[RE]Snapple

 " Snapple also proves that it cares about education, by adding facts and other random bits of information on the bottom of the caps.  By adding those features, Snapple has helped the population get just a little smarter."-Calvin Lin

      Snapple has used this sponsorship well  in order for them gain publicity. I believe that this sponsorship is not really for the benefit of the school system in New York City. While the school does gain certain things from this, people will also start viewing Snapple as a company that cares for education, resulting in people feeling compelled to start buying their products. This grants Snapple exclusive rights to sell its products in school vending machines as well as a potential boost in sales among the people who feel that Snapple is doing a good deed. Also, soda and other sugary snacks have been banned from these vending machines, as they are seen to be a cause of child obesity and diabetes. This focuses the sales more on Snapple because of the more focused selection group.

      Of course, there also exists the possibility that I could also probably be wrong. The information I have reviewed is a large block of text that I do not feel especially compelled to read thoroughly and completely. Snapple possibly may not receive such a large amount of revenue as I have stated here and it might not profit much from this at all. Snapple has also paid very large amounts of money for them to have a license to sell their products in school, which may not be such big way for them to make money. I believe that either way can be argued, as there seems to be ample evidence for both sides.

[CE]Bangkok

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15381227

      In Thailand, there has been a large amount of rising water and this has been declared as a national crisis. This has been the largest flood in decades in Thailand and the surrounding countries and it has reached the capital, Bangkok. The government has ordered all floodgates around the city to be opened to drain out the water as the government reported that it seems that the worst of the floods has passed and have been trying to get people to move their possessions. Many people have been parking their cars on highways, higher and away from the water to prevent damage. Northern districts have been urged to move to higher grounds as the floods are coming from all directions and they are unable to control it. Central Bangkok has been able to escape most of the floods and people are using sandbags and other materials to reinforce the flood protectors.

      This flood is the main result of three months of heavy monsoon rains in Thailand and has caused more than $3.3bn of damage. Also, around 300 people have been killed and thousands have moved out of their homes and have been forced to seek refuge in shelters. I believe that the government has only stated that the worst has passed to control people and not cause them to panic and cause more damage to the area around them. Northern districts have worsened and have been badly damaged just a few days after it was announced that the worst of the floods was over.

[FREE]Old People

            My  grandfathers on both sides of my family passed away when I was really young, so  I did not really know them. My grandmother on my mother’s side lives in Boston and also does not  speak English, so I do not see her that often. My other grandmother also does  not speak English and has Alzheimer’s disease, so even she has no idea what she is talking about. The other day, about five years ago, my grandmother came  upstairs while we were eating dinner and asked my dad to open the door. He then told me to go back down and open it for her, so I went. Then, I went  downstairs, only to discover that all the doors were open. Confused, I looked  back to see my grandmother walking passed me into her room. Finally, she went to sleep. I am still confused as to what I was supposed to do.

            For the past couple of years, my mother has been trying to make time for my brother and I to go to Boston over the summer to visit our grandmother for a couple of  weeks because my mother believes that we do not have that much time left to  spend time with her. I only have seen her about seven or eight times throughout my entire life, so I see the reasoning behind my mother’s decision. When we did visit her though, we usually spent more time with our cousins in the area than  with the actual person we were going to visit, with is counter productive.

[RE]Suck it

"The record time set for a non-stop around the world flight was in a military B-52 in 1980 at 42 hours 23 minutes.  It would take him at least the speed of 2166 miles per hour to make it around the world, excluding the time it takes for him to actually get the presents under the Christmas Tree without being noticed."-Calvin Lin

Well, you obviously have never  heard of magical beings. Unlike you, I believe in unicorns and magic. If magic  does not exist, who pops up the next tissue in the tissue box? The reason why I  said “Fairy Tales” is because I believe that Fairy’s made these stories up, and  somehow, with magic power, implanted them into the human mind for us to use. Using one’s imagination, it allows them to think up anything they would want. I believe that Fairy’s implemented us with thought, and imagination, and that is why we have the power to imagine, the power to think and create objects that are not real and somehow turn them into reality.

