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A Quick Introduction...

1.       Why are you doing a portfolio?

-          First of all, it’s a requirement. Second, it’s a requirement. Third, it’s a requirement. Just kidding!  Well mainly that is my reason. I’m afraid I can’t give you a better reason than that. I guess I have a couple of other reasons aside from it being a requirement. I just can’t quite pinpoint those.

2.       Is keeping a language portfolio significant to you?

-          At first, I just did this for the sake of it being a requirement but after weeks of writing reading logs and making videos with my groupmates, I’ve realized how significant making a portfolio is.  Now I don’t mind passing my e-portfolio late not because I’m being lazy but because I want to make it the best I can.

3.       What are the goals you want to achieve in making this portfolio?

-          Simply speaking, I’m hoping that making this portfolio would improve my skills as a reader and a speaker. Those are the goals I’m looking forward to accomplish.

4.       Anything you want to tell to the readers?

-          To my professor, Mr. Lira, I hope you don’t mind if I pass this e-portfolio a bit late and I also hope that you wouldn’t mind if I tend to be casual in some parts of this portfolio. Thank you very much for giving us the opportunity of making an e-portfolio. I never thought how fun it could be. To my blockmates and everyone else who wants to read, please go ahead and take your time reading my work. Comments are loved and appreciated. Enjoy! :D                          

               

Table of Contents

Reading Log Week 7 – Meaningful Dreams

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Reading Log Week 8 – Bill Gates Remaking the … Toilet!?

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Reading Log Week 9 – Better Late than Never!

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Reading Log Week 10 – Hitler: Hero or Villain?

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Reading Log Week 11 – NASA Launches Juno to Jupiter

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Reading Log Week 12 – Superstitious Numbers

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Video Presentation

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Final Thoughts

Meaningful Dreams

In this essay, I intend to write a summary of an article about the most frequent dreams dreamt and what could they possibly mean in our daily lives.

                The very first one is dreaming about small but terrible spiders. This dream may indicate either that you are being manipulated or is the manipulative one the same way spiders manipulate their webs. Next up we have is being chased in our dreams. This could simply mean that in reality, we are trying to run away or escape something we fear such as the struggles we are facing.  Aside from running, another common dream is falling. Unlike other dreams, this one is rather explained scientifically. Dreams about falling are usually caused by our heart rate dropping and this would result in jerking and waking up. Some people say that this dream could be associated with our vulnerability. Another dream that we often have is death. Like the end of one’s life, this dream could mean the end of something such as a job or a relationship. Similar to a not-so-good dream like death, being lost in confusion is dreamt frequently. To simply put it, being lost could mean losing our own path or at least having the feeling that we have lost our path. Experts say that this could also be attributed from our feeling of not being able to fit in. Opposite to being lost, dreaming of water would mean that we have found a new one through a significant change in life. Last but not the least, is to dream about celebrities. Celebrities are people that carry a huge sense of accomplishment and thus many seek inspiration from them. Aside from these frequent dreams I’ve mentioned, there are also other frequent dreams such as being naked, being pregnant, and losing one’s teeth.

 If you ask me, most of these dreams seem to be more of a nightmare since they are associated with our problems in reality. It’s a good thing that there are ways to prevent this kind of dreams from being dreamt and more importantly, there are ways to solve our struggles once we put our minds and hearts in it.

Bill Gates Remaking the... Toilet!?

While looking for a topic to write about, I got surprised for some reason when I read the title of this one - A Human-Waste Gold Mine: Bill Gates Looks to Reinvent the Toilet! Quite a gross topic to write about I must say.

                Yes it’s true. One of the smartest and richest guys in the planet, Bill Gates, is planning to reinvent the toilet. The current toilets aren’t broken so why make a new one? The chairman of Microsoft says that the main goal of this project is to give the poor people mainly the ones in Kenya access to proper sanitation facilities. Despite the usefulness of the traditional western toilets, these aren’t still good enough since world has a limited water source thus having a limited capability to “flush away” human waste. According to UNICEF, 1.1 billion people don’t have the proper access to eliminate waste and that at least a billion children under the age of 5 suffer from diarrhea and this could be attributed by the unsanitary facilities.

                So what’s Bill Gates’ plan to reduce world poverty? Bill Gates plans to invent a toilet that utilizes on human waste to something useful such as turning urine into drinking water, fertilizer, and the like. Now that’s what you call a human-waste mine! With some help from German taxpayers, Dutch engineers, and other partners, the idea of the “ultimate toilet” isn’t far away and so is the end of the western toilet we have all known and used all this time.

