Since as long as I could remember I have always enjoyed writing for my own personal growth, but had trouble writing for school or work assignments. As I was reflecting on some of the weekly blog assignments that I created, I noticed that I did a particular better job at the free-writing assignments than the assigned topic ones. It was also a lot easier for me to discipline my self in writing on the free writing assignments than the assigned ones.
Don’t get me wrong some of the assigned writing assignments were very meaningful and enjoyable to write, such as the Reflective Essay “Broken Down in the Army”. Writing the last section of this essay, brought forth real life emotions inside me, it clearly reminded me if being in the Drill Sergeant’s office. When I wrote and then read the following, ““I knew that I could only hold on a little while longer, but told my self once again “It’s all mental”. Finally, the moment came where I could not go on, tears filled my eyes from the pain and disgrace I felt that I was about to throw in the towel. I fell from the invisible chair and laid on the ground, like a baby in the fetal position. I had been broken.”” It literally brought tears to my eyes as I was remembering that special occasion in my life. The reason this was meaningful and enjoyable was because it made me look back on my life, and see how that part of me, has tremendously allowed me to improve my life now. In other words, looking back at this occasion allows me to appreciate the current things in my life to a whole new level.
I do believe that my writing skills have briefly improved since starting this class and for sure my critical thinking skills, which have been stretched on some of the writing assignments. For example, the rhetorical analysis was not too difficult to write, but definitely challenged me to think critically. It was for sure the hardest assignment in class, which really challenged me to think outside the box. As for the rest of the assignments I had to discipline my self to finish, but always felt a small sense of accomplishment, ones each assignment was complete.
I believe that one of the reasons that I thought the free-writing assignments were easier to write than the other assignments was because I had the choice of choosing any topic. I am the type of writer that uses writing to share life experiences and emotions with people. So if one takes a look at all my free-writing assignments, they will see that they are all set up to give advice or touch the audience on a personal level. For example, the free-writing on marriage shares some of my experience on marriage and some simple advice that would help people considering marriage. The staring paragraph states, “Marriage is one of the most important decisions anyone will ever make in their life. This choice will either fulfill ones life or ruin it. Marriage is not what Hollywood shows to be a young beautiful girl and a handsome prince charming falling in love and living happily ever after. Marriage is a serious, long term commitment, which requires a lot of hard work and dedication.” As mentioned earlier, writing is my way for sharing emotion and life experience with people and hope that through this I could help some people out.
As for the assigned assignments, I don’t really have a desire to do, but still do because it is part of the class objective. On the opening paragraph of the second post, I share what I am feeling about writing for assigned material. It briefly refers to the difficulty I am having in writing for the assigned post. The paragraph goes like this, “To find the cultural contexts of a website, when it’s sole and only purpose is to find the meaning of words, is difficult to accomplish. Answering the five W’s, who, what, when, where and why will be no easy task, but necessary in order to accomplish the assignment.”
In closing, I am completely satisfied with the way this class has instilled into me the discipline of writing. It was also very pleasing to receive credit for free writing. The one thing that I believe has improved in my writing is to think critically of my writing. The class also refined my writing skills, which is something that every writer should always be doing on a continuous basis. The overall class was a good experience that has helped me expand my knowledge in becoming a better writer.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Rhetorical Analysis "The War in Iraq"
One thing to keep in mind as reading this paper is that war has been around from the very beginning of time, and will always be around, or in the words of the great Philosopher Plato “Only the dead have seen the end of war”. The argument addressed in this picture is a metaphorically sign of United States retreating from the war in Iraq. First I will share a rhetorical analysis of the picture. Secondly, I will refer to a current argument about the war in Iraq that is going on between the legislative and executive branches of the United States Government. Finally, how this picture serves as a strong metaphor, which represents a negative opinion on the war on Iraq by some members of congress.
Here we have two soldiers in Iraq bringing down the flag of the United States right before nightfall. The two soldiers are standing at attention, each on one side of the flag pole. They are both facing each other. Both soldiers are wearing grayish camouflage army uniforms, which are referred to as ACU’S (Army Combat Uniforms). The soldier right of the picture is holding the rope that is keeping the U.S Flag from hitting the ground as the other soldier has his right arm extended ready to catch the flag. This is the brief description of the picture. On a personal note, the soldier extending his right arm ready to catch the U.S Flag is my little brother. I know that he is in Iraq because he chooses to be there and does serve proudly.
The rhetorical analysis of the picture will answer a series of questions about the picture, which is what follows. The characters in the picture are U.S Soldiers in their late teens or early twenties. Their ethnicity is Mexican American, and possibly Caucasian. On the most basic level the soldiers are working together to bring down a U.S Flag from a pole. The medium that is used to portray the picture is an article that is directed for patriotic Americans and military personnel. The historical context of the picture is current and created in Iraq. The picture reflects metaphorically on a political issue that is currently going on between congress and the U.S President on the war on Iraq, which will be addressed later along in the essay. There is no wording on the picture, but a strong image of two soldiers doing their job. The picture is laid out with the U.S Flag being in the center and the two soldiers being next to the U.S Flag, one on each side. The picture is in color, which brings out great details of the picture. For example, the darker blue sky showing that it is almost night fall, and the shadow of the U.S Flag on the gray cement type structure behind it. There is no voice used to reach the audience of the picture. The main imagery of the picture is centered, and as stated earlier is designed to capture a patriotic or military personnel audience.
Here we have two soldiers in Iraq bringing down the flag of the United States right before nightfall. The two soldiers are standing at attention, each on one side of the flag pole. They are both facing each other. Both soldiers are wearing grayish camouflage army uniforms, which are referred to as ACU’S (Army Combat Uniforms). The soldier right of the picture is holding the rope that is keeping the U.S Flag from hitting the ground as the other soldier has his right arm extended ready to catch the flag. This is the brief description of the picture. On a personal note, the soldier extending his right arm ready to catch the U.S Flag is my little brother. I know that he is in Iraq because he chooses to be there and does serve proudly.
The rhetorical analysis of the picture will answer a series of questions about the picture, which is what follows. The characters in the picture are U.S Soldiers in their late teens or early twenties. Their ethnicity is Mexican American, and possibly Caucasian. On the most basic level the soldiers are working together to bring down a U.S Flag from a pole. The medium that is used to portray the picture is an article that is directed for patriotic Americans and military personnel. The historical context of the picture is current and created in Iraq. The picture reflects metaphorically on a political issue that is currently going on between congress and the U.S President on the war on Iraq, which will be addressed later along in the essay. There is no wording on the picture, but a strong image of two soldiers doing their job. The picture is laid out with the U.S Flag being in the center and the two soldiers being next to the U.S Flag, one on each side. The picture is in color, which brings out great details of the picture. For example, the darker blue sky showing that it is almost night fall, and the shadow of the U.S Flag on the gray cement type structure behind it. There is no voice used to reach the audience of the picture. The main imagery of the picture is centered, and as stated earlier is designed to capture a patriotic or military personnel audience.
The picture has a variety of rhetorical appeals. For example, pathos, ethos and logos are used in the picture. Pathos is used by introducing patriotism through the U.S Flag and the soldiers standing at attention. Pathos is also used by capturing the picture in Iraq, which spurs different types of emotions among all kinds of different people. These emotions range from disliking or even hating the war on Iraq, to fearing it. The ethos to appeal used in the picture is the U.S Flag. The U.S Flag is recognized largely by citizens as a sign of democracy and freedom. It is recognized as the American way of life, it is an icon that every American is familiar with. The logos, is obvious in the picture, which shows that it takes to soldiers to lower the U.S Flag down from the pole accordingly.
