Playstation Plus: Scam?

By: Brady F.

 

 

Have you ever bought a bag of chips and realized that you are paying for half a bag of air? Or what about when you buy candy and the box is only half full? That's what Playstation Plus feels like; you only get half of the amount of what you pay for.  Playstation Plus is too much money and an overall scam. Playstation Plus is just another one of Sony’s attempts to milk every last dollar out of our bank accounts.

 Sony created Playstation Plus because they know users will pay, because  who doesn't love playing online games with friends or family?  Playstation Plus isn't required to play all games, just the online ones. However, with the market receiving more and more games, it feels like a requirement. In 2016, 73% of people played offline, but now 1.2  billion people play online. Online games are the main way people play now. With games like Battle Royales (where it is a free for all where the last person standing wins) only having online play, everyone wants to play online. Solo playing is a thing of the past. In today's day and age. You will very rarely see games that have offline features. But most of the time you need to have Playstation Plus to access games even if the game has offline and online play.

What is Playstation Plus?  Author Chris Hoffman says, “Playstation Plus is required to play multiplayer games online.” It also allows you to  get free games and upload to the cloud (with a catch). Playstation Plus varies in price; you can pay 10.99 for one month, 24.99 for three months, and 59.99 for a year. It's super pricey, and not all users have the money to get the “benefits” that you get from the scam that is Playstation Plus.

Sony scares their users with the Playstation Plus service. One of the reasons is that you can’t play online if you are not a Playstation Plus member. And that is scary to most users, buying an online game to play with your friends and then realizing that you have to pay even more money to get the full benefits of the game.

With Playstation Plus you get free games, and that sounds like a deal to most users, but there is a huge catch. The catch is if you lose Playstation Plus you no longer have access to the game. With Playstation Plus you get the ability to access and upload your game data to the cloud. But once you lose Playstation Plus you lose all of that data until you renew your subscription; that can put a huge step on someone's gaming experience if your save files are locked. Another thing is that you lose access to all online games even if they have an offline experience like a campaign.

Overall Playstation Plus is a huge cash grabbing scam. Hide your wallets and hide your valuables because there is a storm coming that is Sony’s cash grabbing Playstation monopoly.

 

 

Coronavirus! Stay in touch!

By: Andrea M.

 

 

Do you miss your friends and family that you haven’t been able to see during the pandemic? It is hard to keep up with people that you don’t see every day.  It is even more important to stay connected now because of how stressful the pandemic has been.  The pandemic is no joke, and we shouldn't break the social distancing rules, but there are many ways we can stay emotionally close while being physically distant. It is important that we keep safe and keep in touch throughout this pandemic. We cannot go back to normal until this pandemic is under control; until then, we should stay in touch with our family and friends and stay safe at the same time.

According to Worldometers.com, as of March 29, 2021, 2.79 million people have suffered and died through the virus spreading from place to place.  It will only get better if we stay safe.  This is the world's big issue in the new year. While we need to be safe and protect everyone from this virus, there are some good ways to stay connected.

Mental health America[mhanational.org] did many studies and found benefits to social connections. One of their studies proved that people with good relationships were happier in their everyday life.   They also discovered that good social connections lead to better health. Loneliness has been found to cause higher blood pressure in a study of older people. In an interesting study, they found out that people with strong communities even had longer lives. 

There are ways you can help people around you during this time. Giving time out to connect with friends and family is important. It can be phone calls, google meets, or socially distanced hanging out.

Be present by going to school and other places that are safe. This means really paying attention to the other people in your life and trying not to be distracted by your phone, your work, or other interests. Another thing we can do is really listen to what others are saying and try to understand it and focus on their needs at that moment.

If we stay connected with our friends and family and pay attention to what they need we will see that it makes us feel better too.  That is why we should all stay connected through this pandemic. We should all be connected with friends and family, and we can keep safe at the same time.            

 

 

 

 

Greenhouse Gasses, Global Warming, and Microplastics

What is happening in the sea that is hurting the world

By: Alex B.

 Do you know where the trash you throw out goes? You may be thinking about a dump, or it may be incinerated, but a sizable portion of it goes into the ocean where it does not belong. This affects everything in the world even though you might not know it. There are many reasons why we need to wake up to the fact that what we are doing to Earth needs to be fixed.

