MANGO
MEMES
The 90s, the 80s, the 70s - they all have cultural features that set them apart from one another, whether it be music, film, or other lifestyle choices. Making their debut in the late 90s and early 2000s, internet memes have slowly risen in popularity and are now a defining feature of today’s pop culture. As such, memes play a significant role in modern education as analysis of dank memes can yield plenty of information concerning of the cultural nuances of this day and age. In this section, I plan to dissect, analyse, and hence understand...
MEMES
Arts and Entertainment
After a productive 4 years following Obama’s re-election into office, the season has returned whereby America’s renowned electoral system sees usage once again, this time to be tasked with deciding between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. Along with the arrival of the presidential race has come the internet posts expressing support for one party or the other. However commonplace this may be, especially regarding presidential races, one element has been introduced in this election that has not been seen to be such a key component as in any other elections in America’s history. Memes. These memes, however, are set apart from others mainly due to their affiliation with the Alt-Right movement, where a group of people with shared contempt for a long list of popular ideologies - namely feminism, colored rights, and LGBT pride - gather to fill the internet with spiteful memes. The first and foremost meme in Mr. Trump’s arsenal is the facebook page depicts him not only as a god, nor even as an emperor, but instead as an aggregate “God Emperor Trump.” Faced with adversity and disapproval from not only its viewers, but also Mark Zuckerberg himself, this page has been posting Trump related content for the past several months, both before and after Mr. Trump’s victory in the electoral race. There has been, however, an amount of dispute as to whether or not this page’s content is in fact intended to be publicity stunt in support of his running, or if it is intended as satirical comedy. Though on face value, this page’s content may seem like no more than harmless Trump-related memes, many of the posts would make one question whether its support for Trump is purely for entertainment. Nevertheless, there is entertainment to be found in this page. This can be inferred from the fact that many Facebook users have shared “God Emperor Trump’s” content with their friends, often with captions expressing amusement. Perhaps a factor to the amusement value of this page’s content is that which came from the unlikelihood of the prospect of Mr. Trump becoming president. It is within human nature to laugh at that which we find farcical or out of place. This is also possibly compounded by the sheer seriousness in the tone of this page’s posts. It might, to some, seem alien that one would so wholeheartedly believe in Mr. Trump and so willingly reject ideologies opposing those of Mr. Trump. An immature or slightly discourteous individual might also find amusement in seeing the negative stereotype of a bigoted white supremacist embodied in the “God
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____________________________________________________ *All Images taken from the God Emperor Trump Facebook Page
TABLE OF CONTENTS Mango Memes page 1-2
Monthly Mixtapes page 2-3
Ping’s Kitchen page 4
Movie of the Month page 4-5
Game Reviews page 5-6
Did You Know? page 6-7
Celebration of Strength page 7-8
Honk! Behind The Scenes page 8-9
Top Educational Websites page 10-11
New Countries? page 11-12
Galaxy Note 7 Explosions page 12
Meet the Inquirers page 13-14
Emperor Trump” page. The use of stereotypes might be found amusing by some because of their exaggerated nature, even though in the case of this page, there is no derision to be found - only sincere support for Mr. Trump. Being a meme page - albeit a hateful and disdainful one - “God Emperor Trump’s” content may be viewed as humorous due to its versatility. These memes’ featuring of other important figures in the meming community, such as Pepe the Frog, might appeal the ethos of an experienced internet user. This individual could perhaps find a sense of familiarity and in turn perhaps some amusement. A novice memer would of course not possess the experience to be affected by this, and hence would not be able to feel that sense of familiarity. With Mr. Trump’s victory sealed and him having secured the title of president-elect, one would speculate the “God Emperor Trump” page to have closed down - or at least to have slowed down in the production of memes. Contrary to this notion, the page is still outputting content regularly. Though an average memer might think it is harmless to follow this page or simply to laugh and ridicule its content,
A W O R D O F C A U T I O N I S I N O R D E R. The daily exposure to content of this page may over time impact one’s thoughts, making it hard to distinguish between original personal opinion and those of the Trump supporting administrators of “God Emperor Trump.” Quoting the words of the late Biggie Smalls, “Keep your family and business completely separated.” Though not directly applicable to Trump propaganda, the message can be preserved in the altered statement of “Keep your memes and your perspectives on a topic completely separated.” One might like this page as a joke and months later find his/her perspectives on Mr. Trump completely distorted. A confusing mix of Alt Right propaganda and satirical comedy, God Emperor Trump is a rare strain of an
UNHEALTHYMEME Article by Ethan Isaac
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DE FINALLY, my favorite and best time of the year - Christmas! Picking my top 10 Christmas songs was the hardest thing that I’ve ever had to do. To be completely honest with you guys, I’ve been playing my Christmas playlist since the end of Halloween (which is completely acceptable I promise). There may or may not have also been a couple of instances where people would tell me to stop humming Christmas Songs because I’ve been singing them nonstop- but it’s all good, because in the end Christmas is a magical time that needs to be enjoyed with equally fantastic music. Anyways, I’ll leave you guys to it and I hope you guys enjoy these songs as much as I do!
