Opinion Corner

Opinion Corner
Profreaders:
-Sonia
Zbraniborska
-Karolina
Mroczek
Hi everyone!
Welcome to the first
edition of our school
newspaper ‘Opinion
Corner’ this year.
We know that the
winter holidays have
just finished and lots
of tests are waiting
for us. (All good
things come to an
end). We don’t have
lots of free time but
our optimism comes
back with memories
of
winter
holid a ys . Fo r t u n a t e l y,
now you can spend
time in a productive way reading the
best Polish school
newspaper, maybe
the best in in the
whole world, where
2012/2013
you can find articles written by your
friends. Before we
forget, we want to
remind you that in
a month the school
c o n t e s t
‘Strongman’ will be
organized, so if you
want to participate
in it, it is about time
you started workout
No. 6
Important
Topics:
Christmas holiday is over, so
unfortunately,
we all have to
come back to
everyday's tasks
after a term of
refreshment and
relaxation. The
beginning of a
New Year is a
time of making
resolutions and
reflexion,
and
you... what resolutions have you
made?
Students from the class
2e
In this issue:
The end of the world on 21st December 2012
On TV, newspapers, on the
radio we heard: ‘doomsday is
coming’. Mayas predicted it.
In the USA people were
freaking out. They were making bunkers and stores. They
bought huge amounts of water, tinned food, air filters,
protective clothing and oxy-
gen masks.
yas predictions?
There were a lot of dates of
the end of the world like: 31st
December 1999 and 21 st
December 2012. Possibly the
next end of the world will be
in 2060 – Isaac Newton said
that.
Did you prepare
somehow for this disaster?
Did you believe in Ma-
Fortunately we survived.
I.K.
The end of the
1
Christmas In
America
2
The most beautiful and charming
2
The end of the
3
Is the test tube
meat a hope for a
4
GMO CONFUSION
5
High School
Hoodies
6
Str. 2
Opinion Corner
Christmas In America
Christmas holiday is over,
so unfortunately, we all have
to come back to everyday's
tasks after a term of refreshment and relaxation. The
beginning of a New Year is
a time of making resolutions
and reflexion, and you...
what resolutions have you
made?
I wish describe how
Americans prepare for
Christmas, and the differ-
ences between Polish and
American Christmas.
Christmas starts in American homes earlier than usual
in Poland, often at the beginning of December.
I wish describe how
Americans prepare for
Christmas, and the
differences between Polish
and American Christmas.
The stores and shopping
centers since mid-November
create the socalled Christm as
spi ri t .
Stores are trying to make
with beautiful
design to encourage people
to buy gifts.
so dinner is usually eaten
indoors. Dinner usually consists of roast turkey, goose, duck or
ham served with
cranberry sauce,
then plum pudding
or pumpkin pie
followed by nuts
and fruit.
On Christmas Eve
American
Americans generChristmas Eve
homes
are
ally don't share
Christmas wafer or
have fish. Instead,
decorated with they take part in worship in
holly, mistletoe churches and sing carols.
and branches of Many people have Christtrees, most have a mas dinner in restaurants.
Christmas
tree
decorated with On 25th December - which
electric
lights, in the USA is the only day
tinsel, baubles, of Christmas free from work
strings of popcorn and - people hand each other
gifts.
candy canes.
The majority of Americans
live in small families and the
holidays are the only opportunity to renew ties with the
extended family, at Christmas they usually set off to
visit them and spend time
with them for 2-3 days by a
Christmas tree. They celebrate Christmas with the exchange of gifts and greetings
and with family visits. For
many, the day begins on
Christmas Eve with the
Midnight Mass. At Christmas it snows in many states,
KR
2012/2013
Str. 3
The most beautiful and charming place in Warsaw
Few people know that
in the capital of Poland
in
the
“Śródmieście Południowe” district there
is a housing estate
call ed
„Jazdó w”
where there are small,
charming and romantic houses made from
wood. It is located between the building of
the Parliament and the
“Ujazdowski” park.
them after about 5 them down and sell
years but they sur- the ground to build
vived until know.
embassies, because
The place is magical the place where they
and mysterious in a are located is very exway. When going pensive and desirable.
through a crowded
Warsaw city centre
suddenly you find
yourself on a street
where you enter a
completely different
world. That area is
I really recommend
visiting this place and
feeling the magic of
it. I also advise to
hurry up because soon
they may not be there
anymore. J
But let’s start from
the beginning…
The housing estate
was built in 1945 as a
temporary
living
place for workers and
their families who
were rebuilding Warsaw after the Second
World War. The
houses were built by
the Finns, that is why
they are called Finnish houses, and we
received them from
the Soviet Union, as
Finland had to pay the
Soviet Union for the
war reparations. The
plan was to demolish
full of greenery and Karol Pniewski II E
even the air smells
different. For a moment you can feel like
in a fairy tale especially in winter when
there is a lot of snow.
