John's School Work Thread

Well, I just want to share some of my homework with somebody. I'll post many things on here from time to time. First thing is a summary of a movie we watched in World History.

Islam in America

Today, the word Islam is associated with terror but, Islam’s true meaning is submission to the will of Allah (God). The reason why people put terror and Islam together is because Islamic extremists believe that they are doing the will of Allah by reeking havoc in the world. Islam isn’t the only religion with extremists there are also Jewish extremists, Christian extremists, and many others. We only hear about the Islamic ones because of the war on terror. Not all Islam’s are extremists though; the majority of Islam’s are regular day people.

Muslims are a growing number among Americans and other nationalities. It is said that there are 1 billion Muslims in the world today and 3-6 million of those Muslims are in America. Islam spread quickly when it first came around and it continues to do so today. The Muslims in the world aren’t all Arabs; like most people think. Most Muslims are Arabs but, they can also be Americans, Japanese, and Africans.

The pray of Muslims is a ritual that’s performed five times everyday. Pray is an important part of the Islamic religion and it’s very particular. A sacred cleaning takes place before any pray is performed. Women aren’t allowed to pray with men and they must wear modest clothing during pray. The five prays are all done facing Mecca and aren’t required to be done in a Mosque; except on Fridays when men are required to go to a Mosque for afternoon pray.

When the holy month of Ramadan begins all children above the age of seven must fast, abstaining from food or drink. Also, men that are able financially, physically, and mentally must perform a Hajj, a trip to the holy city to Mecca to see the Kaaba. The Quran is very strict about the five pillars including the trip to Mecca but, the most important part of being a Muslim is faith; faith in the will of Allah.

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"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza

very interesting...thanks for sharing with us...

Cool, John! Thanks for the info.

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Review: Cabin in the Woods 8/10

thats intersting. where do u go to school? are u in IB or AP?

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"An Eye for an eye makes the whole world blind"
-Ben Kingsley, GHANDI

"Snozberries taste like snozberries"

What?

I think Hellboy is asking if your taking it as an AB core class (non-honors, high school level) or an AP (advanced placement, college level for college credit) class. If your taking AP world you so have to let me know, so when the AP tests roll around I can have an online study buddy.

The cover article in this weeks edition of Time is 'The Struggle within Islam', a pretty in-depth report on the subject. Might be a nice thing to pick up and bring up in class. See if they have it on their website though first.

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I am moved by fancies that are curled
Around these images, and cling:
The notion of some infinitely gentle
Infinitely suffering thing.
T.S Eliot, "Preludes"

You think its a good idea to start a Homework Help Thread or something, people on MoFo help teenagers like me with our Homework, if were stuck on math problems or something.

I'm in AB class. I'm not smart.

why do u say that, u sound like a smart guy. but im afrais that it is all about IB!!! thats even higher than AP. John, where do u go to school?

How in the hell can you take a class higher than an AP? I am pretty well-versed in the education system (at least here in Cali), and as far as I am aware you cannot take a class in high school that is 'higher' than an AP. There are of course AP's that are more challenging than others. But in high school taking an AP is taking a college course for college credit. The many benefits to AP's include a weighted GPA, and weather you pass the test or not, you can get enough college credits to jump a year or two ahead in under-graduate school. Unless you mean like actually going to a college or community college and taking college course's while in high school, which some people do because the AP they want isn't offered, then I have no clue what an IB class is. I guess you could be talking about something like the John's Hopkin Center for Talented Youth program, which allows kids to take the SATS early on and go and take a specified two-four week class that deals with the students strengths based on their SAT score. But that's not a part of the public education system, for two weeks it's like 3000 bucks. SO Hellboy, what the hell is an IB class?

I go to a little school called William Byrd.

there is a thing called the IBO and it has higher standards and a harder curriculum than AP. i dont know if it has spread all the way out to cali but it is mostly a bunch smart ppl from all over the world that come together and make a hard curriculum and if u get an IB diploma harvard will let u in or yates or stanford. ne place will let u into their college if u have one. try googling "IBO"

****MAY BE DISTURBING TO SOME****

Why do the Muslim pray so often?


Also, I saw a documentary once on the islam religion and i must say how disturbing it was to see what the islam religion is like. They perform female circumsition (it was very graffic) for the reason to remove any sexual pleasure. The girls were lying there in extreme pain with blood all over while their mothers remove their cl*t*r*s. I guess sex is only suppose to be pleasurable for men???and only for having children??? Also, the women stay at home all day and are not aloud to work. Everything has to be followed by exact clockwork for the men...dinner must be ready on time etc. The men can go out with their buddies to the bar or wherever while the women HAVE TO stay home. The women must be with a male family member when they are outside. This is suppose to be for protection. The documentary focussed on a few women telling their stories and how they escaped. Doesn't this religion sound similar to a bad cult? Why do these women even want to be a part of this religion, and why don't they get out? I'd like to know if the whole islam religion is like this. I was raised Roman Catholic, and decided when i was able to get out of the religion and not practice. I found it a bunch of bull****. Although my family took it to the extreme.

