Its Tough to be A Parent

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. (492)

Something More

What is the point of learning all of the information we do in school? I understand that in order to get a good job, you need a good education, and in order to specialize in some area you need extensive knowledge of that subject but why? Why do we need jobs? Why should it matter what we learn? Why can’t the knowledge be spaced out and give everyone time to sort everything out? I think that the amount of things we learn should correlate with our age, and our life experiences should progress in correlation to our education experiences.

I think that when everyone is little, they should all learn world languages, although if everyone in the world spoke one language, it would make everything a lot easier. Every child in the United States should learn English, Spanish, Latin, French, and Chinese or some other Asian language. If every child learned these languages while they were young, they could learn them faster, without an accent, and could progress farther into each language as they grow.

I guess that as they grow they could also learn the other subjects like math, history, science, etc. but as soon as they reach high school age or higher the curriculum should change drastically. High school and college are about figuring out who you are and what you are going to do for the rest of your life. If all you do is sit in a classroom and go farther in depth in the same subjects they have been studying for the past 9+ years. They should go on trips, and able to experience everything around the world and curriculum so that they can be happy with their future life decisions. If teenagers and young adults stay in one place their whole life, they can only become something within the place they are. It only makes sense to present them with an entirely new and different experience.

I guess my main point is that there is so much more in life to learn then what you are able to learn in school and if we really want kids to develop into respectable and self-confident adults, we have to focus on what they are going to become and not so much on what facts they need to memorize. (387)

Opportunity-Cost

With graduation coming up, I think that it is important that people actually know the toll that school can take on a person. I found an article online called reasonsus kids need our sleep that helps to explain how lack of sleep, especially in students and younger people, can affect them.

I know im not in many activities, really, but color guard seems to consume my whole entire fall trimester during school, after school, and on weekends. Plus winter guard takes up my Saturday morning sleep in time. And not to mention those early mornings to travel to different cities for competitions and late nights getting back. And theres school there too. I mean, AP Econ isn’t my strongest point and the homework isn’t terrible… until 3rd tri when you have 50 tests to do corrections on and notes on top. Then theres prom. Oh my, what dress am I going to wear? And do I have everything planned? Have I turned in all those forms? And don’t forget planning that grad party. On top of that theres replacing the carpet in my house with hardwood, tearing up the kitchen and putting it back together-no hired help, just my family doing this. Lets no forget my job that’s starting up again because its time for senior pictures and then I need to hang out with friends too, right? Its my senior year! Well, now that im done boring you with my life, here are the facts that im gonna need to remember for college:

Women are more at risk for heart problems if they don’t get enough sleep. Lack of sleep is lack of knowlage. You need that sleep to help your brain keep all that info in. and sleep helps your health. Also, make sure you get enough sleep before your flu vaccine or youll have a difficult time fighting it off.

Not that there arnt more reasons, but these are an important few I thought the article had a good point about.

A Way of Learning

Schools: the primary institutions for educating, learning, and preparing children for their futures, have changed a great deal over the years, both in purpose and the information taught. When school was first instituted, its main goal was to prepare children for work in factories or similar institutions. This intent can still be seen in every school, for example; there is seven to eight hour school day starting at seven or eight depending on schedules, five minute passing times, bells signaling students to move from one place to another, and so on and so forth. As time progressed, people started to complain. Early reformers like Jane Addams wanted to keep the schools with a production base in order to help immigrants and the poor adapt to society’s harsh conditions. People like John Dewey however; thought teaching more than the three R’s (reading, writing, and arithmetic,) would be more beneficial to students in the socially changing economy. He wanted classes to be taught that would help the students learn new skills and actual things they would need when they got out of school.

Today, there has been yet another shift of the way children are being taught and what they are being prepared for. They are not learning skills that will prepare them to work in factories; rather, they are skills that will prepare them to get into college. This would normally be a good thing because it encourages students to go to college and think that they are eligible to. It is so enforced however that everything that students work for is preparing for tests like the ACT, SAT, PLAN, PSAT, etc. and working to get the best grades so that they can get into their college of choice. The grades don’t always come from hard work either; some students will sometimes take easier classes where it is easy to get a good grade versus harder classes that they won’t get as good of a grade. (326)

Re-Opening the Door to Space

 After the moon landing and the so-called "space-age," it seemed like there really weren't any new discoveries in space to be made. I found an article on-line that described the findings of a new planet in space.

The planet has two suns apparently just like something from star wars. I’m not really sure what the star wars version is but that’s how the article compared it. This planet is the first known of its kind and is a bit larger than Neptune in size. They call it PH1. PH1 was discovered by a couple of amateur astronomers.

The alien planet spends about 138 days orbiting once around its suns. The suns or stars themselves orbit around each other once every 20 days. PH1 is really hot and reaches temperatures over 600 degrees. It also has two other stars near it that aren’t even its main suns. Astronomers have been studying this planet and gaining so much information just “by studying light from one of its parent stars.”

