Greed. It can easily be listed as one of mankind’s worst enemies/sins, by drawing out the worst in people.  Greed is the reason for most problems in the world. One of which, is animal endangerment. Animals are being relocated and killed from their natural habitats for a ridiculous reason, money. A dead carcass and pelt of a tiger can easily be sold for $10,000.  Easy money. All you have to do is shoot a tiger, clean it, sell it and  a pile of money lands on your laps.  However this isn’t the major reason that animals are going extinct. It is that they don’t have protection from harm.

 

The people who are supposed to be protecting them? The zoos. Some are dedicated to preserving endangered animals for future generations, while others are dedicated to money. They build attractions and focus on gathering as much in come as they can rather than caring for the animals. For example, they spend thousands of dollars for an eye-catching exhibit for lemurs because the project is well funded, rather than set up a separate exhibit for the macaques that are dying out. This example proves how greed can turn a animal-loving zookeeper into a heartless business man. Wrong decisions are being made.  In my opinion, exotic animals, animals people haven’t seen yet are the ones that would attract the most attention. If people go to the zoo often, they don’t want to revisit the alligator that they already have passed by several times. They want to see something new. This way the zoo’s can preserve animals while making a profit.Another way of preserving animals has also been proposed. “build facilities — not necessarily open to the public — that are large enough to handle whole herds of animals so that more natural reproductive behavior can occur.” I really like this idea, because this way the endangered animals have a sanctuary in where they can start increasing their population again.

Animals in every nook and cranny of the world are dying out. We are the only ones that can help and save them again. I don’t think we are saving animals out of kindness, it is because it is us, the humans that have caused this. Animals thrived before humans came along, now that we are here they are dying out. We were the ones going out, hunting their kind for a profit. We are the ones destroying their habitats for our basic needs. Would it be better for them now, without us? No, because the damage done to them is too great now. We cannot stop the polar caps from melting, and we cannot prevent any other disasters. We have to fix what we have started.  Each and everyday, more animals are at risk of being endangered. The bar is set high everyday for animal conservation. It is driving some zoos to the limit.  “If you can’t keep up, then you probably need to be dropped off the bottom.” The quote is harsh but, true. . If a zoo isn’t to preserve animals than what are they for? To make money? For entertainment? We are causing more animals to die. Us humans are the only ones that can make sure animals don’t all go extinct. Imagine a world without animals.

 

Animals are part of our lives. Everyday, I wake up to the sweet melody of chirping birds. I go to school everyday, seeing my neighbor’s dog. Of course these animals are unlikely to go extinct, my point being that we need animals.  However there are endangered animals that are a part of us. They are a part of our childhood and memories. Every kid has gone to the zoo and has been fascinated by them. The feeling of awe, is what gives us inspiration. It boosts our imagination.  We coexist to benefit each other.  Which is why we need to start saving these animals. We no longer can be selfish and only think of money. Thousands of animals die each day. If the rate continues, there will no animals left. The only memoir we have of animals lie in our memories and movies. It is a gloomy thought, to think of no animals in the world. Waking up to the silence of day, instead of the birds chirping. Going into a zoo that’s deserted instead of being full of life. We cannot let the animals die out.

The Article

Diigo Annotated

Everyday we hear of crimes that happen internationally. Most of us ignore it because we assume that it won’t happen to us or anywhere near us. However according to this article, a violation of multiple human rights occurred. Where? Right next door to us, Cambodia. In many ways, in culture and in  appearance, Vietnam and Cambodia are alike. Which is what started to make me worry. If this can happen to a neighboring country that is alike to mine, there is huge possibility that something similar might happen here.

 

In Prey Lang, Cambodia, forests are being cut down, burned and stripped of their resources. All of it is horrible on its own, however the fact that the forests they’re logging is protected, makes it worse.  The forest provides the humans so many things. During floods, they act as a stop. They supply us with a clean breeze of air. They are where some of our foods come from. Without them, what will humans have? The only reason people destroy nature is because we need its products.  If there wasn’t a need for land, for paper, for agriculture than there would be no reason for the loggers to be there. The sad truth is that we’ve grown too reliant on nature as we evolve.  The food we fill our stomachs with. are some how involved with environmental issues. Food has to be grown mostly by machine now, which naturally uses fuel and releases carbon dioxide. Then it is shipped by planes or trucks or ships, adding to the pile of CO2. My point being that even basic things we do now, most of it has been through a process which involves destroying the environment.

