GATOR JR. ISSUE 04 / MAY 2024

• 1 harbor seal • 1 Coca-Cola bottle • 1 pair of sunglasses • 8 parots • 6 baseballs • 14 flags • 7 fireworks • 1 baseball glove • 5 balloons

Devin Dean

Div Lukic

Caps and Gowns

Yellow

Yellow

ple

Pur

llo

Re d

Purple

Red

! e M r o l o C e

Blu

Blue

Re

d

Blue

Red

Law

Medicine

Music

Nursing

Philosophy

Science

Social Work

Red

Red

Fireworks

By Div Lukic

Red

Orange

Yellow

Green

Blue

38

20

11

56

29

Calcium

Sodium

Bariam

Copper

Sr

Ca Na Br Cu

Strontium

Purple 29

Cu Copper

Red

Pets at School

Blue

t o Gk Jo

What's bl like red p Answer: Blue paint

Environmental

Blue

Journalism

Purple

le

Fine Arts

Purple

le

Ye llow

Red

p Pur

Tip:

Try mixing blue and red to make purple!

Red

Blue

Engineering

Purple

Education

le

Economics

ple Pur

Red

Business

le Purp

d Re

Here are some common gowns you might see today, try to spot these in the crowd!

Arts

Pu rp

Red

Yell ow

Purp

The flat cap you see students wearing is called a mortarboard hat, and it’s common to place the tassel on the right side of the hat until a certain portion of the graduation ceremony. Those who hold doctorate or masters degrees often wear the puffier cap with a bit more shape to it, a graduation tam, or Tudor bonnet.

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le Purp

A

lthough the world of college and academia can sometimes be thought of as strict and official, nobody can say they don’t know how to dress. The different colors, hoods, hats, and tassels that you see everyone wearing today actually mean very specific things.

Ye

By Div Lukic

Silver 38

Sr

Strontium

13

12

Aluminum

Magnesium

Al Mg

G

raduations, New Year’s, Fourth of July’s. We’ve all been dazzled by the magic of a big fireworks show. The aroma of gunpowder fills your nose, the bangs and booms rush into your ears, and the swirling and sizzling explosions keep your eyes glued to the sky. If you were alive three thousand years ago, you might think that what you’re seeing is magic. However, as magical as they may be, there is in fact a science to these marvelous colors and shapes.

The first fireworks were actually much closer to firecrackers, with evidence from as early as the second century B.C. of people from Liuyang, China throwing hollow bamboo sticks into a fire and waiting for the heat to cause them to explode. Around a thousand years later, Chinese alchemists figured out that stuffing a mixture of potassium nitrate, sulfur and charcoal into the bamboo before throwing it in the fire resulted in an even more satisfying pop.

Although China technically invented fireworks, it was Italy that pioneered what we know as fireworks today. Until the 1830s, all fireworks only produced an orange color. Italian firework families combined different metals to the gunpowder to create colors. If you add barium, you’ll get a bright vibrant green. Copper creates shades of blue, and adding sodium will make yellow fireworks.

Purple

By Div Lukic

@Pearl

@Mithai

@Duplo

AGE: 45 in Dog years

AGE: 35 in Dog years

AGE: 40 in Dog years

BREED: SPCA Special (mixed)

BREED: Pomeranian Mix

BREED: Welsh Corgi

FAVORITE FOOD: Dehydrated liver

FAVORITE FOOD: Leafy greens

FAVORITE FOOD: Chicken

FAVORITE TOY: Her owner

FAVORITE TOY: Any ball that bounces

FAVORITE TOY: Tug-of-war

GUILTY PLEASURE: Chewing furniture

GUILTY PLEASURE: McDonald’s fries

GUILTY PLEASURE: Stealing food

PASSION: Meeting new people

PASSION: Giving kisses

PASSION: Eating and playing

@Willow

FAVORITE FOOD: Tuna Treats

AGE: 15 in CAT years

FAVORITE TOY: Balls with bells inside

BREED: GREY / UNKNOWN

GUILTY PLEASURE: Biting hands

PASSION: Sleeping

Our Urban Animals

These animal residents are part of the fabric of this magical city

By Amy Burke

Bellatrix, Buttercup, Bambi, Bailey, Betsy: the Bison of Golden Gate Park

These ladies are the bison who live in Golden Gate Park. These large animals are an unexpected sight in the city. In 1899, American Bison were placed in Golden Gate Park as part of a nationwide effort to preserve the species, which were estimated to be as low as 400 in North America at the time. The commitment of the early designers of the park have upheld their promise to maintain this species for over 130 years.

Claude: The famous albino alligator

Claude, the 28-year-old albino alligator, has called the California Academy of Sciences his home for 26 years. Why is he white? Albinism is the result of cells that can’t produce melanin, the substance that gives skin, eyes, hair—and in Claude’s case, scales—their color.

All ten feet and 300 pounds of Claude love to lounge on a heated rock, where he is seen by museum visitors.

