MY DASHBOARD

Like it was assign, I started making a Netvibes profile. First thing on the agenda was a link spot, so I attached the link to my blog. Then, it was my "to do list." Things that came to top of my head were signing up for the SAT (my final time) and ACT (first and only time), check the blog and do the assignments, and applications. Next was connecting my gmail to Netvibes. After connecting my gmail to Netvibes, I said to myself, "what's the point of this?" To be honest, I don't think I will ever use this. Yes, it's a good site to have all the news, assignments, social media, mails, etc. in one page, but I feel like I don't think it's really necessary for me. I practically get all the feeds on this site on my phone. All of things on the dashboard that include the weather, world news, social media, mails, to-do list (which I make reminders on my phone), and of course, my own blog is ALL IN MY PHONE.  

PHONAR14 VIDEO

-          Phonar is about habits

-          Photograph = experience = memory

-          Success is a habit

-          Habits define you

-          Habits become a system

-          Photograph is fixed in time

-          Photograph vs. image

-          Photograph is storytelling, which is powerful and changes the world

-          If you want to change the world, you need to starting describing it differently.

-          The power relationships, author, subject and reader will evolve, as will the filters, and the linear narrative, based on the authority of a single voice, is up for grabs in an increasingly nonlinear, decentralized media environment

BIG QUESTION

What is considered a successful life? Does wealth and fame measure success? Or is it the matter of one's happiness where one stand?

Vocabulary #4

obsequious - adj. attentive in an ingratiating or servile manner; attempting to win favor from influential people by flattery

Ex. Obsequious service is expected, and one generally leaves a tip.

beatitude - noun one of the eight sayings of Jesus at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount; in Latin each saying begins with `beatus' (blessed); a state of supreme happiness
Ex. All of our actions are to be directed toward such beatitude.

bete- noire- a person or thing especially disliked or dreaded 

Ex. All around the world, Hitler is known as a bete-noire.
bode - verb indicate by signs

Ex. A knock at the door distracted his response, which wouldn’t bode well for either of them.
dank - adj. unpleasantly cool and humid

Ex. A cold shiver went down his spine just thinking about it, which is a primal fear of dark and dank places.
ecumenical - adj. of worldwide scope or applicability; concerned with promoting unity among churches or religions

Ex. Ecumenical pilgrimage now must also be between churches which are in mission together.
fervid - adj. extremely hot; characterized by intense emotion
Ex. Their fervid attacks on image worship led to their expulsion.

fetid - adj. offensively malodorous

Ex. The mine tunnel narrowed and the pair was forced to hunch down under the low ceiling that closed in the fetid air around them like a soaked and musty blanket.
gargantuan - adj. of great mass; huge and bulky

Ex. Gargantuan communications tasks can be achieved this way makes you realize how far we've come.
heyday - noun the period of greatest prosperity or productivity

Ex. The formations are magnificent and anyone interested in cave photography should have a heyday in there.
incubus - noun a male demon believed to lie on sleeping persons and to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women; someone who depresses or worries others; a situation resembling a terrifying dream

Ex. The incubus and succubus of the middle ages are sometimes regarded as spiritual beings, but they were held to give very real proof of their bodily existence.
infrastructure - noun the stock of basic facilities and capital equipment needed for the functioning of a country or area; the basic structure or features of a system or organization

Ex. Assess what damage you can and rebuild the critical infrastructure systems.
inveigle - verb influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering

Ex. We cannot inveigle him into putting pen to paper.
kudos - noun an expression of approval and commendation

Ex. He received kudos from everyone on his performance.
lagniappe - noun a small gift (especially one given by a merchant to a customer who makes a purchase)

Ex. My boss gives a pair of socks as a lagniappe to the customers.
prolix - adj. tediously prolonged or tending to speak or write at great length

Ex. His controversial writings are vigorous if prolix and his theological essays have little merit.
protege - noun a person who receives support and protection from an influential patron who furthers the protege's career

Ex. The old philosopher even went so far as to call his protege the French Tibullus.
prototype - noun a standard or typical example

Ex. The prototype is believed to suffer whatever is done to the image.
sycophant - noun a person who tries to please someone in order to gain a personal advantage

Ex. The sycophant publicly pronounced the formula of exclusion of certain unworthy persons from the celebration of the mysteries of the fig.
tautology - noun useless repetition; (logic) a statement that is necessarily true

Ex. Avoid tautology which is the needless repetition of the same idea.
truckle - noun a low bed to be slid under a higher bed; verb yield to out of weakness; try to gain favor by cringing or flattering

Ex. Truckle bed drawn out at night, where the younger children could sleep.

