The HCOS Weekly: Valentine's Special Edition

The HCOS Weekly Valentine's Special Edition

Happy Valentine's Day! Love, e HCOS Weekly Team Verse of the Week

By Megan Ferguson

one another as He loved us. So this 4. Repeat this process with the Valentine’s Day I challenge you to bottom edge of the paper. tell someone how much you love 5. Now use the ruler to match them and you know what? They up the first top mark with the first probably love you too. <3 bottom mark.

6. Next use a pencil to draw a line along the ruler that connects each top and bottom mark.

7. Continue to make these lines Craft handpicked with LOVE across the rest of the page.

by Megan Ferguson 8. Next, use scissors to cut each penciled line. Make sure you cut the paper while it is still folded.

Each of your paper strips should have a fold.

9. Make similar strips of folded paper from the white and pink sheets of construction paper.

10. Then choose the first color strip you want to turn into a heart.

11. Next grab both ends of the strip before folding them inward. If you do this right, you should see the shape of a heart form.

12. Hold onto your heart while you carefully staple the ends to1. Place a sheet of red construc- gether. tion paper vertically on a table in 13. To create your chain, string front of you. the next strip of paper through the 2. Fold the top of the paper already stapled heart before stadown to meet the bottom of the pling the ends together. paper. The paper should now be 14. Repeat this process until folded in half. all of your paper strips are used up.

3. Use a ruler to measure half an Once done, hang up your heart inch. Starting at the top left edge chain where everyone can enjoy it. of the folded paper, make a mark Email us pictures of your finished on the paper with a pencil at every craft at hcosweekly@outlook.com half inch mark until you reach the and let us know if you want more! end of the paper.

Heart Wreath

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35 With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, Hallmark and other commercial businesses are ramping up their sales propaganda.

With commercials and ads everywhere about cards, jewelry and candy, it’s hard to stay focused on what Valentine’s Day is really all about. As for myself, I usually just roll my eyes at all the Valentine’s Day stuff, because I’m single and plan to stay that way for quite a while. But I suppose Valentine’s Day isn’t just about romantic love, it’s about showing your friends and family how much they mean to you. Jesus commands us to love

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other number of sports, there is still hope for you (and probably a lot of training ahead).

(Keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive list, since apparently whoever designs the CBC listings of athletes has not seen it necessary to create an option to search “by age”, for reasons beyond my understanding. I had to go through the list and, based on their profile pictures, decide who looked like they were older than 19. It was actually kind of hard.)

In no particular order:

By Genevieve Ward and Jennica Wlodarczyk Happy Olympics everyone!

Remember that article series (if you can call it that) that I promised about 2.5 months ago? Yeah, I tried to forget about it too, but obviously that didn’t work very well. Actually, the truth is that I really wasn’t sure what to write about, plus I’ve been busy (as I’m sure everyone has been)…with school, and life, and all that fun stuff.

However, seeing the Olympic Games has inspired me to write up something again (I’m not entirely certain why watching sporting events has inspired me to write, but there you go). I was originally planning on doing a short little blurb on some of the youngest athletes competing in this year’s Winter Games, since I thought it was pretty cool that some of them are the same age/slightly older than us students. When I thought about it a little more, though, I decided

that seeing athletes who are my age or close to my age competing in the Olympics actually tends to discourage me rather than inspire me…I think it’s the fact that they’re world class athletes competing against other world class athletes in an event that is being televised worldwide, and I can’t even seem to hand in math assignments on time (okay my comparisons probably don’t make that much sense, but y’know what I mean). Maybe I’m alone in these thoughts, but there’s also the slight chance that I’m not.

So, with all that said, I thought I’d instead search up some of the older athletes competing in the Games this year. Granted, they’ve probably all been training since before they could walk at their individual sports, and this is unlikely their first Olympic Games, but hey, I’m trying. May this list inspire you all to remember that if you have a dream of competing in the Olympics in the biathlon, or cross country skiing, or hockey, or any

Name: Robert Fagan Age: 37 Country: Canada Sport: Snowboarding Interesting info: According to a rather sketchy-looking Wikipedia article, he did first start snowboarding at the age of three…but don’t let that get you down. Assuming you’re a high schooler and have never snowboarded before, you’re only 10 – 15 years behind!

Name: Jill Officer Age: 38 Country: Canada Sport: Curling

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heard of before, depending on how well you know your geography.

He’s also won an Olympic gold medal already this year, and he has at least one biathlon event left to compete in in the Sochi Olympics, so now you know who to cheer for in the next biathlon event.

