1984 Review

1984
By George Orwell
Reviewed by Ben H
1984, by George Orwell, is a science fiction novel about what the author thinks is going to happen in the future. Since Orwell wrote this book in 1950, 1984 was 34 years into the future. The story follows Winston Smith's life, the main character in the novel. As the book goes on, Winston starts discovering some of the many mysteries the corrupt government, the Party, holds. There are many secrets and mysteries that Orwell thinks will be in the future, and he describes them slowly. But Winston figures them out through his thoughts and relationships.
In 1984, London is now part of Oceania. There are laws, but you can be arrested by the thought police, even if they don't have evidence. The language of writing is Newspeak, combining words to reduce them and make them simpler. The leader is Big Brother, an imaginary person that everyone believes will protect them, from the wars with Eurasia, Eastasia, and Africa.
I would recommend this book to boys who are in high school, since the reading level is high, and there are many vocabulary words that middle school and younger would not understand. Some of the scenes are hard to read through, and the plot and story is extremely slow. I would also only recommend this book to boys who like science fiction, and who like to see characters develop through the story.
I would not recommend this book to the people who like thrillers, action novels, or suspense books, because 1984 does not relate to any of those. The book gets slower towards the end with no humor at all. I also would not recommend this book to girls since almost all characters are male, I don’t think that girls would find much interest in the plot.
My personal opinion of this book is that it is a very slow read, like the first 50 pages of Lord of the Rings, by JRR Tolkien, but in 1984, the entire book. It is also at a higher reading level, so it may be more interesting to adults or high school students. It did not hold my attention for very long, and I could easily find myself putting it down and doing something before going back to it.
In conclusion, I don’t recommend 1984 to anyone except those who fit the exact description above. There are some interesting concepts, possibly to adults, but not to me. And most of the ideas remain the same throughout. All in all, I think 1984 is just another book on the shelf.

Lord of the Flies Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Not Again!
Ralph was getting used to the rock of the boat. He had his crew cut again, bathed, and nails clipped, but he still didn’t feel completely civilized. He and the other boys had been on the boat for only two days. They were split into two groups, each group getting one cabin. Although they were packed in tightly, Ralph and the other boys loved the real beds instead of the dry crinkling leaves.
Ralph was in a group with Samneric, Maurice, Robert, Wilfred, Stanley, and to his disappointment, Jack. Jack was the only downside of their journey back to England. He had chilled out a little bit after burning down the island almost killing Ralph. His hunters, which were his choir again, still respected him, but respected Ralph even more. All the boys except Jack looked up to Ralph, even those in the other group. Ralph felt like he had control of the group, and he was happy about it.
Over the last two days they had slept, ate, and bathed so that they were almost back to their full health, and close to their original appearance. But they still had their scars from the jungle, and their skin was the darkest thing on the vessel. The sailors were nice to them, by not forcing them to do any of the work yet, and they let them take walks and wander around the ship. Once, the captain let them into his quarters, just so they could have a larger experience of life on a ship. In return, the boys did what the officers told them to do such as getting off the deck, or quieting down when walking around.
Ralph and Samneric were taking a walk on the deck to see the ocean. Suddenly, the ship hit a large rock protruding from the sea. With their speed, the impact was larger than a car running into a bus.
“What was that?” asked Ralph
“I don’t know,” replied the twins at the same time.
A flashing red light appeared and there was a siren wailing throughout the ship. Sailors ran around the ship, obeying orders from the megaphones, placed near the ceiling, around the boat.
“Sounds like they want us back in our cabins Ralph,” said Sam
“I agree,” said Eric
The three of them hurried to the stairs and ran back to their cabin. It was even busier in the narrow corridors of the ship. In front to them, there was a sailor who had tripped over the bump that Ralph couldn’t figure out was there. The sailor was struggling to get up and not get run over by others passing by, at the same time. It didn’t help that one of the higher ranking officers was yelling at him to get up. Ralph and Samneric tried to rush past the complications without getting in the way, but they were pushed up against the wall. They finally got back to their cabin. All the boys watched them stagger through the opening to the room, and asking questions at the same time. They were all there except for Jack.
“Where’s Jack?” asked Maurice. “We thought he was with you.”
“Who cares,” replied Ralph. But Ralph didn’t include his next statement which was ‘Good riddance.’
At that moment, Jack stumbled through the door, looking like he was trampled by a herd of elephants. His hair was a mess and he fell panting into his cot.
“Oh, there you are Jack,” said Maurice. “We were wondering if you had to go to some other spot on the boat, due to the emergency.”
“Nope. I was taking a walk down toward the galley to see if I could get a hint at what was for dinner. Then I heard the alarm, and an officer told me to come back here. I had to fight against the direction of the rushing sailors, and tripped over one the concrete bumps. By the way, does anybody know why those are there in the first place?”
“They’re so that water stays contained in one area if the boat was sinking, I think,” said Wilfred.
They were silent as another announcement over the speakers addressed everyone on the boat. It was something that chilled their bones, and something that no sailor ever wanted to hear.
“Did the captain say ‘Abandon ship,’” asked Robert.
“That’s what I heard,” replied Ralph.
They were silent again as the message repeated itself. They all burst out of the cabin and rushed to the deck as they were instructed to do on the first day. Sailors were jumping over board; swimming to land that was in eyesight. Officers were loading supplies into rowboats, and dropping them down into the water.
“We must have hit some rock that tore apart the hull,” remarked Wilfred, once again showing his boating knowledge.
“Well I guess we should follow along,” said Ralph.
He ran to the nearest rowboat that was about to go down, the others following him. He asked the officer commanding the boat if they could all fit in that boat. The officer indicated that they could get into the next one, as the siren wailed once again. It was another ten minutes until Ralph, Samneric, Robert, Wilfred, Jack, Maurice, and Stanley were in the boat and lowered down into the water. Their communication skills lacking, they didn’t manage to get very far with their oars out of sync. Once they got down the rhythm, the eight of them didn’t make that bad of a team. By following the direction of the swimmers and boaters, they knew where to go. Some of the sailors they passed were almost drowning, too exhausted to go much farther. Ralph wanted to pick some of them up, but Jack pointed out that the rowboat was already as crammed as it was.
They finally reached the small island, with only about thirty of the other sailors there. Most of the supplies made it, but not many of the swimmers did. There were only two more supply boats that made it, and then there were no more. The captain of the ship was already there, and started to give a speech that he was in charge, and they would figure out a way to get off the island. The boys went into a corner. The boys from the other cabin died in the emergency.
“It seems like we’re about to repeat our last three months,” said Ralph.
“I suppose so,” replied Jack
“Oh no!” yelled Samneric in unison. “Not again!”
This time now with more experience, the boys knew what to do. But this time it would also be a different experience. There were now grownups on the island, and to the boys, grownups new how to maintain peace and order, and they just knew things that kids didn’t. This pleased all the boys except for Ralph and Jack, who were still fighting for power. Also with the grownups, came their hand guns, which could be used in more than one way. The captain was now talking about him as the leader, and then multiple sub divisions where there would be another leader of a group that reported to him.
The boys were assigned a group with only the naval officer who had gone onto the island. This pleased Ralph because he knew that the officer didn’t like Jack. Along with the officer in Ralph’s favor, Ralph also thought that he would be able to persuade the officer, into letting him being leader of the boys. The naval officer walked over to the boys where they were now talking among themselves.
“Hey guys. You can call me Jerry for that is my name. The captain has assigned me as your group leader, so I expect all of you to obey orders from me. And I hope you remember that it was me who came to rescue you. If you have any problems, you can talk to me.” The officer finished his speech, and satisfied, walked back over to where the captain was having a meeting with the other leaders. He gave a progress report about everything being well, and the captain said that they had managed to find a radio in one of the supply boats.
“There are a few tasks that shall be assigned on this island,” the captain started to say.
“The first is that we want to be rescued. One group will be in charge of the radio so that we can try and send and receive messages. Another group will be in charge of keeping a signal fire going. And another will be in charge of hunting pig if there are any like the boys said, or gathering food. Is that understood?”
The officers nodded their head in understanding. They reported back to their teams, and things were done around the island. Unlike the boys’ experience, a signal fire was kept, there was order, and nobody got killed. Everything was fine except for the few sailors who had gotten food poisoning and died. This remained for many months.
Jack was not pleased that he was not leader, but was happy that he didn’t have to take care of a tribe. He was also happy that he didn’t have to do as much as he had when they were on their first island, but stilled begged if he could hunt. The captain told him no, and that if he was given a gun to shoot a pig, he would also create other havoc around the island.
The radio started working, and they were eventually found by another ship in the British fleet. After many months of the boys ordeal, they were taken back to see their families. The news about them carried about for almost a year, and then they were forgotten.

