Freefall: The Passenger Pigeon Story

Starring Anil Menezes and Aristo Kwok

Based off of the true story of the Passenger Pigeon's 1914 extinction. Exactly how did a bird that used to number in the billions get wiped out so easily?

Apologies for the volume issues. Best listened through with headphones. Be prepared to lower the volume after the one-minute mark. And if you can't hear anything, it's probably too soft.

How to trigger evolution in 5 easy steps! (...not really)

Natural selection is the main force behind evolution. To sum it up, two main conclusions can occur as a result of natural selection.

1: The animal has a trait that allows them to better survive the natural environment and therefore reproduce in order to encourage the trait and create more of it.
2: The animal does not have a trait allowing them to survive long enough to reproduce, therefore dying out and eventually ending the trait.

Artificial selection is the same thing, except that – rather than the forces of nature influencing certain traits – humans are forcing the creation of various traits, usually for our own benefit. In today’s world, we’re already grafting apples, creating dog breeds, producing faster racehorses, and even modifying our food so that they contain more vitamins. However, some argue that we have no right to control nature and that we should just let it take its course. So the question remains: take control or let it be?

WHY WE SHOULDN’T:

I know it's smiling right now, but it'll realise its genetic weaknesses very soon

Farmers genetically modify foods with the intent of making them resistant to disease and pests, and to give them more nutrients. However, there are many arguments against this procedure. Some say that the crops may unintentionally cross-pollinate with other nearby plants like weeds and transfer the resistance to these plants. There may also be a possibility of creating new allergens, as well as other unknown effects on human health.

Dog breeders usually look for certain qualities in their dogs; examples include the flat face of a bulldog or the wrinkles of a Chinese Shar-Pei. After all, people deserve the best-looking dog as a pet (especially if you’re looking at dog shows).

The problem is that these dogs are bred for beauty and not health. With purebred dogs, there are many diseases that come from two recessive genes, which are very difficult to trigger accidentally, but which are very possible to trigger on purpose. Other times, breeders may want to encourage incredibly large or small sizes, which may cause other health programs; large dogs like Saint Bernards are especially vulnerable to heat because they cannot cool down their bodies, while miniature breeds like Chihuahuas are more prone to heart problems and dislocated kneecaps. In fact, these are only a few possibilities in a large list of things that can go wrong; hip diseases, behaviour problems, blood disorders in where it doesn’t clot properly, etc.

To sum it all up, there are some who say that we do not have the right to meddle in the genes of plants and animals. There are many things that could potentially go wrong with the process, and many of the modifications that we have already accomplished have only hurt the animal in question.


WHY WE SHOULD:
Future generations will thank and honour this tortoise.

Selective breeding already has many applications in our world. While the side-effects of genetically modified plants is unknown, they have many definite advantages: its resistance to disease and pests would ensure an increase in crops (which is good for our overpopulating world) and it is possible to add vitamins and minerals to various foods. In fact, several apples that you eat today are a result of grafting, and I’m pretty sure that a lot of the meat and veggies that you love come from artificial selection.

The most eye-raising application for artificial selection for me is the Lazarus project. Artificial selection is already being used on species like Elaphurus davidianus in order to protect it from extinction. However, the Chelonoidis elephantopus went extinct in the 19th century, so the world will never be able to see it again.

Or will we? Scientists have discovered that there are certain Galapagos tortoises who are descendants of these extinct turtles and who still hold their DNA. This means that through selective breeding which takes advantage of these particular genes, we can theoretically revive this species by creating genetically identical members. Although it can take over a century to complete, this project shows that other extinct species have a possibility of coming back through selective breeding.

To sum it all up, there are many useful applications for selective breeding. It’s evident that selective breeding will allow us to create the best foods and products which are necessary to address our growing health needs. Furthermore, it has been shown that it can also be useful for preservation of animals and that there are many more potential benefits for today’s world.

SHOULD OR SHOULDN’T?

There are points where it is evidently too far. And horrendous side-effects are honestly not what our world should be experiencing. In fact, there are many dog breeders who might only care for a competition win rather than for the dog. Isn’t that a tad bit far?

But there are other times in where manipulation of genes is actually a good thing. As I said, we’re already doing it. Honestly, I don’t really see too many things wrong with artificial selection. I love my fruits and my meat and my vegetables just the way they are, and if we’re able to make more of them, then so be it.

A little too much of a good thing is bad…but it’s still a good thing.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

“Selective Breeding.” Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. Vol. 9. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corp. 1996.

