iCubed.us BLOG response
Mr. C
Marion Chu (8-3)
Respond on “THE SLOW MOVEMENT- Stop and smell he roses”
After reading the article, I agree in what the article says. People now a days only know how to rush things, always having a list to finish as soon as possible in one day, running around, no time to slow down, no time to fully enjoy life.
People always refer fast people as “smart” and “intelligent”, slow people are not being appreciated, thinking that they are dumb and wasting their time. People always buy things, upgrading, and tossing out the old, they refer young as good, old as bad, but taking things slowly can sometimes make you more successful, give you more happiness, taking stress away from you. This is why, people who are always very busy, does practices to slow themselves down, doing yoga for example, so they could calm themselves and reduces stress.
In my opinion, I think that taking things slower is a good thing, we could slow down and think, think what we really want to do in our daily lives, not just following a checklist and rushing to finish all the tasks. Slowing down in doing things can have us enjoy things better. All of us should first calm ourselves down, starting doing everything slowly and efficiently, and don’t keep competing and comparing with each other whether they are fast enough to have more things accomplished.
Bernard Liu (8-6)
Responses to Books,Papers,etc…
BIBLIOboy onSimon Barnes”HOW TO BE A BIRDWATCHER:TO THE GREATER GLORY OF LIFE
By BIBLIOboy ,8,June 2008
After reading the article, I understand what the article was trying to tell and it was about the feelings when BIBLIOboy is reading Simon Barnes “How to be a Birdwatcher" To The Greater Glory Of Life.
He said if we just "look out a window. See a bird and enjoy it." , we will become a bad birdwatcher.
BIBLIOboy owns 2 pairs of binoculars and observing birds is one of the few things that could get him up early in the morning. Most of his friends think he was a crank, but when they saw the wonders of the feathered world they would gasp together. BIBLIOboy notice that Fly is what every human had dream of and birds is something that could fly and sometimes he had also dream of flying in gliders and dirigibles.
He also realizes that the way people should live is to go out, experience, and enjoy.
Sports,Fitness & Health..
“Mosquitoes target exhaled breath” (BBC Report)
by !baha, 16 JUL 2007
This article was about the new insect repellent that had been discovered and it was also Responses to Professor Leslie Vosshall from Rockefeller University
Scientists in New York City had discovered that flies and mosquitoes sense targets our exhaled breathe with their protein receptors and they also found out that the carbon dioxide receptor would act as an insect repellent.
In my opinion, I think this new insect repellent would be useful in the future and it would be a new way to expel insects.
Ian Lee (8-6)
This section regards the system of political and social freedom, it explains the concept of “true freedom” and democracy, it is a deep subject that does deserve to be looked further into.
Strangely enough, there is only one article, written by Margaret Chen.Summary of “THE TRUTH ABOUT POWER”:
This article discusses the powers that leaders have, and the different kinds of power that has existed throughout the years. Margaret tells us that power should not be achieved by fear and intimidation, but it should be acquired through the expression of positive emotions and wisdom. She also notes that the meaning of power has slowly evolved over the years, while power used to be violence-based, it has slowly turned into wealth-based, and now we are ushering in a new age of power which is governed by knowledge. This article is full of intelligent insights, and I learned a lot from just reading.
Reflection:
I agree with Margaret Chen, power achieved by fear and intimidation will never be justified, and leaders who rise to power using violent means will never be loved by their subjects and people. I think it’s true that knowledge is what makes a good leader, looking at famous politicians such as Martin Luther King and Barack Obama we can see that wisdom, virtue and intelligence is the key to the hearts of the people and a successful career in leadership. It seems that knowledge really does equal power.
Nicole Hon (8-6)
“Graduation and Becoming Adult”
The theme in June 2008 was “Graduation and Becoming Adult”. It was written by Margaret Chen, the Editor in Chef in iCube.us. After studying Diploma in school, you would have to graduate and became a real adult. This is a stage all of my classmates need to pass and I think it is smart to read passages about the theme before passing on the “adult” stage.
