HW Schedule

Monday: 8:30pm-11:00pm

Tuesday: 8:3opm-11:00pm

Wednesday: 8:30pm-11:00pm

Thursday: 8:30pm-11:00pm

Friday: none

Saturday: 8:00pm-11:00pm

Sunday: 8:00pm-11:00pm

This really varies because I like to take random naps and also depending on the amount of homework or whether or not there are tests. If there is a test the next day, I will most likely stay up late.

Suggestions?

How Was Nuclear War Avoided?

       There was almost a war that took place after the Cuban Missile Crisis, but what seemed like an inevitable war was cleanly avoided. Under the leadership of the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy and with confrontation with Chairman Khrushchev from the USSR met to discuss the offensive weapons situated in Cuba. With the threat of these missiles that had missile ranges that targeted the States, there was fear of a breakout of a nuclear war. Therefore, how was this avoided? Why weren't the missiles in Cuba launched?

     It is almost effortless to start a war in a situation such as this. The only way that this did not result in a calamity is because of both sides reluctance to start a nuclear war. To avoid this at all cost, President Kennedy first came up with the quarantine idea that would form a sort of blockade on the ships heading to

ward Cuba that could possibly carry materials for the illegal operations going on in Cuba during the 1960s. Following up to this, letters were sent between Khrushchev and Kennedy as a further negotiation to discuss peacefully rather than setting missile launchers at each other. 

    They eventually did come to a compromise, a bargain. They did not resort to quid pro quo, as in removal of missiles in Cuba in exchange for the removal of missiles in Turkey. Instead, the two powers settled on the American's open promise that no invasions will ever be made at Cuba. In exchange to this, Cubans would willingly undergo professional and proper inspection of their weapons situated in Cubans by the Americans. These terms of settlements made, war was avoided. 

    What I think helped the most was both country's desire to avoid war. After all, it was the last thing both super powers wanted. Missiles in Cubans were placed in Cuba to ensure security, but yet it still provided a threat towards the United States. If President Kennedy had not shown empathy and if both leaders had not known to place themselves in each other's shoes, this understanding of wanting to protect one's country would not have been confirmed. 

Atomic Bomb

Two atomic bombs was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the Americans on September 6th, 1945 and September 8th, 1945. The drop of the bombs brought the United State's victory over Japan  seven days later on September 15th, 1945. 

          The fatal decision on whether to drop the bomb over a Japanese city was made by the next president after Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman. In Truman's diary, the tone of his voiced showed the terror of what the bomb was capable of. It was a bomb very capable of destroying many lives, as it did, stealing the lives of the citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Indeed, it was a choice made by one person on whether to drop the bomb and if it was the right course of action to take. 

          Harry S. Truman made the decision to drop the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he knew of the consequences and he was aware of the pros and cons. The biggest reason why the States and other countries including Great Britain, Canada, and Germany was that they wanted Japan to surrender and to scare the USSR. USA did not want to "waste" the atomic bombs in a demonstration and hence dropped it in the unsuspecting cities in Japan. Not only did it cause Japan to surrender, the US was winning the war.

          Of course, when the bomb was dropped, high death casualties was on the rise. Since "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" was dropped on the bigger and more prosperous city in Japan, other cities in Japan had already been destroyed. The number of cities destroyed had reached sixty. In the end, Japan was only a part of a political war between the US and the USSR. As a justification of 2 billion people, the decision of dropping the deadly atomic bombs was made. 

          I believe that it was an unwise decision to drop the bomb. It may have brought victory to the Americans, but too many lives had been taken away and destroyed two very big cities. There is also the fact that the Americans did not give enough time for the Japanese to surrender before dropping the bomb. In this case, the bomb dropping and people dying could have been avoided because the Japanese would have considered the decision of surrendering had there been more time for a conditional surrender. 

            Another reason why I think that the bomb dropping decision made by Harry S. Truman was an unwise one is because of the unclear instructions that was given out. From Truman's diary excerpt, it could be clearly read that he had ordered the bomb to be dropped on military selection only, and not civilians including women and children. If the bomb had to be dropped, it should have only been aimed at the large selection of Japanese army instead of destroying the entire two cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Therefore, this unclear order given out from Truman got lost and in turn, became- in my opinion- an unwise decision and two disastrous bombs were dropped and the American's celebrated their victory over the Japanese.

The Creation of Benjamin Button

Benjamin TED Talk     

     In movies when it came to characters aging, special effects were limited. Instead of using complete computer generated special effects, movie producers hired different actors to play the different ages of one character. Although, in the newest movie starring Brad Pitt, movie productions had a whole new challenge they wanted to tackle. Their challenge? How to make the main character, Benjamin Button age while still looking like Brad. That, had never been accomplished in the movie industry. 

