The Pursuit of Happiness (Not the movie :P)

I was reading the PDF from the Time Magazine and I was surprised to find out that only 1/3rd of Americans since 1972 have described themselves as “very happy.” One major reason for that happening is, I believe, that people are becoming more and more pessimistic about the future. They don’t know what to live for anymore. People still believe the old saying that “money solves all problems.” It is true that money can boost happiness if it helps you to obtain what you desire.
For example, people should not just settle in life with what they have if they are not happy. If you aren't satisfied, go and find something that you love doing. Like Steve Jobs said, “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet keep looking.” Even a recent survey suggests that, for example, previously out-of-work people are happier with their new job even if it doesn't pay as much because they love the job.

Social media also tends to affect a person immensely. For example, people will feel the need to share everything they are doing in their life maybe to get people to “like” your posts and comment. People are bringing in attention to themselves this way. People also tend to get depressed/jealous after scrolling through their Facebook or Twitter. The reason that happens is that people see pictures of others and tend to envy them. They also may get depressed because they see others supposedly leading fascinating lives while they are just on their phone scrolling through Facebook or other social media.

So what I think is that people should find something to live for. That is very important. You should find something in life that motivates you and keeps you going. As long as you are happy with what you are doing, that is all that matters.

Article here  :  
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2146449,00.html

Benefits of being self-disciplined

I was reading this article about self-discipline , it talked about people who have better self-control do many things that bring them happiness. They tend to avoid conflict and have better moods compared to their counterparts who don’t have such good self-control. The author said, “Feeling good rather than bad may be a core benefit of having good self-control, and being well satisfied with life is an important consequence.” (P.2)

People who have better self-control also tend to have fewer negative emotions. But having self-control is not easy, it all depends on how determined you are to succeed in your long-term goal. For example, dieting and exercising may seem like goals that will give you negative emotions, but if you succeed, you will be happy and proud of yourself. Self-control will not help you get instant pleasure, but it will be worth it in the long run.

There is also a distinct difference between those people who live a disciplined life and those who do not. Those who are more disciplined tend to plan for their long term goals and stick to it. I think that is a good thing, to be honest, I feel this article applies to me. Because I do have long-term goals and I do tend to avoid situations which I feel will compromise my goals.

http://healthland.time.com/2013/06/24/self-disciplined-people-are-happier-and-not-as-deprived-as-you-think/

The Pursuit of Happyness

The Pursuit of Happyness is a quintessential tale of the American Dream. A man who is poor, struggles and with his hard work, succeeds against all odds. It is a very touching movie. It is the happiness that the person attains after he finds out that he has succeeded after struggling which is so touching. If you are determined and you have the talent, you will surely succeed. It gives me hope that as long as I work hard and try my best, I will succeed. 

I think that the American dream exists to give you hope. It gives you hope that if you work hard enough, in the end you will succeed. It is a stereotype that a perfectly average person with an average income will be successful and lead a happy life as long as he works hard. But that is not always the case, as we have seen with Willy in the book , "Death of a Salesman". He worked so hard but what did he get at the end? Nothing. In contrast, the film, The Pursuit of Happiness, endorses the idea that as long as you are smart and willing to try your best, at the end you will surely succeed.