“The Tragic Consequences of Moving from Rites of Passage to Coming of age” is a passage talking about the consequences of the lack of adulthood initiation rites. When you reached the period of adulthood, there are fewer consequences. If you pollute the world by turning on air conditioner every day, there would not be any consequences; except for we were in danger of losing ourselves in the world.
“Are Adults Born, or Made” is a passage featuring Margaret’s thought on the topic. She thought that everyone would turn into an adult on a certain time. Also, she agreed that adults are made. Schools people went helped them to develop a lot of abilities. They taught people life skills and that’s the part why Adults are made. However, Adults are born at the same time because the school would not teach you what we should do when people reached Adulthood.
“Does Happiness “Just Happen?” was a shorter passage talking about what the people thinks in our current world’. People in nowadays focused on “economic” more than happiness, especially in the big countries. People would do what they can and tried to earn more money while they ignore the importance of happiness. The United Nations had spotted the problem and they tried to find a way to solve this problem. Their goal was to develop a healthy society!
After reading this passage,
I hoped I would never grow up. I know this is impossible, but still... it is my
hope all the time. Being an adult made you entered into a realistic world, with
people rushing on the streets to earn more money. I would prefer a relaxing
life like now: Studying and Enjoying Life.
Katrina Hung(8-3)
Reponse to “Extinction”
The article was written by Margaret Chen, editor in chief, discussing about how humans have done damage to our plannet. The writtor thinks that it is wrong when people say that “God is playing tricks on us” or blame it on god. We are the ones who’s creating threats and destroying the habitat, causing more living animals to extinct, such as creating the atomic bomb in world war 1, cutting down trees, destroying forests.
I agree when the article says that “It doesn’t seem likely that it will be aliens from outer space that will come and destroy mankind”, instead she fears that we, will all die here on earth.
In my opinion, we should be the change we want to see, as mentioned in the article to find a place in the world and a way to contribute to the solutions that will save us from extinction. Little actions can make a change, conserving energy, switching off lights when we don’t use them. This way we could live in a better environment and also save us from extinction.
Mr. C於 2012年11月22日星期四UTC+8上午9時11分38秒寫道：
Ian Lau (8-3)
My respond to “The sloe movement- Stop and smell he roses”
People now a days are rushing through everything. They are rushing to finish a
task as soon as possible, running around everyday. Being tired and don't have
time to take a rest or relaxation.
People think that the faster you are, the better it is. Finishing task quicker is not wasting your time, and a good time management. Being slow is not appreciated by other, they think you are dumb and wasting your time. But being slow isn’t that bad, you can enjoy life and reduce stress. Rush though things can’t make you perfect, being slow can help on your efficiency and doing stuff better. Every seconds in our life, people are “doing”, “buying”, “Talking”, “Text-ting”. When is it enough? When will everyone stops and relax? Enjoy the life of slow and reduce stress.
I agree on what the article said. In my opinion, I think we should also live in a slow life. Not as slow as doing nothing, but be balanced. Don’t rush through stuff and act like a robot. Relax but also working everyday. We should stop and think, what really need us to rush and what we don’t, sit down in a coffee shop and enjoy life!
Cookie_Melody_So (8-6)
Respond for iCubed.us anthology book
Chapter - Crime and Punishment
I am choosing the crime and punishment, this theme is talking about does evil exist, and if it do exist, do punishment have the power to stop them? They also talk about is all the criminal worth to punish? Maybe the criminal is not totally wrong at all!! That’s what interest me to keep reading.
The article start with two main question: Does Evil Exist? Does Punishment Work? The article says, wise men have answered that evil is simply the absence of good. So what it means is, when goodness is missing, that is when evil become manifest.