 You may have heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and you may have seen pictures of it, but it is a lot worse if you look under all of that. A study by scientists in the UK found that there can be up to 1.9 million pieces of microplastics per square meter under the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. “Almost everybody has heard of the infamous ocean ‘garbage patches’ of floating plastic, but we were shocked at the high concentrations of microplastics we found in the deep-seafloor,” said Ian Kane, a researcher at the University of Manchester. This goes to show that a lot more has gone into the ocean than we first thought, and it’s getting worse. Scientists have found plastics in more than 114 different marine species, and animals are increasingly showing up on beaches, dead, with plastic all around them.

Garbage was first noticed in the ocean in the 1970s and has just been growing as we dump more and more in. Plastic is used so much because of its flexibility, strength, and occasionally its transparency.  Just think of how many packaging materials you throw out after you use them, or that non-refillable plastic pen, or the straw of the juice box you drink. Some of it gets thrown in a land dump, and some gets burned up, but a good portion of it goes into the ocean. All of these common items are constantly being thrown away. Just think of one of the pencil boxes you got from Staples, and think of how many other people got that same thing in the U.S. Imagine how many boxes that would be. And then picture that same amount around the whole world getting thrown out in one day. “Plastic is one of the most persistent pollutants on Earth. It's made to last - and it does, often for 400 years or more. And at every step in its lifecycle, even long after it has been discarded, plastic creates greenhouse gas emissions that are contributing to the warming of our world.”

It’s not just the people that live on solid land that contribute to the pollution of the oceans. Many fishing industries have contributed 18% of the plastic in the ocean. Some of the fishing items made of plastic include, netting, bait boxes, and traps. There are about 4.6 million fishing boats, and many of them drop random items over the side, like broken fishing nets, plastic bags used for lunches and many other things.

Microplastics, microlitter, and harmful waste we throw out without a thought could very well be killing one more baby turtle, or a coral reef that was home to cute fish and animals. Do not turn your heads away from pollution. It’s real, and if we do something about it, we could make the Earth habitable for quite possibly another billion years!

 

 

      Sometimes you just want to scream, or just give up on whatever you are doing because you are just so annoyed about something. Well, I wouldn’t suggest that, but I get it; sometimes you just want to walk away. Something that I learned is that when you have patience, whatever you are doing can turn around and be an amazing experience.

It was one peaceful Sunday, the sun was bright and shining and the breeze was light. I was at my Nana and Papa's house with my family and cousins. My Nana told us to calm down because she had a present for us. Then she gave us all our very own wiggle board. A wiggle board is a smooth plastic board about the size of a skateboard with four wheels, a steering wheel and a place to put our feet. Knowing how to use this board was very interesting. We had to sit on the board and turn the steering wheel back and forth. Then it would kind of move in a zig-zag motion. We were all so excited to have this magnificent toy. We rushed out of the house and onto the driveway. I thought it would be exhilarating, but I was sadly incorrect. 

I got on the board and did exactly what I was told to do; I turned the steering wheel back and forth. But when I started going it went surprisingly slow. The wheel slowly drove over the hot pavement. My cousins and sister found out quickly that this slow ride was not fulfilling their need for speed, so they started pushing the cart with their feet as they sat on it.  They zoomed across the ground like they were in little cars, and they were not stopping. They looked like they were having fun.  My hands started to get hot under the sun, and I started to get mad; this ride was useless. I wanted to give up and push the wiggle board like they did, but I knew that was not the right way to use the wiggle board. I leisurely drove the wiggle board around and sadly maintained the same slow speed. I was getting frustrated at the thing that was taking me so slow. I tried to push myself like the others, but it was much more difficult. My legs got tired after a while of pushing. My legs started to feel like giant weights. I tried to go back and improve my riding the regular way. 

I tried to be patient as I rode the board, but I was getting tired. The silt breeze waved over me. The hot sun shined on me. That felt good. I tried to do it again, but this time with less concentration on how slow the ride was going and more focus on enjoying it. I tried more and more times. Every time I tried the faster I went and the more fun I had. I got better and better. I was having fun, and I had less frustration. It was never the fast ride I had thought it would be; it was remarkable though how calm and still it drove. It felt like riding a boat on calm waves; it gently gilded across the ground. It turned out that it was easy to make it go. Soon we were going inside, and I thought to myself how fun that was and how I wanted to get better. 

