Internet during finals?

Its every student's dream--to be able to use the internet during a test. Well the Ministry of Education in Denmark is testing their idea, and if they are successful, they are planning to allow "A" level student to use the internet during written tests in 2011. In order to prevent cheating, all papers are turned in electronically and there will be random checks on the sites that they are visiting during the exam. The logic behind this idea is that when writing papers at work, a person has access to the internet. As a student, of course I would love the idea of having internet access during finals, but I just don't think that it is a good idea. If I knew that I could use the internet in my political science test tomorrow, I probably wouldn't be spending so much time studying, and therefor I would not learn the material. I think that allowing internet access during finals will of course make the tests easier, but in the end students will not learn nearly as much. I was under the impression that I was paying so much to go to school in order to learn. If computers are allowed during finals, I would not have learn anything, but good ol' Wikipedia will pass the class for me.

Read the article at http://politiken.dk/newsinenglish/article705726.ece

Guns Everywhere?

I am sure that everyone has heard about the bill that is being sent to the house and senate to allow people with licenses to carry concealed weapons on campus. Those who support this bill say that it will deter any future students from shootings since they will fear that someone nearby will have a gun as well. I personally think that the bill is one of the dumbest ideas. College kids are already stressed out enough, they dont need to be worrying about whether or not someone is going to snap today and shoot up the school. I have to agree with the people who oppose the bill when they say that having guns on campus is a bad idea where "youthful impulsiveness, social anxieties and alcohol" are prominent. I think that hypothetically the bill is a good idea, but in reality it will just cause more problems. It wouldn't surprise me if that kid who says he will do anything to get an A really will do anything, including pulliong a gun on his teacher. I see this bill causing more problems than good. I cant speak for anyone else, but I think I would feel more uneasy, not safer, if this bill does get passed. In order to be able to carry a concealed weapon you have to pass a test and have a background check performed. I was under the impression that the students who have started shootings have had clean backgrounds and it was never suspected that they would do anything like that. Also, a lot of the shootings end in suicide, so im not sure how much the threat of others having guns will really deter them if they are already planning on dying. I personally am not constantly worrying about school shootings, but I would be a little nervous if I knew that anyone on campus could have a gun. I just dont think that this bill will fix anything.


Read the article http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-texas_guns_wittapr27,0,5010044.story

Here is another blog on the topic http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-liebowitz_23edi.State.Edition1.205ac09.html

More Swine Flu

As a precautionary measure to protect children against swine flu, many schools are sending out emails, making parents and children aware, and some are even closing for a small period of time. Lourdes Lee Valeriano, one blog author, has a daughter in school and is "heartened by the attention the schools are giving the issue—and the matter-of-fact way they’re going about it." I agree with Valeriano. I think that it is very important for schools to be careful, but I like that they are doing so in a calm manner. The last thing we need is all of the children becoming paranoid about dying from swine flu. I think that the media should have the same attitude as the school systems. It does no good to anyone for the media to cause fear about swine flu. I think they chould be informative, but calm, which is opposite of what they are doing. Just googling swin flu news, I found many articles that contradicted each other. It seems that none of them really have any facts and all the news is based off of rumors. Its as if America is crowded around a campfire and all the news stations are taking turns telling a scary story, but each one has to exaggerate the numbers a little more in order to top the last one. Who knows how many people have contracted the disease or how many have died? I do know, however, that most cases in America have been treated, so Im just gonna relax. There are other things on my mind. Afterall, finals are in one week.

