3/27

The people are seeing how much power the government has. It is kind of a competition against the state and federal government. The most important issues are; Constitutionality of the individual mandate. Whether the individual mandate is a "tax", Whether other parts of the law can survive if the mandate is struck down, Federal vs. state conflict over expansion of the cooperative Medicaid program.

3/26

On Sunday, in Syria, there were numerous anti-regime protests. The Morek Massacre claims that 11 civilians were murdered. Atleast 70 people were killed across the middle east on Sunday. The total amount of people that have been killed over this is about 10,000. Obama and the leader of Turkey are discussing how to aid the situation. Seventeen thousand refugees have fled from Syria to Turkey.

3/23

The new Ipad 3 was released on Friday. It's almost the same as the Ipad 2 except it has better screen resolution and more memory. The new version is available through Verizon and At&t networks. The price for the Ipad 3 ranges from $499- $829, based on memory. I think the Ipads are cool. I wish i had one.

3/23

Kermit the frog who is now 55 years old is making a come back in 2012. He now has a facebook and a twitter. His Oscar winning movie, The Muppets, is coming out on dvd on Tuesday. He says that he likes facebook and twitter, but can't work a cellphone. If Kermit the frog has a facebook and twitter then EVERYONE should.

3/23

Some employers are requiring their employees to hand over their facebook usernames and passwords. Since the employers complained they are now requiring them to sign onto their facebook during job interviews. Employers use this information to see the employees behavior outside of work. They can see if they are posting crude things or uploading underage drinking photos. In my opinion, this should be illegal. If it's private on someone social networking site they should not be forced to show other people.

3/21

In Florida, a seventeen year old boy was shot and killed by the town's watchman. He was walking home at night from a convenient store when the watchman started following him. Later, the watchman shot the young boy. He claimed it was in self defense. Others say that he did it because the boy was an african american. I think the watchman acted inappropriately, and should be arrested.

3/20

Ellie Lavi gave birth to twins overseas in Isreal. Although she is a native of Chicago her babies are considered overseas babies. They are not American citizens. A child born to an American citizen by in Vitro fertilization is NOT an American citizen unless the donors can be proven to be American. I don't agree with this at all. I think its dumb.

3/19

Video games definitely should be considered an art. It takes a lot of hard work to create just one scene in a video game. Roger Ebert says that video games can't be comparable to other art forms such as paintings. Video games are just like movies and films, and they are considered art forms.

3/15

On Wednesday Self magazine is introducing an online game called "Self Workout in the Park". The game will be aimed at women. It will focus on fitness, health, beauty, and fashion. It will be a social game which means it will be played on social networks, liek Facebook. Self is spending an estimated six digit number on producing the game. The game will be introduced on March 19th.

3/14

Facebook, twitter, and youtube are the key battlegrounds for the campaign. I believe they have a huge impact on the campaigners. Most people tell their opinion about who they want to win on these networks. I'm not really sure if you could predict who would win, but it would give you a pretty good idea of who is leading.

3/13

Too many teens smoke ciggarettes, and use smokeless tobacco. One in four high school students smoke, and 1 in 3 young adults under the age of 26 smoke. Smoking is considered a pediatric epidemic. One of every three adults will quit smoking, and one will die. More high school students use smokeless tobacco. The tobacco industry makes more than 10 billion dollars anually. I don't understand why people use tobacco at all.

3/12

They have recently produced a fantasy politics game for the internet. It's kind of like fantasy football, but it's for people who are into politics. Millions of people play fantasy sports. In this game you draft a team of real life politics. You can make trades and draft pols. In my opinion, fantasy games are stupid. Who wants to spend their time playin a game about fantasy politics.

3/9

The number one computer password used is "Password1". This is most commonly used because it fits the guidelines needed for a basic password. This is a problem because it is very easy for someone to hack into your personal stuff. Also anit-virus software detected less than 12% of the targeted malware samples. Keystroke logging is easy for hackers to use.

3/8

This article was about search engines taking too long to load. On average a video takes up to 9 seconds to load on a smartphone. It takes 3.5 seconds to load on a comuter. Their goal is to increase the time it takes for web pages to load.

3/7

Surveys show that the majority of cellphone owners have a smartphone. Forty- five percent of cellphone owners have a smartphone. The highest number of growth in smartphone ownage was in the lowest income bracket. They make less than 30,000 dollars a year. Some consumers are still not sure if their phone is a smartphone or not.

3/6 video presentations

Ezik and Justin-
Teen pregnancies cost taxpayers 9 billion dollars a year.
1 in 3 teens will be pregnant by 19.
In texas, a baby is born to a teen every 10 minutes.

Emily and Justice-
671859 people experience homelessness at any given night
1 out of every 3 homeless people are under the age of 18
one in four homeless men are veterans

Bobby and Justin-
blacks and hispanics are 3 times more likely to be poor than whites
45% of black children live below the poverty line
infants born to black mothers are up to three times more likely to die

Antonio-
most americans living in poverty work, but still cant  make ends meet
30 million people a year die of hunger
21% of children are living in poverty

Daniel and Kyle-
202902 underage alcohol related accidents occured in 2009
3000 deaths each year
smoking has caused an estimated 12 million deaths

Amanda-
a report of child abuse is made every ten seconds
more than 5 children die every day because of child abuse
30% of abused children will later abuse their own children

Benny and Travis-
160,000 kids miss school everyday because of fear of being bullied
56% of students have personally witnessed bullying
282000 kids are physically attacked every month in secondary schools

Lee and Tylin-
2819 people killed on 9/11
35 nigerian people killled in a church
168 people killed in oklahoma city bombing

3/6 bill

BE IT ENACTED BY STUDENT CONGRESS ASSEMBLED THAT:

We help reduce the chances of child abuse by making it a greater crime if you abuse your children.

