For us students, having this 1:1 laptop program enables us to have more access to sources of information and improves our abilities to deal with information and to collaborate. The progress in the classroom then can be speed up as the students can have almost instant access to the information of the materials on the Internet. Students can also organize their notes easily and quickly. What’s more, with more access to the information through the Internet, students won’t have to carry heavy textbooks around which is a big advantage for many students who take advanced courses (AP Biology for instance).

However, there are issues created by the 1:1 laptop program also. Distraction is a big problem for teachers because it is hard to manage what sites the students might access when there is a big number of laptops in the room. Unless the school decides to do something such as monitoring students’ laptop, it is inevitable for students to go to sites that are irrelevant to the materials they are studying in class. Having said that, the teachers can see the students’ monitors directly be rearranging the structure of the room in terms of seating so that the teachers can have a clear view of all monitors. What’s more, to reduce the time students going to sites that are irrelevant, the teachers can increase the amount of work so that the students can stay focused.

Personally i think having this 1:1 laptop program makes our studies happen much faster and more efficient. We have instant access to sources of information and it makes organization easier. Even though there are students wasting time surfing webs, it’s their time they’re wasting and i believe the school should have some kind of solutions for this big issue of distraction like monitoring students’ access or having punishments.

Sadly it was not as perfect as we expected as there were some few minor mistakes. What’s more, we were not able to input sound effects as the game was too heavy due to the large number of scripts. In total, we’ve created over 120 scripts for 30 sprites.Throughout the process of making “Bat of Doom”, we’ve constantly encountered many issues and errors such as finding the right commands and the right order of hte commands for certain sprites to work. Figuring out the solutions for these problems can be challenging and frustrating at points. However, as we got used to Scratch, we were able to find and put the right scripts for the sprites in a reasonable amount of time. As I said, Scratch is challenging but simple at the same time because once we’ve got the right scripts, we can apply for many different stages and keep the game going.

Personally, I think Scratch is a very affective and simple program to introduce to beginners like me and it is interesting as well. It was fun and exciting throughout the process of creating this game and i really enjoyed it. What’s more, working in groups like this enables us to do pretty much whatever we like and however we want to. I think our game is awesome, for the lack of better terms, compared to most of other groups’ game. Here is the game on Scratch, it is pretty lag for whatever reason but you can download it to your computer if you have Scratch program and you can have the best out of “Bat Of Doom”.

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/ssis/937989

Huy will be in charge of creating the commands for the bat and the following objects (ghost) while i will be in charge of creating backgrounds for different stages and the movement of the bees or flies. The backgrounds will get more challenging.

The genre of The Call of the Wild is adventurous. The novel covers many themes and aspects of life which gives the novel itself a high literary value. The setting of the novel was in the late 1890s, Alaska and the Klondike region of Canada. In the beginning, the novel was set in California. The readers experience the novel through  Buck’s point of view, for the most part; the novel also shifts briefly into John Thornton’s. Despite that Buck is a dog, we see the human’s characteristics showed in him since he has a sense of shame, dignity and loyalty. The tone of the novel is heroic to describe Buck’s victorious battles and it is also romantic to describe the devotion between Buck and his last master John Thornton. The exposition of the novel was the gold fever along the West Coast of the US in 1897 which encouraged thousands of men rushing to the Northland which required huge number of sled dogs.

“There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is a paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive.” This line reflects directly to one of the themes of the novel which is the power of ancestral and primitive instinces within oneself. As Buck was chasing a rabbit, his old instincts urged inside him – the blood lust, the joy to kill – and Buck was unaware of all these instincts. However, for the first time he felt so alive. Buck is the protagonist in the novel as well as a round character. He is the most influential character. As Buck kindled the conflict between him and Spitz, the other dogs also changed their bahaviors towards Spitz. For example, Billie – the good natured dog – became less good-natured towards Spitz. Also, the other dogs in the team were less afraid to challenge Spitz’s authority and his punishments. What’s more, after becoming the leader of the team, Buck made the other members do things they did not do when Spitz was in charge and for that, the sled-team dogs became more disciplined. Buck brought major changes to the team and also to Francoise and Perrault – his first masters.The flat characters are dogs such as Dave, Sol-leks and Buck’s masters – Francoise and Perrault.

