April’s Blog ;)

Hey xD

I’m just writing to let everyone know that grade 8 is over! Well, there are still exams being written, but I got exempted from them all - your marks have to be above 80% to be exempted. My marks were:

ELA - 90% ; Math - 92% ; Social - 93% ; and Science - 93%.

For getting exempted and passing, I got a new bike; it’s a Norco, so I really like it =). Then on June 27 me and my best friend Toni are going to COUNTRYFEST!!!!!=)=)! I cannot wait! It’s in Dauphin and there’s so many great artists going, like Paul Brandt, Emerson Drive, Adam Gregory, Trace Adkins, Nazareth, Doc Walker, Johnny Reid, Dierks Bentley, Jo Dee Messina, Rodney Atkins, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Corb Lund, and so many more I can’t even remember them all. Click here if you want to see the many artists going.

I think I’m getting some more spam on my blog, sadly =(…I just deleted 71 comments of spam. It’s not as nasty as it was before, but it’s just annoying. Oh well; it doesn’t take that long to delete them.

I think I’m really going to miss grade eight…well, of course I’m going to miss it. Mr. Fisher was my teacher for two years now and I’ve just gotten used to the laughing and joking around, class discussions, fun computer projects…there’s so much I’m going to miss!=( I liked having just one teacher for all of my classes. But next year, in grade 9, we get a bunch of teachers and that’s one thing I’m not looking forward to. I bet there will be lots of days when I’m going to be saying, “I wish Mr. Fisher was my teacher”…=(

Anyways…hope everyone has a great summer! I’ll probably get around to writing about CountryFest after it happens =).

I’M GOING TO MISS YOU MR. FISHER =( =(

- April

Hey

I had this blog post done before, but I wanted to redo it so I could do a better job and get a better mark on it. I also thought I’d get more “into” it.

So, for one of the ITL videos, there was one created on Terrorism. The two boys that made it had found a picture of George Bush with a huge explosion behind him. They wanted to edit it so that it said “From their point of view [people fighting in wars] who are really the faceless ones?” Or something along those lines. Mr. Fisher, however, censored it so that the edited picture wouldn’t be in the video.

What is censorship?

Censorship is basically someone’s opinion on what’s right and what’s wrong. Censoring something means that you are taking something out so that some people won’t get offended by it. Mr. Fisher took that picture out of the project of George Bush so that some people wouldn’t get offended, or George Bush himself.

Why are things censored?

Things are censored so that people don’t get offended by certain things. When people are offended by something they see, often that thing is edited and changed so that people aren’t offended anymore and they are satisfied.

Some things that have been censored are:

A few songs by the Rolling Stones had been censored.

“Chinese censors restricted the veteran rock star group the Rolling Stones from performing five songs when they made their debut in mainland China on 8 April 2006. Rolling Stones’ lead singer Mick Jagger stated at a press conference in Shanghai that in his opinion this was “not a big deal”. While taking questions at a press conference in Shanghai, Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger said that Chinese authorities had asked the band to exclude certain songs from their concert - and that it didn’t worry him.”

The songs that had been censored were Brown Sugar, Honky Tonk Women, Beast Of Burden, Let’s Spend The Night Together, and Rough Justice.

I had also found a blog post that someone had written about commercials being censored:

“It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that commercials have become the latest target by those looking to keep mature rated titles out of the hands of children. After all, if children never hear about these “M” rated titles, they’re obviously not going purchase them. Certain organizations have taken these thoughts to heart, and have tried to have ads for “M” rated banned from public transit systems.”

To view the post, click here.  

Do you think there are “good” reasons to censor some material?

I do think there are good reasons to censor some material. If people are going to get offended by some material, then maybe you should consider changing or editing the material so that no one gets offended but it’s still just as effective. Imagine someone produced something that really offends you. Wouldn’t you want them to change it so that you can stand up for what you believe in? I think most people would. If something offends someone, obviously they’re going to say something about it. So I think it’s a good idea to censor some material so no one gets offended. It’s not right to them.

Do you think I [Mr. Fisher] was right in censoring the terrorism video?

