Pumpkin Skies

For so long, zoos have been a popular attraction to tourists and locals around the world, as well as a crucial contributor to endangered species conservation. They have taken in animals from their habitats where they are at risk and are slowly starting to recover some species from an almost-extinction. Lately though, some zoos have decided to prioritize some species that are more loved by the public, and that some lesser known species should be left to die out for the sake of the others. It has come to their conclusion some species will have to be sacrificed for the greater good.

If you are not aware, I am currently in the midst of a Humanities project centered around Human Rights. We were allowed to make our project about  a human right of our choice. I gladly signed up for the Environmental Issues group, but more specifically, I chose to base my porject around the conservation of Endangered Species. With that in mind, you’ll probably know what my attitude towards this article  will be.

I am deeply appalled by the fact that zoos are suddenly giving up their duty to help conserve the animal kingdom. No, not just the fan-favorite, public-preferred species, but all the endangered ones that the zoo holds and is responsible for. If they had committed to the plan of recovering species that are on the brink of extinction, then they should stay to it, not just for a while until they suddenly decide it is necessary to dump a species into the reject bin. Oh, I’m sure if most zoos were doing this for a noble cause, I would agree that this path would be the most sensible to take. In the article though, it stated clearly that some zoos were merely doing this for profit. They spend eighteen million US dollars in order to build a new, shiny pool for the sea lions, and then they claim that they did not have enough money to fund their endangered species conservation plans? Sea lions aren’t even in risk of endangerment, why should they be held in the spotlight when there are more pressing issues to attend to? Because the sea lions are the zoo’s most popular exhibit and attraction, they spend money on them so that customers will arrive in larger and larger amounts.

The awkward girl that hung back
With fingers that clawed at each other
A glare that strangled you
When she knew you weren’t looking
A small pink notebook
FIlled with hateful rhymes
She wrote and wrote
And tore and tore
And believed the words she had written
Were true

She walked a year
Quietly and humbly
Kindly, but not too kind
She would talk a little more
Show a little less
But always a little bitter
In the back of her mind

And then she has found it
The light, no, the dark
She has found the edge
And decided to jump off
Her eyes soften with relief
Her deal with the soul-less is done
But she is happy
And everything is okay

I’m sorry I was late for class today
There was nothing I could do
I might have made it to class today
If it weren’t for the zombie in my front yard

I woke up to the sound of screeching
Coming from the front lawn
My head whipped up from my pillow
And towards the source of the sound
Outside my window I witnessed
A pale man dig his teeth into the neighbor’s arm
I sat up and clutched my hands over my ears
As screaming sobs pierced the morning
My eyes unfocused
As the sounds cut off abruptly
I waited for minutes until
My legs could work and
My head thumped as I tripped out of bed
And into the hallway
Hair wild, blood pounding in my ears
The house was too silent as
I felt my shaky hands pry open the closet
And I grabbed my Dad’s old tennis racket
Three sizes too big
The handle gripped tightly in my fingers
I threw my weight down the stairs

Tags: gr8, writing development

Absolutely horrendous. Despicable.

I know I tend to make my article reviews overly dramatic and critical, but I think this one calls for a little more drama than most other previous posts. A small summary to get us started off: While on a trip in the Cardamom Mountains in Cambodia, Chut Wutty, a local photographer and activist was shot by a military official while on an expedition to reveal suspicious activity of illegal logging in the forest area. For some time now, Wutty had been devoted to exposing companies that were responsible for some pretty huge logging activities. While reading this article, I took some pretty emotional notes on Diigolet and am required by the Humanities 8 law to provide a link to it. Oops, can’t forget the article link now, can I?

So let’s get something straight here. This entire time, the government has been secretly involved and completely aware of the illegal wrong-doings that these companies have been doing? I can’t be the only one who sees what’s wrong about this statement, right? Of course. Why would the government choose to form a partnership with the very people they are supposed to oppose? Was it for money? Power? Something else? It wasn’t very clear in my readings, so I am forced to take a guess. I wonder if other governments around the world are similar in this way, in that case, it would be the very epitome of hypocrisy itself. What has become of our modern society that our government, our very protectors would end up contributing to major acts of deforestation and invasion of the local’s privacy? Hrm, now that I look back on the last few sentences, I may have overdone it again. I’m just trying to give my passionate opinion here.