      If it was something that the movie industry had never accomplished, then they would have to think outside the box. They could not just simply place Brad's head on another actor's body. No, they had to alter his face so that layers of wrinkles are shown, droopy eyelids, and a crinkly forehead of an eighty-four year old Benjamin Button would appear on forty-three year old actor Brad Pitt. This was an experiment, without knowing if the outcome would be favourable or not. 

      They had to face their problem, they had to pull together something for the movie board, to show them that yes, they would be able to get the special effects down, and capable of creating a character that goes through his entire life in the movie. Their hypothesis? 'We've got a problem.' How could eighty or so of the movie crew finish shooting half of the movie without using all of Brad Pitt instead of just only his facial features? Their only way out... was to bring everyone together and have numerous meetings... thinking outside the box... They had to break down the steps, analyze, gather data and go beyond anyone's expectations.

     What these people could not find within the movie industry, they searched for possible answers elsewhere. Where could to find technology they could use to help age Benjamin Button? They had to gather materials and create an analysis and constantly experiment. They had a breakthrough though, when they completely remade and upgraded a motion

 capture device for the face. The device could capture hundreds of little movements a human face was capable of making. They used this handy technology and placed in on Brad to capture the expressions Benjamin Button would make in the movie. Successful experimenting and analyzing? Yes.

     With this advancement, the people behind the movie could take this technology and go somewhere with it. They could now use four actors of different stature and build, looking nothing like Brad and make them appear like Brad as he aged. Therefore, this was the basics of what they were looking for. This was the building block, the very structure of what t

hey needed to advance further into the challenges they faced. Next, more experimenting and analyzing. Lighting? Camera angle? And of course, excellent acting skills.

     Their prospect of whether to go with production of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button had been floating around with executive producers wondering if such a technological equipped with mounds of special effects based project would be possible. They had their little what ifs.. they admitted they had a problem, they drew a hypothesis, they gathered their materials and they experimented, and analyzed. A group of people, with the hopes to bring motion capture of a novel to an on-screen movie reached a conclusion and successfully brought The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to the top of the box office, with 13 Academy Award nominations including Best Pictures.

All Quiet on the Western Front: Character Analysis

PAUL BÄUMER

         As the narrator and the protagonist of the story, young Paul Bäumer goes through changes as the story progresses. He was encouraged to join the war by his schoolteacher, and when he eventually faced the war directly himself, all he had learned from his school proved useless. Experience was what was valued on the battlefield of war. The brutality had certainly taken an impact on him. Before the war, Paul had compassion and held innocence. In spite of the fact that due to the horrors of war, it had destroyed his former interests and compassion for writing. In the novel, Paul stated that the camaraderie was what prevented him from going insane. After all, he had been cut off from the past by refusing to get too close to his dying mother, and he saw no future in his life anymore. A soldier's plight was to be pulled into war and that's how Paul, realizing that his enemies were just like him, changed. He had to change, or he would have gone insane. It was what wars did to soldiers, even to young ones like him. 

         In the beginning of the novel, Paul held several amorous beliefs of war. At school, he was taught that war was fought for the country, for patriotism and for nationalism. He believed that he was doing a great and noble thing by serving for his country when he went to war by joining the German side. Although, once Paul went to war and experienced the horrors and encountering deaths first-hand, his notions were forced to change. He grew out of his innocence when he had to experience losing friends to the war. Gradually, two years into the war, when he turned twenty-years-old, he had to detach from his sensitive and kind side. He had to learn how to survive. He had to learn how to deal with friends dying in pain in front of him. He had to deal to learn to deal with constant grief he had to encounter every day up in the front lines. 

Submarine SMASH Day Reflection

1. Summarize

2. Reflect

3. Tips and Suggestion  ca

-----------------------------------

1. 

     On Tuesday, February 10, 2009, we had SMASH Day.

 After hearing the very popular song by the Beatles, 'The Yellow Submarine,'  we immediately jumped into our monthly challenge. Our mission was to able to build a periscope to identify seven items or 'treasures' located in the cardboard box or 'the island.' We were provided with materials, which we put to use to complete our mission. The materials were multiple pieces of paper, long pieces of tape, and a big piece of cardboard, and also with four compact mirrors. With less than a hour, we had to make a homemade working periscope and identify the seven treasures. 

2.

     The way we approached this task was that we first drew a diagram, which we used as a hypothesis. In our diagram, we drew out how we thought with the materials provided, and how we could create a periscope with reflecting mirrors. We aimed to use the mirrors to reflect images so that from underwater in my group's submarine, we would be able to use the reflected imagery to see the 'treasures'. 

     Although, we did come across several problems that caused my group and I to modify the design. Since we were using cheap, recyclable scrap paper, we thought to give it firmer support, which the first model did not have. For a firmer support, we used cardboard because cardboard is relatively firmer than paper. We were able to communicate and modify because we all realized that without there being an adjustment, our periscope would not be upright. And also due to the fact that our periscope turned out to be long... It resulted in a little bit of floppiness. So, with fellow teammates there, we were able to lend each other a hand and help lift the periscope up. We were able to spot mistakes and then modify the design after experimenting. 

