P07103

The use of derogatory terms is something that is commonly use to compensate for the persons own insecurities and his own ‘lacking’ in certain areas. I am going make the reader aware of ther culturual significance in certain areas and how being rude, vulgar and incompetent can change the course of the world.

TheN’ word became a racial slur or originated from though its wide-spread use was used in the late 1800's.  Commonly used as slang between the periods of around the 1700- 1830’s onwards but rather to distinguish social class or a black persons place in society. It was thought by the people that owned the slaves that this term was acceptable and written by A Minister by the name of Hosea Easton wrote that it was a perfectly acceptable for definitions of a black person in that timeframe. The N word these days are commonly used in music videos for people who actually don’t know the history behind such a powerful word. The word has changed the way people in the Western Hemisphere view African Americans as often gang affiliated or around the culture of drug and alcohol abuse. Many view Malcolm X as a violent protester, I believe as do many of that time believe he realised the power of the media and its uses to persuade the common man and the main body of opinion and thought. One of his famous quotes is such that reflects a lot about the black civil rights movement and of course refers to black people exclusively.  “There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time”. This quote and others have the power to separate the world we live in , Categorise it into good and evil, light and dark such things are mundane when trying to perceive the world however. Wars can be won with words, they can also be the start of something greater then those fighting them can ever realise. Change in that time period all it required would require 3 things

- A scape goat

- A lie

- A river of blood
these are all they need to change history.  In this case Malcolm X was the scape goat being the front of this movement and therefore responsible for the movement. The lie was that black people didn’t have any rights apart from basically living. And the river of blood was all the violence that preceded the main events of the movement was The River of blood. In summary Western Civilisation will never be the same thanks to people of the same character as Mandela and Malcolm X.

The word Nazi is as widely known as it is how to breathe. It is commonly used today as a slang to distinguish certain people as tough, cold and authoritarian in how they act towards disobedience. The words origins are easy to trace however. The word Nazi is based on the first two syllables of the German word Nationalialsozialist. The term 'Nazi' was in widespread use in Germany as a mildly derogatory term in the early 1930s. It was inspired by the use of 'Sozi' for socialists.
Note:

1. In German the word is a noun only, and cannot be used as an adjective.
2. In some dialects in southern Bavaria the word predates the rise of any National Socialist party or ideology, and means a (comically) clumsy man, buffoon.

So really the words origins don’t really reflect its common entity it represented (Nazi Army) now as this word became associated with politics it spiralled out of control Nationalialsozialist Party gained military favour with their self proclaimed ‘Fuher’ or supreme leader Adolf Hitler. swayed many Germans to his way of thinking which was all races which were not Of Aryan decent were inferior and deserve little compassion and therefore should be eliminated. As Hitler gained support the racial tensions between the Germans and the Jewish escalated until the Germans rounded up the Jews and marched them into concentration camps to await their death from hard labour, starvation or gas etc. And of course the same text applies to this as well. A scapegoat, a lie and a river of blood which almost drowned the entire world.

The connection between these words and how they came about are unrelated but if you look at it closely enough it all started with a person who couldn’t control power or people who had to much of it, nevertheless there is no argument that being a racist , vulgar and incompetent and insecure has changed the world. Now everything has to start from something.

P07122

Do violent video games influence young teens enough to join the army?

Picture this: You’re in the slums of Brazil with your squad. You and your men are stealthily moving through the Favela anxiuosly awaiting your first encounter with the local militia, as you are dropped into your first war like situation, little experience, little hope, the weight of your gear weighing down on you, the echoing thud of your heart increasing in speed as you raise your assault rifle at a distant figure. You fire. 100 xp. Games like Call Of Duty and Battlefield are becoming ever more realistic and popular they are stirring the thoughts of teenagers on the concept of war. Do violent video games influence young teenagers enough to make them join the army?

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the most popular and enjoyable war game of recent time. It’s realistic battle movements and explosive action along with pure, untamed emotion seem to bring a realistic theme to the game and there making a real shoot-up an enjoyable and addictive situation. Because of realistic graphics and because of Modern Warfare 2’s background, the video game earned over 310 million dollars in the first 24 hours  of it’s release, beating a record in game sales internationally. The games hype was so built up that people ended up pre-ordering months in advance. Five days after the launch, 8 million people were playing the game online. The problem with this game is it’s popularity within the adolescent group. Molding their minds very slightly towards the military.

The difference between a video game and reality is very simple. Reality is a one go thing, but within a video game you have multiple options and a seemingly unlimtied amount turns if you mess up. This is what the youth of the generation seem to be misunderstanding as they are playing on some of the most realistic gaming engines and platforms around. The enjoyment and addictiveness of any battle game like Call Of Duty attracts the teenage mind to the idea of the military and ultimately war. The U.S. Military has almost doubled in numbers due to a rise in popularity to Call Of Duty, a very a patriotic game which has drugged the youth and therefore making the U.S. army a very young one. Call Of Duty is a near on spitting image of Afghanistan and the Middle-East but with a massive amount of entertainment which over rules the fact that war is not an enjoyable act and that in reality you do not respawn or have a certain amount of lives but that the military is designed for protection and not idle entertainment for rookies.

So as you can see, violent video games are a major contributor to the rise in contracts with the army. The fact that a world wide recession has also hit does effect the international community, looking for relatively easy money, but as the ongoing battle for beating the latest video game in realism continues the constant crave for the military will continue.  

P09157

                                    Space Exploration is Beneficial

 Imagine if nobody had bothered to explore anything. People would still believe the earth was flat, Sir Edmund Hillary would have never conquered Everest and nobody would know what the south or north poles are. Lucky for us humans before us did bother to explore new places and now we all live in different parts of the globe. Since man has been around we have always explored, whether it is just a city park or the Pacific Ocean, we have always done it. It is our instinct so why should we stop now.

 There are no major explorers anymore mainly because the world has been explored all over. These days it seems unlikely that people will become famous for venturing where no man or woman has gone before, if only there was somewhere that is very much untouched by man, well there is, space.

