Bryan’s blog

Link to assignment: http://ssmeetsit.edublogs.org/2007/05/30/united-nations-world-issues-reflection/http://ssmeetsit.edublogs.org/2007/05/30/united-nations-world-issues-reflection/ 

#1Think about the presentations and reflect on the projects your classmates presented and the information you listened to. Explain with details and specific information what you learned, what you found interesting, surprising, or shocking about the presentations you heard in class.

I guess not many people realize that there are many world issues, or rather how if affects organisms. Before class I knew there were issues the worlds faces but not how much it affects the people and that they are a bigger problem than I thought. Some think that “oh, the U.N takes care of that” they actually don’t know that the problem isn’t as well as they think and they can do something to help.  In class I got to learn the details and be aware of these many issues in the many topics. But mainly only one drilled in my head. It was Biodiversity. This includes things dealing with the Earth and animals. I found it dreadful and surprising that when they want shark fins, they only take the fins of the shark and throw the other piece of the shark back in the ocean because shark meat isn’t worth a lot. What is going to happen to the sharks? They can’t survive with out their fins. Doing this not only hurts sharks painfully but lessens the amount every year as unlike chicken, the fins are only a little bit of the shark. Plus, you’ll need a lot to feed 100 people!

 I really enjoyed listening to this topic as it wasn’t about wars and people but animals and the atmosphere like global warming. Although I don’t really like seeing sad pictures of animals, I think the Biodiversity group used the right pictures to shoot their target down in the Imovie. There was a verity of pictures, sad and happy. Another part of the media I enjoyed was the music they chose. It really fit the theme. They also didn’t keep replaying the same songs like some groups did!

#2 What would you change to improve your project/presentation if you were to do the assignment again?

For the media, I don’t think I would change much. I thought making a I movie was the best thing to do. I actually had a goal for the audience that I told my group before choosing a media to show our work. I felt that a Imovie was more affective in the sense that, it wasn’t boring like wikispaces and power points (not saying that the wikis and power points were bad) The Imovie was something knew. I knew there would be some time constrains but it was really worth it. Being able to add music really helped as it could set the theme and enhance the topic like what we wanted! J Next time I also wish that our group could have practice presenting so we wouldn’t have to look at the script every time. But, I did manage not to look half the time when presenting. I also thought there should have been way more content even though we did find a lot of information in our research records.

One thing I really like about this project is that I could reinforce my group skills and make it even better. I learned how to handle different situations and I hope next time I would do even better and adjust accordingly to what there is need too. J

* sorry, I couldn’t do paragrah spacing as the blog wouldn’t allow it.

 URL to Homework: http://ssmeetsit.edublogs.org/2007/04/27/homework-block-d-april-27/

Question: Overall do you feel the U.N is a successful organization? Why or why not. Cite examples to support your view.

According the the Student Handout, “A Call for Reform” this article is nothing but criticisms of the united nations, therefore the only opinion that I can get from this article is negative answers. Nowhere in this article does it show any progress that the united nations has been wanting to make. Therefore from this article, I think that the UN has failed in reaching their goals in bringing nations together and peace throughout  the world.  Why this roams my head? Well, evidence from this packet shows me a few examples to bring here. One of them brings us back to 1994 where director, Kofi Annan of the U.N peace keeping forces has not been able to respond to the ethnic cleansing in Rwanda. And as a result of this, 800,000 Hutus and Tutsis were slaughtered by Rwandan military and militia groups. From my point of view, being a peace keeping organization, there should have been some repsonse there. The other example also puts a mark near the early 1990’s, actually 1993. Here a mission to prevent local warlords from taking  food for starving citizens of Somilia also failed. But besides these life, death situations, there also have been other situations like complaints about the UN acting outside its charter, meaning not following the charter rules etc. Basically, here I am saying that at first the U.N organization had a wonderful idea in running and creating a peace organization. But the fact just remains, that they unfortunetly didn’t really fullfill their goals. But as secretary General Kofi Anann stated,” the U.N exists not as a static memorial to the aspirations of an earlier age, but as a work in progress…” Hence, there will be changes and hopefully it would be for the better.