The problem is that
the authorities of
Warsaw want to pull
Str. 4
Opinion Corner
Is the test tube meat a hope for a better tomorrow?
Vegetal products like
cereal preparations, fruit and
vegetables ought to be a
mainstay of human’s diet.
Nevertheless, meat should
be a part of daily diet in
smaller quantities, as it is a
valuable food product,
which supplies human organism with proteins, vitamins and mineral elements mostly iron. Some of them
are found only in meat,
therefore one should not resign from eating it.
ently, there is an idea of test
tube meat, which would be
produced without the neces-
Nowadays, a traditional way
of producing meat creates
several problems. Global
meat production has reached
its peak. In thirty years a
need for it will be twice as
big. Animal’s fodder, which
is mainly corn and soy,
could be used to feed people
directly. Animal breeding is
today’s largest producer of
sewage. As a result, the
meat’s production is expensive and has become a serious ecological trouble. Animal breeding is also an ethical problem. On every animal farm focused on industrial breeding animals are
treated cruelly and inhumanely. They stand huddled
and are almost completely
unable to move, being
forced to eat fattening feeds.
sity of killing animals. In
2002 NASA scientists
started intensively working
on this project and even
though they gave it up,
other scientists all over the
world have been encouraged
to further researches. In
2008, PETA organization
which fights for animals’
rights offered a one million
dollar prize to the first company that brings lab-grown
chicken meat to consumers
in at least 6 states of America by 2016. Thirty research
teams from around the
world take part in the race to
invent the best method of
test tube meat production.
Professor Post is nearest to
achieve the success, but he
experiments with pork and
beef, so he doesn’t compete
in PETA’s contest. In a nutshell, the method of producing test tube meat involves
So, with all these drawbacks
of today’s method of producing meat, is there any
other possibility? Appar-
taking stem cells from an
animal and then growing
them in laboratory glass.
I n
my
opinion, those researches
are promising and ground
breaking in a domain of biotechnology. It is also perfect
example of using science in
order to do something good.
They are also a hope for
solving one of the biggest
world’s problems and the
range of possibilities of
exploitation is very broad.
Luckily, one day it will help
us with exploring the universe, as astronauts could
make food on their own
during long space flights or
settlers wouldn’t need supplies from the Earth during
ventures of colonizing other
planets. Who knows, maybe
it could even solve the problem of hunger in Africa! I
believe, that there are many
other options to use these
researches and nobody
knows what the future will
bring.
Andrzej
2012/2013
Str. 5
GMO CONFUSION
Lately there’s been a
lot of hype about the mysterious GMO ‘thing’, that’s
supposed to be enacted in
Poland. When only polish
citizens found out about it, a
heated discussion has begun.
We can notice, there are
both opponents and followers of it. But who is right?
And anyway, what does
GMO even mean and what
does it do?
The abbreviation
GMO stands for Genetically
Modified Organism.
Generally, it’s a living
organism, whose genetic material has been
changed by genetic engineering techniques. In
practice it’s mostly used
on plants, to which for
example vitamins are
added. I think the most
popular example of that
is the ‘gold rice’, which
has some vitamin A
added. So what’s this
noise about? Since this
is the opinion corner,
I’ll write what I think of it.
The first thing I hate
about the whole GMO affair
is the fact that most people
who speak up on this topic
have absolutely no idea
what GMO works like. Personally, I’ve read many articles from different magazines, newspapers and websites to see different points
of view, before I took voice.
I know I’m not a specialist –
but at least I try to find any
arguments to justify my
opinion. Except the lack of
knowledge, what I noticed is
widespread hypocrisy. I
guess the biggest opponents
of GMO have actually no
clue that most of their
clothes are made from genetically modified cotton.
This definitely takes away
their credibility.
