What Do "HumanINities" TELL TheIr GENeraTion ? ESSAY

What does it really mean to be human? Does it just mean being a living thing like many others? Even though human beings are classified as "mammals", we ourselves think we are very different from those "mammals". Since the beginning of time, man were made to be perfect and to not have a fixed path, and he get to choose what ever he wished to be to create his destination. Or so like what the Italian Renaissance humanists would say. But what makes them think that? There's something going on in our brain that forces us to explore and think. And by doing so, we gained ourselves many opportunities to learn, and learning will eventually leads to inventions and the birth of new knowledge.This comes to what I think the definition of humanity would be, "intelligence". Intelligence is what made humans special from others. It is the source that makes them think and develop more and more interesting topics about all kinds of stuffs. I mean, why would you identify yourself as perfect. You don't see any monkeys out there saying I'm perfect because I can jump, climb, and eat...bananas? It is a person's intellect that keep his thinking process going and evolve beyond others.

Humans' intelligence went way back to the time of cavemen, when humans were first evolved to their "human form". They learned how to make fire for warmth and survival. They developed basic weapons and tools to hunt and protect themselves. Then there comes a time when they felt they needed something to wear. They thought of a way to create clothing from animals' skins and keep them warm. Their intelligence eventually helped them survived through the terrible Ice Age, a freezing cold period of time that caused extinctions to many other animals. And from then on, humans migrated to different parts of the world and each started their individual developments there.

Then there comes a time when people needed something to keep their lives going, or a goal to live. With intelligence, they invented something called "religion" that eventually became a very important aspect of life. It is a system of belief, and it's what creates an ideal for humans to live. They even created "God" or "Gods" depends on whether you're monotheism or polytheism. Many of you might think that I'm disrespecting your religion so don't take this offensively. But in reality, if not because of human, there would not be any religions out there and so would there be God. Many religions today around us are mostly among Buddhism, Christianity, Catholic, Hinduism, Islam, Jehovah's Witness, etc...With something to live forward to for their lives, humans wanted to have things to live "with" their lives.

There are just too much jobs and bothers out there, we think. So we tried to make things that can help us out and make our lives easier. Humans then started abusing their intelligence and invented tons of crazy things overtime. We decided to not live in caves anymore and made houses instead. Then we invented printing presses to duplicates our works. The Chinese invented papers to write on, even though the Egyptians think they did. No I'm just kidding, it depends on what source of papers you're thinking. . Renaissance people invented modern clocks  and telescopes so they can watch stars when they're bored. People even invented things to help them with transportation. They were able to tame horses to ride and boats to go over water. They eventually created cars that runs on gas. You basically just need to sit inside and "step" on it and it will run, and it goes pretty fast too. They then wanted to be like birds and invented airplanes to travel across continents. Mastered both land and sky, then why not sea? They made ships to travel on water and submarines to travel under water. No more places to travel? Don't worry, they even made space shuttles to leave Earth and go space traveling. What I'm using to type this right now is also another cause of intelligence. The invention of computers made online searching possible. People can access a lot of learnings and knowledge through the web. Although it might considered to be a very bad influence for little kids, it's still a magnificent invention. I have listed so many good things that came from humans' intelligence. I'm sure there are many more others, but what if we humans DO NOT possess intelligence?


This might sound very vague, but if we humans really don't possess intelligence, would we just be like a more "humanoid" version of apes? Well that is if we would even SURVIVED till this point. There are countable  events in the past that might have exterminated our kind such as the Ice Age, and we wouldn't have survived if not because of our intelligence. We couldn't have protected ourselves when comparing our physical capabilities with other beasts. There would be no houses, no school, no technology, no language, and I won't even be here writing this essay. Imagine what it would be like if everything you're seeing right now disappear before your eyes. That's probably what it would be like if we humans don't possess intelligence. We wouldn't be able to differentiate between what's right or wrong and we would live like other wild animals. I know that sounds very unbelievable, but it's something that would surely occur if we don't have the fundamental mind and intellects like we are now.

