19 Die Antwoord is cray

"The historian's task is to understand the past; the human scientist, by contrast, is looking to change the future." To what extent is this true in these areas of knowledge?
This quote is true to a large extent. The historian needs to understand the past through every perspective to know the truth. Then they must take the knowledge of the past and sort out how to change or prevent certain negative events of the past. Once they have all of this, their job is to share or teach this information.

Scientists look to change and improve or at least change the future. They find new technologies in which cure or improve civilized life. However, they also find technology of the past to learn from such as CSI stuff. In a sense both historian and scientist learn from the past and teach for the future.

Blog 18 - Stem Cell

Is stem cell research ethical?



The picture above is one argument against stem cell research. It is saying that the embryo died, yet still didn't find a cure for the person needing stem cell research results. However, the more ethical argument is that an embryo is a person and ESCR (Embryonic stem cell research) is killing people. That or at least killing the potential for brilliant life. Someone who is dying may die, but is it worth ending the life or potential life of a successful healthy person?



The picture above is one argument for the counter.  An embryo isn't a person. If an embryo can save lives or even improve human lives, why be against it? Some can argue that a stem cell doesn't really have potential for life until it becomes a mature cell. That brings up the question of when does it become non-ethical? ESCR could cure many things like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and even cancer and end up saving millions of lives.

Overall, is it ethical to risk killing millions of potential human beings to potentially save millions of people already alive?

Week IDK Been a Long Time- Blog 17

Is it ethical to test on animals for human cures?

The picture above is sending the message that animal testing is not ethical. It states that testing on animals is like testing on humans and that a life is a life no matter whose it is.  Animals are grown in solitary and isolated cages for their whole life, while being prodded and experimented on constantly. PETA is a well known program against animal experimentation. Even if an animal is already dying, without a home or a danger to others in its community it is unethical.

This picture above is the counter to the first argument. Animal testing has saved human lives. It can be successful and as the ad states above, would you rather have an animal live instead of your daughter or another human? Yes, it may be cruel to animals if they are caged and tested, but it is better than letting loved ones die, because the value of animals are greater.  Animals are raised to be slaughtered and eaten all around the world. The only difference between this and experimentation is that it can produce cures. 

The big question is if you have the potential to find cures to diseases that kill humans, is it worth the cruel treatment of animals?

Week 6 - Blog 1 Gee Tee Aye fiVe

Some people believe that video games cause violence. This is because the violence in them are extremely graphic and unacceptable in real life. They believe that playing video games directly relates to the players actions in society. However, video games are just another form of entertainment. Entertainment similar to movies, sports or anything else. Entertainment does not define who a person is or what they do. If people want to blame entertainment, then why don't we also blame TV shows, movies, sports, books, or any other things that contain violence. I believe that games are used to relieve stress or anger. They are what people use to prevent violence in real life.

Week 5 - Blog 3 Arab-Israeli Conflict

You may have read other blogs about this, but we are on this topic in IB history so why don't I post this too. From the information I have learned so far in history I can't choose a side. We have had speakers from both sides tell very different stories and packets from both sides. Jews have been pushed around throughout history and don't wish for any trouble. Arabs have had much taken away from them for no reason other than others sympathy for Jews. It's a long lasting struggle in which is difficult to solve. The U.S. is on the Israeli side for our only good relation with the middle east and similar views on government. Therefore I will blindly follow my government. #murica

Week 5 - Blog 2 Performance issues

History has many different issues on how the performance of different historical events happened. Everyone tells history on at least a slight bias to their side or origin. Obviously they can't change the story completely, like British can't say that North America is under their control, but they can say that we fought very unfairly, whereas we say we fought strategically. We can get a better understanding on how events really occurred by drawing conclusions from multiple sources of all sides of the historical conflict.

Week 5 - Blog 1 The Fate

I was going to do my EE on this, but it became too complicated and I chose a history topic. Anyways, does fate exist and how can I prove it? Well I don't know if it exists, and I can't really prove it. I don't believe in fate, because it's like believing in God (Sorry if this offends). An example of fate would be, am I choosing to write this blog right now or did some unknown thing called fate force me to write this? Fate just sounds ridiculous. However, there are things that make me question whether we actually do have a predetermined future or destiny to some extent.