I have always been interested in astronomy and think it’s really cool that amateur astronomers were the ones to discover this. I wish I could spend more time looking at stars and planets especially with a telescope that is really powerful. The planet and its suns are really cool too. I want to learn more about why this is the only one known of its kind. Why doesn’t this happen more often that we can tell? It is hard to believe that we can even see stuff like this thousands of light years away. That’s so hard for me to comprehend how far away that is. I really wish we knew more about what is out there. I bet there are tons of planets like PH1 that we don’t know about and many others that are even more surprising than having 4 stars near it. I am really glad that we have the technology we do to know about what is out there even as far as the moon. I don’t even know what I would think if we didn’t scientifically know all this stuff. (358)

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

            Ever since I took AP Psychology freshman year, I have found mental disorders to be enticing. I found a book called The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat that is basically an accumulation of many different stories about different people with strange disorders.

            The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is a very interesting and different book then I have ever read before. It was written by a neurologist in 1986 and is about his experiences with patients and treatments for them. I have never read a nonfiction novel before, or at least a informational medical one, so it was an entirely new experience reading it. Each chapter is about a new patient or patients each with a different disease or mental disorder. Oliver Sacks wrote his observations of each one and followed it with a postscript that had all of his thoughts on the subject.

            It took me a while to read this book because Sacks uses a lot of very large medical jargon that I didn’t really understand and I found myself having to reread it again and again. The stories of all of his patients and their disorders were very interesting and unique. Some of them though were familiar and frankly a little dry. There are also stories with disorders that I still don’t understand how they work or what they do. This might have been due mostly to the fact that I didn’t understand his terminology while he was describing them.

            Even though Oliver Sacks wrote the disorders in the same way, I found myself liking some more than the others. My favorite chapters in the book were “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat”, “Witty, Ticcy, Ray,” and “Cupid’s Disease.” These were the most interesting stories I thought because they presented new cases and personalities to me.

            I found the book to be rather challenging to read because of my difficulty in understanding all of the jargon and learned diction. It also started to become a little difficult to keep track of all of his different patients and the diseases and symptoms. I would only recommend this book to someone who might be familiar with the medical jargon and still interested in all of the different mental disorders. (396)

The Perfect Crème Brûlée

When I was eight, my sister made it to the 3v3 soccer nationals that happened to be held in Disney World. My family accompanied her down there and we made a vacation out of it. We spent our days watching her play her games and after she was done, we got to go the different Disney parks and ride all of the rides and see all of the attractions. The very last day, we went to Epcot, where you can walk around a lake and see the different countries represented. In order to get the full experience, we stopped at each of the different countries and bought a dessert; a crème brûlée from France, chocolate from Germany, and flan from Mexico.

Each of these desserts had their own unique taste and every bite left me wanting more. It wasn’t just that these desserts tasted good, because they did, it was that they were an entirely new and exciting experience for me. Each country had its own dessert; a dessert that had made its way to fame in the many years that country had existed. It had entangled itself the country’s history and somewhere along the way it became a representation of inimitable culture and traditions.

Since then I have realized that it is not just countries with these distinctive and delectable desserts, it is also people. People have both good desserts and horrid ones, some are mediocre, and others are forgettable. Whether these desserts taste good or not is entirely up to each individual person.

I believe that it is important to work to be one of these phenomenal and unforgettable desserts because a bland bread pudding is easily forgettable, but an intricately seasoned and cared for crème brûlée can change a person. If someone cares about how others perceive them and change themselves for the better because of it, this world would be a much more delicious place. (325)

Fatherly Love

If anyone has taught me about love it was my father.

My father is not an extraordinary man on the outside; he could walk through a supermarket without extracting more than a glance. I assume he appears to be like any other father; a thinning hairline, emerging pot belly, smile lines beginning to show, and pictures of his kids in his wallet seated in the back pocket of his pants. The extraordinary bits are under his father façade, invisible to the human eye but clear as day to the abstract world.

Ever since I was little, my father has shown me how to love. He used to take me into our living room and set me on the coffee table. He would select the same CD from the rack every time, put it in the stereo, and skip to the one track that played the song “Butterfly Kisses” by Bob Carlisle. When the lyrics started playing, he would take my hands, put them around his neck, and we would sway back and forth to the music and he would sing to me. One time, I told him that I when I grew up, I would play this song at my wedding so we could dance for real and I could be like Belle in Beauty and the Beast. He said “Lexi, you go ahead and play any song that you like, but if you play this one, I will cry my eyes out.”

Believe it or not but this was the first time that I was even aware guys could cry. As I grow older, my father is there every step of the way teaching me more and more about boys and the many things that they are capable of. He comforts me when my relationships get tough and gives the best advice he can when applicable. I don’t know what I would do without my father because he is, and always will be, the first person to teach me how to love. (334)

