What matters presntation

PLN 26

I was going through the articles when I noticed a rather sad article on the BBC blog. In big bold letters the words Gunman goes on rampage at US mall. Immediately I knew it was talking about the incident of a young man murdering 8 people and then committing suicide.

Police have identified the gunman as Robert Hawkins, 19, from Bellevue, who committed the shooting. In the past he has suffered from depression and recently lost his job at McDonalds was thrown out of his home and just broken up with his girlfriend. He later resided with a family friend who called him a lost puppy. She also said that he was doing a lot better and was getting back on his feet before the incident. Next to the shootings one of the most sickening things was his suicidal note where he said “he would be going out in style”. Later that day he went to a Omaha mall and killed 8 people and after the shootings committed suicide with the murder rifle.

I know many people who own weapons such as guns or knives. I also know many people who are depressed and very confused. This makes me wonder if a shooting like this could happen at our own school. Throughout 2007 there have been three other mass shootings not including this one.
Oct 2007: Asa H Coon, 14, shoots four people, injuring them, at his school in Cleveland, Ohio, before killing himself.

April 2007: Cho Seung-hui , 23, shoots 32 people dead on campus of Virginia Tech university, Virginia, then kills himself.

Feb 2007: Sulejman Talovic, 18, shoots dead five people and injures four at a mall in Salt Lake City, Utah, before being killed by police.

In the classroom today and around the world I hope that people realize how precious and rare life is. I hope that people can one day comprehend what is going on around them and that they don’t have to “go out in style” but just live their life to the fullest. In the end I ask the question will something like this ever stop is there any way to help it?

pln 24

I was skimming through the older Denver post articles today when I found one of interest. To my surprise I found a surprise titled Denver's dubious award - drunkest city . Intrigued by this I opened up the article and found out that Denver was ranked the "most dangerously drunk city." In the U.S., Colorado springs coming in third and Aurora in nineteenth place!

I found out that an annual death rate In Denver is due to alcoholic liver disease, and an average Coloradoan regularly downs five or more drinks in a sitting!

This not only ruins the reputation Of Denver and the state of Colorado but definitely is a bad influence for younger more impressionable minds. Obviously if a young teenager sees people guzzling a 6 pack of Corona they might think it is okay for them to.

This affects the students in Colorado because many teens have been caught drinking and Driving and some have been killed in fatal accidents due to drunk drivers.

In all this definitely leaves an impressionable mark on Colorado and hopefully we can set up some laws to fix the mess we are in.

pln 23

I was going through the Google reader articles today when I came around an interesting article titled Pocket Texting and Open Phone Tests by Will Richardson. The article talks about how a highschool student named Insoo uses his phone to text answers and uses the computer to reach answers to complicated problems.

Insoo doesn’t even have to take the phone out of his pocket to send an SMS. He knows how to slide it open, which buttons to push how many times to reach the “Send SMS” menu option, compose the entire text message, and hit the send button — all without even looking at the phone. This is especially handy when he needs to send an SMS during class. There is also a website that you can log into and types in any type of question and in a few minutes have another person answer them. Then Insoo can reward that person “knowledge points” which gives them credit for doing the problem. There are about 70 million users on this site so it is an easy way to cheat on homework.

I personally believe there is no gain from this what so ever. Even though you get your homework done you are not really learning the content. Soon that type of problem or question will come up on a test and you wont know how to solve it. This obviously is not beneficial.
In the classrooms today many children text each other. Some are pros and can text in their pockets like Insoo. In the article it talks about how they could be Texting answers to test questions with the teachers being oblivious to what is happening. With the technology today children should be able to use this technology wisely.

