Sports

http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/mid/1508/ArticleId/880/Default.aspx

http://www.therichest.org/sports/most-popular-sports-in-america/

Well its game day night and people are starting to crowd around TV’s to watch their favorite sport, but how much of us really watch the sport? According to harris interactive about 66% of adults in the Midwest watch football on TV.  While that’s over half the Midwest population I think that what we really like about game day is more than just the sport.  

What I find that happens when we go over to a house to watch a football game is that we watch it but also we talk and catch up on what has been going on in really life. Not just what is on the TV. This is also a time when you see ideas being exchanging. WE talk about more than what we see on TV but work and school also.

While what sports we play is very similar to what we watch.  Football was the top played sport followed by baseball and basketball. These games both loved to be played and watched by Americans all over. What I like about playing a game of a certain sport is that it has a lot more actively add into it more than just watching the game.

Some sports that you don’t see every day that become very popular every four years are Olympic sports. Like swimming and ping-pong which, when you have normal cable you can’t watch every day. But when the Olympics come around you see sports you have hardly thought of as a sport.

The most watched Olympic sport this past year was track and field, however I know I watched not just track. I also watched diving, volleyball, and horseback riding which was one of my favorites. Once again when you look back didn’t you also sit with either some friends or family and watch either the opening or closing ceremonies for the Olympics? What we have here is a ting that brings the whole world together. Sports.  

So as you gather around the TV next time to watch any sporting events think about what you are doing. Not just watching a game but helping spread a culture with ideas exchanged around the TV. This is why  I think in the end maybe I should go to that football game party next week so that I can see and enjoy people. 

When in doubt act sick

When in doubt act sick

For my Ap biology class we have to read a scientific novel on a biology subject. I am reading “The Great Influenza” by John M. Barry. It is about the Influenza epidemic that would hit the US during and after WWI. But this book doesn’t look at just the disease but who studied it and how the disease spread so quickly. 

The first part of the book, look at the development of how we trained or lack of training we required of our physicians. This lead to a lack of good health care in America; while in Europe they were starting to rethink and explore why the body got sick and how to prevent and fix it.

One of the major thing that I think they talked about is some doctors got their degree and never even touched or worked with either a cadaver or live patient till they started practicing.  My book emphasizes that this changed with the opening of John Hopkins medical school.

The main person to head this institution was William Henry Welch. Welch would become one of the most important people in this book. He would encourage other people to be great   and his idea of having a medical school with a laboratory to do nothing but research would help America change its ways of looking at medicine. Just in time for an epidemic that would be greater that any we had seen before or after.

 The influenza that would be the star of this epidemic would be Spanish influenza.  Spanish influenza didn’t start in Spain but Spain was the only country that kept a real record of how many of its people died from it.  One thing about Spanish Influenza that is important is it is a virus meaning that it can’t be treated very well with antibiotics. This meant that if a case broke out it might spread and physicians would have no way of combating it.

The Spanish influenza started in Fort Riley, United states. It started in an army camp because when we were mobilizing to join World War I, the army base camps were packed with new recruits who wanted to stop the German. This is how   the disease spread to other parts of the world with soldiers traveling to Europe to fight.

The camps where not ready for this; Meaning that overcrowding was in every camp. Also that winter was a cold one so men huddled around stoves to keep warm sharing there germs.  One thing that was bad was that at these camp the men who were there were from all over the country. So the immune systems where all over on know what kind of bacteria and virus it could fight.  That meant these means immune systems were up against now thing there body had seen.

I haven’t finished the book yet but it is very interesting so far have looked at not just doctors but military men and even Wilson who was president during the epidemic.  

New Year

Happy Holidays

          Well Christmas and all other holidays have come to past and we have one left; New Year’s. With the saying “Happy New Year!” you reflect on the past year and look to a brighter future.

What we forget is the past. This past Christmas was great. I spent it with my family at home. We didn't leave to go anywhere that day. My grandmother came and we had a Christmas dinner that was Delicious  So to celebrate the birth of our lord savoir, I think it was pretty good.

Last month I celebrated Thanksgiving up in Chicago, with my mom’s family. We had turkey, and assorted food of the thanksgiving type. I was thankful for my family, along with my health.  I forgot to thank god for the blessings other than that so never year that will be a goal; to be more thankful.

I spent some of break with my family and it was nice to see them. I saw cousins from both sides of the family and they loved to see me too. Family brings people together in  ways that no sporting event can. We feel a little closer to the People we love this time of year, but new year’s will pass and the feeling of family will pass and it will be back to the old grind of school and work till next Christmas.  

Now that Christmas has passed and I have seen my family I wish and hope that you had a great Christmas.What I hope is by this time next year I can look back at the year and feel like I have achieved more than I want, to have done something worth a year’s time. For when time pasts you can’t go back. What is in the past is in the past and we must look to the future to find a better us.

Fatal flaw

We read book and watch movies. In them we have characters who are people. They have fatal flaws that make them less than perfect.  But in the books by J.R.R Tolkien you find that whole races are less than perfect. The elves of middle earth are prideful and that is their fatal flaw. They get themselves in to trouble with this pride and it kind of leads to the fact that the ring is still there.

 One great fatal flaw is the dwarfs love for precious metals and gems. It leads to the lost of two of their great cities. Moria and the lonely mountain, both which are lost due to their greed of. Moria they dug to deep, and awoke both goblins and a beast of the deep. While in the lonely mountain the great metals brought a dragon to their door step which drove them out.  The dwarfs tried to reclaim both, Moria was a good try but in the end it is lost. The lonely mountain is reclaimed and they get that but the dwarfs have to split the gold.

The humans of middle earth are power hungry and that is there fatal flaw. It leads to them being easily corrupted by power and the one ring.  You see that with the ruler of Gondor and the ring which he takes for himself and is kind of his death.  It is the fear of most that if the ring was to fall into the hands of a human the war and middle earth, would be lost. The ring doesn’t fall into the humans hand but of that of the hobbits.

Hobbits are very simple folk. In the books they don’t have a fatal flaw. They can’t be corrupted by power, greed or pride. They are simple folk, who just want to live in peace. What you find is that hobbits are what we might find as pure innocents. With the fact that in stature they are like children. Where they live the worst thing that can happen is you miss a meal, or are too much of an outgoing person. When I think of both the hobbit and the lord of the rings, I think for hobbits as the pure folk of middle earth. The ones that no one thinks of; all hobbits want is just a nice place and a good meal. 

a hobbit

There and Back again by JR.R. Tolkien.

With all these movies based on books coming out, I was a little worried about how they would do the hobbit.  After seeing it I can say it was very good almost the whole time. IT had some great moments that were from the book and some they added to it that were great; some that just weren’t that that’s what we are going to look at.     

The beginning doesn’t start right at the beginning of the book it takes it into the future right before where the lord of the rings starts with Bilbo’s birthday. You even see Frodo at the beginning going to the place where you first see him in the first lord of the rings book.  

Once you get the movie going it gets good, the chapter of the unexpected party is like the book, it even starts with the exact word from the book. “In a hole in the ground lived a hobbit.” The arrive of Gandalf confuses Bilbo just as much in the movie as in the book and you can laugh out loud when he finds himself with a house full of dwarfs’. The dwarfs sing a song from the book as they clean up and it is very well done.

A scene that was needed to be well done was the one between Bilbo and Gollum during their battle of riddles. The first meet between the both of them is very similar as it is by the great lake and Gollum doesn't eat him first.   They go back and forth with riddles until Bilbo asks that fateful question, “What is in my pocket.” It’s the ring of course; the ring to rule them all. But Bilbo doesn't know that.

The back drop for this movie is great. You see places from the first movies and new places that are new to the viewers. One of my favorites is the shire. It looks like a place of safety and even very innocent in the idea of the worst thing happening is missing a meal. While as you go place you see the change from the great underground kingdom of the goblin king, where Bilbo gets lost and come across the underground lake were Gollum lives. To the Rivendell were we have been multiply times.  

The sad part was that it ends at a very bad moment. Right before you start to get to the great scenes. With the giant spiders and Dragon. I can’t wait for the next movie and the dragon is going to be great!

review of pottermore

A review over pottermore

This is a website that is made by J.K Rowling for Harry Potter Fans. I found myself having problems with signing up on my nook so I tried it on the computer. It still had some issues with giving me a username I liked but other than that it was a pretty easy sign up.

When you start their goes on a lot of info thrown at you about the web site but once you get into reading the material that is given to you from the web site it is eye opening.  Pottermore gives you insight from Rowling on subjects that you wouldn’t expect. Like how the Dursleys house was her second home as a child. 

One thing about the site is you go in book order. So you don’t get to read about random content. You have to get through the books. I having read all of them find it interesting to read about how Aunt Petunia fell in love with her husband but some might not. 

One thing that has been happening is that I have been showed by the web site to collect stuff.  These thing I don’t know what I’m doing with yet but I hope to find out. One of the cooler things about this site is that it was made by .K Rowling. Like how as she was writing the book she came up with subplots for other characters.

What I have found that  the site follows the books to a T even better than the movies, when you get to the end of the book and have to do the challenges  to get to the philosophers  stone, is one not includes in the movie it’s the potions, logic one from the book. The riddle is the exact one from the book so to pass it I just need to look at how Hermione solved it in the book and it was right!

This whole idea of going into the book is great. It is exciting and adds a whole new level to the books. The content that is in the site that isn’t in the books in new and great, I just love this site and if you are a fan of harry potter you will to.

A book to read

Hope is a hard thing to find. We think we have yet at the slightest moment it can be gone. To be wining something then in one swift moment have your hopes dashed. But what if what you’re hoping for is something you can’t lose.  I have read a book like that. It was the Daughter of Smoke and bones.

That is what happens to Karou. She has a past like no other where it has been that her hopes and dreams have lead to her death. She dreamed of ending a war between angles and monsters; for when you all in love with the enemy, it will almost always end in tragedy.  

She had loved a angel, who also didn’t want to fight any longer. To be children of was which they both were a thing that had made them unwilling to just see blindly. They found hope which is something that all people can find, but to hang on to it you must give it more than just a little hope but more like a reason to hope for.

When we finish the first book we find that Karou must take hope to find the people that she might have lost. The only person who she has loved may have killed her people. That is betrayal and she loses hope and faith in him. Then she switches some of the bale to herself; for she let him live.  

The book is very good and I love it. For in it you find a strong female character who becomes a girl who kind of falls apart then has to piece herself back together; For now in her second life she is not just one but also something else.  The second book is also out and I say it is just as good with plot twists and unforeseen changes in people. You get to spend more time with the main characters but you also get to look at what warfare does to people, and how a great person can go from being very good to having self loathing of themselves over something they had done a long time ago.

The book at the beginning is kind of one for finding yourself but then if shifts to that of looking at warfare and its setbacks.  War had ruined life for both sides in creating armies of parentless children whose only purpose was to fight and then there was the Wishmonger who would bring back the dead

In the next book I’m hoping that the author will bring in a way to have the characters   come to terms with themselves. With self forgiveness and that of other and how do you put a society back together after a long war. These are thing that we can all learn from even if it isn’t in the real world but that of a place not even real. People can  grow form book if they just read to learn.

A movie to look at..

Look down, look down, and don’t look them in the eye. In a tone of rhythm that creates the idea of hard labor we find ourselves in the story of les miserable. It is in truth a tragic for most of the characters.  These characters threw song tell us of their feelings of hurt, betrayal, and love.   Characters come in all ages in this tale; from a young Cosette who dreams of a castle on a cloud to her adopted father Jean Valjean; He sings more often of redemption and mistakes of the past.   

In the movie that will be coming out this month they had to portray that in their costumes.  Cosette in her youth is dressing in nothing but rags but when she is taken by Jean Valjean, his cloths shift to those of the wealthy.  He also ages over time from a convict to a man in the higher part of society. The prostitutes are to have colorful dresses that are see threw. This reminded me of animals showing off their color to get attention.

The set of this show is going to be amazing they have put their heart and soul into it. With real parts of Paris and carpenters who built blocks of imaged parts of pairs the set will help create the illusion of an old city.  It was built at a slant to create uneven feeling of a place that is dirty and in the video it looks it. You go out and walk the France mountains so that you feel the earth and the reality of the movie.  

I can’t wait to see this show. I have been hearing parts of this musical most of my life because it is one of my mom’s all time favorite musicals. The stories of love, hope and faith come into play and they create a sense that these people are real and their dreams are ours as well.

http://www.lesmiserablesfilm.com/videos.html

http://www http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1pGPRDzx8A.youtube.com/watch?v=jd5ffc48RJU

Dreaming of a better future

The hope in the unseen is story of a young man’s journey from bad beginnings to what could seem like a brighter future. That is also the journey of those in the chorus hopes to find. In the song Do you hear the people sing they sing of their anger and long to be free of their life of begging. Cedric also is from a life of the poor but his hope isn’t in a revolution it’s in a good education.

What we also see are the people around him and how his choice affect them. His mother is one of these people who are affected. She has been a single mother most of her life. Having two daughters before Cedric she knows what she must do to take care of him.

A different mother who also goes to great lengths to save her child is Fantine of Les miserable.  She sells everything she possesses from her locket to her own body as a prostitute. While Cedric’s mother doesn’t have to do that to get money that same compassion to her son is there.  She becomes very depressed after her son leaves her losing control of her spending and taking time off of work.  While when Fantine finds out that she has lost her job at the factory, she sings of her lost hope in I dreamed a dream were her hope of finding the man she had loved would come back to her. Cedric’s mother hasn’t died yet for her child but her work is hard.

The Fathers of these two stories are very different from the mothers. While Jean Valjean who is the fatherly character to Cosette, is her strong father threw and threw. Cedric’s dad is also a criminal like Jean Valjean but it is how he takes his parole that if different. While they bothb run away from their parole officer you find that Jean Val Jean takes it in him to turn his life around because of God and redemption. Along the way taking in Cosette and caring for her like a father. Cedric’s Dad on the other hand does none of this for himself or even his own son.  He doesn’t try to change his ways of stopping the drug use and that is the difference, that unwillingness to change in Cedric’s dad.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYizXBQ5EQA

The Best Charater

Reading the hope unseen find myself not following the main characters as much as the side characters. The teachers are the ones I see the person I can relate to most to and it’s not me it is my mother. These teachers deal with kids who all there life have been raised by a low social class.  

                My mom works with these kinds of kids also; they come from the lower class home. But unlike the kids of Ballou they will move on from my mom’s class and go on to better ways. Are schools here aren’t as bad as the one Cedric goes to.

Though my mom works with these kinds of kids; she is not like the some of the teachers in the book. She is strong and she wants them to get better. She works with them and gets them to improve; they study better and also she teaches them ways to succeed; but the teachers of Ballou and even the MIT guy have lost hope. They show threw what I am reading that they have to only teach to the kids who want to learn and instill in them a want to learn and to go to a place better then were they are at.  

My mom has started to feel the way those teachers do. This is a sad thing to watch because she is really good at her job. With her years she has become a great teacher, but the students have started to wear on her good nature and feeling of doing something right.

If my mom were to go to a school that is better in the social class then she is now would that help her? Or would she work there and again feel dissatisfied with her work and the level of help she is giving. I hope that as time goes on that the teachers of the book a hope of the unseen that the teacher will become better and more focused on their kids like Mr. Taylor one of Clerics teachers.  I liked him because he had real compassion for Cedric and showed to challenging him and giving him work to make him a better student. The teachers at MIT were also good for Cedric in that they gave him a wake up call on how far he was behind. A good teacher I think is one who changes but also offers to help when a student asks or needs it.

A hope unseen post

At Ballou High School, bright students like Cedric learn that “distinctiveness can be dangerous, so it’s best to develop an aptitude for not being noticed.” How do you think Cedric’s experiences would compare and contrast (pattern of Development!) with the educational experience here at Kennedy?

Here at Kennedy the administration put its students under the microscope in academics.  Are principle Dr. W is always encouraging us to do well on our standardized test and to take hard Ap class. When we have awards in our class level; almost everyone gets a t-shirt and an award sheet saying they are doing well. This gives the idea that almost everyone is a kind of bright student not just a few like those that are at Ballou.

Ballou the school that Cedric attends, the administration works hard to single out only the students that go above and beyond the standard of everyone. This makes them targets in ways that here don’t happen.  Cedric has been forced to be alienated by the fact that he wants to succeed in a different none convention way. To the students of Ballou to succeed is to come out and be alive. They don’t have plans to for a true future; At least most of them.

The thing I feel that has been pushed here the most is AP class. These classes are hard core and they put a lot of pressures on the students.  Maybe like Ballou the taking of the AP class is the normal and like Ballou if you don’t take it some people make judgment on your worth to this school. Not just the students but teachers also.  This makes students feel that to be a good student they need to take up the challenge and take that AP class even if it will inhibit them from doing other things like sleep and maybe have less stress.

 At Kennedy the normal is to go to college, while being just a high school degree and not carrying on with more education is not the normal. It is what you would say is the Cedric’s of Kennedy. This can be a sad thing that everywhere we go there are outcast; they have little friends and with that they have a drive to stuff the different so as to keep what they are special. Where it’s dropping out or going to a better greener pasture.  

A game of throne

The game of thrones is a book about the houses of a Lannister , the starks and the ruling family Baratheon, there is also one more family but that family has lost power and they are the Taragaryen’s. That family has been exiled across the sea. This book is their way of living while tring to play the game of thrones. What you find out is that nothing good ever happen.  The families live in melodramas that will lead to the death of a lot of people.

This whole book is a melodrama of people. Each family has problems, each character a secret. The Starks head of the clan is Eddard but everyone calls him Ned. He rules the north from winterfell.  His wife was originally supposed to marry his older brother but he was killed by the mad king, her name Catelyn and she is of the house Tully. They have five kids and Ned has one bastard. The five children are Robb, Snasa, Arya, Brandon,Rickon who is only three. Ned’s bastard name is Jon Snow. The last name Snow is the way of telling the world that Jon is a bastard. He can't use the last name Stark. He has never known his mother. Ned stark brought him back from the fight over the last time the iron throne change houses.

Now it belongs to the Baratheon family. The king is named Robert and he is good friends with Ned. Ned helped him get his throne from the last Taragaryen king.  He was suppose to marry Neds sister who he was madly in love with, but she died, which broke his heart. Now he is married to Cersei who is queen. She is of the house Lannister. The Lannister house is the riches house of all others. 

Queen Cersei has two brothers. Her Twin named Jaime, he killed the last king he is also a knight and heir to Casterly Rock. Her other brother is called the “imp” he is a dwarf, his really name is Tyrion. While his brother is strong of sword Tyrion is a great thinker and planner.

The final house that is of great know is the Taragaryens, they were the blood of the dragons, and ruled for over 283 years. The family was mostly massacred at the sacking of kings landing. Prince Viserys and princess Daenerys are the last of the Taragayens and they are only children. We find out that The people call Viserys the beggar king. He has no money but wants to take back the iron throne. Daenerys is at the beginning married to Khal Drogo of the Dothraki. They are strong warriors and raise great horses. They are nomadic people.   Danny is only 13 when this happens. She has never been to her homeland having been born on only a small rock while the king ready his forces to come and kill her and her brother. One of her wedding gifts that she is given is three dragon eggs. The dragons have been gone for a long time the eggs are sad to be dead but we will find out.

This book has a lot of stuff going on in it, Rarely any of it good. A problem that might come from the north is that in the back of the country is a great ice wall. It separates the country from the wilds of the frosted woods. There you would find magical and strange creatures like dire wolves and ice people who bring back the dead..

Being human

The idea that we are human is a big one. We breathe air, we eat food, and we live. What sets us apart from other animals? Is it that we live in houses or that we can build many amazing things? What makes us human?

The first thing that sets us apart is the way we communicate. It’s not just between, person to person but we can communicate with other animals. We use are voices to tell each other what we want or how we feel; also tell a dog to sit. This is something unique about a human are ability to learn.

Other thing that we share with mammals but we have taken to the next level is affection. We present each other with gifts not just to a person we may have a crush on but to a family member for a holiday or their birthday. Animals don’t do that; they may present a shiny rock to a potential mate but not a family member.  

Do animals have feeling? We say they. A dog can be guilty, a cat aloof, a hoarse playful but is that a human thing? Humans are the only ones who characterize feelings, but they hardly call them happy or sad.

As human beings we are special in the way we look at the world, the only thing close is Are evolutionary tree family member the apes. Who also show the closes thing to human emotion? I do believe that we are up high on feeling and emotions but is that a good thing? 

Swimming

Yesterday was regional swimming, next week State for the high schools of Iowa. With the times getting hard it’s starting to feel like we are all just getting faster.  While not every high school has a swim team that means that they aren’t unheard of.   Kennedy went to Clinton for Regional's this weekend it was pretty good. We got second place just losing to Pleasant Valley and we had some good swims. Next week state will be at Marshall town and we hope to swim fast. We will find out what it takes to be fast in Iowa. They only take the top 24 in the state for any event. Relays are a lot better because you have your team mates to cheer you on. Swimming is both a team and individual sport. It is one of the rare ones.  

STRESS

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110809092045.htm

http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2011/09/academic-stress.aspx

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2011/01/its_not_the_job_market.html

Stress level is high at school and it is. We spend all our time studying for class and stress relief is hard to find. Think of it this way. If you are a student athlete you have to get up go to school then practice, then at least eat something then do homework. You have to shift gears a lot.

Now students aren’t the only ones who are stressed.  In a slate article the author Taylor Clark tells us that “the united states is the most anxieties nation”.  Here in the U.S. A, we are just a bunch of worry warts.   

Stress is affecting everyone. Children at school have pressure from their teachers at home their parents. Adults have bosses and children to stress them out.

To change this trend of a stressed out America, we may need to take a look at finding ways to calm down. Stress can do bad things to the body when not used right.

Stress was originally used to protect us from dyeing at the hand of disease and other protectors. Now today stress makes us gain weight and not sleep well.

We need to relax. To do this a healthy diet, lots of sleep and excises can help. Also some time to relax and do nothing  can unwind this tight nation. 

Taylor swift.

Music is a thing I live on. It falls in love with me and it tells of long. One of my favorite artists of all times is Taylor Swift. Her music just makes me smile and it just tells of things like passion, and heartbreak.

Taylor swift has risen to her fame buy her ever changing music. She started as a country singer and is now a pop start, but having been to one of her concerts live I must say she knows what she is doing. Her concert had that enchanted feeling and when she rose out from under the stage to the spraks of sparks fly you knew that this was going to be a night to remember.

Army Strong

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46297361/ns/today-relationships/t/marriage-retreats-combat-high-rate-military-divorce/

Last year nearly “30,000 marriages” ended last year, all those marriages where of military families that had severed overseas in combat. My family wasn’t one of them. I have a father who is in the military. He wasn’t around a lot sometimes.  He has working in the Middle East and here in Iowa. My mom has raised my brother and a lot by herself.  What it has been is hard for both sides of their marriage and on if they should stay together in this marriage. They have but it’s been a lot of work.

When you spend a lot of time with a person you come to know them and their habits, but if that person was to leave and go to war then come back they never come back the same.  Sometimes they lose a leg or an arm. Even when they do come back physically sound mentally they may not be.   Nearly “20% of the total returning troops” from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.   http://operationmilitaryfamily.com/guides/mental-health/  That can put pressure on a marriage or on a family member.  Post-Traumatic stress disorder is a reaction to a traumatic event in your life, like combat. It can cause many mental issues like the inability to express feeling and cope with change.  http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/pages/what-is-ptsd.asp

My family is truly lucky.  We are still one family. After over 5 years together of my dad being gone we are still a family. It had taken a lot of hard work on are part but it has been worth it. My uncle has also severed in the military; he has severed overseas 3 times but has also had a divorce and is into his second marriage. It was not his fault that the marriage ended it was his wife’s choice and he tried to stop it but she had moved to Texas already by the time he could come home.  

The army has a saying “there is strong, then theirs army strong.”  I like to believe that even if I haven’t ever really been in the army that I am army strong just for my father. He is my idol in his strength to leave his family and go to war. My mother is also army strong in that she can stay here and raise to children and support him. She is home front strong and I idolize her from it.  So luck is just really hard work to stay a family.

NOt just in the books

Books carry a lot of similarity between them. When you compare them you find parallels not just to the real world but to other books and the past. A book is what the author needs to say in a way that is creative and different.

One way you see this parallel is in“lord of the rings” by J.R.R. Tolkien. His writings show very big parallels, not even just in the Good Vs. Evil but in industrializing from an agrarian society, it is shown in the way the hobbits’ are more of calm farming folk while their opposite the goblin builds weapons of destruction and use the industrializing for war. Mr. J.R.R Tolkien was an English professor, but serviced in World War 1 at the battle of Somme, this may have given him the idea of war being so bad with industrializing because World War 1 was a war of technology. http://www.lord-of-the-rings.org/author.html

J.R.R Tolkien may have been one of the greatest fantasy fiction writers of all time. His books of good versus evil and defeating with friendship and loyalty will be a good read for a long time. He is not the only good writer though, another excellent writer who uses ideas that to read the book only once would be missed. That would be J.K Rowling and Harry Potter.

J.K Rowling is known for her book about a young wizard who is chosen to save the all of the wizard world from one very evil man. She first penned the beginning of harry potter on the back of a napkin, and that little idea on a back of a napkin became a global phenomenon.

These books like the lord of the rings show similarities to other idea and themes. Like lord of the rings it a good versus evil idea with one person trying to change the course of the future. In lord of the rings its Frodo and destroying the ring, while for Harry it is stopping and in the end killing Lord Voldemort. They both triumphant threw loyalty, courage, and friendship.

Harry potter also carries the real world idea of propaganda. Voldemort uses it to keep people afraid of him. This is similar to Minster of magic who use the newspaper to keep people in check.

 Harry potter uses propaganda but not as much as , the hunger  games. This story uses it so much not just by the capitol, but district thirteen.  They both use Katness and Peeta As signs of either peace or rebellion.  Their propaganda either is for or against rebellion.

Vote Now!!

http://library.thinkquest.org/C0111500/proptech.htm

Propaganda the use of information to create a opinion in the favor of the party presenting it.  This is being use today. With all the talk about elections we are seeing poetical adds everywhere and they are very much propaganda. They use them to get votes and for companies to get buyers.

Techniques of propaganda show us that it can be effective. Picket signs in people’s front yard show both a Glittering generation and a bandwagon because you see a lot of who your friends are voting for. This year I hear a lot of plain folk. The potations are trying to sound like they understand my situation. Which they don’t!

We see a lot of books use propaganda in there settings to add to the fact that the main charater is standing up to something. Harry does this in the harry potter book by keeping his faith in himself and Dumbledore while the daily prophet tries them apart.  In the hunger games, Katniess falls for the propaganda and joins the rebellion because they appeal to her feeling of lost of home and safety after the capitol burns district twelve.

Now politician aren’t the only ones who use propaganda. Big companies use it to. Those ads that are just odd are trying to sell you something. Weather it threw card stacking or testimonies. To avoid falling for propaganda you need to do your own researcher, and ask yourself why am I buying this?  These points and the link above can help you identify and stop yourself from falling from the truth.

She's the man

"She’s the man” is the twist of the William Shakespeare tale the “twelfth night”. I watched it this weekend at a swimmer party and found it quite funny.  It is the story of a  Viola who dress up like her brother, to go to a school to play scorer fr that school where she ends up falling in love with her roommate who is in love with the girl who like Sebastian who is really Viola dressed up as her brother Sebastian. Confused yet? I was in for most of it but like any good romantic comedy, the girl always gets her man. She did and it was a happy ending. To think that this is based off a Shakespeare play isn’t surprising. When you think about you see his plays all the time. Romeo and Juliet, the lion king is really hamlet.  But whatever play this movie is a chick flick to watch. 

Serenity

             

The idea of a perfect future and how it is disrupted by those, who are different and are human don't belong. In the movie "Serenity" we see how the governments use on sole to try and hunt down one who has found out about a test to try and create a perfect society.

"This whole world is dead for no reason" a line said by Jane in the movie after they have arrived on Miranda, a planet in the outer part the universe that this movie takes place in. Miranda is a symbol of humans trying to play god, the government tried an experiment with a kind of gas to try and take out aggression in people. it worked in a way they lost the will to live, so let themselves die, but because not people react the same way to one drug a small percent of people reacted the opposite creating something that in the TV show that was made before this movie were a big thing to avoid for they rape, torture and kill their victims.

"You have always taken care of me Simon, now it’s my turn to take care of you” this is said by River who was sent to a academy that tore apart her brain and turned her into a living weapon. It is again showing how the alliance, the government controlling the people is trying to play god. She is half insane with the fact that she can read everyone mind and can’t control what she hears.

When she says this she also takes into account all that Simon has given up to save her. They are very much the perfect brother and sister in that family idea, which is also included in how Malcolm looks at his crew, like his family. They are his family he would never leave one of them behind.

The name of the movie and ship is also that idea of family. You can find Serenity with your family, or when you feel truly safe, Which what this ship is to those who live on it. Serenity.

Duct tape

For about on average $2.50 you can buy a roll of duct tape, but for that you can get a world of fun.  Duct tape is cotton mesh, polyethylene coating, and adhesive.  This makes it very durable and strong. We use duct tape all time. But what are some of the most whacky ways to use it that will work.

Well there have been some mythbuster episodes on just this topic.  They have created so many crazy things with it, like making a plane shell with nothing but duct tape. It could really fly which was crazy.  They have survived on an island “stranded with nothing but duct tape and the environment”. But if you’re not that outgoing as that you can try some things at home that are a little safer.

They things are like creating a duct tape wallet and rose but they also fix your belt problem or if made correctly they can be used to make headbands.

(http://www.buytape.com/what_is_duct_tape_made_of.shtml) (http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/duct-tape.htm) 

Dozens of Puppies Rescued in Animal Cruelty Investigation | Video - ABC News

Dozens of Puppies Rescued in Animal Cruelty Investigation | Video - ABC News

Animal cruelty is a real thing; it is the torture of living animals that causes them pain and even death. It takes place all over the world even here in the U.S.A.  Dogs are more often the victim of animal cruelty about “64.5% of 1,880 animal cruelty cases were against dogs” but  about “25%”  involve other animals. http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/abuse_neglect/facts/animal_cruelty_facts_statistics.html

Puppy mills are an example of the one of the most despicable things on the planet.   According to a website I found “99% of all puppies sold in a pet store are from a puppy mill”. These dogs are never petted and they spend their life in a cage. It is a depressing thing that we need to stop. To help with this a say that if you’re going to get a dog as a pet you need to research were you are getting it from or just go to the shelter and adopt a good friend from there.

 http://madonnaofthemills.com/puppy-mills/

this is one of the most sad post I have posted for my blog so far. But you have to look at the truth some times, and its just depressing. To change it we need to become active in our community shelter and help stop animal cruelty by reporting it to the police. I included the link to the locale animal shelter because change starts in our community.  

http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/IA125.html

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I just finished a good book today. It was called “The girl with the dragon tattoo”  by Stieg Larsson. This is in the fiction crime drama genre. It tells the tale of a Swedish journalist who goes on the hunt for an missing family member of a rich family, the “Vanger “clan. They are in this book one of the wealthiest families in Sweden.  He gains a help from a hacker named Lisbeth  Salander, who has a past of her own which she tries to hid from.

Personally I didn’t like the beginning or most of the middle part of the book. It starts very slow and you get a lot of characters who just overwhelm you with too much information.  The characters over time are developed well but it is very slowly.  Once you get to the end of the book its starts getting really good, there is black mail, intrigue and murder that you find out that was happening threw out the book whil you were wondering when was something going to happen.

The next book in the trilogy is “the girl who played with fire”. I hope it will start faster than this one, but be just as good in reading.

 To compare it to the last book I read it would be very different.  The last book I read was nonfiction work and set in the world of Nazi Germany before world war II. The Girl with the dragon tattoo is set in Sweden and is a work of fiction.  They are similar in that they both deal with on very crazy person who gained a lot of power. One was Martin Vanger from the girl with the dragon tattoo and from in the garden of the beasts you have Hitler. 

Breast cancer awareness month

http://www.especiallyforyourace.org/

It’s now October and that means fall. It also means Halloween, haunted house and trick or treating. But it is also breast cancer awareness month.

            The world has gone pink for October. The football players of the NFL are wearing pink, stores are selling it and you are hearing about it everywhere.  Today I walked in the especially for you race against breast cancer walk.  The walk is to help fund free mammograms and other breast-care services to this area.

It was a chilly morning and early morning on the day of the walk, but my mom and I got up to go to the walk. When we got there; we found hundreds of people all wearing the same shirt with different logos on the back supporting people who had breast cancer. One of my mom’s friends was so excited to do this. She said “it makes me happy to think that all these people can come together for one cause”. I think this is true. Breast cancer is one of the big cancers in the public’s eye.

It may be because almost everyone knows someone who is affected by it. my mom has had a co-work who has survived breast cancer and I have had two teachers who are going through treatment of cancer.  These people develop a strongest that I think is amazing. They are going through something that is very tough and they are facing the best they can.

Breast cancer awareness month maybe focused on finding a cure but something we need to think about are the people who have gone through the process of kemo and still moved on with their lives. They are the people who I walked for today on this chilly morning. If you want to walk with the especially for you breast cancer walk you can click on the link above. 

Meningitis

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/meningitis-outbreak-highlights-hazards-compounding-pharmacies/story?id=17405294#.UHGwJU2HJica

http://www.voicesofmeningitis.com/get-the-facts-the-basics.html?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_content=general&utm_term=meningitis&utm_campaign=2012_unbranded_driver_terms

What is meningitis?  Meningitis is when the meninges around the brain swell putting pressure on the brain. This can kill you quickly, without you even knowing it.

Today we are having a widespread breakout of fungal meningitis. This comes from a bad pain killer that is given threw a shot to the spine.  It has caused 5 deaths and across 7states according to Abc news. It is worry some because it’s hard to catch meningitis until it’s too late. It was tracked back to the New England Compounding center .CDC has issued a statement that it has opened its emergency operations clinic.  Symptoms can look like a stroke.

Ways to stop spreading normal meningitis is not to share drinks or food utensils. Also reframe from kissing people. The thing about meningitis is that it is a quick Bactria infection.   It is a high risk disease not for the young or elderly but for teens and young adults.  This is why it’s so big when meningitis is found in big outbreaks. 

Pets and your health

http://pets.webmd.com/ss/slideshow-pets-improve-your-health

Are pets are our closest friends; they offer companionship and a good protector. But they can also be helpful to your health. In an article I read in the link above I found 28 ways pets can improve your health. These ways have offered some good insight into owning a pet. They can help you live longer.

                Dogs aren’t the only one who can be helpful.   Owning a pet in general can help you in some way. When you stroke a pet it can help lower your blood pressure. Cats can help people recover from a stroke by giving them something to take care of that isn’t to need unlike a dog. Cats also can help prevent strokes, it is because of that calming effect a pet can have on a person. Having a cat around can also lower the chance of developing asthma in an infant.

Dogs can just do it all; they are our best tool to help people if they need help. They can act as a service do to those who need help to live alone. Taking your dog for a walk can raise you excise level and get you out of your isolation and into the world.   Having a dog or cat can also lower your rate of de3veloping allergies in a child.  We have also trained dogs to be able to tell when a diabetic needs sugar in their blood because of a drop in blood sugar level.

A dog can also be just a good therapist. When you have a dog in a therapy office it can help fight couples see how their fight affects people or animals around them. My aunt who is psychologists brings her dog to the office with her and children are more likely to open up to a dog than a grown up.

Dog and cats aren’t the only pets that can do help for the human health. Hoarse back riding is a good way to recover from a stroke, because it helps with balance and core strength.   Children with autism can work out problems by hoarse back riding it is a way to help open up to more senses.

Dogs and cats have also been helping us with cancer. They develop it to so we can study them to help understand how it works in humans. It is how we worked out prostate cancer and older men. This may be the way we find out how to completely get rid of cancer. Threw the dogs and cats we love so much. 

A mans best friend

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-beast/200904/why-are-humans-and-dogs-so-good-living-together

Almost everyone loves dogs, myself included. They are our best friend, are companions and the best listeners in the world. But what is it that makes dogs so special?

Dogs were the first animals that we domesticated; we have used them as protection and hunting partners.  They have profound way on how we think; a dog can teach you responsibility and good health choice by walking it.   A dog functions in a social unit similar to how we do, they “are emotionally bonded and greet each other enthusiastically after they have been separated” which we do every day when we greet people at school.  A dog can live perfectly happy in a human environment.  

We see are dogs as one of us, “40% of owners identify their dog as a family member” this is very true I count my dogs as part of my family. When people ask me how many are in your family, I more often reply “3 people and 3 dogs.” They are part of our family in a way that makes them special, dogs greet us when we get, and they will cuddle with us on cold nights when we are alone.

But along the way have we been domesticated by dogs as much we domesticated them? That is what the final idea was in the article I read. It gave some good points like how the dogs thinking part of the brain has shrunk scene it’s started out as a wolf.  Are brains have shrunk to, but not as much. So do we believe it is the entire thing is because of our dog or have the advancements in technology slowed down are brain growth and we don’t need as high senses as we us to so those parts of our brain have shrunk in size.

Whatever it is all I do know is that a dog is a man’s best friend.

homecoming prank

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/09/whitney-kropp-opposing-teamtown-rally-around-bullied-teen/

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/09/29/community-cheers-victim-apparent-homecoming-court-school-prank/

 I think that as teenagers we can have some very immature moments and they can be hurtful. This is one of them. When I read this story on a girl whole was it appeared prank notated to be homecoming queen I was crushed. Why would you do that to another person?

But Whitney didn’t let it get to her that much. After considering suicide she instead turned the tables, and took her place as one of the homecoming court. She cre4ated a Facebook page to help her prevent this from happening to other people and the community gave back to her by providing a dress and haircut and styling. 

Music can speak louder than words

Music it’s a way of life, It can begin where words fail, it can tell stories that just need to be told with more emotion.  It is a thing that most people take for granted with their iPods today. You used to have to go to a concert hall or play an instrument just to hear good music.

You can’t truly define what music is but it will bring people together.  On this web site I found a lot of surveys on how music is listened to and what people thought about it. I think these graphs all show we have opinions about music not matter how old we are. http://www.smartgirl.org/reports/2226868.html

Music like books comes in many forms, from hard rock to soft classical music. It can be made to fit any kind of person that’s one for the reason it’s so special. Another is that you don’t need to read or understand the words you can just listen to the notes of the music. This is why music is so special, it can define a generation. If you look at your parents what kind of music do they love to listen to? Do they love the 70’s the 80’s or are they pretty okay with the music of today?

 When you look at a person’s song choice it can tell a lot about them. Like if they love to hear a hard drum, or if they are open minded and will listen to almost anything.  It can tell you if in their past they loved someone but they left them for someone else.  If you were to look at my iPod you would find a se4lcetion of odds and ends of music. I have a lot of soundtracks of musicals, but I also have a lot of Taylor Swift who is my favorite artists. If you were to look at all my sounds I do love that slow ballad feel of today’s contrary music.  You can gain all that from my iPod song choice not even from the beat of those songs or the lyric’s. That is the power of music. 

Why do we have homecoming?

http://www.active.com/football/Articles/The_History_of_Homecoming.htm

http://prom.about.com/od/formalfaq/qt/What-Is-Homecoming.htm

I found this when I Goggled what is homecoming

  “home·com·ing/ˈhōmˌkəmiNG/

Noun:

An instance of returning home. A high school, college, or university game, dance, or other event to which alumni are invited.”

This isn’t what homecoming his to me. Homecoming to me is a week event with a lot of planning and you feel a little stressed the night of the dance.

Homecoming was last night for me and it was a lot of fun. I got to dress up in a pretty cute dress wear heels, and go dancing. I saw my friends and we a looked great. That’s one of the best parts about the dance. Now this week I spent the whole having fun dressing up and doing different themes to show spirit for our school.

          How did this all get started and why do we do all the things we do now. Like last night my grandmother stated that homecoming to her was just a dance in the gym after the football game.

What I found as I looked at some websites is that homecoming is a celebration of our school. Wither you go there or you are alumni.  I also found you don’t have to do it just for football. It can be for any sport you just have to plan it once a year.  

Homecoming king and queen are also a big part. This year it felt better to vote because I knew some or even most of the candidates for the court. They are just two people in the senior class who are very involved and well known at school.

Well we won’t talk about homecoming till next year, now onto shopping for a dress for prom. 

Schools in the home

http://foxnewsinsider.com/2012/09/25/nyc-public-schools-provide-birth-control-to-students-should-the-government-be-involved-in-teens-sexual-activity/

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/york-city-plan-contraception-teens-school/story?id=17310468#.UGSReI1lRSQ

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/best-birth-control-method-teen-girls-iud-implant-american-college-obstetricians-gynecologists-acog-article-1.1167893

This is not an okay that they are offered Plan B, without parents okay or even the parents could not even know. The idea that parents are okay with this is an idea; I can’t wrap my mind around it. Now do I think some kids didn’t show the permission slip to their parents? Yes I do.  This is a bad idea.

To think that some schools may be doing this bothers me. I would say this because it just makes having sex easier.  If you can get the birth control easier and with less people knowing you got it makes you feel better that no one would know. 

It also can lead to a jump in STD rates. The more teens are having sex because they think they can’t get pregnant, the more STD will come.  The implant birth control is also available and it still doesn’t protect against that.

To be on birth control for that long and not have a medical reason like those that some teens have is just wrong. This also means that tax payers are paying for teens to have sex.  

We are hungary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IB7NDUSBOo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXL2eheEqP4&feature=related

http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/governance/legislation/cnr_2010.htm

These two links show two total different sides of one story and that is that one policy fits all, we see this today all the time. Policy that were built to fit everyone and affect everyone but not always in the best way.  The “Healthy Hunger-Free kids Act of 2010” has impacted every kind of school not matter if you are in  high school or just starting out in  kindergarten.  

