Friday, January 27, 2012
Trash questions
1. Describe the conditions in the prison. Why do you think children would be locked up there? The People lived in cages stacked one on top of another. It was very hot and smelled awful. It was filled with people of all ages and they are all skinny and sickly. I think children could be in there for stealing, or just because their parents were put in jail and they had no where else to go.
2. How were Olivia and Gardo able to get a visit with Angelico?
They were able to visit by telling Gardo’s lie and paying the guards. Olivia payed quite a sum of money to get Gardo in to see his fake great grandfather and get some information.
3. What were the few things that Raphael learned about Rat that he "had never known and never asked about?"
Raphael learned that Rat came from a place called Sampalo where he learned how to fish at a very young age. He is saving up most of the money he gets to but a boat and go back to the fishing life. Raphael also learned that Rat had collected a large amount of money over the years of people feeling sorry for him.
4. What does the gardener tell Raphael and Rat?
The gardener told Raphael and Rat about the broken refrigerator belonging to the Vice-President that had to be replaced. He said that Mr. Angelico put the money in the fridge to steal it. The gardener also told them about the Vice-President, about how fat he is and how much money he spends on stuff, and how much good food he throws away.
5. What would you do with six million dollars?
I would probably keep most of, but give some to my family. I also might turn it in to the police due to a guilty conscience, I wouldn't want anyone thinking I stole it.
2. How were Olivia and Gardo able to get a visit with Angelico?
They were able to visit by telling Gardo’s lie and paying the guards. Olivia payed quite a sum of money to get Gardo in to see his fake great grandfather and get some information.
3. What were the few things that Raphael learned about Rat that he "had never known and never asked about?"
Raphael learned that Rat came from a place called Sampalo where he learned how to fish at a very young age. He is saving up most of the money he gets to but a boat and go back to the fishing life. Raphael also learned that Rat had collected a large amount of money over the years of people feeling sorry for him.
4. What does the gardener tell Raphael and Rat?
The gardener told Raphael and Rat about the broken refrigerator belonging to the Vice-President that had to be replaced. He said that Mr. Angelico put the money in the fridge to steal it. The gardener also told them about the Vice-President, about how fat he is and how much money he spends on stuff, and how much good food he throws away.
5. What would you do with six million dollars?
I would probably keep most of, but give some to my family. I also might turn it in to the police due to a guilty conscience, I wouldn't want anyone thinking I stole it.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Why Horse Carriages should be Banned from New York City.
Should Horse Carriages be Allowed in New York City?
When they aren’t pulling tourists around, the horses stand still attached to their carts in a long line on a street bordering Central Park usually without food or water. This street also happens to be where a bus stops. Sometimes one can see them with buckets of either food or water. This is doubtfully enough though. The kind of horses that pull carts in N.Y should eat three quarts of good quality feed twice a day. Six quarts wont fit in a small metal bucket. Ideally clean, fresh water should be available at all times for horses. You should also water your horse before and after a ride. This is not available when you are pulling around a cart or standing in rows on the street. Water for horses should be changed twice a day to prevent dirt and other nasty bits of things from contaminating the water. I imagine this is even more of a problem in the city where dust from cars, buses, and bikes could easily blow into the little water they get. Also horses that work all day like the horses pulling carriages in New York should have access to more water than generally inactive horses. So those buckets out once or twice a day does not suffice.
Now the strongest argument against horses in New York is the sound. The never ending noise. New York City is home to more than eight million people (according to the official New York City statistics). That’s just the people that live there. At least 40 to 50 million people visit New York City every day (according to the official New York City statistics) for work, visiting, and just plain having a vacation. Now that is all great, New York City is filled with fun and very famous things to do, but that definitely doesn’t make it a good place for horses. Horses are much more sensitive to sound and movement than humans. According to the ASPCA they hear all the sounds we hear, plus about another half octave higher. Horses, being prey animals, need to have good hearing to prevent being killed by predators. I bet you have seen videos or heard stories about horses spooking or freaking out about loud noises or sudden movements. Often no matter how well they are trained horses can still spook at a loud noise or a sudden movement. Even though these carriage horses aren’t in the mainly busy part of the city there is still an over loud of sounds and actions that could freak out a horse enough to make it unsafe to the people in the carriages as well as the horse pulling it.
Now it is only fair to take into account the people who run these operations and believe that they are not cruel. On the Central Park site there is a page about the horse carriages. They have a few rules like that carriages are not permitted to go out in temperatures higher than eighty nine degrees or lower than nineteen degrees. They also don’t allow rides below 34th street. Now this keeps the horses out of extreme temperatures and busy roads but this still does not help the food and water problems, the harmful things in the road, and there is still people, sound and movement. It would take quite a lot of resources to make New York City suitable for horses, and I don’t think that the city is willing to make those major changes.
