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Thursday, December 9, 2021

Project Juni - DTE

For the past six weeks in DTE class, the topic was to make a project that we can work on for those full six weeks. Starting in term 4, week 1, where we got introduced to the topic, afterwards we got the time to decide what we can produce within those limited weeks in groups. I and Khush decided to make a VEX robot which we both were familiar with but making our own VEX creation. We called our project 'Project Juni'. 

Using three different VEX robot creations which already exist, we decided to combine them to make a machine that can help when earthquakes cause landslides and similar events. Our inspiration came from a thought we had that since there isn't a rescue vehicle that moves fast, does the job to clear a path and is able to move and rotate in any direction with its arm and base. From there on we settled that we will relate our project to the real-life world as to we have a reason to why it is we chose to produce or make it.


These three photos below shown are what we combined altogether to make the outcome of our final project. Circling the specified places on all three images in red is what parts we have included. Starting from the Armbot, we used its main arm to do most of the VEX robots work. Such as giving the 'Juni' the ability to sway side to side and can do 360° or can move the arm up and down, involving that it can extend the arm itself a little. Linq's scoop is used to scoop up or clear a path when there are landslides that are caused by earthquakes and similar events.


                                      Linq                                    Clawbot                              Armbot


Results: JUNI


Reflection
Our final outcome was just as we visioned it, although, within those six weeks, we encountered multiple problems during the process of making it as having trouble finding the right parts, some motors not functioning and hearing multiple cracks and sounds that did not sound very amusing to us. We had to come up with our own design and modify it numerous times until it operated correctly the way we expect it to work. 

Last week we ran out of time and were not able to add functional wheels for it to move around, but we got close to what we thought of building and both I and my partner are proud of ourselves for what we produced and accomplished. What I and my partner learned throughout our project making was how to engineer and be able to work well with VEX robots. We showed good commitment as to that even if we did encounter a problem we would always find a way to fix it and proceed with our project. We displayed teamwork well and good balance meaning we did equal amounts of work and not one had to depend on another to finish it off.

Friday, November 19, 2021

Earthquakes & Tsunamis - Science

This week in science we learned about earthquakes and tsunamis, as I have not attended that class unfortunately I studied this topic in my own time learning about it. One of the steps was to use an animation platform to create this presentation which is presented below. Although as I was not in good health I did the slideshow in a basic way but with some useful information contained. 

I have learned how tsunami alerts or alerts, in general, are sent and what special device is used to record and measure them. Also learned how buildings are earthquake-proof which most information was new to me but good to know.

My Presentation:

Monday, November 15, 2021

Workshop : Essay Planning - English

Shooting the apple - Hope & Rebellion

Techniques: Music lighting colour, Angles/Shots/Movements, Costume


- Diegetic sound
- Katniss - dark, dim, artificial, grey, black, blues - matches peers
- Senica - vibrant, bright, colour variety - pink, more privileged/individuals
- Costume - Katniss - training suit, tributes all look the same
- Capitol - individuals - all different, over the top, extravagant
- Close-ups - see the reactions, Katniss-pensive, shocked
- High angle - once Katniss shoots the apple, makes her look weak and vulnerable.
- Atmosphere - tension, Katniss comes out as the standout, someone to watch out for.


Change of Rules - Struggle for power


Music - minor, slow, dramatic - building tension, emotional intensity as music gets louder

Lighting/Colour - bright, natural, warm, green, black, greys, shadowed, - rising of the sun - new day, new victor.

Costume - not important

Angles/Shots/Movement - High shot - Senica has power according to the camera but the dialogue “stop!” contradicts that.

Close-ups - emphasize emotions - defiance, the stubbornness of Katniss - Struggle for Power

- Katniss won’t let them have one victor
- Peeta won’t let them change him.

Atmosphere - happy because Katniss and Peeta took back control, if they died, then they died on their own terms, didn’t lose their humanity.


Aspects = Techniques 

- Camera shots/angles/movement

- Colour/Lighting

- Costume

- Music

- Atmosphere

- Dialogue

- Symbols

- Props


Reaping scene - Close-ups, Costume, music, lighting


Task 2: 1-2 sentences explain what happened in the scene


T - Title

A - Author/director

K - Key ideas/aspects

O - Outline


In the film ‘ The Hunger Games’ directed by Gary Ross...

