Category Archives: Core Learning Strands

The 8 Old Town Academy Core Learning Strands.

PS4 vs. X-box One: Battle to the Death!

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Did you know that game designers try to make games to a wide varsity of consoles? Game designers do this because Playstation’s, Xbox’s and PC’s are the most used type of gaming device, and Playstation’s and Xbox’s are, in my opinion and little more unique than a computer. PS4s and Xbox ones have multiple pros and cons, but the PS4 is better for gaming and in the future, has a better stability plan.

The shape and price of the Xbox are better than the Xbox. The price is less for the Xbox then the PS4 ($50). That is true. But the Kinect is $60 more and is ESSENTIAL for the Xbox to navigate the home screen. The Playstation is simpler and has a better feel to it. The consoles are different too. The Xbox is curved trapezoid shape, while the PS4 has a sharper, cleaner shape. It’s all personal preference.

The PS4 is more powerful than the Xbox; the present and the past.  “The PS4 seems to be the gamers choice. Its Playstation service is great, the controller is better and it is a little more powerful,” says Trustedrenviews.com, an all around computer website. The Xbox has a huge power brick and A LOT of wires. The PS4 is smaller, lighter, and more streamlined. The future of each device is bound to even out. “The PS4 is a more complete package today, but the Xbox is slowly catching up,” (Digitaltrends.com).

In conclusion, the PS4 is better in most things, price being the number one factor against the PS4, but that disagreement is easily trumped by the Kinect factor. All in all, the Xbox is better for a variety of tasks, while the PS4 is better for gaming.

Yorkshire yoga

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When Tom was in England, he saw a bunch fancy gentleman and ladies on yoga mats. “Come on ladies, work it! We have to win the Bread pudding dance contest.” Well, Tom was in zoomba so he figured yoga was like zoomba. “Can I join?” Asked Tom, smiling at the outfits.  “Hey Yo!!” screamed a bunch of hippies in tie-dye shirts and a crappy white van. “Let’s do it.” They yelled. Both sides started break-dancing and dancing. Meanwhile, Tom did a cartwheel and and the hippies disappeared in a flash of blinding light. In their place, were couple normal guys with care bears pink shirts. Tom narrowed his eyes. “There is a new threat in the universe,” he thought.

Interview: Vietnam Veteran

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Where were you and when were you drafted?

I was drafted at Oakland and sent to San Jose for basic training.

What type of projects did you work on?

I was a supply engineer.

Did you fly a helicopter?

No, I stayed in base camp.

Did you blow anything up? If yes, what was it?

In specialist training, I was taught how to blow up bridges and stuff.

The Republic of Anarchy – Short Story

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Ed looked at the briefcase. It was in there. He sighed and turned around and reached for the pistol in the backseat. You could never be to careful in this part of the desert.

“You should make an auto turret,” he informed the little bean man sitting on the dashboard. “I’m a little insane,” he muttered, sweeping the road with rugged blue eyes.

The Blaze Torrent. The words seamed powerful, he thought, and remembered the stories the elder of the settlement told the young’uns. He could remember the gravely old voice, a monotone, yet interesting, too.

“A global nuclear war swept the earth, destroying most civilizations. The mobs of diseased humans discouraged the startup of most new civilizations.” The voice dissolved into a hacking cough.

“Sorry, where was I? Oh that’s right. The Fendaosso Virus. The virus dissolved the bone calcium, so the victim dissolved into a gooey mess. The Portuguese were the first to contract Fendaosso. Mass burning stopped the virus, but looters and bandits still run wild today.”

Ed was shaken out of his thoughts on the storyteller. A explosion popped the back tire. Ed had been expecting it, but it startled him. He gritted his teeth and floored it.

“Give it,” grunted a deep voice from a blow horn. Ed checked the rear-view mirror. The image of a hot rod scrambled together with scrap metal and machine guns angered him. He tossed a grenade out the window, grabbed the suitcase and dove out the door and punched the detonator. The car exploded in a giant fireball as Ed smiled. A flaming doll flew out from the fireball.