Space is nowhere near as exciting as it was in the days of the cold war when Russia and USA were constantly trying to out do each other in space exploration. They were inventing new technologies everyday to help them get to the moon which evolved to such things as microwaves, hang gliders, communication satellites, smoke detectors GPS and ARPANET which was an early form of the internet. This is one reason why space exploration is beneficial, the inventions that come out of it. Every time you make an international phone call, watch SKY TV or use the internet, you are benefitting from space exploration. Where would we be without those technologies?

Global warming is slowly going to kill the earth. When that happens we are going to need somewhere to go, it probably won’t happen in our life time but we have to do our bit to help humans of the future. If we put more manpower into space programmes we may be able to find a planet where we can survive then try to make the technology to get us there. By doing this we would know that our generation has done its bit to secure the future of humanity.

The people against space exploration are mainly saying that the money should be spent on poverty down earth. Money will help for a short time but it will soon run out. The best way to help the staving is through science that will help to improve farming or find a way to purify water easily. Space Programmes are always trying to make food last or make it easy to get so when their astronauts are in space they won’t starve, If we use thier technologies we could make food easier to get or make so there would be less starving people.

Space is the way to go and the only limit is money. The government gives a lot of money but it still isn’t as much as they really need. If everyone gave twenty dollars a year to a company like NASA, Imagine how much more the companys could develop things like new inventions, saving us from disaster on earth and helping to stop poverty, Imagine how many more benefits we could get from space exploration.

P07030

Is there life after death?

What is meant by death? The normal stages of death are when the heart stops beating and respirations ceases. Without a supply of oxygen the body’s various organs stop functioning and start to die. Death occurs when the brain ceases to register activity. What happens after we go through this process? This is an area which is difficult to prove. Perhaps we have a soul and somehow live on after our earth experience comes to an end. Those of religious nature would agree with this assumption, but many have their own theories.

For thousands of years prophets and messengers claimed to be giving us the teachings from God to us, they have laid the foundations for the world’s major religions and believe that there is some form of life after death. The Holy Bible states that we shall go to Heaven after we perish from Earth and live the rest of eternity in peace. Buddhism believes the body degrades completely after death; the human mind however remains as fixed waves of energy and does not die out. We cannot see these energies. When a person is alive, and they have good thoughts, when they die their good thoughts will remain positive, light weight/frequency energies. This is what Buddhism believes that heaven is. The Opposite is the concept of Hell. The Islamic religion believes that after we die there will be a day of judgement where all humans will be divided between the destinations of paradise and hell. However, most religions all share one message, if we love and display good intentions to one another we will be in peace after we pass away.

Scientists have a completely different view to the afterlife with evolution being one of their major theories, Evolution means; the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth. Religion is often argued to rely on revelation and faith. The methods of science are elaborate and do not depend on faith. In a study conducted in the U.S, scientists are less likely to believe in God than the rest of the population. As far as what happens after death, no one can really say for sure, but most scientists would tell you that consciousness ceases once brain-death occurs. There is no scientific evidence for the afterlife. Most scientists would not consider an afterlife unless there was some genuine evidence stating that there is with out a doubt.“Science can purify religion from error and superstition: Religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes. Each can draw the other into a wider world, a world in which both can flourish…. We need each other to be what we must be, what we are called to be.” (-Pope John Paul II)

Religion and Science can be certain of one thing; Death. We all are going to die, and something must happen to us after this process whether we fall into a realm of nothingness or live eternity in paradise, no one can be certain. Truth and Faith are two different things, as Albert Einstein once said “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” The importance of religion being that it allows people to have peace in the uncertainty, what happens to us after we pass away? Perhaps it is a personal thing, no one can be sure.

P07129

                                Driving Age

At the start of the year the government announced that they were raising the driving age to sit the learner licence from 15 years old to 16 years old. Also changing the restricted test by making it harder. They’re doing this because young drivers aged 15-24 are causing a lot of road crashes and it is only getting higher. Alcohol is also a major part of young drivers in accidents. Also how a Defensive Driving course can teach young drivers hot to be safe on the road and avoid crashes. I think that the changes being made are a good idea as hundreds of teenagers are involved in road accidents causing deaths and serious injuries every year.

Raising the driving age. Is it a good idea? More and more teenagers are involved in road accidents every year and something needed to be done about it. On March 2^nd TVNZ posted on their website that the government was changing the age limit to sit your learners from 15 to 16. The change is happening on August the 1st 2011. Other changes include, making the restricted licence harder to get as the Ministry of Transport say that learner drivers need at least 120 hours of driving before they sit their restricted because it reduces their crash rate by 40%. This is a very important stage of learning important driving skills to become safe on New Zealand roads. The government also want to double the maximum sentence, lowering under 20 year old drivers blood alcohol limit to zero and to add alcohol interlocks to steering wheels of cars so they have to breathe into it before the car ignition starts. This will stop drunk drivers in driving and being a great hazard.  These changes will most likely be made in 2012. These changes should lower crash rates in New Zealand as the consequences are higher and licensing is also harder.

Young drivers aged 15-24 in New Zealand are causing multiple road crashes. In 2009 15-24 year olds were involved in 112 fatal road crashes, 755 serious injury crashes and 3,617 minor injury crashes. Of these crashes these young drivers were at fault with 89 of the fatal crashes, 610 of the serious injury crashes and 2,755 of the minor crashes. These crashes resulted in 102 deaths, 797 seriously injured and 4,149 minor injured people. This showed that young drivers are a hazard to New Zealand roads and costing tax payers a great deal of money. The social costs by 15-24 year old drivers is $1.3 billion which is 1/3 of the socail cost associated  with all injury crashes. In 2010 however there were 67 deaths, 506 seriously injured crashes in the year to september. These crashes involved al least one driver aged 15-19. this makes New Zealands accident rate 60% higher than Australia. So the governments idea to try cut the number of teens in road accidents seem like a very good idea and should save a lot of lives if these laws are obided by.

