twilight279

Reflexión de Cocinando

En clase de español nosotros cocinamos para dos días. La primera día nosotros hacemos salsa. Un grupo hacieron salsa rojo y el otro hacieron salsa verde. Yo era en el grupo salsa verde y me gusta cocinar mucho. Trabajo con Tatiana, Sofia, Antonio, y Max. Haciendo la salsa esta muy facil, solomente cortar las verduras y mezcla. Yo pienso es bueno que tratar cosas nueva en clase. Creo que estan un poco dificil a cocinar para un grupo grande pero todas las personas tienen un oportunidad a cocinar. En el fin la salsa era muy bien, y nosotros termina lo.

Ingredientes:

12-14 tomatillos
1 diente de ajo
1 chile jalapeño pequeño    
1 racimo de cilantro
1 aguacate o palta
1 lima
1 cucharadita de sal

Para el segundo día nosotros hacemos sangria sin alcahol. Sangria es simple tambien. Necesitas mezclar jugos de naranja, uva, manzana, y fruta. Permites el jugo a enfriar un poco y tomas. Sangria esta divertido hacer tambien, y esta simpatica hacer una pausa para el negocio y cocinar un poco. La receta era bien y la sangria era muy bien.

Ingredientes:

3 tazas de jugo de uvas
¾ taza de jugo de manzanas
½ taza de jugo de naranja
1 cuchara de jugo de limón
1 limón, cortada en rodajas con la piel
½ lima, cortada en rodajas con la piel
1 naranja mediana, cortada en rodajas con la piel
1 manzana pequeña, sin el centro, cortada en octavos, con la piel
1 ciruela pequeña, fileteada, con la piel
2-3 tazas de agua mineral con gas o soda, a gusto

Willy Wonka Better Watch Out

In science we had made it a goal of ours to use the kitchen we had been given in the lab. After a long break from our first cooking experiment, we decided our next cooking session would be with candy, which we could tie in with our chemistry studies. We started by looking up sugar aliases (of which there are many), and learning about the stages of sugar during the cooking process. Then we split up into groups based on what we wanted to make. I worked with Tobin and Sydney, and we all decided on taffy as our final product. After looking up recipes we settled on the abc news website, as we thought it could be a reliable source.We were the last group to cook, and all of the burnt sugar that had gone before us had me worried about what ours might turn out like, especially sine we had another step the other groups didn’t do, which was stretching the candy.

It was a long and painful process waiting for the candy thermometer to hit 275, sugar boiling only being slightly more entertaining than watching paint dry. Finally though we were able to take it off the stove, add the flavoring and coloring, let it cool, and then start to stretch our taffy. Let me say I have a new found respect for any candy makers. We had to deal with the mixture before it had fully cooled, since we let it cook too long. It had gone from the stage we needed it to be in into a hard candy form, so we had to start pulling it before it lost its malleability, and dealing with the burning taffy was a little difficult. The stretching got tougher the more you pulled the candy, but as it cooled it became more fun. After we were done, we laid out the strips and cut them up. Yes they ended up being hard candy, but both the butterscotch and apple flavors turned out tasting fine.

As far as the recipe goes, I would give it a positive review with just a few adjustments.

1) Cook mixture in a deeper pot for more even cooking, and take it off the stove at least 10 degrees before the 275 mark.

2) Add more flavoring. You could  double (maybe even tripple depending on the strength of the flavor your using) the amount that’s called for. With the apple taffy as an example, the butter in the recipe over rode its flavoring a bit.

3) I would suggest putting the mixture from the pot onto a large piece of wax paper once the butter, flavoring, and color has been added. Make sure that it spreads out to be nice and flat, so that it’s easily peeled off when you need to start pulling, and spares you from scraping the remnants the candy will leave behind off a bowl.

4) When stretching, be sure to use bigger chunks of you mixture, and do not over stretch. If you pull it to thin the taffy may harden and or snap.

All in all I think my group was pleased with the results we got though, and made for excellent bragging rights.

