Outside Reading Post 28

For today's outside reading post, I want to comment on the article, Disease, by Maggie McPherson, on MSN. This article was talking about how disease plays a big role in the development of modern medicine, and I found it kind of interesting to read about. One example she used was Polio. It's a rare disease, but it had killed a lot of people when there was no vaccine for it. The development of modern medicine found a vaccine for Polio, and now it's almost completely gone from our world. I found this article interesting because the author mainly used hard core evidence to prove her point. I looked into her evidence that she used and they really helped back up her point. Anyways, it just gave me ideas for essay writing and such.

Outside Reading Post 27

The movie "Mall Cop" is about a man who tries to overdo his job as a security guard at the West Pavillion Mall. The main conflict within the movie is that a group of gang members takes over the mall and tries to steal 30 million dollars, but Paul Blart, the mall cop, tries to save the day. While trying to save the mall, Paul is infatuated with one of the hostages held by the group of gang members, Amy. I don't want to kill the movie for anyone, so I won't say what happens at the end. I really enjoyed this movie because it was not only funny, but it was action-packed. It had a few interesting twists as well which really made the ending that more anticipating to watch. Overall, I give that movie 4 stars out of 5.

Outside Reading Post 26

For today's outside reading post, I want to comment on studying for finals week. Recently I've been reading about every textbook that the school has distributed to me and I find it really frivolous to go through each and every one of them just ace my finals. For example, while I was going through my AP World textbook, I not only felt pressured to cram things into my mind, but at the same time I felt that I needed to mentally update my head; I've apparently missed a lot of important information. That was my wake up call, I needed to up my game for finals week. Just from that little reading I did in my textbook, I somewhat remember the information because I think when people are under pressure, the brain tends to start working harder than it needs to. And by all means, if that must be done, let it be done. So for today, and the next two nights, I will do some hardcore studying; even if it turns out to not really help me at all. Goodluck to me haha.

Outside Reading Post 25

For tonight's outside reading blog, I want to comment on "The Trial of Galileo", by Doug Linder. The account was of how Galileo's belief in a Copernican Universe led to his eventual death by fighting against the Catholic Church. In the early 1620s, Galileo invented the telescope, which he used to confirm the idea of a Copernican Universe, a universe where the sun is the center of the universe, and the planets orbit around it. Everyone else believed in Ptolemaic Universe, where the Earth was in the center and the sun and planets orbited it. Galileo believed that he was right and this cause was worth fighting for. Galileo changed the views of many scholars with his telescope, but he could not alter the views of the cardinals and priests of the Catholic Church. In 1633, Galileo was accused of false injuction, from the reading, "As a salutary penance we impose on you to recite the seven penitential psalms once a week for the next three years. And we reserve to ourselves the power of moderating, commuting, or taking off, the whole or part of the said penalties and penances." I believed that his was way to cruel to sentence to a man who had different beliefs than the rest of us. It seemed both unfair and stupid to do such a thing. I guess the Church had a lot of power back in the days. I'm glad we have freedom of speech.

Outside Reading Post 24

For today's regular blog post, I want to just comment on a section of the play, "A Midsummer's Night Dream." This play was originally written by William Shakespeare, and then used to be acted out in a movie like fashion. One particular scene that I would like to focus on today would be the scene where Puck, a fairy under control by Oberon, uses the red flower to make Lysander fall in love with Hermia. In my opinion, I thought this scene was actually funny. I thought it was interesting that the plot would be affected so greatly by this one tiny mistake by Puck, it led to other complications with Lysander's true love, and also Hermia's true love. This play depicted how love affects human hearts and what love can do to human emotion. I really enjoyed that scene because of the fact that it was a small mistake, but with big consequences, which in turn actually made the play more interesting to watch anyways.

Outside Reading Post 23

Recently I surfed the web and found a bunch of interesting articles about science, I didn't read them all, but I did happen to read this one about hydrogen. The article title was, "Hydrogen, the most powerful of its kind." This article in particular focused on the the atomic structure of the element, hydrogen, H for its elemental abbreviation. The author, Dan Brown, is a college student who is completely fascinated with the uses of elements. For this particular element, hydrogen, he describes how destructive it can be; his main focus was hydrogen bombs. He explains how hydrogen bombs get its energy from a combination of nuclear fusion by hydrogen isotopes. This fusion of the isotopes has a mass smaller than the original size of a hydrogen atom, the difference thus appearing as energy. From the article, "The end product again weighs less than its components, the difference once more appearing as energy. Because extremely high temperatures are required in order to initiate fusion reactions, the hydrogen bomb is also known as a thermonuclear bomb." I also learned that there is a such thing as a nuclear nation club, a club for nations that have admitted to having the ability to create nuclear weapons and store them. I really enjoyed this article because it was so fascinating and very informal.

Outside Reading Post 22

For today's blog post, I will comment on the ending of the book, "The Giver". Personally, I didn't like the ending of the book. In my opinion, it was total bs ! The book didn't even end properly. It left the reader guessing about what happened to Jonas, the main character, and Gabe, another protagonist. I really hate open ended endings, they aren't very fun. On the other hand, I did enjoy the vivid imagery presented within the last chapter. From the reading, "I put every last image of warmth into his body, hoping that it would keep us through the blizzard." In this scene, Jonas has abandoned his community, and he is on a search for a new home; he and Gabe encounter a snow storm, and it's the last difficulty until they both finally find a home with a family in it. And that's where it ends, how lame right ? Utter fail, but I still recommend you all to read it !

Outside Reading Post 21

For tonight's outside reading post, I will post on the movie, Bedtime Stories,with Adam Sandler. Overall, I thought that this movie was very fun filled and a fun movie to watch. One particular scene that I really enjoyed was when it was raining gumballs, I enjoyed that dramatic irony; the character that Adam Sandler played was unaware that a candy truck had crashed and gumballs were falling down the bridge. I also want to comment on the vivid images that were presented during the story telling. The movie was a fun get away for people who needs a relaxing time away from reality, I give it 2 thumbs up.

Outside Reading Post 20

For todays belated blog post, I will post on the play, "All My Sons". First of all I'd really like to just comment on the overall thought of the play; it was very good except for the lack of change of scenes. The whole play took place in the Keller's back yard! I also would like to comment on the screenplay; I really enjoyed how the story kept itself moving, without filler scenes. One particular scene that I thought was very dramatic but at the same time important was the ending scene where Joe Keller kills himself. I really thought that this scene brought the whole play together, and introduced the moral of the story. I really thought that the moral was to not lie, but based on the ethical deliema presented within the story, I thought that Chris should have gave his father another chance. A son doesn't abandon his father for a mistake, b/c a father wouldn't do that to his son. Just a personal opinion I had about the ending of the play.