Current Events - At least 55 killed in Iraq suicide blast during restaurant talks

On Thursday morning in northern Iraq, a suicide bomber killed at least 55 people when a the restaurant was holding a talk with Arba and Kurdish politician who were trying to create peace.
This bombing injured 109 others, but the politicians that were present were not seriously hurt.
There hasn't been a motive for the attack, says an Arab official.

They picked the most perfect time, of course. The lunch hour where everyone breaks from their jobs to eat. The bombing occurred at Abdalla Kabab restaurant when people were also celebrating an event.

December 11, 2008
CNN.com

Link to Article

Current Events - Protesters Clash With Police in Greece

Outside an Athen's courthouse in Greece today, a riot broke out just as two police officers accused over a fatal shooting of a teenager were due to testify. There was a big clash of the riot police and the protesters outside this Greek parliament building. Police were seen wearing body armor and holding riot shield to help stop the protesters; officials had to fire tear gas at the protesters to stop them, but not to harm them.
However, this incident is not only occurring outside this particular building, but many other protests occurred all around Athens after the death of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos during these 4 days. Alexandros was killed by a ricochet warning shot fired by a police officer. Thousands came to his funeral while another ten thousand protested on parliament.

Because of these riots banks, schools, and even hospitals were closed on Wednesday. Roads were closed, and buses and the subway were shut down. Also, many flights were canceled.

I don't really think that the people should act like this. Some many have been injured because of the riots. I don't think Alexandros Grigoropoulos would have wanted that on his head while resting in peace. They shouldn't shut down roads and close hospitals. What if there was a major crisis and many people were injured. It takes time to re-open the roads and have the hospitals up and running again.

December 10, 2008
CNN.com

Link to Article

Hanging Fire - Poem Analysis

The poem Hanging Fire is about a boy being neglected and the troubles he faces. It can be about any boy, depending on the reader. It can be a boy living in New York and goes to school or in poverty in Africa. The poem is made to show that there are many perspectives of what kind of boy this is because its very vague.

The speaker is a boy. His identity shows that he faces many problems like having the wear braces, living in a dirty place, and not being picked for the Math team. He's afraid of having too little time and whether he was going to die very soon. With addition with all his worries and troubles, he is being neglected by his mother who is always "in the bedroom with the door closed".

The poem is written in stanzas and always ends with two lines:

"and momma's in the bedroom
with the door closed."

There are 11 lines in the first stanza and 12 lines in the second and third stanza.

This poem doesn't rhyme. There are no rhyming words in their whole poem. The two lines that end off every stanza (see above) sort of conclude each stanza, signifying that the paragraph has ended. The poem has a rhythm with those two lines at the end.

The poem has a lot of imagery -almost in every sentence. In lines 6 to 7, I can picture a young boy with dirty and ashy knees from living in the streets. I can also see a bedroom door closed whenever I read the last two lines of a stanza, showing the mom's door closed and keeping him from approaching her. He is still in an empty small room when I read line 14 and I also hear sad songs when I read line 15 to 16, like it was at his funeral. He's now wearing braces when I read line 30 and only having one set of clothes. As the poem dies out, I see the boy standing outside a door, supposedly to be the mother's bedroom door; as if she didn't want to care about him.

Education - What is it?

Education is the process of learning new skills and developing the knowledge that we have; applying it to different situations whether formal or informal.
Education is important. People may have the skills to do simple things like get food and trying to earn money. But using those simple everyday activities, they can achieve so much more. They will know how to earn more money through spending wisely and knowing how to get more money. They can get a job and support their family. They will learn from their mistakes quicker and learn how to avoid them.

Current Events

Shuttle Endeavour lands at California air base

Image Source

After a two week mission in space and several delays, the American space shuttle, Endeavour, finally lands in California's Edwards Air Force Base instead of the Kennedy Space Center. The weather in Florida had been bad with the wind, rain, and thunderstorms 30 miles from the Kennedy Space Center and forced the space shuttle to land at an Air Force Base in California.
The mission to the International Space Station brought important stuff like exercise equipment, sleeping berths, and a pee recycling system. All these equipment was for a project to double the capacity of the people who can stay at station.
There was one incident that occurred while on this mission. When one of the astronauts was on a space walk, a grease gun leaked in her tool bag causing everything inside to be covered in grease lubricant. Then when she was trying to clean the mess in the bag, it floated away. The items and equipment into the tool bag was worth $100,000.

December 1, 2008
CNN.com
***

Israel to free 250 Palestinian prisoners

Israel holds more than 9,000 Palenstinian prisoners.
250 Palestinian prisoners in Israel has been approved by the government to be released as a goodwill gesture for a Muslim festival happening next week. This release is meant to strengthen the peace talks that they have been holding with the Palestinian government (Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas) for the past year. All the prisoners that are to be set free are members of the Abbas' Fatah Party.

November 30, 2008
CNN.com

Spoken Word Poetry Reflections

Spoken word poetry is a story poem about what people really feel strongly about and they say it out. The "Hawaii" video was about two girls talking about how racism is bad. This was their interest and they made it into a poem form so more people will listen to it and understand it better. The "Superman" video was about a guy who told a story through poetry form about his encounter with Superman and the Justice League. He told Superman about how his super power was with his words because he thought that words are very important and are very powerful.
Spoken word poetry is kind of like a persons opinion on something.


Spoken word poetry elements are very similar to normal poetry but they are stronger because it's spoken and you can here the emotion in the voice of the speaker.
The voice may be the most important element in spoken word poetry because it shows the emotion and shows a little bit of the identity by their voice and how they tell they poem. Subject is also another important element in poetry because there has to been a very strong reason why we do spoken word poetry because we want to write a poem, but have it spoken so it's stronger, therefore the poem's subject must be very strong and have a great impact on the audience.
The subject of a spoken word poem can be anything, mostly a speech/story to tell the audience about what they are interested in or what they are concerned about. They use poetry to spread their idea because they want to show their identity; which could be a concern for global crisis, or their identity.
The imagery for a spoken word poem has a great impact on the audience. When reading a normal poem, the reader has to pay attention to reading the words and also at the same time imagine the images in his/her mind. For spoken word poetry, you don't have to worry about reading the words because it's already being read out for you. So, imagery in a spoken word poem must really be descriptive and with the voice of the speaker, you can really imagine the scenes in your mind more clearly.

Anyone could do Spoken word poetry. They must have a cause of why they are doing in, an interest or concern they have. If they have in opinion on a concern or global crisis or the current events, they show it through spoken word. Forming it into poem form just makes it easier for the audience to take in information.

I personally enjoy listening to the "Superman" spoken word poem because I agree with the guys idea that words are very important and have a great impact if used correctly. The guy says to Superman that he can help save the world by words and poems, and I absolutely agree. Anyone can make a difference without violence --but through words. Spoken word poetry is a great way to have your say.

Reflections on Dongmen (2)

What were your reactions to the location in general?
- It was quite dirty. I would sit on the floor --it's still okay. But there were many dusty and dirty places I wouldn't dare to sit. On the higher levels during the night time (the first time I went there) it was pretty scary because the building was so quiet with exceptions of some distant voices of people talking and TV sets playings. With some light flickering, I was kind of scared. But if you think very logically, it's just another home to people- like being in another person's house; you don't know where is where and you're cautious of what you enter and where you step.

