What is power?

If the history of the world is a play, then power is the main character of the plot. Everything in history has changed according to power. Power has many definitions that lead in to one result which is; ability to change. The one who has power can change the view of the society and change the lives of other people. There has been some major events relating to the usage of power and the one who had the power and it started in the 1800’s as the Industrial Revolution began, followed by imperialism and conflicts such as the Russian Revolution

When people realized that key to success was education, their lives changed from slow motion to fast motion. Inventions were created and new ideas were developed. Instead of cottage industry, people started working in factories for more profit and efficiency. Systems such as assembly line and division of labor were developed for commodities. Soon, capitalism came into existence. According to Adam Smith, who wrote The Wealth of the Nations, capitalism is when people act in own self interest and rewarded on what your job is. Even though the wealthy though that the idea was logical, the poor got poorer as the working condition worsened and the wages lowered.

As the competition between the wealthy and powerful countries increased, imperialism began. Imperialism was the policy by a stronger nation to attempt to create an empire by dominating weaker nations. To become more powerful than other countries, the European countries exploited Africa to spread their religion, the steal raw materials and for cheap labor. The term “scramble for Africa” was used when the Europeans started dividing Africa between them, redrawing the boundary lines between countries without asking the natives who lived in the land. The lives of the people living in Africa were completely changed as they had to change their culture and lives according the European countries. The idea of slavery increased along with hatred for each other that had been unsolved by the imperialists still remain in parts of Africa.

However, the competition between the powerful countries never ended. Each country had high nationalism for their own country and made alliances in order to decrease the number of competitors. Sooner or later, World War 1 and 2 started between the two sides; countries that supported capitalism and the countries that supported communism. Unlike capitalism where one is allowed to have personal property, communism demands for equality and no personal property. The capitalists countries ended up winning. After all, communism was found to be full of flaws as even though the main purpose of communism was for equality, Stalin, the powerful leader of Soviet Union who helped the people of Russia to get rid of the Czar, became rich even though the laborers were still suffering from harsh conditions.

What is now is all thanks to power that had changed the course of history along the way. Its capacity to change the value of the society and the view of the world has impacted the world more than anything else. Even though the effects may have been negative, there still were positive effects. The result in power depends on the one who uses it and how it is balanced out.

Power and Control

Power and control are two different things that are actually related to each other. However, I think that control is the big theme for power. In the novel I read called, The House of The Scorpion, the story begins with the procedure of cloning a powerful drug lord called El Patron. During his youth, El Patron had a hard time trying to survive in harsh conditions and poverty. Out of 8 siblings, El Patron was the only one to survive and grow up. However, as he started selling and trading opium all over the world, he became rich and powerful enough to have control over people although it may be illegal and brutal. To live longer, he also cloned himself for 8 times, the main character, Matt is the 8th clone, killing the clones and using their young, healthy body whenever he needed one. Later on his book, El Patron tells Matt the reason why he must sacrifice himself for El Patron which is: he feels that he owed the lives of his siblings and ought to live longer for them but also for his own greed. Even though all these reasons seem bizarre, no one dare try to disobey him and his evil orders. All this is due to the control El Patron has over the people and the workers. He uses eejits to do all the harvesting of opium, who are not able to think but only listen to instructions. Some of the "alive" workers and body guards know that this is not right and know that El Patron's way of thinking is absolutely wrong. However, they have no right to tell El Patron what they think of him and his rules because they "owe" him. In the book, one of the body guards of El Patron tells Matt that he can't help craving for his power and that most of the body guards El Patron has gathered owe him for not sending them to jails. He knows how to gain control over people by making them feel quilty and obliged to serve him.

Feedback - April 27 - May 1 - 7. Most valuable things learned from Population Project

What are the three most valuable things you have learned during the Population Project process? How will they help you in the future?

Firstly, I learned to plan ahead to make sure that you get the tasks accomplished and be organized. By planning, I learned to finish my tasks in time so that I can work on other tasks at the same time. If I hadn't planned what to finish and what to work more on, I could have made big mistakes that could have been solved earlier on. Also, it was a good idea to keep on looking at the calender attached to the Population folder because if I hadn't looked at the due dates and the events happening during the project, it was possible that I had forgot to hand something in or to do something.

