The Return of the Attarians- A Short Story By a 14 Year Old

Yeah, you are right, that 14 year old was me :p (Well, I am a university student now) , and believe me there were billions of grammatical mistakes in this piece of story that I found out while cleaning a cupboard. I hope you will enjoy reading it or you'll thinks that it's stupid!

Hey, english isn't my mother language. I am a Pakistani, remember. So, please forgive me for grammatical mistakes.

The Return of the Attarians

"Well, what are you doing Joe?" I asked Joe as he was making a small car. He was always doing things like that and this was a thing that annoyed me the most.

"See. This car can move with a speed of 200 kilometer per hour," he replied excitedly,"Isn't it great?"

I didn't like this question because I was never very interested in his little inventions, but I had to say, "Yeah, it's fantastic."

"I am feeling very tired," I continued with such expressions that I knew would make him reply the same,"So, we should go to your room because you have an air conditioner in there."

"Hmm, ok. Let's go!" he said taking his newest invention in his hands.

His room was as scientific as he was. There were hundreds of cars, clocks, etc hanging here and there. I, myself, was quite girlish. You know, living in the world of castles, with long gowns, and hundreds of servants. I was always living in my imaginations, while he was practical.

"Please, wait here." he said opening his backyard door.

"All right!" I replied while sitting in the couch.

"Oh my gosh!" he said. I waited for him to return, but then came a scream, "Sera!!"

I ran to the door but he wasn't there. So, I stepped into the backyard.

"Sshh!!" came a voice. Joe's voice.

"Why were you screaming?" I asked without giving him a chance to speak.

"I have seen ten strange people," he replied and pointed.

"Hello," a man came to us. His face was pale. His eyes were big, and he had wide lips. He was a feet taller than us. I didn't like him much.

"How did you come her?" I asked.

"I'll explain it all to you later on," he replied with a very loud and grave voice, "By the way, I am not alone. I have many friends in there."

"But..." I suddenly received a kick on my leg from Joe and I reflected, "Well, It's nice to meet you."

"I am also very glad to see the faces of modern age people," he replied, "You two can come to our home. Our land is beautiful."

"Thanks. Will you tell us about your land?" said Joe. I knew that he would be glad to accept such an invitation.

"Yeah, sure!" replied the man, "My name is Array. You can give my reference to them."

I didn't want any any more conversation, so I pulled Joe back into his room.

"You are silly," I said," We don't even know who they are and what they are doing in your backyard and you..and did you pay attention to the word 'modern age'?"

"That was very interesting!" he replied.

"Interesting? Now, what kind of interest do you have with the word MODERN AGE???" I asked angrily.

"It's nothing to worry about, Sera," he said trying to pacify me. He ran to the kitchen and returned with a glass of water in his hands.

To be continued.....If demanded.....

P.S: Ok. I am tired of typing and correcting this. Its like a short novel. I am just so tired today.

Please comment if you want to read more or even if you don't.

Cloud Seeding (Artificial Induction of Rain) - An Interesting Phenomena

Are you curious about how we can artificially induce rainfall??? How can we bring rain to an area where it usually doesn't rains or an area which experiences less rainfall??? Well, read this article and find out. I hope you'll find it interesting and informative.

Before going towards cloud seeding you need to know that how rain is formed. I'll explain it in as easy words as possible.

1. First of all, air currents enter water vapors into the atmosphere.
2. Then, these water vapors condense onto small particles that are known cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). These particles are less than a micron (10^-6) in diameter. The condensation takes place just like water vapors condense on a sauce pan’s lid when water is boiled in it. In the same way, water vapors condense when they collide with CCN.

 Now, this is the step at which cloud seeding kicks in.

3. After this step the raindrop is formed and it starts to grow in the size.
4. When the droplet gains enough weight to exert force downwards and to cancel the upward thrusting force (More weight will overcome the upthrusting force), the raindrop falls to the ground. 

Now that you know the whole process, you can easily understand how we can artificially induce rain.

Sometimes it doesn’t rains in an area just because there are no CCN particles for the water vapors to condense. Or it rains less in an area because of less CCN particles in the atmosphere.

What we do in cloud seeding is that we artificially introduce CCN in the atmosphere. Once CCN particles are introduced, the water vapors begin to condense on them and the water droplet forms. After growing to its size, the rain drops fall to the ground as rain. CCN particles can be silver iodide particles, potassium chloride particles, etc. This picture perfectly represents the process of cloud seeding.

