What I Have Learned!

Well for beginners I have learned too much to only write a 5 paragraph paper. So I guess I am going to have to summarize what I have and haven’t learned…well it’s mostly what I have learned because there isn’t really anything that I haven’t learned that is associated with the 9th grade Global Education English class.
One of my favorite learning experiences has been writing the blogs or the 1 or 2 paragraph responses to articles or subjects we have learned about! Honestly my favorite learning experience would be Weights class but it’s too irrelevant to this class and this paper I have to write. When I first had to write the paragraph or two for the articles I read I was like “wow, only a paragraph? This is going to take a few seconds!” But I was dead wrong, on my first article it took me almost a whole hour to write on paragraph and I still had another, how could this be? Well first I had to write a 1 SENTECNE thesis (seems easy but your wrong), then choose a side (ex: if I thought Iran should have nuclear power [actually weapons but they wouldn’t admit it] and say what we should do), and after all that we had to find some sort of support or reason that took almost as much time as the first paragraph. Well now I could take almost any article and read it (for some I might need a little more knowledge than others) and within a few minutes make a thesis and have my choices and reasoning sorted out!

Let’s say Osama Bin Laden was captured and the citizens of the United States got to choose what the government does with him, and Mr. Fielder has us write a paper to our state legislature about what we want to happen, here is what I would write if I had the choice to either have him be killed or tortured for life. (Notice this is a shortened version of what I would write because I don’t have all hour to write one example)

Thesis: If I could choose from death or torture to a man that killed thousands of our own people I would choose torture.

Paragraph 1 + Support: Does anyone think a man that killed thousands of our own people deserve to die instantly by a bullet without any pain or to be hurt for the rest of his days for taking friends and family of others. Some might say that its inhumane to torture him, but what it humane to kill thousands and destroy a whole country’s economy system? On the 11th of September in 2001 he decided to hire two attackers and take a airliners into the twin towers, and kill all the people in the building, later on he released a tape saying it was his plan to do all that.

Sometimes I would article (not by choice, obviously!) and have NO idea what it’s about or what its point was, until the Great Mr. Fielder introduced me and the rest of the class to “margin noting” and the great Q.C.V.I. (Questions-Comments/Connections-Vocabulary-Interesting Ideas) technique. For a few weeks we just read random (actually very connected articles, but they seemed very different from each other) and would have to do little summaries for almost every paragraph, then after we were done with that we had to write 5 Questions we had, 5 Comments/Connections we made, find 5 or more words we didn’t know, and write 5 interesting ideas. Sometimes I would spend more time on the QCVIs than reading a 5 page article and doing margin noting, I was hard but it made me understand the first time I read something not the 5th.

I also learned that there was a mass genocide in Rwanda, while I didn’t even know there was a country named Rwanda! First off the teacher told us we had to learn about Rwanda that is located in Africa…ok, nothing big, this is school, we learn new things but this wasn’t new. The genocide has been going around for years and almost one million are dead because of it, and yet again there seemed to be no media coverage about it. In many was a I was shocked and kind of surprised that it’s been going on for so many years but I never knew about it, I mean if a dog in Asia gets hit by a famous person car it would get more coverage that this.

Would you rather?

Would you rather be kicked out of your land, killed for it, or both? Personally I would rather just be kicked out.



I would be a native in the United States during colonization rather than in South Africa, Rwanda, or Australia.
During the colonization of the United States, of the 18 hundreds, Native Americans where getting forced to move west, rather than being killed, or just getting kicked out and find your new homes all for yourself. They were just told to move west but with information on how to get there and suggestions on places to settle. Even though they were discriminated they were still allowed to learn to read and write, but they had to learn by themselves while in South Africa and Australia they were arrested if they tried to learn or teach others. And in Rwanda you were killed by the other culture (Hutu) just for being a Tutsi.  Or if you were a Hutu, you would have to kill you neighbor, friends, coworker, and to some extents your family!

Ok, that was just a little overview on where I would rether be, some have advantages and disatvantages to others, but for the place where I wouldn't like to be would be Rwanda, why?  Well first off I dont think I would enjoy killing people that I know or dont know with a Machette that cost my supplier about 10 cents.  The shiping of them was probably more expensive but as I was saying, just the thought of going up to someone, and plainly with not much reson cut off an arm or leg, then leave them to bleed and suffer for a few hours, then go back and take another arm and so on untill we run out of things to take or their die.  And from a differnet point of view would be to be a Tutsi, the people that ruled the Hutus for years and always had a higher standard of living, getting slaughtered by the Hutus.  I personally wouldn't enjoy having no where to run and my neighbor/fiends trying to kill me.  And to make matters worse, the United Nations werent doing anything because they had oreders for the "top" not to fire at enemy at all costs because it might start a all out war and/or a genocide...well first thing is that a few hundred thousand people have died (800 to be exact) and its still not considered genocide.

