Dewa Athena

“The hardest skill to acquire in this sport is the one where you compete all out, give it all you have, and you are still getting beat no matter what you do. When you have the killer instinct to fight through that, it is very special.”– Eddie Reese

When you read the title, you probably think that this Athena would be the one and only goddess in greek mythology, who was a goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. Well in this article, Dewa Athena is an annual sport event which was held by the Student Committee of 3 Senior High. This year’s Dewa Athena would be the first for me.

I became the committee of this event and my task was to be an LO or Liaision Officer. LO is a person who liaises between two organizations to communicate and coordinate their activities. I was an LO for X Science 10 then. So every time X-10 had a games coming up, i had to be the one to communicate between them and the committee. The first day of  Dewa Athena was March 24th and took place in Lapangan Bali. After i arrived, i had to join  the briefing with other committee for about 30 mins and receive the class’s list of names. Then we split up and started working. First of all, i had to find students of X-10, but unfortunately they came a bit late so i had to ask for extra time for the first match which was Gobak Sodor (if i’m not mistaken). But finally it went well and the match started. In the first hour, there were only about 10 students who came but fortunately, all students came 1 hour later.

There was a bunch whole of match that were included in this event. Those are :

Basketball

Badminton

Relay Run

Volleyball

Football

Dodgeball

Tug of War
Gobak Sodor

So that day, all i had to do was accompanying X-10 and making sure that they joined every single match (although i failed in this task because they didn’t join at a couple of games hehe). I also had to constantly checking up my phone so i could know when was the time of X-10’s match from the committee group. Being an LO was quite tiring although i didn't play. It was tiring because i had to call and gather the students when they weren't in the place or when they were out for eating or else. It was kind of boring too because i couldn't cheer up for my class (X Science 6) neither i could play in the game. When there wasn’t any match coming up, it means i had a leisure time for a moment. I went to my class and cheer my classmate when they played. I also participate in volley. There wasn’t too much game going on after Dzuhur’s break so it’s not too hectic like morning. So i took a chance to take a rest for a 30 mins and had  lunch. The last schedule as basketball and i had to wait until 15.30. But it rained so the field was slippery and it tmeans the schedule had to be postponed until the field dried up. Finally, the basketball game started at 16.00. After that, i went home. So that was how the first day of Dewa Athena went by.

The second day of Dewa Athena was held the next week. I didn’t join this because i have an urgent thing coming up but luckily, my friend had replace me for the task of LO.

On the third day of Dewa Athena which was held 2 week after, my class had made through to the finale yeayy but we still need to compete with eleventh grader ( i forgot which class) but unfortunately we didn’t win.. but that’s okay because we knew that we had tried our best in this event.

Crossword

Group Members : Rafa Kholida

                             Tsabita Pharama H.

Horizontal

1. The numerical value of 3.14

2. A day for the exchange of gifts or presents to the loved ones

4. Synonym of under

6. A tool which is used by woodcutter

8. For Your Information

10. A glass material in frame

12. Having or showing zeal

15. Remains of burning

16. Down reaching

14. Judge advocate

Vertical

1. Shorter version of the longest word in English

3.

5. Relating to a cultivated land

7. Chattering

9. Cars, bicycles, train

11. Fog (Plural)

13. Self-indulgent with fondness

15. Skateboard, iceskate

16. Synonym of action

Nature

Reading about nature in the books is surely different than feeling it in the real life.  In elementary, the teachers taught me to keep the environment clean by throwing the trash into the bin. Later in junior high school, they asked me to study biology in order that I could understand more of environment. Little I knew that I spent too much time on the book rather than the nature around me instead.

