Paradox & Oxymoron Examples

Paradox: 

This is a paradox because the connections of the cube are not proportionate. If you look closely, the block that should be connecting the upper side is going behind the block that connects two parts of the cube that should be behind it. This contradicts common sense and logic because you can only draw it that way and not make it that way. It also produces inconsistency because the cube couldn't be actually made like that in real life.

You would not be able to read time, and it is inconsistent because it goes against common sense. Apart from that, if you look closely, the twelve, even though it is in a spiral, tilts a little bit to the right each time there is one complete spiral.

Oxymoron: 

This signs are an oxymoron because they are right beside each other and they contradict each other since "STOP" and "KEEP GOING" are literally antonyms.

This ash tray is an oxymoron too because there is a sign of "DO NOT SMOKE" inside the ash tray; which is used when you smoke. Again, contradictory terms together. Now these are inside one another.

Confucianism Analect (4.7)

4.7) The Master said, "People are true to type with regard to what sort of mistakes they make. Observe closely the sort of mistakes a person makes ---then you will know his character. 


This analect is as true as it can be. The idea expressed in this analect is that you need to watch closely the behavior, especially the mistakes, that a person makes. If you think about it, it works! This can apply for positive and negative attributes.

It has happened to me that when I am getting to know somebody really well I always watch out for the mistakes they commit (especially if those mistakes are repetitive) to see what type of person they are. I am don't necessarily look for mistakes to justify that he/she is a bad person but what type of person you are hanging around with. It can be: evil, compassionate, lazy, funny, intelligent, arrogant, racist, etc. Also you may find a person that has many of these combined, but not all.

This quote relates to the analect from the book:

"Watch you thoughts; they become your words.
  Watch you words; the become your actions.
  Watch your actions; they become your habits.
  Watch your habits; they become your character;
  And watch your character; it becomes your destiny."

                                                        - Author Unknown

Spellbound

2. Do homonyms get you down? Pick some that you commonly mix up and come up with a creative way to remember how to tell them apart in the future. 

I commonly mix up many homonyms. It is very difficult to differentiate them because they have the same spelling AND the same pronunciation. The only "creative" way I can think of is to make a little game in your head playing with these homonyms. The game would be like this.

          Example:

1. When I was going up the mountain I saw a gigantic ________.

2. Please kids, ________ with be. I am really tired.

The word or homonym that we need to use "bear". On the line you will need to write the word "bear" and in parenthesis you need to put which definition if this word are you using to complete the sentence. The first one would be bear the animal. The other one would be the bear to carry. After doing this with other homonyms like: train, bow, miss, type, lean, lap, etc. You will have a clearer idea.

*The only way you can tell homonyms apart is by the context of the sentence or the text. This is the only source because if spelling and pronunciation are the same, then the context clues are the ones that will let you determine which of the two meanings is best for that specific sentence.


5. Should we still spelling bees? Why? Why not?

I think that we should have spelling bees but only in languages like English and French for example because they are languages that have a really hard spelling. Spelling bees are a fun, competitive and effective way to learn the spelling of words. There are mysteries in these languages because you have words that have letters that do not sound the way they are supposed to and also letters that don't sound at all. But they are there.

          Example: 

English: enough, though, through, tough, etc.

French: yeux, rois, noix, aime, frais, anglais, deux, etc.

*Spelling beed can improve also your writing because after you practice all of these words in a spelling bee (or numerous spelling bees) you will hardly make a spelling mistake in your life. Languages like Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and German for example wouldn't be so effective to a spelling bee because all the words in these languages is pronounced at it is written.

Rhetorical Devices - Ads

Pathos (πάθος): Honestly, I could not find a better example of the rhetorical device pathos. Pathos means appealing to the emotions of the audience. I believe this one is the perfect example of this rhetorical device because the face of this little girl appeals to your emotions (at least it appealed to mine) by the way half of her face is severely destroyed. But you can see that that half of her face is made out of metal. It's a bit confusing at first but when you read the caption: "In town, car accidents don't just happen to cars. Slow down". You can understand know. The real message of this advertisement is for people to drive slowly because you can not only damage the well being of your car and the other person's car. But the lives of the people inside of those cars.

Ethos (ήθος): Not the one that I personally liked the most, but it is definitely a perfect example of the rhetorical device ethos. Ethos is used to appeal to credibility, and honestly, the best way to do that is using the modern "authority" to promote what you think is best. In this advertisement we can see a really pretty blonde (some people say that it's Taylor Swift but I'm not sure) promoting milk. When you see this advertisement it makes you want to drink milk. Many people say in their minds things like: "If she drinks that milk, why should I?!" even girls would say "If I drink that milk I'll be as pretty as her? Let's try! Also, the details of the glass breaking can indicate that the milk is so god that not even the glass can hold it.

Logos (λόγος): This last advertisement was one of the best I have seen so far regarding tobacco abuse. I don't know what part of this ad calls my attention the most. More importantly, this cannot be a better example of logos. It applies to logos primarily in two parts. The big and obvious one is the fact in small font that says: "About 106,000 people in the UK die each year because of smoking". This supports the ideas of logos because it is using actual facts to support their idea. The lesser way is the big title that says: "Smoking kills" because it is a more broad fact, but it has been proven that smoking kills. The thing that I like is the relationship that the creator found between the way that people hold cigarettes and making the shadow a gun. This sends a strong message, I will never smoke in my life!

