Topic- What Makes us Human?
Main Points: Advanced communication, thought (emotions/morals and actual thought along with imagination), ability to use tools
Main Point 1 (Advanced Communication) Supporting Details: Written word, which transfers thought without having to actually be there yourself, along with recording thought for time. Spoken word. Telephones and radios allow communication across the world, including thousands of miles. This creates a world that functions cooperatively.
Main Point 2 (Advanced Minds) Supporting Details: Feelings like anger or sadness, happiness and more complex feelings like jealousy. Also can be harmful, with emotions can cause suicide or gambling that turns into addiction. Emotions guide who we are and affects the choices we make, which we have to take responsibility for.
Main Point 3 (Ability to use Tools) Supporting Details: Vehicles that allow us to travel from one part of the world to another quickly. Crafting tools such as hammers and saws that allow us to create shelter and bigger vechicles such as cranes and bulldozers that allow us to create buildings for offices and businesses.
Argument and Rebuttal:
-Argument: Simple differences like our opposable thumbs define who we are.
-Rebuttal: Answer lies within us. The choices we make define how we act and our actions cause reactions that change our future actions. That is what makes us human. Choices
Conclusion: We have the choice to create and destroy. Humans need to choose to create and take care of Earth so that we can live longer on this planet. Otherwise, we might not be able to survive.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Responsibility of the Cost of Life
Depening on the circumstances, there are differences to how people will react to the responsibility and cost of life, and also the zeal to survive. If a situation is seemingly impossible to escape from or to survive in, people may react with acceptance and just accept their fate as is, or they will react by fighting tooth and nail until the final second.
The Titanic, for example, was a ship that was supposed to be unsinkable, according to those that built the ship, but an iceberg ripped out on side and the ship sank, killing over a thousand people. Some say that the engineers who built the ship should be responsible, but I say that the captain should be. The engineers are not at fault for building a supposed unsinkable ship and have the ship sunk, for any ship is sinkable, but the captain of the ship who was maneuvering the ship and crashed into the iceberg should be responsible for the lives of the people, if he escaped. This situation also goes back to the zeal to survive, for some on the ship would have accepted their fate and died in the ship, but the others would have been fighting to escape and get on any object that would float in order to stay out of the freezing water and survive.
In The Call of the Wild, Buck fights to survive as a sled dog. In the beginning of his "career" he is ignorant on the ways of survival out in the cold, brumal land. The other dogs teach him and he learns quickly how to burrow into the ground for warmth and how to steal food from the humans in order to eat more. Then, later in the book Buck has a feeling of the wild calling him, and under a new owner he ventures out into the woods and wonders for many days. Buck happens upon a herd of moose and he fights for days in order to kill the leader of the herd. The moose fights for those four days until he literally cannot anymore, this survival instinct that pushed the moose farther than maybe another moose or a human in this situation would have been able to do just because the moose wanted to survive, but when the moose was too tired to fight back he accepted his fate as Buck killed him.
So, in a life or death situation, how would you react? Would you accept your fate, or would you go down fighting? Think of these two situations and imagine yourself in them, as a passenger on the Titanic, as Buck, and as the moose.
The Titanic, for example, was a ship that was supposed to be unsinkable, according to those that built the ship, but an iceberg ripped out on side and the ship sank, killing over a thousand people. Some say that the engineers who built the ship should be responsible, but I say that the captain should be. The engineers are not at fault for building a supposed unsinkable ship and have the ship sunk, for any ship is sinkable, but the captain of the ship who was maneuvering the ship and crashed into the iceberg should be responsible for the lives of the people, if he escaped. This situation also goes back to the zeal to survive, for some on the ship would have accepted their fate and died in the ship, but the others would have been fighting to escape and get on any object that would float in order to stay out of the freezing water and survive.