Lord of the Flies Chapter 13 intro

For our class, we had to write a chatper 13 of LOTF. The following post is my chapter 13. I hope you enjoy.

Lord of the Flies Final Post #8

Captured and Rescued
Samneric's Journal
I could feel the caked blood on my face from last night's fight. Ralph was blowing the conch to call an assembly. I thought it silly to think that he was blowing it for four boys, but then thought that it probably gave him some pride that he still had something. It was Piggy who wanted to talk to, now blinded since Jack took his glasses. He wanted to go up to the castle gates holding the conch in hand, and tell the savages how they should return his specs. He was delirious when Ralph agreed with him, and Sam and I had nothing better to do. Sam suggested that we painted our faces with the clay and I agreed with him. Ralph said no, and that they painted their faces because they were barbaric. But he did think that it was good that we took spears. We set off along the beach, Ralph in front, then me, and then finally Sam who had Piggy guiding him along the sand. As we reached the gates of the castle, there was a voice from the top asking who goes there. Piggy went to the front of the line holding the conch. He yelled at the top his lungs that he was merely asking for his specs back. The savages came out of the castle to see what was up. When they saw Piggy, they started laughing and pointing at him. Truculently, Piggy held up the conch as if the he thought the old rules still applied here. The crowd died down for a little, and then the noise was back as if there was never a cessation. Jack came out of the jungle with Robert and Maurice behind him, holding a headless pig. When Jack saw Ralph, he walked over and demanded why they were there. Piggy was now on the ground holding onto the rock, hearing Jack coming towards him. Then a fight broke out between Ralph and Jack after amounts of arguing. Neither wanted to go to close to each other, and remained outside of striking distance. Yet they still dared each other to advance to see what they would get. The painted savages cheered on Jack, raising their spears above their head. Then Ralph made a move hitting Jack in the stomach with the blunt end of his spear. Piggy lay on the ground near the edge of the cliff, telling Ralph not to forget about him. Then there was a large crashing type of noise, and a large bolder fell down from the gates of the castle. The rock rumbled and hit Piggy directly. He went flying into the air and out over the ocean, falling 40 feet onto a rock, and died. The tide came over the rock and washed Piggy's body out to sea, and the boulder continued bounding through the forest. Using this distraction, Jack ordered all spears to be thrown at Ralph. All missed but his, which took off some skin by his ribs. Ralph turned and ran into the forest. Jack turned onto us and ordered for us to be tied up. As were tied up, Robert and Maurice took the pig into the castle to be cooked, and Jack retried his spear, coming to us, and threatening Sam and me to join. We couldn't do anything else, and we had to submit to him. We stayed tied up like that for the night, and Jack untied us in the morning. He called a meeting and we sat still, crossed legged in the grass. This seemed a lot more orderly than Ralph's tribe, and we got our faces painted. The meeting consisted of hunting Ralph the next morning, and they we had to communicate was by ululating. We were also to walk in a cordon so that we didn't miss any part of the island. Our first job wasn't until the night time, when we had lookout duty. It was cold and boring up there on top of the rock, and we were ordered not to speak to loudly to each other. Then there was a commotion right below us, and Ralph poked his head up. There was quick conversation as we told him that we were to hunt him in the morning in a straight line. He must have trusted us because he gave us the location of where he was going to hide. Then he heard Roger coming up the stepRoger came up and took over our post.
Jack was threatining us with his spear the wearabout of Ralph. We had broken off from the cordon, and the howling pack continued on their search. We promised Jack that he was in the thicket directly in front of us. We went up to the ledge above it, and pushed rocks off, landing in the thicket. After the second rock terrorizing the bush, a figure emerged from the bush running toward the pig trails. Jack ululated three times signaling that he had found Ralph. The chase was on, and Sam and I were left in the dust. We started off more toward the beach hoping to get out of the way of the frenzy. It wasn't until Ralph happened to run into the clearing where the Lord of the Flies and we just happened to be, when Jack showed up following him. Ralph dived into the thicket, and Jack pulled us back into the hunt, forcing Sam into going to attack Ralph. He stuck his spear in the bush, and was immediately hit back, doubled over clutching his distended stomach in pain. I went over to him immediately, and Ralph made a dash for the beach. We followed, but not with the rest of the savages. Ralph had fallen and landed at the base of a figure. As we got closer I realized that it was a grownup. A grownup had come to rescue us! We were so happy, we flung ourselves on the beach, crying with joy. I could see a ship off the beach, and blinked a couple time to make sure that it wasn't just a diddle of my eyes. But the soldier was still there, waiting for us to come along. This had to be the happiest day of my life!

Lord of the Flies Post 7

Chapters 9&10: Two Deaths
Piggy's Journal
I finally persuaded for Ralph and I to go to Jack's party. Samneric had already gone, and Simon had disappeared somewhere. As we walked over we could see the smoke and smell pig roasting. As we stepped inside the castle that they decided to use as their shelter, we saw Jack in complete makeup with meat on leaves by his feet. Everyone else was eating and talking happily except for the hunters that were roasting the pig on spits. As Jack saw us, I considered hiding behind Ralph, but stayed walking by his side. Jack then told his hunters roasting the pig to give us some. We sat down and ate, and Jack asked if everyone had had enough to eat. All boys were silent, then they started scrambling for more food before it was gone. Then Jack called an attendance to see who wanted to join his tribe. Ralph tried arguing with him that he was chief, and Jack couldn't take his tribe away from him. Jack argued back that he had fed them and given more care that night than Ralph had given their entire time on the island. The argument continued until Robert decided to become a pig and reenact the killing of the sow. Everyone joined in except for me and Ralph. There were jumping around surrounding Robert and chanting their war cry of kill the pig. Then a figure came flying out of the forest, but I couldn't really tell because of my missing one eye. But the figure appeared to have a corpulent, because as it broke into the circle, the boys started chanting beast. They danced around it now switching from pig to beast. Ralph joined in on the outside of the circle so that it didn't look as if he was sticking out. I had to join also because everyone on the island was in the dance except for Simon. As I got farther into the barmy circle, I saw that the figure was actually a skinny boy instead of a large bulky beast. The flurry of teeth and claws made me want to back out, but I didn't want to be the odd one out as it is. The figure was pushed over the cliff, and the circle disappeared to happy talking and a feast. As I walked away, I felt slightly purged knowing that I didn't push it over the cliff to its death. I found Ralph and walked with him back to the shelters. On the way we agreed that the figure was Simon, and were silent for the rest of the night thinking that he was no longer around.
When we got up in the morning, Samneric were attending the fire. Ralph and I were still silent remembering last night. Theologically, Simon would be going to heaven since he was the nicest on the island. We stayed around the fire all day constantly getting more wood to born. None of us wanted to come an illumination of how we could have let the hunter's dance carry us away last night. It wasn't until we were going to sleep when something happened. There was a noise and I assumed it was Ralph. After telling him to stop multiple times, I realized that maybe it was something outside. The shelter nearly collapsed and I had an asthma attack. There was a huge commotion as kick and punches were being used. Then the entire shelter collapsed and so did the fight. I couldn't find my glasses anywhere so I just sat down and listened to the stories of the fight. Sam ended up losing himself in the corner fighting the shelter, and Ralph gave his enemy a couple punches in the face until he got kneed in his jewels. Then Eric said that he had received a couple of huge blows in the face, so gave his foe a strike to a critical spot. I concluded that we hadn't done anything, and Jack and his hunters ended up with my glasses.