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FEBRUARY MARC
2. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town- Jackson 5 Year: 1970 To start this playlist off with a bang, it’s only fitting to begin with one of the most popular Christmas songs of all time. The Jackson 5 has always had a
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Santa Baby- Eartha Kitt Year: 1953 I have to say, I do love all Christmas songs, but this one has to take the cake as my all time favorite. Eartha Kitt’s sultry voice combined with a classic Christmas tune creates this amazing dreamy, old-school Christmas song. No Christmas of mine is complete without blasting this song on Christmas morning.
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special place in my heart, and still do. Unless you live under a rock, you’ve definitely heard their rendition of “Santa Claus is Coming To Town”. This song is definitely the ultimate Christmas jam, when you hear this playing on the radio that’s when you know the Christmas season has officially begun. 3. Baby It’s Cold Outside (feat. Gavin DeGraw)- Colbie Caillat Year: 2012 I’m pretty sure you guys already know this one, but how can I not put it on this list? The catchy melody along with the cute holiday love story makes for the perfect contemporary Christmas song. This song may even remind you of someone special ;) 4. White Christmas (feat. Shania Twain)- Michael Bublé Year: 2011 Of course I had to include the king of Christmas albums- Mister Michael Bublé himself. Now, I had to resist from putting his whole album on this list, but this song is definitely my favorite. No one mixes a contemporary and an old-school sound better than Michael Bublé, this song is no exception. Do yourself a favor and listen to this song- scratch that listen to his whole album! 5. Winter Wonderland- Jason Mraz Year: 2008 This rendition of Winter Wonderland is exactly what you’d expect from Jason Mraz, it’s a mix of a cool, jazzy, acoustic-y and quirky sound. This song is perfect for Christmas morning with a warm drink in your hand, surrounded by friends and family. 6. That’s Christmas To Me- Pentatonix Year: 2014 This is a relatively new Christmas song that you guys have probably not yet heard, but can I just say, it is beautiful! From the seamless harmonies to the incredibly vivid lyrics, this song is truly a Christmas masterpiece. The kicker? This is all acapella! Pentatonix is an acapella group that has taken Youtube and the world by storm! Their Christmas albums are definitely a must on your Christmas playlist. 7. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas- Jackson 5 Year: 1970 Okay, remember how I said that the Jackson 5 has a special place in my heart? Well, here’s more proof. It’s your average Christmas song but with an added Jackson 5 flare that makes it upbeat and unique. This one is definitely one to remember. 8. White Winter Hymnal- Pentatonix Year: 2014 Unlike everything else in my list, this isn’t your typical Christmas song. The initial beat is really cool yet unconventional and the harmonies are my favorite part because they blend perfectly to create an incredibly unique sound. Although the lyrics themselves aren’t very interrelated with the holiday season, it still gives off that “Christmassy” vibe. If you’re on the hunt for new Christmas songs, new music in general, or new sound check this one out! 9. All I Want For Christmas Is You- Mariah Carey Year: 1994 How could I not include the Christmas song of all Christmas songs? Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve definitely heard this song. I’m not even going to add an explanation because I’m sure it is already in all your playlists. 10. My Only Wish (This Year)- Britney Spears Year: 2000 Okay, don’t be fooled, it’s a really upbeat Christmas song that will definitely get you into the Christmas spirit in no time! I know, Britney Spears doesn’t seem like the role model of the holiday spirit, but the catchy chorus and riff will certainly get you hooked on the song.
Article by Bea Carandang
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PING’S KITCHEN Welcome to the monthly Ping Chao’s Food World. Today we are looking forward to discover the top 3 ‘tasty/nasty’ Asian dishes across South East Asia. In this segment, Chef Ping will help YOU gain more knowledge about these bizarre asian food, from their origins to their ingredients.
Ping Chao food radar: Taiwan, Hong Kong and China Rating: 3/5 stars
Century egg Century egg, also known as ‘Pidan’ or thousand year egg is a Chinese preserved food product and delicacy made by preserving duck, chicken or quail eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, and quicklime for several months, depending on the method of processing. Century egg can be eaten in many different ways; some Chinese households cut them up into small chunks and cook them with rice porridge to create “Century Egg and Lean Pork Congee”. The century egg tasted like a hard boiled egg with a pretty good rich yolk texture and egg flavor. It doesn’t really have a smell either, it has a weird and unique aftertaste, even chef ping doesn’t know how to explain it. Ping Chao food radar: Taiwan, Vietnam, China Rating: 2.5/5 stars Balut Balut is a developing bird embryo (usually a duck or chicken) is boiled and eaten in the shell. A balut egg is incubated for 14 to 21 days, and then boiled or steamed. They are a common food in countries in Southeast Asia, such as Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. Balut eaters in Philippines prefer using salt and/or chili, garlic and vinegar. In Vietnam, balut is eaten with a pinch of salt, lemon juice plus ground pepper. You first have to drink the “soup” in the egg and then consume the soft, creamy egg yolk and lastly you eat the embryo. It tastes similar to chicken. (Ping chao recommends +1).
Events and Opinions
Stinky Tofu Love it or hate it, stinky tofu has always been the most disgusting street food on this planet. Stinky tofu originated from China. It is believed to have been invented by Wang Zhi-He during the Qing Dynasty. The traditional way to make stinky tofu is to prepare the brine made from fermented milk, vegetables, and meat. The brine fermentation can take as long as several months as it slowly develops the “greatness” of the tofu. The smell of the tofu is strong and unappealing, the taste is actually quite mild and tastes like fried tofu with less of that bean (tofu) taste and more of a slight sweetness.