Mock Trial - The People vs. Hewitt

This year for mock trial we had a more free rein method of going about the case. We were split into groups for defense or prosecution. In these groups you had a partner which you’d split the work with. The case was about the murder of Jennifer White, who’s parachute chords were cut and resulted in her death during sky diving. The city of San Diego was prosecuting Monica Hewitt, who had been believed to be in love with Jennifer’s boyfriend. We started off our process with our trial manuals.

The manual was a thick packet that held the contents of the case. It had the depositions of our four witnesses, evidence, jury instructions, etc. It was an extremely vital part of each sides platform. Though intimidating at first, once you read your way through it, you got the basic idea of what you needed in favor of your case. Though this  made this years trial more work, it was all so worth it. With the script taken away, we were able to use our liberties to have a say in what was going to go down in the courtroom, which individualized each trial. We had to create our questions for two witnesses, and an opening or closing statement, as well as develop the skills to deliver them properly in court.

I was on the prosecution side, so my mentor was John Fraher. For three days of the week he worked with our side, helping us with the fundamentals of our case, and how to present them in court. Though overwhelming at times, he knew how to get the job done and pushed us through our babbling discomfort to more efficient strategies. The days were full of stress but at the same time entertaining. There was a lot of repetition in our work, revising, and it seemed that no matter how long or how hard you looked into the case, your work was never done. I could have probably continued to prepare to this day, and that was a new twist for an assignment, more realistic.

I worked with Taelon as a partner, and created the examinations of Martin Imbramovich (The manager at the skydiving club) and Monica Hewitt, as well as the closing argument. I believed that we worked efficiently and his positive attitude was always a nice influence. Even through our work though, we ended up with a unanimous not guilty verdict when it came to the trial. It was definitely a painful blow after the week of preparation, and I still don’t know how to interpret it. At first I was relieved due to the fact that the other prosecution team that had been in trial at the time also lost their case, until the second half went by and both prosecution pairs won . Even with the burden of proof prosecution carried, it was clearly still possible for our side to win, and in the end only made me wish I worked harder.

Our opponents were Charlie and Maxx, and we went in with confidence that we had a chance. But by the middle of the trial, I knew what our fate was. Charlie and Maxx did deserve their win though, especially after their closing argument. I just remember Taelon and I looking at each other as he passed me a note that read “We’re screwed”.

Even though my trial ended on a sour note, overall I was a lot more keen on this years work. There are only a couple of things I would want to change. The first would be to have a more balanced case (though keep in mind I do have a bias of being on a losing prosecution team).

I think that even though it was possible for prosecution to win, it would have been nice to have been given at least one fact that was a bit more solid. Each piece of evidence seemed to have a strong contradiction to it. The finger print we had was partial and indefinite. Our one eye witness needed glasses, had an error in his testimony, and his claims seemed almost geographically impossible. The scientist that tested for fingerprints on the parachute had only worked for six months in criminal justice and had missed other possible candidates fingerprints on the pack. There was an error in the chain of custody. Monica’s Facebook page status was pushed as lack of maintenance. Her psychological evaluation saying she was a narcissist and manipulative was over looked due to her being a nurse for children with cancer, and there were at least two other candidates that could have cut the chords on Jennifer’s parachute.

Secondly, I think we should try and find a way to have different jurors each time. No matter how unbiased the jury promised they’d be, I find it extremely hard to believe that the 10 and 11 year olds didn’t carry anything from the first trial they saw to the next. They already new what happened and most of the facts, and I could see their attention slipping as it was all relayed out for them a second time around. I’m not sure as to who might else be able to do it, but I’m sure the eighth grade would be willing to do it next year. Either have more jurors, or have two different cases, which was proposed in our meeting post trials. All in all though, it was a great experience.

Debates Reflection

Recently in class it had been discussed that we were sick of doing project after project, so we decided to try a different way to learn. We made a list of topics of interest on the board and picked the ones that we wanted to debate. The class split in half each time for pro and con sides, studied their platforms, and came back to humanites for a discussion. So far we have completed two of these debates, our first topic being about capital punishment, and the second about Libyan intervention. At first the debates seemed like something I would have a lot of interest towards, since I had enjoyed our debate at the beginning of the year with politics. Honestly though I’ve been slightly disappointed with the results so far.