I think a lot of people would’ve gotten offended by it. Everyone who believes in George Bush would think it is wrong, and George Bush - if he ever saw it, I’d say he’d get a bit offended. But…try being him for a day. He’s a busy guy…he’s ruling a whole country and he’s only making the decisions he thinks is best. He also has advisors who help him with the decisions, so it’s not all his doing. I’m not saying I agree with everything he does, but I think it would be hard to make decisions for a whole country like he does so maybe people shouldn’t be as rough on him as I know a lot of people are. I think Mr. Fisher was right in censoring this video. I know if I was George Bush I would be offended, and everyone who likes him and agrees with his decisions would be very offended. I think Mr. Fisher was right in doing this. The video turned out just as effective, and saved a lot of offense for people by taking out the picture.

To read Mr. Fisher’s Remote Access Blog, click here. This is where he wrote about the censored video.

April

Hey!

This is probably late compared to other people’s…but I wasn’t in school today so I got it for homework. Rough day today! I had a doctor’s appointment at 9:15 this morning (I was taken to emergency the night before so they told me to come in) and the doctor said I should go to Flin Flon for some blood tests. Turns out the infection that gives me a fever is an infection in my glands. My neck has been extremely sore lately, and now the glands are swelled up all big. The swelling and pain is going down though, due to the medication. No one could figure out where the infection was coming from, so they looked at my glands and had to perform blood tests (it took 3 needles but missed twice before they got any blood! Apparently I have really small veins…). The glands are the size of large lumps the doctor found. It’s very painful, I must say =(. (No, I don’t have mono for those of you wondering =P. They even tested and I don’t.)

Anyways, here’s the answers to the questions.

1. What have you learned about your topic?

As some of you already know, my topic was on eating disorders, mainly bulimia and anorexia. I learned a lot on this topic. I learned how it affects your body, what it does to you and how it can kill you, how it rots away your teeth from throwing up so much, and what you look like after you become anorexic or bulimic. I also learned how it affects the body not only physically but mentally as well. The saddest part is the skinniest of all people still see themselves fat. I learned about all the mixed emotions people go through and how they just won’t stop. I just wish people who are like toothpicks would not see themselves FAT. Like really, you’re much too small as it is!

2. What have you learned about collaborating locally and internationally?

I’ve learned that the two are very different. Collaborating locally is easy because you can easily communicate with the person you are working with; all you have to do is reach them face-to-face and you can easily discuss topics because you live in the same area. However, internationally is not so easy. If you wanted to discuss something face-to-face with a person in a place like, let’s say Columbia, and you live in Canada like I do, you’d have to like get a plane and fly across the world just to chat with them. You have to use things like wikis, blogs, and Skype calls to talk to them. It’s not as easy as talking to them, but it does work and you still get the project done and it turns out great.

3. What would have made this project easier/better/more interesting?

I didn’t really think this project could’ve been more interesting or made better. I think it could’ve been made easier, though. I found that the programs we used, like Pinnacle and Audacity, got hard to work with at times. It also made people very frustrated, snappy, and tired of working with; this may have made them want to give up and just slap some work down on a very important project. Stuff just wouldn’t work out at times. We worked on these videos from everyday that we got them going, so I think if we got at least one or two days off from working on them per week it would’ve been easier on everyone and less stressful. It would’ve taken a bit longer, but people would probably feel more calm about it.

4. What have you learned about telling a story combining pictures/music/video/text?

I learned that you have to chose what you use very carefully to make everything work together just right. To capture the correct mood, you have to capture the correct material. For example, for a project like the one I did, it’s a very sad, deep topic so you wouldn’t exactly use some loud heavy-rock music. You’d use something slow and moody, not depressing but something that makes you think and puts you in the correct mood. The text would be a calm, possibly italic font, not something jagged or crazy, or something “happy” like Comic Sans MS or Tempus Sans MS. You could use something like Monotype Corsiva or Lucida Calligraphy (that’s the one we used for most of our video.) The video would have to be sad and make you think about bulimic people and what they go through everyday and how they could see themselves fat when they look like they’re about to break. I’ve learned that everything is like a puzzle; you have to put the pieces in the correct way or else it won’t complete like it’s supposed to.

Anyways, that’s about it for my ITL Reflection Questions. I think the videos turned out excellent and carry out an important messages about very important topics. These videos were most definitely worth the time and effort and I hope everyone likes them and that it makes them think long and hard about these issues.

Hopefully I’ll be in school tomorrow!..

April

Hey XD

Our International Teen Life Videos are done! Well, not all of them. They’re due on Friday though, so a lot of people have been coming in to work on them during lunch hours. We also get lots of time in class. Me and Katie did finish ours but it needed more work so we took it off the site they were posted on and we edited it further. It’s being made now and should be up soon. I think they all look really good! =D

. α p r ii l , <3

This is our assignment for mixtures: we have to write a blog post that has written descriptions, examples, and pictures of solutions (homogeneous mixtures), mechanical mixtures (heterogeneous mixtures), unsaturated solutions, and saturated solutions.