Ping Chao food radar: Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam Rating: 4/5 stars Article by Barry B. Benson Tseng
&1%614 564#0)' /18+' 4'8+'9 Let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a good old superhero movie? Whether you see them for the stunning visuals, the rich character development or simply just to see some of your favorite heroes dominate the big screen, they have something for everyone. Doctor Strange is one of the many movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that manages to bring all three of these concepts to the table, and does it in an impressive way. It tells the story of Stephen Strange, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, a highly respected and extremely wealthy neurosurgeon living in New York city, a city very aware of the Avengers and superhuman activity. In a freak car accident that paralyzes both of his hands (the basis of his entire career), Doctor Strange is left to seek out help from countless experimental and expensive treatments to regain feeling in his hands. When all of these fail,
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he is led to seek help from a spiritual group in Nepal that call themselves the “KamarTaj”, who claim that they can heal his body through mental and emotional treatment. However, soon he finds out that there is much more to the Kamar-Taj than what meets the eye, including a mystical war between sorcerers of the world. Doctor Strange must now find his place in this war, and find out if there are more ways to save lives without using his hands, as well as the full extent of the power contained in the universe. Something that made Doctor Strange such an amazing experience for me were the truly impressive visual effects. Everything in the movie looks so incredibly real, it makes you question your own reality. Furthermore, the development of Stephen Stranges character is something that is very rare to see these days in superhero movies. He is a character that has many different intentions and personality. Cumberbatch’s extremely layered performance proves just how much he cares about the character, with a mixture of drama, humor and action. The plot of Doctor Strange is something that we have never seen before, it brings a breath of fresh air in this otherwise newly overcrowded genre of superhero movies. So, the real question is, should you spend your money to see Doctor Strange?
ABSOLUTELY Luca and Putu’s Movie Rating: 8.5/10 ______________________________________________________________ Doctor Strange. 2016, Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki, Burbank, California.
Article by Luca Paul Scholze and Ida Putu Wiweka Dharmashiddi
Game Reviews: NBA 2K17 The NBA 2K series has always been successful and popular, a game that celebrates the athletes and allows you to experience those thrilling NBA moments that you see on TV. Such as the excitement of a big time dunk, making 3-pointer shots, but it also gives you the opportunity to customize and express who you want to be on the court. Despite how one’s career mode might be, some better than others, but due to the sheer amount of options available in your GM, it becomes inevitable to spend more time trying to get your career mode to succeed or not. When on the court, some little tweaks such as pulling down on the right stick when doing jump shots just to slightly improve the accuracy just really adds to the feeling of truly being in control of the player and doesn’t make it feel just as if you are pressing buttons. But of course, if that’s what you feel more comfortable with, you can always do it just by pushing the shoot button; it’s all about the abundance of options and NBA 2K17 definitely doesn’t fail to provide you with so. NBA 2K17 was made in such way, that it now focuses much more on sewing together crossovers and spins, making it so much smoother than previous NBA games. Its predecessors felt as if they too much attention in animations at times, and lacking precision in controlling the player. Now, it is much easier to create sequences and manoeuvres that will leave your opponents falling on the floor behind you. The same applies for shooting as now the transition between dribbling and shooting truly gives you control over it, allowing you to stop just before the three point line. Unfortunately, that’s where the downfall of the game lies as well, as some plays just take excessive periods of time for positioning and to start a play and, for some reason, on ball defenders can seem to be pushed back by a random player, and when this happens certain outcomes just don’t feel fair. There is so much more to talk about NBA 2K17, including MG and its close to limitless options, but one of the game’s greatest achievements lies at its online option, as it had been “stable” since release. Unlike other entries to the series in which certain game modes were absolutely broken for weeks after release, so far, this had made it a very successful launch.
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EA Sports UFC 2 Rated 16+ (According to PEGI) There are two parts to a good sports game. Not only does it need to be able to recreate the spectacle and emotion of sport in question, but also needs to do so in a way that feels fair as a videogame. EA Sports UFC 2 completely delivers on the balance, but is lacking in the delivering of the spectacle and unpredictable action that is present in real life which makes it miss out on what truly makes the sport exciting. Every single punch, kick or every move imaginable feels so precise and strong, as the fighter is able to execute perfectly every single command you dish out for them. Unfortunately, within its strengths is exactly where its flaws lie. UFC 2 relies too much on technique and not enough on showmanship. The game is too precise and mechanical within its execution and delivery, for example as Ronda Rousey, you can swing punches and send kicks soaring through the sky all the way to victory. Unfortunately, unlike in real life, you aren’t allowed to mash together different maneuvers and fighting techniques to be able to do as in her actual fights. In Rousey’s fight against Cat Zingano, Rousey knocks Zingano out in fourteen seconds, an extremely memorable and breathtaking moment that can never be recreated within the game. On the brighter side, ground based martial arts such as Brazilian jiu-jitsu are massively improved upon compared to the former UFC game due to on-screen available option and moves which clearly explain what flicks of the right stick would do. Unfortunately this soo suffers from the too tightly structured gameplay, so the game will never be able to feel realistic enough. In an attempt to recreate the joy from unlockables such as in fifa by adding collectable cards, instead of finding a new version of Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, you only receive some minor prizes such as some different punches or minor fitness boosts. Sadly this game is nothing compared to the thrill and unpredictability that comes from watching UFC fights, but still provides gamers with solid fighting gameplay. It may not be possible to recreate a game which encapsulates such unpredictability and combinations of moves and skill, whilst still maintaining the balance so that the most skilled players win as much as deserved and not having unskilled players just picking the strongest fighter and mashing buttons. UFC might kick hard and punch fast, but it still can’t break away from the iron shackles holding it back from becoming the game that it could be.
