All Science Leadership Academy Blog Posts

Support the LGBT community *Blog Post #2

Arianny Valdez — Sun, 20 May 2012 23:35:24 -0400

This is my second blog post as assigned from my 9th grade English teacher Mrs. Dunn. Also as a part of the "You and My World" project this is one of the requirements and afterwards there will be one last blog post to complete this amazing project. I have encountered myself with new facts and information about my issue and they are listed below;

The organization called ACLU which stands for ( American Civil Rights Union ) brought their first LGBT case in the year of 1936.

The ACLU is an organization that helps people that are for example Lesbian,Gay,Bisexual, and Transgender. It helps them towards enjoying their constitutional rights of equality, privacy, personal independence, and also freedom of expression.

Then, there's this project, the LGBT project that includes the society of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and lastly Transgender and this project was found on the year of 1986.

Last but not least, there is plenty of support for the LGBT community and throughout the nation there are over 700 LGBT clubs including in colleges and even on their own college campuses. Which means that people like this are never alone.

For more information about the ACLU and the LGBT community please CLICK HERE .

STDs in the teenage world #2

Jeremiah Cunningham — Sun, 20 May 2012 23:17:42 -0400

STDs are one of the most dangerous diseases to have. It makes you very sick, and you won’t be able to grow up to have babies because you won’t be able to have intimacy because of the risk of giving the disease to other people. Especially if you are a teenager. One in every four female in the U.S has a case of STD. Between the years of 1997 and 2011 the percentage of teens with STDs jumped a total of 53 percent.

There is a theory for the reason as to why teens get STDs. Children go through puberty earlier because of better nutrition, and the immature cervix of teenage girls is especially vulnerable to infection. Psychology: Kids with raging hormones think they are invincible and take stupid risks. Sociology: Children who grow up in the inner city take risks because they can’t imagine a decent future. Technology: Better screening detects more STDs. Poverty: A lack of access to medical care means those infected won’t know they have an STD and will continue to spread it. Culture: Casual high school hookups have replaced the romance of dating. The media: Kids are being sexualized in ads, movies and on the Internet. All these reasons can be a possible factor as to why kids get STDs. Or maybe it’s that they weren’t raised with the mindset that we were given by our parents not to have sex and to use a condom when we do.

Personally, when it comes to this topic i blame the parents. It’s supposed to be their job to tell the child to job to tell the child about the dangers of STDs and how they can be prevented. My theory is that the parents of these teenage children with the disease is that they don’t care, or they too have experience with more than one partner. i believe that if parents warn their children and teach them the rights from wrongs in intimacy, the teenage rate of STDs would be a lot shorter.

As I go about with my research i still wonder lots of things about teenage STDs. Why are teenagers more subject to getting affected. How was this disease first discovered, and how is it best treated? These thoughts are going all through my head and want to be answered.

Human Trafficking- Modern Day Slavery #2

Emalyn Bartholomew — Sun, 20 May 2012 21:38:21 -0400

What is Human Trafficking? It’s the form of slavery in which people control and exploit other human beings in order to create a profit.

Why is this a problem? Because until slavery and trafficking is fully abolished, the world is not a free one. Because no matter where the slavery is in the world, our freedom depends on the abolishment of it. Because, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, ‘no man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent.’

Since my last post, I've taken some time to conduct some research outside of school. As it turns out, 1 out of every 5 people that I interviewed, between the ages of 14 and 18, didn't even know that Human Trafficking was a large world issue.

Where is Human Trafficking occurring? Everywhere. Almost every single country on the planet is affected in some way by Human Trafficking. This map shows only a segment of the trafficking trade around the world:

Since my last post, I've done a little more research on this topic. As it turns out, a lot of rescued trafficking victims never receive treatment after being brought out of trafficking. This includes not having proper health care, housing, ect. The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur site gives an insight into how the trafficking victims are treated, and also gives a few options on things to do to help.

But this still begs the issue: What can be done?

Don't forget to look at my bibliography here.

The effects of HIV/AIDS on homeless people

Makarechi Julian — Sun, 20 May 2012 21:36:25 -0400

After I did more research, I realized that there are many ways how people become homeless and poor. There are also many consequences. For example, 3-20% of homeless people have HIV/AIDS. Also when someone has AIDS it is 44% harder for them to find housing in Philadelphia, PA. I learned that some of the reasons that poverty causes HIV/AIDS is that they do not have access to good health care and adequate medications. The issue at hand does not affect orphans that much because most of them are placed in foster homes and stay with relatives. Although, for the ones that are homeless, they are still suffering from poverty, hunger and either bad education or none at all.
I am not living in poverty but my mom is having trouble earning money through her business and she will have to work for the rest of her life. Because of this, as a family, we have had to cut back on some things and really think about our priorities.
I thought it would be a good idea to promote awareness to this topic by asking people for donations to an organization called Stand up for kids, because “three quarters of American families donate to charity, giving $1,800 each, on average” (ABC 20/20).This encourages me that my goal to raise money for this organization will go well. However I am still left wondering how much students and their families will donate to this cause.

ln my opinion every child needs education and somewhere to stay. I think that this is an important issue that is not talked about a lot and things are not being done to help it frequently enough. I strongly believe that this organization can help children who are lacking these things in their lives. However, organizations like this one are not the only ones that have to make a change. I believe that the government should strongly encourage everyone to get tested for HIV/AIDS. This video explains the importance of preventing HIV/AIDS and what the government should do to help.

