[RE] Kids These Days

This is a response post to Brenda's free post.

Ever take a look at the younger generation now and think to yourself, “I never had that when I was younger”?

Seriously, these kids are so spoiled. There are elementary school kids that have their own cell phones and iPods. Who would those kids call? The only person I would call at their age would be my parents. At their age, I could barely even remember my own address! The music industry is filled with profanity and inappropriate material. Do parents even care about ratings or what their children listen to? Mainstream music has involved sex, alcohol, and partying. What do kids know about these subjects? They shouldn’t even be aware of these things yet.

I also hear kids swearing here and there without a care in the world. When I was their age, swearing was taboo. Those words meant trouble - no, it defined trouble’s very meaning. However, I highly doubt these kids are even aware of what the words even mean, and how slang has completely changed the meanings of these words. Like the F word means to sexually assault, but these kids do not even understand the meaning of rape. How ignorant the next generation is becoming.
What happened to playing outside? What about playing with Legos, or stuffed animals? What happened to imagination? In the past decade, too many things have changed. We grew up with Legos, Barbie, and board games. They grew up with computer games, television, and Eminem. smh

[CE] Activists hack into Syrian government sites

Although hackers are often prone to the negative response of the public, this anonymous group of tech savvy individuals openly expose their government’s actions. They let the public know what the government is capable of and of their recent activities. They even pulled out a map of how many deaths at protests were recorded on. They also give other viewers warnings and has hacked many government websites. One of the hackers say that hacking the government websites was actually really easy, and they have also planned another hack very soon. Videos that were revealed a famous activist singer with his throat slashed and a cartoonist who had his hands broken. The anonymous group also stated that the government monitors their online activity and have put up warnings about it. A Revolusec member stated that they want to educate the public and help the people of Syria.

It’s amazing that hackers typically receive negative feedback and yet they are capable of such justice. Without any profit or personal gain, they come as a group to attack the Syrian government online. Despite knowing they are monitored, they deliberately edit websites to educate the people of Syria about their online privacy. However, the group does not know who their own allies are, but they are still united as a whole. For a group of individuals who do not know each others’ faces or names to team up against a government must possess a large amount of motivation and determination. This is a true unification and justice.

[BC] UC essay prompt#2

    For a huge majority of my prepubescent years, I was an immature, obnoxious brat that did not understand what “respect” meant. I had the entire playground under my thumb and I believed everything I did was correct. I freely pushed my weight around. However, all of this soon changed when my parents enrolled into a local Chinese school. I enrolled into taekwondo, a popular Korean martial art, as an elective after my classes. I originally thought it would be beneficial to know self-defense, but martial arts are not that simple. Martial arts do not only teach self-defense; the discipline, strength and respect are all valuable life lessons.

All taekwondo students begin with the beginner white belt, my first lesson of discipline. Thrown into competition, students who had more advanced belts could exercise their dominance freely. However, bullying was not a problem; the Master regulated behavior among the advanced students. We were taught how to punch, kick, and simple techniques, and we were punished for minuscule details. This taught me perfection and to put full effort into everything I did. It refined my views of half-hearted work. I completely agree that all tasks should be completed with full effort.

As we did our daily drills of our punches and kicks, we were taught to yell after every completed rep. The first week of class was extremely embarrassing. I imagined us as a group of little kids just moving in unison and yelling nonsense. We were told that yelling is a sign of strength, release and power. This has been scientifically proven that yelling can produce more force, but the iron will and strength that has been forged within me has proven more significant than any amount of force I could produce. It improved my confidence; I punched hard, and fast with a smile on my face.

I eventually progressed to my green belt examination, and sparring with another person was the requirement I was not familiar with. As an orange belt, my legs shook as they announced my opponent was a green belt who was also having his blue belt exam. The chubby boy had weight, height, speed and experience on me. To impress the exam supervisors, points are scored by successfully landing kicks to your opponents sides and chest. My fellow classmate who has the red belt before the black gave me some advice: let him punch me and to parry his kicks. Anyone who would take this advice is a fool; who would let someone punch them? However, as I advanced through the hierarchy of taekwondo, she has earned an extreme amount of respect from me. I did as she said, punches penetrated my defensive stance, but his kicks proved unsuccessful. I felt defeated: my morale destroyed, landed only about three good kicks on him. After the round, we shook hands.

I never heard of my round, pudgy opponent again, but I did receive my green belt a week later. Despite the joy and life lessons that were included in the class, I soon quit due to school work. However, the life lessons learned will stay with me forever.

