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THE CIRCLE GAZETTE
SEPTEMBER 2010
THE S ECR ET G AM E by Ari Swift, Age 13 Boca Raton, FL By 2430 AD the three biggest countries had joined together to become The Quent Ergly Army (QEA). Five years later, the QEA was controlling the world under a military dictatorship with no resistance. In 2680, 27 territories had a secret meeting. “Hey! Did you hear about the new computer game!” said Ron to Park. “No, what is it?” asked Park. “There is this new game on the internet. It’s called Missile Eye. You control a missile and you have to blow up as much as you can with it.” said Ron.”Why don’t you come over for dinner and I will show you.” When they got to Ron’s house, his parents grimly said, “A resistance movement has gathered together and is attacking the town QEA headquarters. It is getting too dangerous and we are leaving with a bunch of other people.” “Bb-but, Mom!” protested Ron. “What about Park and all our
stuff.” “We can take only a few things because we can’t afford a moving truck. Park’s parents are coming with us, too.” said his parents, sadly. “Then, can we take our computer?” begged Ron. In another town- “We finally got the computer set up after an annoying week. I have to show you Missile Eye” Ron said to Park. “Look, you are the missile. You choose coordinates for the military base you are planning to attack. I will attack base Beps in Territory 42: Longitude 228, Latitude 69. You are then flying the missile toward the target base. You have to blow up as much as you can, using stuff like barrels of gas, ammunition depot, etc. There is only a limited amount of missiles out at a time; so, you might have to wait a little while for the next available one. Our estimated wait time is three hours.” “Ron, Park, come down here. Look at this story on GCM!” called Ron’s parents. Ron and Park came down and watched the TV. “Hello, this is the Gov-
erment Controled Media or GCM. We give you the truth! Now, let’s look at our top story. There is a rebel group that is attacking your jobs, your towns, your people and your freedom. If anybody has information leading up to an arrest or to finding their hidden arsenal of rockets, he or she will get a reward of 10,000 pecks. Now for sports...” That evening - “Uuuuug! My worst subject - geography - and we have a huge project on it,” said Ron. “I know. I hate this subject, also. But, what can we do?”said Park.” Well, let’s get to work then” said Ron. “The first part of the assignment is to map out the coordinates of each military HQ for ten territories. Okay, let’s take a look at those maps. Now, here is Territory 56. Gateber, the military HQ, is in the southeast part of town. Write down its coordinates: Longitude 117, Latitude 58. Let’s see, Territory 31 is next. HQ Ador is in the northwest quadrant at Longitude 61, Latitude 75.” “Got the info! Hey,
it’s dinner time,” said Park. After dinner, they sat on the sofa to watch an old movie on television. “Take that, Batman!” Suddenly, the movie froze and the sound was replaced by an imposing voice. “This is the resistance movement. We have destroyed your town military HQ along with Gateber. Ador is currently under attack and will be destroyed soon. You are free. If you want proof of the destruction go to xxx.resistance.dar to see photos. The report you heard earlier was false, we have NOT hurt ONE job, we have NOT damaged ONE civilian building, we have NOT killed ONE innocent civilian and you NEVER had ANY freedom to take away!” Shaken, Ron and Park went up to Ron’s room to see if Missile Eye was ready. “Darn! A few more minutes” said Ron. “Hey, I have an idea. Let’s go see the photos of Ador.” said Park. “Okay, if you want to”, said Ron. “WOW! They trashed the whole place except for that one little cluster of buildings
over there” said Park. “Finally the missile is ready to launch. Blast off! Yes! Park, guess what? I am the final missile in this mission!” said Ron excitedly. “I have the target sited and locked in. Ten seconds to impact!” “Wait! These photos look similar to the map of the base on Missile Eye” shouted Park. “The little part that’s left for you to destroy is in the same place as on the photo.” “Five seconds”, interrupted Ron. Park went on, “I think there is some secret code here. If you take every number in the coordinates of Beps and subtract one, you get the coordinates of Ador.” “Three, Two”, Ron continued to count down. Park blurted out, “If you do the same with the letters of ‘Beps’, you get ‘Ador’”. BOOM! As the last piece of Ador blew up, Ron and Park realized that this wasn’t just a game.
Craft Ideas for Grandparent’s Day
Pressed and Dried Flowers Stationery and Cards Press and dry delicate flowers and then use them to make beautiful cards and stationery. Supplies needed • • • •
• • • •
Fresh, delicate flowers Coffee filters (optional) Phone book Good quality paper (to make the card or stationery) Scissors Glue Tweezers A brush
fore using a book of theirs. You can protect the pages of the book and speed up the drying process by pressing the flowers between flattened coffee filters. The coffee filters absorb a lot of the moisture as the flowers are pressed. 3. It takes at least a week or two
to completely dry out and press a flower - bigger blooms take longer. 4. When the plants are dry, carefully remove them from the book. 5. Arrange them on your paper in an artistic manner. You may
Instructions 1. Pick some delicate flowers and leaves - sturdy flowers and thick leaves do not work so well and take a lot longer to dry than the delicate ones. Some plants that work well are California poppies, buttercups, tiny daisies, clover, ferns, pansies, and thinpetaled blooms. 2. Press each bloom/leaf in a thick telephone book. Some flowers will leave a bit of color on the pages when you’re done, so ask your parent’s permission behave to trim some stems with scissors. 6. Remove the plants, remembering where the plants were so you can put them back later. Brush a thin layer of glue on the paper where the dried plants were. 7. Carefully put the plants back in place. This can be difficult and using a tweezers to place them on the glue can be helpful (adult help may be needed at this stage). 8. Make sure all the plant material is touching the glue and lying flat on the paper. Let the glue dry completely. You now have beautiful stationery or cards.