Intelligence is what made humans, human. It is what sets us apart from other creatures. Everything we have created to this day and beyond is the result of our intelligence. Without it, we are probably still in a cave and eat nuts right now. Worst of all, who would know if we would even survive to this day? Humans are weak -physically- when comparing to many other animals in the world of survival. But we have something that others don't have, our incomparable intellect. It is what granted us the power to populate the Earth and became the leading specie of all kinds.

Faster Than The Fastest!!! (CE)

Oh My Freaking...what is this??? -jaw dropped-

An international team of scientists say they have recorded neutrino particles traveling at faster than the speed of light. The measurements still must be confirmed, but if verified, would represent a serious challenge to one of the fundamental rules of physics.

Lights have been the fastest recorded moving "things" that scientists have observed over the past century and now, they finally discovered something else that's even faster than that. Wow I really can't believe it... How can something even be able to out-speed "light"? I mean first of all, how can they even MEASURE light. It is so freaking fast that nothing in this world can compare to or even DEFINE how fast it is. But now they said they have found something that's even FASTER! That's just so amazing if you ask me, but also so ridiculous at the same time. Those things that are called "neutrino particles", really doesn't sound fast at all. "Light" just sounds fast like "Wow! Speed of light???". But this is like "oh speed of neutrino particles..."-lame-

Well anyway, this is still not a "sure" statement about whether or not it is actually proven. The people are still trying to confirm their measurement. I'm thinking it might be just a minor calculation in their work that caused such wrong assumption. But what if it really is true? This finding might be able to defeat the fastest thing on the universe, the speed of light. It is said that many things in physics were based off or related to the speed of light as the fastest. So if this new finding is true, then they will have to rewrite a lot of their knowledges about physics. Maybe when it's my year to take physics, we might able to get new books because of this.

I'm Chinese Too (RE)

I found this line in Gigi's blog that really made laugh.

Oh, and because I'm Chinese , I have Chinese school at 9:30 on Saturdays

Uhhh...I TOTALLY disagree with you. I mean, I am Chinese too but I don't go to freaking Chinese school??? I seriously think it's a waste of time, since from what I heard, you guys barely learn anything from there. Plus you only go there once a week for less than 3 hours then what can you learn from that? It's like "paying for your prison" kinda thing where you're going to a place you don't like, but you needa pay for it. You should ask your parents to let you quit it so you can save them some money for rice. No I'm just kidding. I'm just bsing for my two-fifty words. But I guess I can understand your parents wanting you to learn Chinese. Since it's your "native" language. I really believe that it really sucks for people to not know their national languages. I feel like I'm losing one of my languages from not using it for so long. That's why I will try and use it more so I won't forget it.

But honestly, I really did took Chinese school for about a year, back when I was still in Vietnam. I took it on week days too, during the time I didn't go to regular school. I guess you can say I kinda learned something from it. Now, I can pretty much read more than half the chinese characters out there. But the weird thing is, I can't write them... If you want to learn chinese fast. Go watch TV with chinese subtitles and do that for about a year and you will be like me. But remember, it's not because you're Chinese that you need to go to Chinese school. It's because you were FORCED TO. I mean, it's because you wanted to.

The Fear of Darkness...(BC)

Your eyes are opening, slowly...and slowly... But when they are fully opened, you  don't realize whether they're opened or not... You try blinking several times to make sure your visions are okay. But the more you try to figure it out, the scarier it gets. You start to sweat. Your sweats are dripping slowly down from your forehead, to the sides of your cheeks, then down to the floor. And you suddenly hear water noise dripping from under you. You are wondering what could it be. Turns out, it is so quiet that you can hear your sweats dripping down the floor. You slowly stand up and move your arms to the side, hoping you can get a sense of what is around you. But right when you fully extend your arms, you felt the sensation of the surfaces beside you. You turn to one side then start moving your hands around it, start knocking, then you realize your sides are surrounded with hollow-less brick walls. You start to sound, "Help, Help, Help,..." Your voice went from quiet to the point that you're screaming! But slowly... You became breathlessly quiet...Telling yourself to calm down.