[RE] Student Reactions to French Prayer-Ban

After last week’s weekly blog posts, we had an in-class discussion about a potentially controversial topic concerning France’s ban of public Muslim practices. Mr. Sutherland presented to the class his response to many posts about the same event.

The arguments provided by my peers are extremely relevant, but this ban was approved with the intention of improving the well-being of their country. Although, we Americans have always believed that all humans have unalienable rights, but that can only be enforced by the citizens’ government. we are ignorant about other countries’ problems because we unconsciously believe that our rights apply to everybody. However, this is not the case. France has their own constitution and they should have the right to protect their own culture and regulate their people’s actions. The ban of Muslim practices is not simply trying to remove Muslim influences from their people.

Due to the overwhelming number of Muslims, the mosques cannot contain the huge crowd of believers. They overflow the street and can possibly block pathways and streets. They could possibly block the path of cars, public transportation and pedestrians. The French government also included a building for religious practices, so the people should not be wary of their government attempting to completely remove Muslim practices or becoming anti-Muslim. The ban will clear the streets and allow people and vehicles to pass through the streets safely and it would not obscure emergency vehicles such as police cars, ambulances and fire trucks from reaching their destinations. The French have thought this through.

[CE] Philippine school made out of bottles

Filipino schools are adapting to an environmentally challenged world. They are reusing bottles to rebuild schools twice as big as their old ones, but only half the price. Statistics show that every town in the Philippines can build a new classroom using the bottles every two weeks. These bottles are filled with a brick-like mixture and then packed together to create the walls of the classroom. The huge amount of waste produced by each town in the Philippines can now be a clever solution to the small amount of classrooms.
Our world is currently rapidly changing into a community where industrialization dominates our societies. However, that does not mean industrialization has no consequences. Every country in the world has a waste problem and we should adapt like the Philippines for the mutual benefit for the cleanliness of the planet Earth. We can potentially remove the waste from our waters, junkyards, and streets. Community service programs and jobs can benefit from the waste and we could produce many new things.

Producing buildings and other things using bottles will allow a new form of art to bloom. Although critics may call it “unprofessional”, or “outrageous” or maybe even “jank”, these projects are often viewed as positively “ghetto” and amusingly creative. Teenagers, young adults and the current generation will soon lead our economy and the evolution of the creations and inventions can be influenced by the latest trends. Creative things is an explosively expanding trend among many teenagers and young adults, and may influence the upcoming generations of what people will soon call “art”.

[Free] Average Day with a Hint of Military Language

    As my mission was slowly came to a close, I holster my silver pen into it’s rightful place. My mission was rather simple: decipher the foreign language, break high scores on my calculator, and to analyze a video about football. My fellow soldiers and I accomplished our mission with ease and we were released from the facility for the day. The day was hot; we were melting with all the Kevlar of cotton strapped to our bodies. The temperatures reached extremes; it was a scorching eighty five degrees.

As my comrades and I proceed to adventure off into the familiar streets of Alameda, we discuss our future arrangements. We finalize our decisions to deploy a deposit of our weaponry at James’ military storage. We strip of our dead weight baggage and rendezvous with Commander Raymond at McDonald’s via beach route. Without our Kevlar, we were prone to surprise attacks and guerrilla warfare. However, we survived the stampede of the armored vehicles and possible confrontations with potential hostiles.

With Commander Raymond and I leading our platoon of five men, we proceeded to breach the glass doors of the successful fast food business. We take refuge from the devastating nuclear radiation; licking rich vanilla ice cream and sipping from our large sweet teas. After capturing this point, we cross the barren parking lot. We complete the same procedures with Ross and Kohl’s, but instead of looting the building, we pick out potential clothing necessary for the next battle: senior banquet.

[CE] France Bans All Public Prayer

France bans all public prayer today on Friday, September 16, 2011. This new law has affected many Muslim worshippers due to local mosques being too small to hold all the worshippers. Due to the small capacity size of the mosques, many worshippers are force to pray on the street, and the new law has kicked them off. However, there are people who have ignored the new law and continue to pray. This new law was intended to force the worshippers to find new mosques. Mohamed Hamza is a religious leader who believes that France authorities should provide the worshippers space for new mosques and they will leave the street. However, there are people who disagree with Hamza and believe that the new law is the beginning of a campaign against Muslims.
Due to the date that this law has been approved, many youtube users have suggested many ignorant comments. They all provide the same thought: removing Muslims from the country. They imply that the rest of the world should do the same as France and ban Muslim practices. The 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001 was committed by a group of Muslim worshippers and their attack has provoked many Americans to be prejudice against Muslim worshippers. It is almost insane how people could classify an entire religious group as terrorists, and raise suspicion just because of their beliefs. Most Muslims have no connection to the terrorist attack and Americans have become too paranoid of the their kind. People are so irrational.