Read the blog at http://www.businessweek.com/careers/workingparents/blog/archives/2009/04/swine_flu_what.html

Calm Down

Every where you look there is an article or news story warning everyone that the swine flu could become a huge pandemic and is very dangerous. I understand that swine flu could be deadly and cold be easily spread, but I feel like normal people are over reacting. Im not talking about politicians, they are doing their job; they have to be prepared for anything so it makes sense that they are taking every precaution. However, it appears that the average person is freaking out about a huge pandemic that hasn't even started. There are no reported deaths form swine flu in the United States, yet still people are panicking. I think that Jay Gordon had it right in his blog when he stated that "This virus is being made to sound mysterious because the diagnoses are being made in scattered areas. This should merely highlight the fact that tens or hundreds of thousands of people with bad colds might have this same virus, are getting better and what we really need to do is wash our hands, get rest, stay well-hydrated and stay calm." I think everyone needs to relax and just take Mr. Gordon's advice of staying clean. I also think the government needs to promote this idea and help to relax the public. People look to the government to know how to act in different situations, so if government officials are calm, the American people will do the same.

Read one of the many articles at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-walden/swine-flu-outbreak-precau_b_191609.html

and Jay Gordon's blog at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jay-gordon/tamiflurumsfeldh1n1-redux_b_191606.html

I thought you werent supposed to have a brain...

There is a huge controversy right now surrounding the Miss USA Pageant. Apparently it is a huge deal that Miss California is conservative and is willing to defend her beliefs and morals. She should be ashamed! How dare someone not support gay marriage at an event that according to one blog writer is watched by "just women and gay men." I don't understand what all the fuss is about. There is nothing wrong with answering a question honestly. I am proud that she had the courage to tell millions of people her stance on a controversial issue even though it cost her the crown. I think that the writer of the blog also agrees, but decided to use sarcasm in his blog to get his point across. Basically, its a beauty pageant. A beauty queen has a mind of her own. I know that this is really a huge issue, especially since its a conservative mind of her own, but I think everyone just needs to leave the poor girl alone. Aren't there other things to worry about?

Read the article at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,517599,00.html

and the blog at http://www.celebitchy.com/47309/miss_california_opposes_gay_marriage_pageant-loving_gay_men_revolt/

Kill the Senile!

Apparently when grandma becomes senile, she needs to commit suicide because she will be too much of a burden to us. Um....really? This argument could be made for anyone; the mentally challenged, the handicap, even younger siblings when they are in the "terrible twos" stage! This is one of the dumbest suggestions I have heard in a while, but what was even more shocking was that people actually agree with this statement! On one blog site, a man claims that it is worth it to kill the senile because it is better for the economy; we shouldn't "Waste" money on people who aren't entirely there mentally. What was even more shocking was that the majority of the comments that were left on the site agreed with the blogger! It seems that everyone forgets that one day they will be old as well. I guess when the economy goes to hell, so do morals. Lets not forget that suicide is a sin, but I guess I can't really expect any of these people to understand that. After all, it is the atheist blog. I just think that it is so selfish to kill people who are "burdens." People think that the death penalty is wrong, but its acceptable to kill people who are ill? This just doesn't make any sense to me. I feel sorry for the parents and grandparents of these people. The moment they get old, there will either be a hit man after them, or they will be shipped off to a nursing home. Thank you mom for bringing me into this world, but I can no longer handle mental illness. I'm afraid ill have to let (or make) you go.

You can read the blog at http://atheistnexus.org/group/atheistnews/forum/topics/senile-have-a-duty-to-die

and here is the article under discussion http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1713716.ece

Deja Vu

Just in case you havn't heard (I dont know how it is possible not to have heard), there have been more than 800 "tea parties" around the country today to protest the federal government's taxation, spending, and debt. Kinda reminds me of another tea party... The Obama Administration has raised taxes, increased spending, and printed more money when there isn't enough to do what he wants. The problem is that he is using the tax payer's money to pay off business' debts. So we are funding the largest government takeover of private industry. Karl Marx would be so proud! The American people are extremely upset and they are making sure that the government knows about it. I dont know why everyone is so angry; socialism has worked for countless other countries...The Soviet Union...China....oh wait, Im sorry it hasn't worked. Maybe that news needs to be spread to Washington, more specifically, the White House. Well, Obama certainly has brought change..

Michell Malkin has a few different articles about this on her blog at http://michellemalkin.com/2009/04/15/massive-tax-day-tea-party-usa/

and you can read one of the many articles about this at http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D97J48IO2.html

Promises Promises....