Lord of the Flies Post 6

Chapter 8: My Own Tribe
Jack's Journal
I have had enough of Ralph always insulting me and my hunters. So today I decided to do something about it. After our yelling match of his describing me and my hunters as just boys with sticks, I marched off to the platform and blew the conch. I knew that the sound wasn't as good as when Ralph blew it, but it still made noise. I think that some boys noticed and some boys didn't, but they came all the same. Ralph came up to the platform sticking his hand out for the conch. I said that since I called the meeting, I get to lead it. What I told him made him go sit on the log. I started off by reviewing last night's events. Then I told everyone how Ralph was a true coward, and didn't want to go up the mountain. He tried to argue, but then I waved the conch in his face reminding him of his own rule. I put on a display of him not being a good leader, and then running off the platform crying. Ralph tried yelling after me, but I continued running into the forest. It was only a couple minutes after the time I had announced I was starting my own tribe, when Roger and Maurice showed up where I was waiting. I felt a bit like a prefect again, leading my choir. The two boys were silent, not sure if they should say anything. Then Maurice spoke up and said that they slipped away when Ralph and his tribe were making a new fire on the beach. The Robert showed up. Now it was time for my second speech of the day, but just with us real hunters. Samneric had stayed with Ralph and Piggy, so I considered them to no longer being hunters. My first announcement was that we shall first have a hunt to celebrate our branching off. Then we should leave some of out kill for the beast every time we hunt, as an offering, and a hope that it won't hurt us. We started off for pig run with our spears. I lead around into a clearing where pigs and a sow nursing were asleep. I pointed to the sow, and all of my hunters nodded. Our footsteps were silent from all of the practice we had had. We circled and threw our spears. One hit a piglet, and two others, one of them being mine, hit the sow. The piglets and pigs ran off squealing. "After it!!" I shouted. We all ran following it, following its blood trail on the ground. We chased and chased until finally it gave up in a meadow type of place where butterflies were flying around the flowers. With all demure gone, we tackled and jumped on the pig, wrestling with it. I took out my knife and demoniacally started stabbing it. Roger was not on the pile, and I found its throat and cut it. Hot blood was all over my hands, and I held them, the boys laughing. I grabbed Robert, and smeared it all over his face. Then we moved back into the shade, and I paunched the sow's inside spilling over the ground. I ordered for a stick to be sharpened at both ends. Roger handed it to me, and I cut the head of pig off, and stuck it on one end of the sharpened stick. I tried putting the other end into the ground, but found it was rock. I stuck it in a crack in two rocks off to the side. I declared the head a gift for the beast, and then ran away through the forest, Maurice and Robert carrying our kill. We tan to the castle rock, since it would be our new shelter. I then realized we would need fire to cook the pig. I devised a plan that if Roger and I could distract Ralph and Piggy, Maurice and Robert steal a stick from the fire. We painted our bodies, and went to the edge of the forest. As I put my last finger down, we all charged, Maurice and Robert heading towards the fire, Roger and I going to Ralph. I noticed Piggy running off to the platform, and thought that if there was someone more of a coward than Ralph, it would be Piggy. Maurice and Robert ran back toward our castle, making sure the branch was still alight. I went up to Ralph and invited him and his group to a feast, and we had just killed fresh meat. Ralph looked as if my face was tabooed from that side of the beach. It didn't surprise me, and Roger and I ran off after Maurice and Robert when Ralph was still speechless. I guess I will see if accepts my invite later.

Lord of the Flies Post 5

Chapters 6&7: Beast Hunt
Jack's Journal
I was awoken by Samneric in the middle of the night. They were constantly talking and finishing each others sentences, and I finally figured out that they saw the beast. I immediately jumped up and assembled my hunters. Ralph, Simon, and the fatty joined me in seconds. Samneric started telling their story again that the beast was huge and had claws and sharp teeth that followed them through them, and that's how they got all scratched up. A lot of boys seemed confused by looks of the expressions on their faces. We were embroiled, and for once I was kind of glad that Ralph was chief and he had to lead us. I said that we should go right now, but Ralph said that we should eat first and wait for light since the sun was almost up. The twins were still flailing, retelling everyone their story interminably. We retrieved our spears and set out for the woods to eat fruit and go on our hunt. We decided that Piggy should stay with the littluns since he wouldn't be any good, and would just slow us down. When we stopped to eat, Ralph turned to me and asked where on the island I hadn't been so that we could start there. I told him over by a rock formation near the ocean that looked like the castle. We continued on, and I led the group down the beach. As we got to the spot, I realized that I would have to go, and then Ralph volunteered himself since he was chief. He told us to hide and we stood behind a couple trees. He walked up to the castle, spear in hand. As he was about to enter, he looked back, then he turned back and went in. After a couple seconds then wasn't any noise, and I made the decision to go help him in case he was facing the beast. I told my hunters to stay put, and I grabbed my spear and ran after him. Inside, it was an enormous cavern. I immediately saw what we could with it, and making it a fortress. There was even a little trickle of fresh water, but no beast. We climbed up on top of the rock, and the hunters seeing us came and joined us. There was tons of chatter as everyone started talking all at once. The boys were rolling rocks down the cliff into the ocean, and making huge splashes that came almost all the way up the wall. I went to join them, but Ralph stayed back, talking with Simon. We continued to roll rocks until Ralph eventually yelled at us for not being productive. I thought that he was getting to be more upset and more often waxy, the longer we were on the island. He talked about how there wasn't anybody at the fire. He constantly has been making that his obsession also. I led the group back down the beach into the forest, with Ralph trailing behind.
We went to eat some more fruit, and then back to the search. As we were walking on the pig runs, a wild boar comes charging at us. I ran back, and my hunters followed. Ralph looked bewildered and was wondering what was going on. I saw him throw his spear, and it found itself in the boar’s nose. It started squealing and all the boys came out of their hiding places. Ralph was boasting that he had hit the pig. I decided not to congratulate and act as if he hadn’t. But then Maurice spoke up and said that he had seen Ralph spear the pig. Then we started making a circle and Robert ran around acting like a pig. We grabbed hold of Robert’s limbs, and Ralph started chanting to kill him. Then we all started chanting our war cry of kill the pig and bash her in. I noticed also that Ralph had a certain bravado in him, now that he wasn’t all serious. We finally got back on the trail along the cliff, but not all of it was easily traversable. We decided to take the pig runs, but they didn’t go back to the beach, and Ralph seemed happy that they took us to the mountain so that we could light the fire. It was getting dark out, and the boys realized that we were heading towards the beast. We stopped to think, and Ralph decided that we should continue on, but someone should go back through the forest to tell that Piggy that we wouldn’t be back until night. No one wanted to go, but then Simon spoke up and said that he would do it. Before anyone could reply, it already off into the jungle. The rest of us carried on until it was dark. Then some boys wanted to go back to the beach because they were tired. I wanted to go back to, but I decided to challenge Ralph and see if he was scared. He didn’t want to look like a scared little boy so he agreed to go on. Then everyone left except for a figure that I couldn’t recognize. It was Roger which I found out by calling his name. We carried on. We were crawling on our hands and knees through ashes and realized we were at the burn area and the fire place. Ralph stopped and challenged me to see if I was frightened. He forced me going by myself up the rest of the mountain. I went up and left Ralph and Roger down sitting on a stump. As I got to the top, I saw a huge thing bulge where there should’ve been a gap in the rocks. This almost made me scream, but instead I stuck it back down my throat and headed back to where I thought I left Ralph. There were still there, and I shared what I had seen. They we all went up. I pointed at where there should’ve been a gap in the rocks, and Ralph finally saw that I was right and there was something there bulging. Ralph walked closer until he turned around running away, and Roger and I raced to keep up.

