Digital Technologies - Insult-a-bot / Compliment bot

For the last few weeks in DTE, we were tasked to choose a project that had something to do with the skills we have learned throughout the year.

 
The members of my group were Cody, Saia, and Chris. After some planning, we decided to use our coding skills to make a robot that can complement/insult you based on which mode you choose.

We split up the work into two teams, Saia and Cody worked on making the box that contained the bot, and Chris and I worked on the code. 

At first, we wanted to upload code onto the Arduino and use motion-sensing but we eventually realized that would not work so we went with the coding on scratch with my Chromebook and used the makey makey as buttons.

Since only one person could work on the code I just worked on it and Chris helped out Saia and Cody.

I made a lot of errors with the code at first and broke it a lot but eventually got it to work. I do think it would of made it easier if I had someone else to help me code so next time I would probably code with something other than scratch that could have multiple people doing it at the same time.

I do think we could have been a bit more efficient without time but I do think we did somewhat accomplish what we wanted.

 

My Writing Portfolio

A Game of Cards Essay

In the short text “A game of cards” by Witi Ihimaera, the narrator speaks about his Nani Miro’s life and her final moments with her family. A memorable idea in this story was that you should live life being happy and enjoy your time while you are here. This was memorable to me because it shows that death doesn’t have to be sad, rivalry and friendships are not so different, and that life is going to be full of ups and downs.

One reason why the idea that you should live life being happy and enjoying your time was memorable to me was that it shows that death doesn’t have to be sad was memorable to me was because death is usually thought of as something to be sorrowful about and not something to be happy about. We see this in the text when all of Nani Miro’s family and friends go to her house as she lives her final moments and as she passes everyone is having a good time playing card games and even when Nani Miro passed she was happy, “She began to laugh. Her eyes streamed with tears. While she was laughing, she died.” This shows us that even though losing a loved one is indeed a sad event there are ways to make it less depressing and more about love and family. The message I take away from this is that we should always try to look on the bright side of life.

Another reason the idea that you should live life being happy and enjoying your time was memorable to me was because it shows rivalry and friendships are not so different as it is shown all throughout the text that Nani Miko and Mrs. Heta are always bickering and fighting yet seem to be best friends. We see this in the text when Nani Miro and Mrs. Heta are playing cards, “Eee! You cheat, Miro! I got two aces in my hand already!” but then moments later “Mrs. Heta took the cards from Nani’s hands and kissed her.”  This shows us that even though Nani Miro and Mrs. Heta are great rivals that they still have love for each other. The main message I take from this is that rivalry should always come hand in hand with friendship. 

The final reason that you should live life being happy and enjoying your time while you’re here was memorable to me was because it shows us that life is going to be full of ups and downs. We see this in the text when Nani Miro and the Narrator are speaking to each other, “A long hoarse sigh grew on her lips. Her eyelids fluttered, and she looked at me with blank eyes, and then tears began to roll down her cheeks.” but then moments later they began laughing with each other “She started to laugh and laugh and I was almost persuaded she was her own self.” This shows us that your view on life can change at a moment’s notice and that life’s ups and downs are what make life worth living. This reminds me of our world because everyday life is filled with ups and downs and that’s just something you have to deal with. 

 In Witi Ihimaera’s short story “A game of cards” he writes about Nani Miro’s life and her final moments with her family. The most memorable idea in this story is that you should live life being happy and enjoying your time while you’re here. This was memorable to me because it shows that death doesn’t have to be sad, rivalry and friendships are not so different, and that life is going to be full of ups and downs. This book is a great example of living life happy and to its fullest.

The Lake - Language Features

The Lake - Language Features

Listing - Using more detail to emphasize a point and can create an image in the reader's mind.

Example - "The wave shut me off from the world, from the birds in the sky, the children on the beach,

my mother on the shore. There was a moment of green silence. Then the wave gave me

back to the sky, the sand, the children yelling. I came out of the lake and the world was

waiting for me, having hardly moved since I went away."

My Passion Project

My Passion Project

Last week our Wananga classes started passion projects, which means we got to choose something that we are passionate about and work on it for the rest of the term. For my passion project, I am working in a group with Sonny and Kaedun and we decided to work on making and producing a song as it is something we are interested in.

Our goal is to make a hip-hop/rap song. At this point in time, we have just started making the beat and brainstorming what the song will be about.