I found the song "Promises Promises" by Naked Eyes going through my head as I read through a couple articles concerning President Obama. The first article was over the highly criticized eavesdropping programs of George W. Bush's terms. Apparently Obama was just kidding, its not such a bad idea to listen in on everyone's phone conversations. Calm down everyone. I have the explanation. Its a double standard; you see when Bush did it, it was "undermining the constitution", but when performed under Obama, it is "lawful and necessary." I know, what a relief. The second article is referring to the promise that "no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes." The tax on tobacco has just been raised 62 cents to make it $1.01. Sure "Government and private research has found that smoking rates are higher among people of low income," but this is important. Yeah sorry they were just trying to get elected....No wait! My mistake, Obama wouldn't lie to the American people like that, its all for our own good. By raising the tax, he can now afford to give health insurance to all children because it turns out he can't raise taxes on the wealthy enough to do that. Also, this will just help everyone stop smoking. Personally, I dont care if the government listens in on my conversations; I have nothing to hide. I also dont smoke so the new tax doesnt affect me, but I do think that it is wrong for the government to say one thing and do the exact opposite. Well, President Obama did promise change right?


For the article about eavesdropping http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/13/obama-administration-upholds-terrorist-surveillance-secrecy-rules/

For the one about taxes http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090401/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_tax_promise

And just for kicks, the song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJP2PH8WKaI

We Need More Pollution!

There is yet another proposal to stop global warming that apparently the Obama administration is really taking into consideration. We must shoot pollution particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect the sun's rays. Yes, pollution particles. I don't know if firing pollution into the atmosphere is the best plan to stop the theory of global warming. This plan seems very drastic. I thought we were supposed to reduce pollution....are we not? I guess we can risk the possibility of soaring greenhouse gasses if it will prevent this theory from possibly destroying us all. So, shall I pollute more to help out? I figure they need as much pollution as they can get. Isn't the upper atmosphere pretty big?

Check it out at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,513242,00.html

Media Coverage of Lost Soldiers

When George H. W. Bush was president, a law was enacted to prevent the media from covering the return of U.S. military personnel who were killed in combat. The law was created as a way to protect the families of those killed. The Obama administration has altered the law; leaving it up to the family to decide whether they wanted to allow news cameras into the ceremony. It was thought that the ban was enacted to shield the public from the cost of war. I dont think that this is true. All the media does is report the negative aspects of every war. Take the war in Iraq for example, all people hear about is how many bombs have gone off and how many soldiers and civilians have been killed. The media never reports on how many schools have been reopened or how people are now able to return to work without fear of bombings. The news makes sure that the American people know how many U. S. soldiers have been killed every month of the war. I dont think that the changes made to the ban are wrong. I agree that the families should be able to decide whether they want the media at the ceremony, but I think that the reasons for why the ban was enacted in the first place is incorrect. I believe that it was created to protect the families. The news already reports enough negative material, does it really need any more?

April Fools!

Last year on March 31, a customer, Mr. Stewart, in a Scottish bank prevented a robbery from occurring. The man thought that it was an April Fool's Day joke, so when the robber claimed to have a gun in his backpack, Mr. Stewart just called the robber's bluff and took the bag away. I personally thought that this was hilarious. The robber obviously did not have everything together since he had just appeared in court on criminal damages and he had no gun on him at all. What I found even more amusing was that Mr. Stewart acted completely calm throughout the entire experience. Had I been in the bank, I would not have been brave enough to stop the man, and even if I did, I probably would have freaked out after I realized that it wasn't a joke. Mr. Stewart however, just walked right up and took the backpack away. Even after he found out that it was a real robbery, Mr. Stewart still didn't appear too shaken up. It must have been his lucky day...

Read the article at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5077153/Man-foils-bank-robbery-after-assuming-it-was-an-April-Fool.html

Good Golly....

