T3 Blog Promt #6 10-min. Writing

Apple's decision to not sell music, movies, or books to Singapore is to reduce piracy in Singapore. This decision will affect Apple's sales and would also increase piracy rates.

Firstly, Apple would face losses in earnings / profits. Not selling music , movies and books is just like refusing to do business. Apple is not the only online music stall avalible. People who wants to buy music would just turn to other available music stalls like INZU. This is just like giving business to a competitor for free. Apple would not be able to earn profits from musics, movies and books in Singapore.

Secondly, as other online stores does not have such a broad range of songs, people who cannot find their preferred songs would resort to downloading them illegally online. Piracy rates will increase as the only way to get those songs would be to download them illegally.

In conclusion, I feel that iTunes made a wrong decision by restricting the sales of music, movies and books in Singapore. It would only reduce their profits and increase piracy rates.

Online Lesson #10

Themes
Religion Tensions
Shylock, the Jewish moneylender, is vilified by a flagrantly anti-Semitic society. He is presented in the most stereotypical of anti-Semitic terms: he has red hair (a 17th-century reference to the devil) and a big nose, dresses in filthy clothes, and is a seemingly greedy loan shark with little compassion for others. When his daughter runs off with a Christian suitor, taking a considerable sum of her father's money with her, the devastated Shylock can't decide which loss is greater -- his ducats or his daughter.

But Shakespeare also lets a Jewish character make an impassioned plea for empathy. When maligned by Antonio and his Christian cohorts, Shylock says in his now-famous speech, "Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions...If you prick us do we not bleed...?" Bassanio, the Christian courtier, is as fond of money as Shylock is. In Shakespeare's time, audiences expected a Jewish character to be fiendishly cruel. Since Elizabethans believed that conversion amounted to saving one's soul, Shakespeare gives Shylock, in Elizabethan terms, a happy ending.



Narrative

Micheal leaned silently and sadly on the wall of the house. Why did his employer discriminate him just because he is a Jew and not a Christian. Why does his Employer thinks that he has no human rights and treat him just like a slave. Can't his employer just treat him just like a employee and respect him? Why does his employer criticize his religion continuously. Can't he just respect it even if he doesn't agree with the religions belief. Can't he just treat him equally. Everyday after finishing the massive load of work that his employer gave to him on purpose, he would be forced to clean up the whole office while listening to his employer's insults on his religion. Its already been a year since his boss has been treating him badly. Should he resign and find a better job, or should he cope with it and continue with this high-paying job. After considering for a while, he decided. He would rather work happily than work under a boss who despise him and pick on him. This was the choice he had to make. He had to be proud of his religion and find a new enployer who accepts him for who he is
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Research
Themes:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/13389f98-49ab-11e0-acf0-00144feab49a.html#axzz1RtoLGUfp
http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/jewsandjesus/

T3 Blog Promt #4B 10-min. Writing

Feminists blame the gender imbalance on patriarchal cultural prejudice against girls and daughters. But Hvistendahl, who has not only done her research but has also carried out extensive investigative journalism in several countries, blames much more complex geopolitical and economic forces, including imperialist political decisions, American medical technology and the drive for population control.
She traces the development and marketing of amniocentesis and American ultrasound machinery, the rise of genetic counseling, and drastic government policies to curb population, such as China’s one-baby policy, instituted in 1980. The international availability of prenatal screening in the 1980s and government tolerance or support of abortion as a means of birth control made it possible for parents to choose the sex of their children. Hvistendahl identifies the common elements from country to country: First, rapid development allows prenatal screening; second, abortion is easily available; third, the practice starts with elite groups and trickles down to the general population.

Despite these factors, the most significant cause of the imbalance is still the widespread desire for male children, especially among elite groups with access to advanced medical technology. Population-control experts realized that in many countries, people kept on having children until they had a son; Guilmoto notes that “there is a general trend of son preference” in much of the world. Demographers and Asian policymakers realized that if couples could have a male child early, they would stop having multiple children. In the words of New York Times journalist Elisabeth Bumiller, sex selection is “a powerful example of what can happen when modern technology collides with the forces of a traditional society.”

