Third Leading Cause of Death.

A lot of people try to do it,have thoughts about it, and a lot even succeed in it no matter what the age. It's a very serious thing and a lot of people face it and a lot of families have to deal with the lost of there loved ones. I am doing a project in my English class called "You and the World" What this project is about is to pick a current event, that we were interested in and to research about it and blog about it.

The issue I am going to be blogging about is teen suicide. This topic interests me, because I hear about it all the time, I feel horrible and would love to give help to those teens who need someone to talk to. Another reason, is maybe you heard of those two girls who got hit by a train? Well, my best friend was very close to those girls, she knew them for a very long time. I saw just how effected she and all her family was. When I had heard about it, I was in shock. Couldn't believe that something so awful had happen.

After spending some time researching about my topic I learned about 2 million teenagers attempt to kill them self thats just in one year. Can you imagine? I never thought it would get to be this high, something has got to change. I also learned that suicide is the third leading death in 10 to 24 year olds. When I began reading the warning signs of suicide I noticed that it was something so tiny for example "Giving possessions away, making arrangements, setting one's affairs in order."-(http://depression.about.com/cs/suicideprevent/a/teensuicide.htm)could be a sign to something so huge. In my opinion I think a lot of people should be aware of these things, just to be sure so that they can help there loved one seek help.

I am interested in finding out why some kids decide to take their own lives rather then turn for help.I understand that not all of them want to go for help, but I think if they would maybe try it one time and see that they could save their own life and maybe others. Also, I'm interested in finding  why some of the kids that bully are so cruel, and don't realize what there doing is so wrong and how effective it is. 

For me to go forward in this research, I am going to have to do a lot more research. This is a very big topic and there is way more for me to read about. I am even going to talk to my best friend to see if she knew anything else about the two girls.




http://www.nami.org/Content/ContentGroups/Illnesses/Suicide_Teens.htm


http://medicalcenter.osu.edu/patientcare/healthcare_services/mental_health/mental_health_about/children/suicide/Pages/index.aspx


http://depression.about.com/cs/suicideprevent/a/teensuicide.htm

Jobs: Are You Really Safe?

​Imagine if I said you were laid off from your job, what would you do? Where would you go? Watching the economy even as a 15 year old is overly stressful to the point where daily I think about what will happen once I enter and leave college will there be an opportunity. College tuition is rising and job are harder to find, so will only the cream of the crop of student out of college and have chances at a well paid job, or Do up and coming college kids cope with the debt after college while becoming one of the unemployed citizens of the US.

The economy's numbers are dropping for available jobs and is getting worst then the Depression of the 1930's. Resent studies have shown that in december 2010 the unemployment rate has been to a high of 9.75% of people in the US. Then shown that percentage of the ethnical background of the unemployment rate are: 

shown here
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (8.6 percent), adult women (7.7 percent), teenagers (24.5 percent), whites (7.9 percent), blacks (15.5 percent), and Hispanics (11.3 percent) showed little change in March. The jobless rate for Asians was (7.1 percent), not seasonally adjusted. 

job-loss
job-loss

Child abuse can hurt. By: Maria Latorre

For the project we had to find information about our topic and talk about it.

 

My issue "Child abuse" I picked this topic because it was what I which to find out more and because this topic got me to the point that it would make me sad.

 

I have learned so far that there are many different types of child abuse like physical abuse, child sex abuse (CSA), psychological/emotional abuse, and neglect.

For a child with a history of neglect or physical abuse they have a very high risk to have psychiatric problem, or disorganized attachment. The hardest to define from is psychological/emotional abuse this kind of abuse and end up making a child blame themselves, feel not loved.

Children that are being physically abuse are very likely to have a lot of bone fractures, and many higher risk of getting cancer. Physically abuse could be stopped if people that see it happen would tell the cops or if the child tells. Sometime the child will not tell because they might be to scare of what would happen if he/she told.

A child that has being sexually abuse (CSA) is a type of child abuse in which an adult or someone older takes a kid for sexual stimulation. Types of CSA is when someone ask or pressure a child to do sexual actives, having sexual contact with a child, making a child make child pornography.