To conclude, a city, especially a large one like New York, should not be home to horses because of all its dangers and problems. Horses are amazing creatures who deserve to be treated with the kind of respect that can’t be given to them in a crowded city. So that is why horse carriages should be banned from New York City.
Millions of people fill the streets of New York City. They walk, jog, and continuously jabber to each other and into phones. Even more drive and ride in cars, buses, motorcycles, and bikes. This all makes for a hodgepodge of noise and movement. Now imagine plopping a noise sensitive horse down in the middle of all this and expecting them to pull carriages all day. Plainly it is cruel.
The streets themselves pose a problem. Pieces of plastic, rocks and metal could get lodged in their hooves and cause them to be lame, the horse equivalent of being too injured to work. Horses that wear shoes are less likely to be struck lame by an object on the street but a stray rock could still find it’s way into the frog or sensitive part of there hooves. Horses need there hooves cleaned before and after any ride. This prevents rot and damage to the horses hooves. But when they are walking around all the time and probably getting all kinds of stuff in their hooves without a chance to have them cleaned like the horses in N.Y it can cause serious damage. In short, just for their hooves horses should be taken off the streets. When they aren’t pulling tourists around, the horses stand still attached to their carts in a long line on a street bordering Central Park usually without food or water. This street also happens to be where a bus stops. Sometimes one can see them with buckets of either food or water. This is doubtfully enough though. The kind of horses that pull carts in N.Y should eat three quarts of good quality feed twice a day. Six quarts wont fit in a small metal bucket. Ideally clean, fresh water should be available at all times for horses. You should also water your horse before and after a ride. This is not available when you are pulling around a cart or standing in rows on the street. Water for horses should be changed twice a day to prevent dirt and other nasty bits of things from contaminating the water. I imagine this is even more of a problem in the city where dust from cars, buses, and bikes could easily blow into the little water they get. Also horses that work all day like the horses pulling carriages in New York should have access to more water than generally inactive horses. So those buckets out once or twice a day does not suffice.
Now the strongest argument against horses in New York is the sound. The never ending noise. New York City is home to more than eight million people (according to the official New York City statistics). That’s just the people that live there. At least 40 to 50 million people visit New York City every day (according to the official New York City statistics) for work, visiting, and just plain having a vacation. Now that is all great, New York City is filled with fun and very famous things to do, but that definitely doesn’t make it a good place for horses. Horses are much more sensitive to sound and movement than humans. According to the ASPCA they hear all the sounds we hear, plus about another half octave higher. Horses, being prey animals, need to have good hearing to prevent being killed by predators. I bet you have seen videos or heard stories about horses spooking or freaking out about loud noises or sudden movements. Often no matter how well they are trained horses can still spook at a loud noise or a sudden movement. Even though these carriage horses aren’t in the mainly busy part of the city there is still an over loud of sounds and actions that could freak out a horse enough to make it unsafe to the people in the carriages as well as the horse pulling it.
Now it is only fair to take into account the people who run these operations and believe that they are not cruel. On the Central Park site there is a page about the horse carriages. They have a few rules like that carriages are not permitted to go out in temperatures higher than eighty nine degrees or lower than nineteen degrees. They also don’t allow rides below 34th street. Now this keeps the horses out of extreme temperatures and busy roads but this still does not help the food and water problems, the harmful things in the road, and there is still people, sound and movement. It would take quite a lot of resources to make New York City suitable for horses, and I don’t think that the city is willing to make those major changes.
To conclude, a city, especially a large one like New York, should not be home to horses because of all its dangers and problems. Horses are amazing creatures who deserve to be treated with the kind of respect that can’t be given to them in a crowded city. So that is why horse carriages should be banned from New York City.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
comparison essay
Comparison essay Mac vs. PC
Even with today's new and exiting forms of technology the computer is still an awesome tool. Recently my computer has been getting very faulty and I think it might be time for a new one. But the old battle comes up again, which is better a PC or a Mac? To try and find this out I google searched comparison chart Mac vs. PC and found a good website devoted to comparison charts. So now I can find out once and for all which computer manufacture is the best.
The first thing I look for in a computer is reliability. I would like to how how good they are against virus attacks. It turns out that Mac have less viruses written to target them because they are less popular, PCs get most viruses written towards them because they are the desktop of choice. Next comes the brand, the Mac is only made by apple hence the name where as the PC is made by many companies like HP, Toshiba, and Dell. That is nice to be able to pick and chose a Manufacture that works for you instead of being stuck with one. The software of a computer can also be a big deal I prefer Windows because I have used it all my life. The Mac runs off of the Macintosh Operating System but you can also have windows. The PC runs off versions of Windows and a partnering software called Linux. They are both the same there. So far they are tied but we will keep going on this journey to find out which computer brand is top!
