The House of Light

Once upon a time in ancient Egypt...

Zia walked down the well-worn path that lead down to the river.

The long grass stalks brushed against her legs. Suddenly she heard a rustle in the grass.

She stopped walking. She heard a hiss, and turned around.

A cobra.

The cobra was the most feared snake in all of Egypt. It’s venom could kill a man in minutes.

Zia was too far from her village to call for help. And if she ran, the cobra could easily it could reach  a speed of 12 miles per hour. She heard a slash. Zia turned.

The cobra had its fangs stuck into the sole of her sandal.

It reared back, ready to strike again , and then stopped, and slithered away.

Zia blinked, not quite sure that she was still alive. She looked up to see a man, holding some sort of rattle. " Shukran!" she thanked the stranger. Then a cloud of dust rose up, forcing her to shield her face. when she looked up, the stranger was gone, like he had disappeared with the dust...

“Cheerp!” Zia looked down to see a small quail chick, scurrying around her feet, she bent down to pick it up.

She noticed a small collar around the quail chicks neck. It was black, with a little green pendant in the shape of a reed leaf on it. “Where did you come from?” she wondered. Then, she touched the pendant, and she was sucked into a blinding vortex of light…

“How can you be sure?”

“I just know!”

“We haven’t had a new apprentice in more than 15 years!”

“Look, if she isn't the one, I’ll send her back”

“And if she is?”

“Than we are all in terrible danger!”

Zia opened her eyes to see two young men standing above her. They both had short, cropped black hair. The one closest to Zia had a long scar across his face. She was lying in a bed, in a room that

looked like it was made of pure gold. “Who are you?” she mumbled. The quail chick from before hopped up onto her chest. “It’s you!” she said “Damn right it's me!” the chick said “How did I get here?” “The portal brought you here” she the man with the scar “My name is Ahmed, and I am a senior magician”

“Magician?” She asked, puzzled. “Yes, here at the house of light, all people with magical power are brought here to learn their full power” he answered “ What’s my power?” Zia asked, interested to learn more “well your power seems to be-

“RRRRRRRRRR!” A huge hand reached in through the door. “What's that?!” asked Zia. “that, is a very angry monster”....

Two vultures swooped in and picked up the quail chick “let me go! You filthy birds!You'll be sorry! Just wait until I get my claws on you!!” the chicks screams faded away. A huge mouth appeared. Zia could see a row of huge dagger like teeth.

Then a huge hand picked her up.

Amed's Spell

Zia squirmed desperately. Then Amed said something that sounded like a spell.

A blinding flash of light exploded and Zia lost consciousness.

When Zia regained consciousness, she was in a tunnel somewhere in a place she didn't know.
"Good, you're awake" said a voice from the shadows. "Who are you?" asked Zia.
"Well, that depends, if you cooperate, then you might leave this place alive,"
"And if I don't?"
"Then you won't..."

Calender art

 Hello! This term we are doing Calender art, here is mine:

Elements

Hello! in you like this chapter then Commemt below and I will write more!

:)

Chapter 1

I raced through the streets, praying it wasn't too late.

I dashed in the alley way and slid down the passage under the loose stone and to the door. I pushed it open, breathing unevenly.

But it was too late, they found they, and it was all my fault.

Something fluttered to the ground. .I looked up and noticed a small note:

Follow us.

I looked up in time to see a shadow slip away. I ran after it.

Now, looking back on it that was stupid. It could have been anything, a guard, assassin, even D.I.E ( Destruction of Innocent Elementals, at least that's what i think)  but I was so heartbroken I didn't care. All the young elementals were gone.

And I was responsible.

How it all began...

Now you see, when i was 12 years old i found out about the elementals. They were a race of powerful beings. Then one day they disappeared. For several years the world was in utter  chaos until  they returned, not in human form but in spirit form. They entered the bodies of mortals and those mortals inherited their powers. Unfortunately for me they can still talk inside our heads.

My spirit is called Keya. And she is annoying. And loud. And rude. Jay, where are those little pipsqueaks she said inside my head. I was sweating. You see, when elementals get angry they tend to explode. Now they can’t die, being immortal, but we can.

Um… well….you see…..keya….there….kidnapped….

Silence….

JAY MIDFIELDER HOW COULD YOU DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE, THAT IS A GENERATION OF ELEMENTALS OF ….GONE!

                ‘And I’m going to find them’

Infograhic

Hello, This week we have been doing infograhics!

Here is mine:

Save our seas!

Plastic

One of the main causes of depopulation in marine life

What is plastic?

A synthetic material made from a wide range of organic polymers such as polyethylene, PVC, nylon, etc., that can be moulded into shape while soft, and then set into a solid or slightly bendy/soft form.

