The Battle of Kibbutz Negba

Today, the battle for Kibbutz Negba was won by Israel Defense Force and the citizens of Kibbutz Negba.  Thecity of Negba is in located in south central Israel and has a relatively small population.  It was defended 140 Kibbutz members who had little if not any military training.  The defeat of the Egyptians was harsh on the campaign during the ongoing Arab Israeli war.  The first battle at Kibbutz Negba was on June 2th and the fatalities for members of the Kibbutz were 8 killed and 11 wounded.  In the first battle, the Egyptians suffered 100 killed and wounded.  During today’s battle, the Israelis lost 5 dead and had 16 wounded, while the Israeli estimate the Egyptians suffered 200 to 300 wounded or dead.

     The victory for Israel is important because if the Egyptian had won the battle, they would have a forward base to be able to strike at the Israeli capital of Tel Aviv.  The defeat for Egypt was particularly disappointing because the Israeli forces can now occupy the Kibbutz to push forward and potentially force the Egyptians out of Israel.

    Shortly after Israel’s independence on May 15, the Israelis, expecting an attack on the people who lived in the kibbutz, sent the children away and moved people underground.

     The Egyptians attacked head on from the south, after bombarded the kibbutz with artillery and planes.  Egyptian forces attacked the kibbutz from south  with soldiers reinforced by armor, planes, and artillery.  However, when Egyptians advanced, the kibbutz members were ready and they beat the Egyptians off.  The recent battle plan for the Egyptians was to surround Negba instead of a head on attack.  However, the Kibbutz members held the Egyptians at bay until the IDF Soldiers could break through the Egyptian line.

My Cape Canaveral Field Trip

Have you ever wondered what rockets look like up close?  Or what happens in Mission Control prior to lift-off?  Well, these are just a hand full of space questions that you can self answer when you visit the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral Florida.

   Personally, the non-educational activities were the most fun.  Some of the, too many to tell, places where the Saturn V Museum, the rocket garden, and the Angry Birds Space Encounter.  At the Saturn V Museum, you get to see a full Saturn V Rocket laid out in in stages.  There were model space capsules  from the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs that you could climb into at the rocket garden.  The Angry Birds Space Encounter included a mirror maze, a gift shop and a place where you can play “Angry Birds” on an iPad hooked up to a television so that people do not have to crowd around the screen to see you play.

   At the Kennedy Space Center you will also find many educational things.   Some of these things are the  Imax  Hubble Movie, the Saturn V Museum, and the bus tour.  The Imax Theater is a special theatre that presents 3-D movies on an enormous screen.  When we got to the Hubble Movie , most of the good seats in the middle were taken, so we had to sit in the front.  During the Hubble Movie, I learned that the Orion Belt Nebula has a big indention in it carved by solar wind, which can be seen by the Hubble Space Telescope.  At the Saturn V Museum,I learned how Mission Control was operated during the first-ever manned U.S. launch.  While we were on the bus tour, I learned that NASA does not use all of Cape Canaveral peninsula.  Most of the peninsula is a wildlife preserve known as the Cape Canaveral National Seashore.

   This is just a fraction of what I experienced at Cape Canaveral.  Also, if you would like to learn more about U.S. space exploration, you can go to NASA.gov.  If you are in Northern Florida and cannot drive to Cape Canaveral, do not worry.  We have a NASA Challenger Learning Center here in Jacksonville, FL USA at the Kirby-Smith Middle School!

New Goals

1. Language Arts
   Yes, I can reach the goal of 30 AR points or higher.  I also believe that I can pass 5 spelling tests next quarter.
2. Math
   Yes, I’m willing to work on math enrichment.  I will double check my work without being reminded by my teacher.  I also plan to work on khan academy math.
3. Jewish studies
   Yes, I feel that I can be more creative and work harder on written assignments.

Did I Reach My Old Goals?

1. Jewish Studies
   Yes, I tried to connect with what I was learning.  I enjoyed learning about freedom and making a diorama.
2. Citizenship and Work Habits
   I made a little bit of progress, but need to work more on this goal of paying attention in class.
3. Academic Goals
   Yes, I studied in advance and went to Spelling City to practice.

Jewish Studies

This was a Hebrew writing assignment.  The assignment was to write a couple a couple of sentences using vocabulary words.  The reason I picked this artifact was because I believe that I put a lot of thought into the sentences.  This was important because most Israelis write in cursive, not in print.  I learned how to properly use the Hebrew vocabulary in sentences.  The process I used helped me to understand the meaning of the vocabulary words.  I believe that I can improve this by using more sophisticated words.

1-To memorize the ways to say verbs in different tenses.

Math

This was a math test on the division and fractions.  It is important to realize that fractions and division are related.  In the future I need to write out the problem instead of trying to do it all in my head.

Language Arts

In this assignment I wrote sentences for my spelling words. From this task I learned how to make spelling sentences a fun little story.  I was able to make a story from the words.  It helped me by connecting the words which were all foreign words. To make my grades better, I should study every night.

Work Habits and Citizenship

Is Using Drones to Fight Crime Cutting Into Peoples’ Privacy?

With the ‘bionic age’ at a steady climb, and many new ways to fight crime are being introduced, some people argue that these advancements/surveillance drones are cutting into our privacy.  Others question that if crime is being stopped, should we worry about privacy?  I believe that sometimes it is necessary that we sacrifice some of our privacy to help solve serious crime.

“If the use of drones is covered by carefully crafted rules and oversight, nobody’s civil liberties will be violated,”-Sal Bommarito.

The first, and most important reason why drones should be used by law enforcers is officer safety.  One way that the drones will increase officer safety is because the officers are safer in a highly guarded facility than out in the field.  Another reason why drones will increase officer safety is because if the fugitive is armed, then there is only about a couple hundred dollars “on the line” instead of a life.

My second reason why drones should be used by law enforcers is that there’s more accurate evidence for the jury to solve the case.  There will be more accurate evidence because it is harder to hide from a tiny hovering drone than an officer.

“The principal objectives of drone applications are to detect crimes that are in progress and apprehension of criminals using an “eye in the sky”-Sal Bommarito.

My third reason why drones should be used by law enforcers is that  drones would decrease the necessary amount of officers and/or vehicles on the ground to patrol our cities.  The number of officers and vehicles will be reduced substantially because it takes less officers to man drones than physically patrolling on site.

”Drone technology is inexpensive, as compared to using additional cops and/or vehicles on the ground to patrol our cities”-Sal Bommarito.

Sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice some our privacy to solve serious crime.  Drones should be used to fight crime because it will provide more officer safety, accurate evidence, and the number of officers can be reduced.  So, I believe that drones should be widely used against crime.

”There is very little downside affiliated with the use of drones and so much upside”-Sal Bommarito.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MQ-8B_Fire_Scout.jp

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/outtacontext/8435473266/lightbox/

My First Mitzvah Trip!

Have you ever been to River Garden or the Coves?  Well, if you said yes, you don’t really have to read the rest of this paragraph.  If you said no, they are mainly Jewish retirement/care centers that are in Jacksonville, FL.  River Garden is more of a care center, and the Coves are actually small first floor apartments.
So, moving on to why we were there. We were there to deliver mishloach manot for Purim. To prepare for the trip, we made our own mishloach manot baskets.  When we were there we discovered 14 baskets wasn’t enough for the particular trip.
When we were waiting for the directions where to go next, I felt guilty standing there holding my basket in front of the residents.  I felt that way because they looked at us like we were their last hope.  Well, I liked this trip very much and I would definitely suggest this for next year.