NEW RULE in Taiwan...no smoking in in door places

On January 11, the rule of no smoking in in door places will be held. It's not only just no smoking inside, there are also limit for smoking outside. The rule will be held on January, they won't punish or fined, they will just warn people first, but if it still happens, then they will fine people. The price that the person that smoke indoor is around 50,000 or something. The government just want to give us a better environment, and healthy body.

Woolworth starts closing down?

A few weeks after it announced that it ran out of money, 813 Woolworths around UK are starting their closing down sales. Now, the workers that works in has to leave and lose their job because of the country and of course world economy, around 30,000 people work for Woolworth. If there are some big supermarkets that are interested buying Woolworth's things, if possible there might be few of the Woolworths can stay on. Good luck to Woolworth, hope they can still stay on instead off closing it down.

Hanging Fire(main idea, elements)

The poem "Hanging Fire" is showing a loneliness and a boy has been left behind or neglected. I can tell the poet really want to express the feeling of how the boy had been neglected, because the poet always has repeat this line more than once, "and momma's in the bedroom with the door closed".
The form of this poem is stanzas, because this poem is all in little paragraphs. The speaker of this poem is a boy who feels left behind, and his feeling is like he had done so well, but he just didn't get the things that he expect or wanted.
I don't think this poem rhymes, maybe a little bit of it rhymes, the line where it says "and momma's in the bedroom with the door closed" might rhyme, but that will be the only thing that rhymes in the poem.
There are quite a lot imagery in the poem, and it's like the entire poem is filled with imagery. For example, "how come my knees are always so ashy" is a great imagery too. The most popular line, "and momma's in the bedroom with the door closed" is also a big imagery too.

Schools closed after snow storms

There are more than four hundred of schools in England and Scotland, because there are strong and heavy snowfalls. In Yorkshire, it seems to be hit the hardest by the snow. Reporter said that it should get warmer later, but there is still warnings that tells people across England and Scotland. The weather seems like it's going to be colder and colder, and the snow seems like it won't stop. I am kind of jealous if them not having school, it like a long winter break, and they get to watch TV, eat, relax, sleep, and do stuff they want to do at home. For us, we have to get on to school bus early in the morning, and then the weather is cold too, it's just not snowing. Anyways, hope the weather will be not too cold, or else it's really dangerous for old people and babies.

India attacks are over..?

Last Thursday, November 27. armed groups had attacked seven places in India, and there were hundreds of people been held as hostages. By last Friday, Indian soldiers helped free a lot of hostages, and the India government said they have regained their control or power of controlling all the buildings that's target by the gunmen. There were at least 195 people or more died in this war, including the gunmen. The police said they had arrested a suspected attacker. The police are still investigating about who was behind the attacks. The luxury Taj Mahal Palace hotel is the only building that the India government need to regain power from. Hope that peace will be soon happening in India.

Bombers killed dozen of people in Iraq

On Monday, which is today, December 1st. Bombers struck military and government targets in Iraq. Authority said that there were 19 people died in two attacks in Baghdad, and at least 16 people died in the northern city of Mosul. There are sixteen people die as bombers target Baghdad police academy. There are so much like bumpers and stuff going on these days, and especially this entire year there are bombers in places that has religion issues. I hope it could stop, I personally think that it's not worth it to just give your life and to kill someone that's not in your religion, it's just my idea, maybe they think it's important.

Elements of poetry- Young and Old

Young and Old By Charles Kingsley

WHEN all the world is young, lad,
And all the trees are green;
And every goose a swan, lad,
And every lass a queen;
Then hey for boot and horse, lad,
And round the world away;
Young blood must have its course, lad,
And every dog his day.

When all the world is old, lad,
And all the trees are brown;
And all the sport is stale, lad,
And all the wheels run down:
Creep home and take your place there,
The spent and maimed among:
God grant you find one face there,
You loved when all was young.
--------------------------------------------------------------

Normally in the poetries, there are different kind of elements. There are simile, metaphor, imagery, hyperbole, alliteration, and rhyming. Most poetries form in stanzas, which is short paragraphs.

This poetry is formed in stanzas. There are no similes in the poetry. I think there are some metaphor, for example, there is one. In the poetry, "And round the world away;", it is a metaphor. There were a lot of imagery, almost the entire poetry were imagery. There are no alliteration in the poetry, because it's always describing a thing "when something is something". There are a lot of rhyming in this poetry, there are six groups. The first group is the six lads. Second group is green and queen. Third group is away and day. Fourth group is brown and down. Fifth group is the 2 there. Sixth group is among and young.

Super Star in Taiwan died for....?

There is a girl called Tru Ning Li in Taiwan, she went audition for the Super Star...., which is a show that's for people in Taiwan and other countries to come and show your talent, base on singing, and to compete. She is a very talented and a great singer, she was the 5th or the 4th(i am not sure)of the Super Star...show. There is an unfortunately thing happened, she died. I think you would be very curious about why? She wrote a letter before she suicide, she wrote about how her boyfriend hurt her or something, her father doesn't really want to talk more about it in front of the crowd. She is such a talented and happy good girl, why does she need to kill herself just because a man hurt her. I can't decide or say she's not right, but my thought is that living in the world it's always the best thing and wonderful thing in the entire world. I hope everyone including me could live very good, healthy, and happy.... :D

Taiwan Consumption Coupon

Around last week or the week before last week, Taiwan government made a coupon called "Consumption Coupon". It is like a coupon, and every citizens in Taiwan can get one. What I meant by Taiwan citizen is someone who has Taiwan passport, or maybe married someone that's Taiwanese. Every Taiwan citizens can get a $3600NT coupon. We can almost use it on everything, but there are also some rules for it. We can use it to buy things, and take taxi, bus also. But there is one rule, you can't use the coupon to buy Easy Card or you can't use the coupon money and safe it into the Easy Card, which is a kind of card that you speed up your time, because for example when you are taking a train or bus, you need to buy a ticket, but if you use Easy Card, then you only need to out the card on some kind of thing, and it will just take the money out of the card that you safe. The reason that Taiwan Government is making this it's because that we are having a hard time with our economic, so they made this "coupon" to boost economic growth. From now, they decide that they are only going to give us once, because they need to spend at least around 80000 million NT.

