Xxpurplexx's Blog

I and other students from my school went to see a presentation at Howard Law School. Katie McCabe gave the presentation in place of the person who she wrote a biography of. She told us a little about Dovey and her life  as a civil rights and criminal defense lawyer and how she joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps which Mary McLeod  Bethune. She is not very known but she has done so much. We were even given he autobiography. I was very interested when Mrs. McCabe spoke of  Mrs. Dovey.

Today was my first day, and I am feeling  excited about working at the court.  Today in court I saw the juvenile center where they keep teens. I was very curious about how it works. I went inside of a holding cell which was very cold.  I also went to the main control room for the holdings which was really cool.  Today I saw my judge working on a case which involved a female and male in which the male did not pay for his  half of the rent. I learned a lot today because I learned new law vocabulary. My goal for tomorrow is to get to know my judge and her JAA’s better

For our project on the digital divide we had to talk about how the digital divide affected education. We had to discuss how the divide played a role in learning between students who had certain things such as computers  and internet access and students who did not. We tried to have people’s opinion from both sides  of education between both students and teachers as well as a counselor.  Here is a link to the video of our project. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtxlGLsMdM0 

Doing this project was fun because we got to interview people and decide certain things like a background, the places to do the interview, and who to interview which was kind of difficult. It was difficult because students were in class and  most teachers were teaching. But my group and I did a good job on breaking up and doing things that would contribute to getting the project completed.  Props go to our video editor who was Delonte, Justice who typed up the sources and, last but not least me who typed up the questions. We worked okay as a team and shared our thoughts and opinions. The project turned out great and it was creatively done.

This was our final project for Computer Applications II with which we had to pick something dealing with the digital divide whether it be education, race, age, where someone lives, or how much money they have (income). Obviously we picked education because it is something that we all could relate to as students and could easily get input from out teachers. The digital divide relates to education because not all students have the same things that may be needed to learning which puts them at a disadvantage compared to students who do have computers and others types of advanced technology. This concludes my blog for my last blog for Computer Apps. II.

I think that the second amendment should be repealed. But If it stays I think that there should be more conditions to owning a gun. Also things aren’t the same when the amendment was written meaning  there’s really no need for guns to be owned by citizens. People feel as if they need it for protection but there are other things to own something not so deadly like pepper spray or a bat. I agree that guns should be held and used by people who makes it their duty to serve and protect. They make better decisions in stressful situations and will know when or if to use a gun. A gun in the hands of society like it is now causes more harm than help. Many people who have guns may have good intentions but nothing good ever comes from having or using a gun. I mean sure you may feel safe with it around you but what if someone finds it and it goes off? What if someone in your home takes it? Even if you hide a gun would you want it around your family?  Questions  that you wouldn’t have to answer if you didn’t bother getting one in the first place. A balance that can be reached between Americans that do and don’t think that citizens should own guns is citizens can have guns but they have to have a background check, a mental analysis, a safety training on using the gun, look at tapes to show why guns should not be used in a wrong way like family members of victims on the tape, signing a contract on using the gun swearing their purpose for using it, and have to go to a group meeting once of every month to discuss  why they have the gun in the first place and how it makes them feel. But this debate will continue because people will always be on opposite sides of the fence with this topic.

http://newsbatch.com/guncontrol.htm

   The internet allows you to have freedom of speech. It is also globally connected. So the world (those using the internet)  goes by the U.S.’s first amendment. Which is kind of cool and great to think about. Some argue that the internet is no good because of racists, terrorists, cyber bullies and that some websites even denied the Holocaust.

I think that the internet has pros and cons and it depends on how you look at it. Also how you feel about them that determines your view of the internet in general. I also think the internet is a good thing because we can communicate with others around the world, we can buy things online, and  just have fun playing games or other forms of entertainment. The cons of the internet should not be overlooked but can be prevented but not all of them and not completely. The cyber bullying and the racism as well as other things online should not have  any attention paid to them.

Wht is your opinion on the internet? How do you feel about the cons of it?

              The health care bill was signed by President Barack Obama. I think that he made the best decision that he thought in his opinion was good for this country. Even though no Republicans voted to pass the bill. That’s how they feel and they will just have to get over it. Though it will affect every American in the U.S. greatly. 

            There were  protests in Washington, D.C. the subject the other day. Mostly of people who opposed the bill went there. The people there didn’t really support his plan for Health Care. There were many problems with the protest and with the protesters themselves. Mainly their actions and statements but I think that they have  one-sided views in my opinion. 

