GMOD: A Review

BY LOGAN SCHLOSSER

STAFF WRITER

Hello to all of you lovely people! Welcome back to this series of newspaper articles where I review a game that’s probably been out for a long time, and I just am not up to date on. Alright, with introductions out of the way, time to reveal this week’s game to enjoy! It is a 3D sandbox game focused purely on modding and having a good time. This game is of course, Garry’s Mod. Time to move to the most important part of all, gameplay!

Alright, let’s just get right into it. Before we get into the whole modding thing, let’s get into the barebones game, which I have affectionately named “The Garry”. Now, this game is built upon Valve’s flagship engine, the Source Engine. That means that the movement and parkour is the exact same as Valve’s other games that are running off of it. These include many of Valve’s flagship games, such as the Portal series and Half-Life 2. So basically, once you are in the game and have selected the map you would like to play on, you get your first chance to open the Garry’s Mod menu. Now this menu allows you to spawn in every single asset from the Half-Life 2 game to screw around with. Really want to blow up some explosive barrels using a crossbow? You can do that at any time, any place. There is also a tools section where you can make your very own creations you can call your own. Like a massive sculpture made purely out of bathtubs.

Now that we have the core gameplay out of the way, we can talk about the mod part of the game. Because the only place you can purchase this game is Steam, you have full access to the Steam Workshop. This is where people upload their very own modifications to various games. Now this is where the mod part of Garry’s Mod comes in. You can simply just click “Subscribe” on all of the mods that seem interesting to you, reboot the game, wait for them to install, and then you are good to go! There are various different types of modifications that you can install, from maps to play on, to items to play around with. Overall though, the modding is the reason that I have spent 258.7 hours of my life on this game (oh, yeah. Did I mention that part?).

Garry’s mod is a very complex game. Yet simple enough to attract people. Now you may be wondering why I never talked about the music of it. Now, this game does not exactly have music at all. If you would like to have music though, head onto the Steam Workshop and pick some up for your game. Now, there is not much else to explain about this game, so I will just have to tell you to pick up the game and try it for yourself. I know that I am repetitive when I say that, but this is just a game that is hard to explain without someone experiencing it for themselves. Anyway, that is all I have for you today. As usual, have a good day and try this game out if you like the review. Thanks as usual!

Among Us: Tips and Tricks

BY IAN JIN AND VENKATA KARAVADI

STAFF WRITERS

Tips and Tricks for being an impostor. 

By Ian Jin

Being the impostor is undoubtedly one of the most fun parts of  Among Us, but there are some tips and tricks to being impostor that will help you stay alive and kill the Crewmates.

Tip 1. When playing as the impostor the lights out crisis is your best friend. You can activate this by pressing the button shaped like a lightning bolt in the electrical section of your sabotage screen. Doing this will temporarily shut off the lights. The thing that makes this crisis so useful is that when the lights are off the vision of the Crewmates is MASSIVELY hindered to the point that they will only be able to see people that are extremely close to them. On the other hand the vision of the impostors will not be affected.

Trick 1. By using the lights out and venting mechanics in conjunction, you can make very stealthy kills that will frame innocents, or you can vent in what would be in plain sight.

Tip 2. Use the venting mechanic appropriately. The venting mechanic can be a useful method of escape that will frame innocents but it can also be the last bit of proof that will get you voted out. For example, in security, while you are in a vent, you cannot see all the way to the security cameras which means that you could kill somebody in electrical then vent to security, only to be caught venting by a person who was looking at the security feeds.

Trick 2. If you want to vent/kill but you can see the red lights blinking on the security cams (which means that somebody is looking through the security cams), you should use the sabotage communications crisis, because sabotaging the comms will temporarily shut off the security cams which will clear you for venting/killing.

Tip 3. Remember that your first priority is not killing but simply staying alive. Assuming that you are playing in the two impostor game mode, if you or your impostor teammate dies then you are at a MAJOR disadvantage because there are only two of you and eight of them. Which in turn makes impostor lives very valuable while the lives of crewmates are of little value.

Trick 4. Use the lock door options so you can trap crewmates and kill somebody where there aren’t many witnesses.

Tip 4. This is very important. ALWAYS have an alibi, this is usually easier if you kill in a secluded and/or remote place on the map which will make it harder to find the body which will, in turn, give you more time to join up with some crewmates and move in a pack which will give you plenty of people who can vouch for your innocence when the body is found. 

