The Rockers a.k.a. Neil Blog

I have learnt many new things in this unit. I have learnt more musical terms and elements. This was a pretty hard assignment for me, as I was completely inexperienced with playing the piano. This was also the first time I have played the piano. I think that by doing this project it will be useful in the future. I will be more familiar with the piano and making my own compositions. Another thing that I learnt is that I do not like playing the piano at all. Overall, this unit has provided things that I learned and will be beneficial in the future.

What I already know

I know that probability is used to measure how likely something is used. It is between 0% and 100%. Probability can be expressed in fractions, like the dice will land on six 1/6 times. The higher the percentage is, the more likely it is to happen. Probability is used in many things, such as predicting if it will rain or not.

What I want to know

I want to know how probability is used in more complex situations, like in business. I want to be able to apply probability in the real world so that I can make better decisions.

Why is probability important 

Probability is important in the real world for several reasons. One reason is that it is useful in sports and gambling to predict outcomes and wins. It is also important in business for buying and selling stock in companies. People who work with company finances calculate the probability that a company should make money and are a good company to invest money in. These are just a few reasons why probability is important.

What I don’t want to do

I do not just want to know what the chance is of getting a heads or tails on a coin by spinning it two hundred times.

“Heartbreak Hotel” by Elvis Presley
“Jumpin’ Jack Flash” by the Rolling Stones

8B Drama: Impromptu Speeches from YIS Arts on Vimeo.

8B Drama: Persuasive Speeches from YIS Arts on Vimeo.

In Drama class we have been learning about giving informative and persuasive speeches. The first video was from a while back, and was where we were given a random topic, echo in my case, and we had to present a one minute speech with only thirty seconds of preparation. The second video was quite recent, and was a persuasive speech that I performed. My topic was that skaters should not be discriminated and was supposed to last three minutes. I think that my persuasive speech was the better of the two.

I think that my persuasive speech was better because I had a lot of content. I think that my speech was very well written and structured. It used persuasive techniques such as a personal story and views from both sides of the argument. Even though this speech wasn’t so good in modulation and physicality, I think my content made up for that. My other one minute speech did not do so well in the three categories.

I need to improve a lot on physicality and modulation. These two are very crucial in delivering a speech and I think that if I can improve on these I will be very good at speech delivery. In my persuasive speech, I was constantly looking down at my notes and this reduced the amount of eye contact with the audience a lot. Throughout the speech I also lean on my left foot a lot and put my hands in my pockets. This is very bad physicality and is something I need to get better at. I think that my modulation was decent, as my voice was fairly audible and used some inflection, emphasis, pitch, and pause. I was lacking in these two categories and need to ameliorate them.

I really liked Claudes Presentation about recycling. His speech was rich in content, and was very well written. His physicality was brilliant. He made excellent use of body language to communicate with the audience effectively and rarely looked down to take a brief glimpse at his palm cards. He held eye contact with a lot of the audience to make them feel like they were part of it. His modulation was also very good. His voice was clear and he projected very well. I honestly think that this was probably the best speech that was given in my class.

8B Drama: Persuasive Speeches from YIS Arts on Vimeo.

I think that copyright both cultivates and hinders creativity. Obviously copyright has it’s pros and cons, but I think we are better off with copyright, as I’ll explain later on. If you don’t know yet, copyright law is used to protect people’s works in the form of visual and sound (images, musics, dances, and performances) from other people taking (essentially stealing) and claiming them as their own.

Without the copyright law, there would be big problems. People would just steal other people’s works and earn money. People would stop creating because they know that their works would just get stolen. This is where the copyright law kicks in. It allows creators to protect their work so that they can earn money from it. However, many companies like Disney have abused the law to create as much money as possible without letting people use the material at all, even after the original creator has died. This means that people have less ideas to start off with and can not use or improvise the material. People are forced to create entirely new material. Companies are restricting ideas and material to people so they have less of a variety of material’s to use and this often means less creativity.

But this is where I think that copyright law cultivates creativity. People cannot use other people’s material, so they are forced to think outside of the box. This is where I think true creativity comes from. They cannot simply take an existing work and just add a bit more to make it slightly different. People have to actually rely on their own original ideas and not just what has previously existed. This is where creativity grows.

Of course, some people have crossed the line with the copyright law. The copyright law has been lengthened to a ridiculous amount of years, even after the original creator has died. Now companies like Disney are milking money out of works that are already very old. The original purpose of the copyright law was to promote the progress of the arts and science, by protecting an idea or work for a small amount of time and then putting it into public domain so people could copy, transform, and combine. But now the law is letting companies make as much money as possible by not letting the material into public domain. This is where I think that copyright law needs to be balanced in such a way that protects the idea or work for a small amount of time but eventually has to go back into public domain.

Copyright law is a good thing, but now too many companies are taking advantage of this in a bad way. I think that a balance needs to be found, so that copyright law promotes the progress of the arts and science again like its original idea was.

1. Appearances and deception are a common theme in literature, how does Hinton demonstrate this?

Hinton demonstrates appearance and deception in various ways. One of these ways is how Hinton describes the Soc’s. The Soc’s are described as handsome, cool, and calm on the outside, but have a different and unique personality underneath. The reader is “deceived” into thinking that because the Soc’s are rich, they live an easy and carefree life, but throughout the novel the Soc’s feelings are exposed.

2. Do narrators always tell the truth? Is Ponyboy a reliable narrator?

Narrators are not always reliable story tellers. Especially when written in first person like Ponyboy, the narrator usually only focuses on one side of the story, and the other side is left relatively untouched. This is like the saying “history is written by the victors”. First person narrators can provide a rich and insightful view into their perspective of the story, but the other side is unknown and rarely touched upon.