I googled it, International Baccalaureate Organization is it's name and offering talented students higher education is it's game. My school here has a Baccalaureate program, but they don't have their own classes. I was going to apply but I didn't want to fill out the huge application form. They basically have to have high grades 4.0+ and show academic involvement. I have a few friends who are a part of it. We have other things in place of that here in Cali, although John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth is nation-wide

gummo, i agree. that s*** the promote about the women is a little weird. i mean let people live there own damn life let em do what they want. but about why dont they get out of it, the religion ahs made it so that they cant. if they cant have a social status and have no power, so it is hard for them to get out of it

I should of posted it before, but I wrote a paper on the influence of Islam in south asia a while ago and since it looks like you all were looking into that a week or so ago I thought maybe it would interest a few.

Like many other religions, Islam has had a profound impact on many people, but never since Christianity has any other religion had such a momentous impact on the world. Today the world news centers it’s attention around Islamic cultural hot spots, and the growing rate of global terrorism. Islam, however, was truly always a news maker, it began with a prophet who had blended his religion with other teachings. Never before had a religion become so ethnically diverse in such a short time, this diversity brought an on-set of back lash that the Muslims still
continue to fight. This was due partly to the Islamic expansion, Islamic armies pressed beyond the borders of Arabia, into the Mediterranean, West Africa, and the resource rich South Asia. Between 1000 CE to 1750 CE, Islam affected South Asia culturally, economically and politically; by having blended religious traditions, modern agriculture, and the creation of two Islamic Empires in South Asia alone.

It is rare that a culture could form out of a religion, but that has been the case with Islam. Islam started in a civilization that had already established many forms of organized religion. When Islam came around, it started off with small sects in and around Arabia. Once Islam started gaining popularity in South Asia it soon became apparent that some cultural boundries couldn’t be breeched. But the rapid immersion of South Asia into Islam made Islam an ethnically diverse religion, as people were converted they attached their ideas to the Koran. Islam became a unique blend of influence from Greece, India and Persia. Politically, Muslims were influenced by the Persians kingdom administration techniques which they adopted soon after they conquered Persia. The Hindi Numerals, from India, were a launching pad for Islam’s own Arabic numerals. The Greek philosophers and scientists started an interest in Muslims to find the divine truth of Islam. Even now the cultural cross between the many ethnicities of Islam has caused both harmony and disharmony in many countries. Cultural blending proved to be a huge factor in the adaptation of agriculture and communication in trade.

As the Islamic armies marched for conquest in the name of Allah, they spread throughout their new empires in south Asia many different types of plants and crops that would grow especially well in south Asia. This was extraordinarily important economically for South Asia, because it established the Islamic empires of Safavid and Mughal as huge trading powers in the ancient world. With a variety of crops these south Asian empires had a ton of export going on with very little imports, which meant they were mostly self-sufficient. A steady stream of agriculture of course meant larger population which in the end leads to a somewhat organized for of Government.

Politically, much has to be said about Islam not only in the world but in south Asia as well. In 1501, the Safavid Empire was born in what is now Turkey. They adapted the policy of administration the Persians had, and set the stage for the Mughal Empire in 1523. The leader of the Mongols was Zahir al-Din Muhammad, who in the first attempt to separate Islamic religious law and the government, went on a conquest and seized Delhi in northern India. The Mongol’s eventually claimed almost all of the Indian sub-continent. The deliberate ‘rebellion’ against religious wisdom in means of imperial conquest was just the beginning of increased tensions in Islam itself. A struggle that has continued to this very day and age.

EDIT: Reading that again to myself, it's a pretty crappy paper, but oh well.

you are very articulate.

I graduated with an IB diploma. I shook that program.

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Horror's Not Dead
Latest Movie Review(s): Too lazy to keep this up to date. New reviews every week.

Some good wrok John!

Here are my last two essays, they linmk together so will post both

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Glasgow 5th March 1971

The poem ‘Glasgow 5th March 1971’ By Edwin Morgan freeze frames a looting by two youths and explains the incident in fine detail. Throughout the poem Morgan unforgettably this harsh and violent incident, and in doing so makes the poem memorable for the reader. This essay will try to explain how he does this and what techniques he uses doing so.

