Do you know about badminton? Most people know badminton. However, padminton is another sport that many people do not know. It is a new sport that combines table tennis and badminton. It is played using a padminton racket, similar to a table tennis racket, over a net, and a shuttlecock is passed back and forth in the same way as badminton. I will tell you about the rules, materials, and technologies of padminton.
To start with, I will tell you the rules of padminton. The team that hits the shuttlecock with the racket and makes the ball fall into the opponent’s court scores a point. It consists of a total of 3 sets, and the team that scores 15 points first in one set wins. It is a best-of-three system. If the score of both teams is 14:14, the team that scores 2 points first and reaches 16 points wins. You cannot hit the shuttlecock beyond the net, and you must not touch the net during the game.
Next, the materials for the game are simple. All you need is just three things. They are the shuttlecock, handler and net. The handler is made of a rubber material attached to a hard plastic or wooden board, and has a grooved handle. It is usually about 20cm wide and 26cm long. The shuttlecock is the same as the shuttlecock used in badminton, and a feathered or plastic shuttlecock is used. A 1.5m high net is placed in the center of the court, just like in badminton. There is a 1m service line based on the net. Additionally, the court is 2m wide.
Last but not least, there are some effective technologies that we could use when playing padminton. Overhand: Hitting a ball coming over your head. Underend: Hitting a ball coming below your waist by lifting it up from below. Backhand: Hitting a ball coming to the left side of your body with the racket on the back of your hand. Sidearm: Hitting a ball coming from above your waist to your shoulder line. Smash: Used when you are hitting a ball at the top of your head. Push: Used when you are hitting a ball coming to your chest with force.
All in all, padminton is a sport that all people can enjoy together. You should remember the rules, materials, and technologies of padminton. Now, are you ready to enjoy padminton?
Recently, Storm Bert brought heavy rain and strong winds to parts of the UK, causing floods and damage to homes and roads. Sadly, at least five people lost their lives due to the storm.
Why Is This Happening?
Dr. Leanne Archer, a climate change scientist from the University of Bristol, explains that as our planet gets warmer, we can expect more intense and frequent rainstorms. She says, “The intensity of rain will increase as the climate continues to warm.” This means that when it rains, it might pour harder, leading to more floods because the water has to find somewhere to go quickly.
What Does the Future Hold?
Data from the Met Office, studied by the UK website Carbon Brief, shows that UK winters are becoming warmer and wetter. This trend is expected to continue, leading to more storms like Bert in the future.
What Can We Do?
Dr. Archer suggests that we need to improve our flood defenses to handle these changes. She also believes that the government should set strong goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to slow down climate change.
A government spokesperson mentioned that they are working towards becoming a “clean energy superpower” and are speeding up efforts to reach net zero emissions.
Key Questions:
What impact did Storm Bert have on the UK?
How does a warming climate affect rainfall patterns?
What are scientists suggesting to reduce future flood risks?
What actions is the government taking to address climate change?
Vocabulary:
Climate Change: Long-term changes in temperature and weather patterns, mainly due to human activities like burning fossil fuels.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Gases like carbon dioxide that trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere, leading to global warming.
Net Zero: Balancing the amount of greenhouse gases emitted with the amount removed from the atmosphere.
Flood Defenses: Structures like levees and barriers designed to protect areas from flooding.
It is November 13th and was created in 1998 by several World Kindness Movement organizations. It is an unofficial holiday which encourages people to be kind and spreads happiness.
People celebrates this day by being kind and doing some random acts of kindness. For example, you can smile at the strangers, give your seat to the someone else, or send some kind note for someone.
In my opinion, this day is important because undertaking actions of kindness makes others pleasant and people who received kindnesses can be kinder to the another people. This means that the kindnesses will be repeating.
On December 3, 2024, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, a rare and serious action where the military takes control over normal government functions. He claimed this was necessary due to “anti-state activities” by opposition parties and alleged threats from North Korea. This move surprised many and led to immediate protests and political turmoil.
What is Martial Law?
Martial law is when the military temporarily takes over the administration of government functions, usually during emergencies like war or severe civil unrest. Under martial law, normal laws can be suspended, and military authorities can enforce laws directly. This can include curfews, restrictions on gatherings, and control over the media.
Why Did President Yoon Declare Martial Law?
President Yoon stated that opposition parties were engaging in activities that threatened the country’s democracy and accused them of collaborating with North Korea. He also faced declining approval ratings and political gridlock, which may have influenced his decision. However, he did not provide specific evidence to support these claims.
How Did People React?
The declaration was met with widespread criticism. Both opposition leaders and members of President Yoon’s own party opposed the move, calling it undemocratic. Citizens protested in the streets, and the National Assembly (South Korea’s parliament) held an emergency session, voting unanimously to cancel the martial law declaration. Under South Korean law, the president must lift martial law if the National Assembly votes against it.
What Happened Next?