Name: Sergei Dolidovich Age: 40 Country: Belarus Sport: Cross Country skiing Interesting info: He’s Belarusian.

No, I am not just picking these athletes based on their fabulous names and the names of their countries, contrary to what it might look like.

Interesting info: She also writes for the Canadian Curling News (What can I say? There wasn’t a lot of information on her Wikipedia page. I bet you didn’t even know that there was a Canadian Curling News, though. That’s pretty cool.)

And now, just to be different, let’s put in some random facts about our own Canadian athletes.

Name: Alla Tsuper Age: 34

· Canada has competed in 22 Olympic Winter Games, starting with the first one in 1924.

Country: Ukraine

Name: Ole Einar Bjorndalen Age: 40 Country: Norway

· In the first Winter Olympics, Canada had 12 athletes competing in Sport: Skiing total, we won one medal (gold), and we ranked 8th place out of all Interesting info: Okay fine I might the participating countries. have only included her because of her tsuper last name. Sorry, that · We have 220 athletes in total parwas terrible (and I’m really hoping ticipating in the 2014 Sochi Winter the “t” in her last name is silent, Olympic Games. because otherwise that makes no sense whatsoever. Pronunciation · The lowest we’ve ever ranked in isn’t one of my strong points). the Winter Olympics was 17th places in 1972. · The highest we’ve ever ranked in the Winter Olympics was 1st place in 2010, during the Games that we hosted in Vancouver.

Sport: Biathlon Interesting info: He first competed in the Olympics in the 1994 Olympic Games in Lillehammer, which I should mention is a really cool name. He also has a really cool name, so that’s two really cool names that you might not have

· The Canadian with the most number of Winter Olympic gold medals is Cindy Klassen, with 6 gold medals.

So there you go – some inspiration for you all, some random facts about Canada in the Olympics, and

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some marvelous names which you should definitely try to remember because they are really cool. Happy Olympics, everyone!

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ing deadline, that makes me go into a panicking frenzy. What’s even better is pulling a stressful all-nighter to cram for a huge exam the next day.

Disease Goes Viral "I'm very busy

By Jaleesa Taylor doing things I Are you aware of the disorder that don't need to do has plagued people of all ages particularly teenagers and college in order to avoid students - for years? This national condition is treatable, however doing anything most people who have it don’t wish to be cured. “How is this so?” I'm actually You may ask. “If I had a disease, I would most certainly want to be supposed to be healed!” If you are thinking this, doing." - Anon you will probably change your mind when you figure out what this particular disorder is.

Previously, I mentioned that procrastination is “treatable”, but this Most of you - myself included, have is only possible if you want to stop. received an assignment that we Some steps towards a procrastinaare not absolutely thrilled about. tion-free life are to start on the Whether it is that 5,000-word essay project early and break it into on a topic you’ve never even heard smaller steps. This makes a world of, or a detailed model on Mount of difference! You are able to put so Random, you’re not exactly looking forward to completing the dreaded project. All right, that may be an understatement. You would probably prefer being dragged through the freezing cold lands of the Arctic, dumped in the Fire Swamp (yay for the Princess Bride), and sit through the longest opera ever invented. That pretty much sums it up-for me anyway! If you figured out that the disease is procrastination, you’re right.

In my experience, the homework assigned seems like such a huge undertaking, that I would rather ignore the binder prominently placed on my desk, and pretend it doesn’t exist. Mature, right? The longer I put off an assignment, the more it grows into this giant loom-

much more time and thought into the assignment, and think clearly while completing it. Another thought is to make specific deadlines, and be accountable to someone, whether it’s a teacher, parent or friend. Be inspired! It is so hard to do something that you don’t want to do, so watch and learn from others who are productive with their time. Also, take a look at the environment you work in. Are you reclined on the couch, or are you sitting at a desk, ready to work? Different surroundings can cause different atmospheres and can prompt the urge to *ahem*, sleep.

Yes, procrastination is not some fatal, terminal disease as you may have first thought. However, it is definitely not beneficial. I would recommend that you will to get over it. You are going to have to complete it sometime, and you have to admit, most of us would rather do it sooner than later. But then again, that’s just most of us.

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Chocolate Fudge Cookie Recipe Super quick and easy

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I.M.O. With Grace: The Creation Debate

By Grace Kelly

Ingredients: 1 Package Devil’s Food Cake Mix. ½ Cup Vegetable Oil 2 Eggs 1 Cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.

