Facebook Kicks Off 20,000 Underage Users a Day

"Facebook kicks off 20,000 underage users a day," by Zachary Roth. March 23, 2011.

Facebook receives at least 20,000 underage users per day, and nearly half of all 12-year-olds in the U.S. use social networking sites. Concerns for protection and privacy for underage users is growing, and Minnesoat Democract Se. Al Franken proposed to reform the social networking website. Personally, I think it's okay for underage users to use a social networking site as long as a parent keeps a close eye on what they're doing.

Inside a Rocky Bowl of Molting Lava

"Incredible photos show inside of world’s ‘most dangerous’ volcano," by Rubie Edmondson. March 23, 2011.

Volcanologists Dario Tedesco and Ken decided to go deep into one of the most active volcanoes in the world, the Nyiragongo. This certain volcano is rarely studied, and it's important to collect data to be able predict any volcanic eruption for the safety of nearby cities.

Nic Robertson: Not a Human Shield

"CNN correspondent slams Fox over ‘human shields’ report," by Michael Calderone. March 22, 2011.



Nic Robertson clears up the allegations made by Fox News who said that he was used as a "human shield" by Libyan authorities to prevent an attack on Muammar Gadhafi's compound in Tripoli. Jennifer Griffin, a Fox News reporter, defends herself by saying that the reporters and civilians felt like they were being used as shields and that it was frustrating to them.

Class Discussion: Education 3/16/11

This discussion on education particularly has been my favorite so far. I've never really thought about our education system until we started on the topic, and it's given me several new perspectives. Before we started on the topic, I had a vague definition of what tenure is, and I thought it was just an increase in a teacher's salary for every year he or she works in the same school. However, I didn't know that a teacher acquires tenure after three years of experience in the same school and that's when their salaries increase, but it seems like an almost-guarantee for teachers that they'll have that job for life; a job-protector, that is. It's in the best interest for bad teachers to sit there and do nothing while students are being cheated out of their education. No wonder we have so many "dropout" factories in our nation. Also, our class discussion presented the idea of making high schools into mini-colleges, and it's probably a great idea in that students can choose which time of school day best suits them and what specific classes to take that'll help them get into the next big step: college. I look forward to our next topic.

Supermoon on Mr. Palo's Birthday

"'Supermoon' Rises: Biggest Full Moon in 18 Years Occurs Saturday Night," by unknown. March 18, 2011.

The supermoon may appear 14% larger and 30% brighter than lesser full moons at its peak. Don't worry, NASA says it won't cause any natural disasters.

Punishment for Chicken Prank too Harsh?

"Live Chicken Prank Lands 3 N.J. Students In The Coop," by CBS News. March 16, 2011.

Two 17-year-olds confessed that they released a couple of chickens on their school campus as a senior prank, and they're now facing charges for trespassing and disorderly conduct. They also can't go to prom and attend the graduation ceremony. "No one knows how to have a good laugh," says one of them.

US Life Expectancy Surpasses 78

"US life expectancy surpasses 78, a new record," by Associated Press. March 17, 2011.

The life expectancy rate, generally for whites, has increase from 77 years and 11 months to 78 years and 2 months. Also, the overall male life expectancy is around 75 and a half , about 80 and a half for females. What attributed to this are better medical treatment, vaccination campaigns and public health measures against smoking.

Japanese Families Reunite

"Touching reunion videos after Japan disaster," by Liz Goodwin. March 16, 2011.

Beating against the odds, especially against Mother Nature, survivors of the tsunami are, fortunately, reunited with their loved ones. One in particular, Akiko Kosaka, who was studying English here in America at the time, was reassured that her family had survived the tsunami in their town when she saw a video on YouTube on the local news coverage. Unfortunately, half of the residents are missing or feared dead.

Closer to Japan

"Japan’s earthquake shifted balance of the planet," by Liz Goodwin. March 14, 2011.

After the fifth-largest earthquake occurred in Japan, the Pacific tectonic plate dove under the North American plate, making us closer to Japan by 13 feet. The earthquake also shortened the day by 1.6 microseconds (microseconds may not seem like a big deal, but every little piece of time is precious), and made Japan fall under 2 feet of water.

WHIPS: Toddler Dunked in Scalding Water

"Toddler's horrific scalding detailed," by Sarah Burge, The Press-Enterprise. March 11, 2011.

Diana Vicky Estrada, a 26-year-old mother, was charged with child abuse and torture. She dunked her 2-year-old daughter, now 5, in a bathtub filled with extremely hot water as punishment for a potty-training accident. Burns were shown on her legs from the bottom of the girl's feet up to below the knees. The injuries were so severe that her toes were literally glued together. At court, Estrada pleaded not guilty and shows no concern for her daughter's injuries. She claims that her daughter simply loves taking baths and that she got into the bathtub on her own. Her daughter had been returned to her custody by the time she was sentenced to probation and jail time.