Following the National Assembly’s vote, President Yoon lifted the martial law declaration within six hours. Despite this, the situation has led to calls for his impeachment and raised concerns about the stability of South Korea’s democracy. The incident has also caused economic instability, affecting the country’s stock market and currency value.
Key Questions:
What is martial law, and when is it typically declared?
Why did President Yoon declare martial law in December 2024?
How did the National Assembly respond to the martial law declaration?
What were the public’s reactions to the declaration of martial law?
What are the potential consequences of this incident for South Korea’s political future?
Vocabulary:
Martial Law: A temporary rule by military authorities, imposed during emergencies when civilian government is unable to function.
National Assembly: The legislative body of South Korea, similar to a parliament.
Impeachment: A process by which a legislative body charges a government official with misconduct.
Approval Ratings: Measurements of public support for a political figure or institution.
Political Gridlock: A situation where there is little to no progress in government decision-making due to opposing parties blocking each other’s proposals.
Sometimes, you might get mad about a prank someone has played on you. Try pranking back. However, do it scientifically. Try the “Cola Trap.”
The Cola Trap:
First, make a small hole in a Mentos. Put a string IN the hole and put it in the neck of a cola bottle (make sure the Mentos doesn’t touch the cola). Then close the lid and cut the bits of string off. Finally, just let him or her open it.
How this works: The cola makes bubbles because of carbon dioxide. The Mentos causes the carbon dioxide to be produced more quickly, which makes it explode!
Another prank is the “Frozen Teacup.”
The Frozen Teacup:
Make some nice tea. Put some fake “sugar” (actually sodium polyacrylate) in the cup of tea. Oh no! Your tea froze! (WARNING: NEVER DRINK IT!)
How this works: The sodium polyacrylate is a material that absorbs liquid very well. Because it absorbs liquid so well, it is often used in diapers. When it absorbs liquid, it can make a substance look frozen. That’s how it works!
Most people have read Gulliver’s Travels, a fictional travel journal narrated by a man called Gulliver. Most believe the book to be nothing more than a children’s book full of imagined, faraway lands-Lilliput and Brobdingnag. With all means of respect, those people are ignorant, probably didn’t even read the book, but merely glanced at reviews also written by uninformed people like them. Initially, Lilliput and Brobdingnag are only two of Gulliver’s four trips to undiscovered countries. And, more importantly, Gulliver’s Travels represents a message to the reader by the author (Jonathan Swift). Today, I’ll discuss the full contents of Gulliver’s Travels and the secret meaning written in between the lines.
To begin, some background information on the main character, Lemuel Gulliver. Gulliver is an English man of decent rank. He has a wife and daughter, but left them behind as his job as a seaman insisted upon it. At first, Gulliver believes humankind, especially England, his home country of which he is so devoted to, is superior and more fortunate. However, as the saga continues, he changes his perspective, occasionally disappointed in humans, and, at the end of this book, completely repulsed by the species. Here’s a brief summary of the whole story.
Part I: Gulliver is shipwrecked and ends up in Lilliput, a remote country where miniscule people, about as tall as his index finger live in civilizations. Gulliver, seen as a giant amongst them, is first treated as a prisoner, but then earns the king’s trust and earns appropriate treatment from the royal family. Lilliput itself is in the midst of a war with the neighboring country of Blefuscu about whether you should crack eggs from the upper/lower part. It also faces internal conflict concerning shoe soles.
Part II: Gulliver travels to Brobdingnag, a land of giants. He is invited to live in the royal palace with a girl, Glumdalclitch to care for him. He faces many dangers, like being stomped on or eaten. Brobdingnag is peaceful, not having unnecessary ambitions to conquer other countries. That’s why the king scorns Gulliver when he boasts about England’s advanced but deadly weaponry
Part III: Attacked by pirates, Gulliver escapes to a floating island called Laputa. In Laputa, arithmetic and music is advanced, but citizens are not familiar with those pieces of knowledge, so clothes don’t fit, houses are drafty and slant to one side, and everyday life is a mess. Gulliver visits several countries on land too, owned by Laputa. There’s Lagado, where there’s an Academy of science. There were labs with people conducting experiments to convert human excrement to food, to build houses starting from the roof, to use cucumbers to make sunlight, and so on.
Part IV: Gulliver went to the land of horses, Houyhnhnms. The Houyhnhnms were also sticklers for peace and frowned upon war. They raised Yahoos, an abominable, deplorable, wild species shockingly similar to humans. That is why Gulliver was disgusted by the human race upon returning to England, and came to realize our faults-violence, falsehood etc. He refrained from letting his family even touch him, claiming they reminded him of those gruesome, uncivilized Yahoos.
So, what’s the secret message inside this seemingly innocent story? For one, the author, Jonathan Swift wrote this book to look down upon England’s government. He wanted this book to inform English citizens of the government’s faults, and possibly to enlighten the government itself.