PLN 21

While going through the articles on the 2 cents worth blog I found an interesting one titled How Much does this Really Matter? . The article talks about how the U.S. one of the most prosperous nations on the planet don’t even know basic elementary and middle school subjects. While going through a scientific organization put together polls and tests and came out with appalling results. It is said that 66% of the U.S. population does not understand DNA, “margin of error,” the scientific process, and does not believe in evolution. Also 50% do not know how long it takes the earth to go around the sun, and a quarter does not even know that the earth goes around the sun. Not only is this sad but it is disgraceful. No wonder why “Are you smarter then a fifth grader” can find so many contestants. Educators must be shamed to know that students they probably had taught are as dumb as a rock. In the article he also asks does all this really matter. Sure they don’t know elementary curriculum and yes they do not understand that the planet is indeed not flat. But does it matter; they are all citizens who keep the economy together. They raise families, they pay their taxes, and they don’t break the law (at least some). So in the long run does It really matter that they know that DNA isn’t someone’s initials. My personal opinion is that they should know at least some of this information. The future is rapidly changing and so are the people in it. A lot of people do not have time to remember such facts but also focus at the task at hand. For example a person is in the army what should they rather know the scientific process or how to reload an overheated gun in a gunfight. Obviously the would rather know something that is more beneficial to them at the moment. You can’t kill a terrorist with a hypothesis and a procedure for those that don’t know that’s part of the scientific process). In our classroom certain students do show that they are eligible to be the next Paris Hilton all glam no brains. But others do retain their knowledge and do remember things from their first year of school. Hopefully our teachers are doing a well enough job to keep our brains afloat.

PLN 20

While going through the articles today I found an interesting one that related to not only baseball, a well loved sport, but to steroids and usually when you think of baseball and steroids you think of Barry Bonds. Baseball star Barry Bonds charged was the name of the article on thee BBC news post. FACTS In the past Barry Bonds has been tested multiple times for taking anabolic steroids. He has tested negative every time since then. Many people have wondered whether he has taken steroids or not. In the past he has said that he has never knowingly taken anabolic steroids or performance enhancing drugs. This somewhat makes you wonder if he did take steroids saying he never knowingly took the steroids. Today he was convicted with four counts of perjury and one of obstructing justice, which together carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in jail. Federal police have found out that during the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing substances for Bonds and other athletes. CONNECTIONS TO OTHERS This connects too many other sports and raises many questions. Obviously Barry Bonds has been in the spot light for steroid abuse. But the WWE or the World Wrestling Entertainment has also been rumored to be run by anabolic drugs. Recently CNN conducted an interview with former WWE champion John Cena about the steroid issue. In the interview John told the news reporter “absolutely not” and then later went into detail on what others have said and how people have lied about it. CNN then decided to edit out John Cenas answer and replace it with him saying yes he has but they will never catch them. Taking this totally out of context from different parts of the interview CNN has showed that the media has played in a large role in steroids. Connections to myself and the classroom To myself I adore WWE and all of wrestling entertainment. Yes wrestlers have died because of steroids and yes it may promote violence and yes the famous Benoit killings have been linked to performance enhancing drugs. But to myself I love to wrestle. I am currently on Arapahoe High Schools wrestling team. But due to recent events it has become shaming talking about sports because in the end the conversations end up talking about steroids. In the classroom people have written PLN’s about sports and whether they support them or how good a certain player is. It is sad that one person has to always succumb to steroid abuse to do an amazing feat such as win a world championship or the World Series. In the end it’s not our decision if they will take steroids we will never be able to stop the will of a person. All I know is I will not harm myself by taking the easy way out and hopefully people will realize that to.

pln 19

I was going through the Denver Post articles today when I found a controversial headline saying Do schools have birth-control role?. This experiment would take place in six Denver High Schools. FACTS I personally believe that the schools should not interfere with the students. Yes, it is true that 54. 5% of teenagers in Denver High Schools become pregnant in High School. But they should learn to take the issue into their own hands and not have sexual intercourse or to practice safe sex methods. I don’t think its right that the school should interfere with personal affairs. A large step in a teenager’s life is to be responsibility. I think that schools should take it upon themselves to have sex-education courses that provide knowledge in safe sex practices and on sexually transmitted diseases. By providing these classes they can either stop kid’s from having sex at to early and age and prevent many kid from getting sexually transmitted diseases. Any information that can be given to youth is useful. But schools are here to educate not be doctors. CONNECTIONS TO OTHERS Even with the pills being shown as an easy get out option to not get pregnant could convince students they can have sex and not be involved in the commitment that having intercourse really represents. This is not only sending the wrong message to students but to their parents. One of my close personal friends who lives down in Aurora South Carolina has experienced intercourse. She says she did not use safe sex methods but luckily her peers had a “magic pill” to get rid of the “little problem” she made. She now uses safe sex methods. Her counselors help her cope with these issues and supply students with proper materials in case intercourse ever happens. CONNECTIONS TO OUR SCHOOL This is important to our school because if the program passes with the school boards we might be given pregnancy pills like they are skittles. I don’t want to promote sexual intercourse at such a young age. In the end the choice comes down to the students. What choices they make is up to them. How they act today will affect who they are tomorrow.