“Dogs That Changed the World: Selective Breeding Problems.” April 2007. PBS. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/dogs-that-changed-the-world/selective-breeding-problems/1281/

Whitman, Deborah. “Genetically Modified Foods: Harmful or Helpful?” 2000. Proquest. http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php

Nelson, Bryan. “Ancestor of Galapagos tortoises to be resurrected from extinction.” Jan 2010. Mother Nature Network. http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/ancestor-of-galapagos-tortoises-to-be-resurrected-from

Unit 5: Take control of the future? Or leave it up to fate?

The Human Genome Project – a project which allows us to further understand our DNA – has allowed many, many opportunities for humanity’s future. Specifically, they may allow us to predict the qualities of offspring and even ensure that they receive certain qualities.

Did you know that clinics that allow people to select the gender of their babies have existed ever since 2001? A technique known as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is used to examine embryos in their early stages. They can be used to predict many qualities in advance; diseases the child may have inherited, gender, and even more recently, hair and eye colour. In February of this year, a company known as Fertility Institutes announced that they were going to perform services involving the prediction of hair and eye traits, but stopped this project soon afterwards as a result of public ethical opinions.

This begs the question: Is PGD beneficial or bad for humankind?


PROS – “I just want the best for my kids,” – Every single loving parent in the world

Alright, class, raise your hands if you’ve ever wished that you were born smarter or stronger. Everyone? Thought so. Let’s face it; everyone wants their baby to be stronger and smarter, and gene therapy seems like just the way to do it.
However, the real gem of the Human Genome Project is that it would allow us to perform gene therapy. You see, genes are a key factor in disease immunity. About 3500 diseases ranging from cystic fibrosis to muscular dystrophy – and these are just the ones that have been discovered – have been attributed to genes. Resistances are possible, but cures have not even been found. With the miracle of gene therapy, cures won’t be necessary because the disease won’t even be existent in the first place! This can allow inherited diseases – diseases that have ran through several generations – to finally stop. Millions of dollars are currently going into caring for children with A.D.D. and associated disorders; money that can be saved because these disorders can be stopped.



CONS – “It is what God has given me. Why should I change it?” – A Sikh in response to the question of why he does not shave

All of us have seen trends in what is “in”; in Grade 4, everyone had Yu-Gi-Oh cards and Beyblades, and today, everyone has Apple products. If a few people end up getting this product, most kids would buy it. Oh, you don’t have an IPod? That’s probably because it’s either too expensive or because you just don’t want one. That’s okay; you’ll just be the kid who’s left out of everything. Don’t lie; it’s happened to all of us.

Now let’s apply this example to certain societies like China, in where boys are more favourable than girls. This can also apply to other cases like natural shortness or even disorder prevention. When a trend is alive, everyone naturally follows it, and those who don’t would end up being inferior to certain other people. If everyone naturally followed certain trends, society would be very similar and diversity would begin to die out (See Unit 2 Blog for details). And as for those unlucky children who haven’t been modified, would they be remarked as more inferior than modified children?


CONCLUSION

It’s inevitable that we now have a better understanding of human genes.
Even with this knowledge, however, I think that this knowledge should only be used to fight diseases. We are already doing this, and we have been able to free certain children from the possibility of breast cancer and other diseases. It is through this project that genetic defects that have plagued a family for generations have been stopped.

As for choosing a gender/hair colour/IQ, that is where it gets ridiculous. Why in the world should we spend money and effort just to change a petty thing like hair colour? Perhaps a child would appreciate that their parent allowed them to be tall, but I know quite a lot of short and medium-sized people who are quite happy with what they are, and a bunch of tall people who find their height a hindrance. Have you ever been annoyed when your parents said something like this…

“My son is going to be a (insert ambitious career that never appealed to you here)!”

The point I’m trying to get at is that parents have an amazing knack for not really seeing what’s best for the child (at first, anyway). All those times that humans have tried to have an incredibly firm grip over things, they’ve gone incredibly wrong (again, see Unit 2 blog on diversity for another example). The Human Genome Project is useful for certain things, but there has to be a line drawn somewhere.

After all, if humans got what they wanted all the time, we’d all be dead.


SOURCES

David Bjerklie, Michael Lemonick, and Park, Alice. “Designer Babies.” Time Magazine. Jan. 1999. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989987,00.html

Kiem, Brandon. “Designer Babies: A Right to Choose?” Wired Science. Condé Nast Digital. Mar. 2009. http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/03/designerdebate/

“Designer baby row over US clinic.” BBC News. Health. Mar. 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7918296.stm

Anissimov, Michael. “The Great Designer Baby Controversy of ’09.” H+ Magazine. Infoswell Media. June 2009. http://www.hplusmagazine.com/articles/bio/great-designer-baby-controversy-%E2%80%9909

Comic by Jed de los Reyes

MiiSkin.gif from http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/wii/en_na/channelsMii.jsp

Unit 2: ...well...at least humanity got what they wanted...?

