my-swag-school-blog

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Week 5: Anonymous

Hey everyone! This week’s blog entry is about one of the most well-known hacker groups in the world, Anonymous. Recently, they have risen to popularity again after 3 years due to the national outrage over the death of George Floyd. They released a video on Facebook threatening to expose the Minneapolis police department’s “horrific track record of violence and corruption”. The group since then has made websites of the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis police department temporarily inaccessible. A United Nations webpage also was hacked with a memorial and an Anonymous logo that read “Rest In Power, George Floyd!”.  Anonymous has done similar things in the past and has supported many activist movements. So this week’s question is “what is Anonymous about?”.

Anonymous is a decentralized hacktivist group that is made up of thousands of random people all around the world that has done various attacks on many governments, large corporations and the Church of Scientology. It originated on 4chan with the idea that it would be a decentralized online community that followed a self-agreed goal, mainly for entertainment purposes. They started gaining popularity in 2008 when a few members started doing cyberattacks on the Church of Scientology when a video was released of Tom Cruise praising the religion. 4chan users launched DDoS attacks against their websites and other various pranks such as black faxes to waste ink and prank calling their hotline. In 2010, they were believed to have attacked credit card companies like PayPal, MasterCard and Visa after they had blocked donations to WikiLeaks, a website that posts news leaks provided by anonymous people. 

In 2011, Anonymous had targeted organizations that were accused of being homophobic. They published a letter threatening the Westboro Baptist Church and in December of 2012 leaked the names, phone numbers, addresses and emails of the church members. They also took down GodHatesFags.com with a DDoS attack in the same year. In October of 2011, the organization had taken down multiple child pornography websites and leaked thousands of names of users. Anonymous hosted online protests in 2014 after Michael Brown was fatally shot by a police officer even though he was unarmed. The same year, they declared war on the KKK and released some of their member’s personal information and took down multiple websites. 

Now, the group has released a video after the death of George Floyd threatening to expose the Minneapolis Police Department’s “crimes to the world”. They took down some of the police department’s websites. On June 6th, they took down the Buffalo NY website. Throughout the years, Anonymous has hacked thousands of websites, governments, organizations and more. They have supported various activist movements with their cyberattacks and online protests. Overall, I believe Anonymous is a very well known hacktivist group for it’s morals and execution to maintain their morals. While they may not be using the best means, their support in movements are always seen as effective and threatening to the opposing party.

Learn more here:

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/hacktivist-group-anonymous-george-floyd-protests-6446993/ https://www.hackread.com/anonymous-group-what-is-it-and-how-big-is-it/ https://abcnews.go.com/US/worldwide-hacker-group-anonymous/story?id=37761302

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Week 4 - Online Classes

Hey everyone! This week’s topic is about online classes and their pros and cons. A few months ago, the Minister of Education Stephen Lecce announced that highschool students would be required to take 2 online classes to graduate. Many people did not like the idea of this because students already struggling would have an even harder time doing classes online. A TDSB survey was issued and many students, parents and teachers also disagreed. Now, the majority of schools in countries all around the world are doing school online because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has affected 1.2 billion children in 186 countries. Some countries are slowly reopening schools but many countries will most likely do the rest of the semester online. So this week's question will be: what are the pros and cons of online learning?

One pro of online learning is that you don’t have to show up to class every day. You do work from the comfort of your own home instead of getting ready to go to school. You can also do the work whenever you want rather than waking up early so you can sleep in as much as you want. With online classes, you can also take them wherever. If you want to attend a faraway school, you don’t have to move to other cities/countries and can take online school. Although there are many pros to online learning, there are also just as many cons. One is that you cannot speak to your teacher/professor as often and can’t have class discussions as the lessons are already pre-written. People who procrastinate often might have a hard time with online lessons because you have to do them on your own time and aren’t forced to do them at a certain time. It can be hard to get online credits because of this Getting online degrees can be tougher as well. Although some employers don’t take online degrees seriously, 60% said that they did. 

