[CE] US lifts ban on gay soldiers

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/09/201192023913325189.html

The US policy banning gays from serving openly in the military ends on Tuesday, and the Pentagon says it is prepared for the change. President Barack Obama last December signed legislation to repeal the policy known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which had been passed by Congress and signed into law in 1993 under then-President Bill Clinton.

The abrogation of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy shows the improvement on the treatment towards people who are homosexuals. I feel that the primary purpose of “don’t ask” is to allow homosexual people to serve in the military. But the policy proved to be little protection, and since the, about 14,000 men and women have been forced out of the service under “don’t ask.” Government should not take the soldiers’ jobs away just because they are gay.   

I read from a newspaper that Former Defense Undersecretary Bernard Rosker said in an interview that the end of “don’t ask” won’t necessarily lead gays and lesbians in the military to come out. Rostker led a landmark 1993 Rand study on homosexuality and the military, and he said he found that even in other countries where it was allowed, men and women in the armed forces tended to keep their sexual orientation to themselves. “We found that for most people it is a private matter,” Rostker said,” and the like to keep it that way. The reason may be that homosexual people are not being accepted by all the people, thought the views of people are changing. They may have an inner battle at the time they found out that they interested in people who have the same gender.

[RE]Weak blood relationship

Since Siukwan responses on my post; as a return present, I decided to write her a response post back. (Well, it is not the real reason :D)

When we first came here we have no house to live in nor have a car to travel around or a job, and we to depend heavily on my uncle. His wife wasn’t too happy with this; she thought we’re taking advantage of them. She brainwashed my uncle day and night on this and finally my uncle in her. My father and uncle got in a huge fight, and we moved out shortly afterwards.

I had been in an exactly same situation before. Put more precisely, my dad was the one who experienced all. My dad moved to America two years earlier than me and mom; he was planed to lay a solid foundation for us so that we may face less problems. Just like Siukwan’s family, my father has not thing and depend heavily on my aunt. He worked for my aunt as a kitchen staff. It is one of the most tiring jobs and my dad got paid even less than the lowest wage. My father refused to be dictated; therefore he moved out after the first week and lived with my uncle instead. However, the worst is yet to come.

The lucky thing is my uncle found my dad a job, but it is in Fremont. My dad did not own a car back then, so he needed to take bus 51 and then changed to Bart. Everything was fine just up to this point. My uncle’s wife, just like in Siukwan’s case, thought my dad was taking advantage of them. She played my uncle off against my father: another mere coincidence. She began to prepare less food for my dad and being cruel to him. Once my father wanted to take the tests for driver’s license, my uncle told other that my father must failed, no matter how many times he took it. In fact, my dad passed both written test and driving test with only one shot. Considering the safety and warranty, my dad decided to buy a new car rather than a second-handed car. And my uncle started “How are you going to afford a brand new car for being a new immigrant you fool, why don’t you just pack your stuff and go back to China?” Finally, my dad can bear no more and rent a house himself.

It is surprising how weak the bond among people with blood relationship is. People always said that human is the superior animal, then why do people always fight against each other just like the wild animal does.

[Free]Computer science every where!

There is every sign to show that Computer Science is brainwashing everybody.

During the English class on Wednesday, we worked in Computer Lab as usual. Nathan and Katherine switched computers for some reason. Katherine did not log out her blogger, therefore Nathan get to post what ever he wanted with Katherine’s account. Being a guy who is totally crazy about tennis, the first post Nathan posted is simply a sentence “Katherine loves tennis.” Maybe Nathan thought this sentence did not make Katherine look stupid enough, later on, he posted another post on her blogger. This time, he copied the code form a java project he just did during last period (which is computer science). People who have never token the class may consider Katherine as retarded. Nathan showed it to me proudly, with a triumphant smile, just like a kid who just won candies from parents. As a person representing justice and honesty, I praised (…) Nathan and left a comment as soon as I got my own computer. Unfortunately, I am another victim who was brain washed by computer science, I reply by using the exact format of programming:

Public class lol

{

   Public static void main (String[] args)

   {  

       System.out.println(“Wow Nathan good job!”);

    }

}

I don’t know when Katherine found out what we have done, but the post was removed when I checked it this afternoon. It was kind of sad, but there is no reason for Katherine to keep it, haha. I have to admit that Nathan and I are childish, but it is fun isn’t it?