Techniques are used to engage the viewer and tell the story. In the scene (insert your scene) film aspects such as (technique #1), (technique #2), (technique #3), and (technique #4), are impactful in creating the mood and atmosphere. 

Monday, November 8, 2021

Workshop : SEXXXY Paragraphs

Brainstorm -

Diegetic Sound - Close ups-shows the emotions of the two - nervous, anxious, mostly Peeta.

Lighting / Colour - mood - sad, gloomy - greys, dark, blacks, dim lighting - works with close-ups to highlight emotions on faces.

Character / Dialogue - "I don't want them to change me" "I don't wanna be another piece in their game" "If I'm gonna die, I still wanna be me"

The atmosphere the scene is creating - Foreboding, Hesitant, Nervous, Reluctant

Theme - Rich vs Poor, Hope & Rebellion, Struggle for Power

What happened - Peeta & Katniss are having a conversation about how the games might affect them.


Scene - 'They don't own me'

In the scene, 'They don't own me; dialogue is used to create a foreboding atmosphere. Katniss and Peeta are having a conversation about how the upcoming games might affect them. This is demonstrated by the quotes "I don't want them to change me; and "If I'm gonna die, I still wanna be me" spoken by Peeta. This shows that Peeta has a sense that he is going to have to do things that he doesn't want to do like killing others. 

This makes the audience feel mournful for Peeta because he is likely going to die, or to kill others to stay alive. The director did this to make us believe Peeta will die early and that being a tribute isn't something to celebrate but a loss of personal autonomy. This worked well with the dark colours of black and greys which add to the foreboding atmosphere. This aspect can be contrasted to when Peeta joins the Career Pack once in the games because they are cold-hearted killers which is what Peeta didn't want to be.

Monday, November 1, 2021

Workshop 5: Music - English

 Tempo - speed of the music - fast/slow/moderate

Dynamics - volume - how bad or quiet it is

Key - Major - happy sound, Minor - sad sound

Rues Death - How is music used to create atmosphere: Depressing / Mournful / Sad 

minor, tempo-slow, dynamics-quiet, gets louder as Katniss raises her salutte + District 11 riots

What happened - Rue is killed, Katniss tries to give her body the closest to a burial that she can.

Colour / Lighting - natural lighting, greens, white flowers stand out - a symbol of innocence and purity - rue never killed anyone, kind, compassionate, a victim.

-Shots/Angles - medium close-ups - Rue & Katniss - see their emotions & facial expression, anguish - high angle - weak & vulnerable - Rue is an innocent + blameless victim.

Effect on viewers - the atmosphere of remorse/intense sadness, as the volume increase, it builds the intensity of the emotions - we see emotions are contagious - hope.

Rues Death - Directors Purpose: feel Katniss's emotions at that moment - remorse, anger, helplessness, acceptance, rebellion - a symbol of 3 finger salutte is a sign of defiance & anger towards the game makers - you will no take my humanity, also a symbol of unification with these who have lost loved ones to the games.

Music is used to create an atmosphere of emotions - sorrow and remorse in Rue's death scene. In this scene we see Katniss dealing with the slaughter of her young friend Rue. For example, the tempo is slow, the dynamics are quiet and the key is minor to reflect the emotional rollercoaster that Katniss is feeling. 

Like the music, Katniss moves slowly and methodically to cover Rue's body in white flowers. As she finishes, the music builds in volume, showing the escalating intensity of her anger and despair towards the Capitol. This makes us understand the pain experienced by the families of the tributes when they are killed each year. 

This was done to enable the viewer to feel the emotions of the characters. This worked well with the use of white flowers to symbolise Rue's innocence & purity and the high angle shot making her weak & vulnerable. Combined with the music we are shown that Rue is a victim of the cruelty of the Capitol.

Monday, October 18, 2021

Workshop 4: Lighting & Colour - English

 Atmosphere - feeling/mood set in the scene

Mood - the way we feel/emotional response

Location - area it is set

District 12:

What is happening - Katniss is jogging through the District

Types of colour/lighting - cold colours-more, grey undertones

                                          dull colours - nothing stands out blue-grey shades

                                          natural colours - palette - greens,browns,grey,black

                                          Lighting - cold, dull, natural

Viewer effect(feel) - not welcoming, unpleasant, run-down, dirty, poor

Directors purpose - shows how unpleasant it is to live in the districts, underprivileged, good comparison for Capitol

Other Techniques - setting - dirt roads, houses derelict, transport, old fashioned, wagons, no electricity

The Capitol:

What is happening - The citizens of the Capitol are waiting the arrival of the tributes

Types of colour/lighting - colours - cold- white undertones

                                                         bright/artificial

                                       - lighting - cold (white) artificial, bright

                                       Palette - setting - whites/melatics, bright, vibrant, colourful

Viewer effect (feel) - these people are privileged, they are celebrating, they are more advanced

Directors purpose - Makes us sympathise with the tributes - they have lots and the districts have none, don't like them because they seem over the top of arrogant

Other Techniques - Costume - rich, extravagant, flaunting, over the top

                                Settings rich, modern, technologically advanced, clean new.