The motivation for Buck to stand up against Spitz was the desire for mastery and ruling which is  another big theme of the novel. Buck noticed that he had to do anything for survival, but he also wanted to become the leader. The antagonist is Spitz who is a fierce animal. He always tried to pick a fight with Buck regardless what is right or wrong.The climax point of the novel is when John Thornton saved Buck’s life from Hal’s cruelty. The novel also had parts that reached climatic point such as Buck’s battle with Spitz and Buck’s struggles during the journey with harsh, incessant conditions. Buck had several conflicts in the novel such as the competition against Spitz for leadership and his struggles for adaptaion. The irony used in the novel was the unexpected fighting skills and strength from Buch who was completely unexperienced in the wild that could matched SPitz’s, an experienced and practised fighter. Simile was used for comparison, “sons of the one mother though they were, they were different as day and night.” There are several symbols that express the novel’s main themes. For example, Buck’s traces represent the service for human that Buck had to suffer and as the story developed, John Thornton cut off Buck’s traces which represent Buck’s freedom from being a pulling servant for human and how he was more likely to be a companion rather than a servant.The diction was fairly challenging throughout the novel though it is a short novel.

I really enjoyed reading the novel and explore how Buck was struggling to determine his identity: whether he’s a tame dog that belong to the civlized world, or he belongs to the wild as his killing and fighting instincts gradually grew. It is interesting to read about dogs who have characteristics and personalities of their own and how most of them can think and feel. I really liked how Buck’s instincts became stronger and developed every day as he interacted with different circumstances but he did not notice. It’s like a secret and spontaneous growth inside him as he was spending time in the wild. What’s more, the novel has touching details that describe the devotion of human-dog relationship and it is very interesting and different to explore a story through a dog’s eyes.

In the second chapter, The Law of Club and Fang, Buck faced his first horrible days of the wild life. He witnessed the death of Curly, the female dog, whose face got “ripped open from eye to jaw” and then she got attacked by another thirty or forty huskies. The death of Curly had shown Buck that savegery does not only exist in men who have clubs in their hands, but also exists in the dogs themselves. Buck’s adaptation to the life of the wild showed as he learned to take things that did not belong to him. That was not the way he was raised and taught in Judge Miller’s place. Moreover, his instincts from the old ancestors urged within himself. In chapter 3, the conflict and competition to rule between Buck and Spitz reached the climatic point. They got into a fight over food. Since then, Buck kept threatening Spitz’s leadership by trying to protect other dogs from Spitz’s punishments or stealing Spit’z food deliberately. And that is as far as my reading goes.

The main themes of the book are the power of primitive instincts within oneself, the struggle for survival which can promote the savagery side spontaneously, the differences between the life in civilization and the life in the wild; and the competition for mastery or ruling. In a short book, Jack London was able to include a lot of themes which is interesting to read. The story was written in Buck’s point of view and most of the characters are dogs. However, through the eyes of Buck and other dogs, the readers can still feel the connection to the details of the book. For i haven’t finished the whole book, I look forward to see how Buck’s life will turn out. Can he resist his primitive instincts and return to civilization?

Before reaching the climax. there are conflicts between characters in the novel: Evelyn Howard has always been candid about her hatred and distrust towards Alfred Inglethorp who she thinks is a gold digger that goes after nothing but Mrs. Inglethorp’ colossal fortune. What’s more, she always keeps an watchful eye on Alfred most of the time. The ironic twist of the novel was that Evelyn assisted Alfred to murder Mrs. Inglethorp, the very person who she always watches after and takes care of. It all turns out that Evenlyn herself is also after the fortune. The motivation for Evelyn’s action is that she found out that Mrs. Inglethorp made a will in her favor and therefore she decided to go for the murder to save herself some time. There are three climaxes in the novel. The first one was the tragedy that happens to Emily Inglethorp. There were noises in her room and the next thing we know is she was found gasping for her last breaths in her room. That is the initial of all problems. The second climax is when Poirot made the decision to get Dr. Bauerstein arrested without any clear explainations. And last but not least is when Poirot clears Lawrence Cavendish from suspicion by proving it was, after all, Alfred Inglethorp who committed the crime, assisted by Evelyn Howard, who turns out to be his kissing cousin, not his enemy.