 

Going back to the article, in the forest of Prey Lang there is an estimated 200,000 people living and depending on the forest for natural resources and food. Now that the forest is being cut down, what will they eat? By logging the forest, they are putting 200,000 lives at stake. Living in the forest already tells everyone that they survive based on what the forest provides them. What will they have after the logging? Nothing. Yet another human rights issue, poverty. In the article, it mentions several cases of logging: by the company, by small scale loggers, and by the indigenous people of the forest. To me, the logging by the indigenous people is an exception. Because most of their reasons for logging is because they need a new location to settle down upon. For whatever reason, their old place is no longer suitable for them and they relocate.  They only log because if they don’t they will have no place to live. The other two however, is a different case. They log because they are paid to do it. If they don’t log the forest they will be fine on their own. They’re not in poverty, they have food to eat and a roof on top of their houses. By logging they are taking people and destroying their lives and putting them in poverty.  Would they still log if they realized that?

With the intention to save the forest, Cambodian forest activist Chut Wutty was there to document all the damage done to a supposedly “protected forest”. Pictures he took, captured how much damage is done and how much the people depended on the forest. They were all evidence for a lawsuit against the loggers. He even risked being captured by the police, by going into private land where they were deforesting just to take a snapshot. This shows his dedication to put an end to the environmental issue. Sadly during a meeting with the police, Chut Wutty fell victim to the human rights issue, armed conflict. Since he had carried a gun, the police deemed he was dangerous and shot him. He was there to protect the forest, but no one protected him in return. He might have died, however his legacy lives on in his subordinates. They have continued to pile up more pictures as evidence, in hope that they end what Chut Wutty started, to finally end the deforestation. “This was a fight he was willing to A) die for, and B) and more importantly, this was what he was going to live for,” Chut Wutty’s subordinate, Mathieu Young.

Diigo Annotated

Deformity is something that many people shun. By simply looking at a deformed person, would make some people groan and look away. In the modern world, deformity is rare. Only happening to people who were exposed to chemicals and radioactive material. However, now it is spreading to the sea. All types of marine animals are showing up with deformities on them. Some have tumors on their heads, while others are missing or have extra limbs. The majority of them come from the Gulf of Mexico.

As most people know, there has been a tragedy there. An oil spill. The ones responsible for it was BP. BP has claimed that they cleaned the oil. “There is no oil left in the Gulf, we tested the water there, it’s a 100% safe,” they say however, now new evidence proves them guilty once again. It is true that there is no massive amounts of oil left from the spill, however the waters are not safe.  “ Specifically, the solvents used to clean up the spill are powerful enough to dissolve oil, grease and rubber. That’s great for cleaning up an oil disaster, but terrible for the environment and worse for humans, not to mention the toll taken on anything that lives in the Gulf. And the thing is, these dispersants have always been known to be mutagenic” So BP had lied. The waters aren’t safe. Its the opposite, humans and animals that ingest that water will have problems in the future. Following the incident, the whole world was noticed that the oil has been completely cleaned. The scientists also tested the water. Were they just mere actors? BP had known all along that the solvents were not safe yet they used it. Why? I think it was because BP wanted the public pressuring them  them. Those solvents were the fastest way to get rid of the oil. The faster the oil disappears, the better it is for BP. The public would be off their tails and they wouldn’t have to worry about anything. Until now.

The aftermath of the oil spill has cause numerous mutations in all species of marine life: fish, shrimps and crabs. One or two examples of side effects can be forgiven. However looking at the list not only one species but multiple. Each specie has more than one example of a deformity. Even worse, the mutations are inside the genes of these animals. So the mutations pass on from parent to offspring. The legacy of those crabs, would forever be mutated. The future generation of crabs could be ones with 6 claws instead of 2. Why is this important? For two reasons, one for the future, the other for the present. We all know, that one day us humans would cease to exist or at least won’t be the dominating species. That combined with global warming that could potentially drown all land, to me is a catastrophe. If you haven’t gotten my point, it is that is the world is to be submerged then one day these deformed animals is what would roam. However that is just a wild exaggeration, but the spills and mutations still affect us today. First off, seafood is major component of our diet. If we ingest one of these mutated species, who knows what it could it to our body systems? Even worse would the mutation spread into our offspring? If so, it is not only the sea creatures that would mutate but us as well.