Lord of the Flies Post 4

Chapter 5: Assembly
Simon's Journal
Right after our celebration on killing the pig, we had to have a meeting. Ralph called one also saying that he doesn't care how late or dark it is. Everyone could hear the tone in his voice, and new that he was serious. He walked down the mountain, and we all followed him. It was couple before Ralph actually called the shell. He was pacing around on the beach, lost in his thoughts. I was about to go over to him to see if everything was alright, but decided against it incase he got mad at me. Finally the conch was blown and everyone scrambled to the logs. The littluns in the back got we called the twister log, and had to perfectly balanced or they fell off and everything got out of hand. I sat down next to Jack and the hunters. Piggy stood outside of the triangle where everyone was, and listened. When Ralph started, he came over and sat next to me. Ralph was very sincere, and nobody moved. He was the perfect effigy of seriousness of the meeting. He spoke about how we were supposed to put up huts and shelters, and then mentioned that only he and I helped. There was an enormous uproar as the assembly tempestuously shouted that they had helped out also. It was enough for Ralph to blow the whistle, and that was he did. The noise died almost immediately. He pointed out that everyone helped with the first hut, but not with the other two. Then he continued about people doing their business where ever they wanted, instead of the designated area over by the rocks where the tide flushes it out. With this the littluns started laughing and flipped over on the twister log. Decorum was lost as everyone looked at them and laughed. It took another minute for Ralph to get the meeting back into his hands. Jack stood up next to me and asked for the conch, but Ralph said that he wasn't finished yet. "But you've talked and talked," said Jack. Ralph seemed to ignore him, and continued to go on with his speech, Jack's rambling fading away. He got to his part about the beastie, and said that this part was an open discussion. He first proclaimed that there wasn't any beastie, and asked if anybody was going to go against him. Jack added in, breaking the rules since he didn't have the conch, that he had been all around the island and that there was no place for a beastie to live and hide. A littlun stood up to tell his story, and as if it was Piggy's job, he took the conch from Ralph and took it to the littlun and stood by him. The littlun said his name was Percival, and I remembered him to be somewhat of just a whiner, and was a scared of a lot of things. He told about his nightmare and that he fighting plants outside his tent, and when he woke up, he was outside his tent. He looked to toward the forest and saw something moving. Then Percival broke down in a lamentation, and fell down on the grass so that he wasn't visible. Ralph took back the conch and asked if anyone was taking a trip in the middle of the night. I didn't want to stand up, but felt guilty, so I did so any way. Ralph asked what I was doing, and I tried to reply in the most innocent voice, that I was going to my place in jungle. The questions continued, and had the same reply, that is was just my little place in the jungle. It ended in Ralph telling me not to go out at night anymore, and then turned to rest of the assembly, and repeated him self. I sat down with the feeling that I didn't have a complete secret. Now I might have to find a new place.

Lord of the Flies Post 3

Chapter 3/4: No Help and the Killing
Piggy's Journal
Today we finally got around to making another hut. I got out of helping because of my asthma, and the only one making huts were Ralph and Simon. Jack was off hunting, and the other hunters were splashing around in the pool. As I lay on my stomach looking at my reflection in the pool, Jack came down from the mountain asking for water. He was covered in dirt, and looked like he didn't have anything to show for hours of being away. Ralph was getting annoyed and showing it that no one was helping except for Simon, and that all the hunters had been back for an hour playing around. I didn't hear the rest for it was inscrutable from where I was at. They then stormed off, and I tried to keep up with them as they headed for a bath and a swim.
Today as we swam around in the pool. We, as in me, Simon, and Ralph. All the other boys went out somewhere unknown. Then suddenly Ralph jumps out of the pool and claims that he saw a tendril of smoke on the horizon, and the possible shape of a smoke stack. "Smoke! Smoke!" he shouted, blatantly. He kept staring at it. Then finally he turned around and looked at where our smoke was. I looked to and didn't see any. We were all speechless for a moment, and then I spoke up. "I don't suppose we don't have any smoke?" Ralph was rapt, drilling a hole in the sky with his gaze. He then dashed up the hill as fast as he could, not bothering about clothing. Then Simon, and then I, ran up the hill after him. When we got to the top, his naked body was covered in scratched from the creepers on the trail. The fire was dead, and nobody around. After a couple minutes of silence, I heard and saw the group of boys, chanting something. They all held their spears in the air, and chanted something, except for Samneric who were holding something in between them. As they got closer, I could hear them chanting, "Kill the pig, cut her throat, spill the blood!" As they got nearer, they still chanted, and I could see that the object that Samneric held was a pig. When they reached the mountain, Ralph stared them down, and they stopped talking. There was a staring match as gouts fell out of the pig and hit the ground. Then Ralph finally spoke, "You let the fire out," he said malevolently. "You promised you said you would keep it going and then left!" Jack tried to protest that he needed his entire choir to get the pig, and that they could just relight it. That's when Ralph point hit, "There was a ship out there on the horizon. If the fire was going, they would have seen our smoke, and then we would have been saved." I tried to back him up by saying that if Jack wasn't so obsessed with killing, we would have been off the island. This resulted with Jack's fist in my stomach. I doubled over, and he smacked my glasses off my face. Everyone was laughing at me, and I looked for a friend, but there was no balm. I tried to fight back, but I couldn't see anything. Then my specs were pushed back into my hands. As I put them on, I saw that one of the lenses was broken, and it was Simon who gave them to me. Now I could only see through one eye. Jack advanced on me and backed me into a rock. The laughter continued the entire time. Finally Ralph shouted enough, and Jack returned to his choir, bragging to Ralph that he had cut the throat of the pig. I stumbled my way back to Ralph's side, and he ordered that a new fire was to be made. Jack tried to get Ralph to move so that could just relight the old one, but Ralph did nothing. They ended up building one over three yards. Ralph took my specs again, and walked over to the fire. I walked with them in case Jack did anything, but I knew that I couldn't do anything if something did happen. Ralph focused the light, and there was a flame immediately rose. Jack tried to roast the pig several different ways, and resulted in having half cooked, half raw meat. As everyone had a piece, I noticed that I didn't. I was afraid to ask, but did anyway. Jack's response was why should we give you any, if you didn't do anything. There was silence, and Simon gave me his meat. Jack immediately cut a chunk of meat from the pig and threw it at Simon's feet, commanding him to eat. Well, it has been a pretty wild and rough day, and I am going to sleep.

