Self Assessment ***

I think that I did great with most of my blogs. I like to describe my self and put my opinions out their. I love to have people read my opinions, and read my ideas on certain topics. I would say that ''Habits of minds" difinitely had something to do with each of my blog because in each of my blog, the topics are dealing with humans and they way of life. The Habit of mind that I had identified with the most was "I've been thinking about our thinking", I'm always talking to myself in my head, asking myself questions and just thinking about life. The past few weeks, I did enjoy writing blogs because in some way it was interesting and we were typing not hand writing so it wasn't that difficult.

I think that the Habits of mind was the piece I was most proud of because I really felt connected to that piece. The blog that I wasn't really proud of was the "Advice to Youth", which was a recent piece. I didn't really enjoy writing this piece because I had a hard time writing it. I misunderstood what the author was saying because he was saying it in such a satirical way, and I had a hard time with that because I hardly knew was satire meant. This writing piece was just very difficult for me.

Thinking about all of the blogs that I have done in the past, I think that I deserve a grade of a 85 or higher because I really worked hard on all the blogs especially when it came down to expressing my opinions and ideas on a subject.

Busted***

I read Teens Posting Fight Video on Web, What's Behind the Trend?, Web networking photos come back to bite defendants and Teenagers Misbehaving, for All Online to Watch. What all of these articles have in common is that they all are about teens fighting and video taping their fights and outrageous behavior.

In the case of the article "Web networking photos come back to bite defendants Joshua Lipton was charged in a drunken driving crash that seriously injured a woman, a 20-year-old college junior at the time attended a Halloween party dressed as a prisoner. Pictures from the party showed him in a black-and-white striped shirt and an orange jumpsuit labeled "Jail Bird."

Some how these pictures showed up on the well known site called "Face book" these pictures was used as remarkable evidence for Jay Sullivan, the prosecutor handling Lipton's drunken-driving case. `

Sullivan used the pictures to paint Lipton as an unrepentant partier who lived it up while his victim recovered in the hospital. A judge agreed, calling the pictures depraved when sentencing Lipton to two years in prison. Lipton was sentence to 2years in prison.

"Social networking sites are just another way that people say things or do things that come back and haunt them," said Phil Malone, director of the cyberlaw clinic at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. "The things that people say online or leave online are pretty permanent." That's why people should be careful what they say because it can always come back to you when you're on a web site like face book or myspace.

The pictures, when shown at sentencing, not only embarrass defendants but also can make it harder for them to convince a judge that they're remorseful or that their drunken behavior was an aberration. (Of course, the sites are also valuable for defense lawyers looking to dig up dirt to undercut the credibility of a star prosecution witness.)

Teens are caught everyday video taping them selves fighting and just doing stupid stuff. What they don't know is yes , things like that catches lots and lots of teens attention but it also could catch a cop or an adult attention and some one could report it and that could get someone in trouble. Last month, after viewing a video of the beating of a 13-year-old girl that was broadcast on Web sites including In the case of Teenagers misbehaving for all online to watch kids decides to taped their selves MySpace, Photobucket and YouTube, the authorities arrested three freshman girls from nearby North Babylon High School.

What comes to someone's mind, Is this a trend or does people really want to hurt other people.
I think that it is right that the people who are on these videos and the ones who are putting these videos on all the websites should be punished. Doing harm to another human being is wrong and taping is worst, people really should be punished for doing things like this. It's not funny that things like this happens to people and it's not a joke. In my opinion I think that is is a trend because allot of teen only wants to do stuff like this when they see someone else doing it and I think that is kind of sad.

Satire

Why people shouldn't lie. I think that Mark Twain's ''Advice to Youth" has a unique way of getting his point across about the reasons why people shouldn't lie. He is saying to be careful about lying cause you will eventually get caught. Mark Twain is hilarious as he goes on to saying that the young should not lie unless their have practice and experience. He uses Satire because in the article he will say be respectful of someone that is superior to you and he says "If a person offend you, and you are in doubt as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to extreme measures; simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick".I think it is funny because he is using satire.

This cartoon shows the two women in the back just showing their eyes, The satire part of this cartoon is that the man is Not showing his eyes. You want to know why?He is not showing his eyes because he is a terrorist.