What is it like for you to witness people living in relative poverty in a place like DongMen surrounded by the relative wealth of Hsinchu?
- There was one time when I was going around the escalators when I saw a man setting up his cardboard "bed". After seeing the rest of Hsinchu, coming from such a good privileged school and then I see the people here, I felt really sad. However, I saw some really happy people, like the man playing with his dog and the woman who gave us drinks, and even though they lived in an old run-down building, they were still able to be happy. How can they we so happy with so little money and we have so much money yet we are never happy? I really helped me reflect on my life because in order to fully understand your culture, you have to submerge yourself into another culture. We are very privileged to go to a good school and get a good education and live such a special life.

What would you do with a place like DongMen if you were the mayor of Hsinchu? Would you tear it down? leave it? try to revive the industry there? allow people to live there or not?
- DongMen to many people is a sactuary -- a home. Tearing it down would not be one of the options if I were the mayor (unless we had a cleaner and safer place to put them). I would start up the industry on some of the levels; giving some more people jobs. But I would also let the people living there keep their homes because they have a right to live there and that mall has been their home for many years.

Current Events

Town brought to life by solar-paneled graves


Solar Panels. Image Source.
***
Everybody knows about solar panels and how they are found on houses and building to uses the sun's light as power instead of electricity. Well in a town in Spain, just outside Barcelona, called Santa Coloma de Gramenet, solar panels have been built on top of mausoleums in the cemetery.
This project began three years ago and it started working on Wednesday.
The reason why they decided to put the solar panels in a cemetery, was because that the small town are so dense and they had no where to generate it.

The power these 462 solar panels produce enough power for 60 homes, goes to the local energy grid and for use of normal consumption is one of the weird ways this town fights against global warming.

Esteve Serret, a director of the company that runs the cemetery (and know also works in renewable energy) says, "[It's] the best tribute we can pay to our ancestors, whatever your religion may be, is to generate clean energy for new generations. That is our leitmotif."

Some people have disagreed with the idea of putting these solar panels on the remains of so many dead people. However, the excuse was that the panels only take up 5% of the total surface area and will keep about 62 tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. I think that the dead people would have agreed too with save the world they had left.

24 Nov 2008 CNN.com

*****
Deadly flooding leaves thousands homeless in Brazil

Flood affects. Image Source
***
A flood in Santa Catarina, Brazil has killed 28 people and left more than 18,000 homeless. the flood affected 1.5 million people and cut off 4 cities from the rest of the nation: Rio dos Cedros, Pomerode, Itapoá and Benedito Novo were the cities. The mayor of Blumenau, Joao Paulo Kleinubing has declared a stare of emergency on Saturday. Aid has been sent to most of the cities and towns to help the now homeless people and only 2 helicopted have been sent to Blumenau to help victims.

23 Nov 2008
CNN.com

The Element of Poetry - Identity and Elements

The Last Good-by

How shall we know it is the last good-by?
The skies will not be darkened in that hour,
No sudden blight will fall on leaf or flower,
No single bird will hush its ceaseless cry,
And you will hold my hands, and smile or sigh
Just as before. Perchance the sudden tears
In your dear eyes will answer to my fears;
But there will come no voice of prophecy,--
No voice to whisper, "Now, and not again,
Space for last words, last kisses, and last prayer,
For all the wild unmitigated pain
Of those who, parting, clasp hands with despair:"--
"Who knows?" we say, but doubt and fear remain,
Would any choose to part thus unaware?

***

The form of this poem is in paragraph form and in each line, there is 10 to 11 syllables, though mostly 10 syllables per line. The words in a line is from 6 words to 10 words. However, the number of words in a line can change the rhythm of the poem. The syllables, to me, are the ones that really count because if each line has the same number of syllables, then the rhythm and the beat of the poem will be even.
When I read this poem, I think about the time I had to say goodbye to someone. But for lines 3 to 4:
"The skies will not be darkened in that hour,
No sudden blight will fall on leaf or flower,
No single bird will hush its ceaseless cry.."

They are very descriptive and they make me think of the sky at twilight, a flower dying, and a cawing of a raven. These images will make one sad because those are the times and things I'm most afraid of in a day; having the day end, a flower (life) dying, and a shrieking call of bird. Especially the last line; I imagine a barren corn maize with only a scarecrow in the middle and two crows circling the field.

All of the ending words of each sentence rhyme with another word. There is some sort of pattern in the poem. From the line 1 to line 7, the rhyming sequence goes by: A B B A A CC. From line 11 to 14, the sequence goes by D E D E.

Reflections on DongMen

How did the site of DongMen alter the choreography that you created in the classroom?
- Originally, we had this cool dance effect we wanted to do with the clothes line that was supposedly there and white sheets. When we got to the site, there was no clothes and there were no white sheets in hand. Ms Sheilah had recommended to use the stuffing (the clothes) of the "dead bodies". Eventually, the clothes were taken out the choreography.

If you were to go back to DongMen what would you add or subtract from your choreography to make it stronger?
- I still the clothes line idea was perfect and added to the creepiness. :) But when I got there, there were a lot of puddles of water. If the water wasn't so dirty and I wasn't afraid of getting my clothes wet, I would have added somethings with the water. Also, the covering the bodies with clothes was a good idea but I think we should have gotten up and then thrown the clothes on them. Maybe we trip and stumble a little then the clothes fall on them to created the effect that we're dead and they just died.

The Elements of Poetry in "The New Colossus"

The New Colossus
By Emma Lazarus
Image Source

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lighting, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

***

There are many elements of poetry in this poem. There are metaphors, similes, alliteration, rhyming, and even a hyperbole.
Metaphor is a phrase or sentence that compares something to another without using like or as. An example of a metaphor in this poem is in the phrase "...whose flame, Is the imprisoned lightning...". This compares the flame (or the fake build flame in this case) to lightning that was kept in the metal torch.
There are many examples of alliteration in this poem. One of them is in the phrase "wretched refuse", and though they don't start with the same letter, they start off with the same sound which makes it easier to understand and memorize and also take in the information. Another Example of alliteration in the poem is on the third line, "sea-washed, sunset gates". I think this shows good alliterations because "sea-washed" and "sunset" start off with the same sound and makes the phrase sound better. A third example of alliteration is "world-wide welcome". Not only does it make the phrase sound better, it's easier to understand what the poet is trying to say.
Similes are phrases of comparison. These are similar to metaphors except these are less vague about their comparison by using words like as and like. "Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame" in the first line is a simile because it compares the Statue of Liberty to the great Greek statue, Helios, using the word like.
Hyperboles are phrases of exaggeration. Lines 11 and 12 are hyperboles because they exaggerate that the "refuse" - which are like the people that others don't really care about (esp.: beggars, homeless...) - being wretched. Not all beggars and homeless are un-happy though they can be un-fortunate.
Rhyming is everywhere in this poem. The words with matching colors rhyme with each other, thus, making it is easier to take in, understand, and memorise the poem.

What did a daily life is Ancient Greece look like?

For poor families who didn't have slaves, the wives would run the house and raise the children. In households that had slaves, the wives would simply supervise the slaves who were taking care of the children and doing most of the work. Spinning thread and weaving cloth was usually what the women would do in every family, rich or poor.
Usually in their mid-teens, like our age, girls would get married whilst the men would get married around 30. The girls were then under legal control of their husbands (it was passed from the father to the husband). When married, a girl was get a part of the family's fortune (the property and money) as a gift from the parents (or dowry). The husband would ben own and control the money and property until they divorce, which is when he has to give it back to the family. If a divorce does not happen, they would simple pass the dowry to their children.

