Summer Learning Journey Teaser Week Activity 3: Choose your own

Day 4, Teaser Week:

Activity 3: Choose your own

Here is your chance to choose your own scientist, technologist or inventor who you think has changed the world. Be creative - there are no right or wrong choices!

"For this activity, choose one person and read all about them."

On your blog, provide us with:

The name of the person

A description of the work they do/have done

An explanation of how they/their work has had an impact on the lives of others

The person that I have chosen is Leonardo Da Vinci, which in my opinion is one of the greatest philosophers, artist and inventors of all time. Many of his works are celebrated today as masterpieces of the renaissance. He is highly, very highly regarded as a "universal genius" or the "Renassaince Man".

He has contributed to many of the what we know today, anatomical parts of the body, he has also conceptualized, the glider, parachute, helicopters as well as landing gears. His paintings such as the "Mona Lisa", "The Last Supper" and many more are regarded as masterpieces; contributing highly to the move of the renaissance as well. He has helped to shape the art world, the medical world and the engineering world in his lifetime.

Summer Learning Journey Teaser Week: Activity 3: The Greatest of All Time

Day 2, Teaser Week;

Activity 3: The Greatest of All Time

Activity:

"For this activity, please imagine that you are Garry Kasparov and that you were the best chess player in the world.

On your blog, list three pros (advantages) and three cons (disadvantages) of being the GOAT of the chess world."

Courtesy:https://grandchesstour.org/gm-vassily-ivanchuk

   Courtesy: Rashid Nezhmetdinov

Garry Kasparov has been dubbed as The Greatest Chess Player of time; I, personally being quite interested and being quite involved in chess, I disagree. I believe that players such as my favourite; Vassily Ivanchuk, Rashid Nezhmetdinov and Mikhail Tal may be far more superior, however, one a different note. In this activity, if I were the best player in the world, the advantages of that are, your presence may be more intimidating, therefore it might cause some psychological advantage per se. Another advantage is the popularity, quite likely that you will earn more money than normal as well as the honour of being called G.O.A.T. Some disadvantages of being the G.O.A.T of the chess world is, knowing that you have played many games, games that are recorded, your tactics and method might be discovered, therefore, players would be possibly prepared for such moves. Losing a game would cause a big discussion and chatter, embarrassing the payer as he has been dubbed the G.O.A.T. The last disadvantage is the more popular you are the more people would hate you.

Courtesy: Nationaal Archief

  

Courtesy:https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/14/garry-kasparov-russias-tech-threat-is-tactical-chinas-strategic.html

Swordsmanship

This session in literature, we are tasked to think and write about "What subject would like to learn in school that isn't offered at HHS [our school]?"; the subject that I would like to learn about is 'Swordsmanship'.  I long have been interested in this form of 'fighting'; it started some years ago when I used to do martial arts, Taekwondo, Judo, Jujitsu and Arnis. Many might not know what 'Arnis', it is the national martial arts of my beloved country that is the Philippines. It is a form of martial arts, based fighting using knives, wooden sticks, bladed weapons and several various improvise weapons per se. That sparked my love for fighting as such, that has not been the only reason for my love of sword fighting; movies and animes that I have watched have inspired me and it made me interested in this art form. I would love to learn more and have a possible future for teaching and achieving mastery at being a martial artist, swordsman and a sharpshooter too. I have wanted to be a lot of think and be able to achieve many goals that I had and that I still have. 

Cookies

Today in our 'Food Technology' class we made cookies. Basic cookies, meant to be like a base where different combinations and flavours can be added. the start of making these cookies was creaming the butter and the sugar, adding the vanilla essence, condensed milk, then the baking powder, flour and the chocolate chips.  After making the cookie dough it is then divided into 12 equal parts; placed 4 in 3 rows in a parchment paper lined baking tray, separated reasonably a part from each other as they will expand quite an amount. Then after that step, the tray is then paced inside a pre heated 180 degree celsius oven on “bake” or on 170 degree celsius oven on “fan bake”.  They should bake up until around 10-15 mins or until golden brown, after they have baked they should be cooled on a cooling rack and cooled for about 3 mins.
The end of the process is the evaluation; the taste, texture, colour and the flavour of the cookie. We evaluated the cookie, the amount of rest of cooling the cookie had was perfection, it was crunchy on the outside and soft in the inside, the flavour the cookie had was more than exceptional, it was just the right amount of flavour not too overpowering and not lacking. The colour that the cookie had varied in few places, however, it did not affect too much on how cooked it was on places.
I enjoyed the cookies and would love to make them again, with a few additional method and ingredients.

Holiday, where?