     

3.

     For future teams that work on this, I advise them to think simple... We modeled our design after an after periscope, but were not able to make the mirrors reflect off of each other so that from below the table or 'underwater', we could view the objects in the cardboard box or 'the island.' Surprisingly, the big winners were a group of people who kept it simple. So, the future teams who are faced with the challenge should definitely think outside the box. 

LA: WWI Germany

Task:

1. A summary of the document.

2. A 1-2 paragraph reflection on how the document might cause or relate to the situation in Germany after WWI.

3. A short summary about how this document might relate to your specific topic.

Document #2

http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Articles_118_-_158_and_Annexes

1. 

       The entire document with a numerable amount of articles is about German Rights and Interests Outside Germany. Within the document, there are sections:

Section I. German Colonies

Section II. China

Section III. Siam 

Section IV. Liberia

Section V. Morocco

Section VI. Egypt

Section VII. Turkey and Bulgaria

Section VIII. Shantung 

     All of the acts and agreements of Germany are influenced and related by the Allied and Associated Powers when renouncing claims and possessions, justifying acts like restoring China. The aftermath of World War I for Germany are the many rights and interests restored and renounced to influenced countries including treaties in Japan, the renouncement of the regime of the Capitulation in Egypt, the renouncement of all rights, privileges, titles by the Franco-German Agreements and more listed under each section found in the document.

2. 

     The consequences that influenced Germany after the first World War included social, economic, and political impact. Socially, it impacted the new Government, as the first President of the republic worked to gain support of the German army. As for the economic consequences of the war, billions of dollars were spent covering for the war. In other words, the German economy suffered greatly afterwards when many of the country's money went to fund for the major war. The economic situation went as far as to having a lack of raw materials. The third consequence involved politics, which resulted in abdication and a fall of a government in the near future. 

     The three consequences in the aftermath of the war are interconnected mainly due to German's loss in the major war, which resulted in consequences rather than rewards. Document #2 is about the acts and agreements. Most of these have been issued due to the downfall in the German economy. The country had suffered terribly with her people in poverty. Their involvement with other countries ended up being formed with treaties and agreements instead of a strong standing trade after the war. 

3.

       My group's question is... Why might this have been an opportune time for a dictator to come to power? What are some other examples of when a tough situation in a country allows a dictator to come to power? Why might poverty and defeat be conductive to the rise of a dictator? 

     I believe that Document #2 is loosely related to my group's question because the document is about rights and agreements whereas my question is asking about a dictatorship, with a rising power in mind. Although, the rights and agreements issued in Germany were mainly overseas and internationally with other countries. Therefore, a dictator could rise and start a power dominance within the country. 

Bin Laden Message Not Seen as Threat to U.S., Obama

Current Event #5

Bin Laden Message Not Seen as Threat to U.S., Obama

from reuters.com

http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed2/idUSTRE50D7WC20090115

--------------------

Who?

--> The U.S. government 

--> al Qaeda Osama bin Laden

--> Barack Obama, President of the United States

What?

--> The U.S. government dismissed an audio message from bin Laden that he was not a threat to Obama's inauguration 

--> Obama wanted bin Laden to be captured or killed or another way of protecting America

Where?

--> America

--> al Qaeda

--> Gaza

When?

--> Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

Significance of Article

--> Basically, this article is saying that bin Laden may been weakened by military hiding. He's still in hiding and the U.S. government is looking for him and Obama wants to protect America.

Is there bias?

--> Yes, I believe that there is bias because the article seems to be more on the American side, leaning more in favour towards the country than the possible threat of bin Laden's audio message. 

Fiji Floods Ease, 11 Dead and 9,000 Evacuated

Current Event #4

Fiji Floods Ease, 11 Dead and 9,000 Evacuated

from reuters.com

http://uk.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUKSYD366051

---------------------

What is the news story about?

-->Floods in Fiji are common, and the worst has yet to come, and a death toll on the rise. 

-->Their second major resource, sugarcanes, are being flooded and destroyed and resulting in a loss of millions of dollars.

-->Many people has been evacuated from their home.

Who is involved?

---> the people who live in Fiji.

---> the entire place

Where?

--> Fiji, the South Pacific island

When?

--> The death toll rate was taken on January 15 since the weekends and has risen to 11 and 9,000 people in shelter.

Significance of Article

--> Natural disaster that is happening in Fuji is causing consequences for the island. It is bringing evacuations, making people leave their homes and go to shelters, and the loss of numerous crops. 

Bias?

--> No, I don't think there is really any bias, since this seems more like a report, so there's really no sides to take. Although, countless victims of the flood had something to say, but never got their opinions into this article.