Indonesia is a rich country with unique and diverse natural resources. Paddy fields as far as the eyes can see, crystal clear sea water, fresh waterfall, sunray that warms your skin when morning comes. Indonesia has all the nature you could ever mention. But sometimes,  it feels sad that we, as Indonesian citizen mostly take too many advantages from the nature without really thinking of impact on the future. Every elements in nature gives us life. Imagine of there’s no tree, then there’s no oxygen for us to breathe. Imagine if there’s no more sunrays, then we will crash things because we don’t know which way we should go. Imagine if there’s no water, then our body’s liquid will be running out and what other material that we should use to clean our body?

Statements above are just a few things to remind us all the importance of nature and it’s elements. Now take a deep breath. You’re feeling it aren’t you? the oxygen that went inside your lungs and how it feels so good to have them. Then stand up from your seat and go to your terrace. Take a look at the trees, the sky, and the grass in your yard.  Just by looking at it you will instantly feel fresh. Now if it starts to rain outside just stay calm. Look at sprinkle of water and how it falls to the leaf of your plants. Oh and don’t forget to smell the scent of ground after rain. That feeling you’ve got after doing these activities is so good right? It’s just a simple activities to remind us all how big is nature’s presence for us and other living things. Just by taking these steps, our concern for environment around us and nature in general will increase. We need to be grateful because Allah still gives us nature and by that we need to take extra care for it .

A week from now there will be Earth Day on Saturday, April 22^nd 2017. Each year, Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.  The main purpose of the event is to demonstrate support for environmental protection. Many communities in the world celebrate the Earth Day by doing activities focused on how to conserve the earth.  Now, lovely readers you can do several simple things to celebrate Earth Day.  For example, start take your own bag if you’re going to the supermarket,  ride a bike to the school, water your plants,  or spend more times outside. Most of outdoor activities are free so it will be a good choice to hang out with friends! Let Earth Day activities be your everyday activities from now on.

We can  make a big difference by doing the small things. Let’s preserve all the beauty in nature!

Komodo Dragon

Welcome back to my blog,  lovely readers!

It's been a week since the last post. Well, are you curious about what topic will i bring this time? it's about *drumroll* .... KOMODO! A lot of us have heard about the animal. It's often mentioned in our biology lesson, biodiversity right? So it's not a waste of time if you read the komodo article in today's post, let's check it out!

This is the classification                                                      

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Scleroglossa
Family:	Varanidae
Genus:	Various
Species:	V. komodoensis

Introduction

If we take a look at komodo closely, maybe we would find a resemblance with an animal. hm, let me think.. let me guess.. yep, it's like a lizard. Varanus komodoensis is the largest extant lizard on Earth and is endemic to several small islands in Indonesia. The genus name, Varanus is the latinization of 

the Arabic word "waran" which stands for monitor (Egyptians believed these lizards served as monitors, alerting people to the presence of crocodiles). Usually people called komodo as komodo dragon, komodo monitor, and 'ora' in Manggarai dialect.

History and Evolution

V. komodoensis share a common ancestor with dinosaurs, but do not descend from them. Fossil records show that around 100 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, a species related to the present-day Varanidae appeared and reached Australia by about 15 million years ago.  From this species descended a second lineage which differentiated into V. komodoensis  about 4 million years ago.There has been much debate about how V. komodoensis evolved to be as large as it is, despite being isolated on small islands with limited resources.  One theory suggests that the presence of pigmy elephants or stegodonts selected for larger dragons.  The larger the dragon, the more capable it is of hunting large prey such as pigmy elephants.

Discovery

The Komodo dragon was first documented in 1910 by Lieutenant van Steyn van Hensbroek who went to Komodo Island after hearing stories about giant lizards.   He killed a dragon and sent the skin and several photographs to Peter A. Ouwens, director of the Zoological Museum and Botanical Garden at Bogor, Java, who eventually determined that the dragon was a monitor lizard.  Several expeditions followed including an expedition led by W. Douglas Burden which captured 27 specimens and examined at least 70 individuals in 1926.

