Dulwich Despatch Lower School Boys’ Newspaper—Christmas Issue 2015
Sam Hepburn Author Visit
Sam Hepburn visited the Raymond Chandler Library for Black History Month. and gave a lively author talk to an enthusiastic audience. She was promoting her new book If You Were Me which has been well received by the boys here--they universally gave it excellent reviews. Nick’s Review: Sam Hepburn came to talk to us about her new book- If You Were Me . She talked about how to write crime novels and the different techniques used to write them. She told us about the competition between author and reader in crime novels- if the author still has you guessing who the villain is the author has won, but if the reader is absolutely sure of who the villain is the author has lost. The book was really interesting as it follows a young teenage girl, Aliya who must prove her brother is not guilty of terrorism and prove the world wrong. It follows Aliya as she goes through problem after problem to find out the truth. It was a real privilege for us to have Sam Osman at the College and I know everyone who came enjoyed the talk. Plot summary:
Nicholas Blumschein, 8W and Jake Connellan, 8L met the author
leak, they set out together to try and find out why Behrouz, Aliya’s brother, is now in hospital and is being a accused of being an Afghan terrorist. This book is set in central London and is filled with all of the classic clichés that you would expect. There are rundown, leaning apartment blocks and a dirty canal with shopping trolleys crashed into it and thin Tesco plastic bags floating on the top of the algae-infested water. Polluted air hovers over the vast city as the dark clouds of a British autumn approach the city from the western coast. This is truly a book where you feel as though you are standing right there watching the events unfold before your very eyes. What I think is especially good about this book is that not only is it written from two points of view (Dan and Aliya’s) it also has a very good storyline and the variety of characters is really excellent. In addition there are many surprises and shocks that come with the book, popping up almost ever chapter. I would personally recommend it to anyone who enjoys an excellent quality of writing.
Not long after Aliya’s family escapes Afghanistan for Britain, her brother is accused of a bomb attack. Aliya is sure of his innocence, but when plumber’s son Dan finds a gun in their bathroom, what’s she to think? Dan has his own reasons for staying silent: he’s worried the gun might have something to do with his dad. Thrown together by chance, the two of them set out to uncover a tangled and twisted mystery. Jake’s Review:
Despite it’s rather dull front cover and simple title, If You Were Me is one of the most gripping, thrilling and well- written books that I have read in a long time. It tells the story of Aliya, a fourteen year old girl from Afghanistan who has fled to England for a new life with her family. After meeting Dan Abbott, the son of a plumber who comes to visit to fix a
What’s Inside Your Bumper Copy of Dulwich Despatch?
Current Affairs:
Page Christmas:
Page Creative Writing:
Page
McDonalds in North Korea
22 Jokes
40 My Book
23-24
Paris Attacks
33-35 Traditions
11,12 Poetry:
2-3, 11, 32 & 35
Russian doping
25 Word Search
12 Under the Bridge
8
US Muslim teen security alert
25
History:
Sport:
Japan
16-18
Cricket Test Matches
31
Computing:
Artificial Intelligence
5 Nazi Gold Train
32 Football or Rugby
19
Coding
5 Pompeii
15 Football Premier League
26
Programming Club
4
Race of Champions
21
Entertainment and reviews:
Awesome Recipes:
6-7 General Interest:
Artwork:
Cartoons
24, 37 Rocca Restaurant
13 Brain Teasers
20
Comic Project
31 The Martian
9 Origami
37-39
House Photo’s
29-30 Walking with Dinosaurs
14 Dream Machines
27
YouTube Favourites
40
Kids Lit Quiz
10
My Cat
36
RCL Report
28
Page No: 2 Dulwich Despatch
Poetry
The cloaked Dracula Naps in the dark shadows of caves Solitary Like a lost tomb Clinging on the cave ceiling Blending into the cape of darkness The living shadow awakes
Its jet-black pearls of eye Masking itself in the cold, conscious, close night The scaly, leaf-like wing unfolding its umbrella Out from the cave, the flittermouse danced Whirling and swirling, dodging and towering Nature’s whistle blowing smoothly On its fluttering fingers The soaring, fleshless mammal Smirking, revealing its crystal-white swords She commences her solo piece She sings Singing with such melody, such She sings Her voice the distinguished sound from heaven Dinner of mosquitoes and moths Skimming across the water The reflection of her vanishes from the living shadow harmony, such tempo, such beauty A joy of happiness sprung On the savage, snouted face
The sweet, comforting dark envelops the sky, Smothering the brightness. The black bat awakens, Clinging to his rafter. Dagger-like fangs hang from a wolf-like face, Penetrating eyes shine like black pearls, Skeletal arms flap, Sharp cries pierce the air like spears. He spirals into the night, Adorned in elegance. He plucks moths in his claws, Skimming across the shimmering water, Absorbing the black, Feasting on snack after snack. A flitting shadow in the moonlight The dark knight. Swift bat flying stealthily, Fluttering through the dark in perfect symmetry. Prancing, dancing, looping, swooping Soaring through the sky His black cape whirls. The bat is gone.
Carrier of diseases Drinker of blood Companion of demons Fertiliser of Plants
The bat goes to sleep
William Sachs 8E
Janoshan Manoharan, 8E
Page No: 3 Christmas Issue 2015
Poetry
On I Go
I see the scarlet sky and sigh, How did this happen, and why? I hate being lonely this time of year But tomorrow the end of this is nigh, And on my horse, on I go. The woods are white yet deep and dark. As we go, trees bend in an arc And whisper to each other as I walk. I see my footsteps leave a long trail, But on my horse, on I go. Far away beyond me I see People perfect their Christmas tree, Presents being stuffed into stockings. Thoughts of their cheer don’t stop pestering me But on my horse, on I go.