Iraq Attack

A surprise literally struck the streets of Iraq Monday, leaving 36 dead and dozens wounded. Five car bombs, each individually placed in five different cars, detonated in the streets, injuring many civilians across the southern and central regions of Iraq. While this violence comes from unknown enemies from unknown lands, many hold suspicion to al Qaeda, the violent, destructive terrorist organisation wreaking havoc across the world. Each bomb went off at different times, and in different places. Two of the most deadly explosions traced back to two cars parked closely together in a parking lot located in the south of Iraq in the city of Amarah, killing eighteen and injuring forty two in two explosions. Another bombing detonated near a restaurant in the city of Diwaniyah killing nine people and wounding twenty three. Remains around the explosion were left in charred remnants, the bomb totalling three cars to pieces and leaving blood to cover the nearby restaurants’ walls. While chaos was growing in the two cities, authorities and citizens running back and forth in confusion and fear, a third explosion site was added to the list, with the city Karbala receiving a blast killing three more innocent victims and wounding another fourteen. The final blast was launched south of Baghdad, killing another six and injuring fourteen, raising the total to the previously stated thirty-six deaths and the dozens wounded. No matter the circumstance, I don’t understand who would want to kill so many innocent citizens, or for that matter, why they would have such terrible motives. While other’s may have different opinions that vary from my own, I believe it is never right for a punishment to be fulfilled by death, even if originating from anger. However, who ever has launched this attack, presumably al Qaeda according to officials, had no reason to strike against these innocent people, and had no reason to put an end to innocent lives. (320)

Sudden Shock Causes Bangladesh Crash

A sudden shock set in when the Rana Plaza factory fell down to crumbling ash last week. When the building collapsed, over 398 unfortunate souls were trapped in the falling rubble, their lives ending with the fall of the walls. It has, however, been reported that up to 2,773 people may have escaped the ruin, but many injuries have been reported and some have been rushed to the hospital in critical condition. It was held responsible to no terrorist activity, however. The factory collapsing to rubble was traced back to a compromised building structure. The integrity of the building and the hazard it had posed had Bangladesh's Cabinet inspecting all other garment factories for structural deficiency throughout Monday morning, as to prevent another tragic destruction. The building’s unstable architecture falls blame to the factory’s owner, Mohammed Sohel Rana. He was in haste to flee to India before authorities intercepted him near the border, and he is currently awaiting questioning. Following would be a trial pushing potential charges of negligence, illegal construction, lack of building permits, and broken city codes. Facing him could also be a maximum expectancy of seven years in prison. While that may or may not sound like a long time to be sentenced, I think that is not a long enough punishment. Because of this man, many of thousands are left without jobs, but many others left where the building lies, their remains lost, leaving their families to pay the price of a tragic loss. M.S. Akbar, chairman of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, said,”It is hardest for those family members who do not know if their loved ones are dead or alive or trapped.” I think that no one should have to suffer through abiding the plausible death of a family member, and certainly not because of a man maximizing profits to cause risk to his thousands of workers just trying to provide for their families. All along the streets, family members crowded to grasp the faint chance that a loved one would come stumbling out of the dusty wreck, waiting dusk to dawn, until fate finally prevailed against their hopes, sending them home with tears in their eyes and just mere memories of those whom they so dearly loved. (378)

The Many Faces of Science

On the onion.com, I found an article about a study done with tree branches. It wasn't done to study the molecular structure, or its effects on soil or some normal study like that. Before I explain the purpose, if there even is one, I think I’ll just tell what they did in the study. They hired four hundred people to participate. First, they walked through a disgusting spider web, and while trying to untangle from the mess, an assistant standing nearby smacks them with the tree branch. They then determine whether it hurts.

…Um ok? Is this study archaic to anyone else?

What in the world would persuade someone to think of doing a study like this? I feel like the leading scientist got smacked in the face by a tree branch and wanted everyone else to feel his pain and thought a scientific study would make his revenge feel more legitimate. This would also keep him from getting sued. Maybe.

Apparently, this study turned up “ground breaking evidence!” It was more like “nose-breaking evidence.” They concluded that if someone gets smacked in the face by a tree branch it will hurt, but only initially. After a few minutes, the pain will go away and the only thing left over will be the red mark smack dab in the middle of your face. Hard hitting evidence right? Well these scientists seem to think so! They say “the implications of the study could be far-reaching, having a major impact on future research in the field of getting smacked with a variety of stupid goddamn things in various anatomical areas and its relationship to whether one is more-or-less fine after a minute or two.” Now, I really cannot tell if this is a serious study or if it is just archaic because it was posted on the onion. I think that it was probably an actual study for a stupid purpose. What I really can’t figure out though is who would actually volunteer to be smacked in the face… (341)

 

Tommorow's Technology Today

In AP Biology, we watched a video that talked about how scientists have made discoveries pertaining to computers and linking them with thoughts. It started with a guy that was paralyzed that was able to communicate through a computer. There was a cap with neuron sensors that was placed on his head and a screen in front of him flashed a bunch of letters. When the guy saw the letter he wanted, he would think “that’s it” and it would record the letter. In this way, he could spell out words and make sentences that the computer would read. There were other discoveries that the video mentioned as well.  They followed the study of a neurosurgeon that implanted a neuron sensor into a monkey’s brain and recorded the neuron impulses in the brain. By determining what this meant, he was able to program a robotic arm to the monkey’s thoughts and the monkey was able to move the arm with only his mind. The study has progressed into human’s brains as well. They were testing the technology in a woman that was paralyzed and she was able to move the cursor on a computer screen and steer a wheelchair.

                I understand the benefits of this technology but to be honest it kind of scares me. I mean, if someone can operate a computer with their mind what can’t they do? What can’t computers do anymore? Hasn’t society learned anything from the science fiction movies? Robots take over, computers get so powerful that they control every aspect of human life, and then they take over. To be fair, the humans always win in the end, but they were made in Hollywood. With all of the new technologies emerging, what would keep people from turning into potatoes that live in a computer programmed world? The fact that these new things can help paralyzed and body-dead not brain-dead people renew their ability to move and communicate is a fantastic thing but what will stop people from abusing that technology and turning it into something you would see in a futuristic science fiction movie?

