The Lab

The Lab, by Jack Heath, is a sci-fi thriller about Agent Six of Hearts, a 16 year-old superhuman who is an agent of the Deck, a team of special agents fighting to uphold the Code (a list of humanitarian rules similar to the Geneva Convention) in a city that’s under the iron grip of the ruthless company ChaoSonic. But Six has a deadly secret. He is the product of a Code-breaking and illegal genetic experiment by the Lab, an equally- ruthless division of ChaoSonic. When the Deck begins investigating the Lab, Six tries hard to keep his origins a secret from the other Deck agents. But then he meets Kyntak, a boy with the same genetically engineered DNA. As Six’s life spirals out of control, he must face his most perilous mission yet. And it might not be a one that he survives.

My favorite part of the book was when Six fights a ChaoSonic combat robot in a fight to the death. The robot has enhanced reflexes, and it’s almost impossible to penetrate its body armour. Jack utilized his descriptive powers to the fullest here so I felt like the fight was going on in front of my eyes! This is yet another superb trait that Jack has, an amazing descriptive ability. If I had a million dollars, I would give that and more to him, because he was only 13 when he wrote The Lab. I didn’t like sci-fi that much when I started this book, but once again Jack’s style of writing kept me hooked until the last word.

Jack Heath’s style of writing is one that depends heavily on elaborate twists in the story and dead ends where a reader is left scratching his head. To further spice up the action-packed chapters, he adds steep cliffhangers; near-death scenarios and suspense that mounts up until you can’t take it anymore and you have to turn the page. In that lies the secret to Jack’s success. He writes so that it is incredibly hard to not feel the urge to keep reading. This book was so good that when my mother called me for dinner, I was furious!

Jack Heath was born on August 23 1986 in Sydney. He is writer of young adult fiction and other than his Six of Hearts series he has written the Ashley Arthur series. His work is often compared to the work of Robert Muchamore, author of the CHERUB series and Anthony Horowitz, author of the Alex Rider series. All three authors have the same traits in their stories, which include redemption, coming of age, commercialism, conspiracy, corruption, greed, heroism and many others. Jack says that he writes only to “keep people entertained from the first page to the last.” If that is his goal, he’s certainly achieved it. When Jack was 13, he wrote The Lab to impress a girl who liked reading. He finished the first draft at 17. He sent it to publishers, keeping his age anonymous until he was sure they liked it. For a 17 year-old boy that’s not too bad!

For all you sci-fi lovers out there, if you don’t read this book and the other books in the series, then you’re missing out on some thing really good.

Under a War- Torn Sky

Under a War- Torn Sky, by L.M. Elliot, is a lucid gripping tale about courage, sacrifice, love and loss during the Nazi occupation of Europe during WW2.

Shot down on a dangerous mission in Germany, 19 year-old bomber pilot Henry Forester finds himself in a land infested with people who would find boundless joy in seeing his head on their mantelpiece. Henry is suddenly forced to use all his wits, the kindness of strangers and the resourcefulness and cunning of the French Resistance maquis to survive a perilous journey across Nazi-controlled Europe in order to get back to home and the girl he loves.

The book is written using great vocabulary, but L.M. Elliot wrote the book in such a way that even though endless reams of adjectives can be found on a single page, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand what’s going on. I think that she is one of the best authors I’ve read because I didn’t know that this book was inspired by her grandfather until the very last page. I admire her for that; her skill to make a story sound like her own from the first word. It made the book more interesting. However, there was one flaw about this book. In the first few chapters, she spent too many words describing events that need less than 300 words to describe them. This book is very different from other WW2 books that I’ve read. In other books, the protagonist was usually recording events in a diary format. This book is not just a collection of Henry’s experiences, but also a collection of every thought that runs through his head, every emotion that he experiences and every person he meets. That is what makes this book stand out in bold relief from other WW2 books

My favorite parts of the book were the parts that mentioned the kindness of the strangers that helped him before the French Resistance stepped in. I felt happy that in fiction and in real life ordinary people were willing to take extraordinary risk to help people they didn’t know just so that they would see the light of dawn. I felt a twinge of sadness as I read these parts because in real life, some people were not as fortunate as some of the families who sheltered him. If they escaped prosecution, they’d be wanted fugitives the Nazi’s, with their cold-blooded brutality, would not rest until they were caught and when they were, they would be tortured to death or sent to death camps like Ravensbruck and Aushwitz.