So apparently earning larger amounts of money in America is no longer a good thing. According to Obama if you do so you are "selfish and greedy" (im sorry Mr. Obama, How much do you make a year?). There is a huge issue going on with the company AIG right now and it's retention bonuses to employees (which were guaranteed in their contracts by the way). The government gave AIG a large some of bailout money to help during the econmoic crisis. The Obama Administration gave the company permission to use the money in part to pay the employees their promised retention bonuses, but when the public heard and became outraged, Obama's Administration denied ever giving the company permission to do so. Now the population is extraordinarily angry that these people were given their hard-earned promised money through the tax payer's dollars. The government is demanding that the recipients of the bonuses return them and there has been a proposed 90% tax on the money. It is even being demanded that the names of the people who recieved the money be released to the public. That would be horrible! There are already death threats out for these people! This is why I would like to talk about some letters that were written to the New York Times about the letter sent by "Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president of the American International Group’s financial products unit, to Edward M. Liddy, the chief executive of A.I.G." I personally applaud Mr. DeSantis for standing up for himself when his company wouldn't. I think that he earned the money that he recieved and that he shouldn't have to return it. So people are upset that it is taxpayers money, who cares? Its not like the money was gonna go to anything useful anyway (shall we send more to studying the smell of pigs? I think not). No one complained when money was sent out to the thousands of americans (most of whom dont even pay taxes) as a part of the stimulus package. Some of the letters that were sent in to the New York Times were from people who were saying that Mr. DeSantis' option to donate all of the bonus money to charity was selfish and that "his unwarranted self-pity and sense of entitlement truly poison the gesture." No Mr. DeSantis, it is not selfless to donate $742,006.40. We want that money to go straight back to the government to be used for more pork. I dont see any of these people donating anything they have to charity, so I think they need to get off of Mr. DeSantis' back. I feel like this whole AIG issue has gotten blown way out of proportion and has distracted the people from more important issues. I guess when you are "selfish and greedy" you lose anything promised in the Bill of Rights.

You can read Mr. DeSantis' letter at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/opinion/25desantis.html?ref=opinion
and the letters to the editor at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/opinion/l26aig.html?_r=1

About 130 years ago Queen Victoria still had many years left to rule, Stalin and Einstein were born, Edison invented the light bulb, and Sakhan Dosova was born. If Sakhan Dosova, of Kazakhstan, is really as old as she says she is, then she is the oldest person ever to have lived; beating an american who lived to be 114. Dosova claims that she has no secret to her long life. She has never been to the doctor. If she ever got sick, she would use "granny's remedies to cure [her]." Dosova also says that she has never eaten sweets. She doesn't like them. If she is telling the truth, Sakhan Dosova was of retirement age when world war two began. Thats amazing for a lady who never went to the doctor and lives in a cramped home in Kazakhstan. Still recovering from the negative publicity of the movie Borat, Kazakhstan is "checking the authenticity of the data on her case." I hope that it does turn out to be true. That would be some uplifting news for everyone to hear.

Read about her at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1164503/Is-woman-really-old-LIGHT-BULB-Oldest-person-world-set-celebrate-130th-birthday.html

I am un-patriotic

I thought that I was a patriotic American, but apparently, it is now "very, very patriotic" to be in our counrty illegally. According to Nancy Pellosi, the immigration laws that are currently practiced are "un-American." I wasnt the only one who was taken aback by these statements. Rick Oltman, who was filming the speech, said that he "was embarrassed by what she said" and that it was "insulting to American citizens who consider themselves to be patriotic, who obey the rule of law." I am not against immigration. I agree that this country was founded and developed through immigration, but I dont think that it is fair that so many people come into our country and get all the benefits of living here without having to pay taxes like every other American. This speech was given at a rally for the end of deportations. With the way that things have been going in the government, it is very possible that they may be successful. Who knows, the government might start giving illegal immigrants checks to stimulate the economy and we lucky Americans who are here legally will pay for them with tax increases.

Read the article at http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/18/pelosi-tells-illegal-immigrants-work-site-raids-american/

Important News!!