Things like, Do we choose our parents and the people who raise us up with different ethics and morals? Do we choose to be born in poverty or not? Do we choose where we are born and what resources are available to us? Do we choose our community and the people around us who influence us like teachers? Do we choose our race, gender, or characteristics?

Even our genes are given to us without choice. Genes that affect everything about us, personality, physical attributes, everything. The genetic blueprint of our brain has at least some affect on a predetermined future right? These questions have nothing to do with religion or whether someone believes in fate or not, they are true, real questions.

Week 4 - Blog 3 Persuade me big boy

Ads...


This may be over exaggerating, but as you can see there is a picture of a banana and a picture of a sexy ass woman. Let's say this is an ad for a banana. I am not really one to buy bananas, but I would damn sure buy that banana. Maybe I am just an ignorant consumer, however getting majestic chicas to help advertise your product helps sell. We don't really know if the banana is a better product than other bananas or not, but some consumers would rather buy from her than a thug man. The only way to know is to actually taste test the banana or get information from a trusted source. Opinions may differ, but... ways of knowing.

Week 4 - Blog 2 Color High

Perception is a key factor in understanding. However, we all perceive things in different ways. In my mind the colors I see in the pictures above, are what I know to be the colors of a rainbow. Unless you are colorblind, you see the colors of the rainbow too. We both see the same colors, but we may perceive them differently. For example, when I see the color green, how do I know it is the same color that you call green. If I held a green piece of paper up and called it green you would call it green too, but do we really see the same color, or do we see different colors and were only raised up learning to call the color we see green? In the big picture, this doesn't really matter, but it is interesting to think about.

Week 4 - Blog 1 Knowing The Real Truth

How do we know what the truth is when you've been brought up to understand otherwise your entire life? For example (hypothetically), what if every person as we perceive it, is in truth actually something else? You and everyone around you believe that you and everyone else is a person, however that isn't true. We are mere puppets of real people controlling us.

The picture above explains it.. done. Jk, but I will explain it. The way the knower perceives or knows something depends on what the knower uses to sort it out in his/her mind.  The emotion, reason, perception and language. However, when those are wrong you can use areas of knowledge to try to prove or disprove it. Using the natural sciences, human sciences, history, arts, ethics, and mathematics help. 

Week 3 - Blog 3 Picasso Swagger

Pictures on newspaper articles, paintings, ads, or really any image has a denotation that we can all see or tell by simply looking at it. However, the connotation can change drastically depending on the viewer or a caption.

For example, you might think that Picasso on the left is posing for a picture, but another person could think he has a headache.  The picture on the right is the result of a tsunami, but without the captions, someone could think it is because of Godzilla or many other causes of destruction.  Using techniques such as taking pictures and wording the caption a certain way can change  the way people think or feel about a certain topic. It even help persuade someone to believing something that isn't true.

Week 3 - Blog 2 Lyrically Enhanced

I have always wondered how people like poems and music so much. That is until I found a songs that I could really connect with. With lyrics that  matched what I could never come up with myself. In a way that I couldn't put together so perfectly.

Tyler, The Creator

I am always looking for more music whether it relates to me or not, because it's so beautiful. Language fails all the time and no matter how emotional you feel about something, there can never be a word that matches that emotion perfectly.  Music to me is using the best words put together to get really close to the perfect feeling. However, that's how I know language fails. It's because I keep searching even though I know I will never attain the perfect music.  Every time I find a new favorite song, it gets closer and closer to perfect, but it will never get there. I know language fails.

Lorde

Week 3 - Blog 1 Same Love

We talked about this in class a bit, and Mrs. G. used this as her example. "Love" is a word that we use for a lot of different things, but they all have a different meaning. Yes, it is the same word and definition, yet there is still a distinct difference. For example, there's a big difference between "I love food", "I love my mother", and "I love my lover". All three used the same word, but had a very different feeling to the word.

Another example would be the word "Need". Like, "I need oxygen to live" and "I need that 458 Italia". Needing the Ferrari has less of a meaning than needing oxygen. However, it's just like my last post. You need to know the context, to understand the meaning of words that have different feelings and meanings.

Week 2 - Blog 3 EMO INFLUENCE

Saying the phrase, "I would kill someone for some alcohol." in an angry voice is a lot different when you say it in a relaxed voice.

