-Paper Dragon
The Ghost
Platypus
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I wanted to say thank you for reading the Chocolate Bombay. This will probably be my last post, since I'm off to high school next year and I want to spend this summer relaxing. You have been a great reader and I appreciate your support! Goodbye for now!
-Paper Dragon The Ghost Platypus
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Happy National Donut Day, readers!
Donuts were invented in World War I by Salvation Army volunteers who helped wounded soldiers. They noticed that the soldiers were very homesick and decided to make a dessert that was simple and delicious. Since they didn't have access to many ingredients, they had to make something out of flour, sugar and oil, and the donut was born! National Donut Day was proclaimed during the Great Depression. The Salvation Army needed an event to raise their funds, and the people's spirits, and they decided to have a donut sale once a year. This event was so successful that it was made into a national holiday for donuts! Click here for a video of Nat. Donut Day 2015! "Coffee; the finest organic suspension ever devised. Fresh espresso in the new Zero-G cup! To boldly brew..."
This was Samantha Cristoforetti's post on Twitter as she posted a selfie of her becoming the first person to make and drink a cup of coffee at the International Space Station. Making coffee in space is not as easy as it sounds. In no gravity, coffee from the machine can squirt out in any direction, which could be dangerous since the coffee is normally heated to 94 degrees C! The espresso machine used in space was a specially-made, 44-lb machine of steel built to withstand the pressure in space. When the coffee is ready, it is transferred into a pouch by a machine so the coffee won't spill, then astronauts drink through a straw. For regular people, this isn't big news. For coffeeholics like me, it's history! Click here for the video! It seems like everybody has phones these days. Maybe not everybody has a smartphone yet, but we know that in the future it seems like phone technology's prospect is hopeful. Let's take a look into the future of smartphones in this (slightly graphic) video:
What would happen if you were on your smartphone all the time? You could walk into a pole. You could squash somebody's cat. The possibilities are endless! Click here for the video! I'm sorry I haven't been posting... One thing after another has kept me busy! But I'm back! And I'll be posting! (Hopefully)
So, as you know, SBA testing started last week. Here are a couple of tips to help you concentrate and stay awake while taking it!
Have you ever wondered how to cut an onion with a crystal?
No? Well, that's what this video is all about anyways! Just so you all know, I won't be posting for the rest of the week. Click here for the video! Today is National Star Wars Day! In 1977, the first Star Wars film was released. Although it was actually released May 25, we celebrate it May 4th for the sole purpose of the catchphrase as shown above. In honor, I'm releasing a new poll.
If you aren't in the spirit of spring yet, this video will help! Thomas Blanchard does a time lapse of blooming flowers in this video. It is stunningly beautiful and hypnotizing.
Click here for the video! For your Video of the Week, I decided to go with an Earth-day theme. This video has some ideas about what you can do today to help the planet. Here are some facts to get you inspired!
Source: livescience.com -Platypus Who here has an iPod, iPhone or iPad? I do! But if you do, you probably are bored out of your mind when you have to let it charge! I know I am, but scientists from South Korea and Australia have created a jacket that can charge your iPod, iPhone or iPad "On the Run," Literally! But sadly, you can't just be hanging out with your friends, sitting and eating ice cream or dining at a restaurant and not doing anything really. You have to be running or walking for the jacket to work. When you walk, you use a force to put one foot in front of the other, this can be transferred into electricity that powers your phone! It uses triboelectric energy, or kinetic energy, like when you rub a balloon on your head, to charge the device. It uses friction to charge your phone! The friction that you create when your feet slide against the ground is transferred through the jacket that makes it into electricity. You then could plug your phone into the outlet in your pocket and it charges your device! All the while, the only thing other people see is you running, no wires or panels. And the jacket isn't that bad either! I would definitely use this, but I have an iPad, not an iPhone, and I don't think you would want to be seen running around carrying an iPad with a cord sticking out of your pocket! This unique artist/filmmaker combines real life with his own doodles.