Flashback can be considered as one of the important factors that appear in mysterious crime novels. Flashbacks allow us to go back to previous events that has happened to make connections between details and evidences. Christie uses flashback during the inquest where each character were interrogated and asked to report where they were, what they were doing and when. This is most important to crime scene. The tone of the narrator remains pretty neutral throughout the novel.The language of the novel is fairly simple and not very challenging; the diction is easy to understand even though there are some SAT words that i found. There are lots of descriptions of the characters but i think the descriptions of Poirot is interesting, “his head was exactly the shape of an egg”. The simile kind of puts me off a bit but at least I still admire Poirot’s brilliant mind. Also there’s a hyperbole used for effect that describes how neat and clean Poirot was, “I believe a speck of dust would have caused him more pian than a bullet wound”.

I like this novel because I like how Agatha Christie creates twists that are shocking, unpredictable but logic. It takes a brilliant mind to write these kinds of novels. It takes a brilliant mind to make all the connections in order to write a convincing, detailed case of murder and to solve it. However, as a crime novel, there is not many lessons to be learned unless we want to become a detective. It might sound cool at first but in reality, I don’t think i want to become a detective. However if I did become one, I would use one quote from Poirot as a lesson to kick off, “It is always wiser to suspect everybody until you can prove logically, and to your own satisfaction, that they are innocent.”

The Mysterious Affair at Styles is the very first case that launched the career of Agatha Christie as well as Hercule Poirot, the legendary detective that appears in most of Christie’s novels. Crime novels are one of my favorite genres because most of these novels have surprising, shocking but entertaining twists. Crime novels keep us reading but they also make us look back on previous pages to find connections between details. In well-written crime novels, details are connected from A to Z, from the first page to the last page. This keeps us thinking while we’re reading; and the more we read, the more we want to explore. Crime novels maintain our curiosity at a very high level.

The setting of The Mysterious Affair at Styles is in England during World War I at Styles court. The major theme of the novel is criminal and mysterious. The language is simple and not challenging. We can spot some old language used in the novel  as it is written in 1916.

The case surrounds the Cavendish’s and a number of related people. Emily Cavendish is a wealthy widow who inherited a life estate and the majority of income of her dead husband. She remarried Alfred Inglethorp who is 20 years younger than her. For that, it is most likely for Alfred to be seen as a fortune-hunter. However, there are other people who also keep their inquisitive eyes on Emily’s fortune. Emily was poisoned one night and her husband was the prime suspect. Everything seems to stand against him. What’s more, he refused to give evidence to prove his innocence as well as his absence on the night Emily is poisoned. It is most certain that he is the murderer. However, under Poirot’s watchful eyes, there are details and evidence prove that the case is not as simple as it looks and there are other suspects that are likely to be involved. As a matter of fact, Poirot puts everyone under suspicion, from the servants to the stepsons. As I haven’t finished reading the book, I don’t have a slightest idea of who the murderer could be. As far as the novel goes, there are about 5 people that I suspect, but I have no choice but to keep reading and find out.

Hercule Poirot is a Belgian detective. He was described as “hardly more than five feet, four inches, but carried himself with great dignity”, “his head was exactly the shape of an egg…his moustache was very stiff and military.” It is agreeable that the descriptions do not quite leave us with an impression we expect from a detective. It is interesting to see how Agatha Christie insert one or two French words in most of Poirot’s conversation to remind us that he’s Belgian e.g mon ami, en voila une affaire, sacre, mesdames and messieurs..Hercule Poirot is a brilliant, confident man with sharp thinking. He pays attention to tiny details that no one will ever notice. The fact that the novel is written in first person through the voice of Lieutenent Hastings helps us to see things through normal eyes. This somehow also helps to increase the effect or impression we have on Poirot’s brilliant mind. For example, we would ignore the detail that Emily eats very little on the night she was poisoned because we think it has nothing to do with the crime. Poirot, however, thinks that detail contributes greatly to the plan of the murderer.

Making the importance seem unimportance and making the insignificance seem significance is one of the most effective way to make us want to read more. That is why I enjoy every page of the book. There are tiny little details that sometimes puzzle Poirot but make no sense to us. And the best part, as always, is to read Poirot’s explaination about events or things that confuse us to see how they are not non-sense any more. Also, I like how Agatha Christie drives us towards a certain direction or flow during the novel, then turn 180 degree and provides us with a unexpected, shocking but perfectly logical conclusions.