Eventually, I reach my home The heavy door gives a groan. I start a fire and watch the flame burn It is burning away all my sorrow And even with my loneliness, on I go.
Emilio Nunzi and Alex Pickworth, 7C
Winter
Until summer we wait, We wait until Hades opens his gate.
Oh Persephone , where art thou, Because of you it’s winter now.
So Queen of the Underworld where art thou Because of you it’s winter now.
Summer’s gone and with it all its fun The dark old winter has just begun.
Demeter’s angry and I am too, Because thanks to to you we are subject to winter’s gloom.
Life seems grim. It is a bad time up here And it doesn’t seem the time you come back is near.
So thanks to you we have to endure the rain When you’re not here life is such a pain.
Ekow Amoah, 7B
Page No: 4 Dulwich Despatch
Introduction Have you ever wondered how computer games were made or how artists can make works using code? Well you can learn all of this at Programming Society! In this club, we use a website called Code.org which is teaching us to code games like Angry Birds, Flappy Bird and to make art with code. It’s held every Wednesday lunchtime in IT2 (on the ground floor of the PortaLabs) with Mr Cartwright. The History of Programming Language The first computer program is dated to 1843, when Ada Lovelace translated the memoirs of an Italian mathematician, which detailed how to calculate a series of numbers on an invention called the Analytical Engine. In these early days, computer codes were designed for specific machines and were very basic. In the 1940s, the first electronic computer was made. Because the computers had limited capacity, programmers had to handwrite programming. But after a while it was realised that programming language could be very complex and required a great deal of intellectual effort. John Mauchly invented ‘Short Code’ in 1949, which was one of the first high-level languages ever developed for an electronic computer.
There were still issues here, but over time, people have gradually improved the ways of coding, enabling even more complex programs. Software and websites like Scratch and Code.org, are used in Programming Society, and are very accessible.
Why You Should Join
Computers are the future! It’s cool to be able to program your own games! It’s creative, and you get to learn while having fun!
Join Programming Society TODAY!
Jay Viray, Jameel Kutthan and Samuel Lynn, 7R
Page No: 5 Christmas Issue 2015
Computer Master Class
oding can mean many different things, and if you like one you will probably like them all! For example: this document is typed in Word, coded in HTML and Word is programmed in C. Even Word’s irritating spelling and grammar check is coded in C. You may have noticed the big C at the start of the document. This is because C is a big programming language. However, you can program C to crack codes – another meaning of coding. If you didn’t already know, code can mean traffic lights, genetic code, password, law. The Highway Code, the Highway Law. Password, code. You probably use a code of some sort at least once a day without realising it. To people who don’t know English, this article might seem like a code. To them you would be using a code all the time. 74686973206973206120706172616772617068 is the hexadecimal ASCII version of “this is a paragraph”. A computer doesn’t think in letters or even normal numbers, it thinks in 1s and 0s. To a computer 1100001 means “a” and 10010100 means “””. However, a computer has to have eight digits when it thinks of letters so “a” would be 01100001. There are still more types of code like spy codes. Very soon spying on computers will become a thing of the past because of quantum networks, but that’s for another day. Computers try to stop spies unless they are spies themselves. For now though, spies are helped by computers, but they’re also found, recorded and stopped by computers. Computers try to stop spies...unless they are spies themselves. Penn Mackintosh, 7W C
Could AI Spell The End of Mankind?
It’s just sci-fi right? In reality, Artificial Intelligence or “AI“ isn’t that far away. We have already developed clumsy vacuum cleaners that hoover our floors. Soon we will have developed A.I for more complicated tasks. Imagine AI programmed to make paperclips at all costs. Then a human comes along and to tries to turn the machine off, but the AI sees the human as a threat to its paperclip making and deals with the threat. The AI learns from this and sees all of humanity as a threat. It then starts to try and wipe out humanity. My point is not that paper clips are dangerous but that we need to be careful, because AI could quickly and easily slip out
of our control. Scientists predict that computers will be smarter than us by the end of the century. As AI gets smarter and learns, it will develop better and more advanced versions of itself. As it gets better it upgrades faster, creating an intelligence explosion in which machines evolve more in an hour than humans have in millions of years. Robots don’t think for themselves, they merely follow their programming, but could they accidentally be programmed to see mankind as an enemy? My opinion is that we should keep developing artificial intelligence, but we should be careful how we program them. We must follow the three rules of robotics: the first rule states that a robot should not injure a human being; the second that a robot must obey human commands; and the third, that a robot must protect its own existence. The second and third rules are to be disregarded if they conflict with the first, so we should be okay, but we must always be in control of what the AI does. Kai Weakley-Rugge 7E
Page 6
Dulwich Despatch
Jesse Lanchester’s Awesome Recipes
Recipe No. 1: Eggy Bread (also known as French toast)
Ingredients: Allow 2 slices of white bread per person (white, not brown or half-and-half, or it won’t soak in as well) Use the same number of eggs as the amount of slices of bread +1 A tablespoon of milk for every egg (e.g. for 4 slices of bread, use 5 eggs and 5 tablespoons of milk)
Method: 1. In a large bowl, crack the eggs and add milk. Stir with a fork until well mixed. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, I know it sounds really gross, but it actually makes it taste better with maple syrup :D 2. Soak the bread in the mix for 30 seconds then place on a well-oiled heated pan. 3. Cook until lightly brown and set, then flip it over 4. Take it out of the pan with a spatula and plate up!