[BC] Personal Statement 2nd prompt 1st draft

Badminton is a popular sport in China. It is a sport requiring dexterity and skill. Since badminton is light and small. Every time I watch the Badminton competition, I would be amazed by the great speed and skills of the player. Being a girl who grows up in China, I started to play badminton when I was in elementary school. Although I am not very good at it, I still enjoyed it when I was playing with my friends.

However, the real start of my badminton career was after I came to the United States and joined the badminton team in my high school. At first, joining the badminton team is not my primary wishes. I tried out because one of my friends wanted to play double with me. Once I decide to do something, I always strive to do my best. Therefore, we practiced every day after school. A formal team member became our coach. After days of hard work, we got in the team and became women double varsity number three. It was a heartening news to become a varsity in the first year.

Napoleon said “Every French soldier carries a marshal’s baton in his knapsack.” In out badminton team, every team member carries a gold medal from ACCAL in his/her badminton bag. We all wanted to won a gold medal and brought back the honor for school and ourselves. Soon I realized my partner and I were not strong enough. We were the last in our school; we could image how low our ranking in the whole region is. During the summer after freshmen year, I went back to China to visit my family and friends. At the same time, I practiced badminton at a sports school with a professional coach. He used to play in our provincial team. Many parents sent their children to play badminton when they were only about five; I was trained with many kids. The coach corrected my wrong posture and trained me from the most basic steps.

The training was very hard. There was no wind in the gym since the wind would affect the directions of badminton.   Plus the summer in Guangzhou is much hotter than in Alameda, the gym was as hot as an oven. Once I entered the gym, I needed to do a footwork drill for 100 times by myself as warm ups. There were more footwork practices when the training started. Each drills need to repeat 100 times, non stop, and no water break. There were several times I almost gave up and stopped, but I did not. I believed perseverance will conquer all things; it was also my will which supported me all the time. The result was remarkable. I played much better than before.

Our rank was been improving year by year. Finally, in my junior year, we were at the top. It is our time to won the gold metal back for our school. No one in our school had won the first place of women double before. That inspires my fighting will. Our school had many disadvantage that year, it even shut down the gym we used to practice. We forced to practice in a gym that is far away from school.   

Badminton now becomes an indispensable part of my life.

[It is not complete, but I will make improvements later.]

[RE] Friends

When I was reading my friend’s blogger as usual, Siukwan’s free post got my attention. Here is her post.

She mentioned:

 good friends are friends that you have a couple of common interests, that you want to be nice to and they will have your back most of the time. Occasionally, we can even trade secrets and gossip about our other friends. As for important friends, there’s already a trust built between you and them. They’re someone that you can ‘give your back to’ because you know that they will never backstab you. You still share some interests, but you won’t have to talk all the time when they’re around-being with them is already enough.

In my understanding, the important friends are like an upper level of good friends. I felt that I have several good friends but may not have an important friend. The first time I met a person, I would always try to be a good friend to them. For instance, I would try to find some common interests and treat them very friendly. As the time pass by, I can tell who treat me like a real friend and who can I really be friend with. There was sometimes that I see a couple of people as good friends (or even important friends), but found out that they speak ill of me behind my back. That was a horrible feeling, feels like some one stab hardly on my back with a knife, some one that I do not expect.

Sometimes I would find out the bad side of my friends. I would tolerate at first. Once it is not getting control and gets so much worse, I may not be friend with them as close as before. The distance will reduce the discontent. But this would be a rare case.

To me, the chance to find an important friend is very low. Some of my friends are truly have high positions in my heart. However, I do not have enough confidence that they would think the same way as me. Maybe it is because my best friends at 5^th grade turn their back at me once. Although we were on good terms again, the scar remains.

I am a person that can not live without friends. Therefore I valued them.

[CE]US state executes convict despite appeals

http://english.aljazeera.net//news/americas/2011/09/2011920223328333340.html

Troy Davis, a convicted murderer, has been executed in the US state of Georgia after the US Supreme Court denied a last minute stay which would have stopped the lethal injection. He was put in death after twenty years, for killing Mark MacPhail, a white police officer of Savannah. MacPhail was working as a security guard at a Burger King restaurant when he intervened to defend a man being assaulted in a nearby parking lot. During David's 1991 trial, seven witnesses testified they had seen Davis shoot MacPhail, and two others testified that Davis had confessed the murder to them.“However, seven of the nine witnesses who testified against Davis in his 1991 trial later changed their testimony, and two witnesses said they saw another man - who originally blamed Davis for the killing - pull the trigger,” says in the article.