The second thing
that will probably upset the
dear anti-GMO militants is
that no (I’d like to emphasize no here) tests have confirmed the bad influence of
GMO. Zero, not even one.
absorb the heavy metals
from car smog. But as we all
know people are different –
maybe all those opponents
just love to eat poisoned
food? Another good thing
GMO works for is making
all those veggies unreachable for all those fungus,
bacteria and viruses and obviously insects. Can you
imagine just slicing a tomato
as usual, when suddenly a
big bug jumps on your face?
Ew.
Our world and environment wouldn’t reach the
current level without GMO
and if not that, we’d still live
like in the Dark Ages. Why
should we stop our beloved
country to develop?
To sum up, I’m always open to any discussion
with the GMO fighters, but
this time I’d like them to
give me concrete arguments.
Unless that happens – I
won’t change my mind.
So tell me again, your proof
was what…?
And finally, the last
thing I’d like to mention is
all the good GMO does. The
“gold rice” I mentioned
above is a great example of
it. The added vitamin A,
which is amazing for our
sight, really improved the
level of eyesight in Asian
countries. And yes, that is
confirmed by many tests.
The other thing GMO does,
is for example not letting
vegetables, which are grown
very often near highways, to
A.
Str. 6
Opinion Corner
High School Hoodies
High School Hoodies’ is the
Is our school supposed to be
sions about that subject.
idea of sweatshirts with a
worse?
Let's stop talking about this!
special logo of one of Warsaw high schools. There are
a lot of different types of
hoodies, jackets, sometimes
even t-shirts you can buy.
The funny thing is you don’t
really have to be one of a
Students of the 19th High
School in Warsaw! Integrate!
Socialize!
We ought to make our own
hoodies if we are proud of
our school!
students of a high school to
Students of the 19th High
have
School in Warsaw! Inte-
its
hoodie.
They usually cost about one
grate!
hundred zlotych. There are
We ought to make our own
a lot of different colors and
hoodies if we are proud of
sizes of high school hoodies
our school!
too!
Socialize!
Moreover, a hoodie like that
Start doing!
Some popular and one of the
may be a great souvenir in
Just think about it... Who
best Warsaws high schools
t h e
wouldn't like to have a
f u t u r e .
Imagine you are 40,
having
living
children,
with
your
wife or husband,
when you're finding
your
old
High
School Hoodie in
the
closet!
What an amazing
feeling! All of your
high school memohave already created their
own logos and sweatshirts.
ries would come back!
On our schools facebook
site, there are a lot of discus-
hoodie like that?
dst
2012/2013
Str. 7
Lazy time
When I was thinking
about the subject of this article
accidentally I found a note
about Andrzej Tuchowski’s
blog. I found there a very interesting text with a peculiar title:
‘How to get complexes in one
minute?’ In my opinion this
note is good enough to interest
you, especially at the end of
the semester, when we have a
lot of work to do.
In his article the blogger talks about his preparations
for writing this text. Do you
think he went to a library to
look for some books about
complexes? No. Firstly, he
went to a pharmacy and bought
an aspirin, then played on the
computer, browsed through his
favourite web pages, visited
the kitchen many times, looked
for something to drink, looked
out of the window, looked for
some clothes, checked the notification on Facebook, he went
to the kitchen again and finally
looked out of the window. Do
you have any connotations?
When I read this description
for the first time I thought
about myself when I’m trying
to learn for a test. While learning I do everything except
reading a handbook. Do you do
the same? If this description
characterizes your learning
habits, I think that you should
continue reading this article.
When he finished reporting his afternoon Tuchowski asked: ‘Do you know
how I feel about it?’. Now, I
want to ask you, how do you
feel when you are wasting your
time? Do you have a sense of
guilt? I have it very often. After being lazy I think that I
have to learn and I am really
angry with myself. Do you feel
the same? However, our blog-
ger has a different point of
view. We don’t have to answer
the above question because
Andrzej did it for us. He says:
GREAT.
In the next part which
is entitled ‘Comparisons are
for selling-platers’ he says that
he is a ‘procrastinator’. He
claims that a procrastinator is a
person who indefinitely puts
off his duties and responsibilities. He says that he had sense
of guilt a long time ago. He did
the same as you and me. He
even tried to implement discipline. Nonetheless, he is still
learning and doing things with
the same laziness as you and
me. Then he decided that he
would not deceive himself, but
accept his way of working. He
explains it giving the example
of a footballer who has a warm
-up before the game. I think
that this is a good explanation
because after my lazy time I
always study and I am sure that
you do the same. Conclusions?
Lazy time before work is a
normal thing and it isn’t bad.