Dear Santa,



You probably already know me but here is a list of my demands! Ok well that’s not a good start is it? Let me reintroduce myself! Hello my name is Dan Podina and all I want for Christmas is a Red Ryder BB gun...and a few more things!



Here are some great gift ideas for me:

1: One nifty gadget I would like is the Virtual Portable IMAX Theater Experience device! Its only $249 and it comes with built in head phones and a connection to your ipod or Zune (pshhh who owns a Zune?!?!)! It has a 52” 16x9 view and the headphones make you feel like you have surround sound on. This site should explain the product!

http://www.gifts.com/search/product/Vuzix-iWear-AV310-Widescreen-Video-Glasses?ideaID=9553&prodID=199664


2: Ok well this one will cost about $30 grand! It’s a custom Suzuki GSX-R with a helmet camera that has a camera so you can film most of your trips and tricks! Well the bike is a custom 2002 Suzuki GSX-R, it has 998cc’s. The bike has a 300 mm rear tire and a custom Von Dutch free hand pint job! Anyways the helmet camera is a waterproof sports camera that attaches to any helmet that will catch any quick action!
http://www.gifts.com/search/product/L-L-Bean-Helmet-HERO-Wide-Camera?ideaID=5754&prodID=241688
http://www.classybikes.com/59066


3: Well this is another cool item, it has a weird name but it’s really cool to mess around with. It’s a Bucket of Balls! It has 216 rare earth magnets that can be shaped into many things. Its for the low price of $29.95! It would be very fun to play with in the middle of Mr. Fielder’s class because it’s so boring in that class!
http://www.gifts.com/giftlists/our-top-10-gifts-for-him/?listID=4331


4: Next one isn’t really an item but more of an experience. It’s a once in a life time opportunity to drive a NASCAR! If you know me well enough I would have some “people” prepare an escape route to be able to take a car home! Anyways its suppose to give u a chance to drive it for some time on the race track like your are actually a professional driver! And it only costs $229!
http://www.gifts.com/search/product/Drive-a-NASCAR?ideaID=3986&prodID=237942


5: Guess what I found?!?!? Presenting the worlds largest gummy bear! About 1,400 regular sized gummy bears packed into 1 humongous bear! The cost is $29.99 and has about 12,600 calories and comes in several different colors! I would obviously want one that tastes like cherries, strawberries, or grape! Or if possible all 3 flavors combined!

http://www.gifts.com/search/product/The-Worlds-Largest-Gummy-Bear?ideaID=4550&prodID=270069



Please visit this site!
BEST SITE EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

What Have I Learned?

What have I learned? Better question would be what HAVEN’T I learned? Well I've learned LOTS! We discussed the subject about Rwanda for about a week or two. The first few days I was like "who on Gods green earth is he talking about?!?” I'm sure I wasn't the only person saying this or something like it.



I mainly realized that I didn't know much when we did the little self judging! Out of 10 we were suppose to rate ourselves on how well we knew this subject. Ten being we would ace a test or quiz and 1 we would fail miserably! I rated my self a 3! Ouch, that’s like saying that all I know is that a lot of people died, Rwanda is on planet earth, and possibly on the continent Africa or Asia!


After the little self judging thingy we each explained what we knew and after having the discussion open for about 15 min. I had a little view on it. Not the whole picture but a little puzzle piece. Anyways here what I have put together so far!


Blaming will always go around for the genocide of 1994 in Rwanda. But there will be questions that will go around for a while. But who is really responsible for it? Who started it? When will all end? Why didn’t it get any help or attention? I could go on for a while asking the questions but let me get straight to the blaming.


First off Belgium won Rwanda from Germany after WWII. After colonizing it for a few years, they decide to make some sort of identity cards. The catch was that people who owned more than 10 cows were considered Tutsi (15% of the population that has more power). Being a Tutsi was like being a White man in the 1950’s and the Hutus being an African American. After a while they gave all power to the Tutsis and left because there weren’t any more natural recourse to steal.


After a while the two groups started going at each others throats and started fighting! To tell you the truth I don’t know if the U.N. (United Nations) were on vacation or at Disney Land but they say that they are here on this earth to help resolve world problems but some how they missed the entire “About 800 thousand people died in the genocide of Rwanda” special on CNN! The United States could have done something to help but they didn’t. I understand that they got humiliated in another country in Africa where a few soldiers’ bodies were dragged on the streets. The US never said that they were always going to try to solve world problems (even though they always seem like they try to). They should have at least sent some support because the only threat was a lot of people attacking you with Machetes while you have fully automatic M16’s with the perk bandolier (extra ammunition) attached! Anyways I could go on for hours blaming other groups (even though everyone knows Belgium started it all) but to sum it all up in 5 short words.

I HAVE LEARNED A LOT!

