Thursday, May 6, 2010

PLN 30

I read an article from USA today about how 100 scientists and students are working on a long experiment to learn more about tornadoes. Their taking special instruments and vehicles to study and learn about tornadoes so we can know about tornadoes. I think this is good because even though we know a lot about tornadoes, this will help the students learn what they need for the next generation scientists. This is good for our society and our science programs.

PLN 29

I read an article from the New York Times about how boys are starting to have a lack of social skills. They're becoming dull and uninterested in activities. I think that is not true. Most boys have really good social skills and are good at talking with people. Boys are good at trying different things. I think most boys are OK with the social skills they have and the article has skewed data.

PLN 28

I read an article on in the Denver post called "Out boys are falling behind in education" about how less and less men are graduating college or even doing well in school. They think a "role reversal" is happening between men and women and men are falling behind academically. I think the opposite is true for high schools because I see boys working harder and harder to do better and girls caring less and less. I think that if boys are falling behind academically, its because boys are starting to get interested in new things and stop caring about school as much.

PLN 27

I read an article on USA today about how NASA chose May 14 to be the launch date of one of the last space shuttles for the american space program. They were already going to stop the space shuttle program before NASA's budget cuts. Now they have to move to the old modules they originally landed on the moon with. I think that its sad that this will be one of the last launches for the space shuttle program and I think they shouldn't do this. But space shuttles are expensive and the program has run its coarse. I don't like them doing this, but I realize it's necessary.

Friday, April 23, 2010

PLN 26

I read an article on USA today about how Amazon is now going to start selling the Kindle in Target to try to increase profits. It is the first time the Kindle is going to be sold in real stores that people could go to and try the Kindle personally. They are trying to do this in competition of the Apple Ipad. I think this is a good idea because Amazon is getting killed from the sales of the Ipad. I think Amazon should try to sell them in different stores too to try to get more sales. This is a good idea by Amazon but I'm not sure if its going to work.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

PLN 25

I read an article on USA today about the volcano in Iceland erupting and cancelling flights throughout Europe. It has stopped air travel in Europe for almost a week keeping the transport of food and equipment to other places. An eruption like this happened in 1821 and lasted for two years. It has been said that this eruption is almost as powerful as that one was. It covered the sky and killed thousands of animals used for live stock and caused a famine. They are worried it will have the same affect now stop air travel for at least a few weeks. I think this will not be good for Europe's economy.

Monday, April 19, 2010

PLN 24

I read an article on USA today about how president Obama is now trying to get us to mars instead of the moon like we originally planned. He says we would be able to land on an asteroid by 2025 and orbit mars by the mid 2030's. I think this is crazy because he cut NASA's budget and cancelled the mission to the moon. How does he plan on doing this when we need to use the space taxi program to get into space at all. I think if he wanted to do this, he shouldn't of cut NASA's budget to begin with. So I think he should plan for something we can actually do.

PLN 23

I read an article called "JPL worker sues over intelligent design demotion" from USA today about how a jet propulsion laboratory worker was demoted after passing out religious DVDs to his coworkers and is now suing the company he works for. He feels he was treated wrongly and he deserves reparations. I think he shouldn't of been demoted because its not like he's making people watch them or take them, they can choose to not take them. So I think it was OK for him to sue the company. He was wrongly treated and deserves something because of it.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

PLN 22

I read an article called "Obama tries to get support of space plan off ground" about how he's trying to get more people support his idea of weakening the space program. I talked to the NASA employees and told them what he was going to do. I think he is only trying to get so much support because he shouldn't have done it but he is trying to make himself feel in the right with it.He's trying to get people to support him but they shouldn't because he shouldn't of cut NASA's budget in the first place. So I think president Obama shouldn't of cut NASA's budget and no one should support him because he did.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

PLN 21

I read an article on USA today called "Moon vets say Obama's NASA cuts would ground U.S." about how president Obama is cutting all the funding for NASA and canceled the return-to-the-moon program that was supposed to get us on the moon again by 2020. Even world famous astronauts like Jim Lovell and Neil Armstrong, who rarely talks to the public, are speaking out about Obama's space program cuts. Buzz Aldrin says its a good idea and that it will give money to the space taxi service which will get us to the international space station. But that mean the Russians will be the ones taking us when we have the capability to do so if Obama didn't cut NASA's budget. These budget cuts will give us third-rate stature for our space program, when we were the best in the world. I think Obama's plan to cut NASA's budget is insane and we should continue the return-to-the-moon program.