Lord of the Flies Post 2

Chapter 2: Fire!
Ralph's Journal
Today I called a meeting to tell the boys what we had discovered. "It is an island," I announced. I tried to continue, but Jack cut in. "And there are pigs for us to eat," he said. We kept interrupting each other for a while, and the ebullience was too much to handle, when an idea came into my head. "Before we go any farther, we should have some rules. The first one is whoever has the conch shell is the speaker. Everyone else must remain silent. Number two, is where the conch is, there is a meeting and the rule one will apply." As I finished saying this, Jack immediately grabbed the conch out of my hands. "So now I get to speak," said Jack. “Has anyone else found something on this island?" There was a commotion with the six year olds as a small boy with a birthmark on the side of his face was pushed forward. He appeared to shy to speak, so Piggy took the conch to him, and translated what the boy was saying, so that everyone could hear. The small boy talked about a beastie snake that followed him around. "But that's ridiculous," I said. "There's no such thing as a beastie. The boy must have just had a nightmare." The older boy in the choir nodded their head in agreement. I took the conch and said, "Next order of business. We need to build a smoke signal fire on top of the mountain in case there is a ship nearby, and they can see us. Jack, seeming to forget the rules we just set shouted "fire," and "follow me everyone." There was an officious group following him up the mountain. Even the young ones followed Jack into the forest. I had no choice except to follow. As we ran into the jungle, Jack started to give orders to his choir to get wood. The martyred of me losing control I put clearly on my face, but nobody seemed to notice. There was a huge pile of wood at the top of the mountain as all the boys ran around trying to get as much as they could. When there was plenty of wood, I realized that we didn't have any way to light it. I gestured to Jack that he could do the honors, but he had the same expression on his face. Then Piggy came panting up the hill holding the conch that I had left on the beach. Jack ran over to him and took his specs. "Here we go, we can focus the light on the wood, and it will light." Jack handed the glasses to me, and I held them above the pile of wood, as Piggy whined and complained that he couldn't see, and somebody and pinched his specs. After a couple of seconds, we had a huge bon fire, but no smoke. There was a capering around the fire, the boys proud of their accomplishment. Just then, Piggy broke in. “Give me back my specs.” “Shut up,” replied Jack. “Hey! I have the conch; I have the right to speak.” Piggy argued. “Now give me back my specs. Everything is a blur.” I handed them back to him. “You said that you just wanted a small little fire.” He paused and looked down the hill. “And now it looks like you have one, er, a couple.” We all looked down the hill and say what he meant. Multiple fires were spreading throughout the jungle. “And also, you have lost tract of the little ones. The small boy with the birthmark on his face, I don’t see him anywhere. I wanted to build a shelter down on the beach, but no, you guys had to storm up here and build a fire. Now it’s almost night. How would a boat see smoke at night?” He paused to take a breath. “Now we have wasted almost a day,” he finished. I thought to myself, what a mother Piggy is.

Lord of the Flies Post 1

Chapter 1: The Sound
Jack's Journal

I led the choir through the jungle after the plane crashing. Everything was mass chaos, and it took me a while to get it under control. It's a good thing the choir is scared of me and listens. Otherwise it would've taken forever. Just as I got everything in order, a trumpet sounded through the air from the other side of the jungle. Everyone stood straight up as if someone shot a rifle. The trumpet sounded again. Simon fell down and fainted, creating sniggers. I pulled him up by his hambone frill, and stared at them. They all fell silent. I marched my choir through the jungle, aiming for where the noise was coming from. We reached the beach, and say heat wave reflecting off the sand. The water was filled with intricacies of ripples as fish came to the surface, then dived back down. I could now see who I thought had been making all the noise, and thought that the trumpet looked very peculiar. There were a ring of boys surrounding the boy with the noise maker on the platform. There was another, plump, pale boy up on the platform leaning over and talking with the boys in a circle. I decided that the boy with the trumpet was the leader of this group, but hoped it would change when I came. Their leader looked in our direction until everyone else did, and we were less than ten feet away. I called my panting boys to a halt, and went over to question their leader. "Where is that trumpet you have been using?" I said. "There isn't a trumpet that I see, only this conch shell that I have been blowing into." he replied. "Please come join us, we are about to have a meeting. Oh, and by the way, my name is Ralph." "My name is Jack, but my choir calls me Merridew." I told my silent choir to take off their togs, and all did at once, immediately talking with each other. "First we should decide who should be chief," the boy said. There was a huge commotion as everyone started yelling and nominating for someone to be chief. Finally someone said "Let's have a vote." I stepped up to the platform with the other boy and said "We will be running." "Raise your hand if you vote for Jack." My choir reluctantly it seemed raised their hands. "All in favor of me," Ralph said. The other boys hooted and raised their hands. When the noise died down, Ralph declared himself as chief. "You can be the head of your choir, and be the hunters, or whatever you like," Ralph said. "Sure, we will be the hunters," I said. "Great, now that's settled out, three of us shall go see if this is a real island since we are not quite sure. That will be me, Jack, and," he looked around and then pointed at Simon. "You," he finally decided. We started walking down the beach to the mountain hidden in the jungle. As we started our ascent, I noticed that there was a slight trail up the hillside. I then realized that it was only a game trail and it was not man-made, as Ralph had suggested. The motif of the flowers and vegetation became mesmerizing. Most of the rocks were pink in this area, and seagulls sat on them standing out. As we neared the top, I noticed a very large pink rock about the size of a motor car. I called the two boys over and we pushed and heaved until the rock went down the hill. As it crashed down the mountain, an amazing assortment of birds when flying out of their nests, looking for escape. We rested and laughed for five minutes, then continued on our journey. When we got to the top, we decided that we were on an island, for the deep blue see was all around us. A colorful reef sat a couple hundred feet off shore, surrounding us. After surveying the land and trying to copy some of it to make a map, we headed back down. About halfway down, we heard a squealing noise, and saw a piglet struggling in the creepers of the jungle, getting tangled up. I drew my knife and got ready to kill it, but hesitated. I knew I couldn’t kill something like it, and I was a little bit scared. The piglet untangled itself and ran away. I put my knife back in its sheath, and turned away. "Why didn't you kill it?" asked Ralph. "I was looking for a place to stab it. You have to cut the bottom of its neck so that all of its blood will spill," I replied, hoping that they wouldn't see the truth in my eyes. We finished our descent down the mountain, returning to the other boys. So much adventure in one day!

Op#4(Final Post)- Because of Romek

1. The part in the book that I found most horrifying was the part when Romek dies. I didn't read that part, but from David's speech it sounded really bad. It is probably the most inhumane thing I have ever heard, and it is hard to forget. I find it the worst thing in the book because it is a really disturbing thing to think about.
2. The job that David Faber gets in the Krawinkel Camp, was the job when he got to feed the dogs. This job helped him survive, because he was able to eat the dogs' food, and take some biscuits to his friends. At first he was scared of them since he thought that they would bite him. But after a while they became his friends.
3. What happened at Bergen-Belsen, was that almost everyone there was dead, or very near it. The conditions were poor since the only job was carrying the dead to the furnace, and the meals they got in reward was a soup with flesh from the dead bodies. This was also a very horrifying part in the book, but I don't think it was as bad because it wasn't as descriptive. While he was there, the US forces saved him, and took him to a hospital where he recovered.
4. A moment of triumph for David was when his sister's husband came and found him in the hospital. This was a very good moment for him, because he knew would be cared for, and his sister was alive. It was also a good moment for him because he knew that he had made it through, just like how he promised his mother. I think that he made it to that point because he kept his will to live.
Persuasive Paragraph
It think that David Faber's book, Because of Romek, should be required reading in all middle schools, high schools, and universities because all students need to learn about the horrors of the Holocaust. Everybody should know about it because it is an important thing in history, it if people read, they will try to prevent. Also if it happens, then people will know how to handle it if they read the book.