In Athens, the children, usually just the boys and very few girls, would go to school is learn to read, write, and quote literature, as well as learn and instrument and sing. They would also play sports as this was the start of their military service. All this studying was not so that they could get a job; it was so they could be an effective citizen.
For girls, they only learned to read, write and simple math during their childhood s that they can run their own household in the future.
The education in Sparta was different because Sparta thought that education wasn't really important. When boys turned 7, they would be sent to the barracks where they were put through harsh training. However, they learned basic reading, writing, and math. Girls were also put into physical competition.
Young children in both Sparta and Athens spent their days playing with toys before they turned 7.

In a household, husbands was in charge of all the members of his family and was responsible for them. Greek men, after their service in the military was over, hung out in the agora, which was a marketplace were people would chat, gossip, buy and sell items or food. In the morning, they would buy the supplies and food they need then return home.

Here is a picture of an agora which was Greek market place. Image Source.


Either that or they were playing sports and exercised in public sports facilities.
When democracy (or Demokratia in Greek) was created in Greece, men who were citizens were allowed to and had the right to attend assembly. There, they had the right and freedom to speak and vote. Assemblies sometimes had debates and these debates decides how the city was run -- all decided by the people.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sources

http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar234900&st=ancient+greece&sc=2#h5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece#Education

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ancientgreece/athens/rule.shtml

Current Events

German economy now in recession

Recession basically means when a country's economy declines significantly and thus, the trade and industrial activity are reduced. A country is classified in recession when the the GDP of the country falls in 2 successive quarters.

Another country has gone into recession after the country's economy fell by 0.5% in their third quarter. The fall of GDP in Germany was much bigger than analysts had expected and they have also predicted a fall in Europe by 0.5% in the next year.
A couple other of European countries are also in recession.
France, Ireland, Denmark, Singapore and New Zealand are some countries that are in recession.

November 13, 2008 BBC.com

*****************

Kids' dancing causes Haiti school collapse, Red Cross says



Who would have thought that a musical could bring down a school -- literally. In Haiti, the dancing and jumping in a musical caused the Grace Diving Primary and Secondary School to collapse. Luckily, though there were no deaths, nine children were injured.
The school, which consisted of a few small buildings built on top of each other, was built on the side of a hill. Of course, the jumping and dancing could not possibly bring our school down, because this school was not constructed properly.
When the school collapsed, the ground shook and another school about a mile away felt it. The children in that school had thought that they're school was collapsing and they panicked, which caused two students to be injured.
This is the second school collapse in this month. The previous happened last week, but of course, that incident was much more fatal. That school has three levels and when it collapsed, it killed more than 90 people, most of them children. No survivors have been found since Saturday in the rubble of the school. The owner of the school, Fortin Augustin was questions by the police and turned himself in for the collapse. No charges have been pressed against him. I would consider him loyal to the school because he turned himself in when so much has happened and blamed himself.
There is no need to worry for this year's musical at our school. I highly doubt our dancing can bring down the school -- we're not that good. Also, some of the schools in Haiti are not well-built and are easy to fall whilst ours is....well I'm not so sure...;)

November 12, 2008
CNN.com

Image Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/11/12/haiti.school/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Education for All

If people were more educated in the countries simple things like farming to health care and over population would all be solved. Because people are not educated, they don't know how to handle a business or to raise a family.
Countries in poverty would gradually become successful from the inside out -- by that I mean the people of the country solving their own poverty troubles without charity groups to come and try and stop them.
I'm not saying that the charity groups or even the government isn't helping. But for the government to give each family in South Africa living poverty a thousand dollars will only help them for a few months or so.
Because they do not have the education, all they know is to pay off their debts and buy food for the big family. The thousand dollars isn't enough from them to have live through years to come. Plus the government can not just keeping giving each family money because then the nation's income will grow lower and lower and the country will be even more in poverty. Things will just get worse.
If they were educated, they would know how to start off their (eg.) farming land. They would know how to raise their crops or livestock so that they will have a consistent income.
More doctors and hospitals could be build because of more people becoming educated and thus, more people wouldn't have to suffer the pain of AIDS every day 'til they pass from this world.
Children and even adults can finally go to school because people from their country got the chance to become a teacher.
Everybody knows that the jobs that are the toughest, are the jobs that pay the bills. Once people get an education, they can choose a well-paying job and get a decent salary that they can benefit from.

Non-educated people are being mis-treated because they do not know how to handle business and the world. They tag along the rich and smart people because they do not know what else to do. Once people get a decent education, they can stand up for themselves and actually know what they are speaking up for. Most of the community would be middle-class and the number of poor people would go down.

Education for all is very important for the developing countries and even in developed countries like the US or Canada or even Taiwan. Everyone would be treated equally and no one would be living under poverty...

FAT Questions

Why did Sparta decide to be a military state rather than a democratic like Athens? See mindmap..

How did Greek mythology affect the daily lives of middle class Athenians? See mindmap..

How did democracy first help Athens decide government?

Which one was better for the poor living in Athens: Cleisthenes' way (by dividing people into groups depending on where you lived) or Solon's way (by dividing people into ranks of wealth)? See mindmap..

Why were Spartan women put into training when Athenian women weren't? See mindmap..

Language Arts - Culture

Culture is the way of life. It's the way a person lives and how they live. It is their customs and their behavior towards each components of culture (history, religion, food, clothing..etc). Cultures does not have to be about the culture of your country, but also what you're interested in.
I am part of a lot of cultures. I'm part of the culture of the people who love to sleep, love to eat, dance, love to read, Singapore, Taiwan, America, the laptop community, the HIS community, the grade 8th community, just to name some...
Culture is exclusive because you can't be in all of the cultures of the world. You can't be both old and young at the same times. You can switch from the young to the old but its impossible to be both at the same time. There are many other cultures out there that we do not know about. To give an example, I am not part of the culture of Uzbekistan or Iraq or South Africa.
When people see my grades or my work, they think that I study a lot and is an active learner. I'm not. The first thing I do when I get home is procrastinate. I play with my baby brother, mess up room up, yadda yadda yadda. But I don't start my homework until 9. Just because fair enough grades are part of my culture doesn't mean studying hard is.
People shouldn't mix up culture with identity. The culture is the way they live by. Their behavior, as to say. Many other people can be part of that culture. But your identity is yours, not for anyone to share because we were all made unique. Culture is the way of life, but an identity is who you are.

ESPRAT+G and My Passport Country

Singapore

1. What is the Economic (business) system?
The economic system for business is capitalism.

2. What does the Social system (daily life, classes, customs, etc.) look like?
It’s mandatory for all children to go to school. Singapore is known to have to top schooling educational system because it’s so strict and harsh.

3. What is the Political (government) system? Who has the power?
Socialist-democratic. This basically means that the citizens can vote for the president and such however, the government can intervene (like a republican country) with anything. For example, the government can hold a criminal without trial.

4. What are the Religions? Describe them in detail.
We don’t have any special religions for our country and we take off from other countries’ religions. Buddhism is very popular in Singapore and so is Christianity. There’s also Islam, Taoism, Hinduism, and many others.

5. What are the various Arts (especially those your nation is known for)?
Singapore has never been famous for its arts. The art that we do is very similar to the art many other countries do. Dance, painting, drawing, literature, etc. are all the same as other countries.

6. What are various Technologies that are a part of life in your country?
Laptops, computers, and cell phones run the life of an average worker. Everyone has a camera on their phone because all the phones sold there all have cameras installed. Either that, they have a normal cameras.

