Friday, October 19, 2012


Due to the very obvious fact that Mr. White is not teaching grade 10 this year (BOOOOO!!!), the grade 10 blog will be taking a long break (hiatus-SAT).

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Misha Prompt

Free will is an illusion that only exists on Earth to make people believe that they could do what they want rather than what they must.

-There is always something in a person that needs to be improved or developed. A strong man will have his goals stated which are the ones he wants to reach in order to gain the result and gain something from life. I think that people always should make themselves better, improve their knowledge, improve their physical skills etc.
Let’s take the following situation as an example. A man served 10 years in a prison, he was sentenced for a rubbery. After he crossed the gate line in the prison, he has gained freedom that he has been probably waiting for all those years. He is a free will person now. The next task for him is to decide what does he want to get from life. There are two ways out of this situation: 1) “If I was already 10 years in a prison that means that I can’t do anything now, no one is going to employ me because I was in a prison etc. I am going to do what I want, I don’t care about the consequences.”
2) “I had served 10 years in a prison for a bad thing that I have done before and I admit my guilt. Now I will do my best to improve to get a good job and a family”.

If a man chooses the first option, this is obviously not the right choice. Because he had served in a jail does not mean that the life is over and he hits the depression and apathy. He must state the goal and reach the goal. Never give up. If there is a temptation of give up and do what you want to do, this needs to be cut down immediately.

Even the situation in which I am right now is similar. I go to school and study that is it. However instead of finding the excuses why not, I could have gone to the sport and do sport and of course study better.
The free will is an illusion. There is always something you must reach for, make yourself better.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

300 word justification - IMO

‘You get disappointed by the person who you would never think that would let you down.’

I agree with this statement.
Disappointment is defined as the feeling of dissatisfaction that follows the failure of expectations or hopes to manifest. Expectation is present in our lives at all times and many expectations go without saying. We live by a series of codes and rules, which we occasionally need reminding of. Everything that we wish to  happen in the future is an expectation. Expectations can be both great and small but it is the level of expectation and the intensity of the relationship that can cause the unhappiness and disappointment.
If I expected a bus to come at 6.45pm and it didn’t come until 7.00pm, I would be disappointed, but I know that another bus will soon be on its way.
If I expected to get married and then my partner pulled out at the last minute, I would be heartbroken.  If we set ourselves unrealistic expectations, then we are just asking to be let down. I feel that relying on people is risky because you never know when the circumstances might change. You may fall out, or the person may change and it may ruin your expectations. Relationships are formed around expectations. To be friends with someone, you expect kindness, trust and honesty. If a friend is unkind, untrustworthy or dishonest you feel let down and disappointed.  However, if you are good friends, the expectation is that you can resolve the situation, make amends and restore the friendship.  The question may be whether there is any expected situation which is unforgiveable, where the level of disappointment is so great that it can never be resolved.
This will again different for everyone as we all have different levels of expectation. Optimistic people often feel more disappointed if they are let down because they are always expecting good things to happen. Pessimists or realists are less disappointed because they don’t expect good things to happen! The comment could be an interesting discussion between Psychiatrists!

Mr. White's great vacation

Mr. White in da Spain - ALLUSION!!

T-Moneys FIESTAAAAA!

Prompts response Augustin

1)Free will influences illogical and immoral decisions made by human beings.
Disagree. Free will gives one a profound sense of responsibility, which prevents us from misusing it.
2)Human lives are without consequence or meaning.
Agree. On the whole, a single human life does not significantly affect the universe; it only influences a tiny and enclosed environment.
3)Free will is an illusion that only exists on Earth to make people believe that they could do what they want rather then what they must.
Agree. Our society has forged an iron path for every human life, one that cannot be spurned unless at great cost. True freedom is not being able to do what you want; it is being able to choose what is best, to do what you must.
4)You get disapointed by the person who you would never think that would let you down.
Disagree. This is too specific.
5)Free will is just a fictitious idea created by human beings; the liberty to be able to choose what we do and what happens to us is not under our own control, but under the control of something beyond our power.
Agree, to a certain extent. This certainly applies to a range of modern societies, but exceptions always occur.
6)The commonly accepted human perspective is not the only way that life can be viewed.
Agree. Humans follow their forebears in making life choices; templates are set out for us. this is exactly why hermits are so cool.
7)Being uninformed is the only way to enjoy your life
Agree; ignorance is bliss. But then again, knowledge is power, and power may bring pleasure and satisfaction. Question of choices.
8)Slaughterhouse 5 deals with acceptance, fate and free will and time and memory    
Agree.
9)Life is only worth living when you don’t know everything about your future – "ignorance is bliss".
Agree.
10)War affects society in most horrific ways and rarely serves it good.
Agree. This is universally accepted.
11)Aliens can’t change their fates and future, instead they concentrate upon moments in their lives, as life is more amusing with the unknowns.
Disagree. Aliens have not been proven to exist.
12)People tend to become fatalistic if they acquire more knowledge than they should know and they can handle.
Disagree. Most people tend to take things less seriously as they gain more knowledge, as they come to terms with their insignificance.
13)A war may have a huge influence on people's fate
Agree. Example: death.


