Parenting (484)

A woman named Lenore is participating in a new movement where parents let their kids play by themselves or with others free of parent or even adult supervision. She has set play dates where parents pay $350 to let their children play together free of supervision. These play dates take place in New York City’s Central Park where she argues is “the safest precinct in New York.” Another supporter of this movement expands and explains that unlike the suburbs, New York City is always busy and there are always people around- referring to the fact that in case there were to be a dangerous or harmful situation, witnesses would be everywhere.
Parents who are interviewed in this video give their opinions on the subject; most saying they would never let their child roam unsupervised, let alone pay someone for an experience like that.

My view is that children need freedom. They need to experience the world on their own and learn on their own terms but not all the time and not without an adult close by. Lenore mentions that she let her child play in the park while she sat in a coffee shop nearby. I would be all for letting my child roam around and playing with others without much supervision but I would be worried about sudden emergencies. What if my child somehow broke their leg and obviously couldn’t come find me for help? I would much rather be on a bench nearby than in a coffee shop out of sight. Sure, at a certain age like 12 the child might be independent enough to handle me being at a coffee shop nearby but younger than that would very much depend on the child’s maturity level and if they have a sibling or friend who would know where to find me in case they need assistance.

In the movie Babies, one of the children, Bayar, who lives in from Mongolia, is seldom watched over by his parents or any other adult. Granted the child lives in the middle of nowhere and is unable to walk or crawl part of the film, how much trouble can he get into? His brother, not much older than him, is a toddler and manages to stroll him outside and then walks back into their house. When Bayar learns to walk, he almost gets trampled by a cow. Things like this worry people but it’s a way of life in that area. The parents just cannot be there to supervise their children all the time. Most families in America have access to child care whether its school, daycare, a family member, or friend.

Part of the free roaming movement makes sense to me in the way that a kid has to grow up and learn some things on their own, but the way I interpret this mother’s style, it’s only the complete opposite of a parent who hovers. There needs to be some kind of balance.

Religious topics#5 (481)

Does religion make you a good person? And does that make you a bad person if you don’t believe in a religion? My opinion is partially formed by knowledge of others’ stories.  I think that most religions set a very good example for their followers. They teach them more than stories and Gods. They teach good morals and other things like its bad to swear. They teach that you should give and help others, do the right thing. These are all things that are incredibly good traits to obtain and habits to make. But if you don’t believe in a religion or follow their examples, does that make you bad? Does it make me a bad person? Well, not that its my point but, people who follow religions or believe in God have murdered, stolen, coveted, etc. they’ve committed “sins”. They’ve also broken laws. Ive never murdered anyone or  stolen. I rarely talk back to my parents, I follow rules, I do my best, I try to help others, I try to be polite. That’s not to say that I always do those things but I do try to most of the time. Does it make me bad that sometimes I get mad and talk back to my parents? That I might tell a lie once in a while? Well, doesn’t everyone no matter if they affiliate with a religion or not? Itd be crazy if they didn’t. this world would be filled with peace. I don’t think im a bad person because I don’t go to church and I don’t think everyone who believes in God is good either.

These thoughts are random, so I apologize if they seem out of order. The last thing I want to bring up is I am still growing up, meeting new people, learning new things, trying to keep an open mind, etc. and im not sure of my future. Heck, I don’t know what I want to do when I grow up, I change my mind every other week. I don’t know where ill be a year after college or 10 years after that. Im not sure if ill have a job or a house in this economy. Im not sure if ill be planning a wedding or just getting to know a guy I just met. But where ever I land, im sure ill have heard more than I please about politics and religion. I may meet someone who persuades me into believing in a religion. That might not be a bad thing, im open to it, but I don’t want the bible telling me what to believe and what not to believe. I still want to think for myself, form my own opinions and thoughts, theories, etc. I might just base my beliefs on something, who knows? Isn’t it great, that no one does know? Well, I find that exciting. (:

Religious topics#4 (348)