A figure appeared in the pitch black smoke. The figure of the man was a goth, a bruiser with a pink mohawk.

“I am the Pink Pinkness, also known as Bonecrusher!” “Okay,” sniggered Ed, “try to say it three times fast.”

Bonecrusher mumbled a couple words and Ed striked with the briefcase. He delivered a crushing blow to Bonecrusher’s ribs and he didn’t flinch. Bonecrusher grabbed Ed’s head and squeezed. Ed rammed a jackknife into him. Ed crawled away and unlatched the latches. He then opened the black leather briefcase.

Current event #2

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Scientists Find Virus Killing Millions of Sea Stars

On the Pacific coast, millions of starfish are dead because of a virus. The virus does not affect human, so don’t be afraid of a second Ebola. The virus is transmitted through sand and seawater. If a sea star gets the virus, it will turn into a gooey mess.

The Author is very positive about the starfish deaths in the millions. I think that its bad that all these starfish are dying and I hope they find a cure. “That sucks” my friend Toby said.

Cause and Effect Essay: The Space race

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In the 50’s and 60’s Space race rockets were dependent on nuclear missile technology.   The U.S. and U.S.S.R. were in the Cold War and were threatening to plunge the world into nuclear war. People were worried about the effects of nuclear testing and wanted to ban nuclear testing. The Nuclear Test Ban treaty directly caused the start of the space race.

Throughout the mid-20th century, we have been focused on missile technology. In WWII a lot of German scientists that worked on the V2 rockets came over to the United States. During the Cold War there was a nuclear arms race for the most weapons.

The Nuclear Test Ban treaty was entered into in 1963. The U.S.S.R. and the U.S. decided to stop nuclear testing after radiation was found in food stores. However, the U2 spy plane incident stopped negotiations. In 1962 the Cuban Missile Crisis jump started negotiations. After eight years of difficult negotiations, American President John F. Kennedy and Russian Premier Khrushchev finally agreed to stop nuclear testing (John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum).

After stopping nuclear missiles, the focus shifted to rocket technology. The U.S.S.R. and the U.S. entered into a race to be the first country in outer space. Inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) made rocket technology possible. In 1957, the first satellite, Sputnik, was launched by an modified ICBM. The Americans retaliated with the Explorer 1. It failed epically (History.com).

With Russia sending the first man in space, the U.S.’s ego needed to beat the U.S.S.R. President John F. Kennedy stated the U.S. was falling behind in science and technology so, he challenged the U.S.S.R. to get the first man on the moon (Kidport Referecne Library). The U.S.S.R. was only able to send probes to the moon.  However, On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first men, also the first Americans, to walk on the moon.  American won the space race.

In 1960’s, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was crucial to the space race. Because of the Nuclear Test Ban treaty, missiles were turned into rockets. This affected the U.S. because technology would not be where it is today if it not for the Space Race.

Works Cited

History.com. “The Space Race”. Web.<http://www.history.com/topics/space-race>

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. “Nuclear Test Ban Treaty”. Web. <http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/Nuclear-Test-Ban-Treaty.aspx>

Kidport Reference Library. “The Moon Landing”. Web. <http://www.kidport.com/reflib/science/moonlanding/moonlanding.htm>

Edit: Current Event #2

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Humans have driven the Earth to mass extinction. Again. The extinction of animals has reached boiling point. We have to make zoos for endangered animals. (A mass extinction is when the Earth’s starts anew.) We humans should stop overfishing, and cutting down the rain forests.

The article is very biased against the humans species as a whole. The author is very pessimistic.  My mom thinks is very scary that her grandchildren may grow up in a world without elephants, tigers and other large mammals.  Yet, there is hope also, she said, as there was a report recently that the ozone layer is replenishing because we banned chlorofloracarbons (CFCs) in the 1970s.  So perhaps if we make changes we can slow down or stop the mass extinctions.