Jesse’s recommendation: Something really awesome is to serve this with maple syrup and bacon. Why not try a banana too. I recommend that you cook the bacon before the eggy bread. Always use maple syrup in moderation
-
as it’s super sweet.
Recipe No. 2: Ultimate sandwich!!!! (also known as really good sandwich)
Ingredients: 2 slices of bread or a bun 4 slices of parma ham (or bacon) Optional (but highly recommended): small cubes of pancetta
Method: 1. Cook all ingredients (other than bread and mozzarella) in one large frying pan
2. Put the mozzarella in a small dish with a little oil. Heat in a low oven until melted then take out, being careful not to burn yourself 3. Add salad (to make it less salty, it will be super salty) 4. Make sandwich in this order: Bread/ bun 2 strips of parma ham (or bacon) mozzarella chorizo pancetta, salad, another 2 strips of parma ham, bread/bun and sauce wherever you want 5. Plate up!
sauce of your choice sweet chilli/ketchup/mayo small cubes of chorizo
2 blobs of mozzarella
Jesse’s recommendation: Warning: You need salad! it’s super salty and probably could kill you from sodium ingestion! You have been warned.
Page 7
Recipe No. 3: American Pancakes of Banana-dreaminess (or just American Pancakes)
Ingredients:
Method: 1. Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl, stir in the sugar 2. Crack the egg into a separate bowl with the milk and whisk them together (this is kinda starting to sound like the French toast, but oh well!) 3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and beat (optional: add in banana slices now for really cool banana pancakes, or little bits of chocolate for chocolate pancakes!) and keep folding the mixture over itself until well mixed 4. Heat a small amount of oil in a frying pan and drop blobs of the mixture 5. Cook on one side for around a minute or until set, then turn over with a spatula to cook the other side (man, what is it with me and spatulas in my recipes!)
150 g plain flour 1 teaspoon of baking powder 3 pinches of salt 150ml milk 1 egg
30g caster sugar oil (for the pan)
Jesse’s recommendation: Once again, something really awesome is to serve with maple syrup and bacon. Why not try a banana too. I recommend that you cook the bacon before the pancakes. Always use maple syrup in moderation - it’s super sweet (yes, I did just copy and paste that from the eggy bread recipe) but if you made the recipe with the bananas inside it, then you only need bacon and maple syrup. It also makes the pancakes easier to manage. Recipe No. 4: Milk Fruit Smoothie (also known as milkshake without ice cream)
Ingredients (per person): 200g strawberries 1 banana 200 ml milk 1 tablespoon honey
Method: 1. Take the green bits off the strawberries then cut in half 2. Slice the banana (or bananas) into thin banana (…things? I don’t know the technical term, it’s just those banana shapes you get when you chop it into pieces, but whatever) 3. Put all the ingredients, including the cut strawberries and banana pieces into a blender and blend until it’s completely smooth 4. Pour the mix into a cup and drink with a straw
100ml natural yoghurt (if you prefer a milkshake, replace the yoghurt and honey with vanilla ice cream)
Jesse’s recommendation: Enjoy!
Jesse Lanchester, 8R
Page 8
Dulwich Despatch
Creative Writing: Under the Bridge
Grandad had promised me that those days were just water under the bridge now, but I knew otherwise. I had seen them in their dog-fur coats, looking like a cross between Inuits of the North and the shrunken heads of the Pacific Islands. They were very secretive in their ways. Only the bravest of trolls poked their miniature heads out from the darkness that lurked under the bridge. The goblins were more lively, but at risk of discovery. I often heard their obscure instruments as they squeezed a tune from the century old designs. Walking home from school, I would listen out for them, desperately hoping a melody would emanate from the shadows. There I stood, frozen in the bitter cold, waiting for a sign of life. I had made the decision not to return home from the market until even the tiniest peep had escaped from under bridge. I sat down on a crumbling rotten bench and watched an army of ants silently invading termite territory. Above me, the weather had morphed into a collection of clouds that were darkening every second, but the rain held off unwillingly. It was as if the individual droplets were on the verge of a show with the clouds as their curtains. Suddenly, I saw a flash of snot green from the corner of my watery eyes. What must have been the smallest, frailest, and eeriest creature on the planet moved towards the opposite bank like it was sprinting in the thickest of mother’s gooseberry syrup. His reedy hair danced ecstatically in the chilly, early spring breeze. In a flash, his ratty face nipped round to glance at me and his complexion stuck like glue in my at once confused mind. The shaped pimple that must have been his nose glinted in the sun underneath his detailed, amber eyes that seemed to be bulging from the rest of his features. The delicately tinged skin that adorned his face was wrinkleless while still maintaining a human form. I watched as his handmade coat fluttered in the wind, writhing like the dog it was made of just before its death. A loosening strand of string that overlaid the rough seams finally left its homeland and ventured out into the world. I excitedly stretched out to get a feel of the craft of the goblins, but as I looked back to the darkening, murky, waters in front of me, I realised that my movement had distracted me from the young creature. I gazed down at the gentle piece of cord in my soft hands in dismay. Then I clutched it in my sweaty palms as if it were my last means of survival, and set off down the lamplit cobblestone road.
