Archive for category AOW
BP Oil Spill = Seafood Genocide
Posted by William in AOW, Appino, Grade 8, Middle School on May 2, 2012
A few minutes ago I just finished reading an article about the latest BP oil spill that happened lately, at first that I think that it wouldn’t effect the sea life too bad. Because it is only oil and it wouldn’t do much damage because the company who is responsible of the oil spill, will take care of the oil. But after I read the article, it was way worse than what I thought it would be because instead of the seafood dying right away, they become mutated first and then they start to die, slowly! I think this is a terrible disaster because the oil is torturing and killing so many fishes around the area, the oil company should help to clean up the mess they made. Some of the things that comes to my mind is that, what IS inside the oil and how did it mutate the fishes. I learned the answer, it was actually radioactive chemicals that are inside the oil which mutates the fishes killing it in the process.
I know that some of you guys thinks that the fishes will gain super powers making them mutants like in cartoons or comic books. Well, no. The mutations can really mess up the sea life’s body and poison them slowly and making their body deformed. This is what I think is a genocide, because there are so many sea life that is killed or poisoned by the radioactive oil, also because it is almost like mass murder, but to fishes. Whats worse is that the oil company doesn’t want to take responsibility for the oil spill they made, even though they were the only oil company around and they were also kind of caught red handed by the people who were at the beach at the time when the oil spill happened. This act was very irresponsible and childish, because they tried to hide something that everyone saw which is something foolish to do when you are already caught.
The future has arrived!
Posted by William in AOW, Appino, Grade 8, Uncategorized on April 11, 2012
Just a few moments ago I read an article about the Google glasses that have been shown for kind of like a teaser trailer for Google’s up coming product that might be released by the end of this year. This wasn’t the first time I saw the google glasses because I have seen it on another website which doesn’t have anything to do with technology. At first I thought it was a fake like how they said that there will be a play station 4 coming out soon in 2011 but instead nothing came just disappointing hopes, but then I did a little research on Google and other websites and they said that it wasn’t released yet, but it will be released by probably the end of the year. I didn’t believe it, I thought that it must be fake until I saw the Google glasses official page, even thought there wasn’t much information, it was enough information for me to claim that it is a real thing. When I saw the video for the first time, it amazed me because of the multiple features the glasses have. What amazed me most was how it can locate a person’s exact location, it was so amazing that I thought it’s too good to be true. So I started to think about the down sides of the glasses.
One of the down sides was that it could be a huge privacy invasion to some people because the person who have the glasses can know where you are exactly. Another that is a downside was that it could disturb everyday life if you’re walking and suddenly a notification pops out and every time you close it, it pops out again.The worst feature for me is that you can only see with only one eye every time you want to video chat or call up someone. There are also good sides to this invention which is, you can finally video chat or call someone with hands free and just by using your vision. Another thing is that Google glasses could be very expensive and only little would be sold because of the prize. The fact that they’re going to test it in summer in front of people near Google offices makes me want to go to America and spot a person with a Google Glasses and just stare at them for having such an amazing gadget. I think that Google glasses could be the future of communicating to the rest of the world and this might steal the show from apple and other smart phones other than androids. These glasses remind me of another device from a cartoon series where they have these glasses that can help see farther, show the temperature and call other people. Maybe in a couple of years, there won’t be any cellphones anymore because by then we would be using the Google glasses. I hope that I would be able to have one of these in my life, because they look very futuristic and unique for me.
Drop the guns and end the fights!
1 week ago I watched a short movie named Kony 2012, this movie was about a tyrant named Kony which have been kidnapping lots of children so that he can make an army from them. He would sneak to their houses at night and snatch them from their bed right away and bring them to his base which have lots of other kidnapped children that was already made his army. Almost throughout the whole week I kept on thinking about Kony and his crimes against humanity. But most of the time I would be thinking how did he become so heartless that he forces his child army to kill their own parents. At first the whole video left me with a whole bunch of questions such as, I wonder how it feels like to be carrying a gun and killing people just because you’re told to, feels like? They must be in a state of guilt for killing their own parents, some might even think of suicide because they couldn’t take anymore of the killing and also they couldn’t bare the guilt anymore. There are also other ways to get out of the army which is, escaping from the camp,but it is very hard many people that tried to escape were caught and killed, only a few managed to escape out of the camp.
