Benjamin Franklin

     In 1771, Benjamin Franklin began to write the first section of his own autobiography when he was sixty five years old. An autobiography is a life history written by the person who experienced it first-hand.  The specific section we are currently focusing on, is the time that Franklin had an epiphany about how he expects to live for the rest of his life. The speaker is Benjamin Franklin, when he was just seventeen years old and decided that he wanted to do something better with his life. The occasion is his life and takes place in the year 1723. The subject in his autobiography is moral perfection  and it mainly deals with self-improvement. The audience is for anyone who is willing to read about Franklin's life and his accomplishments. Benjamin Franklin provides us with a record  of his many achievements and an understanding of his exraordinary character. Throughout his entire writings, his tone is informative, descriptive, and practical. This is different from many other stories becuase he is not writing to persuade, he is simply writing for whoever would enjoy reading it.

     Benjamin Franklin realized at a young age that if you wish to become better, you also have to work it. As a result of this he created the thirteen virtues, which are temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility. To work on becoming better at each of these virtues, Benjamin Franklin also created a sort of a chart to help him keep track of how much progress he was making. Each virtue had a different meaning, for example temperance meant not to eat or drink to point where we are full and feeling lousy, but silence meant not to waste any time talking about irrelevant topics, but instead talk about subjects that are beneficial for everyone. One other aspect of his virtues is that people may also define them differently. Benjamin Franklin wrote three other sections in autobiography later in his life, but he was only to write up until 1759.

France...

     One of the best countries to go for a visit is France. Paris, the capital of France, is known as one world's famous tourists sites and thousands of people visit France every year, whether it's for a businees trip, honeymoon, or a family vacation. The best part of France is that you can even go visit other bordering Eurpoean countries by train, such as Italy and the Netherlands and return back to France at the end of the day. The first time I entered this country was in the summer of 2005 and I still remember all the amazing historical sites that we visited, especially the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower is best known as being one of France's most attractive monuments. It is made up of three floors and you have the option of using the stairs or the elevator. On the second floor, is a fancy restaurant and right next it a small souvenir shop. Not to mention, you can see the entire city of Paris. The best part of France is at night, when the Eiffel Tower's lights are all lit up and you can even gaze at them while your eating dinner on the river.

My Favorite Ice Cream Flavor

   Probably one of the greatest ice cream flavors in this world is chocolate chip cookie dough. I find this flavor to be one of the best because it has vanilla, cookie dough, and chocolate all in one ice cream. Who doesn't like chocolate in their ice cream? During our childhood we all have endured ourselves with different flavors of ice cream and up until now there is still the flavor chocolate chip cookie dough. To me, this specific type of ice cream and has somewhat become a part of my childhood. Every time I take a bite out of it I feel like a kid again and reminds of my days when i was only a child. Whether it be in a bowl or in a cone, chocolate chip cookie dough will always give me that same warm  feeling. Chocolate chip cookie dough is the best to eat when on a hot sunny day. Why would you eat anything else? This is a combination of the best ice cream flavors, chocolate and vanilla put into one flavor and topped off with pieces of cookie dough for a little bit of a extra sweet taste.

"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"

     Written and preached by Jonathan Edwards, "Sinner in the Hands of an Angry God" is more or a less a sermon given mainly for the purpose to persuade the colonists into being better Christians. It can also be said that this was a speech that took about six hours in a small tent, crowded with colonists. Although, the tone of the speech was meant to be persuasive, Jonathan Edwards gave his speech in a calm tone and rarely made eye contact with the audience. He distanced himself purposely from the speech and that way the colonist's attention was on the imagery of God's wrath. Throughout the entire speech, Edwards focused only on the consequences of not being a good Christian, rather than the positive aspects of being one. The main reason Edwards did this was because he believed that the best way to persuade the colonists was to overcome them with fear. In his speech, Edwards was able to achieve this by using persuasive techniques, such as emotional also known as ethos and imagery. One of the many examples he preached is that we are all hung on a string over a pit of Hell and the only reason we are alive is because of the mere pleasure of God holding us up. 