How is it made?

Plastic pellets are fed from a hopper into an extruder. Plastics are made from organic products. The materials used in the production of plastics are natural products such as cellulose, coal, natural gas, salt and crude oil. Crude oil is a complex mixture of thousands of compounds.

How much do we use?

10 tons of plastic fragments—like grocery bags, straws and soda bottles—are carried into the Pacific Ocean every day.

• Over the last ten years we have produced more plastic than during the whole of the last century.
• 50 percent of the plastic we use, we use just once and throw away.
• Enough plastic is thrown away each year to circle the earth four times.
• We currently recover only five percent of the plastics we produce
• A average person throws away 8kg of plastic that could have been recycled or reused
• 
  
  • Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour! Most of them are thrown away!
  • Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it in an incinerator.
  • Americans throw away 25,000,000,000 Styrofoam coffee cups every year.
  • Over 1,600 businesses are involved in recycling post-consumer plastics.
  • PET plastic can be recycled into: clothing, fiberfill for sleeping bags, toys, stuffed animals, rulers and more.
  • Only around 27% of plastic bottles are recycled.
  • Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures a year! Ever heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? It's twice the size of Texas and is floating somewhere between San Francisco and Hawaii. It's also 80 percent plastic, and weighs in at 3.5 million tons.
  • When the small particles from photodegraded plastic bags get into the water, they are ingested by filter feeding marine animals. Biotoxins like PCBs that are in the particles are then passed up the food chain, including up to humans.

How does it affect wildlife?

The real impact of plastic bag litter is felt on wildlife both in the marine environment and in rural areas.

.Animals mistake the plastic for food and then swallow it down. When turtles swallow it it stays in

their stomach, then when they eat fish the 2 gases mix and the turtle floats helplessly to the

surface . Here they are easy prey for sharks and other large fish.

Tens of thousands of whales, birds, seals and turtles are killed every year from plastic bag litter in the marine environment as they often mistake plastic bags for food such as jellyfish.

Plastic bags, once ingested, cannot be digested or passed by an animal so it stays in the gut.

Plastic in an animal’s gut can prevent food digestion and can lead to a very slow and painful death.

As plastic bags can take up to 1,000 years to break down, once an animal dies and decays after ingesting plastic, the plastic is then freed back into the marine environment to carry on killing other wildlife.

We use over 300 million tonnes of new plastic every year.  Half of this we use just once and usually for less than 12 minutes.  8 million tonnes of plastic waste ends up in the ocean every year.

Animals and marine life suffer directly from plastic pollution. Birds feed on plastic, and an increasing number starve when their stomachs are full of plastic waste. 97.5% of Laysan Albatross chicks have plastic pieces in their stomachs.

Animal stories

Carrying on

In August 2000, an eight metre Bryde's whale died soon after becoming stranded on a Cairns beach. An autopsy found that the whale's stomach was tightly packed with 6 m2 of plastic, including many plastic check-out bags. Such obstructions in animals can cause severe pain, distress and death.

Bryde's whales, like many other types of whales, feed by swallowing large amounts of water. If the Bryde's whale had died at sea, it would have decayed, releasing the plastic to kill other marine life for hundreds of years to come.

'Lucky' the platypus rescued

In May 2003, a Platypus was rescued from the Don River, Tasmania, after a plastic bag became wrapped around its body, cutting deep into its skin.

The platypus overcame the species' usual shyness to approach a person for help.

After seeking medical advice and giving the platypus time to recover it seemed to be okay and set free. On seeing its injuries, its rescuer called it 'Lucky.'

'Pete' the pelican died after swallowing 17 plastic bags

In 1998, a pelican was found dead in Kiama after eating 17 plastic bags.

The pelican probably thought the plastic bags were food. The pelican was preserved and named Pete. Since then he has been standing in front of a sign at Fitzroy Falls that informs visitors of how he died and the problems of plastic bags and ocean pollution.

Other wildlife affected by plastic bags

Discovered in agony, a calf that was recently put down in Mudgee NSW, was found to have eaten 8 plastic bags.

Birds get caught up in them too. Unable to fly they die of starvation.

Turtles have also been rescued with plastic bags lodged in their throat – and part of the bag hanging out of their mouth. (left)

What happens to it after it has been used?

Most of us do not think much about recycling. We might clean bottles and jars, crush cartons and break down boxes. We might sort these items into their designated bins or bags, but once we lose sight of the recyclables, the rest of the process is an abstraction. Recycling makes us feel good, but few of us know what actually happens to a plastic bottle after we drop it into a bin.

