Bryan+Q2

__**Second Quarter :**__ __**10/15/2010**__ Summary: I began to read an article about a possible terrorist attack on the US. The name of the article is **//__Suspicious Packages 'Contain explosive material,' Obama says__. I was able to find this article on cnn news at //** http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/10/29/security.concern/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1. The article basically talks about how there were packages coming to the United States from Arabian Peninsula. These packages contain explosive materials; one the explosives the size of a cell phone and the explosive was hard to find since it was well camouflaged. The government of Yemen helped the United States find out that there was suspicious packages coming to the United States and this is how the United states was able to identify easily what cargo planes to look for. Now the US government has been really cautions with different packages coming from Yemen. President Obama believes that this might be an Al Qaeda attack. Analysis: Something that really surprised me about this article was that this bombs were on their way to a Jewish community. It is incredibly sad to see how simply because you have affiliated to a certain religion you are basically exposing your life to danger. This shows how ignorant the people from Al Qaeda group are since they are just looking at one way thinking that Jews are are bad, and are close minded to the fact that Jews are just common people that practice a certain religion which they enjoy. Also it shows how the intelligence of some people is being wasted since it took very intelligent mind to camouflage these packages. This shows how to be successful in life you do not only have to be a smart person, but also a person with values.

__**10/22/2010**__ Summary: The name of the article I am reading is called __**//Russian Anti-drugs Chief Applauds Afghan Heroin Haul.//**__** This is an article that has been published by CNN it is located at http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/10/29/afghanistan.drug.bust/index.html. The article basically talks about how the United States government has united with the Russian government to fight the drug production in Afghanistan. Afghanistan has over 41 laboratories in which they are basically making drugs and from there are selling it to the market. The US and the Russian military forces were able to capture a camp in which they found more than 240 million dollars worth of drugs. The US is worried that the Taliban will soon target the farmers and use their plantation for drug cultivation. **
 * Analysis: Drugs have been a trouble for several governments and for many countries. The thing with drugs is that it that it does not only affect the people who pay for these. It also affects people who many times are forced to work for businesses like this. For example here in the document it states how many farmers in Afghanistan are forced to work by Taliban's members and get little to no pay. The workers are often threaten to lose their life if they refuse to work. This relates to the drugs plantations in Columbia were kids are also forced to work in plantations and are also taught to kill so they can protect the plantations as well. This makes me feel like a lucky guy because I actually had the option to pick what I wanted to do with my life. I was forced into doing anything that will somehow harm others or myself. **

__**10/29/201****0**__ __**Summary**__:The name of the article is called __**//When is Gambling an Addiction?//**__** I got it from the health section of the New York Times. The website you can review this article is at http://consults.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/when-is-gambling-an-addiction/?ref=health.The article talks about how if a person does not control his the amount of time spent gambling; the person will eventually become addicted to gambling. One of the main reasons for this is that you make gambling a habit. The person then begins to gamble more often until a point in which they can no longer control themselves. People that addicted to gambling begin to lose control and begin to gamble in big amounts, and kind of careless how much they lost. These gamblers basically just want to keep gambling. ** 11/5/10 back. Obstacles are opportunities for an individual to become powerful and to prepare the individual for what is coming next. __Summary__:This week I have been reading articles about education. I just wanted to learn a little more about how The U.S is doing in education rates. As I was reading this article called __//**U.S School Graduation Rate Is Rising.