Friday, April 2, 2010

PLN 20

I read an article on USA today called"Geneva atom smasher sets collision record" about the large Hadron Collider and its successful test the other day. It is one of the largest machines ever built, and it takes up a 17 mile long tunnel below the Swiss-French boarder in Geneva. I think that this is such a big leap in the science community, its the biggest event since we landed on the moon. Its cost $10 billion dollars to make and it was created to try to recreate the big bang. Nothing big has happened yet but they didn't destroy the world yet so its better then some people thought. Some people thought it would make tiny black holes that would destroy the world, but most people were confident that that wouldn't happen. So I think this is a great thing and I'm glad on where this is going.

PLN 19

I saw what Google did for April fools day, and I read the story that goes behind it and I wonder why they did this in the first place. I can see Google doing it for a day, but Topeka KS has been doing this for a month, and I don't understand why they did it in the first place. Why is Google so important that city's should honor it by changing their names for a month to Google. Maybe we should call it the United States of Google for a week and see what happens. So this is what I think of Topeka pretending to change its name to Google for a while.

PLN 18

I read the post on Mr.Maas' blog about how its like to use laptops in class. I think it is great to use laptops in class. It is a great tool to do your work on and keep yourself organized. You keep all your papers and all of your work in one place, so you don't need a binder. And its easier to do your work in class so you can just do the work, and send it to someone if need be, and you could do research or something else at the same time when you really cant when your writing on a paper. So I think having laptops in class is a good thing and its a great technology to use for school work.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

PLN 17

I read an article on MIT's "sixth sense" gadget, and this is an amazing new technology. To be able to carry a computer with you that you can use anywhere and do almost anything. Its amazing how far technology has come in the past 150 years. This must be one of the most thought about and useful things people have ever thought of. I wish I knew how it works and I so want one. I cant get over how amazing this is. I must know when I will be able to buy one of these things. This must be the best thing to ever come out of MIT since forever.

PLN 16

I read about these "Google goggles" and thought they are kind of interesting, but I'm confused on what they do? I saw that you can take a picture and it will translate it to text and do a Google search.But is that all it does? That seems useless. Does it do anything else? I think it would useful for some things, but its pretty much useless for most people. I think if it did other things, it might be useful. And maybe it does and I just haven't looked hard enough.

PLN 15

I read an article on USA today about how the senate is trying to pass a bill that says they passed the health care bill. Obama is trying to ram the bill through before he has to go to Australia on Sunday and he doesn't want anyone to be able to read it he's pushing it through so fast. Republicans think Obama's trying to hide something thats in the bill. I think they should take their time to vote on it and the debate should be on C-SPAN and they should stop trying to push it through with out reading it. This is to big a deal to try to get through this quickly. It should take thought. Thats what I think on the fact that they are trying to push the healthcare bill through.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

PLN 14

I read an article from USA today titled "Dogs' lives may offer answers" about how scientists are looking at dogs with cancer to see if there is any connection which could help with cancer in humans. They took 140 dogs to test different factors that might be connected to cancer. Only 15 of the dogs are still alive and they are all at least 11 years old, older then average for the 15 remaining Rottweilers.Eleven of the dogs are females and four of them are males.One of the reasons the dogs are still alive is because the owners work really hard to keep them fit.They take great care of their dogs and the scientists think this might be a reason that the dogs have lived so long with the cancer.The scientists are still trying to find a connection between the good care of the dogs and the cancer and the connection to people.