                Creating all of these new technologies that aid paralyzed individuals is a very good thing but there should be steps taken to ensure the proper usage and creation of these technologies strictly for medical purposes. (389)

America's Intelligence Lag - Part Two

The next item on the list is to “junk the junk food.” A study published in the Journal of Epidemiological Community Health showed that kids that ate the most processed foods, with a lot of convenience food, fat and sugar, had IQ scores that were 1.67 points lower than kids that ate better. Honestly, it’s a good idea to stay away from all of the junk food anyway because it is not good for you at all. Eat some fruits and vegetables. Your cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, weight, and mind will thank you for it.

According to a University of Toronto study, music lessons boost brain power among six to eleven year olds. They thought it might be due to the fact that the music lessons expose the children to experiences that help them in other areas. Some of the children were also enrolled in drama lessons, but they didn’t seem to have as great of an effect as the music lessons. It never hurts to try! Even if it doesn’t boost their IQ, they still learn a new skill.

The next way to increase intelligence was to eat omega-3-fatty acids. If you don’t know, these are found in fish and other types of seafood. Studies showed that pregnant women that had over 1,000 mg of the DHA omega-3-fatty acids, gave birth to more intelligent children.

The next method seems a bit obvious but I’ll share it anyway. Interactive reading, i.e. having kids read and asking questions, boosted their intelligence. So, instead of just reading Green Eggs and Ham, tell your kid to wonder about how likely green eggs are or how cool it would be to eat with a goat.

Again, another obvious one; enroll your child in preschool. Note that it is pre-SCHOOL, and school is usually for learning. So yes, enrolling your child in preschool will increase their intelligence.

Last but not least we have eating breakfast. As I learned from the Mini Wheat’s commercials; eating a healthy breakfast, especially with fiber, “keeps ‘em full and keeps ‘em focused!” A study done by Harvard Medical School gave breakfast to elementary schools in Maryland. The state assessment test scores rose, and tardiness and suspensions fell. So, before you let your kid leave, shove some cereal and juice into their belly and they’ll be good to go!

I don’t know if these will really work, but hey! You’re the one that chose to read this blog post anyway! (411)

America's Intelligence Lag - Part One

America seems to be lagging behind other countries in the “smarts” department lately. I don’t know if it’s the schools and teachers that are the problem or the students themselves. I personally think that the students are the problem. I had an exchange student from South Korea last year and she said that they went to school seven days a week from six in the morning to nine at night; and still had homework! After gaining that information, it wasn’t hard to conclude that they’re smarter because they spend like four times as much time in school as us while learning extremely hard topics with a focus on math and science. I found an article on Yahoo that was titled eight ways to make your child smarter. Naturally I clicked on it and decided that I would be super gracious and share these tips with all of you folks reading this blog.

The first method was to make your children active and keep them in physical activities. Studies showed that “kids’ cognitive test scores and grades are higher if they have outlets, like gym class or recess, to blow off steam. “ So, get your kid off the couch and enroll them in a sport or force them to play outside. You can also be one of “those” parents that complain to the teachers and make them give your kid daily play breaks. I am currently in high school, and I think this is a completely fantastic idea. So, do it; complain.

The next study was about breastfeeding. Apparently breastfeeding has many benefits to it and kids that were breastfed tested better than those that weren’t. They don’t know if it was actually due to the breastfeeding or if it was because of other factors but still; if not for the possible intelligence boost, breastfeed your kids because the milk is good for them. (315)

The Boston Bombing

If you haven't heard of the Boston Marathon bombing by now, you must be living under a rock. I found out about it through Facebook, and then saw it on the news, and then talked about it in school, and then with other people. So what I am trying to get at here is...you should obviously know about it. But, just in case you don’t, I decided to write you a blog with all of the pertinent information about the case.

I couldn’t find any of the articles with the initial news about the bombing but I remember there were at least three people killed, one of them a four-year old boy, and over 112 people severely injured. The police did not waste much time in identifying the bombers and so the two bombers turned out to be two brothers from Russia. One of the brothers was twenty six years old and was killed while being contained. The brother that was killed was apparently the mastermind of the operation. The seventeen year old was the other brother, named Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. He was captured and admitted to the hospital for injuries that he received during the chase. He is now talking about all of the details of the bombing from his hospital bed. If you want to read more, I found two articles on CNN about this subject that are more specific on the brothers.

I think that the bombing seemed completely unnecessary. That may be a bad choice of words but there has been so much violence in the world lately that it all needs to stop. Not long after the bombing, we heard about the (accidental) factory explosion in Texas and not long before that there was the shooting at the elementary school. Everyone needs to take up yoga or something because violence is not the answer to all of their supposed problems. It just makes everyone more nervous than they ought to be. (327)

A Southern Gem

                They may not be that common in the North, but as soon as someone travels anywhere in the South, they are almost guaranteed to find a Waffle House. After you eat at a Waffle House, it is hard to go back to IHOP or Perkins, or any other breakfast place.  A Waffle House is basically like one of those old fashioned diners that you see in movies. There is a grill in front of the counter as well as any other cooking amenities. The waitresses are all dressed in dresses and take your order on a small pad of paper. The menu is a simple rendition of normal breakfast foods and most of the items contain, yes you guessed it, a waffle.

