Grace

Humorist's Role in Society

2011-02-21T04:19:00.000-08:00

Alain de Botton asserts, humorists are a vital function in society because they are able “to convey with impunity messages that might be dangerous or impossible to state directly.” He is right in some ways because it is true that humorists are able to convey important messages that might be impossible for others to do so. However, he is quite mistaken when he states that humorist serves as a vital function to society.

Humorists, cartoonists, stand-up comics, satirical writers, hosts of television programs are all alike in that they can make fun of things or other people but they can get away with it. Humorists can get away with mocking an important figure or laugh at the government while others can’t because they aren’t serious. Comedians, humorists or satirical writers may sound serious when they are telling us the important message but many people will only brush it off as a joke. Because a humorist’s job is to tell jokes then the people won’t take it as a serious matter. Others can’t say the same message since they might be in danger if they said it because when other people say it the others would think that they are saying it as a serious matter. More people would think that he or she saying it is being serious and is denouncing someone or something. The only reason humorists can get away with conveying “impunity messages that might be dangerous or impossible to state directly” is because most people wouldn’t take them seriously.

It is unlike what Botton has suggested that humorists are a vital role in society. Humorists can be said as people who tell jokes. If one were to think carefully at the purpose of the job of a humorists one would remember that their job is to tell jokes and entertain. Humorists are being listened to and being loved because they tell jokes that enlightens people. Humorists are not as important as Botton proposes because they cannot be taken seriously. Even if an important message were being conveyed through the mouths’ of humorists or cartoonists almost no one would take the message seriously because when it is said by a humorist the message is simply weakened. For example, the satire "On Laziness" written by Christopher Morley states that a person should be lazy because it will benefit them. Morley tells the readers that the lazy people are the ones who gets the benefits. The true message behind his satire is to tell the people not to be lazy; even though it is true that people shouldn't be lazy but will people actually listen to his true message? Because he told this message by being satirical it made is arguments weaker. He said it as though he really felt like people should be lazy. In fact, even if he was using a jockative tone to tell the audience that they should be lazy not much people would consider the message that he is actually conveying. When Morley tells us this message through a satire it weakens the message and the message will no longer be taken seriously. The same important message might be conveyed through the mouths’ of an important figure, such as the president of the United States, more people would take it seriously.

An important message must be conveyed under a serious matter or by someone serious in order for this message to get through the minds of the audience. A good example would be the book 1984 by George Orwell and the television show Spongebob. In the book 1984, George Orwell tries to tell us an important message. He tries to tell the readers that there are bound to be terrible things that will happen if we let a tyrant rule a society; in the book the tyrant, Big Brother, rules the by using Telescreen to spy on the citizens and posters that stares at you when you walk by. In Spongebob: Back to the Past, the same message is being conveyed in that the theme is the same; this episode of Spongebob tries to tell the audience that it is horrible for a tyrant to rule over a place because the tyrant will be a horrible person and just like the book 1984 the tyrant uses Telescreen and posters of themselves to watch over people. Even though both the cartoon and the book had the same message but the level of seriousness is different. Most if not all the people who read this book would take the message in the book seriously because it is written by George Orwell; the message is very strong in the book because it seems like the message that he sends across to the readers might be a possible future of the world. Whereas in Spongebob it wouldn’t be taken seriously at all because it is a cartoon and most people would think that cartoons don’t convey important messages because it is for kids and it is just for entertainment. Not only is the message weakened because it is a cartoon but also because it was told under an absurd situation; nothing can be more absurd than a talking starfish and a talking sponge. Depending on who or what is presenting the important message, the message can differ from being important or a practical joke.

Television/computer + couches=problems

2011-01-17T04:27:00.000-08:00

Many people nowadays sit on their couches watching television once they get home from school for students and work for adults. Sitting on the couch watching television isn’t necessarily a bad thing but sitting on the couch for long hours is. When we were kids we were often told to go out and exercise because it is beneficial to ones health. But some studies have shown that when a person has been sitting on the couch for a long period of time then even exercising won’t reverse the effects. People shouldn’t sit on couches for long hours because it causes health problems.

Day in and day out I have heard my mom and dad telling me to get off the couch and go exercise; they tell me that exercising is good for my health. Many times I have refused to listen because I am just too lazy which I am sure many others have the same thought as I do under the same circumstance. I would think that I get enough exercise from the time I spend in school from basketball training and from walking up and down the stairs to get to different classrooms. A lot of people rather sit on their couches than to go out and exercise because it’s too much work. Many people also think that if they exercise a few hours a week it can compensate their hours sitting on the couch but they are wrong.

According to the Journal of the American College Cardiology “the amount of leisure time spent sitting in front of a screen can have such an overwhelming, seemingly irreparable impact on one’s health that physical activity doesn’t produce much benefit.” It means, even if one did exercise a lot but they sat staring at a screen for too long the effects done by sitting for too long will be irreversible. During a clinical research on cardiovascular disease it found out “that those who said they spent two or more leisure hours a day sitting in front of a screen were at double the risk of a heart attack or other cardiac event compared with those who watched less. Those who spent four or more hours of recreational time in front of a screen were 50 percent more likely to die of any cause.” Sometimes exercising just won’t be enough to maintain a person’s health.

Sitting on a couch and staring at a screen not only causes cardiac problems but also other health problems as well such as blood pressure. According to a research done in 2009 children who watch a lot of television have higher blood pressure than those who watch less even if they do exercise more. Not only is sitting on a couch dangerous but when we decide to stare at the television at the same time it will lead to more health problems. By watching more television or staring at a screen while sitting around people could potentially have health issues but at the same time if people watched less television and got off the couch there could be benefits.

Some people who oppose of this argument might say that if people exercised more each day then they can watch as much television as they want. However that is not true because some people are not willing to get off their couch and exercise and like I mentioned before, sometimes people watch too much television causing some health problems that are irreversible. It is true, however that by exercising people can become healthier. According to a study done about one year ago showed that if overweight adults simply cut their viewing time in half for three weeks used about 120 more calories a day than those who continued to watch television for five hours a day. By cutting their television time the adults were able to spend more time in light physical activities that burn their calories than watching television. It shows that the only thing preventing the television viewers from a health like is the time spent sitting on a couch and doing nothing that might burn their calories. If the viewers simply got up and moved around it wouldn’t cause as much problems but how many people are willing to do that? Some irreversible health problems like cutting the amount of time can prevent sitting on the couch spent on sitting and staring at a screen. If something can’t be cured then there is only one way to stop the health problems from happening which is to know the factors that causes it. People should stop spending long hours sitting on the couch because the effects might be irreversible. Sitting on the couch may be fun but like everything else, too much of a good thing is bad for you.

Sources:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/the-hazards-of-the-couch/?ex=1310533200&en=1e11b16ff92c1fc9&ei=5087&WT.mc_id=HL-D-I-NYT-MOD-MOD-M184-ROS-0111-HDR&WT.mc_ev=click

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9905E3D8113CF934A3575BC0A96F9C8B63&scp=15&sq=roni%20rabin%20TV&st=cse

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/health/22regi.html?_r=1

http://100daysofhappy.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/couch-potato-cat.jpg

Anorexia Nervosa

2010-12-06T04:45:00.000-08:00

I was looking at an article about eat disorders, the first thought that came to my head was that these people are probably too afraid to eat. So I went and searched up what it meant to have eating disorder and the what I found from Wikipedia was that it means a condition based on abnormal eating habits it can be either excessive or insufficient food intakes. As i kept reading the article i saw that a girl had anorexia. This is what i was thinking of when i saw the title of the article.
I went in deeper read about anorexia on the health guide section of the New York Times. I find it kind of sad how some people have these kind of eating problems, in my opinion i think this is caused by peer pressure. In society there are always people that are considered "abnormal" because they are somewhat different from us. Some people are afraid to gain the tinniest of weight because they are afraid they will be laughed at. I have seen people being laughed at just because they are slightly larger in size. So people try to lose as much weight as they can so they can fit in. Some people simply change their clothing styles to fit into society, which i find quite okay because they are not really doing any harm to themselves. Anorexia is a bigger problem because our body needs a certain amount of food to keep us healthy. True, we might gain weight because we eat but if we don't eat it will create a greater harm. I don't like to hear people saying how others are fat even when they have a weight which fall into the average weight of a teenager, they call them fat just because they are heavier than them.
People should be themselves instead of trying to be like the rest of the world. If everyone tried to be normal than everyone would be the same. People would think only a certain brand of clothes are "cool" or a certain type of hairstyle is "cool" so it would be likely many people would have the same styles and same clothes. A lot of people would look alike, so where would be the fun in life? People should be different because normal is just too boring.

http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/anorexia-nervosa/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier

Cholera in Haiti

2010-11-19T20:33:00.000-08:00

“A cholera outbreak has killed scores of people in central Haiti, President Rene Preval has confirmed.” At least 196 people have died and so many others have been hospitalized because of Cholera. The worst infected are the kids and elderly, like always. They got infected because of the water they drink, not only did they suffer from the earthquake from before now there is a outbreak of cholera.

