I am the Cheese: Book Report.

I am the Cheese was a book by Robert Cormier. It's a book from a first person view and a tape recorder view combined, in which the reader sees Adam as he goes to find out where his father is, while having a interview from a separate time period. It's a slightly weird book, so be warned about reading it. Slightly creepy, too. I shall begin posting larger paragraphs in the next paragraph. (Warning: Spoilers! Duh.) Tada:

  One half is about Adam going on a trip to visit his father on his bike. He leaves his town, talks with a couple of men, debates in his head if he should have had his medicine, and slowly and eventful manages to make it along. He gets into confrontations with dogs, gets his bike stolen, and gets pushed off the road. He slowly realizes all is not well after trying to call people who aren't there any more. He falls unconscious and goes into a laboratory like place.

The other half (They go on in a variation.) is shown thru several interviews. While talking with a interviewer only known as Brint, Adam goes and slowly delves into his history, sometimes cooperating and sometimes not. He withdraws into himself, and slowly reveals that his entire childhood was a lie. Thru the tape recordings, the reader is shown that Adam's father was part of Witness protection, his entire outer family being dead was a lie, and that someone named Mr. Grey comes every once and a while. The ending conclusion is shown that he was actually just dreaming about visiting his father, and that he has a mental illness from being shot by people trying to kill his father. The book restarts with the beginning part.

And.... DONE. Sorry, but it's creepy.

Adventure Van, out.

Book Report: The Maze Runner

Maze Runner is a popular book by James Dashner. It's a book from a fixed third person view, in which the reader follows Thomas as he tries to figure out where he is, why, and how to escape. The New York Times bestseller has a large moving maze as the antagonist. I shall begin posting larger paragraphs in the next paragraph. (Warning: Spoilers.) Behold:

The first part is associated with Thomas getting a grip on where the heck he is. Waking up in a dark elevator with your mind wiped is not very helpful with that, but he slowly gets a idea of where he is, thanks to help from an annoyed Alby, a helpful Newt, and a talkative Chuck. He almost immediately gets into a fight with Gally, a 'keeper' of the builders who 'recognizes' him. He accidentally sees a boy who was 'stung' by one of the robotic Greavers and is quickly ushered out, and then goes of to the homestead and falls asleep.

The second part is when things begin going cuckoo. For the first time ever, a girl is sent up, the girl breaks the cycle of when people come up, she's in a coma, and she's the last one. Also, a 'dead' Griever is found. However, when Alby and Minho ('Keeper' of the runners) go to check it out, it 'stings' Alby and almost kills both of them. At the last moment, Thomas slips in, saves Alby, and then saves Minho. Gally accuses him of being a spy, and then disappears.

The third and final part is the end. The sun leaves, the doors don't close, the maze stops moving, and the Grievers go and kill one of the kids every night. Thomas figures out a code, then the kids make a final stand. In a large fight, Thomas, Chuck, and the girl jump into the Griever hole and enter in the code. The Grievers all shut off, and the exit opens. Gally reappears, and throws a knife at Thomas. Chuck takes the knife, and dies almost instantly. The survivors get rescued by a group, and the book ends.

Okay, that's it. Tada!

Adventure Van, out.

History: The Death of Dinosaurs

The comet that wiped out the dinosaurs, Chicxulub, was arguably the greatest thing that happened for Humanity, because, well, we're selfish and a entire race getting wiped out is cool as long as we aren't it. However, thanks to a article from the Smithsonian Magazine, I (And you) can now understand more about this interesting phenomenon. However, I'm not going to talk much about the info in the article, because I'm sightly tired. Ok, maybe I'll talk a little.

Anyways, it was like a miniature Armageddon, with tsunamis, large rocks, and immense amount of heat. Large waves wiped out entire colonies of animals, and the comet itself dealt a large blow. Within 10 hours, destruction was reaching almost the entire world. You can find a 1/10 inch layer of the debris all around the world. I'm not joking. Within the year, 0 sunlight would be hitting the surface. Anything not underwater or underground would be dead.

Anyways, you read it your self. I'm lazy. See you.

Adventure Van, out.

Outline Blog: The Slideshow!

Sorry, too cheap to buy the movie. Here you go.

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Outline Blog: The Slideshow!
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Adventure Van, out.

The Milgram Experiment

The Milgram Experiment was a experiment that was originally about seeing what was wrong with the Germans when the experimenters discovered something much worse. Want to learn more? Read on.

The Milgram Experiment was a simple test from what you could see. Milgram got a large group of individuals (Suckered in by the stated pay of 4 dollars, a lot for doing basically nothing.) and told them they were going to perform a test for seeing how pain helps people to learn correct ideas. One of the people would be selected to be the 'teacher' and the other would be the 'student'. They'd be given the pay for joining the experiment then, and told they could leave at any time. As the 'student' is told how to get in to the room where he'll answer questions, the 'teacher' is given the equipment and the instructions;
The 'teacher' will ask the 'student' questions, every wrong answer will give an shock, with power ranging from 15 to 450 volts. Each wrong answer will give a worse shock, the last one with a label of XXX and Skulls.

However, both of the random selectors are teachers, and the student is a paid man. The shocks are all fake. The test was really about obedience to authority. Milgram had assumed that the Germans had something wrong with them, otherwise why would they kill hundreds if they didn't want to? He thought that testing it on Americans, who prided themself as 'Never bending to Authority' would be a great control group when he tested the Germans later. However, he never got around to testing the Germans.

Instead, he found out that around 90% of people would go up to the full 450, even after the 'student' was crying in pain, complaining of a heart problem, and then just going silent. Why? The 'Obedience to Authority', or because the 'Doctor' (Milgram or another conspirator) said that the 'teacher' must continue, that he (the 'Doctor') took full responsibility, and that the experiment must continue. The crowd of people were given their pay in advance, so they could leave at any time. Instead, most of them followed, but almost all of those that followed were horrified with themself and were glad to see the 'student' leaving the room.

For those that left, though, Milgram found that around 65% of those who would leave the experiment were either working of former electrical workers, meaning that people familiar with a from of pain wouldn't force others to endure it. The other 35% were normal people who just wouldn't do it, one saying "I'm American, goddammit, and you can't stop me." Milgram would find a totally different result then what he intended to get, but one just as terrifying. Any people, no matter how much they pride themselves on 'freedom', can be forced to do something they don't want to do and don't have to do just by using some choice words.

It's scary, and now I'm going to hide under the bed. 

Adventure Van, out. Wah.