So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good - Genesis 1: 21

Unfortunately for these creatures, humankind would be born two days later.

Food chains are delicate things; a simple change to one part of the chain will change the circumstances dramatically for the rest of the chain. If the smallest of the animals disappears, another bigger animal won't have enough food, meaning that another animal won't have food, resulting in reduced populations. As this domino effect affects all the animals in a region, it is a rather big blow to an area's biodiversity; the variety of animals in the region.

In addition, pretty much every spot on Earth has somehow been impacted by humans over the last century. Humans have managed to really make their mark on the Earth; we've built towns, destroyed habitats, and added abnormal amounts of gases to the air, among a long list of other things. Unfortunately, in accordance with the previously mentioned domino effect, this also means that the mark of humans to the Earth has managed to affect food chains all over the world. But in a good way or a bad way?

On that note, behold one of the most game-changing factors in the recent history of the Great Lakes:

EXHIBIT A

These little objects are zebra mussels. They were discovered in Lake St. Clair in 1986, but caused one of the greatest uproars that the Great Lakes has ever known. You would think that this 3-centimeter organism wouldn't be able to cause too much change to an ecosystem...but they happen to have a long list of crimes attributed to them.

EXHIBIT B

EXHIBIT C

-Their biggest threat is that they compete with the other organisms in the water for algae and nutrients. There's less food to go around with zebra mussels around.

-The zebra mussels excrete Microcystic; toxic algae that is harmful to other animals

-They attach themselves right on top of mussels that ALREADY live in the Great Lakes (see Exhibit B). As a result, these mussels are rendered unable to retrieve enough nutrients to survive.

-As a side effect of the algae being consumed by the mussels, shrimp - who would normally use algae to hide - are suddenly without shelter from the salmon who are eating them. This will be a devastating blow to the shrimp population, which would also be a blow to the salmon who depend on them for food

-As if the above points weren't terrible enough, they also reproduce very FAST (see Exhibit C - note that there are many, many mussels in a pencil-sized area). According to research done on a SINGLE square meter, the zebra mussel population was able to jump from 1000 to 700000 in a mere six months.

-Finally, they have very few predators in the Great Lakes, meaning that their rapid reproduction is impossible to naturally stop.

Zebra mussels have managed to steal food from other organisms while poisoning them and remain perfectly safe the entire time. Ever since their first appearance in Lake St. Clair in 1986, they've managed to spread to the rest of the Great Lakes, the Mississippi River, and many other US Lakes. They have managed to seriously endanger several species living in the Great Lakes system, affecting its biodiversity.

It's really funny, seeing as North American isn't even its native home; it's actually the Caspian Sea.

Wait a moment. If their native home is in the Caspian Sea, then what in the world are they doing in the Great Lakes in the first place?

Seeing as there is no way for these mussels to magically show up in Lake St. Clair all on their own, someone must have brought them there. In this particular case, it's widely accepted that the zebra mussels attached themselves to a ship travelling in the Caspian Sea, after which the ship arrived in the Great Lakes a while later, which would allow them to settle in their new home sweet home. The mussels used one of our boats as transport, allowing them to terrorize the Great Lakes ecosystem. In other words: It was humanity's fault. Again.

So what does this say about us and our relationship with the environment? In all fairness, it's not like we're villains, trying with all our might to oppress the animals under our feet; we're simply trying to live our lives as well as we can.

But that's exactly what our problem is. We're so caught up in trying to live our lives as ambitiously as possible that we hardly ever consider the consequences of our actions. We're so determined to get boats to other countries that we don't realise that we might be providing transport to invasive species (although in all fairness, I don't think that too many people could've possibly foreseen this problem).

Perhaps we should try NOT to live too ambitiously...to take up as least space as possible, to try not to make world-impacting actions with unforeseen world-impacting consequences. Use less resources and bother less animals. Maybe then, everyone would be able to sleep a little better.

And not just the humans.