Cholera is an easily treatable disease. A person who has Cholera should rehydrated immediately so all they have to do is have administration of oral rehydration salts to replace lost fluids. A person would think that with this kind of easy treatment less people would die from it. So why is it that people in Haiti are dying from this kind of disease?

We sometimes spend money everyday to buy things we don’t really need even I do sometimes spend money wastefully. The government also spends a lot of money on unimportant things, they fund for different technologies created everyday. Like the invisibility cloak, why spend money on unnecessary things when we can do so much more with that amount of money. I bet the invisibility cloak costs a lot of money, if we take one fifths of the amount spent on the cloak we can help that people in Haiti who are suffering form Cholera. This is why I say people invent things for their own gains, rather then spending some money to buy some rehydration salt for the people in Haiti we go buy some unnecessary things. I hope that things can turn out well for them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11608551
http://www.who.int/topics/cholera/treatment/en/index.html

Should a Sociopath go to jail?

2010-11-11T04:53:00.000-08:00

This question has bothered me for quite awhile. I remember I heard a law stating that psychopaths who kill cant go to jail instead they go to insane asylums to treat their mental illness (apparently it is not their fault they kill others when they are mentally ill).
Basically this article is saying a male named Yang Jiaqin suffers from hallucinations so he attacked a 63-year- old neighbor, Wu Wenguang, and struck him in the head with an ax. When Mr. Wu was in the hospital getting stitches for his wounds the police chief said to him ““When crazy people hurt somebody, there is nothing we can do.” After a few days Mr. Yang attacked three innocent kids when they were leaving school. He used a cleaver to slash at a first grader, then he turned to a 8-year-olf and sliced his arm and neck, the third boy who was 14-years-old escaped with a slash on his shoulder because he “fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Please don’t hurt me,’ After leaving the crime scene Mr. Yang killed a 70-year-old woman who was making firecrackers, and a man who was watching a television drama on his sofa. He slashed the man’s wife and a girl drawing well water. Later on Mr. Yang got captured and got sent a psychiatric hospital.
I am speechless when I read this article, I don’t know what to feel exactly. Many people say that it is not their fault when they go on a rampage since being a sociopath is largely genetic, but isn’t it still killing. If this sociopath took a life doesn’t that mean that their life should be taken too? There is a saying “an eye for an eye and a life for a like” but does that really apply to this scenario? I feel really confused when I think of this topic because a part of me feels like no matter who kills it is still wrong but another part of me feels like those sociopaths wasn’t thinking clearly when they killed so its not really their fault. If these sociopaths are only sent to a hospital for treating their mental illness then what of the families that had their beloved killed? Do we just ignore them when they are weeping for their dead loved ones just because this killer wasn’t able to control himself? In my perspective I think both sides are immoral because if one supports the killer it would be unfair to the family in sorrow but if one was to stand for the family and demand the killer to go to jail it would be unfair to the killer because it wasn’t their choice to kill.
One may think I am cruel to say that the sociopath shouldn’t go to jail for killing but the thing is, we can’t blame it on a person that didn’t have a choice. This person, or in this case Mr. Yang, didn’t have the option to leave the person alive or not. Gandhi once said, “an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind” it means that we can’t always take revenge because if this cycle continues nothing good will ever come from it. It is wrong to let the sociopath go but it is more wrong to arrest a man/ woman for something he did not have control of.

Reference: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/11/world/asia/11psych.html?pagewanted=1&hp

A Huge Step Forward or A Huge Step Backward

2010-11-05T01:46:00.000-07:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11686303

"Scientists in the UK have demonstrated a flexible film that represents a big step toward the "invisibility cloak" made famous by Harry Potter."-Jason Palmer
In this article it talks about this flexible film that can manipulate light to render objects invisible. So maybe there are still some work that need to be done to get the invisible cloak like the ones in Harry Potter but no doubt that with our advanced technology scientist can probably create one perhaps in less then 5 years. What happens when they create this kind of cloak? "Physicists have hailed the approach a "huge step forward" but to me this is a huge step backward because in my eyes new technology never end well. It is true that a invisible cloak can be of good use but what if a person of a evil intention got ahold of it. A person could steal and the camera won't even catch this person because he/ she was invisible. It is true that a item is not good or bad it is how it is used. A hammer can be used to nail, nails but a hammer can be used to wack someone on the head and kill them. I am not saying that it is wrong to invent this cloak because there are still some good use to it but I think it is better not to invent it. If God wanted us to be invisible he would have create a invisibility cloak for us when he created Earth. It is strange how almost all the new technologies might go agaisnt god, eventhough some are there to help us. I think that we shouldn't invent more things like these because we don't really need it and I think that we invent these type of new things because humans are to greedy and they are not satisfied with what they have now. We keep inventing new things and we never stop because we want to step beyond the boundry that is set for us in the world. This new invention will bring us backward and hurt us because this new invention so capable of so many different things if a person uses it in a wrong way.
I think this cloak is a bad idea!

Creation vs. Evolution

2010-10-25T04:53:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago in my language arts class we were talking about different creation stories, including the Genesis and the Epic of Gilgamesh. About two weeks ago in my science seminar class we talked about evolution. It got me thinking about how the world actually started and the fact that science and religion can never really agree with each other. Science is all about hard facts whereas religions are more about beliefs. The only similarities that those two have is that both are trying to give a reason for the origins of everything. In science the world began with the Big Bang and soon things settled and animals evolved to survive; in religion it says that god created the world in six days.

Personally I am not a very religious person so I don't even believe in god(at least I don't think I do). The question that I have is that if god did created the world in six days then who created god? Or that if it was one divine god that create the world then why are there so many different religions that believe in so many different gods? There is no proof that god made things appear, but at the same time there is also no proof on something that god made happen out of thing air.

I think the idea of the Big Bang and evolution seems more likely then god because for me, I like to hear the evidence before actually believing in what someone told me. Evolution makes sense to me because it states that we humans and many other living organisms evolve because we need to survive and those that don't are doomed. We have to evolve because the things around us are always changing and i believe it because it makes sense to me. But I am not judging anyone who believes in god, all i am saying is that evolution seems more logical then creation. Science might explain to us that how we come to be and science might be around us everyday but it doesn't give us hope. Religion is something people belive in so that people can feel comfort and it can get some people to become more ethical becuase they believe in a higher being that might punish them if not.

http://www.keacher.com/files/comics/evolution_large.png

Is Assisting Suicide Moral?

2010-10-21T23:00:00.000-07:00

Dr. Jack Kevorkian is known as Doctor Death he "helps many people who are badly affected by their serious health conditions to hug death." He helps them commit suicide in a sort of way so they won't have to suffer anymore.
So the big question that everyone is debating about is whether or not this is moral. Is it okay to kill people just because they are suffering? It is after all considered murder.
I think it is okay that he is "killing" people to put them out of their misery. What is a life when you live it full of agony. For me I would rather die then live a life full of pain, but I probably wouldn't be able to do it once I am down to the decision. I think Dr, Jack Kevorkian is actually doing them a favor because probably many of them don't have the guts to kill themselves but they don't want to live either. If it wasn't for him these people that he helped killed would still be in a lot of pain. I think what he is doing is not considered murder because those people are the ones that wants to be killed so asks him to do it. It actually takes a lot of guts to do what he did because it takes a lot of guts to bring himself past the fact that the patients are dying in front of them. I actually support him just because he is putting the patients out of their misery but it won't be a excuse for some crazy psychopath to say that they killed the victims because they are in pain. He should be considered a hero, why should he not be happy to hook the patients up to the machines. The patients are literally better off dead.
On the other hand it brings out the question who gives him the right to kill these people? He is no god, he has no right to decided whether or not these people should live or not. What makes him different from another killers? He is still killing/ taking someone's family member or friend away.
Is it okay for him to be "killing" these people?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/opinion/05tue3.html?_r=1

Gay commits suicide

2010-10-15T05:42:00.000-07:00

According to the Declaration of Independence that all men are equal, but is that really true? In the article “Internet blamed in Rutgers suicide” it states that a gay student Tyler Clementi, committed suicide because his roommate recorded a video of him having a sexual encounter with another man. This was not the first time that a gay person has committed suicide "Tyler is the fourth highly publicized gay teen to kill himself in four weeks.” So if all men are equal then why do the gay guys have to hide themselves? If the gay guys don’t hide themselves then they would be harassed. There are many times those men who prefer men are being teased at just because of their indifference. How can they be themselves knowing that people might look at them differently and treat them differently? Why should gay people be an exception to what is said on the Declaration of Independence?