Yellow Brick Road

   Pre-reading Questions

Author Witi Ihimaera is from Gisborne. Five of his books, The Whale Rider, Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies, Nights of the Gardens of Spain, White Lies, and Maori have been made into films. 

To me the Yellow Brick Road is like a road to glory, I have heard of the phrase from the Wizard of Oz movie. 

I predict this story will be about following the road to something great and the journey along the way.

Speeding Past School

Aim = See how many cars are speeding past school

Method =

1. Measure the distance between the power pole 🠞  power pole = 50m

2. Time how long it takes a car to travel this distance

   -"flag" person indicates when the car passed their pole

   - "timer" person starts when a car passed the flag pole and stops when the car passes their pole

   - "writer" person writes downtimes

3. Collect 10 times

4. Calculate speed in m/s 🠞 convert to km/hr

5. Are there any speeders?

Speed	Car 1	Car 2	Car 3	Car 4	Car 5	Car 6	Car 7	Car 8	Car 9	Car 10	Average
Time(s)	4.42	5.12	3.36	2.48	4.60	3.48	4.04	4.63	5.55	8.88	4.65
m/s	11.31	9.76	14.88	20.16	10.86	14.36	12.37	10.79	9.00	5.63	10.75
Km-hr	40.72	35.15	53.57	72.58	39.13	51.72	44.55	38.87	32.43	20.27	38.70

Creating our own short  film 

For the last few weeks, our class has been in small groups creating short films based on the ideas of The Merchant of Venice Court Scene.

Ours is based on two best friends (Xavier and John) that are going to counseling to fix their relationship, but it turns out that John has been cheating on his best friend with another person named Frank.

This is a retelling of the Merchant of Venice because we took the main principles of the court scene and transformed it into a modern setting.

The 2 additional film techniques we used were high angle and over the shoulder.

We chose a high angle to make John look weak and vulnerable and we chose over the shoulder to give the viewer some perspective.

Some challenges we encountered was that we didn't have that many days where our whole group was at school so it was hard to get our filming finished so next time we will make sure everybody comes. Another factor was that we couldn't find a good area to film because we needed a place that was empty and a place we could be loud in, we eventually settled with our classroom.

If we were to do this project differently I would plan out where we are going to film in advance and actually write a script as we did this whole film improv.

Foggy Blog Day 

Today's blog is about budgeting and money, something I've been working on in class this week. We have been learning all about how money works and advice for our futures.
We have been planning out a list of items we want to save up for and how long it would take for us to get enough money to buy. One of the items I want is a razer hammerhead wireless earbuds, which cost $179 and would take 14 weeks to save.  We have also been learning the definition of words such as income, budget, salary, and more.
Please leave a comment that will hopefully encourage me to continue blogging and make improvements where necessary.

The Happy Broadcast

Today in social studies we have been tasked to write about some articles we have read on The Happy Broadcast.

Recently Pandora (the world's largest jewelry producer) announced they would no longer be using mined diamonds and will be using lab-grown gems. 

Lab diamonds are almost completely identical to mined diamonds, minus the mined part. They also are sold 30% cheaper than real diamonds.

At the moment they are using 60% renewable energy but their goal is to be 100% renewable by the end of the year.

Studies have proven that there are decades of studies that have proven to have a folate deficiency that can lead to anxiety and depression. Asparagus is filled with the nutrient folate and might help you with your worries.

Giant Pandas have been around for around 3 million years but they weren't discovered until 1869 because of how hidden they were in the high mountains of China.

Until recently they were facing extinction but thanks to the reproduction efforts in zoos as well as reforestation campaigns. 

I hope you learned something that brightened your day. 

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Canterbury Flooding (Reading and Reflection)

Canterbury Flooding

Recently in Canturbury, there have been many storms going on, and Ashburton, Timaru, and Selwyn have all declared a civil defense emergency.

In Ashburton, the river has been rising a lot and the army has been sent in case anyone needs help to evacuate. Christchurch has been preparing for major flooding as they are unsure whether it will worsen (but it most likely will).   

In conclusion, the weather has been pretty crazy around Canterbury so stay safe and try to stay dry!

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

The great pacific garbage patch is a gyre that spreads around the world and picks up plastic and rubbish that has been dumped around the world, this is a big issue because at this rate in our generation we could see the ocean become 50% plastic 50% fish.

What do you think?

I think that this is a big issue and if we don't fix it, it could grow into an even bigger problem. We should start being more conscious about what we are putting into our world and the effects it has.

