December 6, 2010

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101206/ap_on_sc/climate_disappearing_nations

Article Title: If an island state vanishes, is it still a nation?

written By:  CHARLES J. HANLEY

This article has been written to us  to inform us of these islands, the Marshal Islands, south of Japan, that are literally vanishing from the map. These islands are being submerged under water, thanks to global warming, and slowly eroding and disappearing. The great controversy is, if these islands vanish completely under water, what will happen with their people, industries, and territory? These are questions not yet answered, according to the author, but it worries their residents. Their main priority right now is to protect their airport, which is the only transportation other than boat that links them to the rest of the world. Currently the high tide waters reach the airport already. Scientists predict that by 2100, the water will have risen over a foot and a half.

6. What is the most important thing you have learned? Why?

The most significant thing that I have learned today is that global warming is literally destroying nations. With all the heat rises caused by unmonitored human activity, ice is melting and causing oceans to swell. This has been causing great damage, as we can see from these islands that are being submerged under water. The thing that’s more difficult to comprehend, is what will happen to all those people if the islands completely vanish. We have all seen nations appear and disappear from maps, but the land still remains. In this case, these islands will disappear from the map along with its land.

December 6, 2010

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beauty/sneaky-reasons-you-get-zits-2415528/

Article Title: Sneaky Reasons You Get Zits

Written By:  BeautyRiot Diva

The author of this article tells us about a few reasons that cause acne. Pressure (both literally and figuratively), the pillowcases and towels, over drying your skin, tannin and hair products all are major reasons for why people get acne. Stress, dirty surfaces and oily products all plug up pores, and when skin is over dried, by nature it produces more natural oils. This author is very straight forward with her information, and doesn’t make a big mess about it. She speaks to us so that we may be able to prevent these common mistakes, and be a step closer to clear skin.

2. As you read today, were any questions that you had answered by what you read? List the questions that you had and the answers that you came up with from the reading. Are you satisfied with what you learned, with these answers? Why or why not?

Since I myself have horrible acne breakouts, I’m constantly looking for new remedies to help clear my skin. I’ve tried everything from store-bought products,to lemon juice, to avoiding chocolate and caffeine, to oatmeal, to over rubbing and pimple popping, but nothing cleared me. I had always wondered, what causes my acne? How can I solve this problem and get rid of them? How easy is it to get my pores all clean and fresh? With this article I learned that pressing my face (I tend to rest my face on my hands when I’m bored or tired), stress (too much homework!), dirty pillowcases and towels (I don’t use a pillow so I don’t worry about that, it’s the towel though), over drying of my skin (I always use benzoyl peroxide and lemon juice to dry my face up), and my hair products (I use OLIVE OIL for my frizzy hair), all cause my acne. So that means that I should not be blaming the acne products for being too “gentle” on my skin. I’m satisfied with these answers because it is really common sence that having contact with your face and a dirty surface will cause pores to clog up, and oils upon natural oils equals more oils that seal those pores shut. Either way, I’ll still keep looking for more reasons and treatments for acne, since I’m pretty sure that there are many more to come.

December 6, 2010

http://goodneighborstories.wordpress.com/2010/12/06/facebook-child-abuse-awareness-campaign-lame-or-helpful/

Article Title: Facebook Child Abuse Awareness Campaign: Lame? Or Helpful?

Written By: pammarino (Blogger)

This article is written to bring up the question: Was the Facebook Child Abuse Campaign useful, or was it just some kind of joke to see how many people would fall for it? Well first of all, this campaign was meant for Facebook users to speak up against child abuse, and in support of that to change their profile photo to a picture of their favorite cartoon/cartoon character.  According to the author of this article, it might have been a little of both. Although a lot of people around the world did change their Facebook photos to pictures of their favorite cartoons, it is a little hard for this to do any change in a child’s life whom is being abused. Then again, rumors tell that this was just started by a group of pedophiles so that they could get “accepted” as a child’s friend. So who knows how this originated, right?

4. Are any of the real life situations of people that you read about in your material for today similar to situations that you have experienced before in life? How were they similar? How were they different? What information surprised you?