At the beginning of Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver visits Lilliput, where people are fighting over insensible matters like how to crack eggs and shoe heels. This represents how political leaders are fighting over stupid things, and how it seems they’re pretending to do something, but actually have no idea how to do their job, so are just wasting time. In Brobdingnag, the author compares them to the peaceful giants by writing about how the king chastises Gulliver and England for focusing on war and war only. In Laputa (and Lagado), the government concentrated on math, music, science etc. However, their examinations and experiments were of no use in real life-study for the sake of study. While those obsessed scientists stayed stuck inside their laboratories, the citizens starved and ailed from diseases. Last but not least, the Yahoos living under the Houyhnhnms represent humankind as a whole. Smith is hinting people are just lucky atrocious beasts, making enemies between themselves and of nature.
There’s one other way Smith shows his disapproval of England. ‘Gulliver’, who used to love his home country, means ‘gullible’!
If you read this article and had a guilty, nagging feeling in the pit of your stomach while reading the introduction, I hope you finally learned something from reading this, and don’t become one of those impossible people who don’t even read Gulliver’s Travels and write a review saying, “Great book for kids~”! If you didn’t read the book, please do! I hope this article helps you break down the text and it didn’t give away too much spoilers!
These days, people have a lot of cats. People think cats don’t need much care. However, there is actually a lot of know about them.
First, I will explain about how to feed a cat. To change your cat’s meal, you should let your cat adapt to the new food by changing its food a little bit each day. The food you give them depends on the cat’s size. For example, if your cat is slender, you should give them a larger amount of food.
Second, cats need a scratching post to sharpen their claws. A scratching post can be placed in a cat tower. A scratching post allows cats to get some exercise. You can find one at your local pet store. When your cat scratches on a scratching post, the rope there is strong and won’t shred when the cat scratches it.
Third, cats need to get exercise. Some cats will like to play, but some of them won’t. You should buy or make toys for their exercise. Some playful cats can go on a walk, just like dogs. Maybe you can give your cat a large-sized toy like a cat tower, some cat trees or a cat walk. Cats also need a lot of exercise outside. There are many ways to make an unplayful cat exercise. For example, if you have a patio, you can make a “catio,” which has an outdoor enclosure for cats where they can enjoy the outdoors.
In conclusion, all owners of cats should think about how to take care of cats carefully. Everyone needs to know these 3 tips to take care of a cat so that cats can live for a long time with their owners.
Reference: The Cat Encyclopedia for Kids by Joanne Mattern
Usually, mosquitoes live from March to September. However, it is now November and they are still around! We can figure out why.
First, there are mosquitos because of global warming. Mosquitos live in warm climates, and global warming makes the world hotter. Therefore, mosquitos will be around longer. Global warming means that the Earth has been getting hot for a long time because of gases. Some gases are terrible for the Earth. Also, trash is created by people. When people burn trash, it creates some gases that cause global warming.
Second, in apartments there are heating systems and some warm pipes. As I said, mosquitoes love hot or warm places. There are warm parts of a heating system in an apartment. Therefore, mosquitos might bite you when you are in your apartment.
Third, apartments are naturally warmer than the outside, so mosquitoes will come in. They are attracted to people’s sweat and water that is left around. When those mosquitos die, they have some small eggs in the warm pipes, and when they grow up, you will still have mosquitos.
To prevent this, you should not do any sweaty sports or workouts. In addition, don’t often open the windows when you’re in the first to fourth floor. Finally, you should go outside with a thick jacket. If you do these things, mosquitoes will hopefully never bite you!
Birth of Joseon Dynasty: Lee Sung Gei, Founder of Joseon Dynasty
What do you know about Korean history? Are you interested in Korean history? Here’s a series I plan to write about Joseon Dynasty, one of kingdoms used to be before Modern Republic of Korea! In fact, Hangul, Hanbok, Kimchi, Bibimbop and many well-known Korean cultural products are from Joseon Dynasty!
Lee Sung Gei is Taejo(Founder) of Joseon dynasty. He was born in 1335, far northern area of Korea where is now North Korea. He was very brave and smart from the young so soon became a general of Coryo Dynasty (A nation just before Joseon dynasty. “Korea” name came from Coryo dynasty!) The king fo Coryo was not wise enough to be a king so he got scared of Lee Sung Gei as Lee had got political power and military power at the same time. Lee became more and more powerful, even more powerful than the King. Finally the king yielded his crown to Lee and Lee established Joseon Dynasty in 1392. Lee spent 6 years as a King and decided to yield his crown to his 2nd son as he saw that his 7 sons killed each other to become crown prince. What he saw made him in deep sorrow and angry. He left the capital, Hanyang (now we call Seoul) and lived in far-northern Korea. His second son became the second King, Jeongjong.
If you would like to read more about the Joseon Dynasty and want to see who invented Hangul, please wait until I come back with my next article!
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