2/29

This article was about a group of researchers wanting to know if playing the game World of Warcraft would improve the cognitive ability in older adults. They asked 39 adults ages 60-77 to play the game for two hours a day for two weeks. Before they did this they had them take a quiz and they took the same quiz after playing. It turns out the game didnt't have that much affect on the people. But, the game did improve spatial ability and focus.

social issues

ezik- His topic was morality. One moral he wrote about was nudity and sexual relationships now and back in the day. He says that morals and values depend on how you were raised and what parents teach their kids. People do what they think is right and wrong, instead of what is really right and wrong.

emily- She did child discipline. She says that if child doesn't discipline makes the children think that its okay to break rules. If they do discipline by hitting and screaming then the child might think thats the solution to everything.

lee- Lee's topic is the death penalty. He agrees with it. But then again he thinks its not right for a person, a judge, to choose if somone should live or not.

2/28

The question is can a persons facebook page predict what kind of employee a person might be. Studies show that it does reflect what kind of employee you might be. Which i believe this because your facebook profile is all about you. Your pictures, posts, comments all reflect what kind of person you are. A group of researchers were asked to rate a sample of 500 people by their facebook pages. They rated their personality traits based on their profile.

2/27

A man wrote something to his wife on facebook, which she found offensive. She filed a complaint saying the post violated the protection order against their child. He says that he just posted it to facebook to vent. The court ordered him to post an apology to his wife on facebook for 30 days and pay child support, or go to jail for 60 days and pay a five hundred dollar fine. I don't agree with the courts order. I believe that it's violating his first ammendment rights.

2/24

A girl was put into the news for tripping while she was texting. I believe that EVERYONE has had a mishap while texting. Although if you bump into someone while your texting it if definitely your fault, even though i don't see how any of this is a big deal.

2/23 military

A man was recently prosecuted for lying about being in the military and lying about winning an honorary award. A law was passed in 2006 to make it illegal to do that. I agree with the law. Soldeirs go out and work hard for their awards and they deserve to be protected and honored.

2/23 military

A man named Xavier Alvarez was prosecuted for lying about being in the military and winning a top military award. A law was made in 2006 that stated that it was illegal to say you are in the military, or won a military award, if it's not true. I agree with this. I think that those that served should be honored and respected. You shouldn't say you've done what they have if you havn't.

2/23 tanning bed.

The government in West Virginia is trying to pass a law that prohibits tanning in indoor tanning beds for anyone under the age of eighteen. They are doing this in order to fight skin cancer rates among young adults. The american cancer society says that young adults are 75% more likely to develop melanoma from just one tanning session than people who don't use tanning beds. People that are against the bill say that the bill wil cause tanning salons to shut down. I agree with the bill, children shouldn't be tanning anyway.

2/22

In this article they are talking about the new laws being passed. They are requiring people to show a photo ID and a proof of citizenship to vote. I agree with this law. If you are wanting to vote then you should be responsible enought to have an ID, and you should be a citizen. Some states think it's a good idea, and others disagree with it. Some states claims it takes away the rights of some citizens. In my opinion, I think it's a good law.

2/21/12

A twenty-three year old student from New Mexico is accused of stealing a pumpkin that is worth two dollars. Lauren Medina is scheduled to go in front of a jury on Tuesday. She claims she forgot to pay for it after paying for 75 dollars worth of groceries. Her sister offered to pay for it but was denied and Lauren was hundcuffed. This is dumb. She shouldn't be charged with anything for a two dollar pumpkin especially since she offered to pay for it aftrwards.

2/17/12

A family was recently arrested for not providing healthcare to their son who had cancer. People say the little boy's neck had been swollen for a long time. It was obvious he had something severely wrong with him. The parents claim they tried but didn't have the money to take the child. People say they offered to help them pay, and the hospital wouldn't deny a sick child due to money anyways. They claim the parents would rather do drugs than take care of their sick child. The parents claim that isn't true, and they loved their son dearly, and wouldn't purposely hurt him. I believe they should be punished but not 8 years in prison.

2/16/12

SOPA is a bill the are trying to pass to stop online piracy. In a way I agree with it, but then again I don't. People shouldn't copyright things, but nothing is going to stop them. They will just keep finding ways and new sites to publish copyrighted things. Limiting popular websites like google and wikipedia isn't fair to the rest of the public that uses it for other things. So, i believe the bill should not be passed.