Social Networking: Positive or Negative #2

Leah Kelly — Sun, 20 May 2012 21:15:18 -0400

Since my first blog post, I have become much more aware of the effects of social networking. The main thing that I noticed, which I found rather amusing, is the use of social networking from my peers to promote their own “You and the World” projects. This is one of the pros that I talked about in my first blog post: spreading the word about something that you are doing. I saw about 10 of my peers post on facebook or twitter about their projects, asking people to fill out surveys and things like that. From using social networking, they are even further promoting my reasoning for the use of social networking. For example, my friend Julian made this picture his cover photo on Facebook, and from there he was able to get people interested in this topic:

For this project, I made a survey on Google docs to find out more about the use of social networking. To get people to fill out my survey, I posted it on my facebook page, twitter account, and tumblr blog. I also had a teacher of mine post it on his facebook to attempt to get more people to fill it out. As a result, 110 people have already filled it out because I spread the word about it through social networking. (By the way, results from the survey will be posted about next week.)

While I was trying to promote my survey, I was also doing more research into the world of social networking and found that many businesses use social networking as a way to raise support, awareness and money. According to a reporter Debbie Miller, when marketers were asked if social networking was important to their business, 62% of them said, “strongly agree” and 28% “agree”. In addition, she made a chart about the pros of social networking in business:

A huge question that I’m still wondering about is how distracted people get from social networking sites. I just posted that question on my facebook, tumblr, and twitter so gather responses, so I will have those responses by next week as well!

Here is my bibliography again!

Blog Post #2 Smith

Raekwon Smith — Sun, 20 May 2012 17:33:18 -0400

Hello everyone again I come to you with my 2^nd post on government spending on prisoners vs. students. One of my main issues is the fact that the government gives convicted killers, rapists, kidnappers, etc. health care that a lot of kids in America don’t have and food housing and more opportunities that most kids don’t get. Some new info I picked up is about private prisons. Although they are beneficial to saving money it also has its faults. For starters the security is very bad in some places as it said 3 murderers had escaped before. Also with private prisons they put high profile prisoners in low security places.

This added to my knowledge because although it’s good to use private prisons for financial reasons it is not for safety purposes. It costs less if the government pays a private prison rather than run it themselves. In my opinion safety comes 1^st cause if we aren’t safe than having money means nothing. After we get our security up to protect the people then we can worry about money. Although we can solve the safety issue by just putting low profile prisoners in the private prisons with medium security and leaving the high profile prisoners in the max security prisons. I have an idea that could work but it would take a lot of work and maybe money but the results will benefit us in the long run.

What if we built an island like Alcatraz and put all the high profile prisoners and low profile prisoners there with no resources to help them escape and a high wall around the perimeter with sharks swimming around so they wouldn’t try to escape that way. In the long run we would save billions because they wouldn’t have to keep building new prisons and prison cells and also having to pay guards to watch over them. I think this could work if we perfect what my main idea is and if we put the time and effort into it. I wonder if any other people care about this topic as much as I do. I am going to ask teachers and principals if they can help me get in touch with government officials to help this problem get fixed. My bibliography

Breast Cancer, Blog #2- Estefan Carrillo

Estefan Carrillo — Sun, 20 May 2012 16:33:25 -0400

The stages of breast cancer

stage 0
In stage zero breast cancer the atypical cells have not yet spread the ducts or lubles.

stage 1
In stage one breast cancer the the cancer is no larger than 2 centimeters and has not yet spread to the outside of the breast or the surrounding lymph tubes.

stage 2
stage two breast cancer is divided into two categories, according to the size of the tumor and whether or not it has yet spread into the lymph.
stage II A Breast cancer is when the tumor is less than 2 centimetres and has spread has spread up to three auxiliary underarm lymph nodes. Or, the tumor has grown bigger than two centimeters, but no larger than five centimeters and has not spread to surrounding lymph nodes.
stage II B Breast cancer is when the tumor has grown to between two and five centimeters and has spread to up to three auxiliary underarm lymph nodes. Or the tumor is larger than five centimeters, but has not spread to the surrounding lymph nodes.

stage 3
Stage 3 breast cancer is also divided into 2 different groups
Stage III A Breast cancer is when the tumor is larger than two centimeters but smaller than five centimeters and has spread to up to nine auxiliary underarm lymph nodes.
Stage III B Breast Cancer is when the cancer has spread to the tissue near the breast including the skin, chest wall, ribs, muscles, or lymph nodes in the chest wall or above the collarbone.
stage 4

In stage 4 breast cancer, the cancer has spread to other organs or tissues, such as the liver, lungs, brain, skeletal system, or lymph nodes near the collarbone.

5 year survival rate by stage
Stage 0 100%
Stage I 98%
Stage II 88%
Stage IIIAz 56%
Stage IIIB 49%
Stage IV 16%

Treatment
Cancer can be treated in many ways and often requares more than of treatment and can include surgery, radiation therapy, chemo therapy and antihormonal therapy.

since my last blog I have research more about the stages of breast cancer and how they are treated. I've also made some some interviews with people that have experienced breast cancer someway in there life.

Troops In Afghanistan Blog#2

Brian Birkmire — Sun, 20 May 2012 15:02:19 -0400

Lots of new stories have just come up in the news about the troops in Afghanistan. The most recent one is about Marine Corps Gen. John Allen, the top commander in Afghanistan has just been expected to leave his command at the end of this year to go to the US European Command to take over. General John Allen is a very important man, spending most of his life dedicated to finally signing a long-term security agreement with Afghanistan and also to see a drawback in troops in Afghanistan. He has shifted American Troops from a counterinsurgency (military or political action taken against the activities of revolutionaries) strategy to a simpler mission strategy by having troops train Afghan militia. There is no final decision on who will replace Gen. Allen in Afghanistan. One possibility is Army Gen. David Rodriguez, who as the Number 2 commander in Afghanistan. More information that has been released is that two British soldiers shot in southern Afghanistan on Saturday. The ministry said, “…shot and killed by Afghan police force…” but NATO’s force in Afghanistan on that Saturday, indicated they were insurgents (or rebel) dressed as police. News reports have stated one of the rebels was killed but the other is still being searched for.