Prompt response: “Free will is an illusion that only exists on Earth to make people believe that they could do what they want rather than what they must.”

To properly respond to this statement, with all the high philosophy it requires, we need to define the concept of free will. It is the notion that, as sentient beings, we have the right and the ability to choose whichever paths for our lives as we please, and to make the decisions we think are best for us and our environment, on a daily basis as well as on a larger, life-spanning level.

Free will has been around as an idea for some time, and in certain select civilisations even applied to a certain degree, but until recently very few countries allowed the notion to be part of everyday life. It appeared as the need for strength and security within a group dwindled: in prehistoric times, unity was strength, and individuality did not exist because it meant death. As those risks disappeared over time, humans looked for independence. It is a concept that is closely linked with democracy; in order for our definition of the term to work, every individual within a society needs to have the same rights and privileges. However, free will in itself is contradicted by another aspect of democracy and societies in general: laws. They define what we may and what we may not do, which goes against the whole idea of free will. Who has the right to make laws? If they have such authority, then they are not on the same level as other individuals, therefore their own will overrules other people’s. Democracy is a beautiful idea, but realistically improbable. The same occurs with free will. Humans want individuality and freedom, but at the same time they seek the comfort and security of a community. the community needs order, and members must put the group’s interests before their own for the system to work. Thus, free will is rendered obsolete by the fact that our instincts push us to live in society.

Hubert Homework


1. Agree, some people are not smart enough to take important decisions. They often make the stupid ones without thinking.
2. Disagree, we all live for something: either for our family, the society or ourselves. THere is always meaning in our lives.
3. Disagree, people can do whatever they want, they can always go live on their own far from other society.
4. Agree, we often overrate the people around us. We trust them too much and once they break our confidence, we get hurt by them.
5. Agree, sometimes we don’t have full control over our lives. WE can make small decisions, but then we are not able to control many things.
6. Agree, there are many different perspectives of life. Animals and aliens would probably see this world differently than we do, their problems would be different.
7. Agree, knowing a lot of information leads to bothering about many things.
8. ?
9. Agree, being able to take unknown decisions leads to the entertainment of seeing the consequences.
10. ?
11. I agree with this statement completely. A war is never a good solution for a problem. It always brings disasters. One of them is human death. A war in real life never ends without a death. Either soldiers or innocent people die in such a conflict. People that have never done anything wrong, that have lived their own peaceful life but have been killed because of their, race, nationality or religion.  If these people do not die, they lose a lot of properties. Their houses are destroyed, they lose all of their wealth or one of their family members.  It is a terrible disaster that leads to many other bad things like hatred. People that have been affected by the war will always be seeking for revenge. I think that war is a terrible act that is truly immoral.
The war does not affect the humanity by only killing humans and destroying their wealth. It is disastruous for the environment as well. It pollutes the air and destroy the natural paysage. It destroys the world in which we live in, prevents people  from enjoying all kind of activities.  War also consumes billions of dollars every single year. It is a huge amount of money and it is spent on fighting people. This amount of money could be used in multiple ways in order to help world problems like hunger or poverty. Instead of spending money on tanks and guns, it oculd be spent on food or shelter for the poor. It is a great waste of money coming from taxes. People would actually want to help others instead of spending the money on war. They do not have any benefit in soldiers fighting in another country, they would prefere to help others. Here is another moral issue of war.
12. ?
13. Agree, same answer as in 7.
14. Agree, the war changes many events in the current world.

Response to spreadsheet/ Artem

1) Free will cause illogical and immoral decisions made by human beings.

Agree, the ability for people to do whatever they choose appropriate to do is terrifying. The studies by psychologists show that most of wars that have the following of the community and make civilians to participate happen due to  simple human nature. They will to participate in violence as it is in their nature, in world where violence would not be regulated, it would be a world slowly descending into chaos. The early civilizations are the best example, they had worked together only when they were facing the opportunity of extinction and had collaborated in order to survive.

2) Human lives are without consequence or meaning.

Disagree, if the life would have no meaning or have no consequences humanity would never reach the level it is at now, it would remain in the cave with no thought.

