Week 6/ Blog 6: Video Games – Why They Matter

When people hear the word Video Games, the people especially the adults immediately think that it is bad, not good for the health, promotes violence, makes a person mentally ill, and many more not so good stuffs. All of the negative thoughts are pointed at it. But why? Not all video games are bad. They are even sometimes used to educate individuals.

The best part about video games is that it is for all ages! You just need to find the right game suitable for you! Like when you are bored, you want adventure, then, you can try to play adventure games like ‘Super Mario’. Let’s say you want a dystopian game or something thrilling, then, the game ‘The Last of Us’ is what I can recommend to you playing. If you are an adult and want to play something that can make your brain work like really hard, then you can try games that are logical, problem solving type of game, you can try ‘Tetris’ or any other games like ‘Uncharted’.

Video games are even made to teach history. Games like ‘Assassin’s Creed’, ‘God of War’, and ‘Call of duty’. Yes, they are gory, but isn’t that our history that we’ve been learning is like that? Many video games are gory, many video games show and sometimes promotes violence. But that doesn’t mean that the whole bloodline/ history of Video Games is bad.

There is something called simulations. These simulations are games too. And guess what simulation they create. They create flight simulation for future pilots so that it can reduce the probability of accidents. They create a simulation of an operation (medical field), for doctors to make their decision more precise and correct. Construction simulation too is a thing, so that they will see the probability of how it will be created or how it will be presented. Simulations, so that everyone can see the outcome when they do something like that in the real world, and it is a video game actually. It is a video game and you are learning from it.

I’ve been playing video games too. Ever since I was merely 3 yrs. old, and I often hear many hateful comments about video games. And what I do about it is try to learn what their reason to hate it and try to understand, and then I will share my opinion/ thought hoping that their thought might change.

My thought is that, video games are healthy for your health. You just need to control yourself. Do not be addicted. Because everything that is too much is not healthy for you. Finding the right game, can bring joy and fulfillment to your life. Actually, for me, our whole life is just one big game, and your choices affect how the game will end. You have one life, and there is no save point. Just a continuous game time, no pause, no cheat codes, no walkthroughs, no adjusting the difficulty settings, just you and the world. And just a tip, if you don’t encounter any enemies, then, you are not in the right path. You know what I’m talking about, if you play video games 😉.

Week 5/ Blog 5: Gender Equality

 

Gender equality to me means that everyone is equal. No prejudice between men and women regardless their race, body structure, religion, etc. Even in a workplace or the society, they should be equal. Equal salary, workforce, equal everything. Even in sports, equal chances, like both genders should compete with each other. For example, boxing. My interpretation in gender equality is that men and women should be okay if they fight each other inside the ring. It also applies inside the pentagon for UFC. Another interpretation is that chivalry will be eliminated.

So no, I believe that both gender should NOT be equal. Both genders should have equity, all of us should have equity. So that we all can help each other. Because not only needs that compassion and help of others, men should also be able to feel that. For example, in a train, men offer their seat to women who seemed to be exhausted, or just simply because they are women. Yes, for the society that is called chivalry. But what about the men who are also exhausted? Shouldn’t they be also offered a seat because they are exhausted? Should women also offer their seat to men who are exhausted? What I mean by equity is that we are all equal but with respect. Not by totally equal where women should be like men where they not wear bra. Of course, we all have our different strengths and weaknesses, values and virtues, and beliefs and religion. So, all we need is respect.

It is the society who tells what we are. Society tells us if you’re a man you should be masculine, and if you’re a girl, you should be feminine. Not because you’re a man, it is your responsibility to offer your seat to a woman.

That is what happened to me, when our school held an event and we were told to assemble in our stage. I was exhausted, so we (including my friends) sat at the back and that was the last chairs that is in their proper place. The other chairs are stacked at the corner of the covered gym. When the girls came to the event (they were late comers), all of my friends (not exhausted) stood up and offered their chairs. So, the result, my friends persuaded me to offer my chair because I’m a man, but I respectfully replied no because I’m really exhausted and wanted to sit. Then came the bashing of the girls saying that I should be a gentleman and offer my seat to a woman. So, what I did is I asked my friend to get a chair for me, and I calmly stood up from my chair saying it is “okay” to take my chair, but deep inside, I was so angry but I don’t want to cause a commotion because I’m exhausted.