The strategy development used in the picture is relied on example or illustration by showing the audience that the U.S Flag is used to represent the freedom that American citizen’s experience. The picture once again used the U.S Flag to relate cultural resonance with its audience because the U.S Flag is a popular recognizable symbol around the nation. The picture also represents the war on Iraq. This is common knowledge that every American is aware about, which is why it is part of our culture resonance. There is currently a huge debate in the U.S Government about the war on Iraq. Most members
of the legislative branch want troops to come home from Iraq and the war to end. As for the executive branch, it is about keeping troops in Iraq until the mission is accomplished with no set time lines for ending the war. The U.S Government has checks and balances, which does not allow one particular branch in government to have full power, but forces power to be distributed equally among branches. With this said, the conflict among branches can not be easily settled. The congress solution to ending the war is to set a timeline for withdrawing troops with any bill that funds them in Iraq. The President is pretty set on not setting a time line for troop withdrawal from Iraq. He believes it sends the wrong message to the enemy, which he refers to, as terrorists. The President has already promised a series of times that he will Veto any such bill. So with this said, I have trouble understanding why congress would still send any such bill to the President. The President and Congress both strongly agree to disagree on the War on Iraq. They both must come to an understanding eventually or the only ones to truly suffer will be the troops in Iraq. The intention of the framers of the U.S Government were for all branches of government to work together not against each other. As the Government by the People, Brief fifth edition, states, "The framers of the U.S. Constitution created a presidency that must win cooperation from Congress to get the work of government done. Law-making and policy-making powers are divided, and the politics of shared power has often been stormy. In general, however, Congress and presidents somehow find ways to collaborate and solve problems" (Cronin Ch. 10).
The picture reflects the decision that congress is stating on their view on Iraq. Congress clearly knows that the President will Veto any bill with a timeline, but still choose to put forth the effort of trying to create such a bill. They also know that they do not have enough support to override the President’s Veto. It makes absolutely no sense why congress would do this, which leads me to conclude that they are simply accepting defeat in Iraq. In other words they want the troops to come home from Iraq and the only way they can do this with their power is by completely cutting the funding from the war. Congress will not do this because they do not want to come across to the American people as not supporting the troops. By doing this congress is sending a negative signal to the nation and the world that the U.S has already lost the war in Iraq.
The lowering of the U.S Flag by the soldiers in the picture metaphorically shows the retreat of the American troops from Iraq. It shows the defeated mind set that congress has on the war on Iraq. The congress truly believes that ending the Iraq war will produce peace, but in reality, will only produce more chaos. If one remembers from the first paragraph, war is war and will always be around in some way or form.
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Work Cited:
Cronin, Tom, Jack Peltason, Paul Light, James MacGregor Bruns, David Magleby, David O'Brien. Government By The People. Brief Fifth Edition. Pearson Prentice Hall. 1995-2007.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Post 17 – Free Writing “First Date”
I remember the first date my wife and I had before getting married. I first met my wife at a church I used to attend, New Hope Church. It took me about a month to finally have the courage to go and introduce my self to her, and another month to invite her out to dinner. I was a very shy guy at the time, and especially around her. Surprisingly she accepted my invitation to dinner, but thought it was simply a casual friendship meeting. She had absolutely no idea that I was interested in her as a potential girlfriend.
The place I took her to dinner was Chili’s in Southwest Plaza. At first there were some moments of awkward silence and brief discussions about things at New Hope Church. As we both felt a little more comfortable around each other we started to talk about our future goals and interest. I belief this is where she started to get the feeling that I liked her the way a boy likes a girl. The one spontaneous thing about this date that to my surprise did not scare her off from the very beginning was a comment I made.
Around the time I met her I was considering going into the United States Air Force, active duty or Army National Guard. I was currently talking to two recruiters and getting all my documents situated to enlist. I informed Emily, (My wife now) at our first date, about my decision to join the military. I told her that if there was any possibility for us to start dating and eventually move on to something more serious I would join the Army National Guard and if not I would join the Air Force. This was a huge decision that I based on a first date, but to my surprise did not scare her off. Instead, she stuck around and two years later became my wife.
The place I took her to dinner was Chili’s in Southwest Plaza. At first there were some moments of awkward silence and brief discussions about things at New Hope Church. As we both felt a little more comfortable around each other we started to talk about our future goals and interest. I belief this is where she started to get the feeling that I liked her the way a boy likes a girl. The one spontaneous thing about this date that to my surprise did not scare her off from the very beginning was a comment I made.
Around the time I met her I was considering going into the United States Air Force, active duty or Army National Guard. I was currently talking to two recruiters and getting all my documents situated to enlist. I informed Emily, (My wife now) at our first date, about my decision to join the military. I told her that if there was any possibility for us to start dating and eventually move on to something more serious I would join the Army National Guard and if not I would join the Air Force. This was a huge decision that I based on a first date, but to my surprise did not scare her off. Instead, she stuck around and two years later became my wife.
Post 16 - Free Writing "Compassion International"
For the past five years I have been sponsoring an amazing little girl named Kabugho, Moreen through Compassion International. This has been such a huge blessing and opportunity for me to be a part of. Moreen lives in Uganda, Africa where poverty and Aids is a rising epidemic. I have had such a great opportunity to communicate with her thru letters. I also get an annual update of her progress from her studies to physical condition through Compassion International.
Through my support Moreen gets the opportunity of getting an education, which would not be possible without my support. She also gets the proper nutrients required for her to be a healthy little girl from food to proper drinking water, and proper hygiene, which once again would not be possible without my support. The most amazing part of sponsoring Moreen is building a relationship with her. Another great thing is the chance of visiting her in Uganda Africa. This is the plan my wife and I have after graduating from college.
The most amazing part of this overall experience, is knowing that one is making a tremendous positive impact in the life of a precious child. The only thing required is a willing heart to make a difference and thirty two dollars a month. There is absolutely no obligation required. One could discontinue their sponsorship of a child whenever they wish. The reason I include this is because there are thousands of kids still living in great poverty with no education, that there only hope is a sponsorship. All it takes is a little over a dollar a day to make a difference in one child’s life. From my experience it is one of the best things one could ever do in their life.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Post 15 - Free Writing "Marriage"
Marriage is one of the most important decisions anyone will ever make in their life. This choice will either fulfill ones life or ruin it. Marriage is not what Hollywood shows to be a young beautiful girl and a handsome prince charming falling in love and living happily ever after. Marriage is a serious, long term commitment, which requires a lot of hard work and dedication. I am not saying that marriage is bad, but a wonderful and amazing thing, that does require work to keep it this way for the long run.
There are three things that everyone considering marriage should know before taking the road of no return. First, what they plan on pursuing as a career for the rest of their lives. Preparing for a career takes a tremendous amount of time and should be long considered and achieved before marriage is considered. Second thing to know is how to handle and budget money properly. One of the biggest arguments married couples face is on money issues. If one is already responsible with their money before marriage they will save themselves from hundreds of different battles with their spouse’s. Thirdly and most importantly is to know yourself. This is important because in order to know what one wants in a potential spouse, one must first understand who they are, and what they want in overall life.
One thing that marriage involves is getting to know your partner on a more personal, intimate level. One final thing to consider before marriage is to build a strong and solid friendship with a potential spouse. The saying “Friends before Lovers” has a significant truthful meaning.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Post 13 - Cool or not Kool?
Here we have an ad of a guy with one cigarette in each hand, two in his coat pocket and one right above his left ear. The guy’s body language is communicating to the audience, “look how cool I am because I have cigarettes”, which in reality the audience is thinking he is an utter fool. The ad is making fun of Kool cigarettes.
The ad uses a selection of rhetorical strategies to communicate its message across to people. One rhetorical strategy is comparison-contrast. Comparing what the observer of the ad is thinking of the guy to what the guy in the ad is thinking of him self. The words utter fool represent what the observers are thinking of the guy, and the guy represents just the opposite of the words, he thinks he is super cool.
Cigarette companies try to relay the message that if one smokes, than they are cool. For example, the real ad seriously advertising kool cigarettes shows an individual riding a bike, which state that he must be cool. Since he is cool, he must be a smoker. The ad poking fun at the kool company relays the truth about smoking, which is that if you smoke to be cool, you really are an utter fool. There is absolutely nothing cool about smoking. Smoking is an addiction that causes sickness and gives people bad breath and a series of other unwanted effects. The ones that are most vulnerable to becoming victims of cigarette ads in our culture are adolescents. Adolescents that are unaware of what the negative seriousness of smoking is, do to lack of proper knowledge.
The ad uses a selection of rhetorical strategies to communicate its message across to people. One rhetorical strategy is comparison-contrast. Comparing what the observer of the ad is thinking of the guy to what the guy in the ad is thinking of him self. The words utter fool represent what the observers are thinking of the guy, and the guy represents just the opposite of the words, he thinks he is super cool.
Cigarette companies try to relay the message that if one smokes, than they are cool. For example, the real ad seriously advertising kool cigarettes shows an individual riding a bike, which state that he must be cool. Since he is cool, he must be a smoker. The ad poking fun at the kool company relays the truth about smoking, which is that if you smoke to be cool, you really are an utter fool. There is absolutely nothing cool about smoking. Smoking is an addiction that causes sickness and gives people bad breath and a series of other unwanted effects. The ones that are most vulnerable to becoming victims of cigarette ads in our culture are adolescents. Adolescents that are unaware of what the negative seriousness of smoking is, do to lack of proper knowledge.
Post 12 - Calvin Klein Jeans
This ad is advertising Calvin Klein Jeans. The ad uses very limited sex appeal to spark the audiences’ attention. For example, the underwear of the model partially showing is somewhat sexy. The sex appeal in the ad is effective to some degree, but it is not the focal point that the ad utilizes to get its message across. The ad's focal point is using a famous singer and performer. The performer and singer is Lisa "Left Eye” Lopes, which was part of a Hip-hop and R&B group, called TLC.
The sex appeal of the ad is very appropriate for advertising jeans. There were other ads in the Calvin Klein Archives, which were very inappropriate, such as a man and woman making out. The woman was completely naked and the man had just a pair of jeans on. The ad was too sexual to be posted on this blog. As mentioned earlier, the ad in this post is quite appropriate for relaying jeans.
The ad does not over exaggerate its uses of pathos. The only serious emotional state one gets from this ad is a reminder of the terrible tragedy that happened to the model of the ad. Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes was killed in a car accident in 2002. In order for one to get this emotional state, one must first understand the history behind the model of the poster. One thing the Calving Klein ad does use, is Ethos. It does this by using Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, a famous individual, to be the focal point of this ad.
The sex appeal of the ad is very appropriate for advertising jeans. There were other ads in the Calvin Klein Archives, which were very inappropriate, such as a man and woman making out. The woman was completely naked and the man had just a pair of jeans on. The ad was too sexual to be posted on this blog. As mentioned earlier, the ad in this post is quite appropriate for relaying jeans.
The ad does not over exaggerate its uses of pathos. The only serious emotional state one gets from this ad is a reminder of the terrible tragedy that happened to the model of the ad. Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes was killed in a car accident in 2002. In order for one to get this emotional state, one must first understand the history behind the model of the poster. One thing the Calving Klein ad does use, is Ethos. It does this by using Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, a famous individual, to be the focal point of this ad.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Post 11 - Analysis: The Elements of the Photograph
The picture is intended to have the reader follow the crowd. The crowd is staring at something in particular. What ever it is remains a mystery. I believe this was the creator’s original intended meaning.
The picture is in black and white, which fails to inform the viewer of any colors that might make something in the picture stand out. The overall picture is dull with little light except the brightness in between the two building. The picture reveals very little information to what the crowd is viewing. The only clue that is provided to what the crowd is observing is the United State Flags right of the picture. With this information one can conclude that the crowd is viewing some sort of patriotic event. What ever the event is, one will never know simply by this picture alone. Once again the intention of the creator of the picture is not to reveal the mystery of the crowds’ observation, but to simply follow the crowd. Follow the crowd to what? Follow the crowd to what ever one wants inside of a patriotic event. You decide. The message here is what ever one wants it to be. It gives the observer of the picture an opportunity to be creative, and fill as if they are part of the picture by imagining what the crowd is viewing. If one imagines them selves being part of the crowd than they could chose what the crowd is observing.
Post 10 - "Reflection" On Picture
What is the large crowd so intently staring at? Is it something exciting and interested like the President of the United States, or something terrible and depressing, such as a hearse taking a dead soldier to the cemetery where they will rest forever. What ever the case for the gathering of the large crowd, the strong curiosity to know is consuming my thoughts. This gathering sparks so many different emotions and questions, that one does not know where to begin reflecting on the picture. Is there joy or anguish in all of their hearts as they view, that which is a mystery to the observer of the picture? If only one knew the crowds emotional state, it would be so much easier to determine ones own feeling of the picture. With out this essential source it is impossible to have a clear and strong reflection of the picture. The only thing that keeps on going through my mind is one simple word, which dominated my mind. That word was curiosity, curiosity, CURIOSITY, on what the crowd was observing.
This is a great picture. I believe the picture is designed to keep the observer curious of what the crowd is viewing. The creator of the picture is Jerry Dantzic, which did an amazing job at capturing the audience attention to this picture, by sparking there curiosity level. As stated earlier the only thing that I could get out of this picture is a sense of curiosity to what the crowd was observing.
Post 9 - "Observation" On Picture
The picture that I chose from the photo gallery is in black and white. The focal point of the picture is the people numbering more than a hundred, which are staring at something in particular. The large crowd is made up of mostly men, and a few females on the left side of the picture. Most of the men are wearing long trench coats except two of them. The first one of these is in the left side of the picture, next to a female. He is wearing a sports coat with some sort of logo in the back. The female next to him is wearing a head covering. The second man without a long coat is right of the picture and is wearing a long sleeve dress up shirt. He also has his hands inside his pant pockets. The commonality that all the people in the picture have is that they are all properly dressed for cold weather.There are also a lot of different buildings in the picture. One of these buildings has a United States flag hanging from the second story. There are also, about six to eight United State flags just below the United States flag on the building. With all the buildings in the picture, and all of the U.S flags, one would have to assume that the picture is of a downtown somewhere in the U.S. Another assumption do to the U.S. Flags, is that the people are observing a patriotic event, such as a presidential candidate visiting them or a patriotic parade.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Reflective Essay "Broken Down in the Army"
It took place two weeks into basic combat training for the United States Army. The place was at Fort Leonard Wood Missouri inside the Drill sergeant’s office. There were four other privates and myself which is what we were referred to while in Basic Combat Training. The reason for the visit was for us to be completely broken down physically, and mentally. For one to understand why only five out of about seventy other privates were chosen for this visit, one must first understand the first two weeks before this meeting.
The first two weeks of Basic Combat Training are designed to break every single individual down physically and mentally in order to bring everyone to the same level, and then build them up together as a team. The reason for this is to build a strong union and friendship among the privates so they could perform flawless under combat. The Drill Sergeants are the ones responsible for making this happen. Mentally they break privates down in a variety of ways. One example is by constantly yelling as loud as possible only inches from a private’s face. The Drill Sergeants yell negative remarks such as, how weak and useless privates are.
Physically, privates are also broken down in more than one way. One way is by intense workouts that are not designed to keep you fit, but designed to push and break down your muscles to there fullest capability and more. For example, pushups and sit-ups were some exercises that Drill Sergeants had us do. These workouts are good for you, but the problem was that privates would do these workouts and a variety of others, none stop. It started in the morning, and would continue until the evening. The only rest time, was during meals where privates only had about two minutes to eat their food, and then had to continue working out.
Once evening came the Drill Sergeants would continue to break privates down mentally by dismissing the privates to their barracks with a list, of things to do, which were impossible to complete before bedtime. Privates would be dismissed at 2100 hours with lights out being at 2200 hours. This gave privates only one hour to finish there list, such as, shower, clean bathroom, clean hallways, clean classroom, mope and wax every floor, clean their boots, organize their uniform, etc… The list just went on and on. What would happen was that almost every private would stay up after lights out to work on the list, which would lead to a serious lack of sleep. A mixture of privates constantly being yelled at, with non stop exercising, with a lack of sleep, all lead to extreme fatigue, which resulted in being broken down physically and mentally.
The first two weeks of Basic Combat Training were the most difficult for most privates, but for me and four other privates it was hard, but not unbearable. The Drill Sergeants noticed this and knew that we would have to get a little more extra attention from them. This is when we got a personal invitation to the Drill Sergeants office. At the time of the invitation there was only one Drill Sergeant in the office. He was sitting behind a desk working on some sort of paper work. I will never forget this Drill Sergeant, his name was Drill Sergeant Robinson. He had the reputation of being the meanest and toughest Drill Sergeant in the whole company. All five of us were standing in front of his desk in the parade rest position waiting for further orders from him. While he was still working on the paper work, not even looking up to us he commanded us to get in the front leaning rest position and start pushing. In other words, he told us to start doing push-ups until he said stop. We started with push ups, then sit ups, flutter kicks, squads, jumping jacks, and finally the invisible chair or what some people call the Roman Chair. We did way too many push-ups to count but I remember my chest and arms burning intensely. As I kept doing them I kept on telling myself “one more, just one more, it’s all a mental game” every time I thought it was over, it was only beginning. After doing non stop push-ups for an excessive amount of time we were all told to start doing sit ups and flutter kicks. We continued to do flutter kicks and sit-ups way after our abdominal muscle gave up.