Homgeneous Mixtures (Solutions)

What is a homogeneous mixure, or a “solution?” In a homogeneous mixture, the particles of the pure substances mix together so completely that the mixture looks and feels like it is only one substance; the properties are always the same. Examples of solutions are: drink mixtures, water, air, milk,  and paint. Here are some images of homogeneous mixtures:

 < I made this one myself on Paint. It shows the process of pouring iced tea crystals into water, and how they mix to what appears to be one substance. This is a homogeneous mixture.

< This one is from Google.ca/images. See how when you pour in the Kool-Aid it looks as if the drink crystals and water are all just one substance? This is called a solution.

 < This one came from Google Images as well. The paint appears to be all one substance and colour, but there are a lot of different chemicals that make up paint.

Heterogeneous Mixtures (Mechanical Mixtures)

A heterogeneous mixture, also known as a “mechanical mixture,” is a mixture where two or more substances can be seen and felt; the substances may have different properties compared to a different sample. Examples of mechanical mixtures are: granola bars, bird seed, limestone, cement, asphalt, and trail mix. Here are some pictures of heterogeneous mixtures:

 < Again, I made this one myself on Paint. It shows three different examples of mechanical mixtures, and why they are considered to be mechanical mixtures.

 < This is from Google Images. It’s a picture of asphalt up close. You can see all of the different rocks that make it up.

 < Again, got it from Google.ca/images. You can see the assortment of nuts making up the trail mix, with an occasional berry here and there.

Unsaturated Solutions

An unsaturated solution is a solution that still contains unfilled spaces between the particles. For example, have you ever made a drink using drink crystals, like iced tea or Kool-Aid? Has it ever tasted too watery? That’s because there aren’t enough drink particles to fill up the spaces of the water particles. To get the non-watery taste, just add more drink crystals to the water.

 < I made this picture on Paint. It shows how the iced tea particles don’t fully fill the spaces between the water ones, so the iced tea is much too watery.

 < From Google Images. This iced tea could really use some more drink crystals! Doesn’t look strong enough to me.

 < A picture of lemonade from Google.ca/images. It doesn’t look strong enough to me, but it doesn’t need that many more lemonade drink crystals. It does need more though.

Saturated Solutions

A saturated solution is the complete opposite of an unsaturated solution: all of the spaces are filled in it. When you make iced tea, lemonade or Kool-Aid, and it tastes just as it should, then the solution is saturated because the drink crystals fill up the spaces between the water particles.

 < I made this picture on Paint. It shows the different kinds of drink particles filling up the spaces completely between the water particles. The drinks turn out exactly like they should.

 < Credit to Google.ca/images for this picture. It’s a glass of saturated iced tea.

 < Again, credit to Google Images for this image. This is completely saturated lemonade! It’ll taste exactly like it should and it looks like it was made correctly.

Anyways, this is the end of this blog post. Hopefully it gave you a better understanding of homogeneous mixtures (solutions), heterogeneous mixtures (mechanical mixtures), unsaturated solutions, and saturated solutions!

. α p r ii l , <3

Hey again :]

This is the second post for what we needed to write about today. For those of you who don’t know what the ITL Video is, it’s the video we’re making for the ITL Project. We all got a certain topic; mine and Katie’s is anorexia/bulimia/other eating disorders. Click here to read more about it.

Software for the ITL Project video:

The software we used was Pinnacle and Audacity. Pinnacle is a program used for making videos. Audacity is a program we used to record our scripts for the video. On Pinnacle, what me and Katie did was added a lot of pictures of people with eating disorders, and then we recorded the script that was sent to us on Google Documents and put it over the pictures so that when they appeared, you’d hear us talking as well. Also, we converted a video from YouTube and put it into our video. We may have to take it out, though, when we get the video from Columbia put into there. We’re still waiting for it, though. Pinnacle allows you to add transitions between scenes, add music, make videos, add sound effects, text over stuff you add (whether it be photos or videos) and much more. Audacity allows you to record what you want to say, change the pitch, and much more.

Process?

