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Optimistic Nihilism
- Sakshyam Karna - 26013, Grade ... 30 January, 2023

Human existence is scary and confusing. A few thousand years ago, we became conscious and found ourselves in  a strange place which was filled with other beings. We could eat some; some could eat us. There was liquid stuff we could drink and there were things we could use to make more things. The tiny daytime sky had a tiny yellow ball that could warm our skin and the night sky was filled with beautiful lights. This place was obviously made for us. We were home. This made things much less scary and confusing. But the older we got, the more we learned about ourselves and the world. We learned that the twinkling stars are not shining for us, they just are. We learned that we are not at the center of what we now call the universe, and that it is much older than we thought. We learned that we are made up of tiny little dead things, which make up bigger things that are not dead, for some reason, and that we are just a temporary stage in a history going back over a billion years. We learned, in awe, that we live on a moist speck of dust revolving around a medium size star, in a quiet region of an average galaxy, which is part of a galaxy group that we will never leave. And this group is only one of the thousands that, together, make up a galaxy supercluster. But even our supercluster is one of the thousands that makes up what we call the observable universe. The universe might be a million times bigger, but we will never know. We could throw words around like two hundred million galaxies or trillions of stars or bazillions of planets, but all of these numbers mean nothing. Our brain cannot comprehend these concepts. The universe is too big. There is too much of it. But size is not the troubling concept we have to deal with. It's time, or, more precisely, the time we have. If you are lucky enough to live up to one hundred, then you have five thousand two hundred weeks at your disposal. If you are 25 right now. Then you have three thousand nine hundred weeks left. If you are going to die at seventy, then there are two thousand three hundred forty weeks left. This is a lot of time but at the same time not really. After that your biological processes will start to break down, and the dynamic pattern that is you will stop being dynamic. It will dissolve until there is no you left. Some believe that there is a part of us that we cannot see or measure, but we have no way to find out, so this life might be it and we might end up dead forever. This is less scary than it sounds though. If you do not remember the 13.75 billion years that went by before you, then the trillions of trillions that will come after will pass in no time after you are one. Close your eyes and count to one. That is how long forever feels. And as far as we know, in the end, the universe itself will die and nothing will change. Reading this might induce existential dread in some people. So you can look at it from a different point of view, an unscientific, subjective point of view. The optimistic nihilism. So what is it? To summarize, it is very unlikely that trillions of stars have been made for us. In a way, it feels like the cruelest joke in existence has been played on us. We became self aware only to realize that this story is not about us. While it is great to know about the electrons and the powerhouse of the cell. Science does not do a lot to make these things less depressing. Okay, but so what? You only get one shot at life, which is scary, but it also sets you free. If the universe ends in heat death, every humiliation that you suffer in your life will be forgotten. Every mistake you made will not matter in the end, every bad thing you did will be voided. If our life is all we experience , then experience is the only thing that matters. If the universe has no principles, the only principles relevant are the ones we decide on. If the universe has no purpose, we get to dictate what it’s purpose is. Humans will most certainly cease to exist at some point, but before we do we get to explore ourselves and the world around us. We get to experience feelings. We get to experience food, books, sunrise nad being with each other.  The fact that we are even able to experience all this is really kind of incredible. It's easy to think of ourselves as separated from everything, but it is not true.  We are as of the universe as a neutron star or a  black hole or a nebula. Even better, actually, we are its thinking and feeling part: the center organ of the universe. We are truly free in a universe sized playground. So it would be foolish to spend our time worrying and feeling guilty over something that we won't be able to change. But in the end it is up to us to how we live our lives. The better we make others' lives, the more we live in their memories but that is it.

Source: https://lingualeo.com/bo/jungle/in-a-nutshell-optimistic-nihilism-538374
 


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Bhaktapur Durbar Square: The Grandest Durbar Square
- Ayan Basnet - 25019, Grade X ... 27 January, 2023

Bhaktapur is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are a large number of examples of traditional Newari architecture at Bhaktapur. And, one of those examples is Bhaktapur Durbar Square. Bhaktapur Durbar Square is a former royal palace complex located in the city of  Nepal, Bhaktapur. The term ‘Durbar Square’ along with its name is a generic name translated Royal Square in English which means plazas and areas opposite the old royal palaces in Nepal.

