The HCOS WeeklyVol. 2 Edition 4

Created by Melody Brocke

SatellitesAn ArticleBy Adley Soames

Today we will be looking at satel-lites, or more specifically, the lack of satellites. Satellites are an ex-tremely important type of technol-ogy which we strongly depend on. Satellites watch the weather, giv-ing us vital predictions about what’s going to happen. This has saved thousands of lives from nat-ural disasters such as hurricanes, as well as saving the farming in-dustry billions of dollars. As well as predicting the weather, satellites also make GPS systems possible, which is something almost all ships depend on for navigation.

Meteorologists use two types of satellites to predict the weather. One type orbits at 35,000 kilome-tres above the Earth and the other

orbits at 800 kilometres. The sec-ond type (known as a polar-orbit-ing satellite) provides much more accurate data due to its location being closer to earth. However, the polar-orbiting satellites are ex-tremely expensive to launch, due to the high speed it takes to enter orbit so close to Earth. Because of their pricey launch, the US only has 2 polar satellites in space: a primary and a backup. These two satellites are nearing the end of their lives. The primary satellite was never meant to collect data in the first place; it was built as a pro-totype. As for the backup satellite, it passed its life expectancy a year ago. Should these satellites fail, the entire US would be without any accurate weather predictions. The main dilemma in this situation is that the next polar-orbiting satellite is still being built and won’t be operational until as late as 2018. There is a good chance the old satellites will hold up until the new one is ready, but there is no guarantee. There is also no guaran-tee that the new satellite will sur-vive the launch, in which case we will have to wait until 2022 for the next one. This incident will likely end with brand new satellites re-placing the old ones in a few years, however, there is also a chance that an entire country could go blind for up to 8 years. In that amount of time, thousands could

die from late hurricane warnings.

We are le! with a dilemma. Here we have a government taking a big chance with the safety of its people, something that should never be done.

To sum it all up, we have two new satellites on the way, one sched-uled for 2018, the other scheduled for 2022. In the meanwhile we just have to hope the two failing satel-lites can hold up that long.

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Literature CornerA place for YOU to showcase your writing!

Robin Hood,

Avengers, and

Arrow

A StoryBy Joshua Wlodarczyk

Standing here, the breeze rushing through my luscious hair ... aaaah-hh ... yes, this is the life, my friends. S t a n d i n g o n t h i s m a s s i v e building ... with my buddies. All my archer buddies. Yeah, I may or may not have started this "archer squad" thing. Okay, yeah I did. Ahem. My name is Robin. Robin Hood. Behind me are my two bud-dies: Oliver Queen, also known as "Green Arrow", and Clint Barton, also known as "Hawkeye."They’re my new merry men, since all my old friends are dead.“We’re not your merry men!”... Yeah, that’s the funny thing. I woke up from my lovely little nap - okay, okay, I was knocked out. Some "lowlife punk", as they’re

called nowadays, hit me in the head when I wasn’t looking, and I woke up here. Here, with ... so much ... well, everything. Massive buildings, amazing food, magic touch boxes, or iPads, as they’re called. Both my friends use them. I don’t understand them. Don’t wish to. Anyways, you might ask why we’re standing on this magnificent building, and you'd be right to do so. Well, we’re about to jump down and attack some metallic man. Oh yeah, that’s another new thing. Robots. Particularly: evil robots. They call this one "Ultron." He’s at-tacking innocent strangers and de-stroying this beautifully massive city. But we’re not the only ones fighting. There’s a team here. A team known as "The Avengers." Al-though, I’m not quite sure what or whom they’re avenging. Ah well, doesn’t matter. There's another metal man (don’t worry kids, he’s one of the good guys). He’s known as "Iron Man." There’s this blonde, bearded carpenter with a magic hammer - oh, he’s not a carpenter? Then why the hammer? ... Oh well. Then there’s an ancient man who definitely doesn’t show his fatigue. He was frozen for, oh, about 70 years. Quite the nap. Similar to mine, except I wasn’t enslaved in the arctic prison like he was. Any-ways, then there’s a big green guy. Needs anger management classes. Poor fellow. There’s a leather-cov-ered ninja woman, a man that moves so fast I can’t keep track of him, and his twin sister. She moves things around with her mind. Quite creepy if you ask me. So yes, we are fighting this mad robot and all his clones and saving this city. And we will win. So, until then, have yourselves a merry little day, and do your best to avoid iPads. The y’re way too confusing. GERONIMO!

