Is taking a knee for America wrong?

Is taking a knee for America wrong?

American Football is one of the largest sports played in America to this day. There are 32 NFL teams throughout America who go back to back to find the best team of the year. It is a very competitive sport which can make watching football games quite interesting.

The NFL silent anthem protest by Colin Kaepernick started in 2016. During the American anthem, Kaepernick made the decision to take a knee rather than standing with the crowd and his team. Nobody understood what his reason for it was and a lot of people believed it to be disrespectful towards America. In this case, I strongly believe that it is not disrespectful at all. Colin Kaepernick had a great reason as to why he wouldn't take part in this anthem. Kaepernick stated in interviews “ I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag the oppresses black people and people of colour”

I believe that taking a knee is not wrong. Why should NFL players show pride in a country that doesn't care about each other? When Obama was president and the silent protests were ongoing he did nothing. But Donald Trump was threatening players that he would get them fired. America is a country full of violence and hatred towards races. Studies show that someone of the black race is 30% more likely to get pulled over (Racism in America). I believe that kneeling is better than standing it brings you closer to the people who fought for America.

American citizens fought for the freedom of America and the people. They fought so that each individual had the right to live in a country of peace and no racism. People say that taking a knee is disrespectful, all that the NFL players are doing is just standing up for their country. They are showing pride in America because they don't want a country full hatred. Police brutality has become a big part of the American lifestyle due to their being videos of police shooting unarmed black men.

The silent protest is the only way for players to be heard throughout America. As more people and players begin to join the protest then maybe people will begin to notice their reasons. Veterans had fought for the freedom of the American flag. Black families in America still don't feel safe to live in their own home or to walk down the street without getting racial abuse. This is why I strongly believe that kneeling for America is not disgraceful but that it is wanting a better country for future generations

Is taking a knee wrong? No, it's is not, it is a way that people are able to express how they feel about their country, It is also a way to show their respect for people who tried to give them a better country to live in which is full of peace.

Reading Log 3

Reading log 3
Title: Remember the Titans
Text type: Film
Director: Boaz Yakin

Remember the titans is a film based in the 1970s - 1980s, remember  the titans is a film about a high school football team which have just turned into an interracial school. This team decide to go to on a tournament together but as you'll know, it doesn't end very well. The boys split themselves up, into the whites and the blacks. The boys fought with each other and made racist jokes towards each other. But There coach had enough of it and he then decided that if he was to put 2 whites onto a room and 2 blacks into that same room that they could bond together and not hate each other forever.

I can really relate to this movie because this is all i see sometimes. People making racist remarks towards each other. It's aloe better than what it used to be as of the 21st century but in the 20th century whites looked at the blacks as poor and useless. I hate people being racist because in my opinion we are all same on the inside. And we all are the same in general. It was just that 1 difference of skin color that made. For example when they learn that each other are the same Sheryl says this "people say it can't work, black and white, well here we make it work, everyday. We have our disagreements of course but before we reach for hate, always remember we are the titans." This can be seen in 12 years a slave because the exact same thing happens with all the racial abuse and fighting as well as the negativity towards the colored

Today one of the most racist remarks that i always here is about Asians, people make rude remarks by the way they drive and the way they look. But what some people don't realise is that if they were to go to their country they would feel the exact same way as they do. I believe that this relates back to the movie because back then the whites thought of the blacks the exact same way. They thought they were useless and stupid and that they didn't know how to do anything. In the movie 12 years a slave the white owners believed that the only thing they were good for was to make them money. This racial abusiveness is still going around this world to this day. every culture these days have a racist remark towards some kind on country

Reading log 6

Reading Log 6
Title: The complexion of fear
Text type: Article
Writer: Mary .C. Lamia

Are you experiencing anxiety or fear?, In this article the writer talks about the things you imagine and he things the you feel. She also talks about what the difference between anxiety and fear is, and is there a difference?

This article uses the ways of someone jumping out of a bush at you. It then says is the feeling you get from this when your heart races, is it anxiety or is it the fear. Lamia explains the things you would do in that moment. Would you fight which is when you would fight for your own ground and for your own good, or would you freeze which is when you just pretty much stay still and not move. Would you get a fright, which is when you just get a major fright from all the stress and things you are feeling. Lamia also says that response for most people is to turn to others for help so that that you can feel less tense or even in less danger than you already were in the situation. She also explains the anxiety is a general place of stress that is longer lasting. It is also found ti be triggered by something that is non specific in any way. Which means it can happen through nervous nous or apprehension.