What did daily life look like in Ancient Greece?

Most Grees lived in rocky, mountainous lands surrounded by water. Mountains cover much of Greeks, there are few flat areas that's for farmland. They lived in villages and towns that are separated by seas and mountains. To travel across the mountains and seas was really difficult, so communities were kind of isolated and separated from each other. People create their own governments and ways of life, although they speak same language, they saw themselves as separated countries.

While men were in at the agora, which is kind of like public places that used for assemblies and markets. Women just gets to stayed at home, to do all those housework, like cooking, cleaning, taking care of kids, and making clothes or stuff. Women doesn't get to vote, or hold office. Children stayed at home when they are under 7 years old. Only male children get to go to school, female children only get to stayed at home and learn how to do households. Most girls get married when they are around 15 years old, and most of them their father choose their future husband. It's such as a management of making sure his girl marry into a good family.

In Athens, population was divided into four social classes, and it's based on wealth. People changed their classes as they made more money. In Sparta, all MALE citizens get equal treatments if they finish their education.

Greek sports is also a really important part of their life. They also have Olympic. Every four years, the Olympic will held at the stadium at Olympia. They have boxing, weightlifting and the pentathalon. The pentathalon consisted of discus, long jump, running, wrestling and javelin. In the past, men were more involved in the sports stuff. Women are not expected to do those physical activities. Even man thinks that women are lame and low level in the past.

The New Colossus- Elements

The New Colossus

By Emma Lazarus 1849-1887

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lighting, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Elements in the poem: In the poems, there are elements. There are simile, metaphor, imagery, hyperbole, alliteration, and rhyming. Most poems form in stanzas, which is short paragraphs.
Simile is sentence that compares things using like or as. There are only one simile in the poem, which is "Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame", it is telling that The Statue of Liberty is not like the brazen giant of Greek fame.
Metaphor is sentence that compares not using like or as. "Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand", sunset gates is like telling how the sunset form like a gate. Another one, "whose flame Is the imprisoned lighting", it is comparing flame and imprisoned lightning, wich is the fire thing that The Statue of Liberty is holding.
Imagery is a kind of like visual descriptive sentence. In the poem,
"A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lighting, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame."
These lines is the imagery of The Statue of Liberty.
Alliteration is occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of a word. In the poem, "...world-wide welcome", the letter of each word all start out with "w". Another one is, "..wretched refuse..", both of the word has occurrences of the same sound at the beginning of each word.
Rhyming is occurrences of the same letter or sound at the end of the word. In the poem, there are 4 different groups.
- fame, flame, name, frame
- land, stand, hand, command
- she, free, me
- poor, shore, door
Hyperbole are sentences that has exaggerated statements. In the poem, "beacon hand", beacon means like a fire or light. Beacon-hand would be like a fire hand, I think exaggerated, because no hands can be like a fire, it's just The Statue of Liberty is holding a torch.

2 schools collapsed less than one week?

There are schools collapsing on the Caribbean island of Haiti, and it's lees than a week after another school collapsed and killed more than 50 people(around 90 people). Officials think that the reason that the schools keep on collapsing is because they are not well built. The man that's responsible for public safety in Haiti said that the two schools that collapsed constructed the school against the rules. Parents are really worrying about their children now, because the school keep on collapsing, so they are afraid that their children's school might be next one. God bless the children that died.

Weldnesday's HW....ESPRAT

Taiwan

What is the Economic (business) system?
Capitalism, and free trading.


What does the Social system (daily life, classes, customs, etc.) look like?
- Diligent and hard working people, and people don’t give up easily.
- Middle class is the majority, but the poorer and richer people are increasing.
- Very few social benefits, expect civil servant.
- Respect traditional customs, especially worship ancestors.

What is the Political (government) system? Who has the power?
Democratic system. The president has the power.


What are the Religions? Describe them in detail.
Buddhism: The buddhist worship the three jewels: the Buddha (the Awakened One), the Dharma (the Teaching of the Buddha) and the Sangha (the Community of Buddhists).

Christian: Christian believe in Jesus, and they usually go to church every Sunday.

Muslim: Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allāh, they usually prey 5 times per day in the same direction(I forgot which direction is that.)

Taoism: Taoist believe in thoughts or philosophy from philosopher, so they didn’t really have a “god” to worship to.


What are the various Arts (especially those your nation is known for)?
Cloud Gate Dance Theater in Taiwan, calligraphy, Glove Puppetry, traditional Chinese painting, Taiwanese opera.


What are various Technologies that are a part of life in your country?
IC Design and Manufacturing, Flat Panel Display.

Culture(Language Arts)

Culture is a human tool for survival. Culture is divided into many different categories, for example like food, music, art, religion, language, geography, or special behavior or beliefs that specialized a group of people.

I am apart of the Taiwan culture. I am also from a family of Hakka culture, because my fathers parents are Hakkanese, so I am Hakkanese too. I think the Hakka culture is very cool, and I meant by everything, food, language, music. The best thing I like about Hakka is they treat people nice, and they have a thought that's about respecting elders or everyone. But there are also one thing that I don't like about Hakka sometimes, it's they like boys more than girls, I think it's not just my grandparents, I think every family that are apart of Hakka culture have those thoughts. My grandparents are okay, they don't always have the thoughts that they have before, they "update" their thoughts as the society changes. I am a Buddhist, and I do things like- "Bai-Bai", it's kind of like Christian's prey. The Buddhist also have a thought in mind that's about respecting people, be nice to everyone, never be selfish or greedy. I think the culture that I am apart of is awesome, and my family is good and cool too.

I think it really depends on people, because there are people they think culture are exclusive, but some not. For example, if you are in a culture that believe in one religion, and the other culture believe in different religion, and if two religion has argues or fight between each other, or if the religion has a thought that's about being exclusive or not being apart of other culture or religion, then you won't be apart of many cultures. For me, I think I am apart of many different cultures, I came study in HIS, so I have to get use to culture of different countries, because we are an international school, so there are people from different countries. Both of my parents also have different culture, although they are from the same country, but they're parents still have different cultures. I think being in different kind of culture is quite interesting, because you got to face different kind of problems, things, people, and of course food!!!

