Abbey Road

A lot of people were probably watching the hockey game last night, (I wasn’t) but did you hear about the riots? It is a shame! That is not Vancouver, and those were deffinatley not Canuck fans. They were FOOLS! Cars were burned (including police cruisers), the police riot squad was called in which the rioter assaulted, stores were sacked and much more. The damage was so high it is estimated in the millions! A lot of $$$. What I am trying to say is: Great jobs, Canucks. You played a hard game. Really, you won in a way. As I said before, they were NOT fans. It’s as disgrace!

Dia duit gach duine! Tá mé ag déanamh an post seo i nGaeilge na Gaeilge mar is é seo ar cheann de na Dúshlán activitys i dtrí cinn de na Dúshlán Blagadóireacht. Bain triail as a aistriú é!
Má théann tú ar an bhlag somebodys agus tá sé i etc, Spáinnis, Fraincis a bhfuil tú ag dul a dhéanamh? D’fhéadfadh tú iarracht nó d’fhéadfaí tú a comment i mBéarla, ach tá agus níos éasca ar bhealach? Sea! Tá cuid de na daoine ar a n-aistritheoirí sidebar widget, agus sílim gur cheart do dhaoine mar gheall ar nascadh Edublogs daoine ó gach áit. I ngach áit! Is féidir leat ceann a fháil amach Google a chur ar do bhlag. Rinne mé an post seo freisin ar fad ar a n-aistritheoir, freisin! Nuair atá mé aosta, plean mé ar iarracht an Ghaeilge a fhoghlaim na Gaeilge, mar gheall ar mo phost, reibiliúnaithe na hÉireann, a deir sé conas a bhí mo theaghlach in Éirinn ársa agus labhair siad Gaeilge. Go raibh míle maith as an am a eithier aistriú, nó a gibberish seo a léamh! Slán!

If your first language is not Irish Gaelic,  use the Google Translate widget on the right.

image Globe by jbachman01 under a CC Attribution, Non-Derrivative Works license.

Welcome to my Activity 4 post of The Blogging Challenge! This will be about leaving your digital footprints online…

Do you have Facebook? Twitter? Do you share photos? Are you privacy settings on Facebook? These are all important questions because people can take your pictures and put them onto Google and what not. Also, how many sites have you signed up for? If you are a person that trust a lot of sites…don’t trust all of them. I only fully trust Apple and Xbox because all my friends are with them and they’re safe…so far (they’ve been great in past experiences). You can be with whoever you please, those are just mine.

Hopefully you think about those questions because they are preeeetty important!

Paul McCartney is a former Beatle, musician, songwriter and painter. According to the Guinness World Records, he is the most successful songwriter. He was born in Walton Hospital in Liverpool, England. McCartney started in a little band called The Quarrymen. He was in the band with John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and a few others, later forming The Beatles. He broke from The Beatles around 1970. In 1971 he formed a band called Wings and later broke up in 1981. He is one of my favorite musicians ever! He plays the guitar, bass, ukulele, mandolin, piano, keyboard and drums. His signature bass that mostly everyone knows him by is the Hofner 500/1. He started using it in his Beatles years and still uses it to this day.

In his Beatles years, he and Lennon wrote many hits such as Hey Jude and Let It Be, or in his earlier years songs like All My Loving, Hard Day’s Night and Yesterday. Most of the songs were credited to Lennon/McCartney. One of his major hits is Live and Let Die featured in the classic James Bond movie. The piano is great in the song.

I am going to focus on Hey Jude. If you have YouTube, please feel free to visit this performance that was live. No electronic modifying, plain original! I don’t know why but this song was taken as a song of peace. In military camps they would blare it over thier speakers and sometimes people played it when they were on strike. In my eyes it basically means: if there’s someone you love, but your not to sure about them just listen to your heart. I know, personal, but true. I have mastered it on the piano (did I mention that I play the piano?) and sometimes I sing along. It is just a masterpiece.

Well, that is my explanation and information on the knight himself, Sir Paul McCartney. Please, if you have questions just ask. If you want you can also check out Wikipedia.

image Paul McCartney by Eduardo Pelosi under a CC Attribution, No Derivative Works license.

The Blogging Challenge. Hopefully most of the student blogs are registered! If not, just click here to go to the site, Miss Wyatt’s waiting!

This challenge was created by Miss Wyatt and was meant to improve you blogging skills and connect you with other classes and kids. I think it’s pretty cool because I like discovering new blogs from around the world! (my newest flag is from Columbia! Yay!). I hope to have fun and explore the blogging world more. I did this last year and I’m excited to do it again. If you like you can read here on the Student Blogging Challenge information page.

Ready, set, GO!

This is the sequel to my previous post “Scotland, That Is All”. I talked about my mom’s side of the family, now I’m talking about my dad’s.

My great grandfather left County Cork, Ireland in 1865?– and brought a bride before leaving. He saved her from the depression in Ireland and they came back, bought acreage at Cobble Hill (here on Vancouver Island) and started a farm. Some say he jumped ship in Cobble Hill and some say that a man died on the ship and he took the man’s name. It’s all unknown.Since then my dad’s side of the family have lived in Canada for….3 generations? Something like that. Your probably wanting more history, hmm? Well, let’s go back to the 1500-1600′s…..

In 1601, The Siege of Kinsale began. Irish clan leaders Hugh O Neill and Hugh Roe O Donnell were two of the famous rebels, along with my family: The O’Barra clan. The links above are to Wikipedia, and in the site we are only listed as “Irish rebels”. I guess it would be kind of weird if they knew my family…..Anyways, I don’t know who was all in the clan because most of the names and things are in Gaelic.