Alcohol is the most commonly used drug in New Zealand and the average age to start drinking in New Zealand is 13.6 years old. The number of drinks consumed per occasion has increased for 14-17 year olds to heavy drinkers compared to general consumers of alcohol. This is probably why alcohol is a major part of young drivers in accidents. Alcohol gives a false sense of confidence and impairs reactions, co-ordination, jugdement of speed, time and distance and also impairs consentration. Alcohol is the cause of 60% of all teen deaths in car accidents. In 2006 19% of young drivers aged 16020 years old were killed because of alcohol. Also every year young drivers cause nearly half of all alcohol related road crashes. Therefore as alcohol is a huge part of teenage road accidents in New Zealand the idea for alcohol interlocks added to steering whells of cars may lower the crash rate for teenagers involved in alcohol related crashes.

There is a solution that the government have in place now and that is the defensive driving course for restricted drivers or driving 120 hours on your learners as well as lessons that you can take to help you pass your restricted. The defensive driving course can be taken after having your restricted for 6 months and takes 9 hours to complete in several different lessons. The defensive driving course gets your full drivers licence 6 months earlier making you able to get it within 1 year of having your restricted. It teaches you about inattention, emotions, driving conditions, drugs and alcohol and peer pressure which are significant factors leading to car crashes. It also helps you with searching and assesing which therefore reduces the risk of the driver causing/ being part of an accident. This website will give you more information about the defensive driving course and the benefits of it, www.aa.co.nz/motoring/licensingandtraining/pages/default.aspx.  As 90% of all crashes are attributed to driver error defensive driving helps to avoid these crashes and react quicker and when you do react knowing what to do to avoid it. So to sum it up defensive driving is a good choice for young drivers to help avoid accidents and to teach them to be safe on the road.

Statistics prove that young drivers are a hazard on New Zealand roads and the new laws coming out are providing safety to New Zealand drivers if these laws are obided. Even if there is multiple road accidents a year caused by driver error, alcohol or not enough driving skill there is solutions and options to take to help minimize errors and road accidents and to teach young drivers about safety on the road. Also since teenagers are more likely to crash while on their restricted then their learners it is important to visit websites or the right shops to give you options about defensive driving and to help teens develop driving skills to save their lives and stay out of road accidents to keep New Zealands road accidents down.

P07151

Have you ever thought about what effects to the environment you cause when you shoot lead shot out of your shot gun? Steel shot should be compulsory in all shot guns. There is a set distance that lead shot can be used from a body of water because there is a chance waterfowl for example Mallard ducks swallowing a pellet and being poisoned. Also lead fires out of the shot gun differently to steel. Shooters are divided and everyone has their own opinion.

New Zealand law states on this issue that shotguns that are 10 or 12 gauge must use steel shot if they are shooting within 200 metres of a body of water over 3 metres wide. Shotguns that are 16, 20 or 410 gauge are exempt from this law and are allowed to use lead shot anywhere they want to. This means that if you are shooting on land more than 200 metres away from water and are using lead shot in a 10 or 12 gauge shotgun you can not go within that distance or you could be fined if caught.

The mandatory use of non-toxic shot applies only to shotguns that are 10 or 12 gauge within 200 metres of a body of water. This law should be applied to all shotguns because waterfowl for example mallard ducks feed off the bottom of the body of water and are likely to swallow a lead pellet and become poisoned by it. Studies carried out in the Auckland area showed that 4.7% of birds contained lead shot and another study in Otago showed 6% of birds had some lead shot in their gizzards. http://www.chisholm.co.nz/steel-lead.htm  Lead shot is slowly killing game birds unnecessarily because it can not be broken down in the environment. Steel is a non toxic shot and is broken down easily and will rust away from a few weeks to a year depending on where the steel ends up after being shot. If waterfowl happen to swallow a steel pellet it would be easily broken down in their body without any harmful effects. Even though steel shot is more costly than lead it is a small price to pay to save the environment.

Lead shot has more of a chance of wounding flying waterfowl because it has a wide spread pattern where as steel shot as tight shot pattern. A pattern is where the pellets spread out to when shot. The tight shot pattern of steel shot makes it more accurate to shoot with and it is more likely to kill a game bird because lots of steel pallets will hit it. Lead shot has more momentum than steel but steel shot has larger pallets than lead to compensate for it.

The 200 metre rule that applies to 10 and 12 gauge shotguns should be applied to all shot guns to help reduce the problem of lead poisoning. Steel shot and lead shot both have their strengths and weaknesses but if you use steel shot you will help towards having less fatalities caused by lead poisoning. But in the end it is up to you as to which type of shot you use and if you care about the environment.

  

P07005

Youth bikes shouldn’t stop being sold because of the lead law.

Most kids nag their parents to get them a motorbike but at the end of May 2012 it will be illegal to buy and sell bikes made for under twelves because of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement act, also known as the “lead law”. The lead law is going to affect all business that sell bikes for under twelves and is going to force kids prematurely on to an adult size bikes to race. The lead in a youth bike is not going to poison a young child.

Motorbike business have been hit hard with the recent recession but are going to be harder with the “lead law” making it illegal to sell and buy youth motorbikes. The motorbike industry is 30 percent in the United States of America from the recession and will be set to lose another 10 to 15 percent. The sales manager at Long Beach Motorsport said “that he sold $120,000 worth of youth bikes last year”. The money that the motorbike industry made from youth bikes last year is not going to force a lot of businesses to close because the youth bikes industry earns about half their income.

You don’t see seven year olds using a man’s urinal. You also don’t see a seven year old driving a car, so why would you put a seven year old on an adult sized bike. Kids under twelve are going to be force prematurely onto an adult sized bike because they can’t get one that is made for themselves. Kids on an adult size bikes have a higher risk of injury. CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) studies have found that approximately 90 percent of injuries to children under 16 occur on adult-sized ATV. Zack Bartell said “are you kidding”. Kids want to ride bikes made for them, not adults.