DECLARATION OF LEARNING INDEPENDENCE

“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” This quote delivered by Benjamin Franklin defines my declaration of learning independence. Like many others, I’m only attracted to the things I’m interested in. Therefore, I will acquire new knowledge that will benefit my future. What is the point of mandatory education that a student find no interest in and will never use that subject in life? 

Literary Analysis #1

1984 by George Orwell

1.      Winston Smith is a low-ranking member of the ruling Party in London, in the nation of Oceania. Everywhere Winston goes, even his own home, the Party watches him through telescreens; everywhere he looks he sees the face of the Party’s seemingly omniscient leader, a figure known only as Big Brother. The Party controls everything in Oceania, even the people’s history and language. Currently, the Party is forcing the implementation of an invented language called Newspeak, which attempts to prevent political rebellion by eliminating all words related to it. Even thinking rebellious thoughts is illegal. Such thought crime is, in fact, the worst of all crimes. As the novel opens, Winston feels frustrated by the oppression and rigid control of the Party, which prohibits free thought, sex, and any expression of individuality. Winston dislikes the party and has illegally purchased a diary in which to write his criminal thoughts. He has also become fixated on a powerful Party member named O’Brien, whom Winston believes is a secret member of the Brotherhood—the mysterious, legendary group that works to overthrow the Party. Winston works in the Ministry of Truth, where he alters historical records to fit the needs of the Party. He notices a coworker, a beautiful dark-haired girl, staring at him, and worries that she is an informant who will turn him in for his thought crime. He is troubled by the Party’s control of history: the Party claims that Oceania has always been allied with Eastasia in a war against Eurasia, but Winston seems to recall a time when this was not true. The Party also claims that Emmanuel Goldstein, the alleged leader of the Brotherhood, is the most dangerous man alive, but this does not seem plausible to Winston. Winston spends his evenings wandering through the poorest neighborhoods in London, where the proletarians, or proles, live squalid lives, relatively free of Party monitoring. One day, Winston receives a note from the dark-haired girl that reads “I love you.” She tells him her name, Julia, and they begin a covert affair, always on the lookout for signs of Party monitoring. Eventually they rent a room above the secondhand store in the prole district where Winston bought the diary. This relationship lasts for some time. Winston is sure that they will be caught and punished sooner or later (the fatalistic Winston knows that he has been doomed since he wrote his first diary entry), while Julia is more pragmatic and optimistic. As Winston’s affair with Julia progresses, his hatred for the Party grows more and more intense. At last, he receives the message that he has been waiting for: O’Brien wants to see him. Winston and Julia travel to O’Brien’s luxurious apartment. As a member of the powerful Inner Party (Winston belongs to the Outer Party), O’Brien leads a life of luxury that Winston can only imagine. O’Brien confirms to Winston and Julia that, like them, he hates the Party, and says that he works against it as a member of the Brotherhood. He indoctrinates Winston and Julia into the Brotherhood, and gives Winston a copy of Emmanuel Goldstein’s book, the manifesto of the Brotherhood. Winston reads the book—an amalgam of several forms of class-based twentieth-century social theory—to Julia in the room above the store. Suddenly, soldiers barge in and seize them. Mr. Charrington, the proprietor of the store, is revealed as having been a member of the Thought Police all along. Torn away from Julia and taken to a place called the Ministry of Love, Winston finds that O’Brien, too, is a Party spy who simply pretended to be a member of the Brotherhood in order to trap Winston into committing an open act of rebellion against the Party. O’Brien spends months torturing and brainwashing Winston, who struggles to resist. At last, O’Brien sends him to the dreaded Room 101, the final destination for anyone who opposes the Party. Here, O’Brien tells Winston that he will be forced to confront his worst fear. Throughout the novel, Winston has had recurring nightmares about rats; O’Brien now straps a cage full of rats onto Winston’s head and prepares to allow the rats to eat his face. Winston snaps, pleading with O’Brien to do it to Julia, not to him. Giving up Julia is what O’Brien wanted from Winston all along. His spirit broken, Winston is released to the outside world. He meets Julia but no longer feels anything for her. He has accepted the Party entirely and has learned to love Big Brother.