Autumn

A piece of creative writingBy Emily Pearson

The most pleasurable moment in time.

The leaves change ever so slightly as the weeks of September pass by slowly. Autumn beckons, whisper-ing to the trees to change their colours. As October comes close, God paints the leaves. They burst forth into such deep hues of crim-son and gold, saffron and peach. And as night passes into morning, a thick, smoky coil of fog enwraps itself around the tips of the moun-tains in the distance. The air be-comes chilly and crisp. Frost nips at the windshields and slicks itself upon the streets and sidewalks. Pumpkins fill the outdoor depart-ments of each and every grocery store. The shelves of stores are filled with spices and herbs to make the most decadent of desserts and meals as autumn brings in its harvest of garden fresh veggies and gourds.She curls her fingertips around the steaming mug of freshly brewed coffee, warmed by the cable-knit sweater and suede boots that she

is wearing. She glances out the Starbucks window and smiles. Warmth permeates within her soul as the beauty of the autumn morn-ing enraptures her. See, it is but the little things in life that truly matter; it is in those priceless mo-ments in time when all is peaceful and serene, when you can reflect on God's canvas. As autumn be-comes prevalent in the early weeks of September, it indeed becomes the most pleasurable moment in time.

3The HCOS Weekly

Author’s Note: And that, my friends, is how "The Avengers: Age of Ultron" should really go.

Of Turkeys and

Potatoes

A StoryBy Jennica Wlodarczyk

In the far-off world of silver screens and cinemas, it would sound like a charming idea to invite your boyfriend over for a homemade Thanksgiving turkey dinner. That’s what I had thought at first. Kevin was a man who liked his food, and I could make a meal like no other woman this side of the Thompson River. But, unfortunately, asking Kevin’s sister to help me with the dinner had been a huge mistake.“JOAN, THE TURKEY!”“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.” I muttered the phrase as a mixture of panic and prayer, dash-ing over to the oven where my fu-ture sister-in-law stood, her face a mask of shock as she stood next to the steaming mess. “Karla, how did this happen?”The twenty-six-year-old’s face be-came sheepish and pale. “I think I forgot to set the timer. I really shouldn’t be doing stuff in the kitchen, should I?”I groaned and turned the oven off. “Of course not!” I slipped on a pair of oven mitts and opened its see-through door, coughing like a mad-woman when the piping hot, turkey-flavoured air rushed up my nostrils. My muscles complained as I li!ed the beast of a pot onto the stovetop. Already, I knew that what had once been a turkey was either turned to coal or very well-done. My heart sank. Kevin was not going to be impressed by this; and this had been my very first time