You're starting to lose your sense of direction. Were you facing this direction the whole time? You reach out and sense the wall, then you realize you have to reach back to your left. You can't sense anything. You start taking a step towards that direction, and then another step, eventually you started walking with your arms keep touching the sides, making sure you're at the center. You let out a hard breath to make sure you're calm with the situation. It's been a while and you starting to hear your breathing, louder and louder. You wonder how long you have been walking. The calmness you had is starting to fade away."Ignore it, I need to pick up the pace." You tell yourself that and start going even faster. And suddenly, you hear footsteps coming from behind you, it sounds faraway...But it might also be right behind you.

At this point, your heart is beating and beating so hard that you can hear it. You wanted to scream but you couldn't. Your fear has been completely dominated dominated your mind. Finally you let go of your arms that were touching the side, and start running straight, as fast as you can. The faster you run, the faster your heart beat and the louder you can hear it. As you get faster, the footsteps from behind you also get faster, and faster, to catch up with you. You try and ignore the noise but you realize you are so afraid that all your tears and sweats are dripping down...Suddenly, you tripped over your toes and fell down on your face. At this point, you are breathing so hard you can't think of anything else, but get back on your toes and start running again while ignoring the pain and what you're hearing or what not. As you turn your head up, you see a very dim-point of light from far away. You feel much relieved seeing something that might save your life and get you out of this dark place. You sprint as fast as you can straight towards the point. The closer you get, the brighter it becomes and eventually, your eyes are covered with lights...Then you hear someone's voice...Sounds like a woman's..

Get Up! You're Late For School

Water Might Not Be A Good Thing...(CE)

Another devastating natural disaster...

 Floods have left hundreds of thousands homeless in Pakistan and the situation is getting worse by the day...

Flood is probably one of the most devastating disasters in the world. In the above article/video, Pakistan basically got severely damaged. The flood destroyed 1.2 million houses and flooded 4.5 million acres since last month. Many people were left homeless and some have lost their family members during the flood. They were also been warned by the the aid groups that the continuation of the disaster would eventually lead to outbreak of diseases. Just like earthquake, flood is something we human can't control. No matter how advanced our technology is or how much we know about science, there's no way we can predict when it will happen or how severe it will be. We just need to have enough preparation beforehand to counter act with unfortunate things that might happen.

While reading this article, I was actually afraid that what if such disaster really happens to us in our community? We live so close to water and if it really occurs, I think there's a really low chance that we won't get affected. I really don't want to think about it, and I will NOT, since it won't get me anywhere but give me more problems. See that's the thing, natural disaster is something that you just need to stop thinking about. There's no point in worrying about them, since there's nothing you can do about it but instead, it will just gain you even more worries. So instead of worrying, we should just live our days and look forward for the best.

Walking to "Unknown Land" (RE)

Nice way to not write down your friend's name, Jason.

Over the summer a few years back me and some friends were bored so we basically decided to walk to bayfarm though grass and dirt and bridge it ended up being pretty fun also giving me some very fun memories.

Well anyway, I'm pretty sure that "some friends" was me...Unless my brain is messing with me right now from too much homework this school year. I agree that it was a really fun adventure. I mean, who would wake up at like 6 something in the morning to take a walk all the way to Bayfarm. I remmeber I was the one to ask you to do some morning exercises with me too, and you actually came along. We found a "hidden" route at shoreline that leads to the other side of the island. I don't know about you but I have never actually been to Bayfarm anytime before our "adventure". We eventually got hella tired and decided we would walk further the next day. And we kinda PR every "adventure session"? But I have to admit, it was a really fun thing to do for enjoying summer -atleast it's not maple or RF-. Some of you might know what I'm talking about, if not dont worry about it.

I really hoped that we could've did something like that this summer but turns out you had to go back to China. I got kinda lazy and just slept through...But hey, I woke up pretty early compare to other people, at around 10 in the morning wasn't really that bad. Next summer, we need to go on more "adventures" and explores new places like what we did before. We seriously should exercise more and game less for healthy's sake. Or...Maybe more on both.