Of mice and men presentation

Notes
1. This story portrays Realism because we learn in the beginning of the story that the two guys’ are forced to leave their town because of what one of them had done there. As a result, they are jobless and in need of making money to make a living, to fulfill their dream. Every part of this story is portraying life in the real world.
2. The heroes in this novel are George and Lennie. In the story, George is the brains and the person who is in control. He understands how things should work and makes sure that everything is alright, knowing how to handle situations and doing what he should to settle things. Lennie, on the other hand, is a complete idiot who depends on George. He also loves to pet rats and bunnies, however he is easily enraged and can be easily overpowered by his enragement, which causes him to act stupidly sometimes. George and Lennie plan to eventually own a farm of their own, where the two of them can stay at forever and do as they like and wish. Also, instead of having them look for work at another person’s farm, they can employ people as they wish and get rid of people as they wish at the same time. They also describe how they can have the veggies and different things according to their likings, as well as Lennie can have his own bunnies to pet.
3.
    Chapter 1 - In chapter 1, we know of George and Lennie’s appearance. As the evening approached, they talked about how they got their new job after being thrown out of the place they used to be. George tells Lennie to not make the same mistake and tells him how he should act when they arrive at their new workplace. As they are having dinner George tells Lennie once again their future and as the night closes in, camps by the river.
  Chapter 2, 3, 4 - In chapters 2-4, Lennie and George are introduced to the different workers on the farm. As Slim gets to know about George and Lennie, Carlson takes action and shoots Candy’s old dog. Candy overhears George and Lennie when they talked about their dream and asks to join in. Also, Lennie is beaten by Curley who was looking for a person to let out his anger but in return Lennie breaks one of Curley’s arms. Last but not least, we know of Crook’s story and we also get to know of the situation between Curley and his wife.
    Chapter 5, 6 - We know that Lennie has killed the puppy he owns and tries to bury it, to cover up so that George wouldn’t find out. Curley’s wife appears and they talk. Eventually Curley’s wife learns that Lennie likes to touch soft things and offers her hair, however Lennie wouldn’t let go of it and in panic Curley’s wife screams. As a result of this, Lennie was frightened and grabs her but incautiously breaks her neck, killing her. After George finds out, he formed a plan so he wouldn’t be accused of being part. Curley is angry that Lennie killed her and brings a shotgun with a group of men to kill him. As Lennie waits beside the river, he sees visions of his Aunt Clara and a giant rabbit speaking to him in his own voice. George appears as it happens; they talk their usual dream like before, but George takes Carlson’s gun that he took and shoots him in the back of his head. George eventually is held by Slim and they go away.
4. Realism/Regionalism Analysis: How does your novel reflect or represent Realism/Regionalism? Provide specific examples from the author's writing style and choices of settings, characters, and plot. [3 min.]
In Of Mice and Men, the setting was two men who fled out of town because of the trouble that had done by Lennie who was mental disable. Lennie, one of the main characters in the story, likes to feel soft and nice things. He was accused of raping a girl but he actually just wanted to feel the girl’s red dress. Steinbeck put one mental disable person in the story to show the lack of humanity in the community and the fate of being naturally deformed. The story started as them discussing the strategies for finding a job to let themselves survive in the society. Finding a job seemed to be easy, but not anymore when one has mental disability. The beginning of the story illustrates clear obstacles in life and the difficulty when living in a society, which fits the style of Realism.
Every conversation in the story was written with several grammatical problems and spelling mistakes. There is even swearing appeared in the conversations. For example, after Lennie had killed Curley’s wife accidentally, Curley was pissed off and he swore: “I know who done it, that big sonofacitch done it. I know he done it. Why, ever’body else was out there plain’ horseshoes. I’m gonna get him… I’ll shoot’im in the guts.” In these sentences, instead of spelling out “everybody”, Steinbeck wrote “ever’body” with “ever” and apostrophe “body”, showing the accent and the speaking style of the farm man. Throughout the whole story, a lot of words were spelled wrongly on purpose, missing some letters or joining two words together. Like “course” instead of  “of course”, “an” instead of “and”, “can a’ tar” instead of “can of tar”… besides the conversations, the location the author chose was a place where people are plain and rustics. Most of the men that took roles in the story were ranch worker like Curley, skinners like Slim, and swamper like Candy. From the given examples, we can see that Regionalism is clearly used in Of Mice and Men.
5. Naturalism Analysis: What antagonistic forces do the heroes face during their struggle to accomplish their goals? Describe how the three ingredients of the naturalistic view of fate (chance, environment, and heredity--spend a little time on each one) affect the action or conclusion of the story. [3 min.]
The fate of Lennie was cruel. He was mental disable. He thinks like an infant, acts tardily and stupidly. He forgets things easily; he doesn’t know how the world and people are like. All these deform were given when he was born. His heredity controlled his life, and it is not his fault of being so stupid, it’s nature. His parents gave him the genes that cause all the disabilities. No one knows if one is going to be mentally disordered, or losing one arm or one leg. The nature controls over human being when considering the deformations of humans. Because of the sickness that Lennie had, George has to care for him while finding a place to live, finding a job to keep their lives going. Maybe there were chances for them to meet good people that can offer them jobs to do regardless the disabilities of Lennie, maybe they’d meet people that discriminate the two men because of the natural defects of Lennie. Chances for them were bad after understanding the whole story. They meet the boss who worked on the ranch and Lennie didn’t give a good impression to the boss. His disabilities even let him became murderer. Lennie died because of his disabilities, because of nature. Naturalism played a main role in Of Mice and Men, because there is Naturalism, Lennie is born to be mental disable.
6. Using the evidence you have just provided, state what the author intends to teach us about life, control, and the freedom of choice? [2 min.]
This story is not like many others that made a climax in the middle and ended with a happy ending. The end of the story was the death of Lennie. Steinbeck made the two characters harder to reach their dream, which was having their own ranch with a bunch of rabbits. He characterized Lennie as a simple-mind and mental disable person who had a beautiful dream that he tended to achieve. However, while our conditions are not that good for us to achieve things, it is easier for us to give up instead of keep going. But Lennie doesn’t think that much, he knew that sometimes you have to take the longer route in life before you can reach your destination, before you can “live off the fatta the lan’.” George is a character that really showed the good side of a person. He had choice to just leave Lennie and get a nice job and marry to a girl he likes and have children after then. Notwithstanding his complains and swearing at Lennie, he chose to stay with him and take care of him. The choice may not be his full will, but he chose to do it, however. George showed the humanity and the morality even though Lennie brought him so much trouble that almost killed them. While chasing the dream, it is good to chase after it without hesitation, but did George have the same dream with Lennie? Were all the promises he said to Lennie true? They might be false, but helping others might get you to find your dreams. George was not happy all the time when being with Lennie the trouble maker, but he found that he can’t leave Lennie alone because he had already treated him like a little brother. George found happiness when helping Lennie and taking care of him. Maybe we should all try to find some people we like to be with them in order to find your true happiness and maybe even more, to find your dreams

