Thursday, May 13, 2010

PLN 31

I just read the article by the Associated Press, “Newton's apple tree bound for gravity-free orbit,” A piece of the Newton’s apple tree is being taken up into space on the Atlantis shuttle. An astronaut took this piece of the tree into space as an ironic joke but it is now turning into a major experiment. The astronaut just thought it would be funny to have a piece of the tree that helped discover gravity, in a zero gravity environment. But it has led scientist to begin testing what happens to plants in outer space. The thinking is that if plants can still grow without gravity, then it might make it possible to have colonies in space. Obviously the plant would have to be provided with necessary water and light, but otherwise hope is good for the survival of the zero gravity photosynthesizes. This matters to the world because we could be transported to large space stations, or even bases on another planet to live there. This effects education because of all the opportunities it will present. This will create jobs as well as new information and new engineering that needs to be figured out. With space farms, longer periods of time could be spent in orbit with out having restock flights. I think this is just amazing. In my US history class we are talking about all the decades up to the 2000’s and how technology has changed so rapidly in the last 10 to 20 years. Now colonization in outer space is a possibility? Wow!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

PLN 30

No charges against man with rifle at Summit County High School,” from the Denver Post, tells of a man who picked up his daughter from school with an unloaded .22 caliber rifle in the trunk of his car. This is scary to me because I wouldn’t feel safe if people had weapons in their car at school. Someone saw the rifle in the trunk and reported it. After investigating the issue the Summit County Sheriff’s Office is droping charges due to the fact that it was and accident and he had no hostile intentions. I don’t think this is worthy of jail time or anything like that but I think he should at least be fined. Having a weapon on school ground should be a big deal. I believe that this ruling just shows that it is okay to have weapons and threaten the safety of the students and teachers. This issue should be a bigger deal than the police made it even though there weren’t any cruel intentions. No one should have weapons on school property, accidentally or on purpose.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

PLN 29

The article, 2txt? Or Nt 2txt by Garrison Keillor talks about how young men have lost social skills because of texting and e-mail. Keilor also states that girls have somehow maintained their personal relationship abilities through these tough technological times. This is because even though girls text as much as boys they also do a lot more talking, all girls do. In spite of that, I disagree with Mr. Keillor, I personally still have the ability to talk to people interact. In my own experiences I have found that I am still very capable of holding conversations with adults or even people my age. I text everyday, for the majority of the day, and yet I believe my social skills are fine. I can talk to my teachers, friends, girls, adults and anybody else you can think of without having much of a problem. The case might not be the same for other guys my age, but I know that I have no problem, and my friends don’t seem to have much of a problem either. Thus I am forced to disagree with Mr. Keillor, and say that I am just as capable as any girl, of maintaining good people skills while texting constantly.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

PLN 28

In the article, “Our boys are falling behind in education” by Dottie Lamm, states that boys are falling behind girls academically because of a verbal differences. First, they explained how the girl’s brain is able to become verbally faster. They believe that boys verbal skills don’t grow until fourth of fifth grade. Though these are the average years, a school in Aurora separated kindergarteners into gender classes and the boys were just as successful as the girls, my feeling is that the verbal difference is not the problem but instead things like motivation. It seems, also being in a gender class myself, I have gained motivation to do well for some reason. Then, they say that the world will have a role switch and the women will be in charge based on what is happening in education; however I don’t feel this is true. There are plenty of guys that do well and try hard in school. Boys just need to step up and take education seriously. Obviously, the struggle that guys are said to have can be fixed and just because guys may struggle in school that doesn’t mean that they will fail in life outside of school too.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

PLN 27

DA: Officers who killed two bank robbers justified” by the Denver Post talks about two officers that fired more than a hundred rounds into two bank robbers. Someone did a PLN presentation on this article and I thought it was very interesting. His question for discussion was if these two officers were justified or not, and I believe they are. Their job is to keep themselves and everyone around them safe, no matter what it takes. If these two robbers were dangerous, which they were because they were firing back, then the police did a good thing. Other than the two robbers no one was killed or injured, so the officers did their job and did it well. A point was brought up that the officers weren’t the only ones that were firing; they were being shot at so they fired back. Both officers were hit, one in the leg and one in the arm, so they had to stop these two dangerous robbers. These two officers are justified in their actions because they were only doing their job and did it to the best of their abilities.