In the first line Morgan sets the tone for the poem by creating strong visual impacts and emphasising how horrendous this crime was:
“With a ragged diamond/of shattered plate glass”
Morgan straight away uses a harsh plosive with the two gg’s in ragged. He does this to create a strong impact, and grip the reader for the rest of the poem. The poet then shows the force used to push the couple through the window by comparing the window to a diamond, which is obviously a very solid substance. He emphasises this point in the next line when he say’s shattered, suggesting there has been a violent blow for this damage to have been caused. But again the word is used as a strong visual impact, as you can here and see the window being shattered. This is done to hook the reader.

In addition to this Morgan then goes on to highlight the extent of the victim’s injuries:
“The young mans face/Is bristling with fragments of glass”
Morgan compares the stubble on a mans face after a period unshaved to this mans face which has thousands of thousands of shard of glass embedded in his skin. Morgan highlights this horrific image by using enjambment. He starts a new line with the information what has happened so that the reader has to pause before he can see what has happened to the man, to create some suspense. Once again Morgan highlights the amount of force used to propel the couple through the tough glass. For glass to be fixed firmly in the mans skin, the criminals must have used a tremendous amount of force.

However although the image of skin firmly fixed in a mans skin is alarming, it doesn’t compare to what Morgan puts the reader through in the next line:
“Spurts arterial blood”
The reader gets the image of blood forcefully coming out of the girl’s leg, similar to a fountain. Also “spurts” is quite a horrifying word with a harsh sound, again able to shock the reader. Because the image is so horrifying it is cemented into the reader’s brain. Arterial is also used cleverly as it shows a thick powerful stream of blood is a dark shade of red, which sows how serious the injury is. And also when it is an arterial blow, the blood spurts out at the beat of the heart, which means it starts and stops, which is a horrific scene to imagine. Because the girl’s life is in danger it generates sympathy from the reader, and therefore makes it memorable.

Likewise in the next paragraph, Morgan tries to make you feel empathy towards the young couple:
“Their arms are starfished out/braced for impact/their faces show surprise, shock/and the beginning of pain.”
Their arms starfished out is their natural reaction to the situation, but also identifies how helpless they are. They have no control over their body or the situation they are in. Also starfish are incapable of moving their arms, so when Morgan is comparing them, he shows the couple are inability to any movement. “Show surprise, shock” is also an alliteration, used to grip the reader at this moment. The last two lines in the quote shows the recognition of them attempting to comprehend the situation. Also all four lines are structured into one big sentence. Morgan does this to focus the reader’s attention onto the one section of the poem.

However Morgan drifts away from the poem to express his views on today’s society:
“The two youths who have pushed them/are about to complete the operation”
Youths is shocking to the reader because, although people like to believe it doesn’t happen, it was two youths who committed the heinous crime. Morgan wants to show that youths also commit these horrific crimes. But what makes the crime more shocking is that the two victims were also of a young age. Criminals no longer care what age the victim is, they only wish to obtain their valuables. Morgan nearly scares young readers into realising that these crimes can happen to them. Then in the next line Morgan again hits the reader with an unexpected blow. The word “operation” is effective because it demonstrates how this was planned rather than a spur of the moment attack. It also shows how cool and efficient the attackers were, which is equally frightening. Not only does it show the two are emotionless, it also suggests the two have experience in doing this. Operations are very bloody and messy, so when the attack is compared to one, it shows how the two victims could have been seriously hurt. But what is most frightening over these two lines is the lack of emotion Morgan uses. The two lines are similar to something you might find in a newspaper. Because he writes matter of factly it shocks the readers there is no emotive language which is expected in similar situations.

In the same way Morgan again expresses his views on today’s society:
“Their faces show no expression”
It is frightening to think anyone can be this callous, but for people so young it is particularly alarming. They don’t care about the injuries sustained to the victim they only care about obtaining something of value to them.

In conjunction with things said in previous lines Morgan makes a staggering statement about today’s society’s self centeredness:
“It is a sharp clear night/in Sauchiehall Street/in the background two drivers/keep their eyes on the road.”
Straight away Morgan makes sure the reader has no reason to justify the drivers keeping their eyes on the road. He says it is a clear visible night so the drivers could see with no problem. So when Morgan explains how the drivers paid no attention to what has happened, it shocks the reader. He wants to show that people don’t care nowadays society is rapidly on the decline. If this happened forty years ago people would have helped, but today people are too scared to do so.

In conclusion ‘Glasgow 5th March 1971’ describes a mugging by two youths in great detail. On numerous occasions he shocks the reader, and makes horrific moments stick in the reader’s memory. He does this with clever use of language and techniques. But in all this he finds time to show his views on today’s society.

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"It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf." - Walter Lippman

Is Today’s Society Self-Centred?

