Ho Su’s Blog

During the past classes in Social Studies, we have been playing games that helped us learn about the Renaissance period. It is a board game, and there is an option of landing on a Stump or Blunder card. A stump card is where you have to do A LOT of research and type up a report or things similar to it. A Blunder card is when information is given on the card, but you have to find the mistake.

e.g  Blunder Card

You are in Florence, and you are having an intelligent conversation with a dignified man. You start talking about the theory about the Earth rotating around the Sun. The man’s smile disapears and walks away from you.

The blunder is that at that time, everyone believed that everything rotated AROUND the Earth, not the other way around. Also, that was also officially agreed by the Church, so it was a bad thing if you thought differently from the Church.

A Stump card would look like this:

e.g. You are trying to learn table manners like the Renaissance. Write a report showing what the rich and common people ate, and how a shopping list would look like from the Renaissance period.

You would have to write a list showing what rich and common people ate during that time, and also type up a shopping list of what an average person in the Renaissance would write out. You had to do a lot of research to find out what kind of foods they ate.

The one thing that made me think our group researched something wrong was that even commoners got to drink wine. I thought that only the rich could drink wine, but I guess I was wrong…

I learnt in class about all the famous people of the renaissance period. I learnt how some of the famous renaissance people had little encouragement from their parents (like Michaelangeo in his love of painting), or how they changed the way of how people lived in different ways. For instance, Marco Polo had made a big impact on the world (especially Europe) by travelling to China, and telling the world about it. While on the other hand, Marin Luther voiced out his own opinions going against the Roman Catholic Church teachings, and spread his vision of Christianity to others. What I found interesting is that if those people make a difference, it is a BIG difference, not just a small tiny one.

If I had to do the interview again, I would probably speak a bit louder, slower, and clearer so that people can understand me and what I am saying better.

Ahmed Hamid. “2 suicide bombings kill 20 in Iraq.” 2 suicide bombings kill 20 in Iraq. 7th May, 2007. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070507/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq. (7th May, 2007).

link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070507/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

Julia’s blog link: julia03.learnerblogs.org

URL: www.defensetech.org/images/IraqPSA.jpg

URL: www.theinterpretersfriend.com/indj/maps/iraq-map.gif

I feel that this is connected to Julia’s current event, as this also has to do with Iraq’s suicide bombings in Iraq. Also, a similar number of people were affected (more than 20 people were killed).

What did you find interesting about this topic?

Even though this might be a weird (and gross) to most people, what I find interesting is how much people are comitting suicide. I wonder sometimes if they know that it would harm others as well, but they still do it, or they only think about themselves and not realize how many people they are killing, just to kill themselves. Also, I am also interested to know if all the suicide bombers wanted to die because of the same reason.

What did you like about the initial blog posting?

 I liked how Julia mentioned all the parties of the Iraqi race that were being suspected by the government. Also, the picture in Julia’s blog protesting about the U.S army in Iraq makes me have a clearer picture why all these Iraqi people are committing suicide by blowing up bombs.

INTERVIEW VOICE RECORDING

Isabella d’ Este was known as the “First Woman of the Renaissance”. Isabella was borin in 1474, and died in 1539.  She was a great woman who was a political ruler, an inventor, the patron of arts, a mother of seven children, and a musician. Her parents were the Duke and Duchess of Ferrara, and luckily for Isabella, her father believed in gender equality, so she had royal education when she was a child. She was the eldest child of six children, but she was the most favoured. At the age of six, she was bethrothed to Francesco Gonzaga! At the age of 16, she could speak Greek and Latin fluently, play the lute, sing, dance, and debate with elders. Also at the age of 16, she  was married to Francesco. She had famous artists like Leonardo Da Vinci paint her portrait. She had her first child at December. She used to take care of the country and prevent it from getting captured numerous times when her husband was either captured or sick.

www.paintingstogo.com/davinci/ladywithermine.jpg

Website: http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/e/eb/250px-Korea_north_map.png

“Nuclear pact not reached; S. Korea still to give North food.” Nuclar pact not reached; S. Korea still to give North food, Copyright. April 21, 2007. www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/04/21/koreas.nuclear.ap/index.html (April 22, 2007)

What is the issue?

The issue is that South Korea will still give 400,000 tons of rice to North Korea, even though the North Korean government had failed to shut down it’s nuclear reactor at the deadline. At first, South Korea used this as a deal for North Korea to stop it’s nuclear reactor. However, South Korea has still decided to give North Korea food. They will send the first 350,000 tons of rice in late May, while the rest of the 50,000 tons of rice will be sent by railway trains to North Korea.

They have also agreed on South Korea sending in raw materials for North Korea, in exchange for South Korea having the rights to develope mineral resources in the North.

Who is involved?

South Korea and North Korea

Who is affected and how?

The people of North Korea, because if South Korea suddenly changes their minds or North Korea decides to do more violent things with the nuclear reactor, they would not have enough food to live on and die of famine. Also, the world could be wiped out if North Korea decides to use their nuclear reactor.

What would I do if I was involved?

If I was involved, I would try the same thing as South Korea is trying, giving food or materials if North Korea gets rid of the nuclear reactor. If that was not possible and I was working in the UN, I would suggest putting sanctions on North Korea until they get rid of the item.

Albert Einstien would be a person who would be known as a “Renaissance” person because of his knowledge. When he was a boy, he used to be really quiet, and his parents used to think that there was something wrong with him. However, he just happened to be a late bloomer and started talking out loud at the age of 5. This might not seem like a person who would have done well in the “Renaissance” period, because he was also expelled from school. However, he proved himself to be a genius later on by studying deeply into science and making this formula about energy; : E=MC2.

