October

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Is Climate Change The Peoples’ Doing?

Editorial

Local Interest

The Philippines Holds One of the Lowest Ages of Consent in the World

Mireille M.

The Philippines is currently one of the biggest and most populous countries in the world. With that population comes a great cost: human trafficking. The Southeast Asian country is one of the most popular spots for foreigners and locals alike to buy children’s organs, child slaves and more. The problem has gotten so bad to the point it's not uncommon for children to get kidnapped right outside their schools and houses to be either cut open for their organs or sold for slavery. The exceedingly young age of consent in the country doesn't benefit the issue either.

The Philippines holds the second youngest age of consent in the world at 12 years old, second to Nigeria at 11. But on the bright side, the government has recently become aware of the topic and is currently working to fix it. In May of 2021, Senator Gatchalian highlighted that the current age of consent must be raised as current reports are showing that the numbers of teenage pregnancy, child abuse and rape have risen 7% higher in 2019.

According to the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), In the span of 8 months in 2020 alone,(March 15 to November 30,) there were 13,923 cases of violence recorded against women. 4,747 who suffered were only children. In addition to that, The Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM) reported that pregnancies in 2019 went up by 7%.

Because of the current COVID19 situation globally, it has been even harder to prevent and record the amount of incidents related to these topics for the safety of the police officers and the military soldiers working to stop the cause. The pandemic has also caused a booming spike in the amount of online child sex abuse as the pandemic has allowed so much more amounts of people (mostly children) to be taken away.

An article done in 2020 by journalist Sarah Oates shared a story where she met a pregnant 12 year old girl who claims that she got pregnant through their 16 year old neighbor that promises to marry her once he comes of age (18 in the Philippines) The child's parents refused to speak further on the topic. She also revealed that in some cases, parents would plan and agree to have their daughters marry at only age 9. While abortion is illegal in the country, if the said girls were to get pregnant, they would be forced to keep the baby against their will.

The Senate is currently leading the government body to fix the issue and raise the age of consent up to 16 which would give the Philippines the same consent rank as the United States. Currently, they are also working on the consequences of human trafficking that will be put on persecutors once caught. Because the age of consent is so low in the country, it makes it easier for people to get pardoned after committing rape or any sexual advances towards the minors being kidnapped.

As of now, they are waiting on the approval of the rest of the government body including President Rodrigo Duterte to approve of the law in order to get one step in the right direction. Activists are holding high hopes as they strongly believe that this change of law can lessen the amount of sexual abuse in the country.

COVID 19 and its Effect on the Philippines

Salaar H.

The first COVID 19 was confirmed on 30th January, 2020 by a 38 year old woman who had just arrived back from Wuhan, China. Two days later the Philippines recorded the first COVID 19 death outside of China. Roughly one and a half weeks later, the Philippines declared a public health emergency following multiple COVID 19 cases putting the country in lockdown. We have been in a lockdown ever since.

COVID 19 is a respiratory illness that does not have a specific cure. COVID 19 has been shown to be fatal towards senior citizens or people with known respiratory or organ issues. However younger ages are less prone to contracting COVID 19. Throughout time multiple countries have had scientists and medical professionals start working on cures for COVID 19. Medical professionals had found a vaccine that could be given to citizens however the COVID 19 vaccine doesn't guarantee one hundred percent protection.

Philippines Medical Workers Protesting On The Streets

With multiple COVID 19 cases being introduced in the Philippines, hospitals around the country started to crowd up. Hospitals started to slowly run out of space to keep the patients and multiple hospitals here in the Philippines had also started to run out of medical supplies due to the mass majority of patients. Medical professionals in the Philippines had started to change up their lifestyle in order to adjust with the mass amounts of patients coming. Doctors had started to work fourteen to twenty four hour shifts on a daily basis attempting to save as many lives as possible. A majority of medical personnel had started to protest due to the fact that they were getting underpaid. One of the nurses named Nico Oba actively working in a hospital here in the Philippines said "The government promised it will give the benefits today but up to now, it has not. I pity us because we are the ones begging." Multiple nurses had threatened to resign due to them being underpaid and the government not stepping up to take care of their health workers.