Secondly, I learned to use the time wisely; for example when to research my topic, when to stay after school for further research and lastly when to finish each parts of the project. If I hadn't wasted time on researching for more information for my research paper and just looked through what I already had, I could have finished my research paper earlier and could have worked more on my raise-an-awareness poster.

Thirdly, besides the point that I was not well organized, I hadn't really thought about how to design my poster so I had to put on my thinking cap and make sure to finish each task given to me in a short period. I also hadn't thought about how to organize my information that I had already collected and possibly wrote the same things down again ans again. I should have also looked back at what I already had so that I could collect more data that I still did not have.

Net Effect of Globalization

In a minimum of two “good” paragraphs explain the net effect of globalization. Use information from class lectures and discussions, videos, websites and “The World is Flat” as evidence to support your opinion.

Globalization is a new word in the English dictionary which has brought a huge impact around the world after imperialism. Globalization can be referred to “the growing integration of economics and societies around the world” according to the World Banks. According to Thomas Friedman, from year 2000, “the world shrank from a size small to a size tiny and flattened the playing field at the same time.” As described, globalization connects people from different locations and make sharing of ideas and informational over the world. This is one of the positive effects of globalization; communication around the globe. Some of the other positive effects are opportunities for other people around the world to get the jobs through outsourcing, and increase the profit between the countries. For example, most of the companies in America produce their products in China and India where there is cheap labor therefore lowering the price of the products even though the quality may be the same.

Even though globalization seems to be a solution to many of the world problems that can open up the opportunities to people around the world who are desperate for jobs, globalization has its own downsides too One of the negative effects of globalization is that even though outsourcing opens up more jobs to people in other parts of the world, the jobs used to belong to someone else. For example, while people in India get the job that people in America had, more and more Americans are becoming jobless. Also, so-called “monoculture”, which means one culture, is mixing unique cultures around the world. It could mean a positive situation but actually it is the opposite. Because of the impact Western countries have on countries like India, people are losing their own culture and becoming “westernized”. To focus on India, due to globalization, there is less stability in economics due to outsourcing because they rely on outsourcing too much. When there are strikes going on in India, people might have to stop from working for at least a day. However, the days missed out due to little obstacles cost a lot of money therefore crashing the economy. Lastly, even though globalization boosts up the economy forcing countries like India to change fast like other rich counties when they are not ready, it creates a big gap between the rich and the poor. The rich get richer as they get more access to new information while the poor have to always be poor working for only minor jobs. As one can see, it is not a matter of deciding rather globalization is bad or not, it is a matter of how to benefit from globalization.

Feedback - April 13-17_Blogging cartoon analysis

1. What are the main visual elements?
Some of the visual elements are a woman, a man, and a kid, all together probably a family, sitting at a table eating and the quote at the bottom of the cartoon, probably said by the father talking to his son.

2. What issue is this cartoon about?
I think that the cartoon is about technology and its flaws; the fact that there is no privacy.

3. What is the cartoonist’s opinion on this issue?
I think that the cartoonist's opinion on this issue is that although there are good points about technology, there also are some cliche and flaws in technology that people must know about. For example, if people start relying only on computers for security and information, there could be a chance of people hacking in to their information and accounts; one mistake could cause a life-time damage and ruin ones life.

4. What evidence in the cartoon supports your opinion on how the cartoonist feels?
One of the ways the cartoon supports my opinion and the cartoonist's thoughts is the sentence written at the bottom, which the father, looking stern and strict, is telling his son. It is written, "
Well, yes, we could read your blog...or you could just tell us about your school day.".

5. Why is this cartoon ironic?
I think that the cartoon is ironic that families don't get to "talk" about their day, and rather read each others blogs, even though they are closest to each other and live in a same house.