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools are now doing their classes completely online. Although some enjoy it and find it more easy and convenient, others may find it harder to focus and start working. If you want to willingly take online courses, you should check the pros and cons and decide if you still want to take them. There are many websites that list them. You can also see if you want to do them in the future if you enjoy doing online school right now. Overall, there are many pros and cons to online school and if you want to take them you should consider the pros and cons. Do you enjoy doing school online? See you all next time!

Find out more about online schooling here:

https://www.ies.ncsu.edu/resources/white-papers/pros-and-cons-of-online-education/ https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/coronavirus-education-global-covid19-online-digital-learning/ https://www.campusexplorer.com/college-advice-tips/F0232E15/Pros-and-Cons-of-Online-School/

~Ashley

[my-swag-school-blog]

Week 3: Asian Giant Hornets

Hello everyone! Apologies for the late post last week, I will try to catch up soon. This week’s topic is on asian giant hornets, which were recently spotted in the United States and Canada. These hornets can grow to 1.8 inches with an 8mm stinger that can inject a large amount of venom. Their sting supposedly feels like hot metal driving into your skin. In September of 2019, they were spotted on Vancouver Island and were spotted in Washington D.C. in December of 2019. In April of 2020, Washington authorities asked people to report any sightings of the hornets because they would start to become active. The Washington State Department of Agriculture is currently conducting a full-on hunt for these hornets because they can seriously harm honey bee populations. But how can they harm the bees, and why do we need to hunt them down? So, the question for this week will be: how can asian giant hornets be harmful to honey bee populations?

Asian giant hornets use their spiky mandibles located on the sides of their head to behead the honeybees. They can wipe out 20 victims a minute, only taking a few hours to demolish an entire hive. This can be a serious problem for the honey bees because they are facing possible extinction. The bees are already in danger and if the asian giant hornets were to spread even more, they could possibly go extinct. Asian giant hornets also kill around 12-26 people a year in Japan. In 2013, 41 people died due to the hornet’s sting. Many in China advise that if you are stung more than 10 times you should receive medical help and if you are stung over 30 times you should receive emergency treatment. Fortunately, there are ways to help. If you live around these areas, look out for the hornets and immediately report any sightings. There are also some online groups such as these where you can discuss the insects with others. You can also create traps to trap them and can report if you’ve caught any. 

Since it’s starting to get warmer, the hornets are starting to wake up and can spread fast. They can seriously harm honey bee populations because they can quickly take out thousands of victims. Their sting is also incredibly painful and kills around 12-26 people a year in Japan. Currently, many groups and people are working hard towards eradicating them from the U.S. and Canada. There are also ways to help too. If you see them, report it immediately. You can also make your own traps and report to local authorities if you have caught any. Overall, asian giant hornets are harmful to honey bee populations because they can kill many of them very quickly. If you see these hornets in your area, please be sure to report it. Do you think the asian giant hornet population will get out of control? See you all next time!

Find out more about them here:

https://www.wired.com/2016/02/absurd-creature-of-the-week-the-huge-bee-decapitating-that-hornet-cant-survive-group-hugs/ https://agr.wa.gov/departments/insects-pests-and-weeds/insects/hornets/trapping https://news.wsu.edu/2020/04/06/wsu-scientists-enlist-citizens-hunt-giant-bee-killing-hornet/

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Week 2: Should tigers be kept in captivity?

Hey everyone! This week’s topic is about the new popular Netflix series Tiger King. It came out recently and quickly became one of the most popular shows on Netflix. The show follows various people that own private exotic animal zoos (with mainly tigers) and uncovers a story about 5 different crimes throughout the 7 episodes. It starts off by telling the story of Joe Exotic, and slowly introduces us to more and more people like his workers, and then other zoo owners such as “Doc” Antle, Jeff Lowe, Mario Tabraue and Joe’s arch nemesis Carole Baskin. The 2 have been in a constant war for years trying to take each other down. The story seems almost unreal with the characters and the many plot twists and turns it takes. After watching the 7 episodes, my question for this week is “should people be allowed to own exotic pets such as tigers?” because the show made me think it over a little.