Along with all the multiple COVID 19 cases brought to the country and hospitals, on March 8th, 2020 the President of the Philippines announced that all schools will be closed and will start online school effective immediately. Students and teachers all shifted to a platform called Zoom where they video chat and have a real life classroom experience being able to see each other virtually. Multiple schools tested out the online school feature as some schools decided to do all classes on zoom but some schools decided to just give homework instead of meeting on zoom. With the vaccines being distributed to citizens across the country and school faculty staff being vaccinated, almost all schools had decided to still remain closed. Because of this it had upset many students as multiple students and teachers had ended up leaving the country due to schools not opening any time soon. Up till this day schools in the Philippines have not yet opened and the Philippines and Venezuela are the only countries in the world known to have not opened schools physically since the start of COVID in January of 2020.

Up till today in September 2021 the Philippines government still seems to be struggling with the COVID 19 situation as schools still have no plan of opening and medical workers still seem to be protesting. Many people including the government are unsure as to what the next steps are in order to control the situation and as to when life will go back to what people say “normal.”

Covid 19 has People in Jail in the Philippines

Krish M.

Covid 19 has had a massive impact on the Philippines education system, this all started on March 8th, 2020 when all schools in the Philippines were shut down due to Covid 19. Covid 19 cases have been increasing rapidly throughout the year and lockdowns have been announced for extensive amounts of time throughout the year. Schools around the Philippines seem to be not opening up at the moment but with the fluctuation between the government’s decisions, no one would know what would happen.

The virus has also affected many people around the Philippines physically, emotionally, and mentally and has definitely taken a toll on people’s freedom. These things are bound to happen when people are in lockdown for 6 months, being enclosed in a small space can affect the physical aspect due to not being able to go outside and walk around or work out or be active which is crucial towards having good and strong physical health and a strong immune system. With people being locked up all day it can take a kick at your emotional health and mental health too, studies show that being locked up inside a house or confined space can cause depression, mental illness, and anxiety this is prone to happen due to not being able to socialize face to face and your bodies adapting to the new norms.

There have been about 2.4million Covid 19 cases around the Philippines and still counting, around 37,070 deaths and finally, there have been around 42,131,771 vaccines administered inside of the Philippines. Some ways to prevent covid are to maintain a safe distance from others, even if they don’t appear to be

sick, Wear a mask in public, especially indoors or when physical distancing is not possible, Choose open, well-ventilated spaces over closed ones. Open a window if indoors, Clean your hands often. Use soap and water, or an alcohol-based hand rub, Get vaccinated when it’s your turn. Follow local guidance about vaccination, Cover your nose and mouth with your bent elbow or a tissue when you cough or sneeze and lastly Stay home if you feel unwell.

Covid 19 could last months or years but it’s important to stay strong and always remember to wear a mask.

Covid 19 Vaccination Center in the Philippines

Philippine Record School Closure: What does it Mean for Education?

Kaya F.

Distance learning has affected many students across the globe, including students in the Philippines. On March 15, 2020, schools in the Philippines were physically closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, students have been using the distance learning system following President Rodrigo Duterte’s instructions. Since then, the Philippines is the only country in Southeast Asia whose schools still remain closed. However, distance learning has been criticized repeatedly and the country seems to not be fully prepared for it.

The online school system works better for some than others. Students can have difficulty in coping with the new format. Children’s friendships and how they interact with their peers are only online. For some it works, others get very frustrated and lonely. Many lack necessary gadgets. The internet is very important for distance learning because it lets you learn from afar. Some have a lot of access to it, whereas many others, especially poorer students, don’t have internet. For them, a lot of the remote learning is very little or sometimes not at all.

Citing data from the World Bank, it was said that the Philippines' learning-adjusted years of school (LAYS) would be pushed back from 7.5 years pre-pandemic to 5.9 to 6.5 years. The Philippine basic education system offers 12 years of school, but Filipino students show experience equal to only around 6 years spent in school. There are more school dropouts since the students and their parents don’t see why they should continue if they don’t learn anything.