The next thing to look for is the functions. First of all what programs are available I want to be able to access the Internet obviously and be able to get music and some sort of movie maker. The Mac has iLife, iTunes, Time Machine, and Safari browser. The PC has MS Office and Internet Explorer. I know that if they both get Windows they should get Windows movie maker so they are both about equal in that. I also need to know how compatible it is. The Mac can open some PC files. A program can be installed to to convert Mac files to Windows. Thus I would say that probably PC is on top at the moment but they are still mostly equal in this epic battle for supremacy!
Last of all is the people part of these computers. What jobs is it good for? Well The Mac is geared toward graphic designers, video producers, tech journalists, app developers ect. I don’t do any of those things so it would not be much use to me. On the over hand the PC reaches a very wide range of users including business men due to it’s compatibility. I would also like to know how much it costs seeing as I am only 14 and don’t have very much money to spend. It turns out that PCs are 40% to 50% cheaper than a Mac. This is a great selling point. Now it is time for me to make my final choice!
I ended up choosing the PC. I can live without the better virus protection and the great art programs of a Mac. The reasons I chose the PC was that it had a much better price, a better market reach, and software I am used to using. Also I did enjoy my old PC computer. So that is my choice in the battle between the PC and Mac computers. It does not mean I am right and I am sure a lot of people will disagree with me, but the stats don’t lie.
Seabiscut movie review
Rating scale- 1-5 +++++
Seabiscut movie review
So I would say over all this movie is quite fantastic. I would give it a total of nine out of ten stars in total. I would recommend this movie to anyone over the age of twelve with a love for dramas and horses! But depending on how mature you are I’m sure kids under twelve could enjoy this movie too because it is a wonderful story.
| Criteria | rating | comments |
| mood | +++++ | very well portrayed nervous energy and joy |
| characters/acting | +++++ | the characters were pretty well done and the acting was very believable |
| plot and pacing | ++++ | some of it could have moved faster but over all it had superb plot and pacing |
| Dialogue | +++ | not always legible but usually fit the point |
| Genre | +++++ | drama, history, and sport fit this movie perfectly |
| book adaption | ++++ | fir the book very well in most places |
Seabiscut movie review
This movie is true to the book and true of heart! Seabiscut was originally written by Laura Hillenbrand and directed by Gary Ross who also wrote the screenplay. It stared Jeff Bridges as the owner, Chris Cooper the trainer, and Micheal Angarano as the jockey. It fits in the genes drama, sport, and history and rated pg-13. It collected a total of $148,336,445 world wide when it was released in 2003.
The mood of hope and need to win is very well portrayed. The acting was superb and the characters had great personalities. It would have moved faster but over all the pacing was well thought out. Though it was not always legible the Dialogue usually fit the plot very well. The Genres as listed above also fit the movie and even the book quite fantastically! Lastly and maybe even most importantly this movie did a very nice job sticking to the plot line of the book it was based off. So I would say over all this movie is quite fantastic. I would give it a total of nine out of ten stars in total. I would recommend this movie to anyone over the age of twelve with a love for dramas and horses! But depending on how mature you are I’m sure kids under twelve could enjoy this movie too because it is a wonderful story.
Seabiscut book review
Rating scale- 1-5 +++++
| Criteria | rating | comments |
| characters | +++++ | the characters really came to life |
| # of pages | +++ | it was very long but still engaging |
| narrative & description | ++++ | long but well written descriptions |
| plot line | +++++ | heartwarming and well thought out plot |
| pacing | +++ | it could have moved faster |
Seabiscut review
It is extremely difficult to find any thing to complain about in this book! Seabiscut written by Laura Hillenbrand is the true and inspiring story of a reject racehorse who rises to stardom. It is an instant classic that captured he hearts and minds of Americans.
Seabiscut is the story of a young thoroughbred horse who is the son of a famous racer. Seabiscut should be a racer too but he is lazy, he bites, he wont run, and he was strangely messed up legs. He would not have stood a chance at racing if it wasn’t for a team of oddball horse lovers, Red the Jockey, Tom the trainer, and Charles the owner. These men were able to turn Seabiscut’s life around with love and patience. Eventually Seabiscut turned into one of the best racehorses in America! This story is very well written, has an extremely amazing and heart warming plot, and characters with great personality. The only thing I could say against this book is that it was rather long and dragged in some places. Yet it was so well written that you end up wanting it to be long!
Overall I thought this book was utterly amazing. I would give it eight out of ten stars, I took off a star for the long descriptions. I would recommend this book to generally older people with enough patience to enjoy the long parts. I would also recommend this to people with a long for horses and horse racing. But you never know I’m sure most people could enjoy this touching, clever, and interesting story.
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