Basically, to add to my research I focused on the news. The other night I was watching the news with my family when the story about the soldiers being killed came on, I remembered about it and wanted to include it in the new information. I also visited AOL and CNN every night to check for new stories and new events happening in Afghanistan.

So far I’ve sent out a survey asking people certain questions about the War. In the end I ask them to give me a response on their opinion and when they believe we should bring the troops home.

The story about the two “police” officers who shot and killed troops helped to prove the point about how when we killed Osama Bin Laden, it may have upped this countries risk on more terrorism. The point of killing Osama was to reduce the Al Queda was to reduce it until it was nothing, but if the terrorist group is still around, this can change the outcome of our future. First, we could be at higher risk of another terrorist attack like 9/11. Second, this could influence President Obama to have our troops remain in Afghanistan to fully eliminate the Al Queda threat, which can take even longer. We just don’t know the outcome yet, we will have to wait and see. But this helps my thoughts about whether or not we should start to bring home our troops just yet, because if the Taliban and Al Queda forces don’t begin to decrease, we could see an increase in our troops.

Personally, I feel as though we should begin to bring home our troops but not an overwhelming amount. There is still a high threat against America so I believe we should stop that threat first, then come home.

I still wonder about, whether or not it’s worth losing our own to help another country that with the right training can fix their own problems. But if we do well for others we have them as friends, right? I guess that’s just what America is trying to do.

Post 6_deeper reflection/explanation

Aja Wallace — Sun, 20 May 2012 12:14:01 -0400

Through this project I wanted to learn something, anything, it didn't really matter to me what I learned I just wanted to walk away from this project feeling smaller and accomplished and I did.

Post one When I first started this blog I wanted to explore how food relate to culture. But it was a bit difficult to ask people questions that related to that and stay on topic.My first conversation went well but then I had to go so I was not able to finish that conversation. So later I started another one with Hector Gutierrez who lives in Brazil. He answered my questions but in English. So I kept the conversation going to see if I would learn anything that way.

Post two This person Charles was nice and willing to talk to me. Our conversation went well there was something to talk about and it was patience during the conversation, there were times when I did not respond as fast because I had to figure out a way to work my question or response. While talking to different people on shared talk I have come to the realization that is it no what you say to a person it is how you say it. By that it can be how detailed you are with an answer when someone body asks yo a question. When you are not very detailed with an answer it gives people room to make more inferences about who you are as a person.
Post three During this chat, I talked with Ezequiel Guerreo from Spain. He did not know English very well but he was still willing to help me with my Spanish, and correct me while we spoke with one another. During this conversation I felt confident because I knew what Ezequiel was talking about and I was able to comment, respond and ask questions and I was not suing anything to help me for most of the conversation. I felt as if I were having a conversation in English, it was very exciting for me.
Post four For this post I was confident starting both conversations I entered. I didn't get a change to finish them but these two chats I had made me think of what I wanted to talk about in blog number five. Sometimes people just leave the chat, in my opinion the people become impatient. Then decided to leave the chat, it's sometimes a bit funny when you think everything is going well and then the next thing you know the chat looks as if you are chatting yourself.
Post five In this blog I just noted the times when I was talking in a conversation and t was just a complete fail. Either the person had to leave for a reason or they just left the conversation. I called it a fail because it seemed as if every time a conversation started well and I knew what was going on and the person could understand me. The conversation ended.
Post six is directed to the first project for Spanish I posted on slate this year. I linked post six to my Trader Joe's to show that, during this project while I was speaking in Spanish on Shared Talk to people the conversations took a normal length of time not too long. But to make a flyer for a cause I was in support of took days to write in Spanish. When I first got this project I thought talking to people whos' native language is Spanish would be hard, but after remembering all the things I have learned this year, talking was not as difficult as I thought it would be. After doing all the blogs I decided to direct my overall goal a bit differently.
*Me gustó aprender cosas diferente de las conversaciones con diferentes personas. Todos ellos preguntó sobre los Estados Unidos. A veces yo no dicho mi pregunta correcta, pero que no sabía lo que quería decir.

Philadelphia Rising Murder Rate Part 2

Kenyatta Bundy — Sat, 19 May 2012 13:00:08 -0400

In case you’re just visiting my blog for the first time, I will reiterate what this entire blog is focused around, the current, and rising murder rate in Philadelphia. As said in my previous post, this is a serious epidemic for any Philadelphia citizen, and everyone should be aware of the danger that people everywhere are faced with from most of the useless violence that surrounds them.

Now since my last blog entry I have done some more research in my local area about one of the major safety precautions that each block, in each neighborhood, in each part of the city should have; a neighborhood watch. Through my research, and investigation I have found out that my personal area does have a neighborhood watch. But honestly, what is the point of having a neighborhood watch, if they will not do much to keep the neighborhood safe. For example, after talking with my teacher Ms. Dunn, and her telling me that not only does her area have a neighborhood watch, but also they are almost always on duty, and they are well known in the area, I realized that I didn’t even know if my area had a neighborhood watch. That in itself obviously shows a lack of work being done when most people in the neighborhood doesn’t even know their neighborhood watch exists. Even when going to my mother, she didn’t know that we had a neighborhood watch. I had to go about 4 doors down from my house before one person even said that we do.

