Power Essay

POWER
Dictionary.com defines power as an “ability to do or act; capability of doing or accomplishing something.” To me, power means having control over another subject. Though we have seen power throughout history, the subject who possesses it tends to change.
Within the Industrial Era power was held within countries that obtained more control over land, labor and capital. The Industrial Revolution was all about factories coming into play and the migration of peasants from farm land to growing cities. With more and more factories opening, job opportunities were at a boom. Thousands of men and women migrated into growing London in hope to earn an income for families back home. With a greater demand on factory products countries had to begin looking for more labor, land to grow cotton on, and capital to produce commodities. Therefore we see England, as well as various other European countries, invading many countries in Africa as well as countries in Asia, such as India. Thus, Imperialism began.
Imperialism, defined as the policy by a stronger nation to attempt to create an empire by dominating weaker nations, was begun during the time of the Industrial Revolution when factories were in need of help. We see countries like England take over less industrialized countries for the benefit of three main reasons, gold, god and glory. Many European countries too sent their people to try and gain control over countries in Africa yet none was as successful as England. This draws us to the conclusion that during the Industrial Revolution the main source of power came from countries that obtained the most land, labor and capital.
Though, I believe power is to have a control over another subject, Capitalism and Globalization are causing power to change its subject, until now we see power help in large organizations and companies. Capitalism, found all over the world, is known for the term Laissez- Faire. Laissez-Faire means ‘let it be’ in French, which in capitalism means that private businesses should be allowed to work without government intervention. Since Laissez-Faire is a strong belief in leading countries such as the United States, less power is given to the government because they have no control over the companies. With the spread of Globalization these companies are becoming more and more important. For example, McDonalds, which use to be found only in North America is now found in India, China, Cambodia, and various upcoming super powers. Therefore, with Laissez-Faire and the rise of Globalization, we are seeing less power given to government organizations and more in leading companies.
As factories came into play during the Industrial Revolution we saw that power lay with countries who acquired the most labor, land and capital. Though, as time carried on, and capitalism became the new communism, companies began to gain more power. Hence, we see that power has always been having control of another; whether it’s taking control over another country, or gaining more control over a business, control is a key player in the definition of Power.

Cartoon Reflection

In this picture contrast and alignment are a huge part of this image. The contrast in this image is within the colour between black and white. Also, the alignment in this picture helps the slogan pop out and catch the viewers attention. The issue shown in the cartoon is based on how technology is progressing and where it will be in the future. I think the cartoonists opinion on this is a negative one by the way he underlines the "tell" in the banner. It helps you understand that the parents want to hear it from their son rather then reading it on his blog post. This cartoon is ironic because instead of telling his parents how his day went he uses a blog to express how his day went. I found this ironic because the usual thing to do would be to explain things to your parents rather then post them to a computer. This image helps portray technology in the future in a very simple manner. It demonstrates how children get attached to technology and how technology will eventually take over social lives to the extent that we will no longer communicate with one another. The cartoonist could have made this image more effective by making the slogan stand out more so that the viewer could see it better.

PoP

During this next week I want to have a final draft of my research paper. I think this is manageable because I have a rough draft of it currently and with some peer editing I think I can finish it.

Monday: Review outline, add touch ups, talk to Mr.Coyle
Tuesday: Get someone to peer edit my first two paragraphs
Wednesday: Get someone to look at my last three paragraphs
Thursday: Work on calculations for data analysis
Friday: Work on writing second paragraph for data analysis

TECHNOLOGY

Technology is the application of science to industrial or commercial objectives. I believe the five most important technologies used for me today are computers, phones, IPod, cars, and electricity. This is because these are my five most used technologies. My five least important technologies would be lawnmowers, microwaves, TVs, blow-dryers, and vacuums. I chose these because none of them really have any point. A.E.S’s technology, I find, is very efficient. I do think, however, that we print way to much paper. I recommended that instead of printing papers to send them to our teachers or that every class should get a blog and that’s where they can keep their homework, projects, etc.