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Did You Know?
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Article by Vittorio Guglielmi
The ISHCMC community is extremely diverse and multilingual. Walking down the hallways or sitting in classrooms, one is bound to hear a mixture of languages being spoken, English, Vietnamese, Korean, French, Spanish… the list goes on. People use these languages, mixing them, making new words and creating new expressions.This experience of linguistic diversity is quite unique and shows us just how important languages are in our lives. So, to celebrate languages, here are just some of the many interesting facts about them:
How many languages are there in the world? You might have answered 100 or maybe 752. This may come as a surprise, but there are a lot more languages that exist than you might think. There is an estimated 6 500 living languages in the world. However, many of these languages have fewer than 1 000 speakers, making them endangered. It is difficult to know exactly the number of languages, since it is hard to document. Another problem is that languages are constantly dying, which is when people stop learning and using that language in everyday life.
The Rosetta Stone: Reading Hieroglyphs Have you ever wondered how modern archeologists know how to read old Egyptian writing? The writing system used by Ancient Egyptians are made up of pictures or symbols called hieroglyphs. It was used very long ago and by around the 5th century the use of hieroglyphs disappeared. However, in 1799, a soldier found a large stone tablet with writing on it. It is known as the Rosetta Stone and it included translations of the same text in three different writings including Egyptian hieroglyphs. With this fascinating stone, researchers and linguists were able to decipher the hieroglyphs, making it possible for people to “read” this writing again.
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Made-up languages There are several languages that are constructed to make it easier for people to communicate around the world by learning them as a second language. International Auxiliary Languages, or IALs, are made so that learning them would be convenient and simple. Since they are man-made, there are no strange exceptions or weird spelling. One of the most well-known IALs is Esperanto, made by L. L. Zamenhof in the 19th century. It is a living language with around 100 000 active speakers worldwide.
Which languages are the most popular? Mandarin Chinese is the language with the most native speakers. English ranks third at around 360 million native speakers. Other languages that are in the top 5 with the most number of speakers are Spanish, Hindi and Arabic. Around half of the world speaks one of the 10 most popular languages.
The Latin Alphabet This writing system, which you are reading right now, is the most widely-used writing in the world. The alphabet was originally used by the Romans in Europe from around the 7th century BC and now has many variants depending on the language. In English, there are 26 letter while there are 27 in Spanish and 29 in Vietnamese. Article by Rizana Tran Tatlock
Celebration of Strength
Local News
ISHCMC has started on a new project, which was once publicly celebrated among MYP students. Students were able to dress up with a T-shirt that they had designed within a theme of individual strength. This project after all was about identifying individual student’s strength, as well as developing them. As its name explains, the aim of this project is to understand student’s strength, and, in this instance, school has used online survey to figure it out. ‘Strength’ that ISHCMC currently is referring to typically outstanding characteristics of a person. According to VIA Institute on Character, total of 24 character strengths exist, and they are classified into 5 bigger groups: Wisdom, Courage, Humanity, Justice, Temperance, and Transcendence. In MYP curriculum, concept of characteristic was emphasized numerous times. For instance, extracted from IBMYP Key Concepts, which follows ‘MYP philosophy and requirements’, it is MYP students’ duty to demonstrate various characteristics. Despite that students should be familiar with the idea of ‘Character Strength, one differs from another. IB’s focus of ‘Key Concepts’ is to ‘demonstrate’. This from the beginning requires students to possess key strengths. Celebration of Strength, meanwhile, was created to identify uniquely outstanding characteristics of individual student. Another key point worth noting for this ‘Celebration of Strength’ was that whether students were willing or not, the celebration was mandatory. In addition to taking online ‘Character Strength Survey’ was required as a homeroom task, MYP students were given with white T-shirts which they have decorated with their key strengths. Intention behind these T-shirts was to present individual symbolic character strength.Eventually, at a particular date, students were welcome to wear these instead on a uniform. Now, this day is known as ‘Celebration of Strength’. This new approach was personally refreshing. ISHCMC seems to have insisted simple and repetitive activities. For example, same Goal Setting document was used for every beginning of a term once report was out. It tended to be repetitive, and some students even may have felt it was a rather simple task. However, for Celebration of Strength, ISHCMC has implemented more creativity by orienting features into school project, which is quite innovating. Also, the theme itself is useful as it provides good foundation of truly understanding oneself.