During the World War â…¡, he ran away from Germany (there was a price on his head for anyone who would catch him) and arrived in USA. He made a nuclear bomb for them (but he was always wanting peace, not wars), and the World War stopped.

After he died (he died in the hospital working on some scientific equations), he left his body for the doctors to disect. They found out that his brain was a bit bigger than an average human, but it was no doubt that Einstein was a true genius.

Site: http://www.maniacworld.com/albert-einstein-1.jpg

“10 killed in Baghdad car bombing”. Yahoo. 28, Febuary 2007. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070228/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=ArXmaMrfnYSeKiwZrsiBVoRvaA8F (28 Febuary, 2007).

Cite: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070228/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=ArXmaMrfnYSeKiwZrsiBVoRvaA8F

Link to Shane’s blog:

http://shane7.learnerblogs.org/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42588000/gif/_42588329_india_map.gif

Cite: http://newsfromrussia.com/images/newsline/suicide_bomb_iraq.jpg

I found this article and Shane’s article similar, as his and my article are both about bombings, even though the places and the vehicles that were bombed were different.

It was said that the bombing occured at somewhere around midday in Baghdad, Iraq, in the most popular shopping places. 10 people died, while lots of people were wounded or injured as well. But, they said that the terrorism in Iraq has dropped sharply every since the plan to do so (Febuary 12th) was released. So it means that Iraq might have a chance to make the terrorism drop even more.

But to be on the safe side, they decided to ban cars, motorcycles, or any types of vehicles from the city on public holidays, so that it doesn’t ruin the holiday.

What did you find interesting about this topic?

What I found interesting was how much bombings there were in the world. It isn’t just one place (in Shane’s current event, Pakistan or Delhi). Also, this article showed that Iraq was still bombing cars, and it hasn’t gotten better.

What did you like about the initial posting?

I liked how Shane was writing much details on the blog so that I got a picture in my head (even though it wasn’t a happy picture). Also, his answer for the question (What would you do if you were directly involved?) was very reasonable, and I couldn’t find anything that could wrong with it. He seemed to know his article well, which made me think about it more, then if he just read it off the computer or off the board.

In some parts of the world, some people are willing to give up their lives for a cause like religion, race, tradition, beliefs, etc.

For instance, the fights between the black-and-white race. The “blacks” had always been treated unfairly than the “whites”. The blacks are always taken as slaves, and are the main victims of human-trafficking. This makes them hate the whites, believing that every white is evil. And they try to rebel or fight against them to get equality. Some are not as educated, and just fight for their rights. Also, some people are giving up their lives for religion. Their religion could say that another religion is bad and you have to get rid of them. Others might say that only trust your kind of religion and never others. This also causes war between countries. Another reason is that maybe a country’s land is taken by a bigger and stronger country. Everybody would feel outraged and fight for it, not thinking about death and only thinking about victory. Some would fight so that it could make a slightest bit of difference, and don’t mind the thought of death.

Religion was VERY important to the people of the Middle Ages. Once they were religious, they could not break the rules of their religion, or else they would recieve a punishment.

For instance, Francis Friar (in the packet), did not want to kill helpless animals, because Friars weren’t supposed to kill helpless animals. Friars were also supposed to walk around telling stories about God, and they weren’t allowed to own anything.

Also, when we had a look in the monk’s timetable, most of the time table was church service, because monks are supposed to do curch service.

The church would be located in a middle of a town, which showed how going to the church was VERY important.

People who did not follow their religion were punished with either fines, working for other people, or being flogged if you did not attend the church service or worked on Sabbath Day (it is a day of rest). This was the lord’s command.

Citation:

“HIV spreading rapidly in Malaysia.” HIV spreading rapidly in Malaysia. Yahoo. 11th of Feburary. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070211/ap_on_he_me/malaysia_hiv;_ylt=Ao.AY7zqxzTpHlcjd64Wc8_VJRIF (12 of Febuary)

http://www.piperreport.com/archives/Images/HIV%20-%20Illustration%20of%20Virus.jpg

site: http://www.appliedlanguage.com/maps_of_the_world/map_of_malaysia.gif

1) What is the issue?

The issue is that HIV is spreading rapidly in Malaysia. The main cause is because of the drug users and the infected needles not being clean. They said that if this is not solved, the whole population of Malaysia might be wiped out because of this.

2) Who is involved?

The government of Malaysia, the drug users, the people of Malaysia, and the health officials in Malaysia.

3) Who is affected and how?

The government is affected because the government is supposed to help the people of Malaysia. They are taking this matter seriously, and are providing drugs that do not carry viruses in the clinic for woman and children. Also, it is predicted that if the government does not take this issue seriously, there could be 300,000 cases of HIV infection in 2015. The people of Malaysia are definatly affected as well, as they might be the next victims of HIV, one of their family members has HIV, or they have HIV themselves. The health officers are also affected as they have to take care of those who have HIV. Finially, the whole world MIGHT get affected, because it shows how fast HIV is spreading to Malaysia, so it might spread even faster in other countries.

4) What would you do if you were directly involved?

Like the government of Malaysia, I would take this issue very seriously. I would try to find those drug-sellers, and inspect if they are spreading the HIV through needles or drugs. Then that would prevent injecting HIV into people, and it could decrease the spreading of HIV later on. Also, I would try and find a way to cure these people so that HIV would be gone once and for all.