Kony and other abducted children
There are little who escaped but invisible children managed got to meet one of the escapists, his name is Jacob and he was an ex child soldier with his brother. Jacob was able to escape from Kony’s LRA and have a different life but still remembering about the LRA camp where he used to life in. When he and his brother tried to escape his brother was caught by the search team and was killed right on the spot while Jacob was watching. I think that this was a very inhumane way to die and if I was Jacob, I’d scared for life for watching my own brother being killed inhumanely. Even when he have already escaped he is still worried that Kony and his forces would find him and the rest of the escapists and he’ll kill them for escaping. Kony’s reason to fight was “To maintain his power” which means he has no enemies but he is just fighting so that he can still have power. Kony isn’t just a tyrant and a kidnapper but he is also responsible for the death of lots of children. The video described Kony as the “#1 target in the list of criminals in Sweden”
Stop Kony Annotated Link Notes
Facebook the spyware?
Posted by William in AOW, Appino, Grade 8, Middle School on February 16, 2012
A day or two ago I was assigned an article to blog about by my teacher and it was about how facebook is only using you so that they can gain information to sell to the government. I think that this might be a way on how to get people who have crossed the copyright law to jail without them knowing they’re being watched the whole time. What I think facebook is doing with the information they know about us is sell them to companies. So they can send advertisements about what you like and things you’re searching for. This article makes me think twice about using facebook because its like they’re monitoring you’re life and gaining data from it, so that one day if they ever need it they can use it against us. This might be another plan from SOPA because with this SOPA can monitor whether you copied something without crediting them the proper rights.
I think this should be stopped because they are selling things that belong to us without our permission, it is almost the same thing as stealing an item, but worst. The data they collect right now can be used as an advantage when you’re in the court, in front of the jury and defending your client. This program is the same like stalker, it knows where you’re going, when you’re going, why you’re going, and how you’re going. I was thinking of deactivating my account but I don’t want to lose contact of my friends from all over the world. Maybe all the social networks are also an attempt to gather information from you, maybe Google wanted to make more money by selling data so they invented Google Plus.
You can’t put a price on happiness
Posted by William in AOW, Middle School on December 4, 2011
It is now December and it is nearing Christmas, many people as usual are starting their black Friday shopping. Rushing everywhere to find the best present with the best price, hoping that they can buy happiness. Unfortunately the attempt of buying happiness isn’t working. What they’re getting instead of happiness is addiction, as a person continue to buy or obtain new items they will release a certain chemical which produces the feelings of pleasure. This makes us addicted to shopping because our brain release more of the chemical which gives us more pleasure and making us addicted to it. I’ve heard many people say “Money can’t buy you happiness” which I think is true, because even though I buy a lot of things the joy of buying things only last for a few minutes and then it disappears like ashes blown by the winds. The main source of happiness for me is; laughter. Laughter is a very effective way to cheer people up when they’re down.
A quote about Happiness
Another source of happiness to me is seeing my friends, because seeing your friends are like seeing your family because most of your life you have spent it with you friends in school. Surprisingly the amount of rate people that are trying to buy happiness has increased by 96% since 1972. From all of this joy of owning and obtaining new items comes a new feeling, greed. The greed asks for more of the joy until you go out of control and become a money waster. I’ve experienced greed myself, greed of control. Every time my friends have a game I was always the first in line to be the leader, but through out the time I grew up and learned that being a leader isn’t so important. Most people still don’t understand that you can’t put a price on happiness, because happiness is priceless.