**//__ written by Sam Dillon in http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/education/30graduation.html?ref=education, I was able to connect it to an old book I read. I was reading in this article that the graduation rate in the United States has been rising. In the article they mention that graduation drop outs had reach the lowest point and now they were once again flourishing. The education was once again rising. The strange thing about this was that nothing was done differently in order to make the grades rise. The only thing that change was that everything was just now being done right. For example there was no augmentation in teachers, it was simply that the same amount of teachers just payed more attention to their jobs. They were now more aware of their students behavior. The article also talked about how basically some kids just see the easy way out sometimes, and drop out to work in jobs like construction to obtain money faster. __**Analysis**__: I really like this article because I was able to connect it to a book I read called __//**The Tipping Point**//__. The way in which I was able to related to this book is that, Malcolm Gladwell, the author of the book, stated that everything always reaches a point and then it turns the opposite way. For example he uses the crime in New York City and how it reach its tipping point and then it eventually the crime rates began to lower. In the article I just read I came across a similar situation. I saw the high school drop outs were increasing, yet they reach a point in which they had reach its zenith and gradually began to increase. The graduation rate began to rise and more and more students were graduating. Also in other way it relates to the book its the way things begin to change. It the book the crime rates did not lower because more police officers were added or there was more security added. The problem was solve by simply attacking the roots of the problems. The police officers just began to do their job right. The same thing happened with graduating changes; the teachers just began to do their job right. They began by attacking things such as not doing homework. These two examples show how you should not always want to think of the big problem and try to give it a big solution. You should think of the roots of the problem and try to solve the small problems that lead to the bigger problems. __**Summary:**__ I was reading this article in which something really interesting was being discussed.The title of the paper is Phys __**Ed: Do Energy Drinks Improve Athletic Performance?**__ this article is published in the http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/phys-ed-do-energy-drinks-improve-athletic-performance/?ref=health and was written by Gretchen Reynolds. I thought it was a really interesting topic because I can relate to it. The article was basically talking about how many people tend to think that energy drinks are the same as sports drinks. This is not true energy drink lots of sugar and caffeine that may improve your athletic performance for a little, yet it leads to dehydration. Many adolescents tend to think that it will help them to improve your performance, yet the only way you can improve your performance is by telling your brain you can. This recommends people to basically not drink energy drinks beacuse they will only lead to dehydration. __**Analysis:**__ I was able to relate to this article because I am an athletic person. Also I have many friends that also are athletes and in some cases have told me that energy drinks can help me improve my performance on the field. As soon as I read the article I asked some of my friends how they fell after using energy drinks. Jaime Romero, my best friend, told me that it gave him energy lots of energy, yet he reach a point in which he felt extreme thirst and just wanted to drink some water. I asked him "How has the drink help you improve athletically? He says that as soon as he drinks it he fells more ready, and fells more strong. When I heard this I came to the conclusion that **__m__**aybe its not the drink its just yourself. Before you are about to play a game, many athletes feel kind of insecure. They feel as if they something to assure them that they will do fine. When they drink the energy drink they make themselves think that now that they have something that will make them better nothing can go wrong. Now the athletes make themselves think that now they are ready to accomplish anything. That is why they begin to think that the have more energy. They begin to think that they have become a lot more stronger. I felt that many athletes trick their brain to think that the energy drink is helping them, yet when the real after effects such as dehydration arrive athletes began to think that the energy drink effects are over. They start to think that its them now really playing when the truth is that the energy drink effects have arrived. I think that athletes should trick their mind to think they are capable of doing anything. Not because they have just drank SOME RED BULL but because they are capable of doing good. __**12/10/10**__ __**Reflection:**__ This quarter I decide to read articles and short books. I was really impressed with myself in how after reading a few articles, I was able to read articles at a faster rate. I was able to understand the articles a little more and I felt as if I was having a conversation with the authors of the article. As I read the articles, I asked myself questions about what made this author write about this. As I keep reading its was if the author could hear my questions; a little by little one by one I was able to answer my own questions which helped me understand rapidly.