I am not really sure whether people have false assumptions about my culture. But I am guessing there are some people who thinks that Hakkanese are not good at Chinese and only know Hakka, so sometimes people humiliate Hakkanese. Although some of the Hakkanese are not good at Chinese, doesn't mean we couldn't do stuff well or we are not strong enough or powerful. I really like how some groups that popularize Hakka, for example like ICRT(International Community Radio of Taipei), everyday at night they arrange a short limit of time to teach people speak Hakka, and I think it's really helpful.

Culture is special behavior or things that specialized a group of people. Identity is a characteristic or special things of someone or something, it also means similarities.

The five big fat quesiton(Greece, Rome)

1. What happened in the Persian war?

2. What does arts of Greece tell me about Greek culture?

3. How does Greece geography affect their culture?

4. What are some good inventions that ancient Greek has?

5. What are the festivals or sports that ancient Greek has?

What do governments do?

I am not really familiar with government or stuff like that, but I know that they do things for their people. I think governments are divide into different categories, and there are law(I don't know if they call it like this or other name), education, economic, health, and some other important things. For education, I think they just set of some rules that kids should do, like kids under some age needs to go to school for sure. Sometimes educational office people also event dances that are healthy for kids, and they just teach the wellness teacher in every school, and then students has to learn it and dance at least 2 times per week in school. For health, I think they just have to tell people to be aware of disease, and tell people what to do to avoid that. For law, I think they make just make laws, and the people that works for the government will vote, if it pass more than half, then the law will be establish and people will have to follow it.
For economic, they think of ways to turn economic good and smooth. I think that's all I know about government for now, I am totally not sure about it, but that's what I have in mind. :D

Barack Obama has his first look into his president office

Today Monday Nov.10, President-elect Barack Obama got his first step into Oval Office to discuss about a big issue about bad economy with President George W. Bush. His meet with George W. Bush is like a private sit-down talk. This is actually a kind of historical moment, because the first black president it's preparing to take the office on January 20. We all hope that Obama can do a great job or excellent job starting on January 20. Good luck to him and everyone in world.

3 blast in Baghdad killed dozen

We all know that there are countries that have issues about religion, because there are people that have religion that wants to fight with people that have other religion. A country that is like that is Baghdad, and this is the place of the news that I am going to talk about from. In Baghdad, there were 3 bombs exploded, and it killed at least 28 people. The first two explosion was car bombs, and then there was a suicide bomber that came to a crowd of people and make the bomb explode. There were about 68 people that's injured for this big blast event. Around North Baghdad, there was a female bomber attacked a US militia, and it killed 6 people. This triple bombs~4 bombs attack was one of the deadliest for Iraq this year. These attacks were all about religion differences and dispute. I think that this kind of thing won't stop, and it doesn't solve anything better, it might just feel good when you think that is doing it for your family or people, but I think it's a pretty dumb mind.

5 Student Outcomes that I see people being it this past weeks

I think the returning students are familiar about the 5 student outcomes, which are active learner, critical thinker and problem solver, effective communicator, community contributor, and persons of high character. All of us want to achieve all these outcomes and become better people. We see everybody trying to achieve, and we saw people that already achieve. This Monday, we were doing Smash Day in science class. We are trying to build the tallest tower that can holds 5g of stuff, and all we had is 5 pieces of paper, 2 pair of scissors, and 1 meter of tape. Lydia, Kevin Lu, and I were in the same group, first we were like saying things that we know and what we think, but when 3 person speaks together, then it's kind of annoying. We all decided to be effective communicator. Because effective communicator not just need to talk with people well, effective communicator also need to listen to people carefully and understand what they say. We share ideas one by one, then we listen to others, and we combine everybody's ideas together. We won the game, we were so good at being a effective communicator, we communicate well and made the tallest tower that holds a 5g stuff!!! I think I am being a critical thinker and problem solver in math class. I come up with a way to solve a question that nobody say it before or knows it. I share with class, and so that everybody can know how to do it. I am being a community contributor in humanity class, because when people are having problem with back upping files, I always try to help them even though sometimes doesn't help. Sometimes I also spend my research time to help others. I am being effective communicator in humanities, although sometimes my answer to the question that Mr. Carpenter's asking is vague. I still try my best to do it. I also present current events often. I think being a person of high character is to do my best and don't think what other says, others think, or others grade. Improve myself even though you are already the top student in class, and don't give up or have a mind that wants to beat others, the important thing is to beat yourself. I think I am trying really hard to be a persons of high character this semester, I try to improve and I think I am almost there. But I remember persons of high character will never be the best thing people can do, if you have this kind of mind, then you are not a persons of high character, because a persons of high character never stop studying, improving, and trying.

Smash Day~!!!! What science skills did I learned? How doesn it make me a better scientist?

The first science class of every month is SMASH DAY~! For science class, the best things that I like to do are first of course the Smash Day, and I also love to do experiments. For Smash Day we always have fun things. So far we had try playing building the same Lego as Mrs. Smith by communicating with people well and there are some rules, for example: the spy is the one who can look at the Lego that Mrs. Smith, but the spy couldn't speak. There are a communicator, and the communicator can speak, but the communicator can't see the Lego. The rest of the people will be building the Lego that communicator tell them to build. I was the spy of the game, and I don't know what to do at the beginning. Then I was being a critical thinker, I decide to draw on the table, and I know that our hands have heat and some dust, so if I draw on table, the table will marks on the table, so then the communicator in our group will understand it more. I think the science skill that I learned in here is to think outside the box- me drawing on the table. This skill help me to become a better scientist, because after that I realize that if a thing that is hotter met a thing that's hotter than the first thing, then there will be marks on the thing that is colder. This week we did a activity that's about building the tallest tower, and then see if it fell when Mrs. Smith put a 5g stuff or something on it. All we have are 5 piece of papers, 1 meter of tape, and 2 pairs of scissors. I thought it was pretty easy at the beginning, but I found out it is so hard, because I think if it's too tall, then it might fell. But then I found out that I can first use 4 papers to create the tower, and then the 1 piece of paper will be the flat place for the tower. I was worried about how to make the tower more tower, and then I figure out we could use scissors to make the tower taller, and it really works. At the end, we won, and we are so happy and proud of ourself. This makes me a better scientist, because I knew that anything from the material we can use and win the game. I love Smash Day!!! :D

ARATS of China came to Taiwan......Taiwan is not happy about it?!?!