With this realization that my own block doesn’t have an active neighborhood watch, but doesn’t have that much violence, it led me to guess that some of the areas in Philadelphia that are much more violent most likely do not have any kind of neighborhood watch, and I think that could make a major difference if these areas were to get one. I personally believe that a certain area is not bad, it is those few people in that area that are bad, that cause an entire area to be stereotyped as a “bad” neighborhood. With a neighborhood watch, these areas would have more of a grip on those people that give that area a bad name, and in turn could eventually change the reputation of that area.

I truly believe that Philadelphia is not a completely violent city. Even though it has had an increasingly high murder rate, Philadelphia as a whole population is not to blame. It is that of the individuals who cause the violence’s fault. These individuals are the ones who give Philadelphia this reputation, and the number of these individuals could be lowered if neighborhood watch existed in EVERY neighborhood.

Although I have learned a lot, there are a few things I am still left wondering about when it comes to the Philadelphia violence. I am still wondering where exactly in Philadelphia are they’re the most homicides. I am also wondering what exactly the Mayor has been trying to do to stop, or try and drop the homicide rate in Philadelphia.

My bibliography available here.

Sexism.

Ronald Harper — Sat, 19 May 2012 12:07:10 -0400

Sexism in America

The wage gap today between women and males in the work force is 73.8 cents to every dollar that the average male earns having the same job and experience. But it’s not just women period, It’s more than that because statistics shown that it different with races also. Groups and committees have fought effortlessly to close that wage gap. But the sexism that is happening in America isn’t the only place in the world. Porn is the only industry that females are paid more than males in the entire world.

Sexism happens all over the world in places such as Berin, Saudi Arabia, Cote D’lvoire, Mali, Pakistan, Chad, Etc. The reason that this happens in other countries and cultures because it is apart of religion. It is apart of their culture to treat the genders differently. The women was a weaker gender, can’t hunt for the family, but to stay in the house and cook and clean. They lack the same rights as a male do in different cultures, marriage is set up rather than it being between the male and female, Girls would get married at 15 in different countries because of the religion and tradition that needs to be followed.

I wonder if women will ever be the same as the male in other countries, as the generations change, will the gap be closed in the near future or another 100 years? I think that it won’t change anytime soon if it hasn’t changed yet, when it’s apart of an religion, but not just having a wage gap still trying to gain complete rights from the start of the 50’s.

Animal Cruelty- Blog Post #2

Fri, 18 May 2012 20:50:10 -0400

         Hi, my name is Jasmine Nieves incase you didn’t know. In case you didn’t know, I have a project called you in the World and I was focusing on animal cruelty. This topic is still a major importance to me because I can’t resist thinking of the lives these animals are having. It breaks our hearts and especially my heart to find these animals still like this. We need to make a change for these animals.

      Basic information you need to know on my recent blog post is that I’ve found some recent information. The new information that was found was that everybody now is committed to prohibiting animal cruelty from happening. 41 states have been found with these felonies of animals. They would even kill animals for fur. Tragedies like this are the reasons why animals get killed. Fifteen million animals that are warm blooded are used in research laboratories. Click Here for more info on animal cruelty.

      What I’ve done to research more of this topic was using the same process as my last post. I just kept searching and searching until I found something interesting about animal cruelty to talk about. Videos such as this one are very sad, but videos like this one will show how much animal cruelty means to me and I want it to stop. When I said on my last post, that there should be a public awareness for these animals, I really meant it from the bottom of my heart. From just looking at the videos, I just want to cry and I know you do too. To make a change, I will have a presentation at my school advisory and we are going to help each other sell cupcakes to end it.

      I have compared my latest research to my previous research. It has shown that animal cruelty was starting to wear away. When I saw that this was happening, I felt relieved. My heart was starting to fill back into place, but I still want to make and awareness in my advisory that should help the situation. Soon afterwards, I hope my advisor will help me tell the principal of the school to help us spread out the word. This would be a big change for me and for the animals.

      This adds to my understanding of this issue by just simplying saying JUST END ANIMAL CRUELTY!!! This is an important message to spread out because they would see how much animals and pets are like taking care of babies and how it’s so important to take care of them. I hope people can see the way I feeling on the inside. Hopefully, this word would spread more around the world. This is a big change for me to handle but it’s for my own good. That’s all I have to say.

      My personal opinions on this issue are the it is wrong. It is wrong because these animals have feelings but some people don’t see them. The animals are both hurt on the inside and the outside. People in their right mind would know not to do this. This is a very empowering situation to fix. We all have our fears and it all comes to this, animal cruelty. These animals are feeling alone. When these two different worlds collide, they would be able to survive. They had dreams and their dreams are to be saved. They need to find a find a home and a new love for them.

      Something’s I’m still wondering about will people have the faith to help them. I am still wondering if the people who did cruelty to them will see my point that I’m trying to make. It would probably break their hearts if they found out. I hear this almost all the time while doing the project and it also. When days are low for them will this cruelty happen again and break the Laws of Endangerment for Animals. Just remember they can’t think for themselves and that they don’t have their own voices. We have to do it for them.

Click Here to see my Bibliography.

Click Here for video

Click Here for interview

Public Education in the US: What is the problem?

RubyJane Anderson — Fri, 18 May 2012 18:31:35 -0400

The United States continues to drop globally in education, this was established in my last blog post. But why?

Some would argue that its spending, that the US doesn't spend enough on education. This is simply not true. The US ranks among the highest in spending, yet among the lowest in achievement. This chart illustrates that countries that spent moderate amounts of money on education score the highest. This shows that the problem is not something easy, like not enough spending, but something bigger.

