Lighting is the all-important factor when it comes to growing, and there are many questions that come along with it. 
HPS bulbs or CFL bulbs?
How much wattage do I need?
16/8 or 24/0 light cycle?
If your new to this I'm sure most of this doesn't make sense to you, so let me start with the first question, what type of light bulb to use.

HPS lights, or high pressure sodium lights are known to be the best for growing, and come in a variety of wattage's. A few of these, or even one 1000 watt bulb placed above your plants will provide sufficient light for vegetative growth. The con of these lights is the high cost to run and purchase them.

CFL lights, or compact fluorescent lamps, are extremely common lights, used in most homes and sold in any store that supplies light bulbs. They're also very cheap, both to purchase and run. The problem is the relatively low wattage they produce, and therefore should be used as extra light for the sides of plants, in addition with an HPS.
These lights can be used alone however, you will need a few of them at least.

Incandescent bulbs should not be used, 90% of the energy put into them produces heat instead light. 

In my opinion, depending on your set-up, I would suggest a 1000w HPS light with a few 32w CFLs for places the HPS can't reach. 

This quote basically summarizes my opinion on religion. It doesn't make sense to me, I see it as a waste of time, but I see why people have it. My guess is having a god, someone to look up to, and someone to dump all your sins and hopes on. 
Some people base there entire lives around there religion, with no proof if their particular god even exists. But I still think its a great concept, people who are religious tend to be good people. At least it gives people a moral compass.
This post is going to be pretty short but this is how I feel about religion.

You're sitting in your home, watching television, when all of a sudden the emergency broadcast takes over and a zombie outbreak occurs in your region! You have only hours to prepare yourself, and must choose between defending your home or evacuating. In all likelihood the army will have control over the situation, and promptly evacuate the area. But this wont always be the case. You may need to defend your home and belongings from the walking dead. And that's where I come in.

This step is optional. Don't leave your home if it isn't still safe.

You'll need a lot of supplies if you want to last long enough to escape or be rescued. You should collect as many weapons and supplies as you can. 

Anything that's light, durable and preferably multipurpose will make a great weapon. Something like a titanium crowbar. Try to get a gun, and as much ammunition as possible.

Canned food and iodine tablets will provide you with food and water that won't spoil.

*Note* Due to the complexity of this issue, this guide assumes you live in a 2-3 story house.

The second you become aware of a zombie threat, you need to get to work. Preferably you should have friends or family to help you secure and protect your home with you.

You need to fill up all bathtubs, sinks, etc. If you lose your water supply you'll need as much as you can get.

Move all your supplies to the top floor of your house, and destroy the staircase. If your perimeter is breached you'll be relatively safe for a while. Make sure you have some sort of ladder to get up and down.

Board up all windows and doors, if there not completely covered, hang a sheet. Any light or movement seen on the outside can easily trigger a zombie attack.

Given you only have a few hours to prepare, you won't be able to do much more than this. Stay quiet, and out of sight. Hopefully the government will take control of the situation in the next couple days, until then, sit tight and good luck.

For me, home is my old house on Blue Lace. I moved two months ago, and compared to my old house, the new one blows. I moved not only into a worse house, but I also moved away from my friends. And still when I think of home, or where I live, I imagine my old house, the one I grew up in and lived in for ten years. 

Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, is a novel written by one of my favorite authors, Eric Nylund. Its part of the Halo book series, but not a direct prequel or sequel to the other books. The book follows Kurt, a soldier in the UNSC, humans military. Kurt is a Spartan II, a biologically enhanced super soldier. He is selected to train the next generation of Spartans, the Spartan III's on the planet Onyx. After he trains the first 300 Spartans, they are sent into battle against the Covenant, an advanced alien race humans have been fighting for six years at that point. They were extremely successful until the entire squad of 300 was wiped out on an operation, crushing Kurt, and making him train the next batch much harder. The 2nd squad was also completely wiped out, save two, who became his trainers with him. Soon after the training base is attacked by alien machines, which they must fight off.

I found the novel great, but not as good as Nylunds other Halo novels. Nylund has a knack for writing action scenes, which were well written and plentiful in the book. Not only was it a good book by itself, it also tied up loose ends from other books. The ending was a bit of a cliffhanger, and I'm looking forward to a sequel.

Sony's PS3, and Microsoft's Xbox 360 have each been out since 2006, and there processing power is falling behind in running new games smoothly. The next generation of video game consoles is on its way.

The new Playstation is also coming out in time for Holiday 2013. Sony had an official press release on March 20, where they gave a release date and a new trailer, but suprisingly didn't show the actual console. The picture on the right shows the prototype PS4 controller. Its similar to the PS3 controller, but as you can see has a touch pad in the center, and newly designed thumbsticks. 

The new xbox system will be coming out holiday 2013, the name 'Xbox 720' is only speculation, Microsoft hasn't released a name at this point. It's expected that the system will be built around the Kinect, and have voice recognition on most games.

Possible Xbox 720 specs

Writer's Block is a condition anyone can get who writes things such as stories, or blogs. Its when you want to write and have some good ideas, but just cant get their ideas down on paper. I get it often, mostly when writing fiction. I tend to get a great idea for a story and get a few pages written out, when I get stuck. 
I've been thinking about this, and its pretty annoying when a great idea doesn't flourish because I get writers block. So I started researching and thinking about ways to prevent it.

If you want to write some sort of fictional story, one of the best ways to start it is with an outline. Set out a beginning, middle, and end, characters (not just names, personalities as well), problems and solutions. If you write this all out on paper, it will be easier to start writing your story, and if you get stuck you can refer back to your outline.

When writing a story, think up key points in the plot, and put them in a timeline. Then you can fill in details in between each point.

Always be thinking of things to write about, ways to advance your book or a good topic for a blog post. In doing this you will often come up with great ideas for writing, that you can write down and then write about later.

Before I can say what the best weapon against zombies is, you have to understand that there are different types of weapons. Melee weapons, ranged weapons, explosives, and firearms. Melee weapons are things like knives and baseball bats, ranged weapons are things like a crossbow or throwing knife, explosives are self explanatory and firearms are guns.

For a great melee weapon, you need something that can quickly put down zombies, and also work as a useful tool. You also need to think about mobility and durability. 
The baseball bat is a fairly sturdy weapon, and easily accessible. 
The crowbar can break through skulls, are very durable and make a great tool for moving debris and stuff like that. 
The 'trench spike' is a kind of brass knuckles, except there's a six inch knife coming out of the end. It gots its name from when it was used by soldiers fighting in the trenches in WWI. The weapon was used because of its efficiency in stabbing through helmets and killing in close quarters. It has no problem in stabbing though skulls.

By far the best quiet ranged weapon is the crossbow. It is accurate at long ranges, and completely silent.

Most explosives can kill or disable a large group of zombies at a time, but they are dangerous to you, and destructive to the environment. If you mess up you could damage your home, or hurt yourself. If you know how to use them, hand grenades can make a good weapon to have on you if you run into trouble.

Firearms are a requirement in a zombie apocalypse. I highly suggest a rifle and a handgun for most situations.
For a handgun I suggest a Sig Sauer, its thought of around the world as the most well designed pistol.
For your rifle I suggest the M14 rifle, its high accuracy and semi-automatic firing will allow those with basic shooting practice to defend themselves extremely well.
One more thing, if you are using firearms, getting a silencer is a necessity. You will be able to quckly take down zombies without alerting others.  

Hello,
My name is Dylan Branscombe and this is my blog. I am a grade 10 student at Cameron Heights, and a part of  the Futures Forum Project. I'm going to be blogging at least once a day, about something, I don't know yet.