Pearl Harbor Editorial

Danny Wukich

December 7, 2011

Life Skills Period E

Editorial

317 words

Pearl Harbor Veteran Recalls Bewilderment of Attack

This was a great article and a great one to read. I only thought that an article about Pearl Harbor was appropriate on the 70^th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Louis E. Gore, the man that was interviewed, is an eighty-eight year old retired petty officer of the United States Navy. He is also one of the last eight known survivors that was on the USS Arizona during the time of the attack. He said he was in the bottom of the ship when the attack occurred, and when he came to the surface all he could see were flames shooting up towards the sky, fighter planes in the air, and dead bodies floating in the water. As an eighteen year old kid, still new to the Navy, he did not really know how to react. All he could think of what to do was go to the top of the ship, man the anti-aircraft gun, and try to take down any plane that he could see. Being so young, and seeing as much death and violence as Mr. Gore did, is truly amazing.

This was an extremely good article. It was a lot of fun to read and was very interesting. Even though this article was mostly an interview, it really educated me on Pearl Harbor much more than I knew about it before. This was really eye opening to me, because if really gave me a first hand look at what it was like to be involved with such a significant part of history. It was really amazing to read about how brave someone as young as Mr. Gore was during this time of great violence.

“Pearl Harbor Veteran Recalls Bewilderment of Attack.” http://today.msnbc.msn.com. N.p., 7 Dec. 2011. Web. 7 Dec. 2011. <http://today.msnbc.msn.com/‌id/‌45567513>.

Life skills Editorial

My life skills editorial is about the kindle fire being number 2 in the tablet business. There are 3.9 million kindle fires being shipped out on amazon.com. The amount of people that want kindles is amazing to me because half the stuff you can do on the kindle you can do on your phone. Because you can do all that without a bigger sized tablet means that the kindle fire being shipped out to 3.9 million people is unnecessary because you can read a book. The fact that the kindle fire is 99 dollars and people still want it that bad is alarming. The other reason why it is rediculos for the kindle fire to be going to that many people which is some where around 386,100,000 dollars. That is rediculous when you can go to a library or you can go to barnes and nobles and buy books for barley any money. My grandmother is a librarian and she hates all the new technology stuff because one she doesn't get it and two she thinks that it is pointless.

I understand that it looks cool and futuristic and stuff, but I would never buy a kindle or an Ipad or anything like that, when I can just go to the library or the book store and get the same books. That also means I don't have to read the words on a small screen. I can also get all of the apps and games and things on my phone and it makes no difference to me what so ever.

Clippers Claim PG Chauncey Billups

The article “Clippers Claim PG Chauncey Billups” is about the Los Angeles Clippers signing The New York Knick's guard Chauncey Billups because he was waived by them. Chauncey Billups averaged 17 points and 5 assist last season on the Denver Nuggets for the first half of the season and the New York Knicks for the second half of the season. The Los Angeles Clippers were originally trying to acquire New Orleans Hornets Guard Chris Paul but there general manager said the cost was too high so instead they settled for five time all-star Chauncey Billups.
The New York Knicks were not very wise on waiving guard Chauncey Billups from their roster because they don't have any other good point guards on there team to replace him and they have no guarantee of getting one from the free agency. If the Knicks don’t find another point guard there team wont be a strong contender against other east coast teams even though they do have Carmelo Anthony who is one of the best scorers in the NBA and Amare Stoudemire arguably the best power-forward in the NBA, they still need a strong point guard to lead the team. The Los Angeles Clippers were very smart on acquiring Chauncey right away to there team once they knew they were no longer going to get Chris Paul from the Hornets, because Chauncey is a very good fit to there team being able to control the tempo of the game yet still push the fast break when needed too. Even though Billups is 34 years old he still has a good two years left in him to put up good stats.
The Knicks need to find themselves a good point guard to lead there team and keep there team in order while out there on the court other wise there going to have a long season ahead of them filled with criticism.
"Los Angeles CLippers Claim Cauney Billups off Waivers." ESPN GO. 13 Dec. 2011. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. .

Ten more Face ax

Today's article was about how ten more schools were added to the list of
schools being closed down. And to make things worst, these ten
schools are middle schools, boasting the list of middle schools to be
closed to twenty five. These schools are being closed only because
the kids weren’t producing on the state test.

Personally I think that this makes NYC schools look horrible. A middle school
which have classes that are never overly complicated can't produce
good state test grades. As a result of this many schools are being
closed down. I also believe that the reason these schools are closing
down are because of the budget-cut. I think many schools are being
targeted to close down so teachers, and other faculty members can be
laid off.

I know that the parents of the students that attend these schools are
frustrated because now they are going to have to find their child a
new school, and most likely that new schools isn't going to be a
local school. So this means now more middle school students are going
to be taking public transportation. And the metro cards use by
students are paid for by the city, so money is still being taken from
the city. And if the children can't take public transportation then
parents are going to have to have to go out their daily schedules to
get their child to school and to pick them up from school.

