Germany's struggle in the Great Depression

 The Great Depression

1. Why was Germany hit the hardest during the depression?

Germany was solely to blame as the aggressor who had instigated World War One, and thus the Treaty of Versailles was tuned to the Allies' favour in punishing the Germans. They had to pay billions of dollars in reparations (for both wars, which was fully repaid in 2010, mind you), and their military reduced to a hundred thousand soldiers and less than 10 ships, while also completely removing all their military aircraft and artillery. Hyperinflation then came into the picture with the Great Depression, causing the country to print out amounts of money which became more worthless than a single piece of bread (i.e. a piece of bread could be worth almost a trillion deutschmarks (German money)). 

2. Explain what Germany had to agree to by signing the Treaty of Versailles?

Germany was blamed as the sole aggressor of WWI, despite Austria-Hungary having been the one to spark the conflict in the first place. They had to surrender all of their aircraft and artillery and their navy was reduced to 6 ships. Their military was reduced from a 6 million to 100 thousand soldiers, were not allowed to produce any artillery, aircraft, navy or weapons and they had to pay over billions of dollars for reparations. Even their commercial trading was crippled, their merchant fleet reduced to a tenths.

3. How was NZ affected by the depression?

New Zealand was affected as hard as every other country did. Their exports fell by 45 percent in two years, national income crashed by 40 percent by three years. As summarised as it can be, New Zealand suffered as much of a bad time as every country. 

Sources: 

https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany/The-Treaty-of-Versailles

https://www.history.com/news/treaty-of-versailles-world-war-ii-german-guilt-effects

https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/history-economic/page-7

Land Yacht experiment

 In Science this week, we finally put our "yachts" to the test. 

Our goal was to see how far they could go, using a massive leaf blower.

Equipment:

- Land yacht

- aforementioned leaf blower

Equation: We took the distance our yacht covered and the time it took to do so, and divided them with each other. 

Result: Our yacht was going 0.65625 m/s or 0.7 m/s to make 4.2 m.

Conclusion: It was going that fast because of the aerodynamics, its area, and how it was propelled. The mass itself wasn't very much, its area was also very small, but the aerodynamics weren't very good. There was a lot of air resistance, and there was no helping attachments to assist with reducing the air resistance. 

Critical Literacy for my week

I may not have read a lot of things, but TV Tropes has supplied me with an endless amount of knowledge for me to read and waste my time on. Other than those, I've read just about nothing.

Sorry!

My Horror Story

 It’s gotten a bit late for me to be up. But, 7 PM isn’t exactly late in any way. I was tidying out my clothes drawers, I couldn’t stand to even look at how messy it was. Out of my room and past the hallway, I could hear the other family talk, as they ate dinner and as their kid watched videos on their phone, even when their parents said no.

It was still a cold night, just like every other night. I absolutely hated how the cold couldn’t be kicked off. My room was cold, but at least I have a room, because the outside is much more unforgiving.

But, in an abrupt moment, the lights suddenly blacked out, and it got a little colder. I am a smart one, I knew what to do in times like this. I just sat down on my desk, and waited until the power would be back on. The voices outside from a while ago had stopped. I wonder what happened? 

I wanted to watch some videos on my phone, so I grabbed it. But… it won’t turn on. I pressed the ‘on’ button a lot of times, but it wouldn’t open. Weird, I had this charged just a few minutes ago. I opened my chromebook to do the same, but nothing. This still had a charge a while back. It probably must’ve just been a fast drain. 

It got too dark for tolerance, so I flung the curtains open, but the houses and fence adjacent to where I was were gone. It was just a blank, empty void, staring back at me when I’d hoped to find something more physical. I panicked a bit. What’s going on?!

I planned on leaving, but leaving my safe space without a flashlight would be dumb. I would just run into things and stub a toe, if I wasn’t careful. 

