Gabi’s Tailoring

My mom’s tailoring website:

http://www.gabistailoring.com

Check it out!

I really enjoyed creating it and will continue working to improve it.

Persuasive Essay – Abortion

Should abortion remain legal or should it become illegal to have an abortion in the United States. Choose a position for either side, don’t include pregnancy because of rape, incest, etc.

Abortion should remain legal within the United States. Nearly half the pregnancies of American women are unintended, and women should have the choice of aborting them, and not the responsibility of dealing with the resulting baby. Making abortion illegal won’t put an end to it, but will only make it more perilous, since the woman attempting abortion unsupervised by a doctor may in some cases lose her life. If performed early enough, abortion is safer than childbirth. Considering all these factors, making abortions illegal will not help solve any of the problems faced with unwanted pregnancies, but will only make them worse.

Excluding miscarriages, 49% of the pregnancies concluding in 1994 were unintended. Of these, 54% resulted in abortion. One point forty three million abortions occurred in 1994. If abortion was illegal, about 80% of these abortions would still take place, some resulting in death of the woman. Thus, abortions should be kept legal.

Considering a period before abortion became legal, the 1960s, the average deaths per year from an abortion were around 200. This number has dropped significantly after it became legal.  A woman adult’s life should not be jeopardized for merely an embryo or a fetus, which, if given birth to, would most likely not live in excellent conditions anyway, since the mother didn’t want the baby in the first place. If abortion became illegal again, the number of abortion-related deaths would surely grow once more. Thus, abortion should be kept legal.

Due to the great improvements in medicine, abortion is now safer than ever. The number of deaths by abortion have decreased by around 80% in the past 50 years. Abortion has even become safer than delivering a baby. With this in mind, why would any woman prefer to wait nine months to give birth to a baby, that would not only be something she doesn’t want, but it would also be more dangerous, when she can just abort? Making abortion illegal would be a great mistake.

Considering the fact that women want their child only half the times they become pregnant, that they will still have abortions even if they become illegal, thus possibly resulting in a devastating end to their lives, and that they could much rather safely perform an abortion than to pop out a child that will likely become inadequately fed, housed and educated, it would be outrageous to even think about making abortion illegal.

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3002498.html

http://www.abortionfacts.com/online_books/love_them_both/why_cant_we_love_them_both_27.asp#How%20many%20women%20died?

Merry Christmas!

It’s been quite a while since I posted something, but I really need to work on my writing skills, so I’m going to try to do this more often.

What’s new? A couple of things: I’m tired of working. I’m tired of getting sub-par grades. On a lighter note, I got new technological apparata, which I mostly love and appreciate.

I feel that the reason my grades aren’t as high as they were last year is split into two problems. 1) The courses are much harder and require much more study time. 2) I work Fridays and Saturdays, and thus limit my study time and my leisure time for Sunday. Indeed, I waste around 2-3 hours after I come home from school playing computer games or watching shows, but the homework that’s supposed to be spread over the weekend is cramped into a very limited time period, thus sometimes giving me less time to develop a good understanding of topics (which we sometimes don’t even go over in class). I like earning money– who doesn’t; but I feel that earning a little now and doing a poor job in school will affect me greatly in the future, as my lack of knowledge will not assure me a job that would otherwise pay a lot more in the end.

I got an iPod touch a few months ago, and it was great. Now, they made it even greater by releasing the 2nd generation iPod, that contains an external speaker, and increased processing ability, I think. I wanted an external speaker. It’s okay, I still love it. Apple’s cool. Moving on, I bought a black refurbished Nokia N80. It’s great and all, but the cable that connects it to the computer is really making me angry. It doesn’t seem to work, although it might be a computer setup problem (even though I tried using it with another computer and got the same thing). Other than that, and the fact that the phone battery sucks (it lasts for 3-4 hours when used constantly, but technically up to 8 days when in stand-by), the phone is great!

Right now I’m working on my FAFSA papers, so they’ll be ready by Jan 1st 2009.

That’s all for now, thanks for reading, and I hope you have/had a great holiday this year.

Prompt: Refute or support a gender stereotype of your choice.

A notion had existed for centuries that states that men are naturally vested with great strength that is lacking in weak, dependent women. All too often has this fallacious stereotype been countered by examples of individuals who embody the traits that have usually been attributed to those of the opposite gender. Although traditional models of men and women have long been held by various cultures, both historical and literary examples exist to refute such stereotypes.