Further more, the roommate and the accomplice were only charged with invasion of privacy. The roommate should be charged for association with death; it was because of them that an 18-year-old committed suicide. They shouldn’t be recording anything personal without the approval of the person being recorded. I find it kind of sad that the roommate would do such a thing and post it on the Internet. Apparently some people these days just don’t have the brains to think of the consequences.

Something I found interesting was the title of this article, the part that states, “Internet blamed.” When I saw this I thought why would the Internet be blamed it was the roommate that killed Tyler. After thinking it through and reading the quote on the article, which says, “Cyberspace has given every one of us an almost magical ability to invade other people's lives,” I find this to be quite true. People can post anything on the Internet without consent from someone else because the Internet allows them to do so. The Internet is full of possibilities including invading other people’s lives. Everything has a good and bad side, the Internet can teach us and help us find information but it can also mislead us by telling us false information posted up by someone else. It is like a stapler, one can use it to staple paper but when used in a wrong way one can staple someone and hurt him or her. If the Internet is capable of doing bad then why do we use it? We can’t always set rules to prevent people from doing things because those rules don’t even work. In fact there might be more problems because some people like to break rules. Perhaps we should just ban the use of internet but that would also lead to so many inconvenience? That doesn't mean that there shouldn't be change, one day I think we will finally all agree on how to make the internet safe.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/10/03/Internet-blamed-in-Rutgers-suicide/UPI-35021286124844/

Who is stealing Spongebob??

2010-10-09T00:51:00.000-07:00

I was searching whether Spongebob will make a person stupid or not, then i came across a topic saying that spongebob is a gay cartoon. After I read the article i still didn't get why spongebob would make a person gay, so I clicked on a link from the news and saw this. It said that "Who’s stealing SpongeBob? Authorities are baffled" When I saw this i was actually kind of shocked. I thought to myself who would be so bored to steal something like this. Personally I watch Spongebob a lot because I think it is really funny. I continued to reading the article and it said that this Spongebob balloon costs $500 so I was thinking "OMG that is one expensive Spongebob, no wonder people are staling it. Maybe I should steal one too." If someone gave me this huge Spongebob balloon for my birthday I would be so happy. Who wouldn't want this, but I don't think I would really go as far as stealing this from Burger King. First of all it is against the law to steal and I probably won't find one in Taiwan.
If they are afraid that the huge Spongebob balloon would get stolen then just stop putting these expensive balloons out for everyone to steal. True, it is probably something to get the kids to buy their burgers; but in case they didn't notice yet, the amount of burgers that they sell to kids in one day is probably maybe $250, which is half of the price of the big balloon. I think it is not worth it to spend $500 to replace a big balloon. Perhaps Burger King should start selling these giant Spongebob balloon and see if there are people who are going to buy it instead of stealing it. I wonder if the people who stole it are adults or teenagers. If it was adults they probably stole it for the money or perhaps to make their kids happy, after all some parents will do just about anything to make their kids happy. If it was teenagers they probably just want to steal it to show it off to their friends and show them that they could steal something this big or that they have a huge Spongebob balloon.
I don't think anyone should steal, what if someone steals your stuff? Would you be happy? Before a person attempts something they should think about how it would make others feel.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6632661/ns/us_news-weird_news

Banned Books, Now Banned Authors

2010-10-01T08:13:00.000-07:00

I have no idea why they are banning books in the first place. If a person feels like that a certain book is full of violence or inappropriate things then they could just stop reading it. Why would they want to ban it? Others might like the books, I don't think a group of people who feels like certain books are inappropriate should get to decide whether the book should stay on the shelf or not. They should leave it on the shelf so other readers gets the chance to decide for themselves. Some "inappropriate" books may contain a deep meaning to it, like Lord of the Flies. This book has been banned in some places but it teaches the readers that in our human nature we can do anything to survive, which includes killing each other.
I think banned books week should be kept because that is the week when people celebrate the freedom to read the books that they want. Although I don't read much but once I get started I can't stop. I don't like it when someone tells me to read this book or that book, or when they tell me "you can't read this book because it is not suitable." In my eyes I like it when I get to choose the book I want to read, I don't want someone to tell me what I can't read. Strangely enough the books that some people find too violent are the ones that I like the best. So I really do think that getting rid of this banned books week is not a good idea.
First they decide to ban books but now they are also banning authors. Maybe the author wrote one book that might be full of violence but that doesn't mean all the other books are full of violence. I think people overreact sometimes, they probably don't even know what they are doing.
We should appreciate the books we have now, who knows what book/author might be banned next. Perhaps the book that you like the most will be the next book that is banned.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100929/us_time/08599202235600

Girl frozen in time may hold key to ageing

2010-09-24T05:17:00.000-07:00

http://www.fun-on.com/science_brooke_breenberg_girl_frozen_in_time_ageing.php

This girl, Brooke Greenberg, is very different from us because she doesn't age. She might be the person that helps scientist understand the whole aging process. Imagine it, in the near future where people can live up to 150years old. What if we didn't age, we would have a more time to spend it with our loved ones. Although it all seems great but I think that we shouldn't try to alternate our genes like this. I am not a religious person but i do think we should let fate decided when we die. We shouldn't defy against these rules.
I do feel kind of bad for Brooke, she can never experience the things a teenager could experience, she can never experience the things an adult can enjoy. The good thing is that she would never need to carry the responsibility that a adult and even teenagers need to carry. She won't experience the stress a college student will have. It is also a benefit for her that she can't think like a 16 year-old teenager because if she did, she would probably feel depressed that she is stuck in a one year-old's body. I would probably go insane if I was in a body of a young girl while my actual age was 16. The things that i would miss out, i would watch all my loved ones age while i stay in this body. No one should endure that kind of pain.
When I was watching the video clip on the bottom of the article I saw that Brooke had a caring family by her side. The family of hers loves her so much that they spend all their time with her, never leaving her alone. It is good to know that she has this kind of loving family by her side. I am impressed that their family accepted this change, i know it is their job as a family member to accept another family member no mater what, but sometimes changes are hard.

Just when I thought T.V shows don't lie

2010-09-17T05:18:00.000-07:00

I have always been watching medical television shows like "Grey's Anatomy" and "House." In the television shows whenever a patient has a body part that severed, such as a finger or leg, as long as the patient places the limb into a box of ice then the doctors can reattach with no problem. Turns out those television shows are just a big fat lie.
While I was looking through the news report something grabbed my attention, there was a picture of a men with some missing tooth titled "What to do when body parts fall off." So i clicked on it and started to read the contents. It says that Jim accidentally severed his middle finger and some parts of his index finger. They decided that in-order to keep Jim's middle finger they had to put it in ice. The thing is, that was probably a bad decision, or so the nurse from the Swedish Medical Center said. The nurse told them that they should have kept the finger cold instead of putting it directly on ice because if the vessels get in contact with the ice it might damage the vessels and make reattachment hard. Then it goes on talking about what a person should do when their tooth falls out, or when the eyelid goes behind the eye.
This article is actually kind of gross but at the same time very helpful since it teaches the reader how to deal with these kind of situations. I have always thought about what I would do when my finger gets severed. The first I would have done was to throw it in ice because that is what the patients do on the shows. Now that I have seen this article I will follow the steps so that the doctors can reattach the finger with no complications.
Next time when your finger, toe, arm, or leg gets cut off then you would know that you shouldn't put it in ice, because if you do then you might forever lose that part of your body. Another important thing, don't believe television shows because they are feeding the audience false information such as, putting a person's severed body part in ice. If you want real information go to the Discovery Channel or any educational channel.