PLN 26

"Suspect arrested in iPad theft” by the Denver Post talks about a man that robbed an iPad from a 59 year old man. As he was taking it from him, the skin on the man’s pinky was stripped to the bone so he couldn’t run after the robber. The man had just bought the iPad and was walking out to his car as it was ripped out of hands. Why do people steal? I don’t understand it. There are plenty of other legal ways to get money. Get a job! If you need money fast they talk to someone, take a loan from someone, anything but steal from someone. This man wasn’t doing anything wrong and paid for his merchandise and still was robbed and injured. Bad things happen to good people, this situation is a great example of that. When I buy something I don’t worry about someone stealing it from me but it does happen which is incredibly sad. I wonder how messed up people’s morals are when things like this happen. How deep are you that stealing is the only way out? Sometimes that’s not even why people steal, they steal because they want to, they don’t have the self control to stop themselves.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

PLN 25

New York-to-Denver flight makes emergency landing” by the Denver Post talks about a United Airlines plane that had to make an emergency landing because of the smell of smoke in the cockpit. The plane landed safely and the 140 passengers were all put onto another plane. I wrote about this because it proves that technology isn’t perfect. We talked about the pros and cons to technology all first semester and a lot this semester. Here is one of the cons. Airplane crashes are very rare, but they do happen, and every time they do happen lots of people die. Luckily this plane landed safely. I don’t know what exactly was wrong with the plane, if anything, but they shouldn’t even have to worry about that. This kind of technology, the kind that can kill a hundred people with one mistake, needs to be perfected so that mistakes never happen. I look forward to knowing 100% that there is no chance that the plane I am in will crash. Right now when I get on a plane there is always that little bit of doubt, because there is a chance. It is a tiny percentage but there still is a percentage. Technology like that should be perfect, 100% success rate.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

PLN 24

Baby drowns in bathtub; father held for investigation,” by The Denver Post talks about a father that is under investigation for child abuse resulting in death because he left his 6 month old baby in the bathtub. The child fell of her bath seat and into the water, she never regained consciousness and died a little while later. I don’t know how it is to have your child be killed, but I can’t even imagine the pain that that would cause. This man is going through even more pain than that, he has been given responsibility for the death of his baby. One side of me feels bad for this man, but the other half doesn’t. He made a stupid decision and left a baby all by herself in the bathtub. To me that seems like a no-brainer that you don’t do that. This man will most likely face a class-3 felony for child abuse resulting in death. Babies should never be by themselves, they get themselves into trouble because they don't know any better, especially not in the bathtub. This story is extremely depressing, but hopefully people can learn from this man's mistake and protect their children.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

PLN 23

In the article “Cops: Springs man brought baby to cocaine deal,” by the Denver Post it talks about a man that had his 14 year old daughter with him as he was dealing marijuana to an undercover cop. He had marijuana in a pipe while his daughter was with him. First off all, you shouldn’t be doing drugs, but when your daughter is most likely inhaling it as well, which is abuse, that is just awful. This man is making two terrible decisions; dealing and doing drugs, and having your baby with you as you do both those things. What is wrong with people these days? Doing drugs is bad enough, dealing is worse, but then you go ahead and bring your child? What are you thinking? What if they had dealt to an actual person, not a cop? I have so many questions because this just makes absolutely no sense to me. Who is so stupid and messed up in their head to bring a baby to a drug deal? This is just unbelievable to me.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