In the last century, society has gradually declined with each new generation. Many people have asked why, and the answer is simple, today’s society is self centred. When our nation looks at what the newspapers say everyday we are shocked by some horrific crime, or shooting where an innocent bystander is injured or killed for their possessions. I’m in no way saying that our society has hit rock bottom, but am merely saying that we have little care over anyone else other than ourselves. This essay will explain how our society is so self-centred with examples of our recent history.

There are many companies who are as guilty as Nike and Gap for exploiting vulnerable people and economies, so they can show large profits at the end of the year. Nike, Gap and all the other companies producing for us use these people because they are cheap. The situation will continue to shock us, in our comfortable homes and our cool clothes until we start looking beyond our own little self-centred worlds and changing our materialistic life-styles. We will go to the shops, and buy these clothes so we can keep up with fashion, but we will not give a second thought to how these clothes were made. Then when we go home we hear about how these large multi national companies have exploited third world companies on the news, and we feel sorry for these people and our conscious can be laying to rest. We believe this is enough, but blatantly it is not. Until we go out our comfortable houses and do something about it we have not done anything. Believe it or not us feeling sorry for these people does not help them in any way.

In addition to this there was the incident which happened on the West Gate Freeway. On Tuesday, September 16, a lone gunman barricaded himself inside his van after being pulled over by police on the West Gate Freeway for a routine road check. This forced police to close the freeway and left thousands of motorists trapped in chaotic Melbourne peak-hour traffic. It was almost 11 hours before police persuaded the man to surrender. Throughout the delays many of the motorist stuck in the jam phoned the local radio station in justifiable anger, but made unbelievably self-centred comments. “I can't believe their stupidity . . . if he wants to shoot himself, let him” was one comment made by one angry listener. While it was understandable that people might feel frustrated after this incident, these harsh responses revealed a self centred society, and one incapable of showing a tad of sympathy Could those demanding that police shoot the man genuinely be prepared to place their own comfort before the health and safety of others? At least the whole population of Melbourne doesn’t specifically care about number one only. Some dismissed the rage of talkback callers, saying that those who thought that the well being of police or the mentally troubled man were less important than getting home on time were selfish. And I applaud these people. Personally I believe that this is all part of a continuing decline on society. One mentally stable man said, "What's happening to our society when police end a siege peacefully and are criticised?'' And to go further on this point why are they being criticized? Because a small percentage of the Melbourne population arrived home late for their tea. This incident made me sick when I heard about it, the fact people wanted a man’s life to end so they wouldn’t have to be an hour late speaks for itself.

But as I stated in the first paragraph not every person is self centred. Recently we saw the Devon community take time out of their life to help their neighbours with the recent floods. So what is wrong with this? Nothing, but would this happen in Dundee, or any large British city for that matter, I extremely doubt it? A hundred years ago, every person from every community would come out of their house to help their neighbours if their was a problem in the community, but nowadays this would not happen. We would rather sit in our comfortable homes, and watch television. People aren’t like they are in the olden days. Today nobody would leave their belongings outside as they would be too scared of getting them stoling. In Michael Moore’s Bowling For Columbine he goes round Americans houses and asks why they lock their doors, and the answer is simple, fear. But then he travels across the border to Canada and finds out that they freely leave their doors unlocked. Canadians have a much more sought after society than their neighbours, one free of fear.

A bottle fed child is 25 times more likely to die from diarrhoea than a breast fed child where water is unsafe. Nestlé know the facts but refuses to state them. More than a million babies die every year as a result of diarrhoea picked up from unhygienic bottle feeding. That's one baby every 30 seconds that dies from unsafe baby feeding. But does this top Nestlé from selling their products? Nestlé cares about making as much money as they can instead of saving millions of babies annually. This incredibly self-centred position has infuriated millions world wide, including me. Nestlé make fifty-two billion pound a year, and pump eight billion of that into advertising, so Nestlé has a slight advantage over mothers who produce breast milk naturally and do not have a fortune to spend promoting the advantages of their 'product'. In nineteen ninety nine they had an advert banned because of false adverting, leading people into believing bottle milk is better for infants, which is contrary to the facts. But did this stop them from continuing to false advertise? No instead they turned to advertising gurus Saatchi, who showed them ways to go around the law. If Nestlé’s products were off the shelf in shops, millions of babies would be saved a year. Breastfeeding is vital not only because of the nutrients but because the anti-infective properties protect against disease. There have now been thousands of attempted boycotts on Nestlé’s buildings, and protests against their products, so they have no excuses for keeping their products on shelves.
In conclusion I believe that today’s society is incredibly self-centred, and care about no one apart from their selves. Multi national companies like Nike, and Gap exploit third world countries for profit, while Nestlé causes many deaths yearly so they can show large profits at the end of the year. Also compared to people of yesteryear we are immeasurably insecure. I think it is glaringly obvious that unless we get our act together future generations will have many fundamental problems.