If youare caught hitting, kicking, slapping, burning, starving, neglecting, or emotionally and mentally

harming your children, it will be considered a federal crime and will be taken to high court.

You will have to be approved before you are allowed a child. There will be a backround check, and a
home examination before your child is born.

There will be a required class for all woman preparing to have children.

They will need to pass this class, and be approved before the birth of their child.

There will be more child abuse centers accessable to the public.

Five children die a day from child abuse.

In 1999, an estimated 3,244,00 were reported to CPS.

Since then the number has gone up more than 50,000.

A report of child abuse is made every ten seconds.

In 2005, 899,000 children were victims of child abuse, maltreatment, and neglect.

If any person fails to report the sighting of child abuse, that person shall recieve a fine of up to $2,000.

This includes the striking of a child in public, unattendance of a child, or unrational anger towards

their child.

Childhood victims of abuse are 59% more likely to be arrested as a juvenile.

Therefore; without child abuse there would be a great deal less crime.

One-third of all parents who were abused as a child typically abuse their children.

About 80% of 21 year olds that were abused as children met the criteria for at least one psychological

disorder.

Abused children are 25% more likely to experience teen pregnancy, which ultimately leads to even

more child abuse.

These order will be forced to be obeyed by the state of West Virginia.

WORD #realtalk #preventchildabuse

3/6

Companies have been combining with twitter to get information to help improve their products. Twitter is going to make it easier for the companies to access their tweets by opnening up their archives and selling their old tweets. Datasift is openining a program that will allow other companies to retrieve data from twitter from over two years ago. Datasift will recieve payment from the other companies and then share the revenue with twitter.

the lorax

What was the land of the Lorax like before the Once-ler arrived? Did it seem like someplace you'd like to live? What parts of your own environment would you be sad to see go?

The land of the Lorax was very nice before the Once-ler arrived. It was peaceful, and beautiful. It had many trees and happy people with plenty of shade and food. I wouldn't mind to live there. I'd be sad to see the scenery such as the forest and animals.

What kind of person is the Once-ler? Why won't he listen to the Lorax? The Lorax says to the Once-ler, "You are crazy with greed." Why does the Lorax say that? Do you agree or disagree?

The Once-ler seemed very selfish to me. He didn't care about destroying the environment or peoples food and shade. He just wanted to make himself money. He doesn't listen to the Lorax because he doesn't care, he just wants the money. He says that he is greedy because he is destroying other peoples home towns just for the benefit of himself. I agree that he is very greedy.

Why does the Lorax speak for the trees? Why is it important to speak up for others? Have you ever spoken up for someone else? Has someone else ever spoken up for you?

He speaks for the trees because he doesn't want the environment to grow. He is trying to protect the environment. It's important to speak for others, because sometimes the people are too quiet to speak up. Yes, i've spoken for someone else, and people have spoke for me.

How does the Once-ler's Thneed business hurt the land of the Lorax? What happens to the Swomee-swans, the Brown Bar-ba-loots, and the Humming-fish? How could things have been different if the Once-ler listened to the Lorax?

His business destroys the whole environment. There isn't one tree or animal or person left. The Swans lost their voice because of all the smog. The Loots lost their food and shade that was once provided by the trees. The fish water becomes dirty and they are unable to live there. If the Once-ler listened to the Lorax then everything could have been saved.

What do you think the boy hearing the story will do with the Truffula seed that the Once-ler tosses to him? What would you do if you were the boy?

I think the boy will go plant the seed. That's what i would do too.

Do you think the Lorax and his friends will come back if new Truffula Trees grow? Where do you think they have been?

Yes, i think the Lorax and his friends will return, because thats the only reason they left.

The Once-ler says, "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." What does the Once-ler mean? Can one person make a difference? Can you? What are some things you can do to better your own environment?

He means he's not going to listen to just one person telling him to stop. Maybe if a bunch of people got together they could stop him. Things we could do to better our environment could be, not littering.

How does the Once-ler feel about what his Thneed business did to the Lorax and friends?

He doesn't care about the lorax or his friends. He doesn't care about anyone but himself making money.

Dr. Seuss used bright colors on some pages of the book and dull colors on others. Did you notice this? Why do you think he did that?

He used bright colors to show how the environment was beautiful and happy. He used dull ugly colors to show how the once-ler ruined the environment and made it less appealing or usable to people and animals.

Why is The Lorax called a cautionary tale?

It's called a cautionary tale because it shows that people need to take caution when it comes to abusing the environment. They need to take better care of it.

3/2

They have created an app called Braille Touch for the iphone. It allows people to type up to 63 characters by pressing different combinations of just six buttons. When using this app the user holds the phone away from the body and uses the three middle fingers of each hand to type different letters, numbers, and symbols. Spaces and backspaces are made by flicking the screen either right or left. Some blind people were able to type up to 32 words per minute with a 92% accuracy. The researchers are trying to get away from the QWERTY system which was designed in 1870. I think this app would be difficult to use at first, but i think it's a good idea to give visually impaired people a chance to text.

3/1

For the Lenton season the Pope wants to get a lot of peoples attention so he is going to be tweeting one tweet a day. He is going to tweet for the 40 days of lent. His tweets will be posted in English, Spanish, Italian, French and German. He hopes it impacts people that have given up on religion.