Unimaginable Potential

Response to - http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/geekquinox/teenager-nuclear-reactor-design-could-us-stars-195913948.html Check it out!

At the age of 14 what had you accomplished? I for one know that i had not built a fully functional fusion reactor like Taylor Wilson did when he was only 14 years old. Taylor, now at the age of 19, is constantly experimenting and trying new things to solve some of the biggest problems around the world. He has come up with a design that could possibly rebuild our entire energy supply system. He created a nuclear fission reactor that is more powerful and more efficient than the ones we use today. It is also smaller, safer and it uses up the dangerous materials that our current reactors leave behind.

Picture obtained from:
http://tomclynes.com/the-boy-who-played-with-fusion/

Taylor Wilson is a perfect example of the potential each and everyone of us is born with. He proved that anyone can make a difference if they set their mind to it. Many people believe that they can't make a difference on their own; they need lots and lots of people to even make the slightest difference. Taylor, only 19 years old has come up with an invention that could solve our energy crisis. Of course nobody would think that's possible but he did and that's what mattered. If you believe in yourself that you can accomplish something then your potential is limitless.

Picture obtained from: http://rapgenius.com/Rotimi-
somebody-important-lyrics#note-973063

 There are endless problems around the world that need to be fixed but instead we shield ourselves from them everyday. We should all follow in Taylor's foot steps and start applying our potential to these problems. We may not all be able to make a nuclear fission reactor but we can all make a difference in our own unique way and if we all do that then there is no obstacle that we cannot get over. It all starts with believing in ourselves and making that first step forward onto the road of success because we will never know what we are truly capable of until we try.

So stop wishing you were able to accomplish something and go accomplish it! We all need to start applying ourselves to the problems that need our help or else they will never be solved. Find your potential and go make a breakthrough in our world! 

The Fight Against Life - Slam Poem

Listen to it here :http://audioboo.fm/boos/1393298-the-fight-against-life (play on high volume).

The Fight Against Life

Suicide.

When life as we know it becomes too much to handle

and the burden of life out ways the burden of death.

When judged by others and pushed to your breaking point

each and every day of your life.

When you feel worthless, unloved and as if you have no purpose.

It’s what we turn to; suicide.

Gas, guns, knives, ropes, pills and anything else that kills.

Because pulling a trigger is easier

than waking up to every day to a life you hate.

It’s simple; just end it all with a split second decision

and along with your life goes all the pain and suffering.

But it doesn’t; your life might be over but the pain and suffering is left

with everyone who was close to you.

You choose to leave it all behind.

Your friends, family, future; your life.

Cast it all away because it can’t get better no matter how many times you have been told it will.

Well you’re wrong, it can.

But only you can make it better.

You can positively impact every person you ever meet.

But not if you aren’t alive to do so.

Lying in bed for hours on end crying your pain away might be easier than facing your problems

but when you are faced with a challenge you don’t give up.

You beat the challenge and become a stronger person.

I wish I could tell all of you right now that life is all uphill from here

but in reality it’s a never ending rollercoaster that will knock you on your ass

to the point you just want to stay down.

You don’t; you get up and fight through it because

suicide might end the chance of your life getting worse but it also ruins everyone else’s that loved you

and sure as hell ends the chances of it ever getting better.

Fight through this because you’re stronger than

anything life can throw at you.

Escape Yourself

Escape Yourself

Like prisoners trapped inside our own life.

Stuck in a place we don’t like, but yet here we lay.

No effort is made to escape.

No one does so why would I?

Should I just wait here, wait to die?

And why even try? I might fail.

The door is right there

But yet it seems out of reach, although I haven’t tried.

Maybe I could be the first.

Maybe I could dive in headfirst

It can’t get much worse.

But yet here I lay.

Life isn’t keeping you prisoner

You’re keeping yourself prisoner.

Everyone has the chance to be the best

But yet they hold back in fear of failure.

Take the chance, because success

Will only be achieved by those who try for it.

Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll - Dissected

Read the poem if you haven't already: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/jabberwocky/
Check out different lenses that poems follow: http://comosr.spps.org/Lit_Theory.html

Picture obtained from:
http://www.jabberwockybooks.com/

Jabberwocky is a poem that is a prime example of the Narratology lens. The boy who's perspective the story is told from is your classic hero on a quest to slay the "evil beast" which in this case is the Jabberwocky. It also makes the hero seem strong and more powerful than anyone else because he was the only one who was able to slay this beast, leaving him as the great savior. The villain being the Jabberwocky starts off as being this great beast that should be feared and avoided gets slain at the end as most Narratology story end; with the hero beating the villain that no one else could defeat. The final stereotypical even it follows is the hero going off on his own to handle the issue by himself in a heroic effort. This is common among these types of writing, in which the hero usually handles the problem at hand by himself or sometimes with a "sidekick"

This poem also contains a trace of gender criticism with the hero being the classic great warrior male. In most Narratology stories the hero, if a warrior type person, would be a male because they are perceived as the physical stronger gender and the ones fit for slaying dangerous beast or achieving near impossible tasks.

Jabberwocky is one of the easier poems to dissect into the different lens categories because for the most part they follow the basic/common events that occur in each lens.

The Iron Lady Response

        After watching "The Iron Lady" in my opinion Margret Thatcher was a good leader. I liked her willingness to stand up for whats right and not to give in to enemies demands. When the Soviets tried to get her to appease them and everyone was telling her to do it because it was risking not to but she didn't because she didn't believe that was the right decision.

Picture obtained from :
http://fashioneditoratlarge.blogspot.ca/2012/01/trend-trash-get-margaret-thatcher-look.html

      Her decisions seemed to be based on what she believed to be the right thing to do even if it wasn't the decision that the public wanted. This is my guess to why some people absolutely despise her while others praise her; very few people could have a weak opinion on her choices and that resulted in a group of people would agreed with everything she did and others that were the exact opposite.

     Many political leaders today are so worried on being re-elected that they are scared to take risks and follow their heart. We need more leaders like Thatcher, even though she didn't make all perfect decisions she made the ones she believed in.

Ted Talk Response

Picture Obtained from:
http://bookriot.com/2012/09/21/the-5-best-literary-ted-talks/

      I think that David Cameron made a very convincing pitch in his TED talk and I was interested by all of his ideas. People are generally happier when you give them more power and privledges and giving them power can also increase their abilities. It sounds like a very simple idea; you give people more power, they are happier and with their new power they have incredible potential to do great things. It also sounds like it would work amazing and with no downsides but if people abused their new power or it doesn't have the positive effect that David expects it creates new problems and wastes money.

Without a doubt I would vote for him because his platform sounds so appealing in the way that we benefit from it so much that it is suppose to increase our well-being and happiness. It sounds like a very hard change to make and it could end up not working but if it did in the way that David hopes then it could be a major break through for society and would be an awesome change.

Check the TED talk out for yourselves: http://blog.ted.com/2010/02/16/the_next_age_of/

Short Story Draft

Confused, sore, slowly awakening, all of a sudden it comes rushing back to me. I jolt awake trying to move and releasing I am tied to this cage that holds me captive. Reality starts to set in and the memories of last night start flooding my mind, the fun night interupted by the unexpected horror of the masked men, weapons and pain.
They took us, snatched us off the streets without as much as a cry for help. It quickly hits me like a brick wall, they took us, us meaning Tyler! Where did those savages take my brother? For the first time I start taking in my surroundings. Bound; hands and feet tied to this wooden cage holding me captive in a moonlit courtyard surrounded by small huts and two other cages identical to mine, both empty.
Suddenly the door on the hut right next to me swings open making me freeze in position. Two local African men armed with machine guns slowing walk out pushing four North American men infront of them tied at the  hands and among them, my brother. Tyler Anderson; twenty-two years of age, only two years younger than myself walked emotionless across the hard ground mear metres infront of me. I am not worried about him, being a military officer and strong individual he can more than handle himself but I have to do something, he could be a few seconds away from death and my life to follow. I dare only to move my hands fearing they would notice I am awake, the ropes are tight but the cage is weak and it is clear that it is meant to hold unconious or very weak prisoners.