I found a way in which that i could understand this text quite easily. Due to the fact that i can related to it a bit and its things that my family and friends suffer from. I have already grown with the experiences of fear and anxiety because its normal to me. This text is shown me ways of peoples reaction to fear and how to prevent it. There was a way in which this text also had shown that sometimes there is no way of avoiding fear and anxiety. I have always been afraid of heights. When i'm high in the air all i think about is today going to be the day where i fall to my death. I was able to stop this fear by attempting to ab sail. Once i did it once the fear was no longer there and i just wanted to continue doing it. My reaction was to fight it. I stood there and ab sailed which meant i took on what i was afraid to do. There was a way where i could have avoided it but i took all the fear and anxiety and turned it into an amazing experience

Reading log 5

Reading log 5
Title: Life after sport
Text type: Article
Written by Emma Vickers

Life after sport is a article which was written about what happens to famous sports stars  and Olympic medalists after they have retired. Its about the death rate that occurs from retirement due to having no qualifications to get a job and talking about who you actually are once you become a retired athlete.

Elite athletes train excessively for many years non stop and in many cases it consumes their lives. In my opinion this shouldn't be the case for athletes. This article showed me that even the most paid athletes end up going in some sort of depression due to not being able to stick with something they love. Its hard for them to find a job to get money in due to having no qualifications. For some athletes its different, some believe its better due to them being able to not have the stress of staying on top or competing.  Loss of identity occurs sometimes too due to  them not feeling loved or acknowledges for their sporting anymore. "Tunnel vision syndrome" its when an athletes is so focused on winning that they don't focus on career opportunities. Athletes should be given some chance to adjust themselves to a basis of a new lifestyle.

Something that caught my eye was when the author wrote about a boxer called Sugar ray Leonard. He quoted "nothing could satisfy me outside the ring, there is nothing in life that compares to being a world champion with having your hand raised in that moment of glory. With having millions of people cheer you on" He suffers from sever depression due to him not being able to box anymore. For young adults becoming athletes i think that they should study before they go into their sporting world. or they could at least think ahead for once they retire in their sports. Another thing that annoyed me was that a famous athlete just missed out on succeeding in getting a gold. Since she didn't get this gold medal she fell into a severe depression and ended up taking her life. The older the person is than the easier it is for them to fall into a depression once they retire.

Bacteria and Disinfectants

Research

Purpose: How the concentration can effect  the rate in killing bacteria
What is Bacteria: Bacteria is a micro-organism. Bacteria is known to be one of the first life forms on earth and in the soil
What is the life process if bacteria? MRS GREN - Movement, Reproduction, Sensitivity, Growth, Respiration, Excretion and Nutrition
How does disinfectant work? Disinfectants kill bacteria extremely fast when they come into contact It works on living things a swell as non living things
What is savlon? Savlon is an antiseptic that is used to kill bacteria, you can put savlon on cuts to clean the injury from any bacteria
What is the active ingredient in savlon? It is called cetrimide. It is a mixture of different kinds of ammonium salts. When it comes into contact with bacteria it disrupts the cell wall on the bacteria which stops the function of enzymes in the nucleoid. Savlon also kills bacteria within 15 seconds

Trial Experiment

Aim: I want to investigate how the concentration of dettol effects the growth and reproduction of bacteria
Hypothesis: I predict that the higher the concentration of dettol will create a large clear zone in the agar plate
Independent variable: Concentration of dettol, 1% 10% 100% and control (just water)

Dependent variable: The inside of the clear zone (mm)

Equipment: 
- Agar plate
- Dettol
- Yogurt
- Filter paper
- Marker
- Ruler
- Ethanol
- Dropper
- Spotting tile
- Cotton bud
- Tweezers
- Cellotape

Method:

1. Get Equipment

2. Use the marker to divide the agar plate into 4 sections (on jelly side) In each section label the different concentrations of dettol

3. Get the cotton bud and smear the yogurt onto the jelly on the agar plate

4. (make sure dropper is always clean so there is no contamination) Using a dropper put a few drops of dettol into the spotting tile (100% concentration) Add 1 drop of dettol onto another spotting tile than add 9 drops of water (10% concentration) then take the 10% concentration and add some of that to 9 drops of water on the spotting tile (1% concentration)

5. Use a whole punch to punch 4 holes out of the filter paper (circles must be the same)

6. Dip ends of tweezers in ethanol and run it through the Bunsen burner to sterilize them

7. Using the tweezers now pick up the filter paper and dip each paper into a different concentration and then blot the filter paper do their is no excess concentration and put onto agar plate under the right label

8. Put cello-tape around the edges to close the agar plate and wait for the bacteria to grow

9. Leave overnight and measure clear zone.

Equipment
- Savlon

- Agar plate

- Beaker

- Marker

- Filter paper

- Whole punch

- Tweezers

- Yogurt

- Dropper
- Ethanol
- Paper towel
- Ruler
- Spotting tile
- Cello-tape

Method:

1. Get your equipment.

2. Start by using a permanent marker (on the jelly side) to divide the agar plate into 4 sections. In each section label them with the different concentrations of Savlon. (eg. 100%, 10%, 1% and water)

3. Get a beaker and add the yogurt. Then put some water into the beaker to dilute it, which will make the yogurt more of a runnier texture. This will make it easier for you to just pour it onto the agar plate and move it around so the whole surface is covered, and you can get a clear look at the bacteria.

