The Hunter Swoop

 The sky is coated in in a calm blue hue, handling some nice fluffy clouds in the air.

A massive mountain in the horizon appears to be coated in pounds of snow, the top obscured behind the clouds in the sky. 

An asphalt road spans into the distance, becoming smaller as they looked on. The road is frosted and icy, perhaps slippery, and a yellow line extends in the same direction the rest of the road, in the similar direction.

The road split a beautiful field into two halves, both equally lush with bushes and tufts of grass. However, it seems barren despite the plant-life, lacking any larger types of plants.

Figurative Language - Saying one thing and meaning something else.

Literal Language - Meaning exactly what you say.

Simile - Comparing two unlike things using "like" or "as".

Metaphor - Comparing two unlike things not using "like" or "as".

Personification - Giving human qualities to non-human things.

Imagery - Writing with detail to arouse one of or more of the 5 senses.

Idiom - A phrase common to people who speak the same language - saying one thing but meaning another.

Hyperbole - An exaggeration of the facts.

Alliteration - Repetition of consonant sounds in a piece of writing.

"Just chill out, dude!" = Calm down!

"He is driving me up the wall!" = He's making me angry!

"His nose is out of joint." = He's a bit annoyed/angry.

"The teacher is a real scream." = The teacher's lively.

"What is she cooking up in her mind right now?" = What's she thinking about?

"He gave her the eye." = He stared at her threateningly.

Bycatch and Sustainable fishing

 What is bycatch?

Bycatch is a harmful way of fishing that involves catching types of fish and animals that weren't expected to be caught. Example, when you try to catch some tuna, you end up catching two dolphins. You may have the option to release the animal, but the chances of it being dead before you could are very high.

How is commercial fishing a threat to dolphins and bird life?

Because of bycatch. When commercial fishing is enacted, they may accidentally catch unwanted prey, like listed above, dolphins and birds. Lots of dolphins caught because of bycatch are covered up by stickers saying that they’re dolphin-free, even though they might not be.

What kinds of fishing are sustainable?

There are many multiple ways of sustainable fishing, such as spearfishing, hook-and-line, and apparently, cast-nets. Spearfishing is one of the most sustainable yet more challenging sustainable fishing methods, and cast-nets require more skill, and yield more fish.

Brainstorming Task 3

 

Shark finning

We were asked to make a blog post on shark finning and the problem it imposes on our oceans, so here it is. We were given three questions to answer in some full detail.

1. What is it?

Shark finning is a practice common all around in Asia, like China. It involves catching lots of sharks, specifically, and cutting off all of the fins, and throwing the remains back into the ocean. The fins are then used for delicacies like shark fin soup.

2. Why is it a delicacy?

It is a delicacy because it was originally established to showcase a person, particularly an emperor, that they're wealthy and that they have a victorious power over sharks. That, and they were also considered to be medicinally beneficial. Nowadays, they're just bought and used to showcase someone's wealth.

3. How is this impacting our oceans?

According to scientists and environmental researchers, sharks are apex predators, and should they die out completely, the fish they feed on will overpopulate, and eat all of their supplies, dying out, and then the next ones down the food chain will follow suit until the smallest organisms in the ocean die out, and the ocean is turned into a swampy graveyard full of corpses.

Brainstorming Task 2

 

Factual or Satirical

 The Onion is a fake news site. It is a satirical US news-site which shows odd types of news that wouldn't be even shown in real life. The website appears to be an official and trustable news site, but closer looks into the stories they publish make it lose it's credibility. It's stories are completely out of touch with real-life and most likely aren't even realistic.

The New York Times is a factual news site. It is the official news website of all things around the USA. The stories they publish, when fact-checked online, is completely real, the website appears as if it was a coloured newspaper.

I've taken two articles from both sites about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Both articles are about completely different parts of the conflict, but are written in a well-meaning fashion. The Onion had made a satirical one about Israel surrendering their territories to the Palestinians because they'd ran out of targets to hit in Gaza, which contradicts that of the NY Times' article about the cease fire ordered between Israel and Hamas.

The Onion's article is immediately fake if you watch news on the TV, or if you've tried to fact check it. However, the way they both wrote their articles appears very convincing, because of the amount of professionalism poured into both of these for different reasons. Let's just hope they aren't used as evidence against something.

There are many ways to figure out whether or not something is fake or real.

1. You can fact-check the news itself by looking for it online, or if you watch the news.

2. Check is the website has a registered URL, like .govt, .uk, .au and so on. 

3. Read the content carefully. No one would make a news article about the amount of tables mass-produced each year.

4. Just because it sounds real and convincing, doesn't mean it's real. Like what was said earlier, fact-check it.

5. Upon entering, check the top-left of the search bar, and if it has "not secure" on it, it means it is fake.

Starfish Poem

 We talked about this poem here, called the "Starfish Poem". 

This is the link to the poem: Starfish Poem

What is the message of the poem?