Burge, Sarah. "Toddler's Horrific Scalding Detailed Inland News." PE.com Southern California News

News for Inland Southern California. 11 Mar. 2011. Web. 13 Mar. 2011. http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_D_sestrada11.1d022e948.html.

As if Earthquakes and Tsunamis Weren't Enough

"Blast at Japan nuke plant after quake and tsunami," by Eric Talmadge and Yuri Kageyama, Associated Press. March 12, 2011.



After the earthquakes and tsunamis came an explosion at a nuclear power plant. Fortunately, radiation emanating from the explosion declined rather than increased. If the radition were to reach those who lived near the nuclear power plant would risk getting cancer. Thousands were urged to evacuate the area.

"American Government 3/7/11" QOW Response

For some reason, my comment keeps disappearing. Hopefully it won't disappear here.

One thing we can be truly sure about is the fact that nothing in this world is perfect, but we should always strive for excellence anyway. How do we even get ourselves to strive? Inspiration, passion, and motivation for the things that we want to attain can help us achieve success. Unfortunately, not all schools can offer the classes and programs that everyone wants, but the essential basics (math, history, English, science) should be taught, as they are necessary components to our everyday lives. Students can achieve success if both the teacher and the student willfully put the effort into it.

Parents should, indeed, be actively involved in their child’s education. American parents should follow the example of the “Kyoiku mama,” Japanese mothers from Japan. Their number one priority is their child’s education, and they’ll do whatever it takes to help them succeed in school. The Japanese mother would, for example, provide midnight food and water while the son or daughter would diligently work on a homework or project, or study for a huge exam. The school performance of the Japanese child reflects the on the mother’s sense of personal accomplishment. If the child does horrible on a certain test, the mother would be let down, but she would still, nonetheless, continue to be actively involved in helping her son or daughter.

The size of classes definitely plays a huge role in education. Like what almost everyone else is saying, students develop a personal interaction with the teacher in smaller classes, enabling them to focus on the class subject better and earning higher grades. Large classes tend to have a lot of distractions, and it’s difficult for the teacher to gain control over such a disruptive class. Of course, smaller class sizes would mean more spending on building more classrooms. However, if smaller class sizes can make a huge dramatic difference on students’ grades, then why not incorporate them into schools? Wouldn’t it be worth it?

We live in a digital age now, surrounded by so many pieces of technology. Personally, I find textbooks to be an absolute bore. I spend at least five to ten minutes flipping through dozens of pages to find the answer to the first question of my AP Biology worksheet. If I had access to the online textbook, searching for the answer would be a piece of cake, as I would type in what I need to find in a search engine, directly leading me to the answers I need. I wouldn’t mind choosing a Kindle or a Nook over a textbook. It’d make my life easy, and it would save a ton of time. If we implemented more technology into our schools, we can definitely save a lot of time and use that valuable time for other important things.


- Jarel Lim Per. 4


Evans, Shayne. "NBC News EducationNation.com - Are Schools Embracing Technology?" NBC News EducationNation.com - NBC Education Nation. Web. 11 Mar. 2011. http://www.educationnation.com/index.cfm?objectid=B8A49B7E-CC11-11DF-8853000C296BA163

Hodges, Quincy. "Cary District 26 Debates Class Sizes - Cary, IL Patch." Cary, IL Patch - News, Sports, Events, Businesses & Deals. Web. 11 Mar. 2011. http://cary.patch.com/articles/class-size-vs-quality-of-education

"Kyoiku Mama." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 11 Mar. 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoiku_mama

Colors of the 1906 San Francisco Great Quake

"Color pics of San Francisco after '06 quake found," by Associated Press. March 9, 2011.

Pictures of San Fransico in 1906 has been discovered. The photos were taken by Frederick Eugene Ives after the earthquake happened. Shannon Perich, associate curator of the Smithsonian's photography history collection, said that Ives was experimenting with color photography in the early 20th century.

Student Selection for Excellent Schools Shouldn't be a Lottery System

"Even as Obama praises Boston school, education cuts loom," by Derrick Z. Jackson. March 9, 2011.

The chances of getting into a good college are gettting worse by the hour. Because of the recession, there have been many state education cuts nationwide. The GOP and Obama gave away hundreds of billions of tax cuts to the wealthiest two to three percent of Americans, and are trying to slash billions more from Head Start, elementary education support, and pell grants.

Lakes Light Up at Night

"Lakes Light Up at Night," by Claudine Zap. March 8, 2011.