To sum up, you should
know your learning strategies
and do not compare with others. However, you may also
ask the question what about the
people who talk about their
effectiveness in learning. My
answer is if they talk about
learni n g
they
have
t h e
biggest
probl e m
with
it. So,
when
y o u
meet
such a
person again think that they
want to mask.
Lazy Cat
Str. 8
Opinion Corner
New Year’s Resolutions
My New Year’s resolution is not to make any
New Year’s resolutions.
I
would like to study
more, especially math. I
would like to stop playing video games all the
time and get a summer
job.
I have a whole list of New
Year’s Resolutions. First
of all, I’d like to exercise
more and lose some
weight. I’m definitely too
fat. I know it might be
difficult to achieve but
I’ll try anyway. I think I
can also study a little bit
more to improve my
grades. On a daily basis
I’d like to be more confident, patient and more
sociable. I don’t think my
resolutions are much
different from other people’s resolutions.
In 2013 I will study more, do
all my homeworkand go
out more often. What is
more, I will sleep more
and eat breakfast every
day because now I don’t.
I would like to finish my
book and publish it. I
will definitely dye my
hair blue. I will exercise
and walk my dog more
often. I would like to get
better grades but …. I’m
too lazy for this one, I’m
afraid.
In 2013 I’d like to lose some
weight. I will exercise
more and I’ll stop eating
sweets for sure. I also
want to go to some of the
concerts that are going to
be held in Poland this
year. I would like to
think positively and always find a bright side of
everything that happens
to me. I’m going to face
the problems with a
smile on my face. I guess
it all may help me to live
my life to the fullest.
decided to be especially
nice to him (and it’s truly
hard sometimes because
he’s often malicious and
drives me up the wall).
O f
You know, YOLO and
the sort of things. Just
staying optimistic because ‘everything might
not be good but there is
good in everything’.
This year I have a lot of resolutions but the most important are those three:
Firstly, I want to become a
hard-working person. I
want to achieve my goals
so I have no time for
being lazy. I would like
to work harder and improve my grades. Secondly, I want to become
‘miss fit and healthy’. I
want to eat only fresh
and healthy food. And I
want to exercise more to
get my six-pack abs.
Last but not least, I just
want to be a good person.
I want to be nice for
other people and treat
them right.
In terms of New Year’s resolutions this year I decided to focus on my
relationships with other
people. I want to be
kinder but also more selfconfident. Due to Kuba’s
constant complaints I
course, I have to study
more, read more, do
more and so on and so
forth…
I would like to do something
special this year. I would
like to have special
memories. I would like to
spend more time with my
friends. This is really
important for me. And I
want to start learning
new languages. I think
that a person who knows
many languages gets
more opportunities to
meet new people.
2012/2013
Str. 9
What style of photography do you choose?
When we think about
photography we should take into
consideration the fact that it is
connected with creating durable images by recording light or
other electromagnetic radiation,
either chemically by means of a
light-sensitive material such
as photographic film, or electronically by means of an image sensor. It sounds a little bit difficult
and complicated, but do not
worry… when you immerse yourself in the topic, it becomes just a
piece of cake. Simply you “copy”
natural objects and show results of
this process using your camera.
The first permanent photo was
taken
in
1822
by
the French inventor Nicéphore
Niépce, but it was destroyed by a
later attempt to duplicate
it. Niépce was successful again in
1825. He made the first permanent
photograph from nature with a
camera obscura in 1826. Since
that time the history
of pho-
tography has begun. For almost
two centuries many different
styles of taking pictures have appeared and developed.
The most popular division of pictures is connected with three basic
types of photos:
Black-and-white
colour
digital
But it is not everything. Apart
from these kinds of taking photos
there are many other styles of
photography. Such photos are
usually taken by professionals and
people who are fond of the subject. The best examples of such
photos are:
Masterful Monochromatic Colour Photography
Epic Panoramic and 3D
Photography
These photos can be taken in the
round, creating amazing full-circle
spiralling panoramas or even fully
-mobile three-dimensional shots
that can only be viewed via computer.
Spectacular
High-Speed
Photography
This kind of photographs let us
catch pictures with photographic
glimpses of faster-than-sight phenomena invisible to the naked eye,
from bullets piercing bottles to
aesthetically splendid water
splashes.
When we take such photos we do
not have to be limited to black
and white. We can make compositions from a single colour,
shade or tone beyond greyscale.
These works can be potently expressive despite their singular
colours.
To be continued…
Konrad Jurczewski
2e :)