WEX blog post

First piece: Exhausted

It was the first day of X-block (in high school) so I was kind of excited. So during X-block all the students in the x-block walked down to a park about 6 block away from the school, not to tiring. As soon as we get there we are told to get into lines, and once we where we ran drills repeatedly. All of which involved running at your best. Sure it was really fun but the human body has it's limits. With the last few minutes we played a little scrimmage. Which involved quite a bit more running, then Chris tells us "if they score this whole team gives me 25 push-ups." My team didn't defend our end zone and we ended up having to do 25 push ups. At the end I had to carry back a 25 pound bag full along with my stuff (which at the time added up to about 10 pounds). The lack of energy didn't make me behave any differently however my body was taking a sway in one direction every time I took a step, and my arms swung along with the direction that my legs moved. The sleep that night was amazing.

Second piece
"Kevin shut up, I am trying to help you but you keep making me laugh." I said still laughing. "If you're not going to be serious go copy Dimitri's." 

"okay fine" Kevin responded.  He presented his P.O.L in front of me one more time but constantly keeping popping a dirty joke every now and then during the several practice rounds we went through.  I saw no problem with it because it relived all his tension, best get those out now instead of during his P.O.L  During the practice rounds I kept hearing 6th graders running down the hall past the office we where practicing in I turned towards the blinds and just listened to the incoherent yelling.  I turned back around, and heard Kevin in a serious tone starting from the top.  He tried again, we giggled every now and then during that round but in the end he did really good, then came my turn.

Third piece

The penguin looked around with shifty eyes, for it was in a pickle.  The secret undercover penguin was looking around and was surrounded by Tiny Tony Waffles' mutant ninja monkeys.  Using his quick thinking skills he waited for the monkeys to charge and pour syrup all over the floor.  When the monkeys slipped he belly slided away.  He had overcome that obstacle but it was not over for him, he still needed to destroy the famed waffle-copter to prevent Tony's escape.  Using his penguin ninja skills and 50 pounds of dynamite he blew up the waffle-copter.  The second it exploded he busted down the door and help up his WPA badge (world pancake association).  Unfortunately for the penguin there Tony stood along with his MNMs (mutant ninja monkeys) and the penguin was all out of syrup, he would have to think quick.  A split second later Johnny Pancake comes in through a window and shoves a pancake in Tony's face and sent him flying out a window, and he went "SPLAT" as he went down 1 billion stories.  

Cooking post

Well today after school we got together to make guacamole as a final product of the L.U.L.S project. The whole point of making some kind of recipe was basically to try and make ourselves live even a bit more sustainably by growing just a tiny bit of our total food supply. So basically by doing this we answer one of the essential questions of this project. "Why don't people live more sustainably?", basically because they generally don't feel like taking the time to do something to help themselves and much rather take the way that everyone else does it, or they don't feel like growing their own food. As for the second question, "how can we convince them to do so?" if we can show that we can do this (as 14 year olds) than adults can certainly do it, and it just takes a few minutes to prepare it. Most people won't do something unless they know someone else can do it.

In this recipe it called for two herbs, cilantro (which was plentiful) and cayenne peppers. There is no 'one' right way to harvest the peppers but it is mainly meant for different recipes, basically we used the peppers in their green state which after many searches over the Internet says that is when they are spiciest but they are mainly picked at the point in which they turn red to make salsa. As to why we chose this recipe, mostly because it did not require a lot of time, it was simple, and it tasted good! The process of how we actually created it is unknown to me because I had to run down to the store to buy chips to eat the guacamole with.

In the end (or when I got there) it tasted pretty good. One of the biggest things I would have changed is actually brought chips so that I wouldn't have to have ran and missed out on the process of making our guacamole. That is probably the only thing I would have changed. As to how I think, it did not really change much because I already have some of my food grown at home so I did not really expect any change.

