Luis blog 2015: 2015

Throughout these past ten weeks, I posted essays in my blog regarding different themes. All of these topics are related with our life, therefore I made some analysis. With the use of descriptions, arguments, information, narrations and opinions, I developed these topics. Doing this, I have realized that these are very encompassing topics. My objective was to discuss, reflex, analyze, describe and argue to reach a conclusion about each subject. I enjoyed doing this and I hope it was of your liking.

domingo, 22 de noviembre de 2015

The World

The World: Earth from Above: The Importance of Caring and Keeping our World.

The world and its population has changed throughout history. Every moment, every situation or action changes our world every day. Humans have sought ways to survive in the world and therefore, they have accidentally found the form to pollute and harm it. Some people have dedicated to research, inform and educate the world’s population about the consequences of human action in the environment and how this affects all the nature, including the same human. One of these people is Yann Arthus-Bertrand, a French photographer, reporter and environmentalist. In his project ‘‘Earth from Above’’ he emphasizes the importance of caring and keeping our world.

By using pictures of wonders of the world, Yann Arthus- Bertrand exposes the problem of the destruction of our planet, caused by our own action. This project is an exhibition of numerous big posters that has traveled to 150 cities around the world and has been was visited by 120 million people from 2000 until 2015. It is also a documentary series where the ecological problems of the world are analyzed. Both projects reveal the damage that has been caused to the water, the forests, the animals, and the natural resources of the world produced mainly by human action. It also explains how this affects adversely the nature and therefore, humanity.

I had the opportunity to see and appreciate this exhibition when it was brought to Puerto Rico in 2009. When I saw the wonders of the world through these posters, I realized that it is very important to maintain our planet. Each poster had a stunning and impressive fact about humanity, the environment and the ecological problems. For example, one of these facts, according to Yann Arthus-Bertrand, is that 1.1 billion people do not have access to drinking water. This is an alarming statistic, considering that the actual environment pollution can increase this number. This and hundreds of others facts make awareness to protect, clean and keep the natural resources and therefore the whole nature.

It is clear that the objective of the author of ‘‘Earth from Above’’ is to bring a strong and alarming massage. It is very important to protect all of the natural resources of the world. It is equally important to protect each living creature. The intention is to keep the environment and our nature in good condition without endangering human survival and before reaching the point of regret for not doing this. This way, we achieve our survival in the only home that we have, the Earth. Finally, I invite you to explore all of these posters and facts because it will really change your thinking about nature, environment, humanity and the whole world.

sábado, 14 de noviembre de 2015

Education

Education: Science Education in The Public School of Puerto Rico

Education is the act or process of educating; or teaching methods and theory. This is very important in the formation of a person, from birth, throughout his professional life until death. Education can be imparted at home and in school. For this reason culture governs education and is it different in each society of the world.

In my case, I have received my education from my parents and twelve years in school plus two and a half years of University, all of this in Puerto Rico. I will emphasize the education in school, specifically the Public School of Puerto Rico, where I received education throughout twelve years of my life. In the Public School of Puerto Rico different subjects are taught, for example Science, History, Spanish, English, Math, Art, Physical Education, etc. But I will be more specific, I will talk about Science education in the Public School of Puerto Rico.

Education in Puerto Rico is administrated by The Department of Education. In the science program, the department establishes some objectives. One of these are that the students develop their learning ability, integrating technology to analysis and master concepts inherent to Science. The education system emphasizes science, technology, engineering, and math. This science program has four principal domains: physical sciences (Physical), life science (Biology), Earth and space science (Geology and Astronomy), and science applications (Technology, Engineering and Chemistry). All of these are the themes that the education system brings to the students in the Public School of Puerto Rico.

My experience in this program was very gratifying and interesting. There, I made some experiments, researches, presentations and other things that fostered in me a particular interest. In school we used technology, creative, critical analysis, observation and investigation to develop skills based on science. Also, teachers fomented knowledge development in me and my classmates to apply science in daily life. This is very important to each student because science is around us in every moment of life.

Today, science study is very important to students and therefore, to society. Each student must be educated for their future and responsibilities. This way a future useful citizen in the world of jobs is created. Scientific and technological knowledge take this person to open new paths in today’s world. The main objective of this is that every student promotes respect to nature and life to contribute positively to society, either individually or collectively.

domingo, 8 de noviembre de 2015

Movies

Movies: Natural Disasters Movies

A movie is a recorded sequence of video images displayed with sufficient rapidity as to create the illusion of motion and continuity. Its development begins in 1824 with the thaumatrope, an optical illusion machine that has a lantern to create the appearance of moving images, since then making movies has evolved to today’s booming technology. In fact, India is the country that produces the most number of movies with around 1,000 movies filmed annually in various languages, followed by Nigeria and the United States. There exist around 27 genres of movies based on adventures, science, history, drama, romance, action, disasters, horror, musical, family, etc. This time, I will focus on the movie genre that revolves around natural disasters or cataclysmic movies.