 The thing that relates to me from this article is the whole Facebook Campaign that went around this weekend because I participated in it. At first I too wondered what it was all about, but then when I found out that it was to help support the cause of Anti-abuse for children, I changed my own photo as well. I had thought that whether or not it was true, it was still a good cause to support. What surprised me the most was that it actually spread throughout all of Facebook rather quickly, in three days. Either way, hopefully it was a true cause, and it helped bring up awareness to help those children whom are getting abused.

December 5, 2010 (Late)

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-36906427

Article Title: America’s Tallest Christmas Trees

Written By: Alexander Zaitchik

The author writes to us to inform us of America’s ten tallest Christmas trees. In order from tallest to smallest of the ten tallest trees are in:

1.Coeur d’Alene Resort, Idaho (161 feet)

2.Ferndale, California (150 feet)

3. Anthem, Arizona (110 feet)

4. Los Angeles, California (100 feet)

5. Kansas City, Missouri (100 feet)

6. Toledo, Ohio (85 feet)

7. Boston, Massachusetts (85 feet)

8. Portland, Oregon (75 feet)

9. New York (74 feet)

10. Huston Texas. (70 feet)

These trees have been recognized and appreciated around the United States for their symbolic beauty.

1. What did you learn today as you read that you did not know before? What surprised you? Explain why it surprised you.

What surprised me the most was that Washington D.C. is nowhere on this list. As being the nation’s capital one would assume that the tallest, if not one of the tallest, would be in the capital. Instead, a place that probably many of us have never heard of in Idaho has this honorable title. It’s strange to think that a state that you hardly ever hear about, has the tallest Christmas tree, and not the capital of the United States.

December 5, 2010 (Late)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20101203/cm_huffpost/791661_201012031319

Article Title: The Most And Least Brainy Cities In America

Written By: Unknown.

This article provides us with information of which cities in the United States are ranked the most intelligent, and which are the least intelligent. With Boulder, Colorado and Washington D.C. being the smartest ranked cities and Merced and Visalia both being in California as two of the least smartest in the country. San Fransisco though, seems to have the most degrees awarded.

7. What techniques does the author use to make this information easy to understand?

The author began with the main topic of the article, or his thesis statement. Then he ordered the information in classified paragraphs in which he separately stated the smartest, then the unintelligent cities of the United States. This made it less confusing to understand rather had they just crammed all the information into one or two large paragraphs. Also, the author used easy vocabulary for everyone reading to understand clearly.

December 5, 2010 (Late)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_china_skyscraper_empire

Article Title: China’s skyscraper boom buoys global industry

Written By: Joe McDonald

This article is written to us to inform us about how China is setting the record for owning most of the world’s tallest buildings. China has a great economy right now, and is building massive skyscrapers. In 1990, the United States had 80 percent of the tallest skyscrapers in the world. By 2012, we are expected to have 15 percent, and China will be having 34 percent of all those buildings.

6. What is the  most important thing you have learned? Why?

The most important thing that I have learned today is that China is growing extremely rapidly, and it is more definet that they will soon pass the United States as the dominating country in the world. I know that it says nothing of this in the article, but it does say that it is growing really quickly economically, has an outstanding economy that is expected to rise another 10 percent by this year. China is in the race at building the most tallest and complex buildings in the world, not only to hold the record and catch attention to its cities, but also because the country is too overcrowded and needs more living area. By  building skyscrapers over 150 stories high, China is managing to create more living space, as well as more office space for expanding enterprises and buisnesses, thus expanding their economy even more. China is truley on the road to becoming the world’s market place.

December 5, 2010 (Late)

http://yearinreview.yahoo.com/2010/us_10_obsessions#10 Obsessions of 2010

Article Title: 2010 YEAR IN REVIEW 10 Obsessions of 2010

Written By: —Vera H-C Chan and Melissa O’Neil

This article is presented to us to tell us about 2010’s top obsessions. This year the iPhone, Lindsay Lohan, the iPad, “Glee”, “Jersey Shore”, Facebook, bedbugs, tea party, Silly Bandz, and Stieg Larson’s “The Girl” were the top ten obsessions of 2010. The author of this article goes into detail explaining what each of these are and how much they have affected our society.

2. As you read today, were any questions that you had answered by what you read? List the questions you had and the answers you came up with from the reading. Are you satisfied with these answers? Why or why not?

A few of the questions that came up to me as soon as I read the title were:

1) Since the iPhone 4 is said to have many glitches, did it sell a lot?

2) Where do Silly Bandz originate from, and why were they created?

3) How has Facebook affected our lives?

The answers I came up with from the article were:

1) Yes, the iPhone 4 did sell a lot because many people are “Apple fans”. Even though it was said to be really delicate as well, it still sold out over 14.1 million phones.

2) Silly Bandz originate from Japan, and they were created to reuse all those rubber bands that are thrown away so that they would not just end up in the trash.

3) Facebook has really influenced the lives of people, and has cause one’s private live to be lost while on the Internet. It has caused user’s entire lives to change, from the way we communicate, to our romantic lives, to our grades in school.

I am satisfied with this information because it is based on statistics poled from the entire nation, or even the world.

December 5, 2010 (Late)

http://sandrahanksbenoiton.wordpress.com/2010/12/03/news-from-nasalife-comes-in-other-flavors-no-kidding/

Article Title: News From NASA: Life Comes In Other Flavors. No Kidding…

Written By: Sandra Hanks

This article is presented to us in an informal way. The author speaks to us about a new discovery that NASA has made. Life has been discovered in Mono Lake California. What’s so special about this? That this microorganism completely breaks the rules of life, which is that all living things are composed of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur, not arsenic (which is a poisonous chemical). according to the author of this article, whom says according to NASA, this little micro organism changes Arsenic into Phosphorous in  it.

1. What did you learn today as you read that you did not know before? What surprised you?  Explain why it surprised you.

What surprised me the most about this article is the fact that this new organism completely breaks one of the most important rules of life, that carbon has to be the main component in order for it to live. Arsenic is extremely poisonous to humans, as well to living creatures, yet this little guy can live off of it. This brings to mind how many other organisms are out there among us that we don’t even consider as life. Also, now with this new discovery, every biology book in the world has to be rewritten. The “law of live” as now been counteracted.

November 20, 2010 (Late)

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/111373/americas-worst-cities-for-finding-a-job

Article Title: America’s Wors Cities for Finding a Job

Written By: Jacquelyn Smith

The information is presented to us in a cause-and-effect kind of article, with the list of the five worst cities in the nation to find a job listed. Las Vegas, Miami, Riverside, Detroit and Los Angeles are the worst off cities with the highest unemployment rate in the nation. According to this article, the cities worst affected by unemployment are those who depended on tourism, construction, and unstable industries. Washington, New York, and San Jose are the best cities to move to if you are seeking employment.

5. How can you use this information in your life?

We could use this information for those of us who have parents who are having a hard time to finding a job. With one of the best cities for jobs being an hour and a half away, it shouldn’t be as hard to find employment as someone who lives in Los Angeles or Miami. Later on in my life I could us this information as well when I want to find a job myself.

November 20, 2010 (Late)

http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/contrarians-pour-on-the-concrete.html

Article Title: Curtains Pour On the Concrete

Written By: Nancy Keates

In this article, the author writes to us to inform us of a couple who have built an abnormal house out of pure cement, steel and glass. She writes to us in an informative tone using a lot of descriptive details for us to be able to imagine how the home looks like. This couple has received many compliments, as well as complaints, for their house. Either way, they don’t feel ashamed that their the “different ones” of the block.

4. Are any of the real life situations or people who you read about in your material for today similar to situations that you have experienced before in life? How are they similar? How are they different? What information surprised you?

Based on the fact that these people are not ashamed of their home, I can imply that they don’t like to follow the crowd. They seem to be the kind of people who like to have it their own way, and no matter how badly they are criticized, they stick with their personality. I am like this in a way. Not in the sence of going out into a traditional area and building a house out of normality for the region, but I’m the kind of person who doesn’t like to be the same as the others. I like being different, it gives life a little spice. What surprised me the most out of this article is that they were not sued for the noise that they had going on at 5 A.M. in order to construct the house. Sure they had the police called on them once, but that’s not nearly as bad as having to go to court.