My American Voice

When do you speak up?
When someone is getting bullied, will you just walk away and hope someone will say something? When there is an on-going problem, do you just wait for it to fix itself? When there is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity passing by, will you just quietly let it pass?

Many believe that they have no voice or afraid to let out their voice out.
But the thing is: they shouldn't. Our words mean something, they have power. They have the potential to change people, give opportunities, make friends, help people, hurt people. They have the potential to influence millions of listeners, impacting their minds, the way they think, the way they live. And yes. Speaking is a choice but speaking is also a freedom. Having no voice is the same as being confined in a cell. Don't let anyone take it away from you.

All in all, more people need to speak up. Many individual don't realize how many opportunities they miss out by not saying anything. When you have something to say, say it. We all have the right to speak our minds, whether how much absurd or silly it is.

Just be careful on how you use your power. They're stronger than you think.

Vocabulary #6 Internet Terms

meme - a humorous image, video, piece of text, etc. that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by Internet users
"My friend took a video of me crying and turned it into a meme."

virus - a piece of code that is capable of copying itself and typically has a detrimental effect, such as corrupting the system or destroying data.
"A teacher recommended me to download this program and now I have a virus."

viral - relating to or involving an image, video, piece of information, etc., that is circulated rapidly and widely from one Internet user to another.
"I wanted to do a viral video but I'm too embarrassed."

blog -

a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style.

"My mom just learned what a blog is and now she has one."

wiki - a website that allows collaborative editing of its content and structure by its users.
"Making a wiki is a nice way for you and other people to share knowledge."

URL - he generic term for all types of names and addresses that refer to objects on the World Wide Web
"I forgot the URL address of the website so you have to manually look for it."

website - a location connected to the Internet that maintains one or more pages on the World Wide Web.
"This website is really helpful especially to young naïve boys."

www - The World Wide Web (WWW) is a network of online content that is formatted in HTML and accessed via HTTP. The term refers to all the interlinked HTML pages that can be accessed over the Internet.
"WWW is what websites usually start with."

Internet - The global communication network that allows almost all computers worldwide to connect and exchange information.
"It is amusing, how people believe everything they read off the internet."

2.0 - used to denote a superior or more advanced version of an original concept, product, service, etc.
"They have a friend that looks just like me but better in everyway so they started calling him Eldrin 2.0"

open source - denoting software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified
"I took that information from an open source website."

Today I'm a Good Human Being!

Today, I'm a good human being because I washed the dishes this morning. It may not be much but to me, doing these kind of actions are important. Throwing away your trash in the trash can and having good recycling habit are honorary deeds. We may not be able to donate million of dollars to charity, or risk our lives in protecting our country, but simple task like saying thank you or holding the door for strangers are equivalent to those actions. These usually go by unnoticed, but to us, these what make us humans and also in hopes of influencing the future generation.

A HUG is Nearly a GUN Backwards

Let's say that your country was against your friend. Which side would you choose? Would you go defend your friend, betraying your loyalty to the country that you devoted yourself to, or would you let yourself be consumed with patriotism, breaking the trust that you and your friend once took years to build. E.M. Foster argued that personal relations are more important than causes of patriotism and I agree. Turning your back on a friend and siding with a bunch of strangers seemed absurd but considering that patriotic people would do just about anything for their country, they might actually do. Some people might ask to why would someone betray their homeland because of some "friends." Because, unlike patriotism, we make friends with people that we have shared interests with, people whom makes us feel happy and people that we generally like. The difference is with partriotism is that we don't choose what country to be patriotic about. It's usually the country you were born in or the country that you were the most associated with. In a way, it's already predetermined. The pride just came around because of how good it feels to be part of something, binding people together as one  nation. However, regardless of how patriotic one can be, they could never know even 1 percent of the people in their country. So when you devote yourself to your country, you devote yourself to strangers. But what if you move to a different country, what happens to your sense of patriotism. Over the years that sense of pride for that country diminishes and your patriotism start to form to another. The thing is, it's really easy to change your pride to another country and your sense of patriotism can easily come back if you were to move back. Granted that nationalism created people who would protect their people and country and would sacrifice themselves for the sake of  their people and also unifying our nation. A bit of country pride won't hurt, but personal relations are more important. With friends, you don't need a country to bind them together. Friends are always there for you, they'll help you when your in need. With patriotism, you can't really trust strangers to do that for you. Patriotism might help our country be unifid nation, but sacrificing friendship over some land that you were born in will later haunt you with full of regrets.