Alex Whitwell, 8L
(This creative writing was written in exam conditions during the end of term English test)
Page 9
Film Review The Martian The Martian is a great action/comedy film. It describes the dangers of space and the feelings of a man who feels totally abandoned… on Mars! Mars is a place where there is no food… he’s got to eat, Mars is a place where there is no water… he’s got to drink, Mars is a place where there is no company… he’s got to keep his mind. It keeps the viewer truly fascinated as to how he copes. At the beginning of the movie, a team of astronauts are on Mars running
experiments as is standard for astronauts to do. They’ve been there a while running these experiments and living in the space ship. The storms on Mars are huge and they are no extraordinary thing for the astronauts, who regularly have to retreat to the ship because of them. However this time the storm is particularly powerful and the team becomes trapped in it!!! They have to put almost all their strength into walking, because the storm is so strong. Soon it starts breaking bits off the base they set up and the space ship starts to tip. The pilot is still inside the ship and notices the ship tipping on a monitor. A bit breaks off the base and strikes Mark Watney who gets hurled away and lost. The team are forced to give up looking for him when the storm gets worse. They leave and head back to Earth. He has no connection with the Earth and only has enough food for 400 days. It will be at least 4 years before a manned mission can
rescue him. He has quite a lot of potatoes but not nearly enough to last, his way round this is to grow more. The only problem is that nothing grows on Mars. Also there is no water so he has to make it. He had all the elements but there are a few… explosions on the way. He also finds out he can grow potatoes in his own poo. Fortunately he finds a camera from a 1980 probe. By tracking him NASA realise what he’s doing and use the camera (which is attached to the probe). He then uses hexadecimals to speak to NASA. But can he survive the whole 3 years? Overall this is a great film which I would highly recommend. It has disasters along with triumphs and has a great ending. Max Franklin Davis, 7E
Page No: 10 Dulwich Despatch
Kids Lit Quiz 2015 The Kids Lit Quiz is an annual competition run by Wayne Mills that takes place all round the world, in which the questions are based on books. There are ten rounds with ten questions each. Each round has a theme and at the beginning you decide which round will be your joker round (in which points are doubled) based on the round titles. Those who win their local heat, for us South London, get prizes and go on to the national heat, then the winners to the international final. This year the international heat is in New Zealand.
Several months before the local heat the Kids Lit Quiz club runs at DC. It is often on several days a week and uses questions from previous years, including the one I was in. Based on how you do you may or may not get picked for the team, but as I found out it is worth a try. Although I thought I knew too little about books, even though I do read, I managed to get in.
Many famous books have questions appearing time and time again, Harry Potter often has a round to itself. If you like reading try to get in to the competition, and if you do try to beat the Dulwich College B Team of 2015 who finished in 3 rd place. Will you do better than us? My Report on the Quiz 2015:
We weren’t doing too well, 23 rd place and it was already the third round of ten. The other group were in about 16 th . However, most other groups played their joker in the Harry Potter round, yet we still had the World Myths to play. We had crept slowly through the rankings, but the board was hard to make out, when it was actually on. Where had we come? I hoped for 11 th
place, maybe 10 th if we were lucky. At least I had enjoyed it, even more so knowing that next year I couldn’t do it. Third place was being announced. “And third place, is Dulwich College B Team!” proclaimed Wayne, the Quizmaster. I was amazed. Up we went to receive our certificates and handshakes, this was more than I could have hoped for. When the photos were taken I remembered that I needed to smile to show my happiness, I couldn’t expect people to guess how I was feeling. We may not have qualified for the National Heat but I was extremely happy.
Ned Wildgoose-Bulloch, 8C
Page No: 11 Christmas Issue 2015
Christmas
As we all know, Christmas is a wonderful celebration that happens on 25th of December. It is a festive time for all of us to exchange presents and spend time with family but the meaning of
and attached lighted candles to its branches. King Albert brought the Christmas tree to England, as he was part German. Now the Christmas tree in England is a
tradition and lots of people have a Christmas tree at Christmas to look at and decorate, whatever their religion. The Christmas Meal At Christmas most people have an enormous and delicious meal. The meal comprises roasted meat, usually turkey, beef, goose, or even a chicken if your family is small. Roast potatoes, pigs in blankets, stuffing and sprouts and a variety of vegetables accompany this feast. Christmas pudding is a steamed
Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Christmas is made up of two words, which are Christ and mass. Christ means Jesus, and mass is the church service. Together these words mean the special celebratory services with carols on both Christmas Day and Christmas Eve. The Christmas Tree The evergreen fir tree (Christmas tree) has traditionally been used to celebrate winter festivals both
Adoration of the Shepherds by Gerard van Honthorst depicts the nativity of Jesus
Christmas, Oh Christmas, You’re the best time of year, You’re full of delight, joy and good cheer. Everyone is merry, Smiles upon many Faces as red as a freshly picked cherry. Choirs, Oh choirs, Fill the church with holy sound, Angelic, calm and peace all around. pagan and Christian for thousands of years. Pagans used branches of it to decorate their homes during the winter solstice, as it made them think of the spring to come. Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it. In the 16th century devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. Some built pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if suitable trees were scarce. It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th- century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree. Walking toward his home one winter evening, composing a sermon, he was awed by the brilliance of stars twinkling amidst evergreens. To recapture the scene for his family, he put a tree up in the main room
Christmas dinner, Oh Christmas dinner, You’re such an indulgent feast, Full of treats, sweets and delicious meats. And everyone meeting, Chatting and feasting, This is the joy of fabulous eating. Presents, Oh joyous presents, You’re always given to good girls and boys, Full of prizes, gifts and exciting toys, Everyone preparing, Caring and tearing, Christmas is a time for love and sharing. dark fruit pudding, served with flaming brandy. In the Middle Ages many people had a big meal like this with smoked meats, so a big Christmas meal is a tradition. Christmas Presents At Christmas we exchange presents, as Christmas is the time for giving and sharing. Christmas presents are only given to good children when they hang up their stockings on Christmas Eve. The tradition was if you were bad at Christmas you would receive lumps of coal. In Germany if you were bad you were given lots of dead sticks. Hardy Hodges, 7C
Everyone together, Parting, oh never, All will enjoy Christmas forever.