Picture From: http://www.un.int/iom/UN.jpg

Homework link: http://ssmeetsit.edublogs.org/2007/04/19/homework-block-d-april-19/http:/ssmeetsit.edublogs.org/2007/04/19/homework-block-d-april-19/

Famous Egyptians Reflection

•1.     Think about class today and reflect on the presentations you listened to. Explain with details and specific information what you learned and what you found interesting about the presentations you heard in class.

This particular fancy Egyptian class today really threw me out of even my wildest dreams! First of all the dressing people did was cool, it gave me a vision of what the god or person could have looked liked. It also hit me that all these Egyptian cloth dressing could actually be so amazing with their gold designs and weird yet “eye brow” raising hats. But anyways, at first when I stepped in class, I only knew a wee bit about the gods and actually none about the famous people other than their famous names. But that famous people’s and god’s window was about to grow larger! I learned abundant of information that I never even thought would be true but only the really interesting and weird still roam my mind. On of them is about Ramses II. He had lots of wives and over 100 children! This kind of shocked me as I told you I never thought this kind of stuff could be true. But besides that, Ramses II had 2 favorite hobbies like architecture and art. He also defeated many attacks which occurred in his time. And from Salah’s presentation I really liked how he spoke clearly when he performed as King Thutmose III.  I think this part “King Tut died of a disease that causes decay of tissue in the body” was Salah’s clearest sentence of all. I learned that Thutmose III really didn’t do anything to help the Egyptian economy as before having hearing Thutmose III was famous; I at least thought he at least did something to earn that title.  The god that I thought was most interesting to listen to for its facts was Mut from Devon’s presentation. Thinking that she is just like any god trying to save the day I found out that she actually did cool and wonderful things. I learned that she dominated over other gods, becoming the most worshiped and even creating herself! But being the “Mother goddess” I guess you probably could!?!

But now, from this class I know loads more about ancient Egyptians gods and famous people. How they almost basically became civilianized people like us and everything. Listening to the speeches was more than the usual worth it.

2. What would you change to improve your speech/presentation if you were to do the assignment again?

If I were to do my speech again, I guess I should have practiced reading the speech to more than one person so I would be more confident when doing the actual thing. I also probably should have found something more reliable to use to hold my mask up as I found out tape didn’t really work as well as I thought it would. Although I am not quite sure if I held my paper too close to my mouth, if I do this project again I would be more aware of that as it can lower your voice projection and loudness a lot. But really, thinking about my presentation, I think I really nailed this presentation because I thought it was one of my best.

Homework link: http://ssmeetsit.edublogs.org/2007/04/19/homework-block-d-april-19/http://ssmeetsit.edublogs.org/2007/04/19/homework-block-d-april-19/

 

Ancient Egyptian King Speech

By Bryan Choo

King Zoser

Bow. Yes, before I start, I request a bow.  Respect me for I am your king and you have a lot to be grateful of. Thank you. So now I go on. The question is, where did pyramids come from? Huh? Poofed up from the earth? That’s one thing I can tell you that is absolutely is wrong! No, Zoser or Djoser is responsible for all of this! In the background of every person there are parents. I, king Zoser, the mighty, son of “Mother of king”or

Nimaathapu and the honored Khasekhemwi.  I had three royal ladies in my time, one of them my wife. Hmm, I’ll let you find out which one. Now I, me, mua that stands before you shall tell you about my great, amazing life accomplishments!

The time when I stepped on the earth, many things rose to the havens.

I was known as Zoser to the Greeks and netjerikhet to modern sources. Although my birth name is Zoser, you shall call me King Zoser as you are in no position to call me with out a title. I, a great king have succeeded my brother to the thrown and was able to conquer and extend Egypt’s border to the Niles’s 1^st   cataract. I was also the one and only who brought the pyramids to life. On my grounds, in Egypt, many thousands of years ago during 2686 BCE to 2613 BCE, somewhere around there, the structure of the first step pyramid was built. Now that pyramid of Saqqara, first ever built, is the oldest stone building still standing. And that pyramid is who I am, who I am made of. The materials…everything.

