Outside Reading: Life Without Limbs

For our final topic of, "Overcoming Odds" I chose to write about Nick Vujicic, a 23 year old man with no arms or legs. I chose to write about Nick because I have been inspired by him through his DVD at my bible study. We watched one of his DVDs which included a background of his life, and one of his sermons given in the US. Nick was born without arms or legs, and at age 8, he was so sick of living that way he pondered suicide. To be thinking of killing oneself at such a young age is something that makes a lot of people uncomfortable. He asked God everyday for arms and legs, but he later realizes God had something else in mind for him, and still does. Nick now lives completely independently, showering, brushing his teeth, and even composing music! An amazing fact is his ability with computers; he can type 43 words per minute. Nick's extreme faith in the Lord has made him over come his disability and be more happy and content than most people with limbs. i would give anything to have half as much faith and joy he has through our God, which is what I'm inspired to do.

http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/files/ministry-prospectus.pdf

Outside Reading: Relationships Found on the Internet

In my blogs, you may read my writings, sometimes talking about writing on something "different" or a "uncommon" view on the assigned topic. I do this not to be different, but to attempt to present a view that may not always be seen. Our topic was to write on a text about love, so using my "uncommon" sub-theme, I found the perfect article. I chose to read about Internet relationships, from the woman's point of view. The article was from an author who writes about how, as a woman, to protect yourself in a relationship. Overall, she warns women to avoid Internet relationships. I chose this article over any other love article because Internet relationships are growing, from chat rooms, to the nationally used website, eHarmony. When talking about Internet relationships, the author is more referring to using the Internet for facebook, myspace and chat room based relationships, because there are thousands of predators on the world wide web. The message is to be careful, and to avoid all Internet relationship. Besides being possibly physically harmful, due to the other person in the relationship locating you, people relying on the web for relationships probably aren't going to be very stable, leading to heartbreak (if you even get that far...)

Yo! Its Jonny po ponny!

Outside Reading: Cyberterrorism: How Real Is the Threat?

Today's topic was to read and write about war of some type. Most people may think of the two world wars or the present war on terror. I chose to read about a different type of war, one that doesn't involve guns, tanks, infantry, or human combat; I chose the war on cyberterrorism. I wanted to read about this because it is something different than actual combat and I also have an interest in technology, so this especially caught my eye. The article gave the general description and fears of cyberterrorism. The concern is about the unauthorized accessing of government files, databases, and computers, containing confidential information about people, war, and even the government itself. If someone were to access files about intelligence in the Middle East, the secrecy of our attack or inheritance of the area could be compromised. Cyber "terrorism" is present all around the world, starting out at wifi hackers, then to computer and network hackers, eventually leading up to the cyber-terrorists.





Gabriel Weimann, Cyberterrorism: How Real is the Threat? , usip.org, Last Updated: Decemeber, 2004

Outside Reading: The Gaza Crisis

For today's topic of "Global issues" I chose to read about the conflicts in the Gaza Strip. The introduction/background article, located here, gave a brief history of the past issues, leading to today's "crisis". Although there are many other topics which could be deemed more important, I chose to read about this because it is a topic that isn't discussed enough. Also, on a side note, regardless of your views about Global Warming, which is the "number one" global issue, it isn't going to be fixed anytime soon. In Israel/Palestine's case, the controversy can be helped. A major reason why this topic isn't discussed as much as it should be, is because of the Jewish peoples involvement. Next to everyone knows about the mass sufferings of Jews before, during, and after the holocaust. people find it to be a very sensitive subject because if one were to oppose the Israeli side of the argument, they would typically be viewed as anti-Semitic. I found this article especially interesting because the author was bold enough to acknowledge the lack of Jewish opposition. Even though I support the supporting of Israel, I still found this aspect of the article interesting.

Anup Shah, The Middle East conflict—a brief background, GlobalIssues.org, Last updated: Sunday, July 30, 2006

Outside Reading The History of the Oktoberfest

After taking a few years of German, and having mini Oktoberfests, I thought reading about the history of this widely celebrated holiday would be very interesting. Modern day Oktoberfests consist of games, food, beer, beer, and more beer. The two words, "Oktober" (October) and "fest" both have the same meaning in English, obviously being a festival in October. Oktoberfest started out as a celebration for marriage of King Ludwig I and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. It was celebrated with horse races, but also, too boost German agriculture, the sampling of many different brews. It was such a hit they decided to have a festival each year. The king was married on 12th October 1810, so that's how Oktoberfest got the "Oktober" part of the name. I've always enjoyed German food and German traditions, so reading about the largest, and very well known German holiday, was extremely enjoyable. Along with having taken German for a couple years, my paternal side of the family has a significantly strong German heritage, so this article has extra interest to me.

http://www.muenchen.de/Tourismus/Oktoberfest/History/136868/03history.html

Outside Reading: Imperialism in Africa

Due to tonight's reading topic, along with our recent studies about Africa, I thought it'd be appropriate to read and write about African Imperialism. The article I chose to read I actually came across when searching for an article on German Imperialism, but it turns out the the Germans were quite involved in Africa's Imperialism. The article talks about the general power that Germany had in relation to other countries back before the imperialism in Africa. Then in 1884 Germany made and claimed the Cameroons, German South-west Africa, and New Guinea. Imperialism is the act of extending ones power over another country, so Germany claiming the land is obviously imperialism. I found the way the author wrote very interesting. She wrote in a very edgy, but easy to understand. The author, Lisanne Schuller, uses the words "scramble(d)" and "omelet" to help the reader visually put together the different facts and ideas in the text. I think this is a very effective way to write because it allows the reader to feel like they're actually having a conversation with someone and not just reading the hard facts. Although I thought the interesting word choice was a good thing, the way some of the things were written, for me personally, almost discredited her professionalism.

http://www.cusd.chico.k12.ca.us/~bsilva/projects/imperialism/schuller.htm

Outside Reading: Welcome To Bollywood

For our "Bollywood" theme, I chose to read a National Geographic article on Bollywood, first of all because it is about Bollywood, but also it is from National Geographic, which is a very reliable source of information. I thought it was interesting how the article opened. It opened up describing a scene to a movie, and after seeing a Bollywood film, it triggered many mental images from the few Bollywood films I've seen. The article gives a background on the director of the film, Yash Chopra, with a brief description of the general idea of the film. Personally, I find Bollywood films to have their pros and cons. I dislike how there has to be a certain amount of dance and musical numbers, although some of them I enjoy, I think its ridiculous to have some set standard...for musical numbers. Another thing I don't like is the predictability of the movies. Yes, to an extent most movies are predictable, but sometimes you can almost even predict the script, word for word. One thing I do sort of enjoy is the tension that is built by having the characters not kiss. Most Americans, especially teens, are used to seeing movie characters kiss, and frequently, a lot in more as well. Having them almost kiss, but then have the movie end or the scene change threw me for a spin, and overall I think it adds a unique quality to the film.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0502/feature3/