_ Flashpoint – the lowest temperature at which a liquid in a specified apparatus will give off sufficient vapor to ignite momentarily on application of a flame.

_ Catalyst -  something that causes activity between two or more persons or forces without itself being affected.

Summary:

For the next 25 years, water will be one of the resources countries will be fighting for potentially. This is caused by rivers or lakes that are being shared my two or more countries at the moment. Some possible flashpoints are Nile, Niger and Zambezi basins. People will face water crisis in the next 20 years in these areas. According to the influential head of environmental research institute Worldwatch, Lester Brown, “water scarcity is the single biggest threat to global food security. The Nile river that runs through three countries: Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt; and if the population of these three countries increase as expected, the will be serious water scarcity and there will be serious fights between the countries for water. The potential of water war also comes from countries’ religion. 88% of the water is used for agricultural activities. Fresh water is becoming unusable due to pollution.

Critical Reflection:

Most of African population is living in extreme poverty and does not have access to basic needs. Water is one of them. As a very desserted area, the water resources in Africa are limited and some countries have to share certain sources. When the population starts to burst, those water resources will not last for long and sooner or later, people will face serious scarcity. In my opininon, climate change and global warming has contributed to this problem. As mentioned in the article, there are flashpoints where rivers and lakes  will evaporate, even the Nile. Conflicts between countries are inevitable. But how long will the rivers keep the people survive for? The water will run out. Even if one country got the water, the amount won’t keep the growing population for long.  The water also needed for making grain. “It takes about 1,000 tonnes of water to produce every tonne of grain” .So what can be done? There seems to be no solution to this water scarcity. One of the factors that keep the river full is rain, but as mentioned, Africa is a desserted area which means it will rarely rain. What’s more, climate change can affect the seasonal rain also. People’s survival is threatened by this water matter. Probably, people can move to a new area where there is a river nearby. But most importantly, the countries have got to slow down the population growth rate to reduce the demand for water within the country. Water is a non-renewable resource and will run out! Vietnam has not faced this problem yet and many of the Vietnamese have access to running water. Having said that, Africans should be provided running water instead of walking and get the water 10 miles away from home for many families.

Bibliograohy:

Smith, Russell. “BBC News | AFRICA | Africa’s potential water wars.” BBC NEWS | News Front Page. Web. 29 Nov. 2009. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/454926.stm>.

_ Benzene – a colorless, volatile, flammable, toxic, slightly water-soluble, liquid, aromatic compound, C₆H₆, obtained chiefly from coal tar: used in the manufacture of commercial and medicinal chemicals, dyes, and as a solvent for resins, fats, or the like.

_ Crude – in a raw or unprepared state; unrefined or natural: crude sugar.

_ Rigorous – characterized by rigor; rigidly severe or harsh, as people, rules, or discipline.

_ Carcinogenic – any substance or agent that tends to produce a cancer.

Summary:

In Hanoi, Vietnam, there are 1.8 million motorcycles and scooters today that are “buzzing” around the streets polluting the atmosphere. Together with the growing of number of cars , motorcycles is the main source of raising the level of air pollution in Hanoi and in Vietnam generally. According to the article, the air in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh contains “dangerous levels of benzene and sulfur dioxide.” Also, there are microscopic pollutants that are very dangerous in the air, but the amount is quite moderate compared with other developing countries in Asia. One of the main causes why motorcycles are producing so much of these substances is that the government does not import high-quality fuel. Even gasoline stations are doubted with their fuel quality. One way Vietnam can reduce the pollution is by using crude oil that could produce clean-burning fuel if refined properly, but low-quality fuels are still being imported. What’s more, bribing to vehicles inspectators results in 30 percent of vehicles do not reach the emission standards.