With all this deformity and mutations, we might take a step backwards. Instead of evolving, changing into better species we might be headed the other direction getting worse. The spill is a tragedy itself, but what’s worse is that the government refuses to take action. If the government won’t stand up who would? BP has already denied that their spill causes the mutations, and the government refuses to clean up their mess. It is better to do something and make mistakes than do nothing at all. So if they end up spending a lot of  money on  the spill but manage to fix issue, loss of money would still triumph over a dystopia. I fear that if people continue to be ignorant about issues surrounding the environment than each day the world would continue to plunder. We wouldn’t evolve, become better and form a utopia of peace. Instead we would be in a future of chaotic anarchy.

Diigo Annotated Link

When the iPhone was released by Apple, it started a race between all other companies to replicate and create its original phone similar to it. A similar scenario happened with the iPad. It made Android, Samsung and Microsoft struggling to keep up. With the new iPad,  Apple sent all the other companies back to the starting point. Recently, Google released a video highlighting its newest experiment, Project Glass. This week’s article highlights all the glorious parts of Project Glass.  The video had all its viewers appalled. Never before has the world seen anything like it. It was so great that it pushed all, even Apple in the lead, back to the starting point.

 

 

Google’s new device, takes the form of glasses. Using simple voice commands and head motions, one has the power to control the icons to activate certain functions. “the Google glasses attempt to interact with the world that it sees in front of and around the wearer, “augmenting” or supplementing the reality that the wearer experiences”.   For example by looking at an object, the glasses would pull information on it from its internet database and make that information display in front of you. If you want to take a picture, simply tell it to and there a photo was taken. Simple as that. It was only a few years ago did we first achieve the smart phone, and then 3D graphics. Now we have the power to controls our sight and interact with out surrounding, knowing more about it. It seems amazing how technology has grown in the years.

At the same time I was appalled by such  advanced technology, a far-fetched and fantasized thought whizzed around in

my mind. If technology keeps on improving like, this will there ever be a day where technology has done everything for us? Right now, if the Google glasses introduced technology where just by seeing something, information about it pops up. The maybe in 10 years, by simply thinking about doing something it already will be done by a machine. Technology of this sort will only promote laziness. We humans were possibly chosen to dominate on Earth because we deserve it. Even with technology, if we are lazy, we soon don’t deserve that luxury. With more use of technology it takes its toll on the environment. More fossil fuels will be burnt to power the electronics. Our CO2 emission will skyrocket.  For our wastes, who will clean up after us? Nature. However like everything else living, it has its time. With enough damage, nature will let loose and there would be no environment around us. The elegant sound of birds chirping while soaring from branch to branch, eradicated. The fresh scent of grass and dew, no longer linger in the air. Is this the future we want?

Technology. It has aided us so much throughout our lives. We now no longer can go without it. Too much relies on it. However technology does have its toll, on the environment.

Diigo Annotated Link:

To better prepare myself for high school, I feel that I need to work on my time management. My final goal for middle school is to reduce the time I waste so that I complete all my homework and am ready for the following school day before 8 at night.  To me, I feel that it is important to reduce the time I waste because on several occasions leave work until the last moment. Because of that I rush to complete it, resulting in the quality of my work to be poorer. Sometimes, a few parts or the whole assignment isn’t complete at all. To achieve this goal, after school, before doing anything else I will start on my homework. By doing this, I can complete it earlier so I have time for other work or free time. This way, I won’t rush to complete any work so that the quality will be downgraded.

Right now, I do not know the anger and unfairness that the colonists felt in the past. Reading about it now, I can sympathize with them but not empathize. However if I were put into their situation I would know for sure that this speech would spark my rebellious nature. Patrick Henry surely would have been my idol for inspiring me. Through the speech I heard emotion and passion of a man who wants liberty. I heard his determination for freedom from the British. On one of numerous quotes, he empathizes with the colonists “We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts”. In that quote, he tries to understands the feeling and thinking of the colonists. This is how many people ally themselves with him. People tend to work better with people who they think can understand their problems. They feel safe and secure with them, they depend on that person to feed their flames of passion.