My step pyramid started to hold the structure of the many other pyramids of the respected Pharaohs after me. My pyramid was the first true pyramid as others before mine were just tombs made of sun-dried bricks. And finally it showed the true power of the Pharaohs’. My great piece of 204 feet of stone work was design by my much trusted Imhotep. Unlike most pyramids, my baby wasn’t alone. Standing in a 35 acre mortuary complex with small temples, a courtyard, a palace, shrines, altars, store houses and tombs, my pyramid and its surroundings is enclosed with a huge wall, only with a grand simple door way opening. Yes, you could say that the complex was my kingdom and the pyramid was my palace. But anyways my burial chamber lies 40 feet under the base of the pyramid. And I trust you to leave my belongings with me. This god blessed art became the structure, guide to all pyramids to come. Don’t believe me; well doesn’t the pyramid of Giza’s guide line look alike? Yes, my creations opened the door way of the shape of all pyramids.

So you see, my pyramid made a great impact on my people. The large structure showed the power of pharaoh’s in many ways. One of which were the making of a memorial art work for them. Also, other much respected pharaohs were no longer stuck in a box of merely tombs made of sun-dried bricks and were able to create large pyramids from my guide line. Basically my wonderful pyramid leaped into the next world of building techniques. To an extent, it opened the eyes of my people.

These achievements are what brought my great title as a famous king to life!

I guess I owe a little, small, tiny thanks to Imhotep. But for now, remember this that I king Zoser, son of “Mother of king” created the basic shape of all building strategies for pyramids!

Image from: http://www.honors.uiuc.edu/ealc15098/sculpture/zoser.jpeghttp://www.honors.uiuc.edu/ealc15098/sculpture/zoser.jpeg

Citation: Cnn. Tech students return to seek ‘closure’Tech students return to seek ‘closure’.Cnn,April-23-o7.http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/23/va.tech.ap/index.htmlhttp://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/23/va.tech.ap/index.html (April - 23-07)

Link to initial blog posting: http://sawyer6.learnerblogs.org/http://sawyer6.learnerblogs.org/

Link to article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/23/va.tech.ap/index.htmlhttp://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/23/va.tech.ap/index.html

 Map of Virinia. Image from: http://www.4to40.com/images/earth/history/virginia/virginia_map.gifhttp://www.4to40.com/images/earth/history/virginia/virginia_map.gif

Response 

1. What new informaiton has emerged?

After the outrages shocking gunfire attack by Seung- Hui Cho (the gun man), killing 32 college students, Virginia Tech ( school) is now allowing students to either accept current grades and stay at their parent’s home for the rest of the year or drop classes without a penalty. University officials are not sure how many students will be attending school on Monday when school starts again.

According to the article, at 9:45 the university planned a moment of silence. With a single bell from a tower they keep the moment in their hearts. A minute later the bell will swing once for each victim as 32 white balloons will be released. 

Anyways, what decision student’s make from last weeks traumatizing massacre is up to them. As for now many students made the choice on joining the grieving event on Sunday in the campus. By the time everything was set, more than 100 people had gathered to remember their lost friends. After the moment of silence, campus ministers brought 33 white prayer flags, one for each dead, including Seung - Hui Cho.

 

Mourners gathering for a memorial day for the friends on Virginia Tech campus. Image from: Here

One of the students, Ryanne Floyd who returned to campus said, “I want to go back to class just to be with the other students. If you just left without going back to classes, you would just go home and keep thinking about it,” “I want to go back to class just to be with the other students. “At least here, being with other students, we can get some kind of closure.”

Although, some students have some- what thought the other way around like what Claire Guzinski said here, “I still feel safe as I always have, I just think this stuff happens. It’s still in the middle of nowhere, a rural area. What are the chances of it happening twice” The only thing surrounding her mind is what to say to friends that have lost their best friends. 

Dr. William Massello, assistant state medical examiner said that there was nothing unusual about Cho’s body examine. Also, nothing on psychological problems that could be able to reason for his killings.

2. What did you find interesting about this topic?

An all out shooting in SCHOOLS is what really interested me because never before have I thought that these kinds of catastrophes could actually happen as in a movie. This thought of shooting in schools never even cross my mind! Now, I have learned that some mad person who just come in and shoot students at a school can actually happen. I mean of course I knew these things happen but at a school!? From this my window of knowledge expanded as now I have learned about issue and the impact these types of events make. But besides knowledge, this article got me thinking, what if I was in these kinds of events?