The links below provide links to pictures (since they where to big to fit on the page)

This I believe

http://thisibelieve.org/dsp_ShowEssay.php?uid=5&lastname=Gates&firstname=Bill%20&yval=0&start=0

I didn't chose this one because I'm big on computers or anything like that, mostly just because some of the things said in here I really agree with.  Especially this quote from his essay "I believe that the death of a child in Africa is no less poignant or tragic than the death of a child anywhere else. And that it doesn't take much to make an immense difference in these children's lives." I personally believe that every single life on this planet has just as much right to be cared for, nurtured and have chance to live as the next one.  I also liked the connection he made between his optimism and creativty.  It just spoke to me as a happy person you seem to invision more for your self and others giving you a goal or somthing big to go after later in life.  

Food blog post

Here are a few recipies I thought looked good click below to see them

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/06/cowboy-nachos/

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/the_best_chocol/

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/05/how_to_cook_a_s/ 

3 herb recipes

1. Spicy Cilantro dip-basically just a dipping sauce for chips etc.

2. Seviche- basically seafood cooked in lemon juice, sometimes served with certain vegtables depending on who made it

3. Tacos- basically spciy tacos we are going to try and make

pictures (in the same order from above)

1

Sustainability Visit

Interview Transcript

Question: What is your name here and do you serve any particular role in this market?

Answer:My name is Sylvia, and I my role here is selling what I grow at a ranch that people have set aside for us to

grow our food

Question two: Why do you choose to garden your own food?

Well I chose to because it is a nice advantage to grow your own food and my whole family enjoys growing vegetables and

agriculture so we decided to put that to good use.

Question three: When did you first start working here?

Answer: About a year ago

Question four: Do you garden all this food at home, why or why not?

Aside from the ranch I do grow some of my food at home

Question five: How did you find out about this particular place?

Answer: Well the people that manage us move us around so I learned about it when I was moved here

Question six: What would be your advice to get others to do what you want?

Answer: I don't have any

Blog Assignment

What struck you about the location you visited?  Was it what you expected, or very different?

 

What struck you about the location you visited?  Was it what you expected, or very different?

 

Well the very first thing that caught my eye was that I expected it to be at least inside of a building but instead it was a group of tents with food out in front it was a very un-expected look or at least not what I had anticipated.

 

Do you think you will go to a CSA/Farmer's market more often?

 

At the moment I don't have a definite answer but I would probably say that I would

It is just the feel of being there and plus everything tastes better there (I bought a few things while I was there)

 

How do these locations fit into our essential questions of "why don't people live more

sustainably" and "How can I convince them to do so"?

 

I guess the locations fit into the first question because these people growing their own food are taking a few steps to living more sustainably and in a way seem more like the opposite of the question. Seeing as how these people work for their food I would say the reason some people don't live sustainably  is because they are simply lazy, that is just guess and only a possibility.  As for the second question I would say explain the positives of growing your own food, that way some people might start doing it, once again it is only a possibility, other than that I do see one more thing.  Maybe these places might inspire to encourage to people to start living even a bit more sustainably watching people make a few bucks of what they grow (sometimes money is all that drives people).

Ecological Intelligence

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1884779_1884782_1884776,00.html

What is Ecological Intelligence?

Ecological Intelligence is basically trying to figure out whether something is as good for the environment as is portrayed in commercials and companies.  Trying to see how helpful it actually is.  As revealed in the article not everything is as 'green' as it may look.  The transportation for everything that is needed to make it, or the chemicals for the dye are harmful for the water and other aspects of the environment.  It means to try out best to meet our needs with out harming the planet.  

How does this article relate to the essential questions of the project?

Well the first essential question is "Why don't people live more sustainably?" and this really relates to the article.  People don't live more sustainably in my opinion because they don't know they aren't living as sustainably as they may think they are.  The resources used to make these 'green' products use many more hurtful resources than those green products will ever be able to cancel out.  Also because some people might not know what to do in order to help or how to access organizations or people that could help.   

The second question is "How can we convince them to do so?" and in the article it gives a pretty good idea on how to do so.  The article stated that people re-act to problems when they see what is happening and it's effects on a certain object/place etc.  So if we some how got people to see what they are doing to the rest of the planet maybe they could see what their impact is and what these green products are actually doing.  