I Feel Left Out...(RE)

Everyone knows about 9/11, the airplane crashing into the twin towers.

Uhhh...I would have to disagree with that. This is from Justin's blog by the way so check him out  Actually, I really DID NOT know about it until a couple years ago. I am kinda ashamed of myself? (not really). Well since it was such a great "impacting:" event, everyone should know about it, but I didnt, well now I do. The truth is, I didn't come to the US until mid 2006 so it wasn't  my fault for not knowing about it! Plus I just found out that the plane actually crashed into the "Twin Towers" today. At first I thought it was just crashed into some random buildings. The discussion we had today in class made me feel like I should know more...

Either way, after knowing about it, I really felt sorry for the people that were caught in such a tragic incident. It was really sad to even hear about such thing happened in our country. Knowing such an event happened also brought me in realizing how the world relates to our people. I came to learn that there are a lot of things going on in our country that I didn't know of. After almost 10 years, Osama was finally dead and his death signifies the temporary victory against terrorism. But even so, our threat from terrorism still hasn't ended, but in the mean time, we are sure that terrorism could be overcome. There will be one day that terrorism will just evaporates from our world and no more tragic things will happen like the 9/11. And there goes my first response post. There will be more, don't worry...

Too Much Shooting...(CE)

Shoot people then just suicide in the hospital later...

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — A gunman wielding an AK-47 opened fire on a table of uniformed National Guard members at an IHOP restaurant on Tuesday in an outburst of violence that killed four people, wounded eight others and put Nevada's capital city on high alert.

 This guy were just like jumped out of the car and started shooting people... How can a person get so crazy to the point of doing such an act??? Is it because he played too much Black Ops and thought he can be number 1 if he just go out there and kill some REAL people? NO WAY! Even though it was considered that he might had mental problems, but damm...that is just too insane and inhumane. Life is not so weightless, it is something that can't be measured! Especially the lives of our people. I really wonder what that person really had in mind the second right before he decided to do such thing. Maybe because something happened to him in which it struck him so much that it brought him to doing so. Because in my own belief, I don't think anyone in this world would be that evil. Or is there...?

I really feel sorry for the people that have lost their lives in such an incident and also for their families. I'm hoping that they can all get over their pain soon. I can understand the feeling of losing someone precious to yourself, because I had experienced it before and I'm sure many of you did. I really don't have any thing else to say about this but I'm just hoping that such a tragic event would never happen to any of you and your families. -mines too of course-. Bit of advice, maybe one should stop playing so much shooting games??? I mean they are fun and addicting, but researchers said they might be bad influence for children... Well, "just children".

A Little "Something" About Myself (BC)

Hey there how's it going! I don't know exactly everyone who's reading this blog, but I figured I should tell you something about myself, since I’m the one writing it. My full name is Kien Phan. I do have a middle name but I don’t feel like telling people about it, “some” of you reading this might already know so don’t say anything. You can also call me Ken. The funny thing about my name is that because of the way it spells, I’ve been getting a lot of new names like, “Kein”, “Kienster”, or even just “Ken Phan”…But oh well I don’t really care since those names don’t sound bad all bad, as long as people can recognize me with them. I can speak 3 different languages, Cantonese, Vietnamese, and English which I was able learn like uh…5 years ago? I was born on May 4^th, 1995, yes, I’m 16. Not THAT old for a sophomore. Plus, not like I can change the fact that I was late for a year of school. In fact, I came to America in 2006 and because of that, I had to take the 4^th grade instead of the 5^th. My parents thought it would be easier for me since I didn’t speak any English back then. I was struggling a lot in the beginning since I didn’t know anything about English. But everything was fine after about a year, I was able to get it down and have been doing fine since then.