PLN 18

I was going through the articles today when I found one that caught my eye. Hollywood writers strike was the title of the article. The article talks about the Hollywood writers strike and the reason behind the strike. The strike is caused by the lack of money being given to the writers of television shows. Writer wages are not only extremely low but writers are not being compensated for residual income such as disks on tape that are being marketed by Hollywood that brings in a lot of income that is not being shared with the original writers of the shows. Twenty years ago Hollywood came out with the idea of the DVD and today writers gain no profit from the billion dollar industry. Furthermore writers are not being compensated for movies and shows on the internet. Writers are taking a stand to get fair compensation for their work and have refused to write any new scripts. The question now comes down to who can last longer, the writers or Hollywood. This definitely is a David vs. Goliath story David being the small writers unions and Goliath being the multi billion dollar giant. But this time there is no enchanted slingshot there is only picket signs and dedication. The strike has affected shows; the late night shows have already started run re-runs. Will this be the fate of other series such as Aliens in America or Scrubs? No one knows how long the strike will last. Americans will either have to enjoy reruns or sit down and enjoy a good book. Families may want to enjoy some quality time playing a board game or even wait out the strike and watch some reruns. Only time will tell who will win. Will Hollywood win this battle? Maybe it is time for the writers to get some Law & Order of their own.

PLN 17

One of the most dreaded news an oil investor can hear is Oil passes $98 on weaker dollar . This was the title of a BBC news article today talking about oil prices and the ever weakening dollar. As some have noticed the gas prices have recently risen to an unbelievable high of three dollars and are still going up. What does something like this mean for America? Soon oil prices will hit 100 dollars a barrel that is inevitable. This matters to me because I will get my drivers permit soon and soon gas prices will be a problem of my everyday life. With the war weakening the U.S. dollar many wonder if we should begin to focus more on the economy and stop spending billions on the war. I think we should not only because I want the soldier’s to come home but if we do not do something we might go into another depression. Which leads me into why this should matter to others? While in a recession the economy has been falling apart. Colorado homes themselves have been very hard to sell. Adding it up oil prices, home prices, stocks doing badly. This sounds like an ongoing depression. What do you think?

Pln 16

Musharraf imposes emergency rule . Oh no President Musharraf of Pakistan has just imposed an emergency rule in Pakistan. This means that he has just suspended the Pakistani constitution. For those not familiar with Pakistan and its world role I will explain a little about it. Pakistan is a country with nuclear arms its current president/general is Perez Musharraf.
Pakistan has been engulfed in political upheaval in recent months, and the security forces have suffered a series of blows from pro-Taliban militants opposed to Gen Musharraf's support for the US-led "war on terror".
Though being one of our so called allies in the war on terror Pakistan is still a very dangerous country. Being one of the countries that has nuclear weapons on ready they are considered world enemies.
The emergency rule which suspends the constitution is considered a grave threat. The president can only suspend the constitution if there is mounting military attacks on his country either from Taliban forces or from the judicial court itself!
The core and judicial parts of Islamabad have been shut down and are under security guard as of now. But the rest of the city is going through every day life.
This matters to the world because Pakistan is a country against terrorism. This matters to other countries around Europe because this is a very high tensioned situation involving multiple diplomats.
This matters to m because I am very interested in foreign affairs and how they play out. I like to see if it will involve minimal violence or the United States.

PLN 14

1 dead in Larimer car crash
Woman killed in Adams County accident
Police seek hit-and-run driver
E. HARLEM CAR CRASH KILLS GIRL, 2
8-month-old ejected from car in accident
2 DEAD IN GRAVE TRUCK ACCIDENT IN BROOKLYN

What does all this have in common? I will tell you what they are all car accidents and people have died. These are just some of the very many car accidents around the world. People have died in horrible accidents. There have been massive car pile ups, car bombs, children being thrown hundreds of feet out windows, people burned alive, crushed to death the list goes on and on.

