Daily Archives: October 6, 2011

Social Networking Sites

 Social networking sites are exactly what they sound like. They are networks, or sites, that are social among people all over the world. Some top sites are Face book and Twitter. Both of these sites contact people from around the world and each site in its own way. Facebook  came first, then shortly after came Twitter. Facebook was created by a student at Harvard that hacked into the Harvard’s computer system. The base of Facebook is E-mail. The difference is, it automatically sends the message you typed to everybody on your friends list. Then it has other features of its own, but the base is just regular E-mail. Twitter is the same way with less extra features. Both of these networks have one thing in common. They both connect people around the world with in seconds.

A lot of people think these sights are bad because one mistake and your future can be affected by it. Colleges and jobs look at these sights and see what you have posted. If they do not like what you have posted then it impacts their thoughts about you. I think these sights are what the world needs. These sites help us socialize and communicate with others. It is our choice what we put on these sites. It is up to us to be responsible. Now that we know the technology that we can access we can’t just not use it. So its your choice about what you do with it, make the smart choice.

~Zach Barlok

Power to the People

Over 700 people were arrested in New York on Saturday Oct. 1,2011 for protesting corporate greed  on Wall Street. This organized protest is called “Occupy Wall Street.” Their message is corporate greed and social injustice. They have been protesting for about two weeks now and their numbers are growing. The protests have been peaceful so far despite pepper spray dispersed on the crowd by the NYPD recently.

Apparently the swelling crowd of protesters blocked the Brooklyn bridge on Saturday completely shutting it down. It has been reported that similar protests have cropped up in several other major cities. I am not sure what the outcome or end result of the protests will be but the frustration felt by the protesters is understandable.Many young people can’t get jobs after graduating college and are left with huge education bills. Others are worried about their retirements and 401ks losing money rapidly. I think people are worried the most about the economy in general and the uncertainty for the future.

~Marco Dugay

Dug Up From Below

The miners came out from what was supposed to be just a 10-hour shift digging for copper and gold. With cheers, chants, and tears of joy, Florencio Avalos became the first of 33 trapped Chilean miners to escape his underground prison after a record time underground. The rescuers were hauled out of the mine to the surface at 12:12 a.m. local time, in a metal cage less than 22 inches across. The crowd that had been formed was celebrating the return of their miners. By midday, authorities hoped to have brought all of the miners out.

I like the Chilean miners. And really, who doesn’t? From the runner to the doctor they captured our attention and showed us how much a group of men, working together, can actually survive. I believe this shows that when it comes between life and death that you will do whatever is possible to stay alive. If I was in the mine I would have been thinking, “ok stuck down here lets get through today first then worry about tomorrow.” I think the hardest part about being in the mine would have to be trying to stay calm. Overall I think the Chilean miners have taught us a very important lesson. No matter how bad things get you are going to come out better than when you went in.

~Bobby Gieseler

The Best Books into the Worst Movies

Some successful books are popular enough to get them turned into a movie. Some of these movies turn out to be extremely successful, such as the Harry Potter or Twilight series, but some movies get some of the worst ratings in the movie business, despite being extremely successful as books, such as Percy Jackson and Eragon. Now I think that the movie producers who made these movies where simply blind to the opportunity that they had. They had a ready-made target audience, tons of free publicity, and a perfectly fine script. Yet somehow they got it in their heads that they needed to change all that. Now don’t get me wrong some changes that they make are sometimes good but never the less deviate greatly from the story line, therefore making any and all fans that just wanted to see their favorite book on the big screen, angry. I believe that the people who make the movies should take their success on a silver platter without changing it, as this will just anger fans of the books.

Now while the movie producers are somewhat to blame, the fans of the books should not judge a movie by it being similar or not to the book. Many books are simply too long to have all the parts put into one movie and they must cut parts out to get it to movie length. I find that many fans will dismiss a movie simply because it was not close enough to the book. From there they will continue to spam websites with bad reviews and ultimately make nobody else watch it because of their reviews Even people who didn’t read the book do this. All together most movies that deviate from the book aren’t bad but crash and burn because of all the bad publicity from die hard book fans, without giving non-book people a chance to decide for themselves. So next time you are about to give something a bad review just try to remove your bias for a second and think of it as a movie not a book turned into a movie.

~Jack Pepper

Girls Sports & Injuries

I’ve been playing soccer since I was four.  Sure I’ve experienced an occasional twist in my knee but nothing that could have prepared me for this.

It had been four months since my last knee injury (knee cap subluxation) and the doctor told me I was ready to go.  The second practice, I lunged at the ball, the pressure of the opponents foot hit the ball and my foot causing my knee to collapse inwards.  “Pop” my knee gave out and I fell to the floor.  I didn’t want to believe it, so I got back up, but it didn’t feel right, I couldn’t walk.  Next week we found out that I had torn my meniscus off the MCL, an injury that would require surgery and set me back seven months.