In The Call of the Wild, Buck fights to survive as a sled dog. In the beginning of his "career" he is ignorant on the ways of survival out in the cold, brumal land. The other dogs teach him and he learns quickly how to burrow into the ground for warmth and how to steal food from the humans in order to eat more. Then, later in the book Buck has a feeling of the wild calling him, and under a new owner he ventures out into the woods and wonders for many days. Buck happens upon a herd of moose and he fights for days in order to kill the leader of the herd. The moose fights for those four days until he literally cannot anymore, this survival instinct that pushed the moose farther than maybe another moose or a human in this situation would have been able to do just because the moose wanted to survive, but when the moose was too tired to fight back he accepted his fate as Buck killed him.
So, in a life or death situation, how would you react? Would you accept your fate, or would you go down fighting? Think of these two situations and imagine yourself in them, as a passenger on the Titanic, as Buck, and as the moose.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Power to Create Life
If given the power to create life as Frankenstein did, what choice would you make? Would you create such life? No?
If I was given the power to create life such as Dr. Frankenstein, I would not use it. There are several reasons why, and some can go very deep into personal beliefs or human rights, and there can also be consequences to that choice, such as the military or government becoming aware of what I was doing and getting arrested, or having the military use my creations for warfare.
My first reason: I would probably be too afraid to mess with life and death in such a manner. The military and government would most likely hear about what I have been doing, as I said above, and then my life would become very hard and the government would want to know my secrets about how I created that life.
My second reason: I do not want to "play God" as some people call it. I am no different than any human being on this world, and I as a human do not have a right to create other humans. I am not better, I do not deserve the right to make something that is, in a sense, equal to me. Also, the beings I created could turn against me, and that would probably be one of the worst things that could happen. After working hard, or not, depending on how difficult the process is, I would not want my work to turn against me and having me end up wounded or killed.
So no, I would not use this power at all, and these several reasons why are proof of that fact. In fact, I would probably try to forget I had that power in the first place, or get rid of the information that I had received in order to reduce the temptation to use it, as I most likely will have. I would not give this power to someone else, because I do not want to put that kind of pressure on the morals and values that someone else has, and all the hardships that will come with that power and responsibility.
If I was given the power to create life such as Dr. Frankenstein, I would not use it. There are several reasons why, and some can go very deep into personal beliefs or human rights, and there can also be consequences to that choice, such as the military or government becoming aware of what I was doing and getting arrested, or having the military use my creations for warfare.
My first reason: I would probably be too afraid to mess with life and death in such a manner. The military and government would most likely hear about what I have been doing, as I said above, and then my life would become very hard and the government would want to know my secrets about how I created that life.
My second reason: I do not want to "play God" as some people call it. I am no different than any human being on this world, and I as a human do not have a right to create other humans. I am not better, I do not deserve the right to make something that is, in a sense, equal to me. Also, the beings I created could turn against me, and that would probably be one of the worst things that could happen. After working hard, or not, depending on how difficult the process is, I would not want my work to turn against me and having me end up wounded or killed.
So no, I would not use this power at all, and these several reasons why are proof of that fact. In fact, I would probably try to forget I had that power in the first place, or get rid of the information that I had received in order to reduce the temptation to use it, as I most likely will have. I would not give this power to someone else, because I do not want to put that kind of pressure on the morals and values that someone else has, and all the hardships that will come with that power and responsibility.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Frankenstein
We are about to read the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley in my English 11 class. I do not know what to expect, other than it is an older book and is a higher "reading level" than what we normally deal with. Also, it was a surprise to find out that a woman wrote this male dominated book. From what I have heard most of the characters in this book are male and therefore Shelley had to write from a male's point of view and try to determine how a male would react in different situations.
A few questions we were asked were: Can man create life? and, Does man have the right to create life?
Currently, we have technology to clone and therefore "create" life in a sense. So, the answer to that quesiton would be yes, we mankind can create life.The second question is a little more complicated. I do not think I have the power to determine what mankind's rights are, but I think that man should not clone or otherwise create life. Once mankind has that power, I am absolutely certain that a least one person will take that power and become extremely greedy and take it too far. Once we have the power to clone effectively, scientists will start to mess with genetics and altering, in order to make the animals we clone for food grow larger or produce more tasty meat, or try and clone humans to become war machines like in the popular video game series Metal Gear Solid.