7. How does Geography affect ESPRAT in your home country? Go into rich details breaking down each component of ESPRAT.
I don’t know how to answer this question and my mom and dad just said that our geography doesn’t effect us much.

What does a government do?

A government's job is to lead and govern the nation peacefully and maintain order. They do this by making and passing laws. Thus, the nation will keep order and peace. They deal with everything that falls under the politics and laws.

Current Events

Iraq twin bombings kill 25

On Monday in Baghdad, Iraq, two bombs went off killed 25 people and injuring 48 other people.
The first bomb was in a car parked outside a crowded marketplace. This is a very smart tactic because people started to crowd around the exploded car, another bomb -- from a suicide bomber, went off, killing 25 people that had surrounded the car.

November 10, 2008
CNN.com

Afghan governor: U.S. forces killed guards

After Afghan millitants shot at the U.S. military forces, the U.S. military said that they killed 14 people. However, says the provincial governor, the 14 that died were merely security guards who were protecting the road construction crew during the shooting.
When the U.S. military stopped 3 cars they had been tracking, coalition forces for the U.S. military arrived and the militants in the cars fired on the help that had arrived. Then a helicopter was called in and they killed 14 people while trying to shoot the 3 cars.
The U.S. have been tracking those car for a long time and they needed to catch and question those people before they got away. They had been waiting for the cars to get away from the crowded cities because if there was trouble, no civilians would get killed to injured. And they were right to call upon those cars because they later found rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades, and AK-47s in the vehicles.

November 9, 2008
CNN.com

Display the 5 student outcomes

Active learner. Critical thinker and Problem solver. Person of high character. Effective communicator. Community contributor.

During these past two weeks, I assume that I've display all five of the student outcomes in Humanities. Most of these examples of me displaying the 5 student outcomes happened during working with the team but also individually for the Modern Nations project.
I was an active learner these two weeks. While taking notes on my research of Colombia I wondered how they gained independence. So I added a few more questions I wanted to find out in the mind map research. This showed that I was an active learner because when I finished finding how the nation of Colombia was started, I went further and added questions because I wanted to. I would also like the recognize Cindy in my group because she's always so curious and asks a million questions. It can get annoying sometimes but its awesome that when she knows she doesn't understand something, she will push through anything to get her answer.
I showed that I was a critical thinker and problem solver this week when I was helping Jacky with writing up the presentation proposal. We knew we had to assign the jobs to the people who would be best in that particular area. We both evaluated each member of our team and chose the best jobs for them to do. Also, we did the same evaluation when assigning questions for the group mind map to make a page from the keynote.
Being a person of high character is very important. I guess I have been a person of high character. I did the work that the team captain assigned and I constantly remind my team mates to send me their presentations so they can be edited. Though, I think that that is not being a person of high character because I start to get annoying after pestering them to send me their presentation sections.
I managed to accomplish being an effective communicator even when I'm an English speaker in an all Chinese group. All the members of my team are all in ESL and sometimes its hard to communicate with them. However, I managed to explain to them what they wanted to know with not much problem. I think that all the members of my teams were great effective communicators, too, because they were able to listen and communicate with me effectively.
Contributing to my community, or in this case, group was fairly easy because contributing its just participating in the group meetings and when we go over what we plan. I think that all of the members of the group is community contributors because we all engage when we're in class and going over the project. I help remind people what to do for homework.

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

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

Thinking outside the box. When we couldn't find a sturdy way to have the "tower" stand, we decided to use the scissors because Mrs. Smith didn't say that we couldn't use the scissors as part of the "tower" and it was under the list of supplies we could use. The scissors was a great idea and it actually held all 50 grams when we were testing it (but now when we actually did it because our group did it more gently than Mrs. Smith).
Thinking outside the box can help us be better scientist because sometimes we make the experiment more complicated than it is and we totally miss every little thing. When we think outside the box and consider every view, we could make the "tower" stand up.

Current Events

Note to readers: The direct link to the article is and has always been in the title of the article. I've placed another link on the news site below the date that the article was published.
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Obama, McCain campaign through swing states

The U.S. elections are just two days away the the candidates John McCain and Barack Obama are neck and neck in the polls. Just yesterday, both candidates spent the whole day holding campaign rallies on the battleground states, which are the states that have an almost even number of votes on both sides or the majority of the state supports the other candidate.
As both side attack each other in order to persuade the citizen of America, all trying to convince everyone that they would be a better president than the other.
Now it all comes down on the Americans themselves to pick who will be the better president after the disappointing 8 years.

November 2, 2008
CNN.com

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Saddam Hussein Reportedly Stabbed 6 Times After Execution

The body of dictator Saddam Hussein, who was executed in 2006 for crimes against humanity, was found stabbed six times after being hanged.The chief guard at Hussein's tomb said that there were stab wounds all over the dictator's body and another injury to the face. 300 other people also saw these injuries when the body was being buried, but yet the world only knows 3 years later? Officials are still investigating how the body came to these injuries because it might have been a soldier or guard who did this because according Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq’s security advisor, Saddam Hussein wasn't harmed before and after his execution.

November 1, 2008
TheLondonTimesonline.co.uk

Current Events

U.S. helicopter shot down in Afghanistan - CNN.com

It was very lucky that all U.S. 10 soldiers survived when their helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan today. The Taliban fighters used a rocket-propelled grenade to bring down the U.S. Chinook helicopter about 30 miles west of Kabul in the Wardak province.
The helicopter, says a U.S. military spokesman Major Redfield, went down in the Wardak province after an exchange of fire with enemy on the ground.

Also, another suicide bomber killed two soldiers and injured 3 others in north Afghanistan. This bombing took place when the U.S officials were to gather and meet with the police in chief of that province. An american soldier and a small child were killed. The Taliban also took responsibility of this bombing.

October 27, 2008
CNN.com

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2 Dead in Arkansas campus shooting; one suspect in custody - CNN.com

A police van , just outside the dorms of the university where the shooting took place


This is the second campus shooting I've heard of since the summer vacation. 2 students were killed at a shooting in the University of Central Arkansas on Sunday. Shots were heard near the Arkansas Hall and the Snow Fine Arts Center at 9:22 pm, says Freshman Sam Hausen who was only 50 feet away from the shooters. One student died on campus and the other in a hospital. Hausen actually saw vans speed away but wasn't sure those were the shooters or just students trying to get away.
After the shooting, the whole campus was put on lock down and all classes were canceled.
One person, we don't know whether it was a student or part of the faculty have been held for questioning but not yet arrested.

October 27, 2008
CNN.com

Current Events

Suspected U.S. missiles kill 8 in Pakistan

Just hours after the Pakistan parliament passed a national security resolution, 2 missiles from an unmanned drone (a remote controlled aircraft or missile) hit a religious school in a village in North Waziristan. This is kind of ironic because the national security resolution stated that "the nation stands united against any incursion and invasions" and the country's national security was in need of a review of the way it was trying to stop terrorism.
Why do they suspect the U.S? Well the United States is the only country that posted there and have the capability to launch missiles from drones. The U.S military hasn't said anything about the incident. The 2 missiles filled 8 people and injured 6 others, says military sources.

October 23, 2008
CNN.com

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Ballesteros faces 3rd and 'complex' brain op

As said from my last current events, the famous Spanish golf legend Seve Ballesteros had a recent surgery on his brain tumor where surgeons tried to remove as much as the brain tumor as possible. Ballesteros was said to be in stable condition after the surgery. On Friday October 24, Ballesteros will again for the third time undergo a more "complex" surgery, says the La Paz hospital, where Ballesteros has been staying at at his current situation.
This time, the surgeons will try to relive some pressure on his brain that was caused by bleeding after the first surgery.