The Philippines is already a poor country. 6.1% of the population live on less than $1.90 per day, 26% live on less than $3.20 per day, and 55.1% live on less than $5.50 per day. The kids of this generation determine their countries future. It will be hard for them to get jobs because of the shortage of education they are receiving/have received. Even more uneducated and poor adults will make it an even bigger struggle for the country to build itself up than already was. The full effect of all this lockdown will probably be seen and felt for many years to come.

Students learning through the new schooling system

Sports and Entertainment

What Went Down in Britney Spears Conservatorship?

Emerson H.

Britney Spears fans protesting against the conservatorship put in place by her father.

The conservatorship had “too much control!” Britney Spears herself stated. Britney Spears' breakdown caused her dad to create an extremely controlling conservatorship. Was this conservatorship really made for the right reasons or was it just for the money and control?

Who is Britney Spears?

Britney Spears is an American pop star. She is a singer, songwriter, and dancer. At age 11 she began her singing career that was highly successful. You may know her from her number one song “Baby One More Time.” She was born December 2nd, 1981. In her days she influenced many teens with her music and was the most popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

What is a Conservatorship?

The main reason a conservatorship would be put in place is if you are so mentally ill that you are thought of to be incapable of handling and making individual decisions without assistance. An example of this would be if a patient was suffering from severe Dementia.

In Britney Spears' case, her conservatorship was split into two parts. First her as a person and the other half her estate and financial affairs. She has not been able to influence any of her financial decisions since 2008 due to the legal agreement. Her father James P. Spears was able to take control over her 60 million dollar estate. She tried to get the conservatorship overthrown in November 2020 but the judge declined it, instead, he decided to do the opposite. The judge expanded the time of the conservatorship into September 2021. "She feels the conservatorship has become an oppressive and controlling tool against her," a court investigator wrote in a 2016 report. Once she even called the conservatorship abusive.

What are her and her Fathers’ Views on the Conservatorship?

She and her father James P. Spears have completely opposing views when it comes to the conservatorship. She believes that it is too controlling and said “I deserve to have a life” and “this conservatorship is doing way more harm than good.”

James P. Spears tries to portray a loving father in the Media, saying that he would respect and still love her unconditionally if she wanted to remove the conservatorship but Britney views him as abusive.

When the conservatorship was first granted he was very excited about that news. He even screamed multiple times that “I am Britney Spears” showing how ecstatic he was to have so much power over her.

In a separate incident, Britney stated “I cried on the phone for an hour and he loved every minute of it, the control he had over someone as powerful as me — he loved the control, to hurt his own daughter, one-hundred thousand percent.” Additionally, his lawyers stated that they were "sorry to see his daughter suffering and in so much pain” meaning they thought of her as mentally ill.

Why was the Conservatorship put in place?

In 2008, she had a mental health crisis. The media reported numerous public incidents related to her mental health. For example when she attacked a reporter by hitting her umbrella against their car. Additionally, when she shaved her head. One course says that she shaved her head because she was on drugs, however, she opposes this idea and said that she shaved her head due to the media pressure. One final incident was her reckless driving, she ran a red light and made an illegal turn. All whilst her children were in the back of the car.

Why did she seem so out of control? It all started going downhill once she got a divorce from her husband in 2007. As a result of this divorce, she lost custody of her two children. She was hospitalized twice to assess her physiatric state, due to an incident involving police. She was not willing to hand her two sons over to the police after she lost custody of them.

Her Fans Thoughts

There are two main ways her fans have decided to support her. On social media with the #freeBritney and in public protesting. At 38 years old her supporters believe she is capable of handling her own finances. They also believe that during the conservatorship she was not able to be her own person legally.

The #freeBritney has been surfacing around different social media platforms since 2009. It was used to criticize the conservatorship. Many celebrities participated in the hashtag including Madonna, Christina Aguilera, Rosie O'Donnell, Mariah Carey, Khloe Kardashian, and Justin Timberlake.

There have also been many protests over this matter. Supporters have taken to the streets shouting chants, waving flags, and wearing homemade D.I.Y. Britney Spears merchandise, all to convey their support in ending the conservatorship. Fans have organized gatherings in front of the Los Angeles courthouse, crammed onto the sidewalk. There were hand-lettered signs that read “The world is watching” and “End the Conservatorship Now!”

