Titus' Ooga Booga Cave

Don’t Touch That, You’ll Die 

By Titus Karpowich 

 

Tom is hiking through the woods, and he sees a mushroom. He has the weird desire to eat it, so he picks it, chews it, then he swallows it. A few seconds later, his body goes limp, and he falls over. He’s alive, but he cannot call for help because he can’t feel or move anything. Welcome to the world of poisons.  

That poison back there, that was a neurotoxin. They either cause spasms or paralysis. It depends if the poison causes your neurons to fire continuously, or to stop firing. A few examples of things that have neurotoxins are; lead, botulinum toxin, and tetrodotoxin (found in pufferfish). Necro toxins cause tissue to die decay. The decaying tissue must be removed, or else you get gangrene and die of blood poisoning. The bites of brown recluse spiders and puffadders have necro toxins. Certain types of bacteria that cause necrotizing fasciitis do the same thing as necro toxins. The tissue dies fast when in contact with the bacteria. Hemotoxins kill red blood cells. Hemotoxins are considered less deadly than neurotoxins. When red blood cells die, it causes hemolytic anemia. Three snakes have hemotoxins; vipers, pit vipers, and rattlesnakes. Mycotoxins can be decent or really bad. They cause hallucinations, convulsions, gangrene, and worst of all, cancer. Mycotoxins are a special type of toxin caused by fungi, mushrooms, and molds. Dioxins are a serious environmental pollutant that’s highly toxic. Cyanides happen naturally and are found in the pits of cherries, peaches, almonds, and cassava root. A few symptoms of cyanides are chest tightness, eye tearing, excitement, and difficulty breathing. Ricin is a bit like that, but with a few different symptoms and is found in castor beans and is deadly. Arsenic looks like metal and is deadly to humans, insects, bacteria, and fungi. It causes vomiting, death, diarrhea, and many other things. Sometimes, all it takes to die is a lot of something. In small amounts, poison can have beneficial properties. But in large amounts, you could die. Lots of aspirin will kill you, and four gallons of water in one shot will do the same. Be careful how much you take. Some poisons attack different things. Tobacco smoke attacks the respiratory system. It may cause immediate damage (acute poisoning), the airways swell, or over a long period of time (chronic poisoning), cancer or lung tissue scars. Many snake venoms attack the central nervous system. The central nervous system includes the brain and the spinal cord. You can either get injured or die. This is a result of paralysis of breathing muscles or convulsions. When the cardiovascular is attacked by…let’s say, sodium warfarin (rat poison), it affects the heartbeat, blood pressure, and the blood’s ability to coagulate. It also prevents blood from clotting, which causes death and lots of bleeding. When a poison, such as lye, touches skin, it destroys skin, causes ulcers, death of tissue, and scarring. Some other poisons (like poisonous parsnip sap) cause irritation, swelling, or burning. When certain chemicals, such as ammonia, touch the cornea, it will blind you. Scientists have found many ways to measure the toxicity of poisons. One way is the dose responsive curve. Aren’t there a lot of poisons? How did scientists figure out what is in which category? 

 

People say that there’s no real way to classify poisons. There are ways to classify them, but not everyone uses the same method. A useful way to classify a poison is to see which part of the body it affects most. Like how some poisons change bone marrow, which means it can’t make blood cells…but, uh oh…when blood cells are damaged or killed, the liver can’t detoxify stuff. The liver receives more poison because lots of blood flows there. See how this one poison targeted something specific that caused a chain reaction? Another way to classify poisons is to find its source, use, and physical state. Maybe the source is from algae, who knows? 

 

The red tide, also known as harmful algal bloom (HAB), occurs in coastal waters and is dangerous. It’s an ecological phenomenon that occurs when certain types of phytoplankton and algae overpopulate. The causes are uncertain. It might be pollution, the phosphates add nutrients to the water, which favors the growth of dinoflagellates. Dinoflagellates are a member of the Phylum Pyrrophyta, which is a part of the Protista kingdom. They’re single-celled organisms that usually have two flagella’s (tail-like structures). They go through many different life stages, they photosynthesize food, and their main mode of reproduction is asexual. Some stay dormant for years. They contain chlorophyll, and some contain reddish coloring, so when reached high concentration, the water seems red. The red tide causes a decent amount of damage to marine life. Bivalves will be affected by HABs, but fish, shrimp, and crab are kind of safe to eat. Reef fish can be infected though. The symptoms a red tide can cause are paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP), neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP), which are self-explanatory, then there’s amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP), and ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP). ASP, PSP, and CFP are life-threatening. Some red tides aren’t toxic but are still harmful. They’re known as brown tides. They don’t allow light to get through the water to the plants, so they can’t photosynthesize. If you get poisoned from a red tide, or any poison at all, you need medical treatment, as soon as possible. There are many well-developed ways to cure poisons. But you’ve got to determine the poison first, so you know what you must do. Sometimes you just have to take it easy and let the body heal itself. If you swallow a poison, you must either remove it from your digestive system, or neutralize it with charcoal. If it’s a bite or sting, use warm water and a pressure bandage, it slows the circulation to the rest of the body. When it’s a snake bite, don’t you dare cut where the bite is and suck out the poison, it doesn’t work, it just causes more pain. You should use snake antivenin. There are also many different natural defenses the body has to offer. The skin acts as a barrier, the nose filters out some particles from inhaled air, and sight or smell might keep a living creature from eating it (apparently not Tom). If a poison is swallowed, vomiting and/or diarrhea might get rid of it. Vomiting doesn’t work well, though. Exhaled air, sweat, and saliva do work, but it’s less common. Biochemical processes give protection as well. They can change the form of poison particles. But they might make something harmless toxic. 