It is important for all female athletes to know that they are at a higher risk than men for knee injuries, especially for ACL tears and meniscus tears, both of which orthopedics recommend surgery for.  There are many reasons for this, one being that girls run different than boys, which makes them at a greater risk while twisting and turning.  Another reason is wider hips can cause girls to be more knock-kneed and have patella femoral pain syndrome (these increase joint instability.)  Researches show that girls have a smaller notch in there knees where the ACL sits which causes it more likely to tear.

Knee injuries can’t be prevented but you can help prevent them by strengthening the muscles that surround the knee, working on proper form while running and jumping, stretching, and warming up before playing.

~Jewel Kuss

The Canadian Bus

President Obama has very strong ideas. Some of which are put to use and others that just stay ideas. Some of these ideas are that America should export more along with increasing manufacturing. He proposes we export cars such as Chevys, Fords, and Chryslers. Obama gave a speech in which he said these words, “ I want to see folks in Korea driving Fords and Chryslers and Chevys.” He also wants to export more goods with the words “Made in America” on them.

If a president is going to say these things, one would think he should back them up. But Obama has other plans for a new bus of his. This bus is designed to take him all over the country on his tour. However he decided to have this specialty bus made in Canada. Meanwhile he is giving speeches about how America needs to export and manufacture more. This wasn’t any old bus; it was a state-of-the-art custom security modified bus. This bus was mainly purchased by the secret service because of the way it was able to accommodate these security modifications.  It was a 1.1 million dollar purchase to Canada when that money could have been spent in America.

The controversy here is how he gives speeches about exporting and then goes and buys a bus from Canada. This is not a bad thing, but it goes against a speech he gave in Iowa. This speech entailed him presenting the crowd with the idea of cars, specifically, being exported more. Couldn’t he have bought an American bus? An American company built air force one, and he travels the world in it. He only plans to travel around the country with this big bus. By backing up his speech Obama could have probably gotten a mostly American made bus. This does not mean that every single part could have been American but more parts could have been than there are. Nothing is wrong with the bus or the purchase, but the point is that if you say something you should want to back it up. We want our country to be in a better economic situation when we are paying the bills.

~Jeff Tyrrel

Victory

The New England Patriots have been living up to last years 14-2 record so far this year. They have been impressive and competitive. Right now they are 3-1 and didn’t let off easily for the Bills to take a victory. The score 34-31gave the Buffalo Bills a small win. Patriots didn’t let up against the Raiders with a victory of 31-19. Tom Brady led the Patriots to a win over the Miami Dolphins 38-24, and passing for 517 yards. The Patriots played another game for another victory over the San Diego Chargers with a score of 35-21. These games prove that great teams both loose and win, but come out with great victories.

The Patriots have an interesting match up this weekend against the New York Jets. The Jets are 2-2 but are not a bad team. The Patriots will have bring their A game, especially after loosing to the Bills. They are going to want to put the Jets in the dirt every play (meaning stop them on offense), to ensure a win. The match up takes place at New England and will be interesting to watch.

~Jeff Tyrrel

My “ Epic” Family Trip

Over the summer my sister, my dad, my step-mom, and I  all went on a family trip to “The Big Sky State”, Montana, with 13 other members of my step-mom’s family. My step-mom’s dad and her own an Upland Bird hunting and Fly fishing ranch. The ranch is located on 5,200 acres of beautiful scenery. I personally was kind of scared because of the rattle snakes, but I fortunately never actually encountered one. I also thought, “wow, I’m gonna be bored outta my mind!,” but there was always something that I could be doing, like fishing in the two ponds, or driving the ATV’s around the property.

Probably the most epic thing we did was go Horseback riding through Yellowstone National Park. The reason I describe this as epic was because of how goofy everybody looked! My little sister, Kinsey, got an old, blind mule horse named Opal, who was partially deaf and blind in one eye. My dad, also had a mule. What was funny about that is that mules aren’t as big as horses, so my dad sitting on that mule was like Shaquille O’neil riding a miniature pony. My dad’s mule also had stripes on its legs, like a zebra! My horse wasn’t dysfunctional or funny looking like my dad or sisters’ mules because I had an actual horse, named Bear. Bear was good for the most part, but he was mean. Bear kept bucking and trying to kick my grandpa’s horse. My grandpa’s horse was probably one of the funniest things though. His horse had googly eyes and was actually called “Crazy Horse”.

Over all, my family had a very “interesting” trip and we look forward to doing it again next summer!

~William Ratchelous