Edward Cook 7C
Page No: 12 Dulwich Despatch
Has Christmas lost its meaning?
Since its beginnings Christmas, I fear, has slowly been distorted. In my opinion Christmas used to be a beautiful religious event that held meaning and value to Christians. Now however, it has been taken advantage of, to receive presents and not think about reciprocating. It has also been transformed into a way for parents to indulge their children with presents. Furthermore, Christmas is slowly being ripped away from December! It's as if everyone is celebrating Halloween and then, the day after, the Christmas decorations are up! Just yesterday I was walking through East London and a house was smothered in them. There was a waving Father Christmas, a fake snowman, lights plastering the house and this is in the middle of November! I wouldn't look twice if it was the 23rd of December but it was the 23rd of November! Although I do love Christmas, and acknowledge its festivity and fun, I do think that some people are slowly helping to denigrate the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas was meant to celebrate the birth of Christ and the sacrifice he made for the world, yet this is rarely distinguishable from the receiving of presents. I believe that, if it's celebrated with its true meaning, then it's a fantastic festival.
Elijah Bimenyimana, 7C
Page No: 13 Christmas Issue 2015
Restaurant Review: Rocca
Rocca Di Papa Address: 75-79 Dulwich Village, London SE21 7BJ Telephone:0208 299 6333 Opening hours: 08:30 am - 11:30 pm Cost of a typical child’s meal: £5-8 Ratings: ****
Rocca is a warm, lovely Italian restaurant situated in the heart of Dulwich Village. I would recommend going here for lunch on a warm summer’s day, after the end of term when we break at midday. I often enjoy a visit to Rocca before a trip to Dulwich Park to play some football and ride bikes with my classmates. The venue Is very big, bright and spacious. There are tables for large groups, for parties or for all of your friends to sit at once. They also cater for smaller groups, and there is a soft seating sofa area where you can enjoy a small meal whilst playing a game of chess.
Whilst they have excellent indoor facilities they also have an outdoor dining area, decorated with authentic Italian grape vines growing around the enclosure.
If you have pets they will also cater for you both to dine here, as they have seats outside which have water bowls for dogs beside each table.
Food Now we are on to the food which varies from pasta and pizza to chicken and chips and also mussels. If you fancy Italian food, Rocca is the place to be. Do not worry about the kids’ portion sizes as the pasta meals are very big with an extra portion of unlimited cheese! The friendly staff are always on hand to top up on cheese!
If you're worried about your parents, then please reassure them that the wine served here is cheap, and imported all the way from Italy.
Service The service here is excellent. They are really attentive to the customers, frequently asking if everything is ok. It seems me that they always remember me, and call me nice names such as “Boss Man” and “Bambino”.
Tobore Aaron Aroriode. 7C
Page No: 14 Dulwich Despatch
Allosaurus: A Walking with Dinosaurs Special Recently archaeologists have unearthed the skeleton of a young Allosaurus. One of the largest carnivores in the Jurassic period, it was a theropod, which is a dinosaur that walks on two legs. It has been named Little Al. This reminded me of another Allosaurus that they unearthed named Big Al. Big Al was born in the Jurassic era, with
a few siblings, to a mother Allosaurus, which only cared for her young in the early stage of their life. Big Al soon become an adolescent, but hunting was hard for a young Allosaurus as some of the bigger dinosaurs dwarfed him. He had to hunt small dinosaurs such as Dryosaurs (small theropod herbivores that lived in the Jurassic Period). Soon he would start hunting sauropods (the largest family of dinosaurs, the biggest of them being the largest land creature ever found). Whilst hunting a sauropod scientists think that he took a massive tail hit to the
This is how Big Al was shown on the Walking with Dinosaurs Special
ribs, breaking a few of them in the process. He recovered after a while and carried on his life. Soon he found a female Allosaurus and decided that it was time to mate but the female disagreed. The female being the bigger and stronger dinosaur decided to bite Big Al wounding him and nearly breaking his neck. Scientists think this because it is the most probable reason why he has Allosaurus bite marks on his skeleton around the neck.
Big Al soon escaped the female and started to hunt smaller dinosaurs again. On one occasion, whilst hunting he tripped over, cutting the middle toe on one of his feet. Little did he know that this was going to be the end of him. His toe became infected and he died soon after. He was probably feasted on by smaller carnivores or maybe even young Allosaurs. It is amazing how much scientists can tell about a dinosaur’s life from just having a good long look at its skeleton and all of its injuries. I can’t wait to see what we can find out about Little Al! All of my information I found out about by watching the Walking With Dinosaurs Special: The Ballad of Big Al. If you want to learn more about Big Al just find the episode on Netflix or YouTube if you are allowed access to them.