For the second question, they tell me a story instead of answering yes or no. The story is about a poor man had been arrested because of stealing a bread to keep his family for starving. Stealing is a crime, but what he did is very reasonable. What the story wants to tell us is, punishment while able to deter certain types of crime, cannot deter all.
I’m glad that I pick this theme, it’s really interesting. I do think that evil exist. I think when a person is doing something that you think is not nice and you think it’s a very negative move, it’s evil. Different people have different definition for evil. For example, if there’s two mental killers, people think they are evil, but both of killers would think they are both doing good! And I was totally agree with the second answer. Judges should see whether the criminals have reason for committing the crime, to prevent another people got thrown into jail just because of keeping his family alive.
And for the extra respond for Kylie Wong’s Fashion Blog, I found it very interesting and useful. Kylie has suggested shops for buying cloths, like H&M. I love going to H&M, her suggestions was really good. She also recommend different matching-clothes-style, she does give me a lot of idea how to match my clothes. I am looking forward to read her next Blog which is about DIY accessories and clothes!
Audrey Ching (8-3)
Response to ‘Crime and Punishment’
August 2008 theme
By: Margeret Chen
This article is discussing about does evil exist and does punishments work. The writter thinks that not all of the punishment fits the crime, for example in Victor Hugo’s novel “Les Miserables”, it’s a story of Jean Valijean who was the first one thrown in prison for stealing some bread to feed his starving family. The writer thinks that when a man must steal bread to keep his family from starving, this man cannot be considered as a crime.
She also thinks like evil is simply the absence of good, just like darkness is the absence of light.
I agree to what the writter said, “not all of the punishment fits the crime.” Jean Valijean was never a criminal in my point of view, he stole bread to keep his family from starving, is it really neceserry for them to throw him in jail for 5 years and marked him as ‘untouchable’ which means he would be unable to find honest work for the rest of his life.
In the theme ‘Crime and Punishment’, the writter wrote 3 short articles, the first one was ‘Does evil exist?’, second one was ‘Does punishment works?’ and the last one was ‘Does punishment fit the crime?’ This article is very interesting, I learned more about crimes and punishments!
Kevin Kung (8-3)
Alex Chan (8-6)
This article is about ethics, cheating and privacy. It is by Margaret Chen, editor in chief. It is about why we cheat and the why we tell lies. The article states that once you tell a lie, you need to tell another and another lie to cover earlier lies. I really agree with that because I have experienced and know that once you tell a lie, it will become more serious because you need to tell another lie.
I really agree when the author say that when an athlete take enchanting drugs to have a better performance and won at last, the win became meaningless. What is the point to win if you just win by cheating? You will feel guilty and feel bad to the one who really worked hard to train.
In my opinion, I think someone really likes cheating in order to win and tell everybody he is the best. But what is the point to tell everybody that he is the best but actually he is not the best? But everybody will know they are wrong and stop cheating. They will find out that actually you will feel better if you just don’t cheat and lose.
Jerry Wong (8-6)
I agree with Margaret Chan. Race and Racism do really exist in the world. In Hong Kong, Local people called white people as “gui lo” which means ghost people as that they are white. Also, slavery is common in America before lincoln become the president. But people are thinking that some religion, people are not good and they start war with them. Being black doesn’t mean that they are wrong, basically,except for the skin color, black people have no difference with the whites, black people may even be better than white people like Barack Obama, the president of USA. People are starting to pull down the “Berlin wall” of Race and Racism and I think that it may soon disappear in the future when human spices matures.
Helen Hui (8-3)
Responses to "Crime and
punishment" by Margaret Chan
In this article,it is presented as Q and A. The question in this topic is
"Does evil exist?" and "Does punishment work?". In the
article, Margaret Chan thinks that when goodness, light and heat are absent,
that is when evil, darkness and cold become manifest and much obvious. She have
given examples of "does punishment work?" and "does this
punishment fits the crime?".
