pln29

In the article, "2txt? Or Nt2txt?", blogged by Garrison Keillor, it talked about how younger generations of men are becoming less sociable because of their constant text messaging instead of actually having conversations. I completely agree! Since the invention of text messaging, conventional ways of talking on the phone or even in person have been washed away in the tsunami of thousands of text messages sent every day. I have noticed in my friends that social skills are not the priority at all and that they are much more focused on the next girl who's going to text them. And consider that only about 5% of the students don't have cell phones! What is the solution to this? Should society ban all text messaging? Obviously that's not practical or really desirable. However, we should think about the importance of communicating with spoken words - not just the ones we text.

gender blog re redone

In the article,"Women raising the bar at colleges," it states that many women are doing increasingly better than men in colleges across the United States. In my opinion, this article was written from a sexist point of view because it gave only one side of the story. The reason all women are doing better than men is because the majority of them spend more time studying and they get more sleep. Men, on the other hand party all night and don't receive the required sleep based on the national average. Plus, they spend their days socializing and hanging out with friends. If I wrote this article, I would keep this point, however I would talk about why individual girls were doing better than the individual guys. This might shed better light on the general reasons stated in the article's point of view. I would make it sound less sexist and give multiple opinions from multiple sources. Overall this article could have used some refining and a different point of view.

PLN31

In the article, "Containment dome prepped over oil leak site," reported by CNN, the article described the immense effort British Petroleum (BP) is making to fix their massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. BP plans to drop a dome-like structure down into the depths of the ocean to try to plug up the break in the oil pipe. However, this task is easier said than done. The pipe is approximately 5,000 feet down below the surface; BP experts say that the dome works under 300 feet of pressure but they are unsure about the pressure at 5,000 feet. This oil spill is causing untold amounts of damage to the ecosystems in the Gulf and the spill is predicted to reach land in less than two weeks. BP is doing all it can with the help of the Coast Guard to try to contain and destroy the oil already spread out over miles of ocean. Some methods include air dropping dispersion chemicals over the ocean and burning off the oil. The overall cost of this containment effort is speculated to be well over $100,000,000 and all that money is coming out of the oil slick pockets of BP.

Pln30

In the article, "Mosque to go up near New York's ground zero," reported by CNN, it described the torrent of emotion pulling at the hearts and souls of Americans and Muslims as plans for a mosque just two blocks away from ground zero are being put into action. Many Americans are happy that the Islamic religion is trying to make a better name for itself. Marvin Bethena, a paramedic at ground zero on 9/11, said, "I think it's the right thing to do, I lost 16 friends down there. But Muslims also got killed on 9/11. It would be a good sign of faith that we're not condemning all Muslims and that the Muslims who did this happened to be extremists. As a black man, I know what it's like to be discriminated against when you haven't done anything." However, this doesn't stop other Americans from being upset. Many of the families of the victims of 9/11 are extremely upset with the city allowing the mosque to be built and some are even protesting. What does this mean for the world? My belief is this effort proves that forgiveness is possible from the greatest of sins to the smallest offense and as I said in my Change the World paper, "forgiveness is taught in the Bible, Torah, and the Koran."

Pln27

In the article, "Pakistan test-fires pair of ballistic missiles," reported by CNN, it described the horrors of an ever-growing risk of nuclear terrorism. According to CNN reporters, the Pakistani government has test-fired their first long-range ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. The missiles have an effective range of 400 miles and could easily target many of the neighboring countries. Ironically, these test launches were just a couple weeks after the nuclear treaty talks hosted by President Obama. What does this mean for society? If terrorists get their hands on nuclear warheads, there won't be another Cold War, they will just unleash them, no questions asked. While the rest of the world is starting to give up their nuclear arms, Pakistan and many other countries in the Middle East are continuing to direct resources toward research. Many of these governments are unstable and corrupt. If research continues, nuclear power is much more likely to fall into the hands of radical groups such as the Taliban.

pln23

In the article, "Nature's 'treasure' unearthed in Borneo," reported by CNN, the article described the large numbers of almost alien species recently discovered in the Southeast Asian island of Borneo. Some of the new species include the mulu flying tree frog, the degredskrin flame snake, the kinablu tailed slug, and many more. What does this mean for the world? It means that there is still things left in this world that we humans don't know about and that there is always the potential of something amazing around every corner. As far as education goes, there are always more blank pages in the big book of species, and that the new frontier is not just space - it could be right here in our own backyards! There is so much society doesn't know, in the words of a great mentor, "You can never stop learning."

pln26

In the article, "Flights ease Europe's air traffic crisis," reported by CNN, it described the trouble a volcano in Iceland is causing to the worlds' air traffic, especially in Europe. The volcano, Eyjafjallajokull, has been erupting all week according to Iceland officials causing European air traffic control to ground all flights in most northern European countries until the end of the week. The decision has stranded thousands of passengers across the continent and stopped those who would be coming in. The broader question is, what does this mean for the world? Is Mother Nature trying to send a message? No one knows for sure but air traffic won't get up to speed for at least another week and for the families of the members of the canceled flights it spells headaches.