Camping Comic: How to break a curse during Scout Camp!?!

By Zhou Peien 

 

Good Wood

by Zhou Peien 

When Sam was about to be born, his father owned a large piece of wood. It was very Good Wood. He sawed and trimmed and nailed and glued, until he made a nice, Good Bed for Sam. When it was finished, and newborn Sam slept peacefully in its embrace, his father looked on with an admiring eye, saying:

“That’s a Good Bed, made from Good Wood!"

As Sam grew older, his father saw that the toddler bed became too small for him. So, he took the Good Bed and sawed and trimmed and nailed and glued, until he had made a Good Mini Shelf. Sam received this Good Mini Shelf on the day he turned six. He was very pleased, and his father was pleased too, saying:

“Sam, that’s a Good Shelf, made from a Good Bed, made from Good Wood!”

The shelf was daily decked with books, but as Sam grew, the number of books grew too. One day, his father got him a bigger shelf, and the books were removed from the Good Shelf. Then Sam’s father took the Good Shelf, and sawed and trimmed and nailed and glued, until he had fashioned a Good Storage Box. He gave it to Sam as a birthday present on his twelfth birthday, to store his sundry and curious items. Sam was delighted, and at once heaped it with his boyish treasures. Sam’s father stood amused, and remarked: “That’s a Good Box, made from a Good Shelf made from a Good Bed, made from Good Wood!”

Sam continued growing. Years passed by, and his family increased. They moved to a bigger house, and Sam had a bigger room. He had large shelves stacked with books. He had a big and comfortable bed. He had wonderful storage boxes. He no longer needed the Good Box, so it was stored away in the storeroom. 

More years passed by, and the Good Box remained untouched. Dust and grit set on it, and it grew musty with age. Yet it remained the same Good Box until… …

One day, as eighteen-year-old Sam racked his brain on a birthday present for his father, he suddenly remembered the Good Bed he had had as a toddler. What had become of it? He thought hard, then recalled into mind that it had changed into the Good Shelf, holding wonderful books to which he had approached to gorge in. Then what? It was some time before he could remember the Good Treasure Box which had been his boyhood’s chief delight. Then it had become a…a…

Hard as he tried, Sam could remember nothing. But a thought struck him: that Good Wood must be found! He searched around the whole house, and finally came to an old and musty box. Eagerly he brushed away the dirt and grit. He smiled at the box in his hand. It was Good Wood!

Sam went into his own room. He sawed and trimmed and nailed and glued. On his father’s birthday, Sam handed him a piece of wooden board, with fine carvings on them. It showed in large letters: GOOD WOOD. Sam’s father hung it proudly on the wall. His eyes shone softly as he turned to his son. Sam said:

“Father, that Good Board’s made from the Good Box, made from the Good Shelf, made from the Good Bed. And that Good Bed is made from real Good Wood!”

-THE END-

The Victorian Crowned Pigeon

by Zhou Pei En

Gold Arrow > Science & Nature > Wildlife in Danger 

 

1.     DESCRIPTION

 

The Victorian Crowned Pigeon is a type of very rare bird. It’s a kind of Crowned Pigeon which is becoming increasingly rare due to habitat loss and excessive hunting. It is a maroon and slate-blue coloured bird with a crown of plumes on its head.

 

2.     HABITAT

 

The Victorian Crowned Pigeon lives in lowland and swampy forests around northern New Guinea and surrounding islands. It prefers living near sea levels, occasionally flying to higher areas.

 

3.     NEEDS

 

The Victorian Crowned Pigeon is hunted frequently for its meat and colourful feathers. Due to its lack of agility to escape captivity, its population became extremely rare. Loss of habitat due to logging has also affected its population greatly.

 

4.     CONSERVATION ACTIONS

 

Hunting the Victorian crowned pigeon is now illegal and many parks, such as the Jurong Bird Park, have organised breeding programs to try to breed more of these birds, hoping they will survive in captivity.

 

 

 

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/victoria_crowned_pigeons

Endangered Species: Common Thresher Shark

by Zachary Tay

Also known as Atlantic threshers, common thresher sharks are easily distinguished by their extra long upper tail fin.  They can reach 20 feet and their tail makes up around half of their length.  Common threshers are migratory and live in many seas around the world. They favor the Pacific and Indian Oceans, especially at the continental shelves of America and Asia. But the exact habitat, again, remains largely a mystery. Thresher Sharks love open and deep waters, they are also found in shallow waters near coastal areas. They are generally not found deeper than 500 meters (1,640ft).

They regularly move to higher latitude areas to head into warmer water.  Common thresher sharks are strong, fast swimmers and eat mainly bony fish.  They use their long tail to strike and incapacitate their prey.  Common threshers are caught by commercial fishers as they are highly sought after for their meat.  They are also a valued prize by sport fishers due to their power and the fight that they put up.  Common thresher sharks are a vulnerable species due to fishing pressure on populations.  

Silky, bigeye thresher, common thresher, and pelagic thresher sharks are in particular danger. Overfishing in targeted shark fisheries, by-catch in fishing gear targeting other species, and high levels of illegal and unregulated fishing have caused drastic reductions in their populations wherever they are found. International protection measures are piecemeal at best. Management measures need to catch up to the scale of the problems facing these sharks before it is too late.

Unfortunately, no international measures are in place specific to common thresher sharks. However, as a result of increasing concern about the plight of thresher sharks, Sri Lanka has proposed that the common thresher sharks be added to Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which would greatly restrict global trade in thresher shark products – limiting it to fisheries where harvesting is sustainable. This is appropriate as the large fins of thresher sharks are typically exported to Asian countries with a taste for shark fin soup, where they fetch a high price.

Constructing with LEGO!

by Cheong Jing-Yu

SPORTS & HOBBIES: Make a 5 min slideshow or show and tell presentation to tell your leader and Six about one of the hobbies or sports you regularly engage in. Explain what inspired and led you to the hobby or sport and what you have done recently to improve or develop it.

One of my hobbies is building with LEGOs. I have made many models over the years. To see a presentation about how my model building has evolved, and some photos of my favourite creations, click HERE!

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SCIENCE & NATURE: CONSTRUCTION KIT: Build a model with a construction kit of any type and explain how the model works.

Here is a LEGO model I made of a construction crane!

Science and Nature:6. Conservation Project by Kayla Ng for Gold Arrow Award

 

- NIGHT- 4. Reporters - Poem by Kayla Ng for Gold Arrow Award (Creativity)

 NIGHT

When the sun goes down at the end of the day 

And mothers call children back from their play

When birdies towards their nests they fly

The sacred moon takes her place in the sky

The doors are locked, the lamps are snuffed

The curtains, drawn, the pillows, fluffed

The stars show up in pictures bright

Stories, they tell throughout the night

The kids fast asleep in a snug room

Magnificent dreams, their minds do loom

The kitchen cat stirs to the squeak of a mouse

The big black dog guards the door of the house

The silent veil of peaceful air

Broken only by howls from the wolf in his lair

A mother hushes her baby's cries

As an owl hoots near, with lamp-like eyes

A bat that soars through the night with wing

Finds enough food to feast like a king

As midnight draws near, twelve times the clock strikes

The darkest of hours, the middle of nights

The milky way shines, a splash of blue light

Its sparkles and beauty keep hope in sight

The moon calls out loudly, her silent voice heard

"Dawn is approaching, but please rest assured

Tonight we'll meet again just like before

For now, go to sleep and please rest some more"

And saying so she sunk out of sight

So thus ending the rule of the night