Recently, we have seen the emergence of hundreds of films based on natural disasters. When we see these movies we worry and ask if it is possible for things like that to happen. In this case, we affirm that is a fiction film. We can establish how fictional or real these types of movies are.

In first instance, we have the natural disasters or cataclysms movies, those that are greatly exaggerated. Movies like 2012 (2009) that shows the end of the world; or the most recent, San Andreas (2015) where the southwest of the United States is devastated by an earthquake and a tsunami, are criticized by scientists and films critics for being exaggerated in the form of showing the magnitude of the earthquakes and tsunamis. Scientists say that this can happen, but not in the form that these movies show it. Other movies like Volcano (1997), where a volcano in the middle of a city destroys everything around; Knowing (2009) where a geomagnetic solar storm burned completely the Earth and Deep Impact (1998) where a comet impacts the Earth and produces a cataclysmic including a mega tsunami; are only some movies with that problem. However, we must understand that movies are really intended to show only a fictional part of the force of nature.

On the other hand, we have seen these natural disaster movies that show that some of them have happened in real life, in some parts of the world. For example, the movie The Impossible (2012) recounts the dramatic moment when a tsunami hit the coast of Thailand in 2004. The same case happened with the movie Pompeii (2014) which was inspired by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. This volcano buried Pompeii, a city of The Roman Empire. Another example can be The Perfect Storm (2000) which tells the story of a fishing ship that was lost at sea after being caught by a hurricane in 1991. The movies Into the Storm (2014) and Twister (1996) approach the reality of what happens each year in the states of the center of United States with tornados. Although, these have not happened yet, movies like The Day After Tomorrow (2004) where a series of extreme weather events usher the globe in a new ice age; Avalanche (1978) where an avalanche destroys everything in its path; and even Poseidon (2006) that depicts a rogue wave turning upside down a cruise, show us examples of what could happen if Global Warming and climate change continue to increase, according to scientifics.

As we can see, the main objective of these movies is to demonstrate what has happened, what can happen and what cannot possibly happen due their great exaggerations of the natural disasters that have made themselves memorable throughout history. While these movies reflect this, others transmit a lot of feelings. Love, happiness, sadness, horror and worry are only some of these feelings that each movie genre can give to people. Also, movies inform, teach, entertain, can give or take way hope and they can make you feel identified with its characters and situations. We know that behind these movies there are a lot of people working in each detail of the films. These groups of people have the labor of entertaining and bringing us all of these explicit or implicit messages in each movie.

domingo, 1 de noviembre de 2015

A Celebrity

A Celebrity: Juan Luis Guerra

The majority of people have a celebrity who they admire. The people admire a celebrity for some reasons such as his physical characteristics, achievements, successes, and his mindset or way of being. A person maybe admires a celebrity based on their own experience, knowledge and feelings. In my case, I admire a singer. This singer is Juan Luis Guerra.

Juan Luis Guerra is a Latin-American songwriter, composer, musician and producer. He was born in Dominican Republic in 1957. His musical career begins in 1983, since this year, Guerra has been composing different genres like ‘‘Merengue’’, tropical, romantic ballads and ‘‘Bachata’’. In his different songs he brings messages of love, faith and social- political-historical criticism. Also, J. L. Guerra has won many awards and has sold over 30 million records. For these reasons, he is one of the most renowned singers of all America.

The Dominican singer is also known for being the first artist of tropical music to achieve the goal of making critics in his music to the political and social life of America. This achievement was thanks to some of his songs. For example, in one of his first songs ‘‘Ojalá que llueva café’’ (1989) did a description and therefore a critical observation to the poverty of the Dominican society of that moment, this brought him international recognition. Another song were he did a political and social critic was ‘‘El costo de la vida’’ (1992) whose video has a message against capitalism. The songs ‘‘Visa para un sueño’’ (1989) and ‘‘El Niagara en bicicleta’’ (1998) also bring a social criticism were he describes how people are affected by a corrupt government. Recently, with the song ‘‘La guagua’’ (2010), he continues making these critics in this case, used an analogy comparing a bus and its passengers with the government and its population. Throughout these and others compositions Guerra protests against bad conditions in the majority of Latin American countries.