The Spanish assisted the Irish to fend off the English Normans, but were defeated. The English had 12,000 and the Irish and Spanish only with 9,500. Believe me, they fought hard but the English beat them, leaving them with 13,00o dead and 3,500 Spanish surrendered. This was one of many battles in The Nine Years’ War(Ireland), and part of the Anglo-Spanish War.

For thier bravery in battle, The O’Barra clan was rewarded a huge chunk of land in County Cork, now the University of Cork. In history my family has went through a lot. Battles, depressions. That just proves that we’re strong. Later in life I plan on travelling to Ireland and staying there for a while finding more about my family.

Do you have family history you’d like to share? Please tell me! I’d love to hear.

Internet. Most of us use it everyday for e-mail, Facebook, Twitter or just research. It’s in every country on this earth. It has become a regular part of peoples’ day…but do we know how to stay safe?

If you are a news-watcher, then you’ve probably seen stories about cyber bullying on the Internet or people pretending to be other people having the intention of harming children. It happens a lot…and it’s really scary. That’s where Safer Internet Day comes in.

Safer Internet Day (or SID) started in Europe, making people aware of how many people are victims of bullies. It’s important because crimes are committed over the web! Scary, yes but I can assist you with these few tips. Follow these pointers and you will be perfectly fine:

1. Do not give out your full name! People can do A LOT of things with your last name. On things like Facebook, adjust your privacy settings if your going to put out your full name.
2. Never give out your phone number or address. Bottom line is it’s dangerous!
3. Only talk to people you know. Why would you, anyways? People out there who have Xbox Live, it isn’t a good idea to add people who you play a game with. Your not suddenly friends with them!

Those are the 3 basic ones but if you know of any other tips, feel free to share. Please, be careful on the Internet! : )

This is a post of honor. Yes, honor. I love Scotland. I’ve read up on it, searched it on Wikipedia and I have family history there. My great grandfather was born in a little village of  Scotland and was a famous singer. He served in the R.A.F. in South Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and while in active service, started getting interested in singing. He  had 3 kids in Glasgow, Scotland then moved to Cumberland (here in the Comox Valley) and lived there for many years. His first show in Canada was in Campbell River in a dance hall and after that, started touring America. He now lives in Creston, BC in a seniors’ home. He (I’ve heard) is a funny guy. Tough, but funny. My G’ma was telling me stories in a restaurant about him and I was waaaaay to interested so I searched him up. Unfortunately he didn’t come up anywhere but at least I know he was famous I have 3 records of him but no record machine! Hopefully I get one!

Scotland, in the 1100-1200′s was full of warriors and battles. England was attempting to take Scotland, but they held strong. Anyone seen the move Braveheart? True story, you know. They defeated the English the first time, but the second they were less fortunate. History interests me and I am currently looking back on my familys’ history. If I find anything, I’ll be sure to post it.

If you want, tell me where your family originates from: Canada, America, Europe, Russia, Africa, India, wherever!

image Scotland’s flag: The Cross of St. Andrewby Scuddr under a Attribution, Non-Commercial license.

Has anyone heard of Pink Shirt Day? It’s a day to raise awareness of bullying. It originates in Nova Scotia, Canada…

A new grade 9 boy of Nova Scotia came to school wearing a pink shirt. He walked into school being called rude names and being picked on by 2 older boys. 2 other kids heard of this, and wouldn’t stand for it. These 2 boys went down to a local store, bought 50 pink tank tops, brought friends together and stood up against them.

The bullies never bothered anyone, ever again.

The full story is here on pinkshirtday.ca. This day is important for me because I was bullied lots when I was in grade 3 and 4. Nobody stopped it, I didn’t tell anyone which was pretty dumb but I was embarrassed to talk about it. It’s hard. I’ve stopped people in bullying situations lots and lots. I can’t stand it. It infuriates me! I’d like to know if you have stopped or prevented anyone from being bullied before. I would love to hear about it.

image wear-pink-masthead-graphic is the banner of the Pink Shirt Day website. Check them out!

Art. It can be what you want. It’s a way to express feelings and moods. Happy, sad, joyful or blue. I myself am not a huge fan of art but I love looking at it . In class we are focusing on a painter, and a unique painter indeed. Jackson Pollock.

I’d never heard of him until a few days ago! His paintings are never similar, as I said, unique. They are a party of colors and designs. Yes, a party. My painting (left) is somewhat like some of Pollock’s creations. Your probably thinking, “Pff, anyone could paint something like that!”. Actually no. He used different colors and textures, shapes and spaces. He was a professional in what he did. He used different elements.

Elements are the main components of what make up art. In total there are seven but I am going to focus on three:

1. Colors. Possibly the main component. Color changes feeling and how you look at art. Blue is usually sad or cold, red is hot or strong. There are infinite possible colors out there!
2. Textures. What you think…say a painting, could feel like. For example Pollock used lots of paint and made different layers. If you looked at one of his pieces flat the paint would look almost mountainous.
3. Shapes. All artist use different shapes. Circles, squares, triangles. Like cubism. A lot of artist make thier own designs like Pollock. He used lines, curves, swirls, you name it.

If you search up Jackson Pollock on the internet you can see some of his creations. Compare it to mine. Probably not even close to his, right? In some way mine’s the same. Most of his paintings are lines and colors and different designs.