Sorry I haven't been posting very often! Click here for the Aug(de)mented video! -Paper Dragon (and let's give a very warm welcome to our newest member, Platypus!) For over 8,000 years, people have used honey as a natural sweetener. Ancient civilizations believed that it even had healing properties! However, there is another use for bees. Bees are the main pollinators of flowers. That means, without bees, seeds wouldn’t be spread around and we would have a shortage of much food, like fruits. In 2014, the Colony Collapse Disorder killed 20-30% of the world’s bees. Scientists still aren’t sure what caused these deaths, but they do know that many bees are deserting their hives because of honey harvests. A traditional method of harvesting honey is first smoking the bees. This allows them to calmly leave the hive so the beekeepers can take out the frames with the honeycombs, cut off the wax seals, and drain the honey. The problem is, the bees get so confused that they leave the hive- which is counterproductive, and they often die. Plus, it is inevitable that more than a few beekeepers will get stung. This process is stressful for beekeepers and bees alike.So the question is, how can this problem be solved? The answer is the Flow Hive! Invented by Australian father-son team Cedar and Stuart Anderson, they plan to market the Flow Hive to beekeepers everywhere that will save many bees. This is the first advancement in beekeeper technology in more than 150 years! But what makes this “smart” beehive so smart, you ask?” Half the hive has ready-made plastic combs that make it easier for the bees to build their own honeycomb and fill each one with honey. Instead of the smoking process, the beekeeper simply needs to turn a key outside the hive, which splits the wax caps off the honeycombs. The honey flows down the combs into troughs at the bottom, which drain out to a jar, as seen in the picture. Then the key is turned again and the combs are returned to normal. Beekeepers will still need to smoke the bees out, but only to check water levels and bad parasites in the hive. Anderson hopes that with this new invention, we can bring back some of the lost bee population from the Colony Collapse Disorder, and perhaps inspire amateurs to become beekeepers. Click here to watch the official video! Sources: indiegogo.com, news.yahoo.com, wired.com, DOGOnews.com Hey, chocolate fans! I'm Platypus, I am one of you! But I have some heart breaking news! And trust me, this is no April Fools joke! But I wish it was! Ok, here it is...CHOCOLATE MAY NOT BE ON THE MARKET SOON!! And Ghost and I are devastated! But calm down, let me explain, which is the reason Paper Dragon hired me! A couple years ago, scientists realized that Americans have been consuming two times more chocolate per a year than we where five years ago, it's actually so much chocolate per a year, that now cocoa beans(it's the birth of chocolate, everybody) were becoming less in number. That's why chocolate was becoming so expensive! But this year, they realized now that cocoa beans are so rare that even farmers who have hundreds of acres of beans are having trouble finding or even reaching the shipment sizes in time to make new chocolate! Now, scientists are frantically trying to bring back the cocoa beans. They want to bring in many new and thriving cocoa bean plants to places like Venezuela and Indonesia. But that brings in a risk of exposing the farmers to new pests and diseases. So the question is, will we risk the lives of farmers to bring back the chocolate? -Platypus out! If you don't know already, Paper Dragon is a HUGE Harry Potter fan. I mean, she's been sorted twice, traveled to Platform 93/4, and she's got a wand. So when this video went viral on the internet, it was necessary to make it video of the week!
It's a parody of Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars, only with Voldemort singing about taking over the world and destroying Harry Potter. And it's so catchy too! Click here to watch Dark Lord Funk! (You will need to watch this on your phone because this video may be blocked on your laptop) Could you please fill out a survey about the Chocolate Bombay? It will take 5 minutes at most and will help me a lot with making this site better!
Click here to take the survey! The University of Florida Fulbright scholar and doctoral student in mechanical engineering builds and donates robotic limbs that are low-cost to kids around the world. Normally, the robot limbs can be as much as $40,000. But this prosthetic only took $350!
And the best part about this particular robot prosthetic is that the person delivering it to the patient is none other than Tony Stark! (aka Robert Downey Jr.) Click here to watch Robert Downey Jr. present Alex with a new robot arm. This is the third segment in my story Copper.