6. How does this cartoon relate to our study of technology and the future?
I think that the cartoonist is trying to show that "too much" of technology and relying on it can ruin social life as well as other problems. The cartoonist has expressed his feelings through the cartoon about the question, "how much should machines and technology do for us in our daily lives?".

7. What other techniques could the cartoonist have used to make this cartoon more persuasive?
To make the cartoon more persuasive, the cartoonist could have exaggerated the feeling of a family in a same room but using technology to talk and communicate with each other.

Population Project Work Plan

This week is your week to work on your Population Project in Humanities Class. What I would like you to do for this week’s feedback is to create a work plan for using your class time most effectively. Take a few minutes to figure out what you have left to do and then lay out your plan day by day for this week.

Monday:
-research for information and start organizing in on the note cards.
Tuesday:
-Get more information(note cards). Start thinking about the layout of the research paper.
Wednesday:
-Get more information(note cards). and start writing the first paragraph of the research.
Thursday:
-Keep on writing down the information on the note cards and begin writing rough draft of the research paper.

Feedback March 16-20 - Technology?

1. What is technology?
I think that technology is something to do with machinery and electricity instead of man power. It can help people find or do something much easier and faster without having to waste time on something that is not necessary. Technology builds up on the one that has been already there and developes.

2. What are the 5 most and 5 least important technologies used today?
I think that the 5 most important technologies used today are the computers, mobile phones, music players (mp3 players), transportation, and lastly light bulbs. As one can see, the machinery listed above are used almost everyday and are basic technologies to everyones' lives. They all use electricity too. The computers are used every day, everywhere, by everyone around the world. It is a vital source of information and ideas. It is used in schools, hospitals, factories, and even at home. The 5 least used technologies used today are; fans, hair dryers, light-up shoes, automatic or sliding doors, and christmas lights etc. These are used only on special occasions and mostly they have been developed and people use the newly made ones of these techonlogy. For example, people use air conditions instead of fans because it makes the room cooler faster.

3.How do you feel about the amount of and use of technology at AES?
In AES, technology is used everywhere for every subjects; humanities, science, Spanish, art, physical education and algebra. Art, physical education and Spanish will seem out of place but technology is actually used during these classes too. For example, in 7th grade, our class was assigned for homework where we have to figure out what is a normal heart rate for an athlete and normal people. All the information was found by using computer and we even visited the computer lab to share our homework. In art, to make a name card, we had to use scanners and Photoshop in the computer to make more copies of them quickly and perfectly. In Spanish, we use 3-D programmed game to practice speaking in Spanish. As you can see, technology is used everywhere; especially computers. They are the vital source of information where people from around the globe can enter and share their knowledge and ideas. I think that it is true that too much technology is used in AES. Every single studies require some sort of technology. It takes away a lot of money and electricity. It's also a lot of waste.

Evaluating Vonnegut Quote

Using examples from “Harrison Bergeron”, “The Euphio Question” and current events evaluate the statement:

“Do you know what a Luddite is? That’s a person who doesn’t like newfangled contraptions. Contraptions like nuclear submarines armed with Poseidon missiles that have H-bombs in their warheads, and like computers that cheat you out of becoming. Bill Gates says, “Wait till you can see what your computer can become.” But it’s you who should be doing the becoming. What you can become is the miracle you were born to work—not the damn fool computer.”

- Kurt Vonnegut

I think I actually do agree with Kurt Vonnegut in a way but not completely. It is true that there are disadvantages of technology but there also are advantages. Kurt Vonnegut always focus on how technology. In stories such as "Harrison Bergeron" and "The Euphio Question" deals with how technology, which was supposed to help us, and live comfortably without having to spend a lot of time or a lot of energy, ends up making us, the human beings, "less-human".

In "Harrison Bergeron", the people are made to be all "equal" by machinery and technology but in Kurt Vonnegut's point of view, people are made like machines, which do not have free will and difference. The main character Harrison, son of George and Hazel, is one of the people who realized that the "equality" that human beings had wanted for a long time and finally achieved, is not really what they wanted; people being forced to become dumb like anybody else, naturally beautiful or talented people covered up heavily with machinery for being "selfish". And when these people with enlightenment try to tell the world that there is a flaw in the law, they are punished or shot at.