When does the mechanic become the machine?

Emerson's argument that the mechanic is becoming the machine is still was true, is true, and might always be true.



If u think of a Ford assembly line, one person knows how install the glass or the seats and that’s all. Well not exactly, most of them know how to do the few basic things to build the Ford but what I’m saying is that the windshield installer could represent a lawyer, the man who puts in the seats could be a semi driver, and the person who inspects it could be a construction worker. Anyways, the lawyer only knows law and not how to drive a semi or mix cement, the semi driver only knows how to drive and get around to their destination, and the construction worker knows how to build or repair buildings.


Everyone in America has become the lawyer, driver, or construction worker. Even thought there are many more jobs than the 3 I listed, they all know how to do one thing and one thing only. Now “the mechanic has become the machine, the sailor has become the rope of the ship”. All men together make the whole man, the whole man represents everyone and every skill. Emerson says “Man is priest, and scholar, and salesman, and producer, and soldier.

Where in the world would I live and what would I own?

Imagine your parents win $765 million dollars in the lottery and decide to kick you out and ONLY leave you $200 million. Where would you move?


Here are some places I would personally move if I could afford to:

1. I would probably go to دبيّ‎ (Dubai) in the United Arab Emirates. First off I’m willing to bet you have never heard of it. Well let me put it this way… by far its one of the most beautiful and amazing places to live in the world if only you could afford to. If you take a house from Livonia that costs $400,000 and put it in Dubai it would cost $1.8 million. I would move in the Palm Islands or the World Islands. The Palm islands are man-made islands that from overview they look like a Palm tree. The 300 World Islands which put together make a map of the world are also man-made islands but cost about $25-30 million dollars each. Another place in Dubai I would move to is the Hydropolis, the world's first underwater hotel. It was entirely built in Germany and then assembled in Dubai.

2. I would also want to live in Venice, Italy. It has an old fashioned but professional look; I also look like a place where some rich Wall Street guy would go to relax. Anyway, it has a nice Italian look especially all the water around the building and the old log boats and bridges. Even better than the scenery is probably the food. I’m Romanian but on any day I’ll eat an Italian Pasta cuisine rather than a Traditional Romanian dish unless it’s something I really like. While I would be there I would buy a nice Aston Martin Vanquish or Rolls Royce Phantom or Ghost to show off while I would be there.

After I find a place to stay I would need to choose my sort of transportation. Obviously I would buy more than one car but here is a car I would love to own:

Its the great Bugatti Veyron! Don’t know what it is? Shame on you! This car is by far one of my favorite cars and one of the priciest one on the market. The base price for this beauty is $1,700,000, but who say I would only go with the basic package. First I would have all tanned leather; silver paint, 21” rims, and the rich person touch an I-Pod dock.

http://www.dubai-architecture.info/DUB-GAL1.htm

Invisible!

Is there such thing as an invisible child? No, but people act like there are and seem to think that they are nonexistent or “invisible”. On Wednesday I went to see a presentation after school on child soldiers and refugees in Uganda. When I saw the short and simple 45 minute video I was astonished and left with no words. The images of the few hundred refugees sleeping in a room the size of our cafeteria kept flashing back and fourth. When I first heard about child soldiers, I thought of 14 or 15 year olds running around with AK47’s but they were as young as 8 and the gun was as tall as them.
Well over 30,000 children were abducted for the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army), but the children that were abducted from villages were not counted. What also surprised me was how the refugees lived and what they did to stay alive. Some lived in wet cold tunnel-like places under hospitals, while others were forced to walk miles in fear of the rebels finding them.
A lot of the refugee children would say that if they were caught they would be killed or would be sent to the bush. The “bush” is a training camp for them, they are very terrified of it because if they disobeyed the simplest of orders they would be killed or tortured. The children also said if they cried in the bush they would be killed because crying means you are thinking of home and from now on they do no cry, even if they are not in the camps.
There was a group of 3 children who were hiding in tunnels under a hospital. The tunnel was usually wet, cold, and dirty. They had to get all the water out if there was any by taking a flat piece of plastic and “mopping” the water away outside. They also had no source of heat, were underground, and surrounded by cold concrete. The only source of heat was each other and thin blankets. They woke up every morning at 4:00 to get water and ready for the day, even though nobody told them they had to. They knew if they didn’t they wouldn’t survive too long.
If someone wants to see the reality of child soldiers I suggest that you watch the video. But before you do make sure you are ready to be sickened by what Joseph Kony (Leader of LRA) has done to innocent children so he can overthrow the current government. Just by watching the movie I have already signed a petition for Kony’s citizen arrest warrant that will raise awareness and will call president Obama to lead an effort to find him and stop him once and for all. I loved the experience because it opened my eyes to something I have never seen before. I wouldn’t recommend it for Globies only but for everyone