Category: d.lab

Cyber Security and Apple Blog Post

Drew on

I talked about the situation with my dad and we thought that with the ransomeware, if you pay, the hackers could do it again but if you don’t pay, you could lose everything. We thought that the FBI is just asking Apple to rewrite all their rules to open a phone that they don’t know if there is any information in it. Plus, it means that if the government gets the skeleton key, they could spy on you. We both think that the government shouldn’t get a skeleton key.

Gun Violence

Drew on

I talked about gun violence with my mom and this is what we came up with:

We both think that the world would be safer without guns but there are problems with not having them in the world like the armed forces wouldn’t be able to protect our country and police wouldn’t be able to protect cities. Maybe there should be stricter laws around gun purchases because that would limit the number of people who have access.

The problem with this is people have the right to bear arms in the Constitution so we’d have to change the Constitution for the country to have the same gun law throughout. Right now, each state gets to make up its own laws. While New York City has a law that you have to have a permit to own a gun, lots of places don’t like Alabama and Mississippi. We looked at a website that said 1 in 3 people know someone who has been killed by a gun.

Human Computer

Drew on

Last week in D-lab, Clair turned us into a computer! We all were computer parts and doing what the computer parts did. I played the roles of CPU, User and Peripheral. I noticed that the computer goes really fast. I learned that whenever the computer is loading, you should not be mad, it is doing so much for you. I would of liked to played the role of the Hard Drive.

Thanks for reading,

Drew

First Weeks of Middle School

Drew on

Something that I’ve liked during the first few weeks of school is that recess is before lunch because you don’t go outside full and during recess, you’re always looking forward to eating. Something else I like about Middle School is that we only have one full week in our first seven.  I liked the first day of school because I got to know who all the teachers were and what they liked. The best thing about Middle School is that you get a clean slate. If a teacher knew you’re chatty, they’ll move you but in Middle School, you get to start over. Also you can get snack from 1:45 to 2:45.

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The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman

Drew on

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This summer I read a book called The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman written by Meg Wolitzer. The main characters are Duncan Dorfman (from Drilling Falls, Pennsylvania), April Blunt (from Portland, Oregon) and Nate Saviano (from New York City). They each represent teams at a national scrabble tournament (the YST a.k.a. the Youth Scrabble Tournament) in Florida. There are four main problems:

  1. Duncan is a new kid in his town at a new school trying to figure out a new life.
  1. April is the only person in her sporty family who hasn’t won anything and she’s trying to get into the spotlight.
  1. Nate is getting homeschooled by his dad who has high expectations for him as a Scrabble player.
  1. ONLY ONE TEAM CAN WIN!

One event that changed the directional point of the story is when Carl Slater, captain of the Drilling Falls middle school Scrabble club and bully, finds out about Duncan’s power. I’m not going to tell you what it is because you have to read the book first. Fine, I’ll tell you what Carl says. Carl says to Duncan, “You’re telling me you can feel the words underneath your fingers without looking? I have plans for you, Lunch Meat (Duncan’s nickname from the first day of school — this is a part of the story you will find out about when you read the book!)” Duncan has to decide whether he wants to use his special talent or not to win. Another event that changes the story is when Nate gets frustrated during a game and quits the tournament. His teammate, Maxie, ends up quitting, too. They have a conversation and Maxie offends Nate. Nate says, “I am not selfish, Maxie. I had no idea you cared so much about this tournament.” Then Maxie says, “Oh, you thought I was just doing it for you Nate? Well, think again.” Nate and Maxie become friends again and finish the tournament (they end up losing to Duncan’s team and place third).

I enjoyed the book because it was a story about friendship. An example of friendship is when Nate walked away from the Scrabble game and Maxie came and got him back in to it. Another reason why I enjoyed the book was there was a lot of action in it. An action scene was when Nate’s father, Larry, met his old Scrabble partner, Wendell Bruno. Wendell was talking, and talking, and talking about when they played Scrabble together. And THEN he started talking about how he looks for a Saviano in every single Scrabble tournament. But it was an action part and a BIG part in the story. Also one last reason I enjoyed the book was because it makes you want to play Scrabble. After I finished the book, I wanted to play a game of Scrabble and I did. I would rate this book 5 stars because Meg Wolitzer did a good job of telling the story and not having it get too complicated with lots of characters who play a big part in the plot.

THE END *****