Month: July 2020

The brain is a very important part of the human body. The brain does all the thinking. Also, the brain is very mysterious. But how does the brain change? There are three basic ways:

1. Chemical change. The brain works by transferring chemical signals. This triggers action and reactions. The chemical change supports short-term memory because it happens so quickly. One example is that during one session, you have a lot of improvement. This is a chemical change.
2. Structure change. The brain can change the connection between neurons during learning. This supports long-term memory. From the first example, however, after only one session, the changes did not affect the structural change that is necessary for long-term memory. This is because long-term memory needs more time
3. Functional change. When these brain regions are used multiple times, it gets easier to use. The brains also change how and when they are used. This can change how good people’s performance is at one time. For example, when you always practice the violin for 3 hours from 1 pm to 4 pm every day, then practice from 8 am – 11 am, your performance will probably be different.

After you’re an adult, your brain stops growing, right?
Wrong. Everybody thought that, until we got more advanced technology, and so then, we researched more about brains, and found out that your brain never keeps growing, even when you’re an adult. Turns out, every time you learn a new thing, or even just think some thoughts, your brain changes. There are two types of changes that can happen. A short term chemical change, a long term structural change. A short term change is when your brain adjusts how much your neurons are connecting, so it might give you a temporary boost at something. This is what happens when you think you are getting the hang of a new skill but then the next day you’re not as good again.

Everybody’s brains are different, which is why some learning methods are better than others for a specific person. That is also some people learn faster than others, and while a person might be good at something, he/she might not be as good at another thing. But that is not what shapes a brain the most. The thing that shapes the brain the most are your habits. Everybody has different habits, and that structures their brain. Right now, we are still researching, and there is much more to be found about brains, and how they grow, but for now, we have realized that many things that we thought before about how brains grow are wrong, and that there is still much to learn.

In the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, people in a village are required to attend a lottery every year. However, instead of earning money, the winner of the lottery is stoned by the villagers until they die. The reason for this lottery is unknown, as nobody seems to remember the true reason for the lottery. However, after analyzing the text, one can reason that the lottery is held is to make a sacrifice to Mother Nature.

Some evidence that the lottery is meant to be a sacrifice of some sort is based off the insistence of tradition. The lottery must be held annually, and always starts on the 27th of June, for no specified reason. Another thing is the Black Box. The Black Box has only been replaced only once, over maybe centuries of use, because the townspeople were nervous to disrupt tradition, even in just the black box. The townspeople take it even further by rebuilding the black box with pieces of the original. This could mean that the black box used to hold a special meaning to the townspeople, which again leads to the idea of a ritual. 

However, maybe the most prominent piece of evidence in the text is when Old Man Warner says: “Used to be a saying about ‘Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.‘“ While this could be meant just to show that the lottery’s importance, but again, this saying might mean that because we hold a lottery in June, we will get a good harvest of corn. This is further strengthened that corn is harvested in the fall, and that June is when the corn is first starting to come out of the ground and grow outwards, and is when corn is the most vulnerable to pests and drought.

Because of the idea that a tradition that was long forgotten must be upheld, and the old saying of “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.” One can reasonably conclude that the purpose of the lottery is to sacrifice to Mother Nature or some kind of deity to insure a good harvest in the fall.

Many individuals believe that a black hole is possibly one of the most terrifying thing in space. It is a place where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape it, not even light. Over these years, black holes have taken up a fearsome reputation, as they are frequently portrayed as monsters of the cosmos. Although black holes have been said to devoir stars and crush planets, they aren’t as scary or dangerous to Earth as some people may think it is.

People have constantly feared the thought of Earth being pulled into a black hole. However, the nearest black hole is 1600 light years away, too far to exert any gravitational pull. It would take a very long time for a black hole to actually get closer to Earth or do any damage. Right now, this generation is safe from any harm from black holes, so there is no need to fear or worry about getting sucked into a black hole.

This shows that black holes are not as dangerous as people have viewed or portrayed them as. Earth is too far away from them, making the chances of ever encountering a black hole very small.

(unfinished)

Imagine picking a ticket at your village’s lottery. You win! However, you will be sacrificed for the belief that they need a sacrifice for good harvests. How would you feel?

“The Lottery” is about a village, who has a belief that if they sacrifice someone annually, they will get good crops that year. The way they choose the victim is by each taking a raffle ticket out of a black box. Whoever has a pencil mark on their paper is the chosen sacrifice. The victim is to be stoned to death. The year the story takes place, Mr. Hutchinson is chosen to be the sacrifice. His wife, Mrs. Hutchinson, protests that Mr. Hutchinson didn’t have enough time to pick some other random ticket because the person holding the raffle box had already moved on. The general consensus unhappily agrees, and they put their tickets back into the box to pick again. This time, the sacrifice ticket is chosen by Mrs. Hutchinson. She claims its unfair, and wants to do the raffle again. However, this time the crowd refuses, and instead stones Mrs. Hutchinson to death.

My point of view is that the village shouldn’t even follow this tradition! It’s not scientific, it doesn’t work, and you are just killing an innocent person for nothing. Science and common sense says that killing someone is not going to help them get a good harvest. A sacrifice cannot help plants grow and produce goods, but fertilizer can! Also, people who do kill fellow humans on purpose should be sentenced to death, not random people who picked a ticket with a pencil mark on it.

To recapitulate, people shouldn’t follow the practice of sacrifice. It’s savage and barbaric. Maybe Mrs. Hutchinson was a little annoying, but she hasn’t done anything wrong. Following a tradition doesn’t mean you can’t change.