You can all relax! Facebook has posted in its blog that several drives failed last Friday, but that they are going to be fixed as quickly as possible! Apparently, the failure resulted in about 10-15% of users photos being lost. Facebook is on top of it though and all of your pictures will be restored. Is this really an issue that is worthy of its own article? I think that if so many people are addicted to Facebook that a few lost picures are a sign of the coming apocalypse, then maybe we shouldn't fix it. I have noticed that a lot of people cant even go to class without checking for notifications of their iphone. Even employers are able to rely on facebook to find things out about potential employees. I'm not against facebook. I think that it is nice to have an outlet that allows me to talk to friends occasionally, but they also invented telephones for that purpose. I just think that people need to chill out and step away from technology for a little bit. You can also talk to people in person if you go outside every so often.

If you really feel the need to read this article, you can check it out at http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=storage&articleId=9129263&taxonomyId=19&intsrc=kc_top

She will never live this down...

Here is a light-hearted story to brighten your Wednesday. A news anchor for CNN, Zain Verjee, made a comical slip-up not once, but three times while reporting on a story this afternoon. What she was supposed to be talking about was how a top airline was now selling peanuts on flights, but instead of saying peanuts she said penis. It might have been possible to overlook the mistake (possible, not probable), but she got tongue tied two more times. Its not all bad though. At least she is famous now.

Read the article at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,504408,00.html
I also recommend watching the youtube video at the end of the article.

Assisted Suicide

Washington State has recently passed the "Death with Dignity" law which basically allows doctors to prescribe lethal medication to patients who have six months or less to live. The article, at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29454171/, mentions that this is a very controversial subject. In order to protect the rights of doctors, the law does not require anyone to participate. It is up to the doctor and/or the medical facility whether or not they allow the prescriptions to be written. After doing a little more research online, I found this website http://www.balancedpolitics.org/assisted_suicide.htm which discusses the arguments for and against the law. One of the reasons supporting the law that stuck out was that "tremendous pain and suffering of patients can be saved." While I do agree that no one should have to go through long periods of pain and suffering, I still cant support the law because of my religion, which, according to the website, is one of the main reasons for opposing the law; "Many religions prohibit suicide and the intentional killing of others." I don't think that it is fair that some people have to suffer before they die or become so ill that they are no longer themselves, but I think that as the option for lethal prescriptions becomes more popular among doctors, then it is possible that the prescription could be given out too readily and people who may have had a chance of living could die prematurely. A "six-month terminal diagnosis" isn't always accurate. I think that if there is the slightest possibility that the doctor could be wrong, then the prescription should not be given out. I guess this issue is like every other issue that is going on right now that has anything to do with religion meaning that it probably wont be resolved anytime soon.

Astronomer or Evil Genius?

Read this article http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/globalwarming/4839985/Scientists-to-stop-global-warming-with-100000-square-mile-sun-shade.html. It sounds like some crazy idea that a villain in James Bond would come up with, firing trillions of mirrors into space to block out the sun's rays. Someone actually did design this plan only that person isn't an evil genius, he is astronomer, Dr. Roger Angel. The plan is to use a huge cannon to shoot trillions of mirrors that would create a huge sun shield and therefore stop global warming. This plan sounds absolutely ridiculous! NASA, however, is already funding a pilot project, so there must be some belief that it will work. I just think that when the designer says that the scaled down version of the gun "was immensely dangerous" it cant be a good idea. I'm not saying that the idea wont work, it just doesn't sound like something that people will take seriously (a huge cannon that is going to fire trillions of mirrors into space to stop global warming? Really?) until there is proof that it is possible. We wont know for another twenty or thirty years whether it will work, but I am definitely curious about how it will go.

I can't believe its not butter!