Two more questions asked were: Do you believe in the sorcerer's stone? Immortality?
No, I do not believe that the sorcerer's stone exists, can exist, and immortality cannot be gained. This, in my mind, is impossible. There is nothing that can stop the aging process, other than cryogenically freezing an organism, which I am not sure if that is possible now.
A few questions we were asked were: Can man create life? and, Does man have the right to create life?
Currently, we have technology to clone and therefore "create" life in a sense. So, the answer to that quesiton would be yes, we mankind can create life.The second question is a little more complicated. I do not think I have the power to determine what mankind's rights are, but I think that man should not clone or otherwise create life. Once mankind has that power, I am absolutely certain that a least one person will take that power and become extremely greedy and take it too far. Once we have the power to clone effectively, scientists will start to mess with genetics and altering, in order to make the animals we clone for food grow larger or produce more tasty meat, or try and clone humans to become war machines like in the popular video game series Metal Gear Solid.
Two more questions asked were: Do you believe in the sorcerer's stone? Immortality?
No, I do not believe that the sorcerer's stone exists, can exist, and immortality cannot be gained. This, in my mind, is impossible. There is nothing that can stop the aging process, other than cryogenically freezing an organism, which I am not sure if that is possible now.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Word of 2012 - Triumph
I chose this word because I have a few goals for 2012 that I want to overcome this year. Hopefully I can use this word as my theme for the year, keep it beside me as I accomplish my goals and, by the end of the year, say that I did triumph over everything I planned.
I want to pass from a senior NCO in CAP to become an officer. Right now I am a Cadet Chief Master Sergeant, and I have been for maybe 2 and a half months now. Hopefully by February I will be able to make my promotion and become a cadet officer.
I want to keep training on my physical fitness so that I can start riding my back the three miles to school in the morning and three miles back in the afternoon, and hopefully those six miles every day will help prepare me for the Marines later on in my life.
I want to pass from a senior NCO in CAP to become an officer. Right now I am a Cadet Chief Master Sergeant, and I have been for maybe 2 and a half months now. Hopefully by February I will be able to make my promotion and become a cadet officer.
I want to keep training on my physical fitness so that I can start riding my back the three miles to school in the morning and three miles back in the afternoon, and hopefully those six miles every day will help prepare me for the Marines later on in my life.
Monday, December 19, 2011
My Antonia
Willa Carter in her novel My Antonia offers her view of life during the pioneer time. The book is well written with very well thought out characters, in which all have their own personality and character traits that link to each other and make the novel flow easier to the reader.
I think that My Antonia would be very different if the book was written in Antonia's point of view. Mainly, the book would then focus on the struggle of the Shimerdas' as they come to America and start off in a small house, then grow more comfortable as Antonia and her younger daughter learn English and they can start communicating better. Also, instead of being in a masculine form, the book would be written more feminine (maybe) as it would be Antonia's thoughts (although, she is a tomboy).
All in all, I think that Willa Carter is very talented in writing from a man's point of view. She shows emotion in the way that a male would portray it, and the actions and thoughts of Jim are what I would expect in reading a book written by a male author. That earns bonus points in my book, to pass the gender boundary and write a story in the opposite sex's eyes.
I personally think that Jim changed the name from "Antonia" to "My Antonia" because of everything he went through with her. According to the novel, he "wrote down of herself and myself and other people Antonia's name recalls to me". So the book is written on his memories of Antonia, which could be a different person from who Antonia is at that moment, and so that is his personal Antonia.
The novel was a good one, well written and the characters were meticulously thought out. The flow from one thought to the next with the characters evolving as the story goes on makes it more realistic, and the old pioneer times gives an interesting setting as America is just being born.