I entered the hallway just outside my room. There wasn’t much to behold, except for the two doors on the left and right, leading to the bathroom and toilet, and the other rooms, respectively. I began to walk through the carpeted floors of the hallway on bare feet, because I never usually bother with slippers on a floor as comfy as this. It started out normal at first, I’d just needed to find my way to the living room. But, I still couldn’t hear their voices. If this was an elaborate prank, this is too elaborate for me to be comfortable with. No one but my parents would be willing to waste their time on me.

My right foot collided with a flashlight. I fell to my knees, and patted my hands around the tight floor to find it. Eventually, I got the flashlight. I got up and shined the light. It was too dim to see anything, but bright enough to light my path. The door was right in front of me, shut tightly.

I opened the door with my usually kooky mannerism, but instead of the room I was expecting, it was the same hallway I’d just walked through. I entered through the door, and it shut behind me without reason. I shined the light at the door in shock. This was a bad thing. I ran towards the other door, and it just sent me back to the same corridor. My heart began to beat faster, and louder. It got so quiet that I started to hear my own breathing.

I went through the door, and the other doors from earlier had disappeared, leaving nothing but a blank wall of white. This was getting crazy. I went through another door, but this time, it was a tight squeeze. The hallway was crushed into a point where I could only partially squeeze through. If I wanted to go any further, I would have to force myself through. 

I sucked my gut in, and started to fit through. It was ultimately hard to breathe, and the flashlight did at least provide good light. After a vicious tight-fit, I pushed through. I put my hands on my knees to support my extremely tired upper half. 

For a moment, I stopped breathing. But I heard breathing. And then a footstep. I panicked and turned around and shone my torch into the darkness behind me. There was nothing there, but an empty corridor. It was completely empty, pushing aside the fact that I just pushed through a tight squeeze.

So… I did the most sensible thing I could. I turned around and ran to the door… and the hallway got longer. The footsteps got a little louder and faster. That thing was after me. I ran to the door again, and it got farther, again.

The door got as far away as it could from me, and then stopped. I ran. The thing behind me ran after me. I ran as fast as my stamina could get me. But as I ran, it always kept up. I could hear its footsteps, I could hear it breathe. I heard it say my name. I cursed, and I cursed.

But I didn’t listen. Sweat trailed down my face, my feet and legs ached. Trying to catch my breath isn’t an option. I kept running, and it kept a steady pace behind me. I was almost to the door. My eyes shot wide open as the door was within my reach. Suddenly, as I kept running, I could feel a warm gust of air rubbing the back of my head. 

I got to the door. I grabbed the doorknob and flung it open. When I got through the door, I slammed it shut. That thing banged against the wooden door, unable to get it open. I leaned into the door, and put all of my weight into keeping it shut. But after a while…

It left. I dropped to the floor in a puddle of sweat. I gave myself some time to calm down, before anything else could jump me. When I got my composure back, I stood up, and went through this hallway. As I walked through the place, I felt it suddenly get colder. I clamped my arms around my body, hoping to stay warm. 

I started to hear various voices. These were voices that I didn’t recognize. At first, I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but the farther I went into the hallway, the clearer and more painful the voices got. My head started to split with how constant the noise was. I asked them as loud as I could, stressed and scared. And then, every voice collectively said, into the most horrifyingly tranquil manner, “Run.”

A loud shriek sounded behind me, and I dashed over to the next door. It wasn’t as far, but it felt like forever with the adrenaline rushing through my body. These weren’t even footsteps anymore, they were loud booming steps. It sounded like it came from something big, and I didn’t want to stick around to see where it came from. I ran even faster than last time, running even when it felt like my legs were about to break.

I came close to the door, and I grinned. But, just as I got close, I tripped and hit my head on the door. The panic and the adrenaline rush dulled the pain. Good thing too, it was getting close. I stood up fast, and shut the door behind me. 

This time, it wasn’t a hallway, but a dark room, a void. There was nothing anywhere around me, but a glowing door frame just a bit away from me. I walked through the door, shielding my eyes from the severe brightness. 

