Life in Vietnam would be perfect if everyone were totally equal. Do you agree or disagree? Explain your answer in complete sentences.
- I totally, completely, aggressively disagree with this idea. If everyone were totally we wouldn't have extraordinary people like Field Medal Winner Ngô Bảo Châu, we wouldn't have many great people who contributed to science, philosophy, etc. If everyone would be equal, Vietnam would be a very average country. There wouldn't be people who help develop Vietnam and all will stop develop since no one would be good enough to improve the country.

You are designing a society in which everyone is equal. What are the laws?
-The laws will be: there will be no handicaps for people who are better than other people, but the people who are smarter will have to help the people who are worse than them.
There will be people with more money, but the people with more money will have to give up part of their fortune into a fund to help people who are poorer.

What would you do to help people who were less capable mentally, physically, or socially to “catch up”?
-I would help them with their studies, help them make new friends, support them with devices or technology that can reduce their physical disadvantages, etc.

What problems can you foresee that might come in a society with laws that force “equality for all”? How would you handle those problems?
-The main problem is that the government officials are way, way richer and have a lot more advantages and privileges. To make sure that the society is equal, government officials will have to report their property status and their economic status to state whether is it fair for them to earn those money or it's illegal money. if it's illegal money, the money will be taken away from them and provide to the poor people to achieve an equal society.

Do you believe that total equality is possible, or would human nature make sure that some people would eventually dominate others?
-People dominate people is the law of nature. It is impossible to create a total equality society where everyone are the same. Some people are cuter than others doesn't mean they are bad and trying to take over. Some people have more talent and make more money doesn't mean they have to be less talented and have less money. It's human nature that people will dominate others.

In what situations have you felt similarly to any of the characters? What persons, places, or ideas from your own experience came to mind while you were reading this story? Try to list as least two examples.
-The first example is when I study English at my Vietnamese public school. I learned English for 3 years then already, and the lessons were like A,B,C. I exceeded in class and finally have to stop studying English at my public school. People were telling me not to be so arrogant and study like beginner like everyone else. It's similar to Harrison when he had to be handicapped to be equal.
The second example is when I was doing well in 6th grade. Some boys were jealous so they said I cheated and I was handicapped socially since they hate me being better than them. The boys were similar to the government because the government didn't want people to be better than others or the government might be jealous about people being smarter than them.

Videos

Video 5: New York's governor DeWitt Clinton, often referred to "Father of the Erie Canal", had a vision of making New York rich and ran New York for 20 years. Within 20 years, the population grew from a few hundred to 16 thousands and the economy was booming. At the age of 19, Abraham Lincoln made his first trip down the Mississippi River, carrying lumbers, and discovered the simple route. Population and economy of America increased vertically during the Industrial Revolution and turned US into a global economic powerhouse. The canal was called "Clinton's big ditch".
Economic activities:
Grown goods that were exchanged using the Mississippi River.
Trading of goods through the Erie Canal.
Global economic house.
Video 6: Villages were built along the Mississippi river and gradually turned into a huge city. The word "millionaire" was invented in 1840 when there were people who started to have more than a million dollars. Cotton started to grow, bur required intense work to tear off the seed to get the cotton inside...by hand (1 pound per day). As the cottons grow, the slaves starting to increase. Half the world's cotton came from US. Then machine was invented and it changed all. Cotton was called "White Gold".
Video 7: America started to run on whale oil during the Industrial Revolution. Whale oil was discovered and one whale can support up to 3000 gallons of oil.
# Whale oil trade killed a lot of people, especially African American slaves who wanted to become wealthier.
# Some African Americans were kidnapped for slavery.
Video 8: Frederick Douglass became the idol of anti-slavery in New York. Harriet Tubman was put on a reward of $40,000 for her head by the South but nothing stopped her from helping slaves flee. She went back and forth to the South in order to flee more slaves. John Brown, hero to the North, terrorist to the South, terrorized Southern towns in order for his anti-slavery protests. John Brown planned to strike the South's arsenal, which contains 20,000 rifles, muskets and pistols. He wanted to arm the Southern slaves and "light the fumes", leading the slaves' rebellion. He fought with his five sons, no slaves' reinforcement at all. It's a suicide mission.
Economic activities / conflicts
Trading of slaves.
John Brown and his sons stormed the South's arsenal.
Video 9: After they captured the arsenal, US Marines stormed the arsenal, killed all of his sons, and captured him alive. John Brown was then tried and executed, but it was just the begun of the slaves' rebellion.
Abraham Lincoln elected President of the United States. Battle-line was drew, although Lincoln wanted to avoid the Civil War. The South deployed 800,000 mobile troops in a virtual state of war.
Conflict:
* John Brown fighting the marines
* Abraham Lincoln had personal hatred on slavery
* US Civil War

Letter Project

November 2nd homework

Question 1/ How does advertising influence consumption?
- First of all, advertising has a super mega huge influence on consumption because it tells us the product that we might not know about it yet. Secondly, it tells us all the good things about the product, which makes us want to buy the product because it has so many positive factors accompanying it.