"Portrait of the Girl Blogger" Response

          This second article about Malala was really impacting. Even though I am very attached to the Islamic culture, I didn't have a lot of background knowledge about Pakistan. Especially that the Talibans had spread from Afghanistan all the way to the Swat Valley. She now lives under the rule of the Talibans, who have changed the laws of the country for worse (just like they did in Afghanistan). The main idea of BBC writing two articles about Malala is to show the world that there is people like her who stand up for what they believe is right with no fear of what may happen (just like in "Persepolis").

          She starts writing a blog through the BBC Urdu about her life and what happens to people like her in Pakistan at the age of 11. At first, she talks about her daily life, and how she feels coming back from school every single day and listening to people threatening others. Most of all, men threatening women.  But, right before leaving for her winter break; Malala faces a difficult situation because she doesn’t know if she’ll ever go to school again. As she and her family predicted; the Taliban demands for education to not be offered to women. At that moment, in her blog, she writes about what these people do, and the decision they have taken that has affected the future of the population of the Swat Vally (including herself). She's considered the first girl to stand up and have a voice about her situation in the region.

         She took a bold step by doing something she knew was right: fighting for the education of Pakistani women. When she started writing more; she reveals actions that the Talibans are taking, she becomes world-wide known and receives many emails, and interviews. In one of those she tells the BBC that when she grows up she will be the head of a political party (of her own creation) that has a vision statement of: education for Pakistani men and women. I believe that with the amount of bravery that she has, not only will she be able to tell her story to everybody in the world, but create this political party that she wants to create to make education equal in her country (Human Right #26: everybody has the right of Education). As I said in my previous post; let her be an example for everyone of us. I was impressed by this girl’s actions, taking into account that nobody that I know would have the attitude and the determination to do what this girl has done and hopefully: continue doing.

          Everyone who gets to know and understand her story will be impressed and completely honored to have people like her on our planet that want to change it for good. As I reached the end of the article, I read something that has emotionally shocking.

          “Malala is now recovering in hospital after being shot in the head and neck by a Taliban militant on Tuesday.”-BBC News.]

          Malala's bullet penetrated her skull entering the left hemisphere of her brain. Almost lacerating her caudate nucleas and stopping in the middle of her temporal lobe. All of these parts of the brain are crucial for life. Fortunately non of these were severely injured and the doctors were able to fix them. Hopefully her recovery goes good and fast for her to start blogging again. Nevertheless, I hope she can still do it because injuries like her's leave permanent negative neurological ramifications.

"Pakistani Activist Shot" Response

          This article apart from being interesting, shows a story of a reality that has happened. Malala Yousafzai makes me think a lot of Marji Satrapi. That's right; the main Character in "Persepolis". Why? Well, because She is the kind of child that is aware of her country's situation. She blogged about the Taliban regime. Just like Satrapi complained all the time (publicly) about the Islamic regime. All around the Middle East there must be little girls like these: complaining and protesting for the good of their own nation. 

          What I really liked about the article itself is that it divides itself in little paragraphs (each one explaining one specific thing). Also, it does not go in chronological order. Which in this case is good because to create good journalism, you first begin with the major event (for example: "Malala Yousafzai was attacked on her way home from school in Mingora, the region's main town). I here you don't know why or how they killed her. But you get caught in the title and the first sentence of the article, that makes you read the entire thing because if you don't; curiosity is going to kill you alive. 

          Then the article goes on and tells you the story one by one. First they talk about the Taliban's admitting they killed her, then why they did what they did. Later one it says how they killed her and explained all about the crime scene. This, makes you want to read the next paragraph (always). In the second section of the article they explain all about Malala's blogging life. I have never heard a story involving such a brave person. When I read this part I was completely perplexed because I can't believe that she actually began blogging about the Taliban regime at 11, and most importantly that she was nominated for the International Children's Peace Award. 

          Malala Yousafzai is a true inspiration for all young people that live in the oppression of fanaticism and extremism. I really hope she lives to continue leaving us her legacy. I also hope that the people that killed her are severely punished because according to the Islamic Law. It is against Allah's will to kill a virgin. 

Persepolis: "The Dowry"

I have to say, this was an awesome ending for this awesome book. In the first part of the book we can see “Islamic discipline" as shown when the teachers at Marji’s school forbid the use of bracelets. Also in frame 3 in page 143 the teacher threatens her. All of these aspects of discipline are very common in the Islamic culture because not only the man is the supreme authority but fir young women, older women are their authority when men aren’t around. But Marji has had a tough life in the last years so she wasn’t letting her authority treat her bad. This reminds me of one of my best friends that she had the same attitude that Marji had when she was passing through a moment of injustice. When she hit the principal and threw her to the floor I almost died of laughter imagining that happening here at CNG what that would have been like for the audience around them. 

The third page of this chapter (page 145) reminded me of my parents when they got a complain from one of my teachers a long time ago and they were not mad at me at all. In fact, they told to not worry about it, just like Marji’s parents on this page when they got the complaint from her religion teacher at her new school for the comment she shared in class. The comment was the following: "My uncle was imprisoned by the Shah’s regime, but it was the Islamic regime the ordered the execution. You say that we don’t have political prisoners anymore. But we’ve gone from 3000 prisoners under the Shah to 300,000 under your regime. How dare you lie to us like that?” Personally I think she is completely right. But of course moms are the ones that a problem for everything. Like Marji’s mom in frames 3-9 in page 145. 

When her parents want to send her to Austria because they think she is safer there and that she can get a better education. I personally think she shouldn’t go because the future of her country of her country lies within girls like her. Girls that are not afraid if saying what they think, and that spend their time worrying about their country’s status and future. In the end, she does go (which disappoints me a little). But one thing that really made the end of this book excellent was the sentence that she says: “It would have been better to just go”. But her facial expression in the last illustration shows her real emotion that is wanting to stay.