People, hi. So I had a completely different rant written and ready to go before yesterday. And in fact it was a great rant, but this subject is better. I know most of you tuned in to watch the recent debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham about evolution/creationism on Tuesday.

It was a great debate. It was lots of fun to watch and talk about, but it just proved to me again how futile debates will always be. I have a couple points that I’m going to cover in this rant (I can’t seem to shake this essay style of writing.

Oh well.) So… weee. Okay.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together the cake mix, eggs and oil until well blended. Fold in the chocolate chips. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls. Place the cookies 2 1. What in the Name of Sanity was inches apart on the cookie sheet.

Ken Ham Wearing That Oversized Jacket For? 3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to If this debate could have been cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes ‘won’ simply by out-fabbing your before removing to a wire rack to opponent, Bill Nye would’ve won cool completely. in the first three seconds. I haven’t seen a bowtie worn better since 4. Serve and Enjoy!!! the Doctor Who Christmas Special

this year (How are we going to survive without our Raggedy Doctor? *tears* *composing myself because I’m in the middle of writing about fashion, not pouring out my heartache and anger at Steven Moffat over Tumblr*). And while I’ll be the first to admit that fashion wasn’t an overwhelmingly important component in this debate, there were apparently over 760,000 people watching this, live.

Mr. Ham could’ve used to get some kind of advice on the clothing he was wearing. Don’t get me wrong, I love his work and he’s a brilliant man, but he does need to find a blazer about two sizes smaller… and while blue may be his favorite color, according to observational science, he should never wear it.

Ever.

(I will acquiesce though, after about two minutes into his opening presentation any fashion mishaps could be forgiven him on merit of his great accent.)

2. Debating Is Futile While watching the debate on Tuesday, I had my Twitter open on another computer and was following the current trends. There were about 5 different trending topics worldwide that had to do with the debate while it was going on, and there were thousands upon thousands of people tweeting about it.

Within the first ten minutes of the debate I came across at least a hundred different arguments having to do with science and religion

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(which are not separate things at all, I mean you can be religious and be a scientist.) Anyways, while I watched all the religious people and the atheists duel over subjects stemming from the age of the earth, I realized that this debate was going to change nothing. All debating ever does is entrench you in your original opinion. There was not a single person that I read had changed their theory about evolution/creationism and I seriously doubt it even slightly moved anyone to think differently. You know when you got into a fight with your brother or sister as a kid and when your mom got mad you kept trying to explain why the other person was to blame, while they were trying to explain why you were to blame? Well debates are like the sassy, moderated adult version of that. Except instead of arguing over who really broke the downstairs window, you’re arguing over politics, science or religion. In the end, no one wins and you have to either learn how to get along together, or disagree with each other for the rest of your lives.

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the same way as you, you’re doing think that they belong in the same something wrong. discussion because they are opposing ideas. That’s the difficult -Why did Nye spend most of his thing about Christianity, we befirst five minutes talking about lieve without seeing. We don’t how his dad first got his bowtie have the facts, but we have the tied? Cool story, but why is evolu- faith and slowly, over time our tion a valid theory again? faith becomes a fact. It’s the most difficult and the most mind-bend-The constant ‘you weren’t there’ ing thing about our religion. It’s reminders from Ham. You weren’t not logical at all, but it’s the truth. I there either, so shh. think that this debate should’ve been focused on either fact or -The annoying ‘if you don’t believe faith; the two shouldn’t have been in evolution our countr y is mixed. Fact generally makes faith doomed’ spiel from Nye. look ineffectual and weak when in reality they are just ideas that -No one needed to bring up any of don’t mingle together well. Like the following subjects: why fish apples and yogurt. My overall opinprocreate, gay marriage, abortion, ion is that this was a fun debate to Darwin’s racism, or MRI scanning. watch and that both men are incredibly smart and great at putting 4. Everything Right With The De- together slideshows. And that’s all bate I’m going to say on the matter before I say way too much. Okay, -Nye is a Seahawks fan. done.

-Several great points were laid out by both parties, of course neither were enough to change anyone’s mind, but it’s great to be reminded of what we believe in and why.