October 23, 2008
CNN.com

Current Events

Ballesteros conscious in intensive care

World know gold legend Seve Ballesteros is conscious after the surgical removal of his brain tumor. Most people don't survive these operations and while performing the surgery, you have to be extremely careful as one small mistake could kill the patient.
Ballesteros is a 51 year old Spanish golfer who won a record 50 times on a European golf tour and the British Open 3 times and many other competitions before retiring last year. He is right now in stable condition when doctor tried to remove as much of the tumor as possible.

October 16, 2008
CNN.com

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Spain: Mechanic of crashed plane questioned

A few months ago in August, a plane crash in Madrid killed 154 people. They're still investigating the plane crash and the court will be questioning three plane mechanics suspected of tempering with the plane. Two of the mechanics were working on the plane the day of the crash and the third was the head of maintenance.
What most people found out so far from the investigation was that the plane's wing flaps didn't deploy while the plane was taking off. The cockpit warning system didn't work and it didn't warn the pilots on time to the problem. However, they did not say that this was the reason why the plane crashed and only left 18 alive. This plane crash was the worst the Spain had had all this year.

October 16, 2008
CNN.com

Current Events

Earthquake kills 12 people in Chechnya

More than 100 people injured and at least 12 people were killed yesterday in a 5.3 magnitude earthquake. This earthquake took place in Russia's Chechnya region.
Many buildings were destroyed and many roads cracked in some areas including a district called Grozny. The British Virgin Islands were also shaken with a stronger earthquake However, this earthquake held less deaths and damages.

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Suspect in High-profile murder case kills himself

In 1981, thats 27 years ago, a Japanese couple came to visit Los Angeles. The husband, Kazuyoshi Miura was shot in the long and hiss wife was shot in the head and died a year later.
The Los Angeles officials thought that Miura wanted to kill his wife so he could get the $750,000 of her life insurance policies. Miura was accused of killing his wife and was arrested on February 1988.
Just a few days ago on Friday night, Miura arrive in Los Angeles to face conspiracy charges on his wife's murder 27 years ago. However, within the 24 hours of him in Los Angeles, Miura committed suicide in his jail-cell by hanging himself with a piece of his shirt. Officials found him dead after routine checks of the cells at 9:45 pm on Friday. Miura was taken to a local hospital and later pronounced dead.
His attorney, Mark Geragos said, "I'm shocked. One of my lawyers was with him for 12 hours yesterday and he seemed in good spirits.."

Which is more dense -- A stack of 20 NT coins or a stack of 5 NT coins

A stack of 20 NT coins would be denser than a stack of 5 NT coins. This is because to find the density of an object, you have the mass divided by the volume. The mass of the 20 NT coin stack would be more than the mass of the 5 NT coin stack. The volume would be different too because there are more coins in the 20 NT stack than the 5 NT stack. Thus, the data in the density formula would be different and the stack of 20 NT would be more dense because it has more coins than the other stack.

How 'A Tell Tale Heart' relates to me

The story A Tell Tale heart is a horror story about death and how when you do something wrong, the guilt will always eat you up from the inside. Right now I'm not feeling any guilt 'cause I haven't done anything wrong yet.
But I guess it could relate to my life how the man tried every night to kill the man but couldn't because the eye wasn't hunting him as the old man was asleep. I'm a procrastinator. I guess this stroy can relate to me when I tell myself to do my homework but I can't seem to do it. I get distracted very easily and I usually drift away in my mind I guess only when it gets really late at night, around 12 midnight (just like the man) do I complete my homework. Today I seem to do my homework really early, probably because this is due tomorrow and I have a lot of other homework that I have due tomorrow (that was assigned today).

Current Events

Tibet quake toll lowered to 9, hundreds homeless - CNN.com

Just yesterday, two earth quakes (one with a 6.6 magnitude and the other 15 minutes later at about 5.1 magnitude). This earthquake killed about nine people which is a smaller number than the original toll of 30, this was inaccurate because it used "unauthoritative sources" (CNN.com). These earthquakes caused 147 homes to collasped, leaving 153 families homeless. The government has sent tents to the areas of the damaged. About 19 people were injured.
This is really said because you don't actually see news about earthquakes in Tibet on the news. Tibet has already experienced many more that 5.0 magnitude earthquakes this past few months since May. Even though this area is really accident prone though it doesn't turn up on the news that other people know of. China has an earthquake and the whole world knows.

October 7, 2008
CNN.com

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Death toll rises amid India ethnic violence - CNN.com

Fights between tribal people and Muslims in India have raised the death toll to 47 since Friday. This "decade-old rivalry" (CNN.com) between the Muslims and tribal people has sent about 100,00 people to escape from the deadly riots to 50 relief camps.
The rioting started on Friday between the Bodo tribesmen and probably the Bangladeshi settlers in India's remote northeastern state of Assam.
The riots have so far stopped since yesterday. "But some people injured in the clashes have died in hospitals, and some more dead bodies have been recovered." said State home commissioner Rajiv Kumar Bora. 22 people died from police firing.
The police are looking into the fact whether it was the decade-old rivalry between the Bodo and the Muslims that made the attackers attack each other with traditional weapons like arrows and spears.

October 7, 2008
CNN.com

How 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' relates to my god damned terrible life..

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge tells a story about a man's imagination; how it got in his mind making him think that he was escaping and going to live. I think the theme of this story is how our minds can trick us as to believe something else. I can relate to this story at this very second as I type this and as my eye gradually become more puffy.
I know now that I shouldn't trust anybody, not even my mind. I thought that my life was starting to get better. Turns out things always get worse when the fat lady sings -- or in this case, my dad. I feel like the last few days since Friday have been quite easy; my dad ain't yelling (my mom yells on a regular basis), I had steak for breakfast yesterday..etc. Now I feel my neck breaking, like Peyton Farquhar. My dad is apparently on some drug or something. I was doing my homework when he barged in and yelled at me and my sisters to go shower then continue our homework on the dining table. That's quite ironic as last time when I did my homework at the dining table, he told me to get the hell away and "I gave you a desk for a reason...". As I sit here laughing to myself, I silently laugh how lucky I am. I was pretty stumped an hour ago at this particular question, and now my dad comes in and hangs me and somehow in a way gives me the answer to the question.
I indeed am the Peyton Farquhar in this story except it was worse; I actually did (physically and mentally) experienced the dream...

Current Events

More melamine found in chocolate bars - CNN.com

China's Milk Power Scandal has caused countries like South Korea to order four more Chinese-made food products to be destroyed. Right now, the number of tainted products known to South Korea that have melamine in them are 10 products. About 430 products have already been pulled down from stores for testing. South Korea, like many other countries, has stopped all Chinese-made products that have milk (or in general dairy) altogether.
The poisonous melamine was found in Snickers bars, M&Ms, and KitKat. These products were made from different companies like Mars and Nestle. Though Nestle comes from China, I know that the Snickers were made in Russia. So right now, you'll never know where your food comes from; the milk powder may have been made in China.Lotte and Mars Korea has said they're taking back all their products and foodstuff.