As much as I know its devastating to hear that a school is closing, I think
it can easily be avoided, all the principle of the school has to do
is make the students buckle up. The principle should take control of
the schools education and make the teachers at least step up their
teaching techniques or get new teachers.

Gonen,Yoav. "Ten More Face Ax." New York News. New York Post, 10 Dec. 2011.
Web. 12 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.nypost.com/f/print/news/local/ten_more_face_ax_N2UitTwPNHyJCRHGNTHub
M>.

Has airport security gone too far?

The article I chose to discuss talks about airport security. It talks about how TSA is rolling out these ultra-revealing imagers across the country in an attempt to uncover hidden threats like the so-called underwear bomb found on a Detroit-bound flight last Christmas. What these scanners are able to do is see the passengers entire body nude. It is monitored by a person in a separate room where they are able to see the person virtually naked.

My issue with the article and with TSA is that I don’t think it is ethically right to strip people of their most private possession which is their body. I believe that with all the metal detectors, bag screenings, removing of the shoes, belts, watches, jewelry, that should be enough. If they want us to walk to the airport and travel naked then they should just come out and say it.

Today, 373 are installed in 68 U.S. airports. One thousand machines are supposed to be in place by the end of next year. And the Obama administration has requested 5,355 additional employees to man the scanners—at a cost of $219 million in the first year alone. The only alternative to the screenings will be a pat-down from a TSA worker, by the way, which they already do.

So my question is why go so far as to seeing people naked? Don’t people still have that right as to keep their body personal and not have some person in a distant room doing God knows what with these pictures. I think that being gawked at in the nude is not a fair price to pay just to go on a flight.

Shachtman, Noah. "Noah Shachtman: Has Airport Security Gone Too Far? - WSJ.com." Has Airport Security Gone Too Far? 17 Nov. 2010: 1. Business News & Financial News - The Wall Street Journal - Wsj.com. 17 Nov. 2010. Web. 12 Dec. 2011. .

Siri can't direct you to an abortion clinic

The article “Siri can't direct you to an abortion clinic” talks about how apples new iPhone 4S feature cant locate an abortion clinic even though it knows how to tell you where to go to buy condoms. Siri pulls all its information from the internet once asked a question. Apple said the omission was not intentional. Siri can help you find drugstores and bars, but the iPhone 4S digital assistant is clueless when it comes to the locations of abortion clinics.
Apple is a multi-million dollar company selling one of the best mobile phones there is. Its newest mobile phone the iPhone 4S has a feature called “siri” its feature allows you to talk to your iPhone and ask it for a question. Siri is able to answer all kinds of questions because it pulls there information off the internet. So why cant it answer a simple question like “Where is the closest abortion clinic?” if it pulls information from the internet? Is it possible that apple purposely made the application not to be able to do it? Abortion clinics are not something small and is all over the internet so siri should easily find it. Apple has said it was accidental and its only a beta, and that siri will be at its best once they have its final product. Is apple sending a statement out there to people? Or was it actually accidental? A little mistake like this can really hurt a company, apple needs to fix siri asap.
Sutter, John D. “Siri can't Direct you to an Abortion Clinic” CNN News. © 2011 Cable News Network. Decmber 1st , 2011. < http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/01/tech/mobile/abortion-clinic-siri-iphone/index.html >

RIM shares shoot up on plans to open network services to iPhones, Android

The article “RIM shares shoot up on plans to open network services to iPhones, Android” talks about RIM thinking about starting to open its network services to Iphones and Androids to help security purposes in the work environment. RIM is starting to lose its place as the primary handler of mobile devices in the workplace, so by doing this they would likely hold there spot as the primary handler of mobile devices in the workplace. They need this because there stock has started to drop in the past year, due to the fact of them losing ground to sleeker opponents.
Do you think apple and Google’s android should team up with RIM? Recently blackberry and rim have been losing customers due to the fact that there service is just not as good as other services now. Blackberry's have bad battery life and the always seem to have something going wrong with it whether its not turning on or the track-pad no longer works or even not being able to charge! If that isn't bad enough, there BBM which is the biggest part of blackberry's keeps crashing and going down, and people can't use it. Workplace companies that do use rim's services cant have this its costing them money to have to replace there employees phones and slowing there work progress down. If apple and Google’s android team up with them then what if it happens to there services too? Then they will start to lose customers and there stock will drop. Why have that? You never know what could happen if RIM joins with Apple and Google's androids. But chances are it might possibly be bad and cause company's thousand's of dollars.
Reuters News Agency. “RIM Shares Shoot Up on plans to Open Network Services to iPhones, Android” Toronto Star. © Toronto Star 2011. Nov 29 2011. Wednesday, November 30, 2011. <http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1094175--rim-shares-shoot-up-on-plans-to-open-network-services-to-iphones-android>

Internet In The Future

When having to pick an article to write about, it is important to choose one that sparks your interest. What I am really interested in is how the internet will look ten years from now. The future is always something I am intrigued in. While reviewing this article I quickly realized that it was focused on Europe. However, I believe that Europe and America are almost the same when it comes to people using the internet. Both Country's have the same advancements when it comes to the internet. The internet is the same world wide, which is why I believe all these advancements will also occur in America.