What I want to know is why? Why do adult or older people do this type of things to a child? Why is it that they would even think about this in the first place?

 

I’m planning to find out more about this topic and try to find the reason why they would do this to a child and what they can get out of it.

Rehab After Drugs and Alcohol [ The Longterm Save]

·      This section is basically about people who survive the addiction of drugs and alcohol, People

·      To be addicted it means to be controlled by something, something that pulls you in and doesn't let go.

·      Also being addicted allows the person to have mood swings and changes without that substance. Normally a regular person gets a high from a thrill. Now people get there high from drugs, these drugs tell the person/ make the person feel like they can't live without it. As if that drug is there high. Once a person gets there high from drugs and can't be happy without it they are now addicted. As weird as this may seem the person now believe that, that drug is their happiness and most people love their happiness.

·      When you are addicted to alcohol you become an alcoholic. The reson why this is bad because it allows the alcohol to seek it’s way into the brain and can cause serious head drama. With this you may lose memory/ thought of what’s going on.

What happened in Japan? blog 1

Matthew Hamilton

5/2/11 

For this project Ms. Dunn told us to pick a world issue and become familiar with it. The purpose of this project is to make us more up to date with current events and world issues.

            The issue that I chose is the Japan earthquake. The reason I chose this topic is because I don’t know much about it and I want to know exactly what happened.

            So far I have discovered that more then 14,000 people died. Another thing that I found interesting is that there was a tsunami and lots of landslides throughout the day. From my research I have learned that it was a very scary and harmful day for the world.

            I have three questions about what happened. They are how many people were lost or are still lost? Was Japan as ready for this as they could have been? And what can people do to help?

            The next thing I will do is try to find out the real story on what happened. I will do more research and will look for news articles from that day to help understand what was happening and when it was happening.



Bibliography:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Tōhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami

 

Conserve Wildlife? How?

I was not able to find anything that said why we don't just build buildings up instead of outward, but I had to give a guess I would say that it is probably easier and cheaper to build a building that stretches outward instead of upward.  I did however find some ways that we can help conserve our wildlife this site


Some things that I found out were, one, just how fast wildlife is being destroyed especially over in Africa for example one statistic was that there were 5-10 million elephants in the African plains back in the 1930's and and then by 1989 which is when they were added to the most endangered species list there were only about 600,000 of them left. Statistic from this site.  


For my next post I would like to keep looking for exact reasons why we don't build up instead of out  also more ways for us to help conserve our environment and finally we don't educate more people on this topic.

Final blog, how will we conserve our wildlife

I do have to say regretfully that especially since this is my last blog post that I will not be able to tell you exactly why we don't build our building upward instead of out ward.  As I said in a previous post I would think that this is because it might cost more and be harder to do.

I was fortunately able to find a few more ways that we can help to conserve our wildlife before it all disappears.  They are on this site.  

I also have to say that I was not able to find find anything in my research that says why we don't teach more people about wildlife conservation.  I think that one reason at least for us not to be teaching people about wildlife conservation is that then we would have to many people running around interfering with large companies and keeping them from destroying wildlife while they get bigger and bigger and bigger. 

 One thing that I learned that surprises me in that I would think that more people would be out and doing things in more places because of the top 10 wildlife organizations out there almost all of them put more than 70% of all their funds towards conserving wildlife in different places.  This was from this site

Wildlife Conservation

For this project our class is going to be blogging about our individual world issues.  

Mine is wildlife conservation, I picked this because I think that it is important that we protect the wildlife around us and learn about it.  

One thing that i have discovered from
this site is that according to the World Wildlife Fund there is somewhere from 25 to 50 acres that get burned or cut down every minute.  I have also learned from the same site that overpopulation may be one reason that the wildlife area is being destroyed. This site supports that.  

I wonder why we don't instead of building outward and killing all the wildlife, why we don't build up, we know we can do it, so why don't we?  

I will try to find out this answer and to find out what we can do to help.

