Strathcona Tweedsmuir School - Paidia Yearbook (Okotoks, Alberta Canada)

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io'ii-some y Q 'gL . SS x X f X J VISITORS TO EARTH , TT , 7 Jfrless -X S, 71 A Science Fiction Story ix, THE END ' The war lasted three days. lt started when a new radiation produced by fusion of Cobalt 62 was developed by England. This radiation, it was found, destroyed only human blood cells and nothing else. The new discovery was stolen, almost simultaneously, by the U.S.A., Russia and China. Each country loaded its nuclear weapons with this radiation and waited as they had for almost fifty years. No one knew who started the war. No one knew who won. Five months after the end of the war, January 16, 1994, no one was alive to remember it. One June 25, 1994 the last man on Earth died at the American Base in Antarctica. But forty men and women were left alive. Twenty were orbiting Earth in Space Station Earth One. There were another twenty on Moon Base Serenity. Forty men and women to carry on the human race in a totally hostile environment for three centuries while they waited for the Cobalt 62 to be washed out of the atmosphere. THE BEGINNING The probe had finished its work. Radiation was down to normal and the Earth was fit for man to live on once more. The probe showed an abundance of wildlife and vegetation. In fact the whole world was ready for man. And when the world was ready, so was man. lt was October 9, 2294. The space shuttle, Eagle, landed at 22:00 hours. The first man to step on the Earth for three hundred years was called Mark Fteeman. He was the director of the Project Zeus which serviced the ships for three hundred years until they reached Earth. They landed at the remains of Cape Kennedy Space Centre. Two hours later, they left. Forever. Half an hour after they had landed, a single, blue-white ball which gave off an incredible amount of heat and light appeared before the party and materialized into a human being. And then it spoke: We are sorry you came back. We did not want to do this to you. But we have decided that you are bad for Earth. You must never come here again, lf you do not leave here in a quarter of an hour, you will be transported to the Moon by us. Who are you? What are you? Where did you come from? asked Fteeman, explosively. I am Spathe. I am a mutation of your race and I come from Earth. Please leave. Fteeman tried to speak but he couldnt Something stopped him I am sorry you have to leave but it is necessary Soon our masters will arrive and they might destroy you We are sorry but we do this for you This time Pteeman could speak but when he opened his mouth he found himself in the control room of the Eagle three hundred miles above the Earth heading towards Serenity Base And through the observation posts he saw the Earth bathed in a bright blue white glow lt was ours once Then he turned towards the hostile Moon his home and that of the human race Forever David Longcroft Grade 8 ,K WJJQTA il lf VK -1 Ji Xt X t , , . XRSWXX SRX X is , X X X X XX X , EY, f tsggfgflitltwtg QF X -g pi' X Q I . , . . I H l .. . I V 9 I i . . ' ' . ., l ' N' ' . - i - is , 1 5 . . . , . . . f . 'i ' , .E . 7 .V W. I J . . . ' f J ' P . . . I V D . ,-, ' v .. - .. 4 . ,H - .7 ' ' . . ' -I 5 . v L 5 a 'sq 5 ' . . lg J ' I 1 . 3 I N! . ,-, ,N . f - ' --' ':.. - ,fff , 'YI' I' ..4,-- , X xr. ' . A l.-

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4,-P' . f lpv- s NA- ' NUMBERS Man cannot comprehend the size of large numbers. There are many number periods groups of three digits that are rarely used in day-to-day life. One of these is a google that is a one with a hundred zeroes af- ter it. A googieplex is a one with a google zeroes after it. billion a one with a mere nine zeroes after it is a huge number. To prove the true size of a billion l made some cal- culations. lf a person could say a number every second for seven hours a day seven days a week it would still take him over 108 years to count to a billion. But saying N . l 1 f 1 ' 5 1 F g J T Nz ' ' f ' J J N- ' - J Q K' 'J' T 1 lx- ..i, X '- l 1 'r X X X 1 --f ff ..2 . , X These are the two largest-named periods. Yet the lowly o -. iliii X 1 1 l 3 ly I 1 , is l Q Xx Ig! k i it xi .J Mil - it J - lt it , 1 A . X. F s is N1 R my l xstxbst, X! M SNL, W 1.x 1 1 'w 1 i l i Win43 at War A M' l 1 Y Ml 'i llllfli lGliil' tl ft l X x'5?5 r E, N lig- a number a second would become impossible after a time ltry, 1,867,902l! The time period would be even greater. The approximate weight of the earth is 6.6 Sextillion tons or 13.2 septillion pounds. lt is hard for me to imagine such a weight. lt would mean 16.5 trillion tons for each and every inhabitant on earth. Think of the biceps Atlas must have! But for a more realistic example, let's use a moun- tain. To be specific, Turtle Mountain, famous for the Frank Slide in southern Alberta. lt has been estimated that anywhere from seventy million to two hundred mil- lion tons fell into the valley below. lf you look at this mountain, you can see that very little of the whole has actually broken off, maybe one-tenth. Yet if the total of the fallen rock was evenly split between the four billion humans, there would be from thirty-five to one hundred pounds each! Distances are also difficult to comprehend when using large numbers. The circumferance of our earth at the equator is 24,902.45 miles. To walk at a pace of five miles per hour for ten hours a day, it would take almost one year and three months to complete the distance. Yet, by going at the speed of light, you could traverse this distance seven times in one second. It sounds in- credible but it is true. The speed of light is 186,000 miles per second. The ninety-three million miles between the sun and the earth is crossed in eight minutes. But the nearest star, next to the sun, Alpha Centauri, is 4.3 light years away. Travel- ling at the incredible speed mentioned above, it would take 4.3 years to arrive there. At the end of the observable universe are galaxies five billion light years away. It would take five billion years for us to realise if it has died, another five billion years to send our condolences. l believe l have proven my point. If we use them for mathematics, weight or the vast distances of space, large numbers are incomprehensible. David Komlodl l 1 - I wz-- - - S- . . X , If f ' ' Grade 9 if I XXX