What can we do?

We can lessen our use of plastics and other non-biodegradable materials and start taking care of our ocean and environment.

Social Studies: Keeping Our Environment Clean

Our class is studying our effects on the environment and how to keep it safe for our world.

Today in class we were sent to be eco-warriors and we had to pick up rubbish and litter from our school.

Here is some of the rubbish my group picked.

 

I hope this shows you that you should take care of your environment. 

DTE Reflection Blog Post

For the last few weeks in Digital Technology, we have been learning Cryptography and different encryption 

methods.

First off we played cryptography-based games and I mainly played discover crypt which was a game where you would be given encryption questions and given the formula to solve them.

Discover Crypt

Here is a slideshow on all the different encryption methods I have learned.

We were also tasked to make an infographic about cryptography and what it is about.

In conclusion, I have learned valuable information about cryptography, what encryption methods there are and how to keep your info safe.

The Happy Broadcast

The happy broadcast is a website that shows news about the world that lightens your day.

Here are three news articles I found about climate change.

Paris is replacing all of its concrete car parks with garden car parks filled with nature.

The world's only white giraffe has been attached with a GPS so poachers don't attack it.

In New Zealand, everyone who recycles gets a gold star on their bin for the whole neighborhood to see.

Thank you for reading my post.

Corrosion Experiment

Corrosion

Aim: To investigate the factors that cause rusting and how to prevent it.

Equipment: Eight test tubes, test tube rack, a bung, eight iron nails, boiled water, salt water, tap water, calcium chloride, cooking oil, vaseline, paint, zinc.

Art Kete

For the past 3 weeks in Wananga, we have been working on projects for our cultural art kete. 

In the beginning, I was quite confused as to what I should make, but then I came to the conclusion that I wanted to make a clay model of me sitting on a Persian rug because I am half Iranian and half New Zealander.

English Assessment

In English we have been tasked to write a short story and I have written a story based on the video game The Last of Us.

The Trip

Walking through the old cities was a struggle, you never knew when a drooling beast could jump out at you. They are mindless beings who only destroy, they are the reason the world is so desolate. Joel and his adoptive daughter Ellie made their way through the dense concrete structures, spiraling staircases that only lead to death. “Joel, shouldn’t we be a little more cautious seeing that there might be infected nearby?” Ellie suggested as she wobbled around the old tree roots. “Nah don't worry this place has been cleared the only infected we would run into are already on their dying breath,” he responded in confidence. The infected only live to spread their virus but Ellie is special, Ellie is immune to the virus. No one appears to know how or why so they have assumed that it was a natural phenomenon. 

Making their way around the old roads, suddenly Joel tripped over a rotting tree root.“JOEL!” Ellie screeched as he tumbled down a musty drainage pipe. “It's alright, it's alright,” he muttered as he wiped the gruesome sewage off of himself. “Ellie you need to go find somewhere safe to stay while I find my way out of this hell hole,” Joel said in worry. “If you say so boss…” she replied sarcastically. Ellie found an old office to stay in, she began rummaging through old books about the world, Ellie was born only a few years after the infection had begun so all she's ever known is conflict. She began thinking to herself about where she would want to go if the world ever goes back to normal.

Meanwhile, Joel pulled his shotgun and headlight out of his bag and decided to go find a way out, as he finally saw the light he could hear someone moving towards him, something even… He hid behind an old barrel and tried to stay as silent as possible. The thing began making horrid noises which only meant one thing, it was an infected. The only other sound in the air was heavy breathing as the infected shrugged over to Joel... He leaned out as fast as he could and pulled the trigger shooting 4 rounds into the infected, the shots could be heard from a mile away. This infected may be dead now, but this only means there are more around. 

All of a sudden gunshots flew past Joel’s head at the speed of light, someone else was here… Joel jumped back behind an ancient relic of the past, also known as a car. “What do you want?” shouted the suspicious figure. “I just need to find my way out of here, I mean no harm,” Joel replied abruptly. It seemed as the figure was closing in that Joel was running out of options but all of a sudden the figure came out of the shadows and was a seemingly innocent child, he looked about Ellie’s age. Joel was filled with confusion as to why a child was roaming the streets alone. “Relax, I’m just a kid…” the child said to comfort Joel. “the names Michael, I was just scavenging for some scraps”. Joel was standing still with a confused yet relieved look on his face, “Oh alright... “ Joel replied cautiously. “If you want I can take you back to my village and get you some meds” the child suggested. Joel hadn’t even noticed he had a gushing cut on his leg and agreed to head to his village. “Let me go grab someone first, alright?” Joel asserted.  Joel and Micheal then walked over to Ellie and explained the situation.