The Control Room:

What is happening - People are manipulating the arena via computer

Types of colour/lighting - colour palette - blue/white/dark grey/clinical

                                          colour - cold (blue/white) bright-especially white shirts

                                                        artificial lighting/colour - cyan/holographic

Viewer effect (feel) - makes us feel they are smart but unsafe, scientific

Directors purpose - Makes us feel like they are mindless drones, detached from reality

Other Techniques - Costumes -white lab coats - feels like an experiment

                                Settings - no clutter, lots of techs, only focused on the one job

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Otautahi - Social Studies

 For the past few weeks, we have been researching our region, Canterbury/Otautahi. We learned the history and such significant and important places within Canterbury and was given the task to make Prezi(A slideshow platform) about it and answer a few questions we were given by the teacher and present it onto our blog.



Monday, September 27, 2021

Workshop 3: Costumes - English

 The Reaping Scene -District 12

  • The children of the district have gathered together for the reaping to select the tributes
Costumes used:
  • Boys - shirts - buttoned/collars, shorts, pants, white, colourless, faded, dull, overwashed
  • Girls - dresses, shirt & skirt
  • Best clothes, probably only worn once a year, worn-out, colourless, faded
Affect on Viewer:
  • We feel sorry for the people, they seem powerless, they live in poor conditions
Directors Purpose:
  • Shows us how bad their conditions are, wants us to see them as the weak, hopeless
Techniques adding effect:
  • High Angle - With the faded colours makes them seem vulnerable, helpless
Seven-The Reaping | Demi-Tribute (Percy Jackson/Hunger Games crossover)

Capitol - Arriving in the city
  • Katniss & Peeta have arrived by Train in the Capitol
  • The clothes are extravagant!
  • Over the top
  • Colourful, vibrant
  • Accessories - hats/earrings/make-up/wigs/shoes/bags/dogs
  • New - looks like only worn once, Fashionable
  • Access to good quality fabrics, patterns
Affect on Viewer:
  • Makes them seem of higher ranking, privileged, relaxed, we don't like them - attitude
Directors Purpose:
  • Shows them of imbalance of power & rich vs poor
Techniques adding effect:
  • The setting is crowded, people are happy, buildings are modern, big, well kept, shows that Capitol is privileged


The Countdown
  • The tributes have just arrived in the arena and are waiting to start games
Costumes used:
  • Survival gear, brown, black, dark colours, jackets, pants, t-shirts, designed to look good, to be practical, lightweight
Affect on Viewer:
  • The tributes look prepared, fit, athletic
Directors Purpose:
  • They are going to die(become the "fallen"), the outfits are just for the audience(the Capitols), which makes it seem more pageant like
Techniques adding effect:
  • Silence - warned, excited to see what happens, anxious, builds tensions, makes the audience focus

Tuesday, September 21, 2021

MRS GREN - Grizzly Bears | Science

 Yesterday we started on what is known as MRS GREN(Movement, Respiration, Sensitivity, Growth, Reproduction, Excretion, Nutrition). The class got to write down any living thing and put it in the box so it can be shuffled and handed out to everyone a random animal someone else has written. Afterwards, we would have to research or/and make a poster that includes MRS GREN's and some information under each of those sections. I used Canva to make my Infographic Poster, My finished poster is shown below:

Grizzly Bear

Monday, September 20, 2021

Workshop 2: Angles, Movements & Shots - English

Brainstorm

The Reaping Scene

  • Katniss volunteers as tribute when her sister is chosen
  • The children/parents of the district give her the 3 finger salute
  • Peeta is chosen as the male tribute
Hope & Rebellion - 3 finger salute - it is a sign of respect for katniss
from the people of her district
- Katniss is a symbol of hope for a district victor
- Katniss is a symbol of rebellion because she steps in 
for her sister (a weaker character) when she is reaped

Rich vs Poor
  • Effie Trinket(Character) - extreme, make-up, wig, hat, overly colourful, and flashy outfit, proper accent
  • Technology - Use of blood readers/scanners, projectors
Poverty-
District 12 - Children's outfits for reaping are the best clothes,
dresses, shirts-collared, Boys - Shafts to pants, colours
of clothes are very faded from washes & reusing.
- The village is falling down around them. 