How high is your ecological intelligence? Give an example of ecological intelligence in your life?

My ecological intelligence is not that high.  Many of the things that are bought for me are not really very green and fail to even fall under the category.  However there are a few things at home that are at least to some extent helping with living sustainably.  We grow a small portion (very small) of food our selves and although it might not be much its a small step towards something greater. 

Data Analysis - The Gardeners

Question one: What struck you about the data?

Well one big surprise was how little people (that took the survey) actually grew some of their food.  Most of the people that did garden did it for something other than food or vegetables which only would leave some kind of decorative gardening.  Also even less people do it because of the environment, the top reason was for decoration.  For every person that grew at least some of their food, two people gardened for decorative purposes.  It might help with the oxygen in our air but it would seem that not many people understand the crisis.  To me though the biggest surprise was how many people said it would be a good idea to garden and how little actually do it.  56 percent of the people that answered said they do garden. 93 percent of the people said it is a good idea to garden to help with living more sustainably but not many of them do it.  Sure the majority of them garden but some of those people that garden don't said it is a good idea.  Why don't they garden then? 

Question two: Where you surprised by any of the other results?How so? 

Not really, the results above where pretty much the only things that really caught my attention.  

Question three: What where your expectations? Were these met or not? 

Well they where met to some degree, I did not expect a lot of people to garden and that was met.  However my expectations where kind of changed when I saw one of the other questions.  Many people said it was a good idea to garden but so few of them actually did.  So many more people thought it was a good idea to garden but very little of them did, I did not expect so many people to say it was a good idea.  

Question four:  Based on your findings, what kind of ad campaign will your run? Will focus on educating people? Encourage of coerce people? Embarrass people? what is your angle? 

Based on our findings I think our campaign should mostly focus on encouragement.  There is a very good reason for this, many people think that gardening for some of their food is a good idea but not many of them do it.  We also have to educate people on this since some people that don't garden might learn why it's more useful in the long run thus giving them all the more reason to start and help out the environment.  I want to give the viewers/listeners a good view, not the scare them of embarrass them but to tell them what it needed to protect our sustainability for our selves and future generations.  I feel the combination of encouragement and educating people makes them feel like they learned something and they feel that it is important for them to do it without scaring them.  

Research material

Project description
http://giosradblog.blogspot.com/

Environmental survey

Click Here to take survey

Blog post HW- 03/05/09 - Dervaes family video response

In the video with the Dervaes family it shows a family who is built on supporting your self and giving your family a source to food as apposed to going out and buying what you can have easy access to if you work hard for it.  They where a very out going family and had worked really heard to (very key words next)sustain themselves.   They went out of their way to give them selves more room to plant rather than working with an easily expandable garden.  They held many surprises, they contribute to many of the solution's that where presented previously.  Like supported local living economies by selling to local restaurants and other business that are in the food service.  They also did not use electricity and used almost all manual kitchen tools to prepare their food.  

This family lives a pretty simple life, all their needs are met from their hard work and do not use many luxuries.  Their needs list is just as big as any one's.  They are humans in the same time period as us so they have the same needs.  Their wants list would be pretty small, the way they live they seem pretty dedicated to the life style they live and having a smaller impact on the planet.  They use bio-fuels to get their car moving to have a smaller impact on the planet, they gather their own food and have a purely vegetarian diet.  This in my opinion would say they are about sustaining themselves and trying to pass on the lesson.   They don't seem to keep much to themselves besides what they need.  The little money they make they save for staples (favorite foods/ commonly used, not the kind of little metal staples) which aren't a necessity but a want.  If you count each of the staples individually it still only adds up to 3 different things.  As apposed when I check my pantry and I see a bunch of food.  

This family really ties into what where are learning about sustainability.  This family has really adopted a very sustainable lifestyle.  Where they do not depend on outside food or many outside recourses, they use natural recourses so not only are they keeping themselves really sustainable but also trying to reduce negative effect on the planet.  We are learning and about research a way to live more sustainably when this family is way ahead of us.  So it's seems pretty obvious how these two connect.  

This family lives really sustainably, their recourses come from within 100 feet of them.  This is a great idea to start living more sustainably.  There is more than one way to live more sustainably but this is a great way.  This group of people has set an example that will hopfully be caried on by others.  It's also a good thing they don't over stock and sell surpluses.  Rather than wasting stuff they go off and sell it to others who would have a better use than letting it go to waste.  All in all these people seem like a family who would really 

please check this out if you've got the time http://www.pathtofreedom.com/

 

My Ishmael Calliope part 2

Question one: How is Ishmael using the word anthropomorphism in the text on page 82?

Answer:  I guess it's because I think he's saying humans think themselves to be above everything else.  That we see our selves 'better' than all other life forms because of our intelligence.  It's described to say that humans want everything for any(one/thing) must be earned under our conditions, and since animals do not comprehend this system of ours they tend to think it's every one's land.  We see that if you do not earn whatever you have through our system then you are some kind of threat.  For example most of our trading and exchanges are through money and that is how we earn what we have.  Since animals are incapable of doing this than we see them as 'value less'.

Question 2:  In this chapter Ishmael leads us through the evolution of the Awks on planet Calliope. They start out as Awks and then some evolve into Bawks and then a few evolve into Cawks. These Cawks live in tribes and have a cultural heritage. They practice the strategy of ‘Erratic Retaliation’.

Part A:  How does Ishmael define ‘Erratic Retaliation’? How does it work in the case of then Cawks?

 Ishmael defines erratic retaliation as a peacekeeping system for the Cawks because it is a way of serving justice for what one member has done to another.  It allows them to settle the two individual's rather than having the situation explode and get two whole tribes at each other.  The Cawks developed it so people would get what they deserve but keep it down to a certain limit and keep the whole race from eradicating it's self.  

Part B:  Why is Erratic Retaliation a peacekeeping method?

Erratic retaliation could be considered a peace keeping method because it allows the Cawks the ability to control a dispute amongst parties (creatures, tribes etc.).  By doing so problems can be solved without destroying too much or killing to many other creatures

Part C:  Why don’t the Cawks just annihilate each other (instead of just doing the occasional attacks?

The Cawks might be separate from each other since they separate into tribes but they do not annihilate each other because they cannot continue their species inside of just one tribe.  Their tribes are too small to reproduce between the people in that one group.  They need the other tribes to find more mates and keep the race going.  If they killed each other and one tribe was the final victor then they would be forced to mate with a small amount of other Cawks and keep it to a minimum.  As long they do the occasional attacks a tribe can establish its dominance and still have more breeding options. 

Ishmael blog post

Question 1: What are Ishmael’s two general rules on how to identify people from our culture? Do you agree with Ishmael when he says that people from all over the world are part of the same culture? Why or why not?

Answer: Ishmael defines people 'from our culture' as normal humans, and people who live in around the same general area.  However I don't think that people from all over the world are part of the same culture.  We all have different values and ideas for different things such as food and architecture.  We all have the same needs like food, shelter, and water.  Different cultures view different things as beautiful or bad or ugly, so we don't all belong to the same one, we have different religions that change our ideals or way of ever day life.  The definition of culture is : The quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.  Not every country's ideas are the same as another, not every country views the same art as beautiful or modern, not every country has the same mannerisms like "thank you" or "hello" or shaking hands.  

Question 2: Ishmael disagrees with Mother Culture’s voice that says that humans are inherently flawed. After reading through page 66 of My Ishmael do agree or disagree with him? Why?

I actually agree with what Mother Culture says in the book, humans are inherently flawed.  Humans are not perfect and I really feel what is stated in the book about humans not being so simple they do not seemed flawed, but we are not high and mighty enough to develop some Earth saving machine.  This put it into perspective to see how we are flawed.  We do not have the intelligence to solve the big problems like wars and world hunger but we can make life a bit easier and give our selves some luxuries.  We do not have any technology that can save us.  So I disagree with Ismael, when Julie mentions the perfection of simpler creatures how they are so basic they live because they are adapted to the simple life

  

Question 3: Ishmael uses a parable of Tunes and Dancers to explain his idea of Takers and Leavers. Who are these Takers and Leavers and how do they relate to American culture?

