Monday, October 5, 2009
1st Period Current Event 10/9
Please post your current event for Friday, October 9 below. Remember to include the link to the article you read, provide the topic of your article, and write at least 5-6 sentences discussing your opinion of the article. You may also use video clips or podcasts for your current event.
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BTW Michelle I replied to your reply on the old current event post :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/nyregion/29crowded.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=queens%20school%20copes%20with%20crowding&st=cse
This was my article for this week. It's about a school in Queens that has over double its capacity of students.
School starts at 7 a.m. and ends at 7 p.m., and there are 12 periods in a day. Students alternate periods. There are seven lunch periods. The first one starts at 9.00 in the morning and the last one ends at 3.00 in the afternoon.
I think this is simply ridiculous. The article says that this is a sign of success for the school, but this many people can only bring down the educational quality. Teachers will get hideously overworked and the whole school is just bursting at the seams.
Queens authorities need to siphon these students over into other schools, and fast.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/us/politics/08genealogy.html?_r=1&hp
ReplyDeleteHey, this is Christine.
So I read this article in the New York Times that had traced Michelle Obama’s family tree to a slave named Melvinia Shields in the year 1850. In the article, they talked about how when she was still a teenager, a white man fathered her firstborn, Dolphus T. Shields. I was struck most by this quote in the article, “In the annals of American slavery, this painful story would be utterly unremarkable, save for one reason: This union, consummated some two years before the Civil War, marked the origins of a family line that would extend from rural Georgia, to Birmingham, Ala., to Chicago and, finally, to the White House.” I just think it is amazing to see how far our country has come.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/156335/indonesia-ramps-up-aid-effort-a-week-after-quake
ReplyDeleteThis article from the Bangkok Post is an update on the earthquake that occurred on the island of Sumatra, in Indonesia, last week. The quake was measured to be a magnitude of 7.6 and it killed at least 1000 people initially. One of Indonesia's biggest problems is landslides and mudslides, so this earthquake also triggered many of these. Now there are an estimated 500,000 people in need of temporary shelter. I think that the Western world needs to direct more attention to catastrophes like this one; we are so wrapped up in the wars we are fighting and issues in our own country that even incidents with huge amounts of fatalities barely touch the news compared to the other problems. My family has been sponsoring a girl in Indonesia for her schooling, and I've been worried about her since the earthquake. Let's just take a few seconds out of our days to think about all the people who are affected by disasters all the time...
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/health/july-dec09/flu-costs_10-08.html
ReplyDeleteI read an article talking about the costs of the H1N1 Flu, or the Swine Flu, and preventing its spreading. Closing school was considered but it was decided that it was ultimately a local decision and that the financial loss would outweigh the gain. I think not closing schools was the correct decision, even though it may have caused the flu to spread farther faster. Medical care is good enough that the swine flu is not a life threatening disease so getting it isn't that big of a deal. Also, most sick kids stayed at home anyhow. I think the vaccine should have been more popularly used. It seems like there are many people who are terrified of getting the swine flu but i haven't heard of anyone that got vaccinated for it. It seems to me like H1N1 Flu was made out to be a much bigger deal than it actually is. It is depicted as a life-taking pandemic in our country but really it's just another type of flu, just like flu season every year.
So, I dressed up every day this week-- which technically makes me exempt from this assignment, but I wanted to share an article anyway because this is a really special issue that as many people as possible should be informed of. I’ve read many different views about NASA’s LCROSS mission but this is the most trustworthy info seeing as its NASA’s official site. Basically what’s happening tomorrow morning is a bullet will collide at twice the speed of a bullet with the lunar surface. Get this: we’re bombing the moon on purpose. Whoever’s in charge of this believes hitting precisely on the south pole of our only moon may reveal water ice crystals and proof that the moon could potentially sustain life as we know it. Which would be great, because there’s no denying that this planet is not going to last us forever. But what if things go wrong?? Our moon’s current orbit could be more important to preserve than we know... Has anybody else read Life as We Knew It by Susan Pfeffer?? Check it out. Seriously.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/overview/index.html
http://susanbethpfeffer.blogspot.com/
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,562581,00.html
ReplyDeleteThis article is about the arrest of Kuzelka family because of illegal marijuana growing, manufacturing of illegal explosives, and child endangerment (they run a daycare). It is reported that one of the Kuzelka sons went into the hospital for treatment after one of the explosives went off. He claimed he shot himself in the hand with a gun, but when doctors didn't believe him the police were called into the matter. I think this whole situation is ridiculous! It says in the article that one of the Kuzelkas has been arrested for drunk driving and possession of drugs in the past! And they were allowed to run a day care? That's terrible. The children at this daycare were obviously being put in danger while in their home because of all the illegal stuff going on. One of them could easily have been hurt or killed. I don't think it's okay to allow people with a criminal record to work at or host a daycare. And the parents of the children probably weren't aware this was going on. The whole situation could have been avoided if they just looked into the family's criminal record. A few weeks wouldn't have killed any of them, and it would have meant the children would have been better off. I hope this isn't happening in other places.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-sci-moon8-2009oct08,0,7439071.story
ReplyDeleteI'm sure some of you have heard, but NASA is launching a rocket to the moon to search for ice/water. When the rocket crashes into the moon, the scientists will analyze the debris and see if there is any sign of life on the moon! I think this is really cool, and i DO NOT believe this will "throw of moon's orbit". Moon doesn't havean atmosphere. That's why there are craters. So one little rocket from NASA isn't going to do the job
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/10/world/10nobel.html?_r=1&hp
ReplyDeleteI was very happy when i heard that Obama had one the Nobel Peace Prize. Im kind of amazed he did because he hasn't even been president for a year yet. Obama becoming president has had a huge impact on the world- and it is indeed a good one. One reason he was chosen was because his policies that he wanted to pursue a world without nuclear weapons. I think that is a good vision that he made , because it would be very nice not to have a world with nuclear weapons. As the article says, Obama has really captured the world's attention and that has given many people a reason not to hate the U.S.A anymore. Mr. Jagland said that Obama has already contributed a lot to the world, and that he truly deserved the award. Obama also said that the U.S.A would have a new beginning and hopefully new respect for it. "Who has done more than President Obama?" said Mr. Jagland. i thought that was really a great quote and that Obama should really like it. I am very glad that Obama has one the Nobel Peace Prize, because the really deserved it.