Physical Characteristic

ü   average length of 2.6 m and an average weight of 40-70kg.    
1. Sharp, curved claws and around 60 curved, serrated teeth with 4-5 replacement teeth at each position
2. The serrations in the teeth help Komodos tear large prey into smaller pieces. the decay of these pieces promotes the growth of several highly septic bacteria. Which later, can cause the death of the prey.
3. Color : adults are grey or clay coloured; young are more colourful, with brighter, speckled skin
4.  Smell : primary food detector; an detect carrion from as far as 5 km away
5.  Vision : retinas possess only cone cells which can detect colour but are weak in dim light, can see as far as 300 m, is useful in hunting to detect motion
6.  Hearing : komodos are not deaf, but they do not rely on sound as much as smell, can only hear a small range of frequencies

Habitat

Komodo Island

V. komodoensis are found naturally on the islands of Komodo, Flores, Rinca, and Gilli Motang in the middle of the Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia.  All of these islands are volcanic. V. komodoensis are usually found in rocky valleys between 500-700m above sea level and frequently occupy regions between the tropical monsoon forest and the savanna.

Reproduction and Life Cycle

Courtship and Mating

    occurs between May and August

   ✐sexual maturity for both males and females is 5-7 years 
✐dominant males fight by rising up on hind legs, using theirs tails as support, and grabbing at the other male with their fore legs
✐courtship is very brief
females often attack males during the early phases of courtship
✐sex ratio in wild is 3 males:1 female

Nesting

☑ females lay an average of 18 eggs in a burrow in the ground over several days in September

☑ females clutch once a year

eggs have soft, leathery shell and incubate ☑ for 2.5-8 months

hatchlings appear in April or May and weigh about 80 g

☑ no evidence of parental care

Development

✰ not many young survive to adulthood, and they often fall victim to many predators

✰ if they survive until 5 years old, they can reach up to 2.5 m long and weigh 25 kg

✰   they live up to 25 years in captivity; Auffenberg estimates a lifespan of 50 years in the wild

Parthenogenesis (Virgin Birth)

▵ offspring resulting from parthenogenesis are all male

▵ use the ZW sex-determination system in which males are ZZ and females are ZW

▵ the female provides her progeny with a haploid set of chromosomes (and only one sex chromosome: Z or W)

▵ the haploid set is replicated and eggs that receive a Z chromosome become ZZ (male) and develop.  Eggs that receive W become WW and fail to develop

Source : http://tolweb.org/treehouses/?treehouse_id=4457

Questions
1. "They live up to 25 years in captivity."
     The underlined word has the same meaning with ..
     a. freedom
     b. confinement
     c. bewitch
     d. jubilant
     e. tardy
2. Varanus is the latinization of  the Arabic word "waran" ..
    Latinization means ...
    a.  to use words and phrases from Latin:
    b.  To change every word in Latin
    c.  to add the suffix -us behind the word
    d. to make all the words in italic
    e. to intermix the latin word with arabic word
3. All of the statements below are incorrect about the relation between komodo's size and it's capability       to hunt the prey, except ...
   a.     The larger the dragon. the less capable it is of hunting small prey

b.    The larger the dragon, the more capable it is of hunting large prey

c.     The smaller the dragon. the less capable it is of hunting small prey

d.    The larger the dragon, the more capable it is of hunting average prey

e.     The smaller the dragon, the more capable it is of hunting average prey

4. Frequently occupy regions between the tropical monsoon forest and the savanna. The sentence           means ..
    a. We can always find komodo dragon in monsoon forest and the savanna

b. Komodo doesn't live at the savanna

c. Komodo dragon often found in between the tropical monsoon forest and the savanna

d. The tropical monsoon forest and the savanna are the only places komodo goes to.

e. Komodo rarely go to the tropical monsoon forest and the savanna

5.  Young are more colourful, with brighter, speckled skin. The italic word means ..
     a. the skin is covered with stripes motive
     b. dotted or freckles covered the skin
     c. the skin is full of wrinkles
     d. komodo has fair skin
     e. komodo has a birthmark in their neck