lunes, 16 de septiembre de 2013

Syria and the United States

Syria and the United States
  
First of all, I am going to give you a little bit of information about the issue that is  badly affecting the situation between Syria and the United States; it has been a problem that has been affecting those countries since 2010-2011.The situation between Syria and the United States is also called the "Arab Spring". It started in the year 2011. Massive protests took every street in Libya and in Egypt. Ghadafi and Hozni Mubarah, the first from Egypt and the other form Egypt are the two dictators that were involved in this issue. They were taken out of power and had been holding it for more than 30 years. Syrians attempted to do the same thing to their elected president: Sasher Al Assad in 2011; by the use of State Terrorism.
State terrorism: Al Assad ordered his national guard to suppress the public demonstration. Several people were killed at the hands of these soldiers. At the burial of one of the martyrs, the government troops fired upon the mourners.
Militant groups started forming at the outskirts of Damascus. They have been fighting against the government in a "un-organized" front:
- Al-Qaeda: Political central/extreme Jihadists.
- Islamists: Conservative approach/extreme. 
The United States acted with the UN Security Council, the USA military intervention and a Russian proposal:
In my opinion,everything should end; the only result is the dead of thousands of people. Currently they are using chemical weapons that are devastating.  


 

jueves, 1 de agosto de 2013

Violence in videogames (Speaking video)

Violence in videogames 

Link of the video: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB6vTkvi9to
 
Article from the NY Times:

Social scientists have been studying and debating the effects of media violence on behavior since the 1950s, and video games in particular since the 1980s. The issue is especially relevant today, because the games are more realistic and bloodier than ever, and because most American boys play them at some point. Girls play at lower rates and are significantly less likely to play violent games.
A burst of new research has begun to clarify what can and cannot be said about the effects of violent gaming. Playing the games can and does stir hostile urges and mildly aggressive behavior in the short term. Moreover, youngsters who develop a gaming habit can become slightly more aggressive — as measured by clashes with peers, for instance — at least over a period of a year or two. 

Yet it is not at all clear whether, over longer periods, such a habit increases the likelihood that a person will commit a violent crime, like murder, rape, or assault, much less a Newtown-like massacre. (Such calculated rampages are too rare to study in any rigorous way, researchers agree.) 
The research falls into three categories: short-term laboratory experiments; longer-term studies, often based in schools; and correlation studies — between playing time and aggression, for instance, or between video game sales and trends in violent crime.
Lab experiments confirm what any gamer knows in his gut: playing games like “Call of Duty,” “Killzone 3” or “Battlefield 3” stirs the blood. In one recent study, Christopher Barlett, a psychologist at Iowa State University, led a research team that had 47 undergraduates play “Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance” for 15 minutes. Afterward, the team took various measures of arousal, both physical and psychological. It also tested whether the students would behave more aggressively, by having them dole out hot sauce to a fellow student who, they were told, did not like spicy food but had to swallow the sauce.
Sure enough, compared with a group who had played a nonviolent video game, those who had been engaged in “Mortal Kombat” were more aggressive across the board. They gave their fellow students significantly bigger portions of the hot sauce.
Many similar studies have found the same thing: A dose of violent gaming makes people act a little more rudely than they would otherwise, at least for a few minutes after playing.
It is far harder to determine whether cumulative exposure leads to real-world hostility over the long term. Some studies in schools have found that over time digital warriors get into increasing numbers of scrapes with peers — fights in the schoolyard, for example. In a report published last summer, psychologists at Brock University in Ontario found that longer periods of violent video game playing among high school students predicted a slightly higher number of such incidents over time. Some studies done in schools or elsewhere have found that it is aggressive children who are the most likely to be drawn to violent video games in the first place; they are self-selected to be in more schoolyard conflicts. And some studies are not able to control for outside factors, like family situation or mood problems.

 What is the major influence that violent games have on people?

martes, 2 de julio de 2013

Experimental Career Week


Experimental Career Week

Last week, I was able to experiment something really amazing; something I had never done before. Thanks to the school and my parents, I was able to work in the area of my dreams: Graphic Design. I will never forget that week in my entire life, because it really changed my life in a lot of sense and made me realize that Graphic Design is what I want to do and be successful with.
I went to the “Escuela Municipal de Arte y Escultura”; that school is located in zone 1 and it took me around half an hour to get there. Every minute was worth to me, because I was super excited but at the same time nervous. The good thing is that I received classes in that place around 4 years, so I already knew few people like the principal of the Academy. I got there but they still didn’t know what to do with me. The secretary took me to several places and started showing me some paintings that were made by the students. Later on, I went to a lot classes and taking photos of everything. Honestly, the first day wasn’t that happy.
The next day, I was the assistant of a teacher. I help a middle age lady; she was doing a drawing of bamboos above a little box. She asked me if I could do a story about that bamboo and also I drew her bamboos in the box. That school also has music classes and sculpture classes. Also it has dance classes: ballet. I loved the last day of work, because it was Saturday. On Saturdays, people go the Academy more often and I had the chance to see old friends. To conclude, the experimental career week was  an amazing experience I I would definitely repeated over and over again. 




 

viernes, 17 de mayo de 2013

Should more be done to protect and preserve endagered animals?