That something bigger is the entire system itself. The model used in most classrooms today is based on Horace Mann's philosophy on education. Mann believed in a primary education for all. His education philosophy was that students of different ages should be separated by age. Each grade had certain requirements, and those who didn't meet those requirements were not promoted to the next grade. Students were also to have summers off, mostly due to how hot it would be in the school year. Mann believed that education should be decided federally, rather then locally. Most classes were taught using lecture.

This is Horace Mann, the father of the US Public Education System.

One problem with this is that Manns education system is mainly fact and based. Mann emphasized the memorization of facts. Now that we have the internet, memorizing Abraham Lincolns birthday or the location of the Czech Republic is not very important. What schools should be teaching instead is how to apply these facts to the real world. Memorizing facts and spitting them back out does not require any form or original though. What should be emphasized more in schools is critical thinking.

Another problem with this is that curricula are set by the state rather then locally. If teachers had more freedom to write their curricula, then they could tailor them to the needs of individual students and incorporate all learning styles.

Our education system is incredibly outdated. It was designed during the industrial revolution to give as many students the most uniform education as possible. But education is not "one size fits all". It needs to be tailored to the individual student to fit his or her needs, and our system does basically the opposite of that. To improve how public education in the US works, we need to scrap the old system and design a new one.

Here is an interesting TED Talk by Ken Robinson, an education activist.

Sources

La Tomatina- Blog 4

Jennifer Wright — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:53:34 -0400

I wish to speak to someone about La Tomatina. Mostly everyone I talk to is from Spain, so I want to ask someone about this.

Mis preguntas son

¿Tú sabes sobre "la tomatina"?

¿Qué tipo la gente assiste?

¿Tú pagas asistir?

I think La Tomatina sounds so amazing so I'm excited to hear about it from natives.

I'm not really nervous about anything, the people are not intimidating.

I chose to speak with Jeff who is from Spain and is 20 years old. This was the first time I had spoken with him.

This interaction helped me toward my personal goals because I really just want to feel comfortable conversationally speaking and a topic about something they experience falls within that.

I spoke with Jeff for a long time, but I include the best piece of our conversation

Testing on animals, Post #2

Amy Farrell — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:50:00 -0400

Hello readers! My name is Amy Farrell and this is my second blog post about an issue I care very deeply about, testing on animals. If you wish to read my first post, click here

Since my last post, I have found several new websites with useful information on them. Also, I have found things you could replace animal testing with. Before, when a woman had a pregnancy test done, the laboratory procedure involved killing a rabbit. Now, you can buy a home pregnancy test over the counter with no harm to animals. Instead of dissecting real frogs or animals for a science classroom, there are many online alternatives such as this. For some skin tests, scientists have developed a synthetic skin that can be used in place of animal skin. If the test is not that dangerous, they will do it on human volunteers under serious supervision. Some people argue that these methods cost more, but in reality they cost less. The scientists do not have to keep buying and breeding and cleaning up after animals anymore. The question is, why don’t they just stick to alternative methods?

I believe they don’t use the alternates because they are afraid. If the test goes wrong they could get into a lot of trouble. What many people don’t realize, is that a little less than half of the tests that are conducted are inaccurate. For example, some companies test mascara on rabbits. One brand caused the rabbit to go blind, but they still sold it to customers anyway.

By doing this project, I have discovered the many sides of animal testing. Some feel it is the worst possible thing that could happen, while others feel that it’s the only option they have. I hope that by reading my blog posts, it will help everyone become more educated and learn more about this topic.

PETA is an organization for the protection of all animals. They try to spread awareness of what's really happening to animals that the public do not know about. Through their work, thousands of animals are saved every year. To learn more about PETA, click here

Click here for my bibliography.

Blog # 2 You and the World

Alhaji Koita — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:16:03 -0400

I hope you enjoyed the 1^st Blog and you informed others about the change we want to do. It really makes a difference when people know what the problem is. There are many things I want to talk about, but lets start off with this question. Who is to blame? When I asked myself this question believe it or not was that it was the countries fault. The location of these countries has huge drought rates. Their government was financially stable to take care of the people that lived there.

I was so ignorant about a lot of things before I considered this. I soon figured I was wrong when I learned many of these countries need aid in all types of ways. When I traveled to West Africa last year, I saw so many different things like deserted beaches, filthy waterways, and empty rivers. There was also other things that were unusual in American communities. The most interesting thing I saw was how their water looked. It was in a bag! Yes I know a bag really, I was so upset and angry to see that people in America thrive with water. While they need to drink water from a plastic bag.

Something needs to change.

Recent research that I found was much more broder this time around. I couldn't believe that this was happening. On the NyTimes it was giving a much important quote that really opened my eyes to what is to come. "Many of the wars in this century were about oil, but wars of the next century will be over water". This quote was said by Ismail Seragaldin, the World's bank vice president. This really shocked me because, I feel as though water is a God Giving substance.

In this Picture above it showed the water in a bag.

While researching a came across this movie about water crisis all across the world. The trailer was interesting it as talking about a major group called FLOW. Flow is this international program that helps people all across the world come to terms that we have reached an international water crisis. I feel this is a important topic because it allowed me to realize the most important things in life are each other. We need each other.

If you missed my 1st Blog here you go.

For my Bibliography

Bullying- Blog #2

Lisa Kang — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:09:32 -0400

Hi, if you have not read my first blog post, my name is Lisa Kang and I’m doing a project on bullying. If you want to find out more about the project in general and want to see my first blog post then click here. In this blog post, I will be talking about some more information that I found out after posting the first blog and it will explain what research I’m planning on doing by myself so that I can compare and contrast it to actual results that other people got.

