Tag Archives: wk6

Episode I-VI (MAYBE EVEN VII)

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Judging from my title, I hope you already know what I am about to reveal as this weeks best movie I’ve watched ever. Here are some hints. There are a bunch of episodes to them (duh). They are considered classics. Multiple variations of the films have been adapted or parodied in the past. A famous incorrectly quoted quote from the film reads “Luke, I am YOUR FATHER!!!!!!!!” If you guessed the Star Wars trilogies, then you are right on the spot. Star Wars, created by George Lucas back in the days, have been a running franchise that have defined a generations childhood. They are one of the best film series ever created. People tend to say the first three episodes (episodes IV-VI that is) were the best and the last three episodes were simply ok. Personally, I’ve watched the last three episodes (I-III) first and only viewed parts of the first three episodes, and think they are awesome. But in this post, I want to address all the films from episode I to VI since you have to see it all to understand the entire story line and bask in their holy awesomeness. Here’s a general synopsis from a galaxy far far away…

During a period where multiple civilization across galaxies interact with each other, there exists these awesome knights that fight evil: the Jedi Knights. These protectors of good can fight with lightsabers and move matter at will. Two master Jedis Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi Wan Kenobi (Qui-Gon’s apprentice) found a child named Anakin Skywalker who has super high power potentials to become a Jedi because of his strong ties towards the Force (the almost supernatural power that gives Jedi’s their power). Anakin was trained under Obi Wan as his apprentice and becomes an awesome Jedi. Together, they fight the Dark Side (evil antagonist of the film) by siding with the good side, the Republic. In the first few films (as in the new films of eps I- III), Count Dooku was the main antagonist. He’s a Jedi who fell towards the dark side and has immense powers; he even ends up cutting  Anakin’s hand. But later on, Anakin comes back after training and defeats Dooku, who became known as Darth Tyranus. The Sith Lords or powerful beings of the Dark side take on the name of Darth and the powerful Sith lord who Tyranus does his bidding for was Darth Sidious. Darth Sidious disguises himself as the Chancellor of the Republic and after the death of Dooku, he influences Anakin and eventually gets Anakin to turn to the dark side as well. Obi Wan tries to persuade Anakin to come back, reminding him of his loving wife, Padme Amidala, and his to-be-born children (who are Luke and Leia), but failed. Anakin eventually becomes one of the most powerful Sith Lords every: Darth Vader!

My summary essentially consists of the Episode I-III of the film and I’ll leave the other three episodes a mystery for you to find out. I definitely think watching this film is a right choice if you haven’t see it. Once you have seen all six, wait for the seventh one to come out in 2015 created by Disney!

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/02/standalone-star-wars/

Here’s the link to ALL SIX TRAILERS

Did you know that you can generate a vast amount of energy by simply contributing your poop?

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As a part of people’s daily ritual, they use the bathroom. After they are done, they leave the bathroom a little lighter because they have dropped off their biological waste. Poop is generally viewed as disgusting and probably is making you uncomfortable since I am talking about it. But what if I tell you that poop can be the source to the world’s energy problem? In the last two weeks, I’ve introduced solar and wind power as potential alternative sources of energy. This week, I want to introduce a new, and even CLEANER (wait for the pun) way of obtaining alternative energy: pooping!

Biomass energy is a type of energy source in which waste, such as dead material (plants, animals, etc.), garbage, and animal feces, can be used to generate energy through a process of burning. It can use anything that humans mostly deem as waste and convert it into energy. The process is very simple. People amass a bunch of waste material and then burn them at a Biomass power plant. The heat is used to boil water and the steam will run electric turbines that will send power to our electrical grids, providing energy to our homes, businesses, and other places.

The three main burning products used are wood, waste, and alcohol. All three products can be generated naturally in excess. We may want to steer away from burning all the wood in the world to save our trees, but an option to overturn this is to plant more trees. If Biomass energy becomes prominent, then it’ll be a flourishing business to grow huge tree farms to sustain energy, creating a cycle in which trees are planted and burned to create energy. As for waste, humans have so much junk that is taking up landfills that it has even become an issue. That’s how advocacy for recycling came to be; people wanted to reuse items so that landfills will shrink. But if we can burn all the waste (well, most of them since some things aren’t good to be burned), then we drastically reduce the landfills, hitting two birds with one stone. Finally, for alcohol, making alcohol is probably a fairly simple process that can be done in excess. Burning all the alcohol may be upsetting for some of the public, but breweries and distilleries can definitely produce at a rate in which people can still get their share of drinks while energy levels are kept. Maybe it can be a law to allow individuals to distill alcohol to create their own sustainable energy for their house and drinks on the side (another win-win situation).

In addition, biomass energy can also be accumulated in another way: Landfill Gas. All the garbage sitting at the dump will constantly give off methane gas. Pipelines can be used to collect the gas and according to the EPA, methane can be burned to produce heat and generate electricity, similar to the method in burning biomass. (http://www.epa.gov/climatestudents/solutions/technologies/methane.html)

The burning of biomass and collection of methane can be a great contributor to stemming away from the use of natural fuel. First of all, unlike fossil fuels, the products used in the burning processes are all renewable so we don’t need to worry about running out of fuel source. Secondly, it helps us remove the waste we have accumulated on this earth. This way, land will open up for other uses and also making us an efficient race of people. But with its advantages, biomass energy also has its disadvantages. For example, we are still  burning stuff with biomass, so it still creates CO2 as a by-product, a contributing factor to global warming since it’s a greenhouse gas. However, this can be easily deterred since we just need to plant more trees to counteract the CO2 accumulation.