The problem to our society is that we only help the people who the society thinks that is in need of help or that is weak (like women). But it is not. Everyone deserves to receive help, and everyone deserves to help. Whether you are a man helping a woman, man helping a man, and vice-versa. So for me, one way to make better, fairer, and have equity is to have respect.

Week 4/ Blog 4: Fire disasters – Causes and Effects

Fire. It can either be a wonderful friend, or your greatest known enemy. It can be naturally occurring or man-made. It has many uses, yet there are many risk while using it. Only one mistake made, and it can burn your home down. Fire chooses no time or place. Even the rich and the poor can be a target/ victim to fire disasters. Even this Christmas time! Fire disasters occurs even in Christmas time. Why? Here’s why.

For me there are 5 main problems in causing a fire disaster.

1. Faulty wirings
   • This is probably the mainstream cause of fire disasters. The unmaintained wirings may cause a faulty electrical wiring and may cause a ‘live’ wire, wherein it can cause a spark that will eventually cause a fire disaster.
2. Curious children
   • Some of these children are sometimes unobserved, and these children are so intrigued by what is happening when they do something that is new to them. Something, somewhat magical. Then, they discover fire. A shiny and ‘glowy’ thing to look at. Where they see it can be bred into a larger fire by giving it sacrifices (light materials like paper and gasoline). And by that findings, they (some) have created a disaster.
3. Faulty equipments
   • There is another mainstream fire causing event or material. ‘octopus wiring’ wherein there is a faulty extension wiring plugged in one outlet then many plugs are plugged in the extension, then… BOOM! Resulting to fire.
   • Another is the faulty plugs that is plugged in. Then, there’s too much flow of electricity, then… BOOM!
4. Negligence
   • This are the people, who didn’t think about what is going to happen when they do a certain task.
     EXAMPLE: lighting a cigar near an open gas tank.
     lighting a candle near a curtain
5. Unpreparedness
   • Preparedness is what the people here in the Philippines are lacking. Sometimes, what happens is that a certain disaster is happening, for example fire. then people puts panic first rather than resolve to correctly extinguish the fire.

When it comes to fire this is the commonly causes of why it happened/ started in the first place. Then comes the effects of it:

1. Loss of life
   1. This is what commonly happens. Loss of precious life because of that one mistake and disaster. It can be either family members, pets, relatives, friends, and people that is special to you.
2. Loss of property
   1. This can be your home and your items inside your home, your precious gadgets, consoles, pictures, all burned down.
3. Emotional Stress
   1. This is where a great pain is struck in your heart. The memories that is made in that home, gone. A friend, dead in the disaster. Remembering the horror when it all happened and becoming an endless loop in your dreams.
4. Physical stress
   1. This is the injuries that is caught while the fire disaster happened. It can be either a broken bone, hemorrhage, 1^st to 3^rd degree burns, etc.

There are many causes to disasters that will lead to serious effects. BUT, the good thing is, it can be prevented. A general view to readiness in some disasters might result to having to save the day when a disaster happens, and a simple understanding to first aid might be useful in the future to save someone’s life.

 

Week 3/ Blog 3: Flood Prevention

The Philippines, it is a tropical country in which it always rains. When the rainy season comes, especially when a storm comes. The number 1 problem of the country Philippines, is the FLOOD. These floods affect the many small scale businesses (Sari-sari stores, karindirya, etc) of the Filipinos.  Sometimes, it also affects the large scale businesses of the country, by stopping the transportation of a certain products that is meant to be transported to a certain place. Another is the flash floods that happens and sometimes kills people. Floods that is over 6 feet high. These problems are some examples of the many problems caused by flood in the Philippines. And it is somewhat the Filipinos’ fault why flash floods happen.