When you say it in an angry voice, people will think you are either crazy and/or in dire need of alcohol.  People will try to calm you down and get you some professional help. On the other hand, if you say it in a relaxed voice people will either think you are being sarcastic and/ or over exaggerating.

Even the meaning of a single word can change when you say it with a different emotion. Like when you say something whilst laughing compared to being serious. So, how do we know the true meaning even if the speaker is being sarcastic or not? The easiest way is through context.

Week 2 - Blog 2 Professional THUG LYFE

Take the man above for example.   Mr. Bigwang is low on money, because he needs to pay hospital bills. His daughter has cancer.   He would do anything to help his daughter and is getting desperate.   Little Ms. Bigwang loves her father, but knows he is low on money.  Saturday night, Mr. Bigwang goes to extreme measures and raids an empty house of everything.

Mr. Longwilly in the picture above was the man Mr. Bigwang robbed.   Mr. Longwilly was doing fine financially and never did anything illegal. However, Mr. Longwilly doesn't speak English that well, because he just moved to America from his home country.

Mr. Longwilly reports he has been robbed and police suspect Mr. Bigwang. The case goes to court. They both arrive to court at the same time and each give their side of the story. Mr. Bigwang speaks very properly and polite while Mr, Longwilly speaks very "broken" English, using small words. The trial is over and Mr.  Bigwang is still innocent.

This is true in real life cases. Maybe, not this exact example, but when people can talk very professionally compared to the other person, they can sometimes get off the hook. Presentation is crucial. 

Week 2 - Blog 1 F*CK B*TCH *SS N****

This is about swearing. People who swear all the time to their friends and other things are everywhere, but so are people who don't swear. I personally only swear when I am with close friends or anonymous online. Otherwise I use euphemisms to replace swear words with others like fudge or bull crap. I exhort others to do the same, because of the meaning behind the words. I know the meaning of a swear word doesn't change whether you say it more often than others, but it's meaning behind the word to invoke emotion does. For example if I told Andrew Holmstrom that he was a PUNK ASS FUCK he would take it a lot more lightly than my mother. This is because I swear around Andrew all the time, but not around my mom. Not saying as much swear words publicly may help you in multiple ways.   Firstly, it's just plain rude and gives people bad impressions of you. Secondly, it helps you learn more bigger words that are stronger and more professional than swearing and may even have a stronger meaning. Thirdly, when people know you swear a lot they will start to not take you as seriously and think it's more of a casual thing.

Week 1 - Blog 3 The Birds and the Bees

I know I am only required to write two blogs per week, so I decided to make this third in hopes that it works with Epistemology. You can probably tell by the title that I am talking about "The Talk", but you see the thing is, I have never had the talk before. I've also never looked it up, because I am sure I get the gist of it. That's most likely because I never talk to my parents much, but don't worry about that I don't have family problems. Well you might be asking yourself, if I haven't gotten the speech or even looked it up, than how am I going to write a blog about it? Don't worry I know how babies are made. When two people love each other, they both get rings and marry. The rings that bond the two allow lump to grow on the female to signal the stork and nine months later the stork delivers a baby.

I assume the Birds and the Bees talk refers to how bees pollinate many flowers in its life, but a bird only has one mate.  Due to these facts, is abortion a good or bad thing? I had a friend two years ago who was pregnant, but moved from CPHS to a different school more specified to take care of a child. She wanted an abortion, but everyone close to her was against it. Her family was very traditional, but is it right for parents to make a decision like that for their 14 year old daughter? Legally parents can, because if you are under 16 years of age you can't legally make big decisions like that yourself. Now I can argue both sides of this.

You need to think about whose fault it was she got pregnant in the first place? was it her who was having sex? or her parents for not being careful? (By the way, she chose to have sex). With her parents having all the money to support their daughter, it is their choice spend their money on what they want. On the other hand, the baby is hers. Even though the girl was my friend, I would maybe lean more towards her parents side, putting myself in their shoes. Not the choice they made, but their side. This blog went from very light to deep pretty fast, but there's a knowledge issue. Parent's controlling the abortion of their grandchild when their daughter is underage.