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Some of the oldest and respectable cultures, such as that of the Greeks, revered the abilities of man over those of the woman. However, women posses powerful abilities that may as well be equal or greater than a man’s. This can be seen in the book “And I alone survived” by Laura Elder, in which a woman managed to save herself from the deadly blizzard of the high Sierra mountains and the horror of a plane crash. Another example of women assuming leadership can be seen in the period of Woodrow Wilson’s presidency, when Edith Wilson ran the United States’ affairs for about a year and a half, while her husband was ill.

Women have the ability to strive for high goals, and the determination complete those goals. Consider the example presented in the book “And I alone Survived” by Laura Elder. She survived a plane crash in the High Sierra mountains, along with her male friend. They managed to survive the night, however, her determination to survive helped her succeed and escape the horrifying grip of death. Unlike her, the male friend died on the mountain. Therefore, thanks to a powerful determination, women can do unimaginable feats.

Just as the example of Laura Elder shows her superior ability to survive, the example of Edith Wilson assuming leadership over the United States also shows the ability of women to efficiently lead under incredible amounts of stress. President Woodrow Wilson, after the refusal of the United Nations to accept his fourteen points, fell into a deep depression, and became unable to lead the country. His wife, Edith Wilson, took control of the country for about a year and a half, solving all the problems that the country faced correctly and effectively. Therefore, women posses powerful abilities that can be comparable to those of men.

The examples disprove the theory that men have physical and mental powers insurmountable by women, and show that women are very capable of doing everything a man would do. Hopefully though, soon all discrepancies between men and women will vanish, and there will be no discrimination and stereotype regarding either gender, allowing humans to live in perfect harmony.

FFR

http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/

Try it. It’s worth your time.

The influence of the Internet: More harm than good or vice versa.

The Internet can influence us in many different ways. The most important use of the internet though, is as a source of information. This pertains to the notion that the internet is a beneficial element without which we wouldn’t be able to stay up-to-date with news and developments, and we wouldn’t have the ability to find information just by pressing a button. On the contrary, we would be required to skim through books and papers, for possibly a long time, in order to find the information we are looking for.

The internet is a great source of information, with virtually limitless boundaries. As the days go by, the internet is in a constant expansion, much like the universe itself, as more and more information becomes available. The more time you spend on the internet, viewing educational and entertaining websites, the more liable you are to increase your overall intelligence, much like reading a book.

Another great use for the internet is finding specific information. Searching through books and archives could take hours, days even. However, with a quick keyboard entry and a mouse click, the information becomes available within a matter of seconds. This expunges time consumption and allows one to move on quickly.

In our age of technology, quick communication is vital. Instant Messaging allows people from around the world to exchange messages virtually instantly, it allows them to talk and see each other, to share pictures and documents.

The internet is very good. The only harm comes from those who do not use it properly, or who do not know how to evade people with malicious intentions, thus falling into their trap.

Practice essay #1

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

A society composed of men and women who are not bound by convention—in other words, they do not act according to what others say or do—is far more lively than one in which all people behave alike. When each person’s character is developed individually and differences of opinion are acceptable, it is beneficial to interact with new people because they are not mere replicas of those whom one has already met.

Adapted from Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness

Assignment:

Is it better for a society when people act as individuals rather than copying the ideas and opinions of others? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

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It is better for people to act as a union, for people to use each others ideas towards a common goal. Every society strives for perfection. Every society tries to evolve and approach the level of an utopia. The best way towards achieving this goal is for people to work together as a union. By acknowledging one universal solution for any generic problem, and eliminating the destructive criticism and controversy, the society may be able to solve the problem in a fast and efficient way.

It is harder and more complicated to solve problems when there is a multifarious collection of versions and approaches, and where criticism tends to over complicate the issue. Although a society in which men and women abide to their own standards and opinions may be more lively and may open people to new ideas, it is far less efficient and organized.

In a unified society, people are able to share ideas and improve them, as long as they follow a line of thought to which most people can relate to. The ideas that make most sense and that are most logical should override those that do not present the best justifications. It didn’t take just one scientist to create the first space shuttle. It didn’t take one man to come up with the Declaration of Independence. It could not have been possible without the help of many others working together towards the same goal.