PLN 22

Hernandez gets 60 years in ice-cream shop crash,” by the Denver Post talks about a 25-year-old man that was convicted for a major crash. An illegal immigrant, Francis Hernandez was sentenced to 60 years in prison for his crashed that killed three people. He was driving as fast as 80mph and hit a car and pushed into a Baskin-Robbins. Both the driver and the passenger in the car died as well as a three-year-old boy in the ice cream shop. Like I said in my last PLN the people that make the mistakes aren’t the ones that pay. A little boy was getting ice cream and was killed by a car that crashed into the store. Out of the four people that were part of this crash, the one who cause it was the only one that survived. He is being disciplined the way he should be, he took three lives away and now 60 years of his life are being taken away. The father of the child believed that this punishment was not enough but I disagree. He did not mean to kill any of those people; he made a mistake and is being severely punished for it. Everyone makes mistakes but people need to be punished for those mistakes and learn.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

PLN 21

The article by The Denver Post, “RTD crash leaves one dead, 15 injured” talks about how a RTD bus ran a red light and smashed into a car spinning it then crashed into a another car sending into a steel post at a 7-eleven. 16 people were sent to the hospital including the bus driver; most of them were in serious condition. I get my permit soon and lots of my friends get their license around the same time. I am extremely excited to drive, but there is always that thought of what if that happens to me? The people that usually get hurt the worse don’t cause an accident, they are just victims. They don’t make a mistake that causes an accident and yet that one moment can change their life forever. Accidents happen, that is why they are called accidents, but some very serious accidents can be avoided. Multi-tasking is a great way to get in trouble. It seems like it is no big deal, but focusing on anything but the road for even a split second can get you into an accident.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

PLN 20

The article "Tennessee Truck Driver Leaves Path of Destruction in Longmont" by Vanessa Miller at the Denver Post, talks about a man under the influence that drove through a neighborhood and destroyed everything in his path. This man destroyed trees, fences, light poles, multiple cars, and two houses. I thought this was interesting, incredibly sad but interesting. In PLN 19 I wrote about a state trooper that was driving drunk. I thought that what if that trooper was not intoxicated and could have caught this man before all this happened, but the trooper was arrested a while ago and this was only a couple of days ago. Why is it that people drive drunk? Everyone hears and knows the stories about people being killed or seriously injured by drivers under the influence and yet, there are still plenty of stories to go around. My grandpa lives in Longmont and this driver could have easily hurt him. That is incredibly scary to think about. I could have related to those stories about drunk driving. I don’t have a huge problem with drinking, but drinking and driving is incredibly stupid and I have a problem with that. People need to think about the good of everyone else around them and either stay sober or be smart enough to not drive.

PLN 19

I just read the article “State trooper arrested on DUI charges in Douglas Co.,” by the Denver Post about a state trooper that was drinking and driving. We all have that cliché excuse that everyone makes mistakes, but essentially a police officer that is doing what he is supposedly arresting other people for? There are plenty of stupid people that drink and drive, but a state trooper? This man is supposed to be pulling other stupid people over, I don’t understand how he is making the same mistake they are. A 21- year veteran should know a lot better and not be in that situation in the first place. I was even more surprised by the fact that he was on the job. He wasn’t arrested in his own car, or on his own time. He was arrested on duty, in a patrol car. What does a patrol car that is swerving all over the street say about Colorado police? It says that either they are just as dumb as the people they are pulling over, or they don’t know a good policeman from a bad one. This is embarrassing for Colorado. We need to higher the grade of our troopers. I just cant believe that a state trooper would drink and drive when he knows as well as anyone what can happen.