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Though, we can observe improvement in the system, ISHCMC possible could have extended its idea and concept. Despite that ISHCMC has identified the key strengths, the respective step of identification - developing those strengths - was not implemented, which I believe it possibly can enhance the project if utilized. Overall, Celebration of Strength was quite successful. After all, the theme itself was applicable into real-life. Also, the way of approaching was also unique and creative. If only ISHCMC can follow current path, they should be able to successfully enhance future projects as well. Article by Juhyan (Robin) Kim
Honk! Behind The Scenes After a spectacular theatrical adaptation of “Honk!” from the ISHCMC Secondary School (Nov. 30th - Dec. 2nd), we wanted to know a little more about what it took to make the show. “Honk’, is a musical adaptation of the literary fairy tale, “The Ugly Duckling.” It was chosen for its message of acceptance, and for how it so effortlessly connects with people’s feelings, eliciting deep emotions of empathy, happiness, and heartbreak. Teachers and students alike have been working hard on the annual production since August, so seeing it end, is bittersweet. On the brighter side, many are already eagerly looking forward to next year’s production. It is a known fact that coordinating a production of this magnitude, can be overwhelming. To learn more, we organized an exclusive interview with the DP drama teacher and brilliant director of the play, Paul Sullivan. He has previously been in charge of numerous musicals, such as Into the Woods and The Sound of Music. For every member who was in the play, understanding their character was probably one of the most important and prioritized aspects of the production. As the director said, “Whenever we start a script, it’s about students being able to explore their character.” Therefore, in order for the cast to succeed, Mr. Sullivan asked them to approach the script as a primary source, using information such as facts about the character, stage directions to create assumptions about them and relating to them so that they may improvise and act as them. Rehearsals could be a very fun yet stressful time for everyone. From learning your lines to practicing choreographies for the song and dance, it could sometimes be chaotic and even a bit overwhelming. To make the whole process easier for the cast, Mr. Sullivan provided encouragement and gave detailed feedback to guide them to success. Similar to the Stanislavskian method, Mr. Sullivan told us, “I’m a big believer in actors having real ownership of their characters.” All throughout rehearsals, he was adamant that the cast find a way to relate to their character from within and bring it to life from there. His constant assistance and advice to the cast greatly contributed to creating such a spectacular performance. Towards the beginning of the preparation for the play, it was sometimes difficult getting people to come to rehearsals. He understood students had other obligations, but felt it would have been easier and less stressful is they were able to dedicate themselves more to the play. “It’s been a bit of a struggle, but I’m glad to see everything coming together so well,” Mr. Sullivan said jokingly and adding, “If it doesn’t almost kill you, it’s not worth putting on.” Clearly, the whole process of putting a production together is long and tiresome, but it was worth every second of it. As for next year, Mr. Sullivan expresses his hope for putting on one of the more widely known musicals at the new school campus. With its new dedicated theater, productions will be even more professional and spectacular. Besides Mr. Sullivan and the cast, we would like to thank Ms. Taubner, the vocal training coach, Mr. Tim, who directed the orchestra and rewrote the musical scores, and Mrs. Malott, who was in charge of making the props. We would also like to credit and express our gratitude to all the parents who volunteered to help feed the cast and assist in the making of props. Last but not least, a big thank you to the backstage crew and Ms. Ferguson for their vital involvement to the play; they were in charge of prop movement, prop creation, sound, and lighting. Thanks to everyone’s incredible collaboration, the Secondary School of ISHCMC was able to host yet another spectacular and successful production.
Article by Alexia Guglielmi
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Pictures From Honk!
TOP EDUCATIONAL WEBSITES Have you ever wondered what could have helped you to get better grades in your tests that might be coming? These educational websites are for both elementary to middle-high school. Each website will be particularly rated for the subject it teaches. These websites will be enjoyable for all students who want to achieve better grades in tests or just learn something new every day. Hope you enjoy!
Wonderopolis.org (1-6gr) Wonderopolis is a great website for those who might be wondering how things happen or have doubts especially in the field of Natural Science and Humanities. On the main home page, you can find many new interesting topics you might have not wondered about yet, or can search your doubt in the search bar. When you are reading an article on the website, you will notice some highlighted words. If you don’t know the highlighted words, you can point your cursor at it and pop, comes the definition. The website will mainly help support young toddlers at elementary and not much for higher grade level students. This website is the best for all your scientific doubts. In order to get want you want while you search, make sure that your doubt is clear and that it’s easy to search for.
kids.NaturalGeographicChannel.com (kg-5gr) Hey kids! You might have heard of this website or NGC (National Geographic Channel) where some of, might be seeing on television. When entering this website, you will see lots of scientific topics in the homepage with vibrant colors; like lots of yellow, green, red, and blue. I’m serious; this will be a good website for elementary students. Wait, don’t skip teenagers. On the top left of the page, you have a box that says “Menu”. When clicking on that, you will have a list of activities to do and one considering “Homework Help”! This page has many other useful resources to look at and focuses on higher standards on Science and Societies especially “The encyclopedia!” This website has the same weaknesses as the previous one; when you search for something, you have to be specific or the topic has to be relatable.
Brainpop (5-9gr) Brainpop is one of my favorites. C’mon, who doesn’t like Brainpop? I mean, it is old, but still shines. I say “old is gold” for this one. The website covers almost subject, mostly Math, Science, Societies, and Language. There are many more topics to cover for those young learners. Remember, “Knowledge is infinite”. Each topic in a subject serves you with a video which presents all the information. If you don’t have much time to spend on videos, you can go to the topic’s FYI page (For your information). It gives a full page of text that was used in the video. Besides it are many other tabs that link to pages full with more information; did you know, Facts, Puzzles, etc. Even if you are not interested in these activities, you have a final option of playing games. The activities provided in that section are very joyful and probably packed with different levels. I don’t really find the games giving off knowledge to your superior minds. “I think it’s more for the younger ones hanging around”, said I. Let’s say, this is one of the best so far in our small list. Please do check this website and investigate what new might come in.
