To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mocking Bird is a great book. There are so many principles we can learn from it and it has been the best book I have read all year. It was enjoyable even though we had to do annotations. I really didn’t like that a few people died expecally Tom Robensen but I also felt that it made sense and that it fit the book. It made you feel many emotions. It makes you mad at Bob Ewell. The book made me feel sympathetic towards Mayella. It makes you sad because of all the racism towards the black people. Tom Robensen should have been aquitted and it makes you angry that he doesn’t win the trial and very sad when he dies.

To the people that argue that it should be taken out of schools I will frankly oppose them. In school we should learn how to read and write and become edjucated. Modern books can help us do that, but I also think that we should learn great principles and learn about our nations history be it good or bad. I think that To Kill a Mocking Bird is a great example of that and teaches so many principles.

Although I think we should read more than one book To Kill a Mocking Bird should be included. A proposition that might help both sides would be to read a modern book or two and then read some classics like To Kill a Mocking Bird and Moby Dick. Like I said before To Kill a Mocking Bird is a very great book and it is now one of my all time favorites. Without school I wouldn’t have read it.

One of my favorite parts of the book is the trial scene. When Atticus knows he has no chance to win and still tries his best to be victorious and in a way is. He purpose is not to gain the respect of others but he does. Sure some people hate him but the people that matter respect him so much and even send him gifts during a very hard time (the great depression). You can see their love and really feel the emotions of the people.

My favorite quote of the book is" you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of veiw... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it." It really means a lot to me and I can really see it.

Overall this is one of my favorite all time books of my young life. I have really enjoyed reading it and learned a lot about principles and peoples emotions and thoughts in different places. I wouldn’t want to switch this book out for anouther and I belive schools should too.

NY TIMES #4

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/12/world/asia/us-demands-that-china-end-hacking-and-set-cyber-rules.html?hp

Check out my comment under Pap from Tennesse.

I think the president is saying a good thing here. The question is will he do anything about it? We can’t have anybody harming our already down economy by stealing secrets from American companies. We should also do something about all the copyright  and patton issues worldwide. We need to protect ourselves  and come up with secure ways of housing our secrets. We shouldn’t go to war over this but we do need to address the issue. We should use our diplomatic powers and people to go and make something happen. I also thought it was very interesting that we said we couldn’t abide by the armistice anymore. We will see how that goes but hopefully it goes well.

NY TIMES #3

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/12/nyregion/judge-invalidates-bloombergs-soda-ban.html?hp&_r=0

Check out my comment under Pap from Tennesse.

I agree with the judge that says we can’t ban sugaring drinks. In the bill he is only banning them for some restaurants and only above 16 ounces but you can get free refills. So what is the point. If people want to get a soda they still could and if they want to not take care of their bodies they can. Its not our place to judge or try to choose for them. I agree with the judge when he says this is a power grab not about watching peoples weight. This is unconstitutional because it hurts certain companies but not others. Kind of like a monopoly.

NY TIMES #2

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/magazine/how-economics-can-help-you-lose-weight.html?pagewanted=2
 
Check out this post on losing weight and my comment below:

This was an interesting article. I agree and disagree. I agree that companies make tons of money selling products and that often people don’t lose weight because of them or are misguided in using them. Like diet soda as stated in the article. Many people buy it but it really doesn’t help. But I also disagree too. The author  has lost a lot of weight and kudos to him but I don’t think that meal substituted shakes are a good answer. Personally I believe that the best way to get in shape is to eat grains and exercise. But I felt this was a great article.  
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NY TIMES #1

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/06/world/americas/hugo-chavez-of-venezuela-dies.html?pagewanted=3&src=mv

Check out my coment under Pap from Tennesse.

Hugo Chaves was an evil man. He wanted power and like other men in history he had the guts, persistence and smarts to get it. Unfortunately, he did not use his power well. He did what he pleased, and ensured that he would be elected again. He put the needs of his county second and gave valuable resources of oil to Cuba. Many people left Venezuela because he didn’t have their best interest at heart, or anywhere near it.  I thought this article was fairly biased. Hugo Chaves will go down in history as a dictator and a power hoarder.

McKay, In a Nutshell

1.       Gospel

2.       Christ   

3.       The  Spirit

4.       Atonement

5.       Life

6.       Calculus

7.       Principles

8.       Family

9.       Love

10.   Plan of Salvation

 

1.       Gospel

2.       BYU

3.       Basketball

4.       Atonement

5.       Granola

6.       Food

7.       Principles

8.       Family

9.       Pizza Pie Cafe

10.   Tyler

 

1.       Elementary Math

2.       Spelling

3.       Grammar

4.       How to eat

5.       How to get enough sleep

6.       Roller skating

7.       Not complain

8.       Love my Family all the time

9.       Tyler’s number

10.   My IQ

 

