[CE] China's Space Station

 

People seriously underestimate China and it's impacts on furthering human intelligence and technology. Sadly I think people see China only as the communist country that produces cheap materials for the world to consume. In the United States, citizens often have no idea of the big impact China has on the United States. Most are not even aware of the mass bonds China has bought from the US making the US owe china extreme amounts of currency. 

China going ahead of Russia and the United States should be a wake up call for other nations. A country that has a very massive and modern army, a production line that seems to feed the world, and is a communist country (a big no no to Americans) is able to keep all of those things running with success, and have a space program really shows to me how behind the US is. 

If China gets a foothold in space and its resources they can hold a strong position in keeping our Earth habitable for much longer. Space has so many answers that could solve some major issues that we are facing as a species right now. (However it has many dangers as well) Terra-forming planets can relieve stress of over population, we could mine minerals from astroids/planets, FREE ENERGY from the sun just to name the big three. If China gets a monopoly over space, it could definitely become the most influential and powerful country on Earth. 

I want to see the United States make an investment in space, instead of letting China go without any challenge. Competition is the American spirit, and i want to see that versus China. Or better yet, the UN could take a bigger role in space exploration, that would provide more profitable for the Earth as a whole.

Kudos to China for stepping up their game, and showing how efficient they can be.

[FR] SATs

So I'm taking the SATs again tomorrow. I'm so freaking nervous, even though it's my second time taking the test, it still intimidates me. I have terrible studying habits and perform even worse on high pressure tests, yet that is what is expected of competitive students. While I feel out of my element I will take the test anyways seeing as that is what most people do to prove themselves worthy of a specific college.

For some reason I've never even though about going to a Community College until recently. The allure of a 4 year college with big campuses and large lecture halls have always been my idea of what should happen after High School. The exciting dorm life surrounded by people that I have never met before is constantly pulling me towards that direction. The independent - ish lifestyle that goes as a package deal when you go to a UC or some other big school is what I need.

Now I am at the very door steps to college and I'm more nervous than ever. UC's have been getting harder and harder to get into. I used to be extremely confident with my UC placement, but now comparing myself, on paper, with many other peers I'm so far behind. Sadly I place at like 51% of my class which doesn't look good at all.  With the increases to college admissions my parents are encouraging me to go to a community college simply for the cost, and I am seriously concerned over this. I really want to experience the 4 year college experience, yet I don't want to put my family in a financial bind.

While I don't want to give up on my dream, I can't let my family suffer just because I want to experience something. I will still apply to my favorite UC's, but sadly, more than ever now, I am becoming okay with the idea of being denied. That scares me.

[RE] Racism is not an ingredient.

Heated up from hot debate yesterday I am going to respond with a reply to Stephen's (pronounced Stee-ven) post about the racist bale sale that has got everyone shouting about. "As much as I love diversity, I believe that by forcing colleges to offer an equal chance in education to all races is promoting as much discrimination as they are trying to prevent."

I completely agree with Stephens quote. I think it is important for people to be surrounded by a diverse people. Being inundated with a variety of races is vital to keeping stereotypes down, and to allow people to realize just how similar we all are to one another. We just learned this in APES, without biodiversity an ecosystem will fall apart without many variations. Without being introduced to different races a person may become closed off and weirded out by being around a large numbers of X race.

The bake sale, to me, was actually a good idea. I just don't think their peers understood what their objective truely was. People walked by and just saw a racist bake sale. While in reality they were just trying to grab attention, which they did, and tell people that this is what the current college system does with Affirmitive Action. People couldn't think past their initial rage at the bake sale, and therefore did not ever understand the intended message. If the Republican club which was running the bake sale had made it more clear as that they were being reflective of the school system, I believe they would have received much less negative feed back. It sucks when people can't look past initial feelings.