We watched a video of a discussion between two men in world humanities. One was defending religion and the other claimed to be antiatiest (I think). Well, at least, he said atheists don’t believe in a god but they wish there was one. They just have no proof. But he is different because he doesn’t believe there is a god and he finds it to be good that there isn’t. I took notes on both sides and I don’t want to make this guy’s more important or dominant but I think he brought up some really interesting topics and points. First, he believes that as humans, our brains seek answers. They crave knowledge and reason. Our brains would rather take in a conspiracy theory rather than no theory. Perhaps that’s because we are scared of not having answers. So, it would make sense that as the first humans had no science or technology, they needed answers for why it rained, why people got sick, why they died, etc. and so maybe we made answers for ourselves. Maybe the smartest of us came up with ideas. He mentions that some people were greedy and sought power. Maybe they claimed to by holy or have a connection to this/these God(s) and therefor gained a high status and pampering. (that’s a theory). A very interesting question he posed was kind of like which came first, the chicken or the egg? His question was, “did God create man, or did man create God?” well he then continued to tell the viewer his opinion. He thought if man created God there wasn’t too much to discuss. We all have our different theories of religions. But what if God created man? Then why does he let everyone believe in a different God and why does he let us fight and shed blood over him? I just thought that his points were pretty valid and very philosophical. The other man mainly went over a different topic and it didn’t have as many points I found interesting to write about otherwise I would include them too.

Religious topics#3 (349)

I was at a youth group once and the topic was Darwinism. Everyone politely shared their thoughts and debated some things back and forth except for one girl in particular. I believe that she had the floor for a few minutes as she vented about people who believe in Darwinism. It was years ago so I don’t remember her words exactly but I think she said something like, “I feel so so sorry for those pathetic people who believe in Darwinism. It is obviously ridiculous, it could never be true. I honestly feel sorry for them. Are they stupid?...” she went on but most of the major words there were things she actually said. In her defence, she probably thought she was talking to a group of people who believed the same as her and she had no idea that I felt that way. But I feel like she was a bit harsh and to be honest, rude. Sure, she can believe that, I have no problem with it. but how does she know that she has all the facts and im the idiot? If you were me wouldn’t you be hurt too? She called me stupid and said she felt sorry for me because I wasn’t educated enough to “know” that there is “obviously” a God. I was courteous enough to listen to their beliefs and be open to what they said but she shut down my belief and called me stupid. Well, whatever. It happens, right? I cant expect everyone in this world to be open minded. And to be honest, if I grew up learning that there was a God and all those stories, id probably stick to it too. Not to be rude and generalize or use strong words but the closest words I can put with people who grew up with a religion is: they’re almost brain-washed. Maybe that’s not a bad thing, I don’t want to offend anyone, but that’s the closest I can come to a similar conception. Im sorry, that’s just a rant because I think its unfair.

Religious topics#2 (330)

Heres a point though to contradict/ support my other opinions and accusations: who knows what cave people looked like? Were they really that hairy? Im not sure. And if they were I would say its part of the process of evolving from ape to human. Who knows, though? And quickly, something im a bit bothered by is when people seem to go along with whatever their religion says. But I feel like an opinion or a belief should be formed by you. You have your own brain, it can make its own choices, feelings, thoughts… I don’t want to offend anyone, im just thinking out loud. Anyhoo, I could go on but I want to get to other points.

Moving on..

As a side note, I want to make everyone aware of something that really bothers me. I mentioned that im open to hearing about other people’s opinions. In fact, ive attended my grandparents’ church several times, and ive been to a few different church’s youth groups. Some things ive heard, no matter where I am, make me think a little bit. Theses things that a preacher says or the opinions people give almost shock me sometimes and other times I just think it’s a little over board. These don’t pop up incredibly often, really, they barely ever appear. One thing that I cant help thinking sometimes is, “do YOU believe that, or do you go along with it because it is part of your religion?” No offence, really. But it goes back to thinking for yourself, you have your own separate brain. Think about it. the thing is, I said I believe in Darwinism more than anything else but no one but my Dad has ever asked my my opinion. Ive had heart to hearts with my best friends and we share our opinions too I suppose but im not sure if others realize how much they hurt me when they say things that offend what I believe in.

Religios topics#1 (439)

In the spirit of our religion unit I decided to just brainstorm some views I have and points or information ive found interesting throughout the unit. This may turn out to be a bunch of blogs so im sorry if it cuts off at some points. My background info: I don’t affiliate myself with any religions. I think that if I do believe in anything it would strongly be based on the Darwinism theory. Science seems to have facts that we can prove rather than stories that... well, have no proof. Not to say that anyone is lying or are wrong, I just need to see to believe. I’m not at all against any religions, in fact, im very open to hearing others opinions and thoughts. I have to say that im not super informed about every religion and I know that I don’t have all the facts. I feel though, that I mostly know the basic stuff about some main and popular religions.