3. What did you like about the initial blog posting?

I liked Sawyer’s posting as it had a lay out of  the organized look. I think Sawyer also did a good job in not cluttering everything in the content. This created a simple yet detailed feeling witched I liked. When presenting Sawyer pointed to the pictures and the paragraph he was explaining which really helped understand what he was saying. Overall, I think Sawyer’s presentation was awesome, but he probably could have not stuttered too much. But besides that fact, GREAT JOB! 

 Picture of Virinia Tech school. Image from: http://www.destination360.com/north-america/us/virginia/images/s/virginia-tech.jpghttp://www.destination360.com/north-america/us/virginia/images/s/virginia-tech.jpg

Citation:

Parija B. Kavilanz, Cnn Money senior writer”U.S. files piracy complaint against China”Cnn, 10 April 2007. http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/10/news/international/china_piracy/index.htm?postversion=2007041007http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/10/news/international/china_piracy/index.htm?postversion=2007041007 (10 April 2007).

Image from:( map of U.S.A) http://img.infoplease.com/images/states_imgmap.gifhttp://img.infoplease.com/images/states_imgmap.gif

1. What is the issue? 

The U.S  has just expressed their complaints about piracy to China. On Tuesday at the World Trade Organization, the United States filed two trade complaints against China. The issues were over piracy of American books, music, video and movies and the limited American products that can be imported to China. Hearing the U.S strong complaints, the Chinese goverments, expectedly said that the Americans are making a mountain out of a mole hill, meaning they are exagerating.

U.S. Trade Representative, Susan Schwab said in a statement, “Piracy and counterfeiting levels in China remain unacceptably high,” Inadequate protection of intellectual property rights in China costs U.S. firms and workers billions of dollars each year, and in the case of many products, it also poses a serious risk of harm to consumers in China, the United States and around the world.”

Susan Schwab said at a press conference on Monday while announcing the U.S. plans to lodge complain at WTO, that the barriers set by China on genuine American goods’ access into their market is also a serious issue. “These products are also the prime targets of piracy”. By removing these barriers it will open the market to legitimate commerce in China.

On China’s side,Wang Xinpei, spokesman with China’s Minstry of Commerce defends their position by saying the plan of the American to complain is against the agreement by both countries on strengthening bilateral economic ties and solving trade disputes amongst themselves.

Wang Xinpei also said the action by the United States would seriously destroy future trade and economic relations between the two trade superpowers.

The Commerce Department estimates that piracy and counterfeiting in China cost the United States about $200 billion to $250 billion a year, including as much as $24 billion from the sale of pirated goods in the country.

Image(Susan Schwab)  from:http://usinfo.state.gov/ar/img/assets/17856/060717Schwab2.jpghttp://usinfo.state.gov/ar/img/assets/17856/060717Schwab2.jpg

 

Image from:( Map of China) http://media.maps.com/magellan/Images/CHINA-W1.gifhttp://media.maps.com/magellan/Images/CHINA-W1.gif

2. Who is involved?

The people who are involved in this are:

• U.S.
• China
• Citizens of the world

3. Who is affected and how?

Definetly America and China are affected by this as they are directly involved in this problem. Many things can occour as these two countries are big and powerful. One of them could be the two nations start a war and in wars, people can loose money, die and loose loved ones. Another way the two countries could be affected by this problem is that two countries would stop local products being marketed in the other country. This will narrow their verity of goods in both courntry becuase the purpose of exporting is so you can get a product that comes from another country.

If U.S campanies can’t manufacture products cheaply in China they would probably have to switch to other countries which would increase the price of a normal of goods being manufactured in China. This affects the citizens of U.S as they have to pay more.

Citizens of the world are also affected because when 2 super power nations start a war, others can be affected in this. Also, U.S could pressure other nations, for example malaysia in not buying their goods. When they don’t buy their goods, the citizens of malaysia will be affected in their livelyhood by not being able to ern engough money.

4. What would you do if you were directly involved?

If I were directly involved, I would find a peaceful solution that would benefit both country.  For example, the US can try to reduce the price of their goods so that it makes no reason for the buyers to buy pirated good for only a small price difference between genuine and pirated goos.  Also, the US can jointly develop the technology with the Chinese and if the Chinese also has a share of the interlectual property right, they will try to protect it themselves.