LIFE

The more I think about what Mr. Vonnegut the more I agree. The computer, although a very useful contraption, is slowly taking away what skills we should posses. The world today has become a very fast place. With everyone on the move the computer has become a very popular way to socialize and interact with other people who are half way around the world. Yet, we also use it to communicate with those whom live right down the road. People are getting so caught up in their own lives and having to be doing something that we are slowly stopping the confrontation of each other and instead using our laptops to write someone an email. In the Euphio Question by Kurt Vonnegut we are introduced to a machine that brings happiness. I think why people, especially Lew Harrison, are intrigued by this machine is because it gives people time to slow down and appreciate one another for awhile. Once upon a time there were no computers, plans, or even telephones and people had to visit each other in order to tell one another something. Since there were no contraptions to speed life along people had to take the time to truly get to know each other and appreciate life. Now, with all of our machines, people get to know each other by your profile picture or the things you say to one another on a message and we always want more. People talk about how life is moving along so quickly but the truth is that it’s us who are speeding life away and not appreciating it; it is us who want more machines and computers; and it is us who are slowly separating ourselves from one another.

QUARTER FOUR

My goals for quarter three were to get an A in A.R and an A in the over all humanities class. Thankfully, because I planned ahead and started reading a lot during summer and during the school year, I was able to keep my goal of an A over all in A.R. In the over all humanities grade I got a 92.19% therefor giving me the grade of an A-. Although I was able to reach my goal of an A I wish I had done better on my tests an quizzes.

For this final quarter my two goals are to plan well for UBD and to get an A in humanities. My goal for UBD is to work for an hour and a half or more each week and to try to have a rough draft of the final project by the end of spring break. As for humanities, I would like to be able to get good grade son tests and I will do this by studying ahead of time rather then the night before. This way I will hopefully get an A.


WAHOO SUMMER IS NEARLY HERE :D

WWIII

I think that WWIII is defiantly a possibility; however I'm not sure that it would be in my life time.

The reason for an upcoming world war this time, I believe, would be over natural resources like land water and especially oil. As smaller and undeveloped countries become more and more urbanized and industrial they will begin needing the resources that larger and already industrialized countries have. Since the larger countries also want a strong industry they won’t willingly give the smaller countries what they need therefore causing the smaller countries to feel cheated. They would feel cheated because large countries like the US have tried to industrialize the eastern world for many years always lending them the resources they need but now since the smaller countries are on their way to becoming more western they won’t give them anything. Soon enough the smaller countries would come together and attack the larger countries for resources they need. However, I don’t think this will happen in my life time.

Even though I think a WWIII is very possible I don’t think it would happen in my life time. One reason for this is that we have a very strong UN. The UN would be a way for small and large countries to come together and come to a compromise about how much one country will give another. Although countries will be able to come to agreements the smaller countries will always need something more and there will eventually come a time when both countries disagree. Also, I think that we are finding new cheaper energy sources everyday which will slow down WWIII from happening. For example, scientists have figured out ways to farm without having to take up acres of space, as well as finding new ways to harness energy from natural sources like wind and water. However, these examples are all still in process, people are still in need of oil and lots of land. Again, these things will only slow down the war but it won’t stop it.

In conclusion I believe a war will happen because countries that are becoming more industrialized will be in need of more resources. However, if the war were to happen I think it would only happen either at the end of my generation or much later.

WWII Question

Anne Frank wrote: “I don’t believe the war (World War II) is simply the work of politicians and capitalists. Oh no, the common man is every bit as guilty; otherwise, people and nations would have rebelled long ago!” (May 3, 1944.)The Nazis needed Dutch collaborators to carry out their fascist decrees. What would have influenced someone to become a collaborator? What factors would have encouraged someone to join the resistance? Do you think these factors were based on personal characteristics or political beliefs? How should accountability for wars be assigned? So many say they never understood what was happening. How likely could that have been?