What I believe? I don’t think there is one God, one special being, that put us all here. I don’t believe that “God had it in his plan” or “it happened because he wanted it to”. That’s not to say that I don’t believe things happen for a reason. I sometimes have to kind of think, “Its for the best”. But I don’t believe that God is the one who was controlling it. I feel like the big bang theory seems pretty legitimate but im not a full believer in that either. Even if scientists say its so, I need my proof. It makes sense though about the apes and other animals evolving. We have proof of birds’ beaks changing to fit their feeding needs. Theres my proof. So why couldn’t humans have come from apes? I think its legit. Do something right now. Picture a caveman or woman in your head. …Well? What do they look like? A word I would used to describe my image is Un kept. And what about them is unkept? I think of their skin being rough, awful looking nails, horrible teeth… but mainly, I think of the immense amounts of hair we always see on their bodies in cartoons and in movies. They look a lot shaggier than humans today. But we have hair cuts and razors to shave our faces, arm pits and legs. Right? As a girl, I have to say, even if I don’t shave my legs for a while, they don’t look nearly as bad as what a cavewoman looks like in the movies. And I don’t have awful, dark, long arm hair. Ew.

This is TED (364)

I decided to take up my teacher’s offer for us to write blogs about TED talks. Before I start my blog conquest however, I decided to inform everyone of what TED is. According to the website, “TED is a nonprofit devoted to ideas Worth Spreading.” The acronym TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since the organization was started, its scope and view of the program has gotten a lot broader. The organization holds two annual conferences and has created the TED Open Translation Project and the TED prize, along of course with the TED Talks and TED fellows.

First I will introduce the TED talks I guess; TED talks are videos that are put up on line with the intention of spreading the ideas that are worth spreading. Now the company has transformed the videos to “give everyone on-demand access to the world’s most inspiring voices.” The videos are inspirational and fun and can be about a variety of topics such as technology, entertainment, design, business, science, and global issues.

TED hosts a variety of events, the two main ones being the TED Conference and TEDGlobal. The TED Conference is held every year in Palm Springs and lasts for four days. During those four days, there are fifty different speakers with eighteen minutes to broadcast their ideas to everyone else. The topics of their presentations can be about anything they want really business, arts, or even global issues. Even though the topics seem to have no connection to each other what so ever, they are held together by the realization that we are in “an intricately interconnected world.” The second main event that TED hosts is TEDGlobal. This is a conference that is held in the summer and has a more international theme. It is four days also but is held all around the world. This year it is being held in Edinburgh, Scotland on June 10^th. Speakers will discuss global change, political and environmental problems and social and cultural changes. While these might sound absolutely fantastic to go to, I think the minimum ticket price is two thousand five hundred dollars. That fact alone will probably keep me from ever attending a conference but don’t be discouraged because you are able to view all of the videos online! I definitely recommend it.

Taken the "Fever" A Bit Too Far? (438)

I was trying to think of an idea to blog about. I asked a friend and they brought up the cut for Justin Beiber thing. I told them it needed to be worldly but honestly, it probably is. Everybody knows about him unless they live under a pile of rocks. Notice, that’s not just one but multiple. Like boulders. Anyhoo, either you love or hate Justin. Mr. Beiber Fever? Yeah. Well, I think there’s almost always a happy medium. I mean, come on. Not everything is yes or no. people like myself probably exist. My opinion? Yeah, hes cute. As in: he has a nice complection, childlike features, flippy hair… he’s not a total bum or physically much different than most guys. Right? And some of his songs arnt totally bad. He does have an okay voice. I bet half of those who criticize him cant sing at all. Hah. So I like some of his songs, but im not in love. Some girls may tell me ive gone crazy for not being head over heels for the kid. Whatever, my loss. And other people might tell me im crazy for thinking his songs are okay cuz he obviously sings like a little girl. Okay, who cares.