At this time the Drill Sergeant quit focusing on his paperwork and him and another Drill Sergeant started to focus more on us. They were there ready to scream their loudest at us if we quit doing flutter kicks or could no longer do any more sit-ups. They would tell us things like, “quit now, you know you can’t handle it, just QUIT”. I remember feeling such intense pain, but once again kept telling my self that it was all a mental game, that I was destined to overcome. I could not let the Drill Sergeants get the best of me. After the push-ups, flutter kicks, sit-ups, we moved on to other workouts that were just as bad. The final workout was the invisible chair. After more than an hour of intense pain the Drill Sergeants was finally fed up with us not quitting and made us all sit back against the office wall at a 90 degree angle with our hand against the wall. This was the invisible chair. The Drill Sergeants stood there inspecting us to make sure we were doing the exercise properly. At this time my whole body was bruised and exhausted, but I had to keep going. I felt like I had something to prove. Five minutes into the invisible chair my legs began burning. After ten minutes my legs were burning intensely. Twenty to twenty five minutes had past, my legs were bruised purple and shaking from the pain, but I was determined not to quit. I knew that I could only hold on a little while longer, but told my self once again “It’s all mental”. Finally, the moment came where I could not go on, tears filled my eyes from the pain and disgrace I felt that I was about to throw in the towel. I fell from the invisible chair and laid on the ground, like a baby in the fetal position. I had been broken.
The first two weeks of Basic Combat Training are designed to break every single individual down physically and mentally in order to bring everyone to the same level, and then build them up together as a team. The reason for this is to build a strong union and friendship among the privates so they could perform flawless under combat. The Drill Sergeants are the ones responsible for making this happen. Mentally they break privates down in a variety of ways. One example is by constantly yelling as loud as possible only inches from a private’s face. The Drill Sergeants yell negative remarks such as, how weak and useless privates are.
Physically, privates are also broken down in more than one way. One way is by intense workouts that are not designed to keep you fit, but designed to push and break down your muscles to there fullest capability and more. For example, pushups and sit-ups were some exercises that Drill Sergeants had us do. These workouts are good for you, but the problem was that privates would do these workouts and a variety of others, none stop. It started in the morning, and would continue until the evening. The only rest time, was during meals where privates only had about two minutes to eat their food, and then had to continue working out.
Once evening came the Drill Sergeants would continue to break privates down mentally by dismissing the privates to their barracks with a list, of things to do, which were impossible to complete before bedtime. Privates would be dismissed at 2100 hours with lights out being at 2200 hours. This gave privates only one hour to finish there list, such as, shower, clean bathroom, clean hallways, clean classroom, mope and wax every floor, clean their boots, organize their uniform, etc… The list just went on and on. What would happen was that almost every private would stay up after lights out to work on the list, which would lead to a serious lack of sleep. A mixture of privates constantly being yelled at, with non stop exercising, with a lack of sleep, all lead to extreme fatigue, which resulted in being broken down physically and mentally.
The first two weeks of Basic Combat Training were the most difficult for most privates, but for me and four other privates it was hard, but not unbearable. The Drill Sergeants noticed this and knew that we would have to get a little more extra attention from them. This is when we got a personal invitation to the Drill Sergeants office. At the time of the invitation there was only one Drill Sergeant in the office. He was sitting behind a desk working on some sort of paper work. I will never forget this Drill Sergeant, his name was Drill Sergeant Robinson. He had the reputation of being the meanest and toughest Drill Sergeant in the whole company. All five of us were standing in front of his desk in the parade rest position waiting for further orders from him. While he was still working on the paper work, not even looking up to us he commanded us to get in the front leaning rest position and start pushing. In other words, he told us to start doing push-ups until he said stop. We started with push ups, then sit ups, flutter kicks, squads, jumping jacks, and finally the invisible chair or what some people call the Roman Chair. We did way too many push-ups to count but I remember my chest and arms burning intensely. As I kept doing them I kept on telling myself “one more, just one more, it’s all a mental game” every time I thought it was over, it was only beginning. After doing non stop push-ups for an excessive amount of time we were all told to start doing sit ups and flutter kicks. We continued to do flutter kicks and sit-ups way after our abdominal muscle gave up.
At this time the Drill Sergeant quit focusing on his paperwork and him and another Drill Sergeant started to focus more on us. They were there ready to scream their loudest at us if we quit doing flutter kicks or could no longer do any more sit-ups. They would tell us things like, “quit now, you know you can’t handle it, just QUIT”. I remember feeling such intense pain, but once again kept telling my self that it was all a mental game, that I was destined to overcome. I could not let the Drill Sergeants get the best of me. After the push-ups, flutter kicks, sit-ups, we moved on to other workouts that were just as bad. The final workout was the invisible chair. After more than an hour of intense pain the Drill Sergeants was finally fed up with us not quitting and made us all sit back against the office wall at a 90 degree angle with our hand against the wall. This was the invisible chair. The Drill Sergeants stood there inspecting us to make sure we were doing the exercise properly. At this time my whole body was bruised and exhausted, but I had to keep going. I felt like I had something to prove. Five minutes into the invisible chair my legs began burning. After ten minutes my legs were burning intensely. Twenty to twenty five minutes had past, my legs were bruised purple and shaking from the pain, but I was determined not to quit. I knew that I could only hold on a little while longer, but told my self once again “It’s all mental”. Finally, the moment came where I could not go on, tears filled my eyes from the pain and disgrace I felt that I was about to throw in the towel. I fell from the invisible chair and laid on the ground, like a baby in the fetal position. I had been broken.
Monday, March 5, 2007
Post 8 – Free Writing “Critical Thinking"
“The unexamined life is not worth living” is a quote from the famous Greek Philosopher Socrates. This quote to me personally, not only signifies the importance of developing critical thinking skills, but critical in consistently using them.
The easiest, simplest definition of critical thinking is to simply think for your self and not believe everything you hear. With our culture nowadays constantly bombarding us with advertisements, about how to live life, and what to buy it’s easy for us to easily believe what ever they are advertising without critical thinking. For example, when my wife and I bought our first home, we looked for a professional mortgage broker to help us finance our home. We ended up talking to about nine or more different mortgage brokers before finally deciding who we wanted to hire. Each mortgage broker promised and guaranteed us that they were the absolute best for the job. They all claimed that they could get us the cheapest rates in the market. After my wife and I used critical thinking by doing some homework about the market and comparing all the mortgage brokers to each other, we found that not all of them were suited for the job. Some of the mortgage brokers were charging an insanely amount for their services, which they would try to hide, by being persuasive and friendly. By using critical thinking we eventually hired a mortgage broker to help us finance our new home.
If my wife and I would have not used our critical thinking skills, while hiring a mortgage broker we would of easily fallen victims to a bad one. Critical thinking should always be used before doing or believing something you hear. Don’t let others think for you, but take the stand to think for your self. As Author Marva Collins says "Trust yourself. Think for yourself. Act for yourself. Speak for yourself. Be yourself. Imitation is suicide."
The easiest, simplest definition of critical thinking is to simply think for your self and not believe everything you hear. With our culture nowadays constantly bombarding us with advertisements, about how to live life, and what to buy it’s easy for us to easily believe what ever they are advertising without critical thinking. For example, when my wife and I bought our first home, we looked for a professional mortgage broker to help us finance our home. We ended up talking to about nine or more different mortgage brokers before finally deciding who we wanted to hire. Each mortgage broker promised and guaranteed us that they were the absolute best for the job. They all claimed that they could get us the cheapest rates in the market. After my wife and I used critical thinking by doing some homework about the market and comparing all the mortgage brokers to each other, we found that not all of them were suited for the job. Some of the mortgage brokers were charging an insanely amount for their services, which they would try to hide, by being persuasive and friendly. By using critical thinking we eventually hired a mortgage broker to help us finance our new home.