Tip 5. never kill in high traffic areas such as storage or cafeteria unless ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. Killing in these places will lead to the body being found almost immediately which will make it easier to pinpoint who was the killer.

Trick 3. If you are playing in the two impostor game mode then you and your impostor buddy can do something that the community refers to as a “double kill”. Now as the name suggests this is when you and your fellow impostor kill two crewmates at the same time. A good example of this is you and the other impostor going into the electric and finding two crewmates doing tasks there and then you kill one of them. Now, your impostor teammate could kill the other crewmate to keep them from reporting the body and selling you out. WARNING, this tactic is best employed for ending the game or for clutches. 

Tip 6. It is a good idea to travel in a pack because then you can get not only your fellow impostor to vouch for you but even some crewmates as well!

Trick 5. A good way to divert the crewmates and get some easy kills when there are lots of people in electric and the lights out crisis would be fixed too early for you to do anything is to do the Reactor Meltdown crisis. This crisis makes the reactor melt down and gives the crewmates about 30 seconds for two crewmates to touch their hand to a pad on opposite sides of the reactor room to stabilize the reactor. By using this you can get lots of people to rush to the reactor and you can use the distraction to kill somebody else who was doing a task.

Tip 7. Even dead you can still use the sabotage mechanic. You can use this to give the other impostor the upper hand by locking the doors to help the impostor get a kill or to give them time to hide after getting a kill.

Tip. 8 Always ask questions like. Where was the body? What are your tasks? How many tasks do you have left? These kinds of questions make you look like you are participating and trying to find who the impostor is, but don’t really help the discussion move forward.

Tip 9. If the crewmates start pointing fingers then go along with it. Doing this will eliminate whoever was accused and then when the person is found to be innocent the accuser will look suspicious.

These are the Tips and Tricks for being an Impostor!

Tips and Tricks for being a Crewmate.

By Venkata Karavadi

Being a Crewmate doesn’t have quite the thrill of being an impostor, but with these Tips and Tricks you will be able to stay alive, weed out the impostors, and fix the ship with ease.

 Trick 1. The important thing to do is…. REMEMBER. Because if something happened, you know what happened and you could possibly convince your fellow crewmates and vote the impostor out. 

Tip  1.  When playing as a crewmate, you want to make evidence so when a body is found, you won’t get voted off easily. So remember where you are, remember what tasks you were doing, and see if anybody looked or did anything suspicious, or if anybody walked away from the body.

Tip 2. Whenever there are two people going in a room and one person is coming out, check that room. If there is a dead body, or if there is nobody because ( if there is a dead body, the person who is coming out must have killed him) then you could know if the other person vented or the other person died. It is important to keep an eye on suspicious people. And it is also important to remember stuff.

Tip 3. If you find a body, here are the things you need to know so you and everybody else can vote the right person out.

1. Who was near you?

2. Where was it?

3. *Optional* Was there a person who hated or kept on voting on the person who died?

4.  Remember that the lives of crewmates are less valuable than the lives of impostors so a good way to trade a life for a life is to accuse the impostor and even if they deflect the blame and they vote you out they will know that the person that you accused was the impostor and they will vote the impostor out.

If you could get all this info you could get the impostor out.

But, the main part is you have to try to convince your fellow crewmates because at the end of the day, your fellow crewmates can vote for the person who you think is good with information.

Tip  4. If you are used to being a crewmate and are good at tasks, then go to your tasks so you can easily finish them and you have time to spot who is the impostor,but you don’t want to do it TOO quick because your fellow crewmates might vote you out for being sus and roaming around.

Tip  5.  Call an emergency meeting if you see somebody vent. But, you might want to be quick because the impostor could kill you, but quickly call an emergency meeting and tell what happened. 

Tip 6. If 2 people are going in a room and the door is locked, once the door is unlocked, you have to go in there to see what happened.  It’s important to remember.

Tip 7.  IF the lights are out, then it might be certain that a kill is about to happen. So it is important NOT to be around people when lights are out.

Trick 2. If you see a person doing a”task”, and the task bar doesn’t go up(on the top left), then call an emergency meeting, because he was doing a fake task.  Fake tasks are when the impostor stands at a normal task area and just sits there for the task time then they leave.

Tip 8. There are different maps, so it is good if you play all three maps so when you are playing a different map, you know where things are, where there are tasks, and where the vents are to see if the impostor vented or not. 