Good decent people have been killed in car accidents. Many have taken life forgranted. But when deaths cold touch comes near them they realize how lucky they are to be alive. All of these people have had their life taken away. Because of what a drunk driver.
Think about these incidents this way. One day you wake up, you’re going to have a great day ahead of you. You don’t even think about the fact of death. You get up and do your usual routine. Shower, teeth, clothes. You hear the phone ring but decide to not pick up. It was your parents…they call to see how you are doing. You decide not to respond I mean you can see them any day right. You’re going over to see your friends. Today’s your brother’s birthday. You decide not to celebrate it because he is not as much fun as your friends are. You are tired and decide not to wear a seatbelt besides who thinks its cool anyways. You get out of your driveway and take the usual road. Your driving minding your own business. You see a hot girl walk by and decide to yell out ay bay bay. Right when you take your eyes off the road for a second you feel a great amount of pressure on your body. Things fade in and out. Your pants are hot from the freshly spilled coffee. The airbag suffocating you. Your right arm in an unimaginable amount of pain. Your radio still blasting music as you sit there helplessly. You cant help to think of your whole entire life. Your childhood, your first fishing trip, your friends, your family. Your family who you took for granted and decided is not important. Your first girlfriend, your first dog, your first Christmas, your first birthday. You remember all your mistakes everything that didn’t seem important now means the world to you. Things go black. In under 4 seconds your life has changed. You have been in a deadly car crash. You are lucky you survived you were hit by a driver. It was your fault, you ran the stop sign. Your now in the hospital waking up. Your family staring at you. Where are your friends did they decide not to show up. You want to get up and give your family a big hug. You try and move you cant. Your legs feel like they are weighed down by a ball of lead. Your paralyzed your spinal cord no longer giving messages to your legs. You will never walk again. Your right arm is in pain you see that it is bandaged up. Bloodstains seeping through the bandage. You feverishly move it to see if it was okay. You yelp out in pain when you move it but pleased it is in working condition. Your family sitting there crying over you it has been a day and a half in the hospital. All that you can do now is cry and pray you can be part of normally functioning society. You look at your dads eyes you missed him you missed everyone you are glad to be alive.

This article is very important to me. My sister when she was very young got in a car accident with a drunk driver at the wheel. She survived but is not the same around that person. She still somewhat has a fear that I will not delve into.
This matters around the world because people die in car accidents. People all around the world are dying because of them. Try and make a difference and buckle up.

Pln 13

Wild fires are very dangerous. They are considered a natural disaster. The most famous wild fire today is the Chicago wild fire. The Chicago fire spread through all of Chicago killing many people and burning down hundreds of thousands of homes. Today a new epidemic such as that one is happening. In southern California a horrible fire is going on. Now over 500,000 people have been affected by this tragedy. Yes even celebrities are affected by this incident. California fires affect 500,000 is the title of the article.

In the article it talks about how the government was slow to respond to the last crisis in the U.S. It talks about how poorly we handled hurricane Katrina. Can the U.S. handle this situation differently? It is very different from a hurricane unlike the hurricane that eventually stops a fire will go on and on until something puts the blaze out. Especially with all the tinder and dry wood on the ground due to California’s heat wave from last summer can we stop the fire before it goes to our of control.

This relates to me because I have about 6 myspace friends who live in California. This fire has Already affected one of them. John and his family were evacuated from their home in California. He did not tell me if any of his material possessions have been lost. This affects the world because it will obviously cost tax payers a lot of money to fix the damage that is done. This is horrible event that has destroyed so much beauty and nature.

PLN 12

Earlier today I was playing around on my myspace account thinking of what I should write for my twelfth PLN, then my sister asked if she could get on her myspace, then it hit me I could do a PLN on myspace. I then went to Google reader and looked for a suitable article and then I found one. Myspace bars 29,000 sex offenders was the title of the article. I decided to read this particular article because I wanted to know how protected I am from sex offenders. I found out that myspace the 580 million dollar site has been very aggressive when it comes to sex offenders and people planning to violently attack someone. There over 600,000 known sex offenders in the United States. There over 80 million people on myspace thinking about it, it is not a very safe site and people should be more careful if they have one. Even though you have to be 14 or over to have a myspace account it hasn’t stopped people from creating one.

PLN 11

Wolves, wolves are majestic and rare creatures. They have been called spirits by some and evil beings by others. They are strong muscular animals and are said to be the caveman’s best friend. However they are not as many today. Sadly the wolf population is dying. They are now an endangered species; it is sad how people take for granted what they have until they lose it. Wolf sanctuary's expansion shot down was the articles name. Inside the article talks about how neighbors would not want the wolf area to expand due to their own selfish reasons. Why not give the animals there rights it is there right too is it not? The company will later try again and expand in November and hopefully people will have changed their minds about giving this species another chance to live free.