Languagepod101.com (youtube) (6-12gr) We all come around ‘Youtube’ in the modern days for our own pleasure by often searching for, “Minecraft tutorials!”, “Try not to laugh challenge (Impossible!)”, etc. Why can’t we find something more productive now? I present you the lovely languagepod101/com. This page on ‘Youtube’ has a huge pack of tutorials for almost every language spoken on our planet. Don’t worry, there is Vietnamese too. I wonder why only women are conducting the tutorials. I suggest this is the best we’ve found for all the languages. There might be even better ones than this, who knows? Before going for the last website, we have some honorable mentions that have topped in our list.
Tedx A great site to earn knowledge you might have not heard before. This is suitable for higher primary (4-5) and beyond.
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Ixl.com Some of our great minds go there for practice and earn the best as possible. This comes up with tests for Math, Science and English. It can be used by all grade level students.
PBS learning media This website is really helpful for MYP students basically. Involves teaching for almost every important subject. Each topic has a ton of information.
Learner.org This website is like the domain for academics, has lessons for all grade levels in almost all subjects and also focuses more on higher grade level studies. It has different types of learning e.g.: video lessons, blogs, interactives, etc. This is really recommended for higher grade level students (9-12). You might need to spend some time on searching a good topic or the one you need.
Khan academy (6-12gr) Is this pretty obvious? Or is it just too good for those Mathematical nerds? I, reveal the Khan Academy as one of the best mathematics and science websites to ever be existed. Not only that, but it also teaches Arts, Computer engineering and Economics/Business. Every video is explained in detail about the different elements in each subject’s category. It is well known for its dynamic communication with the audience when presenting one of its fine videos. It’s like “Dora the explorer” but much more different in terms of subject and standard of teaching.
Keep in mind that some of these websites are for those hard working students who are looking for success in the MYP and DP standards in ISHCMC. Apart from that, these websites can be used according to your preferences. See you soon. Article by Aditya Chauhan
New Countries? These Countries Might Appear in a Map Near You
Global News
As of today, there are anywhere from 194 to 196 nations around the world according to certain sources. Though this piece of information might be a pain in the neck for everything studying for their geography tests, I do have some more bad news for you: There are currently over 300 countries in the world trying to gain sovereignty. Though there are many nations wanting to gain independence, there are only a few that are in the process of reaching this end goal. Throughout this article, you will get to know some of these countries looking to gain independence and sovereignty over their lands.
Kosovo
The republic of Kosovo is officially a disputed territory within Serbia. It is a landlocked area within the Central Balkans. It was a part of the Yugoslavia which disbanded into 6 sovereign states. As of today, it has diplomatic recognition from 109 UN states. However, countries such as China and Russia still have not recognized Kosovo. Therefore it can’t be considered an independent country. Long-term ethnic tensions between Albanians and Serbs culminated in the Kosovan war which was a part of the Yugoslav war fought during the 1990s. The war ended with UN intervention which called for an expulsion of Serbs from the region. Though the area is still within Serbia, many of the people living there are not ethnically Serbian but are rather Albanians. Because of the ethnic division, Kosovars declared independence in February 2008. However, many still doubt that it would survive as an independent state. There are mounting economic issues such as a high unemployment which is at around 31%. The unemployment within the youth is at around 60%. It is widely seen as the poorest
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region out of the former Yugoslav Republic. This is why many people expect Kosovo to join with Albania once it gains its independence.
Catalonia Another region seeking to gain independence is Catalonia. Catalonia is a province in the north-east of Spain. Currently, there is a political movement dubbed the “Catalan Independence Movement”. As the name suggests, it is a movement towards Catalonian secession. Some reasons why Catalans want to be free is the fact that their culture and language is different from the rest of Spain and that they are tired of paying for the other poorer regions of Spain. The movement started in 1922 when the Estat Català was formed, a political party fighting for independence. The modern movement started in 2006 when some articles in the Statute of Autonomy were deemed unconstitutional by the Spanish high court. Protests against this decision quickly turned into demands for independence. There have been numerous attempts of referendums being set up in Catalonia on the issue of independence. There was a mass protest in 2012 which was attended by over 1.5 million people. They called on the Catalan government to begin the process towards independence. The government organized a referendum (despite it not being recognize by the Spanish court) in 2014 with two questions: “Do you want Catalonia to be a state?” and if yes “Do you want that state to be independent”. 82% of the voters answered “yes” to both questions. Unfortunately, the turnout rate was low at around 42%. Despite this, the new Catalan parliament declared a start to the independence process after the referendum. In November of 2015, the president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont announced a binding referendum to be held in September 2017. This means that regardless of whether the Spanish government believes the referendum is legitimate or not, the decision made in the referendum will be acted upon.