In my first blog post I mainly talked about the victim of bullying and now I will explain more on the effects it has on other people. When someone thinks about people who are involved in bullying, they usually think about the bully and the person being bullied but it can also have an effect on parents. Some parents of the students are not aware of what is happening to their childs in school. I think that if parents step up and try to check up on how their children are doing in school then more of them would be aware. Also I learned that children act a certain way because of their parents. For example sometimes, parents are also bullying their children but they are not aware of what they are doing because they might think that pushing their children that way will make them do better in school. I think that there are better ways for parents to approach the way they treat and talk to the kids.

After researching more about bullying, I decided to do my own research so that I can see what people around me think about this issue. For my own research, I decided to make a survey and let people fill it out. In this survey there are a few questions, some are multiple choice and some that allow people to explain their thoughts. If you would like to fill out the survey, please click here. You will remain anonymous, and so please just take a minute or two to answer these questions. It would be great if I had a different range of age so that I can see how different people thinks. The final results of my findings will be in the next blog post.

This helps me have a better understanding on bullying because it shows that all the people who took the survey thought that bullying was wrong. Also in the survey, there were a few response who clearly showed that they did not take it seriously because even though they said that bullying was wrong, I could tell that they lied about their age and that showed that they thought it was a joke. Overall, I’m waiting for more results and I would like to see how different people of different ages think about it.

This is the link to my sources.

This is my results so far for my survey.

This is a picture of an actual chart on bullying in different grades.

This is a poem on bullying.

Unemplyment Blog#2

Jordyn Randall — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:05:04 -0400

Hi are you sitting at home wondering what you want to do for the rest of your life? Just graduated college and don’t know what you want to do next? Well I definitely know how you feel. Hi my name is Jordyn Randall and Im in the 9^th grade. I’ve been thinking a lot about what job I would want to have now, my future and what I want to do after high school and even college. But I found out that its not easy to find a job and that there are 13.9 million people unemployed.

In The major worker groups, the unemployment for adult men ( 7.5%), adult women ( 7.4%), teenagers ( 24.9%), whites ( 7.4%), and Hispanics ( 10.3%) showed hardly any change in April, although the rate for blacks ( 13.0%) declined over a month. The unemployment rate for Asians was 5.2% in April. This information hasn’t been shocking but considering that my race is the highest unemployed is disappointing but makes me want to strive to not be in this category.

I believe that some of this unemployment has something to do with taxation. Businesses pay more taxes in the U.S. than any where in the world. Many businesses are being truly crushed by this, which is also chasing businesses out of the country. Barack Obama has just proposed a boost in unemployment taxes. I feel that this is going to make businesses not want to hire more employees.

There is a such thing as unemployment benefits though. Unemployment benefits are payments made by the state to unemployed people. Depending on the authority and the status of the person. The amount of money may be small, covering only central needs, also known as welfare. In some countries a proportion of unemployment benefits are divided by labor unions.

After doing all this research I feel copying more money will get rid of all our problems because if people have more money they will buy more things and businesses will have more money. I also feel that we should just keep the prices of everything the same instead of raising the prices of things every year. I don’t think we should do both because that wouldn’t be to good for businesses.

This is a graph of the unemployment race by ethnicity and gender in March 2011.

This is a picture of one of the Child Welfare Services.

Click here to see my first blog

Click here to see my bibliogrphy

Animal Abuse pt.2

Pierce Luck — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:03:39 -0400

Did you know every 10 seconds of the day an animal is abused or tormented? Most of the domestic animals (cats and dogs) that are abused usually die because they don’t have the strength to live. Others that are abused are most of the times put out on the streets. To me this is just wrong. I’m not saying its right to abuse animals but if you do you should at least have the common courtesy to bring them too the Aspca (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.) Henry Bergh founded the ASPCA. His purpose of this organization was to and I state “to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States.” I believe in his cause of preventing animal cruelty along the Unites States but he should have had bigger plans to expand the organization across the world.

Studies by the AMERICAN HUMANE ASSOCIATION recognized that most of animal abuse cases aren’t intentional but were just incidence that were caught in between a human fight. They also found out that 71% of Women entering shelters with injured animals were the cause of their injuries. They beat the animal out of anger and frustration and they pass this behavior off to their children. Also, 70% of the animal abusers had past records of crime. Animal cruelty doesn’t just have to be beating animals but abuse can be animals living in bad conditions. The SPCA investigates most of animal cruelty cases. Adoption services for animals need to do a better job and a background check before they give these beautiful animals away.

These animals need your help! Go save an animal life today and spread the word. Go volunteer at your local Spca and give an animal a second chance at life.

http://scienceleadership.org/blog/Animal_Abuse:3 <---Link to Blog 1

Bibliography

These are ADS from the Aspca to adopt animal.
PLEASE SAVE A LIFE.

You and the World Blog 2: Is this generation falling apart?

Karoline Castillo — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:01:14 -0400

Hi again, this is Karoline Castillo with my topic of the generation of today. In my first blog I introduced my topic about the generation of today, and if the teenagers of this generation (future adults) will become of themselves. Today our world is urban. Teenagers have tattoos, they smoke, and dress differently then people did 10 years ago. We all think about the future now and then, weather it is on the bus on our way to school, in the shower, or before we go to bed. Will we have enough doctors, lawyers, and teachers in 10 years?

A week ago, I interviewed Edwin Deleon. Edwin is 19 years old. He too was one of these young teens with tattoos, which smoked every day, and followed the crows. Edwin currently has three children, a warrant for his arrest, and no job. He specifically told me “think ahead, your education is more important than your friends and trying to fit in”. Edwin told me he has much faith in me becoming something big, that I was a smart young woman and he did not want me to be like the rest of the generation. Not only does he have hope in me, the whole family has hope.