Joel, Ellie, and Micheal began to head over to the village. Joel did feel assured that there was a group of other people out there but still had a suspicious feeling deep down. The snow crunched between their boots as they entered the village, “the snow hasn’t stopped for weeks, it feels like it's never-ending.” Micheal complained. Ellie saw people everywhere, like ants working for their queen, she had never seen so many people in one place, it was almost perfect, it was too perfect... Ellie and Joel then were taken to the town hall and given some food, it was too good to resist, it seemed to be pork and potatoes. They were shown a room where they could stay for a while. In an instant, they both hit the hey and slept like babies. Soon after Ellie woke up, she assumed it was around midnight. However, when she looked over her shoulder to see how Joel was doing he was unaccounted for. Not so long later Ellie had decided to go have a look around for Joel. There was a room a few feet away from theirs, the door seemed dark and gloomy… Tiny footsteps could be heard as Ellie drew closer and closer to the door but as she opened it turned out this seemed to be some sort of slaughterhouse, all of sudden she noticed some muffled screaming from the backroom... She pulled out her miniature axe and was on guard, she quietly leaned around the corner of the door and stood there. Her pupils dilated and she began to shake, what she saw was gruesome. It was bodies of humans being stacked like a pile of legos, some with limbs removed and some still holding on to their last breath, “could it be, that these people are cannibals?” Ellie thought to herself in disbelief.

She sprinted away but then a looming shadow was awaiting her, “you shouldn’t be snooping around there little girl…” with a flaming torch in hand the man slowly shuffled over. Ellie then tried to run but he had blocked all of the exits, but her keen eye saw a vent that had been broken and needed maintenance so she sprinted over to it and crawled as fast as she could, her body filled with adrenaline. She tried to make her way out of this hell hole. All she could think about was where Joel was and if he knew what was really going on.  With every room she passed she got filled with more and more hopelessness, then there was a room emitting red light and the person under the light was Joel, there were two men with knives preparing to kill him. Without a single thought Ellie jumped out of the ventilation system and threw an axe into one of the men and quickly freed Joel from the ropes, Joel grabbed the knife from the ground and got into a defensive stance in front of Ellie. A brawl commenced between Joel and the cannibal, hits were being traded and wounds inflicted, a surgical instrument got impaled right into the side of Joel's face and blood started pouring like a tap out of the wound. Ellie’s hands were trembling, sweat dripping down her scalp, she didn’t know what to do, she then noticed that Joel's gear was packed next to her and went with her gut, she pulled out his shotgun and shot the bullets into this fiend, like a dart flying into a dartboard. Joel looked at her with a proud look on his face, “next time hold the gun a bit more straight alright?” he said sarcastically, they both started laughing hysterically. 

Not so long later they patched up their wounds; they noticed that there was a shed with an astounding amount of horses, there was one with a saddle attached so they hopped on. “Let's get the hell out of this psycho town,” Ellie said in relief. Joel noticed that there was smoke rising from the town, “oopsie that might have been me…” Ellie mumbled with a smart look on her face. As the snow began to dwindle, the sun beamed through the puzzled clouds onto their luscious locks and they wandered away to commence another journey...

Bob Geldof and Midge Ure

Bob Geldof is a singer / musician who was in the group "Boomtown Rats". The reason he wanted to help the famine in Ethiopia is because it was widely shown on TV. He then released "Do they know its Christmas time". He was then the main organises in the Live Aid Concert and helped raise money for it, he essentially used his fame to bring attention to the issue.

Midge Ure was one of the members in the band Ultravox. He also helped Bob Geldof produce "Do they know its Christmas time" and helped raise money for the Live Aid. 

Cryptography and Cyber Security

Recently in Digital Tech we have been learning about cryptography and cyber security. We were tasked us to create a info graphic on them and play some games based on cryptography.

Discover Crypt - It was fun and challenging to complete these puzzles and ciphers. I Liked how it also let you know how to solve these ciphers and what they were.

Terminal - I liked how there was a story and how you could tell a lot of effort was put into it, but it was a bit confusing and I had no idea what was going on half the time.