PLN 18

The article by the Denver Post, “Three stabbed, one dies, in Northglenn,” matters because my dad used to live in Northglenn and it could have been him that was stabbed. Three men were stabbed, one fatally, yesterday in Northglenn. This article does not say if the person that was killed had a wife or children. If my father was killed by a murderer for no reason it seems like, I don’t know what I would do. I would be incredibly mad and depressed. There is no justifiable reason for murder. Why would you murder someone at anytime? There is always a way to solve problems without murder. If the man that was killed had children, what will those kids do now? How would you tell your kids that their dad was killed, for no reason? When I read this article I thought what if that had been my dad? The killer had no reason to kill. Nobody has any reason to kill. I know I would not be able to pull the trigger if I thought about the fact that the person infront of me had family and what I would be taking away from those people that know him/her. On the other hand, there are plenty of murderers out and about that do kill. Whether they regret it or not, they still killed a fellow human being.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

PLN 17

I just watched a video about the Virgin Galactic Spaceship 2 that showed the new type of Space travel. This new space ship is said to make space travel available to thousands of people and much more affordable. I think this is unbelievable. Over time space travel will be just as common as airplanes. When I saw this video I thought of myself on this ship because there is a very good possibility that one day space travel will be extremely available and open to everyone. The video is only a simulation of what they believe the craft will do. Virgin Galactic's first attempt with Spaceship 1 didn’t go perfectly to plan but the idea that they had worked great. These spaceships were made to get out into space, which didn’t work in Spaceship 1, but on its way down to Earth it turns into just a glider plane, this worked very well. Virgin Galactic made many changes and improvements to Spaceship 1. When they get these spaceships perfect they will be available for anyone who want to travel into space. One of the designers of the “space plane” says that everyone should have the opportunity to experience space travel one day. This ship is making that claim very possible in the very near future.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

PLN 16

I just watched the video, “Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry demo SixthSense,” which talks about a new device that can give you information about anything infront of you and much more. This device is made up of a camera, a projecter, a mirror, a phone, and colored caps on your fingers. You can interact with this projected data by simple gestures. To take a picture, you can just make the frame with your hands and the device will take the picture. Finding ratings on books or annotations on that book is as easy as having it infront of you. When meeting someone new the device shows words that describe the person and gives you lots of information about that individual. The device is completely portable and can project on any surface, including your hand if need be. The system can recognize a product and give a green, orange, or red light for your own personal likes. This device is extremely technologically advanced and is still a work in progress. This sixth sense seems to be more advanced “Google Goggles” that has access to lots more information. Information comes easily and with this device it will only get easier.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

PLN 15

I just watched the video introducing the new iPad from Apple and I am amazed. The iPad is essentially a thinner, faster, better touch screen laptop computer. Although it isn’t all that much different from an iTouch or an iPhone it is much more than that. When I was watching this video I thought about what if students had one of these for their schoolwork? If we didn’t get distracted easily this would be a great idea. It would save paper and all our work would be in one place and would be very fun and easy to use. The iPad is just another example of how technologically based our world is. I use my phone all the time and am on the computer a ton. I am always listening to music and every once in a while, take some pictures. My problem is that to do all these things I need three or four devises. If I had the iPad though, all these things would be in one place working at the same time. I could be texting someone, listening to music, on Facebook, looking at my pictures, and doing homework essentially at the same time. I just think that is amazing. My dad walked in while I was watching the video and was just blown away and talked to me about how fast our world has advanced technologically. The iPad is being released April 3 for $499 each.

PLN 14

Sometimes This Stuff Still Amazes Me” by Karl Fisch talks about how fast information is spread and how easy it is to communicate these days. He talked about how he tweeted a question and extremely quickly had plenty of answers. Lately if we have a question there are so many ways to get the answer it is unbelievable. I typed “Schools in Colorado” and in 0.43 seconds there were 328,000,000 results. I can find that much information that quickly and easily? Information is so easy to come by these days and yet we take advantage of it. Some people think that computers are a waste of time and money and we should not use them in education. A computer just gave me access to all the information I would ever need about schools in Colorado and yet they are a waste of time and money? Our world is extremely technological and has become that way in only a couple decades. I know my parent’s generation see an Ipod, a Iphone, or a Hybrid car and talk about how they didn’t have that when they were born. I like to figure out how things work and think about what goes into making it, and I can never even imagine how people invented and created the internet. So much information that is so accessable to everyone. Yes there are some problems with that like Identity Theft and situations like that but the majority of the people that use the Web are responsible and use it correctly and for the right reasons. I can't wait to see what happens with technology and the internet in the future. With what has happened in our world recently, who knows what is next.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