                Being called the Waffle House, you would expect that their best menu item would be a waffle. You would be right. In every Waffle House I have ever been, the waffles never cease to amaze me. Everything good about a waffle is incorporated into these. The waffles have a sweet, and still starchy taste as a waffle should, and the texture is fluffy and yet still condensed. Put these waffles with some butter and syrup and I can almost guarantee that you will be craving some more. The only problem is that at a Waffle House, you are served a bunch of food. A normal meal is maybe a couple of eggs, some bacon or sausages, toast, and a waffle as big as a plate. As soon as you finish your meal, and are craving some more, you just can’t force your stomach to eat any more. So you regretfully, must leave those remaining waffles behind.

                If you don’t believe any of my descriptions of this old fashioned, South mass produced restaurant, there is only one way that you can find out for yourself if is true. So, the next time you make a trip to Georgia, or Florida, or Kentucky, or Tennessee, make sure you stop at a Waffle House and see if you dislike it. (349)

Child Misuse

We have been talking a lot about Operation Peter Pan in Cuba in my Spanish class and so I decided to search a little more on child soldiers and torment at other places in the world. I found an article on CNN that elaborated on a child soldier issue presently in Columbia.

The FARC, a Spanish acronym for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, is a "leftist guerrilla group" that has been at war with the Columbian government for about 50 years. Since 2006, when the Columbian government captured and released a video of children being trained in the jungle by FARC troops, the FARC as well as other criminal organizations have not only continued enlisting children for soldiers but have also increased their recruitment. According to a study called "Like Lambs Among Wolves" Natalia Springer, the author, estimated that with in the last four years, 18,000 children have been forced to join guerrilla groups and paramilitaries in Colombia. Even though the Columbian government disputes the numbers, they still agree that this is a big issue that should be dealt with.

Here are some of the very surprising and very sad facts:

69% of the children captured have been under the age of 14! 98% of all the children captured reported that they had been abused or witnessed atrocities. "They're installing land mines, they're transporting explosives, they're kidnapping, they're involved in all of the activities that the adults are doing." The percentage of young girls that are being kidnapped has dramatically increased to 43%.

How terrible it this? These things need to be discussed because this issue needs to be addressed. I don't think that we can, as human beings, simply allow these atrocities to continue and just ignore them or do nothing about them. The people in charge need to be brought to justice. Hopefully we can send a message to those that are doing similar things that it is not okay and they will be punished for these crimes against humanity. Until then, children will be exploited as a deadly weapon and we will be losing an entire population. (352)

The Four Pillars of College Success - Part Two

UMBC, the college that he is the president at now, was founded the same year that he went to jail and formed his philosophy. Since he arrived at the University, the whole system and educating style has been an experiment. His leading question was “Is it possible to have a university where people from all backgrounds can come together and be leaders?” The programs that have been implemented have been answering that question with a yes. The problem was that black students were not succeeding, many people in general were not succeeding. The largest group was the African Americans and followed by the Hispanic population.

UMBC is now lead University in the country in producing African Americans that further their education by getting doctorates and phDs.

The first steps of his plan were to strengthen the k-12 system and then strengthen engineering and science courses. I only heard three steps so I listed those below.

1. Having High Expectations and Having and Understanding That it is Hard Work

He mentioned a student that earned a c in a science course but still wanted to go to med school. The University  told to him to retake the course. He became the first to graduate with phD and now works at Harvard

He mentioned another woman that never missed a day of school, went on to attend John Hopkins University,l and is now getting a patent on a second form of viagra

2.  Building a community among the students

The University tries to teach students to work in groups and with each other.

3. Idea that it takes researchers to produce researchers

He said that he required the faculty have to want to be involved with the students

There was a snow storm in Baltimore, the main researcher came back to work in lab after a couple of days, and students had refused to leave the lab. Each one focused on their work because they didn’t just see the project as just a school assignment

Near the end of the presentation, he siad that Universities need to think about redesigning courses (academic innovation) because students are bored in class and they need to be engaged to want to learn. It works well to not  just give theories but have the students struggle to figure them out.

He ended with a quote from Aristotle; “Excellence is not an accident.....and “Choice, not chance, determines your destiny.” He emphasized the importance of students wanting and loving to learn. (415)

The Four Pillars of College Success - Part One

Because I am heading off to college next year another TED talk title caught my eye. The talk was titled Freeman Hrabowski: 4 pillars of college success in science. Freeman Hraboski is the president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and made his talk about how to achieve success, and how to help students achieve success in their studies; especially in the fields of engineering and science. His focus has been helping the minority groups, African Americans and Hispanics, at his university and his program and the programs implemented at the University have actually worked.

He began with a childhood story, when he was a 9th grader in Birmingham, Alabama fifty years ago. He said that he was a very good and boisterous student, always wanting to learn.  When he was twelve years old, he went to a presentation given by Martin Luther King Jr. The question proposed was“How could we get more kids to love to learn?” Martin Luther King Jr. decided that if we can get the children to participate in the demonstration, we can show that children know the difference between right and wrong. This would show that they want to learn and serve as sort of a platform.