Is the Conservatorship Over?

As a matter of fact, yes the conservatorship finally got overturned on August 12th, 2021. After a highly complicated and publicized battle that lasted a very long time, her father, at last, decided that he would step aside. Though he did do this voluntarily by filing a petition to end the arrangement, he still stated that he did not completely agree with the dismantling of the conservatorship.

So this leaves the question, was this conservatorship really made for the right reasons, or was it just for the money? Do you believe in Britney, saying that she felt like she was trapped, or do you think it was what was best for her due to her mental health? Nobody knows except Britney herself and James P. Speras, maybe one day the whole truth will be revealed.

Skateboarding's New Name

Isabel K.

Skateboarders mean loud, disturbing and reckless people. Juvenile, and vulgar, they shouldn’t be allowed on the streets. What I’ve just described to you is the stereotype that skateboarders are given to in Japan.

In 2015, a submission was made for skateboarding to be added as an Olympic sport for Tokyo 2021 and just the next year in 2016, it had been accepted. With this new addition it has changed the game for skateboarders and has made a mark in skateboarding history.

Image of Keegan Palmer at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, competing for men's Olympics

Taiichiro Nakamura, “Chopper” is a famous professional skateboarder in Japan and started skating in the 80s when he was just 15. Being featured in many articles and magazines, he is a popular icon in Japan for his skateboarding.

He has also been very vocal about Japan and their views on skate culture. Expressing his thoughts about how Japan fails to provide enough skateboarding parks, which is why they have been forced to resort to street skating. He continues to say, "If you skate on the street, you have to share that space with people walking by -- who will get the impression that skateboarding is noisy, dangerous or scary,.” Which brings up the question of, why would Japan want even more skateparks when skateboardings name has already been plastered to be something dangerous?

Now, this is why the Olympics making skateboarding an Olympic sport has been so important for skateboarders all around. It has opened doors for acceptance and is helping build a new name for skateboarding. Giving the chance for countries like Japan to see that skateboarding isn’t all that bad. "Now we have more kids, women and elderly people skateboarding because of the Olympics," This quote from Chopper proves how the Olympics had already been able to open up and change minds on what skateboarding is.

With the Olympics now in a close, it has people on the edge of their seats to see what skateboarding in the next 2024 Olympics has in store. So, while we wait for that, what about you? How has the Olympics changed skateboarding for you?

How the Olympics have Evolved

Synes F.

This image shows the opening ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

The Olympic games. All of you who are reading this right now have probably heard of them. Right?

Yes you probably have heard of them even if you don’t know what they are. They are the biggest sporting event in the world. Athletes from around the world compete while representing their home country. . All trying to earn a gold medal.

Just like everything, the Olympics have evolved over time. Back in ancient Greece the ancient olympics were held. They only consisted of 7 sports (running, long jump, shot put, javelin, boxing, pankration and equestrian events).

In 1896 the first modern day Olympics were held between 13 teams and had 43 events. Which consisted of only 9 sports.

In one of the more recent Olympics. Tokyo 2020 had a total of 205 teams and hosted 339 events. Similar to another recent Olympics. The 2016 Rio Olympics hosted 306 events. But only 28 sports.

In ancient times you would go up in Olympia, where the Olympics were

held, a few days before the competition. You registered and were getting ready to compete.

But now in the modern day you have to go through multiple rounds of qualification. Including national team qualifications. That start way before the Olympics are even in people’s thoughts.

The Olympics have evolved immensely in the area of expanding the olympics. In the years between 2016 and 2026. There were 11 different Olympic games. But who is that possible if the Olympics are every 4 years?

Because now there are four different Olympic competitions. The Summer Olympics (the original), The Winter Olympics, The Summer Youth Olympics & The Winter Olympics.

Even after the you have counted all the Olympic games there are still the paralympic games which are played a few weeks after the Olympics for all the disabled athletes to compete in.

Now the Summer Olympics and Summer Youth Olympics are every four years for example 2020, 2024, 2028.

The Winter Olympics and The Winter Youth Olympics are also held every four years but always two years after or before the Summer Olympics.

