Vegetarian Dishes

Before trying vegetarian dishes:

Before trying the vegetarian dishes we made in home economics, I didn't really know what they would taste like. I thought some of the combinations in some of the dishes were a bit weird and I wasn't sure they would work.

After trying vegetarian dishes:

Some of the dishes we made tasted a lot better then I thought they would (like vegetarian nachos). They were obviously healthier then non-vegetarian dishes too.

Why is it important to have at least one vegetarian meal a week?

It's important to have one or more vegetarian meals a week because vegetables (and fruit) contain vitamins such as Potassium, Folate and Vitamin A and C. Potassium can lower blood pressure, lower risk of stroke, and also helps prevent osteoporosis and kidney stones.

Here are a couple of examples of vegetables that provide both protein and iron:

beans, legumes, spinach, broccoli, etc

Pol Pot

Hydroelectric Power

Hydroelectric Power

Clyde Dam, Central Otago.

Pros and Cons:

One of the benefits of hydroelectric power is that it is made using a process that doesn't involve the use of greenhouse gases, which is better for the environment. But this doesn't really matter, as building dams has a much greater impact on the environment anyway. 

In New Zealand, where there is enough space for the amount of water needed can be stored, hydroelectricity is consistent and reliable. However, New Zealand has a relatively small water capacity, along with water supplies that can vary immensely each year. Because of this, we need to closely monitor the amount of water we use in hydro-schemes. 

Another disadvantage of hydroelectric dams, is the fact that larger hydroelectric dams are a lot more difficult and expensive to build. However, the advantage of this is that they produce a large amount of energy for a small cost. 

Smaller hydro-schemes and hydroelectric dams are easier and cheaper to make, but they produce a lot less energy and at a higher expense.

The most important and severe disadvantages of hydroelectric dams include the following; it can alter the normal flow of rivers, which can block passages that migrating fish use to travel, it can cause the sudden occurrence of floods, displace local communities and increase the number of Earthquakes. 

Static Image

In English we read the book 'Abomination' by Robert Swindells. After finishing the book, our task was to make a static image (still image) along with commentary, based on a quote from the book. Here is my static image:

Commentary:
My static image portrays the idea that Martha feels trapped by her parents, and held back by the secret she's been forced to keep fro years.

I have shown this by using both visual and verbal elements. The visual elements I have used include an image of an old, broken wooden door, which fits with how both Martha and Scott describe Martha's home in the book; dark paintwork, drab wallpaper, the type of place where women get bludgeoned to death with brass candlesticks in those old black and white movies, etc. An image of Martha looking through the door is shown too, which represents how she is metaphorically and physically trapped. It also represents the idea that she's keeping a secret she no longer wants to keep to herself anymore.

I chose to make her door wooden because the colour brown is a reasonably dull colour, which not only fits with the description of the rest of her house, but also represents how boring and uneventful Martha's life is/was. The bright yellow (or golden) door knob shows that Martha's life is starting to get better. For example, she became friends with Scott and she starts disobeying her parents by doing things that they forbid her to do.

The quotation I chose is "I'm sure she has put a spell on me with those sad grey eyes". These words are relevant because one of the visual elements in my static image is Martha looking through the hole in her door with fear and a bit of sadness.

Socialism

10 Countries and their leaders that still use socialist ideas and principles

• Norway- Erna Solberg
• Sweden- Stefan Löfven
• Bangladesh- Abdul Hamid
• China- Xi Jinping
• Vietnam- Trần Đại Quang
• India- Ram Nath Kovind
• Syria- Bashar al-Assad
• Turkmenistan- Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow
• France- Emmanuel Macron
• Ireland- Michael D. Higgins

There are many other countries who use socialist ideas and principles to organise their societies.

I think Socialism is a very fair system of organisation, because of the fact that how much people get paid depends on their contribution to society, unlike communism where everyone gets paid the same regardless of what their occupation is. I also believe that having to pay taxes is reasonable when the money goes towards things such as education, health care, defense etc. However, there are disadvantages. For example, countries that have socialist ideas/principles may have a slower economic growth. 

Sustained Silent Reading 5

Today for sustained silent reading, I read "99 random facts about the world". The purpose of this text is to inform the reader and the target audience is for people of all ages. Here are some of the facts I read about.

The 'Mimic' octopus can not only change colour, but can also mimic the shape of other animals such as flounder, lion fish and sea snakes.

If you were to remove all the empty space from the atoms that make up every human on Earth, the world's entire population could fit in an apple.

In the 1960's, the CIA tried to spy on the Kremlin and Russian embassies by turning cats into listening devices. The program involved surgically implanting batteries, microphones and antennae inside of cats.

Dr Seuss wrote the book 'Green eggs and ham' to win a bet against his publisher who thought that he could not complete a book with only fifty words.

Sustained Silent Reading 4

Today in English for sustained silent reading, I was curious about World War II and decided to read about facts on a website called weird and rare facts about World War II. Here are some of the facts I read about.

1. Adolf Hitlers nephew, William Hitler, served US Navy during World War II

2. The siege of Stalingrad resulted in more Russian deaths (military and civilian) then the US and Britain sustained combined in all of World War II

3. They youngest serviceman in the US military was Calvin Graham aged 12, who lied about his age when he enlisted in the US Navy.

4. In 1941, more than 3 million cars were manufactured in the US. Only 139 cars were manufactured in the entirety of World War II