Week 1 - Blog 2 Pet Peeve

I don't know if pet peeves count as a knowledge issue, but this has to do with racism so I assume this counts.  Now if you don't remember I am Asian.  Ever since elementary I have mainly had white and black friends, because I never went to the typical "Asian" church and wasn't in any ESL classes to help with my speaking skills.  Therefore, I here racist comments all the time.  Now I am not saying I am the only one getting these racist comments and I honestly have never taken any offense to any racist remark towards me.  My pet peeve is when people have to ask me for there permission to be racist jokingly.  First off, I feel offended that the person asking thinks I am a little skimp living in the 1900's who doesn't know what a joke is.



I do have a sense of humor so unless someone actually prevents me from doing something because I am Asian than it is fine. If you ever want to be racist around me than go for it, because 99% of the time I understand that people are joking.  I am also conflicted on how to respond to if someone asks me to be racist. If I say, "No don't make fun of Asians." they will think I am some weird kid who can't take a joke and is uncomfortable to be around, but if I say, "Sure." It makes me feel like I am some submissive wimp who lets people say demeaning remarks in my face. The third option is to explain this to whoever asks, but obviously that's uncomfortable to everyone, because only strangers ask that question. Fortunately Drake's mom has a saying that achieves a solution to this problem.

Drake's mother said, "Don't ask for permission. Just ask for forgiveness".   This is much better, because more often than not I laugh at the racist words and if you feel bad, say you're sorry.  After I can tell you myself that it doesn't offend me. I'm pretty sure I can speak for a lot of people too and not just me. Take you females for example. Now I have never heard anyone say this before, but what if someone asked you if they could say sexist things around you? Wouldn't you be at least a bit offended? Wouldn't you think something like, "Well I don't care if you make a sexist joke, but now that you ask HELL NO!"? I realize I am putting words into some people's mouths, but still... It's discriminative.

Now honestly this pet peeve doesn't piss me off that much, but it's just kind of annoying. I usually end up saying, "Whatever" and it works out. Just... Now you know.

Writing all about me (get it)

To get right to the point. I am not the best writer and believe I have a more limited vocabulary than most. Although English is my first language, I rarely use full proper English outside of school (writing and speaking). For example it is mostly me pronouncing or spelling every other word wrong. It isn't because I don't know how to pronounce and write them, it just feels more relaxed. I never read unless I am required to, because I read very slow. When I read I can maybe get two sentences read before my mind wanders somewhere else. Either that, or I read an entire article and know all the words I am reading, but when I am done I realize that I didn't retain a single word and have to start over. On papers I always use Word so I can use the synonyms button on most of my adjectives and it helps me revise the sentences in a smarter way. What I have said so far seems like I am doing a lot of self bashing and looking for a compliment, but I know I am smart and can write good enough in the full IB program. However, a compliment would be cool too.  I absolutely hate seeing those red and green squiggly lines under the words and have to fix them immediately. I can talk normally and carry a conversation beautifully, but when I write it takes awhile to reach that acceptable point. The weird thing is, I am better on writing finals than speaking. Punctuation is most likely my best area of writing, even though I tend to use comma's a lot. If I didn't have Spell Check I wouldn't be able to spell a lot of words correctly. My favorite font would have to be Gothic anything (like the letters in the books at the beginning of Shrek movies).  My favorite two words are GOLF WANG! Kasden Watson introduced me to the rapper, Tyler, The Creator over the summer and he has been my favorite artist ever since. Tyler is extremely smart with words and I think he is a genius. I just realized that this blog is very unorganized, but I don't know the rules to blogging so I will assume I am fine. I apologize to the reader for this, because it might be difficult to read when I jump all around the place. Past years with writing have been fine and good so far. I usually always try to put a little hint of humor in my writings no matter how serious the paper is. In fact, my NHS letter was all about me making fun of my father and I still made it in. Unfortunately I have been kicked from NHS, because I need to work on my time management skills. I have tried taking away all my electronics and my mind still ends up wandering somewhere else besides on homework. This year, the most sleep I have had in one night is two hours so far, but tonight I am actually mostly on top of things. That last sentence seems bad, but I think I am the kind of person who doesn't need that much sleep to function. I know more sleep is always better. For my EE I really want my question to be, "does fate exist?" but I don't know if that will work or not. I haven't done much research on it yet, but this is the first time I have ever been slightly excited about writing a paper. Overall, 11th grade and this year has and will help me a ton with writing. I have already grown so much better from the regular classes I was taking sophmore year. I hope my first blog doesn't suck. Oh one last note, I am terrible at citations.