Big Al’s infected toe
I really enjoyed watching it myself and one of my friends really enjoyed it as well, and if you like dinosaurs I really would recommend you watch it. I wonder if Little Al will have a story as interesting as Big Al’s?
Rory Stein. 7E
Page No: 15 Christmas Issue 2015
History Society: Pompeii
1900 years ago Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the city of Pompeii in smoke and volcanic rock, whilst lava flows travelling at speeds of 30mph enveloped the city in minutes. As Pliny the Younger described it: “Broad sheets of fire and leaping flames battered the buildings”. This powerful combination proved too much for the citizens, and two thousand people died. Most of the Pompeiians, on realising their lives were in danger, fled to the sea, but the boiling ocean was not sailable and many perished on the beaches, obliterated by the volcano that had erupted with a force one hundred thousand times more powerful than the Hiroshima bombings. 1.5 million tons of lava were expelled per second, and the eruption lasted a terrifying two weeks, in total covering the city in 1,814,400 tons of lava. 1599 saw the rediscovery of Pompeii, when digging to divert the river Sarno came up against ancient walls covered in paintings and writing in the language and style of the Romans. Further investigation by historians led to the discovery being blocked up as the frescoes on the walls were ‘too inappropriate’. It was not until 1738 whilst digging foundations for the palace of the King of Naples that the town of Herculaneaum was found, but it never received the same fame as Pompeii. The city of Pompeii has fascinated tourists and historians alike for centuries, and still does today. The drama and ferocity of the eruption give us an insight into what life was like then, as well as reminding us of the horrific power that nature exercised all those years ago. Alex McClean, 7E
Page No: 16 Dulwich Despatch
History Society: Japanese History
The earliest period of Japanese history is the Jomon Period, named after the pots, characterised by a ropey design, that the farmers of the time made. There still were hunter-gathers, at this time, though more had become farmers by the end of this period. The next period is influenced by Korean ideas. The beginning of the period starts with rice farming being introduced in the third century BC. Recorded at this time in an ancient Chinese document is a queen called Himiko who ruled over a country called Yamati. Six hundred years later a unified state was established in Japan under the Yamato court. More Korean and Chinese influence happened in this period, with manufacturing techniques, tools and weapons being brought in. This period was characterised by its large burial mounds, after which the period was named. “Kofun” means ancient tomb and they were generally built in a keyhole shape. The largest in existence is one thousand feet by on ethousand five hundred feet! In 710AD the government made changes to the old ruling system
"JarWithSpiralsFinalJomonKame gaokaStyle" by I, PHGCOM. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons
and created a new method of governing, the Ritsuryo system that started the Nara Period. This not only set down the law for the country, but also how the country should be split into provinces, districts and neighbourhoods and how they should be governed as well as establishing Buddhism as the official religion, with many temples being built. It was based on the principles of Confucianism and Chinese law. In the Heian Period the capital became the city of Kyoto, and the Ritsuryo system was slowly modified to be closer to the people. Culture flourished and many Japanese literary masterpieces were written at this time, such as the Tales of Genji. The architecture was just as well-crafted with beautiful gardens and giant houses that were one- level mansions covering acres. This period, Kamakura, was
characterised by the overthrow of the emperor and his dynasty and their replacement by the warrior shoguns. The shoguns were the top military commanders in the country at the time and were hitherto appointed by the emperor, but they consolidated their power in 1192 and effectively ruled for nearly 700 years until 1868, when the shogun of the time was forced to hand back power to the emperor. The culture of the time kept up with the new warrior spirit and artistic designs became more realistic, with the same happening in literature as well. The rule of the shoguns was briefly interrupted in 1333 by an emperor who
"KofunHorseCharriots". Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
restored imperial dominance, but his dynasty was weakened over time and the second half of this period was filled with civil strife with the emperors hanging on to control until 1568, when shogun
(Continued on page 17)
Page No: 17 Christmas Issue 2015
dominance was re-established. The restoration of shogun power started a new period in Japanese history, the Azuchi- Momoyama period. Two sengoku shoguns actually restored the warrior dominance, and they ruled one after another. This period’s art became much more indulgent. This style was based on earlier Buddhist
styles and was founded by the upper and middle classes, as well as the ethic discipline of the Way of the Tea. The start of this period was defined by the Battle of Sekigahara, in which a new shogun line was founded. It was a face-off between the forces of the boy-king, lead by Ishida, against a more experienced group of rebels lead by one of Japan’s best generals, Ieyasu. It happened at the crossroads of Sekigahara, after Ieyasu had out-manouvered royal forces and Ishida planed to block the rebels off at Sekigahara. It was an even battle, but the royal forces began to get the upper hand, only to be destroyed by the charge of Kobayakawa Hideaki, who was goaded into battle by Ieyasu firing blanks at him. It is a mystery why he attacked the royalist forces when he had been shot at, but some historians have speculated that it was out of a deep respect for Ieyasu. After this charge the royalists were crushed and Ieyasu consolidated his power and founded the city of Edo, after which this period was named, as this capital city. He and his dynasty created peace
"Tokugawa Ieyasu2" by Kanō Tan'yū - Osaka Castle main tower. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons -
but imposed a 200-year international seclusion, which was only lifted for the last 60 years of this period. In the cities of Osaka and Kyoto at the beginning of this period a down to earth culture had developed with comedy, fiction and tragedy all popular at this time, and this was written about in the popular Kabuki drama, which provided a comical outlook on life. This began with a small troop of
travelling actors, who acted and danced. They were banned a few times but the art finally established itself in the 18 th century and became very popular. It can be compared to modern day pantomimes. The shogunate crumbled now, and it was forced to hand back power to the emperors, which begun the Meiji period. This created far-reaching reforms, and the western world flooded into literature, art and more with modern Japanese literature founded as well as Japanese romanticism. Japanese wars with China and Russia established it as a modern Imperial power. Not much changed coming into the Taisho period, with western literature still very popular, but cultural life was further
"Japan drills Boy Scouts with rifles 1916 2" by Original uploader was Cradel at en.wikipedia -
enhanced by mass circulation of newspapers and mass broadcasting.