The lead law (Consumer Product Safety Improvement act) was produced to improve product safety and stop kids digesting toys made of lead and toys that have traces of lead on them. The law bans the sale of product that is aimed at children under twelve if they contain 600 parts of lead per million parts. Lead is found in the frame, motor and other parts of a motorbike because lead strengthens metal and resists corrosion so it makes the bike last longer. “There is no way I’m going to stick a motorcycle part in my mouth” says Zack Bartell. There is no way a child would be able to stick a motorbike part in their mouth, because the parts are too big.

With the banning of the sale of youth bikes, business are closing down, there will be more injuries and people think that a child is going to be poisoned from the lead in youth bikes. Kids love riding so why should the law stop them!

P07148

Should the KFC Double Down be banned from sale?

Recently a new burger has gone on sale at fast food giants KFC this “Double Down”  is a bunless burger consisting of bacon cheese the colonels secret sauce encased between 2 deep fried chicken breasts. This bunless burger “simply only has enough room for the good stuff” acording to the KFCs CEO David Hilston. However nutrisinists have complained about the arival of this 540 calorie whopper. This will take a average person 80 minutes of walking to burn off and when a fully grown adult mans recommended daily calorie intake is 2200 calories it is a very large intake of calories for one meal. However people began queing up outside KFC in Dunedin in sleeping bags the day before to be one of the first in New Zealand to try one as soon as the doors opened in the morning. So do these nutrisinists need to ban the new Double Down burger from New Zealand altogether when the United States already has a bigger more fatty and calorie filled version of this much anticipated New Zealand fast food treat?

Peoples online comments mainly condem this new burger saying that it shoudnt be allowed to hit the shelves but with over 2000 face book fans it has a strong crowd following. However nutrisinists are disgusted by the amount of people wanting to get their hands on this new burger David Hilston the CEO of KFC says ‘It will not be everyones cup of tea but it is an occasinal meal’.

This new burger has been televised as a ‘bad boy’ image which some consumers say make the burger more attractive and appealing. This burger has been presented as a incredibly high fat and calorie filled burger when it really dosent have any more than a normal Burger King ‘Whopper’ but nutrisinists say that its not just the burger that’s unhealthy its also the fries and fizzy drink that people will order with it,but arent most people going to order fries and a drink with their burgers or does this mean they(nutrisinists) want to ban drink and chips but isnt one of New Zealands natinal dishes fish and chips?

So as a country are we not trusted to control ourselves around a fast food where there are bunless burgers to be brought? And if they ban this burger what will be next? There is a not so old expression “give a inch take a mile” next to go would be our fries and fizzy drinks which would just about close our fast food shops and corner store dairies which make up a large part of our economy,imagine a world without Fish and Chips,Hokey Pokey ice cream,Jimmys pies and L and P. but lets face it most of New Zealands most iconic foods are bad for us(which is probaly why we are in the top 10 most obese countries in the world)But do we have to ban these foods or work together with nutrisinists to make them healthier?

P09153

"Lead Law"
　
Most kids who live on a farm or own some land grow up riding small motorbikes and ATVs such as the TTR-50E or the XR100R and even the Raptor 80, all of these types of iconic two and four wheelers will be banned from use for under 12s in the US, because of some uptight ,bigwig, penpushers.
The name for such a wrongful law is called "Lead Law".
In America on February 10, the Consumer Product Safety Commission is pushing for the new but controversial "Lead Law" which will ban the use of youth bikes for under 12’s, because off lead being used in bike parts, like in the lead battery terminals and used as a sealant on the electrode endings. This law is so meaningless and is one of the most controversial in the US for quite some time with many people against the law and only a few for, it is becoming very well known as more people form together to stop the future law.
A well known motorbike brand "Suzuki" has mentioned that all of its products will have to be certified and tested, but have also said that "with all the rules and regulations of the new law it will be very hard to find the material to replace the lead were it was used. But within saying that there isn’t enough lead to do any harm and it can’t be ingested anyway". With all these meaningless rules and regulations which come with this law like banning youth bikes to under 12’s. Another well known motorbike brand called Yamaha has stated that "in an already unstable economy taking away such a huge part of motorbike and US income would be devastating to both industries". Think about it is it really worth it if it isn’t hurting or harming anyone?
There are many groups who have banded together to help stop the "Lead Law"
but most are to stop the dirt bike side of things like the AMA and the ATVA are trying to exempt dirt bikes as such from the law, calling it the "Kids Just Want To Ride Act".AMA and ATVA are the two most powerful groups because they are well televised and are motocross and super-cross giants, but they are still on the look out for all the help they can get to save the iconic XR100R or the TT-R50E even to the ATV series Raptor 50.
Our future children, grand children need to have dirt bikes in their lives, because would you miss riding around on motocross tracks or even just shifting the sheep on your XR100R, so we as people need to send our support to stop a foolhardy law about little bit of lead that harms no one. So the next time you’re out and about on your motorbike what ever it is stop and think would you really want the future youths to go without motorbikes?

M07111

07/06/11 

               Why Graffiti can be Good

                               The rush of adrenalin is pumping through your veins, the last ‘Tag’ you done still wet and is shining in the moon light, the sirens are sounding and the lights are flashing, you are gasping for air your lungs are burning your legs are aching plus you still don’t know weather or not you are going to get away with it or get busted, you head for an old abandoned warehouse, and lay low for awhile just until the police are gone then you race home open and slam the door behind you run up steers and close the door hop on you bed and fall asleep.

Graffiti has been around for thousands of years the earliest ever documented graffiti was in ancient Rome and were in letters and symbols. Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property. Graffiti is any type of public markings that may appear in the forms of simple written words to elaborate wall paintings. Graffiti has been associated with gangs and if you do graffiti you are in a gang or an unsafe area, well in some cases it is true, but most of the time it is people who want to be noticed, and some times when you are good enough you could be famous.