Camera Angles/Shots Included:

-Close-ups- faces- Primrose when is reaped- terror, fear
- Effie - Joyful, confident, excited - close of lips when reading names
- Katniss- Panic when Prim is reaped, shock when she stands with Effie
- Peeta - fear, panic, shock
-Shallow Focus- the people in the background are in shallow focus(blurred) when Prim & Katniss
hug. This forces the viewer to watch the characters in focus.

Viewer feels - sorry for the tributes - Primrose - it was her first time
- Katniss - she volunteered - a selfless act
- Anger towards the Capitol for the reaping
- We consider Effie is annoying, happy, stuck-up, clueless

Director Purpose - need to be invested in their journey/suffering
- need to be angry at Capitol so that we judge them &
their decisions later
- Effie is depicted as a symbol of people in the District,
they are clueless-don't see the suffering

Music -Starts as we move to picking the bays
Minor key, tempo-slower, dynamic
Starts quiet then gets louder to build intensity - Mood - tension, morose

Lighting- Bright, grey, natural light, cold
Mood - sad, depressed

Colour - Dull, cold, palette - grey, white, blue, faded, washed out
Atmosphere - despair, sorry for the people, poverty, run-down

Facial Expressions are dull, bland & sad matching the lighting & colour

Monday, September 13, 2021

Workshop 1:Themes & Ideas - English

Rich vs Poor - some people have more - Capitol
 - money                - Privileges / respect
 - food -variety      - resources
 - proper housing   - technology
 - medicines           - clothing / make-up
 - transport             - childhoods

Hope & Rebellion
hope is the belief that something will get better
- Rebellion - to fight against something, protest, surprise, usually against government
Symbols of Hope - Katniss, Melodic Motive, Mockingjay, 3 finger salute

Struggle for Power
Currently, the Capitol has power - President Snow
- Katniss becomes a rival for power - people look up to her for guidance, becomes a threat because Snow sees her as one.
'Hope, it is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective, a lot of hope is dangerous!
Fear - the people are afraid of rebelling because the last time they tried they failed and they were punished with the Hunger Games.
Little hope - becoming a victor
Dangerous hope - that the districts deserve to be treated better.

Power of Propaganda
information especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or view.
Messages being told - It's not worth rebelling - The Capitol is the strongest.

Peace keeper -
Propaganda - people to keep peace & help you
Reality - soldiers, violent, keep people in line.

Victor - 
Propaganda - glorious, someone who wins, wealthy, respected
Reality - Violent, to win 

Fallen -
Propaganda - people who die in the games, takes away from the reality of the situation
Reality - teenagers who have been killed/murdered, violent

Tribute -
Propaganda -brave young people, an honour
Reality - sacrifice, punishment to the 'districts'

Rich vs Poor - people in the Capitol vs people in the Districts
                      - Compare opening shoot in District 12 vs Peta looking out the window of the Capitol
- District 12 - Poor - houses are run down, wooden
                               - food - very little, see old man picking at bone*
                               - clothing - 1 pair of good clothing, worn out, old, colours are faded, grey/black, easier
                                                to not show coal dust

Capitol - houses -large, concrete, metals, accents of gold/silver
             - food -variety of choices, don't have the same things, more from enough- excess
             - clothing -fancy, suits, extravagant, fashion, extreme, excess

Hope & Rebellion - Convo President Snow & Senica Craine
                              - Convo between Hamich & Senica
                              - Gives them something to root for, young love!

Struggle for Power - Katniss & Peta eat the berries.
                               - Death of Rue = riot in District 11

Power of Propaganda - Subtle 
                                   - Hunger Games film strip


Friday, September 3, 2021

Fossils & Vestigial Structures - Science

Today this post is going more in-depth about Evolution and the evidence shown behind it, this is another given task which we had to work on independently. We were given a video explaining how Evolution was shown through fossils & body structures and how that made many hypotheses or/and theories about all the life forms that live within our planet which led to many discoveries we have so far uncovered. Below shows the provided video we had to learn from a little to answer a few questions which will be listed below. If you have not looked at my previous post, Natural Selection I'd recommend having a look at that first as there is a video included in that post that explains the myths and misconceptions about evolutions.