2/15/12

The government tried passing a law to try to stop piracy on the internet. Many places like Hollywood Studios, recording industries, and book publishing companies were pushing the bill. But, many websites like facebook, google and twitter saw the bill as a threat. The government ended up not passing the bill.

2/14/12

Google keeps EVERYTHING that is searched. It keeps your emails, anything you googled, your pictures, absolutely evereything. In my opinion, this is completely wrong. How should anyone have the right to know all that information on a person. It is our right to have privacy and our own private stuff. Nobody should have access to it. It's just wrong.

The Bills

emily justice kyle- I agree with them, I believe that people do eat a lot of unhealthy food because it's way cheaper. It's hard to find healthy food that's affordable on a daily basis. If they lowered the prices of the healthy foods then more people would eat them.

daniel bobby justin- I agree with their bill. It would be a good idea to offer more healthy foods at fast food restaurants. At fast food places it automatically comes with soda and fries. You have to ask for the healthy food, if they swith it maybe people would be more tempted to  eat healthier.

lee benny travis- I agree with their bill. I think it would be a good idea to limit the calories by offering an alternative.

ezik justin- I agree with their bill. It would be a good idea to be able to keep their original menu, but offer a healthier menu alternative.

amanda shannon- I think it's a good idea in theory, but it would be hard to do.

healthy bill

National

1. BE IT ENACTED BY STUDENT CONGRESS ASSEMBLED THAT:

2. Section 1. We shall close down any fast food restaurant every Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday.

3 Section 2. People are obsese, and compromising their health by eating these foods every day.

4 Section 3. Each day, 1 in 4 Americans visit a fast food restaurant.

5 Sections 4. 60% of Americans are either overweight or obese.

6 Section 5. Often people consume all of the calories they need for the entire day in one sitting at a

7 fast food restaurant.

8 Section 6. Overweight and obesity are risk factors for diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure,

9 and other health problems.

10 Section 7. All foods can be considered unhealthy if you eat too much of them.


12 Section 8. We Americans have proved that we cannot limit ourself, nor control our eating habits.


13 Some help is clearly needed.


14 Therefore; closing fast food restaurants three days a week will decrease obesity.


15 Section 8. No fast food restaurant shall be open on days stated.

2/10/11

Well the second ammendment says we have the right to bear arms. This means we can own firearms. If a man cleaning his gun shot his gun in the air and accidently killed a young girl, then it was an accident. Accidents happen, that doesn't mean citizens shouldn't own guns. It's our right to. I mean the innocent girl definitely didn't deserve to die, he should have been more careful, and i believe he should have some punishment, but it was an accident. And besides, guns aren't the only things that kill people. Accidents happen all the time with other things, like cars. Does that mean we shouldn't have the right to own them?

notes

1st- freedom of: speech, press, religion, assembly, petition
2nd- right to bare arms- right to have guns
3rd- quartering soldiers in your house
4th- illegal search: seizure, search warrant
5th- cannot be forced to incriminate yourself, double jeopardy,
6th- a right to a speedy trial, right to an attorney, right to knwo why you've been charged, right to a jury
7th- civil case, a person sues another, no federal government involved. over 20 dollars
8th- no cruel and unusual punishment
9th- rights that arnt mentioned in the constitution
10th- state rights.

2/9/12

In my opinion, I think it is perfectly okay for citizens to record police and their actions. If they are doing something that they don't want other people to see then they shouldn't be doing it anyways. Police are allowed to record citizens and their actions, so why shouldn't we be allowed to record them. If the video is confiscated that is a violation of our ammendments, because it says that we can't be searched without a warrant. The first ammendment protects our right to press. If we want to record something, including a police officers actions, we should be allowed.

2/8/12

The death penalty is a situation that is easily debatable. Theres many good and bad things about it. In my opinion, the penalty is ok, I agree with it. I believe that if someone goes out and murders an innocent person that they should recieve the death penalty. They just killed someone, why should be let them have a chance to do it again. They ended someones life, why should they be able to live. I don't think its the right punishment for EVERY crime committed. But someone that killed an innocent person, or killed people over and over, I think they deserve it. But on the other hand, you can't take it back. If you sentence someone to the death penalty and then later findout they were innocent there's nothing you can do. So, it would kind of be hard to sentence someone to the death penalty without knowing they are COMPLETELY guilty.