This event has aroused wide public concern. Troy Davis has been jailed for twenty years and put to death as an innocent person; I felt sad for him. At the mean time, many questions occurred to me. Those witnesses were doubtful. Which statement they said is true? And if the second one is true, what made they lied at the first time? I also think about the death penalty. People have been argued that should there be a death penalty for a long time. A death penalty may put an innocent person to death, just like Troy Davis in this case. They do not deserve to endure the punishments for the real criminal. Also, some people would say even the government should not done the same crime as those condemned one. What if those criminals killed your most beloved ones? Will people who opposed the death penalty still stay in their primary positions?

[Free] PIANO.

By viewing random videos on YouTube, I found out many people made videos on anime music covers. That totally made me wants to play piano again! I have been playing the piano for eight years, but stopped four years ago. After moved to the United States I couldn’t find a chance to buy myself a piano. All I had was a keyboard with only 28 keys: I can’t even play a whole song. That was so depressing.

When I saw those people who plays perfectly in the video, god knows how much I want a piano and how much I want to play that well. However, after the four years break, my skills fell way behind. Lack of practice makes a piano player sucks. It may take me a while to pick them up. However, I couldn’t practice even though I really want to. Piano is expensive here, especially for an immigrant family. Therefore I only get to play on my child kind keyboard.

Piano interested me ever since I was a child. How the simple pressing of a key could make sound; how the combination of keys could create music; how music could be the ultimate form of expression. I used to lose my interest on piano because the day-after-day practices frustrated me. When I start watching anime at 6^th grade, I Google sheet music for the songs I like and that once again excited me. I began to play music that I knew, music that I enjoyed, and music that wasn’t bound by practicing time or judges in competitions. This is the magic of piano.

I watched almost 30 videos this evening, and I couldn’t stop form thinking of playing them.

[RE]Changes

This week’s free response post I am going to response on my friend Adam’s free post.

He says:

  It's amazing how people change over 4 quick years. I'm sure I've changed in almost every aspect, no matter how much I want to tell myself that I am the same old Adam.

I agree with Adam. Many things could happen during four years; they may lead to the changes of a person. I changed, in many aspects, too.

My living environment changed enormously. Three years ago, saying good-bye to all my friends in China, I came to the United States. It was a brand new world for me: different language, different lifestyle, different school life and different opinions. I had no choice but to change in order to fit in the new place. I felt that I became more independent. While I always stick with my friends back in the old days (It was like I have to stay with them, else I will feel so lonely. Maybe it is because we do not need to change the classroom and we have more time to stay with), I will not have the lonely feeling anymore.

Not all of the changes were positive. When I was in China, I would talk to a person on my own initiative. It was a lot harder in America since my English level is not enough to communicate with people for a long time. It would be awkward that I talked to a person first, but soon ran out of topics or I don’t know how to express myself, and we were just sitting there silently.

Now everything is getting better. I get to talk to people more since my English get improve. Not a very big jump, but still better. Wish all my changes are approaching to a positive direction.

[Free] A Wrong Decision.

Computer Science is basically learning the computer language and programming. It requires logical thinking because we need to think as what the computer does. We got homework almost every single day, includes chapter exercises and chapter projects. Those projects are the fun parts: We get to write our own program. Every student has to download software named Blue J. It is a Java IDE specifically designed to learn and teach object-oriented programming and Java. The function of Blue J is very useful. When there is an error on the program we just type, Blue J will points it out and provides the solution. After we can correctly run the project, we turn it in through the drop box on School loop.

One day, one of my friends had trouble on the project. I am pretty sure that she did not understand what the project wanted her to show. Since the codes she sent to me contained numerous mistakes: not only the structure of the code, but also the way to solve it. She was thinking at a wrong direction. I tried to explain to her, but she couldn’t understand. First of all, I am also a beginner on Java; I can not work the problem out without Blue J. Some codes she sent were kind of confusing. Second of all, computer science includes many logical thinking. It is hard to explain unless I show her what I have done. We were both at home and it made the process even harder. Because she just kept asking me, and it was around 10 at night, I was doing my other homework and answering her question at the same time. I did struggle for a while. The incomplete homework took my patience away. I made a decision which I am seized with remorse: I sent my own codes to her. I was expecting her to make some changes so that the teacher won’t figure it out, for different people will have different ways to write a program. However, I forget that she won’t know another way because she doesn’t understand the lesson.

