POBMS School Newspaper
Sharing Events, Opinions, and Informative News!
Net Neutrality: A Network Dilemma
Written by Charlotte Roth
Net neutrality. It’s used almost every day by U.S. citizens. Net neutrality is when each internet browser must give the same access to each website. That sets up a few rules. In school, the staff block websites with inappropriate content. This happens because the accounts of the students are controlled by the staff. However, on an account that is only controlled by the person who uses it, the only way to block a website would be for the internet browser to do so. With net neutrality, it would be illegal for an internet browser to block any website. Another important rule of net neutrality is that internet browsers must give the same connection to every website. For example, they can’t slow down Facebook and keep YouTube at its current rate. The last rule of net neutrality is that internet browsers can’t make some people pay more or less than others. Everyone needs to pay the same amount of money for anything that isn’t free on the internet. In conclusion, net neutrality sets up some strict rules for internet browsers trying to manage websites.
Don’t understand? Let’s explain again, but this time using hamburgers. There are three different types of hamburgers you can get at a fast food place. They want to take a hamburger off of their menu, however they can’t. The reason they want to take the hamburger off their menu is because it normally takes longer to make than the other two types. However, each hamburger must take the same amount of time to be made. This makes it really difficult for the restaurant. Because of all the effort this hamburger takes, the restaurant wants to make the price higher than the other two types of burgers. It’s unfortunate for them that it would be against the rules to do so. Taking a hamburger off a menu would be like blocking a website on the internet, slowing down the process of making a hamburger is like slowing down the service to a website, and making the price of a hamburger higher is like making the price for certain access higher. Although this all seems bad for the restaurant, there are also good things about net neutrality. Internet websites are made to be shared with people from all around the world. Net neutrality allows that. It also gives you the same access rate for each website you visit. Some people think that net neutrality is good, and other think it’s bad, but either way it makes a big difference on the way we use our electronics.
You may be wondering, why is this so important? Well, let’s think of all the social media apps you use. Instagram, snapchat, etc. They’re apps, so you can easily access them on your phone. But they all come from a link, which is connected to the internet. For example, if you go on google and search for Instagram, you will easily be able to access it. But without net neutrality, Instagram has to pay google in order for their customers to access it. Once Instagram can be used on google, google gets to decide the rest. They can make people pay for access, they can slow it down, or they can take it off their internet browser. Instagram doesn’t get to choose that. Google is the most popular internet browser, but it’s not the only one. Instagram could be free on one browser and cost money on another one. So if we were to summarize this, net neutrality allows websites to decide how they want people to access it, and taking net neutrality away would give all those permissions to the browsers. These decisions make a huge difference in the way Americans use the internet, so it ends up being a big deal.
So, what’s happening now? Well, in order for a law to be passed, at least ⅔ of congress must approve of it. The vote was taken for getting rid of net neutrality, and the law was passed. However, even though the law is official, states are still debating about whether this law is fair or not. 21 states and the District of Columbia are currently trying to get net neutrality back. Montana was the first state to protest that net neutrality shouldn’t be taken away. New York was the second. Steve Bullock, the governor of Montana, says “The free and open exchange of information secured by an Internet has never been more essential to our modern, social, commercial and civic life.” Even though it’s been months since this law was decided, a lot of debating is going on in this topic. Some people think that websites should control the access they get, and others think that the browsers should control it. We don’t know if the law will stay or not. But net neutrality makes an impact on the way we use our internet, and it’s up to American citizens whether to take action.
Brainless Jellyfish: Will They Reveal The Secret To Sleep?
By Braydon Cohen
Did you know that brainless jellyfish could actually help us sleep?! The reason animals “waste” so much time sleeping has always been a mystery to scientists. The main belief is that resting rids brain cells of toxins, and consolidate fresh memories, and prepares your mind for a new day of learning! However, a new study by research students at the California Institute of Technology has unveiled that it’s not just creatures with brains that “snooze”- even the brainless jellyfish needs to catch some ‘zzz’s”!