October 3rd, the ARATS of China arrived at Taipei, and started with his rush plan, for example: having meetings with Taiwan president...etc. The government was afraid that there will be protesters all around the place that the man from China is going, so our president Ma arrange a bunch of cops around the place that the man is going, and the cops also don't allowed people to bring Taiwan flags. People are really shocked, because this is Taiwan, so why can't we have our flags out. The people that went to the airport also need to get questioned by the cops, even if they are just traveling to other country, or just going on a business trip. Taiwan people thinks that this is ridiculous, because they think that this is only a person from China, why should we treat him like a god or something, and people think that we have different(they meant lower) treatment from the China people. This is a unfair problem, and I think maybe the government should fix that.

1 day left untill the voting of US begins

We all know that there are two candidates that are fighting really hard for the US president, which are John McCain and Barack Obama. There is only one day left until the election of the US president, and both of the candidates are still going to around to chase and win more votes. Even it's one day, they are still working very hard, and trying to beat others. John McCain plan on going to 7 states at a single day, that's really rush and tired. He beat Obama for that, because Obama only went to 3 states. At this moment, the experts said that Obama is in the lead, but there are still chances and time to change US people's mind. If a candidate wins a state they take all the electors from it. The first one to claim more 270 electors wins the election and becomes president. Looking forward to see the result tomorrow.

Shooting at Ark......kills..?

A shooting at the University of Central Arkansas killed two students and wounded a third person early today. There was a police said that there were a shot happened at Sunday night near a make dorm of a school. One victim was dead at the scene and the other two ran into the Arkansas Hall dormitory, the second victim died at a hospital, and the third victim was not a student. The police didn't really talk about why there are shot occurred in school, but they did say that there will be no school for students, because of course it is too dangerous for them.

No dying hair? No candy in school?

I know students or kids in our age like fashion and cares more about their out fit and looks than caring about their school work, so teachers are starting to worry about the future of students. Principals and teachers decide to have meetings to discuss about the issue, and then they decide to make rules for school, because teenagers doesn't really listen to adults. They made rules like no dying hairs or having wacky haircuts, because then students will only care about their looks, and they won't pay attention or give enough efforts to their either school work or homework. Some people think it's fine, but some people think it's really not fair, because they think dying their hair will not affect their work. There were girl who accidently dye her hair, people thought that she is going to got punishments. The principals said no, but the principal say she has to make a presentation in front of everyone about no dying hair and how out fits makes you not paying attention or giving enough effort into your class and homework. Some school also doesn't allow students to eat candies in school, not even having it in backpacks. I think it's not fair for me, because I think it is our freedom and our decision of whether we want or not, they shouldn't made a rule for that.....

Taiwan navy's helicopter crash!!!! 2 DIED!!!

This is an event that happened yesterday, and it's the helicopter of the navy crash, and it was a really horrible crash, because they were just doing there job, but suddenly the plane just go out of control or something and it crashed. The airplane was crashed into the sea, so people that died might sank or something. There were two people died, and 2 or more people injured, and 1 people is missing(haven't find him yet). The navy was felt really proud and sorry for the two pilot that died, they were all good pilots and good workers, and the reason that he died is because he worked so hard, and what he worked for it's not just earning money, it's also helping the society and us.

2009's New Year Countdown Party Taipei 101's firework is......!!!!

We all know it is October, it's still 2 months till the Winter Vocation, which is the New Year!! Before the New Year starts of course every city will have a New Year Countdown Party. People always want to go to the New Year Countdown Party in Taipei, because there are beautiful fireworks on the 101. The firework that 101 formed has been continuing for 4 years, and this year the people from 101 said that this year will be continuing having the firework ceremony stuff. At the beginning of the year, the people from 101 company said that there won't be firework ceremony this on 2009, because the economy of Taiwan is not really good, and they cannot find any sponsorship for them, so they are deciding to cancel it. But then this week, they made an announcement that said that there are going to be fireworks ceremony this year, and it's going to be cool. So let's just hope it's good, and also made our next year better. :D

Omar strengthens!! RUN~!!!

There is a hurricane called Omar strengthened into a major Category 3 storm and it raced toward Puerto Rico, also the small islands of the northeastern Caribbean. People are scared it's going to bring torrential rains that could trigger dangerous floods and mudslides on Thursday Oct 16.
Omar is actually formed north of the Dutch island of Curacao on Tuesday Oct 14.

Omar was a Category 3 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity, with sustained(continuing) winds of near 120 miles per hour (195 km per hour) as it passed between the Virgin Islands and the northern Leeward Islands.

It is a dangerous hurricane, so "ATTENTION! People that are from Puerto Rico, please be prepare, and be safe." Although they might not even see my blog post.

God of operation~ :_(

This kind of a sad story, Yong Ching Wang which is a great person that forms the company called Tai-Shuo(台塑) died today at America, New York this afternoon. He was a person that is really good at arranging or operating stuff, so people call him "The God of the Operation". He is a very special person, he didn't even graduated elementary school, because he is very poor when he's young, so he start working when he's young. He solve the money problem for his family, he was a hard working young man. Now he is a person who has 1.3 trillion. Even thought he is "that" rich, he still have dreams that he wants to come true. He wants his company to work in other industries, for example car industry, photoelectric industry, and also IT industry. He even bought the Taiwan Daily News Company, but it seems it doesn't go that well, because of all those stock things. The most sad thing is that he couldn't actually finish his dream, and the day before he died, he was checking his company in America, and it sounds really sad, because he and his family doesn't even have the time to say goodbye or even talk, his family were all shock and sad. Hope that he can have a happy life up there. I forget to say his age, he is 92 years old, it's really lucky to live as old as him! :D

Few earthquake hit Indonesia

Three moderate earthquakes respectively hit East Nusa Tenggara, North Sumatra and North Maluku in Indonesia Saturday evening, but there was no report of casualties or material damage. An earthquake measuring 5.0 a the Richter scale hit Kupang of East Nusa Tenggara province on Saturday midnight. Another earthquake measuring 5.3 magnitude jolted Mentawai in North Sumatra province earlier on October 12. Then an earthquake measuring 5.3 magnitude hit North Maluku province. It struck Ternate also on Saturday. So scary 3 earthquake jolt Indonesia in a week.

