Sarah’s Space

Over the past few decades the amount of regular smokers has increased dramatically. Although it is said that smoking is an extremely hard habit to break I believe it is just a fact of mind over matter. I don’t see how people can spend thousands of dollars on something that is potentially harmful to their health. The bad thing about it is that it is not only the smokers that are being affected. It’s also their family, friends and also just anyone else around. A real problem is people smoking in the car. Many people think that simply winding down the window will get rid of the smoke when the real fact is that the smoke actually lingers in the air for hours afterwards. As well as that tobacco smoke is poisonous and has been known to cause severe health problems such as lung cancer. So, how do you solve this major worldwide issue you ask? I believe that the solution is to

make the risks of smoking a lot more well known and publicize them more especially to the likes of teenagers and young adults. For those who are already caught up in the act of smoking I think they need to really seriously consider kicking this bad and dangerous habit. This would really benefit our society. Who allows these sticks of poison to be sold anyway?

The Olympics have started and the competition is heating up. The spotlight this year has fallen upon America’s Mighty Micheal Phelps. For those who don’t know Micheal Phelps is a star Olympian and swimmer. His aim was to achieve 8 gold medals at this year’s Games and has done so with ease. All this as well as smashing his own world records and others. He seems more like a fish than a person!! I cannot believe how goos he is!

Although he is not the only one doing well. For quite a small country we have been doing quite well and have got 8 medals in total at my last count. Including 2 golds as well as 1 silver medal and 5 bronze.

The leading nations though on the medal table at the moment are China and the USA. It should be quite interesting to see which nation comes out on top.

Overall I am proud to say that I am a New Zealander for the amount of medals we have for such a small nation. What do you think? Good luck NZ!!

I have just read something very horrific on wikipedia while searching for Asia Wise answers called bride burning so I decided to do some research and follow up on it… Bride burning can be found in India, Paskistan and Bangladesh. What is it? 

In these countries when a man and a woman get married the wife or family of the wife give the husband’s family a dowry (a gift/present).  Bride Burning is described as the husband or husband’s family drenching the wife in gasoline and setting her alight. With murderous intentions, the husband, or his family murders her.  Bride burning accounts for 600-750 deaths each year in India alone.

Why would someone kill their ‘true love’ in such a creul and painful way you may ask. The reasons behind doing this is often that the dowry is often inadequete so they kill the new bride so that the husband can then re-marry.

I was and still am disgusted by this act. It is absolutely cruel and horrific. I was revolted by the acts of these people who commit this sickening act. These people who do this should be put away for life for doing such a thing and for such a stupid reason to say the least. Absolutely nobody deserves this. Also, how can the husband sit back while all this happens or even do it himself. What ever happened to, til death do us part? I am just glad that this doesn’t happen here in New Zealand.

What do you think?

If you would like to find out more go to this website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bride_burning 

We have been doing debating at school, which I am a part of. Our topic is animal testing or vivisection. My personal view on this topic is that if we can eat meat, wear fur, hunt and fish without anyone objecting to it so why is it wrong to do scientific experiments on them that could benefit the world?

Although I think this I also that it is morally wrong because animals and humans should have equal rights. As mentioned earlier, how come humans can do some things concerning animals but not others? For instance, 17 million animals are tested on in the USA each year including some 15.5 million rats and mice. However, this is nothing compared to the amount of animals killed for food. 128 million cows alone were killed for beef in just one year. As you can see there is an extreme difference.

People believe though that animal testing is cruel and should be banned. They also believe that scientists cannot actually compare the likes of humans and animals because there are so many differences.

Others think that animal testing is good as many discoveries have been made due to it. Such as Louis Pasteur’s vaccine which he discovered by testing them on healthy animals. This was an extreme breakthrough for the world.

personally I am sitting on the fence because although I think it is morally wrong, it has proved veryhelpful throughout the world.

Over the entire country so far there has been a lot of storms hitting towns and cities. However some towns have been hit harder than others…

The North Canterbury town of Kaiapoi may be evacuated as extensive flooding and a high tide threaten the town.

Waimakariri District Council emergency management officer Les Pester said staff were going into a meeting to decide whether to evacuate the town ahead of the high tide.

“We’re working out what we’re going to do before the high tide which is due about 2.30pm,” he said. – stuff.co.nz

This is a very scary thought that small New Zealand can even fall victim to dangerous weather. In some ways though it is also an exciting thought. I know that if I was in amongst the worst of it I would not be feeling the same way. I hope that the storms pass over the country quickly as I would like to enjoy a bit more sun and a lot less rain. I advise those who are being hit by the severe storms to keep safe and sound if at all possible.

The Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic recently went head to head against the Adelaide Thunderbirds at the Mystery Creek Event Centre in Hamilton. I went and watched the preliminary final on monday evening.

The stadium roared as the teams were introduced and all around, spectators were smacking their ANZ clappers together. Before long, the game was underway. All through the game the scores were quite close. In the end though Magic took it out with the final score of 51-49. My favourite player of the match in my opinion was without a doubt Casey Williams as I think she played very well. It  was great fun and I loved being able to watch it live at the stadium as opposed to watching it on tv. Overall, a great game and a great night.

New Zealand ranks second only to the United States in a scientific survey of illegal cocaine and cannabis use in 17 countries.

The study uses data from the countries participating in the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) World Mental Health Survey Initiative.

It found that 16.2 per cent of people in the United States reported using cocaine in their lifetime, the second highest level of cocaine use was in New Zealand, where 4.3 per cent of people reported having used the drug.

Cannabis use was highest in the US (42.4 per cent), followed by New Zealand (41.9 per cent).

The research was based on interviews with 85,052 participants in 17 countries. -stuff.co.nz

I was very astounded with the numbers and statistics that were presented by this study. I can’t believe that almost half the nation has tried cannabis. I think it would be quite interesting to find how many of these people are between 11-19 years old. I think that these drug users have shed a bad light on the rest of the nation and give our country a bad name. I would like to know how the government will react to these statistics. It is a disgrace that so many people have tried cannabis and cocaine.

I am going to improve on my reading comprehension by reading more often. I will also focus on the storyline more and read more challenging books.

I will strive to improve on my maths. I am going to do this by asking for help when needed.

 I am going to make the most of each and every moment so I can complete my work before the due date.

I will try to work better in a group so we can complete the task at hand, to a high standard. I will do this by listening to others thoughts, opinions and ideas.

 I am going to be the best student councillor I can be by informing the class about certain things and also putting great effort towards this role.

I will try to improve on my saxophone skills by practising each day.

I am going to try my hardest in all subjects, including tech arts so that I can achieve the best results I possibly can.

These were my goals from the first half of the year. I think that I have so far done quite well in achieving these goals. I think that I have read some quite challenging books but I think I need to read books that I would not normally read and move out of my comfort zone. I have been asking for help when needed and I think it has paid off as I believe I am getting better. My time management skills are going well and I have been handing work in before the due date. I think I have done quite well, also, in my duties as a class councillor. I have been striving towards perfection in my work as well. I am still not practising my saxophone everyday but I am practising a lot more than I used to. Overall, I think I have achieved most of the goals that I set for myself, but there is always room for improvement.

Our whole school has recently been working extremely hard at completing our science fair projects. The science fair is next week so some people are in a bit of a mad panic. Personally, I am finding this quite a challenge but also enjoyable. I like a challenge too. I had a bit of a rough start and was unsure but now I know what I’m doing.

Science Fair is when you come up with a question and then use the scientific method to find the results.  

My science fair is based on the question… How does the density of a liquid affect its boiling time?  I am on track with everything. Most of my work is typed and ready to go on my board. I have done a fair amount.

I can’t wait till I can see how others have done their science fair. Some people are freezing and/or boiling while others are doing some completely different things such as plant growth and even the aerodynamics of paper aeroplanes.  I think that it will be very interesting to see what others have done. I know that some fellow class members are doing some things on ‘bubbles’. I am quite interested to see what their results were.

I am hoping to do well in science fair. I will let you know how it goes!

Just recently the school has been involved in our latest interclass event, soccer. We have been so far, doing better than I expected. Our class team, this year, consists of, Ryan, Josh, Darcey, Mitch, Patrick, Sorrel, Greg, Iain, Magan, Holly,  Hayley, Milly and myself.

 The way inter-class soccer works is, first of all, you play the classes that are in your pool. If your team gets enough points you go through to the semi-final and so on until there is a winner.

We have played numerous games and surprisingly we have won each and every one of them. We have scored maximum points, with a total of 24.  This makes us the highest scoring class by 3 points. We are really hoping to make it further than we did last year in the standings.

I think that with our sportsmenship, teamwork and soccer skills that we have a fairly good shot at coming at least 3rd.

Wish us luck!