Think about the way peoples’ lives will be impacted.

If China agrees to cut down on piracy, the American companies will be able to sell their good without competion from the pirated goods and they can make more money and be able to employ more people to work for them citizens like technology producers and movie producers.

Link to initial blog posting: http://devyani.learnerblogs.org/category/current-events/Author: unkownTitle of Article: Global

warming raises risk of drought: NASADate published: 13 Feb, 2007 1035hrs IST
IANS

Website address: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Global_warming_raises_risk_of_drought_NASA/articleshow/1601994.cmsDate you

 looked at the site: Feb - 13 -07

How are your two events connected?

The two events tie in together because in this article, it says that global warming may worsen in drought. (Rain fall may lead to elsewhere from the “water stripped lands” according to NASA.) This may harm animals and creatures of the woods because having no water can danger them like how it is happening in some parts of
Africa. And in Devyani’s article, animals are also being harmed by things like their home getting destroyed. For example, melting ice harms penguins and polar bears.As study says, rainfall can also be decreased in the south-western US, Mexico, parts of North Africa, the Middle East and Australia. It may increase across the western Pacific. This can unbalance and cause harm to the needing of water in some places. For example, it can cause a higher risk for bush fires in
Australia. Places of the Mediterranean area, North Africa and the Middle East are rapidly becoming drier according to Drew. “If the trend continues as expected, the consequences may be severe in only a couple of decades,” said Drew Shindell lead, author. 

What did you find interesting about this topic?

I found this topic; global warming very interesting because at first I thought this was just about weather changes. What I didn’t realize is that this global warming is actually very harmful to all kinds on Earth such as animals, humans etc. If global warming still continues to get worse, animals and human can be hurt and be even more in danger. Sometimes animals can be forced to lose their homes. This is something we should all learn about to help save living creatures all around, including our kind, humans.

What did you like about the initial blog posting?

I like how Devyani choose different things than just bombs or murder in her article. There are a lot more about current events than just bombs. Also, Devyani did great in explaining her question like how she shares examples like how she said penguins will lose their homes when the ice melts. I would also like to share that Devyani did a great job in organizing her current event. She put different colors that are appropriate for a section like how all the answers were in one color. She also had links to words she thought might be difficult to help people understand what her content is about. The best thing I liked is that the pictures on her blog helped give a wonderful explanation on what happening. And I must say that Devyani did a great job in her current event (see below). Great Job!! 

(Devyani’s picture that helped explain her article) 

The ice is melting.  Image from :http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42524000/jpg/_42524715_polar_416.jpg

Link to homework: http://ssmeetsit.edublogs.org/2007/02/09/homework-block-b-and-g-feb-912/ 

 1.What would you change about the final product (the wiki you created) if you were to do the assignment again?

Next time, if I were to do this assignment again I would spend more and managed my time well when doing my wiki to make the best of it. I would also used my free time to improve on the visual appearance and content when ever I can. I also would do a extra check in my pages that I did make sure everything is well done. Another thng that I’ll do next time is tofully look over my peers pages in my group when creating the pages to give some suggestion and help us achieve a good group grade!

2. Look at some of the other wikis from any class and find a few that you think are done exceptionally well. Tell me the name of the empire and the block, and then explain what you like about their wiki.

I liked is the ancient Zimbabwe wiki from block D for a few reasons. One of them is that their homepage was very well organized. It was simple and easy to understand. They had a ”stony”  text as their ” Ancient Zimbabwe title” which I thought really brought out their ”ancient” Zimbabwe look they wanted. Also, they had links to their blogs and pictures from different parts Zimbabwe. But the one thing they should change in my opinion is having the back-round information right on the main page to help not bore the audience. Another thing I think they did well one is putting links every where on hard or even median hard words to help their audience understand their content. Maybe next time they should put more pictures and some content into some of the pages because when I first glanced at them, I was kind of getting bord like when you see a whole lot of words on one page! But overall, I think these guys did a excellent job. Well done guys!