(Continued on page 18)
Page No: 18 Dulwich Despatch
Economic crisis allowed the military to take control of the government, which formed a prelude to the Manchurian incident, the cause of Japanese WW2. This conquest of China was sparked off by a bomb that destroyed a Japanese railway. The Japanese claimed that it was set off by Chinese nationalists and used this as an excuse to go to war. The well-trained and experienced Japanese army quickly overran the Chinese and set up the puppet state of Manchukuo, which was resource-rich. It has been speculated that the Japanese actually staged the bombing themselves to create an excuse to go to war. The USA tried to limit Japanese power with the Stimson Doctrine which declared that any Sino- Japanese agreements that broke the USA’s Asia policy would not be officially recognised. The Lytton Report apportioned the blame for the incident equally between Japan and China, which caused Japan to walk out of the League of Nations. This whole incident showed the weakness of
the post-WW1 peace policies in the modern era. Japan strengthened its ties with Germany and Italy, which led them into WW2, beginning with the 1939 RTB (Rome-Tokyo-Berlin) Axis pact, which continued the relations with Germany and Italy. Then in 1941 Japan rejected Roosevelt’s Ultimatum for the withdrawal of Japanese troops from China. Roosevelt therefore stopped the oil trade with Japan and this was a good enough reason for Japan to go to war with the US, starting with the bombing of Pearl Harbour, which the Japanese hoped would destroy the US Pacific fleet. This was not as effective as they had hoped and the USA fleet bounced back in two years. It was a successful war for the Japanese until the disastrous Battle of Midway where the US fleet destroyed 4
"Ford Island aerial photo RIMPAC 1986" by PH2 Thompson, USN - U.S. Defense Imagery photo VIRIN: DN-SC-87-04122.
Japanese aircraft carriers, 248 aircraft, 3,000 men and various other battle ships, crippling the Japanese fleet. In the continuing US island-hopping strategy Midway helped the US as a seaplane staging base and submarine refuelling station. The endgame for Japan began with the deployment of the B-42 long-range bombers over Japan, and the invasion of the southern home islands of Japan. The US met heavy resistance there, and this greatly influenced the usage of the nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Government of Japan surrendered and a gruelling war of kamikazes, island-hopping and nuclear bombs was over. The terms of the Japanese surrender was set out in the Potsdam Declaration, which effectively destroyed Japanese military, restored democracy and only allowed for economic industry. The losses of this war were horrific, but Japan has bounced back to become a world power once again.
Oscar Cunningham, 8W
Page No: 19 Christmas Issue 2015
Which sport is better, Rugby or Footy?
For generations boys have debated this issue. For years there have been vicious battles fought with fury, arguments fuelled by fire. Well it’s time to settle the score once and for all – which is best, rugby or football?
Football It’s fun to watch Football is brilliant fun to watch - the
Rugby More violent
Now this might not sound like a positive, but we all know it is. Rugby players are willing to put their body on the line for their club, breaking their bones in crunching tackles or knocking themselves out reaching for that winning try. And let’s face it, it’s fun to watch – it’s an amazing athletic feat to see fast wingers or massive forwards breaking through the lines, being physically fearless. These players will play in rain or sun, and aren’t afraid to get hurt – surely this is better than all those crying footballers? More Disciplined Yes, rugby is violent, but it’s also disciplined. There is a real sense of pride in the players, who sing (and dance in some cases!) passionately for their country. But what’s great about rugby players is that they are more respectful than footballers – whether they win or lose they handle it well. Take the Australian team who recently lost in the World Cup Final – they were the first men to go and shake the referee’s hand; there’s a culture of respect and discipline that football doesn’t have. Not overpaid The money involved in football is ridiculous. In rugby, players aren’t sold for 80 million pounds and don’t demand ridiculous salaries. They play rugby because they love rugby, not the money. Also football costs its fans so much more: tickets can be £100 - £300, but rugby club matches are much more reasonable, meaning anyone can join in. So it’s your decision, which sport do you think is better?
atmosphere of the crowd, the adrenalin of whether your team will win or lose, and the players showing off their amazing tricks all make for a great experience. We all know that feeling of wondering what’s going to happen when you’re 2-1 down, with 10 minutes to go, your blood pumping and your heart racing. And because goals can be rare, and are only worth one point, it makes the games intense – one late goal can change everything. Add the fact that there are so many cups and competitions for your team to enter, and you’re never short of things to watch and possibilities for success. More exciting Yes, you might argue that rugby is also fun to watch, but football is simply more intense to watch. On-the-line saves and penalty shoots have you on the edge of your seat, and the matches are really close. With rugby, it can often be easy to predict the result: if the All Blacks are playing, the chances are they’re going to win. In football, things are much more unpredictable – take AC Milan, who were winning 3-0 in the Champions League final, but ended up being defeated by Liverpool, on penalties. You couldn’t make it up! Without football there wouldn’t be rugby The most important thing to remember in this debate is that rugby wouldn’t be here today without football: if William Webb Ellis hadn’t picked up a football and started running with it, rugby would never have been heard of. Football has a longer heritage in our country and it has always been loved: it’s obvious that it’s the better sport!