[RE] Unexpected.

Think you know everything about someone? Think again; people will surprise you. There are so many possible things that can occur during someone’s lifetime. We do not know everything about this person; we only know what this person chooses to tell us. -Brenda Trieu

Although this is very true, there are also many things that people freely choose not to tell us. They may also twist up their words or intentions to make up lies. It’s as easy to attach yourself to someone as for someone to completely destroy you. These are the flaws of human society and there is nothing anyone can do to fix it; it’s simply part of our nature to keep things to ourselves. Ask yourself, “Is there anyone that you know that knows everything about you? Your truths, lies, happiness, sadness, stress, problems and loves?”. I highly doubt anyone our age could answer this with a yes.

People always tend to keep their negative traits to themselves, and try to communicate with other people without using any aggressive or negative approach or mood. Sure, when we’re sad or mad, we let it out, but that goes without saying. No one is perfect; without any negative traits. But we are only human. It is best to smile and try to get through the problem as quickly as possible.

People are full of surprises. It is amazing how people can interact with one another so much and still know nothing about the other person. Perhaps, it’s just the desire to communicate with others, but not allowing anyone to penetrate the walls around their hearts. I just hope people will reveal the bad news before it is too late.

[Free] Lost

Since I presented my personal statement to class, I have pondered on why my train of thought became so askew. “Why did I go so off-topic? This style of writing sounds nothing like me”. I believe there are two reasons for the problem: trying too hard on typing professionally, and that I have no dream or aspiration. However, I also believe my approach to the prompt was extremely vague and perhaps I was trying to replicate the personal essay that was handed out in class. I actually have no plan after college nor do I have any kind of major or profession in mind. The only thing I have in mind is to get into college, and hopefully, I will find some motivation there instead. In my essay, I liked my first paragraph because I intended to extend my essay on my motivation after my grandfather’s death, but perhaps all the breaks, distractions, and procrastination may have been variables that apply in the accuracy of my first rough draft of my essay. I have done almost no extra circular activities and come from a pretty standard and boring environment. However, as I am typing this, it has been brought to my attention that the Bay Area is only half of my growing environment and there is a noticeable change within myself as a person after I had moved from southern California. Perhaps I should rewrite my essay based on this change; too many things to count have changed. Any thoughts or suggestions?

[BC] UC Essay #1

Raised in a typical Chinese environment, I was susceptible to the stereotypical dream of becoming a doctor. As I progressed through elementary school. I completely embraced my unsatisfiable curiosity and it eventually developed into an interest in the overall concept of science. As I progressed through middle and high school, I found myself indulging on online resources like Wikipedia and researching about random and peculiar things that intrigued me. Pages that always seem to reload on my computer screen are related to human physiology, specifically disease and medicine. With a loving family member who I could consider as my father, succumbing to lung cancer, my interest in medicine skyrocketed and the concept of life is an everlasting lesson I will never forget. With medicine and health completely dominating my intellectual ambitions, I have grown into a cautious and knowledgable man that would pave a path for myself in the medical field.
After further researching, I have become paranoid of diseases that can kill short amount of time such as a tetanus infection. I became wary of infections and abnormal observations. Ignoring persistent teasing of my paranoia, I believe I have trained my immune system to be exceptional among my peers. With the outbreak of the H1N1 swine flu in 2009, I was one of the few exceptions among my peers that did not receive a vaccination for the pandemic. Despite a close friend becoming infected, I did not become ill. On the contrary, I felt better, lighter and more relaxed than before. I am a strong believer that the human immune system is the most effective way to fight disease and I want to develop methods to train it.
Life is the most valuable possession anyone could have and nothing should squander the length of one’s lifespan. Death is irreversible and once one dies, they will never be able to smile, look at you nor respond back. Despite the peer pressure of high school, I had prohibited the consumption of narcotics of an average teenager such as marijuana and alcohol. Many people have succumbed to the poisons but I have fortified against these chemicals. These evils are a threat to health and the laws that prohibit adolescents from consuming these poisons should be reinforce. However, I understand that there are benefits from these chemicals. I have learned to tolerate these type of people to prevent myself from labeling and discriminating these individuals for they have better traits that outshine the malicious ones.
Cautious progression throughout my life has reached the end of my adolescence and changed into a prestigious young adult. Becoming a successful man in the medical field is my aspiration; it will be my dream to concern over others’ health and well being. I have come to be wary of infectious foreign objects and understand how to ease the pain if something were to be contracted. I have gained a passion for life and entering the medical field will be a dream fulfilled.

The end kind of died. It’s off topic I think.