The process for the video was not an easy one. First, we had to hunt down a bunch of pictures to add to our video. We’re still in the process of finding some more. We had to add music, put in the poems that the other people involved in this project wrote, add credits, and we still need to add the video from Columbia that, for some odd reason, doesn’t seem to be working…oh, and we also had to revise and edit te script that was sent to us. There may not seem like that much to do, but it’s a long, painful process…

Literacy: what about it?

To be honest, I find this question a bit difficult to answer. I’m gonna answer it based on what I understand from it. Well, I think it means how does literacy change when you’re doing a project like this? Do you still need it to get something out in the world? Obviously you must need some. You need literacy to know how to speak when recording the script, and you need it for when you type out the poems, and type over any pics/video you have. I guess you don’t really need it for when you add pictures, though, well for those you don’t type on or speak over. This is the best way I could answer this question, but if you want to add to it feel free to comment.

Editing and Production choices

We chose to edit our video the way we did based on what was good. For example, we wouldn’t use hard-to-read fonts and colours for the poems because no one could ever possibly read them. We wouldn’t use pictures that had nothing to do with anorexia or eating disorders because it doesn’t match our topic and when people chose to watch our video, they expect to see anorexia and not something that has nothing to do with it. We chose to keep different scenes in videos based on what made sense, what people want to see more of, and what really gets you thinking. This is how you chose what and what not to use in videos.

This is the end of this post, but if you want to comment on it please do, much appreciated.

α p r ii l <3

Hi :]

Well, here we are in computer class…and I just noticed it’s been a long time since we’ve had to write in our blogs! But today we have to write two posts…and I’m starting with this one. Mr. Fisher showed us some questions on his blog that the Blogicians had. We have to answer no more than four. So here’s my four answered.

4. When you post, how do you get the ideas to post about your topic?

I get ideas based on what I feel like writing about. If I’m surfing the internet, and I find an interesting website that looks like people would want to see it, I’ll link to it on my blog, write about it, and tell people to leave some comments about it after they check out the site. Sometimes I’ll find a cool picture I just feel like posting, or sometimes I’ll write about what someone else said. If what someone said interests me - whether they say it to me in person or on their blogs - I’ll write about it to see if other people are interested in it as well. I also like to write about fun stuff I’ve done, either on the weekend or other breaks, or afterschool hours.

7. What is your favourite or the most interesting thing you like about blogging?
There’s a lot I like about blogging. I like how you can comment on other people’s blogs and they can comment on yours. It helps you communicate with people in a different way, you can easily read their opinion, and you can easily state yours. I also like posting because it gives me something to do, and it gives people something to read. I like to post because I can get my opinion all around the world easily, and I can see how my opinion differs from theirs. I like to write about my weekends and what not because I find it fun, I guess…I just like to write about it, but I’m not 100% sure why. I guess I just like to post. People can also comment to me about what they did on the weekend so that’s cool. I guess my favourite stuff about blogging is the comments and the posting. I also like reading other people’s blogs and it’s interesting to have an audience reading mine.

8. What makes you want to comment to a blog?

When someone says something on their blog, and I find it interesting, I’ll want to comment, either because my opinion is different from theirs or the same. If someone says something on their blog and it makes me angry or sad, I’ll let them know that in a respectful way. If their opinion is different from mine, I’ll let them know why I think this, not to be rude or anything but just let them know that maybe we don’t agree on something, which is okay because it would be boring if everyone in the world agreed on the same thing. What makes me want to comment is to let people know how I feel, and my opinion.

11. How has blogging gotten better since you started?
Let’s just say it’s gotten better. I’ve been blogging for almost two years now…one year in grade 7 and one year in grade 8. In grade 7, I didn’t enjoy blogging that much…I didn’t like getting comments because I’d think, “Ugh another comment to respond to…” Now, I don’t mind at all, now that I’m older and I’ve gotten more used to blogging. I’ve enjoyed reading what people have to say and I enjoy writing back, knowing that my opinion might be different than theirs and it’s good to know how we both feel about a topic. I also didn’t like posting last year because I just didn’t feel like typing to a bunch of people I don’t even know, because I didn’t think anyone would care. This year I like to write to an audience because I know now that they care, due to the comments I get. I know now that my opinion matters just as much as anyone elses, and I like to see how people’s opinions are different/similar to mine. Writing is good to see how I feel and how other people feel. Blogging for me has changed also because I’ve gained better writing skills, and I’ve learned how writing online is different from writing on paper. Everyone online can read what I write, but on paper only certain people can read it. I’ve also learned better grammar skills and how to make my writing more interesting. I like blogging more now.