“I shall speak forth my sentiments freely, and without reserve.” That very trait of his speech made it so powerful and convincing. It wasn’t the fancy words or the length of the speech that made it believable. It was that he spoke all of his thoughts with emotion and without restraint. If you speak in fear of embarrassment or a different reason your speech won’t be genuine. To be able to convince one, the words for the speech must come from the heart. This aspect of his speech was what captivated me. Although he chose difficult words and phrases, the speech didn’t like it was something he made up only to be rehearsed and spoken over and over again. He asked rhetorical questions and he warped language as well as facts into his favor. The raw determination and soul that is put into his speech would make any infuriated colonist go with him. For they see him as an understanding figure who know what they are going through. Depending him for instructions, they’d happily put their life on the line. Patrick Henry, putting so much emotion into this speech made people inspired. He gave them hope and motivation to go to war.

Poems Inspired by Words in the Speech

Not to Hate

The emptiness of betrayal, to be spurned never sets in,

Until reality punches you in the face,

Vigilant you become to cope with it,

No emotion you feel but disgrace,

You indulged yourself in the illusion of being companions

With that, like garbage you pride thrown in the trash,

There is no need to extenuate the situation

No magnitude of sins should result in hatred

Darkness reaches slowly  with its claws, in its den it awaits

While hatred give birth to anger, depression and being vile

Only one way to salvation, learning not to hate

Its like learning the alphabet, to reconcile

Forgiveness will never end in vain,

Peace shall triumph and win the hearts of all, for evil it had slain

Darkness reaches slowly  with its claws, in its den it awaits

While hatred give birth to anger, depression and being vile

Only one way to salvation, learning not to hate

Tyrannical King

Your majesty, the tyrant,

Dictating people like they’re his servant

Like a sloth he does nothing and sits all day,

and flashes his insidious smile on his throne by the bay,

Always vigilant  and scared of his adversary,

while his brethren on the battlefield grow weary,

All of the people he triumphs, he subjugates,

for when they serve him, they seal their fate,

Any idea you bring to him, he will spurn

More reasons why we should end the king’s turn,

Forge your swords and forge your shields

for when you attack like a coward he shall yield,

Go around and gather your petition,

for the time is now to spark a revolution

Just  will finally have his freedom to govern

More reasons why we should end the king’s turn,

Osama bin Laden, the wold’s most wanted criminal finally caught after years. Now criminals of the heinous sort have been filling his spot: drug dealers, terrorists and slavers. Among them one man rose to the top, Joseph Kony. The sins he committed, no matter what can never be amended. He had scarred the lives of thousands.

Before watching the Kony 2012 video, I myself have never heard of him. For 20 years now, Kony has been up to monstrous acts . If children are not cautious he sens soldiers in to their houses. In the middle of the night, they abduct them from their families. Any resistance will lead to bloodshed. Assembling the kidnapped children, he gives each one a gun. By using brute force, he commands them to murder numerous amounts of civilians including their parents. Imagine standing there, gun in hand standing in front of your parents. Them begging for mercy, tears running down their cheeks. Kony standing there yelling for you to pull the trigger. Their cries and wails turn into whispers. To us, it seems like a nightmare. However we know for a fact that this would never happen to us. Living in our safe houses and apartments. These people have no house, or if they do with a single push could collapse it. To them it is life. They were the unfortunate ones, while we are on the luckier side. It really isn’t fair how we are the luckier ones. We cannot decided where we are born in. Some may be born into wealthy families, while others born onto the slums of cities. It is tragic how simply because they are born into poorer conditions must they suffer. However it isn’t their fault, its Kony for doing this to them. He must be stopped.

What concerns me more than Kony forcing kids to mutilate and murder is that he has been “invisible”.  20 years ago had he started to raise child soldiers. 20 years of causing pain through homicides and kidnapping. 20 years of rampaging Africa forming his army of children. 20 YEARS that he has been doing all this. Yet only today have I heard of him. Only in this past year has the world been knowing the name Kony. How is that possible that the worst criminals in the world are not known, yet most of the population know who Tom Cruise is? Is it because the world doesn’t care? No, its because we don’t know how to act upon it. As clearly stated in the video, people think because they aren’t in the government they don’t have the power to change. Being a citizen actually has more power than the president. He may have influence, but he couldn’t act without his people. By voicing opinions and spreading the idea, people will join the cause. Pretty soon whatever cause you were “fighting” for is heard. Your opinion is no longer a whisper in the ears of the world. Standing up and voicing opinions will make your “whisper”(opinion) be heard.