Evidence for Evolution


Reflection: The theory of evolution states that individuals within a species should provide of variation and those individuals which characteristics best suited to their environment are more likely to survive & reproduce.

What is a transitional fossil?

It is the fossilized remains of a lifeform that showing features from 2 distinct groups, it is a term called 'Misisng Link'. Transitional forms, organisms or fossils show the intermediate or midway states between an ancestral form and that of its descendant(offspring) can be referred to as a transitional fossils. It can indicate the types of animals and plants that existed in the past which is done by comparing fossilized body structures and fossilized tracks of movement, later on which they can peice together and tell how animals & plants have changed, developed and evolved overtime. 

By comparing fossils from different species, we can look for similarities in structure to try and work out which species are related to others. This visualizes how some species have evolved from others & gives us an understanding of how the evolutionary process works for example how many theories and evidence suggest we humans have evolved from apes.

Name 3 interesting discoveries we have made from fossil records?

  • Around ten thousand(10,000) years ago, fossils of single celled organisms such as cyanobacteria from Australia have been found in rocks that are more than 3.5 billion years old.
  • In 1998, scientist found a 317 million year old fossilized fish with a hand-like fin which suggested that it went through an evolution from being a sea dwelling creature to a land creature.
  • Our lost common ancestor lived about 5-7 million years ago, during those times over 20 hominid species have been discovered.
What is a Vestigial Structure?

A vestigial structure or vestigial organ refers to an organ or a part of the body feature in a species which has lost the functional role or/and that has no longer have a purpose of use due to going through a evolutionary process, it is where the vestigial structure/organ had played a functional role which performed some important role at a point in the past, where at a time when it was useful for our ancestors for them to survive and adapt. Example: There are evidence and theories gathered that we humans once had a tail, our coccyx or tailbone were once our tails. The tail slowly shrunked, but the tailbones helped our ancestors with balance and mobility until we learned how to walk upright. Afterwards along the year the tailbone or coccyx served no purpose in human anymore and lost the functional role. 

Friday, August 27, 2021

Natural Selection - Science

We are currently in lockdown, during this time we learnt a few more things about Natural Selection from home. The task was to answer some questions that were given to us on the teacher's website, including a video and a diagram to help us learn more about Natural Selection and other areas around that. 

Our first activity was to read through this diagram and give us a simple example of what Natural Selection is, afterwards the task was to make our own scenario just like the one shown in the diagram. I have not drawn the diagram but I have written my scenario down to explain how it works in my own words.


Let's take a Caterpillar for example:
So we have multiple caterpillars on a single tree or a specified environment, the amounts of caterpillars on that single tree or within the environment have different variations and traits individually amongst them all, some have a green colour to them and some have a brown colour to them just like how it shows in the diagram above. 

The environment can't be overpopulated with caterpillars otherwise it would limit the resources for other animals and insects living in the area. 2 variations of a caterpillar came out (green & brown), one variation is more likely to survive than the other depending on which habitat or/and the environment they are in. Meaning that one variation can adapt well with the environment and the others are at a disadvantage meaning less likely to survive making it hard for them to reproduce their own variation also meaning it can't pass down its genetics to its relatives. (Brown caterpillars are eaten by its predators more often resulting to making or reproducing less brown caterpillars, while on the other hand, the green caterpillars are eaten less which makes it easier for them to reproduce and pass down its genetics making more green caterpillars)


This video explains more in-depth about Natural Selection and got given 2 more questions which will be answered below the video...

Myths of Evolution


Why wouldn't the giraffes grow longer necks just because the trees were tall?

Individual organisms don't evolve but random genetic mutations cause some giraffes to be born with longer necks, giving them the better chance at survival than the giraffes with shorter necks. This all sums up to saying how well-suited they are to their environment, meaning how well the creature (the giraffe in this case) adapts within its habitat.

What needs to happen in order for a gene to become more common?

Keep in mind that Natural Selection happens at the genetic level if the same gene that exists in one organism will also exist in its relatives which were mentioned before, this happens when it is passed down when reproducing. Random genetic mutations affecting the creatures organisms who carry it develop & behave differently from others with non-identical traits, resulting to make copies of the mutated gene being passed down(reproducing).