Cohen, Elizabeth. "What to Do When Body Parts Fall off - CNN.com." CNN.com International - Breaking, World, Business, Sports, Entertainment and Video News. Web. 17 Sept. 2010. http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/09/16/things.fall.off/index.html

I can't believe my eyes and ears

2010-09-10T05:27:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday night I decided to watch the Discovery Channel. For some strange reason I started to watch the Discovery Channel a lot recently, which I normally don’t do. Something caught my eye that got me to keep watching this channel that day; which was the ID Investigation Discovery, when I saw the title the thought that came to my head was it must be about some person who killed many people. To my surprise, it was about a guy called Ned Snelgrove who has killed 2 women and almost killed 1 woman. The first person that he killed was called Karen Osmun, her girlfriend. A few years later he met a girl called Mary Ellen Renard, he danced with her and so he got Mary’s trust. After they finished dancing Mary decided to go home but she had car troubles so Ned offered to help out, and said that he wanted to follow her home just in case the car breaks down. Once they reached Mary’s house he tells her that he needs to use the restroom. Like any other civilized person Mary let him into the house because he helped her out; once inside he ripped her clothes off and stabbed her, even though she was almost dying she still struggled and got free from Ned. Then she started to call for help, which resulted in Ned fleeing from the scene. Mary was badly injured but she still survived and got a chance to tell the police officers about the whole thing. Soon after that the police started to search for him and found him in a hospital because he tried to commit suicide. He got sentenced for 20 years but because of “good behavior” he got out of jail in 10 years. 2 years after that, he killed a 32-year-old single mother but this time he argued that he didn’t do it. After a few days he tried to commit suicide yet again but failed. Once the police got all the evidence to prove that he killed the last victim he was sentenced to 60 years to prison.
This sick twisted guy disgusts me!! He even wrote letters about how he can’t help him self whenever he is near a woman, he always tried and resist the urge of doing something; he said that he just couldn’t resist but to kill those women. How disturbing is that!! He must be a psychopath! The thing that strikes me the most in when I saw this was when they decided to let him out just because he had good behavior. Are they born stupid, or did that have to work on it? Haven’t they ever heard of faking!?? Seriously!! I really believe that no one, and I do mean no one, should be let out of jail just because of good behavior. Before I saw that he got to the third person I was thinking, “ holy crap! They are seriously going to let him out.. Damn they must be stupid because he will probably just kill some innocent person again.” I was totally right, and it is not because I am smart; it was because any logically person would know that he would go out and kill again. He even sent a letter to his inmate and told him that he will "pick up where he left off." Not only did he not regret what he had done, he even decides to keep going. This guy is sick in every way. He committed suicide TWICE!! Just so he could avoid the police; if he wanted to commit suicide because he regretted it then why didn’t he stop when he got out of jail? Although he said that he tried to kill himself the second time because the police kept accusing him of something that he didn’t do, but I’m not going to believe him. At least not after seeing the things he wrote in the letters.
The lesson that I have learned from watching this is that never let a stranger follow you home just because he danced with you and fixed your car. If you trust your instinct and let him follow you home then you better prepare yourself. The other lesson is, don’t follow a stranger home when you are in a bar, because the last time a women followed a guy out of the bar she got killed. And yes, I am assuming you don’t want to be killed.

Great... more bugs

2010-09-02T04:58:00.000-07:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/31/science/31bedbug.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=science

Check out that news.. it will gross you, just when you think cockroaches are gross!
It is saying that bedbugs don’t transmit diseases but they are gross!! I hope they all die off just like the time they disappeared for a long time. Now they are saying its hard to kill them, so what am I suppose to do when they nest at my house!? I was even more shocked to hear that if you’re allergic to dust bunnies it actually means you’re allergic to bedbug poop. I’m not joking here, dust bunnies are bed bug poop in clumps. To think I played with dust bunnies when I was young… thinking of it makes me sick. Now they even mention how they hide and you cant feel them when they bite you!! WHAT THE HECK!! Does that mean if there were bed bugs under my bed then I wont feel them crawl on me at night???? I hope they all suffer, all those bedbugs! I haven’t even mentioned the best part! They even live in theaters and hotels!! What am I suppose to do? Stop living in hotels when I travel!!? One of the guys on the news said “People should be aware, but not panicky.” Ya right! Ever heard of reverse psychology? If you tell me not to panic, I panic. So I guess when some people say “sleep tight don’t let the bed bugs bite” they are not kidding.

11-10-09, Art Core

2009-11-09T23:13:00.000-08:00

Today we went to the glass factory, I thought it was very cool especially the part where the guy made the animals. The work place was quite big the people there seem to be very kind to us and to their fellow workers. It was very hot in the beginning but once we walked in there, there was fans to cool the people down because the procedure of making the glass requires a lot of heat. It feels like we see glass every day, but the procedure of making it glass we don't see everyday. There were times when I saw the machinery I feel like it might be dangerous but the people who work there doesn't seem to get hurt from it. But maybe its just because they are very cautious. When we were walking through the finished glass museum it was very cool, because there were different shapes and sizes. Even the glasses they dispose of was very cool. I wish i could also make an animal out of the glass but i know i would never be able to because it must be super hard. What makes Hsinchu such a great place for making glass is that it has silicon and natural gas. I enjoyed my time at the glass factory it is a very memorable experience for me.

The Last Samurai:Reflection

2009-05-14T18:37:00.000-07:00

One of the theme of this movie is Traditional ways(samurais) vs. modernity(emperor). I wanted to chose this theme because i feel like in this movie this it what it was all about. To me i think that they shouldn't have a war just because they wanted to stay traditional or be more advanced, especially they shouldn't have a war against their own country. It was sad to see people fighting against their own people. I think that they should just keep some of the traditions because traditions are the ones that started the whole thing. And some traditions are really cool. But they should also have some modernity because if they always stay in the past then they will never be advanced. And when other countries try to invade them they would probably die pretty fast. The modern equipment can protect them, so that is why they should be more modernized.
I think this is a great movie because it was educational and there were some action in it so i wasnt bored. Normally when i watch educational movies i tend to fall asleep, but not this one because it is very awesome.

Newton's 3 Laws and Amusement Park

2009-05-08T03:00:00.000-07:00

1 example of Kinetic Friction and 1 example of Static Friction

I went on a water ride(the one where you go down the steep thing twice). It is and example of Newtons 1st law, static friction, and kinetic friction. This is an example of Newtons 1st law because in Newtons 1st law it tells us "An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon an outside force," and when i was going downwards it was going really fast but when it suddenly stop I flew forwards. Which is also known as inertia.
This is an example of static friction because static friction is the friction that prevents a object to set in motion, so you need a greater force to get the object to start moving. When the ride was about to start it started very bumpy and slow and then eventually it moved more smooth, because the friction was preventing the ride to start, but once it was set in motion it started to move more smoothly.
This is also a example of kinetic friction because, kinetic friction is the friction that goes against the motion of a moving object object. So when it was getting to the end of the ride where it was beginning to stop, it didn't stop immediately it stopped very slowly. It was this way because kinetic friction was slowing it down, and eventually brought it to a stop.

Climate Change

2009-03-30T18:18:00.000-07:00

Global Warming
The release of carbon dioxide and some heat trapping gases, tailpipes, and burning forests are the major role in the rise of the temperature. The Earth's surface has raised by more then 1 degree Fahrenheit since 1900. I feel like if we keep doing this the Earth will keep heating up and heating up causing a lot of droughts, and later on when it gets very hot it will melt the polar ice caps which will cause a lot of floods maybe another ice age. This is like what we studied in Humanities about how civilizations fall. In Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Indus River Vally Civilizations it all collapsed because of climate change and soon there were droughts. So it means one day our world might collapse too.
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/news/science/topics/globalwarming/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=climate%20change&st=cse

Climate Change

2009-03-25T01:34:00.000-07:00

Greenpeace: China should attend UN climate talks

The Green Peace is telling China to attend to the conference about climate change because China is the biggest producer of green house gases. China says developed countries bear most of the responsibility for climate change.
Even though i heard that China is the biggest cause of global warming but i was not sure if that was true. And I am not really surprised to see in the news that it says China is the biggest producer of green house gases.

2 current events

2009-03-06T18:27:00.000-08:00

Australian wildfires death toll rises to 200

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/02/17/australia.bushfire/index.html
These forest fires are threatening some of the water supply. Because some of the fires are burning some major reservoirs that hold billions of liters of water.As the amount of forest fire keep rising the amount of death had also raised.The fires have destroyed more than 1,800 homes and displaced about 7,000 people.

SPECIES PROTECTIONS RESTORED BY PRESIDENT OBAMA
http://web1.audubon.org/news/pressRelease.php?id=1360
Because of global warming and habitat destruction more and more animals are on the brink of destruction. And then Obama said he was going to help restore it.

SMASH day tooth pick tower blog

2009-03-04T04:23:00.000-08:00

Why is a drawing a sketch an important part of the scientific method and why do you always neglect this step!?!?
Drawing a sketch is important because you can have a better idea of how your final thing will be looking like. And if you drew a sketch you won't be taking as much time during the time you are making the project, on what you are going to do. I think we neglect this step because we feel like it takes too much time, and we just want to experiment it our selves.