Space Bound (A.O.W)
What Asteroid Mining Might Look Like
This weeks article of the week was amazing but also disappointing, because if we succeed in asteroid mining millions of people will be jobless. It also means that astronauts are now iron minors because people who flies to space must know how to survive and well trained and they have to be two thirds of Stephen Hawking. This could effect the world in a positive way and negative way because if we succeed at asteroid mining many people will be jobless, but earth will have more chance to reproduce more iron for the time being while the astronauts are busy mining. But as always, live isn’t that easy because everything you do have risks in it even though its a small risk it is still a risk. On the one hand its great you have taken all the dirty industries from the earth, but you have put millions of people out of their only jobs. This would be dangerous because most miners in earth are lowly educated so it is hard for them to find another job because of their low intelligence. This idea might also make a huge iron mining country to crisis because there are so many people that are jobless and aren’t receiving food.
Now we move on to terraforming, the idea of terraforming is basically about making another inhabitable planet to be habitable. At first I thought this whole idea was crazy and misleading, but after I think about it seems to be an idea that might create a second earth. Maybe people will finally be able to move to another planet without having to wear protective suits and oxygen tanks, they can breath naturally from the new earth. If you think this is the best idea that could happen and have no effects of people in earth, well you’re maybe wrong. Because maybe there are life forms on the planets that are against terraforming and that the lifeforms likes their environment the way it is. Then again, even though it is a great idea there are always risks that comes with the new idea on terraforming.
Thai’s Flood
Posted by William in AOW, Grade 8, Middle School on November 8, 2011
When I read this article it reminded me of when Indonesia had a major flood at 2002, the flood was the same as the flood that is happening in Thailand. When I watched the video explaining how did the flood happen I learned many things from it I learned that man made dams aren’t the best to stop water, trees was a better answer. I feel sorry for the all the farmer’s field that was destroyed by the flood because its going to be along time until the can grow more crops and harvest the crops again. Between the time of growing the crops how are they going to buy food because harvesting crops is on of their major ways to earn money and buy food. I hope that everyone’s damage property will be refunded because if they don’t I think that there will be another riot. When I read that the water have reached the Chatuchak Market I was wondering that all the shop owners has closed down their shops and evacuate so that no one will be hurt there, but to my surprise some of the owners refused to close down their shop and evacuate. The owners said that they don’t want to lose any trade from their suppliers. I think that refusing to evacuate isn’t a smart move, because if they did get hurt what are they going to do all they can say is “We should have listened” but saying that wouldn’t change your mistake.
The flood left this house almost fully drowned by DVIDSHUB
The flood water have now reached chest level and I think that this will be very dangerous for adults and children because if an adult or a child couldn’t swim than it would be hard to rescue them on murky waters because if they drowned your couldn’t see through the murky waters of the flood. If I was in a situation like this I would evacuate right away, because at 2002 Indonesia had a major flood which wasn’t just up to chest level but it drowned a whole 2 story house and I don’t think anyone want to be drowned inside their own house because that would be a slow and painful death. Even though it have reached chest level some people still refuses to evacuate from the location, then again I say this isn’t a smart move because when they got hurt they can’t change the past. Some people that evacuated have been moved twice because the flood have unexpectedly moved to the evacuation grounds. I could imagine having one fifth of the city I live in being underwater already. It would be a pretty weird experience when i’m going to school with a boat or going to the bathroom with a raft or maybe I.C.T class. Evacuation during a flood would be the best choice because the water is polluted because you’re more safe at the evacuation site and there are no polluted water.
Steve Jobs’ Speech
Posted by William in AOW, Grade 8, Middle School on November 1, 2011
In my reading I noticed that live can be very disappointing at some times because of the loss you had. But Steve Jobs’ speech told me to not give up when live knocks you down, because you can choose to get back up or stay down. Steve Jobs’ live wasn’t so good because at first when he was born he almost got adopted, then at college he don’t know what to do, he has no money, have to work very hard to eat because of lack of money, and pancreatic cancer. Steve Jobs’ also thought me that don’t give up, because if you want something bad you have to work hard for it. His speech thought me many things that inspires me to keep living and to “Stay Hungry, and Stay Foolish” which means to stay hungry for knowledge and to keep making decisions and mistakes. When he said “Stay Hungry, and Stay Foolish” it was like the sentence was telling me to not be afraid to make mistakes because you will learn from your mistakes. This topic connects on how my father used to live in his college years. He have to save money to eat and he had to walk a long distance with his friends to find a great food with a great price.