We started off each debate by pairing up with someone from the opposing side, in order to have a short debate with them prior to the real thing. It was a 10-15 minute period for warming up and testing theories before you brought them to the group. Though the idea of these warm ups sound like a productive method, each partner I was assigned with seemed rather unprepared. The conversation always came to an awkward end as it became clear there had been a lack of studying. That showed the most during the Libya debate. Originally about four or five people (including myself) had voted against doing it due to lack of interest, but it was chosen anyway. Even though I wasn’t interested in the topic, I still studied, so it was extremely frustrating to see that some of the opposing side wasn’t talking back to us, because they didn’t  actually know what their side was. If I’m putting in any effort, I expect the same from someone I’m working with as just a matter of respect.

I don’t want to quite give up on the debates yet though because I know that with a little work it could be something interesting. Some more people need to start stepping up though, because frankly arguing with someone who can’t defend their own point is very unappealing.

Liu Bolin is a Chinese based artist who gained international attention in 2005, when the Chinese Government shut down his studio. Born in Shandong, China, 1973, Bolin attended the Central Academy of fine arts in Bejing. After setting up shop in Suojiacun, the Chinese Government bulldozed the buildings of the village for Olympic redevelopment, leaving him as well as hundreds of others homeless. In protest to what was being done, Bolin returned to the wreckage with two friends who painted his body to camouflage into the scenery as a silent protest. This was the inspiration for his work “Hiding in The City”, along with many other exhibitions, representing how easily one can become invisible when they don’t fit in with society. His work has been exhibited in China, France, Italy, The United States, and Korea, and continues he to use it as a silent messages to his cause.

I did a mostly straight-forward adaption of his work, though I focused more on head shots as opposed to the full body, because Bolin spends up to 10 hours masking himself completely. For logistical reasons, I mostly relied on other people as my canvas rather than using myself (although I did experience of being a canvas one time). These are examples of the more successful pieces.

¿Que animale serías?

Si yo sería un animale, yo sería un león o cualquier tipo gatos salvajes por que me gusta la elegancia de los movimientos y el velocidad. Yo no querería comer carne, pero yo pienso sería unos de los gatos. 

Simulation Reflection

For our most recent project, I decided to work alone, and looked at game simulations. This was the shortest amount of time that we have had, so it was rather difficult for me to try and figure out how to use my time in a way that would get the project done on time. I thought about what I might want to simulate, and decided that I was interested in forms of government, pulling from the idea of my government election project earlier this year. The first week I focused on looking at the forms of government, and had created a list of different possible styles I could recreate:

A section from my notes

Military Dictatorship: Stratocracy 

Religious: Enlightened absolution - Theocracy 

Singular Leaders: Monarchy, Elected Monarchy-Self-Proclaimed Monarchy, Despotism, Regent,

Dutchy

Multiple: Diarchy, Timocracy, Oligarchy, Ochlocracy, Isocracy, Democracy, Consociationalism

Alternatives: Isocracy, Anarchy, Tribalism 

After writing out different game plans I finally decided to just make the government a dictatorship, simplifying things by having only one person in power. Then I sat down and finalized the rules to the game so I could explain the game thoroughly:

The situation is that you are creating a new society. This is the dictator version of the game, so the first step to start playing is to elect your dictator. The now elected dictators table represents the dictators government. There is the second in command, The Foreign Minister, and The Interior Minister, all of which the dictator will decide. The rest of you are the people of this new society, and each of you will be assigned a profession. Now you know what you are, your going to have to split into groups. The government will be given the ten amendments of the constitution in which they can add to or take away from at any time. They will also be given a type of budget they deal with. 20% of government money goes to each branch of professions (Education, Construction, Farming, and Business). The government also starts with 20% of the budget. The dictator can alter these percentages at any time, and the more money the government keeps, the more powerful they are. 

