The Ocean Cleanup

September 29, 2023 HPSH Plaid Line 1 Comment

By: Samson Belihu

The Ocean Cleanup is an organization working on cleaning the ocean.
Millions of pounds of plastic that are in the oceans as we speak.

Millions?

Yes, millions of pounds worth of plastic under the oceans, and thanks to this organization, they are doing their best to get rid of the plastics in the oceans.

They have impacted the world in a good way. According to their website, they have worked on cleaning 1000 rivers around the world. They said we can halt 80% of river pollution reaching our oceans. And they have also picked up 100 million kilograms of plastic. If we transfer that into pounds, that’s more than 220 million pounds of garbage and plastic.

Imagine what the ocean would have been like without this organization. They have saved the oceans and the animals that reside in the ocean. The Ocean Cleanup is a non-profit that continues to develop and scale technologies to rid the oceans of plastic.

On September 20, 2023, they made a video of the biggest plastic extraction they ever made: 18,360 kilograms, which rounds up to 40,000 pounds worth of trash. If you want to watch the video: here’s the link: https://youtu.be/wjF0gB29OG4?si=rD4kMgL7qu0DaRLz

Their goal is to remove 90% of the plastic that is in the ocean. This isn’t the only time they have gotten thousands of pounds of plastic. They have started this journey ever since 2013. Dutch inventor Boyan Slat founded The Ocean Cleanup at the age of 18 in his hometown of Delft, the Netherlands, and is still going at it. That equals up to 10 years of cleaning up trash from the ocean.

For more information, please visit:

https://theoceancleanup.com/

Tech/Games

Why are AirPods so popular?

September 29, 2023 HPSH Plaid Line Leave a comment

By: Manuel Avalos Mateos & Jefferson Palma

Whether you’re on the subway, or at a library, at your local gym, almost anywhere you go, you will almost always find a person walking by casually with a pair of white glossy pods attached to their own ears floating as if it were in the air. That’s where the name came from, AirPods, they are in Air and are Pods.

AirPods can easily be ranked as a top 10 most used wireless headphones as of 2023.

AirPods were invented pretty recently for modern technology as the first generations of AirPods were introduced alongside the iPhone 7 in 2016 by Apple.

It’s been estimated that 150 million AirPods were sold throughout its history. And it hit their 10 million milestone sales in 2019. Its revenue has been increasing since 2017 by almost 3 billion dollars each year to 2021.

Now that you’ve seen the data to show you its remarkable sales, we’ll now tell you why they’re so popular.

According to ‘The Strategist,’ high schoolers admit that second to their phones, AirPods are essential to their day to day lives and cannot live without them.

In the beginning of 2023, celebrities like Kyle Jenner, Timothée Chalamet, Sarah Jessica Parker, Dua Lipa and many more have become new users to the very recent headphone style AirPods, AirPods Max. The outfits of the celebrities were casual laid-back street outfits, which these headphones serve as a statement.

In TikTok, many people had posted TikToks of them reviewing it with many TikTok influencers suggesting outfit styles with them. Although these headphones are around $500, the bubbly plain look with these make a chill low-effort type of style and many people are trying it.

AirPods are most compatible with iPhones. As of the current time we live in, iPhones are one of the most used phones globally. Furthermore, it will be more adaptable on iPhones and have exclusive features like Siri.

Apple recently introduced the second generation to the popular AirPods Pro in early 2023. Apple has released 6 different models of AirPods: AirPods (1st Gen), AirPods (2nd Gen) AirPods (3rd Gen), AirPods Pro (1st Gen), AirPods Pro (2nd Gen), and AirPods Max (which are wireless headphones).

AirPods have a variety of features, such as having noise cancellation, and transparency mode. Noise cancellation being a feature that reduces unwanted background noise and therefore improves a user’s listening experience. This feature is exclusive to the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max.

Transparency mode is a feature that lets sound in so you’re able to hear what’s going on around you. Similar to this is adaptive transparency mode, which was a feature introduced with the second generation of the AirPods Pro. It reduces any sound over 85db (decibels).

AirPods are a very common sight here at Highland. So common it’s starting to become a problem. With how easy it is to use AirPods students have used it to their advantage. It’s no suprise that these bluetooth devices are so popular since nearly half Americans own or have owned an iPhone at least once in their life. AirPods can currently retail up to $250 depending on the model. (AirPods Max being the most costly).

For more information, please visit:

Travel/Food

Hmong Village

September 29, 2023 HPSH Plaid Line Leave a comment

By: Stephanie Caballero Benitez

With colder weather approaching it is difficult to find fun places to go to. In this article, I will be talking about one of my favorite places to go to during cold weather. The place I will be talking about is called Hmong Village. Hmong Village is similar to a flea market but it is located inside a building. In this building, you can find plenty of different things such as groceries, food, clothing, and many other things.

The first thing I always head to when walking inside is the food court as the smell is very strong and pleasant. There are a variety of places to try, my favorites are Her Kitchen and Moon’s Kitchen which are located right next to each other. These Kitchens have very affordable prices and are also very enjoyable. I always order Pho, a short way to explain pho would be rice noodles in bone broth. The Pho always comes with a side of lettuce, mung beans, lime, and mint leaves. I have seen people add many different toppings and sauces to their liking. Adding toppings and sauces changes the flavor which makes it easy to not get bored of the taste. Pho bowls come in very different sizes but even a small one can be shared as the amount it comes with is a lot even for just one person.

If you aren’t interested in trying new foods that’s fine as there are also stores in the same building that you can explore and look around in. The ranges of the stores are a good amount. Some sell cultural Hmong dresses, some sell shoes, others sell beauty products, and if you are a Sanrio fan you will find a lot of merchandise in many of these stores.

Lastly, to finish off your visit at the Hmong market, you can stop by their fresh produce area. There is plenty of fruit and vegetables that are very affordable. Whenever I stop by that area I always have to buy some of their mango, it is always fresh and sweet, and it comes cut up and ready to eat for only $5. There are also a lot of products there that can be hard to find at normal grocery stores such as lychee, coconut, dragon fruit, and nances (which is a hard to find fruit).

If you are looking to explore something new and cultural, a visit to the Hmong Market is the perfect idea.

Hmong Village is located at: 1001 Johnson PkwySaint Paul, Minnesota 55106

They are open daily: 9am-9:45pm