Tip 9. USE THE SECURITY CAMS!!! It is useful to see where people are, and also you can see if an impostor killed anybody. The only bad thing is, when the cams are on,the impostor might see that the cams are one (red light on cams).

Tip 10. Follow the arrows for tasks or emergency tasks,because if the emergency tasks(when there are red-flashing lights and arrows),run out of time, it’s game over.

Tip 11.   If everybody’s tasks are done (if the task bar is full), You win!!

Tip 12. It’s not ONLY about finishing tasks and voting off the impostor, it’s also about surviving and not getting killed. Stay away from suspicious people.

And here are some other ones

  1. Move in groups.So if you are alone, you could get killed.
  2. Keep a close eye on players completing tasks.
  3. Complete tasks.
  4. Don’t waste your visual tasks. People can see that you are not the impostor if people are near you, and they see your visual tasks (one popular visual task is the Submit scan in medbay.)
  5. Always try to fix sabotage.
  6. Use the Emergency Meetings for Strategizing.
  7. When in doubt, skip the vote.
  8. Don’t spam in chat.
  9. Don’t look sus(suspicious)

Tip 13. If you die as a crewmate, you can still finish tasks and if the other crewmates finish the tasks too, then…. CREWMATES WIN!! If the impostor kills everybody, then… the crewmates lose 

And not everybody will get the tasks they like. Some People could get harder tasks while others could get easier tasks! Some people could get less taks, while some ppl could get more tasks!

Tip 14. Always type in chat because they might think that your impostor. If somebody asks where you were, you say where you were.

Tip 15.It’s also important to ask questions. Like “Who was near you?” “Where were you?” Etc.

Trick 3. A task with the “Wifi” signal in Admin, if the game starts, and one person IMMEDIATELY goes to that task, call an emergency meeting because that task is not supposed to be the first task (It’s called the download task, and when you have this task, there is supposed to be a part one, because when you are doing the part one of download, the task info is supposed to go from the room you’re first in to Admin, the second part for download task is from Admin to tablet). So tell them that in a short way (like, say, “he was doing the admin download task. He was not supposed to do that task yet!”). 

Finally, you need to gain trust with your crewmates, get evidence and proof that you are not the impostor, because your crewmates will vote with you if you have a reasonable explanation and good evidence.

If you could do all or some of this, you could win!

These are the tips and tricks for being a crewmate!

Cemetery, mine. (PART I)

BY MAYA CRANDALL

COMMUNICATIONS EDITOR

Charlotte Flannery stuck out her tongue and tasted the damp, musty night air of Boulder Creek Memorial Park, the cemetery where her grandmother was buried. 

Buried, yes…But not dead. Not in Charlotte’s eyes. 

Her fingers brushed against the cool gravestone, the words CARMEN FLANNERY, BELOVED carved deep into the marbled rock. 

“Hello,” Charlotte whispered. 

Nothing but the wind answered, a sighing breath against her sweat-slicked neck. She was early, so Charlotte was not expecting an answer. Instead, she slid down the gravestone and onto the mossy  ground and pulled out a sketchbook from her worn faux-leather bag—the one with the strap hanging on only by a thread. 

Hanging, hanging, hanging until it would snap, snap, snap. Like wood crackling in a fire, or twigs crunching under a boot. 

Charlotte grabbed her charcoals as well and flipped through the pages. Her eyes caught on black blurs and glimpses of long-forgotten faces she’d drawn too long ago to remember. She flipped and flipped until—she was at the last two blank pages. Her grip tightened around the charcoals. No, how could that be? She couldn’t have filled eighteen pages so quickly. Sure, she fell into a scribbled frenzy as soon as the charcoal hit the page, but—

The charcoals went smashing into an adjacent grave before she realized what, exactly, she had done. In fact, it wasn’t until she saw her extended arm in front of her like a phantom limb that she knew she had chucked them. 

She laughed at the explosion of black dust on the gravestone of TAYLOR BASSETT. 

What a pity, she thought. What a dreadful, dreadful, shame. 

She crawled towards it, not at all worried about the stains of moss and dirt now adorning her baggy white jeans. “To honor you,” she said, kissing Taylor Bassett’s gravestone before rubbing her fingers in the shattered charcoal remnants.