L.M. Elliot was inspired to writer Under a War-Torn Sky after hearing stories of her grandfather’s adventures when he was trapped behind enemy lines. Her grandfather was also a bomber pilot during WW2 and was also shot down on a mission to Germany. Under a War-Torn Sky has won several awards which include the Notable Book in Social Studies for Young People (NCSS/CBC), 2002 Jefferson Cup Honor Book, 2002 Winner, Borders’ Original Voices Award for Young Adult Literature, 2001 Best Children’s Books of the Year, 2002.

There was one part at the beginning of the book that touched me. After a nightmare, Henry sings a poem called High Flight to himself to calm himself down. An American RAF pilot who wrote it just before being killed in action wrote this poem. Here it is:

“ Oh I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I’ve climbed and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds-and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of-wheeled and soared

And swung

High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,

I’ve chased the shouting wind along and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air.

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace

Where never lark, or even eagle, flew;

And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.”

My Bintaro Lama field trip

I stepped off the bus at the Bintaro Lama kampung. My group members, Stuart Lyall and Aditya Nijasure, followed close behind.I saw a brown river, similar to the one at the AETRA purification plant. We were about to see how this river water, with the help of WatSan, an aid organization,was purified for the people who lived in the kampung. Intriguing, isn't it? We went to 3 purification stations, stations 6,2 and 4 , in that order. I'll describe each one of them:

Station 6: At station 6, representatives from WatSan added two different products to the water to make it instantly drinkable. The first product was Aqua Tabs. Aqua Tabs are about a half-inch long, and come in packets of 10. Each pack costs Rp.3000, and the people of the kampung are getting a good deal because one, just one tiny Aqua Tab can purify 20 liters of clear (but germ-infested) water. If the water is more turbid, then two Aqua Tabs will need to be added. The second one was Air Rahmat. Air Rahmat is a liquid water purifier, and has the same power as Aqua Tabs. One capful of Air Rahmat (5mL) will purify 20 liters of water. Like Aqua Tabs, if the water is more turbid, then two or three capfuls need to be added.

Station 2: Station two wasn't a water purification station. It was a Public Health Promotion center. There, the children of the kampung learn how to keep water safe, proper hygiene habits, and the importance of washing hands. They even sang an Indonesian hand washing song for us before we left!

Station 4: At station four, WatSan representatives added a substance called PUR into the water. In the demonstration, the PUR acted like alum and formed floc at the bottom of the pot. The water was then poured through a ceramic filter and voila, clean water!

I was kind of sad to leave the kampung. The people there had been so friendly with us in the short time that we had stayed there. The contrast between their way of life and our way of life was HUGE. I hope, some day, they will never have to worry about purifying their water again.

Everything on a Waffle

Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath is about a young girl named Primrose Squarp who thinks her parents were not killed in a violent storm but will be towed back to her by a whale in a matter of time. Weird, isn’t it? But the real story is much more than that. It tells stories of Coal Harbor, a small town on Vancouver Island the people in this town who are a big part of this humorous yet heartwarming book like Miss Bowzer, owner of The Girl on the Red Swing, who offers good advice, a willing ear and all food (served at her restaurant), including lasagna, served on a waffle!

I’ve read a lot of books with citywide scales, worldwide scales, and even universe-wide scales. But “Everything on a Waffle” focuses on a small town and since a lot can happen in a small town, it makes the book more interesting. Also, the significant decrease in information (compared to other chapter books) makes “Everything on a Waffle” a book that you can really enjoy.

My favorite parts of the book were the recipes at the end of each chapter. These recipes were mostly Miss Bowzer’s creations, but Primrose’s mother invented two of them. Two of the recipes are Chow Mein Noodle Cookies and Carrots In An Apricot Glaze. Some of these recipes sound delicious, and others just plain wacky, so I think I might try to make some of them.

This book of Polly Horvath won a Newberry Honor Award in 2001. In the very first page of the book, the author says that Coal Harbor is a real place, but she changed its geography to suit the story.