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4.3, Ed Klassen David Fathi A PROPHECY BY David Komlodi Ladies and Gentlemen: The Tapir is going to take over the World. Yes. .. the Tapir. You may be asking yourself a combina- tion of these three questions:- 1. How are the Tapirs going to take over the World? 2. When is this take-over going to occur? 3. What the devil is a Tapir? l will attempt to answer these questions. The Tapir is an American mammal with a flexible proboscis. It has a short tail, small feet and a pig- like head. NOW ..,.... How can a pig- headed creature rule the World you ask? Well, Man did ...,. However, the Tapir will go about it in a different manner. The process has already begun! Starting from two strategic points, Southern Malaysia and a swamp south of Managua, Nicaragua, spies have infiltrated the upper echelons of both Capitalist countries and Totalitarian alike. Tapirs have taken hold of secret documents without leaving a clue. Who would ever think of looking for trunk prints? Tapirs have gained followers from various other species, in an atempt to overwhelm any human defence. This would be easy - Environmentalists would not allow the killing of the poor defenceless animals. But why, do the tapirs desire command of the planet? Do they have an inborn hatred of man? Or some mad psychosis? Or is it perhaps a publicity stunt? NO. The revolt is upon us. We must do something before it is too late. Security has leaked to me what they believe is the date and time of the revolution. The time is not so distant. Be prepared. On September 31, 1984 at approximately 10 a.m. 110:30 Newfoundlandl don't plan any parties - because the tapirs are revolting - and so is this speech. ....... . F com or 514' 610 do it 6byG N UCI 2144 gg Dec rho 11:5 -ii 9 5 3, U S 2 3 2 25 I s S 2 gf 3' 2 2 ,1 3 1 1' A Q ',. 2 5: THE TREE ' ll 2 . E . lt was alive, once. Q It stood above the emerald green sea, I Q Fleaching with its great branches, 't 4 Trying to touch the sky. K V, Its leaves were fresh and green 1, 1, And they danced inthe gentle summer breezes -I3 39, And yellowed,andfell in autumn. -f 1 its flowers were white as snow, QQ, 01 Tainting the air with their sweet perfume. 'Qbm But no more. The sea is now grimy and fouled with waste. The branches are naked. The leaves have gone forever. The breezes now carry fumes fearsome as Death himself, Killing, rotting, destroying all life. The snow-white flowers are now black as night, Covered with gaseous sludge we call city air . They wither and die, gasping for pure air. Man is the most intelliegent of all creatures. But he is a slow learner. David Fathi Grade 9 The Gentle Art of Head-Shrinking ln my opinion, head-shrinking is the most absorbing and relaxing hobby I have yet tried. Many people are misled into thinking this hobby involves skill and concentration but here they are wrong. I started with only a family recipe consisting of a mixture of herbs and spices, but beginners need just a cooking pot, scalpel, gloves and a smooth object. The standard procedure is to remove the skull, and, in my case, soak it thoroughly in the speed-shrinking mixture. Then the head is sus- pended above a smokeless fire and the facial expressions stroked for twenty to twenty-five minutes. Voila! The result is a handy souvenir that can be hung conveniently from the belt. The art itself is slowly gaining popularity after a brief lull of three or four centuries. People all over the world are finding out how econom- ical and satisfying it is to start their own collections of shrunken heads. Hobby shops and trophy hunters will usually pay a minimum of seventy-five dollars for a well-preserved head. Unfortunately, the common practice is to shrink heads of people with great prestige. This omits ninety per cent of Calgary's population. A beginner may always start with English staff, but this is usually frowned on by masters of the field. Also, the heads of certain English teachers are swollen beforehand as a result of conceit! On the contrary to turning out well, they have been known to omit putrid odors. Although the hobby of head-shrinking is proceeding slowly, it is sure to capture the hearts of all Canadians. It is economical, convenient, and offers attractive results. - Another neat suggestion from Jonathan Swift's Hobby Shop