Do Women Have Any Rights?- Blog 1

Women have been fighting for their rights for hundreds of years now. No matter what race, education status, religious views, etc. Whether it was the right to vote or have a decent job' but have we taken it to far now? Now the government is talking about shutting down Planned Parenthood. A health center/clinic for women. They help women stay sexually healthy and aware, whether it be by taking a pregnancy test, std test, or even options on how to care for your growing baby. The government is in debt and is thinking about shutting this program down. A program that gives out help and information; and even saves lives. I've discovered that it is the Republicans who want this to happen. That they believe it's services are not that important. I wonder how a bunch of men can decide what's best for millions of women? Next I will see the facts about Planned Parenthood, see exactly how much work they actually do for communities around America. It just makes no since that a program like this should be completely shut down.




Bibliography:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/07/government-shutdown-planned-parenthood_n_846463.html

Burger King Triple Cheeseburgers Now a Dollar!

Obesity is one of the most common things seen in the world. More than most, in America. It leaves you trapped within a seemingly endless cycle of gluttony and immobilization and can increase your risk of several cardiovascular diseases. It’s said many fat people have a big heart. (Meaning always friendly of course) Well sadly they more than likely do. Obesity can cause an enlarged heart due to muscle tissue expansion due to overworking caused by thickening blood. Nobody wants to be obese and there should be a lot more done to stop this from taking over people across the planet.

 

            Obesity is thought of as nothing more than just greedy people being gluts to the point where they can’t fit through their doorway. Well that is very far from the truth. A number of things can cause people to gain weight. Let’s focus on one thing that’s obvious to all people: Fast food.

 

            Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 50 or so years you have seen a fast food place such as McDonald’s or Burger King. These places offer great tasting food at a cheap price. All the while dominating commercials with promises of near perfect cuisine. These can attract almost anybody to scarf down as many burgers as they can. They can do all of this for cheaper prices than a head of lettuce. Which leads me into my next point: Food prices




Sources: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/obe/obe_causes.html
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/checkup/2010/08/junk_foods_cheaper_than_health.html

It's fine because its Israel?

Goldie Robins

BLOG 1:

I am doing a project in English. It is called, You and the world. The purpose of the project is to pick one current event in the world learn about it (research) , create a passion for it, and then BLOG about it. 

 I decided to pick what is currently going on in Israel. Now there are a lot of things happening in Israel, but what’s on the news is everything with Hamas.  I am interested in Israel for many reasons. I believe Israel is my “homeland”.  I also have kept up with everything that is happening, for example when in 2006 they captured Gilad Shalit, just an innocent solider. I am very interested in him, because of all the background information and have “proof” of him still being alive. Another reason why I picked this topic was that everything that is happening to Israel is important.

I my self know a lot of people who make aliyah. Making ‘aliyah’ is when a Jewish person immigrates to the Land of Israel. Not just for vacation but deciding to live there as a citizen. When making ‘aliyah’ at a certain age you have to join the Israeli army, along with the citizens that already live there. If you are a U.S. citizen you can just choose to be in the Israeli army with out it being necessary. I know someone who made aliyah to Israel and choose to be in the Israeli army, and died August 1, 2006. He died because was fighting for his homeland, against terrorist like Hamas.

I have discovered a lot not only from researching this past week, but also through out the years. I have been following what has been going on with Gilad Shalit since 2006. This is why I want to focus more on him through out this project because he is something special to me.

Even though there are videos of Gilad Shalit saying he is alive, and he says the date no one knows for sure.  Hamas wants all of their captured soldiers from Israel and they will give back Gilad Shalit. Although they would like Gilad Shalit back they can’t risk  one solider, who may not be alive for  all of the female and underage Palestinian prisoners along with 1,000 other prisoners. I want to know if Gilad is still alive. I am hoping he is.

I want to focus more on my sub- topic, Gilad Shalit. Yes I will still follow more on everything with the Gaza Strip, Hamas, and the Palestinians but I will do more background research on Gilad. In the next blogs to come, I will see if I can attach any of the videos that I was talking about above.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilad_Shalit

http://giladshalit.blogspot.com/           

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Gilad_Shalit.html

Corn, corn, corn, everywhere, literally

This project is based on current events happening everyday, that, most people don't know about. Especially teens. My topic is corn production and usage. This situation is intriguing, yet eye opening because we Americans eat it all the time. 