The issue isn’t my opinion or anyone else’s. it’s the fact that girls are so obsessed with Beiber that they’re protesting his recent drug abuse or whatever he was doing by cutting themselves. That’s not okay. Girls, you go ahead and tell Justin you love him and support him but don’t want him to use drugs. Do it. Good for you. But lets not lose our brains. Sure, some of these girls might already cut. I know people who cut. There are people in my classes, there are people like everywhere that cut. But why??? What good does it do?

An old friend told me they cut so they can focus on the pain in their wrist or on their arm instead of the pain in their heart. Mkay. I get your reasoning, but doesn’t it only create more pain? Maybe another reason is just to black out in order to get away if you’re not good with blood. …you know what? Do what you think is right, but I think that’s crazy. There’s no need for that. There’s no need for scars all up and down your arms. That’s not pretty. Its not "cool". It looks like a tiger or something if people do it super often. And know what’s worst of all? Cutting for Beiber whom many have never even personally met. They just have fantacies for him. Ew. Sorry, rant done.

Recovering (348)

I found an article on CNN and found it interesting. Its about the fifteen year old Pakistani woman activist that was attacked for going to school. Malala spoke and blogged in favor of education for Pakistani girls and against the Taliban rule. She then became the target of an assassination attempt by Pakistan militants. She amazingly survived the attack but was left with life-threatening head and neck wounds.

                It has been three months since the attack and she has drastically recovered but still far from a full recovery.  She was just discharged from a hospital in Britain where she had been recovering for the past three months. She is scheduled for a cranial reconstructive surgery in the next month that will replace a shattered portion of her skull with titanium or perhaps her own bone if possible.

                The article on CNN described Malala’s shooting and her recovery. It is possible that Malala got her defiance and strong will from her father who runs a school in Pakistan that is open to girls. This school is in direct defiance of the Taliban rule. The scary thing though mentioned in the article was the Taliban statement issued after Malala was shot that said that if Malala lived, they would come after her. It makes me wonder whether Malala will live after her recover and how she would be able to survive. I don’t know if she would be allowed asylum in a different country or if she would be offered protection of some kind. Her father however told reporters that he has every intention of returning to his “native country” after she recovers.

                I think that it is really inspirational that Malala is recovering so well. I don’t know what I would do if I was fifteen and became a target of the Taliban. The wide support of this girl is also admirable and it shows how one person can really make a difference and shine light on a bad situation. It is sad however that someone has to get severely injured to actually make an impact on people’s minds.

Just 5 More Minutes??? (389)

Falling asleep in lectures, hitting the snooze button multiple times in the mornings, the tell-all dark circles around your eyes…sound familiar? According to a Maas, Power Sleep Quiz, these are all symptoms of sleep deprivation. In AP Psych, we learned ALL about sleep and how much everyone should have. I personally think it's funny that people don't expect teenagers to be sleep deprived. I mean, think about it, everything we do is just meant to keep us awake.

I don’t know how kids with multiple activities do it. sleeping is my favorite and I get sleep as often as possible. Without my weekend sleep in mornings, I bet id be among the many sleepy students in Kennedy.

                If we want to improve ourselves for college and juice up our college resumes, we take more AP classes and work hard to get good grades, especially if you are in your junior or beginning of senior year of high school. Teachers assign a whole lot of homework in AP classes and if you are taking more than one…good luck living life. Don't get me wrong, it does depend on the classes and if you choose to brush it off but it all eventually accumulates, creating a very long night of studying.

                Social network sites, television, and even music are all distracting to us. I will definitely admit that I spend way too much time on the computer when I have homework. I think the problem is that they are just so addicting to be on and so much more fun than doing the assigned homework. Even hormones in teenage bodies keep us awake longer.

                College kids are even worse. I bet that most college students get around four hours of sleep or less on a normal day. It's simply unhealthy, and then people wonder why college kids resort to drugs, a lot of them having an intended purpose to keep the student awake longer. Who knew that  trying to promote schoolwork also promoted drug use?

                I think that the simple fix to all of this is to tell teachers to limit the amount of homework they give out. If they don't assign as much, then students will get more sleep and actually pay attention in class. I'm sure the teachers would appreciate also the lack of dozing heads lying on desks.

Skittish Kitties (352)

Did you realize that cheetahs are becoming endangered? Well I had no idea. I don’t hear about them often but its not like ive totally forgotten that they exist. What do I know about cheetahs? Well, lets see… I know that they can run like super fast. That’s how they catch their delicate and speedy pray. And.. what else? Theyre cats? They eat meat, they live in…. the savanna? Im not sure where that is. Behavioral? Um. Funny, I have no clue.