What happens is the bottle enters an elaborate global system within which its plastic is sold, shipped, melted, resold, and shipped again—sometimes zigzagging the globe before becoming a carpet, clothing, or repeating life as a bottle. This process is possible because plastic is a stubborn substance, which resists decomposition. With a presumed lifespan of over 500 years, it’s safe to say that every plastic bottle we have used exists somewhere on this planet, in some form or another.

Money, Money,Money!

M NEY

1)

Q. Whose signature are on the notes?

A. New Zealand’s banknotes have been signed by the Governor of the Reserve Bank, or by the Chief Cashier, a post that existed until the early 1980s. Eleven different people have signed banknotes in New Zealand.

L. Lefeaux (Governor 1934-1940)

T. P. Hanna (Chief Cashier 1940-1953)

G. Wilson (Chief Cashier 1953-1956)

R. N. Fleming (Chief Cashier 1956-1967)

D. L. Wilks (Chief Cashier 1967-1973)

R. L. Knight (Chief Cashier 1973-1977)

H. R. Hardie (Chief Cashier 1977-1984)

S. T. Russell (Governor 1984-1988)

D. T. Brash (Governor 1988-2002)

A. E Bollard (Governor 2002-2012)

G. Wheeler (Governor 2012 )

Source: http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/notes_and_coins/notes/0094102.html

2)

Q.Where is NZ money made?

A.New Zealand’s current polymer banknotes were produced by Note Print Australia Limited in Melbourne. New Zealand’s new banknotes will be printed by Canadian Banknote Company in Ottawa. Both sets will be printed on the same polymer.

Source: http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/notes_and_coins/notes/

3)

Q.Why is NZ money being updated

A.To benefit from technological advances in security features.

4)

Q.What new security  measures are being added?

A. Several features are brand new, and some existing ones have been enhanced:

• A larger window features a more detailed metallic element
• The native bird icon changes colour as the note is tilted, and a bar can be seen moving through the space
• A small ‘puzzle number’ lines up when the note is held up to the light
• Raised ink is still used on the large denomination number.

5)

Q.What is New Zealand’s money made of?

A.New Zealand’s banknotes are printed on polymer, which is a type of polypropylene plastic.

The Reserve Bank began circulating polymer banknotes in May 1999. Until then, New Zealand’s banknotes were printed on paper made from cotton.

The advantages of polymer are:

• The average polymer note lasts about four times as long as a paper note. This keeps the cost of producing money down.
• Polymer notes are stronger and non-porous, so they do not get as dirty as paper.
• It is easier to make a polymer note secure than a paper note, therefore deterring forgers.
• Disposal of polymer notes is more environmentally friendly. Polymer notes are destroyed by being shredded. The shredded notes can be recycled into other plastic products instead of being buried or burnt.

6)

Q How much does it cost to produce a note?

1. The new notes will cost about 80 million dollar

7)

Q. Where is the currency issued from?

A. Reserve bank of New Zealand

$5 note

1. Sir Edmund Hillary
2. 1919 -2008
3. In 1953 he was the first to climb Mt Everest and in 1958 the first to drive overland to reach the South Pole
4. Yellow eyed penguin. Subantarctic Lily, Daisy and Bull Kelp
5. Penguin is only found in New Zealand and one of the rarest in the world

Subantarctic Lily only grows in the subantarctic

Daisy is found on Stewart Island

Bull Kelp is found on NZ coast

6. Yellow eyed Penguin is called Hoiho

    

$10 note

1. Kate Sheppard
2. 1848-1934
3. Sheppard was the founding member of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in New Zealand and she had a leading role in making New Zealand the first country in the world where women were allowed to vote in 1893
4. White camellia, blue duck, Blechnum fern, hebe
5. The flowers were given to members of Parliament who supported women’s right to vote. Blue duck only lives in New Zealand
6. Blue duck: whio

$20

1. Queen Elizabeth II
2. 1926 -
3. Royal reigning British Monarch
4. New Zealand Falcon, Marlborough rock daisy, Flowering red tussock
5. Falcon is only remaining bird of prey in New Zealand
6. Falcon = karearea

$50

1. Sir Apirana Ngata
2. 2. 1874 - 1950
3. He played a significant role in the revival of Maori people and culture during the 20th century. He was the first Maori to graduate from a New Zealand university and an elected Member of Parliament for 38 years
4. Blue wattled crow, Supplejack leaves , Sky-blue mushroom
5. Native crow
6. Blue wattled crow = kokako

$100

1. Lord Rutherford of Nelson
2. 1871- 1937
3. He received the Nobel prize Medal in 1908 and is the ‘father of the atom’
4. Yellowhead , Red beech and South Island lichen moth
5. Yellowhead only lives on South Island
6. Mohua