2/7/12

The health of americans is not good. Fast food is taking over. Hardly anyone eats healthy. Most people are taking in foods that aren't good for you like, greasy foods and junk food. A restaraunt recently invented the Bacon Milkshake. Seriously? I think that's disgusting. Who would even think to mix bacon flavoring into a milkshake. A lot of americans are overweight. Look at West Virginia we're one of the top obese states in America. I believe that people should start taking care of themselves and stop eating soo much fastfood. Especially things like a bacon milkshake.

2/6/12

What are Federalist Papers? A series of 85 articles promoting the ratification of the US constitution.

Who wrote the Federalist Papers? James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay. Publius was the name under which all the papers were published.

Federalist Paper Ten- Federalist Paper ten was the tenth of the federalist papers. It was written by James Madison. It was published on November 22, 1787. This is the most famous of the papers. This paper protected the rights of people by guarding the public against factions. Factions are a group of people that have interests contrary to the rights of other citizens.

Federalist Paper Fifty-One - This paper was also written by James Madison. It was published on February 6, 1788. It addresses that appropriate checks and balances can be created in government, and also advocates a seperation of powers within the national government. Its purpose was to form a more correct judgement of the principles and structure of the government. It says that the government is divided into different branches, and elected by the people.

2/6/12

Pros: A pro would be that schools or other forces couldn't spy on us just because they are suspicious.

Cons: A con of the fifth ammendment would be if someone was doing something wrong we wouldn't be able to see what they were doing. Another one would be if you got caught doing something you wouldn't have to admit anything. I don't think thats right.

1/20

1) What do you know about the US government?
I know that we are free. I know there are three branches of government, and we have a president and vice president. I know that they make all the laws and stuff.

2) What do you think about the US government's role in our society?
I think they play an important role in our society. They control what we do and stuff but it keeps everything together. Without them people would be going crazy.

3) What would you like to know or feel like you need to know about the government?
I would like to know how the government actually works. And the powers of everyone in the government.

1/30 - movie.

I only got to see half of the movie, but what I saw was good. It was kind of slow at first, but then it became interesting. The president starts to like a political strategist names Sydney. He invites her to an important dinner. She really likes him and he really likes her, but she doesn't think it's a good idea for them to be together because he's the president.

2/3/12 extra credit

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/story/2012-02-02/feds-sports-streaming-sites-shutdown/52936118/1

Federal Authorites Shutdown 16 Sports Streaming Websites

Federal authorities shut down 16 websites that broadcasted illegal sports videos. They found out because Tom Brady told reporters that he watched last years super bowl game on an illegal site. A michigan man named, Yonjo Quiroa controlled nine of the sixteen sites. They pressed criminal charges against him. He was charged with copyright infringement. He was held without bond while his immigration status is being reviewed. He recieved profits of over $13,000 from his websites.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-02-03/loughner-trial-competency/52944870/1

Loughner still not competent for trial

Jared Loughner is charged with 49 felonies dealing with a shooting outside of a supermarket near Tucson. Six people died including a judge and a nine year old girl, 13 other people were wounded. Including Gabrielle Giffords who is a US rep. Loughner was diagnosed with schizophrenia and is staying in a federal hospital in Missouri. He will remain there for four months. His psychologist has concluded that he is not yet competent for trail, which means he is unable to understand court proceedings and is unable to assist his attorney. His hospital staff is being accused of forcing anti-psychotic medicine on him to speed up the trial.

2/2/12

In Lincoln County, elected officials plead guilty to vote fraud. The sheriff, Jerry Bowman and the county clerk, Donald Whitten admitted to lying about votes that they recieved. They illegally manipulated absentee voters to vote for them. They gave non qualified voters ballots and told them to vote for them, and sometimes even marked it for them. There were over 600 absentee ballots. Both people resigned as office.  Bowman could recieve up to ten years in prison and a $250,000 dollar fine. Whitten will recieve 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. In my opinion, that is completely ridiculous if you have to cheat to win office then you probably don't deserve it anyways.

2/1/12

Pros: I think the bill is a very good idea. If you're texting while driving, then you arn't paying full attention to the road and your surroundings. You are way more likely to cause an accident if you are texting, so why do it? If you have an emergency where you have to text RIGHT NOW then pull over. Not only could you hurt yourself but others around you. It's dangerous.

Cons: Some cons about this bill is that almost everyone uses their cellphone while driving. It's going to be hard for people, especially teens, to stop. There could be an emergency where you can't get off the road to use your cell.