Of mice and men presentation am lit by Chanda, Aleena, and Vivian

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Mark Twain/Regionalism story

Regionalism: It is a type of writing which refers to the "local color" of the region. By "local color", they refer to the special qualities of the city such as the language, their traditions, customs, the surrounding, etc.

How Mark Twain represents regionalism: In his stories, he would add in some unique characteristics of the town to make us feel as if we were actually there.He did that by using incorrect grammar and words on purpose to make us feel as if we're experiencing it first hand.

Regionalism STORY:

It was one bright and sunny day as usual, I was walkin. down the road to meet friend. We was gonna go see our  farm, ma friend and I. It was ma family farm. We was gonna go there to check everything. Now, ma friend was a very ca-razy person. One time, we went fishing together. We couldn't caatch a single fish for many, many hours. Suddenly ma friend caught somethin, we both got very excited. He asked for my help. But it was too heavy and we felt like we had caught somethin' big. But then suddenly ma friend fell into the water, and he was screamin' for help. Luckily there were many other people there fishin' too so they came and helped out. Finally he was rescued.Thank goodness for their heelp. We were very embarrassed, so we went back quickly. But ma friend din't give up, no he din't, he went back there the next day to try again. But this time, he went all by himself . Even though he fell once, he wanted to try his luck again. But sadly he fell again, and he fell the third time too. After falling so many times, he promised hisself, that he would nevver evver go fishin' agaain.Now what was I talkin' about? ah, yes I was talkin'about me and ma friend visiting the farm. While we was visitin' the faarm, the chickens were suddenly let loose and they started runnin' all over the place. I said," We ought to do something, now don't we?"The laborers was screamin' and was sayin', Help us catch the chickens?! So ma friend and I started helpin' them. I myself caught a few. But ma friend, he tripped over the eggs and that was not a pretty sight. His clothes and his hair became sticky and gooey and disgusting. And then he said,"Aw, dang, why does this always happen to me?!" Everyone started laughin' at him, and we forgot all about those chickens. So those chickens started getting away and they started runnin' onto the streets. We thought this would take forever.But then we ran onto the streets and caught those chickens. They thought they was clever, but no they wasn't 'cause at the end, we still caught 'em. Even though it was one crazy day,both of us still had a mighty good time at the farm.

