Passion Project Update

I think my project is for the most part on pace. I have already recorded several things/events, and am looking into different video editing software. The only problem I face is deciding what I should or should not record, and actually finding things that are worth it (I don't want my project to be several minutes of boring video footage). But for the most part, I believe I am on track. I believe my project is also morphing from just daily life, to mostly certain events, as well as things that take up a lot of my time. By the end of the allotted time, I should have a decent  amount of recording done for a video (Im not sure how long it will end up being )

127 hours

"There is no force more powerful than the will to live" is the tagline of the terrific movie 127 Hours. I believe, after watching this movie, and hearing about other situations like this, that it is 100% true. When faced with a near-death situation, people are able to go against the odds to survive.
I really enjoyed the movie 127 Hours. It was filmed really well, making his hallucinations seem as trippy as they were, as well as being able to recreate the actual recording that Aron Ralston had made when he was trapped. Between the way the movie was filmed, the good acting, and the gripping story, I really enjoyed it. It was very inspirational regarding the constant drive this guy had to survive. This movie was able to perfectly portray the quote above. there really is no force more powerful than the will to live, as shown by Aron Rolston.

Dasani (no not the water bottle)

Recently we read a 5 part series on the NY Times, which was centered around the life of Dasani, a young girl living through a rough life in New York. She's a member of a large homeless family, that suffers from generational poverty. Although they are able to live in shelters, that does not just automatically they are okay. Living in a family with 7 other siblings, and 2 parents who are constantly on and off addicted to drugs. After reading this story, I feel....well.... kind of disturbed about the variations of life. Coming from a middle class family, its easy to take things for granted, and constantly expect more when looking at the glamorous life style of celebrities, athletes, and wealthy business owners. However, these things we want are larger paychecks, bigger TVs, faster cars, and even bigger homes than the ones we already have. But these children grow up with different ideas. They want parents that aren't addicted to drugs, ones that are constantly there for them, and being able to have enough food and clothes to make it through the year comfortably. Many of us no doubt feel selfish, having what they want, and only asking for more.

After reading this piece, I'm interested to find out what has happened to Dasani and her family in the time since this was published. Are they still in Harlem? Are both parents still clean? Are they at least making the best of what they have? Although we may all say we don't want people to be homeless, it's more sincere when we learn a persons background first.

I couldn't help but notice some similarities between Dasani's life, and my life, as well as the lives of others kids my age. Dasani is portrayed as the person who always wants to do the best she can, and is disappointed in herself when she can't.  I feel the same way in many situations, when it comes to academics and athletics.

If i could say something to Dasani, it would be to keep going strong. Dasani is a gifted athlete, and smart girl. If she can keep working hard over the next several years, her dream of going to college will no doubt be achieved. I mean scholarships are always available to people who prove themselves. And from there, the comfortable life she deserves.

Beasts of the Southern Wild

I think that the film "Beasts of the Southern Wild" was over all a good movie. All though it seems confusing at times, or you might not understand it, by that's all part of what makes it better. The movie was able to get heavy messages across, ones that aren't touched on that much today, where most people judge happiness on the amount of wealth you have, or the class of society that you live in. But this movie was able to get across that life can be enjoyed and valued even in low class areas, by families that don't have much money, and by people who don't have the best opportunities available to them. Also, this movie also taught a lot about a sense of community, something that most of us no longer have. The people in this movie love their town, and stayed behind during the storm because of that. They worked together to rebuild, and help each other mourn the deaths of family and neighbors. We can learn a lot from this movie, about community, empathy, and appreciation for what we do have, not what we wish we have. We can live like the people in The Bathtub who "have more holidays than anyone else in the world". But more importantly we can take what Hushpuppy said to heart. We are all just "tiny pieces in a big, big universe". No one is that more important than anyon else. We all have our roles to play in the world, and we all need to do them.
I think this movie ties in perfectly to our unit, Humanity. When we are asked  "What does it mean to be human?" I think our answers can be influence by this movie. Because of this movie, I can think part of being human is to have empathy, a sense of community, and to be grateful for what we have. These are all important things that if people live by them, we could all have a better life.

Passion Project Update

So far, my passion project is at about the mid way point. I've been working on researching the parts of the brain that automatically correct mistakes, or allow us to see things the way we do. The obstacles i find are not understanding most of the solid research that i can find, and needing to look up more, to just understand the first thing. What i need to do over the next 8 passion project days is really push my self to work diligently on finding and comprehending my research, and finding a way to present it. I also want to find examples of things that our brain automatically corrects, to show the class. i think i will be able to accomplish this all on time.