Project Reflection

Ben
Project Reflection

The Renaissance Ball Project Reflection

Project Title: The Renaissance Ball Project
Class: A Dates: 6/5/08
Purpose:
In this project we were supposed to learn about the Renaissance time period and the people during the time. We had to research the different origins, accomplishments, and historical impact from the Renaissance. One of the things we did was learn about the city of Florence, since it was one of the most popular cities during the time. Some of the people we learned about were Dante Alighieri, Leonardo d Vinci, Michelangelo, and Galileo, along with the specific person each one of us picked to take the role of.
In order to enhance our learning of the Renaissance, we all took up a role of a famous person of that time. We had to write a (auto) biography or a series of diary entries about the person. At the end of the project, we had a ball and dressed up as our figure. We also learned a dance before hand to perform at the ball.
What I Learned:
In this project, I learned about the geographical location of where the Renaissance was, which was in the Europe area. I also learned that Renaissance means “re-birth” in French. One of the major things that happened during the Renaissance was the Black Death which traveled through Europe on rats. The Black Death was very important because there was no cure, and those who were infected with it suffered. Most of the results from having the disease were death. I learned that the Black Death was carried by fleas that traveled on rats, and those rats went on wagons and ships that traded with other regions. Because of this, it traveled quickly, and killed many.
What I learned about my Renaissance person, Johannes Kepler, was that he was the scientist who discovered that the planets revolve around the Earth in an ellipse rotation instead of a perfect circle, which was thought at the time. He was the first to discover and prove that you needed both eyes for depth perception, and he was also the first to explain how a telescope works. Along as making scientific discoveries, he proclaimed that Jesus was born five years before most people thought, and in result, was kicked out of his church. But to this day, we agree with Kepler.
Reflection:
I did not particularly like this project because there was a lot of research, and not much hands on activities, unless you include the computer. Another reason was that I couldn’t find much information on my person, so that made it a bit harder. I think another one of my challenges was the new seating places, and I was constantly getting distracted and not doing work.
I think I could’ve done better on this project because my biography was barely three pages long, and it took me the entire time. I think that I could make it better by researching and taking notes earlier on, so I didn’t have to go back and look for more information. Since I am usually a quick worker, I was expecting to do more than one extension options, ended up doing none.
If I got to do this project again, I would definitely try to be more efficient in working, and move to a different place so that I wouldn’t get as distracted. I would also try and do more extension options for more points. The last thing I would change would be picking a person and staying with them, because I kept changing my person and wasted a day because of it.
Artifacts:
I can put my biography on my Dp, and this reflection.

Renaissance Blog URL

I have created a new blog for my Renaissance character. The URL is here:
http://hightechkepler.blogspot.com/

Op#3- Because of Romek

1. I thought that some of David's speech was a little stronger than necessary like the part about Jesus being a Jew. I think that it was really powerful for everybody listening since it was such a strong subject. I also think that maybe everything he said wasn't appropriate for everyone in the audience such as the 6th graders. Overall, I thought his speech was pretty good.
2. What David did with the Partisans was dismantle parts of the rail road track so that the Nazi trains with ammunition and gear would crash and not reach its destination. I think that Romek was proud of David because what David did meant that he had to be really courageous, and maybe Romek felt like he taught him that. Also, it helped people like them from the Germans, so his whole family should be proud of David.
3. Well the Gestapo didn't actually return David to the ghetto, but he did spare his life. I think that the Gestapo let David live because maybe David could find out the information that they wanted to know, and then they would capture him again. Another thing was that maybe they wanted him to be in a work gang, and killing him wouldn't make so that there is one less person to help and work for them.

Op#2- Because of Romek

1. The signifaicance of David's pet pigeon was that since the Faber's helped it, it somewhat helped them in return, by not coming one day. By doing this, the pigeon saved their lives becasued they knew to hide. I think that the pigeon will come back later in the book and save David again, I just don't know when.
2. I think that that is was called a vacation camp until the Nazis came and kicked them out so that they had a base. So at one point it was probably a vacation site. I think that the Nazis would use that place becasue vacation camps should be big, and the Nazis needed a large area.
3. The two questions I would ask David on Friday are:
Do you really know what happened with the guy holding a revolver?
What actully happened with the guy and the revolver?

Op#1- Because of Romek

1. An interesting fact that I learned from reading this book, is how the Jews were treated after they were caught. I didn't know that they did what it said in the book about digging their own grave. I find it interesting because I had no idea what they did with the people the Nazis caught.
2a. David Fabers's family seems like a strong family because they stick together and help each other out. Another think about David's family is that there a lot of girls, so it might make it harder for David to put up with them, especially without Romek. The entire family seems to listen to the father, and I think he is a good guide for them.
2b. I think that David remembers just about everything because it was a hard time for him, and he did many things to help his family. Also, it wouldn't surprise me if he kept a diary of the event, so that he could remember it.
3. I think that David is very brave since he risked his life for his father. I also think that he is strong because he wanted to help his dad no matter the consequences. He is loyal to his family since he does everything his parents ask him to. He must also have a strong mind since he experienced the holocaust and is still able to talk about.

Aztec Mural Project Reflection

Name: Ben

Project Reflection: Post on your Blog

Project Title: Aztec Mural Project

Class: A Dates: May 5, 2008

*You may type directly in this document and copy and paste into blog, or simply address each of the following in a post. It should be approx. 2 pages worth of writing.

PURPOSE: In this section, explain what you were supposed to learn and what you were supposed to do.


The purpose of the project was to learn about the Aztecs and their culture. In order to learn about this, we had to visit Chicano park and see the murals. After seeing those murals, we went into groups and started to designing our own murals. The murals had to show a story related to the Aztecs, and show at least one Aztec design. The murals had to be in full color. Along with the mural, the group had to have an artist's statement which explained what was happening in the mural. The artist's statement had to be at least one page long, and should have a sentence summary in spanish.


WHAT I LEARNED

In this section, tell what information or skills you learned or improved.


In this project, I learned about the Aztec's daily life and culture. I learned that at the top of the social structure is the Emperor and his family and friends. Next are the Priest, warriors, mothers, merchants, commoner, peasant, and finally slave. I also learned about the religion and why they did many sacrifices. The reason for the common sacrifices is because they thought that if they didn't, the sun wouldn't rise, and they would die. I also learned about how the Aztecs started. Because of their religious beliefs, they thought that the gods would send a sign to show them where to build their city. The sign was an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its mouth. They did find this “sign” from the gods, and that is where they started their large city, Tenochtitlan.


REFLECTION

In this section, reflect on your experience. Did you like the project? Why or why not? How did you do? What would you do differently next time?


Sentence Starters

*

I enjoyed this project because…
*

I feel like I could have done better on this project because…
*

Next time, I would…









I enjoyed this project because we got to show our artistic side and paint a large mural. Also, the Aztecs are one of the more interesting subjects in humanities for me, so I enjoyed that. What I didn't like, was that there were certain guidelines that our mural had to be. I think that next time, our group could paint a good better mural, and clean up the bad parts more. Also I think that we could've done better on the artist statement because I was the only one working on it, so if other people had contributed to it, it would've been better.

ARTIFACTS

You should have at least one artifact from each project on your DP. What document, picture, or link will you have for this project?


I don't think that there is anything that I can put on my DP from this project.

Op#3- Final Post Monster

Title: MONSTER
Author: Walter Dean Myers
Total Pages This Week: 124
Date: week of 4/14/08
Pages 157-281

#1 This book was interesting because of how it was written, and what the story was. In some books if there is a trial for someone committing a crime, then it might take up a chapter. But this whole book is about the trial and a boy's experience in jail. The other part in this book that made it more interesting, is that we are almost at the age of the main character, so we can sometimes relate to how he is feeling.
#2 I would recommend this book to boys and girls because it shows what a true experience in jail is. I would also recommend this book mainly to 8th grade and up, because some parts can be hard to read. And some of the vocabulary could be hard to understand since they are in the court a lot. I might recommend this book to people who like to hear about court trials, becasue they might like to decide who guilty, and act like they are part of the jury.
#3Would you agree with the jury's choices of who's guilty and who's not? Why?