A group of scientists began by populating a home aquarium with 23 specimens of the Cassiopea jellyfish. The largely immobile creatures spend their lives on the seabed, or clinging to other surfaces, with their stinging tentacles facing upwards to catch any unexpecting prey that swims past.
The researchers, who used cameras to record the movement of the jellyfish for 6 days and nights, observed that the animals were 30% less active at night. They did something else besides pulsating less frequently, they underwent periods of between 10 to 20 seconds of no movement at all.
The researchers explored the habitat of the jellyfish by gently moving the sleeping blobs from their resting spot at the bottom of the tank to the surface. They observed that it took some time before the animals swam back to their resting place.
In conclusion, jellyfish actually reveal why we sleep. Isn’t that cool?! They may seem gross slimy blobs, but they’re smarter than we think. Thanks for reading!
Faith, Paint And Hope Excerpt By: Rayieshma Sundar
Chapter 1
Maria Feretuucchi lay in a distant trance, plopped on her polka-dotted bedspread facing the ceiling to her long, mahogany colored leg that she decided was too long for a 12-year old girl like her. Above her was a white, empty canvas, which to her, however, it was everything but empty.
Absent-minded, she kicked her paint palette into the air with her leg and caught it without breaking her dream, between her two, tan fingers of her right hand, splotched with colors of a rainbow and more. In her other hand, she held a dark, burgundy, wooden paintbrush, and scooped out a blotch of dark blue from the palette. Then, she painted a detailed outline of a blue sea, and tried tints and shades of the well-known ocean blue on the canvas, making a beautiful sea of paint. Abruptly, Maria stopped to take a glance of her reference; the waves itself of the fluorescent, aquamarine sea basking on a ratio of perfectly spotted sand, waiting to be swept to somewhere far, far away before her bedroom window. She then remembered her unfinished creation and stopped marveling at the tides to work on her yet to be done masterpiece.
As sunset fell, she took a final look at the sea, then her painting, which had a glowing sunset sky, a blue ocean decorated by ships and rocks with seals and seagulls, and lastly a city in the distance of a beach, each small spot resembling a grain of sand. Tired eyed, Maria plodded into the kitchen of the house to meet her mother, father, Abuela, and her little brother, Francisco, munching on a fajita, which most likely came from the bowl in the middle. As she slumped into an empty seat, her Abuela shouted “Maria! How’s my favorite la nieta, granddaughter?” Maria answered Abuela’s smiling face to her own, sleepy one. “I am your only granddaughter, Abuela! I’m fine. I finished another painting.” This time, her father chimed in: “Maria, Maria! When will you stop painting! I am going crazy, paying for you supplies!!!” Maria knew he was joking, because he said it with a smile on his face. The Feretucchi familia were very rich in Mexico because they owned a restaurant where people traded for money or resources. Her favorite part was showing the customers her projects and actually seeing some people bet for them. This also meant she could use the extra money to buy treats from the candy store a block from there. Yesterday, she sold a painting of a rose for $75, so she hopped on her teal bike and rode to the store. The chocolate was the creamiest, sweetest, bestest there, but it was expensive. After entering the store, Mr. Martinez immediately recognized her from the rest of her visits.
“Maria, darling! What can I get this amazing artist? Some ganache?” She always bought the milk chocolate ganache bar, because it was the freshest in the store. Excitedly, she nodded her head, and he gave her the jumbo bar. Paying $10, she left with a smile and brought the extra money to the Money Jar, a large jar in the Feretucchi house with extra cash for hard times inside. So far, it was half-full, resulting to $5,785. She didn’t realize she was finished and snapped back into present time when she heard her family laughing at her eat a fajita made of air. Blushing, Maria stood up to put her dish in the sink, and remembered how tired she was. She slumped upstairs and took a final yawn as she went to sleep.