4. Using a dropper, put a few drops of Savlon into a spotting tile. This is the concentration of 100%, and again using the dropper put 1 drop of the Savlon into a separate tile. Then this time add 9 drops of water to equal a concentration of 10%. Repeat this step again by taking a drop of the 10% concentration, to then create a concentration of 1%. (Make sure the dropper is always clean so there is no contamination)

5. Then punch 4 full circles into the filter paper using a hole punch. (If the circles aren't the same the test won't be fair)

6. Dip tweezers in ethanol and then but through the Bunsen burner to sterilize them

F





7. Get some tweezers and dip the filter paper into the different concentrations. Blot the filter paper onto a paper towel to get rid of any excess. Then put them onto the agar plate in the right percentages

8.  Put cello tape around the agar plate and wait for the bacteria to grow

9. Measure the clear zones on the agar plates


10. Repeat if needed

Concentration	Clear Zone of Agar Plate 1 (mm)	Clear Zone of Agar Plate 2 (mm)	Clear Zone of Agar Plate 3 (mm)	Average
0%	0	0	0	0
1%	2	1	3	2
10%	6	8	8	7.3
100%	15	14	12	13.7

  *graph at bottom*

Conclusion

The aim of this experiment was to investigate how different concentrations of savlon can effect the growth and reproduction of bacteria. I predicted that the larger the concentration of savlon there was that then the larger the clear zones were. After looking at my data i can see that there is an increasing trend. If you increase the concentration of bacteria then the larger the clear zone will be.

Discussion

What is disinfectant? Disinfectant is liquid the you can apply to the surface of non-living things and living things to kill good and bad bacteria rapidly when in contact. Antiseptic is used on skin, it is made so that it kills bacteria in cut but yet it won't hurt. There are wide ranges of substances which are used as disinfectant including alcohols. Disinfectant works in different ways, Hydrogen peroxide reacts to produce free oxygen radicals and bleaches. They are based on chlorine compounds which are very powerful oxidising agents. They oxidise the complete molecules which are present on the surface of bacteria, causing their cell membranes to disrupt. Proteins on the surface become damaged and they then start to stick together in clumps. Bacteria cannot respond to the damage quickly enough and the whole cell splits open and dies.


The structure of bacteria:                                                       Reproduction of bacteria:
                         

















Capsule - Protective outer layer
Cell wall - Structure to give shape and protect it aswell
Ribosomes - Build protein for the cell
Plasmid - Extra bits of DNA
Cell membrane - Nutrition and excretion (lets food in and lets waste out)
Pili - Bridge to other bacteria
Flagellum - Used for movement
Cytoplasm - The soup of the cell that holds the DNA, ribosomes, plasmids but it mostly holds water
Nucleoid - Holds DNA for essential life

URL: https://www.thoughtco.com/bacterial-reproduction-373273
http://www.thebigger.com/biology/monera/explain-the-nutrition-system-in-bacteria/

Reproduction and Nutrition of bacteria:
Reproduction (binary fission)
During their asexual reproduction a single DNA replicates and both copies attach, at a different point on the bacteria. As the cells begin to get bigger and join the distance between the DNA molecules begin to increase. Once the bacteria doubles in size the cell membrane begins to pinch in the centre, Then a cell wall forms which ends up separating the two cells. That original  cell is now two identical daughter cells.

Nutrition
Bacteria are autotrophs or heterotrophs but most are autotrophs, The autotrophs make their own food from outside sources of energy. Heterotrophs don't make their own food, they rely on readymade food from outside to be able to survive

Evaluation

The data I created wasn't as reliable as it should've been to use and measure. We ended up having 3 valid results although it could have been better. We almost had to redo our experiment due to using too much yogurt on the agar plates. We were able to fix this due to the fact that the bacteria did grow and left some clear zones. Which we were able to work with and measure the other clear zone that occurred. The other clear zones that didn't work to well we were able to estimate where the clear zone and draw a circles around it with the marker. We did this to make it easier to measure and easier to find the results

Reading log 4

Reading Log 4

 Title: 13 Reasons Why

Text Type: Extended written text

Author: Jay Asher

13 reasons why is an extended written text. The author if this book is Jay Asher. This book is about a young high school girl named Hannah Baker. During her high school experienced she decided she had had enough and that she would take her own life. But when she was suffering the depression she recorded 13 tapes explaining why she took her life. Each tape was about someone who had helped her to make the choice of not living. The lies and the mysteries all come out in these tapes leaving some high school students to question their own life.