Questions to Consider

12 Questions For The 21st Century

http://smartblogs.com/education/2013/01/17/12-questions-for-the-21st-century-david-penberg/

Picture obtained from:
http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance
/2011/10/20/baby-on-way-heres-how-to-budget/

I chose question #2 "How do we leverage the immense power and potential of the Internet, digital tools and social media to enable learners and teachers to connect in purposeful ways across borders and boundaries to contribute to making the world a safer, saner and more just place?" as the most important question for myself because my age group is the most technologically involved society and we learned all about it when we were young. Since we are the youngest group of people that know generally more about the Internet than most people we should be the ones to start working with it to improve the world. If we start now at this young age, we can start making differences before we are even adults and possibly continue that for the rest of our lives.

I chose question #1 "How do we grow global mindedness in every child and youth in this country? Why does it matter?" as the most important question for society to consider. I think this is the most important for society because with every year kids are becoming less and less aware of what is going on around the world. Children in general usually know very little about what goes on outside their country or even home town. I think it is important to spread global mindedness to the kids of our century because they need to know what goes on around the world because even though we are far from other countries what happens there still affects us a great amount. If we can teach them what goes on in different countries they can get more involved in world issues and be educated on this important topic for their future.

Why this thing called "FUN"?

Picture obtained from:
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/enthusiasm

You may be thinking why is fun so important, surely there must be something more important than fun. To some people they may think fun isn't the most important thing and to them it may not be but for me and many people i know it is because the main thing we seek in life is to enjoy it and you enjoy fun but it is not all about hanging out with your friends and having a good time for all your years there is also a work related part in fun. When you think of what you want to do when you grow up if you are my age or at any age for that matter whether you have already retired or you are in the middle of your job while you're reading this right now, you usually pick something or have already picked something that you will enjoy doing for the majority of your life because we work harder at things we like doing.

Picture obtained from:
http://mariamontessori.com/mm/?p=1704

No one likes getting up everyday to go do something they hate no matter how much they are getting paid even if it does help ease the hatred and how are you going to enjoy your life doing that? If you are getting up everyday to go do something you love you are going to be way more enthusiastic and 9 times out of 10 do a better job than someone who doesn't like it. If this is true then we should just make everything fun and then things will get done better and everyone will be happier right? Well, it's a little more complicated because if you give certain people too much freedom they will abuse it and the job will not be completed but if you give them too little then they will hate it. Take school for example; kids hate going to school because it is boring, doesn't interest them and isn't fun but if we made it those three things then they would enjoy going and learn better. 

Picture obtained from:
http://www.fanforum.com/f353/episode-discussion-3x17-basic-lupine-urology-63054901/

This causes a problem because we then have to figure out how far we can take it before students abuse the freedom but also it creates an inconvenience for the leaders of the school board because they usually do not share the same ideas as us and don't find fun a necessity and don't want to inconvenience themselves with it.

If we implemented fun into everything, the right amount and the right way everything would be more enjoyable and get done better but how do we do that?

Blog Introduction

What's up world!?,
My name is Devin Fitzgerald, a high school student living in Ontario Canada and I created this page to talk about FUN! Yes, fun the thing that we all love and seek everyday of our lives. No, not the band!

I believe that fun is the most important thing in life because almost every single thing we enjoy doing is fun in someway to us and the most important thing to do is enjoy living or what's the point right? This page is all about how you should do what you want to do and don't let others control your life and stop you from doing the things that you love. This of course has limitations for example; you can't go rob a bank just because you find that fun because first of all, that's against the law and what fun is sitting in jail and second, that effects everyone involved with that bank negatively and negativity is not fun!