1.       Not getting into BYU

2.       Not getting a job this summer

3.       Not getting a good job

4.       Tyler

5.       Not being prepared enough for my mission

6.       Sunny

7.       A bad economy

8.       Losing a family member

9.       Losing my  car keys

10.   Utah beating BYU again

 

1.       Tyler

2.       BYU

3.       Pizza Pie Cafe

4.       Family

5.       Friends

6.       Church

7.       Cliff Bars

8.       NBA

9.       Playing Basketball

10.   Movies

 

1.       Provo

2.       Logan

3.       Boise

4.       Temple

5.       Italy

6.       Spanish Fork

7.       Salt Lake City

8.       American Fork Cannon

9.       Tyler’s house

10.   St. George

 

McKay

Bedtime stories for his sisters, Never missing basketball practice ever, Driving his sister around, Cleaning his room,

Aubrey, Leah, Trevor, Meagan, Sarah, Kendra

The perfect basketball shot, The glazed chocolate donut, The Night with no homework,

McKay feels good about where he is in life, McKay is always hungry, McKay always wants to play basketball,

McKay needs his family, He needs to live the gospel, He needs to play basketball.

He gave some sweet duct tape shoes to Kendra, He gives his love to his family, He gives goldfish away in seminary.

He fears failure, He fears snakes, He fears 400 pound basketball players.

He would like to see Italy, He would like to see a championship trophy, He would like to see a BYU acceptance letter.

He lives in a mostly clean room, He lives in a great state, He still lives with his parents.

Pierce

HOT chocolate

How to make hot chocolate in easy steps

1.       Put water or milk on the stove.  If you use water it is easier but if you use milk it will taste better and be richer. It does not really matter but you should try both and use whatever one you like better. As for me I use milk because I think it taste a ton better.

2.       The easy way is just to put hot chocolate powder. But the problem with that is although it is very easy it doesn’t taste the best. It is like getting McDonalds or JCWs. There’s no contest.

3.       So if you have some time and would like some quality hot chocolate you can do a few things. One is you can chop up chocolate and get the right amount.

4.       Another way is you can add coco powder and sugar. Why you need sugar is because coco powder is what is left of the coco bean after they take out the coco butter which contains the sugar.  

5.       A different way is to use unsweetened chocolate and add sugar. It’s the same kind of principle with the coco powder.

6.       A tip is that if you add just a pinch of salt the chocolate flavor will really come out.

7.       To change the flavor a little you can add some candy pieces. I like to add peppermint. You can also add mint leaves or mint extract.

8.       You can also add marshmallows or whipping cream to give it  that creamy taste that people think about when they think about hot chocolate.
 

I have heard rumors that hot chocolate if drunk weekly that it can add up to ten years of your life. So we should learn how to make good hot chocolate and drink it regularly.

How to improve your free throws in seven easy steps.

In this brief blog post you can learn some tips to make your free throw shot better and how to improve your percentages in making them. Of course you really can’t learn how to shot a free throw reading a blog but hopefully you can learn something that will make your shot better. Just another piece of advice, You should probably get somebody to really show you how and correct your form.

Step one: BEEF. Yes eat three hamburgers a day. No just kidding you probably shouldn’t do that. BEEF stands for Balanced. You need to be balanced on your free throws. Elbows need to be in and at a 90 degree angle. Eye you need to look at the back of the rim. Follow through you need to extend your arm and pretend to reach inside the rim.

Step two: Have the same form everytime. If you shoot the same way your shot will do the same thing and have less degree  of change.

Step three: Do the same thing before you shoot. Some people kiss their hand some people dribble twice then shoot. It doesn’t really matter what you do just do the same thing.

Step four: Practice. Shoot shoot shoot and then shoot again. Practice makes perfect and with free throws it’s no different.

Step five: Be confident. If you don’t believe the ball will go in the hoop the it won’t. Practicing will help a whole lot in giving you confidence.

Step six: This isn’t really to do with free throws but work on other parts of your game. You’ll never get to the free throw line if you don’t play in the game or don’t get foulded.

Step seven: Be happy and don’t think too much about shooting it. If you think to much or become angry or sad the shots won’t go in as much.

Hope you enjoyed and that this helped.

Other blogs

I don’t often visit blogs at all but the one blog I visit semi-regularly is the espn blog. I get on this blog when I’m on espn and when I want to get more insight on a sports story. I like the layout of the blog because they just have the article in the middle and it’s very easy to read. The espn blogs have many different bloggers and I really enjoy the ones that have picture. But hands down the best ones have videos debating the topic or explaining it a ton better. They sometimes have popup ads so it can be a little annoying but it’s usually pretty good.

When I was searching for other blogs I might enjoy I looked up sport blogs and one of the top ones was Sportblogs.com. I clicked on it and read a few of the articles. They were nice and they had some recent posts on recent sporting events. The problem was it was not in very much detail and just said what happened and did not give any opinions or inside about them. It was very easy to read and had pictures in them and at the title. I probably will not go on the blog very often but maybe  I just read a few bad articles and the others are much better.