[CE] The Many Conspiracy Theories of 9/11

This is the Youtube video about 9/11 skeptics arguing their views that the 9/11 was a hoax and was planned by the government.

Numerous groups of 9/11 skeptics are arguing that the al-Qaeda terrorist group were not completely independent in their attacks. They believe that the U.S. government may have intervened and planted demolition explosives to have a controlled demolition of the buildings. They speculate that the U.S. government planned the destruction of the World Trade Center buildings. They may have possibly collaborated with the al-Qaeda group and used them. Architects who are also active 9/11 skeptics cannot correlate an airplane impact on the buildings could create such a massive destruction of the massive buildings. Video clips also show that the buildings went down orderly and cleanly, as if they already had bombs planted in the building for demolition prior of the attacks. They appear to be timed precisely as the airplanes crashed into each respective building. Richard Gage who is an architect and engineer for the 9/11 truth believes that there are too many problems with the “fairy tale” that the public are being “fed”. Direct evidence is when a plane hit the World Trade Building number seven. The official reason for the collapse of World Trade Building number seven was fire. However, the building was demolished within 40 seconds which is extremely fast. They use this building as direct evidence that the government is trying to cover up something they are trying desperately to hide.

[Re] SUP again.

This is a response post to France’s free post: SUP again. Since I was in English 2 EXP my sophomore year in school, I did not have a chance to take Mr. Sutherland’s class like most of my friends. They constantly tell me how great Sutherland’s class is, and how much I am missing out. They tell me stories of what happens in class and how fun of a teacher he is. Throughout the year, I constantly ask myself, “why did I not drop out of EXP and go into Sutherland’s class?”. I regretted my decision of not taking his class, because in EXP our assignments almost had no relevance to increasing our abilities as writers. Sure, the weekly vocabulary tests “improved” our vocabulary, but those words were stored in an extremely short termed memory. We barely wrote anything for class, and those essays did not occur often enough to significantly improve our writing ability. That was the main reason why I entered EXP 2. However, I believe Sutherland’s blogging method will improve my flow of writing, and I look forward into what is in store. His method of teaching English is extremely direct and we have a lot of freedom when it concerns the content of the the posts. All my friends told me that we do not do anything in Sutherland’s class during class time, which is extremely stress relieving but I would still prefer to do something. Blogging is the perfect way to keep my flow of writing going and I could not ask for a better teacher and class for my last year of high school.

[Free] Too Much For One Day

Started off the day waking up at 6 am to get ready for zero period, AP Biology. I expected a quiz or an exam of some sort because AP classes tend to follow a trend of giving exams on Fridays. I studied a little before going to school, but once I reached class, we were presented with a food coloring lab that consisted of soap and milk. The day went by slowly: talking with Ms. Castro about technical difficulties, involving Schoolloop, taking a calculus test, checking out a book, giving a government presentation, finishing my coat of arms, finishing my homework, and drawing a picture of Nakamura. It was a rather eventful school day.

Today was also the first home football game, so I attended it with a few friends. Our Junior Varisty were getting the destroyed by the visiting team in the fourth quarter by the time we reached Thompson Field. The game ended quickly and the one hour intermission began. Damien, Raymond, Viet-Thai, and I wanted to get some food at 7-Eleven. So we started walking down that one street that’s along the industrial side of Alameda. Half-way there, we decide to go to Taco Bell instead. As we pass the block of 7-Eleven, we are approached by an elderly woman. Equipped with loose pink pajamas, black teeth, and the reek of alcohol, she asks us to take her to 7-Eleven. I, being a nice person, try to give her directions to 7-Eleven, but she reiterates her question by asking us to escort her to the store. I reflexively say sure, and we start walking. With an extremely tense and awkward air, we walk extremely quietly. She asks us peculiar questions, and seems afraid of something. She keeps her purse secured with her left hand and keeps her right hand inside her bag. All of us were extremely paranoid and tense about this situation. When we walk too slow, she stops in the middle of the sidewalk and waits for someone to pass her. As we’re walking, she periodically says “thank you”. As we cross the street, she grabbed my jacket sleeve, and I immediately jerk forward. As she tried to break the ice, she tried to loop her arm around Raymond’s. Raymond immediately responds by attaching his arm to his side. When we reach 7-Eleven, she asks us to stay and escort her back home. Viet-Thai says sure. As soon as she’s out of sight, I haul my ass out of there. I ran and didn’t stop for two blocks. We eventually got to Taco Bell.

During the Varsity football game, there were numerous lightning strikes. A fight between two guys started near the end zone as well. Unfortunately, the Varsity team lost, but it was a good game.