These are the problem why there are floods happening in the Philippines. The garbage that is not disposed properly. The garbage that is only thrown everywhere by Filipinos with no way of thinking that it will be a water waste then clog into streams and destroy the environment. Especially the plastic garbage that takes a very long time to decompose.

 

These flash floods can be prevented if all the Filipinos will cooperate and work together in order to achieve this one goal. There are many SOLUTIONS to make the country a little bit better, and not just that, it will also benefit a lot of Filipinos in the country. Following the simple guide Reduce, Re-use, Recycle.

Reducing the use of plastic as much as possible and reduce the garbage disposal everywhere into a 0.

Re-using the plastic that you’ve been using. Example is the plastic cups, you can use it again and use in in your home by washing it properly.

Recycling the plastic into a more productive item just to lessen the plastic garbage that is being thrown away. Example of this items are vases that can be used as a decoration insides homes.

These 3 R’s is essential to solving the problem of the garbage. But I think in order to solve the problem is to have a frequent maintenance of the area. Especially the areas of which there are streams, rivers, lake, etc. A simple monthly cleaning of the area (especially bodies of water) by the barangay officials or implementing a law that will make the people of the society make their own move in maintaining their area clean.

But of course, with this solution, it is the job of the barangay officials to know where to dispose the garbage of the maintained area, and make their people cooperate and follow to clean their own surroundings.

 

Week 2/ Blog 2 – The Game of the Kings: Chess

Sometimes called the king’s game or ‘the game of the kings’. The battle of tactic and strategy. Every move counts. Every second counts. Don’t waste it, don’t be afraid, don’t be wrong, don’t falter. This is the game of chess. 8×8 grid with 64 squares played by 2 players. With different strategies and tactics, you could win. It is said that it originated in India in the last 6^th century. The first tournament of chess was held in London in 1851 won by a German named Adolf Anderssen. For the first man who won the world chess tournament, his name is Wilhelm Steinitz.

The game of chess consists of 2 sides, the black side, and the white side. Each side has 16 units. 8 Pawns, 2 Rooks, 2 Horses, 2 Bishops, 1 Queen, and of course 1 King. Each of units have different types of movement in the board. Now to get a better picture of the board, the grid of the board is 8×8 now the horizontal line or the ‘x’ line in math consists letters A-H and the vertical line or ‘y’ line consists the numbers 1-8.

The Movements and Positions:

Pawn

• They are positioned in the row of ‘2’ (in white side). All of the pawns are there.
• The FIRST movement of pawns CAN be 2 squares forward towards the enemy as long they aren’t touched.
  • Pawn a2 can move a4.
    or Pawn h2 to h4
• If a pawn is MOVED it can now only move 1 square forward.
• pawns can’t move backward.
• If the pawn reaches the end of the board they will can be promoted as queen, horse, bishop, or rook. (the player will decide what)

Rook

• They are placed in both corners of the board which is a1 and h8 (in white side)
• They can only move in a horizontal and vertical file.
  • Eg: if the rook is place in a1 with no other pieces in the Column A and Row 1, it can be moved all the way up to a8 or h1.
• The rook can’t jump into other pieces.
  • Eg: if a rook is placed in a1 and there is a piece in b1. The rook can’t go to h8 because of a piece in b1.

Horse

• The Horse is placed beside the rooks. B1 and g1 (white side).
• The horse moves in ‘L’ shape. 1 step forward and 2 step either left or right or vice versa
  • Eg: if a horse is in a1 it can either move in b3 or c2
• It can jump into other pieces

Bishop

• Placed beside the horse. C1 and f1 (white side).
• It only moves in a diagonal line.
• Can’t jump into other pieces

Queen

• Placed in D1 (white side)
• Can imitate the move of all pieces, except for the horse.
• Can’t jump into other pieces

King

• Placed in E1 (white side)
• Can move 1 square around it
• Must be protected at all cost.

These are the basic information of the game chess. Now, playing chess also has benefits for the human brain. It can raise your IQ, logical thinking skills, your actual brain, problem-solving skills, your foreseeing skills, strategical thinking skills, and many more. Because, why not? Playing chess requires thinking, and by thinking I mean literally thinking hard, expecting the unexpected and foreseeing every single step your opponent’s going to move. And because the brain is a muscle, it has room for growth.