What Happened to Jaguar Paw

2009-03-02T16:55:00.000-08:00

Jaguar Paw ↑

Later on Jaguar Paw will enter the forest and meet some Mayan people, and some of the kids that were left behind and survived. When Jaguar Paw saw them he told them"I am Jaguar Paw, son of Flint Sky. My Father hunted this forest before me. My name is Jaguar Paw. I am a hunter. This is my forest. And my sons will hunt it with their sons after I am gone. " Then one of the person who seems like a leader of some of the people told Jaguar Paw " Our lands were ravaged. We seek a new beginning."
They all decided since Jaguar paw was the person who knows this forest the best, they wanted him to be the leader. Jaguar Paw wanted to create a place where people can live together in peace, and make friends. Just like when their village before it was invaded. Later on Jaguar Paw and his family then creates a place of their own, and they became the leaders of that place. Years later when his son grew old Jaguar Paw teaches his sons how to hunt and how to get around the forest without getting lost. And he taught the rest of the children and people how to hunt.
At night he would tell of his stories about the cruel people of the other tribe how they sacrificed people to please their gods. Every time when he tell his story people will listen carefully to him. Sometimes after he told his stories people would ask him question sometimes Jaguar Paw will answer but sometimes he can't because doesn't understand it either.
After a few years they started to face a crisis, their crops will not grow it has become dry. And there is no longer water in the well. A lot of people because of some weird sickness. Because there was no water a lot of the children and elders grew weaker. Jaguar Paw sometimes sends people to find water, he could not do anything now because he had grew weak from the sickness. Sometimes he insists on going but the people did not agree to this. And things went on and on like this, eventually people kept dying and dying and there was nothing they could do, Jaguar Paw himself also died from the disease. It was a sad day for the people when he died.
Everyone was in sorrow that day of his death. And then his first son then became the leader of the forest. When people passes by he would introduce himself saying "I am Turtles Run, son of Jaguar Paw. My Father hunted this forest before me. My name is Turtles Run. I am a hunter. This is my forest. And my sons will hunt it with their sons after I am gone."

Describe the whisky incident in a blog posting. Why do you think that Orwell chose to make this scene somewhat humorous?

2009-02-22T07:24:00.000-08:00

I think he tried to make the scene funny because he wanted to show that the pigs have traits of humans. They drink beer and then they go all crazy, and he showed that the pigs are not actually all that great. And maybe he wanted to add a bit of humor so the readers will keep reading the book.

Climate Change

2009-02-19T17:36:00.000-08:00

Russia: Global Warming to Cause Droughts, Floods

Because of global warming a lot of places are getting hotter, Russia is one of the places that are suffering from global warming. The climate changes resulted in Russia having more forest fires, droughts, and floods. But the benefit is that before Russia has brutal winters now with the temperature warmer there will be less snow and ice. Siberia and the Far Eastern region of Chukotka had a decrease in winter snow, resulting in the volume of river water increasing. The scientists had measured the soil, and they say there is a increase in climate. ( climbed by 1.8 F)
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2009/02/19/98043.htm

Mayan Technology vs. Egypt Technology

2009-02-12T17:43:00.000-08:00

Similarities
Both of the civilizations had built temples for the rulers. And both of the temples were very structured. The two civilizations both had hieroglyphics to record their writing and important events. Both of the civilizations had a calendar counting the days of the years accurately. And they both had a math system.

Differences
Even though both the civilizations had math but they used different ways. The Mayan and they Egyptians used different calenders, meaning the Mayans had three different kind of calendars. The building styles of both the civilizations were kind of different.

Submarine SMASH Day Reflection

2009-02-10T05:03:00.000-08:00

2/10/09
Today during smash day we were trying to build a periscope. Our mission was to use the periscope we made and see what things was in the box on a table. The only supplies that we are allowed to use was card board, paper, 4 mirrors, and scissors.
I am not sure how many times we had to modify our designs, because we kept changing it. Our group knew we had to change the design because we kept experimenting and when it did not work we knew we had to change it. We didn't exactly know what to do when we modify it we just went through trial and error. We communicated to each other by showing each other what we thought would work.
If someone was doing this for the first time my tip to them is just keep going through trial and error. Because i didn't succeed in this either.

Current Event Blog

2009-01-21T04:32:00.000-08:00

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2008/12/today-climate-t.html
POZNAN UPDATE
This paragraph is talking about China and India wanting Obama to show some more commitment on the climate happening right now. And Obama has pledged to do something about this and the top US representatives held a conference on some plans on this event. There is bias in this article becasuse it said China and India wanted Obama to do something about it, maybe some people didn't want to do anything to help the world. I think it is good they are doing something about the climate change, becasue right now there is a big climate change happening resulting in global warming.

Current Event Blog

2009-01-19T19:28:00.000-08:00

Gaza 'looks like earthquake zone'
After the attack of Gaza city it looked just like an giant earthquake had hit Gaza city. The attack happened 3 weeks ago and now the Gaza city is completely destroyed. The houses of this city was mostly flattened and the bodies are still being recovered. The significance of this article is saying that because of the difference of religion the Israels attacked Gaza city, and therefore resulting in a flattened city. I believe there is bias in this article because the people in Gaza city said it was terrible and it is an opinion since some others might be glad that the city was destroyed. I agree with the people from Gaza city, it is a terrible thing to do, I mean they just destroyed another place just because they believed in something different.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7838618.stm

Reflection on video

2009-01-04T23:26:00.000-08:00

1.How do Paiwan people show their respect to the animal they hunted? Wear their tusks and teeth on their head.

2.Why archery is so important to Bunun people? How did fathers train their children to be an archer? Archery is important because it is the most efficient weapon for killing animals and they use pig years to train their archery skills.

3.Why are bats welcomed by Ancient Chinese culture? But in western societies, why do people regard bats as nuisance?The bats are welcomed by the ancient Chinese because they chase away evil and they were the sign of good luck. They are a nuisance because they are considered disgusting and dirty.

4.This video shows a lot of living extinct animals in Taiwan. Please choose one animal that impressed you the most and describe its habitat and its way to survive in the natural environment?The black bear impressed me the most, this bear can thrive on some things on the tree and they live in the mountains.

SMASH Day Reflection

2009-01-04T19:39:00.000-08:00

I was being a critical thinker and problem solver because I was thinking about how the marble can reach the goal with high score a long with the team. It was actually hard to think about the ways to get a high score and get the marble to reach the goal because sometimes you exert different amount of energies so the results won't always be the same. I showed I was being a community contributor because I was sharing my ideas to the team on what I thought would work, and I was participating in the group discussion.

Answers the Question

2008-11-27T04:53:00.000-08:00

1.What do you think about Atyal’s facial tattoo? Do you have tattoo culture in your country? If yes, what are those differences between two cultures. I think that it is weird that they tattoo their faces, i only have one question to them. Which is "don't you think it hurts?" Our country do have people tattoo, but not for the same reason. In Taiwan people have tattoo because they think it makes the cool.

2.Saisiyat people choose their surnames from plants, animals and natural phenomena. In your country, do you think a person’s surname has special meaning which can reflect your own culture and why? I don't think so.

3.Lily is a symbol of RuKai. In your country, what’s your national flower and what it means. Taiwan's national flower is 梅花, and it means staying strong even thought the conditions are bad.

4.On Beian’s traditional weddings, you can see a prospective bride climbing a giant swing. And tribesmen swing her until the swing sails like kites. In your country, do you have any special ceremonies that are held on weddings? Please explain it. The bride will step on something called 瓦片, and step on it until it is in many pieces. They do this because there is a phrase in Taiwan that says if you break it into a lot of pieces you will have peace.

Taiwan VS. Mexico

2008-11-20T04:17:00.000-08:00

Mexico and Taiwan
What affects the food culture
Mexico
The conquest of Mexico by Spain in 1521 had a great influence on today’s’ Mexican cuisine. Before the conquest Mexican diet was entirely native. And after the conquest, there was new livestock, such as pigs, cows, and sheep, dairy products, garlic, many herbs, and a lot of spices and wheat. With the conquistadors and their descendants also came some barley, rice, olives, wine, Indian spices, beef, ad different kind of fruits.
Taiwan
The Japanese influenced some of Taiwan’s food culture, when the Taiwan was under Japanese rule. And some of the it was influenced by the Chinese when Taiwan was under Chinese rule(ROC).

What are similarities or differences between two food cultures in terms of characteristics of cuisine, cooking techniques, the art and etiquette of dinning and local snacks?
Similarities
Both of the food culture is greatly influenced through other country.
Difference
The Mexican has more spicy stuff and Taiwan had more salty stuff. Taiwan people drink more tea.

