Category: Others

Contrary to past beliefs, Dr. Lara Boyd, A neuroscientist at the University of British Columbia claims several facts about the brain. One is that the brain never stops learning and adjusting depending on what it learns and what it doesn’t learn. This is called neuroplasticity. Before this information was discovered, many people believed that we learn everything as a child, and once a person is an adult, they are not able to learn anymore. If people are all able to find out that they can still become more knowledgable once they are adults, it can most likely encourage more people to go back to college if they dropped out. It can also make adults work harder since now they know that they can learn skills in this job and apply them to a better job later. This knowledge may only seem important to neuroscientists, but it should be known to everyone who cares about our future economy. 

Another fact Dr. Lara Boyd supports is that various people’s brains have different ways of learning new things, and it may be easier for someone to learn one skill but harder to learn another. Knowing this information can allow people to be more aware of others with learning disabilities. In addition, then, one may not be mad at him/herself if they are not able to pick up a skill that all their friends are able to do easily. I believe that anyone who cares about their future should research more about this topic in order to learn about their brain, and what can help them learn more information. 

A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape from it, similar to a vacuum. Instead of swallowing gobs of dust, black holes suck up stars, which is how some stars end their “lives”. The black hole in HR 6819, a triple star system, is one of the very first black holes found that do not interact violently with their surroundings and is actually black.  Currently, Astronomers have only discovered about twelve black holes in total, and finding one in a triple star system and is able to be seen with the naked eye is unusual and rare.

This black hole has a whole mass of 4 times that of the Sun. Astonishingly, one black hole at the core of supergiant elliptical galaxy Messier 87 has a mass of 7 billion times the mass of the Sun. Four times the mass of the Sun is already heavy enough, but seven billion times, that is way over the top!

If I was trapped in a black hole, what would I do? What would I bring? Well, it is common knowledge that black holes are the densest thing in the universe, and that if I was trapped in one, I probably would die in about a second, pulled apart by the immense gravity of the black hole. Moving past that though, if I was stuck in a black hole, and was immortal, I would have to find some way to live as there’s no way I could escape.

If I was trapped in a black hole, it would be pretty boring, as I’d be stuck in a place where no light escapes and where everything is crushed and compressed into nothingness. As there is no light, I probably wouldn’t be able to do any recreational activities, and even if there was, all my things would be destroyed anyway.

Assuming I could bring things that were indestructible, I would probably bring food, water, and shelter, because living malnourished, dehydrated, and exhausted is no way to live, especially when you live forever stuck in a black hole.

If I could do things, I might bring art supplies, a piano, and other things that might bring me comfort and happiness. I’d also bring an indestructible flashlight, because that’d be super useful, assuming the black hole doesn’t snuff out the light.

I may bring my family and friends, if they are also immortal, though I imagine that after a time they would become insufferable, and if I found them annoying, I’d be stuck with them for eternity.

I hope I could find some means of escape, but it would take a vehicle of immense power to escape a black hole, and I don’t believe one like that has been invented yet.

If I was stuck in a black hole, the hole would probably become my new forever home. I’m sure I would be able to have some other adaptations to my new lifestyle, as humans often adapt to new and unfamiliar situations. Perhaps my pupils would become larger, to take in more light, or maybe I would become able to go for long periods of time without food. I do not know.

I think it is safe to say that I do not ever want to be stuck in a black hole, and I sincerely hope that it will not happen.

Shirley Jackson’s short story called “The Lottery” is a dystopian story that teaches an important lesson about the society. A small town has a lottery every year, and one citizen is picked to be stoned to death by the other citizens. Jackson portrays through her story that rules or traditions should not be blindly followed just because they are traditions.

The ending of “The Lottery” was particularly surprising to me. I was taken aback when I found out that the assumingely “lucky” citizens was to be stoned to death. Since everyone was dressed up, and laughing before the actual lottery happened, it made me go onto the wrong track. However, there were things that I barely paid attention to until we brought it up in the group conversation. These things foreshadowed a ghastly ending.

The black box foreshadowed something evil hence the color black. Black is normally assumed to be the color of death, fear, and evil. Another thing was the strange name, Mr. Graves. This foreshadowed the death of one of our characters, who would brutally end up in a grave.

This story’s ending and way of illustrating the theme was very unnerving to me. It was almost unworldly that people would have the nerve to stone their loved ones and friends to death. However this made the theme a lot clearer, almost standing out. Jackson’s way of conveying the theme was a little harsh, especially the last phrase; “and they were upon her”. Still, this shows the consequences of blindly following traditions. This hits you hard when you read the story and it glues the theme to your head.

Overall, I think Jackson’s way of portraying the theme was very straightforward and quite dark, though very useful for emphasizing the theme. I was super surprised by the ending but it helped convey the theme. I really enjoyed reading this short story and the theme is going to help me in my future life.

Between the bridge of dream and reality

You wake up early in the morn

In your bed you soon realize

A new day is born

You get up from your bed

Sleepiness deteriorating

You open the window to see the sunlight

The day ahead is waiting

You go out for a walk

Nature calms your mind

Trees are thriving, grass is growing

An experience for a lifetime

You breathe, inhale and exhale

You meditate and relax and quiet

You learn, you read; you listen to music

You gain nutrients on a healthy diet

Today is mission accomplished

Your mind was fully engaged

Night is arriving very soon

Your good night’s sleep awaits

Most people have problems with their memory on some days and not others. When you are feeling alert, well rested and healthy, you are less likely to have problems with everyday remembering. But if you have been having a bad day, or are tense or depressed, you may experience problems with your memory.

