verit

as

June 2011

Another term gone...

A message from the Veritas Captain & Vice............................................page 3

New Element Discovered!....................................................................page 4 By Maleah Gridley

Harry Potter Hype...............................................................................page 5By Konstance Vassiliadis

Quick Facts: Sleep...............................................................................page 6 Yummy treats.......................................................................................page 7 Book Review: The Godfather..............................................................page 8&9

By Katherine Lo Presti

C o n t e n t s P a g e :

Major Goals for

Term 3: Veritas:

1. To get at least two issues outThis term was very busy for all of us. With so much going on, it was hard to keep up! We hope to hopefully get a few more issues of Veritas out by...

2. Expanding our Veritas CommitteeWe are always welcoming of members of the school community who wish to put forward their ideas or to contribute in one of the many areas of compiling Veritas. Whether you have a great passion for sport, art, english - or have amazing ideas - please come along to our meetings, or contact us! :)

A nice end to term 2.As the holidays are fast approaching,

you might be wondering where Veritas went during this Term. And yes, although it was proposed that we would try to get two issues out - this is it! We were so busy this term; and with only having one meeting- there wasn’t enough to make an issue. *sadface.

We’re calling anyone who has anything; a poem, a movie review, a book review; favourite song - you name it - to shoot us an email at veritas@siena.vic.edu.au for your written object to appear in the next issue of Vertias!

Meeting dates are as follows for next term, and are to be held every two weeks. Feel free to come along; we are all ears for new ideas to improve Veritas :) Also, all meetings are held in D6, always.

Wednesday 20th JulyWednesday 3rd August Wednesday 17th AugustWednesday 31st AugustWednesday 14th September

We hope to see you all there, and hopefully get a few more than one Veritas issue out next month!

Don’t freak out if you can’t make one or all of the meetings; you can still contribute your ideas via email to our personal accounts:

blacsar@siena.vic.edu.auvassann@siena.vic.edu.au

We wish you all the best for the holidays! Have fun; but be safe!

Sarah & Anna

Where oh where oh where is Veritas?

?

SCIENTISTS  DISCOVER  NEW  ELEMENT!!!Warning:  element  may  not  be  understood  by  the  ordinary  person

University  researchers  have  discovered  the  heaviest  element  yet  known  to  science.  The  new  element,  Governmen8um  (symbol  =  Gv),  has  one    neutron  ,  25  assistant  neutrons,  88  deputy  neutrons    and  198  assistant  deputy  neutrons,  giving  it  an  atomic  mass  of  312.

ForcesThese  312  party-­‐cles  are  held  together  by  forces  called  morons,  which  aresurrounded  by  vast  quan88es  of  lepton-­‐like  par8cles  called  pillocks  (defini8on  –  stupid  people).Since  Governmen8um  has  no  electrons,  it  is  inert  (defini8on  -­‐  mo8onless,  lifeless,  unmoving).  

Life-­‐spanGovernmen8um  has  a  normal  half-­‐life  of  2  to  6  years.  It  does  not  decay,  but  instead  undergoes  a  reorganisa8on  in  which  a  por8on  of  the  assistant  neutrons  and  deputy  neutrons  exchange  places.

MassGovernmen8um's  mass  will  actually  increase  over  8me,  since  each  reorganisa8on  will  cause  more  morons  to  become  neutrons,  forming  isodopes.  This  characteris8c  of  moron  promo8on  leads  some  scien8sts  to  believe  that  Governmen8um  is  formed  whenever  morons  reach  a  cri8cal  concentra8on.  This  hypothe8cal  quan8ty  is  referred  to  as  a  cri8cal  morass.  

The  Australian  GovernmenDumAustralian  governmen8um,  Ozgovernmen8um  (Gv-­‐0),  has  six  independent  states  of  excita8on,  plus  several  territories  or  spheres  of  gravita8onal  influence.  As  with  other  isotopes,  the  central  par8cle  is  the  Prime  proton.  However,  unlike  the  other  isotopes,  Gv-­‐1  has  no  independent  status  and  remains  under  the  pervasive  magne8c  and  sub-­‐atomic  influence  of  Bri8sh  governmen8um,  from  which  it  periodically  aXempts  to  reach  escape  velocity,  despite  its  present  inverted  orbit.

UsesThe  main  use  of  governmen8um  is  to  slow  down  other  reac8ons.  The  dura8on  of  any  chemical  reac8on  is  mul8plied  by  ten  for  each  microgram  of  governmen8um  present.  These  reac8ons  must  take  place  with  a  catalyst  of  money.  An  absence  of  this  catalyst  may  cause  the  governmen8um  to  decay.

Note:  much  hard  labour  was  put  into  this  ar8cle  by  a  dedicated  chemistry  student…

By  Maleah  Gridley,  Yr  12

Report  By  Konstance  Vassiliadis  MWA

As  the  Last  Harry  PoXer  Movie  approaches  in  July,  some  people  have  already  booked  8ckets  for  the  midnight  screening,  unless  your  one  of  those  people  how  would  rather  catch  it  a  week  later  up  at  shoppo  with  your  friends  ader  school  that’s  fine  but  so  far  early  release  8ckets  are  selling  fast!