San Francisco has some feathered celebrities: the colorful and loud parrots of Telegraph Hill. Wild parrots originally came to the city as exotic pets decades ago, and one bird who still flies free reportedly escaped from the San Francisco Zoo. Today, there are estimated to be between 200 and 300 wild parrots flying around San Francisco. At any time of the day, locals can see the notable birds flying throughout town.

These fly-bys are special and even though parrots are not native to Northern California, San Franciscans have embraced the birds as their own.

Harbor Seals—among San Francisco’s most noisy residents

On any given day, people in the city can see seals basking in the sun on the piers on the city’s coast. Pacific harbor seals are the only marine mammals in the San Francisco Bay year-round.

Harbor seals are the smallest, earless seals living off our coast.

Adults weigh on average 100-300 pounds and grow five to six feet in length. There are nearly 50,000 harbor seals living along the coast. These seals eat whatever is seasonally abundant, including small fish, squid and crustaceans. The gray and reddish seals are one of San Francisco’s friendly furry friends and they make their presence known with their enthusiastic welcoming barks.

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lue and smells paint?

The Parrots of Telegraph Hill

Is it Magic?

By Div Lukic

B

ritish writer Arthur C. Clarke wrote, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” If we follow that train of thought, then a city as technologically advanced as San Francisco must be the most magical place on Earth. It would be more fun if these cars ran on magic, but engineers have spent decades figuring out how to make self-driving cars without casting spells on them.

Companies like Cruise, Waymo and Zoox have been testing driverless cars on San Francisco streets since 2022, and have since provided plenty of double-takes to tourists and locals alike when they see the ghostriders for the first time. When you see a car going 30 miles per hour down the street with absolutely nobody inside, it’s human instinct to feel a pinch

of concern even if you know it’s loaded with sensors and safety features. This is where the magic happens: sensors are installed on all sides of the cars, scanning everything on the road in every direction with Radar and Lidar technology. The car then creates a digital map of itself and its surroundings and makes decisions on where to go based on the information from the sensors and cameras, often with the help of AI. Although these companies may have created what looks like magic, it’s still a work in progress. Last October, Cruise was banned in California after a collision with a pedestrian on Market Street. It might not be perfect yet, but eventually, there might come a day when San Francisco will really be the most magical place on Earth.

HOW TO: Take a Good Photo

By Div Lukic

1 HOW TO: Clean your Room

By Sydney Williams

Cleaning your room might feel like a daunting task, especially if you haven’t done it in a while and the mess has been piling up for a few weeks. Finding where to start might be overwhelming, but take the process step by step and take your time. Eventually, the mess will disappear, leaving you with a clean room and happy parents.

STEP 1. Set the mood

Take it slow and try to get into the right cleaning mindset. Grab a speaker and your favorite playlist and play some music!

Don’t forget to take some dance breaks.

STEP 2. Throw away trash

Grab a trash bag from under the kitchen sink and throw away garbage, old food and items you don’t need anymore. Starting here will clear up your space and get you ready for the next steps of cleaning your room.

2 3 4 5

Whether you’re using an iPhone , an Android, or a thousand do llar camera, there are some basic rules to keep in mind when yo u’re trying to take a good photo.

LOOK FOR A MOMENT If you’re taking pictures of nature, wait for that animal to walk past your camera. If you’re taking pictures of your cat, wait for them to stretch out or yawn.

MOVE AROUND Bend those knees and get low, get up on that table, move around! If you think something’s worth photographing, get plenty of angles to show it off from different, interesting perspectives.

USE THE RULE OF THIRDS The Rule of Thirds is a basic guideline in photography that divides the picture into a grid made of nine boxes. In general, you want the subjects in your image to appear on one of these lines.

THINK ABOUT LIGHT Different kinds of light can effect how your photos come out, like harsh light from the sunshine on a bright day. The angle of the light also affects your photos, so look out for distracting shadows.

PHOTOGRAPH EVERYTHING If you want to get better at something, you have to keep on doing it. By taking pictures of your daily life, you’ll likely make some happy accidents and come out with interesting pictures.

STEP 3. Organize items into piles

Miscellaneous items are scattered on the floor of your room.

Sort and put together items that belong in the same place like clothes, toys and items that don’t belong in your room. Once everything is put together, pick which pile to put away first, then move on to the next.

Time for a Game!

Tic-tac-toe is a 2 player game—best 2 out of 3 is the winner!

STEP 4. Vacuum the floors

Once your floor is clean, you can now get into the fine details of cleaning your room. Take the time to get crumbs and dirt off the floor. The room will feel much cleaner when you don’t have to step on dirty floors.

Cleaning your room doesn’t need to be seen as a chore and could actually be a fun way to spend your day. It’s time to show off your newly cleaned room to your parents.

DRAW SOMETHING: HOW TO: Make a Paper Hat 1.

Folded side up, bring the top corners together to make a triangle shape

2.

Fold the bottom flaps up on each side to make a brim for your hat

3.

Ta-da! You have a paper hat! Open the bottom and wear it on your head!

That's Hot!

That's Cold!

Music to Our Ears

Check out what the Xpress team was listening to when they were kids!