On Wednesday, the horrible thing happened. We got caught. Joo warned us through email. His email couched in harsh terms and pointed that it is a seriously issue. Although he is not going to give us a zero, I still feel very bad. I am sad that I am the one who did all my work, but gets the same punishment. Moreover, Joo is one of my favorite teachers; I don’t want to leave him a bad impression. Those feelings come to me all of a sudden and I cried. I wrote him back an email to apologize and promise it will never happen again. I even planed to apologize to his face.

Luckily Mr.Joo is one of the nicest teacher in our school. He comforted me before I tried to talk to him. That makes me feel a lot better. This matter may stay in my mind for a long time.

[CE]France bans all public prayer

This week's current event video:

As the French government bans the public prayers of Muslim worshipers, the culture and religious differences in that nation only seem to intensify. A series of dissents begin to emerge in Northern France now that the Muslim worshipers have to move from the outside streets to the temporary buildings provided by the government to pray. This issue is gaining more attention as it concerns the identity of the French nation. Some worshipers felt that it would be better to have a new place to pray instead of staring by other people outside; in the mean time, some others decided to fight against the new and pray at the outside as usual. 

In my opinion, the government should not ban the public prayers. Everyone has the freedom to assemble and express. These are the unalienable rights every human being deserves on this world. Islam is a religion that has a long history; government should respect its practices. However, I can understand the intentions of those who have created this law since they (the French governors) also want their descendants to carry on their own French traditions. They do not want their schools’ education or social phenomenon to become similar to those of the Muslims. The French people are merely trying to avoid a “take over” by foreign culture practices. If the government thinks the prayers would create distraction to the public, they could form a compromise: Muslim worshipers can assemble outside as long as they would not affect other people’s life.

[College Essay]Very First Draft

Warning: it is a very shitty essay. I just put down what's on my mind and do not revise it D:

Animals are friends of people. I have always wanted to be a veterinarian and be able to help animals; not only because I have had many pets before, but also because some movies and videos I have seen that leave me a strong feeling.

I love animals; that’s why I always own pets. I used to have rabbits, goldfish, turtle, duck, chicken and budgerigars. It’s like I own a whole “army.” I have a dog right now; she is a shih tzu. She’s already part of our family. Sometimes she will throw up. There is not thing I can do other than just watch her and pet her try to reduce her illness. I feel so bad and helpless. If I am a veterinarian then I would be able to provide some help.

I am not a very soft-hearted person. Many of my friends cried during the elementary school graduation: I did not. I felt sad, though. When my mom and I were watching a Korean drama, she cried almost every single episode. I did not. However, there was one movie that made me burst in tears and almost can’t breathe. It is a Japanese movie called Quill. Quill is a Labrador puppy. After its birth, Quill is sent to live with a couple that volunteer for the guide dog training center. Quill learns how to live with people and grow through a happy period of time. As soon as Quill grows as an adult dog, it needs go to the guide dog school and learn how to become a guide dog. Although Quill is a little slower than the other dogs at school, it has remarkable patience which is an important quality for a guide dog. Quill’s trainer thinks Quill would be the ideal one for Mr.Watanabe. Mr.Watanabe is a stubborn and ill-temper man who has never own a guide dog before. At first, he does not like to walk with Quill since he does not really believe in guide dog. As the time pass by, Mr. Watanabe depends on Quill and treat it as his own family. Quill serve Mr.Watanabe wholeheartedly until he die from kidney failure. Quill is sent back to the couple it lived with before. Quill sometimes demonstrates in schools to show others the job of a guide dog; it becomes a part-time guide dog. The saddest part in the movie would be when Quill is getting older and older, sickness has fastened upon it. It lost the strength to walk and lies on the ground. There is one night that the breath of it turns very shapely. The couple stays with Quill for the whole night. As Quill’s lungs being press, they need to roll Quill over. Quill is indeed having a hard time, its chest is moving pretty fast, and it breathes very hardly every time. The couple knows that Quill is about to its end; they speak to him very softly, “Quill, you’ve done a very great job. You can leave peacefully now. Bye, Quill.” At the twenty-fifth day passed its birthday, Quill left the world. While watching Quill suffered in its last moment, I can not control myself. Tears just run out of my eyes. I really wish I am a veterinarian that can release its pain or even heal it. My mom said she has never seen me cried that hard before. Animals always can easily touch me.