Of  course  this  one  will  be  big,  dark  and  scary;  and  for  those  who  haven’t  really  watched  the  last  three  movies,  you  may  want  to  do  some  catching  up  before  seeing  this  one.  Reviews  are  soon  to  come  out  but  this  one  is  bound  to  be  the  most  epic  of  all  

Release  dates  are:  13th  July  Get  your  calendar!  This  one  is  one  to  remember.

The famous trio at a recent Empire magazine photoshoot :)

We all know the feeling of coming to school feeling groggy and possibly cranky - because we had a bad

nights’ sleep. Despite being constantly told about how important it is to get a good rest, we still suffer from

Monday-morning-itis. So thanks to the National Sleep Foundation and Australia’s National Sleep Research

Project, here are a few facts that might spark interest into how important sleep really is.

1. Widowed, separated and divorced people report more insomnia 2. If you live at a higher altitude (like at 13,500 feet or higher), you may suffer from a sleep disturbance caused by poorer oxygen levels 3. Man is the only animal on earth that willingly delays sleep 4. Drinking alcohol can help get you to sleep, but will give you a poor quality of sleep and your dreams will be irregular 5. This fact is great for new parents to know: When infants are put to bed drowsy but not asleep, they are more likely to become “self-soothers,” which allows them to fall asleep independently at bedtime and put themselves back to sleep during the night 6. Your body will never adjust to shift work! 7. One of the primary causes of excessive sleepiness among Americans is self-imposed sleep deprivation (why do we continue to do this to ourselves?) 8. The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, the Challenger space shuttle disaster, and the Chernobyl nuclear accident have all been attributed to human errors in which sleep-deprivation played a role 9. Elephants sleep standing up during non-REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, but lie down for REM sleep 10. Ducks who are about to be attacked by predators are able to balance the need for sleep and survival by keeping one half of their brain awake while the other half slips into sleep mode 11. We naturally feel tired at two times of the day: 2am and 2pm 12. The extra hour of sleep we get when the clocks are turned back at the end of Daylight Saving Time has been found to coincide with a drop in the number of road accidents 13. Experts say the Internet is a very alluring sleep distraction (one word...facebook :S )

14. Sleep is just as important as diet and exercise!

So get to sleep early on a weeknight, so you don’t

come to school like...well, take a look for yourself :(

Now that exams have been and gone, the holidays are right ahead - perfect time to get creative! So, we have compiled a few yummy treats you could try/replicate during the school break. :D

time to procrastibake.

A personal fave ;)

Novel  by  Mario  PuzoReview  by  Katherine  Lo  Presti

We  have  all  heard  so  much  about  not  only  the  masterpiece  that  is  this  classic  novel,  but  also  how  fantastically  it  was  portrayed  on  screen  in  three  parts  with  an  amazing  cast  consisting  of  Marlon  Brando,  Al  Pacino  and  Robert  Di  Nero.  True,  it  is  an  oldie  –  but  a  classic  that  presents  many  themes  and  issues  that  are  interesting  to  discuss.  

I  decided  to  read  the  novel  first  and  I  greatly  adored  and  relished  every  chapter  of  the  novel  as  it  was  such  an  interesting  and  compelling  storyline.  It  wasn’t  a  difficult  read  but  extremely  well  written.  Being  half  Sicilian  myself,  I  can  relate  to  the  culture  and  attitude  of  ‘The  Don’  and  Sicilians,  and  couldn’t  help  but  relate  and  compare  the  passion  and  emotion  expressed  by  the  Corleone  family  to  my  own  crazy  family  (in  particular  my  Sicilian  father)  at  times  throughout  the  novel.     The  novel  is  set  in  America,  post-­‐war  1940s  and  revolves  around  the  chief  New  York  mafia  family  -­‐  The  Corleones,  and  how  they  maintain  their  enormous  empire.  Family  is  the  most  important  thing  in  this  culture  and  despite  what  the  men  may  do  to  each  other  for  ‘purely  business’  purposes,  family  and  ‘civilians’  are  left  out  of  the  conflict.  This  is  something  to  admire  about  the  ideology,  however  whether  the  means  justifies  the  end  is  where  the  icky  part  of  the  story  unfolds  as  simply  eliminating  your  enemy/opposition  by  murder  is  immoral,  illogical  (and  not  to  mention,  illegal).  History  however,  can  shed  some  light  on  this.  This  whole  culture  started  hundreds  of  years  ago  in  the  very  poor  part  of  Italy  (the  island  Sicily)  and  in  order  to  survive,  the  people  created  their  own  law  and  order  from  the  injustice  of  the  corrupt  governments,  which  thereby  resulted  in  people  starting  their  own  form  of  ruling  –  essentially  expressed  in  the  saying  ‘an  eye  for  an  eye.’