3) Free will is an illusion that only exists on Earth to make people believe that they could do what they want rather then what they must.

Every person has an ability to choose what do and those decisions affect his life. Our life is a series of decisions that we choose in our path. Certainly, there are decisions that are made under regulation or because a human is being put under difficult conditions, but in such conditions the most radical and often the greatest ideas are born.


4)You get disappointed* by the person who you would never think that would let you down.

Agree, it is always hard to lose the person you believe, especially when it turns out he betrayed you. The trust in person is more than just an  agreement, it is having a person that you believe as yourself. It is like losing a part of yourself.

5) Free will is just a fictitious idea created by human beings; the liberty to be able to choose what we do and what happens to us is not under our own control, but under the control of something beyond our power.

Every person has an ability to choose what do and those decisions affect his life. Our life is a series of decisions that we choose in our path. Certainly, there are decisions that are made under regulation or because a human is being put under difficult conditions, but in such conditions the most radical and often the greatest ideas are born.

6) The commonly accepted human perspective is not the only way that life can be viewed.

Agree, every person  has  an unique way of understanding lives, the most socially accepted may not be the best for specific person, due to the fact that socially accepted view on life is generalization and a trend that people follow just because they are community beings. Those who go against the trend are normally called outcasts, but they just have another view and perceive world differently.

7) Being uninformed is the only way to enjoy your life

Disagree, in our society being dominated by information and our age, which had rightfully achieved the title “age of information”, with the jobs, that have never took place, like experts of market and influence of development of infrastructure and international communications, have increased the importance of up-to-date valid information. Information became power, most of reporters admit that they call our age “informational warfare” and being uninformed in current society is like going to war without weapon.

8) Slaughterhouse 5 deals with acceptance, fate and free will and time and memory    

agree

9) Life is only worth living when you don’t know everything about your future – "ignorance is bliss".

Agree, the idea of knowing your every step may sound ridiculous and drive you mad. Most of emotions human experience happen due to random things, the most memorable chapters of our life happen due to surprise and unexpected actions.

10) War affects society in most horrific ways and rarely serves it good.
Agree

11) Aliens can’t change their fates and future, instead they concentrate upon moments in their lives, as life is more amusing with the unknowns.

??? (They know everything about their future, but try to enjoy unknown life when they know what happens?)

Everybody can change their future,  everybody has a unique future, the ending is the same, the story is always different.

12) People tend to become fatalistic if they acquire more knowledge than they should know and they can handle.


Agree. Knowledge is power and the more power person possesses the more responsibility for usage of his power he acquires.  Does the power make a person fatalistic? Probably not, if you know that something may happen it gives you a knowledge about what not to do, that may lead to accident person is fatalistic about. However, the feeling of realizing when and what will happen is certainly terrifying and there is no single human strong and intelligent enough to carry the responsibility for so much knowledge.

13)A war may have a huge influence on people's fate

Agree. Since the beginning of history humans tried to avoid or take participation in conflicts. This single fact does influence their lives.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Life is only worth living when you don’t know everything about your future – "ignorance is bliss".

Knowing everything is a curse. Knowing a lot is a curse. Being able to ponder life’s bigger questions isn’t a blessing. Eventually you can’t keep your head on straight anymore and you begin to question your beliefs.
It’s hard to imagine knowing everything about your life. Part of the allure of life is not knowing what’s around the riverbend. And having different opportunities and chances where you can pick a certain path of life which you may have never thought of before allows you to hope for better things. To know who you’re going to marry, what you are going to do, and when you are going to die would probably seriously discourage a person. It can make life seem dull and pointless, and the person resigns themselves to their fate. Because everything is already planned out, there doesn’t seem to be a point in trying hard if everything is known. That’s why it’s nice to not believe in predestination or why it’s nice to read that the future changes based on your decisions in science fiction books. It’s been proved in history - people who feel like their future is decided for them either because they’re rich or because they’re poor often don’t bother trying to help themselves and instead just sink into despair. This leads to them often fulfilling their idea of what would have happened to them and makes them think “Ha, I was right after all; nothing can be changed.” And they weren’t right in the first place - they just made themselves right by means of a self-fulfilling prophecy. I believe (maybe naively so) that humans need lofty ambitions. This statement can be taken to excess, but it shouldn’t be. Lofty ambitions were created by humans to satisfy an inner need to continuously strive for something.  The striving when it’s balanced by taking satisfaction in the ‘little’ things like family, friends, or nature creates a dynamic harmony in us that full knowledge or riches cannot.

Life is only worth living when you don’t know everything about your future – "ignorance is bliss".