Affirmitive Action never made difference to me, as I was unaware of racial preferences from schools until very recently. I see a bunch of races being given chances to get into special X race only programs where they receive a bunch of help to push them up on the educational ladder. Now I'm half white and half pacific islander/asian(? I'm not even sure what to put on those bubble questions) and I've never been asked to enter a special program. However my girlfriend who is half black is taking every advantage she can get due to her mixed race. It bothers me a bit because she is already so qualified with amazing grades and the sort, and still shes getting an even bigger boost. Just a bit of jealously leaking out of me... Maybe more on this in the future.

[BI] I Haz talent? (UC rough draft)

    A talent that many of us take for granted is simply writing. It is often the misconception that everyone is able to write, but that is untrue for a large portion of the world, and even still only recently is it expected upon the majority in America. I revel the fact that I live in an area where reading and writing is a major part of my daily life. Since a child I have taken the ability to write into my own little hobby where I would create my own world and explain myself in ways that I would never be able to without the aid of writing.

    English being my second language I have always fumbled over my words and had a tough time delivering my ideas clearly to other people. Writing was a way for me to communicate without having some weird accent or miss pronouncing words. At that stage in life writing was universal, as I could communicate with everyone around me with ease. Naturally, I was focused on this particular skill, and it became my most practiced “subject”. At an early age i was already engrossed with the use of the mighty pen.

    I no longer used writing for the sole purpose of communicating, but now I was focused on entertaining. Being an avid reader, I was well versed in several different fantasy worlds. I was easily swept from one reality to another as the intricate words tricked my senses into becoming one with the novel. As I reflected and saw how I read these books with so much fervor, I knew that I wanted to cause this same effect on others when they read what I have to write. In middle school my imagination exploded into an awesome resource. At first the people who I presented my writing to seemed to be bored; I quickly learned that people my age would rather be reading fiction, as I was, so my focus changed once more.

    When I began writing about topics that I was already genuinely interested in, such as space exploration, was when people started to become involved with my works. That first wave of people asking me to continue the story is where I draw up all of my energy to continue writing no matter what. Honestly, without that encouragement from my peers when I was younger I would not have the joy I get from writing as I do now. In middle school I was still not mature as a writer. For some odd reason I would be capable of creating amazing ideas, but I could never create an ending for any of the stories I wrote.

    In high school I really learned the importance of grammar and the overall structure or sentences and essays. This, I will admit, is ultimately my downfall as I still struggle with writing clean essays. What is most important to me is that I continue to enjoy writing, about anything. That is a talent that I treasure more than any grade. As long as writing in itself is enjoyable, I know that I can live a happy life.

[FR] Secret Handshakes

Walking along the hallways of school and it will be almost impossible to not see two, or more, close friends performing some kind of secret handshake with one another. This spiked my curiosity. What goes on between these two people to make them want a secret bond between the two of them that noone else knows.

To be a part of something that no one else could ever be a part of is something in which I feel humans strive to achieve. We see this in colleges or in other achievements for people to feel a step ahead of others, if not superior.

People can argue that handshakes are meant for only between the people who are involved with the handshake, but in the act of performing it in public they show it off to anyone who dares wander by. The appeal of this is to dangle things in front of other people and to show that they will never achieve it.

Secrets are something that people hold pride in knowing of. Yet people find it hard to fight the urge to spread the secret to others of who they feel are responsible to keep. Sadly your foremost job was supposed to keep that intel to yourselves. To keep something secure you really have to put better judgement to not tell anyone at all, unless it is of utmost importance that need to know the knowledge that you withhold. 

In another way I can see intricate handshakes to be a form of dance. To express yourself and how you feel about another person can be shown to all your peers in a few well orchestrated moves. Again to show how creative you are with another person is definitely a form of art, but deep down I cant help but hold other people's handshakes as an insult to my own education towards their relationship.

[CE] Huff and Puff and Ill blow your class down

To create an important building out of a cheap material, that you can find laying around the streets in countries such as those is an amazing idea. Especially when there is a plastic floating island somewhere out there in the Pacific this is a really good way to use these plastics in a way that is significantly less harmful  towards living organisms.

However while this idea makes good use of plastic bottles that are thrown out, I fear that companies will think that it is okay to keep producing hard to recycle products. I fear that companies will rely on human ingenuity to take care of their mess.  While I think we can solve many problems that we face with pure human awesomeness, that same awesomeness will be unable to cover everything without cooperation from people regardless.