In the story "The Euphio Questions" is about a discovery of high technology that was bought by a salesman and used in a wrong way. Fred, the scientist, discovered something amazing but also monstrous. The radio wave found in the faraway space has an ability to make people go mad but happy like when they are taking tons of drugs. the main character and the scientist descided that this discover should not be revealed for the sake of the entier world. However, not understanding the seriousness of the problem , a man who was trying to sell the discovery to people, ends up having the acess to the radio wave.

I think that both the stories show that too much of anything, even technolgy, could end up harming what you already have.

http://mrcoyle.edublogs.org/files/2008/03/kurt_vonnegut_jr_associated_press.jpg

End of Q3 Feedback

Go back and review your goals for quarter three in humanities. These can be found in the January Archive of your BLOG in a posting titled,” End of Quarter 2 Feedback”. Evaluate how well you have achieved those goals. Include specific evidence from the quarter to validate your evaluation.

In addition to your evaluation please create three specific goals that you have for quarter four in humanities. Remember that a good goal is realistic, measurable and specific.

My goals from last quarter were all similar to the goals I had in previous quarters: to improve on writing, enrich vocabulary and try to improve on my oral presentation skills. I think that I have achieved some goals but not completely. i got to write in different forms in this quarter and I think I've improved on writing independently, but I still need some work on persuading and stating my idea and back it up with specific reasons. It is the same for oral communication. I have to learn to be more specific so that I can make the people listen to me. I think that I'll have to work on my vocabulary again, since I can see that I repeat many words and always think of easy, dull words rather than descriptive and vivid vocabularies.

For the fourth quarter, my goals are still the same with the goals I had before: to write better, improve on my word choices and become more persuasive with specific reasons to back up my opinion when having a debate. To improve on my writing, I will have to learn to construct sentences more fluently. To do that, I will read more variety of books and also write on my own. To enrich my vocabulary choice, I will try to be thoughtful as I write and read more books to learn from them. For the last one, I'll have to keep on trying to be more specific and confident when I'm debating. And before the debate day, I should practice saying it to myself and edit.

Feedback March 2-6_Oxymoron Reflection

An oxymoron is two words that don’t belong being used together. Why is the phrase “Holy War” an oxymoron? Why is it that so many conflicts in the world today are based upon religious differences yet all major world religions condemn killing?

Obviously, the phrase "Holy War" is an oxymoron because the words, "holy" and "war" do not have the same kind of image. In fact, they are antonyms! The word, "holy" means something to do with religion and sacred. Holy also gives an insight of something peaceful and calm. On the other hand, the word, "war", means something brutal: A struggle between two different ideas. The term usually gives an image of blood and hatred. Therefore, the word, "Holy War" does not make sense because how can a war be peaceful and loving?

There also is a major cliche in many of the wars going on nowadays, especially in Middle East. To start off, it is obvious that every religion banns violence and conflicts because hatred is the worst kind of emotions that can lead to bigger conflicts and cause a lot of problems with nothing left. However, when people start a fight, they reason it with religious problems.

Feedback February 16-20 - World War III ???

Do you think there will be a World War III in your lifetime?

• If you don’t think WWIII will occur please explain why you feel this way. What structures are in place that will prevent WWIII from happening?
• If you do think WWIII will happen what will be the causes? Which nations will be on each side? Where will it be fought? What will be the net effect?

I think that WWIII is most unlikely to occur because people know how to negotiate and understand other people's point of views. Back in the beginning of 1900's, competition between powerful countries was intense, and the idea of war was viewed with less concern at that time. There were clearly two major conflicts between strong countries; democratic capitalism and communism. When ever there was a conflict between two big countries, they never tried to negotiate because war was thought to be the best solution to become more powerful even though lots and lots of people would suffer from it. High nationalism and greed made the people proud and selfish, thinking that there country is the best and the rest, uncivilized and unworthy.
But now, there are many organizations to prevent war and conflicts because most people know that war would only bring hatred and destruction. A lot of people now live abroad in a totally different environment, trying to learn and understand about others. More people now understand that difference does not mean the quality of one's value. If some country would start a fight, the more educated countries or richer countries would sometimes come in between and stop the war.