A school life after Ike

There was a huge and strong hurricane that hits Texas coast, and the time it came it's around this summer or earlier before the summer. People are having hard time with it, and they have to patient so that the government can actually rebuild and reconstruct the whole thing. For us or for kids right now like us, the most import thing is to grow healthy and to have well educated, so study in school it's very important. Students from Sabine Pass School are lack of study tools, so there were people that's really nice and bring them s0me good stuff. Students from Colmesneil delivered supplies, including backpacks, notebooks and crayons. I think it is so nice of them to deliver things to people that need those things, and the teacher from there are happy that the students can finally get back and study hard.

Which is more dense—a stack of 5 NT coins or a stack of 20 NT coins?

A stack of 20 NT is denser than a stack of 5 NT, because the volume and mass of a stack of 20 NT is bigger than the volume and mass of a stack of 5 NT. To calculate the density of a matter, just use mass/volume, so maybe heavier or bigger stuff is denser.

OH MY GOD!!!! TWO earthquake hit Tibet.

The first earthquake that hit Tibet is magnitude 6.6, and it has the same magnitude as the one that I wrote about last time-the earthquake that hit Russia, Kyrgyzstan. The quake in the restless region next to Nepal and India came a day after an earthquake in neighboring Kyrgyzstan killed at least 72 people. There were nine bodies, and 11 seriously injured people had been found in in the ruins of collapsed building in Gedar township in Damxung county. On Sunday a magnitude-5.7 earthquake shook the Xinjiang region, which borders Tibet, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Tibet, which is a populated place had been hit by several earthquakes these weeks.

Europe worries dent stock market

European and Asian stock markets have fallen steeply after government bank bail-outs in the US. Stocks tumbled around the world on Monday, and oil fell below $90 for the first time since February. Shares on Wall Street opened sharply lower Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling more than 230 points within minutes of the open. Many stock market in Europe fall, and the people that bought stocks starts worry about it very much.

Dozen of people DIE in the horrible earthquake in Russia

A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit Russia, Kyrgyzstan yesterday, Sunday night. It killed an estimated 70 people, many people got injured(they are lucky, because they didn't got killed)and destroyed at least 120 buildings. The destruction is concentrated in the remote village of Nura on Kyrgyzstan's border with China. The Health Ministry of has Kyrgyzstan set-up a crisis center in the region, and it saved a lot of people. Some people are still block in their home or some places that rescue team can't go in, so there are four helicopters that gives blankets and foods. Wish that the people that are blocked or having a hard time, just stand up and I wish that the governments can help you guys as soon as they can.

Why do we study MASS and VOLUME for 3 days?

The reason that we are learning mass and volume for these three days is because we were learning about matter. I guess you would ask what does matter related to mass and volume? I'll say matter is made up by mass and volume, matter is stuff that takes up weight(mass), and space(volume). Basically what are the two important things for studying matter is what is matter and can matter disappear? I think matter can disappear, and when matter disappear, it means the weight and the space that it takes up will be gone too.

Engineer text message 22 seconds before fatal train crash!!! SCARY~

There was a train crash in the Los Angeles on October 1st, and there is a scary coincidence happened before the fatal disaster train crash happened, the engineer had sent a text message 22 seconds before the train crash. The crash killed 25 people, including the engineer, Robert Sanchez. This poor man Robert Sanchez died in this train crash, and he normally play with his dog, but now....not anymore. This train crash is really bad, so the senate on Wednesday night cleared a rail safety reform bill that would give Amtrak $13 billion dollars over five years. Hope the government can be more careful of safety of anything, so then there will be less injuries happen.

Year's fourth strong typhoon crash Taiwan

Typhoon Jangmi hit Taiwan with a lot of rains and powerful winds at Sunday, causing widespread of flooding, also shutting down offices and forcing the international flight to cancel. Jangmi is the fourth typhoon that hit Taiwan, and it made a landfall on a city in northeastern Taiwan- Ilan on Sunday. The typhoon brought powerful winds, and people's car or things blew or flip. In Ilan, there is a bus full of people and overturned on the highway, there are 3 or more people are injured. Some people think that this typhoon brought some benefits, because we got to have one day off, but they didn't realize that there are still a lot people out there that's facing a lot problem, like no house can live(or house got flood), or some people got injured when they are coming back or going to somewhere. Hope the typhoon can go pass quickly, and let all of us be safe, warm and dry.

A fight in Philippines killed 16 people

The fight of Philippines killed at least 16 Muslim rebels in renewed fighting in the marshlands of southern Mindanao this week. It had killed more than 20 government troops over two days, it was really sad. Fighting has happened often in the southern area since the collapse of the latest round of peace talks. International humanitarian groups have expressed concern about the renewed violence, and the high civilian toll. Because of the fight, so the scale of the human suffering is being ignored. I think sometimes it's not fair for some people there, because they don't expect this to happened, and I think war is not a good way to solve a problem.

Is air matter?

( source:http://i.treehugger.com/images/2007/10/24/air-quality-clouds.jpg)

When I first think of matter, I think matter is the things that have weight and takes space. The reason that I think air is not a matter it's because air is invisible, it seems that air don't takes space and it doesn't have weight either. After reading some articles about air and matter, I finally understand it and I found out the 3 big categories of matter: gas liquid, solid. Air does take up space, even though we can't see it, and air has weight, even if we can't feel it. I am not lying, this had been observed and analyzed by some scientists.

11 tourists got kidnapped in Egypt dessert

There is a group of 11 European tourists and four Egyptians have been kidnapped in the southern Egyptian desert and apparently taken to neighboring Sudan. The tourists included five Germans, five Italians and one Romanian. The Egypt government believes that the kidnappers have no ties to any terror group. The tourists were traveling in four jeeps and taken across the border into Sudan. The government are not really sure about what terror group is that, and they don't know the people that kidnapped those tourists wants. Anyways, we just hope that all the tourists will be alright, because they are innocent.

