Survive a Robot Uprising and How to Build a Robot Army, took some time to answer the many questions the Good Times journalists had about robots.

In what year will robots be able to talk and look like humans?
That’s a tough one to predict. Robots that look just like people are called “androids.” There are androids right now that can imitate human beings very closely, but it’s almost impossible to get everything right. In fact, scientists have discovered that robots who look almost but not quite human fall into something called “The Uncanny Valley.” It turns out, people are very good at spotting little details about each other. So, if there is a robot that looks perfectly human-like, except it doesn’t breathe, or it doesn’t blink often enough, or its skin temperature is a little bit cool— well, then humans will notice and get really, really freaked out. Because of the Uncanny Valley, some scientists argue that we shouldn’t even try to make androids. With that kind of a challenge, it will be a long time before androids are indistinguishable from human beings.

Why don’t we have robots do chores?
Machines already do our chores! Dishwashers and washing machines and dryers speed up a lot of household chores. But the main reason that we don’t have servant robots that can take out the trash and clean our rooms and walk the dog is that the environments we live in, our houses, are really complicated! There’s stuff everywhere that makes doing the chores really difficult. For example, the Roomba robot can vacuum your room, but only if you make sure there are no shoelaces for it to run over and get choked on. It can vacuum, but it can’t spot shoelaces and avoid them. This is why there are lots of machines that depend on us to make the problem simpler. This is called creating a structured environment.

When will we have robots that can cook?
Just like doing chores, cooking is a complicated task. The robot has to have arms and hands so that it can grip knives, pick up pots and pans, and turn knobs on the stove. Then, the robot has to have eyes so that it can see where things are at. The robot has to be very smart so that it can identify objects like carrots and spoons, figure out how to pick them up, and be sure of where they’re at. These three steps are sensing (with cameras), thinking (with a computer), and then acting (by using hands). Sense-think-act. Oh, and maybe the hardest problem—because it might be very strong, the robot has to be careful not to accidentally knock anybody out of a window!

When will we have robots that can do our homework?
Do you really want a robot to do your homework? People (kids and adults, too!) have to do homework in order to learn new things. We have to study and solve problems in order to make ourselves smarter and to cram information into our brains. Unlike us, robots can just scan new information and store it in a database. If a robot has information in a database, it doesn’t help you become smarter. Instead, scientists are working on robotic “helpers” that can make people smarter. For example, a prototype device called prosthetic memory works by recording everything that happens to you during the day, and then helping to memorize the names of people, when and where things happened, and all kinds of other stuff so that you can remember it later!

Why do we make robots?
Usually, we build robots to do jobs that are dull, dirty or dangerous. First, jobs that are dull make human beings bored, and then we get so bored that we mess up the job. That’s why robots work in factories to do repetitive tasks putting together toasters. Second, it’s hard to get people to do jobs that are dirty because nobody wants to go to filthy places. That’s why sewer-cleaning robots are in demand! And third, jobs that are dangerous could hurt or kill people, and so we need to send in tough robots that could end up damaged or destroyed. That’s why when we need to clean up toxic waste or get rid of land mines, robots are the ones to call.

How long can robots live?
With proper maintenance, a robot could live forever. As each piece wears out, you just replace it with a new piece. That’s one advantage that robots have over human beings.

What does a robot run on?
Most robots run on electrical power that is stored in a battery. However, many military robots run on engines just like in a motorcycle or even a car. Those robots can’t go inside a house because of all the exhaust. Creating new power sources is a big area of study. There is one prototype robot that even runs on biological matter—it gets its power from eating living organisms! Better keep an eye on that one…

Q & A with Andy Moran, Varsity Football Coach

By Alex

I predicted that I would go to John Marshall High School and would join the football team. The reason why I think John Marshall High School football rocks is because I like their football field, which is big. I talked to Andy Moran, the coach of the varsity football team. I asked him some questions about what to do to get into the football team.

1. What do you need to do to get into the football team?
The first thing you need is to have and maintain a 2.0 grade point average. This is the minimum grade requirement; we want players that strive for higher grades than that.

2. How do you make the team win the championship?
Winning a championship requires more than anything I do. It takes dedication from every member of the team, and it requires everyone to work together for a common goal.