If my wife and I would have not used our critical thinking skills, while hiring a mortgage broker we would of easily fallen victims to a bad one. Critical thinking should always be used before doing or believing something you hear. Don’t let others think for you, but take the stand to think for your self. As Author Marva Collins says "Trust yourself. Think for yourself. Act for yourself. Speak for yourself. Be yourself. Imitation is suicide."
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Post 7 - Dreams Caption
Why do we have dreams and what are they made of is what millions of people ask. Some people say they come from a spiritual source and are a super natural experience, others say it’s an unexplained science waiting to be resolved. The man to the left is the representative of all the ones believing dreams come from a spiritual source and are super natural. The one to the right is the one representing the ones believing dreams are an unexplained science waiting to be resolved. Both individuals are staring at a tree, and a man’s transparent head, which reveals his brain in detail. The tree represents the mystery of dreams. For example, some of these mysteries are why we sometimes have nightmares, and other times sweet soothing dreams. The man’s head with the transparent brain symbolizes the agreement between the two men representing the people, which is that they both deeply agree that dreams start and end in the brain. Another thing that represents this agreement is the two men holding hands. Outside of this agreement there is a lot of disagreement that is among both men. They are both desperately trying to resolve the hidden meaning of dreams and are both going two different ways about it. One is looking in spiritual things, and the other is looking in science. Both men will continue to seek among themselves the meaning of dreams, but until they both come together on a more personal relationship they will never find the meaning of dreams. This is what the red in the picture represents.
Post 6 - Other Blog "The Huffington Post"
The assigned blog for this post is titled “The Huffington post” with the subtitle being “delivering news and opinion since May 9th 2005”. Briefly stated, the blog is packed with opinions about the news in general and mainly focuses on the politics side of the media. The blog has many different articles about politics, from the Presidency in 2008 to the war on Iraq.
The creator of the blog uses some very good methods to catch the reader’s attention. For example, the article labeled “Cheney: Iraq War A "Remarkable Achievement"” catches ones attention instantly. The article is located on the top left hand corner of the blog. This article is about the war on Iraq. This article has three large photos, which help catch the reader’s attention. These photos are of a man standing on a burning car, Dick Cheney, and a soldier aiming his weapon upwards at something or someone.
The blog is well organized and has a number of good conventions. Some of these conventions include, but are not limited to things, such as hyperlinks, video, to eye capturing pictures. Some extremely useful conventions to navigate the blog easily are the hyperlinks located on the top center of the blog. The names of these links are, Home, The News, The Blog, Eat The Press, and Fearless Voices. These same links are also located on the very bottom of the page, which makes it convenient to navigate the blog up and down. Each one of the links takes the reader to another section of the blog, which have more news of some sort.
When comparing this blog to my own I noticed a limited amount of similarities. The only similarity that was noticed was that we both used hyperlinks in some way. My blog has hyperlinks that are located on the right side of the screen. The Huffington blog has its main hyperlinks on the top and bottom of the blog. Besides this minor similarity both blogs are extremely different. For example, my blog has a dark background with white lettering and only a few posts. The Huffington blog has over a hundred or more posts and has a white background with dark lettering. The Huffington blog also has a lot of different advertisements all around it, from the top to the sides of the blog. The advertisements are annoying and unwanted.
The one thing I believe the creator of the blog does exceptionally well is put photos together that are relevant to each article on the blog. This is the one thing that I would like to start including in my blog. Another thing that is done very well is how the blog is continuously being updated. For example, as I was writing this post the article mentioned earlier about the war on Iraq was replaced by an article about Presidency candidate, Hillary Clinton. This article also has a large photograph designed to capture the reader’s attention, just like the earlier article with the three photos. There are a lot of other things not mentioned that make the assigned blog, a great blog.
The creator of the blog uses some very good methods to catch the reader’s attention. For example, the article labeled “Cheney: Iraq War A "Remarkable Achievement"” catches ones attention instantly. The article is located on the top left hand corner of the blog. This article is about the war on Iraq. This article has three large photos, which help catch the reader’s attention. These photos are of a man standing on a burning car, Dick Cheney, and a soldier aiming his weapon upwards at something or someone.
The blog is well organized and has a number of good conventions. Some of these conventions include, but are not limited to things, such as hyperlinks, video, to eye capturing pictures. Some extremely useful conventions to navigate the blog easily are the hyperlinks located on the top center of the blog. The names of these links are, Home, The News, The Blog, Eat The Press, and Fearless Voices. These same links are also located on the very bottom of the page, which makes it convenient to navigate the blog up and down. Each one of the links takes the reader to another section of the blog, which have more news of some sort.
When comparing this blog to my own I noticed a limited amount of similarities. The only similarity that was noticed was that we both used hyperlinks in some way. My blog has hyperlinks that are located on the right side of the screen. The Huffington blog has its main hyperlinks on the top and bottom of the blog. Besides this minor similarity both blogs are extremely different. For example, my blog has a dark background with white lettering and only a few posts. The Huffington blog has over a hundred or more posts and has a white background with dark lettering. The Huffington blog also has a lot of different advertisements all around it, from the top to the sides of the blog. The advertisements are annoying and unwanted.
The one thing I believe the creator of the blog does exceptionally well is put photos together that are relevant to each article on the blog. This is the one thing that I would like to start including in my blog. Another thing that is done very well is how the blog is continuously being updated. For example, as I was writing this post the article mentioned earlier about the war on Iraq was replaced by an article about Presidency candidate, Hillary Clinton. This article also has a large photograph designed to capture the reader’s attention, just like the earlier article with the three photos. There are a lot of other things not mentioned that make the assigned blog, a great blog.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Observational Essay "Worship at Calvary Chapel"
My observation for the essay took place at a church called Calvary Chapel South Denver. When I first visited the place where the birth of my observational essay would take place, I was unsure of what the specific point of the observation would be. This is because there were so many different options to choose from. Some of the different options included the structure of the building, the activities within it, and the people occupying it. The worship music and the people creating the experience is what the primary focus of the observation was based on.
The section where the worship took place was a big, open room which resembled an auditorium. There was row after row of chairs in this room. The chairs were metal with red cushioning, which were designed to support your butt and back. The chairs numbered about one thousand. On one side of this room there was an alter that had musical instruments, speakers, a podium, and fake plants. The instruments consisted of two guitars, a drum set covered with big glass peaces on every side and a base guitar.
The room where the worship took place had vaulted ceilings. The ceiling had some interesting things hanging down from it. For example, it had two big speakers and lights hanging from it, which lit up the room and added a very pleasing visual to ones eyes. There were also two projectors hanging from the ceiling, one on each side of the room. The projectors were turned on and facing the front walls, which were located right behind the alter. The projectors were displaying a Power Point with a series of announcements from men’s and women’s Bible study to a snow shoe retreat that was taking place, that next week.
Being inside the room that resembled an auditorium my wife and I heard light worship music in the background as we looked around contemplating where to find an adequate place to sit. Once we decided where to sit, we made our way to the place and sat there until the worship started. As we were waiting for the service to start I noticed the different people walking into, and around in the room. They numbered about a hundred or so. They were all scattered through out the room making it look as though the room was too big for its audience. Shortly after we sat down I heard the light music in the background come to an end and three people from the audience walk towards the alter. The people walking toward the alter grabbed and played some of the instruments. The beginning of the service had started. The worship had started.
One of the three people that kicked the service off was a young girl in her early twenties. The other two were male. One was in his mid thirties and the other was in his mid twenties. The female was the lead singer with a really talented voice. She was playing one of the guitars and one of the guys was playing the other. The other guy was playing the drums. All three of them put their skills of playing instruments together to make the pleasing sound of worship music. Out of the three playing the music, the lead singer, is the one that I observed the closest.
The girl leading worship was wearing black Jeans, a green hoodie sweater, and brown slip on shoes. She had short black hair, which only reached to her shoulders. A part of her hair was put up in a pony tail. The girl was seating in a high stool with a standing microphone in front of her mouth, for her to intensify her voice throughout the whole room.
Once the first song of worship started the girl started out with a simple prayer, and informed the audience to either sit or stand while worship went on. She mentioned that she wanted everyone to do what ever they felt comfortable doing. She then proceeded to begin singing. As she was singing this first song, she had her eyes closed and the expressions on her face revealed that she was really passionate about what she was doing. The first song ended in about four to five minutes, and before moving on to the second one she prayed earnestly for everyone.