I admire Chut Wutty. I really do. According to Young’s statements, he seemed like a courageous and noble guy. I mean, he would go to great lengths to collect some evidence against the government, and man, that is pretty bold. For that he has gained my strong respect. These are the type of people who truly stand up for what they believe in, the type to change the world no matter how small they may seem up against huge corporate companies (wow that sounded pretty stupid). I hope this article doesn’t discourage people from standing up to the government like he did. If anything, this should be another red flag to be held high above our heads, one that states clearly “You are not alone.”

And with that, I conclude my AOW.

Tags: aow, aow8, appino, hum8, humanities

With tablets, touch-screen devices, and voice activated technology already achieved, what is the next logical step for technology? For Google, it is interactive eye wear that integrates Google’s Android operating system (which is both voice-controlled and view-controlled), Google Maps’ GPS locating systems, social networking, and much more into something that anyone could use in their practical, everyday lifestyle. They have dubbed this “Project Glass”, the hands-free smartphone for your eyes.

My opinion? I think this is amazing, and could be a pretty practical gadget to use. Being only a teenager though, I probably would find no use in this, being as I don’t usually go out, and could not go out on my own. Also, this would be

All rights reserved by Will Guthrie Photography

extremely distracting, and there would no way my parents would let me wear anything like this on my face, (what with all my tests, homework, school, and such). I could very well see myself using this product in the future, probably after college when I have moved to the States and settled down.

There is only one thing that keeps me thinking, though. These glasses are supposed to enhance our own reality, but what if it turns out to actually distract us from it? For example, the multiple pop-up notifications will probably divert our attention away from the real world, and therefore, people that are actually there with us. People you’re hanging out with might not understand that you’re scheduling an appointment with another person, or that you’re looking up the directions to the nearest fast-food restaurant. It might feel strange if you get a message in the middle of a conversation with your friends. Or, I don’t know, it could be just me.

Tags: aow, aow8, appino, hum8

We’ve all seen it, whether on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or Youtube, the KONY 2012 video is causing a major chain reaction throughout the Internet. That is its sole purpose, after all, to spread the word about the war criminal Joseph Kony, who has done plenty of repulsive crimes against children in Uganda. The video was really put together well, I must admit, the music, graphics, and sequencing were all used appropriately and it frankly blew me away. The way it pulled at our heartstrings in the beginning, and then later brought up our hopes in the end was ingenious. It really stood out in the way that we thought it would be impossible to catch Kony, but then at the end it presents the idea of how we (as a community) could join forces and defeat him. It didn’t end abruptly like so many other charity campaigns had, but tell you how you could make a difference in the world in such small and simple ways. But in the end, it all ties back to you. The video focuses on you because you are the one that will make the difference, whether it is clicking that “Share” button or donating to the Invisible Children charity, the video is putting the spotlight on what you can do to stop Kony. The fact that the director is talking to you makes you feel sort of important, that if you spread the world you would be doing the world a favor. One of the many reasons why this video has gone viral so quickly is, to me, I think it gives us a sense of purpose in life to try to help others in dire times of need. It makes us feel like we are doing something good, and that makes us feel good. We’ve always wanted to play the hero ever since we were young, and as soon as we saw this video, that old spark had been reignited and the urge to help others pushed forward.

Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time is now.

This is their campaign. We only have a year to achieve one common goal: to capture and ensure the imprisonment of Joseph Kony.

Tags: aow, aow8, hum8

Annotated Link: http://diigo.com/0o78a

The small town of Chardon, Ohio had only recently been traumatized by a shooting that had occurred at the local high school. The person who had wielded the gun was none other than a 17- year-old student, T.J. Lane that had pulled it out and shot three random students during lunch. A close friend of his who had witnessed the tragic event had later posted a message on Facebook saying:

“I wanted so bad to try and help you but i could see in your eyes you didn’t care anymore. I’m sorry buddy.”

Some rights reserved by Za3tOoOr!

What does this mean? To me, this message obviously points out that T.J Lane had not been a perfectly normal kid before the incident. In the article, it is also  mentioned that his family had been dysfunctional, to say the very least. His father had served time in jail, and had also tried to strangle his own wife, also T.J. Lane’s mother, to death. No child could live in that household without being negatively affected, mentally and emotionally. His father might be the reason why T.J. Lane had tipped over the edge and couldn’t control himself anymore.