This is the perfect representation of cloud seeding

And yes even atmospheric pollutants, such as aerosols, can act as CCN. But if there are more aerosols than a certain threshold limit then they will stop clouds from raining and the cloud will continue to grow until it reaches a certain temperature, at which rainfall occurs. Now, this can affect badly, because at first there will be drought and afterwards there will be a very heavy rainfall (as the overly grown and high energy containing cloud will rain), which may result in flood. If you want to know more about this effect click here.

The lower one shows how aerosols can delay rainfall

Is cloud seeding a new terminology for you? Or, did you know it before? Even if you know more information about this topic, do tell me.

Can the Ozone Hole Be Repaired?

"Can't we fix just the ozone hole by pumping ozone into it?" This is the question that my sister asks me whenever we get into  debate about ozone hole and sadly I don't have an answer. But why should one be sad when there is internet available to help you solve the unsolved queries :-D.

Well, here is what I understand from an article that I just read. 

1. First of all, ozone production requires a lot of energy. Obviously we will need a huge quantity of ozone to fill the ozone hole, and we can not prepare that large quantity on land because it requires a lot of energy. In atmosphere this large amount of energy comes from the sun. 
2. Secondly, if ozone is leaked during production, it will act as a pollutant in our environment. Yes!! Ozone is good in the stratosphere, but bad in the troposphere. In troposphere (the layer of atmosphere in which we live), ozone acts as a pollutant.
   
   
   
   
3. Lastly, we do not need to patch the ozone layer ourselves. It has the ability to patch itself. The pollutants that are already present will fall off eventually. What we need to do is to stop adding pollutants that deplete the ozone layer and follow the Montreal Protocol.  According to EPA, if we keep on following Montreal Protocol, the ozone hole may patch itself by 2050.

Montreal Protocol

This Protocol was established in 1987. More than 180 countries agreed to address the problem in the Montreal Protocol. In signing the protocol, those countries agreed to root out the use of ozone-depleting chemicals like CFCs, halons and carbon tetrachloride.

So, do your best and stop or decrease the use of ozone depleting substances.

Awww, Do you love them too????

I am very delighted to be able to share the things I love the most with you. I hope that you would love them too!

1. Lonely benches

I don't really know why I love them, but I love them so much.

2. Sun rays chanting out of the clouds

3. Autumn leaves+ sunset

4. Gardens with wooden benches and bridges

5. Brothers holding hands (sense of protection)

6. Trees

I love both trees without leaves and trees with leaves. I also love looking at their barks at times.

This is my unfinished sketch of a tree in my university..

7. Fresh and green grass

8. Water droplets on car windows after it rains.....

9. Moon on a night full of stars

10. Libraries filled with books....

I also love book shops and gift shops. In a nutshell, I love books.

So, do you love any of these things??? If you do do tell me.

"Which One Do You Feel Comfortable to Communicate With, Speaking Or Writing?"

This question was originally asked by my English teacher during one of our classes.  At first, I got confused because I wasn't asked ever before to choose between speaking and writing, but then I made my choice and replied, "Writing, of course."

Well, I can say that she was quite surprised when many of us answered that they feel comfortable with writing. She, herself, as I could see by the look on her face, prefered speaking over writing.

She told us that speaking is easier and better because of many reasons. I am listing only a few of them.

1. Speaking requires gestures only and you don't have to waste a lot of words to explain you emotions.
2. You can shape your words by adjusting them to the mood of your listeners. You can even change your way of speaking to be more convincing. You can defend yourself, whenever required.
3. No Punctuation is required.
4. You can communicate in two way manner. You can observe the response of the audience to what you are communicating.
5. Speech has its own grammar. So, you can be easy at grammar usage. For example, you don't have to use complete sentences at times.

I said that I feel comfortable with writing. Maybe it's because I love writing. I am very shy in formal settings, while I am very confident in informal ones. So in formal setting I can communicate better in writing. I mean I love to express myself through colorful adjectives. I also feel that through writing I can communicate my ideas more effectively, and more confidently.

The best thing about writing is that you don't have to see the faces of your listeners. You can communicate without caring for the response you'll get. Writing makes you more brave. I love that writing has a structure and organization. You may not think before speaking, but you think before writing, so there are fewer mistakes. 

It's also easy to settle disputes and say you're sorry through writing. You can say sorry to a friend who doesn't even agrees to talk to you in school by texting her a long and elaborate apology with a lot of plzzzzzz..... Trust me, I have done this before and it is effective. 