In a novel, "Les Miserables" gives an example that supports that
sometimes, punishments doesn't really fits the crime. Jean Valijean got into
prison because he have stole some bread to feed his starving family and is
marked as "untouchable" criminal. (which mean't that he would be
unable to find honest work for the rest of his life.
In this story, it shows
that not all criminals are alike. There are different types of criminals and
should not be treated with the same punishment. In my point of view, I agree to what the author said, not all punishments fits the crime. Jean Valijean shouldn’t be a prisoner because he ready need the bread to
feed his starving family, or not many innocent life will be sacrificed. If Jean
Valijean took the bread because of greed, then that is really a crime but he
didn’t, he needed the bread so I can’t see why he have to be in jail for 5
years of saving his family’s life.
On Thursday, 22 November 2012 09:11:38 UTC+8, Mr. C wrote:
Aaron Wang (8-3)
Response to “The Slow Movement – Stop and smell the roses”
The article that I read explains the “Slow Movement”. Nowadays, we often interpret faster things as better things, better cars can travel faster, a better internet can allow us to do things faster, a better computer can processing faster, a faster transportation is better, if you can calculate this problem faster then you are smarter than if you couldn’t, etc. All of interpretations are concluding the point that faster things are better than slower things, but that is not always the case. . The downside of going fast is that you aren’t enjoying the thing to it’s fullest, as such if you drive a car slowly down a scenic path, you can bask in the scenery to it’s fullest, but if you drive a race car down the same path, you will enjoy the scenery much less because it is passing by too quickly. Although, you can enjoy it better, albeit slower, this is not what usually happens in the modern society. The modern society is very rushed; if you wait more than 30 seconds when you are in MTR or getting off the bus, you will get yelled at or causes a big commotion. This article is basically saying that faster does not always mean better, it encourages people to enjoy life to it’s fullest instead of always rushing around mindlessly doing things.
I agree with the idea of the slow movement, I think that everyone nowadays is just trying to do things quicker to have more time to the things that they enjoy, such as rushing home from school to play videogames. I think that people should slow down and enjoy what they are doing. This is because if you are rushing to do something it often makes the thing less enjoyable and often causes stress. People should just stop and enjoy life to it’s fullest.
Ray Qi (8-3)
Response to “Race and Racism”
In this article, the writer talks about if “Race” is a method that classifies people based on scientifically insignificant data, or a root cause for anything from diseases to intelligence or any other field of aptitude. This article also says that if we keep on thinking that Race is the answer to a particular disease or problem, we stop looking for the actual cause. Many studies are done to discuss the existence of Race is because there’s a huge change since African Americans were working hard to be equal to Americans. Nowadays, there are no restrictions in schools, to access, to voting. As a matter of fact, an African male is currently the President of the United States! This is one of the biggest changes since 1965, when African Americans were finally granted the right to vote. But the truth is, there are still outbreaks, riots and even war fought between tribes known as “ethnic cleansing”. This is a result of us thinking that we belong to a specific group, race, tribe or even religion. This article also says that if we keep on thinking that Race is the answer to a particular disease or problem, we stop looking for the actual cause.
I think that there shouldn’t be Racism but I also accept Racism to be part of our lives. As humans, we like to compare and then come up with a winner. What gives racism a bad image is that people think that there is a “Supreme Race”, which is greater, the all the other races. They also believe that if you don’t belong to the “Supreme Race”, you are less of a person.
Carrie Overstreet (8-6)
Ryan Kwong (8-3)
“Crime and Punishment”
The film “Crime and Punishment” is making by Margaret Chen, edited by Albert Sanguinetti in April 2008. It talks about two questions, one is Does evil exist and does punishment work? Judge Albert Sanguinetti answer one of the question.
Albert Sanguinetti tell us that when goodness, light and heat are really exist, so it mean that is when evil, darkness and cold become manifest. In the second question, it talks and explains does punishment works? In Victor Hugo’s “Les Miserable” which the main topic is talk about criminals and how the criminals behavior.