And with said charcoal dust Charlotte Flannery drew a masterpiece. She hummed a tune under her breath, rocking back and forth on her knees in excitement as she crafted something truly dark and deadly on the second to last page in her sketchbook. A replica of the angel statue above Taylor Bassett’s grave, but its wings were shredded and bleeding, it’s mouth curved into a wicked grin instead of a reverent, holy smile. As she drew in the last details of his smile, she could have sworn it moved—just a twitch of one wing. Then the other, back and forth, back and forth until it was taking flight. Charlotte watched as it struggled to fly off the page with broken wings before it swarmed around the angel statue and tapped its shoulder. The statue screamed before shattering into pieces. Charlotte laughed with wicked delight as her dark, broken creation took its place.

She was so entranced that she didn’t notice the eyes. 

The eyes, the eyes, the eyes. Watching, waiting. Waiting, watching.

Someone was behind her. 

And it was not her grandmother. 

—

He knew he came to the wrong place at the wrong time when he saw the girl performing what looked like some sort of…ritual. 

Oh, no, no, no. There was a reason no one went to cemeteries at midnight during October. Or ever. 

Still, Mason Tuscan couldn’t help himself from creeping the slightest bit closer as the girl scribbled in a sketchbook, her dark brow furrowed and sweat-slicked in concentration. She was humming a song he’d heard before—on the radio, perhaps—but she slowed it down a bit. Made it minor instead of major. She transformed it from upbeat to depressing; exciting to…eerie. 

Yes, he should have definitely left by then. His stomach flipped as a manic laugh burst from her lips. But—she was just a kid. His age by the looks of it; no more than seventeen or eighteen. And he could have sworn he had seen her around school before. Her name was…Charlie? Charlotte? He couldn’t recall, but he remembered she was the TA in his Algebra One class last year—remembered the lilt of her handwriting as she wrote D, F, or, if he was lucky, the occasional C on his tests in purple pen. 

She was so different now. Then, she’d been what everyone would call the “popular smart girl.” The one who always took the lead in group projects or sent the homework answers to the entire class in a group chat, no questions asked. Her hair was always shoulder-length and curled, and she used to dye the ends a striking red color. She was at the top of the unique-fashion food chain (Mason knew all this because his best friend at the time had such a huge crush on her, he was borderline stalkerish). But looking at her now…Her mousy brown hair was unkempt and stringing down her back, and she was drowning in her oversized sweater and baggy jeans. 

Mason still thought she was undeniably pretty but…what had happened?

He leaned closer from behind a gravestone, hoping to see more of what she was drawing when—Her head whipped towards him. Mason fell back as he finally saw her entire face. Charcoal smudged her cheek, her eyes wide as she took him in. The dazed smile stretching across her face instantly vanished. 

“What are you doing here?” the girl breathed, chest heaving. 

“Nothing, I—I—”

“What’s wrong with your face?”

Mason adjusted the boxy frames resting on his nose. “Nothing.”

“You have a black eye.” The girl tilted her head, touching her own eye. 

“N-no I don’t,” he said. “It’s just the shadows.”

You and I both know that Mason was, indeed, lying. And he was doing a trash job of it. 

“I’m Charlotte,” she said, holding out a hand. “You’re Mason, right?”

She remembered him? Mason nodded blankly. “Yep.”

“Neato.”

He grabbed her hand to shake it, but she pulled away instantly and wrapped her arms around herself. 

“Th-that’s a cool drawing,” Mason started, gesturing to the discarded sketchbook beside her. It was—a demonic angel with a fanged smile. Fitting. 

Charlotte shrugged, mindlessly rubbing her charcoal-coated hands on her thighs. “Why do your glasses not have a prescription?”

How did she know this stuff? He almost asked her those exact words, but from the gleamed look in her eyes, he didn’t dare test her. He shrugged. “I like the way they look.”

Again, lies. He thought back to the real reason he wore them.

His uncle. A slap to the face. A little more than a slap to the face. 

His parents had died when he was four. He’d been staying with his father’s brother and sister-in-law ever since, and his life hadn’t been…perfect with them, but it was happy. Until the accident that took his aunt’s life. That was when his uncle lost his job, and he started drinking more than just a couple sips, and…it all went downhill from there. 

“Where’ve you been, boy?” His uncle had slurred when he returned home earlier that night. 

Mason adjusted the strap of his backpack. “Friends house. Working on music stuff.”