That was exactly what had happened. From a whisper of opinion grew to a call of ideas. The U.S. government who initially didn’t want to be involved in capturing Kony, began to care. Through propaganda, the U.S. is now part of the hunt for Kony. The children part of Kony’s army that no one knows or have seen will be known when he is caught. Hence the name “invisible children”, for they have been forced to do horrendous acts for so long and no one knows of them. If more people start to act, the call will be loud as a scream. By then the world will be looking for him. With the whole world against him, he can’t possibly be “invisible”  for long. He and his army will be seen and found. This will put an end to his chain of pain and suffering. In order for this to happen, people must stand up and join this cause. Then only will the governments of the world will listen and join the hunt. As I started I shall end, let the invisible be seen and the whispers be heard.

The expression “live by the rules” literally apply to us, the students at SSIS. Every school has rules or core values set for the students to follow. Ours are shortly abbreviated into ESLR. Instead of having a thick rulebook or list, there are only five of them which are short and easy to remember: Balance in Life, Sense of Self, Academic Excellence, Dedicated Service and Respect for all. While enrolled at SSIS, students are expected to show these 5 ESLRs. However they aren’t only part of our school lives. Whether we know it or now, they’re part of our whole, daily lives. If reflecting on the day, you’d be amazed that almost all of the ESLRs are demonstrated.

As mentioned, there are five of the ESLRs. Each one is completely different from the other. Still, they share some similarities. To start off is the first ESLR, Academic Excellence.  There are many ways of interpreting its meaning, but to me  its is learning itself. Learning how to work hard, trying to study the best you can, learning to collaborate with others, learning how to work independently and learning how to solve problems all fall into Academic Excellence. With connections to Academic Excellence is the second ESLR, Sense of Self. It’s meaning is basically knowing who you are as an individual. Having self confidence, how you’re conveying who you are to others and most of all being yourself. In the world there is only a single copy of you, yourself. Even twins, no pairs are truly identical. Its our personality and behavior that defines who we are and Sense of Self concentrates on honing that. Third of the ESLRs, is Respect for All. Its name explains most of its definition. It is implied through the name that Respect for All is to be kind to everyone and not be mean. Although that may be true, it goes deeper than that.  Acting out of selflessness and good will are examples of the deeper meanings of what it means to be respectful. Fourth on the list is Dedicated Service. Similar to the previous ESLR, Respect for All,  this concentrates on acting selflessly for the good of others and the environment. A model that represents this ESLR has a caring personality, aware of what is good for the world around them and acts upon it. When seeing a person in need, they would come over and aid them. That person would be able to identify actions that would help improve the community. Fifth and last of the ESLRs is Balance in Life. Once again, an ESLR with a name that explains all. One can infer that its meaning is to balance out one’s life with various activities. Which is exactly what it means. Having to do one subject all day long would be tedious and monotonic.  Balancing the free time with work, balancing studying with sports and managing time wisely is key to demonstrating this ESLR.

Thinking about it, solely based on today I have shown parts from two of the ESLRs. Those two: Academic Excellence and Balance in Life are the ones that I show in my life the most. The others aren’t hard to achieve, demonstrating great Sense of Self and Dedicated Service isn’t part of who I am. Which in a way is Sense of Self. Coming back to the main point, two of the ESLRs(Academic Excellence and Balance in Life) have crept into my daily life whether I try to or not. Obviously at school, I show Academic Excellence. That’s not the only time, after school I have tutors that come over to teach me on various subjects like math and Vietnamese. During those lessons I give an honest effort to try to learn what they’re teaching as much as I can. Also while doing homework, being a perfectionist,  I work hard to try to make the assignment near perfect. At home, I can never stand doing  the a single task for more than one hour. Afterwards, I become bored. As a result, I usually spend my day doing several things. For example, after working on homework I would go on Skype to chat with my friends or play with my younger brother. Several things that I do in the day are: homework, chat, play with my younger brother, read, go outside, practice the piano, go on the Internet and watching TV. This variety of activities that I do demonstrates Balance in Life.