There's almost no way to avoid it. Corn is the number one produced crop in America due to it's demand in many products. The average American doesn't realize how much corn they eat in a day. So much corn is produced in the U.S., there's a name for it's locations. The "Corn Belt." This "belt" includes the states Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Michigan, Missouri, Kansas, and Kentucky. Although the states, together, don't look like a "belt", it's one third of the country that produces a major crop. If scientists were to do DNA tests on the amount of corn an average American eats, verses a Mexican, they'd think that Americans eat nothing but corn. A major reason it's widely used it's because it's cheap. It's a companies "alternative" to the "real stuff."

An example would be the sweetness in Pepsi. Back in the 70's, they used real sugar to sweeten the tasty drink. Now, the second most used ingredient is "high fructose corn syrup." I wonder how many people know this. Corn, the vegetable that one has hated as a child, is in the drinks they consume everyday. 


What's next? All the products that contain this small yellow kern.

Resources:
Screen shot 2011-05-02 at 2.50.18 PM
Screen shot 2011-05-02 at 2.50.18 PM

Why them, What did they do?

  
 Our teacher Miss.Dunn gave us a project so we could get more in site in to the world that we live in. This is that project and it is called " You and The World". P retie catchy huh? 

 My issue  has always been two things Human Euthanasia  and Animal Cruelty. This time I went with Animal Cruelty. I choose this topic because I've always had one question for it : Why?

As for info...sorry I haven't got any yet. My charger broke so this is the first I could use my computer for three days. I'll post some shortly , but for now I can tell you the pictures I have found are horrifying.

I'll get around to my grammar later.


Ok So after some carful research I have found that there are three leading causes for people to abuse animals.
1) Because they don't know how to care for the pet the right way or forget to care for it.

2) Because they are young kids trying to impress a friend/group and give in to peer pressure,in these cases they most likely won't do so again.

3) These people are Physiological messed up and think that hurting an animal is fun or helps them be more in control. In this case there is no help.

Teen Suicide and depression: You and the World

The point of this project is to connect to the things around us. Each of us has chosen a subject in the world to study and understand. I have chosen the subject of teen suicide and depression. This is an interesting topic to because I have always wanted to know if both of them have a relationship.

 

So far I haven’t found that much yet. I learned that 30% of the teens that commit suicide are because of depression. That is more than any of the other reasons of teen suicide. I also learned that 1 in 8 teens suffer from depression with women twice as likely. I wonder what is the number one cause of depression in teens, which could also be said to be the leading cause of suicide. My next step is to go on and figure out the number one cause of depression. (http://www.teen-depression.info/overview/teen-suicide-rate/)



Babies having babies?

Teen pregnancy is one of the most difficult experiences a young person might ever face when it interrupts school or other plans. It can create an emotional crisis resulting in feelings of shame and fear, and it may appear that you will crumble under pressures in your environment.About 85% of these pregnancies are unplanned, which in any population can increase the risk for problems.About 4 out of 10 girls in the United States will get pregnant by age 20 - about 1-million of them each year.

My issue with this is that its basically like babies having babies! I wonder if there is a way that people can help stop teen pregnancy.  I wonder why these things happen , and why do they allow this. Sometimes  people say they did not use protection because they weren't planning to have sex. And it can also be from peer-pressure. From this research and knowing this , I think i will proceed to find out why this is happening and find out if it is the environment and what types of environment that causes this . Knowing some of the things that I discovered while researching pushes me to research more and find lots of information.


The stress of how you are going to break this news to your parents might be even greater, and finding help may seem an impossible task.Some times people think that someone will judge them and they feel that they are  in a dark place and there embarrassed and scared to search for help. However denying it or ignoring it can only make things worse for you and your child. A lot of people help with these problems .The biggest risk for teen mothers is delaying prenatal care or worse, 7.2% received no care at all.