The second, third, and forth songs of worship continued with prayer in between each one. The girl singing each one was intensely involved in singing the worship songs. I could tell that she was pouring her heart into each song she was singing. She was very passionate about what she was doing and her vibe was also spreading to the audience. I could not only see the passion of what she was doing, but also feel it.
One specific song she was singing was called “Knees to the Earth”, and I remember one verse that the girl was singing. The verse went something like this “Wonderful Savior My heart belongs to Thee, I will remember always the blood you shed for me Wonderful Savior, My heart will know Your worth. So let me embrace You always as I walk this earth.” As she was singing these words it was as she was communicating directly to God, and not to the audience. I can only imagine that in her head, at that specific moment there was no one else in the room except her, communicating her love through worship to God. There were multiple times through out the worship time that this seemed to be happening.
There were many different aspects of Calvary Chapel South Denver that I observed closely, but do to the limited amount of wording allowed, I could not share them. The most interesting aspect was definitely the worship music and the people that created the worship music. This created a stimulating, inspiring, and overall spiritual environment. The way everything came together to make the worship music was remarkable. It really is hard to explain what kind of atmosphere the worship music created. So, to put it into perspective I will use Martin Luther’s words, “Music is a discipline, and a mistress of order and good manners, she makes the people milder and gentler, more moral and more reasonable.”
The section where the worship took place was a big, open room which resembled an auditorium. There was row after row of chairs in this room. The chairs were metal with red cushioning, which were designed to support your butt and back. The chairs numbered about one thousand. On one side of this room there was an alter that had musical instruments, speakers, a podium, and fake plants. The instruments consisted of two guitars, a drum set covered with big glass peaces on every side and a base guitar.
The room where the worship took place had vaulted ceilings. The ceiling had some interesting things hanging down from it. For example, it had two big speakers and lights hanging from it, which lit up the room and added a very pleasing visual to ones eyes. There were also two projectors hanging from the ceiling, one on each side of the room. The projectors were turned on and facing the front walls, which were located right behind the alter. The projectors were displaying a Power Point with a series of announcements from men’s and women’s Bible study to a snow shoe retreat that was taking place, that next week.
Being inside the room that resembled an auditorium my wife and I heard light worship music in the background as we looked around contemplating where to find an adequate place to sit. Once we decided where to sit, we made our way to the place and sat there until the worship started. As we were waiting for the service to start I noticed the different people walking into, and around in the room. They numbered about a hundred or so. They were all scattered through out the room making it look as though the room was too big for its audience. Shortly after we sat down I heard the light music in the background come to an end and three people from the audience walk towards the alter. The people walking toward the alter grabbed and played some of the instruments. The beginning of the service had started. The worship had started.
One of the three people that kicked the service off was a young girl in her early twenties. The other two were male. One was in his mid thirties and the other was in his mid twenties. The female was the lead singer with a really talented voice. She was playing one of the guitars and one of the guys was playing the other. The other guy was playing the drums. All three of them put their skills of playing instruments together to make the pleasing sound of worship music. Out of the three playing the music, the lead singer, is the one that I observed the closest.
The girl leading worship was wearing black Jeans, a green hoodie sweater, and brown slip on shoes. She had short black hair, which only reached to her shoulders. A part of her hair was put up in a pony tail. The girl was seating in a high stool with a standing microphone in front of her mouth, for her to intensify her voice throughout the whole room.
Once the first song of worship started the girl started out with a simple prayer, and informed the audience to either sit or stand while worship went on. She mentioned that she wanted everyone to do what ever they felt comfortable doing. She then proceeded to begin singing. As she was singing this first song, she had her eyes closed and the expressions on her face revealed that she was really passionate about what she was doing. The first song ended in about four to five minutes, and before moving on to the second one she prayed earnestly for everyone.
The second, third, and forth songs of worship continued with prayer in between each one. The girl singing each one was intensely involved in singing the worship songs. I could tell that she was pouring her heart into each song she was singing. She was very passionate about what she was doing and her vibe was also spreading to the audience. I could not only see the passion of what she was doing, but also feel it.
One specific song she was singing was called “Knees to the Earth”, and I remember one verse that the girl was singing. The verse went something like this “Wonderful Savior My heart belongs to Thee, I will remember always the blood you shed for me Wonderful Savior, My heart will know Your worth. So let me embrace You always as I walk this earth.” As she was singing these words it was as she was communicating directly to God, and not to the audience. I can only imagine that in her head, at that specific moment there was no one else in the room except her, communicating her love through worship to God. There were multiple times through out the worship time that this seemed to be happening.
There were many different aspects of Calvary Chapel South Denver that I observed closely, but do to the limited amount of wording allowed, I could not share them. The most interesting aspect was definitely the worship music and the people that created the worship music. This created a stimulating, inspiring, and overall spiritual environment. The way everything came together to make the worship music was remarkable. It really is hard to explain what kind of atmosphere the worship music created. So, to put it into perspective I will use Martin Luther’s words, “Music is a discipline, and a mistress of order and good manners, she makes the people milder and gentler, more moral and more reasonable.”
Friday, February 9, 2007
Post 5
"Randomly Selected Words:" Affectionate, Banquet, cayman, diarrhea, extant, faker, Gettysburg, Horizon, incarcerate, joust, krypton, liberal, madras, negation, osprey, pastor, quantum, ragweed, salute, tabbed, ungula, vibrant, washroom, xanthous, yeoman, zionism
Find the perfect dog breed for you by following these easy steps. Welcome to Banquet.com. Feel free to browseour exciting offers, just for you! Now that’s moreof what you want. Electric eel Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is the world's fastest labeling enzyme. loose, watery stools occurring more than three times in one day—is a common problem that usually lasts a day or two and goes away on its own without any special treatment. However, prolonged diarrhea can be a sign of other problems. People with diarrhea may pass more than a quart of stool a day. Why, then, did the joint House-Senate committee insert a maximum? The lack of extant records of the committee's deliberations requires us to speculate. Fakersbusted was established in June 2003, with the primary purpose of keeping track of those dreaded fakers, their usernames & the images they use. This award-winning guide to the Battle of Gettysburg includes a self-guided battlefield audio tour (tape or CD), a 56-page guidebook, and a computer CDROM. Take advantage of special savings to Mexico with our 75th Anniversary Fiesta Fares Sale. The judge had no choice but to incarcerate the convicted criminal. For an event that was once extremely popular, surprisingly little is known of the exact details of a joust. There are 32 known isotopes of krypton. This article discusses liberalism as a worldwide political ideology, its roots and development, and some of its many modern-day variations, including American, European, classical, and modern traditions. Chennai is also one of the rare cities to accommodate a national park, the Guindy National Park, within its city limits. In logic and mathematics, negation is an operation on logical values, for example, the logical value of a proposition, that sends true to false and false to true. Intuitively, the negation of a proposition holds exactly when that proposition does not hold. Osprey Publishing is the world's leading publisher of illustrated military history and military aviation books. The usage of pastor comes from its use in the Bible. Quantum tape libraries deliver high availability, superior performance and infinite scalability in medium size business, workgroup and data center environments. The name of this genus is derived from the Greek word for "food of the gods". Salutes are primarily associated with military, paramilitary and naval forces, but other organizations and even general populations use salutes. One important advantage of the tabbed document interface is that it holds many different documents logically under the one window, instead of holding a large number of small child windows. A section or part of a cylinder, cone, or other solid of revolution, cut off by a plane oblique to the base. Vibrant Introduces newSTREETPOWER Cat-Back Exhaust for Cobalt SS andION Redline. With turnover increasing year on year and repeat business the norm, the company has invested in a new range of products to provide clients with an even greater choice of washroom design, material and finishes. Oure Xanthous Strawberry field Forever has a super day, she won the openclass and also the CC and BOS,Xanthous Pinball went 3 exc. in the Juniorclass and Xnathous Cantona his Daughter Fiveshill Applepie won the puppyclass. The English word is rooted in the Old English ‘iunge man’ or , ‘young man’ or ‘yonge man’, and this meaning possibly combined with ‘geaman’, ‘geman’, or ‘gauman’, meaning district, villager, or countryman rustic. Zionism should be distinguished from Territorialism which was a Jewish nationalist movement calling for a Jewish homeland, but not necessarily in Palestine.