Op#2 MONSTER

Title: MONSTER
Author: Walter Dean Myers
Total Pages This Week: 78
Date: week of 4/7/08
Pages 76-156

#1 If I could give advice to one character in the book, I would give it to Steve Harmon (main character). What I would tell him is to relax, but where he is at, it probably is hard to. He also needs to speak up and tell his side of the story truthfully. That way he can convince others that he is not guilty. He thinks somewhat pessimistic, so I would tell him to think of the good stuff going on.
#2 I wouldn't really want any of the characters in this book to be my friends, because almost all of them are in jail. Since this book/screenplay is about a boys life in jail, he shows how people behave while they are there. Also everybody in jail is in there for a reason which is they probably have committed a crime. Other characters such as the judge and the members of the jury are good people, but I probably couldn't get the hang of hanging out with someone like them.
#3 If you were in the same position as Steve Harmon and you wanted to remember the experience by writing what's going on, would you do it the same way Steve did? Why or why not.

Aztec PowerPoint

My Aztec Powerpoint

OP#1 MONSTER

Title: MONSTER
Author: Walter Dean Myers
Total Pages This Week: 77
Date: week of 4/2/08
Pages 1-77

#1 This book can sometimes be confusing because you have to remember the characters names, and who's talking to follow along. This book is written like a screen play, so there are no "official" chapters. There are a lot of "Cut to"s because since it is a screen play, the author shows what the camera sees next. There is also three or four different fonts used in this story, so your eyes have to keep adjusting to the letters.
#2 If I could change something in the book, it would be how it's written. I know that how the author writes it makes it unique, but it would be easier to follow if it was just from on persons perspective. It might also be easier to follow if it all the fonts were similar. Sometimes it looks like a ransom note, where somebody cut out the letters from different magazines.
#3 Why do you think that Steve Harmon feel like he has not part of his trial? Why?

Independent Reading Response Extra (Spring Break Week #1)

Title: Life, the Universe and Everything

Author: Douglas Adams

Total Pages This Week: 116

Date: week of 3/17/08

3.5

Pages 315-431

There had been new information about a planet called Krikkit. It is an ancient that hasn't been active for a couple milena. The reason for this is that when the people of Krikkit first saw the universe, they tried to completely destroy it. For the solution the rest of the universe came up was that they put the planet in a time slowing envelope, some the people inside couldn't make many weapons to continue on their rampage. They were trying to blow up the universe by having massive star ship fleets kind of like in StarWars, with weapons that could destroy planets at a time. They also created evil robots to help them, and take out anyone in their path. Which is why the reason to stop them was so urgent. When they locked them in the time envelope, the key was a series of objects, and could only become locked/unlocked from the outside. The key is the three pillars, Wood which represented nature and spirituality, Steel which represented strengths, and Plastic which represented science and reason. What the pillars supported was the Silver Bail of peace, and the Golden bail of prosperity. The key was destroyed to pieces soon after, and spread through out the Galaxies.

The unfortunate thing is when they locked up Krikket, they left a star ship full of the evil white robots outside of the envelope. These robots went on finding all the pillars and the two bails in order to unlock their "masters" from Krikkit. The robots are now doing everything in their power to get the key back together, and free their planet.

New Book I am reading

Big suprise that I am reading another book over spring break. A bigger surprise is that is just happens to be the next book in the "Hitchhikers" Series by Douglas Adams. Title is: Life the Universe, and Everything.

Happy Spring!!

Happy spring every one!

Did you see GOOGLE'S image?

Independent Reading Response #4

Title: The Restaurant at the end of the Universe
Author: Douglas Adams
Total Pages This Week: 35
Date: week of 3/10/08
2Hours
Pages 274-309 (end of book)

I thought the ending of this book was a little interesting because it leaves a lot of things left, which makes you want to read the next one. This is how the Douglas Adams creates some suspense in the book. He doesn't always leave cliff hangers, and sometimes says what's going to happen, or the result of what is about to occur. How he creates suspense from that is you want to know how in the world that ended up as the result. For example, he says that missiles are going to attack the ship, then says that nothing was harmed, and the outcome was a bowl of petunias, a sperm whale, and a lot of confusion. He then ends the chapter, and you're dying to know how that happened. It is an interesting way of making your audience want to keep reading it.

I would want to read the other books that Douglas Adams has written that aren't part of this trilogy. When you look at the titles of the other books he wrote, you see that they're certain lines from previous books. I like he style wirting because it is unique, and I don't think that I have read another authors book who writing is like his. I will probably read most of these books during break and post here.

McWebsite Project Reflection

Name: Ben
Project Reflection
Project Title: MC Website Project
Letter: Class A
Dates: March 12, 2008
PURPOSE In this section, explain what you were supposed to learn and what you were supposed to do.
The purpose of this project was to learn how to work as a team and how Moral Courage relates to everything in life. What we had to do was: build a website based on the topic that you chose, write at least five pages of notes, contribute at least five sources of where you got your notes, and choose a topic that can relate to moral courage. We also had to learn how to work as a team because we (were supposed to) do the whole project as a team. (Our group varied with how much of the work each person contributed).
WHAT I LEARNED In this section, tell what information or skills you learned or improved. From this project I learned how different events in history affected the music artist at that time. Bands such as Rage Against the Machine, wrote some of their songs based on the wars in Iraq. Other bands such as The Beatles wrote songs about war and peace, especially John Lennon. I also learned about different genres of the decades. Other artist such as Elvis, were morally courageous by trying out something new like Rock and Roll, which was newer at his time. Along with studying artist, we also studied different wars and other large events that affected a lot of people. We researched the cold war which was a big part, and other wars such as the Iraq and Vietnam. Other large events included: the Great Depression and the Civil Rights Movement.
REFLECTION In this section, reflect on your experience. Did you like the project? Why or why not? How did you do? What would you do differently next time?
I liked this project a little bit, but it wasn't my favorite. It's not that it was my least favorite project, but it was somewhere in between. What I liked about was that we were building a website and that meant we were going to use a lot of technology such as Dreamweaver and flash. I like using Dreamweaver and other Macromedia projects because I am good at it, and sometimes it give me challenges to figure out. It also lets me help others and teach people more about it. What I didn't like about the project was how my group contributed. To me it seemed like I was doing a lot of things for them like making the pages and all the technical stuff. I built pretty much the whole site, and my team members helped with the written content and sources. Overall, I think we made a good site and I hope viewers can use the information we posted. If I were to do this project again, I would want to work with different people because I already know how this group functioned. I would also want to do a different topic for two reasons. One is that this one didn't quite interest me as much as I thought, and two, I've already studied it. If I were to improve our existing final product, I would try to put more and better info on the pages so that we wouldn't get marked down for it.
ARTIFACTS You should have at least one artifact from each project on your DP. What document, picture, or link will you have for this project?
Well our whole site is (hopefully) going to be published on the wed for all to see. But I will put a link on my DP. And all the flash movies have been on my Dp for about a month.

Independent Reading Response #3

I started a new book which is The Restaurant at the end of the Universe, which is the sequel to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. It is part of a Treasury by Douglas Adams so the pages are much bigger, and the page # doesn't restart for each story.

Title: The Restaurant at the end of the Universe

Author: Douglas Adams

Total Pages This Week: 126

Date: week of 3/3/08

3.5Hours

Pages 147-273

The characters in this book are almost the same, but there are a couple new ones.