Since memory is part of your thinking and learning process, it makes sense that anything that interferes with optimum brain function can affect how well you retrieve and store information. Both your body and your mind – hence your memory – are influenced by diet, medications, stress level, exercise, smoking, and relaxation.

Your mood affects your ability to remember. When you can’t remember something, you can get even more frustrated and create even more stress, which in turn affects your memory. Anxiety and depression are the two major causes of memory problems at any age. When you are deeply depressed or overstressed, you tend to turn inward. You do not record information the way you normally do and your thoughts are occupied with negative emotions. It is important to relax and de-stress so your memory function can get back to normal. Practice breathing and visualization techniques every day so that when you need them, they will be second nature to you.

Not eating a balanced diet can also have a negative impact on your memory, as it can impair the nervous system. Too many food additives and too much sugar contribute to memory malfunction. You need a healthy diet full of vitamins, minerals, iron, and protein.

You also need to drink plenty of water. Have you ever felt tired and disoriented in the middle of the day, and perked up after having some water? That is because dehydration can lead to confusion and other thinking problems.

Getting enough sleep is also essential for a good memory. This gives your brain some needed rest and relaxation. During certain periods of deep sleep that occur about every hour and a half, the brain disconnects from the senses and processes, reviews, consolidates, and stores memory. To interfere with this crucial time of sleep will seriously affect how your memory functions.

Alcohol, smoking, and caffeine are all memory inhibitors. Consuming too much of these will impair your ability to store new information and cause short term memory loss.

It may not be easy at first, but moderating your lifestyle and living in a healthy, balanced way can have a tremendous impact on you and your memory.

The Lottery is a story about a small town and their yearly ritual. Their “ritual” includes of drawing papers out from a vintage black box. Each man of the families would pick a slip of paper out from the box and the family with the black spot on their slip would be “chosen”. Then, each family member would draw again and the member with the black spot would be stoned to death by all the villagers.

As a reader of The Lottery, I presumed that whoever won the lottery would be given a sum of cash, as that’s what a lottery in our time period is. My opinion on this short story is,” I was taken aback on how the lottery was not just a raffle for cash, but a raffle to be stoned to death”. I personally do recommend this story to others, as it seems all sweet and innocent but in the end there is a very interesting plot twist. The theme of the story is sometimes, people take myths to another level. This is the theme, because in The Lottery, the villagers believed stoning someone would ensure them good crops.

The story starts of on a nice summer day, with the townspeople arriving at the town square to join in on the lottery. Mr. Summers brings in a black box with sheets of papers inside of them. When the lottery is about to start, Mrs. Hutchinson arrives late because she apparently forgot what day it was. The villagers laughed over her silly mistake and the lottery began. As Mr. Summers called out each family name, the man of each family began arriving to pick up a slip from the box. Once all had their slips, they soon discovered that Bill Hutchinson had drawn the black spot. Tessie soon became defensive and angry on how her husband did not have enough time to draw the slip. The members of Bill’s family, Bill, Bill Jr., Nancy, Dave, and Tessie soon drew slips from the box. All of the family slowly opened their slips, and eventually they discovered Tessie had the black spot. The villagers moved around Tessie and stoned her to death. In conclusion, many people will believe in traditions even though it may be unmoral.

In the short story The Lottery, roles are different for the two different genders. The eldest man is the one who picks out the slip for the whole family during the drawing of slips for the lottery. If it can be helped, women should not be the one to take the slip. Only if there are no more males over the age of sixteen, can the eldest woman get the slip. Additionally, the family name is inherited from the male parent, but that it also what happens in modern society.

Among the kids, boys are usually the ones to play with the rocks and mess around. Girls would stand to the side and talk amongst each other. The man of the family would come first, then the woman shortly after. The women would gossip around with each other for a little, and then join their husbands standing off to the side. Then the children would have to stop their play and go to their parents. Young women who recently married would be in the same family group as their husbands and leave their siblings and parents.

I think that “The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson, is a great story of irony and theme for real life. It has different themes such as human nature, family structure, and the role of gender, and dystopian society and conformity. Many people have their own opinions about “The Lottery”, but I am one who likes the short story mainly because of the main theme that is the mindless adherence to tradition. This book has a theme that I like the most which was the family structure. From what I have heard about families is that the poorer the family, the more love there is, but the more wealthy the family is, the less love there is within the house. This isn’t always true, but from my perspective, it is. Many people have their own story just like “The Lottery”, but the family structure in the Hutchinson household is not that very good because Tessie shows dislike and infuriates all those who do like the lottery that is in the story. I feel like the Hutchinson parents did not teach their kids very well because of how Tessie acts towards the lottery that was held. She was very churlish and insolent. She was very innocuous. “The Lottery is a very well done short story by Shirley Jackson and I would recommend many people read her short stories that are based on real-life and her themes that she puts in her stories are fascinating.

The villagers of a small town gather together on a warm summer day for the town lottery. There are only 300 people in this village, so the lottery takes only two hours, ending right before lunch. Village children, who have just finished school for the summer, run around collecting stones. They put the stones in their pockets and make a pile in the square. Men and women also gather stones, ready for the upcoming. Parents call their children over, and families stand together.

Mr. Summers runs the lottery because he has a lot of time to do stuff about the village. He arrives in the square with the a bunch of slips. A male that is 16 or older of each family comes and draws a slip. The family with the black dot is the one family that will lose on of their family today. The Hutchinson’s family was chosen.

Then, the second round began, and every family member in the Hutchinson’s family picked a slip. The one who had the black dot was Tessie Hutchinson, or mommy Hutchinson. All the villagers pick up their stones, even her son, Davy, did so, and all of them threw and threw until Tessie was stoned to death. She died complaining about how unjust this was, and we couldn’t agree more.