Tuesday, August 3, 2021

Language of Film | English

Body Language: A way of giving signals a nonverbal way to communicate, can be shown to the

opposing by posture, facial expressions & hand gestures


Costumes: A style of dressing up, used to describe its characteristics, meaning able to tell how old the character is and its various personalities


Hairstyles: Another way of describing and telling the audience the personalities or how old he/she/it can be


Make-Up: Used to match/give the actor similar characteristics as the character being played as


Back Lighting: A lighting technique where light is placed behind or angled from behind an object, scene, person to give out dept and different effects. Commonly used in theatres & photography


Props: An object used for a performance or play, using such objects make the scene look more realistic whether its the item held by the character or used by them


Settings: Use of different types of sceneries, to show the audience the different surroundings and, definitely seen in movies to tell a story or/and the storyline


Dialogue: A conversation between two or more people, verbal communication or discussion to another, used to change the way we watch and observe the movie/film or a play


Ambient Sound: Background noise used such as birds chirping, traffic noise, rain and etc, to show what is happening around the character and the type of setting he/she is at, also lets the viewer know a given location of the space or area of where the scene takes place


Music: To change the mood of the observer/viewer/audience or/and to illustrate the continuous scene & storyline


Silence: To grow suspense or to elevate the tension or change of emotions within the scenery, change of atmosphere or seriousness


Symbols: Often appears within or throughout the film which represents something such as an object, person, animal, specified colour. Used to help give or describe a given concept that usually does not get spoken verbally


Special FX: Used to make the scene or the movie itself more realistic from anyone's point of view and allows to do such things that can't be done within this period or if it's fictional


Cross-cutting: A editing technique used to switch back and forth between scenes, used if multiple actions are happening in different settings or locations from one another


Flashback: Used to take back to what has occurred in the past, can expose the characters more, to take the reader/audience back into the characters life and show the past events the character experienced


High Key Lighting: Reduces the lighting rate in the scene meaning less diversity between the dark and bright tones, makes the scene easier to see and the shadows visible


Threnody: An sentimental poem or song that is used to mourn for someone who has passed on, simple meaning, a song or poem of grief for the dead


What am I learning? Currently learning the different languages used in films and having a full understanding of what the languages mean

How does this work show my learning? Proof of my completed work is shown on my post and published onto my blog for others to view and see-through

What am I wondering as a result of this learning? I have no thoughts or questions on the topic

Monday, August 2, 2021

DNA Extraction | Science

Aim: To extract DNA from kiwifruit

Equipment: Water, Beakers, Sand, Spatula, Ethanol, Kiwifruit, Sandwich bag, Bunsen Burner, Heat mat, GauzeMat, Tripod, Test Tube, Dishwash Liquid, Glass Rod, Cloth

Method:

  1. Squish kiwifruit with sand + water and pour through cloth to collect juice in beaker.
  2. Use beaker to warm water, pour juice into test tube with 2 drops Dishwash, rest in warm water.
  3. Add Ethanol, watch the DNA separate and collect with spatula.
Results

Saturday, July 10, 2021

New Zealand Entrepreneurs Research | Business Studies

For our last 2 classes for Business Studies for term 2 which were on Thursday & Friday, we have been looking around different Entrepreneurs and how they are unique and different from us. We researched who they were, what made them popular, how did they get widely known, what barriers they overcame and what made them so different from us. We were given the task to research 2 New Zealand Entrepreneurs, I have written all my gathered information in a document, I chose to do Sam Morgan, founder of TradeMe & Phillip Mills, founder of Les Mills & PureAdvantage. Here is my work.

Sam Morgan


Born in 1975 at the age of 46, Wellington Sam Morgan, also known as the founder of Trade Me, now New Zealand's largest online auction site, which he later on in 2006 sold to Fairfax, an Australian media company for over $700 million. How he came around the idea of making such a site was when he was 23. In 1999 he was in a zone where was frustrated and had difficulties buying a heater for his chilly flat. He realised that websites online didn’t work for the kiwis, at this point of time where he realised he could offer New Zealand a better website. 


During the research he came up with the idea of online auctions for New Zealand, trademe is now a successful auction, property, cars, & jobs website. Stating the fact that Sam Morgan is unique in his way, he had the ability to take action, some people spend the majority of their time talking about it and not solving the situation. While on the other hand Sam Morgan went ahead and took the problem in his hands and fixed it, Morgan’s net worth presently sits around $290 million. (Morgan)

Bibliography

Celebrity Wiki. “Sam Morgan Entrepreneur.” Biography, Celebagewiki, no information found No info 2020, https://www.celebsagewiki.com/sam-morgan-entrepreneur. Accessed 2020.


