domingo, 4 de mayo de 2014

My Life Manifesto

Mateo Salinas
Ms. Sierra & Mr. Patterson
World History & British Literature
12 Grade
May 4, 2014

My Life Manifesto

The first day of school for any little kid is terrifying. My first day in school was no different than any others. I felt frightened; I felt out of place, I felt surrounded by strangers. But the reassuring words that my mother told me gave me courage to go into that classroom. She told me ¨don’t worry, everything will be OK. Go on and make lots of friends.¨ she then hugged me and left. I felt a little bit less terrified, so I went into the classroom and tried to begin my social life. That class full of strangers soon became my second home filled with my closest friends. Like most things, my life with them ended when I had to travel to the other side of the world and start again. I knew that this time it would be easier to make friends because I had already faced my fear of meeting new people. I made new memories with my new friends, but eventually that too came to an end when my father told me we were going back to Colombia. When we got to Colombia it was like starting the cycle all over again. The first day of school I saw many new faces and some old faces. Many of the new people I met looked at me with fear, some others with indifference, but there were other who welcomed me immediately. All of them eventually got to know me and became some of the most important people in my life. Now that my high school days are close to the end I know that the cycle of meeting new people and making new friends is upon me.

 This new cycle that is about to begin is probably the most important one in my life because my future as a professional depends on it. I will soon be in a university studies to fulfill my greatest dreams and goals and I am frightened, as I was back then. The only difference is that now I don’t have my mother to give me courage. All I have is the things I have learned in school for the past 13 years. Most people say that school is useless because most of the things you learn in school won’t help you in the real world, but I would tell those people that they are wrong. Yes, not everything one learns in school is going to be useful in life, but not all is a waste. School taught me values like: responsibility, attentiveness, audacity, humility, ambition, consciousness of the world around me, cooperation, and creativity, among others. These values will be come in handy for the rest of my life. Without these values I would feel very ignorant and out of place. School gave me the right tools to tackle any obstacle that gets in my way. I have learned that being afraid of new experiences is okay and I know that I will acquire the courage to keep going.

 My dream in life is to become an actor in Hollywood. Every time I watch a movie I am amazed about what the actors I love can do. Their way of portraying a character is so impeccable that one forgets who the actor is and sees only the character they are portraying. They do it so flawlessly that it gives me goose bumps. Someday I want to be able to give another young boy or girl, who love acting the way I do, and give them the same goose bumps that Johnny Depp, Robert downy junior, Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, Morgan Freeman, Will Smith, George Clooney, and Anthony Hopkins gave me. I want to be responsible for changing someone´s life with work, and I know some day I will. I want to make people happy, and the thing that I want the most is to be happy myself, doing the thing I love the most in the world. I know what lies ahead is not going to be easy, but I am willing to do anything to accomplish my goals.

 I know that to persevere I must first put in hard work. As Marie Curie once said, ¨Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.¨ (Curie) Every time I read this quote I remember that nothing in life is just going to be handed to me. I must work for what I want. When you deserve something, it doesn’t mean they are just going to give it to you. Sometimes you got to fight for what you want and take what is yours.

This is my declaration. Today I am still a student, but I will soon be a professional with responsibilities. I will never stop fighting for my dreams, even if it takes me a really long time. Patience is key, and I will wait for as long as I have to. I am eagered to see what the world holds for me and I know that each step that I take, I won´t be alone. My friends and family will be right behind me encouraging me to keep pushing forward. I am ready to overcome all obstacles thrown my way. Even though this step I am about to take may be the most crucial step in my life, I know in my heart that I am ready to take it.

Work Cited

Curie, Marie. "perseverance ." <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/perseverance.html


miércoles, 30 de abril de 2014

How Planned obsolescence Affects Us

The film about the light bulb conspiracy talks about the effects of planned obsolescence. Most people are ignorant about what planned obsolescence is and they might not even think it affects them, but it affects them everytime they buy a product. Planned obsolescence is that a product has a specific lifetime and after that it will stop functioning. The major companies apply this strategy so buyers keep buying their products.


Planned obsolescence first began during the industrial revolution. Back then they were making light bulbs that would last for 25 thousand hours, but the companies started seeing that because their products were so durable, the costumers didnt find the need to buy it more than once. The companies got the government to pass a law that restricted the amount of hours a light bulb could function. The maximum amount of hours a light bulb could function now is only 1 thousand hours. Planned obsolescence was the applied to every product in the market. People today are fighting against the concept of planned obsolescence in various ways. I believe that planned obsolescence might be good for business, but it is not fair for the costumers. I know that things arent meant tolast forever, but they should increase the lifetime of the products for a little more, that way people dont feel cheated after six months.

                       Work Cited

Unknown, unknown. Light bulb conspiracy. N.d. Photograph. n.p. Web. 30 Apr 2014.<www.google.com/lightbulb/conspiracy/jpeg>.

domingo, 27 de abril de 2014

The New Age Apocalypse



The New Age Apocalypse 

In the film, The Four Horsemen, they say that empires last only 10 generations or 250 years. The explanation for the empire´s destruction is that the empires expand so much that eventually they get too big to control and it destroys itself.  The film says that the American empire is close to its deadline, and that the world as we know it is about change. The film explains that due to the amount of power and corruption that there is in the United States government today, it will soon collapse. They say that the American dollar will eventually go back to its starting value, 0; because of the amount of inflation that is being added to the economy. The devaluation of the money will eventually make the economy to self destruct; and this will be the beginning of the collapsation of the American empire. The entire world will be affected by the end of the American empire because all the world's economies are directly linked to the American economy, including Colombia´s economy. This means that my family and I will also be affected by the end of their empire. Our money will be devaluated as well, our natural resource won´t be purchased because no one would afford it; everything will be complete chaos. The American government needs to redeem their mistakes and lower the amount of corruption in their country before the entire world´s economy collapses due to them. 






Work Cited

Unknown, unknown. Economic Apocalypse. N.d. Photograph. n.p. Web. 27 Apr 2014. <http://quantumpranx.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/apocalypse297.jpg>.

martes, 22 de abril de 2014

Colombia's Monetary System



Colombia's Monetary System

The monetary system in Colombia is responsible for for all the money in the country. The Colombian monetary system was constructed under the laws of the Colombian constitution. The Banco de la Republica is in control of the monetary system used in Colombia. According to Encyclopedia of the Nations, "The Central Bank conducts monetary policy based on the behavior of the financial sector." This means that the Central Bank or Banco de la Republica's main responsibilities are: issuing money, and controlling the amount of money and value of the money that is in circulation; with these information they make policies to improve the system. They are the center of our entire economy, which makes it one of the most important systems in the whole country. Colombia used to go by the gold standard, but in 1993 there was a shift of power and everything changed. 
One of the monetary system's most important factor is inflation. Inflation can be defined as the rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services is rising, and subsequently, purchasing power is failing. This means that inflation is the notion of creating new money when the purchasing power is failing, so that the economy is balanced out. The only problem with this is that the new printed money takes value from the already existing money. This causes money to have less and less value. Colombia also applies the concept of inflation, but the amount of inflation is more regulated in Colombia than in the U.S.

Works Cited

Unknown, unknown. "Encyclopedia of the Nations." Colombia Money, Information about Money in Colombia. N.p., n.d. Web. . <http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Americas/Colombia-MONEY.html>.