Which leads me to my next point there is one famous graffiti artist I am going to name he is very famous in the United Kingdom his name is ‘Banksey’ he has done some very famous graffiti art all around the world, this information was found on a documentary called ‘Exit through the gift shop’.

In some cities and towns in the United Kingdom and America they have areas in some parks which people can do graffiti freely on there boards the public are aloud to look and watch them do there master pieces.

These are just some of my thoughts about and towards graffiti; I think it is a good thing only when it is legal, a as I said two or three times it is because it is an expression towards art.

M07101

The Bad Effects Of Methamphetamine

Methamphetamine known as “Meth” is a cruel path changing chemical drug used to alert your senses, increase your energy levels to complete everyday tasks and makes you think of the world in different ways. These are the good aspects of the drug, in this formal writing I aim to talk about the insane negative aspects this drug has on your world. Like the ways it inflicts damage on your precious brain, pushes your body to its absolute limits and how people’s lives radically change due to the soul addiction that comes with using this world class drug.

This drug could rupture your brain in so many ways you wouldn’t believe it was possible to make such a thing that could change god’s crown jewel so cruelly. This drug effects your thinking by making it harder for you to make the right choices. Such as shown on http://www.wiki.com/ this drug will cause you to get aggressive, make you paranoid, delusional, make your decisions towards contraception when having sex altered therefore putting you more at risk of an STI and the drug can even input suicidal thoughts into your mind. Each one of these symptoms is included in the reasons why I am completely against the drug and is why you should be too.

The body, is a very Complicated but extraordinary essential part of civilisation, but despite how extraordinary it is still under tortured by this very drug. One of the main ways it effects your body is you suddenly loss your sense of appetite. This causes you to eat a lot less because you are so reliable on the drug. A cold story I read on http://www.drugsupport.com/ I read of a girl weighed just 40 pounds because of how reliable the drug had become. Another effect is the severe acne that comes with this drug which is a very good reason to never touch the drug in the first place, why not just live life to the full without the hugely infected anorexic body.

The choice people make to let this drug take over their lives comes with high consequences and some of those choices can never be taken back again. This drug could turn your everything, into nothing and your life is fuelled by only the drug itself. One of the heart stopping stories I read off http://www.drugsupport.com/ told me of a young mother in her mid twenties who turned her life around dramatically all because of this one drug. She moved out of her own home, walked out on her own family and moved into a meth lab with her just 6 month old baby. All her life became was about was more meth. She became over obsessed and tried to sell her own baby, for the money to make more. Her family had to come into the middle of it and take her son and turn her into a mental institution so she could get better, she is still in that institution to this day. Another story I read of the same website was about an 18 year old country boy moving into a big city which had been his long dream. He brought with him a financial plan, a home and $15.000 dollars to keep him going. After meth got involved he ended up living on the street with absolutely nothing and could not go home because he thought someone would try to kill him if he did. The stories I read off this website shook me to hear the way this drug changes so many peoples lives.

This drug may have its good pointers, but please be alert of the negative ones that will change you into a person you will never want to be. There is more of a life without this drug and to stand against it I will for the rest of my life and you should to!

M07092

Why the driving age should go up!

Do you think the driving age should go up??? Because I do!  Even though I’m fifteen and do have my driver’s license there are too many younger drivers out there who don’t realise the responsibilities of driving on New Zealand roads.  Because of this there are more fatal accidents caused by these younger drivers.  Since the driving age has been fifteen, crashes on New Zealand roads have in creased by a whopping sixty percent.  In my opinion drivers in New Zealand don’t take driving on the road that seriously and it shows that they are immature.

I also think the driving age should go up because cars these days are getting to powerful and dangerous.  Younger drivers don’t actually realise how risky they are and the responsibility needed to drive them.  I’m pleased I’ve got my license now and not when I turn sixteen because it would be frustrating to wait that long.   Now that the driving age is going to be put up parents and guardians will have to take out there own time do drop there kids off at sport or special lessons.  Most of them would be happy to do this knowing there children are going to be safe getting to these places.  If there children were driving to these places at a young age they would be worrying if they drove safe and responsibly.

In my opinion as the years go by teenagers are getting smaller and less responsible than older teenagers.  Because of this older drivers on the road are feeling unsafe knowing there are immature younger drivers and know that at least half of them don’t know the driving responsibilities and how risky it is driving on the open roads.  Big weekends like Queens Birthday and Easter the road tolls for young drivers deaths are outstanding, in fact the toll in the past two years have increased rapidly since 2007 when the driving age was fifteen.

In my opinion all the things I have mentioned above are things to keep children that are unsafe off the road and to keep the parents of their children safe knowing that they won’t be harmful on the road.  I hope that one day all teenagers and other road users know the driving responsibilities needed to keep safe and be awre of things on the road. 

07092

Y - SS

   Why not to raise the driving age?

“Why should I care its only one more year”

 You should care because that’s another year gone you could be learning to drive responsibly and carefully. It is stupid how they are raising it because its not the young ones who are hooning it’s the older ones that are racing and cruizing and they think they are younger we can blame it on them, what are they going to do. They really need to re-think it and leave they driving age as it is.

If they change the driving age to 16, theres another year wasted, when they could have been learning responsible manouvers. That’s why it should be 8 months on your learners not 6 months because theres 2 more extra months practice you could have that could really help you become a responsible, carefull driver.

Another stupid thing is they don’t like people going fast on the roads, why don’t they just put speed cuts in so they cant go 180 down queens drive instead they cut out at 135 and make sure they cant be taken out. Because you can take them out, 135 would be good because then you have enough speed to pass and yet they wont be able to go to fast. Which will make the community a safer place.

Its quite annoying when people see a cool car and say hes a boy racer, his car needs impounded, even though they don’t speed or be stupid people just get jelouse because they don’t have those cars and one more thing cops always pull over all these cool cars just for a checkup that’s stupid they only do it for the money to get out of them.

My opinon is they should do is leave it at 15 but instead of having there learners for only 6 months make it 8 months and make it compolsory to do a defensive driving course so they will know how to drive responsibly and hopefully will know what to do if they loose control of there car.