I agree with this statement. Life is full of surprises, some good, others not so good but even those usually result in something good. If people knew all the future events, life would become monotonous and meaningless to a certain point.
People like to predict, pretty much everything, from weather, to financial crisis and wars. Of course, some of it is very useful to know, like weather forecast for the upcoming week-end for example. Even the possibility of future financial crisis and wars occurring may come in handy and they may be avoided, if people know about them in advance. Such ability to predict some future events, gives people a will to know even more. Some try to understand what will happen to them or their family, how and when they will die, etc. This is usually done by black magicians or other people who pretend that they can read future. Maybe they can, nobody knows, but that’s not the point.
 I support the idea of not trying to understand what will happen to you or to the world and just let it flow. This makes life much more interesting and challenging. One will have to adapt to what happens to him and find ways of dealing with the situation created. Also, different people will be affected differently by the events that took place in their lives. Some may become more sensitive; other will ignore everything around them and become as cold as ice. All people will then be completely different from each other, even if they were members of one society, which would make living an interesting experience. If everybody knew what would happen to them, they wouldn’t be so excited about the new day, wouldn’t develop deep feeling about different situations and would probably live every day as the previous, losing all interest for life.

Life is only worth living when you don’t know everything about your future – "ignorance is bliss".


I agree with the statement "Life is only worth living when you don’t know everything about your future – "ignorance is bliss"". Life has a lot of unexpected turns, exciting events happen as well as the bad and tragic events. That makes our lives interesting and cognitive. People make mistakes and learn from them, they don’t know what is going to happen in future but they can affect it with their actions. If people would know all about their future, life would be calm, not educative and dull.
In my opinion, “ignorance is a bliss”, life is better when you don’t know your future. It makes your life challenging and develops you as a person. You can get into unforeseen situations, which stimulates you to find a way to solve the problem. There are different life changing events, which can change person’s views on life, their morals and life style. People tend to become more emotional, or on contrary more stoic after, but the main thing is that they get an experience that was worth it. There is always a good part, even in the worst situation and it is that experience that you get from the situation. You then apply the knowledge in future situation and avoid doing things that can lead to that bad situation. For example, experiencing divorce, which influences both adults and children.
However, many people tend to want to know their future. People go to magicians and fortune-tellers to find out their own future, what’s going to happen to person or themselves, if person is will find love, when will person die, etc. I personally don’t believe in those types of people and I think that they can fool you just to get your money. The main reason why people go to fortune-tellers is so they know about occurring events in advance and then try to avoid it. I find it wrong and I think that if something is going to happen to you, you won’t be able to escape it, maybe postpone it but still, you won’t be able to prevent it from happening, unless it’s insignificant and not serious event. On the other hand, prediction of future can serve good. For example weather forecast, it is always good to know what’s the weather going to be like, so that you’re prepared and dressed appropriately.
Overall, I think life is worth living when you don’t know everything about your future, you may know some things like the upcoming weather, but for most cases it is better for you if you don’t know about it before it happens. Then your life is interesting, intriguing and every day brings you something new. 

“You get disappointed by the person who you would never think that would let you down.”


The statement “You get disappointed by the person who you would never think that would let you down” basically states that the people who are closest to you are the ones that hurt you the most when you least expect it. I think that this statement is true, especially nowadays because loyalty is not such an important part of friendship anymore in modern society. The idea of loyalty has become way too underrated, most people are more focused on success and therefore betray their so called friends with less objection. Human nature still lets us out trust into people, even if we do not feel safe sharing things with certain people, only traumatic experiences can stop us from making the mistake of trusting others again. It is impossible to identify who the people are that are trustworthy and who the people are that backstab you. The people that you trust the most will usually be friends that have gone through many things with you and you have known for a long time, this means that the people have more time to make mistakes and betrayal is often one of them. Disappointment is one of the things that shapes people and it is very important to know how to deal with it, friends are often the ones that disappoint us because their actions are more important to us than the actions of people we are not close to.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Macbeth Mini-Research - Increase Prior Knowledge



by V-lo, Bern, & Cat





















Nice Delicious.com stack made by Slava & Liza.
Subject: Shakespearian Tragedies




Thursday, January 12, 2012

LOTF Literary Device/Figurative Language Scramble Part II


YEAH! Here we will post our findings of literary devices and figurative language. Be sure to:
- Identify what literary device it is
- Use proper citation

*Remember, this is a first come, first serve basis, so we cannot repeat examples. You must read your colleagues' responses before you post.

**AND... this time around we cannot repeat literary devices. For example, if Hubert provides an example of imagery, there will be no other examples of imagery. As there are 13 of us, we will see 13 different types of literary devices/figurative language.

Good luck