2.      Nineteen Eighty-Four covers the themes of the hazards of totalitarianism and the control and manipulation of history and information. Orwell warns society of what would happen if government becomes too big and this is obvious in the book. Oceania is ruled by a totalitarian government which controls every facet of life. They are constantly watching over their citizens and even rebellion through thought is punishable by death. The citizens have lost their humanity. They are nothing but shells of humans that do not think for themselves or form relationships with others unless when mandated. There is no love, no freedom, no conscious. Only conformity. All because the government controls EVERYTHING. This ties in with Orwell's other theme in Nineteen Eighty-Four, which is the control and manipulation of history and information. Through the Ministry of Truth, the government manipulates the past. For example, if production reports read that 20,000 boots were produced the previous year while the quota was for 30,000 boots, the Ministry of Truth would go back and change the quota to 15,000 boots to make it seem that they produced more boots that they predicted. Oceania is also at constant war with either Eastasia or Eurasia. When it is at war with Eastasia, it is in alliance with Eurasia and visa versa. If Oceania turned from being in an alliance with Eastasia to war, it was always at war with Eastasia. Since the beginning of time it has been at war with Eastasia. Same is true if that happened with Eurasia. The Ministry of Truth reconstructs the past to fit the needs of the party. In a conversation with Winston, O'Brien asks him where does the past exist, to which Winston replies that the past only exists in memory and through documentation, which is easily destroyed or altered. The party controls both the minds and memories of the citizens as well as all documentation. Since individuals do not have the ability or desire to document the past, they believe anything the party tells them as their own memory is fuzzy and improvable. By altering the past, the individual believes he is better off than his ancestors when he, in fact, might not be. The past is what the Party wants it to be. The motto they use is "Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past". This statement is essentially the overarching motif and theme throughout the book.

3.      The overall tone is dark, depressing, and pessimistic. In the start of the book, Winston goes and watches a movie where "Audience much amused by shots of a great huge fat man trying to swim away from a helicopter after him...he was full of holes and the sea around him turned pink ...audience shouting with laughter when he sank." This is an example of depressing and dark tone because the audience are being entertained and laughing at the brutal death of a man. This hints to the lack of humanity in the citizens in this novel. Another thing that points to the lack of humanity and contributes to the overall dark and depressing tone is when a bomb hit the city (pg. 107). "When he got to it he saw that it was a human hand severed at the wrist." When he approached it, "he kicked the thing into the gutter...". He does this in such a apathetic, non-caring way that it is a bit disturbing. Winston  has very little hope for most of the book. He acknowledges that it does not matter what he does, he feels like he is going to get caught eventually and is only slightly prolonging his pathetic life. His pessimism is shown in chapter one when it says that "...at any rate, they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live- did live, from the habitat that became instinct- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard and... every movement scrutinized."

4.      Ten literary elements

l  Symbolism: The glass paperweight that Winston buys is highly symbolic of the past. It is one of the few things from the past that still exists. It serves as a connection that Winston is trying to establish with the past. When Winston and Julia get arrested, the paperweight shatters. Symbolically, this means that the past has been destroyed by the party into unrecognizable pieces.The paperweight ties in to the fact that the party controls the past and alters it at will.

l  Analogy:

l  Juxtaposition: When Julia and Winston have their first sexual encounter, it is out in the countryside. Here, they are away from any government intrusion. There is no telescreens or microphones or any forms of spying on them. Here, they can love each other and experience emotions and actions that were forbidden by the party. Orwell juxtaposed the freedom and liberty of the countryside to the oppression of the city.

l  Repetition: The posters of Big Brother are plastered throughout the novel's world and is often mentioned by Orwell. This is to remind the readers and the citizens of Oceania that no matter where they are, all their actions will always be seen by the unblinking eyes of Big Brother and the party. The party's slogan WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, and IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH is also repeated throughout the novel to remember the reader of the world that Nineteen Eighty-Four takes place in.