Reflection
I think that it is cool that each food culture has it’s own background. And it is also cool knowing how being controlled can have a great change in the country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Taiwan#Food

http://anthropology.suite101.com/article.cfm/mexican_food_and_culture

Life imitates art: 'Sopranos' actor goes on trial

2008-11-18T02:09:00.000-08:00

This post is about a actor from the "Sopranos" called Lillo Brancato Jr., he is suspected to have murdered a cop. His life got worse not long not long after he befriended with a guy called Steven Armento. After awhile And then both of them was in drug-related arrests and the death of Enchautegui, which was a cop.
This article is very important because it shows how ones life can turn all wrong with one mistake. But to me i feel like mistakes help you, it is just sometimes that once you made a mistake you can never go back and fix it.
I think there is bias in this article, since some people say this guy is innocent, and some people think he is not. And that means there is bias.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/11/17/sopranos.actor.trial.ap/index.html

Read an Article

2008-11-06T21:42:00.000-08:00

Please read a news article relating to Humanities. And answer the following questions:
1) What is the news article about?
2) What is the significance of the article?
3) Is there any bias (opinion) in the article?
This article talks about the different people's point-of-view about Obama's speech. I believe that this article is there to show how many people thought Obama's speech was great. And it showed how much Obama can create and effect on people's thoughts. In this article there are some quotes saying Obama is great so i believe that is bias, because it is only an opinion. But i do agree that Obama's speech was really good. I think this article connects to what i have been studying is by showing there is always a great leader that affects people. Like the pharaohs that affect the people, so the people help them build a tomb.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/06/obama.speech.analysis/index.html#cnnSTCText

What science skills did you use during the SMASH Day activity? How do these science skills help us be better scientists?

2008-11-03T03:41:00.000-08:00

What science skills did you use during the SMASH Day activity? How do these science skills help us be better scientists?
Well I am not sure whether I actually used my skills. Or maybe its just that i used my skills but i didn't realize it. But now that I thought about, i may have applied the law for density. Like i know to make the bottom stable which is heavier on the bottom. So that it would be more stable. I think that by applying the whole density idea it helped scientists better because this way scientist would know what would go first. Or what should be put on each other and for those things not destroyed or fall over. I also believed u used my skills in hypothesis, i used this when i was predicting whether the thing will fall or whether it will broke up. And this skill made us become better scientist because by using hypothesis we can try to make better judgment of what might happen next without keep trying things over and over.

Reflection of bizzare food

2008-10-26T23:57:00.000-07:00

I think that the movie made me both hungry and disgusted. It made me hungry because when it showed food i liked it made me really hungry. But when it show me the chicken testicles and chicken uterus, it made me feel disgusted. And the guy said that the uterus was milky and the juice exploded inside his mouth, which made it more disgusting. Even though i had eaten the chicken testicles before and i liked it, but the way he says it make me want to never eat it again. To me i think that guy was really bold because no American people well want to eat after hearing the name of those food. If feels like the guy has four stomaches, being able to eat everything in sight, and i can't believe he thought that some of the disgusting things actually tastes good.

Liquid Columns

2008-10-09T04:42:00.000-07:00

Why did some objects sink while some objects floated? Also, why did some objects float in the middle of the columg? Do you think the "mixed" one will separate by Monday?
The reason some liquids floated because the object is lighter then the liquid it self. And the reason for some of the objects sink because it was heavier then the liquid/more dense. Some objects floated in the middle because the liquid at the bottom was more dense then the object, but the liquid at the top is lighter so the only place for the object to go is at the middle. I don't think the "mixed" one will separate, because when you mix the liquids together then the substances will fuse. Therefore the density will fuse together and then they won't separate.

Is air matter? Does it have mass? Does it have volume? How do you know?

2008-09-22T02:29:00.000-07:00

Well i think air is matter, because it is in a state of matter which is gas. It has volume because it takes up space, like when you blow a balloon inside a bottle then it will not expand. But if you poke a hole then it will. I am not sure whether or not air has mas because i do not know how you measure air, bu i think there is mass in air.

Reflection on Movie

2008-05-29T23:51:00.000-07:00

Well i felt like it was so cruel, because the person in power just killed people because they wanted to. They also kill people for their money and just because they feel like they are more smart then them they will kill that person. Good thing there is still people like Schindler that comes to their senses. Schindler may be like a bad person on the outside like he says he will not just hire a person with o skills. But at the end he decided to help them and get them a job and help some of the people prevented from gett5ng killed. I feel like the war is the most dangerous time, it could easily change a person;s personality weather to good or to bad. Like the leaders, because they got in power they still wanted more power so they just killed people. But in a good case Schindler knows that he is beside a person mad with power so he tries ways to save the people that he is trying to kill. I feel bad for the Jews that do not have a job, because if they did not have a job they will be automatically get kicked out o their own house. And also they would be send to a concentration camp which they will be killed at.

Dictatorship

2008-05-23T06:22:00.000-07:00

Kim Jong-il
He putted people in camps, because of those camps it killed and seperated a lot of families.

Burma <http://socialistworld.net/eng/2007/09/25burma.html>
It used rape and torture, forced labor and violent national oppressions. To keep them self in power. They said they cut YouTube, i think probably so they can cut information. And to prevent them from telling they are poor.

Military dictatorship

2008-05-20T04:58:00.000-07:00

Kim Jong-il <http://www.nndb.com/people/261/000024189/>
He was a very smart person, but he had a government that is very secretive and brutal to dissidents. And he had a really good group, like he has an 80 high-ranking officials.

Burma <http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/09/28/myanmar.dissidents/index.html>
The dictator/government in Burma cut the internet. I think the dictator cut the internet because he does not want to let the other people know that, that place is poor. Or maybe the government wanted to limit the internet so that the people living there could not get outside information.

News on China and Burma

2008-05-13T06:02:00.000-07:00

Thousands dead after China quake http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7390000/newsid_7397600/7397605.stm
They say there all 10,000 people that died because of that earthquake, I was shocked because the number 10,000 is a big number. So much people died just because of one earth quake, I wonder what happened to the others that are trapped. I hope they rescue the rest of the people trapped or else there would be more people that will die.

Burma with the typhoon damage
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/09/myanmar.vote.ap/index.html
They say there are thousands of people killed, by reading the previous one it makes me feel glad that I am still alive. There are so much disasters in different countries. They showed us a picture of the cyclone, I thought it was cool but it must not be very cool to the people living there.

Reactions on Movie

2008-05-07T02:20:00.000-07:00

Stalin
Well judging from the many pictures of Stalin i think the people probably worship him. I mean i see all those people and Stalin must have serve a lot to the people, because i saw so of the pictures that Stalin was holding little kids and talking to them. But then again how can i be sure of what he is talking about maybe he is using all these kind stuff to gain people's trust.

Inside The Reich - Germany
Well when i saw that the people that worshiped the leader were very happy, i can't believe what i saw because there was a lot of people down there i was wondering were the people down there celebrating or were they simply there to show their respect to their leader. It was good that a few people saw further maybe they will have a chance to escape, from point of view i won't believe an war could be over so fast so i will be very sharp. I think that the Nazi was not really good because they bought their way in then that means that people did not really like them.

How far I am at

2008-05-06T04:09:00.000-07:00

I think i am not far, but I am finding more information along the way. Right now i have some of the answers for economics, and i learned today what the difference from the meaning of two questions. I answered a few answers for history, i thought of one question which is what did Stalin do before he became a dictator. And basically i answered a few question on each of the topic.

Dictatorship in Myanmar

2008-05-03T06:24:00.000-07:00

In my thinking did the leader cut the internet just to keep them quite. Not tell the other people how they are being treated bad? And the kid even said the actions for posting up pictures of the people's houses over there, is it probably because the fact the government did not want to show how poor that country is? Guess they want to use ways to help the leader stay in power.

Dictatorship in North Korea

2008-04-30T04:06:00.000-07:00

I can not believe that North Korea still uses nuclear bombs, it feels like the ruler don't take good control of that place. I don't think the people really likes the ruler they are just afraid to stand up for them selves or probably they just don't want to get killed. And i also can't believe Bush didn't really care for it either. To me it is shocking that know North Korea still uses nuclear bombs i thought right now not a lot of places uses nuclear bombs.