Critical Reflection:

Vietnam is a potential country for economy development, however, the price of Vietnam’s growing and booming is air pollution. Every year, the demand for vehicles increases, motorcycles especially in Vietnam. With 1.8 million motorcycles on the streets, tons of pollutants will be produced. Should Vietnam be focusing on economy development when it has the chance and deal with pollution later? Motorcycles in Vietnam are using low-quality fuels that the government is importing because the government does not want to see a fall in profits. These cheap and low-quality fuels result in dangerous pollutants being released into the air. As Vietnam is planning to build more coal-fired power plant, this issue will be much worse. Gasoline stations are not reliable with these fuels either. What ironic is that Vietnam has the source of crude oil which can produce clean-burning fuel if refined properly. Is the money saved from buying low-quality fuel worth the pollution of air and an unhealthy environment for the people? Another reason that motorcycles contribute to air pollution is many of them do not pass the emission tests and do not reach the Euro II standards and release into the atmosphere huge amount of pollutants. In my opinion, Vietnam’s government should be improving the current pollution matter before it gets any worse to avoid, what the article mentions, “grow first, clean up later.” The government should be harsher and tighten its emission laws. As Vietnam is strong in terms of industrial activities, if this issue of pollution is ignored now, it will be too late. Also, to reduce the number of motorcycles, the taxes for these vehicles should be higher to limit people’s demands for motorcycles. Increasing public transportation would contribute largely. Speaking from my experience, motorcycles in Ho Chi Minh have already taken every single space on the streets during any rush hour, and apart from polluting the air, there’s a high chance of unfortunate deadly accidents.

Capital of Vietnam: Hanoi

Bibliography

Fuller, Thomas. “The New York Times Log In.” The New York Times – Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 6 July 2007. Web. 29 Nov. 2009. <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/06/world/asia/06iht-pollute.1.6529573.html?_r=1>.

Summary:

Many families live on less than a dollar a day in Kenya and struggle for survival everyday. Most of Kenyan population does not have access to basic needs such as water, shelter, food…with their daily income. Kenya faced violence since dispuse from election in December 2007 and therefore destroys the impression of Kenya’s safari destination and the “safest place” for American travelers. Mike Wooldridge, the BBC World Service correspondent, has had a journey to Kenya and investigated what it really means living on a dollar a day. He met Isaiah, a Kenyan farmer with his disabled wife and six grandchildren. They live on the little they can grow on their small plot of land and the paltry seven to ten dollars a month he makes from growing tea. That amount of money is used to feed eight people altogether. Mike Wooldridge also visited another Kenya family, which are neighbours to Isaiah. By contrast, Francis and Christine are both able to work and growing and selling maize, mending bicycles and making bricks and they make two dollars a day compare to ten dollars a month from Isaiah’s family. Isaiah family complained about the high price of fertilizers for agriculture activities as well as other services such as schooling, medical services charged by the government.

Critical Reflection:

Public Radio International (PRI) is a documentary radio channel that reflects different kind of issues that are happening on the globe. This piece of “Poverty in Kenya” is reliable as the people from PRI had direct contacts with Kenyan families and we can hear Kenyans talking about what life is like with income less than a dollar a day. For those Kenyans who depend on tourism as their livelihoods, the violence caused by dispuse from election, which is seen as an economy disaster, results in further decline in Kenya’s GDP and thousands of people to live below poverty level. Farming is Kenyans’ main activity for livelihood and they are having difficulties due to lack of fertilizers. Not necessarily not enough fertilizers, but they the price is high. How can the government improve poverty if it does not allow people to have access to fertilizers as the price is too high? Why is the government keeping its own people from escaping poverty? Where are the subsidies and why are they not getting to the hands of Kenyan farmers? According to the documentary: school, medical services and almost everything  have increased in price. People can’t afford many basic necessities. In my opinion, corruption and dishonest from government is the main cause that poverty in Kenya can’t be improved. As a matter of fact, Kenya is the third corrupted nation in the world. The government is busy charging people on everything rather than focusing on improving poverty. People are riped-off everyday. Anti-corruption is what Kenya needs right now. Also, in my opinion, Kenya needs a new government with young, well-educated individuals as well as women who should be given a fair chance to be leaders. Ruling class need to be modified before it’s too late.

Capital of Kenya: Nairobi

Bibliography:

“Poverty in Kenya | PRI.ORG.” PRI: Public Radio International: National and World News, Talk, Arts, Entertainment and Music. 14 Feb. 2008. Web. 29 Nov. 2009. <http://www.pri.org/business/global-development/200.html>.