Some people say that there is a major safety issue using plastic bottles as building materials. Such flimsy material is suspect able to natural occurrences such as earthquakes, high winds, and tsunamis. Once you get past the extremely dangerous forces of nature that a bottle classroom would not protect the students from, I feel like the structure is safe for people to be within. If the bottles fall down and hit people, well they're only bottles so it shouldn't hurt too much... If the roof is light...

The trouble of reconstructing the structure is almost eliminates if tethered together, it only needs a mere re adjusting and placement for the classroom's skeleton to be put up. I want to see this but in a town version.

[RE] Family lovin

Stalking around people's blogs I stumbled across Natalie Ybarra's post and this line really struck me,

" im so glad my boyfriends family loves me, i couldnt deal with if they didnt. "

I can say that I am honestly happy for you, Natalie, to have your boyfriend's parents, at least, like you. To have someone as important as your boyfriend, for his parents to accept you is an amazing feeling.

Unfortunately the exact opposite has happened to me. My first few encounters with my girlfriends parents were dreadful and awkward. I'm completely sure that I did not meet any expectations of what a good boyfriend should have been for their amazing daughter. Now I am pretty sure that her parents would be a bit skeptical of anyone whom she wsas dating, but I failed to impress them when it counted.

Her dad is a very athletic person, so much so that he is the Baseball coach to several teams. I am no baseball person... I barely know the rules. This was probably a big thing for him seeing as his whole life has ad baseball in it, and I would imagine that he would like to converse with whoever dates his daughter about his favorite past time. I'm also kinda short and skinny... but I cant really work on that.

Now her mom on the other was a whole nother story. Now I generally make good first impressions, but deep down I feel like she didnt even give me a chance... Although she's Korean she is very American oriented, and I feel like she always wanted her daughter to date the handsome American guy.. which I can't really do. She's really hard to impress no matter and is kind of intimidating... as she kind of yells a lot.

Now thankfully I believe my girlfriend is completely worth all of it. She's amazing and extremely sharp. My favorite thing about her is her wit, I really like it when people can make snappy remarks to me which I can't predict. She's great and all, but college is really making me worry. I only hope the future has good things in store.

[RE] Current Events and us

This segment stoof out to me from Lina Savage's post

"I would have never found out about important events, from the conflict in Libya to the hurricanes in the East Coast. "

I feel as if events around the world, that are actually rather substantial are a bit hidden from a majority of the younger population. Personally I feel that if you want to learn about the happenings of the world you must actively seek out whats happening. It's hard for teenagers to be involved with current events while we have active social lives accompanied with heavy school work.

If current events were more prevalent in our day to day lives, then I strongly feel like when you ask someones opinions on whats happening they wouldn't reply with just a shrug and an indifferent ehhh. People would have more solid opinions instead of taking in whatever their favorite teacher says without actually knowing what they are agreeing with. There's a dark notion within the back of my mind that my generation only care about something once their freedoms or pleasures are impeded on. Empathy is becoming harder to spread around.

I'm not sure how to entice others to pay attention when I, myself, am hardly keeping track of what happens in the world. I rely on my teachers to talk about it with the class, which i find to be incredibly insightful. While I dont always participate in class discussion I get so much from hearing my teacher talk about whats going on and other students inputs. Hopefully something big...but not too big happens to us so we become more aware of our neighbors, other humans around the world.

[FR] Onegai Sensei

So today I met a new guy named Jeff. He's a very interesting person, who surprisingly shares a lot of interests as I do. We both like to bike, watch anime, and geek out over things. The kicker, to me, was when i found out he was 30 years old!! He had a wife and a two year old daughter, who would shank and stomp on him, yet he looked to be of early 20's or even late teens! I found this to be incredible.