PLN 10

The World Series! The World Series is a wonderful event it captivates the minds of young children and even middle aged men alike. It has brought wonder and awe to some teams and defeat and disgrace to others. It can be a plentiful god or it can be an unforgiving mistress. Whatever way you look at it the Colorado Rockies are in the World Series. Fans across the nation were amazed when the Rockies swept the diamond backs taking them into the World Series. Fans from the very beginning couldn’t have been happier to get there hands on some tickets to see the Rockies play in the World Series.
I was searching through the articles today when I saw the headline World Series ticket outlook: It's tricky . I decided to take a look at the article and see how a tricky getting ticket really was. I found out there are two ways to get tickets. You can go online and hope your internet works or the server isn’t to busy and you can buy the tickets that way and then print off the ticket. To me this is not very fait because not only do you not have an actual ticket just a piece of paper but also you might not be able to buy a ticket due to a busy server or some other absurd reason. The second way is a lottery though you do get an actual ticket theres a chance that even if you are first in line you wont be able to get a ticket. The lottery as they quoted goes like this.

"Lottery" lines will form at Coors Field and the five Rockies Dugout Stores along the Front Range.
Those willing to stand in line should show up starting at 7:30 a.m. They will receive a lottery wristband and be ushered into a line.
The wristband will designate which line the fan will stand in. The number of lines will depend on the volume of fans showing up, Alves said.
Once all the lines are formed, the lottery will start. If your line is called, it proceeds to the ticket window. The process will work the same way at the team's Dugout stores, Alves said.
Not everyone in line is guaranteed a ticket. Some will hear the dreaded "Sold out!" call while waiting.
My idea of getting a ticket is just getting in line and waiting until they come on sale but we can not change the way they are going to sell them.

pln 9

Today I could not find any good news articles, I could not find any interesting blogs and when I watched the news all I saw were fifteen second clips about murders and death and problems. That is when it had hit me even though I could not find a blog on Google reader I remember I had posted my own personal rant and rave on my myspace blog. The title was WAT IS UP WITH THE NEWS. If anything in the world is more annoying is the news. Not the fact that it can be extremely dull at times but when they tell a news story about someone’s death all they say how old they are, what happened, and if the police will catch the killer. This annoys me because an actual person is dead. Their life is over they are not coming back all those years of life were ended in a few seconds. Say there was a story about an eighteen year old girl who was kidnapped and murdered. All the news does is say what happened and that the police are looking into it and then the news casters, with smiles on their faces, turn to the next camera and talk about another story. This irritates me because they don’t talk about the person if the person wasn’t famous they would get a few second story compared to if Donald Trump died people would mourn for days and ceremonies would be held and everyone would talk about it. If there was one thing that I could do I know I would want the news to talk about the person their accomplishments, their goals, how they grew up. I don’t want to die and no one knows about all the good I did. What do you think about this rant? Do you think it is unfair that the news wouldn’t give a rat about a person’s death and the affect it has on others

pln 8

War; is there ever a happy picture in war? You never see a picture of improvement in war zones. Even though people say that they are doing the right thing that they are helping the greater good that they are brining beauty back to the country. But whenever you type in that countries name all you see is pain and suffering you see terrorists and you see bloodied children. I was reading an article today talking asking the question where are all the happy pictures. I could not get a link to the articles so I will show you all that it said.

“How come whenever we search for pictures about Iraq or anything related to it all what we see are the pictures of death and blood? Where did the beautiful and happy pictures go? Or are they any?!” asks Iraqi blogger Morbid Smile.
I wonder myself is there any good going on in Iraq. With my dad over at Iraq and in the red zone he himself tells me there is no good at this place. He is under constant mortar fire, the people are unhappy, natives commit mass suicide and every which way there is desolation. He tells me that the news is full of pro war propaganda. People are dieing in Iraq. The soldiers will not help the people and for fun the soldiers threaten the civilians. If you ask me this doesn’t sound like a very happy picture. Is there any true happy places in Iraq or has it all been destroyed by tyranny. Do you think there are any happy places in Iraq? Do you think we are doing any good?

pln 7

While going through the news articles today I saw one which had not only caught my eye but put a bad feeling in my stomach. Killer deputy's motives 'unknown' was the title of the article. It talked about how a full time deputy coldly murdered six people and left another in critical condition. In such a small town this left a huge impact on the others in town because every one knew anyone a man said. This matters to me because this reminds me of the Columbine high school shootings. When someone can so coldly kill another person and then just walk away from it is a horrible thing. A more recent event is the Virginia Tech shootings when an emotionally disturbed boy shot and killed close to thirty people, the reason for why that boy did it was not found and neither was the reason why the deputy killed the young teens. It is a sad fact how easily a persons life can be ended. Is there ever a reason to kill a human, what do you think?

