I'm a survivor

Scenario:
You survived a war or natural disaster that wipes out a signficant percentage of the earth's population. The destruction was immense. If you were to make a decision for your co-survivors and yourself, give the TOP THREE (3) things (aspects, etc.) that you would re-establish and develop first to make life sustainable again.

My answer:

I survived a natural disaster. Let's just say this disaster was an earthquake.

The earthquake was intense and it was so strong that it wiped out majority of the population of the Earth. Turns out, I survived it. If I were to choose the TOP 3 things I would re-establish and develop first to make life sustainable again, I'd choose...

1.) Agriculture

Why I'd focus on agriculture because first, it would be the source of our food and livestock. It would be the source of life. Without food, we'd weaken, resulting to our death.

2.) Education

I chose education to be one of the aspects so that people who survived could start a new beginning in their lives. With education, we could learn new things which would eventually lead us into starting businesses, setting up buildings, etc. We could teach each other to propagate food for the survival of each individual. Education is important.

3.) Infrastructure

Why infrastructure? The earthquake must have destroyed almost everything, and to develop life again, we need infrastructure to start businesses, education, families, transportation, etc. It covers almost everything we need to sustain life once more.

The Nine Billion Names Of God (Reaction Paper)

Who knew that God could have nine billion names? The Tibetan monks in Arthur C. Clarke's story did. The Nine Billion Names Of God.

Summary

Basically, the story is about these Tibetan monks who try to find out the nine billionth name of God because if they do so, their belief is that the world would end. No theories of science, no scientific principles and mathematical equations, they just believe it would. The only science I've found in the story is the Mark V. The Mark V is a computer which the monks used to find out God's nine billionth name. to do so, they hired engineers to do the job for them. Eventually it worked, they did find out God's nine billionth name and the world came to an end.

My Insight

I think it's WEAK Science Fiction because the author failed to explain where the Science is in the context. The fact that the world would end without any scientific explanation makes it weak.

The Nine Billion Names Of God (Group Blog)

Members:
1. EJ "Porbs" Lagman
2. Nikka Ramos
3. Patricia Lacap
4. Nikee De Guzman
5. Chinchin Suarez


The powerpoint presentation for our report could be found here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/60782306/scifict

Introduction

Our group reported on the short story of Arthur C. Clarke. The story is basically about these Tibetan monks trying to find out the 9 billionth name of God because they believe that when they do, the world would eventually come to an end. In order to do so, they hired engineers to program the Mark V. Good news is, it worked. Bad news, the end of the world came to be. This blog entry contains the evaluation for the short story -- whether we classify it as good or weak SciFi, our short, individual insights, and our conclusion.
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Individual Insights

Patricia Lacap: I think it's weak SciFi­ ­ because the story is not plausible) and it exaggerated the ending of the story.­ ­

Nikee De Guzman: I say it's weak scifi. The story was good but based on our theme its pretty weak, due to exaggeration of apocalypse (making the story weak) and lack of basis and facts for possible apocalypse.

Nikka Ramos: I too, say it's weak SciFi. It lacks scientific basis on the short story and it lacks detail on the apocalypse.

EJ Lagman: Weak SciFi. I expected more from Arthur C. Clarke. The world won't just end because you found out the 9 billionth name of God. It doesn't make sense.

Chin-Chin Suarez: I see it as weak SciFi because the story was exaggerated on how the monks see the Apocalypse.

Our Take On The Story (Conclusion)

Generally, the group would conclude that the short story is of WEAK SCIFI because as to our theme (Apocalyptic) it falls short on details and we see that how the author ended the story is quite exaggerated. You find out the 9 billionth name of God and *poof* the end of the world happens? It lacks scientific proof and principles which makes it weak for us.

"Crave The Word" series

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1)

We all know that God is pretty awesome. He's always there, hearing our prayers and all that stuff. I've been a Christian for four years now. I am 16 years old, turning 17 this year 2011. Before those amazing four years of my life came to be. I had a distorted view on Christianity -- what it meant to be a Christian, I'd know in my heart and mind. I grew up in a Christian family and a Christian community. I went to a Christian school. I know what Christians are, how they're supposed to act, and how they should live. When I started to accept Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior, things started out great and still is great. Trials come my way but I always hold on to the Bible for encouragement and great advice. The Bible is really the greatest friend you'll ever have.

There came a time in my life that I'd been busy with school works, activities, ministry, etc. that I've been forgetting my personal time and devotion with Jesus. I never felt complete. Trials again came my way, they weren't ordinary trials for me. I really felt that these were hardcore trials, that I couldn't surpass them in anyway. I started flunking school works and responsibilities. I started to become stressful and unapproachable. Thoughts came to my head. "Why are you doing this to me, God?", "I don't deserve this.", "I wasn't like this before. Something must be wrong with me." I broke down and cried and just prayed, and then it occurred to me that He is there. "I AM HERE. my daughter!" God said to me in my prayers. He was trying to get my attention, and how dumb of me not to notice Him. I started to read my Bible that night, and came across the verse Psalm 46:1. It did give me encouragement. It enlightened me and gave me the strength I need to do errands and works for school. He is an ever-present help in times of trouble. Up to now, I hold on to this verse, for it will surely remind me that my Father is always right beside me, no matter what happens.