In my opinion i believe this topic is very strong. the reason for this is because i have had someone close to me before decide that enough was enough. But we never realised they were suffering until after the damage had been done. When Hannah baker was going through this the reason for it was because no one cared for her or listened to her. Her fellow classmates started rumors towards her aswell creating a life that she didn't want to live. This all started with 1 photo of her and that photo ended up on everyone's phone and social media pages. After that the bad stuff started happening hannah baker was stalked 24/7. The consideration of these high school students was a zero, they only cared about themselves and not other people or their feelings. Hannah was a strong high school girl but in no way did she asked to be raped by a fellow classmate. No one ever asks to be raped. Hanna had already put up with the bullying and the abuse and so from this point of being raped thats when she lost her faith. Her world came crashing down around her and she decided to take the hard way out of her situation by ending her pain but giving that pain to plenty other people who cared.

After reading this book i have come to a choice where i don't ever want to see stuff like this happen in my school, society or even at my home. I believe that their are signs but you just have to care enough and look and listen close enough to be able to spot them and help someone who is already in desperate need of assistance. We already have so many ways to help someone in need there are counselors and many life lines. Even though sometimes when having this pain it can be very hard to open up to your peers and talk to someone about it. In this generation of New Zealand the suicide rate is at 579 teens took their life in 2016. we will never know if the suicide toll if dropping or rising in the future too. When teens are put into this negative mindset of them not being good enough its hard to get them out of it. Although teens find it hard there are many ways to get their head into the right place and looking forward to what life holds for them and their families.

Reading log 2

Reading Log 2
Title: The outsiders
Text type: Extended written text
Author: S.E. Hinton

The outsiders is an extended written text about 2 gangs, "the greasers" and "the socs" the socs are from  the west side which is a very rich area and the greasers come from the east side which is the very poor are. The greasers and the socs have always hated each other and not cared for each other as well as tried to kill each other. Since the socs are the rich ones, they tend to have lots of cars and weapons, the socs like watch and then jump the greasers when they are walking home and they would threaten them as well and give them a brutal beating. The greasers always stayed on the east side, but the socs would come to the east side territory to beat them rather than staying on their sod of town.

I can relate to this because, in the 21st century these days, anyone in the word can turn the TV on for the news, and almost every time there is something gang related happening somewhere in the word, even if it happens to be the bloods and crips. Since I'm growing up with this it has become a normal part of everyday life for me in this world and the same with a lot of other people. In my opinion gangs are stupid. The one thing that people don't know these days is the fact that gangs were originally made to protect their neighborhoods, not to start fights. Now days each gang has its own set of symbols and terms to distinguish itself from other gangs and to identify allies and enemies. This can bee seen when one of the greasers says “They grew up on the outside of society. They weren't looking for a fight. They were looking to belong. In the movie barbershop 2 when two regular kids are threatened to join a gang and do dangerous missions causing neighborhood chaos and reports on the news.

Another thing that caught my attention in the text was the brotherhood bond between Pony Boy, Soda Pop, and Darry Curtis. With having no parents around Darry was under pressure of being the overprotective and mature oldest sibling. Pony Boy was always corrected for his decisions and mistakes while Pony Boy wanted to be free and live his own life, Darry wanted him to have a safe stable and simple life. Soda Pop having the motherly look, being easy on the poor Pony Boy and having to correct Darry is needed. However after seeing how hard Darry was committed to saving Pony Boys life to risk his own, Pony Boy learned that the oldest brother loved him dearly and only wanted him to be safe and live life happily, even if it meant not doing what Pony wanted. Even if Darry is hard and strong on the younger brother's he still cares about their life's. This is shown when Darry sets it straight with Pony Boy by saying "Listen, with your brains and grades, you could get a scholarship, and we could put you through college, ain't that right, Soda? But you're livin' in a vacuum, Pony, and you're gonna have to cut it out. You just don't stop living because you lose somebody. I thought you knew that. And anytime you don't like the way I'm running things around here, you can just get out, ALRIGHT?". This can also be shown in the film "Brother Bear" when Sitka risks his own life saving his younger brothers from a wild bear, by splitting the ice and pulling the bear away from his brothers to save them. Even after a hard day of them misbehaving he still puts them first before himself.

I recommend this book because it has a lot of meaning and and all the meaning towards society and peoples feelings