WPLACE

Many are familiar with r/place. It’s an event that occurs every couple of years or so, where Reddit releases a canvas that you can place one pixel on every 5 minutes. People form alliances to draw big works of art, people compete for limited space, and ultimately, it’s a fun community activity that draws people from across the internet. Fewer people are familiar with WPlace. WPlace or World Place is a giant map of the world that you can draw on. Not only is it much more massive than r/place’s canvas size, but it also allows you to place more pixels at a time, with one generating every 30 seconds. Wplace has many of the same appeals as r/place, from a collaborative community to cute pixel art. Also, WPlace allows you to use drops generated by drawing to unlock numerous slots for pixels, so pixels can build up over time, allowing you to draw more at once. It’s fun for me to go on there to just add little doodles to this giant canvas, or to work on long-term projects. Whether you consider yourself an artist or not, I highly recommend it! – Maren Merkel

TRIGGER HAPPY HAVOC SOUNDTRACK DANGANRONPA

Over the past week, I’ve been listening to the Trigger Happy Havoc soundtrack from the game Danganronpa. It makes me feel like I’m in the game during school, and it’s honestly a vibe. I think people who have played Danganronpa would enjoy this, as it helps me get through school faster. I tend to feel like an NPC. The music itself is very techno and electronic. Some of my personal favorites off the album are: “Beautiful Morning,” “Closing Argument,” and “BTB.” They’re a lot of fun to listen to! I love this album.  – Sasha Lapayeva

QUIKTRIP SLUSHIES

This past weekend, my friend Noa Zilber bought me a QuikTrip slushie before we watched the new Five Nights at Freddy’s sequel (but we definitely did not sneak it into the theater). It had been a while since I had my last QT slushie, and I had forgotten how amazing they are: they come in so many sizes and flavors, and they all only cost a couple dollars—absolutely beautiful. While my favorite combination is the foam Big Q with Wally’s Puckerberry and White Cherry, I am usually satisfied with any flavor; Noa got me the Mountain Dew one, and even though it was something that I wouldn’t have chosen for myself, it was perfect. I love slushies, and I love my friends. – Addy Bair

MY MORNING ROUTINE

This year, I have been lucky enough to have my own space in the parking lot and a fabulous car to drive. Because I’m not yet supposed to listen to music as I drive, I resort to jamming to music as I sit in the parking lot before walking into school. Yes, I’m aware that cars are not soundproof, but I honestly don’t care. I find that listening to Britney Spears at full volume really gets me hype for the school day. By the time I force myself to make the trek into the building, I feel energized and ready to take on anything that might come my way. – Finley Malone

LIBBY

As an avid reader, I spend a lot of my (almost non-existent) free time going through books. The problem is, I can’t go to the library all the time, and I’m also not willing to add so much bulk and weight to my already really heavy backpack. The solution? E-books. The problem? Finding PDFs from all over the internet is not how I want to spend most of my free time. The solution (again)? Libby! Libby is an online library that connects to your library card, and it lets you read any e-book available in your local library. I’ve had so much fun, I’ve read like five books since getting it (it’s been about two months?) and it’s so great. – Humna Ahmad

BACTERIA CAN SPEAK

Did you know that bacteria can speak? Neither did I! I learned in my AP Biology class a couple of days ago that bacteria can talk to each other, and each type of bacteria has its own language that they can identify with. This is called quorum sensing, and it is where bacteria send out signals to each other, allowing them to communicate. Additionally, this is our new method of treating antibiotic resistance, which is super cool. Previously, antibiotics targeted bacteria’s membranes; however, over the years, bacteria have adapted to this, leading to antibiotic resistance. With this new and amazing discovery, researchers are trying to disrupt the signaling molecules (ligands) of bacteria, so they are unable to communicate with each other and prevent further damage. Although this may seem random, I found this lesson so interesting. – Sydney Moss