PLN 6

While searching for an article worth reading I found one titled Iraq violent death rates 'plunge' . I personally thought this was a huge improvement from what has happened in Iraq. Sadly 884 civilians were killed last month but that was half a drop from close almost 1,600 civilians. Maybe the extra 30,000 troops were somewhat successful on the war on terror. Also more good news that there were 62 U.S. fatalities which is good because that is the lowest since July 2006.

Although these successes of lower death rates in Iraq the political issues are still in very bad condition, There are many fears that with the extra troops there will soon be escalating violence again. But for now let’s enjoy our 33% death rate drop and keep fighting the war on terror.

PLN 5

I was skimming through the articles on Google reader today, when to my surprise I found an article on the Iranian presidents' visit. Iran president in NY campus row (ctrl + click to view source) was the title of the BBC news article.
Seeing how I missed the news yesterday I decided to follow the link. Once opening the article I was appalled to see that the Iranian president denies the holocaust. Seeing how I have done two school projects, one twelve page report and interviewed close to thirty holocaust survivors I was very infuriated at the president's words.

The “brazen” president had no respect toward other people at the meeting. He was also very dull when it came to his people. When a student asked how he treated homosexuals in his country he smirkly replied, “In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country” with that in thought I began to laugh at the presidents’ remark as did everyone else in the meeting.

Though I do not enjoy the president of Iran, I still wish I would have been able to see him speak in person. Why? Well because even though he is an Arabian Hitler it is definitely a once in a life time chance to see someone of such importance.

This matters to me because all world issues are important and affect everyone. It could also be a popular subject in the classrooms. My personal view is that the man is a war hungry maniac who raises tensions for fun. But that is my opinion on the story. Now think what do you think about a man like this?

PLN 4

While sifting through the articles today I found another world crisis article talking about bin laden and his holy war. Bin Laden urges Pakistan jihad was the title of the article on the BBC. First the article talked about the promises of the bin laden overthrowing the Pakistan leader. He declared how the leader was weak and is an infidel for losing 100 men in an army operation. I did not think much of this threat because Bin laden has made threats like this in the past and has no fulfilled. Of course I would not put it past any human especially a terrorist to try and kill a world leader. This matters to the world because this small threat could turn into a huge epidemic which could turn into a war and wars affect everyone. This matters to me because if the war is still going on when I am eighteen years old I have a high chance of being drafted into the war on terror. With the technology that we are developing war zones are very dangerous especially in foreign lands.

plen entry 3

While flipping through the TV channels today a story on BBC America had caught my attention. The story was about a Swedish cartoonist who had to go into hiding because he drew a picture of the prophet Muhammad on a dog’s body. Thinking how this might be on the BBC blog on Google reader I decided to look up the story. After a few minutes of searching I found the head line saying “Swedish cartoon drawer in hiding”. Wanting to find out more about the story I clicked on the link and read the page report.
Three key points I found in the story were that terrorist groups had put a 100,000 dollar reward on the authors head. Another is that the author was brought into hiding and is not known when he may return from it. Finally the Swedish prime minister had met 22 Muslim ambassadors from other countries over the issue.
While reading through the article I couldn’t help but chuckle a few times. I found it silly that the Muslim community can be so easily offended about one picture of their prophet, while Christians and Catholics see indecent pictures of their saviors being drawn everyday even some by Muslim illustrators. To me this is a very ironic story because it shows how politically correct the world has become and how easily offended some communities can be on the subject of religion.