I've always wanted myself to be the "cool" kind of adult. I've even thought about being a teacher every now and then because it looked so FUN to be out there and molding minds and what not. But then i realize a lot of people my age seem to blow off older people, who aren't even that old (25-40ish). They knock them off as too old, and that they wouldn't understand. I hear students say some snarky remark thinking they're outsmarting a teacher, but it's so incredibly obvious by context of what it is that they are implying. The way students run around thinking they are so much better than teachers, who are there to help them out, irks me to no end.

To understand that we all live in the same world, to actually think of each other as equals instead of one always being the other is what society should push for, no matter how unrealistic is something that should always be sought after.

[CE] Words in Bullets out

Human beings. How I am torn with our decisions over conflict. War, an action to move political messages. To get more oil, to secure relations, and for some other reasons that I am not aware of or can remember are the main reasons for US to be in Afghanistan. I think it's despicable to make our soldiers fight battles in which they are not fully aware of their main reason. I believe in very strongly that if you are able to get worked over an issue to the point that you would send troops somewhere to settle things, that you should be the one fighting, or at the very least you should be leading the fight on the front lines. Sadly, this is not the case. Those who have "high" rank jobs, for whatever reason, need to be protected at home instead of actually defending their opinions.

In this video clip I have a tremendous amount of respect for these medics who fly around in hot zones rescuing people. What I love and hate is that they try their best to heal friendlies and enemies alike. It takes so much gal to fly a helicopter into the middle of a battle while bullets whiz by and strike your craft. No matter how much protection you have there will always be the chance of an rpg speeding on by towards your craft. Putting your own safety away to tend to those who have already been injured is an amazing human trait that is found less often in people. Now to heal the injured of others is something that I love because it shows human compassion, that we are all one species, one type of animal and that we care for one another severely. I hate it at the same time because what is even the point of war if we are just reviving everyone(not literally)? It prolongs battles to unnecessary lengths and makes it hard to win. To prevent unnecessary pain and death I feel like the people/companies who help spark these wars figure it out between themselves, and to save our forces for defense instead of invasion. A news crew went to Afghanistan with a picture of the twin towers burning, and most of the people asked had no idea what the picture was of. Which means that a great number of people in Afghanistan have no justification for American troops to be living within their borders.

Just my two cents

[BC] Ohai UC's

I've spent my entire life using electronics and other technology on a regular basis. My peers and I were always quick at adapting to new toys or tools that would be placed in front of us. As I grew older, better and faster electronics were being pushed out into the market. Noticing this steep incline of advancing technology I began to realize that I had no idea how the things I used worked.

To suddenly be self-aware, to mentally realize that I've been living the "ignorance is bliss" lifestyle truly upset me. My hunger for knowledge of the how and why grew insatiable. At an early stage of my life the world of Science was revealing itself to me, and I graciously allowed it to become a part of my life. To understand, not just use, became my drive for performing well in school, especially in the sciences.

As I continued to age and mature I became aware of how my family was actually quite involved in the science community. My grandfather Alfred Redfield, who used to work with horseshoe crabs, but now with some sort of magnets, has really inspired me to pursue this dream of mine. To discover amazing secrets that our Universe, and our minds, hold. Ever since I was a child I found it hard to talk to my grandfather, but whenever I am in his presence I am continuously awed by his intelligence and demeanor. See my grandfather's prowess makes me yearn to be as apt in my own field.

Humans are a species that fascinate me like no other. For quite awhile in my life I wanted to study the human brain along with human behavior. We are very complicated animals that act in a manner unlike those of other animals in nature. To understand why that was possible eluded my young mind. However, since entering high school my aspirations have changed from understanding human brains to understanding what we actually make. Things that we have made, and are capable of making, simply leave me dumbfounded. What truly interests me is the amazing electronics we make, specifically computers.

Computers seem so much more powerful and faster than humans who have created it. From "simple" calculators to the blazingly high speed computers that our military uses, each one was designed then programmed by humans. I'm astounded by the incredible things we can accomplish using computers, so much so that I am doing everything within my power to obtain more knowledge on the subject. I want to know how this thing, that people rely on everyday, operates and functions. I feel my human obligation to advance our technology and improve a device that's already evolving to new levels monthly. I feel the drive to create a computer or program so mind boggling that it will, in itself, inspire a whole new generation to ask the questions, how and why.