This is supper important to me because not only is Edwin Deleon my cousin he is my god brother. Growing up he was my mentor, and as the generation started to change so did his life. He went down the wrong path, he had so much potential and so do these young teens, and they just do not see it. Everyone has a special talent; these talents are being put to waste. If this type of behavior continues many of these lives will turn out like Edwin’s life did. Living in the moment will get you but so far.

Change is out there, and this change can be found in Science Leadership Academy. Leaders are created at this high school, and they inspire other teenagers to become the best they can be. Science Leadership changes my life every day personally. I too was apart of the bad crowd. Then as I made friends with students here and everything changed for the better. I started thinking about my future, my education, and my career. I want to help other teens look beyond next week; I want to make a change.

This is a picture od principle Lehman.

This is Science Leadership Academy located on 22nd and Arch street.

Here is a link to my second Bibliography.

You in the world- Homelessness_Blog 2

Jaazaniah Hayes — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:00:02 -0400

This is the you in the world project, and it is to help put a dent in homelessness. It is blog two, and is about opinions and more research. The research I did really helped me understand homelessness, and how it can affect anyone. Homelessness is defined as not having a set place to sleep in the nighttime. When I think of homelessness, I think of sleeping on the streets, and under overpasses. That is exactly what homelessness is.

Homelessness is in all parts of the city, and all neighborhoods. There were volunteers that went out yesterday, May 17 and counted 583 people in the nighttime were homeless. There were 50 volunteers, and they counted the homeless. That was just yesterday, but on any given day people can become homeless. I feel as though the citizens of Philadelphia could help the shelters, so that we can prevent some people from being homeless or becoming homeless.

My opinion on homelessness is that it can be prevented, or that the city can help some of these people. The only people or organizations that are helping the homeless are groups like Project HOME, SREHUP, the Office of Supportive Housing, and all homeless shelters. There are people who give the homeless food, and I applaud that, but the homeless need safe places to rest at night. I feel that all these abandoned building that are big enough can be turned into shelters, and places that are affordable for homeless people.

One thing that I didn’t like was the ban against feeding the homeless. Mayor Nutter was wrong for doing that, because everyone has the right to eat wherever they want. I am not homeless, but I can eat in public. So why is it that if you are homeless you only can get food from a shelter. That makes no sense to me. I feel that people should be able to share with anyone, even if they don’t have a home of their own. The reason there are so many homeless people alive, is because how generous other people are. So why would the Mayor make people, not help out others in need.

Homelessness can affect anyone, men, women, children, and families. It doesn’t just happen to the lower class, it can happen to anyone. Now people can complain about homelessness, or the citizens can take action. Me personally, I am going to take action. I am going to help people in need not because it is the right thing to do, but because I would want someone to do the same for me. Homelessness is defined as not having a set place to sleep in the nighttime.

Click here for my bibliography.

Intimidator Difficulty Part 2

Aaron Tang — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:58:04 -0400

Welcome back! In the previous blog, I talked about all different kinds of bullying and how it can affect other people. If you didn’t read my first blog, click here. You wonder why you are reading the next set of the blog. Well in this blog, it will launch into a new journey. In this journey of blog 2, there will be more information, my perspective on bullying, and the understanding of the issue. Don’t hesitate and prepare yourself for the next adventure of massive bullying.

After all the researching of bullying, it had struck me because many students were criticized from all types of bullying. Many people don’t take things seriously, but it can cause other people into a serious problems. Dealing with bullying, there is no ending to what will happen next when hate is building up because the bully is hard when children and adults are being foolishness.

Gathering all new information about bullying, children who had been bullied change their personalities. The victims usually;

: Shy and quiet
: Will lose relationship with friends
: Bring weapons to school for vengeance
: Commit suicide

They rather end the anguish of being tortured everyday at school where they think it is easier for them to rest in peace.

Bullying is extremely wrong when the victims are being torture. The ones who bullied the victims are also hurting themselves because it shows how much they care about people. The fact when they don’t think how it can affect other people. I saw my friends, and other students in my school were bullied by verbal. Students talk trash to each other especially girls who gossips a lot about the clothes they wear. Also boys who thinks they are better than each other. It’s crucial for young children to die because family members will be really struck to the story of their child committing suicide. They only want their child to have a wonderful life for fulfilling their dreams in the future. The ones who are friends with the bullied are afraid to stand up for their friend who had been bullied because the next they will get bullied next, but it is important that standing up for themselves or their friends will might stop them from preventing bullying.

I always talked to people why they aren’t friendly. When they don’t listen and continue to threaten you, ignore them. Life is very precious where people can’t just end their life. I always think words can’t hurt me because there is a lot of things I want to experience instead of being depressed what people had said. I don’t care what kind of bully occurs in the show because there is no right where children hurt each other’s feelings for being better than others. Children come to school are being created equally with all respects. No matter what ethnicity, where you come from, the language you speak, personalities, etc, we are all human beings who are like each other’s.

I created a Google doc about bullying. On May17th, 2012 I had amass all the responses with multiple choices with short answers. The results shows how many people had been bullied, and if bully matters in the society.

“ I'll stand up for the weaker person. I don't care how that makes me look to other people, because at the end of the day I could've saved a life. What happens most of the time is people see it, think it's wrong, but never speak up.” This shows how deeply when people wanted to stand up for someone when he/she feels accomplish of helping the ones who get tease.” - Anonymous, age 15.

Please click on this survey and take couple minutes to respond. Remember, once you submit it will be anonymous. Thank you for your patients.

For more information, there will a website about signs of how people can identify of bullying.

Click here for a commercial of bullying.