But they haven’t always been two years apart. They only held the two year rule in 1994. 98 years after the first modern olympics were held. But the Winter Olympics were first held in 1928. In the same year as the summer Olympics.

Another evolution of the Olympics is that according to the International Olympic Committee "there is no specific age limit for taking part in the Olympic Games." So the youngest person to ever compete in the Olympics is Dimitrios Loundras at the age of 10. But in the ancient Olympics you had to be at least 12 years old before competing.

If you’re still reading this, what I want you to take away from this article is that the Olympics haven’t always been the big flashy International events that they’re nowadays. They have history in them. They have evolved from the little ancient Olympics to enormous world stopping events.

Science and Technology

Meet the World’s Most Valuable Company and the Person Behind it

Emil L.

If I asked you, “Who do you think of when I mention Apple?” A large majority of people will say Steve Jobs, the charismatic pioneer of the personal computer era. According to his many biographies, “Widely considered a visionary and a genius, he oversaw the launch of such revolutionary products as the iPod and the iPhone.” Some may even say Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs’ partner. The pair founded Apple Computers in 1976 with Ronald Wayne, releasing some of the first personal computers on the market. But very few people’s answers will be the man who built the company after Steve Jobs’ death into what it is today. The hard-working, intelligent, workaholic Chief Executive Officer. The guy who made Apple into a worldwide electronics powerhouse and pioneered the future of technology, Tim Cook.

Click here to read more.

Instagram Makes Body Image Worse for Teenagers

Manon B.

A picture of the application Instagram that you can usually find on your phone

A 13-year-old named Anastasia Sofas signed up for Instagram five years ago. She was so excited to post photos with fun filters, first, she followed her friends and then accounts of fitness influencers. People posting photos of their workouts with tanned and toned bodies. She was incredibly inspired by them but by the time she was in eighth grade she realized that these influencers affected her in different ways that made her feel worse about her body and how she looked. She thought she needed to look a certain way and she eventually started working out and eating healthy which followed up to an eating disorder. Instagram was triggering her eating disorder and that’s when she found the connection between her eating disorder and social media.

According to a Facebook leak from the Wall Street Journal, the company has retained internal data for two years that shows its Instagram app makes body image issues worse for adolescent females.

The company's team has been researching the influence of their product on the mental health of its younger users since at least 2019. It is detrimental to a high number of people, particularly adolescent females, according to their research.

“We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls,” according to a slide from an internal presentation viewed by the Wall Street Journal in 2019. According to the following presentation in March 2020, “32% of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse,w

Another slide stated, "Teens blame Instagram for increasing anxiety and depression rates." This was an unprompted emotion that was shared by all groups.”

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's CEO, said in March that social media was more likely to have beneficial mental health benefits. In May, Instagram's CEO, Adam Mosseri, claimed he had seen data showing the company's impacts on teens' mental health were likely "very minimal."

Some of the issues, such as "social comparison," were unique to Instagram and not reproduced by other platforms, according to a "mental health deep dive" conducted by Facebook marketing and product design executives and data analysts.

“Aspects like exposure to manipulated Instagram photos worsen each other to create a perfect storm,” according to one internal analysis, which claimed that the pressure to post only the greatest moments and to be flawless might lead to depression, poor self-esteem, and eating problems among teens.

One of the most alarming findings was that 13 percent of users in the UK and 6 percent of users in the US linked suicidal thoughts to Instagram. According to another international research, more than 40% of Instagram users who claimed they felt "unattractive" said it started on the platform, while almost a quarter of teens who said they felt "not good enough" said it started on Instagram.

Being constantly bombarded with pictures of the ‘ideal' life and flawless bodies may have a huge influence on how you feel about your own life and looks, and it can be extremely difficult not to compare yourself to others.

Karina Newton Instagram’s head of public policy stated “Negative social comparison and anxiety exist in the real world, and they will exist on social media as well,” “That doesn't change the fact that individuals are taking these results seriously and making a coordinated effort to respond to the findings and improve Instagram.”

Body image is based on a person's thoughts, feelings, and perception of the aesthetics or sexual attractiveness of their own body. Instagram should make a rule about editing photos as in Photoshop. Any social media company should implement a regulation that shows when someone submits a photo and claims it was altered. It demonstrates to society that the majority of individuals modify their photographs to make them appear certain, and it should be prohibited.