Endangered animals (protect and preserve them)

People nowadays just think about their own benefit (they only care about themselves), but just few of them are concerned about the nature of our world and what can they do protect it. Animals are important in all senses, because in my opinion they are the ones who give balance and sense to our planet. They give us food and resources, but that doesn’t mean we have to kill them every single day until they get extinct. As you may realize, the black rhino disappeared from the world like several weeks ago, is that really necessary? Just few days ago, another feline also disappeared from excessive hunting.
It is important to take care of the animals; it’s not fair for them or to animal lovers to see beautiful creatures like the rhino or the feline disappear because of us. Many animals in the world are going to disappear sooner or later if we keep acting like ignorant and keep killing them just for money or fun. The animals with major risk to disappear now are the tigers (white and Asian), gorillas, giant pandas, the elephants, rhinos, polar bears, and a lot more…. so sad. These animals are killed because of their skin or bones. Bones are used to make medicine and the skin is so expensive that people kill them without hesitation. The existing preserving companies should apply serious laws for anyone who kills an animal or destroys their environment; although they already exist, justice is not applied to people. Destroying the environment is another reason for animals to die or reduce their population, causing their extinction.
In conclusion, animals are being killed just to produce money for people´s benefit; not thinking about them and not caring if they disappear. That’s why it is important for companies to improve their laws by protecting animals and their environment, and punishing anyone who tries to violate that rules.

martes, 14 de mayo de 2013

What we would do without a TV?


TV: Could you be without it?

Could people nowadays could live without a TV? Seeing TV is a way to entertain ourselves by watching something of interest. Modern teenagers entertain themselves by using technological items such as computers, consoles , ipods, ipads, smart phones and of course the TV.
The TV shows different things than other technological items, in a TV you can watch series , novels, movies, cartoons , etc … and is very simple to use. In a TV you can use several remotes in contrast to other technological item. If the television disappears out of nowhere , we could not live without it because is a way in which we inform ourselves through scenes and also we find it out essential for living. We could survive without the TV by using other technological item such as the computer, without technological items, humanity would find difficult to adapt to the new conditions of life, in this case the computer substitutes the television  when we don’t know have access to the television we could always access to a computer. In a computer we have the liberty of watching any video and download a movie; making a television an easier way to entertain and watching new things. People before had different ways to inform or to entertain themselves by another source or information like books and sharing more time with their friends and their family. They didn’t have the knowledge of the importance of the television like we have now days. Perhaps the television in those times did not had channels of importance for people because it was evolving.
By the time new channels appear and became more popular making a television a very important source of entertainment. New generations are used to technological items such as the TV to pass time; that is why teenagers nowadays could not live whit out the TV as well as Vivi and Ana Lucia. 

lunes, 22 de abril de 2013

Inspirational Video

  ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7r7YY_EO0A


This video really meant a lot to me; everything it tells its true, but (qualify) everything can be accomplished by doing a good work. Most importantly (emphasize) you can accomplish your dreams by doing what you love to do, for example (illustrate) your favorite hobbies; In contrast (contrast) if you do what you dont like to do, you will live unhappy and regreting about that decision, after all (concede) a person is happy fighting for their dreams.

Here are some tips to accomplish your goals:

First (add): Work hard  and be responsable in your duties, this will help you to be a person with manners.
Second (add): Have a clear goal in your mind, fight for it!

Both tips are equally important (compare)  in their own aspect, at this point (explain) you should take them into account if you want your dreams became real!

In conclusion (conclude) that video tells the daily life of a person, for what are they working for and what they want to be in a future. Working hard for your dreams would make you a succesful person and you would be able to change the world with your own hands.
 



jueves, 7 de marzo de 2013

The Punishment of the Gods



The Punishment of the Gods


Once upon a time, long long ago, there was an amazing and fantastical land called Egypt. The land was so famous around because of its trees, clear water and vast food. It was a dreamland for all the animals, but especially for two friends: a young deer called Imhotep and a hippo called Keffren. They were raised together, so Egypt is basically their home. They were the happiest animals ever; they really loved their house.


Far in the universe, there are also two supreme friends: The moon: Keops and the sun: Nilo. They were the protectors of all the land in earth by order of other supreme being known as God. Keops and Nilo were worried about the land of Egypt; lately humans have been destroying the forest and contaminating the water to build their houses and to raise their cattle. Imhotep and Keffren started noticing this issue as well and told the other animals.

Keops and Keffren discussed that problem to God. They argued about a solution, but God was angry about the situation. God thought about a punishment to humans, but Keops and Nilo convinced Him not to kill the humans or the animals. As a fair punishment, God told himself about destroying that amazing land of Egypt and turn it into a sad place. He told Nilo to raise his temperature especially in the land of Egypt.

Many years passed and the fantastical land of Egypt became a vast and sad desert. There were few trees, less water and food. All the grass became pure sand and rocks. The air was hot.

Imhotep and Keffren were depressed and sad, but they adapted to their new house; some of the other animals migrated to new places, but some of them also adapted to the desert. Nilo at first was also sad about raising his temperature, but then everyone in the universe realized that animals and even humans continued with their regular lives. At last they learned their lesson: they don’t need to destroy what God made for them with love.

Humans and animals started working together; at first it was difficult for the animals working with humans, because of them, the land of Egypt became a desert.

Humans now thank everyone in the universe for bringing them a new way of living. Humans knew they were the reason God punished the land, but they keep on going in life: a fair punishment for everyone.