The message of the poem is that, though the problem is big and that what you're doing may not seem like much, you can still make a difference for the ones you've helped. This is shown between the wise man and the person in the poem. Despite the wise man, saying that there are too many starfish to be saved, the person insisted that he change things for at least one.

This means that even the smallest efforts people do can amount to a big cause.

Help if you can, even if you think it won't be much. 

My Newspaper Article

 I made a newspaper article for Social Studies class. Hope you find it interesting!

Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRSHpaNqK524izm29ZpO4qAu0L_HuLC7U8HhwlS0Ma-O_7OqIAYP9rBXlO_APXpDrxfauNS-ezlq_zt/pub

Previous Experiment

 We were supposed to make a blog or poster about one of our previous experiments and I'm planning on covering the experiment where we ended up burning the ceiling.

Aim: To create a reaction between Sodium (Na) and water (H20).

Method: We put a small amount of sodium in a pool of water.

Results: When the sodium came into contact with the water, it started to emit smoke after a few seconds of contact. Later, it then caught on fire. Finally, after a short period of time, the sodium exploded, sending a flurry of hot sodium into the ceiling. It left burns on the ceiling, and even made bubbles in the paint.

Conclusion: The sodium exploded, like a firework. It also burnt the ceiling.

I am unable to find an image for this, sorry. :/

Bias and Agenda

Bias - when you unfairly favor one side of an argument

Source - where you get your information from

Credible - reliable and factual, truthful

Authority - the author has good/in depth knowledge on the subject

Reliable - can trust that information is correct

Perspective - point of view, the way you see it

Agenda - what you are trying to do, convince me of a fact

Manipulate - mold someone or something into what you want

Term 2 Critical Literacy #1

 Book: Bullet Boys

Report made by Andrei Montellano made on May 10 2021

The 'Bullet Boys' book is a story about three teenage boys, Alex, Levi and Max. Alex is a gamekeeper, taught by his father. He is preferably the one on the very left. Levi is talkative and popular, but not very willing to use a gun, the one in the middle. Max is short-tempered and has a brother enlisted in the military, the one on the right. 

Why are we/you reading this text?

- Because I wanted to read it for two reasons: I needed a book to read, and because I was interested in how the cover looked and such.

What genre does this text belong to?

- Judging from the content, and the cover above, it is a teen thriller book, full of suspense and introductory chapters.

A Brainstorming Task

 

Reflection of my Cryptography work in term 1

 In Term One, we talked a lot about cryptography. In this blog, I'm just gonna put down all of the work we did that included this topic.

 

This is all of the work that we did in the previous term. Honestly, I feel like I could've done more, but I feel like that this was more than enough for me. Even for these, I feel inadequate. But, as much as I want to add more, there is nothing that crosses my mind.

I believe that I have learned a lot about cryptography and the ways on how we could encrypt and decrypt them, but how I lay out my work doesn't feel different. Otherwise, I feel content with my current work.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch slide

 

English - Critical Literacy

Today in English class, we watched a video from Onion News Network, portraying a brain-dead teenager only capable of texting and rolling her eyes, sighing and muttering and groaning.

1. What makes this video convincing?

The video was recorded like an actual news network, and the people acted to their best. There were also "medical experts" and protests in the video to support two sides of an argument.

2. Who published this video?

The Onion News Network, or The Onion. It is famous for making satirical portrayals of stereotypes and such, like the video we've watched.

3. How are teenagers portrayed in the video?

The teenager in question is shown to be lazy, only ever rolling her eyes in response to most things, only texting and talking on social media.

4. Why has the director cast them this way?

To portray how older generations see today's teenagers, and to just make fun of the stereotype itself. Maybe.

5. In whose interest is the text?

For adults, who may laugh or agree with the video. Other teenagers, who may laugh as well.

6. Who is real in the text?

The actors are real; the characters and people in the text are not. However, they are played in a way that makes them seem real.

7. What social realities does this video portray?

It portrays how older generations, like our parents and grandparents, see the younger generations: lazy and brain-dead. It also shows how things would most likely go upon discovery to the public. How the protest for the girl's life went, the medical expert advocating for the decision to euthanize instead, and the paperwork and preparation for the girl's eventual passing.

Alkaline Metals

 Alkaline Metals Blog

1. What is an Alkaline metal?

- Alkaline metals are highly reactant materials that are soft and can be easily cut. They also react strongly when exposed to oxygen and water vapor, releasing hydrogen gas and losing their outermost electron to form charge +1 cations.

Where are they on the Periodic Table?

- They are on the left side of the Periodic Table.

2. What reaction did we do yesterday?

Observations: Caught on fire in a few seconds upon contact with water and oxygen; exploded into smaller particles; created smoke; remaining residue is oxidized white powder; ceiling burnt

Products and reactants: sodium + water -> hydrogen gas + sodium oxide

Chemical equation: Na + H2O = Na2O - 2Na + H2O = Na2O + H2

3. Why do the metals react this way?

They react this way because they often react strongly when mixed with water and oxygen. They then release hydrogen gas a few seconds upon contact, setting on fire in the process, and then either explode of fizzle away.