PLN 13

In the article by Karl Fisch, “Google Apps for Education: Is it the Right Choice for Our Students?” what matters is that many people believe that education through Google Apps is a good idea and an effective way to learn. I agree with this. I think that this way of learning would be better because information would always be available to students. Many students including me tend to forget books or assignments in their locker and with this new way there would be no problems with that. This also made me think of the video “2020 Vision” by Mr. Fisch because he says that Google is going to have an online college and this is a small step in that path. I think that it would be cool to learn by Google Apps and I would not be surprised if that started to grow in the next couple years. The one problem i see in that plan is that Google Apps might replace many teachers which would not be both good for our economy and for teachers already employed. Then of course Google would create jobs. I think it would be a great idea to learn by Google Apps.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

PLN 12

In the article by Stager-to-go, “Play 60? Not in the USA!,” what matters is that children’s play is being taken away and needs to be changed. This blog was in response to the commercials and organization set up by the NFL called Play60 which encourages children to play for 60 minutes a day. Schools have taken away recess and PE classes, and turned them into more classes for learning which isn’t bad but children need time to play. Students get on the bus early in the morning, return home at dusk, do homework, eat dinner, and go to bed. There is no time for them to play. Playing is what children want to do, we don’t want to sit in class all day, we want to go outside and run around for a while. I think that Play60 is a great idea but schools need to help make that possible by giving the kids more time to play.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

PLN 11

"Strasburg man arrested for internet luring,” by the Denver Post talks about a 43 year old man that tried to set up a date online with a 14 year old girl. This shows a major bad about technology. People have figured out how to use it to their advantage. There are lots of messed up guys out there that can use technology in order to find younger girls. Yes there are the dating sites that are “safe and secure.” On the other hand there are always breaks in the system or people that know how to hack the system and can find everything out about a person. Personal information is not as safe as it was before technology came along. It is not necessarily technology itself though; it is the people that use technology in ways other than its original usage. Technology is a great resource but there are people that use it for reasons that should never be needed let alone gone through with.

PLN 10

In the article by Karl Fisch, “Be the Change” what matters is that Mr. Fisch is helping change the world by changing his means of electricity in his house. He installed solar panels on his roof that should account for 95-100% of his electricity from now on. Our world is in a downward slope and we are going down fast. Humans are not taking care of the environment we live in and are paying for it more than ever. There are so many ways to help out though. Whether it is recycling, turning off lights when you leave, or like Mr. Fisch, going all out and using solar powered energy. They also have a hybrid car, which is a great way to help. Gasoline is terrible for the environment and hybrids are reducing that need for gasoline. Every little thing you do to help out the world can go a long way.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

PLN 8

My action plan for my Change the World paper is to send a letter to the UN about the state of religious freedoms and how it is a problem. I am going to tell them about the paper I wrote and why people deserve the right to have this freedom. Something needs to happen for these people without freedom. One argument is that governments are taking away human rights in order to give themselves more power. They are only worried about themselves and need to think about what every human being deserves. When they take away the right to the freedom of religion they take away the right to think. That leads down a dark path when one person is telling a whole country what to think. I hope that my letter can at least spark some discussion between people and get people thinking.