Imagination is what allows us the power to write, read, and create art. Creating art requires a lot of imagination because it takes long amounts of time to materialize a thought and put it on paper, it’s the same way with writing, you have to think about what your are going to write, imagine what is on the paper for it to be there. In reading, you usually imagine the scenes in a book; you imagine the characters and the story. Without it, you wouldn’t be able to do all of that.

Santa does not need to travel at 2166 miles per hours because he is awesome and he can do magical things like that. The Easter Bunny can lay eggs because Easter Bunnies do that, not because of genetic science bull crap. These things are magical, which is why they do not seem plausible.

[CE]Japanese Weapons

            For  decades, Japan has had a self imposed weapon export that restricted them from  selling weapons to other countries. Japan’s defense minister, Yasuo Ichikawa, stated that he expected the Japanese government to ease this ban and that  Japan’s Prime Minister would convey this plan to the United States president, Barack Obama. The principles for this ban were to not export to communist  countries, countries involved in international conflicts, or countries subject  to United Nations sanctions. This ban has been hurting Japan’s competitiveness of its defense industries, such as Kawasaki Heavy Industries and IHI Corps. Efforts to ease this ban in the past have been faced with domestic opposition. The United States has been looking forward and looking to using Japanese  technology.

            This ban will allow Japan’s defense industries to expand and become involved in multinational joint projects and allow defense contractors to cut costs. While it is expected by some that the government will ease on this ban, people such as Osamu Fujimura, chief cabinet secretary, said that they have never heard of this ban lift. The leading Democratic Party has been calling for this lift for a while, even though it does not require parliamentary approval to do so. I believe that this lift will benefit Japan in development in their defense industries and may even boost their economy. While it may seem mostly beneficial towards Japan, there has been opposition in the upper parts of their parliament. They are having trouble pushing this through to make it possible. 

[FREE]Minecraft

     The other day, I was building my house when all the sudden a creeper came out of nowhere and blew up my front door. I got angry, so I spent the next fifteen minutes going around at night and killing creepers with my iron sword until I died again by skeleton archers. Then, I used my cobblestone and stone blocks to rebuild everything that got destroyed and went out to cut some trees. At night, I went back to my house, only to be killed by a creeper and some zombies again, so I went back to the house and placed torches everywhere so they would not spawn anywhere near me anymore. The moral of this part of the story is that torches are needed anywhere.
     Creepers are really annoying because every time I try to kill one, it blows up and destroys anything around it, so it is really inconvenient to fight near buildings. Also, skeleton archers are annoying because they fire arrows at you from a distance and spiders are annoying because they can climb up stuff.
     My brother gave me the idea of making a farm with chickens and cows and other farm animals, so I decided to try it. I followed his instructions and made a five by five raised platform out of dirt and surrounded it by fence. Then, since I did not know whether or not there was some kind of entrance, so I just put a normal door there. In the end, it did not work.

[BC]Quote

"When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything —all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart." -Steve Jobs, in a 2005 speech

      I disagree with part of this quote because I do not believe that death should be used as a motive to do certain things. It people were to constantly worry about death, they would probably not get very far in life. If death is the opposite of life, wouldn't it be better to worry about the one you want instead of the other? Also, if a person were to be convinced that it was really their last day to live, they would most likely do something counter productive in ways that it would negatively affect other aspects of their life, possibly in a way that is not able to be fixed. Their goals in life may change as opportunities may be cut off due to certain actions they have performed during the time of which they had decided that it was their last day and things needed to change. Death can be scary, and may influence people to do unusual things. Whether or not it is beneficial or unproductive in their current situation is, for the most part, based on a person's character. Some people should not follow this advice, depending on their personalities.
      While I disagree with part of this quote, I do agree with following one's instincts. While it may seem to be a bad idea, second guessing an initial action might mess up current situations, depending on the decision. Taking every once in a while can be a very important factor in achieving success, though taking too many can result in disaster. Steve Jobs was successful in making his company, Apple, successful by releasing the iPod Touch and iPhone at the same time, effectively cannibalizing on their own sales. This willingness to take risks in the greater interests of his company has proven to have a large influence over his success during his life. Risk taking plays a very big part in life, whether it be asking someone on a date or testing a new medicine, and can lead to many things, good or bad. Taking too many risks is probably not smart. It can be disastrous, and lead to embarrassment and regret. Some people categorize this as “recklessness,” instead of having courage.