For the most part, this went unnoticed. Some of his classmates described him as “a quiet kid” and that “he just went about his own business”. Some claimed that he was an outcast and was constantly bullied. Many could not remember him ever being bullied, saying that he had also had many friends. The only thing that disturbs me is the face that they didn’t suspect a single thing when he posted a rather morbid poem on Facebook that went along the lines of “Die, all of you.” Yeah, that should have been the tie-breaker right there, but people tend not to take death threats very seriously, especially on Facebook. Around middle school and high school, there are breakouts of goths and emos, or just wannabe goths and emos, ranting on about how difficult their lives are and that all they want to do is see the world burn and die. I guess, they couldn’t have possibly guessed that T.J. Lane actually had had a terrible childhood, and actually did have the capacity to kill.

Are you starting to see that the shootout was not random and spontaneous, and was not a complete accident? The boy had had some serious problems at home with his parents, and that had started to affect his mental health. I don’t think that bullying was what drove T.J. Lane to handle the gun, I doubt that he had let the bullying bother him more than his father’s attempted murder on his mother. This is just my theory of course, feel free to share any of your theories in the comments section below.

Tags: aow, aow8, appino, gr8, hum8

Ok, seriously, who saw this coming, huh? *raises both hands*

Didn’t we learn about this from ICT already? And if not, weren’t we warned? Weren’t we aware that Facebook used our own information against us? It was bound to happen, and we were bound to find out sooner or later. According to Lori Andrews, the author of this

by The Idea Desk

article, Facebook was making a whopping amount of money (3.2 billion dollars to be exact) for what? Advertising. That’s a whole 85 percent of their profit right there. Companies would pay huge amounts just for your own personal information. They use that information to track down your personal interests, your location in the world, and even your status updates so that they can target the right people to advertise their product to. For example, if I were to indicate an interest in frogs in several of my statuses, and also taking a liking to reading, Facebook will try to advertise a bookstore that has books on frogs. Or maybe the directions to a nearby pet store would be shown in the bottom right hand sidebar, which is usually reserved for ads such as these.

It gets worse. A lot of companies are now looking at your online profiles to see if you are eligible enough to join their workforce. Imagine if you wanted a job at a newspaper company, and you were having your job interview today. The interviewer might look up all of your online information, and discover that you favorite hobby is to “procrastinate” and “spend nights at the local bar with your friends”. Didn’t think that would be on your resume, now did you? Well on to another subject, credit card companies may decide to lower your maximum credit on your card judging on your Internet history, age, sex, and much more. It’s kind of horrifying to think about, but now we know, the Internet could possibly be one of the biggest threats to privacy.

Tags: aow, aow8, appino, reading8, writing8

…But we all know that you can’t possibly live in a society where there isn’t one person that would, let’s say, give away their private password to a significant other that might possibly, oh I don’t know, spread tons of  dirty secrets about their ex after they break up. I’m just saying, it happens more than you would think. This is the article that we read this week, along with the annotations. I think that this mostly happens after they break up, and to the dumper, from the dumpee (to the person who is dumping from the person receiving the dumpage), because they must hold a pretty big grudge with their former girl/boyfriend, and obviously, the only way get rid of that grudge is to exact revenge on them. It makes sense to me that you would want to ruin that guy/girl’s life because, of course, they did reject you. Ok, so I know nothing about relationships and that whole girlfriend/boyfriend junk, but at least I can use some logic and common sense to figure it out. So, I guess the best way to solve this is to either a) never share your password with anybody, b) be an antisocialite and never have a romantic relationship, or c) never break up with anyone.

Of course, a) is the most reasonable and best solution, but I would personally rather pick b).

Tags: aow, aow8, appino

…B is for Business, C is for Child Labor……and so on….

Finally, another installation of Article of the Week! Not that I was looking forward to it or anything, that exclamation mark is misleading…

Ok, this week’s topic is on the many audits that Apple has done this year for the farther branches of their company in China.  They have discovered that many of the factories have been disobeying the rules that Apple had set for them. According to the charts that were provided in the article I read, the sheer amount of audits conducted this year are about 80% higher than they were last year. I think it’s because there are much more Apple factories being made around the world, but it could also be because Apple is more suspicious of

Some rights reserved by brndn_jj

ethical crimes being committed because the law and government is much different in China than it is in the US and they are more than capable of getting away with it, so they have to check up on their facilities more often. One of the things that they have discovered while doing their annual check-up was that some factories in China is that they were overworking their slaves by increasing their normal work hours and minimizing the pay. Even more shocking is the amount of slaves and use of child labor evident in some of the earlier stages of Apple product production. 

Tags: aow, aow8, appino, gr8, hum8, middle school