NJH News
Norfolk Junior High
Humpty Dumpty falls off of a wall
On March 16th, Humpty Dumpty was seen falling off of a high wall at the southern edge of the village. He was found unconscious with several broken bones. It was inferred that Humpty became off-balance and was blown off the wall by high winds that day, although police are still leaving the investigation open. Humpty Dumpty was brought to the hospital and was last listed in critical condition. It is currently unknown how long it will take him to recover. Let's just hope he won't be in the obituary anytime soon.
Saturn's Rings
Now that I may or may not have your full attention, I will begin my documentary on Saturn’s rings whether you like it or not. Saturn’s rings are made of small (or large) ice particles held together by the planet’s gravity. There are seven main rings and thousands more small ringlets, all varying in thickness. The main rings, rings D, C, B, A, F, G, and E (in order from the closest to the planet), are the thickest rings around Saturn. They surround, but do not touch, the planet. Thousands of ringlets are between these main rings. Ringlets are small rings that fill the gaps between the main rings A, B, C, and D. The rings are made of thousands of ringlets. The brightest rings are A and B. A dark gap called the Cassini Division (fancy name, right?) separates the two. The gravitational pull of Saturn’s moon, Mimas, keeps the Cassini Division free of most particles. The gravity of the moons Prometheus and Pandora “herd” F Ring particles. Sometimes Prometheus enters F ring, giving it a braided appearance. The E and G rings are much thicker than the inner rings, because their particles are spread more thinly. To summarize my essay, Saturn has a lot of different rings and some of them are bright and have gaps in between.
Game Spotlight: Terraria (This is a really long article)
Terraria is a survival-based adventure game (NOT A COPY OF MINECRAFT) that is playable on console, PC, and mobile platforms. We will be going over the mobile platform. The aim of the game is to mine/farm resources, build shelter, have NPCs move into your village and/or compound, and defeat every boss in the game. There are very basic controls. Click on the “...” button for your inventory, click on items on your hotbar to equip them, use the right D-pad to use weapons, and the left one to move around. Some basic NPCs (Non Player Characters) are the Guide, who is the default NPC who spawns in every person’s world and moves into the first shelter you build. Normally the second NPC to move in is the Merchant. He sells different items for copper, silver, and gold coins that you get from opening hidden chests, breaking pots, and killing monsters/bosses. The Dye Trader moves in when you pick a yellow marigold, a flower that can be found around your world. He sells the dye vat, which can be used to dye clothes. He also sells silver dye. The painter moves in when you get a certain number of NPCs. He sells different colors of paint that can be used to paint walls and blocks, and he sells paint brushes. The Nurse moves in when you break and use a Heart Crystal (a heart-shaped crystal found in caves underground) and increase your maximum HP (Health, for those of you who don’t know that). Those are a few basic NPCs that you can acquire fairly easily. Now, onto monsters/bosses. The first monster that you usually encounter will be a green slime. There are many different colored slimes, and green is the most common type. All slimes do the same thing, however. They drop gel. Gel is used in potions and also used to make torches. It is highly flammable and actually tastes pretty good, according to the game’s description of it. After night falls, you encounter zombies (Self-explanatory what zombies are) and demon eyes. Demon eyes are giant flying eyeballs that fly at you and try to kill you. It’s pretty scary, I know. They don’t have an exact flight path, so they just bounce off of blocks and hope that they hit you. Walking into the Corruption, an evil biome in the game that is colored purple, you encounter these flying things that look really scary and try to eat you (I forgot their name, it will be inserted later). Bosses that you encounter are the Eye Of Cthulu, Skeletron, and the Eater of Worlds. The Eye Of Cthulu is basically like a giant demon eye. It is summoned by using a Suspicious Looking Eye. It is relatively easy to kill if you are prepared (battle arena, ranged weapons). It charges you three times and then flies up in the sky, shooting little demon eye minions at you from its pupil, it is really disturbing. But not as disturbing as when you get it below half of its hitpoints. Its pupil then opens up into a giant mouth with razor sharp teeth and it tries to kill you. It does more damage, and no longer shoots minions, but charges at you very fast. Once it dies, it drops Demonite ore and gold coins. Next up, the Eater of Worlds. The Eater of Worlds is a giant worm that is found in the corruption. It is summoned by breaking three shadow orbs (which is how you get the Gun Salesman NPC). It digs through the ground and occasionally shoots out of the ground to eat you. Its multiple body segments act as multiple enemies, which is good if you have a fast sword. Multiple hits mean a lot of damage. Once killed, it drops Demonite ore, shadow scales (used to make shadow armor), and gold coins. The hardest boss to defeat is Skeletron. Skeletron is summoned by talking to the old man outside of the dungeon. He is a giant flying skull with skeletal floating arms and hands that try to murder you. Its skull also does a spinning attack and chases you down, which is a great place to get multiple hits in. When you kill Skeletron, you get gold coins, healing hearts (as with any boss), the Clothier NPC, and access to the dungeon. The dungeon is an underground compound in which you kill lots of skeletons, get lots of special items from golden chests, and rescue the Mechanic NPC. I also forgot a boss. This one is by far the hardest to defeat. Going to the Underworld is required. You need very strong armor, preferably a very strong ranged weapon, a strong melee weapon, and an ability to fly, such as jetpack boots (bought from the Goblin Tinkerer after ruthlessly slaughtering the Goblin Army). The Wall Of Flesh. Hence the name, the Wall Of Flesh is a gigantic boss that is made of… Well, flesh. It has one giant mouth full of sharp teeth and two gigantic eyes that shoot lasers at you. It has long tentacles that grab you and pull you towards it so it can do more damage to you. When you kill it, you get the Pwn Hammer, most commonly the Clockwork Assault rifle, health potions, and lots of gold coins. After you kill The Wall Of Flesh, Hardmode begins. 1000+ new items, many new ores, and much stronger bosses. And since this essay is getting way too long, I will let you explore the mysteries of Hardmode on your own.
Ten Cloverfield Lane
The sci-fi movie 10 Cloverfield Lane, featuring John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and John Gallagher Jr., came out in 2016. It is a movie in which Michelle is left unconscious in a car accident at night. When she wakes up, she is in a cell, chained to a pipe. Howard tells her that there has been a chemical attack on a massive scale that has made the air poisonous and deadly to any living thing. Is this man lying, or is it true? Along the way, she meets her soon-to-be best friend, Emmett. The moral of this movie is that not everything is exactly as it seems. I liked 10 Cloverfield Lane because it had a feeling of suspense and mystery throughout the entire movie.