In Australia, beautiful colors of blue glowed at night in the lakes. What makes these lakes glow with gleam are the species of algae called Noctiluca scintillans, also known as "sea sparkle."

Push for Charter Schools in New Jersey

"N.J. education commissioner fights criticism of charter schools," by Leslie Brody. March 7, 2011.

 Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf plans to give a push for charter schools in New Jersey. Critics have compared average performances between traditional schools and charter schools, and accused Cerf for playing with the data in order to round up support for charters, which are publicly financed for, but are under operated by independent boards free of many district regulations. Also, it was said that charter schools fail to include special needs kids, but Cerf argued that eight percent of charter schools' students have disabilities, lower than that of traditional schools which is sixteen percent.

Sugary Cereal

"Parents, beware: These kid-friendly foods claim to be healthy, but they're not," by Lylah M. Alphonse. January 19, 2011. [Note: I realized I didn't publish this before because it was saved as a draft, so this post was intended to be posted on January 19, Wednesday].

Parents may be attracted to the official healthy food labeling on the cardboard boxes of cereal, but they're not getting behind the real study of its' nutritional facts. In a certain study where fifty-eight popular kids' foods were examined to see if they met basic nutritional standards, a whopping forty-nine of them failed the test. The winning healthy foods are mostly Kid Cuisine meals. The other ones are Capri Sun 100 Percent Juice Fruit Punch, Quaker Chewy Granola Bars (25 percent less sugar Chocolate Chip only), Kool Aid Fun Fizz Drink Drops (Giggling Grape only), and Campbell's Princess-Shaped Spaghetti-Os.

Hope in Moss Point, MS

"Moss Point schools rally community to help raise test scores," by Trang Pham-Bui. March 1, 2011. [Note: I realized I didn't publish this before because it was saved as a draft, so this post was intended to be posted on March 3, Thursday].

Schools in Moss Point, MS are struggling to bring their test scores up a notch. Last year, state ratings indicated that five Moss Point schools are at risk of failiing. In order to avoid plummeting into failure, students took practice tests and studied hard for an important state test administered today. However, according to the superintendent of Moss Point School, it takes more than practice tests and study times to give a boost in their students' scores; it takes a community to do it. Banners are hanging on each and every Moss Point city sign to appeal to the attention of the community.

Merit Pay

"N.J. residents support factoring student test scores into teacher evaluations, poll finds," by Simone Sebastianm The Star-Ledger. March 5, 2011.

After given a poll, most New Jerseyans said that they disapproved of tenure and supported the idea of having students' test performances as a factor in teacher evaluation and pay. Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf proposed a plan to reform the teacher evaluation system. The plan includes eliminating automatic tenure and having students' test performances determine teachers' salaries and tenure status.

Passion, passion, PASSION!

If anyone just so happens to find this post, I encourage you to read it. Take a look at the video too, especially.

I've been following a certain channel for quite a while on YouTube, and they never cease to amaze me. The P.S. 22 Chorus of Staten Island, NY will always inspire me to do well in school. Whenever I see them smile, laugh, or sway to the melody of a song, you can definitely see something that not a lot of students have in school: passion. You can definitely see the passion in their eyes and the emotions that render their facial expressions and body language. Although what they're doing isn't academic, it shows that they're excited to be in school and that they're willing to learn what they love, which is singing and making music. If all schools in our nation could somehow attain this sort of passion and applied it in academics, I can only imagine what our world would be like. I commend Mr. B for being one of the greatest teachers in our nation.



Art. It's a beauty, isn't it? There's creativity and talent in it, something we all need right now.

Westboro Baptist Church: Protection of First Amendment

"Court's ruling in funeral protest case restates First Amendment principles," by Ken Paulson, President, the First Amendment Center. March 2, 2011.



We've all heard of the notorious Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church, known for condemning homosexuality. The reason that he and his followers decided to protest at Christina Taylor Green's funeral, the nine-year old girl who died at the Arizona tragedy, was to gain the media's attention and share their views to the world. While the American masses are shocked by the Supreme Court's decision to back their right to protest at funerals, the decision made by the Supreme Court reaffirms and assures us that we have the first amendment at our side; that we have the right to freely express our views. What the Supreme Court did was right, by protecting the voice of an unpopular minority.

Reasons why the Supreme Court made such a decision:
- The protests were on public property and concerned public issues.
- The protest was peaceful.
- The protesters followed the rules.
Detailed explanations for these reasons are mentioned in the article.

Miami Education Reform Event

"Obama to join Jeb Bush at Miami education event," by Perry Bacon Jr. March 1, 2011.

Obama heads over to Florida with Jeb Bush, George W. Bush's brother, at an event at Miami Central Senior High School for a push of the "No Child Left Behind" law. Obama and Jeb are promoting some education policy ideas such as charter schools.