Now that I look back on that station I wish I had considered having more patience, but I am glad that I was able to have a little of it and have a fun time.  I know it won’t be easy, but the more patience I have the more fun I will have and the more joy I will get. This is one station out of many that patience can be rewarded; there are so many! I know I never went as fast as I would have liked, but it taught me something. It taught me that sometimes it is best just to wait and have patience and not to walk away just yet.                                                      

-Emma 

Everyone has pushed themselves to do more, to do better. Because you think, no, you know you can. So you push yourself. It’s new. Different. A change.  Swimming is one of those life skills you are taught young, like riding a bike or tying your shoes. Sometimes it's easy, and sometimes it’s downright scary. But it's exciting. Who doesn’t want to try it? What else is there to do on a hot summer day? 

I started swimming lessons at a swim school when I was around five years old.  The swim instructors gave me and the group of kids also taking lessons with me these ancient-looking styrofoam swim rafts. You know those blue rafts. They smell like old chlorine and they are rough, faded and falling apart from spending too much time in the pool. They remind me of when I am in the water too long and my fingers and toes start to look like raisins. We had to use these stinky, blue rafts to swim out into the deeper water where we couldn’t touch. Once you were in the deep water, you had to get these small plastic toy boats that were halfway underwater anyway because they wouldn’t stay upright and then swim back to the shallow end with one.  Now I don’t know if I was just being really stubborn because I didn’t want to be there or if I was petrified to go out into the deeper water, but whatever it was, I wasn’t swimming out into the deep end to get those stupid toy boats. I didn’t want one anyway. I have always been good at swimming. Even at the age of five, I could swim without the help of a life jacket or swimmies. I remember there being this one other kid who I think was scared of the deep area of the pool. He clung to that blue raft so tight that his knuckles turned white, and he just stared ahead blankly, hoping that he could get out of the pool. A few times, we exchanged a glance at each other.

The swimming lessons were terrible! They were not fun for me at all since I refused to participate. The time seemed to drag on forever. I could feel myself turning into a prune as I just sat there pouting and soaking in the over-chlorinated pool water. Each day, for a week, I returned to the same pool, at the same time with the same group of kids and just either sat on the side of the pool with my arms crossed and my teeth chattering or floated with my upper body on that scratchy blue raft as my legs dangled behind me in the cold, clear pool water. Even though it was the middle of summer it wasn’t like a summer should be like: hot, sticky, humid. Even if you don’t know how to swim, you just need to jump in a pool because you know it is going to be refreshing and cool you off. Nope. Not this summer. Or at least the week of my swim lessons. That week was miserable. Rainy, cold and dreary.  It wasn’t even hot out, and the sun hid behind the clouds all week. And the worst part of it all? The water. The water was so cold, all you had to do was stick your one big toe in and you instantly had goosebumps. At one point, I clearly remember, it was lunchtime, and I was so relieved that I could finally take a break and get out of the icy water. I was happy to be able to warm up and go sit with my parents. I almost didn’t hear my name being called. Everyone else eagerly and hurriedly got out of the pool. But for me and the other scared kid, we stood there shivering as the instructor told us when we had to come back and that we were not leaving the pool for lunch until we got the toy boats back to “shore,” as if this was a beach!

Later in the swim lessons, the instructors told my parents that I most likely wasn’t going to pass and I would not be receiving a swimming certificate if I didn’t prove to them that I could indeed swim, and not just in shallow water. I had to show them I could swim underwater in the deep end! The instructors had observed that I wasn’t a qualified swimmer and therefore I should only be allowed to swim in water no deeper than my ankles or worse, the kiddy pool! 

On the final day of swim class, we all had to be tested on our swimming abilities to see if we would get a certificate. The main part of the test was to jump off of a diving board into the deep water, swim underwater for a few seconds and swim to the side of the pool to the ladder. Of course, this was the worst weather day of the week. Not only was it cool out, but it was also pouring rain. All I had to do was walk to that diving board, hold my nose and jump in. Do you think that I could? Sure I could. Do you think that I did? I sure did! It took me a while, but with a little extra encouragement from my mom and a nudge from my dad, I jumped off that diving board with such enthusiasm; the instructors were in such shock and were so surprised.  If only I could have seen the look on their faces; my parents told me later it was priceless. And yes, I walked away with that certificate. I also walked away with a big toothy smile and an I-told-you-I-could-swim look on my face. The instructors still wanted me to come back for some additional lessons so I could be qualified as actually able to swim. My parents said they would think about it.

Ultimately, I did not redo the lessons. My parents thought I had had enough.  After all that, I became a pretty good swimmer. I was able to swim underwater for more than a few seconds, and I didn’t even have to plug my nose.  I even helped my little sister learn how to swim. Each year I become a better and stronger swimmer. 