The people will be discussing what they want from the government, and sending requests to the dictator. The people want cheaper food, then they need to increase the farming budget, but the increase must be taken away from another branch. The dictator has veto power over any requests, and has a final say in what happens. In order to keep the dictator in check there will be a catch. The people can revolt at any time. The conditions are that there must be a two thirds consensus as to wether or not to revolt, and there is risk that if the government catches any individual person conspiring, the government will cut your salary to what ever they would like. 

At first the game functioned well, but as it progressed there were some considerable flaws I could see. First of all, there was no motivation to keep your percentage high. If you were to have a small percentage of money, there was no consequence to it. I just couldn’t think of incentive to drive the game. There were also some lolls in the game between deliberations, and it left people wandering without purpose. I’m still deciding whether or not to continue improvements on the game, or start fresh with a new simulation. Either way I am interested in  pursuing these game simulations. 

La Casa en Westbourn Street

Yo viví en Westbourne St para ocho años. Me gusta la calle y mi casa por que estan poqueños y simple. No conoce mucho de los vecinos pero tengo unos pocos cuentos para durante todos los años. No esta mucho acción y esta aborrido, perro es mi barrio. 

El casa despues miyas estan nosotros amigos. Marsha y Pablo viven en la casa y los hijos de ellos se llaman Zeta, Nessie, y Rex. Otros personas vivieron alli antes de la familia y no estaban bien. La famila estan muy athletico y simpatica y solo estan uno problemo. Ellos tienen dos gatosmuy mal . Un gato es blanco y un es negro y juntos hacen muchos problemas. Yo tengo seis perros y dos odian gatos. Te gusta sentar contra de la ventana para horas y mirando a los ojos de los gatos. Los gatos instegar mis perros y cuando yo deja fuera los dos perros carrera los gatos. Yo deja ellos a veces. Mi madre odian los gatos tambien. Mi madre es obsesiando con su pez, y tan es el blanco gato. Mi madre compra nuevo pez para el patio charca y el gato aprende entrar en el charca y vuelve los organos en el patio. No persona te gusta los gatos. 

Las personas en la casa detras de mi casa es un hombre y su esposa. Las personas no te gusta nosotros por que mis perros. No es simpatica. Años pasados ellos tiene grande disputas en la noche. Ellos despertan los vecinos con la gritan. Ellos usado tienen un perro tambien y sería corteza son las tres en la mañana. No piensan mucho de los vacinos  que duermen. El más grande problemo es ellos se quejarce sobre nosotros, nosotros perros, y quieren la casa de nosotros. Con tristeza, Nate es el hijo de nosotros dueña y el puede se quejarce. Nosotros tratamos de ignorar ellos. 

El otro casa contra de mi casa esta muy misterioso. Yo nunca se quien viven hay. En ocho años de vivo en el calle, yo solamente ver dos familias vivir hay. El primero familia era viejo y no salir la casa mucho. Ahora esta nueve personas en la casa. No se cuanto personas estan en la casa, pero yo se eran una señora y una bebe. Yo oigo el bebe llora a veces, pero no mucho más. Los factos yo recogido sobre las personas esta ir a la cama temprano, por que yo veo las luces apagados, y se uno de las personas cumpleaños la semana pasada, por que yo oigo ellos cantan. Yo pienso las personas al lado siempre estan un misterio. 

Mi madrina vive en el calle tambien. Se llama Cindy. La casa de ella tiene dos pisos y el jardín en el patio afrente es bonita, pero no me gusta ir a la casa mucho. Cuando yo mudé a America, yo vivo en la casa de ellas para un poco tiempo. Ella siempre tiene tres perros, todo el tiempo yo se ella, y los perros siempre cocker spaniels. En general los perros estan viejo, enfermo, o te gusta mordida, tan no me gusta ellos. El interior de la casa es oscuro y olores como perro y orina. Estan muchos fotos de familia y amigos en los paredes y figuras alredo de la casa. El tele es siempre encendido en el tennis channel. CIndy te gusta sentar afuera con los perros, y ellos corteza a las personas que caminan cerca. Los carteros no te gusta la casa de Cindy por que los perros mordedores. Yo estoy cuidado alredor los perros. 