The  accession  to  the  head  of  the  family  for  the  youngest  son  Michael  is  unpredictable  at  first,  as  Michael  was  previously  determined  to  stay  out  of  the  ‘family  business,’  but  when  his  father  –  The  Don,  was  shot  and  injured,  he  was  the  only  one  who  could  save  his  family  and  thereby  had  his  future  set.   I  have  seen  the  whole  trilogy  and  greatly  enjoyed  the  series,  however  you  can  never  really  compare  the  novel  to  the  films,  when  the  novel  is  able  to  provide  so  much  more  detail  and  depth  compared  to  a  film.  Notwithstanding,  it  was  great  to  visualise  this  amazing  story  on  screen  and  I  found  the  film  followed  the  novel  quite  exactly,  which  was  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  Puzo  wrote  the  screenplay  along  with  the  director  Francis  Ford  Coppola.    The  acting  was  remarkable  and  all  the  famous  lines  such  as  ‘I’ll  make  him  an  offer  he  can’t  refuse’  were  delivered  by  Brando  and  Pacino  in  the  most  chilling,  masterful  way.  

Due  to  the  length  of  this  review,  I  think  I’m  developing  an  obsession  with  everything  to  do  with  the  Godfather.  Overall  I  found  The  Godfather  an  exceptionally  written,  riveting  novel,  which  I  would  eagerly  read  again.

In  other  words  .  .  .  I  suggest  to  anyone  reading  this  that  (if  not  already)  you  read  The  Godfather  or  see  the  films.  –  Perhaps  if  you’re  over  15  as  it  is  quite  violent  and  gruesome,  and  if  you’re  under  15  please  watch  with  a  parent  or  with  a  parent’s  permission  (as  I  would  appreciate  not  to  have  any  angry  parents  ringing  me  up).  However  I  think  by  today’s  standards  the  events  and  action  in  the  film  are  quite  mild  compared  to  the  things  on  TV  and  in  movies  nowadays.  

This  is  a  classic  novel  and  Oscar  winning  film  that  explores  the  conflict  and  tension  of  maintaining  a  mafia  empire  successfully  in  a  most  remarkable,  gripping  story.

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!

*****FRIENDLY REMINDER *********SPOLIER ALERT →→→→→ MINI QUIZ

COOL  FACTS

.  .  well  at  least  I  think  so

MINI  QUIZ.  .  because  multiple  choice  is  fun  (and  The  Godfather  is  awesome)

Marlon  Brando  won  a  Best  Actor  Oscar  for  his  role  as  Vito  Corleone.  Robert  De  Niro,  who  played  the  role  via  flashbacks  in  Part  II,  won  a  Best  Suppor8ng  Actor  Oscar.  They  remain  the  only  two  actors  to  win  Oscars  for  playing  the  same  character.

1.Who  is  the  man  that  offers  Don  Vito  a  part  in  the  narco3cs  business?A.    SolozzoB.    ClemenzaC.    PentageliD.    Barzini

Surprisingly,  the  word  "Mafia"  does  not  appear  in  the  screenplay  once.  Apparently,  the  Italian-­‐American  Civil  Rights  League  had  an  agreement  with  the  film's  producer  not  to  use  the  term  "Mafia"  in  the  film.  

2.  Which  of  Vito’s  children  is  adopted?A.    MichaelB.    ConnieC.    TomD.    Sonny

Al  Pacino  (Michael)  and  Diane  Keaton  (Kay)  actually  fell  in  love  during  the  shoot,  and  were  a  couple  for  quite  some  8me.

3.  What  was  Don  Vito’s  original  surname?A.    CorleoneB.    AndoliniC.    ManciniD.    Hagen

The  liXle  "game"  Vito  Corleone  is  playing  with  his  grandson,  with  pukng  oranges  in  his  mouth  to  look  scary,  is  actually  a  game  Marlon  Brando  played  with  his  real  grandchildren.

4.  Who  is  the  mastermind  behind  the  a=empt  on  Michael’s  life  in  part  II?A.    PentageliB.    Senator  GearyC.    FredoD.    Roth

The  term  "godfather"  was  never  actually  used  by  the  actual  mob,  author  Mario  Puzo  just  made  it  up.  Yet  ader  the  book  and  film  came  out  people  started  assuming  it  was,  so  it  started  appearing  in  news  reports.  And  it  is  now  actually  used  by  the  mob.

5.  Who  heads  the  ‘Vito  Corleone  Founda3on  for  the  Poor  of  Sicily’?A.    VincentB.    MaryC.    VitoD.    Michael

The  Godfather  was  shot  in  62  days  and  with  6  and  1/2  million  dollars.

6.  Who  is  the  last  person  to  die  in  part  III?A.    Don  AltobelloB.    MaryC.    MichaelD.    The  Pope

Cool  facts  courtesy  of    .  .  .  http://www.moviemistakes.com/film544/triviaPartial  reference  for  the  mini  quiz  .  .  .  sparknotes.com

Answers = 1A. 2C. 3B. 4D. 5B. 6C