Freeing the Slaves

My topic will be on Child Labor in China. The children are usually between the age of 5-17. The factory workers just pay them a little.They have to work for long hours in extreme conditions in the factories. They have to work under risky circumstances. But those kids still work because their family needs that source of income. Their families are poor so they have to work to support their family.They leave school to help support their family because  the school fees are too high, they can't afford it.Some of these kids would even use fake ID cards to show they are 16 or older.

Here is an example: a headmaster of a school employed students from his school to work in his private toy factory. When he was caught, he said he was just giving these kids an opportunity to earn money. In China, they have a law that doesn't allow children under the age of 16 to work. But they say under special circumstances, these kids can work Ex:"Educational Labor"~basically schools would have their students do some work like growing and harvesting crops. But most employers end up abusing this law and make their students do a lot of heavy labor. Ex: In Sichuan, 500 children were found working 14 hour shifts in a factory. Their school employed to work during the summer. The living conditions were poor, not enough food etc.The problem is that China doesn't do much to enforce its laws. International Labor Standards- their job is to make sure that there is no child labor in poor countries etc. They try to help by organizing labor unions to do that.

Sources:
http://childlabour.in/child-labour-in-china.htm
http://www.china-labour.org.hk/en/node/15889

http://china.hrw.org/press/news_release/china_end_child_labor_in_state_schools

http://homeport.tcs.tulane.edu/~rouxbee/kids99/china2.html

http://www.glica.org/topics/show/11
http://www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/sweat/china.htm

http://www.hrw.org/news/2007/12/02/china-end-child-labor-state-schools

Video Blog

Romanticism vs Realism
In romanticism, the characters are larger than life, and it is usually very exaggerated.In realism, it shows what may happen in real life, the ordinary things that happen in our daily lives.Example of romanticism:The Patriots. Example of realism: In the story we read in class, An Episode of War


Stream of consciousness 200 words.....

Wait, what just happened? I just lost my arm?! I can't believe I lost my arm?! It just happened so fast! How will I survive with only one arm? But it's ok, I guess,at least I did not die.......What will my family think? I wonder...... I think the way I lost my arm is so weird?! We soldiers were just playing archery. Because we did not have much to do and we were just goofing off. But I never expected to lose an arm?! So this is what actually happened, one of the soldier were playing archery and I wasn't paying much attention and the bow hit me accidentally. I was so shocked! We all were actually. We were worried about what would happen now. I was thinking if my arm would be saved or if I would lose it forever. My arm was bleeding a lot. We ran to find the nearest doctor. But when we found him, he said, it's too late now. You will have to get it amputated. I was very surprised, angry and shocked but accidents do happen from time to time. So then the doctor amputated my arm and I was only left with one arm.

Group:me, Vivian, Emily, ivy, Annika, Sally

Stream of consciousness

I remember going for a walk in a park and watching little kids play together. Then I thought about my childhood and how much things have changed now.I thought about the park, there used to be swings in that park too, but now there are only slides. Then I thought about the things I used to do then. Then I thought about how much innocent we all were as kids. Then I saw a person playing badminton over there then I thought to myself that I hadn't played badminton for a long time, and I would play this weekend. Then I thought about how much I used to play badminton when I was a child. I remember I used to play every weekend. I remember how fun it used to be. I remember I would go after breakfast and play for like 2-3 hours.Then I thought about how much HW I have now and how much more busy I am than in the past. But it's ok, I told myself. Then I went back home and watched some TV. Then I thought about the TV program I just watched. I thought about what happened on the TV show. Then I started thinking about the movie stars. Then i started thinking about movie awards. I remembered it was fun to watch.And I enjoyed it a lot. Then I thought about the people that won.I thought some of them deserved to win, but some of them didn't really deserve to win but they won anyways.