About two years ago, New York City banned partially hydrogenated oil. Now some areas are trying to make it illegal for restaurants to cook using trans fats. What will it be next? A ban on fats all together? Then where will it go? Trans fats are a leading cause in heart disease, so banning it will help reduce obesity and the risk of getting the disease. I personally think this whole plan is ridiculous. Its not the governments job to tell the people what they can and cant eat. If I want my food fat free or fat full I should be able to get it. I agree with Joseph Coppola Jr. when he says that “Government has to stay out of our lives. It’s about choice. If people are stupid enough to fill their diet with trans fats, they’re just stupid.” I do think that obesity is a problem in the United States, but I dont think that it is fair for the government to control every aspect of our lives in order to fix that problem. This is an issue that is the responsibility of each individual to control, not the government. If fats are eaten in moderation, they arent detrimental to your health. I dont think that it is necessary to ban them from everyones lives and I dont think that the government should have the power to do that anyway.

Read it for yourself at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/nyregion/long-island/22Rfats.html

"Is there anybody out there?"

The famous line spoken by Pink Floyd has also been wondered by countless people for many years. Is there anybody out there? According to an article on the New Scientist website, a lot of people are thinking that NASA doesn't spend enough time or money on searches to find other forms of life. The article says that the "search for [other life forms of life] is more likely than anything else to maintain public support for space research." I think that NASA is doing the right thing by searching for evidence of life on different planets before spending millions of dollars in huge "flagship missions." The article claims that people would support the search for alien life, but I think that if the search ended without even the slightest discovery of alien evidence, then Americans would be angry that all of their tax dollars were "wasted." The budget for NASA is a huge issue right now, in fact there are many Americans who think that it is too high. The article also argues that "NASA often appears so worried about being seen to be looking for aliens that it seems coy about the whole enterprise." I disaggree with this assertion. In many movies, the people who claim that they have "seen an alien" or "were abducted by aliens" are always portrayed as the crazy people. I think that if NASA were to make it public that they were searching for aliens, then people would be outraged about how much of a waste of money it is. As much as people want Star Trek and Star Wars to happen, I think that deep down we all recognize the fact that if aliens really are out there, we most likely aren't going to discover them in our lifetime.

View the article at http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126957.100-alien-hunt-is-too-exciting-to-ignore.html

Mother always said to get sleep before an exam...

Hello again! You know how in high school your teachers, your principle, and your mother would stress how important it was to get a good nights rest before a test? Well it turns out they weren't just making that up! The Science Daily recently published an article referring to a study performed on animals that tested their "electrophysiological and molecular changes" after being shown some sort of visual stimuli. The article goes into quite a bit of detail about how the brain works and different enzymes and ion channels. Personally, I don't really find all the technical terms that interesting, but what I did find intriguing was that basically in order to form memories, calcium in the brain has to turn on different enzymes. The study showed "that these enzymes never really turned on until the animal had a chance to sleep." This shows that you have a higher chance of remembering most of the information that you just crammed into your head the night before the exam if you just sleep on it. One downfall in the article however, was that they didn't test the animals' ability to recall the information. The scientists said that "It's a mechanism that [they] think underlies the formation of memory," meaning that they are getting closer to understanding not only how memories work, but how the brain functions as a whole. The most important thing to take from this article is that if you really need to retain important information (for midterms perhaps), get a good night's sleep. I know how tempting it is to pull an "all-nighter", but don't! You'll be thankful the next day when you are well rested, and who knows, you might remember a thing or two.

Check out the article at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090211161934.htm

Stef's Musings

Hello! My name is Stef and I am a freshman at Texas A&M University in College Station. I have noticed a few things while being in this somewhat small town for a few months. First off, I feel pretty much completely cut off from the outside world (the combination of being a college student and living in the middle of no where can do that to you). I don't have a television in my dorm room, so I don't get to watch the news everyday like I did at home. The only connection I have to finding out what is going on in the world is through the internet and word of mouth. This brings me to the second thing I've noticed which is that the news that I normally hear about is sad or depressing. I don't really have any desire to hear about all the bad things going on. There is bound to be something uplifting or happy happening somewhere in the world, right?
This blog is for those of you who want to know about the other news that you don't normally hear about. I plan on reading the obscure articles off of yahoo or digg.com. I want to talk about the random interesting things that went on within the past week that didn't make the cut for TV. My goal is for people to realize that not all news is bad news and that there is some news out there that is worth reading about.