Harry Spicer , Mohau Jolobe-Pike and Monty Mills ,7R
Page No: 20 Dulwich Despatch
It Makes You Think ...
Brain Busters
1.You set up a tent and go for a walk, you walk 1 mile south and then 1 miles east, and then1 mile north at which point you stop as you see a bear next to your tent. What colour is the bear? 2.You look in the mirror which shows you from the waist upwards. You then walk backwards 5 metres: Can you see more of yourself, less of yourself, all of yourself or the same amount of yourself? Guess before trying for yourself in the mirror. 3.A woman is 21 years older than her son, in six years’ time she will be 5 times as old as her son. How old is the son? 4. You want to time 30 minutes, You have no way of timing it, except, that you have been given some matches and a piece of string that takes 1 hour to burn from one end to the other. (But no watch and no other equipment.) The string is an uneven thickness and so MAY only take five minutes to burn one half and 55 to burn the other half, this means you cannot fold the string and wait for it to burn to the middle point. How can you time 30 minutes? 5.A rugby team has won a big tournament and they are to run back on to the pitch (which is 100 metres in length) after the game to do a victory lap. The groundsman decides it would be good if the team could run under bunting which goes from one end of the pitch to the other end and is propped up in the middle. If the grounds man buys 101 metres will the team be able to fit under? Options: A) Not at all. B) Crawl under. C) Bit of a squeeze. D) Some will have to duck. E) Easily. 6.Two trains, both travelling at 50 miles per hour are heading towards each other and start 100 miles apart. A bird starts at the front of one train and flies toward the other train, the bird can fly at 60 miles per hour, when the bird reaches the second train it turns around and flies back towards the first train. How far will the bird fly before the two trains crash and the bird is squished between the two trains? 7.A king is scared of an invasion from a neighbouring country and so he wants more warriors and so needs more men. He creates a rule: If a woman has a child and it is a girl, she can have no more children, but if she has a boy she must have another child. And depending on if the second child is a boy or a girl she must have another child or no more children. After 10 years of the censors 1000 children have been born, roughly what is the ratio of boys to girls? 8.100 ants have been placed on a metre stick with no way of passing each other. When an ant reaches the end it will fall off. Each ant can walk a metre in one minute. If an ant meets another ant it will turn around, and walk the other way. The ants never stop walking. They start facing random directions. What is the maximum time it takes for all the ants to fall off? Think of any 3 digit number (that is not a palindrome) e.g. 564 and then repeat it as shown: 564564. Your number will be divisible by 11 and also 7, and also 13. If you divide it by 11 and 7 and 13 in any order you will get your original 3 digit number. As long as your number and its reverse are under 500: If you take your 3 digit number and add it to its reverse, e.g. 324 + 423 = 747, it will always equal a palindrome. Did you know? 100 metres Sounds hard but they are actually super simple:
Some information taken from How many socks make a pair? By Rob Eastaway
ANSWERS ON PAGE 29
Page No: 21 Christmas Issue 2015
Race of Champions ...
On the 21 st November 2015 the Race of Champions was based in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London. Taking part in the race were many different motorsport drivers, from rally to Formula 1 to test drivers. Many different cars were used in the event including KTM Crossbows, Ariel Atoms, Euro Nascars, Mercedes AMG GT’s and Jaguar convertibles. Before the race the drivers took an assault course in their Ariel Atoms and their results contributed to their overall score to establish the eventual winner. I really enjoyed the donuts the drivers had to complete at the end as the Atoms are very hard to control. After the course, three stunt bikers started doing jumps and flipping over while twelve metres in the air, it was amazing! Soon after that the drivers drove around the course in an open-topped bus escorted by four Jaguar convertibles. The drivers then left again and after a few minutes you could hear two loud engines revving behind the stadium and that started the heats. Half way through the heats a crash occurred and a Euro Nascar collided with a barrier and dropped a total of about eight inches into a ditch.
About an hour later there was a short interval and then more engines started and that was the start of the quarter finals. Nothing bad happened in that series but it was very exciting when there were such close finishes that you could hardly see who had won.
Towards the end of the quarter finals, it was almost 6:00pm,and it was getting very dark and cold (around - minus 1 degree). My friend and his father wanted to leave because it was nearly rush hour and they didn’t want to get stuck in traffic on the way home. We decided to stay just a few more minutes. At 6:00pm the quarter finals were over and a special surprise was in store. A 2013 Mercedes Formula 1 car was revving up outside, and I don’t mean like the Nascars, I mean really loud. I got a chance to see it do about 4 or 5 laps and every time it passed the corner where we were sitting we were temporarily deafened. When it had finished doing its laps it drove into the middle of the course and started skidding and doing donuts. I had never seen anything like it. At 6:20pm the F1 car went back to the hangar and that meant we had to leave, but I will never forget that Saturday with my friend. Edward Starr, 7C
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