What really interests and fascinates me about this article is that in 2009 no business could operate effectively without the internet. This proves how far the world has come with the internet. I believe that the internet has basically taken over the world. Everyone uses it, from teenagers to adults, everyone is always online browsing or searching. Why do us humans have such a huge reliance on the internet? What was it like in the 20^th century without it, because apparently people and businesses survived before.

The Fact that the internet was never created or designed for how it is being is used is mind boggling. How could something that wasn't meant for global use become this big in such a short amount of time. The internet has already evolved significantly in the past ten years. There is no saying what the internet will be like in the future. I cant even imagine how much the internet will transform five years from now.

Saracco, Roberto. “Future Internet 2020”. European Future Internet Portal. May 8^th 2009. Mike Sharpe. December 1^st 2011. http://www.future-internet.eu/news/view/article/future-intenet-2020.html

soccer can be dangerous

I was reading an article that was very interesting to me, because I like to play soccer, and is my main sport, and the article talk about the problems involving heading the ball.

Heading is believed to have killed the English footballer Jeff Astle. Astle, 59, who died in 2002, developed cognitive problems after years of playing for England and West Bromwich Albion. The coroner ruled that his death resulted from a degenerative brain disease caused by heading heavy leather footballs.

The damage only occurred in players who said they headed the ball at least 1,000 times in a year, that is an averaged.

I think that brain damage its very odd in this sport, not like boxing that almost every boxer ends up whit brain damage after he retires, this has to be taken like a warning to the players, but not as a reason to quit playing.

I would recommend further studies to confirm what is a safe amount so that footballers could be advised on this.

Dr Andrew Rutherford from the School of Psychology at Keele University has been researching the possible damage caused by heading for several years. He says he is yet to be convinced by the evidence so far.

He suspects that researchers are looking at the wrong thing. He believes most head trauma seen in football is due to players clashing heads when they are going for a header, rather than contact with the ball itself.

I think that this should no be a problem for the players, but they can change some things of the game, like the ball, make it different and more light.

Interracial Marriage Scandal

Danny Wukich

December 1, 2011

Life Skills Period E

Editorial

324 words

Interracial Marriage in Kentucky

This article talks about an interracial couple in a small, all white town in rural Kentucky who had their marriage request denied by the towns Appalachian church . Stella Harville met, a white girl that grew up in the small community met her African fiance, Ticha Chikuni while attending Georgetown College. Chikuni, has attended the church before, and has even sang there. After one service the former pastor, Melvin Thompson told the secretary that Chikuni was not back allowed in the church. However Thompson says that he is not racist, but I do not agree what so ever. I think that this decision is absolutely ridiculous. The church even had a vote to see whether or not the couple should be married, which they lost 9-6. Most members of the church left or refused to vote. I personally do not think that this should be a big deal at all. If two people love each other and want to get married, then then should be allowed to do so. The church's national association, located in Anitoch, Tennessee, had a few things to say about the situation. They said that the decision is wrong, and if it is not fixed quickly, they will take action. As for the town who voted against the couple, I believe that they should be beaten with a bat. Racism is never okay, no matter what. We resolved this problem many years ago and ever since then it has been a huge problem. This has done nothing for the town except make them look bad. They should all be ashamed of what they have done. I wish the best of luck to the couple, and I hope that this conflict is resolved soon.

Lovan, Dylan. "Small Ky. church votes against interracial couples ."
msnbc.msn.com. Associated Press, 30 Nov. 2011. Web. 1 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45499321/ns/us_news/>.

Protect IP Act, and Stop Online Piracy Act Going Against US Constitution

These are very two controversial bills that are pending approval currently in the government. Internet forum sights, and sharing sights like reddit.com blew up because of these bills even being considered. The Protect IP Act is the one that will effect most people in there every day lives. The reason is because if this bill gets passed then this gives the government the right to use DNS blocking techniques to literally delete complete websites from US internet. Kind of like what happened in china. The Stop Online Piracy Act applies to people more like me. I download movies, music, and games from the internet since I am a kid and I literally can not afford all of these things.

