Blog #1: Effective Communicator

Being an effective communicator is not just being able to talk properly but also to listen. To effectively communicated with another is to be able to communicate and ideas and listen to others.
Communication also involves a lot of body language and being able to explain clearly.

Effective communication is very important. Without it, people won't be able to communicate and talk with one another. Ideas are not understood and words are not comprehended. The world will be living in confusion and so will classes. Heck, classes would not exist because the idea of "school' will not be understood!

To be an effective communicator, you have to be able to explain and idea or subject to another. Not just verbally, but through action and writing. If the person listening understands what you are trying to put out, this is effectively communicating. Listening is also effectively communicating because you need to break down what others are trying to say in the way that you understand and reply if you have to. Body language and the way you present yourself to others is also effectively communicating because the atmosphere will change to the theme of what you are trying to say. I find acting out a word or phrase easy to get through people who doesn't understand something. It's so easy because if you are trying to say to kick the ball to someone who only speaks Arabian, you can act out kicking a ball.

Ben-Hur: Reflections on Culture part 3

Before the chariot race in the men's "lounge" the floor showed culture factors of art. The pictures and designs where made up of mosaics, which are little colored tiles cemented on the ground to create a picture. Mosaic can be seen everywhere today to depict pictures or even scenes.

Throughout the whole movie, the chariot race has to be the best part. It was amazing how even technology back then was so durable to force. The chariots have to be my favorite contraption so far. It could stand the speed of the horses, the sharp turns, and the weight of the racer on it. It really showed how advanced these people were, even back then.

The colors of the horses and the chariots and even what they wore symbolized on what grounds Ben-Hur and Messala stood. Black and red, which are said to be the colors of the devil (the bad side) was what Messala wore. He chariot showed the same effect and all four of his horses were black. What was even worse that showed Messala as the bad guy were the spikes on his wheels that could saw and rip through the wood of opponents' wheels and the metal of the chariots. Messala was also the one whipping his horses to go faster; at one point also started whipping Ben-Hur into stopping him to win the race.
Ben-Hur, on the other hand, came in like an "angel". Donned in white and bright colors, he also sported a blue sash while entering the stadium with the white horses he rode with. The chariot he used was an egg-shell color with golden designs.

Above the valley of Lepers, the men used a pulley system to drop food and supplies for the lepers below them. The use of gears started with the Romans and Greeks and now people use them all the time.

Current Events: Gas dispute leaves thousands freezing

Hundreds of thousands of families throughout central Europe and across the Balkans went through a freezing cold weekend as a deal between Russia and Ukraine of settling an argument stayed uncertain to follow through.
But now those families can turn their heaters back on as the Siberian gas flows through theirs and many other's houses as they go through the snow in. Many areas of eastern and southern Europe were covered in snow as one of the coldest weather in 10 years. Since the gas cutting off on Wednesday, panic was gone through parts of Bulgaria, Madeconia, Serbia, and Bosnia where they almost entirely depend on Russian gas for heating.
The gas begin cut off not only kept people freezing but also closed many companies, factories, schools, clinics and hospitals.
Because there isn't any gas, nay families revert back to the old fashion way of burning coal and wood and electric heaters, causing many people using the power systems. This surge in power threatened to break down the electricity under the strain.
All this trouble was just caused when the Russian gas leader, Gazprom, refused to send gas through the Ukraine pipelines to people in Europe. Gazprom claims that Ukraine was using the gas for its own use after not paying the Russian monopoly's gas price.

Article (link): EU says deal struck with Russia over gas supply
Ian Traynor, 9 January 2009
Guardian.co.uk

Ben-Hur (continued...)

As we continued to watch Ben-Hur at the part where the battle on the sea starts. The battle is against some pirates. Ben-Hur has been on a galley as his sentence for three years so far, rowing the boats for the Romans as a slave when he used to be a descendent of a nobleman.
During the battle, both sides use these type of catapults to throw balls of fire onto the opponents ships. Catapults are kind of the ancient day's cannons. These ideas of inventions came from the Greeks. So did the gears and the levers idea to catapult the flaming balls over a long range and height.
When Ben-Hur escapes from his position and everyone is trying to escape, he killed a man that was trying to kill Arrius (the general of the ship who was testing Ben-Hur earlier with the rowing speed) using a spear. When I watched this, I had some sort of flash back to the beginning of the movie where Messala and Ben-Hur play with the javelins and Ben-Hur is good.

An example of how a slave is rewarded is when Ben-Hur saves the life of Arrius when their ship sinks. When they are pulled out of the water by another Roman ship, they are told that they won the battle. Arrius is pretty happy that he lived to learn of victory and is happy with Ben-Hur, even if he is a slave. He gives Ben-Hur water and later tells about him to Caesar. He is even allowed to ride with Arrius on a chariot.