Bhaktapur Durbar Square is one of the best areas to visit in Bhaktapur and is a religious and historical site to visit. It is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Nepal which aids the economy of the country. Most people prefer Bhaktapur Durbar Square over other Durbar Squares; Kathmandu Durbar Square and Patan Durbar Square. Due to its extensive wood carvings of detailed gods and goddesses and its centuries-old religious temples, Bhaktapur Durbar Square is thought to be the best durbar square among Kathmandu Durbar Square and Patan Durbar Square.

From 1201 A. D. to 1779 A. D., the Malla dynasty ruled over the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. Yaksha Malla, one of the Malla Kings, built Bhaktapur Durbar Square in 1427 A. D. And, then roughly 200 years later, towards the middle of the 17th century, King Bhupendra modified it once more. He added several more temples, monuments, and restructured the palace  a bit. And for now there are a total of five temples including Dwarka; the temple of Lord Krishna.

There are Malla palaces in Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhaktapur, commonly known as Durbar Squares. Bhaktapur's Durbar Square was once thought to be the biggest and grandest of the three when the kingdom was free, but many of the nearby buildings have been destroyed by repeated earthquakes. The square has lost most of its buildings and courtyards as a result of numerous earthquakes, particularly those in 1833 A. D. and 1934 A. D., and only a tiny portion of the destroyed buildings have been repaired.

Before Bhaktapur was taken over in 1769 A. D. by Prithvi Narayan Shah, the first king of a united Nepal, the Malla rulers of Nepal used to live here from the 14th to the 15th century, as did the kings of Bhaktapur from the 15th to the late 18th century. The final campaign of the Gorkha conquest of Nepal was the battle between Bhaktapur and Gorkha. Prithvi Narayan Shah, the king of Gorkha, successfully won the battle, taking control over the entire Kathmandu Valley and surrounding districts.

Bhaktapur Durbar Square once had 99 courtyards, but only a small portion of them are still standing today because of destruction caused by several earthquakes. Today, the palace operates as a museum, and the temples are being protected as national heritage sites.
Work Cited
“Bhaktapur Durbar Square: The Best Place to Make Your Stories.” Bhaktapur, 19 July 2022,
https://www.bhaktapur.com/discover/bhaktapur-durbar-square-an-open-museum/
Mellor, Annapurna. “Why Bhaktapur Is a Must-see City on Your Nepal Trip.” Intrepid Travel                                                       Blog, 30 June 2018, www.intrepidtravel.com/adventures/bhaktapur-travel-guide.
“Bhaktapur Durbar Square- Bhaktapur, Nepal.” Hopnepal.com, www.hopnepal.com/blog/bhaktapur-durbar-square-bhaktapur-nepal.
“Bhaktapur Durbar Square | History of Bhaktapur Durbar Square.” Red Carpet Journey: Best Nepal Tours | Tours and Travels | Book Now, 22 Sept. 2022, www.redcarpetjourney.com/trip/bhaktapur-durbar-square.

 


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सफल हुन चाहन्छु
- Aarav B.C. - 25001, Grade X o ... 26 January, 2023

म भित्रको यो भावना, म भित्र नै रहाेस् चाहन्न
मेरो छातीभित्र यो असफलताको अनुभूति,
मैले सक्दो प्रयास गरेँ,
तर, अहिलेसम्म म सफल हुन सकिन ।

घण्टौँ समय बिताएँ
र सक्दो प्रयास गरेँ
तर अन्तिम परीक्षामा हार खाएँ
यो भावना आफूबाट हटाउन चाहन्छु।

मेरो मनमा ठूलो प्रश्नचिह्न खडा भयाे, 
मैले सक्दो प्रयास गरिन र ?
के मैले फेरि अल्छि गरेँ ? 
यसैगरी सधैँ पराजित बनिरहूँ,

तर म फेरि सक्दो प्रयास गर्छु

यो भावनाले मेरो छातीमा छाप छोड्यो
म भित्रको अनुभूतिमा हराउन चाहन्छु
र हारमाथि जित ल्याउन चाहन्छु।

मेरो मभित्रको असफलताको अनुभूति 
म हटाउन चाहन्छु
मैले सक्दो प्रयास गरेँ
तर अहिलेसम्म सफल हुन सकिन
म सफल हुन चाहन्छु
म सफल हुन चाहन्छु।  
 