After going to this speech, Freeman desperately wanted to join and go to the demonstration, even though he knew that he would probably go to jail at 12 years old. He stated during his talk, “When people do something courageous, it doesn’t mean that they are courageous. It simply means that they believe that it is important to do it.” When Freeman was in jail, Martin Luther King Jr. came to visit and said “what you do this day will have an impact on those that are not born.” This had a large impact on him and he decided that children can be empowered and taught to be passionate.(314)

A Robotic Future

I decided to write my blog on another TED talk. This TED talk was by Keller Rinaudo that was titled Keller Rinaudo: A mini robot -- powered by your phone. The video discusses and presents a new robot that can be loaded up and hooked up to your phone.

The man built the mini robot, called Romo, because he wanted to design a robot that everyone could have. The robot would only cost one hundred and fifty dollars which is about one percent of the cost of other robots on the market today.

The robot uses the power of the processor of a smartphone; in this example he used his iphone. All you have to do is hook up your iphone or smartphone to what basically looks like a set of technological wheels, and the robot can then walk beside you, follow you around, slide you coffee from across the table, and react to you with programmable expressions.

Romo used the video camera on the device to follow the man doing the demonstration.. When the guy got too close, Romo got scared. Romo acted like a pet. If you have an ipad or other wifi-enabled device, you would be able to control Romo by that device, he could stream videos to you, take pictures that would be sent to the ipad.

To show how easy Romo was to use, Rinaudo asked for a volunteer from the audience to drive around Romo, that could actually operate him almost instantly.

The demonstrator brought up the idea that, by hooking up with Romo’s controls, a grandma could play hide and go seek with her granddaughter from halfway around the world.

A new project that they are working on is a program that you can create. You could design anything on it that you want Romo to do, and then just upload it to the robot. The demonstrator brought up the point that “The future of robots is today” and he looks forward to what they progress to in the future. (339)

A Global Energy Shift - Part Two

            Wind energy is a very fast growing section of the renewable energy it produces no emissions and the wind is free so you have very little running cost the down fall many people say is that they are ugly and they kill birds and bats but studies show that more birds die from cars high rise building and power lines but when there's now wind you're not producing any energy.

            Hydropower is collected what you have water fall into a turbine making it spin and that spins the generator creating energy for people to use.
Wave power is when people use the surface waves of the ocean to create energy by letting it flow in and the wind of the waves flows up and spins a turbine, wave power is still in the making because it is so hard to capture.

            Biomass is the remains of plants and animals being converted to biofuel, biodiesel, and methane through three different processes. Thermal conversion, Chemical conversion, Biochemical conversion.

            Right now the government is just making requirements for car and truck MPG to try to make us use less oil. Here are some cars under $30,000 that get better than 30 mpg Honda Insight Hybrid, Toyota Prius Hybrid, Honda Civic Hybrid, Chevy Malibu Hybrid, Toyota Camry Hybrid, Saturn Aura Hybrid, Nissan Altima Hybrid, Ford Fusion Hybrid, Mercury Milan Hybrid, Saturn Vue Hybrid.

            Renewable energy is obviously going to be a big part of the future when fossil fuel sources are depleted. It will take a lot of new infrastructure to accommodate these new power sources but they will last us many, many years. As a bonus, they will not produce any, or very little, waste. This is unlike gasoline, or coal, or nuclear energy that are all extremely bad for the environment. Renewable energy is going to be an important part of the future and it is important that we designate more of our efforts to creating infrastructures and generators that support it. (330)

A Global Energy Shift - Part One

            I recently read the book Ishmael, which is kind of a philosophical book about how humans are impacting the environment and the environment laws they are breaking and what how our society came to be like our society. I am also enrolled in AP environmental science, so need I even say, the environment and ways to conserve energy and new resources have been on my mind a lot lately. I was searching the internet and found an website that contained a lot of information on alternative fuel sources and decided that I would write a blog post about some of the new knowledge I have acquired from my class and the website.

            Right now most people are looking towards improving on the cars and trucks that we have like making a longer lasting hybrid, or electric car and some people are even going to CNG or LNG trucks and cars but with the price of getting a CNG or LNG car you're not saving that much on just buying a normal car. The US Consumes about 6.87 billion barrels of oil per year and around 18.83 million barrels per day.

Types of alternative energy being produced are CNG- Compressed Natural Gas, LNG- Liquid Natural Gas, Wind- Windmills, Solar- Sun, Wave- Using the waves to move turbines, Water- Using dams to generate power, Biomass- Burning for energy, Geothermal- Pumping water up from the ground, Nuclear Power- Using sustained nuclear fusion to create power and heat.

