mISCELLANEOUS

World War II

By: Oliver R. Rusnak and Maksym A. Kapitan

World War II is a historical event that started 86 years ago in 1939 and ended in 1945, where many different countries, even on different continents, fought a war. Many different wars were fought in the world as well like the Revolutionary War, and the Civil War.

One historical fact is that the poppy flower is used to remember the fallen soldiers in all wars. The person who made the use of poppy important on Veterans Day was Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae because of a poem he made called “In Flanders Fields.” To celebrate the veterans who fought for our freedom, you should wear red, white, and blue on November 11, which is Veterans Day!

   The Goldilocks of School: Too much or too little homework?  

By: Aisha Sattar 

Homework is very helpful and important, but too much can cause stress and bad impacts on students’ well-being. Too much homework can have many negative effects on students. For example, if students have clubs or sports, they can’t start homework till 3:50 or 4:00 and then end up doing homework for the entire day. This can negatively affect them because they won’t be able to hang out with friends or family.  

On the other hand, homework can also be good for you. Without homework, you wouldn’t be able to practice the materials from class and get better grades. A good amount of homework can be helpful and good for you. However, too much homework can also have a bad impact. There is a fine line between just enough homework and too much. 

Students usually receive more homework in middle school than in elementary school. This happens because in middle school we have homework from a bunch of different teachers. This dramatic shift can make students feel overwhelmed. It would be better if each teacher only gave us a little bit of homework, so we don’t end the day with too much work to do. 

Why Bing AI searches are Incorrect

By: Bella Slack

Last night, I watched one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. I wanted to know why Jack Sparrow was able to come back from Davy Jones’ Locker. It said, “In The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf is sent back from the dead to complete his mission. Jack is rescued from Davy’s Locker because he is needed for the last ‘piece of eight’ so Tia Darma?can be released from her ‘single form.’” Obviously, this was not the answer I was looking for. First, it started off with a response from The Lord of the Rings, which is a completely different movie! There are grammatical errors such as “Tia Darma?can...”. In the movie, the name is Tia Dalma, not Darma, and there are three sites below it, two of which are unrelated to my search. The grammar hints at an unofficial site or one not made by an adult. One of the sites is about a Jack from Lord of the Rings, in which Davy Jones Locker is never mentioned, as it is a different movie entirely. The second site has grammatical issues again and is simply titled www.screenfish.net. This is very suspicious. Another problem is that the AI clumped together two answers, instead of saying something as a barrier such as, “If you are searching about Lord of the Rings...If you are searching about Pirates of the Caribbean...” to show which movie you are talking about. Search AI is usually just taking information from all sites mentioning words used, and clumping it to make an answer, and this is a problem. If there are sites with incorrect information (which there are), the AI still takes it instead of checking. For example, if you are searching for medical symptoms for the measles, then you might see two articles pull up. If you look closely, there is one from Loyola Medicine and one from a blogger that had the measles themselves. Is the blogger a doctor? Do they have explanations and medically approved remedies? Did they even have the measles? No, no, and no. However, the Loyola Medicine site has certified doctors working on the page, and doctors specializing in that subject. Everyone can say they’re a doctor for views, but a brain surgeon working on a page about eczema? Not real. But these doctors know a lot about it and how to fix it. Are they real doctors? Do they have explanations and medically approved remedies? Did they even have the measles? Yes, yes, and maybe. They don’t have to have had the measles before to know about it, but they are certified. So next time you’re searching with AI, be sure to actually check out the sites that are trustworthy. You might have to deep-dive. But ChatGPT won’t help you forever. Happy searching, Bella! 

comics

Comic by: Sebastian Dubrowski

short stories

BIG Quest, Little Thanksgiving 3 

By: Sebastian Dubrowski 

PS: I have been writing this series since 4th grade. I want to continue here, too. Enjoy! 

Man… today sucked. I just saved Thanksgiving again! But I got grounded. The saying is,” you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet.” You want to know about my adventure so far? Well, I saved thanksgiving from an evil person who makes portals and almost sabotaged the food! Now, there are mind controlling people leading us pilgrims around. But first, you must hear how I got here. 

“Sir, the plan is failing. The agent didn’t poison the food” says a man in a white cloak. “No, I cannot suffer through another thanksgiving” the taller man replies. I just climbed through another blue portal I found in the forest. They all lead to this enclosed space, filled with desks and cloaked people, and a large light source in the center. I must stop them from ruining thanksgiving. 

They must be trying to erase Thanksgiving or something. I must stop them. I need help though. 

 “Rosie, there something big happening!” I explained it to her. I lead her to one of the portals. She was awestruck, just like me. We began planning.  

“I know what we must do!" I cry out “We must ambush them” 

To be continued...