It is also less efficient to solve problems if people among a group have different views and opinions, because the process would be faster if every member of the group used his or her mind power towards achieving the common goal, as opposed to not doing so. The more unified the group is, the higher its chances of succeeding.

Two people working on the same thing might be more sucessful than one person working on that thing. There is a very old Romanian saying, Unde-s doi, puterea creşte. It means that two people are stronger than one person, and it’s true for the majority of cases.

There’s no turning back — You are now part of the Razer cult!

That’s one of the texts I saw after opening my new Razer Lycosa keyboard box.  I’m not sure yet whether I really love this keyboard or if it’s just okay. So far the keystrokes seem a bit odd, maybe because I’m not used to it completely. The back light is awesome, and I also like the TouchPad media buttons in the top-right corner. I’ve uploaded a picture of how it looks on my desktop.  What doesn’t completely please me is the fact that fingerprints easily coat the reflective area of the keyboard. Oh well, a little extra maintenance isn’t so bad. The picture didn’t come out really well. It actually looks a little better than that.

Vacation or not vacation

Hello world, it’s been a while. Although school is over, I am even more busy than before it ended. I work a lot, and I still need to find time to study for the SAT. I have three jobs. My main one is working at Domino’s Pizza. It’s pretty fun, and everyone there is nice. I don’t really enjoy the fact that I have to be standing for 3 or 4 hours. That is not fun. Other than that, I like it. My duties there include taking orders over the phone, placing labels on pizzas, making pizza boxes, stealing pizza slices making sure every person gets exactly what they ordered, and other small jobs. My second job is to car pool a woman. I drive her to and from work. She’s really nice. Since yesterday, though, she said she’s in a vacation, so I won’t be driving her for a while. My third job is tutoring a guy. I’m pretty good in math, so I consider myself up to the challenge. The guy is nice and seems to understand pretty well.

I got my ACT score report a few days ago, and I was pretty disappointed. The composite score was a 28 out of 36. I looked around at the Ivy League colleges and noticed that only a really small number of students managed to get accepted into those colleges. I am, however, happy that there actually are people of my level that have managed to be accepted, so that makes me feel a little better. I am confident, however, that by the end of the summer, I will be able to do very well on the SAT, and hopefully ensure a spot into one of my dream colleges.

I almost finished reading the book Angels & Demons by Dan Brown. It’s very good. I wish every writer had Dan’s style. I’ve also started reading a book called A tour of the Calculus by David Berlinski. I didn’t get too deep into it yet, but I think its purpose is to clarify the concepts of this advanced math class, Calculus, which I am taking next year. I don’t know anything about the class yet, so I thought a book on it would be excellent. I’m also using a program called Ace Reader, which drastically increased my reading speed (and it’s still increasing it). About a week ago I could only read at about 150 words per minute with a low comprehension. Now I can read faster than 400 words per minute, 500 even, with a better comprehension, believe it or not. Really good program, try it. I’m not stopping until I reach 700 words per minute though.

So that’s pretty much how my summer is going. I also have to start visiting colleges and do some volunteering. Vacation or not vacation?

Thanks for reading, bye for now~

Catching up.

It has been a while since I last shared my thoughts on current events. I find it appropriate that I once more unfold my perspective to the world. There are two weeks of school left to attend, and I find myself just as anxious as I’ve been thus far. My vacation will be filled with volunteer work and SAT studying. Luckily, I reserved a few hours of each day for playing my most enjoyable sport, tennis. Digressing back to the topic of school, I am somewhat worried that my overall math average will end up as something lower than an A, which will not only result in my depriving of the rights to drive my car, but probably also in my computer being taken away. I am, and will continue to be in a quagmire, since I cannot calculate my exact grades, since I do not have the grades percentages for the past marking periods. I’m optimistic that my moderately hard work has been, and will continue to be, sufficient enough to keep my grades at the 4.0 GPA level.

Currently, I am involved in a minor volunteering program, helping a friend at some carnival basketball throwing stand. Great opportunity for me to get out of the house for a few hours, and earn some pluses for my college resume.

I’ve also started to read some Shakespeare, and I feel a flow of artistic creativity rushing through me. Maybe at some point I will decide to write a play, however, I have never assessed my skills in play writing, so this experiment will either be total failure, or of a mere satisfactory level.

That’s it for now. Bye~