Having two ESLRs in my daily is an accomplishment, however achieving them all is what I’m striving for.  As mentioned above, the two other ESLRs are what I need to improve on. The remaining one, Respect for All, isn’t an ESLR that needs improving. Its not an ESLR that I wouldn’t consider a strong point either.  For I consider myself often respectful to others and I try to be kind to all.  When someone drops something, I bend over and help them pick it up. This fits in both Respect for All and Dedicated Service. However this isn’t the part Dedicated Service that I really need to work on(helping others). Its the environmentally aware part of it that needs to progress. For I often find myself wasting paper, when I make a mistake while writing on it and end up throwing it away. Also relying plastic products like bottles and bags too much. It’s not really a huge change, however I still want to  persevere and accomplish it. What I want to improve in Sense of Self however, I feel like would be a big change.  I think of myself as a not very outgoing person, more of a quiet person. I want to be more self confident and speaking up more.  By doing that I can voice my thoughts and opinions as well as developing better leadership skills.

Four simple letters, ESLR, which defines the core values of SSIS. Known by heart of students are the five ESLRs that we have: Academic Excellence, Sense of Self, Balance in Life, Respect for All and Dedicated Service. Out of the five, two of them I show in my daily life.  At home after school, I have teachers who come over to teach me on subjects like math and Vietnamese.  This demonstrates Academic Excellence. The second one, Balance in Life is shown in my free time. After doing something for a while I would be bored and switch to another activity to do.  Because of that, during the day I have multiple things to do. Those two ESLRs I am strong in achieving them. Respect for All wouldn’t be one of those, it would be neutral. Not something that needs much improving, and not a strong point. The last two ESLRs: Sense of Self and Dedicated Service needs some amount of improving. For Dedicated Service, I want to improve on the environmentally aware part of it. To do that, I would try to reduce the amount of paper and plastic I use and waste. To improve in Sense of Self I want to be more self confident. By doing that I would have a chance at voicing my opinions and have better leadership skills. If I can incorporate all of those ESLRs into my daily life would be a major accomplishment. However naturally some of the ESLRs would be demonstrated less than the others. From now until my graduation, it is my goal to achieve and incorporate all five ESLRs in my life.

About a week ago, in Ohio there was a tragic incident. A 17 year old, T.J. Lane, shot into a crowd of his fellow peers. Many people who read the article, felt sorry for the families and felt bad that this ever happened. My initial thoughts were that, but what intrigued me even more was why. Why had he gone in his cafeteria and shot at the crowd?

According to several of his classmates said that he was a quiet person and was “outcast who’d been bullied”.  In 6th grade, I had been bullied. There were two kids in my class that kept picking on me. It had driven me mad, but other than being called names there was no seriousness to it. However there are other kinds of bullying that includes blackmail, harassing and even violence.  Could he be driven so mad by bullying that he had to take his rage out into the crowd? Were the people he shot had bullied him in the past? The answers to these questions remain unknown.

Other classmates of his agreed that he was quiet however was never bullied. In court T.J testified himself that the victims he chose were random.  So the concept of him killing from the pressure of bullying is probably eradicated from the list of reasons. T.J. Lane testified that he did shoot 10 rounds and killing the students. So why did he shoot into a random crowd of students? Could he have a psychological problem? Possibly, from what I had heard about psychopaths was that when they killed someone they could not feel the guilt. This could possibly answer why he chose random targets, because he was crazy. In court, he was shy to the judge  “saying only ‘yes, sir’ in answer to a judge’s questions as his eyes darted back to the floor”. I don’t know what to make of this. Was the nervousness used to cover for the lack or guilt or was it a sign of guilt? The first theory seemed more likely, however the problem could be a combination of both.