World War II: A Letter from the Battlefield

To: 124, 2nd Avenue,
West Reading,
Pennsylvania.
From:
365th STA HOSP
Normandy,France
US Army Base

August 14th, 1994

Dear Mom and Dad,
I hope you are well with Rose and Emily. I’m truly sorry if I had worried you by not being regular with my letters recently. In fact, our troop was very busy. Our troop had invaded Normandy on the 6th of June, and had attacked the German Army which had forcefully occupied France. It was very successful and I hope you are proud of the fact that I now will be a part of history. I will be able to write back some letters for a while, since I’m stuck here in this hospital. Fortunately, I was almost unscathed with only an arm broken and I assure you that it will heal quite fast, so don’t worry.

The war was brutal and bloody but it was worth it. We, the Allied Forces, finally got control over the German base and made a huge impact on the German Army. My troop was sent to the Omaha beach, out of the five other coastal land marks. About 32,450 of our troops were sent there along with my team. The night before, nobody could sleep and rest and in the dawn everyone got up to get ready for the battle. I bet everyone was excited like small children as I was, since the date of the battle had been delayed due to the bad weather and the Omaha Beach was going to be the largest assault area. But we never knew how the battle would truly be like until we got closer to the battle field.

It was a four-mile stretch of sand between Point du Hoc and the town of Ste-Honorine-des-Petres. As we approached towards the beach, I could feel the tense atmosphere surrounding and suffocating us. The wind and the weather weren’t fully at our side yet and the current was rough; I could barely see anything due to the cloudy weather. We were supposed to step out of the landing craft once it had gotten near the beach but as we finally did, the shooting began. The enemies were prepared with funneled mortars, machine guns, and artillery for they had been waiting for us.

The battle was not as easy and adventurous as we thought. Bullets were shot everywhere. A heavy load of bombs poured down at us and as they crashed on to the surface, they made thundering sounds of explosion. (Please do not freak out by my vivid descriptions). The smell of the gun powder was horrible and I used all my energy on trying to swim ashore alive. I just hoped that I wouldn’t be bombed but could not do anything to protect myself from it. We could not get much help from our tankers because only 5 out of 32 tankers could make it ashore. Garbage and useless pieces of our bombed armors floated here and there. At first, I almost gave up hope and was convinced that I couldn’t make it alive when I saw what was happening around me. It was a shocking and formidable sight and I’m quite sure that I shall not forget the scene for the rest of my life. As I dragged myself out on the beach and started shooting at the enemy side. I did not care where I was shooting; I just kept on pulling the trigger of my M1 "Garand" rifle and pointed towards the German Army. It was reckless and that’s how I got my arm broken. Despite this negative aspect, my companions and I fought like lions. Our commanders, Omar Bradley and Clarence R. Huebner were troubled by their plans and strategies as they did not work out as successfully as it did on the other beaches. However, they had kept our morale high, so that when we landed on the beach, I was ready to fight for my country and freedom.

After all, the battle ended in a success and the survivors returned back to the army and most, to the hospitals like me, in tremendous triumph. When we were back in the army, there was a great contrast of emotions in the building; many were somber and bitter in loss of a good friend or a great commander, while some were jubilant and glorious, busy celebrating the victory. I was in both the moods. While I was proud that I actually survived through the battle and that our side had won, but on the other hand, I couldn’t help feeling poignant for my new friend whom I’ve made during the war. Unfortunately, he couldn’t make it. His fellow friends and I are planning to pray for him tomorrow morning.

Love,
Johnny

p.s. I’m so sorry that I had to send you such a terribly depressing letter but I’m not much in a cheery mood at this moment; I hope you don’t worry too much about me. It’ll pass soon. Please remind Rose and Emily that I really miss them and love them. I hope I can see you soon. I love you.