Writing provides evidence. You can keep copies and do not have to worry about getting trouble for something that you didn't do or say.

But,I do love speaking too. I love speaking in informal setting, such as in friends, class fellows and family. I love making new friends and I usually don't have any trouble doing that. I am also trying to love speaking in formal settings. To express my ideas more confidently and fully.

Although I am a very talkative person, I feel uncomfortable with speaking in formal settings, such as in front of guests, in presentations, etc.

So, till the time that I become confident, I definitely love writing. Although I am good in public speaking, I would like to get better at it.

"Get up, couch potato."

Have you heard this before?? Well, I have been called a couch potato until I got 11 (approximately). I had this habit of lying on the couch after school and watching T.V, while craving salt (will discuss later on). I guess we all, or the Libras :-D, become couch potatoes at some point of our life. I won't ask you to agree on this one :-p

Couch Potato

Now let's look at the dictionary meaning of a couch potato.

A person who takes little or no exercise and watches a lot of television.

Fits the situation, doesn't it? I have observed that couch potatoes eat chips, drink soft drinks, soda, etc. while they watch T.V. Now, here is where my situation had been different from others. I did not use to crave food and sodas, I use to eat salt while watching T.V.  Yes, Salt!!! Odd habit, right?? Well, I later on started eating ice cube too. I would first add the ice cube in my mouth and then eat salt over it. Umm Yummy!!

Well, eating salt has been a very re-known habit of mine. Still, when the salt get's missing, my father looks at me and says,"Where's the salt? You must know":-D. Well, to be honest eating salt can never and is never a healthy activity. 

Even when I was visiting Khewra mines (salt mines) with my family. I was told, "Hey, look there is salt everywhere. What are you waiting for?" I felt so ashamed.

At that time, I wasn't fat at all. So, being a couch potato didn't result in any weight gain at that time. Maybe because I used to go out and play with my friends too.

Well, here are a few tips for couch potatoes.

1. Keep the remote away and get up to change the channels.
2. Walk up and down the stairs, or around the room, during commercials
3. Get an equipment, so that you can exercise while you watch T.V
4. Stand up and iron your clothes while you watch T.V.

Honesty, Loyalty, and Sincerity Cannot Be Achieved Through Security Cameras, But Through You

Throughout the whole period in which my professor taught us what corruption is, my unchangeable and obstinate stance has been this: " You cannot achieve a Nation that is free from corruption solely by using force. Even if the goal is achieved, it will be only for a short term. Long term loyalty and sincerity is not enforced, but infused. This infusion is done at best when a mother herself teaches her kid these values and tells her kid to be proud of keeping these values. One may not listen to his/her teacher, but as a mother is the first teacher, she can give her children these values. When a Nation is corrupt, then  corruption can be observed at all levels.  From extremely rich people to extremely poor people.People are dishonest. not sincere, disloyal and corrupt even to the lowest level. Corrupt nations have deep roots of corruption and these roots cannot be removed by force."

I say no.

For starters, Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. Corruption hinders progress and development of any country. It hinders foreign investments and aids. Corruption is an evil. It hinders success.

We observe corruption everyday. We see people lying, cheating, working without sincerity, breaking queues, bribing others, etc. So, don't we witness corruption all the time? Yes, we do. Do you think of these acts as corruption? I do. These are the seed that grow into the plant of corruption. These are the roots, the basics, and they are not to be accepted.

Do you think that we can achieve or rather imitate these values by enforcing laws, strict punishment, and accountability? All of these measures are important and they must be used, but along with measures for behavioral change. Now-a-days, many countries are working with behavioral change as an anti corruption strategy. Anti corruption slogan are displayed on bills, in News, Boards, etc., to make people aware of the evils of corruption.

I think that the following changes are required:

1. End to discrimination. There should be no discrimination among rich and poor, black and white, and between people of different religions, races and ethnic background.

2. People must be given there own rights, so that they may be satisfied from there own conditions. Officials that take care of taxes, police department, judges, etc., should be paid more, so they dont involve themselves in corruption.

3. Children should be brought up in such a manner that when they grow up they not only follow these values,but also respect those who follow them.

4. Religious training and teaching should be given to children, so that they can learn the moral values.

5. For behavioral change, such courses should be designed for the students that explain the evils of corruption to the students.

6. Patriotism should be infused into children.

You can save yourself and others from corruption. You, as an individual, have the power to change yourself. as well as others. You are the step takers. So, take a step and get freedom from corruption.