Some rights reserved by Patrick Nouhailler
Life can be hard sometimes just like how Steve Jobs said “Sometimes live can hit your head with a brick, but don’t lose faith.” I quoted this because my father have said this many times in my life telling me to not give up when live gets hard. He told me that you can choose to get back up or stand down and watch other people succeed by fighting for their dreams and not giving up, and giving up is not an option for my father. To me this article is important because it reminds to not give up and to not lose faith.
A.O.W Oct. 10-14
Posted by William in AOW, Grade 8, Middle School on October 24, 2011
When I’m reading the article I noticed that there are negativity in the questions lighter skin people ask to the people who have a tan skin , because Suraytapa has been asked alot of questions about her tan skin and if she wants it to be whitened. The questions that was asked was very offensive to me because asking that question about if your skin color a tanning disaster or not is disrespectful towards the person. People shouldn’t get to personal if you they don’t know who they’re talking to. I have thought about this before about people asking why your skin is dark and if it’s because of too much sun or not. From this Article I learned that some people thinks that brown skins are caused because of too much sun or because their skin is dirty. Even though they’re not some people keep on asking the same question over and over again. I can connect this to a person I once watched on a video who wasn’t very polite to other people which have different skin color than he has. I want to find out more why people in India still likes to ask these questions because I don’t understand why do people just can’t stand tan skins.
Picture: 
Some rights reserved
By jamieskinner00
This helped me to understand that some people for some reason thinks that people who have a darker skin color isn’t beautiful and is an eye sore to them. I care about this article because at Indonesia the Chinese-Indonesian community is not being treated fairly like how they are supposed to. Because of the inequality a riot happened and there were people that was hurt because of the riot. One out of the Two favorite quotes is “Do you do tanning?” and strangers suggest my dark skin is something to be “fixed.” I like both of them because it summarizes how the people are treating the person. In this week’s article I learned that even though there are many people with a brown skin color they still think that it is something that have to be fixed.
A.O.W 9/22/2011
Posted by William in AOW, Grade 8, Middle School on September 22, 2011
By Almost-Normal Photography Daniel Liu
Picture: Some rights reserved by Almost-Normal Photography
In my reading of the article I noticed that a farmer’s live or a migrants live in China isn’t glamorous. Because they are treated unequally from the other families who lives in the urban part of China. For years I thought that there wasn’t any other country who lets their people have equal rights towards each other until now, this article made me learn that even today people aren’t receiving equal rights from the country, government, and other people even though they are the same race. This article reminds me of when I watched a movie about how a person was trying to get to America by the illegal way which was going through the border fences between America and Mexico. It reminds me of that because some of the peasants are looking for a better live by migrating to a closer place to the modern city but the government denies it by putting border gates to prevent the from going in. What was meaningful in this article was that the peasant’s children are very unfortunate to be treated unequally and I think that it shouldn’t be happening, they should instead understand each other’s differences. Whether they are rich or poor, black or white or yellow, tall or short, female or male, they should treat each other equally because all of them are the same humans.
What surprised me during the time I’m reading this is that the peasant’s have their own train queue and that the peasants cannot hide their true identity by disguising their looks. Because the workers at the train station have recognized how the peasants look from their everyday looks and skin tan due too working hard at the fields plowing their land. As a teenager I care about this article because people that have the same age as I isn’t being treated equally in China even though that they are the same age group, but they are still being treated like they are abnormal. The quotes that are most effective to me are “These children aren’t treated as everyone else. They’re called the mobile students, who can’t go to state schools. Their parents have for years sent their children to privately run schools without proper facilities or curriculum.“ and “Some call hukou the fundamental evil.” Why? Because the quote means that their parents tried really hard to put them through school and ”Some call hukou the fundamental evil!” means that most people doesn’t like the hukou system because of its inequality. I think this article has been very eye opening for me because now I see that there are still many inequality.
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