Sometimes the fear inside you becomes so overwhelming that you close up tight like a clam and you tune out what is happening around you, waiting for the moment it will go away and end. But the real fear is of yourself. Of not taking that next step even though you know you can. The fear of thinking you are going to fail or get it wrong and not being able to make it right. You always need to push yourself harder and keep trying. In the end, you will surprise yourself with how you overcome your fears, and after that, well, then you know you can do anything if you put your mind to it.

-David

Have you ever walked through your school hallways and seen those posters? The ones that say,  “Don’t give up!” or “Keep practicing!” Almost everyone ignores those, but little does everybody know, these lessons are extremely significant in life. How do you prove to other people that you should be respected, that you’re good at something and should be valued? If you continually query this, you’re not alone. For many individuals, answers to these questions come from experience.  My occurrence was quite challenging but brought the essence of these lessons back to light.

I aligned the ball to the highlights of the rim. With a flick of a wrist, the ball elevated into the air.

Flawlessly, it fell right through the basketball net. 

I staggered as the piercing buzzer from the clock alerted everyone that the tournament was about to begin. I heaved a ponderous sigh. Gazing zealously at the hoops, I marveled at the stars of the team. Better tone down on the focus; I’m like a mouse in front of them, I deducted. Austerely trudging toward the bench, I pondered, What if...What if one day, I could finally prove that I’m a worthy teammate? That I’m not just some substitute player? My attention returned to the colossal candidates who sauntered before me. Blenching back in fear, I realized that any smart coach would choose them rather than someone like me. 

I apprehensively hobbled toward the Jump Ball. Standing on the side, I held my hands in front of a player from the other team. This is it, I pictured, grab the ball and pass it to someone else. The referee flung the ball into the air, and, for a moment, the ball was a delectable golden sweet, making everyone’s eyes sparkle with yearning expressions. With an uproarious slap, the basketball sailed to our offensive side. 

Without reluctance, I sprinted towards the ball as I was the closest. I glimpsed back and forth, but everyone else was far behind. Should I shoot? What if I miss? Maybe it’s better to secure the point by passing the ball...I dithered. 

Abruptly, something struck me. For once, maybe I have a chance to score. It would be wasteful to lose this opportunity.  Glancing back at my teammates, I knew that things would go wrong if I passed it way back there. So, I nervously crouched into position. Please go in…please... Legs buckling, pressure building, I rocketed my arms, and the ball silently whooshed through the net. Gasping and puffing, I stood, flabbergasted that the audience cheered and whooped for me.  The glaring stares were mopped away from their faces and instead replaced with merriment. Even though this was only my first shot, the positivity fueled me like a tank engine. 

I got ready to defend. I quailed when I realized I was a diminutive ant compared to the gargantuan elephant I was up against. The other girl sneered when she saw who was defending her. But, for some reason, she didn’t seem all that tough anymore. 

A flashback projected in my mind. I remembered when I was eight, and I saw a women’s basketball game. My favorite player was number 16, one of the shortest and smallest players on the team. She would jump so high above people’s heads and score shots from incredibly long distances.

Suddenly, I apprehended something.

Maybe I don’t have to be big, or tall. But I have something they don’t...I’m smart. Exhilaration cascaded through my veins. This was my chance. A crisp new feeling washed over me. Determination. A sense of purpose ricocheted through my body. 

Focus lasered through my eyes, and I locked my target. A girl from the other team confidently dribbled the ball towards us. She then gave a keen glance to the player behind me. They’re making a pass! I predicted. I promptly crouched down and started amassing my strength. These girls were huge, so the ball would plausibly soar way over my head. As soon as the ball left her hand, I was up. Visions of a trampoline painted my mind as I sprang as vigorously as I could. I was a piece of metal, and the ball was a magnet as the ball came right into my trusting arms. I captured the ball like I was catching a present. Less than a moment later, I was off. Pounding and darting, my legs were like an engine, propelling me forward.

The plan in my brain began to illustrate itself. Go past her and immediately secure the point,  I chanted through my consciousness. Adrenaline seared through me. Dribbling and weaving, I briskly scissored through the other team as if they were chess pieces. Each step got easier and easier as I started to reach the light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately, parents from the other team started to mislead me by barking and beckoning enormous posters. Seething, I felt like stabbing their vexatious presence. It’s okay...EYES ON THE PRIZE! With a quivery breath, I deftly clutched my hands on the sweaty ball and aligned my angle. Gathering all the energy from my bent legs, I ascended the basketball towards the hoop.