Yours truly, SS

Y - TP

Sheep & beef. Which is better?

Imagine this….. Walking down the hill, dogs barking, sheep running, sun boiling hot and then you smell…. Cow effluent. Sheep and beef is a better lifestyle than dairy because it is a more relaxed lifestyle and does not produce offensive effluent also sheep and beef pay out is rising faster than dairy farmers.

Sheep and beef is a better lifestyle than dairy because it is more relaxing and you have more time to fix your farm like fences and water supplies. Another reason why sheep and beef is better because sheep and beef has a faster rising pay out then dairy. Since about for years ago sheep and beef have lost more people because they have converted to dairy making more demand of meat. I strongly believe that sheep and beef are better because you are not in a rush all the time.

Sheep and beef is less stressed because if the power turns off in your dairy shed you can not milk. Also with milking you only really milk every other season except winter but then you still have to do winter feeding. Dairy is more stressful because you have to worry about all of your effluent consents and permits also your big electricity and water bill and you have to keep your cows in good shape because if they get mastitis or something like that and it gets milked you can face losing thousands and thousands of dollars. I strongly believe that milking as it says is a better lifestyle is not what it is cracked up to be because of the stress.

The smell of dairy is not the best either. The smell of dairy can affect towns or cities by the smell and can and would get complaints and concerns and also the population of them towns and cities. Also effluent can get into waterways and will kill fish or anything that may swim in the waters it is affected it can also get into a towns supply if it does not get filted, that may cause sickness or diseases. I believe that dairy is one of the worst places to work because the smell and consitint sickness you get.

In conclusion dairy is not better because it is more stressed, harder and does not smell or get into waterways from the effluent. Since my farm has been converted to dairy I have not enjoyed being on the farm at all all because of the stress, smell and lifestyle.

T P

Y

School time change

I am writing this to persuade the school to change the school time. We should change the school times back because the new times are hard to deal with. I do not see any reason why change was necessary to the school routine. Currently the lunch time is too long and morning tea is too short.

One of the reasons I chose this school is because of school finishing at 2.30pm on Friday’s. It was great to be one of the first schools that finished after a long hard week of studying. Every time they’ve changed the times they make them worse because now the day feels like it goes longer then it ever has before. I am sure if I went around asking students of Southland Boys High School they would agree the new times are worse then before.

 Also, the two thirty Friday’s meant I was able to get to work and, work more hours. Instead we finish at 3.15pm every day which really sucks because where at school a whole sixty five minutes more then before the new time change. I think its funny how they said they added five minutes to the lunch time but they added an extra fifteen minutes to every day. That is 2000 extra minutes each year! It’s mind blowing.

 I could be working during that time that has been added to the time especially with the new school programs they have put in action for being late. Also the time table is also a bit confusing the old time table computer was a whole lot more simple to use. Evan my parents thought that changing the school time in the first place was a bad idea. I mean I honestly didn’t  see anything wrong with the old one. It was easy to follow and also less time consuming schedule the new time is just annoying and unnecessary. In my opinion it should definitely be abandoned and the old one put back in to schedule its really gutting to have our two thirty Fridays replaced with a time change that doesn’t even make sense. Especially when the time table was thirty minute lunch and thirty minute interval when we also had no time to do things either. What about with the bus boys getting out at 3.15  to catch their bus and on Fridays they could go to the shop while they wait for the bus witch I think is quite good with the 2.30 Fridays. I guess what I am really trying to get at here is we need the old school time back.

Y07015

07015

Donate a lung … save a life

Blood, kidneys livers, hearts, ears, eyes, nose and face are all organs that can be donated to help someone’s life be better and normal. So why aren’t more people donating? This essay investigates why it is optional to be a donor, how it gives others another chance, and the amount of people who donate in New Zealand.

In New Zealand it is optional to donate organs. There is currently no law that allows Doctors to take healthy organs from suddenly deceased persons. In some cases this may be appropriate where there is no next of kin or consent from the deceased person as this could help save another person’s life. However it should still be optional where it is clear the wishes of the deceased person regarding the not using their organs is known.

I believe it should be compulsory to donate crucial organs as a deceased person if the wishes are not know. If it was compulsory it would mean that your healthy organs could be used and matched to someone who has a failing organ. For example Jonah Lomu was given another opportunity with his kidney transfer. If Jonah had not been given another kidney he would be still relying on dialysis for two hours a day to cleanse his body of toxins and would quite probably die.

If it was compulsory to donate organs a greater number of people could live a normal healthy life on a normal basis.

For instance Sue Kobar of Christchurch had lived her entire life with a heart murmur. Sue had annual check-ups and stayed in good health until the year 2000 when Sue fell in her Hawaii home and injured her knee. The doctor believed she may have fainted not fallen so they tested Sue’s heart. The Aortic valve had 84% restriction leaving Sue with a very high risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke.

Fortunately a donor was found and a successful transplant was completed. Sues donor was an 18 year old female from New Zealand.

“It is very hard to put into words how grateful I am to my donor family. I know that I have received the very precious gift of life and will never take that for granted. I am in excellent health today because a family agreed to support organ and tissue donation”

In New Zealand donor numbers are rising. In 2006 there were 25 donors. This number increased to 41 in 2010.

But there needs to be better ways to volunteer to become an organ donor. Just putting this on your driver’s license is not enough. An option would be to sign up to support organ and tissue donation and make people aware of this organisation through promotion on the street, on television, radio, magazines the internet and workplaces.

In summary organ donning should be compulsory to everyone as its gives others a better chance at life. Crucial organs would not be wasted but instead used as a gift, a gift no one should take for granted.

Y07096

New Zealand is getting to obese

The 2006/07 New Zealand health survey found that: One in four adults were obese (26.5%) New Zealand is getting far too obese. Technology is doing everything for us, the advertising of food and role modes in peoples lives are keeping people inactive. And obese kills millions of people a year but we still eat unhealthy food.