What would have influenced someone to become a collaborator? I think a main reason for a country to become a collaborator would be out of fear. This is because if your country was not able to hold of the German army then you would risk the chance of been thrown into a concentration camp or an extermination camp.

What factors would have encouraged someone to join the resistance? I think many things could trigger someone joining the resistance. First, I think that strong personal beliefs would trigger your feelings. If you strongly believed that everybody should have a say in what the country does and believes in a lot of freedom you would be against Hitlers fascist rule. Also, being a part of a non-Aryan race or being a Jew would trigger much hate towards Hitlers ambitions. Since, Hitler was targeting you, you would most likely want to do something about it rather then being sent to a camp.

Do you think these factors were based on personal characteristics or political beliefs? I think that these factors can be triggered by both political or personal characteristics. If you are a member or a Political Party then your decision might be more politically based then someone who is Jewish who would have a more personal characteristic.

How should accountability for wars be assigned? Since, it is usually the leader or ruler of the country that decides to go into a war, i think him/her and their true followers should be punished. Other then that, I think that every country that was involved in the war, in whatever way, should have to pay equally for the damage done.

So many say they never understood what was happening. How likely could that have been? I think that in some cases it could have been very likely. The Nazi's weren't publicly going around and killing people. I think that everyone would know that something was going on but only to a certain extent. Uneducated people that live in rural parts of Germany might not have felt the full blow of the Holocaust therefor they could truthfully say that they didn't fully understand what was happening in the concentration camps.

Letter WWII

Pvt. Fred J. Nesbitt
Ardennes, France
December 21, 1944

Dear Claire,

Hello my little sister! To begin with I am terribly sorry I haven’t written this has been the only time in the past week and a half that I have had time to sit down and write. Things have been very difficult. Rations here have been getting worse and worse each day. The clothes we were given are either too small or too large. The shirt I was given today was much too tight and has been cutting into my armpits the whole day. As for the food, it’s horrible. I’m beginning to yearn for a nice ripe apple. Day after day we’re given stale bread and cold coffee. Oh, Claire, I’m not sure I can take any more of this dreadful existence. We were attacked exactly five days ago by more German soldiers. No one in the platoon had seen this coming therefore, giving them the element of surprise. They entered the Ardennes at around 5:00am taking control of many of our troops by 8:00am. Their plan was to split the Allies in half and first they sought to attack us because they believed that the western side of Europe was weaker. During the first few days, it seemed as if the Germans were winning, due to our shock. Fortunately, a blistering snowstorm hit giving us time to strategize. It also helped that the German troops had begun to run out of oil. Though the snowstorm had a positive effect on the battle the living conditions in the trenches are becoming extremely hard to endure. The ground is slippery and no matter where you go or how you huddle you are always cold. I’ve never known such cold Claire. Not only is the weather chilly, but the faces of the soldiers, Germans, Americans, British, Japanese, their faces are the coldest of all. The only emotion you can see, in their pale blue faces is pain and anger. You can’t even begin to imagine their faces Claire, I doubt that anyone could unless have been in this appalling war. Going back to the weather, remember in my letters, during the summer, how I used to complain about being sandwiched between a dozen men at night? Well, now since it’s so terribly icy and bitter I couldn't’t be more grateful for a dozen bodies surrounding me keeping me warmer. Though sometimes, in the morning, there’s slush making trench foot a more and more regular problem by the day. As for the tents, when I get the privilege of sleeping in one, they can be much colder then the trenches. This is because the flaps are not pulled down consequently, letting in more frosty air. I haven’t seen this much blood in my entire 3 months of being here. It wouldn’t surprise me if this turned out to be one of the bloodiest battles the US has had in this God forsaken war. It sickens me thinking about how many lives have been lost. I’m no longer certain who represents the good side and who represents the bad side. We share more in common as all of us are young, hungry and desperate men who want to go home. I’m sorry you have to be the one to hear about all my horrible times, but I definitely could not go to Mum and Dad for fear of worrying them to death. I miss you terribly, little sister, and hope that all is well back home. I think of you all everyday and would give anything to be home again.