 

That’s the world of poisons. There are many different poisons, ways to classify them, and ways to defend or treat poisons. If you see that the water is red, tell everyone to run and skedaddle. Don’t worry, Tom’s fine. After about eight hours of lying limp on the ground he was able to move.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited 

 

“Poison.” Britannica School, Encyclopædia Britannica, 10 Mar. 2023. school.eb.com/levels/middle/article/poison/276482. Accessed 28 Apr. 2023. 

 

“Poisons and Toxins.” UXL Encyclopedia of Science, edited by Amy Hackney Blackwell and Elizabeth Manar, 3rd ed., UXL, 2015. Gale In Context: Middle School, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CV2644300769/MSIC?u=ko_k12pr_d65&sid=bookmark-MSIC&xid=3fb39324. Accessed 28 Apr. 2023               (Don’t know why it won’t work.) 

 

 

“Red tide.” Britannica School, Encyclopædia Britannica, 10 Mar. 2023. school.eb.com/levels/middle/article/red-tide/313166. Accessed 28 Apr. 2023

I’d like to tell you about my pets. First, there’s Cooper. A big one year old German Shepard. He’s mostly a brat, but when he’s good, he’s a nice dog. Then, there’s my two bunnies, Wolf and Hershey. They’re very cute and friendly but a bit skiddish. There’s also my brothers fish, but it really is just his though. Eventually, we’ll get our chickens back, but we got to wait a bit longer. Really, you didn’t know? Actually you probably wouldn’t, so let me tell you a short story. So, technically we’re not allowed chickens, but the Township let us unless someone had a written complaint about them, and after three-ish years of having chickens, we got a complaint. That’s all I got to say about my pets.

This blog will be very much like the book rating one I did, except I’m doing it with music. I’ll  tell you how I discovered the song, then rate the song and then band.

 

Enemy, by Imagine Dragons.

This is a popular song, and a good one. I learnt about this song during an indoor recess in grade 6, when we basically did karaoke.    I give this song a 9/10, and I give the band a 10/10.

Worlds Smallest Violin, by AJR.

This song I learnt from my brother Jeriah (computers never like how his name is spelt). I thought it would be a bad song, but no, it’s now my favourite. Though I didn’t realize it swore until 3ish days ago, just so you know.    I give this song a 9 and a half/10, and the band a 3/10. I’ve only listened to this song, I don’t know any others, that’s why.

Fire, by The Score.

I learnt this song from Youtube, when I put on another one of their songs, and it kept playing songs. Not a lot to say about discovering it.    I give this song a 8/10, and the band a 8 and a half/10.

I’d like to here what your favourite song is and who’s the band who made it.

 

If I was forced to spend the rest of my life in a library, a museum or a zoo, I would choose the zoo. Why, may you ask? Well, that’s what I’m going to write about. 

 

I would choose the zoo because I like animals. I would be hanging out with them birds, the fishies too. But I’d mostly hang out with the turtles and the wolves. At Park Omega, you can pet and feed the stingrays (their stingers are removed). You can also hang out with the deer, they’re where you can buy food, so some go close to people who are eating, but don’t go close to the play structures, (obviously) because there are too many children. I’d still be able to go get groceries and books, invite my friends to the zoo, and go to school. What I’m imagining is a dream come true. In my opinion, this was an easy choice. That is why I chose a zoo, instead of a library or a museum.  

I’m in junior band, and I play the trumpet. People think, “Oh, this is to hard.” and give up, or, “I don’t think I’ll be good enough.” and don’t even try doing band. Yes, it’s hard, but it’s really fun! At the beginning, I didn’t think I could do it either,but here I am, about to have a Christmas concert, and not worrying. Now, the flute is just hard, but I’ve never tried it before so I can’t say to much. But when you here our flutes play, they’ve come a long way, they couldn’t make the proper sound, and now they can play really well. That’s all I really got to say about band.

Where I’m from. 

 

I’m from the nuisance,  the risk-taker, and the rando. 

From annoying noises,  to games.  

From the kindness of my grandma,  

to the outdoors of my father, 

to keep us active, and give us fun. 

From the hard-working mother who’s always busy,

out of love for her children.  

 

I’m from the flipping of the pages,  

as time flies by.  

From the throw of the rock, 

and the Skip yelling, “Sweep!” 