            CNG and LNG, Natural Gas is a fossil fuel that is mostly contained of methane, it is one of the cleanest burning fossil fuels you can use it in either compressed form or liquefied form advantages to this is 60-90% less smog producing pollutants, 30-40% less greenhouse gas emissions and its less expensive than gasoline. disadvantages- fewer miles on one tank, limited car type and not really available in most places in the US. (319)

It's Raining Spotted Dogs

I wrote a few blogs at the beginning of the year about the Giant Panda and how it was becoming extinct. I think I also wrote about two other species but they were not extinct, I think one was invasive, but still that is a bit off topic. There are many factors that contributed to the current species that have become endangered; for instance a lot of them are very specific breeders, and so when more and more of them started to disappear, it became even harder to find mates to breed with. I found an article on Yahoo about a zoo that is trying to combat the extremely selective breeding of cheetahs but using dogs. (yes I said dogs)

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. (357)

Working Against Rape

               After reading the book The Girl that Played with Fire by Steigg Larsson, a lot of the sex crimes and underground crimes in foreign countries seem to catch my attention. This was obviously because a lot of the book was centered on the sex trade in Sweden. I found an article on NBC News that about how kitchen knives and chili powder were distributed to women all over India to try and help them protect against possible rape that would come from a radical Hindu nationalist party. This act of the knife and chili powder distribution has been named the knife campaign. It was sparked in response to the well known gang rape that lead to a national debate on how to deal with sex crimes. The Shiv Sena party said that they handed out 21,000 three inch blade knives to women in the city and areas nearby. Their plan was to hand out in total 100,000 knives.

               The knife campaign taught many things to women to help them protect themselves. One of them said by the campaign runner Ajay Chaudhari was not to be afraid and fearful to use a knife on an attacker. He also said that a team of nine advocates were prepared to protect the victims in court cases.

                So what was this gang rape event that caused so much awareness and thoughtfulness? It took place on December 16th when a 23 year old female physiotherapy student was beaten and raped on a moving public bus and then was thrown on a busy road harshly. The beating was so severe that it resulted in the student’s death two weeks later. This caused public outrage at the failure of the government in protecting women all over India where rape rates are extremely high in number. In India, one rape report is averagely reported every 20 minutes.

               Women receiving self-defense tools and self-defense training have been a huge response to the terrible happening to the college student. I hope all is well with her family and that they are able to cope. I also hope the rapists are found and taken to court so they won’t do further harm to other women. It scares me how often it happens and makes me realize how badly women have it when having to travel in public in India. Hopefully work is done effectively to reduce the injustice. (398)

Let's Play a Name Game

Every country around the world has different rules, laws, customs, etc. It seems that we are taught to do different things and behave in a certain way that everything else just seems foreign and not important. I’m not sure how exactly I could have been so clueless growing up about all of the laws in different coutries and other customs. I know there are lists of crazy laws  that you can come across in other states but they are merely trivial and usually not enforced. It seems though that my understanding of other customs in the world is now coming more clear than it has ever been. I’m not sure why exactly, maybe I just have more classes relating to other countries than ours, maybe I’m more actively following the news, or maybe I just flat out didn’t care until now. I’m 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. (381)

Crime Has No Age Limit

When I think of people trading or selling drugs I think of men (not to be sexist or anything). I think of gangs, tattooed bodies, criminal records, and maybe even murders. I think of countries like Mexico. But it’s not like these things are required to handle illegal drugs. These are just stereotypes; but what other kinds of people handle illegal drugs? High school teens and college students are also pretty likely culprits. They however, at least most of them, don’t smuggle them into other countries, they just get them off the street and do them at parties, right? What about grandmas? I’ve never thought of a grandmother smuggling drugs into other countries. An article confirmed that grandmas do illegal things too.

A lady from the UK was caught smuggling cocaine into a resort in India. She apparently hid a substantial amount of cocaine in the lining of her suitcase and they found it at the airport. There are countries in this world that have strict drug rules and some just minor punishments. India happens to have strict rules if you offend their rules? Capital punishment. After being tried in India, she was sentenced to death row. 

The lady claims that a gang was threatening to hurt her kids and that is the reason she was smuggling drugs. 

I’m not sure if this lady’s story is true or if there will be any investigation on it. The UK currently has someone on the case trying to work with Indian representatives to lessen her punishment but it looks like they’re not going to budge. They take this crime seriously. If this grandmothers story is true (which I don’t know why it wouldn't be, what would her motive be?) I feel really bad for her. I’m not sure how I would handle the situation but I’m pretty sure that id bring it to the police no matter if they told me they’d hurt my family if I did or not. It is the smartest decision because they could hurt my family no matter what and id gets caught smuggling anyway. I can’t lie or look non-suspicious. (355)

Reliving the Vietnam War

              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 so I settled for the link

              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. (359)

Too Much to Do, Too Little Time, Not Enough Sleep

                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.

                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. My sister is currently in college and I think she gets 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. (355)

A Traveling Dream

After graduation, I decided that I would go to Europe. Ever since I was a little girl, I have dreamed of seeing the Eiffel Tower and decided that if I hadn’t gone to Europe by the time graduation came around, I would go no matter what. Of course, the idea of letting his daughter go by herself to Europe didn’t really settle well with my father so he will now be joining me…along with my sister and a friend.  I’ve always thought that traveling the world would be so amazing; to see different people, places, architecture, lifestyles, hear different languages, music, and just everything about it. I know that a lot of other people probably have the dream of traveling the world but strangely my brother didn’t. I decided to look up why exactly people want to travel the world in hopes to convince at least one new person that this is a good dream to have.