     I mean you should hear the other people’s point-of-view and what they basically have to say. But you don’t really have to pay any mind to stupid comments made. And there were a lot of those. The health care bill from the words of Nancy Pelosi was said to be, “the great unfinished business of our society”. While I agree that health care is extremely important in today’s society there are other problems.

What are huge problems that we face today? Why is it still going on and have there been efforts to stop it?

                The sexting laws are thought to be too harsh on teenagers because they are put under the same category as adults when they are under the legal age of being one. Many states are considering to make sexting a misdemeanor. Other states would treat it like  a juvenile offense such as: truancy or  running away. It is good that the laws are being changed because many teens are put on the sexual offenders list which radically  changes their lives and how they live. Also in being a sex offender there is a descriptive and strict set of laws they must follow. Their address is posted online as well as their phone number, their physical description and they cannot live close to a school of any type.

          The law is being changed because in many cases when a sexual text is sent from one person to another it’s hard to tell if the person is the victim or the criminal because sometimes the victim and they are one in the same.

Would you agree that the sexting laws are too harsh on teens? Why or why not?

There is a huge hospital infection known as C-diff or Clostridium difficile. Clostridium difficile causes diarrhea and can also cause colitis. Colitis is a swelling of the colon. People pay more attention to staph infections when in fact Clostridium difficile is more of a serious threat. I think  people are more aware of staph because we know more about staph. Or have at least heard about it at some point and time. Also it may be because it may have affected us or someone we know.

Dying from  Clostridium difficile use to be rare but now there is a rise in the deaths which is now 18,000 in the United States alone. Getting the infection from a hospital versus getting staph is twenty-five percent higher. The infections were counted in  hospitals and it was discovered that 847 infections of Clostridium difficile were found in hospitals and 680 cases  of staph. Since ’07 Clostridium difficile has been on the rise. While staph has been going down since ’05.

Why are we not that aware of something that is so life threatening?

*Staph*                                     *C-diff*

Wikipedia is not a credible source for academic information and research. It is not a credible source because people can change the meanings of things anytime they want to anything that they want. Also using Wikipedia will make students lazy. They won’t have to do research to find things like they may have use to. They can just go online and look it up which may not always be correct or have complete information on a specific topic or subject.

Me as a student I feel as if I would use it because even though it may not be completely credible on events that happened I would want to use it because I would not feel like doing a lot of research and the information would be right there. Even though it may not be all of the information I would look on other website pages for other documents relating to the topic. The argument still stands which is: Is Wikipedia is credible website? Many people are divided but the creator of Wikipedia said that there were no problems. He is expected to be biased on the topic he said, “You can ban kids from listening to rock ‘n’ roll music, but they’re going to anyway,” he added. “It’s the same with information, and it’s a bad educator that bans their students from reading Wikipedia.”

 I don’t agree completely with his statement but I do agree with the first part about rock ‘n’ roll and if I wanted to listen to it but I was told not to I would still do it. It’s kind of like do what you’re told not to. But I disagree with him when he says, “a bad educator bans their students from reading Wikipedia”. To me it’s actually the opposite not so much as being banned from using it but having the opportunity to know how to actually research documents so that Wikipedia wont be the only website people turn to get information.

Wikipedia is not a credible source for academic information and research. Even though we as students are given the option to go to the website to search and to do research doesn’t mean we should. Anything can be wrong with the information on the page. Many times we may be completely unaware of it. I would go to Wikipedia but I would also go to other websites to back up the information.

Students ‘should use Wikipedia’. 7 Dec. 2007 BBC Monitoring 8:04 GMT. 14 Mar 2010

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7130325.stm

Wikipedia: Wikipedia. 14 Mar. 2010.Wikipedia.14 Mar. 2010

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia

Wikipedia: Using Wikipedia to gain legitimacy. 30 Aug.2009.Wikipedia. 14 Mar. 14 2010

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Using_Wikipedia_to_gain_legitimacy

A man was locked up for seven years and eight months for stealing a bag of shredded cheese. My first thought is what? Like why would a man be locked up for seven years. I mean stealing is stealing but seven years is really unnecessary. But as I read more of the article I learned that he had been in jail for twenty-two years.

Ten days before he took the cheese from the store he stole a wallet from a lady. The lady taking care of her sick child who had just thrown up on the floor. Mr. Ferguson’s (man who stole the cheese) defense lawyer said that he has bipolar syndrome and he struggles to control his impulse. She also said “We’re talking about a pack of cheese”. I agree even if he did have a past for assault. He has bipolar syndrome which relates to his reason for stealing the cheese and wallet.  And they were petty thefts so the time didn’t fit the crime.

Do you think the seven years the man got for stealing cheese is justly served? Why or why not?