l  Allusions: Nineteen Eighty-Four is obviously alluding to Soviet Russia and Joseph Stalin. In the book, three men (Rutherford, Aaronson and Jones) who were leaders of the revolution were convicted of thought crimes they did not commit and promptly executed. This was much like the purges and show trials of early Soviet Russia under Stalin. This allusion is proof that the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four is extremely possible and must be avoided.

l  Irony: There is irony in the fact that the few people that Winston trusted turned on him. He believed that the owner of the antique store could be trusted but it turned out he was a member of the thought police. He also believed that O'Brien was part of the Brotherhood and inspired hope in Winston. Instead, O'Brien essentially destroyed the humanity that was left in Winston. The irony conveys the complexity of the novel.

l  Imagery: Orwell is very descriptive in the novel. The Ministry of Truth is described as "...an enormous pyramidal structure of glittering white concrete, soaring up... 300 meters into the air." When O'Brien is torturing Winston, O'Brien goes on and tells him "Look at this filthy grime all over your body...Do you know you stink like a goat?... Look at your emaciation. Do you see? I can make my thumb and forefinger meet around your bicep. I could snap your neck like a carrot...." Orwell does this to convey to the reader that O'Brien broke Winston physically and made him a shell of his former self.

l  Selection of Detail: By staying away from the details of who Emmanuel Goldstein and Big Brother, it adds to their mystique and perhaps even the fact that they may not exist. Goldstein was created so that the citizens would live in perpetual fear of a "boogeyman" and stay loyal to the party. Big Brother was created by the party to represent a bigger-than-life idol that the citizens of Oceania worship and fear and obey without question. The selection of details add to the slogan that "IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH ; it is, but only for the party.

l  Anecdote: In the beginning of the novel, Winston goes and watches a movie. The movie is of a sinking enemy ship and a chopper gunning down those trying to escape, including a woman and her child. The movie serves as an example of how dehumanized the enemy becomes through the eyes of the Oceania citizens. They laugh and cheer at the death of those trying to escape. They don't see them as humans. They absolutely hate them simply because of the lies the party has been feeding them for their entire lies. It exemplifies the control of emotions and information that is ever-present in the novel. 

l  Personification: Orwell personifies the party such as on page 43, where he says "If the party could  thrust its hands into the past and say this or that event, IT NEVER HAPPENED- that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death?" By personifying the Party, it makes it seem as BIGGER than any character in the story. The inner party is the brain while the other party and proles are the body, with the inner party making all the decisions the outer party must follow.

Vocabulary #3

accolade - noun a tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction

Ex. Her great achievement in film has earned her many accolades even an academy award.
acerbity - noun a sharp sour taste; a sharp bitterness; a rough and bitter manner
Ex. His acerbity was shown through the sharpness of her eyes. 

attrition - noun the act of rubbing together; wearing something down by friction; a wearing down to weaken or destroy; sorrow for sin arising from fear of damnation; the wearing down of rock particles by friction due to water or wind or ice; erosion by friction

Ex. Due to the difficulty of the work involved, the factory had a high rate of attrition among its employees
bromide - noun any of the salts of hydrobromic acid; formerly used as a sedative but now generally replaced by safer drugs; a trite or obvious remark

Ex. The halogens may be sometimes detected by fusing with lime, and testing the solution for a bromide, chloride and iodide in the usual way.
chauvinist - noun an extreme bellicose nationalist; a person with a prejudiced belief in the superiority of his or her own kind

Ex. Many of the most hated people on world are chauvinist.
chronic - adj. being long-lasting and recurrent or characterized by long suffering

Ex. There is a chronic failure of leadership, whether by civilian politicians or the army.
expound - verb add details, as to an account or idea; clarify the meaning of and discourse in a learned way, usually in writing; state

Ex. The student needed to expound in this presentation in order for an A.
factionalism - noun the state or quality of being partisan or self-interested

Ex. The man with factionalism was consider an outsider amongst all people.
immaculate - adj. completely neat and clean; free from stain or blemish; without fault or error