PLN 7

Dosomething.org is an organization out to change the world which is a great source for my paper. They expose problems tell you more about the problem and tell you how to help. They also raise money for peoples personal projects that they agree with that don’t have the type of funds needed to make the project successful. With religion they talk about discrimination. They give facts and give many ideas on how to make a difference. This site is a great source for me because it gave me many ideas for my action plan. It also gave me facts about how people are discriminated against. They found that the majority of hate crimes are aimed at Jews. Just because Jews believe differently than most people doesn’t mean they can be looked down upon. I think that discrimination is not needed at all, but religious discrimination there is no justification for. Someone disagrees with your viewpoints so you have to get back at them? What’s the point? That person isn’t going to change their mind in your favor after you hurt them. Our world needs to change and religious discrimination needs to be greatly reduced.

Monday, February 8, 2010

PLN 6

For my Change the World paper on freedom of religion I found a document, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, written by the United Nations. It says this about religious freedom, “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance” (“The Universal”). Everyone should be able to think for themselves and choose their own religion without ramifications. People should be able to worship openly with people or alone. Many people take advantage of their freedoms and people without freedoms can only dream. The UN has tried to make these people dreams come true but they don’t have the power to enforce the rights they believe people should have. Religious freedom is a major problem around the world that needs to change. This Document by the UN is a good source for my paper and a plan to reference it a lot.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

PLN 5

I found in my research that almost all of my information is coming from one study, or a source quoting that study. The study by the Pew Forum of Religion and Public Life was on the lack of freedom of religion, which is exactly what I want and need. The only problem is that every other source I have found is just talking about that same study and interpreting the information that the study says in their own words. I have two sources on countries lacking the freedom of religion, which is part of my second body paragraph, but both sources seem very biased. I also don’t want to have a list of countries or list of governments that force religion on their people because that is boring. I would like an example or two and then information behind the country and facts. So far my paper has been going well, but I get the feeling I will run into a wall soon enough because of the sources, or lack there of, that I have.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

PLN 4

I disagree completely with Dr. Warschauer’s question about computers being a waste of time because our world is moving into a technological age and we need to stay ahead. All last semester in English 9 we talked about how technology is changing education, the world, and us; and we found it is changing in leaps and bounds. Technology will be a major part of the world in the close future and we need to be prepared for that. If we learned with pens and paper we will not know what is happening with technology. “2020 vision” by Karl Fisch is a video about his predictions of technology’s advancement into the year 2020. This video predicts that Google will have it’s own university in our near future, a whole university online. Why should we learn with pen and paper if we are going to be learning online anyways? Computers are a great resource and are only going to continue to improve. Students need to stay with the times and continue having computers in the classroom.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

PLN 3

In the article by The Denver Post, “World Vision Supplies leave Denver for Haiti” it talks about the relief effort by World Vision. World Vision is a Christian organization that provides food and clothes to poor and impoverished countries. I was lucky enough to visit and help World Vision a couple times with my middle school. World Vision sent 110,000 pounds of aid supplies to Haiti. These supplies include tarps, blankets, water, and hygiene kits. World Vision had already sent 20,000 pounds of tents and blankets last week. These people are helping human beings they have never met because they know its what is right. They know that they should be helping those people. The earthquake destroyed Haiti, buildings lay in ruins, people are left without homes and thousands lay dead. If everyone around the world that could give even 1 dollar imagine what we could do for those people and that country. That is probably around 2 billion dollars if everyone in good standing gave one dollar. Not to mention the people that give hundreds. These people need help and where are they going to get it? World Vision is doing their part, so can the rest of us.

Monday, January 18, 2010

PLN 2

Throughout my research on the freedom of religion I learned many things that will be useful to my Change the World paper. One of the major things I learned was from a study done by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The study said that 70% of the world’s population lacks the freedom or religion, or religion is forced upon them. My paper is about the fact that people have the right to think for themselves. Everyone should be able to choose his or her own religion and believe in it openly. Something that made me stop and think was atheism. How was this going to fit into a paper about religion? I figured that all it is a belief system, like every other religion. So it will fit in my paper fine. It also shows the right to think for yourself. My paper will be fun and interesting to research and write about because there are so many facts and opinions on the freedom of religion.