Answer: I guess the Takers in the book are kind of like everyone here in the U.S.A because we are all consuming and getting it only from working.  Just like the dancers in the story they work for what should be given to us simply because it is a human necessity (in this case it would be food) and we shouldnt have to work for.  In which case just like us we work for things we should get anyway.  The leavers in this society are more like the criminals.  They choose to abandon the laws of the people they live with and try somthing crazy, for better or worse.  

Sustainability

1. What does it mean to live sustainably?

To live sustainably would mean to able to live in a manner where all your needs are taken care of and is at least some what enjoyable.  It would mean you have obviously some hard times but it means you are content with what you have available.  If you live sustainably that mean would you have all that you need.  It could also fall into the category that you get everything you want (materialistic), but that's a little more than sustainably.

2. How much freedom and independence do you have as a 14-16 year old in our society?

In our society 14-16 year olds have a pretty decent amount of freedom.  At 16 you get to drive a car and in our school epically we get a lot of freedom to do what we want.  At around 14 most people tend to give us more freedom but more responsibility in order to help us learn for when we go off to college and/or start a life of our own.  The responsibility we get at around this age tends to increase as we get older.  All in all people in this age group tend to get a pretty good amount of freedom and at the same time responsibility.

3.As a 14-16 year old, how can you currently live your life more sustainably?

In the age group of 14-16 there are many ways to live your life more sustainably.  You could get a job and try get your money rather than asking your parents for money that way you give your parents more spending money for food, mortgage etc.  Also I guess working hard at school could also help with that because then it helps with college and could be considered a investment for the future.  You could also use less energy or find some other way to cut down on the resources you use thus saving your guardians some money.  

2nd semester goals

Goals 

My goals for this semester are to get a 85 over all (at least) in every class for many reasons, but mainly because a sense of accomplishment always feels good when you have been through something as long as a school year.  Also to just avoid any kind of trouble as I have some minor trouble with in the past. 

Question 1:  How are you different now then when you started school in August?

I think I am different now in a way that makes me look like I have a sense of urgency.  In previous years I settled for the minimum in most of my pieces of work and when ever something was due soon I would lay back and do it a good portion of the time but the times it didn't it hit hard so a sense of urgency did kick in but too late but after seeing all that I feel like I can force that feeling on my self to make me seem a bit more productive because I have to now more than ever

Question 2.  What skills do you think are the most important for succeeding in humanities?Why?

Well first of all you have to have the will to learn after the rest of the skills start to come to you pretty easily.  Next to that you have to have some kind of researching skills as our previous project showed us.  Simply because humanities is about history, literature, and writing.  So for the writing portion you would need researching a lot since you need to inform your self.  Not just being able to read stuff but to pick out the important details and be able to understand the work.  Also study skills, to able to learn something important efficiently and how to summarize different kinds of information.  Like studying math if different than history so you have to able to know how to study different formats of material.  

Question 3:  One thing you would like to improve on

I would like to improve my work ethic a bit.  Primarily at home because I can honestly say I think I work pretty efficiently at school but at home I have too many distractions.  So I would like to turn off the computer volume and put on headphones to keep anything else from getting my attention which would keep me locked on my work

Question 4:  What are you most curious about?  If you could study any topic, what would you study and why?

If anything I would like to study genetics.  I don't know a lot about the topic but form what I do know it seems very interesting.  Also because it's nice to have that kind of knowledge to know that you could help someone with what could previously have been called an "incurable affliction"   

1. To achieve a 85 or better in all classes

2. To watch any Superbowl in person

3.  Live to see a Charger Superbowl win

4.  To get my DP up to speed and make sure all it's links are working 

5.  Get all my WOW characters to the level cap before the start of next year

6.  To make more friends

7.  To go to Washington D.C

8.  To go to Brazil

9.  To go on road trip with my friends 

10.  To go to college and get a doctorate