Ex. When the kids were told that there will be guests coming to their house, they immaculated their rooms at its finest.
imprecation - noun the act of calling down a curse that invokes evil (and usually serves as an insult); a slanderous accusation

Ex. The teacher gave an unexpected imprecation to the students, which led to massive complaints.  
ineluctable - adj. impossible to avoid or evade:"inescapable conclusion"
Ex. Fact is that electronic social integration is ineluctable.

mercurial - adj. relating to or containing or caused by mercury; relating to or having characteristics (eloquence, shrewdness, swiftness, thievishness) attributed to the god Mercury; relating to or under the (astrological) influence of the planet Mercury; liable to sudden unpredictable change

Ex. She's very mercurial and emotes before thinking, while I'm the opposite.
palliate - verb provide physical relief, as from pain; lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of

Ex. The primary goal is to help the patient and cure or palliate the disease.
protocol - noun code of correct conduct; forms of ceremony and etiquette observed by diplomats and heads of state; (computer science) rules determining the format and transmission of data

Ex. When the late arrival entered, the protocol was to take one's seat quietly and without comment.
resplendent - adj. having great beauty and splendor

Ex. Fresh from the shower, mirror-primped, stepped my heroine resplendent in her new friend's housecoat.
stigmatize - verb mark with a stigma or stigmata; to accuse or condemn or openly or formally or brand as disgraceful

Ex. To succeed, a program for producing mid-level industrial engineers here couldn't stigmatize the program.

sub rosa - adj. happening or done in secret
Ex. CIA is a committee where operates sub rosa.

vainglory - noun outspoken conceit

Ex. Let us not be misled by vainglory into underestimating the strain it will put on our powers.
vestige - noun an indication that something has been present

Ex. There were no hereditary or formally elected chiefs, nor was there any vestige of monarchy.
volition - noun the act of making a choice; the capability of conscious choice and decision and intention

Ex. Yet this primordial creative nature is endowed with volition with regard to its own development.

Essay #3

“Nothing is given to man on earth - struggle is built into the nature of life, and conflict is possible - the hero is the man who lets no obstacle prevent him from pursuing the values he has chosen,” once quoted by Andrew Bernstein identifies the main character of Beowulf, Beowulf. Beowulf possesses majority of the great heroic, or even epic heroic qualities. Although Beowulf is an ancient legend, he happens to share many heroic qualities with former U.S. president, Franklin D. Roosevelt. There might be differences between an epic hero and a contemporary hero, one of them having to do with the time period, but they both share the qualities of a “hero.” As heroes, they fought for the same goal, which was the protection of the people. The actions of these two figures were arguably considered heroic by replying to the results of the future.

Beowulf and Roosevelt are deliberated as different type of heroes. Obviously, Roosevelt can’t fight monsters and Beowulf couldn’t have brought US into the first class country as it was. One of the characteristics that Beowulf contains that refers to an epic hero is the ability to excel in strength. Like many other epic hero, Beowulf was able to defeat the monster, Grendel by ripping his arm off and later defeat Grendel’s mother by holding his breath for an extremely long time. His strength was well recognizable through other battles. However, Roosevelt’s strength wasn’t physical, but mostly mental. Roosevelt was able provided strong leadership during the Great Depression. From all the economic decline and many other negative effects, Roosevelt was able to stand firm and lead the nation into recovery. He was also able to provide a plan to relief and reform, well known as the New Deal. Not only did Roosevelt lead the nation out of the economic decline, he also directed the path in World War II that occasionally delivered a victory. Other characteristic Beowulf showed was loyalty. Beowulf first delivered loyalty to King Hrothgar, who once saved Beowulf’s father. In return, he courageously arrived to kill the monsters who were threatening the king’s palace. With the gifts from King Hrothgar, he presented to his own king, which added to his loyalty. On the other hand, Roosevelt’s works as a president can relate to loyalty to the people of the nation. He was able to recover the failures and made more comfort to many. People adored him because they felt that someone among the government actually cared. He was the face of hope and reform. Being courageous is one of the key characteristics of a hero. When facing the monsters, Beowulf never thought twice about fighting them. Nonetheless, he dominated the battles against them. The domination of the battles leads to another characteristic, faith. Frequently after many battles, he tends to give glory to God. The element of faith in God was possibly in a mean of spreading Christianity.

