Pamphlet Work

My job is to put together a pamphlet about how crime is related to drug use and the fact that if drugs were legalized, then no one would have to steal money for the drugs in order to pay back a debt so that person can keep his or her life. I found a statistic that said, "Someone is arrested for violating a drug law every 17 seconds." (http://war-on-drugs.suite101.com/article.cfm/financial_cost_of_the_war_on_drugs/) People don't realize how much violence there is in this world because of people fighting over drugs. If drugs were allowed, then people would not have to hide and steal the drugs.

Group Work

Yesterday Drew and I started working on our project. We are using a pamphlet in order to show everyone our topic and to show our point of view. The topic is about drugs and how, if legalized, can benefit the economy in many ways. There would be less crime and there would be more money for the government, because the government would control the buying and selling of drugs and make money off of it. And in return, the money gained could be put back into the economy to give it a little boost. Our proposal is not just so people can get high and enjoy life, but its for the safety and future of this country and others.

Movie Quotes

NAME THAT MOVIE

1. "I haven't cried like that since Titanic."

2. Lou: [Lou hits Tyler in the face] Do you hear me now?
Tyler Durden: No, I didn't quite catch that, Lou.
[Lou hits Tyler again]
Tyler Durden: Still not getting it.
[Lou hits Tyler a few more times]
Tyler Durden: Ok, I got it. Shit, I lost it.
[Lou continues to beat up Tyler]

3. Phil Wenneck: Whose baby is that?
Stu Price: Alan, are you sure you didn't see anyone else in the suite?
Alan Garner: Yeah, I checked all the rooms... no one's there.
Check its collar or something.

4. Jules: Whether or not what we experienced was an According to Hoyle miracle is insignificant. What is significant is that I felt the touch of God. God got involved.

1. Pulp Fiction
2. The Hangover
3. Zombieland
4. Fight Club


TELL ME WHICH QUOTES GO WITH WHICH MOVIE.

IROBOT ROOMBA

This past weekend I went to Indianapolis to hang with friends. On Saturday, I went to Circle Center Mall. Now if you have never been to Circle Center Mall, it is a huge mall. It has, I think three or four floors, and for all you girls, the majority are clothing stores.

As I was walking around the mall, I found a kiosk with the automatic floor vacuums. These automatic floor vacuums are called IROBOTs and are just a circular object about a foot in diameter. The best part of these IROBOTs is that, at least the one I have, it has a docking station where it charges, and then when its fully charged, it goes and sweeps the whole floor. Then once the battery is almost dead, it automatically retreats back to the docking station to charge.

Now, I didn't get it for me, I got it for my mom. Since I left for school, she hasn't had time to vacuum as much as she has wanted to, so now she won't have to worry about it at all. I bought it as a Christmas present for her, but she will be receiving it earlier. I hope she likes it!

Sorcery In The Congo

Sorcery In The Congo
Life in the Democratic Republic of Congo is one that very few people should ever have to be faced with. Children are treated the worst. They are thrown from their homes and abandoned by their families because society calls them witches. If a child is accused of witchcraft, he or she must either be forced onto the streets or must undergo an exorcism. Many children who are forced into such situations are beaten and/or murdered. This mainly happens to children who come from impoverished families. Every day, Congolese children are being accused of some sort of witchcraft or sorcery: this is not just hurting the lives of the children, but it is also hurting the overall society of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

There are more than 40,000 children living on the streets, of whom more than 80% were actually abandoned by their families because they were accused of witchcraft (“Sad Little Sorcerers”). Children are being accused of sorcery because an unexpected event may take place somewhere in the community. The adults in the community have no one else to blame, and they will not blame themselves, therefore they blame the children. Unexpected death or disease in the family is often taken as evidence of child necromancy, or a child using some sort of magic. One story tells of how there were two twin boys whose grandfather fell ill after his business failed, and then five of boys’ uncles died. Soon after that, the boys’ mother became a prostitute and disappeared. No one could explain why all of this happened, so the grandfather pointed at the children and accused them of witchcraft, which in turn, forced them to beg and steal out on the streets (“Sad Little Sorcerers”).

Test Scores and Knowledge

November 4, 2009, 4:31 pm
Obama Uses Malia’s Test Scores as a Teaching Example
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg The New York Times

MADISON, Wisconsin – President Obama marked the first anniversary of his election on Wednesday by calling on states to toughen their education standards – and wound up calling on parents to toughen theirs, too, as he confessed that his 11-year-old daughter, Malia, recently got a 73 on her science test.

(Note to parents: In Malia’s defense, the story has a happy ending: she studied hard and came home on Tuesday with a grade of 95.)

Mr. Obama campaigned for the White House on a promise of revamping “No Child Left Behind,’ the signature education law put in place by his predecessor, George W. Bush. He came to Wisconsin to promote his own education agenda, including “Race to the Top,’’ – a $4.35 billion grant program that requires states to compete for education money.

To be eligible for the money, states like Wisconsin, which currently have so-called firewall laws, will have to repeal them. The Wisconsin legislature is considering doing so.

“I know that in the past people are concerned, ‘Are we going to have our young people being taught to the test? That’s the last thing we want” Mr. Obama said, speaking to an audience of parents, teachers and students at a middle school here. “What we want to do is try and get testing right. I’s not about more tests, it’s about being smarter about our assessments.’’


But toward the end of his speech, Mr. Obama diverted from his prepared text to talk about his daughter’s experience in school – a rarity for a president who has tried his best to keep his children’s lives a private matter.

“Malia and Sasha are just wonderful kids ,and Michelle is a wonderful mother,’’ Mr. Obama said. “But even in our own household, with all the privileges and opportunities we have there are times when the kids slack off. There are times when they would rather be watching TV or playing a computer game than hitting the books.’’

Then, to a chorus of oooohs from the crowd, he said that Malia, a sixth-grader at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, had come home with a 73 on her science test not long ago. He recounted how, a few years ago, she had come home with a grade in the 80s, believing that she had ‘’done pretty well.’’ He and his wife corrected her, telling her that their goal was “90 percent and up.’’

“So here’s the interesting thing: she started internalizing that,’’ the president said, adding that when she came home with a 73 on the science test ‘’she was depressed.’’ He asked her what happened, and she said the study guide didn’t match up with the test. So she vowed to study harder.

“So she came home yesterday, she got a 95,’’ Mr. Obama said. “But here’ the point: She said, ‘You know , I just like having knowledge.’’

The moral of the story, in the president’s view: “Don’t just expect teachers to set a high bar. You’ve got to set a high bar.”