Find the perfect dog breed for you by following these easy steps. Welcome to Banquet.com. Feel free to browseour exciting offers, just for you! Now that’s moreof what you want. Electric eel Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is the world's fastest labeling enzyme. loose, watery stools occurring more than three times in one day—is a common problem that usually lasts a day or two and goes away on its own without any special treatment. However, prolonged diarrhea can be a sign of other problems. People with diarrhea may pass more than a quart of stool a day. Why, then, did the joint House-Senate committee insert a maximum? The lack of extant records of the committee's deliberations requires us to speculate. Fakersbusted was established in June 2003, with the primary purpose of keeping track of those dreaded fakers, their usernames & the images they use. This award-winning guide to the Battle of Gettysburg includes a self-guided battlefield audio tour (tape or CD), a 56-page guidebook, and a computer CDROM. Take advantage of special savings to Mexico with our 75th Anniversary Fiesta Fares Sale. The judge had no choice but to incarcerate the convicted criminal. For an event that was once extremely popular, surprisingly little is known of the exact details of a joust. There are 32 known isotopes of krypton. This article discusses liberalism as a worldwide political ideology, its roots and development, and some of its many modern-day variations, including American, European, classical, and modern traditions. Chennai is also one of the rare cities to accommodate a national park, the Guindy National Park, within its city limits. In logic and mathematics, negation is an operation on logical values, for example, the logical value of a proposition, that sends true to false and false to true. Intuitively, the negation of a proposition holds exactly when that proposition does not hold. Osprey Publishing is the world's leading publisher of illustrated military history and military aviation books. The usage of pastor comes from its use in the Bible. Quantum tape libraries deliver high availability, superior performance and infinite scalability in medium size business, workgroup and data center environments. The name of this genus is derived from the Greek word for "food of the gods". Salutes are primarily associated with military, paramilitary and naval forces, but other organizations and even general populations use salutes. One important advantage of the tabbed document interface is that it holds many different documents logically under the one window, instead of holding a large number of small child windows. A section or part of a cylinder, cone, or other solid of revolution, cut off by a plane oblique to the base. Vibrant Introduces newSTREETPOWER Cat-Back Exhaust for Cobalt SS andION Redline. With turnover increasing year on year and repeat business the norm, the company has invested in a new range of products to provide clients with an even greater choice of washroom design, material and finishes. Oure Xanthous Strawberry field Forever has a super day, she won the openclass and also the CC and BOS,Xanthous Pinball went 3 exc. in the Juniorclass and Xnathous Cantona his Daughter Fiveshill Applepie won the puppyclass. The English word is rooted in the Old English ‘iunge man’ or , ‘young man’ or ‘yonge man’, and this meaning possibly combined with ‘geaman’, ‘geman’, or ‘gauman’, meaning district, villager, or countryman rustic. Zionism should be distinguished from Territorialism which was a Jewish nationalist movement calling for a Jewish homeland, but not necessarily in Palestine.
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Post 4
Briefly stated, my observation essay will be based on a series of church atmospheres. Before sharing the church environments I will be visiting, observing, and hopefully interviewing the leadership there I will share why I chose to do my observation essay on certain churches. There are so many different churches with different teachings that are considered to be the right ones, but with so many different options how can someone determine which one is the right one? In order for me to try and answer this question I will observe a particular church and than try to compare it with other churches that might have some similar and different beliefs. For example, I will observe a Christian Non-denominational church and then compare it to a Jehovah Witnesses or Jesus of Latter Day Saints (Mormon) church.
The particular church that will be observed for my essay will be Calvary South Denver. This Church is part of a bigger organization named Calvary Chapel. Calvary Chapel is an organization that states it teaches directly from the Bible, verse by verse, and is recognized in many different states and places across the world as a non-denomination Bible teaching church. During my observation I will be concerned about every thing that I could possibly observe. This would include things such as, the setting and design of the building, the interaction of its members, the leadership in the church, and what the main teaching of the church is. After my first observation I plan on going a second time and this time focus on a more specific part of the observation. For example, instead of looking at every possible aspect of the church, I will focus more or either the interaction between certain members or maybe the design of the church building.
As I was looking at the website that Calvary chapel has, I came across several pages that sparked somewhat of an interest. The first one was the main page, it consisted of a series of announcements of what the church has to offer and is involved in. The second was a page designed specifically for the churches core values and believes. The focal point of the page is bold lettering that say “Statements of Faith”. This page of course states the key values that the church has. The third page is about the churches mission, which briefly stated is to lift God up, equip people with tools to lift God up, and share God with other people. There were also other pages on the website that I came across from there leadership, to there location.
In closing, I am hoping that through my observation and completing my observation essay I will have a better comprehension of the church gathering and believes. I also hope that I could relay this observation clearly to all of my class mates. The goal is to make it so clear to all of my class mates that after reading my observational essay they will actually feel as if they were there beside me, observing with me.
The particular church that will be observed for my essay will be Calvary South Denver. This Church is part of a bigger organization named Calvary Chapel. Calvary Chapel is an organization that states it teaches directly from the Bible, verse by verse, and is recognized in many different states and places across the world as a non-denomination Bible teaching church. During my observation I will be concerned about every thing that I could possibly observe. This would include things such as, the setting and design of the building, the interaction of its members, the leadership in the church, and what the main teaching of the church is. After my first observation I plan on going a second time and this time focus on a more specific part of the observation. For example, instead of looking at every possible aspect of the church, I will focus more or either the interaction between certain members or maybe the design of the church building.
As I was looking at the website that Calvary chapel has, I came across several pages that sparked somewhat of an interest. The first one was the main page, it consisted of a series of announcements of what the church has to offer and is involved in. The second was a page designed specifically for the churches core values and believes. The focal point of the page is bold lettering that say “Statements of Faith”. This page of course states the key values that the church has. The third page is about the churches mission, which briefly stated is to lift God up, equip people with tools to lift God up, and share God with other people. There were also other pages on the website that I came across from there leadership, to there location.
In closing, I am hoping that through my observation and completing my observation essay I will have a better comprehension of the church gathering and believes. I also hope that I could relay this observation clearly to all of my class mates. The goal is to make it so clear to all of my class mates that after reading my observational essay they will actually feel as if they were there beside me, observing with me.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Post 3 - You Tube
“Hey guys you know it’s funny people they go to sleep, they think everything’s fine everything’s good they wake up the next day and their on fire.”
This is what the GI Joe Fire Fighter tells the adolescents. This is the conclusion and the focal point of the video. The video is very short, about thirty seconds long, and to the point. The point is simply to make the viewer laugh. The video is not trying to relay some important message about fire safety, but just trying to make the viewers laugh. If one watches other GI Joe videos on You Tube, they will see that most of them are put together with random sayings and nonsense, which a lot of the times do not make any sense. They are not intended to make any sense, but straightforwardly entertain the viewer. I have seen this video a number of times before. In order for one to understand why I chose this video out of thousands, maybe millions of videos from You Tube, one must learn a little bit about my background.
In 2004 I joined the Army National Guard and had to go through nine intense weeks of Basic Combat Training and fifteen weeks of job training. The fifteen weeks of job training was to go through the Fire Academy for the Army National Guard. So, the job that I am privileged to have in the Army National Guard is Fire Fighting. During my job training, which took place in Good Fellow Air Force Base in San Angelo Texas, was the very first time ever that I saw this video. The Fire Academy had a lot of outside, hands on training, but there were a few times that there was strict classroom lecture type training. During these times the Fire Instructor would always start or end the class session with silly, humorous videos in order to break the ice among the class mates. One of those videos, which was played multiple times was the video used in this post. The video became one of my favorite videos that I ever watched during my time at the Fire Academy.
The content of this video would be completely different if observed on Television or any other sort of media device outside of the Internet. The reason for this is because on television GI Joe is an action packed, non stop action cartoon that is focused on capturing the attention of younger kids. I am not quite sure if GI Joe is still around, but when I used to be a kid, it was definitely one of my favorite cartoons. GI Joe definitely captured my attention as a child, and continues to capture my attention as an adult. The content of GI Joe on television was designed to entertain the audience through action, and on the Internet it is designed to entertain the audience through humor.