Today we started looking at where we want to go on a holiday to, if possible.  One of my choices is Italy, I have always admired Italian food and Italian culture. Many of my favourite dishes originate from Italy and example of this is Carbonara, it is one of my go-to food to cook and to eat. Cheese is also a reason why I would like to go to Italy, I would like to try 'The World's Deadliest Cheese' which does not really speak its name, hearing about people eating it makes me hesitate to view it as dangerous. The cheese that I am talking about is 'Casu Marzu', a soft cheese containing maggots. Not only the food that I enjoy but as well as songs originating from Italy, opera; I enjoy listening to opera, especially to the 'Three Tenors'. It is an amazing country full of culture; another reason why I would like to go to Italy is to be able to have a chance to see 'Sea Silk' as the last weaver of this magnificent, secretive treasure of the ocean lives in Italy.

Food Tech: Whole Pizza

The 'Food Tech' session, after we had made the pizza slices, we then were tasked to create an entire pizza, family-sized. More or less the method had been the same, before any assembling and cooking, ingredients are to be prepped. Similar ingredients were presented and given to us cheese, black olives, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, salami, ham, capsicum and pineapple; as well as a pizza sauce, salt, pepper and herbs [oregano].

Method:

1. Pizza sauce is spread, using a circular motion from the middle where the sauce is laid, work it up near the crust of the pizza, and inch before the edges.
2. The prepped ingredients are to be scattered around the pizza evenly.
3. Ingredients such as tomatoes are to be placed second to last, just before putting the layer of cheese on.
4. Cheese is used to cover most if not all of the ingredients.
5. Place the pizza on an oven tray or even better a preheated pizza stone. 
6. In a preheated oven of around 180 oC degrees place the pizza in.
7. Approx 20 mins or until a gold layer of cheese has formed the pizza is ready to be taken out and rest for a substantial amount of minutes and "viola" Pizzaria, a whole pizza to be enjoyed the whole family.

There have been a few times that I have made my own pizza, from scratch as I might add. For me, the assembly and the dough/base of a pizza are what brings it together, without a good base the pizza will fall apart, not having the right texture would have a similar effect as well. Of course the most important of all, the taste, the taste is the biggest factor into tasting these splendid dishes, without the right amount of flavour, however good the main ingredient is, it would never succeed into a better-flavoured opponent.

Food Tech: Pizza

In this session of Food Technology, we made pizza slices; what we used was premade pizza base and some other toppings that we have put on top. Toppings such as cheese, black olives, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, salami, ham, capsicum and pineapple...  It was straight forward; spread the sauce, add the cheese [I prefer putting a layer of cheese 'preferably soft cheese like mozzarella' before putting in the sauce, as well as not spreading the sauce but dabbing some amount around the pizza. In my opinion, the cheese creates a barrier, as when spreading the sauce first result in a more likely soggy middle]. After the process of adding the cheese, there we added our ingredients as mentioned (add another layer of cheese on top again) and cooked it in a preheated oven over 180 oC degrees. It should take around 10-15 mins, it depends on the oven, however, it is to be taken out when the cheese had melted and it forms a great golden 'dome'.  Let the pizza slice cool for some minutes and 'voila'  pizza slice ready to serve.

Chess!!!

Chess one of my most favourite hobby, I love learning about it, how much?[I can talk about it for hours] It encourages me to critically think; thinking far ahead, being creative with your moves and knowing how others think as well. It is an amazing game, as mentioned before I try to practice and learn more about chess at least an hour a day. One of my most favourite chess player, Vassily Ivanchuk, ever since I saw how he played, it baffled me how much creativity he has. One of my most favourite games played by Ivanchuk [often called Chuky] was his game against the then World Chess Champion, Garry Kasparov. It was an excellent game, it contradicts the rules/guidelines of chess and it is simply phenomenal. In the game Ivanchuk had the white pieces and Kasparov had the black, only several moves in the game Chuky exchanged his bishops for Garry's knights. In the chess world, this can be considered as a huge advantage to give to the World Champion[giving him the bishop pair]. However, as the game progresses the advantage that was thought Kasparov had, was crushed and crumbled to pieces.  Quite simply the bishops of Kasparov became quite possibly the worst bishop pair in the history of chess as the bishops were on the last rank of the board while the king was in front. It was an amazing achievement by Vassily Ivanchuk; there are quite a lot of stories about Vassily Ivanchuk more than any chess players as I would say, some say 'One a great day, when Ivanchuk is on his best, he can beat any chessplayers whatever the time format.'
He is a big inspiration and is a big reason why I play chess as much as I do now. For that I thank Ivanchuk along with some of my other favourite chess players; like that of Mikhail Tal, Rashid Nezhmedinov, Maximillian Ujtelky, etc.