Culture of HIS

HIS Culture
- 5 Student Outcomes- active learner, community contributor, effective communicator, personal of high character.
- All school gathering: we have all school gathering 2 times a week.
- Community Service: we do community service almost every semester.
- Advisory: teachers and students use this time to know more about each other, teachers and find good and bad things from students, and students can also ask question to teachers.
- Exhibition: 8, 10, 12 graders do presentations to show what they have done this whole year.
- SRC: student representative council, they help students to speak out.
- Musical Play: students do musical play to experience cooperation, and this kind of activity let students to build their confidence.
- Camp Taiwan: we went to Camp Taiwan every year, and students use these times to get to know each other, and to also experience cooperation.

Culture of Taiwan

Taiwan Culture

- Betel nut beauty
- Dragon boat festival
- Moon cake
- Stinky tofu
- Night market
- Crazy driving
- Bubble tea
- Baseball
- KTV
- 7 Eleven
- Language: 台語, 客家話
- Indigenous Peoples: people that have a lot of tribes and they have their own style of clothing, food, and singing
- Taiwanese opera
- Bamboo
- Glove Puppetry
- Food: rice dumplings, beef noodle, sea food mixture with some flour
- Hakka Culture

(source: http://www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/5-gp/culture/)

Fourth baby dies from tainted milk formula

In China, there are 4 babies that got kidney stone. I know that you will curious about why? and how? It is because there is a company that sells tainted milk formula in China, and the tainted milk formula has already sickened more than 6200 babies. They arrested 12 suspects early today in China, but they are still not sure whether they are the right people. This is really dangerous for babies, because if they drink those milk formula, then they are easy to get kidney stone. Kidney stone is a disease which can kill people easily, and babies are weak, so we hope that all those babies will be alright. This tainted milk formula shows that China is a country where people don't really care about each other, no defense to them, it's just we hope that these kind of stuff won't happen again, because it's bad for everyone.

Big stong blasts hit New Delhi, the death toll rises to 20

There are large and strong explosions that ripped through busy marketplaces in New Delhi. There are 98 people wounded in the Saturday blasts. This is from CNN, "five minutes before the first blast, CNN-IBN -- CNN's sister network in India -- received an E-mail from the group warning of an impending strike." There are at least five explosions ripped through the Karol Bagh market, Kailash Market and Connaught Place, which is a popular tourist destination. There are also two other bombs found near a movie theater and near central park in the Connaught Place area were defused. It was a scary blast.

Why do students blog? Why do we blog?

I read the article and I also did some research about why do people blog or students blog. I also went search about why do teachers let students blog. I found some interesting answers. Well, basically most of the people think blogging improves students' writing skills and they learn things more from it. I like the one that said that students can build confidence by writing blogs, because people leave comments and encouragements on others blogs. I also like the one that says blogging it's fun, I agree with it because I think writing all those current events stuff it's cool. We learn globally and we might get respond in different country or places.

There are some good descriptions in the video. What I like the most it's the one that tells is the sharing part, because I usually blog for sharing things to friends and teachers. Not just school works, the previous school we put school works and videos that we like on out blog. Well it is a bit not neat, but it's fun and cool. I also like the part that tells group discussions, because group discussions let me learn more things from other classmates and people. We can see things from others differently. Blogging it's a good thing for learning.

The Hurricane Ike weaken...BUT!!!!

The forecasters downgraded Hurricane Ike, weakened by several hours over eastern Cuba, and become to Category 2 storm status Monday. But the forecasters said that it is too fast to know that the Gulf Coast Ike is leaving, but they predict that the environment in the Gulf is going to be re-strength.

The latest hurricane center track map shows that the greatest chances for a U.S. landfall for Ike would be as a Category 3 storm near the Texas-Louisiana border on Saturday. This hurricane cause a lot of flooding in the village in Haiti. And there are around 73 people were killed by the flooding thing. They have to walk in the mud water to there home and I think all the farmers there will be very very sad and disappointed, because the crop(agriculture thing)are inside the water. And this hurricane let at least 900,000 people have been evacuated in Cuba.

Awesome robot bartender

Wow! The coolest news that I saw today, is this the awesome robot bartender. I think I don't really need to explain much, because I think the name already explain what the thing is and does.
Fine...I'll still explain it. Well, basically it is a robot(machine) that works in the pub or place where you drink wine or those drink you mix wine and different things together. And what it is special for it is that this kind of robot can make a bunch of different wine mixture(and it is drinkable). But that's not it, it can also chat with people, and it can make a drink less than two minutes. I think that is super awesome and it's useful. This kind of robot bartender is designed in Japan and now there are many pub manager(conductor) is thinking about getting one of those in their pub, but this smart and useful robot is not cheap. I am not really sure how much it is for one, because from now I still can't really search informations for this. But I will keep finding...:D

Proud of Taiwan- Sun Yui Chi 宋玉麒

Yesterday and the day before yesterday, Taiwan's Taekwondo representative Sun Yui Chi(宋玉麒), he competed with a person from Turkey for bronze metal. Basically Taekwondo looks like boxing. There will be a competition in the middle, and then when the game starts, there will be a loud sound. Taekwondo is divided in different rounds, but one round has only for a few second, so the players will always try to find the right time and then kick, and it has to fast. first round no one gets any point, because they are kind of testing each other, to show their weak side, but it doesn't really work much. So on the second round, both of them start to kicking each other, then our team got 2 points, and the Turkey team got 1 point, we are 1 point ahead. On the third round, both of them take turns to kick others, and the Turkey team got earned 2 points, but we only earned 1 point. So now both teams are even. But Sun Yui Chi didn't just give up, at the moment of only few seconds left, he got 1 points and won the bronze medal for Taiwan. At the moment that every Taiwan people is cheering, Sun Yui Chi kneel down to his father(which is also his coach) to thanks for everything. That was a really touching moment. We are proud of Sun Yui Chi, and he is our hero.

Beijing Olympics-Is something fak? Is something unbeleivable?

I bet almost everyone saw the Opening Ceremony of the China Olympics, because it was really impressive and beautiful. We all can see that China spent a lot of time and effort on this, and they mobilize a lot people to do this performance. Also the fire works of the opening ceremony has many shapes that seem unbelievablea

But the day after the opening ceremony, many news company and audience are guessing China cheated. So they ask questions from different people, and they find out that some of the fire work performance is fake. China use a kind of special lightning or some kind of projection to show some cool fire works but its impossible to make.