Technology is doing everything for us, Computers have been doing everything for example police, Office workers Technology is doing everything on computers are taking are jobs. Stock taking is done by computers. You can also do your work from your house. Send it into work and you’re done. You eat all day and no exercise and wouldn’t leave the house. That’s why we should do exercise. Even it is a little bit a day would help a lot more.

The advertising of food has gone too far, when there is a television adds for McDonalds make their food look really honest when it really isn’t. These days when kids get pocket money they spend it on food and sweets. Kids should have to put it in a tin then bank it to stop children getting too obese. When the kids get home from school they watch TV and see a TV add for kfc go and have a feed. That’s why they should have to play sport trainings ECT.

Role models have an influence on kids’ lives. If the parents have McDonalds the kids will have to eat it too. Moden families should cut down the takeaway down because it’s making our community obese. If both of the parents are fat they would eat allot of fatting food. The parents these days are too lazy to cook so they get some sort of unhealthy fast food.

In conclusion New Zealand is getting too obese and they need to do something about it. We get fat by technology is doing everything for us, Advertising of food and role models in peoples lives. By making a few changes like, Advising, Role models and hopefully with a few more changes the world would be a better place.

Y

NBA & MONEY

Imagine this... You are Kobe Bryant and it’s the conference final. Lakers versus the club that who is offering you the multi million dollar contract of any athletes dream. Ten seconds left & you’re controlling the ball. The last play is in your hand whatever happens now will have you remembered as the choke or the champion that has his name engraved in history. Infamy? Or famous? Swsssh is all you hear. The crowd erupts in joy and start chanting Kobe, Kobe. Now comes a daunting decision. Stay with the champion side, or make the jump to the other side for the multi million dollar contract. Kobe would ask himself “Am I chasing perfection or have I found it?” These are the decisions of a star NBA baller, every draft season, in a game which is run by money.

Basketball is one of the biggest sports in the world which is clearly dominated by African American giants such as Lebron James & Kobe Bryant. But how do they earn there money? Sponsorships & contracts are how. But how much is too much? Kobe himself has a six year contract with aides worth $48 million dollars, games for computer consoles and his own line of basketball shoes. Lebron James has his own share in the Major Football side Liverpool F.C and other contracts. Nike in particular. He has acted in a 2007 series of commercials called the Lebron's with earned 27 million. When a big brand see chances to make radicalizes amounts of money they will exploit it. Using athletes for example, they are who the younger generation look up to as heroes and idols. Let’s say Kobe appeared on a McDonald’s ad and is eating a burger this will make the younger generation want it “If Kobe’s doing it I want to do it.” This is how marketing effects sport; the athletes are big money makers

L.A Lakers payroll is $91,645,878 million a season compared to the Australian Rugby league salary cap $4,678,500. This means L.A have the money to tempt top athletes that are just leaving collage. Before leaving collage they must have a compulsory 4 year stint with there respected collage teams. The draft starts in late June after the NBA playoff seasons; the draft consists of two rounds with a total of sixty players trying to earn a contract to one of the 30 prestige teams. But the amount of money that is used to tempt these players is ridiculous. In 2010 David west was the first choice selection with a contract to the Cleveland cavaliers for over $5 million. This puts to much pressure to succeed in the big time for these young athletes who want to prove that they are the next ‘big thing’ in the NBA “there is a lot of pressure put on me but I don’t put a lot on myself. I feel if I play my game it will take care of itself “

So what controls modern day Basketball? In 2000 the NBA draft was the highest grossing draft recorded. Future all-stars of NBA like Kobe Bryant & Lebron James.With the limelight of the NBA shining throughout the world, sooner or later international players were going to come and dominate the competition. Players like Yao Ming, Dirk Nowitzki and Paul Gasoul. But what pulled these foreign beast’s to America? Money? Fame? Or just chasing the dream? These are the questions that need to be asked from my point of view. If they come to America to play ball they should be loyal to there club and not sign deals for future events or teams. We love to know how much the athletes make from contracts to endorsements with brands like Nike ECT. With the likes of Kobe Bryant who has $24 million contract with the Lakers. These are the amounts of money that shouldn’t be wasted on single athletes that sometimes can perform good and sometimes terrible. But there are many other things that this money can be used for people suffering from poverty “Everything negative – pressure, challenges- is all an opportunity for me to rise” – Kobe Bryant.

So as you can see, money controls this game of basketball. The more money you have as an investor, the more likely you will get the signatures of the best players in a game that is founded on dreams and built by money. “Basketball is a blackman’s sport, watched by rich white men”

Y07056

Money Doesn’t Buy Football

Imagine this… You’re the best player in the world, playing for one of the biggest football clubs around and then you get an offer from Barcelona making more money than ever. At that point becoming the richest transfer deal of all time. All eyes are on you on what descion you are going to make. Do you stay with your home club or take an offer from the richest club in the world? This is a position that football stars are going to fall into. Owners spending money on players, footballers earning too much money and transfer deals that are going through the roof. The amount of money that is in the football world is sky high and shouldn’t be in this unstable economy.

Football is one of the most played sports in the world. In a football season there are transfer periods. Transfer periods are when a club transfers another player from a different club. Owners invest their own money to lure players from different clubs. This issue has become prominent over the years. The amount of money clubs offer players is getting unreal. In one instance former Manchester United star Christiano Ronaldo took up a transfer deal worth a reported 80 million pounds by Spanish giants Real Madrid. This marked the largest transfer deal in football history. Christiano Ronaldo has lived up to his expensive deal, but another football star didn’t. Fernando Torres was playing for Liverpool, before being offered a 50 million pound deal to play for Chelsea. However, it took him 4 months to net his first goal. Britain’s ‘The Sun’ newspaper labelled him “… A waste of Chelsea’s money…” This goes to show that pouring millions into players and huge transfer deals does not mean that the football star is going to be worth it.