The reason for lack of prenatal care is usually delayed pregnancy testing, denial or even fear of telling others about the pregnancy. Most states have a health department or university clinic where prenatal care is free or low cost and patient confidentiality is very important, meaning no one can tell the teen mother's family.Another problem facing teen mothers is the use of drugs and alcohol, including cigarette smoking. No amount of any of these substances is safe for use in pregnancy. In fact, their use can complicate pregnancy even further increasing the likelihood of premature birth and other complications.With the proper nutrition, early prenatal care and good screening for potential problems the majority of these potential problems will not come to light. While some tend to think that you can't teach a teen mother anything about her body or baby, it's really a ridiculous notion. Many of the teen mothers who take active roles in their care do go on to have healthy babies, despite the other hardships that they will face in their lives. Support from the families and communities is a must for the young, new family to be successful.


Bibliography -
http://www.ripnroll.com/teenpregnancy.htm
http://www.teenpregnancy.com/

Democracy, who has it? Why is it important?

Democracy, why is it wanted? Why is it important?
  
 You and the world is a project based on the issues of the world and how they relate to a student. In english class we were asked to focus on an issue that people around the world care about. For this project, I chose democracy, it is something that people have been fighting for for hundreds of years and it has made the headlines several times in the past 5 months.

    I'm interested in Democracy around the world because I dream of a Free world. Of course there isn't really a true form of "freedom" but when I hear of certain countries and how they have limitations that people in America may not have, it makes me angry.

    In my research, I have discovered that since 1999 democratic progress around the world has been made. Especially in places like Latin America. I also learned that some countries don't really mind living in dictatorship, they don't know any other way and are afraid of standing up for a change.

    I wonder if people of certain countries were shown a different way of government, would they stand up and try to make a change. Are people not tired of being told what to do?

    My plan is to single out a few countries and research the type of government they have right now. Then I will list the pros and cons.

Bibliography-
http://www.wmd.org/about/current-challenges/current-challenges-democracy
http://www.loc.gov/bicentennial/symposia_democracy.html

Some Boys Kiss Boys, Some Girls Kiss Girls.


You and the World, for me, is about Teen Suicide related to gay rights and gay bullying. I've always heard stories about my friends being gay bashed, to the point where they want to commit suicide. I would hear it on tv, and I strongly believe that there is nothing worst than losing your child because kids are bullying them for their sexual orientation.

Teen suicide is the third leading cause of deaths for teenagers. It is more common for males to commit suicide because of getting bullied because they are gay, than it is for a female. As of now, anti-gay bullying programs are not working at all. Gay-right supporters want anti-gay bullying programs to be about harassment to the gay youth, while religious conservatives think it is an chance to change teen's views of homosexuality. Regarding to the fact that religions are saying that homosexuality is a sin. 

I wonder...what every made it okay to bully anyone. Someone is gay? So, they are still the same person you knew before they were gay. When was it ever right to brutally harass someone until the point, where they think nothing is going to get better?

I want to research about different cases of teen suicide because of gay bashing. I want to find organizations that are gay-right supporters and see what they are doing about this, to change it. 


Bibliography: 

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20019163-10391704.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39593311/ns/us_news-life/

LGBT Issues-- Talking about yourself: Do you share your feelings or "Flaws"?

     I am doing a project for English Class called "You and the World". In the world, people are treated differently for living. These people choose to live their lives freely. The U.S constitution says that every person should have the same rights. This would give each person the freedom to express themselves. If a single person can express themselves, without anyone saying anything, what gives that person the right to discriminate against another. The question being, do we really treat others the way we want to be treated.
    The issue that I choose to discuss is Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgendered and Questioning, LGBTQ, issues in America. This topic interests me because I find it hard to understand how a person can point out the flaws in another but don't want their flaws to be shown. These people are so against LGBTQ people that they want to stop them from living the own lives. They want to stop them from being free and happy. They want to stop them from getting married and bully them constantly just because they are different.
    I have done research among my peers, friends, and family that prove that most people do not like having their insecurities or secrets shown. Many teenagers in society are so afraid of their flaws that they keep them hidden with all of the power. However, when their flaws are actually shown, they get bullied and take hurt themselves to express their inner shame.
    Every person has flaws. I think that is what makes us all unique. If we weren't different, how would we know the good from the bad? The people who I have spoken with that are a part of the LGBTQ community feel that their flaws is just being themselves. However, when they have the courage to show their "Flaw" to everyone, they get made fun of. They are being brave. This teasing can become too much and they take it out on themselves.
    My next goal in my research study is to find out why people lie. Is it something that comes naturally or is it to purposefully hide their "flaws"? 