“Well, Sora, her legs and her right arm are the most burned. If we can’t save the nerve functions, we will need to amputate those limbs.” “But- she wouldn’t be able to walk! Or write! Or-” “It’s the best we can do,” Dr. Suzuki said apologetically. “I don’t usually see burns this bad.” “And her family?” “They got out of the building first, and only sustained minor burns. They are being treated right now.” “Is… is there any other way to save her?” Sora asked. “I mean… it would be terrible for her to live the rest of her life in a chair.” “We must amputate,” Dr. Suzuki told him seriously. There is no other way.” Suddenly, Sora’s panicked mind lit up. “Dr. Suzuki, my uncle is coming now to see Akane. Is it possible that he could talk to you about his latest project? We just finished it.” “Oh, really? What is it?” “A robot. Well, parts of a robot, anyways. Would there be a way that we could attach parts of the robot to her body?” Dr. Suzuki thought for a bit, then shook his head. “That’s impossible. We don’t have that kind of technology.” “That’s what I was saying this afternoon,” Sora said. “Dr. Suzuki, talk to my uncle about it. He’s a master clockmaker, he knows how machines work, and with your medical expertise, I’m sure you could work something out so you could replace her limbs with the robot parts!” “That is… unlikely to the extreme,” Dr. Suzuki said. “But I’ll talk to your uncle, if you really want.” “Thank you, doctor,” Sora said sincerely. He sat down next to the screen blocking Akane’s bed from view to wait tensely for his uncle. In about ten minutes, Kunio came bursting in. “Sora, are you alright?” Kunio asked him. “I’m fine,” Sora said. “Could you talk to Dr. Suzuki for me, though?” “Ah, this must be the infamous Kunio Nakahara!” Dr. Suzuki came out from behind the screen and shook Kunio’s hand. “Sora has told me about your work on robots.” “Really?” Kunio gave an irritated sideways glance at Sora and looked back at the doctor. “If you’d want to help, I would appreciate that we talk in private,” Dr. Suzuki said. “Akane is in a dilemma, and if we don’t do something fast, she could either die or lose both legs and an arm.” “I see,” Kunio said. Dr. Suzuki lead Kunio out of the room. They must have been outside for more than ten minutes. Sora anxiously paced around, asking random nurses if he could help Akane’s condition, but they just shook their heads. “But you can’t just leave her like that, you need to do something!” he kept saying. Finally, Kunio and Dr. Suzuki came back in. “Sora, get back to the workshop and get the robot parts,” his uncle ordered. “You can do it? You can save her?” “We will try,” Dr. Suzuki said, “but Sora, don’t get your hopes up. I’ve never tried something like this before with any of my patients.” “Sora, quickly!” Kunio said sharply. “Get my tools as well.” Sora nodded and bolted outside. Back at the workshop, Sora gathered all the parts together, along with Kunio’s tools, but could barely hold them all. He grabbed a burlap bag that he thought used to hold potatoes and delivered them to the hospital in this way. The doctor had just started the operation when he got there. “Ah, Sora, good. Hand them to me,” Kunio said. He went behind the screen shielding Akane’s bed from view, where, Sora assumed, they were undergoing the surgery. Sora sat down next to the screen, waiting for them to make a sound. Sometimes he would hear a knife slipping into flesh, sometimes there was the clank of metal followed by Kunio’s cursing, and sometimes somebody would mutter something, but that was all. Minutes turned into hours. By the time Dr. Suzuki came from behind the screen, the sun had risen and Sora hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep. His eyes were sore, and his body too. “Well?” he croaked. Dr. Suzuki had bloodstained hands, an ominous sign. “It was successful, as far as we can tell. But we will need to wait for her to wake up to see if she can move.” Sora let out a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness!” “But Sora, I don’t want you to get your hopes up,” Dr. Suzuki said simply. Kunio came out a moment later, fighting back a yawn. “Nephew, you owe me,” Kunio said wearily. “Akane Kato is a very, very lucky girl.” “Can I see her?” “Go right ahead.” Sora looked inside the screen. Akane had apparently been knocked out, so she was still asleep. One of her arms was shining with copper-toned metal plates, and so were her legs. But the rest of her seemed to be alright, albeit some minor burns. “Sora, I’m going back to the workshop. I’ll need to start on those customer orders, and maybe take a quick nap too,” Kunio said. “Are you coming?” “I’ll stay here,” Sora said. “Are you sure? You look like you could use some sleep.” Sora smiled. “Sure, I’m tired. But I’ll stay here and see if Akane is alright.” “I understand. See you soon.” Kunio exited the hospital, leaving Sora to sigh with a mixture of anxiety and relief. To celebrate, here are some fun facts about this holiday:
-yes, St. Patrick was a real person -however, Patrick was the name he took on when he became a priest. His real name is Maewyn Succat. -he was Ireland's patron saint -he was an active missionary -when he was 16, he was captured and made a slave by pirates in Ireland. He escaped back home to Great Britain and returned to Ireland six years later -St. Patrick used 3-leaf clovers to explain the holy trinity. This is why we wear green. -St. Patrick's day celebrates the supposed day when he died. I KNOW I AM NOT WEARING GREEN SO PLEASE DO NOT PINCH ME -Sincerely, everyone who does not have green to wear, including Paper Dragon -_- (I cannot tell you how many times I've been pinched and it's only 8 in the morning) Have you ever heard of stop motion animation? Singer Kina Grannis decided to make a stop motion music video for her hit single, 'In Your Arms' to go against the grain.
The catch is that this particular video is all jellybeans. Click here to watch the video, or here to go behind the scenes and watch how Grannis teamed up with Jellybelly to make the video. The second segment in the story...