As for my personal hobbies, personalities, and interests, there’s not really that much things to say about them. But overall, I’m a really responsible and also reliable person. You can trust me and depend on me if you like, because I won’t let you down, as long as I know who you are of course. I dislike procrastination. I don’t think it’s worth it since I’m not the kind of person that can sit there and work for 24/7. I like to chill and relax. So I rather finish my work on time and then chill later rather than chill first and like freaking die working on the last day. I also take the things I do very seriously; either I don’t do it at all, or if I do, I like give it my best shot. Even so, I’m not really a competitive kind of person. For me, I think it just takes too much energy to compete with people. I don’t really care as long as I can enjoy the things I do. Too much competition always takes away the fun. I guess I can say I’m “KINDA” athletic? I can play pretty much most of the sports out there, but I’m not really like “Very Good” at any of them. But when it comes to skating, I pretty much suck.  Things I like to do are hanging out with my friends, spend time with family, chatting, gaming, relaxing, “computering”, listening to music, and maybe other stuffs that I can’t think of right now. But one of the things most of you probably don’t know about me is that I like to play with toys. Yes yes, I’m a kid, or maybe I just act like one, who knows. “No matter how old a man you are, you’re still a boy”, so I just enjoy doing things I like, so don’t be jealous if you are. This might sound silly but I don’t really have any dreams or job for the future, I just wanna be rich. They say money can’t buy everything, I say you can’t live without money. But of course, my family, friends, and things that are important to me will always be first.

My writing goal this year…don’t really have one. But I guess I’m trying to improve the overall quality of my essay writing skill. I will also try and use more “vocabulary words” and develop an even better way of delivering my ideas in my writing. My spelling??... Maybe but not most of the time. That’s probably it, I know it’s been really boring but atleast you’re at the end now! –if you been reading-. Wait actually, my real writing goal this year is to get a passing grade on all my writing assignments. KTB- "Kay Thanks Bye".

Worst Quiz...(FREE)

You guys ever had a quiz that you absolutely thought that you failed it??? Cause I just had mine today...in Pre-Cal. I guess the quiz really caught me by surprise since I wasn't ready for it and never even knew that there was a quiz today in the first place. Even though the teacher said there's a quiz every Friday on the syllabus, I really didn't remember it at all...The quiz was about the stuffs we learned in the past 4 days. But even though, the questions were like super hard and confusing, especially when the answers don't come out with a nice number. Another thing was that we didn't really have enough time to do it, almost the whole class stayed after the bell ring and some couldn't even finish, and just rushed and guessed through it. I was one of them.

This was probably the first quiz I ever taken that I actually had no clues for most of it. I left like 2 questions blank and also guessed on a couple. The bad thing is, the quiz only has 10 questions. So I'm hoping I will be able to get the rest of it right, so I can atleast get like a C for passing... I felt so bad afterward and kept thinking that I could've done much more better. From now on, I'm gonna focus a lot more and study so I won't do so bad anymore. Maybe it's because it's only the first week of school and I still can't refocus myself from all those summer time. Let's hope that I will never be in this situation again.

Math, Everyone's Favorite Subject...(FREE)

Really? Is math really your favorite subject? Cause it's definitely not mine for sure. (atleast for now...) Well I wonder if there's anyone really like math no matter how confusing, how complicated, how piss you off it looks. Sometimes I really like math because I think its really COOL, how all those numbers and formulas make everything work out the way they are, and especially when my homework is hella easy, I even like it more. But then when you think it's easy, the next day you learn something new and you were like WTF (what the frappuchino) is this! If you ever experience that, you would think the same way and I'm pretty sure you would hate it too.

Honestly, I used to be pretty good with math and definitely have gotten all As in my class! (so, so) But now I'm kinda feel like I'm falling behind, even if it's just the first week of school. Maybe what they called an HP class really deserves its name. All those circles, parabolas, ellipses, all that craps, just freaking annoying. The thing that pisses me off the most is that I have to spend like 3 hrs just to do like 10 problems. I guess I'll just have to focus and pay attention more in class and spend more time studying for it (too much "time"..but oh well) I hope you all have good time in Math and don't have to experience those crazy lessons that would make you hate it. You gotta like math man, its "fun", if you don't, just "think" that it's fun so you'll enjoy and last through your Junior year. Since that's really all you need to graduate. So, take it easy, hope its really gonna be "easy" for you...and me.