PLN 13

I read an article from USA today called "Genetically modified foods get U.S. traction, global debate" that talks about how some people think that people should stop making and selling genetically modified food. Genetically modified foods are cheaper to make for how much more food you get out of them. Growing modified corn gives you more corn for the same price but some people think it could have bad effects on people, but that has not been shown in several studies. So I think it is a good idea to genetically modify crops and food if it is cheap and doesn't have any bad effects on people.

PLN 12

I read the article "Google Apps for Education:Is It the Right Choice for Our Students?" on The Fischbowl and thought that using Google to do school work would be a good idea but has some parts that are kind of weird. On one hand, its a good idea to keep track of your work and have access to it at all time. On the other hand, if you don't save your work somewhere else, then all your work is gone when they delete your account at the end of the year. So as long as you save your work somewhere else, it might be a good idea.

PLN 11

I read an article called "What Does a 21st Century Education Mean To You?" That talks about how much schools have changed and how they will change in the future. It talks about how if you bring a teacher from 100 years ago and how you think they would react. I think they would be confused on the things they would have to teach but wouldn't be caught off guard that much. Most class rooms still have chalk boards (or maybe white boards) and nowadays have projectors that aren't used that often.The article asks you what you think education will be like in the future. I think class rooms will use projectors and smart boards more often in the future. Thats how I think education is now and will be in the future.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

PLN 10

I read an article about if SMART technology like smart boards and the like are useful and helpful to students. Some people think that they are a wast of money and don't help kids learn like they are supposed to do. So I wanted to know if think smart boards are useless, or if they help kids learn.

PLN 9

The article "Students Helping Students" was about this guy who was asked to help this K state pride program to help raise money for students. He originally wasn't sure what he would do but eventually he started to like and under stand what it is.

PLN 3

It was reported that there were 10 more deaths in Tehran in January because of the riots and no ones doing any thing about it. Ahamadinejad is sending troops to stop the riots and the troops aren't dealing with them in a civilized manner.

PLN 8

My action plan is to make a blog to get people to know more about the riots in Tehran and about Ahmadinejad stealing the election. If more people knew about the riots, then maybe we could do something about it and stop the violence in Tehran.

PLN 6

As the riots in Tehran worsen, Ahmadinejad would rather talk about nuclear weapons and whether he has them or not then about the election and the riots caused by them. It proves his guilt and I wanted to know what other people think of this. There are lots of people out there who are upset about this, but no one wants to talk about it.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

PLN 7

The protests in Iran have been taring the country apart. Ahmadinejad started talking about their nuclear situation rather then talk about the election results. He is hiding something and everyone in Iran wants to know. So Ahmadinejad should come out and say he thinks about the election. He hasn't even said he won fare. He just doesn't want to talk about it.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

PLN 5

The New York Times posted an article recently that talked about the bloodiest riot in Iran since June. Protesting broke out on a Campus but it slowly turned to violence. What do you think of this article? Is it effective or ineffective at making you want to do something to help these people?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/world/middleeast/09iran.html?_r=1

Sunday, January 24, 2010

PLN4

Computers in the class room appear to be a big deal. But Laptops in class’s are a great idea because they give the kids experience with them early and let them do their work quicker and easier.
Now, children shouldn’t have to buy their own for this experience. If a school can’t afford them, then a student doesn’t need that experience. But it’s good for future jobs to know how to use a computer well.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

PLN 2

The world is messed up and crazy and know ones sure what to do. Every one is scared and looking at other people to do something.So I wanted to ask if there was anything in the world you cold change, what would it be? Why would you change it? How would you go about changing it?

PLN 1

The riots in Iran are becoming more violent and dangerous.More people are dieing and getting injured, and Ahmadinejad doesn't care who he harms as long as people aren't focused on the election and how he didn't actually win. So I wanted to know what do you think about the riots in Tehran? Do you think they are justified or not? I would like to know what you think.