From the splashing as I race, 

how good it feels to get a good breath at the end. 

 

I’m from the barking as a reminder, 

the biting as a revolt. 

From the fluffy fur of father and son,  

the water dishes they keep flipping. 

From the now dead, scritching noises in my walls, 

followed by the pitter-pattering of his tiny paws. 

 

I’m from watching my brother and his team,  

sliding on the ice and…oh…oh. Yeah! Whoooo! They won! 

The crowd cheers wildly, while the zamboni is ready to go. 

 

I’m from the hill we slid down,  

the bruises as we flip over. 

In the end, we all had fun. 

What a wonderful day that was.

Hi, this blog is about  different books I like that I will evaluate on scale from one to ten. Ha ha ha!!! Sorry,sorry! Just, when I wrote that all I could think of was Baymax saying, “On a scale from one to ten, how do you break your pain?”

1. The Unwanteds series, by Lisa McMann.

The Umwanteds is a fantasy and dystopian(I think), where 2 twins are purged, and are categorized as either, wanted, necessary, or unwanted. Aaron is a wanted and Alex is Unwanted, and at the end(ish), Aaron becomes evil that’s all I’m going to say.

Scale:10/10

2. Wings of Fire, by Tui T. Sutherland.

Wings of Fire is a book about dragons. This is one my favourite book series. Obviously it’s fantasy. There’s magic in this as well, but it comes with a terrible price every time you use it. But animus magic is VERY rare. I mean VERY rare.

Scale:10/10

3. Dragon Pearl(and a few others after), by Yoon Ha Lee.

The Dragon Pearl and Tiger Honour, are good fantasy, dystopian books. I think it’s considered dystopian. The Dragon Pearl is about a fox spirit working with a ghost to retrieve the Dragon Pearl, which she did successfully. Tiger Honour is about a tiger spirit trying to prove they’re… uncles, I think… innocence, which they did unsuccessfully.

Scale:9 and a half/10

I love skiing. Do you? Anyways, if you’re wondering what kind of skiing I do it’s both downhill and cross-country skiing.

First, downhill. I originally started downhill skiing when I went to go hang out with some family (or family friends, I don’t remember. I haven’t seen them in a long time) and they rented a ski lodge, or something like that, and the next day after we arrived we went skiing. I didn’t think I would like skiing, but I loved it. We went to the hill twice,(it was a hill that you had to pay to go on) obviously not on the same day, and in between the days, when we weren’t skiing, we watched Curious George, played tag or hide and seek, or we played outside. Later, ( like 1 year later) I went skiing with my dad at the Winchester hill, then I did every year. (if we could because of my brother’s hockey)

Now, cross-country, I started doing cross-country skiing when my mom told me about it and we went to the school’s soccer field to do it. Then it’s just become a thing I do with my mom every winter we have snow.

That’s my story about skiing.

Sledding is my favourite winter activity. Sledding is really fun, and surprisingly exhausting. I’ve went sledding with my friends at the Winchester hill once or twice, and with my family a bunch of times. You have to agree when I say that sledding is a must when there’s time and snow. I also do skiing, but that is a different topic. Maybe later. Ooooooooh! There was this one time when I was 9 or 10 and I went down this one side of the hill with my brother, who was 8 or 9 at he time, and it was a bit icy and we crashed into a tree. Well, we were in different trees but I smashed my back in a sitting position. But my unlucky brother broke tiny bone’s in his ankle and had to go to the doctor’s office. That’s all I got to say about sledding.

Today I’m writing about the rules of baseball. Before I tell you about baseball I’m going to say I don’t play baseball. So, yeah, there’s that. But I do know the rules, mostly.

First I’ll tell you about strikes. A strike is when you swing but miss the ball. You can also get a strike by a foul ball which is when you hit the ball but it goes behind you, the batter. But you can never strike out on a foul ball. Striking out means you get 3 strikes and your turn ends. The last way to get a strike is if you don’t swing but the pitcher throws the ball in a specific spot that I don’t know.

Okay, secondly I’ll tell you about bases and how to get a point for your team. First, you hit the ball forwards and you run to first base, then second, then third, and maybe back to home if you hit a home-run. BUT, there’s people on all bases trying to get you out. They could catch the ball right after you hit it and you get out, or the ball could hit the ground then they get it and try to throw it to the base you’re going to and then you’re out. You could do something, that I don’t remember what it’s called, where you can have a head start secretly from the pitcher( note that people don’t do this often)but can’t go more than halfway to the next base. If you’re wondering why I said “secretly from the pitcher” is because the pitcher could notice you and try to tag you with the ball.

Lastly, I’ll tell you about how to celebrate a victory. First, invite people over to the party. Secondly, buy party food, like chips, candy maybe, hot dogs, and  ham burgers, oh, and don’t forget the toppings for your hamburgers, and the ketchup, mustard or relish for the hot dogs(with the buns of course). Thirdly, turn on your barbecue and grill the hot dogs and hamburgers. Lastly, PARTY!!!