Image citation: http://www.mikelavella.com/portfolio/wd/Dreamweaver/Media/dday4.jpg

Resources: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/may/28/secondworldwar.features111

http://www.britannica.com/dday/article-9389941

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1749.html

http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=2

http://www.war-letters.com/

Feedback February 9-13 _Anne Frank Discussion Reflection

In her diary Anne opined: “…if you’re wondering if it’s harder for the adults here than for the children, the answer is no…Older people have an opinion about everything and are sure of themselves and their actions. It’s twice as hard for us young people to hold on to our opinions at a time when ideals are being shattered…” (July 15, 1944.) Do you agree or disagree with this quote? When was the last time that you experienced the “shattering” of an ideal?
Most people think that adults have to deal with harder problems than children do because they have more responsibilities over things. But that is not always true. Adults and children shouldn't be compared to what kind of problems they face, but how the problems affect their lives. Of course, some problems are different according to the age of the individual. For example, if you were a child, you'd be worried about getting your presents for Christmas. If you were a teenager, you'd be worried about your grades, your friends and so on. To adults, these problems would seem like nothing serious but to the people facing these problems at that certain age, these problems could seem horrible.
The last time I experienced the "shattering" of an ideal was when I realized that Santa was not real. I bet that everyone had experienced this kind of things. As I grew older, I realised that some things that were told to me and that I've believed in were actually not true.

Recipe for World War II

The Bitter Taste of World War II

First, for the bottom layer,
grab a handful of Versailles Treaty.
Then mix it with an abundant amount of reparation
and a pinch of guilt and appeasement.
Swirl and mix the ingredients until
they ooze thick with revenge.

Secondly, for the second layer,
scoop out from
the League of Nations thoroughly and then mince it
into tiny fragments.
On top of the thin layer of the League of Nations,
pour another layer of the fear of communism,
just in case.

Thirdly, for the third layer,
pour a cupful of enmity with a spoonful of greed and revenge
with a few fascists: Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and Hirohito.
Make sure to sugar coat them with prejudice and dictatorship.
Don't forget to add the German aggression sauce and Japanese agression sauce;
mix them till they blend in united liquid.

Lastly, for the icing and the decoration,
cover with whipped creme and sprinkle some sweet ideas
of a strong government, power and conquering the world.
Now you have a WWII!
But be careful; it will explode as soon as the temperature reaches 1939
and there will be a chaotic mess in the kitchen.
All it would leave are destruction and bitterness in the heart.

http://kids.lovetoknow.com/wiki/images/Kids/thumb/d/d3/Baking_cake.jpg/200px-Baking_cake.jpg

Critique of Animal Farm (The Movie)

The movie Animal Farm was actually quite different from what I thought it would be. I thought that the movie showed the emotions and the background theme well, although some details from the book were missing. Surprisingly, I didn't really find the missing parts disturbing. It was actually quite subtle and if I hadn't read the book, I wouldn't have noticed at all. What I most found surprising was how the movie showed the emotions of the characters and their thoughts vividly while there was barely any word spoken by the animals. And I found the animation quite depressing and it left a bigger impact on me than the book did. I thought that the movie would be really cute with pretty animals and a light tone in the background but it rather made me absorbed into the movie. However, I still think that movie wasn't quite as satisfying as the book did. After all, the movie did take out some details and actually showed what would happen to the pigs at the end.
Some of the examples of the missing parts are the characters. In the movie, several characters such as Mollie, the white mare, was not mentioned. In some characters, it did not fully develope the characters in their personality. For example, I thought that the donkey, Benjamin, was supposed to be more cyninical and be negative about everything. However, in the movie, it didn't quite show it. While there were parts that were missing, there were some extra parts too. I found it really wierd how the movie showed what would actually happen at the end, rather than to foreshadow it. In that way, it kind of showed what level of understanding was viewed from the movie.

Feedback January 26-30 _Which character in Animal Farm are you?