I stumbled upon a blog that gave five reasons to travel that I strongly agreed with. The first reason was to get inspired. What could be more inspiring than seeing everything and ways and beings? The second reason was to prove to yourself that you can actually do it. I’ve always liked this quote; “The man on the top of the mountain wasn’t just put there.” There is no better feeling in the world to accomplish something that others thought was impossible or improbable. The third was to see and experience different cultures. The fourth reason was of course to eat. I know I will be trying everything on my upcoming trip. The final fifth reason that he listed was to meet new and interesting people. When you stay in the same place for a long time, you become comfortable. Sometimes it is nice to just mix it up. Hopefully this is enough to inspire someone to travel. If these reasons don’t, I don’t know what will. (323)

Belgian Diamond Heist

                I read an article on CNN that covers a diamond heist that occurred Monday night; February 18, 2013. There was apparently 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. 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. (318)

A Testimony of Beliefs - Part 2

                Throughout history, some of the most genius people have held some belief in some form of a deity; for example, Einstein, Plato, Descartes, and Aristotle were all pious men. By simply declaring a belief in these “superstitions,” one does not declare any lack of intellect or civilized manner.

                It is clear from this article that Menken holds a strong disdain for the legitimacy of religious facts. He wrote that “these ideas remain mere rubbish. Not only are they not supported by the known facts; they are in direct contravention of the known facts.” I disagree with this statement; not everything written in the bible, or any other religious text, is completely false. Many things should be open for interpretation and should in fact be questioned; for that is the only way to prove that any are indeed factual. I believe that religious texts do contain fictional, metaphorical, and exaggerated stories that should not all be taken in a literal sense. However, I know that many of the things that are in religious texts have certain legitimacy. The bible for example contains many facts that have been proven by science; it stated the perfect dimensions for a stable water vessel, the fact that matter is made up of invisible particles, and that there are mountains and springs on the ocean floor. These are only a few of the scientifically proven biblical facts.

                It is clear that H.L. Mencken was a religious skeptic and was highly against the apparent religious protection that surrounded the Scopes trial. I understand where many of his angry claims came from but regard them as fictional and offensive to religious people everywhere. While there are many unintelligent pious people, simply declaring a belief in religion does not immediately label that person as having a lack of intelligence. I agree that there should be no penalty for questioning someone’s beliefs, but disagree with any premeditated assumptions of that person for having that belief. (325)

A Testimony of Beliefs - Part One

                In the aftermath of the Scopes trial, H.L. Mencken wrote an article for The Baltimore Evening Sun that addressed the subject of religion and how it was refuted in the trial. In his article, Mencken praised Mr. Darrow’s attack on religion and emphasized the utter absurdity in religious institutions and the strong stigma surrounding any attacks against them. While I found some to have certain validity, most of the statements written by Mencken were overly bias, insulting to many, and lacking the evidence to support his claims.

                In his article, Mencken showed a strong belief for the freedom to challenge religion and for the elimination of the implied sacredness of religious beliefs. He stated that “The way to deal with superstition is not to be polite to it, but to tackle it with all arms, and so rout it, cripple it, and make it forever infamous and ridiculous.” I agree with Mencken’s belief that religion should not be exempt from criticism by law, but I disagree that anyone should disregard respect when questioning someone of their beliefs. Everyone should retain a common courtesy when criticizing someone else’s beliefs. To eliminate that courtesy would be comparable to telling a three-year old that there is no Santa Claus. It would be extremely disrespectful to blatantly discredit a theory that has enough evidence for someone to retain such a strong belief in it.

                “What should be a civilized man’s attitude toward such superstitions? It seems to me that the only attitude possible to him is one of contempt. If he admits that they have any intellectual dignity whatever, he admits that he himself has none.” In this statement, Mencken seems to convey that any person that believes in religion is stupid and barbaric. He fails to realize that many intelligent people are in fact religious.(303)

Missing Asteroid

I watched a video on the asteroid that is about to barely miss earth. However, the “close-ness” according to NASA and other space organizations is a couple hundred thousand miles or so. Although, this is apparently very close as asteroids go. 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.

Anyway, 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. Don’t worry though, 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. I am very curious as to what technology actually causes this though. If it is a rocket they shoot out, I think it would have to be an extremely large rocket. (328)

The Retirement of Pope Benedict XVI

                On February 11, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI made history by announcing his resignation of his position. He made his announcement during what was supposed to be a routine meeting with the discussion on canonizing three potential saints. He announced that “before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise” of leading the Catholics. His resignation is to take effect on February 28^th.

                He also stated that “In today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of St. Peter and proclaim the gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.” While the pope is eighty five years of age, his resignation was apparently a huge surprise to everyone in the Vatican and everyone in the rest of the world.

                The pope’s plan to retire is to retire in his summer house in Castel Gandolfo and to return later to a monastery in Vatican City. Pope Benedict has done many great things in his time as the pope which can all be taken as exhausting but it is believed that the continuing clerical abuse scandal has played the biggest part in his decision to resign from the Pope status. Popes usually don’t retire, they just die and a new one is elected into power. It is extremely uncommon; I think that I heard that it hasn’t happened for 300 years. It makes me curious if he really is retiring only due to his old age or whether there is some ulterior motive. I will be paying attention to the news in the future to see who will become the next pope and how everything plays out. (329)