In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, people only do anything because of tradition.

Every year, the town goes to the town square for a lottery. The tickets are put in a black box with it’s paint flaking off, and the one drawn out is stoned to death. Some towns next to them didn’t do lotteries anymore, but this town thought that they had too do it, because it’s tradition. Tessie Hutchinson was chosen this year, and everyone, including the children participates.

If any normal human were to learn off this tradition, they would be horrified. But to this town, It’s simply tradition to them. It’s what they’ve always done, and what they will always try to continue to do. Even the young children and toddlers. They look down on anyone who isn’t doing it. Other towns have come to their senses, but this town seems adamant on continuing the tradition.

“The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson in 1948. According to the village’s tradition, the winner of the lottery will be hit by rocks and pebbles. So, if I had to participate in the lottery, I would do some preparations.

First, I would make sure that I’m wearing my best running shoes so that I could escape. At the time of the publication, I would’ve used Adidas shoes as Nike was not created yet. Also, I’ll try to run in circles so that people might hit eachother.

Second of all, I would bring some protective gear. First, I would wear some leather padding underneath my shirt, so that rocks will not hurt my bodies as much. Also, I would bring a wide wooden plank as a shield, or a trash can cap if I could have one.

Lastly, I would try to cheat by being the announcer. I would call someone else’s name if I get picked and also replace the slip with a slip with the name of that person. This will cause any suspicion of me cheating invalid.

Overall, I just wished that this tradition was never a thing and just hope that I would not participate if it was a thing. These preparations and tricks will really help me out in this sticky situation.

This is my opinion about the lottery. I really liked the lottery because it was really tense were everyone was hoping that they didn’t get “winner” ticket. What I could understand was that the person that won the lottery was killed and that everyone had to do it like everyone like all the kids and old people and the people who couldn’t come their family members had a bigger chance of getting it. and I think its a religion because in a history class I read about sacrificing someone to please their god so maybe it was a religion.

So on to the book, in the book Mr.Summer which I think is unfair that he doesn’t have to draw it, gets the bag and a person named Tessie gets it and dies. THE END

Once upon a time, in a civilization a long time ago, men were burnt at temples as an offering to the gods. These people assumed that offerings would help their civilization prosper into greatness. Today, this is seen as quite unnecessary due to the advancements in technology and understanding. Although some of the past traditions have been erased, a considerable amount of more impactful traditions are still passed down from one generation to the next. The short story The Lottery written by Shirly Jackson is about an ancient tradition passed down from many centuries. This tradition, called the lottery, involves a person from a village being chosen to be stoned to death. Despite the harsh measurements of cruelty, these people still agree to continue the tradition. Traditions pass down even when considering their cruelty because they help people remember the past and also it will slowly become a habit.

In one of Jacqueline Woodson’s Ted Talks, she explained how books are used to display the story, memories, or feelings of someone’s life. The events in books are to be remembered and passed down. A tradition is similar to a book. It is an event, instead of a story, and is used as a means to pass down beliefs instead of stories. In the short story, the act of stoning one to death is still accepted because they do not want to forget it. A grumpy old man in the story always says how the tradition used to be better before, and the narrator also explains how the pieces of wood used in the tradition were replaced by wood, and the box was changed too. When these two events are placed together, it is obvious that the man does not want people to forget the tradition. Remembrance also helps people see progress. When looking back at the caveman times of killing men for help, one can see the true development of society. Not remembering the past provides nothing for people to compare their progress to. Without remembering traditions, history will also slowly start to become irrelevant because nobody cares about the past anymore, and many people only care about what happens next. Passing down traditions is important in order to remember the past.

The setting all throughout the story is composed of many occurrences such as good weather, children playing, and adults chatting. All of these lead to the fact that the village is happy for this tradition to occur, and it is just like any other day. A happy setting during a time where someone will be killed doesn’t seem so right to real-life people, but it seems absolutely normal to the characters in the story. This is because this tradition has been continued for so long in this world, it is barely even noticed. In fact, the level of noticeably is so low, even committing such a “terrible” act, stoning someone, seems normal. Additionally, even the family and friends were happy when stoning their life-long connections apart. In order for such a cruel act to even occur, it has to have meaning during its origin. The most likely cause of creation for the lottery was a way to choose someone to offer to the gods without bias. During these olden times, this way of action seemed reasonable, and as time passes on, the following generations will think the same. A few thousand years ago, the earliest humans probably did not think marriage was something normal to do, but people today see it as completely normal. People living in a future world where eating is unnecessary might think that people eating three meals a day was strange. Since humans primarily judge events based on changes, It is frightening how such a terrifying tradition can eventually become a habit.

In conclusion, most traditions will pass down forever and ever. Traditions help civilizations remember their past and their progression. Traditions might also eventually become a habit, which if it does becomes almost impossible to remove. Carlos Fuentes, a Mexican Novelist once said, “There is no creation without tradition; the ‘new’ is an infection on a proceeding form; novelty is always a variation from the past.” Without the creations of traditions, the human progression would be immeasurable and stories of the past would be forgotten.

In The Lottery, Shirley Jackson writes about a town that holds an annual lottery. The person that wins the lottery is stoned to death by the townsfolk. This practice reflects on many different historical events and happenings such as people being lynched, the Salem Witch trials, and World War 1. The Lottery reflects this because The lottery also kills people at random for no reason at all. Shirley Jackson most likely drew some inspiration for this short story from these events. I think that she drew her inspiration from the lynchings especially since that was happening around her time. Overall the lottery has a lot of references and draws a lot of its ideas from many events in history.