Bibliography:
1. I got some research on suicide rates from this website.

Cuts in the Budget

The school district of Philadelphia has set forth severally strict budget cuts. In total they are cutting 1.1 billion dollars. This effects me very strongly because both of my new advisors are being laid off because of the budget cuts. Another way that this affects me, is that all sports are being cut off at this school, and I was hoping to play soccer next year. Now I won't be able to do this.
There is money for the districts but instead of putting the money toward us they put it toward building more jails. This is because it costs the school district close to $4000 per child, and it costs only $3500 to keep a prisoner incarcerated.
Their reasoning for cutting the money is simple. They say that we have been over funded for the past couple of years and we are just being returned to our normal funding. 
I wonder if all school districts are going through the same thing or if it has been mismanaged. I will research other states budget cuts and see if they cut education as much as they did in Philadelphia

Cites: http://www.philly.com/philly/insights/in_education/121070948.html

http://articles.philly.com/2011-03-30/news/29362102_1_budget-cuts-students-rally-budget-proposal

http://articles.philly.com/2011-04-26/news/29474843_1_voucher-supporters-voucher-legislation-voucher-issue

Me and the World- The Energy Crisis

The worlds is in the middle of an energy problem. We don't have enough of it! The world consumes to much energy to fast. The chart below shows current energy usage (dark blue) from 1990-Now and what it is expected to be (orange) up until 2035. 
figure_12-lg
figure_12-lg
In 1990 the world used 355 Quadrillion Btus. By 2035 it is expected that the world will be using 739 Quadrillion Btus. The world energy usage level has increased by an average of 1.4% each year since 1990. By the way, 1 Btu is equal to 0.29307107 watt-hours. Even though that may seem small a quadrillion is 16 zeros.
The problem is that the renewable energy sources out there is that they are costly to set up and people don't like change. Many people also don't have faith in how useful these energy sources are. That is why I am posting these blogs. I want to let people know how serious the energy crisis is and the ways that we can fix this.
People are to afraid of change to what can help save the world and also make electricity cheaper just because it would cause job losses. Renewable energy doesn't have a lot of jobs that it needs besides maintenance.
Sources
World Energy Consumption

EIA - 2010 International Energy Outlook - World Energy Demand and Economic Outlook

Is Your Future Worth Enough

Education is one of the most valuable things in a person life and it is only better if it is allowed to be taught to best potential. But lately this has been hindered in the Philadelphia area. This is all the cause of School Budget Cuts. This is an important topic in the Philadelphia community because it greatly affects what type of education that thousands of kids will get. As of now I know that some of possible budget cuts for next year are....

  • 22 million out of kindergarten funding. Which causes half days only for kindergarteners.
  • No extended days programs, which was used to help 11,000 students a year.
  • 430 central office jobs lost.
  • Gifted and Talented Education cut 50%.

This list goes on much longer but what I wonder is how this will affect extra curricular activities such as basketball, football, and others. Which do many as a gateway to college scholarships use. Next blog I will bring more information on how this budget breakdown affects sports.






Screen shot 2011-05-26 at 9.58.01 AM
Screen shot 2011-05-26 at 9.58.01 AM

Bad jokez

I live for bad jokes. Seriously. What do you call an alligator in a vest?

An investigator.

Come on, now; admit it. That's comedy gold.

I love telling jokes that I know other people won't find funny, because it leaves me with the unique challenge of making them laugh with my own reaction. I've pretty much mastered as many funny laughs as I'm ever going to use. And I've a relatively good track record when it comes to over-explaining the joke and getting laughs that way. It's easy to be clever when you start at a jaw-droppingly unfunny baseline.

A Day in the Life...

For this assignment, I did a day in the life of a 12 year old Kuwaiti boy. Life in Kuwait is similar to the United States in regards to Education, because you must go to school until you are 14 years of age. Religious views of Kuwaiti Natives are different, therefore in the evenings men have social gatherings, and women take care of the children's homework and dinner.