Another attack in Iraq

A series of car bombs went off, one next to an American patrol, killing a total of 20 people in the amount of 17 attacks. 2 American soldiers were killed, along with 8 Iraqi police officers. This attack demonstrated how unstable things still are, and how the Iraqi government is still struggling to deal with the mayhem aimed at security forces as the United States forces are scheduled to pull out by the end of the year.

At least 80 people were wounded in the attacks, including three more American soldiers. The bombings occured in both Shite and Sunni neighborhoods, but it is unknown whether they were coordinated. Insurgents have often attacked both of the groups simultaneously, most likely in an attempt to further destabilize the country and cause violence between the groups.

The level of violence certaintly may be down since 2007, but insurgents still have the motivation and the ability to mount serious attacks. Politically the country is still unstable. A few extremest groups have even made clear their plans to further destablize the country after U.S. troops leave, to demonstrate Iraqi government reliance. 

Iceland Volcano

Iceland's four international airports closed down most of their flights due to the second day of the most active volcano in Iceland's history erupting again. The volcano sent ash flying up to around 12 miles into the atmosphere. Previously, a volcano eruption had grounded more than 100,000 flights. This is not expected to happen again, because of the wind and weight of the ash particals, causing them to drop faster.

Iceland's civil protection agency imposed a no fly zone in a 140 mile radius around the volcano. Authorities were slow to unground the flights, as it wasn't known if the ash could damage jet engines. This resulted in a heavy peacetime air travel diruption.

Advertisements

 Advertising: describe or draw attention to (a product, service, or event) in a public medium in order to promote sales or attendance.

 Advertising is used to get the news out of a new product. But when does it cross the line from informative, to assaulting our lives with a bombardment of hellish voices telling us sprite is made of natural preservatives?

 In 1952, while watching T.V., you could watch an entire half hour cartoon with 4 minutes of commercials total. Now if the same cartoon was aired, that half hour cartoon would be chopped into 4 parts spanning over an hour laced in between with commercials, along with probably being edited for time.

 I just visited the new york times website, guess what they hit me with first thing? A commercial that covers the whole page. On youtube, every time that you watch a video, you need to watch a short ad then close out another pop up window. Sometimes you may end up with pop up windows that announce their presence with loud voices and music purposefully turned up in case you had anticipated the attack and kept your volume down.

 For more relating to T.V. commercial growth time over the years go here,  http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/commerciallength.htm

 Check your mail. Not just your mailbox on the street, but the one online too. How many times have you gone into your e-mail and hit the spam button becuase a site throws everything they have at you? This is especially true for facebook, which pukes a message your way everytime someone does something even Slightly related to you, and with somewhere around 100 friends that can be extremely annoying.

 So I think we have the point across. Ads are everywhere. Internet, T.V., Mail, billboards, etc. Some ads are even using your personal information to aim a specific advertisement towards you. I refer to this as 'tailoring'. They showed this in the game Mass Effect 2, where on the Citadel Station you could see tubular ad pillars that specifically used the main characters personal information to advertise to him, it's also obvious that they do it as they have a basic ad template thats kind of like mad libs.

 It goes something like this; Greetings (Insert name here). Records show you made (Insert income here) last year. Come by Interstellar Banking today and get the money you deserve.

 I could see advertising looking exactly like that in the future. So has advertising crossed the border yet? Probably. It may not be obvious but because credit information, and other information is already available to the general public, companies are using it against you. Demographics are an example of this. Surveys are used to determine what a population of a certain area is like. That information is used by companies to advertise.

 Advertising has crossed the border on being intrusive.

Students Speak Up in Class, Silently, Using Social Media

 Teachers from both primary and secondary schools are starting to use social media such as twitter to get their students engaged into conversation. Kids today seem to be much more closed in in a open environment, but more open in places like twitter or facebook.

 The teachers that use this program, such as Nicholas Provenzano, an English teacher at Grosse Pointe South High School says that during his class there are maybe 12 people who are actively engaged in a class of 30. Using a backchannel, he gets around 8 more kids engaged during conversation. He noted that it was a significant change.

 Because people tend to be more open on places like this, and because people have time to write and review their comments, they more effectively get their ideas out and better use their thought processes. As fellow classmates see their comments, they can understand the other person better and see them as more intelligent.

 Our class also uses it, and it really is easier to talk virtually than it is to in reality. I think this is because people aren't afraid of talking over eachother, and we can get more out there in shorter time.

About 2% of a college's classes used backchannels in their class, while around 58% said that it would negatively impact their classes performance. I, and everyone who has used the method so far, disagree with this. I believe this is a more effective method of discussion that it is to openly speak in the classroom. More information can get out there, we can review it whenever we want after class, we get time to think about the next thing we say, and we get more engaged.

Osama bin Laden

Osama is dead. Just to put it bluntly and get right to the point. Oh and I sliced open my finger this morning with some scissors trying to pry open a case for headphones. Blood was pouring out and I'm fine thanks for asking.

Obama called for a late night press meeting. He announced that Osama had been cornered by CIA and American soldiers and was shot in the head for resisting arrest. I had heard they had taken samples from him to confirm his identity but I'm not certain on that. So I'd just like to bring up one thing, who feels like they should have beat him to death and mutiliated his corpse? What about just murder him? Now who thinks that his whole organization should be exterminated? Well things like that are things that could lead up to the creation of terrorist organizations. Osama was fighting America, terrorizing it, but why? He saw us as the Arabs saw the Crusaders, he even styled himself the new Saladin. So why prove him right? Such extreme acts lead to extreme reactions. In the process of destroying one group, we create another. We become the thing that Osama saw us as.

Just sayin guys, think before you act. And that's not reffering at all to the killing of Osama. Let's just not prove him right.

Another Current Event - Revelations

 Just so you know, this has near nothing to do with world news. The title revelations is related to two things. The awe inspiring, kick ass, and well put together Halo Machinima series: Red Vs Blue is starting a new season, Revelations.

The second thing is that I have come to realize that if you want to be good at something, one of the best, its best to get a good and early start. Me, I've decided that being in or creating an extreme metal band that sounds like my two favorite bands Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir is what I want to do. So what do I need to do?

 First I should figure out what instrument I want to play. I think vocals are the most powerful and clear instrument in a bands arsenal, so I'll put that on my list.
*Learn how to sing, both normal and the retching black metal sound.
 I've also been playing guitar for a while and I love playing it, listening to others play it, and I want to be throwing out riffs on stage. Another thing to add.
*Keep practicing the guitar!

 Now these things take time, as cool as it would be you won't become an Yngwie Malmsteen over night. Practice is essential. You may think as I used to that people just keep ranting about practicing over and over when you sound just fine with how much you practice right now, so you ignore those people. Here's the thing, we want to become one of the best. We want to go down in history as that person who made his crowds feel like they were having an orgasm due to the sheer epicness of our solos.

But why is practice good? For guitar players, it keeps our fingers loose, and so many more things that it would take too long to put down. Especially if you're just starting to play guitar, practice is the best thing you can do. If I had been practicing every day for my first year of guitar playing, right now I could be playing the solos to all my favorite songs off the top of my head. Right now, I've been taking maybe a month and a half to learn the song Honey and Sulpher. I'm at the few ending riffs and I probably won't get the solo down.

Motivation a problem? It is for me. Do something that involves whatever instrument you're playing, but don't actually play it yourself. Go see a concert of your favorite band. In two days on April 23rd, Cradle of Filth is playing in Bangalore, India on the Palace Grounds. India if far from the U.S., so not a big chance of me getting there. I could also read about on of Cradle of Filth's guitar players, and learn more about him, how he became a guitar player, bands he's been in etc.

Play for some people. Show them what awesome riffs, or vocals, or chords on a violin you can crank out. Getting used to performing in front of an audience is a big thing, especially for vocalists as they're probably the most listened to instrument.

So, stay motivated, practice, play for some people, go see a concert, read up on a musician, just stay with music! Listen to it, love it, play it.

Practice really will make you loads better. As soon as I get home I'm going to practice all day. Getting an instructor is really useful too. Have fun out there guys and girls, guitar and banjo players, flutes and violinists, pianists and drummers. See you in the musical hall of fame.

World War II Studies

Our class is just starting to study in depth World War 2. We started by putting together lists that show what we want to know and what we already know about the war. Personally I would be very interested to know how each of the world leaders rose to power, and how they were being presented by the media.

For example, our president Teddy Rosevelt was in a wheelchair suffering from a bone related disease in his legs so was often filmed sitting behind his desk, the wheelchair hidden. Hitler was portrayed by many if not all Allied powers media, and possibly due to the course of the war he will be known as the villain forever. He was also portrayed by his own media as a savior of the people, a messiah. I need to find out who the real Hitler was, not the mass murdering cynacil villain that many know him as. Would his reputation be different if he had won the war? Of course it would. But how?

Spring break and connecting

So today is thursday, the last day of the week before I go on spring break for the rest of next week. I'm glad I get friday off. I've had an exceptional week, and I think I'll tell you a little about me to refresh the first blog post I made that is all the way at the bottom.