Reference:


Phillip Mills

Phillip Mills, born on the 13th of February 1995, age of 66, Auckland he is a former track and field athlete. Also a businessman in New Zealand, he is the founder, former chief executive & executive director of Les Mills national. The Les Mills fitness company has become internationally successful while still proudly owned and operated by New Zealand. He is also a founder of another business called PureAdvantage, which was founded in the year 2011. PureAdvantage is a registered charity led by many business leaders which are supported by a bunch of collective researchers & writers. Also supervised by the board of trustees and community leaders across New Zealand.


In 1979 Phillip took some leadership roles in the Les Mills fitness club which was founded by his parents, he continues to function in the Les Mills gym business within New Zealand. Early in the 1980s Mill then decided to develop an exercise-to-music choreographed set of exercises, meaning dance-related sets of exercises as well. Mills opened his first gym in 1968 and gave its name, Les Mills International which he named after his father, Les Mills.


Some backstory on how music and exercise came together in Phillip Mills business, he spent a year in a music business where he managed his brother-in-law’s rock band. Although he realised it was thrilling but somewhat unhealthy. During his loss of both of his brother-in-law’s who died young due to physical abuse that they put their body through. A year passed and that's when he found his passion for fitness and got back into the gym industry. Overall the business was going pretty decently but he wanted to make the most out of it, he talked about more excitement needing to be involved. He developed some workout music and launched them in an Auckland club and it became quite a successful and popular company now known globally. He owns 85 per cent of Les Mills NZ and 62-63 per cent of Les Mills International, which gives him a net worth of about $70 million. (Mills)

Bibliography

Mills, Phillip. “The Success of Failure.” Les Mills, Les Mills International, - - Unknown, https://www.lesmills.com/instructors/instructor-news/phillip-mills-on-failure/. Accessed No Info Information not found 2021.

 

Reference:

Tuesday, July 6, 2021

Land Yacht | Science

Last week and this week on science we have been working on a project on making Land Yachts, this project was related to our current topic in science, Forces & Motions. Our goal was to make the land yacht more aerodynamic and make it able to catch more wind to travel at a much further distance at such a speed. We were all put into groups, afterwards to enable the land yacht to do so travel at a far distance and faster speed we had to add things onto the land yachts.

Aim: Our goal to make the land yacht faster

Equipment:

  • Land Yacht Base
  • Cardboard
  • Sticks(x2)
  • Tape
  • String
  • Plastic Bag
  • Leaf Blower

We were already given a base for our land yacht but the extra equipment we were given to use were cardboard, small bamboo sticks, tape, string, plastic bag & leaf blower. Our job, or my task was to make add ons because we needed to make it more aerodynamic and mentioned before to catch more wind to make the land yacht travel at a better radius and length. I decided to add a piece of cardboard on top to make the land yacht push through the wind much easily. To give the ability to the land yacht to capture more wind, we used 2 pieces of bamboo sticks(one short, one long). Then placing both bamboos in a cross looking position I then shortened the plastic bag and attached it above the land yacht. This will enable the yacht to catch more wind, that is what my hypothesis was though.

Afterwards, we did a single test to see how far it travels and how long it took for it to get to where it stopped. Using a formula we have learned about recently we took the distance and time and calculated what our speed was. Our land yacht travelled at 1 metres in 4 seconds, after the calculation our speed was 0.25m/s. Not the results we really hoped for but the experiment was enjoyable and learnt a lot along the way.

Conclusion:

So the conclusion to why our land yacht didn't go as fast is because of how the sail was setted up, it did catch wind but realising during the test was that the sail was not wide enough and if too much wind was caught it would usually turn the sail itself to the side and tilt the yacht over. The sails base wasn't stable enough to stay in one place which caused it to tilt and the plastic sail needed to be much more wider. There wasn't any testing done so we didn't know how it would have performed.  The best speed out our class was 0.656m/s.

My Teams Land Yacht

Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Personal Rubbish Diary | Social Studies

 Today for Social Studies, after the Rubbish bins research, we were afterwards given the task to record some data of our own to see how much Organic, Recycling and General rubbish I threw out. The day limit was 3 days to track our information and use that data to make a bar graph which I have done and will be shown below this text. It had to be a hand-drawn bar graph so here it is and have a good day.