When Sora got back to the workshop, Kunio was already there and scribbling something down on some of the old robot plans. “Uncle…?” “Sora, look at this!” Sora scurried over to his uncle’s drawings and equations. “Look, it’s the same structure as a clock! The steam would be pushed through here and here… and instead of the arms operating here, the engines would be here…” Kunio pointed to each part as he said it. “Well? What do you think?” After a long pause and careful scrutinizing of his uncle’s plans, Sora nodded slowly. “This could work. Yes, this could work!” “Let’s get to work then, nephew! Put your goggles back on!” Sora was slightly reluctant, since he just cleaned up, but he pulled his gloves and goggles back on and hurried over to the furnace with his uncle to start rebuilding the gears. While Kunio rummaged around the workshop for spare bits and pieces, Sora did the hard work of attempting to recreate the sketches on the paper by melting down old metal, each piece carefully measured out for him on the blueprints. Hours passed. The sky outside grew dark and speckled with stars. When Sora looked next at the time, it was nearly midnight. But Sora did not regret it. The impossible robot was nearly finished, much to Sora’s disbelief and his uncle’s excitement. Although they did not know much about steam technology, they had devised how to make the engine and make it move. One arm and both legs were done, as well as part of the chest. “Well, uncle, you finally did it,” Sora said approvingly, standing back to admire their handiwork. “Yes… Yes, I did!” Kunio sank into a chair with exhaustion. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” “I suppose so.” Sora hesitated, but then said, “uncle, we’ve barely worked in the shop all day. I think we still have-” he counted quickly in his head- “four clocks to make tomorrow.” Kunio sighed. “I’ll go and wash up. You should too, Sora. You’ve done well.” He got up and went up the stairs to the living quarters. Suddenly, the phone rang. Sora wearily took off his goggles and answered. “Nakahara Clockmakers, how can I help you?” “Are you Sora Nakahara?” This was strange. Customers didn’t usually know who Sora was since Sora stayed in the workshop.“Yes… Who is this?” “My name is Doctor Suzuki. I was told to call you from a Miss Akane Kato.” “Why?” “She is at Oshiro Hospital. She was in a fire at her house and was sent here less than an hour ago.” “Is she alright?” Sora asked quickly. He was getting a sinking feeling in his stomach. “She has serious burns… we may need to amputate some of her limbs to save her life. These wounds are beyond my expertise.” “I’m on my way.” Sora slammed the telephone down and ran out of the workshop. “Where are you going?” Kunio yelled down from upstairs, hearing the commotion. “Oshiro Hospital,” Sora yelled before slamming the door. It had started to rain. Sora hailed a carriage to drive him to the hospital as fast as possible. The rain hit hard on the roof, pounding in Sora’s head, along with Dr. Suzuki’s voice. “serious burns… may need to amputate…” When the carriage pulled up to the hospital, Sora gave the driver five shillings with a quick mumbling of “keep the change” and ran inside. He looked quickly around the hall of sickly-looking patients and saw a private ward where nurses were rushing in and out of. “Excuse me,” he asked one of them urgently, “where is Akane Kato?” The nurse gestured behind her to the private ward. Sora rushed in, despite some nurses saying, “no, sir, please don’t come in.” Akane was lying on one of the threadbare mattresses of the hospital. Most of her was covered up by a thin blanket, but from what Sora could see, she did have terrible burns. The arm that was not covered with a blanket had blackened skin. She was asleep. “Who are you?” one of the nurses asked Sora. “Sora Nakahara, Akane’s… fiance,” Sora lied. “I heard from Dr. Suzuki that I should come.” “Yes, he’ll be back in a minute, if you’d like to wait.” Sora nodded and pulled up a chair to sit down next to Akane’s bed. The nurses continued treating the burns, checking the condition of her burns, pressing a cold rag to her forehead. Sora sincerely wished they would do something that at least looked useful. He got up and found a telephone, where he called the shop. “Nakahara Clocks, how can I help you?” Kunio said, barely stifling a yawn behind the telephone. “Uncle, it’s me.” “Ah, Sora! Why are you at Oshiro?” “Akane was in a fire. She’s badly wounded and they might have to amputate something.” “My God,” Kunio said. “I’ll be there soon.” Just then, someone tapped Sora on the shoulder. “Dr. Suzuki?” Sora asked, hanging up the phone in the process. “Yes, and you’re Mr. Nakahara?” “Please, call me Sora. Tell me about Akane.” -Paper Dragon
I'm 80% sure that you stopped scrolling to read this because of the title. Superpowers are what everybody dreams of, right? Well, Pyro may not exactly be magic, but it was invented by a magician. Adam Wilber invented Pyro for his shows, to great success. So how does Pyro work exactly? It is small enough to be worn like a watch, small enough so you can tuck your sleeve over it so it appears there is nothing there. Pyro is controlled by a remote that can work for up to 30 feet away! And here's the amazing part- it can shoot fireballs! Four fireballs can come out in a row, each one going up to 10 feet, before Pyro needs to be reloaded with flash paper. Flash paper is a highly flammable compound that is made of cellulose that is nitrated, and it is popular with magic tricks involving fire. You can buy a Pyro for $174, or you can just watch the Pyro video to see in in action! |
About the staffPaper Dragon loves to write, her favorite color is grey, and she prefers pink guava gelato. She is best known for starting the Chocolate Bombay, and for her Marziale novel and debut short-story Copper. Email me if you want me to put a picture of your choice right here!
If you want, follow me on Instagram at paper_dragon14
Deviart pictures contributed by Platypus:
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