Your Face = Greatest Blessing

I love your face. It makes my heart dance and somersault when I see it each day. I also love how your facial features are well put together by God. As I see that face -- that marvelous face, a picture gets stuck in my head. A picture of you -- perfect as ever. There are loads of things I love about your face. I love how your eyes turn out to be golden brown when a ray from the morning sun hits upon them. I love the fact that you can communicate with me through your eyes. How you stare straight into mine makes my heart skip a beat, and as I stare back at those gorgeous golden brown eyes, I know I could find sincerity. I love how your hair flips and flops but manages to maintain its swagger. As I see your hair flow perfectly and smoothly through the gracious wind, I could swear they smell like freshly picked Michelia Albas on a Sunday morn. I love the way you smile, how your teeth show and how cute you'd look when you do. Your smile is contagious that when I come across you smiling, I tend to smile as well. I love how your cheeks are when you try to cheer me up. You'd come up with these funny faces making your cheeks look oddly fat and chubby which make me want to pinch them all the time. I love everything about your face. Every feature is important and is an asset. To God I am thankful for what he has blessed you, for your face is a blessing to me too.

If I Were To End The World

Last July 13 and 18, 2011 our group reported about a short story entitled, "The Nine Billion Names Of God" by Arthur C. Clarke,

and a movie entitled "2012".

Our theme for the report was "The Apocalypse." The apocalypse basically means how the world will end. The assignment was to make a blog on how we want the world to end/how would we want to end it & to answer this question: 
What are the current problems (globally) that can cause the end/destruction of the world/ apocalypse? Explain.


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If I were to end the world, I'd just choose to end it without pain and suffering. I don't want to see people trying to survive and panicking. It's terrible to look at, as well as horrifying and irritating. Imagine people running around, bumping into you, pushing you, yelling straight into your ears. NO WAY I'd want that. So If I were to end the world, I would do it by rapture. According to http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rapture, the rapture is defined as the act of transporting a person from one sphere of existence to another, esp from Earth to Heaven.


Rapture:

According to the Bible's interpretation on the rapture, people would not be aware on when the world would end. It would just happen in a flash/in a blink of an eye. People who believe Him would be taken up to Heaven -- leaving EVERYTHING (clothes, cars, money, family members, etc.) behind. I want this kind of "ending-the-world-process" because it isn't painful and you won't hardly feel and notice it.


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Question: What are the current problems (globally) that can cause the end/destruction of the world/ apocalypse? Explain.

Answer: I think the current problem that would end our world is Global Warming.

According to http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/global+warming, Global Warming is defined as an increase in the Earth's average atmospheric temperature that causes corresponding changes in climate and that may result from the greenhouse effect. Because of global warming, we are experiencing the rising temperature of the heat from the sun causing the melting of ice in some areas of the world, which would eventually bring about flood, fire, and destruction on Earth.

Mutants

What are mutants?

Do you think they're like this?:

In the world of fantasy, yes. If these are what mutants are in your perspective, then the heck with it, even I want to be a mutant if being one would mean you'd have super powers and extraordinary abilities.


Unfortunately, we are in the real world. We can't  have lasers blasting through our eyes (without getting our eyes burned) like Cyclops, mind reading capabilities like Professor X and Jean Grey, or the ability to control weather like Storm. These kinds of mutants don't even exist. IN THE REAL WORLD, mutants are individuals, organisms, or new genetic characters arising or resulting from mutation. They are organisms that have characteristics resulting from chromosomal alteration, and it ain't pretty to look at.


The article I'll base my blog on is from http://widbox.com/weird-human-mutations. The people you'll see are people who have been affected by mutations, thus, altering their physical appearances.
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The Elephant Man: 

He is called as such because of of the tumor that covers his face. It started small, but due to lack of treatment and medication the tumor grew -- resulting to this.
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Mermaid Syndrome:

This is what a mermaid in fantasy books and stories look like. They appear pretty, elegant, magnificent creatures but not when their features are applied on people, just like the baby you see below.

The baby you see possesses a mermaid-like tail due to birth abnormalities. This affects the development of her bladder and kidneys.
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Tree man:
Take a look at the texture of these materials:

and compare them to these people's skin texture:

They somehow look alike. His extremities are gradually transforming into tree branches. It's believed that he was born with the HPV virus.
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Frog Boy:
Consider this frog and compare it to the new born baby that looks like one.

This poor baby looks like a frog, does it not? It is said that he was born with a genetic mutation which made him look like a frog. He has those big beady eyes and his head is glued to his body -- just like a frog.

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These are real to life mutations and they're no joke. Movies, stories, books, and media have given us an altered vision of mutants.