PLN ENTRY 2

While looking through many bland and somewhat lifeless blogs today one headline from the BBC news had caught my eye. In big blue bold letters the blog read “FRANCE WARNING OF WAR WITH IRAN”. Now with this in mind my first thought was oh no could the murmurs of an upcoming world war be true. So with this thought in my head I clicked the link and read the article. Submitting to my own thoughts I began to become worried of having another Middle Eastern country obtaining another nuclear weapon. But while reading on the article soon soothed my mind by reporting that Europe is ready for any nuclear attacks and is reducing all shipments to Iran. While this is all good news for European powers I begin to wonder what the U.S. is preparing to do. Being a super power full of “rich fat pigs” quotes some French citizens are we really ready to go to war with another country. Can we handle not only being in an intense condition with Korea and other Middle Eastern powers should we really add one more to the list? "We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war," says the French foreign minister. Now is this true should we prepare for war? Is the Mayan prediction of the apocalypse of 2012 actually real? Will technology be the doom of us? We will all find out sooner or later but until then I leave the question with you. Should we prepare for war with Iran?

google reader

While going through the blogs today I came across a particularly interesting article. This article not only talk of future space travel but also how there may be life on unknown planets. The blog was created by David in the 2 cents folder. While reading through the article I came across three interesting points I would like to talk about. The first was the book that Daves friend was writing about a mind blowing look into the future of inter stellar travel. This to me is very important for two reasons one I had always enjoyed astronomy and reading about it the second reason is because I have always wondered what futuristic travel would be like. A second interesting topic was the talk about life on other planets. When hearing that there may be life on other planets I was definitely blown away. Thinking about other life other beings is one of the most amazing thing in the world also given the fact that they are not even on this planet is extraordinary. One other subject that intrigued me was the advances we have made over the past years. David recalls the past events of watching sputnik or echoes flying into space. He also recalls the time when the world watched man walk on the moon. An irony was also told in his story, he reminisces when the thought of space travel was the idea of a crazed man and today it is in an every day conversation. This article is very interesting to me and I am glad I subscribed to his blog.

What Matters To Me

My Family

My family is so important to me. They have been there since day number 1 and have never turned me down. Ranging from my little sis to my wonderful father my family is number one on the list of things that matters to me. They have always pushed me to do my very best and then some.

My dad has been my idol ever since when I was a toddler. People have always told me I looked like him and to me that is the biggest compliment. Not only has he taught me skills which I can use in life ranging from hunting to being the computer wiz I am now. He has taught me empathy, sincerity, and to always confront my problems face to face. Without him I would not be the person I am today.

My mom is the most wonderful human being alive. She always gives and never expects anything in return. My mom has always tried me to get to do new things and everything she got me to try I don’t regret. The one thing I can never be more thankful for is her teaching me how to read. She is such an important person to me she has taught me how to treat a lady, be polite and downright civil.

My uncle is very important to me. Even though he is not in my collage he still matters to me. He has taught me so much over the years. I remember him telling me stories of the medieval days and all the stories of hierarchies and the tales of the knight’s templar. He has introduced me to hundreds of books which have definitely increased my knowledge. He has helped inspire me to begin to write and I am so thankful for that. He always informs me of news and we always have conversations sometimes for hours.

My sister also matters to me. Though young my sister is an important person in my life. She takes care of me when I am sick and always goes out of her way to help me. She is definitely my mothers’ daughter she always tries to help other people even if it ends up hurting her self. I am happy to call her my sister.

My Pets
My dogs are such wonderful animals. They always want to sleep and never want to sleep. They get along with each other very well. They are my closest friends. They never argue with me and just want to listen and be with me. They never ask for anything except for the occasional bone.
My cat has always looked like the smartest animal in the house. He always looks like he has something on his mind. He can always warn me if someone is coming and always wants to be stroked. He is the best little cat in the world.

My Education
Education is so important to me. You can do almost anything with knowledge. It is the one lightless gift that u can always carry around. Hopefully with my knowledge I can go to a good college and then get a job I love. Knowledge is the key to any door.

My Exercise
Exercising is so important to me. It has helps me relax, opens up more doors for sports, and being fit feels so good. Without exercise I would not be the way I am today and I am thankful I have stuck with exercising over the years.

My Books
Reading has always been a very important concept to me. It opens so many doors and enlightens so many people. Books have influenced and entertained people for thousands of years. The bible is one of the most influential books in the world. I cannot be thankful enough for books they are a wonderful way to express yourself.

My Friends
My friends are definitely the best things that have ever happened to me. They always have a smile on their faces and always want to help each other out. Over the years I have made very many friends including some I will know until the day I die. There is always a special place in my heart for my friends.