Overall, the use of biomass energy definitely can be a viable form of energy source. Combined with solar and wind power, I really don’t see how running out of fossil fuels can hurt the human race and drive us back to the Stone Age. Humans are an adaptive species and creative as well. There will be more alternative sources of energy I will mention in the coming weeks and I believe the use of all these methods will definitely allow for sustainable energy in the absence of fossil fuels.

http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/01335/welcome.htm

http://www.renegy.com/biomass.html

 

Educational Shut Down

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The government shut down that occurred on October 1, 2013 has put the government in a position where nothing can be done. Internet sites, public facilities, and government programs that all rely on an active Congress have not been functional for the past week and a half. Even education initiatives, like the Head Start program, have been closed, sending children who are in need of extra educational attention home. Ms. Jenny Lu Mallamo voices her opinion on the situation in her article “From Head Start to Harvard,” praising the necessity of such programs for kids.

In her article, Mallamo provides examples from her personal experience. Her entire family (including herself) immigrated from China in the early 1990s for her father to finish his graduate degree. Her mother didn’t have a job, and her father only made a meager sum of money. No one in her family spoke English well, so surviving in a foreign nation was tough. However, her parents ” believed that giving [her] a quality education was key to achieving the American Dream,” so they enrolled her into the Head Start program. Mallamo loved the Head Start program because of her teacher, Ms. Cathy. Ms. Cathy is a caring woman who made it her priority to visit the Mallamo household and take personal initiates to educate Mallamo. It was because of Ms. Cathy that Jenny Mallamo prospered in America’s educational system. Now, as the years past, the author has made it through Harvard, commonly known to people as the best university in the world. By illustrating her personal experience, Mallamo wants her audience to know how important the Head Start program can be. It’s a powerful educational initiative that makes the Cinderella story come true, allowing the poor to ascend into the middle class and maybe even above.

Mallamo succeeds in persuading her audience by playing on their emotions. After reading a story about a small foreign girl becoming a Harvard graduate, the viewers are compelled to feel inspired. They would also feel a sense of sympathy for the author because of how much her family struggled. In addition, logically, they can see the connections between the Head Start program and success. And the government shut down that’s currently taking place hinders thousands of children from gaining an education. Thus, the solution to help the kids is to reopen the government back to its functional state. Although Mallamo doesn’t provide a method to open the government, she does provide the incentive for her readers to take action.

Why did the government shut down? How did Obamacare have a hand in this? These questions are what the citizens should find an answer for. To be an active citizen is to participate in the country’s politics, so understanding the cause of the government shut down is the first step towards helping the government reestablish itself. As for the second step, each citizen just has to weigh in what he or she can do to support. Some may not have the power to do so, but there are also others who can. Just know that the longer the shut down drags out, the longer the Head Start program cannot provide quality education for the kids.

Government-Shutdown-640x350headstartlogo

http://socialnewsdaily.com/17481/government-shutdown-hot-on-facebook-over-45-million-mentions/

http://gadhs.org/

Mallamo, Jenny Lu. “From Head Start to Harvard.”  Time.com. Time Magazine, 4 Oct. 2013. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.

 

Abe in 2012

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He was a man of the people, growing up in a poor family but eventually becoming one of the most famous men in US history. He unified the nation during a time of division; he freed about half the nation from slavery by signing the Emancipation Proclamation. He’s Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. The accomplishments of President Lincoln has been incomprehensible by the people today, for not many can objectively interpret his life and no one can subjectively live it. But lucky for most, the a new film almost perfectly portrays his years during the Civil War. It all comes down to the performance of Daniel Day-Lewis who personified Lincoln to the best of his ability that probably after watching the film, every viewer will see his image when they think of Lincoln’s appearance. Here’s the synopsis ( a quick history lesson):

The Civil War was a tough time for the United States. The Southern Confederates–supporters of slavery–seceded from the Union (the rest of the nation), which led to an all out war between the brothers of one country. As the president of the Union, Lincoln’s main goal was to preserve the United States and take back the rebel states rather than ridding slavery (the common notion most people have towards the purpose of the war). The film tracks all of Lincoln’s political tactics, revealing how he persuades his party to draft the 13th amendment and how he negotiates with the South for peace. From what I’ve noted, the film seems pretty straightforward like a page from the history book. However, the audience watching the film experiences more than just words plastered on paper. The emotions that Daniel Day-Lewis evoke moves the audience in an impressive way; I can literally feel how tired Lincoln had become through the fours years of warfare. He has shouldered so much stress, from the war and from the loss of a child, that physically in the film, his hair grayed and his face aged. There’s one scene at the very end of the film where we see Lincoln finally SIT DOWN, a gesture that illustrates how he’s constantly in motion through the war and only at the end of the war does he take a break to breathe. So basically, the movie is an inspiring drama that documents the greatness of one man, a person who made steps towards creating an unified and equal nation.

Lincoln may be a long film, it’s a must see. Why? Because, not only do you gain historical insight into one of the greatest Presidents in history, you also learn a lot of moral duties a citizen owes to his nation. So now, you have to take some time out of your life, even if it’s pushing back the essay due on Monday, to soak in the wisdom and inspiration behind this film.LINCOLNdaniel-day-lewis-lincoln

 

http://gayhistoryproject.epgn.com/historical-profiles/lincoln-a-life-in-the-closet/

http://www.apnatimepass.com/daniel-day-lewis-in-lincoln-movie-15.php