Link to assignment: http://ssmeetsit.edublogs.org/2007/02/08/homework-block-b-and-g-feb-78

1. What did you learn from this task?In the start of the school year, I learned only a little about the civilization of ancient
Africa. But now after doing this wiki project, from the huge research I did, I know have a big leap in my knowledge of the topic of the

Kongo
Kingdom! This includes all the little details like, how their government system worked or even what type of government they use back then.  

2. Did you find this difficult or easy? Why?Throughout this whole project, I personally had some ups and downs in the making of our group’s wiki. Some difficult parts were finding the information for a certain part of a theme about ancient Kongo (e.g.: education). I think I remember almost shouting “how do you find this!” But luckily because of the little session we had in class about Boolean operators, I managed find some of the needed information. The easy parts for me were basically making my wiki page more attractive and I think actually enjoyed it!

3. What would you change about the process you went through to complete the wiki if you were to do the assignment again?Even though I tried to manage my time in when to get all my information and all that, next time in my free time, I would keep working on the wiki weather its finding information or making our wiki more attractive!

CItation: 

Author: information not availible

Title of artical: Heelys boy hurt after hitting car

Website Title: BBC Newsround

Date published: Jan- 31 - 07

Website address : http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6310000/newsid_6315900/6315993.stm 

Date you looked at the site: Jan-31-06

  Picture from: http://www.pickatrail.com/jupiter/location/europe/england/map/east_sussex.gif

What is the Issue?:

A 12 year old boy, from East Sussex has just recently been hit by a car when crossing the road while he was wearing his Heelys(the shoe). Already several kids contacted Newsround about the safety when wearing Heelys. It’s an ordinary shoe except the fact that there are hidden wheels on the bottom of the shoe, in the heels area which basically turns them to skates. It is not clear if the boy was skating at the time he got hit by a car but it is clear that the wheel at the bottom has something to do with this situation. It has been said that staff had been trained to teach kids how to use Heelys which is good. Also, experts have been encouraging kids to wear protective gear that cost between 50 - 100 pounds( Rm275 - Rm550)

Picture from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6310000/newsid_6315900/6315993.stm

        ( the wheels) Picture from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6310000/newsid_6315900/6315951.stm

Thomas, a ten year old has also reported some concerns about the shoe. He has emailed Newsround about some one at his school breaking her ankle by these heely shoes and how dangerous the shoes can be with wheels at the bottom. It just increases the chances of someone breaking their ankle with these shoes. This is exactly what he said: “I think they are dangerous and anti-social as well as being highly over-priced,” he said. “Someone at my school has broken her ankle. Should there be an age restriction? Are they dangerous? Should shops ban them? Will this craze last?”

Heelys have been on many of the kids wish list this christmas. But is it worth it? Now the boy lies on the bed in the hospital, needing a operation after the accident.

 Who is involved?:

Of course the 12 year old is involved, and the guy who was driving the car in the situation. Around the world, parents, kids and the Heely comanpy is involved.

Who is Affected and how?

1. First of all, mainly the 12 year old is affect as now he would have a bad impression on heelys and he is majorly injured. But how about later in his life. He might be disabled in walking abilities, either having to be on a wheel hair or crutches which might make life hard for him.

2. The guy who was driving the car in the accident would also be affected. He could be sued even thought the possibility of that being is low as it wasn’t enirely his fault.

3. Parents, kids as well as the heely comany will definetly affected by this situation. Parents will probably think twice about buying these kinds of shoes for their kids. But some kids might still want these shoes as some won’t. The Heely company would probably have the biggest affect as now they might lose money from people not buying their shoes.

What would you do if you were directly involved?:

• The kids who already have Heelys, I would keep encouraging them to wear their protective gear and teach them about the danger. But I would also stop making shoes with wheels at the bottom. It might be a great idea, but is it ideal for safety?
• But if there had to be those wheel - shoes I would also create another great shoe invention that is safe and fun that where you can take off the shoes or add them on when ever you want.

The future and the way people’s lives would be impacted:

If this artical didn’t come out, People would still be buying these shoes and wouldn’t know about the danger that could happen. So now I think shoe wearers would be more careful when ever they ware their Heelys. But the best part is people would now think before they buy, is it worth it?

Picture from: http://www.freedomholidayhomes.co.uk/images/graphics/map.jpg