With which character in Animal Farm to you most closely identify? Using examples from the novel justify your comparison.
I think I'm like Mollie and Boxer, some of each animal's characteristics mixed together. Mollie and Boxer are both horses but they both have two very different personalities. Mollie is a pretty white mare, who loves sugar and plaiting her hair with colorful ribbons. She's kind of lazy and loves freedom. On the other hand, Boxer is a strong horse who is very diligent as well as hardworking. His motto is "I'll work harder" and 'Napoleon is always right". He is very loyal and played an important role in building the windmill.
The reason why I think that I'm a part Mollie because I do prefer some things that she likes. Such as sugar, ribbons and I could be lazy sometimes when I'm not interested in the topic. I can also girly when I want to be and wear pretty clothes. And I also like freedom. I don't usually like long instructions when I'm doing something. Who doesn't want freedom?
But when I'm really into something such as school projects or group projects, I always try to do the best, like Boxer because after all, the grade that my group gets would go into my grade too. But I'm not really loyal to one individual and do whatever that person tells me too. I make my own decisions.

Feedback January 19-23- Tyranny, Injustice and Self-determination in Animal Farm

In your own words define, tyranny, injustice and self-determination and then using examples from Animal Farm explain how they all relate to the overthrow of Farmer Jones.
Tyranny is an unfair and unjust way of ruling by an autocrat or one person. Injustice is an unfair or unjust way of treating someone else. Self-determination is someone's or something's right to choose for itself.
Farmer Jones was an autocrat and a tyranny to the animal's point of view, who took away their harvest and the commodities they produced. The animals had no such idea as justice or self-determination and just led their lives. And then came the pigs who were the brain stormers, who thought of all the possible ideas and decisions. They told the animal that they were only doing it for justice as Farmer Jones was injustice. And so the animals started to dream about their life with self-determination and no one ruling over them. All these ideas presented by the pigs caused the animals to go against the farmer and overthrow him.

WWI Illustrated Poem _The Sounds of Bells

WWI Illustrated Poem
The Sounds of Bells












The air is filled
with the sounds of bells
The cows are here! Here they are!
They jingle past the doorways
the tingle giving pleasure to inmates.












The air is filled
with the sounds of bells
The soldiers are here! Here they are!
They march past the doorways
the welcoming peals of bells
linger giving pleasure to the soldiers.














The air is filled
with the sounds of guns
The foes are here! Here they are!
Bang bang the bullets boom past the trenches
as the soldiers crawl over the blood-dried barbed wires
and enter no man's land
bodies scattered like dead autumn leaves .




The air is thick

with the sounds of bells

The soldiers are back! Here they are!

The coffins past the doorways

the death tolls of bells

linger as grief spreads to every house.




The air is thick

with the curses for the war
The dead are here! Here they are!
buried cold and pale
as the moaners circle the graves
the cries echo in the hills.

SuBin

citations

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/A_World_War_1_Story,_Part_6._Hutt_Valley,_Wellington,_New_Zealand,_14_April_1916_(437353411).jpg

http://dailydish.typepad.com/the_daily_dish/images/einsatz1.jpg

http://www.ralphmag.org/CG/war-dead388x278.gif

http://www.southlakes-uk.co.uk/old/thegillww1.jpg

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/10_02/trenchPA_468x607.jpg

Would you join the military?

In some countries, joining the military is mandatory, in other countries, optional. For example, in Israel and Singapore both men and women are required to perform two years compulsory military service right after high school. Does your country require military service? If so, how do you feel about this? If not, under what conditions would you ever join the military to defend your country?
In South Korea, both women and men are allowed to join the military. For men, it's mandatory to join in the military while it's optional for the women. One is required to work in the military for 24 to 28 monthes which will change into 18 monthes in 2016. You have to be aged between 18 to 26 and have atleast have had a middle school education to be able to join in.
I thought that this was nethier good or bad. It could be good in a way since women are free to choose rather they'd like to join the military. But I think that it's more towards the good side since people are free to join in unless they atleast have a middle school education. I think if I was required to do the military service, I would do it. I don't think that I would want to run away from it.

