Poetry

“Poetry is to prose as dancing is to walking” -John Wain
I was supposed to find a quote about poetry, and also come up with my own definition.
My definition is pretty simple: Poetry is beautiful writing. It is really hard to define Poetry, because it is such a broad term.
A while ago I wrote a poem that had to have at least 7 poetic devices. I don't really like the poem now that I read it a few months after I wrote it, but here it is:

Sushi

Hello Sushi, you are the love of my life!

My lord I eat in a restaurant

In fact, you’re the reason I lost my wife!

No size plate of Sushi, could me daunt

Tire me not, and I’ll eat you

No greater concoction would I devour

But if you get too bland, then we’ll be through

You I could eat for 2 hours

I will go to the buffet, you will be mine!

I put you on my plate, you will be mine!

Oh, dinner partner, together we dine.

Never before have I met someone so fine.

PC vs. Mac 5 Paragraph Essay

Adrian 7A

Due February 10, 2011

PC vs. Mac

When someone sets out to buy a computer, he or she has to make a lot of choices.  Laptop or desktop?  How big of a screen?  However, the biggest choice they have to make is whether to buy a Mac, which is made by Apple, or a PC, which can be made by many different companies, but runs software from Microsoft, regardless of the manufacturer.   I believe that Macs are inferior to PCs because PCs are more affordable, have more variety and are better supported.

My first reason why PCs are better is that they are cheaper.  I went on hp.com and apple.com and configured two computers with very similar specifications.  The HP, which was a PC, was $780¹.  However, the Apple Mac was $2,500². (If you don’t believe me, the links for you to try this yourself are at the bottom.)  Also, when buying a Mac you can add upgrades, just like when buying a PC.  To upgrade to a 2 terabyte hard drive costs $300³.  A similar hard drive costs just $100⁴ when bought on newegg.com, a reliable PC parts retailer.  This shows that Apple charges more for the same components, and therefore offers worse value.

Another reason why PCs are better than Macs is that PCs offer more choices and flexibility.  One of the advantages of having multiple companies manufacturing PCs is that there are a variety of types and styles of PCs.  If you need a durable computer for rough conditions, you can buy one, such as the Panasonic Toughbook. If you need a computer with a screen that can swivel and turn into a tablet, you could purchase a computer like the Dell Inspiron Duo.  Both of these types of computers are not available from Apple.  Thanks to all this variety, you have many choices when buying a PC, which is good because you can buy a PC that does exactly what you need it to do. That is why having options and choices is beneficial, and is an advantage over Apple’s Macs.

One more reason why PCs are better than Macs is that PCs are better supported.  If you drop your PC and break it, you are in a much better position than if you drop your Mac and break it, because there are many more PC repair shops in the world than Mac repair shops.  Continuing with the theme of more support for PCs, there are more applications written for PCs than Mac.  Both of these things benefit the user.

To conclude, PCs are better than Macs because they are more economical, offer more choices and are more widely supported than Macs.  They are cheaper because the PC computers cost less that their Mac counterparts.  They offer more variety because there are many types of PCs, and they are more widely supported because of a larger user base, which results in more applications and service shops.

Footnotes

1http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=desktops&a1=Category&v1=High+performance&series_name=HPE560z_series&jumpid=in_R329_prodexp/hhoslp/psg/desktops/High_performance/HPE560z_series

Based on configuration made in “Buy and Customize” to match Mac Specifications.

2 http://store.apple.com/us_smb_78313/browse/home/shop_mac/family/mac_pro

3 http://store.apple.com/us_smb_78313/configure/MC560LL/A?mco=MTg2OTUwMjQ

4 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136514&cm_re=2tb_internal-_-22-136-514-_-Product

Sources:

Perry, Douglas. "Windows Drops Below 90-Percent Market Share." Tom's Guide: Your High-Tech Source of Information. 3 Feb. 2011. 09 Feb. 2011 <http://www.tomsguide.com/us/windows-market-share-ios-macosx,news-9953.html>.

Spaces Reflection - Newspapers

1/31/11

Adrian 7A

SPACES Reflection - Newspapers

            The SPACES project his year was fun, but I don’t remember it so well. I always though spaces should either last longer or take place later in the year. One reason it was fun was because of the activities we did in class to study newspapers. I remember taking newspapers like Blic, Politika and International Herald Tribune and analyzing their layout, word choice and things like that. Another reason I enjoyed this SPACES unit was because I got to design my own newspaper layout in my notebook. I remember that that is one of the first things we did for this unit, and I enjoy it. An additional reason I enjoyed this unit was that I got to read a lot of newspapers. I think I’m one of the few people in my class who reads newspapers every day. I enjoy reading them both at home and at school, so that was fun. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this unit because of fun things we did with newspapers, because a chance to be creative and design my own layout, and because I had a chance to spend some time reading newspapers in class.

Extreme Skull Injury for Extra on Transformers 3 Set

This was the article that I wrote for our newspaper (dragonsbreath.tk).

Extreme Skull Injury for Extra on Transformers 3 Set

          While filming a stunt for the upcoming movie Transformers 3, an extra had her skull sliced open. Gabriela Cedillo, aged 24, is an aspiring actor and is acting for the first time in a not-very-prominent role as an extra.  She was sitting in her car, when a truck pulling a car with a cable at very high speeds drove past in the opposite direction. The cable snapped, and smashed through the windshield of her car and sliced through her skull. She was then rushed to the hospital via helicopter and had brain surgery.

          According to other extras from the movie, the extras were paid the not-so-plummy sum of minimum wage plus 25$ to use their own cars. Reportedly, problematic another truck-towing car setup had broken a few days before.

          The studio, Paramount, has released a surprising statement that contradicts all other reports of the accident. The studio claimed that extra was not involved in the stunt, that her car was not involved in the stunt, that a "freak accident caused her injury", that she and her car were “more than 500 feet from the stunt,” and that she was “struck by a flying metal object whose welding had come apart and not by a steel towing cable.”

Although this statement contradicts reports by the police and other extras, if it were true, that would mean that the studio would not be at fault, but if the police and the other extras are correct, then Ms. Cedillo would have an opportunity to retaliate with legal action that might get her a bonanza of cash to placate her.

Glogster Book Report

In October, I made a book report on Glogster about the book "Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie". I made it for English class.
There were many different things that I was supposed to put in the Glogster book report. Here is the full list:
 • Setting
• Theme
• Plot
• Internal/external conflict
• Climax/turning point
• Genre
• Significant vocab
• Author a little info
• Protagonist and antagonist
• Awards
• Symbols-foreshadowing
• Favorite Excerpts
I think that I managed to get most, but not all of them into by Glogster. I found that near the end, my Glogster got quite full, and I couldn't fit everything in. I liked doing this style book report rather than a traditional text book report, because the Glogster allows for more creativity and flexibility. I didn't do anything unusual to create this book report; I just logged on to my Glogster account, and created a Glogster any Gloster is created. Over, I found that this book report was fun because it allowed more expression, but it still contained many of the elements from a traditional book report.
Here it is: