Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
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?
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?
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
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.
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.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)