12/18 assignment (1st essay)

   A major problem in today's society is the evil intentions of teddy bears. They are indeed like their bigger relatives, with that killing instinct. I had found a certain article, in one of my Field & Stream or Outdoor life magazines, that pertains to this subject. A stuffed teddy bear reportedly fell into a trout farm facility, "blocking the aerator and therefore suffocating all 2,500 fish" in that body of water (McArthur). This in turn grew to be a great loss for those who owned that pond. This is a huge problem when they clog up drains and pipes in cities, which could  actually kill people, due to unhealthy fish and loss of plumbing usage.

   This problem hasn't been fixed because, well, people are still not prepared and do not take measures against the possibility of the "release of any teddy bears" or other animal of the stuffed kind ever did do that to another fish pond (Haines). Besides the ordinary precautions taken to prevent these kind of events from ever happening, they still somehow do. That was one small isolated incident. However, could you imagine how devastating it would be if that happened to a cities water or sewage lines? People couldn't get water and sewage would not be taken out of the city.

   However, there is no need to panic. The is an simple and cost effective way to prevent any crisis like those described from ever happening. Proper protection of filters and water/ sewage line would leave any stuffed bear from entering and wreaking havoc. Covering all possible entry points of unintended material deposits would indeed make those bears think twice about laying their furry little paws on them and prevent them "from becoming a killer" (Fawcett). This would greatly decrease the possibility of of a clogged water main or filtration system.


1.   http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/26/teddy_bear_slaughter/

C:  Haines, Lester. "Teddy bear slaughters 2,500 trout." Register. (2006): n. page. Web. 18 Dec. 2012.   <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/26/teddy_bear_slaughter/>.

Summary: A teddy bear dressed in a "yellow raincoat and hat" blocked a drain at the Fish and Game Department's hatchery in Milford and suffocated the pond's resident trout.

2.   http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Fishing/Fishing_Reports/Fishing_Reports_2006/fishing_report_092106.htm
      You have to scroll almost to the bottom for this article.

C:   Fawcett, Robert. "TEDDY BEAR KILLS FISH!." N.H. Weekly Fishing Report. (2006): n. page. Web. 18 Dec. 2012. <http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Fishing/Fishing_Reports/Fishing_Reports_2006/fishing_report_092106.htm>.


Summary:Water flow in hatcheries is life support to the fish. Stop that flow, which delivers the dissolved oxygen required for fish respiration, and the fish suffocate and die. RELEASE OF ANY TEDDY BEARS into fish hatchery water is not permitted.

3.   http://www.imnewswatch.com/2007/09/14/teddy-bear-kills-2500-and-other-top-producing-headlines-ken-mcarthurs-blog-post/


C:   McArthur, Ken. "Teddy Bear Kills 2500! and other top-producing headlines’ – Ken McArthur’s Blog Post." Internet Marketing News Watch. (2006): n. page. Web. 18 Dec. 2012. <http://www.imnewswatch.com/2007/09/14/teddy-bear-kills-2500-and-other-top-producing-headlines-ken-mcarthurs-blog-post/>.


Summary: This was an article on an article that a man had posted on his blog, talking about how this bear had killed an entire fish pond.

Things Can Change summary

            In Beverly Gage's article, Things Can Change, she contends that inspite of the violence people experience in their lives, they can use proven methods from the past to solve their problems today: Passing federal laws that outlaw certain physical violence would make most people think twice about attacking one-another; creating campaigns aimed at influencing public opinion would make it socially wrong to fight another person; and more enforcement on certain laws would definitely cut down on most violence with weapons.
            When things seem like they won't change, they often do so slowly; It took this nation  years to create a better process for managing labor-employer relations, and it took people more than one-hundred years to abolish lynching, one of the most gruesome forms of violence in the U.S. The most influencial thing that could be done about these violences it to combat the idea  that these crimes can't be stoped, that they are part of this nation. This can be done by passing federal legislation to stop these events, as well as change the publics view to make violence, any kind, sociably unacceptable.

12/12/12 assignment

1. Students fell short of expected knowledge on a vocabulary exam.
2. This did not surprise him, due to his experience as a teacher.
3. Vocabulary limitations are connected to early childhood(areas of life, family income, home circumstances).
4. A NAEP report confirms these ideas.
5. Further states examples of not knowing expected words for that age.
6. Still more examples of students needing help to understand certian words. (knowing the difinitions)
7. It doesn't always matter what income level they have and the area of learning/growing up.
8. Students whom have a higher vocabulary read more.
9. Students with weak vocabularies can't read well, so the cycle continues.
10. It is not the failing school system, it's the families.
11. Multi-media programs(movies, television, social networking sites) are not improving, more like degrading, vocabulary and reading skills.
12. Those mainly responsible for this are the parents.
13. Richer families are able to spend money and time to expose their children to literature.
14. Lack of knowledge of social, economic, political, and scientific realities also lead to poor reading comprehension.
15. The difference between good readers and poor readers has to do with the differences in the knowledge that they bring to reading.
16. The author can prove and agree with the previous statement in paragraph 15. Family encouragement at home helps good readers.
17.
The author can prove and agree with the previous statement in paragraph 15.Distractions prevent good readers.
18. Exposing your kids to words at three or four start the foundations of a strong vocabulary.
19. You can still impact after the ages of three and four by shaping the home environment with rich materials around them.



In John T. Tierney's article, Vocabulary and Reading: Give Your Kids a Fighting Chance, he argues that many of todays children are far behind what is expected for their age groups and the causes, as well as the ways we can start to fix this.

There are three main causes of our children are far behind on their education, and there are three ways we can prevent or fix this problem: John states that multi-media programs distract kids from reading, writing, and other learning opertunities put aside; parents, according to John, have the biggest impact on children, what with their wage levels, area of life, and home circumstances; and sudents with weak vocabularies can't read well, so the cycle continues. Having a good vocabulary has a big impact on a persons life, and there are many factors to having one: starting at the age of 3 or 4, one can start to develope their childs vocabulary and reading comprehension; having a rich environment (both financialy and literaly,literaly meaning with many words in this context) at home encourages reading and vocabulary literacy; and having support from family members increases the chances of being literate

12/11 assignment

NIC is not the most reliable institution of predictions. However, in Joshua Foust's The World of 2030 Won't Look Anything Like You Think, he also states it encourages adaptive thinking. He says that it helps leaders understand the current trends and how to be flexible enough to adapt to rapid change.



Given the current information, I would have to agree with Joshua Foust. Still, many predictions have been correct, such as the many predictions of weather, for one fact. Yes, I know that that certain topic does not tie into this topic of the article, but it does make for a good example. I do believe that being able to adapt quickly does have many positives, with hardly any negatives.

3/12 Assignment

In Keegan Hamilton's article, Why Legalzing Pot Won't Curb the Drug War, facts point out that legislation of marijuana causing any problems for the criminals, becuase"the gangs are still going to grow marijuana and they're still going to sell marijuana, only now it will be legal for them to walk around with an ounce supply individually packaged and not have any repercussions."



http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/12/why-legalizing-pot-wont-curb-the-drug-war/265729/