I think that My Antonia would be very different if the book was written in Antonia's point of view. Mainly, the book would then focus on the struggle of the Shimerdas' as they come to America and start off in a small house, then grow more comfortable as Antonia and her younger daughter learn English and they can start communicating better. Also, instead of being in a masculine form, the book would be written more feminine (maybe) as it would be Antonia's thoughts (although, she is a tomboy).
All in all, I think that Willa Carter is very talented in writing from a man's point of view. She shows emotion in the way that a male would portray it, and the actions and thoughts of Jim are what I would expect in reading a book written by a male author. That earns bonus points in my book, to pass the gender boundary and write a story in the opposite sex's eyes.
I personally think that Jim changed the name from "Antonia" to "My Antonia" because of everything he went through with her. According to the novel, he "wrote down of herself and myself and other people Antonia's name recalls to me". So the book is written on his memories of Antonia, which could be a different person from who Antonia is at that moment, and so that is his personal Antonia.
The novel was a good one, well written and the characters were meticulously thought out. The flow from one thought to the next with the characters evolving as the story goes on makes it more realistic, and the old pioneer times gives an interesting setting as America is just being born.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Author Willa Cather embedded literary devices, such as metaphors, similes, and personification, within her writing.
"As I looked about me I felt that the grass was the country, as the water is the sea. The red of the grass made all the great prairie the colour of wine-stains, or of certain seaweeds when they are first washed up. And there was so much motion in it; the whole country seemed, somehow, to be running."
"The grave, with its tall red grass that was never mowed, was like a little island."
"Winter comes down savagely over a little town on the prairie. The wind that sweeps in from the open country strips away all the leafy screens that hide one yard from another in summer, and the houses seem to draw closer together. The roofs, that looked so far away across the green treetops, now stare you in the face, and they are so much uglier than when their angles were softened by vines and shrubs.
The use of setting on characters is important. Setting affects mood, if the area is dark and stormy then the mood will be dark, maybe suspenseful, and the characters will react accordingly. In books, if a character has to walk down a long, dark hallway then they are usually on their guard, nervous, and hesitant. Setting has a big effect on how characters react towards one another and their surroundings, adding depth into a novel and making it more enjoyable for people to read.
Walking around in the woods has always felt peaceful to me. Seeing the bright colors all around me, the sharp greens and browns and the huge expanse of the forest. If I am alone or with friends, I still feel like I am small in this world next to these huge trees. Sometimes I stand at the top of the hill and look down the clearing, taking in the expanse with the grass rolling and swaying like waves in the ocean. I feel peaceful, I feel calm. I am away from my troubles, nothing to think about but the feel of the breeze on my skin and the birds in the trees.
"As I looked about me I felt that the grass was the country, as the water is the sea. The red of the grass made all the great prairie the colour of wine-stains, or of certain seaweeds when they are first washed up. And there was so much motion in it; the whole country seemed, somehow, to be running."
"The grave, with its tall red grass that was never mowed, was like a little island."
"Winter comes down savagely over a little town on the prairie. The wind that sweeps in from the open country strips away all the leafy screens that hide one yard from another in summer, and the houses seem to draw closer together. The roofs, that looked so far away across the green treetops, now stare you in the face, and they are so much uglier than when their angles were softened by vines and shrubs.
The use of setting on characters is important. Setting affects mood, if the area is dark and stormy then the mood will be dark, maybe suspenseful, and the characters will react accordingly. In books, if a character has to walk down a long, dark hallway then they are usually on their guard, nervous, and hesitant. Setting has a big effect on how characters react towards one another and their surroundings, adding depth into a novel and making it more enjoyable for people to read.
Walking around in the woods has always felt peaceful to me. Seeing the bright colors all around me, the sharp greens and browns and the huge expanse of the forest. If I am alone or with friends, I still feel like I am small in this world next to these huge trees. Sometimes I stand at the top of the hill and look down the clearing, taking in the expanse with the grass rolling and swaying like waves in the ocean. I feel peaceful, I feel calm. I am away from my troubles, nothing to think about but the feel of the breeze on my skin and the birds in the trees.
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