Senior Reflection #3

A few weeks ago, I went on a trip to England with my mom. As I was born there along with the rest of my family, we went to go visit relatives that I had not seen in about 3 years. It was a really enjoyable trip- it was fun to see all of my cousins who have changed quite drastically over the couple of years and also to see my grandmas, uncles, aunts, ect, who have not changed a bit. It's always nice to go back because I could not imagine living there today, though that is what would have happened if my dad hadn't accepted his job offer in America. It's a lot more quiet over there because there are a lot of countrysides and farming land. Of course, the cities are a lot more urban, like London, but the place where I grew up is a lot smaller. Either way, it was a good trip, and hopefully I will be able to visit again relatively soon!

Current Event #2

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/mobile/06/08/cnet.iphone.4/index.html?iref=allsearch

AT&T answers questions about iPhone

This article basically talks able the new iPhone 4 that is being released on June 24, 2010. It describes the new features that the iPhone will have. There are loads of new added features for the iPhone 4, such as a front camera, video chatting, multitasking, slimer, conversation threading, larger battery, and a longer surfing life. It also interviews Mark Siegel, who is AT&T's spokesperson on questions that current iPhone users would have regarding the new upgrade.
This article was of particular interest to me, because I was considering getting the new iPhone if it wouldn't be too expensive. I liked the way the article incorporated an interview with a definitely reliable source from AT&T.

Senior Reflection #2

On August 20th, I will be starting college at William & Mary. I am looking forward to it, but it is also a little worrying. Either way, I am ready to be finished with high school! It will be a new start in my life, but I am looking forward to getting away and starting something different, since I have been going to Fairfax County Schools for years and years! I will have orientation on August 20th, and classes will begin on August 25th. I completed a roomate survey, but I have not met my roommate yet. I will register for classes in July, and I am planning on taking basic general classes to begin with. Either way, I am sure the whole new experience will be fun, so I am looking forward to it!

Current Event #1

Did baseball begin in 18th-century England?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/06/01/lords.museum.baseball.cricket/index.html?hpt=C2

This article talks about the fact that while Americans claim baseball is an All American classic, with the sport originating in America, baseball may have been in fact invented by the English. One evidence of this was a diary found, written in the 18th century by William Bray. In his diary, he wrote, "Went to Stoke church this morn. After dinner, went to Miss Jeale's to play at base ball with her the 3 Miss Whiteheads, Miss Billinghurst, Miss Molly Flutter, Mr. Chandler, Mr. Ford and H. Parsons. Drank tea and stayed til 8." There have also been many other artifacts found which provide evidence of this, such as the sport of baseball being depicted on hankerchiefs. Apparently, the similar sport of cricket diverged from baseball but then when baseball emerged and flourished in America, the two sports went their seperate ways. Baseball became American and cricket became English.
I thought this article was well written. It was interesting and informative, and even came with a video, provding visual effects. I thought it was effective at getting across information to viewers, and I found it interesting that England probably invented baseball rather than America, since many ideas were brought across the Atlantic to America.

Senior Reflection #1

This summer, I am planning to relax and spend a lot of time hanging out with friends before going of to college. In addition, I am going to be spending a lot of time working at Wegmans and coaching a summer swim team, teaching little children how to swim properly. I hope I will be able to save up a lot of money. I will also be swimming on a summer swim team to keep in shape. My family will also be going to vacation to a few places to relax. After the summer, I will be heading off to William & Mary for college, which I am excited about.

Editorial #3

Hug a tree, shred government forms

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/09/hug-a-tree-shred-government-forms/

Basically, this editorial talks about the massive amount of waste that is created and time that is spent by the government on conducting pages and pages of surveys. It says that The Office of Management and Budget (hey we just learned about that!) has 8,871 of these certified federal surveys, which results in 9,824,120,791 hours per year filling them out. The editorial wrote, "This busywork is the equivalent of a full-time work force 4.9 million strong doing nothing but filling out government paperwork ... it sucks an estimated $60 billion in annual productivity out of the economy." This, I feel, is very ineffective. Spending billions of dollars in, for the most part, useless surveys is a waste of time. The editorial said that the economy loses $29 billion in productivity because of the time and paperwork spent filling these out. This loss is huge, especially with the economy the way that it is. If the government stopped dealing with these surveys altogether, or cut out some of the paperwork/ really unnecessary surveys (such as for example,number of individuals who chose not to have a wire-line telephone), the workforce and in turn, the economy could really benefit. Not to mention the environment.