Conditions on a Slave Ship

      











SOURCES:


#1-http://4thebest4e.tripod.com/id15.html
#2-http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASships.htm
#3-http://www.melfisher.org/exhibitions/lastslaveships/slaveships.htm
#4-http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2956.html
#5-http://www.bristolandslavery.4t.com/auctions.htm
#6-http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0212661/id19.
#7-http://www.historyonthenet.com/Slave_Trade/middle_passage.htm

The slaves on the slave ships were treated "as a cargo of livestock"(#3).Even though the conditions on the slave ships were horrible, 4 out of 5 Africans, on average, survived the journey(#3).They were treated as if they were not human(#5). Slaves were treated as property(#4). The sailors didn't give them much food to eat, because they thought food was expensive to buy so they bought as little as possible(#1).When the Africans were taken aboard the ship, they were frightened, because they thought that the White people would eat them(#6). They would even whip and beat the slaves if they did anything wrong. There was not much fresh air to breathe(#2). There was a lot of disease going around the slave ships so a lot of Africans died(#1).Disease was spread easily on the ships because of poor hygiene(#1). They were packed together so it was very very crowded(#1).The Africans didn't have much space to move around(#1). The Africans were chained so they could not move at all because of this reason, the slave ships turned into "a stinking mass of human waste"(#7).To many Africans on slave ships, death was more preferable than life(#1).Some of them tried to die by starving themselves(#7).But if the slaves chose not to eat, they would force them to eat, they would even be whipped for not eating (#7). Some tried to die by jumping overboard and basically committing suicide(#7).They also believed that when you die, you go back to your family and friends(#1).When an African died on a slave ship, they would just throw them aboard(#6).The slave ships would usually take the Africans from Africa to the West Indies or North America(#2).They would chain the slaves on the ankle and on the wrist(#1).They would even auction off the slaves(#5). The healthy slaves would be worth more than the weak ones(#5).

TAPA SINGING!

I hear TAPA singing many different varieties of carols;
Those in POH/OH, singing about the bunch of HW and projects in all of their classes;

Those SENIORS, singing about the college essays they have to write and preparing for college;
The Seniors, soon singing good bye to high school and hello to college;
The Juniors, singing about the SAT tests they soon have to take ;
Those in HSP1, singing about how difficult it is to learn English;
Those in chemistry, singing as they mix different chemicals together and hoping they won't damage anything ;
The Freshmans, who just entered high school, singing about how easy, life was in grade school last year;
Those in A.P. classes, singing about the hardships of taking college level classes in high school and the AP test at the end of the school year?!
The Sophomores, singing merrily as they don't have much to worry about;
The teachers, singing about the huge pile of things they have to grade before school ends;

Singing with their open mouths, their strong melodious songsTips:
1.HSP1 students can improve their English if they start talking more English and start reading more books in English.
2.Those in POH/OH, they can do their HW and projects in advance if they don't want to be stressed out at the end of the semester.

Innovation

Ben Franklin: He was a very creative person. He liked to invent different things to make people's lives easier. And he wouldn't stop trying to find a solution until he found a solution. He was determined to invent new things.  He tried to achieve perfection.

I found this article of something that happened on my birthday from WIRED.com.


Sept. 11, 1998: Starr Report Showcases Net’s Speed

By David Kravets September 11, 2009
12:00 am
Categories: 20th century, Communication, Computers and IT



1998: Sept. 11 is a black day in American history, on at least two counts … this is the other one. Exactly three years before the attacks in New York and Washington, Congress releases the contents of the infamous Starr report on the internet, which leads to the impeachment of a U.S. president.



It’s a significant event, not only in the life of Bill Clinton but also for the unprecedented blending of the media and internet in government transparency.



For the first time, if you didn’t have the net, you were missing history — in this case, the salacious details of the 42nd president’s sexual escapades with 22-year-old White House intern Monica Lewinsky. A lot people missed it. When Congress released the 445-page Starr report, the word blogosphere had yet to be coined and Twitter was still a sound made by birds.