[RE] Give a hoot!

While snooping around Justin's blog, he said something that really caught my eye.

Not really worrying about the future consequences. I'm not saying over think everything, but sometimes give yourself a wake up call. I feel like some people don't really think before they do...

 It really irks me when people do stuff without the ability to do something without cause. I hate watching people go up to the garbage bins at school and constantly put stuff in the wrong bin. I have to get up and talk about it to them, but it seems like less and less people care.
Some of my close friends have been doing this and when I confronted them, about destroying the Earth and all the environmental stuff I love, they replied back to me, "I won't be alive I don't care" I get so upset when i hear that response.
I don't like this ignorance is bliss ordeal that people get into so easily. Why would you not want to know the facts about anything you can. To mentally choose to block out stuff that bothers you about the world really cuts you off as a person, at least in my book. Many Americans seem to be almost proud that they don't know things. "Pfft I dont know!" is something that is very common to hear. Rarely is there a , " Explain" I think it is either because people become so prideful, or because they just don't care.
What makes people care though? Based off of the refusal to give a hoot, I'm starting to believe that people only care about a specific world (or local) issue once, and only once it involves the individual in subject. Self promotion, without instant gratification people will rarely step up and do something for the common good.
I sincerely believe that the more knowledge you collect on your journey of life, the more choices you will be able to choose from. Choices are what makes our lives eventful and humane.

[FR] Refleccion

It's amazing how people change over 4 quick years. I'm sure I've changed in almost every aspect, no matter how much I want to tell myself that I am the same old Adam. Only recently have I thought that it's okay to change and not retain the same "you". I used to hold this pride in the fact that I could see everyone else change before my eyes, yet in my own biased opinion I was relatively the same. Stepping out of my ego for a moment I've come to terms with the severity of my own being which has, hopefully, matured.
Something that I constantly think that I have a sure foothold on is my goals in life. Now that I take the time to sit and think about goals, I'm starting to think that my goals may have been something that's been the most unstable of my... personality(?)
Something, that I think, know for sure is that  I want a career with nature (enviro science) or with technology (comp sci) . Now these are two very conflicting choices for me, as the two are nowhere in the same field as the other. So in college I can't just so easily switch to the other if something comes up. I sincerely care for the Earth and the pursuit to gain and spread knowledge of our amazing Earth. I think it's amazingly irresponsible of us to know more about the moon, a satellite orbiting our planet, instead of our oceans, which could contain incredible secrets to help us progress as a species.
Then there are computers, amazing man made machines that have the potential to surpass the human brain! (some would argue it already has). Any advancement of technology I am fully behind (that is relatively eco friendly). Unlike many people I am all in for human/robotic fusion, upon consent. I am a strong believer of the right to do to your own body as you wish, and i for one would love to to activities my human nature restricts. More on this later~

[CE] Protest

This report brings about familiar feelings within me. I'm not going to lie and spout that I came up with the phrase, "All these countries are rising up, fighting for their education, but when are we going to?" I've been clearly brainwashed by Mr. Sutherland, but in all honesty I have done nothing to show my concern for the turns my educational future seem to be taking. 

As a student, I'm jumping through all of these hoops that I'm being told to jump through. I believe because I havn't been fully exposed to it. Currently I am trying to make the most of what I have. At this point in my life  I see that focusing on school work, which takes up much more time then others would assume, gives instant rewards( ie good grades).

I feel like Protesting is the main things someone like me would be able to do, and at this point I don't see how I could muster up the time and effort needed to be behind that. When I've asked a couple of my friends how they would feel to protest with me, they told that they felt as if they wouldn't make a difference. This constant reply has really brought my spirits down, and sadly I'm starting to agree with them. Unless we can muster up a nations worth of action, I feel as if my efforts will be easily squandered.

While I believe education is something that needs serious reforming, I am lost as to what I can do, without hindering my own educational competitiveness, to change our educational system for the better.