The reason there is such an roar of complaints from people is because this could infringe the first amendment of free speech. This is because by blocking the pirating websites they are also saying that they will fine you, or give you jail time if you video tape yourself singing a famous song and put it on facebook without permission. Also if they start to block potential pirating websites they will probably block websites that don't mean to pirate and therefore be shutting down perfectly fine websites

I personally think that this is completely outrageous. I will be honest I have pirated many video games but for a good reason. For computer games there is no way to demo or test the game without buying it. You can't even rent it, so I pirate, play it, and if I like it I go and buy it. If I don't like a game then I just delete it. Also this is completely against the 1^st amendment, and very unconstitutional. I know I never wanted to sound like one the crazy lunatics who think the government is taking over, but if they continue at this rate they will.

Kirk, William. "Protect IP Act Breaks the Internet; Senator Wyden Threatens
Filibuster as Vote Nears." global communications news network. N.p., 26
Nov. 2011. Web. 2 Dec. 2011.
protect-ip-act-breaks-the-internet-senator-wyden-threatens-filibuster-as-vote-nea
rs/>.

Electronic book

Yang Chen

12/01/11

Life Skill period E

Editorial

Electronic book

I read a article is about “e-book”, what's e-book? I do not know this noun when I read the article

before, so I do want to know this word, I went to find the Wikipedia, there's explain is clear for me,

it said: An electronic book (variously, e-book, e-book, digital book) is a book-length publication in d

digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and produced on, published through, and readable on

computers or other electronic devices. Sometimes the equivalent of a conventional printed book,

electronic books can also be born digital. The Oxford Dictionary of English defines the electronic book

as "an electronic version of a printed book, but e-books can and do exist without any printed

equivalent. electronic book are usually read on dedicated e-book readers. Personal computers and some

mobile phones can also be used to read.

It's have a great advantage, the advantage is that when people reads the book and they do not needs

take the heavy book anymore, it is really convenient for people, just take a electronic products like I-

Pad, I- Phone......, and a 8G memory card, people can reads book in anywhere, like crowed bus,

morning's MTR, even while walking.

An electronic book can be used immediately after download, but the real book needs to go to the store

to buy it or go to the library to borrow it, and the production of e-book does not consume any paper and

ink.

I believe that the electronic book will be gradually replaced the real book in the future.

Longer Test for 3rd-8th Grades?

Obi Udezeh
Life Skills
12/1/11
Longer Test for 3rd-8th Grades?

Today's article was about how David Abrams, who is New York's chief of
testing, made a proposal to principles across the state telling them
that annual reading and math test will be double in length. Pushing
testing times close to the length of SAT tests. And may I remind you
that these tests are for 3rd-8th graders.
I believe that this idea is outrageous but also it is something that
can prep these kids. When the 8th graders take a 4 hour
test, they are going to know how a lengthy test feels. So when they
get to high school, a PSAT isn't going to be their first lengthy
test. Resulting in a longer focusing ability, and eventually
resulting in better PSAT and SAT grades. So at the end of the day we
are going to see higher SAT grades and more college acceptance
letters. Making the NYC public high schools look way better. I also
think that this was a strong move because a lot of high schools are
closing down in NY only because their graduation rates and test
grades are low. Abrams' idea could easily change the low test grade
aspect then over time that will result in a higher graduation rate
and then stop the closing of many high schools in NY.
Personally if I was one of those kids who are going to have to take a 4 hour
reading and math test, I would be heated, simply because preparing
for a 2 hour test in their school is mentally challenging. When I had
to take these test, about 3 weeks earlier we would start preparing
for the test. Constantly taking old test, then going over the correct
answers immediately after. It was definitely a hassle. But it
definitely prepared me for what I had in store for the future.

Gonen, Yoav. "NY's Top School Testing Guru Forced out - NYPOST.com." New York Post. New York Post, 30 Nov. 2011. Web. 01 Dec. 2011. .

New generation of reading

Life skills Editorial

Justice Perry

11/28/11

Text books online

The article I read is about text books being on tablets like the kindle and Ipad at some schools. The popularity of the kindle and the Ipad has caused some schools to make their books availible on the two tablets. The article says that the e books are the gateway to the future and so the kids and the shcools might as well get used to it. The United States estimates that the e books will generate 267.3 million dollars which is a 44.3 percent increase from last year.

I think that having textbooks online or on a handheld device is a bad idea. I would rather read a book printed on paper and just have to flip pages and not have to press a million buttons just to get to the book. Also I think it would be easier to read the book if you have it in your hands then if you have to look and read the words on the screen. I can understand how schools would want to get a jump on it right now because the e books are going to be the way everyone reads someday but today I would hate to go to a school where I had to read e books.

I understand also that if you have the books on the tablets that they will generate more money which is what evetything is about but I think that it might even be a bad idea. If a school has I pads that I can take home to read things with I don't know if I would actually use it for reading considering all the other things that you can do with the I pad.

In conclusion I don't like the idea of schools moving towards the e books but I understand why it is happening.