I recommend that when one watches the video on this post that they watch it more than just one time. It seems that the more one watches the video the funnier it gets. For example, when I first showed my wife the video she thought it was one of the most dumb and stupid videos ever. She did not understand why I thought it was so funny. I encouraged her to watch it multiple times, and she did. The more she watched it, the funnier she thought it was. So once again, I recommend that one watches the video more than once to catch the humor in it.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Post 2
To find the cultural contexts of a website, when it’s sole and only purpose is to find the meaning of words, is difficult to accomplish. Answering the five W’s, who, what, when, where and why will be no easy task, but necessary in order to accomplish the assignment. First I will try to answer the who part of context and finally answer the why part of the context.
First, the who of the contexts could be anybody who is trying to find the definition of any word. The knowledge of words, from there meaning and definition is the main reason for the website. What one will find in this website is all the necessary tools and information to comprehend any word that one may be unfamiliar with before navigating the website. One will use the website when they are unfamiliar with a certain word while reading something in particular. For example, if one is reading a science textbook, and they come across a word that they are not familiar with, than they would go to www.dictionary.com to find the definition and meaning of the unfamiliar word.
The location of the website www.dictionary.com would be on the World Wide Web. Anyone who has any type of internet connection, from dial-up, usually a phone line, to high speed internet usually cable, has access to the World Wide Web. One must also have access to a computer with internet capabilities. The computer can be a laptop or a desktop, as long as they have a Network Interface Card (NIC) or some sort of wireless adapter to connect to the internet, which is the World Wide Web.
Why would anyone ever want access to a dictionary on the internet? I believe the answer to this question is pretty simple, convenience. The convenience to quickly find a definition to a word is why it is better to use a dictionary on the internet than it is to use a book-type dictionary. Think about it? It does not take a brain surgeon to realize that it is easier to simply type a word in a search engine box and press enter to find the definition of a word rather than manually look up a word in a book-type dictionary. One could save an abundance of time using a dictionary on the internet instead of the traditional dictionary. Another reason it is better to use a dictionary on the internet is because one could make sure it is the most up dated version of whatever word one is looking for. The website www.dictionary.com is constantly being up dated. On the other hand in a book-type dictionary one must make sure it is the most updated version in order to trust the definition of the word is the most up dated version available.
In order for one to understand the content of the website one must clearly understand how to use the search engine box on the top right corner of the website. The five tabs located below the search engine box are also crucial to understand the content of the website. The following hyperlinks will direct the reader to where the tabs mentioned take the user on the website. Here are the links; Dictionary, Thesaurus, Encyclopedia, All Reference, and The Web.
First, the who of the contexts could be anybody who is trying to find the definition of any word. The knowledge of words, from there meaning and definition is the main reason for the website. What one will find in this website is all the necessary tools and information to comprehend any word that one may be unfamiliar with before navigating the website. One will use the website when they are unfamiliar with a certain word while reading something in particular. For example, if one is reading a science textbook, and they come across a word that they are not familiar with, than they would go to www.dictionary.com to find the definition and meaning of the unfamiliar word.
The location of the website www.dictionary.com would be on the World Wide Web. Anyone who has any type of internet connection, from dial-up, usually a phone line, to high speed internet usually cable, has access to the World Wide Web. One must also have access to a computer with internet capabilities. The computer can be a laptop or a desktop, as long as they have a Network Interface Card (NIC) or some sort of wireless adapter to connect to the internet, which is the World Wide Web.
Why would anyone ever want access to a dictionary on the internet? I believe the answer to this question is pretty simple, convenience. The convenience to quickly find a definition to a word is why it is better to use a dictionary on the internet than it is to use a book-type dictionary. Think about it? It does not take a brain surgeon to realize that it is easier to simply type a word in a search engine box and press enter to find the definition of a word rather than manually look up a word in a book-type dictionary. One could save an abundance of time using a dictionary on the internet instead of the traditional dictionary. Another reason it is better to use a dictionary on the internet is because one could make sure it is the most up dated version of whatever word one is looking for. The website www.dictionary.com is constantly being up dated. On the other hand in a book-type dictionary one must make sure it is the most updated version in order to trust the definition of the word is the most up dated version available.
In order for one to understand the content of the website one must clearly understand how to use the search engine box on the top right corner of the website. The five tabs located below the search engine box are also crucial to understand the content of the website. The following hyperlinks will direct the reader to where the tabs mentioned take the user on the website. Here are the links; Dictionary, Thesaurus, Encyclopedia, All Reference, and The Web.
Post 1
There are so many websites that I visit on a fairly regular basis, so it is difficult to pin point one to write about. The one particular website that I use frequently is www.dictionary.com. One of the main reasons I use this website is because when I read something for school or for other purposes I always seem to come across certain words that are foreign to my vocabulary. This website has helped me time after time to discern those foreign words into something meaningful and understandable.
The main focal point of this website consists of a search engine box on the top right corner, and five tabs just below the search engine box. These are all the necessary tools to properly and effectively navigate the website. The five tabs below the search engine box are labeled as follows, Dictionary, Thesaurus, Encyclopedia, All Reference, and The Web. Each one of these tabs is linked to another section of the website, which are designed to assist the main website. The main purpose of the website is to define the meaning of words, one word at a time, plus give you all the possible information about that word. For example, if one does not know what the definition of a cat is, then they would just type the word cat in the search engine box, and hit the enter key on their keyboard. The website www.dictionary.com would then look up the word cat in its database and come back with a variety of responses of what cat means. Also, the tabs on the websites would help gather more information on the word cat, for example the tab thesaurus would find the entire thesaurus for the word cat. The same goes for the rest of the tabs, they are there to help gather information on what ever word is typed into the search engine box.
The genre of the website would be simply considered a dictionary, one can quickly use to look up the definition of words. Some of the conventions of the website would be how the website breaks down the word it is defining. Whatever the word may be that the website is defining, it breaks the word down into its noun, verb, idiom, abbreviation, etc… form. The website also alters some of its conventions depending on the word that is typed in its search engine box. For example, the words principle and principal, both sound the same, but are two completely different words. For this reason the website would alter its convention to fit the meaning of each word. The word principle would have a completely different set of nouns, verbs, idioms, abbreviations, etc… than the word principal and vice versa.
The medium of web-based writing, such as blogging differs from traditional print/paper based writing in the following simple way. The print/paper based writing consumes paper, which consumes trees, and the blogging does not. Another way they both differ is that anyone can create a blog and post random writing in it, but not just anybody can have something printed and published in a print/paper based writing.
The main focal point of this website consists of a search engine box on the top right corner, and five tabs just below the search engine box. These are all the necessary tools to properly and effectively navigate the website. The five tabs below the search engine box are labeled as follows, Dictionary, Thesaurus, Encyclopedia, All Reference, and The Web. Each one of these tabs is linked to another section of the website, which are designed to assist the main website. The main purpose of the website is to define the meaning of words, one word at a time, plus give you all the possible information about that word. For example, if one does not know what the definition of a cat is, then they would just type the word cat in the search engine box, and hit the enter key on their keyboard. The website www.dictionary.com would then look up the word cat in its database and come back with a variety of responses of what cat means. Also, the tabs on the websites would help gather more information on the word cat, for example the tab thesaurus would find the entire thesaurus for the word cat. The same goes for the rest of the tabs, they are there to help gather information on what ever word is typed into the search engine box.
The genre of the website would be simply considered a dictionary, one can quickly use to look up the definition of words. Some of the conventions of the website would be how the website breaks down the word it is defining. Whatever the word may be that the website is defining, it breaks the word down into its noun, verb, idiom, abbreviation, etc… form. The website also alters some of its conventions depending on the word that is typed in its search engine box. For example, the words principle and principal, both sound the same, but are two completely different words. For this reason the website would alter its convention to fit the meaning of each word. The word principle would have a completely different set of nouns, verbs, idioms, abbreviations, etc… than the word principal and vice versa.
The medium of web-based writing, such as blogging differs from traditional print/paper based writing in the following simple way. The print/paper based writing consumes paper, which consumes trees, and the blogging does not. Another way they both differ is that anyone can create a blog and post random writing in it, but not just anybody can have something printed and published in a print/paper based writing.
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