Opinion Corner
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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 :)