Zaphod Beeblebrox: He was the president of the universe until he stole a super ship called the Heart of Gold. It is the fastest ship because of its improbability drive. The improbability drive sends the ship through every point in the galaxy. The improbability drive also makes everything possible, even the improbable, which is why it is called that. Because of this, Zaphod found an old legendary planet called Magrathea. It was considered legendary because it has been hidden in a dark nebula cloud, and it is bi solar system. But the big reason is that people believed it produced other planets.

Trillian: She is Zaphod girl friend and the only human from Earth besides Arthur Dent. She is the only person is truly caring, and has a thoughtful side to her personality, unlike Zaphod and Ford Prefect. She brought two white mice with her to remind her of the Earth, but later found out that they were actually aliens who worked on the Legendary Planet Magrathea, the same one they discovered in the first book. Trillian real Earth name was Tricia McMillan. Arthur found this out because he had met her at a party when Zaphod came by and convinced her to talk to himself instead. Trillian did leave the planet about six months before it was destroyed.

The Restaurant at the end of the universe, also known as Milliways. The restaurant is inside a time vortex force field of thing, so that their visitors either have to go way into the future, or way into the past. When Arthur, Ford, Trillian, and Zaphod went, they went five hundred seventy-six thousand million years. Each "night" at the restaurant, they show how the universe ends. It looks virtually real, and that is why tons of "people" go to visit. After everyone sees the universe end, the force field goes back in time so the universe still exists. This concept makes it a little challenging to comprehend, and I had to re-read it multiple times.

Independent Reading Response #2

I finished this book, so I will be reading another one shortly. (Probably the next in the series).
Title: The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Author: Douglas Adams
Total Pages This Week: 94
Date: week of 2/24/08
2 Hours
Pages 122-215 (end of book)

I thought that The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy was interesting because it was a Sci-Fi and had a little bit of action in it. There were a lot of things in the book that made you wonder if it was true. Such as the Earth being blown to smithereens and aliens flying around. Or dolphins trying to send messages saying that there are aliens and the Earth is about to be destroyed. So I thought that the author made the book more interesting by making it sound like it was real. Douglas Adams, the author, also put little bits of humor by making it so that he was talking directly to the reader. Sometimes these bits would only be two pages long and would be a chapter. He used different character's vantage points, and that it made it better, because you get to know the character's personality better.
A line I liked from the book was, "'If you'd call it a robot,' muttered Arthur. 'It's more like a sort of electronic sulking machine.'" I liked this line because it showed that the author even gave a robot a personality. In most books, robots are just programmed with no personality, but this robot is very depressed and doesn't like life. Another thing he did was give a monologue of a sperm whale that lived for about ten minutes since it just appeared in space. This was one of humor parts and he was talking a little bit directly to the reader. Over all, he gave just about everything its own personality which made his writing more unique.

Independent Reading Response #1

Title: The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Author: Douglas Adams
Total Pages This Week: 121
Date: week of 2/17/08
2 Hours
Pages 1-121
One of the main characters is Ford Prefect. He is not exaclty human, but looks close to one, but he is a hitchhiker. A hitchhiker is a person who get rides on different peoples space crafts to go to other places in the galaxy. Ford got a ride from his planet to Earth, but wasn't able to get back. He went to Earth in the first place to try and put more info int The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is a little bit like a book, but is electronic. If the guide was regularly bound, it would take up about the same amount of space a couple of sky-scrapers would. It is therefore a small hand-held electronic item that looks similar to a calculator.
The other main character is a human, and is the last one (as far as he knows). His name is Arthur Dent. He became freinds with Ford Prefect, but Ford didn't tell Arthur he was an alien. Ford saves Arthurs life more than once in out space, being an "intersteller hitchhiker." Arthur does not have many freinds, and is greatful that Ford is his freind. He also can't always visual things that fast, it takes him a couple minutes to realize things that should have taken him a couple of seconds.

Independent Reading Book

The book I will be reading for independent reading will be The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Since this book is only 215 pages long, I will proably be reading another one.

Persuasive Essay

Video Games... Harmful or Helpful?

Are video games harmful or helpful to children? There have been laws to make it that minors can't buy video games that are above their age rating. Most of these laws have been blocked. All video games have to go to ESRB to get a rating, before being sold in public. A research showed that playing action video games for about 2-3 hours a day, after about a month your eyesight will increase by 20%. But people don't want their kids playing games because most kids don't know the difference between real and fiction until about age six. I think that video games are helpful to children because, they improve eyesight over time, improves reflexes, some get people to exercise.

Video games improve eyesight and hand-eye coordination. After playing action games for 2-3 hours a day, your eyesight will increase by 20% after one month. Video games also improve hand-eye coordination since you're usually looking at the screen while pressing buttons. You are soon able to know where your hand is going to go without looking at them. Along with knowing where to go with your fingers, you know what you’re going to do with them. Are you going to hit it multiple times very quickly, or just a couple times? Kids who play video games regularly know where they're going to reach along with speed and other dimensions.

Some video games get you to exercise. Games such as Dance Dance Revolution (DDR), make you burn calories to play the game. Since you are constantly dancing around trying to hit the arrows when they get to the top of the screen, you’re usually working up a sweat. Some songs are faster than others making you dance like crazy. Some are slower which are more relaxing for older people, but still get you active. One of the newer consoles, the Wii made by Nintendo, always makes you active. The controller has motion sensors in it that tell the console where you’re pointing the controller. So if you’re playing baseball, you really have to swing the controller, to get a home run.

Video Games help your reflexes and timing. In most games, you have to press a button or do something on the spur of the moment to stay alive. For example, if a monster is coming at you your first instinct is going to be killing it. But then you have to decide what weapon to use. Sometimes you take so long it is reached you before you could get to it. This makes your reflexes better so that you can act quicker. If someone accidentally kicked a ball at your head, you could instinctively catch it or dodge it. Gaming also improves your timing if you have to hit buttons at the precise button. In DDR, you have the hit arrows exactly when they hit the top of the screen, or else they don’t count. Your reflexes and timing will improve after playing video games.

Some video games are harmful to younger kids who don’t know real from fantasy. The parents should also look at the rating the game got and decide if their child should be playing the game. Video games are helpful not hurtful, because if they are scary for younger children, it is the parents fault for not looking at the rating and approving the game to play. Also the parents should be monitoring how much their child is playing so that they don’t play excessively.

Video games are good for your mind, body, and even social life. There are games where you have to play with a friend and do cooperative play. This can build friends and teamwork. Good for your body if you are playing the Wii, or DDR. And good for your mind if you are playing strategy games such as Tetris. Video games are important to the future because they might find a new way to teach kids about certain things. They already have games that are educational and help kids learn about different topics.

Brave New World Response #4

1. The ending of the book was a little interesting when John went to hide away from civilization, but technology just kept coming back to him. It was a little sad because all he wanted was some piece and nobody let him have it. It was a little surprising that all the reporters came and tried to interview him just because he was whipping himself. What I felt about it was that just because he was a savage didn't mean that he wasn't a person. It is cruel if you try to get away from something and it purposely come back to you.
2. What I would ask Aldous Huxley would be why he wrote this book. What was the real intention of this book because it seems as though there are so many. Did he write it show what the future would be like? Did he write to show how cruel humans can be? Since there are just so many themes, I wonder which one he wants to stand out the most.
3.
Prodigious- out of the norm huge
Unanimity- being unanimous
Ineradicably- not able to be eradicated
What I think about these words are that people might have been using them to describe the savage in a mean way.

Make your own site

Try making your own site. Here is mine:
http://benhisbest.googlepages.com/home

To make one go to:
http://labs.google.com/ and look for google page creator