As you can tell from my title, and my posts, I do not like time travel. But one thing that I've noticed that I strongly dislike, is the fact that thinking about time travel affects how people react towards life. Time travel can become an excuse for why you are failing here and now. I know that I've had moments where I thought, "I'll be better in the future," or, "When I grow up I will be a billionaire." I might say these things, but I will not start taking the steps to reach those goals. I believed that I would reach my goal with no effort.
Time also became my excuse. I thought that as the days passed by, I would become a better person. I knew deep down that doing nothing was not the way to learn how to become better, but I still did nothing. The idea of time travel makes doing nothing easier to rationalize. People most likely won't be thinking, "when scientists learn how to time travel, I'll be first in line to change my life," instead it will make people think that time doesn't matter. This is a big problem for me. My life used to consist of fun and games with stressful nights to get the homework done that was due the next day. I didn't even study for tests. I had large amounts of time but I never used it wisely. I felt that time didn't matter, and this belief influenced me to delay any work that I had to do.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Time Travel not needed
I started this blog with a post describing time travel so I had decided to name my blog after it. I wanted something catchy, something that others would notice. As I described in my title, I feel time travel is not needed, it is usually too confusing. After my first post, I was required by my teacher to put other posts on this blog. Now I am trying to make all my posts relevant to time travel, which is really hard to do with real world situations. But it is a fun challenge.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Artemis Fowl The Time Paradox By: Eoin Colfer
Ever since I started reading the Artemis Fowl series, by Eoin Colfer, I was hooked. I loved stories that combined fantasy and technology. What made it even better was the characters. Each character had a great personality and contributed to the whole story in his or her own way. When The Time Paradox , another Artemis Fowl book, came out, I thought it would be just as enjoyable to read.
The Time Paradox started out as another exciting story. But things started to go downhill when I got to the part where Artemis Fowl goes back in time to save his sick mother. All throughout the time traveling affair I was thinking he's going to ruin his future. Thinking about this ruined the adventure that was happening in Artemis Fowl's past.
As it turned out, the book has the same idea as presented in J.K. Rowling's third book of Harry Potter. This form of time travel makes a little more sense than customary time traveling, but it still has problems. What made Eoin Colfer's form of time travel even more confusing is when Artemis Fowl is locked in the trunk of his car in the past. Artemis Fowl just thinks for a bit, and help comes. As Mulch says a little later in the book, "You sent back a note so that I would come and rescue you here and now."(117). How did Artemis do that? Does he have control on his past selves when he is in the past? There are too many questions for this one answer, and these questions are what ruined a lot of the book for me.
Overall this book was okay, but the time travel aspect ruined it for me. I know that many teenage fantasy lovers will enjoy this book. It has great characters and a good story. I recommend that you don't spend too much time thinking about time travel. I hope you enjoy The Time Paradox more than I did.
The Time Paradox started out as another exciting story. But things started to go downhill when I got to the part where Artemis Fowl goes back in time to save his sick mother. All throughout the time traveling affair I was thinking he's going to ruin his future. Thinking about this ruined the adventure that was happening in Artemis Fowl's past.
As it turned out, the book has the same idea as presented in J.K. Rowling's third book of Harry Potter. This form of time travel makes a little more sense than customary time traveling, but it still has problems. What made Eoin Colfer's form of time travel even more confusing is when Artemis Fowl is locked in the trunk of his car in the past. Artemis Fowl just thinks for a bit, and help comes. As Mulch says a little later in the book, "You sent back a note so that I would come and rescue you here and now."(117). How did Artemis do that? Does he have control on his past selves when he is in the past? There are too many questions for this one answer, and these questions are what ruined a lot of the book for me.
Overall this book was okay, but the time travel aspect ruined it for me. I know that many teenage fantasy lovers will enjoy this book. It has great characters and a good story. I recommend that you don't spend too much time thinking about time travel. I hope you enjoy The Time Paradox more than I did.
Monday, October 3, 2011
In the Government's Hands
My dad is a college professor. One of the biggest problems he faces is dealing with his students after they take his final test. When he posts the scores, many students will come and complain saying if they fail this class they will be kicked out of college and have to return home. It is up to my dad to either increase their score, and save them from their fate, or tell the students that they got what they deserved.
In the article titled Deportation would force 19-year-old and mom to leave 'everything I know', including dad and siblings, we can compare Nadia (the 19-year-old) to the student and the American government to the teacher. It is the government's choice to decide if Nadia and her mother should be deported or not. I feel sorry for Nadia, but, as they say, "the teacher is always right". If that teacher decides to deport Nadia, then Nadia should be deported.
One problem with the government's decision to deport Nadia is their lack of understanding of Nadia as a person. Good teachers learn about their students as they teach them. They start to understand why they act the way they do. They find out which student is trying his hardest. By the time the finals come around, the teacher understands why each student got the grade they got, and when a student asks him/her to increase their grade, the teacher knows if that student deserves a grade increase. The government cannot do that. Their decisions are based on facts. They know that Nadia and her mother are not an American citizens. They do not understand her as a person. Thankfully others understand Nadia, and are trying to make the government see that Nadia should not be deported. This article shows that their voices have been heard.
In the article titled Deportation would force 19-year-old and mom to leave 'everything I know', including dad and siblings, we can compare Nadia (the 19-year-old) to the student and the American government to the teacher. It is the government's choice to decide if Nadia and her mother should be deported or not. I feel sorry for Nadia, but, as they say, "the teacher is always right". If that teacher decides to deport Nadia, then Nadia should be deported.
One problem with the government's decision to deport Nadia is their lack of understanding of Nadia as a person. Good teachers learn about their students as they teach them. They start to understand why they act the way they do. They find out which student is trying his hardest. By the time the finals come around, the teacher understands why each student got the grade they got, and when a student asks him/her to increase their grade, the teacher knows if that student deserves a grade increase. The government cannot do that. Their decisions are based on facts. They know that Nadia and her mother are not an American citizens. They do not understand her as a person. Thankfully others understand Nadia, and are trying to make the government see that Nadia should not be deported. This article shows that their voices have been heard.