Desmos Art Functions Card 2022

One of the challenges I had when doing this project was the function notation. I didn’t fully understand how it worked and was confused on how to use it for a little while. I was able to ask a friend who understood it better and they. Helped me create the original functions which I would then transform without having to re-write the whole equation. Another challenge I had was the colouring of the worm. The colouring of the mushroom was quite a bit easier, as lots of the functions were semi-circles and ellipses, but the worm had lots more functions to worry about. The worm’s body is made up a few sine graphs and lots of smaller line in order to have everything work together better, as well as having the curves as close as possible to the original photo.

My aha moment I had was when I learnt to properly use function notation. After understanding function notation better, the project went pretty smoothly, though messing with the functions and equations took a while. Another aha moment I had was with the colouring. At first, I couldn’t understand how to create my own colours, but after looking at the website Pahlevanlu gave us, I realized I had been typing it in wrong.

As previously mentioned, my friend was able to make me understand the use of function notation, which played a huge role in my competition of this project. When I was confused, or unable to figure something out, I usually went to google to see if there was a video or article I was able to look at a figure out the problem for myself.

I wouldn’t say I necessarily had any strategies for this project, though I always tried to work through any problems on my own before having to ask someone else. I also did a lot of guess and check as it is a bit difficult to know exactly what equation or function to use.

This project helped me understand transformations a lot better. Before, my knowledge on transformations wasn’t the best, but this project helped re-teach me some of the things I hadn’t fully understood in the past. After finishing this project, I think understand a lot more as I figured out how to move functions left and right, up and down, as well as stretching or compressing. Overall I think I enjoyed this project, though there were some very tedious parts that I am glad are done with.

Here is a link to my full project on desmos: https://www.desmos.com/calculator/70w1tbdapz

New Media Challenge 2022

Looking past the incomplete to see the full story

When we are given a surface level understanding of something, we tend to make some assumptions about the topic. This “single story” we were given put our perception to think that is the only thing possible or rational for the subject. In Adichie’s TED Talk on The Danger of a Single Story, she talks about some of the single stories she was told as a child and throughout her lifetime. “[This] is how to create a single story; show a people as one thing, and only as one thing over and over, and that is what they become.” I like how she said this quote as it is very true. If people are constantly shown as one thing, usually through the media, that is all people will expect from them. The media shows a lot of the negatives in the world because that is what people are most interested in, and it will also keep peoples attention the longest. As the world is shown this one negative side there is a completely different positive side that is getting missed. Adichie uses a reference of going on a trip to Mexico as an example in her speech.. “The political climate in the US at the time was tense… [and] there were endless stories of Mexicans as people who were fleecing the healthcare system, sneaking across the border, being arrested at the border… I realized [as I got there] that I had been so immersed in the media coverage of Mexicans that they had become one thing in my mind, the abject immigrant.” I think this shows how important it is to look further into things as we are getting the same information given to us, only slightly changed, everyday. As we are constantly immersed in these single stories, it is very easy to make assumptions and stereotypes about people and objects around us.

Micheal Wesch talks a bit about this in his video How to Stop Hating (Country Music). He starts off the video with a quiz trying to get viewers to guess what kind of bumper-stickers are on a hybrid car versus a pickup truck. It shows that we associate certain things with a specific type of vehicle as well as assuming what type music is playing in the vehicles. This is playing into the stereotypes we give to certain people, and vehicles in this case, without even realizing. There is a part in the video where Wesch does something he doesn’t usually like, and see if after doing it he can come to like it. He isn’t a big fan of country music, whereas his sister is. To understand why his sister likes country music and line-dancing so much, Wesch goes to a bar to try it out for himself. After listening to his sister and her reasons for liking country music, he starts to understand why some people like it so much. Instead to looking only at it from his own perspective, he went to someone and truly wanted to understand why it is they like what they like. This also connects to Adiche’s single stories as Wesch had his own single story made for country music. It is important to try and put yourself into other peoples shoes and see it from their perspective. It is also good to get more information on a topic you don’t know as much about, as Wesch did in this video.