Nagorno-Karabakh The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is a landlocked, autonomous area in the South Caucasus region. Though it is within Azerbaijan, ethnic Armenians make up the majority of the population. It is considered by the UN as de jure1 a region of Azerbaijan but de facto2 it functions like an independent state. It has not been officially recognized by any UN members, even Armenia, a country populated by Armenians. The only states which recognize the Nagorno-Karabakh republic are the Republic of Abkhazia, the Republic of South Ossetia and Transnistria. All these states are still vying for their own independence. The region was created and made autonomous by Josef Stalin. This was part of Stalin’s attempt to divide and split up many ethnic groups within the Soviet Union to consolidate the power of the central government. This is why we have a region with Armenians within Azerbaijan. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, ethnic tensions between Armenians of NagornoKarabakh and Azerbaijanis arose and culminated in the Nagorno-Karabakh war. The war ended with a decisive Armenian victory and lead to the creation of the “NagornoKarabakh Republic” even though it was not recognized by any other nations including Russia and Greece who supported them during the war and even Armenia who fought alongside them during the war. Even though it is not recognized internationally as a sovereign state, the NagornoKarabakh republic still acts like one. It has its own system of government which issues its own passport (even though other countries don’t recognize it as legitimate). It has tried to engage in diplomacy in foreign states. It has established foreign missions (embassies) in Armenia, Australia, France, the United States, Russia, Germany and one for all Middle Eastern countries based in Lebanon. It has also tried to invest heavily in its tourism sector. This is shown in numbers where the amounts of tourist visits doubled from 5,000 to 10,000 in 5 years from 2005 to 2010. Conclusion In my opinion, it is important to acknowledge the fight for independence that these countries are going through. This is because if they do gain full sovereignty, they will be apart of our international community and we must respect them to effectively collaborate with them for the betterment of the world. _________________________________ 1 De Jure: According to law or entitlement 2 De Facto: According to fact, in reality
Article by Jed Dennis
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Galaxy Note 7 Explosions “THE NOTE 7 IS QUITE A FEW STEPS AHEAD OF ITS COMPETITORS” - The Verge “The Galaxy Note 7 is a masterpiece, like the S7 edge (our current favorite phone) on steroids. It’s a serious device for serious productivity and should only be considered if you’ll use the S Pen for notes and memos,” - T3 Galaxy Note 7, the 6th generation of Galaxy Note series, is announced on August 2nd, and placed in the best smartphone by many reviewers. It was the first Note series phone which offered dualedge AMOLED screen1, and Iris Scanner for security. The user experience2, which named ‘Grace UX’, is improved from previous Galaxy phones. The compulsory function of this lineup, S Pen, has narrower pen tip, screen magnifier, and translator. As S7 series did, Note 7 brought IP68 (protected from in 5 feet/1.5m depth water for 30 minutes) water and dust resistant function, with its S Pen. Some people are not satisfied, because its specifications (CPU, RAM, Camera) were similar to Galaxy S7’s, but the functions of this device exceeded the other competitors, such as LG V20, iPhone series, and the other Android phones…
BEFORE its explosion. On August 24th, the first incident (explosion) occurred in South Korea. Then, Samsung, the king of android, started its breakdown. The events after the first explosion are in the Timeline depicted in the image.
Technology
Explosion Crisis: Cause and Effect The main problem comes from a defective battery. When the company started making flagships with non-removable battery in 2015, customers were complaining about shorter battery runtime. Galaxy S6 and Note 5 couldn’t contain high-capacity batteries, because they were thinner than the previous flagships. Also, Samsung SDI, the main battery provider, didn’t have high-level skill to make polymer batteries with high capacity, which are popularly used in phones with non-removable batteries. To accept the customers’ opinions, Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge used batteries with higher capacity. The result was very successful: 10 million units of Galaxy S7s were sold during the first 20 days of sale. To follow this trend, Samsung decided to use high capacity battery for Galaxy Note 7. However, the size of Galaxy Note 7 was not larger than Galaxy S7 Edge, and space for its S-Pen was needed. So Samsung couldn’t use the higher-capacity battery to Galaxy Note 7. But Samsung decided to use high-capacity battery in Galaxy Note 7. When the sale started, the demand of this device exceeded the company’s estimation. The demand was so vast, Samsung increased the productivity to face the ever growing market. It really did not focus on the quality control of its product and accidents started happening (explosion of the battery), so the company had to discontinue the production of Galaxy Note 7. Because of the repeated accidents of Galaxy Note 7 battery, Samsung went through a crisis. It was detrimental for its brand image and market share, because Galaxy Note 7 was the flagship device of Samsung. During the third quarter of 2016, Samsung’s smartphone market share decreased by 19.2%, due to the absence of its flagship device. It appears that Samsung didn’t solve the battery issue, because some Galaxy S7s were still defective and extremely dangerous. Samsung announced that S7 phones were finally safe, and few incidents have been reported. However, if the problem persists with future devices, Samsung won’t be able to build its customer’s trust again. Samsung needs therefore to make every possible effort to prevent this type of accident to happen in the future. ____________________ 1 First Edge-involved Galaxy Note was Galaxy Note Edge in 2014. 2 User Experience is user’s experience on the device. Article by Myeong Hun (David) Song
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MEET THE INQUIRERS Editor-in-chief|Sungjun Min Sungjun Min, currently a 11th grader, will be taking on the breathtaking role of the editor-in-chief. While his main role will be ensuring that the final draft is complete and has no errors under any circumstances, he will also be a consistent contributor to the editorial section. This year, with the implementation of paper-based newspaper, Jun will be working hard with our graphic designer to come up with a fine layout for the school’s first-ever print newspaper. He truly wishes ISHCMC Inquirer can be at the core of school communication. He is currently the SRC's public-relationts officer, has chairing experiences at various MUN conferences and loves playing sports (with the exception of golf).