Myers-Briggs Personality Test

Recently our class took a personality test, the Myers-Briggs one to be specific. My results tell me I am an ESTP type. The ESTP type bears this description:

 "Flexible and tolerant, they take a pragmatic approach focused on immediate results. Theories and conceptual explanations bore them – they want to act energetically to solve the problem. Focus on the here-and-now, spontaneous, enjoy each moment that they can be active with others. Enjoy material comforts and style. Learn best through doing."

I think this is very accurate. I cant learn well if I'm just sitting at a desk listening to a lecture. I find it easier to do it, as well as have a fun, laid back environment. I also like to enjoy the moment, and hate when i have to think ahead and worry about things in the future.

The information i could get from the test can help me understand others, because i can have access to how their personalities blend with mine. Since there are 16 personality types, that means there's at least 16 ways to interpret or do something. I could learn about the different personalities so I could interact better with more people.

This can also help answer the question "What does it mean to be human?". This makes me believe that there might not be a specific answer to this question. If there are 16 different personality types, then there are 16 different types of people and they all act and think differently. This just farther proves how humanity is natural diverse and how everyone is unique.

Joyas Voladoras

After reading Joyas Voladoras, I as well as others in my G&T class believe that in can help us answer the question "What does it mean to be human?". In the writing piece, Brian Doyle discusses the different sizes of hearts and their paces among the different creatures on earth. However, there's a deeper meaning to it as well. While not all hearts are the same size, or beat the same amount of times in our lives, all hearts do have a similarity. Whether large or small, hearts can all hold so may important events and emotions in them. All hearts will hold good and bad things, and any number of them, and this is not affected by the size of the heart, or the pace it beats. So why does being human have to be something physical? if we can all experience the same things despite different physical characteristics, then that should mean the question "What does it mean to be human?" can be answered with not just physical explanations, but emotional, mental, and philosophical ones as well.

My favorite line from Joyas Voladoras  was "So much held in a heart in a lifetime. So much held in a day, an hour, a moment"

What does it mean to be human?

What does it mean to be human?
To be human is to:
feel emotion towards yourself and others
To be able to think freely
to be able to choose your own path
to enjoy the time you spend here, not hate your life
to be able to contribute to something and make a difference

2nd google 20%

For my google 20% this time around, i am going to be writing a book that is similar to Red Dawn. Possible obstacles i could face are whether or not i would be able to finish in time. Possible consultants for this are history?English Teachers, so i could ask about writing a book and info about foreign countries.

Terri Schiavo Case Study assignment

Beginning in 1998, Terri Schiavo was in coma, or a long-term unconsciousness. She stayed in that state until her death in 2005. However, this brought about one of the biggest court debates in history, a debate which spread into the media and the minds of everyone in the country. The question everyone was asking themselves and each other? should the plug be pulled on Terri Schiavo, or should she be kept alive, whether she recovers or not? Her husband claimed that she would want the plug pulled, and her parents wanted her kept alive. In the end, the plug was pulled on her, and Terri Schiavo died. However, that debate continues to rage today, and seems to leek into similar cases as well.
  
In my opinion I believe that it was not justified to pull the plug on Terri Schiavo. Although it is true that she could not due much to benefit herself or society, she was still alive. She was starting to recover a bit by bit, but she was never given the chance to fully recover because of her husband. Her husband did not allow her to take certain medications or go to physical therapy. Also her husband kept her in bad living conditions as well. He did not allow visitors or gifts unless approved by him. Also, there were also things such as therapy dogs that he would not allow to visit her either. Finally, he was just a terrible husband in general. While she was in the coma, he already had a new girlfriend (they are married now) and based on doctor observations on her body, he may have beaten her as well.

Its is not justified to have pulled the plug on Terri Schiavo, because she was still alive, and could have recovered if she was given the proper "tools" and "environment" to do so. I believe it is not right to allow someone to die if you know you can help them. That is why I believe it was not justified to allow her to die.

Question I'm answering? 2. PERSONHOOD: Is Terri Schiavo still a person? Is she the same person?

Terri Schiavo was, no is, still a person. Simply because you die, or you find your self in a situation like hers, do you lose every aspect about you? Does your personality, goals, accomplishments, and everything like that simply get "erased" from history? Does every single person alive now forget you ever existed at all. The answer is no. However, Terri Schiavo is not the same person. But she is still a person, some might say she is a new whole new person. 

Sources:
http://rense.com/general63/mmr.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terri_Schiavo_case
http://www.patientsrightscouncil.org/site/schiavo-facts/
info told to me by other students in my class after they researched the same topic during class discussion.