Chapter 2
Maria awoke to a startling rattle in her room. Her paints and brushes fell to the ground, leaking a peachy, yellow streak on the wood floor.Shaking earthquakes weren’t rare in her town, but they also weren’t this strong! The know-it-all Adriana, her close friend, would probably say ”this extraordinary seismism is approximately a 4.5 on the Richter scale!” Maria giggled at the thought. Adriana could be an annoying egghead, but she was very kind, understood her when she’d be sad, and even let her copy her homework at times! Maria cluttered down the stairs to meet her grandmother wobbling across the kitchen, trying to save her glass keepings. She quickly saw Maria and yelped “aye yai yai! Maria! Come help your Abuela! I really shouldn’t have glass in a place like this….” Maria dashed to her Abuela to catch a glass bowl in the shape of a fish. Maria knew her grandmother would never, ever let that bowl break because her husband and Maria’s grandfather, Verrocchio Feretucchi, won that in a fishing contest. Maria and Abuela lost him to jaundice, after his liver failed and he died from it. They missed him very, very much and Abuela would often talk about joining him in heaven. She briskly put the bowl on the table and turned away before Abuela could see her tears. Unfortunately, Maria wasn’t fast enough. Abuela saw her eyes well up with tears like a broken dam. Softly, Abuela said “Oh, baby, I know it’s hard without your grandfather, but… we all miss him….” Maria could see the twinkling drops of water in her eyes, which made Maria feel as to give her a tight, long hug. However, Maria knew that it wasn’t the time. Instead, Maria wiped the drying tears from her face and told her Abuela in a whisper that It was going to be alright. Then, she grabbed her jacket and slipped it on over her shorts and floral no-sleeve top. She ran out to the beach that was harbored next to her house. The sky was a plain light blue with splotches of cumulus clouds made a pleasant skin on the sea. She lost herself in the lucid dream of the water and let her feet lay in the coolness that flood over her. After a few minutes, She then felt the dreamy blur melt away, and regained reality. She got up and brushed away the irritating grains of sand from he dress. When she started to walk home, she carefully inspected the ground for rocks or pebbles with paintings on them in the sand. The beach wasn’t like any other beach. It contained orange and gold colored sand and beautiful pebbles instead of seashells. Most rocks were naturally colored by the tide or something else, but if you were lucky, you’d find some hand-painted rocks made by the people of this town. In her town, people would take a plain white rock (which were overly common), and paint all sorts of things on them. Like, if there was a special occasion, or if one needed hope after a negative impact on the town, or even if they felt just particularly happy, then they’d paint one. Then, they’d get thrown into the sea. Finding one washed up on shore meant good luck. Maria could not see any big, colorful pebbles so far. Then, A sparkle caught her eye. She dashed to it. There was the most beautiful pebble she had seen so far. In the background of it, There was a rainbow tye-dye. In the the foreground, 2 hands were held together, both a dark tannish color, like her own. However, besides the rock, there was a small silver necklace with a pendant the form of a majestic fawn, what her Abuela would say was Maria’s spirit animal. She took all of the trinkets from the sand and put them in her pocket. She started to walk home again, except with a slight skip in her step.
Chapter 3
“Abuela! Look what I found!” Maria called. Abuela swiveled her head to face Maria.” What is it, Maria? I take it you’ve found something very interesting at your visit to the beach, with that loud roar of yours!” Hearing this, Maria, immediately changing to her soft, quiet voice. Maria wasn’t usually the outgoing kind of person. At school, she kept to herself and brought her black sketchbook and copic markers to keep recess interesting. She then told Abuela what she had found and gave the pieces to her. “This….It’s beautiful!..... I think you might have another artist on your painted hands, Maria!” Abuela gave her a playful, ’What-are-you-going-to-do-about-it-look’.
…
Endangered Animals
By Romy Park
Endangered animals are at risk of being extinct. Many of them such as pandas, sharks, rhinos, polar bears, and blobfish are in danger of dying out completely. Let’s look at a few endangered animals.