[RE]I Got the Feeling.

As the tenth anniversary of 9.11 is approaching, the news went all over the place, and it reminds many Americans of their memories and terrors. Countless things have been forgotten through ten years, but the world still remembers 9.11: like someone engraves it in everyone’s mind.

      Mr. Sutherland started a discussion about 9.11 on Thursday. When everyone was talking about their feelings about 9.11, I was just sitting right there calmly. Not that I am a cold-hearted person, just because I did not know much about it. When I was checking out new posts on reader, I found someone who had similar situation as me. Thanks Sutherland for highlighting it out.

Actually, I really DID NOT know about [9/11] until a couple years ago. I am kinda ashamed of myself? (not really). [...] The truth is, I didn't come to the US until mid 2006 so it wasn't my fault for not knowing about it! […]The discussion we had today in class made me feel like I should know more...

     I had the exact feeling as Ken. Although I know a little bit better than him. As a seven years old Chinese girl back then, I watched the video that was showed on news like an outsider (I did not come to the US until late in 2008.) All I know was that there were some terrorists drove two airplanes and crashed them into the two tallest building in New York, America. I know many students who born in the United States had a strong feeling, even though they were only six or seven at that time. Kelsey’s story did touch me; I understand how she worried about her mom. I wish her mother will be all right. I also heard that there was a girl cried during fourth period.

    I think I should read more and know more about 9.11. Well. Here I am on the land of the United States, I should follow the news about this country and feel the same as her people, right?

[CE]Obama seeks support for job reform

I will start my current event by the following video:

This video shows that President Obama made a speech on Labor Day, claimed that he had a new plan to solve the economic problem by putting more Americans back to works. The key factor of winning next year’s re-election will depend on Obama’s economic plan works or not. Most of the people feel that Obama did not do a good job on fixing the problem.

This video catches my eyes since I just read some news about Obama's huge jobs plan that he proposed tonight. His plan is called the “American Jobs Act.” “It will create more jobs for construction workers, more jobs for teachers, more jobs for veterans, and more jobs for the long-term unemployed,” Obama said. However, it is an act that needs $447 billon. Are there going to be enough budgets for this plan? Although I support Obama on Wealth Tax because I am one of the poor people, I think the Republicans will oppose strongly on that.

It seems like Obama has become the target of public criticism. The presidential candidates were zeroed in on Obama on yesterday’s Republican Presidential Debate. They were attacking Obama’s economic policy; Perry even pointed out that “Obama is the biggest job killer we ever had.” Obama’s plan on decreasing the unemployment rate disappointed people. It’s a fatal weakness that Obama has. Even Obama’s own budget office predicts unemployment will stay at about 9 percent: a frightening number for any president seeking a second term. A more frighten news, there was zero job created in August. Base on today’s situation, Obama is unlikely to win the election again.

[Free]A New Beginning

My summer passed by so fast. I couldn’t get a chance to fully enjoy it, and then the senior year came and kidnapped me. It would be the most intense and busy year because all those college application and senior profile stuffs. Although I wasn’t really looking for it, I came to school with an excited heart. I was excited to see my friends and new teachers. Teachers that I got are all very nice. Joo, Sutherland and Friedman were intelligent and full of humor; time sneaked away very fast in their classes. Therefore the classes they taught were my favorite ones. AP Computer Science was about java programming, pretty cool and interesting. It was fun to watch Mr. Joo keep telling us nervously to keep our hand from the keyboards. Since some students erased all the programs from school computers before, he didn’t want to be the one in charge to fix all those problems. “Don’t be evils, don’t be evils, you bastards!” That’s what he said. Mr. Sutherland seemed like he was full of energy all the time. He always had some cute/funny actions that made the whole class laugh. It was helpful that he started the personal statement, or I would not start it until the very end. Mr. Friedman did not teach Calculus BC for a very long time, but he was an experienced teacher. The path in his class was fast; we got FRQs in the second day of school. I love calculus, even though it was sad when I noticed all the knowledge I learned from Calculus AB last year was buried in oblivion.   

First week of school was always novel, but it was also tiring. I was already sad at the third day of school, since it felt like the 300^th day. The three-day weekend did help a little bit; at least I did not feel exhausted today. I am actually looking forward to the block schedule, so that I can leave right after 12:42p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday. That’s the kind of life a senior should have.