Hunter Swoop | English

 The dark coal branches coiled above one another blending it as far the eye could see until all is white as snow hiding the branches behind its fog.

Dead trees seem to crumble over time and decay as all fallen leaves bright coloured bronze laid on the ground covering the surroundings.

The lifeless aqua water stationary reflecting back its own world like a mirror similar to duplicating its worlds in two.

The bright golden orange trail leading to where the eye can't meet, each step taken leads me away from the horror that slowly follows my footsteps imprinted on the dark barren ground. As the cold approaches, slowly my body consumes the winter that surrounds me. Knowing the end to it is not near or either close, whether it may take hours to days I must reach help.









Thursday, June 24, 2021

Recycling Bins - Stuff Article | Social Studies

Today in Social studies we have been looking around the topic based on recycling, as you have read the title our focus was on recycling bins and was given questions about this about how lazy recycling is affecting our community and large amounts of waste ending up in recycling bins causing landfills. 

What % of rubbish can cause a recycling truck to be dumped?

Trucks containing more than 10% rubbish have to dump their content 

What is going into people's recycling bins?

At this point of moment people are STILL putting contents of rubbish which belongs to the red bin, such things that end up in the yellow bing which cannot be recycled are: Large household materials, heavy appliances, bagged waste, soft plastics and other contaminated wastes. 

What is the current penalty?

So far the council have been trying and putting huge amounts of effort into getting people to recycle properly again. Due to the fact that it hasn't been working out they now confiscate bins and has sent out at least 2500 final warning letters, the council has removed around 664 bins in the last nine months. Although 153 bins have been returned. But in order to get the bins back people have to now pay $97.65 and also sign a statement promising to accept and acknowledge by the rules. 

Stuff Article

EcoCentral has been dealing with a lot of contaminated recycling waste in the past year.

Saturday, June 5, 2021

Alliteration & Personification | English

After finishing off the Similes and Metaphors we continue to the next task which was Alliteration & Personification, this post will show the tasks I completed on this work and hopefully teaching you something new.

AlliterationAlliteration is when a consonant sound is repeated over and over. 

E.g The time ticked tediously by. The warm wind wafted across the window.


Highlight the Alliterations in the following sentences:


The sun sizzled the swimmers skin.

I accidently ate an awful apple.

Beth borrowed Barry’s books before biology

Slipping and sliding, I stumbled in the snow and slush.

Many mysterious men mumbled messages.

The gallant goat gobbled gobs of garbage greedily

The rapidly rising river rushed rampantly.

Finishing the sentence with our own alliterations:

Red roses are refulgent within the suns rays and ruby coloured

While wandering around in wet weather wearing wrinkled clothing

The tired traveller took a trip following the trail to his final destination

Personificationwhen you give qualities to non-human things
E.g The house watched me closely. The trees reached out to me.


The wind whispered through the gloomy forest
What is being personified? The wind
What human trait or quality has it been given? The ability to whisper

The gardener lovingly added the manure to his crops believing he was making happy flowers
What is being personified? The flowers
What human trait or quality has it been given? The flowers feeling happiness

As we walked through the scorching desert, the sun beat down on us
What is being personified? The sun
What human trait or quality has it been given? The sun beating us down

The lumberjack leveled the many trees into a clearing and his chainsaw sang its deadly song
What is being personified? The chainsaw
What human trait or quality has it been given? The chainsaw being able to sing a song

As Alice searched for her missing pencil, she said sarcastically. "Well, I guess it just walked off of my desk." She looked at her classmates accusingly.
What is being personified? The pencil
What human trait or quality has it been given? The function to walk like us

When Monica walked through the shoe store, each shiny pair of high heels called out to her
What is being personified? The shiny pair of high heels
What human trait or quality has it been given? To be able to talk and speak


My own Personification sentences:

My alarm clock yells me out of my bed

Thousands of stars winked at me repeatedly

The wind was whistling at night

What have I learnt?
I learned how to personify and give non-human qualities to no-human things and also figure out what non-human thing was given the qualities that humans have the capability of, also knowing how to use alliterations in my sentences.

How does this work show my learning?
By showing my completed task for the topic and proving my full understanding of Alliteration & Personification through my post which shows the work I have done

What am I wondering?
Don't have any questions about this current topic