Al Gore:
EARTH—Former vice president Al Gore—who for the past three decades has unsuccessfully attempted to warn humanity of the coming destruction of our planet, only to be mocked and derided by the very people he has tried to save—launched his infant son into space Monday in the faint hope that his only child would reach the safety of another world.

"I tried to warn them, but the Elders of this planet would not listen," said Gore, who in 2000 was nearly banished to a featureless realm of nonexistence for promoting his unpopular message. I think Al Gore is saying that he wanted to inform everyone about the information that he knew before things became worst. "They called me foolish and laughed at my predictions. Yet even now, the Midwest is flooded, the ice caps are melting, and the cities are rocked with tremors, just as I foretold. Fools! Why didn't they heed me before it was too late?"

This article makes fun of Al Gore's behavior about the economy and how he's been trying to warn people about the earth for years. Personally I think that it is not a joke and that people really should start doing something about it, and start listening to Al Gore because he is like one in a million. Meaning here is some one that is really trying to help our nation and in form everyone on what is going on. He has been telling us what we should do and informing us that our nation is in trouble and we should start doing things to help it. Al Gore is Someone who I think really wants to help us and he wants to change the world. This why I think he is one in a million. The meaning of satire is the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.

What makes a good liar?

What makes a good liar? , what makes a good liar is someone who could remember their lies. I think that what makes liar a good liar is not forgetting the lies you made up because than you would be caught in your lie.I think the most excessive liars are kids, but adults lie too. people can lie for many reasons. Reasons like, in security, if their a child than they may think that they are going to get in trouble, The person might lie to make themselves feel good, their are many reasons why people lie.

Both authors get their points across about lying but in different ways. The essay written by Montaigne's says that '' If, like the truth, falsehood had only one face, we should know better where we are, for we should then take the opposite of what a liar said to be the truth. But the opposite of a truth has a hundred thousand shapes and a limitless field.'' I like this statement because I feel like it is true. When you tel;l a lie, you can shape it how ever I like. I can tell what at first was the truth then add some others lies on their so the story could be worth hearing.

The quote by Mark Twain uses satire ,which is a word describing people making fun of human vice or weakness. He poem says to me that lying is a everyday thing. People lie all of the time but I lie all of the time, How I'm I going to keep my lies up. How would I remember what I lied about? I think that is so true, people tell lies to people and can't remember what they said or what they lied about. The key thing to remember is "If you tell the truth, You don't have to remember anything''. I say that because if you never lie, than you will never have to remember what you lied about. For Example: If some one asked me how old am I?, and I response by saying I am 21 years old, than that is what their going to believe. Say the person forgets and they ask me again how old am I, I say 18. They are going to know I lied about my age, but if I had simply told them I was 18 in the first place, I would not have to remember the age that I told them.

Why we lie?

There are many reasons why children lie. There are four types of lies, fear, habit, modelling, and over prediction
#1.Fear: Fear is a common reason for lying. Kids think about what would happen, if the truth came out. Would their mother be really mad?, Would their privileges be taken away?,And how would their father react?. When it all comes down to it the effect of lying is a temporary shelter from punishment. Children may lie because t hey may be afraid of what their parents may do.

#2.Habit:Lying can also become a habit. If a child keeps lying for little reasons, they may be so use to doing it that may will continue.Habitual lying is often strengthened by hostile confrontation. For example: If I thought someone ate may candy and I went up to that person yelling instead of just asking them nicely, they may just lie. The corrected way to deal with someone like that is to give the child a chance to retract the lie without fear of consequences.


I think that this cartoon means
that their are all types of lies, their are rumors, normal lies and innuendo. Many people lie and make things up for no reason at all, just for a excitement.










#3.Modeling:Children also picks up what ever they see around them. Children can also learn how to lie by watching other people. One source of modeling is from within the home. If the parents are doing it, then the lids are going to follow. since the parents can't stop the kids form being around people who lie on the outside then it is best to eliminate lying within the home.

#4.Over prediction:Some kids lie because they over predict a reaction. They predict what t heir parents would say and do before they even do it. One way to address over prediction is to provide the child with clear boundaries and rules, but to let the child know that these boundaries are negotiable.


I've lied before, I can't remember when or what I lied for but I know I did. All kids I think at one time in they life lies, whether if they think it is for a good reason or not they lie. I do not get in trouble for a lie unless it catches up to me, but like people say your lie always catches up so be careful.