And also another thing that people find out it's the young girl who's singing sweetly through Ode to the Motherland in the Bird’s Nest stadium in the opening ceremony, her name is Lin Miaoke. She got a cute and lovely face, but the song is not sang by her. lip-synched at the opening ceremony over the voice of Yang Peiyi, which is a girl also has a wonderful face, but why don't the China government give her the chance to stand on stage sing by herself and not someone using her voice to be famous? So many people are guessing that it's because Yang Peiyi two of her front teeth was missing(growing), so they don't let her to stand on stage and sing, because it is not perfect looking.

"``Hasn't China for a thousand years emphasized having a beautiful heart? This Olympic fake singing really makes China lose all face,'' one poster wrote. ``This is an insult to harmonious society!'' (taken the entire sentence from http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=axydL1aIUDWg&refer=asia, which is the last sentence.)

Iraq Can't Participate in the Beijing Olympics

There is a girl from Iraq called Dana Hussain, she is a good sprinter in Iraq. And she almost give everything and give her every energy in this Beijing Olympics. But now the International Olympic Committee banned iraq from competing because of what it says is the government's political interference in sports. When Hussain got heard this, she was extremely sad, she even cried for hours, when ever she remembers this thing. I think this thing is kind of ridiculous, because many people they give up things to come to this Olympic thing, and now they say they cannot participate, it is not fair for them. I hope that Beijing government can change their mind.

Powerful Quake hits Japan

Today July 24, an earthquake measured 6.8 hits the north- central Japan. And there are at least four people are injured. And thousands of homes and buildings are ruin. It was a strong and scary earthquake, because it lasted for up to forty seconds. I think I have never feel that kind of big earthquake, except of the 921 earthquake, which is a quake that I forget about that feeling a ling time ago. So I think this japan earthquake is very scary. Because the big problem is that this measured as a big quake, and this quake happen for 40 seconds. We all hope that people in Japan will be alright.

Young People who Rock- Zac Sunderland

This summer I I couldn't download new CNN student news, so I went on my computer's itunes and watch, listen to some old podcast, and I found a interesting one. It is talking about a young man doing a summer project dealing by himself, he is sailing around the world solo. And he started from Marina Del Rey, California, I think which is his home town. He started early this month, and he made a goal, he is just 16 now, and he wants to finish this trip when he is before 18, and to become the youngest person in the world that sailing solo around the world. I'd always wish I could be famous in some good way, like the youngest person who sing in an opera or the youngest girl who become a star. But now I know being famous really hard, and need to make a hard decision. Because you need to think about what will happen if you become famous, and what takes to become famous. Zac Sunderland is a brave young man, he dare to go sailing AROUND THE WORLD alone. Of course he will face many problems that are challenging, but he got the strength and spirit to go and make, I really appreciate that.

What is a Leader? And Why is a Leader in a Country Important?

I think a leader is who can have the ability to take care of others and to change things bad to good things. In the CNN Student News, they interviewed some young people, which might be a future leader. Some people said a leader is someone we look up to, and the leader takes charge, works with others and also understand others. And some young students said a leader motivates and inspires others. A leader must be diverse, and also have patience and compassion. And a young man talked about a leader has to give others chance and to stand up for people, which I think is really true. Because if a leader doesn't stand up for people, then the leader's people will not succeed or be able to do things well. And if the leader don't give chance to others, then people won't be able to have chance to learn things or do many things. I think a leader in a country is really important, because the leader has to solve the problems that have in that country. Like America now is having an election, which is Barack Obama and John Mccain. CNN student news also interviewed some young students. Most people are based on gas prices, education, social security, economy, election, and ecology. So we need a strong and a leader of a country who's able to solve all those economy problems and all issues that people is facing.

When is the Beijing Olympics?

I think during summer, the most important thing is to hang out with friends and have fun, but another thing that many people is concentrated on is the Olympics!!!! The Beijing Olympics is going to happened on August 8th, which is also The Father's Day. Their are going to be different sports player in different country coming to the Beijing Olympics, and the most interest thing that there will be a opening ceremony. But the government in China is starting to worry, because the weather in China Beijing these day are all rainy days, so the weather people in China predict that on August 8th there are 4% that will rain, but not too big. It affects the Olympics, so China is start trying using the weather changing machine, but China government said that will be a concern, but they can't 100% trust on that machine, they got to prepare some covers or things that can let people avoid of rain and thunder. People in China are all wishing god could bless them that they won't rain and it will happen successfully..

Chines ---> Taiwan and Taiwan people----> China

On July 4, China people came to Taiwan, without any complicated
sign up or things, and Taiwan people went to China too. Before if Taiwan people wants to go to China, we need to go to one place first, and many complicated sign ups. And China people too. But today, which is July 4, China and Taiwan's people can go straight to Taiwan and China. Taiwan president- Ma Yin Jo made a great welcome ceremony for China people inside the airport. Well for China, they didn't really had a ceremony or things like that to welcome us, but they did have a sign that says welcome, and the special thing is that it is in traditional Chinese. This kind of activity makes two country close, so we hope that China won't use missile to shoot us.

Current Event- North Korea Destroys Tower at Nuclear Site

A big explosion happened around 5 pm at June 27, 2008, and it was located at the Yongbyon nuclear complex near Pyongyang, North Korea. The destruction of the highly visible symbol of North Korea's long-secret nuclear program came just a day after the country released details of its program. It was intended to be a powerful public symbol of a move to end nuclear activities by the Communist nation once branded a member of an "axis of evil" by U.S. President George W. Bush.

China's preparation of the Olympics

Before the Olympics, all the representative people in China, which are presidents top legislator are doing their best to make the Olympics that is held at Beijing. Because this is the first time that China has a chance to have this kind of big and important activity, and this activity is international. So of course they want to show the best to everyone. For example: China's top legislator Wu Bangguo went to Beijing to check the buildings and the arrangement of the whole thing. And I think people in China are working really hard, not just on the arrangement of the Olympic thing, they also did some things that really impressed me. People in China went to learn different languages, because Olympics is a international thing. And most people learn English, because almost every country speaks English. And even the schools are teaching them hard. In preparation for the Beijing Olympics and a series of other international events, Chinese also make their security better. So some American companies are helping the Chinese government design and install one of the high-tech public surveillance systems in the world. So this thing will make the police a better way to keep the place safe. They are very confident to this activity- Olympics, because they do their best to make the Olympics looks good, and safe.