In terms of solutions to minimize polarization and moving past the single stories, I think education is the most important. As you educate yourself, you can then move on to educate others. According to Big Think, “good things happen when you engage with ideas with which you disagree. You either learn how to better defend your position, maybe you mover closer to truth, maybe you persuade the other of a given view, but either way you’ve learned something and been made better by that encounter.” When you hear someone else saying something that you think is incorrect or doesn’t match with what you know, you can try and educate them mor eon the subject. Sometimes they may just tell you to go away, but some may listen and hear what you have to say. I think this is a pretty simple and easy way to challenge some of the stereotypes and assumptions we face everyday.

Another solution could stem from looking at the situations other people are dealing with. Reading novels can help with putting yourself in others shoes. It “enables us to become better at actually understanding other people and what they’re up to…” according to Discover Magazine. This would help people get to know others better which would break the wall that we have put against strangers and ourselves as we have our own biases and assumptions. The article also mentions that, “some research indicates that if you’re motivated to become more empathetic, you probably can.” If we can be more empathetic and open to others, it would also help the world come together and decrease judgement and prejudice of others.

In Wesch’s video he set a challenge for his Anthropology 101 class asking the students
to pair up someone they don’t usually talk to and get to know them. As this is somethingwe can easily do in our own classrooms, we decided to join the challenge as well. The challenge also includes posting a photo on Instagram to possibly influence others to try the challenge out for themselves as well. In our New Media class, we were paired up with a classmate that our teacher didn’t see us talk to often. We were also given a list of questions to go through so the conversation could flow a bit smoother. I was paired up with Noah W. as we had not talked before this challenge. We went through the list of questions and was a bit surprised on some of the answers he provided during our back and forth conversation. We had more things in common than I realized, including our core life values. While going through the questions I realized that I had made some assumptions about him that were not true, so I am glad we got the time to have a quick chat.

There are many ways to recognize the assumptions/biases we have, it’s just what we do with those that really matters. If we are open minded enough to get to know some people that we wouldn’t usually talk to, it is possible that we would have much more in common with them than we had originally thought.

 

Feature photo courtesy of Pinterest

Adichie photo courtesy of The Independent 

Dr. Micheal Wesch photo courtesy of the Collaborative Agency Group

Feature Story New Media 11

Bats are more than just a Halloween symbol

As an important part of the world’s ecological system, bats need some praise too.

On All Hallows’ Eve, a creature emerges from the darkness. Visions of Dracula, blood dripping fangs, and fluttering wings all spring to mind, but in actuality it’s just a simple bat. Bats are small, meek mammals that we can’t live without, so maybe we need to change our point-of-view and see them in a new light.

In the dark of night, when no one is around, bats are doing a lot for our ecosystem. Not only do they eat bugs, they also pollinate and transfer seeds to degrading forests.

There are many plants and fruits that depend on bats. According to a Queen Bee Farms article, “528 plants have been identified as being pollinated by extra feeding bats, in which 300 species of fruit depend on bats for pollination, including mangoes, bananas, cacao, peaches, cloves, and agave.” If bat populations continue to decline, these fruits and plants will start to disappear. As the fruits don’t get pollinated by the bats, they will not be able to grow, leaving the plants useless. This would then lead to different types of fruit becoming extinct, which could result in countries losing money as some make millions on the deportation of fruits around the world.

The biggest threat to bats is not any natural predator but a disease called “white nose syndrome.” The disease affects the nose and wings of the bat with a white fungus, which is where the white nose syndrome name comes from. The U.S Department of the Interior has said that “the disease… affects hibernating bats and has been detected in 37 [U.S.] states and 7 Canadian provinces.” At this point there is no specific cure for white nose syndrome. This is a huge issue because it has killed over 90% of the northern long eared, little brown and tri-coloured bats in the past decade.