Animal Rights (Part 2)

2008-04-25T00:03:00.000-07:00

Do you want to know where your meat comes from? Well if you do i hope you check out this site http://www.themeatrix.com/

-Do we have the right to kill animals to eat?
Well it have to depend on what kind of situation. Like you could say how the animal is raised whether by faring, big or small farm, or hunting. If it was me i would prefer hunting. I know I know some of the people out there might think that hunting is cruel and it is not right to shoot them. But from my point of view, the way i think is right is by hunting since it has live a great life being in the wild, being free, and not trapped inside a fence or a cage. If it is in the forest then it must have a happy life, if it was you would you rather die free or die inside a cage. So why not kill an animal after it had a great life there is nothing wrong with that. If it was farming it is completely different, because if it is in a farm the animals in the farm will not get the freedom to roam around, it will be trapped inside a cage. If it was you, then you probably would not live a happy life in a cage, so when you kill it when it did not even get a chance to be free then it would be king of sad. Someone might say well you are putting it out of its misery, well that is not true because maybe the animal wants to be free and be happy before it is killed. But then again it has to depend on the size of the farm because normally big farm as corporation that means the cows, chickens, and pigs are all raised with machines. And the small one which i might agree to is the one where people treat them nicely feed what is suppose to be fed.

So finally to the end you might say what does all this got to do with if we could eat those animals or not. Well the answer is everything, because eating an animal is not just a simple process, people feed it with machines with medicines/ grass and then kill it. The ones that did not live a happy life should not be killed and should also be set free. And the ones that did have a happy life has the right to be killed.

For more information please go to the site i put above and go check out what is really behind the meats. And no this site is not one of the reading sites this is a site for you to watch movies( It is quite fun)

Right to live?

2008-04-22T23:49:00.000-07:00

- What is a right?
A right is something that you are allowed, it is something that you don't need to earn but there are quite a few ways that you could loose them. There are different rights for different people depending on your maturity and weather or not you are responsible. To me a right is something that already exist it just came out of nowhere, like already have the right to kill animals, other people don't grant you that right. It feels like it already exist in the world. Like you already have the right to kill a mosquito if it sucks your blood, it is not granted to you by someone else.

-What animals would we have the right to dissect(why) Which animals don't we have the right to dissect.(Why)
Basically the animals that we have the rights to dissect is something small such as frogs, shrimp, fish etc. Because when you think about it frogs and shrimp does not really effect us in such a big way. It may feel wrong that you are killing an animal just for one class, but it is for a meaningful reason not just for fun. We know it is still a sacrifice but we are taking something that is not a meaning to the world.

The animals that i think we do not have a right to dissect is dogs, cats and other big animals. Because we need animals like that they can protect us, and also when you dissect a big animal it does a big effect on us. You might think what is the difference between the big and the small, well it basically is the same as us the human being. The adults sometimes has more rights then the kids because they could help the world more and they are more mature and responsible in a few ways.

Levels of thinking

2008-04-21T02:36:00.000-07:00

Remembering= Like me reading in the text book
Understanding= In humanities we created outlines of our essay.
Applying= In science we created circuits so we could get a better knowledge.
Analyzing= In math we made graphs of what people thought about independent learning
Evaluate= In Chinese we had a debate saying weather eating dogs are right.
Creating= In Humanities we created a video.

Reflection on video

2008-04-17T04:09:00.000-07:00

When i saw all those crowds worshiping the dictators i was sort of shocked. I could not believe so much people would worship them. It feels like the people would do anything to join the crowd. In my point of view if the people did not show patriotism they would probably get killed or maybe they would probably get captured and be persuaded to believe it. Even though questioning is a small thing but i don't think the dictators would like it.

Reflections on news

2008-04-11T00:29:00.002-07:00

Dramatic rescue for flood victims
I thought that it was shocking, just by looking at the picture i thought of "wow". I hope that no one got hurt because of that. Looking at all those people who were stranded make me glad that i am at a safe home with a safe family. Just because of some rainfall caused houses to be gone and schools, i keep wondering what the people will do.

2008-04-11T00:29:00.001-07:00

Family "government"

2008-04-07T02:31:00.000-07:00

Probably i would be the leader with more power and my husband would be the person with power but less then mine. The way that power would be managed is probably with voting for some situations. Like if it is like saying where we like to go on weekends it would probably be like a vote for everyone in the family, but if it is something serious like going to which schools then that will be decided by me and my husband. The positives are that probably the family would have more freedom since they could vote. The problems might be that some people may be angry if they did not get what they wanted.

Greece Research

2008-04-07T02:25:00.000-07:00

I think that my research is going very well, i finished answering all my questions. And now i am starting to find pictures and start to make my movie. I think that i finished about half of my project about now.

growth on student outcomes

2008-04-07T02:23:00.001-07:00

Active Learner: In progress, I think that i showed i am a active learner because i pay attention to the things that my friends and teacher are talking about. I try my best in doing my homework and doing my projects. But i need to improve on the skill to ask more questions when i have some.

Community Contributor: Demonstrates. Often my friends as me questions, even though those are not hard question but i answer them anyways, just to help them out. If i can not answer the question i would try, and give it a shot or simply search up the answer. But i need to see if people needs help or not instead of them asking for help.

Person of High Character: Demonstrates. I show that i am a person of high character because i do my journals for every class when ever i need to do it. Even though i do not say anything bad about my friends in class not that i do out side of classes. But i need to be more positive about somethings in class, and have a sense of humor when things are down. For example, even though we might have a project, i should not moan about it instead i should think that at least we get to do it in i movie. And i get to watch other people's presentations and they get to look at mine.

Effective Communicator: In progress. I listen to other people when they talk, i even payed attention to the Greece movie, but i need to ask more questions when i have a questions.

Critical Thinkers & Problem Solver: Exemplifies. I look up for answers for my project. I do hard researches when i need to find an answer even though i do not ask a lot of questions. Often when i have a word i do not understand i will go look it up in the dictionary.

Comment for blog

2008-04-06T17:47:00.000-07:00

Hackers Assault Epilepsy Patients via Computer
I think that it is shocking that hackers would such a thing to harm people. I thought that hackers only do damage to the computers but this is way past the limit, trying to hurt people with Epilepsy. It may not kill those people but it may seriously hurt them.

Outcomes

2008-03-21T05:53:00.000-07:00

Today we worked on our project. I showed i was a effective communicator when we chatted about the news and i listened to my friends. I showed i was a community contributor because when my friend asked me a question i tried to answer it the best i can. I showed i was active learner because i stayed on task when i was researching. I showed i was a critical thinker and problem solver because i have to go on the web and look up the answer.

Rules for blogging

2008-03-14T04:27:00.000-07:00

No personal information (no last name or contact information).
-Write in ENGLISH.
-Don’t write inappropriate stuff in your blog.
-Don't insult others. Be constructive in your commenting.
-Don't plagiarize other peoples' ideas.
-Cite your sources for images and ideas.

Reflection on Posts

2008-03-14T04:19:00.000-07:00

Well I thought that she put on there was very cool, it is nice that she tells about the feeling she has in high school. And she also describes a few stuff in very funny ways, I like that. It sorts of give me a feeling that right now my homework is nothing compared to it.When i read that blog and it is like telling me that a person should not give up and keep on trying.

Engagement

2008-03-11T04:14:00.000-07:00

Today we looked at the movie the whole time. I showed i was a community contributor because my friend ask me how to spell a word and also asked me some questions about the movie and i answer them. I showed i was a effective communicator because i listened to the movie.I showed i was a person of high character because i was keeping positive by thinking even though we had to think of some questions when we were watching the movie but at least we get to watch a movie. I showed i was a active learner because i did not goof off when i was watching the movie i payed attention to it.

Engagement

2008-03-07T03:32:00.000-08:00

Today we looked at a movie. I showed i was a effective communicator because i payed attention to the movie. I showed i was a person of high character because i did not say anything bad about my friends, not that i do. I showed i was a active learner because i did not goof of when i was watching the movie, and i was paying close attention to it. I showed i was a critical thinker and problem solver because we had to think of some question that we were going to answer.

Engagement

2008-03-03T23:28:00.000-08:00

Today we worked on blogger and the text books. We reviewed our homework that we did last time.I showed I was a effective communicator, because when the class was discussing about our homework and I was paying attention to them. We fixed some stuff in blogger so that we could share to a lot of people. I did not use blogger in a long time but it feels good to go back and use it again. I showed I was a community contributor because when we were talking about the journal and then my friends asked me a question, so when I answered that i showed i was a community contributor. Today was quite fun we got to do part of our essay and then we got to play with blogger.