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Life Cycle of a Mushroom
- Riddhis Sharma - 26006, Grade ... 26 January, 2023

Generally mushrooms grow in  moist and humid places like rotten logs of wood, tree trunks, decaying organic matter etc. Mushrooms are members of the Fungi. They are achlorophyllous, meaning they do not contain green pigment called chlorophyll. Mushrooms are incapable of making their own food so they get food from decomposing dead and decaying organic matter. While mushrooms are delicious and most people like them, all  mushrooms are not edible, some may be poisonous too. Pleurotus ostreatus (Kanye Chyau), Agaricus bisporus (Gobre Chyau), Agaricus Brunnescens (White button mushrooms),  field mushrooms (Agaricus campestris) and Lentinus edodes (Shitake chyau) are some of the examples of edible mushrooms.  

Structure of mushrooms 
The body of mushrooms divides into vegetative body which is the mycelium and the fruiting body which is the reproductive body. The mycelium consists of thread-like segmented hyphae grown in the substratum. The hyphae is the thread-like structure that forms the mycelium and the fruiting body. The mycelium absorbs soluble food from the substratum. The mycelia are of two types. They are monokaryotic primary mycelia and dikaryotic secondary mycelia. Primary mycelia have short lives and they raise the long lived secondary dikaryotic mycelia through somatogamy which is the process of fusing of their two compatible hyphae. Secondary mycelium produces aerial basidiocarps and basidiocarps have fleshy stalks or also known as stipe and an umbrella shaped cap known as pileus. The mushrooms usually have five parts. They are Pileus, annulus, gills, stipe and the mycelial connection.

Life cycle 
Early in the life cycle of a fungus, it begins as a spore. The spores that fall to the ground come from mature fungi. It then germinates by mitotic division to produce a thread-like filament called Hyphae.The mycelium is a long filament branching from a germinated spore. It is made up of the mycelium of a fungus and is the main source of vegetation and its growth.
When two different types of mycelium meet, they combine and form a dinuclear cell. This is called plasmogamy, the stage of sexual reproduction in the fungal family.From then on, the life cycle of a fungus begins. The mycelium then grows further when the right conditions for its growth are met. Such as the temperature, moisture of the soil and the nutrients it receives. This stage in the life of a fungus is called the dikaryotic stage. It's a stage of life just for the mushroom family. As small mushrooms grow, some of them will become pre-determined or indeterminate. So what are predetermined and indeterminate mushrooms?These white pigments that form this Hyphal node are called Primordial. Primordium will continue to grow until a clear fungal form is formed.While an unknown fungus cannot be identified. The growing mushroom cannot be identified until it is ready to be harvested.When a mushroom reaches full size, it begins the process of producing spores. It releases spores into the soil continuing the life cycle of the fungus.Mushrooms that have completed spore production can now be harvested and marketed.

 


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Child exploitation, fame and parenting
- Rushina Tamang - 26008, Grade ... 24 January, 2023