One of the contributors to this disease are humans. As people enter caves and old mines, it disturbs the bats and can increase the likeliness of the bats getting white nose syndrome. “Keeping all but essential human activity out of caves also… reduces disturbance of vulnerable and roosting bats,” says Biological Diversity. Obviously this disease is a large contributor to the decline in bat populations, so it needs to be dealt with so these bats do not continue to die.  There needs to be more research into this disease so a cure can be found as well as educating people on the dangers that will occur if they continue to die.

As everyone knows, bats eat lots of bugs. There are some bats they can eat up to 20,000 bugs in a single night! As they eat these insects, they are also helping the farmers. As said in the Daily Commercial, “[Bats] have been known to reduce populations of harmful insects in farming communities, thus lessening the need for pesticides.” Lots of the insects they eat can be potentially harmful to crops, so without these bats, the crops could be largely affected. This would also lead to smaller crops and less food being produced as well. In addition to affecting people’s food supply, the small crops and less food would mean that there is less for the farmers to sell.

Bats have been given a bad rap as blood sucking scary creatures, which is why they are associated with Halloween. Though they are seen in this point of view, the Sycamore Land Trust writes that “there are three species that feed primarily on blood of other animals (not humans – the so called ‘vampire’ bats), while the remaining 1,300 species feed on things like insects, rodents, and nectar.” Though there are limited species that rely on blood, people tend to focus on those instead of the thousands of others that do not. This could be for a number of reasons, including lack of education on the topic.

Not only are bats associated with Halloween, October is also Bat Appreciation Month. National Today says that bat month should be greatly celebrated because of the misconceptions towards the species as a whole. People often look past the good that bats do and look directly at how they are considered creepy creatures. In addition to Bat Appreciation Month, there is also a Bat Week in October. In 2021, the dates for bat week are from October 24 to the 31.

Speaking of Halloween, let’s connect the dots between bats and chocolate: cacao gets its seeds spread by the bats and if the bat population is reduced, the cacao seeds would not get spread leading to less cacao trees being produced. So, logic dictates that chocolate bars would be at risk if there is not enough cacao grown and what would then happen to trick-or-treating?

Without bats the world would be much different. From less fruits being produced to chocolate vanishing, bats have a very important role for our environment and ecosystem. We need to work together and find solutions for the ever growing decline of our favourite Halloween creatures because the scariest thing overall would be if bats disappeared.

Empathy Assignment – New Media 11

 

The competency I have chosen for this assignment is; thinking critically, creatively, and reflectively to explore ideas within, between, and beyond texts.

For this assignment we were to find 4 quotes from articles/stories that were provided to us by Ms. Shong. We then had to reflect on the meaning behind the quotes and write out what we our feeling towards them. As mentioned in the competency, we also had to explore the quotes while thinking between the lines and beyond. Overall, I believe that this competency fits the assignment perfectly.

 

Math 10 – Week 8 – Different Slope Forms

This week in Math 10 we looked a 3 different types of slope forms and how to change each one into a different form of answer. The 3 types of slope forms we looked at are point-slope form, slope y-intercept form, and general form.

Point-slope form and slope y-intercept forms are the most useful because you can actually answer the equations using them whereas the general form may look pretty, but has not significant use when looking for a specific answer.

*reminder that the symbol for slope is “m”*

Point-slope form into slope y-intercept form

m (x – x1) = y – y1 —-> m + y-intercept = y

starting equation:

step 1: distribute the 3 into the brackets

step 2: subtract 7 from the left and right to isolate Y on the right

final answer in slope y-intercept form:

 

Slope y-intercept form into general form

m + y-intercept = y —-> Ax + By + C = 0

starting equation:

step 1: subtract Y from the right and left so it ends up on the left side

final answer in general form:

 

General form into point-slope form

Ax + By + C = 0 —-> m (x – x1) = y – y1

starting equation:

step 1: add Y to the left and right sides of the equation to end up canceling out the Y on the left and moving it to the right side of the equal sign

final answer in slope y-intercept form: