What is poverty?

We all know that there are poor people in every country, and the poor all have a same situation, which is poverty? What is poverty? We know it is the situation that poor people have, but what exactly is poverty? Some say poverty is the state of having a little or no money. Other say poverty is the state of being extremely poor. Personally, I think poverty is a situation that some has, and it's a situation when they don't have ability find job, or doesn't have the opportunity to find the job. I think poverty is not just being poor, is not like they want to be poor. I think it sounds really bad if you say someone is poor. They might just not have the opportunity to have a job. It's also possible that the country might be over populated, so there are not enough job opportunities for them. Some of the places are living in poverty, like India, Philippine, Africa...etc. Some of them live in poverty, because the country is over populated or something. Some of the people never get education, so they weren't able to read, write, or even write their own names.

I don't want to say I feel sorry for them, but when I see videos of people finding food from trashcans or people living in such small house with only a little bit of money to survive. I have a bunch of questions that I want to ask whenever I see those videos. Why are there poor people? Don't the government want to change this, or at least help them? Some of the poor people can ask for help from friends or family, but what happens if they don't have any friends or family members? I want to help them, but sometimes I don't know how to do it. I think sitting down and feeling bad for those people is not the right thing to do, because we should change it, and if you have the ability, then help them.

Morrie's Aphorism #5

"Be hopeful but not foolishly hopeful"

We see all those movies about people chasing dreams because they are hopeful. When we watch those movies, we feel like hoping about something might really work. I always thought those people who hope about things a lot gets what they want. They believe that someday someone can help them to get the things they want, some believe in god, some believe in miracles. I respect and also believe in them sometimes, but this aphorism is really true. We shouldn't just hope for it, or hope that someday someone will help us. Hoping is important, but sometimes we got to work hard by ourself.

Hoping it's just like thinking positively, you hope or wish for something. Sometimes, I feel like I am foolishly hoping for something or something to happen. At the time, I think hoping is the best thing I can do, but afterwards I realize that hoping it's not enough, because you might just be foolishly hoping, just like I what I feel sometimes. So, it's really important to be hopeful, but not foolishly hopeful.

How do electrolytes work in our body?

Electrolyte is a substance with free ions that's electrically charged, and conducts electricity. Electrolyte is a medical or scientific term for salt, and specifically ions. Electrolytes can appear in liquid, gel, or paste form. Electrolyte mean that the ion is electrically charged and it moves to a cathode, or anode. Ions that move to cathode are positively charged. Ions that move to the anode are negatively charged.

Athletes know that their body loses salt through sweating, and they know that it's really important to replace it, that's why they drink sports drink during exercising and after exercising to prevent muscle cramps. Humans like us also really need different kinds of salt. We need salt for our body to stay healthy. If we don't provide salt for our body when we really need it, then salt imbalance will occur, and might cause heart and nervous system problems. The foods and liquids we eat and drink contain mineral salts, when they dissolve then they turn into electrolyte in liquid form. They can appear as blood, urine...etc. The major electrolytes in our body are sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, magnesium, bicarbonate, phosphate, and sulfate. They are important to help our muscle to function properly. Because the electrolytes are electrically charged, so they it sends signals from our brain to our muscle. As I mentioned, some people drink sports drink to prevent from cramps, because sports drink contains salt.

Electrolytes not just does that, electrolytes also keep fluid levels normal in different body compartments. The levels of electrolytes are controlled by the movement of electrolytes into or out of the different compartments. Our kidney is an organ in our body which filters(or we can say "clean") electrolytes from the blood to keep the level in blood constant and balance.

Our body work in a way that keeps water and electrolyte levels just balance. If our sodium level gets too low, then our kidney will produce more urine(which is pee), which lowers the amount of water in the blood. But if your sodium level gets high, the we will feel thirsty, then we will drink a lot. Sometimes too much salt in our body is not so good, but we still need enough of salt in our body.

What is lightning? Why does wearing rubber shoes help you during a storm?

Most times during the storms, the lightning or thunder strikes. It looks like a sudden light that only shines for one second or less. What is lightning exactly? Lightning is a bright flash of electricity that's produced by thunderstorm. Lightning is a static discharge of electricity, which means that the particles(mostly electrons) leave the object and transfer to another object or other places. Sometimes when you touch a doorknob and, and then you get a shock. That kind of things is a smaller kind of lightning. What a real lightning is really powerful and harmful, it kills and injures people. The amount of the electric potential is measure in volts. Lightning has electric potential of millions of volts, which will release large amounts of energy in different kind of forms, light, heat, and sound. During a thunderstorm, water droplets, ice, and air move inside the storm cloud. Negative charges build up, often at the bottom of the cloud. Positive charges often build up at the top. The negative charge at the bottom of the cloud may induce a positive charge on the ground. The large charge difference causes a rapid electric discharge which is lightning. Different parts of clouds have different charges. In fact, most lightning happens within and between clouds.

Lightning usually strikes the highest point in a charged area because it provides the shortest path for the charges to reach the ground. But during a thunderstorm, lightning can strike the ground unexpectedly. The rainwater on the ground conducts electricity. Walking on the street with rainwater on the ground, we don't want the electricity to conduct on our body, we can die easily because it is really powerful. Wearing rubber shoes can protect and help you in the storms. Rubber is a insulator, it doesn't let charges pass through easily, and sometimes it stops electricity conduct. If we wear a metal shoes, then we can get conduct by the electricity of lightning. It's safer to wear rubber shoes than to wear metal shoes, we can walk on streets happily with our rubber shoes during storms.

Morrie's Aphorism #4

"When you are utterly frustrated or angry, express these feelings. You don't have to be nice all the time--just most of the time."

When I was young, I get really frustrated or angry easily. I think it's because I wasn't mature enough yet. I am not saying that I don't get angry or frustrated now, it's just that I kind of control my emotions better now. I have some friends, and they are normally nice. But when they really got something going on, or maybe something really bug them, then they just go really really mad. When they go really frustrated, it really shocks me, and it might just be awkward, because they don't normally get angry, and suddenly "boom!", they just get really angry. Normally we think that nice people are not scary when they go mad, but I think they can be pretty mad too.

This aphorism is not telling people to get angry all the time, it telling that being nice is a basic thing, but when you are really mad, then just express your feelings out. Being nice is important, but you have to let your voice to be heard, don't let people fool you just because you're nice. Some people just like to pick on you or maybe don't respect you just because you are nice. Nice people can be nice, but they also have feelings, so respect everyone even if they are nice.

Morrie's Aphorism #3

"Don't assume that it's too late to be involved in something."

This aphorism is basically talking about we should never give up on something, and it's never too late to do something. Don't let time or things stop you from chasing your dream or what you want to do. Morrie wrote a lot of aphorisms, and this is kind of one of my favorite. Morrie knew he's going to die soon. He's on his death bed, he started to realize things, that's why he has so many aphorisms about life and death. This aphorism shows how Morrie tell himself and others to treasure time and never give up. It's never too late, so don't give up.

I think the aphorism is really true, because we should never give up on something just because you think it's too late. When you really want to chase your dream, then no matter what, you should have the faith and spirit to not give up and chase your own dream. I think we shouldn't let things or time to limit how we want to chase our dreams. Never give up is what I see in this aphorism.

Morrie's Aphorism #2

"Learn to forgive yourself and to forgive others."
This aphorism is showing and telling us that we should forgive ourselves, and also forgive others, or at least learn to or try to. Sometimes we always feel like that it's easy to forgive others and hard to forgive yourself. For few people it is that way, but mostly people forgive themselves easily, so they didn't even notice that they forgive themselves. And when someone is trying to forgive others, it's really hard. There's few reasons for it, because you might not trust others, or maybe they did something that's really mean, then you might not forgive them.

In Buddhism, they normally tell people to forgive others more than forgiving yourself. They think forgiving others is a right thing, and if your heart is nice, kind, and calm, then you will forgive others more.

I think sometimes I can forgive others when they did something bad to me, but not that harsh or not that bad. If someone really did something really really mean or bad to me, I might just forget about them and never forgive them. I don't know, sometimes you can't know whether you should forgive them or not. It's a hard decision to make. The aphorism of Morrie's is really true and meaningful, it's also useful.

What would a day in your life be like without electricity?

Electricity is like the top 1 or 2 things that we need in daily life. We need electricity for light, television, computer...etc. If I have no electricity at all for one day, I think I won't have a good mood that day. No electricity means no computer, no television, no computer, and no to almost everything. Computer is the main thing most people need everyday. Light is also important, without lights, it will be dangerous at night, and we will have to light candles at night. It might be fine during the winter, but it will be real hot when it happens during summer. I won't be able to do my homework, or chat online with my friends without electricity. We can't use cellphone to communicate, I can't really do stuff.

The good thing without electricity is that I get to go out more, and walk more. Instead of sitting in front of the computer all day, I can go out and walk. I can realize more things without electricity sometimes. Having no electricity for one day is also a great way to safe the Earth. Without electricity, people can actually meet each other and talk instead of using computer or cellphone to communicate.

Without electricity can be good, but I think if I don't have electricity for a long time, it might be tough. Almost everything needs electricity to work, so it's really hard to live without electricity. Or, maybe human can get use to it someday, we never know.

Morrie's Aphorism #1

"Get as much help as you can when you need it." is one of Morrie's aphorism. Aphorism is short saying that has general truth. We always think that an aphorisms are hard to understand, or maybe it's always written in a deep way. But most of Morrie's aphorisms are pretty easy to understand. There might be a lot of meanings in it, but when you look at it the first time, you can quite get what it means. Like this one, get as much help as you can when you need it, we might think to ourself, and think "of course!". But this aphorism is pretty true, you should get as much as you can when you need it. I felt confuse about this aphorism, because sometimes people say that always getting help from people is irresponsible. But getting help when you need is definitely important.

You can get help from friends, peers, family, and other people. Getting help when you need is really important, and sometimes people help, sometimes not, but it's important to ask for help. Helping other people is also another thing that's related to this aphorism, I think.

I think this aphorism is great even though it's written in a kind of simple form, but it definitely has a lot of meanings in it.

The moral of The Pearl

The pearl is a book written by John Steinbeck. I thought it was a pretty interesting book. The pearl is a parable, which is a short story that involves moral in it. Before we read it, we sort of talk about it. People were guessing that the story is about greed. There were always been a lot of questions in my mind. Do people like you because of who you are or because of what you have? Do people become sort of greedy and blind when you got something special and good? I guess there are no right or wrong answers, but I always have some kind of answers in my mind.

The pearl is a book about a poor family, and the main character was Kino. Kino found a big pearl in the sea, and he was really excited about it, because he could sell the pearl and have enough money for his son to get education and for the whole family to live. The pearl seemed like a really lucky and good thing that happened to Kino and his family, but it actually brought something else to them. People started treating them in a different way, and their old normal life was just gone. The pearl sort of represents evilness, because it made Kino made bad decisions. He decided to go to the city and sell the pearl, because he wants more money. People sneak into their hut to try to steal the pearl, so Kino killed the trackers. The pearl made him more greedy, and evil.

He decided to go to the city, because he thinks he can sell a better price at the city. He brought his family with him. He thought that would brought them a better life, but it actually made their life more dangerous. More trackers follow them everywhere. They had to hide in caves, so no one sees them and kill them.

The pearl made him become blind, because he starts making bad decisions. The one character in the book that has the most good attitude and mind is Juanna, which is Kino’s wife. She was trying throw the pearl away, because she knew that the pearl is evil.

The moral for me is that when you get something good or special, then your life can totally change. The best thing is to give it away, maybe throw it away, or maybe other type of ways of getting rid of evilness or greediness. It depends on what you got. But definitely open your eyes, don’t be like Kino, remember to listen to suggestions from people that you can trust on. Don’t be greedy.

Earth Day Blog

Awesomeness, it's Earth day the day before yesterday, which is April 22. Earth day was early celebrated in US, but now we have almost every country to celebrate this day. Earth day is a day to show the appreciation and awareness for the Earth's environment. Basically, we try to do things we can do to save energy and to improve the Earth's environment. Saving energy can be seen everyday, but it's more obvious at that day. Some schools, companies, and shops do activities or things that saves energy. For example, closing lights in the morning, since it is bright enough. And, for some companies, they turn off the air conditioning for the whole building, which will save a lot of energy.

I remembered, when I was in local school, at earth day, we always turn off light in the morning, and try not to use the projector and the computer that much. We sweat a lot, because we tried not to turn on the fan or air conditioner. We sometimes have events on the Earth day, like making poster saying things that relates to the theme of Earth day.

I bet we can all think of things that we can do on Earth day, and also every single day in life. We can watch less television. We can turn off the AC,. and don't use elevator that much if you can walk properly. Turn off lights is a really common one, and so as going on to public transportations like bus, trains...etc. I thought using less hairspray would be a good thing too, because I think hairspray can cause a great air pollution too.

I just want to say, protect the Earth as best as you can, and go green if you are not, and stay green if you are. Yay~! :D

Susan Boyle is appearing on youtube, news...etc!!!!

She had appeared in TV show, youtube, news...etc. Susan Boyle had been watched by more than 20.2 million people on youtube. She is in international news, I even saw her in Taiwan's news channel. Miss Susan Boyel, she is on an age of 47, which has an outfit that's not really fashionable, but she definitely have a great voice. Her voice is beautiful, and she audition for Britain's Got Talent, which surprised all the judges and audience. I watched the video of her audition on youtube, not to mention again, she have more than 20.2 million viewers on youtube!!! First when she got on stage, and she introduced herself, everyone was laughing, but they don't know what she had inside of her. When she sing, everyone was cheering and standing up clapping, even two of the judges did. No one was laughing after she sang, and one of the judge said that her voice was stunning. I thought so too. Now she's like a famous super star in her village. I saw her in today's morning news of the Taiwan news channel. I also saw her in CNN, she even had an interview with them, I think. To be honest, I think her voice is beautiful and clean.

Earthquakes hit eastern Afghanistan

Friday, April 17, two earthquake hit the eastern part of Afghanistan. The two earthquakes collapsed hundreds or more houses and killed dozens of people. Which I think it's really terrible, earthquake it's a scary thing, and especially having two happening near the same place or we can say the same country. That's even more scary, it's a double scary thing. There was a person, Gul Mohammad, which live in Mir Gadkhel village. Gul Mohammad said that three of his/her family members were killed and some were injured. On April 18, there was a huge clear-up. There were at least 21 people killed, and four villages suffered in serious damage. Most of them are homeless, because the village was damaged really bad. U.S. government are sending food, and supplies to the people in Afghanistan, and trying to do the best as they can to find the dead bodies of the families that lost their family members.

More Allergies on the kids!!!

In UK, there are more kids getting allergies, and the bad thing is people are suffering from it. Most of the children have allergies from eczema to asthma. I have friends and family members who has allergies, but luckily they didn't suffer for that. But I saw a lot of news talking about the population of people having allergies, and mostly are kids. Allergies are not from others, it's from your parents, or one of them. Some people get it, but some people don't, it's hard to say. If you are afraid or worry that you have allergies, the experts and doctors recommend you to do a allergy test, so you can control it better if you have it.

Big Wheel Race

On April 15 at San Francisco, everyone was completely "down hill". People in San Francisco, California were gather together for the Big Wheel Race, which people has to provide their own transportation, like bike...etc, and they race around a circle for maybe times. Everybody crowded in race to watch the competitors. As the people barrel down the street on a tiny bike, and the cool thing is some people even ride it backwards. Every adults rode on tiny bikes, or small transportation that has wheels on it. Another awesome thing is some people wore funny costumes or just costumes to the race, some looked hilarious. Some people fell off, and got injured, but I bet that was a blast. I would like to try it, but I definitely don't want to get injured or hurt. Yay! Big Wheel Race!!

The Pearl Blog #1

1) How would you change if you had a lot of money? Would your personality be different?
I think if I have a lot of money or I am really rich, I think it depends, because people around you can affect you a lot. Either your family, friends, and other people. They sometimes influence you by acting in some kind of way, sometimes are bad influences. I think my personality will be kind of different if I have a lot of money, but if people around me influence me to be a nicer or better person, then I might be a better person if I'm rich. I am not saying that rich people are mean, I am just saying that people around you can really affect you very much.

2) Would you ever take a risk to reach a goal?
I think I will, because if this is really a goal or dream that I am eager to reach, then I think will do it. But sometimes I will consider about the consequences, only sometimes. I always have a goal in my mind, but sometimes I think goals can limit things, so I try not to let goals limit other kind of things. Risks sometimes can be harmful, or maybe there will be bad consequences. But I think reaching the goal in your mind is very important.

3) Would you ever hurt member of your family just so you could be accepted by friends?
I guess I will say no, but by saying no, my mind is saying maybe. I think sometimes when someone hurt another person, they don't really know if it's really bad or maybe it's just there sudden meanness. Friendship can be important, but your family members are people who really cares about you, at least most of them. You can trust them, but sometimes family members are complicated. Some people might think that their friends will think their parents are embarrassing or something, and they hurt them, but it's really bad.I just felt confused sometimes, because I don't know what is the most important. But I guess they are both important, so don't hurt either of them because of something or because of one's sudden meanness.

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.