A Game that Seems to be Taking Over the World

Saisha G.

miHoYo's RPG: Genshin Impact

Here are 5 reasons why Genshin Impact is so popular:

Frequent updates: A game that hardly gets updates becomes a ghost town. When games stop getting updates they also stop getting players. One of the good things about Genshin is that they have plenty of updates that will always keep you up to date in the game!
Lots of land with lots of activities: Genshin has an expansive world that has a lot to offer and a vast amount of things to explore. Developers of this game have done their best to make sure that this area is filled with plenty of content and locations to explore!
Diverse playable character options: I have to hand this over to Genshin Impact for its amount of characters! It makes Genshin a standout title for the number of characters.
Character development: Unlocking and upgrading heroes is pretty much a blast. It’s like the first time you got to play with your favorite action figures as a kid again, only now there are plenty of toys in one package. As we, players unlock more characters, we can upgrade their stats and give them new abilities or make the best out of their current abilities.
Beautiful sound: Genshin’s background music is like an ocean, with a variety of beautiful sounds. I couldn’t blame you if you were playing for hours together. Anyone could get lost in this game with such beautiful music.

Minecraft, Roblox, League of Legends, I bet you have heard of those very famous video games, but have you heard of Genshin Impact?

Genshin impact is an RPG (role-playing game) that was released on the 28th of September 2020 has blown up all over the world with over 50 million monthly players! One of them being me! The pandemic is clearly introducing us to some amazing games, such as this one.

Genshin Impact was produced by miHoYo, which is a Chinese video game development, and animation studio based in Shanghai, China. Because Genshin Impact has gone viral, miHoYo has raked in an estimated $874 million and still continues to pull in around $175 million a month--and that's just from mobile players alone. If we were to put it in perspective it took Fortnite's mobile version nearly two years to cross the billion-dollar threshold.

Genshin is a free game that you can download on either Mobile, PC, or PS4 consoles--as for now. So how exactly has Genshin Impact earned so much profit? Well, here is the thing, you have a choice of spending money on the game to get characters and become more, and more advanced, this is a decision you can make to make life much easier than spending a lot of time earning so-called ‘primogems’(which is a currency that you use in order to wish for characters). Genshin Impact is a game that you basically can play without having to spend a penny. But you should note that it comes with an in-game system called ‘Gacha.’ And with this feature, players get the chance to spend money on randomized unlocks of different characters and items from the video game. For players who find it easy to resist the siren call of new shiny things and an ever-expanding collection of characters, it has a lot to offer.

Note: To make a wish, you will have to go to the options center and click on the 3 stars icon. That will open a pop-up box that will allow you to wish for either a character in season (characters that will only be up for a limited time period), a weapon, or characters that will always be there (never change). When you make a wish you can either get a 5-star character/weapon, a 4-star character/weapon, or just some 3-star weapons. 5-star indicates that it is the most useful item you can get a hold of, 4-star indicates that it is still a really efficient item, but not as good as a 5-star item. 3-star and lower indicates that it is the least effective item (compared to 4-stars and 5-stars) that you can get a hold of and is potentially useless.

Where Genshin shines the most is in combat, every character has one out of seven elements, the seven elements are Pyro (fire), Geo (earth), Dendro (nature), Cryo (ice), Electro (lightning), Anemo (wind), and Hydro (water). Every character makes use of one of these elements – the Traveler (which is who you spawn as when starting the game) is able to use either Anemo or Geo. What makes this ability to have so many elements in a variety of different characters is that you can mix up 2 abilities to make defeating the enemy much easier, for instance, hitting an enemy with water followed by ice will freeze them instantly. When I heard about this fact I wanted to download this game so badly, and that is another reason why this game is so popular.

Genshin Impact allows you to control one out of 4 interchangeable characters in a party. When the game starts, you acquire the traveler (you) and 3 other characters by completing missions, and as I said earlier, the other characters you will get by making wishes. The 4 characters that you have are Traveler(you), Lisa(electro user), Amber(pyro user), and Kaeya(cryo user). Having 4 characters when just starting the game allows you not to have 4 characters, but to also experiment with those 4 characters!