How waste and recyclable materials are being sent to China from Europe and the USA?

America people own 3 billion electronic product, for example: computers, cellphones, TVs, but they never recycle, and they also export their trash to other country. Americans discarded over 300 million units in 2005, and at least half of the US.'s e- waste are ends up by overseas, in China, India, and also in Nigeria. Still, America today still cannot and doesn't have the system or kind of facilities to fully recycle it's e- waste. In Guiyu, you can see trucks or cars that came by and going to import the trash to the China people. And Guiyu is dumped with at least 1 million tons of e-trash a year, mostly is from other countries, which is foreign. People in China also work with e- trash at a stationery factory, which is a place that you burn the trash. And normally people in China that do that is usually poor people that needs the job the most. And the thing that shocked me the most is that they don't wear mask when they are doing these burning stuffs. People doing that with no protection, and no covers(mask, eye cover). They don't even care about will they be unhealthy after these burning plastic thing. And people burn every piece of plastic scrap before sorting them, they can make $6 per day. Even some of the teenagers are involved. So we can see from this thing, because it is obvious that they really need that job. A thing that I think China didn't do well is they dump everything into the river, so the river became messy and dirty, it looks nasty. And when you start doing that(dumping the trash into the river), then you can never clean it up again. And that's bad, but people in China doesn't care, because they don't live there, so it doesn't effect them. But if they don't try to solve it, then it will be a large problem in China forever, till the world ends.

The Problems and Causes that China have by Not doing recycling

So now China is not only facing the problem of the big earthquake. They are also facing a problem of not recycling and received some plastic and other things that is recyclable from other countries. In many places in China they don't recycle, and most of it is located in cities, and places which has high populations. So here is my question. What do they do if they don't recycle?
- What do they do if they don't recycle?
Answer: What do China people do when they don't recycle? One- they burn it. Two- they hide it underground. They might burn it sometimes, it has to be something that is recyclable. But when it is things like: plastic, bottles, and some cans. If they burn it, it will ruin their air. So they will find some places that is very countryside and hide it there. They only think about themselves, but they didn't care about the people that live there. And many people drink underground water, so if they hide the trash underground, then the water might be poisoned. And it might destroy their homes too.
I think this is terrible, and it might be a reason that there is global warming. So I really want to find ways to help China. So I found a really great group called: "The Gold Leader Enterprises Limited" It is a company that was set up in August, 1990. The company is located in the Zhong Tang Economic Development District, Dongguan City. The company is specialized in importanting Virgin Plastic Materials from Japan, Thailand, USA... etc. and scrap from USA and Europe. This company got a website: (http://www.goldleaderent.com/home.php)

Current Event- The

The scientist from NASA, they are working on a project which is "faster, better, cheaper". And the cheaper part of faster, better, cheaper led to not enough/inadequate testing of the parts and design of the lander. They did the Phoenix Mars Lander celebration after the spacecraft landed successfully on Mars.

Current Event- An Earthquake happened in China

There was a earthquake happened at China. And the earthquake is as big as a horrible tornado. There are 107 people that are dead, and 900 students that are buried under the collapsed school, as you can see, this earthquake is much much....... bigger than the earthquake in Taiwan. And some people calculate that this earthquake is 2 more times bigger than the 921 earthquake(which is the biggest earthquake in Taiwan). And there were a water tower fell in the city of Mianyang. This news socked almost everyone in the world and we should all think about it. I think maybe it is related to global warming, and so we need to be alert.

Current Event- Volcano Awakens

There was a horrible disaster happened in Chile, a volcano in Chile was erupted. This volcano is a dormant volcano, because it has not erupted for thousand of years, but this volcano just erupted yesterday May 8th. And it was really a big disaster, so the people around there were worry about it very much, because it might erupt someday sometime, and if it gets even bigger, then it might kill them. And the ashes are all over the city and village, so the people are all wearing masks. Fortunately, the helicopters had saved most of the people to a safer place. People are saved, but the animals are not. So they are very worried, but they don't know what would happen to them. Even though that they think the animals might die, but still they can't help it. Okay, so that is a very scary story. But now I am going to tell you about the environment of Chile, because the environment might related to this volcano eruption. Chile is located on south America's western coast, and bordering the pacific ocean. Chile is a land of geographical contrast, from the desert in the north, and the subantarctic in the south. And volcanoes are the only natural disasters that really affects the country very much.
I think this is terrible!!!! Even though I didn't have a experience of volcano eruptions before, but I can still feel the situation of ashes flowing all over the city, and everyone can't brief without masks. That is really scary, I hope it won't happen in Taiwan or anywhere.

My Opinion about the Student 2.0's post

I went on to Student 2.0 this blog, this is a blog of many adults and children. I like it pretty much, because I learned many things from Student 2.0. This time I saw a blog post that interest me a lot, it is called - "Should an 18 year old really know what they 're going to do for the rest of their life?" The reason that this blog post interest me it's because 18 years old are teenagers, and I am almost a teenager(which is person that is 18 years old), so this question(which is the topic of the article) is just like a question for me. Most of the people think that teenagers(which is person that is 18 years old) are silly, because they will do things silly. They make boyfriends and girlfriends. In some points I think it is wrong, but in some points I think it is really true. So what I am saying is that this article tells us don't decide things too late, or else you will be very sorry. And maybe if you don't think earlier, things will screw up. And maybe your life will be a failure. This article is not wanting to scare you, it's just saying that you could prepare earlier, then you won't be sorry. I think it is very good. :D

Current Event- Yahoo risks shareholder rebellion

Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang is convinced that the company he started in a Silicon Valley trailer 14 years ago is worth more than the $47.5 billion that Microsoft had offered for the Internet pioneer. Now he may only have a few months to convince Wall Street that his rebuff of Microsoft's takeover bid was a smart move -- and if he can't, analysts won't be surprised if Yang is either replaced as CEO or forced to consider accepting a lower offer if Microsoft comes knocking at his door again. I think this is not good for Mr. Yang, because in the future Yahoo and Microsoft might be in the same company. It might be better, but it might be worse, so that's just wait and see then.