“I says that you—“ his uncle hiccuped, patting his stomach—“you needs be home by nine.”

He had not said that. In fact, Mason had only seen him passed out that morning on the couch before heading off to school. 

“Sir, I—“

But he never got a chance to finish. He had been blinded by swinging fists, deafened by roars of anger and his own heart throbbing in his ears. 

Thus why he wore the glasses—to blame the bruising on the shadows caused by the frames. And why he let his wild, dark curls tumble haphazardly across his forehead. Mason shook his head, willing away the memories. “So why are you here, Charlotte?”

She smirked as she patted the gravestone beside her. “I am waiting for someone.”

“In a graveyard?”

“Of course. Where else?”

TO BE CONTINUED…

Character Corner: Species

BY ROWAN RAVERTY

STAFF WRITER

The world is full of some amazing creatures. They all look incredibly different from each other – like the long necked Giraffe or the large Saltwater Crocodile. Well, I’m here to tell you how you can design your own species of animals for your story needs.

Step 1: Look at animals that already exist. References are always good to have. In our world, some animals look alike without being related, like how Koalas look like bears without being related to them. Red Pandas might resemble Giant Pandas, in name and looks, but they aren’t related. Plus, it’s easier to look at an image when it comes to figuring out how to draw something a certain way.

Step 2: Draw what the base of your new animal looks like. Everything needs a base to start with before you begin adding anything crazy. What do you need for a base? Well, the body and head shape. Those are the main things a base needs. You can also add any legs or arms if you want, but that is mostly going to be with the next step.

Step 3: Add any other physical features/traits. This includes any extra limbs, horns, wings, etc. This is also where you would add any differences in males and females, and the looks the babies will have. There’s a lot of examples in nature, too. If you’re having trouble thinking of differences, you can look up ideas.

Step 4: Non-visible traits. What does your creature have that we can’t see? An example is that some snakes have venomous bites. What about enhanced senses? It doesn’t have to be anything real animals have either. You could give it a second stomach or say it can freeze whatever it bites.

Step 5: Colors and patterns. This is a very important part of your species. Look at animals in real life. Some of their looks help them blend into their surroundings. Others have bright colors to tell anyone who thinks of eating them that they’re poisonous. Choose the colors that best represent your animal’s traits and habitat.

Now, the final step: Create a bio. You need more than just looks. What is its name? Where do they live? How long do they live for? What is their main source of food? These are some of the main questions that come to mind when thinking about what to put. Anything else you think is important to know should also be written down.

And there you have it, how to make a species. Use this to make some animals of your own for whatever adventures you want. Maybe you want to design an alien planet? Or write a story on a lost civilization? Whatever the reason is, you can use this to help.

Among Us: A Review

BY VENKATA KARAVADI

STAFF WRITER

A month or two ago, the games Rocket league, Fortnite, Minecraft, Etc. were really popular. But a month ago, there was this game called “Among Us”. 

Many popular Youtubers were trying out this game, and they loved it. There are three maps , and it’s a game where there are 7-9 crewmates (depends on host options) ,and there can be 1-3 imposters (host options). Crewmates have to do tasks so they can fix the ship they are in, and the imposter has to kill all crew mates before the crewmates know the person is the imposter. Once a dead body is found, they will have a meeting and they will discuss(by chat or voice call if private) who was near and who they think it was. The most people who have voted for a person are out, but you can also skip if you are unsure of who it is or if many people are going to skip (because the other people will be suspicious of you If you are the only one who voted for somebody). If you are the imposter, you have to silently kill the person, and if you are in or near a room, you go in a vent so people who come near don’t notice you. You can also go from room to room with a vent. Once there are only three people (including you), if you are the imposter, just kill somebody when people are not near you. So, when there are three people and the imposter kills one more person, the game is over and the imposter won. If you want to win as a crewmate, you either have to complete all tasks or vote out the imposter or imposters. I have tried this game, and it’s also a game of strategy,because you can kill somebody (if you are an imposter) at a certain spot.There are three game modes; public, private, or freeplay. Freeplay is where you finish all tasks (and there is no imposter and nobody else except you), and then you win.  It’s a very fun game and I recommend you try it. It’s also free on App Store and Google Play(for phones and tablets) . On laptops or PCs, it costs money. You can buy it on Steam(for PC) if you have it.