Reflections and Resoluions (little late but here it is)

Reflections:
2012 was a pretty good year for me. I started my first year of high school  It's been going pretty well so far. The cross country team i was on won divisional  and went all the way to competing in the state competition  Also, I SURVIVED 12/21/12!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #YOLO!!!!!!But moving on past me, the year had some great things. The 2012 Olympics came and went, with the U.S getting the most gold, and most medals over all (BOO YA GO AMERICA GUESS WE'RE NOT ALL THAT FAT)......there are of course other great things, check them out here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYopqtXMSwY

I learned a lot from 2012. I learned that high school isn't like the movies, i learned that some people do sick things, whether because of a brain disorder or not. I've seen people push themselves to the point of breaking  to be the best they can be. To be the best in the world at what they do. But I've also learned that the world can come together, whether through sports (Olympics), mourning (sandy hook), or just trying to have a little bit of fun (gangnam style)!

Resolutions? no way.....
I'm entirely against new years resolutions. Why should people need an excuse like new years to start doing something new, like stay in shape, or do well in school? People should be doing that stuff all the time. Also, i barely ever see anyone who actually keeps their resolution, some people do it for 2-3 weeks tops, before they just don't care any more.

The DNA Dilemma

Recently we have read a article from TIME magazine in our G&T class. This article was all about something pretty amazing, but maybe a little too amazing? This article talked about genetic testing,and what it can do for us. Did you know, that for $7,500, you can figure out if you or your child will have cancer, Alzheimer's disease, or anything else, years before the symptoms will become present. Imagine, being able to tell what diseases newborn baby will have, 70 years from now. Of course, that can be scary, especially if there's no cured for said disease. So the question we must ask ourselves is should we know these facts, and if yes, how much info should we know about it.

There can be many opinions on this. If I were to be given this test and a doctor found out I had a disease, but it was impossible to cure, I would want to know. If I new I could have the possibility of dying at any random time, I would live my life to the fullest. Some might argue that if there was no cure, they would not want to know.

If there was a cure, I would obviously want to know if I had the disease.

If I was a doctor, or some type of physician, I would be tell the patient anything, unless it would cause them more harm. This idea comes from the hippocratic oath that all doctors take. This basically means that you should tell the patients everything, unless telling them something would do something to them that would make things worse (mental trauma)

What do you guys think? Reply with your opinions below.......

The ethic of social media after death

Recently we have been researching what happens to a persons online identity after they are dead. Many people, including my self, do not consider what will happen to their online identity after they die. An online identity is the imprint you leave on the internet, whether a social network profile,  blog, or things like that. The major question is, what will happen to it when I'm gone?

There were many videos and article we watched, such as After you're final status update, and cyber space when you're dead. In this we learned of stories of people who had died, and what had happened to their online identity. One person i read about was Mac Tonnie, of posthuman blues. After he died, his blog was left, unchanged, so others could view it. People also made memorial pages, such as Post-Mac Blues. As you can see, an online identity lives on, and never truly dies. However, many have a problem with it. Some want laws that will decide the fate of someone online identity. Others want an identity to be untouched. There are also the people who wish the fate of an online identity is left to family.

In my opinion, the online identity should be left untouched, or for the family to decide. I do not really care what would happen to my online identity, for one major reason. I'm dead. It would not matter, nor would it affect me. All i ask for, is that people would remember me for how i was

Google 20% Project

For my 20% project, I'm going to research lacrosse some of the topics I want to address are 

• The original game of lacrosse
• Misconceptions
• how it's changed 
• Popularity
• What you do in lacrosse

I will need a computer, Internet access, a camera, possibly a library, and I plan on using my lacrosse sticks for pictures.

The only roadblock I can foresee is maybe there is not a lot of info about old lacrosse, but there will most likely been enough.

People I can ask?

Lacrosse coaches

History teachers

There is a store near my house that sells native american things. I can ask them to see if they know anything

This is my video

Chris Langan

I believe that Chris Langan is very successful. Although he was unable to go to college, and therefore not taking very seriously in the science community, he is still the smartest man in the U.S.A. Also, he has been able to make kim self happy, and succeed more than many other people. Currently, he lives on a farm with his wife, and raises animals. Although some people may say he can do more with his potential, that may not be necessary. I believe success is a matter of opinon, and if he did what he wanted to do, then he IS successful. I think that if you accomplished your goals, no matter what they are, then you are successful.
Fun Fact? Chris' IQ measures between 195 and 210, which is currently the highest in the U.S.A. 

The Kindergarten Debate

Currently we are reading the book "Outliers" in G&T. At a part we are at, we are debating whether it is good or bad to hold your kids back a year when starting kindergarten, based on their age. We read an article named "Delay Kindergarten at Your Child's  Peril" alongside our book, so we can see to sides to the argument..

 I disagree with the idea in the article about how a child starting kindergarten late can have a negative impact on them. I believe that the "Outliers" is correct in the view it states. Matthew Gladwell says that most children who start school late will have it better, because being the older children in the grade, they will appear to be smarter, and therefore get more attention. This is the same as what happens in sports, when because a child is bigger and stronger, coaches assume they are just better. The name of this is "accumulative advantage". I believe that if you are older, and start when you are older, you will be able to comprehend things easier, which will give you a major jump start.

The article about how children would do worse overall if they start late does makes good points though. One, is the observations that they observed. They say "In a class of 25, the average difference is equivalent to going from 13th place to 11th. This advantage fades by the end of elementary school, though, and disadvantages start to accumulate. In high school, red shirted children are less motivated and perform less well. By adulthood, they are no better off in wages or educational attainment — in fact, their lifetime earnings are reduced by one year." This means that although the older children will start off better, they will fall farther and farther behind as time goes on. They also say this will have an effect on their financial success in life.

All in all, I believe that it would be better if a child starts late, because i think that Matthew Gladwell's idea of accumulative advantage would be in place. This would make their time in school more successful and, in turn, their chances at a more successful future would be higher.

All About Being Gifted Post

Myths of Being Gifted 

(from familyeducation.com)
Myth 1: Gifted students don't need any help
Truth 1: Gifted students will need help. Usually gifted students are gifted in one area, and might be bad in another. For example, I'm good at history and language arts, but I'm bad at things like science and math. I usually ask for help in those classes. 
(From nagc.com) Myth 2: Academically gifted students are socially awkward nerds that do nothing but do calculus and read Shakespeare for fun
Truth 2: This is not true. Every single person in my gifted class has multiple friends, does sports (or some other extracurricular such as theater or an instrument), and most don't even like school work. 
(From nagc.com)
Myth 3: All children are gifted
Truth 3: No, not all children are gifted. While some might argue, there are many kids that don't have talent. Many kids will end up going through there life being mediocre, especially if they never find something that they might be good at.

Ups and Downs of Being Gifted

(From byrdseed.com) There are many ups and downs to being gifted. The first one is that although you will be advanced in a certain area, many gifted students end up lacking in another area. For example, usually do well in history, and find it very interesting, but then when it comes to math I find it hard to concentrate and although i do well, i am not excelled in this area. The second up/down is that although you may be able to process info, many might not be able to handle it because a lot of gifted students also develop emotionally slower than other kids.This means that although you can understand the info , you might not be able to handle it, and you could easily over react/become very upset.For example last year, when learning about the Holocaust, many kids became easily upset, because they could comprehend the basis of the information so well. The third and final up/down is that many children might be too gifted for their age level, and there motor mechanics are too poor for their age. One example is if you are a 7 year old, highly intelligent, but have awful handwriting, he would marked down on grades, because teachers don't like his handwriting.

First rogate post

Name: James (people call me JJ)
Grade: 9th
Favorite school subjects: History, Lunch, Gym.
Favorite topics: Lacrosse, cross country (distance running), war, movies, video games.
Free time spent: playing video games, watching movies, running, practicing lacrosse, sleeping.
Future job: buisness owner/teacher
Happy: being with friends

Rogate Last Post of the Year

My favorite part of ROGATE was my table that I worked at.
My favorite unit was Google 20% project, because it was really fun and we got to have freedom to research.
Blogs can be used more efficiently if we use them more often, and it was mandatory ro post/ comment a certain amount of times per week.
The thing i will miss the most about middle school are my teachers and the cafeteria.
What do we get to do now that we couldn't do before?
I plan on hanging out a lot with my friends that are not going to Northern, and spending time at my beach house.


Signing off for a couple months atleast
-JJ

Kickstarter Project

Kickstarter, what I would spend my $500 on:

The first thing would be the product Laser app tag, and I would pledge $120. This means I would get 4 laser app tags for a discounted price. You can attach them to nerf guns, and use the nerf guns as laser tag guns. It is like a real world video game! The camera on the device transmits the image and aiming reticule onto the screen, and by moving the gun around, the aiming reticule moves too.

The second thing I would donate money to is $240 to the Pebble. If I donate this amount, I get two Pebbles in any color.
This product is a very special watch. This watch can be customized with several different screens, has very useful app (such as timers and pedometers) and can connect wireless to iphone/android. This watch is also very sleek and nice looking. I would love to buy this watch.

The third and final thing i would donate my remaining $160 to is the production of the video game "Zombie Playground". It is going to be a video game, with the setting in a school. You play as children in the school, who are fighting to survive. Because of the amount I am donating, I would get a special pair of shoes for my character in the game, ones that will help me in the dark, as well as every single prize before this too.

Laser app tag:
  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jonatherton/apptag-laser-blaster?ref=live

Pebble:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android?ref=live

Zombie playground:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/massiveblack/zombie-playground-zpg-3d-action-online-battle-rpg?ref=live