Blood Red Horse- Chapter 11

Christianity is basically a religion or belief that the English and British worship and believed in. Christianity is a big religion, but violence and crusades usually happened when Christianity and another religion doesn't agree with something. If other religion's people didn't agree with what the Christianity people say, then they will decide to kill them. Just like in the book, King Richard, the leader of Christians, was having agreement with Saladin, which is the leader of Saracens. But Saldin doesn't want to pay the money, so the Cristian knights and soldiers decided to kill the hostages/captives. I think the Christian people made a bad decision, they shouldn't just killed captives and hostages, they are innocent. It is very cruel, and they think they are fighting for the god, so they will go to heaven. But this kind of terrible thing that they did, I think the god saw it, and the god might not let them go to heaven. I think Jerusalem should belong to the Saracens, because the Saracens own them at the beginning, or maybe Jerusalem should be independent, since violence and negotiation are not working. Just saying, doesn't mean I really mean that way. Hosanna is a very smart warhorse, he knows whether the decision that William made was right or wrong, and whether is good or bad. At first I thought William and Gavin were the main character, but now I change it to Hosanna.

Lifeguard dog dodges beach ban

Dogs are usually banned in the beach of Cornish, so a lifeguard dog was banned. But hundreds of people wrote a petition to get the dog back. This lifeguard dog is called Bilbo. Before Bilbo got banned, Bilbo always sit around his owner's beach and buggy during patrols. If Bilbo wasn't stated as a official lifeguard dog, whenever they spotted Bilbo, his owner will have to fine £75. To be a lifeguard dog, the dog has to pass special fitness and swimming tests. I think it is really cool that Cornish beach can have lifeguard dog, even though sometimes it is dangerous, and some people might be afraid of the dogs, but I still think it's fun to have dogs on beaches.

Candy Company living a sweet life in a seriously bad economy

In these harsh days, bad economy got people fired, money-less, and unhappy. But there are some companies living in sweet life. Candy shops make people feel comfortable. CNN reporter interviewed a woman that was shopping in the candy shop, and she said that she felt warm and cozy in candy shops, and she felt candies are comforting. Candy shop is a place that makes people feel happy and relax. The three outstanding chocolate, which are Hershey's, Nestle, and Cadbury. Candies like gummy bears, good and plenty, and sweetish fish. All the candies are additive, so a lot of people are so eager to eat those. And there are always products like T-shirts saying things like, "I love candy" or like "STRESSED spelled backwards is DESSERTS". All these things attracts people to buy candies.

QUICK COOL NEWS...
It was in the CNN student news, but I also saw it on TV at home in Taiwan channel, which is really cool. It was about two anchors being serious and calm when they are talking about news, but when the advertisement time comes, they can play around and be funny. There's a part of it in the CNN student news, you guys should look it up. It is really cool.

A River Runs Through It Movie Reflection

1) The last sentence of the novel, the author says"I am haunted by waters" What do you think he means by this quote?
I think what he meant was that he often go to rivers to fish, started when he was really young to an very old age. But when he said that he was haunted by waters, I think it means that the river is a place full of memories of everyone, Paul, his father, and also his friends.

2) Of the characters found in the book/movie, which character do you like most? Why? Which character do you like the least? Why?
I like Norman, although he is not a risk taker, but he is a stable man, he is a professor, he knows how to fish, and he has a complete family. Although his brother died. But I bet he is always in Norman's memory.
The character I like the least is Neal, because he is selfish, and self centered. All he can think of is himself, if he was my brother, I will try to help him and encourage him not to do that and try to change himself. Because I don't like selfish people, or people that can't care or think of others.

3) What do you think is the major life's lesson we can take from this novel?
In this novel, I think the major life's lesson was that precious every moment that you have with anyone, and try to respect and accept everyone you met, no matter how they look and their behavior. Because everyone is important and they are people that's really nice to you. Precious every moment with anyone, because they might just leave you and you can never see them again.

Taiwan is filled with China tourism now

It started last week, there are many tourism groups from China traveling in Taiwan these few weeks. The airport is filled with China people, and it's so busy that the airport said that they are going to arrange more planes for people to travel, so there won't be too many people squeezing in the airport at the same time. China people travel to Taiwan for holidays, and they buy stuff from different places, which is important. Because many shops had been complaining about how they can't sell their stuff out. But now it's a chance to make our economics better. Many China tourisms said that they really liked the local foods here, it's really tasty, which I agree. And they definitely bought a lot of souvenir. I didn't see a lot of China tourisms in Hsinchu, but I bet there are a lot of them in Taipei since it is our major city.

A plane crashed killed 14 people

March 23, a plane brought people from California to Montana, but a horrible plane crash happened which killed among 7 children were killed. It was suppose to be a skiing holiday to Montana, but it turned out to be a disaster. The pilot was trying to land on another airport, but the plane crashed in a cemetery. The National Transportation Safety Board people are still investigating what happened, and trying to explain to their families. Although I don't know what it's like to have someone in your family died in a plane crash, but I do know how it feels when someone just died. It is really painful, especially they are on a holiday trip. It is suppose to be happy, but turned out to be really sad.

Bizarre food in Taiwan

From a film of a traveling channel, a foreign guy travel to Taiwan, and he introduced about Taiwan's food and his thought. He tried a lot of foods, but I'm just going to choose the best three foods he tried in this Taiwan trip. He tried coffin bread in the Shi Ling Night Market. Coffin bread is sort of like French toast, it has black pepper beef or curried chicken. He thought tasted really delicious, he didn't really think it was disgusting, because it is similar to the French Toast. So it's similar to the food that he usually eat. He think the toast is crunchy, which is tasty. Also the pepper beef inside was very savory. I ate Coffin bread before at Tai-nan, and it was very tasty. First, I thought it look disgusting, but when I actually taste it, it was awesome. In the film, the guy also tried the chicken uterus, which I personally think it's disgusting. Chicken uterus looks a bit like chicken tripe, but when you heard it's uterus, then you definitely won't want to try it. When the guy tasted it, he thought it was a little weird, but it tasted kind of special. He went to a place that grows a lot of tea, which is Pinglin. He tried a lot of things, and there is a guiding person taking him around the tea field. After that he experienced a totally tea meal, everything is made of tea. Dishes with tea oil, and he thought it was a cool and special experience. Taiwan it's a beautiful place, it's a place to travel.

Life and culture of living in Scotland around 1200

The daily life, and culture of living in Scotland around 1200 was pretty harsh and hard for the peasants/lower class people. Peasants wore rags, and they have mud and dirt on their face most of the time. Peasants live in huts, which are building with simple crude construction, and mostly just temporary house or shelter. We watched a movie called, "Braveheart", it is a movie about some of the life people had in Scotland around 1200. It is telling a story about Scotland people fighting freedom from England, because England were controlling them. What we have watched so far was that the main character, a Scotsman called William Wallace, his father died when he was young. He was raised by his uncle. He came back to the village he used to live, he was a man when he went back. He was back to be a farmer, and get out of troubles. Murron is a girl that was really nice to him when he was young, Mirron became a beautiful woman too. They married secretly. The reason is because if you marry in front of everyone, and the English will see it. They will split couples up, and take the girl and rape, or to have sex with her. We can see that the Scotland is totally ruled under by the English.

The culture of Scottish people were very interesting. Their famous instrument is bagpipes, which sometimes they use it during war, or during funeral. The social status was pretty obvious in Scotland around 1200. Poor people usually lived in huts, which are small, and temporary shelters. They eat bread and soup with wheat, the food they had was really rare. But for rich people, and the English people. They get to eat meat and drink. Rich people also get to dressed nice and clean. In poor people villages, sometimes they have festivals. In the festival, they dance, relax, and enjoy themselves. But sometimes the English just bumped in and ruin the happiness and all the laughters. I think the Scottish people doesn't really have any privileges, except some of the rich ones. But the rest of them are poor and they had to be rule by the English, and all the rich people.

What happened to Middle Ages after the Roman Empire collapsed?

Middle Ages is a time period between around 500 to 1500 C.E. What "services" did Roman Empire provided to society? What are some affects after the Roman Empire collapsed? As the Roman Empire fell, many of the various people and groups from north and east moved into the Roman lands, and the leaders started to call themselves king, they also fought among themselves. Because of that, many of the land were separated, and getting from one village to another is hard. In Roman Empire, the government or emperor provided soldiers to look after the roads and streets, to make sure their people is safe while trading to another place, or traveling to another village. After Roman Empire collapsed, there were no more guard around the road, so it's very dangerous to travel from one place to another, because people might be stopped by thief and got robbed or killed by the thief. In the medieval times, there were no government that really connect together to be strong and protect its land. Every lord was like fighting with each other.

During the Roman times, people are sent to go to school, but depends on the social class. But in Middle Ages, education was no more important, and it was forgotten. Many people from Middle Ages were not educated. Medieval people thought that fighting in crusades and battles are more important, because it's like fighting for lord, so then they will go heaven directly if they die.

Coins were used in Roman Empire, and were pretty popular. After Roman Empire collapsed, the coin system didn't really keep going, there were very rare people using coins, and the government doesn't really care or do anything about it.

My favorite place

When I was young, I always hate school, because school is where you get all the pressure from, and teachers are all strict and they give us a bunch of homework. But now I realize that although sometimes school is annoying, but that's where I talk to my friends the most, and discover everything that I had never seen. Experiences are from school, and study is not such a boring thing to do. I found some interesting things in school, and I hang out with friends in school mostly, because we study 5 days a week, so school is kind of a place where me and my friends can communicate and hang out the most. We share things with each other in school, we met new people and see new stuff everyday in school. School is a place that I discover things and I think it is my favorite place for now. School Rocks!!! Yay!

Why do you think the novel is titled The Sun Also Rises?

I really don't know why the book was named "The Sun Also Rises", but I am just going to guess. Sun rises, and sun also goes down, but sometimes when people feeling down or facing problems, then it's just like the sun falling down. In the book, it describes about the bullfight fiesta. The fiesta is noisy and filled with laughters and dances. But when the fiesta is over, people just starts calming down and back to normal. The reason it is "The Sun Also Rises", I guess it's because in life you might be confused and lost, but the sun will always rise, so don't give up.

Nitrogen Passport Reflection Questions

1. Why didn’t everybody go to the same stations in the same order?
Because there are many situations that nitrogen will face, and when we roll the dice, the paper will tell us what we are facing right now. And the situation will send us to another station, maybe atmosphere, dead plant, river…etc. Every different nitrogen face different situation, so it will go to different station. Of course everyone didn’t go to the same station in the same order. There might be dew people that’s from different stations, but come together because of their situation.

2. Did you go to the same station twice? If so, what does this tell us about cycles?
I did go to the same station twice and more, and I think it really shows about cycles, because curtain kind of station can be repeated more than once, because there are many ways to get to that station.


3. Was there one station that seemed to have a lot of people at it? Why or why not?
Yes, once it was very crowded at the atmosphere station. I think the reason is because people had situation that all brought them to the station. Two people from different station could be brought to the same station. For example, if I am rainwater, then I can be dripping into the ocean. And you are surface water, you might travel through rivers and streams to the ocean. It shows that different nitrogen can come to same station because of heir situation.

4. What do you think the point of this activity was?
I think the purpose and reason we are doing this activity was because we want to know more about the nitrogen cycle or just cycles more. The cycle was just like the activity.

Feudalism

I was very confused about feudalism, and I did a lot of research on feudalism. Most of the websites, and books said that feudalism exist, even the video we watched today in class said that feudalism was a "thing". They also describe it as a relationship between hight class people and the lower class people, such as lords and the peasants, or vassals. The books, and websites describe the feudalism is like making a contract or like promise. For example: The vassals form own army, so he will promise that he will help the manor by using his army to support and fight the war or crusade. Also sometimes a knight has to make promises to lord too, they have to promise they'll fight for the lord no matter what. It also said that feudalism keeps people in order. But none of that it's true, feudalism doesn't actually exist in the Middle Ages. The word feudalism was actually invented by a scholars to describe a political system. The medieval people didn't think that they were medievals, they might just feel like they are just like us. The Middle Ages is also named it by historians in modern days. Feudalism seems not good, because it's like forcing people to give up for themselves and do something, or like taking profits from people from lower class. I am still a bit confused about the whole feudalism thing, whether it exist or not, but I guess as I read the article it said feudalism does not exist.

Benjamin Button TED talk

Behind the Benjamin Button movie, the oldness of the main character isn't showed by wearing make up. The movie production group make the actors face totally computer generated, so it looks more real than just putting on make ups. While making the old face of the actor on computer, they used the science method to slowly make the old face, and their goal is to let the actor to control the old face they made on computer. They first take pictures of Brad Pitt, and they try to get every kind of facial expression he can make, and they generated on a computer to make it look older, and then they will attach it on the actor that's acting it. They have this kind of technology which you put reflective marker on your body, and there will be sensors around you to capture the movements that you are doing. To capture the facial expression, they have this special make up, they put it on Brad's face, and he'll stand in front of a special machine that reconstruct someone's face, in this case they make it look older. They got a very good photographer and a good sculpture maker, and first the photographer took a lot of picture of Brad standing under the special machine with the special make up, and there were a lot of facial expression. After that, they started to transpose Brad's face into another model, then they make it look older. Later on, they start shooting, and they make Brad look at the image, and to act out the facial expression of the old man. They also break it into many specific parts, like mouth, eyes, and the head. The background was a important part too, so they put the face into different kind of places. It is a long process to make this man, and it really take a lot of different people and different technology to work it out. The old man's body is act out by other actors, and the face is a computer generated Brad face. I think it's pretty awesome and cool!

The Blood Red Horse-Chapter 5

William got a new warhorse called Hosanna, and its size isn't big, so his brother, Gavin joked and teased about it. William and Gavin were always in fight no matter what and where. William loves owning warhorses, but Gavin always tease about William owning little ponies. William hate the comparison between him and his brother, but Gavin always calls William his "little brother". Gavin wants to embarrass Will in front of everyone, so he invited Will to the joust field. He thought that Hosanna doesn't run fast, but he was wrong. They were gonna have joust fights, but Sir Thomas doesn't want either of them to get hurt. So they were racing for speed, look which horse runs the fastest. The race starts, first Hosanna stay still and silent while Montlouis(Gavin's warhorse) is sprinting to the end point. William starts begging Hosanna to run, but it doesn't really worked, suddenly he said "Oh, I should have worn spurs." After Will said that, Hosanna starts to gallop faster than a blink of an eye. Everyone was impressed, and Sir Thomas was surprised too. Gavin saw it, he started to compliment something about Will, and trying to be nice. He also tell Will to make a promise that he'll take care of Ellie if Gave is not coming back from the war, and to have the abbot or like the priest to say Mass every day for his soul if he died. They were all kind of friendly and nice to each other, it's like a peace between them.

The First Crusade-video reflection

The first crusade was formed because the Christians want to re-capture Jerusalem. In 1076, the Jerusalem was capture by the Muslims. It was difficult and filled with danger for the Christians to try to get to Jerusalem, so it really angered all Christians. Alexius I of Constantinople was scared that his country is going to be Muslims', because they are close to Muslims' territory. He called for help from Pope Urban II. Pope Urban II made the crusade, because they want to win back the Christian faith. The crusaders sewed red crosses on their tunic to represent their beliefs and royalty to Christianity. The word"croix" changed to "croisades", which is the word cross changed to crusades. There were many volunteers that wants to fight on the First Crusade, the reason they fight is because that they were told by popes that if they fight for god then he/she will automatically go to heaven. The first crusade was a pretty difficult and harsh journey for the Christians to get to Middle East, and many of the crusaders died because of hunger and disease. The war was pretty scary and bloody. The crusaders did won the war, but the capture of Jerusalem didn't end, they want to get rid off the Muslims from everything, so it led to other crusades.