 * Analysis:Addiction to gambling does not happen over night. It is a process that you build yourself into. For example its like not reading and being used to read from spark notes. For example there might be sometimes when you are in a rush and you might have to do that as your last resource. Many people then decide that this method was actually easier and begin to take this path. They get used to just reading out Spark notes until they reach a point in which eventually they lose control. Their mind begins to just do what it has been adjusted to do. In this case even if you say to yourself "I will read" your brain will not work with what you are saying. Now what you have to do is begin to do what you did with sparknotes the first time. You now have train your brain to read, and teach your brain that sparknotes may be an option once in a while. You have to train your brain to do what is better for you, and in this case that will be reading. It sounds pretty easy, but it will not happen overnight. You now have to develop this new habit. **
 * 11/12/2010**
 * Summary:** This week I decided to read a short book called __//Rumble Fish.//__ This book is about how one little kid called Rusty James is involved in gangs. It talks about the reasons why he is involves in gangs. One of the things that surprised me the most was that this kid had an idol. Someone who can look up, and say I wanna be like him. His idol was not exactly the best person, yet it a person who he admired, who he trust, and who had past similar things that he had past. The book also talks about the real friendship, and how a true friend are hard to find. He talks about how a true friend is a friend that does not only applaud you when you good things, yet its a friend who calls you out when you are doing something wrong. In the book the author takes to a journey in which it sows how if a person ever wants to accomplish something they can as long as they are willing to work hard for it.
 * Analysis:** There is a quote in this book that really surprised me. "'I made up my mind I'd get out of that place and I did,' Steve went on. 'I learned that.I learned that if you want to get somewhere, you just make up your mind and work like hell till you get there. If you want to get somewhere in life you just have to work till you make it'" This quote is located towards the end of the book, and it made wonder. I was thinking of what i wanted to be and what place I wanted to get out of. I realize I wanted to get out of this place that stereotypes place me. I did not want to be the Hispanic that drop out of high school to go work, the Hispanic that did not attend college, I did not wanted to be the Hispanic that got nowhere when had everything to go anywhere. I wanted to the guy that kids like Rusty James look up to and say I want to be like him. Many times in my life I have proof to myself that you do not have to be the smartest to be successful .You just have be willing to be the best, and to be successful.I know i can reach my dreams just sometimes I do not get my mind to it. I know that to accomplish something I have to work hard and I know that there might be obstacles in my path. obstacles are not made to destroy you or hold you
 * 11/19/2010**
 * __Summary:__**This week I wanted to read something that could be quick, yet that could still be entertaining. When I finished reading //**__Rumble Fish__**// I really wanted to read a book that was related to this kind of book. Surprisingly I found a book called **__The Outsiders__** written by S.E. Hinton. This book was really amazing, I was able to relate to the content of the book. The book is about a guy called Ponyboy who had the support of all his brothers. Also how he and his friends were basically like a family because they took care of each other no matter what. It also talked about how the had a lot of problems with this gang called Socs.
 * __Analysis:__**There is a quote in this book that really surprises me is in page "Did you ever hear oh having more than you want? It seems like we're always searching for something else to satisfy us, and never finding it." This quote was said by a wealthy girl, who was tired of of having more than what she wanted. She was tired of not being able to dream of somethings because she had been gifted too much. This kind of made me think of myself and how one of my biggest goals is to have everything. My biggest dreams is to get money, so I could have anything I want. I believe that having everything will make me happy, and will fulfill me. When I read this quote I began to wander whether money really was the thing I wanted. I mean everyone wants money because money can make you successful, yet I wander what would have happen if I was bored with money. What will my dreams be? I realized that maybe money is good to have, but in a moderate way. Like many people say is bad to have too much of anything. I realize that money is a good source to use as inspiration, yet its not good to have it as your only goal. There are such things as becoming a literate person that knowledge. Things that will never leave or things that you will never ran out of. For example money can be obtain, and can easily be lost. In the other hand as time passes by and you become a very knowledgeable person; none one will be able to to take your knowledge, you will not lose your knowledge. Your knowledge will be something that you can take anywhere you want with money or without money. Knowledge will be something that goes beyond the value of money. Money can be lost as fast as it can be obtained, yet knowledge takes time to learn therefore its hard to lose.
 * 11/26/2010**
 * 12/3/2010**