I think that this film is a good film because it all talks all about crime and I like to watch the most exciting film that have a lot of action moving in it.
Anson Fong (8-3)
extinction
Humans are to blame for the extinction of humans.
We created the atomic bomb to destroy lives, and we created man made food to feed our over populated world.
We cut down the trees and forest for farming and housing.
Aliens from space will not kill us as H.G. wells wrote in his book war of the worlds. Even if we join together to fight common invaders, but that won’t happen. But we, humans, will kill our selves.
We cannot expect scientists, elders nor our government to save us. We need to safe ourselves from extinction.
Nicholas/Larry (8-3)
 Post reply |
The theme discusses how people who are always in a hurry should slow down and enjoy things slow paced.
It discusses how people should slow down and stop to smell the roses. Then it discusses the Slow-food movement which promotes slow-food. Some say that "small is beautiful". It talks about how we should be slow and that being slow has been around since ancient civilizations.
I think that people should not be that slow and I would certainly not stop to smell the roses. If I do everything slowly, there are two possibilities: I would have hardly any time to sleep if I move at a snail's pace, or I end up sleeping on the streets when I grow up being unable to catch up with the things I learn. Sure, we can take a rest once in a while, but those people don't seem to consider the spine-cracking workload of people like me.
As for Kylie Wong's fashion blog, I won't even bother to start commenting on that since it's all about fashion which is a complete waste of money by tempting businessmen.
Edwin Cheng (8-6)
Anson Lee (8-6)
On Thursday, 22 November 2012 09:11:38 UTC+8, Mr. C wrote:
Sylvester Chan
Athena Lai(8-6)
icubed respond blog
The theme is Graduation & Becoming Adult. It’s basically questions and articles and blogs about what it feels from being a kid to a teenager and adult, like the physical and emotional maturity, the ability to make the right choices, the consequences of our actions. There are questions like “Who are the grown ups in our world today?”, “Is it worth it to work 18 hours a day to do something that you don’t enjoy doing?” , “Would you trade happiness and contentment for a bigger paycheck, a faster car, a bigger house?”. There is also stuff mentioned about happiness. Although it says graduation and becoming adult, it’s more focused on becoming adult than graduation. But maybe I didn’t read it deep enough to know that graduation is mentioned. I say maybe because I just flipped and had a quick scan through pages.
I think that the blog has practically listed all of the things about growing up and being an adult. But I think it didn’t list out time management, being a role model to youngsters. I don’t recall reading those elements through my scanning process. But I think that the whole process of growing up is a bit scary, you have to change your whole life style, the way you think, the things you do, the way you do things. Everything’s got to change and that’s a bit scary and hard. You’ve been a kid for 13 years and suddenly boom! You’re an teenager/adult. But the good thing about adulthood it that there is freedom! But we also get to train our independent skills, mismanagement skills, physical and emotion maturity skills, responsibility to self, others and society, the ability to make the right choices, getting to realize the consequences of actions. Although a scary and quick change but it a great process and experience ;)
On Thursday, November 22, 2012 9:11:38 AM UTC+8, Mr. C wrote:
Jason Ma (8-6)
Respond Of I icube.us( Crime And Punishment)
This chapter is about the two problem the ( Does Punishment works) and ( Does Evil exists ). It told us that evil is simply absence of good, just as darkness is the absence of light, or cold is the absence of heat. The Mean of goodness is light and heat is truly exist in the physical world and when this thing are missing. When will don’t take care of the things that is view to help our guide of path. light and heat is absent that is not evil.
Does Punishment works? Victor Hugo Magnificent Novel ‘Les Miserables’ that take 17 years to finish. The story of Jean Valjean that steal some bread to feed his family.
This arctics show the right and wrong, it use the novel ‘Les Miserables‘ is an example. I choose this because I want know what is crime and punishment, is everyone that do wrong thing have to pay for it, can they be forgive.