Assistant Editor-in-chief|Rizana Tran Tatlock Rizana is an 11th grade student at ISHCMC. She will be contributing as an editor and a writer for the sections of Global News, Opinions and Entertainment. She is American Vietnamese and has been attending ISHCMC for 4 years. Her hobbies include baking, watching an unhealthy amount of YouTube and reading. She is very interested in cinema, linguistics, current affairs and general trivia.
Head of Graphic Design|Ethan Isaac Ethan is a handsome 11th grade student at ISHCMC. He will be fulfilling the role of Graphics Designer for the ISHCMC Inquirers. Having first made acquaintance with the basics of Photoshop in the 7th grade, he has put his unparalleled fluency with the program and its siblings into practice by making posters for various events both within and without the school’s boundaries, having interned at a media group and provided them with his high quality services. Equipped with a jocose attitude and an extensive wisdom in the art of graphics design, he will surpass all of his competition and become the very best, like no one ever was.
Events and Opinions|Alexia Beatrice Guglielmi Alexia is an 11th grade student at ISHCMC. She will be contributing as a section editor and a writer for events, opinion articles, and creative writing. She is half-Italian and half-Filipino and has so far lived in Italy, Thailand, and Vietnam. Some of her hobbies include reading, writing, and watching TV shows. Her favorite quote is “Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
Events and Opinons|Vittorio Guglielmi Vittorio Guglielmi is a lovable 11th Grade student currently studying at ISHCMC. He will be contributing to the ISHCMC Inquirers as the editor of the sports section. He is half-Italian and half-Filipino. His hobbies include watching movies, playing games and playing sports. His favorite quote is:”You don't need a bazooka to kill a fly”.
Global News|Ted Dennis Glob Ted d is a diligent 11th Grade Stu Student at ISHCMC. He will be contributing to the ISHCMC uirers as the editor of the Glo Inquirers Global News section. He has had 5 years of MUN experience which has added to his knowledge of global affairs and politics. His goal in life is just to make it ugh the rigorous IB DP courses course alive and completely sane. His hobbies when he is not through mpletely depressed due to ho completely homework include waking his neighbours up by playing the drums, enduring the endless rhymes his friends find for his name and photoshopping dank memes for the enjoyment of his peers.
Photographer|Luca Paul Scholze Luca is currently in grade 11 and is very interested in trying out new things to learn. He has been at ISHCMC for 7 years, and will be here until his graduation in 2018. His biggest contribution to the group will be to be a photographer for the news events. His hobbies include spending time with friends, playing video games, and playing football in his free time. He aspires to learn more about photography by taking pictures of school events.
Journalist|Aditya Chauhan Aditya is a young bold grade 8 student in ISHCMC. Aditya is from northeastern part India. It is his second year in ISHCMC. He will be writing articles about school events, world news, service groups, arts, music, etc. He will be the freelance journalist for the ISHCMC Inquirer 2016/17. You might know that this student is a great beatboxer, but that is not what all he does, yet he is a big fan of EDM (electronic dance music). Cycling, swimming and producing music are some of his hobbies. This is his first time in the ISHCMC Inquirer. For him, it might be a little challenging as he is only in grade 8, but he is confident he will have a fun and rewarding time this year with the ISHCMC Inquirer team.
Technology|Myeong Hun (David) Song David is a grade 11 student in ISHCMC. As an avid learner in the fields of mathematics, science, and technology, he is going to contribute as a mathematics, sciences, and technology section writer. He lived in Korea until 2014, and has been since living in Vietnam. He searches about technology (especially mobile phones) every day. His hobby is collecting old mobile devices, and watching the tech companies’ events such as Galaxy Unpacked and Google I/O. He developed a calculator application for his Personal Project, and he has experiences with programming languages such as Python and Java.
Global News|Bea Carandang Bea is an 11th grade student at ISHCMC. She will be contributing to the ISHCMC Inquirer as a writer for Global News, Opinions as well as Arts and Entertainment. She is a Filipino and has lived in the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong and now Vietnam. She loves listening to music, reading and travelling. She’s also really funny (no not rly).
Local News|Juhyun (Robin) Kim Juhyun, with a preferred name of Robin, is 11th grade DP student in ISHCMC. He is Korean, though not fluent in both Korean and English as natives. He has volunteered for Opinion Article Writing; however, shown a great interest in local news as well. His articles therefore will mainly consist of either or hybrid of local news and opinion article. His hobbies are Kendo, Music, and debating – whether small or huge in scale – with a passion. His motto is “You fool me once, shame on you. You fool me twice, shame on you.”
Photographer|Tseng Ping Chao Ping is a Grade 11 student at ISHCMC. He will be contributing as a photographer & graphic designer for the ISHCMC Inquirer. He’s a boy from Taiwan, and he loves playing basketball, his motto is “ball and rice is life”. He has lived in Taiwan for 10 years and 6 years in Vietnam. He loves graphic design and he don’t know why. He love his dad and mom, because they love him too, they all love each other.
Photographer|Ida Putu Wiweka Dharmasiddhi Wiweka is an 11th grade student at ISHCMC. He will be contributing to the ISHCMC inquirers as the photographer. He gained interest in photography because his father enjoys photography. Wiweka wishes to make ishcmc inquirers more memetastic through the art of photography. He is from Indonesia and has lived in Thailand, Indonesia and the United States of America. His hobbies include playing sports such as football, playing video games, listening to music and looking at dank memes from the internet.