October 4, 2008. CNN.com

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Four pirate attacks off Somalia in 24 hours, U.S. says - CNN.com

Pirates in the coast of Somalia have gained the international attention after a recent attack on a Ukrainian ship containing 33 Soviet-designed tanks and weaponry. Now in one day, there have been 4 pirate failed pirate attacks, although there were 6 American warships being sentinels on other ships filled with weapons.
3 of the 4 attacks were able to escape because they were so fast. The fourth, however, were foiled due to the fact that the ladder that they had brought to climb up to the ship was too short.
These failed attacks after some 26 ships successfully attacked and hijacked this year is probably because of the ships have taken these as a major priority after the attack on the 33 tanks. Already 8 European countries have offered Somalia coast to form an anti-piracy force.

October 4, 2008. CNN.com

Why Did We Spend 3 days Answering the Wrong Question?

Why did we spend 3 days trying to figure out what mass, volume, and matter is when the question is "Can matter disappear?". This is because matter is made up of mass and volume; weight and space being taken up. To find the answer to this question, we have to first find out what matter is made of and can that stuff disappear. When matter disappears, that would have to mean that the weight that was there on the Earth is gone and the space that was being taken up is empty.
See, if we study about what really is matter, then can we fully understand and answer the question of Can Matter Disappear?

Current Events

India temple stampede kills 100 - CNN.com

More than 100 people killed and 50 others were wounded today in a stampede on The Chamunda Devi temple in Western India. 25, 000 devotees had been trying to get to the hill-top temple though a steep and narrow pathway because they were having a gathering to celebrate the start of a religious holiday.
This is the start of a holiday known as Navaratri (or nine nights) and for nine night and 10 days, Hindus worship the different forms of a Hindu goddess.

The police do not know what caused the rush but many people said that they heard rumors of a bomb and reacted. Though these rumors where spread without a "baseline" these people would be scared anyways as across India, they have had a recent string of deadly bombings. The minister for the region has said that they had assigned 'enough' officers for crowd control but the large group of people had 'overwhelmed' them.

This stampede is a follow-up of last months, similar incident. More than 130 people were killed when the panicked worshipperes tried to run down a crowded street from a mountaintop Hindu temple in northern India when they heard of a landslide on the mountain above everyone. This landslide, of course was faked.

So much of these accidents were caused by faked panic and so many people had to die because someone started a rumor.

September 30, 2008
CNN.com

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35 people killed in Pakistan bus accident- CNN.com

In Pakistan, at least 35 people died when their bus crashed into a milk tanker and caught fire.
This happened in central Pakistan late Monday near a city of Muzaffargarh. The bus speeding on a narrow road when it collided with the milk tanker and immediately caught fire. Authorities still can't identify the bodies of the 35 killed. These kind of accidents happen almost everyday in Pakistan because people don't care about the safety rules of the road.

September 30, 2008
CNN.com

Current Events

Kidnapped European Tourists Freed - CNN.com


Tourists in Egypt...

10 days ago, 11 European tourists and their 8 Egyptian guides were kidnapped from South of Egypt in Wadi al-Gadid, which is about 400 km from the Southern Egyptian city of Aswan. They were all traveling in 4 jeeps when they were apparently taken to Sudan. This kidnapping cause a start of a small conflict between Egypt and Europe.
The tourist group included 5 Germans, 5 Italians, and 1 Romanian. The guides were all Egyptian; 4 drivers, 3 security guards assigned to accompany the group and the owner of the company.

Today, all of them have been released unharmed.
All of them now are on a military flight back to another military base near Cairo, the capital of Egypt, reported Magdy Rady, a spokesman for the Prime minister of Egypt. However, the officials have not released the information of where they were kept and whether they made any arrests of the kidnappers.

September 29, 2008
CNN.com

Current Events

Tainted Milk Scandal Worries

After all this melamine-tainted milk starting up in China and it's products many countries all over the world, like Singapore and Taiwan, have been taking down food items that have milk in them and are from China. Now with this milk scandal, scientists have began to look into other products of China. Some crayons have already been tested and passed for a poison toxic chemical.
People everywhere have to be very cautious of what they consume now. In every foodstuff made in China, people everywhere are looking very closely at the labels to check whether the milk or milk powder came from China.
"(There's) no confidence any more. I'm now looking carefully at everything that's made in China," said one Singapore resident.
Some traditional Chinese medicine shops in Singapore said that business has been cut down by 20%.
Its very confusing why people would chose to cut corners in making these stuff when they can produce good items and have good feedback instead of the millions of emails, phone calls, and faxes of complaints and threats.

Written by Ryan Huang and S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia
September 25, 2008

Culture of where I'm from

I come from Singapore, which has many different races; Chinese, Eurasian, Malay, Indonesian...etc. The cultures may differ from our race but I'm from the Chinese culture. Though my family isn't really deep into the Chinese culture, we still celebrate some Chinese events like Moon Cake festival and Chinese New Year. Those are probably the only celebrations related to the Chinese culture that I celebrate.
During Chinese New Year, we would have a family reunion where all my cousins and my aunts and uncles come together at my grandparent's house. When we get there, we would have to present 2 tangerines to the grandparents and wish them a happy new year. We would eat and hang out and the elders would give red packets or 紅包 to us. Then our parents would just store them in our banks.
On Moon Cake festival, it isn't so intense as it is here. We would just buy moon cakes and eat them and when we were young, we would get lanterns and walk around the block at night with all the other children. I didn't actually get why we had this but I appreciated the moon cakes and their sweet savoring taste.
Singapore has a lot of religions and it usually matters on your race. Then again, you could be from Indonesia and still become a Christian at your choice. My family is Christian because my grandfather (on my dad's side wanted to go to church after one of his friends brought him there). Originally my ancestors were probably believers of those Chinese gods. But both of my parents' side became Christian on my grandparent's generation.
Transportation in Singapore. Singapore is really small and it's pretty easy to get to places. Most people use the public transport like the MRTs, or the buses. The taxi fares has raised since the gas prices rised and more tourist became interested in Singapore. Though people use the public transport a lot, slightly more than average families have at least 2 cars. Well- at least where I lived, I lived in the city.
The arts of Singapore. We don't actually have a specific way of design, we follow the arts and music of, like, America. There are very few popular bands in Singapore and I, for instance, always listen to the American broadcast on the radio. The way we dress can either be really expensive and fashionable or those dis-colored cheap second-hand clothing you buy in super markets. Most kids my age don't really get the chance to buy clothing because they're always so busy with work and they only spend an average of S$150 on clothing the whole year. But the normal clothes fit for Singapore is probably a tank and shorts with flip-flops.
Education in Singapore means everything. The schedule of an average Singapore student would be:
7:00 - 1:00 = School
After school = ECA (extra curricular activities...mandatory)
Evening: Tuition or Swimming or Music
9:00 - Arrive home and eat.
9:30 - Study
1 am - Sleep.

This is why you don't see much Singaporeans go into high classes colleges. Everyone gets such a good score, who can you pick is the best to go to your school? Friends are hard to find in Singapore, even at work, because everyone is trying to beat each other out and get to the top.
Economics: Singapore's money. I'm not all sure about it. We're known to be really rich from the outside, but while you're in Singapore, you seem really poor.
Food: Yes. We have a lot fo famous food. The Chili Crab. The Hainanese Chicken Rice. The Ba kut teh. The Chili crab is known to be really good but really spicy. Chicken rice is not just chicken and rice, the rice has a certain flavor that makes the dish unique. The Ba Kut Teh, most people know as drinking/eating in the morning is a bitter and sweet herb soup we drink. It's really deliecious with various veggies, herbs, and meat.
Singapore is pretty okay. It the place I feel the most comfortable.