cooking for him!“Don’t worry, Joan.” Karla offered me a weak smile and fingered at a hole in her knitted sweater. “We both know Kevin. He’d eat month-old bread and still praise the chef.”“But this is a freaking Thanksgiving turkey.” I grumbled. “You can’t just destroy that.”Karla laughed awkwardly. “Well, at least this wasn’t as bad as what happened to the potatoes.”“Potatoes? What about potatoes?” I cast a suspicious glance in her di-rection.“Well . . .” She brought her shoul-ders up to her cheeks and blushed. “They, um, turned black.”I deadpanned. I was not in the mood for this. I was not going to ask just what type of family I was going to marry into. I was simply done with it all.That’s when the doorbell rang.“Oh, that’s probably Kevin!” Karla squealed and wiggled her eye-brows at me. “You should go an-swer the door. He’ll want to see you, you know.”A sigh escaped my lips. “Okay, okay. Just try to keep everything else . . . I don’t know, not burnt.”She stuck her tongue out at me. “Go on, Juliet. Romeo’s waiting for you.”It took me thirty seconds to get from the kitchen to the doorway. Despite my better sense, I peeked through the peephole before open-ing the door. My heart skipped a beat. It was, indeed, Kevin on the other side. Making sure I had a wide smile on my face, I swung open the door. Maybe my smile would be distraction enough from the terrible smell inside the house.“Hey, Joan,” Kevin’s dark brown eyes lit up when he saw me, caus-ing my smile to morph into a grin. He enveloped me into a bear hug and kissed the top of my forehead.I sighed, allowing all of the stress

and anxiety that had been building up in my head to fall off of me in waves. “You have no idea how hap-py I am to see you, Kevin.”“What’s wrong? Wait . . . is some-thing on fire?”“Ugh,” I groaned and buried my head into his chest. “Karla and I overcooked the turkey.”I could have sworn I heard him snicker, but if he did, he was wise enough to cut it short.“You know I love you anyways. I mean, come on – it’s just a turkey dinner.” He chuckled and released me from the hug. “Besides, we all know that the potatoes are really what make the dinner special.”My jaw dropped. No way. There was no way that this could be hap-pening.“KARLA, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!”If there was something I learned before marrying Kevin, it was that things never turn out in reality like they do in romcoms.

Events

So You Think You Can Photograph

WHAT? Fall-themed photography contest.WHO? Ning users!WHEN? October 2nd - November 30thWHERE? Ning!HOW? Submit your photo entries in the group.

Chapel

WHEN? Wednesdays at 11am PST.WHERE? Blackboard Illuminate!WHO? Heritage schools students.

HCS Mentor & Protoge Program

Please refer to the official Ning page for more information!

4 The HCOS Weekly

Sleep In by Joshua Wlodarczyk

Super Comics

Verse of the Week

By Megan Ferguson

“Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, my soul. I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.” –Psalm 146: 1-2

Praise. When I say - or rather type - the word "praise", what is the first thing that pops into your head? Maybe it's Praise 106.5, or singing in church. Well, I don’t know about you, (don’t worry, I won’t insert a Taylor Swi! reference here) but that’s certainly what comes to mind when I hear the word "praise." Guess what? Singing isn’t the only way to praise God! I’m not kidding! You can praise God in prayer, while writing a poem, or while sitting quietly by yourself.

You can praise God by playing your instrument (if God has blessed you with that talent) or by writing a novel. Praise is so much more than many of us traditionally think. As long as we are doing things that honour God and keep His com-mandments, we are actually prais-ing Him.

Go now my faithful readers! Take what you have learned and come back next edition to keep up my self-esteem!

The comic creator would like to thank Deanna Burmatoff for inspir-ing this week's comic. Deanna has o!en wondered why her grand-mother turns on the washing ma-chine early in the morning while the rest of the household is still asleep. The washing machine, of course, is located right next to Deanna's room. If you have a funny idea or story that you'd like Joshua to make into a comic, be sure to s e n d h i m a n e m a i l a t hcosweekly@outlook.com.

Joshua absolutely loves making these silly HCOS Weekly comics, so don't feel like you'd be putting him out of his way if you made a re-quest. We hope to hear from you with your amazing ideas very soon!

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Photo taken by Ethan Johnson, Grade 9

Photo taken and edited by Jennica Wlodarczyk, Grade 11

Student Photo Gallery

6 The HCOS Weekly

Photo taken by Deanna Burmatoff, Grade 11

Photo taken by Ethan Johnson, Grade 9

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Photo taken by Deanna Burmatoff, Grade 11

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Weekly

Compiled and submitted by Genevieve Ward

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