Both theories of why he did it are likely. This theory, to me, beats the other two out of the competition or be combined with them. I think that his behavior was affected by his life at home. Not stating clearly in the article, I am not sure who T.J lives with. However it can be inferred that since his grandfather and aunts accompanied him in court, he could be living with them or his mother. In 2002, his parents divorced. Surely at 7 years old at the time, the incident had a huge impact on his life. Whenever my parents have a fight, it’s not a good time for my brother and I. The feeling of two people you love at each other’s throats causes a sadness inside you. To make it worse, his father attempted a homicide on his own wife. The father, Thomas M. Lane, had banged his wife’s head into the wall and strangled her until she lost consciousness.  He held her  “head over washing machine and poured cold water from a utility hose over her nose and mouth preventing free breathing”. A truly horrendous act. If T.J was there to witness the whole thing, then it would scar him for life . It would also have a psychological effect supporting the previous theory. For the crime, his father had been sent to prison. Could his father affect his later life causing him to break out on a rampage killing 3? If then the idiom, “like father like son” fully applies to this situation.

 T.J. Lane will be punished for his crime. However the severity of it is still in waiting.  If he shot because of a psychological reason then the punishment would be lighter. For there was a problem with him that caused him to act like this. It is highly possible because of all the events in his family. “Like father like son”, murdering has been passed on from Thomas to T.J.  If he truly shot out of rage or depression from his life, then there is no excuse for that. There are plenty of ways to clear rage and depression other than taking it out on someone else. In my opinion, I think that the incident with his father trying to kill his mother caused this. I believe that in this case not on genes run in the family but murder as well. However my opinions don’t matter. Everything is in the judge and jury’s hands.

Diigo Annotated Link of Article Page 1: http://diigo.com/0o907

                                                                 Page 2: http://diigo.com/0o908

(The game that is posted on Scatch.com has a few things that we didn’t anticipate for and can’t fix. The downloaded game is better)

To make the awesome project above, first Victor and I had to brainstorm a concrete idea for our game. After we had the concept of a shooting type game, we both went home and worked on our individual parts. Victor programmed the basic scripting for sprites such as the character and the gun. While I worked on the graphics, I created: the gun, slime blobs, the cursor and all the backgrounds. The following after inputting all the images, we collaborated on how to finish the game. We both helped each other on teaching and suggesting to each other what the best way to program was. Afterwards Victor continued with the scripting while I tried to perfect the images.  We were done by then, however there were minor glitches that needed to be fixed. Most of them were resolved just in time at the deadline. In the end, our work payed off in this incredible game.

What we did the best on this game was its objective. To have a fun way to study and memorize the vocabulary words by heart. We succeeded in that because I found our game enjoyable with its funky music. The game tests knowledge of these words by giving off a definition and five options of for what the word is. By playing the game multiple times, using trial and error I found myself memorizing the words and their definitions. Which means the game had fulfilled its purpose in making people have fun and memorizing the 16 words.

Building the basic scripts and creating the images might be time consuming but simple. However the glitches were also time consuming yet challenging. The most annoying glitches was the first round. For some reason none of the choices in the first round match the definition. Victor and I looked back and couldn’t find the problem. We had no idea what was wrong with it. Since we couldn’t fix it we created a “none” option to accommodate the glitch. Other glitches like the death count were difficult to find the cause, but rather easy to resolve.

Along with the glitches, if a few more obstacles were out of the way, the project would be closer to “perfection”. One of those “obstacle” was communication. In school we could collaborate on the project all we wanted. However at home, we couldn’t. If we did, while he was programming I would know what he was doing. That way I could lend ideas and spot what he did wrong or could have improved on. The other thing that refrained us from fixing the glitches was that the programming was too complicated. There were simpler ways to achieve certain actions, however Victor was accustomed to his way of programming. Which brings me back to the first obstacle, communication. If we did communicate I would have helped him and suggested easier ways to do things. The glitches could be caused from a block in the complicated script. Because it was too complicated it was hard to find the source.

Aside from imperfections, I was very pleased with how the project turned out. I learned several lessons from one project. The most important one, communication is key. In this project many aspects of it could have turned out better if after school my partner and I would talk about it. As mentioned before, the glitches could be coming from a part of the complicated script. If I had been talking with him while he programmed the script I would have caught the glitch or prevented it by telling him simpler ways to program. Also with good communication, your partner and you are in sync and understand the same topic. With the same mind, both of you would know what to do and execute it how it was planned by the two people.

Learn

What did you learn from this learning activity? (Be specific with examples).