Is Air Matter?

Air is matter. I think that takes up space is matter. Why do you ask? If you blow air into a balloon, it inflates. This is because air is pushing the rubber of the balloon to expand and to create space for itself.
Air contains, carbon dioxide, oxygen, dust, and all those junk we have in the air now in the 21th century. Dust is actually dead skins cells and bacteria and a lot of other stuff, dust can make dustbunnies. Dust bunnies, lots of dust stuck together. This creates a mass and it takes up space. Carbon dioxide and oxygen and other stuff in the air is made of elements in the Periodic Table. They contain atoms and they take up space. Just because we can't see them or weigh them, doesn't mean their not matter. After all- they do matter.

Current Events

Obama Heckled By Protesters


The African American protesters that showed up at Obama's recent rally. ^


Protesters being escorted out of the University of Miami's hall by the Secret Service.
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This has not been the only speech that Sen. Barack Obama has been interupted by protesters. In one of his other rally (in the beginning of August in St Petersburg, FL) Obama was similarly interrupted by a smaller group of protestors with signs saying, "What about the black community, Obama?"
On his recent rally, just after he did his introduction, Obama was heckled by a group of 20+ blacks holding signs like "Blacks against Obama" or "Obama edorsed by the KKK".
Obama, instead of ignoring his protesters at first, handled the situation that should be greatly coveted. Once noticing the interruption, Obama stopped and allowed his crowd to try and drown out the chants from the protesters with "Yes we can".

"Hey young people out there – it's no problem for you to put your signs up," Obama says to the protesters, "but let everybody – let me finish what I have to say, alright? Come on guys."

After this, Obama headed straight back into his pre-written speech about everyday jobs and watching the prices go up...

As the group of African American protesters were being escorted out of the hall of the University of Miami, Obama says, "Alright guys, see ya" and waves along with the crowd to the leaving protestors. He continues with a, "Alright, let's get back to work."

September 19, 2008. www.abcnews.com

HIS Culture

HIS Culture

- Camp Taiwan: We've done it every year.
- Musical: We've done it every year.
- Family School: Every one treats another like family
- 1:1 Laptop School: We use technology and laptops instead of books
- Small School: We're a small international school
- WASC: An example of our school trying to grow and expand.
- 5 student outcomes; Active Learner, Critical Thinker and Problem Solver, Person of highs character, effective communicator, and community contributor.

Current Events

'Post-Olympic Era' Off to a Rocky Start - CNN.com

China has recently finished their Olympic Games. But all this excitement, or as they call it, "post-Olympic euphoria", everyone is ignoring all the "economic worries and safety crises" [CNN.com]
People all around the world saw the Olympic Games as something that will effect the political and social change of China.
Many citizens of China sent in compliants to the government over the China's Human rights record and "treatment of minorities".
Even before then, however, reality showed itself with the collapse earlier this month at an illegal mine waste dump that killed at least 259 people and forced the resignation of a provincial governor.Now, the contaminated milk powder has killed the fourth baby, and more than 6,200 in critical condition, the government isn't paying enough attention to them and the only times we read about them are in international records. The rest of the world is worrying while China is still celebrated their success of the Olympic Games.

September 17, 2008 CNN.com

Current Events

Rove: McCain went 'too far' in ads - CNN.com

This year's Presidential Elections in the United States has been in the top news globally. This fierce battle with Barack Obama against John McCain is what most of the world is talking about. After Sen. McCain announced his pick, and took the world by surprise, as Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, and after her speech that included many attacks against Obama, it's been a full out debate between the two parties.
Sen. McCain has had the experience, being in Congress, but many think that he may lead America to another four years of disappointment. Obama has very little experience, but he has fresh ideas from this very "young" mind of his. I think it's almost even ground here. It's like a playground fight where two kids are trying to claim the swings and the slide but to persuade the other kids they have to give them jellybeans. Both kid leaders have the same amount of jellybeans. Would American want another "Bush" as President? Or someone that doesn't have that much experience?
How are those two parties get so much votes when they are about even? To beat out the opponent, one has to persuade the citizens of America what they can do and what the opponent can't. Former Bush advisory, Karl Rove says that McCain has gone "one step too far" with the attacks against Obama in his ads. After this comment from Rove to Fox News, the Democratic party "leaped on the quote" [CNN.com].
Rove then said that both parties need to be careful what they say to each other.

On another hand, Former nominee from the Democratic party, Hilary Clinton, says, "Barack and I may have started out on two separate paths, but we are on one journey now." This, to me, shows that even though they were opponents, Clinton still remains on the Democratic side.

CNN.com September 14, 2008.

Why Students Should Blog

When I watched the Youtube video first about "Why Let Our Students Blog" I found the fact there are younger students (grade 2s - 3s) that are a 1:1 laptop school too. It's pretty cool to see what younger students have been doing stuff with the computers, maybe even better than us.
I enjoyed the part where the person who made the video included the part for our "digital future". As we go further up the years, our lives will obviously become incredibly "digital". With all the technology being created every day, we can't start learning about the electronic world when we're older. We have to start young and we'll obviously learn more stuff in the future. Gradually, we'll learn more more the gadgets and wizzes as we're in a 1:1 computer school. We can obviously learn all this stuff too...through blogging. :]

For the blog post about 20 (its actually 21 reasons) reasons why students should blog, I liked the part that states "Students are digital natives - blogging is a natural element of this." Yes, because we are children living in this generation, writing a lock-and-key diary is the same writing a blog. It's natural for us.
"Prepares students for digital citizenship as they learn cybersafety and netiquette" This is good because in the future

Current Events

"New Orleans Starts Up, but Not at Full Power" - NYTimes.com


Residents of Louisiana line up for a free meal from the Salvation Army.

Hurricane Gustav was thought to be a repeat of Hurricane Katrina, luckily, the city of New Orleans escaped with little serious damage. Although the power to tens of thousands of homes have been knocked out, the evacuees pile into the city again, rebuilding this lives. The small cafes and restaurants are packed full with people, the grocery stores, holding long lines, and the traffic on the streets keep rolling.
Mayor C. Ray Nagin said, "90 - 96 percent of the power will be back on by the weekend."

"The city is still improving, and improving rapidly, " Mr Nagin said, "Any business person who’s out there and not open yet, [should return] because you're losing a lot of money."

Many cities of Louisiana, were hit harder than New Orleans. But the recovery of this Hurricane Gustav seems to go by faster because of everyone' experience and easier.

Article by Adam Nossiter of the NYTimes.com published on September 4, 2008.

Current Events

"Bhutto Widower With Clouded Past Is Set to Lead" - NYTimes.com
Last year, the world was taken by shock when Prime Minster Benazir Bhutto, who was leading a rally for her Pakistan People's Party in the parliamentary campaign was killed in a suicide attack.
Many people then questioned, "Who will lead us now?" Her son was one of those people that others thought would carry his mother's legacy. However, he was still too young.
But now, the widower of Benazir Bhutto, Asif Ali Zardari, is expected to become the president of Pakistan on Saturday. He has never been know as a leader in anything yet, but he said, "[He] wll learn on the job."Mr Zardari has "shown canny political skills" [NYTimes.com]
Hopefully, he will be able to lead this scarred country.

