It was a rainy, gray and gloomy October afternoon. Mr Jones was sitting in his square, black beigh office, sipping his usual Friday coffee, and working on his newest case of the recently deceased Bill Finx, owner of probably the most popular personal technology corporation, Finx Industries. The man had died unusually and unexpectedly, causing a great shock to the industrial business. The way he looked after he was killed was top secret, and Mr Jones was one of the few people who knew how, and was puzzled by it. After stirring his coffee one more time, the man opened up his laptop and began scanning through documents, hoping to find some information about who or what could have caused the death. It seemed that a few days before he passed away, the company had discovered a new computer virus spreading throughout their system, and that it caused their data bases a tremendous amount of damage. “It was like a termite army, eating away bits and pieces of information. We were very devastated to find some new developments being devoured by that horrible program, and sadly haven’t yet discovered the virus’s original source or how to stop it,” Finx had stated at an interview. Jones mused over this piece of information.
As he opened another document he noticed a strange icon appear at the right hand corner of his computer screen. The man stared at the image. It was like a tiny swarm of black dots that kept multiplying in a pattern that looked like they were eating the screen. Jones was aghast, for he had never seen such a virtual yet terrifying thing. Then, a thought suddenly struck him. It might be the new computer virus that Finx was talking about! The dots kept increasing, almost halfway across the screen. Jones desperately launched for the off button, but no matter how hard or how many times he pressed, the computer never shut down. The man was in a panic. All of his priceless information, cases and documents could be transferring to an anonymous source right now! After hitting the button for the fiftieth time, Jones lost his hope, and with a dramatic sob, thrust is head in his hands on the table.
After a minute or two of moping around, Jones realized how stupid he had been to just sit here and that he had to go tell the maintenance to shut down all of the computers so that the virus couldn’t get to the other sources that held crucial information, but as he was about to rise from his leather chair, he noticed something utterly amazing and awful. The little black dots had completly filled up his screen and were now climbing out of his computer onto his hand. Jones screamed. The dots were in fact tiny mechanical malicious insects that were piercing his skin. There was mechanical buzzing everywhere. Their bites had paralyzed him and he couldn’t do anything but watch as the mini machines crawled under his skin, wondering if this was really happening. He felt their buzz and bodies fill his veins and head, and suddenly he couldn’t speak. The man silently collapsed onto the beigh tiled floor, his blank eyes widened and locked with fear forever.
An hour later, Belinda Burns, Mr Jones’ secretary, was going to tell him that he received mail from the London Headquarters. As she opened the door, the first thing she saw was Mr Jones’ laptop in front of the door, broken in half, with all of it’s wiring sticking out in a very upturned fashion. Jones’ chair was turned around so that she couldn’t see it’s front, but Mr Jones appeared to have been sitting with his back to her. “Jerry, you receive-” her words had turned into a scream, for right at that moment, the chair swiveled around and she could clearly see that out of Mr Jones’s body and flesh crawled out a giant black mechanical steel spider composed of a strange shape-shifting web, with Mr Jones’s grotesque head lifelessly wired in at the top.
Kat Vlasova
November 19th, 2009
Jenny
Today I was chosen for Star of the Week, which is an activity we do in the homeroom. If you are selected for Star of the Week, you get to take home a cute teddy bear named Hamish Hanover, Hamish is to be toured around the town and photographed doing something. All of his adventures will be summarized and sent to Ms. Graham, who will share it with our Scottish counterparts.
For the week, I took Hamish to three diferent places. They were my neighborhood, the local indoor hockey rink, and the tennis courts where I practice my tennis skills. I will describe what happened to Hamish and me.
Hamish was really impressed with the skating rink. It has two levels - the first level is the NHL rink (National Hockey League) and the second level is the Olympic rink. Here I play hockey, which is also one of my most favorite sports. I introduced Hamish to my teammates. My team is called “Black Ice” and is currently tied at the first place with the Red team.
Next I brought Hamish to the tennis courts in the bubble where I can play all year round. I usually take private lessons, and I consider myself to be much skilled in tennis. I have a wonderful coach who makes me work hard in my technique. Tennis is my favorite sport, and I enjoy it very much. My favorite professional player of all time is Roger Federer who is currently the world’s number one.
After all of my activities, I finally went to the neighborhood. We moved to this house a few months ago. It is great for me because practically all my friends are at the neighborhood. We usually bike together and play a game called Nerf wars, which is generally a game where two teams are split up into two armies. They go to war over each other. We fight with plastic guns that shoot out foam darts. They are called Nerf guns.
One of the coolest features of our house is that it has a park behind it. Hamish and I went for a walk together and saw grasshoppers on the trail. On the way back home, we actually spotted a four inch long Praying Mantis. They are one of the dominent insects because of their hunting method. They can even catch small birds!
I think being Star of the Week was enjoyable. Taking Hamish around Reston was just dandy. I hope I will have a chance to meet the Scottish bear once again.
November 19th, 2009
Jenny
All the way from Virginia USA, the Reading Bus is very pleased to present a special PodCast from our American friends in time for Thanksgiving (this year on 26th November). The show features an awesome line-up of confident and talented young presenters telling us about their life in Forest Edge, including
- top ten favourite places, songs, books movies
- interviews with staff from the school and Miss Graham who’s on exchange from Aberdeen
- messages to Hanover St school
- wild ads for some of America’s unique cultural icons
- and lots lots more!
Forest Edge - November 12th 2009:
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November 12th, 2009
Russell
Jenny Watson, Reading Bus co-ordinator, presents a round-up of the various projects the Reading Bus has been busily involved with since the Summer holidays. In addition special guest, storyteller Les Wheeler, reads some afa fine original Doric tales.
Reading Bus - 5th November 2009:
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November 5th, 2009
Russell
Listen in to this PodCast hosted by Primary 6 and Primary 7 pupils from Woodside. The show features on-the-spot reports from the Scottish Learning Festival in Glasgow held in September.
Woodside - 8th October 2009:
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October 8th, 2009
Russell
Listen in to this great show presented by pupils from Kittybrewster, which includes
- interviews with Frank Doran MP and Mrs Matthew
- on the spot reports from department store John Lewis, and interviews with the staff
- and a braw story from Sheena Blackhall!
Kittybrewster 2009:
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October 1st, 2009
Russell
This week’s is a special show featuring never-previously-heard recordings from 2007 before SHMU was launched, including readings from the Reading Bus’s first publication, the Titanic.
Special Titanic PodCast:
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September 24th, 2009
Russell
Check out this great video from the talented movie-makers at Kittybrewster.
Watch out for the surprising appearance and listen for the sounds of a kelpie!
George and the Kelpie - Kittybrewster P3/4:
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September 18th, 2009
Russell
Listen in to the Reading Bus’ Jenny Watson present a unique podcast featuring a project on Aberdeen’s fascinating Snow Kirk by pupils in St Peter’s Primary 7.
St Peter's - 17th September 2009:
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September 17th, 2009
Russell
Click the thumbnail to see the poster at full size:
September 17th, 2009
Russell
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