Sydney, Australia .. fit for Smart Set?

So in class we have been doing this project called Smart Set.  Most of you may know already since I have been posting other blogs posts from before. But now that we are getting started with Social Studies again we have to do our big presentation. What we have to do is make a presentation, whether its on photostory, googledocs, or powerpoint. We have to choose a place around the world and say why it is able to hold a good company. I have chosen Sydney, Australia for my city. Watch my presentation to see why I chose this city and why it is capable to have Smart Set.

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=dfgdn7r3_29dtnm43gd

update :)

Well, all the sports for Frontier Gamers are over and the snow is slowly starting to melt. We have recently gotten a big snowstorm but a lot of it has already started to melt. A lot of our roads here are really icy and slushy thanks to the sun melting the snow and then it raining the next day, turning all the slush into ice.

Recently I have been out skidooing and such. There really isnt that much to do here in the  past couple of weeks because a lot of people including myself have been sick with this really deadly virus that has been going around the school and town. There is also strept throat and Mono going around the town. Lots of people have been getting tested for both because I’m sure no one wants that. Nothing else really has been going on in the town of Snowlake except for the fact that they are talking about re-opening to HBM&S Mine sometime in the next 6 months which will be good for the town.

Anyways, silent reading is over and I have to go .

talk to you all later, alysa 🙂

The Wave 4.

This is the last set of chapters in our novel study book we have been reading. In this set of chapters a lot actually goes on. Laurie and David break up and get back together, Laurie gets threatened by the members of The Wave, The Wave is taken too far and then once and for all, stopped. Mr. Ross finally realized thanks to help of David and Laurie, that he has taken this ,what started out as a school project, way too far. He has people getting beaten up or threatened because the wont join The Wave, parents getting upset over their childrens sudden changes in additude.. everything. There isn’t one thing that may have gone the way that he had planned when he started this project. Now its a monster.

If I was one of these people standing on the sidelines watching all of this change happen, I dont know if I would do anything to stop it. I would probably mention it to my parents or talk to a teacher about it, but I wouldnt go to extremes in trying to stop all this madness. If I was one of the people involved with The Wave.. I dont know if I would realize that this is a horrible thing or if I would just go along with it like everyone else. I know I wouldnt believe other people if they said that I was getting brainwashed by my history teacher. I probably wouldnt believe anything anyone said because I would be so caught up in having to make a perfect group and have  no issues with it. Would you try and stop all of this, or would you sit there and let it happen ?

Would you help, or stand by and let it happen ?

Have you ever seen someone chain up an animal or hit or hurt an animal in someway? This is all called animal abuse or animal cruelty. Lots of people all over the world have recognized this happening and have done something about it, but there are also lots of people out there who just sit there and watch it happen. There are also lots of organizations and companies that are against animal abuse too. But are they all actually helping?

Lots of people use and or have seen the dog and cat food, Iams. Well, the people from Iams actually are one the most abusive companies I have seen out there. Then there are organizations like Peta, who are out for helping animal abuse but in the wrong way. Lots of people in the world get their food from animals. For example, cows, chickens, moose, geese etc. But Peta wants everyone to stop eating animals all together. Although, not a lot of people are going to give up eating meat and even drinking milk because it is animal abuse. Would you? I know I wouldn’t.

I know lots of people in my class, including me and my friends, are against animal abuse and want to help out in any way we can. But I want to know, would you help animal abuse or would you just stand there and let it happen ?

Smartset 3.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a totally different place ? Well, compared the Canada, Sydney, Australia is. I have recently been on other peoples blogs that live in Australia and not only is the actual place different, the way the people talk is different as well. I have noticed that when people have friends that say different things, the friend will start to say that as well. I noticed this because I was at one persons blog and then went to another persons and they had said that they were friends with the previous person, and they ended up saying pretty much the same thing. I found this very interesting because it shows us that our friends have a huge influence upon us.

I have also been reading through some of my RSS feeds lately and not many of them have changed. All that I have noticed is that here was more information added the Global voices online feed ‘ Australia: Reaction to “Cricket Terror” ‘This post is about how people from Pakistan going to Australia and taking over all the cricket teams. I didnt think that this was that interesting for me because I dont personally know the rules of Cricket and I dont really know the sport all to well. This is all I know so far, I will keep updating you on more information.

The Wave 3.

We have now read chapters 9 to 12 of our novel study, The Wave. The kids in Mr Ross’s senior history class have become more and more involved with The Wave and lots of people now think that the have taken it too far. People are getting threatened and beaten up because they refuse to join the group. Laurie and David have now broken up.. for now anyways. And the word is going around their school that The Wave is was the best thing to ever happen. But there are a lot of other people who beg to differ. Lots of people in the school that have gone to one of the group meetings or that know someone in the group do not want to join. They all think that their friends and peers are getting too caught up in the group and think that they should get out while they can before it goes too far.