Anyways, there’s my four questions completed. Hopefully it helps. Please feel free to leave a comment about them.

APRiL<3

Hiii

Well, I’m just sitting here in the school’s computer lab, and Mr. Fisher gave us an assignment that had to be written on our blogs because we haven’t been paying that much attention to them, which kind of isn’t good, but is alright in a way, because we’ve been so busy with the International Teen Life Project! Speaking of which, that’s what our blog post had to be about: the ITL Project’s challenges and advantages.

What are the challenges of working internationally?

Challenges of working internationally? I guess there are a few. One would be that we live so far away from each other! For example, if we want to discuss the project and how we can change/improve it, we can’t exactly sit down and talk with one another face-to-face, unless we’re willing to spend loads of money to fly there by plane, which is extremely unlikely. We do, however, have ways of communicating. We can comment on each other’s blogs if we can track them down, and we can talk on the wiki…but I still don’t find it the same. Sometimes, it would just be easier to talk to the person face-to-face, but we can’t do that due to the distance between us, but I guess we have to work with what we’ve got.

Another challenge is that where there are so many classes working on this project, if one class is editing the wiki and the other needs on, then you’ve gotta wait. There’s nothing wrong with waiting - you just have to be patient and wait your turn - but still, it’d be nice if all classes could edit at once.

Speaking of editing, that’s another challenge. If one class likes the way they edit the wiki but another class wants it to be another way, then everytime the other class logs in the wiki will be changed and, chances are, they’ll change it back to the way they want it. Before you know it, everyone’s changing the wiki and it gets confusing after a while. The classes will just have to agree on one way sooner or later, though.

What are the advantages of working in a collaborative international group?

There are a lot of advantages! First of all, it’s great to get in touch with people from around the world. You can learn about their feelings and how they differ from yours. You could also make friends! Actually, over the weekend two girls had added me on MSN, and I was talking to them - they’re really nice! I really enjoy talking to them; they’re really cool. It was great to learn more about them too, and their feelings, and the stuff that they do for fun.

Another advantage would be that working with other people can help improve your knowledge of geography. If you learn a lot about what someone else’s area looks like, then you could easily picture the place in your head, which helps you get a better understanding of different places around the world. This is why I think we should interact with other people, because not only will you learn more about them and their feelings and make friends with some people, but you will learn more about places around the world as well.

Anyways, that’s about it for this blog post. If you are in the ITL Project, and want to answer these questions as well, feel free to copy and paste them onto your blog. Also, please leave a comment - I’d like to know what you all think of these questions and how I answered them! (Even if you’re not in the ITL Project, I’d still like to read some comments from you )

April

Hey

Well, since my last post about bulimia and anorexia wasn’t that long, I decided to add onto it in a new post. Stuff about my feelings of it, what it is, etc.

Bulimia is an eating disorder. It’s when you eat a bunch of food and throw it all up again. Not only does this make you very sick - or could kill you - but it rots your teeth away as well. If you keep throwing up stomach acid, eventually it will rot your teeth away. Anorexia is similar to bulimia. Anorexia is when you don’t eat at all.

Why would someone want to go through the pain of bulimia and anorexia to lose weight? Don’t they know that there are weight-loss programs and exercise programs out there that can help them? There are many more healthier ways to lose weight - and being anorexic or having bulimia isn’t the way to do it. I’ve seen girls in magazines (especially celebrities) who are so skinny, it’s scary. There are women out there that are 20 - 30 years old that weight less than me. I’m only 109 pounds, and Nicole Richie was once 83 pounds. I don’t know if she still is, but still…that’s freaky. I’m 13 - almost 14 - and there are women out there that weigh less than me and my friends. It’s scary. It’s ok to want to lose weight, but that much is disgusting!

Anyways, I don’t like seeing girls or boys with bulimia and anorexia. They should know that there are better, healthier ways to lose weight, and hopefully if me and enough people in the class write about it, they’ll understand that they don’t need to go through such pain.

April <3

Hey =)

I’m just sitting here in class with Katie, and we are doing a project on anorexia and bulimia, along with Ana Carolina and Lisette from Mr. Hide’s class. We are just letting these two people know that we are doing the same project as them, we are doing this because on your blogs you don’t allow comments that are anonymous. Anyways, we just wanted to ask you how you will be videotaping bulimia and anorexia. Do you have any ideas? If so, just leave a comment on our blogs; we’re interested in seeing your ideas.

April & Katie