Three months later, the scathing account of executive sexual prowess led to President Clinton’s impeachment. (Clinton was acquitted of all charges, perjury and obstruction of justice, in a Senate trial.)



Formally called the Referral From Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr in Conformity with the Requirement of Title 28, United States Code, Section 595(c), the report’s online debut provided the American public with its first unfiltered access to a current, yet historical, document. (Well, it was almost instant. Government servers kept crashing after the public was required to download the 445-page document in one file.) News outlets scrambled to publish it in pieces.



Equally, the report’s release underscored the power of the internet that was on its way to giving birth to a frenzy of venture funding that included millions invested, or wasted, on the absurd dream of bringing smell to what we once called the World Wide Web.



But as the internet bubble was gurgling, web traffic almost doubled from the previous day when the Starr report was released. According to J.D. Lasica, a social media critic, CNN.com was the first news outlet to post the report, only hours after its being hosted on government servers.



CNN was scoring an as-yet-unheard of 300,000 clicks a minute. MSNBC tallied nearly 2 million hits — a one-day record — and about 20 million people read the report within two days.



While presenting monster technical difficulties for government, web surfers and the media, the report’s online release shed light on what the mainstream media would never publish: the details of Clinton’s sexual escapades in the White House that led to the first perjury and obstruction charges against a sitting U.S. president since the 19th century.



Traditional media, meanwhile, danced around the lurid details. The Washington Post, for example, simply ran the transcript of Starr’s report without discussing any of the specifics. It did provide an editor’s note: “Some of the language in these documents is sexually explicit.” Countless other news outlets issued similar warnings.



Today, with the enormous influence of the internet, mainstream media might be more inclined to tell all. Yet, it’s doubtful that even now we would find the word “cigar” used in that context in a newspaper headline or a TV video stream.



Source: OIC



Top Photo: This Official White House photo taken Nov. 17, 1995, from page 3179 of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr’s report on President Clinton, showing President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky at the White House.

FRONTIERS

Summary: In this video, Pyle talks about coral reefs.  He wanted to discover a way to go between 200-500 ft in the water to discover different species living there, that are unknown to us. So he made a breathing device that works well between 200-500 ft under water. It was quieter, it lasted longer and it allowed them to go much deeper in the ocean. His frontier: parts of the coral reefs others have never explored. He found many different species of fishes and he named them.

I think it was interesting. I learned more about the coral reefs. There are many species of animals living deep down in the ocean that no one has discovered yet. As time passes by, I'm sure they will get discovered.

I would like to explore space, like different planets in space like Venus, Saturn etc. I would have to create something that would contain oxygen for a very long time and things like that. I would need to make a "shelter" or something like that, so I can stay there while I stay on the planets. The "shelter" would have to be portable so I can keep moving from planet to planet. I would explore then tell the people on earth what I discovered.

Survival skills project

Reason: The Europeans must have pickled their vegetable/Fruits so that they could use it during their long voyages. When you pickle your food, you're actually preserving it. After preserving foods you can use it for like 1 or 2 years.

Summary: So we demonstrated in the video how to pickle some vegetables like carrots successfully.

Steps:
First, you have to boil the vegetables till they are tender.
Second, sterilize the jars by boiling it in hot water for about 30-40 min.third, in a pan, combine vinegar, salt, sugar, water and mustard seeds and boil it. After you boil those things, add any vegetables to it and put it in the jar. Make sure the level of the liquid is above the vegetables. Then wait till it cools and then you have to seal it tightly. This pickle can be used for an year.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/nGZQ_2VMfko


Partner: Eddie

Columbus Project

Group 1 Motives
political motives
It is easier for countries that had a coastline.The Europeans found Asia and they found it valuable things there like spices.
They liked spices a lot. They wanted to find a route to Asia to get these spices, then they could sell it for a High price. they also wanted to find gold and silver, these kinds of treasures..
Religion Motives
Crusades- in late 1400s
There was only one religion in Europe Christianity.
Knowledge motives
They had no idea how large the world is.
They thought the earth was flat.
Gain knowledge that there were other countries too.
Myths
Ponce de Leon found Florida but he was looking for the island of Bemini
He was looking for the fountain of youth
There were other myths like the 7 cities of gold
Rating: 9 out of 10

4th Group Navigation
Columbus wasn't the first person to discover America.