Polly Horvath was born on 30 January 1957. She has written more than 10 books for children, among them are The Happy Yellow Car and Everything on a Waffle. I found a surprising fact about Polly Horvath. She has been writing since the age of eight. She says that she doesn’t know where the ideas for her stories come from, but she does know she likes books with food in them! While selling their (her family’s) house, their realtor would come over in the evening and tell stories about Coal Harbor which, funnily enough, had only one restaurant which served everything on a waffle – for real! I am looking forward to reading more of Polly Horvath’s wonderful books.

Questions

1. What percentage of the world's supply of water is fresh water?

About 2.5% of the Earth's supply of water is fresh water.

2. Where is the world's supply of fresh water found?

2% is found in the polar ice caps, .49% is found in the form of groundwater and o.o1% os found in the atmosphere, rivers and lakes.

3. Even though the supply of fresh water is abundant it is still a problem. Why?

Although the world;s supply of fresh water is abundant it is still a problem because people an water are distributed unevenly

4.Observe the map of world annual precipitation (opposite).

(a) Describe the changes in rainfall that occur as you move from the southern to the northern tip of Africa.

AS you move from the southern tip of Africa to the northern tip, you pass the Tropic of Capricorn, The Equator and the Tropic of Cancer. Rainfall is highest at the Equator, about 1500 to 2000 millimeters. but is lowest at the Tropic of Cancer, which gets less than 250 millimeters of rainfall a year. I think this is because the Sahara Desert is located there.

(b) Describe the changes in rainfall that occur as you move from the western to the eastern tip of Australia along the Tropic of Capricorn.

At the west coast of Australia, water is very scarce, less than 250 millimeters of rainfall a year. But as you move closer to the east coast, it gets wetter and wetter. I think this is because the severity of tropical storms is greater that the severity of storms on the west coast.

5. Observe the map of water availability per person.

(a)Which parts of the world appear to have a large amount of water available per person?

Russia, Canada and Indonesia all have large amounts of water available per person. The northern part of South America, western Australia and central Africa also have large amounts of water available per person.

(b)Which parts of the world appear to have a small amount of water available per person?

Parts of North Africa,India, North America and parts of Asia all have small amounts of water available per person.

6. Observe the diagram of water use.

(a)Which are the main uses of water?

The main uses of water are for agricultural and industrial purposes.

(b)Which uses have increased more over the last century?

Use of water for community, industry and agriculture have increased more in the last century.

My field trip to the water treatment plant

As the bus rolled across the concrete bridge, I looked out of my window. A brown, trash-filled river greeted my eyes. I almost swore. This is what humans do to the rivers that supplied them with water for thousands of years? Fools. Water from this river 500 years ago was pure and safe to drink. Now it has to go through an expensive purification process for it to be considered safe. My class took a field trip to the AETRA water purification plant to see how water from this dirty river was turned in water to be consumed by the people of Jakarta. It was an interesting field trip, and at the end of it we got to taste the water. The purified water tasted like normal water and I couldn't believe that this water once had bacteria and other deadly germs that could have been fatal. This particular plant processes 5000 liters of water PER SECOND. Whoa, that's a lot of water!

How to purify water in 6 steps:

Step 1: Gather water that you are going to purify. Pass it through large, coarse filters to filter out large debris like cans and plastic bags. Pass it through a second set of fine filters to remove small debris like leaves and straws.

Step 2: Add minerals like iron and magnesium to make the water slightly cleaner.

Step 3: Add alum and stir it into the water. The alum will act like a magnet and draw together dirt particles to form clumps. These clumps are called floc.

Step 4: Pass the water through a bed of sand. This should remove the floc and further improve the quality of the water.

Step 5: Pass the water through more sand; 1 meter of it. The sand should be extremely fine. Add chlorine to kill any remaining germs.

Step 6: Add disinfectant and, once tested for e-coli(a type of germ that causes stomach cramps and,in some cases, death), send it to a reservoir. The water is now ready to drink! Mmmm. That tastes good!

 This is a video of me doing an "interview" with Richie Perry from the novel Fallen Angels. This project was fun, and I think I should recommend Stuart to Broadway, he's quite a good actor:) 

Poem Reading

This is a video of me reading a poem called Where Do All The Teachers Go? by Peter Dixon. The humor is 110% British, and took me a while to start laughing when I was rehearsing it. it's still funny, and the poem is from a book called Read Me and Laugh: A Funny Poem for Every Day of The Year.

D-Day, by Stephen E. Ambrose, is a superb book about the day that shaped the fate of the twentieth century- June 6^th 1944.