Question 2/ Do you think citizens are sufficiently informed about the sustainability of our consumption habits? If not, how can we become more informed about sustainability issues?
- No. Absolutely not. If the government inform us about the sustainability of our consumption habits, they are killing the companies that brought them huge amounts of money, and killing themselves too. We can be more informed about sustainability issues by doing research on it and to check out which products are negatively affect sustainability.

Question 3/ Do you think these advertising techniques influence what you and your friends purchase?
- Yes! Why not? I saw an advertisement on a Chelsea Football Uniform and I want to buy it immediately. I'm one-hundred-and-one percent sure that all my friends bought products after being advertised to, too.

Migrating assignment

Terry
Period 1
Migration assignment
A friend of my family, Ms. Nga, migrated from Vietnam to America. Her husband lost his jobs and made no money and did not support the 2 children. Her job as a phone operator only allowed her to feed the family and send her children to the local school. She lived with her siblings and parents. One of her friend, Mr. Terry Jones, suggested that she should go to US for a better life. After half a year talking to her family about it, Ms. Nga agreed to go. She got married to Mr. Jones on paper, and it enabled her to settle in the US with the children. She believes that it will be a better chance for the family.
The night she went to the airport with her children was a dreadful night. Her family and friends cried a lot. She could not bear with the sorrow herself. However, when she immigrates to America, Mr. Terry Jones helped Ms. Nga’s family a lot. He shared his house with her and did not charge her or anything. He helped her find a job and buy a car. Finally, Ms. Nga moved out of Mr. Jones’ house since she got a $3,500 job and rented an apartment with good security for shelter. She also got an affordable car. However, her family had a minor struggle. Due to the family’s ethnic, her children found it hard to make friends with the new American. But it’s just a small problem that was overcome easily. Now her family is settled, and they have a whole new bright future ahead of them.

Reading Diagnostics: A Message From Mother Nature

* What is the main point of this article?
The main point of this article is to show the readers that the climate is changing in real, not in theory.
* List four vocabulary words that you do not recognize or understand, lookup the definitions, write them out using your own words.
Reluctant: Doing something in an unwilling way
Battered: To smash something hardly; to damage
Droughts: An extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply
Variability: Being uneven; the state of being variable
* What is the difference between “weather” and “climate”?
Weather is the state of climate for a short period of time, while climate is weather for a long period of time.
* What are the examples listed in the article of “extreme weather”?
Record-breaking heat wave in Russia, flooding in New England, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma,...
* What experiences have you had with “extreme weather”?
On a sudden and unexpected rain, waters flooded my house (an apartment on the 8th floor).
* What does the word “perception” mean?
To be aware of something
* What is your “perception” of global climate change?
My perception of global warming is the rising of sea level might causes flood in Vietnam and coast cities.

The Raptor Republic

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My world map’s latitude and longitude goes up by 100. 1cm on the maps equals 100km in real life. My map’s theme is battles fought between the Raptor Republic and the Evidalia. Battles usually occur along the borders of the 2 countries and at No Man’s Land.

Physical characters include elevation, oil rigs, mineral mines, rivers, lakes and mountains. Places near the Bartholomew Mountains are usually highlands. There’s a huge deserted land bordering RR and Evidalia. This area was deserted because too many battles were fought there, so everything was destroyed.

My people mine minerals and oils, settling in No Man’s Land, representing Human-Environment Interaction. Lots of settlers settle along rivers and lakes so they can grow crops and harvest seafood such as fishes. They also settle a lot near mountains to gather minerals such as rocks and gold. Military bases, government agencies were built at each state to provide protections for my people, along with unmarked hospitals, police departments and other public services.

Transfer of Raptor Republic’s people to No Man’s Land is part of movement. No Man’s Land has a lot of natural resources, enabling them to harvest under protection of the armed forces. Transfers and deployment of soldiers to NML is also part of movement.

Time line:

0: Raptor Republic was founded

12: The Evidalia was founded

15: Raptor Republic sent representative to Evidalia for a peace treaty

16: Representative murdered.

22: Evidalia sent armed forces to Raptor Republic, invading the country.

25: The war ended. Invading forces were pushed back.

27: Senator Terry Cao from the Sheil State elected Prime Minister of the Raptor Republic.

28: No Man’s Land was found. PM Terry Cao deployed scientists and geographers to explore the land. Scientists reported back with positive characteristics, perfect for transfer of settlers. 2 months later, contact was lost.

29: Army Special Forces found the bodies of the scientists, confirmed being killed by Evidalian.

30: Foot mobiles from Evidalia were deployed into NML, trying to take over the land. Raptor Republic Marine Corps were deployed along with the Air Force.

32: PM Terry Cao confirmed a border war with Evidalia.