I agree. I think that if I was one of the students in that school and got asked to join The Wave, I would have to say no. I dont think I would even think about it. If I was Laurie and was in her situation, I would probably do the same thing that shes doing. I would just keep away from The Wave and everyone that has joined it. I would also probably want to keep people from joining it even if they do get hurt. There is no right for people to abuse others because they wont follow in what they are doing. To let all you know, this story is completely true. The only things that may have been changed are the peoples names in the book. I highly recommend people reading this book, even if I’ve only read a little bit of it.

Smartset 2.

So like before, I have done more and more research about Sydney, Australia and I have learned a lot more than what I had known before. I now have 2 RSS feeds that I am currently getting information from that is coming from Australia. One of the feeds is from Global voices online and the other is a blog that I found searching around on the Internet.

Some new information that I now know is all the recreational things that there are to in Sydney, all the services and places you can eat and also all the museums and art galleries. I have also found out more information on the Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge. I know that the opera house was completed in 1973 which leads it to be not that old. I also know that it is considered a symbol of the city. I found this very interesting, I thought that the Opera House would of been much older.

I also know all the prices for the tickets of flights to Sydney from Winnipeg. They arent that expensive but they arent too cheap either. Most of them come in at around $1500. I now know that not alot of people drive their cars in the city either. They dont do this because the city is too crowded and that there usually isnt anywhere to park, so most people take buses, trains, subways, taxis or some just walk around town.

Some local news that is coming from Australia is that they have made a new movie about a Lebanese gang. There are also talks about a big cricket terror. I personally read these and didnt understand much because I dont know anything about the topic. I still thought that they were interesting though.

The Wave 2.

So now I have read new chapters in our novel study book and lots of new things have gone on. Now the kids history teacher, Ben Ross, has started and introduced The Wave to all the kids in his class. He has taught them the salute and the motto that goes along with the group. Their motto is ‘ Strength through Discipline, Strength through Community, Strength through Action’. I found that this was a very good motto for a group that all works together. Now that Ben Ross has started The Wave, all the kids have been acting differently. They all get along like they are all equals even if they arent on the football team or if they are the class loser. All the kids now think that they are all equal because they are all part of the new group, The Wave.

If I was part of this class and I was now part of this new group that my history teacher started, I really wouldnt know if I should join it or try and convince people to stay they way they were and keep all the groups the same. Although, The Wave does have its good points. Some of these good points is that everyone is treated equally and not pointed away because they have a different hair cut or they look differently than the other people. But, there are also bad things. All the kids are thinking the way that their teacher wants them to think. They are all getting brain-washed and dont know how to think for themselves anymore. This is why I think that joining The Wave is a bad idea because in the end, you just end up hurting yourself.

Smart Set Project.

In class we have started yet another project called Smart Set. What we have to do is pretend that we are 25 years old and we are working for a company called Smart Set. They are a design firm that builds huge buildings and office towers around the world and they are looking to open another one outside of North America.

What we have to do is choose somewhere around the world that we think would be a good place to move the company to. We then have to find things about the city that would make the company want to expand there. I have picked Sydney, Australia. I picked this city because I thought it would be interesting to find out things about it and I thought that Sydney would be a nice place to open up a business. So far through out my research I have found out lots. I now know that it is very expensive to buy a house or an apartment in Sydney so it may not be the best place to bring a company because it would be hard to house them. I have also found out about some of the landmarks that are there. I also know the climate, the cost of air fare to fly from Winnipeg to Sydney, I know the types of jobs that are there, and I know how the peple get around and what their government is like. If I was the owner of this company I would want to move the company to Sydney because I think that Sydney is a nice place and that the population is big enough that the company would survive living there.

This is a video showing the New Years fireworks in the Sydney Harbour.

The Wave .

In class, we have now started a new novel study. It’s called The Wave. The book is about a class that is studying and learning about the Holocaust and the concentration camps that Hitler built. They are also learning about what went on in World War II. What goes on is that the teacher in the story, Ben Ross, starts a army of his own with the students. He is trying to show the kids what it was like for the Jewish people back in the 1940s. But there are a few select people that wont join and are scared the history is going to repeat itself. Just to add, the story about this class and teacher, is all and completely true.

If i was one of the characters in this story and I was in this class and had everyone around me start and be part of another Holocaust, I was be really scared. I would be scared for my life and for the people and things around me. I wouldn’t want to join any groups or start any either. If I was Laurie, I would try my hardest for people to try and see what they were doing to people and how this is having a huge affect on the world and community around them. In the beginning of the story, when they are watching movies about all the concentration camps that Hitler built to get rid of the Jewish people in Germany, I would do exactly what Laurie did. Go and ask questions about why he did it and why he would pick the Jews so blame everything on. I would also ask what they did with all the people that were killed or died there. I would also inquire on meeting one of the people that has survived the concentration camps and ask them what their experience was like.

In a couple of days, my group will get to read the next 4 chapters so I will keep an update on what is happening and what Laurie and the other characters are up to.