Initially, the ball jounced and swirled on the rim. The ball and net were dancing together, almost as if they were on top of a cliff. Please! You have to go in or else this will all be for nothing! I screamed through my mind. Lips clenching, hands shuddering, I felt terror permeate within me. Belatedly, the ball fell over and stumbled into the net. I breathed the most contented exhalation ever. Negativity swept away from me as a grin leisurely radiated across my face. Thank you.

Halftime passed by quicker than I could’ve ever envisioned. I scored three more shots and ten rebounds.  This will all be worth it when people appreciate my efforts! I bounded up to my coach with joviality.

“You know,” he began, “You seem to have much more potential than I thought.” I wanted to squeal because I was no longer the bizarre girl that probably shouldn’t be playing basketball. No, I was one of the most esteemed players on the team.

You could tell from my sweaty hands and dubious actions that at the beginning of the game, many negative thoughts were running through my mind. But with a little positive momentum and strong will, I thrusted those thoughts aside and shone through. Everybody has a talent or a unique trait that helps them sparkle through the rest. The key is to know when to harness it. The first step to getting others to respect you is to respect yourself. That means not beating yourself up by how you’re different, but embracing your uniqueness and using it to be the best that you can be. In short, everyone is built for success, and even though it takes time and patience to nurture your talent, the outcome of doing this will undeniably astonish you.

-Nethra

Regret… That one word can bring back many painful memories you might want to forget about. It could be something as small as not going shopping that one day or something as big as an action that has caused emotional and physical pain. Here is one problem from five years ago that I still regret and ponder about to this day.

It was summer time, an enticing day I would say, but appalling at the same time, and it only got more dreadful as the day went on. The smell of the hospital reached my nostrils; the scent reached my nose and constantly reminded me over and over again where I was and why I was there. The walk there was absolutely slow, and everything was going in slow motion. There were nurses running and lots of families, but the hall was primarily vacant. The walls of the hospital were blue, the doors were brown with white borders, and the rooms were white with almost no to some color. I was standing immobile in front of the door. The door number began with a three.

We tread into the room, and all of our relatives were there, sitting around the hospital bed. We all started saying goodbye and talking with him, holding his hand and talking amongst ourselves. I remember that my dad was balling his eyes out, and the two other crying girls were his sisters; everyone else was unquestionably pessimistic, and the air was indeed melancholy. Soon enough it was my turn; my dad urged me to walk up to him, and I held his brittle hand, wrinkled over time. During the process I was surely disoriented, and I kept pulling apart from his hand and felt assuaged when he let go of my hand, like a boulder rolling off my shoulders. At that time I was about six years old, and I didn’t really understand the circumstances. Shortly after that we said our farewells and left. I don’t really remember anything after that or before it.

The materiality only hit a while after, which happened about two years later, and from that day I kept on thinking he probably felt certainly sad because I was pulling away from him and that I didn’t give him a genuine goodbye, which gave me a heart wrenching feeling like my heart kind of drowned itself in water. To be honest, I don’t know why it’s still bugging me in the back of my mind, poking at my brain, but that day, when I pulled away, I felt like I did something wrong. Something really bad, but I can’t really explain it, something like betrayal. I still feel guilty to this day. What did he think? Was he disheartened or sad? Did he feel conflicted? Did he abhor me after that?

It was a Sunday afternoon, and my whole family was sitting at the table playing card games. We were playing one in particular in Italian and joking around. It was the end of the card game and Dad said, “You know… if Nonno Patata was here he would probably yell at you guys for playing this game horribly.” We all had a good laugh, but not the bellyaching one, rather the one where you just remember the past even if it wasn’t great and just chuckle thinking about those times. Three years later, when we were in Italy for vacation, we were in church. My dad walked up to the family and said, “Do you guys want to buy a candle for Nonno Patata? It's almost been four years since he has died.” At that moment my sisters burst out crying, and we embraced each other. 

I was paying no heed to it five years ago, but looking at it now I learned an undoubtedly important lesson that I didn’t know at the time. It is okay to be scared; it’s everyone's natural reaction to something we don’t know. So just because you're scared about something, it’s not your fault. If you don’t dwell on the past, it makes your life much easier. No one’s going to blame you in that situation, and it’s not your fault. So the best thing you can do is move on with friends and family.

-Elena