When I tried to think what other blogs I had ever been on I remember that sometimes I got onto Yahoo.com and sometimes got on their blogs. They are pretty good and are easy to read. They are pretty short though and usually don’t give a ton of insight or detail. It also had some ads that are annoying and so I probably wouldn’t recommend this blog. I occasionally get on it though when I’m bored and sometimes they can be pretty good. But usually on Yahoo the other stories that are non-sports related are better but the sports ones aren’t bad.

                                                                                                                 

I-Thou

                In class on Wednesday we talked about the difference between the I-it mentality and the I-thou mentality. I really enjoyed it and the discussion really put things in perspective. I need to focus on treating other people better and I reevaluated my relationships with my siblings. Some of them I need to improve. I need to focus on the golden rule and really try to understand people better and follow the I-thou mentality where you really try to understand people better.

Campous Tours

                This past week I went to a few colleges and toured them. I went to Brigham Young University, Utah Valley University and the university of utah. It was a lot of fun spending time with friends and learning about what the different Universities had to offer. It also made me think of what I’m going to do in the future and what I need to do now to prepare me for it.

                At Brigham Young University I toured the campus first and got to see where all the buildings were and what they were used for. It was very cold and we only got to see the tops of the buildings so it wasn’t the best. I then met with my good friend from my ward and went to a book of Mormon class with him. It was like Seminary on steroids. We learned a lot and instead of singing songs we learned the doctrine. It was very interesting but it seemed like an easy class. I then went to a devotional that was very interesting and made me think. We then had lunch and I went around the campus with my  friends and just saw what we could see.

                At Utah Valley University we had a tour as well. We went there and   watched a video about the University and then walked around UVU. It was very interesting and seemed very relaxed. They had some cool parts and places inside. They were all very nice and they gave us all free Jamba juice cards. It was very tasty and made me like UVU even better. The institute at UVU was really nice as well.

                At university of utah we toured the campus as well. Our guide was a cool guy who knew everything about the university. A huge  problem was the air quality was very low and it was very cold. They had some very interesting places and their Library was pretty cool. 

                For this blog assignment we need to answer some questions. One is Who am I? I am a high  school student at American Heritage who wants a high education. I want to get into BYU and to serve a mission. Another question is What  was I born to do? I was born to live a good life here on earth and to make it back to my home again through righteousness. The last question is what is stopping you? I think that saten is trying to stop me but the main thing that is stopping me is myself. I can go as far as I can let myself go. So I’m going to try  my hardest and try to get into BYU so I can learn the most I can. So I can become the best person I can be.

In joining this conversation to spread the gospel of Christ and the truth I think I can do a lot. I’m not the best author or writer in the world but I think I can stumble my way through some stories and experiences that I’ve had and then the spirit can do the rest. Also I can use the words of our prophets and the scriptures to help as well. It is kind of like a mission but you can do it from your coach and for me it will help me prepare for my mission. I can also use experiences that my family has. Again though, I will have to rely on the spirit as someone who is hurt needs crutches.

 

In joining this conversation to spread the gospel of Christ and the truth I think I can do a lot. I’m not the best author or writer in the world but I think I can stumble my way through some stories and experiences that I’ve had and then the spirit can do the rest. Also I can use the words of our prophets and the scriptures to help as well. It is kind of like a mission but you can do it from your coach and for me it will help me prepare for my mission. I can also use experiences that my family has. Again though, I will have to rely on the spirit as someone who is hurt needs crutches.

 

Spreading the Truth

“You have a great opportunity to be a powerful force for good in the Church and in the world. There is truth in the old adage that the pen is mightier than the sword”-M. Russell Ballard (Sharing the gospel using the internet).

I like this quote because you can see lots of truth in it. People could see things online about the church and about Christ and become better people because of it. They might feel the spirit when they see the truth. The pen is mightier than the sword because you can fight and kill with the sword but with the pen you can change people and their ideas.

“It is also important that you and the people to whom you testify understand that you do not speak for the Church as a whole. You speak as one member- but you testify of the truths you have come to know”.

This quote is also true and applies to us because we just need to testify of truth not argue or create false doctrine ideas in nonmembers. We do need to explain doctrine and testify to bring the spirit in. You don’t want to bible bash or argue because where the spirit of contention is the spirit cannot dwell.

Some people think that the spirit feels warm like a fire so thats why I put some fire.

Best Day Ever

My perfect day would be spent playing basketball all day long. I would wake up and waffles with blueberries in them. I would then play basketball with my cousins and freinds till lunch time. We would eat at Pizza Pie Cafe. We would then resume playing basketball and meet some nba players and learn some moves and how to improve. We would also play football. Me and my cousins vrs. Somebody else. We would also have a bunch of whole milk true moo chocolate milk with goldfish. It would be super cool to play at the Marriot center and the Lavel Edwards Stadium. For dinner we would have café rio or subway. That would be the best day but you might have to add more basketball and chocolate milk.