When there is money involved, player salaries become a big issue. How much money a player makes depends on a lot of things. Such as, what football league, how the team is performing and how well you as a player are playing. Performing for a big money club such as Arsenal or Barcelona the salary is going to have a few more zero’s than other clubs in there respected leagues. In a story on the website Business Insider, out 0f 10 highest pays sports teams in the world, 5 were football clubs. Barcelona was the highest paid sports team in the world. Each player is earning on average $ 7,910,373 million dollars per year. Real Madrid came in a close second with each average player earning $ 7,356,632 million dollars per year, with Christiano Ronaldo earning a record $ 18.5 million dollars a year. This problem with football is also in other sports as well. On the same website, a poll read out of 7 sports and 7,802 first team athletes. With all salaries combined it will come to $15 billion dollars per year. This shows that not only football pays players too much but also other sports around are paying athletes way too much. This money could be invested into something else in their chosen sports. Instead of investing the money into player salaries and writing out more and bigger checks. How about putting the money towards what the fans want?

With elite clubs such as Manchester United and Manchester City who pay millions and billions of dollars a year. They need a financial backer. In this case, the owner of the club. To be a football owner you have to have loads of money. I don’t mean just a couple of million dollars. I mean hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars. There are several club owners who invest and use plenty of there own money. In a poll listed on the website Sports Intelligence.com, they polled the richest owners in sport. Three football teams were listed in the top 15. Two were in the top 6. Silvio Berlusconi invests a reported 7.8 billion into his club AC Milan and Roman Abramovich who invests a staggering $ 13.4 billion in Chelsea F.C. This amount of money goes towards players, transfer deals, managers, coaches and especially to the fans. With these amounts of money can certainly take a team to glory. So what owners invest in is always a tough call. If they make a bad descion it could cost the club in the future.

So as you can see, the amount of money that is in fluxed into football clubs are over the top. Player salaries are getting ridiculous, transfer deals are going through the roof and owners are spending too much money in their football clubs. Right now money is ruling over football. And if something doesn’t happen soon, Football may turn into an unstable global economy. As they always say, money doesn’t buy happiness.

Y

               The Hobbit Controversy

Don’t you think its annoying when a small group of people don’t like something, they cause mayhem? In this case, it’s the Actors Equity Union stopping work because they don’t agree with how much they get paid for the work they have done on the Hobbit film. It costs the government money, it is costing jobs for the average Joe and giving the rest of the country a bad name.

The controversy stops work and costs money. Because the members of the union do not think they are getting enough money they go ahead and stop working. If conflicts can not be resolved, the production company will move the film off-shore. Meaning, the country could lose around 1.5 billion dollars and some credibility in the film industry if the Hobbit film leaves New Zealand.

The government has to fork out tax payer money. Since the union has caused this raucous, the production company ‘Warner Bros’ has questioned New Zealands reliability to make the Hobbit films. To keep the films here, the government has had to make million dollar deals with Warner Bros. Plus move funds (tax payer money) to improve New Zealands competitiveness as a large budget films destination.

What does the rest of the world think of us? This problem brings to

question how reliable New Zealands actors will be for future developments. Questioning whether other films will be in jeopardy, if they are filmed here. This problem sprung to life by the Actors Equity union could jeopardise the filming of other movies on our rugged shores. Directors and production companies could easily take New Zealand out of the equation when choosing to film somewhere. Instead of our beautiful country, they could choose to film somewhere like Scotland which has a very similar landscape to us. If there are no films being produced here, then we are going to lose out on millions of dollars.

So in the end if we are not having films made here we lose out on more than just money. We lose out on respect in the film industry, we lose out on tourism, and we lose out on the pride of saying “that was made here”. With these problems our government would then have to cash in on tax payer money, to improve our image. Which would spark debates about careless funding by our government, that would then snow-ball into more problems. But all of this could easily be avoided by people doing what they are suppose to do.

Y

Highlanders choice of Jersey

Colours do not represent our province.

The new green Highlanders strip does not show Otago, North Otago and Southland. It does not show the Scottish heritage usually being blue, maroon and gold.

From To

Y - RP

GLOBAL WARMING                                       

Is it a myth?

There has been lots of debate of global warming one side saying that it exists and the other side saying that it is just a theory. There is no hard evidence that global warming exists but there are lots of signs pointing to the fact that that it might exist. For example,the increased number of natural disasters and the Antarctic ice is at its highest melting point in decades. Also the worlds industrial market is increasing every year. My opinion is that the world’s pollution is making a difference on this earth.

What does it do?

The theory behind global warming is that it heats up the earth’s atmosphere making the ozone layer thinner and is believed to have a made a hole in it. Global warming is often caused by cars, petrol fumes, greenhouse gases, and factory fumes. Greenhouse gases are often caused by farm animals (cows,sheep,pigs).With more trees getting chopped down the earth is producing less oxygen this might also effect how global warming works.

Can we prevent it?

Many people think that it can be prevented by driving hybrid cars.San Francisco is one of the worlds most ‘eco friendly’ city’s over half the population drives hybrids. They were even going to pass a bill to ban all SUV’s in that city to prevent anymore pollution. As the petrol price increases people are starting to buy hybrid cars to save money.

People are starting to realise that the world is changing because of man kind’s presence that is why they made up days/events like earth hour when everyone turns off electricity in their home for an hour to save money and power and also to just make a difference.

There is no known way to repair the damage that man kind has done there is only ways to reduce the amount of pollution that we make such as eco lights, turning off the power at the wall, solar power,hybrids,wind power, and smaller cars.

Is there evidence?

No- There is no evidence that global warming exists that is why many people doubt it. But experts believe that the earth’s surface temperature getting hotter should be enough evidence but it is not something that they can use for debate. The only other evidence that exists is the increased number of natural disasters mainly floods.

The idea that the world is going to end in 2012 is brought on by the prediction that it will be mans fault for disturbing the earth too much.     And that we pay the price for polluting the earth so are we all going to die because of how we live that is up to global warming (if it exists.)

RP