I'm a high school student in 10th grade and my first name is Andrew, any more than that I'm not sure if I can post, so I won't. Mostly because I'll get chewed out for sharing personal information. My history teacher made our class start this blog, each student creates their own blog using blogspot where they post about current events, and the occasional odd thing here and there. I want to take vocal lessons and join my favorite genre of Extreme/Black/Death Metal as a musician, I play guitar, and I'm thinking hard about making a career in the military.

Getting on with the guiding questions that I just realized were there, my favorite thing about my school is... well, have you ever heard something along the likes of this: Home is home, it seems new and exciting at first, but after a while it dims down. Then other places seem more exciting. Or like this: No one looks at their own home and instantly comes up with several things they love about it, they've been in it for a time and now its hard to give details about it.

Ok I messed up trying to do that but I think I got it now. People visiting other cultures will be quick to point out differences, details, habits, and information on our culture. Often it seems they know more than we do. We've been in America and so we only know it as home, how we live here has become simple living to us.

I really can't answer the rest of the guiding questions, they're about how you think the school could be better. I've been here since first grade so I have no idea how it could be better, it just is.

So I'll be leaving for my spring break now. Hope you guys have a good week too!

Libya Gangrape

A woman burst into a hotel full of foreign reporters yelling and claiming that she had been raped by 15 militia men. She displayed bruises and cuts along her body that was consistent with her story, but before the reporters could scramble and interview her people who had once seemed like normal hotel workers and security workers rushed to silence her. They had eventually dragged her out the front door of the hotel screaming, resorting to such things as trying to put a jacket over her head.

The Libyan government claimed that the girl was a known prostitute and thief, a government spokesmen suggested that she had been drunk and fabricated her fantasies. Detectives pulled her files and found a whole file of prostitution and petty theft. She had also known the boys she claimed raped her for a while. She refused medical examination, so there was no way to determine if she was telling the truth.

Whether it could be proved or not it sent waves through protestors, and civilians. While many dismissed her story, some also said they believed her. A few residents in Tripoli said they had heard the story from the news and claimed it as an example of the brutal grip that Colonel Qaddafi has over the capital.

Sexting

So, my class right now as I'm typing this is reading an article about sexting. A girl in 8th grade had taken a picture of herself nude, and sent it to her boyfriend. Another girl pressured the boyfriend to send her the picture, then she took the picture and added a text into it. The text said "Ho alert! If you think this girl is a hoe forward this to everyone you know." The text spread through the school like wildfire. She would get calls and texts from people she barely knew about the text.

Needless to say the conflict grew, and the eighth grade girl who posed was extremely embarrased. Police and teachers would arrest and confiscate cell phones respectively from children in the school. The state attorney ended up charging the boyfriend, and two of the other people who spread the photo around with child pornography, but the charge was lifted and community service terms with approval from the girl and her family given.

Everybody felt bad about it, but it still had scarred her. Sexting is apparently a large problem in the community. Teens will do it often, they like to, but when their picture is forwarded it hurts. I mean, how embarasing would it be if everyone that you knew and everyone else in the school had seen you naked and was staring at you during your classes, sometimes looking or saying dirty things.

It isn't illegal. Distributing it however is considered child pornography, as long as the picture is of someone under 18. People do it and will continue to do it, and its perfectly fine so long as people don't forward it and keep it exclusive between the couple.

A Modern Crusade?

George Bush reffered to the current war on terrorists in Iraq as a crusade. Most of us would think nothing of it, in fact we would take crusade as meaning the pursuit of a noble cause. But the word alone has a deeper and bloodier past that still rings strong in the muslim world today. Back in the tenth century, the pope ordered knights from all across Europe to take the holy land, freeing it from the muslims. The crusades were a failure, but some major atrocities were commited upon civilian and muslim soldier alike. People were butchered and the crusaders walked through the streets with "blood up to their ankles".

This sparked a reaction from the media, and also from the Muslims. Now Osama is styling himself as the new saladin, a hero for the muslims who will run the crusaders out and save them from the invaders. It's like the phrase, history repeats itself. Or do the people repeat history?

The military is out to kill Osama and has bombed many places in Muslim territory, so its easy to see why they would see us as the crusaders of old, riding takes and weilding machine guns.

Libya

American and European bombers swept over Libya against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces. Libya made claims that civialians had been killed during the bombing, but European nations rejected the claims. Rebel fighters were still trying to retake the eastern town of Ajdabiya, but were driven back by rocket, and tank fire from government loyalists controlling the city.

In the western city of Misurata, forces loyal to Colonel Qaddafi were reported to have been using civilians as human sheilds, but the report was not confirmed. The bombing campaign in Libya finally met with criticism from nations like China and Russia. Vladimir Putin of Russia critizised the allies for using indiscriminate use of force.

 NATO has made plans to begin a no-fly zone and an arms embargo on Libya, but neither plans have been developed or proceeded with. 

Crisis in Japan

So I'm sure you've all heard of the crisis going on in Japan right now. A nuclear plant meltdown occured after a tsunami and a magnitude 9 earthquake happened and crippled the generators keeping the cooling systems running in the plant. There has already been mass scrutiny against nuclear plants and power, and this could fuel the movement against it. The meltdown caused an amount of radiation to emanate from the plant, and is dangerous in the immediate area. There is also a weather report that says the wind may carry radiation to Japanese cities.

Helicopters carrying tanks of water, fire trucks, and firemen have been dousing the plant with water, which has been scrutinized as being low tech, but nonethesless effective. Foreigners to Japan are leaving, going back to their home countries and America has actually got a plane to take our citizens back to the U.S.

Reply to Mr. Hannans comment on my last post

I wasn't bashing on the womens movement, I was saying that moving a group as large as a gender to a single objective is difficult. It would be difficult to anyone and has only been achieved in a few golden moments in history! Motivation is a big issue here and you can't expect everybody to be the same. Individualism splits us apart but it also brings us together, I wish the womens movement luck and I may have failed to bring my true point across in the correct way. I never was good with words but since you're here to bash me Mr. Hannan, then GTH.

It connects with what we're learning because it's history! It's about people, it's about us, it's about people working together to contribute to a greater cause! What does it say about the world around us? It tells a story, about the human race. How we work together, what we want, what we're trying to achieve, and all of that says a lot about the people involved.

I'm deleting my last post as it seems to have insulted the only person who reads this crap.

Short Video on the Pilgrimage to Mecca

Looking Ahead Essay

Because my teacher said so...

Looking Ahead
    What worked last semester for me was that I payed attention in class and was able to complete my assignments. The one thing that isn’t working is that some people are yelling over the classroom and I lose my focus on the assignment. My strong class is Biology, but I feel like I could improve in every other class.

    I want to become a smarter student during this next semester. I want to get all good grades and nothing at all below a B. I want to be able to understand what we are doing in class. Lastly I want to get better in artistic forms like guitar, drums, drawing, singing, painting, building, designing, and understanding music on a deeper level.

    To become a smarter student I need to actually start studying at home. I might work on assignments and missing work at home, but I never study for tests. To complete this goal I need start ignoring video games and taking some time during every day to study for classes that I feel I need a little help in.

    There is one class that I don’t really understand what we’re doing in, math. I can do math, but I need help in that class. What I need is for me to know what all the steps are to solve a formula and then be able to use that formula and step list. To do this goal, I need to start studying and looking online for steps on how to solve separate formulas.

    This might not have much to directly do with school, but by doing this and putting dedication into learning how to play all sorts of instruments I think I can then transfer that dedication over to schoolwork. It should also help me feel better about myself knowing that I can put dedication into something that I want to do and get results from it. Music is a form of expression and its something that I can be dedicated to willingly. Also I just really want to learn how to play a bunch of instruments.

    If I can do all these goals then I think I’ll do better in school and be more productive as a person. I think that I’ll also have a lot more fun knowing and being able to play very well several instruments.

Roger Ebert

 I was just reading a blog by Roger Ebert called, The best art films of 2010.  This blog is like the back cover of a book, giving you a decent preview and making you interested in the movie. One that seemed really interesting to me was called, "A Prophet". I was unable to find the significance of the title in Rogers review.

 The story is about a man of Arab descent named Malik. From what I gathered he committed a murder, which left him shaking, angered, frustrated, its hard to tell and that is the key to the film. He enters prison as a naive and sheltered outsider, knowing little of the prison world, and is ordered by a prison gang to kill another man. The prison gang is run by a man with the presence of a mob leader who controls everything that happens behind bars. Malik is instructed on how to hide a razor in is mouth and slit the throat of his target. During his stay in the prison, he is transformed, he is prepared to kill, and he is released back onto the streets.

Welcome!

 Alright, great, first post! Got the site working, testing it out. Put in a picture on the left side of the text. I need to figure out how to put it under text. So far it only seems to work above and on the sides.

 Got it, just drag the picture below text, then click on center.

 So everybody welcome to my blog. As of yet, I have no idea of the direction this blog will take. And just to add something I might update on my progress on learning how to play the guitar. I started last summer with lessons. My instructor is amazing, seriously I don't think I could get a better teacher.

 So my teach just stopped by and pointed me in the right direction. I'll get to it then.