Article written by Jane Perlez of the NYTimes.com. Published on September 4, 2008
PHOTO: NYTimes.com "Asif Ali Zardari"

China Recycling Wastes

This is a picture of all the radiators and generators that can give off dangerous gases. [Picture 3]

Above is an example of a three-wheeled bike. [Picture 2]

[Picture 1]


When the US or Europe wants to send China more recyclables, they usually send it by cargo ships. It is rare that they use a plane because that is more expensive.
You can see all the time in Beijing, three-wheeled bicycles carrying junk and trash [Picture 2]. Well, these people who ride them collect trash and items that can be recycled they can make a living out of it. When they collect plastic bottles, they can get a refund of 0.1 yuan (US $0.10) which isn't much. But once they've collected dozens and dozens, they've got money! Stuff like toys, ACs, TVs and computers, the riders of the three-wheeled bicycles can take them apart and sell the parts. Great, we've got all the good stuff about recycling in China. How 'bout the negative side of it?
What if there are wires and small particles of those toys, ACs, TVs and computers can't be used again or they can't find anything to do with them? Well, if they are those people who ride on those three-wheeled bikes, they just dump it at the local dump site [Picture 1]. This is a picture of a woman trying to dig out useful wires that she can use for something else. Maybe she found some parts that she can use for something. Or maybe she works there. The government takes people for jobs and put them at the dump sites to burn the items that can't be used again and can't be recycled. This creates air pollution with all the smoke. Some of the generators from the electronical items give out weird and dangerous gases [Picture 3].

Olympic Games - Beijing

"China is sparing no expense in preparing Beijing for the Olympic spotlight—including providing English classes for cab drivers and a government-sponsored etiquette campaign."[MSN]

China is doing everything they can to make their country presentable on August 8, 2008 when the torch finally reaches Beijing and the start of the Olympic Games. With all the foreigners pilling in so fast, China is begun to take in any help they can. The organizers of the Olympic games expect 550,000 visitors to comes and so, they've lined up 550,000 locals to help - "one for every guest" [MSN] With all the excitement going on, they've expected 22,000 journalist to come too. Well if journalists and reporters come, then China's going have to put on their best shoes. This may even help their community as now even the government etiquette campaigns are work to "stamp out bad manners like jumping ahead in line, spitting, littering, and reckless driving" to impress the foreigners that have already arrived ahead of time. Cab drivers are now under pressure to learn English so that they can communicate with foreigners when they want a ride. The government has even drawn up a program called "Crazy English" with 10,000 volunteers so that people can learn English and impress the world. Officials are trying to wipe out "Chinglish" which is a mix of Chinese and English on posters, billboards, menus, and storefronts.
The China streets are beginning to grow busier and busier. But now the "city's choking pollution and snarled traffic"[MSN] will finally be controlled during the Olympics; at least 1/3 of 3.3 million vehicles will be banned so that the streets are less polluted.

China has really put everything up front, making an obvious good impression in preparing for the Olympic Games. Now all we have to do and wait to see what their "final presentation" would be when the Olympics start.

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Current Events

"Stonehenge was a place of burial, researchers say"[CNN]
Most people thought that Stonehenge, a couple of incredibly heavy rocks that form is circle (located in England) was placed there by aliens. Reason? Because back then, cranes weren't invented and they were too heavy to lift. But now, researchers find out that it was just a burial areas.
But since when that people start burying their dead there? Get this. Since 3000 BC.
And the homes near the site used to house people from 3000 BC. Cool~!

"The burying started at 3000 BC and continued for 500 years, said researchers" [CNN]

Well at least now I know that those weren't from aliens...woo.

China - Recycling - USA - Europe

China has been getting exports from the USA and Europe. Why? And which countries?
Why? - "As China threatens to supplant Japan as the third-largest U.S. export market, local companies are finding that China's appetite for everything from old paper to chemicals to semiconductors"[CNN]
Los Angeles has been one of those countries that send paper to China.
In Florida, there is a China-Latin America Trade Center for Recyclables.
Mostly places where there are many industries in America, they sometimes send their waste products to China.

Sometimes though, China asks the companies to send their waste products to China. It seems that China is really serious about the green movement.

In Europe, countries like England and France are sending their waste products to China and China has been converting them into recycled paper. China has been saving many forest with their new improved technique, especially in India and Russia where many people get their paper.

Current Events

The FIFA world cup is a soccer game that every soccer player in the world knows about. Recently, the Iraqi soccer team has been banned from the games for a year. This was due to the Iraqi government dissolving all national sport federations. I think that this is unfair to the players on the team. They love soccer as much as every other player who is taking part of the FIFA world cup. So why do they have to be banned doing something they love because of politics and government?
Should Ariel be taken away her freedom to go shopping if someone else did wrong? Should boys stop playing computer games if someone else did wrong? No.
Just because the government dissolved all national sports federations, now they can't play the World Cup.

Current Events

[In this picture, police are firing rubber bullets at mobs and protesters. Rubber bullets are rubber made bullets that hurt as much as real bullets but do not go through the skin or enter to skin and "bounces off" the person, though it hurts like a real bullet]
Just recently in South Africa, there have been mobs and protests directed at the foreigners in Johannesburg. At least 22 people were killed in the small village at the mobs attacked at, and the Red Cross estimates that at least 3,000 more were displaced. The police also arrested at least 200 people for offenses including rape, murder, looting, and destruction of property.
"Police said those behind the attacks accused the foreigners of stealing jobs, criminal activities, and benefiting from social services -- such as free housing --meant to benefit South Africans. Police said at least one foreigner was burned alive over the weekend, while others had their houses torched, their shops looted and their possessions stolen. Many have sought refuge at police stations." [CNN]
They attacked those small villages "where locals are jobless, hungry and in need of basic services such as clean water, sanitation and housing" [CNN]. These attacks were meant to drive out the foreigners, like escapes from Zimbabwe from South Africa.
Its amazing that after everything that happened after the apartheid nationality is still a problem in South Africa.

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References

Mabuse, Nkepile. "Anti-foreigners violence kills 22 in S' Africa" CNN. May 19 2008. May 19 2008.
<http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/05/19/southafrica.deaths/index.html>

Current Events

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We've heard about wars and riots and protests all around the world. Sure, man-made disasters. But so far this far 2 weeks there have been two NATURAL disasters in our continent of Asia. A cyclone in Myanmar and an earthquake in China. This topic has been very popular in our school too. Even here in Hsin-chu, people claimed that they too felt the tremors of the quake, which epicenter of located in the middle of China.
I believe that the real bad thing about natural disasters is the aftermath. The destroyed homes, the death tolls rising each day after new findings.
In China, many believe that their death tool from their 7.8 quake may hit 50,000 people. There have been stories of the sorrow in China. *Of "two grandparents carrying their dead grandson because they didn't want to put him down on the ground and destroyed areas". **Another story of how a "live baby was found under his dead mother and father because they had protected him with their lives". About 3.5 million homes were destroyed form this terrible earthquake. It is told that this is the largest most damaged earthquake in the last generation and that last largest earthquake was also in China in 1976.
While in Myanmar, the death toll could hit 100,000 people. And theif government still isn't letting any aid get in without their control over it first. They only allowed the helicopters from the US to hover over the land and drop the aid boxes so the Myanmar government can be the one who controls everything and delivers the aid to the people in need.

Its amazing what nature can do and how many lives it can take in just a few minutes or hours.

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* , ** = <http://his-jordanw.blogspot.com/2008/05/chinas-quake.html>

Picture 1 =
<http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/15/quake.thursday/index.html?iref=mpstoryview>

Picture 2 = <http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/15/myanmar/index.html?iref=mpstoryview>