I think that this cartoon is really funny but it's kinda messed up. He says to the girl "I would have told you all of this yesterday but i just made it up today". That's shows that it really don't matter when he told her cause he's lying anyway.








Dr. Kutner's, a child Psychologists says that" Lying is a skill all children learn. It is a tool for avoiding blame or punishment, and for shoring up a poor self-image" She explains in a article that I read that all children lie, but some lie more than others. The most common reason why kids lie is the fear of punishment, the f ear of NOT knowing how their parents will react.This is especially true when the punishment is severe or the parents have unrealistically high expectations for their children. I do not think that a child should be scared of a parent, I think that a child should be able to tell their parent any thing they want. Older school-age children will also lie to enhance their self-esteem and social status. They might lie to make themselves feel good. No matter what children lies, but we just would have to find the reason for why are they lying. I think that sometimes parents may be the reason why kids lie because parents can react to strongly to certain things and may scare the child.

Alternative Energies

At this moment our nation is in trouble and everyone must get together and conserve energy.
Al Gore recently gave a speech discussing the environment and telling us what we needed to do to save energy. There are eight alternative energies that we could use.

General Renewable Energy Resources: Which is energy generated from natural resources—such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat—which are renewable (naturally replenished)General, Solar Thermal,
Solar Electric (Photovoltaic),Wind,Hydroelectric,Biomass,Alternative Fuels,
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC),Wave Energy,Tidal Energy, and Geothermal Energy.


Solar Energy Resources:Solar Cells are really called "photovoltaic" or "photoelectric" cells) that convert light directly into electricity. In a sunny climate, I can get enough power to run a 100W light bulb from just one square meter of solar panel. This was originally developed in order to provide electricity for satellites, now many of us own calculators powered by solar cells. Solar water heating, When the heat from the sun is used to heat water up in glass panels on my roof, this means you don't need to use so much gas or electricity to heat my water at my home.

Solar Furnaces, Use a huge array of mirrors to concentrate the Sun's energy into a small space and produce very high temperatures.They have one at Odellio, in France, used for scientific experiments. It can achieve temperatures up to 33,000 degrees Celsius.

Wind energy resources,

Wind is simple air in motion. It is caused by the uneven heating of the earth’s surface which is created by the sun. Since the earth’s surface is made of very different types of land and water, it absorbs the sun’s heat at different rates.

During the day, the air above the land heats up quicker than the air over water. The warm air over the land expands and rises, the heavier and cooler air rushes in to take its place, creating winds. At night, the winds are reversed because the air cools more rapidly over land than over water. In the same way, the large atmospheric winds that circle the earth are created because the land near the earth's equator is heated more by the sun than the land near the North and South Pole. Today, wind energy is mainly used to generate electricity. Wind is called a renewable energy source because the wind will blow as long as the sun shines

Nuclear energy resources: Nuclear power is generated using Uranium, which is a metal mined in many parts of the world. The first large-scale nuclear power station opened at Calder Hall in Cumbria, England, in the year 1956. Some military ships and submarines have nuclear power plants for engines. Nuclear power produces around 11% of the world's energy needs, and produces huge amounts of energy from small amounts of fuel, without the pollution that you'd get from burning fossil fuels.

Hydroelectric Energy Resources:

The first house in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity was Crag side House, in Northumberland, England, in 1878. There are many hydro-electric power stations, providing around 20% of the world's electricity. The name comes from "hydro", the Greek word for water.


How does it work?
A dam is built to trap water, usually in a valley where there is an existing lake. Water is allowed to flow through tunnels in the dam, to turn turbines and thus drive generators.

The dam is much thicker at the bottom than at the top, because the pressure of the water increases with depth. Hydro-electric power stations can produce a lot of power very cheaply.
When it was first built, the huge "Hoover Dam", on the Colorado river, supplied much of the electricity for the city of Las Vegas; however now Las Vegas has grown so much, the city gets most of its energy from other sources. There's a good explanation of how hydro power works at www.fwee.org. There are many suitable sites around the world, hydro-electric dams are very expensive to build. However, once the station is built, the water comes free of charge, and there is no waste or pollution. Although the dams are very expensive, after the dam is built, you'll be saving lots and lots of money.


Biomass Energy Resources:
Wood was once our main fuel. We burned it to heat our homes and cook our food.
Wood still provides a small percentage of the energy we use. Sugar cane is grown in some areas, and can be fermented to make alcohol, which can be burned to generate power.
Alternatively, the cane can be crushed and the pulp (called "bagasse") can be burned, to make steam to drive turbines. Other solid wastes, can be burned to provide heat, or used to make steam for a power station.
"Bio conversion" uses plant and animal wastes to produce fuels such as methanol, natural gas, and oil.
We can use rubbish, animal manure, wood chips, seaweed, corn stalks and other wastes.



How does it works?
The fuel is burned, which heats water into steam, which turns turbines, which in turn drive generators, just like in a fossil-fuel power station.

Sugar cane
Sugar cane is harvested and taken to a mill, where it is crushed to extract the juice. The juice is used to make sugar, whilst the left-over pulp, called "bagasse" can be burned in a power station.
The station usually provides power for the sugar mill, as well as selling electricity to the surrounding area.

Advantages
It makes sense to use waste materials where we can.
The fuel tends to be cheap.
Less demand on the Earth's resources.It's all about saving energy and money and as a nation we need to figure out the best way to do that.

Geothermal energy
The centre of the Earth is around 6000 degrees Celsius - hot enough to melt rock. Even a few kilometres down, the temperature can be over 250 degrees Celsius.

In general, the temperature rises one degree Celsius for every 36 metres you go down.

In volcanic areas, molten rock can be very close to the surface.

Geothermal energy has been used for thousands of years in some countries for cooking and heating.

The name "geothermal" comes from two Greek words: "Geo" means "Earth" and "thermal" means "heat".


How it works
Hot rocks underground heat water to produce steam. We drill holes down to the hot region, steam comes up, is purified and used to drive turbines, which drive electric generators.
There may be natural "groundwater" in the hot rocks anyway, or we may need to drill more holes and pump water down to them.
The first geothermal power station was built at Landrello, in Italy, and the second was at Wairekei in New Zealand. Others are in Iceland, Japan, the Philippines and the United States.

AL GORE (American Activist)

Al Gore is an American environmental activist, former politician, former journalist and the former Vice President of Bill Clinton.

Al Gore made a film called "An Inconvenient Truth'' on the topic of global warming. He received a Nobel peace prize and a Academy award.

Al Gore explains In his speech that the economy is bad and how he wants America to 100% carbon free. Our nation is in trouble, Our environment is in trouble. I listen to a speech of Al Gore and in this speech he described the economy Everything is going wrong, gas prices are increasing, electricity rates are increasing and their are fewer jobs everyday. He talks about how there is a crisis and people need t o start doing something about it.

We need to have the courage to make changes. The climate crisis is getting a lot worse. It's a known fact that there is a 75% chance that with in (5) years that the ice cap that is under the north pole will disappear.

Our nation is in trouble, we are fighting over oil, In the speech Al Gore referred to the weather and remarked if we noticed that the weather is getting stranger. With more floods, more fires in California.The war in Iraq and Afghanistan is getting worse. We rely on carbon based fuels too much. Some products of carbon based fuels are: Gas, Oil, Cellar phones, Computers, and plastic.We are borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persia Gulf to destroy the planet. It doesn't make sense, we need to find a less expensive way to live I'll life. Higher temperatures lead to dryer vegetation. He says what if we could use fuels that aren't expensive and don't cost pollution.The answer is we could with(SOLAR ENERGY). When the demand for oil and coal increases, the price goes up but when the demand of solar energy increases, the price often comes down.Every one degree that goes up in the temperature, lightening will strike 10% more. We have less then ten years to make changes or we could lose our ability to ever recover from this environment crisis.

Al Gore says "Demand for oil and coal increases, and the price goes up. Demand for solar energy increase, and the price often comes down". The answer is right there, solar energy is the way to go. I do not understand why people don't want to make moves. Start working on saving energy. I think that everyone should come together as a nation and come up with some ideas that can help us conserve energy. During the next ten years we should be able to work together and save energy.We are in trouble and we need to do something about it. I agree with Al Gore, we should start now, and I think that he is a great person because what people don't know is that he is educated us. He is trying to make us aware of what's going on and not too many people is listening. For every one person he reaches, they can help us conserve energy.Ways that I can help conserve energy is cutting off the lights in my room at a certain time. Unplugging the T.V and any other appliances when I leave the house. At least then I will feel like I am helping conserve the energy that we desperately need.