Blobfish
Blobfish are creatures that are stated “ugly". They are used for some inappropriate things but they have a much more important history. They are from New Zealand and Australia. It usually lives on the ocean floor and it barely has any bones. In fact, it looks more like a fish when it is underwater! Unlike the blobfish, the next endangered animal is very different.
Pandas
Pandas are popular animals that everyone adores. They are sometimes killed by poachers but pandas are mostly killed by habitat destruction and food loss. They often live up on damp mountains in China so they have a limited place to live. There are 2 kinds of pandas. The giant panda and the red panda. Although their names are similar, they are not closely related. The giant panda is more related to a bear than a raccoon. The red panda is the opposite of the giant panda and looks like a raccoon.
Tigers
Tigers are fierce big cats that could kill a man. Unfortunately, now men are killing them. They are orange (or white) and covered with black stripes that help them blend in with their habitat. They are mostly killed by poachers who illegally try to get the poor tigers’ skins to make money. They are pretty big for their size. A male tiger could be up to 8.2 feet long!! The majority of tigers live in warm places but the Siberian tiger can live in cold places such as Russia.
Portal Jump Academy By: Rayieshma Sundar
Prologue
“Is it ready yet?” The shadows questioned in a rich, dark, female voice. “Almost, we just need a few more parts.” A nasally male voice spoke.
“Then why aren’t they HERE?!”
“These parts are beyond rare, mistress.”
Suddenly, a leg as pale as the moon showed through the dark background. A tall, slender figure strode out, looking like a cross of a Tim Burton woman and a fashion model all at once. She had on a thin, velvet green dress that shown even in the dim light because of green rhinestones. Her reddish-orange hair was pulled into a tight bun to see the most of her emerald earrings. The most noticeable part of her, however, was the wickedly small and tight smile across her pale face. The other voice in the room was a short, round man with the nerdiest glasses you have ever seen. He had on a tan jacket on a white lab coat and a gray shirt. His gray hair wasn’t a signal of old age, because he was an average 45 year-old man. It was because of all the stress of being a top scientist working for the green woman. “ Well, Mr. Brown.” This appeared to be his name. “If I don’t have parts by half a week, I’ll make sure that I have your head. Got it?” Mr. Brown quivered. Obviously you’d be afraid if someone threatened to murder you, and Mr. Brown wasn’t the brave kind of person. “B-b-but, Mistress Ivory, The parts we need….Are the Plasma Generator and the Time Portal Conductor 286.” Mistress Ivory, the green woman, scoffed and said, “So? 2 weeks then.”
“Those parts, mistress,....are in Portal Jump Academy.”
Global Warming!
By: Krisha Kothari
Do you know what global warming is???? Well, many people don't, even though it is such a big problem!!!!
What is global warming?
Over the past 50 years, the global temperature has increased at the fastest rate in recorded history. And experts see the speed is increasing. This has been the 16 hottest years in NASA’s 134-year record have occurred since 2000.
What causes global warming?
Global warming occurs when carbon dioxide and other air pollutants and gases collect in the atmosphere and absorb sunlight and solar power that have bounced off the earth’s surface. Normally, this solar power would escape into space, but these gases, which can last for years to centuries in the atmosphere, trap the heat and cause the planet to get hotter.
How is global warming connect to the weather?
Scientists agree that the earth’s rising temperatures are getting longer and hotter heat waves, more droughts, heavier rainfall, and more powerful hurricanes. In 2015, for example, scientists said that an drought in California—the state’s worst water shortage in 1,200 years.
What are the other effects of global warming?
Melting glaciers, early snowmelt, and droughts will cause more water shortages and the risk of wildfires in the American West.
Rising sea levels will lead to flooding on the Eastern Seaboard, especially in Florida, and in other areas such as the Gulf of Mexico.
Forests, farms, and cities will face horrible new pests, heat waves, heavy rain, and increased flooding. All those will damage or destroy farms and ecosystems.
Destroying of habitats such as coral reefs and meadows could drive many plant and animal species to extinction.
Allergies and disease will become more common due to increased growth of producing ragweed, higher levels of air pollution, and bugs.