Feedback January 5-9 _Political cartoon evaluation

The political cartoon on the left includes men and a bear, shaking hands with each other. Except for a girl standing in the left corner and no one's trying to shake hands with her. This political cartoon shows the treaties made between countries in the 18th century. Each one of the characters in the cartoon represents a powerful country at that time. Some of the men have a lot of allies while some only have a few. But as everyone start to make more treaties with each other, the treaties become more entangled.

This cartoon relates to the Great Powers Game where people were divided into each countries and had to make the countries stronger. We could also make treaties with other countries to make sure that the other countries would not attack you. But making alliance never gave you profit because the other countries could break the alliance whenever they wanted to and attack you. The powerful countries would not care about the alliances they had made and just start a war to gain more profit. So no one could trust each other completely.

The cartoonist is trying to tell the reader that making alliances just for the sake of making more would not help you later on. The alliances would be so tangled up that it gets confusing and make everything more difficult.


Some evidences in the cartoon that supports my opinion about the cartoonist's feelings are the fact that the cartoon is intectionally made difficult to uderstand which is connected to which and who is against whom.

To make this cartoon more effective, the cartoonist could have made it more entangled up and clear about who is who. And to make this cartoon more persuasive, the cartoonist could have made the hands more entangled because that is what the cartoonist is trying to show.

As you can see, the cartoon relates to the Great Powers game, in a way. In the game, we were allowed to make alliances with the countries that we did not wanted to fight with. However, the alliances got all mixed up between the countries and at the end, the alliances did not matter. No matter you had made alliance with a powerful country, it wouldn't help your country if it did not want to and it could attack you at any moment.

Great Powers Game Debrief

1. Which country were you? How did it feel to build your empire? Which countries had the advantage at the start of the game? Why? How did you empire compare to other empires?
My country was the Ottoman Empire. At first I was really worried that the game would be to complicated. I also was depressed at the descripsion of my country. I think that countries such as The Great Britain, France, and Germany etc had more advantages that the others since they were already storng and powerful as they had expanded their land. On the otherhand, my country was weak in economy, and while having a lot of enemies, we had only a few allies.
2. In the long run was it more important to buy armies, navies, industries or colonies? Why?
At first it much important to buy more colonies an industries to get more armies. Because by expanding the land and the economy, more people are available to build a strong army. and in the game, the more industry cards and colony cards you had, the more cards you could get in return.
3. What did you do well? What would you have done differently?
I think that we tried our best to keep peace and stay out of wars. It was to risky for us to go to wars since we were not so powerful and had poor armies. If I could do this game again, I would buy as many colonies and industries I can, and then to make my armies strong.
4. How successful were your alliances? Did they help or hurt you? Could they be trusted?
My alliances were mostly very successful but we never got anything in return since we never participated in wars or helped our alliances. I thought that I couldn't trust them entirely, just in case. But none really cared about my little country so I didn't really worry about our trust to them.
5. What are three specific things you learned about conflict from this simulation?
One of the things I learned from this simulation was that you should be ready to risk to get more powerful. Also, that buying armies from the the very beginning wont help later. All the powerful countries that became mighty thoguth really carefully when choosing between armies cards and industry cards. The stronger countries knew that taking more industry cards will give more apportunities to get other cards so they started with industry cards. Also, when they were strong enough, they started a war which was risky but when they won, they could get richer the easy way out. The last thing I learned from the simulation was that life is unfair. Eventhough you were one of the strongest countries, you could lose everything and become one of the poorest coutries.

End of Quarter 2 Feedback

My goals in the 2nd quarter was to improve in writing essays and learn more vocabularies by reading and try to read more non-fiction than fiction. I think that i have improved on writing essays but still needs an improvement on sentence fluency and grammar. I think I never really got to read a lot and didn’t learn new vocabularies.

What are three specific goals that you have for quarter three in humanities?

My first goal is the same as the last quarter’s goal: I’m going to improve on writing essays by practicing grammar and reading other people’s essays. My second goal is also the same: I’m going to learn more vocabularies by reading. My third goal is to improve on my oral communication skills since I’m weak at speaking in public. I can achieve my goal by reading out loud when I’m reading a book and talk in English with my sister more.