Luckily, I have an article that I found on Yahoo about some special cheetahs. This article wont answer all the questions you may have but it answers some that you maybe hadn’t thought of.

In a zoo in Los Angeles, there live 19 cheetahs. Four of which have dogs. ….whoa. dogs? Yeah. Dogs. Did you know cheetahs are just big skittish, scaredy-cats? Well, they are. And these dogs help the kitties become more confident. The cats are in danger of becoming extinct because they aren’t breeding as most animals do and they don’t socialize very much. Big breeds of dogs are setting an example for the cats. Most, if not all, dog breeds are very territorial. They stand up for what they want-hold their ground. By introducing these animals, for years, some cheetah enclosures and zoos have therapeutically coaxed cheetahs out of their shells. Cool, huh? I think so. The dogs protect and reassure their cats.

The dogs don’t live with the cheetahs but they spend a lot of time with them. The sleep separately at night and feeding is always separate. Not for the reason you may think though. You may be formulating speculations that the cats might just be taken over by instinct and attack the dog but really, the result isn’t like that. The result you would find is fat dogs and starving cats. Yeah, right. Right? Well the cats are scared. And the dogs keep their ground so the cats’ steak dinner would just be stolen by the dogs. And the dogs regular puppy chow-just left sitting there. I mean, if the dog had his way.

Diamond Snatchers (347)

I read an article on CNN that covers a diamond heist that occurred Monday night; February 18, 2013. There were fifty million dollars in diamonds that were reported stolen and the possibility of gold and platinum that was just unreported or allegedly or was confidential or something to report of.  Everyone was very surprised by the security breach and based on the facts of the heist they could conclude that these were either ex-military or professionals and that this was an organized crime effort. Fortunately, no one was killed or injured during the heist, only the precious gems were stolen.

                The heist occurred at the Brussels airport at around eight o clock at night. There were twenty passengers on the aircraft that was scheduled to go from Brussels, Belgium, to Zurich, Switzerland. All of the passengers were unaware of the diamonds in the cargo hold and officials are not certain as to how the thieves knew about the gems. The authorities have determined however that it was not a chance occurrence because the thieves were clearly professionals.

                Eight men in two black vehicles burst through the airport gates and drove up to the aircraft after all of the passengers had boarded the plane. The men were dressed in clothing that resembled police uniforms and held the pilot and copilot at gunpoint while the others unloaded and reloaded the cargo. The whole task was completed in less than three minutes when the men successfully escaped.

                I think that it is crazy to read about these kinds of heists after seeing all of the action movies and everything out there. Those movies are pretty awesome if you ask me.  It must take a ton of planning and these people have to be pretty smart to escape. I cant even imagine it. I think that a lot of the professional robberies on such a large scale are kept confidential so I don’t really hear about these kinds of heists that often.  I hope the authorities catch these robbers and hope to see another article about the progression of this case.

Astroid and Earth (325)

I watched a video on the asteroid that was fairly close to the Earth while passing by on Friday. The asteroid was only a couple hundred miles away. It came in between our furthest satellites from earth and our planet's surface. The video I watched featured Bill Nye answering questions about the asteroid and asteroids in general. I was kind of saddened by the fact that the video did not feature the Bill Nye theme song that I have come to know so well through his amazing educational videos. I think it makes my educational experience more memorable.

According to Bill Nye, one asteroid could obliterate an entire city. I assume that it looks like the after effects of a nuclear missile or something like that, I also kind of wonder if it would contain any radiation or some odd space oddity. If it didn’t contain any radiation, I think that I would prefer to get killed by an asteroid compared to an actual nuclear missile, that way if I was hit by it I would just die instantly and not have to live through painful radiation and all of the ugly and horrible side effects of nuclear bombs.

Bill Nye also stated that the asteroid was discovered by a group of young scientists or some space organization or group that isn’t really well known and it sounded like it was discovered as a project or something. Apparently, ninety nine percent of all of the asteroids out there are unknown. These are the ones that we should be afraid of. But if we discover the asteroids soon enough, all of the space organizations have technology that would somehow make it possible to deter the asteroid enough to force it far enough away to miss the earth and then leave us all safe. The technology would have to be crazy accurate. Maybe they’ll shoot a laser or some sort of rocket to break it into bits.

Agent Orange (349)

I found an article on CNN about the effects of Agent Orange on children. Agent Orange was a chemical substance used during the Vietnam War to clear vegetation but it was a ridiculously strong chemical that never should have been released into the environment. Agent Orange still affects war veterans who have developed skin conditions and other problems because of the wide spread usage of it. A small statement before a long series of pictures of children deformed by the chemical reads: “The following photos depict the devastating effects on humans believed to be caused by Agent Orange. Please be aware that the story of these innocent children contains images that some may find unsettling.”

If you click on this link, you can see the 10 pictures they have posted in a slide show. They wouldn’t allow me to copy and paste the pictures.

The very first photo is of a happy looking child who is standing up in its crib, holding their self up with their deformed hands. Their hands are more like fists with no distinct fingers but have nails growing out of the stubs. It’s really sad to see. This picture definitely has the impact they wanted for the first photo shown.

In the third picture, they show a child with flaky skin. It almost looks like they were burned somehow. There aren’t any deformities that you can see, just the horribly dry, brown skin.

In the fifth picture, a boy is walking in the hall. He doesn’t really have feet. In fact, it looks like someone amputated his legs just below where his knees bend. He appears to be walking on his knees.

In the ninth picture, you just see jars on shelves… until you look closer. You realize that these jars contain stillborn infants. Its really too hard to even look at.

There are other pictures in between those of course but these are the few I could distinctly tell what was going on. A lot of these children were abandoned at birth and they live in the hospital they are cared for at.

Name Debate(315)

In countries across the world, there are different rules, laws. Etc. Im not sure how I could have been so clueless growing up but my classes, awareness, and understanding of the world is now coming more clear than it has ever been. Im not sure why exactly, maybe I just have more classes relating to other countries than ours, maybe Im more actively following the news, or maybe I just flat out didn’t care until now. Im really not sure. But the thing that always seems to shock me when learning about laws in other countries is… how completely stupid their laws can be. I mean, we have some odd laws too I suppose, but theirs just seem to have been made up by someone just trying to create total authority over citizens because they simply feel like it.

An article on Yahoo explains how a mother named her daughter something that wasn’t legal or approved so she wasn’t legally able to use her name. Now, at the age of 15, she has been given permission to use the name of “Blaer” which translates to “light breeze”. The government thought the name was “improper”.

I think names should be totally free to decide upon. I mean, if you were going to name your child something outlandish like… I have no idea. .. Anna says Swagga Baby. If you really truly wanted to name your child “Swagga Baby”, you might want to rethink your existence and hobbies and whatnot but really, it’s your choice. And hopefully, someday, your child will develop a more.. Normal or suitable nickname to go by. But for real, it’s the parents’ choice and who wants to have a bazillion babies in the world with the same generic name. like.. Bob. if you only had 10 names to choose from and Bob is the best.. idk what this world has come to.

Neglected Child (317)

I know that we are supposed to find events that happen in the rest of the world but I feel like I could relate an event to things that happen in other areas of the world and that probably still works. So, I found a story on CNN about a boy who was being held in his family’s basement. People say that they saw that he would sometimes be sleeping on the front step because he wasn’t supposed to be in the house or he wasn’t allowed. And it was believed that he was out of town but it was leaked by a family member that he actually might be in the basement, tied up. Not much information seems to have been released. A woman was interviewed and seems to be the only source of the little details. The brother of the boy didn’t respond to any questions.

As sad as it is, im sure this sort of thing happens all over the world. Of course in America, there are officials who can be notified if someone witnesses any kind of abuse or if they believe a child isn’t being properly cared for. Also, officials will be right on the case. No one wants to see abuse. In other countries and especially third world countries I bet they don’t have the ability to have safe places for children to go, hotlines to call, investigators, etc. im sure that children aren’t the only victems either. Women are often abused by men weather its their significant other or family members, it happens.

This situation in the U.S. is really just a sad occurrence of something that happens all over the world, all the time. Its terrible that anyone would be so cruel to kick their child out of their home where they sleep or keep them prisoner in their own basement. I don’t understand why things like abuse happen.