Many stories that involve a hero have been written by both men and women, but it was very rare that it was examine if the story would differ when it is told in the opposite perspective. In Beowulf, many things would change if it was told in feminist perspective. Because this epic poem contains so many actions, it wouldn’t be really coherent if actions were taken out. Since Beowulf was a male, it is the actions within power and strength what brought this epic poem to intensity. In order to put it in a feminist perspective, it would most likely contain indebt details on Beowulf’s compassion and loyalty. 

Will Study for Food

Within less than a year, I will be leaving to college. I haven’t quite decided if I should go to a community college for two years then transfer or go straight into a four year university, but it’s most likely going to be a four year university. Nowadays, colleges are extremely expensive and I will need some financial aid. The main reason by I need the scholarship money is because I want to save much as possible for my parents. So, I have researched online on scholarship search engine, such as zinch.com, have found couple I found interest in. I honestly don’t know how much I will earn, but I’m hoping at least $5000.   

Vocabulary #2

accoutrements - noun personal clothing, accessories, etc.

Ex. They will report on board in working suits, carrying their arms and accoutrements.

apogee - noun apoapsis in Earth orbit; the point in its orbit where a satellite is at the greatest distance from the Earth; a final climactic stage

Ex. Both tribe members and gambling industry experts agree that the casino is probably at the apogee of its earning powers.

apropos - adj. of an appropriate or pertinent nature; adv. by the way; at an opportune time

Ex. Bob’s apropos comment fit in perfectly with our discussion.

bicker - noun a quarrel about petty points; verb argue over petty things

Ex. He warns that they'll bicker and possibly even brawl.

coalesce - verb fuse or cause to grow together; mix together different elements

Ex. The experts did eventually coalesce around some powerfully simple points.

contretemps - noun an awkward clash

Ex. That's a lesson that should have emerged clearly from this contretemps.

convolution - noun the action of coiling or twisting or winding together; a convex fold or elevation in the surface of the brain; the shape of something rotating rapidly

Ex. This class implements a convolution from the source to the destination.

cull - noun the person or thing that is rejected or set aside as inferior in quality; verb remove something that has been rejected; look for and gather

Ex. Others in the community cull the pictures into sets.

disparate - adj. including markedly dissimilar elements; fundamentally different or distinct in quality or kind

Ex. She cautions against going overboard with too many disparate shades.

dogmatic - adj. characterized by assertion of unproved or unprovable principles; relating to or involving dogma; of or pertaining to or characteristic of a doctrine or code of beliefs accepted as authoritative

Ex. The final statement in the quote is simply a dogmatic assertion.

licentious - adj. lacking moral discipline; especially sexually unrestrained

Ex. Tom is licentious and has no regard for morality or the law.

mete - noun a line that indicates a boundary         

Ex. It would be far better to conduct investigations and mete out punishments at the national level.

noxious - adj. injurious to physical or mental health

Ex. These chemicals can make plants smell good or, alternately, noxious.

polemic - adj. of or involving dispute or controversy; noun a controversy (especially over a belief or dogma); a writer who argues in opposition to others (especially in theology)

Ex. This is neither a big book, nor a tough read, nor a polemic.

populous - adj. densely populated

Ex. It isn't really clear how populous the largest urban areas there would have been.

probity - noun complete and confirmed integrity; having strong moral principles

Ex. Probity officers are employed throughout the process to maintain accountability and fairness.

repartee - noun adroitness and cleverness in reply

Ex. Do not be intimidated, but do not expect much repartee or laughter either.

supervene - verb take place as an additional or unexpected development

Ex. Social properties supervene on the properties of individuals.

truncate - adj. terminating abruptly by having or as if having an end or point cut off; verb make shorter as if by cutting off; approximate by ignoring all terms beyond a chosen one; replace a corner by a plane

Ex. Comments are useless if you truncate the conclusions.

unimpeachable - adj. beyond doubt or reproach; completely acceptable; not open to exception or reproach; free of guilt; not subject to blame

Ex. Because there was an impeachable witness in the crime scene, it was not possible for the criminal to tell false.