3. Is The Outsiders relevant to you? Can you relate to it? Why or why not?

 I think that I can relate to some parts of The Outsiders. At school there are groups and subgroups of friends that people belong in. Some people belong in only one group, while some people fit in multiple groups. Many times nationality determines which group you are in. Some groups are more emotional and expressive with each other, while in other groups people don’t share their feelings as much. Although there is no violence like there is in the novel, people belong in groups like the greasers and Soc’s.

4. Should The Outsiders be taught in school? If so, at what grade level?

I think The Outsiders provides an interesting view into the lives of other children, especially the children that live in poorer areas. This would be good to know when growing up to understand other people. The novel would be appropriate from grade level 7 and above.

5. Who is your favourite character and why? Who is your least favourite? Explain your choice.

 My favorite character is Sodapop. Even though he does not worry so much about his own life, he stands up for Ponyboy and tries to support his family in any possible way he can. My least favorite character in the novel is Dally. He is reckless and does not take care of himself.

6. Which character impacts you the most? What emotions do you feel for that character? Does he/she remind you of someone else you know? Of yourself?

The character that impacts me the most is Darry. He is responsible, hardworking, and works two jobs just to support his family of brothers. He tries very hard to make ends meet. Even though he could just put Sodapop and Ponyboy in a boys home and go to college and pursue his career, he takes care of them. Although he is no substitute for a parent, he is very caring even though he does not show it. He almost reminds me of my Dad, because sometimes it feels like he is restricting me in what I can do, he just wants to take care of me.

Goals from this year

Tre flip a five stair, be more organized in general, and improve my handwriting.

Reflection on them

I have learnt how to tre flip so that is good. Now I just need to learn how to do them off of obstacles and build up to a five stair. I have been using more folders for different classes so I do not lose everything. I have not been working very hard on my handwriting as I have been trying for the past 6 years but I have not improved so there is no point anymore.

Report Card

I was fairly pleased with my report card last semester. I got 6s or 7s in the classes that I enjoy and find interesting, but I got 4s and 5s in the classes that I found hard. I need to work harder in the classes where I got satisfactory marks and at the same time improve my skills in the classes that I got good marks in.

English Book Trailer

1) How do both use statistics to communicate information? Do you think they are effective…why or why not?

Statistics give us an accurate and precise answer. I think they are effective because they are not that long and you can compare and contrast really easily with other statistics.

2) How do both both use images and/or animation to communicate information?  Do you think they are effective…why or why not?

We use images and and/or animation to create infographics. Infographics are effective because they present information visually and many people are visual learners. Infographics are also eye catching and eye candy.

3) How does the message of Hans Rosling relate to the issues being discussed in the 7 Billion videos?

They both talk about the growth and development about the world and how the population grew to 7 billion.

4) What are your initial thoughts/feeling/concerns about these two videos?

I think that they are very informative and they show very effectively how the world grew.

“The Bat” by Theodre Roethke is a poem that I would suggest for readers looking for a short and simple poem, with not too deep of a meaning to it. This poem is number 12 on the Poetry 180 list of poems, and is one of the shorter poems in the collection. The title is straight forward and hides no obvious hidden meaning, and the poem is the same. However, the poem can be interpreted in various ways, and holds a slightly mysterious atmosphere to it.

In the first stanza, the bat is compared to the mouse, and the similarities between the two. In the poem, the bat and the mouse are supposedly connected and that “By day the bat is cousin to the mouse”. The bat is described as enjoying “the attic of an aging house”. There is rhyme in the poem, with each stanza being a couplet. For example, “mouse” and “house”, and “head” and “dead”. This creates the effect of giving the poem a rhythm and a songlike feel to it. Imagery is also used; an example is “the attic of an aging house”.

I have two interpretations to this poem. My first interpretation is that the author of this poem, Theodre Roethke, is a shy and not very sociable person. The bat could be a metaphor for the writer. In the first stanza, “He likes the attic of an aging house” could mean that the author does not enjoy going outside and engaging with people, but would rather stay at home alone. “His fingers make a hat about his head” could signify the concept that the writer is ashamed and embarrassed about his looks and tries to hide himself from people. The last two stanzas,

But when he brushes up against a screen,
We are afraid of what our eyes have seen:

For something is amiss or out of place
When mice with wings can wear a human face.

, could conclude that when the author makes a mistake and embarrasses himself in public, other people become shocked or even frightened.

My second interpretation of the poem is how movies have painted bats in a negative light. Many movies include human blood sucking vampire bats, but the reality is that only a small portion of the bat population are vampire bats and they are hardly ever found feeding on humans.

The first stanza could refer to the fact that in movies, bats are usually not active during the day and don’t pose a lot of threat. The second stanza adds on, suggesting that the bat is so inactive during the day, that it is often mistaken for being dead. The third stanza concludes with the message that once night arrives, the bat becomes alive and ferocious.

The last two stanzas convey the meaning that when a person encounters a bat, they become afraid; the sentence “We are afraid of what our eyes have seen” describes this. “For something is amiss or out of place When mice with wings can wear a human face.” brings the meaning that bats spark fear in the human mind.

When I read the poem, I just like to take it as its literal meaning: the bat. But some readers may dwell into the more mysterious and even sinister meanings of the poem. I think that it’s simply more enjoying to just skim the meaning a bit, and focus on what the poem actually says.