Amazon One

BY BELLA TRINKO AND ALAINA INOUYE

STAFF WRITERS

I’m certain we’ve all heard of Amazon, one of the biggest companies in the world. Well, they recently announced a new technology that could be groundbreaking in speed and security of retail transactions. Amazon One is a palm recognition technology that could make transactions such as paying at a store, entering a location that requires a ticket, and entering office buildings effortless and sanitary. Amazon is slowing trying to introduce this technology and get feedback from customers. After it has been included in all of their stores, it will be offered to third parties. 

Palm recognition is something that has been attempted in retail settings ,before but it hasn’t yet worked. Palm recognition was chosen due to privacy concerns and safety concerns. All palms can be distinguished, however you cannot trace someone using their palm, so palms worked well for customer privacy. It also requires someone to intentionally make a gesture to avoid accidental purchases. Amazon has been working to develop this technology since the beginning of 2019. Due to Amazon’s massive presence in the business world, I think it is safe to say palm recognition may, in time, become the new normal for retail and security transactions.

Links:

https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/29/21493094/amazon-one-palm-recognition-hand-payments-amazon-go-store

https://blog.aboutamazon.com/innovation/introducing-amazon-one-a-new-innovation-to-make-everyday-activities-effortless

Animal Pen: Nicobar Pigeon

BY KAIA KARPE

STAFF WRITER

The Nicobar Pigeon is found on Nicobar Island, right through the east of the Malay Archipelago, down to Palau and the Solomons. You may have heard of this bird as the closest living relative to the dodo. Scientists have this idea based on some cladistic analysis of mtDNA cytochrome b and 12S rRNA sequences.  Cladistic analysis is “a system of biological taxonomy based on the quantitative analysis of comparative data and used to reconstruct cladograms summarizing the (assumed) phylogenetic relations and evolutionary history of groups of organisms” says vocabulary.com. With this they can say that the Nicobar Pigeon has a slight possibility of being related to the dodo with the small amount of taxa. The definition of taxa (or taxon) is a way to categorize a group. They live up to eight to twelve years in the wild, and ten to fifteen years in captivity.

Nicobar Pigeons are the only living species in the Caloenas genus. They can measure up to sixteen inches, though typically the females are shorter than the males. These birds’ feathers are from not having any predators to hide from. In 2004, the Indian Ocean tsunami inflicted a huge amount of damage on Nicobar Island and caused a slight population decrease.

Nicobar Pigeons’ diet consists of seeds, fruit, and buds. A gizzard stone helps them digest hard foods such as seeds. Birds swallow tiny amounts of gravel that helps the gizzard stone by acting as “teeth”.

Here are more visual examples of the gizzard stone.

An interesting thing about the Nicobar Pigeon is that they fly in columns or a single file line unlike the more common loose flock. Their white tail is similar to a taillight; It helps the group stay together and not get lost in the dark. Younger birds lack the white feathers, so if an adult Nicobar Pigeon sees that, they will know that they are not potential mates, not competition for mating, and they are not old enough to safely guide the flock to one location to the next. They like to build nests in heavy forest areas. Nicobar Pigeons build loose stick nests in a tree, and lay only one egg. Nicobar Pigeons are monogamous which means they only mate with one partner for life.

Sadly, the Nicobar Pigeons are considered near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN. They are hunted for their gizzard stones, which are made into jewelry, and they are trapped in an illegal trade to the local pet market as an exotic pet. Also, their nesting habitat is decreasing due to deforestation for plantations. That is not all of the threats to the Nicobar Pigeon of course. Nicobar Pigeon populations are also decreasing because of the travel of predators to their breeding grounds. Some examples of non-native predators are cats and rats. They are trying to be saved by multiple zoos which are helping Nicobar Pigeons adapt in safer areas. Hopefully people will notice them and try and pitch in to keep these wonderful creatures alive and healthy.

Citations

  • “Nicobar Pigeon.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, September 27, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicobar_pigeon. 
  • “Gizzard.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, September 15, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gizzard. 
  • “This Colorful Pigeon with Luminous Feathers Is the Closest Living Relative to the Extinct Dodo Bird.” Positive Outlooks Blog, August 19, 2020. https://mypositiveoutlooks.com/nicobar-pigeon-dodo-relative/. 
  • “The World’s Fastest Dictionary.” Vocabulary.com. Accessed October 15, 2020. https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/cladistic analysis. 
  • “Gizzard and Crop Impaction.” Farm Health Online Animal Health and Welfare Knowledge Hub. Accessed October 15, 2020. https://www.farmhealthonline.com/US/disease-management/poultry-diseases/crop-impaction/. 