I could really give Genshin all the credit for visuals! Genshin Impact has awesome visuals and it is truly a pleasure to play the game. Not just the visuals make the game addicting, but the storyline too! This is a game that is not all about combat, it has an extremely hooking storyline. Genshin Impact’s art style greatly contributes to its success, and many factors play into it. The Anime factor does without any doubt. Anime has become extremely popular in recent years. Therefore, many people who are Anime enthusiasts would want to get a grasp of any Anime content that comes their way. As the developer notes, Genshin Impact and its predecessors bleed a real love for Japanese entertainment. miHoYo’s president, Forrest Wei Liu mentioned this love as a bedrock for the entire studio in 2018. "Our mission statement has always been about the devotion of Japanese ACG (Anime, Comics, Games) culture.”

What is awesome about this game is the leveling system which is called AR (adventure ranks). This is Genshin’s main leveling system that is raised through adventure EXP (experience points). Your Adventure Rank spans your entire account and determines how high you can increase the World Level and level up your individual characters and weapons, as well as giving you access to rank-locked quests and events. The highest AR that you can make it up to is AR 60, but I am sure that miHoYo will increase that! I am currently on AR 25-- on my way to 26, so clearly I have a long way to go. Once you reach AR 16, you will unlock co-op! Genshin Impact's co-op mode allows you and your friends to explore the gorgeous open world and tackle bosses as a group, which I think is really cool.

Overall Genshin Impact is a gorgeous, engaging game for a low, low price--but then, the first hit’s always free, isn’t it?

Virgin Galactic - Is Space the New Tourism Frontier?

Aakshat J.

Virgin Galactic Space ship that carried Richard Branson and this crew of four to Space

Niel Armstrong said, “That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”, when he became the first person to step on the moon in 1969. He was perhaps foretelling the future of space travel. Space for long has piqued the human interest and there has been a keen desire to explore what lies beyond. The blue skies, the orbital moon and unending horizons, all have been subjects of both poetry and science. Human race has a long standing obsession with the celestial skies.

Several developed nations started space exploration in earnest decades back, with Russia and USA being the front runners. The first human to go in space was Yuri Gagarin from the erstwhile Soviet Union, who went for a one-orbit journey around Earth on April 12, 1961. Since then several countries have sent manned missions to space. But so far it has all been limited to scientific pursuits and a chosen few astronauts going into space after extensive training.

However all this seems to be set for change with the Virgin founder - Richard Branson going on the Virgin Galactic flight to space on 11th July 2021. The mission was called “Unity 22”. The aircraft carrier called WhiteKnightTwo lifted Virgin Galactic Spaceship Unity 22 to an altitude of 50,000 feet (15,000 meters). The space plane separated from its main ship and ignited its rocket engines which sent the spaceship soaring up to 53 miles (86 km) above Earth's surface, where the crew

experienced about four minutes of weightlessness before heading back to Earth via an unpowered glide flight.

Richard Branson along with his crew reached a peak altitude of 85 kms which is beyond the boundary of space and this allowed them to feel weightlessness and look at the curve of earth from above.The Virgin Galactic Unity crew consisted of Richard Branson, Sirisha Bandla, Beth Moses and Colin Bennett. This was an hour-long journey which created several records. At the age of 71 Richard Branson became the second oldest person to go into space. He is the first billionaire to go into space.

“Richard Branson along with his crew reached a peak altitude of 85 kms which is beyond the boundary of space”

Virgin Galactic reopened their sales which were $450,000 United States Dollars for a piece. The company has previously sold tickets for $250,000 United States Dollars apiece but stopped in 2014 after a fatal accident. Following the successful flight of Unity 22, Michael Colglazier of Virgin Galactic said "As we endeavour to bring the wonder of space to a broad global population, we are delighted to open the door to an entirely new industry and consumer experience." This reflects the ambition of the company to truly explore the tourism potential of space travel.

Blue Origin, run by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and SpaceX, owned by Tesla's Elon Musk are currently in the same race to develop the space tourism market. Days after the Virgin mission in July, Jeff Bezos took part in the first fully crewed test flight of one his own planes into space.He is expected to sell tickets on future Blue Origin flights for between $200,000 and $300,000.