P.E: Made-up game

This session in our P.E Hurumanu,  we had a time where we could create a game using the different equipment provided by our teachers. Six teams were decided and were divided into 3; two teams facing each other. When the teams were divided we were then supplied with around 10 mins to build a game [using a dodge-ball ball and a frisbee]. Our game was based on softball/baseball, using the frisbee as a bat and the dodge-ball ball as our ball.  Teamwork, giving ideas per se, it was mediocre all of us could've contributed more, a lot more; communication-wise it was lacking, a few group members were not listening to the other members. There were quite a few sparks of conflicts, it was not the greatest time being in that place. One thing that we might need to change is the ball that we used, a smaller ball is required as well as more space.

But there were some things that went well, enthusiasm and resilience were, in my opinion, were the biggest achievement that we have accomplished. The level of enthusiasm differed in the period when we played our games. It varied, however, consisted enough as I would say. As mentioned, resilience was also a big part of our accomplishment; even if we had trouble around the first few minutes, we stayed resilient around the whole session. 

Food Tech: Apple Turnovers

This term we have had several lessons in our technology subject [Food Tech]; we have been making a variety of dishes, sushi, burgers, but in this lesson, we made Apple Turnovers. A simple dish, however, it needs a fast pace when making, the ingredients needed for this is are apple chunks [baked, macerated or basic meaning without extra process] (macerated or baked apples will not need of the extra ingredients such as sugar and cinnamon when placed in the puff pastry); a sheet of puff pastry; sugar, cinnamon [optional] and egg/s.

Method:

1. Quite simply a sheet of puff pastry is quartered [place it so that it faces you in a diamond shape]; in each of the quartered pieces of the puff pastry, a sufficient amount of apples [macerated or baked slices/chunks].
2. The chunks, slices, placed in the middle, leave a space about 1 1/2 cm around the edges; [basic/straight-up apple chunks may need a pinch of sugar and cinnamon].
3. On the side facing away from you lay water around the edges using your fingers.
4. Take the side facing you and flip it directly to the other side.
5. Seal rim/edges by pinching and further seal it using a fork by pressing like that of a pie. 
6. Using the fork poke the top until small holes have been made, brush with egg wash and put into a preheated oven of 200 oC degrees in 20min or until golden brown.

I had an experience using puff pastry before, some like dessert such as this, one of my most favourite quite a simple dish. Millefeuille, it was a simple yet delicious dessert. I wound highly likely recommend Gordon Ramsay's recipe as it is the first one that I have tried, and have had great success in.  I look forward to learning more about culinary arts in future lessons. 

Guitars

This week we return to our music hurumanu, for these periods of our hurumanu we happen to have a very special guest. That being Mr Mitchell, Mr Mitchell [a teacher here in our school] knows quite a bit about music, he happens to be a guitarist and so he now helped us to learn more about guitars. He brought with him several kinds of guitars, an electric, two acoustic guitars and a backpack guitar. Mr Mitchell played several pieces, he also gave us knowledge about several chords and different ways to play the guitars as well.

Acoustic Guitar - Dreadnought - the dreadnaught is one of the most common guitars that you might see, it doesn't need an amplifier, though amplifiers can be used as well. The sizes differentiate according to teh size of the person playing it, however, most are just in the average size just right for the average-sized person. Normally acoustics can be used for country, bluegrass and rock/pop.

Electric Guitar - There are many different styles of electric guitars, but most are designed for style; as stated in the name, electric guitars are meant to be plugged in an amplifier. Though could be used without, playing an electric guitar without an amplifier would sound quite quiet; as there is no soundhole like as of the acoustics. They produce a 'crisp' sound a more rock on sound, ironically it is commonly used in rock, heavy metal as well as pop.

Acoustic -  Backpack -  Cutaway - Backpack and Cutaway guitars are both from the family of Acoustics; Cutaways are slightly different from a Dreadnought as the design allows players of Cutaway guitars to go down the guitar easier than the Dreadnought. Backpack guitars look quite different from the common guitars as it is meant to be carried easier as it is smaller than the more common sized guitars.

A little about me....

Good day to everyone.

In this term, Miss Birtch will be teaching us a period every week [period 5 on Wednesdays]. Being that Miss Birtch might not know us as well as she knows her class our first task in working with her is writing a blog post about ourselves.