The majority of social media platforms have an age restriction.These age limits were created with the intention of preventing children from getting trapped in predatory acts and also because children cannot properly use social media. But some parents open an account in their name and post pictures and videos of their children. Because if the account belongs to an adult, who’s going to point out the things they post? Children are being exploited by their own parents or guardians.
This has become a very serious issue, especially in Nepali society. Nepali parents are basically using their children’s popularity to gain fame and money. Those innocent children, on the other hand, have no idea what kind of trap they are falling into. Parents just make their children lip sync to some type of audio, dance, sing, and show some type of talent they have, record a video of them, and post it. And it will certainly go "viral" due to the children being "cute" when they perform those acts. I have almost scrolled through 500 TikTok videos just of parents recording videos of their children doing something. And they get fame for it. After their videos go viral, they continue to post videos of their children one after the other.They do this all for the sake of some likes and follows. But they don’t care about how it might end up for their children.
I mean, some media is understandable, as some parents might just want to show how happy their families are to a certain group of followers. But when they post something with their children and the caption is "Please follow, like, and share," I swear my blood starts to boil. They’re basically putting their children’s faces in front of the camera, not even their own faces, and using them to raise followings and likes on the account of their names. But whether or not the child desires fame is unimportant to them.They don’t ask for consent because how could a child give consent? Parents have to be more aware that exploiting their children puts them at greater risk of being part of a predatory act. And what if the child grows up and doesn’t want fame? What if they hate having their face and name known by the world? The parent certainly can’t reverse that. That child will forever have to live with the tag "The tik-tok famous kid" or the "cute kid that used to do this." Not everyone likes fame. A child does not know what fame or social media are. These tik-tok and YouTube parents need to grow up and learn that they are ruining their own children’s lives.
For example, let’s talk about the famous child singer, Ashok Darji. I remember when my mother used to absolutely adore this kid. The kid had a great voice. And one of his songs that he sang for an interviewer went viral. The interviewer got what they wanted by getting lots of likes and follows, but led Ashok Darji down the path of exploitation. Everyone started going to Ashok Darji, taking one interview after another. For some weeks, there wasn’t one person who didn’t know him. His name became famous. All of the Nepali people’s YouTube feeds were filled with the kid’s name, but the videos were very strange. Ashok Darji was caught in public, Ashok Darji was in school, Ashok Darji's girlfriend, Ashok Darji got into a fight, and some people even went on to post YouTube videos with the title Ashok Darji is dead, as the titles suggest.They just announced that a very well-alive child had died for the sake of fame.Make a video and add Ashok Darji’s name, and they’ll get famous? And even after all that, the kid still ended up with a few songs and some fame. And now, most people don't care how he lives.This is the type of society we live in. a place where children are not safe from their own parents. And that is just one example. There are so many more cases on this topic.
What parents have to realize is that their children are not old enough for social media. They have to start acting like parents for their children and not their directors. I can’t even imagine how much pressure social media might have put on those kids. Parents have to let their children act like children and live like children. They must stop raising their children as if they are future superstar celebrities.And we, as viewers, have to stop promoting these types of videos. because children get exploited for fame. And by promoting those videos, we hope to encourage parents to share more content with their children.So, no matter how friendly those types of tik-toks seem or how "cute" the kids are, we have to scroll through that video or report it.

 


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विज्ञान
- Aavash Malla - 26001, Grade I ... 23 January, 2023