     Other images of wrath in which he uses is the picture that if we were to fall, there will be nothing to hold us back up and God decides when He is going let go of the string. Jonathan Edwards also explains that all our sins are a metaphor to the "great waters" and the more we sin, the greater the amount of water becomes and eventually there will be nothing holding back the flood gates. He also uses the rhetorical device, which is repetition by emphasizing on the fact that we are all nothing which Edwards also used to purposely frighten the colonists. At one point during the speech, Edwards has a shift in tone and preaches a little bit about the positive aspect of being a good Christian, but then he immediately he goes back to explaining that there is no mercy and those who are considered sinners will suffer in their own vessel of wrath. Basically, what Edwards did was that he gave the colonists a little bit of hope but then he took it away. One other imagery he uses is that we are bent arrows and on a bow and that we get exactly what we deserve. The purpose of this speech was to persuade the colonist and to also inspire the listeners. One major positive aspect he explains is that those who are listening to his sermon are given a second chance. Edwards gave this entire speech in a calm and boring tone.

"Mission Update"

         The story I have chose for this week's blog is "Mission Update", who's speaker is astronaut Steve Squyres. This particular story is about exploration in space, specifically on the planet Mars. The familiarity about this story and the last is that they are both about exploring a 'new world', but instead of writing down information to gain riches, Squyres is simply writing to inform the reader, which is also the purpose of the story. Another big difference is that he is blogging from space and is expressing his emotions and opinions about what he is experiencing at that moment. The tone he is uses throughout the entire story is happiness and excitement. This is also a first-hand account and he is blogging his narrative in modern day chronological order. His blog post  starts off with him expressing enthusiasm about seeing the Victoria Crater. One important event in this blog, is the landing of Opportunity on Victoria Crater.
         As the story continues, he writes about the rover taking picture one by one as it slowly moves to another location throughout the crater. Another extraordinary event, is when he blogs that Mars will be hidden behind the sun known as "superior conjuction" and that will cause it to be extremely difficult to communicate with NASA Officials on Earth. The occasion takes place in 2006 during the landing on Mars and they have decided that after the conjuction they will move on to Cape Verde for new pictures. At first, they had planned to explore both Cape Verde and Capo Frio, but after comparing them together they decided that Cape Verde is the better choice. The main audience of this story is the world since he isn't writing for one specific person, he's writing for everyone to see his blog. Throughout the story, Steve Squyres main subject is about the landing of Opportunity and life on Mars. The reason I have chosen this specific story is because unlike the other stories we have read, he isn't writing down information to persuade or to gain something in return. On the contrary, he's writing it all down for anyone who has the chance to read his blog and learn what goes on in the planet of Mars.

"Upgrade Urged on Children's Privacy"

        In today's world, technology has become a major part of our lives. Through the decades it has reached a point where many of us have already become dependent on it, especially young children. The article "Update Urged on Children's Privacy", written by Somini Sengupta and published in the New York Times discusses about the growing number of children using cellphones and social networking to communicate with one another. According to this article, the Federal Trade Commission proposed that certain changes and regulation should be put on online privacy considering children under the age of thirteen. The FTC has also suggested that web sites that collect information be ensured that they will protect it and hold onto it for as long as it is necessary, then proceed to safely delete it. One other major issue that the FTC has brought to light, is enforcement on social networking sites. For example, Facebook is only limited to people of a certain age, but children can easily lie about their age. Because of this, a Facebook official has informed parents that it is better to teach their children to be safe online instead of having them offline.
        I believe this article to be extremely important considering that the new generation is becoming more and more exposed to technology and are making it a part of their lives. As more children began to use the social media, the more they become exposed to online criminals and pedophiles pretending to be their age. It is not difficult at all to create a fake profile and children are being easily fooled by this. Another big concern on the internet is cyber bullying. Other children who normally wouldn't say certain words in real life find it easier to say it online, behind a computer. Cyber bullying is dangerous in many ways, such as lowering one's self esteem and in extreme cases can even be fatal. This issue continues to grow today and many actions are being taken place to handle it, including the improvement on children's safety online. Since computers are becoming such a huge part of children's daily lives it's also important to make sure they are safe and protected.