I mostly like all the subjects, writing, reading, math, P.E, etc. There mostly isn't a subject that I know which I would hate. One of my most favourite sports are basketball, another one is billiard/pool and finally chess, my most favourite out of the three. I try to train for chess, learning new strategies every time I can; an hour a day is the minimum that I spend learning chess.  I also like literature very much, I tend to read challenging books and pieces of writing; reading manga is quite an enjoyable hobby that I do. One piece is my absolute favourite manga and anime, it is simply amazing [I could go on forever talking about it]. I'm also a big fan of comedy, in my opinion, the past decades have "killed" the comedy that I really tend to like, Don Rickles is one of the best comedians that in my opinion have ever stepped on stage, a legend.





Art is a passion of mine as well; when I'm not busy I tend to try and improve my art.

Now I shall talk about...FOOD... Again another passion of mine, I like to cook and bake, I try to cook as much as I can, look for different combinations of flavours in foods; croquembouche is a dessert that I like to eat, though I still have some trouble perfecting making it.
That is most of what is about me, I hope that by writing this, Miss Birtch would know a bit more about myself as I know a bit more about her.
I look forward to working with such a teacher.

Orana Wildlife Park visit

At the end of this term, we had outside school activities, the previous activity was going to 'MEGA Air'. The most recent one, however, is our visit to Orana Wildlife Park. I have visited the Park quite a number of times however each and every time is special. I learnt more things about the environment and our global issues, that we are not only faced by "less intelligent" animals but us as well. I got to see animals again, I love animals, reptiles general to be more specific snakes, I also love sugar gliders and canines, birds [ravens], well, I love them all. During the visit, we had a break before doing the tour, and off we started. We looked at quite a number of animals, some very briefly, but at times there were a few intervals where we could just appreciate the sight of these magnificent animals.

There were some of which I would call my favourites, most liked. I liked the 'fat unicorns' also known as rhinos/rhinoceros, seeing the great apes was quite enjoyable as well. Observing their similarity to use Homo Sapiens, I thought of how much 2% of DNA can get a very different result; which makes me wonder about "Aliens" per se and how even if the change is only by a small percentage, how "smart" they can be and how much different they could be from us.
I enjoyed the Orana Wildlife Park visit, I would gladly visit it more in the future.

Here are some images that were taken during the visit.

Musical Indrustries: Music Suite

At the same day that we continued on our songwriting, we also went to the music suite. While we were in the music suite, several activities were set for us to do. In those activities, we had some challenges to complete so that we would finish the list. One of the challenges was playing "Havana - Camila Cabello" on the keyboards; quite simple, it wasn't too challenging as it was only set for the right hand. There were several instruments, around the music suite, each with their own complexity of playing. Drums both classic and electric, saxophone,  flute, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, ukulele and as mentioned before a keyboard. 

The experience that we had been able to play quite a range of instruments was really enjoyable; I would very much like to try more instruments and see how each varies from each other.

Musical Industries: Song Writing

In the previous week, we have been started making our own individual songs. However, before writing, we have first looked at song lyrics that we could take inspiration from; how each should be layered. (First verse, chorus, etc...)[Bohemian Rhapsody would be one of the exceptions to that, as it contains not, lyrics.]
When I started writing the chorus which I did first, I brainstormed what I really liked, what type of genre that I would be doing, the melody of the piece and generally the type of song that I might write. I thought of my chess set [I really love chess], from there I built on, I "named" my chess set Aurora, which is also ironic because not only is it my chess set's "name" but also my great grandmother's name, both of which and whom I love very much.
As I was writing the verses I began to think about the melody of the song, how would it sound? After finally getting the melody sorted, I continued the songwriting part. Finished with the songwriting, at home I started and is currently composing the song;  the chorus has been sorted, for the right hand at least [piano], the rest I am working on.
I really enjoyed writing the song I would love to do it again.

Here is the song:

Chorus: 

Aurora, Aurora,

Aurora I sing, this song to you.

Aurora, Aurora,

Aurora I sing, this song to you.

First verse:

Aurora...

I glee with joy, I dance with pleasure,

The ecstasy for me!

Your gaze, your look,

Your act, your moves,

All of it, for you, behoves.

Aurora, Aurora,

I sing this song to you.

Aurora, Aurora,

I sing this song to you.

2nd Verse:

The first time we meet, 

Some years ago, 

Your moves I didn’t know.

Time flew by, 

Never say die.

It was rain or shine

But I did not resign!

Aurora, Aurora,

I sing this song to you.

Aurora, Aurora,

I sing this song to you.

3rd Verse:

Your gaze, your look,

Your act, your moves,

All of it, for you, behoves.

Never say die.

It was rain or shine

But I did not resign!

Aurora, Aurora,

I sing this song to you.

Aurora, Aurora,

I sing this song to you.

4th Verse:

As we advance, as we progress

As we enhance, as we impress.

My love for you has not degrade,

My love for you has not betrayed.

Aurora, Aurora….. Aurora!!!!!!