Tiger King made me rethink keeping exotic animals like tigers in captivity instead of putting them in the wild where they should be. Personally, I don’t think they should be in cages or in captivity but they should be set free. Tigers need lots of space and attention and care and I think they would be happiest in their natural habitat. However, it would be hard to put the captive tigers back in the wild because they are used to getting taken care of and won’t know how to get things themselves like food. They would have to carefully integrate them back into their natural habitat. But for now, we have to take good care of the ones in captivity because they are endangered. Many organizations and movements like the Save Tigers Now movement and Save the Tiger fund are working hard to help. I don’t think people should own them as pets and only people that are working to help stabilize the tiger population should be keeping them.

Although I disagree with keeping tigers and other exotic animals captive, I believe the ones in captivity should be protected to raise the population and not sold off as pets. Tigers shouldn’t be kept in captivity unless they were already being kept there. The ones in captivity hopefully someday will be slowly integrated into their natural habitat to restore the population there. We should all try our best to help the endangered animals and stop the poaching of them. To conclude, I think we should all support tiger conservation movements and organizations as they are against the abuse and support helping the species. So what do you all think about Tiger King? Do you think that exotic animals like tigers should be kept in captivity or should they be set free? See you all next week!

Find out more about tiger conservation efforts and how you can help:

https://www.tigers-world.com/tiger-conservation-efforts/

https://www.iucn.org/theme/species/our-work/action-ground/integrated-tiger-habitat-conservation-programme

https://www.wwfindia.org/about_wwf/priority_species/bengal_tiger/what_you_can_do/

~Ashley

[my-swag-school-blog]

Week 1: Why you love Animal Crossing New Horizons

Hey everyone! The topic I have chosen to write about this week will be on the newly released game Animal Crossing: New Horizons. In the game, you live on an island and can run it and design it any way you want. You clean up the island and can later build homes and shops. There are also villagers which are different types of animals that move onto your island and live there. Ever since it was released on March 20th, it has been super popular and in high demand (it still is!). Everyone wanted their hands on this game and people who do own it absolutely adore it. But why do people love it so much, and why does everyone want it? Why do people love this game about taking care of an island full of cute little animals? In this week's blog post I will be answering those questions.

Well, the main reasons I think people want this game is because people are bored in quarantine because of the current COVID-19 situation, they can meet their friends in the game and it is very calming and peaceful. Everyone is pretty much under lockdown at the moment because of the new virus and nobody can go anywhere. So video games are a perfect way to pass the time while stuck at home. There’s lots to do in the game to keep you busy, like fixing up the island, making your house look nice, getting more villagers on your island and more. You can also play with friends online and go to their islands. Since you can’t visit anyone right now for the same reason, you can visit them and talk to them in-game. People also find the game quite relaxing because of it’s soft and cutesy theme. Everything about this game is adorable and pretty, like the graphics and characters. It’s not like other games where there’s violence and you fight people or monsters. 

Overall, I think the main reasons why people love Animal Crossing: New Horizons is because it’s something to do while stuck in quarantine, you can visit and talk to your friends in-game, and it’s very soft and relaxing to some. Since people are bored and have to stay at home, they can play the game to keep themselves busy. Some might also miss their friends, so they can play with them and talk to them on their islands through the game. It can help you reunite with loved ones and friends that you can’t meet in person. Many also enjoy the friendly atmosphere the game has and it can have a calming effect on them. If you like relaxing games, then Animal Crossing: New Horizons is perfect for you. So what do you all think about this question? Do you agree with my reasons, or do you have your own? Let me know! 

More about the game here:

https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2020/03/9610189/what-is-animal-crossing-new-horizons-switch-guide

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2020/03/animal-crossing-new-horizons-explainer

https://gamingbolt.com/animal-crossing-new-horizons-15-things-you-need-to-know

~Ashley