3. Who started the football team?
I don’t know who started the team at Marshall. Football has been a part of the school since it opened in 1931.

4. How and why did you become a coach?
I became a coach by going to college and volunteering my time as an assistant coach once I graduated. I became a coach because I really enjoyed football, and coaches always played a big part in my life, and I wanted to be like them.

5. Did you ever play football?
I did play football. I played in high school and college. I even got to tryout for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

6. How good do my grades have to be to be on the team?
Grades are important. You must have a 2.0 or C average, but the best teams I’ve had always have had great grades as a team.

Not everyone was happy about the New Orleans Saints’ victory in the Super Bowl. Alex writes:

I felt sad because I go for the Colts, and the team lost. I really wanted to break my TV because I was really depressed and angry.

The greatest game for the Who Dat nation happened Feb. 7 at Miami, Fla. It was four-time MVP Peyton Manning’s team, the Indianapolis Colts, vs. the New Orleans Saints. First quarter, Colts winning 0-3, then it’s 0-10. It’s then 3-10.

Second quarter, Saints down 6-10. Then it becomes 16-10, Saints in the lead. Then in the third quarter, 16-17, Colts back in the lead. Next, Drew Brees, Saints quarterback and Super Bowl 44 MVP, gives the ball to his teammate and TOUCHDOWN!!! 22-17. The Saints go for a two-point conversion. Drew Brees throws it to number 16, and it’s NOT IN?! What? It’s so in! Wait, Sean Payton challenges, and the referee goes to the instant replay in HD! He comes out of the booth and… it’s in! 24-17 in the fourth, and the Saints are in the lead by one touchdown. Now it’s Peyton Manning’s turn. He has to make a touchdown pass. He throws! Wait, where’s it going? Oh my goodness, right into the Saints’ arms! He’s running and TOUCHDOWN! Uh huh, oh yeah. The Saints are in the lead. Oh yeah, 31-17. Drew Brees is going crazy.

It’s the final minute. Saints are in the lead. Peyton throws it and oh, it’s the third down. He throws it there near the touchdown line and it’s incomplete, fourth down. Saints huddle, they’re asking, “Is it done? Is it over? Did we win?” The clock is about to end: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, BUZZ. The New Orleans Saints have done it. They won against four-time MVP Peyton Manning. New Orleans, your team just won their first Super Bowl. This is your chance to forget the damage Hurricane Katrina did and PARTY like a ROCKSTAR. WHO DAT!!

For the seventh issue of Good Times, the 826LA journalists took a look at the future and the past. What’s in store for the future? Robots, perhaps. Here’s a sneak preview of the articles they are working on. The newest Good Times issue will be available soon at the Echo Park Time Travel Mart as well as Stories, Two Boots and Origami Vinyl.

I will ask questions to a scientist who studied about the Mayans. – Miguel

I am writing ideas for the future. Water machines maybe! – Nicki

What does a robot expert think about robots? – Josephine

I’m predicting the Super Bowl. – Jason

James Cameron must be filthy rich after Avatar. – Marsden

How scared I was when I got my ears pierced. – Lena

Pack, pack, pack for a fun trip. – Monica

You won’t have to pay to read it. – Oscar

I’m finding out why John Marshall High School is the best. – Alex

Ladies and gentlemen, we may be able to talk to our pets in 10 years. – Ruby

Would you like to have your own flying car? You may be able to in 15 years. – Alanis

Sorry it’s been a while since we’ve posted, but we promise to blog more often, so keep checking back for updates and comments.  The kids from the journalism workshop have been very busy behind the scenes, and they’ve worked really hard on this first issue of the Echo Park Good Times – The Food Edition. This inaugural print issue is dedicated to one of our favorite subjects: food.

In this food issue, the budding journalists interview the night manager from Rodeo Mexican Restaurant on Sunset (right across the street from 826LA Echo Park) and reviewed several of the restaurant’s items. They also had a chance to sample and write about the new hip and hot pizza place Two Boots. Other staff writers tackle subjects like the ice cream truck outside of the Eagle Rock Public Library, junk food and nutrition.

So may we suggest that you have a snack handy when you peruse the Food Edition…because if you’re not hungry before reading, we guarantee you will be after!