In-Class online lesson #12 - Logic and Decision-Making

Step 2:

     A common theme among the scrolls within the three caskets is judgement based on appearance. For the scroll within gold casket, it appeared that the Prince of Morocco judged the gold casket just by its appearance, thinking that Portia was worthy, just like the gold casket.  However, the scroll stated that the golden casket is a symbol of hollowness and treachery of wealth, and was a misjudgment of what the Prince of Morocco feel of the golden casket. This is showed by "All that glisters is not gold", showing that appearances might lie and we should not judge anyone or anything just by their appearance.
 
    For the silver casket, the scroll is written about the difference between appearance and reality, where the Prince of Arragon is depicted as a fool, "I will ever be your head", which showed that he is a fool. Also,the scroll showed "Silvered o'er", which means silver-haired and therefore appearing wise, but this is not the case,  as the casket was not the correct one. This showed another misjudgment just like the Prince of Morocco.

    Lastly, the lead casket's scroll was written, "You that choose not by the view". This showed that Bassanio chose not just according to the appearance, but actually chose after more thinking and was thus about the choose the correct casket, the lead one, and was able to win Portia.


Step 3:
     I stared hard at the four witness. As the detective of a small city of a small country, somewhere on Earth, I was in charge of such murder cases. The most recent one, and one of the most easiest one, was in my hand. The master of the Talelaki Mansion was murdered, and the only three people in the mansion were the maid, the butler and his wife, which was also the mistress of the mansion. The last witness was my best friend, George, and he was the most honest person I had ever seen. He was outside the mansion, going for a patrol, and saw the murderer, who dressed in black and carried a bloody weapon out of the mansion. However, the three other witnesses gave contradictory statements.
 
    The maid had said that she saw someone huge rushing past her, someone of the size of the butler. The butler, on the other hand, said that he saw the mistress came out of the master's room, where he was killed. Lastly, the mistress said that she saw both the maid and the butler rushing out of her husband's room and breaking through the window, and escaped. However, George said that he saw one person jumping out of the windows in the first storey.

     I digested what I had heard. George's statement meant that the mistress was not saying the truth, while it is possible for both the maid and the butler to be saying the truth. Hmm... If it were someone who broke in, that is not possible. I personally checked the windows and the doors, there was no signs of forced entry. It is the work of an insider. If the butler was the murderer, then the maid was stating the truth. There is no possibility of the maid being the murderer. If the two had worker together, then only the mistress is correct, but it is contradictory to what George had said. No, I trusted my friend, he is very honest. Why would the mistress lie? If the mistress was the murderer, then both my friend and the butler was stating the truth. The maid saw the butler rushing by her, but it might not be from the room of the butler. Yes, the mistress must be the murderer!
 
      "You are the murderer, Madam!" I pointed to the mistress of the mansion, and the mistress cursed before she could stop herself. Aha! 

Blog - Writing Prompt #17 - Character Illustration

      The room could be said to be filled with creepy and eerie insects. The bed, was in such a weird shape, in the shape of a cockroach. A cockroach, overturned, to be more exact. The table, was a butterfly. There was even flowers on the table legs, so real that it was thought to be a real gigantic butterfly. On this "butterfly" were pictures of insects, ranging from dragonflies to moths. No space left for anything else, just filled with insect pictures. The chairs were shapes of ladybirds, round and cute. On the caterpillar drawer, which was long and creepy with the amount of "legs". On top was a beautiful statue of a caterpillar, looking huge and big and strong. The wall was like a garden of flowers, and of course, bees flying here and there... The jars on the table could not be missed too. Filled with crawling cockroaches was one (freaky!), the other one with red ants. The last one contained houseflies. 

       'Lovely' posters of the cross-section of the exoskeleton of insects. Also, paintings and drawings of one thousand and one insects was filled on the walls, covering almost everywhere except for the awesome bees on the wall. Awards for the Spelling Bee Contest could be spotted easily, in the cupboard of a dragonfly. Even the lamp, on the floor, was a mosquito. Its abdomen was spilling light, it was creepy. Who knows who lives here?

Book Review

   Book review topic on: Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow

      A fiction book I read recently is titled "Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow". This book is aboutthe adventure of Jake and his sister, Kady, travelling across time into a different world populated by lost civilizations such as the Mayans and Romans. As they enter Calypsos, they find monsters like grackyls, monsters that work for the Skull King, also known as Kalverum Rex. Kalverum Rex, an evil alchemist, was the previous Magister, but turned evil and killed another Magister. He was banished, but, he built an army and was able to sneak his army into Calypsos from the help of a betraying Magister. As the story continues, Jake and Kady need to plan on how to return back to their own time and home, but before that, they need to defeat the Skull King, who seems to want both of them, dead or alive.