A la final de la calle es una tienda se llama Seven Eleven. Seven Eleven es una tienda conveniencia y es bueno para poco ir de compras cosas como leche. Por lo general yo voy a la tienda y traen mi perro se llama Auto con me. Cuando estoy con Auto yo tengo mucho atencion, por que el es un blanco, cien libras, german shepherd. Yo oigo personas comparan Auto a un caballo. Por que de Auto, todoas las personas saben me a Seven Eleven. Ellos estan muy simpatica y te gusta compañía Auto. Un hombre te gusta me mejor, y habla con me en español. La policia van a la tienda a menudo tambien, y encanta Auto. Me gusta visitar mucho. 

Arriba de la calle es La Jolla High. En la mañana y tarde los estudiantes caminan abajo de la calle donde los carros estan y donde Seven Eleven está. Las personas es muy bullicioso cuando ellos charlan. Mi hermana Hannah no me gusto un grupo de los estudiantes. Una día el grupo dicide a sentan a me patio afrente y Hannah no te gusta. Hannah decidío venganza en el grupo. Ella abierto el puerto, pero mantana la pantalla de la puerta por lo que no ve ella. En el voz de un persona viejo Hannah grita “¡Niños aléjense de me patio mequetrefe!”. Los niños eran muy miedo y se escapó rapido, se fueron tropezando mientras corrían. Hannah y yo reímos para un largo tiempo.  

En el siguiente calle se llama Nautilus Street vive un hombre quien tiene un cerdo. El cerdo se llama Clementine. Cuando el hombre Ted va a un viaje, yo cuido los animales en la casa. Con el cerdo iba un faisán se llama Rootie, un gato se llama Lexi, y un tortuga se llama Caesar. Dos veces un día, yo voy a la casa y dar comida, nueva agua, y juego con las animales. A la noche yo era supone que poner Rootie en una casa de perro para su a duermo en y saco él en la mañana. Un día, yo era abrir la puerta de la casa de Rootie pero Rootie no deja. Despues de un poco tiempo, yo empiezo a pánico. Yo veo en el casa de Rootie y veía Rootie en el piso. Yo pensaba yo muertos Rootie. Muy miedo, yo coré a me casa y explica a mi madre. Más tarde mi padre vino a la casa de Ted y tomar el cuerpo de Rootie. Yo nunca sabía por que Rootie murió. Yo continua cuido a las animales cuando Ted deja.

Una otra cosa en Nautilus Street esta la tienda se llama AAA. Esta una preparación del perro tienda donde mi madre trabajaba en. Cuando yo era la edad suficiente yo empezar trabajo tambien. Es divertido de trabajo a AAA. Yo lavo y secar los perros, hago lavandario, lavar cajas, hago papeleo, y camino los perros. Es una interesante trabajo por que yo juego con los perros y es divertido a ver todos los animales y su propietarios. Cuando yo dobla la ropa lavada, yo la gente mira. Yo voy en sabado.

Yo tengo muchos cuentos de cosas a pasar en mi casa, y mucho divertido recuerdos. Es un tiempo cuando Hannah, la amiga de ella, y yo eran aburrido, y decidir disfrazarse en trajes, fuimos afuera con equipo de Rock Band y tocar música en la calle. Una otra vez yo tiré ciruelas a la casa de el vecino no me gusta con amigas. Yo tengo bloqueé personas afuera de mi casa cuando yo era frustrar. Mi hermana y yo compitieron en carreras en la calle y jugamos deportes en el patio enf rente. Tengo  buenos recuerdos y mal recuerdos, pero me encanta vivir en Westbourne Street. 

In science we looked at the elements and created super heros/villains out of the element of our choice. Here is my comic, staring Nita as nitrogen (N).