There are many questions that can be asked about D-Day (The day, not the book).  The most frequently asked- Why did D-Day even happen? That question has many answers. I’ll try to simplify it. On September 2^nd, 1939, Great Britain and France went to war with Germany because the latter had invaded Poland, an ally of Britain and France. World War Two had begun. From 1939-1942, the Wehrmacht, the German army, the Luftwaffe, the German air force and the Kreigsmarine, the German navy and submarine fleet, were the terror of the world. France fell, and the Allies, a coalition of forces that included Poland, the USA and Canada were facing certain defeat at the hands of the Third Reich. But the battles of Britain and El Alamein, Hitler’s first major defeats, saved the Allies and bought them much needed time. Allied planners and leaders knew that the quickest way to end the war would be an invasion of Europe, since the Japanese had already been virtually defeated in the Pacific. But which country to invade? France was chosen for two reasons: 1. With France liberated, the French Resistance could be organized into a full fledged army and support them in their campaign against Hitler. 2. France was right next to Germany. If the Normandy Breakout campaign (as the invasion came to be called) was successful, then the massive Allied war machine could invade Germany and force Hitler’s surrender.

My favorite part of the book was the chapter We Were Fairly Stuffed With Gadgets. It describes in detail the various ingenious if not strange gadgets the British divisions used on their beaches: Gold and Sword. The gadgets were named Hobart’s Funnies after the British Major General Percy Hobart, who invented these vehicles. My favorites were the flail tank, which was basically a steel drum attached to a Sherman or a Churchill tank with chains thrashing in front. The idea was that the constant flailing of the chains would set off mines in the tanks path harmlessly and the serpent tank, with would shoot an explosive-filled plastic “serpent” at enemy machine guns and mortar emplacements to provide a clear path for advancing infantry.

About the author: Stephen E. Ambrose (January 10^th, 1936- October 13^th 2002) was considered a great author. But he was accused of plagiarism in seven of his books and of false information in all of his books. Law states that an author who is using another author’s work in his or hers own book must put the passage(s) in quotes and put a footnote. Ambrose did only the latter. He said, “ I just want to know where the hell it came from” On other accounts, especially in D-Day, Ambrose was accused of putting false information in the text. One veteran said that when Ambrose described the C-47 pilots as cowardly and inexperienced  “ That he was wrong. My pilot was experienced, he had just never flown in such heavy flak fire before.”

This brings an end to this report. D-Day is a great book, and for aspiring WW2 historians out there, it is a must read.  

The Water Cycle

Evaporation: Evaporation occurs when the sun heats up a body of water, usually the ocean. The water then turns into gas, which rises into the atmosphere. Once in the atmosphere, it becomes clouds or fog. This gas is called water vapor. As seen in the picture, an example of evaporation is when you see thin wisps of air on top of the water if you live near a beach in the afternoon. This is evaporation in action. By evening, the temperature usually drops a few degrees and the vapor, which is warm by now, rises. Cool air takes its place and the evaporation process is ready to begin again.  Water vapor is pure and free of contaminants.

 

Condensation: Condensation occurs when warm water vapor meets a cold object and turns back into its liquid form. As seen in the picture, an example of condensation is when you take a cold drink outside on a warm day. Soon, you’ll see little droplets of water on the outside of the

glass. This is cooled water vapor. Condensation is the opposite of evaporation, and the water it generates is safe enough to drink. Condensation is used to generate water for human consumption as fresh water supplies dwindle.

 

Precipitation: Precipitation occurs when water vapor inside a cloud condenses and makes it heavy. The cloud’s elevation in the atmosphere is lowered and that is why before a storm clouds block out sunlight because they are so low in the atmosphere. The vapor inside then

becomes too heavy to be kept up and falls to earth in the form of rain, hail or snow. Sometimes, a very violent storm can occur which can threaten buildings and human lives, as seen in the picture.

 

Infiltration: Infiltration (no, not Special Forces infiltration) occurs when precipitation (rain) falls to the earth. The ground soaks up this water and that process is called infiltration. An example is when if you put a sponge in the rain, the water will fall on the sponge and the sponge will soak it up, as seen in the picture. Infiltration is what keeps wells and pumps supplied with

water. As the groundwater has traveled through layers of natural filters, when brought up to supply a household or a village it requires very little synthetic purification before consumption.