The White House and COVID-19

BY SYDNEY WESCHCKE

STAFF WRITER

Within the past month, dozens of members of the Trump Administration, including the President and his wife, have tested positive for COVID. This series of events started on September 26 at the Rose Garden event, which was celebrating the Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett. This event has caused a spike in cases due to how many people have been infected from attending. On September 30, Hope Hicks, one of Trump’s close advisors, started showing symptoms while President Trump had his rally in Minnesota. He also held a rally on October 1, as well. He came in contact with many people and started to show symptoms. Later that night, he and First Lady Melania tested positive for COVID, which he publicly announced via Twitter in the early morning of October 2. 

Worried about his declining health, President Trump was flown to Walter Reed Hospital the same day. His oxygen level was below 94 percent, and he had a fever. During his three day stay, President Trump was given an experimental polyclonal antibody cocktail, two doses of remdessivir, and the steroid dexamethasone. On October 4, he went for a ride in his armored Chevrolet Suburban to see his supports, before returning to the hospital. The next day, October 5, he was discharged. 

A few days later on October 9, President Trump spoke with radio host Rush Limbaugh and claimed that he was feeling better than he was twenty years ago. Then, he held his first public event since his COVID diagnosis on October 10. He later tweeted, “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.” 

There have been more people related to the Trump campaign that have tested positive for COVID in the past few weeks, along with the President’s son, Barron Trump. The most recent has been two of Vice President Pence’s top aides as of Sunday, October 25. Vice President Pence tested negative on Saturday and Sunday, and he is still taking place in rallies.

Thanks for reading this article; I hope it was informative. 

Sources:

https://apple.news/A0rVrWVAVTca-KSUK0A1aUw

https://www.npr.org/2020/10/25/927531128/pence-chief-of-staff-tests-positive-for-the-coronavirus

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/02/us/politics/trump-contact-tracing-covid.html

DIY Rainbow Loom: Basics/Setup

BY PRISHA RATHORE

STAFF WRITER

If you are in the mood for doing something crafty and creative, Rainbow Loom is just the thing for you! Well, you may be wondering what Rainbow Loom is. Rainbow Loom is a plastic peg board that comes with rubber bands, a hook, and some clips that connect your bracelet. The loom looks a little something like this.

Here is the hook that comes with it too! It will be used to connect bands. Now, if you are in the mood for making your first bracelet, you will definitely need some rubber bands. Don’t worry if you don’t have a loom or hook. This article will present a no hook and loom way of making this same bracelet with your fingers. If you do want the hook and loom, you can buy it on Amazon. The bracelet we are making is called the Single Chain bracelet, which is perfect for beginners! Let’s get started with the hook and loom way! First, lay your loom so the arrows point down like this.

Now we will start laying out the bands like this.

Continue in a zigzag pattern.

Now after you have continued that pattern through the loom, it should look like this.

 It’s time to turn your loom around. We will now start using the hook!

So begin by putting your hook in that first band.

Now go forward into that peg and pick up that band.

Carefully take that band off the peg and put it on the next one.

Now do the same for the next peg. Go inside the bands, push forward to the peg, take the band of the peg, and put it on the next one.

Read the steps above again for help with doing the next pegs. Anyways, soon your loom should look like this, and it is time to take it off the loom.

At the very end of the loom, stick your hook into the two loops and then you can take the bracelet off the loom!

After you take it off, you may use a clip to connect the bracelet like this. (I will be using a s-clip). After you stick a clip through the loops, take the bracelet off the hook and connect the bracelet.

Yay you did it!

Now I am going to teach you how to use your fingers to do it!

Start by putting a band on one finger and then twisting it and putting it on the other finger.

Next, put a band normally on the top.

Now take the bottom band of each side and flip it over like this.

Put another band on and repeat the previous step.

Put another band on and keep on following that pattern until it becomes long enough for your wrist!

Once it is long enough, make sure two bands are on and take the bottom band of each side and flip it over so one band remains. 

Take a clip and put the loops in the clip.

Now connect the clip to the other side. You did it!!!

Was that fun? If it was, keep watch for more articles in the DIY Rainbow Loom series; we will be learning how to make more bracelets in the future. Thank you for reading ASOP!

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