SpaceX sent four people up in space in the flight named ‘Inspiration4’, none of them had any formal spaceflight training till six months back. They were strapped on to the capsule atop a 200-foot-tall rocket and took a three-day spin around Earth. The passengers splashed down the coast of Florida on Saturday after spending nearly 72 hours in weightlessness in space.

The serious research and development by these three leading technology and flight companies reflects the immense interest and potential of space travel.

Once in space you could potentially realise how truly beautiful and magnificent is our planet earth, like Alan Bean the fourth man to walk on the moon said, “Yet, for most of us, the most memorable sight was not of the moon but of our beautiful blue and white home, moving majestically around the sun, all alone in the infinite black space”. This could also greatly enhance our love and respect for the only planet that we know sustains life.

“Yet, for most of us, the most memorable sight was not of the moon but of our beautiful blue and white home, moving majestically around the sun, all alone in the infinite black space”.

Given a chance, would you travel to the edge of space and beyond ?

Space X Inspiration4 splashing down on coast of Florida

Environment

Plastic Is Our New Ocean

Siri Sreenivasulu 30/9/2021

In 1907, proudly stood a Belgian-American chemist named Leo Baekeland in his laboratory within Yonkers, New York. He had recently founded Bakelite, the first real synthetic mass-produced plastic. But, Baekeland had no clue that his invention was going to slowly kill our beloved Earth.

Click here to read more.

Is Climate Change The Peoples’ Doing?

Editorial

Gaby F.

There is plenty of blame and protests that climate change is the peoples’ fault and the need for action to fix our mistake.

However, what if this isn’t us humans’ doing but really a natural process? Climate is extremely complicated and takes so much time to study, so understanding past behaviors and possible future behaviors are key for understanding the changes going on right now.

One key factor that isn’t shown in the theory of climate change is our past (meaning hundreds of thousands of years ago). Yet many charts and tables proving our planet is getting too warm only go back around 300 years ago. This is a crucial part of evaluating the changes in climate, to assess whether or not it’s just another repeat in history.

700,000 years ago, woolly rhinos roamed the planet only a few degrees cooler than it is now. Back then the area of the woolly rhinos was limited to the freezing conditions of Siberia.

Wooly rhino in freezing weather illustration.

However, it wasn’t always the same. At warmer times, glaciers retreated to lower altitudes, and the tundra with their cooler accustomed species extended throughout Asia. During cooler periods the woolly rhinos made their way to Europe until it warmed back up again and they’d retreat back to the highlands.

This whole cycle kept repeating, which is why the Ice Age is really known as the Ice Ages. The Rhino's range continued to grow and shrink in sync with the climate. And then about 11,000 years ago, they finally went extinct. So, what caused the climate, as well as the range of the woolly rhino, to swing between such extremes?

The Ice Age happened for a long time but only until the early 1900s, did Milutin Milankovic create an explanation of cycles called the Milankovitch cycles.

After years of research, Milankovic discovered the three main factors for changes in the Earth’s climate. Milankovitch cycles include the shape of Earth’s orbit, its eccentricity (which changes back and forth in the course of around 100,000 years). The angle that Earth’s axis is tilted with respect to Earth’s orbital plane, its obliquity (which changes about 22 to 24 degrees in 41,000 years). And lastly, the direction that Earth’s spin axis is pointed, its precession (in which Earth completes a full circle approximately every 23,000 years).

There are plenty more factors that impact our climate such as the position of continents, levels of greenhouse gases, sea ice, and volcanic activity.

“In the last 300 years, the carbon dioxide content of our atmosphere has increased by about 45%.”

As a result, temperatures have been at a steady rise in the last century (almost 1°C). The impacts of human action are quite overpowering towards some of the cooling effects of sea ice. And the fact that humans are increasing greenhouse gases has made it even more complicated to predict future temperatures.

Our climate is especially complex, though acknowledging how it did behave and how it might behave in the future, is important for understanding the changes that are happening right now. The more we try to understand, the more likely we can improve our life on Earth.

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