T3 Blog Promt #4 10-min. Writing

The thief crawled over the tall wall. He landed inside the house. He quietly sneak through the garden. He soon reached the back of the house. He hooked a rope on a window. Skillfully, he crawled up the building. The patrolling guards saw the thief. Gunshots were shot by the guards. Unfortunately, the shots all missed the thief. The thief was in the safe room. All of the family's wealth was in this room. The thief began to grab everything. The guards rushed up to the room. All that was left was a bomb. Without any time to react, the bomb exploded. The thief smiled. He finally did justice. He killed the evil warlord. He gave the money to the poor.

IN-CLASS ONLINE LESSON #9 RR Ex Qns

Passage A:

1. Sandburg is describing cannon here.

2. "jackies" are the sailors who took part in the war. War Chanties are sang to increase morale as sailors sing them unity.

3. “The shovel is brother to the gun” means that if there is war, there is death. The "shovel" represents death as it is used to bury dead bodies, while the "gun" represents War because they are the primary weapons in a war. Sandburg wants to tell that there will be deaths in a war.

Passage B:

1. It is to show that the government has control over the everyone and everything. If they order the soldiers to destroy the city, the city is destroyed. If they order the workmen and citizens to rebuild the city, the city is rebuilt. The title means that everyone has to obey to the government

2. The contrasting actions make the poem have 2 different sides, tones and point of view. The first stanza shows seriousness, while the second shows hope. The author’s attitude towards the soldiers are that they are only made for war, which he does not approve of, which also shows a negative attitude towards them. But the author’s attitude towards the citizens is mainly positive, showing how they rebuilding what seems not to be the first time.

3. I think its harder to build everything up again. This is because to destroy, not much effort is needed to destroy. Drop a bomb or two and the building is destroyed. But to build back up something is very difficult. Rebuilding a building brick by brick takes a whole lot of effort and time. One example would be the nuclear bomb incident during the world war 2. Within a split second, both Hiroshima and Nagasaki were immediately destroyed. Those extremely large cities were rebuilt over years and the lives lost were lost forever.

Passage C:

1. The onomatopoeia in the first stanza progress such that the sounds of the weapons became softer and softer. The sounds of the future war shows that the weapons used next time would be powerful fast and stealth. People would be killed out of no where by this weapons.

2. Gaddafi is a good example. Previously he used to hold authority such that everyone has to follow his orders. But the anger of the people slowly built up because of his corruption. After a few days of rioting by the members of the public, he was forced to step down.


War Poem

A poem on WW2 in Poland

I am only a new soldier,

Trudging forward reluctantly,

I reflected upon what I had done foolishly.

A step at a time

wishing that I had a great big glass of wine.

It helps me calm down,

but it chills me to the bone,

to think that I slain a family of four.

I could remember knocking that door,

acting like a wild boar,

knocking them to the floor,

I hated myself to the core,

when I drew my gun,

and ended all the children’s future fun.

I grabbed the parents,

and forced them to the prison,

while they were sobbing,

I felt great,

but now it is actually hurting,

I fell for the bait,

my conscience is bleeding,

my heart is aching.

Back in my country I would be known as a hero

Here in the unknown,

I am ZERO.

Years passed

now I am in command,

feeling like the sun.

I have not regretted anything I’ve done.

Luckily I carried on showing no mercy,

for now I have supremecy.

now that I am in command,

I stole everything even a bun,

the people starved

but its all right,

as long as it isn’t me!

Now that I am in command,

I often use my gun.

I would not get anything done,

without using my perfect golden gun.

Now that I am in command,

I start to worry about my son.

My beloved country is being bombarded,

and I am the most wanted.

But, oh I don’t care,

for now I am in command.

Now that I am in command,

I have had my fun.

I have lost my son,

I don’t even have a bun.

I am pointed by guns.

Luckily I have a bomb to stun,

and now I am on the run.

Now that I am on the run,

I thought about how cruel these people are,

killing and bombing and injuring many so far.

I did nothing like that,

not even scratching a car.

I gave no one a scar.

I reflected upon the nearest star,

Now that I am on the run,

I finally know what they feel,

we ruled with a fist of steel,

anything wrong we kill,

I am sorry for myself,

for now its time,

its time to give them something we owe them.

For now its time to settle the bill.