RESOURCES

"Dreissena polymorpha" Global Invasive Species Database. 22 June 2005. Invasive Species Specialist Group. www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=50&fr=1&sts

Nielson, John. "An Upside to the Invasive Zebra Mussel?" 2 Mar 2008. National Public Radio. www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87843464

"Lakes with zebra mussels have higher levels of toxins, MSU research finds" MSU News. 10 Mar 2004. Michigan State University. http://news.msu.edu/story/2305/

"Are Zebra Mussels Re-Shaping Great Lakes Shorelines?" EnviroZine Issue 35. 11 Sep 2003. Environment Canada. www.ec.gc.ca/EnviroZine/english/issues/35/feature3_e.cfm
All photographs came from the above link, original photographers are listed below.
Exhibit A: Dermott, Ron
Exhibit B: Smith, Janice
Exhibit C: Dermott, Ron

How I succeeded and failed in Comm. Tech 08-09 (But mostly succeeded. Really.)

MULTIPLE EXPOSURE

"Did you win?" "Yeah. But I lost more than I won."

When we got this assignment, I thought it was gonna be pretty awesome. Five Jeds in a picture, all doing seemingly interesting things. Besides, it was all copy-and-paste. It'll look awesome, and it didn't seem too hard.

Then I actually got started.

I used ImageReady mode to copy and paste the five Jeds. It was made somewhat difficult, however, that my photographer forgot that she WASN'T supposed to move the tripod. But still pretty fun, having to try to cut pixel-perfectly from every picture. But the most annoying bit was that some Jeds were noticeably darker than others (I blame it on the lighting). Especially the Jed in the green shirt. But I made it through in the end, and I'm pretty proud of it.

CIRCUS THAT SURROUNDS ME COLLAGE

Nothing too hard, really, just scanners, a story chart made on Paint (since I didn't know about Illustrator at the time), a photo of my family, a text wrap tool, and a photo of myself that I probably should've taken in the white-walled video studio (it was pretty annoying to have to remove the sunroom background). Don't forget the eight or so layers involved and the text warping.


This DEFINETELY could've been better. Of all my pieces this year, I think I'm the least proud of this one. I mean, it was just a bunch of random things mushed up together. I know that it was the point of the collage, but still... (By the way, I was a juggler. Really.)

PATTERN/ECCENTRICK INSPIRATION

Mom: "Why do you need a picture of your little sister?"
Me: "...You'll see."


My pattern consisted of a bell, a hat, and a switch. To compensate for the seeming normality of the hat, I picked the most random hat I could find. They were pretty simple to vectorise, except for the BELL. The bell...it was bright in some areas but dark in others. But after vectorizing a Goomba during the tutorials, it wasn't too difficult. It just required a LOT of layers.

Then I got started onto vectorising my sister. I spent three hours vectorizing the WRONG things. I spent another three vectorizing the outlines. Then I spent another hour waiting for the darned thing to save. Looking back, I guess it could've done without the black outlines, and the pattern probably could've been better compressed. But I'm still pretty proud of it. Besides, my sis loves it. What more could I ask? And now, I'm a vectorizing master! Mrs. Powell was right; the pen tool is awesome! (Heh, I started using it in Flash for TIK just because it was so neat.)

WECCENTRICK VIDEO

(VIDEO REMOVED DUE TO BEING UNCERTAIN IF MY PARTNERS WERE TOO EMBARASSED BY IT.)


"Excuse me, can you hold my lightsaber while I get the tripod?"

I was a Jedi. Aristo was a ninja. What could go wrong with just an awesome concept? Lots of things, apparently.


00:03-Seriously, Aristo's not that fast. We just used effects to speed him up.
00:05-In order to freeze the frame, we had to actually take a screenshot of the film using "Print Screen"

00:38 - It's floating. Really.

00:40-Okay, fine, I got the idea from the Unit 15 film.
00:56-In order to make it seem like I was jumping really high, I lifted the tripod as high as it could go. Did it work out okay?

1:00- This is the first of Aristo's "now you see me, now you don't" scenes. These required splitting in EXACTLY the right place. It was so painful to split in the wrong spot, but it worked out okay.
1:07-We took a screenshot and inverted the colours to produce this scene.
1:20-Picture + Effect(3D Ripple). Okay, you can stop laughing now.

1:27-1:30-These were also the only two transitions used during the film (blur). Note also, the Effect (to make it seem like a flashback)
2:21 - In retrospect, music probably would've fitted perfectly at this point.
3:27 - Whoa. This part was so tricky to fix. I don't even think we fixed it probably.

Also, we decided to dub our voices using the Windows Sound Recorder into the film so that our voices would be clear for sure. Besides, we kept on laughing as we filmed because...it was pretty silly. Imagine the looks on the faces of random hikers. By the way, to eliminate the original audio, we simply muted all of it. I think I'll improve this video over the summer and Youtube it for your entertainment. Maybe. (UPDATE: Whoops. I didn't. Maybe some other time.)
Props to Kyle Michaels and Michael Chen, who we forced into helping us. Thanks, guys, I owe you big time.