During a party of the adoption of Ben-Hur, we can see how wealthy Romans entertain themselves. There were dance acts and throughout the night a live music performance. Large numbers of people gather to acknowledge Ben-Hur because now he was part of the elite.

We can see the power of Caesar, the Emperor of Rome. When he was going to speak, he could just raise one hand or gesture and the whole city would be quiet. Everyone practically worships Caesar but they fear him as well.

We can see social classes at work. When Messala receives a gift from the son of Arrius, and finds out it is Ben-Hur, he can't do anything about it because Ben-Hur is more important and well-known than Messala.

Current Events: Kidnapped European Journalists Freed

In November just last year, two journalists were kidnapped in Somalia. Now the British and Spanish reporters have been released, says a Somali press group.
Both journalists, Colin Freeman and Jose Cendon, both worked for London's Daily Telegraph newspaper. According to the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), the two journalists were reporting the Somali pirate activity in a port city of Bosasso, Somali when they were captured. Along with the European journalist abducted where two Somali journalists.

So far there have been no details about the conditions of the reporters and the release. Nothing so far has been said about the two other Somali journalists that were kidnapped with the European ones. Omar Faruk Osman of the NUSOJ said in a statement, "...it is intolerable that [the two] journalists [were] kidnapped for their legitimate work in order to get ransom,"


Article (link): Two Kidnapped journalists reported freed in Somalia
January 6, 2008
CNN.com

Current Events: Death Toll In Gaza Rises After Missile Shootings

For months already has the terrorist group, the Hamas, been firing rockets towards Israel from Gaza City. The Israeli government had been trying to fight peacefully and support their country but enough has been enough for them. On Saturday night, January the 3rd, the Israeli government fired back missiles into Gaza city and the crisis has begun.
So far the death toll of Palestinians caught in the range of the Israeli missiles have bumped up to 555 people. Though most deaths are of military officers, at least 100 civilians have been killed too. Most of the injured are civilians, making the injured list to come up to 2,750, according to Palestinian medical sources.
Though the Israeli are only trying to defend their nation, and their goal was to hit at homes of people linked to the Hamas, recently they have hit an elementary school where it is to be known that 400 Palestinians were taking shelter. On this attack, three Palestinians were killed.
Just in, as an Israeli missile hits near a U.N. school, 10 people just outside the school have been killed while 3 people inside the school have been injured.

Though many nations are now sending in their diplomats to try and get a cease-fire (countries like France and the United States of America), both the Hamas and Israeli leaders seem to want to end the fighting. The Palestinian organization says that he firing may go on for several months.

Article (link): 10 dead as Israeli missile hits near U.N. school
January 6, 2008
CNN.com

Ben-Hur: Reflections of Culture

The Roman soldiers wore helmets and breastplates; underneath them they wore their togas and the different colors and stripes represented their level of authority. In one scene where Messala, Ben-Hur's childhood friends is talking to his other officer. Also later, when Ben-Hur arrives to meet his old friend. Messala and all the other soldiers where helmets, capes, and breastplates. Because Messala is the commanding officer, he sports high level garmets, like red togas and crafted and designed breastplates. His helmet top has red feathers instead of the average broom brush on others' helmets.
Later when Ben-Hur and Messala are greeting each other, they test their sporting skills. Probably, when they were young, they competed in javelins and other sports activities together. In this scene, they play a short game of javelin against the door arch.

Jewish people too owned slaves. Ben-Hur's family has two (showed in the movie) slaves, Simonides and his daughter, Esther. Simonides isn't like a slave who is badly treated and punished and made to do everything the master wishes. Simonides travel around to gather fine items to bring back to Ben-Hur for him to trade. When Simonides returns with more items, Ben-Hur greets him like family, almost as if he wasn't a slave and Ben-Hur didn't own him. Later on, even Esther, whom is about to go into an arranged marriage is given freedom as a wedding present by Ben-Hur. She even says that she doesn't feel like she's lived a life of a slave. This shows that different familes treat their slaves differently.

When Ben-Hur's sister accidently injured a soldier, and are arrested immediately by Messala's soldiers. Even though Messala knew it was an accident, he doesn't give hims old friends a trial. Maybe it was to show and warn the other Jewish people who tried to interfere with the Roman Empire taking over. This shows how social ranks can differ whether someone gets a trial or not. In this case, Ben-Hur was one of the many Jewish people who didn't get a trial and was sent to the galleys.

Galleys were the large Roman boats with a small sail. The real power comes from the many slaves rowing oars below deck. Those slaves are chained to the boat that when the boat sinks, all the slaves die with it; an example of how slaves were not cared and made no difference to the lives of the Roman soldiers. Ben-Hur now is a slave and with the other men down there were only put there as if they were sentenced to death. The Romans keep them alive so that they can row their ships until they die, then they can be replaced by other slaves. The slaves here are treated poorly. They were whipped when they weren't going by the rhythm, when they were doing a poor jobs, or when they were tired and passed out or stopped rowing.