For these reasons Juan Luis Guerra is one celebrity that I admire. His capacity to communicate his thinking related to a problem that not everyone treats makes me admire him. Also, the composition of other themes like love and faith in Christian religion make him be one of the best songwriters of his genres. His great career and the publication of many records lead him to stardom. Since 1983 until now, this character has made a huge range of musical themes and I am sure that he will continue with this tendency.

domingo, 25 de octubre de 2015

Media

Media: The Types of Traditional and Digital Medias

Communication is very important for humanity. Throughout history, communication media has evolved to satisfy human comfort. These are instruments by which the communication process is performed. Since the oldest artifact until the most advance, have helped people with their daily lives. To understand this, we can identify the types of traditional and digital medias and their advantages and disadvantages.

The objectives of media are to inform, educate, entertain, persuade and promote. Traditional medias are artifacts used before the apparition of telecommunications. For example, books, newsletters, newspapers and magazines are traditional medias. Some advantages of this type of media are their low cost and easy distribution like newspaper, things with long and rich contents like magazines and books, language enrichment, and have the ability to send physical objects with a formal classic newsletter. The disadvantages are that it gives too much information; some like magazines and books have a high cost of production; information flows slowly and all of this is produced with paper, a material that it is taken from nature and its consumption cause pollution.

On the other hand, we have the digital or modern media, instruments used after the apparition of telecommunications. Modern media consists of the telegraph (one of the first modern media, it is no longer used), television, radio, telephones and cellphones and the internet. Some advantages of digital media are that information flows more quickly and is presented in a direct and easy manner to understand; communication arrives to millions of persons at same time, in different parts of the world; to bring knowledge and entertain. Psychological and social problems, bad influences and high costs are some of the disadvantages of this type of media. The industrial revolution and technology has done all of these things and it has benefit and prejudiced our daily lives in many ways.

Communication medias are an important part of our life. Thanks to this, the entire world is connected enabling information to arrive to every part of the planet. Also allows social relationships in large distances. Our responsibility is to use medias in a way that benefits us and does not prejudice any person. This guarantees a great life style.

domingo, 18 de octubre de 2015

Marriage

Marriage: Reasons to Contract it and Keep it Successful

Marriage is the institution in which two persons live together under the law. The regular marriage is between a man and a woman, but in the present, some countries allow marriage between two men and between two women. This civil institution is possible thanks to authorized persons like ministers, priest and judges. Marriage has two important factors: the reasons to contract it and the things you need to do to keep it successful.

There are some reasons to contract marriage based on religious, social and political aspects. The main reason is to legalize a relationship in a permanent form and share mutual love. Also, the wish to form a family and resolve economical and loneliness problems. In some cases, the influence of society and religion forces the decision of two persons to get married. These and other reasons are enough to take this crucial decision in life.

On the other hand, to have a successful marriage the couple needs to practice some important and necessary good qualities. One of the most important qualities in marriage is respect, each one needs to practice this and respect the ideas, opinions and decisions of their partner. Another important quality is tolerance, without this, the relationship would be unstable. Communication and taking decisions together is part of a great marriage. These qualities with many others ensure and keep the successful marriage that every person wants.

Maintaining a marriage can be difficult. Therefore, practicing and having this attributes is the only way to have a healthy marriage. In this form the couple can face their problems together and avoid the drastically solution of divorce.

viernes, 9 de octubre de 2015

Religion

Religion: The Influence of Catholicism on Puerto Rico

In the world, there are around fifteen religions in existence. Nearly 33% of humanity around the Earth practices Catholicism, being the most practiced religion in the planet, followed by Islamism and Hinduism. In my country, Puerto Rico, Catholicism is the most practiced religion. About 97% of puertorricans practice it. This religion comes to Puerto Rico thanks to the Spanish colonizers in the fifteenth century. This means that the society and culture of this country has Catholic influence.

Throughout history, Catholicism has evolved in different forms in Puerto Rico. Today, we can see how our society and culture have been influenced by this religion. Different holidays in the year are celebrated thanks to this influence: Christmas, Easter and even New Year are great examples of these holidays; some festivals and carnivals are celebrated to honor some Patron Saints. Our history is based on Catholicism and is an important part of traditions of Puerto Rico. The influence of religion in traditions is important in the formation of puertorricans.

Also, religion influenced the society and history of these islands. Each town of Puerto Rico is founded based on some elements, one of these is religion. The Catholic Church was established in each town of the country, bringing big influence in these social groups. Each one has a Patron Saint, a biblical character dedicated to each municipality. Other places like shrine, monuments and statues are part of this religion. In addition, some towns, neighborhoods, streets and even beaches have names of different characters of the Bible, the most important book of Catholicism.

