Written By You

Don’t Judge Me – Written By You

Okaaay then I’m just, you know, gonna be talkin’ about JUDGING PEOPLE!!!!!

I’m writing about this because I get judged a lot, and I think that it is important that people stop with the labels. *cough* PERSONALITIES *cough* Anycow, these are some of the main labels which le moi will be talking about

 

Label No.1 “Nerd”

People that get called nerds are generally people that wear glasses and are very smart (AKA your future world leaders.) I think this is just a stupid label because we all know that nerd is used by people who are just trying to cover up the fact that they don’t feel clever around this particular person. “Nerds” also people who play Pokémon (respect my fellow Pokémon players) and watch anime.

 

Label No.2 “Emo”

This is a name that I get called a lot. So called “emos” are people that generally wear a lot of black and listen to music such as Motionless in White, Black Veil Brides and Asking Alexandria. The stupid thing about this label is that as we all know “Emo” is just short for emotional and, let’s get one thing straight, last time I checked “emotional” was a state of mind not a fashion trend.  “Emos” also get mistaken for “scene kids” and “Goths”.

 

Label No.3 “Scene”

WOW!  Yet another label I get called! Anycow “scene Kids” are generally people that are obsessed with Pokémon, Hello Kitty and Rainbows and Unicorns and all that Jazz. So called “Scene Kids” listen to music such as Jeffree Star, Blood on the Dance Floor and Matthew Lush. They say stuff like “ZOMG!”  And “K’BAI!” They are normally loud and random.

 

Label No.4 “Goth”

Often mistaken for “emos,” people that are generally called “Goths” also wear a lot of black and listen to music such as Nine Inch Nails, Sisters of Mercy and The Cure. Goths were originally a Germanic tribe who invaded the Roman Empire. SERIOUSLY PEOPLE!!!!!! Also, while I’m on the topic, I have just found the most epic definition of a “Goth” on Urban Dictionary:

  “Goth

Just another person in this world… Lives, breathes, dies.

 

THE END

 

Random person 1: Yo dude look at the Goth chick!

Random person2: Why?

Random person 2: Eh…”

So anycow that’s it and don’t judge!!!! All together now: Don’t matter what you look like don’t matter what you wear. (Words from the amazing Mama Odi from The Princess and The Frog. GREAT FILM GUYS!!!!!)

(PS no hate to the bands/labels mentioned.)

 

 

Elisabeth is 13 years old and this topic is very important to her. What do you think?  

 

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Art & History

Falconry and the Tudors

Falconry and the Tudors

When you write a book that is set in a particular period of history, it is important to get the details correct. This means that writers of historical fiction have to do a lot of research.
The first scene of Katharine Edgar’s novel, Five Wounds takes place on a hillside in sixteenth century England, where her heroine, Nan, is hoping to see her young merlin falcon make its first kill. Katharine had find out all about falconry and the Tudors – the keeping and training of falcons, and other birds of prey.

When I showed the first scene of Five Wounds to some writing friends, some of them asked a question I wasn’t expecting. ‘How rich is Nan’s family? They live in a big house so why does she need to hunt for food?’

Good question!

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Art & History, Science, Nature and Tech

The Clifton suspension bridge: designed by a woman, built by Brunel

One of the best known landmarks in Bristol, UK, the Clifton suspension bridge first opened in 1864. It was built by the famous British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, but it has recently become public knowledge that it was designed by a woman. Our science editor Sam Gouldson explains who she was and why her work isn’t more widely known.

Who really designed the bridge?

The Clifton suspension bridge was designed by a woman called Sarah Guppy. She was born Sarah Beach in 1770, but when she married her husband Samuel Guppy she took his name. She was one of the great British inventors of her time and the bridge isn’t the only thing she came up with.

What else did she design?

The invention that earned Sarah the most money was her device to prevent barnacles forming on the hulls of ships. Without barnacles the ships would be able to cut better through water and travel more quickly, and the Royal Navy paid her £40,000 for it. That may not sound like much for such a valuable design, but today it would be more than £2.3 million. Her other inventions included a kettle that not only boiled water for tea but could cook an egg and keep toast warm, a candle holder that could keep candles alight for longer and a way of treating boats so that they were more watertight. She also came up with the idea of planting willow and poplar trees on the embankments of new railways, to hold the earth together and prevent landslides.

Why isn’t she more famous?

Sarah lived during the Georgian and Victorian eras. In those times married women weren’t allowed to own property in their own name, and intellectual property such as Sarah’s inventions were no different. Her husband had to file the patents on her behalf, as the property of the Guppy family. The patent for her method of piling bridge foundations in order to create a new kind of bridge was filed in 1811, but she refused to charge others to use the idea because she felt it was for the benefit of the public. Thomas Telford, a civil engineer, used her design to build the Menai bridge in 1826, and when the competition to design the Clifton bridge was announced Sarah gave her work to Brunel. When she wrote to him to suggest the use of willow and poplar trees to reinforce railway embankments, she explained that she didn’t want the credit for her idea because she felt that women “must not be boastful”.

 

Featured image: Sage Solar/Flikr

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