      Fear can have a very tight grip over peoples' lives, often ruining them and making their lives angry or hateful, so it would probably not be a good idea to use it to motivate people. It may drive people to do certain things they would not normally do or it may immobilize them and prevent them from doing what needs to be done. I believe that motivation could be more easily obtained through receiving a reward. In war, mercenaries who are paid tend to be more loyal than soldiers who were threatened or forced to join the military. Having punishments for getting bad grades has proven to be less effective than having rewards for getting good grades in my family. In conclusion, while this quote does have some important truths, it does not seem to be good advice to follow.

[RE]The End is Near

"The many events happening this year troubles me.  I don't believe in the "2012-end-of-the-world" thing, but I do believe in science, and so far, it's been saying that the world is starting to change dramatically."-Calvin Lin

     I also believe that there will be dramatic change within the next few years. It seems that many natural disasters have been happening recently, such as Hurricane Irene, Katrina, or the Japan earthquake. On the West Coast, especially in California and the Bay Area, people have predicted a potentially large earthquake to occur sometime soon due to a pattern of previous major earthquakes in the surrounding region. California has a ninety nine percent chance of being hit with a earthquake of 6.7 or more within the next thirty years. There is a sixty seven percent probability of it happening in Los Angeles and sixty three percent in San Francisco. This might just seem to be an increase in natural disasters because I have not lived that long and it may just be normal events.

      I do not believe that the world will end in 2012. Some people think that the Mayan Calendar predicts the end of the world in December 21, 2012, while others believe that it will mark the end of the human race as we know it, not necessarily the entire world. Some believe that there will be world wide catastrophe, change in the nature of consciousness, divine balance in nature, or other theories. There are groups of people all around the world coming up with conspiracies regarding the Mayan Calendar, of which some might seem to be plausible. I believe that once the calendar reaches that date, the cycle will simply restart and nothing majorly important will happen.

[FREE]Santa Claus

      When I was little, I used to believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and other things parents tell their children. I never doubted that they existed for many years, even though my brother had kept on telling me that they were just fairy tales. On Christmas, we would always write what we wanted to get for gifts and I would write about how I wanted a mansion and a golden toilet or something like that. It was not until I was about seven or eight when I realized Santa was not real. I found this out when on Christmas morning, I went downstairs under the tree, to realize that their were not any presents under it. Confused, I asked my mother where they were, only for her to tell me that Santa was busy Christmas eve, and he could not come to our house until the next day.
      For the Easter Bunny, I never questioned why a bunny would go around laying colorful eggs everywhere, or why they would have chocolate inside of them. I stopped believing in the Tooth Fairy because I had found my brother's teeth inside the little boxes that the dentist gave him when he pulled the tooth on the shelf in the cabinet that I never use. I also used to believe in monsters under my bed and things in my closet at night, so my mother had to leave the hallway light on until I fell asleep. Then, I got a night light, so I used that.

[CE]Steve Jobs

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/05/steve-jobs-death-google-gives-a-tribute_n_997393.html

     Two days ago, on October 5, 2011, Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple, passed away at the age of fifty six. He has been fighting a form of pancreatic cancer in recent years and has received a liver transplant. A little while ago, Jobs stepped down as CEO of Apple to becoming the chairman and passed the title to Tim Cook. He passed away peacefully surrounded by family members.

      "Steve was among the greatest of American innovators - brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it." -Barack Obama

Reaction to Jobs' death was widespread and many people turned to the internet to send their condolences. Some websites, such as Google and Twitter, have made tributes toward Jobs' death such as a post under the search bar in Google that marks Jobs' life and contains a link towards Apple's website, where there is a large picture of Jobs.

      Steve Jobs founded Apple with Stephen Wozniak in 1975. Their first product was the Apple computer, which was replaced by the Apple II. The Apple II was more advanced than any of the other computers at the time, and was the first widely owned personal computer. Jobs' has had many successes and failures throughout his life, but many people agree that he was a great innovator and a visionary. Many people are saddened by his passing and although he is gone, his spirit will forever remain in the foundation of Apple.