Big Question's Discipline

My Big Question: What caused the Big Bang?

In order for this question to be answered, a great understanding of the cosmos is essential. Astronomers, physicists and cosmologists have greater understanding of our cosmos, knowing from black holes to the Big Bang. With their knowledge, we may uncover the secrets of the universe and finally know what started the Big Bang, leading to what we now call life.

Vocabulary #4

Adroit: Skillful and adept under pressing conditions
"An adroit chef works in five stars restaurants."

Amicable: characterized by or exhibiting friendliness or goodwill; friendly
"An amicable person can gained someone's trust easily."

 Averse: Having a feeling of opposition, distaste, or aversion; strongly disinclined
"Being friends with your friend's enemies can create an aversion in your relationships."

Belligerent: hostile or aggressive
"Mama bears will become belligerent when they see humans near their cubs."

Benevolent: characterized by or suggestive of doing good
"The man gave a benevolent smile to a scared kid."

Cursory: performed with haste and scant attention to detail
"When time is running out people tend to become cursory."

Duplicity: deliberate deceptiveness in behavior or speech
"Then man in a hood had a sense of duplicity."

Extol: to praise highly; exalt
"Parents extol their kids frequently."

Feasible: capable of being accomplished or brought about; possible
"Memorizing people's names is a feasible job."

Grimace: a sharp contortion of the face expressive of pain, contempt, or disgust
 "Right when she saw her ex, she had a grimace look."

Holocaust: great destruction resulting in the extensive loss of life, especially by fire
"The Holocaust was an attempt to kill off all the Jewish."

Impervious: incapable of being affected
"Everyone else cried in the movie theater but the impervious man."

Impetus: an impelling force; an impulse
"There was an impetus after realizing he was late."

Jeopardy: danger of loss, harm, or failure.
"People put their lives in jeopardy for the sake of entertainment."

Meticulous: extremely careful or precise
"The young man drove meticulous, knowing that he is still an amateur."

Nostalgia: a bittersweet longing for things, persons, or situations of the past
"Seeing old friends gives nostalgic memories."

Quintessence: the pure highly concentrated essence of a thing
"Babies are the quintessence of purity; if only we could preserve that sweetness for a lifetime."

Retrogress: to return to an earlier, inferior, or less complex condition
"Sometimes I wish I could retrogress back to junior high."

Scrutinize: to examine or observe with great care; inspect critically
"Do not sign your name on any document you have not had time to scrutinize!"

Tepid: moderately warm' lukewarm
"I like my coffee tepidly."

Vocabulary #3

Catharsis: The process of releasing strong or repressed emotions
"Some people find catharsis by indulging themselves in music."

Taboo: something forbidden in religious or popular culture
"Singing while eating is a taboo."

Sordid: Filthy or dirty; foul
"Men with bad manners are considered sordid people."

Swindle: To cheat or defraud of money or property
"Some people gain profit by swindling their victims."

Frivolous: silly, unnecessary
"The use of bad words can be frivolous."

Inadvertently: unintentionally, because of an oversight
"A blind man inadvertently stepped on a gum."

Incendiary: causing or capable of causing fire
"Thrown lit cigarettes are very much incendiary and can cause forest fire."

Jargon: unintelligible or meaningless talk or writing; gibberish
"When nervous you become jargon, making you look stupid."

Colloquialism: colloquial(relating to conversation; conversational)  style or quality
"Colloquial conversation are common between friends."

Archaism: past form of speech; old writing style
"Archaic words were used in old poems like Shakespeare's."

Cudgel: a short, heavy stick; a club
"A cudgel can knock someone unconscious."

Egregious: conspicuously bad or offensive
"Failing a test after a long night of studying can be egregious."

Anesthetize: to induce anesthesia in
"The dentist will put anesthesia on the patient before taking out the wisdom tooth."

Euphonious: pleasing or agreeable to the ear
"Many people agree that whale noises are euphonious."

Scrupulous: conscientious and exact; painstaking
"I paid scrupulous attention to what my mom said."

Perverted: to cause to turn away from what is right, proper, or good; corrupt
"The sudden urge of sadism came upon him."

Superfluous: being beyond what is required or sufficient
"Overachievers are superfluous in everything."

Saxon: a member of a West Germanic tribal group that inhabited northern Germany and invaded Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries A.D. with the Angles and Jutes
"There are people in the world who have Saxon blood in them."

Slovenly: messy, unkempt; sloppy
"My roommate is a slovenly person."

Provocation: anything that causes a response
"An offensive comment can easily cause a provocation."