10/29/07

2007-10-28T18:09:00.000-07:00

Today it i thougth it was reaally fun we got to preform our skit.(1)What did your skit teach you about teamwork? The skit taught me that teamwork is not always so easy, because many people have different sujestions, but teamwork may also help us finish our project faster if we just had a group leader. (2)What did your skit teach you about the material? I thought that by acting out the skit we could actually premform how the peole in the Tang Dyansty felt about being over thrown by a new emperor. And that also taught me that if you get information from the book and act it out as a script you could actually learn more because you are having fun. (3)List four ways the skit could have been improved. I thought it could have been improved if we had more actions in the skit because some of us just read what was on the script and they did not show actions, they were a bit emotionless. I also thought it could have been improved if we only memorized the script, because i thought it was akward that people say they were ready but they kept flipping their scripts when they were talking. The other way to imrove the script is to have some things for the script like if you were acting out someone you should have some materials, so it would be more realstic. So the act could be more exciting. The other to make the skit improve is to have more back ground, because i thought that if we had more background it is like we had more places we are at. Basically we worked on the script for like half the class. I thoguth we did a great job, i really hope that we can do this sometime again but i still don't want it to act out in the all school gathering. Becasue then it would be very imbarrising if we made a mistake. Jez was really good with the background, she was the one who found the rebeling background, in the play she rebeled to like in the picture i thought it was very halarious.

10/15/07

2007-10-14T21:22:00.000-07:00

Today in class we talked at first then we satrted on our homework which Mr.Brughauser let us do. Our homework was to type down a day what the person in the Song or Tang would do. Jez and i were working together, we chooesed to work on a noble young girl when Jez and i worked about half of it Mr.Brughauser came and told Jez and i that we did a wonderful job. It was nice of Mr.Brughauser to tell us that. At the end of the class Jez and i were almost finshed we just needed to add a few sentances to end what a noble girl's life is like. I thought it was fun today because i get to work on my homework in class.

10/11/07

2007-10-10T19:24:00.000-07:00

At the begining we had a few minutes to put final toches on pur powerpoint.Then we were presenting our powerpoints, Jordan and Kevin were up first, but somehow only Kevin was presenting, they did it on the technology of the Han Dynasty, i thought they did a good job.Up next was Connie and Eunice they did their topic was on the Chinese society. Then after they have finish presenting Mr. Brughauser said it was wonderful wnderful wonderful, i thoght it was too. Then the last group was Jez and i i was kind of nervous of presenting, the topic that Jez and i choose was the Han Dynasty. When we were finished Kevin asked a few quesions and we answered, and then Mr. Brughauser also asked us some questions too, and some how we started to talk about caviar and freedom because i think it is about the society. We also talked about old money and new money and then we talked about how it is not fair that people us money to get in school instead of using their heads. I thought today was fun because we get to watch powerpoints and present them. At the end of the class Mr. Brughauser said since there is 25 minutes left i will let you read from your History book from page 322-329 i got to finish it in class. The good news is that Mr. Brughauser said that we do not need to do a powerpoint on this chapter.

10/4/07

2007-10-03T18:19:00.000-07:00

Today in class Mr. Burghauser told us we work with ourself, he won't even step up to tell us what to do. We will decide things by our self and he will sit there and read a book and if he wants to take a drink of water he can just walk right out and take a drink of water. I thought it was a cool idea to let us to that. At first we got ready and we made finish toches on our powerpoint, after we had put finish toches to our powerpoint we presented it. First it was Eunice and Connie their subject was on Daioism. Afetr they presented we clapped and then we get to ask questions, but we didn't ask any questions so then Eunice and Connie gets to ask us. They asked us alot of questions we only got a few right. Next up was Jez and i we presented on Confucionism and Legalism after we were finished the audience gets to ask us questions. They asked us a lot of questions and Jez anwser all of them i had no clue what the anwsers was. Then it was Jordan and Kevins turn they did their topic on the Qin dynasty which i wanted to do. When they were done we ask them a few question and than it was their turn to ask us questions. I thought they asked us a lot of questions but we got most of the questions right we just missed one and Jordan said Connie was cheating because she took notes on the powerpoint. There was this funny one Jordan and Kevin asked how long the Great wall was i answered 4000miles but they say we had to answer it with km. When the three groups were done Mr. Brughauser said good job, it was wonderful, it was great. I really think the class was fun, then Mr. Brughauser said next time he would let us do this again maybe in 1month he won't even need to come to the class hw would know that his students are in class. But then he assigned us homework it was to read from pages 200-207, i thought it was kind of long.

10/1/07

2007-09-30T19:18:00.000-07:00

Today in class i thought it was not fun because we had to do a powerpoint for homework, but at the beggining it was fun. The teacher wanted us to list five most important things i our book. He said it would be much easier since we did it last time and we reread it. We had to be in groups of two so i worked with Jez, Connie worked with Eunice, Jordan worked with Keven. We all maked a list of things than the teacher wanted us to write it on the board Jez and i took turns to write it in the board. After that we discussed what things we feel like is imortant so we said that Confucius and Legalist, was important so was Daioism, I Ching and Ying and Yang, Shi Huangdi. Than the teacher told us we had to do a powerpoint on the topic that we picked at first we picked the Qin Dynasty but then the other groups wanted to do those so we picked Confucius VS Legalist. The other to groups flipped a coin than Kevin and Jordan won so they get to choose the Qin Dynasty so Connie and Eunice did Daoism. Besides the fact that we had to do a powerpiont everything else was ok.

9/27/07

2007-09-26T18:07:00.000-07:00

Today we talked about our reading strategies, and i thought it was really funny. Th teacher told is that he liked peanut butter cup icecream, he thought it was the most unbeliveable thing. He said that his birthday was June 20th so maybe if we could find the ice cream he wants that would be great. He said that the most important idea has effect on other things. After that we started to look at the pages that we read, and the teacher told us that the history book was a good book because it provides us with clues. So after awhile we had to get in groups of two, to talk about our own reading strategies, and i was paired up with Jez. When we got into the groups we had to tell the partner our reading strtegies, if we are finished we tell the teacher and then he types it on the coputer and show it on the projector. Jordan's reading stratedy is to read the book twice. Kevin's reading strategy was to take notes. My reading strategy was to take notes on the main topic. Jez's reading strategy was to read the book and take notes on stickies and stick it inside the book, and the teacher thought it was a wonderful idea. Eunice's reading strategy was to read the title and understand how the idea in the section connect to the title. Connie's reading strategy was to pay attention to the underline words , and also underlining her own words that she think is connected to important ideas.
Then we started to talk about goofy things like jellybeans, after that we had to list five impotant things that we had read. I was sad at the end because we had homework but it was a easy homework, so was today's class.

9/21/07

2007-09-20T20:28:00.000-07:00

Today in class the teacher wanted us to type down five important things that we think are important inside the book so i did. Then we discussed it for a while, after that we looked at the maps we pointed out were the huang he is located at. Then the funniest thing happened we talked about the advantages and the disadvantages about having a class a size of a foot ball feild. We talked about that for a while then we talked about feudalism, and feudalism was bad and what things you can not do under feudalism like, you can not vote what kind of leader you want, and feudalism lets the king control everything. Also if you get a land and you do anything on there like grow crops that crop will not be yours it will be some one elese crop. We also talked about the american president. I thought it was really fun today, we did alot of fun things, especially when we talked about the foot ball field thing.

9/14/07

2007-09-20T20:22:00.000-07:00

Today in class we presented our homework that we did on Tuesday. It was really cool that Connie and Eunice did a power point presentation on theirs. It was a little bit of fun until we got to the text books, i did not like text books because we had to carry it around. When i arrive to the class, the teacher asked us if we wanted a few minutes to practice what we were going to present. I immediately said yes because i wrote it on paper, and Jez and i wanted to type it out on the computer so it would look neater, so i huried and i try to type fast. And good thing i did or it would not look so neat.

9/12/07

2007-09-20T20:09:00.000-07:00

Today it was kind of fun, because Mr. Burghauser said things that made me laugh. At first it started out boring at least from the looks of other people,or maybe they are just sleepy. But it got really fun, Mr. Burghauser wanted us to teach him about Taiwan things. He wanted us to tell him somethinghe did not know about Taiwan. In the beggining most of the people were silent, but when few people started to speak up so did the rest of the class. We talked about how the education system in Taiwan is different from the U.S, and we talked about the language, we also talked about the food we have here. And how there is a difference in government and money, we talked about the political party, which the teacher put in a story. And we also talked about how there is different holidays, climate there is also day light savings in the U.S. but there is no day light savings in Taiwan. There is also a different religion, and different kinds of geography. When we were finish talking about Taiwan the teacheer wanted us to write something about the topic that he had assigned us, i was working with Jez. I thought it was kind of boring but it was alo challenging.

bla bla bla

2007-09-20T18:22:00.000-07:00

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