Editorial #2

Alexandria's Dangerous Yellow Light Game

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/04/alexandrias-dangerous-yellow-light-game/

This editorial talks about the general Assembly's House Bill 1292. Basically, the bill is going to allow Alexandria to change its yellow light to turn red in three seconds rather than its current four seconds. Also, it gives the companies who are behind traffic cameras access to certain private information kept in the Department of Motor Vehicles. This is all because Alexandria wants money. They want to take their law enforcement to these outside companies, who will charge a low price to implement these new traffic programs. Alexandria doesn't want to spend the money to pay for the program itself, so this bill would allow these changes. If these changes are put into place, and the traffic light length for yellow lights is shortened, the city is going to make a great profit. In 1997, Alexandria tried a similar program, and there was about 80% more red light runners than with the longer yellow light, and about 29% more collisions. However, Bob McDonnell has the power to veto this bill if he chooses.

I think what Alexandria is doing is terrible. They tried the program back in 1997, and it increased collisions/accidents and the number of traffic violators dramatically. I realize that the economy is bad, but using traffic lights as a way to take more money from people is not the way to go. Basically, Alexandria is substituting safety of its people for money. It worries me because if other regionals start to see how much money Alexandria is raking in from this risky program, then other regions may start to follow suit. Let's just hope that Bob McDonnell vetoes the bill.

Editorial #1

Webcam spying on your kids

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/04/web-cams-spying-on-your-kids/

This editorial is about a recent controversy that has come up between a school and its parents. Basically, Harriton Senior High School in Bryn Mawr, Pa, issued around 2,000 laptops to the high school students, each with a hidden, remote controlled camera. These spy cameras were learned of when the school took a still shot of one of the students at home, accusing him of doing drugs (it was actually only candy). Now it looks as though the school is about to get into major trouble under privacy laws, for potentially constituting "an egregious violation of privacy and perhaps and illegal search and illegal wiretapping."the editorial then goes on to say that if Americans don't make it known to those in charge that doing this sort of thing is unacceptable, then the government is going to continue to abuse its power.

Personally, I agree with this editorial wholeheartedly. It is so wrong and creepy for school officials to be spying on students without the parent's knowledge (or really even with parental consent, not that any parent would give consent to that). They can claim whatever they like, but the fact of the matter is that hidden cameras were placed in the laptops with no one's permission, and now that school administration is going to have to pay the price. I know even in small cases, someone using a webcam to spy on another person can get into some serious trouble, so here you have administration potentially spying on thousands of kids who are minors. I agree with who the editorial says at the end as well, about that officials and in turn, the government, needs to be told enough is enough. However, I don't think I'd go as far as calling the government "Creeping Big Brotherism," because I'd say that is a tad bit too extreme, but I do think this situation should make some people think about privacy laws. It makes me wonder about the fact that the school officials would even think to play hidden spy cams in laptops for their students... the whole situation is just creepy.

Predictions

The Obama Administration has a lot of expectations to fill for the new year. I personally think we will see a slowwww but steady increase in the economy and new jobs. Economists are saying that the economy is currently pulling out of the recession, but I don't think there is reason for celebration just yet. The economy is still terrible; for example, next year is looking pretty dismal for Fairfax County schools. This large school district which has a great national reputation is facing huge deficits in the budget, so I can only imagine that other school districts and state funded systems are going to be facing similar if not worse problems. It will get better though; it just takes time. The Health Care bill will continue to be debated on (though it looks less promising with the recent republican senator elected to MA, which takes away the democrats vote of 60 in the Senate).

Political Cartoon #5

(Sorry it's late!)

This cartoon was drawn by Joe Heller on January 5th for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Basically, the drawing was influenced by an attempted bombing of a plane on Christmas day. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab hid a bomb in his underwear, with a plan to detonate the plane on a transatlantic flight. He managed to get through security with this. Fortunately, the bomb did not set off properly, but the bomb could have potentially caused a disaster. This blog provokes the question of how the bomb managed to pass through security. The cartoon is basically saying that security scanners are useless if they don't actually look underneath clothes to see if anything that could cause harm is hidden. I agree with Heller; security needs to be even tighter. I know that now real full body scans are being looked into, which would definitely help to eliminate situations like this.

Political Cartoon #4

The political cartoon was drawn by Wolverton through Cagle Cartoons on December 20th, 2009. This political cartoon is poking fun of Tiger Woods, after recent allegations that he has been having affairs with multiple women. It is a play on the phrase "best player of the year" because Tiger Woods is a great golf "player," yes, but really he has been a "player" with the ladies. I think the cartoon is amusing myself, and I certainly agree with it. I think Tiger Woods thought he was invincible and could get away with anything , but now that he has been found out he is going to have to face some repercussions.