CD COVER















"This. Is. A. Sick. Looking. Cover."

Photoshop was used to make the entire back cover, and to merge the swords on the front cover. Oh, don't forget the awesome-looking flashes of light on the back cover; courtesy of brightness/contrast under "Filter".

Illustrator was used to create the ying-yang symbol, jedi logo (yes, that is a jedi logo) using a combination of the circle tool, the pen tool, and the aid of the grids. In addition, both the text-on-a-line tool and the text-in-a-box tool were used to manipulate the text.

SO IN CONCLUSION...


It was a good year. Fine, so maybe the computers were slow to load (well, having several Adobe art problems crammed onto one computer wouldn't be too good for it) and maybe I vectorised the wrong thing, or maybe my movie files were too huge for my poor strained USB to handle, but it was an AWESOME year! From the hours spent in the comm tech room, to my first newspaper layout, to every neat little thing learned during the tutorials, to going into the forest after school to film, to getting to participate in Eccentrick.


So where to from here? Seeing as I'm not taking any tech course next year, I don't know, but I'm going to end up using these programs again in the future. Whether to help in a business or just for a hobby, I haven't seen the last of these programs. Mrs. Powell, thanks for everything!

RE: The Campaign Trail (wait a minute, this is old news, isn't it?)

"So Wassup?"

"...change."

"True."

Since it's been a good 6.5 months ever since I first saw Obama's WASSUP ad (wow, I'm just a tad bit late, ain't I?) and since I'm STILL able to recall what the commercial was about, I should conclude that this ad campaign - just like its Budweiser counterpart - was a very effective one.

You can pretty much sum up the message of the ad in the following phrase "The U.S. has a lot of problems. Obama can fix them."

Specifically, we're referring to the economy, the Iraq war, lack of health care, and natural disasters, several key issues in the election. The commercial is set up so that - one by one - the problems will be explained out. The fact that the commercial used 4 guys who - 8 years previously - were living an awesome, problematic life as they watched the game and drank Budweiser only emphasizes the fact that the U.S. is in pretty deep sludge if these oh-so-happy fellows can cry and get genuinely mad at each other. Then you enter Barack Obama and the guy on the couch smiles the second genuine smile of the commercial (the first belonged to Obama himself) as the viewer suddenly realises "This guy has it! Obama is the man!"

By the way, I wrote this entire blog post without rewatching the commercial. Like I said before, since I was able to describe the commercial and how it works as well as I just did, this commercial really does stick to the head and Obama's campaign had an awesome commercial. "True."

e c c e n t r i c k

One of the funny things about the whole Eccentrick experience was that I ended up signing up for security hours in the art room....even though I don't actually take an art course (hey, all security sheets looked the same to me!) Nevertheless, it was a pretty darned awesome way to spend my birthday week and take a little break from reality for a while.

This blog will take the form of a random list of memories, so here we go...

-Finding out how to shut down all the lights in the art area (so many switches...)
-Finding out that the art show apparently extended to religion and that weird hallway...the forest one...on the last day when it was too late to fully appreciate it.

-Trying to find a way to make one of those Grade 11 picture frames to STAY stuck on that wall (it kept trying to fall out).

-The SKULL. Oh my...the skull...that sound never got annoying, and it was always fun to watch people pull that thing with no idea what was going to happen. Come to think of it, it was also nice to look at all the different skulls. For me, it was a very sentimental piece (they were all based off of the dead, after all).

-Isha Pinto made a pretty darned awesome card rotating door. Oh, and the rest of the house was pretty neat, too.

-The distorted drawings past the Train area. Those were actually pretty awesome.

-Oh, and the train area. Some of my friends have very odd personalities.
-I would seriously pay cash money for those cabinets in the Construction Tech. area

-The box-like thing in the Freak area. It's a REAL shame that it broke.

-Come to think of it, everything else in the Freak area. Trying to think too hard about them makes my head hurt.

-Whoa! I haven't seen pop-up books in ages! Unfortunately, I only discovered them on Friday, so by the time I opened them up, it was pretty much broken.

-Entering the dark rooms and using that weird rotating door for the first time (seriously)

-So that's what the rest of my classmates' multiple exposures and collages look like! Mine doesn't really look so good anymore.
-My biggest regret during the art show? I watched only ONE film from start to finish during the whole thing, and that was only because I was touring St. Aidan's around.

-Realising with a heavy heart that I can't participate in next year's art show due to the lack of an art/tech elective. Sigh...