These elements are just some that have Catholicism influence. Although there are other religions in the country, this is practiced by the majority of the population of Puerto Rico. Each society has a religion that influences its culture, traditions and society. This is why it is important to keep and maintain religion so that we and future generations may continue to enjoy it.

sábado, 3 de octubre de 2015

War

War: The Actual War That Surround Us

As we know, war is defined as a conflict or problem. This conflict can happen between two or more countries, between societies, people and even with ourselves. We often associate war with a problem between two or more countries, but this term is much more than simple definition. Every day we can have an external war; this is because conflicts can easily occur between us and other people. But there are also internal wars; these are problems within each person. These are today’s wars, the actual war that surround us.

If we consider an external war a conflict, we know that is a problem between two or more people. In this case, war between two or more countries, also could be classified as a problem. If we focus in problems between people, we will find that they happen every day. When a person has a problem with another, for any reason, there is a conflict that, compared to war between countries, is little but in some cases becomes bigger. External war happens in the majority of cases because there are clash of ideas, a problem that we still have on today’s societies.

Internal war happens more frequently. It is that conflict with our self that can also contribute with the problems within a country. Problems like stress and depression. This battle with our own feelings can be an internal conflict in a person. The solutions to these problems are to confront and take good decisions to resolve them. Each person has the potential to resolve these problems but everyone has a unique form to do it and win their internal wars.

War is more than bombs, weapons, soldiers and humanity conflicts. We have war every day, therefore is important to avoid it and resolve problems with discipline and knowledge in mind. Everyone knows that war is bad to humanity. We need to find peace to get over war and have a better society.

domingo, 27 de septiembre de 2015

Death

Death: A Mysterious and Mythical Event of Life

Throughout time, death has been an important subject for humans and it has been given many meanings. For instance, the event of death has not always been perceived as something tragic and final. There have been many cultures that have given death a different definition. But if we focus on death today, we can notice that death is seen as something to be scared of or as a bad subject to talk about. Therefore, each person has different opinions about death, based on their culture and religion. It is important to never forget that death is something normal in every living organism.

First of all, we must understand that death is the extinction of live. Every culture has its interpretation of death, for example, we can compare the meaning death has in Puerto Rico with another country. In Puerto Rico, death has a direct connection with religion. There are different religious rituals in this island, for example, the ‘‘Rosario’’ ceremonies performed after a person dies. Death is also seen as the loss of the physical presence of a person, even a pet. In the majority of cases, death is not easily accepted as a normal event of life.

On the other hand, every country with its culture has a different meaning for death. For example, in Mexico, even though we can also find that death is directly related with religion, its emergence is not taken so badly, it is celebrated with different rituals and it even has a day to commemorate the death. In other cases, the people of India believe in the rebirth of the soul in a new body, or reincarnation. In history, many tribes saw death as a direct way to meet and stay with their gods; this belief has a big influence in how death is interpreted in the actual society. Consequently, the definition of death has evolved with time, and throughout the societies.

The humanity always seen death as a mysterious and mythical event of life. From the ancient worlds until today, the people have wondered what happens after death. The answer to this question is a mystery. We can only learn to accept death and live our lives expecting it, but we should never search for it.

domingo, 20 de septiembre de 2015

Happiness

Happiness: Something That Every Person Finds In Their Own Way

In life, we experiment several feelings and emotions. Each day this changes from one to another in only one moment. One of these feelings is happiness, the same that people like to feel the most. Happiness can manifest itself in different forms in each person. There are many ways to feel happy.

For example, we are happy when someone gives us good news, or a surprise. We are happy when we reach a goal or see someone special. Also, happiness comes to us in these moments of life when we have fun with our friends or when we are in some places. Each person has a happy moment which is remembered with gratitude. Therefore, happiness is something that every person finds in their own way, since it is not in every moment of our lives.

For me, happiness is a combination of special things. When I share with family and friends I am happy, these are the people that have been around me in some of the most important moments in my life. Also, traveling around my country brings me happiness because I am able to know better the place where I was born. I enjoy the little moments in life where I am happy without noticing. Happiness is an emotional state that brings health, wellness and joy to our life.

The man that is happy delivers happiness to others. This is why we must always search for happiness in different moments in life. We can search for it or only wait for it to come to us. Happiness is important in our life, although we do not always have it.

viernes, 11 de septiembre de 2015

Introduction Week

Welcome to my blog. Hi, my name is Luis Alberto. Here I will discuss, reflex and analyse several themes along the next weeks. In general, these themes are about the feelings and culture of society and overall, the own world. Also, I will expose my opinion about the themes. The objective is to describe and argue to reach an conclusion, so I wish you enjoy it.