For my sources, click here!

The pictures shows what bully means to people.

Bully can spread instantly.

The diagram shows how many people had been bullied and how bullying is important. There were 71 responds.

Blog 2 Child Sex trafficking

Stephen Eager-White — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:57:25 -0400

Stephen White Blog 2:

My opinion on child sex trafficking is that it’s unacceptable. Honestly trafficking anyone is wrong. What joy do you get from taking advantage of a child? As they’re raping a child do they think that someone could be doing the same to theirs? Taking a child or an adult and using them for your own benefit is unjust. I learned that the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) is a federal law that criminalizes the act of human trafficking and was first signed into action in early 2000. In the U.S. the top 10 states that have the most children taken into the industry are: California, Texas, Florida, Illinois, New York, District of Columbia, Ohio, New Jersey, Washington, and Virginia.

Some new information I found was that an estimated $9.5 billion is generated in annual revenue from trafficking activities. Between 50 and 60 percent of children who are trafficked are under the age of 16. In Thailand it was found that 60 to 70% of child prostitutes are found to be HIV positive. The child sex trade is happening all around the world. The child sex trafficking is mostly in Cambodia, Moldova, Asia, Russia, Middle East, and rural parts of Brazil.

To add to my research I researched child sex trafficking more abroad. In my first blog I mainly focused on the child sex trade in America but in this blog I talked about where it’s mostly happening and my opinion on the subject. I’ve also found more charities that are here to help end the child sex trade that can be found here. Some things I’m still left wondering about is how the government plans on protecting children and adolescents from being traded internationally. I haven’t found the answer yet but I’ve been looking around.

My research has added to the understanding of my issue in many ways. I’ve noticed that people really are trying to stop this growing industry. It caught the attention of the White House and the world. MSNBC Dateline took a trip to Cambodia to find out more about the child sex trade. They found out that some children are born into poverty and their parents sold them into the child sex trade in exchange for money. Children as young as 5 years old are being traded. In Cambodia children as young as 12 years old are considered old in this industry. In Cambodia children are sold because of family struggles. Some are lured and kidnapped.
If a child’s a virgin they can be worth as much as $600 because they’re pure. You’re allowed to keep the child for up to 3 days.

Here is the video of MSNBC Dateline’s trip to Cambodia to uncover the child sex industry.

Here is my the link to my bibliography

Part 2: War On Gaza

Warda Abuali — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:57:01 -0400

Here I am once again. My name is Warda Abuali and I'm here chatting with you about the War On Gaza. So do me a favor? Keep reading!

In my first blog post I had explained to you how it's like in Gaza. Gaza, a country where they have no life and no where to go. As we all know Gaza is located between Israel and Egypt. Gaza is in Palestine. Basically it’s located in the Middle East.

Let’s read more about the life in Gaza!

Gaza is pretty massive. It’s twice the size of Washington D.C. Now that you know how huge Gaza is, you know it’s big. Just imagine how much destruction the Israel is causing. Fire blazing, kids, moms, and dads all getting killed. Gaza is in there own deathbed. People can’t even hide, mainly because they can’t. They have barely any shelter to protect themselves. There was a target at a school and sooner a bomb hit it. There were at least 30 to 40 who were reported killed. We need help!

After numerous amounts of people had heard of the school being targeted a guy named Joe Stork who is the deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch said "There must be a serious and independent investigation into the shocking loss of civilian life that took place near the UN school and that has characterized this conflict." I really do think we need more people like Joe Stork.

Over the years, Gaza became more and more deserted. Palestinians had to leave their own land. Sooner it when into Israel’s hand and later it became there territory.

How would you feel if another country tried to take over your land? Hearing that your own people are getting killed. You would feel angry right? Yeah, well I do! I get so angry at the fact no one is trying to make a change in this world. For all my life, I wanted to go to my country Palestine and I don’t think I will ever go. Or maybe if I do, I won’t ever be able to come back.

Stay tuned for my final blog. Soon we can make a difference in the world!

Click here for my bibliography

This is a bombing of a school in Gaza by the Israeli Air Strikes.

Animal Adoption

Leah Petty — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:54:48 -0400

About 20 to 30 percent of cats and dogs are adopted from shelters and rescues. 26 percent of dogs are bought from breeders. At least one-third of cats are acquired as strays, and more than 20 percent of people who leave dogs in shelters adopted them from a shelter. There are about 5,000 animal shelter nation wide. Why can’t people understand that instead of going out and buying a dog from a pet store for hundreds to thousands of dollars you can just go to a shelter and adopted a pet that needs a home for only about hundred dollars.

The top 10 reasons people in America get pets are to Teach kids about selflessness, Pets can increase your sense of security — personal, private, and psychological, Personal growth, Need an excuse to get physical, Preparing for parenthood, Looking for a constant companion, It's a great way to meet people, Getting and giving unconditional love, Take a stand on a humanitarian cause, and the number one reason Pets are a prescription for good health. People don’t understand that you don’t have to go to a pet store and spend a lot of money to get this. You can go right to a shelter and get a dog or cat that can do the same things as if you bought one from a pet store.

When you adopt from a shelter your giving a cat of dog a second chance. There are an estimated 3.7 million unwanted pets wanted pets must be euthanized at animal shelters every year, many because they could not find families to adopt them. Some people choose not to adopt animals because they think the animal they adopt will have bad behavior. This is not the case there are a number of reasons why pets arrive in a shelter, from losing their owner to being abused and rescued.

Read more:

Bibliography

To see my last blog post chick here

Stage 0	100%
Stage I	98%
Stage II	88%
Stage IIIAz	56%
Stage IIIB	49%
Stage IV	16%