Better Late than Never!

                  

                  While making my e-portfolio, I’ve realized that I lacked a reading log for week 8. I know that being on time is essential. However, in this essay, I intend to prove the “benefits” of being late through one man’s perspective (unfortunately he never wrote his name on his blog).

                This man had a knack for being late. He always seemed to be a few minutes left behind his schedule especially on special occasions. He did his best to get over his tardiness however it seemed to be always stuck with him. He started to believe that this could be attributed to his “inner rebellion against society”. In other words, he just wanted to do his own things with no worries. Yes like what I have written above, being punctual is indeed valuable in daily living although being late has its own perks too. To the man who wrote what I just read, he realized that there was always a reason why he was late. He realized that whenever he was not being punctual, he would spend his time for something he truly values rather than for what he needs to rush out. Looking back, he realized that all those extra moments he took to enjoy his coffee, to share a conversation with someone sentimental to him, to receive a kiss or a hug or an “I love you” from his children was more than worth it.

                These precious moments will be the ones most important once you look back on your life. No one is going to recognize and say how incredible you are for always being on time. No one would wipe a tear for your excellent punctuality. However, many will remember those sweet memories you spent with them, doing something you love for someone you love.

Hitler: Hero or Villain?

In this essay, I intend to summarize the writings of Shelly Barclay concerning Adolf Hitler and make my own comments too. This essay would answer the question if the said Nazi leader was a villain or rather a hero.

                So was Hitler bad to the bone or actually a hero in disguise? According to Shelly, the answer to this one would have to be both. As a leader, Hitler was able to make Germany stand up again despite the horrible results Germany suffered from World War I. On the contrary though he could also be considered as a maniac due to the violence he has done back on World War II such as the infamous Holocaust.  This statement may be supported by the fact that he was diagnosed of having Syphilis by a doctor named Theodor Morell back in 1945.

                In my opinion, Hitler’s cruel personality could also be attributed from his early life. As a child, he was raised by an abusive father. This led him to have not-so-good grades in school and be rebellious (as he claims). Through the bravery he showed back in the 1st World War, he was recognized. In 1921, he became the leader of the Nazi party and since 1923; he planned to take down his country’s government. Despite being put to prison,, he continued to make an effort in order to win the hearts of the German people through promises. However he also made accusations and threatened people along the way. Soon he appointed himself as the president after the previous president past away.

                As the new president, Hitler had all the pieces he needed to gain control. He started invading Poland and other nearby countries through his strategic plans such as the Blitz Krieg. Hitler’s treatment to those he took over was tyrannical. People were shot, burned, forced to work, and live in misery. Fortunately, the war ended and his brutal rule along with it.

                 Now the big question is: Would you consider Hitler’s suicide as a heroic act or a cowardly one? Whichever you would answer, we can all say that his legacy took millions of lives and ultimately, he is one of the most villainous men who walked the face of the Earth.

NASA Launches Juno to Jupiter

In this essay, I intend to summarize Kerry Sheridan’s article about the launching of the spacecraft Juno towards Jupiter.

                Yesterday, on August 5, 2011, NASA launched the solar-powered spacecraft Juno to discover more facts about the largest planet in the solar system – Jupiter. The said spacecraft was propelled out of Earth aboard the Atlas V rocket and blasted off at 12:25pm in Florida at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The billion-dollar-worth spacecraft is expected to arrive to Jupiter approximately after 5 years in July 2016 and orbit it at least 30 times in a period of just a single year. Named after the Roman God of Jupiter, Juno’s primary mission is to probe the origin of the Jupiter and the whole solar system as well for it is believed by scientists that Jupiter has been the first planet to take shape.

                With a mission worth 5 years, Juno would spend the first 2 years going around the Sun then it would return to Earth to receive the needed gravitational boost to accelerate towards Jupiter in the next 3 years. Once it reaches the said planet, Juno would set up and study more about key ingredients for the formation of Jupiter by making use of state-of-the-art instruments provided by various space agencies. Aside from that, Scientists are also eager to learn more about the 300-year-old Great Red Spot of Jupiter and its strong magnetic fields.

                Juno is also part of a series of new planetary space missions. Scientists are hoping that through these space missions, Juno and the other spacecraft in the future would be able to answer some of the universe’s toughest questions especially those concerning our origin. With NASA’s success in the world of space exploration, there’s surely a brand new discovery just waiting to be uncovered from the very fabric of the universe.