Your loving brother,
Fred



URL: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Battle_of_the_Bulge.jpg

THE MIXING BOWL

THE MIXING BOWL

STEP ONE:
Start after WWI
Mix half a cup of Treaty of Versailles
That only includes a few countries
Stopping the country that lost
From giving any input
Slowly pour it into a huge mixing bowl.

STEP TWO:
Produce a League of Nations
That contains
No power
No army
That only allows a select few countries
And that is unable to act swiftly
Add the wet ingredients to the mixing bowl.

STEP THREE:
Conjugate three fascist leaders
By the names Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin
Make sure that Hitler wants to
Unite German speakers
Praise the Aryans
Take over more land
And dominate the world
Fold several times until the mix becomes one.

STEP FOUR:
Next grab a few countries
That helped create the Treaty of Versailles
Their appeasement
Encouraging Hitler to move forward
Unstoppable
Use a blender to further mix ingredients. Add to the mixing bowl.

STEP FIVE:
Crack a German Aggression
Make sure that Hitler signs pact with Stalin
Then backstabs him
While taking over many countries
Including Poland
Using hands slowly but surely squeeze the dough until it is a stiff texture.

STEP SIX:
Finally grease the pan with a Japanese Aggression
Japan needs more natural resources
And they decide to clear way for conquest
By blowing up Pearl Harbor
Once mixture is well blended pour into a pan. Place in oven on high heat for six years.

animal farm video.!

Keeping in mind that I tend to like books more then movies I think that the Animal Farm Video was a good representation of the book. The movie hit on the main points of the book. It also did a great job on representing the animals and how the act and how they show their feelings.
However, two things I didn't like were that I found that the events happened to quickly as well as that Molly wasn't included in the video. I think that it would have been better if Napoleon hadn't become a dictator quite as fast as he did. This would of helped to convince the audience that he was actually trying to help the farm. Therefor making it more shocking when he become dictator and moves into the house. Also, leaving Molly out of the video is a huge mistake. This is because Molly represents a small, but vital, group of citizens during the Russian Revolution. She represents the rich who were able to escape the country and because they took Molly out it seems as if they aren't considering the people that were able to flee.
In conclusion, I think that the movie did a great job in highlighting the main facts of the book, only leaving out a few little things.

My Character in Animal Farm

I think the character that best represents me is Benjamin. For example both Benjamin and I tend to know what is going on. Benjamin knew what was happening during the revolution and also what would come of it. Usually I can guess what the outcome of something will be just like Benjamin could. An exception of our similarities is that I'm not afraid to say how I feel about what is happening. Unlike Benjamin I choose to act or speak out against what is happening and get involved. To summarize, Benjamin and I are alike in the way that we know what is happening but we are different because I act when I don't like something that is going on.

Tyranny, Justice, and Self- Determination

Tyranny is the abuse of authority, this relates well to Mr.Jones in Animal Farm. On page six, in Animal Farm, Major speaks about how Mr.Jones is useless. He says that Mr.Jones forces the animals to work and gives them only the minimum amount of food and water to keep them healthy to work the next day. We can from what Major says that Mr.Jones is stealing the produces the animals produce and keeping it for himself. This shows that he is a tyrant because of the way he chooses himself over the animals.

Justice is to punish someone/something for what they did. The justice served on Mr.Jones was in some ways alright because of the way Mr.Jones had been treating the animals. Since he had left the animals without food for a long time and had forced them to work without giving them much in return the animals called for justice. In conclusion, the animals had the right to justice because of the awful way Mr.Jones and his men had treated them.

Self-determination is the freedom to do as one wants; self-determination is also a big characteristic within the animals. The animals wanted to take over the farm so they could choose how to distribute the food and water. They also wanted the right to choose how they worked, when they worked and when they took breaks. In order to have the right over these things they needed to over throw Mr.Jones. As you can tell self-determination is a big part of animal farm because self determination is what the animals wanted to come of the rebellion.

THE TRAGIC FATE

The Tragic Fate

I lost my world today
To the planes when they flew over head
To the ‘S’ shaped rifle
And to the rolling tanks that aimed – BOOM

I lost my world today
When the water drowned the trenches
When diseases hit the healthy
When landmines blew apart geography

I lost my world today
To the Allies
To the Central Powers
To the countries who signed to support

I lost my world today
To a decision made by 6 men
Whose decision became the tragic fate
Of my world,
My father

MILITARY

If I had a choice to join the military I would decline. This is because I believe in two things, freedom of choice and non-violence. These two things relate to being forced into joining the military because if a person, man or woman, did not want to join I believe they should have the freedom to say no. This is because if you are forced to join the military, lets say because your country is in a war, chances are that you might die or get seriously injured. Also, I believe in non-violence. I don’t think that countries should go to war because they disagree. I think that they should talk about it and try to realize the others side, or at least accept it. In conclusion, I believe that everyone should have the freedom to choose if they want to join the army as well as leaders should be able to talk to each other and try to understand each other’s views.

ALLIES

This picture represents two groups of Allies. How this picture is represented is through showing the two main leaders (Hungary and Germany) giving sums of money to smaller countries therefore promising their alliance. It's hard to see the cartoonists opinion on this picture because i think the picture is represented as neutral. I think its neutral because depending on what country you're from you could see it as a bad or good thing. If the cartoonist was trying to make this picture look more negative it would be easier to see it if the hands were clearer.

This picture goes really well with the GPG. In the GPG game we had two main groups, the German group and the U.K group. Secretly though the U.K and Germany along with Italy decided to take over the world. In the end I had no one back stab me except for the U.K. In the end I learned that it is every country for its own.

GREAT POWERS GAME!

My country was Germany. To begin with we were one of the middle class countries, not rich yet not poor. The countries with the most advantages were the ones you had the most most money at the beginning of the game (UK and the USA). I think this is because of the Industrial Revolution, in which they made lots of money and formed many colonies.

At the beginning of the game it was harder to build our empire because we didn't know who our allies were as well as not knowing who our enemies were. Once we established a form of treaties between a handful of countries it was easier to carry on with building our empire. After awhile we realized that a lot of people were planning on attacking us and our allies. Because of this reason we started to buy a lot of armies and navies. Buying armies to soon and to fast was our big mistake. Although we ended up coming in 2nd we could have easily come first if we had waited to buy armies till the round before the great war. It would have been better to buy a lot of industries first because then our country would be wealthy and therefore we could buy more armies.

Germany made many allies and only one of them turned on us. There were two main groups in the game, the U.K group and Germany's group. Both groups were planning on attacking one another toward the end of the game. What our and U.K's allies didn't know was that secretly the U.K and Germany were actually planning on turning on everybody and winning. In the end, the U.K turned on us and got support from all the small countries while we get support from just Italy. Only what they didn't know was that Germany and Italy had anticipated this and had told the U.K the wrong information about how many armies we had, thus Germany and the U.K won.

What I learnt about this simulation is not to trust anyone. Although, Germany never got attacked by any of their allies, it was hard to see other countries become poor simply because they put to much trust into their treaty.

GOALS FOR QUARTER 3

This past semester I kept two goals for myself. The goals were, getting an A in A.R and improve my spelling.I was able to meet meet both of them. In both quarters I got and A for A.R. I did this by planning ahead and reading a lot during the summer and at the beginning of the year. Spelling is harder to measure, but if I took a look at my writing pieces from the past semester the amount of spelling errors compared to last year has gone down.
This quarter I would like to get an A in A.R again, as well as getting an A in the over all class. It will be easier for me to get an A in A.R because I planned but harder for me to get an A in the over all class. I believe that if I truly focus this semester during class, and also out of class (homework) that I will be able to reach my goal of an A.