Reflections:

      This adventure showed much determination and resilience from Jake, as the main character. He was determined in defeating the Skull King and thinking of ways for them to escape back to their own time. He needed to race against time in the last few chapters, as the Skull King had attacked the city, and he needed help from the Ur, another lost civilization. 

       Also, he showed excellent courage, as he was willing to "sacrifice" himself by tricking the Skull King that he had surrendered. However, this was actually a plan, to activate the shield again and push the Skull King's army out. Lastly, he showed great potential as a leader, he was able to lead his friends to defeat the Skull King, and this was done through trust and teamwork. I feel that we should all learn from his characteristics, since it showed his abilities to survive in harsh conditions and to think calmly in dire situations. Thus, I feel that it is important for us to learn from him, both his mistakes and characteristics in the story. 

Link on Goodreads.com - http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5278010-jake-ransom-and-the-skull-king-s-shadow

Blog-Writing Prompt #15 - Forgiven Iran attacker will not be blinded

     Ameneh Bahrami, an Iranian woman who was blinded and disfigured when acid was thrown in her face seven years ago, decided to pardon her attacker just before his sentence was to be carried out. If I were Ameneh Behrami, would I had shown mercy to my attacker, or would I have insisted on eye-for-an-eye justice? I feel that since I am blinded and disfigured, I should not show mercy to my attacker.

   

      Firstly, I feel that by throwing acid in his face, it will allow the people of Iran to understand that for whatever they do, it will have an impact. As the Tehran's deputy public prosecutor, Mahmoud Salarkia, had said, "If this sentence is properly publicised in the media, it will stop the repetition of such incidents," I feel that such will discourage people from being rash and doing things without caring about the consequences. Thus, I feel that I should insist on an eye-for-an-eye justice in order to allow the people of the country to be more disciplined and be more careful.

      Secondly, the Qisas principle of sharia law, which means "retaliation" as an Islamic term, follows the principle of an eye for an eye. For that, I should also throw a bucket of acid in his face. I underwent 17 surgeries in Spain, but remains badly disfigured and blind in both eyes. Such an accident happened, just because he was rash and threw acid in my face. I feel that such was a cruel act and should not be pardoned. Thus, I feel that I should not show mercy to my attacker and follow the principle of an eye for an eye. After all, he was taught the same principle, and should know the consequences for such an act.

       However, human rights advocates have strongly criticized the punishment. They feel that it is too cruel. Is it right to just follow the Qisas principle and follow the principle of an eye for an eye? I think that it is better to show mercy than justice, and thus it might be better to forgive him. However, I think that such an act should not be pardoned, as this is too much.

       In conclusion, I feel that I should insist on an eye-for-an-eye justice. I feel that since I am blinded and disfigured, I should not show mercy to my attacker.This is to ensure more discipline in my country, so that we will have a better and safer place to live in. Thus, I should throw acid in my attacker's face.   

Reflections:
     I feel that although in this case, the attacker was too much and went on to throw a bucket of acid in her face, I feel that mercy is sometime more important than justice. Imagine a place where justice overrule mercy, and everyone just goes on about justice. Nobody cares about mercy, they just want vengeance if others do something wrong to oneself. Such a case will cause everyone on Earth to be hateful and suspicious of one another, not a single person will trust the person next to him! This is surely not what a world aims to be! Thus, I feel that sometimes, mercy is much more important than justice, and it is also important to forgive than to keep remembering the wrongs of others.
   
     Therefore, we should learn to forgive others if the mistake is not that huge. I feel that teaching the person of what he or her had done wrong is much more important, this way, nobody will be unhappy about it.

Blog - Writing Prompt #13 - Narrative dialogue between two characters

A: Captain, there seems to be a problem!

B: There had always been a problem with your intelligence, John.

A: Not that kind of small issue, sir! BIG BIG issues!

B: Your big issues are often small for me. So, what's wrong?

A: The spaceship's losing control! We will be crashing down towards the small planet they call Earth!

B: WHAT??? WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY EARLIER, YOU DUMB AND STUPID IDIOT?

A: Terribly sorry, but sir, you were saying that my big issues are often small for you...
B: That's out of point! Anyway, WHO'S DEALING WITH THIS PROBLEM?

A: Sir, our men are taking care of it, it seemed that there is some leak and the engine seems to not to be working well...

B: Well, you ARE my second-in-command! You take care of this mess! I do not want to crash on some planets without knowing who lives there. I believe there is oxygen in this planet of yours?

A: True, sir! This planet has got oxygen! Our air detector detects large quality of oxygen!

B: Good! Let me see, where this small planet is....

A: There! The planet over there!

B: Hmmmm.... It does seem like a small one, compare to our Planet Zow. I would bet 70 bucks that ours is at least eight times bigger!

A: You are right, sire. 

B: Of course I am, you fool! Now you go back in there and take care of the mess!

A: But...

B: But nothing! You useless fool! Hurry up or we are seriously going to crash and die!

A: Yes sir! Right away!