They had to use astrolobe, compass.
The sailors had to be well educated, smart.
They used sandglass, to record information about how long the trips took.
Pole stone: basically a compass it shows the way.
Compass rows: 32 points on a compass. When a young boy went to sea, they had to know how to use it, and the way to use it.
Celestial navigations
Observe the sun, moon, stars to measure the distance from one place to another.
Columbus used, quadrant , astrolobe, compass.
Astrolabe and quadrant only could measure vertical angles.
I think their way of presenting was fine, only I couldn't hear a few people.
Rating 8 out of 10

Navigation 2 group
Columbus discovered islands he thought were near Asia .
A pilot would stay in a specific area. They were only an expert in a specific area
Chart was called portolan.
Gave info where the ports were.
People believed there were mermaids in the sea that would distract the sailors.
The Europeans didn't have too much information about the oceans.These were some of their myths. They thought there was only one ocean. They didn't know much about Asia.
I think they did an ok job. They could have given a little more info.
Rating: 8 out of 10.

3 types of boats
Santa maria- 75 ft long, 25 feet wide, 400 tons
Nina
Pinta

Capabilities
Santa Maria- carry cargo, fat,heavy deep draft
Nina,Pinta- smaller,
These boats didn't have engines
They moved by the power of wind.
Bow- front part of the ship
Stern- back part of a ship
The sails were made out of cloth.

Town Myths of Taiwan

Once upon a time , there was a city by the name of Taichong. This city got it's name in a very unusual way by a very special person. There was once a boy by the name of Little Chong. He came from a very small family, only he and his mom. His father died unfortunately because of overwork. So Little Chong had to support his mom. He had to start working from a young to help earn money. Little Chong and his mom used to work in the fields the whole day, from early morning to late at night. Little Chong vowed to get revenge for his father. After a few years, now Little Chong has become an adult.
He decided to make a plan how to seek revenge for his father. He worked really hard on this. He got many people to join him to seek revenge. He got his friends and his mom all to support him. And then one night everyone got together and they went to their boss' house at night and they protested about overwork how they have to work from early morning to late at night. They protested about how that was not fair at all. There were so many people, and they boss was so frightened he had no choice but to surrender and give the people what they asked for. Little Chong was the leader since he arranged it.Everyone was so proud of Little Chong that they ultimately named the city after him. Tai- for Taiwan and Chong for Little Chong. So this is the story of how Taichong got it's name.

Myth skits

At first we saw a skit where there was a big bear and a person from a village. It was really funny. The way that the bear got killed was by an arrow. There was a fight scene between the bear and the villager too. The way that they presented the skit was very funny. And and the end the person who killed the bear became the chief of the village.
Then the second skit was our skit. It was really fun to present it. Everyone was laughing a lot. Angel and I played the role of the villagers who were planning to kill the bear and then eat it for a ceremony.Sian and Eddie played the role of hunters who killed the bear. And Anderson played the role of a girl bear. It was funny because some of us didn't completely remember the lines and we needed to use the iPad. Then one of the hunters killed the bear and the bear dies. Then the other hunter got married to the bear who got turned into a human. It was a very funny story.
Then the last story was about a bird who is the chosen one to defeat another bird or something like that. Then that bird is isolated and goes through a lot of training and finally defeats the bad bird. This story was ok but I didn't really like it that much. I liked the first and second story more than the third story.

Listening video

Today we watched a video about how people listen to each other nowadays. The truth is that people don't listen as much nowadays. People only listen to things that matter to them,like the person they are talking with, or they might listen to music on their headphones.People don't even have to talk as much because there are things like e-mail. If you think about it, it's actually not such a good thing. Because they are not interacting as much they are just using different types of technology to communicate with others.