Beyond the door, was a glass wall, showing… me. I was back in my room, calmly organizing the same cabinet I was just organizing all the way before. I was confused. I pushed on the glass wall, grunting and hoping that I’d get through. I even kicked it. Not a single crack…

I just watched as Mom came into my room, and said goodnight to me. As she left and closed the door, I turned around and looked at myself, like I knew where I was. Then, it was there when I realised…

That wasn’t me anymore.

Infected

 Me and Dave sat in the dark room, heaving our lungs out. We’ve spent a lot of time running and hiding from these things, and we’d outrun them every time. I didn’t think they’d be smart enough to think of tactics. I could hear those things outside of the room. They banged against the door as strongly as they could. The door would hold for now.

After a while, my breathing started to calm down. I was slowly regaining my stamina. But Dave kept wheezing and heaving breaths. His breaths faltered and became louder as the darkness of the room shaded his eyes. I couldn’t tell what was going on with him, so I moved in closer to check. 

His body was suspiciously warmer than usual, sweat trailed down his face and his neck, drenching my hand. Suddenly, he just stopped breathing. I grabbed one of our torches and shined it over him. He saw a small red mark on his dark blue jacket. I lifted the sleeve and I jumped back in horror.

A bite. He was infected. I stumbled back and ran to our bag to grab a weapon. I frantically rummaged through the bag to find something blunt, something sharp, anything! I became disheartened when I found absolutely nothing. 

I hear a quiet clacking noise behind me. I turned around slowly, as the fear had settled in. Dave was missing. I clenched my fists and clenched my teeth. I was gonna die with no way of escape. I put up my fists, searching around the room to try and find him.

I hear a small growl above me. Completely overtaken by fear, I instinctively shine my light on the area. I find Dave, or whatever it was at this point, on several pipes, ready to attack.

It screams, and lunges at me. I was completely paralyzed with fear, but I felt everything. I felt the teeth bite through my neck, ripping out flesh and muscle mass. I felt sharp claws slice through my skin. I screamed till it ripped out my throat from my body. Blood gushed out of my neck and leaked out of my mouth and the hole in my neck. The last thing I remembered before I died was the sound of a door opening. Huh...

Hunter Swoop - Corridor

 

Top-left: The ground above remained supported by its concrete base, the ceiling of an ominous tunnel.

Top-right: Small cracks with mold and grime persisted on the surface, signifying its age.

Bottom: A shadow was illuminated by the lights above, blending slightly into the darkness of the outside.

Middle: The person walked into the tunnel, slowly walking through the quiet area. The darkness at the end of the tunnel didn't reassure them in any way, but they were curious about it.

Story:

       They heard voices in the tunnel under them. They peered over the edge and saw a small sliver of light pierce through the darkness of the edge of town. They dropped down from the top of the underpass. The drop kind of hurt their feet, as it was quite steep. They looked up at the concrete ceiling of the tunnel, the base of the underpass. The dirt above it remained supported by the concrete base. 

        Multiple spots were covered in dark grime and black moss, made almost invisible under the cloudy night, nevermind the lights from the tunnel. They walked into the tunnel. Their shadow was cast out by the lights above, blending into the darkness of the outside night. They looked at the end of the tunnel, finding only more darkness. It didn't reassure them much, but they remained curious of what they've heard.

       They moved further into the tunnel, hoping to find out what talked. Their footsteps echoed across the tunnel. Sweat trailed down into their clothes, thinking about the danger that would await should they find out. 

       They stop. They've reached the other side of the tunnel. They breathed a heavy sigh, sweat continuously trailing down, as they placed a hand on the corner, and peeked around it. There was nothing. They looked to the other side. Nothing. There was absolutely nothing, other than the sound of calmly rushing water. Their hand goes to their chest and they sigh a world's weight.

       But, they did have to wonder, what was the breathing in their ear..?