अहिलेको युग विज्ञानको युग हो । हामीले हाम्रो पुरानो समयलाई फर्केर हेर्दा संसारमा धेरै विकास भएकाे देख्छौँ । संसार ग्याजेट र मेसिनले भरिएको छ । मेसिनले हाम्रो वरपरको सबै काम गर्छ तर यो कसरी सम्भव भयो ? यो सबै विज्ञानको सहयोगले सम्भव भएको हो । विज्ञानले हामीलाई धेरै मेसिनहरू दिएको छ । जसले हाम्रो जीवनलाई धेरै सहज बनाएको छ। विज्ञानले हाम्रो जीवनलाई सहज र चिन्तामुक्त बनाएको छ । हाम्रो जीवनमा धेरै परिवर्तन ल्याएको छ । यहाँ धेरै कारकहरू छन्, जुन विज्ञानको मद्दतले सुधार गरिएको छ।  सबैभन्दा पहिले, यातायात अब सजिलो छ । हाम्रो समाजको विकासमा विज्ञानले ठूलो भूमिका खेलेको हुन्छ । आजकल विभिन्न उच्च गतिका सवारी साधनहरू उपलब्ध छन् । 
अहिले सबैजना मोटरसाइकल र कारमा यात्रा गर्छन् । यसले समयकाे बचत गर्छ । यो सबै विज्ञानको सहयोगले सम्भव छ । विज्ञानकाे कारणले हामी चन्द्रमामा पुग्न सफल भएका हाैँ । हामी मानवले हासिल गरेका सबैभन्दा ठूला कुराहरू विज्ञान र प्रविधिको कारणले नै हो । विज्ञान हाम्रो जीवनमा यति महत्त्वपूर्ण छ कि हामी विद्यार्थीहरूले यसलाई एक विषयको रूपमा अध्ययन गर्छाैँ । महान् आविष्कारहरूद्वारा संसारलाई परिवर्तन गर्ने एक महान् व्यक्ति बन्ने अपेक्षा गरिन्छ । त्यस्तै गरी सौर्यमण्डलमा भएका विभिन्न आकाशीय पिण्डका बारेमा अध्ययन अनुसन्धान गर्न पनि विज्ञानले सहयाेग ठुलाे गर्दछ । ग्रहउपग्रहरूकाे उत्पत्तिको बारेमा पनि बताउँछ । यसले हामीलाई हाम्रो भविष्यको बारेमा मात्र बताउँदैन । यसले हाम्रो विगतको बारेमा पनि बताउँछ। विज्ञानको कारणले सबै कुरा सम्भव छ र मलाई विश्वास छ कि विज्ञानबिना हाम्रो जीवन असम्भव छ । विज्ञान एक व्यवस्थित प्रक्रिया हो । विज्ञानकाे सहयाेगमा  विभिन्न सिद्धान्त र सूत्रहरूकाे मूल्याङ्कन गरी कुनै पनि कुराको तथ्यहरूबारे सत्यता निर्धारण गर्न सकिन्छ । आजको परिवर्तित संसारमा विज्ञान र प्रविधिको महत्त्वपूर्ण भूमिका छ । सडकदेखि भवन, पसलदेखि शैक्षिक संस्थासम्म सबै कुरा आधुनिक विज्ञान र प्रविधिको उपज हो । हामीले समाजमा देख्ने लगभग सबै कुरा व्यावहारिक विज्ञान र प्रविधिको परिणाम हो। बिजुलीको खोज पहिलो आधुनिक वैज्ञानिक उपलब्धि थियो। रेडियो, टेलिभिजन, बत्ती, पङ्खा, विद्युत, फलाम, मिल, कारखाना र फ्रिज सबै बिजुलीद्वारा सञ्चालित छन् ।
प्रविधिकाे विकासले नयाँ नयाँ आविष्कारहरू गर्न सकिन्छ । नयाँ वैज्ञानिक समझले नयाँ प्रयोगहरू ल्याउन सक्छन् । विज्ञानले कृषिमा महत्त्वपूर्ण भूमिका खेलेको हुन्छ । मान्छेहरूबाट नै औषधिहरूकाे आविष्कार भएकाे हाे । जुन हाम्रो जीवनको सबैभन्दा महत्त्वपूर्ण विषय विज्ञानको मद्दतले सम्भव भएको हाे । विश्वका सबै नागरिकका लागि पर्याप्त खाद्यान्न उपलब्ध गराउन सक्षम हुनका लागि थोरै जमिनमा राम्रो उपज उत्पादन गर्न विज्ञानको प्रयोग गरिनुपर्छ । हाम्रो जीवनमा लगभग सबै कुरामा विज्ञानसम्मत छ। 
 


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Life of Barack Obama
- Ayan Basnet - 25019, Grade X ... 23 January, 2023

Barack Obama is a name well known in the history of America and American politics. He governed the country as its 44th president from 2009 A.D. to 2017. Obama was the first African-American president of the United States and a democratic leader.
Barack Hussein Obama was born on August 4, 1961 (A.D.), in Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. His father's name was Barack Obama Sr. who was a Kenyan economist and politician and his mother's name was Stanley Ann Dunham, who was an American. They both first met each other while they were still students in Hawaii. Soon they married each other and had Obama in a few years. Barack Obama may have only met his father once because of his parents' early divorce. After they divorced, Barack’s mother married a man from Indonesia, and Barack had to live in Indonesia too.
He moved back to Honolulu, his first home, before entering the fifth grade, lived with his maternal grandparents, and received a scholarship to Punahou School. He finished his primary education and attended Occidental College in Los Angeles for two years before being transferred to Columbia University. He learned political science and international law over there. Finishing his education and aiming to become a lawyer, he enrolled in Harvard Law School in 1988 A.D., where he attracted attention across the country as the school's first African American president of the law review. In 1996, Barack made the decision to enter politics. He entered and won the election for the Illinois State Senate. He had to serve in the state senate until 2004, when he was elected to the United States Senate.
Obama entered the 2008 presidential election after three years in the US Senate. He was well known and liked, and he had attained national recognition for his work and dreams. Obama beat Hillary Clinton in the primary elections before standing against John McCain, the Republican nominee, in the general election. He received a strong electoral victory and was made president on January 20, 2009 A.D. He defeated former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in re-election in 2012 A.D. Obama authorized a secret operation in Pakistan on April 29, 2011, with the goal of locating infamous al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was the mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and had been hiding for ten years. This incident made Barack Obama more famous, and he did it for his country and the people of America. This was one of his biggest accomplishments in his career, and he could gratefully resign from the presidency on January 20, 2020, with honor.

 


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