 

‘Evolution’ – Not found

When I get free time. I get my phone and browse ‘9gag’ for fun. Now, when I was scrolling down to it, the post of “9gaggers” was all about ‘Turkey banning evolution to their curriculum’, ‘why study of evolution was deemed hard to understand’, ‘why do the president of Turkey is so dumb’, and other things about evolution and Charles Darwin.  Now it intrigued me, and got my researcher-like personality mode on. So I searched the web about banning the study of evolution in turkey, I also searched why it was banned, who banned it, and what are the response of the people in turkey. when I searched it, turkey really stop teaching evolution at high school.

These are the example headlines that I saw when searching on the web:

• “Turkey to stop teaching evolution in high school”
• “In Turkey, Schools Will Stop Teaching Evolution This Fall”
• “Turkey to stop teaching evolution theory in high schools: education board”
• “Turkey drops theory of evolution from national curriculum as children go back to school”
• “Turkish schools to stop teaching evolution, official says”

The stopping of evolution theory teaching has taken effect this SY 2017-2018 in Turkey. The word ‘Evolution’ will not be found on books of grade schools in Turkey. “We believe that these subjects are beyond their (the students) comprehension” Alpaslan Durmus said it according to ‘theguardian’ site, he is the chairman of the board of education and for the Education Minister, Ismet Yilmaz, he said to the reporters that Evolutionary biology is best left to be taught at the university level because it’s a theory that requires a higher philosophical understanding than schoolchildren have. This is according to the article “In Turkey, Schools Will Stop Teaching Evolution This Fall” in the site ‘npr.org’

Reading this article about stopping/dropping the evolution in their curriculum got me thinking why they are dumb. And to drop a certain topic just because it is ‘controversial’ to people? Again, dumb. As I continue reading articles, I found out that a lot of Turkish people also disapprove on the curriculum that they introduced to the public. A retired chemical engineer named Emel Ishakoglu, don’t like the idea of the new curriculum, she said that she is worried about her grandchildren, but hoping the curriculum will change in time. Another citizen of Turkey, the Demir family says that they will leave turkey before their son reaches grade school, just because of the new curriculum.

Many people were affected by this new curriculum and many has thoughts about this. Even people from different countries has something to say in this news, some has pity over the country, some infuriated, and some just don’t care. But again for me it’s just sad that they won’t know who Charles Darwin is, and students who didn’t learn the evolution theory from high school will look stupid if decided to study in different universities.

 

REFERENCES:

“Turkey to stop teaching evolution in high school”

• Tuysuz,, Gul. “Turkey to stop teaching evolution in high school.” CNN, 23 June 2017, edition.cnn.com/2017/06/23/middleeast/turkey-to-stop-teaching-evolution/index.html.

“In Turkey, Schools Will Stop Teaching Evolution This Fall”

• Frayer, Lauren. “In Turkey, Schools Will Stop Teaching Evolution This Fall.” National Public Radio, 20 Aug. 2017, http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/08/20/540965889/in-turkey-schools-will-stop-teaching-evolution-this-fall.

“Turkey to stop teaching evolution theory in high schools: education board”

• Gumrukcu, Tuvan. “Turkey to stop teaching evolution theory in high schools: education board.” Reuters, 23 June 2017, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-education-evolution/turkey-to-stop-teaching-evolution-theory-in-high-schools-education-board-idUSKBN19E1RA.

“Turkey drops theory of evolution from national curriculum as children go back to school”

• Agerholm, Harriet. “Turkey drops theory of evolution from national curriculum as children go back to school.”, 19 Sept. 2017, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/turkey-evolution-teaching-stop-schools-curriculum-erdogan-a7955596.html.

“Turkish schools to stop teaching evolution, official says.”

• Shaheen, Kareem, and Gözde Hatunoğlu. “Turkish schools to stop teaching evolution, official says.” Theguardian, 23 June 2017, 06.00 BST, theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/23/turkish-schools-to-stop-teaching-evolution-official-says.