Effective Communication

Effective Communicator is someone who communicates effectively. To communicate effectively is to have eye contact, speak clearly, be clear about the topic of the conversation. Effective communication is important because it is useful in arguments and persuasions. The first step that I will take to become an effective communicator, is to be more detailed in conversations and not just vague information and clear on the topic of what I am saying.

Gaza "looks like earthquake zone"

This happened to Palestinians. Israel and Gaza have been sending missiles at each other. And it left many people homeless and without running water. It happened in the Gaza city. It happened currently. The Israelis was fighting against the Hama offensive. Israel allowed 143 humanitarian aid truck and 60,000 fuel into Gaza to help the homeless and injured. 1,300 Palestinians died and the medical source is still recovering bodies. 5,500 were injured.

Runaway Child Sweethearts Stopped.

This event happened Mika, Anna-Bell and Anna-Bell's seven year old sister. They were running away to Africa. It happened in Hanover railway station, in Germany, when they were on their way to Africa. Mika and Anna-Bell want to get married in Africa because it is warm. They sneaked out of the house in the morning when their parents were sleeping. The news was updated monday, 5th of January.

source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/mewsid_7812300/7812350.stm

Dogs.

The temperature of a newborn puppy should be 94-97'F. The puppy's temperature should reach an adult's temperature, 101.5'F, at the age of 4 weeks old.  When the puppy or dog is excited, the temperature rise 2-3 degrees. If the dog's temperature is above 105'F or below 96'F, the dog needs to see a vet. An adult should have 15-20 breaths per minute. And the dog should have 80-120 heartbeats per minute. If the dog is suffering pain, it will give a clue where it is. When a dog has abdominal pain, the dog will bite or lick the area. And the dog will not want to leave it's bed. The dog might stand hunched or it will get down on it's forelegs but the hind legs will keep on standing because of the pain. Dog will whine or whimper in pain. There are some dogs that can endure pain with vocalizing it's pain. Another clue to pain of a dog is a change in temperament. Dogs, and humans, get mood swings, they can get angry for no obvious reasons.  

Leprosy

The leprosy is also known as the Hansen's disease. Leprosy is an infectious disease and had been known since the biblical times. This kind of disease disfigures your skin sores, nerve damage and you get weak slowly. Leprosy is caused by the organism, Mycobacterium leprae. The disease is difficult to transmit. If you get leprosy, the symptoms appear a long time after you leprosy, so it is hard to know what time you leprosy. Children are easier to get the disease then adults. Leprosy is split into two groups, tuberculoid and lepromatous. Both of them disfigures your skin sores, but lepromatous is more severe, it produces big and disfiguring lumps and bumps on your skin. Leprosy will damage your nerve in your legs and hands, it causes sensory loss in the skin and your muscles get weak. People with long-term leprosy cannot walk or use their hands due to the muscle weakness. A number of different antibiotics are used to kill the bacteria. 

source: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/112347.htm

Ben Hur- What I learned-part 2.

I learned that if you weren't a Roman, you have less rights. If you were adopted by the council, you are officially a Roman and are granted with more rights. And you inherited what your father that adopted you have. I also learned that if you get leprosy, you live with other people that also has leprosy and you live far away from people without leprosy. The Romans believed that if a leprosy infected person breathed on you, you would get the bacteria. I learned that when the ships of the Roman's get rammed, the slaves that are rowing, start freaking out and started tugging at the chains that are around their ankles. I also learned that the prisoners can stay in prison for years and don't look at the sun for how long they stay in the dungeon. 

Death tolls mounts as Israel expands Gaza Offensive.

4 soldiers in the Gaza Strip were killed on Tuesday by their shells on their tanks- it is the first "friendly fire" in the 11-old-days offensive. The Israeli soldiers were reported that they are heading south-ward into the Gaza Strip, to Khun Yunis. The United Nations reported that one of their schools were hit by the Israeli hit. The Hamas, who were the group that are defying the Israelies, fired more rockets into Israel on Tuesday. One of the rockets hit the town of Gareda, just 20 miles south away from Tel Aviv.  The target that was struck was the farthest north out of the hundred of missiles that had been fired from the Gaza Strip since the Israeli offensive began. Since the Israeli offensive went into the Gaza Strip on Saturday, the Israeli offensive have killed 130 of the Hama's men and only 5 men from the Israeli offensive died of the shell on their tank. The Israeli officials from Washington said that the amount of fired missiles have dropped from 80 on christmas day to 20 per day now. The president of France and the president of Syria met with the leaders of Israel and said that the fight must stop because it is "unbearable". The Israeli were still not ready to cease fire proposal. The offensive are not finished yet.

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/world/middleeast/07mideast.html?pagewanted=2E_r=1Eref=world

Modern day slavery

There is still slavery today, though many people are unaware of that. There are probably 27 million people under different forms of slavery. The Central Intelligence Agency  have estimated that there are 45,000 women and children smuggled into America, promised with a decent job, but then only got their passports stolen and had to work in farms, sweatshirt shop or work as maids. But most of the people that were of the 27 million are South Asians that are in debt bondage. The system is described as "Disposable People".  Families, children also, are in debts, can be enslaved for generation. Slavery is a growing business because many people are becoming poor. People found that there are a lot of families are willing to sell their children, mostly daughters, for a lot of money to be able to afford useless things like television. The daughters are mostly sold into prostitution. They stay there until they get AIDs and then, are sent back to their village to die in shame. Slavery is illegal but it is still unable to be completely put to an end. The first stage of fighting against slavery is learning that slavery exists and let other people know that slavery is a serious human abuse, and let convince them not to see slavery as a cultural practice.

source: 

Education Problems in Taiwan.

I asked my mother what are the education problems in Taiwan, and she replied, that there is too many tests and quizzes in the Taiwan school, then the students there have to attend extra lessons to help them keep up with their school work. And then, the students have a lot of homework.

what happens to the students in Taiwan that do not pass the exam in 9th grade?
My mother said that the grades of the exams determines which senior school the student will attend. This schools leads to studying in universities and colleges. The higher the grades of the students, they will attend better schools. If the student's grade in the exam is so low that no school accepts him/her, then the students could choose to study in vocational schools. These school do not lead your studying to universities and colleges.

Ben Hur-what I learned.

I noticed the Romans were very mean to their prisoners and slaves. The scene in the dungeon when Ben was protesting that they let his family go, then he was dragged out of the room by the guards and the guards pushed Ben and was really mean to him. The slaves wore rags. The group of slaves that were lead by the Romans were wearing rags and had cuts all over them. Ben Hur was very kind to his servants, because they were not wearing any rags but clothes. Ben does not treat his slaves like slaves, but spoke to them kindly. The commanders are served well. The commander's clothes looks good and they look well fed unlike the slaves. The peasants did not wear clothes that look rich. The Roman ships had oars that made the ships sailed. The slaves had to row the oars. If they were sick, they would be replaced with another slave. The leader of the ship was really mean, they weren't at battle, and yet he ordered the speed of the ship be rowed very fast. He was trying to make Ben tired and fall down, but other people get tired and fainted.