            This act was passed in 2010 but I’m now starting to notice the effects, my team mates and friends have started to bring home lunches because the food offered at school is not enough to fill them. We know that because I see it in school, kids buy two lunch.

            Now there are people who are fat, but with this policy those people who are working out for 1-3 hours a day need a lot of calories. The “We are hungry” video says we need “2000-5000 calories” if you’re an active student. For some people lunch at school is there only meal a day, “750-850 calories” are not enough.  Being in high school upperclassmen can leave campus here, this means that some of my class mates are running to fast food joints everyday just to get a meal that feeds them.

            The other video that I have is the one that Mrs. Obama filmed to tell us about this policy. I feel like this video was mostly propaganda on a policy that is making me starve if I don’t bring my own home lunch. She says that there will be new health food. I feel like all I got was the same canned food and a lot less protein.

With that a one policy fits all standard just doesn’t work, mostly because of the true fact that no two people are in the same exact boat on food. 

ZOMBIES!!!!

http://www.amctv.com/shows/the-walking-dead

We are always hearing about it now, “The Zombie Apocalypse”. The idea that the world will end with the dead rising is a little crazy but we are hearing about all these books, movies and even one very popular TV show. The “Walking Dead” is a popular TV show on AMC is set in Georgia and it shows what happens after the first panic. Then we have built up to how are we going to move on with our lives and survive our new reality.  

            The main characters each try to understand what has happened and if they can move on from all the change. Like how you watched your sister get bitten and die right before you, or are you going to just give up and end it before you can meet an end you didn’t want.

            Now the movies have taken different ways.  In “28 days later” the zombies are people with a virus that makes them very made the virus itself is called “rage”.( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289043/ )  “Shaun of the Dead” on the other hand takes a funnier approach and makes the zombies their classic deadness but he tries to get his ex back. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365748/  )

            Zombie books have also started taking a spot light in the ring of books. “World War Z” by Max Brooks is set in now but says that there was a time when zombies were taking over the world and the testimonies of those who survived it.  We are now taking books of the past and mixing zombies in to them. In “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” it’s a mash-up of the classic book and zombie fiction ideas.  One of my favorite zombie’s books would be the book “Married with Zombies” (http://www.jessepetersen.net/married-with-zombies/) it’s the idea that even with the zombie apocalypse going on you can still save your marriage. It is a series of books and they are great so I would recommend you read then.

            A book that might be handy to have would be “The Zombie Survival Guide” by Max Brooks. This book is a book that when you read it you will start wondering if you might need to run to the store and buy some stuff to protect your home.

                 We may never have a real zombie apocalypse but you  can sure make a living making up what might happen.

A tiger jump

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/09/23/new-york-city-man-mauled-by-tiger-in-bronx-zoo-charged-with-trespassing/

This article is very interesting. You would think that they wouldn't charge him for trespassing on the grounds of the fact that he got attacked by the tiger. i believe that the tiger had every right to attack that man when he jumped into the enclosed area. This was of his own free will, he wasn't pushed, and I would say that this was a crazy idea.

One reason I think they should press charges against this guy is that it not only put his life in danger but that of the tiger. The tiger is only an animal so when it attacked him in its own home you would say it had a right to. This man was trespassing in the tiger’s home.

A thing that needs to be checked is this man’s mental health before they charge him. I don’t think a person who is thinking clearly, would never jump into a tiger pit.

I don’t think this was not just a non-suicide attempt I think if he had died this man would have been okay with it. This can be backed by the fact that when he was asked what he was doing he replied “I wanted to touch the tiger.”

When you think about it he showed the signs. The article says that he would comment on stuff about animals and how much he liked them.

red panda curse

Thttp://abcnews.go.com/US/newborn-panda-cub-dies-national-zoo/story?id=17302210#.UF9mto1lRSQ
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/red-panda/
I watched this clip on good morning America. I found it very interesting how the locals in china say that the red panda has "eyes that look at you" this is why they were sent over sea's and have become very endanger. The red panda is only found in some parts of china close to the foot hills of the Himalayan Mountains.
They are about the size of a "house cat." the red panda has a reddish fur and a long stripped tail that will make you think of the monkey from Madagascar that had a ring tail. They are a herbivore and live on a diet of greens, one of these is bamboo.
The other interesting part of the story was that they found a relative of the red panda in the hills, of Tennessee Blue Ridge Mountains. These ancestors were thought to be about the size of a mountain lion. How they got from North America, to Asia. This is a cool discovery because we can grow to understand where the red panda came from and how is shrunk to the size it is now.
The red panda is endangering due mostly to deforestation. I think this would be a great way to use the foreign language, I'm learning Chinese. I could travel to china and study the red panda and understand how we can help protect these amazing creatures.  To study them would help understand how to protect them in the wild. We can keep helping the ones in captive by giving them safe exhibits and health environments’ in zoos.  
To protect them may be to encourage to donate or to just give your time to a volunteer event.

Lifeguard style

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/gangnam-style-video-spoof-california-lifeguards-fired-17269406

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpVmMtUlKQc

I first heard about this video on GMA yesterday morning and it got me thinking.  To that theses 14 lifeguards lost their job is a sad thing. The Supervisors fired these lifeguards on account of “miss use of public property” like their “uniforms”.

Now I’m a lifeguard like those 14 teenagers and I had to buy my own uniform before I started working, this means that it’s my property not my employers. The miss use of “public property” is also debatable. If these guards where guard people in the water while they shoot this video it wouldn’t be okay, but in the who tape you see no patrons of any kind. This leads me to believe they shoot this video after the patrons left.

 If the lifeguards hadn’t been fired I feel this would have gone unnoticed by the press or anyone else. It’s on YouTube and there are a lot better videos out there, but because they fired them and made a big deal of it, this would not be happening at all.

I have thought of making YouTube “Call me maybe” parody’s with the swimmers and friends, but if I were to have that used against me in find a job or I could lose a collage scholarship over it. I don’t think I would do it because it could endanger my future.

A question to be asking you right now is this violating those 14 lifeguards first amendment? I think it is a little bit. Those lifeguards didn’t hurt anyone or break anything. They can put that on their for either their right to freedom of speech or it could be the press how you look at it. It may have a little bit of suggestive themes in the video at some point but it’s not that bad.