"A Journey Through Texas"

       "A Journey Through Texas" is a a first hand account of the travels in the Americas by the Spanish written by explorer, Alvar Nunez Cabaza de Vaca. Cabaz de Vaca is the speaker of the story and as he continues to travel in this new area, he is writing down all of his experiences and the surroundings he is seeing in his journal. The purpose of this journal is to gather information and to also inform the Queen of Spain about the land there and in return gain money and gold. Since he is the one narrating, the story is told in chronological order. It begins with him being led by two Native American women on their way to another Indian tribe. For the most part, the tone is informative and descriptive, but the tone soon changes as he becomes angry at the women. After finding out that the women did what he said because of fear, he began to feign his anger in order to have a certain control over them. Later though, the tone seemed to change back to being informative. The main subject of the journal was exploration and knowledge.
      Throughout the journey, the Indians started to catch the diseases brought by the Spanish and began dying. Cabaz de Vaca used this to his advantage and wrote down emphasis on God because Spain's state religion was Catholicism and also wrote about the importance of religious values. He wrote how he and the rest of the exploreres prayed to God and the Indians' illnesses began to heal. This was also an important part in the story because it showed that the Spanish were already influencing the Indians. Eventually, they reached a new Indian tribe and he noticed that this certain tribe has permanent houses and ate normal food. He especially took note how friendly and helpful they were. This became new and important information because it would show the King and Queen that they were building trust with the Native Americans. Later, they continued their journey and ended up in a another tribe that had great quantities of resources that could be useful for the Spanish. Overall, the story was non-fiction and based only on history.

"Anti-cancer Virus Shows Promise"

    The following article "Anti-cancer Virus Show Promise" is written by James Gallgher and loacted in BBC News.  An outbreak in recent studies has show that a particular virus, known as JX-594 has the ability to target cancer cells and replicate within them. Scientists are now creating a modified version of this virus into a vaccine and already begun conducting experiments. A small trial was taken place on twenty three patients where they were injected with the engineered virus and it proved a medical first for scientists. The results showed that the virus selectively targeted tumors leaving the healthy tissue unscathed. According to Professor John Bell from Ottawa, that this is the first time a viral therapy has shown to directly select tumors and consistently replicate.Research has also showed that much like the smallpox vaccine is used to treat millions of people, this vaccine can be done as well in the same manner. Although, the research is still in its early stages, scientists are still optimistic that this experiment would turn out successful and hopefully change the way cancers are treated in the future.

     I believe this article is important for societies around the world and for future generations to come. In today's societies, one of the main diseases that we face today is cancer. Several treatments have been created and improvements are constantly being made, but unfortunately no cure has yet been found. The virus itself is not a cure, but studies are constantly showing that it is preventing the growth of tumors, even the hard-to-treat cancers. The most important characteristic of this virus, is that the infection only selects tumor of all kinds and leaves the healthy tissues alone. Studies are still being conducted on this new virus and experiments are currently being conducted, but hopefully one day scientists will be able to create a successful and safe vaccine in the future. I also find this article to be extremely helpful and provide us with an abundant amount of information on what advancements are being made in cancer studies. If the experiments keep showing promising responses to the patients, then chances will grow larger and new oppurtinities will be made. Continuous research on this virus will one day bring a successful vaccine and future generations will one day be prevented from cancer by a simple shot.

My Favorite Book

My favorite book is definitely Kite Runner for many reasons. Firstly, I love how the author wrote it in simple words, but has deep meanings into it also. The narration throughout the book had an emotional tone to it and made me feel like the story was happening to me. I also love the characters in the book, especially Hassan because no matter what happened he was always a good friend and loyal to Amir. Kite Runner is also my favorite book because it can be related to real life, such as when Amir made mistakes when he was a child and how his dad lied to him about Hassan. I also love this book because of all the emotions each characters express and how the author was able to make them feel as if they are real. This book is also my favorite because even though many parts were very emotional it ended with a happy ending. My favorite part in the whole book is Hassan's letter to Amir because of how throughout the years Hassan was still like the loyal child he was back then.