3. Everything Wrong With That Debate -I really appreciate the fact that Nye was okay with coming to the Since there is so much I want to Creation Science Museum to do a cover about this, I can’t just make debate about evolution where 95% a new point and talk about every- of the 900 people in the crowd thing I want to individually and in were Creationists. Kind of like a detail because it would be about 5 suicide mission that you survive, pages long. Actually, I just typed it but it had to be the most terrifying all out and it was 5 pages. So here thing ever. are little bullet points instead: 5. Last Thing I Want to Say -The sass – hilarious, but kind of like elementary school girls argu- Faith and fact are very different ing over who likes a boy more things. Faith is believing something that you can’t see but know -The name-dropping from Ham. If is true, and fact is seeing someit’s really necessary to validate thing, knowing it is true and then your theories by the acknowledg- believing in it. They’re things that ment that another person believes every human practices, but I don’t

-Grace You can find me on the internets if you want me to talk about something in particular, otherwise you can continue to read my ill-shaped and very biased opinions on things that never have and probably never will matter to you. Either or.

Cheerio and have a good day! :)

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Fixing our Eyes on Jesus

By Jesse Ongkili Jan 2014 It was the week before my family and I flew off to Malaysia on the 21st of January. I had been wanting to go to another one of Jean’s art classes over the course of the several months we had been back in Canada, however had not been able to make it due to our busy schedule. As usual, I finally managed to fit one of the classes into my schedule just before we left the country. It had been at least six months since I had last been to one of Jean’s classes, and was looking forward to seeing what God had in store for me that day.

After settling in, Jean asked me if God had been speaking anything to me as of the late. The previous week, my entire family had at separate times felt led to commit to living by Hebrews 12:2 over the course of the new year. In Hebrews 12:2 it says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…”

I told her I’d had a vision while meditating on what God wanted me to paint – I had seen a person, standing with arms open wide, staring into the heavens while focusing their eyes on Jesus. My teacher smiled at me before telling me she had received a song that day before I’d arrived concerning my painting. The song was “Be Thou my Vision”. We immediately got to work, knowing that time was short and my paintings often exceptionally long. After several

hours of painting fervently, I’d completed the vision God had shown to me earlier.

The solid ground the man in the

picture is standing on represents building our foundation on God the Rock. When the fears, the anxieties and the confusions of life (the

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ocean) sweep in around us, those whose foundation is built in Him will remain untouched. What’s more important is that God’s love and grace exceeds the ocean of troubles that surrounds us. All the while, we must remember to continually fix our eyes on Jesus as He continues to lead us along His path for our lives.

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- Over $1 billion worth of chocolate is purchased for Valentine's Day in - In addition to the U.S., Valentine's the U.S. Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, France, Aus- 73% of people who buy flowers tralia, Denmark and Italy. for Valentine's Day are men, while only 27% are women. 15% of U.S. - In the 1800s doctors commonly women send themselves flowers advised their heartbroken patients on Valentine's Day. to eat chocolate, claiming it would sooth their pain.

- California produces 60 percent of Turn your eyes upon Jesus, American roses, but the greater - Every Valentine's Day, the Italian number sold on Valentine's Day in c i t y o f V e r o n a , w h e r e Look full in His wonderful face, the U.S. are imported, mostly from Shakespeare's lovers Romeo and South America.

Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 And the things of earth will grow letters addressed to Juliet. strangely dim, - Approximately 110 million roses, mostly red, will be sold and deliv- - About 3 percent of pet owners In the light of His glory and grace. ered within the three-day Valen- will give Valentine's Day gifts to tine's Day time period. their pets.

Hymn by Helen H. Lemmel 1922 - Approximately 145 million valen- - 220,000 is the average number of tines are sent in the U.S. each year wedding proposals on Valentine's according to estimates by the U.S. Day each year.

Greeting Card Association. That's For Your Warehouse second only to Christmas with 1.6 - Chocolate is 50% off on February Of Useless Knowledge billion units, and is followed by 15th. GO GET YOUR CHOCOLATE, VALENTINE'S EDITION Mother's Day with 133 million KIDS!! units.

Cool Facts

by Jubilee Chiu - In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who would be their Valentine. They would wear this name pinned onto their sleeves for one week for everyone to see. This was the origin of the expression "to wear your heart on your sleeve."

- In 1537, England's King Henry VII officially declared Feb. 14 the holiday of St. Valentine's Day. - Richard Cadbury produced the f i rs t b ox o f c h o co l a te s fo r Valentine's Day in the late 1800s.

- More than 35 million heartshaped boxes of chocolate will be sold for Valentine's Day.

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Valentine's LOL

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Weekly LOL

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SUPER COMICS

Sherlockian Hiatus - by Joshua Wlodarczyk

Special Edition Bonus SUPER COMICS Editor's Favorite & Exclusive Screenshot!

Screenshotted Memories - by Joshua Wlodarczyk (Originally published in 10th Edition)

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